by L. A. Banks
Both Clarissa and Bradley spun on Winters, Bradley grabbing him by the back of the shirt.
“My bad!” Winters said, struggling to get free.
“Not in front of Doc and Silver Hawk,” Bradley said, making the threesome come to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk.
Winters held up both hands, banging a bag against his chest by accident. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
“Good,” Bradley said, releasing his shirt. “Because from what you just saw in there, Clarissa and I are the last people in the world you want to have a grudge against you.”
Arms loaded down with branches and red berries, they trudged to where the nervous Sprites had pointed. A small, crystal-clear brook zigzagged before them, and it seemed so cool and inviting that she wanted to stop and take a sip from it, but couldn’t risk losing her toxic armload in the Fae water supply.
“Crossing running water is another way to break spells,” Sasha said, looking at Shogun and Hunter. Their faces were slicked with sweat, pure wolf in their eyes, and she could tell that they were nearly deaf to what she was telling them.
“All right,” she said, peeved. “On three, we jump the brook—keep those branches out of it so we don’t cause an ecological disaster out here. Where we land, your guess is as good as mine.” That’s all the time she had before Hunter rushed her.
She crashed through bramble and hit the ground with a thud. Hunter flattened her, crushing leaves and berries into her back. Shogun somersaulted out of the bushes, crouched, and released a warning growl.
Gun clicks and warning arrows helped all three alphas return to the present and clear their minds. Both males jumped back, eyeing each other, with Sasha between them. She pushed up slowly, the wind having been knocked out of her, looked at Hunter, and snarled.
“You rushed me? Have you lost it?” Sasha brushed twigs out of her hair, not caring if she sounded out of control or not. Right now she was.
“We cannot stay in the presence of rowan fumes,” a Fae archer said, pulling back.
“We’ve got ’em covered,” Woods said, helping Sasha up. “You cool, Captain?”
“Never better,” she said, scowling at Hunter as she stood and brushed herself off.
“It was the woods. I’m sorry,” Hunter muttered, brushing off his clothes. He gave Sasha an apologetic glance, humiliation resonating in his tone, and then looked away. “Had a flaashback to the Uncompahgre. Won’t happen again.”
“You rushed the lady?” Shogun said, now snarling.
“Don’t judge me when you have no point of reference!” Hunter shouted, pointing at Shogun.
“You think not?” Shogun shouted back.
“What?” Hunter tilted his head as though he hadn’t heard correctly and walked toward Shogun with murder in his eyes.
“Yo, Max,” Crow Shadow called out. “Don’t go there, man.”
“Hunter—reason . . . Safe haven!” Bear Shadow said and then looked at Sasha, openly confused that the words she’d given them to use in an emergency were falling on deaf ears.
She could feel the lunge coming the way old bones forecasted rain. Yanking a nine-millimeter out of Woods’s waistband, she fired a warning shot into the air.
“First man to go airborne dies where he lands. Enough of this bullshit! We’ve got work to do!”
It had to be the longest twenty minutes in the world for Sasha, sitting in the back of a panel-body truck, enduring bayou heat, no air-conditioning, wedged between two very edgy alphas and two very nervous betas. However, that was the best arrangement, given that they were traveling through Deliverance country and six cops had died the night before. It made the most sense to put Woods and Fisher up front and to keep the more colorful cast of characters concealed in the back.
But the tight confines did give Bear Shadow and Crow Shadow a chance to tell them all about Bradley’s brilliant plan. Woods had gotten the cell phone call the moment they cleared the castle walls; Fisher’s phone was lighting up, too. Sasha leaned her head back against the warm, metal interior of the truck and dug into her jeans’ pocket.
“Here, Crow. Take my amulet. You be safe in there with Bear and ’Rissa. But if anybody can get you there and back safely, it’s Silver Hawk.”
Her brother accepted the amber and silver amulet and held it in his fist for a moment, staring at her before looping it over his head. “I’ll do you proud, Sasha.”
Bear Shadow lowered his head as Hunter looped the alpha-male leader amulet over his head, something that had been in the clan for generations. “I will do my best to be worthy of this honor.”
“Just come back alive, brother. That’s all we ask of both of you,” Hunter said in a somber tone.
They traveled a long way in relative silence, but then everyone froze when the truck slowed down.
“Roadblock,” Fisher said, turning quickly to call over the backseat. “Pull that tarp up. State troopers.”
“Wanna open up?” a trooper said, leaning into Woods’s window.
“USMC, sir . . . headed to Fort Polk, NAS. Got ID that says so—and got artillery back there that’s Homeland Security issued. Don’t want civvies that are out here in this line gawking to see it, sir. I’m not trying to be an ass or to make your job any harder, much respect. But those are my direct orders; that’s why I’m traveling in a camouflaged vehicle. If you’ve got a problem—like I said, those are my orders. My commanding officer is General Westford and I can give you a direct line to his office.”
Damn, Woods was awesome. The tone of voice he used didn’t waver. He sounded like he had the right to be where he was, doing what he was doing. So now it was a game of chicken between him and the trooper. Sasha waited. Nervous anticipation and heat covered her body with perspiration. Male pheromones coated her sinuses and the back of her tongue with their scent. She closed her eyes as a trickle of sweat rolled down her spine, between her shoulder blades. Two bangs on the side of the truck almost made her jump.
“You boys keep doing what you’re doin’,” the trooper said. “Wasn’t for you, wouldn’t be no hope. Jus’ wish I knew what newfangled weapons y’all had up your sleeves.”
“Biohazards,” Woods said. “It’s living organisms . . . Wicked shit when it’s let loose on the bad guys.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” the trooper said, and slapped the side of the van again. “You boys go on ahead and you get those terrorists! We’ll be working on whoever went after some of our local boys, but the fight’s all the same. We all wear the colors, all wear a uniform.”
“Same war, different day—good luck and sorry about the loss of your men,” Woods said, rolling the truck forward.
“Sorry about the loss of yours, son,” the trooper called out. “Hey, Joe, escort this military vehicle around that line of traffic! Get ’em to the front of the line.”
Just like that, they were free. After a while, Fisher gave them the all-clear to come out from under the tarp.
“Same pack,” Woods called over his shoulder. “I guess humans have loyalties and bonds, too.”
When they reached The Fair Lady, Woods slowed the vehicle and Fisher opened the door. Hunter got out and did recon with one of Shogun’s lieutenants, who were hidden in the shadows. Sasha watched with her heart in her mouth as Hunter took Ethan’s establishment, which was crawling with cops. Rather than the direct approach, she saw Hunter and Chin-Hwa go into the adjacent building and come out on the roof. NOPD would be in the cellar, maybe going through the office records, as well as combing through the alley and the first floor, spending hours trying to figure out what looked like some type of dark ritual that ended in a possible shoot-out. All she could do was pray that Hunter and Chin-Hwa could find their target to lay the iron and witchwood bundles, and then get out.
Shogun took Finnegan’s Wake, which was the lesser evil of the two bars. It was still functioning, and Seelie Fae knew the deal. Sir Rodney’s guys had told them to give Shogun and Dak-Ho full access, even if NOPD was h
anging around and asking questions. But when they went in with rowan, herbs, and iron bundles in duffel bags, Shogun and Dak-Ho cleared the joint. She had to remember to ask Sir Rodney’s advisors how to go in after the spell had been broken to remove the hazmat from the attics, or the establishments would be virtually worthless to the Seelie Fae.
“You ready to go in, Cap?” Woods asked, turning around in his seat.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, grabbing her duffel bag, checking that the coast was clear, and jumping down when Fisher opened the door. “You guys come back from the shadow lands in one piece,” she said to Bear Shadow and Crow Shadow, wishing like hell that she could have gone in their stead.
But there was no time to dwell on that now. Seung Kwon was waiting for her in the alley alongside the building, behind the Dumpster. Their eyes met and he gave her the sign that the coast was clear. The B&B was apparently locked up tight and hadn’t shown any signs of unusual activity. They must have assumed the shots fired came from the bar across the street, which was why NOPD had been in and out of this joint.
Good—at least something was going right. A lot of things were, actually, when she thought about it. And then reality smacked her upside the head—that couldn’t be a good sign.
Sasha watched the van pull off with a sinking feeling in her gut. What if Hunter got apprehended? What if Shogun got caught? There were no Fae in the building now to staff the establishment, leaving only oblivious human workers there, who had been told that the men in the attic were exterminators going in to look for rats and squirrels in the eaves . . . what a crock. And what if Bear Shadow and Crow Shadow ran into a serious problem in the shadow lands . . . or Clarissa’s soul got hijacked by dark forces while it was an astral projection. Sasha rubbed her palms down her face.
“Are you all right, Captain Trudeau?” Seung Kwon’s voice held a new level of respect, one that came from people who’d valiantly fought side-by-side.
“I’m good,” Sasha said. “It’s just the heat out here and the damned mosquitoes the size of quarters.”
He nodded and looked up at the building. “We can break in through the back door.”
She dug into her jeans’ pocket. “I was staying here, remember? How about we go right in the front like we’re a couple, using a key?”
Sir Rodney stared down at the cell phone. “They are done so fast? Have hit all three installations already?”
“It’s been ringing off the bleedin’ hook, milord. Almost as soon as I went to stand guard outside to wait,” a tall archer said, handing him the device. “I do not know how to work it, but she was clear that we should wait till it sounded, and then we’d start the Vampire raids.”
With no air-conditioning on and all the windows locked up tightly, the house was stifling. Drawn shades didn’t help; all they did was make the place seem like a death trap. Checking for intruders as they managed the stairs, their wolf instincts keen, Sasha and Seung Kwon climbed until they hit the top floor. Both pairs of eyes scanned the ceiling and stopped on the pull-down stairs to the crawl space.
“You pull,” Sasha said, removing the nine-millimeter from her waistband. “I’ll point and click.”
Seung nodded and leaped up, yanking the short cord that brought down the steps. Silence greeted them. Seung took the stairs in a crouch, brandishing iron railroad ties as he went up each step. Sasha moved forward and hiked the duffel bag up higher on her shoulder. It was amazingly quiet—too quiet.
They peered around the half-story space, disappointed that there was nothing there but dust and a few boxes.
“Maybe it is just not in this building,” Seung Kwon said, glancing around.
“Yeah, maybe not,” Sasha said, and then dropped her duffel bag on the floor. But as she did so and the dust moved in a plume, she remembered the ashes. “Get your iron ready,” she said, quickly going inside her duffel bag and yanking out rowan branches.
“What are you doing?”
“Sweeping the floor.” Sasha stooped and began walking backward toward the only natural light source, a tiny attic window that faced the street and Finnegan’s Wake. The moment the rowan touched a certain spot along the wood planks, the floor spit and sizzled. “Bingo, drop the iron, man!”
She left the rowan where the floor reacted and jumped back as Seung Kwon dropped a railroad tie over it. Immediately, the floor began to glow red in an ever-widening circle as the rowan branches burst into flames. Sasha skirted the inferno and backed up toward the pull-down stairs, mesmerized as the symbol bubbled up like crude oil and began to heat the iron until it became iron ore.
“Go, go, go!” she shouted as the heat fanned out, the eaves caught flame, and suddenly, blue-white entities fled out of the symbol’s center, bearing what looked suspiciously like demon teeth.
The creatures shut the crawl space stairs, tangled in her hair, and clawed at her and Seung Kwon’s faces. It was impossible to get a shot off while they were dragging him closer to the lava-like inferno, savaging him as he yelled and fought them.
Sasha picked up the duffel bag, noting that they stayed away from it and had flung it to the far side of the room by the strap. She snatched out more rowan as she elbowed the vicious little creatures off her back. The moment she held it in her first with a gun in the other, they fled to focus their full torment on Seung Kwon.
“Catch!” she hollered. “They can’t stand it!”
He grabbed a branch of rowan laden with berries, and when it touched three of the little beasties, they exploded into green guck. Sasha went to work on the trapdoor, trying to escape the flames. But the inferno was dying down. She and Seung Kwon stared at each other. The trapdoor fell open. The floor sealed back up. The railroad ties and rowan that covered the circle were gone. All that was left were a few berries that sparked and popped on the floor, then disappeared.
“I think we need to go across the street and make sure Shogun and your pack brothers are all right.”
CHAPTER 21
“It has to be up here,” Hunter said, pointing at the window. “It’s the only source of light.”
Chin-Hwa glanced around nervously, hanging close to the roof hatch they’d been able to open. He kept one hand on the ladder steps leading out, constantly glancing toward the crawl space’s drop-down entrance. “The authorities might have heard us—we have been back and forth here dozens of times, but nothing is to be seen . . . The Fae were wrong.”
“Look around, man!” Hunter said through his teeth, keeping his voice low. “There must be something!”
In frustration, Chin-Hwa flung down the branches he’d been holding, releasing berries that rolled across the floor. As soon as several hit the edges of the sunlight-bathed spot on the wood, it popped and sizzled and the symbol they sought instantly became visible.
“Milord? We are to mount an offensive without confirmation?” The captain of the guards stared at Sir Rodney for a moment. “But, sir, our magick’s not returned as promised yet.”
“Were this not the time for immediate action I would have you court-martialed for questioning my command!”
Sir Rodney’s troops lowered their confused gazes.
“I will not have her left out there stranded! If she sent the signal through her own device, then that is good enough for me!” Sir Rodney held the cell phone out to his men as he walked down his garrison’s line, armed to the teeth. “If I had been outside the fortress walls, I would have received the call meself. She showed me how to hear her voice in the air with it! How to push the button to stop the chime and to let her speak to me clear as a bell. That much I know how to do, but I do not need to hear her voice to know that she needs my sword! Are we not men without our magick? Do we not know how to destroy this foul beast called Vampire?”
A lackluster aye returned to him from his troops.
“Then the way we would for the Lady of the Lake, for Sasha Trudeau we ride!”
Chin-Hwa came out onto the roof with angry flames licking up behind him; Hunter drop
ped three stories down into the middle of a police investigation, covered in air-elemental scratches. Before anyone could react, the top of the building blew. Guns were drawn; people on the scene shouted and scrambled against the perceived threat as Hunter ran zigzag through the police like an NFL quarterback.
A hot-wired SUV skidded to a sideways stop as police cruisers got thrown into service amid the distinctive pop of gunfire. Hunter jumped into the SUV as it careened off. The sound of helicopter blades beating the air made Chin-Hwa panic and bail off the roof, wolf style. He hit the ground on all fours, looked around for a second to find an opening, and sprinted.
Sirens blared, and Sasha leaned over with Shogun driving. Seung Kwon opened one door; Dak-Ho opened the other. Chin-Hwa came to a skidding halt out of a back alley, pursued by breathless foot-patrol officers.
“Get in!” Sasha shouted.
The car was still moving and Chin-Hwa had to run to catch up to it. A bullet caught Hunter in the upper arm as the vehicle slowed and he yanked Chin-Hwa inside. Both doors slammed shut. Shogun peeled rubber as Hunter held the wound, swerving through traffic, nearly colliding with parked cars and pedestrians.
“Did it get the bone?” Sasha leaned over the seat but everyone ducked down as NOPD shot out the back window.
“Passed through the muscle but hurts like a bitch.” Hunter leaned his head back against the seat, grimacing as the vehicle lurched and pitched.
“If you can hang on till we get somewhere, I can heal it.”
“First we’ve gotta live,” Shogun said, bouncing over a curb and taking a hairpin turn.
“We’ll never outrun the chopper,” Sasha said as Shogun maneuvered into a back street and came barreling out of the other end of it, taking half a storefront with him.