by Faith Hunter
Eli fired. Fired. Shouted, “Jane! How bad are you hurt?”
Chuffed. Stupid human. I am Beast. Am hurt bad or would be fighting. Tore vampire flesh and drank more vampire blood. Goooood vampire blood. Eli cursed. Fired. Fired.
Inside Beast, I worried. Even after drinking healing vamp blood, I/we could feel Beast weaken. The round must have taken out something important, a major blood vessel. I/we dropped down, flatter, and pulled the body closer, over us. We were lying in a pool of cooling Puma concolor blood. The unmoving undead body was both food and protection. Beast was eating. I concentrated on the fight and on trying not to gag.
I smelled Sabina but she wasn’t in sight. Her blood-scent came from near the garage door at a chair, one with a length of chain across the seat, near a small rod with an electric cord attached, an instrument like an electrician might use, a soldering iron. I caught a whiff of burned vamp-flesh. They had tortured her.
I took in Brandon and Brian. They were secured back to back. The only evidence I had they were alive was . . . nothing. No evidence at all. Until one took a faint, shallow breath and mewled again.
In the corner was a large silver cage. Inside was a vamp in rags. He was sitting on a three-legged stool, hunched over a rounded boulder, tangled hair trailing down over it. It was hard to be sure, with the degree of emaciation and scraggly beard and hair, but I thought it was the man from the mural, Adan Bouvier, the male witch-vamp who could call storms. Which he was doing, but clearly not by choice. He was mostly skeleton, his feet bare, burned where they touched the silver cage, his hands like bird claws. His talons were buried in the stone.
No. Not just a huge stone, but a massive geode. One end had been cut open and the inside was filled with crystals of pure, clear quartz. I remembered the saw outside. And the forklift. They’d have needed both to maneuver all this equipment. This wasn’t a room that had been quickly thrown together. This room, this scenario, had been in planning for a long time. Fernand and Amitee had been busy.
Eli fired. Fired. He raced from the protection of the trunk, toward us. He took cover behind the silvered cage, which on first thought was foolish, but then I realized it had to be warded. That was part of the glow on the bars. Eli was standing near the door to the cage. He was trying to get it open. I wasn’t sure that was wise, but I wasn’t in a position to do anything about it. Beast ripped part of Amitee’s upper arm away and chewed it. I remembered a time when the thought of Beast eating from a human had made me ill. Now she was eating a vamp who was still alive (undead) and all I could wonder was how long it would take the vamp to regrow the musculature and wonder if Beast would throw up the vamp flesh.
Around and within the silvered cage, surrounding the vamp, a nimbus of power bloomed, a burning, spitting corona in a shade of yellow like Beast’s eyes. Outside, lightning cracked, hitting nearby. The silver cage lit up with power. Tilting Beast’s head up, I followed the cage walls high. They weren’t sterling, they were plated with a heavy coating of the stuff, but underneath the coating and above the cage, they were steel. Which would conduct power really well. The cage rose to the top like the spines of an umbrella, to the center, where they met and formed into a rod that went straight up into the roof. The lightning rod up top was attached to the steel and silver cage. Oh crap. The cage itself was a spell. With a witch-vamp inside it. With the quartz geode. In a storm that was affecting time magic.
Quartz was the best crystal to catch and trap arcenciel. And with a such a massive amount of quartz crystals, vamps could imprison the rainbow dragons easily. They wanted to ride the rainbow dragons and move through time, changing the future, and maybe the past.
I felt it before I heard it. Before I saw it. That hair-raising moment before lightning strikes. The instant between life and death by Mother Nature, when everything stands still. And then lightning struck the rod atop the roof. In less than a heartbeat of time it raced into the building and exploded down the silver cage. Lightning so hot it melted the silver off the steel in places, in an acrid sizzle of molten metal. And into the body and hands of the imprisoned vampire-witch. His head arched back, hair flinging and standing high, back warped in unbearable pain. Mouth open, he screamed in what sounded like an orgasmic moment. The nimbus of magics around him glowed and went white.
Beast took back over and turned our eyes away to protect our vision.
Outside, in the storm, I heard a scream, a sound I had never heard before but instinctively knew. Magic was calling arcenciels, trying to trap them in the crystals within the geode. To take them as slaves for use in stopping and altering time. Lightning transformed into magic, I thought. In the hands of Leo’s enemies. Oh crap. We’re in so much trouble.
A weak growl vibrated through me/us. Pain shuddered through with it.
Beast dropped her head and tore out the shoulder of the vamp she clutched in her claws. She lapped up Amitee’s blood. The agony in my/our hip and side decreased. I/we were healing. But too slowly.
In the room before us, Edmund took a bullet in the face. Went down to one knee. Bruiser swept through the opening in the wall at the bedroom, swords flashing as he mowed down the humans. Three fell, one to the left and two to the right, dead at the hand of Leo’s former primo, former Enforcer. Bruiser was a source of death, like the Reaper’s darker evil twin. He was laughing softly as he moved. Laughing as he carved and cut and brought death to the humans in the strange camo clothing.
The remaining attacking humans gathered around him, swords glinting, flickering. They were fast for humans, slicing and advancing, using a form of La Destreza that was different from the one I was learning. Within moments the Onorio was bleeding from dozens of cuts and stabs. He staggered. I/we stood. Screamed out a challenge. Mate!
Gee stepped through the broken doorway. His sword cut so fast I couldn’t focus on it. He engaged the humans, all at once. In moments they were on the floor. A bleeding, groaning mass of humanity.
Fernand rose to his knees. Pulled a gun. Took aim with his one eye. He shot Bruiser.
CHAPTER 18
Yada Yada, Physics, Yada Yada
Bruiser dropped to knees. Fell face-first into blood and gore on floor.
Bruiser? Jane thought, trying to take over Beast body.
Beast held Jane down. Bruiser is Onorio. Is not dead. Is not meat.
Bruiser rolled over, groaning.
Gee rounded on Fernand and cut him across belly and chest and down one side in move that Jane called Zorro. Fernand shot Gee.
Beast laughed, chuffing sound. Pulled paws beneath. Tight. Balanced. I/we launched across room.
A hundred forty-five pounds of Beast–mass and momentum, Jane thought. This one is meat.
Hit Fernand in stomach with front paws. Claws extruded. Caught flesh. Landed on top of Fernand. Vamp bounced on floor. Face was not healed. Tore out his throat too. Ate it. Tasted good. Like vampire meat. Like vampire blood. Want more! Screamed challenge.
Gee got back to feet. Took down the rest of humans in cutting arcs of silvered-steel death. Fight was over.
Scent of big-cat alerted me/us. Ricky-Bo dropped from flat limbs in ceiling. Landed beside us. Looked at Ricky-Bo. Snarled. Pulled vampire close. Mine. Will not share.
Rick looked at me/us. At meat in claws. Turned away. Like black shadow, he moved into darkness and out beneath garage door into sleet.
The entire fight took maybe three minutes, Jane thought. A long time for a firefight.
Eli squatted in front of us. “Babe. You’re freaking out the natives. You gotta stop chewing on the dead.”
Beast stood over body of prey. Raised bloodied paw and tapped body of Fernand. Shook head side to side like Jane talking without mouth.
“What? Not natives?” His face fell. “Not dead?” Eli leaned in and looked at wounds on vampire face and throat. Vampire caws rose, slicing faster-than-eye for Eli’s throat. Fernand. Eli wrenched back. Beast
lunged. Almost fast enough. Snatched hand/wrist into killing teeth. Yanked talons out of Eli skin. Eli and Beast met eye to eye. He put his hand to the bleeding place on his throat. Calmly, he said, “That might need a stitch or two.”
Beast chuffed.
“Want me to finish this one for you?” Eli pulled vamp-killer from thigh-rig.
Beast backed away. With one swipe, Eli took head from Fernand. Blade tapped concrete of floor. Beast lapped blood at edge of neck. Good vampire blood. I/we are healed, but blood is good. Beast likes.
Padded to mate on floor. Was breathing. Heart was beating. Onorio was healing.
Thank God, Jane thought.
Eli stalked like predator to Amitee. Brought down blade on her too. Head rolled.
Beast trotted. Picked up head and carried it to mate. Pressed neck to mate’s lips and blood spilled inside. Bruiser swallowed. Dropped head close by and went back to body. Drank last of blood. Then lay down and groomed blood and meat off pelt. Watched as Edmund stood to feet. Wavered like kit learning to walk. “I may need . . .” He swallowed. “I may require blood to heal.”
“Find a blood-servant, dude,” Eli said. “I’m not on the menu. There is no quid pro quo here.” He toed one of the humans. “This one is still alive. So is that one. Heal them and drink. We’ll have someone to question and you’ll have dinner. Two birds.” To me he said, “Janie, we need to get this guy out of the cage. Suggestions?”
Am Beast. Not Jane.
What am I? Chopped liver?
Do not need liver chopped. Have fangs and claws to chop liver.
Beast trotted to door in cage. Was locked with magical lock. Would need magic key to open. Snorted and lay on floor. Started to groom pelt again. Vampire blood was going bad faster than other prey blood. Tasted bad. Did not understand.
“Jane!”
Jerked to feet. Was command tone from Eli. Alpha roar. Cocked head. Waiting. Jane was inside, thinking. Not listening to Eli. Put head against Eli leg, panting. Littermate rubbed head with hand. Looked tired. “Shift back, Babe. We got work to do. And you need vocal cords and opposable thumbs for it.” Eli went back to puzzle of silver cage.
Beast snorted.
Inside of head, Jane laughed. Sound was catlike. Mocking. At least you got to drink vamp blood. You ate my tacos. What’ll I do for calories to pay for the shift?
Beast snorted again. Trotted to corner where gobag had come off. Picked up gobag in teeth and carried into darkness. Found shadowed place under bed in bedroom. Lowered belly to floor and pulled with paws under bed, pushing gobag in front with paws.
No! Do not! Do not shift under this bed. Dang cat—
Outside, thunder rumbled. Beast chuffed. Shifted.
• • •
“I’ll kill you, you dang cat.” I was staring at the bottom of the bed, which was an old-fashioned metal mesh, about a quarter of an inch from my nose. The mattress sat atop it and it smelled musty. A spider had built a web in the corner and the spider, a strange yellow and golden creature with a bulbous abdomen, raced away to the far edge and turned to face me, mandibles waggling back and forth. I wasn’t scared of spiders, but that didn’t mean I wanted to wake up with one.
The shift had been fast, like lightning. My entire body ached. My gobag had somehow gotten back around my neck and it was twisted, holding me in place, nearly choking. I shimmied slowly, wedging my fingers into the mesh with one hand, pulling the gobag with the other. The cement floor was cold and miserable. And I was naked on it. Dang cat.
I squirmed my way out, pulled the blanket off the bed, and wrapped it around me. It stank of vamp and blood and sex and fear, but that was moderately better than being naked and frozen and hungry. Now I was just hungry. I unzipped the gobag and dressed in the long underwear and the unfamiliar magicked cloth armor, feeling the tingly-scratchy on my skin even through the silk long johns. Strapped on the thigh rig, checked the nine-mil and snapped it into the holster. Same thing with the short-bladed vamp-killer. Slipped my feet into the flops. Stuck the Glob into a pocket. There was a box of four Clif bars in the bottom of the bag and I ripped open all four packages and ate them, swallowing faster than I could chew.
I had a sudden memory of the taste of vamp blood and vamp flesh and nearly lost my cookies. Pun intended. I forced the white chocolate macadamia nut down my throat. It tasted nothing like blood. Thank goodness.
I heard a knock at the door behind me, the one the boys had busted through. Eli’s shadow lay across the floor at the foot of the bed, but he spoke from behind the smashed opening, giving me privacy. “You okay?”
Without looking his way I said, “Dressed. And not really. My Beast ate vamp flesh.”
From the corner of my eye I saw him enter and shrug, one of the minuscule gestures that meant way more than a regular person’s shrug. “Why waste protein?”
I looked at him quickly. His face was closed and distant, and I suddenly didn’t want to know what he might have done to stay alive. Instead I reached and gave him a hug. Both arms around him. Both hands, on his back. At the same time. And then I didn’t know what to do. Should I let go? Should I back away? Should I keep waiting for him to hug me back? How many Mississippis did I hug for?
Eli’s chest shook. Again. “Babe?” His voice was quivering and strained. I realized he was laughing. “You frozen in horror? Trying to figure out what to do now that you got me in a strangle move?”
“Pretty much.”
Eli touched my back, his hand slicking down my hair in a single tender gesture. Which somehow allowed me to step away.
“Thanks,” I said.
Unexpectedly, Eli was still laughing, face pulled up in unfamiliar lines. Showing teeth and everything. “That felt really weird,” he said.
“Think I’ll ever do that again?” I asked, uncomfortable, and so glad he had let me step away.
“God, I hope not,” he said. “It’s so girly.”
“I know, right?”
Chuckling, we walked back into the battle room and up to the cage. Adan was sitting on his chair, bent over the geode. His hair was standing up with static electricity, oily, slick, and charged all at once. My eyes traced the silvered bars of the cage up again, to the lightning rod, and back to the geode. I had been right. It collected power. It was a lightning battery of some sort. Adan was totally unaware of us, his attention riveted on the geode and the magic he was working.
I spotted something I hadn’t noted last time. Copper wires ran from the base of the lightning rod to the cage, where they draped across the metal framework of the dropped ceiling. They passed from the cage to the chair where Sabina had been tortured. I hoped she had been fed. She was scary dangerous when injured, even more than most vamps.
Copper wires also ran to the pole the twins were still tied to. I pulled on Beast’s vision and saw a magical haze, some kind of spell, covering Brandon and Brian. They were out like drunks on a Sunday morning. I looked back to the cage. The geode was glimmering, a soft golden glow shot through with red and black motes of power. If I knew vamps, it had more purposes than just the obvious. The crystals in the center of the stone were not only a trap for arcenciels, they were also possibly a battery powering the spells and keeping the prisoners in place. I was getting pretty good at figuring out magic.
Gee pranced in through the garage door, which was half- open. He was uninjured, dressed in black from head to toe: boots, black jeans, black shirt, and black peacoat. No weapons, but then if he could glamour his wings he could glamour his weapons.
“Have you found Grégoire?” he asked.
“No,” I said. We had thought that Louis and Le Bâtard had set up this place, and that the missing would all be together. But, despite the scent patterns, there were no European vamps, no Sabina, no Amy Lynn Brown, and no Grégoire.
I looked back at the geode battery. “What’s the weather like outside?” I
asked.
“Nasty,” Eli said. “No one in his right mind would be out in it.”
Lighting boomed a few blocks over, lighting up the rod and the geode. I moved so I could see inside the open end of the hollow rock. The geode had a single massive crystal of quartz across the inside and thousands of smaller crystals attached to the outer walls. Something moved in the center crystal. An arcenciel. A rainbow dragon was already trapped, but not one I recognized. I stepped to the garage door and examined the clouds, bright with lightning and four arcenciels. They moved with agitated speed, ducking their heads, frilled necks billowing out like crowns and capes, bodies dancing with energy. Despite the apparent end of the battle, this wasn’t over. Not all of the scent patterns had been accounted for.
I remembered the arcenciel saying something like, “Our sister must be set free.” I had a bad feeling that I was supposed to do the dirty work. Saving a trapped arcenciel was a perilous undertaking. Not that it was difficult. All I had to do was break the crystal. But then the arcenciel might bite me, and I had no desire to experience that. The venom or saliva or blood or whatever they injected you with made paranormal beings crazy. Like, forever.
Arcenciels were shape-shifters, light dragons that could transform into other creatures, and do so outside the energy-mass ratio that bound my own shifting. Soul could become a three- or four-hundred-pound tiger, but in her human form she weighed about one twenty-five. She shifted without needing calories to pay for the energy used in the shift. I had wondered if she had a pocket of energy she could draw on as needed to change shape and mass.
I went back to the silvered cage and tried to get a better angle to see inside the geode. The arcenciel was blue, the color of bright sapphires, vibrant in the colorless quartz. There was plenty of room inside the crystals to capture additional arcenciels. I had no idea what Le Bâtard and Louis Seven might do with several of the time-altering, time-bending dragons, except that I wouldn’t like it.