County Kilkenny, Ireland
A vine as thick as his arm wrapped Storm’s neck. His claws had extended the second he was attacked.
Daegan fought off his own rabid plant.
Storm was desperate for information, but it would do him no good if they didn’t both survive. He wasn’t sure he could get out of here without Daegan.
Spirits with open mouths filled with sharp teeth screamed loud as banshees. He saw only fifteen or twenty.
Sounded like a hundred.
Maybe these were banshees.
This place reeked of Noirre majik, like one big, disgusting cloud of it.
More vines wrapped Storm’s chest and began squeezing like a massive green python. Two new vines curled around his ankles.
Sharp spikes stabbed his chest.
He snarled and began shifting into his jaguar.
Daegan roared at the spirits, “Cease or I will destroy you!”
The attack continued.
As Storm’s jaguar came forward, he clawed at the vine cutting off his air.
In the next second, Daegan’s power exploded as he shifted into a dragon, allowing fire to boil around his own fangs.
Everything stopped at once.
The spirits quieted.
Weeds stilled.
But Storm finished his shift and slashed his way free.
Vines whimpered and withdrew, coiling back to the host bodies stretched over the floor from one side to the other of this cavern.
While Storm could smell the Noirre, there were no other odors such as a preternatural scent he could match to the one he’d found outside and in the Atlanta Folk Art Park.
His jaguar roared, just as ready as Storm to attack out of pure frustration, but Storm had gained more control after returning from the demon underworld. He was forced to hold that control in a tight fist now.
He’d wait to see what Daegan had in mind, since the dragon had staked its claim as the alpha in the room.
The stalemate might not last long once the spirits and plants figured out they actually had the upper hand here. There was enough Noirre here to blow this cave out of the ground and take out miles of land.
It wasn’t as if the spirits could die.
Daegan’s dragon mouth opened and words spoken in a deep voice suited to a creature his size said, “We did not come to steal Noirre or to harm your resting place. If you will answer our questions, we will leave you alone and never return.”
No one offered a reply.
Storm’s jaguar panted, not from being out of breath, but a sign he did not want to be held back. The plants were covered in long thorns and bright red flowers.
Beautiful in a strange way. Deadly in a real way.
The puncture wounds on his chest stung like crazy.
A small, female child spirit floated forward, away from what appeared to be her skeletal remains. Her spirit form was missing a hand, as was her skeleton.
Even if someone chopped that off before she died, wouldn’t she have it back now as a spirit?
For such a small thing, she had a voice right out of a horror movie. “Who are you to ask anything of us?”
Daegan’s dragon said, “I am the dragon king of Treoir, son of King Gruffyn. I am two thousand years old and know of your murders. Had we been allies then, I would have flown here to protect you.”
Her head tilted in a confused dog look. “Why?”
“Because I had two sisters. I would have destroyed the world to protect them.”
Way to go, Daegan. Storm hoped that won them a few points.
Vines curled and slowly moved forward.
Maybe not.
Storm growled low at the vines. They quickly retreated, but this standoff would not last forever.
The female looked around and every spirit focused on her. Were they communicating silently?
When the spirits returned their blank stares to Daegan and Storm, the young girl slowly floated back around to face them, too. “What do you wish to know?”
Since Storm could not speak in animal form, Daegan had to handle the negotiation. “We are looking for one of ours who has been taken. We wish to know who was the last person to visit this cave and ask for a Noirre plant.”
She kept moving her head as she pondered her answer. “Family.”
Storm wanted to growl at them to be more specific, but Daegan’s patience was paying off.
“That explains one thing then,” Daegan commented.
“What would that be?” she asked, genuine curiosity in her question.
Daegan said, “That explains how someone entered your domain and left with his life and a plant.”
She said nothing to counter Daegan’s words, which in Storm’s mind confirmed that it was indeed a male.
Gently pressing her, Daegan said, “I would like his name.”
“Do you wish to kill him?”
Storm lifted his jaguar head to meet Daegan’s reptilian gaze. Hoping the dragon understood, Storm nodded his head up and down. He avoided lying to spirits. That never went well even if the consequences came years later.
Swinging his big head back to eye level with the young girl, Daegan explained, “That depends on whether the man has harmed this jaguar’s mate.”
The smooth skin on her forehead furrowed. She stared at Storm’s jaguar for a long moment. “Why would he hurt your mate?”
This was too difficult in animal form.
Storm shifted back to human shape and Daegan immediately covered his body in jeans and a T-shirt. Even in this young girl’s time, speaking to a naked man at her age was not appropriate.
Nodding at the dragon, Storm squatted so that he would not be standing above her. “I’m not sure yet exactly what your relative has done, but I believe he was involved because pure Noirre has been discovered where my mate was attacked and kidnapped. I’m desperate for any help in finding her.”
The girl’s eyes swelled as if she was about to cry, which would be a trick for a spirit. “No. This descendant swore he would use Noirre to avenge our deaths and harm no female or child.”
Storm realized she was telling the truth and she must have made it clear about not hurting a female or child because of what had happened to those who died in this cave.
This sucked, but he had to tell her. “He lied.”
She floated backwards slowly.
Uh oh.
Daegan said, “She doesn’t believe us.”
Storm asked, “Please don’t attack. Tell me how we can prove to you that we’re telling the truth.”
She conferred with her spirit family once again. After the stretched silence, the girl came forward, but only halfway.
What did that mean?
Daegan lifted his head, wings back and ready.
But the girl said to Storm, “Swear on your family’s blood that you tell the truth. If you give that oath in here and fail to tell the truth, you will regret it.”
Daegan rumbled a noise, but Storm couldn’t look up and lose the tiny connection with this spirit. There were many reasons why he shouldn’t consider giving that oath, the first of which was that he had no absolute evidence that the kidnapper was her relative.
His gut said it was. He was going with that, but he still wanted to make an educated guess with something this important. “Can I ask one question first?”
She cocked her head, which he took as a yes.
“When was the last plant taken from here?”
“I have no sense of time, but it has not been long.”
Daegan picked up Storm’s line of questioning and asked, “When was the last plant taken from this cave before that?”
Energy rippled through the room.
Spirits moaned and swayed.
The female clenched her little fist, looking ready to put a beatdown on someone. Her voice went two octaves lower. “Was a very long time ago. A goddess sent her army, then her mage and then a druid who stole from us.”
Lifting a hand to ask for peace, Storm said, “I’m ready to give my oath.”
When silence descended again, he gave his oath. “I swear on the blood of my ancestors who were honorable Navajos in a new world you would not know about. And I swear on my own blood that you are welcome to take my life if I lie, because I am willing to give my life to save my mate.”
Whispers erupted behind her. The little girl lifted her only hand without turning, and all spirits quieted.
Storm continued, “I ask only that regardless of what you determine, I be allowed to save my mate before you claim my life. A person used pure Noirre only one day ago where we live in another land. I don’t know if the person who wielded the pure Noirre majik was the descendant of your family, but if that is the only person to visit you recently and leave with a plant, then it is possible. He is either the one who attacked my mate and kidnapped her or he gave the Noirre to someone else who did. I had placed an emerald chakra stone on my mate’s chest using majik so that I could always find her. The person who took her from me clawed the stone out of her body and left the bloody emerald on the ground, then teleported away.”
The female gasped at that. She shook like a volcano on the edge of erupting.
She screamed a high-pitched wail that doubled anything they’d first heard.
Daegan shifted back to his human form with his clothes on, and clamped big hands over his ears.
Storm covered his, but he was still alive, which he took as an encouraging sign.
When the spirit finished her fit of anger, she trembled, still a child at heart. “He lied to us.” She pointed to the skeleton that matched her size. “I gave him my own hand, which became a single plant once it was removed.”
Storm cringed at the child giving up a hand even if it was from her bones. Spirits were energy and her spirit had suffered for a long time. She shouldn’t have to sacrifice even more.
He offered, “If we return your plant, will that replace your hand?”
“No. It cannot be replaced, just as half of that body cannot be returned.” She pointed to a spirit with only an upper body. “The druid stole that.”
That would be Cathbad the Druid. Storm sensed that he and Daegan had stayed past the point of remaining safe. “Will you now please share the name of the descendant you gave the plant?”
The girl’s spirit still shook. She floated back and forth in an agitated state. The others mirrored her movements.
Storm glanced at Daegan, who looked just as concerned. They were losing her.
Still angry, she stopped abruptly as if realizing Storm and Daegan were still present. “He is called La Cuchilla.”
Daegan gave a small shake of his head. He didn’t recognize the name. Neither did Storm, and his stomach dropped. He could translate the Spanish words that meant “The Blade,” but La Cuchilla was not a Celtic name or any name he’d ever heard.
But it was another lead. Something instead of nothing.
Storm addressed the girl and her group. “Thank you for sparing our lives and sharing that information. What can we do for you in return?”
Her face softened. “Why would you offer us anything when a descendant of my blood has harmed your mate?”
Storm smiled a little. “I would give you eternal peace if I had that power. None of you harmed my mate and should not be held responsible. Also, if you knew my mate, you’d know that she would be disappointed in me if I did not offer what I could. I’m sorry for what happened to you and your people. I wish we had not needed to disturb you.”
Swirling around in a blur of motion, she consulted silently with the other spirits. All heads nodded to her, then the girl returned to address Storm and Daegan. “We wish to never be disturbed again. If we are, we will move throughout the cave to bring others in to be with us.”
That threatened human lives of the cave exhibition staff and visitors.
Giving their situation thought first, Storm admitted, “I can’t guarantee another descendant will not attempt to come here in the future.”
Her face fell.
Why did he feel like he’d stomped a puppy when he was trying to be honest? He quickly continued, “But this dragon shifter and I can create a blood ward outside the entrance to your place of rest to prevent any other supernatural beings from entering, and possibly even a descendant. You should know that it will also prevent you from leaving as well.”
Sounding more like a spirit who had been around for centuries now, she said, “This is where we will all remain forever. We have no wish to leave. We want the ward.”
Daegan asked, “What do you wish done with your descendant when we find him?”
Storm growled at possibly being prevented from making the kidnapper pay for harming Evalle.
Daegan shot him a work-with-me look.
The female didn’t smile, but her voice lightened to that of a child this time. “You may do as you please. It will not prevent him from paying his debt to us for breaking his oath.” She paused. “And he did not teleport here to visit.”
Storm started asking, “What is the consequence of ... ”
She pointed to the wall. “Leave now.”
Daegan didn’t hesitate. He teleported them to the tunnel where Storm and Daegan placed a ward that would require the both of them working together to break.
Storm said, “That will protect the humans who remain in the public area of the cave, but that won’t stop the Medb and others from wielding Noirre majik that is currently out in the world.”
“This is true, but that is not our concern at this moment.”
“You don’t know anything about La Cuchilla, do you?”
“Sadly, no, but we have the largest force of warriors in the world. We will find him.”
Storm believed that, but would it be soon enough for Evalle?
Daegan asked, “Did you catch that last part?”
“What specifically?”
“When she said, ‘He did not teleport here to visit’.”
“That’s right,” Storm murmured. “Wonder what she meant? He has to be teleporting to get around from continent to continent and inside here.”
“It is curious, but he does walk or use other transportation on occasion based on what Reese discovered. He may have entered a different way than we did.”
Daegan teleported them outside to join the group.
Quinn immediately asked Daegan, “Please teleport Reese home.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that you do not make my decisions?” Reese said, shoving her face up at his face.
Unperturbed by her bulldog spunk, Quinn said, “You’re sick and you won’t tell me why.”
Stepping back, she crossed her arms. “Are we looking for Evalle or not?”
Tristan asked, “Did you two find the Noirre? You don’t stink of dark majik.”
Daegan filled them in, drawing a lot of horrified looks. As he wrapped it up, he said, “As for the Noirre smell, I think it comes from wielding the majik or ripping a plant from the skeleton, though it was said they grew originally from the remains. We slashed vines to break free, but they immediately reformed back to the host skeleton.”
Walking back and forth as Daegan spoke, Storm waited for the dragon to finish before he jumped ahead to his next concern. He asked, “Anyone ever heard of La Cuchilla?”
No one spoke up.
He asked, “Got any idea how to find him?”
Adrianna said, “I have an idea.”