by Eileen Wilks
Toby himself. But she thought of an eager young voice, quick footsteps racing up or down the stairs, the stubborn set of a small chin in a young face both like and unlike the older face she loved. "Yes." Her voice came out hoarse. "You have the control you wanted. We're here, ready to do just about anything to have the spell lifted from Toby. What do you want?" she asked again.
"Your help. I haven't hurt the boy. I won't hurt him. This much Cynna should be able to tell you—I don't harm children."
"Freddie had a son," Rule said.
"Freddie?"
"One of the men you killed today."
"Ah." For a second her face went blank, as if his death came as news to her. "I am sorry for that. Does the boy have a mother?" There was a curious intensity to the question.
"He does. That doesn't make up for the loss of his father."
"But children need… no, we aren't here for that. Never mind." She tilted her head up, and light shivered down over a face Lily saw clearly for the first time. An exotic face, the nose broad and flat, the forehead high and rounded. Sloe-eyed, thickly lashed. And skin not truly black, but brown. The filigree of tattoos overlaying it was so dense, far denser than Cynna's, that at first you saw only darkness.
"I've worked so hard for this," Jiri murmured, "for so long, and now that the time has come, I'm afraid. How foolish. But I've been afraid for so long… it becomes a habit. Well." She faced them again. "What do I want? I want you, Rule Turner, to lead as many of your people as you can summon. I particularly want your sorcerer friend. I want to attack a man who was once my apprentice."
"Tommy Cordoba," Cynna said.
Her eyebrows arched in surprise. "You found out that much? Yes, Tommy. He's behind the attacks on lupi, not me." Her lip curled in scorn. "He would say he's made a powerful ally. You know who I mean—She's your enemy. He has taught some of Her servants—you call them the Azd—to summon demons, but he is the master. You won't take my word for this, of course. Tish. Show yourself to our visitors."
Beside the fake gas lamp on the other side of the bridge the air grew fussy, like smoke swirled with a finger. Within seconds it had resolved into… a thing. He was humanoid, as Li Qin had said, but nothing about him made Lily think of a person. He was massive, like pictures Lily had seen of a troll: ten feet tall and twice as broad as the biggest man she'd ever seen. His neck was thicker than her hips. His skin was the color of dried blood and the texture of rock, and tusks a foot long curved out from either side of a wide, lipless mouth. His tail curled neatly around his feet, broad and sinewy like a boa.
And yes, he was male, in a gargantuan sort of way.
"Hold fire," Rule said softly.
Lily had snugged the rifle to her shoulder automatically. She kept it trained on the demon.
"I can still lie," Jiri was saying. "I admit that. But Tish cannot. I have taught him English. Ask him who is behind the attacks. He will answer."
"Cynna?" Rule said in a low voice.
"Demons can't lie, but you have to phrase your questions carefully and pay close attention to the answers. They'll make technically true statements that add up to a lie if they can."
"You've experience with questioning demons?"
Cynna took a long breath, expelled it. "Yeah."
"Then you do the questioning."
"Rule." Cullen's voice was sharp.
"From here," Rule added. "He can hear us from here."
Lily thought Cynna could have a career as an attorney if she decided to change professions. Her questions allowed no wiggle room: Is the woman standing on the bridge in front of me, whose use-name is Jiri, your master? Yes. Do you have any knowledge or reason to suspect or surmise that your master has summoned, aided in the summoning, or caused to be summoned demons other than yourself who have attacked lupi in this realm? No. Da you have any knowledge or reason to suspect or surmise that she has lied to us tonight? No. Do you know who summoned the demons who attacked various lupi four nights ago? Yes. Who? You know them as theAzd. Who mastered those demons? Tommy Cordoba is their master.
Cynna looked at Rule. "Best I can do. I think it's true."
"Tommy is behind the attacks," Jiri insisted. "If you kill him, they will end. The ones he taught would still be able to summon demons, but only a master can control them beyond the summoning circle."
Rule spoke coldly. "Do you expect me to believe you engineered all this to persuade me to kill someone who is my enemy?"
"No. I brought you here to kill my enemy. It's your good fortune that he's yours, as-well."
"Why did you attack me?" Cullen asked.
"Why do you think? You're a sorcerer. I hoped to bring you back with me and avoid… all this. Had I been able to do so before the second shifting, when Tommy gained so much power… but I failed. You fought me off."
"Your demon defeated four lupi, one human, and… another fighter today," Rule said. "Why do you need us?"
"Tommy's warded his place against demons. Tish can't get through, and I can't get in by myself without setting off alarms. I hope your sorcerer will be able to undo the wards. And—and you and I have something in common." She drew a shaky breath. "He holds my daughter hostage. That's the other part of my price. I want you to get her away from him."
THIRTY-SIX
RULE inhaled deeply, his head cocked, testing the air for scents, listening. He'd moved all of them back down the path, far enough away that they could discuss Jiri's demand without being overheard by Jiri and the demon.
The air was chill yet rich with smells; it was almost like being four-legged, his senses were so keen. And the power… a bit intoxicating. His power hadn't doubled with the addition of a second heir's portion, it had tripled, or more.
His mind had almost broken when Victor tried to force the mantle on him. Even after the Rhej shoved much of it back into Victor, he'd hovered in some gray place, his mind dull and confused. But once the two heirs' portions were balanced…
Balanced, but not restful. They jostled still inside him, same and yet not the same. The Leidolf portion felt alien, as if he'd woken up with a third hand sprouting from his elbow. Still, unlike the clans they belonged to, the mantles seemed able to coexist.
"I'm accepting Jiri's terms," he said abruptly, "unless someone has a very good reason not to."
Lily shook her head. "We can't just go kill someone."
This was hard for her. Her culture, training, and profession opposed acting outside the law. "I believe her. I think Cordoba is summoning demons, working with Her to destroy my people. I
agree that we have to be sure, but if he is, I don't think he'll let you put him under arrest."
"Being sure means gathering evidence, putting the case before a jury."
"And Toby?" He gave her a chance to answer. She didn't. "I'll go where Jiri sends me, but look before I leap."
"Or bite, or shoot." Cullen was striving for cocky. "I'm in, of course. But Cynna stays here."
Lily's eyebrows snapped down. "Have you morphed into a chauvinist pig?"
Cullen didn't answer. He was watching Cynna, his eyes hooded.
"Forget it," Cynna said. "I'm needed, and I'm not… you've got to get that idea out of your head."
"What idea?" Lily demanded.
"Oh, hell." Cynna hunched one shoulder impatiently. "He told Rule. You might as well know, too. Cullen has decided that, modern pharmaceuticals to the contrary, he got me pregnant."
Lily's jaw dropped. She closed her mouth, then opened it to speak, but Cynna talked right over her. "I don't know if he tells every woman that, or if I showed up at the peak of his lunatic cycle, but—"
"Cynna." Lily cut in sharply, then gentled her voice. "They know. Lupi know if a woman they've been with conceives."
"Maybe they do sometimes. This time, he's wrong."
Had she been this stubborn when they were lovers thirteen years ago? Rule only had to ask himself the question to have the answer: yes, every inch as stubborn. And just as wrongheaded at times. "We can'
t discuss this now. If Cynna is willing to go—"
Cullen rounded on him. "Goddammit, Rule!"
"It's her decision," he said softly. "You know it has to be her decision."
Cullen looked ready to burn something or someone. But he knew clan law—necessary because the temptation was so keen. Nokolai had been the first to make it criminal for a lupus to constrain a woman who carried his child, but most of the other clans had followed. Persuasion was fine, but the woman's life, her choices, had to remain in her hands.
Cullen turned away, paced a few steps, paced back. He didn't say anything, but Rule could see he had himself under control again.
Cynna scowled at all of them. "If all that means I get to choose—damned right I do. And I'm in."
"You can bind Jiri to what we agree on?"
She nodded grimly.
"Lily?"
She took longer than he liked, but at last she nodded. "I reserve the right to arrest him, if it's feasible."
"Then we'll give her our answer."
Jiri waited at the bridge, motionless and tense. A proud woman, he thought. Too proud to ask for help, to surrender that much control—and that pride had cost two men their lives. But if Cordoba held her daughter, her need was desperate. He thought she'd been honest about some things, at least. He'd smelled her fear when she spoke of her daughter being held by Cordoba, its acrid odor mingling with her own scent. Odd, that. She didn't smell like a demon, but she wasn't entirely human, either.
"You've decided," she said.
Rule stepped out of the shadows beneath the trees. "We will go after Cordoba and return your child to you—if she's there, as you've said. And if she is your child."
The tension remained. "Tonight. It must be tonight."
He shook his head. "We need time to plan. And," he added bitterly, "you've killed or wounded all of my trained fighters on this coast. With airplane travel undependable, it will take a few days to gather an attack force."
"It has to be tonight," she repeated. "Tommy gave me an ultimatum. Either I bind myself to him and the Bitch Goddess by tomorrow at midnight, or he…" She swallowed. "What little humanity he retains has much in common with Henry Lee Lucas or the BTK killer. If you won't rescue my daughter tonight, I'll go there now and bind myself to him and free my daughter that way. And Tommy won't care if your son ever wakes up."
Rule held himself still. He had to. The fury that swept through him at the threat to Toby carried him too close to an edge he couldn't afford to cross. After a moment he managed to speak evenly. "Cordoba will be expecting you to act tonight. He'll be doubly on guard."
She shrugged. "It can't be helped. If your sorcerer had been a bit less clever, I wouldn't have had to wait until the last minute."
"Or kill two men, wound others, and enspell my son." His rage was ebbing, but the strength and suddenness with which it had hit bothered him. This was not the time to lose control. "Very well. I will accept your terms if you will bind yourself to mine. You'll swear to release Toby from your spell whether I succeed or not."
Her lips quirked up, but the smile came nowhere near her eyes. "Cynna's been telling all my secrets, hasn't she? All right."
"YOU'VE lost it," Lily said flatly. "You can't mean to—"
"I can. I have to." They were in the Suburban, which Rule had started to get the heater going. He wasn't cold, but he knew Lily was.
After Cynna had performed the binding, Jiri had given him a computer disk with maps and the architect's plans for Cordoba's place at the northernmost end of the North Carolina shore. She planned to meet them there but she wouldn't travel with them or give them her phone number. Instead she would call Lily again at midnight to find out how they planned to storm a place guarded by demons.
When they reached the Suburban he'd filled the others in on what he intended to do, knowing Lily wouldn't like it.
"Is it even possible?" Cynna asked, obviously dubious.
Cullen answered for him. "Possible, yes. Likely?" He shook his head. "Rule, I don't want to argue, but—"
"Then don't." He took a deep breath, held it a moment before letting it out. His temper was unsteady. "According to Jiri, Cordoba has at least four of the red-eyes and several smaller demons at his place, plus four of the Aza. We need more fighters."
"The idea," Lily said with strained patience, "is to bring people along who try to kill the other guy, not you. There must be some Nokolai on this coast."
"They're not trained. An untrained lupus will do well against a few humans. Against demons, he's cannon fodder."
"Then we go it on our own. Cullen's mage fire—"
"Sorry," Cullen said. "Much as I'd like to agree with you, I don't have an unlimited supply. And it's hard to control well enough to use in hand-to-hand. I tend to burn up the good guys along with the bad."
Lily had a scar on her stomach from mage fire Cullen hadn't fully controlled. She didn't speak again until Rule pulled out of the parking lot. "I hate this. I really, really hate this."
So did he. He was going to need every bit of power from the two heirs' portions he carried.
The only clan close enough for him to call on for help was Leidolf.
THIRTY-SEVEN
THE moon was high when they pulled into the parking lot across from the Nutley courthouse. The location was Cullen's suggestion. It was neutral ground and open enough to discourage ambush on either side.
It was nearly two a.m. They'd made good time, but they'd had a couple of stops to make before leaving D.C.; first at the house for Lily's laptop and a few items from Benedict's arsenal, then to the hospital to check on Toby and get Benedict's help.
Benedict was rarely openly angry, but when he realized he couldn't come with them—they couldn't leave Toby unprotected—he cursed for two minutes solid. Then he sat down, studied the documents on Jiri's disk, and came up with a plan of attack.
There was only one other car in the courthouse parking lot. Rule's Mercedes. Alex Thibodaux and four other men waited beside it. One of them was Brady.
Brady had not been part of his arrangement with Alex. Rule parked and got out slowly. Cynna and Lily got out on the other side but followed instructions, saying nothing.
"You have a reason for bringing him to this meeting?" Rule nodded at Brady.
"He was Randall's brother," Alex said. "If the story you tell is true, he has a right to be in on the kill."
Rule had told Alex nearly everything when he called to set up this meeting. The Leidolf Rho was still deeply unconscious, unable to make decisions for the clan, which was one piece of luck. Victor would have found a way to turn this into a death trap for Rule. He didn't think Alex would, if he handled things right.
If he handled the mantle right, to be specific.
Rule seldom invoked the heir's portion of Nokolai's mantle. He didn't need to. The clan respected him, and they felt the mantle's presence even when it rested quietly within him. But he knew how. He knew, too, that once invoked, the mantle wouldn't let him leave what he began unfinished. That was its nature.
Lily, Cullen, and Cynna ranged themselves behind Rule, staying several feet back. Cullen knew what to do and, more to the point, what not to do. Lily and Cynna had promised not to interfere, but Rule wasn't sure he could depend on Lily's word if things went badly.
He'd have to make sure they didn't.
Alex straightened, his arms at his side, his face expressionless. "Why are you here, Nokolai?"
Rule reached inside with his attention, touching the more restless of the two mantles. Power flexed within him like a wild thing waking—flexed and rose, sending a physical rush through his body. And unbidden, the familiar mantle came roaring up, too, mingling with the new one, the twinned magics making every hair on his body bristle as the night turned sharp and achingly brilliant.
That wasn't part of the plan—but oh, the heady rhythm of it, like the moon's own song, but utterly physical. And his. His. It sang within him, the certain knowledge that he could not be defeate
d.
Not that the mantles bestowed invulnerability or some illusion of it. He knew he could die tonight. His plans could fail; he could meet with disaster. But neither death nor disaster was defeat to the mantles.
He walked up to Alex. The air was thick with sent, the scent of aggression and dominance. "I come, Alex Thibodaux, as heir of your clan while the Rho is incapacitated, unable to lead. I come to command you."
He sensed more than saw Brady's movement—and that the men on either side of him held him back. He ignored them. Brady was no threat at this moment. Everything depended on Alex.
If the heir can't command the strongest fighter, he can't be Rho.
Rule had no desire to become the Leidolf Rho, but he had to command this one man, whom the others would follow. And Alex had to know he could be commanded. Rule looked Alex in the eye and waited.
Alex was alpha. He didn't back down readily but stood stiff, his hands fisting, his own gaze steady. "Why do you come, Noko-lai?" he demanded again.
"I come because the enemy of all lupi seeks to destroy us, and has killed the former heir to Leidolf. I come to call Leidolf to the hunt. You are Lu Nuncio. You know this is necessary. You know I have the right. You will accept my lead of the hunt."
A moment longer Alex met his gaze, then slowly his eyes dropped. Slowly he lowered himself to one knee and bent his head, baring his nape. "I accept your lead… heir of Leidolf."
Brady made a strangled noise. Rule looked at him, and Brady's gaze dropped, too. One by one he looked at the other three men. One by one they looked down.
Two-mantled. The power was heady… and a little frightening. These men weren't his clan and would normally be his enemies, yet at a glance from him they became his.
He was definitely going to ask Cullen about that Etorri tale.
The mantles were subsiding now that the others had acknowledged his dominance, but they jittered within him, uneasy. He soothed them the way he imagined a rider might calm a restless horse, then touched Alex's exposed nape, accepting the man's submission. "Rise."