and touch the bars. His arm throbbed dully where it had touched the silver. Hours had passed since he had last seen Callie. Reaching out with his mind, he breathed a sigh of relief when her slow, steady heartbeat told him she was alone in a room, asleep. And then he frowned with the realization that she wasn’t sleeping but under a spell of some kind. But at least she was safe for the moment.
His preternatural senses told him the vampires were at rest—the males in one room, Claret alone in another. He had no sense of the warlock’s presence.
He cursed softly. He had to get Callie out of here before her scent drove the vampires wild. If they gave in to their hunger, they would fight each other like wildcats to get at her, and likely tear her to shreds in the process.
He had been a fool to let her come with him. But how did you keep a determined witch at home?
“Witches,” he muttered. They were a law unto themselves.
He shook his head. Finding Claret hadn’t surprised him, but the warlock’s presence had. The man was incredibly powerful, perhaps as strong as Ava had ever been. If he’d brought Jeffries and the others with him, it was likely they would all be trapped in here with him. He swore softly. It wasn’t just the silver bars that held him. He could feel the warlock’s magic all around him, draining his power.
Closing his eyes, he surrendered to the Dark Sleep. Rest would strengthen him and he had little doubt that he was going to need every ounce he could summon to face whatever the future held.
He was on the brink of oblivion when he sensed a presence in the room, and with it the scent of lily of the valley.
Ava.
He opened his eyes. He sensed it was morning, but, with no windows, the room was dark. At first, he didn’t see anything. Then, glancing over his shoulder, he saw a pair of golden yellow eyes staring at him. “Ebony,” he muttered. “How the hell did you get in here?”
He felt the brush of preternatural power slide over his skin, felt his eyes grow wide as the cat shimmered and slowly changed shape until Callie’s grandmother stood before him. Wearing a gauzy white blouse over a multicolored skirt, she looked as young and beautiful as she had the first time he’d seen her.
“Ava.” He shook his head. “I don’t believe it.” And yet, hadn’t he known, deep down, that she was still alive? Hadn’t he suspected for some time that she and Ebony were one?
“You seem to be in a bit of a pickle,” she remarked, bright blue eyes twinkling.
He rose in a single fluid movement. “Why on earth have you been masquerading as a cat?”
“I ran afoul of a wizard a few years back. Rather than risk a confrontation or put Callie’s life in danger, I chose to fake my death. Doing so allowed me to keep an eye on my granddaughter with no one the wiser. And then you came along and I thought you’d look after her, but . . .” She loosed a dramatic sigh. “Here you are, locked up like a tiger in a cage.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said dryly. “How about getting me the hell out of here?”
“That’s no way to ask for a favor, Quill.”
“Ava Magdalena Morgana Langley, would you please get me out of here?”
Laughing softly, she spoke a few quiet words and Callie’s wand—recently a pile of dust—appeared in her hand. Stepping forward, she touched the tip to the lock and the door swung open without a sound. Next, she walked around the cage, chanting softly, and as she did so, the magic that had surrounded him faded and disappeared.
Returning to the front of his prison, she stepped inside and tapped the manacles that bound him and they dissolved.
“I’ve missed you, Quill,” Ava murmured, and rising on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek.
“I missed you, too.”
“Did you?” She cocked her head to the side. “Somehow I doubt it.”
He chuckled softly as he followed her out of the cage. “I’m in love with Callie. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“You got a problem with that?”
“No. I knew you would find her. Let’s get her and get out of here.”
They had only taken a few steps when the front door opened and the wizard stood there, his long, black cape billowing behind him like the wings of a giant bird. “I’m afraid