by Rebecca Main
“Who’s the other pack?”
“Noelle knows the name, it’s kind of wordy and starts with a W. We called them the alpha pack and beta pack.”
I run a hand through my long hair, resuming my pacing at the new information. The witches and wolves are working together and stole the ring. Meanwhile, the other wolf pack could very well be the culprit of the second attack and responsible for stealing the other artifact. So which is working with the vampyré?
“Was anything taken?”
“Huh?” My head snaps in Naomi’s direction. “Oh, actually, yes. I think something did get taken. I just caught it before you came in.” And told me your sister was dead. “The diadem is missing.”
“The Caster’s Diadem?” I nod my head. “Fuck.” She slams her hand against the altar, sliding off and onto the ground. The burst of anger is so out of place to her usual demeanor, I almost jump. “That makes so much more sense!”
“What does?” I ask, alarmed by her sudden vigor.
“The attack came out of nowhere, Callie. One minute everything is calm along the border. I’m keeping watch while Noelle and Nova are speaking with Mrs. Abernathy. Then bam! Out of nowhere, this wolf gets stuck with a tree branch in the gut. It wasn’t thrown. It just rose up from the ground and slammed into him!”
A nervous tremor clasps my heart. “What did the wolf look like?” I ask, going for casual and failing miserably. Naomi is too absorbed in her thought process to notice my discontent.
“Blonde. Just over five foot,” she replies absentmindedly. She turns to me abruptly. “Don’t you see? The other pack used the diadem to instigate the fight! A bunch of them ran out past the border to engage with the other pack, and then the witches were all flustered because of the fighting.”
“Which is when you were spotted.” She nods her head eagerly. “And the vampyré? How does he fit into the equation?” I ask.
Naomi slows her stride, knotting her fingers together as she begins to explain her reasoning. “Well, the vampyré wants the ring. Obviously. But the alpha pack and witches have it.”
“And the beta pack has the diadem,” I add pensively.
“And the beta pack started the fight.” Our eyes meet. “And the vampyré, he thanked us. He must have been keeping tabs on all of us. Maybe he’s in league with the beta pack, and got them to instigate the fight.”
“That’s a pretty big jump,” I say slowly, but it does seem plausible. More than plausible. A surge of hope creeps into my heart. “And Nova… she really—”
“He grabbed her and forced his blood down her throat, then snapped her neck," Naomi says calmly. "She died with his blood in her system. In three days, if she doesn’t manage to kill herself, she’ll complete her transition and turn into a vampyré.”
“And then the only way to kill her will be by decapitation or an ivory stake through the heart,” I finish sourly.
Naomi sucks in a tight breath. “They’re going to hunt her down like a dog once we submit our report. They’re going to send out a faction to retrieve the ring, probably that crystal, and most definitely my sister.” A cool chill runs down my spine at the thought.
“No—”
“Yes, Callie. They will. You know it. I know it. And so does Noelle.”
I walk over to Naomi and take her by the shoulders, forcing her to stop pacing. “I wasn’t trying to disagree with you. I’m fully aware of the Council’s lack of empathy,” I respond evenly, “which is why we can’t let them hurt her further.”
Naomi stills completely, her eyes going wide. “What do you mean?”
“I mean—” I lick my lips nervously, releasing Naomi from my tight grasp. “—that we have to save her.” The idea warms me, igniting a hope inside me I haven’t felt in ages. We can save Nova. We can take back the ring. All will be forgiven….
Naomi lets out a choked laugh. “She’s already dead—he turned her.”
“But what if we could change her back?” I cast a wary eye about the room before stepping closer to Naomi and lowering my voice. The very suggestion of my idea is insane. Hell, there’s an enormous chance it won’t work, but we have to try. “Vogart’s Blade.”
Naomi’s eyes widen. The blade is rumored to reverse vampyrism in the newly turned, but the records of such acts have long since been lost. I’m not surprised by Naomi’s twisted expression, knowing how absurd I sound suggesting it, but I manage to keep my own wariness off my face.
“I don’t know, Callie. What if the blade doesn’t work? If it does work, then wouldn’t the Council have it on our best Warrior?”
I shake my head with semi-forced conviction, lips thinning.
“The relic is too powerful. The Council would never chance it being out in the field where it could be taken or lost,” I reason calmly. “You can bet they’ve got it hidden away here somewhere.” Naomi avoids my gaze, chewing on her lip indecisively. “Come on, Naomi. If there’s a chance to save her—even the slimmest chance to bring her back to life—shouldn’t we try? She would for any one of us.”
Naomi takes a deep breath. “I think I know where to look.”
+++
I’m left waiting on the relics third floor storage for Naomi to return, a small backpack resting by my feet, filled with only the essentials for our secret mission. Naomi is packing and double-checking her notes about the location of the blade, but she’s nearly positive its location is here.
I find myself oddly unworried about the threat of being caught. All I’m truly worried about is securing a big enough head start before the Council becomes privy to our escapades and sends a group to retrieve us. That, and whether or not my harebrained scheme will work. Please, let it work, I pray. The blade is our only shot at restoring Nova. It’s also the only shot I have at being reinstated as a Stellar Warrior. If this worked….
The door creaks open a few minutes later to reveal Naomi slipping in. Her face is devoid of emotion, though the black and blue about her face tells a different story. She gives me a brief nod, tossing her bag to rest near mine.
“Did you get the tablet?” she asks. I nod, recrossing my arms over my chest. The tablet holds all personnel files of the Wardens of Starlight, including our tracker identification numbers. If Nova’s tracker hasn’t been disabled or removed from her forearm by the vampyré or herself, then our mission will be a hell of a lot easier.
“Do you know where it is?” I ask, not bothering to hide the slip of anxiety in my voice.
“Of course,” she remarks stoutly, fiddling idly with her glasses. “I confirmed with Noelle, as well.” Naomi catches my startled express with a steady look, walking past me and down the center aisle of the labyrinth of relics.
“You told Noelle?” I whisper harshly, casting a quick glance over my shoulder as I speed after her. “What were you thinking?”
“I thought that Nova is her sister too. She has every right to know what we’re planning on doing. Besides, we need someone to cover for us, and she will.” My lips press together in a firm line. There is no point in arguing, even if I had wanted to keep our plans between us. At least I can begrudgingly accede to her reasoning. Noelle can better ensure our head start. “She said it’s in plain sight. The third shelf. Aisle D4. About halfway down.”
We jog over to the aisle, hands skimming the boxes and their glass lids. Everything is pleasantly clean of dust, in part because of the recent cataloging.
“I thought it was going to be harder to find,” I finally say once we locate the blade, shifting uneasily from foot to foot. I can feel my anxiety building, except I’m beginning to think it might not be anxiety at all. Being in the trenches of the relics is lighting my nerve endings on fire. Like calls to like, I think as the vestiges of the Borealis Matter come to attention. It makes my bones feel heavy. My skin feels too tight. I’m hyperaware of the seconds passing as Naomi carefully removes the case and unlocks it.
“Chill out, Callie. I can feel the tension coming off you in waves.” Naomi adjusts her glasses, win
cing only slightly at the movement.
“Sorry,” I say, forcing myself to take a few deep breaths. Naomi removes the blade. It’s in remarkably good condition considering it is centuries old. The almost sickle-like shape of the blade looks particularly savage to me. The blade, made of onyx, is lined in quicksilver. Though the handle is of much poorer quality, it’s sturdy after all these years. At least I hope it is, among other things. I curb the swell of doubt I feel, chewing on my bottom lip as Naomi tucks the blade away. “Ready?”
She nods and puts away the case, walking away with much surer steps to our gear. I’m startled back a step when she halts a foot away from our bags. Naomi turns around to face me, hair nearly whipping me in the face. I take another step back.
“Tell me the plan again,” she asks a bit breathlessly, the color gone from her face. I square my shoulders and repeat the plan to Naomi.
“Nova’s tracer is still active in the area you were in two days ago and—”
“I bet he left her for the wolves,” she cuts in bitterly, sucking in a few sharp breaths and turning her eyes to the floor. Naomi’s shoulders tremble. “That fucker.”
“Hey.” I reach out to Naomi, but she shrugs away my attentions. “Don’t go there,” I reprimand her firmly, stiffening as I shove away my lingering doubts. I needed to be strong. We only have some twenty-four hours to find Nova, and the threat of another Council meeting being called before we have a chance to leave, is too close for comfort. “We have the blade and the tablet. We’ll get out of the facility, and Noelle will cover for us while we track down Nova.”
“And once we find her… we stab her in the heart with Vogart’s Blade and hope….”
“And then she’ll turn back into a human. The blade only works on newly turned vampyrés. It’s the last necromancer tool in existence. It will work.” It has to work. “All right? Then the three of us will take back the ring and hightail it home.”
Naomi shakes herself of whatever doubt she carries and gives me a curt nod. I nod back, and we grab our bags, striding toward the door.
“Going somewhere?” We freeze. Naomi releases the door handle slowly, as we turn to face my brother. Our expressions kept carefully blank.
“Not at all,” I respond. “What are you doing here, JJ?” He walks closer, out of the aisles and into the main corridor. His approach is too casual. Shit. “How much did you hear, JJ?”
“It’s quite the plan,” he remarks.
“It is.” We stare each other down. His hands come out of his pockets to cross over his chest. I keep mine on the straps of my bag. “JJ—”
“Do you realize how much trouble you’ll be in once they find out? They might go easy on you, Naomi, but Cal—” JJ frowns as if he’s in pain. “—they’re gunning for you. If you go out in the field, they might not let you back. You understand that, right?”
A tightness builds in my throat, but I dip my head in understanding. “I know what they’ll do, but I couldn’t live with myself if I let Nova become a chew toy for that pack of wolves. Something’s going on down there. Something much bigger than the Council or anyone else knows about. We have to find out what it is and stop it.”
“And Noelle is in on the plan too?”
Naomi takes a cautious step forward. “She’s going to cover for us, for as long as she can. Nova’s her sister too,” she finishes softly.
“Okay,” he says with a sigh, shaking his head. Naomi and I share a confused look. Okay?
“So….”
“I’m going with you,” he says calmly, closing the space between us.
“You can’t come with us. It’s our mission.”
JJ rolls his eyes at my insistence. “I’m coming. You really think you two are getting out of this facility without some kind of higher clearance? Besides, this has all the signs of a trap.”
Naomi and I share another look, this one filled with understanding. “The vampyré,” Naomi states. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Which is why you need me.”
“She has me,” I persist. “I got the same training as you.”
“And I’ve been a Warrior longer than you and have more experience than you. This isn’t a competition, Cal. If you want a fighting chance at this crazy plan of yours, then you need me.” I let out a growl of frustration, rubbing my face with the heels of my hands.
“Fine. But we need to leave. Now.”
“Okay,” he says, breathing a sigh of relief. “Let me just grab my bag. I’ll meet you in the atrium in ten minutes, then act as escort to the vehicle depot out back.”
“Great!” Naomi chirps with false enthusiasm, spinning on her toes back toward the door. “Let’s go.” She yanks the door open wide only to reveal Wyatt’s lonesome figure standing right outside. Shit.
Chapter 7
Lying in Wait
I’ve lost track of time, which isn't good for Nova's time is quickly running out. It takes three days for a person to transition to a vampyré, and between the sister's travel time returning to the Banks and ours back out... we don't have much time left.
Naomi is incensed with the addition of Wyatt to our group, but there is nothing to do about it. With no way to prevent him from coming, our only choice is letting him tag along. Wyatt’s saving grace is commandeering a bush airplane to get us as far as Fort McMurry. Wyatt even paid off the pilot to take the remainder of the day off to extend our head start.
Signs for Calgary are appearing more and more frequently out the window. Hopefully, that meant another pit stop soon. The back seat of our hijacked utility van isn’t exactly comfortable, especially considering I’m sharing it with Wyatt.
“Are you going to keep glaring at me for the rest of the ride?” he murmurs, lip quirking upward even as his eyes remain closed. He sits opposite me in the back, legs spread out in a wide V.
“Yes.”
One eye opens. “You’ll get wrinkles,” he informs me.
“I’m hardly concerned,” I hiss back. “Now, be quiet. Naomi is trying to sleep.”
“I’m trying to sleep too, but you keep glaring at me. I’m afraid you’re going to murder me in my sleep or something.” I'm tempted too. His other eye opens at my adamant expression. “What?”
“Why did you insist on coming? I mean really, why? Your whole story back at the Banks was total bullshit. Who were you trying to fool saying you liked Nova?” I scoff, and Wyatt straightens at my curt tone.
“I do actually like her,” he tells me with a scowl. “At least out of the three of them. Noelle’s too uptight. Naomi is… weird. Nova’s by far the most tolerable.”
“You’re a dick,” I inform him, “and you didn’t answer my question. Why did you insist on coming along?” His gaze darts almost worriedly to the front seat where JJ drives and Naomi rests beside him. Then he’s shifting and moving to sit right next to me. “This seems unnecessary,” I mutter under my breath.
“I came because of you,” he tells me, voice low in my ear. My eyes look in the rearview mirror and catch JJ’s hard gaze. He doesn't like that Wyatt came either. “Do you realize the amount of risk you're putting yourself in to save someone who is beyond saving? She’s a vampyré now, Callie. There's no way between all this travel time her seventy-two hours aren't up. She’s one of them. It sucks, but it’s the truth. Your little Hail Mary pass with the blade isn’t going to work. We don’t even know if it works.”
“You don’t know that,” I hiss back.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replies. “What I know is that the Council has plans for you. For us. And this plan of yours could get you killed.”