Fifth of Blood

by Kris Austen Radcliffe

  “Is it true she’s married to—”

  “Yes.” The van approached and Andreas did not want to answer any more of Sandro’s questions.

  Anna’s vehicle appeared at the curb, rolling up slowly, and stopped. Andreas moved to the other side of Sandro, to be between him and oncoming traffic, and pushed the man out the door. The van’s locks clicked open and Anna leaned forward to see through the passenger side window. Her halo of black hair was a mess but not her clothes. Her black leather jacket hung cleanly, and when Andreas opened the door the rest of her looked just as good.

  “Andreas! Who do you have—” A flash of light blinked from the back of the van when Anna’s words halted. “By all the old gods.”

  Sandro yanked his pack off his back and crawled in first, extending his hand courteously. “Sandro Torres. It is an honor, Dracas-Human.” Moving quickly, he dropped the pack behind the passenger seat and his backside onto the step between the front and the back.

  Andreas got in and closed the door. “Lock her up, if you would.”

  Anna clicked the locks and took the van out of park. “Where the hell do you find him?”

  Sandro turned around. “And an honor to meet you as well, Dracas-Dragon.”

  Anna’s face took on the far-away stare both Dracae exhibited when talking to their beasts. “She says you look—”

  Sandro’s back straightened. “—like my daughter.” He blinked rapidly. “I saw an image of Rysa. Did you show me an image of Rysa?” His hand lifted as if to touch Sister-Dragon’s snout, but he pulled it back. “My daughter is a woman.”

  “Did Dmitri find him? Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Sandro reached for Sister-Dragon again as if unable to stop himself. “My God, you are beautiful. All these centuries and I’ve never been close enough to either you or your brother to see.”

  Anna pulled the van out onto the road. “She says thank you. She also says Rysa sees images from both her and her brother, as well.” She shot Andreas a quizzical look.

  “He walked out of the woods and into the parking lot of The Land of Milk and Honey.”

  “What?” Anna took a left onto one of Portland’s many freeways.

  Sandro didn’t answer. Sister-Dragon took all his attention. Andreas had expected him to ask about Rysa and her relationship with the Dracae, but the beast distracted him from all his other questions.

  Andreas buckled his seatbelt and sat back and truly breathed for the first time since leaving Missouri. “Walked right out of the trees with that pack on his back, saying a Fate told him to do so.”

  “What?” The new incredulous look on Anna’s face made Andreas want to chuckle. “His wife?”

  “Not Mira.”

  The incredulity only grew. “We have an angel Fate out there somewhere?”

  Andreas shrugged. “Looks that way, at least for now.”

  His phone chirped. “It’s probably your husband’s cousin wondering where the hell I am.” But it wasn’t Pavlovich. “It’s Derek.”

  Andreas pulled up the message and read it out loud. “Tell the wife we need sage for the soup and not to come home. Go to the store first.” He stared at the phone. “Do you know what that means?” Though it seemed obvious. “We need to go to Praesagio, don’t we?”

  Anna visibly stiffened. “Damn it. I left Derek with Brother.”

  “Do you want me to text him back?”

  Anna slapped the steering wheel. “I should have dragged him along! There are Burners in the warehouse. I left him with Burners, Andreas.”

  Behind them, Anna-Dragon’s patterns sped up. Ladon wasn’t the only Dracae with issues.

  “I don’t think this is about Burners, Anna.”

  She slapped the steering wheel again. “Ask him if—”

  Andreas’s phone chimed again. “He says ‘FYI the party moved. He is taking the soup and is driving, so no more texting.’ I don’t think he wants us asking questions.”

  Anna swore under her breath.

  Andreas glanced at Sandro. “Did that Fate give you any other instructions you’ve been keeping to yourself? Because now would be a good time to speak up.”

  Sandro scratched his chin. “Other than ‘the hidden ones will find the way,’ she said ‘steal everything.’ I always thought she meant for me to steal what I needed these past nine years so I wasn’t using money. Because coin is the talisman of many Fate triads.” He shrugged.

  Whether the Fate had meant it just for Sandro, or for all of them, Andreas did not know. But inside Praesagio he’d pilfer everything not bolted down if he needed to.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Ladon paced outside the open loading bay doors. The fresh air helped. His head started to clear.

  Rysa needed him to be clearheaded.

  But his body moved in a certain way and his brain sliced the present with a flash of the past: Abigail’s body swinging from the parapets. Charlotte’s last breath. Swords. Blood. They came uncalled and without connection.

  Rysa couldn’t know. So he paced and told Dragon to block his nervousness from her.

  After a pause, the beast had agreed.

  She slapped the van with her good arm. “Stupid Burners!”

  Ladon would have slapped something also, if he was near something slappable. Only Dragon paced behind him. “Trajan gave me his personal phone number.” I think we need to take her to Praesagio. I don’t think we have any other option.

  How? She cannot ride with us. A small flame curled from the invisible Dragon’s mouth. Hopefully, no normals would catch a glimpse of it.

  Rysa hiccupped. “I can’t see anything anymore. But I think I can’t see Praesagio because the Ulpi designed it that way. I think they do it to stop corporate espionage.”

  “Do you want me to call him?” Ladon knew his face said very clearly that he wanted to call. Right now, he wasn’t above asking for help from an enemy, if that enemy had something to offer. He would let Vivicus become him, if it meant saving her life.

  “I thought I could drive, Ladon. But the wound hurts and I feel numb and I don’t think I can.”

  What are we going to do? If she passed out again, they could put her in the van. But—

  Ladon refused to think about it. About the feeling of separateness he knew would come back if she wasn’t responding. If the wound on her arm made her fall into unconsciousness.

  If she didn’t wake up.

  Dragon nuzzled his shoulder. Human, do not think of what-ifs. Think about Rysa in this moment.

  “I don’t think…” She trailed off as she stepped away from the van and pointed behind him, at the drive into the lot where Ladon stood on the puddle-covered pavement. “I don’t think I will have to.”

  Two vehicles slowly pulled around the corner of the warehouse, one a dark, expensive sedan, and the other a vehicle similar to the van, but the color of a ripe banana. Praesagio Industries: Making a difference for the world to see scrolled across the side of the larger vehicle in luminescent sky and water tones. The driver turned it around and backed toward the loading dock, stopping parallel to the expensive car. Dragon circled both, sniffing for enthrallers and feeling for Fates.

  “Tell Dragon it is more important for him to stay unseen than it is for him to frighten these three,” Rysa said.

  Ladon glanced over his shoulder. Her seers buzzed drunkenly again and she watched the vehicles. Did you hear?

  Yes. I will check the vehicles.

  A man, oblivious to the dragon next to his door, stepped out of the sedan.

  He is a Shifter. Dragon sniffed. He is not powerful enough to cause a problem.

  Trajan employed Shifters? Ladon walked to the side to take up position between the newcomers and Rysa.

  The man, tall and with dark hair and eyes, raised his hands to show he wasn’t armed. “My name is Dr. Eric Nakajima. I am the Senior Vice President for Special Medical Research at Praesagio Industries. I am also a class-three morpher with mild enthralling abilities, something I suspect you
both know already.”

  Ladon did not respond.

  “Our CEO said Ms. Torres suddenly and blindingly became visible half an hour ago—and that she is in considerable pain. I was to bring a team to her immediately.”

  He lowered his hands. “My boss assumes the involvement of Burners.”

  No other occupants in the car. The truck has a driver and a passenger. I cannot see into the back. The beast circled the larger vehicle again. I sense no other Shifters or Fates.

  Ladon watched Nakajima closely. “Yes.”

  The doctor motioned to the driver and the passenger of the other vehicle to get out. “Are they gone?” He glanced around. “No fires and no Burner odor. Did they fizzle?”

  “Yes,” Rysa called, before Ladon could answer. “We found two. They stopped cooperating. We got lucky when Ladon popped them. They both fizzled. In the warehouse. Neither exploded.” She nodded over her shoulder.

  Nakajima frowned as if he knew more than he was admitting. “We have equipment to help Ms. Torres.” He waved to the other two, a man and a woman, both in lab coats. “Does she have her talisman?”

  “They stole it.” Rysa bit her lip and widened her eyes.

  They did not steal… Ladon stopped all thoughts of past or future, knowing full well he needed to concentrate on the present and allow Rysa to act as the Draki Prime.

  Nakajima looked like a child who had just been told his parents had eaten all the holiday candy. The two from the truck did not move like technicians. They moved like security. Watch them closely.

  “I am also assuming the Great Sir is nearby?” Nakajima shook off his disappointment and looked around again. “We have equipment for him, as well. I’m hoping it fits.”

  The two security guards opened the back of the big vehicle.

  No other people inside. It looks like an ambulance. There is a gurney and lockers and other medical equipment. Dragon sidestepped when one of the guards moved too close.

  The other guard hopped into the back of the truck.

  They bring out cases.

  The male guard handed a metal-sided case to the female, who carried it to Nakajima.

  For a brief second, Rysa’s seers stopped writhing and pointed at the newcomers. The energy coming off her straightened out into long lines. Her face changed.

  Her earlier channeling of Daniel flickered through Ladon’s mind. Rysa watched the three from Praesagio the way Daniel once watched the normals and Shifters he was about to manipulate onto the path into the what-will-be he wanted.

  But Rysa’s conciseness popped, dissipating into the buzzing noise she’d been producing since Vivicus infected her.

  “Ladon, they have rebreathers.” Rysa stepped closer, but stopped when Ladon held his breath. “Let them by.”

  The male guard opened a case. Nakajima turned it toward Ladon, tipping it so he could see inside.

  Masks attached to boxes. Dragon flashed an image to Ladon.

  Nakajima took out a mask. He held it out as if to demonstrate how to use it. “Turn it on like this.” He pressed a button on the side. “And clip the box to your belt. It takes the system about two minutes to come up to full power, but it should filter well enough for you be near each other in about thirty seconds.”

  The pack whines like a phone. Annoyance pinged from Dragon.

  Nakajima pulled out a second mask and turned it on. “Ms. Torres should wear one as well. To filter at the source.”

  “It filters enthraller scents?” How was that possible? For centuries, people had been trying to filter enthrallers. The only thing that seemed to stop the scents was suffocating the offender.

  “Not exactly. We think it’s neutralizing them.” He held out the masks again. “If she puts one on, I can get close enough to look at that arm.”

  “Trajan said nothing of this technology.” The Emperor and his damned games. Ladon nodded at the masks. “You put on one.”

  Nakajima shrugged and put the first mask over his face. The little machine whirred and an indicator light on its side blinked. He scooped a third mask out of the case and held it up as he also turned it on. Slowly, he walked toward Ladon.

  He shouldn’t be able to get within fifty feet of Rysa. But he stopped at the thirty-five limit, where Ladon waited, showing no effects from her scents. He handed over the two masks he held. “They are not perfect. Prolonged exposure will work its way in through the eyes and skin. But the masks should make it possible for you to drive her to the lab.”

  Ladon took the whining masks. He and the beast would tolerate the headache-inducing pounding to help Rysa. The packs weighed about five pounds—not enough to bother him, but enough that it might make Rysa’s already fragile body hurt more.

  She told you she is not a doll.

  Ladon looked up. No, she was not a doll. She was stronger than he was. You are right, as always. But he still worried.

  Dragon would need to vent soon. Better he do it where the security could not see him.

  Ladon put one of the masks over his face.

  The surging stopped. The need to rip and shred, to punch holes in the walls, vanished into the same flatness he had felt when she passed out.

  But the fear did not go away, or the weight of all that had happened these past two and a half weeks.

  Now all the little questions, the thoughts drowned out by his pacing and the separation he had felt, slithered into his mind. What if this was the event that took her from him? What if this was the time she couldn’t save herself?

  And it all swirled around Ladon like her calling scents.

  “Do you sense the difference?” Nakajima’s voice sounded muffled and his breath clouded his mask, making lip reading difficult.

  Ladon nodded. “You have one for Dragon?”

  Nakajima lifted his mask just long enough to whistle and the guards brought out a second case. Not wearing the mask even for the second it took to whistle affected the doctor. He shivered and his eyes dilated, and he swallowed as if nauseated.

  “You bring me the other case.” He pointed off toward the Praesagio vehicles. “Go!”

  Nakajima stiffened, but he obeyed.

  Ladon gripped the third mask. The colorless piece of plastic would fit snugly over Rysa’s face. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to touch his love.

  He turned around. Rysa held her wounded arm tight against her body. But she raised her other hand.

  Rysa beckoned for him. “Ladon.”

  He ran and lifted her against his chest. His mask slipped but he held tight. He couldn’t smell her scent but he felt her good arm curl around his head. He couldn’t taste her skin but he felt her lips against the stubble on his head.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered. “I can’t see but I know it’s going to be okay because I have you and I have Dragon. You are the reason I’m alive—the reason I survived what my uncle did to me and Vivicus’s infection—and I have you both and I will get through this too. I’ll get through it because if I lose you my soul will break into a million pieces.”

  “You need to be okay. You have to be okay.” Ladon did not know what else to say, so he spoke the truth. “You have to.”

  She took the mask as he set her down. “I think when Billy bit my arm my healer burst wide open. It healed my body enough to use my seers. But I feel burned out and I don’t think my healer can counter what my enthraller is doing to me anymore.” She inhaled. “I feel numb.”

  Ladon helped her pull the mask over her nose and mouth. Her cheeks felt as hollow as they looked.

  She wove her fingers into his, holding his hand tightly. “Tell Dragon you’re going to take his case into the warehouse. Tell him to go in and to stay out of sight of their vehicles while he vents. Then he is to put on his mask and take the case into the van.”

  Ladon nodded. Rysa says you are not to drop into visibility where they can see you.

  I will do as she says. The beast moved around Nakajima. The doctor brings the second case.

&nb
sp; “Tell Dragon to think of the stories he hears as true. Help me with the pack.” She moved away, just enough that he could clip the box to her waistband.

  Cold washed over Ladon. Cold because her body was inches from his and not against his skin. But mostly he felt cold because he knew what he was about to see. The woman whose soul unfolded when she looked at him—who always gave him the truth—was about to give Nakajima a face full of Fate prevarications as good as Daniel ever made.

  “You are a doctor?” Rysa leaned against Ladon as she stared at Nakajima, her eyes big and searching. “Will you look at my arm?” She twisted so the approaching man could see but did not move away from Ladon’s body.

  Nakajima set down the second case. “Step out into the light.”

  Ladon growled. The sound rolled from his chest into his throat and out around the edges of the mask. He didn’t mean to. She needed medical attention. But his woman leaned against his chest and they weren’t drowning in rainwater. Or a pool. He couldn’t let go.

  Nakajima pulled up short, and shock played across his features. “I won’t… I can’t…” he stammered.

  “Ladon…” Rysa batted her eyelids at the doctor. “…it’s okay. He won’t hurt me.” She batted her eyelids again, this time at Ladon.

  He might as well play it up. And vent some of his frustrations. “If I hear any indication of pain, I will gut you, do you understand, Nakajima?” He snarled loudly.

  The doctor’s lip curled. “You are not helping.”

  “My concern is not helping you, little man. My concern is protecting my woman.” Ladon growled again.

  The invisible Dragon snorted at the back of the man’s head.

  To his credit, Nakajima did not yelp. But fear shivered through his stance.

  Rysa stepped between the men but Nakajima didn’t seem to notice. He watched Ladon as if the woman in front of him was a lesser person.

  Ladon wanted to punch the man just for his attitude.

  Rysa pulled Ladon’s arm from around her waist and gripped his hand. “Ladon and Dragon know my abilities no longer work and that I’m vulnerable.” She slumped and suddenly appeared a helpless small female, a young woman who was more mouse than person. “Will you help me?”