The Wizard King (24 page)

Gen managed to maneuver it so that she and Zach led the way, with Gareth in the middle. Chris and Daniel brought up the rear.

Gen would defeat her brother, and Gareth’s soul would finally be safe. “This is it.” She put her hand on the knob that led to the basement. Down below were the wine cellars, neat rows of shelving designed to keep her father’s prized bottles tipped at just the right angle. “Be careful, there will be racks of wine we’ll have to navigate.”

“A primo place for Huey to put a nasty surprise.” Zach put his hand over hers. “Let me go first, Gen.”

She shook her head and opened the door. “No way. Gareth would never forgive me if you got hurt.”

“Gen, don’t—”

She ignored Gareth’s warning as she set foot on the basement stair.

She doubted he ignored her screaming as everything below her gave way.

Chapter Fifteen

Gareth shoved Zach out of the way, peering into the darkness that had swallowed his mate. His heart was beating so fast it was painful.

Where the fuck was she?

“Ah.” Gen’s hiss of pain drew his eye. There she was, lying about ten feet below them and off to the left. She was curled around her right leg, grimacing in pain as she clutched it and rocked ever so slightly. Her pale face wavered oddly, as if she were underwater. “I think my leg is broken.”

“The stairs were an illusion.” Chris knelt and ran his hands over where the first step should have been, then along the lip of the door. “There’s a rune or something etched into the wood, but I can’t make it out.”

“Lower me down.” Gareth wasn’t leaving his mate down there all alone.

“There could be more traps down there,” Chris warned.

“Fuck that, and fuck the warlock. When I find him, I’m going to play soccer with his head. Now lower me the fuck down there.”

“Fine. Asshole.” Chris backed up. “But I get to be goalie.”

“Damn it. I wanted to be goalie.” Daniel glared at Chris.

“I already called dibs.”

“Asshole.”

“Butt munch.”

“Children.” Gareth pinched the bridge of his nose. Why had he brought them along again?

“Here, I’ll help you down.” Zach held out his hands. “Hold on.”

As Zach’s hands lit up, Gareth took a step back. “I love you, bro, but if you’re going to use your magic I’d rather you didn’t. I want to get down to Gen, not fly to Poughkeepsie via Air Zach.”

Zach rolled his eyes, but he lowered himself flat to the ground. “Fine. Whatevs. Ready to be a ladder, oh mighty king.” He tilted his head. “Can we go for pizza when we’re done here? I’m starving.”

Gareth had long ago figured out this was Zach’s way of saying he felt inadequate or nervous about the outcome. Instead of trying to reassure his brother, he took Zach’s hands and allowed Zach to lower him to the ground. He had to drop a couple of feet, but he landed safely, going directly to Gen’s side.

“You’re welcome. Also, you could stand to lose about twenty pounds,” Zach groaned, but Gareth didn’t even glance up.

He did, however, flip his brother the bird over his shoulder.

“Hey.”

He smiled at Gen. Her face was contorted in pain, her leg still clutched in her hands. She was holding herself very still. “Hey.” He put his hand over hers, careful not to apply any pressure. “Is the break here?”

She nodded. “We don’t have time to do anything about it.” Grimacing, she tried to sit up, gasping in pain. Gareth put his hand on her back, helping her up. Behind him, one of his brothers dropped to the floor, but he didn’t turn to see which of them it was. “Leave me here.”

“Fuck that.” He was getting really pissed about her martyr thing. “You’re getting out of here if Zach has to carry you out.”

“Hey!” Zach leaned over his shoulder and winked at Gen. “Why do I get to do all the heavy lifting?”

“Are you calling me fat?” Gen smiled weakly, but she was beginning to shake. Shock was starting to set in, and Gareth was terrified. Shock could kill someone, or so he’d heard. What the fuck did he know? He wasn’t a doctor.

“You’re light as a feather. Lard-ass, on the other hand…” Zach backed away fast when Gareth tried to elbow him in the gut. “We need to wean him off the pasta primavera.”

“Let’s go, sweetheart.” Gareth started to pull Gen to her feet. “Put your arm around my shoulders and lean on me. We’ll get you out of here, I swear.”

“We have to get Hugh first.” Gen, gasping and groaning, leaned hard on Gareth as she managed to get off the floor. “He needs to be stopped before we leave.”

Gareth rolled his eyes. “Yes, dear.” Like he was going to let Hugh live after hurting Gen.

“Remember those words. They might save your sex life someday.” Chris was down, not bothering to hide his concern over Gen’s injury. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I’ll be glad when this is over.”

“You and me both.” Daniel was last down, the only one who didn’t check on Gen. He was watching the room, eyeing it warily as if something would leap out at them at any moment. “Where to next, Pocahontas?”

She blinked, but didn’t say anything about Daniel’s poor attempt at humor. “Keep an eye on the racks and the bottles, that’s where Hugh would have put the next trap. Otherwise, straight ahead until you hit a door.”

“Another door. Great. Maybe this one will lead to Narnia.” Chris took the lead this time, edging forward warily.

“I don’t think my brother is into Mr. Tumnus.”

Gareth stopped and stared at Gen.

She looked back at him. “What?”

Shaking his head, he helped her follow Chris. They stumbled along behind him, reaching the door way after his brothers had.

“I’m opening the door.” Zach held up his hand and began to glow. “No arguing.”

“No argument here.” Chris backed away from the glowbug, his gaze glued to the wine racks behind them. “I’ll just watch for trouble coming up on our rear.”

“Nope. Feel free to get hexed. Again.” Daniel smirked. “And don’t look at my rear. That’s creepy.”

Chris, without turning, whacked Daniel upside the head.

“Shh.” Zach waved at his brothers. “I think I hear chanting.”

Tweedledum and Tweedledumber shut up, directing their attention toward Zach and the door.

Zach took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Here we go.”

He turned the knob and slowly opened the door.

Gareth got a good look in the room and began swearing viciously. “He’s started the ritual.”

“And he’s got a sacrifice.” Gen began to glow almost as brightly as Zach, but with that green light he loved so much.

Hugh barely glanced at them, but the triumph on his face was enough to send Gareth through the doorway. The victim was unconscious, bleeding from numerous cuts and bruises. Gareth didn’t recognize her, yet somehow he knew she was one of his. A wizard Hugh had strapped to the dark altar, her soul the bounty he sought to collect.

“Bound by blood, obey my call

Holding demon’s might in thrall.

By the Compact take your toll

Feast upon this gifted soul.”

Shit. Hugh was holding the dagger above the woman as he chanted. The reddish-gold circle wasn’t the summoning circle. The altar itself was going to be used.

The altar Gen had destroyed hadn’t been Hugh’s true one after all. If they’d waited even one hour to come after Hugh, he would have won.

Chris began to chant, a soft counterpoint to Hugh’s barked spell.

“I bind thee three times three.”

Gareth watched as his brother wound a black ribbon around a voodoo doll with a picture of Hugh’s face taped onto the head. It was the same spell he’d used to stop Cole, Hugh’s brother.

“By this charm do no more harm.”

He wrapped the ribbon one last time, making sure to cover Hugh’s face on the top of the figure.

“I bind you, Hugh, your face, your soul!”

But he was too late. Before he could tie off the ends of the ribbon and finish the spell, Hugh screamed the last bit of his spell.

“By your oath you will obey.

Demon come forth and claim your prey!”

But Christopher didn’t stop. He hadn't when he'd faced Cole in the dueling ring, and he certainly wasn't stopping now.

“By air and earth, water and fire

So be you bound with no more power.

Lord and Lady, hear my plea.

As I will so mote it be!”

The knife fell as Chris finished his spell.

“
No.
” Gareth did the same thing he’d done when the bitch council had confronted him over Gen. He pulled everything he was, everything he was meant to be, into that one word. Purple light flickered around him, glowed from the halo around his head. He was certain even his eyes were luminous.

The knife, the tip pressed to the breast of the woman on the altar, quivered in Hugh’s hold. It didn’t pierce the flesh of the victim. Hugh, caught with his spell incomplete, could do nothing but struggle against Gareth’s magic, to no avail. The knife did not move one millimeter closer to the victim, much to Gareth’s satisfaction.

Gareth handed Gen to Daniel. For this, he needed his hands free. He pulled something from one of the pouches at his waist and began to chant, pouring all his power as the wizard king into his cry. He was going to take a page out of his mate’s book, and call on the only one who might be able to stop a full-blown demonic invasion.

“Hecate, who guards the night

Aid us now in our plight.”

Chris jerked, staring at him with wide eyes as Gareth
pulled
on his brother, his strength and integrity, and felt Chris respond. Next it was Daniel, his fierce pride and loyalty, and a surprising core of inner strength that kept him going when all around him was turning to shit.

Gareth closed his eyes and did the same with every bright light he touched, aware each and every one of them was a wizard, responding to his plea for aid. And almost all of them responded, giving to their king with a generosity that brought tears to his eyes.

He made note of the ones that didn’t. He felt certain he knew exactly who those lights were, the rejection stinging, yet familiar.

It was the most ecstatic, most frightening moment of his life, the awareness that he held all these people’s power in the palm of his hand. If he were a different sort of man, if this gift had been given to one of the Godwins, the results could have been disastrous.

It hadn’t been. It had been granted to him, and Gareth swore never to abuse it.

He was Gareth Beckett, the wizard king, and he would end Hugh’s threat to his people right the fuck now.

“Bind the man and demon both.

Stop this evil power’s growth.”

Hugh screeched, his hand frozen above the woman tied to the altar. Gareth could see him struggling against the bindings Chris and Gareth had placed upon him, to no avail.

Gen began hopping forward, gasping in pain, glowing so brightly she lit the room in eerie green light. Zach circled the other way, the pairs’ light giving the room strange shadows. Clenched in Zach’s hand was the Hecate amulet he’d given to each of them.

“Allow the souls within to flee,

Take their power, set them free.”

The knife howled, and Hugh screamed, the two sounds a horrible duet. But it wasn’t enough. The souls were still trapped within the dagger, unable to flee while it was still whole.

Gareth poured more power into the spell as he felt both the demon and the warlock fight him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gen raise her fist, ready to smash Hugh’s altar once more. Zach, the amulet in hand and pointing toward Hugh, stood behind the warlock, his expression grim.

Daniel stood beside Gen, offering her support, while Chris held his place beside Gareth. Gareth sensed his brother’s motive. If Gareth should falter, Chris would pick up the slack, using their connection to push the spell to completion.

“Deliver them from the warlock’s hold

And send their pain to him threefold.”

Hugh screeched. The dagger smoked in his grasp, thick black vapor that writhed around the dagger, sheathing Hugh’s hands and crawling up his arms. The demon was trying to climb into Hugh despite the fact that the summoning had not yet been completed.

Gareth couldn’t allow that. He gestured toward Zach to ready himself, and Zach nodded back grimly.

“Send the demon back to the Pit

Rabisu and warlock forever split.”

Hugh was fighting him, fighting his power. If he could plunge the dagger into the woman just enough to draw blood, Gareth would lose. He could feel himself beginning to sweat, the power of all those people beginning to burn his senses.

He had to wrap this up before his hold on the wizard world slipped and Hugh got the opportunity he was fighting for.

“Stolen power now set free,

By your hand, by my decree.

As I will so mote it be!”

Gareth poured himself into that last command, and Zach, waiting for just that moment, added the power of a witch Own to Gareth’s spell. He struck, using his amulet’s power against the dagger, the Hecate’s Wheel facing the warlock.