With a shuddering breath, I released the Silvers and simultaneously exploded upwards from my crouch, leading with my fist. The true colors of the city exploded back to life as my ears popped at the sudden concert of sound in the alley. I heard a surprised, pained grunt, a crash, a shriek, and saw Claire clip the Jeep before cartwheeling over it. I winced but didn’t hold back on my uppercut.
My knuckles struck Alucard’s chin, cracking like popcorn at the force of the blow, right as his blast of golden light screamed past my face towards Cain—who was abruptly halfway through tripping over his own two feet, a consequence of the adjustment I had made to his body position suddenly warring against the momentum he had put into his intended leaping attack. As a result, Alucard’s bar of fiery light scored a molten line of fire into the brick wall behind where his target had stood a millisecond ago—and that bar of light abruptly pivoted to shoot straight up the wall in a scorching sizzle of burnt brick before winking out as my uppercut knocked him clean off his feet.
Cain was already climbing back to his feet in an attempt to grab Alucard before he landed. Cain’s eyes danced wildly with confusion over his body apparently stroking out in the middle of a flying leap, but he didn’t waste time whining about it. He’d had a good run since his Old Testament days. Experiencing his first stroke after thousands of years would impress even the most critical of doctors.
He managed to grab Alucard from the air on the vampire’s descent and had the courtesy to offer up a bent knee to break his fall. I was proud to see that chivalry still existed in this dark new world. It was my prerogative as a sister to make sure my brother wasn’t just an uncouth lump of hair, muscle, and testosterone…
That he also had class—a refined Statesman in the art of manliness.
Alucard felt very differently about Cain’s gentlemanliness as his back snapped, crackled, and popped, and breath blasted out of his lungs. Cain helpfully delivered a right cross to the Daywalker’s already broken jaw in an attempt to set it back into place from my uppercut. Alucard went limp like all men do after their typical three minutes of glory, leaving his dance partner to clean up the mess.
Cain dutifully scooped up the dazed vampire and grinned at me. “Leverage.” Then he bolted towards the Jeep—which coughed to life as Claire frantically waved at us from the driver’s seat, urging us to hurry, her eyes wide with alarm as she stared over our shoulders.
Cain flung Alucard into the backseat, unceremoniously cracking his nose across the roof of the vehicle before shoving him further inside and jumping in after him.
Remembering what I had seen in the Silvers—as well as what Claire had obviously seen behind me—I was already hurling balls of fire over the hood of the Jeep.
“What the fuck?” Claire screamed, eyes practically bugging out of her face as my fireballs seared paint from the hood of her Jeep. Because she had been so focused on the threat behind me that she hadn’t seen the two werewolves only a few yards away from her.
Instead of lunging for the door, I dropped into a baseball slide and blindly flung my hands straight up, hurling a blast of air where I had just been standing. I gasped as I felt a faint whisper of cut hair, and looked up to find a matte-black katana blade hovering where I had just been standing.
The ninja grunted in surprise at his missed strike, and then again as my blast of air caught him and sent him and his sword flying up and to the right, slamming both into the brick wall. I was already climbing to my feet and diving into the open passenger window as I flung a shield up behind me in the event more ninjas were attempting to filet my spine into a Spicy Callie Roll.
I smelled burning fur and howls of pained outrage from Claire’s side of the Jeep as two forces slammed into the shield that I had cast out behind me on my side of the vehicle. I managed to scramble into my seat and stared back through my shield, expecting to see magical swords about to pierce it, but three ninjas had instead used it as a launching pad to hurl themselves over the Jeep and right into the gang of smoldering werewolves that were clawing at Claire’s door. The ninjas somehow made it look like I had meant to catapult them over the vehicle, when in reality my shield had been a solid vertical wall.
Regardless, I was ecstatic to see Rocky, Colton, and Tum-Tum cut into the werewolves like they were pitching a reboot of the classic film to Amazon Studios—and that they were worth every penny of the steep budget.
“GO!” I screamed at Claire, who was staring in disbelief at the ninjas fighting the wolves just outside her window. Paradise and Lost—now in wolf form, but unmistakable to me—circled the ninjas angrily, drool spilling from their massive fangs as their thick, long fur bristled at their new foes—at the poachers who had interrupted their hunt. The ninjas were smoky apparitions, looking like they were enshrouded with black, dry ice. The only thing making them look like more than fog were their matte-black blades lashing out and flicking fresh droplets of blood on our windshield as they moved to their next wolf, ignoring the surprised yips and yelps from their targets.
I punched Claire’s thigh, snapping her out of her instinctive need to protect her territory—the bear inside her struggling to break free and play with the other monsters. Her hands and forearms were currently thigh-thick bear arms gripping the steering wheel hard enough to tear it free if she accidentally sneezed, and she was panting wildly. But my punch had snapped her out of it enough to make her shake her head and stomp her foot down on the gas.
She spun the steering wheel sharply, and the left front quarter panel clipped one of the wolves as our right rear bumper scraped against the car that had been parked in front of us. A cringeworthy screech let us know that one of the wolves had either raked a claw at the side of our vehicle or that one of the ninjas had tried slicing our Jeep in half with a sword. Claire corrected the wheel and we sped down the street in the direction of Roland’s church and an alarming number of new guards glaring at either us or the fight still raging behind us.
The rear windshield shattered and I felt a slight tug on my bicep as I ducked in surprise, but Claire didn’t let up on the gas as she muttered a steady stream of curses without pausing for breath. We raced past the church to see the wolves glaring at us up close as we made our escape. None of them pursued or shifted, but their eyes let me know it wasn’t by choice but by command. I glanced back, verifying we didn’t have anyone chasing after us in a car, and saw Alucard’s eyes beginning to flutter open.
“Ernghh—” Alucard began, but he was interrupted by a meaty thud as Cain casually drove a powerful elbow strike down into his temple, knocking him back out.
“Hush little baby,” Cain cooed sweetly. Confident that his prisoner was neutralized, Cain finally looked up at me, brandishing a matte-black throwing star from the shards of glass pooled on his lap. More of the glass covered his shoulders, hair, and the sleeping vampire. “Fucking ninjas,” he muttered, pointing past me at the dashboard. I turned to see another throwing star firmly embedded in the upholstery just above the radio. “Pretty sure that’s what took out the back windshield. I didn’t hear a gunshot,” Cain said.
I shuddered, deciding to leave it where it was and hope Claire didn’t hit a pothole because it might test the limits of the airbag sensor.
We rounded a corner and were fully out of sight of the church a moment later. I let out a breath of relief, thumping my head back against the headrest. “To the bear cave!” I cheered weakly, lifting a pathetic fist in the air.
Chapter 23
Cain followed us down a slight decline, dragging the still unconscious Alucard behind him by the boots, not bothering to be concerned about the Daywalker’s head. In fact, I was pretty sure his smile widened each time Alucard’s nose snagged on a large rock or depression in the ground.
He dropped the boots and put his fists on his hips, taking one long look around the cave. Then he cleared his throat, and spoke like a radio announcer, his voice echoing in stereo.
“And now, I bring you never before seen footage of Claire’s lady cave�
�a surprisingly vast space, replete with all manner of mysterious and elusive spots that appear to have never known a man’s touch. Despite these secrets, the entrance shows frequent, heavy use—”
“No one will ever find your body, Cain,” Claire warned in a cool tone, cutting him off.
He grinned at her playfully. “I practiced it in the car,” he admitted, sounding quite pleased with himself.
Claire was silent for a time, but a crooked smile finally broke through and she let out a sigh. “Okay. It was pretty good,” she admitted at last, shaking her head. “Let me show you where Starlight keeps his…stuff.” She led him off to what appeared to be a make-shift room off to the side, walled off by one of those tri-fold partitions. A fluorescent glow kicked on and I heard them discussing something back and forth in low tones.
Which left me with Alucard. I kept my magic ready in case I needed to subdue him at a moment’s notice. I also didn’t take my eyes off him, even though my mind was far, far away.
I had tried calling Nate on the drive over here—but he hadn’t answered. I had briefly considered calling some of his friends to at least let him know I was alive—perhaps not mentioning that I had kidnapped Alucard—but I had ultimately decided against it, knowing the rabbit hole of questions that decision could throw me into.
It would all be over tomorrow night. One way or another.
Kansas City was my problem. And it wasn’t my place to tell anyone what Alucard had or had not been up to on his extended vacation—a distinction I was determined to discover for myself over the next hour or so.
Cain returned, snapping me out of my thoughts. His face looked a little pale as he exited the small room with Claire—who looked ready to shift if Alucard woke too early—a few paces behind him. Cain held up a pair of thin wooden bracelets with no chain between them. They almost looked like reeds from a wicker basket.
I arched a brow, not even bothering to verbalize how woefully inadequate—
Then I saw the word branded into the side of each thin wooden ring—Vampyr.
“Right? You ever seen something like this?” he asked curiously.
I shook my head slowly. “We can give it a shot, but be ready to yank them off. I don’t want to hurt him. Not until we can talk to him.”
Cain nodded in understanding, knowing full well that Alucard was friends with Nate and what kind of repercussions hurting his friend could have. He touched the wooden rings to Alucard’s wrist briefly to make sure they wouldn’t incinerate him or anything. Nothing happened. He waited for my gesture to proceed before unclasping one and closing it over Alucard’s wrist with a faint click.
Alucard stirred slightly, but that was it. Maybe they weren’t what we thought. Cain repeated the process on the other wrist, and the moment it clicked closed, Alucard jolted upright into a kneeling position like a lightning bolt had struck him on both nipples, arching backwards with his chest out so fast that he even popped a few buttons on his shirt, sending them zipping past me like mad hornets.
He panted, head tilted back and baring his teeth up at the ceiling, unable to move. I noticed the tips of his clawed fingers were each sunk an inch into the dirt floor at his sides. I studied him with concern, but other than obvious discomfort, he didn’t show any signs of agony. Just fury at his extremely awkward and uncomfortable restraint. The word Vampyr on each bracelet glowed crimson and gold. I silently took a few steps back to make sure Alucard couldn’t see the demon lady in his peripheral vision. I knew he could likely still smell me, but it was the least I could do to put him at ease. I wanted to find out what he knew.
To corroborate Xuanwu’s hypotheses.
I shot Cain a concerned look and he hesitantly peered down into Alucard’s eyes, as if to make sure they hadn’t rolled back into his head. Alucard gnashed his teeth at him but that was it. Cain turned back to me, shrugging. “I think he’s fine.” He turned back to Alucard. “You fell asleep in the car, champ. All tuckered out from your big day. It was so adorable—”
“I will rip your throat out with my bare hands, Cain. Take the damned reeds off and let’s see how you measure up to a real man.”
Claire grunted. “What is it with men and measuring?”
I shrugged, not wanting to speak out loud yet. I’d told Claire about Alucard often enough in recent years that this was probably very strange for her—to feel like she knew someone she had never met—until this first in-person meeting when she planned on torturing him for answers. Unless she’d crossed paths with him at some point without me knowing.
The space looked to almost have been an old mining cave or something, judging by the narrow entrance. It was replete with candles, blankets, dressers, and several rooms carved into the rock. Like a bomb shelter. One narrow path led deeper into the mine, but it looked to have been abandoned, unused by Starlight or Claire, judging by the rubble on the floor and no obvious signs of frequent use. I smirked, recalling Cain’s flamboyant show a few minutes ago. He loved nothing more than getting under people’s skin, but he seemed to take particular delight in tormenting Claire. The rest of the cavern was made of sandy soil and rock, looking like it had been lovingly cleared and swept clean by one of the two bears.
Chairs, a table, a small firepit, and even an industrial shelf full of dry goods and canned food filled up the far end of the cave. I shot Claire a questioning look. She nodded. “I’ve been here for a while,” she muttered self-consciously. “Starlight comes and goes.”
Cain stiffened from whatever he had been murmuring to Alucard, blushing.
Neanderthal. I could practically hear the that’s what she said! But why the blush?
I smiled brightly at Claire, ignoring Cain as he resumed his threats for Alucard to cooperate. “Give me a quick tour? I’m homeless, so this is a step up.”
Her lips quivered—either saddened for me and my lost apartment, or grateful that I hadn’t judged her creepy lady cave, I wasn’t sure—and she nodded eagerly, gripping me by the arm to guide me around the cave, whispering conspiratorially. For a few minutes, we were just two young girls with no real problems, simply excited to show off what meager possessions we had accumulated in our time apart. Two ravens comparing shiny things we had stolen and woven into our nests.
The cave was much larger than I had first thought, and she scooped up a flashlight to take me down the rubble-strewn mining path to show me a surprisingly large hot spring tucked a few hundred feet back. I stared down at it, noticing the mounds of melted wax surrounding the edge of the pool from dozens and dozens of melted candles.
“You have a fucking hot tub?” I demanded, scowling. She nodded sheepishly. “Screw you,” I muttered, storming back the way we had come. I didn’t get far before I realized she held the flashlight. I folded my arms across my chest, waiting silently for her to stroll her lazy ass—because she did, in fact, take her sweet ass time, grinning like a cuntasaurus when she finally reached me—to guide me back to the cave proper.
She reached out and grabbed my hand tightly. “Maybe you can move in and we can kick Starlight out. He’s hardly ever here, anyway,” she offered softly.
I found myself smiling at the suggestion. It sounded fun. I squeezed her hand back. “Thank you, Claire bear. I didn’t mean to call you a cuntasaurus.”
“Wait, you called me a what?” she choked.
“Oh. I thought I’d said it out loud back there…” I mused, continuing on since I could now see light just ahead. I smiled at her grumbling curses. Love sounded like that sometimes.
We came back to the cave to find Alucard all by himself, still restrained, but Cain missing. Before I could shout out an alarm, I heard him whistling to himself from the room where he’d found the Vampyr reeds. Claire grimaced before guiding me over, as if she hadn’t wanted to show me that particular area.
I stepped into the room and froze, blinking rapidly. Two tables stretched out side by side against the far rock wall, and upon those tables was Starlight’s vast array of…
Well, prim
arily torture implements, I think, although I couldn’t find an immediate use for many of the strange items. The ones I did recognize made me cringe, though. Everything from handheld guillotines to knives, masks to needles, and a rack of stoppered vials labeled with tiny scribbles and scratches in an unknown language. The rock wall was painted with crude symbols that made the hair stand up on my arms, even though I didn’t quite know what it said. A bookshelf occupied the opposite wall, and every book in the collection seemed to be over five hundred years old, never having left the confines of the cool, shady cave.
Seeing an open book on a small desk, I grimaced upon seeing the faded, dark brown splotches decorating the aged pages. Blood. More—but different from the wall—sinister symbols filled the pages in red ink, and the paper looked old and thick, as if they were actually hide rather than paper. A book made of skin, I thought to myself, shivering.
I briefly imagined this as a classroom, a laboratory of sorts where Starlight learned the alphabet, orchestrated his torture victims’ screams to sheet music, swam in the hot tub, and memorized the numbers of chaos as a young cub.
Druidic torture 101. Pop Quiz Thursday, Cubs! Highest grade gets a pot of honey! Make ‘em squeal!
One book caught my attention, the title page showing a large tree beneath a single word. Bioloki. I frowned at it for a moment, struggling with the pronunciation—like biology?
“Welcome to my penthouse of pain,” Cain said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I walked over to him, scanning the table he was perusing. From over his shoulder.
There were many more…undefinable items on this table. I chocked it up to me being a prude on the elements of torture, more than happy to admit that I didn’t know what I didn’t know—I slept a lot better for it.
Seeing just how many tools Starlight had made my stomach do a little flip-flop. The cute little stoner bear was some kind of executioner or questioner. Or he had been. No wonder the other larger bears gave him a very wide berth.
Feathers and Fire Series Box Set 2 Page 67