Beck had easily pulled the arrow from his shoulder, but the damage was done. The arrow held a spell to pull the magic out of him. Cian just missed getting hit by the one meant for him. Beck had quickly succumbed to the spell. All of Beck’s strength had been sucked from him. What Liadan hadn’t counted on was that it wouldn’t transfer to her. Beck’s magic had a handy place to go.
It had gone straight into Cian.
Cian’s brain felt like it was going to explode. He wasn’t built to handle both his and Beck’s magic. Every instinct in his body told him to hide and sleep. He needed to find safety and lay down so his body could rest. It was the only way they would survive.
Cian struggled because his brain was processing so much that it was difficult to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. He took a deep breath and pushed on. Liadan wouldn’t stop to give him a break. She would follow him until she caught him.
Rain began to fall, and Cian realized he was doing it. Beck’s magic was his to call upon. Cian willed the storm to become a hurricane. That would slow the hag down. Cian’s shoulder ached from Beck’s weight, but he walked through the gale untouched as the world whipped around him.
He saw a small hunting cabin through the trees and immediately slowed the winds down. It was perfect, but it wouldn’t be if it was in chunks of wood because a storm tore it down. Cian made it into the small structure and gently laid his brother on the dirt floor. His hands were shaking as he did what he needed to do.
Within seconds, the cabin was engulfed in green. Inside, the cabin went pitch black as the world receded under a wall of vines and thorns. It was thick, and the trees themselves had orders to protect this place.
Cian could hear the storm he’d begun rattling the world outside. He fell to his knees and was grateful for the darkness. There was nothing but darkness now, and it would stay that way unless someone could find a way to bring Meg back to them.
As the hopelessness of his situation hit him, Cian lay down beside his brother. His body knew what to do. Beck had gone into a fugue state. He wouldn’t wake unless their bridge returned. Only Meg could save them. Only Meg could give Beck back his strength and Cian back his mind.
“Come back to us,” Cian prayed as sleep overtook him.
Outside the small cabin, the storm roared on.
Chapter Twenty-One
Meg took aim and slowly squeezed the trigger. She watched as the bullet tore through the target. Even at a distance, she knew it was a solid hit. She’d bought the Ruger .357 after trying every handgun they let her rent at the range. Well, she amended, Dante had bought the .357 with his credit card. Meg didn’t actually have much money of her own. She helped him around the store. She had been doing his nightly books for the last three weeks, but she wasn’t letting him pay her much. She wouldn’t be here long enough to do the paperwork, so everything he gave her was under the table.
Meg checked her watch. It was almost time to meet him. He was picking her up to look at another spot.
It had been the longest three weeks of her life. The computer had found an astonishing number of potential sites, and each one had been a bust. It was frustrating, but Meg had no other choice. She couldn’t give up.
Dante had been a godsend. He’d quickly figured out how to use the computer to their best advantage. He’d learned through trial and error that the computer had settings to detect everything from atmospheric content to the pH of the soil. Dante had hypothesized that the door to the Faery plane could potentially be found by taking careful readings and comparing it to the rest of the area. Dante had been busy taking measurements and putting them into his program. So far, they’d had no luck.
“Hey, Meg.” A familiar voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
Meg carefully put the weapon away as she greeted him. “Dante, I thought I was meeting you outside.”
He shrugged and offered to carry her case. “I have Gina watching the store. It’s no big deal. I wanted to get a chance to run by this one address I found. I think we have a shot there.”
Meg eyed the young man. It was odd how different he was from his vampire counterpart. They looked almost identical, but the differences in their lives had taken a toll on this Dante. He hadn’t grown up with the privileges of the vampire. He had been raised middle class after his father sold his family’s cattle ranch to a corporation. From what Meg had learned, Dante’s parents had split, with his mom returning to her Irish home with his sister Susan. Dante had remained behind and been forced to drop out of college to take care of his dad.
This Dante lacked the confidence his doppelganger had. He was still funny and bright, but there was an aloofness to him that wasn’t present in her Dante. Meg got the feeling this Dante would be loyal to very few people. He would keep his circle small.
He smiled. It was something Meg had noted he rarely did. “Let’s go check it out, and then we can get burgers.”
“Okay,” Meg said, pulling one of his old jackets over her T-shirt and jeans. Dante had tried to be generous, but Meg had only allowed him to buy her a couple of pairs of jeans, some T-shirts, and two sweaters. It was all she would need, she promised herself as she followed him.
Meg got into his beat-up SUV and buckled her seat belt. Dante was going on about how his newest program had found this spot. He said something about a number of police reports and how often the property had been sold, but Meg was thinking about other things.
She had been on the Faery plane for about a month, but three had passed here. Time moved differently on different planes. How long had Beck and Cian been wondering about her? Had they managed to stop the hag’s plans? Her hands clenched with anger when she thought about someone in the village pretending to be their friend. All the while, this hag was waiting to pounce the instant the twins showed vulnerability. The hag wouldn’t look different from a normal villager as she could take different shapes.
Meg had been reading up on hags and knew it could be any of the females of the village. Meg had her suspicions, hence the .357 she intended to take back with her. If Liadan gave her even a hint that she wasn’t what she said she was, Meg intended to put a couple of rounds in her. Meg felt a wicked smile crease her face. She really hoped it was Liadan.
“That’s a scary look,” Dante said with a grimace.
“Sorry,” Meg apologized and schooled her face into something less bloodthirsty.
It had been hard to readjust to this plane. She had thought she would immediately fall back into patterns of working and watching TV, but something intrinsic had changed within her. When she finished with work for the day, she prepared for the day she would go back to her men. She had spent hours and hours making lists and gathering items she wanted to take with her.
She had a large duffel bag filled with small items that would be helpful. She had bought her ten favorite books at a half-priced store, along with five DVDs she loved. She was sure Vampire Dante could make them work on the computer. She had a disc filled with music she’d downloaded. She’d bought a couple of first aid kits and essentials. Her bags were packed. Now she just needed that ticket home.
She hadn’t completely ignored this plane. Meg found herself looking her own name up on the internet. There had only been a single article on her as a missing person. Her mother had commented that she believed Meg had run off with some man and would get in touch when the relationship soured. It was odd, given that Meg had never exactly run off before, but if it gave her mother comfort, she would go along with it. Besides her mother wouldn’t recognize her anymore.