by Judy Teel
"You've created an inter-D flea repellant?"
Miller winced. Deep lines pleated around Mistress Raevinne's mouth as the corners pinched down. "Should we survive this, my mission will be to teach you some manners, young lady."
"The difficulty is that the effect is temporary," Miller interjected before I could get in a good comeback. "About twelve to fifteen minutes."
Same as my darts. "Fast metabolisms," I said instead, my mind racing over the possibilities their new formula presented. "The timing of re-inoculation has to be perfect. Too fast, and the suppression might cause the inter-Ds to freak and kill their host. Too little, and anyone in the last stages could die and infect more people."
"Dr. Barrett has coordinated with Danny. They'll be treating the quarantined Weres on a precise schedule," Miller answered.
"But does it work?" I asked. "Blood samples are great, but how does it perform in the field?"
Mistress Raevinne poured tea into her cup from the pot in front of her. "He is running trials this morning."
I wondered why he wasn't here. "This is good," I said, feeling my first glimmer of hope in a long time. Mehk had explained to me that dimension hopping used the barrier itself as a channel to travel through. The inter-Ds couldn't survive there, but neither could Were DNA when it was in 3-D form. When he pulled Jesse through, the sick Were's wolf aspect was more dominant than his human. When his Were DNA was stripped away, that's what was left.
"If this works," I continued, "I might be able to stop the infected Weres from dying. Though I can't guarantee that they won't be like Jesse after I do." Or if I'd even survive to try dimension hopping with them in the first place.
"You mean permanently make them wolf?" Miller asked.
"Or possibly human," I offered.
"No. We will continue to work on this problem," Mistress Raevinne said. "We will not abandon the Weres to this terrible annihilation. Or to a mundane existence."
"What do you know about the Tor'nysoos?" I asked her, deciding a change in subject to something more pertinent considering our current odds of success.
Her mouth pinched into a hard line. "A creature of legend and myth like all of us."
A non-answer if I'd ever heard one. I claimed an empty teacup and poured tea into it. Taking an experimental sip to test the temperature, I quirked a brow at her. "I can wait until you feel like talking."
A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth before she gave a long and dramatic sigh to express the imposition I was putting on her. "It is said that once the Earth belonged only to the gods and goddesses. But being immortal grew tedious and lonely, so after a time they decided to create companions for themselves." She relaxed against the pillows at her back and her voice took on a mesmerizing cadence that made me think of ancient tribes and campfires and the oral historians that were so crucial in that time.
"The god, Pan, molded a race from the Earth itself coupled with the nebulous world of colors and light from which the gods came. The goddess Diana created a people from her love of animals and of the hunt, also linking them to the world from which she came. Perceiving what his siblings in their joy and exuberance had not, Aedodra called into being a race to bring balance, a people spawned from death and power. And the gods loved them all."
A shiver snaked down my back as I remembered the discoveries I'd made over the last few months. In particular, a certain conversation in Charlotte with two people that I suspected weren't people at all.
"The three races lived and ruled in peace and cooperation," Mistress Raevinne continued. "But without a way to infuse new energy into their family lines, after a time their numbers dwindled. Practitioners and Weres coexisted peaceably, but law demanded they not procreate. The vampires did not require such, but they needed acolytes to train, to feed on, and to convert in order to increase their numbers."
"So humans were created," I guessed, taking another sip of the fragrant green tea to cover the tremble in my hand.
The older woman nodded. "As the most compatible species to both Weres and vampires, practitioners were chosen as the pattern from which to build. In return for Pan's compliance, vampires and Weres swore to cooperate with the practitioners to protect this weaker race."
"But the human race prospered," Miller interjected. "So well that they began to dominate the world."
"Like cockroaches?" I chimed in, remembering something that Rosalind had once said.
Mistress Raevinne narrowed her eyes at me. "Worse, they turned from those to whom they owed allegiance and became their predators." Warming up again to the story, her expression cleared. "Outraged, the vampires complained to their creator. 'Are we not the superior race? Were humans not created for our purpose, to increase and sustain our numbers?'"
"So their master decided to wipe out the other two races," I said, setting my cup down and trying not to wince at the nervous clatter it made against the saucer. "He ended the agreement between him and his siblings and cut loose his vamps to do what they wanted with the humans."
"Not as pleasantly narrated, but exactly so," the older woman said with a sniff. "It was war. Determined to win, Aedodra created the Tor'nysoos." She frowned. "But you do not deserve to hear how his plans almost succeeded."
I pushed to my feet. "Thanks," I said, giving a slight bow of my head to her, knowing how much that kind of thing meant to the older paranormals. "You answered a lot of questions for me." I started for the door, but paused halfway and turned around. "Except you didn't mention the Demon-Weres. How did they come in?"
"The Tor'nysoos was unstoppable," she said, handing my cup to Miller, who dutifully took it to the sink to wash. "We needed champions that were up to the task. A new species born of practitioners, Weres, and the gods." Almost the same words as I'd read in the book Dr. Barrett had given me.
I did my best to keep my expression neutral, even though I felt like I was about to jump off a cliff. "Why are these champions a threat to all four races, now? Why was I told that I'd be killed on sight if I ever revealed myself?"
"We are now living that answer," she replied and her beady-eyed gaze seemed to bore into me like a drill. "Though the Tor'nysoos was formed to destroy practitioners and Weres, the energy of a Demon-Were, the embodiment of all its maker's enemies, draws it even more strongly. The gods are nothing if not clever."
"When this is over, are you still planning to kill us?" Not that she'd tell me, but I wanted her to know that the possibility was on my mind.
"The ones that caused this unpleasantness are also all that stand between us and annihilation, so..." She lifted her shoulders, a singularly Gaelic movement that insulted, implied stupidity, and absolved her of everything in one eloquent roll.
Using the kitchen table for leverage, she carefully got up from her chair. "I must rest," she stated, and Miller rushed forward from the kitchen to help her. I watched her fragile progression toward a hall off the main room which probably led to the bedrooms, not fooled for a minute. She was one of the toughest people I'd ever met.
Sure enough, she paused a few feet down the hall. "Sixteen hours have passed since you and the old one delivered your first strike to the creature," she said, her back still to me. "Do what you must to prepare. We will see to the sick."
CHAPTER TEN
Mehk and I stood at the Bone Clan gate in borrowed sweatpants and T-shirts, extra clothing, canteens and emergency food stuffed into the small backpacks we each carried. In that same spirit of planning for possible outcomes, I also carried my arsenal of weapons in a small duffle bag. Other than that, preparation for what was to come had consisted of sleeping and then eating a full meal an hour before exit time.
You can never really prepare for the possibility of dying. There aren't enough hugs you can give, or enough "love you's" to express. You make yourself as comfortable as you can, and then do your best to face it, consequences be damned.
At least the inoculations of the infected Weres had started. Also, secure behind the barrier the practitioners had cre
ated, the healthy Clan members were dealing with their stress by shouldering the extra work and moving forward with what needed to be done as the compound prepared for winter. Like us, what else could they do?
The only thing I couldn't reconcile myself to was leaving Danny uncollared during the emergency, but I grudgingly understood the necessity. With so many new cases, Dr. Barrett could only do so much. I asked Cooper to keep as many guards as he could spare near quarantine and told myself to let it go.
"It's time," Mehk said to me.
At my request, Cooper hadn't come with us to the gate. I knew that if I looked at him, I'd want to hold onto him, and if I held him, I'd never be able to leave. Usually, that kind of sentiment irritated me, but for once I didn't feel interested in reminding myself that loving people made you vulnerable. I was beginning to understand that in some ways, loving people makes you stronger.
"Let's go," I said, turning away from the compound. I paused next to Bald Guy, who looked like his best buddy was about to march off to the front. "Tell me your name," I said to him.
He looked startled. "Ralph Kragston."
"See you later, Ralph. Keep the gate open."
He came to attention and saluted me. "You got it."
I caught up to Mehk at the edge of the woods and we followed the beat-down trail from the fight, veering off to hike down to the rocks where I'd shifted after the Tor'nysoos attacked. We stashed our bundles of extra clothing and weapons in a large crevice and camouflaged them with some loose rocks. If we succeeded with plan one, Mehk wouldn't need his, but I didn't want to think about that.
If we didn't, plan two was to run, lock the gates behind us and then dimension hop as many people to safety as we could before our strength gave out.
Save lives and if we both survived, try again. I thought as far as plans went it sucked, and I was pretty sure everyone else at that meeting had felt the same way.
Mehk shaded his eyes with his hand and looked at the sky. "We don't have much time left. Are you ready?"
"No, but that doesn't really matter does it?"
I grasped his wrist.
"Wait," he said, his gaze intense. "No one must know that you can do this, do you understand? No one."
Fear edged under my ribs.
"There's no sacrifice they wouldn't make to reclaim what's been lost to them. Broodmare, weapon, experiment — take your pick."
"I'd like to see them try," I said, scowling.
"That's my girl. Okay, let 'er rip."
I breathed in through my nose nice and slow, out then out through my mouth. Control your Were nature, don't let it control you, I silently repeated. As the center of my chest started to pulse with energy, I focused it into my free hand like Mehk had taught me. When the pressure built to a nearly unbearable level, I swept my hand through the air. Like a paintbrush, my palm drew a line of light, a cut in the air. We stepped through, the soul-deep cold hit me, and we were standing next to the white fountain in the ruins.
Looking around at the piles of rubble, the crumbling chimney, I thought of how the village had appeared in the Fourth World, as Mehk called it. "What happened to the others?"
Mehk's gaze fastened on what was left of a stone wall and I remembered him coming triumphantly out the cottage with hunks of fresh bread. "There weren't any others, only me. I was the last survivor of this village. The last Dragon Were."
His gaze swept over the ruins and I wondered what ghosts he could see, what laughter or screams he heard. "Our Clan was Aedodra's first target. After the Tor'nysoos moved on, the practitioners from the local coven found me, slit open from throat to belly. To their astonishment, I lived. When plans were made to create a monster equal to Aedodra's beast, I didn't hesitate. I gave them everything — body, mind and soul."
"But why seal you in 4-D? Why all the elaborate spells and linking and all that?"
His hands curled into fists and for the first time, I saw anger on his face. Then his expression and his fingers relaxed. "It wasn't enough. Despite the risks, despite those who sacrificed their lives to remake me... I wasn't enough."
He dropped his gaze to the ground, the muscle along his jaw flexing. "Those who could, crossed into the Fourth World and created the village you saw and designed the way in. Then they built a trap using my blood. I lured the Tor'nysoos to this fountain. When I touched the water and disappeared, it followed me. I landed in my new home. Targeting on my blood, the monster triggered the trap and went dormant."
The weight of his sacrifice pressed down on my shoulders like a boulder. I felt ashamed of my petty disappointment over him not trying to find me before. "It's not a home," I murmured, "it's a prison."
"But as long as I never shifted or manipulated dimensions, the Tor'nysoos remained dormant, just as it was before Aedodra animated it."
Mehk looked up and our gazes locked. "You need to know that we loved you. More than anything. More than our own lives."
I blinked back tears. "I'm sorry for creating this. I'm sorry I didn't know."
He reached out and pulled me into a hug, and I felt the love of family for the first time in my life. "I can't regret the time I've been with you."
Mehk stepped back and smiled at me. "Together, then?"
I nodded.
As I felt the glow of the shift spreading through my body, I watched it in Mehk, like a mirror. In perfect synchronization, twin bubbles of light surrounded us.
Then light exploded around me, dissolving my borrowed clothing and for that moment, turning me into something beyond my physical world. I passed in and out of the Fourth World in an instant and stood facing my father.
Mehk stood in front of me in his dragon-form, his silver eyes wide. He made a quick, excited gesture. I wondered what had gone wrong during the shift. Had I manifested as a giant cat like Cooper had once teased me I would?
I swung my tail to the side and cocked my head to peer down at it, adjusting the angle of my head to get it into focus. Instead of the gray lizard-like scales, jeweled armor, the rich, iridescent colors of a sunset covered the muscular surface. Along the top, a ridge of quill-like hair that ended in midnight black spikes that looked harder than diamonds.
Bringing my hands up, I stared at them in wonder. Black talons tipped my long, fingers. I brushed them down the sleek line of my belly where shiny black scales lay in tight rows.
Holy shit, I'd been upgraded.
I felt around a bit, suddenly concerned, and then breathed a sigh of relief. No pouch though, thank God. Didn't care how practical it would be, still weird. Then another terrible thought hit me. I spread my wings and gave a powerful downward thrust, lifting up and then gliding back down to settle gently on the crumbling flagstones.
I grinned at Mehk. He pointed at the water in the fountain's basin, and I dropped down on all fours to look at my reflection. Even on the rippling surface, I could see that I resembled a slightly smaller version of my father. I bared my teeth and admired the long, sharp rows, also made of what I hoped was the indestructible black substance. Man, I was pretty.
The Tor'nysoos wasn't going to know what hit it.
I felt the opening of the fourth dimension behind me as the quills running up my back rippled in reaction right before the smell hit me. Mehk nodded and I launched into the air as we'd planned, while he sprang to the other side of the ruins. Below me, a ball of energy formed about twelve feet from the ground, taking on that shimmery quality of a heat wave. It exploded outward and the Tor'nysoos stood in its place.
It looked up at me with its disgusting multi-faceted eye and let out a defiant screech. Another chill rippled down the quills along my back. Looked like I'd been declared public enemy number one after our last little tussle.
With no more warning than that, the Tor'nysoos gathered its nasty legs under it and sprang.
The thing bulleted straight for me. I veered to the side with an undignified yelp, kickboxing toward it as I did. The claws on my back feet scraped across its snout as it snapped at my belly. I sc
rambled to gain control of my altitude as it dropped back to the ground and sprang at me again. What the hell had the thing become, a giant flea?
I anticipated its trajectory, and with two powerful beats of my wings I elevated out of range, taking another swipe at its face, this time aiming for its multi-faceted eye. It ducked and did a flip in the air, kicking out with its own back legs, the curved spines along them coming within inches of my flank.
As it dropped back to the ground, Mehk sprang forward to attack it from behind. At the same time, I tucked my wings in and dove for its face. If I could blind it, we might actually have a chance. But the Tor'nysoos anticipated my intent, ignoring Mehk and ducking its head as it stabbed upward with its front legs. The dagger like tips hit the talons of my back feet, echoing off the cliffs around us like the ringing clash of swords.
Mehk sprang at it. Landing on the Tor's back, he ripped and shredded, in a smear of motion, and then jumped off and away as it spun to counterattack the new threat. I wheeled around and dove at it, this time ignoring the face and adding a track of wounds across the mess that my father had made of its back.
Thick brown liquid oozed from the wounds, spreading across its back and down its legs. We'd done it. It had no choice but to retreat now.
As we'd planned, Mehk slunk forward while I feigned another attack to keep its attention. To carry it into 4-D he had to grab hold of it, the most dangerous part of the plan.
When he was almost in striking distance, I flapped my wings, stirring up a blast of wind and dust to hide his approach. Almost there, I thought. Just another few yards.
The Tor'nysoos sprang at me.
* * *
I lost altitude as I dodged to the side, and the monster and I collided in midair. The bug-croc clamped four of its six legs around my body and squeezed as we dropped to the ground. I felt the armor of my skin give and then pop as its spines broke through. A rage of blistering torment exploded from each point as the Tor'nysoos landed upright on its remaining two legs and slammed me to the ground, its spines tearing free of my body as it did. I rolled away as its mouth and the double-rows of sharp teeth filling it struck at my throat, barely avoiding the killing blow.