“Justin, get out here,” Gregory called.
The other Lupin stepped into the clearing. “I believe them.”
“You would,” the hairy to the left said.
“Shut your face, Vince.” Justin focused on Gregory. “I told you I sensed something out there. Something dark and new.”
Vince snorted in disgust. “You and your fucking sixth sense.”
Justin rounded on him. “Yeah, and if you’d have listened, we wouldn’t be three men down.”
Gregory held up a hand and the other two stepped back, snapping their jaws closed.
“Say I believe you,” their leader said. “What do you propose?”
I looked to Bane, who nodded. “I suggest we work together. We bunk down with the Sanguinata in the manor, we set some traps, and we ride out the next thirty-six hours.”
Gregory’s eyes narrowed, and then his lips curled in a wicked smile. “I have a better idea. I say we blow the fucking riders to smithereens.”
“You have explosives?” Bane asked.
Gregory shrugged. “Let’s just say you’re lucky you didn’t enter the clearing a little to the right.”
Fuck. They had land mines. Shit. I cleared my throat. “So, you’re in?”
“Yes. We’re in.”
“If this is some kind of trick …” Justin trailed off in a growl.
“Shut up, Justin,” Gregory said. “Go fetch the explosives.”
Justin ducked into the cabin, muttering under his breath, and Gregory climbed down the steps. His body rippled, thickened, and sprouted hair, and damn … Did his dick get bigger? I tore my gaze away.
The next few hours were going to be interesting.
***
We made it through the forest without incident and exited onto the open land. It was too exposed here, and we picked up the pace, eager to get back under cover of the canopy of trees ahead. The Lupin loped alongside us, dark shapes streaking across the ground, their powerful bodies sinuous and graceful. They could kill with a single slash of their lethal claws if they wished. Up ahead was the Sanguinata, moving so fast he was almost riding the wind. I could match his stride, of course, but it felt safer to remain in the midst of the pack. We ran solidly for fifteen minutes, but whereas before my body would have protested the exertion, now it reveled in it. A whoop of exhilaration bubbled up in my throat, and I bit it back.
We hit the sparse woodland and followed the Sanguinata as he took us to his base. He led us farther into a thicket and then into an area of hedgerows and brambles until the rays of the moon were blocked out, and we were practically cutting our way through greenery in almost absolute darkness. Finally, we emerged onto overgrown grounds, in the center of which sat a huge, stone building. It had probably been some kind of stately home at one time, and now it was a sad, eyeless monstrosity, waiting to be revived.
The Sanguinata ran around the side of the building and hammered on the service entrance door. Three bangs followed by two short raps and a final bang.
The door opened and another pale face, lit by candlelight, peered out. He balked at the sight of us and tried to slam the door, but the Sanguinata who’d led us here shoved his foot in the frame.
“Wait, don’t. They’re with me. We need to get inside now.” He shoved his teammate back and entered, ushering us to follow.
The interior was musty but dry and surprisingly warm. We were in a candlelit kitchen. A steaming teapot sat on the table and there was even a tray of biscuits. I had to give it to the Sanguinata, they knew how to do things in style. Go to the games, kill a few opponents, and have tea. Wait? Were those china cups?
“What the heck are you playing at, Mal?” the Sanguinata who’d let us in said. He glanced over Mal’s shoulder and bared his teeth. “Where are the others?”
“Dead,” Mal said. “They’re all dead.”
“And you led their killers here?”
“We didn’t kill them,” Bane said. “Neither did the Lupin. There’s something else out there.”
Another Sanguinata entered the kitchen and immediately went into fight mode—fangs at the ready, body tense and ready to launch.
“Wait.” Mal held up his hands. “Hear us out.”
The final Sanguinata strode into the kitchen. He was larger than the others with a touch of silver at his temples. He calmly took in the scene and then fixed his gaze on Mal. “You have two minutes to explain why you’ve brought the enemy into our base, and if I’m not satisfied with your answer, then we will tear out your throat.”
Mal nodded. “Of course, Adam. Please read my memories.”
Adam pressed his fingers to Mal’s temple and closed his eyes. Long seconds passed and then his eyes snapped open. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Same,” Gregory said.
Adam locked eyes with the Lupin. “We need to plan how to survive this.”
Gregory grinned, the action contorting his Lupin face into something even more twisted and awful. “Forget surviving. We need to kill this fucker.”
Adam inclined his head. “Come into the parlor.”
***
The windows were blacked out with thick drapes, the quality of which was at odds with the rest of the shoddy decor. Had they brought drapes with them? Tea and biscuits and drapes? What other creature comforts had they lugged along?
The Lupin resumed their non-hairy forms. They stood with their legs shoulder-width apart, bits dangling all over the place.
Adam sighed through his nose. “Mal, why don’t you get our Lupin guests some clothes.”
“No, thanks,” Gregory said. “Clothes are an encumbrance.”
“Maybe so, but we do have a lady present.”
Wait, was he talking about me? Yep, he was looking at me. “I’m fine. It doesn’t bother me.”
Adam shrugged. “Very well.” He turned back to Gregory. “You have explosives. So, what do you intend to do with them?”
“Set up a perimeter.” Gregory shrugged. “If they try to get in, they get blown up. Simple. We wait out the thirty-five hours we have left, and then we get the fuck out of here when those gates open.”
It was a good plan, but the success hinged on them being susceptible to explosives. “And what if the explosives don’t stop them? They seem to be able to turn to shadow at will. What if they can avoid the blasts?”
“We worry about that when the time comes,” Gregory said.
It was fine as a short-term plan, but we needed a long-term one. “Okay, say we manage to survive even if they can’t be harmed by the explosives. What do we do once we’re out of here? This thing is obviously new to Arcadia. It probably slipped in through one of the cracks that are forming around the city.”
Adam perked up. “So, the rumors are true. The magic that is holding us captive is breaking down.”
“I wouldn’t say breaking down,” Ryker said. “But there are fissures forming. And new creatures from whatever lies outside are slipping through.”
Adam licked his lips. “If we can capture these shadow riders, maybe we can force them to show us how they entered. Maybe we can leave.”
He looked so hopeful, and bursting his bubble was gonna hurt. “There is no exit. The fissures are one way.”
His eyes narrowed. “And you know this how?”
“We have it on good authority,” Bane said.
Arachne was good authority? I suppose she was the only authority on the subject. The thought had crossed my mind, and probably everyone else’s who had been there that night, that she may have been lying to us. But there had been something open and sincere about the creature that couldn’t be denied. She’d openly admitted she wanted to kill us. There had been no subterfuge on her part in that regard. She’d been unapologetic about her nature. No. She’d been telling the truth. And even if she hadn’t, what good would it do to go hunting for cracks we may never find? Better to focus on the end game—on winning the experiment between the Black Wings and the White Wings.
The
conversation had carried on around me as plans were made to evade the shadow riders, but no one had addressed my original question. “Hey! Hey. How the heck do we stop this thing once we’re free of the games? We can’t let it go rampaging through Midnight. It’s bad enough that we have the scourge to deal with without adding this to the list of our problems.”
Bane nodded. “She’s right. We may not have a solution now, but we need to work together once we leave here to find one. There must be something in the archives about these shadow riders. A way to stop them. A way to kill them.”
“Agreed,” Gregory said. “For now, let’s go with the explosives plan.”
The Lupin set off to plant the mines around the building, and Adam rubbed his hands together. “Seeing as we’re going to be here for a while, would anyone like some tea?”
I pulled myself up off the sofa. “I’ll pass. I’m gonna make a sweep of the building, if that’s okay? Get a lay of the land, just in case the explosives do fail to hold them off.”
Adam inclined his head. “Be my guest.”
I wandered out of the parlor into the dark hallway. No candles here. And not much heat either. The hallway was cluttered with furniture, and the front door was barred shut with thick planks of wood. Okay, that was one exit out of commission. No problem. It was time to make a memory map.
Chapter 19
The Lupin had retreated to the kitchen, the Sanguinata to the parlor, and Ryker, Bane, and I floated in between. The hours ticked by without attack, and the group was growing more and more agitated.
Was this even real? Was it some kind of plot after all? If not for the fact that Mal had seen the shadow riders with his own eyes, we’d probably have been thrown out on our arse. And, to be honest, it looked as if Gregory, the Lupin leader, was gearing up to leave anyway.
“Maybe it won’t attack here,” Bane said. “Maybe it only runs in the wilderness.”
“Which is good for us,” Ryker pointed out.
“Yes. But it also means that the Sanguinata and Lupin might conclude that the threat isn’t actually real.”
Ryker shifted from foot to foot. “The Lupin are getting antsy.”
He’d noticed that too.
Gregory strode into the parlor. “We’re going for a run. We’ll make a sweep.”
Adam’s jaw tightened. “If you think I’m letting you out of my sight now that you’ve planted those explosives, then you’re sorely mistaken.”
Gregory’s chest rumbled. “Try and stop us, fang.”
Oh, shit. “Whoa. We’re all in this together, remember.”
“In what?” Gregory snapped. “It’s been almost five hours and nothing has happened. We need to run. For all we know, these riders have already moved on.”
Bane intervened. “Adam, you know the Lupin nature.”
Adam licked his lips and strode over to a sideboard where a decanter of dark fluid rested. He poured a glass and downed it.
Blood. He was topping up on blood.
“Fine, go, but—”
An explosion rocked the room. Bane grabbed hold of me, pulling me into his arms to shield me from a threat that wasn’t even inside the building.
Ryker smiled wryly. “Bane, the explosion was outside.”
Bane cleared his throat and released me.
The Lupin burst into action, heading for the kitchen and the exit to check for carnage and the dead. Another explosion erupted, from around the front of the house this time, and then one more sounded from the east.
Gregory came rushing back. “They’re circling the building and setting off all the mines.”
I rushed to the nearest window and tugged back the drapes to peer outside. The ground a few meters from the house looked like a bomb had gone off, which it had. But there was only disrupted soil and no visible body parts.
I dropped the drapes back into place. “They aren’t affected. We need to run. We need to go now.”
Adam looked thrown for a second and then his jaw flexed with determination. “Sanguinata do not run. We stand and fight.”
“Sorry, Adam,” Mal said. “In this case, I’m all about the running.”
But there was no time to get the heck out, because the sound of a horn filled the room and then the shadow riders galloped in straight through the damned wall. More poured in from the kitchen, cutting off our main exit.
A flash of a face, the curve of a jaw, the tip of a sword, and the glint of an eye—they were material one moment and ethereal the next. Ghosts that could solidify at will. The Lupin attacked and the Sanguinata defended, but it was futile because they weren’t able to get in any blows. Gregory ducked and defended, Adam leapt and evaded. I had to help. Maybe more bodies attacking would force these riders to slip up. I stepped toward the chaos and Ryker grabbed me around the waist, hoisting me off my feet.
“What the heck?”
“We need to get out of here,” he said. “We can’t fight this thing.”
I jerked in his grasp, and he released me abruptly. He had a point. “I’m not leaving without the others.” I scanned my mental map. “The front door is barred, but there is a roof exit we can use.” Thank God I’d done a sweep earlier.
A roar of pain had me whipping around. Gregory jumped back to avoid a second bite from a silver whip, but his step was unsteady. I rushed forward and grabbed him just as he sagged. With my arms hooked under his armpits, I dragged him out of range.
“Move, everyone! Upstairs now!” My voice cut sharply through the ruckus, deeper and harsher with my demon giving it an edge.
Gregory stared at me in surprise, and then one of the other Lupin took over from me in supporting his leader. A second later, we were all running up the stairs with the horsemen at our heels. The roof exit was on the third floor, through a bare room with stark floorboards and past a set of French doors. The wall beyond the balcony was hugged by a trellis, as if this room had been designed with sneaky visitors in mind.
I ushered Gregory out onto the balcony with his Lupin supporter. Mal followed with the other Sanguinata. And then the shadow riders exploded into the room. Bane pulled me out of the way just in time, but Adam went down in my place. A rider loomed above him. The flash of hooves pawed the air in a descent of death. My daggers were in my hands before I could think. I slipped from Bane’s grasp, slid between Adam and the phantom horse, and brought my daggers up and then down in a V motion, slashing at the shadows. Something warm and wet slapped against my face, and an eerie scream shattered my eardrums.
The horse dematerialized and the riders paused in their attack. Adam got to his feet and slowly reached out to touch my face, his fingers coming away smeared with crimson.
“Serenity, you hurt it,” Ryker said. “You fucking hurt it.”
It was as if a momentary ceasefire was in effect. All eyes were on me, but then I locked gazes with a rider. His face was wrapped in fabric, leaving only his burning eyes visible, and in those eyes, I read the conflict: flee or fight.
There was no way they were getting away. With a chilling battle cry of my own, I ran at them. Bane’s bellow of horror was a vibration at my back, and then my body was swallowed by darkness, and the world was suddenly gray. I swirled into motion, and just like in training, the daggers became an extension of myself. With my eyes closed, my instincts took over and guided my body. The drag of my blades, the snag and the spatters that stung my face, told me I was hitting my mark. My head echoed with screams, and then a melodic male voice cut through it all.
“Cease. You may cease your attack.”
My feet faltered.
Strange words I didn’t recognize rose up to cover the screams and wails, and then silence reigned.
I opened my eyes, and the riders were gone. In their place stood a tall male with long hair that fell about his shoulders in a tangle of leaves and bracken. His face would have been beautiful, regal even, if it hadn’t been covered in grime. His clothes must have been fine once, if the embroidery was anything to go by, but they were worn a
nd tattered now.
Bane appeared to my left and Ryker to my right.
The tension in the air was palpable, shock and anger, and the come-down from an almighty adrenaline rush. It was in the tremor of my hands and the shallowness of my breath.
Gregory was the first to break the silence. He shuffled back into the room, clutching his wounded abdomen. His question was concise and to the point. “Who the fuck are you?”
Chapter 20
With the hunt gone, we made our way back downstairs. The stranger came with us, sandwiched between Adam and Bane—not that he was going to be running off anywhere; the guy could barely stand, let alone walk. We sat him on the sofa, and he broke down into pathetic sobs.
“Shit,” Ryker said. “What do we do?”
Adam whispered something to Mal, and the fang wandered off into the kitchen.
I crouched to the man’s level. “Hey. Can you tell me who you are, and how you got here? Are you connected to those shadow riders?”
He took a shuddering breath and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “I’m sorry. Look at me. I’m a mess, crying when I should be offering my thanks. Thank you. Thank you.”
He was clutching something, a gem of some sort, his knuckles so white that it was obvious he meant never to let it go.
“Who are you?”
“Oleander. My name is Oleander, and my quest is finally at an end.” His body shuddered.
“Quest?”
“To capture the Wild Hunt.” He swayed and closed his eyes. “Tired. So tired.”
“Mal, where is that tea?” Adam barked.
Mal appeared with a cup of tea and pressed it into Oleander’s hand.
The newcomer stared at the cup warily. “Is this a potion to kill me?” He shrugged. “I suppose after all this time running, death would be a relief.”
Wow, he really had been through the wringer. “It’s just tea. It will make you feel better.”
He took a tentative sip, and then his eyes fluttered closed. “Oh. Oh, my. That is good. So very good.” He slurped down the rest and licked his dry lips. “You do me two kindnesses this day. First you aid in the capture of The Hunt, and then you break my fast with this wonderful concoction. What is it again?”
Champion of Midnight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Chronicles of Midnight Book 2) Page 15