The rogue coven. So it was their dark presence she’d felt.

Ari pushed to the front of the group, spoke the necessary words to vanquish the spell, and snapped her fingers. The fire disappeared, but Andreas still barred the way. “If the witches are inside, is it safe to enter?”

She pushed past him. “Safe or not, I’m going in there. The rest of you, stay here.” She centered herself, wrapped her magic around her, and climbed into the cave. Andreas followed her; Gabriel was behind him, then the others. So much for staying there.

The High Priestess stood near one wall watching two women attack the ceiling with pick axes. Seven witches stood across the room from her; two of them, including Avery, the woman from Cincinnati, held machine guns. The coven had come prepared.

“Stop right there,” the High Priestess ordered. “Dyani, come to me.”

Ari’s jaw dropped as the young tribal woman stepped forward. She hadn’t seen this coming. Gabriel seized Dyani by the arm to stop her.

“Don’t look so surprised,” the priestess said. “Didn’t you wonder how we were always one step ahead of you? Although she held out on us, too, until she couldn’t do it alone. Dyani, come.” The High Priestess turned a glittering look on Dyani, and the woman struggled against Gabriel’s hold.

Andreas began to edge along the outer wall.

“Arianna, tell your vampires to stay where they are and release the girl—or she will die right now. Painfully.”

Ari took a look at Dyani’s face. Slack, unfocused. “Let her go. She’s been bewitched. Her mind and body are under the priestess’s control. She’ll do whatever she’s ordered to do, even die.”

Andreas stopped where he was. Gabriel released his captive, and Dyani shuffled across the room to stand before the High Priestess.

“You were told to delay them,” the priestess said. “Not lead them straight to me. They must have convinced you to show them the letter.”

Dyani nodded; her voice held no inflection. “Yes, I told them.”

“Weakling.” A loud slap echoed as the High Priestess left a red handprint on Dyani’s left cheek. “Do not disobey me again. Kneel beside me until I want you.”

Dyani barely flinched but knelt to obey.

“You don’t need to treat her like that,” Ari snapped. The witch acted more like a dominatrix than a High Priestess. This was not the way a true leader used her power.

Ignoring Dyani, the High Priestess turned her attention to Ari, settled there for one moment, then moved to her companions. Her gaze stopped at Hawkson. “If any of you can decipher the puzzle and speed up this process, I advise you to do so. My patience is running thin.” She moved her hand to Dyani’s bowed head. “Does someone have to die before you take me seriously?”

Sophistrina stepped sideways. “Please, your Highness, let me take care of Dyani.”

The priestess scowled. “You grow too soft, Sophistrina. Beware I don’t decide to replace you.”

Ari heard a stifled gasp, although she couldn’t identify which of the witches had reacted. First Initiates were never replaced, except by their death. Ari felt a wave of disgust. The High Priestess was so caught up in a power trip that she was threatening a sister witch. In most covens that transgression, even by the leader, would be met with expulsion.

“What is taking so long?” The priestess suddenly turned her wrath on the witches hacking at the ceiling. “You.” She pointed to Hawkson. “And you.” She nudged Dyani with her foot. “Take over for them.”

Dyani rose and picked up an axe. Hawkson stood mute.

“If you defy me, the girl dies.”

Hawkson stepped forward and grabbed the other axe handle. He suddenly swung it toward the coven leader, striking her shoulder a glancing blow as she leaped away.

Everyone exploded into action, and one of the witches shouted, “Stop! I’ll shoot.” A rifle barked, one round catching Gabriel in the right leg. Andreas leaped in front of Ari, using his body to shield her against the gunfire. He took two rounds, staggered, and recovered almost immediately. Hawkson aimed a second swing at the priestess, but an animalistic shriek tore through the room. Everyone froze, staring at the blood flowing from Dyani’s eyes, ears, and mouth. A psychic attack.

“No. Stop hurting her.” Hawkson dropped the axe and threw himself across the young woman. “Don’t kill her. It’s my fault.” He pleaded with the priestess as he pulled Dyani into his arms. “We are so few. It’s me you should punish.”

Ari knelt next to Hawkson, but it was already too late. Dyani’s chest heaved in a last gasp, her eyes glazed over.

Fighting the impulse to unleash the lethal power of her fire magic and risk incinerating them all, Ari sprang toward the priestess. A loud rush of pressure deafened her ears as a magical fist hit her, knocking her to the floor. Ari rolled to her feet, her face tight with rage. “As a rep of the Magic Council, I’m officially declaring you a renegade.” Twin blue stuns erupted from her hands, striking the priestess in the chest and abdomen and smashing her against the far wall. Ari rushed forward to stand over the sprawled form. She thrust one hand out, pointing her sparking fingers toward the witch’s heart.

“The fight is over. Or I will burn you where you are.” To remove any doubts, she glanced over her shoulder at the huddled witches. “All of you, if I have to. This ends here.”

The priestess stared up at her, resistance written across her face. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” Ari let her see it in her eyes.

“Listen to her.” Sophistrina stepped forward to appeal to her sisters. “If not, listen to me. This has gone too far.”

The witches looked uncertain at first, then followed Sophistrina’s lead. When they turned their weapons over to Ryan, the priestess finally lowered her head in defeat. Ryan unloaded each gun and handed them to Hawkson. Andreas and Gabriel took charge of the priestess, pulling her to her feet and marching her toward the entrance.

“I think we should get out of here. Something is not right,” Andreas said.

He felt it too? That creepy feeling? Ari’s witch magic spiked. But they had the situation under control, didn’t they?

“What about the girl?” Hawkson jerked his head toward Dyani’s body. “We can’t leave her here.”

“I will have her body brought to the surface.” Andreas urged the others toward the entrance. “Just go.”

“Take the lead.” Ari pushed Ryan ahead of her. “It feels claustrophobic in here.”

Ryan seemed puzzled, but he climbed through the exit. Ari couldn’t explain her sense of urgency—or why Andreas shared it, but she knew she didn’t want to get trapped inside the small room. She urged Hawkson to follow Ryan, then came Gabriel, who had dropped back to escort Sophistrina. Andreas, still maintaining a firm grasp on the priestess, led the remaining coven members, and Ari took the rear. She breathed a sigh of relief when she climbed out of Spirit Cave and followed the others toward the Chamber of Ages.

“Where are the guards?” Andreas’s sharp voice reached back to her.

Holy crap. Ari’s magic flared, sending adrenaline racing through her system. She pushed through the last of the witches and burst into the chamber. The unmistakable, putrid odor of decay hit her. A thin, black fog hung over the room, menace clinging to every particle of air, making it hard to breathe.

Ryan drew his pistol. “Anybody there?” he called. He moved sideways to look behind the nearest formations.

Ari whirled toward a power surge at the far corner of the room.

“Right here.” Ursula emerged from among the columns, like an alien warship decloaking for battle. Blood glistened on her lips and chin, emphasizing the gothic effect of her long, black gown. She dragged one of the vampire guards by the throat. A detached head, rapidly decomposing, dangled from her other hand.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Run! Get out of here,” Ari shouted. Images from the Canadian massacre raced through her head. Hawkson and part of the coven members scattered, scrambling for safety.

Ryan emptied his pistol into Ursula, aiming at areas away from the hand clutching her live victim—the head, the opposite shoulder, her upper chest. The vampiress didn’t even look at him. Ari ran toward Ryan and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You can’t kill her with that. You’ll only piss her off. I need you to get the others to safety.”

“I’ll try to protect them, but I’m not leaving you.” Ryan was calm but determined as he reloaded. “No way.” He turned and urged Hawkson and the witches, including the priestess who had been discarded by Andreas, toward the back of the chamber.

Andreas was confronting Ursula, standing in her path. “Why are you here?”

“I’m afraid one of your friends has been damaged.” The enforcer stopped a dozen feet from Andreas and swung the detached head by its hair. “But you can have it back if you want.” She tossed it in the air.

The last of the coven who had stood fast, watching in horror, now darted back, squealing, to avoid the grotesque missile.

Andreas didn’t so much as flinch. Ari and Gabriel moved forward to flank him on either side. “You are not above vampiric law, Ursula. You have entered my territory without permission and now you have committed murder.” His firm voice exhibited none of the panic that had hit the rest if the room.

Ursula cackled. “Oh, Andreas, you are so entertaining. Hoping to stand on protocol? Are you really demanding that I forfeit my life?”

“Your actions have already done that. Why are you here?”

She laughed, then waggled a finger at him. “You have been a naughty boy.” The amused smirk was belied by the malevolent blood-red haze swirling in her aura. “You have annoyed the elders. You and Daron and your witch. I was sent to solve the problem.”

“You delivered the official warning in Toronto.”

“Don’t be naive,” she snapped. “I wasn’t sent to warn you. My job is to eliminate problems.”