by Petra Landon
“We’re headed back to the local Lair. There’s a car full of vampires in pursuit” he explained to the Guardian on the call.
“Okay. I’ll see you guys back there.”
“They mean to follow Sienna’s locator all the way to the Lair until they’re confident that we have her safe” he said to the Alpha as he cut the call. “A show of strength wouldn’t go amiss if Bianchi and his buddies decide to follow us to the Lair” he emphasized softly as an expression of distaste crossed the Alpha’s face.
Raoul shrugged disinterestedly. His goal had been accomplished – the safe rescue of the two wizards. While Sienna and Jason were part of his team, he would look out for them unless they gave him cause not to. As far as Raoul was concerned, his job here was done unless the leeches following behind insisted on provoking them further. So far, they’d been content to merely follow them. If the Guardians following behind insisted on picking a fight with the leeches over this, it was no skin off his nose.
While they waited at an intersection, a stream of squad cars with sirens and lights flashing raced by them.
“Everyone okay back there?” Raoul inquired, his eyes on the car full of leeches behind them.
Sienna nodded shakily but Tasia lay huddled in silence. “Tas” Hawk whispered to her. “You okay?”
“They tried to kill her” Sienna burst out suddenly, her eyes on the dried blood on her palms and clothes, transferred by her attempt to stem the blood from Tasia’s wound. That sudden attack had scared the heck out of Sienna. How could her mother be allied with someone like Bianchi, she wondered in horror.
“Rafaelo Bianchi gave the command to get rid of Tasia” she explained slowly as all eyes in the car swiveled to her. “When his henchmen informed him that they took both of us from the Registry because they didn’t know which wizard was me, he ordered them to get rid of the spare as he called her.”
“Spare” Hawk whispered in a deadly voice in the silence that followed. “It will give me great pleasure to show that leech who the spare is.”
“Let Duncan know that we’ll be coming in hot, Hawk” the Alpha directed without much emotion. “She’ll be fine” he said mildly to Hawk as the young Shifter glanced at the still body beside him. “She’s been through worse.”
The gentle reminder seemed to reassure Hawk.
“Bianchi came to see you?” Jason asked Sienna, his astonishment clear.
“He paid us a short visit” Sienna nodded, still in shock. “He asked me if I remembered him from when I was a child. Both Tasia and I pretended ignorance. He also announced that someone I hadn’t seen in a long time wanted to meet me.”
“Your mother” Jason gasped in shock. “They snatched you because Lady Bethesda wants to meet you!”
“More like they snatched me on her orders” Sienna responded with a trace of bitterness in her voice.
“You guys did well, both of you” Raoul reaffirmed softly. “They’re no wiser now than before about what we know.”
“They’ll figure out soon enough that the Pack is making inquiries about the old case, Alph” Hawk interjected.
“Oh, I’m confident that they know that already” Jason stated firmly. “A kidnapping from the Registry is impossible to pull off without inside assistance. By now, everyone at the Registry knows that I’m working with the Pack to investigate the old explosion. You can bet Bianchi knows it too. Remember, his vampires knew how to target Sienna although Tasia’s presence seems to have thrown them off. Their inside source had no information on Tasia since we were careful to not introduce her at the Registry. All they knew was that the Registrar had allowed only the wizards in the Archive Room.”
Tasia stirred, murmuring softly. “Is her wound bleeding again?” Jason inquired solicitously as Hawk leant over to check on her. “I don’t think so” Hawk probed gently at her wound.
“Would the Pack have a local doctor on call, do you think?” Jason asked the Alpha. Since Shifters healed very quickly, very few Packs felt the need to have a doctor on call as Jason well knew.
“No doctor” Tasia murmured weakly, rousing herself with an effort. “I’m fine.”
“She will be” Raoul declared confidently. “There’s no leech poison in her, right?”
“He didn’t get a chance to use his fangs on her, just his talons” Sienna assured him.
“Good” Raoul said simply. “She’ll be fine. Duncan will know what to do.” He was confident that the witchling was in no danger. She’d bounced back in remarkable time with no ill effects before. And that had been from a leech using his fangs on her. Raoul was very conscious that he walked a tricky line here to prevent raising the wizards’ suspicions regarding the witchling’s remarkable powers.
“We have more company” Luis warned again. More cars seemed to have joined their leech escort behind them.
“Some could be GCW” Jason interjected. “They might have caught up with us.”
In minutes, they were within sight of the massive gates that provided access to the estate the Illinois Pack used as their Lair. Luis braked to a halt by the gates where Duncan and the rest of their party awaited them. Raoul jumped out to greet them, directing the others to stay in the car. A second man came forward with Duncan to greet him. To Raoul’s surprise, it was Jerome Carter. What the hell was the Illinois Alpha doing out here, he wondered momentarily before turning his attention to the matter at hand. He heard the screech of other cars grounding to a halt across the small country road that provided access to the estate. Their leech escorts were here!
Raoul observed Carter’s nostril flare as the smell of leeches hit his Shifter senses. Duncan merely raised an eyebrow silently at his friend but Carter looked incredulous. Shifters possessed the unique ability to identify Chosen by their smell, but not their particular brand of magic. The only exception to this rule were the Undead. The Shifter’s extraordinary sense of smell could always identify leeches in their vicinity. Raoul ignored the Illinois Alpha to turn to Duncan. It was clear that Duncan had tied together the kidnapping of Tasia and Sienna with the leeches following them to the local Lair.
“Tasia was injured by a leech” Raoul stated succinctly.
“How bad?” Duncan inquired, his calm demeanor unperturbed.
“She lost some blood but there’s no leech poison in her.”
“Good, we’ll have her patched up in no time then.”
“Take her back to the Guest House with you. It’ll be easier tending to her there.”
Duncan directed a penetrating glance at the Alpha. Raoul was counting on his old friend to read between the lines. The witchling needed to be kept away from this crowd. And Duncan was the one man he trusted above everyone else. He sensed a potentially explosive situation starting to build up here – a brewing confrontation between Shifters, Guardians and leeches. A confrontation that would be compounded by the fact that neither group was quite sure which side the others were on and no one trusted anyone. The witchling was wary of Guardians because their brand of powerful magic made them more likely to deduce the true power in another wizard. Yet Raoul was beginning to suspect that she feared the leeches far more than the Guardians. It had been an ephemeral suspicion based purely on his observation of her during her encounters with leeches. This evening had merely confirmed his suspicions. He could sense her sheer terror at the prospect of proximity to a leech. And yet, she possessed the power to kill them. But that was a mystery for another day! For now, she would be placed in Duncan’s safe-keeping, away from the simmering cauldron out here. If Bianchi had followed them all the way to the Lair, it was for more than a simple exchange of greetings.
“Luis and O’Brien will keep you company at the Guest House” Raoul added.
“Understood” Duncan responded in his usual unhurried manner. “Watch your back, my boy” he warned softly before moving to the car to extricate Tasia.
“Leeches” exclaimed Jerome Carter. He had been watching the two Shifters silently, his body thrumming with an excitement tha
t was almost macabre in its eagerness. “The leeches dared to lay hands on someone from your party? My Shifters will help you teach them a lesson, Merceau.”
“I appreciate the offer, Carter” Raoul said calmly, his gold eyes sizing up the unnaturally excited Shifter before him. “But this is not your fight.”
Jerome Carter frowned, his mood darkening in a mercurial demonstration of swinging emotions from unnatural excitement to quick anger. “Look Merceau, I know that you and I have had our differences in the past. But you are guests of mine here in Chicago. I’m not going to let leeches get away with tweaking Shifter tail on my turf.”
“You misunderstand me, Carter” Raoul parried easily. “The leeches did not tweak Shifter tail. They meant to muck with the Guardians. The Guardians will be here soon and I intend to let the Spell Casters and leeches sort this out between themselves while I watch the fun. You’re welcome to join me in watching them duke it out.”
“You’re going to allow a bunch of Spell Casters to have all the fun, Merceau” Carter demanded with a puzzled frown, his mood changing swiftly in yet another quick switch.
“As a Shifter, it is hard to walk away from a fight” Raoul acknowledged candidly. “But my mission here is for Faoladh. He asked me to help the wizards with an issue – not get involved in their turf wars with other Chosen. If a bunch of Spell Casters and leeches go at each other in a free for all over some bullshit that I don’t give a damn about, why the hell should I step in? I’d much rather grab some popcorn instead and watch the ensuing confrontation.”
“You might be right” Carter murmured thoughtfully. Though the lust for a good scrappy fight still thrummed in his blood, Carter did not like the idea of meddling in turf wars between wizards and leeches. Therein lay more headaches and possibly a warning from Faoladh that he could ill afford in his current circumstances – a point of view that Raoul had shrewdly counted on and smartly played him with.
Duncan transferred an injured Tasia into a second car before having a last word with Raoul.
“Should we take Sienna back with us too?” he directed a significant look at the growing number of cars congregating across the road from where they stood by the massive gates of the Lair estate.
“I suspect her presence will be required here” Raoul said softly. “It is her the leeches meant to target” he explained.
Duncan merely arched his eyebrows in mild surprise before hopping into the car with Luis and Owen O’Brien to head back into the estate towards the Guest House. As the massive gates opened to let Duncan’s car through, Carter gestured to a few of his Shifters milling around the gates to come forward.
“The Alpha here expects a confrontation between Guardians and leeches. Send word to the Pack to head out to the gates in numbers. I want a show of strength from us Shifters when the leeches and wizards duke it out.”
Raoul kept his attention on the cars parked across the road from them. Soon a man emerged from one of the cars to walk towards them. It was Rafaelo Bianchi. Raoul counted a total of eight cars parked across the road. Leeches spilled out from the cars in large numbers to form a silent throng behind Bianchi.
“Alpha” Bianchi called out loudly. “We need to talk.”
Jason emerged from the car to join Raoul where he stood beside Jerome Carter.
“The Guardians are a couple of minutes away. They have reinforcements with them” Jason informed Raoul in a low voice.
“I’m counting on you to get that Shifter show of strength organized, Carter” Raoul turned to the other Alpha. “We might need them yet.”
“I can buy us some time with Bianchi” Jason suggested softly as Carter turned away to confer with his Shifters.
“No, your job is to watch over Sienna” Raoul reminded the wizard. He led Jason back to the car where his Shifters had gathered around to listen to Sienna and Hawk recount a condensed version of their respective tales, sanitized by the presence of the vampires within hearing distance.
“Don’t let Sienna out of the car” the Alpha warned the wizard, pitching his voice so low that the Guardian had to lean in to hear him. “Remember, Bianchi knows that the Guardians are on their way. And Carter doesn’t have many Shifters out here yet. If Bianchi rushes us while we’re outnumbered, she will need you and every last one of us to prevent the leeches from getting to her. I will buy us time, Jason.”
The Shifters sprang to attention, alert to their Alpha’s subtle commands.
“We’ve got this, Alpha” Stefan Simeonov assured Raoul softly.
“Understood” Jason nodded. To Jason, the Alpha’s game plan made sense. The vampires were here for Sienna. The Alpha’s strategy was to deploy their limited resources to defend her while they awaited reinforcements. Jason didn’t care who engaged Bianchi as long as Sienna was safe from the vampires. The Alpha had already demonstrated that the Pack wouldn’t hesitate to jump to Sienna’s assistance when required. And that was enough for Jason.
“Join me once the Guardians are here” Raoul added softly before turning away. His goal was to buy time for the wizard reinforcements to arrive. His first order of business had been to keep Carter from the brewing fight. He’d told Carter the truth, albeit with some embellishments, to prevent the unstable Alpha from jumping into a fray that would only make more Chosen suspicious of Carter’s precarious mental and psychological health. This was not Carter’s fight and Faoladh would not be happy if Carter was exposed before other Chosen. Shifters tended to keep such matters private. In addition, there was the reason that Raoul was reluctant to engage the leeches tonight. Jason was right – Sienna had been the leech’s target. If that was the case, this had nothing to do with him or his Pack. Sienna was safe now. And that was enough for him. Raoul hated Spell Casters as a group a lot more than leeches. And he was damned if he’d do the wizards’ dirty work for them, no matter how much this particular leech needed to be taught a lesson.
As he strode forward to meet Bianchi, Raoul made himself a silent pledge that one day in the near future, Bianchi would know what a horrible mistake he’d made by ordering his minions to harm someone under Pack protection. The witchling had already taken care of the minion who’d attacked her but Bianchi needed to be taught a lesson too. Soon, Raoul told himself. All he asked for was a time and venue where he didn’t feel like he was doing the Guardians a favor.
“What do you want?” he greeted Bianchi, the two men facing off with a small horde of leeches bolstering the vampire with their support while a growing army of Carter’s Shifters swelled behind Raoul in a show of Shifter solidarity.
“We have no fight with you, Beast Lord” the Italian leech opened, his tone a curious mixture of sarcasm and respect. “Our business is with the wizard you protect.”
“You’re wrong about the first part” Raoul was implacable. “You picked a fight with me when you dared to mess with my Pack.”
“Sienna McAlister is under Pack protection?” exclaimed the vampire in mock confusion. “I thought you were merely assisting the wizards on the matter of Lady Bethesda.”
So, they knew about that, Raoul mused. Jason had been right about that too. The logical explanation was that someone at the local Registry had leaked that information to the leeches.
“The other wizard your leeches snatched is. I could’ve forgiven you for kidnapping her. After all, you didn’t know who she was when you snatched her. But when you ordered your leeches to harm her, you brought me into play, Bianchi” there was an underlying menace in Raoul’s tone that the vampire could not fail to read.
“I see” Bianchi murmured thoughtfully. “In that case, I proffer you and the wizard my apologies for our mistake. We were not aware that she’s considered Pack.”
The Alpha stared back at the vampire in silence, vouchsafing no response to his proffered apology.
“It is unusual for a Pack to have a wizard under protection, especially yours” the leech continued silkily after a short pause. “You cannot in good conscience blame us for not being aware of her st
atus.”
Raoul silently acknowledged the hit from his opponent. The leech knew of him and his reputation, he realized. Either Bianchi had already been aware of it or more likely, Bianchi had made sure to dig up information on the Shifter Alpha engaged in investigating Lady Bethesda’s disappearance.
“If she’s also the wizard responsible for the Guardian’s humiliation in San Francisco, then you must know that the Guardians are unlikely to take kindly to her presence or yours, Beast Lord” the vampire delivered his innuendo smoothly.
Oh yeah, the leech had had him investigated thoroughly, Raoul mused.
“Let me have a word with Sienna and we can be on our way before the Guardians get here” Bianchi suggested, his voice heavy with undertones.
“That will be up to Sienna. If she’s willing, you may certainly have a word with her” Raoul responded easily.
“You’re willing to protect her?” Bianchi asked, clearly puzzled by the Alpha’s reaction. He now understood why the Shifters had come to the aid of the two kidnapped wizards – one of them was considered Pack. But why the hell was the Alpha so protective of Sienna, contrary to his well-publicized opinion of wizards in general.
“She’s part of my team” the Alpha’s tone was firm.
“And she does not want to hobnob with the likes of you, Bianchi” Jason drawled, strolling over to join the Alpha.
Raoul caught sight of ten Guardians milling about. To his surprise, he noted that Sienna, now outside the car and in conversation with Hawk, still seemed to be guarded by his Shifters who watched the Guardians alertly. The Guardians in turn kept a safe distance from the Shifters, seemingly confused by this turn of events.
“Let her tell me that herself, Guardian” countered the vampire.
Jason shared a quick glance with Raoul before walking over to escort Sienna to the little conference between the Alpha and the vampire. Two Guardians broke from the group to follow Sienna.
“Sienna McAlister” Bianchi greeted her formally. “Your mother, the Lady Bethesda, wishes to have a word with you. You have my word that you’ll not be harmed if you come with me.”
