by Cheree Alsop
But she was the only link to this Professor Blackstone I had. I rubbed my eyes in frustration; there were only five minutes before we were picked up. That didn’t give a lot of time for speculation.
“No.”
I looked up in surprise at Virgo’s flat answer.
“No?” Georgia repeated. “Give me one good reason why not.”
“You have a life here and a future,” Virgo replied, using the same argument I had given when I denied James.
Georgia shook her head, her braids swinging across her back in protest. “My life is working at my uncle’s car dealership cleaning cars; it’s not a future. I got my degree in literature, but my books don’t sell. My dad died five years ago and my mom’s on some island vacation with her newest rich boyfriend. If I leave, the only one who will miss me is Galileo, and he doesn’t even belong to me. He’s my roommate’s and she gets back tomorrow.”
“Friends?” Virgo asked.
“What friends?” she replied.
“Boyfriend?”
“Boys are gross,” she said. At our expressions, a laugh broke from her. “Just kidding. I had a boyfriend, but we split up a year ago and he took the goldfish we bought together, so it’s official. Trust me.”
“What about your apartment?”
“I’m renting from my roommate. No contract.”
“Car?” he shot back.
“Never needed one. I just drove what my uncle had available.”
He glanced at me with a hint of worry in his eyes. “Zev?”
My phone beeped. The message ‘Here’ showed on the screen.
“We’ve got to go,” I told Virgo. I looked at Georgia. “I don’t know what to tell you. Selfishly, I need the information you have, but this place isn’t a kind and gentle one looking out for your good. Their focus is on protecting the whole by whatever means necessary.” I gestured to my leg. “I got out of it better than most.”
Virgo nodded. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s not fun and games. It’s real life, and it’s raw and probably full of things you didn’t want to know exist.”
“I already know,” she said. “I mean, I thought I knew, which is why I wrote so many books.” She held up the rose that was still cupped in her hand. “I wanted it to exist, and now that I know for sure, I can’t just go back to my old life and pretend that it matters, because it doesn’t.” Her gaze was pleading when she looked from Virgo to me. “I’m sick of just surviving. Do you know what that’s like?”
Her words twisted something inside of me. I nodded and replied in a grim voice, “I know exactly what that’s like.”
There was something to her gaze, something stark and bleak that I recognized from the depths of my soul. My eyes traveled to the rose in her hand, then lingered on the marks along her wrist. My heart slowed.
They were scars, the kind from cutting. A few were fresh, maybe a week old.
She followed my gaze and dropped her hand, hiding it behind her back.
“I don’t think it’s a good—” Virgo began.
“She can come.”
Virgo’s mouth fell open. “Zev, what are you talking about?”
The phone beeped again. I read ‘Leaving in one minute’.
“We don’t have time to argue,” I told him. I turned my full attention to Georgia. “Are you sure you want to get into this? There’s a chance that you won’t get back out once you do.”
Her head lifted and her jaw firmed. She nodded once. “I’m absolutely sure.”
“But it’s not safe,” Virgo protested. “You said so for James, so why is this any different?”
I didn’t know how to make my friend understand. He had been through rough times, but there was a hole at the bottom of the pit of despair where no light shone. I had been there, and somehow, I knew that Georgia had been there or might be there at that moment. Change was the only way to escape the pit, be it change for the better or worse. That was why I had left the Lair in the first place. I had risked maiming and death to escape. Maybe Georgia was willing to risk the same.
I recognized the pleading in Virgo’s eyes. He was worried for Georgia the way I had been for James. But this was entirely different; I could only hope that one day he would understand.
“It’s your choice,” I told Georgia.
She looked from me to Virgo. The warlock gave a little shake of his head, begging her not to go without saying anything. She drew her shoulders back and then nodded. “Count me in.”
I headed for the door with the phone buzzing in my pocket. Georgia grabbed a backpack, shoved a few things in it, then joined us. The fact that she didn’t look back when we left the apartment building said enough.
We climbed into the waiting SUV. If the driver thought it was weird that we had added an extra person, he didn’t mention it. Virgo slid the door shut and we sat down without a word.
I felt a twinge of guilt at the accusing looks Virgo kept throwing me, but I wasn’t about to explain myself in front of her. I didn’t know if I would try to explain my decision at all. The silence thickened.
I appreciated Georgia’s lack of questions and felt a bit of humor when Virgo turned his sullen stares out the window. The thought of a sulky warlock should perhaps have been terrifying. I had seen him cast demons into other realms; but he had also made a blue rose out of fire for a human girl. I had no fear of the warlock I had once found in the bookstore and who had almost succeeded in killing me with wolfsbane. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
When we drove through the gates to the Division and a soldier opened the vehicle’s door, Georgia stared at our cement and steel surroundings. She caught me looking and feigned nonchalance.
“This is about what I expected.”
Virgo gave a snort of disbelief and stalked past her.
“What’s his problem?” Georgia asked as I led her inside.
The guards nodded without stopping us. I wasn’t surprised that someone had notified them about Georgia. The Captain had eyes everywhere.
A soldier met us at the next corner. “Right this way, Sir,” he said with a salute.
I nodded and followed him.
“Sir?” Georgia asked.
I didn’t know what to say in response, so I kept silent.
The soldier led us through several hallways I had never been to. The scent of demons, the paranormal, and the majority of soldiers who fought them faded to leave only the smells of a few select individuals. We passed several security checks through which the soldier led us without any trouble. Seeing them, though, made my suspicions rise.
By the time we passed the last one, I was fuming. I could barely contain my rage when the soldier showed us into a wide office and saluted one more time before he shut the door behind us.
Virgo barely glanced at Georgia, but when his gaze met mine, his frustration turned to concern.
“Zev, what’s up?” he asked in a whisper.
“Did you see the guards?” I replied.
He nodded, but his furrowed brow told me he didn’t get where I was coming from. I was about to explain when the door on the other side of the office opened to admit Captain Roarsh.
“Good to see—”
“You left the infirmary unguarded on purpose,” I growled loud enough to make the sentries on either side of the door jump.
Virgo took a step back, placing himself between Georgia and me.
The Captain didn’t even bat an eye. “I have my reasons.”
I took two steps toward him when I heard the hammers on the guns behind me be pulled back. The sound cut through the rage that turned everything I saw into shades of red.
It took all of my self-control to take a breath and calm my heartbeat to the point that I could ask, “Care to enlighten me?”
He inclined his head in a single nod and gestured toward the three chairs that had been placed on the near side of the desk. “I’m about to, if you please.”
Georgia and Virgo took the first two seats. I stood behind the la
st one and gripped the back of it so hard I felt the wood splinter beneath my fingers.
Captain Roarsh ignored my disobedience. He crossed to the other side of the desk and tapped once on the keyboard. An image appeared on the screen that took up half of the wall behind him. A closer look revealed it to be a map.
“We’ve known about the Hunters for about a decade, but they’ve been able to slip through our fingers until now. We know where their base is located.”
The information sent all other thoughts from my head. “You know exactly where she is?”
“Exactly,” he replied.
His emphasis wasn’t lost on me. I maintained control through sheer force. “You set her up.”
Virgo looked at me. “They couldn’t have. She was in the infirmary. You saw the video. The Hunters snuck in and the Division has no idea how….” His words died away. He turned back to the Captain. “Unless you set her up knowing they would come for her. That’s the only way to explain the breech in security.”
“She volunteered,” he replied.
“I don’t believe it,” I said in a low growl. “She was terrified of the Hunters. She would never choose to go back there.”
“Unless she knew she was dying already,” Captain Roarsh said.
Silence filled the room.
“The last stand.”
My heart felt as though a knife stabbed directly into it at Virgo’s words. I looked at him and knew he was right.
“Just like you,” the warlock said needlessly. “You were willing to use the grenade to blow up the demon to save our team despite the fact that you were in its clutches. This is Fray’s last stand.”
I shook my head before the last words left his mouth. “I refuse to believe it.”
“It makes sense,” Virgo said.
That was the problem. It made perfect sense. I hadn’t seen a way out that wouldn’t cost the team and maybe the entire world their lives, so I had chosen to die; I had lived by the fluke chance that the demon had choked on the grenade and dropped me. If Fray’s last stand to take down the Hunters who had destroyed her life meant sacrificing herself to stop them, her plea for me not to save her would make sense.
I shook my head again. “No. It can’t be like that. We’ve got to get her out of there. You know where she is!”
“We do,” the Captain replied calmly.
I stared at him, amazed that we were still standing there talking. “Then why aren’t we rescuing her? You said yourself that you’ve been waiting to take these Hunters down! What are you waiting for?”
“It’s not that simple,” he began.
I picked up the chair and threw it through the closest window. The bars that had once been its protective covering bent outward like jagged teeth. At the crash, the guards outside the door rushed in with guns drawn to join those already inside with raised weapons. The soldiers looked from me to the broken window and to Captain Roarsh. I knew it would only take a word from him for me to be peppered with tranquilizer darts, or worse, silver bullets.
Instead, the Captain lifted a hand.
“We’re fine in here. Thank you.”
The soldiers exchanged confused glances.
Captain Roarsh’s voice was firm when he repeated, “We’re fine. Thank you. You may all leave.”
The soldiers immediately obeyed. We were left completely alone in the big office.
Fray would have been disappointed in my lack of control. The thought made me lower my gaze. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“Apology accepted,” the Captain replied. “Windows can be replaced. I assumed that the loss of a teammate would affect a werewolf more powerfully than the average human, and I was right. I’m counting on that pack loyalty, which is why you’re here.”
I watched him closely, aware that he was watching me just as closely. “Why, exactly, am I here?”
The Captain pointed to the map behind him. “We assumed the Hunters had a stronghold that would be nearly impenetrable, and we were right. The problem is that they are also located outside of our jurisdiction.”
I studied the map. “What does that mean? Can’t you just go over there and get break her out?”
He shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that. They are outside of our reach across borders we cannot breach.” He paused, then said, “Borders that we cannot breach.”
My heartbeat slowed at the implication. “You want me to go alone.”
“It’s the only way,” the Captain replied. “I can’t send you. In fact, I have to disband you from the Demon Crew and any involvement with the Division. You will be cut off, alone, and entirely at the mercy of the Hunters if they find out what you are. I cannot ask you—”
“I accept.”
Chapter Seven
“You’re going to have to shoot, walk, and talk like a Hunter,” Sutter said. “I’ll print out a guide so you can study it on your way down.”
I sat on a hospital bed opposite his while he scanned the information he had pulled up on his computer.
“It’s not going to be easy to forge these documents, but I can do it.” He smiled at me. “That’s why you need your tech guy. I only wish I could have been of use earlier.”
“You’ve had a hard recovery,” Virgo said from the chairs near the door. “We’re just happy to see you awake.”
“Me, too,” Sutter admitted. “And I’m happy to be able to eat anything I want. Induced comas work up your appetite. Believe me!”
“I always have an appetite,” Virgo replied. “I can’t imagine how it would be after a coma.” He glanced at Georgia who sat next to him. “You really should try the lasagna here. It’s delicious.”
“Can we get back to the topic?” I asked. Anxiety at what I was about to do had burned out the last of my patience. I needed information; any small piece could be the key to my success once I reached the Hunters’ stronghold.
“Right,” Sutter said. His eyes shifted back and forth as he read the contents on the screen in front of him. “The documents are fine, the meetup will be easy enough.” He paused, then whistled. “But there’s the entrance fee to account for.” He glanced up at me. “I don’t suppose you have a million laying around somewhere, do you?”
My heart sank. I had never had more than twenty dollars to my name. All of the money I made working at the mall back in Brickwell I had immediately given to Mrs. Willard to help offset the expenses caused by my pack. I had never needed money for anything, and now I needed more than the average person saw in a lifetime.
“Ask the Captain,” Virgo urged. “He said to figure out what resources you need and he would meet them. It couldn’t hurt to try.”
I grimaced. “I’ll ask. I doubt he knew about that part.” I glanced at Georgia. “Let Sutter know everything you can remember about your professor. The tiniest detail could help him track the man down. I’m counting on you guys.”
She nodded quickly. “We’ll find him. Don’t worry. Just get her out of there safely.”
“I’ll do my best,” I told her.
I eased to my feet and limped with the help of the cane. I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. Every day I worried that I had put too much stress on the shattered bones and that they wouldn’t heal correctly. I had to stop preventing robberies and throwing chairs through windows. Why was that so hard?
I paused at the door. “Let me know anything else you find out.”
“Will do,” Sutter said without looking up from his computer.
Virgo followed me to the hall. As soon as the door shut behind us, he said, “I’m going with you. There’s no way you’re going into a Hunters’ base by yourself.”
His concern touched me, but I shook my head. “You can’t go. You have to stay and help Georgia track down the professor or find any other lead on a cure for the demon bites. Even if I manage to free Fray, it won’t matter if we can’t save her life.”
He gave a reluctant nod. “I know, but….” He gestured to my leg. “You’re not at full stre
ngth. What if you need to fight or run away or phase? You need me.”
My ears caught the tiny catch in his voice. I forced a smile for his sake despite the knot in my throat. “I do need you. I’m just short about two million dollars to get us both in. And there’s the tiny little detail of your aim.”
“My aim?” Virgo protested. “What’s wrong with it? I’m a great shot!”
“If you use magic,” I reminded him. “Otherwise, you can’t hit a shade from two feet away.”
He sighed and I fought back another smile because we both knew it was true.
I held out a hand. “I’ll get her out of there and you find the cure.”
He knocked my hand aside and caught me up in a hug instead.
“I don’t care that you don’t like hugs. My mom told me to do it. I also don’t care that you’re a werewolf and I’m a warlock. We’ll always be brothers.”
He backed away, but not before I saw the tears in his eyes. He ducked back inside the door without another word and closed it behind him. I stared at the white door and blinked back tears of my own.
Brothers. We will always be brothers.
I had been surrounded by werewolves who quite possibly were related to me. I had fought with them and against them, freed them and had several stay and form a pack; we had made a mismatched family of sorts, but I had been at the head, separate, the alpha.
With Virgo, it was different. We had fought and bled together, seen each other at our weakest and our strongest, and survived both the prejudice of our upbringings and the bullheadedness of our egos. We truly had become brothers through it all.
I limped back up the hall feeling a bit lighter. Even though the weight of Fray’s life rested on my shoulders, the knowledge that Virgo carried some of it gave me peace. He would never give up and neither would I. Our stubborn brotherhood would save Fray if it was the last thing we did.
Captain Roarsh didn’t so much as blink when I reached the final item on my list.
“I also need to meet the million dollar entry fee.”
“Fine,” he said as he wrote on the letterhead in front of him. “I’ll send a note to Justine and she’ll get everything you need.”
