I had to get rid of him somehow. Esme’s mental tone was entirely unapologetic.
With Adrien gone, the atmosphere around the table lightened. Linda laughed at Katia’s and Brutus’ retelling of their efforts to train the newest cohort of Weres that had enlisted in the Defense Force.
Sarah Jennifer was quiet as the feast went into the early hours. Her energy had returned after she’d eaten enough to replenish what she had given to the ceremony, but her mind was still on Ezekiel.
Esme decided to spill her secret, sensing Sarah Jennifer’s sadness. She got up from the table. “Sarah Jennifer, Brutus, Linda, come with me.”
Mystified, they followed as Esme led them to the comm hub in Sarah Jennifer’s former office.
“Why are we here?” Sarah Jennifer asked as Esme locked the door behind them.
“You’ll see soon enough.” Esme took a seat at the console and leaned in to type. “Enora, bring up satellite image of these coordinates.”
“Of course, Esme.” The AI’s voice held a note of mischief.
They all stared at the wallscreen, which came on and showed them…
“A rock?” Sarah Jennifer folded her arms. “Can’t say I’m too impressed.”
Esme tutted. “One of these days, you’re going to learn patience. Enora, go back to the timestamp that correlates with the start of the ancestor blessing.”
The video onscreen wound back, then stopped.
Linda gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “Ezekiel!”
Sarah Jennifer’s heart slammed against her rib cage. The man sitting cross-legged on the rock had an impressive growth of facial hair obscuring his features, but she would have known him anywhere. “Where is this?”
“Indiana,” Enora replied. “Specifically, the former state park known as Potato Creek.”
Ezekiel’s head suddenly snapped up, and he vanished from the rock in a flash of light.
“Where did he go?” Sarah Jennifer knew he could only translocate for short distances.
“I lost him after this,” Enora informed her. “There’s no way to track him unless he turns his neural chip back on.”
Sarah Jennifer wished she wasn’t due to head back to Mars the next day. She clenched her fists, her nails cutting into her palms as she fought to control her emotions. “Monitor that rock. Notify me immediately if he returns to it.”
She bent to hug Esme. “Thank you. I really needed that.”
Esme patted her arm. “Now that you know, you can focus on getting our new home built.”
Linda danced around the room. “I knew he was still alive! Wait until Adrien hears about this. We’ll be able to expand the city in no time once we persuade Ezekiel to come back with us!”
She unlocked the door and danced out of the room, leaving the other three alone.
Brutus looked from Esme to Sarah Jennifer in confusion. “Does she not understand that guy is the definition of an asshole?”
Sarah Jennifer shook her head. “Her choice.”
Esme grinned. “Maybe her choice will change once our boy is back in the picture. Seems I don’t want to whip his behind raw after all.”
Potato Creek State Park, IN
The Mad were out in force, drawn by the disturbance.
Ezekiel crept close enough to see the crashed dirigible, then backed away before any of the enhanced sensed him.
He narrowly avoided being discovered by the female vampire and the Were who rushed by in pursuit of her.
The vampire’s scent carried the taint of Madness. That in itself would have been enough to get him involved, but Ezekiel wanted to avoid the Weres at all costs lest they reported his location to Sarah Jennifer.
Ezekiel’s thoughts were tangled as he traversed the forest.
There were still plenty of Weres who hadn’t sworn allegiance to the pack, but the risk was too high for him to take a chance. He had his life out here with Helena, and nothing on this Earth could make him capitulate on his vow.
He would not go back to Salem with his tail between his legs.
He sensed a human nearby.
What in the Matriarch’s name was going on? They hadn’t had a single, solitary human being around here for almost two years, and now half the UnknownWorld was showing up?
He had little fear the vamp and the Were following her would find the house. His hex should still be holding.
Unable to repress his curiosity any longer, Ezekiel followed the mental signal of the woman, tracking her to a glade where he found her staring into a pool, talking to herself.
Her homespun clothing was in good repair, and her long dark hair was well kept. The sword she carried was impressive, telling him she had no extra abilities. He sensed…something about her; she wasn’t a magic-user, however. He had met a few humans whose nanocytes gave them faster reflexes or the quick-healing of the Weres without the urge to turn furry. Perhaps she was one of those.
Well, at least she’s not Mad, Ezekiel thought. He watched her for a while, listening to her talk to get a sense of who she was as a person.
The pool held her captive attention. “Well, it turns out the world is wider than we ever imagined. Those creatures from your storybooks? Yeah. They’re real, too. Vampires, werewolves…hell, for all we know, soon we’ll meet goblins and ghouls. Wizards and mummies. Witches and Frankensteins.”
Ezekiel couldn’t help himself. “Technically, Doctor Frankenstein was the scientist. His creation was actually called Frankenstein’s monster.”
He regretted his method of introduction when he found himself at the pointy end of the woman’s sword.
He smiled nervously, lifting his hand to push the blade away.
The woman didn’t give him an inch. “So, the creep who’s been following me can read?”
Ezekiel knew he should go easy on the snark. However, something about almost losing his head brought it out in him. “Shouldn’t be surprising, really. Many survivors of the Madness can read. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“You’ve seen other survivors?” The woman narrowed her eyes, her expression mistrustful. “A boy your age? Shouldn’t your mommy be with you, making sure you’re not talking to strange women?”
Ezekiel chuckled. Curse the youthful look his nanocytes gave him. Oh, well, he might as well play the part. “You raise two questions, there. Number one, are you calling yourself a strange woman?”
Her eyebrow shot up. “No. Not at all.”
“Secondly, you don’t appear to be much older than me. You must be approaching, what? Thirty summers?” Ezekiel couldn’t seem to stop his mouth from running. Well, no, that wasn’t entirely accurate. He wasn’t looking to pick up a dependent, although there was little about this woman that said she was the damsel type.
Curse him and his propensity for being an utter gobshite, as Esme had always called him with varying degrees of fondness.
The woman huffed. “Why have you been following me?” she demanded. “Do you just like following women in the woods?”
Ezekiel squirmed. He had been following her, but not for the creepy reason she was suggesting.
She continued tearing a verbal strip off him before he could defend his motives.
“I’ll warn you, I’ve grown up around men like you, and those men don’t have their goody bags between their legs anymore. You so much as touch me, and I’ll—”
He couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing. Matriarch, she reminded him of Katya.
She lowered her sword. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s just my damn luck,” Ezekiel managed through his laughter. “Alone for all these years, and somehow every woman I stumble into seems to have a stick up her ass and confidence that doesn’t quit. You know, my father once told me that the old world used to run as a patriarchy?”
The woman’s face gave away exactly what she thought of that little nugget.
Ezekiel nodded. “Yeah. Presidents, business leaders, even the greengrocers, they were all men once. A time when your ge
nitalia predicted your outcome in life.”
He shrugged. “Now I’m surrounded by ball-busting women everywhere I turn.”
“That’s a problem?” the woman shot back.
Ezekiel grinned, shaking his head. “Of course not. I just find it entertaining, is all.”
The woman relaxed a touch. “Where I grew up, it was all men. Men who ran the guards, men who ruled the town, men who felt they could take what they want and discard it all as though it were nothing more than trash. Those worlds still exist out there.”
Ezekiel was well aware. He’d come across a few places like that on his travels. Hell, he’d met Helena when he’d rescued her from a bunch of leeches who had been intent on prolonging their lives by drinking her blood. They were all dead, but there were plenty more like them outside the protection the pack offered. “I don’t doubt that they do. You escaped, though, didn’t you? You broke free and now you’re here. Alone in the Mad-infested woods with nothing more than a sword to protect you. Yet you remain unscathed. Even after your ship crashed into our woods.”
He didn’t miss the way her fingers flexed by the hilt of her sword.
“You saw that?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Come on, you don’t think everybody in a ten-mile radius didn’t see that? You crashed into these woods in a giant floating ship. It’s hardly the height of secrecy, is it?”
She shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“The Mad were driven into a frenzy.” He noticed that twitch of her fingers again. She was quick to fight; that much was clear.
“You saw the horde?”
Ezekiel nodded. “Of course.”
Her chin jutted in pride. “We dispatched them easy enough.”
“Yet, you abandoned the ship,” Ezekiel pointed out. “Why was that?”
Her gaze slipped to the tracks at the tree line. Interesting, Ezekiel thought. She cares about the vamp and the Were.
“My friends. They passed this way some time ago.”
“Ah, the wolf and the vampire?” Maybe this group didn’t have anything to do with Salem. His curiosity was piqued, and if he was honest, he liked this so-far-nameless woman’s forthright attitude.
She tilted her head. “You saw them?”
Ezekiel nodded. “I saw them.”
Her patience was running low, judging by the bite in her next words. “Which way did they go?”
He pointed in the direction of home, marked by a thin line of smoke from the chimney. “Toward the house. It’s rather coincidental, really. All of this forest, and there’s only one house for miles around. Well, only one functioning house, that is. The rest have long since been abandoned and destroyed since WWDE.” He sighed. “Some messes are remarkably difficult to repair.”
He felt a stab of guilt, knowing the mess was partially his responsibility to fix.
The woman nudged him out of his reverie. “Can you show me to this house? Is this where you live?”
“Of course, this way.” His reticence about letting her in given Helena’s current state was somewhat assuaged by the knowledge that one of the woman’s companions was also a Mad-afflicted vampire.
He took her around the lake, avoiding the Mad crashing around the far shore.
“Though I must say in advance it’s only a temporary lodging, and somewhere where we didn’t expect to accommodate guests.”
That suspicious nature of hers came to the surface again. “You said ‘we?’”
Ezekiel thought he understood how she’d stayed alive through the apocalypse. “That’s right. I couldn’t live alone in the woods, you know. Much too isolating. Being alone isn’t conducive to emotional and intellectual development. Can turn a person mad…the regular kind. Not the, you know.” He lifted his hands and bared his teeth in a parody of the Mad. “Although, we have been living here for some time.”
He continued to follow the tracks left by the two UnknownWorlders. Not that he needed to. He sensed the Etheric output from them both.
“Who are you?” the woman asked.
Ezekiel laughed, having the same question about her. “All in good time. Why don’t we save our introductions until we’ve got a roof over our heads and locks on the door?”
Chapter Five
The Were scent was accompanied by the sounds of a man struggling in pain.
Ezekiel hid his alarm at his hex failing. The man was in danger if Helena had escaped.
However, it sounded more like the Were had gotten caught up in one of the Mad traps he’d laid for exactly this situation.
The woman ran heedlessly toward the yew thicket, where they found the hapless Were caught between forms as he fought the net suspending him from a tree.
Ezekiel suppressed a smirk. He’d learned knots from Sarah Jennifer. The combination he’d used to rig the net would only constrict the Were further the more he struggled.
The man in the net was hampered by the dog jumping at him.
Ezekiel figured the dog was part of the group, given that the woman didn’t pay any attention to him.
The Were quit yowling like a big baby and glared at the woman. “Are you just going to stand there staring at me all day, or are you going to let me down?” Still partly shifted, his words came out in a growl. “If you like what you see, just let me know, and we can arrange a playdate at a later time.”
Ezekiel cracked up.
The woman flashed him a look that could have cut glass and drew her sword.
Ezekiel could have told her the traps were imbued with magic to prevent the Mad from escaping once they were caught.
He chose to let her work some of that anger out.
She was stumped by the flashes of orange light the net emitted when her blade met the rope.
Ezekiel relented when he realized she was likely to turn the blade on him if he kept messing with her. He flourished a hand and removed the Etheric energy protecting the ropes.
The Were fell inelegantly to the ground on her next attempt.
Ezekiel hung back as the Were got to his feet, massaging his rear end.
He eyed Ezekiel before turning to the woman. “Smooth. Who’s your friend?”
The woman ignored his interest in Ezekiel. “Did you find her? Mary-Anne? Did you get her?”
Ezekiel figured Mary-Anne was the Mad vamp. Her trail veered into the woods. She was long gone.
The Were scoffed. “I’m sorry, do you think I have the power to make a vampire invisible?” He feigned holding someone around the waist. “Oh, hey, Ma. Caitlin’s asking if we found you. What? What do you mean, she can’t see you because vampires are now invisible to humans? That’s truly a revelation to me.”
“You know what I mean!” She punched him in the arm. “What good is a sniffer dog who can’t track a vampire-turned-Mad?”
“What good is a human who can’t control her vampire?” he shot back.
Ezekiel felt the air turn cold, no magic involved. Oh, he’s for it now. He snickered to himself.
The Were seemed to read the atmosphere just fine. He lifted his hands in submission.
“I mean… It’s just… We knew this would happen eventually, right? I’m not suggesting you control her. Only…” He sighed. “We can’t lose her, Kitty-Cat. She’s a Revolutionary.”
Kitty-Cat? That was her name? Ezekiel snorted a laugh. “Wow.”
“What?” The Were wheeled on him, teeth bared and a yellow glow in his eyes. “Caitlin, who is this guy?”
Most people would have dropped a load in their pants at that snarl. Ezekiel wasn’t fazed. He flashed Caitlin a cocky grin. “I’ve never seen a Were wilt so quickly under a human’s glare. You’ve got a gift, Caitlin. Powers greater than I’ve known any human possess.”
Caitlin joined in with Ezekiel’s laughter. “He just knows that if he steps one toe out of line, I’m going to throw him in the doghouse.” She patted her knees. “Don’t you, boy? Don’t you?”
The German Shepherd yipped excitedly and hopped around her legs. “Not you, Jax,”
Caitlin told the dog with amusement.
“And it’s ‘Kitty-Cat,’” the Were corrected as he brushed the dirt off his clothing. “We’ve spent ages training her to answer to her name. Let’s not let some strange boy be the reason she thinks she has a normal name.”
“Thanks for that, Pooch,” Caitlin smirked.
The Were shot her a look.
Ezekiel nodded. “I understand, although I have always made it a point of pride to call people by the names they wish to be called. So, what’ll it be?”
Before Caitlin could answer, the Were jumped in. “Sir Wolfington Growlsalot of the House of the Bander Weres, at your service.” He bowed in Ezekiel’s direction.
Caitlin rolled her eyes. “Kain, you’re an idiot.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Sir Wolfington.” Ezekiel dropped his hands to his hips. “I hope you realize that you have made your figurative bed, and now you shall lie in it.”
Kain grinned. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to be nobility.”
“And you can just call me Caitlin,” Caitlin told Ezekiel. “Keep things simple, for once. Matriarch knows things have been complicated for far too long in this world.”
Ezekiel’s laughter faded at the reminder.
“And what shall we call you?” Kain asked.
Caitlin shook her head. “I’ve tried that. Dude likes to keep secrets.”
Ezekiel made his eyes shine red. “Pleased to meet you, Caitlin and Sir Wolfington. My name is Ezekiel.”
“Ezekiel?” Caitlin echoed. “That’s an odd name.”
Kain snorted. “Is it any odder than ‘Stump?’”
Ezekiel smiled. He liked the easy banter between these two. It was clear they’d been together for a long time. “It’s the name my parents gave me. I had no more choice over my name than your boyfriend had in being a Were.”
Kain opened his mouth to protest. “Not her boyfriend!”
Caitlin cut in, “‘Ezekiel.’ I like it. Bit of a mouthful, though. How about I just call you Zeke?”
Ezekiel was about to argue his name being shortened when he heard Helena cry out.
“Damn!” Ezekiel ran for the house. Magic leaked from his pores, his heart pounding as his emotions surged. “Stay back!”
End of the Line Page 4
