by H B Lyne
'Slim to none,' Weaver said with a sad smile.
'I thought so. What's happening here, anyway? Are we meeting back up with Claws?'
'We're heading back to the warehouse now,' Wind Talker replied, suddenly right beside her. She recoiled from him and moved around Weaver to link arms with Eyes for the walk back. She felt Wind Talker's gaze on her as they hurried along the bustling, rush hour street. Fine drizzle began to fall and the orange street lights shone on the glistening street. Eyes placed a hand over hers on his arm and glanced cautiously at her.
'You need to give him a break, you know?'
'How can you say that to me?' she hissed under her breath.
'Of all people, Stalker, I have the most reason to be angry with him, but I'm finding peace with what has happened. He was right to challenge me, and win. You need to accept him as our Alpha. You need to forgive him.'
She glared at him. Their linked arms had become tense, but neither of them broke the link.
'I don't for a second believe that you've forgiven him, and I won't be doing so any time soon. It wasn't just the challenge, maybe that was called for, but what he did right before that, and the way he fought you on the beach in the wake of it. It was cold, Eyes, he is cold. I don't trust him.'
'I didn't say I had forgiven him,' Eyes whispered, with a small smile on his lips. 'But we both need to, or it'll tear this pack apart.'
'Well, that'll be on him, not us.'
Eyes released her arm and sighed. He shoved his hands into the deep pockets of his long, black coat and trudged ahead through the rain. Stalker watched his back with a scowl, as she puzzled over his words. How long could she stay angry? She wasn't sure. She had never exactly found it easy to let go of things, she clung to slights from other kids at school for a long time. Since she changed for the first time too many things had happened that had filled her with rage, they kept on stacking up and she had yet to let any of them go. It had been three months since the Blue Moon had been slaughtered, and it still hurt most days. The desire to avenge their deaths still motivated almost everything they did as a pack. War was brewing with the Witches, she knew it wouldn't be long now before it would come to open battle.
Everything they were doing now, to strengthen Unchained Lightning, was so that he would stay with them and help them fight. She thought of Shadow's Step's name on the cenotaph and wondered who had carved it there. It should have been her, or she should have been there at least. He was her mentor, her big brother, and he had left her virtually alone in this world, just weeks after discovering it. He had left her. A tear fell down her cheek, and she swatted it away angrily. She hadn't realised before that she was angry with him, and Fortune, and the others. She wasn't just angry with The Witches and The Phoenix Guard, she was angry with her own mentors for dying. A sob escaped her lips, and in an instant Weaver and Wind Talker were either side of her, linking their arms through hers. She felt them through their empathic bond, connecting with her, soothing her in the only way they could in this busy street. Eyes glanced over his shoulder and dropped back to walk beside Weaver. He cast a furtive glance at Stalker and caught her eye. She nodded at him, hoping to communicate that she wasn't upset or angry with him.
He nodded in reply and the four of them walked in silence, taking up the whole width of the pavement, causing passers-by to step out into the street to avoid them. They received frustrated scowls and fearful glances, but Stalker didn't care.
They soon left the busy street and headed into the unlit industrial estate, where Claws was waiting for them. He had moved the car to the end of the street and was leaning back against the side of it. He pushed himself away from the car as they approached and locked eyes with her. Weaver and Wind Talker released her and she felt herself pulled into a hug by Claws.
'What's up?' he asked against her hair.
'Nothing, really, I'm fine.' He released her and glared at her with one eyebrow cocked. 'Those names were a dead end, so far, anyway. Where did you find them? Did you find my birth records?'
'We'll talk about it later,' he said, patting her shoulder. 'Wind Talker, there was activity about ten minutes ago, another car pulled up, two guys went inside. I have a feeling I know what's going on in there.'
'Drugs?' Wind Talker asked. Claws nodded. 'Okay, let's cut the lights in there, then drop in through the windows and call the phone, grab it and get out.'
Stalker had to admit it was a reasonable plan, given the situation. She couldn't think of any other way that wouldn't involve bloodshed, not that this plan was certain to avoid it. They moved into the shadows between two buildings and all shifted into their animal forms. Claws took off into the air, Weaver slunk out of the alley and rubbed her feline body against the corner of the building, Eyes trotted off in the opposite direction, Wind Talker shuffled after Weaver, and Stalker took to the sky after Claws in the form of a bat. It was the quickest way up to those high windows. The two of them landed on the roof of the warehouse, and waited for the others to get into position around the building.
There were lights on in the main warehouse now and Stalker could hear so much more in this form. It was among the strangest forms for her to take, the echolocation ability was so alien to her human mind. Instinct dominated any of her animal forms and helped to quiet her busy human mind, but it was still confusing. She kept quiet now, using her large ears to listen to what was happening in the building below. She could make out about half a dozen people moving around and talking, she could hear other sounds too, something that must have been a Bunsen burner, and liquids simmering. It was either some bizarre chemistry club, or they were manufacturing drugs in there. She took flight and started emitting the calls from her nose that instinctively issued for her to navigate with. She found Weaver on the fire escape that she had climbed earlier, Wind Talker was on the other side of the building, crouched under a window in his Agrius form. Eyes had found his way to the back of the building and was perched on the top of an adjoining wall, level with the window. Stalker took one last lap around the building, fluttering close to each of her pack mates to signal them, before landing on the roof next to a filthy skylight and shifting into her human form.
'Ready?' Claws whispered across the rooftop, as he crouched next to another skylight, his hand resting on a circuit box that fed cables down into the building. Stalker nodded. Claws pressed his hand flat against the box, his ring coming into contact with it. Stalker looked down through the skylight, the lights flickered out and she heard a window smash. She promptly drove her fist into the skylight and sent glass shattering down onto the warehouse floor below. She leapt down and landed softly on her feet. There were shouts and heavy footsteps thundering about in the dark. More windows came crashing in and her pack mates leapt into the building from all sides.
Wind Talker bounded across the room, his eyes catching what little light there was. With one hand, he overturned one of the long tables covered in test tubes and trays of powder. Stalker was spurred into action, she ran to the nearest table, where a row of Bunsen burners glowed and hissed under bubbling glass vials. She quickly ran along the row, switching the gas off, and yanked the burners from their taps. She swept her arm along the table, knocking everything to the floor with a cacophony of shattering glass. A phone started to ring somewhere behind her and she spun around to locate it.
It was madness, two men had bounded straight for Eyes, the others were clamouring at the door, trying to get out. Claws stood on a balcony at one end of the room, his phone in his hand and his eyes desperately searching for the source of the corresponding ringtone.
Weaver and Stalker ran towards the men trying to get out, the ringing was coming from there. Stalker grabbed the nearest dark and terrified figure and hurled him across the room, Weaver had her hand on the next one when he turned and threw a punch at her face. She dodged his fist, grasped it in her own surprisingly strong hand and yanked him to his knees. He had the ringing phone. Stalker let the last wannabe chemist get out through the door and ru
n for it. She strode to the man on his knees and wrapped her arm around his neck. His hands went straight to her arm and he tried frantically to pull it away from his throat. But she was far too strong for him and held him firmly.
'Shhh, aren't you going to answer that?' she hissed in his ear. He flinched and his hands fell still.
Wind Talker strode over, in his human form, Eyes hot on his heels. Stalker glanced across the warehouse and saw two men unconscious on the floor, Eyes had blood on his fists and was trembling slightly. Claws jumped down from the platform and ran across the floor to them. Wind Talker stooped over to fish the phone from the man's coat pocket. Its garish ringtone was some misogynistic hit song and the lit screen cast an eerie glow around the otherwise dark warehouse. Stalker kept a firm grip on him, and watched as Wind Talker answered the call and held the phone up to his ear.
'We good?' he asked.
'Yep.' Claws smiled and nodded.
Stalker released him and he dropped to the floor, coughing and clutching his sore neck.
'You can go now,' Wind Talker said. The wretch scrambled to his feet and charged out of the door.
Eyes strode over to the one remaining upright table and let out a whistle. Stalker and the others followed him and she gasped at the sight of piles and piles of money, it looked like someone had been busy counting it when they had broken in.
'I don't see any reason not to take this,' Wind Talker said, thumbing through a stack of fifties.
'We'd be doing Caerton a service, really,' Stalker added. 'Depriving its drug dealers of this much cash.'
Weaver scooped a large duffle bag from the floor and began sweeping the notes into it with Eyes.
When they had collected the bulk of the money, the Lightning Lords strode from the building and back to Claws' car. The lights flickered back on in their wake and Stalker noticed that the van and cars had gone. She doubted the drug dealers would be calling the police over the incident. They climbed into the car and drove back to Grove Street, the others excitedly re-living the victorious raid. Stalker smiled and nodded as she lost herself in thought, their chatter a jumble of background noise. Somehow she didn't think this sort of activity was what her ancestor had in mind. But soon it would be time to take on Glimmering Wires, then The Witches. Then she would make him proud.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Fights-Eyes-Open
'We'll take the phone to Charge-of-Power in the morning, it's late now and we all need a rest,' Wind Talker instructed as they piled into the house. 'I'll put this in the attic,' he said, hoisting the bag full of cash up in his hand. He strode up the stairs and the others filed into the kitchen. Claws set about making dinner, with Stalker lending a hand. Too many bodies trying to help at meal times had proven to be problematic, so Eyes and Weaver sat down at the table and kept out of the way.
'Are you all right?' Weaver asked him, indicating his bloody knuckles on the table. He drew his hands towards himself and nodded. Flashes of the fight came back to him, the rage that had erupted inside him as he dropped to the ground through that broken window was consuming. He hadn't shifted, he had just kept enough control to retain his human form, but he had thrown those men around like rag dolls and beaten their pasty faces to a pulp. The blood was mostly theirs, the cuts on his knuckles had healed in seconds, but the blood dried on them and remained. He slipped quietly out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the bathroom.
He locked the door and ran the hot water. Letting the water flow over his hands, he gently rubbed the blood off them, watching the red spiral down the drain. The mirror over the sink began to steam up, his distant eyes slowly disappearing into the fog. He felt like he himself was disappearing. The man he had known was gone, and he didn't know or understand the man who had taken his place.
He had lost his wife, as well as both of his fathers, and now he had lost the leadership that he had defined himself by. But it felt like something that had happened to someone else. He meant what he had said to Stalker, he had deserved to be challenged by Wind Talker. He had made a mess of leading them, been distracted by his human life, and failed to forge them into a single unit. Stalker was always off doing her own thing, still far too attached to her humanity too. Wind Talker was often lost in research and rituals, which he supposed was common. Flames-First-Guardian had been similar, and Wind Talker had learned closely at his side for two months before the attack. It was understandable that he had picked up his mentor's character traits. Were the Lightning Lords doomed to be cast in the roles of their mentors? Would they repeat the same mistakes?
He wiped his hand across the mirror, clearing away the condensation. His face was a state, he had dark circles under his eyes, his skin was pale and he had several days' growth of his beard. He took a deep breath and reached for a razor, not caring if it belonged to Wind Talker or Claws. Shaving was cathartic, it required a certain amount of focus, but it was rhythmic too, which was soothing. His bristles fell into the water, and clung to the wet surface of the rim of the sink.
When he had finished, he diligently cleaned the sink and surrounds and threw the wet towel into the laundry hamper. He had been fairly well domesticated by Chloe, or so he liked to think. He took one last look in the mirror.
'Better,' he muttered to himself. When he returned to the kitchen, steaks were being served on top of a colourful salad, that had to be Stalker's doing. He grinned as he took his plate from her. 'Thank you,' he said earnestly. She gave him a warm smile and they sat down together to eat.
As they all settled down to get some sleep, Eyes had to admit that he preferred being with the pack. When they were all together they seemed to accomplish more and it just felt right. Before he had been forever torn in two, and although he thought of his human family often, and longed to hold his precious daughter in his arms, and have the love and trust of his wife, he was relieved not to be living a double life.
Eyes woke as the room began to grow lighter with the first rays of the dawn, and he felt better rested than he had in days and was the first into the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. The others woke soon after and joined him, in various states of fatigue.
An hour later they were heading out in Hepethia, straight for the mobile phone mast. Eyes kept his eyes on the road ahead as they passed his house and soon the swirling column of mercury came into view. Claws took out the phone and held it over his head.
'Charge-of-Power!' he called out, his voice echoing off the crystalline ground around them.
The mercury parted like a curtain and the elemental emerged, flickering and hissing like static.
'What is it?'
'We've brought you the phone.' Claws held the phone out towards the elemental, then bent down and slid it across the ground. Charge-of-Power seemed to look down at it with caution, then curled into a ball over it and discharged a surge of power down onto it. The phone screamed and jerked violently on the ground. Eyes took a reflexive step back, as did his pack mates.
A shimmering light emerged from it, spinning frantically and whistling loudly. Eyes flinched away from the sound and fought the urge to cover his ears. The phone burst, its pieces scattering across the ground, and the elemental above it fell silent.
Charge-of-Power suddenly expanded, and a dark maw opened wide in its front. It wrapped itself around the rogue elemental and swallowed her whole. The power fae glowed even more brightly and became still for a few seconds. Eyes watched, captivated by fae workings.
'Wonderful,' Charge-of-Power said, with a satisfied hum to its voice. 'Whole again. Now then, what are you still doing here? Be off with you.'
'We had a bargain,' Wind Talker said, an edge of a threat to his voice. 'Will you honour it and stand with us against Glimmering Wires?'
'Oh yesssss,' the elemental hissed. 'I look forward to it.'
'One last thing,' Claws said, raising his hand to halt the elemental from disappearing back into its tower. 'Do you know where we might find a construct by the name of Limb Chewer?'
'No,' t
he fae replied. 'Try the Shale Trading Post, there is a vault of secrets there, you can find out almost anything you wish to know about Hepethia. But be careful, the price can be high.' With that, it spun away and was absorbed back into the mercury.
Eyes raised his eyebrows and glanced around at the others.
'What do we have to trade for a secret? And why didn't we know about this place sooner?' he asked.
'I think I may have something,' Weaver replied. 'And I have an idea of where this trading post is.'
'Oh?' Eyes asked in surprise.
'Shale Trading Post? Shalebrook.'
'Ah,' Wind Talker said. 'Factory Boy turf. Do we know any of them to ask permission?'
There was a subdued chorus of “no”s and shaking of heads.
'It could be anywhere in Shalebrook,' Claws said softly.
'We can probably find a friendly fae to guide us,' Weaver replied. She was far too optimistic for Eyes' liking, but then, sometimes they needed that. 'Let's head south and see what the lay of the land is like.'
Eyes had to admit that he was curious to see the way another pack shaped Hepethia, but going there without permission could turn ugly.
'We should stop at the border and send a fae in to seek permission,' he said firmly.
'Agreed,' Wind Talker replied with a nod. They set off at a run, with no idea how far they would have to travel. Hepethia didn't map precisely over the human world, it was a whole other plane of existence, there was no guarantee of even seeing a familiar landmark.
As they reached the southern border of their own territory, a stunning crystalline landscape stretched before them, a slight blueish haze hanging over it. They pressed on, looking cautiously around for signs of danger. Stunning natural formations of quartz in various hues filled the terrain. In places they couldn't run, they had to climb carefully over huge boulders of purple and blue crystal, and inch their way down steep cliffs. None of the formations were particularly high, perhaps there were vast mountains and valleys somewhere in Hepethia, but here, it was just about possible to traverse the formations without specialist equipment, or any particular need to shift form. Stalker did soar above them as an eagle, however, for security.