her hair was down to the middle of her back again and the dark auburn color had replaced the indeterminate brown. It seemed that her Awakening powers were making it impossible to change her hair. Of course, once she got better with her powers, maybe she could try making a change magically.
Disgusted, she flicked the TV off, stood up and paced. If she added up all the steps she’d taken in aimless pacing over the last week or so, she probably could have walked around the world.
So instead she decided to channel her energies into a spell she had studied in the ancient Sanctuary book. If the whole world was looking for her, it was time she did a little searching herself.
She stretched out on the bed, stared up at the ceiling for long, quiet moments and let her mind go blank. She relaxed, counting each soft breath until her body was limp and her soul was lifting from her body. With astral projection, she focused on finding that woman she’d glimpsed once before in a scrying mirror.
Her spirit flew, unfettered, through a starry night, past homes with people tucked inside. She was a part of the night and yet separate. She searched for one woman in the masses. When she heard the the whispered chant, Shea turned, sweeping unerringly toward her goal.
Her mind searched while her body lay still on the bed, an empty shell. Bright lights pulled at her; the chanting voice became more distinct.
A woman sat alone in a dark room, features obscured by shadows thrown by the flames of a dozen white candles. White, Shea thought, for purification and protection rituals.
“I feel you,” the woman said, head bent over the dancing flames. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Why are you after me?” Shea asked, fighting to keep the connection with this woman. “It was you who sent those men who burned down the motel, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” she answered and though Shea couldn’t see her expression, she knew the woman was smiling. “But don’t worry. I don’t want you dead.”
“That fire was probably a mistake, then,” she said, sensing the banked power inside the woman.
“A miscalculation. The fools were supposed to take out your Eternal and bring you to me.”
“Why?”
“Because, Shea,” the woman sighed, “separate, we are each powerful but limited. Together, we would be unstoppable.”
“Who are you?”
“No more questions!” The woman waved one hand and Shea felt herself tumbling back the way she’d come, only to drop into her body, staring blindly up at the ceiling.
Breath heaving in and out of her lungs, Shea fought to steady herself. She’d heard the voice of her enemy. Felt the power surrounding her. And Shea knew the woman was far more powerful than she was.
She sat up slowly, her magic bubbling up inside her. Drawing down the moon had been dangerous, but worth it as well. She never could have attempted what she had just done without it. The renewal spell she’d worked had made her stronger. Just as mating with Torin was strengthening her powers. It eased her, knowing he was hers. Knowing that he would be beside her no matter what. Though she wasn’t looking forward to telling him about the woman she had just seen and spoken to.
After all, she’d seen for herself what she and her sisters had done centuries ago. The call of the power had been so seductive, they’d only wanted more. And they’d surrendered to something dark and evil. She couldn’t yet see it all. Couldn’t find the mental key to that lock, but she felt the danger in her bones. And that worried her.
If she’d been tempted to evil before… what would keep history from repeating itself?
Maybe it was because she was already charged magically. Maybe her defenses were down after her encounter with the woman in the shadows. But whatever the reason, one memory suddenly rose to the surface of her mind, sweeping Shea into a past that was still alive with power.
The cold, dark night was lit only by the occasional whips of lightning darting across the sky. Clouds covered the moon, but its brilliance still managed to stain the edges of its covering with silver ribbons. Wind howled and the nearby sea crashed against the rocks on the shoreline.
Torin grabbed her arm as she walked up the hillside, her steps sure, her features set in an expression of grim determination. She stopped and glared at his hand on her arm.
“Don’t do this,” he said, his voice deep, urgent. “Can you not feel the darkness hovering close? The air itself screams.”
“You worry too much,” she said, with a shake of her head as she slipped past him on the path. “My sisters and I know what we’re doing.”
“No, you don’t.” He flashed into flames and blocked her way. “Your thirst for power is making you all blind to what is really happening.”
“What do you know of power?” she demanded, gathering her cloak and pushing past him once more.
Overhead, clouds gathered and lightning crashed. The wind was cold and sharp and the sigh of the sea droned like the heartbeat of a restless god.
“As Eternals,” she reminded him haughtily, “it is your duty to stand beside us. To defend. Protect. Not to mewl about danger when you lose faith.”
His pale gray eyes flashed and swirled with explosions of magic as he reached out to take hold of her. He shook her hard, until the cowl of her cloak dropped away. The wind instantly lifted her long, dark red hair into a tangled halo around her head.
“My brothers and I stand as warriors. We are chosen to defend you all, even from your own arrogance.”
“Arrogance?” She echoed the word with a wild laugh. “Is it arrogance to know who and what you are? What you are capable of? No, Eternal. It’s you who are arrogant. To think you could stop us from what we know we must do.”
“I am not the mewling weakling you think me, cowering in the night,” he told her, face grim, eyes still swirling dangerously. “I am the warrior who has never failed to be beside you in times of danger. Yet I’ll not be silent when I see you walking blindly into disaster.”
The icy wind tossed her hair across her eyes and she paused to pluck it free. Staring up at the giant of a man who was both lover and guardian, she forced a smile and fought for patience.
“Torin, do you not understand how much more we will be when this is completed? We have left the cloister of Haven to draw the magics through the Artifact for the good of all of us. Can you not see the lure of the knowledge we will gain?”
“At what cost?” he countered. “Do you barter your soul?”
She frowned, out of patience, out of time. “If it comes to that, it is my soul to do with as I will. Come with me or don’t, Eternal. But do not think to stop me. I go to the stone dance to join my sisters.”
“Shea?” Torin’s hand on her shoulder drew her up out of the memory and she shivered as it faded.
“God, you tried to warn me, didn’t you?”
“What?”
She was shaking. Trembling from head to toe in the aftermath of that memory. She could still feel the bite of the wind, hear the ocean, see the banked fury in Torin’s eyes.
“Back then,” she said. “Back in the Dark Ages or whatever, you tried to warn me. You tried to stop me-us- from opening that damn door. I wouldn’t listen.”
Still naked and damp from the shower, he drew her to the edge of the bed, sat down, then pulled her after him. She went willingly, curling up on his lap, burrowing her head into the curve of his shoulder. “And not much has changed over the centuries,” he murmured.
She tipped her head back. “Do you really believe that?”
He met her gaze and gently smoothed her hair back from her face. “No. No, I do not. You’re still stubborn, but there is no great thirst in you, Shea. You’ve learned there are limits to everything. You still won’t listen to me, but…”
She slapped him. “I listen. When I want to.”
“Ah. Yes, a fine distinction.” He waved one hand and her clothing disappeared. Shea was grateful. She needed to feel the heat of his skin against hers. The solid strength of him.
“It’s all I can promise, Torin.” She looked up at him.
“As I suspected,” he murmured. Then his hand stilled on her back. “We have to leave again, Shea.”
“I know.” She chewed at her bottom lip.
“What?” He glowered at her until Shea opened her mind to him and he saw for himself what she had done
