by L. A. Banks
“Lady Jung Suk had vengeance in her heart against her nephew, Shogun, and was willing to become disembodied to temporarily possess poor Amy,” Clarissa said, walking toward Sasha. “Wasn’t the deal supposed to be that Amy’s soul would be lost, thrust out of her body and given to the demons, and Lady Jung Suk would take over the poor young woman’s body?”
“Yes,” Hunter said in a faraway tone. “But during the battle in the bayou, the girl never died. We cast the demon spirit out of her. and from what we learned tonight, many of the Were traits were left in Amy. much to my brother’s good fortune.”
“So the demons got played twice,” Sasha said, grabbing Clarissa by both arms. “First by whatever spell and promise had to be made to them by whatever Lady Jung Suk and Kiagehul cooked up. and then by whatever part the Vampires played in trying to use that demon essence of Lady Jung Suk to make the wolves go to war.”
“And not only didn’t it work, but they got nonhuman deaths—or sacrifices, for lack of a better term.” Bradley looked around the room. “Nobody who died owned a soul.”
“Elder Vlad suicided his own man,” Fisher said quickly. “Damn, this is gonna make me start smoking.”
“Yes. Right in open UCE court,” Hunter said. “Baron Montague’s story was found wanting, Elder Vlad was furious, and he butchered his own man right on the spot.”
“Just like Queen Cerridwen literally iced that crazy bastard Kiagehul.” Sasha shook her head. “And we trapped and offed Lady Jung Suk in the bayou.”
“But they all had outstanding affairs with the demons,” Bradley said. “The ‘they’ being the Unseelie Fae, via Kiagehul, and the Vampires—unwittingly so, via the late Baron Geoff Montague.”
“Yeah, but what about that other crazy bastard, Russell Conway?” Woods glanced around the team and pushed off the desk he’d been leaning against. “Seriously. Like didn’t he come to town dragging a demon, too?”
“He did, but that was a personal deal forged years ago. He was to give that demon his human soul when he died, and he did. Case closed,” Bradley said, folding his arms.
“And it took a squad of Marines, a garrison of Fae, and a bunch of wolf enforcers to put Conway out of his misery, too.. Sheesh.” Sasha glanced around the team again. “Where’s Doc?”
“Looooong story,” Winters said. “Crow came to town, needed to talk to Doc. They went for a walk on the base. Bear Shadow escorted Crow Shadow’s new wife back to the Uncompahgre, because Crow said it wasn’t about not doing their job. But to be sure Jen was gonna be all right, Bear had to get her tucked in with the she-Shadows, or you know, they might not accept her. which could be messy, if tempers flared.”
“Okay,” Sasha said in a clipped tone, dropping the subject at that. She didn’t want to even think about her brother’s pregnant wife possibly being pack-rejected during a potential time of war. Part of her understood, but part of her was annoyed beyond words. If Crow Shadow had just listened to her and stayed in Vegas with Bear Shadow, far away from the pack, until things blew over.
“They are warriors and pack enforcers, Sasha,” Hunter said in a quiet tone. “They could no more stay out of the battle than you or I could.”
She knew that, but it only mildly helped stem her annoyance. More than anything, it just added one more group of people to worry about, more lives that could be lost, and more potential tragedy that could wreak havoc on everyone’s emotions.
“We’ve definitely narrowed things down, then,” Bradley said, breaking the tense silence. “The serpent-like demon that overtook Conway isn’t in the same category as the Erinyes.”
Grateful for the return of focus, Sasha paced to the lab table and sat down hard on a tall metal stool. “Okay, so, if we put two and two together, and I’m no demonologist or anything, but it looks like the Erinyes are now playing both groups that conjured them up against each other. That’s just my layman’s take. You’ve got the vamps that owe them and the Unseelie that owe them. and both the Vamps and the Unseelie were trying to make the wolves go to war.”
“Exactly,” Bradley quipped, and opened a big, black textbook on the lab table beside Sasha. “So, they are making the Vampires and the Unseelie suffer the fate of the spell they’d been conjured to perform—since the Vampires and Unseelie essentially used the demons to perform said tasks, but the demons were not paid for their services.”
“Ergo why the Erinyes are involved,” Sasha said in an exhausted tone as she closed her eyes and waved her hand in the air as though conducting an orchestra.
“Yes, precisely,” Bradley said, reading over the tops of his glasses.
“But wait,” Winters said, frowning. “I thought the Vamps and the Unseelie dude were the ones who didn’t pay up. so these righteous vengeance demons wouldn’t be trying to avenge Baron Montague or Kiagehul.”
“Out of the mouths of babes come words of wisdom,” Clarissa murmured.
Bradley glanced at Clarissa and nodded. “The dead that was righteous, I guess, as demons probably would see it, and who was escorted to Hell under protest was Lady Jung Suk. She gave up her body—for an evil cause, true, but she did. She was supposed to get a new body out of the deal, and she didn’t. And basically went down—and since she’d probably given away her soul years ago for whatever. ”
“If I know Shogun’s aunt, she’d negotiate with the Devil and find a contractual loophole in eternal damnation.” Hunter returned his attention to Sasha. “Which is why it will be imperative to keep Amy and her family safe until this is over.”
“Maaaan.. ” Sasha jumped off her stool. There were just too many loose ends to tie up and something was bound to fall through the cracks.
“Look, I know how you feel, Pop, but I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.” Crow Shadow walked away from Doc Holland and sat on the desk that was on the opposite side of the room.
“No, Son,” Doc said in a quiet, stern voice. “You don’t know how I feel.”
The two men stared at each other until Crow Shadow looked away.
“I have lived the trauma of being a human with a wolf trapped inside me, never knowing why. My own father walked away from my mother and left her to go insane—”
“And that’s why I couldn’t leave Jennifer!”
“I’m on your side,” Doc said, losing patience. “You don’t have to raise your voice to make me understand. If I had known your mother was pregnant with you, I would have never left her side. And knowing your mother, she would have killed me if I’d tried.”
“I know you all didn’t get along, but damn, Pop. you didn’t have to go there about my mother. She is still my moms.”
Doc nodded, but his expression held no apology. “It wouldn’t have been personal. It was about the survival of the fittest. Your mother didn’t want to be put out of the pack or have her reputation tarnished for falling for a half-breed like me. But as much as she hated that the child she carried was a quarter human, she couldn’t make the decision to terminate you.” Doc looked away toward the window. “I guess just like my poor mother couldn’t, no matter how my father treated her. So, there you have it.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, man. There you have it?”
“Yes,” Doc said calmly. “There you have it. My father walked, your mother hid, and they were both full-blooded Shadow Wolves. Now you’ve come back to the pack dragging a full-blooded human wife thinking that everyone at home is gonna be singing ‘Kumbaya’ and will treat your baby—my grandchild—like a full-blooded Shadow Wolf.”
Doc used the silence to make his point and gave Crow Shadow his back to consider as he slowly walked to the window to stare at the moon. “I’m getting too old for this bullshit. I wish it would be right for you, Son. Wish I could make heartache and prejudice just disappear, just like I wished I could save your sister, Sasha, from all she had to endure. But I’m just a man. An imperfect being. I’ll always love you. So will your sister and, I suspect, her husband and team.. But the Shadows are creatures of stau
nch tradition. I don’t even know if Silver Hawk will be able to get them to welcome you and Jennifer with open arms.”
Getting to the Chens was priority one. Sasha and Hunter raced through the dense shadow land mist but began to slow down as the cavern became darker and darker and the indisputable smell of sulfur stung their noses.
“I don’t understand,” Sasha whispered, taking her sidearm out of the holster.
“Something’s definitely not right,” Hunter said in a low tone, his gaze scanning the barren terrain.
Suddenly a ragged splinter of pitch-black darkness ripped open before them and a howling wind blew them backward. They hit the ground with a thud, stomachs and chests exposed to the onslaught of gargoyles pouring out of the disturbed border. Covering their faces and curling up into tight balls to protect vital organs, Sasha and Hunter hunkered down as leathery wings and scaly legs bumped and pushed past them in what seemed like an aerial stampede.
Although reflex made her want to fire on the beasts, gut hunch told her that they were focused on getting out of the demon doors, through the shadow lands, and out into the night. Their flight pattern seemed disoriented. As they battered and bumped her and Hunter’s bodies, the one question that continued to assault her mind was, why didn’t they attack? Gargoyles were the pit bulls of the old-world Vamps. She and Hunter were fresh meat. And what the hell were these things doing coming through protected shadow lands?
The answer came quicker than she’d expected. Just as the last of the flying stampede exited through the shadows, three huge demons leaped out of the tear between worlds.
Mesmerized, Sasha lifted her head, but Hunter pressed her face down quickly and turned his away.
“Don’t look at them,” he warned through his teeth. “This is not our fight.”
He could feel their eerie presence pass over her; their cold, massive bodies sent a shudder through her as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. But curiosity made her peep at their retreating forms.
Massive talons had replaced what should have been human feet. Their legs were covered in scales, and muscular spaded tails bullwhipped the air behind them. Serpents hissed and struck out from the thorny crowns they wore, and their muscular blue-gray arms terminated in vicious claws. Their backs were a sinewy network of corded tissue that worked in unison to move huge bat wings to lift them in flight.
The moment they were gone, the sulfur cleared and the black rip that hung in the air sealed.
“Twenty bucks say the Vampires called the gargoyles,” Sasha said, slowly lifting her head and placing her gun back in its holster.
“I’ll raise you ten that anything called up by the Vampires is no longer welcome to use the demon tunnels,” Hunter said, dusting himself off and pulling Sasha to her feet.
CHAPTER 15
She needed to be at three places at once, but Hunter wasn’t hearing anything about splitting up and each doing a part of the mission solo. They had to get Amy’s parents back to the Sidhe, and also get word to the Sidhe to try to get Sir Rodney’s forces to stand down. But there was also the not too likely chance of getting word to Elder Vlad without a fight—and even if they did, him standing down just on a my-word-is-my-bond code of honor scenario was insane. Still, they had to try.
“I don’t get it,” Sasha said, thoroughly agitated. “This is what we do—combat. We’ve been in a hundred brawls before. What’s different about this one, Hunter? You are on me like you’re my freakin’ shadow, and we need to fan out to accomplish everything we’ve gotta do.”
“I am your shadow,” he said, not looking at her as he stepped down harder on the gas pedal.
“Ha, ha, very funny,” she said, and then looked out the window. “We can’t keep asking for Jeeps from the base, either, and not bringing them back. There’s a pattern here that’s not gonna go over well with the brass.”
“The shadow lands are too dangerous at present. Amy Chen’s parents cannot physically withstand the distortion, because they are human. Do you have another alternative I should explore?”
She hated it when he got snippy. “No. but we could have saved time by—”
“We’ve discussed that option and I told you my reservations.”
Oh, so now he was gonna try to pull the badass male alpha wolf thing on her and put more bass in his voice than was necessary? Sasha rolled her eyes. Pullease.
“And what if I just went to Amy’s house alone?” Sasha folded her arms, not liking his tone.
“I would have followed you to be sure you were safe.”
His response was so bland, so calm, that she wanted to scream.
“I do not want to fight, Sasha. I just want to deliver the humans to the Sidhe and avoid a war. I should not have to become locked in a confrontation with you now, simply because I seek peace.”
Sasha blew a stray wisp of hair up off her forehead. Oh, brother. now her man had become the Zen master!
“May I come in, Mrs. Chen?”
The older woman stared out through the cracked door, keeping the chain lock firmly latched. She could not place the man’s face, but things inside her head told her that he was a friend of her daughter’s. His face was handsome, his eyes strange and crystal blue. his hair long, flowing blond so fair that it was almost white.
“Again, I ask for an invitation. May I come in, please, Mrs. Chen?”
She cracked the door open a little wider. “Ah. Well. ”
“No!” Mr. Chen shouted. “We do not know you!” He slammed the door shut and shook his wife hard. “What are you doing? Sasha Trudeau is on the telephone and says there are people trying to abduct our Amy again. It is like the trouble before.”
“Heads-up,” Sasha said, bailing out of the Jeep. “Vamps!”
Hunter swerved the vehicle to a stop and rushed up the storefront stairs. “Mr. and Mrs. Chen, are you all right? It’s Hunter!”
Sasha swept the alley and then took a running leap to catch a fire escape grate to propel herself up to the rooftop. A boot kick to her jaw sent her sprawling backward. She answered the affront with a hail of silver shells. But the quick-moving flash of white hair and black coat eluded her. She watched him jump buildings, grab a fire escape, and swing to a landing on the ground. Their eyes met. He gave her a toothy smile and then headed toward the house.
A pump shotgun blast met him in the doorway, giving Sasha just enough time to drop down behind the injured Vampire and cock the hammer on her weapon. In a flash he was gone. Hunter spun and gave the shotgun back to Mr. Chen.
“That only slowed him down. It was just a regular shell, not hallowed-earth packed or silver.” Hunter nodded toward the Jeep. “C’mon. We don’t have much time. They’ll be back.”
“Why does this keep happening? What have we done?” Mrs. Chen cried as they hurried down the steps.
“They don’t want you; they want your daughter. Some really, really bad men want her dead,” Sasha said, pushing the older couple into the car. “And we don’t want that to happen.”
“But why?” Mr. Chen said, leaning forward. “We don’t understand. We are simple people. Honest people.”
Sasha couldn’t answer; there just wasn’t time. A thud on the roof rocked the vehicle and she renewed a clip, then shot skyward while Hunter careened away from the curb. No matter how fast Hunter was driving, the Vamp kept its footing and moved with grace, avoiding every shell. Frustration tore at Sasha, making her fling open the Jeep door and flip herself onto the roof before the Vampire could reach through the compromised metal to yank out the Chens.
Instead of the platinum blond male vamp, a dark-eyed female terror stood before Sasha baring fangs. Wind from the hurtling vehicle and supernatural energy lifted the Vampire’s black coat and suddenly two razor-sharp daggers slid into her palms. She smiled at Sasha and then slashed forward the second Sasha lifted her weapon and fired. A burning, stinging pain shot up Sasha’s forearm. Fuck. She was cut.
The Vampire’s smile widened. “Just give them to us and you’ll live, wo
lf.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that, bitch.” Sasha lunged and the Vampire tumbled over her, now standing at the front of the vehicle with Sasha crouched on the roof above where the Chens sat in the backseat beneath her.
“This is no business of yours, wolf!”
In a split second, Hunter’s hand crashed through the roof and grasped the Vampire by her left leg. The Vampire screeched and yanked to get away while the Jeep perilously swerved.
“Oh, but it is,” Sasha said, holding on, and quickly unloaded two slugs in the center of the Vampire’s forehead.
Burning ash immediately covered the top of the vehicle and Sasha hunkered down as soot and debris flew over her. At the intersection, Hunter slowed down and Sasha jumped off the roof and got back into the vehicle.
She looked at Hunter’s bloodied fist. “Thanks.. You need to have Garth or Silver Hawk take a look at that.”
Hunter grabbed her arm and turned it over, looking at the deep slash. “And you.”
“Yeah. She got me.”
“I smelled it. the blood. If we didn’t have human passengers I would have come up there and ripped her worthless throat out.”
“Now the wolves are officially involved!” Elder Vlad paced away from the long onyx table in his dining room and waved for his servants to take away the nude dead woman littering the furniture. “That is a good thing, given the recent developments. But the one thing I have yet to understand is how you have allowed them to destroy my Mara? Is this what you have come to grovel at my feet to explain?”
“Yes,” Caleb said through a labored breath, holding his injured chest. Black blood oozed through his fingers as he clung to the ravaged flesh destroyed by a close-range shotgun shell. “But I must feed, Your Excellency.”
“And so you shall,” Elder Vlad said, slitting his wrist over a golden goblet. He watched Caleb lick his lips and stared at the trembling hand that reached for the goblet, somewhat amused. “Where are the Chens?”
“Still with the wolves that escaped, Master.” Caleb dropped to one knee, weakening by the moment as the pool of black blood around him widened on the cold stone floor.