Stormwind (The Storm Chronicles Book 3)

by Skye Knizley

  Raven handed Aspen to Levac and drew the Automag he’d given her. It wasn’t her father’s, but it still felt right in her hand, like an extension of her own body. She chambered a round and stepped through the exit into a sub-basement beneath Green Mills. Four men in suits were seated at an old card table in the middle of the stone walled room. Half a dozen or more tunnels exited the room in all directions and a staircase led up toward distant music.

  The men jumped up when Raven entered and reached for Mp5 submachine guns hanging from slings under their jackets. Raven’s pistol spat flame and all four men went down in a hail of copper-jacketed slugs.

  “I’m guessing you’re pissed,” Levac said from behind her.

  “I’m so far beyond pissed it’s a distant memory,” Raven muttered back.

  Levac turned and pointed toward the stairs. “That leads to the basement under the club, we can get out to the street from there and not have to bother going all the way out.”

  Raven pulled a spare magazine from Levac’s pocket and ran toward the stairs, stuffing the magazine in her pocket as she took the steps two at a time. She paused at the top and looked back at Levac who was looking down at Aspen. Raven’s heart ached when she looked at her friends. If Aspen wasn’t gone she would be soon and it was hurting Levac as much as it did her.

  Levac looked up and Raven nodded. He nodded back and Raven turned back to the door. She gave it a kick and followed through. The door had hit a waiting guard in the face and knocked him to the floor; several others were spread around the room, their weapons held at the ready. Raven shot the guard on the floor and kicked the next one in the face, breaking his nose. She shot the next three and shoulder rolled behind a crate to reload. Bullets bounced around her taking chunks out of the wooden crate and the wall behind her but Raven simply moved her head as if she knew where the bullets were going to strike.

  She stepped out from behind the crate and shot two more of the guards, leaving only the one holding his shattered nose and one reloading his rifle. Raven shot the one reloading his gun and squatted next to the injured one. She placed the hot barrel of her pistol on the side of his head and leaned close.

  “Okay, bub, my friend is dead or dying and I’ve had a really bad day. Give me a straight answer and you might just live through the night. Got it?”

  The man tried to shy away from the sizzling barrel, blood squirting from between his fingers.

  “Yeah…yeah, I got it, what do you want to know?”

  “Where is the alpha lycan?” Raven asked.

  “The what?” the guard asked.

  Raven pushed the hot barrel into his head, making a circular burn. “Once more. Where is the alpha?”

  The guard tried to shake his head, smoke rising from his skin. “I don’t know, if she’s not in the temple I don’t know!”

  “What about the male? What about Eliazarr?”

  “He’s never here, she handles everything,” the guard replied.

  “If you see her, if she comes out of that hole, you tell her a Storm is coming. You tell that bitch I’m coming and I’m bringing hell with me,” Raven said, her eyes glowing like the fires of Hades. “She will wish she had never been stupid enough to kill anyone in my city.”

  The man fainted from fear and pain. Raven glared at him in disgust and turned to Levac, who had stepped out of the stairwell.

  “Which way is out?” she asked.

  “Behind the barrels and up the stairs into the alley behind the club,” Levac said.

  Raven looked in the direction Levac had indicated and saw the barrels. A partially concealed door was just visible behind them.

  “Got any more rounds?” she asked.

  Levac shook his head. “No. That was all I could grab when I found out you were missing.”

  “I’ll get some from the Shelby,” Raven said.

  “Um… I don’t have the Shelby,” Levac said. “It was towed into the impound lot when you were found missing and Sanchez dead with one your bullets in his brainpan. Your Automag and stuff is in evidence.”

  “Fabulous. So we’ve got the Nash and I’m almost out of bullets.”

  “And you’re still breathing and I’ve forgiven you,” Levac said. “Don’t forget that part.”

  Raven gave Levac a look and ran across the room. She vaulted the barrels and kicked the exit door, making sure no one was behind. Nothing but cool night air came through the gap. She motioned for Levac to follow and passed through the door into the night. She shot the two guards at the top of the stairs and stepped into an alleyway, checking the building on either side for lycans or snipers. Seeing nothing, she drew her bow and side stepped down the alley, still checking all around for any danger.

  Levac joined her at the mouth of the alley, Aspen still held close to his chest.

  “The Nash is down the street toward the front of the club.”

  Raven heard him, but she was looking at a nearby classic GTO Judge.

  “Shouldn’t we go?” Levac asked.

  Raven glanced at him, stepped off the curb and put her fist through the GTO’s driver side window. A second later the car’s big block V-8 roared to life and she leaned over to open the passenger door and push the seat forward.

  Levac slid Aspen into the back seat and joined Raven in the front.

  “So we’re adding destruction of property and auto theft to our repertoire?” he asked.

  Raven laughed. “You need to read my record, Rupe. We aren’t adding anything.”

  She pressed the gas and the large car roared down the street, ran a red light and passed into a narrow alley with millimeters to spare. Raven ignored the garbage cans that came flying up the windshield to disappear behind them and just kept pushing the car, racing through dark alleyways and narrow side-streets until Old Towne came into view. She skidded to a halt in the no parking zone near Marie’s and slid out. A few seconds later she had Aspen cradled in her arms.

  “We’re not going to a hospital?” Levac asked.

  “She’ll die in a hospital,” Raven replied. “Or be paralyzed. We need magik.”

  The door to Marie’s was locked, but it didn’t stop Raven. She kicked it open with one foot and stepped through, sending Marie’s magpie fleeing for his life.

  Raven laid Aspen gently on the counter.

  “Marie? Marie it’s Ravenel, I need your help right away!”

  Marie came through the beaded curtain, her ebony face etched with lines of anger.

  “Ravenel, what is going on? I’m in the middle of a séance.”

  “Tell them to get the hell out,” Raven replied. “I’ll gladly play twice their fee and they can come back later. This is more important.”

  “Ravenel, who is that?” Marie asked, looking at Aspen.

  “Her name is Aspen, ma’am,” Levac said, closing the door as best he could. “She is Raven’s familiar and she’s dying. Raven believes you can heal her.”

  Marie checked Aspen’s pulse and shook her head. “I can do little, Ravenel. She is very nearly on Charon’s boat.”

  Raven grabbed Marie by the throat and picked her up off the ground. “Marie. Marie LaVeau. How stupid do you think I am, houngon? I know exactly who you are and what you can do. Bring her back or I will snap your neck like an old pencil!”

  She set Marie down and glared at her with feral green eyes. The mambo rubbed her neck and looked at Raven with a mixture of fear and respect.

  “Give me one moment, Fürstin Ravenel,” Marie said.

  She disappeared into the back room while Raven leaned on the counter and tried to get her vampire under control. Once she’d let the Sanguinarch out of the bag she seemed unwilling to go back.

  “That wasn’t like you, Ray,” Levac said. “You can be blunt, violent, angry, but I have never seen you hurt or threaten an innocent or someone you cared for.”

  “She’s not an innocent, Rupe,” Raven replied. “She’s two hundred years old, lives off vampire blood and until she met my mother was a houngon, a dark vo
odoo priestess. She became a mambo because of my mother. They always assumed I didn’t know.”

  “I also said people you care for,” Levac said, stepping close behind Raven. “I know you love Marie.”

  “I do. But she’s the only one who can save Aspen,” Raven replied. “She will try. You should have seen me when you got hurt. I think two people died of fright.”

  Marie stepped through the curtain followed by a group of people who filed out through the broken door, the last one trying to wedge it shut behind him. When they were gone, Marie began to examine Aspen.

  “Your blood is keeping her alive,” she said. “You are stronger than you know, my Ravenel.”

  “And you are stronger than you always pretend,” Raven replied. “She’s alive. You can heal her, so let’s make with the voodoo before she’s gone forever.”

  Marie frowned and looked away from the angry dhampyr. “Healing someone this far gone isn’t like doing a gris gris, Ravenel. This requires much power and many favors.”

  “Fine. Power and blood I have. We’re losing time.”

  Marie stared at Raven for a long moment before nodding.

  “As you wish, Fürstin. You are your father’s child. I will need a blood offering from you.”

  Raven nodded and pulled an offering bowl toward her. She drew one of the silver knives she still carried and sliced her palm. Dark claret poured until it nearly filled the small bowl. She then bandaged her hand and looked at Marie.

  “Done. What’s next?”

  Marie was gathering herbs and a selection of bones and other items from her supplies.

  “I will begin the ritual. You have agreed to pay the Baron’s price. That is all you need do.”

  Raven nodded and turned away, feeling weak. Levac caught her and helped her to sit on the floor nearby. He wiped her face with a cloth and offered her another blood packet from his spacious pockets. Raven bit into it and drank, but more slowly, fighting how much she hated the taste.

  Levac sat next to her and held her hand.

  “You did good down there, Raven,” he said.

  Raven shook her head. “Lots of innocent people are dead and I couldn’t bring a single one of the creatures responsible to justice because our legal system can’t hold them. The best I could do was avenge them and try to get us out of there. I only got it half right.”

  “You did what you could,” Levac said. “That’s what I realized about what happened with Xavier. You did what you could to save me. It wasn’t ideal and it wasn’t what you would have wanted, but I’m breathing and I’m grateful to still be among the living.”

  Raven held her aching head with one hand. “Rupe, I swear if I had seen any other way…”

  Levac ran a hand through her hair. “I know, partner. I know what you do isn’t always easy. You do your best which is more than I can say for a lot of our contemporaries who treat this as a job, not a life. It’s okay.”

  Raven lay her head on Levac’s shoulder. “Thank you, Rupe. And thank you for finding us. I was almost spent. I’m not even sure how we got to the door. Thank you for being there.”

  “I had a little help,” Levac said. “Ming figured out that the thing I found in Diarmait’s place was a key. A little playing dumb with No Nose junior and I found out about the tunnels beneath the Green Mill and one that was forbidden even to the mob. I took a chance and you fell into my arms.”

  Raven smiled. “That Codumbo luck of yours.”

  “Whatever works, partner.”

  Raven closed her eyes to rest, quickly falling asleep on Levac’s shoulder.

  SHE WOKE SEVERAL HOURS LATER to Marie shaking her shoulder with gentle hands. “It is done, Ravenel. Your friend lives.”

  Raven bit her lip and reached up to touch Marie’s face. “I’m sorry, Marie. My behavior… I wasn’t me.”

  Marie smiled. “You are always you, my Ravenel. And in that moment I needed to be reminded who I am and that sacrifices are sometimes necessary for the ones we love. Some things are worth risking your soul for and love is one of them. Your Aspen is resting in my bedroom upstairs.”

  “Thank you,” Raven replied, trying to stand.

  “One moment, Ravenel,” Marie said.

  “Yes?” Raven asked.

  “The Baron. He would not say what boon he asked for his help,” Marie said. “I am uncertain…the price he asks may be terrible.”

  “Whatever it is I will pay it to have Aspen among the living. May I see her?”

  “You may, but know she is sleeping.”

  Raven stood and adjusted the bow that still hung across her back to make it more comfortable. She looked around, surprised Levac was missing.

  “He returned to the 42nd to turn in the car you stole and try to get your things out of impound now that he has found you alive,” Marie said to the unvoiced question. “He will be back soon.”

  “Thank you again, Marie. I will make this up to you.”

  “No need, Ravenel,” Marie said. “You were frightened and desperate. It can make a person do the wrong thing for the right reason. I owe you many favors. I have repaid one.”

  Raven smiled softly and turned toward the curtain that would lead to the stairs. She was almost to the stairs when a terrible pain slashed through her gut. She reached down expecting to find a bloody weal across her stomach, but her hand came away dry. Feeling anger and fear building in her belly she charged up the stairs and down the hall to Marie’s room. She crashed through the door to find the room empty and the window open. Blood trailed from the bed and over the sill.

  Raven ran to the window and looked out into the darkness. One building away she could see the lycan with Aspen held over one shoulder. The lycan howled in defiance and continued across the roof.

  Raven reached for her Automag and realized it was empty. She tossed it aside in frustration and drew an arrow from her quiver. The obsidian wouldn’t stop the lycan but maybe it would slow the creature down and give her a chance to catch up.

  She drew the bow back and fired, her heart sinking when the arrow fell short of the target.

  “Damnit. No way are you getting away with her,” she said, climbing out the window.

  “Take these, Ravenel,” Marie said behind her.

  Raven turned to see Marie holding a handful of silver arrows.

  “A lycan hunter left them in my care many years ago. I’ve held onto them for sentimental reasons, but they will serve you better.”

  Raven added the arrows to her collection and slipped through the window. She leapt to the fire escape on the opposite building and began to climb, reaching the top as a cool summer rain began to fall. Lightning crackled across the sky and in the flickering light she spotted the lycan moving among the vents and air conditioning units. She ran after her, her boots slapping on the pea-gravel roof, an arrow knocked and her bow ready to fire.

  She caught up to the lycan as she was preparing to jump an alley to the next building. Raven slowed and drew her bow all the way back. She sighted down the silvered arrow and let the barbed tip fly. The lycan must have heard the twang of the bowstring because it turned at the last instant and the arrow pierced its shoulder instead of its heart. It snarled and faced Raven, Aspen held over the ten story precipice behind her.

  “I knew taking your pet would bring you out of hiding, dhampyr,” the lycan growled.

  Raven frowned; the lycan didn’t sound like the alpha from the tunnels. She knocked another arrow and aimed it at the lycan’s eye.

  “I wasn’t hiding. Put her down, step away from the ledge and you can tell me what you want from me,” she said.

  “What I want is easy, dhampyr,” the lycan growled. “I want your skin on my den wall and your blood, your power, fed to my pack. I will trade your servitude for your pet’s life.”

  “Deal,” Raven said. “Put her down in front of you and back away. When she’s safe I’ll go with you.”

  “Oh lady Ravenel, your humanity is your weakness,” the lycan said.

&nb
sp; “Actually, furball,” Aspen said, “it’s her humanity that makes her strong instead of a psychotic monster like you. It’s why her friends love her and I’ll be thrice-damned before I let you take that away from her.”

  Aspen lashed out with her silver dagger, cutting the tendons in the lycan’s hand. It dropped her, howling pain and Raven watched in shock as Aspen disappeared over the edge.

  “No!” she screamed, running forward. “What have you done?”

  She leapt off the roof of the building, twisting to face the lycan as she fell. Her aim fell on the lycan and she loosed the arrow at her head, watching as it punch a hole through its eye and out the back of its head.

  Raven continued the roll and looked down. She could see Aspen not far below her, her body limp in anticipation of hitting the ground. Raven pointed herself like a skydiver and plummeted into her friend, wrapping herself around the smaller girl.

  “I’ve got you,” she said.

  Aspen opened her eyes in surprise. “You’ve got me, who has you?”

  “Um…”

  “Great plan, honey,” Aspen said, burying her face in Raven’s shoulder.

  Raven held her familiar tighter and tried to guide their fall toward a car, which was marginally softer than the ground. When they were lined up she rolled again, using her body to cushion their fall. She kissed the top of Aspen’s head and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

  A second later she screamed in pain as they crashed into the roof of the car at ninety miles an hour. Glass exploded around them and she was aware of it falling in slow motion before darkness overcame her consciousness.

  She woke on a hospital gurney with a paramedic leaning over her.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “You fell off a roof,” he replied. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

  “Where’s Aspen? The girl who was with me?”

  “Don’t worry about her, worry about you,” the paramedic replied.

  Raven’s hand shot out and she grabbed the paramedic by the collar. “Where’s Aspen?”

  “She’s in another ambulance already on her way to Mercy,” the paramedic replied in a calm voice.