Isak said, "I thought that was SOP for these two groups."
"It is," Evalle replied. "The difference is that instead of leaving policing our group up to us, VIPER might take it another step and drag Beladors into Tribunals, where determining guilt isn't as important as expedient judgment. As an example, if a deity asked a Belador whether they'd ever wanted to harm or kill a Medb and he or she said yes, that could prove guilt even if they had committed no crime."
"Damn."
"Exactly."
Quinn's gaze went to the woman on the ground. She'd curled up, soaked to the bone, and had started shivering. It wasn't cold out here. Was she having a reaction to the Witchlock power?
Great. Now he was feeling guilty about someone who had threatened to attack them. He was ready to get moving. "Can we take her to your place, Evalle? It's close."
She gave the woman a quick perusal. "Sure. She's contained."
Isak shrugged. "That works for me."
Quinn hadn't said the soldier could join them, but Isak was now part of this.
Devon came running up to them, face flushed and eyes hinting he had something important to say. Thankfully, he spoke telepathically. Quinn, I've figured out something. I know you aren't going to believe this, but those men were ...
Quinn watched pain cross Devon's face as he hesitated to deliver the bad news that Quinn already knew.
Devon finished, I don't want to accuse our people, but we need to talk with only Beladors present.
Quinn told him, Evalle and I have come to the same conclusion I believe you have reached. As much as I trust this group, I don't want to share everything we know with non-Beladors.
I hear you. When I followed those two men after I sent Isak back, I found out what they were after before they split up. I tried to hang with them, but they're actually faster than me.
What'd you find out?
They've been torturing the witches and warlocks to find someone who could open a tomb.
A tomb. His blood turned to ice.
Quinn felt his blood pressure bottom out, which had to be why Evalle gave him a worried look. Her empathic gift might not match Storm's, but it was clearly functioning.
Quinn forced his brain to override his emotions. He had to act, not react.
It couldn't be.
Queen Maeve wouldn't have been killing her own people to get to Kizira's body, would she? Why do that when she knew where Quinn had buried the body, and expected to receive it in less than two days? Plus, she had the power to compel her own people. Why would she kill them to get what she wanted?
That made no sense, but hell, he had no idea what she'd do.
Quinn ran back over what Devon had said. They weren't just looking to open that tomb. The person employing those demons was also generating enough power to create that force field, and make those warriors self-destruct against their will.
They wanted Kizira's body.
Meeting Evalle's questioning gaze, Quinn asked, "Can you clean this up without me and get that woman to your place?"
"Sure. What's going on?"
"I've got to go somewhere before I meet you there. I'll be right behind you."
She hesitated and sent him a telepathic message. Is everything okay, Quinn?
I'll know how to answer that when I see you at your building.
Got it. Speaking out loud, Evalle replied to him as if they hadn't spoken telepathically. "We'll be at my place in twenty minutes if nothing else happens, like humans deciding to come out and dance in the rain."
The humans had to be as sick of the rain as the rest of them. Creeks were overflowing around the city and flooding had caused nonstop problems.
"Thanks." Quinn turned to Isak and Adrianna. "Thank you, too, for helping tonight."
Then Quinn keyed the button on a small transmitter he carried and started walking quickly toward 10th Street, taking the sidewalk in the direction of the interstate. He'd made it two blocks when a Lexus SUV pulled up along the curb. He climbed into the rear seat where a towel and scotch waited for him.
"Where to, boss?"
"Oakland Cemetery."
Quinn dried his hair and slugged back two shots of single malt scotch during the ten-minute drive to the historic cemetery near downtown.
Not waiting for his door to be opened, Quinn climbed out and refused the umbrella offered to him. "I'll only be a minute."
"Yes, sir."
With no humans around and having the cover of darkness, Quinn raced away at hyperspeed to reach Kizira's tomb.
Chapter 8
With daylight coming in less than a half hour, Evalle strode into the building that never failed to brighten her mood.
This was home for her and Storm. The next floor up housed apartments currently in use by the twin boys, and Lanna, once she returned. The third floor had been dedicated as a play space for her sweet pet gargoyle. She and Storm had made the top two floors their home.
Her wise mate had dedicated this street level space for offices. A large part of it was already usable, but some space had been left unfinished until they took a tenant.
They had a functioning conference room plus two furnished offices, one of which was Storm's and the other he'd designated as Evalle's.
She had no idea what to do with an office, so she mostly visited his when she wanted to distract her mate.
Leading the way from the garage that could easily park ten vehicles, she walked into the conference room and pointed at a sofa Storm had installed for her and Feenix. Her sweet gargoyle enjoyed NASCAR. Even though Feenix had his own television in his play space upstairs, Storm had also installed a large flat-screen unit on the wall at the other end of the conference room for times when Feenix joined them down here.
Isak followed Evalle, carrying their still-unconscious captive.
Casper and Devon stayed behind to patrol the Midtown neighborhoods and Piedmont Park until daylight. No Medb attacks had happened during the day, which allowed the Beladors on patrol a chance to rest. So far.
Isak deposited the woman on the soft leather.
Adrianna entered next.
Evalle had caught Trey up on the way here and assured him Quinn would share more as soon as they knew more.
They'd all grabbed towels in the garage to dry off, but Evalle went down the hall to a bathroom and returned with a stack of hand towels she plopped on the conference table.
Isak lifted one and ran it over his head, which was no longer covered by his NVG gear. He asked Adrianna, "Any guesses on what she is?"
This was the first time Adrianna had been given a chance to look at the woman in decent lighting.
She shook her head. "No. I could feel the energy inside her when I put my hands on her, but I don't know what it is. Which is strange."
Evalle walked to the mini-fridge and grabbed bottles of water she passed around to everyone. There was a certain irony in being dehydrated after spending hours in a downpour.
She slaked her thirst and pointed her bottle at Adrianna. "What do you mean by strange?"
Isak chuckled. "Good point when strange is the operative word around you people."
Adrianna had been about to reply, but she paused in that careful and controlled way she had. She cocked her head at Isak.
Evalle took one look at the witch and backed up.
Standing too close to a pissed off woman who held the power of Witchlock in the palm of her hand, literally, could be a deadly mistake.
"I'm not sure what is more insulting," Adrianna began, turning her words on Isak. "Your comment about us being strange as if all humans are so normal or the way you said you people."
Isak held up his hands. "I wasn't saying strange is bad, just that it's ... already unusual."
Adrianna studied Isak. His hair should have stood up from that much intense witch focus, but the human didn't know Adrianna as well as some of them did.
Evalle smothered a laugh.
When she'd first met Isak, he'd been toting his standard dem
on blaster and had made it abundantly clear to her there was no place in his world for anything not human.
That was before he discovered Evalle was not human.
He'd chased her for a bit, and had seemed fairly serious at the time. But that was before Evalle made it clear she only had eyes for Storm. Isak met Adrianna around the same time. Those two had mixed like oil and water. Isak's attention to Evalle had been nothing compared to what he'd turned on the little witch now glaring at him.
Evalle had thought Isak possessed better survival skills until he started to speak again. Evalle shook her head at him and warned, "Put the shovel down while you're almost ahead."
Did Isak take the hint? No. When in doubt, men had their own standard "go to" reaction.
Isak crossed his arms and put on his intimidating look, which had zero effect on Adrianna. She muttered, "Never mind."
Dismissing him, Adrianna finished her thought on their captive. "To answer your question, that woman's energy felt strong, but as though it were wrapped in a protective casing. I couldn't reach it."
Evalle asked, "Not even with Witchlock?"
"I didn't try with that. I'm still working through the learning curve on the power. Unless it's a critical situation, I'm trying to use it only when I feel relatively certain I'm not going to have a backlash, blow something up or ... kill someone."
They all looked at the unconscious woman. Evalle said, "She's breathing, but her skin is losing color."
"Her arm was very hot when I touched it," Adrianna said.
Evalle grabbed a hand towel off the table. The room had a wet bar, but she stepped over to soak the towel with colder water from the water cooler. She placed the folded rag on the woman's head.
When she stood up, she caught Isak smirking at her. "What?"
"Nothing. That's ... very Florence Nightingale of you."
"Aren't you in enough trouble without pissing me off, too?"
He gave her an arrogant male grin. That bear had better watch himself. Evalle blew off his arrogance, but Adrianna would turn him into a bug and drop him in a frog pond.
Adrianna walked over and put her hand on the woman's cheek. "Still hot. Worse, actually. I could try my majik on her again, but if she's having a reaction to it, another shot might kill her."
**~
Reese stayed perfectly still, keeping her eyes closed and her breathing shallow, as if she was still out cold. She wished she were. Yaahl had said the medallion could heal her. He'd failed to say the pendant would take its time doing so.
Evidently it hadn't healed all of her jotnar wounds, and the flush of having her power back had masked a gash in her side that had decided to continue bleeding.
And the jotnar poison was still running through her body.
Who were these people?
Why were they acting concerned after that witch had tried to kill her at Piedmont Park?
Reese had finally figured out her location after chasing down the guy, a Belador it seemed, with the female Medb. When had Beladors turned bad? And teamed up with demons? She'd only gone after the guy carrying the woman because she'd thought it was a human she'd be saving from a demon.
She couldn't believe she'd risked her life for a Medb witch. They valued no one's life. That stupid action had landed her in the middle of a Medb-Belador mess.
Oh, and to put the cherry on her day, she'd been caught by a Belador Maistir.
Quinn.
Yeah, this had jumped straight from bad to sucking beyond belief. In spite of Yaahl's annoying habit of finding the best way to make her life miserable, she would've thought he'd drop her somewhere close to the body if he really wanted her to keep it away from the Medb.
So where was Kizira's body? And how was Reese going to escape this group without her power?
Biting pain spread through her abdomen. She forced herself not to curl into herself and groan. If she could get out of here soon and find the medallion, she could still stop the poison. But from the way her body felt, she might have an hour or two, and that was only because she had less poison in her now.
The medallion had come off while she was fighting that demon. Talk about poor strategic planning on Yaahl's part. How was she supposed to fight with one hand on the medallion? She had to get back to Piedmont Park before someone either picked it up as a found gift or threw it away.
Without that, she had no power to fight anyone nonhuman and no way to teleport the body back to Yaahl.
Her toes felt numb. Not good. If that persisted, they might turn black and fall off soon.
"You'd get answers faster at my place," the one called Isak said.
Reese had names for each one. She'd regained consciousness when they'd parked in this building. The way Evalle had given instructions to everyone and played hostess had to mean she owned the building.
They'd dropped Reese on the sofa with her head positioned so that she could see a fuzzy image of the door at this end of the room if she barely moved her eyelashes.
Evalle pulled out her mobile phone. "I'm going to find out how far away Storm is. I'm thinking he'll know what to do."
A tone sounded on a small display panel by the door. Reese risked opening her eyes just a tiny slit, which allowed her to see Evalle smile, then put her phone away without using it.
Evalle said, "That might be Storm."
Who the hell was this Storm? Had to be Evalle's boyfriend, or husband, the way she smiled. Reese checked out Evalle's left hand. No ring.
The energy in Reese's chest came to life in a big way and added to her misery.
What the ...
"I'm here ..." a male voice called from the hallway.
Just as he got to the door and swung inside, Reese came alive. She rolled off the sofa and to her feet, wobbling into a run.
Isak stopped her.
Storm roared, "What the hell is that doing inside my wards?"
That's who they were waiting for? Reese tried to squeeze between Isak and the wall.
She shouted, "Get him out of here." Pain rushed through all parts of her body. The energy and poison were having a party.
Evalle grabbed his arm. "Whoa, honey."
"Let go, Evalle."
"We think she's sick."
Truth. Bile rushed up in Reese's throat. She couldn't stop the shakes. This was no different than staking a lamb for a sacrificial offering.
Storm's eyes went bright red. "Not a problem. I'm going to kill her."
Heat baked Reese's brain or she'd have had something snappy to throw back at him.
Isak stepped forward, blocking Storm. "Back off, dude. She's unarmed."
Reese silently cheered for the super-sized human.
Shoving his face up at Isak, Storm warned, "Get out of my way or I'll toss you through that wall."
That must have been possible, because Evalle raced over and wedged her hand between them, pushing the men apart.
It looked as if moving a building over a foot would have been easier. She stepped fully in front of the demon. "Storm, what's wrong? Don't get upset with them. I brought her in here."
What was the relationship between Evalle and that demon?
Storm had been shaking with fury, but when he turned his eyes from Reese to Evalle, his faced calmed.
He went from angry to confused. "Do you not know what she is?"
"No, we were all wondering, so if you do, then tell us."
Reese spoke up in a raspy voice. "What exactly do you think I am, demon?"
They all turned to her.
Storm's hard stare returned, but his eyes were golden now. "I know what you are, demon."
"Heh. I guess it's true about takes one to know one." Lame, but she wasn't at her best.
Storm's red headlights glowed hot again.
Taking potshots at a demon while she had no powers and was cuffed might land her the Stupid Award Of The Year.
Reese said, "Okay, everyone calm down. I am not a demon."
"I can sense your energy, but ... " Storm ar
gued, but he frowned as he did. "You're telling the truth."
How would he know if she lied or not? She explained, "I am a demon magnet, though, which means I have demon blood in my ancestry. Demons turn rabid around me, because of the energy inside me. I don't harm others and can't help my ancestry. When I have my powers, I kill demons like the one I killed at the park." She stared at Storm when she said, "Although, I am impressed that this one maintains such good control."
Adrianna sucked in a breath at that and Evalle's face crinkled with a look of "oh, shit."
Storm said in a tight, but even, voice, "Move, Isak. I'd like to address her one-on-one."
Isak must have been tired of battling everyone. He said, "You know what? It's not a human. She's all yours."
The traitor left Reese standing alone, leaning against the wall for support, with sweat soaking her shirt that had almost finally dried.
"It? You called her an it?" Adrianna said in a tone that warned Isak he had hit on a sore topic.
Storm saved Isak by walking up to Reese and yanking everyone's attention to the imminent bloodbath. Why had they kept her alive if they were going to let a demon kill her?
When Storm stood only a foot away from her, Reese's energy lashed at her insides, burning her along with the poison. She'd never spent this much time so close to a demon.
Not and both of them still be alive.
Her knees banged together from her body weakening and she hated it. Hated to ever feel vulnerable.
But she was not backing down. "What are you waiting for?" she taunted him.
Storm smiled and she wondered if that was the face he showed prey right before they were slaughtered. He put his hand on her stomach.
She jerked at the rush of energy that flooded toward him. Done with him toying with her, she snarled, "It calls to you, doesn't it? Demons live for a chance at this kind of power. You want it, don't you?"
For some demented reason, she wanted to prove he wasn't stronger than she was. That he couldn't hold out against the pull of her energy.
At this point, she'd help him to gouge out the damn energy. It throbbed with hot zaps of pain through her chest.
Storm's jaw flexed. He studied her intently as if trying to decide something, then he whispered words that sounded like the Haida speech pattern, but she didn't understand the language.
Reese gasped for air and slid down to the floor. Her knees had given out. She looked up at him. "What did you do?"
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