Havoc

by Taylor Longford

  Agent Moreno seemed skeptical about our plans to clean up the mess and dispose of the harpies. "Are you trying to hide the evidence of what happened here today?" he asked sharply.

  "Nay," Victor answered easily. "The harpies will be right there in the lake if you want them."

  "…if you want to go dredging up problems," I added in an undertone.

  Moreno cut a glare in my direction. "The Bureau might want to…"

  "The Bureau already has a couple of harpies to experiment with," Chaos informed him. "You can check your files on that."

  "I will," Moreno shot back. "And I'll be making a return visit to the quarry with some of our investigative staff."

  "Good idea," I muttered. "That will give you a chance to give Rafe Olander a proper burial."

  Moreno sent me a questioning look.

  "There's a body inside the bunker," I told him. I figured he might as well know. He was going to find out anyhow. "It's Rafe Olander. Previously, he was presumed dead. Now you can make it official."

  "The Rafe Olander. The heir to Olander Labs? How'd he die?"

  "I'll let your investigative staff figure that out," I said moodily. "I wouldn't want to spoil their fun."

  Moreno's eyes narrowed on me. "If you're somehow involved in the death of someone as important as Rafe Olander," he started, "you can bet there'll be consequences."

  Force cut in. "Before you start talking about consequences, maybe you should visit the Olander mansion. I suggest you take a spade with you."

  Moreno snapped his gaze to Force. "What are you implying?"

  Force rolled his bloody shoulders. "Twenty bucks says you find more than one body behind the house."

  "You're saying Olander is guilty of murder?" Moreno barked.

  Force locked his gaze on mine. "I'm just saying there's a good reason why he's dead," he grunted.

  "A very good reason," I snorted. "And when you find him, don't let his wings put you off."

  Moreno eyed me sharply. "Rafe Olander has wings? Like yours?"

  "Nay," I answered with a dark growl. "Not like ours. Like a harpy's. This is his limo, by the way. So, you might want to make the necessary arrangements. I'm sure your investigative staff will appreciate not having to scour Boulder for a missing limousine."

  So, that gave Moreno something to think about.

  And while he was thinking, I spent the next several minutes wishing I'd arranged things so I could sit next to Sophie. It would have been nice to share a few words with her. Words like, "I'm sorry I shouted at you earlier". Unfortunately, she was at the other end of the vehicle, handing out water bottles she'd raided from the limo's small fridge.

  I ran my hand through my hair. The thick, loose strands felt strange between my fingers as my worried gaze gravitated to my family. Force and Dare, in particular, were in bad shape. Force was covered in blood but insisting that none of it was his…which was obviously untrue since much of it was still flowing.

  "It's just a few scratches," he rumbled.

  Dare wasn't any better. His eyes burned like sage-fire in his chalk-white face. Mim clung to his arm on one side while Mac hung from his other arm and chanted healing spells under her breath.

  It was nearing midnight when we reached the house. My heart went into freefall when I saw the shiny black BMW waiting out on the road. I leaned forward and shot a questioning look at Sophie.

  "I…didn't get a chance to call Ian," she murmured, holding my gaze. "I meant to do it on the way home but…"

  Aye. But. Hooligan had escaped when she'd stopped for gas and everything got turned around after that. As we pulled to a stop in front of the house, Ian was already out of the car, striding up the drive toward the limo.

  I was the first out of the long vehicle. I tried to head off Sophie's boyfriend so he wouldn't see the others, Force and Dare in particular. But as Force stepped from the limousine, he keeled over and crashed to the ground, a bloody sodden mess. Despite the wounds he'd insisted were mere scratches, he'd lost a lot of blood.

  Camie cried out his name as she knelt beside him, pulling his head into her lap. Defiance reached his brother next, sinking his barbs in Force's neck and pumping venom into his bloodstream. He looked around to see who else could help. Unfortunately, most of the healthy gargoyles were back at the quarry. "Havoc," he shouted. "Need some help here!"

  "On my way," I called, trying to block Ian's view as Victor rushed to Defiance's side.

  Ian's eyes widened as he stared over my shoulder. He probably couldn't see what Defiance was doing. But he could most certainly see Force covered in blood. "Sophie," he croaked.

  "She's okay," I said calmly. "Just give her a minute."

  Sophie appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Ian's arm and spinning him toward his car. "C'mon," she said. "Let's get out of here."

  And that stung. The idea that she was in such a hurry to get away from me and the rest of the pack. Although…I could hardly blame her, everything considered. She'd come close to losing her life. And after she did manage to survive, all I did was shout at her.

  I listened to Ian as Sophie steered him down the drive that curved to the street. "But what the hell? What the hell's going on Sophie? I've been waiting here for hours. Wh-what happened to your dress?"

  He was talking about the holes that Retschka's talons had put in Sophie's bodice. And the tear in the skirt that I was responsible for. Together, Retschka and I had ruined the lovely dress. But with Sophie safely in Ian's hands, I spun on my heel and went to help Force. By the time I was done, he looked a little blue but that's normal after a venom infusion. I wasn't too worried about my cousin. It would take more than a few lost gallons of blood to take down a guy like Force.

  Victor and Defiance helped him back into the house while I took a moment to look around for Moreno, but the FBI agent had slipped away while we were dealing with Force. I stood in the dark driveway with my hands on my hips, trying to unwind and trying to unhear the things Sophie had said as she dragged Ian away. Aye, I had deserved them but still…

  I felt Ian before I heard him and heard him before I could see him. His slim athletic figure formed out of the darkness.

  "I thought you'd left," I said simply.

  He shook his head, his blue eyes hard with anger. "I told Sophie I wasn't going anywhere until she gave me a full explanation of where she'd been and what she'd been doing."

  Absently, I wondered what she'd told him. I was pretty sure it wasn't the truth. "And?" I prompted him.

  "None of what she said made much sense," he growled, and scrubbed a hand back through his short dark hair. "But one thing's clear. You're not good for Sophie."

  That was hard to argue with, even though both the harpy threat and the Olander threat were severely diminished. The pack might very well live out the rest of our existence in complete peace. Of course, it would be hard to convince Ian of that…even if I could tell him the truth.

  "And judging by the amount of blood I saw coming out of that limo, you and your family are dangerous people. So I'm asking you to…to just leave her alone…and stay out of her life."

  I didn't think I could do that. I stared at him, trying to form a sentence that wouldn't be a lie.

  "Can you do that?" he asked bluntly.

  Finally, I settled on a truth that I could work with…although I wasn't sure it was one I could live with. "I don't need to," I answered, and turned on my heel. "She's in love with you."

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It took the better part of a day to clean up the back yard. We broke up the dead harpies and hauled away the debris in Torrie's truck.

  I spent the next several days in my attic room, slouched in my wooden swivel chair and staring at the oval window over my desk. By that time, we had to assume Agent Moreno wouldn't be delivering Simpson's package anytime soon. It appeared that our chances of getting our citizenship papers were slim-to-none. But that wasn't the thing that was eating a hole in my soul. The thing that was bothering me had much deeper roots.
It was a past where I had failed to protect Mitch. It was a present that didn't include a rune to share. It was a future without Sophie.

  My brothers came up to talk to me. Victor came up for a chat. Even Defiance visited…for all the good it did. Then there were the girls. All of them were well-meaning. And they were right—every one of them. Aye, I could still fall in love. I could still give my heart away to a girl. I could spend the rest of my life with her. But it wouldn't be Sophie. And without my barbs and or the ability to bind myself to a female, I felt like half a man. Well, half a gargoyle anyhow.

  Even Sophie came to visit.

  A little late, in my opinion.

  But whatever.

  She stood in the doorframe, hovering at the entrance like she wasn't sure she was welcome.

  Even in its cold and broken state, my heart responded with a rush of warmth. She was just so lovely. Both inside and out.

  "Hello, Havoc," she said.

  "Sophie," I responded gruffly. I pulled a hand back through my hair. Lorissa had performed an emergency trim for me and it was looking much better than the last time Sophie had seen it. "How do you like the new haircut?"

  "It suits you," she answered and wandered over to check out Monty. "Is this…?"

  "Aye. It's one of the mountain lions I killed."

  "I thought I had only imagined them to be so big."

  "They were big," I agreed.

  A long, empty silence followed. So I filled it.

  "I always keep my word," I started. "Always."

  "Yeah," she said. "I get that now."

  I picked up a pencil and tapped the end against the desktop. "I had a little sister once? Did you know?"

  "MacKenzie…told me."

  "Dorrith was her name. She was younger than the rest of us."

  Sophie backed up and leaned on the dresser that stood against the wall. "Tell me about her."

  "I loved her. But she adored me. And when she got ill, she wanted me beside her. I guess it was scarlet fever. Back then we just called it the flux. Almost everything that could go wrong with a person was called the flux back in those days. But Dorrith was so afraid of dying before she had done all the things that a young girl craves—a first boyfriend, a first kiss. She wanted to live so badly," I said, my voice cracking a little.

  I pressed my knuckles beneath my nose. "I promised her I wouldn't let her die."

  "But you couldn't keep that promise," Sophie said quietly.

  I shook my head. "Nay, I couldn't keep that promise. Despite all my prayers and wishes, she died. But my vow made her…at ease. And she wasn't afraid when the last breath left her body. She was at peace, thinking that she was going to be alright."

  "So, it was a good promise," she whispered.

  "It was a good lie," I snorted and blinked back the sheen of moisture that had gathered in my eyes.

  "So when you made that promise to me four years ago in the hospital…"

  "…I had to keep it," I finished.

  "And your promise to Mitschka?"

  "I had to keep that one too," I sighed.

  "Did you love her?"

  "Mitch? Nay," I answered swiftly then thought about my answer. "Not at first."

  "She was brave."

  I nodded. The young harpy had been brave. She'd saved Sophie when she could have let her die. Mitch knew that I loved Sophie; it would have been in the harpy's interests to let the girl fall to her death. Instead, she'd risked the wrath of her pack and paid the price with her life.

  I focused my gaze on Sophie's eyes. "I'm sad that Mitch died. But it would have been much worse if it had been one of my brothers. And it would have destroyed me if I'd lost you."

  Sophie nodded solemnly then took a deep breath. "MacKenzie told me what it means to give away your rune." Her expression was haunted. Enough for me to know she understood what I'd sacrificed.

  "I don't regret giving my rune to Mitch."

  "I know you don't. You did the right thing," she said softly.

  "We could never have saved the pack without her help."

  "I owe her my life," she agreed.

  We lapsed into silence again and my thoughts drifted inconveniently to Ian. "But what are you doing here, anyhow?" I asked. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Someone else to be with?"

  "You mean Ian."

  "I mean Ian," I said dully and threw the pencil down on the desk. I watched it roll across the smooth surface and drop off the back edge. "The guy you hurried away with when you got out of the limo the other night."

  "I was just trying to get him out of there before he could see anything. I believe you were trying to do the same thing."

  "Aye," I agreed grudgingly.

  "Ian's a very nice person," Sophie said.

  "Don't I know that," I muttered.

  "I…only wish that I loved him…the way I love you."

  I lifted my head and found her eyes.

  Twisting her hands together, she hurried on. "The valentine you gave me when I was twelve is still taped to the mirror over my dresser. I never stopped loving you, Havoc. I just…pretended…and hoped…that Ian could take your place."

  I stared at her, both disheartened and angry. Why would she tell me that now? Now that my rune was gone? Why hadn't she said something earlier?

  Then I remembered.

  She'd tried to talk about it that night in the living room before I set off to rescue my family. But I'd cut her off. And at this point, there was nothing that could be done. Except to be gracious.

  "Thank you," I said gruffly, and even managed a wan smile. "Thanks for letting me know. It…means a lot to me."

  Sophie nodded and pushed off from the dresser. She turned toward the open doorway. Then she turned back. "I know I once complained that you weren't serious enough."

  "Once, not too long ago," I pointed out in a mutter.

  "But now I wish…"

  I lifted an eyebrow and waited for her to go on.

  "Now, I miss the old Havoc. The not-so-serious Havoc."

  "I miss him too," I sighed.

  "Do you…think we could resurrect him? Do you think we could bring back the footloose clogging fiend?"

  "Nay," I answered honestly. "I don't think that's possible."

  "I'd like to try," she suggested stubbornly. "Maybe we could get together sometime. We haven't clogged in a long while. I miss dancing with you."

  I forced another smile onto my lips. "Maybe one day," I answered noncommittally. "But first…"

  "What?" she asked in a fading voice.

  "First, I must go to see Malarkey," I told her.

  With a final tentative smile, she turned back toward the door and stepped through.

  I lifted my eyes to the ceiling. "Don't let me let you go," I whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  With a bone-deep sigh dredged from the bottom of my soul, I listened to Sophie's footsteps echoing through the house. I heard her stop to talk to MacKenzie and make her goodbyes to the rest of the pack. Then her car started and she was gone.

  I reached for the knife on the edge of my desk. Slipping it from the sheath, I tested the sharp edge against my thumb. Then I slapped the flat side against my palm, got up, and headed downstairs.

  Ducking my head into doorways and searching down hallways, I sought out the members of my pack. Wherever I found them, I lifted my knife to eye level as I made my way to the dining room where I threw the blade on the table.

  One by one, couple by couple, the rest of the pack drifted into the room, my family adding their knives to the pile as they took their seats. Reason was the last to arrive. "Sorry," he muttered, scowling at the lass he tugged along behind him. "Couldn't find my knife."

  "My fault," Elaina announced unapologetically as she dropped into a chair. "But it's the sharpest blade in the house and makes a great paper cutter."

  "What's this about?" Victor asked while everyone smiled at Elaina.

  I rested my elbows on the table and locked my hands in front of
my face. "I want to go home."

  "Home?" Valor questioned. "You mean…Pine Grove?"

  "Nay," I answered. "I want to return to the U.K.."

  Then everyone was talking at once, wanting to know why I'd set off for a place where harpies (probably) still abounded. Of course, I was sure they knew why I wanted to go. By then, I'd told the pack Mitch's story of Malarkey and his stolen treasure.

  "I want to see Malarkey," I said. "And I can wear latex gloves when I get to Scotland. So, I won't be waking any harpies."

  "How are you going to get there?" Chaos asked.

  "That's why I called this meeting," I said, looking around at the faces of my pack. "I was hoping to get your ideas."

  "Don't everyone talk at once," I added after several moments of silence.

  As usual, Elaina was the first to speak up. "Well, all forms of commercial transportation are out since you'd have to show a passport at any border crossings," she pointed out.

  "Right," I agreed. "We're certainly looking at unconventional alternatives here."

  I scanned the thoughtful faces of my pack. Honestly, they were sixteen strong and not one of them could come up with an idea? Finally, I cleared my throat. "I could buy a sailboat," I suggested, just to get things rolling. I could cross the Atlantic and leave the boat anchored offshore while I flew to land."

  "You don't know anything about sailing," Defiance grunted.

  "I'm sure I could pick it up," I argued mildly. "I've certainly played enough pirate video games."

  Defiance just rolled his eyes.

  "Sailboats are expensive," Victor sighed and looked at Chaos.

  "They're expensive," Chaos agreed…which meant the pack really couldn't afford to set me up with my own boat. Our monthly rent-to-buy payments on the Boulder house were not insignificant. We had enough money for a down payment on a ranch. But to close the deal, we'd have to qualify for a loan based on income from our business ventures (all of which were in the girls' names). What did all of that mean? It meant we weren't struggling, but we weren't terribly well off, either.

  "I could travel to the Canadian border and fly the rest of the way," I suggested, introducing Plan B.