Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2)

by Lisa Emme

  “And I can’t forget about the wee one, such a pretty little thing with her golden curls. Maybe I’ll keep her as a pet?” Navarre smiled a sick smile at Nash. The wolf padded to the edge of the circle and stood with his hackles up, his teeth bared. He snapped and barked at Navarre. “In a few years, she’d be old enough to fuck, since I can’t have your lovely mate.”

  “No, you bastard!” I yelled at Navarre and scrabbled to haul in the slack on the gold chain, but I was too late. With a snarl, the wolf bounded across the circle. I felt a pop as the protective ring fell, the magical backlash sending me down on one knee. The chain grew taut for a split second but instead of being dragged out of the circle, I suddenly found myself falling back on my ass. The cuff and chain had disappeared. I looked over at the wolf, or rather the wolfman. Nash’s collar was gone and he had morphed from a full wolf to his even more lethal half-man, half-wolf shape. He launched himself across the distance to reach Navarre. Navarre laughed in satisfaction and met Nash’s attack head on. They grappled for a second and then Nash went flying off of Navarre. He scrambled to his feet quickly, unhurt, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Navarre stood at the ready, waiting for Nash’s next move. He had discarded his crossbow at some point and instead was armed with two short, curved blades. They shone brightly in the waning moonlight and I knew that they would be coated with silver.

  “Nash, look out! Those are silver blades!” I wasn’t sure if Nash was even aware of me anymore at this point, his focus so intent on Navarre. I grabbed my katana and took a few steps towards the combatants. Navarre didn’t play fair so I didn’t see why we had to. We’d see how he managed with a little two-on-one.

  I took another step towards Navarre and he risked a glance at me. He shook his head with a smile. “Oh no, my lovely. We’ll have none of that.” The air crackled around us and I felt the overhead dome of magic compress. It snapped down in size forming a large circle around Nash and Navarre, encapsulating them in their own private fight ring. The circle had materialized just inches in front of me and I was thrown backwards by the force of the magic snapping into place.

  “No!” I shouted. There was nothing I could do. I watched helplessly while Nash and Navarre circled one another. Navarre was speaking, but I could no longer hear what he was saying, the sounds coming from the barrier muffled like they had been back at the lab.

  Suddenly, Nash lashed out with his clawed hand. He took Navarre by surprise and managed to rake his claws down Navarre’s side before he could jump backwards out of reach. Navarre retaliated with a slash of one of his blades, but Nash dodged out of the way, the blade sailing by harmlessly. My relief was short-lived however because Navarre quickly followed the first strike with a second from the opposite hand. It took Nash off guard and the blade sliced across his back. His howl was muffled, but I could tell it was full of pain. The silver would have immediately affected him the moment it touched his skin. The cut weeped blood but didn’t appear to be too deep. Unfortunately, it didn’t have to be. Even with just a few shallow cuts, Nash would begin to weaken from the silver poisoning. I had to find a way to put a stop to the fight.

  I jumped to my feet and stepped up to the dome. The magic sizzled and crackled as I drew close, making the hairs on my arms stand up. I held out my palm to the surface. A frisson of energy roared up my arm and sent me flying backwards. Okay, so that wasn’t going to work. I sat for a moment, stunned, my arm numb. The combatants within the circle seemed oblivious to my attempt. They continued to circle each other, each dripping blood from several wounds. I looked at Nash, he appeared to be tiring. I wasn’t sure how much longer he would last. Navarre, on the other hand, looked like he was totally unaffected by his injuries.

  A movement beside me had me scrambling to my feet again, my katana raised. I huffed out a half-felt laugh as Daniel came to stand beside me. “I don’t know what to do, Daniel. I don’t know how to help him. Navarre is going to kill him.” Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I wiped them away angrily. They weren’t going to help anything right now.

  Daniel yipped at me and then danced forward. He was going to hit the protective circle and I threw out my hand, shouting a warning. The warning died in my throat though as Daniel passed right through the barrier. Of course, he was a ghost. I shook my head at my mistake. Another movement drew my eye to the circle on my other side. The big grey wolf had stepped into the circle. He looked over his shoulder at me and yipped. He was soon joined by another and then another. I had forgotten about my ghost pack. In seconds, they had formed a ring around the entire circle, some of them standing half in, half out of the protective barrier.

  “I don’t know what you are trying to tell me, but I can’t cross like you can.” I shook my head at them. “I hate to break it to you all, but I’m alive and you’re dead. I guess the barrier doesn’t stop the dead.” I gasped, sucking in a breath and holding it. The barrier didn’t stop the dead. I looked back at Nash, he was limping now, a large jagged wound in his thigh. He wouldn’t last much longer.

  Decision made, I ran back to the small circle I had drawn in the sand. I quickly retraced it, fixing the scuffed lines. I grabbed the sage grass off the ground where I had dropped it and set it to smoking. With the circle cleansed and the barrier reformed I sat cross-legged in the middle. I stole another glace at Nash. He was holding his side, obviously in pain. Okay, I shouldn’t have looked. It wasn’t helping. I needed to be calm.

  I let out several deep breaths and closed my eyes. I found my centre and grounded it in the earth below me, letting my consciousness flow out around me. The clearing came alive with the electricity of life. I could feel the charged auras of the entities around me. The trees, the grass, the insects, a small vole creeping along the shoreline oblivious to the battle going on just yards away, every living thing gave off a slight electrical charge. Navarre’s dome positively crackled with energy. To my heightened senses it looked like one of those globes with lightning inside, the kind that when you put your hand on it the lightning would flow to your hand, dancing across the surface.

  But it wasn’t the living I was concerned with, it was the dead. I turned my senses to the lake. Even within the lake I could sense little electrical charges of life, the fish and insects that called the water their home. Closest to the shore however, the sparkling life of the lake was marred. It was like there was a black hole eating the edge of the lake, sucking the life from it. Instead of the electricity of life, only death could be found. The sense of wrong I felt was amplified by my heightened senses. I took several more deep breaths trying to push all my doubts about what I was about to attempt out of my mind.

  I really wasn’t sure what I was doing, or if it would even work. But I had to try. In the past few weeks, I had read everything I could on necromancy trying to come to terms with my gift. It wasn’t exactly a subject you could go to your local library and research however. Salvador had his own collection of books and journals, centuries’ worth of information on all things supernatural. Lucky for me, he had several books on necromancy and Isaac had helped himself before he had come to live at the firehall. Unfortunately, there was no ‘how-to’ guide for raising the dead. Instead, I had combed through the personal journals of several necromancers where they had described their own rituals, what had worked for them. The one thing I had learned is there really wasn’t one true way. I’d just have to wing it.

  I sent my focus out again, feeling the dead that surrounded me. As I did, I whispered to them, chanting my plea:

  “I call to restless spirits

  Justice will be done.

  Walk again in mortal coil

  Until the rising of the sun.”

  I repeated my chant over and over, feeling the power within me build. The words didn’t really matter except as a means to focus my intent. I sucked the energy from the world around me using it to augment my own, channeling it to the d
ead. My body felt like it was on fire, every hair standing on end. When I rose and stepped from the circle, I was flanked by dozens of wolves in all shapes, sizes and colours, an army of undead at my back.

  I marched towards Navarre’s protective ring. When I reached the edge, I stopped, just shy of touching it. It was then that I finally looked into the circle again. I had been afraid of what I would see. Nash was on the ground. He had morphed back to man form probably unable to hold his wolfman shape any longer because of the silver coursing through him. Navarre stood over him a look of smug triumph on his face. I called out in terror.

  At the sound of my voice, Navarre turned. His eyes widened in surprise as he took in the army at my back. Nash’s head turned and his eyes met mine. They were glazed over with pain, but at least he was still alive. Hold on, I willed at him, pleading to him with my eyes, hold on.

  “Well, you really are full of surprises, my lovely,” Navarre said, somehow projecting his voice outside the dome. He cast his gaze around the circle as my wolf pack spread out to form a ring around it. “But your little army of the dead will do you no good.” He gestured to the dome above him with a confident smile.

  “You’re wrong,” I replied with equal confidence. “You’re so very wrong. And now, justice will be done.” Navarre’s smile faltered. He looked suspiciously at the circle of wolves again. “Take him,” I ordered. “He’s all yours.”

  My words were all they needed. Almost as one, the undead wolf army launched themselves through the magical barrier. It parted before them like a curtain of water. Navarre threw up his hands in defense with an unintelligible shout and then the wolves were on him. He stumbled back under the weight of their attack. In seconds he was engulfed in a snarling pack of ravaging wolves, his screams becoming more and more anguished until the barrier suddenly popped out of existence. I rushed to Nash’s side.

  “Nash!” I dropped to my knees beside him. He was a mess, naked and covered in bleeding cuts. The worst were two jagged wounds, one across his abdomen wrapping around to his back, the other across his left thigh. Both were bleeding slugglishly. “Cian, can you hear me?” I pulled his head onto my lap. “Damn you, Cian. Don’t you die on me now.” I cradled him in my arms, not sure what to do next. His eyes fluttered open for a brief moment and he sighed. “No! No, you are not allowed to die, you stupid old wolf. Cian Nash, you listen to me. You are not allowed to die!”

  I rocked his still body in my arms, tears splashing down my face. This couldn’t be happening. I was too late. I had done everything I could and it still wasn’t enough. I lifted my head and looked across the clearing to the wolf pack, my undead army. The majority were milling about, snarling and snapping at one another. Several fought over what appeared to be an arm and I shivered with revulsion. I had called the dead. I had created zombies and used them to kill. What kind of monster had I become? As if feeling my pain, the undead pack froze. As one, they threw their heads to the sky and howled, yipping and calling out mournfully. At least they were avenged and I wasn’t sorry Navarre was dead.

  “Harry?”

  I turned, startled to hear a voice.

  “Harry, it’s Isaac.” Isaac stepped out into the clearing. I had forgot, with the dome down, he would have been able to track me.

  “Isaac, help. I need help. It’s Nash.”

  Isaac took a step towards me. Several of the undead wolves turned and snarled at him, taking up a protective stance.

  “Harry? Are these…Can you…?” He looked at me his eyes wide in surprise.

  I held out a calming hand to the wolf pack. “It’s okay guys. He’s with me.”

  The wolves backed off, many of them flopping down on their rumps, tongues hanging out of their mouths. They looked so much like a bunch of happy dogs, if you ignored the blood and gore coating their muzzles, I couldn’t help myself and a giggle escaped my lips. I looked at Isaac. “I killed him, Isaac. I killed Navarre.”

  There was another sound behind me. I turned to see Tess and Christina running across the clearing. Several men in SRU uniforms followed closely behind. When they spotted my wolves, they came to a halt with various degrees of confusion and trepidation on their faces. Several of the vampire members of the team looked at me without outright distrust.

  “Harry!” Tess shook off her shock and ran towards me. The undead wolves didn’t seem concerned. Christina followed, her eyes on Nash.

  “I don’t know what to do.” I looked at Christina in the hopes that she could help. “He’s lost so much blood and there is so much silver.”

  A man in a medic uniform knelt down beside us. He dropped a first aid kit on the ground beside Nash. “Get back and let me take a look.” His voice was firm but kind. He looked at me. “Let me help him.”

  Tess pulled me back. I gently laid Nash’s head down reluctantly and let her pull me away. Christina took a step back, but then hovered over the medic, her eyes filled with concern.

  “Harry, what’s up with all the wolves?” Tess looked at me warily.

  “Justice.” I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.

  The medic had been conferring with Isaac, shaking his head. I turned my attention back to what he was saying. “The chopper is still five minutes out. I don’t think we have that much time.”

  “No! You have to do something.” I fell to my knees beside Nash’s head. “Cian, you bastard, you aren’t allowed to leave me like this.” I looked back up at the medic. “Do something.”

  The medic shrugged and looked at Isaac. “Better you than one of the others.”

  Isaac glanced at Christina who nodded quickly. With a resigned sigh, Isaac pushed back his sleeve. He raked a fingernail across his wrist and blood began to drip. “This will help, Harry. The silver will prevent the full healing effects of my blood as well, but it should be enough to hold him together until we can get him to the hospital. There could be consequences however.” He looked at me as if waiting my decision but the consequences were nothing compared to losing Nash. I quickly nodded my head.

  “Do it.” I reached out to Nash’s head and ran my fingers through his hair bending over to brush my lips across his forehead. “Hold on, old wolf, hold on.”

  Isaac dripped his blood directly into the worst of Nash’s injuries and then held his wrist to Nash’s lips.

  “Drink, Cian,” I whispered. “You need to drink.” For a moment, I thought that it was too late. Nash was too far gone, but then his tongue flicked out and tasted the blood on his lips. He began to suck weakly.

  In the distance the ‘whoop-whoop’ of a helicopter echoed. I looked out over the horizon to see its dark shadow moving in across the sky. The sun was just beginning to rise, the first rays breaking over the horizon. Isaac pulled back his wrist, the skin already partially closing up. He stood up to make room as the rescue crew from the chopper arrived with a stretcher. Gathering Christina in his arms he nodded at me and then started to walk back towards an SUV with darkly tinted windows. He would find it extremely painful, if not deadly, to be out in the dawning sun.

  I got to my feet and staggered back out of the way. Tess grasped my shoulders, a look of dismay on her face as she noticed my condition. The pixie bites burned and my wounds from the redcaps had reopened to a slow trickle.

  “Oh my god, Harry. You look like shit.”

  At her words, I burst out laughing. “I feel like it too.” We laughed with borderline hysteria as they hooked Nash up to a heart monitor and IV. They loaded him onto the stretcher just as a ray of sunlight cut through the clearing. I looked to my undead army. Tess followed my gaze and gasped. As the rays of the dawning sun hit each wolf, it raised its head as if in salute, and then faded away.

  As the last wolf faded, the enormity of what I had done seemed to sink in and I was suddenly blanketed by exhaustion. It clung to me like a weight. I had a second to look at Tess and say, “Oh damn, I think
I’m going to f…” and the world went black.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Patches of conversation kept intruding, disturbing my peaceful rest, but I didn’t seem to have the energy to wake up.

  “Damn, she’s a mess…”

  “…is all this blood hers?...”

  “I count thirty-three, no, make that thirty-four. Where the hell did the pixies come from?...”

  “Type and cross match…lost a lot of blood…”

  “We’ll have to debride the wounds on her belly…dirty buggers, redcaps…”

  “What’s with her aura?...

  “…her aura is in tatters…”

  “…the wolf? Never seen a worse case of silver poisoning…”

  Wait! Wait! What was that about the wolf? Come back and talk to me! I thrashed against the restraints holding me down. “Nash!” I’m not sure if I even spoke aloud.

  “Shh, it’s okay Harry. Calm down.” Tess’s voice soothed me. “Just lie still. Nash is fine; he’s going to be fine.”

  “…do something about her aura. She’s going to go into shock.”

  “We need the healer in here stat!”

  ***

  I awoke to a steady beeping sound which was really annoying until I realized it was probably my own heartbeat on a monitor. I was on a bed in a room full of medical equipment. For a brief moment, I panicked thinking I was back in one of the rooms in Bellemare’s lab. I tried to sit up only to find that I couldn’t. Something was pinning me down. I lashed out, trying to push away the heavy weight and discovered it was an arm, an arm attached to Nash! How I ended up in a bed beside him, I didn’t know, but I was glad to see Nash was alive, even if he was still out like a light. At least he was breathing. It turned out the heart being monitored was his and thankfully, it was strong and steady.