by J. N. Baker
If Alec caught us together again, it would be.
“I think someone’s coming,” I said, breathless, as he caught my earlobe between his teeth.
“No one’s coming,” he purred. “I’ll keep you safe.” He caught my lips again and I forgot what I thought I’d heard.
I melted into him, kissing him with all the fiery passion that was in my cold, monstrous heart. When he finally broke away, I lost myself in his eyes. They seemed different—distant. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except him and me and this one fleeting moment. I never wanted it to end.
His lips brushed against the corner of my mouth. “I would wait for you forever, if I could.”
“Josh, I—”
He shoved me back into the bed, plunging the dagger into my chest. “One day you’ll understand, Zoe. One day.”
I sat bolt upright in the bed, skin slick with sweat and gasping for air. Untangling myself from the blankets, I leapt to my feet and scanned the large room. Dark shadows stretched and danced on the walls, but no one was there. Instinctively, my hand went to my chest, fingers sliding over the smooth skin. No blood. No dagger.
No Josh.
I sighed, leaning against one of the cool stone walls, a sharp contrast to the smoldering fire a few feet away. It was just a dream. But I knew that wasn’t true. That was William’s very first lesson with me on my ability: seers didn’t dream.
The heavy wooden door swung open and my head whipped around. “Sorry it took me so long,” Alec said as he stepped into the room.
“Took you so long?”
He furrowed his brow at me. “Yeah…to get back to you,” he said slowly as if I’d gone and lost my damn mind. I was fairly certain I had. “Remember, William needed my help with something important?” Alec’s eyes traveled to the disheveled bed and then back to me. “Did you fall asleep? Probably for the best, you needed it.”
“I guess so,” I mumbled, shaking off the vision and the lingering effects of Josh’s hands on my skin. I pushed off the wall and walked to the middle of the room, trying to keep my face as neutral as possible. Alec couldn’t know about the vision—ever. “What was so important this time?”
“He wanted to send out a scouting party to find Baldric’s army,” Alec said, tossing a log into the fireplace. “He thinks Baldric is close after your little run-in with that vampire. If he is, we need to know how long we have and how great his numbers are. That didn’t take too long to set up, but after that he asked me to help Markus train some of our humans in combat.”
Alec reached out a hand to touch me and I took a small step away from him.
“I want my sword back,” I said, my voice unwavering. I eyed the sheathed blade where it hung from Alec’s side, just above his own sword.
“Zoe…”
I rolled my eyes and held out my hand. “Give me my damn sword, Alec. If Baldric is coming, shouldn’t I be armed? Or would you rather me find a stick to fight with?”
A smirk danced on the edge of his lips. “You’re rather infuriating, you know that?”
“Not nearly as infuriating as I will be if you don’t give me my sword back,” I said through a tight smile. “Now, hand it over.”
He hesitated, his eyes growing sad. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
In one swift motion, my sword flew over Alec’s head, scabbard, belt and all, and landed hilt first in my outstretched palm. Alec spun on his heels to find Ryuu standing in the doorway. “Zoe offing herself is about to be the least of our problems right now,” he started. “The scouts are back. We need to talk. All of us.”
Alec grunted as I secured the sword to my side, flashing him a smug smile. The weight of my blade felt right, like a piece of me I’d lost was finally back.
“Thanks,” I said to Ryuu as we walked out of my room to join him in the hall.
Ryuu winked at me, lowering his raspy voice until it scratched my ears. “Don’t worry, I don’t actually think you’re going to go off and kill yourself.” He paused a moment before adding, “Just don’t go proving me wrong, okay?”
“Yeah, no promises.”
The three of us were the last to arrive in the great hall. I scanned the room. Annie, Jade, Godfrey, Markus, and William were already there and waiting for us.
“Sit,” William ordered, though I noticed he didn’t follow his own command.
“Ryuu told us the scouts were back already,” Alec said, taking his seat to William’s left. He motioned for me to sit beside him, but I chose to stand behind the chair instead. I had a sickening feeling that I was going to want to be standing for this news.
“Yes.” William nodded. “What is left of them.”
“What do you mean, what’s left of them?” I asked, fingers digging into the wooden backrest on the chair.
“We sent out five scouts: two vampires, a shift, and two forest nymphs,” Ryuu said, standing behind Jade, his hands on her shoulders. I still wasn’t entirely convinced of their relationship. “Only the two vamps returned.”
“What happened to the others?” a wide-eyed Annie asked.
“What do you think happened to them, princess?” Markus growled, making Annie visibly tremble. “They were slaughtered. We’re lucky that even the two fangers made it back. One of them lost an arm and the other looks like someone took a hacksaw to the back of his neck.”
“What news did they bring?” Godfrey asked, his hand rubbing the back of his own unscathed neck. He didn’t seem to take much offense to Markus’s little term of endearment. I guess after a thousand-plus years of living, name-calling wasn’t a big deal.
“They said that Baldric’s army is close, closer than we originally thought,” Ryuu answered, rolling out a map on the table. He pointed to a spot that felt unnervingly close to our you are here location. “This is where they were when our scouts found them. They started moving out after the two managed to escape. With their current route, they should be coming at us from the west.”
“How long do we have?”
Ryuu turned his hazel eyes to William. “Two hours, possibly three.”
“Shit,” Jade hissed. “How many does he have?”
“Thousands.”
Everyone grew silent, even Markus, though I thought I heard him mumble something about fucking a duck. The wheels in our heads were almost audible as they cranked and turned, desperate for a plan that would give us even a slight chance of surviving this nightmare.
I moved away from the table, looking out through one of the two tall windows overlooking the interior courtyard where our people scurried about like ants. Ants that Baldric was coming to squash. We hadn’t been prepared for his first attack. How would we fare against another so soon? We needed a plan, we needed more manpower and, above all else, we needed more time. But time wasn’t something we were getting.
“Why doesn’t Alec just teleport directly to Baldric?” I finally said, breaking the silence as I turned back to face the room. “He did it when we were in the helicopter being attacked by the Sythen. We have him teleport right behind Baldric and take his damn head off.”
“That will not work,” Godfrey said, shaking his head. “Baldric is an original. He knows all of your powers. It would be nearly impossible to catch him off guard.”
“Not to mention, he’s a mimicker,” Jade grumbled.
“A mimicker?” Annie said. “What does that mean?”
William patted her hand before taking it into his own. “Baldric’s ability is mimicry. He possesses the power to imitate all of our abilities.”
“It’s how he was able to duplicate himself on the tower.” Ryuu nodded.
“Well, that seems a little unfair,” she mumbled and I almost laughed.
“All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart,” Markus pointed out, echoing Alec’s words from our training session. Markus hovered over Annie’s shoulder and William shot him a warning look, tightening his hold on Annie’s hand. Markus took a step back and then continued. “When the snake fina
lly arrives, he will most likely make copies of his ugly ass so we don’t know which bastard to hit. It’s a smart tactic, really. Throw out a bunch of decoys so no one knows who the real baddy is until it’s too damn late.”
“Markus is right,” Alec replied. “Baldric will be ready for a possible assassination. He will spread himself out. Each copy of himself will be heavily guarded, and he will be well armored to defend against any decapitation attempts that get past his men.”
“How many times can he duplicate himself?” I asked as I made my way back to the table. By now, it seemed almost everyone was standing or pacing the room.
“I have never seen him make more than five or six,” William said. “He was never as strong as we were in each of our abilities. He could teleport short distances, make a few copies of himself, create hazy illusions, put simple thoughts into other’s minds…”
“Can he see into the future?” I had to ask.
“No,” William said. “He never seemed able to master that ability. Any visions he gets are typically unclear.”
“Good,” I said with a nod. “Then he won’t see what’s coming.”
“What do you have in mind, Zoe?”
“We need to create an illusion—a distraction of our own,” I explained. “If we can catch them off guard, even if just for a little while, we might be able to lower their numbers. If we can lower their numbers enough, then maybe we can even the playing field some.”
“That’s a lot of evening, little lady.”
“Yeah, yeah, stay with me on this, big guy,” I shot back at Markus and he chuckled. I turned my attention to Jade. “How many copies of yourself can you make?”
She ran her fingers through her short hair. “And still be able to fight? Twenty, maybe thirty. It all depends on how much energy I have at the time.”
“Let me rephrase. How many can you make and still be able to stand?”
The corners of her mouth turned up. “I’ve never tried but I’d guess two or three hundred.”
“And you, William, you’re an illusionist. Could you create an illusion of more troops?”
“Of course.”
I nodded and then turned my attention to Ryuu, who was now leaning against the far side of the table, a pair of dice hovering above his empty hand. He rolled them through the air as he stared into space, clearly lost in thought.
“And how many objects can you manipulate at one time?” I asked, snatching the dice from the air and dropping them to the table. They rolled snake eyes. It seemed fitting.
“Plenty, why?”
“And what about living creatures?” I continued, ignoring his question. “Can you control those as well?”
“With great difficulty,” William answered for him.
“He’s right,” Ryuu confirmed. “It would be easier for me to stop a moving train than to make you take another step.”
I cocked a brow at him. “You can stop a train but not a little bitty human?”
“First of all, you’re not human,” he corrected with a smirk. “And, I could, but it would deplete most of my energy. A train has force and momentum, but it doesn’t have will. There is a reason people say ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ Will is a very powerful thing. It is extremely difficult to make a living creature do something they do not want to do. At least for very long.”
“That’s fine, we’ll make do with what we have.” As if we had any other choice. “I have an idea. It might not work, but it’s sure as shit worth a shot. Follow me. Ryuu, grab the map.”
“Your girl is kind of giving me a chubby right now,” I heard Markus say to Alec as we exited the great hall.
“Don’t make me have to kill you after all these years,” Alec growled.
As we reached the courtyard, Cody ran straight for me. But at the last second, as if he suddenly remembered what had happened, he veered off and went to Ryuu instead. I tried to convince myself that it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it felt like it did.
“What’s going on, bro?”
“The fight is coming to us,” Ryuu told him. “And soon.”
I grabbed Cody’s arm and he flinched. Yep, that definitely hurt. “Where’s Josh?” I tried to keep the pain out of my voice with little success.
Cody shrugged, his eyes not meeting mine. At least he wasn’t trying to pull his arm away from me.
His ears must have been burning because, right then, Josh stumbled into the courtyard. His face was damn near blue and chunks of ice clung to parts of my black cloak as it hung from his head and shoulders. His eyes locked onto mine and I couldn’t look away. He tossed the very burnt-out torch from his hand and made his way over to us.
As he drew near, I could almost feel the dagger twisting in my chest and damn if it didn’t feel good. A part of me, a larger part than I cared to admit, wanted that vision to be real. He could kill me, I didn’t care. I’d take it all, the good and the bad, as long as it meant I could feel the touch of his lips against mine once more. Our time together at Stonehenge already felt like a lifetime ago.
“What the hell happened to you, man?” Cody asked, not bothering to hide his amusement as Josh peeled the frozen hood from his head.
“I went for a stroll,” Josh said through clenched teeth, more from the cold than his obvious irritation.
“Bro, if you wanted to make a snowman, you could’ve asked me. I would’ve made a snowman with you so you didn’t have to turn yourself into one.”
Ryuu chuckled as Josh smacked Cody upside the back of his head.
“Nice of you to finally show up,” Alec said, his voice as cold as the ice stuck to the black cloak that hung from Josh’s shoulders. He stepped to my side, his eyes locked on Josh like a predator to its prey.
Josh returned his hard glare. “It was the damnedest thing. My horse just took off without me.”
“The dick-measuring contest is going to have to wait, boys,” Jade snapped, stepping between the two men before they came to blows. “War and all. You can kill each other later, if either of you is still alive to do so. Fuck, men are stupid creatures.” She muttered the last part, rolling her silver eyes.
“Hey!”
She patted Ryuu on the arm. “Sorry, baby. Truth hurts.”
“Greenhorn,” Markus barked and Cody practically jumped to attention, “go tell the shifts to prepare for a bloodbath. Tell them to pick the biggest, meanest, nastiest shit they can think of. And fuck me running, if anyone picks a wolf, I’ll kill them myself, understand? We aren’t going down as a bunch of stereotypes.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Cody gave him a mock salute and spun on his heels to leave.
“Wait,” I called out. Cody paused, his back stiff. “Tell them to keep out of the skies for a while. I don’t want any friendly fire.”
He nodded and then took off in a jog, disappearing out of the courtyard.
Before I could speak, William stepped forward. “So, I take it you are going to stay?”
Josh shifted and then gave him a stiff nod. “I am.”
“He’s obviously stupid,” I heard Alec growl under his breath.
“Possibly, but he is also loyal—even if to a fault,” William added. “I hope you do not come to regret this decision. Go, help the others prepare. And stay alive.”
Josh nodded once more. As he turned to leave, his eyes met mine, possibly for the last time. A lifetime of unspoken words hung between us in that one small moment. As I watched Josh disappear into the darkness, I realized that those words might remain unspoken forever, and forever was a long time.
“I can smell your arousal, little lady,” Markus whispered into my ear, his breath hot on my skin. “You best be careful there.”
I shot my elbow back, jabbing it into his ribcage. I felt the air leave his lungs as a rib broke. He grabbed his chest and barked with laughter. Alec shot him a questioning look. “I think I’m in love,” Markus wheezed.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jade rolled her eyes, “everyone loves Zoe. You said you had a
plan?”
“Yeah,” I replied, ignoring Markus’s continued laughter. “Where are the weapons?”
Jade motioned for us to follow her. “This way.”
Markus grabbed my arm, pulling me back as Jade led the others. “I mean it, you need to be careful,” he said, more serious this time. “Shifts have better sniffers than your kind, but not by much. I’d hate to see what Alec would do if he smelled on you what I do when you look at that human.”
I yanked my arm out of his large hand. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Markus tapped his nose. “Deny it all you want, but the pheromones don’t lie, princess. Alec is a good man. Don’t fuck with him.”
And with that, Markus headed out after the others with me trailing far enough behind that I couldn’t reach out and strangle him with my own bare hands. That would be hard to explain. But I couldn’t help but wonder if I was more pissed at Markus’s accusation or the fact that he was right. Shit.
When Markus and I caught up with the others, they were gathered around a number of large crates on the side of the castle. Jade walked past each box and nodded. “That pipsqueak James did a halfway decent job,” she mused to herself. “All right. Melee weapons in those, firearms in those over there, and the small batch there is for explosives. As you can see, we don’t have a whole hell of a lot of those.” She reached into one of the crates and tossed a rifle over her shoulder. Annie caught it without missing a beat. She was improving.
I took the M16 out of her shaky hands as she swung the barrel in my direction. She had terrible muzzle control. I held the gun up, pointing it toward the trees as I lined up the sights. “William, will the general have weapons like these?”
“I highly doubt it. He will most likely stick with what he knows: short-range weapons, bows and arrows, possibly a few siege weapons like catapults—his Sythen. Despite his time with the military, Baldric always felt that modern-day weaponry was weak and not worth his time. I hate to say it, but I have to agree with him on the matter.”
