Excerpt Continued…

He was dressed in what could only be called a loincloth, and it didn’t cover much of his loins. He had on huge furry boots and several strings of beads.

As he got closer, Tasha realized that some of those beads were teeth and some were pieces of bone. The stench surrounding the man was overwhelming.

Tasha was glad she stood in the middle of the cage and not close to the bars. She knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn’t have backed away from him, even to stay out of his reach. But since she was in the middle of the cage, he would have to come inside if he wanted to touch her. She didn’t think he would do that. And she really didn’t want him to put his hands on her.

She squeezed her mother’s fingers. Trying to warn her mom to let Natasha handle this. Elvira squeezed back and nodded slightly. For the moment, Elvira would stay quiet.

Natasha kept the expression on her face neutral and her mouth shut. Neither was easy. She really wanted to roll her eyes and make a snarky comment, but she controlled the urge. Barely.

Especially when Micheline walked over to the man and fawned all over him. Rubbing his arm, whispering sweet nothings, she was trying to break his intense focus on the cage and the two captive women. It didn’t look like it was working.

To keep herself from making a comment, she shifted her gaze away from the crazy madman and looked around the cave.

This was not the way to stay sane. She cringed when she identified some of the items. Laying on a rock off to the left was a finger bone, boiled clean. And hanging just a few feet away on a makeshift rack she could see a small scrap of the scalp that was still covered with what looked to be blonde or light brown hair.

There was a body lying in the corner. The police uniform was shredded, the chest ripped open and the ribs had obviously been broken. From the vantage point of the cage, it looked as if most of the internal organs were missing. She frowned.

In fact, most of the body had damage. Only the face was untouched. Pale eyes stared impossibly wide up at the dark ceiling of the cavern.

She was glad it was dark. Her night vision was good, but the dark stole color. It was somehow easier to view the damage to the man’s body in shades of gray. She closed her eyes and dropped her head, and let the tears fall for a few moments.

Then opened them again to look at the Witch-doctor. Why was his body so vividly colorful, when everything else in the cavern was in shades of gray and white?

Micheline strolled close to the cage and pointed at the dead man. “Did you notice the policeman? He tried to give me a ticket for speeding, right after I kidnapped you. He is my gift to you, Natasha. Or maybe I should make it my gift to Elvira. You are such a stupid bitch, Elvira Romanoff. You would cut off your nose to spite your face. You don’t even know what that means, do you? Normally I feed of the female energy we gather, you got that right, bitch!” She turned and glared at Natasha.

She paced in front of the cage fuming.

“Were the human children mistakes, Micheline. Did you screw up and take the wrong child?” she goaded.

“Damn you, Natasha! I don’t know how you figured it out. But it doesn’t matter. You are nothing but the next step in my master’s plan. This time we will make an exception because you both are so powerful, so old. Even if Ajeen believes female power is imperfect, he will feast on you and your mother’s essence. When he eats your hearts and absorbs both of your powers…you will infuse Ajeen with more than enough magic and strength to take over the Supernatural Council in the United States. No one will be able to stop him. Not those old fart Vikings, or the few wimpy vampires. GOTH is a joke and there isn’t an organized force powerful enough to take on my master. You can see how powerful he is now, by the vividness of the colors on his skin. The brighter the colors, the more power he holds. Isn’t he wonderful!”

Tasha turned away from the crazy devotion in Micheline’s eyes and looked again at the policeman’s body. She was horrified at the woman’s actions. She had fought at Natasha’s side for ten years. How could she have missed this level of insanity?

Suddenly Dominic was in her mind, Natasha, where are you?

She quickly hid her shock and kept her body pointed away from the crazy people on the other side of the bars. She pretended to stare at the dead human policeman and answered him. I don’t know. I tried to contact you earlier. Where are you?

Your mother arrested me, for stopping time...

I know, I’ve had a lot to say to her about that. But why couldn’t I reach you?

Because she put a Druid collar around my neck, which kept me from reaching you or you from reaching me.

Turning a little to the side, she glared and hissed at her mother.

Elvira just raised her eyebrows in question.

Tasha sighed, she couldn’t do anything about the insane actions of her mother right now, staying alive came first.

That bitch—Micheline not my mother—kidnapped mom and me. We are somewhere in a cave, with a freaky witch-doctor who is covered in blood and... stuff. She sent a mental picture of the man to Dominic. There are kids here Dom, locked in another cage. And mangled bodies, and magic implements.

Gunnar had Ricardo go to the crime scene caves. There was death magic used at both scenes. Be careful, Tasha. He is a bonafide magic-user. Ricardo said he couldn’t tell what flavor or type of practitioner, but that the magic had a powerful resonance.

Death Magic, that explains why the witch-doctor’s skin is vibrating with color and power.

I need to get out of here.