Visions of Skyfire (3 page)

She would need that strength and more in the coming days.

“You really took your time riding to the rescue,” she said softly, scraping her hands up and down her arms as if looking for warmth.

“You were never in real danger,” he told her, stung by her accusation. Hadn’t he been watching over her for centuries? From one incarnation to the next, she had never been out of his reach. “I was nearby.”

“Right.” She dropped her hands to her sides and frowned down at the sand that still clung to her clothing. Nodding to herself, she took another deep breath and asked, “So where are we?”

He winced at the pain in his back. “In a house near the edge of Sedona.”

“Whose is it?” she asked, instantly wary.

As she should be, he thought. Her magic was alive and already the federal agencies were aware of it. Suspicion would be her closest friend now.

“It’s mine,” he said and watched her tension relax the slightest fraction. She was still taut with residual uneasiness and the remnants of her own power rushing through her. He felt a quick flare of admiration at her strength of will.

But it wasn’t only her character that caught his attention. Rune looked at his witch and felt his body stir in appreciation, despite the agony of the white-gold shards still trapped beneath his skin. She was tall, though since he stood six feet five inches himself, her height was negligible to him. She wore faded blue jeans, dark brown cowboy boots and a forest green T-shirt that clung to her lush curves. Her eyes were the color of dark chocolate and her skin the shade of rich coffee with cream. Her wildly tangled black hair hung past her shoulders. It was all Rune could do to keep his hands off her.

He had already waited several lifetimes for her—another few days while she accustomed herself to the fact that they were mates wouldn’t kill him.

He walked to the closest window, peeled back the edge of the curtains and looked out on to a rainy scene. No one was about, which was all to the good.

“You own a house in Sedona?” she asked. “How long have you been here?”

“I bought this house when you were a child. To be close by if you had need,” he said, not bothering to tell her that he hadn’t
stayed
here all that time. He was an Eternal, after all, and besides his duty to his witch, there was also a duty to all of those with power. He and the others like him were the strongest barrier standing between witches and the enemies who would destroy them.

“Where were you, then, when Miguel came into my life?” she murmured.

Rune stiffened at the mention of the abusive man who had made Teresa’s life a misery for several months before she freed herself of him. The moment she became involved with the male, Rune had left Sedona. He couldn’t force himself to stay near her and watch her with someone else.

“I didn’t realize what he was until after you left him,” he said softly.

She threw him a quick, haunted look that disappeared in a flash. “Doesn’t matter. I took care of myself. I always do.”

Her bravado didn’t hide the pain in her eyes and Rune felt another sharp stab of regret slice at him. Miguel had left town after Teresa showed him the door and Rune hadn’t wanted to leave her to find him. But one day, he assured himself, there would be reparations made with Miguel.

He watched her gaze sweep the room and knew what she was thinking. Spartan, the house held only the bare necessities. He had no need for luxury. And drawing attention to himself or this house hadn’t seemed wise. So he had stocked the place with only what he needed. There were couches, chairs and tables. In the kitchen, there was food, though he rarely required sustenance. There was a bed, extra clothing and the emptiness that always filled a place where nothing was shared.

Where nothing mattered.

Until now.

“If this is your house,” she asked quietly, “won’t the feds know to come here?”

“They know nothing of me. It’s you they’re following,” he reminded her and asked himself how the agents had known about her so soon after her power had awakened. “They have no way to connect you to this place, so you will be safe here.”

“For how long?”

He shrugged and winced at the pull of his muscles slicing against the white-gold bullets invading his body. He had to get them out.
Soon
. The drain on his powers was steadily increasing and he couldn’t afford any amount of weakness should their enemies find them. “We won’t be staying here. But the house is in a dark zone, so we’re safe enough for the moment.”

“Dark zone?” she repeated, frowning. “What is that?”

He almost smiled. “You live in Sedona and know of the vortexes but nothing of the dark zones? I have much to tell you, Teresa, but now is not the time.” He walked toward the bathroom, tugging his black T-shirt off over his head as he went. The simple action of stretching his arms above his head sent new shards of pain through him.

“Oh, my God.” Teresa was on him in an instant, grabbing hold of his arm to stop him, then sliding one hand across his torn-up back.

A flash of heat swamped him at her touch, but still he whirled away fast enough to keep her from coming into contact with the white gold.

“Don’t touch them,” he warned.

Her face paled and her eyes glinted with fury as understanding dawned on her. “White-gold bullets. They were using white-gold bullets and you took them all to save me.”

He nodded, then turned again for the bathroom. “The feds learned fast how to stop us. Or at least how to slow us down.”

Teresa followed, her footsteps quick. “I know. Silver is an earth element. It focuses our powers, makes us stronger. But white gold …”

He glanced at her. “Yes. It does the opposite. Gold can’t hurt us. But white gold is a man-made alloy. The chemical makeup of the alloy is poisonous to us. It drains magical ability.”

“So it’s working on you right now,” she said softly. “Which is why we have to get those bullets out of you. Fast.”

“I will,” he told her, not bothering to look back at her.

“How? How can you dig around in your own back?”

Rune looked at her then, hearing the dismay in her voice. He wasn’t yet sure how he would get the bullets out, but he would find a way. His own magic wasn’t as strong as that of the witch he was destined to protect and defend. But it might be enough to allow him to
push
the bullets free of his body. “It will be fine.”

She hurried to a window and took a look outside. The storm over the desert had rolled into the city. Rain pelted the windows and wind tore at trees, sending a crumpled newspaper hurtling down the familiar street. She smiled to herself and nodded. The hideous threestory house on the corner had made all the newspapers when the owners built it. The neighborhood had been up in arms over the modern monstrosity ruining the Spanish feel of the town.

Turning back to him, she said, “I know where we are now. My friend’s a doctor. Her office isn’t far. I can get there and be back in ten minutes.”

“No,” he said flatly, his tone brooking no argument. He allowed the flames that made up the very heart of him to flicker in the depths of his eyes.

Teresa paid no attention. “You’re in no shape to protect me, Eternal, so you’re in no shape to stop me, either.”

“You think a few pieces of white gold are enough to contain me?” he countered, insulted at the idea. Yes, they caused him pain. And drained his magic. But he was still more than the human mind could contemplate. His inborn strength had been hewn from the center of the sun and molded by his god, Belen. Rune and his brethren were unlike anything else on this earth. And it was best if his witch learned that now.

“Humans don’t worry me,” he told her. “But they should worry you. I’m immortal. You’re not.”

“Yeah, but I am a witch,” she countered. “And you got shot saving me. So I’m going to get the help we need so you can save me
again
, okay?”

He stalked across the room, ignoring the jabs of pain in his back. Those small pieces of white gold were as nothing to him in the face of his witch’s rebellion. As his gaze caught hers, he grabbed her shoulders and held on. “You’re not to go into the streets. The feds are out there somewhere, looking for you.”

“And the longer we stand here arguing, the closer to town they get.”

“You’re not foolish enough to believe they are the only ones on your trail, are you?” he argued. “There are more. Already in the city. Looking for you.” The men in the desert were no doubt still in the air, headed for the city—but their compatriots could be anywhere. “Here, in the dark zone, it will be nearly impossible for them to track you. Magic is muted here, so whatever they’re using to locate you won’t work in the zone.”

“How big is this zone?” she countered quickly.

“Several blocks.”

“Then we’re still good. My friend’s clinic is two blocks from this house.”

Irritated almost to the breaking point, Rune demanded, “Who is this doctor?”

Teresa gave him a fast, brilliant smile as if she knew she had won this round. “Elena Vargas. She’s two blocks over. She’ll help. I know she will.”

Rune still didn’t like it, but he liked even less the idea of his power draining further. There was a question he must ask, though. “How do you know this friend isn’t the one who turned you in to the Magic Police?”

She laughed and the sound was so unexpected, it jolted through Rune like a hot, luscious summer wind.

“Not a chance. Elena’s known I’m a witch since we were kids.”

He didn’t like it, but she was right that the longer they waited, the more dangerous it was. And if he were to go with her, they would only attract more attention. Even in a city the size of Sedona, a man like Rune wouldn’t go unnoticed. His size alone would attract attention.

The idea of her venturing out alone went against every one of his instincts, yet the sooner he was rid of the white gold, the sooner his witch would be safe again. “Fine, then. Go. But hurry—and speak to no one but your friend.”

“I’m not an idiot, Eternal,” she told him, already headed for the door. “And if we’re going to be together through this quest of ours, then you’d better get used to the idea that I don’t take orders well.”

She opened the door, slipped out and was gone an instant later. So she didn’t hear Rune mutter, “But take them you will.”

Chapter 3

H
e hated letting her go alone, but if he refused, he risked her safety anyway. When a choice is not a choice, all that is left is fate.

Trusting in fate was not something that came easily to Rune. Through the centuries he had chafed at the years of atonement that had followed the coven’s disastrous actions. His witch and her coven had sentenced themselves to centuries of separation from their magic. The Eternals had been condemned to remain on the fringes of the lives of the women they had been created to protect—and to love.

Now that the long wait was over and their time was finally here, he trusted only himself to keep Teresa safe.

He looked out the window, scowling at the driving rain, and experienced for the first time a sense of helplessness that nearly crushed him. He wasn’t accustomed to encountering any situation he couldn’t muscle his way through. Now, his woman was out on the streets while he was forced to wait.

But as he waited, nothing was keeping him from attempting to heal himself. Dropping to his knees, he leaned forward, bracing his arms on the floor as he concentrated on the shards of metal embedded in his back.

The poisonous sensation of the white gold felt as though it was moving, tracing through the veins of his body like acid. He hissed in a breath, closed his eyes and gathered his waning strength, focusing it on just one of those shards.

His mind arrowed in on the bullet, which had flattened upon impact with his body. The magic pooled inside him and narrowed into a thin ribbon that pushed against that invading shard.

With his eyes closed against the dragging pain and the pull on his magic, Rune groaned as the bullet slowly inched free of his flesh. Every movement was agony. Every twist of the metal tore at him. The drain on his powers was staggering, making him feel no better than a useless mortal.

Rune dragged in a ragged breath as the first of the white-gold shards fell from him to clatter onto the floor. His gaze dropped to the tiny piece of metal and a fierce fury rose up inside him. If he hadn’t been there to prevent it, those bullets would have cut Teresa down. The human world would have succeeded in ending its only hope for survival.
Fools,
he thought as he braced himself for another try at ridding his body of the damaging bullets.

Without the Awakened witches to undo what they had begun so long ago, this earth the mortals fought so viciously to defend against witchcraft would end as no more than a burned cinder floating in space.

Fools. All of them.

Suddenly Rune felt a rush of protective instincts jangle through him and he lifted his head, listening. The sibilant sound of the rain muffled the barely discernible footsteps slogging relentlessly through the downpour. Gritting his teeth, he staggered to his feet and crossed to the nearest window.

Outside, two MPs, their black uniforms sodden, walked slowly down the middle of the street. It was clear they were searching for someone.
Teresa.

Though the dark zone muted the trace of magic, it didn’t make him or his witch invisible. If the feds were to begin a house-to-house search, he and Teresa would be discovered. Unless Rune regained his strength in time to prevent it.

Dropping to his knees again, he shook his head and fought past the pain whispering through him. He wouldn’t be stopped. Not by white gold. Not by humans with guns. Not by
anything
. Gathering his waning strength, using what little of his dampened magic was available to him, he focused on another of the bullets lodged in his body.