Wait a second. It couldn't be? I couldn't be that unlucky.
I studied Carmen's face once more.
And it was obvious. I don't know how I missed making the connection before. Carmen was Kyle's mom, which meant that she was Tommy's wife. One of the council members deciding my fate had a psycho for a son. A psycho whose arm I had ripped off, leaving him maimed for life.
Wonderful.
"How dare you question my objectivity," snapped Carmen.
Mr. Kelly said, "I know it's upsetting and still hard to believe, but Kyle conspired with blood-mage assassins who tried to kill Orson and my family."
"Liar!" Carmen was on her feet. I could see the energy dancing around her and that she was on the edge of shifting. And if she shifted, then other people would shift and things would spiral out of control.
With blurring speed, Daniel moved behind Carmen and slapped a bracelet on her wrist. The shifter magic pulsing around her popped in a burst of energy, leaving her standing and still in human form. I'd never seen anything like it, but whatever the bracelet was made of, it was the ultimate shape-shifter countermeasure.
"How dare you put your hands on my mate," Tommy snarled.
"You both know the rules, no shifting during council meetings," said Daniel. "And if you don't calm yourself, I'll slap a cuff on you too. Now sit down and be quiet."
Tommy stood fuming in front of the dais, and for a second I thought he was going to ignore Daniel. I tensed, preparing to slap his idiot butt down if he forced the issue. Luckily, Carmen apparently had more brains than her husband. She sat in her seat and motioned for Tommy to stand down. Tommy glared at our table, but made the smart choice and took a seat.
Roxanne cleared her throat. "There have been many unfounded accusations made. I think our best option is to hear directly from Orson."
I looked down the length of our table and arched an eyebrow at Wyatt. He got my meaning and kept a hold of Elyse's arm. After verifying my friends were ready to skedaddle at a moment’s notice, I stood and stepped up to the rostrum.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"The only question that seems to be demanding an answer is, are you the Ollphiest?" Roxanne asked.
I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Kelly. We had discussed this before arriving at the meeting and it had been decided that if asked directly, I would reveal myself. I still wasn't sure it was the best course of action, but Mr. Kelly assured me that the shifters would keep my secret, especially from the Society. Mr. Kelly nodded and Mrs. Kelly smiled encouragingly.
I let out a long sigh and said, "Yeah, I'm the Ollphiest."
I expected the room to erupt in shouts and gasps of shock, but my admission didn't elicit a peep. It was dead quiet.
"I see," said Roxanne. "And what makes you think you're the Ollphiest?"
"Well, for starters, I wasn't born a shifter. I only became one after . . . "I looked at Elyse and she smiled. "After I kissed my best friend."
This time there were a few surprised grunts, because shifters were born, not made.
"Okay, that is interesting," said Roxanne. "Is there anything else that would lead you to believe that you are the fabled Ollphiest?"
"Magic doesn't work on me," I said.
This time the gasps were loud and satisfying.
"I'm not sure I understand," said Daniel. "What do you mean, when you say magic doesn't work on you?"
They were going to need a demonstration. I glanced at Carmen. I was pretty sure the fancy bracelet they had slapped on her wouldn't work on me, but that wasn't something I wanted to share with the group, so I decided on a plan B.
"With your permission, I can demonstrate, but I'm going to need Lucy's help and she's going to need to do a little magic."
The council members looked at one another for confirmation and I was given the go-ahead.
Lucy joined me in front of the dais. "You sure about this?" she asked.
I chuckled, because Lucy didn't care that a couple of hundred shifters were listening. She wanted to make sure I was ready to cross the point of no return.
"Light me up," I said. "Just not the face, please, it messes with my sinuses."
Lucy grinned, ignited a fireball—a small one—and threw it at my chest. It hit my aura and fizzed out. Half the council was on their feet, the shock on their faces evident. Roxanne and Daniel remained seated, but their eyes gave them away—they were spooked.
"Could we see that again, please?" Daniel asked. And then to Lucy he said, "Just a point of clarification, you aren't holding back or snuffing out the flames yourself?"
"Nope, it's all him," said Lucy.
"Hit me again," I said. "Make it multiples of the normal size."
"Shouldn't you shift?" said Lucy. "We've never experimented with multiples while you're in human form."
"I'm good. Let's do it."
I flared my aura, I was pretty sure this would work.
Lucy ignited a fireball in each hand. She only hesitated for a moment and then let loose with the mojo. Before the first two even hit me, Lucy had ignited two more flaming orbs of pain and tossed them at me. The fireworks show inside the hall was awesome. The fireballs hit my energy field, but instead of fizzing out they exploded in dramatic fashion. It must have been the extra oomph I was pouring into my aura.
I could hear the whispers racing around the room—unbelievable, amazing, Ollphiest.
"I told you he was the Ollphiest," said Tommy, jumping up and down. "Now, seize him, before he attacks."
"Tommy, sit down and shut up," said Roxanne.
Tommy's head snapped back as if someone slapped him. He didn't sit down, but he did shut up.
Roxanne turned back to Lucy and me. "Thank you for that demonstration. You may take your seat, Lucy."
Lucy gave me one more 'I hope you know what you're doing' look and sat back down at the table.
"We have to ask," said Daniel. "Are you responsible for Katherine's return?"
"No, that wasn't me. There were a lot of spells being flung around in the construct. I think the magic that was holding it all together got overloaded or short-circuited, or something, but it wasn't me."
"Why didn't you come to us immediately?" asked one of the other council dudes. "You should have presented yourself to the LA council or here, as soon as you realized what you are.”
"Things went sideways real fast.” I again looked at Carmen, who was staring daggers at me. I guess she hadn't been impressed with the show. "Because of the blood-mage attacks on me and my family, the Society was made aware of who I was and issued a formal decree barring me from leaving Los Angeles."
"Wait, they know you're the Ollphiest?" said Roxanne. "And they let you live? That seems highly unlikely."
"They know I'm a shifter with a few unique abilities. Only Cynthia knows more and even she still doesn't know everything. The reason I didn't present myself earlier is because when Mrs. Kelly . . . when she was attacked, following Elyse and her family here to the compound wasn't an option. So I stayed in LA and trained. Playing along with the Society seemed like the right thing to do."
I looked back at my friends. Because we had made the decision together not to call the Society and to hunt down Marcus ourselves, we’d needed to go all-in with the shifters. My friends nodded encouragingly. I turned back to face the council. It was time to lay all our cards on the table.
"It's our understanding that you all know about the Cabal within the Society,” I said.
The looks on their faces were priceless.
Daniel spoke first. "Even though our relationship with the Society is sometimes strained, we are still loyal members, so yes we know about the Cabal. How is it that you know about it?"
I tilted my head toward Lucy. She needed to answer this question. The shifter council needed to hear a mage, a Society member in full fellowship, tell them the truth. A shape-shifter's heightened senses make it almost impossible for someone to lie to us, so the council and the room full of spectators would know she s
poke the truth.
Lucy stood at her seat.
She said, “I was tasked by Cynthia with finding every member of the Cabal that I could and ending them. Wyatt and I had been working alone, until a month ago when Orson joined us."
"Cynthia agreed to have a shifter join ranks with a battle-mage?" Daniel couldn't hide his surprise.
"Yes."
"Amazing," said Daniel.
"There's more," I said. "And you're probably not going to like it."
We had decided that this part of the story belonged to Elyse. She pushed her chair back and stood next to Lucy.
"I omitted a small part of the events from Stanford," said Elyse. "The blood-mage responsible for the love spell was not responsible for the portals or the creatures that came out of them. There was a second, very powerful, blood-mage involved, and before he died he confirmed that the Cabal has also infiltrated the ruling Shifter council."
The reaction was instant and not positive. There was a lot of yelling and accusations that Elyse was a liar. I bristled when they started calling her names—nobody talked smack about my girlfriend. Mrs. Kelly caught my eye and gave me one of her patented mom looks. Damn, she was good. I held my ground and didn't start bashing heads, even though I really, really wanted to.
Mr. Kelly had warned us that this part of our tale wouldn't be believed, because the ruling Shifter Council was compromised almost entirely of people who had family members living here at the compound. Elyse's revelation had just cast a shadow over the entire council—we didn't know who was a Cabal member and who was innocent.
After Roxanne recovered from Elyse's bombshell statement she started shouting for order. It took several minutes and the help of Daniel and couple of other council members, but everyone finally quieted down enough that the meeting could continue.
"This is a serious charge, Elyse," said Roxanne. "Do you have any proof?"
"No, but the blood-mage had no reason to lie."
"They’re liars by definition," someone shouted.
Mr. Kelly came to his daughter's defense. "As much as the idea pains me, I've had my own suspicions for a while now."
The crowd tried to shout him down, but Roxanne again silenced them.
Mr. Kelly said, "I know it's hard to imagine that one or more of our own would betray us, but there is certain information that the Cabal has acted upon that could only have come from one place. If we truly want to be treated equally within the Society, then we have to accept at least the possibility that there are shifters in league with the Cabal."
"Doesn't Kyle French's actions prove that point?" said Lucy.
The silence was sudden and complete. All my super-shifter hearing could detect was breathing and beating hearts. One particular heart sounded like an Alex Van Halen drum solo. I spun around just in time to see Tommy launch himself at Lucy.
The dude never learned.
He was fast, but I was and always will be faster.
I punched him in the throat as he blurred past me. I pulled back on the strike at the last second. I didn't want to damage him too much. Still, the force of the impact dropped Tommy to his knees, gasping for air. I immediately stepped back with my hands clearly visible, hopefully getting across the idea that I had no intention of landing any more blows.
"I demand sásamh," Tommy croaked, rubbing his throat.
I had no idea what he was talking about, it sounded like he had sneezed, but the Kellys weren't smiling. I looked up at the council. The Cranes had a pained look on their faces, but Carmen was grinning from ear-to-ear.
"Excuse me, but what's a salsa?" Wyatt asked.
"Not salsa, sásamh," Elyse told him quietly.
"Um, isn't that what I said?"
"Tommy, there is no reason to escalate this any further," Daniel said in a placating tone. "You were wrong to attack, and Orson was only protecting his friends."
"It's my right," said Tommy.
"Is nobody really going to tell me what a salsa is?” Wyatt asked.
"He wants to fight Orson," Elyse said.
Wyatt snorted. "Oh, is that all? Orson will wipe the floor with this d-bag."
I appreciated Wyatt's confidence in my abilities, but I was getting a really bad vibe from the room in general and from the Kellys specifically.
"Is there something I need to know?" I asked them.
"Sásamh is a fight to the death," Mrs. Kelly explained.
"Of course it is," I said with a sigh.
Chapter Four
Tommy couldn't be persuaded to withdraw his silly demand for a death-match. Both the Cranes and the Kellys tried to reason with him, but he ignored them. It was obvious to me that this was the outcome Tommy had been hoping for, and being an idiot I had fallen for his ploy.
I was standing with Elyse, Lucy, Wyatt and Maddie outside the town hall. The meeting had ended abruptly when Tommy started demanding the fight. The crowd hadn't dispersed, they all lingered around the building. I guess the possibility of a blood match throw-down was a big a draw.
"What exactly does a sásamh entail? Maddie asked.
"It's pretty simple. The two parties shift and tear at each other until one of them dies," said Elyse. "It’s a barbaric and archaic ritual. It's been at least a century since the last one. The council can't let it happen, they just can't."
Mr. and Mrs. Kelly came out of the building and walked over to us. The expressions on their faces said it all—the fight was on.
Elyse was disgusted. "They can't be serious? They aren't really going to let this happen?"
"It's Tommy's right," said Mr. Kelly. "Shifter law is clear on the matter."
"Screw shifter law," Elyse was fuming.
"Elyse," warned Mr. Kelly, his eyes on the crowd.
I wasn't sure how seriously these ancient customs were regarded, but some of the looks thrown Elyse's way made me nervous. Tommy and his big mouth were enough to deal with, and we didn't need a riot on our hands.
"So how soon do I have to fight?' I asked.
"You're not fighting," Elyse said.
"I'm with Elyse on this one," said Lucy, a hard edge to her voice.
Maddie nodded her agreement. Wyatt just shrugged, still convinced I would put Tommy down without a problem.
"Orson has no choice," said Mr. Kelly. "If you try to run, you'll be exiled and branded an outcast, which means no shifter can give you aid without risking the same fate."
It was clear that Mr. Kelly was worried about his daughter, knowing that she would stand by me. How bad could being an outcast be?
"So what, if I don't fight, I get uninvited from all the exciting, shifter summer activities? I hadn't planned on attending them anyway."
"This isn't a joking matter," said Mr. Kelly. "As an outcast, you will have no claim on shifter law, which means you could be hunted and killed without any repercussions."
Let them try.
I love the sentiment, buddy, but I really don't like the idea of having to always be looking over my shoulder. Especially while on the hunt for Marcus, not to mention the destruction of the Cabal.
I looked at Mr. Kelly. "There is no other way?"
"No," he answered.
"Alrighty then," I cracked my knuckles. "When does it happen?"
"Orson, you can't fight Tommy," said Elyse. "I know you're strong and fast, and immune to magic, but Tommy is centuries old. He's fought in just about every war you've ever read about. You've only been training for a month."
I was a little hurt at her lack of faith in my ability. "You don't think I can take him? Because I just, you know, punched him in the throat and knocked him down and all."
"Yes, but he wasn't focused on you, he was running for Lucy," said Elyse. "Mom? Dad? Please tell him that it will be different when Tommy is focused."
"Elyse is correct," said Mrs. Kelly. "Do not underestimate Thomas, he is lethal."
The Cranes left the building with the rest of the council in tow, with the exception of Carmen. I scanned the crowd and spotted her st
anding with Tommy and a small group of supporters. The Cranes peeled off and headed in our direction. Two of the other council members walked toward Tommy's group.
"In light of Orson's newness as a shifter," said Daniel. "The council has decided that the sásamh will be fought while in human form only."
Mr. Kelly let out a breath. "Thank you."
"Tommy agreed to this?" I asked.
Angry shouting from Tommy's group answered my question. Apparently he was not happy with the restriction. I wasn't sure if it was an advantage or disadvantage to remain in human form, but if it pissed Tommy off I was all for it.
"He's still got centuries worth of training, it's not fair," said Elyse.
"It's the best we could do," said Roxanne.
"Shifters killing shifters.” Mrs. Kelly spat. "You'd think Thomas and all who sympathize with him would understand that our real enemies laugh at us when we act like primitive animals."
"We'll walk you to the clearing where the sásamh will take place," said Daniel.
"Um, now?" I said, surprised.
"Yes," said Roxanne. "When a challenge is made, the fight takes place immediately."
As the Cranes led us to the clearing, my friends surrounded me. None of us spoke, there wasn't really anything to say. In a few minutes either Tommy or I would be dead. It was crazy.
The clearing was a perfect circle, there was no way it was natural. It was an arena. The shifters had a gladiator-style arena not a stone’s throw from the restaurant where they ate dinner. Maybe fights to the death had fallen out of fashion, but somebody was still maintaining the clearing.
"It goes without saying that none of you are to interfere,” Daniel said, looking at each of my friends. “Any help from the outside will be seen as cheating, and let’s just say that would be bad."
My friends nodded their understanding.
The Cranes left us to stand with the rest of the council. Tommy, Carmen and their group gathered on the opposite side of the arena. Tommy pulled his shirt off and kicked his shoes to the side. The dude was buff. He went through a quick stretching routine, while Carmen whispered in his ear. I strained but couldn't quite make out what she was saying—something about tearing my head off, I'm sure.
Cabal Page 4