Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

'No. No, you doona. I trashed your cars, CBs and phones.'

Rydstrom narrowed his eyes. 'Then you did anticipate that we would get free?'

Now Bowe shrugged.

'That will help with the others' anger.'

'Doona give a damn about them. But for your sake, know that I was especially confident of your escaping since the witch led me to believe she could lift the stone as easily as she lifted me tonight.'

Rydstrom glanced in her direction. 'She has little control over her powers and was immediately weakened— they took her swiftly and violently. All the way up to their lair, they bashed her skull against the stones, knocking her unconscious.' At Bowe's expression, he said, 'If it's hard to hear, imagine how it felt seeing it happen and not being able to do a goddamned thing.' He grew quiet, no doubt reliving the sight. Facing Bowe once more, he said, 'Now, why don't you tell me why we can't take her back west?'

'How did you know?'

'Because you didn't simply carry her to your truck and drive away while I was pinned.'

'I came past the armies on the way in. The conflict's exploded since I was last here.'

'I see. Obviously, you lost the Hie. Who won?'

'The vampire.'

'A vampire beat you? And a witch cursed you? Damn, Scot, seems you're having a -all month.'

13

When Mari woke again, she squinted her eyes. She was in a cave? Yes, and Cade was just before her, putting wood on a new fire, his sword lying within easy reach.

She frowned to find he was shirtless, until she realized her head was on his bunched-up shirt. When the flames grew, shadows began to creep up the dusky walls. The light glinted off the wide gold band on his huge bicep and burnished his proud horns.

Mari had always found a demon's horns so pleasing. There were worse sights to wake up to.

As if he felt her eyes on him, he turned and gave her a grin. 'Remind me not to piss you off, witch,' he said, repeating his words from the first night in the tomb.

Hild, Tierney, and Tera entered then, their arms laden with green bananas and another kind of small, round fruit that smelled like melon.

'Look who's awake,' Tera said, pushing her nut brown hair from her face. It was as matted and tangled as Mari knew hers was.

Though the others were obviously strung out with exhaustion and hunger, they were typical immortals, shrugging off the past and looking forward, gamely getting back to their lives.

Would Mari ever possess that talent? She felt like she'd been caught in a twister and left spinning. 'What happened?'

'You blew up the tomb, got snatched by the werewolf, then healed yourself,' Tera answered.

Healed? Her injuries were gone, the dizziness and exhaustion she'd suffered for weeks... faded. She slowly eased herself up to sit against a dank wall. From tomb to cave she'd gone. And she now had to tick off ten hours till dawn before she could see the sun again.

She hugged her knees to her chest and tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. All she knew was that too much had.

Questions hammered at her. How had she blown up the entire tomb? Yes, demolition seemed to be her specialty, but the structure had been the size of a small stadium. Never before had she unleashed that kind of power.

She also contemplated if she would have continued killing MacRieve if Rydstrom hadn't stopped her. And did she want to try killing MacRieve a little again?

As she lifted a hand to her face and patted for injuries, she wondered how she had been completely restored from the damage over the last weeks. 'Are you sure I healed myself?'

Tera nodded. 'MacRieve said these vines covered you and that you were mended within them.'

'Vines?'

'It all seemed very... Wicca-earthy.'

Mari had never been able to heal herself before. She couldn't even rid herself of a hangover with four Advil and a prepaid magick wand.

Of course, she hadn't been able to see into the future before either. Yet just before dusk, she'd woken from a dead sleep, and somehow she'd known she had to get down. She'd finally taken that swan dive, because she'd known MacRieve had returned at last. But how?

'Where's MacRieve now?'

Cade answered, 'Rydstrom's questioning him.'

'Did you catch the look in the Lykae's eyes when she had him pinned?' Tierney said around bites of fruit. 'He'd known she was going to kill him.' He frowned at Mari. 'It's hard to see you now and think you're the one that destroyed the tomb.' Like the others, Tierney was regarding her as if she was a curiosity—with a mix of admiration and wariness. 'You weren't kidding when you said you blow things up, were you?'

'Leave her alone.' Tera sat beside Mari and stroked her tangled hair. 'Can't you tell Mariketa's shell- shocked?'

Shell-shocked, confused, and disgusted by how filthy she was. She could smell the incubi on her and knew she reeked even after being doused in the pouring rain. She was also wondering what the plan was now—

MacRieve and Rydstrom entered the cave. Everyone but Mari scrambled to their feet.

'What the hell is he doing in here?' Cade demanded, his hand shooting to his sword hilt.

'Cade, I'll talk with you outside,' Rydstrom said, his tone brooking no argument. So kingly. 'All of you. I've news I want to discuss.'

Tera cast a scathing expression in MacRieve's direction. 'And MacRieve?'

'Leave him.'

'What if the Lykae tries something with Mariketa?' Tierney asked.

Without looking up, Mari answered in a soft tone, 'If the Lykae tries something with Mariketa, she'll finish what she started before.'

Rydstrom raised his eyebrows at that, then turned for the cave entrance. The others reluctantly followed.

Alone with her, MacRieve paced, glancing at her repeatedly and muttering in Gaelic. She understood a bit of the language—her mother was a druid, after all—and knew enough curse words and the term for witch to pick up the general thrust of his thoughts.

Over MacRieve's muttering, she could hear the others' conversation outside. Rydstrom began by explaining what would happen if Mari didn't call her coven before the full moon and how MacRieve had been handed the task of escorting her back.

The others decided that they would be the ones to see her home for myriad reasons. First, they planned to kill MacRieve directly and so didn't see him available for the role of escort. Secondly, they wanted to protect 'the little mortal'—the archers, because the three saw her as one among the fey, and Cade, because, as he said, 'I bloody feel like it.'

In that case, Rydstrom wanted them to spare the Lykae to allow him to be an extra sword. They would need him, he reasoned, to protect Mari on the journey to civilization because it was more perilous now than when she'd come on her own. The human armies were on the move and posed a real threat to her.

But the others despised MacRieve, couldn't trust him, and all agreed that 'Bowen the Bitter doesn't exactly play well with others.'

Bowen the Bitter? How appropriate.

They also agreed that they didn't know a more brutal, ruthless, and underhanded immortal than Bowen MacRieve.