Karin trailed after Leif, Daide, and a couple of whale Shifters, mulling over the sequence of events. Her medical bag dangled from one hand. Maybe Nona had acquiesced so quickly because she was protecting her unborn child. Surely there was a way to extract the child’s magic. She shuffled through possibilities, grateful when the tunnel expanded vertically, and she could walk upright.

One spell popped up several times. It would strip the child of all its magic, Witch and Shifter alike, but leave it viable. If they needed to take action, it would be the one they’d employ.

Maybe. The casting was intricate, and Karin wasn’t certain how well it would work on an unwilling participant. The Witch certainly wouldn’t view relieving her unborn baby of magic as a plus, and her fighting the spell would complicate things.

We’ll cross that bridge when we have to.

Ready for damn near any development, Karin trudged onward. Still weary from her near brush with death, she marshaled her resources and sent warm thoughts inward to her bondmate. It whined softly.

Nona sat next to the fire with a whale on either side of her. She looked up as everyone filed into the cavern. “See?” She furled both brows into an insolent expression. “The dolphins were right where I said they’d be, weren’t they?”

“Were you always this unlikeable?” Karin asked.

“Probably. Were you always an overbearing bitch?”

Karin laughed. “I’ve been called worse, young woman.”

“Bet I’m not much younger than you.”

Karin wasn’t going to go there, so she didn’t take the bait. Instead, she shouldered to the front of the line and stood a foot in front of Nona with her magic engaged as she hunted for a developing embryo.

A harsh laugh interrupted her search. “I’m not pregnant. Not for lack of effort, mind you, but the spawn didn’t take.”

“You’ll excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.” Karin moved closer. Since the Witch knew what she was up to, she employed an obvious spell. “Fascinating,” she muttered. “You told the truth. You were pregnant, but you aren’t anymore.”

Nona shrugged. “Maybe the sea Shifter would care for a rematch?” She batted aquamarine eyes Leif’s way.

He didn’t dignify her suggestion with a reply.

“We should get out of here,” Juan said.

“I’m coming with you,” Nona announced.

“The hell you are,” Aura countered. “We hate Witches, and you’re none too fond of us.”

“Aye,” Zoe chimed in. “Aura is correct. You’ll remain here.”

“But I’ll die if I’m by myself.” The defiant tilt to her chin lowered a notch, and she sounded worried.

“Throw yourself on the humans’ mercy,” Karin suggested.

“Pah. They’ve been Vampire fodder for ten years. Assuming any remain, which is doubtful, they’re unlikely to have warm fuzzies for me.”

“The Vampire is dead.” Juan leveled his gaze at her.

“One of them,” she shot back.

“How long since you’ve laid eyes on either one?” Aura arched one blonde eyebrow.

“Why do you suppose there are only two since they can easily replenish their ranks?” Nona blew out a noisy breath. “It’s not as if any of us went looking for them. Vampires never make good bedfellows. They only want one thing: blood. Now. About taking me with you...”

The air in the cavern altered, but so subtly Karin might not have noticed if she weren’t paying close attention. She took a measured breath, assessing her impression before she reacted and spooked everyone unnecessarily. Maybe she was imagining the difference. It wasn’t as if she weren’t on edge. Moving quickly, and she hoped accurately, she latched onto the place where the warp and weft of the ether felt off.

A vibration, one that shouldn’t be present, pinged sourly, twisting her gut into an unpleasant knot. A second pulse—stealthy and faint—throbbed beneath the first before winding around it.

“Enough!” Karin dropped her bag and lobbed magic at Nona from both hands. The whales on either side of the Witch didn’t ask questions. They threaded their brand of power into Karin’s spell until Nona was encased in silvery interlocking metal rings.

“Ought to hold her,” one of the whales observed.

“What was she doing that we missed?” the other guardian asked.

The vibration ceased abruptly, and Karin unclenched her jaw. She narrowed her eyes. “Plotting to unhinge the integrity of this cave. Bet there’s a magical lynchpin somewhere. Give it a good, hard tug, and the whole shebang would have crashed on our heads, burying us.”

“You can hardly blame a Witch for trying,” Nona muttered. “If you’d been willing to take me with you, I’d never have considered such a thing. In fact, you can still change your minds.”

“Why?” Zoe sneered. “So you can move on to more creative ways to kill us?”

“We do need to leave.” Juan ignored Nona and repeated his earlier words.

“What about the humans?” Aura asked.

“What about them?” Juan sent a pointed look her way.

“We should blast through the warding, so they’re not prisoners in that compound any longer.”

He grinned crookedly. “One of many reasons I love you, my softhearted darling. Come on. The corridor we didn’t take when we were hunting the dolphins should lead us out of here.”

“What about me?” Nona strained against the metal rings, making them rattle discordantly.

Karin shrugged. “We’d have let you walk free. Once we’re gone, the enchantment powering my spell will fade gradually. Give it a month.”

“But I’ll starve.”

“Eh. Not my problem. Never was.” Karin retrieved her bag and turned to follow Juan and Aura, shooing the others ahead of her. As she trotted briskly down the well-trodden dirt, mage light suspended off to one side, Nona’s screams, screeches, and curses followed her.

She snorted. Being cursed by Sirens worried her a whole lot more than being cursed by one lone Witch. And a Witch who’d brought fate crashing down on herself for being stupid.

Daide caught up with her but didn’t say anything. Just loped by her side. The tunnel ended abruptly at a gate fashioned similarly to the first one they’d used magic to annihilate. Everyone was arranged in a semicircle, waiting for them. The night was clear, black, and cold. The sky shot with thousands of stars. The Cataclysm might be hatching evil, but the beauty of the moment stole her breath.

“We’re going to split forces,” Aura said and looked at Karin. “You, Zoe, and I will stop by the human compound, along with Moira and the vultures.” As if in response, the whir of wingbeats sounded overhead.

“Aye, and in case the Vamp’s not as defanged as we’d like to believe, we’re taking these with us.” Zoe pointed at the rifle and saber lying on the ground in front of her.

“Good idea. I didn’t like it much when Nona suggested there might be more than one other Vamp behind that ward. What’s everyone else doing?” Karin glanced around the group and said a hasty prayer to the goddess for keeping them all safe.

“We’re returning to the sea to speed our healing.” Leif bowed slightly. “Once we’ve fully recovered from the witchery and the chemical incursion, we shall join you aboard Arkady.”

“We’re going with the dolphins,” the nearest whale rumbled. The salt smell of the sea thickened around them. Light flared, blue-white and green. When it cleared, the sea Shifters were gone.

“They must be in decent shape if they can teleport,” Karin murmured.

“Aye, ’tis quite a relief,” Zoe seconded the sentiment.

“We need supplies,” Juan said. “Now that the Witches aren’t around to boobytrap everything, I’m going to do a quick reconnaissance. Feel like helping?” He looked from Recco to Daide and back again.

“Sure.” Daide smiled. “Do you have your radio?”

“I do. Assuming we get lucky, we’ll begin collecting items and piling them on the piers. A few Zodiac trips, and we’ll be set for another ten thousand miles.”

“Maybe you’ll come up with food.” Aura sounded hopeful.

“I’ll do my best, but don’t set the bar too high. At most, we’ll find canned and powdered items.”

“If we can get it started, we’ll bring the Citroen back to the pier,” Aura said.

“Excellent.” Daide nodded in her direction. “We have supplies in the trunk.”

“We’ll make certain not to leave them,” Karin assured him.

Juan kissed Aura and took off with the men pacing him on either side.

Moira fluttered to the ground, wings extended. “Damn that Witch. I can still hear her.”

Karin knelt next to her. “Do you want to come with us?”

“Will you have need of us?” She glanced at the vultures circling overhead.

“Probably not,” Karin replied. “Why?”

“I would very much like to spend time with my friends, and then I’ll return to the ship.”

Karin held out an arm, and Moira hopped onto it, long shiny talons curving around her forearm. “You’ll have to tell us all about it, sister. In all my years as a wolf Shifter, no wild pack has ever welcomed me. Tolerated me, maybe, but it began and ended there.” A wistful note ran beneath her words, and Karin understood how much she would have loved to commune with her wolfy kinfolk.

The vulture spread her wings, flapped them a time or two, and rose effortlessly.

Karin pushed upright. “Let’s get this over with.” She snapped up the saber, surprised by how heavy it was.

“Yes, let’s,” Zoe said. “Here’s hoping Vampire number two doesn’t offer us cause to use the weapons.”

“No shit. And that Nona was wrong, and we don’t end up facing off against Vampires three, four, and five.” Aura swung the rifle over one shoulder and pocketed the small pile of shells.

“Too bad we can’t teleport like the sea Shifters,” Karin muttered and plodded away from the Witches’ lair, cutting cross country in the general direction of the crossroads where they’d met the Vampire. His death had been quite a coup. If he was telling the truth about being the father of his race—and she was pretty certain he had been—any sovereignty they retained had just ended.

“Tonight is almost enough to make me not want to stop anywhere ever again,” Zoe said in a low, tired voice.

“Not much has gone according to any type of plan,” Karin agreed. “But we’ve done some good. First in Grytviken where we saved that priest from an eternity of damnation. And wiped out those Vamps in stasis.

“And then at Arctowski, where we rescued those poor sods hiding in an ice cave,” Aura murmured.

“Don’t forget McMurdo and the sea dragon,” Karin said.

“See?” Zoe stepped up her pace. “’Tis exactly what I mean. Everywhere we turn, there’s bad shit.”

“Is that a scientific term?” Aura chuckled.

“No one loves a smartass.” Karin dialed up the lumens in her mage light. The road appeared ahead. She could see it, and they’d move faster once they reached the pitted stretch of asphalt. Bad as it was, it beat the collection of ankle-grabbing brush and holes they were slogging through.

“What if some of the humans want to come with us?” Zoe asked.

“Why would they?” Aura countered.

“Sure and we’ve collected humans elsewhere. This batch like as not won’t be much different, particularly if they’ve been Vampire food for ten years.” Zoe stumbled, caught herself before she fell, and cursed in Gaelic. “I hate shortcuts. We should have retraced our steps.”

“We couldn’t,” Karin reminded her. “The ceiling collapsed behind us.”

“Details.”

Aura sprinted lightly ahead. “Stop it you two. Here’s the road. Let’s play the human equation where it lies. If some want to join us, we’ll see who they are and what skills they offer. We’re still short on crew.”

Karin hurried, surprised how quickly they came across the car they’d left. It felt like part of a lifetime had elapsed since they’d all piled out of the Citroen. She opened the driver’s door, dropped her medical bag inside, and tugged the keys from the ignition. “Lucky for us, the men didn’t hotwire this one. We can drive back.”

Aura charged down the side road leading to the mineral baths. Karin ran after her with Zoe right behind. They came to a crashing halt in front of a swirling darkness, blacker than the night around them.

“Moira told us this compound was well-protected”—Aura craned her neck, looking upward—“but she didn’t say it rivaled Fort Knox.”

“Fort where?” Zoe asked.

“Never mind.” Karin switched to her psychic view to make the ward’s elements visible. “Holy fucking godhead. I don’t get it.” She turned to the other two women. “The Vampire is dead. How could his working transcend his demise?”

“It does add fuel to the argument other Vampires are still viable,” Aura mumbled. “Shit. This thing is endless.”

Zoe walked a few inches closer, peering at the barrier while power jetted from her fingertips. Wherever the bright motes contacted the ward, they sizzled and sparked.

“Help us.” A disembodied voice that sounded as if it belonged to a child, echoed around them. “Please. Help us.”

“What in the goddess’s name is that?” Karin shook herself to clear her thoughts.

“A trap,” Aura replied, her tone sharp.

“Has to be,” Zoe seconded.

Karin ground her teeth together. “Playing devil’s advocate, why is it a trap? Humans produce children.”

“Aye, but not youngsters who can project messages through a magic-imbued barrier. Our hearts were in the right place, but we should leave while we still can.” Zoe dropped her hands to her sides.

“I’m good with that.” Aura nodded tersely. “The humans got themselves into this mess. One of the Vamps is dead. Maybe they can overpower the remaining ones.”

Karin hefted the saber. “Human versus Vampire? We know the outcome to that contest, but we can kill Vamps. Once and for all.”

Aura draped an arm around her shoulders. “I admire your courage, but it will take hours to slice our way through that ward.”

“I’m not so certain even hours will do it,” Zoe muttered. “Not unless we put out a call for reinforcements.”

“That’s it!” Karin snapped her fingers, and the ghostly voice began to wail in the background. No words this time, only a pathetic keening that tore at her heart.

“You said the magic word.” Karin stared at Zoe. “Reinforcements.” Without putting it up for a vote, she raised her mind voice and hoped the whales wouldn’t ignore her.

One corner of Aura’s mouth twisted downward. “Calling the whales, eh? They can teleport, but I bet this ward will stymie even them.” She let go of Karin after a quick, hard hug. “You never did like to lose.”

“You’ve got that right, sister.” Karin sucked in a breath, waiting. If the whales didn’t show up, they pretty much had to leave. The crying child kept right on wailing.

The air off to one side developed an incandescent aspect right before it split into a gateway depositing two whale Shifters. The leader and another male. “Yes?” The lead whale inclined his head.

Meanwhile the other whale strode to the edge of the barrier. “Holy kelp. I understand why they asked for help, but this isn’t straightforward.”

The leader joined him. Power pulsed around him, forming bioluminescent streaks. “Not straightforward at all. Not if we look for a way through it. That ward has more twists and turns than the Minotaur’s labyrinth.”

The ghost child had fallen silent when the whales showed up, but it commenced howling again.

Both whales snapped their heads up. “Poseidon’s balls. What is that?” one asked.

The lead whale shut his eyes and tilted his head to one side, listening. “I’ll be damned,” he muttered and opened his eyes. “It’s a Vampire. If it can be believed, which is unlikely, it’s just as trapped as the humans, and it wants out.”

“Damn. Zoe called it when she said the wailing had to be something magical.” Karin bit hard on her lower lip. “It said help us. I assumed it was a human requesting aid for his kind. If it’s a Vamp, who the hell does us refer to?”

“Not certain I want to find out,” Aura said, “but the Witch did suggest there were several of those fuckers.”

Karin sucked in a tight breath, aware she’d tuned out that part of Nona’s message because she didn’t want it to be true.

“If Vampires are concerned, do we have the luxury of walking away?” a whale countered.

“We can teleport in there,” the other whale said.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” The lead whale rounded on him. “The question is if we’ll be able to teleport back out.”

“Can you bring us with you?” Karin thrust her shoulders back. Last place she wanted to enter was a Vampire den, but they’d be stronger together.

“Yes, as long as it’s not too far,” the whale replied.

“How about the weapons?” Aura asked and waggled the rifle.

The whales exchanged glances. “I’ll handle the saber and rifle,” the lead whale informed them and held his hands out for the weapons. “My compatriot will watch over you.”

“Come close enough to touch me,” the other whale instructed. “This will happen fast, so be ready to launch a defense once we’re on the other side.”

Karin handed over the saber and ran to the whale’s side. He wrapped his beefy arms around all three of them, and magic built around them. Familiar, yet not. She did the best she could to prepare herself. Smoky darkness pushed in from all sides, vanishing almost as soon as it formed. The report of the rifle blasted her ears, and she blinked, willing images to form out of the haze swirling around them.

When it didn’t happen fast enough, she switched to her third eye, but it didn’t help. The rifle blasted again, and she heard the clang of iron against rock. The saber. Who’d snatched it up? She felt for the whale who’d escorted them across the barrier, but he’d moved on. Apparently, his senses were more finely honed than hers.

The barricade obscuring her vision fell away. One whale held the sword. He stood over a rapidly decomposing corpse oozing black ichor. The other swung the rifle, clearly hunting for more Vampires. The two he’d shot lay in crumpled heaps of mottled flesh sloughing off bones. The rotten-egg stench of Vampire was thick and putrid.

Karin switched to shallow breaths and turned in a full circle, taking in a ramshackle, turn-of-the-century structure with a broad veranda. Peeling white paint had flaked off leaving patches of black mold beneath. Smaller buildings lay scattered about, no doubt cabins from when the hot springs was in full operation.

She sent her magic, what was left of it, winging wide and cursed. No humans. Not a single life form beyond theirs met her seeking spell.

“How the hell did they fool the vultures?” Zoe gritted out.

“Simple enough,” Karin replied. “The birds aren’t magical. They’d overfly this place—and even they admitted they hadn’t been near it for a long while—and see humanlike figures moving about.”

“Because they assumed only two were Vampires, the others had to be human by a process of elimination,” Aura growled.

“Precisely.” the lead whale said. “Since we’re here, we should give the place a quick once-over.”

Karin swallowed back a bitter taste, certain whatever they found would turn into fodder for nightmares. Instead of arguing, she said, “I’ll start on this side,” and ran for the cabins to her right.

After the third one proved empty, her ragged heartbeat settled into a plodding rhythm. A shout from one of the whales brought her to the main house at as quick a pace as she could manage. He stood at the top of the steps and shook his head.

“Better you don’t go inside,” he said.

Karin tried to push past him, but he grabbed her arm. “You don’t listen well, land Shifter. I found abominations inside. The basement is sealed to contain the smell. It’s full of cages so small a man couldn’t stand or barely even turn over. Most of them have bodies in them, and the stench is atrocious. The Vamps kept them alive as long as they could. Once they died, they didn’t bother to bury them. The place reeks of pain and fear and death.”

“That bastard outside the cave lied to us.” Zoe drew her lips into a snarl. “He wasn’t the last one after all.”

“Vampires lie. What a surprise,” the lead whale growled.

“But I netted him with a truth spell,” Karin protested, feeling stupid and used and like she should have known better.

“Seems he was able to circumvent it,” the other whale said. “Apparently, he was also the only one who could come and go through the wards, probably to protect the weaker Vamps from the Witches.”

“Can you transport us back to where we left the car?” Zoe asked the whales.

“No need,” Karin said. “All the Vampires are really dead this time, so the barrier should have fallen.”

“Shall we find out?” The lead whale angled his head, a grim smile in place.

They made their way out of the yard. No one said much. Karin had no idea if they were just tired or blaming themselves like she was. Night was fading, and the precise, prickly magic she associated with the ward didn’t rise up to halt their progress.

When they got to the car, she stopped and turned to the whales. “Thank you for heeding my call.”

“Our pleasure.” The lead whale bowed and laid the saber on the ground.

“Indeed.” The other whale handed the rifle to Aura. “We shall see you back on the ship.” A shimmer and a flash, and they were gone.

“Here.” Karin dug the keys out of a pocket and handed them to Zoe. “It’s all yours.”

“Why me?” Zoe settled into the driver’s seat.

“Right hand drive, and I’m exhausted.” Karin climbed into the passenger side and dragged her bag atop her lap.

“I’ll take the back,” Aura said. “I’m still wrapping my mind around how sneaky Vampires are, and why the hell they survived here.”

“It was the ward.” Karin slumped against the broken-down seat feeling springs poke into her back.

“Huh?” Zoe fired the engine and turned the car around.

“I want to know too,” Aura said.

“The Vampire who led us to the Witches probably was the original one.” Karin bit back a groan as puzzle pieces clicked into place. “It’s why he was powerful enough to construct a ward to hold back the changes when we defeated the Cataclysm. Also why his tale about being the first Vampire didn’t set off my truth spell. Even with his ward, I bet the group here felt the effects and were weakened by them.”

“They were obviously out of blood, at least the human variety.” Aura sounded thoughtful. “I’m trying to splice two and two together and figure out what was in it for that Vamp to lead us to the Witches.”

“We’re not known for killing indiscriminately,” Karin said. “I bet he assumed we’d leave enough of the Witches alive, but weakened, to provide blood for a while.”

“We’ll never know.” Zoe pulled up near the docks and shut off the wheezing engine. The sky had developed the pearlescent gray of dawn, and a wind had kicked up.

“Probably not.” Karin pushed her door open. “Pop the trunk, why don’t you? The men’s medical supplies are inside.”

“Sure thing.” Zoe got out and walked around to the back.

The distant thrum of a Zodiac’s motor filled Karin’s ears and made her glad she had a home to go to. Never mind she’d never envisioned herself as the seafaring type. She grabbed Daide’s bag, and Zoe snatched Recco’s. Aura carried the saber and the Remington.

The three of them walked downhill to the pier where the raft had let them off. “I learned something today,” she said.

Aura snorted. “I learned a whole bunch of somethings. Which particular thing caught your attention?”

“You can’t ever take anyone else’s word for anything. And I still loathe Witches.”

Zoe snorted back laughter. “Aye. If we hadn’t strapped on our Crusade outfits and gone off to save the humans, we’d have been in our bunks hours ago.”

Karin dropped Daide’s medical bag at her feet next to her own and held out her arms. The other women let go of their items and crowded close, hugging each other. “We’re damned lucky,” she said.

“You bet we are,” Aura seconded.

“Aye, because we have each other.” Zoe detached herself. “Zodiac’s here. I’m going to grab the rope, and then we can go home.”

Karin tossed medical bags and weapons into the raft. She huddled on a pontoon, and must have fallen asleep because Juan’s hand on her arm shaking her awake was the next thing she remembered. The trip up the gangway and along the corridor to her cabin passed in a haze. Using the boot jack, she pried off her Wellingtons and pitched head first into her bunk.