I sighed. This wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped.
“Stop it, both of you,” Dezi snapped, including me in her reproachful glare for some reason. She looked back at her alpha, her eyes firm, if respectful. “Matt, she’s not a bad person. She didn’t kill Arnie, or any of the others. She’s trying to stop the people who did.”
“And,” Rain took his turn slipping past me, with Jason warily right on his heels. “We’ve got about…two hours or so to stop them for good, or they win.”
The group of werewolves looked between Dezi, Rain, Jason, and myself, then back to Matt. Slowly, the alpha dropped his guard, though he didn’t relax. “You two…” His nostrils flared as he breathed in. “You’re changelings, too. You smell familiar, but we don’t know you.” He fixed his gaze on me again. “How do I know you’re not…controlling them, or influencing Dezi?” His massive chest rumbled a little in warning. “Because if you are, I swear—”
“I figured you would know,” I replied, letting my aggression drop away. “Does she seem like Dezi to you?”
The two exchanged a long look, not so dissimilar to the ones I often saw Rain and Jason exchange. Dezi smiled, her big, gold-flecked eyes softening, and he finally started to relax. A couple of other wolflings stepped past him and a lean, strong, scarred woman in her late twenties took Dezi’s hands, staring into her eyes closely.
“Matt,” she said quietly, “this is our Dezi. She’s telling the truth.”
I nodded, as if that helped.
“And that wasn’t all she was telling the truth about, vato,” Jason chimed in. “We got a couple of hours before this whole town goes to shit.”
“Dude, I said that,” Rain mumbled, elbowing him.
“We’ve got a group of crazy pendejos trying to pull off some major magic right here in the city,” Jason continued without skipping a beat, “and among them are the assholes that killed your friend, as well as the assholes that have been runnin’ Ruby across the city.” He nodded as a couple of the other changelings growled. “Thought you guys might have noticed that.” He grinned. “So, what do you say we all do something about it together?”
Matt looked to me again. “What do you want from us?”
“Noses and numbers,” Rain answered instead. “The two of us can’t find the people responsible alone, not in time.”
“You don’t have to invite me in,” I hovered at the threshold. “But will you come out and talk to us?”
Another thoughtful moment, and Matt nodded. “I will. Dezi, Erin, you’re with me.” The strong, scarred woman nodded, as if there hadn’t been any doubt. “The rest of you stay here. I’ll be right back.” The rest of the pack, a motley mix of genders, ethnicities, and ages, stirred uncomfortably, as if uneasy about letting Matt wander off with dangerous me and a couple of strangers, but no one argued.
“But first,” Matt finished, “I need to see those two shift.”
Caught off guard, Rain and Jason exchanged perplexed looks. I added my own confused expression to the mix, and so did Dezi.
“Matt, is…something wrong?” she asked, looking concernedly toward the two boys.
“Hopefully not,” he replied calmly. “And this is to be sure.”
Rain looked nervous; Jason shrugged. “Ain’t got time, manito,” he commented. “One, two, three, poof.” And with that, two small coyotes landed on the worn carpet, staring up at the crowd of surprised werewolves.
“And here I thought you couldn’t get any bigger, ese,” Jason remarked from near Matt’s boots.
o o o
With Matt’s odd request satisfied—and the rest of the pack convinced that yes, they both just happened to be near-identical coyotes, no relation—we reconvened around a weathered picnic table at one end of the adjacent parking lot. Tamara promptly pulled up in Mama Flora’s Mercedes, and Charles’ truck rumbled up a moment later.
Matt watched cautiously as more of my crew spilled out, then his eyes went wide at the sight of the tiny black mambo.
“Well, crap,” he looked from her to me, clearly surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me you were with Mama?” Getting up from the table, he made a beeline for the older woman and promptly engulfed her in a hug.
“Didn’t know ya remembered me, Matty,” she replied with an easy smile, “Or I woulda sent my regards. It’s been many a year, yeah. You were real little back then.” As he let her go, she turned and exchanged another hug with Erin, giving her a tight squeeze around the shoulders.
“Told you it would be fine, that you’d work it out,” Tamara smiled, sitting down next to me. “I just knew we didn’t want to bring a whole big group of strangers to their territory if we wanted to talk.”
I grunted. “Don’t thank me, those two did it,” I pointed to Dezi and Jason.
Across the table, Coyote-Rain furrowed his fuzzy brow and pouted.
“Those three,” I amended, holding out another finger.
He nodded, satisfied, as everyone came back over, the battered picnic table groaning as we all settled in.
“Listen up,” Charles said before any of the rest of us had a chance to be polite. “Because I don’t have time to repeat myself.”
Despite the acerbic introduction, Matt and Erin sat and listened through Charles’ rundown of our precarious position, and what we needed help with. With a resigned sigh, Tamara took out her poor phone and showed the pair Charles’ makeshift marker map, allowing the wizard to illustrate exactly how and where we needed the changeling pack’s assistance. When the tired-looking magician finished, the two wolf shifters exchanged a long look.
“So, let me ask the obvious,” Matt said, turning to look at the distant figure of the Vulcan. “Why don’t we just roll up to the big guy’s feet and break up this trouble before it starts?”
“Won’t work,” Charles replied. “Not unless you’ve got more C4 at home than I do.”
I really wanted to ask if he was joking, but Tamara put a hand on my knee and shook her head slightly. I supposed now wasn’t the time.
“The Vulcan isn’t the issue,” the magician explained with a sigh. “It’s a tool more than anything. Anything short of destroying it completely will not stop the ritual itself.” He glanced at me, then to Matt. “The only way to stop this is to stop the people willing to do it. Whatever it takes.”
The alpha glanced toward Erin again, another silent communication. “I’m not certain I understand the whole magic aspect, but I think I understand what’s at stake, and what we can do to stop it.” He frowned. “I don’t like to admit it, but I’ve tangled with her,” he nodded to me, “and several others during this whole crap show, and I’m afraid we can’t provide much in the way of muscle, not against some of the players involved.” Erin put a hand on his shoulder; the admission that they were semi-helpless obviously did not come easy.
“Don’t worry.” Coyote-Jason grinned. “We’re used to letting those two do the heavy lifting.” He nodded toward Charles and myself, and Tamara eyed him dangerously.
Charles grunted irritably before we could get off topic. “The linchpin of the ritual will be at the northernmost point. If we can stop the ritual there, it unravels. So, that’s the spot we need to find first, and it will be undoubtedly guarded by their most capable, loyal person.”
“Lan,” Tamara and I said together. She squeezed my hand.
“We’ll need to split up to shut down the different rituals,” Charles finished, taking up his cracked staff and gazing at it. “So I’ll take the north. If I can squash the—”
“Oh, hell no, Chief,” I cut him off emphatically. “Asian Vampire Man already kicked your ass once. My turn.”
Charles glared at me.
“Didn’t he kick your butt too?” Rain asked, his ears perking up curiously.
“Shhhh,” I told the changeling. “I’m two to one, thank you very much. I’ll take the north.”
“And what if he’s not alone?” Tamara asked, her eyes worried.
“Then I’ll have to pu
ll something out of my ass again,” I replied with a grin.
“Most likely, they need to split their forces as well,” Charles replied, looking thoughtful. “To defend and ensure that each ritual fires off as it should.” The thoughtful look turned into a robust frown. “I just wonder who their magician is. Or who it was that organized this setup. It’s too skillfully put together for a non-Magisterium practitioner.”
Mama Flora rolled her eyes.
“Well, you people can chat out those logistics,” Matt rose. “We need to get paws on the ground ASAP, before we lose by default. Keep your phones ready; I’ll be in touch.” Erin rose alongside him as Dezi gave goodbye hugs to the boys, and Matt motioned to me. “Can I have a moment?”
I walked Matt back to the apartment as Erin ran ahead, going down the row of apartments, knocking on all the doors, save a handful at the end.
“Just wanted to say sorry,” the big man said. “You know, about the whole going-for-the-throat thing.” He put a hand to his neck, looking at mine indicatively. “I didn’t know.”
“No harm done,” I couldn’t resist grinning, and the werewolf chuckled quietly. “I didn’t do any permanent harm to your people, did I?”
He shook his head. “If you had, I wouldn’t be so forgiving.”
I grunted. “Fair enough,” I replied. “I’d feel similar. And sorry about running off with Dezi by accident. I thought she was hurt.” He nodded. “And sorry about the whole ‘wolf punt’ thing. No offense intended.”
“None taken.”
“And sorry about the ‘furry rugs’ comment, too.”
He paused. “When did that happen?”
I frowned, thinking. “Maybe I didn’t say that one out loud?” I offered. “Still, sorry.”
Matt shook his head. “Well, anyway, I just wanted to square things before we head out. In case one of us doesn't come back.” By the look in his eyes, he meant me.
I shrugged. “I’ve walked away from worse. Probably. I think.”
The alpha opened his door, then paused again. “Oh and tell your two coyote friends that I’m sorry for calling them out like that.” He looked me in the eye. “Twice in the last few years, I’ve had something try to infiltrate my pack, posing as one of us. I had to be certain.”
“Something?” I raised an eyebrow.
He nodded. “Something like a shifter, but different. One of them said it was looking for something—or someone—from around here, before we managed to drive it off.” His expression darkened. “The other one damn near killed half the pack before it left, and I lost one.”
I winced. “Better safe than sorry.” I caught his arm before he could pass the threshold. “And…hey. If you run into some trouble like that—or like our current situation—in the future,” I let him go and stuck out my hand again. “Let me know. Working together doesn't have to be a one-time thing or a one-way street.”
Matt stared into my eyes again, his own glimmering with a bit of moonlight-touched amber, and nodded. “Alright.” He shook my hand, a firm grasp with pressure I could barely feel. “Now I gotta go. My pack can do this, but we’re cutting it close as it is.”
I returned to the table to find Charles and Tamara arguing.
“Some of those areas are going to be in or near populated places,” the wizard said. “I have to ensure those people’s safety, now more than ever. It’s my duty.”
“It’s not like I want anyone to get hurt, Charles,” she replied, seeming frustrated.
“Cut the power,” I said.
They both looked at me. “We know the area involved,” I elaborated. “And I know someone who can cut the power to that whole district. People won’t hang out in the streets with it pitch dark.”
“Not with things like Fright out and about,” Tamara added, nodding. She shuddered.
“It’ll have to do,” Charles nodded. “Minimize the collateral damage.”
I pulled out my phone and texted Garibaldi. He’d wanted to know how he could help, anyway.
I’ll do better than that, came his reply. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do. And watch out for the boys.
“And now we wait,” Charles said when I’d finished.
“I have to go by the church,” I said. “I’m going to see if I’ve got any more stuff that smells of Lan or Fright and hand it out. It’ll help them search.” I paused, thinking about the possible upcoming confrontations. “I think there’s something else I need to grab while I’m there, too.”
“After you’re done, head north,” Charles replied. “The closer you are to that side of town, the better. You’ll be able to respond quicker.”
“Good thinking.” I picked up the nearest coyote before it could scramble away. “I’m taking this one with me. Like you said, the closer we can get, the better.”
“Hey!” Jason protested from my arms, his legs scuttling uselessly in the air.
“Then I’ll take this one,” Charles scooped up Rain from behind as the coyote hopped ineffectually in place. “And head south.” I frowned, but he shook his head. “I’ve had better days, but we need all hands on deck for this one.”
“And I’ll take the Vulcan,” Tamara said firmly.
I opened my mouth, a protest on my tongue.
She put a finger to my lips and shushed me with a soft smile. “If Juris is anywhere, he’ll be there. Maybe I can finally talk some sense into my cousin. And if not…” Her smile turned fierce and her eyes glimmered, still only a fraction of their old fire and luster.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” I rasped softly.
“I don’t want you hurt either, you know,” she retorted gently. “But we can’t make those decisions for each other. Or we’ll never get anywhere.” She leaned in, propping herself against my chest, and looked into my eyes. “All hands on deck, right? Don’t push me to sit this one out. Because I care about you, but I can’t.”
After a moment, I nodded. I knew she was right; I just hoped I wouldn’t regret it anyway.
I let her tug my mask down gently, tucked a wiggling coyote under my arm, and leaned in and kissed her.
“Y’all be careful,” Mama Flora said as we broke it off. Charles was already leaving. “T’night’s air be thick with foreboding, fer everybody involved, yeah. I’ll be callin’ my ol’ friend Ogoun to lend ya’ll all the strength he can spare, an’ I hope it’s enough.”
Despite Mama’s much-appreciated blessings, a chill of unease danced down my spine as I heard the same warning for the second time tonight and took it to heart.
22
Dead set
I followed the silver wolf into the darkness, the Vulcan glimmering in the night sky at my back.
I was glad to be moving; it beat standing around, watching our time slip away while Matt’s pack scoured the city. Moving forward also kept me one step ahead of the anxiety dogging my heels, the lingering thought that the city’s future, millions of people and more, would be decided by a handful of individuals over a matter of minutes.
And I was one of them.
No pressure or anything.
Jason skittered out from the shadows, darting in a quick, nervous circle around my feet. “Just up ahead, chica. Can’t miss it; there’s some scary-ass energy collecting in the air there.” The coyote shivered. “Something bad’s coming, Ashley. I can feel it, just Next Door or something. Watch your ass out there, mujer fuerte.”
When Jason was unnerved enough to use my proper name, I knew there was serious trouble brewing.
The coyote joined the silver-furred wolf up ahead, nudging Dezi into peeling off and letting me continue forward on my own. The pair caught my eyes as I passed them, Jason nodding and Dezi huffing a wolfish final breath of support.
I still didn’t reply. I’d taken a deep breath of my own back at the church, and I wasn’t ready to let it out quite yet.
The northern anchorpoint for the ritual was past Northside proper, past the airport, in an old but still used industrial park. Railroad tracks
crisscrossed the beaten ground like industrial scars, stitched back together but never fully healed. Some of them, like the long, arcing set of tracks to my right, were packed with railroad cars, a heavy metal curtain several layers thick that cut off view from that half of the city. This close, I could feel what my scout animals had reported: a pressure on the air, a sense of congealing dread and more that grew gradually thicker as I approached. As I passed an empty Strider Materials warehouse, I could see the flicker of a faint light in the pitch dark ahead, in the crook of a small lake made from a filled-in strip mine.
My target. I moved ahead without slowing, and the nagging anxiety finally fell away: it was showtime.
The ritual site itself was contained within a huge, silver, symbol-etched ring pressed an inch or so into the earth. Three symmetrical points on the ring were thick with curling, twisting knotwork that defied casual inspection and emitted a soft, pale light. Inside the circle was a thick shard of ragged iron, no doubt shaved off of Vulcan’s massive spear tip, which lay nearby, too large to fit in the circle proper. That dim, eerie light also revealed, at the very back of the circle, the strained, frightened face of a young woman, gagged and securely bound to an iron spike stabbed into the packed earth.
I appeared safely on the other side of the lake with a puff of shadow and squared my shoulders.
Lan was waiting for me.
“I expected you earlier,” the Jiangshi commented quietly, rising from a kneeling position in the center of the circle. He stepped in the way of the girl, obscuring her, but not before her face tickled my memory.
I knew her.
The younger girl from the rooftop, I realized. From when I was chasing my scion. I furrowed my brow. What the hell?
I shook my head, angry, and pointed her way with an outstretched claw. “Is this what I think it is?” I growled from between clenched teeth. “Human sacrifice? Isn’t that too far, even for you?”
For the first time, Lan seemed to hesitate. Then he shook his head. “There is…no other way. This world cannot be cured if no one is willing to cut away the sickness, the infection that infests it. I am willing to pay that price.”
Dreadful Ashes Page 27