Sydney fell to her knees over him, grabbing his hand. "No. No! You can't . . . Caden, listen. Please!"

"Take the book," the clone panted. "Get out."

Every muscle in Caden's body jolted in pain, and when the clone shut his eyes, Caden could no longer see Sydney. He panicked as pain ripped through him, shredding his insides.

The fighting reached the top of the stairs. The clone's hearing discerned shouts.

"I've already killed your friend. So glad you'll be next, Rion," Mathias taunted.

The fighting around him resumed in a fierce clash. He sensed his replica's consciousness fading when a strong hand landed on his chest. Lucan. Funny how he sensed his brother from just a touch. Oddly, tragedy had made them closer, and he regretted that he wouldn't know what tomorrow might have brought for them.

"Thank G.o.d you mated. The others are keeping Mathias busy. Quick! Kiss him, Sydney." Moments later, Caden felt Sydney brush her lips gently over his. Nice. He floated, his consciousness like a cloud drifting in a clear, blue sky. The pain was receding, and he welcomed peace.

"Fight, d.a.m.n it!" Lucan growled. "Take energy from your mate." Sydney redoubled her efforts, her mouth growing insistent and frantic as the battle around them raged, others holding off Mathias and the Anarki. "Don't. Leave. Me." She peppered him with kisses between each word. "Stay with me!"

"Can't. I'm in a cell," he managed to get out.

"What the h.e.l.l is he talking about?" his brother asked.

Caden didn't have the energy to answer.

"I-I . . ." Sydney seemed to flounder for an answer, then she gasped. "You cloned yourself?"

"Hmm . . ." He didn't have the energy to say more. He felt his life force draining, dwindling more with each minute.

"Take me to him," Sydney commanded Lucan. "This is a clone. The real him is downstairs. Bring that body."

"No," he protested, but it was a weak whisper. The remnant of his energy. "Go." Lucan ignored his pleas and lifted him, jolting every muscle in Caden's body. The agony twisted through him, and he had no idea if he could withstand more of the excruciating pain. Sweat rolled down his body, despite the chilly temperatures in the cell. He gripped the bed, wondering if it would break in his hands.

He focused all his energy on staying conscious, not throwing up, waiting for Sydney.

As Lucan carried him down the stairs, the sounds of the raging battle faded in the distance. Caden nearly pa.s.sed out, but he felt every step his brother carried his cloned body with a teeth-jarring agony.

A crash told him that Lucan had exploded the door wide open. Suddenly, Sydney was beside him, pressing her lips to his. Energy trickled into his system, a bit more as the seconds ticked by. Between them, Caden could feel the book. But it was her urgent touch that brought him around.

He opened his mouth beneath her and dipped inside, mingling with her, inhaling her essence. Energy now flooded his senses. He deepened the kiss, and she responded with all the fire and love inside her. His vitality spiked. The energy derived from the kiss was temporary until he could claim her body fully again, but it would hold for now.

Reluctantly, he ripped his mouth away. "Better, firecracker. Thank you." Squeezing his eyes shut, he pictured the barely alive replica merging with him, becoming one being. A sucking sound and a jolting collision later, the duplicate settled under his skin again.

"You can clone yourself?" Lucan smiled. "Impressive, little brother. Mum was right." She'd predicted he'd be a once-in-a-lifetime hero. He wasn't-yet.

"The others?"

"Upstairs fighting off Mathias and the Anarki."

"Take Sydney and the book back to Bram's for me. I have unfinished business." Lucan frowned. "You have little experience in these battles, and I-"

"I have energy." He gripped Sydney's hand. "And the means to get more, if need be. Until you find someone to merge with, you're going to be weak. Take her. For me."

"Come with us," Sydney pleaded. "Don't risk yourself." He swallowed. "Bram came back to help me and fight for you, even after he dismissed me from the Doomsday Brethren. He's remained fighting, even though we brought the book to safety. I can't leave him and the others without helping."

Lucan's smile tilted with pride. "Go. We'll be waiting." They exited the cell and began to make their way up the stairs, Caden to join the battle, Lucan and Sydney to get out of the house and teleport. Shock stood at the top blocking their entrance.

"Do you have the book?" he barked.

Sydney clutched it to her chest. "You're not taking it from us." With a growl, Lucan reached for his wand, then stopped. "I want to do this by my own hand." Without warning, he charged Shock and punched him in the jaw. Shock reeled back, stumbling until his backside hit the stairs. Then Lucan drew out his wand. The leather-clad wizard froze instantly, as if his arms and legs had been bound tightly. Caden worried that Lucan had drained too much of his energy doing it, but understood that his brother needed to hurt the man who had stolen his mate.

"I hope you enjoyed your cheap shot," Shock growled. "It's the only one you'll get."

"If I had more energy, I'd kill you. This isn't over."

"Anka is with me." Shock managed to look menacing even immobilized.

"For now," Lucan conceded. "Not forever."

Then he took Sydney by the hand, led her past Shock, up the stairs, and into the morning.

Caden turned the other way and headed toward the sounds of battle to his right.

He rounded the corner to find disaster. Marrok and Tynan had engaged a dozen Anarki zombies and were quickly hacking their way through the men. Caden thought of his friend Brian with a pang and vowed that he'd take that d.a.m.n gla.s.s sphere from Mathias somehow, someway.

Duke and Ice had engaged a trio of wizards in robes who had appeared since the last time Caden had been in the melee. And near the fireplace, Bram and Mathias faced each other.

"You're outnumbered," Mathias pointed out.

Bram shrugged. "We're better trained."

And sneaking up behind him, Caden had the element of surprise. Bram never looked his way, but sent him an imperceptible nod. Time to play . . .

"Even as Merlin's famed grandson, you're no match for me," Mathias snarled.

He whipped his wand out suddenly, then swung his arm toward Bram. A cloud of black smoke blazed between them, headed for Bram.

Before Mathias could do anything more, Caden snuck up behind Mathias and kicked him viciously in the knees. With a grunt, the evil wizard fell forward, catching himself on his hands, while his wand clattered to the tile. Br.i.m.m.i.n.g with fury and determination, Caden grabbed him by the hair and pounded his head directly onto the tiled floor. He heard an audible crack, and Mathias screamed. Caden raised a hand in the wizard's direction and pictured wrapping invisible ropes around Mathias to secure him. Once the wizard was still, Caden kicked him onto his back. His b.l.o.o.d.y forehead was already starting to bruise, looking darker than his blue eyes, now spitting hatred. He struggled, but seemed to be held by invisible bonds.

Marine training and magic working together. Perfect.

"You should be dead," Mathias choked.

"You missed."

Now he just had to find the b.l.o.o.d.y Anarki-creating gla.s.s sphere. Dropping to his knees beside Mathias, he patted the wizard down. It might not be hidden in his clothes, but Mathias struck him as a control freak who would want it near him as often as possible.

One of his pockets bulged, and Caden reached in. Sure enough, he pulled out the familiar gla.s.s sphere.

"This won't be ripping out another soul."

"I traveled to Africa to find that," Mathias spat. "It's rare. If you destroy it, there won't be a h.e.l.l deep enough for you to hide in."

"If you keep turning my friends into Anarki, I'll rip your stones out through your nostrils, then spit in the hole."

With that, Caden slammed the sphere against the tile. It shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

"b.l.o.o.d.y stupid neophyte! I'm going to kill your pretty little mate slowly and make you watch."

"Right now, you're going to die," Caden snarled. It might take every last bit of his energy, even kill him.

But he was looking forward to seeing Mathias as a corpse.

Suddenly, Bram screamed behind him, and Caden whirled. The black smoke from Mathias's spell was smothering him, and Mathias's bed-warming witch screeched as she charged toward them, fury in her gaze, her wand raised in threat.

Tynan took her to the ground, but several of the Anarki rushed toward Caden and Bram. He crouched into fighting stance to face the new threat, glancing over his shoulder to glare at Mathias.

The evil wizard was gone.

"f.u.c.k!" Ice yelled.

"Where did he go?" Caden shouted.

"Coward teleported out."

Fury and disappointment pounded. Caden wanted to be the one to waste Mathias. For Bram, for Brian.

To ensure Sydney's safety. He hated that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d would live another day.

Caden fought off the attack of the Anarki zombies, kicking one in the gut. It broke in half, bleeding black.

The other he elbowed in the jaw. His head rolled off his rotting body. Another crept up behind him and jumped on his back. Caden cursed then backed up at a jog until he hit a wall. The Anarki squashed like a bug.

Looking around, Caden saw that the other Doomsday Brethren were currently mopping up the last of the opposition. Thank G.o.d.

Another Anarki scrambled away from Tynan to Bram's side, holding a knife high above Rion's heart.

Racing across the room, Caden leapt onto the ghoul, grabbed his blade, and shoved it deep into his chest. The zombie gasped as black ooze gurgled from his chest, then he slumped into death.

Breathing hard, Caden dropped to his knees next to Bram, who writhed and shouted, fighting an invisible battle with the black cloud. Caden lifted him into his arms just as Duke reached his side, looking sweaty and disheveled. An eerie calm fell over the room, now littered with black blood and dead Anarki wizards.

"We have to get him help," Duke said.

Caden nodded. "What is this black cloud?"

"I don't know. Something very bad, I'm sure. Sydney, Lucan, and the book safe?" He nodded. "And that d.a.m.n gla.s.s sphere destroyed. Mission accomplished." With a glance back at Bram, Caden wondered at what price?

Back at Bram's house, with afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows, Caden watched Duke and Sabelle prepare the transcast mirror so Sydney could keep magickind informed. Lucan burst in-with most everyone else behind him.

"What is this, a b.l.o.o.d.y circus?" Caden demanded.

Lucan thrust his hands on his hips confrontationally. "You're not going back to Texas." If his brother was expecting an argument, Caden hoped Lucan wouldn't be too disappointed.

"I'm not," he agreed. "I'm staying to fight. A weapon like the Doomsday Diary needs all the protection it can get. I can help."

A smile burst across Lucan's face. "In that case, you'll need this." He pulled an ornate golden box with some sort of family seal across the top. "Will you take your wand?"

"With pride." His chest swelled just thinking about holding the magical instrument made especially for him.

"Kneel."

Caden did, head bowed.

"In the name of MacTavish, brandish this well and do good. Protect yourself, those you love, and guard this with your life. If you swear to do thus, I give this wand to you."

"I swear it," he vowed as Lucan put the instrument in his hands.

Gooseb.u.mps broke out across his skin, and power vibrated through him. He was truly a wizard now.

Caden looked up at his mate, who smiled proudly.

Lucan slapped him on the back. "Congratulations on transitioning, mating-everything. I think Mum was right; you'll be a gifted wizard."

"I hope you'll consider me one of the Doomsday Brethren, too." Caden addressed the others a.s.sembled: Lucan, Ice, Duke, Marrok, and Tynan. "I'm here to fight with you." Lucan and Duke both stepped closer, and his brother spoke. "Absolutely. If Bram was well, he'd approve."

Sabelle sniffed, holding back tears, and Lucan rushed to put an arm around her. "I'm sure your aunt and the healer will find a cure for Mathias's spell. Remember, I'm here for you." He caressed her cheek.

"You cared for me when I needed help. Let me help you." She hesitated, then nodded. "Thank you."

"We'll get through this," Lucan a.s.sured softly.

"Where's Shock?" Ice challenged, glaring as Lucan touched Sabelle.

Lucan glared back. Reminders that the elder Denzell still kept Anka was a sore spot, and Caden cursed under his breath.

"I hope the mate thief and traitor rots."

Caden agreed.

"Actually," Sydney spoke up. "Shock did seem to be on Mathias's side . . . except that he could have told Mathias that the Doomsday Diary only granted the heart's true desire. The thought was right in my mind to pluck, as he had all the others. But he lied to Mathias about that." A puzzled silence fell over the group.

Finally, Duke offered. "I don't know if we'll ever know exactly whose side Shock is on. I suspect it's his own. He'll help us . . . if it suits his purpose."

That way Shock wouldn't suffer, regardless of which side ultimately proved victorious in the war. Caden didn't respect that position, but Shock wouldn't be the first to take it.

"What do you think he'll do next? Or Mathias, for that matter?" Caden asked the others.

Duke shrugged. "I have no idea. All we can do is stay prepared for any eventuality and stand strong.

Amen.

"The mirror is ready," Sabelle said, stepping away from Lucan.