The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy) by Traci Harding Page A

cavern. ‘Time for me to go. I’m parked in one of the outer chasms,’ he explained.
    ‘So what did Sabine do with you for half an hour?’ I asked my husband.
    He smiled to reassure me. ‘Only implanted in me the will to discourage our daughter away from her son.’
    ‘That’s it?’ I thought the woman an idiot. ‘Has she no idea of the damage you could do?’
    Albray shrugged. ‘I lucked out. Shall we go?’
    ‘Go where?’ I was surprised by his eagerness to accompany me, for only I could enter the Signet station.
    ‘If you think I’m leaving you unaccompanied for this mission, you’ve got another think coming. This project is crawling with Nefilim, and they’re bound to be monitoring these tunnels. I’ll guard the entry whilst you do your thing.’
    This comment struck me as odd, for even if our adversaries were monitoring the tunnels, our light-bodies acted as shields to prevent us being detected by undesirables.
    ‘Sweetheart,’ Albray pulled me from my musing with a click of his fingers, ‘time is of the essence.’
    ‘That way,’ I said, and indicated that he should walk on in front of me.
    As I followed him, I used my third-eye vision to check out his aura. I expected to find a Nefilim in my husband’s guise; however, Albray’slight centres appeared normal and his primary auric hue was as orange as ever—even in the green light of the glowstick he carried. Still, his light-body had a kind of fluid look about it, which was something I’d never seen before in the whole fourteen years since I’d learned to use my etheric sight.
    The tunnel we were following ended in an unremarkable-looking earthen chamber.
    ‘I don’t get it.’ Albray threw up his hands. ‘Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?’
    ‘Must have.’
    I backed up a few paces, trying to decide what to do. Something wasn’t right here and there was no way I was going to open the passage to my Signet station until I knew it was safe. A blade was no good in this instance—I didn’t want to inflict harm in case this really was my husband, and it was my psychic sight and not his auric body that was faulty. I reached for the stun-gun in my bag and only then realised that I’d dropped it when I apprehended Emmett, and in my hurry to get away from him I’d left it behind! It was times like this I wished I’d developed the skill of physical teleportation. All the Amenti staff members had the capacity to develop any psychic ability, but our needs throughout our lifetimes had given each of us an aptitude for particular skills.
    Time to run , I told myself, and my body was quick to respond. I raced up the tunnel in the darkness, doubly panicked when I didn’t hear anyone pursuing me. For if this was a Nefilim ambush, there would be reinforcements to block my escape. I reached for my knife, but was knocked to the ground as I collided with another body, which then fell on top of me.
    My victim whimpered as I overpowered him and pinned him beneath me.
    ‘Emmett!’ I gasped and released him. He was in grave danger by being here, yet he could be my saviour.
    ‘There are these strange creatures out there,’ he told me.
    There was so much distress in his voice that I knew he’d seen some Dracon, which left no doubt in my mind that this was an ambush. The Nefilim were attempting to seize Signet Station Twelve!
    ‘My bag, where is it?’ I gripped him hard to express my urgency.
    He found my hand in the darkness and shoved the bag into it.
    ‘You can’t write yourself out of this one, knife girl.’ My husband’s voice came from behind us, taunting, although clearly it wasn’t Albray who addressed me. From the tunnels up ahead I heard the familiar sound of Dracon ground troops scurrying on all fours along the ceilings, walls and floor towards us.
    Despite my superhuman strength and resilience, my heart was pounding. Of all the Signet stations this was the only one we could not allow them to take, for the Triogenes pyramid housed the