by Harry Nix
Ruby was still casting spells, waving her hands as she did. For a moment, there was a sickening lurch and he felt as though he was being squeezed on all sides. Then suddenly they were past a burning car and out on the other side into the darkness. They hit another werewolf at the gate who was screaming in rage. This one's arm went through the broken windshield and then was torn off, landing in the back seat.
“Gross!” April yelled, pushing herself away from it.
“Don't throw it out!” Ruby commanded. Alex shoved it down to the floor, unwrapped the gold bars and dropped his suit jacket on top of it. The arm was still twitching, its claws flexing.
Alex looked out the back window. The werewolves who were attacking were almost all dead. There was an orange glow lighting up the mansion. The fire that had been started below had obviously taken hold. As they roared away, he heard fire sirens. Alex could only wonder what the Great Barrier would do with the firefighters seeing the torn-up werewolf bodies?
“Well, not a bad evening all up,” Ruby said, her spell screen finally disappearing, the old witch relaxing with a sigh.
“The canapés were quite good,” Juno said turning to Alex. “Did you get one of those prawns on a stick with bacon wrapped around it?” she said.
“Witches,” Alex groaned, sitting back and closing his eyes. He brought up his spell screen and the scratchy runes, then immediately dismissed it. Now that they were away from the madness, it felt more dangerous, as though it were a pile of razor blades and even looking at it was shoving his hand in.
April shuffled across to him and touched his arm, putting her head on his shoulder. Alex reached across to pat her hand. After seeing what had happened with the amulet, there were questions she needed to answer. Who had told her to retrieve it? But it could wait for now. They were all alive and lucky to be so.
20
“Prince!”
The vampire practically swore his own name and then kicked at the jewels around his feet. Although he was fuming, he took a moment to admire his golem, formed as it was out of rare precious gems, flecks of gold, and assorted rare coins. Isabella's apartment was a work of art itself, and this half of it was dedicated to a summoning room which in some places was ankle-deep in gems and gold.
“Eric.”
“Henry.”
“Isabella.”
The others had formed quickly out of the jewels and gems but when Isabella appeared she drew every flake of gold in the room towards her, even pulling some of it out of the other golems, forcing their bodies to reconstitute themselves with what was left. The flakes spiraled together, forming a golem that moved with liquid ease and glimmered like a living statue. Even through his anger, Prince had to admit: damn she had some style.
“Tradinium had nothing to do with it,” Isabella said.
“It wasn't Xavo although and I doubt they could have pulled off anything like that anyway,” Henry said.
Eric coughed, his glittering golem holding its hand to his side.
“I do not believe it is Corvus, however, I suspect Titus may still be involved,” he said. He summoned a chair out of the glittering gems and sat down.
“What happened to you?” Prince asked, his ire momentarily forgotten.
“A slight disagreement with some werewolves,” Eric said.
“Well, I've met the boy and—” Isabella said.
“I'm sorry. Are we just going to ignore that half my mansion burned down, and I lost most of my private collection?” Prince said. Isabella had summoned a chair for him, but he was standing, finding it hard not to pace.
“It doesn't matter,” Isabella said.
“It doesn't matter? Perhaps I should burn down this place. Scatter your wealth to the winds and then you can tell me it doesn't matter.”
Isabella reached down and picked up a handful of gold coins and gems. She lifted them up and then let them pour down through her fingers onto the ground.
“None of this matters. All of this is just a means to an end, and that end is approaching fast. You know you can't take any of this back with you. You haven't forgotten that, have you?”
“It was still worth a fantastic amount. I could have sold it and used the funds for war so, yes, it does matter,” Prince said. He saw Eric and Henry roll their eyes at each other. “Just because I choose not to live in squalor here doesn't mean I’ve forgotten what we’re doing,” he snarled and kicked at the assorted coins near his feet, but finally sat down.
“Can we return to the boy now?” Isabella asked.
Prince waved his hand irritably.
“He is soft, unprepared. I think he hasn't fully chosen,” she said.
“We need to kill one of his wives, I said that,” Prince said. He took a breath and shifted in his chair. The vampire miles away attempting to calm himself. He knew he was being petulant, but he almost felt too far dug in to stop now.
“I know where Titus left the drained werewolf bodies,” Henry said.
“I’m not sure that's enough. We lead him there, show him some dead bodies? It doesn't suddenly transform him into the weapon we need,” Isabella said.
“I was sure it wasn't Tradinium. The last time I spoke with Knox he was ranting and raving. Thankfully, his fury is focused on Titus right now,” Eric said and then let out a cough. The golem was still holding a hand to its side.
“He's complacent or scared. I don't think he’s ranting because he’s about to send a force of mages to Baxter. I think his ranting because he's afraid,” Isabella said.
Henry stood up and paced around for a moment before sweeping an arm and casting a spell. Gems and gold spun up the ground and stuck to the wall, forming an enormous clock face and calendar.
“There is only limited time left so I suggest we act. If Alex dies then he dies and perhaps we walk the other path,” he said.
“Even with all our wealth, how are you going to kill almost a billion werewolves?” Prince said. “And there is no guarantee it would work.”
“I don't like it either. But none of us are getting any younger. We can't wait another two decades and hope that some other werewolf mage will make it to adulthood. Or that this time we’ll get reinforcements rather than more enemies.”
Henry sat down. The other three were surprised by their friend. The necromancer, with his affinity for death, was also the one who held life most sacred. Prince glanced at the wall calendar. There was so little time. The pressure of it encroaching on them all.
“I do have another idea, but I'm not sure Isabella is going to like it,” Prince said finally.
“Pray tell, because I still have some mages to question and torture to death,” she said.
“We take the witch and force the covens to get involved,” Prince said.
Isabella shot out of her seat, small sparks crackling from between her fingertips.
“I said no before, and I still mean it,” Isabella said.
“And I have sent countless vampires to their death, Eric has killed mages and werewolves, and Henry has sacrificed necromancers for the cause.”
“The witches have paid enough,” Isabella said. The lightning from between her fingers faded away.
Prince stood up and reached down into the jewels and picked up a ruby the size of a tennis ball.
“You said it yourself, what do we care about things here, the gold and jewels and ancient tapestries burned to ash? Perhaps you have grown too attached,” he said and he very deliberately let the ruby fall to the ground.
“We need them for the war,” Isabella said in a level tone.
“There won't be a war if Alex doesn't destroy the Great Barrier!” Prince roared, pointing at the calendar.
The two of them stood in silence for a moment before Henry finally cleared his throat.
“Perhaps a vote?” he said.
“There’s no need. I can already tell what you two want, so I concede. Pull the witches in,” Isabella said. She waved an arm at them, and the gold flakes broke apart, collapsing into a pile
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“I'll do it,” Prince said. The other two nodded and their golem's disintegrated, the gems, jewels and coins falling to the ground. The vampire stood for a moment, looking around at the scattered wealth. Perhaps he should have stuck to gold, precious metals, and gems, things that could largely survive a fire, but he'd always suspected that a deep knowledge of history would be invaluable. His security cameras had caught something odd before the fire had broken out, and the Great Barrier had lashed to destroy any evidence. For a single frame it appeared as though black runes had ripped free of the tapestry, flying towards Alex. Prince had no idea what that meant, nor why the necklace that Alex's mate had been wearing had glowed. He didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty, none of them did, which is why their search for the attackers had been conducted with rather less diplomacy and far more blood and pain.
He glanced at the wall. When Henry's golem had disintegrated, the clock and calendar had fallen too. They were running out of time. They could no longer afford the soft touch, the gentle pressure to achieve their aims. As Prince remembered the fire that had consumed half his collection and severely damaged his mansion, an idea crossed his mind and he grinned, his golden teeth shimmering in the lights overhead. Finally, he canceled the spell and the golem fell, breaking into pieces, a handful of diamonds scattering across the rich carpet.
21
The day was warm and sunny and the air was clean. Alex could feel April on his back, gently squeezing with her strong legs and occasionally scratching the back of his neck, but despite all that, his mood felt as dark as night. Things had moved quickly in the morning and not in the direction he wanted. When they'd gotten up, they discovered that Ruby was gone, along with Boris and the gold and gems. She left a note saying that she was going to sell them and would be back soon. That wasn't what was bothering Alex. Juno had assured him that a witch always kept her word. No, it was the thrall. Nia had told Esme and Lydia about it and suddenly all of Alex's plans—to be enchanting ridiculous numbers of rings, gathering a pile of money, and scouting out the Xavo address that Stephen had left behind—were completely upended. The two old werewolves had declared that Alex needed to leave Baxter immediately because the thrall indeed was coming and would be here soon.
Although Nia was aware of what the thrall was, it appeared she did not have the entire story. The short of it was, they need to leave Baxter immediately otherwise it was highly likely that Alex and his mates would slip into it, and then Alex would kill anyone else who came near them. Such an attack would likely trigger the Great Barrier and supernaturals would be forced against their will to murder Alex. He tried to argue but Lydia and Esme were adamant, so here they were marching out into the wilderness on the way back to the village. The only good part of it all was that they were carrying a variety of shield rings and healing flame rings.
Alex was walking slightly ahead of his pack, sometimes bringing up his spell screen, more often than not dismissing it. The spiky black runes he ignored now. He hadn't told anyone more about them and now with the thrall coming, thought it wasn't the time. His work with Ruby, short as it was, had opened up new insights into his spell writing, but he was still making slow progress. It was the difference between learning music theory and learning how to play a song.
Alex, huffed to himself in frustration as he opened the spell screen then closed it again. He knew the source of his frustration—the feeling that he was being pushed. He hadn't intended to go to Baxter when he had but had gone to sleep and woken up somewhere else. It was a problem that seemed absurd. Did he have to start manacling himself, tying himself down with mage cuffs so he couldn't escape and go roaming?
Then once he was there, he'd agreed to a favor and suddenly was robbing the vampire. Now the thrall. Again outside of his control and off he went back to the village. It felt like every move he made was reactive. Even the Corvus outpost had only been because Juno had lost her mind and gone on the attack.
“Penny for your thoughts?” April whispered in Alex's ear, lying down flat on his back.
The warmth of her, the scent of her. The feeling of her breath on his ear was almost enough to drive him wild. Alex made a kind of chuffing noise as it was still difficult to speak in this form, his jaws feeling the wrong shape.
“Or two hundred fifty thousand dollars for your thoughts?” April said, tickling his ear with her fingers.
It was the one otherwise bright spot in the darkness Alex felt was surrounding him. According to Ruby they'd stolen just over a million dollars of gold and gems and Juno had negotiated twenty-five percent of it for them which meant just over a quarter million. Although Alex had gone back and forth about the morality of theft, he couldn't deny that the result had solved a lot of problems in one fell swoop. They had enough money to fund trail cams and weapons and food shipments should they decide to stay at the village. Hell, they had enough money to buy up land over in the industrial district and set up a base for werewolves when they were in the city. With the money they could go around to various magical shops and buy all kinds of things so Alex could extract the spells and get to work.
“Come on, aren’t you a little excited?” April whispered, then moved her hips on Alex's back. For a moment that wildness loomed, the one that felt as though it would pull him under, and Alex had to take a breath and shake his head to push it away. If it had its way he'd grab April, throw her down right here in the grass, and screw her brains out. But thinking of that quickly led to the question that Alex had been holding. Where had April gotten the amulet from? It had glowed and led them to a tapestry which was why Alex now had spiky runes stuck in his mind that felt dangerous to even look at. This perhaps was part of the darkness, that worry that he didn't really know his mates, that he had rushed headlong into something without understanding what it truly was. After all, Juno had extracted a favor from him before he'd understood what it really was. Nia had apparently known what it was and hadn't bothered to explain either and then, not really that much later, April had extracted a favor too.
Alex took another deep breath to calm the thoughts of sex on his mind and then very carefully sounded out the words. “You need to tell me where you got that amulet from,” he said.
He felt April tense on his back, but he wasn't going to accept no for an answer this time.
“I can't tell you,” she said.
“You must. I want to know,” Alex repeated. April had sat up and she stayed there for almost a minute as Alex kept walking before finally lying back down on his back and bringing her mouth close to his ear.
“Make a little space from the others,” she whispered. Alex glanced back at the rest of his pack. They weren’t that far behind him. He sped up a little, increasing the distance.
“I can't tell you where I got the amulet because I don't remember. I must've agreed to it—a memory alteration. I remember leaving, intending to seek aid, walking through the forest and that’s it. All I have is walking through the forest and then finally I returned. It would be difficult to do that to me involuntarily, so I must conclude that I agreed to have it done,” April said.
Alex continued walking, thinking over what April had just said. Why would someone who offered help then be determined to be anonymous? The only answer he had was that he and his pack seemed constantly under attack and they wanted no part of it. Actually, there was a second answer—if the amulet wasn't aid at all but a trap, something that had led to Alex having the spiky runes in his head, then perhaps the one who had sent them didn't want them returning to exact their vengeance.
“If you went on foot, surely they can't be that far,” Alex finally said.
“I thought of that. Even with haste spells, there’s only so far I could have gone on my own, but I have no idea which direction I went, so it could be anywhere in thousands and thousands of square miles. I don't know why I would have agreed, but the past me that did surely had a good reason. Are you going to tell me now why the amulet is black and useless?” April said.
Alex
just kept walking. Although Nia had told April and Juno that the amulet had glowed, leading them to the tapestry, Nia hadn't apparently seen the black runes come free and hit Alex. That a silver-eyed werewolf had been pictured on the tapestry had been discussed, but like many of the mysteries that surrounded them, had been pushed aside and put into the basket of—as Juno described it—the handkerchiefs out-of-the-butt stuff.
April scratched his ear and squeezed his back with her legs, and he became acutely aware again of only the thin layer of fabric between her and him.
“Alex, stop, please!” Nia said.
What? Alex was growling. April wasn’t on his back, but in front of him with Nia, both of them trying to hold him back. He was snapping at Jacob and Jeremiah, feeling like he wanted to leap forward and kill them.
“We need to run. The thrall is almost here,” Esme said. She was in hybrid form, her fur grey, but her claws still sharp. She was holding a heavy tree branch that had a spot of blood on it, and Alex realized then that his head was throbbing. She must've bashed him one in the face.
“You two run ahead, tell everyone to leave the village, be out of sight,” Lydia instructed Jacob and Jeremiah. The two of them glanced at Alex and he nodded, afraid to speak lest roar would erupt from his throat. His heart was pounding, and he was having a difficult time focusing on the here and now. The two of them shot off into the forest.
“Alex, you take me. April, on Nia,” Juno said. Alex turned and realized he'd been so focused on Jeremiah and Jacob that hadn't even seen where Juno was. She’d been standing in his blind spot, two long fire whips hanging from both hands, waiting to attack if she needed to. Juno canceled the spell and then she climbed on Alex's back. She pulled at the scruff of his neck.
