All valid questions, but Harper nonetheless didn’t intend to wait around and find out. Planting her feet, she called to her wings —
White-hot pain streaked down her back, and she spat a vicious curse. She tried calling to them again, but that only earned her more pain. Her heart began to race as fear skittered down her spine. Despite that fear, the protective power that lived in her belly didn’t rush to her fingertips. There was the briefest spark inside her, but nothing more.
Something was interfering with her abilities – possibly the same “something” that seemed to be blocking her attempts to contact Knox.
Well, it looked like she’d just have to get out of there the old-fashioned way. Her back protested the idea of walking, but it didn’t take a genius to work out that Nora didn’t have good things in mind for Harper; she couldn’t afford to hang around. There was no dirt path, so it was highly likely that she’d get lost in the mist. Knowing her luck, she might even fall into a bog or something, but she’d be damned if she’d stay put.
Harper quickly chose a random direction and started to walk, every step brisk and —
With a gasp, she stumbled back and put a hand on the cold, rough boulder to steady herself as vines suddenly spouted from the earth and began to slither menacingly along the ground. She watched as they twisted around each of the boulders, forming one big foliage fence.
Okay, so she was trapped. Good to know.
Her demon hissed loudly, wanting out so it could attack the vines. Harper fought the entity. It wasn’t the first time she’d been a prisoner, but it was the first time that she’d had someone else’s safety outside her own to consider. If she hadn’t been pregnant, she would have taken her chances with the enchanted vines, but she wasn’t sure if they’d retaliate or something weird like that.
She froze as static energy suddenly filled the air. Her hair seemed to lift, and a low droning sound split through the unnatural quiet. Harper turned toward the sound, and that was when a familiar swirl of red and black smoke appeared beyond the boulders. Well, shit.
Mere moments later, Nora stepped out of it, dressed in a black robe, her hands joined as if in prayer. Worse, the old bitch was followed by a group of hooded figures. What. The. Fuck?
Given that Nora had opened a portal, there was one thing Harper knew for sure. “You’re an incantor,” she clipped.
Nora bowed her head with a smile, like she’d been delivered a compliment. “That is correct. I suppose you mistakenly assumed I was the same breed as my grandson. No. But if you had known I was an incantor, would you have suspected me as you suspected Thatcher of being involved in the attacks on you?”
“Yes,” said Harper truthfully. “I don’t trust many people.”
“Sensible.”
Yeah, but it hadn’t fucking helped her much in this case. Harper flicked a look at the hooded figures and asked, “Fellow incantors?”
“Most, but not all,” one of them said, sidling up to Nora and lowering the hood. Linda. She spared Harper a dispassionate glance before looking at Nora. “When do I join her in the circle?”
Nora held up a hand. “Not yet.”
Linda glanced around. “Where’s McCauley?”
“I didn’t see him anywhere, so I left without him.”
Linda’s mouth tightened. “Did you even look?”
“Forget about the boy. You can deal with him another time.”
Harper glared at Nora as she said with a distaste her demon shared, “I’m guessing you’re one of the Horsemen.” It would explain how she’d known so much about them.
“In the flesh,” said Nora proudly.
Yeah, flesh that her raging demon would love to peel off like an onion. Harper could sort of see the attraction in that idea. “Where are we?”
“Someplace special,” Nora replied with a dreamy smile that was kind of creepy. She spread out her arms and inhaled deeply. “You feel it, don’t you? This place is an energy vortex.”
An energy vortex… Okay, so Harper had heard of those. Put simply, they were swirling centers of energy that were said to be uplifting, spiritual, and able to heighten people’s own inner positive or negative energy. That would have given her hope, since she could work with energy; could potentially use it to boost her abilities. But this particular vortex… there was something very wrong about it. The energy wasn’t simply negative, it was dark. Ominous. Almost malevolent.
Her demon didn’t discriminate when it came to power. Good, bad – the entity didn’t care. Power was power, as far as it was concerned. But even the demon was wary of the vortex, and that said a lot.
“It was here where I had my vision,” Nora told her.
Harper frowned. “You have knowings, not visions.”
“Ah, but this place can strengthen a person’s abilities. It can also weaken their abilities – it all depends.”
“On what?”
“On what the vortex is asked to do.”
“And you’ve asked it to keep me weak and contained,” Harper accused.
Knox’s mind breezed over hers – the touch was faint, but there. I hear you, baby. Where are you?
Relief flooded Harper in a heavy rush, despite that the telepathic voice was weak. Working to keep her face blank, she responded, I don’t know exactly, but I’m stood on some kind of energy vortex, thanks to fucking Nora. It’s stopping me from using my abilities. And Harper needed to keep Nora talking until he got here. “You hired the hunters? Why?”
“Because I had a vision of you giving birth, of Linda and I being close by, and of you releasing beautiful wings and escaping us. I needed those wings taken from you. Sadly, that didn’t work. I tried hexing you to weaken your abilities – that didn’t work either. But using the vortex to contain and weaken you is probably best in any case.”
What would be “best” would be for Nora and her pals to be sliced and diced by a real-life Hannibal Lecter. “Why try to kidnap Heidi?”
“Ah, I didn’t. I’m not sure who did. Perhaps it was the last of the Horsemen.”
Harper frowned. If Nora wasn’t sure whether or not her only remaining partner in crime was responsible, then that would suggest that… “You’re not working together anymore, are you?”
“Let’s just say I didn’t agree with their belief that we should lie low for a while.” Her face hardened. “I’m old. I’ve waited long enough for the Primes to fall. I was once a Prime, you know. Now I answer to my grandson because a Prime will be challenged by others if it isn’t fit to hold its position. Because I aged, I was deemed unfit.” The latter word dripped with venom. “And now I’m nothing more than a demon within a lair. If there were no Primes, if there were equal rights for all demons, I wouldn’t be thought of as an antique,” she added bitterly.
Harper shook her head. “Our kind craves power too much to ever simply exist alongside each other and be content as equals. The hierarchies within each lair exist for that reason, and they work.” But Nora wasn’t listening. She was gazing around her, wearing a serene expression, like she was in a freaking meadow or something.
Nora clasped her hands. “This truly is a fascinating place. Time is different here.”
Not liking the sound of that, Harper warily asked, “Different how?”
“An hour in the vortex is a minute in places beyond it. Think of what that means. You’ve been here for, say, an hour. To anyone away from this place, you’ve only been here a minute.”
As the implications of that sank in, Harper’s stomach dropped and panic fluttered through her. Even if Knox was able to get her at a pace that was supremely fast to him, enough time would have passed here for Nora to end Harper’s life first.
“In other words, don’t be counting on a rescue, Harper. Call out to Knox all you like – he won’t hear you. Not while you’re trapped in the vortex.”
Huh. Well, that wasn’t actually correct, but Nora didn’t need to know that. “He’ll find a way to get to me.”
“Oh, I doubt that.”