It probably seemed as if he was heartless, but these people deserved no sympathy. No quarter for what they’d done.

Vig had no time, no patience, for these people.

It was bad enough they’d stolen a ring of Odin’s. But in an attempt to make the ring “active,” they’d taken young boys off the streets for sacrifice. They’d already strapped down one by the time the Ravens had arrived, ready to tear the kid’s heart out. It was something that bothered Vig greatly.

Which was why he was making his prey suffer so.

Nothing pissed him off more than harming innocents. And when he said innocents, he didn’t mean just virgins or babies. He meant anyone who wasn’t part of this life. For Vig, “innocents” could be well-used street hookers. But being hookers didn’t mean they deserved cruel deaths and tormented souls for eternity. Not to Vig.

But taking kids . . . nothing was lower in his book. Absolutely nothing.

To show his high level of loathing, he slammed his foot down again and again until his prey’s face was no more than a pulpy mess with a caved-in skull.

Breathing heavily, Vig turned and found his teammates watching him.

“What?”

“We were done five minutes ago,” Stieg informed him. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“What do we do with the kids?” Siggy asked.

“We take them to their homes.”

“They’re not babies and they’ve seen us. They’ve seen our faces.”

Vig walked over to his teammate until they were nose to nose. “And your point?” he asked as he stared directly into Siggy’s eyes.

“No point. Just stating a fact . . . you know . . . before we get these little tots home! Yeah. Let’s get them home right now!”

Siggy quickly walked around him and began to let the boys out of the cages they’d been kept in.

After Stieg rolled his eyes, something he always felt necessary to do, he went to help Siggy. Rolf, however, was busy staring at the altar.

Vig stepped up next to him. “What is it?”

“Runes.”

“Is it a Clan’s altar?”

“No. I think these idiots made it themselves.”

Vig studied his friend. He knew when Rolf was analyzing. It’s what he did. In battle and business. He analyzed.

Rolf could also read runes. Not just read them like any well-trained pagan witch could, but look deep and see true meanings. But, at the moment, he seemed to be having a problem doing so.

“Something’s not right,” Rolf finally admitted. “But I don’t know what yet.”

“Do you need this for anything?”

“No.”

“Good.” Vig walked over and studied the blood-and-gore-covered altar. He crouched down and lifted one side. It was made of solid stone and was heavy ashell, but he didn’t care.

Then Stieg was on the other side and he lifted. Together, they faced the stone wall of the hidden Catalina cave where they’d found the sacrifices being performed.

With a nod at his friend, Vig counted, “Ett, två, tre.”

On three they both threw the altar at the wall. The power of their throw and the immovability of the cave wall broke the evil thing into multiple pieces. They then took those pieces and crushed them with their bare hands.

Once done, they led the boys out of the cave. Vig put one on his back and picked up two more in each arm.

“I’ll see you back at the house,” he told the others.

Rolf still appeared distracted, but Vig knew his friend would figure it out. That’s what Rolf did and he did it well.

Kera watched Alessandra slowly lower herself into the middle of the coven. She was dangerously close to the fire, but she kept her wings up and her long hair swept over her shoulder. That’s when Kera noticed that Alessandra wasn’t wearing jeans like the rest of them. She was wearing a long denim skirt with thigh-high slits on both sides.

The look suited her better than jeans somehow.

“Sisters!” Alessandra called out, arms thrown wide. “I come to you from the gods!”

Kera heard Erin snort and Jace giggle.

“Oh my God,” Annalisa complained to Kera. “This is like that one-woman performance she put on a couple of years ago. She called it, ‘My Angry Vagina.’ ”

Kera bit the inside of her mouth and kept watching.

“You have broken the sacred covenant!” Alessandra accused, and the witches all dropped to their knees around her. “You have stolen what has belonged to the gods! Now you must return it or suffer their wrath!”

“It’s like a feminist Lord of the Rings,” Erin whispered.

“Give me the holy necklace,” Alessandra ordered, holding out her hand.

The witch wearing the robe removed the necklace and handed it over to Alessandra, keeping her eyes downcast. “I am so sor—”

“You will never speak of this!” Alessandra warned them. “Or your nightmare will have only just begun.”

With her arms raised, Alessandra screamed out, “The gods call to me!”

“She’s going to burn her hair,” Leigh murmured. “And then she’s going to bitch about it.”

“What is she doing?” Tessa snarled.

Maeve shrugged. “Shootin’ for that Tony Award?”

Tessa leaned forward and whistled twice. That seemed to snap Alessandra out of her award-winning moment.

She looked down at the thirteen witches. “Okay. Gotta go. Bye.” She took to the air. The witches watched her with their mouths opened, some crying and wailing.