Page 75 of The Seer

“Bloodstone, am I correct you’ve returned for good?” Odessa purred as she sauntered around the pool’s edge. “It’s why the necklace drew me here tonight, by the way. It sensed your magic.”

“Well, itismine. I’d be much obliged if you returned it,” he said, as if they were chums instead of foes.

Odessa’s laugh rang out, but there was no real humor in it.

“Okay, we’re in harmony,” Taryn said in a low voice. “Do what you need to get your weapons from the grotto.”

The sigils lit, catching Odessa’s attention. She frowned. “Your journal hinted at a treasure, but never stated the location. I suspect this pool was charmed by you?”

“You assumed correctly,” he replied. Putting a hand behind him, he pressed Taryn backward as he retreated a step for each of Odessa’s. “Far enough, woman.”

“Not nearly enough,” the elderly Sullivan boomed as she began the metamorphosis from human to beast.

Having anticipated her action, Ardghal dragged Taryn against him and clamped his hands over her ears.“Muteion!”The single-word spell was foreign, but she recognized its immediate effect as a gel substance filled and cushioned her ear canals like high-quality earplugs.

Odessa’s banshee-like cry was bone-chilling, and the unholy wail ricocheted off the cavern walls, haunting and unrelenting. Ardghal’s quick thinking had saved Taryn from ruptured eardrums, but she didn’t have the wits left to thank him. What came next was a morbidly captivating nightmare. One moment, Odessa was a cane-wielding crone dripping arrogance. The next, she towered at seven feet, all hellfire, hunger, and fully awakened Succubus cloaked in deathly allure.

CHAPTER23

As their kind went, Odessa wasn’t the ugliest Ardghal had seen, but she was damned close. The infusion of magic transformed her body, leaching her dyed hair of color and turning it to the palest white. Her beady eyes glowed an unholy red, and the horns that emerged from her temples to curl skyward were harder than bone, encased in withered leather. A second set of arms grew from her ribcage and were the most useful tool a demon could possess. Long claws sprouted where her fingers should be, and her skin developed a thick rusted-metal veneer as her cells shifted from flesh to protective scales. Her scapula took on the new shape of wings, pushing through the scaly barrier. Resembling a bat, they were human-sized and could encase her entire body twice.

Slack-jawed, Taryn was frozen, mesmerized by the sight, making her the perfect victim should Odessa target her. He gave her a little shake.

“Loan me your magic, love, so that I might defeat her.”

His request woke her to the danger.

“Bring Fintan back,” Taryn replied.

“Are ya mad, girl?” Peter hissed as he appeared beside her. “She’ll just murder ya both faster.”

“Odessa wants Ardghal’s power, and she can’t get it if he isn’t here,” she snapped back.

Admittedly, Taryn’s idea wasn’t the worst Ardghal had ever heard, but a Sullivan was stronger in Siren form. And as the first and only of his kind, he was the strongest. Yet his goal wasn’t to fight today if he could avoid it. His mission was to take down the Authority and neutralize Fintan’s fake “ancestors.” But he couldn’t do that if he were mortally wounded.

“How many of Elizabeth’s journals did you read, Odessa?” he asked as she glided within striking distance.

“Only the one.” Her voice was serpentine, as was the calculating gleam in eyes tracking his every movement. “The others disappeared along with the necklace years before I learned of your existence,” she said, ending with a hiss as her forked tongue struck her teeth.

Peter surged forward, and if it was to protect him or Taryn, the man was misguided. In his ghostly shape, he was useless as anything but a distraction. But perhaps that was his plan, because he asked, “And how was it ya got your grimy hands on the one, sister? Sure, and I scattered them to the winds when I became the Seer.”

A sneer curled her lips. “Did you forget the wealth I possess, fool?” she boomed.

“Youpossess?” Taryn sidestepped Ardghall, avoiding him as he lunged for her. “The bulk of the Sullivan holdings belong to Brenna, Narissa, or Fintan. Not you.” She grinned. “But we can easily settle this, right? Peter, why don’t you be a dear and fetch your niece and grandniece? They should be part of this discussion, I think.”

With a conspiratorial touch of his finger to the side of his nose, he disappeared.

“And then there were three,” Taryn said. Hands on hips and the light of battle in her eyes, she lifted her chin in challenge. “What is it youwant, Odessa? What will avoid bloodshed and your ultimate demise?”

Ardghal almost choked on his tongue.

Odessa actually might’ve, considering her purple complexion.

“Ah, Fintan, my boy. She sure is the perfect woman, isn’t she?”

“Aye, but watch my aunt. She’s as dangerous as a vipers’ den.”

Her eyes, flat and glinting like polished stones, locked on him. Cold and unblinking, they spiked Ardghal’s unease. Odessa’s head swiveled to measure Taryn’s worth as a magical meal, and his fear coiled at the base of his spine. His back grew clammy. Was the cunning bitch baiting him, or was the lure of Taryn’s untapped power too mouthwatering to resist?

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