“My sincerest apologizes, young huldra, but we hadn’t a clue you existed.” Eta’s words dripped with genuine regret and I believed her.
I believed her because I knew how hard the Hunters worked to suppress us, to hide us away, to create incorrect folklore that either erased us or demonized us.
“The strongest form of manipulation, of control, is the withholding of information,” Eta spoke softly. “Information about your kinds here, about the Hunters’ reign on this land, has been withheld.”
The blank stares on the faces of my sisters and aunts had to mirror my own.
“There were no stories, handed down, of the Wild Women who migrated to the Americas or the Hunters?” my aunt Renee asked.
Anwen spoke up. “Yes, from northern Europe there are stories of huldra and other Wild Women migrating to the Americas to liberate themselves from the Hunters’ tyranny, before the Hunters in most of Europe were overthrown. But these are old and speculative stories, changed over the years, I’d presume.”
“And we knew the Hunters lived in the States as well,” Anwen’s sister, Berwyn, continued. “But we’d figured, I think, that it was a situation much like ours. Hunters reside all over the world, but only in the same way other supernatural beings live—they rarely have complexes and if they do, it’s not to rule over Wild Women anymore.”
“Do you answer to Hunters?” I asked the shé sisters, Chen and Fan. Both shook their heads, looking apologetic.
I found myself void of a response. I stared off into nothingness. My mind only spun around this fact, searching for a foothold, something to process or decide. It came up empty time and time again.
Seconds of silence turned to minutes.
Eta’s clear, strong voice broke the quiet. “We are here now. That’s what matters. We can’t change what we didn’t know. No one can. But we’re here now.”
I blinked as her words slowly permeated my mind, pushed past the fact-searching and foothold-grasping. “Okay,” was all I could say at first. I swallowed and breathed in deeply. I gave a heavy exhale. My eyes focused in the direction I’d been staring off into, the above-stove microwave. The time read three o’clock in the morning in green numbers. “Okay, if you’re offering to help us not only retrieve the succubi, but fight to regain our freedom, then I for one accept your offer.”
Eta smiled, as did her sisters. Chen and Fan smirked as their eyes flashed with snake pupils. Gerda and Calle gave dignified nods.
“If we’re going to rescue the succubi and be out of the Oregon complex before sunrise, we’d better head out soon,” Abigale spoke up. She’d been fairly quiet this whole morning and I’d wondered if her silence was due to fear, but I threw that assumption out. No, Abigale had more reason to attack the Hunters, more venom for their establishment, than any other Wild Woman planning on fighting tonight. I made a mental note to stay out of her way when we got to the complex; she was a woman on a mission.
“Did you all want to at least practice before you headed out?” Olivia asked.
“We don’t have the time,” I responded. “I just needed to know their abilities and I do now.”
“The rusalka told me about yours,” Anwen said.
The other Wild Women agreed that they too had been told about us by the rusalki.
“Then let’s go get our succubi sisters back, ladies,” I said, leading the others as I made my way to the front door.
Did I wish we could spar with one another to practice or at least warm up? Absolutely. But in this case, time was of the essence. And anyway, the Hunters we were about to go up against knew nothing of how to fight a huldra, a shé, a nagin, or an echidna. They probably assumed they’d already won the war by capturing the biggest oppressed Wild group, and that the rest of us would wave the white flag as a result.
If that was the case, they assumed wrong.
I held the front door open for the Wilds joining me on this battle to pass through. They headed down the porch steps ahead of me.
“Wait, Faline,” Celeste said, the last Wild still standing in the kitchen. “Shawna told me about the hemlock in your system, and I trust the rusalki, but what if it doesn’t work? You’re just as susceptible to the blood stones as we are.”
I grabbed my sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance. “The rusalki seem to know the abilities of our kind more than we do. And plus, if the hemlock wears off or doesn’t do its job at keeping up my strength against the stones, the other Wilds I’m going with are more than capable of getting me out of there.”
Celeste gave a squeeze and released my hand. Still, her shoulders slumped.
“I’ll get her back,” I assured my sister. “Don’t worry, Marie will come back to you.”
Celeste bit her lower lip and nodded. She swallowed hard and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “Please come back, and bring our mothers back with you.” I knew what she meant, and didn’t fault her for her words, but so very much I wished my mother was among those we planned to rescue today.
Thirty-One
We piled into the black Mercedes Benz passenger van our new Wild Women friends had rented to get them from the airport to our Airbnb. My aunts, Patricia and Abigale, sat on each side of me on the second row of the vehicle while the two shé took the front two seats and the three nagin and the two echidna occupied the rows behind us.
Chen drove and Fan acted as her sister’s navigator, studying the car’s GPS device, and giving directions in Chinese. I’d only ever visited one Hunter complex, before it became the charred memory of what it once was. From what I’d seen of the map Rod drew, the Oregon complex had the same layout. I could assume the others did too which would give me another foothold when we advanced on the two remaining Hunter complexes after this one. I had to think like that, plan for my future rather than negotiate whether or not I’d have a future after today. There was too much on the line, too much to lose if I failed.
I studied the women in the van with me, my chin lowered to keep them from knowing I watched them. I’d never felt so unsure of what I was going into. These other Wilds had never dealt with Hunters before. Had they ever fought? Did they know how to fight?
I scolded myself for not asking those important questions before stuffing myself and my aunts in a van with them on our way to fight our biggest enemies. It was too late now. I’d look as though I didn’t trust them, which could possibly lower my aunts’ confidence in them and their confidence in us. And lowered confidence translates to lowered fighting effectiveness.
A hand with an eye tattoo covering most of the back of it tapped my shoulder from behind. Anwen’s hand.
I turned in my seat. “Yeah?”
“You’re beginning to work yourself up and I don’t want that energy to spread,” the nagin stated.
Goddess, was anything private among Wild Women?
“I’m only working out an attack plan in my head,” I half-lied and then realized she may be able to tell if I was lying too, so I gave in and shut up.
I needed to trust in the rusalki, their guidance and insistence that we had what it took to liberate the succubi. I wished I’d shown my aunts how to access and store the good stuff from the poison hemlock plant, given them more to work with. But no, that would mean they wouldn’t be able to use their Goddess-given abilities. I was the only Wild in this van who couldn’t. No wonder the others seemed more confident than me. They were.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket, shocking me out of my spiraling self-doubt and borrowed bravado. I viewed the screen and saw Marcus’s most recent cell number—I’d stopped inputting names and contacts into my throw-away phones.
“Succubi rescue service, how may I direct your call?” I answered.
“Cute,” Marcus responded. “But I’ve got a young buck on the phone with Aleksander, who’s received permission from his incubi leader to help rescue Heather, the love of his life. I wanted to check-in with you before I gave him the address.”
“Mason wants to help get Heather ou
t,” I repeated, partially to confirm and partially to announce it to the others in the van with me whose hearing may not be as sharp as a huldra’s. “Drosera did say the Hunters’ blood stones don’t affect males, and we could use the added help.”
The other Wilds said nothing, so I mulled it over and found no down side to accepting the offer of a forlorn incubus. Isn’t love grand?
“I thought Aleksander said he didn’t want his incubi fighting the Hunters, in case a Hunter got away and told the higher ups,” I reminded.
“Yeah,” Marcus confirmed. “He stands firm on that and doesn’t want to bring Mason with us onto the complex to set up the explosives either. Thinks it’ll be too risky, allowing him to get so close to his captured love. So Aleksander said Mason can help by driving the leader’s fastest get-away cars, meet you all after you’ve left the complex. Mason has agreed to control himself until then.”
“That’s fine, as long as he doesn’t get near the complex before we arrive,” I said. “And stays in his car while he waits.”
Marcus repeated the address and directions to the Oregon Hunter complex, right outside of Portland, so Aleksander could repeat it to Mason. “We’re on our way too, but we plan on approaching the back way, through the woods. The bed of my truck is full of things that go boom.”
“Wait,” I added. “If Mason is allowed to help us get away, why isn’t Aleksander chomping at the bit to follow me into battle? He’s honestly all right with his one true mate battling a group of supernatural men while he hides in the forest, waiting to detonate explosives?”
Marcus gave a curt laugh, one that showed his lack of enthusiasm on the topic. “First, we’re not hiding in the forest. And second, Aleksander has given his next in command instructions to take him underground and place him on lock-down in a detainment chamber built to house unruly incubi the moment he starts acting weird. And I’ll carry out the plan on my own. So to answer your question, no, he’s not all right watching from afar. But if he follows you into a Hunter complex he’ll be putting his whole hoard in jeopardy and possibly positioning them for outside attacks from other groups of supernaturals. That’s why if he loses his shit, he’ll do it from behind iron bars and locked doors.”
I knew it was cruel, but I laughed anyway.
“It’s also why he agreed to allow Mason to meet up with you,” Marcus said. “If one incubus is noticed, others won’t assume he’s with a hoard, which makes him less threatening. And he was given the directive to bring you back alive. From both Aleksander and me.”
I grumbled.
“Sorry, babe,” he added. “I have no doubt you’ve got this in the bag, but a little added insurance never hurt anyone.”
“That’s how I know I’m living in a man’s world,” I said, only partially joking. “I’ve got a group of men trying to control me and other men trying to protect me.”
“Speaking of the men trying to control you,” Marcus said, his tone a tad more ominous than his last statement.
“What now?” I groaned. Good Goddess, I was tired of this tug-of-war shit. I doubted the nagin sitting behind me had to deal with this crap on a daily basis. They probably had lower blood pressure too.
“Rod has new information,” Marcus started.
“Yeah?”
“And he says there’s been a new development with the Oregon Hunters.”
“Dammit,” I exhaled. “What now?”
“My dad and John have teamed up and they’re in Oregon,” he said, his voice low and angry.
“It’s a good thing you’re not in the van with me, then. They’ll recognize you,” I stated, skirting around the blaring warnings in my head. “Maybe you shouldn’t be a part of the crew placing the explosives at the complex.”
“I’m going to do this. I don’t care if they recognize me,” he nearly growled.
“Well I do,” I assured him. “I need your connections more to help take down the east coast complexes, full of trained Hunters whose roots are much deeper into their old ways than the west coast guys.”
Of course, it was only a matter of seconds before Marcus put voice to my new worries. “My dad and John have got to be there to help the Oregon complex, help prepare them to know what’s coming. Why else would they have left their posts? That means the Oregon Hunters will have been trained in fighting huldra, Faline. They may even have combined their armies after pushing your aunts and sisters out of their homes.”
Hello, worst case scenario, welcome to my life. And please don’t cause my death.
“Well,” I said after a couple breaths and a little prayer to Freyja. “We’re not turning this van around.”
“No, I wouldn’t think you would,” he responded. “The same way I’m not letting this stop me from doing what needs to be done. Just come back to me in one piece.” That last part sounded more like a plea than a command.
I wanted to make him laugh, loosen the tension in the van and on the other side of the phone call, so I joked. “I will, but if I don’t, do me a favor. Set Aleksander free on the Oregon complex. If I go down, I’d love to know a pissed off incubi leader was hot on my heels to slaughter a whole complex of Hunters with the power of non-stop, brain-bursting orgasms, or whatever incubi do to seek vengeance on their foes.”
I could almost hear Marcus rolling his eyes. “Very funny, Faline,” he said dryly. “But if you don’t come back, I’ll reach the inner complex before Aleksander’s first tear shed hits the forest floor.” There wasn’t an ounce of joking in his voice.
Chen turned the van off of a dirt road and drove it deep enough into the woods that it wouldn’t be easily noticed from the road. She put the vehicle in park and killed the engine. Everyone unbuckled their seat belts. Chen and her sister grabbed their instruments from the space between their two bucket seats and positioned them on their backs.
“It’s time,” I whispered to Marcus, despite the fact that they could all hear me. “I’ve got to go.”
Marcus let out a long exhale, probably praying to his God for our safety. “All right. Well, Aleksander and I will meet you back at the house when everything’s done. You guys leave as soon as possible, we’ll stay behind to make sure the place blows up before they can rush to their trucks and follow you,” he said. “And Faline, you know how I feel.”
That was our new code for “I love you,” a decision we both made after exchanging the sentiments for the first time and realizing doing so around the other Wild Women would probably shake things up a bit more than we’d preferred for the time being.
“Thank you,” I responded. “I feel the same way. See you soon.”
I returned my cell to my back pocket as I shuffled out of the van and stretched. My aunts and I removed our shoes and placed them on the floor of the van beside the echidna’s shoes. After locking up the vehicle, the ten of us silently walked through the woods, heading for the Oregon Hunter complex. We planned to come at it from the front, while the men waited for us to enter the building before trespassing from the back of the property.
The sun showed no signs of rising, and only a sliver of moon lit our way, which wasn’t a problem because clearly the snake women had night vision too. With my huldra abilities suppressed, I followed the others. Wet ferns brushed our knees. Damp pine needles poked at our bare feet. Owls hooted and small animals scurried out of our path. I missed the peace of the forest at night. It energized me, reminded me what I was made of: wildness. I’d nearly forgotten that, trapped in a city full of man-made things.
Eta put a hand out to motion that we had made it. We viewed the wrought iron fence from the forest. It stood tall and commanding in the night, with bright flood lamps pointing in all directions. Like the Washington complex, what looked like the tips of iron daggers pointed up at the sky from the top of the fence. I also spotted a camera and a speaker box positioned outside the gate. We’d expected as much and planned for it too.
Each Wild Woman crouched, positioning herself to jet out of the line of trees and hit the gate a
t a run, enough to jump over the thing and storm into the main building where the rusalki had told me the succubi were being kept.
With her hand still held up, Eta counted down from four…three…two…ONE.
Thirty-Two
The ten of us scaled the fence with no problem. Fan even managed to kick the security camera into pieces on her way over. With everything we had, we raced along the lamp-lit cement path to the double doors of what looked to be the main building from Rod’s map. So far the complex layout was nearly identical to the Washington one.
With gusto we swung both doors open and stormed into the main building, filled with fury and vengeance, ready to kill any Hunter who got between us and our succubi sisters.
Except, there were no Hunters.
The eerily empty main floor was ours for the taking. We froze in a horizontal line in the middle of the open floorplan and took turns spinning in place, taking it all in. None of us caught more than the faint linger of a Hunter’s scent, heard a Hunter’s breath, or felt the emotions of a Hunter, other than what was left behind by the men.
Anwen rested her hands on her hips and shrugged her shoulders.
Calle jerked her head toward a hallway at the far corner of the space. “Our sisters are that way, down below.” Exactly where Rod said they’d be.
I hadn’t noticed when she’d changed, but those weren’t legs carrying her across the finished cement flooring so quickly. Gerda kept up with her sister and the rest of us followed.
“Can you sense them too?” I whispered to Abigale.
She nodded.
Damn hemlock blocking my abilities.
Calle and Gerda led us to the hallway filled with what looked like office doors on both our left and our right. They stopped in front of the center door on our right, a door that looked like all the rest—beige with a silver knob. Breaking the powerful lock, Calle swung the door open so hard it popped off its hinges and fell sideways, smashing a hole in the wall on its way down and landing in the now-open entry, its end hovering over the first step of many leading deep under the main building.
Wild Women Collection Page 48