Robert rolled down his window as the elderly woman reached them.

  “Oh, lads, I almost let you get away without the biscuits I promised. I know how young lads love the shortbread.” She chuckled as she handed over her napkin-wrapped bundle.

  “You shouldn’t have troubled yerself, Mrs. Gordon, though we certainly do appreciate yer thoughtfulness.”

  Jesse’s fake smile grudgingly turned into a real one as he watched his friend in action. Robert was always the model of proper behavior with women, whether they were eighteen or eighty.

  “Will you be headed to the MacGuivers’ home next? Poor Lucy with all those babies, she’s run ragged, that’s a fact. You may want to come back inside and give her a ring first.”

  Robert reached out the window and patted Mrs. Gordon’s hand. “Thank you, dear lady, but we’ve already been and set an appointment to go back at a better time. As you say, the lady has her hands full.”

  “Do you have the Butlers on yer list?” She peered into the car as if she could actually see the list of which she spoke. “Geraldine will be thrilled to have you. We used to get together for tea once a week, but the poor dear has trouble getting out and about now. Company will make her ever so happy, though you may have to wait until her son gets home from work to lead you round through the house for yer photos. Young Arthur’s a special constable, you know. A busy man, he is.”

  Jesse drew a mental line through their visit to the Butler home.

  “And MacIntosh Hall?” Jesse leaned across toward the open window as he spoke. “Do you know the owners there very well?”

  Mrs. Gordon’s lips tightened as he spoke. She leaned farther in, her eyes darting to each side as if she wanted to make sure no one else would hear what she had to say.

  “I’d avoid that place if I were you. Oh, they’ve a lovely garden there, they do. But they dinna deserve to be in yer book. Not at all.” She shook her head for emphasis.

  “Really?”

  Robert’s one-word question was all it took to set the woman off again, her eyes sparkling with her excitement to share a little local gossip.

  “The woman who owns the property is only there now and again, and a tyrant she is, too. Hateful to her staff—all locals, you know? Geraldine was telling me on the phone just before you came that her lad had been called out to MacIntosh Hall just last evening to accompany the neighborhood warden. They went to speak to that awful woman about reports of her security people openly carrying weapons on the property.” She shook her head, setting her white curls bobbing. “Imagine that. Security. Like she thinks she’s one of those stars on the telly or something. No. You’ll no want to be going there, I assure you.”

  “Thanks again for all yer help, Mrs. Gordon. And for the tea and crackers,” Robert called out as they pulled away, turning a solemn face to Jesse. “We’ll be headed to MacIntosh Hall next, I assume?”

  “That we will,” Jesse answered.

  Mrs. Gordon might have wasted their time showing them every room in her great house, but he felt sure she’d set them on the right track at last.

  Chapter 28

  The drop down into the hole was farther than Destiny had expected. She hit the uneven ground with a thud, her legs buckling under her and her elbow smacking into the sharp edge of a wooden stair as she fell backward.

  Too bad she hadn’t known those were there earlier.

  She stood, feeling every inch of the fall she’d just taken as she tried to get her bearings. The newly discovered stairs were behind her, the outside wall to her left. Straight ahead, close enough for her to reach out and touch: another wall. Any door or stairs leading into the house would have to be to her right.

  Trouble was, in the pitch-blackness of the cellar where she stood, one wrong step and she’d easily lose her sense of direction.

  Her purse, its shoulder strap slung across her chest, had worked its way around behind her, bouncing against her butt with each step. She pulled it back around, digging inside for Jesse’s flashlight. Considering the small size of her purse and its meager contents, she didn’t have any trouble finding the light. It lay right next to the small kitchen knife she’d “borrowed” from the Abernethy’s home when she’d helped clean up after their tea time.

  One more thing her conscience would require her to return when this was over. Assuming she got the opportunity to do so.

  No. No more negative thinking.

  Using the tiny beam of light, she made her way across what turned out to be a rather small room to a set of stone stairs, obviously installed back in a day when safety railings weren’t considered a building-code necessity.

  At the top of the stairs she found a door, long unused if the webs covering it were any gauge. She might have escaped a barricaded room once today, but this was the real world. Any Faerie magic she might have wouldn’t do diddly for her here if she found herself locked in. She held her breath and turned the knob, thankful the door opened a crack.

  A stealthy peek out the tiny opening reassured her no one was waiting for her, and she pushed the door just far enough to allow her to squeeze out.

  The hallway she found herself in was dark, but nothing like the little cellar room below. She pocketed the light, fearing someone might see its reflection.

  She had to make a quick choice. To her left down the long hallway stood a closed door. The other direction offered another set of stairs, this one winding its way up. Chances were they would be holding her sister upstairs, not on ground level, so she headed for the stairs.

  By the time she reached the door at the top, she felt certain she’d gone more than one floor level. The door at the top was old and narrow, with a keyhole so large Destiny could imagine an ancient iron key being used for it. She hoped against hope that she wouldn’t need one of those massive keys, and, as with the others, this door opened easily.

  As she started to step into another long, dingy hallway, she heard steps approaching from the other end and quickly ducked back inside. Squatting down, she peered through the keyhole, watching as a woman in a black-and-white maid’s uniform entered the hallway from a staircase at the other end and made her way to one of the doors lining the hall. As soon as the woman disappeared inside the room, Destiny stood and slipped through the door.

  Should she stay low like in the movies or creep down the hall on tiptoe? After only seconds of indecision, she tossed out all the Hollywood stereotypes and bolted toward the other end, hoping her soft-soled sneakers would cushion any noise.

  She passed another, smaller set of stairs going up, deciding to ignore them for now, and headed instead for the end of the hallway where the maid had entered.

  The stairs here led down. It was only when she reached the bottom and cracked open the door that she realized the floor she’d just come from must have been the servants’ quarters.

  This level looked entirely different. The hallway was wide and airy with rooms leading off only one side. The other side had large windows looking out over the parklike property surrounding the mansion.

  Two steps into the hallway, an eerie feeling of déjà vu swept over Destiny—so strong it stopped her in her tracks.

  She’d been here before.

  Panic bubbled up in her chest and she slapped a hand over her mouth, not trusting herself to keep her horror silent.

  The nightmare hadn’t been a dream at all. It had been a vision. Everything she’d seen, everything her sister had suffered—it had all been real.

  Anger seethed and bubbled, replacing all her fear.

  They were going to pay for what they’d put Leah through. Once she had her sister safely out of this place, she was coming back. And when she did, all the Faeries in Wyddecol wouldn’t be able to stop her from hunting down that pig, Dermond Tyren, and making his sorry ass so much sorrier than he ever could have imagined.

  Images of pulling the trigger on a really lethal-looking weapon danced through her mind, energizing her. Focusing her. She might not know how right now, but she was going to make that man pay.

  But first she had to find Leah and get her out of this hell before it was too late.

  She stopped at the door she recognized from her vision, straightening her shoulders and taking a deep breath before she entered.

  As in the vision, the room was beautifully decorated, but unlike what she’d seen before, suitcases stood by the door as if someone had packed them and they were waiting to be taken away.

  She hurried across the room to the door she remembered. The door that had led to Leah in her vision.

  The knob turned easily in her hand. She opened the door and slipped inside, instantly greeted by her sister’s angry yell to get out.

  Destiny ducked as something whooshed past her head, smashing against the door behind her.

  “Oh my God, Destiny!” Leah stood beside her bed, one hand covering her mouth. “What are you doing here? They’ll be back any minute. They’ll find you.”

  One quick glance down at the remains of the lamp her sister had thrown and Destiny ran to Leah, throwing her arms around the girl. “What do you think I’m doing? I’m getting you out of here.” She brushed back the silken strands from Leah’s face, noting with renewed anger the dark circles under her sister’s eyes.

  Dermond would pay for those, too, she silently promised herself.

  “You can’t.” Leah lifted her arm, jangling a small metal chain, one end attached to a band at her wrist, the other fastened to the large post on the headboard. “We’d need the key.”

  Damn. There had been only a strap of some sort in her vision.

  “Okay. Just give me time to think.” Destiny scanned the room for something, anything that could help them, finding absolutely nothing.

  “It’s no good, Desi. We’re out of time,” her sister whispered. “Hear that? She’s coming.”

  Outside the door, the sound of heels clipped across the tile floor, headed their way.

  “Over there.” Leah pointed to a tall wardrobe centered on the far wall. “Get inside and stay quiet.”

  Destiny raced across the room, shoving the clothing out of her way as she climbed inside and turned to pull the double doors closed. Through the gap of the closing, she watched as Leah’s bedroom door swung open.

  “Time to go, pet.”

  Adira entered, dressed in white from head to toe, like some sick parody of angelic innocence. Destiny hated every inch of the woman, from her white stilettos to the tacky see-through blouse that left nothing to the imagination.

  The woman stopped inside the doorway, obviously inspecting the broken lamp on the floor.

  “Having another temper tantrum, were we?” She made a tsking noise and shook her head as she approached Leah. “What did I tell you about that? Lucky for you, pet, our ride’s due any minute. No time for punishment right now.”

  She twirled a little chain around her finger as she walked. Round and round it swung, with a tiny key hanging from the chain like a small silver charm.

  That was all Destiny needed to see.

  While she waited for Adira to unlock her sister, she pulled her purse around to her front and reached inside, her fingers closing over the knife.

  Her hand shook as she pulled the weapon from her purse. Could she use it on the woman? Could she cross the room and actually stab the knife into a living person?

  “We’ll take up the matter of your behavior later. In fact, I’ve just decided on a surprise for you, pet.” Adira unlocked the band from the bed and wrapped it around her hand, dragging Leah forward and shoving the girl toward the door in front of her. “When Dermond comes to you tonight, I’m going to send along a second playmate. After satisfying both Dermond and Flynn, we’ll see if you still have enough energy to break my things tomorrow.”

  Destiny had her answer. Yes. Oh, hell yes.

  Quietly she opened the doors of the wardrobe and crossed the room. Slipping behind Adira as the two women reached the doorway, Destiny held the knife with both hands, her arms raised above her head. Her mind filled with the hateful things this monster planned to do to her little sister as she plunged the knife down into the woman’s back.

  Adira screamed and fell to her knees.

  “Go!” Destiny shouted at her sister, who stood, eyes wide with shock, staring at her tormentor on the floor.

  “I told you to go!” she ordered again, more quietly than before, stopping only to snatch the tiny key and chain from the floor where Adira had dropped it.

  The bedroom door she slammed did little to muffle the woman’s furious screams and threats, all of which she blocked from her mind.

  Destiny grabbed her sister’s hand, leading her back the way she had entered, down the hallway and up the stairs. Halfway down the hall, the door ahead of them opened and Destiny dove for the small staircase she’d bypassed earlier, shoving Leah up ahead of her.

  The staircase was dark and narrow, ending at a door so low she was forced to duck her head as they passed through, out onto the open widow’s walk.

  She leaned against the door, catching her breath, only now realizing her mistake. There was no cover up here, no place to hide. She didn’t see any way down, either.

  Her blunder had them trapped like animals, waiting for the hunters to pick them off.

  Chapter 29

  The throb in her back was like nothing Adira had ever experienced, but it paled in comparison to the fury she felt.

  She pushed up to her knees, gasping for breath against the pain as she tried to reach whatever that bitch had stabbed her with. She could just touch it with her fingertips, but couldn’t get a grip.

  In her agony, her outrage, she screamed again, stopping only when the door burst open.

  “By the Mother, Adira! What’s happened to you?” Dermond dropped to one knee at her side, clutching uselessly at her arm, one hand sliding down her back.

  “I’ve been stabbed, you idiot! What does it look like?”

  “It looks like a kitchen knife,” Flynn stated quietly, entering and dropping to her side.

  He pulled the utensil from her back, eliciting another scream of agony she couldn’t hold back.

  “Who’s done this to you? The girl?” Flynn pressed his hand tightly against her back, leaning her body against his. “Get me a towel, Dermond. Can’t you see she’s bleeding?”

  Adira rested her forehead on Flynn’s shoulder, grateful to have him here to deal with Dermond.

  “Not the girl. Her sister. She’s here. As you warned.” The pain made it hard to speak. The white-hot fury made it difficult to think. “Get them. Get them both.”

  She’d have them hold that troublesome bitch down when they caught her. Make her watch her sister’s agony as Leah healed what she had done. See how she liked watching her own sister writhe on the floor as she felt the burn of a knife blade sink into her back.

  “You go after them,” Flynn ordered when Dermond handed him a towel. “I’ll get Adira to the helicopter. I hear it coming in now. If you think you can handle both of them, that is.”

  Dermond growled his rage, hesitating only a moment before he started for the door, his face grim with his intent.

  “Alive, Dermond!” Adira forced the words through gritted teeth. “I want them alive. Both of them.”

  “But… but, she hurt you,” he stammered, staring down at his blood-covered hand.

  “You heard your queen.” Flynn stood, lifting her in his arms. “You have your orders. She wants the women alive. We didn’t pass them on the way here so they must have gone up to the servant’s floor. Start there.”

  Dermond pulled a weapon from his shoulder harness as he ran from the room ahead of them. She would have to depend on him to catch her valuable prey while Flynn carried her downstairs and out to the back of the mansion.

  “When Dermond brings them to you, they’ll need to be taught they can’t get away with attacking you again.”

  “Yes,” she whispered, allowing her cheek to rest against Flynn’s broad shoulder. She’d made the right decision earlier. Dermond might be the more beautiful of the two, but Flynn was more intelligent. More cunning. More of what she needed at her side.

  She was their queen now, as she always should have been, though Reynard had denied her that honor. He’d held it over her head, out of her reach, to keep her in her place. To remind her of her status. To excuse his abuse of her.

  All that was changed now. Reynard was gone and she’d never serve as anyone’s underling again. She’d be the one to mete out humiliation and punishment. She’d be the one to deny favors. Or to grant them when she chose.

  “Perhaps I’ll leave their punishment to you, Flynn. So long as they’re undamaged for my purposes.” Undamaged and able to produce litter after litter of magically gifted mongrels, all for her use.

  All to add to her power.

  She felt better already.

  Chapter 30

  “Holy Mother of God. Look up there!” Robert pointed toward the roof of the house as Jesse slammed on his brakes.

  No. It couldn’t be. Jesse’s breath caught in his throat.

  But it was. Destiny and her sister on the widow’s walk of MacIntosh Hall.

  Robert was out the door the second they stopped, banging his fist on the back of the car. “Open the damned trunk.”

  Jesse met him at the back, in time to have a Glock shoved into his hands. The weapon was old and not the model he preferred, but it would have to do. Peter had done a thorough job in having weapons waiting for Robbie when he arrived.

  He slapped the bullet cartridge into place and grabbed a spare before he started forward.

  “You’ll cover them from here,” he barked, knowing the order was unnecessary. Even with a strange rifle, Robbie was their best chance of protecting the women on the roof until he could reach them.