An Unhuman Journey

by Candace Blevins

  “Did the captive Celrau know a timetable? When are they planning to have their army amassed enough to provoke all-out war?” I’d been introduced to the guy who asked, but I couldn’t remember his name or what he was.

  Nathan answered from beside me. “He wasn’t high up enough to have that information, though I’m of the opinion they may have a loose time frame in mind but likely haven’t nailed the specifics down. The important thing for today’s meeting is that the Concilio has enough data they’re authorizing us to wipe out all but seven Celrau. They’ll keep those specimens alive at an undisclosed location — likely somewhere in Europe — so as to refute accusations of genocide.”

  “The Concilio’s charter is very specific about what has to happen before we wipe out a race,” said Randall, his voice somber.

  “It is,” Abbott agreed. “Everyone knows the first steps in the process involve holding a species’ numbers in check, which we’ve attempted to do. Now that they’ve gone to another realm to thwart the rules, and are planning to basically wipe out the species that make up the Concilio…” He shook his head. “Taking them down to seven and holding them prisoner is likely as far as they’ll go. None of us know the repercussions for outright genocide. We have one in captivity, we need six more, and then we’ll have carte blanche to slaughter the rest.”

  “Drake Security has been chosen to coordinate the attacks in North and Central America,” said Nathan. “We’ll be contacting all of you to ask for people to help, because the game plan is to attack them all simultaneously, sometime during the week before the next new moon. It’ll be a blitz, and we hope to take the vast majority out in one night.” He looked to Abbott, and then his gaze travelled around the table. “It’s my opinion the lower level vampire we have in custody hasn’t been told the location of the top level Celrau. Our blitz will take out a huge number of Celrau in this realm, but they’ll still have their top people alive here, plus the nests on the other continents, plus the vampires in the Underworld. If any of you have contacts in the Underworld, and access to get your people in and out, I’d appreciate you coming to me later so we can discuss the viability of an Underworld attack.”

  I left at six thirty, explaining I had other obligations for the day. They were still talking and planning when I left, but I selfishly hoped I could stay out of whatever happened next.

  If Xaephan were telling the truth, I didn’t have to worry about the Celrau anymore.

  And if I didn’t have to worry about the Celrau, could I just stay away from the supernaturals until everyone forgot about me? I was smart enough to know it was probably wishful thinking, but I was still trying to come up with a plan to not be a part of whatever came next. I never wanted to return to Hell. Ever. My family needed to come first, and if that meant tucking my tail and hiding, then so be it. I’d held it together okay while I was there, but I’d been alone and terrified and… no. I needed to find a way to get all of the supernaturals to forget I’d ever existed. It seemed impossible, but fear flowed through my veins at the thought of Lauren being told I was dead. I wasn’t sure she’d recover from it.

  I followed Lauren to school before driving the few blocks to my office. I very purposefully didn’t go to the bathroom until my assistant arrived, though — it was just too creepy to even go near the room while I was alone.

  It was nice to get back to my patients, to push my own worries out of my head while I helped them deal with theirs. I ordered lunch in for one of the patients I’d had to cancel on because he was in crisis and it was the only way to work him in. He was a long time patient so the casual atmosphere of sharing a meal as we talked worked okay.

  When my last patient of the day left at almost seven, I was starved and exhausted, and not entirely happy to see Mordecai in my waiting room.

  I walked my patient out and returned to my office, where Mordecai had made himself at home on one of the sofas.

  “You spoke with Ex last night?”

  I sat in another chair as I nodded and gave him the details.

  “You’re freaked out about this. You were alone and scared, and now you just want to walk away and pretend none of it happened.”

  I nodded and held his gaze. I might be a coward wanting to run away, but I’d at least look him in the eyes and admit to it.

  For perhaps the first time, I saw compassion in his eyes. “You’re too embroiled in our world to walk away, but this doesn’t mean you need to remain as involved as you’ve been thus far. It’s important you keep up with your training, either with me or others, and it’s important you’re around enough the dark side doesn’t get the idea they can abscond with you and we won’t care.”

  “How do I back off but stay involved?”

  “Drake Security’s main control room will be running every op in North and Central America when we attack. They’ll have someone in charge of the control room, but they’ll need someone running each operation as well. Let’s talk to Nathan about getting you whatever training you need to run one of them. You’ll have a whole lot of people in the same room, each running your own op through the technology, and running things through the main guy if your teams need to coordinate somehow.”

  I nodded. “So, I’ll be involved, but relatively safe sitting in the bowels of Drake Security.”

  “I know Aaron would be on board with this plan, and I think Nathan will, if we approach him the right way.”

  “When will Aaron be back?”

  “If he comes back, it might be a while. Let’s just focus on Nathan as running Drake, for now.”

  “If Aaron returns? Are you worried?” I wished someone would tell me what the hell was going on with my friend, and I was terrified at the thought of something happening to him. He’d been around forever and was supposed to always be there. I loved him. Didn’t matter it wasn’t a romantic love, he was still important to me.

  “He’s an ancient dragon and he’s managed to stay alive this long, but with what’s at stake for him — yes, I’m a little concerned. There isn’t anything we can do for him, though. He’s in hiding for a reason.”

  Chapter 19

  Nathan arranged for the operators and field commanders to have a meal together a few days before the attack — the idea being we’d work better as a team on the radios if we’d recently spent time together in person. A local restaurant catered the food, and he’d brought tables and chairs into the old gymnasium. We were assigned tables to assure we ate with the people we’d be working with, and I got my table number when I signed in.

  I introduced myself to a huge bear of a man as I approached, and he shook my hands as he told me his name was Lewis.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” he said, and his big brown eyes told me he meant it. “We’ve all heard tales of the human who killed a god, but you’re just a little thing.”

  He wasn’t the least bit condescending, and I laughed, happy Nathan had put me with someone nice. “Next to you, pretty much everyone’s small.” I nodded towards the empty chairs. “Do you know who else will be on our team?”

  “Randall and I’ll work together in the house. Martin doesn’t get along well with others, so he’ll be in charge of the perimeter team responsible for making sure none of the Celrau escape.”

  “So I’ll be dealing with three field commanders?”

  “Not exactly. Randall is the field commander because he’ll have a large contingent of wolves. I’m a Kodiak bear and I’ll only have a few of my people with me, so we’ll follow Randall’s lead. Martin will also have to follow Randall’s lead.”

  I jumped as a voice boomed out behind me, “I agreed to follow Nathan’s lead. Not the wolf.”

  I stood and faced the man because every instinct in my body said I didn’t want him behind me. He was big, perhaps six foot five, and built like a pro-wrestler. I grinned to myself as I wondered if he could wipe his ass with his lats so big, and his eyes narrowed. Apparently grinning wasn’t on the list of approved reactions upon meeting Mr. Badass.

 
Refusing to show fear, I held my hand out and introduced myself. He looked at my hand a good five seconds before finally shaking it, and when he did, he squeezed until it hurt.

  Great, a big guy with an ego problem.

  I no longer have to cause horrible burns to get my point across, so I heated my hand until he turned loose of it.

  His reflexes made him pull away, and I could see the anger and venom in his expression as he realized I’d bested him. Before he could speak, I stepped back and told him, “Congratulations, you’re bigger and stronger than me, but I have a few tricks too. If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back.”

  “You. Little. BITCH.”

  I smiled. “Yes. Yes, I am. The question you need to ask yourself is if you want this little bitch on your side or not.”

  “Here’s a clue,” said Nathan as he stepped to us. “You really want her on your side, Martin. However, should you choose otherwise, keep in mind she’s under my protection.”

  “And she’s a Friend of the Pack,” Randall said from behind me.

  “So quick to come to the little human’s side, aren’t they?” he asked me. “I’m not surprised the wolf is protecting his little whore, but the great and powerful Amakhosi isn’t usually influenced by pussy.”

  Nathan opened his mouth to say something, but I gave him a sharp look and he closed it. He knows I appreciate his help but I prefer to fight my own battles.

  “Please don’t hurt me on purpose again, Martin. When I break I can’t just change and heal, as I’m assuming you can. Let’s sit and have a meal together and see if we can find some common ground so we can work together.”

  Neither of us moved, and as the uncomfortable silence grew, Randall said, “Kirsten wounded and captured the single Celrau we have. She’s the reason we have the intel necessary to put this op together, Martin. Like her or not, she deserves to be in the room.”

  Martin finally walked to the other side of the table and sat, and I took my seat again, happy he was front and center where I could keep an eye on him. Nathan patted me on the back before walking away, and Randall sat beside me.

  Martin inhaled deeply. “You smell like Lugat. Vampire.”

  “Bran has been giving me his blood so the Celrau can’t turn me right away if they capture me.” They might not be able to take me back to the Underworld, but I didn’t trust Aquila not to try for me again.

  “Bran doesn’t give his blood for free. How many of us are you fucking?”

  “I don’t even know what you are, Martin, so I can’t answer that question.”

  He breathed in again. “There’s another smell. Something different. Makes you feel more like a victim or a weakling. What trick is this?”

  Nathan returned and sat on the other side of Martin as he said, “She’s a vegetarian. Makes her smell a bit more like prey than most humans.”

  Martin’s voice took on an accusatory tone as he told Nathan, “You didn’t like her when you first met her.”

  “Oh, I liked her just fine. We didn’t get along very well, but it wasn’t because I didn’t like her.”

  I grinned at Nathan and then looked at Martin, “Yeah, Nathan and I had a bit of a personality conflict, but we’ve worked it out. When we’re fighting demons, he follows my lead. When we fight other things, I follow his. When he knows more about something than I do, I usually take his advice — but he gives me advice now and not orders. Usually, anyway.”

  He looked at Nathan. “You follow her lead?”

  Nathan took a drink of his tea and nodded. “She knows how to fight most of the lower level demons people end up calling here, so it’d be stupid not to.”

  Martin was quiet a few seconds and I changed the conversation. No one had told me what Martin was, and it felt like something I should know before we worked together. “I’m pretty sure you’re a shifter, though I have no idea what flavor. I think you’re probably an Alpha, but I won’t ask what you are. My only nosy question will be to ask how old you are.” Because you’re acting like a toddler who hasn’t learned to control his tantrums, but I didn’t say that part out loud.

  He spent a few minutes debating on his answer before he finally said, “I’m a lot older than you, though nowhere near the age of Nathan or Mordecai.”

  I had a feeling using Nathan and Mordecai had meant to make him seem older. A lot older than me could put him at seventy-five, which seemed more likely than eight hundred or more years old.

  I kept my suppositions to myself, though.

  Martin tried to goad me into another argument a few times as we ate, and I successfully managed to ignore or shunt his attempts.

  I discovered I really liked Lewis the Kodiak Bear. He was literally a great big teddy bear in human form, though I instinctively knew he’d be deadly when cornered into a fight.

  The caterers had brought the food and left, and I was surprised when everyone stood and started stacking chairs, throwing away the trash, and folding the tables.

  When everything was cleared away, Nathan, Abbott, and Gavin gave a few demonstrations of how best to disable a Celrau, and then how best to kill them. Nathan didn’t give details about what the swords should be made of, but merely said every fighting team would have at least one person with one. Those without the proper sword should disable the enemy during the fight, and then someone would come along later to kill them true.

  I didn’t see Mordecai arrive, but he joined the men in the demonstration and pointed out the easiest way to disable the Celrau would be to hack arms, and legs off, finishing with, “The Concilio wants us to capture some to be held in captivity so we don’t wipe out the race for good. We’ll choose amongst the ones you’ve disabled, and I’ll arrange transportation to the Concilio holding facility. Please leave their heads on their bodies if possible, so identification and sorting will be a little easier.”

  I have excellent peripheral vision, and I noted Martin watching me from across the room during the demonstration, but I didn’t look his way. Randall and Lewis were still with me, and I had a feeling they were making sure Martin left me alone. However, as Nathan and Abbott ended the demo, Martin walked to us and stopped right in front of me, and a good ways inside my personal space.

  “The hand caught me off guard, but it was really nothing more than a parlor trick. What else do you have?” He looked up as Nathan, Mordecai, and Abbott walked towards us, and then looked back to me with a sneer. “For someone who’s supposed to be a badass, it seems the men in your life don’t want you to have to fend for yourself.”

  “I think I’ll keep my tricks under my hat for now, Martin. I don’t have special vision, hearing, or smell, so I’m usually stuck with a bodyguard. I can sometimes sense danger, but not always. I’m also pretty fragile, and I don’t have special healing abilities unless Bran’s around to give me blood.”

  “Word has it you prefer fighting with a quarterstaff? Perhaps you and I can spar a bit now that the meeting’s over.”

  I glanced at Nathan and he looked alarmed, but Mordecai was smiling.

  I met Martin’s gaze. “Perhaps, but I’m guessing you weigh almost three times what I do, and you’re a good foot and a half taller. We’ll have to find a way to even things up.”

  Nathan said, “No, Kirsten. You can’t.”

  “I’m pretty sure I can.”

  Martin gave a cocky smile. “Whatever she wants to do to even things up, I’m sure it’s okay.”

  “You’re sure?” Nathan asked, his voice doubtful.

  And suddenly I understood — they’d set him up. Someone had let it slip I prefer the quarterstaff, and now Nathan was getting him to agree to whatever terms I thought would even things up. When I injured the cocky asshole, he’d have to shift to heal and then I’d know what he is.

  “How much can you heal from, Martin?” I asked.

  “I really don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that. I’ll try not to hurt you — no broken bones or damaged organs or head injuries. I doubt you’ll be capable of landing an
injurious blow, so I won’t ask you to hold anything back.”

  “Humor me a minute — if you lose a limb, can you grow it back right away?”

  He hesitated before answering, “If I lose less than about sixty percent of it, yes.”

  “How long does it take?”

  “I can heal it almost immediately.”

  “But you have to shift to do it?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if you lose more than sixty percent?”

  “It takes me a little longer, but it isn’t permanent.”

  “Okay, rules for the spar: It’s over when one person calls uncle, or if you shift. I have to stay human, so for the purposes of the match, so do you.”

  “Sure thing, toots.”

  I keep workout clothes in the locker room, and I didn’t want to mess up the business suit I was wearing. I ignored the toots and told him I was going to change into some looser clothes.

  When I returned to the gymnasium, he was in one of the boxing rings and I looked to Nathan in question. Generally, they like to keep me out of the rings so I don’t accidently melt through the roped fencing.

  “I think I’d like to see the two of you go at it with more space,” Nathan told Martin. “Why don’t you come down and use one of the larger mats?”

  Martin shrugged and jumped down, landing as gracefully as a cat. You can’t always tell what shifters are by their movements, but I was willing to bet he was a big cat.

  I met him in the middle of a mat and he sneered, “What’s the matter, babe? You getting cold feet?” His sneer turned into a smirk. “You need a quarterstaff, dollface.”

  I was getting deja vu from when I’d done this with Randall, though I hadn’t really wanted to fight the werewolf Alpha. Martin, on the other hand, had me looking forward to kicking his ass. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized this was not the way to bow out of the supernatural world, but then again — defeating yet another powerhouse might make people think twice before kidnapping me. Maybe.