magic.
Looked like we were doing this the really hard way.
“Where’s the bloody ghost?”
Ian’s growl barely disturbed the air since there was at least one creature nearby with hearing as great as ours. If we hadn’t tamped down our auras to barely detectable levels, we would have announced our presence to this unknown vampire via our power level, too. The good news was, this vampire must not know we were here, to flaunt their aura that way.
“He’ll be here,” Ashael whispered.
Separating them before Phanes teleported Morana and Ruaumoko away required a surprise precision strike. That required knowing exactly where to strike, and for that, we needed intel. The same ghost who’d notified Cat’s specter friend, Fabian, about the trio of gods being here was also supposed to tell us which ruin they were hiding in. We were in our predetermined meeting spot, in the clump of trees just south of the newly rebuilt museum. Where was he?
A few minutes later, Ashael frowned. “Perhaps he meant that other patch of trees,” he murmured, and teleported over.
Power immediately snapped around me before pulling tight like a snare net. I tried to run and couldn’t. Flying didn’t work, either. It only tightened the net. At once, I knew what had happened. We hadn’t had time to rig a magic trap over this place, but someone else had, and we’d just activated it.
Ian grabbed me, and then rage flashed over his features.
“I can’t teleport both of us out.”
I cursed as I looked around. I could feel the net, but I couldn’t see it. Why? My other half should be able to see the magic in it, and my father had made sure I was immune to illusion.
“Ashael?” Ian called out softly.
No answer. I craned my neck as far as the trap would allow, but I didn’t see him.
“Maybe he made it out,” I whispered.
“Perhaps.”
Ian wasn’t looking at me now. His attention was fixed on the steeper terrain above us. Power began building in him, so intense that the air crackled and my skin ached.
“Don’t,” I said, realizing what he was doing. “We don’t need that, and if the others feel it, it could ruin our chance. Let them get close.” I tapped my arm for emphasis. “Real close.”
He ground out a curse, but that deadly spike of power diminished until he felt like a normal, albeit very pissed off, Master vampire.
My sigh of relief was interrupted by infuriating laughter that still managed to sound as bright as the tinkling of bells.
“Welcome! I hope you enjoyed the surprise. You didn’t think killing me would be that easy, did you, little demigod?”
I turned toward the sound.
Morana hadn’t been there moments ago, but now she was standing near the lowest of the ruined temples, her sapphire hair a vivid splash of color against the faded beige blocks. She wore a pearl-encrusted corset over a black velvet dress that was more suited for a formal ball than hiding in this desolate patch of mountainside, but far be it for her to wear sand-colored camo gear to blend in with the landscape like Ian and I had.
“Only one person gets to call me ‘little’ anything,” I replied, raising my voice so she’d have no trouble hearing me. “And that isn’t you, you blueberry-headed bitch.”
She laughed again, and Phanes appeared next to her. His large wings seemed to attract the moonlight, making them look ethereal as those pale silver beams shone through his golden feathers. He wasn’t wearing a shirt—again—and only had swaths of purple silk crisscrossed in an X pattern over his bare upper body while black trousers and boots covered his lower half.
“This looks familiar,” Phanes drawled. “When I last saw the two of you, you were also trapped and about to die.”
“How did that work out?” Ian asked in a contemptuous tone. “Think this will fare any better for you?”
Phanes smiled. “Let’s find out.”
“Bring them in!” Morana sang out.
The magical net I still couldn’t see tightened until Ian and I were mashed together. Then, we were hauled up toward Morana and Phanes, each bone-jarring bump no accident. If someone had the power to rig this kind of trap, they had the power to glide us over the steep, rocky terrain instead of having the magic drag us like a proverbial sack of potatoes over every rut, boulder, and crumpled ruin along the way.
When we were finally in front of Morana and Phanes, my clothes were bloodstained and torn in places, and my lip bled from how hard my