by Zoe Winters
Stall, stall. What else can we talk about? Oh! “How did you find the pup? How did you know he was mine?”
Anthony made a condescending sound somewhere between a snort and a sigh. “You know, Cole, just because I only own Cary Town, doesn’t mean that I don’t have eyes and ears everywhere. I am the vampire king. And a few of your wolves liked to wander around the Cary Town forest. Some of them have big mouths. I also had a top sorcerer until the other day.” He pierced Z with a glare, and the panther growled in response.
The vampire continued, “We discovered you were running in Golatha Falls, but what was more exciting… Jane was pregnant. We didn’t expect to find the pup. We considered taking members of your pack until somebody talked, but that can be so messy. This was a more elegant option. Once we heard rumors of a wolf pup in his fur, we figured… jackpot.”
One of the sorcerers on the platform moved up next to Anthony and whispered in his ear. The vampire’s eyes narrowed and he nodded.
“Are you ready?” Tam whispered to Anna on Cole’s right. “That’s our cue.” Tam tossed some strongly scented herbs around them.
“This is very interesting,” Anthony said. He was trying to maintain a calm composure but it was clear he was spooked. “One of my magic users tells me that he senses the magical signature of more than what it appears.”
“That is interesting,” Cole said. “What do you know that can be invisible?”
Anthony paled. “How many?”
“Count for yourself,” Cain said. One by one, the demons materialized.
Anna and Tam joined hands and began to chant, “Líberi et ab aliis verbis. Líberi et ab aliis verbis. Líberi et ab aliis verbis…”
Energy buzzed around them. A shimmery film cloaked the therians and demons, then blended into the background. Though it could no longer be seen, it was felt: a strong protection against any magical barbs thrown their way.
Anthony didn’t seem to care about the protection spell; he was too preoccupied with the presence of the head demon. “C-Cain is here? I thought you didn’t get involved in petty infighting between Preternatural species. I thought you were above all of that.”
The demon shrugged. “Cole and I are friends.”
“No, there’s something more.”
“Release them or we’re fighting. The boyfriend is getting restless,” Cain said.
Z growled, still in panther form, stalking back and forth, watching Anthony like he was a meal.
“Shoot the witches!” Anthony said.
Tam let go of Anna’s hands and bullets went through her. At the same time, Tam closed her eyes and must have channeled the power Luc had lent her, because the bullets went through her as well.
“What the hell?”
“That’s right. Waste some more ammunition,” Cain said.
Cole shifted, and the other wolves followed his lead. Z didn’t wait for another cue. He took a flying leap onto the platform and batted the gun out of Anthony’s hands, fangs bared.
***
Jane raced full speed through Cary Town. It took a lot of energy to maintain invisibility. Being a new demon, she needed to feed more often. She’d needed to feed earlier, but it felt like such a stupid time to have sex. She hadn’t been in the mood. All she wanted was her kid back and this whole nightmare to be over.
It was like being hungry but nothing looking good. She just hoped she had enough energy to see her through this. Either way, she felt strong enough to take on a couple of vampires, especially if they couldn’t see her, and she didn’t intend on giving up that advantage no matter how much energy it took from her. As long as they didn’t have a witch with Fiona and the pup, she was home free. If there was a witch, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.
The Cary Town Luxury Apartments were a shining beacon rising up in the middle of the downtown area. She slipped into the lobby behind a couple so the door wouldn’t appear to open by itself.
The guardian at the front looked in her direction. He seemed to see her—or at least sense her. He stared for what felt like forever, but then he shrugged and went back to reading his newspaper. Jane let out a breath and moved toward the elevator.
When she was sure nobody was looking, she pressed the button. She couldn’t go straight up to the penthouse. For that, you needed a key. But she had another plan. The elevator stopped on five, one floor below Anthony’s place, the same floor she’d stayed on for the tournament. At the end of the hallway was a window. Because the building was old, the window opened. In a newer model hotel, it would have been sealed for a hallway like this. Safety first.
But since the guardians looked the other way while vampires brought meals up to their rooms, Jane was thinking safety first wasn’t one of their mottos. It was hard to fathom the clueless humans who lived here. She pushed the window up and took one last look down the hallway.
It was empty, so Jane materialized. If she shape-shifted into something that could fly, she could zip up to the roof and get in through the door, even if she had to use brute strength to rip it off its hinges. Though that might blow her element of surprise.
She closed her eyes and focused on a memory of a raven she’d seen after a fresh snow one winter. It had been eating berries off an otherwise scraggly and bare tree. It wasn’t working. Dammit! She didn’t know how long Cole could stall. She’d been fast, but they must be fighting by now.
Jane moved down the hall, holding her hands out, hovering over the walls and doors… Somebody be feeling amorous tonight. Anybody. She sensed two humans in one of the apartments and the beginnings at least of flirtatious energy. She could work with that.
She knocked on the door of 5G. A woman answered, an irritated look on her face. “Who the hell are you?”
Jane’s lips turned up in a friendly smile. “I’m not here. You don’t see me. You want to climb your boyfriend like a tree and fuck his brains out. You can’t stand for another moment to go by without him inside you.”
The woman went back inside the apartment, the command fresh in her mind. The man showed up then. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“I’m not here,” Jane said. She was about to put a suggestion in the man’s head, but the woman needed no additional help. As the two writhed on the kitchen floor like they were in heat, Jane’s hands hovered over them, soaking in the sexual energy. How she wished she’d just inconvenienced Cole for twenty minutes before they’d left for Cary Town. This was… more inconvenient.
When she was satiated, she left the two none the wiser and went back into the hallway. This time, the shift came on easily. She hopped onto the window ledge in bird form and flew up to the roof. She would have loved to enjoy the thrill of flying, but now wasn’t the time. She shifted back and went invisible again, making her way to the door that led back inside.
The knob on the metal door turned easily in her hand. As quietly as she could, she went through the penthouse, assessing the situation. There were only the two vampire guards, just like on the video screen. Fiona and the pup were playing in the main living area, but there was a witch besides Fiona. Not good.
Who first? If she took out the vampires, the witch might start chanting, and she didn’t know how strong she was. It had to be the witch first. The pup looked right at Jane as if he could see her. She looked down at her hands but she was invisible. Could he sense her? The thought made her all warm inside. But if he sensed her, the witch would soon as well.
She backed into the kitchen and the curious pup followed her. Maybe he could see her? Cole couldn’t when she was invisible. Maybe it was some preternatural mother-child bond. Since returning, she hadn’t had time to read up on weirdness between magical mothers and their offspring.
“Stay here, I’m going to go after the pup,” the witch said to Fiona from the other room, then she followed him into the kitchen. Exactly where Jane wanted her. Alone.
Jane moved behind the witch and put her in a sleeper hold, cutting off her oxygen so she couldn’t chant. The witch struggled at first,
but the demon was too strong for her. The blonde slid to the floor, and Jane stepped over her body.
Fiona appeared in the kitchen, having ignored the witch’s order. Her eyes widened at the blonde passed out on the floor. Jane materialized. “It’s okay, it’s just me.”
She knelt next to the pup and scratched behind his ear. “Go back in the other room with Fiona. Mommy has to kill some people,” she whispered to the pup. She wasn’t sure how much of that he could comprehend, but he trotted back into the other room, anyway.
Fiona seemed to be analyzing and sizing up the situation. Jane was impressed by her outward calm in the face of everything.
“Can you go back to being invisible?”
Jane nodded and changed back.
“That’s better,” Fiona said. “They think I’m crazy, so if we get interrupted they’ll just think I’m talking to myself. You should take the big one out first. I’ve been watching him, and not only is he big, but he’s old, so he’s the strongest. I’ll try to distract the other one when you make your move. And there’s also…”
“What’s going on in there?”
Fiona rushed out of the kitchen before the vampire could come in and see the witch on the ground. “Nothing, nothing. Sonya is just making the pup a snack.”
The vamp grumbled something incoherent as Fiona corralled him back to the living area.
And there’s also what? What had the witch been about to say? Damnit. Jane pulled a stake from her jacket. She’d foregone a gun with wooden bullets. She’d been so angry, she’d wanted the intimacy of a stake. She’d envisioned taking out the vampire king herself, but a gun would have been so much easier. Boom. Boom. Assassin style.
When everyone settled back in the living room, Jane crept over to the burliest of the two vampires. Without hesitation, she slammed the stake home. He cried out, and then his flesh began to melt off the bones. She pulled the stake out of the goo and leapt out of the way of the other vampire who was lunging toward her now, looking for the threat.
Fiona screamed and started to babble nonsense. The vamp turned toward the outburst, perhaps thinking she’d used magic somehow. In the moment of distraction, Jane rushed him. He sensed the movement and turned toward her again, so she jerked her elbow up hard, smacking him against the jaw.
The vamp let out an oomph and stumbled back. “Where are you, you little bitch?”
Fighting invisible was taking too much energy, and the element of surprise was long gone, anyway. She shed her invisibility. “Right here, you little half-breed.”
He barreled toward her, all brawn and no brains. She sidestepped the vamp at the last moment, sending him into the wall. Jane pivoted and swung around, her fists ready to pummel him. She just kept punching, throwing everything she had into it, going for his ribs and any weak points he exposed in his struggle. He fought to turn around, and when he succeeded, she didn’t miss a beat, grabbing his shoulders and kneeing him in the groin.
The vampire crumpled. Jane flipped him on his back and raised the stake in the air, prepared to drive it home, when a door opened. She looked up to see a very pregnant Charlee coming out of the bathroom. Well, that cleared up the mystery of and there’s also… The distraction and the squick moment over Charlee carrying Anthony’s evil seed caused the vampire to gain the upper hand and flip them, reversing their positions.
“Get off me, you psycho. You can’t kill me, and you’ve got no witch. So what are you going to do?”
“I can torture the shit out of you until Anthony gets back, then we’ll decide from there. You seem like you’re running on empty.”
Yeah, so? Cain’s alternate method of feeding wasn’t meant for this much ass kicking. It was more of a small between meal snack.
“Get off her,” Charlee said.
The vampire hesitated. Charlee was only human, and a pregnant human at that. You couldn’t get much more vulnerable with a vampire. But the mating mark on her throat from the vampire king, gave her a different kind of power.
“I am your queen. Get. Off. Her.”
Wow. Charlee had been brushing up on her regal demeanor. She’d been good at it when she’d taken Jane down to execute Paul, but now she was a pro.
The vampire grumbled, but obeyed the order. He must have thought he was safe because his stance was just relaxed enough for Jane to drive the stake home. The vamp started to melt.
“Was that necessary?” Charlee asked.
“Was kidnapping my child and Fiona necessary?”
“It wasn’t me. You know that. Who am I going to be kidnapping with this stomach? I can barely fit through doors as it is.”
“You didn’t try to stop him. You didn’t do anything to get my child back to me.”
“We thought you were dead!” Charlee said.
“Well, what about Cole? You knew Cole wasn’t dead!”
“And how was I going to find him without Anthony finding out? You might think my mate is evil, but he’s just doing what he has to do. Not everybody is on board with him having me for a mate, and now I’m pregnant. Do you know what they do to babies born from a human mated to a vampire?”
Jane shrugged, not sure she cared, seeing as they hadn’t cared what happened to her kid.
Charlee’s hand went over her stomach in a protective gesture. Jane knew that gesture, and she softened.
“They kill them. Babies born to a claimed human mother from a vampire are weak. They have all the weaknesses of a vampire but none of the strengths. They’re considered an abomination. Anthony is doing what he’s doing to protect our daughter. He has to be ruthless enough that no one will try to cross him and kill our child. All we want to know is where the hive is.”
“No.”
“Anthony can’t look weak,” Charlee said, pleading in her eyes.
Jane put her hands on her hips, feeling odd with the two of them together in this building again. “Look, some of my pack could be dying right now. They’re fighting, and it has to stop. Anthony won’t look weak if I have a hostage.”
Charlee’s eyes widened. “You’d do that to me?”
Jane growled. “Jesus, Charlee, no. Do you not know how to act? Just look pathetic, and I’ll sell the rest of it. I’ve worn one mask or another so long I can be anything or anyone. Anthony doesn’t know who I am. He’s never known.”
Charlee nodded. “Okay.”
“Um, guys?” Fiona said. “I think we should move me and the pup to a safe location. If we go with you, the tables could turn on us again.”
Jane nodded. She’d assumed Fiona would be dead weight in all of this, and was surprised when she wasn’t. “That was my plan, yes.” She pulled out the talisman Cain had given her and turned the shiny, golden stone over the runic markings to the correct combination. The shimmery film appeared.
“When you go through with the pup, ask for directions to the werewolf camp. Tell them Cain said you’re off limits. Actually, you might want to lead with that part.”
The internal struggle was clear on Fiona’s face as she looked at the film and the potential danger beyond.
“Hey, you’ve got this. Trust me. You’re stronger than you think,” Jane said.
The witch bit her lip and nodded. She turned and hugged Charlee. “Thanks for keeping me sane in here.”
“No problem. Good luck.”
Then Fiona took the pup and disappeared into the safety of the demon dimension.
When Jane and Charlee reached the lobby, the guardian at the front desk didn’t look shocked to see them, his suspicions of something amiss confirmed. But he went right back to his paper.
Chapter Fourteen
Outside the warehouse, Jane glanced at Charlee. “Are you ready for this?” She could tell her friend was still weirded out about her dying then coming back as a demon. And given the tense situation ahead of them, there hadn’t been much small talk about it on the trip over.
Charlee nodded.
“Alrighty then.” Jane busted through the door, dragging her pregnan
t friend along with her, doing a perfect impersonation of a crazy gunman with a hostage. Only, instead of a gun, she had a stake poised at Charlee’s throat.
Anthony or somebody in his camp had called in reinforcements while she’d been gone, so the odds were stacked on the vampire side now from sheer numbers alone. Anna and Tam continued to chant, but they looked like they were getting tired.
The sorcerers on Anthony’s team were throwing energy balls trying to put a dent in Tam and Anna’s protection shield and waiting for the moment when the two witches on the demon and therian side collapsed so they could start cursing demons. The demons were throwing fireballs, occasionally lighting a vampire on fire. The magic users on Anthony’s side were too busy with offense to shield against it.
She scanned the ground to find several wolves down. How bad, she didn’t know. Cole was injured, but he was fighting through it. And he’d survive anything now, so at least she didn’t have to worry about him. Z was still kicking asses and taking names with the vampires. He’d taken a bullet in the shoulder, but was now devouring a vampire whole and healing nicely.
Anthony had a few scratches and had likely fed on somebody to heal. One of his magic users no doubt. He’d moved behind his troops for safety.
Jane whistled loud and long, then shouted, “Everybody STOP!”
The fighting ceased for a moment as all eyes went to Jane and the bounty she’d caught. Anthony went pale.
“Send your people away, Anthony, or your mate is a memory.”
“You wouldn’t. Charlee is your friend.”
Jane shrugged, assuming a disaffected look. “Meh. She never calls. Never writes. I didn’t even know she was having a baby. Congratulations, by the way. May you have more luck keeping yours safe. Nah, I class Charlee as a casual acquaintance tops. No skin off my nose if she dies.” She’d had years of practice, so channeling her inner disaffected goth was child’s play.