––––––––

Still impersonating Bull, Ossian ran to the closest wall and slapped his hand against the stone, shouting in a panicked voice, “Veronika is gone! I repeat, Veronika is gone!”

He wiped damp palms on his pants.

Sen appeared, eyes blazing mad. “How did that happen?”

Ossian had expected Sen’s immediate and angry response, but not the primal fear that arose in him from the surge of Sen’s power. He was in up to his neck. No going back now.

He either pulled this off or Sen would unleash a vicious fury on Bull. Ossian wasn’t sure he could maintain his Bull façade if Sen tortured him.

Wrong thing to think about.

“What the fuck is going on, Bull?” Sen ordered.

“Hey, you said this place was secure. You didn’t say nothin’ about that crazy bitch bein’ able to open her cell.”

Sen looked past Bull to where Veronika’s cell was hidden behind a stone wall. “It’s still rock.”

Giving a sarcastic snarl, Bull said, “Of course it is. She opened it and reset the wall, then freakin’ vanished.”

“Why didn’t you stop her?”

“I go after trolls and an occasional demon that skips out on a deal. Fighting crazy witches is over my pay grade, bud.”

Sen’s face looked like a monster hid inside, waiting to be released. He strode over to the wall and cleared it with a flip of his hand.

When the rock disappeared, red smoke filled the space that should be her cell.

“Veronika!” Sen shouted. “If you’re screwing with me using some illusion tactic, you will not like the way you spend the next hundred years.”

Not a sound came from the cell.

“Told you,” Ossian said in Bull’s deep voice.

“Shut up,” Sen warned. Then he bit out a string of words and opened the ward sealing her in.

Red smoke boiled out of the room.

Bull coughed and choked, but he followed Sen in and almost ran into the liaison, who turned around and shouted, “Get the fuck out of here so I can tell if anyone else is in this room.”

“Ah, hell. You tell Dakkar I quit. I don’t need your shit.”

Sen pointed at Bull and flipped his hand.

Still appearing as Bull, Ossian ended up outside the mountain, standing in the wooded parking area. Shit, shit, shit.

Where was Veronika?

Ossian changed to his Emilio image, which drained his energy, but he needed to dump Bull immediately with Sen on the warpath.

He walked over to his car, mumbling, “What am I going to do now?”

“Anything I ask.”

Ossian spun around to find Veronika standing ten feet away in a red robe that flowed to the ground. The woman was a knockout with thick, black hair streaked with white, and blue eyes full of fire.

He started laughing. “We did it.”

“Yes, but I am the one who left Sen locked in that cell.” She smiled and he felt his body reacting to her. “He will escape, but I will be hidden by then.”

She’d been a bitch back in her cell, but who wouldn’t be in a bad mood in there? He let out a quick breath of relief. “All I have to do is contact Queen Maeve and—”

The air around him blurred and heated at the same time.

He heard Veronika’s voice at a distance, but none of the words made sense. The harder he tried to see her, the more his eyes burned. His world tilted out of shape. Then his body twisted back and forth, changing from one shape to another as if his majik had corrupted.

“Do you understand me, Ossian?”

He shook off the dizziness and said, “What?”

“I asked if you’re ready to do your duty.”

He lifted his hands and touched his face. Yes, he was Ossian, instead of Emilio. Duty. He did have a duty and it wasn’t to this witch. He stepped back. “What are you trying to do? I am Cathbad’s best operative. Don’t make the mistake of trying to mess with me or my majik.”

“Forget about Cathbad and Queen Maeve. You now work for me.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Never happen.” Opening his mind to call Cathbad, he tried to reach out and hit a wall of pain that dropped him to his knees.

Veronika spoke in a language that sounded almost Russian, but that shouldn’t be right. He’d studied her history. She was part of the ancient KievRus dynasty of witches, which originated in Ukraine.

When he could breathe again, he looked up to find dark spirits hovering just above the ground in a circle that started and ended with Veronika. They had him in the middle.

She said, “These are my ancestors. I do not disturb them often. You will do as I say, or I will hand you over to them.”

Standing again, he said, “You don’t want to do this, Veronika. Queen Maeve will come for me.”

“I do hope so. She’s on my list of people to teach a lesson for trying to enslave me.”

His heart sank, but he bluffed, “That’s not true. She and Cathbad want to form an alliance with you.”

Veronika laughed out loud and the spirits mimicked her laugh, silencing when she did. “No one is my equal.”

Ossian suffered true panic. He searched for a way to get through to her. “Don’t you want Witchlock back? Queen Maeve and Cathbad will help return it to you.”

Veronika looked at him with disdain. “You really expect me to believe that your queen will lend a hand in returning Witchlock to me when it will make me more powerful than the deities ruling your miserable Tribunals? Queen Maeve is not that stupid and I’m insulted that you think I am so easily manipulated. Now, it’s time to bring you into the fold.”

“No. You gave your word!”

“And I intend to keep it. I did not say when I would tell her Quinn’s secret. If she lives long enough to meet me, then I’ll tell her.”

Ossian started sweating, big-time. Desperate now, he shouted, “Cathbad, call me home now!”

Nothing happened.

Nothing except giving Veronika more pleasure. “I do love to watch one like you squirm. You can stand still or not. The power of my ancestors will prevent anyone from seeing us or entering this spot until I’m finished.”

“You can’t compel me. Cathbad built in preventive measures in case I was captured.”

Ignoring him, Veronika continued explaining, “Relax and ... well, it won’t make this any easier for you. In fact, it’s going to hurt. A lot.”  She pointed both hands at Ossian.

He stood strong, trying to convince himself that she could not break Cathbad’s majik.

She could not compel him.

She could not ...

Pressure expanded in his head. Words shot around his mind like poison darts, stabbing him with excruciating pain.

He screamed and screamed. His body twisted in and out of shape again. His eyes bled. Foam poured from his mouth. He started choking.

Veronika said, “Do not die!”

His eyes bulged. My duty is to die.