Healer's Choice

by Jory Strong

  Nearby several of Rimmon’s men watched without interfering. Another smile played over Addai’s lips with thoughts of the vice lord.

  Oh how the mighty had become Fallen, and for a far lesser sin than he himself had committed in loving a Djinn. It would be amusing to watch Rimmon fight the net so carefully crafted for him with the birth of his Finder daughter, Saril.

  In the end, he would be named ally or enemy. Neutrality was no longer an option.

  The last of the Weres boarded. Rebekka motioned toward the cabin, sending one of them inside before entering and closing the door behind her.

  Addai expected Levi to remain on guard, or return to the brothel. Instead Lion and Deer walked away hand in hand, as if going off to lie together.

  Addai fought against a sharp bark of laughter. He almost regretted Caphriel wasn’t here to witness it and deliver a quote.

  With a thought he moved near to where the Lioness hid. A choice now, for her. Ambition or jealousy.

  Jealousy won, at least for the moment.

  He followed Kala as once again she trailed Levi, this time to the forests behind the rubble remains of the maze. Circles within circles, Addai thought, having seen the cycle repeat for thousands of years. So often beginnings and endings passed through the same place, nearly indistinguishable from one another.

  From her hiding place the Lioness watched as Feliss shed her clothing, revealing a completely human form. Kala sneered, already guessing the Deer intended to flee the brothel and thinking that, mixed form or human, Feliss had no chance of escaping Allende.

  Her expression darkened as Feliss clung to Levi, whispered, “I’m scared.”

  “I know, but it’s too dangerous for you to remain with Rebekka and me any longer. I’m surprised the alarm hasn’t already been raised. This is your chance to escape Oakland and the vice lord’s easy reach. You’ve got to take it.”

  Levi kissed her tenderly before extricating himself from her arms. He bent over and gathered her discarded clothing, touching the pocket and smiling. “Rebekka gave you money?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then do it, Feliss.”

  Tears fell. “Go with me.”

  “You know I can’t.”

  Feliss gave a low cry of pain and slowly began changing from woman to deer as Levi twisted her clothing, using strips of leather to turn the bundle into a collar. When she stood trembling next to him, wet like a newborn fawn from the effort to shift forms, he placed the clothing around her neck and said, “Leave now.”

  She took the first tentative steps forward, tail flicking. Then several more that were bolder. A look back at Levi, eyes pleading, but he shook his head and turned away, his emotions hidden from Addai in a way the Lioness’s weren’t.

  Kala’s expression of shock slid into one of ambition and cunning. When she remained in the woods instead of following Levi out of them, a whisper of compassion moved through Addai.

  The remembered pain of losing Sajia made him hesitate. But in the end he decided against interfering. War was coming and sacrifices were inevitable.

  Thirty-three

  ARYCK found the sights before him unpalatable and nightmarish. A short time in the brothels owned by the vice lord Allende and he understood Rebekka’s choice to return. How could she turn her back on those she cared about when this was their fate?

  He’d killed outcasts in the challenge circle when guilt drove them to continue fighting after Nahuatl ordered a halt to call for a change of form. He’d hunted those sentenced to death, but he’d never had to follow one of them into the human world. He’d never seen this for himself.

  She’d described what life was like for the outcasts who lived in brothels, told him of the brutality and degradation. But even as he listened, a part of him had remained sure they lived as they deserved to live. He was no longer willing to make such a sweeping generalization.

  Aryck turned away from the glass allowing him to watch as humans were serviced by those trapped between forms. Rebekka’s scent lingered in this brothel more than it did in the others, a sweet blend of woman and compassion surviving in the cesspit stench of unwashed bodies and stale sex.

  His purity of form along with the payment of coin allowed him to move unhindered from building to building. It gave him free rein to watch, though nothing he saw gave him pleasure or made his cock stir with desire.

  This was the fifth brothel. There’d been no sight of Rebekka, and he could find none of the prostitutes she’d mentioned by name. It made his fear for her deepen.

  In growing desperation he sought out the bore-tusked madam, Dorrit. Asked if she knew Levi’s whereabouts, thinking she’d lie if he asked about Rebekka.

  Small pig-eyes took his measure. There was calculation in Dorrit’s gaze. Suspicion. But in the end she said, “Check the bar.”

  Aryck moved through the parlor where males and females alike lined up, suffering the meaty pawing of a merchant as bodyguards looked on and a second man whined about the poor selection.

  He followed the smell of beer and unwashed bodies to a dark room where a waitress knelt in front of a chair, working a man’s shaft in and out her mouth as he sprawled in his chair, swilling his drink and bragging to his companions about staving off release to make her earn her money.

  Levi stood with his back to the scene. His head bent in a whispered conversation with the bartender.

  He stiffened, feeling Aryck’s eyes on him or catching his scent. Turned as Aryck neared, an unwelcome expression on his face. “Go away and stay away. You’ve hurt her enough. She deserves better.”

  Anger flashed through Aryck, mixed with jealousy. Levi’s charge was well deserved, but he couldn’t stop himself from inhaling, half fearing and half expecting to discover Rebekka had turned to the outcast in her pain and let him comfort her with physical intimacy.

  Relief came at finding no sign they were lovers. Shock followed at the difference in the outcast’s smell.

  Not human with only a hint of Lion as it had been before. Not lion with only a hint of human as Cyrin’s was, but an unmistakable blend of the two, the scent of a pure Were.

  Rebekka. Though Aryck couldn’t explain it, every instinct told him she was somehow responsible.

  “Take me to her,” he said, willing to put aside his pride. “I’ve failed her repeatedly, but let her be the one to decide if she’s willing to give me another chance to prove myself.”

  Levi’s eyes burned with harsh judgment. No hung in the air between them, if not permanently, then at least until the Lion judged Aryck had suffered in equal measure to Rebekka.

  Addai

  ADDAI watched as yet another naked female rose from her hands and knees and left Allende. Shadowing the Were vice lord was very nearly a punishment, but after thousands of years of waiting, what were a few hours more, a day or week of added torment?

  A servant appeared in the doorway as if on cue. “Two of the brothel prostitutes are at the gate, my lord. One of them has her hands bound behind her and is gagged. The other says she has important business with you.”

  “Interesting,” Allende said, idly picking up a knife at the corner of his desk and touching the hilt to his lips, half closing his eyes as he inhaled the scent of woman. “Do you recognize either of them?”

  “No, my lord.”

  Allende stood. “I’m in the mood for exercise, perhaps even a little sport. Have them brought to the courtyard.”

  The servant hurried off to do the vice lord’s bidding. Unseen, Addai followed Allende.

  Moments later, escorted by bodyguards, Kala and Feliss were positioned in front of the Were who owned their lives. Allende’s eyebrows rose in silent query then abruptly lowered.

  He tilted his head, studying Feliss intently as if comparing her to a mental picture. His eyes narrowed and his mouth firmed, the good humor that had brought him to the courtyard disappearing.

  “Turn her around,” he told Kala.

  The Lioness obeyed, and though Feliss shook with ter
ror, she didn’t resist or try to pull away from Kala’s grip.

  Allende lashed out with the knife, a swift, sure strike slicing through the back of Feliss’s dress and bisecting the smooth flow of human skin between delicate shoulder blades, scoring just deeply enough so blood slowly welled to fill the cut.

  Allende said nothing. Only when the blood gathered and began to slide downward did he take his eyes off his handiwork and look at Kala.

  “This is hardly a matter to warrant coming to my home and interrupting me, even if Rebekka unwisely helped a prostitute who intended to flee and cheat me out of what’s due on a contract.”

  “Feliss is not the only one Rebekka has helped. There are probably dozens by now.”

  “And you’ve come to me hoping I’ll decide Dorrit or one of the others needs to be replaced as madam?”

  Kala had enough sense to be frightened by the silky threat in his voice. But whatever conflicting emotions she might have wrestled with after witnessing what Rebekka was capable of, what Rebekka’s gift might mean for her, in the end ambition had dominated.

  “The scent doesn’t lie. Rebekka did more than make Feliss look human. She healed her completely. I saw Feliss shift form.”

  Something passed through Allende’s eyes. Not disbelief. Not surprise. It made Addai wonder. Speculate. Increased his interest in proceedings with a foregone conclusion.

  Allende reached out and cut away the gag, then the leather ties around Feliss’s wrists, before ordering her to face him. “Does Kala speak the truth?”

  Feliss didn’t answer. For all her terror and hopelessness, she refused to betray Rebekka.

  Allende stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “It would be a shame to destroy something so beautiful when it’s not necessary.” To Kala he said, “Do you know where Rebekka is?”

  “Yes. I can take you to her.”

  Feliss whimpered and looked up, eyes filling with tears. Allende’s smile was very nearly gentle as he stroked her cheek again. “There, see what I mean? Violence can be avoided. Capturing Rebekka will be an easy thing. Do you know what they say about healers like Rebekka?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. “To hurt another, even in self-defense, ruins their gift. It taints it so instead of diminishing pain, their touch increases it. Rather than strengthening and restoring a body they try to heal, they turn it against itself, weakening the immune system, allowing infection and disease to spread throughout it.”

  Allende cut the material of Feliss’s dress. It fell away, leaving her naked.

  He placed the blade tip on a breast, lightly circled the nipple. “How long do you think Rebekka will keep her secrets when faced with the damage a knife can do? Or with the prospect of being taken to one of the brothel dungeons and paying for her silence and her betrayal there?”

  He cupped Feliss’s chin and forced her to meet his eyes. “So beautiful. So naturally submissive. There’s no reason for you to suffer. Nothing you can do will change her fate, only your own.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Show me your other form.”

  Crying, Feliss shifted. She stood, a trembling Doe not looking behind her to the open archway or trying to make an escape.

  Allende turned toward Kala. “Perhaps you should be made a madam after all. Let’s see what you make of the choice everyone in that position faces.”

  He opened his hand, and the knife lay across his palm. “What do you think should be done with this one? Make an example out of her with a punishment that allows her to keep working, paying off her debt? Or kill her, so others will know death is the only way they’ll escape before their obligation is met?”

  The choice was offered without inflection. Addai thought that had it been any other at Kala’s mercy, she might have chosen differently. But where ambition dominated when it came to capturing and bringing Feliss to the vice lord, jealousy ruled now.

  The Lioness snatched the knife. And for the first time since arriving, Feliss’s fear did something more than hinder her.

  She tried to bound away, but it was too late. Kala’s arm was around her neck, long talons digging in, causing the Deer to struggle and rear, providing a perfect target.

  With the expertise of an experienced hunter, Kala unerringly slid the blade between Feliss’s ribs and into her heart.

  “Not the choice I would have made,” Allende said, as the carcass landed on tiles painted in shades of blue and gold. “But not a waste either.”

  He turned to the servant who hovered behind him. “Deliver the Deer to the cook employed by Dorrit. Tell him I want the head and the hide for the brothel wall. He can do whatever he wishes with the rest.”

  “Should he be told who—”

  “Not until I’ve seen to Rebekka. Take a few men with you and make sure word reaches all the madams and bouncers. Clients may enter and leave but those whose contracts I own may not. I’ll be along shortly and I’ll expect a head count as well as the names of any who are missing.”

  The servant stepped forward, picking up and shouldering the carcass. Allende turned his attention to Kala, then to the two bodyguards standing on either side of her. “Take her. Contact me when you’ve collected Rebekka. I’ve got arrangements to make regarding the healer’s fate.”

  Addai didn’t bother remaining with them. He returned to the harbor and found Rebekka had maneuvered the Constellation out to a buoy as a safety precaution.

  Addai felt the presence of a Djinn nearby. Rebekka’s father no doubt.

  It didn’t take long for a heavily armored car to arrive. It glided to a smooth halt several hundred yards away, hidden from the docks by the jungle of wrecked cranes and cargo containers left from the days of The Last War.

  Darkly tinted windows shielded its occupants from view. The back doors opened and Kala emerged, accompanied by two armed men.

  They made their way toward the harbor, careful not to be seen. The two men halted behind the last piece of rusting metal while Kala alone stepped from behind it and crossed the open space to the water’s edge.

  Addai had to admire her show of courage and confidence. She barely looked at Rimmon’s men nearby, one standing with an automatic weapon while the other did maintenance work on the engine of a speedboat.

  Kala waved at Rebekka, yelled, “I saw Feliss in her fur when I was in the woods.”

  A laugh followed, amused, believable. “Good thing she changed before she ended up on the dinner table! Help me too, Rebekka. I want more than to spend my life as a whore to humans.”

  Addai could read the briefest hesitation in Rebekka before she started the boat’s motor and carefully guided the Constellation to the dock.

  Kala leapt on board, pausing only long enough to look into the cabin to be sure Rebekka was alone before pulling a knife and holding it to Rebekka’s throat.

  “Turn off the engine,” she said, her attention on Rimmon’s men, waiting to see what they would do.

  Neither made a move toward the boat until Kala had forced Rebekka off it.

  The Lioness backed away, using Rebekka as a shield. She didn’t turn from the dock until it was no longer in view and by then it was obvious that beyond securing the boat, Rimmon’s men didn’t intend to get involved.

  One of Allende’s guards stepped forward, locking his fingers around Rebekka’s upper arm. “We’ll take her from here,” he said to Kala. “You’re to return to the brothel.”

  Kala’s knife left Rebekka’s throat.

  Rebekka’s eyes were wide with fear and the pain of betrayal. “Why?” she asked.

  The Lioness gave no answer.

  “Where’s Feliss?”

  Kala’s smile held vicious satisfaction. “Dead.”

  The men led Rebekka away.

  As soon as she was out of sight, the Djinn materialized behind Kala. The Lioness had only enough time to register the arm around her chest and a hand across her face before he broke her neck.

  Addai manifested in human form, clothed in flesh and dark material, his thumbs tucked
into the front pockets of his pants instead of pressed to the hilt of a sword. “You are quick to destroy your tools, my friend.”

  Torquel let the body fall to the ground. “This one has served its use. If my daughter survives, I’ll not risk her life and all we’ve worked for by leaving this enemy in place.”

  “So I see. I will tell Tir to be ready to finish his part in this.”

  Thirty-four

  THE arrival of the tusked madam cut Aryck’s penance short. She stopped in front of him and spoke as if discussing business with a brothel visitor but her words were directed at Levi. “I smell Jaguar. He’s the one?”

  An upward flick of Levi’s eyes answered her question. She said, “Allende knows. His men are here. As soon as one of them finds me, I’ll be ordered to lock down the brothel.”

  A brief hesitation and she added, “They brought the body of a Doe with them. Feliss is dead.”

  “Come with us, Dorrit,” Levi murmured, lips barely moving.

  “It’s too late. Do what you can for those of us trapped here but don’t put Rebekka at risk.”

  She moved on, stopping to talk to others, customers and prostitutes alike, as if merely making her rounds.

  Regret slammed into Aryck. Shame, for a lifetime of judging those he knew nothing about.

  “Let’s go,” Levi said, escorting Aryck along public and hidden walkways until finally reaching an exit doorway guarded by hard-eyed Jackals who let them pass to freedom.

  Away from the brothel the scent of grief and fear poured off Levi. Breaking into a run he said, “We may already be too late. The moment Allende learned Rebekka can stand before the ancestors and return an outcast’s eternal soul to the shadowlands, he would have sent his men to capture her.”

  Aryck stumbled. Shocked despite having guessed Rebekka was responsible for the change in Levi.

  “This is why she left,” he said, feeling the sting of failure as he remembered eyes wet with pain, silently pleading as she asked him to come back to Oakland with her.