Enchant the Night - Amanda Ashley Page 0,77

bag.

“What the hell! How’d that blasted cat get in there?”

“I don’t know.” Callie was about to ask what they were going to do with her when Ebony jumped out of her arms and ran into the forest. “Ebony! Come back here!”

“Let her go,” Quill said. “We’ve got more important things to worry about than that damn cat.”

Biting down on her lower lip, Callie nodded. She fished her wand out of the bag; then, holding it in one hand, pointed straight up, she closed her eyes. She spent several moments clearing her mind of everything but the need to find the signature of another witch.

Two minutes passed. Three. Five. And then she felt it, a subtle ripple of magical energy coming from the woods. It rippled down the wand into her hand. Callie opened her eyes as her wand pulled slowly to the left, then to the right and then steadied and pointed straight ahead.

“There,” she whispered. “It’s coming from in there. He’s very powerful, Quill. I’m afraid he’s far more adept than I am.”

Placing his hand on her shoulder, Quill gave it a squeeze. “Let’s hope that your power combined with mine will be enough.”

Following the direction of Callie’s wand, they made their way along a narrow deer path. There was no designated border crossing and no guards here, in the deep woods. A full moon hung low in a cloudless sky, casting faint, silver shadows on the path and the leaves of the trees.

They walked steadily for several miles. Callie glanced right and left, hoping to find Ebony, but there was no sign of the cat. Occasionally, she heard rustling in the underbrush, arousing visions of bears and mountain lions stalking them.

“There’s no danger,” Quill assured her. “None of the predators will come near me.”

Callie hoped he was right. And then she forgot all about the wildlife as a surge of power made the hair at her nape stand at attention. She came to an abrupt halt, the wand in her hand quivering. “We’re close,” she whispered.

Quill nodded. “I feel it, too.” It crawled over his skin, arousing his urge to fight. His fangs brushed his tongue and he knew that his eyes had gone red. Taking a deep, calming breath, he opened his preternatural senses.

“Now what?” Callie asked tremulously. “We can’t fight what we can’t see.”

“We didn’t come here for a fight. We’re just reconnoitering,” Quill reminded her, and then froze as he caught the scent of vampire and knew he’d been right.

It was a trap and they had walked into the middle of it.

Before he could warn Callie, the witch’s spell dissolved and with it, the forest.

Quill swore under his breath. They were in the middle of a large, empty room, trapped inside a cage barely big enough to hold the two of them. Four male vampires stood in a cluster, their eyes hot, nostrils flaring at the scent of a human female.

Quill glanced at Callie, but her attention was focused on the warlock who stood opposite her outside the cage. Tall and thin, he had a crooked nose and beady black eyes. His hair was brown with a slash of white at his left temple.

Smiling faintly, he muttered an incantation and Callie’s wand slowly dissolved into a pile of sawdust. A second incantation locked a pair of thick silver manacles around Quill’s wrists.

Callie pressed herself against him, her whole body trembling as the warlock’s power threatened to steal the breath from her lungs and the strength from her legs.

Quill tensed when Claret stepped into view, a self-satisfied smirk curving her lips. “Quill,” she crooned, “how very nice of you to come.”

Callie looked up at him, desperation in her eyes. “Get us out of here.”

He shook his head. “I wish I could.” He jerked his chin toward the bars. “They’re made of solid silver. I can’t go through them.”

Claret laughed softly. “I got to thinking—the Knights have a witch. You have a witch. Why shouldn’t I?”

Damn! He hadn’t figured on that. “What do you want?” Quill asked, his voice ice-cold.

She smiled, displaying her fangs. “Only what you’re willing to give me.”

“And if I refuse?” A foolish question when he already knew the answer.

She laughed again. “I’ll drain the woman dry. Or perhaps I’ll turn her, and we can feed on you together.”

Callie clutched Quill’s arm, her face pale, her nails digging into his flesh.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” he said flatly. “Just let her go.”

“Quill, no!”

“Be quiet, love.”

“You will do exactly what I want, whenever I want