“You shouldn’t. People have hurt and taken me before – he’s always come for me.” And both Harper and her demon trusted that he’d come for her again.
“He won’t come, Harper. As I said, time is different here. Let’s say that Larkin goes into the restrooms and finds you gone – she’ll sense the leftover magickal energy, but she won’t understand it was from a portal. Of course, she’ll run to Knox. He’ll feel the magick too, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll sense there was a portal. Still, he’s smart enough to know he’ll need an incantor to ‘read’ the magick.”
He’d be aware that there was a portal for the simple reason that Harper had told him – that was yet another thing that Nora didn’t need to know.
“I’m sure he’ll find one, and I’m sure they will be willing to reopen the portal for him. However, that process takes up to fifteen minutes to complete. Now add all that time together and, for Knox, that will be – at the very least – twenty minutes before he even steps through the portal. That’s twenty hours to us, sweetheart. By then, you’ll be dead, and we’ll all be gone.”
Okay, that was bad. Really bad. Dammit, she had to get the fuck out of there.
Nora’s expression turned sober as she spoke to her companions. “Get into position.”
While Linda stayed still, each of the others copied Nora in moving to stand near a boulder so that they surrounded Harper.
Another shot of adrenaline pumped through Harper, and she flexed her fingers. “I suppose you intend to kill me now before Knox has the chance to get here.” And, heartbreakingly, there wasn’t a single thing that she could do to stop it.
“Not just yet,” said Nora as she and the others sat cross-legged. “I want you dead, but I want the baby first. If we can’t destroy Knox, we can at least control him. What better way than through his child?”
Harper’s heart slammed against her ribs, and her knees almost buckled. She put a protective hand to her stomach. “You can’t have the baby.”
“Oh, but I can. You have to understand, Harper, that there’s no real way for demons to exist as equals while someone so powerful lives. Knox could take complete control at any time. Trying to kill him hasn’t worked. Holding the baby’s safety over his head, though… yes, that would keep him under my thumb.”
Nora raised her hands and began to chant under her breath. The others joined in, and the stale air suddenly turned heavy and oppressive. The clouds thickened and darkened, making the sky look almost bruised.
“What are you doing?”
It was Linda who spoke. “Inducing labor, of course.”
Harper shook her head, stomach plummeting. “The baby isn’t ready yet. They’ll kill it.”
“No,” said Nora. “I have a team of people on standby who can give it whatever care it needs to ensure it survives.”
“And I’ll be there to care for the baby,” declared Linda, chin up.
Nora’s smile faltered. “Yes, and you’ll be there.” She went back to chanting, and the wind picked up, whipping the snarled trees and making dirt swirl in the air.
A gust of wind sailed at Harper, making her dress flap against her legs. Panicking, she called to her wings again, and yet more pain wracked her. The baby’s mind touched hers. She felt its fear, and that almost broke her. “No, you don’t get to take my —”
She cut off as what looked like black drops of rain sprung from Nora’s fingertips and, quick as lightning, hit Harper right in the chest. She tried to wipe them off, but they sank into her skin. She felt the magick inside her, then. Felt it slither around her bones, snake around her organs, and settle over her womb like an oily blanket. “What the fuck did you just do?”
Pain blasted through her abdomen, and her womb contracted so hard that she dropped to her knees. It hurt like holy hell. She’d never felt pain like it – not when Knox’s power poured into her mind, not when the hunters sawed at her wings, not even when her body spent hours fighting the hex.
The wind rushed at her again, stealing her breath and knocking her right on her ass. Vines sprouted out of the earth and shackled her wrists, pinning her hands. She managed to fight their hold just enough to stay sitting upright, but she couldn’t free herself. She tried infusing hellfire into the grass, hoping the vines might catch fire, but only smoke left her palms. Motherfucking vortex. She could feel its sinister, repelling energy slithering between her fingers.
Another spasm wracked her womb, making her spine arch like a brow. All the breathing exercises she’d read about went completely out of her head. She gritted her teeth against the pain, clenching her trapped hands and unintentionally scraping the soil. Her shoulders slouched as the pain finally faded. Her heart thudded in her tightening chest, her breaths burst in and out of her. “I’ll kill you all, I swear to God, I will!”
“No, you won’t,” said Nora calmly. “You won’t even get the chance. Once the child is born, that magick you absorbed will attack every cell in your body – you’ll be dead within moments.”
A ghostly finger of fear trailed over Harper’s nape, but she didn’t let that fear show. Her demon leaped to the surface and said, “You will die tonight. Do not doubt it.”
Nora’s eyes flickered. “Linda,” she said, her voice a whip, “get in the circle.”
The vines bordering the boulders parted to let Linda pass, and then the bitch crouched in front of her. “Don’t touch me,” Harper spat.
“You’re safe from me until that baby is out.” It wasn’t a reassurance, it was a statement of fact that lacked any compassion. She put her hands on Harper’s rounded stomach. “The baby’s in position, head down.”
Harper felt a blazing heat briefly flare from her stomach – it was the oddest fucking thing and had an almost vengeful feel to it.
Linda yanked her hands back, as if burned. “Damn vortex,” she grumbled.
But that hadn’t been the vortex. Nor had it been Harper or her demon. She snarled at Linda. “You’ll never take my baby from me. Never.”
Linda’s mouth curled into a cruel smile. “Of course I will. And there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”
Knox took another swig of his gin and tonic, watching for signs of Harper approaching. She’d been gone for a good five minutes now, and he was guessing that she’d been waylaid by nosy demons who were both congratulating and quizzing her at the same time.
He’d take her home as soon as she returned to him, he decided. They’d been there for a courteous amount of time and wouldn’t look rude leaving at this point.
“Shit,” muttered Levi, going on high alert.
Knox put down his glass, tension mounting inside him. “What?” But then he saw Larkin and Devon fast approaching… without Harper. Anxiety flared through him. He stood, meeting Larkin’s anxious stare. “Where is she?”
“I” – Larkin swallowed – “I don’t know.” She spoke in a rush. “She went into the restrooms while Devon and I dealt with Carla, and then she just disappeared.”
The words rocked him, slamming into him so hard his breath caught in his throat. On the outside, he didn’t move a muscle. On the inside, he fumbled, scrambling to absorb the words. His demon let out a guttural roar. Harper had been right there with him mere minutes ago. How the fuck could she be gone?
Harper? Harper? He reached out to stroke her mind, but he barely managed to touch it – as if there was something trying to get between her mind and his. Harper, baby, tell me you’re okay.
She was alive; he knew that much, and he clung to it like it was a lifeline… because it was a lifeline. He needed her, wouldn’t be able to exist without her.
He wanted to move, to act, to do something, but he felt rooted to the spot.
“Harper’s gone?” Jolene bit out. The ground and walls began to tremor, and that snapped Knox out of his zone.
He advanced on Larkin. “How can she just disappear?” His voice was a low rumble that vibrated with rage, but she didn’t cower.