they got another chance. What if they didn’t? What if they all died tonight? Who would be left to fight this war? Odds were, there were other Sitheen scattered around the world, but would they figure out what was going on before it was too late? Would they be able to stop the invasion when he and his friends had failed, or would the Esri hunt them down, one after another, and kill them before they ever had a chance?
A cold fist closed around his heart at the fear that his kids would meet that same fate. Sam and Stephie had been with him the first time he encountered an Esri. He’d taken them to see a matinee of The Lion King at the Kennedy Center then watched in horror as everyone in the theater turned into a zombie and started toward them as if to tear them limb from limb. All three of them would have died that day, he knew that now, if Larsen hadn’t foreseen their deaths and come to warn them. If not for hers and Jack’s intervention, they would have died.
He’d told Gwen, his ex-wife, to get the kids out of D.C. and keep them there until this was over. He was pretty sure she’d taken them and gone to stay with one of her cousins in Pennsylvania, but he’d told her not to tell him. There was no telling what an Esri could do and it was safer for the kids if he didn’t know.
But he called every couple of days to make sure they were all right, never losing hope that Stephie would recover from whatever that Esri bastard, Baleris, had done to her.
They had to win tonight. Who would protect his kids if they failed?
Six Sitheen and Kade circled the fountain, waiting for the night’s coming invasion. Jack had convinced Larsen to wait in the car, out of harm’s way, with Kade’s human soon-to-be wife, Autumn, and the retirees of the group, Aunt Myrtle and Norm. Norm had joined them only recently. A Sitheen and retired firefighter, he’d been the one to oversee the fire ring tonight.
Larsen had argued vehemently to be part of the fight, but though she was a warrior at heart, her battleground of training had been the courtroom. Harrison grunted. He’d never been a soldier himself, but he’d always been an athlete and he was a damned sight stronger than the Esri. In the past months, he’d procured the services of a fight coach to teach him the finer points of hand-to-hand combat. And that’s exactly what this was likely to come down to. Unless the arrows hit their mark.
Or unless fate finally smiled on them and the fire circle worked. The plan was simple. The only way to kill an Esri was to set him on fire and sing the death chant. At the first sign of invasion, the Sitheen would start chanting. If any of the Esri tried to breach the wall of flame, they’d die.
In all probability, they wouldn’t be so foolish, resulting in a standoff, the best possible scenario. This might be war, but they’d learned from Kade and a couple of others that not all Esri meant the humans harm. If they could keep them on their own side of the gate, all the better. If not, they’d try to capture them. If that failed, they’d do whatever they must to stop them.
They had no choice. The freedom of the entire human race was at stake.
He took another look around, satisfied that all the non-Sitheen cops and firefighters had pushed back to the other side of the street circling the park. Even though they wore bands of holly—a natural protection against enchantment—they were potentially vulnerable to Esri control. Nearby roads had all been closed. Harrison had to wonder what the locals thought was going on. The cops, too, for that matter. Only a handful at the top knew the truth. The last thing anyone wanted was panic.
The rhythmic tone of his cell phone startled him, sending his heart into a quick pound. A glance at the number told him nothing, except it wasn’t his brother’s phone. He swallowed back his disappointment, hesitated, then answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, big bro. Mission accomplished.”
“Charlie.” Harrison closed his eyes, tipping his head back. Thank you, God. “It’s Charlie!” he yelled.
He wasn’t the only one who’d been praying for this phone call. A chorus of cheers erupted around the circle.
“Where are you?”
“Iceland.”
“Iceland. Did you get the princess?”
“Of course. I’ll fill you in when you get here. Fly to Reykjavik and call this number and I’ll tell you where to meet us.”
“What about Tarrys?”
“She’s with me. I could knock your front teeth out for letting her come, but I won’t. I never would have made it without her.”
“I didn’t let her come. She was going with or without my consent. She just wanted to make sure someone knew she wasn’t coming right back.”
“Well, she’s with me permanently now.” A soft note that Harrison didn’t think he’d ever heard before entered his brother’s voice. “She just agreed to be my wife.”
Harrison’s jaw dropped.
“‘Congratulations’ would be the appropriate response,” Charlie drawled after the silence stretched too long.
“Right.” Hell. “It’s nearly midnight and we’ve got the gate circled in fire. Call me back in a couple of hours and I’ll let you know when I’ll be there.” He cleared his throat. “Charlie…Larsen had a vision about the gate tonight. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll have to find your own way back.”
Silence. “You’re doing something different, I hope, to change the outcome?”
“Of course. But we won’t know if it’s enough until it’s over. Glad you’re back, brother.”
“Be careful, Harrison.” Charlie’s triumphant tone had turned worried. He was the only true soldier of the group, and Harrison knew it must be killing him to be too far away to help with this fight. “I’ll wait for your call.”
Harrison hung up the phone.
“Did he get the princess?” Jack called.
“He did.” And he thought he was marrying Tarrys. No way in hell. Tarrys was cute enough, in a little-to-no-hair kind of way. But she wasn’t human. Not to mention the fact that Charlie had never paid her any real attention even though Tarrys had been obviously smitten with him from the start. Just how badly had she enchanted him? And Charlie had damn well better be enchanted, because if he thought he was bringing an immortal into the family…
Dammit. Harrison shoved the phone back in his pocket. All he wanted was his world back to normal. Was that too much to ask? An immortal sister-in-law was not the way to accomplish that.
“Where are they?” Jack asked.
“Iceland. He has Tarrys with him, too.”
“It’s about time something went right.”
“So, what’s the deal with Larsen’s vision?” one of the new recruits called. “I thought the Esri were coming early.”
Harrison stilled, his gaze slamming into Jack’s. “When Larsen said there was no fire…”
“We assumed…” Jack grimaced. “It’s almost midnight.”
Ah,
