Inside Straight

by Mark Henwick

  “Exciting,” she said, her eyes all cougar green as she scooped up the cash. “Thanks for this. Can I check, I was right to bring this to you?”

  “Yes. Certainly while you’re settling in, keep checking with Yelena or me until we tell you otherwise.”

  She nodded and left.

  I sighed again. Yelena. I missed my Diakon. I needed her back. Just knowing she was around and might disapprove served as a brake on my crazier ideas. Or some of them.

  And she also kept the small stuff away from me, like Rita asking if it was okay to take Tove out shopping.

  How on earth did Bian manage without a Diakon?

  I shook my head and called Felix. This one was going to be a whole lot less fun than talking to Alex.

  Chapter 41

  “Amber.”

  A growl, but not much like Alex’s. An annoyed growl from the co-alpha of the Southern League.

  This conversation was going to be like a fight, and if we were fighting, I’d want him on the back foot, so I got straight in.

  “Felix, hello. I have a suggestion, as syndesmon between Athanate and Were, that I’d like you and Cameron to consider.”

  There was a change to the quality of sound as his cell phone went to speaker, and it was Cameron who replied. “We’re listening.”

  Yes, pissed off Felix and pissed off Cameron. Because I couldn’t answer their call quickly enough. Wonderful.

  “The full Assembly isn’t going to meet again for a long time,” I said. “My recommendation is you use that time to negotiate with Skylur. Representation agreements will still need the whole Assembly to ratify, but you could arrive at that meeting with half the battle over.”

  “We can’t sit in New York and talk,” Felix said. “We’re too busy putting the League together.”

  “Exactly, so you need someone to do it for you.”

  “You?” I’d managed to surprise Cameron. She knew what I thought of politics.

  “Not me,” I said. “I have a good relationship with Skylur, but he needs me here in Denver, and so do my new pack.”

  Putting pack before politics got a quieter, almost approving growl.

  “Who then?” Felix said.

  “The Heights.”

  There was a deep silence following my suggestion. The four big LA packs used the style of calling their alpha by the pack’s name. The Heights pack reached all the way into East LA and then extended out west and south, taking in half of the Cleveland National Forest. Like all the LA packs, open space for them to run was at a premium, and they were a pack that was more urban based than those in the Rockies for example. The pack members might or might not want to move to New York, but it wouldn’t be because of the urban nature of the territory.

  And their alpha, the Heights himself, was an oddity among all the alphas I’d met. He was a political animal. When the idea of werewolf representation in the Assembly had first come up, he’d been practically salivating about getting involved.

  “Interesting.” That’s all Cameron had to say on it. The lack of argument was eloquent. I’d put good money on the pair of them seeing the Heights’ political nature as an irritation, or possibly even a potential threat. Especially if he were left out there on the West Coast and not wrapped up in a job that would keep him busy.

  I didn’t leave them enough time to get on the front foot. “I also think that you should take the opportunity to grant the Heights’ territory to the Belles.”

  Put like that, it got exactly the reaction I expected.

  “No!” Felix snarled. “That’s crazy! She’s a competent alpha, but it’s a tiny pack. She has, what, twenty members? We’d be setting her up for a challenge. A series of challenges. It could destabilize the whole region.”

  “Maybe,” I said, because that was way more diplomatic with your boss than saying you’re wrong. “Work with me a while on this.”

  No audible response, so I went on.

  “Can’t leave that territory empty, right? That would destabilize things. Billie’s survived in the middle of LA, squeezed between four large, aggressive, male-oriented packs, and the Belles are all female. Tell me how she isn’t able to handle it. What’s more, if you word it carefully and make it an acceptable option, some of the Heights pack might prefer to stay there, even under a new, female leader. Which is also fine for both sides. Heights won’t need that big a pack in Manhattan.”

  Felix laughed. “Damn! That’s some ‘careful wording’ you’re talking about,” he said.

  “Or Athanate mind-voodoo,” Cameron said. “Can she do that shit to us over the phone?”

  “I think she just has.” I could hear Felix’s twisted smile.

  “All right,” Cameron said, meaning not all right at all, not yet. “We’ll take it into consideration. Did Altau put you up to this?”

  “No. All my own scheming,” I said.

  “Anything else you want to suggest?” Her voice was low, and less amused than Felix’s. “A new pack for El Paso, maybe?”

  Which was an absolute trap. She was handing me rope to hang myself with. I knew I should shut my mouth, but I found myself saying: “Not an area I’m knowledgeable about, alpha, but I think the Albuquerque alpha should be involved in that discussion. Whoever you put in there will be his neighbor; Albuquerque’s only 250 miles up the road.”

  I’d said it mainly as an idea to make sure Zane kept out of my hair for a while, but as I was speaking, I pictured the geography of that corner of New Mexico and Texas, and a real idea hit me. A way to get Alex back quicker and Zane too distracted to come hassle me.

  “Why not make El Paso a sub-pack of Albuquerque?” I found myself saying. “I’ll bet you’ve always had sub-packs out in Gila and Mescalero. Move one of them down the road. Save a lot of time and effort.”

  “Been talking to Zane, have you?” The growl had gotten silkier. More dangerous by the minute.

  “No, ma’am,” I said, heartrate inching up.

  I couldn’t leave it there. I’d gotten in this deep; I had to talk my way out of it now. “I thought about it. You all had New Mexico stitched up tight as a wet boot, and yet there’s this big claw of Texas sticking right into it, with El Paso on the tip. And there’s all that good werewolf territory in New Mexico around there: White Sands, Gila, Lincoln, Brokeoff Mountains, Desert Peaks. There’s no way you were going to let a big pack like El Paso come sniffing around that. I’m betting you had sub-packs in Gila and Mescalero just to keep an eye on them.”

  A moment of quiet, then Cameron responded, “I’m betting I’ll have my jaws around your throat next time we meet, Amber.”

  A warning threat: more show than substance.

  And a thrill: I’d been right, and they did have sub-packs there.

  All I could say, of course, was: “Yes, ma’am.”

  While she was still talking to me, even threateningly, she wouldn’t be ripping my throat out.

  I hoped.

  And maybe I really had given them something that would keep Zane busy at the far end of New Mexico and out of my pants.

  Felix cleared his throat and changed the subject. “How is Scott doing?”

  “More wolf than vamp at the moment,” I said, “but I sense the vamp is coming. He’s less volatile than he was yesterday. No problems changing form.”

  “So quick,” Felix muttered. “Like they say your vamp crusis would be quick. Anything else of note about his change?”

  “He’s got an attitude on him when he’s four-legged. As a cub... I mean, as Athanate kin he’s two hundred years old, but as a wolf, he’s brand new, and you expect him to be a bit uncertain. Nope. He’s not dominant enough to take me, but he’s like a burr under my damned saddle.”

  “Shocking,” Cameron said, all soft voice and sickly-sweet sympathy as she took her revenge. “Imagine that, getting grief from a subordinate wolf.”

  “Ma’am.”

  I didn’t mind cringing a little for her. This conversation had also given me a new idea for Scott I’
d have to come back to later.

  “I’m not sure how he’ll be regarded by other packs,” Felix was saying. “As a hybrid I mean. You personally, you get a grudging pass from some of these new packs on the basis of the halfy ritual. He won’t have that.”

  Cameron took over. “We’re throwing a lot of new and uncomfortable ideas at a very conservative population of Were down here, Amber. I don’t want any more challenges or excuses for fights. We’re going to need to see how they react to Scott under controlled circumstances.”

  “Bring him to the next ritual,” Felix suggested. “If they associate him closely enough with you and the ritual, he might gain some of your protection.”

  “Good idea,” Cameron said.

  “When?” I asked.

  “A couple of weeks maybe. We’ll have to start organizing.”

  “Can I make one last suggestion?” I said.

  Cameron was ominously silent, but I could still hear the smile in Felix’s voice. “You’ll make it anyway, so I’ll say go ahead.”

  “I come down to you, with Scott, rather than you all come back up here. Maybe get Alex and some of my new pack down there too.”

  That was assuming I hadn’t been killed, or killed myself in the meantime, but I wasn’t going to say that.

  “Nick Gray should be able to find a suitable place, if you give him a day or so to look,” I added.

  “Now that is an excellent suggestion,” Felix said. “Okay. We’ll be in Louisiana somewhere. Ben will organize details through PackChat and cell phones.”

  Bian put her head in the room.

  “Time to go,” she said loudly enough for them to hear.

  “We’ll talk again, when you have time,” Cameron said. “And if you don’t find time, we will talk when you come down here.”

  Oooh. Snarly boss.

  The line went dead.

  We divided ourselves into several cars. I was in Bian’s car, with Julie and Scott.

  Scott hadn’t expected to be needed out at Haven, but he was polite in his two-legged form and came without arguments.

  Traveling together gave me a chance to test him out and see how stable he was. We talked: general chat about what he had been doing in House Lloyd, and what he thought he might be useful for now.

  I was no werewolf expert, and there were no hybrid experts, but I though he was going to be able to handle the challenge I would give him later.

  While we were talking, I tried to call Jen, but she wasn’t picking up.

  Then, just as we pulled into Haven, there was a text message from her.

  Yelena’s on her way home, it said. I’m fine. Busy! Call me in an hour or two. Love you.

  Chapter 42

  “You’re not serious!”

  Alice was unhappy with my proposal and I could tell I was going to have a battle with Bian and Diana, too.

  Six of us were in the magically protected dungeon, deep beneath Haven, sitting stiffly around a plain wooden table: Diana, Alice, Bian, me, Gabrielle and Gwen.

  Even if I still found her scary, she got to be ‘Gwen’ rather than ‘the Hecate’ for saving my life.

  To Gwen’s frustration, Kaothos remained silent and invisible, but I could feel her there.

  And the Lyssae as always, standing against the walls. I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at the far end to meet the glazed eye of the dog-faced Anubis.

  I could hear the whisper of blind Tolly’s voice, speaking about his cousin, as if it reached out to me all the way from the Dark Library: He hears all that’s said, you know, even in his stillness. And if he could talk back, what he’d say is keep well away from magic, especially dark magic. Well away.

  I took a deep breath.

  Calm.

  “I am serious,” I said. “You all can stop me, if it’s a mistake, but let me make my case first.”

  Everyone waited and I spoke each sentence with a pause to get nods of agreement:

  “The most important thing is to get Tullah back. To do that, we need to know where to find her. To find her, we need to do one of these difficult aura projections. The best person to do it for Tullah is me. We need to do it as soon as possible, because Weaver will be using the Denver community Adepts to do the same thing.”

  “That kind of working is dangerous, especially for you,” Alice interrupted.

  “It’s most dangerous because I haven’t had any experience of doing it. I’m not suggesting I can become an expert. What I’m saying is we should have a trial run over a shorter distance, helped by the experts we do have here. Checking Weaver’s house is an obvious choice for that. We need to do it anyway, but I don’t want to send a team of guards there who could run into some kind of magical trap, given what we’ve seen Weaver can do.”

  “The traps could be laid for whichever way we go there, including a projection of your aura,” Gwen said. “Although I back up what you’re saying, we’re still rushing into this.”

  “And delaying will produce what benefit?” I shot back at her. “How long before you can train me as an Adept to your level, given I haven’t even got a spirit guide now?”

  “Got you there, Gwen,” Gabrielle said.

  I guess she’d forgiven me for pulling power through her. Or maybe she hadn’t. My paranoia raised its head. What if she knew it was too difficult and wanted me to fail?

  Out of sight, under the table, I balled my fists. We needed to make progress more than I needed to indulge my suspicions.

  “We can spend time getting to know each other afterwards,” I said. “Let’s go up and try this projection right now.”

  There was no point in doing it from here in the dungeon. The same workings that protected Kaothos from being found by Empire, prevented any magic from getting out. Diana and Kaothos would have to stay down here. The rest of us would have to go back upstairs, where we could team up with Flint and Kane, who were waiting in the main living room.

  I got a reluctant agreement and we left in pairs, using the small secret elevator to the ground floor.

  After collecting my two rogue Adepts, Bian guided us to an empty room on the top floor, all the while quizzing Gwen about the spirit walk.

  “In fact, Gabrielle is the expert on projecting auras,” Gwen said. “She’ll be the one who runs this.”

  Gabrielle took over smoothly.

  “There isn’t one simple spirit world,” Gabrielle said. “It’s like it has layers. You can skim the outer layer. That’s what Amber is suggesting.”

  “This isn’t like the spirit world when you kidnapped Amber?”

  “Captured her attention. No, that was deeper.” She started bouncing around the room as if unable to contain all the energy in her body. “Okay, so layers. The top layer is what you call spirit walks, visions, dreaming world, stuff like that. That’s what we’re doing here with Amber, spirit walking. All of us stay here in this room and project our auras with Amber to just skim the spirit world.”

  “And that’s safe?” Bian pressed her.

  “For something close and quick, it’s safe. Much safer than the next level,” she said.

  “But there’s always danger when you open your aura,” Alice interrupted. “Same sort of thing when you try opening a channel to attack someone with eukori.”

  “Like we were discussing about Matlal earlier?”

  “Yes. He opened the channel to attack Amber, and she attacked back, even though she probably couldn’t have opened that channel herself.”

  My eukori was much stronger than they realized, thanks to my Carpathian heritage. Some time, I was going to have to explain that to them. For the present, I stayed silent and listened.

  “And what about the direction-finding kind of spirit walk? The kind we’ll need to locate Tullah?”

  “Different kind of thing,” Gabrielle said. “You can’t spread yourself that thinly, that far, that long, across the spirit world in a simple spirit walk. You’d screw up your head or run out of power. You need the next level down, the type of worki
ng we call a substantiation. That’s what we did down in RiNo, and to do that, at least one of you actually physically enters the spirit world. Whole different set of issues.”

  “This exercise now only needs a spirit walk,” Gwen said. “It gives us an opportunity to all work together instead of against each other. We’ll be there in aura with Amber to keep her safe.”

  “To keep us all safe,” Kane said.

  Bian subsided, unconvinced but unable to mount any informed arguments.

  Gabrielle touched my arm. Now the zany, hyperactive woman changed into someone more calm and professional.

  “We’re going to put you into an environment where you feel comfortable and in control,” she said, “and then visualize a path to Weaver’s house. I’ll kinda pick your aura up and it’ll be like we’re flying. It’ll be fun.”

  I nodded and hid a smile. I had ideas about fun that I probably shouldn’t share with this young woman.

  She pulled a straight-backed chair into the center of the room and tapped it.

  “Sit here, and let’s get started.”

  A little shiver skated across my skin—half anticipation, half the feeling of the magic building: Gwen and Gabrielle on one side, Flint and Kane on the other.

  Very different magics.

  “I saw how you interacted with Gwen’s substantiation of the spirit world,” Gabrielle said. “We won’t go into that depth with an aura projection, but I think we can work with your imagery.”

  “You need to explain all your jargon to me.”

  “Some time,” she replied, “when I haven’t had a fire lit under my butt.”

  I had to grin, at the same time as feeling a little embarrassed that I’d suspected her of wanting to set me up to fail.

  She walked behind me and her hands dropped on my shoulders, pulled me back into the chair.

  “Relax,” she said. “I just meant we’re going to go with all that neat Native American feel. We’ll start by breathing deeply.”

  I was still too tense. Her fingers dug expertly into my shoulder and neck muscles until I’d relaxed enough for her.

  After a minute she began humming quietly, in a rhythm like the one Nick Gray, the skinwalker, had used for the rituals. It was simple, classic Native American—HEY-ya, hey-ya, hey-ya, HEY-ya, hey-ya, hey-ya. Her foot tapped it out against the wooden floor.