Target

by Connie Suttle

  "My brothers and I know to place compulsion first. He will come willingly."

  "Rabis, do you see this?"

  "My Queen, I cannot see past the uncertainty. I regret that I may not be as talented as Hilbah." Rabis bowed again to hide his face. Hilbah was particularly inept. Friesianna had listened to his small lies and flattery, accepting them as true prophecy and foresight.

  "I regret that as well. Leave me. I must think on these things. Please keep looking. Let me know if anything changes." Friesianna waved Rabis away.

  "As you will, my Queen," Rabis turned and walked quickly through the field. North Dakota was normally Friesianna's choice to place the camp. Many places remained in the wild where none would detect them, but North Dakota was Friesianna's choice. It was also two jumps from the nearest gate. Perfect for the Bright camp.

  Friesianna's tent was always assembled first and her throne placed, even before food was served to hungry children. There were only three of those, now. Of the hundreds of half-Elemaiyan children raised by humans, only forty of those remained. Eight were in the camp. One was still out there and targeted for collection. Rabis sighed and walked toward his tent.

  * * *

  "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Ashe grinned at Dori, who stood in the doorway to his office, Cori, Sali and Wynn right behind her.

  "Winkler invited us over to go to the beach after work." Dori came in and leaned against Ashe's desk. She wore shorts and a tank top. Sali wore his swim trunks and a shirt he left unbuttoned. Wynn wore shorts too, but she had a loose shirt on over her swimsuit top.

  "Glad you could come," Winkler was in the doorway now. "Jimmy's cooking homemade pizza when you get back. Marco and Trace will keep you company on the beach. Towels are on the deck as usual. Have fun." Winkler walked away.

  "Ashe, get up from there and get into your swim trunks, man," Sali said.

  "All right. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" He leaned in to give Dori a peck on the check, making her blush.

  "Winkler said it was a surprise. Said you did something cool," Sali said.

  "I do a lot of cool things. To which cool thing are you referring?" Ashe was grinning like a fool and he knew it.

  "Something on the news today, I think," Sali said. "We were working. We didn't see it."

  "Oh. I'm crushed. The hero goes unsung as usual," Ashe said. Winkler had let him watch the news program earlier, which showed photographs of a Savings and Loan Vice President who'd been arrested for bank fraud and a list of other charges. He'd been slipping hidden fees and interest charges onto bankcard statements and reaping the benefits, hiding the money as bonus payments.

  "I'll change and meet you on the deck in five minutes." Ashe herded everyone out of his office and shut the door.

  "The bad thing about this is we can't play Frisbee like we usually do," Sali grinned as he smoothed sunscreen on Wynn's back. Ashe had already taken care of Dori. Marco and Cori had walked down the beach a little way. Sali referred to the game he and Ashe preferred to play with the flying disk—Sali catching the Frisbee as werewolf, when Ashe tossed it to him.

  "We can do that this weekend," Ashe said, lying back on the beach towel next to Dori. She snuggled against him, making Ashe turn toward her and smile. "I like this," Ashe said and shared his first real kiss with Dori Anderson, lying on a large towel in front of Winkler's huge beach house.

  * * *

  "Grand Master, we've located a compound, and it looks like Zeke Tanner's place," Tracker Clayton Tucker reported on his cell. "If we hadn't had Dalroy and Rhett with us, we'd never have made it. Let's just say there were a few guards trying to stop us."

  "I always thought the old bastard was still alive. No doubt he's been working with his brother all this time," Weldon mused. "Please tell me you have Ezekiel in custody." The Grand Master was at home in North Dakota, having a late-night cup of coffee and speaking to his Tracker by cell phone.

  "He wasn't here. I understand quite a few headed out with him, wherever he went. Didn't leave that information with anyone here. The vamps already checked."

  "Do they know which direction Tanner's bunch took?" Weldon asked.

  "Drove east, according to the two who watched them leave. Had three big trucks and an SUV. Nothing uncommon for this area."

  "Where the factions are all at war with one another?" Weldon snorted. "They could have gone to attack a rival cartel."

  "True. Had weapons, according to the source. Don't know when they plan to come home, either."

  "I don't want you staying—all of you could end up dead. I never thought I'd hear myself say that to werewolves and vampires, but that area is too unstable and deaths can be had for very little money. Can you get across the border again tonight? I want you on U.S. soil before morning if possible."

  "Yeah, I think we can manage that. Especially if the vamps drive."

  "Then give them the keys and hold on. We'll put out a reward on Zeke Tanner and send a bigger force next time. Leave now, Clayton. I trust Grady is also well?"

  "Yep. One of the vamps—Rhett? He was grazed by a bullet, but the one who shot him didn't live to tell the tale."

  "Dalroy trained him. Dalroy was a Texas Ranger, Clayton. I've not seen many fight like that. Go on, load up and get out of there. We'll work out a strategy for capturing Tanner when you get back. Have those vamps place compulsion that you were never there."

  "Already taken care of, boss," Clayton grinned and loaded into the Hummer Dalroy was starting up. "See you in a couple of days." Clayton terminated the call.

  * * *

  "Zeke Tanner's alive, we've confirmed it," Weldon informed Winkler, shortly after he'd let Clayton go. He went on to explain what Clayton and the others had found outside Juarez.

  "Not surprised," Winkler said. "Too bad he wasn't home when your Tracker arrived. Dalroy would have gotten him, I think, if nobody else could. He almost took Obediah down, years ago. If the sun hadn't come up, he would have."

  "The rather large drawback to being vampire," Weldon observed dryly.

  "If they all could do what Lissa did, I'd worry," Winkler agreed. "At least we know we're safe during daylight. If Wlodek could move about during the day, well, that would be flat-out frightening."

  "You know he'd be Prime Minister of England if he could walk in the sun."

  "There's always that, I suppose. But that might force him to crack a smile now and then."

  "That's the frightening part," Weldon said.

  * * *

  "I'm taking Cori out to eat," Marco was dressed nicer than usual when Ashe came out of his office, stretching. He was ready for a run on the beach, but his usual partner had a date.

  "What about Trace?" Ashe asked. It was Wednesday, July ninth. Ashe noticed the wolves were getting fidgety over the full moon in two days. "And how does dating figure into the full moon thing?" He lifted an eyebrow at Marco.

  "Not a prob, dude," Marco patted Ashe's shoulder. Jingling the keys to one of Winkler's vans, Marco headed for the front door.

  "Gotta guard the Winkler, man," Trace grinned when Ashe asked about a run on the beach. "Trajan and Winkler are holed up inside Winkler's suite. How about using that treadmill in the workout room? It doesn't see much use."

  "I'll think about it," Ashe yawned wide enough to crack a jaw. He had a hard time covering it with one hand.

  "Maybe a nap instead?" Trace suggested.

  "I'd really like to have dinner with Mom, I think, but a nap would be okay. Yeah, maybe I'll do that," Ashe nodded.

  "See you later, then," Trace walked through the patio doors. He'd come inside for a drink of water before going out to patrol the perimeter of Winkler's beach property. Since Nick's attack, security had been beefed up considerably. Ashe walked up the stairs and into his westward-facing bedroom, closing the door behind him. Brushing his teeth a few minutes later, he checked his appearance in the bathroom mirror before hopping to the new house in Star Cove.

  "Mom, I can do this one," Ashe pointed o
ut the Relocation talent on the sheets his mother held. She'd asked him to explain how he'd suddenly appeared on the doorstep, with no car and no accompanying werewolf guard.

  "Honey, that's extraordinary." Adele stared at Ashe.

  "Well, it was a shock when I found out I could do it."

  "I think we should keep this information to ourselves," Adele added. "I'm not sure it would be a good thing if people learned you can do it."

  "Yeah. I think so, too.”

  "I'll tell your dad. I'm sure he'll want to keep this secret." Adele shoved the sheets into Aedan's desk drawer and locked it again. "Now, what did you want for dinner?"

  * * *

  "I love meatloaf," Ashe said later as he polished off a second helping. "I haven't gotten any since we moved."

  "Mr. Winkler might not like it," Adele pointed out. "I'm sure his cook caters to what he wants to eat."

  "Jimmy's a pretty good cook," Ashe said. "But he's not my mom."

  "Aw, honey, that's so sweet." Ashe hugged his mother when she squeezed his shoulders. "Now, we're going to call Mr. Winkler, and tell him where you are."

  "Mom, you just took the fun out of sneaking away," Ashe muttered.

  "Honey, he doesn't need to worry that you're just going to disappear; he has a responsibility to keep you safe. We'll tell him you misted over, and I'll drive you back."

  "All right." Ashe rose and began loading dishes into the dishwasher while his mother phoned Winkler.

  "Yes, I've told him already that he shouldn't disappear like that," Adele agreed over the phone. "I'll bring him back when his father wakes."

  * * *

  "Are you kidding? He misted home?" Trajan rolled his eyes as soon as Winkler ended the call from Adele Evans.

  "Went home to have dinner with his mother," Winkler shook his head. "I want you to work him extra hard tomorrow, and I'll find something particularly nasty for him to do afterward. Honestly, I'd have gotten someone to take him home if he wanted to go that badly."

  * * *

  "Son, I want you to show me this." Aedan had driven to the darkened beach, careful to make sure no tourists were nearby to see. The moon, now very close to full, glittered on the gulf water that reached and drew back along the shoreline.

  "See that marker, down there?" Ashe pointed to a beach marker roughly a tenth of a mile away. The tall post was white and easily visible in the moonlight.

  "I see it," Aedan nodded. Ashe hopped from the spot beside his father to the marker and then back again, the entire process taking less than a second. "If I hadn't seen that, I wouldn't have believed it possible," Aedan sighed, staring at Ashe. "Never let anyone else know of this if you can help it, and only use it in emergencies. Sneaking away for dinner with your mother isn't an emergency. You should apologize to Mr. Winkler as soon as we arrive, and you can expect some sort of punishment, I think. He promised to keep you safe. He can't do that if you run away and he doesn't know where you are."

  "I know, Dad. I was just missing you and Mom."

  "The move has been unsettling for everybody. I understand that. But we have to keep our good sense. Especially after Wynn's capture and the attempt on Mr. Winkler's life, not to mention Jackson's father, who is still hunting for his son, I'm sure. Don't make our jobs harder than they are already. Marcie allowed Jackson to work in the groves with the others, but only after Shirley promised security."

  Ashe felt guilty. More guilty than he might have if his father had displayed anger. He was silent on the drive to Winkler's beach house after that. "I'm sorry, Mr. Winkler," Ashe hung his head when he walked into Winkler's kitchen, where Winkler and Trajan were having a cup of coffee.

  "Oh, you'll get your punishment tomorrow, never fear. Just don't do it again. Did you think we'd say no if you wanted to see your parents? Ashe, I'm not that terrible. Until you see what I've got planned for you to do tomorrow, that is." Winkler's tight smile didn't reach his eyes, telling Ashe just how angry he really was. Anthony Hancock walked in. Ashe shifted uncomfortably.

  "Running away? Not the smartest thing to do," Anthony Hancock pointed out.

  "It's not running away if I go home, is it?" Ashe said before he thought.

  "Ashe, be respectful," Adele said. She'd not said anything while Aedan and then Winkler had spoken with Ashe, but she offered Tony a hard stare while she admonished her son.

  "I will. I'm sorry, Mr. Hancock."

  "That's Rockland. Get it right, kid." Tony stalked out of the kitchen.

  "Get in bed, Ashe. Since you've already had dinner," Winkler instructed. Ashe, grateful to leave the tension-filled kitchen, had to force himself not to run for the stairs.

  * * *

  "Dude, why didn't you tell me you came home?" Sali hissed into his cell phone. Ashe, feeling brutalized over the incident, called his best friend.

  "Sal, I should have asked," Ashe admitted reluctantly. "I just wanted to go home and have dinner with Mom. Like normal. Marco left to take Cori out to eat, and nobody else was available to go run on the beach, so I took off." Ashe wasn't about to tell Sali how he'd gotten home, just that he had. Let Sali think he'd borrowed one of Mr. Winkler's vehicles. He'd had his license for nearly a month and hadn't gotten to use it once.

  "Dude, was your mom's meatloaf worth getting into trouble over?"

  "Maybe."

  * * *

  "We're replacing the lines for the sprinklers, that's why," a werewolf lawn and garden expert had been hired to work on the sprinkler lines in Winkler's flowerbeds surrounding the beach house. Ashe was digging narrow trenches after raking back mulch and ground cover around short, squatty palm trees and tropical flower bushes.

  Sweat dripped off his nose and into his eyes in the muggy morning air as the werewolf showed him where and how to dig the trench. Trajan had already worked him hard in the weight room, and then Marco had forced him to run farther and faster than normal down the beach. Without allowing Ashe to clean up before breakfast, Winkler sent him out to help dig trenches for sprinkler pipes after he ate. Jimmy had cast a glance at Ashe now and then but didn't say anything while serving up ham, eggs and biscuits. Then, to cap it off, Winkler had taken Ashe's cell phone before sending him out to do manual labor.

  "You're too soft, boy. Put your back into it," the werewolf snapped at Ashe. Ashe hadn't worn gloves and blisters were forming on his palms. Determined not to give the werewolf anything else to complain about, Ashe kept digging, doing his best to ignore the pain. After the trenches were dug, Ashe laid PVC pipe and then screwed in pipe nipples and sprinkler heads. His hands were burning by that time, so he cooled them in the spray when the lines were tested.

  "We're done, go ask Mr. Winkler if he has any other jobs for you," the werewolf said, sending Ashe into the house. Grabbing ice cubes from the fridge and wrapping them in a paper towel, he held onto those while he went looking for Winkler.

  "Anything else?" Ashe stood in the doorway to Winkler's office. Trajan sat in a chair before the desk, making Ashe wonder if he'd interrupted anything.

  "Blisters?" Winkler lifted an eyebrow.

  "A few."

  "Wash them out, then get something from Jimmy to put on them."

  "All right." Ashe turned to go.

  "Ashe?"

  "Yes, Mr. Winkler?" Ashe turned around.

  "Don't do that again."

  "Yes, Mr. Winkler." Ashe went off to find Jimmy.

  * * *

  "Not a pretty sight," Jimmy examined Ashe's hands. "A wolf would heal after a good sleep. I hear that's not always the way with shifters."

  "Yeah, it takes Mom and me a little longer, usually," Ashe answered truthfully as Jimmy rubbed ointment into his blisters. Most of them had broken during his stint at sprinkler repair. The ointment stung, but Ashe didn't want to show weakness to the werewolf cook. The werewolf lawn worker had certainly thought him weak and beneath his notice.

  "Kid, don't ever feel like you have to prove anything to anybody," Jimmy said, squirting out more antibiotic ointment onto Ash
e's hands. "You are what you are. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The ones who think you're weak don't really know you. Take this and put more on around bedtime." Jimmy handed the tube of medication to Ashe. Ashe nodded and thanked Jimmy for the help.

  Eating dinner later proved to be a tricky endeavor—Ashe did his best to work around holding a fork and protecting blistered skin. Winkler and Trajan both watched Ashe struggle without saying anything. Tony Hancock walked in and sat at the table without saying anything, either. Jimmy didn't even acknowledge the vampire as he cleared a few dishes away. Ashe rose and took his plate to the kitchen as soon as the vampire was seated.

  "What did I do?" Tony glanced at Winkler. Winkler growled low at the vampire.

  * * *

  "Cori, Winkler said he misted to Star Cove, but I don't think that's it," Marco said softly over his cell. "The day Nick attacked us here at the beach house, I swear Ashe just disappeared from a spot on the beach and then reappeared on the deck to get Trajan out of harm's way. No way could he move that fast, even as mist. And Trajan let it slip that Winkler got some information from Hancock about the Elemaiya, but I can't get to it—it's locked up somewhere."

  "Stop worrying about it. Just be thankful that Ashe was able to save Trajan. I overheard your dad telling Micah that Trajan would have died if Ashe hadn't helped out like he did. Nobody else could get there that fast and Trajan was putting himself in front of Winkler. Besides, you took one of those creeps down yourself. That's pretty good, Marco. Your dad is proud of you."

  "Does anybody ever say they're proud of Ashe? Cori, all he seems to do is get in trouble. I might have done the same thing—except I'd have gotten into a van and driven back to Star Cove."

  "Marco, you're not sixteen anymore."

  "But think about what I did when I was seventeen. I just took off and went wherever I pleased after James was killed. Ashe even got me to the church in Cordell for a funeral. Nobody ever knew about that until now, Cori. Ashe took me inside his mist and that's how I went. Dad might have grounded me for a few days after all was said and done, but Ashe—I don't know." Cori was in Star Cove; Marco was walking the beach, kicking at loose bits of shell and seaweed in the moonlight as they spoke on their cells.