Shifting restlessly, Niles said, “We’ll find her.”
Cliff’s hands unclenched on his thighs. “I knew you’d figure things out. I forgot, Phoebe said she’d come in and do what she can to help. She knows the cash register. Maybe Elin—”
“No,” Niles broke in. “Either you stay closed or find another way.”
Cliff hung his head. “We’re still on the edge with the money,” he said. “Leigh knows that. It’s better since she came but it’s still uphill. We can’t afford to be closed.”
“I’ll be in,” Leigh said, looking mutinous. “If Phoebe comes, Saul will be there. We’ll be well looked after.”
Niles muttered under his breath.
“Not in my kitchen,” Cliff said. “No one would eat the food if they saw the vamp in there.”
Leigh and Elin laughed. “Your prejudice is hanging out,” Elin said.
Eventually she had to look at Niles and her stomach turned. There was no man like Sean, but Niles was a knockout, and with the light in his black hair and his electric blue eyes narrowed to slits, he made some picture.
He was furious.
“Give us a little time,” Leigh said to Cliff and with a challenging stare at Niles. “Go back and whip up some goodies in that kitchen of yours. We’ll be along when Niles can bring us.”
chapter THIRTY-FOUR
Hours seemed to have gone by since Sean, Innes, and Campion started their careful combing of the island, looking for Brande’s pack and always keeping watch for signs of vampires.
Halfway across the island, still clinging to the cover of trees, they were joined by Renny, who lived on a small island by himself. Then came Piers from his retreat to the north and finally Simon, the quietest of the bunch but perhaps the one Sean considered the steadiest.
“Gather on the beach at Slater Inlet,” he told them all. “Our wolf friends aren’t fond of the open air. Stay under the bank.” He didn’t need to tell them how imperative it was not to be seen or heard. He couldn’t see any of the others from where he was. Each of them had spread out to reduce the chance of too much movement in one place being noticed.
Dusk approached by the time he reached the inlet. They would probably need darkness to do what must be done, but Sean wished they had seen some sign of the enemy.
Nothing.
Renny, dark-haired with dark eyes and the muscular body of a weight-lifting athlete, was already there with slender Piers, a pianist who preferred to remain alone with his music than congregate with his brothers. But Piers never failed to come when needed. Gradually the others slid in and they closed into a circle, the better to hear each other without shouting.
“I’ve seen them.” Simon arrived last. “They’re dug in a couple of miles south of the abandoned water tower.”
“Dug in?” Sean asked.
“I almost missed them. Seven pushed up a slab of grassy earth as if it was a trap door. I watched and saw one after the other come and go. There’s an area above ground that’s completely covered with brush. Looks like a mound. But they go in there, too.”
“Brande’s lodge, you think?” Sean said.
“No, Brande came from underground. There were two other…I’m not sure what they are. Short, bald, grayish creatures. Large ears. They scurry as if they’re terrified.”
“Austrian Verbols,” Sean murmured, remembering what Saul had told them when they were inside Quitus’s mountain. “They’re creatures of the middle earth. No wonder they scurry in the daylight.” He could only hope Quitus was with the Verbols—and that his assumptions about what would kill the living vampire sorcerer, as long as he was as weakened as he was supposed to be, held good.
“They seem to belong to the mound.” Simon crossed his arms and fell silent. He’d finished what he had to say.
“How hard will it be for us to get there without being seen?” Innes asked.
“After dark, not hard.”
Sean watched Simon’s expression carefully. He tended to leave a lot unsaid. “Not easy, either?” he ventured.
“There’s open ground before we get to the trees where their clearing is. We couldn’t risk daylight. We could easily be seen.”
“Darkness then,” Sean said. “And we go as men.”
A murmur broke out. “Are you serious?” Campion said. “Then they’ll know the truth about us.”
“That we’re stronger in human form?” Sean nodded. “We’ll need all the strength we have tonight, and the cunning. You all have your knives?”
A murmur of assent went up. Piers said, “There is a way to extract the short-term memory from a werewolf’s mind. But only the fae know it and probably very few of them.”
“We could make the wolves forget us,” Sean said, smiling. “Great, only I don’t have any fae friends, do you?”
“What about Elin?” Innes said, smiling from ear to ear. “Did you forget her?”
Sean’s back teeth ground together. “Elin is Deseran, like Leigh.” He looked from man to man, and they had to see he didn’t intend to say more.
“Sally, then?” Campion said, looking away.
“Possibly,” Sean said. Keeping your own counsel could be a good thing and he was not certain about Sally yet.
*
Little more than another hour passed before the light faded enough for them to start their journey. With the aid of a chart drawn in the sand, Sean had designed their approach and attack. They had traded ideas about how long to observe the wolves before closing in and how to prepare for any enemy fighters who turned up late to the event.
“We’re ready then,” Sean said. “Remember, the Verbols don’t tolerate air inside their bodies.”
“Which may make knives even more valuable,” Renny said tonelessly.
*
The moon was high when Sean finally saw a break in the forest ahead. “Water tower due north, forest to the south, and I already think I see where a clearing could be,” he reported to the group, none of whom he could actually see. “Do not attack until I give the word. Take them out as the opportunity presents. Surprise is on our side, twice over. They aren’t expecting us, and they would never expect us as fully human. If Quitus is there, you’ll know who he is. Leave him to me.”
He landed in the crown of a fir at the edge of the clearing and didn’t have to check to know the others would be similarly placed but carefully hidden.
“I see the mound but no movement,” he said.
“Ditto.” It was Simon who answered and silence from the others meant they concurred.
The silence continued, but werehounds were patient.
A breeze picked up, rocking the limbs around the one where Sean had settled.
And time clicked by—and by.
“Dead center,” Innes hissed. “Damn, it’s just Verbols.”
“Don’t take them lightly,” Sean said. “Saul said they’re vicious, and they shift. And you don’t know what they’re shifting into next. I’m waiting for Brande and his bunch.”
Two Verbols crawled from underground and went to the mound, where they disappeared through an opening that instantly closed.
“How about a decoy?” Innes said. “I shift, land, draw ’em out or not. If they don’t come for me, they aren’t there. But you can all start down to get closer.”
Sean didn’t like it. “Two Verbols might be able to take you before we could do anything. We can’t be sure of their capabilities. We could land on your bloodied bones, brother.
“Good idea, though. Stay with the others this time. I’ve been close to these Verbols before. The rest of you, do as Innes suggests. Start down and watch. Blink for too long and that could make the difference. If something bad happens to me, ask Niles for orders.”
There were no arguments, and if there had been, Sean wasn’t waiting for them. The only alteration he made in Innes’s decoy plan was to remain purely a man.
He landed softly. From this angle he could see where the turf was flattened around an oblong area. The Verbols
had come from beneath this. How many of them there were, he didn’t know. Fleet, adrenalin pumping, he sprinted to the grassy trapdoor and threw it open.
Before he could see the entire rough hollow beneath, his knife was free of its sheath. “I think I know how this is going to go,” he told the rest of them. “Brande’s bunch can be relied on to duck out when the going gets too hairy for them. But keep coming. We still have the Verbols to deal with.”
To his other leg he had strapped a smooth, strong piece of wood he had sharpened at one end. Sean lifted his shirt and shoved the stake through his belt.
Without pausing, he approached the mound and stopped a few feet from the disguised entrance. “I need you with me,” he said shortly, feeling the other minds open to his.
There was no need to check that the Team was getting into position.
He felt around gently until he found the edge of the flap and threw it back.
Boldly, Sean walked in, surprised by how light it was inside the semicircular structure.
He counted quickly, accounting for the way the Verbols tried to hide, one behind the other. Only four of them. Their voices were squeaky and whatever they said made no sense.
“I thought you’d come.” Cross-legged on the bare earth, his back against a wall, sat Quitus. Tonight his robes were not a flamboyant color. Light gray, shiny, and voluminous, they hung from thin shoulders. Predictably he wore a hood and it hid his face.
“What do you want?” Quitus said. “Are you tired of your miserable little life? How would you like me to put an end to all of your friends? You, I intend to keep, and if you will do as I ask, I may save the others.”
“You’re foolish,” Sean said, looking into every shadowy corner.
Quitus gave an unpleasant chuckle. “Come out, my friends.”
Sean held his ground but he reached out to the rest of the Team. “Get close to the entrance. All of you. One shout from me and you rush this place.”
Three more Verbols emerged from beneath a table draped with a long, white cloth and covered with bottles and jars, burners, crucibles, pestles and mortars. It was a small but complete-looking laboratory. One flaming burner kept the contents of a vessel bubbling and Sean decided the acrid scents that reached him came from this. There was no doubt that those contents were a familiar dark red.
One of the creatures went close to Quitus and launched into a stream of noises, waving his big hands between pointing at Sean.
“Where is the pack?” Sean said. “Brande and his pack?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Quitus said. He returned his attention to the Verbol. “This is a werehound. Like our werewolf friends, he is human when he wishes to be and we can assume he comes in peace since he chooses to be a weakling in front of us.”
“Like your werewolf friends—the ones you know nothing about?” Sean sighed. “I repeat, where are the wolves?” He edged closer to the robed figure but stopped when all seven Verbols fell silent and watched him with their colorless eyes. They closed in around Quitus.
“Brande and I decided I am very capable of looking after myself. He took his pack elsewhere.”
“You mean they had enough of a fright when they came for me at the cottage to make them run away when they discovered I was after them again,” Sean said, curling his lip. “I’m hoping you and I can talk alone, Quitus. Perhaps we can help one another.”
The stake was hard-edged against his belly. He still found it hard to believe the wolves had made a run for it, and he couldn’t afford to believe it until he was sure.
A harsh ripping sound from behind him had to be the entrance to the mound being torn away. Sean kept his eyes on Quitus and the Verbols. Quitus remained in his hunched position but the Verbols edged apart, stretching open their wide mouths to reveal what must be the filter that excluded air.
He hadn’t shouted for the rest and wanted to look behind him. But his turning around could be the opportunity they hoped for. If it was the wolves who came, or more Verbols, he was finished anyway, but he didn’t believe the wolves could get past his Team.
The Verbols spread out in a semicircle. They hopped rapidly from foot to foot and raised their arms, revealing claws that curved from the ends of formless bunches of sinew.
“We’re with you.” It was Campion to his right and Innes had appeared on his left.
The Verbols set up a hollering shriek and began to spit. The thin moisture hit Innes’s forearm and he sucked in a breath. “Their saliva burns,” he said. “Be careful.”
But the Team had no choice but to advance.
Sean felt his band fall in around him, knives drawn.
“Watch their weapons,” Quitus cried. “Do not allow them to pierce you.”
But pierce them they did, and with the first sinking of a knife into one of the Verbols’ throats, there was a loud rattle, like a snake, and the creature folded over. He fell lifeless and the rest of his kind drew back, babbling to one another.
The fight seemed too easy. Quitus didn’t move from his position on the floor but watched the scene with a smile.
Wherever one of the Verbols landed a stream of spittle, or a claw, burns spread over the werehounds’ skin, but each man kept advancing and ignored the painful welts.
Three of the Verbols fell.
“Let’s finish this,” Sean shouted.
Before any of the werehounds could attack again, the remaining Verbols fled into crevices at the back of the cave and disappeared.
Sean stood in front of Quitus and worked the stake free of his belt. “Your time has come,” he said. “You’ve already done more than enough harm.” Using both of his hands, he raised the stake above his head and started to bring it down with all the force in his strong arms.
Laughter rang out. It rose and Quitus rolled forward over his knees, wracked with mirth. “This is too good,” he managed to get out between gusts of chuckles. “Don’t you see who has joined your band of warriors.”
Frowning, Sean paused and glanced quickly around him. The Team was just as he was used to seeing them.
“The gang’s all here,” Quitus spat out and laughed some more. “Welcome, Niles and Ethan. Good of you to leave the lovely Deseran ladies alone.”
“Niles?” Sean said, noticing him and Ethan for the first time. “You left Elin…and Leigh?”
“You called for us,” Niles said, his feet braced and the curved knife cocked and ready to slice off the living vampire’s head.
“No,” Sean said. “No, I didn’t.”
“Just a detail,” Quitus chortled. “Someone called for them and they came. They left the women at that place, what is it? Gabriel’s. But only I have the power to stop them all from dying. So drive in your stake, cut off my head, burn my bones, but be prepared to bury the lifeless bodies of the ones you so-called love. Pathetic.”
“My God,” Niles said, moving into mindspeak. “The message was clear. We didn’t question it. We have to keep this thing alive in case we need him.”
Quitus shrieked with laughter. “I’ve won,” he said. “I’ll have everything I want.”
He threw back his hood, revealing a bald skull from which sparse tufts of white hair sprouted. His eyes were so shrunken they showed only as pinpoints of light. The flesh on his face, yellowed and creviced, clung to protruding bone.
He bounced up and down but quickly grew short of breath. He panted. “I need to eat. We must go to that Gabriel’s Place at once.”
An abrupt swelling of his head and body shocked the hounds into taking a step backward. All except Sean, who stood his ground and watched Aldo take shape, his dark hair clipped into its usual helmet shape, his lipless mouth stretched wide, showing pointed teeth. “First you and I must share an interlude,” he said, pointing at Sean. “We can’t take long. This one who has absorbed me weighs me down. The faster we get what he needs, the better. Niles is to remain but the others should go into the clearing. If they make a move to attack, all of you are finished. Most partic
ularly, your women are history. They are being watched. One word from me and…Need I tell you more?”
“Niles, I don’t even know what it is he wants from me. Could be to bite me again. But I think we can use the weakness of the other one—Quitus—to put that off.”
“By taking him to Gabriel’s? He intends to start ripping organs out of someone.”
“I know, we have to buy time but this will be dangerous. Let me talk this through,” Sean said. “Shall we send Innes and Campion ahead to Gabriel’s? At least they could give Leigh and Elin some hope.”
“I’m hoping Saul keeps his word,” Niles said. “He has told me he will keep watch, but in his own way—not that I ever know what that means. I don’t feel confident about it. Go ahead and send Innes and Campion.”
Sean hoped he looked as relaxed as he intended. “We know when we don’t have the upper hand. What happens if Quitus dies on you, Aldo? Trust us enough to tell us what we should expect. Will whatever is left of him slow us down? Will he affect your mind? Will you die with him?”
The pause that followed was more than Sean could have hoped for. Aldo shuddered and bowed his head for a moment. “We will do this my way,” he said, bravado dripping from every word. “I’ve decided to feed Quitus before you and I deal with our business.”
chapter THIRTY-FIVE
Elin and Leigh tried to behave as if they didn’t suspect anything was seriously wrong. They had been assured by one of the twins—as soon as they were left alone by Niles—that they were being watched, and if they tried to leave, or contact anyone, it would be disastrous—for all of them.
Gabriel’s Place was closed. No fire burned in the fireplace. Slumped in a chair in a dark corner, Gabriel himself had been a surprise when Elin noticed him. He had remained there, his eyes closed, and had yet to say a word.
When the twins had let Elin and Leigh in, they said Cliff was in the kitchen and Saul was on his way with Phoebe. Niles and Ethan were relieved and took off immediately.
Cliff wasn’t there and Saul didn’t come.
The twins, visibly shaken, had refused to answer any questions. They had gone to the kitchens and closed the door, apparently following orders. Whose orders, the women didn’t know. They had both attempted, unsuccessfully, to communicate with their mates.
Darkness Bred (Chimney Rock) Page 25