Shadowed Threads

by Shannon Mayer

  “I can’t, I just … .” She brushed her bangs off her forehead. “I know there are people out there who are bad people. But you saved me. What if this Child Empress isn’t a bad kid, what if it’s the people around her?”

  Now that was not a question I’d even considered. “Shit. Well, I guess I’ll deal with that when I get close.”

  “And how is Faris going to invoke your bite if he’s asleep? It will be daylight when we go in, won’t it?”

  I let out a groan. “Damn it all. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  O’Shea gave a grunt and pushed me with his nose. Like an “I told you so.”

  Screw this.

  I stood up. “Come on. We’ve got Jack to rescue and a vampire to kill.”

  Pamela scrambled to her feet, and Alex came sloshing into shore, looking like a drowned rat. He was grinning from ear to ear. His body was thin under all that hair; no wonder he was hungry all the time. Next to O’Shea’s bulk, Alex was a scrawny, gangly teenager.

  I strode back to Eve and Blaz. Blaz let out a bone-cracking yawn, and Eve glared at him from where she sat, feathers all fluffed up. At least he wasn’t trying to eat her.

  I said I wouldn’t.

  “Stay outta my head, Blaz.”

  You don’t want me listening in on your lusting after the wolf? He grinned at me, a big, lecherous grin and gave me a wink. Fuck, that was the last thing I needed. I took a deep breath.

  “Shut your pie hole, dragon. Before I turn you into a pair of new boots.”

  Eve let out a cackling laugh and flapped her wings. “I want a purse if you get new boots.”

  An image of Eve packing around a Blaz-colored purse flitted through my head, and he frowned at me, scales catching the morning light.

  Not funny.

  We mounted up again and Blaz launched into the air first, Eve close behind him. I tapped into Jack’s threads and, through me, Blaz quickly honed in on the Tracker. That was fucking handy, I had to give him that.

  Yes, I suppose there are a few benefits. But not enough to be warranted other than on this trip.

  “And whenever you decide to have me do some Tracking for you.”

  That too.

  Across the water we flew, skimming close to the ocean. Eve flew higher than us and I could see her labored efforts, see the strain of holding not only her own body aloft, but Alex too. Shit, this was going to get bad if she had to—

  Eve stumbled in midair, her wings just giving out.

  Blaz cut sideways and the three of us clung to his back as he grabbed Eve out of the sky. Like plucking an apple off a tree, it was just that easy for him.

  Now we had a problem.

  Yes. I will drop you, the witch and the wolf off and take the Harpy, and the other wolf back to the forest, then I will come back for you.

  There was no other way to make this happen.

  I leaned over the dragon’s side. “Eve, Blaz is going to take you and Alex back to the shack.”

  “I’m fine, just tired.”

  I can feel her wings, they are still fractured, probably just the strain of flying too soon.

  Damn it, I shouldn’t have let her come with us so soon.

  Not your fault. She knew and she let you believe she was better. Harpies can be like that. Stubborn and prideful. Not like Dragons. It’s why we kicked them out.

  “What?” I couldn’t help the question that popped out of me.

  Pamela cranked around to look at me, her eyebrows raised. I shook my head, clearing it of everything but Jack. We were just coming up to the first canal, and with Blaz feeling what I was feeling he flew straight toward Jack.

  We kicked them out of the Winged. That is partly why they hate us and we hate them. Or in my case, eat them.

  Banking up, the dragon flew about a hundred feet above the tops of the buildings.

  “I can’t believe people don’t see him, he’s bloody well huge!” Pamela pointed at the people moving about their business below, and I shrugged.

  “Most humans never see what’s right in front of them, though some do.” I pointed to a single person who stared up at us from the street, his hand in the air pointing at us.

  “And they’re the crazy ones. Aren’t they?”

  “Yes. The people who believe in what’s truly out there, the masses label them squirrely as a bag full of fucking nuts.”

  Blaz let out a chuckle as he spun lazily in a downward spiral toward the top of a huge building that, for some reason, filled me with an undeniable sense of dread. Shaped like a ‘U’, the rooftop was flat with pikes around the edges. There looked to be enough room for Blaz to land, which was a perk. On the far side was what looked like a church … .

  That is the Basilica of St. Marks, and where we will land is the Doges Palace. Not only is it the seat of power for the humans, it contains the seat of power for the vampires. You are going into a nest of them, you know that, right?”

  “Yeah, kinda.” Shit, a nest of them? I was hoping for less than three.

  I cannot help you once you are inside.

  “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

  Just making sure you understand, Tracker.

  The courtyard between the Palace and the Basilica crawled with tourists. I mean like a freaking ant hive of activity.

  I can help with that.

  Before I could say ‘yes thanks,’ or ‘fuck no,’ a bolt of lightning forked out of the sky and danced along the courtyard. It didn’t touch anyone and didn’t cause any damage, but as the light show continued all the humans drew closer to watch. Idiots.

  “Don’t they know that lightning is dangerous?” Pamela stared at the humans, her mouth hanging open.

  “Yes, they know. But they’re drawn to it, like they’re drawn to so much that is dangerous.”

  Like you should talk. Walking into a nest of vampires.

  Pamela slapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a giggle; obviously, that had been audible to everyone. Blaz landed and the light show continued. I slid from his back, O’Shea leapt off, and Pamela scrambled down his side. I caught her partway and helped her to the ground.

  “Eve, we won’t be long. Then we’ll just wait until you’re healed.”

  “I don’t want to go,” she said, her eyes flicking toward Blaz almost imperceptibly.

  “This isn’t a choice. You have to trust me, and in this, I trust him.” I put a hand out and touched the arch of her wing. “You are a liability when you’re hurt like this.”

  She let out a shuddering sigh. “I know.”

  “Alex, you look after Eve. Okay?”

  He bounded over to me, his big eyes tearing up. “Sending Alex away, always away.”

  I bent and gave him a hug, squeezing him hard. “I love you, Alex. And you can’t stay with me this time. It just … it just isn’t good, buddy.”

  “Alex loves Rylee too. Pamie too. Evie too. Boss too.” He whispered into my arms, sniffling. Gods, I’d barely spent any time with him since we’d been in London.

  “Listen, after this, we’ll go home. Back to North Dakota. No more being sent away.”

  His head jerked up, eyes lighting with eagerness. “Home? Yuppy doody! Home, home, home!” He barked and then spun on the spot, chasing his tail, finally grabbing it and yelping with pain. I touched him on the head.

  “Easy, you go with Eve, and then we’ll go home. We’ll all go home.” I only hoped that I was going to be able to keep this promise.

  Because if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure that any of us were going to make it out of this alive.

  You are right to be wary. I will be back as quickly as I can. You can call for me, if you need me.

  I put a hand on his leg closest to me. “Thanks.”

  A heartbeat later, he launched back into the sky, the lightning still dancing in the courtyard. The humans surrounded it, staring and pointing where it struck, where it burned the ground and scorched the stones.

  Locking onto Jack, I headed toward the closest door.
Pamela and O’Shea walked on either side of me. For all his animosity earlier, O’Shea seemed to be able to control himself now. Although he watched Pamela warily, there was no lashing out, no growling.

  We reached the door and the handle turned, but it was locked. Before I could grab my sword, Pamela put her hand to it and the door melted. Like hot wax dripping, the whole metal door melted right down to the hinges.

  I stared at her, knowing I was going to hurt her feelings, but knowing I had to. I pointed at the puddle of metal at our feet. “Much as that’s a nifty trick, and would be amazing in certain situations, it is going to be fucking hard to hide that we’ve come this way.”

  She blushed. “I didn’t think about that.”

  “Yeah, learning curve.” I stepped through the doorway and over the metal. Pamela followed, and O’Shea brought up the rear. The door opened into a storage room, coated in dust, cobwebs and scurrying things. Pamela gave a squeak and jumped into me.

  I spun and grabbed her by the arms, again, knowing that this was not going to seem nice. But she was going to get us killed. “Vampires. If you see a vampire or some other fucking nasty supernatural, then you can scream, pee your pants, whatever. But bugs don’t get screamed at. Got it?”

  Her eyes welled up, but again she nodded, and I could feel her spine stiffening. I gave her a smile to soften my words and she smiled back, tremulous and uncertain. But she was trying.

  O’Shea was the one who found the trap door leading down and out of the storage room. He dug at it, his nose pressed against the dusty carpet covering the large ringed handle.

  Pamela put her hand out and I shook my head, pressing a finger to my lips. I wrapped my hands around the ring and pulled. The hinges were well oiled, and the door lifted easily. With it open, I could peer down to see where we were. Kinda.

  The room below looked like it had been closed off to the public, which was perfect. I took Pamela’s hands and lowered her down first. Next went O’Shea, and I went last, dropping lightly to a crouch. The walls were covered in oil paintings, as in the walls themselves were painted and accented with gold gilt scrollwork that was fussy and overdone.

  “This is beautiful,” Pamela whispered, and then slapped her hand over her mouth.

  I pointed to the only door in the room. The next ten minutes, I spent trying to get closer to Jack, but only managed to get turned around. We would head toward him, and I’d think we were getting somewhere, and then we’d hit a dead end. Like a fucking maze, the Doges Palace twisted and turned, rooms, hallways and more just kept blocking my way. Shit.

  Inside yet another dead end room, I stood staring at the wall, knowing that if I could get through it Jack wasn’t that much further away.

  I narrowed my eyes and used my second sight, hoping there would be a hidden door. There wasn’t, but other things became very apparent.

  Like the warnings scrawled in blood on the paintings in the wall.

  Dying is a blessing.

  Death is a curse.

  May your bowels be filled with blood and mercy.

  Nice. Real classy.

  But better than that … I lifted my hand and traced the bloody arrow pointing toward the door. Rather obvious and it was one of two things: a marker system for new vamps needing directions or a fucking trap.

  I was going with a trap, for five hundred, Mr. Trebek. If I was right, and it was a trap, it would lead us where we had to go. We just had to ready for the trap to spring. Yup, no problemo.

  Pamela grabbed my hand and frowned at me. I pointed at my eyes, then at the wall. We’d been practicing using her second sight, but she struggled with it.

  Her eyes widened and she pointed. Apparently she got it this time around. We followed the arrows out into the hallway, down a set of narrow stairs and onto the main floor.

  Where all the humans were hanging out, taking pictures and staring at the walls like the tourists they were.

  Crap.

  The arrows led straight across the main entrance. We were going to have to bolt for it if O’Shea wasn’t going to get noticed. I snorted softly to myself and glanced over at him. Yeah, who was going to miss a five-hundred-pound jet-black wolf running across the palace entrance?

  His slowly silvering eyes flicked up to me, as if he knew what I was thinking.

  I’d wanted to avoid the humans as much as possible, they were just cannon fodder, and had a tendency to get killed when supernaturals rumbled.

  “Pamela,” I whispered. “Can you block off the entrances to the main room, so people can’t go in and out?”

  She nodded, stepped out, and lifted her hands. A tingle of energy trickled along my skin and I watched as the humans were slowly corralled into one doorway or another. Then Pamela darkened the blocks so they weren’t clear, but murky and shadowed. So they couldn’t be seen through.

  “Brilliant. Good job.”

  She grinned up at me and I grinned back. Score one for the witch.

  We jogged down the final flight of steps and started across the main entranceway. A roar of defiance shocked the shit out of me. I spun, and in the main doorway leading into the palace stalked a fucking, I’ll-be-damned Gryphon.

  A lion with wings, he was easily as big as O’Shea, maybe even bigger. Hard to tell with the wings. Shit, he must be some sort watch dog for the vampires. Tawny hide rippled over thick, powerful muscles, his darker mane waved in the breeze as he walked, and his wings were the color of honey. Stunning, he was a truly incredible creature. But he was still going to try and kill us, of that I had no doubt. Which left me no choice.

  “I thought you blocked all the entranceways,” I said as I pulled my swords free.

  “I did, he must have broken through,” Pamela said.

  That meant one of two things. Either he was another Immune like me, or he had some sort of magic of his own. I was hoping he wasn’t Immune.

  Pamela snapped a hand forward and the Gryphon ran through what she tossed at it. Immune, it was then.

  “Leave this one to us,” I said as I stepped sideways, cutting down through the Gryphon’s wings with my sword. Feathers and blood spurted out, and the Gryphon roared. But before he could spin and tackle me, O’Shea was on his back, his jaws sinking in around the Gryphon’s neck.

  The huge cat reached up and yanked O’Shea off his back, tossing him to the floor, leaving his back exposed to me. I ran forward and sliced downward and lengthwise as I passed the Gryphon’s side, cutting though his ribs and opening up his guts. Viscera spilled out onto the tiled floor and the Gryphon slumped, his last breaths slipping out of him in a matter of seconds. Fast, so fast and a trickle of remorse skittered through me. Gryphon’s were rare, kind of the endangered species of the supernatural world, and we’d cut him down in a matter of minutes.

  Jaw clenched, I went to one knee and put a hand on the tawny hide, felt the heat from his body fading already. Son of a bitch, of all the things the vampires could have used for a guard animal, why did it have to be a Gryphon? And one that obviously had no real fighting skills for us to take him out as fast as we had. Just one more reason to go after the Child Empress. This death shouldn’t have happened either, didn’t need to have happened.

  I stared around us. The whole set up had seemed too easy. O’Shea’s eyes caught mine. Yeah, too damn easy, indeed. Like they were testing us, to see if we were worth bothering with. My hunch that this, and the arrows, were a trap increased—like a tightening noose around my neck. Not a good sign.

  “Let’s go, they know we’re here.”

  Chapter 20

  We found our way down into the lower levels via a panel in the wall that the oh-so-helpful bloody arrows pointed to. Once inside the walls, I could see where they’d been opened up and made to look like a reflection of the true palace. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that I was in the regular section with the oil paintings directly on the walls, the scrollwork, even the gold laid into the floors was the same.

  “Why would they go to all this ef
fort?” Pamela asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “I don’t know. Now be quiet.” I suspected I did know the reason, but I wasn’t going to go and try to explain it right then. I’d save that for later, when we weren’t walking into a nest of vampires who knew we were coming.

  Vampires were one of the few supernatural creatures that had once been human. They had all started out normal at one point. From what I understood, it was a big part of why they were such assholes. Werewolves were the same, and the two groups were some of the most difficult to deal with. The rest of us had never been human, even if we thought we were, we had always been different. I suspected that this attempt at ‘normalizing’ the insides of the walls was to make the vampires feel like they were still a little bit human. Even though there wasn’t a drop of humanity left in them.

  We worked our way through, toward Jack who was close now; there were no longer the dead ends when it came to trying to pin him down.

  The next corner rounded into an intersection of hallways; I could feel Jack, closer now. Where we stood, six branches led off from the intersection. Dark, long tunnels that no doubt held creatures we wanted nothing to do with. From what I could tell, Jack was at the end of the branch on our right. At the end of it, there was a single, flickering light above a heavy wooden door. Iron slides that banded across the wood were an added strength over a simple lock. Made me wonder what the fuck they kept locked up down here.

  If it hadn’t been for Berget, I never would have even thought about going down any of those hallways, except for the one Jack was at the end of. But down one of those dark tunnels was the Child Empress. I hesitated, staring at the hallway across from me, and found myself Tracking vampires as a group. No one close, everything was all still and quiet; the only vampires I could feel were about a mile deep. How the hell was that possible in a floating city? I shook my head. That didn’t matter, at least not yet.

  I pointed at Jack’s door and took a step forward.

  And that’s when the trap was sprung, and all hell broke loose.

  From each of the dark hallways came a vampire. They could have moved faster, but by the grins on their faces, they wanted to see our fear. Wanted us to believe we could break free of them. How the hell had I missed them?