By now, he was probably aware that Hartt and Mackenzie had teamed up with each other and the vampire. Hartt feared that meant he was liable to turn his sights on others, striking at them to weaken their side.
Or to provoke one of them into reacting.
Hartt wanted to believe he would be able to keep a clear head if the witch targeted anyone at the guild or Underworld, but deep in his heart, the oily darkness was already writhing, seething with a need to hunt the male down and take out anyone who dared to stand in his way.
He was a liability, and to stop himself from being that, he needed to speak with everyone.
And he meant everyone.
Gods, he wished he had one of those phones now in Mackenzie’s hand. Her thumb danced over the tiny on-screen keyboard, the message she sent appearing above it. A reply came in almost instantly. With such a device, he would be able to warn everyone without having to face them.
Borrowing her phone wasn’t an option either. He didn’t know the telephone number for Underworld. Harbin knew it since he liked to keep in touch with his older brother, but he was away from the guild on business and tracking him down in Hell would take too much time.
Which meant his only option was visiting Underworld in person.
Still, he didn’t feel ready to leap right in at the deep end, so he focused and teleported with Mackenzie to the guild. He landed with her in his office, an attempt to buy her a few moments to prepare herself that didn’t really work out.
Fuery shouldered the door open less than a second after he had appeared and dropped the stack of papers he held, scattering them across the polished stone floor. He turned incredulous eyes on Hartt as he spoke in the elf tongue.
“What is she doing here?”
“We are on the same side, Fuery.” Hartt released her and held his hands up, hoping to calm his friend as he spoke in the same language, one Mackenzie wouldn’t be able to understand since his species closely guarded knowledge of it. “The reason Rosalind could sense a spell on me is because the client… is a witch. You were right. Something is off about this contract. The witch we fought in London is after us, Mackenzie, and Lord Van der Garde of the vampires. He wanted us to kill each other off, and then he was no doubt going to kill whoever was the last man standing.”
“What are you saying to him?” Mackenzie lunged at his wide dark wooden desk, grabbed a letter opener from it and brandished it like a dagger, the gleaming silver tip pointed at Fuery. “Is he threatening me?”
Fuery raised an eyebrow at her and spoke in the elven tongue. “She threatens me?”
Hartt frowned at both of them, and said in English, “Fuery was not threatening you.”
He placed his hand on Mackenzie’s and lowered it and the blade, and looked at Fuery.
“She was not threatening you. She was defending herself. She has been through much.” He released her hand and hoped she wouldn’t bring her makeshift dagger up again. “Speak with us in the mortal tongue, Fuery, or Mackenzie may misunderstand.”
And would probably stab his friend, and then all hell would break loose.
Fuery stooped and gathered the scattered papers, crossed the room and dropped them on Hartt’s desk. “I will lock the guild down. No one in and no one out. But I want to come with you.”
Hartt shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
Fuery’s violet irises gained flecks of black. “It is too dangerous for you too. If the darkness takes you… I need to be there.”
“The darkness?” Mackenzie looked from Fuery to Hartt. “What does he mean? Like what happened to you when we were fighting?”
“It is none of your concern.” He glanced at her, lingered as she glared at him. He softened his tone. “I will be fine.”
“Oh, yeah, because you were just peachy when you went all black-eyed and murderous on me.” She slipped the letter opener into the waist of her onyx leathers and patted it. “I’ll keep this close, just in case.”
He huffed. “It is made of steel and would not cut through my armour.”
“That’s reassuring,” she muttered with a sour look on her face. “Nice that you’re thinking ahead to going loco and how it would all play out.”
Before he could take back what he had said and make her see that he wasn’t planning on allowing