I didn’t have much time to ponder the new problem, however. Hairy launched himself through the air, bounding toward us.
Getting a good grip on the moldering curtain, I slid down the velveteen fabric until I reached the bottom. My ass smacked into the wood hard and excruciating pain shot up my spine. The chiropractor was going to need to dance a jig on my spine to straighten me out once I got home. Dom was waiting for me, offering a hand up.
“What’s the plan?” I hissed at him. “I assume you have one?”
“We’re going to electrocute it,” he panted, offering me the end of a wire. It sparked dangerously in his hand. “Once it steps into the orchestra pit, drop this into the water and get out as fast as you can.”
“What if it goes around? Or shrugs it off. I just hit it in the head with a shovel and it’s still upright.”
“It’s going to cross through the water. It’s the fastest way. I don’t think that it’s going to put together the threat until it’s too late.”
I could have pointed out about a dozen flaws in the plan. Whatever was keeping the lights on was on its reserves at best. Hairy might step foot in the water at the exact moment the power fluctuated and then we’d be up shit creek. And if I were killed, Dom would be vulnerable to the attack of the wolves above us.
But Hairy was about three seconds away from reaching us, so I took the cable and held it at the ready.
As Dom had predicted, the arrogant alpha werewolf was either too far gone to do the math that water and electricity don’t mix, or was so confident in his own strength that he didn’t care.
Hairy sunk into the orchestra pit, prowling through the waist-deep water with murder in his eyes. His jaw hung at an awkward angle and I felt a momentary pang of pity for the wolf I was about to kill.
I sucked in a breath. Here went nothing. I dropped the wire, but it curled lazily in the water until the end was sticking up into the air. I’d have to hold it down.
Collapsing at the edge of the orchestra pit, I grabbed the sparking cord tightly in my fist and shoved my hand into the water. Nothing happened. The wolf was close enough that I could smell its rancid breath. For a frozen moment, I expected teeth to tear away my face.
Then the power surged and the water came alive with movement.
There was a reason almost all states had banned the electric chair as their primary method of execution by the beginning of the twenty-first century. Once considered to be a more humane form of death than hanging, the electric chair had caused more suffering and pain to its recipients than most forms of execution devised within the last century before it.
The werewolf’s body shuddered. I was close enough to see the muscles bunching beneath his thick, brindle fur. Its body bucked and writhed spasmodically, trying futilely to escape the current.
It didn’t take long for Hairy’s eyes to roll back into his skull and his body to fall limp. Smoke poured out of its nostrils, and his eyeballs melted like runny eggs. For me, it felt like a small eternity.
The current traveled up my arm. It was like a struck bell that kept vibrating long after the initial hit. My muscles bunched a million times a second and I couldn’t have released my grip on the wire if I wanted to. My entire body entered lockdown, clenched around the painful thrum of the electricity as it tried in vain to short circuit my body.
Most electrocution deaths happened when the heart entered an arrhythmia. Without a heartbeat, I was safe from instant death. But enough damage to my brain and other organs could do the job just as effectively.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t will my fingers to open. My teeth ground together with the effort of trying to make my body respond. My poor muddled brain could only come up with one solution, and it wasn’t a good one.
“Valerius,” I pleaded silently. “Valerius, please.”
For a few seconds of agony, I felt nothing. I sat, wrestling with the wire, while a hundred wolves watched my suicidal bid to win the fight. Then the heat of the demon’s presence brushed along my aura, pushing me aside for the time being.
My fingers went limp around the cord and I withdrew the hand from the water. Hairy’s pelt had separated from raw flesh like boiled cabbage. His legs continued to kick weakly, but he wasn’t a threat to me any longer.
Valerius considered my hand for a moment, holding it up for inspection. I couldn’t make out any words but got an impression of vague annoyance. One half of my hand was red and raw, the dermis stripped away by the intensity of the electrical burn I’d sustained. The edges of the wound were hard and black.
Was Valerius annoyed that I’d damaged its vessel? If so, he had to be pissed off after the events of Hamburg.
The alien presence did not retreat and leave me in control, the way it had during my daring escape attempt. My eyes slid across the crowd of wolves, taking note of the relative positions of the wolves with the cool detachment of a sniper sighting a target.
It would be so easy. The beasts were weak with sickness and hunger. Even the strongest of them had been no match for a mere brush of my power. They could be easily dealt with. Crushed beneath my mighty fist, or simply torn limb from limb by the useful mortal girl.
This place smelled of death and fire. I could sense it bubbling just beneath the crust of the earth. My mother’s corpse had been laid out to create this world. Now the lifeblood of the sleeping behemoth would drown the crawling, pathetic troglodytes and would send them back into the oblivion from which they’d sprung.
Acrid smoke curled up from my skin, coating my nostrils with the smell of primeval destruction. Yes. Cipactli will be avenged. First, this jut of land would crumble into the sea. Then I would set find that traitorous bitch Coyolxauhqui and tear her head off a second time, sending it so far into the void of space that her power would never allow for revival again.
“Nat! Fucking hell Nat, snap out of it!”
Dom’s blow stung my cheek and shocked us both out of the raging bloodlust that consumed my body. Valerius’ disbelief that a mere mortal would dare strike him gave me just enough of a handhold to reassert rightful control of my body.
I collapsed to the stage, shuddering as the warmth of Valerius’ presence retreated. All the pain piled onto my body at once, hunching my shoulders forward until I nearly screamed from the intensity of it.
Dominic’s arms slid over my shoulders. I bucked against him, my flesh so hypersensitive from the heat and electricity I’d just endured that it felt like razor blades running across my skin. Still, he didn’t let go.
“Shh. Shh, it’s over Nat. You can stop crying. I’ve got you.”
Had I been crying? I’d been too far gone to notice. Another sound wrenched itself from my throat, a horse mix of scream and sob.
For an indeterminate stretch, I knelt on the stage with sparks showering us from the blown lighting system above. They fizzled and went out upon contact with the damp floor of the stage. The electrical surge squeezed a few bars of an uplifting reggae track from the speakers, but then the music faltered and died.
Dominic’s body tensed next to mine and I unwillingly dragged my face up so I could get a look at what was approaching us. If we were being attacked, it would be up to Dom to take on the next round.
Valerius had nearly gone nuclear, and he had only a small amount of power over me. How much worse would it become the next time I ceded control? The time after that?
A horde of dirty, barely clothed people staggered toward us down the stairs. The thick bands of scar tissue around their necks finally clued me into who they must have been.
The wolves looked less frightening in their human form. Most weren’t well-fed and only a dozen of them looked to be in the early stages of the disease. I was amazed that the rest were still standing.
The leader stopped just short of the still thrashing corpse of Hairy the alpha werewolf. Her hair had probably been pretty once. It was the deep shade of mahogany that most women had to pay for at a salon. But it
was lank and unwashed, and the lack of good nutrition had stolen the shine from it. Her hollow cheeks made her appear more gaunt and forbidding than she probably meant to be.
I stumbled to my feet, hefting my shovel awkwardly over my shoulder, trying to look as dangerous as I could in my ridiculous yellow miniskirt and long coat. Our eyes locked for a moment, and then, a moment later, she sank to her knees in front of me. The rest of them followed suit, a hundred scraggly, barely fed werewolves, prostrating themselves in front of the stage.
“Hail, pack leader,” she intoned. The rest of them rumbled it as well, with a clear lack of enthusiasm.
“What? No.” I shook my head. “I can’t be your leader. Get up…Miss…”
“Bly,” she supplied. “I was Delsin’s second. Now your second.”
“I’m not a wolf, Bly. I don’t have any business leading you.”
Bly stood up and crossed her arms behind her back. “There is something within you, pack leader. We all sensed it just now. No one will challenge you for leadership, and a pack without a leader is dead. Would you leave us without a head, now that you’ve killed our alpha?”
I glanced helplessly at Dominic. It seemed horribly presumptuous to stroll into their pack and take command of it like some sort of modern-day conquistador, trampling all over their rights and traditions just by nature of being more powerful than they were. Cat would have hated it. On the other hand, we were short on allies.
“I won’t lead you for long,” I said. “We’re all going to the fairgrounds tonight. I need to meet with the adherents. We need to find our way off of this island, before the vamps blow it up. Once we reach the mainland, you can sort out who leads who in my absence.”
Bly didn’t look pleased by my answer but nodded. “If that is what you wish. We’ll head out tonight, pack leader.”
“It’s exactly what I want. And Bly?”
She raised her dark eyes to meet mine directly for the first time. I didn’t think I was imagining the fear that glimmered in their depths.
“Yes?”
“Call me Natalia.”
chapter
7
BLY HADN’T JUST CLIMBED TO the top of the social chain by being bigger and tougher than anyone else. She was at the top of the chain because she was clearly the least neurotic of all of the remaining wolves.
I wasn’t sure if most of them had sported a naturally twitchy disposition before the disease, or if the late stages of Elle’s supervirus had the unintended side effect of making the afflicted person paranoid.
Either way, it became a problem almost at once. I’d been forced to share the pair of Macaw and our bag of treats. It wasn’t nearly enough for everyone, but it was something. I’d killed their leader. It seemed only right that I extend a hand of friendship. A few wolves relinquished precious snacks of their own.
Seagulls, crustaceans and exotic birds were set out buffet style on the stage while I explained the plan to the wolves.
“The adhesionists, as you call them, rigged up a warning to new arrivals. In their message, they promised that they will be on the lookout for a flare shot at the fairground. We’re going to set it off.”
A scrawny wolf female with matted dark hair bared her teeth, even though her mouth was full of a chunk of roasted rat.
“You can’t expect us to join with those cowards. Do you know what they’ve been doing? They cloistered themselves in the city center and they plead with people on the mainland for rescue.”
Bly shoveled the last of a pigeon into her mouth and used her freed hands to smack the wolf who’d spoken to me upside the head.
The girl snarled, leaping to her feet. Bly was on her feet a moment later and pushed herself into the new girl’s face, snarling back. Even in human form, hers was more impressive.
“You will do as the pack master says, Riya, or I will rip out your hamstrings as an example to the others.”
I stepped in between them, putting my body between the women, whose metaphorical hackles were standing on end. I’d had enough violence for one night and was not taking any chances of another fight breaking out on my watch.
“Hey, hey, hey! Stop this. There will be no ripping out hamstrings. And Bly, don’t hit her. She has a right to be skeptical. I strolled in here and I’ve turned everything upside down. I realize it’s going to take everyone a while to adjust. I’m not here to rule with an iron fist. In fact…”
I shoved two fingers into my mouth and whistled to get the attention of every wolf on the stage. Heads swiveled toward me, many of them stopping comically in mid-chew.
I raised my voice, though most of the wolves had keen enough senses to catch what I said at normal volume.
“I am not a tyrant. I am not here to rule you or to impose martial law. If any wolf wants to go their own way, they will not be shamed or attacked for it.”
Many pairs of eyes flicked cautiously down to their food. In less dire circumstances I might have laughed. It didn’t matter the circumstance or species, the drive for free food was always overwhelming. It was like staring out over a sea of starving college students. They were gaunt, skinny, dirty, and hadn’t seen a proper meal in a long time.
“You are welcome to take your snacks with you,” I said, trying to keep the wry humor out of my voice. Somehow I didn’t think they’d appreciate being laughed at. “And Dom and I will do our level best to make sure that the adhesionists give aid to you, if they have it.”
That was enough assurance for about a dozen wolves to climb to their feet and exit stage left. Men and women shoved the half-eaten remains of rats and pigeons between their teeth and shifted, bounding away from the stage and their fellows as fast as they could.
Then more left. And more after that. After the exodus had finished, there were only about twenty-five wolves remaining in the circle.
Bly’s mouth twisted down into a sour expression of disapproval, but she held her tongue.
“You can tell me, you know,” I informed her quietly. “If you think I’m making a mistake.”
Bly shook her head. “You are our pack leader. I will follow your lead. The others sense weakness. They’re tired, afraid. But you offer something new.”
“What’s that?”
“Hope.”
I stared down at my hands in frustration. Bly seemed determined to cede more power to me than I wanted or deserved.
Unnerved by the zealous devotion of my newest lieutenant, I strode away, seeking Dom. I found him seated in the wings, watching the interactions between the wolves with wary interest.
I braced my back against the wall and slumped down beside him, letting out a soft sound of pain when I hit the floor. My many bruises throbbed in a keen reminder that I was still not well and wouldn’t be for at least a day or two.
“Why are you hiding back here?” I griped. “I could use some pointers on being a good leader right about now. I’m a little at sea with this whole situation.”
Dom’s full mouth quirked up into an utterly kissable smile. My hands twitched at my sides with the effort not to touch him. Dom had undergone some minor healing courses in the Université de Magie de Marseille. I knew he could make my back feel blessedly numb if he could manage to make my obdurate wand cooperate.
“What makes you think you need any lessons? I think you’re doing just fine.”
My brows nearly touched my hairline. I gesticulated wildly at the significantly smaller group of wolves.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but we just lost over half of our fighting force. I gave an inspirational speech and everything. Most of them noped the fuck out of here. I don’t get it. It worked in Game of Thrones.”
The hint of a smile bloomed into the real thing and a rich, genuine laugh escaped him. It had been so long since I’d seen that sharp, sudden burst of mirth cross his face that I stood back for a few minutes, just watching it play across his handsome features.
“You showed the wolves that you are n
ot here to conquer. That’s a huge thing, Nat. They’re used to the strongest and most dominant person deciding things for them. You gave them a decision, autonomy. Not everyone could handle it. You don’t want an army of sheep following behind you. The ones that stayed are the ones who still have the strength to choose.”
“Or the ones who are too scared to leave.”
He shrugged. “Either way. It’s enough to keep them from abandoning you at a crucial moment. Inspirational speeches are rarely as effective as people think they should be. Don’t believe everything you watch on TV.”
I lost the battle to my itchy fingers and finally took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. He’d saved my life several times over, and we’d been doing nothing but squabble since. It was nice to sit with him in the relative peace of the moment. I took a stab at light humor.
“So you don’t think I’d look kickass on the back of a dragon? I know a few. I think I could manage it.”
Dom’s smirk was wicked and unrepentant. “Emilia Clarke did it better.”
I didn’t dignify that insult with a response.
***
I’d never trust someone who liked clowns.
The original owner of the island had apparently not shared my childhood compunctions with the nose-honking abominations, because they were absolutely everywhere in the fairground. Flanking either side of the gate, guarding a house of mirrors, holding up a sign advertising funnel cakes and corn dogs. The damn things were absolutely everywhere.
A break in the clouds had finally allowed light to shine down on the barren field. It was almost worse painted in the ghostly silver glow.
The Ferris wheel loomed above the park, casting most of the place in its shadow. We stood at the base of the massive hunk of steel as I considered the best way to ascend.
Years of rust and metal fatigue made it unstable at best and a death trap at worse. Bly had volunteered to scale it to save me from the treacherous journey. I’d soundly beaten that idea into the ground. If anyone was going to risk horrible death for this plan, it was going to be me. After all, I’d died before and it hadn’t killed me yet.
Agent of Magic Box Set Page 25