nook and cranny of the walls. Men shrieked in terror and dove for cover and still the fire roared, flames churning, swimming, seeking the enemy.
The men forgot about their assault in their haste to save their own lives. Bullets stopped. Guns fell to the ground. Rain pummeled the inner ward of the castle, coming down in such thick sheets that Shea and Torin were hidden from sight.
They raced to the great hall and from there, Shea drew Torin to the chapel. As they ran down the passageways beneath deeply carved rock ceilings, their footsteps sounded hollow and like the beat of drums. The walls around them hummed with ancient energies and the swell of power seemed to rush at them from all sides.
At last, though, they came to the far end of the chapel and faced a solid stone wall. Paintings done centuries ago still clung to the walls, faint images of their long-lost glories.
“This is it.”
Torin looked at her, then turned for another glance down the long passageway behind them. They were still alone. But for how long, he couldn’t guess. “Do what you must, then.”
Nodding, Shea held his hand tightly, laid her free hand on the wall before them and whispered, “Haven.”
An opening appeared before them. Dimly lit darkness was thick in the cavernous space beyond the wall, but there were flaming torches set into silver brackets that sent dancing flame shadows around the room.
Torin stepped in front of Shea, protecting her from whatever they might find beyond the entrance. Walking through the aperture, they stopped when the wall behind them closed again, sealing them into the secret chamber of the last great coven.
“Now what?” Shea whispered.
“Now it begins,” a soft, familiar voice called out. “Welcome to Haven. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Chapter 44
Frustrated , Kellyn kicked the body of the man she had killed with a thought, then flipped her phone open. She hit REDIAL and waited. It rang only once before it was answered on the other side of the world.
“Is it over?”
“No, it’s not over,” Kellyn snapped. She glared across the inner ward at the stone walls of the castle. The Eternal’s fire had gone out, but the walls were blackened. “Your men screwed it up. Again.”
“Now just one minute . . .”
“No!” Kellyn was so furious sparks of power arced off her body in a shower of dark red lights. “No, you listen to me. This is twice now. I went along because you could draw on certain influential channels that I needed. But we both know that I’m the one who holds the cards here.”
“You need me.”
“Not as much as you need me—a fact of which you’re completely aware,” Kellyn countered, finished with being amenable. She had tried playing by others’ rules and so far it had gotten her squat. “From here on out, I make the decisions. If and when I need your help, I’ll let you know.”
“Just one damn minute,” her erstwhile partner argued. “We’re in this together. I have plans for Shea Jameson.”
“I know that.” Kellyn stepped out from under the massive stone wall into the drenching rain. She looked around at the devastation wrought by this little battle and amused herself wondering how the humans would explain away all of the damage.
“So our alliance still holds.”
“It does,” Kellyn said tightly. She wished she could do without this partner, but she knew that in the modern world, not all power was strictly magical. “But if you send me another moron who won’t follow orders, but instead shoots his weapon when he’s nervous . . .”
The speaker ignored that and asked, “How many casualties?”
“I don’t know.” She opened herself up to her surroundings, touching on the trace energies of the men who had set up this clusterfuck of an ambush. “Three,” she said a moment later, not bothering to tell her silent partner that one of the dead had been killed by her hand.
“Out of fifteen.”
“And we’re lucky there were so few.” Kellyn shot her gaze again to the main hall of the castle and the chapel beyond it. Shea and Torin were beyond her reach. For the moment. She knew exactly where they had gone and would have followed if she could have. She knew precisely where Haven was.
She just couldn’t get in.
Yet.
“What will you do now?”
“Whatever it is, it will be done my way,” Kellyn snapped and closed the phone, severing the connection. Fury riding her, she stood in the driving rain, closed her eyes and vanished.