Morrigan's Cross (Circle Trilogy 1)

“She made some appearances—cameos we’ll say. Up till then, I figured she was another myth. Anyway, in the dream, I thought I was over here—Ireland. It looked like here anyway. I’ve been to Ireland before, another family tradition. But I’m on this rise. Barren place, rough ground, deep chasms, wicked rocks.”

“The Valley of Silence,” Moira interrupted.

“That’s what she called it. Morrigan. She said I was needed.” Blair hesitated, looked around. “I probably don’t have to fill in all the details since you’re all here. Big battle, possible apocalypse. Vampire queen forming an army to eliminate humankind. There would be five waiting for me, gathered together. We’d have until Samhain to prepare. Not a lot of time considering, you know—goddess, eternity. But that’s how it’s laid out.”

“So you came,” Glenna said. “Just like that?”

“Didn’t you?” Blair shrugged. “I was born for this. I’ve dreamed of that place before, as long as I can remember. Me standing on that rise, watching it rage below. The moon, the fog, the screams. I always knew I’d end up there.”

Always assumed she would die there.

“I just expected a little more backup.”

“In three weeks we’ve killed more than a dozen,” Larkin said with some annoyance.

“Good for you. I don’t keep a tally of kills since I had my first thirteen years ago. But I took out three tonight on the road, on the way here.”

“Three?” He held up his spoon. “Alone?”

“There was another. It stayed back. Chasing it down didn’t seem like a good way to stay alive, which is the first rule in the family handbook. There might have been more of them, but I only scented the one. You’ve got more stationed around the perimeter of this place. I had to slip through them to get inside.”

She pushed her empty bowl away. “That was really good. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome again.” Glenna took the bowl to the sink. “Hoyt, can I have a word with you? Excuse us, just for a minute.”

She drew him out of the kitchen, toward the front of the house. “Hoyt, she’s—”

“The warrior,” he finished. “Yes, she’s the last of the six.”

“It was never King.” She pressed her fingers to her mouth as she turned away. “He was never one of the six, and what happened to him—”

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nbsp; “Happened.” Hoyt took her shoulders, turned her to face him. “Can’t be changed. She’s the warrior, and completes the circle.”

“We have to trust her. I don’t know how we begin to do that. She damned near killed your brother before she bothered to say hello.”

“And we have only her word she’s who she says she is.”

“Well, she’s not a vampire. She walked right into the house. Added to that, Cian would know.”

“Vampyres can have human servants.”

“So how do we know? Do we take what she says she is on faith? If she is what she says, she’s the last of us.”

“We have to be sure.”

“It’s not like we can check her ID.”

He shook his head, not bothering to ask her meaning. “She has to be tested. Upstairs, I think, in the tower. We’ll make the circle, and we’ll be sure.”

When they were gathered upstairs, Blair looked around. “Close quarters. I like things roomier. You’re going to want to keep your distance,” she warned Cian. “I might stake you, just knee-jerk.”

“You can try.”

She tapped her fingers on the stake in her belt. There was a ring, a ridged band of silver, on her right thumb. “So, what’s all this about?”

“We had no sign you were coming,” Glenna began. “Not you specifically.”