Hard to Handle

by Christine Warren

  And he knew he loved her.

  He also believed—no, dammit, he knew that she loved him right back, and because she did, she would do whatever it took to get his sister back safe and sound.

  Drum drew in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly released it as he went back to his chair, took his seat, and returned his gaze to Ash’s face. This time he looked at her with sanity, resolve, and trust.

  “Okay, then,” he said, his voice even once more. “That’s their plan. What’s ours?”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  As it turned out, their plan consisted of something more like a preplan plan, as opposed to an actual plan plan. The first thing to do, Ash, Dag, and Kylie all agreed, was to muster the troops. The first glitch came about due to the highly inconvenient existence of time zones. What might be just before midnight in Ireland was just before six in the evening in Chicago, and while this made a perfect window for telecommunications, it made travel considerations a good deal stickier.

  Telling someone in Chicago to drop everything and catch the next available plane to Dublin would result in a minimum nine to ten hours of travel time. In a situation like this the loss of those hours could prove not just annoying but deadly. This was one of the items Kylie had noted on her plan planning meeting agenda. Ash had widened her eyes as she had seen the document take shape.

  The Guardians and Wardens had officially commandeered the kitchen of Drum’s sister’s home for their temporary headquarters. Drum insisted that after tonight they would need to find an alternate location, one that did not expose his family to any further danger; but for now Sorcha and John had graciously provided them with shelter, refreshments, and a laptop computer at which Kylie obviously struggled not to sneer in disdain.

  “If I’m going to be expected to do anything useful around here,” the American Warden said, “we’re going to have to find a way for me to grab my own gear from our hotel. Seriously, did you guys hear this thing boot up? I think the hamster in there actually cursed us out before he jumped on his little wheel.”

  Dag placed his hand on his mate’s shoulder and patted gently. “Now, now, little human, remember. Through adversity, we grow in strength.”

  Kylie sneered and set to work, lifting one hand from the computer’s keyboard long enough to give her Guardian the finger. Then she completed her objective of initiating an international video chat with a woman Ash had heard referred to only as Wynn. She knew little else about the second American Warden, and two thirds of it could be summed up by those very words. Other than that, she knew the woman was also a witch, but that encompassed the sum total of her knowledge. Somehow none of this prepared her for the first words that sounded from the computer speaker.

  “Goddess alive, Kylie,” a voice nearly shouted. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you forever. Where on earth have you been?”

  Kylie looked almost as surprised as everyone else. “Um, Ireland?”

  “Ky—”

  “Wynneleh, I told you I had to catch a plane to Dublin immediately. Didn’t you read my e-mail?”

  “Yeah, but you obviously didn’t read mine. You also haven’t answered it, or your phone, or any chat requests in, like, two days.”

  The light from the computer screen flickered across Kylie’s face, illuminating her nonplussed expression. It was the first time Ash could recall seeing the Warden at a loss for words, as temporary as it turned out to be. “Oh, um, yeah. I guess I have been AFK for a while, haven’t I?”

  AFK? Ash puzzled over the unfamiliar term.

  “Away from keyboard?” Wynn sounded exasperated. “Kylie, this isn’t World of Warcraft. This is an actual war.” Her voice dropped. “We were starting to get afraid that the Order had taken you out. Fil was getting ready to launch a full-scale assault on the state of Massachusetts.”

  Kylie looked chagrined. “I’m sorry, Wynn. I didn’t mean to scare you guys, but things over here have been a little crazy.”

  The computer made a snorting sound. Or rather, Wynn made it but it issued from the laptop’s speaker. From Ash’s viewpoint looking at the backside of the screen, the difference seemed moot.

  “Yeah, we haven’t actually earned the old ‘of sound mind’ rating over here, either. That’s why I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I think you need to finish up whatever it is you’re doing in Ireland and take a hop, a skip, a jump, or a ferry over to England. Or maybe a plane. You know, your choice.”

  Kylie stiffened. “Why? What’s going on in England?”

  Ash experienced a conflict of urges. On the one hand, she wanted to bark at Kylie to maintain her focus on assembling the team they would need to rescue Drum’s sister. On the other hand, her instincts as a Guardian urged her to listen closely. After all, Wynn was a Warden as well, and if more trouble was brewing somewhere else, then the Guardians needed to know about it. If it was close to her, then Ash needed to know in particular.

  “Ella turned up a strong lead on another stone stud muffin,” Wynn said with excitement coloring her voice. “Fil was going to offer to check it out, but the idea made Spar a little cranky. Sheesh, these guys can get so possessive sometimes.”

  Kylie’s gaze lifted and settled on Ash, who sat opposite her across the table. The human’s cheeks turned pink when Ash lifted an eyebrow at her. “Um, yeah, about that stud muffin comment—”

  Wynn continued as if she hadn’t heard. “But that’s not all. Someone tawt they taw a Hierophant sneaking around London. We figured since you’re most of the way there, you could give Road Runner a break and go after a puddy-tat instead.”

  That news certainly drew a reaction. Kylie muttered under her breath in Yiddish, Dag swore, and even Ash felt her mouth firm into a straight line of displeasure. Only Drum still looked confused.

  When Kylie noticed, she immediately took pity on him. “The Hierophant. I told you about him, remember? He’s the one who set up that whole disaster in Boston, the one who’s been hosting Nazgahchuhl in the big ol’ guest room that is his noggin. Right where his soul used to hang out. If he’s in London, then that means something very bad is likely to happen over there. Soon.”

  Drum clenched his fists and his jaw. “Something bad is definitely happening here. In fact, part of it already did. Remember?”

  Instead of looking embarrassed or angry, Kylie looked sympathetic. She nodded at the man and focused back on the computer. “Dag and I will take a look as soon as we finish up here. Trust me, right now you want us exactly where we are. In fact, you want you here, too. And Knox and the others, as well.”

  Wynn’s voice came out noticeably sharper. “Why? What have you found in Dublin?”

  “Not in it, but not far away. First off, we found another recruit. Well, a pair of them, really.”

  “Ooh! Guardian jackpot! Wait until I tell Fil, especially if I get to see him first,” the witch crowed. “Tell me, how hot is he? Like Dag hot, or like my Knox-your-sox-off hot?”

  Kylie smirked. “Here. See for yourself.” Then she turned the computer around until the camera lens landed on Ash.

  The Guardian got her first look at the witch. As it turned out, she had neither green skin nor a pointy, wart-bedecked nose. In fact her nose appeared perfectly normal for a human female and graced a perfectly normal, pretty face. Wynn had long, dark, curly hair, fair skin, and attractive hazel eyes that currently held a great deal of confusion.

  “Um, I hate to break this to you, Koyote,” the image on the screen said, “but either your aim sucks or your camera does. I’m looking at a chick. Let me see the Guardian.”

  “I did.”

  So did Ash. It smarted a little, since her wings got crushed against the back of her chair for a second before they burst free, and the chair itself let out an unnerving groan of stressed wood at her increased mass, but the look on Wynn’s face was worth it. Ash grinned, flashing fang, and Kylie immediately snatched the laptop back. “Wait! I gotta see her face!”

  “Kylie…” Wynn drew out the na
me for a good three, tense seconds.

  “Yes, Wynnie the Pooh?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure if you noticed something odd about your new friend, but that Guardian has boobs.”

  “Bubbeleh, you know I don’t swing that way.”

  “Kylie!” the witch snapped. “That is a female Guardian.”

  “I’m sure she’d be thrilled you noticed, but she’s kinda already in a relationship. Hey, aren’t you in one, too? Does Knox have those clichéd threesome fantasies? Is that what this is about?”

  “Kylie! There are no female Guardians!”

  “Guess again, snookie.”

  “How is this even possible?” Wynn mumbled. “This is not supposed to be possible.”

  “Possible, shmossible. It’s done,” Kylie dismissed. “Dag isn’t sure how. Heck, even Ash isn’t sure how, from what I can tell, but I suppose you can ask your guy if it means that much to you. Hey, where is he anyway?”

  “He’ll be here in a minute. He ran out to pick up Chinese.”

  “Mmm, I have had some yummy food while I’ve been here, but I could totally go for pot stickers right about now.”

  “Wiley, would you focus, please, and tell me what the heck is going on?”

  “You mean other than that we’ve got a new girl on the boys’ varsity team?”

  Wynn sighed. “Yes. Aside from that.”

  Kylie nodded, her expression turning serious. “I’d rather tell you guys—all of you guys—in person.”

  “Wow, that does not sound good, so I’m guessing this won’t, either. We can’t come.”

  That seemed to rock Kylie back in her seat. “What? What do you mean, you can’t come? None of you?”

  “Ella is grounded. No travel for at least two weeks. She went down to Seattle to disband a recruiting center near the university. She got shot. Missed her organs, but broke three ribs,” Wynn said, her voice grim and her words clipped. “And while she’s out of commission, she had to send Fil to chase down the other lead she dug up, only this one is not quite so pretty as a possible Guardian. Fil is currently in Alberta—so, basically, the middle of nowhere—trying to decide exactly how many nocturnis are in the area and planning to turn one of the most sacred First Nations sites in Canada into a gigantic, Demon-empowering slaughterhouse.”

  “Oy, gevalt,” Kylie breathed.

  “You said it, bisseleh. Which leaves me the only one available to respond if another threat pops up on this side of the pond, as they say.”

  “When did things get this bad? I mean, I know we’ve all dealt with some pretty epic battles, but when did the accumulated small skirmishes get this out of hand?”

  “When the Order stopped trying to guess how they were going to release the Seven and started actually doing it,” Wynn said. “I’m guessing having one of them back in control and munching on the brains and soul of their head honcho might also be playing a factor. Things were bad enough when the Hierophant was in charge of the chessboard, but now that Nazgahchuhl is using him as its own personal sock puppet, it’s all just getting worse.”

  “Yeah, and your optimism is contagious.” Kylie sighed and leaned into the camera. “Wynn, we really need some help here. We think the Order has located a hellmouth, and they’re planning to open it the night of the new moon.”

  A string of creative expletives poured from the laptop’s speakers, some of them in a language Ash recognized but had never heard. The witch cursed in Welsh. “That’s going to require an awful lot of juice, even at this time of year.”

  “They’re going to have it.” Kylie looked up and waved at Drum to join her in front of the camera. “This is Ash’s Warden, Michael Drummond. He’s clairvoyant. His mother and two of his sisters are gifted healers. Another sister is empathic. The youngest, Maeve, is a precog. She’s the one they’ve taken.”

  Ash could see that Drum recognized Kylie’s ploy, and that he wasn’t too proud to take his part in it. Bright Light, but she knew he thought that if it would save his sister, the man would offer himself in her place. If he weren’t older and his talent less filled with potential, she figured he would already have snuck out of the house to try that idiotic move.

  She also knew, based on what Kylie had told them that first night, that Wynn would know what Drum was feeling. Exactly what he was feeling. After all, she had already lost a sibling to the Darkness. Her brother Bran had been possessed by the Demon Uhlthor. Wynn had discovered the fact too late, and in exorcising the entity from her brother’s body, she had essentially killed him. It might sound like a completely different situation, but Ash could see that each of the Wardens felt the full weight of responsibility for their family member’s fate.

  Silence stretched across the Atlantic for a long, long moment before Wynn managed to speak again. “That’s a low, low blow, Kylie.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kylie said, her voice sympathetic, but firm. “I know it still hurts, Wynn. Trust me, I know. Bran was my brother, too, in every way that I can count, but we need to back up. You’re the one who told me about hellmouths. We all know that getting Maeve back would be just as important if she didn’t have a relative alive on earth. We can’t let them take that kind of step.”

  “And what if this is another one of their distractions?” Wynn asked. “What if I race over there to help you out, and it turns out they rip open another hellmouth in Idaho, or something?”

  Kylie nodded. “Yeah, it’s a possibility, but it’s like five hundred miles between Idaho and anything that doesn’t taste better with sour cream and chives. Dublin is fifty miles from here and has a population of almost two million. That’s a hell of a lot of mouths to feed. On.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Wynn.” Kylie waited a beat, probably to ensure she caught her friend’s gaze. “If we’re not going to have each other’s backs, the Order won’t even have to try to finish us off.”

  Ash heard a disembodied sigh. “You’re right, but I need to talk to Ella and Fil first. Fil is scheduled to check in with me before ten, my time. They need to know I’m going to be gone, and I need to make sure it’s for as short a time as possible.”

  Kylie broke out into a beaming smile. “I can charter a plane for you. It’s not the Concord, but that ship has sailed. Or, that bird don’t fly no more. Whatever. It will be quicker than commercial air. By the time Fil calls you, I can have everything arranged for you and Knox to fly over here.”

  “Whoa, hold on, Daddy Warbucks. I said I can’t be gone long. That means hours, not days. You might have more money than most small Central American countries, but I can still arrange my own transportation faster than you can. I’ll come by portal a couple of hours before we hit.”

  Kylie made a face. “First off, don’t say things like ‘before we hit.’ You sound like you’re trying to go all Capone, and you’re eighty years too late for that. Second, cast yourself as an orphan again, and I’m telling your mom. But finally, and in my opinion most important, you and Ella said that portal casting takes skill on both ends, and you know my spell work still sucks compared to the rest of you. Do you honestly want my end to collapse while you’re somewhere out over the North Atlantic?”

  “Why should you worry? I’m the one who’d be swimming with the fishes.”

  “And I’m the one who’s half Jewish! Like I don’t have enough guilt to deal with?”

  “Hey, you sounded just like Esther when you said that!”

  “Wynn.”

  “Don’t worry, Kyle E. Woyote,” the witch said. “You’ve got plenty of skill, and what you lack, you make up for in raw power. I’m not real worried. Besides, I’ll walk you through it right until I step inside. You’ll be fine.”

  Kylie grimaced. “I’m not the one I’m worried about.”

  “Chill, before I drop an anvil on your head,” Wynn chided. “Now, go back to the beginning of this story and tell me exactly what kind of situation we’re in. You said the Order found a hellmouth, and they want it open. Where is it, and how many nocturn
is are we talking about?”

  Ash listened with half an ear while Kylie began to outline the events of the past week. The Warden did a bit of skimming over what she only knew secondhand from Ash and Drum, but added more detail on the events she and Dag had witnessed for themselves. While she spoke, Drum stepped away from the computer to allow Dag to contribute to the conversation. When he headed straight to her side, Ash felt a stirring of satisfaction.

  Well, that was what she decided to call it. It was a lot more complicated than that one word conveyed, but only if she attempted to examine it up close. Poking and pulling might have unraveled some threads that looked a lot like love, attraction, caring, admiration, pride, respect, or affection, and seeing those all picked apart and labeled would have backed Ash into a corner she couldn’t fight her way out of. A Guardian wasn’t supposed to feel those human emotions, and for a Guardian not included in the legacy set forth by the first collection of (all male) Guardians, it wouldn’t do for her to risk it.

  There was no woman of power for Ash, no end to her duties. Unlike her brothers with their talented mates, Ash would return to her statue form and sleep until the next time the Seven threatened the mortal world, and she would do it alone. Completely alone, because even if she ever got another chance to work with her brothers, it would be a new set of them, replacements called to take up the spots relinquished by their mated predecessors. Even the relationship among friends she might form here would be lost to her while she slept.

  Didn’t she just have a lot to look forward to?

  She could have let the thought depress her. It would be easy. The easiest thing in the world, actually. She knew where she stood, to the precise millimeter between her and the cliff’s edge. The easy, the safe, the sensible thing to do would be to drag her talons through the sand and say she would not step beyond this point. In fact, even better would be to step back a few yards before she drew that line. She might still have the chance to withdraw, to gather the stone from which she was made and stack it around her heart, cutting herself off from Kylie and Dag, from Wynn and Knox, from Maeve and Maddie and Drum. She might still be able to ensure that she ended the same way the first Wardens had intended her to begin—alone.