Lost Vegas Series

by Lizzy Ford

  Resolute, Tiana glanced around without knowing where she was exactly or how far the forest stretched. According to the map she made, north of Lost Vegas and past the forest, grasslands sprang up and filled the distance between the forest and mountains. She had never known exact distances, though, only recorded what she had overheard from others.

  Did it matter?

  She shook her head, tired of being conflicted and scared.

  Tiana entered the forest and picked her way through the low branches and bushes, continuing towards the faint presence of the skinwalker.

  Sometime later, long after she had lost track of where the meadow was, the flickering pulse of energy representing the skinwalker in her mind shifted.

  Tiana blinked out of her thoughts and became aware of her surroundings once more. Shivering from the cold, she stopped to evaluate what had happened. Had she been too upset to pay attention to his movement? Why did he seem to be back the way she had come?

  She looked around, perplexed. Without the sense of a Native or Arthur, who hunted in the forest, she had no way to know if anyone had been through here lately or if anyone was hidden in the trees or brush.

  The Ghouls were active this night; their cries had remained distant but consistent, and she tilted her head. Were they tracking someone or were there a lot of the creatures in the forest this night?

  Distracted by the cries that sounded closer than before, Tiana did not notice the tug at her energy, or the presence of anyone else, until a branch cracked beneath someone’s foot behind her.

  She started to turn.

  A large hand snatched her by the back of her neck, holding her in place. Her deformities reared to life with her fear, prepared to strike out – only to be drained from her.

  She froze, recognizing the sensation from her first meeting with the skinwalker.

  The smooth, sharp edge of a curved blade slid around her neck. It pricked her skin, and pain fluttered through her.

  … can’t kill you but when I am done with you, you will wish I had …

  Tiana swallowed hard at the skinwalker’s thought. She wanted to cave in on herself, to cry and hope he acted quickly, whatever he chose to do to her.

  But that was not how Arthur, Aveline, Diving Eagle, Rocky or anyone else she had ever met would react.

  It was not how she could react if she were to confront her father one day.

  Tiana forced back tears.

  “I thought we had an understanding after our initial meeting,” she whispered. “Whatever you do to me, I can do ten times greater to you.”

  “You read thoughts,” his growl was low.

  “At times. I know you cannot kill me. Is it because of what I am?”

  The blade cut deeper.

  Though her eyes watered, Tiana refused to cry or move away from the pain. She had spent the better part of her life in pain. There was only one truth about pain worth knowing: it always ended.

  “Not always,” the skinwalker replied to her thought.

  … promise to your brother …

  Tiana had never loved Arthur enough for all he did for her. Her heart swelled with affection for the man who placed himself in danger for her sake.

  “We are at an impasse.” Her voice trembled, and she cleared her throat. “You cannot kill me, but the moment you release me, I will make you wish you had.”

  “You do not wish me dead, spirit. Why have you followed me?” he replied.

  The question was harder for her to explain than she planned. Did she tell him it was a matter of pride? Of proving herself to others? Of not feeling vulnerable anymore by facing someone strong enough to murder entire villages?

  Or … was it because some part of her hoped he could kill her and spared everyone else the pain of tolerating her?

  “Stupid girl,” the skinwalker said.

  She flushed, hating that he could read her mind and considered her as weak as the others did, even after experiencing her abilities firsthand.

  “Alone, your advantage disappears. I know what … who … motivates you,” the skinwalker added.

  “Unfortunately for you, she is not alone.”

  Tiana’s heart raced at the quiet, calm claim of Diving Eagle, from somewhere behind the skinwalker.

  The silence grew tense, thick, and she held her breath, waiting to see what the skinwalker would do. Diving Eagle was no match for him, but the skinwalker was no match for her.

  After a long pause, the skinwalker lowered the blade from her neck and released her. At once, her energy flooded back into her.

  Tiana stepped away from the tall Native, whose tense frame and agitated magic gave her some indication he was close to snapping, even if he knew the danger in it.

  Diving Eagle stood a short distance behind him, the muzzle of a handgun pressed to the skinwalker’s head.

  “I knew you were lying to me,” Chases Deer stepped from the night, her weapon aimed at Diving Eagle. She uttered something to him in her tongue.

  Diving Eagle retorted quietly without lowering his weapon or moving.

  “You’re fast, but you’re not careful,” Rocky responded and appeared behind her, a knife at her back.

  The cry of Ghouls was closer, and Tiana realized the creatures had been tracking the men and woman following her. Dismayed, she wondered if Diving Eagle had followed because he doubted her ability to do even this.

  The skinwalker gave a low, smoky laugh.

  Tiana was not certain what to do. The three Natives and Rocky were unmoving, each of them waiting for someone else to strike or back down, while none of them appeared willing to do either.

  “The Ghouls are coming,” she said.

  “Two of us here will survive them,” the skinwalker seconded. “One of us here cares if the rest of you live.”

  Were the words meant for her or the others? Tiana did not know, but she was not going to allow the obstinacy of the others to place them all in harm’s way. She drew a deep breath and focused on all the weapons. Sweeping her hand upward, she snatched the weapons with her mind and sent them hovering into the air above their heads.

  The skinwalker started away.

  She blocked him, too. “You, stay,” she said. “I found him for you.” She addressed this to Diving Eagle. “But we must go now, before the Ghouls reach us. I cannot control my power enough to guarantee your safety, and the skinwalker will not defend you.”

  The Ghouls began to shriek. They had found their prey and were closing in. It was the instinct of a protector that made Tiana’s blood fill with charged energy without her active summoning of her abilities. The colors of the world began to reverse as her body prepared itself for battle.

  She grappled with the magic. She did not want Diving Eagle to see her lose control again, not when he already thought her a weak, selfish coward.

  “I’m with you,” Rocky said and approached. “Those two have some serious issues with each other.” If he noticed Tiana’s hair flying around, he said nothing.

  “We are both survivors,” Diving Eagle said.

  “Agreed,” Chases Deer’s face was upturned towards the weapons. “I will deal with your lies later.”

  Assured the common threat deterred their tensions with one another, Tiana lowered the weapons without releasing her mental hold on the skinwalker. She focused instead on the power creeping through her body, preparing her. She knew without looking where the Ghouls were, and that the window of escape was already gone.

  “This is your territory,” Diving Eagle said to Chases Deer. “Take us somewhere safe.”

  No sooner had she tucked the weapon in its holster than Chases Deer moved into the forest, away from the sound of the hunting Ghouls. Diving Eagle motioned to Tiana and Rocky.

  “Too late,” Tiana whispered.

  The Ghouls, all ten in the hunting party, materialized out of the night and forest, glowing like specters. The first time she encountered them, Tiana had been too scared to notice their flowing robes or the gaping holes of their eyes.
She had been controlled by emotion and adrenaline and reacted out of pure terror.

  She felt the magic swell within her – but it didn’t explode or overwhelm her as it had before with the Ghouls or skinwalker. She had not thought herself able to control it either of the two instances where it emerged from deep within her.

  This was different. The colors of the world reversed, and Tiana remained aware. Seeing. Sensing. In control. She marveled at the sensations of being part of her body but also separate, as if the threats were not real, and she was in no real danger. Aware of the creatures staring her down, she felt Rocky tug on her arm.

  “Go,” she told him. “All of you.”

  “Aveline would murder me if I …” he objected.

  She faced him, and he fell silent. His weapons lowered, and an odd expression crossed his features. She did not have time to determine what exactly it was.

  “Rocky!” Diving Eagle called from deeper in the forest. “Hanover!”

  Rocky stepped back from her. “I’ll let them know you’ll be along soon,” he said.

  Tiana returned her attention to the Ghouls awaiting her. She did not know exactly what to do with them or how to fend them off or even what she was capable of.

  She heard whispers behind her but paid them no attention, instead trying to figure out what to do with the power whirling within her.

  “Control,” Diving Eagle called, his voice steady despite the danger. “Imagine them to be your father.”

  The words triggered her power in a way she did not expect. Tiana felt it roll outward, towards the Ghouls. It swallowed them. Several of them managed to shriek again before all of them, and every tree within fifty feet of them, exploded into tiny pieces, shooting straight up into the air and raining down not as flesh and blood, but as pine needles and pinecones. The needles and cones dropped into piles where the Ghouls and trees had stood.

  The explosion was silent, as was the magic.

  Tiana released her breath and gazed at the piles, puzzled as to how the creatures came to be plant particles. The colors of the world rippled into their natural hues once more. With the disappearance of the threat, her magic faded. Exhaustion, both emotional and physical, replaced the wired energy of magic in her blood.

  “We know how she feels about her father,” Rocky joked, though there was tension in her voice.

  “We know more than that.”

  Tiana turned at Diving Eagle’s cautious tone.

  She had maintained control – and he had still found some part of her to be disappointed in.

  She lowered her gaze and wilted before starting into the forest. “We should go.”

  The skinwalker was smiling coldly, the only person who seemed remotely pleased by the display. Chases Deer’s mouth was open in shock.

  Tiana hugged herself and walked without knowing where she went. She had taken a full twenty steps in a random direction when the others began to move again.

  “This way,” Chases Deer called.

  Tiana altered her route without looking up. Rocky fell in beside her, while Diving Eagle trailed the woman warrior ahead of him. The skinwalker made up the middle of the procession.

  Chases Deer moved swiftly through the forest, navigating unseen hurdles that tripped Tiana more than once. The cries of the Ghouls no longer followed them, and Tiana focused on not sprawling on the ground from the rocks, roots, branches and bushes in her path.

  Soon, her lungs and thighs were burning from the effort of releasing her magic and navigating the forest all night, and she began to lag behind the Natives. Rocky took her hand and moved ahead of her, tugging her after him in an effort to keep their pace up.

  The two Natives halted suddenly. The skinwalker drew abreast of them. Tiana bent over to catch her breath before realizing Rocky had joined them. All four were standing over something, looking down in silence. Rocky squatted.

  Tiana stood, embarrassed to be the only one out of breath – another of her weaknesses, if Diving Eagle were tracking them – and joined them.

  When she saw what held their collective interest, she gasped and squeezed her eyes closed.

  “He’s an assassin,” Rocky said. “Or was.”

  Do not be a coward, Tiana. Tiana ordered herself and forced her eyes open. Tears sprang into them, and she covered her mouth with a hand to quiet any sound of horror she might make.

  The carcass of a man had been devoured from the waist up, leaving only a bloodied skeleton. His lower body appeared to be intact and was clad in black.

  “What did this?” Tiana whispered hoarsely.

  “Ghouls,” Diving Eagle replied.

  She swallowed hard and she began to wonder how she had been calm facing creatures that could do something like this.

  “What was an assassin doing out here?” Rocky murmured and poked around at the clothing of the corpse’s lower body.

  “Meeting me,” the skinwalker said.

  “You?” Rocky echoed and peered up at the Native. “For what purpose?”

  The skinwalker looked directly at Tiana.

  “When we are safe, we will talk,” Diving Eagle said. “The corpse will draw more Ghouls and other animals. We need to go.”

  Chases Deer moved away, as did the skinwalker and Rocky.

  Tiana remained, staring down at what remained of the man. “Should we not burn him?” she asked, her throat almost too tight to speak. “He is … was a person.”

  “Any other time or place, yes,” Rocky said. He returned to her side and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Not tonight, Tiana.” His look was warm.

  She nodded and did not resist when he took her forearm and led her around the body.

  Tiana let the tears flow down her face silently. She had only seen one dead body before – Matilda’s. The image of what she had done to her stepmother was burnt into her mind. While she had not hurt the dead assassin, neither had she protected him from the Ghouls.

  Weak. Coward. Broken. She could not stop thinking about how useless she was.

  Soon, her attention shifted to keeping up with the others, and she channeled what energy she had left into running.

  When Chases Deer finally stopped, it was at the edge of the forest, in what appeared to be an abandoned village, half of whose cabins showed signs of severe fire damage.

  Tiana’s eyes fell to the land beyond the village – and her heart stood still. Panting, she tugged away from Rocky and walked the twenty feet of remaining forest.

  The grasslands glowed with stardust and rippled like water beneath the soft breeze. They stretched to the mountains whose purple blue shapes she had seen far in the distance, during the annual summer address her father made in front of the outer city.

  The mountains were much closer, their towering forms creating a jagged skyline.

  Mesmerized by the grasslands and mountains, as well as the knowledge the Freelands were somewhere beyond those very peaks, Tiana paid no attention to the others speaking but focused on the energy of the cold breeze sweeping over her. Aware of their positions relative to her, she was also aware of the skinwalker standing behind her a short distance.

  “Why did you meet with the assassin?” she asked him.

  “I do not share my doings with spirits.”

  “I am not a spirit,” she said and faced him.

  “You are not of this earth.”

  “Well, what are you?”

  His sharply formed features cast savage shadows across his face. “A creature of this world.”

  Familiar anger and fear trickled through her. She could not think of him without experiencing the vision that had driven her to attack him before.

  But it had changed. Inexplicably so.

  She started to turn away when she spotted the three who tracked her standing near a familiar cabin.

  Tiana shivered. “We have been here before.”

  “I have not,” the skinwalker replied.

  “Yes, you have. Rather, you and I will be here. Right there.” She pointed
.

  “You have foresight like your brother.”

  “What do you know of his deformity?”

  “Deformity,” the skinwalker repeated with a snort.

  Tiana waited.

  He said nothing more.

  She studied him. Tall and lean, with one leg clad in black, the skinwalker’s dark eyes were lifeless, his features incapable of warmth or compassion. She had seen shadows of his other forms and heard the Natives speak of his indiscriminate, mass slaughter, of his black magic.

  And even he did not know what she was.

  “Where is your friend?” the skinwalker asked. “The half-breed.”

  “Her name is Aveline,” Tiana replied. “She was sent to the city.”

  “Has she changed fully?”

  She shook her head. “Almost but no.”

  “If her body tries again, without my blood, it might kill her, or she may be trapped as a beast.”

  “You murder everyone but you somehow manage to care about your wolf and her,” Tiana stated. She touched the bracelet she wore, the one belonging to Aveline that matched the necklace the skinwalker wore. The mark was specific to the skinwalkers. “Because she is from your tribe?”

  He rolled his eyes.

  “I may not understand human nature much, but you saved her life when you did not have to,” she asserted. “I know you care.”

  “She is one of my kind, and I am … or was … the last. My tribe was small. She is likely a cousin or niece. If I do not help her, she will die, and there will be no one left to follow my legacy.”

  “A legacy of murder?” Tiana regarded him skeptically. As soon as she said it, she had the feeling Aveline would approve of learning this about the family of her mother. Her protector had always intended to become an assassin. Perhaps both Aveline’s father and mother were both assassins.

  The skinwalker did not answer.

  Her gaze slid to the faint ghost materializing beside him: a Native child with large eyes and a slashed chest. She had seen him in the vision, flanking the skinwalker.

  “What was your vision?” the skinwalker asked.

  “It was too short for me to know with certainty. But we will be here, and you will ask me to help you.”