by Art DeForest
Looking over at Deacon I said. “I think he’ll be fine by first light. He’s had a remarkable recovery even after this short amount of time.”
Deacon nodded at the remark, but there was an expression of distracted concern on his voice. “I just hope we find Sara and rescue her intact.” He said. “We could be looking at a war if she is overly harmed.”
“I think Jake is reasonable enough not to go to war with the entire vampire population” I said confidently.
“I’m not so sure.” He said, shaking his head slightly. “I’m not so much worried about him as I am that the Council may choose to shelter the Abandonados from his wrath.”
“Do you really think that would happen?” I asked incredulously. “That whole clan is blatantly flouting the Council’s decrees.”
“True” he said. “However, most of those decrees had significant opposition from the old guard.” He said with a look of worry on his face. “If the lycans push for action to be taken against an entire family, it may well not pass a council vote. A number of those on the fence may very well side with Abandonados at that point. Then what would the lycans do?”
I hadn’t really thought of the situation in those terms and stared off into space for a moment as I considered the options. “It comes down to whether we get Sara back in one piece or not.” I said, thinking out loud. “As much as the lycans will want to see justice for her kidnapping, I don’t think they’ll go to war over it.”
“I agree.” Said Deacon firmly. “If she dies however, I don’t think there will be any stopping them from a direct confrontation.”
“They are not the only ones who will take direct action at that point Deacon.” I said seriously. “I’ll tear that house down brick by brick by myself if I have to. This cannot go unpunished.”
Deacon sighed. “Kaitlyn, you must be reasonable in this. Making a determination about Abandonados as a whole could permanently dissolve the Council.”
“No Deacon.” I said firmly as anger started to boil inside me. “The Council needs to be reasonable in this. If they don’t act against Gino and his family, it will lead to all out war with an entire species. A war, I might remind you, that will not be limited to the night.”
“If the Council rules against them, then in all likelihood there will be war anyway.” Deacon said with a troubled expression.
“Quite possibly.” I said. “But it will be a war of good versus evil and We’ll be on the right side of it. If the Council decides to back Abandonados and we support them in the decision, then we’re the bad guys and you know it.” I said, pointing my index finger at him in anger. “I’ll tell you right now Deacon, that I will not be on the wrong side in this. Even if it means I become an outcast from the Council.”
Deacon looked seriously troubled at my vitriolic reaction. “Kaitlyn they’ll kill you if you go against them.” He said softly. “Abandonados has been looking for an excuse to put you down since you were made.”
I looked at the raw appeal in his face as he spoke of his concerns, but I couldn’t agree. “That doesn’t matter Deacon. Right is right. And if I fall fighting for it, then I’ll die at peace.” I said, looking him squarely in the eye. “It seems to me that you are the one that has a decision to make.”
He drew himself up, but his eyes were still troubled. “I have worked for the Council for many, many years Kaitlyn. They are a force for stability in our world.”
I nodded to him. “Yes, they are, but if they come down on the wrong side of this it will steer them squarely down a road back to the bad old days of villagers with pitchforks and torches. On top of that, there will be open war with an Other group that has been doing nothing but growing and becoming more powerful for the last two hundred years.” I took a step towards Deacon and put my hand on his arm. “I would rather die than see my brothers and sisters descend back to being ravening monsters who view people as nothing but cattle. What about you?”
Deacon looked down at his arm where my hand rested lightly on it for a long while before bringing those deep blue eyes up to meet my own. He reached out and enfolded me in his powerful arms then and sighed. “No Kaitlyn, I cannot stand by and watch our people take that road. I will do everything I can to make sure the Council sees reason.” He looked back down at me. “In the event that they make the wrong decision, then I will stand with you and be one of the good guys.” He said, with a slight smile.
A sense of warmth flooded through me as I laid the side of my head against his chest in happiness. “Thank you.” I said giving him a squeeze before stepping back. “That’s a relief, because it would get really awkward between us if I had to kick your ass.” I said with a wink.
9
Two hours later, I walked back into the bar. Kanjee was on my shoulder, Fangs was at my heel and Deacon was by my side. Twenty or so lycans looked up as we pushed on into the bar. Their reactions ran the gamut of expressions. From a smile on Marcus’ face to relief on Trish’s. Of course there was a good deal of hostility evident too.
A young wolf stood up among a small group separated from the rest of his pack, and pointed at us. “What the hell are corpses doing here? They started this whole mess.” He said angrily.
Marcus stepped between us and the young hothead. “Shut up boy, before I break your neck again.” Trish moved to Marcus’ side and just glared at them until the dumb ass, Evan, I assumed sat back down.
Jake cleared his throat and addressed his pack. “Kaitlyn Strong and Deacon Caine have been helping us to bring down the rogue vampires all along. Without their help, Kanjee would probably be dead and we would have no clue where Sara was.” Stepping into the center of the room, he continued. “We don’t know what future relations are going to be like with the vampire Council, but these two have proven themselves loyal to what is right, even to the point of killing their own kind to protect some of us.”
Casting his gaze around the room he said. “If I hear one more word said against them, the person who says it will find him or herself knocked through a wall. Is that understood?” He seemed to meet the eyes of everybody arrayed in front of him at that point and every lycan there lowered their head in submission. The power coming off Jake was almost palpable.
Once he had obedience, Jake turned around to face us. “Is Kanjee ready to go?” He asked softly.
“He’s acting like it.” I responded. “There’s still a little pain, but he flew across the room to me with no problem.”
As if he knew his ability was being questioned, Kanjee leapt from my shoulder and flew to his perch at the corner of the bar. After landing, he spread his wings and cawed loudly at his audience.
Jake chuckled at the bird’s antics. “I guess that answers that question. Kaitlyn, are you going to be able to keep track of him while he’s flying?”
“I think so. Even if he gets out of range he’ll just circle back. I’m amazed at the intelligence I feel from him.” I said, shaking my head. “He knows he can’t save her by himself and for some reason we’re all part of his flock.” Winking at Jake I continued. “Did you know that a flock of crows is called a ‘murder’? He may not be exactly a crow but the group name seems appropriate.” I said as a vicious grin spread across my face. There were several chuckles and growls of agreement from around the room.
“Load up people.” said Jake. “Let’s go get our Sara back.” The growls of agreement sent shivers down my spine.
++++
A caravan of seven SUV’s headed west out of its parking lot in the Cherry Hills. Marcus sat in the passenger’s seat of the Suburban next to Deacon, so he could use his keen eyesight to watch Kangee. I sat in the back seat with my eyes closed and focused on the raven’s presence out ahead of us.
It wasn’t long before Kangee angled a little north, but still mostly west. We jumped onto highway 285 and continued on. We had to moved slowly along in the far right hand lane, so that we didn’t outrun Kangee. A few people headed into work early, seemed kind of annoyed by us. We continued on west fo
r a few miles before Kangee swerved fairly hard in a northwesterly direction.
We had no choice but to keep going on to the next exit a quarter mile ahead. Kanjee’s presence was starting to fade from my mind as we finally got off the highway and turned around to head in his direction. As we got closer, Marcus spotted Kanjee circling above what appeared to be a large warehouse of some kind.
We parked two blocks away, in an empty parking lot. Thirty plus lycan’s emptied out of the various SUV’s. I stepped to the ground and reached back in for my sword and slid it back into its sheath. I’d found it beside a concrete bench in the courtyard of the school after our last battle. After the blade was securely in place, I reached in and pulled out Sara’s staff. It was found amongst the pile of bodies she’d left in her wake before she went down.
I used the connection to Kanjee to call him back to us. He seemed reluctant to leave his close proximity to Sara, but eventually complied. Looking deep into his eyes, I tried to get a visual of what he had seen. I didn’t see much, but there did seem to be some vehicles out of our view of the warehouse.
Thinking about the accomplishment, I figured I might be able to get more information using my actual familiar instead of the borrowed one. I knelt down to look into Fangs’ eyes. “Go look around boy. Show me what we’re facing.” I said, all the while focusing my intent through our bond. A feeling of understanding came back through the bond and I rose as he turned towards the warehouse. “Don’t be seen big boy” I said. Fangs glanced back over his shoulder at us with a haughty ‘as if’ look on his face, before disappearing into the night.
As he slipped through the embrace of the shadows I concentrated hard on him. Just as I had hoped, my connection with Fangs let me see through his eyes. It felt almost as if it were me with four legs, sliding towards the warehouse.
We reached a point where the front of the building came into full view. Two loading docks, cluttered with litter and tumbleweeds, were flanked by a single door to their right. There were windows in the overhead doors of the loading docks as well as a window in the entry door. No light or other signs of occupation were visible. I had just directed Fangs to start around the side of the building when my phone started buzzing persistently in my cargo pants pocket. In irritation I took it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. A text message from an unknown number was waiting. Quickly tapping it with my thumb, the message was quick and to the point.
“We know you are outside the building. Show yourselves or she dies. -- Gino”
My face must have showed my shock because Deacon quickly turned towards me. “What is wrong?” He said in a whisper.
I showed him the text as I turned my head to look at Jake and Marcus. “The jig is up.” I said. “Abandonados knows we’re here.”
“What does he want?” Asked the lycan Alpha.
“He wants us to show ourselves or he says he’ll kill Sara.” I responded.
Jake’s eyes drew together in anger as he studied me for a moment. “Alright people, suit up. If he wants a confrontation, we’ll damn sure give it to him.”
The lycans around us started removing shirts and shoes. They were all dressed in pants similar to to one’s that Marcus wore that stretched to accommodate their transformation. Jake turned back around to face us. “I’ll stay in this form for now in case I have to talk.”
I nodded my head in agreement as Kanjee flew over and landed on my shoulder from where he had been perched on the brush guard of the Suburban. “I’ll let Gino know we’re coming in so the little prick doesn’t get jumpy and do something stupid.” I said as my thumbs fluttered along the screen of my phone briefly.
I sent a mental command to Fangs to stay hidden and be ready as Jake turned and directed his people. He split them into thirds, sending two of the groups to set up flanking positions on either side of the warehouse. That left a serious hardcore looking group of lycans surrounding us in full battle form. “Alright, let’s go see what they have to say.” Said Jake as he turned and walked towards the warehouse.
As we came in view of the warehouse front, I could see the lights turn on through the various windows at the front of the building. Both loading bay doors slid upwards on electric motors, revealing a crowd of vampires packing both large entrances. Gino came out of the personnel door to the side, leading a shackled Sara out onto the concrete loading area in front of the doors.
Jake, Marcus, Deacon and I led the procession of growling lycans to within about ten yards of the looming warehouse. Kangee cawed softly in Sara’s direction, but he stayed on my shoulder. Sara looked serene and confident as she stepped on the platform and made eye contact with us. She smiled gently as she saw us standing there. I sighed in relief to see that she was unharmed.
Vampires started flooding out of the loading bay doors to take up positions on the loading platform. Abandonados had pulled out all the stops. There were at least as many vampires on the platform as we had lycans in front of the building and hiding off to the side. Abandonados had hundreds in it’s clan, so the number of vampires on the platform itself wasn’t as surprising as the fact that they had managed to get them all into lycan territory unobserved.
I scrutinized them sharply as they filed out of the doors, looking for signs of firearms amongst them. There may have been a few bulges around waistbands, but for the most part, guns seemed to be absent. This didn’t surprise me really. Most vampires considered guns to be a coward’s weapon and not very useful against our own kind. The fact that it could be very useful against lycans was just further proof of the arrogance of House Abandonados and their belief in their own superiority. I snickered mentally, since it also said interesting things about Gino’s personal courage.
Kanjee abruptly leapt from my shoulder, taking off into the night. To my relief he didn’t try to go to Sara. I could sense through my borrowed link to the bird that she was directing him up and out of the line of fire. I focused briefly on my bond to Fangs and felt him hidden off to my right, observing the proceedings.
Jake stepped forward. His eyes were hard as they took in Gino and the bound Sara. “Let the woman go. There’s no way you get out of my territory alive if she’s harmed.” He said in a stern voice.
Gino glared back at the Alpha as he stepped behind Sara and brought his dagger up to rest at her throat with a newly grown right hand. “You are going to give us safe passage out of this territory or the blood whore will die.” He returned in an angry tone.
“She dies, you die. Simple as that.” Growled Jake, taking another step forward.
“I grow tired of all this posturing.” Said a female voice from behind the crowd of vampires on the platform. There was movement and the vampire who spoke moved out to stand in front of Gino. There was an audible hiss from Deacon as the figure emerged from the shadow’s. Antonella Abandonados, public head of House Abandonados and sitting member of the Council smiled wickedly at Deacon’s reaction. “Hello Lover.” She said with a sultry smile as she swayed further into the light.
“Nella, what are you doing here?” He asked in a shocked voice
The knot that started in my stomach at Antonella’s use of the word ‘lover’ doubled in size at his use of an intimate nickname. All my stunned mind could think was “How can someone who promised to stand with me against the Council be involved with Abandonados. Whose side was he really on?”
“I’m here seeing to the interests of my house of course. Why else would I be here?” she said, cocking a hip to the side in a provocative stance. She was what would be described in books as a ‘raven haired beauty’. Luscious waves of jet black hair cascaded over her shoulders. She had alabaster skin and penetrating eyes that were so brown they were almost black. “She’s dressed like a friggin’ pirate.” I thought to myself spitefully as I took in her clothing.
She had knee high black leather boots on with black leather pants that hugged her curves like a second skin tucked into them. Tucked neatly into the pants was a blood red satin blouse with puffy sleeves lik
e you would see in some kind of swashbuckler’s portrait. The top two or three buttons were loose, allowing for a view of a generous bosom as well. She even had a rapier with an intricate basket hilt, belted to her hip. It would give her a range advantage over my gladius, but my sword was much stronger and I’d break the wispy piece of steel if I got the chance.
Deacon drew himself up at her words. “The Council will not tolerate this Antonella. Abandonados is already facing serious sanction for Gino’s actions. Taking Sara and starting a war with the lycans will get your whole house banished.” Deacon said with conviction.
“Dear Deacon, that mewling group of fools will do nothing to put themselves in the way of our power.” Said Antonella, smiling at him sweetly. “Besides” she continued with a wrist flip towards Sara. “We are here collecting on a sanctioned bounty. Nothing more.”
Deacon shook his head in disbelief. “That bounty is more than two hundred years old and you will bring vampire kind into open war with the Lycans if you persist in this.”