Resurrection Read Free Page A

evil purposes. Although Alex had once lectured Jer that there was no need for covens, or even families, to fight, it wasn’t entirely true. Evil was evil, and Alex insisted that it had to be dealt with to make the world a safer place for all of them.
    Except I am evil, Holly thought. It was the brooding fear that she always tried to push out of her mind. Sometimes at night she dreamed that the reason Jer didn’t want to be with her wasn’t because of his terrible scars or his own black heart, but because of hers.
    You’re not evil, Pablo said, popping quietly into her head.
    Thanks, she said, too tired to yell at him for reading her mind. It was the young boy’s special talent, one they had put to good use while spying on the enemy. But she found it disconcerting that he knew her secret thoughts.
    Alex finished consulting with Stanislaus and turned toward her, his face eager and his eyes alight. “We’ve got ’em,” he announced.
    â€œOh, goody,” Holly said, under her breath.
    Pablo looked at her sharply, but Alex had missed her sarcasm.
    â€œWe’re going to take them now,” Alex continued, looking keen and fresh. His blond hair glowed in the moonlight, and his blue eyes gleamed. He grinned at her. “You ready?”
    â€œNow?” Holly asked, stunned. “Shouldn’t we plan or prepare or hold circle or something first?”
    â€œNo time,” Alex said impatiently. “We have the advantage of surprise. If we don’t strike now, we risk losing that.”
    Armand and Pablo looked as uneasy as she felt. She was sure that Alex had never seemed more confident, though. Reluctantly she nodded agreement. All she really wanted was to find a nice soft bed to crawl into. If he thought that they should go in, that was what they’d do. After all, she’d had less warning than this before a fight.
    Holly cast a spell that muffled their movements as they continued on their way, walking closely together. In a valley below, a large black-and-white structure with a shingled silo dominated a crisscross maze of animal pens. Holly blinked in surprise. A barn?
    â€œAre you sure we’re in the right place?” she asked Alex.
    â€œNot all branches of the Supreme Coven have the audacity of the London one,” he said. “Some prefer to remain much more anonymous.”
    Holly shook her head as she stared at the woodenstructure. Pablo and Armand gazed impassively at her, and she couldn’t begin to guess what they were thinking.
    An owl hooted as Stanislaus led them around the west side of the barn, away from the main doors. Inside, horses chuffed and stamped in their stalls. Did the animals sense that death was about to rain down upon their owners?
    Rickety doors in the ground looked like the entrance to a root cellar of some sort. Several of Alex’s covenates were already at work, silently punching holes in the wards that she could see shimmering in the air. Their presence helped calm her nerves and focus her mind. Suddenly the serene barn was instead a fortress of evil giving lodging to her enemies.
    The enemies of my House, and my friends, she thought. I shall give them no mercy. None.
    As the wards came free, she realized that she was beginning to sound more and more like her ancestress Isabeau. The only daughter of a bloodthirsty, merciless witch, Isabeau had been trained from birth to be hard and unforgiving.
    Maeve and Janet, two of Alex’s female covenates, threw open the doors. Alex hurled himself down a flight of stone stairs dripping with broken wards. Holly lunged after him, and the blood began to sing in her veins. She could hear shouts below her, and she conjured fireballs in each hand.
    The first warlock came into view, a tall, thin man wearing black pajamas.
    â€œVerdammt!” he bellowed, lunging toward Alex.
    Slightly above Alex on the stairs, Holly threw one of her fireballs into his face. The man screamed, collapsing