Page 63 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
Just no.
Shane put a hand on her forearm and clamped down until she looked at him.
She whispered, "We’ll do it different with them. It’ll involve a potion and the cleansing spell."
"Not sure I’m into taking any sort of potion that you’d brew," Ky said, not glancing up from the knife he used to clean his nails.
Madeline continued as if she hadn’t heard the comment, "Third, the counter curse has to be done at midnight on a complete lunar eclipse, which only occurs once every two and a half years. The next one is in three days, which I don’t think is a coincidence. Things like this only come together at the time in history when they’re meant to happen. Fourth, once we have all the players together at midnight, you four give a bit of blood, clasp hands and rescind the oath you made to assist the Crown in fighting paranormal terrorists, the one you did willingly before the curse was cast and changed that decision from voluntary to involuntary. I’ll read the words to undo the curse. Then…" She sighed and glanced heavenward. "I’ll give the ultimate sacrifice, which is necessary to power the undoing." He detected a fine tremor run through her. "I’ll give my life."
"What?" Shane shook his head.No.Absolutely not. Unacceptable."You never said anything about you dying to undo this."
Grief reflected in her eyes. "To reverse the curse requires theultimate sacrificeon my part. Not on yours or any one of your brothers. I’ve consulted with the best spell casters on the planet about the verbiage. There’s no other option."
Roman said unemotionally, "To sum up: we do a cleanse, get all the players together at midnight on the lunar eclipse, you say the words, and you die. Then we’re free?"
"There’s one more thing." She glanced around the table briefly. "Just a small warning. If we go through with this and I die, my aunt will hunt you down. Nothing I can say or do will sway her. She warned me."
"Who’s your aunt?" Shane asked.
She nibbled her lower lip.
"Cora?" Shane asked. The witch who scared Antonio? He glanced behind him to the vampire who’d stiffened.
Madeline nodded. "You guys are good, perhaps protected by the Christian god, which is commendable and fascinating, but she’s protected by other gods. Not one, but multiple. She’s got a lot of friends, and most others are unwilling to cross her."
"We’ve got the mage on our team," Roman said but added under his breath, "Most of the time."
Antonio emitted a sarcastic noise as if to saygood luck.
"Which one? Dom?" She leaned forward onto her elbows.
"He said something about all mages but him were gone. I assumed him the last of them. There’s one other than Dom?" Roman asked.
She chuckled. "He would think himself the only mage that matters." Madeline leaned back and smiled. "Dom is a moody asshole. Quite annoying in that he’s always trying to read minds, but if you haven’t gotten him drunk yet, I highly recommend it. Tequila is the key. That guy can tell some ridiculous jokes when drunk, and he’s a horrid dancer. Funny, but bloody awful. He and Cora go way back, probably because they’ve both been around a long, long time." She craned around to look Antonio’s way. "I don't think they hooked up. Don’t worry."
"I wasn’t worried," Antonio grumbled, but his cheeks flushed.
She grinned at him.
Everyone around the table looked at her like she’d grown three heads. Even Shane feared Dom. He was old as dirt and annoying when he tried to muck around in a person’s mind. To think Madeline had drinks with him?
"What?" She shrugged. "We partied one night."
"I think that’s quite enough from our guest for the moment," said a woman as she clapped her hands.
Shane jumped and craned to see his mother dressed in a draped red dress that covered her from neck to knees and matching strappy high heels. The outfit was designed to show off her long legs. Her platinum blonde hair was styled into a classic bob with swoopy bangs. The look made her seem more like a supermodel than a centuries-old lycan who moonlighted as a professional assassin.
Evie strolled to Shane, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. "It’s a relief to see you in person, love. You look like crap." She flicked him on an ear.
"Oww." He ducked away from her and rubbed his ear.
"Brat. Don’t ever fake your death to me again. Next time, I’ll make my baby boy dies for real." She faced Madeline and examined her in silence.
Everyone stilled.
Anyone in Evie’s house needed to come out on the positive side of this kind of assessment. If they didn’t, she put a bullet in the person or decapitated the being before they blinked.
His mother’s head tilted to the side as she gazed at Madeline with intense focus. Then offered her hand. "I’m Evie, these lads’ mother."
