In the back of my mind I was trying to wake up, thinking if I could just wake up then I could . . . what, never go back to sleep again? No, but at least right now I would be away from him.
“Okay, tell me about vampire politics.”
He blinked as if I’d asked him an unexpected question. “That is not something I can share with you. Though I suspect you will find out more than you ever wanted to know when it comes to vampires soon enough.”
“Then why the fu . . . heck are you here? What possible reason have you got for disrupting my sleep?” Damn, if he liked a potty mouth, the last thing I wanted to do was swear in front of him.
Faris folded his arms and bowed his head almost as if he were praying. “You don’t seem to understand the stakes.” He chuckled at some joke I obviously wasn’t getting. “You will belong to me, one way or another.”
He lunged at me and I reacted, flipping into a backwards handspring, catching him in the jaw with my boot. With a roar, he came at me, blood dripping from his lips, fangs lowering. It was like fighting with the wind; I couldn’t pin him down, his speed was nothing I had ever experienced before.
Despite my best efforts, it took him less than a minute to have me pinned below him. Bucking and writhing, I attempted to throw him off me, but his bloody grin only grew wider. “We can help each other, Rylee. You stand with me, when the time comes, and I’ll give you anything you want.”
Glaring up at him, fighting the panic that was rising, I didn’t dare say anything.
“Now tell me, there’s nothing you want?”
“Nothing you can give me.”
His voice lowered to a whisper. “What about . . . Berget?”
“She’s dead, long ago.”
“Then why can’t you Track her, isn’t that what you do?” The condescension in his voice set me to fighting again, but he held me easily, whispering into my ear. “I know you’ve seen her, what if I could give her to you, whole, the child she once was?”
I closed my eyes, tremors wracking me. “No, you’re a liar.” But even to me my voice sounded weak.
His words, though whispered, were made all the more powerful by the fact that there was so much I would give to have what he offered. “I would give you the world, if you would stand with me, Tracker. Everything you want, your sweet little sister, your wolf, I would even let you keep your FBI agent, if you like. I don’t mind sharing.”
Faris eased off my body, but I lay there on the ground, eyes squinted shut.
“What is your answer, Tracker, Rylee? Will you take my offer? I will not make it again. Your sister for your loyalty to me. A simple oath.”
Gods forgive me for what I was about to do, I loved her too much to deny his words, and there was only one answer I could give him.
“Go to hell, you nasty motherfucker.”
12
Rage twisted the vampire’s features and he dove at me. Claws dug into my side as the vampire’s teeth grazed my face, and I jerked awake to find Alex whimpering beside me.
“Someone comes.”
Mouth dry, pulse hammering, I rolled from the bed and dry heaved. Shaking hard, I fought to get myself under control.
“Who is it?”
“Bird.”
Bird? “Eve?”
Alex shook his head, letting out a low whimper.
Who else but Eve . . . my mind was slow to grasp the threads.
Bird, Eagle Guardian. Shit! That was the last thing we needed. “Come on, we gotta go,” I said, forcing the sleep from my limbs, opening the balcony door, then pushing a rusted iron patio chair under the knob. It might buy us a few minutes if we were lucky.
The balcony was only about ten feet up, not too far, and Alex leapt over the railing, landing lightly below. “Catch Rylee,” he yelped, holding out his arms, standing awkwardly on his back feet.
“Get out of the way.” I waved him off, settled for shimmying down until I could hang from the bottom of the balcony, and then let go. The drop was negligible, but still, Alex grabbed me mid-air.
“Gotcha!”
“Yes, great. We’ve got to go.”
A human scream echoed out above us, twisting and changing until it became the scream of hunting eagle. The glass door shattered as the Guardian burst through, form shifting from man to eagle as he threw himself into open air.
“Find her,” I yelled, pushing Alex ahead of me. We had to get back on Louisa’s trail; if we couldn’t find it, we were screwed.
Arms and legs pumping, I followed Alex, keeping my eyes partially on him, partially on the bright blue sky above. Glimpses of wings teased at the peripheral of my vision. Alex stopped near a slim trail between two homes and I crouched beside him.
“No Louisa. Smell is gone.” He pointed to the ground and, though I saw nothing, I trusted him. Gods be damned, we were going to have to backtrack again. That, or her scent was just too old. I didn’t want to think about that possibility. If we couldn’t find her soon, I was afraid we would be too late for everyone. Louisa, Ricky, and me and my demon venom.
“Let’s go back, pick up the last spot you found the trail,” I said, but we hadn’t taken two steps before a shadow passed over the sun.
The whoosh of wings, and the air around us kicked up dust. Spinning, the giant Eagle shifted into his man form, a formidable opponent in either case.
He spoke low and angry, his words a slew of nonsense to my ears, the Navajo language, if I was hearing it right. I was able to pick out a few words I’d heard Louisa use. Angry, death words. This was a bad spot, one I was pretty sure we were stuck in. Now, I regretted leaving Eve and O’Shea behind. Too little, too late.
We backed away from the Guardian and, though I knew it was useless, I tried to appease him. Hands out, I said, “We’re here to help, not hurt. Louisa, Crystal . . .” buggered if I could remember all the Shaman’s names. His eyes narrowed as I stopped listing them off. We couldn’t keep running and just hope we would out maneuver the Guardian. I was going to have to rely on my ability to talk to people, convince him we meant no harm.
In other words, we were in deep shit.
Whether it was the moon that rode him, or his affection for me, I have no idea, but Alex took that moment to be brave. Scrabbling around from behind me, he stood in front, hackles raised, hair standing on end. “No hurt Ryleeeeeee!” He howled, teeth gnashing.
The Eagle man stood, staring first at the werewolf, then up at me, then back to the wolf. He was tall, six foot at least with nearly black eyes, but a shock of white hair, the same as the eagle he embodied. Leaner than the bear Guardian, every muscle he had was obvious as he took his time looking us over, assessing us. I had the feeling we came up short in his evaluation, as his eyes narrowed and he gave a snort of derision.
I fingered my blades, knowing they would do no good. I wouldn’t fight him unless my hand was forced. I took a breath, adrenaline flooding me, my muscles bunching to sprint away from danger. But the Guardian surprised me.
“Guardian Wolf.” He gestured long fingers at Alex, and then his posture relaxed, eyes softening. Maybe we weren’t so out of luck.
“Yes. We’re here to help the Shamans. To find and free them.”
His long white hair shifted in the breeze, and he held his hand out to me. “Eagle will take you there.”
“You know where they are held?” Damn, this was better and better.
Eagle nodded. “Come. You free them and I will spare you.”
Trust was not something that came easy to me, yet like a war chief of old, I thought the Guardian would honour his word. Dropping one hand on Alex’s head, I stroked him behind the ears. “I can’t leave my wolf.”
“I will carry him.”
What other choice did I have? I could try and fight our way out, but since I’d already decided Eagle was worth trusting, it seemed silly to even consider fighting. Still, I wasn’t about to actually let him carry us. That was just asking for trouble.
A hot wind snapped down the alley and Eagle
shifted his form, smoothly, with barely a ruffle of his feathers.
“We will follow on foot. You lead.”
Eagle bobbed his head once and sprung from the ground, straight up. Stepping from the alleyway, I wondered for not the first time at the blindness of the humans around us. A car drove past us, and there was a woman across the street puttering in her flower beds. Not to say it wasn’t better this way; I had no desire to try and explain the giant eagle floating on the currents above us. But I did wonder at what they saw. Maybe just a regular, everyday eagle floating on the breeze?
Breaking into a jog, I followed the path of the eagle, Alex keeping up with me with no problem. Within a short time, we were jogging down a dirt track leading out of the bunch of family homes. Another two miles and the outskirts of the town blurred behind us. Ahead, there was nothing, just expanse of desert, the Guardian filling the sky above us.
I had a feeling we were going to be on the move for a long while.
I was right.
*-*-*-*
O’Shea clung to Eve’s back, sweat dripping down the sides of his face even in the cold air high above the ground. He had to do something to take his mind off the height, and even his anger at Rylee leaving him behind, again, didn’t help.
“Eve, how is it that you aren’t seen by humans?”
The Harpy tipped her head back to glance at him. “They do not see what their hearts have forgotten. I am a legend, as are the unicorns and many other creatures. Legends are no longer real to humans.”
“But you’d show up on radar, wouldn’t you?”
“You recall that technology does not work around the supernatural? The rays of your ‘radar’ are the same. They pass over us as if we are ghosts. That is why, when a human does see us, truly sees us, and takes a pictures, even one close up, it will develop into nothing but shadows and indistinct shapes. The world has moved on and forgotten us. And in that darkness, we are safe from the humans.”
O’Shea was silent, the Harpy’s words deep and thoughtful for one so young. And somewhat disturbing. He wondered if he ever would have known about the supernatural if Rylee hadn’t been the one he’d chased for ten years. And why would the supernaturals need to be safe from the humans? What threat could a human pose to a Harpy, or any of the other supernaturals, for that matter?
“Agent. I think we are getting close to them.”
They’d been flying for several hours, their second day on the hunt for Rylee and Alex. He knew the time Doran had bought her with the fire opal was almost up. He and Eve had to find Rylee. As in now.
Yesterday, O’Shea had driven around in the SUV, stopping every hour to meet up with Eve. It had taken some serious convincing on Eve’s part to get him on her back. He still wasn’t sure it was the right choice, but he had no other option for finding Rylee.
“How do you know?” The wind snatched the words from his lips, though she heard him anyway.
“Eagle.”
He looked ahead, and in the far distance he could see a shape, though how Eve could know it was an eagle was beyond him.
“Can’t be an eagle; it’s too big.”
“Trust me, it’s an eagle. The one who attacked Rylee and me.”
Ice formed around his spine. “Shit, then it’s probably tracking them too.”
“My exact thoughts.” She said no more, but her wings picked up their crescendo, flying them across the desert.
O’Shea hung onto her, remembering all too clearly the wound the bear had inflicted on him. As he’d made to leave the Landing Pad, Dox made a half-hearted attempt to stop him.
“It’s what Rylee would expect of me. You know, point out that you’re hurt.” The ogre had said, a grin splitting his face.
His grin faded when O’Shea had shown him the wound. A scant few hours after he’d been stitched up smooth, thin lines of scar tissue made the stitches unnecessary, and set O’Shea’s heart to thumping.
Dox had consoled him. “Likely healed so fast ‘cause it was a Guardian. Once they decide you’re a friend, they can heal up wounds they’ve caused.”
But O’Shea wasn’t so sure.
Pushing the possibilities out of his head, he focussed on the image of an eagle slowly growing larger. Indeed, it was glancing downward to a pair of running figures and seemed unaware they were sweeping up behind him. He had no doubt the eagle was after Rylee and Alex. Eve and he were just in time to pull Rylee’s ass out of the fire. A tight smile crept across his face.
“Go high, Eve. Let’s hammer him from above.”
She chuckled, her head bobbing. “Yes, let’s give him a taste of his own medicine.”
*-*-*-*
I paused for a breath, my mouth dry and grit-filled, heart pumping hard. The scent of sage grass was heavy in the air, about the only good thing I could say about the run. If it had been Eve with us, I would have taken the ride by now, but from what I gathered Eagle would not have been letting us ride, so much as gripping us with his talons. Nope, I’d rather run. The problem was how long it was taking. The fire opal was warm against my chest, but I knew I didn’t have much longer before my forty-eight hours were up. We had to find the Shamans. Like now.
“How much farther?” I shouted up to our guide. Eagle tossed his head once. Gods, I hoped that meant only one more mile; I couldn’t keep this pace up much longer. My legs and arms felt leaden, exhaustion creeping through them with each step I took. Alex, on the other hand, looked as fresh as a daisy. Bloody werewolf.
Grinning around a lolling tongue, he kept pace with me easily, and looked as though he could do another fifty miles no problem. I was almost ready to take Eagle up on his offer of a ride when a familiar screech filled the air. High above Eagle, Eve plummeted, claws outstretched, an all too familiar rider on her back. Damn O’Shea. He just couldn’t sit tight and wait for me.
“No, Eve! Stop,” I shouted, waving my arms, but the Harpy was in a free fall plummet, her target the one being who could lead us to the Shamans. There was nothing I could do but watch as the two giant birds slammed into one another, their shrieks piercing my ears. Eve’s claws burrowed into Eagle’s back, clamping one wing down, leaving the other to beat uselessly, spinning them into a tight spiral toward the ground. Eve screamed for all she was worth, and Eagle screamed right back as he struggled to escape her grip. Forty feet up, Eagle twisted hard to one side, throwing Eve off balance and unseating O’Shea who flipped off her back. For a brief second, I fought what I was seeing. O’Shea’ body hung, seemingly suspended in the air as the two giant birds struggled all the way down to the ground. And then he fell, hard, hitting the ground with a meaty thump. My guts twisted, knowing there was nothing I could do to save him.
I sprinted toward where O’Shea was crumpled; at least he hadn’t hit any rocks, but that high up, I wasn’t sure, rocks or not, that he would be alive when I reached him.
All but falling, I put a hand to his face, scratches from the thorny underbrush beside him already welling up with blood.
“O’Shea?”
He groaned and rolled to his side. “Damn it. You better get a riding harness for that bird of yours.”
Shocked, I didn’t stop to think, just wrapped my arms around him and helped him to sit up. His arms circled back around me, and for just a moment I let myself enjoy the moment. “I thought—”
“Yeah, me too.” He pulled back a little, three scratches running down the side of his face, blood dripping, but to me, he had never looked so good. A light seemed to flash in his eyes and he pulled me tight against him, clamping his lips over mine. I clung to his shoulders, forgetting the world around us, tears springing up in my eyes. He could have died, and I never would have been able to see him again, not even on the other side of the Veil where ghosts walk. No human ghosts went to the other side of the Veil; it wasn’t their realm.
A resounding, triumphant scream filled the air and we jerked away from each other.
“Shit!” I jumped to my feet and sprinted toward where Eagle had Ev
e pinned below him.
I waved my arms. “Stop! She’s a friend, she’ll help us!”
Eagle cocked his head and peered at me, his wounds from her claws already closing over.
Shifting into his human form, he stepped away from the wounded Harpy who sat up, a glazed look on her face. “He’s not an eagle?”
I held up my hands, stopping everyone. “He’s a Guardian, and so he can shift forms. He’s leading us to where the Shamans are being held. Or he was until you two showed up.”
Eve looked from me, to Eagle, to O’Shea, and then Alex before sniffing contemptuously, her feathers ruffled. “I could have helped you find the place.”
God save me from supernatural egos. “I’m sure you could, but he” —I pointed at Eagle— “was closer. And he’s already been there.”
O’Shea limped over to me, slipping an arm across my shoulders. “So, where to next?”
Eve blinked twice and her beak dropped open. “How did you survive the fall?”
He shrugged. “Lucky, I guess.”
It struck me then that wasn’t the only issue he would have been dealing with. “What about you hip? You were cut wide—”
His arm tightened across my shoulders; but he didn’t make eye contact. “Wasn’t as bad as we thought. Didn’t even need stitches. Like I said, I’m just lucky.”
Lucky indeed; I felt something in the air shift, tension and secrets felt about the same. O’Shea was keeping something from me, but at that moment, I didn’t really care. No, that’s not true, I did care; I just didn’t have time to deal with it. I would make O’Shea spill his guts. But right now we had to get the Shamans. Not to mention I was running out of time, the fire opal seeming to cool even as I thought about it.
It was decided that with Eve along—relatively unharmed considering the scuffle she and Eagle were in—we would fly the rest of the way, Eve carrying Alex in her claws while O’Shea and I rode on top.
Back in the air, I took stock of the situation. Considering other cases I’d been on, I now had a veritable army of help. But as we swung into view of the ranch, did a low sweep and landed on a rocky outcrop half a mile away, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be enough.
Immune: A Sexy Urban Fantasy Mystery (Rylee Adamson # 2) Page 11