by Ann Gimpel
Stewart turned a few pages and nodded. “’Tis right here. If we mix garlic paste and holy water and tie them into a leather pouch that also contains rosary beads, a crucifix, and consecrated earth, we should be safe enough. At least for a short time. And this willna be a battle that lasts overlong.”
“But we’re hardly Christian,” Elliott protested. “Where will we get holy water and rosary beads and consecrated earth? Let alone sixty crucifixes.”
“We could steal them from a church,” Keenan spoke up. “Probably several churches.”
“Wouldn’t stealing negate their ‘holy’ quality?” Elliott asked, and then added, “Don’t bother to answer that. It goes against the grain, but we need to find a priest, tell him why we need religious items, and hope to hell he decides to provide them. At least that way, we’ll have a man of the cloth to bless the consecrated earth and holy water.”
“Mayhap more than one priest,” Stewart said. “Since we need enough to outfit sixty men.”
Michael clapped his hands together, and the buzz of side conversations quieted. “Elliott will approach the Catholic Church near the center of town. The big one. I’ll go to the Anglican Church nearby. Their priests live there, and hopefully haven’t retired for the night quite yet. Regardless of what the shifters decide, we’ll need those amulets. While we’re about securing materials, the rest of you return to your caravans and select four other men to join us. Return here by midmorning tomorrow. If the goddess is good to us, we’ll have what we need to craft an amulet for each man. Shouldn’t take too long. We’ll bind everything with magic.”
Elliott rose. “Once I’m done with those tasks, I’m going to the place Tairin agreed to meet me. And I’ll remain there until she shows up.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Michael’s gaze augured into him.
“Then I’ll hunt for her.” Before his caravan leader could protest, Elliott added, “You’d best have someone besides me selected among your four—in case I’m not back in time. If Tairin doesn’t return, it means the other side of her bloodlines turned on her. She risked herself for us, and I won’t rest until I find her.”
He crawled over the others and let himself outside. Michael hadn’t argued, but maybe that was because he recognized Elliott wasn’t about to capitulate. The roar of planes flying low spooked the horses, and he sent calming magic into their minds. It also decided how he’d get to the huge, old Catholic Church in downtown Munich. After making certain Flame had feed and water, he dragged an old bicycle out from beneath a storage wagon and pedaled into town. It wasn’t far, but he couldn’t fire his mage light. Not where humans might notice.
Without the books to divert his attention, he worried about Tairin and sent prayers to whatever deities might be listening, asking them to keep her safe. Did shifters have their own gods? He had no idea, but from now on, he vowed to accept them as brothers. The war with them would stop with him. They had a common enemy in the Reich and their vampire sidekicks. Every single being with magic would do well to remember it.
Tairin’s feet stung as blood returned to them. The passageway was warmer—and much longer—than the one in the other shelter. Jamal had remained silent after his warning, and she’d considered it a blessing since her ability to be civil to him was in serious decline.
Shadows flared on the tunnel’s walls, and she scented a fire burning. Rather than a room off the tunnel, this one opened into a large, circular chamber with a fire pit in its center. Men crouched around the fire, dressed similarly to her father in formfitting leather garments. Some had long, full beards.
A vulture winged its way from the chamber’s dim recesses, cawing. Tairin recognized shifter magic and gazed at the bird. She hadn’t seen any other shifters since fleeing Egypt. None she’d recognized as such, anyway.
“Meara!” One of the men shot to his feet and shook a fist at the vulture. “You were to remain hidden.” Tall and lanky, the man’s coppery hair was chopped unevenly to shoulder length. His hazel eyes radiated censure.
The bird snapped its beak in his direction and continued straight for Tairin. Midflight, shifter magic simmered with the scents of new mown hay and wild rosemary, and the bird sparkled into a woman with long, gray hair. She executed a graceful somersault and landed on her feet right in front of Tairin. Her hair cloaked her nakedness, trailing on the room’s wooden planked floor. Shrewd amber eyes examined Tairin from head to toe, digging into her soul.
“I was expecting you,” Meara said in a low, melodious voice. Power spilled from her in bright, multihued waves, and something ancient surrounded her aura.
“Glad someone anticipated my arrival—besides my father,” Tairin muttered. “Are you a seer?”
The man who’d shaken his fist at Meara stalked toward them. “I told you not to interfere with what Jamal brought back to us. We planned for information, though, not his half breed daughter in the flesh.” Derision added an unpleasant twang to his words, and he looked pointedly at Tairin and sneered.
She girded herself for a battle that would likely mean her death, but her wolf said, “Hold. Don’t be hasty. The vulture was one of the first shifters. Her presence is significant.”
Interesting information, but Tairin remained vigilant. Just because the bird shifter was old didn’t mean she’d be any more kindly disposed to a Romani than any of the rest of her kind.
With an oddly avian gesture, Meara angled her neck to regard the man who was closing on them. “You lack power or authority to order me about. I am your prophet. As such, I decide what I will—or will not—do.” She raised a hand, and the man stopped in his tracks, his face working with disbelief and fury.
“You offer us a call to arms.” Meara addressed her words to Tairin.
“Yes. More than that, though. My offer entails fighting a common enemy with the Romani.”
“Aye.” Meara cackled softly. “Vampires. I saw them in my glass too.”
“Did you see if we won?” Tairin asked.
A low hissing rattled from between Meara’s teeth. “Such is not for anyone but me to know. I forgive your question this once because you do not know our customs.”
“So I can’t ask you anything?” Frustration soured Tairin’s stomach further. Perhaps Meara wasn’t quite the ally she’d appeared at first. Tairin rocked from foot to foot. Feeling had returned to them, and the rough planked floor was studded with splinters.
“Trust that I will provide what information you need. Hold still, child.” Meara shuffled closer and placed a hand on either side of Tairin’s head.
She steeled herself. Was the ancient seer about to send a killing blast of magic through her skull?
Meara cackled again. “If I wanted to murder you, I’d scarcely require proximity. I wish to sort through the years of your life.”
Heat flashed through Tairin, prickly and uncomfortable, but not to the point of pain. Her wolf preened under the attention, whuffling inside her. The sensation ceased abruptly, and Tairin resisted an impulse to shake her head. The shifter had taken her measure. No more. No less. She stared into Meara’s amber eyes, noticing they had bottomless pupils. “Did I pass inspection?” she asked.
The corners of Meara’s mouth twitched, but stopped before curving into a smile. “Now that’s the sort of question I will answer. Yes. You have courage and have grown into a woman we shall include in our ranks. No more Romani caravans for you.”
“Wait a minute. I get a choice in this, right?”
“Why would you desire one? We are superior to them magically—and in every other way as well.”
Tairin bit hard on her lower lip. She wanted to argue, but it would be a waste of time. Besides, it was hard to defend a culture that had lashed her mother to a bier and set fire to it. She squared her shoulders. “Will you help the Romani defeat the vampires? It’s the reason I came. To secure help.” She hurried on. “Vampires are strengthening the Reich. We cannot let them win. If they do, magic will die out of the world.”
“Wh
ile I agree with your conclusion, the nest you stumbled on are hardly the only vampires in all of Germany.”
Meara’s words were quiet, but Tairin felt naïve, young. She’d underestimated their opponent, but that wasn’t a reason not to press forward. “Probably not. But if we come up with a way to deal with the ones we know about, when the next nest shows up, we’ll have a method in place.” An idea blossomed, and she ran with it. “The more of us who know how to dispatch vampires, the better the odds we can defeat them. Make certain they can’t help the Nazis anymore.”
Meara did smile then, but it held bitter edges. “You’re determined for us to join forces with the Romani. Why?”
Tairin dug deep. “Maybe because I hold both bloodlines, and so long as you’re at war with one another, there will always be a part of me that feels offensive, unclean.”
“That was a good answer. Wait there.” Light flashed around Meara, and she materialized in front of Jamal. “Why did you bring your daughter into our midst today?”
Her father, who’d sank to a crouch next to the fire pit, scrambled to stand in Meara’s presence. “Because she wouldn’t reveal where the nest was any other way.”
“Why did you abandon her as a child? Nay, back up a few years. Why did you mate with someone forbidden in the first place?”
Color stained his cheeks, visible even in the room’s dim light. “I tried to stay away from Aneksi, but I loved her. Would have taken her away from both our people, but she refused to leave her caravan. Her parents were old, ill. She was their caretaker.” Jamal spread his hands before him. “If I had it to do over, I’d have taken them all into the hills. I’d found an oasis where we—”
“Enough. What would you do to correct a very old wrong?”
Jamal continued to stare at his feet. “I’m not certain what you mean.”
“It’s a simple enough question.”
“Maybe so, but with you, nothing is ever simple. You’re testing me.”
Meara nodded. “Aye. Have you learned anything these past two hundred years?”
Jamal looked past her to where Tairin stood, watching. “I’m not certain quite what I’ve learned, but I want to find a way to honor my daughter’s request to aid the Romani who took her in when I forsook her. It’s the only thing she’s ever asked of me since I closed my door on her long ago.”
Something hitched painfully in Tairin’s chest, and her throat thickened with emotion. She’d misjudged Jamal. He’d been icy and abrupt to dissuade her from entering a circle of his kin where he wouldn’t be able to protect her if things went sideways.
“We will never fight alongside Romani.” The man who’d rebuked Meara jutted his chin defiantly.
“Never is a long time,” Meara observed, her tone devoid of inflection. “And we is a big word. You can speak for yourself, but not for others.”
“But I lead this pack,” he sputtered. “The wolves who are part of this gathering answer to me.”
“Pah. I outrank all of you. Once all magic wielders—except vampires—viewed themselves as allies. We have moved into an era where that must happen again. All things come full circle, and this is no exception. The Reich is our common enemy. Not the Romani. Or witches. Or Druids. Or any odd mages practicing their craft independently.” She swung in a circle, eying the collection of men scattered about the room. “Do any of you disagree with me? If so, you may leave now. I will sever your connections with your pack, and you will become a pariah to our people. Rather like Tairin has been all these years.”
“Y—You don’t have to do that,” Tairin stammered.
“I never act unless it is in the interests of all my people,” Meara informed her.
None of the men moved. Even the pack leader shuffled to a corner and hunkered next to a wall. Resentment streamed from him, but living with it was apparently preferable to becoming a lone wolf.
Jamal moved to Tairin’s side. “How many of us were you hoping would assist your Romani family?”
“I hadn’t exactly gotten that far. Maybe two dozen. Two shifters plus several Romani could target each vampire.”
Meara glided to them. “Are you confident the Romani will welcome us?”
“No.” Tairin swallowed hard. “One will. Maybe two for certain. The rest I don’t know.”
Meara’s thin lips stretched into a genuine smile. “I’ve always appreciated honesty. Shall we find out just how many Romani will embrace our aid?”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” Tairin extended a hand.
After a hesitation, Meara grasped it. “Not one of our customs, but I recognize it as important to you. Where is this caravan of yours?”
“There’s a well-hidden spot where I’m to meet one of the Romani who believes in me. I can travel in my animal form more easily if I wait until nightfall. You could all shift and run with me—or fly.”
“The rest of us will want our clothes—and our human bodies—if we’re to sit and parlay with a group of Romani,” Jamal said. “Describe where we’re to meet. Each of us will get there in our own way.”
She didn’t have to say very much before most of the shifters recognized the ruined castle and left the room in small groups. The wolves’ pack leader slunk past her, keeping as much distance between them as he could.
“Would you like to rest for a few hours?” Meara asked her. “I know where the castle is, and you must’ve run most of the night to get here.”
Tairin was tired—and hungry. “Is there anything to eat? Or maybe I could shift and hunt.”
“I have food. Return with me, and I’ll watch over you until nightfall makes it safe for you to return,” Jamal said.
“Shift and run with her,” Meara said, her words an order. “Perhaps one of the Rom will take pity on you and loan you a shirt and trousers after you arrive.”
“If they don’t, it’s scarcely the end of the world. I’ll make certain no harm befalls Tairin on her way back to the Romani.” Jamal started toward the false cliff.
Before Tairin followed her father, she turned toward Meara. “Will you meet with the Romani too?”
“You asked me that for a reason. What is it?”
“I have a…friend. He’s seer to the Romani. You two might have a lot of common ground.”
Meara’s eyes crinkled knowingly. “Somehow I sense he’s more than a friend. Yes, I will be there. I’ve hated vampires for millennia. Wouldn’t miss this opportunity for the world. Now hurry along and get some rest.”
“Does that mean you’ll fight too?” Tairin asked.
“Indeed, it does. Why would you even ask?”
“Fath— I mean Jamal said shifter females don’t take part in battles.”
“Generally, that would be true, but I’m one of the first shifters. I do what I please. No man directs my actions.” Power streamed from Meara, cloaking her in a swirl of color.
Tairin inclined her head. “I came prepared not to like any shifter, but I respect you.”
“The feeling is mutual, child. Now go.”
Deep within, her wolf howled its happiness. Tairin felt like dropping to her knees and howling right along with it. Today had come out so much better than she’d hoped, she still couldn’t believe something awful wasn’t waiting in the wings to nab her.
Vampires are waiting, she reminded herself. They’re about as wicked as things get.
Jamal stood outside the false cliff face. “Would you like me to carry you? The ground is frozen.”
“It’s kind of you to offer, but I can walk. You were right about it not being far. It didn’t take all that long for my toes to thaw out. After a while, the wooden floor was almost worse than cold dirt because of all the splinters.”
He shot her a solemn look. “You have strength. I’m not responsible for any of it, but I admire what you’ve become.”
The words rang sweetly within her. She walked by her father’s side, curious to know more about him. About how he’d spent the years they’d been apart.
No rush
. We’ll have time.
She shut her eyes for a moment, willing her thoughts to be true.
“No matter how much time we have,” Jamal’s deep voice rumbled, “I’m grateful for a chance to repair the chasm I created between us. Sorry for gleaning your thoughts, but I want to know everything about you, so I’m cheating. I’ll stay out of your mind if my presence there offends you.” He glanced away.
“It’s all right. I want to know more about you too. Mother never would tell me much except that business called you away a lot. She finally admitted what you were not long before they dragged her off to burn her.”
“You’d shifted by then, so you must have figured that out on your own.”
“Yes. Me shifting was how the Rom found out. And why they burned Mother. It was a hell of a price. I felt responsible for her death. Then when I went to your people—” Her voice broke and she willed herself not to cry. Not over centuries-old pain.
“Yes. I know what happened then. I’ve had a long time to replay that day, even though I didn’t find out about it until months later.” They reached the cliff and Jamal said, “You open it this time. Repeat after me. That way shifter shelters will show themselves to you when you have need of them.”
Tairin was grateful for something else to focus on. Magic flowed through her, and the gateway formed. She walked through with Jamal behind her. “Do me a favor,” she said without glancing back.
“Anything, as long as it’s within my power.”
“For the rest of today, teach me shifter lore. I can’t focus on the past. It’s too distracting.”
“I understand. Let me get you something to eat. Bread and cheese and wine. I’ll tell you about the first shifters. Your wolf knows, but you would have had to ask it. Just like you’re asking me.”
She curled onto the sofa, tucking her cold feet beneath her, half-dozing in the warm room. Jamal placed a plate of food next to her and moved one of the chairs close.