Page 34 of Samhain Savior

He wanted her to trust me, but, even if she didn’t, I was going to trusthim.

So the witch lived. For now.

But that didn’t stop the strange clenching in my chest when I thought about her up there, all alone in the night. She didn’t even have her things. I’d hidden them in my Rip and had given her no indication that I had them.

And still, she hadn’t complained.

Letting out a sigh, I ran both hands down my face, suddenly feeling exhausted. Knowing I should probably getat least a little bit of rest before the sun rose and I needed to decide our next move, I turned, heading for the stairs. A few hours in my bed would probably make a world of difference to my fucking attitude.

I hadn’t even made it halfway up the steps when the entire front window blew inward, glass scattering across the parlor like confetti.

“Corson!” I shouted, opening my Rip and reaching for my bow and quiver. “Vine! We’ve got company!”

Sliding the quiver over one shoulder, I pulled out an arrow and notched it, continuing to climb the stairs backwards as I pointed my weapon at the shattered window.

“Greetings, Archer,” came a voice I’d not heard in several decades. “How serendipitous to find you here, holding my property for me.”

“Nothing here belongs to you, Moira,” I called back. “Be gone, witch.”

A deranged cackle was my only response.

That and a bolt of crackling electricity that shot into the house, the burst of white fire lighting up the darkened room like a firework.

“What the fuck is happening now?” Vine whined, his heavy steps letting me know he was right behind me. “Can’t a guy listen toSeven Nation Armyon repeat without being disturbed?”

“Looks like that’s gonna be a no.”

“What is it this time?” Vine asked, opening his own Rip and pulling out a wicked-looking short spear and spinning it with dexterous hands before he used his magic to light it on fire. “Shifters? That pack of rogues we spanked a few months ago come looking for revenge?”

“Nothing so pleasant.”

“I was afraid you were gonna say that. Where’s Corson?”

“I’m here.” Looking to the far side of the room, I could see Corson standing in the shadows with his back to the wall, a heavily spiked mace in his fist as he glared through the shattered window into the night. “How the fuck did she find us?”

Another ball of lightning crashed into the room, splatting to the floor like liquid fire and leaving a scorch mark on the hardwood.

“That bitch. I just had these floors redone.”

“Just send the girl out and I’ll be on my way,” Moira called.

“What do you want with her?” Things were starting to add up in my brain; Delilah, the Fallen Key, Phips’s letter, and now Moira. It was far too many coincidences to not recognize a pattern.

“The Order has a fairly hefty bounty on her pretty little head,” Moira replied. “Every hunter on the east coast is going to be looking for her.”

“How did you even know she was with us?” Vine asked, the spear still spinning like a flaming baton.

“Oh, I can learn a lot of things with the right tools.”

I grimaced. Moira Thornheart might be a filthy bounty hunter, but she was also a powerful Haruspex. There wasn’t much she couldn’t figure out with hot entrails and some knuckle bones.

I paused, another realization striking me hard.

“You killed Phips.”

“Sorry.” Soft footsteps crunched over broken glass as Moira approached, her deceptively small form entering through the shattered window, the hell hound that was her constant companion trailing behind her like a dark menace. Wearing her signature purple leather pants and black tank top, Moira looked like a sexed-up caricature of a video game heroine, right down to the thick brown braid that hung down her back. “While I’d normally love to take credit for taking down a Guardian, that wasn’t actually me.”

“Then what happened to his fucking liver?”