“Other than the succubi, the snake women will return without the van,” Chen inserted herself into the conversation.
“We huldra can go with Mason, too,” I said, holding my ponytail to keep it from finding its way into my mouth again. “The succubi will still have to squish in and forgo the whole seatbelt thing, but it’ll give them more room.”
Chen gave a nod and sped forward.
The sound of gravel crunching beneath car tires caught my attention and I raced for the road leading to the Hunter complex, declaring that whoever is catching a ride with Mason needed to follow me. I spotted a lone incubus, hurrying up the road to save his love.
I jumped into a nearby evergreen and bounded from one of its sturdy branches to the branch of the next evergreen until I stood in the last tree lining the gravel road. A huge explosion shook the earth and rattled my head, knocking me from the branch and onto the hood of the incubus’s candy apple red Tesla Roadster. I peered into the car through the glass roof. Mason slammed on the brakes and I thought quick enough to use the momentum to back-flip onto the ground in front of the car.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed “Did you hear that?” He rushed from the car to where I stood.
We turned toward the blast and peered down the gravel road. Orange flames licked the dark sky and illuminated everything around the complex. Billows of smoke rose; tiny embers twinkled like stars in the dark tendrils. The wrought iron gate with its daggers pointing to the sky, looked to hold back evil incarnate…or at least the fire that would burn all the evilness down. I thought of the soot on the blood stones, the ones taken from the last Hunter complex fire I’d walked away from. Hopefully the blast blew the stones to smithereens.
“Yes” I said on a breath of relief. “They did it.”
After our little group pulled ourselves from the bewitching scene before us, Mason made sure I was okay from nearly being hit, which of course I was fine, if not a little sore. He looked at the hood. “This is Aleksander’s. He’s going to kill me for that dent.”
I ran my hand over the hood and felt a definite dip in the red aluminum. I wiped the dust from my hand onto my jeans. “Just tell him I did it,” I said with a smile.
“Did I miss everything?” he asked, peering towards the complex. “Everyone got out okay, I assume?” He looked toward the direction I came from. “Where’s Heather?”
If I wasn’t so paranoid about the Hunters not being at their complex to greet us, and so awestruck with how the flames lit the dark early morning surroundings, I would have laughed at the way Mason changed subjects at the speed of light.
“You missed nothing. They weren’t there,” I answered. “And Heather is…” I turned to point toward the woods we came from, and stopped mid-sentence when the young succubus ran from the tree line and straight into the arms of her incubus.
He picked her up and spun her around, showering kisses on her exposed skin from her neck up.
My aunts paused to smile at the display of young love. I smiled too. Ah, romance between two supernaturals, accepted for who their hearts beat for. Must have been nice. I scolded myself for the bitter reaction. Still, it had to be nice to not have to use code phrases to say they loved each other or only kiss when no one was looking.
I snapped out of my moment of self-pity. We had a job to finish.
“Come on,” I said, motioning to Aleksander’s damaged car. “You two can kiss all you want in the backseat. We need to get out of here.”
The two lovebirds ran hand-in-hand and slid into the back of the car, where they did, in fact, continue kissing.
My aunts and Eta squeezed into the small car with me and the intertwined young ones. Eta sat in the backseat and my aunts shared the front seat, Patricia sitting on Abigale’s lap.
We only drove down the road for a couple minutes before the black van full of succubi barreled out of the woods. The echidna followed closely behind them, some on foot, some on tail. They slowed and let me go in front. I hit the gas as the van kept steady in my rearview mirror.
“I assume this is your leader’s nicest car?” I asked the only male in the vehicle.
Mason pulled his mouth away from Heather, who sat on his lap, for all of two seconds. “This is his fastest car, tops out at 250 miles per hour. He wanted to make sure I got you out of here in time.” Aleksander didn’t think about the van that’d be following us. No way would I push this baby to a speed the others couldn’t keep up with.
I eyed Mason in the rearview mirror then returned my gaze to the gravel road.
The Bluetooth in the car rang and I eyed Mason in the rearview mirror again.
“You can answer it; it’s just Aleksander,” Mason said, before going in for more suck-face time. I felt bad for Eta, who had to witness the whole thing.
I pressed the dash screen. “This is Faline,” I announced.
Aleksander’s low voice rumbled through the speakers. “Faline? You’re safe? The blast didn’t get you right? We wanted to give you ample time to move far enough away.”
I turned the volume down. “Yes, yes, and yes.”
“Then you’re on your way back?” he asked with a little less rumble.
“Also yes,” I answered.
He sighed. “Good, good. Okay then, we’ll be on our way soon. Meet you at the house.”
“Wait,” I almost yelled into the car’s dash. “Can I talk to Marcus?”
Aleksander scoffed as though my request bothered him, which it probably did seeing as he’d proclaimed his undying love and devotion for me and I still chose Marcus instead.
Aleksander spoke to me again, “I’ll let him know you’d like to speak with him. See you soon.”
The line went dead.
It wasn’t five minutes later that my cell vibrated in my back pocket. Marcus!
“Yes?” I answered hurriedly as I turned from the gravel road onto pavement.
“Ah, it’s so good to hear your voice,” Marcus said on a sigh of relief.
He was rushing to his truck, I could tell by the thuds of his quick footfalls. I was fine, he was fine, everyone was fine. “We got ‘em, baby,” he said through quick breaths.
“The Hunters weren’t there,” I said. “I wonder if they captured the succubi to weaken us and then left for the east coast, leaving the succubi to starve to death. Maybe somebody tipped them off that we were planning to head there next.” Which I had been, before I’d gotten sidetracked with the whole succubi thing. I couldn’t say that though because the sidetrack herself smooched in the backseat.
“Fuck! So we just blew up their building, but not the actual enemy.” He shared a few words with Aleksander. “You think the mermaids told them your plan?” he asked me, putting words to the uncomfortable questions in my mind.
Damn, that man got me sometimes.
“It’s one theory floating through my head,” I said.
“What are the other theories?” he asked.
I hadn’t fully fleshed out the others. “Hey, I’m about to merge onto the highway and don’t want to get pulled over by a Hunter cop for using a cell phone while driving and having more people than seatbelts in the vehicle. Meet me back at the house to finish this discussion and maybe, if everyone is up for it, plan to leave for the east coast in a day or two?”
For the last few days I’d thought we were screwed, that all our plans were nothing but lost hopes and the reality of being an American Wild Woman came full force as a stinging slap across my face. But it turned out we’d only been derailed by a few days. And now we had more Wild Women to help us and more knowledge on how to overcome our enemies. Thanks to the ex-Hunter and the incubus, our enemies had one less stronghold. Two complexes had gone up in smoke. There were two left to level with flames, or explosives, or whatever else we had at our disposal.
Thank Freyja, this actually worked out for us.
“Sounds good,” Marcus replied as he shut a door behind him. “How far out are you?”
“Twenty minutes or so.”
“Me too, Marcus,” I said, and thought to add our code phrase. “You know how I feel.”
Thirty-Three
The sun woke as we neared the outskirts of Portland. Rays of pink and orange threatened to swallow the dark sky. I took a right and slowed as I neared the yellow house. I parked by the curb closest to the front yard to give the succubi the driveway spot so they’d have less of a walk to the comfort of a safe space.
As I marveled at how easy the Tesla’s oh-so-smooth handbrake was to secure into place, my phone vibrated again. I’d set it in the center console, so I only had to glance at it to know Marcus was calling again.
“Hey,” I answered. “How many bad guys you think I need to bring in to be able to afford a Tesla?” I ran my fingers along the perfect inner stitching of the black steering wheel.
Marcus laughed, caught off guard. “It depends. How open are you to working for the mob on the side? I’m sure your skills would come in handy in locating snitches.”
He joked, of course, but I played along because why not? “Snitches are the worst. Snitches get stiches, I’ve always said.”
“Then you’d make a perfect addition to the mob’s illegal payroll and should be driving your own blood-money Tesla in no time. But hey,” he said, changing the subject. “I’m calling to let you know we’re running behind.”
“Okay,” I said, stepping from the car with a sad goodbye to the machine. I winced when I caught sight of what I’d done to the hood. “Well, we just got here.”
“We’re not too far behind,” Marcus responded. “Maybe seven minutes or so. There was a cop following our car and we didn’t want to stop and wait for him to approach the vehicle to find out if he was a local Hunter or not—two Hunters and incubus may look suspicious. We also didn’t want to lead him to you all.”
“Rod’s with you?” I asked, pressing the lock feature on the key fob and walking up the cement path.
I reached into my pocket for the key to the front entrance, but remembered I’d left it with my sisters. I hoped they hadn’t accidently locked us out.
“Yeah,” Marcus replied. A turn signal sounded in the background and I looked for signs of the truck of men down the street. Nope, must not have been turning onto our street.
The succubi galere moved a little slower than usual, but they made it up the porch steps soon after I realized the front door wasn’t locked.
“All right,” I said, walking into the entryway. Marie broke off from the group and headed downstairs, in search of Celeste, no doubt. “That’s weird.”
“What?” Marcus asked.
“My sisters and Patricia aren’t here to greet us.” I paused and for the first time, noticed the faint scent of cologne—intruders. “Celeste wouldn’t miss seeing Marie for the world; she should have met us in the yard.”
I clicked my tongue and each Wild Woman within viewing distance stopped and focused on me. Some stood on the stairs, others in the hall. Everyone froze.
I whispered, knowing my two aunts would hear me, and hoping the succubi and incubus would pick up on it too. “We’re not alone.”
“Shit,” Marcus exclaimed. “Alek, go, go go!”
The car’s engine revved on Marcus’s side of the phone. I thought to end my call, but opted to keep him on the line, just in case he needed to hear what came next.
A closet door at the beginning of the hallway flung open, smacking a succubus in the head with enough force to drop her to the ground, bleeding. Instantly, bedroom doors opened and Hunters dressed in black shirts and cargo pants rushed us. Screams echoed through the stairwell and hall, making it impossible for me to listen for more hiding men.
Marcus shouted into the phone at me, but I couldn’t pay him any attention, I had to keep my sisters safe. A cluster of Wilds turned to run out the way they’d come in, but a handful of black-clad males shoved the front door open and filled the entryway behind us. Another group of Hunters ran up the deck steps and piled through the back sliding glass door. We were trapped, stuck, with every obvious exit blocked by at least two Hunters.
I backed into a wall and flattened myself enough to take in my surroundings and formulate a plan of attack. Bark rose to my skin and I willed tiny branches to grow from my palm, at the ready. The hemlock kept the branches from being very strong, though the fact that I was able to grow even weak branches meant the poison was wearing off. I’d forgotten to ask the rusalka how long the substance would stay in my system. I felt roots push from the tips of my toes and I peered down, thankful I’d forgotten to grab my shoes from the van when we’d gotten back to the house.
Other than the shuffling and yelling in the downstairs great room, I counted nine Hunters on the main floor, grabbing Wilds and throwing them into the bedroom Marcus and I had shared. I assumed the harpies, my sisters, and aunt had been stuffed in there too.
Okay. I took a breath to calm my huldra who wanted blood NOW.
If my coterie and the harpy flock were in my temporary bedroom and unable to get out, I could assume the Hunters had redecorated the quilt-covered walls with blood stones, or maybe just piled the place with them. Which meant me breaking down that door to get to my Wild sisters would result in my capture as well, if the hemlock had lost its strength enough to protect me from the effects of the stone.
“They’ve got blood stones in my room,” I yelled to Patricia and Renee. “And probably the rest of our coterie and the harpies!”
My coterie elders wasted no time. They fought two Hunters who held the arms and legs of a succubus and were attempting to carry her to my room at the end of the hall. I knew the captured succubus used her abilities to change their perception of energy because the two males grimaced in pain as they slowly walked, as though each step caused them agonizing pain.
My aunt Abigale shoved her palm into the face of the Hunter who held the succubi’s arms. Before he had time to drop her and push my aunt’s hand away, strong branches shot from her palm and bored into his skull through his eyes, causing a quick death. He fell to the floor with a thud, taking the succubus with him. From the floor, the succubus kicked her feet free of the living Hunter and hurried to stand and face him. With her right hand she punched him in his nose, a tactic to hold his attention, while with her left hand she thrust her open palm onto his chest and screamed. The Hunter fell to the floor, dead.
My aunts jumped over the bodies and bounded for my room. I desperately wanted to join them, to make sure they weren’t overpowered once they entered, but I’d be more of a hindrance than a help at this point. From the sounds of it, I was needed downstairs. I pushed off from the wall, ready to rush down the narrow stairwell and burst into the great room, when the snake Wilds erupted through the front door singing their ear-piercing war cries as the two shé played their stringed instruments. Calle and Gerda, the echidnas, shot forward, their legs already changed, and thrashed their tails through the air, clotheslining two confused Hunters in the process.
“In here!” Abigale yelled to the newcomers, and the echidnas whipped around to join the elder huldras.
The shés continued playing their instruments, their snake eyes scanning the area, as they followed my aunts down the hall and into my room. The nagin kept close behind, their hands in the air and at the ready to make the Hunters do as they wished. Once I saw that they’d all made it into my room, and heard the terrified screams of males, I flung myself onto the stairwell and nearly flew down the stairs. I landed on the polished cement flooring with barely a thud, and crouched to take in the scene around me.
Two blasts rang out from a gun, but the depth of the sound it made reminded me of the tranquilizers the Hunters had used on the mermaid’s island. I paused, ready to spring back upstairs, when the instruments grew louder followed by the unmistakable thumps of bodies hitting the floor above me.
Heather and Mason held the
ir own, working together to force a fighting Hunter up against the great room wall with arms splayed. Against the two of them, he didn’t stand a chance, so I let them do their thing.
Every scream I heard, every cry, every roar, I yearned to catapult myself to the main floor and check on my coterie and the harpies. To be away from my coterie killed me, but to be with them could put us all in worse danger. Last time my sister was in trouble and blood stones covered the walls, I had no choice but to let my huldra take complete control. I’d blacked out and came to minutes before my huldra turned her wrath on Marcus. With the hemlock still in my system, but waning, I didn’t know how the blood stones would affect my huldra. Who knew who my huldra would hurt today, with no rusalki here to pull me out? Still, I listened for the voices of my coterie, and if any one of them called for me, screw the consequences.
Through the open lower level double doors, I noticed Marie and four succubi standing on the back patio in two lines, their backs to one another, looking out. Each succubus held both hands out in front of her, palms flat and upright, to keep the two rows of Hunters on each side at bay. But that’s all they were doing and it seemed the Hunters were waiting for the succubi to weaken before they pounced.
Energy has to come from some place, and without fuel, or food, for the past couple days, the succubi were running on empty.
I, on the other hand, happened to still have a small amount of hemlock poison pulsing through my body.
Before me stood a row of five Hunters with their backs to me, facing the succubi. In front of them stood a row of two succubi who had their back to a row of three succubi who had their hands held out to ward off another row of five Hunters. I thought to take out the row of males with a bowling ball approach, but changed my mind mid-run and decided to go with the money approach. Six steps away from the first row of Hunters, I jumped into the air and spread my legs, willing roots to grow from the soles of my feet—poisonous roots.
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