“If that was all it was, you could’ve just told us,” Ray said, irritation at the forefront. “Why send us on a big cloak-and-dagger goose chase in the middle of the woods? What a waste of time.”
Jeb cleared his throat. “My allegiance is to Jessica, and Jessica alone. Anything I discuss with her is private. The Coalition has never shared its business with any outsiders in over a thousand years. This is”—he cleared his throat again—“a first. Not completely unwelcome, mind you.” He waved his hand out in front of him, his eyebrows bunching again. “But highly unusual. It will take some getting used to.”
“We don’t care if you ever get used to it,” Tyler commented as he zipped up his pants. “We’re here to protect my sister at all costs. We’ve pledged our lives to her. If you’re on our side and have an allegiance to Jessica, then there should be no issues.”
“I can see that more clearly now,” Jeb said. “In fact, you all… smell like her.” He made a show of sniffing the air in front of him. “As if you have all taken a piece of her inside you somehow. It’s most particular.” He continued to scent the air. I was going to have to nickname him Sniffy. “This indicates that you have all shared blood bonds with her.” His voice held some surprise, but also irritation.
I nodded. “That’s true. I’ve shared blood or power with most of them.” I glanced around the group. I’d given Marcy my essence to heal her when the Prince of Hell had blasted her. I felt our connection, though it was faint. Tyler, Ray, Naomi, and Danny had all taken in my blood. My gaze landed on Nick and he grinned. I arched an eye at him.
“Don’t you remember? You shared your blood with me,” Nick said. “But it was back when we were both kids. You hadn’t shifted for the first time yet. We were in the woods behind the lodge and we swore an oath to each other and cut open our palms, reciting some nonsensical thing. But I swore to protect you that day, and nothing has changed. Once you shifted for the first time, I felt our bond grow, but I didn’t understand why. Now it makes more sense.”
My face brightened at the memory. I hadn’t thought about it in years. We’d been no more than ten years old at the most. We’d both pledged our loyalty to each other. My wound had taken weeks to heal. “I remember.” I grinned. “You were my knight in shining armor in those days. One of my only allies.” I was stunned that my blood, given that long ago, could still bind us together. I didn’t feel the same connection to him as those who had taken my blood recently, but there was a tingling there when I brushed my power over him.
“When you decided to leave the Compound for good,” Nick said, “I went with you willingly, but I also had a burning urge to stay close and keep protecting you.”
“Little did we know that when we exchanged that blood and a nonsensical childhood oath, all these years later we’d find that you actually became my real, bonded brother that day.”
“It was the best-case scenario. And, as your father indicated to me when I saw him last, I will freely give you my troth as soon as you have time to take it.” His chest expanded. “And this time it will be formal, not as two kids in the woods.”
“That would make me happy,” I said to him as Jeb cleared his throat. This time with more oomph.
“We must get down to the business at hand,” the warlock said. “You are running out of time.” Jeb appeared a little flustered as he continued. “I’m happy this homecoming has been so beneficial to you, but having those kinds of bonds to others is highly unusual. Only the Five share their essences with each other, and by doing so it makes them very strong. You have”—he coughed into his fist—“shared the wealth, so to speak. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I’m certain I will have information forthcoming, as it pertains to your future.”
“Do you think that might be my ‘special gift’? My ability to bond by blood with other supes?”
“I can’t answer that,” Jeb said. “It is not written anywhere yet, but if you want my best educated guess, I would say you’ve developed a much-needed coping strategy.” His head shook with his intensity as he spoke, but his spikes stayed still.
“Coping strategy?” I asked. I’d never thought of it like that.
He gestured around the group. “Without your team, as you put it, you would likely have perished already, so something or someone had the foresight to guard you against that. Even as a child you were driven to seek protection. It makes sense.”
“By who?” I asked.
“Maybe yourself or your wolf?” Jeb answered. “Despite my ability to know all important events, there are things at work we can never fully understand—nor are we meant to.”
“Before, you said you brought my sister here because her life was in danger. If she dies, what happens?” Tyler asked.
“The supernatural race would be launched into chaos until the time of another rebirth, one thousand years from now,” Jeb informed the group. “I can’t impress the importance of this, but Jessica must survive at all costs. Before you all… descended, I was informing her of the odds of achieving that very thing. They are quite low, which is unacceptable. That is why I went to great lengths to get her here. In fact”—he glanced directly at me, his eyebrows shooting up—“if you don’t leave within a minute or so, the exact way I tell you, the odds will be even less in your favor. I have cloaked the area once again, but Enid is now on the hunt. I can feel her magic pressing in on me. We cannot linger.”
Rourke huffed and rubbed his flank into me before walking up to Marcy.
“Boy, you’re one big kitty, aren’t you?” she said as she put his clothes into his mouth.
He tossed his head and trotted into the woods to shift, right as James came out.
“Okay, Jeb,” I said. “We’re all ears. Tell us how to do this.”
“I don’t like it,” Ray grumbled. “I don’t care if that little spiky-haired bastard is right or not. You two going alone feels wrong to me.”
Tyler paced nearby. Rourke was silent, lost in thought for the moment. He’d been quiet after Jeb had told us what to do, not even commenting when Jeb vanished into thin air.
One minute the warlock was there, and the next he wasn’t.
It had been the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. Now the air was deadly quiet, all the magic gone. But Enid was on the move. We had to act quickly, and fighting about it wasn’t helping.
James had already maneuvered the van around so it was pointing back toward the road. It was idling and Marcy and Nick were already inside waiting for the signal to go.
“We have no choice but to trust him, Ray,” I said. “You heard everything he said. He’s been working for the good of the Coalition for thousands of years, and more importantly? He wants me to survive. We go with his plan.”
“I thought he was sincere enough,” Tyler agreed. “I kept trying to catch a scent of a lie and none ever came, but that’s not saying much. If that warlock can cloak his power signature, he can likely do anything.”
Rourke finally turned to me, his eyes intensely focused. “We have to do as he says, and go now. I have a faint recollection of this warlock in my mind, though it’s very fuzzy. I believe he is required to help—as his station in the Coalition dictates. Jessica and I go alone.” He turned to a still disgruntled Ray. “You and Tyler have to stay back, like the warlock said, at least two hundred miles. No closer. My suggestion is to go somewhere and get some rest. Start out again in the morning. If we run into trouble, Jessica can reach her brother in her mind.”
“I don’t sleep,” Ray said. “I’ll do what you ask and stay back exactly two hundred miles. If there is a disturbance, I should be able to feel it. I can cover that stretch fairly quickly.”
“That sounds reasonable,” I told Ray, cutting Rourke off. “Jeb was specific about distance, so make it two hundred and fifty to be certain. You’ll still be within contact at that distance, so no griping.”
Tyler added, “I’ll run under Ray as he flies. He can make sure we stay the right amount of miles back. I can run faster than any
other shifter, so I can be there for backup in enough time to help as well.”
Jeb had warned the entire team to stay back in the beginning, but once Enid engaged us, we could call them in. But by that time all might be lost. It was a chance we had no choice but to take. The real hope was to evade whatever her nefarious plans were—plans that Jeb said he had no clue how to interpret. He said the words had been cloaked, but the intent was “tainted.”
Whatever that meant, but the word “tainted” couldn’t be good.
Rourke took my hand and tugged me into the woods to shift. Tyler would gather our clothes and give them to Marcy after we changed.
We stopped a few yards in and found some brush. Rourke was still very quiet. “Are you okay?” I asked as I took off my shirt. “You’re a little too introspective for me right now.”
He came over and encircled my waist, leaning down to take my lips in his. It was a light kiss that spoke volumes. He broke the kiss with effort, his eyes shining with emotion. “When the warlock finally dropped his ward and I found you, the scent of his magic hit me hard. It’s old. Very old. I’ve never met the warlock formally, but I knew then, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was ancient magic. It made my beast wary and me very aware of the difficulty I have in protecting you. Against that kind of magic, it would be nearly impossible. My insides are knotted. Knowing the Hag will strike tonight is unacceptable. I’m just trying to ready my beast for whatever it takes.”
My hands threaded into his hair. “You heard Jeb as well as I did. Without my ‘team,’ I would’ve died already. You are necessary to my survival, but what’s more important is the way we work together. This is going to be hard, but we have to stay in sync. I need you in touch with me so we can work flawlessly as a team. If we do that, we have a chance.” I leaned up and gave him a tender kiss.
We stood like that for a few moments. I knew we had to get going, but this was necessary too. We needed to connect before we headed into known danger.
“I agree, we go in as a team,” he said as he pulled back. I let him go. “When the warlock said you should’ve already died, it was devastating. I can’t lie.” He brought his head down. “For my entire life I’ve always been one of the most powerful supernaturals around. Other supes cower in front of me. My battle skills, back when people used to fight with their fists and swords, were unparalleled. As my Pride began to die off, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, it changed something in me. After that I swore”—he arched back to look at the sky—“I swore I would never allow myself to care like that about another again.” He brought his forehead down slowly, placing it against mine. His eyes focused on me, drawing in my gaze like they held their own gravity. “But things didn’t go according to my plan. Now I care more than I ever have about one single person, and I find myself once again powerless to do much of anything to stop the same fate from befalling you that befell my family.”
I stroked his face with both my hands. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. It was all I could say. “I know you loved your family. It had to be crushing to see them go.”
“Jessica,” he said. “I love you. With everything I have, and everything I am. And I’m willing to risk my life a dozen times over to save you. But even if I forfeit my life, I fear it won’t be enough to save you.”
“No one is going to need saving. We are both going to survive, and there will be no forfeiting anything,” I said firmly. “Not my life, not your life. We’re a team. We help each other and will keep each other alive. That’s the way this is going to work.” I refused to believe anything different.
Rourke didn’t look convinced.
I added, “I once explained to my brother and Danny that an army of anything could defeat even the most powerful supernatural. We’re that army now. Nobody is going to mess with our strength. We have too much firepower. I believe with all my heart we will survive—together.”
“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” he growled, separating from me to shift. “Enid is powerful and dangerous. The warlock said it was going to be a treacherous road.”
“Yeah,” I countered as I lay down next to him on the cool ground, “but we have Juanita.”
23
We’d been running for over three hours and still nothing. No signs of any trouble. We’d been staying to rural, densely forested areas as much as we could. We rounded a thick copse of trees and Rourke slowed in front of me for the first time. I followed suit. His nose was up in the air, so I raised my muzzle and sniffed.
There was a strange, pungent tang in the air. What do you think it is? I asked him.
I don’t know, but it’s not good, he replied. It smells decayed.
Jeb said Enid would have no trouble tracking us, and once we suspected trouble we should try and do the opposite of what we thought was right. His take—it was the only way to throw her off track. She was an oracle, so she knew what was supposed to happen, but things changed—especially if you made decisions counter to your beliefs.
I’ve smelled something like this before, I said. I ran my memory over the scent, hoping it would spur some recognition. All of a sudden, a picture leapt into my brain.
Oh no.
I froze. Not willing to take another step forward.
I figured it out, Rourke growled, so low it sounded like nothing more than a rumble.
I did too. It’s a ghoul, isn’t it? I asked. That’s what I’m coming up with. Tyler and I ran into one in the Underworld. It was foul, but didn’t harm us.
Yes, it’s a ghoul, he said. It’s either being operated by a necromancer or it’s a dead necromancer. Either way, it spells trouble.
The one in the Underworld didn’t seem too threatening, I said. I think we can take it out without much resistance.
Rourke shook his tawny head and huffed out loud. A ghoul is deadly only if it’s being controlled. If the one you saw had no one manning its brain, it would just sort of wander around. But if a necromancer is directing the ghoul, it will have deadly precision, and if it bites you, it’s all over.
What do you mean all over? That sounded ominous.
If a ghoul bites you, you become worse than a ghoul. A ghoul is a dead body, reanimated. Healthy people who are bitten become wendigos. Alive, yet dead. Supernaturals who get bitten by a ghoul are like wendigos on steroids. We turn into powerful flesh-eating beings that can take out a small town and raise an army of killers in no time flat. I don’t know any supernatural who is immune to the bite of a ghoul, which Enid is well aware of. Not to mention, raising a ghoul to bite someone is against every supernatural High Law we’ve ever had. The penalty for doing such is death.
I guess Enid doesn’t care if she dies. How do you kill a ghoul? I asked.
You have to disassemble the brain without being bit. If there’s more than a couple, then we’re in serious trouble. We’ll have to go slow for the next few miles and hope we stay out of their way. Tell your brother and Ray to back off immediately. We can’t have them follow us into this.
Rourke’s tone was as serious as I’d ever heard it. On it, I told him. Then I switched gears in my mind. Tyler, I called. Are you there?
Yep, he answered. I heard his labored breaths as he ran. We’re staying back two hundred and fifty miles so don’t you worry.
Change of plans. You can’t follow us any longer. We need to slow way down and find a new route. We’re scenting ghouls here. Right as I said it, I detected more than a few. The air was getting thick with putrescence. I switched a channel in my brain and said, Rourke, there’s more than one.
I’m picking up on that. Their scent is getting stronger too, he replied. He glanced back at me, his eyes radiating emerald. I don’t want to alarm you, but I think we’re at the edge of a large cemetery.
I swallowed. Cemetery meant lots of dead bodies to reanimate. Can we turn back? I asked.
I don’t think so. Enid has been tracking us for hours. She knew which way we were headed before we did. The necromancer likely has dead scattered all ov
er this place, at every possible point on our path, even coming in behind us now. There’s no backtracking. We move forward and use our noses and try to circumvent them.
Jess, what’s going on? Tyler asked
Tyler, you and Ray have to find a different route. I mean it. Once we’re clear of here, I’ll get back to you. For now, go thirty miles west immediately.
Jess, I’m not leaving you in danger. We’ll go fifty more miles and stop. That way we can be behind you if need be. His voice filled with concern. I’ll change back, and Ray and I will come up with a plan. If you get around the danger, fine, we’ll take a detour, but if you don’t, we’ll be there to back you up.
I hated this part. Bringing my family into a fight with the ghouls was dangerous, but it was necessary. Fine. That sounds reasonable, but be careful of the distance. If you cross within two hundred miles of us, you could put us all in jeopardy. Jeb said it was a must to stay back.
We will, he replied. Yell if you need me. Ray can be there in a snap and I’ll be right behind him. Ray has something set up with Marcy too. She gave him a trigger spell or some such thing. We will alert them when the time comes.
Got it, I conceded. I’ll let you know if things get out of hand. You have my word. Then I switched him off and turned my attention on Rourke, who had begun to snarl, his body focused on a thick copse of trees. It was near dawn, but it was still dark.
Enid had chosen her trap well.
How many? I asked.
At least four in front of us, he said. I don’t think we should try and disable them. I think we dodge them and try to clear the area. But it’s imperative we stay together. No separating. That’s what she wants. It makes us easy to pick off.
I’ll stick as close as I can. Do ghouls have any other special abilities? Something to watch out for? I asked.
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