Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 5)

by Mayer, Shannon

  The crush has spoken; she will be held until the child is returned. Though we are not happy with her presence, you are showing her the way to her roots, to the Harpies of old that we danced with on moonless nights. No, I do not believe your Evening Star did this.

  He pawed at the tiled courtyard with an iron hard hoof and tossed his head again, mane flying about. His hide shivered, as if touched with flies. But I knew there were no flies, not in this weather. And what was this about Eve? She was my Evening Star? This was one of those times I just pushed it all away. Supernaturals loved their ‘Confucius says’ shit. You just had to learn to ignore it, or you’d end up never able to do anything, so afraid that you might take a step wrong.

  “You want me to Track your foal?”

  Yes. Track her, and bring her home. Sorrow, heavy and thick like fog in the morning, laced his words.

  I removed my hands from my hips, slid them into my pockets. “This is your daughter that’s gone missing?”

  Yes. She was stolen away from us, six nights ago. There were no footprints, no sign of another passing this way. Harpies were our first thought. Except for a single mark in the snow, there was nothing. Again he tossed his head, eyes flashing. But there are no Harpies in this area except for your Eve. If you do not find my daughter quickly, it will be all I can do to keep the crush from ending her life, regardless that I know it was not her. Our children, they do not come along often and are treasured by all.

  Crap, I would have to move fast. If I didn’t find the foal, Eve was toast. “So we’re assuming something that flies took your daughter? What did the mark in the snow look like? Presumably something large enough to pick up a … how old is she?”

  She is nigh on six months old, a suckling filly, yet. Unable to fend for herself, her horn is a bare nub on her forehead, dull and useless. He gave a long, low snort. The mark resembled that of a talon or claw, digging through the crusted snow.

  I tapped a toe on the bare red tiles. Already the urge to go after the foal had begun to eat at me. Like a sickness I had no cure for, Tracking was something I couldn’t run away from, didn’t want to. Unlike other things.

  “I need a picture of her, and her name.”

  Her name is Calliope. She will be our mystic when she is of age.

  Without any warning, an image flashed in my mind, the ‘picture’ I would need to Track the foal. Gangly long legs, petite head and ears, miniature nubbin of a golden horn. Her body was white as new snow, but her mane and tail were jet black, and she had black socks up to her knees on all four legs. A black star sat at the base of her horn. She was stunningly colored, and I knew without asking that she would be a prize mare in the tribe as she grew, regardless of her apparent status as an up and coming mystic.

  I closed my eyes and Tracked her, tied myself into her threads. Her life force beat strong through me, humming lightly with an energy very different than the human children I Tracked. For lack of a better term, her threads vibrated, dancing and jumping about as if they were a true electrical pulse.

  “Her name suits her. Is there anything else I should know?”

  If I had more information, I would give it. Bring her home, Tracker, and you will have our loyalty past the day that you die.

  “Well. Thanks.” I frowned. “She may not be alive, when I bring her to you, you need to know that. And that cannot affect the outcome of Eve’s life.”

  Just bring her home, and all will be as it was. There was no threat, no ‘or else.’ Just those words echoing inside my skull, and then he spun on his haunches, the tile below his feet cracking, springing up around him in large shards that hovered in the air for a split second, and then crashed to the ground.

  I watched him gallop away, his black coat disappearing into the darkness that was left of the morning.

  A hand touched my shoulder, and Liam leaned his head close. The scent of distant winter mountains, pine trees and a faint hint of musk swirled around me. I reached up and touched his hand where it curled around my shoulder.

  His eyes searched my face. “How bad is it?”

  I stared at the place where the stallion had stood, the possibilities swirling through my mind.

  “Maybe not as bad as I thought. A simple salvage, and Eve will be safe.” I glanced over my shoulder at him. He frowned.

  “Is it ever a simple salvage?”

  I let out a sigh. “Unfortunately for me, no.”

  We went back inside and I grabbed my weapons, quickly putting them back on. “Dox, I need a favor.”

  The ogre twisted up his lips. “Depends on what you want.”

  “Your truck.”

  He grimaced, and I raised my hands, palms up. “What the hell, I’ve never wrecked a vehicle.” I didn’t count flipping my Jeep when I was under the influence of the Hoarfrost demon. In my mind, that wasn’t my fault.

  He continued to grimace, but I could see through it, he was just making it look like this was hard. The thing about Dox was, he always came through. He was one of my better friends.

  “Where are you going to take my baby?” He propped himself with his hip against the bar.

  I Tracked Calliope, her vibrating threads a pleasant hum inside my skull, soothing away the last of the ache in my body. Now that was an interesting development. I shook it off and focused on the where of her.

  “Pacific Northwest.”

  Dox paled, as in his blue skin faded to a dull gray in a matter of heartbeats. That couldn’t be good.

  “That’s ogre country. You don’t want to be going there, Rylee. There’s a reason you don’t find other supernaturals round about there.” He waved his hands—the size of frying pans—back and forth. “That is a seriously bad idea.”

  I grunted. I’d never Tracked into that area before. The outskirts of it, yes, but never into the Pacific Northwest itself.

  “Doesn’t matter, Dox. If that’s where the foal is, that’s where I’m going.”

  He licked his lips, but the fear on him was obvious. So much so that he wouldn’t even meet my eyes. Shit, that did not bode well for us. Doran had said he’d been kicked out for being weak … damn, I wasn’t sure I could push him on this.

  I stepped back. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll rent a truck.” Liam leaned over the bar, shook Dox’s hand. “Thanks for your help. Next time we’re here, I’d like to have another go at your beer. See if it still kicks my ass.”

  The ogre watched us go, but didn’t stop us.

  “I thought he’d offer some advice at least,” Liam grumbled as we grabbed the last of my weapons and gear from our room.

  I counted my weapons and the few pre-made spells I’d had Deanna make for me before we left. “Doesn’t matter, if he was kicked out at a young age, he won’t be much help. My training with Giselle covered ogres. I probably know more than he does.”

  Liam tried to phone a car rental company and promptly handed me the receiver. All I got was static and then, as Liam stepped away, the static faded and I could hear the ringing line. Shit, it looked like he was going to be the problem when it came to technology now. Next to him, I was almost normal. Almost.

  While I spoke to the agent, all I could think about was that Dox didn’t think this—going into the Pacific Northwest—was a good idea, and he’d seen me in some of my worst situations and never batted an eyelash. Hell, he’d just seen me get an impromptu surgery in the back of his truck without so much as a ‘hey that’s not very sanitary, you know.’

  I hung up the phone. “They’ll have a truck here in an hour.”

  Liam flopped onto the bed. His hand drifted to the spot just below his heart, where his gun used to sit. I knew what it was to be without a weapon when you were so used to it.

  “You want something to fill that spot?”

  His eyes flicked to his hand. “You got a gun that would work?”

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Really, you want a gun?”

  He shrugged, but his face sobered. Yeah, I remembered his last partner too, and the way
ward bullet from Liam’s gun that had taken his life. No need to repeat that scenario.

  “Maybe not. What else have you got?”

  I dug into the new bag Dox had provided us with, now stuffed with all my weapons. Along with the black demon book.

  I grabbed the tome, my heart icing over. “Hang onto that thought, I’ll be right back.”

  Jogging out of the room, I slipped into the bar. Dox leaned against the bar, his eyes closed as if deep in thought. I cleared my throat.

  “Dox, can you stick this in your safe?”

  He reached for it, and took the burlap sack, his fingers barely touching it before his eyes flew open. “Do I want to know what it is? I can feel it through this. Something very dark and very ugly.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “You don’t want to know what it is. Just lock it up.”

  Without any more questions, Dox disappeared down the hall, holding the covered book just with his fingertips. I knew he had a safe, I just didn’t know where it was. Which was fine by me. I didn’t have time to read that thing yet, but my gut feeling was that I would need it, and soon. I left him there and headed back to the room. Dox seemed torn up by the fact that we were headed into ogre territory. I probably should have been more worried, but I wasn’t.

  Back in our room, I leaned over the bag again, I handed Liam two short blades, each one about twelve inches long, bright pristine steel with smooth caramel-colored wooden handles. “You can set these up with a slight adjustment on your shoulder holster. They fit nice under a jacket and can be used in close quarters, and in a pinch, they can be thrown.”

  He took the bright blades from me, rolled the handles between his fingers. “These are a start.”

  I helped adjust a shoulder holster for him, fitting it with the sheaths that would keep the blades from cutting into him.

  “Are they spelled like yours?”

  “Yes. All my blades are spelled, so watch your fingers.”

  He slid a jacket over the swords and holster, and he looked about as normal as any person out for a walk in the blistering cold could look.

  I flopped onto the bed and threw my arm over my eyes. Half an hour and the rental truck would be here.

  “What do you know about ogres, besides Dox?” Liam sat down beside me, the bed sagging under his weight.

  “Volatile, territorial, prone to fighting and fucking. Sometimes both at the same time. Other than that, I don’t know. They keep their customs and tribes very close to the chest.” I flipped my arm off my face. “Hell, I hadn’t even known there were that many colors until those damn books of Jack’s.”

  “Bigger than Dox?” Liam fingered the blades he’d just strapped on.

  “Yeah, I think he’s pretty small for an ogre.”

  He sat up with a swiftness my eyes struggled to follow. “Seven feet is small?”

  “For an ogre, yes.”

  I Tracked Calliope. The tingling of her emotions spoke of her fear, but she wasn’t hurt. A good start. My mind flickered over the possibilities of what kind of creature could have snagged her. Something from the air, something with talons. Dragons and Harpies were the two obvious choices. A dragon was unlikely; they resided in Europe and Asia for the most part, rarely coming across the water to North America. At least from what I understood.

  A Harpy, taking Eve out of the equation, was a good possibility, as there was a running animosity between Harpies and unicorns. But they—Harpies—were territorial too, and I doubted they would go so far out of their own area, even to snatch a foal belonging to their rivals.

  “What is going on in that head of yours?” Liam brushed his fingers across my forehead.

  I caught his fingers in mine. “Why would anyone want a unicorn foal?”

  His jaw flexed and his pale golden eyes grew thoughtful. “They haven’t contacted the crush for ransom, so it isn’t a power trip.”

  “Breeding rights, maybe?” She was surely a pretty enough little thing. I leaned across the bed and picked up the pale yellow rotary phone, dialing a number without thinking.

  The phone rang four times before a groggy voice came on the line. “You know what time it is here? I need my beauty sleep. I just got back from Europe.”

  “Kyle, get your ass out of bed and on the computer.”

  There was a resounding thump and it sounded like the phone was dropped, then the shuffle of blankets before he came back on. “Shit, Rylee. Sorry, I’m going, just give me half a second.”

  “Tell him to put some clothes on,” Liam said.

  I put a hand over the receiver. “How do you know he’s naked?”

  “I can’t hear the rustle of clothes.”

  Shit, I didn’t realize Liam’s hearing was that good. “Kyle, throw some shorts on.”

  Another rustle and then the sound of bare feet slapping on cheap linoleum floors.

  “How did you know I was home?”

  I snorted. “Agent Valley told me he sent you home after you nearly crapped your pants when the Beast made his appearance at the police station.”

  He cleared his throat and Liam leaned forward. Static, loud and crunchy, filled my ears. I pushed him back. “Too close.” I mouthed at him. Technology and supernaturals never did go hand-in-hand, but with Liam it seemed even worse. Like the combination of werewolf and Guardian made him extra difficult around technology.

  “Kyle, have you got all the Arcane Arts files?” I was banking on this actually.

  “Um. Yeah. But I’m not supposed—”

  “See what we’ve got on unicorns in the Pacific Northwest.” My gut twisted just saying the words. Never in all my years knowing what the supernatural was had I shared so easily with a mere human. Not even with Liam.

  The click of fingers on a keyboard. “No, nothing in the Pacific Northwest. Wow, but would you look at—”

  “No, don’t look at anything else or you’ll be nothing more than a smear of shit on the wall if Valley catches you.”

  “Wait, I thought you were working with him?” Kyle’s voice rose in pitch until it was a mere squeak.

  “No, I’m not. But your ass belongs to me, not him.”

  His swallow was audible. “Right. Anything else?”

  “Can you look up sub-species? Like, if I ask for anything with wings?”

  Liam nodded in approval, and then stood and went to the door, opening it. As Kyle searched for me, I turned to see Dox standing in the doorway, a glower on his face, the silver piercings in his lip, eyebrow, and ears standing out even more in the morning light.

  Two things happened at once. With a grumble Dox, tossed me his truck keys. “I can’t damn well let you go on your own. But you have to listen to me, when we get there. You have to trust me when it comes to my own kind.”

  I gave him a sharp nod and Kyle spoke softly in my ear.

  “Rylee, you aren’t going to believe this.”

  Contrary to what Kyle thought, I knew that I would believe it. And knowing how the world was when it came to me and mine, whatever ‘it’ was wouldn’t be good.

  I was right; it wasn’t good, not by a long fucking shot.

  I hung up the phone, plans already whirling through my mind. As difficult as it might be, there were going to be no surprises this time around. Just a simple, straightforward salvage. Before I could tell Dox and Liam what Kyle had shared, the phone rang. I scooped it up, thinking the kid had forgotten something.

  “What did you forget?”

  A low chuckle whispered through the line and I recognized Doran’s charming tones. “Rylee, I need you to swing by my place before you leave on this blind salvage of yours.”

  “Doran? What are you talking about? The salvage is on this side of the veil, I don’t need extra help.”

  He laughed again, any reluctance he’d shown earlier in the bar completely gone, and more than a hint of his old confidence rolling through the phone line. “Rylee, you need to come see me, because I just found out something rather interesting about you, something you are going
to want to know.”

  “Yeah, like what?”

  The bastard hung up on me. Damn him, he knew me too well for my liking. I hung up the phone and turned to see Dox and Liam waiting on me. Liam spoke first.

  “You think he’s bluffing?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t. We’ll go to him, but we’ll make it quick.”

  Dox let me drive, since I was the one Tracking and could make adjustments as we went. That, and he didn’t look to be doing all that well. Much as he’d agreed to come with us, to act as a guide and help, I was pretty sure he’d rather be anywhere else. I glanced over at him, took in the pale tones of his blue skin, not the bright vibrant blue that I was used to at all. Yeah, something was going on with him for sure and I couldn’t help but think about what Doran had said. That Dox had been kicked out for being weak. If that was the case, Dox might be more of a liability than an asset.

  Dox stared out the window and scrubbed a hand over his head. “What took the foal, do you know?”

  “Kyle said that the only thing with wings big enough to carry the foal, and actually identified as using the Pacific Northwest would be a Roc.” I took the turn onto Shawnee Rd.

  The ogre sucked in a sharp breath and turned his face to me, eyes wide with alarm. “Seriously? Please tell me you’re joking.”

  I shook my head. Nope, I was not joking, though I wished I was.

  Liam lounged in the back seat, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Of course, he still didn’t have the full understanding of the supernatural to scare the shit out of him. He leaned forward, placing a hand on each of our seats.

  “So what is a rock?”

  Dox beat me to it. “Spelled R-O-C. Giant bird—”

  “Like a Harpy?”

  “No, bigger.” I slid my hands over the heated steering wheel, pleased that the truck had started with the three of us in here. Though it had been questionable, the engine managed to turn over. I hadn’t been looking forward to getting into ogre country on my own, or even with just Dox at my side. No way was I leaving Liam behind. Not this time. Not with a Roc and ogre country coming up.