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  “He’s probably right.” Josiah squeezed Mabel’s shoulder. “I’ll take you to the house.”

  Mabel stood, and Josiah took her arm before both of them disappeared.

  “What now? Didn’t Meadow say you needed some of my hair and nail clippings.” Gabriella reached for her purse.

  “I’m not going to use the potion. I’m going to take your form.”

  Gabriella gasped. “But she might Taser you. The spell would break if she does. The potion would work even if you are unconscious.”

  “She won’t. She wants you awake and aware. If she electrocuted you, you might pass out. No, she wants you to see her evil, to know that she holds power over you. Since I am taking your place, that works to our advantage.”

  Josiah reappeared in the room. “Mabel is safely delivered. Your father assigned her the suite next to his. I could hear him snoring as we passed his door.”

  “Father likes the attentions of a woman,” Garrett said. “He remarried only a year after my mother passed. It’s been two years since the twin’s mother died in that boating accident. I’d say he is due for a new wife.”

  “You think your father has a thing for Mabel? He’s old enough to be her father.” Josiah’s face scrunched up in disgust. Gabriella couldn’t help herself. She laughed.

  “You are about to go on a mission, and all you can think about is Mabel and Rodric?” Gabriella laughed harder. Maybe it was the strain of the day, or maybe she was losing her mind, but the situation seemed ludicrous to her.

  “Gabriella is right,” Garrett said. “We need to get our heads in the game. Josiah go down and armor up and then bring Gabriella’s armor back here. We’ll wait until you return. Have the others take the positions we discussed earlier. I don’t want any slip-ups. Brenna is not going to escape today.”

  §

  Garrett fastened the last buckle on the breastplate around Gabriella’s chest. The arm and leg pieces were already strapped on. The armor had spells on it to protect from magic attack and to deflect bullets. It was the best he could do to keep her safe.

  “Whose armor is this?” Gabriella asked as she gazed at the shiny metal.

  “It’s a combination of Mabel’s and Elise’s. Don’t worry, it won’t be missed.”

  “Is there any more news about Elise? I know you worry about her.”

  “We have people out searching. But so far nothing has been found. I hope we can figure out where they’ve taken her. But right now, my only thought is making sure you are safe. Remember what I said about staying with Josiah and Damek. They’ll keep an eye on you and port you out at the first sign of trouble.”

  “I can port myself out. I’m not a child.”

  Garrett swept his cloak around her shoulders and fastened it at the neck. “I know that. But you might not recognize danger. This is our job, remember? You’ve got to trust our judgment.” Nothing could be allowed to happen to her.

  “Where’s your armor?”

  “I’m not going to wear any. I can’t hide it when I take your shape. Besides, they wouldn’t expect you to have armor.” He wasn’t taking any chances. Brenna would be caught tonight.

  “But how will you stay safe? What about my vision of you being shot?”

  “I’m willing to take the chance. Josiah and Damek are here now. You have to go with them to get into position. I’ll give you fifteen minutes, then I am porting in. You said to meet her in your office in the pub, right?” Damek and Josiah entered the room, wearing armor and cloaks, two large swords attached to their belts.

  “Yes, that’s where she would expect me to be. But Garrett, you can’t take a chance like this. I need you to be safe too.”

  It warmed his heart to hear her say so. But now wasn’t the time to discuss it. He grabbed her close and kissed her. “Remember, I love you. Go now.” Garrett nodded to Damek and Josiah.

  “Don’t worry, cousin. She’ll be safe with us.” Damek grabbed Gabriella by one arm, and Josiah grabbed the other. Gabriella opened her mouth as if to argue, but the three of them were already becoming transparent and porting away.

  Garrett ran his hand through his hair. Great Goddess, he loved that woman. Shaking his head, he moved into the middle of the room. He began to chant the shape-shifting spell as he visualized Gabriella’s form. He knew everything about her now, her smile, the way light caught in her hair, the color her eyes turned when she was troubled. He built the image in his mind and finished the spell.

  He felt his body start to shift. White lights exploded in front of his eyes. He blinked several times. When he looked down, he saw Gabriella’s shapely legs encased in her favorite jeans. His hands were smaller with long slender fingers and polished nails. Testing his voice, he thought he caught her tone and inflection perfectly.

  “Well, it’s now or never.”

  Picturing the inside of Gabriella’s office at the Blue Dolphin, he ported.

  §

  “Garrett,” Gabriella called. “We have to go back. He has to have some kind of protection. My sister and the other cult members could do anything.”

  Gabriella looked around in the darkness. Josiah had lit the tip of his wand, and she recognized one of the smaller rooms of her basement. Chanting could be heard coming from the room next door.

  “Shh, lower your voice. We can’t take a chance of being discovered,” Damek hissed in her ear. Gabriella nodded her head in understanding. She gritted her teeth in frustration. What about Garrett?

  Damek carefully opened the door and peeked out. No one was in the hall. The pale light from the other end lessened the darkness, but it was still hard to see. Gabriella pulled her willow wand out of her pocket. She wanted to be ready for anything. Somehow, she needed to stop Brenna from shooting anyone.

  Damek waved her back and stepped away from the door, leaving it open a crack. When Garrett and Brenna walked by, Damek and Gabriella would see them. Gabriella wondered where the other Guardians were hiding.

  The chanting stopped, and Gabriella froze. Damek and Josiah waited, their attention fixed on the room next door. Someone inside the room laughed, and Gabriella allowed herself to relax a little. Damek squeezed her shoulder but didn’t say anything. Now they had to wait. Each second seemed like an eternity.

  §

  Garrett landed in Gabriella’s leather chair. The door opened, and Brenna walked in with a gun in her hand. “Hello, sister dear. I’m glad you decided to come. I was afraid you might make me chase after you. Finding Venetia’s body must have prompted your obedience.

  “Why did you do it, Brenna? Venetia was our mother’s friend. She wanted only the best for us.” Garrett made sure he reacted as if he were Gabriella, right down to the tears sparkling in his eyes, while inside he was furious. Brenna, was responsible for so much hurt.

  “The best for you, maybe. She always liked you the most. Come on. Let’s get going. My friends are waiting for us in the basement.” Brenna waved her gun, indicating that Gabriella should rise and move to the door.

  Garrett hesitated. “What are you going to do?” he asked in Gabriella’s voice.

  “Let you make the ultimate sacrifice, of course. Isn’t that what you’re always doing? Sacrificing for my benefit? Tonight, you will give me your magic. Then, I will take your life to feed the darkness. Don’t worry, as the ceremony goes on, I will feel better and better. Isn’t that what you wanted? Me to feel good about myself?” Garrett moved toward the door. Thank the Goddess, Gabriella wasn’t here to experience her sister’s depravity. It would have broken Gabriella’s heart.

  “Did you ever love me, sister?” Garrett had to ask. He remembered the picture of the smiling girl on Gabriella’s bedside table.

  “I suppose I did, before I realized how you were trying to control me. Before you pushed Philip off the cliff.” Garrett opened the door to the alley and stepped outside. Brenna took one arm and pushed him toward the entrance to the basement. She waved the gun toward the door. “Open it. I already unlocked it.”

  Garr
ett opened the door and started down the stairs. “I didn’t push Philip. He tried to throw me off and fell. I almost fell, as well.”

  “You lie! The Red Wizard explained it to me. You need to take everything I love away from me so you can be in control.”

  “Brenna, that’s not true.”

  Brenna pushed him toward the door at the end of the hall. Garrett knew the Guardians waited to step in. But first, Brenna had to get into the room so they could capture all the cult members together. The Guardians didn’t want to take a chance on one of the culprits porting away.

  “The Red Wizard said you would say that. You can’t help yourself. Don’t worry, Gabby. I’m going to put you out of your misery.”

  “Is he coming? This Red Wizard?” Could they be that lucky to take the leader of the blood cult?

  “No, he put this ceremony in my control. He believes in me.” Garrett felt a moment of disappointment, but didn’t dare show it. Brenna waved the gun at the last door, and he obediently opened it.

  Black candles burned around the room. Garrett quickly counted six black-robed figures wearing dark leather masks standing around the red circle spray-painted on the floor. An altar consisting of a table held a bowl and a metal scythe.

  Garrett almost snorted. Someone had watched too many movies. These cult members liked the show as much as the violence. Maybe, they felt it heightened their victim’s fear. Playing along, he gasped, bringing a smile to Brenna’s lips. She pushed him toward the middle of the circle. He let momentum carry him to the floor, landing on his hands and knees.

  Brenna laughed. Garrett knew what she saw, Gabriella on the floor, her sides heaving, her black hair hiding her face from her captives. “Get up, sister dear. It’s time to finish this.”

  One of the robed figures handed Brenna a red robe, which she quickly put on. “Was she followed? Did you see anyone around?”

  “Shut up!” Brenna screeched. “I’m the one in charge here.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gabriella heard Brenna’s voice in the hall. She shivered at the malice in her sister’s tone. What ever happened to the girl she used to know? Gabriella turned her head away and covered her mouth, trying not to breathe in the smell of rotting flesh. Couldn’t Brenna sense that her soul was rotting away? Gabriella wrapped her arms around herself, feeling her stomach roil. Now wasn’t the time to be sick.

  Across from her, the door to another room opened, and Haytham and Safara moved quietly into the hallway and followed behind Garrett and Brenna. Haytham had used his air magic to hide their presence by producing an illusion of an empty hallway.

  The Guardians and Gabriella all waited, afraid to breathe, while Garrett, in Gabriella’s form, opened the door as Brenna ordered. Luckily for all of them, Brenna left the door open. Haytham and Safara followed Garrett and Brenna closely but waited just outside the room for the other Guardians to take their positions.

  Damek motioned the real Gabriella to follow him, and he crept into the hallway. She realized Damek and Josiah had taken Garrett’s demands to keep her safe very seriously. Josiah followed close behind, his sword in his hands. Nobody was going to get through her bodyguards. They moved as a unit, inching closer and closer to the door.

  When they heard Brenna screech, both Damek and Josiah grabbed Gabriella’s arms, and all the Guardians ported into the ceremonial room. Several black-robed figures stood around the red painted circle on the floor. Black candles were lit around the room. Brenna stood over the prone figure of Garrett, in Gabriella’s form, in the middle of the circle.

  The Guardians jumped into action, each team targeting a different blood-cult member. Josiah held his sword at the throat of one of the robed men. The man raised his hands in surrender. Damek used his magic, and a rock flew through the air and hit one of the robed figures in the head. The man fell to the floor with a groan. Calder and Kendria covered a man in ice, freezing him in place. Tolya shifted to a wolf and leapt on one of the blood-cult members as the man tried to form a fireball to throw at Damek. The man landed flat on his back and quickly surrendered when he saw Tolya’s teeth heading for his throat. Haytham used his air magic to blow a man against the wall, pinning him in place. Safara threw a fireball at the man nearest Brenna. The man’s robe caught fire, and he ran screaming from the room. Soon, the Guardians had disarmed and restrained each black-robed figure in the room.

  Screeching, Brenna reached down and pulled Garrett up by his hair. It was so bizarre seeing herself on the other side of the room. Gabriella couldn’t help herself. “Brenna!” she exclaimed.

  Brenna jerked her head up and turned to see Gabriella across the room. “You,” she shouted, turning to point the gun in her hand at Gabriella. This was exactly like her vision. Everything seemed to slow down. Damek moved forward to shield Gabriella. Garrett reached for Brenna’s arm holding the gun.

  Needing to do something to stop Garrett from getting shot, Gabriella lifted her wand and called on her magic. Power and strength suffused her body as both water and earth magic flowed into her. Earth magic affected metals, and she suddenly knew just what to do. She concentrated her sight on the gun and moved her wand. As if she were heating water, she made the atoms begin to move faster in the metal of the gun.

  The gun began to smoke, as the metal heated, and the oils on the surface got hot. Instead of pulling the trigger, Brenna screamed and dropped the gun. Garrett overpowered her. In moments, a pair of handcuffs sporting a nullifying spell was thrust into his hands. He snapped them onto Brenna’s wrists.

  Damek rushed forward and took charge of Brenna. With the other Guardians, he ported Brenna and the cult members to the nullifying cells at Guardian headquarters. Garrett and Gabriella stood alone in the basement of the Blue Dolphin.

  Garrett waved his hands and shifted his shape back to his own. He rushed up and crushed Gabriella to his chest. “Don’t cry, baby. It’s over.”

  Gabriella hadn’t realized that tears streamed down her face. She threw her arms around Garrett. “You’re safe. She didn’t shoot you.”

  Garrett chuckled. “That was quick thinking, heating the metal of the gun like that. We’ll make a Guardian out of you, yet.”

  “The only person I want to guard is you.”

  §

  One week later, the Guardians, minus Elise, sat in the Blue Dolphin pub. Gabriella was behind the bar fixing drinks as fast as her fingers could fly. Loud music blasted over a stereo, and everyone was in high spirits.

  Gabriella motioned over a waitress and came out from behind the bar. Garrett rushed over and swept her up for a kiss. Everyone in the pub hooted and hollered. But nothing could take away from the feeling of Garrett’s arms around her safe and sound.

  The danger wasn’t over. The Red Wizard was still out there, and Elise and Councilman Brant were still missing. Gabriella didn’t know how she would handle being a Guardian’s wife, knowing that Garrett faced danger every day at work.

  But for tonight she put it all behind her. The council had okayed the reopening of the Blue Dolphin, and tonight was the grand opening. There was a packed house, and money filled the till.

  Venetia had willed the Beach Inn and all her magic items in the workroom to Gabriella. At first, Gabriella worried that Calder and Kendria would be resentful. But they admitted they were glad not to be responsible for their aunt’s property. Somehow, Gabriella would have to split her time between the two establishments. Even without the blood cult, life wasn’t going to be easy.

  Gabriella looked up into Garrett’s amethyst eyes. As long as she had this man at her side, anything was possible. Their life together was a destined one.

  Epilogue

  Mabel Avery opened the door to her apartment with a sigh. She was tired, more tired than she could remember feeling for the last one thousand years. With a quick flick of her fingers, the door locked and the window blinds closed. Then, she released the glamour spell she’d kept on to hide her pointed ears and otherworldly glow.

  Secrets, so many
secrets. She reached up to release her hair. She would be glad when this last assignment was over and she could finally claim her Destined One. If Rodric would have her, that is. He would be angry when he learned she had used her magic to keep their bond a secret for the last thirty years.

  But she didn’t have a choice. Her term of duty wasn’t finished until the end of the year. The queen of the Fae wouldn’t condone any shirking of duty. None of the witch community knew that Averys weren’t human, or that the original Wish Makers, the ancestors of the witch people, were actually Fae.

  Mabel glanced at the clock. She opened the door to her bedroom and pulled the doors away from a mirror that stood ten-feet high on the back wall. Gilded runes lined the frame. One of her duties as a Guardian was to protect this portal into Avalon, Land of the Fae.

  A rogue Fae had crossed over and was even now leading the new blood cult. Thank the Goddess, he hadn’t crossed using her portal. The queen wasn’t known to forgive easily.

  The inside of the mirror started to swirl with mist, and for a moment Mabel’s homeland could be seen. An ache filled her heart for the land of her birth, the evergreen country. Voices could be heard whispering magic spells, and he stepped through.

  “Sir Ywain.” Mabel greeted the six-foot tall man with light blond hair down to his shoulders. He wore a long silk jacket of sapphire blue over white breeches and hose. His knee high boots were made of butter-soft leather, and Mabel’s fingers itched to run over their fineness. The Fae lord must have come through the portal from the gate in the garden of the queen’s court. A Eurasian lynx rested in his arms. With a wave of his hand, his clothes changed to a black T-shirt and jeans, his boots were now black biker boots. His hair was pulled into a tail down his neck, revealing his pointy ears.