Father nodded, glancing thoughtfully at the gleaming motorbike parked on the asphalt.
A sharp whine preceded a rumblingboomthat made the ground shiver. A deafening explosion cracked across the cleared, and everyone flinched around to see the charred remains of thetransport vehicle. Body parts and a siren’s tail lay amongst the rubble, the wide truck now a skeletal husk of metal.
A winged figure fast approached from the billowing black smoke. Zia eagerly darted off to meet Rowan, pulling him into a tight hug. They rocked slightly mid-flight, whispering into each other’s ears.
But another movement across the road caught my attention: a figure staggering into the opposite woods, carrying another.
Judging from the uttered curse from Jon, I wasn’t the only one who noticed. But red and blue lights rivaled the blaze of the fire along the stretch of disrupted highway. If we lingered to hunt them down, we risked being caught and arrested. And then my hopes of seeing my family would be well and truly vanished.
Cliff was the first to turn away. “They’re on foot in a forest fire,” he muttered. “Let’s leave them to burn and get the fuck outta here.”
22
Sylvia
Before meeting Delilah, my only firsthand encounter with witches was the coven that had been picking off firstborn sons of a rural town as unwilling fodder in their quest for power. The same coven that I had helped Jon and Cliff eliminate in a brutal affair of pus and dismembered body parts.
With that wretched memory still stirring as Lee steered the car down a remote mountain road, I expected Delilah’s safehouse to be some moss-covered bungalow tucked into a crevice. But Eros and his people had seen our faces and knew our names; we’d all be damn lucky to even take shelter in a muddy hole in the ground right now.
“Here, my love,” Delilah murmured, setting her hand on Lee’s arm.
He pulled the car to a stop, never mind that we were in the middle of nowhere. The view was breathtaking: towering snow-capped mountains stretched out, overlooking the glittering amber jewel of Aspen below.
I grimaced at the thought of the Crimson Gala guests who were getting out of this entire ordeal with little more than emptyluggage.Fuckers.And more harrowing still, would the event continue on schedule, furthering the exploitation of non-human creatures and cursed objects to only those who could afford the cost of entry?
I tucked the dark, brewing questions to the back of my mind. I was tired, hungry,achingall over. We all were.
Gnawing wind howled as Delilah climbed out of the idling sports car, Lee’s tuxedo jacket clutched around her. Her long hair was swept by the frigid gusts as she placed her wrist against the rocky wall rising above us. No, not her wrist—a delicate silver bracelet. Her lips didn’t move. The jewelry alone seemed to be some sort of key.
In a matter of seconds, a deep resonatingcracksounded through the stone. Fissures formed at the rock by her feet, growing upward. Delilah hardly paid it mind as she rushed back into the comfort of the heated car.
“A bit dramatic, isn’t it?” Zia remarked, a teasing lilt to her voice. No doubt she was trying to diffuse the tension that gripped the interior of the car like smog.
“I find flair suits me best when married with function,” Delilah said, still shivering a little.
I heard Jon give a little awed breath as the final pebbles rolled down the pavement. He and I shared a faint, awed smile as Lee took a sharp turn and drove right through the opening. Normally, I’d have expected Cliff to reproach Jon for even a moment of admiration for witch magic, but tonight, we’d be lucky if we got more than a single syllable out of him. He had been silent the entire ride.
A low, scraping rumble caught my ear. Behind us, the stone was already reassembling like a vast puzzle of shards and pebbles, obstructing the path forward once more.
Within minutes, the fir trees opened up to reveal a towering home nestled into the mountainside.
“Of all my safehouses, this is one of my favorites. And most recent,” Delilah said. She lifted her right hand and made an elegant motion, and in sync, the floor-to-ceiling windows blinked into life with warm, inviting illumination from within.
Recent.Somehow, that calmed me a bit. She and Lee had planned for the possibility of the plan to go awry. Even if we had escaped without being tailed, there was a comfort in knowing we benefited from their paranoid preparation here.
“How many of these places do you have?” I asked.
“Disclosing that would negate thepointof the whole secrecy aspect, wouldn’t it?” Though weary, she managed to shoot me a soft smirk. “I’ll admit to ten, on the record. Just don’t think you three can give us a ring to use them as a summer home. I’ve spent too long perfecting my system to have it fucked up now.”
I gave a soft snort at that, but almost at once, the notion of staying was tempting. Far from a hovel, her safehouse was a stunning, modern structure towering three stories. Despite the rustic materials that composed the exterior, the spotless glass revealed modern, ample amenities waiting inside.
I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything different, even though she was a witch. If Lee and Delilah were going to hunker down to evade repercussions, they would certainly be doing so in style.
Inside, magic was subtly rooted everywhere. I wasn’t sure the hunters could feel it the way I did, but Zia and I exchanged intrigued glances as we flew deeper into the house. The air hummed gently, thrumming as though every other object had been touched by some sort of spellwork. It wasn’t wicked magic, but it wasn’t all warm and inviting, either.
Singed roses, both bitter and sweet.
Delilah brought us to a row of guest bedrooms on the second floor and instructed us to help ourselves, completing a very half-hearted tour before vanishing up the narrow spiral stairs tothe uppermost floor to change. Lee was hot on her heels, still cradling an unconscious Ben in his left hand. He slipped his free arm around her back; she’d tried to hide it, but she was wincing every time she put weight on her injured leg.
