by C. T. Adams
“Is there something wrong, Agent?” Lucas asked after a second. Bobby’s startled look said it all. He looked at me again and I shook my head lightly. I hadn’t ratted him out.
He recovered a bit. “Uh, no, sir. Nothing’s wrong.” Then he moved his eyebrows slightly. “Unless you want to count inviting the entire Monier clan to a reunion. Lucas, we don’t have enough agents here—hell, we don’t have enough agents in the world—for that sort of fallout! We’re standing at ground zero of a disaster.”
“I didn’t invite them, Bobby. Charles did. But we’ll have to make do. If he says he can handle it, I have to believe him. I don’t like it any more than you do. We’ve got one agent down already, so I’ll be patrolling the roof myself. I’ve already informed Charles of the change.”
Bobby looked absolutely terrified, and I knew he wasn’t faking. His scent was strong ammonia that even his cologne couldn’t block. “But I’m just one little snake, Lucas—the last of my kind. Isn’t this considered genocide?”
Lucas looked askance at him and his voice was thick with sarcasm. “You’re hardly little.”
“And apparently not the last of your kind any more, either.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. I absolutely knew better, and normally have better control. Damn it!
Lucas closed his dropped jaw, but didn’t get a chance to say anything. Bobby didn’t seem to mind at all. All of us turned to the sharp sound of breaking glass and hissing from inside the hotel. “Great!” he snarled. “That’s all we need right now!”
A scream followed, but wasn’t from inside the hotel. I turned toward the garage and started to move. A shadow…well, sort of scuttled, down the street at blinding speed. I stopped and tried to focus on it to see what it was. But there was no time to dwell on that, either, because I felt something heavy hit my back. I moved aside, but then had to catch Bobby’s unconscious body with one arm before he landed face first on the pavement. As soon as my bare hand hit his dark skin, the street dissolved to blackness. Damn it! I definitely need to buy some gloves….
Something new happened, but it was sort of familiar. I was inside the snake, who was inside the dragon. I’d been in two places at one time before, but it was really strange to be a third party observer.
I was walking across the cement floor of the parking garage. I’d just left Robart, and was angry, but also afraid. Too many things were happening. The life I’d planned was being torn asunder. A child—for so long dreamt of, and to actually have one, or more…But how would Nikoli react? I’d never been his favorite, but if I could give him a child, which no other of his mistresses had…
And what of Robart? He’s a proud man—strong and fierce. Unlike the black wolf, it would be match that my father would have approved of. They would have fought for my hand, and father might have let him win—even if he is a python. He is Wolven, and those who serve all Sazi have long been revered among my people. But, no. Robart is too controlling for this country, for this time. He would try to run my life, and I’ve run my own for too long.
A sound from ahead stops me, and the lights go out. I call into the darkness. “Robart?” There is no answer. A familiar scent slips by me and it chills my blood—the pungent odor of the killer of Mila and of the human at the estate.
I’ve been careless. I’m in an unprotected area, and no one knows I am here. I would be stronger if I changed forms, but I’m more agile in this one. I glance up as the sound moves overhead, but I cannot see. I was foolish not to carry a flashlight!
Now the sound is to my left, so I move right, but bump into a car. My heart pounds and I can feel a cold sweat on my brow. No more of this foolishness! I close my eyes, as I have done a thousand times in exercises and focus on the scent. I flick my tongue out repeatedly. The scent is to the left. No, now overhead. Now behind. What is this thing?
I’m near the garage entrance. I will not play into the fear the thing is attempting to instill. I will go for assistance. The wolves are better suited to the dark, and Tony has second sight.
I move quickly, but am not fast enough. Still, I am near the entrance. I only need to reach the outsi…
The thing drops down in front of me just before the opening, a black silhouette against the light of the street lamps. The shape is wrong…there are too many appendages…it cannot be what I am seeing, or think I see.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” it says in a voice that is both hiss and trill.
I move quickly, darting around it with all of my speed, but it moves in a blur that the eye cannot follow. I am trapped. Before I can blink, I am caught. I struggle with all of my might, but I feel a sudden stabbing pain in my chest. I thrash as something starts to spread in me. It hurts like fire and I scream. Robart, where are you?
Oh, very good, said another voice inside my head. Let’s back that up a bit. I saw Aspen walk into the scene, and the image of Asri screaming froze in time.
What are you talking about? I hear myself ask. How are you here with me?
You have hindsight. Tony. It is a memory you see, not visions of the future to be trapped in until it ends. Aspen stepped up to Asri and put a hand right through. They are not real in the here and now, and you can take what information you require and then leave. She raised her hand and pulled, like opening a curtain. Like so. The image blurred and changed. The scene reversed in time until it was just before Asri spotted the entrance.
Now, Aspen continued, Let’s see what she saw. She moved her hand forward just a bit and the movements slowly progressed, as though it was a frame-by-frame fast forward on a video. She looked at me and smiled. Yes! Precisely! I should have thought of that explanation. It’s much better than mine. It is like a movie video.
I felt myself start. You can hear my thoughts?
She put hands on her hips, while the image stood still, waiting. Well, of course. If you’d just step out here, we could stand together and watch this. It’s your mind, Tony. You can picture yourself inside.
Okay, let’s give it a try. I thought of myself standing next to Aspen, and poof! There I was. The image of Asri grew until it was the size of a theater screen. I reached out my hand to push it back a little, like stepping back a few rows of seats, and the picture shrunk. Now, this is just too cool!
Yes! Aspen exclaimed. You’re getting it. But we don’t have much time, so you’ll have to practice on your own when there aren’t lives at stake.
She moved her hand again and the scene replayed. When the shadow dropped at the entrance, she froze the vision. What is that? I’ve never seen anything like that before.
I shook my head and shrugged. Got me. It just looks like a blob. There’s not enough light. Can we add some?
Unfortunately, no. The vision is what it is. You can only view what the person remembers seeing.
Not true! I thought instantly. When I was in Leyla’s past, I saw the scene played out in third person. I saw things happen after she left the scene.
Aspen smiled in my head. Of course you did. You weren’t seeing Lelya’s experiences at sixteen—you were seeing her vision of her sixteen-year-old self, when she was eight. It’s a common problem with catching the thoughts of a seer. But no more instruction—we need help here. Let me get Lucas.
I didn’t even have time to respond to the concept of a vision within a vision, before I felt unearthly power slide across my mind. Aspen reappeared and pointed to the black blob. There! You’ve been around the longest of us all. What is that?
There was suddenly lights and motion and I struggled to breathe. The image exploded into a thousand sharp fragments and then I was awake again, inside the hotel on the couch. Bobby was next to me, and Nana was removing my shaking hand from his neck. My face was covered in sweat and I couldn’t seem to warm myself. I felt Sue shuddering in the background, despite the warmth of the restaurant.
A chirping sound reached my ears and I fought to move my eyes toward the sound. Lucas’s cell phone was ringing. He looked pale and drawn, somehow yea
rs older than just a few minutes before.
“Santiago,” he said tersely.
“Lucas! Thank the gods I reached you in time.” It was the voice of Jack, or Colecos, or whatever the hell name he was using. The voice rushed on. “I remembered what the poison was. But, I’m almost afraid to say it out loud.”
All the sound and motion in the room had stopped. Faces were turned to Lucas and the effect was sort of like that old television commercial about the stock broker, E. F. Hutton.
Lucas fought to ignore them by keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the plush oriental rug. “You don’t have to say it, Jack. I’ve seen it—it really is here.”
“But…we killed them all! I know we did!”
Lucas uttered a short bark of a laugh. “Ever hear of a double recessive gene?”
There was a long pause where there was only breathing in the room. A glance around showed a wide variety of expressions. Ivan and Nikoli were in a state of shock, with open mouths and wide eyes. Charles looked positively furious, as did a couple of the council members. Aspen was nowhere to be seen, and Raven and Nana managed to ignore the conversation by continuing to work on healing Bobby from whatever had attacked Asri. I hadn’t realized that Raven was a healer.
“Do I need to come?”
Lucas shook his head, even though the other man wouldn’t see. “You can’t come. You aren’t welcome in this territory, Jack. The council is meeting here. You’d never make it.”
The laugh that followed was bitter but amused. “I go where I please, Lucas—much as Aspen does. The council can be damned, and I hope they hear me! I can assure you all that I am better than the alternative in this case!” Another pause and the voice was suddenly deadly serious. “If you survive, call me in the next twenty-four hours. If you don’t, I do plan to retrieve the sword from storage and visit Nikoli’s territory, because I will not allow those things to decimate our kind. Do you have anyone there with any skill at all? You know what is required for this task.”
Lucas looked up and scanned the crowd. I swore under my breath as his eyes fixed on me and he smiled. “I’ve got just the man for the job—a new turn. He might beat your old record on the course some day.”
A burst of loud laughter made Lucas hold the phone away from his ear. “Ha! Hardly likely, Inteque, but nearly anybody is faster than you. Remember—twenty-four hours. Otherwise, the esteemed council will gaze upon my face once more.”
Lucas pressed the End button on the phone and looked up into the shocked faces of the assembled crowd. He stared them all down, looking serene. He’d apparently made his decision and he would stand by it.
Charles spoke first. His voice was just short of rage. “He killed one of my best friends, Lucas, as you well know! I will remove him from the face of the earth if he shows up—file or no file!”
Lucas walked over to the old man who was trembling and red with fury. He spoke quietly, but with strength. “It’s a spider, Charles. I will bargain with whatever devil I must. If I die—and I probably will—he is your only hope. No one else, including yourself, has ever fought one.”
Charles’s face had gone pale and he stumbled enough that he had to catch himself on a table to keep from falling. The rage had evaporated. He was still trembling, but for another reason. The scent of his fear hit everyone in the room. “But they’re extinct…”
“Apparently not.” Lucas’s face was cold. His determination rode over the scents of fear and anger. It made him dangerous. Sort of like me.
The shrieking pitch of Angelique’s voice made me shudder. “But were-spiders are merely zee myth! Zee story to frighten children.”
Lucas turned to her and opened his mouth to reply, but Nana beat him to it. “No, they are NOT, you foolish bird!” She stood and the weight of years fell away from her, to reveal a shining, powerful woman in her prime. “They wiped out all but a handful of the red wolf pack, and the dragons, all of the cheetahs, the eagles, and most of the jaguars—until Colecos was the last. I was surprised that he didn’t go insane before he did. They feed on our kind! And humans. And any other thing that lives, including their own elders when there is no other.” She turned from face to startled face. “You all know me! You know that I do not suggest death lightly. But the spiders would destroy the earth as we know it if they are allowed to survive!”
Lucas nodded his head. “Right, then. Tony, we’ll need every weapon in that box upstairs! You’ve just gotten your first Sazi assassination job! Congratul—”
I didn’t hear the rest of the word, because Sue was suddenly in my head. Tony! I just saw Asri with some woman. She looked sick. I recognized the woman and I’m afraid. She was in the mall back home—one of those perfume sprayers in the department store. She came through the whole crowd just to spray Barbara right in the face. I remember Asri complaining that someone had done the same thing to her a few days ago, but I didn’t connect them. I know something’s wrong. She may be the Sazi you’re looking for. Pamela and I are going to follow them.
I felt panic suffuse through me. No, wait, Sue! You don’t underst…
Her voice took on a hard edge, cold and calculating, and very much like me. I do understand, Tony. I’ve been listening. It’s time for me to grow up and be an adult. This is the thing I have to do alone. I just know it. We’ll be careful, but you need eyes and ears out here, and I’m it—for a change. I’ll let you know where they end up. She cut off contact.
I came back to myself with a shake of my head. I looked at Lucas, who had apparently just finished saying something to the crowd, because they were starting to scurry about. “Sue saw Asri with a woman. She and Pamela are going to follow at a distance and tell us where they land. I told her it was a bad idea, but…”
Lucas was checking the edge on a sword that had appeared from somewhere and he swore furiously. Nikoli was standing by, looking concerned. Lucas took a deep breath. “No, actually, Tony, it’s a good idea. I’d hate for anything to happen to Sue, but this is more important than any one person. I know it’s dangerous, but if they keep a distance, they should be fine.”
He glanced at the couch, where Bobby was breathing shallowly. Both Nana and Raven were feeding power into him, but it was just barely keeping him alive. “I hope I can say the same about Bobby.”
Nikoli approached carrying a sword that he handed hilt first to Lucas. “No, Nikoli, this has been a wall decoration too long. Get someone to sharpen it. If we don’t come back—Jack, Raven and Ivan are the next line of defense. You, Charles and the cats are after them. Find as many swords and weapons as you can. I pray that there is only the one, and that she hasn’t laid eggs.”
Nikoli nodded and left. He was putting his pride aside and taking orders from the older wolf with an ease that surprised me.
I found Yurgi, who broke into a cold sweat at the news that Pamela and Sue were out tracking the thing that had everyone panicked. He wanted desperately to come with us, but he would only be a liability.
I decided to give him something else to think about, so I asked him to run a very special errand for me—to buy a Christmas present for Sue. I had something special in mind. I told him where the case of batteries was in the apartment and gave him a key. I told him to take as many as he needed. As a bonus for helping, he could get something for Pamela with the gold, too for when we got back. My confidence made him feel better. If he noticed the black pepper, he didn’t mention it.
Lucas tapped me on the shoulder as I was finishing my instructions. “How did I get elected to go with you?” I asked as we bolted up the stairs to my suite, and the weapons. “There are ten other people downstairs with more power.”
I swung open the door to the room and Lucas grabbed the box from the floor and opened it. “And they all offered to come, while you were talking to Sue. But I’ve watched you, Tony. Power means nothing against the spiders. Speed and accuracy are what count. It’ll take us both, with everything we’ve got, to bring this lady down.” He shuddered and drew a deep breath. “I’ve
got to tell you—there’s a good chance we won’t walk away from this.”
I shrugged. Death holds little horror for me. I’ve faced it too often. “Yeah? So what’s new? In case you didn’t notice, I’m pretty stubborn about holding onto life.”
A tired smile and a shake of his head were my reply.
Chapter 19
THE WAREHOUSE WHERE Sue directed us to go was only a few blocks from the hotel. We were moving slower than usual because of the sheer volume of weapons we carried. All of my guns—minus the .17 HMR, which was too small for the task—along with a wide variety of weapons from Nikoli’s arsenal in a canvas duffel bag. We had a stock of both silver and lead ammo, and some bowie knives long enough they nearly were swords.
I see her, Tony! Babs is still alive—but she looks bad. She and Asri have been put in some sort of…well, web, and are suspended from the ceiling about…wow, it must be forty feet high. There’s no way I can free them.
I related the message to Lucas quietly, and he nodded.
We heard a scream in the distance. I started to bolt forward, but Lucas held me back. “That’s just what she wants, Tony. Hang back and see if you can reach Sue.”
Sue? What’s happening?
It got Pamela, Tony! Oh, God, it was awful! It’s HUGE and incredibly fast. It took her inside with the others.
Are you okay?
I felt her take a deep breath. It’s harder than I thought to be a grown-up. But I’ll be fine.
That thing will be back, Sue! Stay out of sight, but look around for a window. I want to see that monster.
I threw open the screen in my mind and was suddenly inside of Sue—seeing through her eyes, feeling her heart pound. I tried to slow her breathing, struggled to focus her mind. The first thing I noticed was a strange sound. It was a half-sentient wailing trill that made the hair on Sue’s neck stand on end.
