last couple of weeks, they’d been stuck in a nightmare that wouldn’t go away, that no one seemed capable of waking them up from.
It wasn’t like they hadn’t run into issues with their broods before. Odd incidents were the norm when dealing with those from the netherworld. But for some reason, when the cousins—Lucien, Ronan, Gavril and Nikoli Hyland—arrived, all hell seemed to break loose.
They’d appeared at the Triad’s front door, four extraordinarily handsome men, claiming to be cousins—although only two were with her right now—and swearing to protect the sisters and the Originals with their lives. They called themselves Benders and claimed their purpose was to save the Originals from monstrous creatures that hid in dimensional folds. They called the creatures Cartesians and said these were bent on annihilating the entire netherworld, especially the Originals and the Triad. With each netherworld creature’s death, a Cartesian absorbed the powers of the creature it destroyed, then brought the essence of the kill to its leader, allowing the leader to grow stronger, which empowered him to create more Cartesians.
According to the Benders, the Cartesian leader meant to be the sole power of the netherworld, and once he had completed the task of absorbing the powers of every netherworld creature, humans were the next target. In essence, the Cartesians—specifically their leader—meant to control the very universe.
When Evee first heard the Benders’ claims, she thought all four of them were a few cards short of a full deck. But in the days that followed their arrival, she’d seen much more than she needed to for truth to set in. Cartesians and the danger they presented were very, very real. She’d yet to see one of the creatures for herself, but her sisters Viv and Gilly had, and their descriptions had been all too vivid. Huge beings that appeared to be at least ten feet tall and had the expanse of body to match their height. They were covered with matted brown, gray and black fur, which hid thick scales like armor beneath it. Their teeth were all needlepoint incisors, and their claws were none like they’d seen before on any creature. At least four inches in length and razor-sharp. And the worst part was that they seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
The Cartesians’ entry into this world came from rifts in the sky. The initial rifts were caused by natural disasters, odd cosmic alliances or an erred declaration. Their first experience with the Cartesians came after Viv, responsible for the Loup Garous, had told her brood in frustration that “she quit.” She hadn’t meant what she’d said, but exasperation could cause a person to throw caution to the wind. Once she’d uttered those two words, a small rift had occurred, and the Cartesians had gnawed, clawed and forced their hideous bodies through the opening and into this dimension.
So far, Viv had lost many Loup Garous to the Cartesians, and Gilly, some Chenilles. As if that wasn’t bad enough, even stranger occurrences added to the Triad’s terror. Something they couldn’t understand, much less keep from occurring. Some of the Originals had gone missing. Simply vanished from their safe zones, from places that she and her sisters had controlled with border spells for years with great success. To date, Viv had nearly one hundred and fifty Loup Garous dead or missing; Evee had ten Nosferatu on the loose; and Gilly, fifteen missing Chenilles, plus two dead.
The missing Originals planted their current situation in the dirt of dire straits. Humans were now in danger. If they couldn’t find the missing Originals and bring them over to the feeding grounds located at the North Compound in Algiers at their regular feeding time, which occurred in the wee hours of morning, they’d be seeking food elsewhere. They’d be looking at humans to satiate their hunger.
Adding to the dilemma, the wayward Nosferatu, Chenilles and Loup Garous were now open targets for the Cartesians. Evee had to find her brood so they could be watched over and kept safe from the enemy.
You would think that she and her sisters being witches could easily defuse the situation. But such wasn’t the case. Along with the mayhem and confusion they faced, their powers and natural abilities like clairvoyance, channeling and mirroring seemed to be diminishing or worked haphazardly. Even the Triad’s Elders, Arabella, Taka and Vanessa, appeared to be at a loss and utterly useless in helping them through the situation.
The only people they had to count on now were each other and the Benders, whom they’d decided to pair off with in order to cover more territory. Viv with Nikoli, she with Lucien and Ronan, and Gilly with Gavril.
So far the misfit teams seemed to be barely holding their own. At last count, Viv had located one of Evee’s Nosferatu, whom she had Pierre fetch and return to the catacombs. Viv had also located at least twenty of her Loup Garous, whom she’d teleported to the North Compound, where Viv had them encamped.
Without question, the François sisters were torn in far too many directions. The missing Originals had to be located before humans were attacked, and the Originals who were already confined needed protection from the Cartesians. It didn’t take a world of common sense to realize they couldn’t be everywhere at once.
To aid in the matter, the Benders had established a plan and built an electric field charged by their scabiors, the weapons they carried. The field, which the Cartesians couldn’t penetrate, canopied each location where the Originals were kept. The North Compound for the Loup Garous, the Louis I Cemetery for the Chenilles, and, of course, the catacombs beneath St. John’s Cathedral for the Nosferatu. The idea was to keep the Originals they now had safe within these electric domes, which would give each team time to search for the Originals who’d gone MIA.
The first time Evee witnessed the Benders’ scabiors in action, she’d been nothing short of amazed. Alone, a scabior appeared toylike. A steel rod approximately eight inches long, its circumference about a half inch. A quarter-size bloodstone capped one end. But handled by a Bender, that which initially appeared benign turned into a weapon like no other Evee had ever witnessed.
A quick flip of the Bender’s wrist, and the steel rod twirled between their fingers with a speed that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Once the scabior was charged and aimed at a Cartesian, it shot a bolt of electricity that pushed the monstrosity back into the rift, out of one dimension and into the next. The Benders’ goal was to push the Cartesian back to as many dimensions as possible. The farther the dimension, the longer it took the Cartesian to find its way back.
With the electric dome charged, they could search for missing Nosferatu again.
It was dark outside, but barely, which meant she, Lucien and Ronan had plenty of time to search for the missing Nosferatu before feeding time arrived.
Suddenly, someone took Evee by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake, breaking her reverie. It was Lucien.
“Evee, you have to do something to get the Nosferatu under control,” Lucien said. “I realize they’re impatient and want freedom, but keeping them under the scabior dome’s protection is crucial. Do something. A calming spell, anything that will keep them from destroying one another.”
Evee took her time responding. She was overtaken by the depth of Lucien’s green eyes bearing into hers, his shoulder-length hair the color of a black stallion’s mane, his neatly trimmed beard and mustache that barely hid two prominent dimples that appeared whenever he smiled, something he definitely was not doing now. Evee guessed Lucien to be in his midthirties. He stood about six foot three and weighed maybe one seventy-five. Since she was only five foot seven, Evee had to look up at him, which she did feeling hypnotized. She couldn’t help it. It made her feel like a slug, ogling him despite the fighting going on inside the catacombs, but it seemed beyond her control. She wanted nothing more than to breathe in Lucien’s scent, a mixture of earth and musk doused by a fresh summer shower.
She was about to answer Lucien when Ronan suddenly appeared at her side. Another over-the-top hunk of a man who made it hard to concentrate on the
