Demon from the Dark

The dozen or so other Valkyrie gathered with them in the great room watched the proceedings intently— they had a stake in Mariketa's quest to find Carrow as well. At least one of their own had been abducted mere miles away from where Carrow had been taken.

So many stolen. Myriad creatures from all corners of the Lore had gone missing, including other witches, one as young as seven. They were rumored to have been captured by the henchmen of an unknown entity, and none of them could be found. The House of Witches, the fey trackers, the powerful Sorceri, none of them could locate their own.

Inhaling for patience, Mari said, 'You have to have seen something.'

Nix frowned over her shoulder. 'Have to have I?' Spinning, spinning.

'Nix, stop it!'

The soothsayer slowed to a standstill, casting Mari a hurt look. Then she flounced to an easy chair.

Extracting info from the soothsayer proved difficult at times. At all times. And Mari had heard that Nix hadn't even been lucid for the last two weeks. But Mari had to try—she was beside herself with worry about her best friend.

To search for Carrow, Mari had used all the power she could draw on without risking a mystical backlash. Then she'd called on all thirty-seven covens of the Wiccae to scry. Even with so many talented witches searching, no one could find a trace of Carrow. All they could say was that she was in grave danger.

Thanks for the tip, bitches.

So Mari had gone to the most powerful and famous oracle in the Lore. Her Valkyrie friend. 'I got a call that you had information. Nix? Valkyrie!'

'Hmm?' She languidly gazed up. 'Then tell me something about Carrow, something that no one else knows.'

Tests? Mari felt her heart sinking. Nix loved to play people. In a small voice, she said, 'I thought we were friends.'

Nix's golden eyes flashed playfully. 'You are indeed my favorite Wiccan-type person.'

'Then why are you making me jump through hoops like everyone else?'

'Not hoops—scent.'

'What?'

'Your revealing a secret about Carrow is like giving a scent to a bloodhound. I need something to point me in the right direction.'

Things no one knew? Where to start?

Though Carrow was a daughter of Bacchus—not literally—and an impulsive hellion, she was also wicked smart. Folks never saw that coming. Also a shocker? There was a method, and a purpose, to her madness. She didn't raise hell for hell's sake.

Carrow's most guarded secret? It breaks her heart every day that her parents don't return her calls.

They hadn't called for years. Mari had once walked in on Carrow sobbing over the loss.

Mari gazed around at the Valkyrie, uncomfortable divulging anything private about Carrow. For all these females knew, her best friend had an enviable life—friends, money, parties.

Only Mari and their mentor, Elianna, knew the pain Carrow carried. The party-girl witch who always had a smile on her face was rarely happy. 'Very well, Valkyrie. Carrow has an emotion-based power source. She feeds off happiness specifically, but she can't seem to, uh, generate it herself. She's always thinking about how to find more. Like someone on a diet will always think about food.'

Nix squinted at the ceiling. 'Carrow is in an environment that she hates worse than anything.'

'The woods?' Mari cried. 'She can't stand the outdoors!'

'And yet personal preferences rarely figure in my visions, favorite Wiccan-type person.'

'Tell me, Nix, why was she taken there? Who took her? Has anything like this happened before?' Nix had been around for three thousand years. She'd seen a lot. 'Have Loreans ever been abducted like this?'

'Yes,' the soothsayer answered, adding in a whisper, 'by the Order.'

'Care to extrapolate?'

'No.'

'Tell me who they are!' No answer. 'Is it the military?'

Nix narrowed her eyes at Mari. 'Define military.'

'You know, soldiers, army, et cetera.'

Nix squinted again. 'Define army.'

'At least tell me if they're human!'

'Define—'

'Shut it, Nix!' She pinched her forehead, then gazed up at the soothsayer. 'I can't stand the thought of Carrow out there away from the coven.' What if she was somewhere alone and friendless? Because Carrow's childhood had been so seriously screwed up, she didn't handle being alone well.

The soothsayer chuckled. 'Ah, Nixie plays. The Order, also known as the Deceivers, the Summoners, the Collectors, and the Mortals Who Walk on Two Legs, except I made up that last part.'

'What do they want?'

'They want all the freaks dead. Funny. I don't feel like a freak. Unless le freak, c'est chic?' She shrugged. 'To be fair, they only rise up whenever immortals do.'

'Man, if there's one thing Carrow hates, it's being punished for a crime she didn't commit.' Luckily, that didn't happen often, as Carrow perpetrated more than her share of crimes. Her last offense? Stealing a cop's horse to ride into Pat O'Brien's. Carrow's defense? She'd needed an accessory.

Mari had once asked Carrow why she so readily got into trouble with the law—the public indecency and intoxication, the vandalism, and so on. After all, Carrow could harvest power without jail time. 'Is it just to get back at your parents?'

Carrow had answered, 'At first, yes. Now it's just tradition. ...'

When Nix said nothing, Mari grew still. 'Immortals haven't risen up, right, Valkyrie?'

'Have we not?' She frowned. 'I'll have to check my inbox. But I'm fairly certain we were going to, maybe, just a jot. Like against industrial polluters and people who take candy from babies. Those who drive slow in the left-hand lane and men who wear Members Only jackets, naturally.'

Mari gaped at the other Valkyrie. Not all of them looked surprised. A couple raised their chins. 'Have you all gone as crazy as Nix?'

Though few in the Lore dared to cross her, if anyone would, it'd be her half sisters.

Nix continued, 'Things came to a head with this Order a few years back when they overestimated their firearmy might, and made an incursion against us. Even with their technology, all were massacred. 'Not to be borne!' they said. So now they study us for weaknesses. I can't fault them, really. If humans presented any kind of mystery, we'd probably vivisect them as well.'

Vivisect? Mari swallowed. Dissecting while the subject was still alive. Her voice broke when she asked, 'How do I get to Carrow?' When Nix merely shrugged, Mari vowed, 'I'll go to the mirror, Nix.'

Mari was a captromancer. She could travel through mirrors, could touch them to focus her powers, and could gaze into them to divine secrets. Slight problem with the latter. Though she could commune with a mirror and have Carrow's location in seconds, Mari would likely entrance herself into a mystical coma, possibly forever.

Nix quirked a brow. 'And what would you tell your overprotective Lykae husband? If he found out your intentions, he'd spank you.'

Bowen would, in fact, go ballistic if he got a single werewolf whiff of this. He'd never allow it—even though the Lykae had begun to fear that one of their own had been snared by the people who'd taken Carrow.

'Because we are friends, I am offering my services as a surrogate spankee.' Nix said this playfully, but she rubbed her forehead as if it ached.

Mari studied her expression, realizing that Nix looked tired. 'I won't go to the mirror if you give me something I can use.'