Devious Magic (#3 Stella Mayweather Paranormal Series) Page 21

  “At least twenty at any one time, though there will probably be just over thirty, maybe forty, when all the patrols come back in. Easily double that tomorrow.”

  “Too many to be certain that we can knock them all out together,” I mused.

  “Yeah, plus they are all on alert. They know you have friends, so I guess they’re expecting an attack. That’s what was going on earlier. Something tripped the perimeter alarm. It might have been an animal though. We have foxes and deer pass through occasionally, especially now, when it’s cold and they’re looking for food,” Daniel explained.

  “There were only two guards covering Annalise and me when we were in the cell and I didn’t see anyone else in the cellar on my way out.”

  “They’ve been taking turns. Shift changes every two hours. I listen in from the secret passageways sometimes.”

  “If we can get into the cellar unnoticed, we could deal with those two guards. No one will notice for two hours, right?”

  Daniel nodded. “So long as no one goes down there between shifts, no one will notice. I could knock them both out, I think, if I gave them sedatives.”

  Getting us out of here wasn’t going to be as easy as it looked. If we could even get to the cellar to get Annalise, there was no guarantee that we’d be able to get out again. If we left without her, we might not be able to get back before she was killed. Even if we all got out together, the chances of us being picked up close to the house were high. With a maximum of three of us, two wounded, though I was already feeling better, against thirty-plus heavily armed men, our odds of escape were depressingly low.

  Another idea popped into my head, and it seemed almost ludicrous. “What if we had more witches in the house?” I asked.

  Daniel looked confused. “There’s only us.”

  “But what if we can get the local coven in? That would give us a fighting chance, right?”

  “I guess, and they won’t expect an attack from the inside.”

  “Exactly. They’re prepared for someone to storm the house, an explosion, not an implosion. If something lured them outside, it would reduce the numbers in the house.”

  “If I can disable the traps around the stable yard for a few minutes, that might be long enough to get them in that way and bring them here.” Daniel looked excited. “If we could get Annalise up here, we could all leave the same way.”

  “What are the chances of getting noticed?”

  “Still high. What’s going to happen to my dad?”

  “I don’t know. He’s dangerous, Daniel, really dangerous and... Have I mentioned this? He wants to kill us, all of us, and I don’t know if any witch is going to let him go scot free.”

  “Yeah, figured you’d say that.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “You know, I am. Dad, he wasn’t always like this, but I can’t accept what he does. I’ve had a long time to think about this.”

  “But you’re worried about killing him?”

  Daniel stared at the carpet, picking at bits of it. “Yeah. I’ve done a lot of bad stuff, but I’m not a killer, and I don’t think I get the right to pick and choose. I don’t want to kill because that will make me like him, and I’m not. I’m nothing like him.”

  “Let’s just get out of here first, Daniel, okay? We’ll work the rest out later.”

  “I have to go. I’ll come back later, okay? I have to show my face a few times just so that they don’t notice something is up. If I don’t come back in time, send a message to your friends at midnight. I’ll make sure the barriers are down for a couple of minutes. Do you think that will be long enough?”

  “Yes.” It would be enough to send a message anyway. “Can you meet them, let them in through the tunnel?”

  Daniel grimaced. “If the magic drops for too long, an alarm triggers and someone will come looking for me. I can stop the alarm briefly; but I won’t be able to hold it for long. If they can make a diversion, that would help.” Daniel got to his feet, turning to slip behind the tapestry.

  “I’ll try. Uh, Daniel?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you bring me some clothes next time you come? Something practical?”

  He gave me a tight smile and nodded. “See you later.” And I was alone again.

  I literally watched time pass by on the small electric clock on the nightstand, willing the numbers to click over faster and faster, formulating a plan on how I’d get a message to Étoile. I hoped she was with Evan and Gage, and some of the Hawksley coven members. My telepathy was weak and unpractised, and I’d only ever tried it once, so that wasn’t going to fly. Finally, I remembered the spell I’d seen in the borrowed spell book that I had for a short while. It was the last spell I’d read before the book disappeared. It was a simple one, perfect for sending messages. I scrabbled through the drawers of the nightstand, then the chest, and came up with some pieces of notepaper and a short, stubby pencil.

  I tried to keep my note brief and to the point: I’m alive. Annalise is being held in the cellar. She’s been hurt, but alive too. Thirty-plus guards and leader here. Go to stable yard wall, secret tunnel to inside. Daniel Morgan coming to help you. Diversion needed for front.

  I cursed when my pencil snapped, leaving a dull end too blunt to even scratch out a few more words. Around me, I could feel the magic protecting the house. Daniel hadn’t let down the barriers yet so I folded the paper into small squares and concentrated on the power, waiting for it to fade.

  A minute to midnight, it suddenly ebbed and gave out, and my magic surged. Holding the paper in one hand, I focused on it, closed my eyes, whispering the spell as I imagined it in Étoile’s hand, wherever she was. I didn’t feel it disappear, but opening my eyes, my hand was empty. I waited, rooted to the spot for any sign that she had received it and I wasn’t disappointed. The air in front of me thickened into a white smoke, arranging itself into words:

  We’re coming.

  As suddenly as the barriers went down, they were back up again and my magic was shoved deep back inside me. I had a scant minute to send and receive. If it had been more, I could have shimmered to the dungeon and grabbed Annalise, whipping us out of there to deal with the fallout from Auberon later. But every fibre of my being told me that attacking from the inside, with help, was the best course of action.

  Yawning, I pressed a hand to my mouth and curled up in the big window seat, the curtains parted. I could see two-man patrols walking the grounds, closer to the house now, occasionally lit by flashes of torchlight, and dogs; big, ferocious, mean-looking dogs, straining on their leashes beneath the moonlight.

  Sleep was pushing on my tired eyelids. I’d been unconscious in the cellar so that didn’t count, and I’d dozed slightly earlier, but not enough to really refresh me. Now, so close to escape, knowing my friends were coming, the best thing I could do would be to grab some shuteye, so I’d have enough energy to run when I needed it.

  Somehow, I dozed on the window seat, tucked in amongst the pillows. When I heard footsteps in the room, I thought I was dreaming at first, then almost tumbled from the seat in my haste to throw myself at Evan.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” he mumbled into my hair, embracing me fiercely. He looked tired and drawn, with days-old stubble. A quick glance at the clock told me it was one-fifty in the morning.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, looking past him. Daniel was standing awkwardly by the secret entrance and Étoile and Gage were stepping past him, then Anders and Bree.

  “Saving you,” Evan said, and I thought I might have heard him mutter again.

  Gage hugged me, just a brief squeeze about the shoulders and stepped away quickly, but not before whispering against my ear, “Glad you’re okay. I was worried about you.”

  I put my finger to my lips, signalling to them to be quiet, then to come as far away from the door as possible. Just in case anyone was looking up, I pulled the curtains together.

  “There are two guards at the door,” I told them in a soft voice
as they huddled around.

  “We got your message. Obviously,” said Étoile. She seemed to be dressed in some sort of “fatigue chic” – black turtleneck, tight black pants and boots. “How’d you do that? The shields haven’t dropped once all the time we’ve been watching.”

  “Daniel lowered the house’s protection so I could send it.”

  “Can he be trusted?” Étoile asked bluntly, looking at him. He shifted uncomfortably.

  I shrugged my shoulders. I wanted to say yes, but truthfully, I didn’t know. “He’s helped me this far,” I said, which was fair. I hoped he wasn’t double-crossing us, that this wasn’t some elaborate scheme of Morgan’s to show me how little hope I should have of ever leaving. Something nagged at me when I thought that, but just as the idea was about to form, it went again. “Were both tunnels clear?” I asked him.

  “The one to the stable yard was clear, but it’s not all that stable anymore, excuse the pun. I didn’t have a chance to try the second one. Sorry.”

  “You find out what the Brotherhood wanted with you?” Evan kept his arm around me, but I could see him assessing Daniel, probably wondering if he should take him out.

  I nodded. “A more powerful witch. Daniel is untrained and can’t do everything the Brotherhood wants him to do.” I thought it might be easier for Daniel if I kept his parentage out of it for now. I wasn’t even sure how I was going to break my heritage to my friends. There was more, of course, but all that could wait until later. “They gave me the choice to stay and work for them or die.”

  “And they actually thought turning traitor was an option?” Étoile scoffed. “They clearly don’t know you at all.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Plus, the health benefits would have been crap,” Étoile went on. “Bet the salary sucks too, right, Daniel?”

  “Where’s my sister?” Gage cut in, saving us from Étoile’s amused ponderings. I noticed how strained he looked as he said to me, “Your note said she was hurt.”

  I tried to keep it brief, to spare him the extra worry of how poorly Annalise had been treated. “When I woke up, I was in a room in the cellar with her. She’d been kept in wolf form and collared. I took the collar off but she stayed that way anyway. When they came for me, she went for one of the guards and he tased her. By the time they released me, she was out cold and I haven’t seen her since.”

  “She’s alive,” added Daniel. “I haven’t seen her, but I’ve heard the guards talking. She’ll be kept alive until her execution, uh, obviously. Most of the Brotherhood have never seen one, uh, a werewolf that is, before. Auberon’s planning on making a big spectacle out of her. Like team bonding or something...” He trailed off, as Gage glared at him.

  “This Auberon is the Brotherhood leader?” Evan asked.

  “He’s the man from the TV; that night you saved me from them,” I told him, looking to Étoile. She and Anders nodded thoughtfully. The transmission was sent across every channel that night. Alone, that should have been enough to secure a conviction.

  “They won’t stop with witches once they have werewolves on the agenda,” mused Gage, flexing his hands like he was getting ready for a fight. His eyes had taken on a dark hue, and he looked distinctly wilder tonight. “She’ll be their first kill.”

  “The execution is planned for tomorrow,” I interjected, wishing I could give him some more assurance than that.

  “Good thing we have a full moon tonight. Some werewolf rumours are true, you know. We’ll be at our strongest tonight,” Gage promised.

  “Speaking of tonight,” Evan continued before I had a chance to ask about the possibility of turning from a wolf bite, like I’d threatened Nameless, “We need to get Annalise and go. Stella, it’s too risky to leave you here in this room. Daniel, how long do you think it will be before someone comes to check on Stella?”

  I looked at Daniel. “No one’s been in for a few hours,” I told him.

  “Probably not ‘til dawn, I guess,” Daniel said hesitantly. “It’ll be trickier getting Annalise out, I think. She’s been guarded constantly since she was here.”

  “Will they let you down there?” Anders sat on one of the velvet chairs, crossed his legs and waited while Daniel shrugged.

  “I haven’t been down there the past couple of weeks, so I don’t know.”

  “So what do we do, storm the place?” asked Evan. We were still talking in low voices but that didn’t stop the threat from sounding in his voice. “That’s going to wake up some pissed-off killers.”

  “What about that concoction Auberon tried to make me drink?” I asked Daniel. “You said you could spike their coffee or tea, or something? If they were knocked out, we could get Annalise easily and no one would know a thing until the next guard came.”

  “That might work. I do make them drinks sometimes. I could add a charm to make sure they drink it.”

  “How long will it last?”

  “Depends how strong I make it. A couple of hours, at least.”

  “More than enough time to get Annalise back to the tunnel and get the hell out of here?” Evan asked.

  Daniel nodded, pulling his wrist up to squint at his watch. “The shift changes in ten minutes. It’ll take us five minutes to walk there.” He thought about it a moment longer. “Getting to the cellar will be difficult though. Like I told Stella, there aren’t any tunnels directly into the cellar, so we can only go so far until we’ll need to cross the kitchen. People are in and out of there all the time and that’s where we might be seen. At night, there aren’t as many guards usually, but closer to dawn, there will be more people awake.”

  “Étoile, did you arrange a diversion for the front of the house?”

  “Anders?” she said.

  “Got that covered,” he grinned. “The first phase distracted them long enough for us to get in. Phase two is being put in place as we speak.

  “If we’re going to go, we need to go now,” said Daniel. He handed me a small flashlight and that’s when I noticed everyone else was carrying one too. “When we go through the tunnels, stay close together and don’t make any noise. We’re going to pass a lot of rooms and go downstairs. I’ll tell you when we get to the exit. I’ll slip out and make the tea, then come back for you. From there, we’ll have to cross the kitchen, but it’s best if we don’t all go. There’s too many of us to go back and forth. When we’ve got the were... Annalise, we’ll take the tunnel I brought you in through.”

  “I’m going,” said Gage. “She’s my sister.”

  “Me too,” I added quickly.

  “Then I’m going as well,” Evan threw in, just for good measure.

  We had minutes to huddle together, working through our plan. It was flimsy at best; hopeful at worst, but it was all we had. After a few minutes, when we seemed to all be in agreement, Daniel handed me the bundle of clothes he brought, and my boots. Someone had laundered them and my boots had been cleaned, not polished, but the mud had all been knocked off and it looked like someone had even thought to rinse them.

  I stood in the bathroom, the light off, Evan filling the doorway. Beyond, our small group were talking quietly so I peeled off my mother’s old dress, tossing it over the side of the bath. I wished I had time to take a shower, but that would have to wait until later. Evan stepped forward, and I relaxed against him when he put his hands on my head, examining the wound. “It doesn’t look deep,” he said.

  “I got knocked out... and earlier, well, I hurt my head again.”

  “You might have a concussion. Headaches?” He looked into my eyes, searching. “Blurred vision? Any sickness?”

  “Just a headache and I’m tired; but it’s been a bad few days so that’s hardly surprising.” I stepped into my jeans, then pulled my t-shirt over my head, careful to avoid the parts of my head that ached.

  “As soon as we get out of here, I’ll heal you. I promise.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled up at him, already feeling reassured by his presence. “That would help.”


  “How did your dress get ripped?” asked Evan, quietly, so no one else could hear.

  I paused. I hadn’t realised he’d noticed. “One of them tried to attack me.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “No,” I said, bluntly. “He tried, but he didn’t.”

  “If you see him tonight, point him out,” Evan replied in a thick tone that held the promise of nothing pleasant. “That asshole is going to pay for that.”

  I squeezed his hand, because there were no words to reply to that. Despite his pledge, and the comfort I got just from his presence, there was nothing that could stop the heavy beating of my heart when I thought about how dangerous the next few hours would be to us all.

  Fifteen

  The passageway was narrow, dark and draughty, much as I imagined it would be. We filed in, one-by-one, Daniel taking the lead, then Evan, then I, still holding his hand, then Gage and finally, Étoile, Anders and Bree. We had to press ourselves against the wall for Daniel to slide back and fiddle with a pull cord that closed the door behind us. Then, he pressed again before moving back to the head of the line. Evan’s thumb stroked the thin section of skin between my thumb and forefinger, and I rested my head against his arm for a moment while Daniel readied himself. At last, a beam lit the way ahead and we were off.

  Daniel had travelled the secret tunnels for years so he was surefooted and quick, while the rest of us just concentrated on making as little sound as possible as we passed between rooms, only a few bricks separating us from our enemies. Upstairs, the house was quiet, the rooms either empty or the inhabitants sleeping. When we descended a steep flight of stairs, with barely enough space to put a whole foot on a tread, I started hearing noises from the adjoining rooms, snatches of conversation, a scrape of a chair. Obviously, some of the household were still awake. Bad news for us.