by Rae Foxx
"Stop," Howl said, both he and Finn wrapping their hands around my arms and pulling me back, their hands so hot against my cold flesh they almost felt like they were burning me. I tried to pull away, but they held on fast. Oh yeah, I wasn't the only one with super strength.
"Barging in there is only going to give us away. We don't even know what's over there," Howl said, sounding like the sexiest kind of diplomatic general. "We have to be strategic."
I froze, their hands dropping me as I gave up my pursuit. He was right, damn him. Now wasn’t the time to barrel in, guns blazing. Or, I guess, teeth-gnashing. Damn, that made me sound like I was some kind of zombie...
Although... brains did sound quite nice...
No, Ivy, stop. Be normal.
"Well, then let's find out," I conceded and carefully stepped toward those golden ribbons of light. There had to be something good over there with the smell that was drifting through the trees.
Maybe Nicky’s head on a stick with the damn book laid on the ground before her. No, that would be too easy.
Hell, it would have been a fucking Christmas present with the horror that was actually waiting for us on the other side of the trees. And no, there weren't any severed heads. In the air, I scented every kind of being. Vamps, Fae, shifters, even some demons and witches in the mix. No wonder my stomach was sick. Their scents were tainted and sour and I scrunched my nose as the pungency stung the inside of my nose and threatened to bring tears to my eyes. So many fucking enemies. Pater’s pathetic pack had nothing on these masses.
“Well, fuck me sideways and call me Sally,” I breathed out as we peered through the trees, and into the valley of desert that reminded me so much of home it made my heart ache. Although, that might have been more from the ocean of hybrids and demons and witches that were spread out over the sand. They camped in tents the color of sand. If it wasn't for their matching black uniforms and the bright green commander’s tent in the center, we might have missed them completely.
"Matching uniforms?" Tommy said with a laugh that really didn't match the situation. "Nicky has gotten more organized."
I gave him a glare, my wolf snarling as he turned to meet me head-on and instead flinched and looked away.
"I don't care about Nicky's organizational skills. I want to know how to fight her and how to get the damn book. Do you think we can get in there, steal some uniforms and take her down stealth style?" I had watched enough action movies to know that this was a solid plan, but all of my guys didn't seem too sure. Finn was pale enough that I was afraid he had passed out with his eyes open. "Finn?"
Finn knocked himself back to reality with a shake of his head and reached for my hand, squeezing it in a death grip, never taking his eyes off the rows of hybrids in front of me. “Honeybee, this is too much. Even for the Fae army. We will fight. My mother is one of her word... but this army-- It’s bred for death--pure and simple."
“There’s fucking thousands." Even Tommy was gob smacked, hovering over the line between forest and desert, mouth hanging open, cigarette stuck to his bottom lip, burning down to the filter. Howl breathed in and out slowly and when he turned to me, his eyes had taken on a darker hue.
We were seven shades of fucked and not in the way I wanted.
"Fuck!" I snapped, louder than I had expected, but not loud enough to cover the sound of a cracking branch to our left.
A branch that had been stepped on...
"Shit," I said as we all turned, Howl moving right back into his shift and Tommy went all black smoke super ninja, hands up edges blurred as he faced another ninja that burst through the trees beside us like her head was on fire.
Looked like it too with the long lengths of red hair that streamed behind her.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief as Scarlet and the twins, flanked by the tall fae warrior Alias stepped out of the trees, all of them as ready to fight as we were. The twins were even in their cat form, yowling and leaping with their claws out.
"Cute!" Tommy crooned, catching one by the scruff and shaking him before he shifted into Owen, who promptly punched him in the jaw.
"Fuck off demon!" The two snapped, both of them going back to flank Scarlet like she was their pack leader.
Tommy looked at me like I was going to have a face-off with them for punching him, but I smiled and shrugged. The guy should be used to getting punched by now anyway.
"I was hoping we would find you!" I nearly squealed as I wrapped my arms around Scarlet, although she didn't seem nearly as excited to see me.
"Howl and Finn told us to follow them, so we did," she shrugged, her features growing dark as she turned toward the tree line. "I take it you've already seen."
"Unfortunately."
"How are we going to defeat that, Ivy?" Scarlet asked her voice full of as much dismay as I felt.
"By not landing headfirst into trees," I said absentmindedly, prompting a tandem ‘what' from the twins. I waved them off. "I have an idea, but we need to call in the promise of the Fae Queen, and get the Vampire Queen to stop being such a jack-ass."
"Vampires?" Scarlet laughed, folding her hands over her waist as she chuckled at me. "and here I was thinking you were scared of them."
"Well, I'm scared of her. But I know how to get her on our side." I gave the army one last scowl before turning to Alias who was shaking Finn's hand, the two of them exchanging updates with dark expressions. "Alias. I need you to go get your buddies and meet us in The Lowest Ground."
Alias turned and his already bitchy face darkened further. "Meet you at the apex of all vampires? You can't be serious."
"She said she will help. This is step one." I was using my best alpha voice, which might as well have been a robot recording with how Alias reacted. The guy glared.
“I will pass on your message. We shall see if she honors her promise.” He got up, his wild blonde hair whipping around his carved jawline as he tapped on the hilt of his sword and gave one look at the army. With my new distinct hearing ability, I could hear the rapid succession of his heartbeats, fluttering like Finn’s, like the wings of a hummingbird.
"She will," I said, his heart rate picking up the longer he looked at the army. "We have to end this. You know we do."
"For my mother," Howl nearly whispered, finally pulling Alias' focus and sending his heart rate into a thunder. "For everyone."
“Go now,” I told Alias and he finally nodded, still stone-faced. “Get Melusine and the Fae army,” I demanded, pointing in one direction not knowing if that was the way back to the Fae world or not. He got my point.
Alias looked at Howl and then down to the ground. “I won’t let them harm my mate. With my last breath, I will protect her--Galina.”
“Good,” Howl replied. “If that’s your intention, then move fast.”
In a whip of wind, the Fae soldier was gone, and we were left to deal with the militia in the distance on our own.
Well, I would. And it would start with me running into a lot of trees.
Chapter 9
"Why did you send him to the vampires?" Finn asked the second Alias had gone.
I smiled at him and put my hands on my hips. "Because that's where we are going to meet him after we get the book of course." I turned toward the army, everyone following my gaze with different levels of panic and confusion.
Well, except Tommy. Tommy was laying back on his smoke like it was a day at the beach, laughing his ass off. "All these power-hungry dictators sure like to be flashy. She might as well have painted a bullseye on that damn tent."
I narrowed my eyes at the bright blue tent in the center of the army, my focus zooming in with its vampire skill as if it could sense that Nicky, my dad, and the book that controlled him was right there.
"It's right there."
"What's right there?" Scarlet asked, coming up beside me to stare at the tent with her own glare. "Besides the cause of all our problems."
"The book." I closed my eyes as if I could sense it and Scarlet gasped as though
she had been punched.
“Wait, the book? The book. The summon your super-powered-daddy-and-screw-us-all book? The book that so happens to be in the middle of a goddamned army?" Scarlet was screechy, hands waving around in her freak out before she grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward her. "Why are we going after the book? The deed has been done. Your dad is under her command. It’s not like the book can undo this shit. Your Mom said so... Why are you so cold?"
Okay, so I clearly had to catch them up, even the twins were looking freaked out. No time like telling a horror story when you are camped out on the side of a giant army, preparing to infiltrate the fuckers.
"So, I'm a temporary vampire," I summed up after exploding her brains with my recap for the past few minutes. The twins were now staring at me like I was a goddess, and I batted their hands away as they tried to touch the new coldness.
I slapped the twins away again as Scarlet stepped forward, her eyes all focused and jaw determined. Like we were going to have a showdown. I didn't have the heart to tell her there was no way a fox was going to win against a-- win against whatever I was.
"Let me see ‘em.” She said again, her focus dropping to my mouth as she displayed a smile, showing me exactly what she wanted me to do.
“What?” I played the fool, knowing there was no way that was going to happen. Especially with the twins trying to caress my leg in an attempt to feel how cold I was.
They dropped their attempt at Scarlet's demand, but not before I kicked Evan in the jaw.
Scarlet wasn't buying it. She punched me in the shoulder this time--hard. Fuck, foxes were strong. “The fangs. Let me see.” She enunciated each word.
I did my best ‘I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about’ face and blew her off only to get my hair tugged in a not so gentle way. “Bitch, let me see ‘em. I know you have them.” Apparently, she wasn’t going to stop.
“Fine.” I opened my mouth to let her inspect, but I didn’t feel fangs. I assumed they would emerge on an as-needed basis like Saxon’s did, but really I wasn’t sure. I hoped. For the sake of Nicky’s shocked face, I hoped like hell they came out right on time.
“Lame," she sighed and stepped back. "Too bad. Well, anyway, you look different. And you smell different.”
“I do?” For good measure, I lifted my arm and did a sniff test of my pits. I scrunched my nose, not noticing anything.
“Yep. Like a vampire. Tangy," She sniffed the air and smiled and I almost choked her. What was it with people smelling me lately? "Like you weren’t badass enough before. Now you’ve added vamp to your species list."
"Yep, and all the strength to go with it," I was careful not to bring up the fangs and blood-drinking. "Which is why we need the book out of Nicky's camp and to get the Vampires while I can kick some ass. Then they will fight with us and we can get Saxon back."
“Fuck me,” Scarlet said, her eyes widening before she turned to stare at the soldiers. She pushed back a clump of her reddish hair and swallowed audibly. “That means…”
"Yep. We have to get through those hybrid assholes to get to the book." Fuck us all.
“Dude!" Owen yelled trying one last time to feel my clammy vampire skin before turning to Evan and giving him a high five. "We’re gonna fucking die trying to get a processed piece of tree with some witch spells tattooed in it. We're gonna save the world! Talk about going out in a blaze of glory!"
"Are you kidding me?" I snapped, using my magic to pry them away before they could complete their bro-splosion with a chest bump. "I’m putting that on your fucking gravestone, both of you. 'Died saving a book'."
"Yeah!" And they high fived again.
“Ivy,” Finn came up beside me, whispering with that soothing voice that always turned me to mush. The sugary buffet smell he was putting off was not helping either. “Honeybee, please. Let’s wait for Alias and the Fae warriors. They will aid us in this. I don’t…”
"Going in with an army will only lead to a war that we can't finish without the vampires," I said, earning myself a shocked look from both Howl and Finn. Tommy even stopped laughing. "We need the vampires to win this. Which means we have to get the book as secretly as possible."
"Spy mission!" The twins said together and gave each other another high five. This time Howl joined in.
“We don’t have a choice, Finn," I said, ignoring the frat house reunion that was apparently going to precede our suicide mission. "This is our chance. We have to go in, snatch that fucking book and get out of there as soon as possible. That way, we can get Saxon back and... you know the rest.”
Finn's amber eyes flicked out over the ocean of ants, all of the milling and marching in preparation for what they clearly thought was a victory. Most of them were drunk enough to already be celebrating, either that or all of Nicky's hybrids hadn't come out as planned.
"This will not end well," Finn said to himself, his hair lifting as his magic swelled.
"Yeah, and if I had to put money on it, I would say the Vampire Queen knew that," Tommy piped up, rolling a cigarette between his fingers like he was pulling more of the hatred in the army into it. "She wants the book. Doesn't care how. She was willing to work with Nicky for it, now she's holding her own prince hostage. I'm a demon and even I'm not that cold."
“That bitch probably wants us to die getting the book--that way she can keep her prince and not have to actually hold up her side of the bargain,” Howl remarked, all of us standing against the tree line now, right up against the tall pines as we peered down into the valley.
"Well, then, let's make sure that doesn't happen; lets Wizard of Oz this shit up." I pounded my fists together, straightened my shoulders and moved to head down the hill and attack me some flying monkeys, but everyone was looking at me like I was crazy.
Well, all but Tommy, who pushed his fists together and said, "I'm the mother fucking Tin Man," which confused everyone more.
Oh yeah, supernaturals live in their own world. You would think a story about magic witches and lions that talk would be right up their alley.
"We are going to head down there, everyone pull your own hybrid and attack them, steal their uniform and then we can walk into the camp and right to Nicky." I recited the basic plan I had seen in a million movies, awe, and understanding blossoming over their eyes as they nodded and smiled.
Okay, maybe the plan actually had a chance seeing as none of these guys had heard of it before.
"That's brilliant!" Evan said, lifting his hand for a high five.
"Thanks, I came up with it myself," I lied. Tommy collapsed into laughter as I gave Evan a high five and rolled my eyes. "Finn, can you disguise us down the mountain and to the edge of the camp? Give us the best possible chance to sneak in there."
He blew out a weighted breath, causing his golden hair to fan out where it lay across his forehead as he turned as if he expected the Fae army to show up here for some reason but even he knew it wasn't going to happen. That was more of a death wish than this plan.
“Yes. I’m with you no matter what.”
“Perfect. Let’s do this.”
We all scooted past the tree line and down to the very edge of the ridge where grass met sand. All that stood between us now was a sharp decline of dirt and a few sage bushes. The hybrids and witches that were milling around below us didn't even sense us. It was now or never.
Scarlet and the twins shifted, the small animals padding easily down the hill as the rest of us followed, Tommy's smoke swirled right behind Finn as though he was ready to catch him if he fell. We were almost to the first row of tents, to the small camp that was huddled around a long-dead fire.
Eight hybrids. Nearly the perfect amount. If we could take out all of them without pulling focus we would be in. Everyone changed their trajectory, clearly seeing what I had. Eight hybrids instead of eighty. This was going perfect-- with a high-pitched yelp, my bare heel hit a patch of sand and slid, one leg swinging left, the other right. It would have been quite the feat if I ha
d a drop of flexibility in me. Which I didn't. One minute we were on task, covert as fuck, and the next I was slipping, sliding, and tumbling end over bare end as the sky became the floor and sand flew in my face.
“Motherfucker!” I screamed, forgetting my own stealthy plan and earning myself a mouth full of dirt as punishment. I had clearly stumbled my way out of Finn's protective barrier, my shouts multiplying as the entire crowd, every single one of them, turned to me.
“Ivy,” Scarlet scream-whispered. “You were supposed to be fucking quiet and…” She made the face again.
“Good job, Ivy. You ruined your own plan before we even got started.” Tommy’s feet were half-smoke and half-human as he laughed and flicked a cigarette away, ready to fight.
“Well, might as well make the best of it. Why don't you get us started dickhead,” Howl growled, shoving Tommy in the back and sending him right toward the wall of hybrids that were ready to take us down.
Hybrid vampires bared their fangs while others shifted in place, sprouting fur and landing on all fours. I didn’t even recognize all of their animals. The scents of every type of supernatural grew thick in the air as they showed off their features. Some growled while others hissed or floated in the air, poised to come at me--come at us. They didn’t seem as surprised as I would’ve hoped, seeing as we came out of fucking nowhere.
Without a second thought, I ran at them, full-throttle, thinking, as usual, to attack before they attacked me.
Chapter 10
The bright blue tent was the last thing on my mind; well, I guess it was the first. The book was there. Now that Nicky and her posse, who were surely in the blue tent with the book, were aware of our arrival, our chance of getting it had turned to a snot’s chance in a toddler's nose.
We were about to be picked and flicked.
"Shit," I snarled as growling emanated from the army stretched before us, stopping me in my tracks. A few of them took tentative steps forward as if they were waiting for a bell to ring and the battle to begin.
