Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) (46 page)

Dipping her finger in the bowl, Serena closed her eyes then painted the mixed blood and vervaine on her cheeks and down the pulse points on her neck. Her head fell back and her hands dropped to her thighs. She continued to chant, the words deepening until they were little more than a rumble.

Shea felt the air thicken around her as the spell drew power up from the earth. Serena’s muscles quivered with tension as her voice became a whisper. Shea’s temples began to throb at the amount of power Serena drew to her. The first tinge of fear crept up Shea’s spine. Fear that Serena might not see anything. Fear that she would.

Shea gasped as Serena’s head suddenly snapped upright until she stared straight at Shea. Only she wasn’t seeing Shea at all. Serena’s eyes stared straight ahead, looking at something only she could see.

Her mouth continued to move, to chant, but Shea couldn’t hear her at all now. Her ears strained for any recognizable words or phrases. Anything that would indicate what she saw.

What—

Suddenly, Serena started to shake, her body twitching uncontrollably, her head whipping back and forth, as if she were fighting something. Or the spell was fighting her.

Shea rose, not sure if she should touch Serena to bring her out of it or if that would do more harm. But Serena was going to hurt herself if she didn’t stop.

But what if the spell was working? What if she interrupted the spell before Serena was finished?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Serena slumped to the floor as the power in the air dissipated.

Shea hurried to her side, not knowing if she should touch her. “Serena, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

Serena groaned, and her face scrunched into lines of pain. “I can hear you, dear. Very clearly. Just…give me a minute, okay?”

It took more than a minute for Serena to finally open her eyes. And when she finally did, the woman’s expression told her everything she needed to know.

“I’m sorry, Shea. I saw nothing.”

* * *

Serena watched the girl’s shoulders drop even as she tried to smile.

“That’s okay,” Shea said. “It was pretty much a shot in the dark anyway.”

Serena pulled herself back to a sitting position, closing her eyes so Shea couldn’t see the lie she was telling.

Because she had seen something, something that made her cold to her bones.

Something it took every ounce of her control not to reveal to Shea. The girl had inherited her mother’s Empathic Gift. If she wasn’t careful, Shea would pick up on her feelings and demand to know what she’d seen.

But there was no way Serena would tell Shea how she was going to die.

* * *

A slight breeze rustled the leaves as Serena led them on an unmarked path through the forest.

It was close to midnight, but the full moon cast enough light that they didn’t need flashlights.

Deer, raccoons and possums were the only life Gabriel sensed. He heard no car noise, no planes rumbling overheard.

Perfect night for the ritual. He hoped like hell it dispelled some of the tension that had built through the afternoon and evening. No one had said anything. Nothing inflammatory, anyway. But everyone had been on edge.

Even Leo had seemed to regress back to silence.

When they finally reached the circle in the clearing, Gabriel sighed as the power of the earth called out to him.

A sense of calm laced with anticipation seeped into his blood from the ground up and he smiled, knowing there would be more magic. And it would be good.

Almost as good as sex. He turned to see Shea speaking quietly with Serena. Almost.

And it would have been perfect if it all hadn’t gone so wrong.

* * *

One minute Gabriel was watching Serena perform the blessing to the Goddess.

The next he was flat on his ass, blown out of the circle by a blast of power so intense, he blacked out for several seconds.

When he came to, he heard Quinn calling Serena’s name, Serena calling to Leo and Shea moaning.

Leo remained in the center of the circle, eyes closed, holding tight to Shea’s hand as he funneled power through his body and directly into Shea. She was already on her knees and would soon be flat on the ground. In a coma.

The force of the magic the kid channeled had taken him under, made him oblivious to anything but the power he controlled.

He didn’t realize he was going to kill Shea if he didn’t release her.

“Gabe!” Quinn yelled. “Serena won’t let me in.”

Damn, they’d underestimated the kid again.

He had to get Shea out of there before the kid killed her. Holding out his hands, he tested the wards Serena had set up around the circle. The
arus
in his blood reacted violently to the amount of power enclosing Serena, Shea and Leo in the circle. He couldn’t break the wards in his current condition. They were too strong.

“Mom! Let me in.”

Serena didn’t spare him a glance. “Too dangerous. Leo, sweetheart, listen to me. You have to release the power. You’re going to hurt Shea.”

The little boy didn’t move. Gabriel was pretty sure he hadn’t heard Serena.

Leo had tapped into the power of the ley line pulsing straight through Serena’s land. It was why she’d settled here, how she’d kept this house hidden all these years.

Magic, as all Etruscans knew, came from the earth. It flowed like blood through the soil in veins—ley lines. When anyone used magic, they tapped into that power to do so.

Leo, with too little training, must have felt like he’d just swallowed the biggest fucking happy pill in the world. All that power gave him a high better than sex and drugs combined.

And he was channeling it all through Shea.

If Leo didn’t stop…

Gabriel took the only option left. It was going to hurt, hurt like hell. And not just him, but Serena, too.

Fuck it. He drew power into himself, up from the ground and through his body. Then he lifted his hands toward the shield and released the power at the shield his mother had set up.

A lightning bolt of sheer agony slashed through his body, seizing his muscles and making his head feel like he’d gone five rounds with a heavyweight champion. Ears ringing, he locked his knees when they wanted to buckle as the barrier Serena had erected fell with an almost audible crash.

As it did, Gabriel grabbed for Leo and Shea at the same time Quinn lunged for Serena, who fell to the ground in a dead faint.

Too late. Too damn late.

Touching Leo was like grabbing a live electrical wire. Sharp pain surged through Gabriel as Leo tried to hold on to the energy Gabriel wanted to drain away.

“Leo!’ he shouted. “Leo, you’ve got to stop. You’re hurting Shea. Let her go.”

Gabriel yanked at the boy’s arm, trying to get his attention but Leo showed no sign of hearing him. Gabriel didn’t want to hurt the kid, but if he didn’t release Shea soon, he was going to have to knock him out. First, though, he reached for Shea and Leo’s joined hands.

And gritted his teeth against the force of power running between them. It took him several minutes but finally, he managed to separate their fingers.

All that energy needed somewhere to go and it chose to bitch-slap Gabriel, driving him to his knees.

Even so, he tried to reach Shea before she fell to the ground, unconscious, but just missed her.

Leo blinked and looked around, as if coming out of a deep sleep

“What…happened? I don’t feel good.”

Gabriel pulled himself onto his hands and knees and crawled to Shea.

“Gabriel? What’s—”

Leo cried out at the sight of Shea crumpled in a ball on the ground next to him. Gabriel grabbed for him and missed. His body screamed in residual agony as he fell back to his knees. He wanted to curl into a little ball and wait for the pain to recede but he couldn’t.

Leo sobbed over Shea’s unmoving body while Quinn held a slowly awakening Serena.

“Quinn.” It hurt to speak, but he forced the words out as he dragged himself to his feet. “Take Serena back to the house.”

“No,” Serena said, her voice weak but calm. “Let Quinn get Shea. You and I can help each other. Leo, sweetheart. Stop crying. Come here.”

“Didn’t mean it.” The little boy sobbed out the words. “I’m sorry.”

Serena pulled away from Quinn and took a few steps toward Leo, nearly fell then pulled herself together to reach for him. “Come with me, baby. Shea will be fine. Quinn’s going to take her back to the house and she’ll be fine.”

Serena sounded confident and loving as she soothed Leo then got him walking back to the house, leaning on him, making him feel like he was helping her. And maybe he was. She looked ready to drop over.

As Quinn lifted Shea in his arms, Gabriel heard her moan, and he released the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“Shea.”  His voice sounded like sandpaper on wood. “Can you hear me?”

“Come on, Gabe.” Quinn held Shea in both arms but used one hand to pull Gabriel to his feet. “Let’s get back. I don’t want to be stuck out here if someone got a hint of that power. It was enough to light up the entire eastern seaboard.”

Shit. Quinn was right. Someone might have picked up on the disturbance they’d caused. The flow of magic in the earth had been disrupted. Leo had unknowingly gathered it to him and bent it to his will, something you didn’t attempt unless you knew what you were doing. He’d caused the natural order to unbalance for those few minutes. And for someone looking for a signal, this area had just lit up like a neon sign.

Still, the wards on the property would hold. They had to. And as soon as they were feeling a little better, he and Serena would strengthen them. After they got Shea back to the house, he’d have Quinn take a run around the property.