Feathered Touch (Wyrd Bound Book 2)

by Shen Hart

  Alex glanced over Ryan and Dan as they shifted their weight from foot to foot, waiting impatiently for us to get going. He simply gave a small nod before he looked to Nik and set off into the forest. I ran my hands over the stones of the wall and was quite relieved to see that it was old and pitted, which meant there were hand and foot holds. They were small but workable. I hadn’t particularly liked the idea of shifting into my raven form, only to shift back into my human form to pull Ryan up and over. I scaled the wall and perched on top waiting for the boys. Ryan didn’t have too much trouble, but Dan scowled at it as he lost his footing for the second time. I took a deep breath and reminded myself not to blame him. He’d clearly given up as I saw his hawk form fly over the wall and land on the lawn. Ryan looked at me with a smug smile before he dropped down onto the grass. It was only natural to have that competitiveness between the boys. As long as it didn’t get in the way of the task at hand.

  We stayed close to the wall and made the most of the shadows as we approached the sprawling manor house. The pale gravel driveway was lined with flashy red and purple maple trees. It took us a few minutes to reach the house even at a steady jog, which had a large circular driveway surrounding an imposing fountain in front of it. We crouched down by the wall and each shifted our wolves just enough to check the scents in the area. Nothing but a couple of heady aftershaves. I smiled and moved forwards. Things were going quite smoothly. The moon slipped behind one of the scant clouds that hung in the dark sky, giving us more shadows to hide in as we approached the dark house. I kept looking around me, waiting for something to try and jump us, but it never happened. The boys remained close, but fortunately not too close. We kept low and headed across the veranda to the front door. Each of the tall windows was dark and had the heavy curtains drawn inside, which stopped us from getting a look inside. I walked up to the ornate wooden double door and grabbed the doorknob.

  As I twisted it to open the door, Ryan whispered, “We’re seriously going in through the front door?”

  I looked at him. “Would you rather we smashed a window and made a bigger entrance?”

  He looked abashed and shrugged. I shouldn’t have been so sarcastic, but I saw no reason to make life more difficult for ourselves than we needed to. If we could walk in through the front door, then we were going to.

  The owners clearly felt quite comfortable in their manor, as the door opened with ease. I half expected to be greeted by a butler, and was mildly disappointed when I wasn’t. I reminded myself to get my head back in the game as I surveyed the double-height foyer with cream marble floors and a chandelier, because the marble wasn’t ostentatious enough. We heard a lot of voices and some laughter as we stepped into the foyer. I glanced up the grand staircase and saw no movement. We didn’t know what to expect, so we kept our energies pinned down tight around us. We didn’t want the angels to sense us before we were ready. They were strong and sneaky. We needed to ambush them if possible. I ran my tongue over my lips in anticipation of hearing angel screams again. It’d been too long. We stayed close together and moved quickly across the wide-open space into the wide hallway towards the voices. I saw no reason not to get a look at numbers. I had no doubt that Alex would berate me for my brashness, but the more information we had, the better, and the humans were going to die anyway. I saw no reason to worry about killing a few before the date the Sisters gave. The voices hushed and took on a chanting tone when we came close to the third door on our right, which seemed to be housing the people.

  I looked back at the boys and saw Nik and Alex approaching from in front of us. Alex gestured with his hand for me to step away from the door. I grinned at him and pushed the door open a couple of inches and peered inside.

  Chapter Seventeen

  There were far more people than I’d expected. I had it in my mind that there would only be ten or so humans and a couple of angels. Instead I saw what must have been at least thirty people and four angels. The people were crowded in a circle around a low-lying table as they chanted. The energies rippled outwards from them. Even with my own energies pinned down against me, I could feel it. That wasn’t good, not even a little bit. The angels were standing at the far side of the room, looking quite smug. I wondered if angels were capable of facial expression outside of smugness, condescension, or fear. The shortest of them, with messy-spiky straw-blond hair was leaning casually against the fireplace in a well-worn leather jacket.

  He yawned and looked around the room, which led to his gaze meeting mine.

  I froze for a second and made the split-second decision to move forwards. Retreating wasn’t in my nature, particularly when angels were involved. Alex growled and his fingers slipped from my arm as he tried to grab me when I barged into the room. The chanting stopped and the ripples faded as people looked at me. I pulled out my blades and looked at the angels while the people began to panic. Someone screamed, others shouted, while the tall black-haired angel smirked at me, he calmly watched the mass of people shoving each other and scrambling to figure out what was happening.

  “Thalia. It’s been too long.”

  I bared my teeth at him while trying to watch the people. The blond laughed quietly as he began to wiggle his fingers much like a puppeteer. The people’s hysteria grew. Some began clawing at themselves, while others became violent towards each other. Some sank to the ground, their eyes glazed over as they became catatonic. I told myself that if I could just get to the angels and hack the hands off the blond, then I’d be able to regain some semblance of control. I heard Alex shouting over the screams of the people and ignored him. Some people were pressed against the walls sobbing, one was clawing at his eyes, but I pushed through them all and focused entirely on the blond angel. Hands tried to grab hold of me. Others attempted to bite me. I swatted them away and tried not to harm them too badly; it would only increase their panic and give us more bodies. They were under the angel’s influence. His cohorts had vanished, but he remained with the twisted grin on his face.

  The hysteria grew, and Dan managed to fight his way through the humans to get to the angel first. I hadn’t seen him moving through the crowd, but he beat me to it. He pulled his knife in preparation for the angel. I was slightly impressed that he’d restrained himself from using it on the humans. The angel’s grin widened as three humans leapt on Dan and took him to the ground. Ryan and Nik went to his aid; the angel, however, looked bored. He rolled his eyes a little and his hands stilled. The people calmed, the violence eased. The screaming, however, didn’t really subside.

  The angel gave me a calm smile and said, “Alistair. Time to go.”

  A man with olive skin and pitch-black hair stepped out from the crowd and flashed me a charming smile before he vanished into thin air with the angel.

  Alex’s voice echoed through the room, “Everyone out. Now.”

  I went to Dan as he sat slumped against the wall while the people ran for the door in a stampede. Some people were left crushed on the floor, a few were scattered around the edges in various states of disarray and panic. I struggled to have much sympathy for them. They had gotten into a cult with angels, after all. I crouched in front of Dan and hooked my finger under his chin, bringing him to look up at me. His eyes seemed clear. He managed a weak smile as he tried to stand.

  “Just stay still a moment, those assholes hit hard.” I said to him, trying to be comforting.

  I ran my hand down Ryan’s arm as I looked him over. Both of them had bloody noses and lips. Ryan had more blood on his shirt from his ribs, but he was standing ok. Nik vanished into the crowd. I had to assume he was returning to Alex’s side.

  Dan swallowed hard. “I thought I had him, the angel.”

  “They’re tougher than they look.”

  “They do look like prissy-boys.”

  He tried to laugh, but it came out as a dry cough. I ran my hand over his hair and looked back to see if the room had been cleared yet. Alex was checking a pair of humans at the edge of the room. He pulled out his kni
fe and slit their throats. Ryan stood and watched, he looked back at me with confusion and mild horror. I merely shrugged. I knew Alex would have had a good reason for it. Given the chaos and violence that had filled the room only moments before, they had likely sustained massive injuries.

  Nik, however, was kneeling next to the low table trying to talk to a waif of a woman. Alex stood and approached Nik. I gave Dan one last look before I joined him. She had clearly been the centre of the ritual. Nik leaned forwards a little in a protective move over the woman. I bared my teeth. He was in no position to be guarding something from me. Alex gave me a look of, “leave him.” I ignored him and inspected the woman. She had elegant sigils carved into her arms and up her legs. They’d been started on her chest, but had been stopped midway through. Her eyes looked to be glazed over and she wasn’t responding to Nik’s questions. Alex knelt next to her opposite Nik. He touched her hand, and I lifted my energies to try and feel her.

  Her energies were a collection of shards. They were barely hanging together by threads no bigger than a spider’s web. I frowned and looked to Alex as I caressed my daggers. Slitting her throat was the most humane thing to do.

  She took a sharp intake of breath and tried to sit up suddenly. “What happened?”

  Nik squeezed her hand. “You’re ok.”

  “Who are you?” the girl said. Fear added a tremble to her voice. “Oh God, the ritual, did it go ahead?”

  Tears started to stream down her face. “What’s wrong with me?”

  I lifted my blade and approached her. “It’s ok, we’ll end this.”

  Nik put himself between her and me. “No.”

  I bared my teeth at him. “What do you mean, ‘No’?”

  His nostrils flared and his eyes took on the amber hues of his wolf. “She’s fine. There’s no need to do this.”

  “She is not fine.”

  She was trembling and pulled her knees up to her chest. “Please, what’s going on? The last thing I remember is them starting the ritual with the sigils.”

  I looked to Alex. “How long?”

  He shrugged and stood. “Maybe a week, depending on what Ark can do.”

  “You hear that Nik?”

  He glared at me. “There’s nothing wrong with her, it’s just a little blood loss.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you so blind to her energies?”

  He swallowed hard. “A week is better than nothing, maybe she can help us.”

  He finally lowered his eyes and softened his voice.

  I growled, “She’s your responsibility. It’ll be down to you when the time comes.”

  He nodded and looked to the girl with a smile. “I’m Nik, we’re here to help you.”

  Dan limped over to us with the help of Ryan. “It looks like we’ll be keeping Ark busy again tonight, then.”

  “He’ll have plenty to say about that.”

  I gave Alex a half smile. “You know he loves it, really.”

  He laughed in spite himself. “I’m sure he does.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Alex had taken Nik and the girl in his car, leaving Dan and Ryan with me. It’d taken us a little longer to reach my car with Dan limping, but he didn’t appear to have anything too badly broken. The wall was a little difficult, but we managed. Once he’d gotten into the back of my car, he started returning to his usual self.

  “Why did Nik carry that girl to Alex’s car?”

  I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as I pulled away from the house. I didn’t like his tone and said, “She may be able to give us more information on the angels and their cult.”

  I wasn’t amused at Nik’s pushing and being allowed to keep his little pet, but she could have some use. Given that he would have to kill her to end her suffering, she could have more than one use. A small smile crept across my lips. I knew the Sisters would be appalled at my sadism, but that only made me happier.

  “How did you manage to kill the angels? Dan didn’t even touch them.” I smirked at Ryan’s little dig at Dan. It wasn’t entirely fair, given Dan didn’t even get that close, but it amused me nonetheless. I felt Dan glare at Ryan. The slight shift in air temperature in the car was more than enough to let everyone know how Dan felt about that statement.

  “Dan, control your energies.”

  He grumbled under his breath.

  “I killed angels by being very good at what I do. That, and having a pair of blades with more energy work woven into them than I care to disclose.”

  Ryan uttered some semi-satisfied noise in response and left it at that. As the house came back into sight I felt myself begin to relax a little as the sensation of home crept into my mind. I didn’t know I felt about it, but I saw no reason to fight it in that moment. I helped Dan out of the car and considered an apology, but caught myself and remained silent. He’d pushed. I had nothing to apologise for. I wrapped my arm around Dan’s ribs as carefully as I could and helped him put his arm around my shoulders. Ryan took his other arm and opened the front door when we needed it. I heard Ark’s laughter as we headed into the kitchen.

  He was beaming as he looked over the girl. “You do get yourselves into trouble, don’t you, furballs?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at him. I helped Dan sit down on one of the seats around the kitchen table before I joined Ark in looking at the girl. Ark collected himself and tried to make himself serious, but apparently the way Alex had told my carefully planned recon mission had tickled him. The girl was looking around at everyone wide eyed. Her dark hair fell loosely around her shoulders, and she tried to tuck her knees up to her chest.

  Ark scowled at her and stopped her. “No, no, I need to look at those sigils.”

  Her eyes somehow managed to go even wider.

  “Can we give her a drink?” I said somewhat hopefully.

  Ark raised an eyebrow at me. “No. That won’t help. You can get Dan one, though. He won’t like his treatment.”

  Dan glared at the elf and I laughed. I had to. I handed Dan a shot of vodka and knocked one back myself. The burn trickled down my throat and made things feel that little bit better. Ark closed his eyes and moved his hands over the girl, no doubt assessing the damage that had been done to her. I watched as his face tightened and his hands moved more slowly. The news wasn’t good. Nik tried to get a little closer to the girl. His protective streak was growing wearisome. Alex looked at him pointedly and gestured for him to back off and let Ark be.

  Ark took a deep breath and looked between Alex and me before he shrugged gently. “I think you already know.”

  The girl sobbed, “I’m going to die a horrible death, aren’t I?”

  I shrugged. “That depends on Nik, really.”

  Nik and Alex both shot me dark looks that I ignored. I didn’t know what their problem was, what I’d said was true.

  Ark petted the girl on the head. “It won’t be that horrible. You’ll lose touch with the world and feel as though you’re floating away. It’ll be more like a weird dream, or like you’re really stoned.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Ark. He knew what being stoned was like? I smirked to myself. He was a healer, of course he did. Ark tried to look innocent before he refocused.

  The girl swallowed down more tears and asked, in a feeble voice, “What did they do to me?”

  “They disconnected your energies from your mind and body, leaving a very thin thread there that’s slowly disintegrating. Your energies aren’t made to withstand that, so they’re now in shards, and crumbling. Eventually they’ll shatter completely, and you’ll be entirely lost. At best you’ll die peacefully; at worst, you’ll slip into a catatonic state and suffer intense nightmares for the next few decades.”

  I raised an eyebrow and stage whispered at Ark, “What sort of stuff were you smoking for that to be your experiences with being stoned…?”

  Her bottom lip wobbled, but she kept herself under control.

  Ark stepped back and looked at Dan. “I hear you tried to
take on an angel. That wasn’t very smart. You’re going to have to learn to be more careful, and the best way to do that is through feeling the pain from your mistakes.”

  I got the distinct impression that my dear elf enjoyed his work a little too much sometimes. Nik put himself between Ark and Dan. His broad form dwarfed the elf, though Ark looked nonplussed.

  “You’re supposed to be an amazing healer, can’t you do something more for her?”

  I glanced over at Alex, who should have been keeping Nik in line, before Ark puffed up his chest and stepped forward, saying, “If I try and do the energy work I did on Thalia, on her, there’s a good chance we’d both die. Do you want that?”