by Murray, Dean
Alec pulled us forward until we stood in front of our friends, between them and a slender man who was distinctive in his lack of tattoos or piercings.
"I protest the treatment of my people, Agony."
"It's no less than you deserve for your disgraceful hospitality, young Graves."
"Had you informed us of your coming as tradition requires then you would have found a much different reception awaiting you."
Agony scanned through the pack, starting with Alec and seemingly ending with me. "Oh, but we did attempt to inform you. I had my man call that device you're so fond of. Each time he got a message that your phone was out of service. Once upon a time we would have relied on couriers to provide the necessary niceties, but with you younger leaders we've found modern means to be best."
"Far be it for me to dispute with the Coun'hij or abandon practices which have served our people well for so many years. Please let your fellows know that in the future I'm happy to receive notice via runner. Your man Abaddon, for instance, knows the way here now."
Abaddon moved forward as though to respond to the jab, but Agony stopped him with a gesture. "While that may indeed help avoid future misunderstandings, the fact remains that offense was given. You know our rights?"
Alec went utterly still for the barest instant. "You can demand punishment for those lesser members of the pack which created the offense. Those pack members may in turn demand trial by combat if they feel the punishment is unwarranted."
"Ah, yes. You're quite the scholar of tradition and law, much like your father was before you. It availed him little, much as I suspect it will prove a slight shield for you."
"Tradition and law is all we have as a people to separate us from the animals, all that allows us to constrain our beasts. Even the Coun'hij is bound by the strictures that bind the rest of us."
Agony's dismissive expression didn't fill me with reassurance. If he didn't hold with the laws Alec seemed to be relying on, then what hope did we have?
"I select your Donovan as the worst transgressor. His actions would have been bad enough from any of your people, but coming from one so lowly they were doubly insulting. I had thought I'd taught your mentor better on the occasion of my last visit. It appears the lesson needs to be refreshed."
A barely-perceptible stir of movement ran through the figures behind me as Agony's target was named. Donovan's graceful limp slowly brought him even with me as he moved towards the open space between Alec and Agony.
Despite Alec's order to keep my mouth shut I was halfway to protesting the situation, but Alec tapped my hand and then reached out and stopped Donovan.
"It's your right to demand his punishment, but he stands under my protection. As such, it is equally my right to stand in his place and demand trial by combat. Who will you name to oppose me?"
There was a growl from the cluster of figures behind Agony. For a moment I thought it would pass unremarked, but Agony's sadistic smile argued otherwise.
"I believe there is one among my party who has waited a long time for this opportunity. I trust, young Graves, that you remember Vincent?"
Chapter 15
When Vincent stepped out of the cluster of Agony's men I thought for a moment my heart was going to explode.
It was suddenly like our defeating Brandon's pack had never happened. If anything, Vincent was scarier than I remembered. His eyes were the same dead, psychopathic orbs that'd all but screamed he was through pretending that anyone else's pain mattered in the slightest. He was bigger now though and he moved with an economy of motion that was eerily similar to Alec's movements.
Jasmin's thoughts must have run along the same track as mine. "Look who's back with a graduate degree in sociopathy and all the tricks you'd expect from two weeks of almost constant combat."
Some of my spiking alarm must have made it through to my face, or possibly she just heard my pulse stutter.
"Don't worry. Alec was always able to wipe up the floor with Vincent. Vincent's bigger, but Alec's put on muscle since they last clinched too. Besides, all Alec really needs to do is pop the cork on that little black hole he carries around in his pocket and everyone here will collapse."
Somehow with everything that'd happened since the fight with Brandon I'd forgotten about Alec's power. Maybe it was just that we'd spent so much time needing him to manifest an ability. It was hard to believe it'd really happened, that Alec finally had the ability to keep the pack safe.
Rachel was back with her mom, but the rest of the pack was milling around Alec, creating a rising tide of shape shifter energy. The growing tingle should have been reassuring, but the answering roar of power from the seven figures on the other side of the cavern dwarfed the output of our pack.
As Alec turned towards Vincent I grabbed Jasmin's arm. "Is it to the death?"
"Not necessarily. In theory they fight until Agony deems that the insult has been satisfied or until one of them is defeated."
"In theory?"
"Accidents happen."
Alec handed me his cell phone and then began unbuttoning his shirt. A moment later he was down to his ha'bit and facing Vincent who'd shifted to his hulking hybrid form while Alec was still preparing.
Vincent sent out a pulse of crackling energy which Alec answered with greater power of his own and then they dashed towards each other.
As always they moved too fast for me to follow every motion. Alec shifted to his hybrid form in the blink of an eye and then they were fully engaged. I saw a flicker of movement and then Alec backed away, blood on his claws.
I was able to garner some clues to the fight by watching Abaddon out of the corner of my eye. Every time he frowned my heart rose, every time he smiled I felt a little part of me wilt. It seemed like the two combatants were mostly probing.
The whirling storm of fangs and claws sped up and then suddenly the fight went to the ground. I didn't need the collective gasp from my pack to realize Alec was on the bottom. From everything I'd heard or experienced, I expected Vincent to be ripping away at Alec's body while trying to reposition for a killing hold. Instead they were locked in a kind of stalemate holding onto each other's wrists while Alec's legs had wrapped around Vincent's waist.
Arms that were more than capable of lifting up the front end of a luxury car strained against each other and then slowly they started moving away from Alec, towards Vincent. The first of Alec's claws sank into Vincent's throat and then suddenly Vincent sprang away in an explosion of movement.
I expected them to fall back and regroup but it appeared Alec had managed to keep a hold of Vincent's left wrist. Both hybrids blurred again as they jockeyed for position and then Alec was behind Vincent.
Just to the right of me, Jasmin leaned forward eagerly and I knew Alec had set himself up for the kill. Vincent violently tried to shake Alec off, slamming backwards into a wall and then spinning around, flailing with his claws in an effort to pry Alec free.
Moving so slowly even I could see it, Alec crept up Vincent's back, his hands anchored in Vincent's chest. A split second before Alec's mouth would have latched onto the back of Vincent's neck, Agony moved forward and backhanded Alec into a wall.
"Enough. The offense has been cleansed by battle."
For a second I thought Alec would turn on Agony. Based on the sudden tensing all around me, the rest of the pack had the same worry.
Alec's shape trembled in rage as the man fought with the beast, and then suddenly the hybrid melted away. I didn't see Isaac and James move, it was like they just appeared at Alec's side, ready to support him if needed.
Alec looked over to our pack as though verifying everyone was still okay, and then turned back to Agony.
"The debt is washed clean. Quarters have been prepared for you and your men. I expect you remember where they are?"
At a nod from Agony Alec continued. "All further discussions can take place between you, me and our most dominant members."
"Trying to protect the weaker members of your pa
ck again, Alec?"
"Nowhere does tradition require the entire pack to assemble each and every time we talk. It is my right and I stand by it."
Agony's smile left me feeling cold and dirty. "See to it, Oblivion. Somebody pick up Vincent. I'll see you again after my men have had a chance to settle in, Alec."
**
After Agony's people had left the cavern Alec had hustled everyone back upstairs. "We don't have a ton of time. James, Isaac, settle your parents back in their rooms. Dom, Jess, Alison, Sam, Jack go with them in case they run into trouble. Donovan, if you could please see to my mother? Jas, Rach, can you please help them?"
The boys had already disappeared, girlfriends and submissives in tow. Jasmin grabbed Alec's arm as he turned away.
"Where are you going?"
"Adri needs to get back home."
Donovan had stopped now too. "Master Alec, Agony won't like that."
"I'm aware of the risks. Adri can't afford to alienate her mom right now though. She's got things she needs to do."
Jasmin opened her mouth to argue, but Donovan turned and started walking away, Alec's mom in his arms.
"I don't know what you mad scientists have cooked up, but we're in too deep to do anything but trust you."
A minute and a half later, Alec and I were in his Porsche. He normally drove fairly sedately when I was in the car with him, but he hit nearly triple digits on the lane before he had to break for the main road.
"Please listen carefully, we don't have much time, and we're still in quite a bit of danger."
Alec down shifted around a corner and cranked his car back up to one-twenty. "We've been worried this would happen for quite a while, but our bringing down Brandon's pack was always pretty much guaranteed to force their hand. I need you to go to Mallory. She needs to be updated on what's going on."
"Wouldn't it be safer for you to do it?"
"No, Agony's men will have us under virtual house arrest. There's too many of us for them to follow everyone."
"I don't even know how to find her."
"Take the road past my house then the first right. Just keep driving until you see the shed. There's an overhang about fifty yards further along. If you get to where the road gets bad you've gone too far."
"What about a vehicle?"
"You'll either have to borrow your mom's or find a way into town and borrow Jasmin's. The key is taped to the bottom of the passenger seat. The combination to unlock it is one-one-two-three-five."
"Fibonacci's sequence?"
"Yeah, we standardized all of the unlock codes on all of our vehicles. It was a safety measure in case something like this happened."
We pulled into my lane. The Jeep was just visible in the darkness.
"Things are going to be okay, right, Alec?"
"I don't know. We've been operating under the assumption that my power would serve as an equalizer against the Coun'hij. That's the only reason we haven't been in a panic since Brandon went down."
"So we're okay then."
"The fight against Vincent was a test. I reached out for my ability and there wasn't anything there."
Chapter 16
Alec - Graves Manor, Sanctuary
I felt jittery the whole way back from dropping Adri off. I'd hoped to have more time. I'd known since right after I'd killed Brandon that my power wasn't manifesting any more. I'd hoped it was still just in the development stage, that a few weeks would see it come back.
It wasn't the kind of thing I could risk getting around, even to Donovan, so I hadn't mentioned my concerns to Mallory. The one time I'd visited she hadn't said anything so I'd figured nothing had changed as far as she could tell.
To have Agony on our doorstep now, while we were still trying to integrate a third of the pack, was bad news on just about every level.
As I pulled into the garage I got a call from Donovan. "Master Alec. In light of current circumstances I've turned on the motion sensors. It appears as though someone just entered your bedroom. Would you like me to send Isaac and James to meet you?"
There was the rub. No matter how scared we might be individually we had to pretend it was just another day. If we started huddling together like a bunch of scared puppies it'd just be a matter of time before Agony's guys tore us apart.
"No, there's no need. If you could have someone clean the hallway around the corner from the second library I would appreciate it though. I noticed it's starting to look worse for the wear."
"Indeed, sir. I'll have it looked into at once."
It was indeed Agony who was waiting for me inside my room, browsing one of the books from the array of shelves that took up most of my walls. I spared a brief moment to hope that I'd shut the door to my studio before I'd left. It was self-locking, but I occasionally left it open if I wasn't working on anything important. The last thing I needed was to throw Agony any more clues how important Adri really was to me.
"Graves. I was surprised to find out you left rather than see to our comfort."
"I was within my rights. Because of our age, various members of the pack have appearances to keep up with the community. No one asks any questions when an adult is reclusive. When minors aren't enrolled in school it nearly always makes people curious. We considered home schooling, but decided we couldn't get away with it for more than one or two of us."
"Indeed. Appearances must be maintained. I find it interesting that you didn't kill Vincent. I'd understood your hatred for each other to be quite virulent."
He was probing. It'd been inevitable when I didn't use my power, but I'd hoped to have a few minutes to gather myself first.
"You're a member of the Coun'hij. You don't voice idle observations, so I have to assume you're referring to the fact that I kept the confrontation to a purely physical fight."
"Indeed."
"Have you never desired to best someone on their own terms? Vincent has always claimed to be equal to the best the moonborn had to offer. He believes he can take anyone in a straight fight despite having been proved wrong on a number of occasions. I want him to die by my hand and know in doing so that I've bested him on equal terms."
"What a romantic idea. Only two young men, barely more than infants, could possibly hope to perceive the world so."
"Youth does not necessarily equate to foolishness or weakness."
Agony set the book down and moved closer. I fought the urge to tense up. A hybrid with the kind of power I'd displayed in the fight with Brandon wouldn't worry about a physical confrontation with Agony.
"But power doesn't necessarily equate to wisdom. What do you intend to do with your newfound strength, young Graves?"
"For now I wish for nothing more than to be left alone with my friends and family."
"A good answer for a human. You and I know our kind doesn't think like that. Power must be exercised in order to serve as a deterrent. The tales that Vincent has carried are of a wondrous ability that allowed you to knock two large packs to the ground. A power like that would virtually guarantee you a spot on the Coun'hij. Rather than ruling over a pack of foolish youngsters you could sit with my brethren and me and determine the course of our race."
"I have no desire to rule anywhere. A thousand years ago it wasn't uncommon for the most powerful warriors to keep their own counsel. I see no reason to do differently."
"Ah. But things have changed. With the southerners broken, their efforts turned inward towards ruling that snake pit they call home, there's no longer the mortality rate among us there once was. For every functioning pack there are at least two or three loners who've proven too strong to be ruled but not strong enough to rule in turn."
Agony turned his back to me, picking up my physics textbook with a condescending shake of his head.
"I'd hoped to do you a favor. Your killing Vincent in a manner that overwhelmingly proved your superiority before all my other men would have gone a long way towards preventing the kind of unrelenting challenges that are otherwise only a matter of time.
"
I shook my head. "I'll deal with the dispossessed if and when they show up."
"I guess we'll see. You're either remarkably confident for someone so young, or trying to run a spectacular bluff."
Once Agony left I paced my room for a couple minutes. The wisest thing would be to go to bed, to follow my normal routine, but I didn't think I'd be able to sleep in a room Agony had so recently defiled with his presence.
I debated options for several seconds before heading towards Donovan's study. Agony would have his men monitoring the phones as expected, but there was one phone in the house that didn't route through the closest phone line.
After Agony's first visit, Donovan had paid a small fortune to have a phone line run directly from his office to three separate locations in town. It wasn't the kind of thing that would manage to stop law enforcement, but with the advent of the internet, we'd been able to add one more level of camouflage. Isaac was every bit as good with programming and networking as James was with vehicles. He'd created a device that routed a random set of frequencies through all three phone lines and then added a fourth stream of encrypted data that went out over the internet.
It wasn't perfect, but unless you anticipated where we were calling and got a tap at that end, it was pretty much unbreakable.
I ran my finger over the scanner at Donovan's office door and let myself in. I flipped on the white noise generator, queued up Isaac's program and dialed Shawn's number.
"This is Shawn."
"Hey, Shawn, it's Alec."
"I wondered if I'd get a second call from you today. You've got Isaac's trick going full bore?"
"Yeah. Agony's in typical form. He's got Vincent with him and seems to pretty much be hoping for a replay of the last time he was here."
"That's the rumor we heard last night. I would have called to warn you but by that time I figured there was too much chance they already had your lines tapped."
"How much trouble am I in?"