What had Nicole noticed that Evalle had missed?
“Three hours should be enough time,” Storm said for everyone’s benefit. “If not, daylight will be our next challenge at that point.”
Red leaned down next to Nicole’s ear, but Evalle could hear every word. “What happens if the people they’re hunting find out you helped them and come after you?”
Nicole smiled up at her. “I’m in no danger, love.”
Standing upright, Red released a put-upon sigh and accepted what Nicole told her even though she didn’t like it one bit. The glare she sent Evalle was to remind her how much Red didn’t like her.
This favor would put a nice touch on the relationship. Sort of like a turd in a gourmet meal.
“Go ahead and change, Storm,” Nicole directed him.
He stepped back around the sport utility. A door on the other side opened for a moment, then closed.
Was he stripping? Evalle stuck her head past the rear of the truck to check that no one was in the area, when in truth she wanted to scout all the way around the vehicle out of curiosity.
But that would be an invasion of privacy she wouldn’t appreciate in his place.
She’d never been around lycanthropes or Skinwalkers. How long did it take to change? Barely a minute had passed when a sleek black jungle cat stepped around the front fender.
Looked like Ashaninka Skinwalkers were the plug-and-play version.
His eyes glowed like embers and didn’t look the least bit friendly. He snarled low, a vicious sound.
Evalle’s nerves rippled, lifting hairs everywhere.
Red’s fingers clutched the handles of Nicole’s chair so hard that her knuckles were white.
Nicole spoke softly to Storm, as if she saw a jaguar that had to weigh over two hundred pounds every day in Avondale. She held a hand out to Evalle with a silver disc in the center of her palm. A leather thong had been strung through a loop on the disc. “Tie this amulet around his neck.”
Me? But Evalle didn’t want to look like some wimp in front of Red, so she took the amulet and turned to Storm, whose lips curled back from his teeth.
She bent down slowly to her knees and waited quietly. Didn’t seem wise to say “Here kitty, kitty” to a ginormous jaguar.
Storm padded over until her face was close enough to smell the warm animal scent of his fur. He stared hard into her eyes, then lifted his head so she could reach his neck. As she tied the amulet, she realized he was exposing his most vulnerable spot to her.
But he’d said he wouldn’t hurt her, so did this mean he trusted her not to hurt him?
She grabbed his head, bringing his eyes back level with hers, then kissed his nose. “You’re the best.”
He nuzzled her face, then turned to Nicole.
Evalle stood up and backed away as Nicole chanted softly in a voice that should be singing lullabies. When she finished, Nicole looked at Evalle. “No one except you will see him unless he chooses to reveal himself. Three hours isn’t an exact time, so don’t push it any longer than you have to. It’s already one o’clock. You should go.”
Evalle would have hugged Nicole if not for Red standing guard. Red was the jealous type to begin with. “Thanks, Nicole. I owe you one for sure.”
“I’ll hold you to that if it means you’ll be here to pay up.” She smiled, then patted Red’s hand. “Let’s go back up.”
After loading Storm into the backseat, where he’d have more room, Evalle drove back to Tenth Street and parked along the curb in a neighborhood close to Piedmont Park. She held her breath when Storm jumped out of the truck and prowled along the sidewalk.
At the corner, two men jogged past Storm. One had a Labrador on a leash. Neither human noticed the jaguar who stepped out of their path and onto a front yard.
But the dog jerked around, sniffing, until his leash tightened.
Storm watched them pass, then looked up at her. This time, when he pulled his lips back, he exposed razor-sharp teeth in what she thought might be a smile.
“Let’s beat feet and see what we can find at the park,” she said, catching up to him.
When she reached the spot where she’d last seen the woman with the rock, Storm put his head down to the ground and turned into a predator on the hunt.
She was glad not to be his prey.
He spent almost two minutes there, then spun around and headed for Tenth Street, where he dashed across the highway without going to a crosswalk where a streetlight would stop traffic.
Running to keep up with him, she waved her hands at cars trying to mow her down when she crossed right behind him.
Evalle, where are you? Tzader asked in her mind.
Back at Piedmont Park. Storm thinks he may have picked up a scent. Literally. Where are you two?
Sen decided there was nothing to be risked at this point by bringing in recruits since the stone is going to bond with the new master by daylight. We’ve been tied up all day calling in more Beladors to flood the city to search for the Kujoo.
No. That’s just what the Medb wanted. I don’t think that’s a good idea, Z. Not until we know what they meant about wiping out all the Beladors.
We’ve got strength in numbers once we link. I’ll put a wall of Beladors up against any Medb or Kujoo at any time.
What if the Medb had a plan to kill Brina when the Beladors linked? Massive slaughter. But that wouldn’t wipe out all the generations.
Got to go, Tzader said. Call us if you find anything and we’ll get warriors to you.
Will do. The lump in her throat was getting thicker by the minute. She’d put her trust in Storm, which was what she believed Nicole’s vision meant. Don’t let me be wrong.
Storm wove through streets, hesitating occasionally to sniff a mailbox post or a car tire. This area was packed with animals, which had to be hampering his tracking.
Or the young woman with the rock walked everywhere. If she was blind and unable to drive, that could be the case. Or if she carried her dog some of the time, she’d have broken the scent trail.
Two hours later, Evalle’s legs burned from jogging up and down a couple inclines without slowing. She only had two legs, but she wasn’t going to complain, dammit.
She hunched her shoulders in defense right after cursing mentally, sometimes anticipating an air slap to her head from Brina, but it never happened.
Tzader said Brina heard all cursing, but maybe she only listened to the rest of her tribe, not Alterants.
Storm bumped Evalle when he swung around, intent on something. Had he picked up an especially promising scent?
When he slowed and crept up to a house, Evalle cast a glance all around to check for animals. The last dog they’d encountered had followed them for a while. Was Storm’s protection ward beginning to fail?
He padded across the street to the driveway of a cottage-style wooden house painted blue and white. The yard was neat and filled with flowers. Storm paced several feet back and forth across the driveway, then lifted his head to her.
Evalle walked past him, over to a window on the side of the house, and peered in.
The woman she’d been hunting was curled up on her sofa with her mutt next to her. Bingo.
Hurrying back to Storm, Evalle squatted down and brushed her hand over the soft fur on his head, considering what to do next. “This is the girl’s house. I don’t want to scare her, so I’m going in alone.”
He growled and nipped at her arm with his lips.
“No arguing. That dog we passed on the last block sensed you. You’re close to being out of time with the ward. Go back and change into the clothes I left in the bushes for you. I’ll meet you at the park with the girl.”
He didn’t move.
“Storm, I need you to do this. You can’t go in with me, and if someone sees you when the ward wears off they’ll call animal control. I don’t want Sen coming after you for doing this around humans without authorization.” She stood up.
He rubbed his wide head along he
r leg, then took a step, but paused, reluctance to leave in every move he made.
“I’m fine. I can call Trey, Quinn and Tzader telepathically if I get into any trouble. Trey is superfast and lives maybe a mile or two away at the most. He can be here in a minute. But I’m not calling anyone until I know what’s going on with this girl, the rock and Vyan.” She leaned over and kissed his head. “This might save my tribe. Thank you.”
He licked her cheek, then trotted away, looking back every fifty feet until he disappeared into the night.
When she climbed the wooden steps to the cute porch, she took a close look at the pottery planter next to the door that came up to her waist. She’d been studying ancient languages at night on her computer. She’d seen those letters before and made a mental note of the bold inscription across the top, but she put it aside for now and knocked on the door. When it opened, Evalle faced the young woman from the park. “I need a minute to talk to you. It’s important.”
The woman gasped. “I saw you in the park early this morning.”
Finally. Something would be easy. “Yes, you did.”
“Are you a Belador?”
Not a question Evalle expected. “Yes, I am.”
“Are the Kujoo your enemies?”
That’s when she noticed the rock in the woman’s hand and reconsidered the first response that came to mind, since there could be a wrong answer to that question.
Easy never stayed in her vocabulary long.
THIRTY-FIVE
“Can I come in?” Evalle asked the woman holding the Ngak Stone, which could wreak devastation on the entire world.
“You didn’t answer my question. Are the Kujoo your enemies?”
Evalle considered a couple things quickly, like the fact that this woman had only met Vyan, not all the Kujoo. “I don’t have an issue with Vyan.”
Wariness crossed the woman’s pale face, but the blue eyes concentrated hard on whatever she was deciding. Her hair fell in flaming red waves to her shoulders.
A dog’s bark made them both jump.
Her mutt scampered through the open door and danced around Evalle’s legs. She instinctively reached down to pet the dog.
“Okay, Brutus, you win.” The woman extended her free hand. “I’m Laurette Barrett.”
“I’m Evalle Kincaid, and I’m here because you’re in grave danger.”
“I know.” Laurette said that with simple acceptance and backed away, opening the door for Evalle to enter.
The interior had a cozy feel, with sheers over the windows and flowery pillows tossed on a cream-colored sofa. All the secondhand furniture had been kept clean and given TLC along the way. Something with meat had been cooked recently, filling the house with a wonderful lived-in smell.
Now Evalle felt justified in suffering a moment of jealousy over someone living in a real house that had a lived-in feel.
Laurette stopped in the middle of the room and faced her. “Vyan said to find a Belador if he didn’t come back to my house by four this morning, and that was five minutes ago. I think somebody’s going to hurt him.”
“We need to talk about that rock in your hand first.”
“I’m not talking to you unless you’re going to help me trade this rock for Vyan.”
Saving a Kujoo was counterproductive to saving the Beladors and civilization. Evalle wasn’t sure if she could talk this woman out of the rock or take it from her, but she was not handing it over to the Kujoo or Tristan. “Why don’t we sit down and work through this?”
Laurette heaved a long breath as though the world rested on her shoulders, which wasn’t far from the truth as long as she held tight to the rock. She sat down on the sofa and her little dog curled across her feet. Her fingers never stopped stroking the Ngak Stone in her hand. “How do I know you’re a Belador?”
Evalle never had a good answer for that one. “I have no way to prove it to you, but I know Vyan. I met him two years ago when he first arrived in Atlanta.”
Laurette nodded. “He said that’s when he met you. What are the Beladors?”
“The short story is that we’re sort of a special group that protects national security, which is why we need to talk about the Ngak Stone you’re holding.”
“But you’re Vyan’s enemy?”
Add him to the list, but let’s move this along. “The Beladors and the Kujoo have a lot of difficult history from eight hundred years ago, but none of today’s Beladors are responsible for that. Where did Vyan go?”
“I don’t know. I asked the rock to take me to him, but it wouldn’t. He left by the roof instead of the front door so no one would pick up his trail.”
No one from the street, but someone could track him back to Laurette’s house. Evalle asked, “Did he tell you anything about that rock?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know we’re working on a tight schedule or you could end up bound to the Ngak Stone forever … if you survive being bound to it.”
“I have to keep this rock.”
“Are you blind, Laurette?”
“Not yet, but soon. I can see when I hold it.”
“The rock is seducing you. It’s meant for a different kind of person than you.”
“One like you or that guy Tristan, because I don’t throw around lightning bolts?”
“That’s right. You’re human.” Evalle wanted to tell her not to feel disappointed or hurt about her human status. Being nonhuman was no joyride. “Some of the most powerful sorcerers and wizards have gone mad after bonding with the stone. The stone has been around forever. Every time the stone takes a new master its power builds upon the previous power gained. I doubt a human would even survive the bonding, and even if you did, the stone would control you, not the other way around.”
Laurette’s eyes glistened with tears. “Vyan told me not to ask the stone for my eyesight. Is that too much to ask?”
“It’s dangerous to seek any gain from something powerful. If you ask for your eyesight, someone else might lose theirs in exchange.”
She gasped. “I would never take someone else’s.”
“I didn’t think you’d want that.” What would it take to get her to part with the stone besides saving Vyan? He must not be cooperating with the Kujoo and Tristan. “You have to decide soon, Laurette, or the choice won’t be yours to make at daylight.”
Laurette fought tears, struggling to do the right thing. “I’ll give it up, but not until I know Vyan is safe.”
“Why do you think he’s in any danger?”
“Because he doesn’t agree with what his warlord is planning and has gone against the Kujoo by not handing me and the rock over to them.”
“What is the warlord planning?”
“Vyan gave me a message for the Beladors if he didn’t return. He said his warlord wants Tristan to use the Ngak Stone to turn the Kujoo warriors that are here now into superwarriors, then Tristan will send them back eight hundred years. Those warriors will kill all the Beladors so that your race ends. Vyan said some witch assured Tristan that something called an Alterant will be safe from the genocide.”
Oh, dear goddess. Evalle’s heart shook with possible consequences of that happening. That’s what Tristan had been talking about and why he had said she’d be safe. In this time period, Beladors lived as sleeper cells for the good, scattered all over the world in every position, from mothers to pilots to doctors to bus drivers to maybe even those in the highest levels of government.
If they all disappeared at one time, the result would be devastating to more than just the non-Belador members of the families that survived. The world could go into chaos. There would be no way to prepare for the immediate disappearance of over a million Beladors worldwide.
And she’d lose Tzader and Quinn.
Laurette’s voice turned thin and desperate. “Vyan is helping your Beladors. Please help him.”
Now to make the right choices that Nicole had warned her were imperative to protecting the Beladors’ past and fut
ure. Evalle forced her words to be calm, though she wanted to shout at Laurette to hand over the stone. “If I promise to free Vyan, will you hand over the stone to people I know?”
Laurette got up and walked across the room to look out her window. She gripped the stone in both hands. “Who are these people you’re talking about?”
The less Evalle shared with this woman about the Beladors the better, but VIPER had one person with the ability to ease Laurette’s worries. “His name is Storm. He’ll take you to a place that is safe to leave the rock and I’ll take a team to help Vyan.”
Laurette’s dog jumped off the sofa and ran around her feet, growling. “I can’t think. Give me a minute.” She frowned at her little dog. “Okay, Brutus. Let’s go out back.”
Evalle had to sit on her hands to keep from jumping up and shaking Laurette to make her hurry, but the woman was coming around. Just the fact that she hadn’t said no meant she planned to say yes.
This was almost too easy.
Storm should be close to changing by now. Once Evalle called him to pick up Laurette and the stone, she’d contact Tzader and Quinn to meet her at Trey’s house, then they’d call in every Belador in the city to hunt the Kujoo. The minute VIPER had control of the stone, Tzader would have to convince Sen to ask the stone for help with containing the Kujoo, Tristan and the zombielike beings the Nightstalkers had been changed into.
Sen might be a miserable SOB and a mystery, but there was no more powerful operative within VIPER.
This could work.
When Laurette returned, she stopped at the door to the kitchen, acceptance clear on her face. “I guess I really don’t have any choice.”
“Not really, but I give you my word we will save Vyan if we can get to him in time. Let me call Storm, one of our agents, to come escort us. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we’ll find him.” Evalle pulled out her cell phone as she stood up.
The front door burst open and Tristan strode in. “I should have expected to find you here.”
Laurette clutched the stone to her chest. “Where’s Vyan?”
“Waiting on you.” Tristan extended his hand. “Give me the stone and I’ll take you to him.”
Blood Trinity Page 33