by C. J. Parker
“Right. Then a lone man, a wolf, found his way here. A year later a family of tigers showed up. Then a family of ravens.” Bobbie folded the pillow in half and closed her eyes. “There were a few fights here and there. I mean you introduce birds, cats and canines in one village, things have to be worked out.”
Tabatha grinned. “I bet. How did you end up with Agnes?”
“She wandered in the village about fifty years ago, I think. G-G-Paw had a bad feeling about her and told her she would be allowed to stay only until she gained her strength back.” Bobbie frowned. “But G-G-Paw died, and Agnes never left.”
“Was anyone ever made to leave?”
“The family of cats was ousted when they attacked the raven family and ate all but the older son. That was Kangee’s great-great-grandfather.”
Tabatha glanced over at the sleeping Kangee. “Have you ever told Kangee this story?”
Bobbie followed Tabatha’s gaze. “I’m sure Aetheria has.”
“I’ve never heard it before.” Kangee’s sleep muted voice drifted out of the darkness.
Concern tickled its way through Bobbie’s body. “How do you feel about all this?”
“Thanks for telling the story, but honestly, I’d rather sleep than dwell on something like that right now.” He wrapped his pillow around his head. “So, if you two are going to talk all night, can you go outside?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Bobbie woke from a sound, dreamless sleep to full awareness. She wasn’t sure what woke her and couldn’t remember falling asleep. She and Tabatha had been deep in conversation and then it was¾well¾now. Bobbie jumped from prone to all fours in defense mode in an instant. The shadow of a man coming up the stairs sent her senses into overdrive. Bobbie sniffed the air, recognizing Hylton’s blended scent of cedar and cat. “What?”
“They’re coming.” His silhouette moved into the room and Bobbie sharpened her sight with her cat senses. “About a mile away, but with the obstacles of fallen trees and alligators making their way back to the Gulf, they’re going slow.”
Bobbie gained her footing, her mind racing. “I’ll get everyone up.”
“We’re up.” Derek sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Bobbie craned her neck around to find everyone apparently awake and ready. Her heart thudded against her ribs, blood pounded in her temples. She looked at her friends and prayed they would survive this.
“What time is it?” Rhonda glanced at the mantel clock.
“Must be close to midnight. Does it matter?” Kangee raked his hair away from his face and tied it at the nape of his neck. “You think there’s a time limit?”
“Aetheria believes there is.” Bobbie stretched away a cramp in her side. “According to the prophecy the battle has to be fought prior to the end of the Noom Revo Su. She believes that moon is tonight. So, Verdun will believe it, too.”
Rhonda made a sound much like an angry tiger. “It’s so damned dark I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”
“You shifting on us, Rhonda?” Bobbie laughed softly as she crawled to Rhonda’s side. “You’ve been given my power, I’ve been given yours. Use it, woman. Close your eyes and open them again. Look around you.”
Rhonda turned her head to the left then right.
“Really look. If you try, you’ll see everything. Things will take shape. Don’t try to see them as you have before, but as shapes and forms. Then let them tell you what they are. Soon you’ll be able to separate living heat from cold bloodless objects.”
“I see it. It’s kind of like wearing night vision glasses.” Tabatha glanced around the room as if taking in everything anew. “No real details. Everyone has this mist around them, like steam off the road after a storm, that kind of thing.”
“Aura,” Bobbie supplied the word Tabatha was looking for.
“I don’t see a thing.” Filled with frustration, Rhonda’s voice rose an octave.
Tabatha placed her hand over Rhonda’s eyes and whispered something in her ear. Rhonda nodded. A minute later Tabatha removed her hand. “Try now.”
Rhonda gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth. She looked from one corner to the next. “Holy cow! This is kind of cool. Everyone has a different color around them.”
“Remember that color, Rhonda. The darker it is, the more you have to fear that person.”
“I’ve never noticed that before.” Stephen crawled out of bed. “I could always see at night, but I’ve never seen this aura thing before. Is it a side effect of the marking?”
“It’s not a side effect, idiot.” Lexie slapped him on the arm. “It’s a gift to help us separate the good guys from the bad. Who all can see it?”
“Not me.” Hylton shrugged. “But I’ll be fine. I know all of my people, and there aren’t many of you to memorize.”
Bobbie lowered her eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about that. My people should be here to fight at my side.”
“The Guardians have the villagers trapped, I’d think. You have nothing to be ashamed of. If they could get here, they would.” Hylton searched each face in turn. “Anyone seen Troy or Ionna?”
Bobbie ran to the bathroom and bedrooms but found the rooms empty. “They’re not here. Where could they be?”
“Aetheria came and got them about an hour ago.” Lexie shrugged.
Bobbie started toward the door but Kangee held her back. “I’ll go. Get everyone else ready. The less clothes the better.”
“Huh?” Rhonda’s eyes grew wide. “I’m not running around naked.”
“Clothing can be gathered in fists. Skin is harder to grasp.” Bobbie flung her T-shirt over her head and reached for the waistband of her shorts.
“Terrific,” Derek groused. “You’ll use any excuse to flash a body part or two.”
“Hey, it’s up to you. I doubt with everything that’s going down tonight, the last thing on any of their minds will be body parts.” She glanced at Rhonda as she reluctantly started to undress. “Unless we lose. Spoils of war and all that.”
Rhonda stopped, the hem of her shirt halfway up her belly.
Bobbie grinned. “Just kidding.” She hoped.
Kangee returned with Troy at his back. “Aetheria won’t let Ionna leave.”
“Good.” Tabatha removed her blouse and jeans. “I’ll feel a lot better knowing she’s safe.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Derek raced over picking up Tabatha’s blouse and covering what he could with it.
“The same thing you’re going to do. Strip.” Tabatha unbuttoned his shirt. “Bobbie’s right, Derek. Clothes will only be a hindrance for us and an advantage for them.”
Moments later, everyone in the room stood as bare as the day they were born, and the first sounds of invaders drifted out of the woodland.
“My men are spread around and out of sight.” With one tug at his loincloth, Hylton stripped. “Go to the center of the common ground, back to back. Leave no one unprotected.”
Bobbie ran toward the door, but stopped when she noticed the side-to-side movement of Hylton’s head. “Do not run. Quiet. Slow. They can’t see us yet, but they may be able to hear. Don’t give them direction to your whereabouts.”
And don’t talk. Bobbie knew from Hylton’s gasp that Tabatha’s voice sounded in all their heads. “We share the gifts, remember.”
Within seconds, each member of their group except Hylton had tried their new trick. Bobbie watched Tabatha reach out and touch his arm. Hylton jumped away. “I know you don’t understand. But you needn’t be afraid. I will hear you, as I make you hear me. It will help.”
Hylton’s scowl was furious. Fine.
Bobbie had never heard a mental growl before. Hylton was clearly not pleased with this new turn of events, but she was sure he couldn’t deny its handiness.
She drew in a deep breath, calming her thoughts. “I will go down first.”
Kangee’s face showed his disapproval of her suggestion. Funny she could see his face so clea
rly. She brushed away his protest with a wave of her hand before he could voice it. “Woman, man, woman…”
Conceding, Kangee nodded. “Keep with the one you are to protect. I will follow Bobbie. Derek, you will follow Tabatha. Bones…”
Troy held up his hand stop sign fashion. “Follow Rhonda.” He shot Hylton a dirty look. “Wish you could have come up with a better nickname for me, man. If the squad gets a wind of it, I’ll never shake it.”
Hylton laughed. “Then gain some weight, man. You’re too damned skinny.”
Bobbie vanished out the door not wanting to waste any more time on banter. Kangee muttered a curse and dashed out behind her.
Mud squished between Bobbie’s toes, cold and gritty. She whispered over her shoulder, “Kangee, the ground is soaked, slippery. Warn the others.”
Kangee squatted and planted his hand into the mud. He drew in a breath so deep Bobbie marveled his lungs could hold it. Then with a gush, he released it toward the ground. The mud heated, and began to solidify under Bobbie’s feet. The moisture surrounded her in a stinging vapor. By the time, Rhonda, Snow and Lexie stepped off the bottom stair the ground had dried to a concrete hard surface. “Thanks. Nice trick.”
“Thank her.” Kangee pointed at Tabatha. “I think this one is hers, too.”
Bobbie continued toward the center of the village. Not one window was lit. To the untrained eye, it appeared completely deserted. But with a visual search, Bobbie saw Hylton’s cats in trees, on rooftops, and beyond opened doors.
“Two hundred at least.” Bobbie jumped when Hylton’s voice reached her in the silence.
She nodded in reply and noticed everyone in her circle did the same.
They were ready as they’d ever be.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Verdun stepped into the open, a stream of his followers fanning out on either side of him forming a vee flanking Bobbie and her friends. He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Count them, woman. I have the numbers. I have the power. Give up now, and I’ll go easy on you.” He ran a sneering glance over her body and scoffed. “Did you think your naked bodies would deter us?”
Bobbie offered his men a disinterested once-over—bare-chested, they wore only jeans. Their combined scents sent her nose to twitching trying to separate Outsiders from shifters. Some faces twisted with rage, some appeared frightened and unsure, others bored and uncaring.
She placed her hand over her heart and pretended to shiver. “Oh, I’m so afraid. What should we do, Kangee? Cower away from the mighty Verdun and his disciples? Or maybe save him the trouble of killing us and commit suicide?” The tingle of her dragons coming awake ran up her arms to her brain. Both her right and left hand filled with the hilt of twin daggers. The dragons’ tails twined around her wrists, their legs around her palms, assuring her a confident grip. She widened her eyes and smiled brightly. “Oh! I know. How about we kick their asses instead?”
Verdun laughed boisterously. “You were always a dreamer, little girl. Dreams of living in the Outsiders’ world in peace, and now you dream of besting my men and me. Do you not see we have the upper hand?”
Lexie came to Bobbie’s side and yawned. “We could have slept through this part.”
Verdun snarled and took one step forward when the rustling of leaves overhead drew his attention to the treetops.
Hylton plunged to the ground from the tree, behind Verdun. One by one, Hylton’s men fell in a line behind Verdun’s pack and one by one, they shifted.
The man next to Verdun growled and shifted into a spotted leopard.
Verdun stormed Bobbie. Kangee stepped in front of Bobbie and tackled the leopard rushing toward her, finishing it off with a swipe of his sword and then turned his attention to Verdun.
Bobbie’s heart seized when one of the Outsiders rushed Kangee. The human swung a limb the size of a baseball bat, missing Kangee by a fraction of an inch. Without hesitation, she swung her dagger at the attacker from behind, severing his head from his neck. His twitching body fell to the ground.
Reaction threatened to paralyze her as she watched his head roll away. She’d never expected such a toll from the dagger. The blade glowed in the darkness its magic ready for battle. If Bobbie allowed herself time to think about what she’d done, she and all her loved ones would be dead within minutes. She was fighting for all their lives.
A fraction of a second later, the battle engulfed her. Time stood still as the air filled with the sounds of blades singing through air. Blade against blade, blade against flesh, blade against bone mingled with screams of the wounded and dying. A single shot echoed though the air, coming from the area where Troy fought. She felt her naked skin bathed in the warmth of blood from other fighters, allies and victims alike. The coppery smell filled her nostrils as her cat fought to waken and fight. Her panther wanted the blood and the taste of battle.
Numbness set in, mind and muscle pushed beyond mortal strengths as she hacked and slashed the seemingly never-ending onslaught of shifters and Outsiders that came at her. She glanced around at the carnage. Senseless. Stupid. Essential.
Tabatha. Rhonda. This wasn’t their fight. How could she have brought them into it?
Bullshit! Rhonda’s voice sounded in Bobbie’s head as her battle yell echoed over the den. This fight belongs to anyone who isn’t normal. So, shut up and quit trying to hog it.
Bobbie chuckled in spite of herself, refusing to worry about the sting of an attacker’s blade as it sliced her upper arm. Rhonda was right. This battle belonged to them all. These fools were trying to destroy her world, her friends and family. What gave them the right to decide?
With a hiss of rage, she brought one dagger straight up, striking her attacker between the jawbones, through his mouth and into his brain while he was in the process of drawing back for another blow.
Surprise flashed across his dying face as she pulled the knife from his head. He uttered a tiny gasp and crumpled to the ground.
Turning in a tight circle, she searched for Lexie. The girl rolled on the ground, her dagger slashing across the back of the enemies’ legs, severing tendons and rendering them useless.
Stay down, Lexie.
Lexie glanced over and smiled from ear to ear, then scurried to her next victim.
Bobbie kept swinging, fighting attacker after attacker, blindly killing without ever meeting their eyes. They had invaded her world, therefore deserved no recognition. Her attention, her concern was for her own. She gauged the battle boiling around her.
Derek fought off two at once. One fell when a bullet entered center face, blowing out the back of his skull. The second staggered away, succumbing to a severed jugular.
Rhonda alternated between setting men on fire and stabbing them with her dagger. “Burn, fur ball,” she screamed at one who didn’t take notice of the blood flowing from his chest and charged Rhonda again. He burst into flame with a blood-chilling howl of rage.
Tabatha had fallen. Bobbie shook with fear. Laying flat on her back, a man leaned over Tabatha, smiling as he aimed his gun point-blank at her heart.
Bobbie screamed, pushing aside shifter and Outsider alike, her pulse pounding out a warning tattoo. A blond man stepped in front of her. She ran into his chest and bounced off. Without any thought except that there’d been no shot yet, she lifted her dagger and slashed at his face.
A sound of a gunshot ripped through Bobbie’s brain as if the bullet had been aimed at her. She pushed past the screaming, bleeding man to see Tabatha pushing against her attacker’s chest.
The man’s struggles ceased. Spasms racked his body and he fell to Tabatha’s left side, hitting the ground, arching in the throes of some terrible seizure. One final gasp, and he stilled, frozen in death. Tabatha bounded to her feet in time to ram her blade into the heart of the nearest attacker. Bobbie didn’t have time to rejoice before she was attacked from her left.
Troy swung his fists at oncoming opponents, his victims disintegrated into dust blowing away to harm no one e
lse. A mighty roar from a nearby human pulled Bobbie’s attention back to the fight and found herself a fraction of an inch away from having a new ear ornament. She swung her left hand up to deflect the blow of a hefty kitchen knife, her right hand arching in a downward strike as she guided her weapon through his left eye and beyond.
Kangee, where are you?
I’m here. Don’t worry about me.
She refused to stop looking, needing to see him, needing to know. Something, an animal, rose into the air, a man dangling from the creature’s mouth. Bobbie shook her head and looked again.
Impossible!
Golden hair covered his body. But the head and wings were that of a raven. It contorted its body and gripped its victim between clawed paws until the man’s body ripped in two. The griffon dived, grabbing another and soared high into the air. The man sliced at the creature, but it only caused the griffon to release the man into a free fall. He hit the ground with the sound of ripe watermelon hitting solid ground. Blood spurted upward and spread around him.
The griffon met her gaze. I couldn’t tell you. Not ’til now.
Kangee! Hell’s blazes. How could you keep this from me?
Not now, my kitten.
Seething, she strode across the ground, stepping over bodies, arms crisscrossing swinging her twin blades in opposite directions taking out whichever Outsider thought she was an easy target. With a sickening squish and crack, heads rolled, blood flowed. She searched for Verdun only to find him standing outside the war zone, shouting orders to his men. Bobbie ran toward him, slicing and dicing anyone who came near her.
Bobbie’s gaze didn’t waver from her target.
Verdun must have sensed her nearness for his eyes darted to meet hers. He reached down to his ankle, drew a pistol and aimed.
From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Hylton racing across the open space, raising his sword overhead and swinging downward.
A flash of silver, a geyser of red, the gun fell to the ground, a hand still attached. Bobbie’s mind tried to understand what she’d witnessed when the blood flowed from Verdun’s right wrist, hand severed. With a snarl and a yell to his men, he and his men backed into the woods.