by Murray, Dean
"If you can replicate the trick you did with Brandon I'd say pretty much none. Just challenge Agony on the spot and kill him."
"Yeah, if I want to end up on the Coun'hij and then spend all of my time trying to avoid a knife in the back."
"There is that. Well, assuming you…don't want to escalate things like that then you're in for a hard road. Even on the Coun'hij there's only a couple of people more powerful than Agony. Puppeteer tops the list. I guess Oblivion could probably take him too, but all indications are that he's as firmly in Agony's pocket as always."
"Do you have any good news for me?"
"Maybe. There's a straw on the wind. I heard some rumors that a few of the Coun'hij enforcers were pissed about being given conflicting orders. Agony initially wanted an extra six or seven hybrids to accompany him, but for some reason cut back on the size of the party a few hours before he left."
"So the other leaders overruled him."
"Right, which probably means two things. He's scared to death of just what you're capable of right now, and the rest of the Coun'hij was worried he was coming to fabricate an incident."
"Not just that. They are worried they won't be able to cover up the incident if he brings an army along."
"Right. It's the first real sign that they are worried about losing control since the last time Agony was in Sanctuary."
"Thanks for the intel."
Chapter 17
Mom had been waiting for me. She'd noticed it was Alec who dropped me off rather than Rachel or Jasmin. I could tell she wasn't entirely buying my story about him having met us at the hospital, but she let me break past and go to my room.
Just before I went to bed I got a single text from Jasmin.
Ben?
**
I woke up about noon. Mom was already gone. I threw some clothes on and stumbled downstairs. The note on the fridge was like she was reading my mind.
I'll be out until later today. Stay home and get your homework done. I didn't call in to excuse you so you could play all day.
I called the hospital and convinced them to put me through to Ben.
"This is Ben."
His voice sounded different, high maybe?
"Ben, it's Adriana. Jasmin asked me to call and find out how you were doing?"
"Jasmin? Is she there with you?"
"No, she sent me a text."
"I don't understand. Why hasn't she been returning my calls?"
His voice was changing. The dreamy edge was wearing off, there was a hunger growing in it.
"I'm sure she'd like to, but some stuff came up that she has to deal with."
"What aren't you telling me?"
My mind went back to Rachel's words from earlier. "I'm sorry, Ben. I'd like to tell you but it's not my secret to share."
"She's in danger, isn't she? Don't bother answering, I know she is. For her to do something she doesn't want to do pretty much means she has to be. She'd tell anyone who wasn't bigger and badder to just eff off."
"There's a certain element of risk, but you don't need to worry about her. We're working to make sure everything is okay."
"I want to help. What can I do?"
"It's not exactly that kind of…"
Ben's voice was eager now, insistent. "You trailed off. You thought of something."
"I need a ride into town, the Funcade. I know you can't leave the hospital yet, but if you know someone that could help me?"
"Don't go anywhere, your ride will be there in the next half hour."
**
I was expecting a parent or maybe a grandparent. I wasn't expecting Ben to pull up in a battered, primer-gray Mustang. It looked nothing like Brandon's sleek, new machine but I recognized the insignia.
"How did you convince them to let you out of the hospital?"
"I didn't ask, I just got up, dressed myself and left. I hitchhiked home and grabbed my car."
I climbed into the car and noticed blood soaking through his pants.
"You're bleeding. You could kill yourself if you open your leg back up."
"That doesn't matter. All that matters is Jasmin. We have to protect her; have to make sure she comes back to me. We're supposed to be together."
The engine in the old sports car groaned as Ben stomped on the gas. He was taking the turns almost as fast as Alec had last night, but with less control.
"Slow down. We aren't going to do anyone any good if we get into a wreck."
Ben eased up a little, but kept tapping the steering wheel. It was like they'd given him a dose of meth at the hospital. His words came in staccato bursts like his thoughts were racing away and then stopping abruptly.
"Where do you need to go?"
"The Funcade."
"Jasmin's at the Funcade?"
"No, her car is though. I need to get it."
Ben grabbed a chunk of his hair and pulled until I was worried it was going to come out. "I need to see her."
I'd thought I'd understood what it meant when I'd told Jasmin Ben was addicted to her. I hadn't, not really.
"Ben, listen to me. This isn't like you. I can't explain why, but I think that you're addicted to the sensation of Jasmin's touch."
"No, that's not it. It's love. I know what addiction feels like and this isn't it, it's too strong."
We'd arrived and I hesitated, torn between whatever vital information Mallory might possess and the need to protect Ben from the monkey that'd latched onto him while he hadn't been looking.
"You say you've been through addiction. Really sit down and think about what you feel. It's beyond obsession."
Ben's fists clenched white around the steering wheel. "I think you should get out now."
I slid out of the car and then watched as Ben's Mustang peeled out of the parking lot.
The code worked exactly as promised and the key was where it was supposed to be. I started the Mercedes up, spared a moment to hope I wouldn't crash it, and then dropped it into gear.
As I drove past the estate I saw movement in the underbrush. My stomach dropped down even with my knees, but I didn't have any choice but to just keep going and hope none of the Coun'hij hybrids jumped out in front of the car.
I found the overhang Alec was talking about, parked the Mercedes underneath it and then started hiking in roughly the direction I remembered from my last trip.
When I was nearly ready to give up I started calling out for Mallory. She appeared five minutes later, put a finger to her lips and guided me back to her cabin.
"Well, child. Either you've decided to come here against Alec's orders, or the Coun'hij has sent a group. I don't believe it's the former, so you'd better fill me in on how bad things are."
"They arrived last night. Alec, Jasmin, Rachel and I were all gone. Donovan called and we hurried back, but by the time we arrived their leader was claiming the rest of the pack had disrespected him or something."
"Slow down and start with the basics. How many of them where there?"
"Seven. The leader's name was Agony. There was also someone named Oblivion, one named Abaddon, and Vincent was there too."
Mallory flinched slightly at Agony's name, but took a deep breath and continued. "Why were you there? I wouldn't have expected Alec to expose you."
"He wasn't going to but Donovan said they requested me by name."
Mallory was pacing now, slowly dragging her frail body around the room. "That might not mean anything. Vincent was with them, but that's not his manner of thought. Nobody else is truly real to him, and humans even less so. Tell Alec you may have a spy in your midst. If so it's likely one of the three newcomers."
"No. They're all loyal to Alec."
"Truly, child? You've never heard them express dissatisfaction with their lot? I never liked the thought of bringing them into the pack but Alec was right that we need more submissives. The pack needs an outlet in order to avoid ripping itself apart."
I felt like I'd been slapped down. This was too important to let my feelings get i
n the way though.
"Agony said Donovan was the worst offender. He wanted to punish him, but Alec stepped in and offered to fight one of them in Donovan's place."
Mallory was smiling now. "Smartly done. It's all a dance to figure out who will blink first, Alec or Agony. Agony immediately put one of the pack under threat of pain, but Alec spoked his wheel by taking Donovan's place."
I nodded. It made a weird kind of sense. "That was when Agony told us Vincent was here and said Vincent would fight Alec."
"Excellent. If Agony had been sure of his ability to defeat Alec he would have taken the challenge right then and broken him. Alec's gamble helped keep the loyalty of his pack and showed them the Coun'hij is bluffing all at the same time. So Alec fought him, tapped into his power, and dropped Vincent where he stood?"
"No, he fought him hand to hand. He won, but it wasn't until after that he told me he tried to use his ability but nothing happened."
Mallory's good humor evaporated. "He told you that? Not where anyone else could hear, I imagine. It's important that the pack not realize how bad our position is."
"Has his power evaporated? Are we vulnerable to whatever other pack comes along?"
"Powers, abilities like the one Alec manifested, shouldn't just go away. It's possible it manifested prematurely in the fight with Brandon and just needs more time to come in fully, or more practice before it will heel when called. I just don't know. It's not a science and almost anything could be possible."
I felt my heart sink but she mustered up a smile for me. "Don't despair. What we need most is more time. Agony used his only truly expendable piece in the fight last night. The rest of his men will all be reluctant to fight."
"I don't understand. Isn't that why they are here?"
"Yes, but generally they don't have to fight and the Coun'hij's enforcers generally take an odd pride in the fact that they don't usually need to fight. You saw the tattoos and piercings?"
"On everyone but Agony and Vincent."
"Those all go away when we change shapes. Generally the more tattoos and piercings one of the enforcers sports, the higher up the food chain they are."
I thought back over the shadowy figures half glimpsed in the torchlight. "Abaddon had the most. Oblivion had relatively few, towards the bottom maybe. Agony had none."
"Agony had none because he is the one who does most of the fighting. He's somewhat unique in that way. Most of the Coun'hij uses their minions. He knows the fear of what he can do is the best weapon available him."
"What does he do?"
"He scars. When he wounds someone he can will them never to heal again. That's how I got like this, how Donovan acquired his limp. Agony rides a thin line between enough terror to keep everyone in line and too much terror, the kind of terror that would cause a general uprising. As long as the packs all feel they still have something left to lose they'll allow him to keep doing what he does."
"Keeping everyone in line?"
"Yes, keeping all of us in line." Mallory resumed pacing. "It's good news that Abaddon is the most freakish. He's an incredible fighter but he doesn't have any kind of special gift. Oblivion is actually a bigger threat. He's the only powerful enforcer who doesn't go in for ostentatious ornamentation. Just enough to keep the new enforcers from giving him grief. It saves him from having to use his power as often."
"What's his power?"
"He steals minds. One moment you're walking and talking. He touches you and you're a blank slate."
I waited while she paced back and forth for several seconds. "So what do I tell Alec?"
"You tell him what he already knows. Bluff for as long as he can get away with it, but when push comes to shove he needs to give Agony whatever the Coun'hij wants. We need time. Time for his power to stabilize or be trained or whatever it is going to take to give the pack a chance to survive."
The fear and anger that had been simmering in the back of my mind since I'd seen Agony came to the fore.
"That can't be the answer. He's going to kill people. He'll hurt them badly at the very least, but I think he's going to kill someone."
"I expect you're right. The question is not how Alec stops him--without his power working right now, the question is do we let Agony kill one person, or do we let him kill the whole pack?"
Chapter 18
Mallory followed me back to the car, dragging some kind of pungent bush behind us to cover up my scent. She extracted a promise to drive further along the road for another half hour before I turned back around and went home. Apparently automobiles didn't have a distinctive enough scent to track unless they were the only one that'd passed by in quite a while.
Normally Alec and Mallory didn't employ that level of deception, but with the Coun'hij delegation in town she was understandably jumpy.
I was still a few minutes away from the estate when two massive shapes suddenly stepped out onto the road in front of me. I managed to come to a stop without running either of them over. When I realized who it was I wished I'd floored it.
I didn't recognize the second shape shifter, but Oblivion was unmistakable. His hulking form crossed over to my side of the car and opened my door, but it was the second man who began interrogating me.
"You're Graves' pet human. You passed by this way a couple of hours ago. Where were you going?"
I felt my mouth go dry. Lying was pointless. They could hear my heartbeat, smell the nervous perspiration gathering on me.
"None of your business."
He didn't even blink and I never saw the backhand coming. He must have really pulled the blow. He could have easily snapped my neck without thinking about it, but it still left my ears ringing.
"You can address me as sir, or Master Marco."
I'd been nervous before, now I was terrified. Marco walked over to me, his right hand shifting over to claws as he got closer.
I opened my mouth, but he wasn't interested in anything I had to say yet. He sank the longest claw into my upper arm. I screamed and nearly passed out, but he kept eye contact with me the whole time.
The sadistic light in his eyes amply communicated that information would be nice, but he was mostly interested in hurting me.
I was shaking now. Shock, fear, pain--it didn't matter the reason, I was suddenly very much aware of just how much trouble I was in.
Marco pulled the claw out of my arm and brought it up towards my face.
"Be a real shame to ruin such a pretty face."
A heartbeat before the point would have raked across my cheek, a tattooed arm grabbed a hold of Marco's hand, effortlessly immobilizing it.
For a second I thought Marco was going to turn on Oblivion, but he glanced nervously at the hand and backed down with an immediacy that was nearly unbelievable.
"Fine, do it your way. I was just trying to save you from getting your lily-white hands dirty. We all know how carefully you conserve your ability."
Oblivion gripped me by the upper arms, locked gazes with me and then suddenly my vision stopped working. I was still trying to orient myself in the black void when I started hearing voices. Each voice was different, most only got one word out before being replaced.
"Stolen…Memories…Leave…Holes…Secret…Trusting…You."
Before I could fully process the meaning of the chorus of voices, I found myself in another place. My eyes worked, too well in fact. The normal faded colors of near darkness were overlaid with the inner glow of a shape shifter's vision.
I couldn't control my body. Eyes, head, hands, nothing. I was midway through a full-blown panic when I saw Donovan. His face was the same gentle, lined canvas I'd always known, but his leg wasn't injured.
The wonder of seeing Donovan move around without his habitual limp was enough to make my panic jump the tracks. I inhaled and found a hundred new scents. Many of the scents were other shape shifters, rivals by the way my muscles tensed up every time I thought about them.
I scanned the crowd. I'd never seen so many shape shifters
in one place at the same time. Gradually I started picking other familiar faces out. Mallory was there, standing tall and regal to the right of a man who looked oddly familiar.
There was Andrew and a little ways over I could see Addison slightly behind a man nearly as big as Brandon had been before Alec had killed him.
I wanted to continue looking at the people but something made me turn and look at my surroundings. We were in a bowl-shaped valley with a stream cutting through one end. My hearing was keen enough to make out the sound of a full-fledged river, likely the ultimate destination of our little brook.
It was autumn, I could taste the slightest hint of chill on the air and the leaves felt like they'd present a riot of colors if it were light enough for their full glory to manifest.
A wiry figure that I quickly recognized as Agony, was talking now. "Your man has crossed too many lines this time, Graves."
"He does what he's done under my order."
"The ancient prerogatives aren't in effect anymore. Your line lost that right centuries ago. He's mine now to do with as I will."
Alec's father shook his head. "The prerogatives may not be in full force but the obligations are. I'll not give you leave to maim him."
"Then you choose to stand in his place."
"Such is the duty of all leaders."
A ripple ran through the watchers. Those behind Agony leaned forward eager, those behind Alec's father huddled closer together. Alec's father stripped down to the same kind of ha'bit his son would wear a decade and a half later.
"It's not too late, Cyrus. You can still change your mind, still choose the course of reason."
Agony's lips drew back. "You're wrong, Kaleb. There is too much at risk to allow your insolence to go unpunished."
Between one breath and the next Agony exploded into his hybrid shape, and lunged at Alec's dad. For the first time I could actually follow the fight. Agony was smaller and appeared to be weaker but curiously had his opponent on the defensive.
It only took as long as the first few passes for me to figure out why. Both fighters collected a wide array of shallow gashes, but while Agony's quickly began healing, the trickle of blood from Kaleb's didn't slow.