by Cecy Robson
I huddle closer, seeking her warmth. “I was just wondering that myself. Destiny is stronger than anyone ever gave her credit for. My concern is, she may not be enough. She arrived earlier today. Johnny has had weeks to infiltrate the compound.” I make a face. “He’s dug his magic deep into the ground and polluted the air with it. This place is no longer Genevieve’s. He’s claimed it as his.
Celia and Shayna startle when the wolves’ heavy paws ground to an abrupt halt. The echo of snapping jaws follows several rounds of hissing whimpers.
“What the hell was that?” I ask.
Shayna looks at Celia. “I don’t know. Something with seven, maybe nine dangly boobies.”
Celia holds up her hand, stopping her. “They’re tails, Shayna.”
Shayna makes a face. “You sure, Ceel? They sound all floppy.” She makes a bouncy motion with her hands in front of her chest. “You know, kind of like when you or Taran run really fast and forget to wear bras.”
“I don’t forget to wear a bra,” I say over Celia’s insistence that they’re tails.
Shayna raises her brows and gives me a once-over. I jerk the front of my dress down. “It’s a wrap-around,” I say, pointing.” I tuck my breasts back in the cups and adjust the stupid thing. “It’s not practical given my cup size, but it works with the dress.”
“If you say so, T.”
What sounds like an audible explosion of multiple zits follows. Shayna groans. “It’s like, squirting them with milk.”
I hold out my hands. “I can do without the visual, Shayna.”
Celia is ready to be sick. “They’re tails, Shayna. Oh,” she says. She covers her ears at the sound of more squirting. “I think whatever they’re fighting is poisonous. It’s bursting with venom. I can smell it.”
“Are you sure it’s not breast milk?” I ask, shooting Shayna a look.
“T, believe it or not, guessing sounds from this distance with so many superbads isn’t easy,” Shayna replies. “And seeing what we’ve seen in just the past hour, I wouldn’t put it past Johnny to send something with multiple boobs after us.”
I shake a finger at her. “All right. I’ll give you that one.”
“I want to believe Destiny can defeat Johnny,” Emme says.
She rises from where she was touching the ground. Emme can’t sense magic like Celia and I can. Hell, even Shayna’s better at it since Koda gifted her with some of his wolf. But this time, it’s different. The longer we’re exposed to Johnny’s power, the more familiar it becomes.
“I want to believe it too, Em,” I tell her. I motion around us. “Maybe with a little help from her friends, she’ll be able to.”
The abrupt silence announces the creature’s defeat. There’s a temporary pause before the wolves resume their frantic pace toward us.
We remain vigilant for the next few minutes, my heart leaping to my throat when a giant red blur clears the brush and rushes Shayna.
Chapter Sixteen
Shayna drops her sword and wraps her arms around Koda’s massive neck. Blood drenches his fur. Some is his. Some is definitely not.
“We’re all right, Puppy,” Shayna tells him. He growls softly. “No, cutie. Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
Gemini’s twin wolf follows. I all but cry when he barrels toward me. “Hey, bud,” I say. “You had me worried.” I cuddle him close, the terror I pushed down finally releasing.
Aric and Gemini rush through the stand of trees in human form, the weres with them surround us, forming a blockade. I don’t count them, they’re too fast and too many. Still, there’s far less than when we first began.
I take in the feel of Gemini as he wraps his strong body around me. “You’re alive.” He says it as if he still needs to believe it.
“You are too,” I say, gripping his shoulders. My body shudders. It’s freezing. He rubs my back, trying to warm me.
The past few hours were horrific at best, and the end is nowhere near. If we live through this mess, I’ll sort through the trauma piece by piece like always. For now, I’ll take the momentary reprieve my mate offers.
Celia wipes her eyes, watching Aric as he stands a few feet away taking her in with all the love he feels for her. He seems close to tears, but anger and relief remain the most prevalent in his features.
Aric runs to her, cradling one arm around her shoulders and the other around her baby bump. His nose skims along the top of her head, taking in her scent to tame and settle his beast. “I’ve torn the compound apart looking for you. I thought you were taken, or hurt or—”
“I’m all right,” she whispers. “My sisters took care of me.”
He meets her gaze, wiping something I can’t see from her cheek. “You were fighting.”
She smiles softly. “You were too,” she tells him.
“I’m supposed to,” he says.
Guilt weighs heavily in his tone. “I lost my mind when we found the boathouse destroyed. I couldn’t find any trace of you. Where did you go?”
“We never made it there, love,” she tells him. “The spell Genevieve helped Taran design was meant to take us to a safe place. The boathouse wasn’t safe anymore, and the spell transported us here.”
Aric swallows hard. “Good…that’s good. What remained of the boathouse was nothing more than burnt splinters.”
“It wasn’t me,” I interject. “Not everything that blows up and burns in my fault.”
Aric smirks. “We know, Taran. Your magic carries a very distinct and angry scent.” He stops smiling. “This wasn’t anything like it.”
“It was more akin to Johnny Fate, wasn’t it?” I ask.
Darkness shadows his features, and the wolves guarding us snarl with resentment. “Yeah. You were right. The Fate is among us.” He grunts, annoyed. “I challenged him to combat more than once, yelling like a fool for him to appear.”
I roll my eyes. “He won’t appear. He’s too much of coward and will let his pets fight for him.”
“Pets?” Gemini asks.
“Or Nytes, like he calls them.” I catch everyone up on what I saw in the manor and what occurred in the greenhouse. We should probably head someplace safe and talk this madness through. Except, from what the weres describe, there is no safe place.
“Where’s Tye?” I ask when I finish.
“He left us to search for Destiny,” Gemini tells me. His finger trails along my jaw. “We haven’t seen him in hours.”
“Do you think he’s…” This is yet another moment where I can’t get the words out.
“If he was, she’d be gone, and the entire state would feel her end.”
“Good point,” I agree. One more reason to hope Destiny makes it. Nature would respond in turn, and the entire West Coast would be affected.
“Where should we go now?” Celia asks.
“Not back to the lake,” Aric says.
“Maybe we should,” I say. My gaze skips to Celia. I’m not sure I should share what I do, but it’s worth a try. “Celia says the lake is calling to her.”
“It always calls to her in a way, reminding her it’s there to grant her peace,” Aric says. “That doesn’t mean it actually wants her present.”
“That’s what I thought at first,” Celia admits. “But then, just now, I felt it trying to fight Johnny, love.”
The weres growl and snap their jaws, responding to what Celia says and eager to rejoin the fight. Aric silences them with a look. “It’s not a good idea, sweetness. Me and Gemini swam out there, searching for you. The ward extending into the lake won’t come down, and the Elders can’t get through it. The lake may be surging in power and fighting what’s there, but it isn’t enough, not yet.”
“There are sea creatures in the water, more of the Fate’s creations,” Gemini informs us. “Tahoe has begun breaking them apart, but they’re still alive and deadly. And like Aric says, the ward is impenetrable.”
“Do you think the lake would allow Celia through the ward?” I ask. “I mean, it totally l
oves her.”
Okay. That might be a gross exaggeration. Tahoe was once a booming area filled with supernatural creatures. When the Native American weres inhabiting the area were forced out, the magic of Tahoe disappeared with them. But over the last few decades, its magic has surged, making it among the most potent sources of magic on Earth and drawing supernaturals back to the area. I think that’s why we ultimately ended up here. The lake was the one place that always brought Celia peace.
“Taran, we can’t count on the lake allowing Celia through,” Gemini says. “We’ve been dealing with magic meant to do good only for it to try and kill us. I think that’s why the sea creatures weren’t immediately destroyed by the lake’s purity, and why it won’t allow us through the wards. The lake senses the good magic intermixing with the bad.”
I press my head against his chest. “It’s confusing the lake,” I conclude. “It’s not sure whether to embrace it or punish.”
Gemini nods. “Yes. Johnny is no fool.”
Bren emerges from between the weres. I noticed him right away. I also noticed him purposely keeping his distance. “T, you were closest to that little bitch. Do you know how he created them?” He didn’t take anything he heard well and takes a moment to glare at Bridette’s corpse. “These creatures outnumber us and shouldn’t exist under our natural law.”
Shayna continues to smooth Koda’s fur. He’s deadlier in his wolf form and wants to stay that way in case Shayna needs him. “The presence of Fates and Destinies disrupt natural law, dude,” she reminds him. “Maybe that’s all little Johnny needed.”
“Maybe,” Bren says, his voice rough with pain. “But this is some fucked-up shit he’s pulling. Fate or not, you don’t mess with the natural order. Not without it coming back to gnaw on his throat.”
“Eventually, it will. We just don’t have the time to wait,” Aric says. He isn’t any happier and is only maintaining his composure for Celia’s sake. “Fate is playing with us, weakening our defenses. We’ve had our asses handed to us, and he’s not done. That vampire that went after you shouldn’t possess wings, period. He called himself a god. Is that what Fate is making now?”
“It’s what he claimed, but who knows,” I say. “The vamp was cocky as hell. He could have easily been blowing smoke. We didn’t get a look at his back. Johnny may have tattooed him and gave those wings life, similar to what he does on himself.”
Gemini meets Bren square in the face. “What do you get from the vamp?”
Bren has the best nose in the pack. It doesn’t seem to help him this time. He kicks at the pieces of leftover vamp and scratches his scruffy beard. “Can’t tell. What’s left doesn’t give me much. The wings were maybe real, but I don’t sense anything godlike about him. Not in this state.”
“I’ve never smelled anything that could be interpreted as godlike,” Gemini says, clutching me when the breeze picks up. “Except the events of the evening have taught us we can’t dismiss the impossible.”
Emme tilts her head. “If Johnny is making gods, they’re not as powerful as they should be. I mean, not if Bridette could kill him.”
“That’s true,” Gemini agrees. “But these things are evolving, growing smarter every time they fight us. If they’re learning, so is Johnny.”
“Which means eventually he could indeed create a god,” I say.
The weres growl, mimicking the collective feel of the group. Bren is the only one who doesn’t join in, staring at the remains of the vampire as if he’s missing something important. If possible, he looks worse than before. I ease away from Gemini, worried.
Emme stays near Shayna and Koda. It’s the farthest she can be from Bren without joining the weres guarding us. “Why haven’t you healed him?” I whisper.
Bren freezes. He and everyone can hear me, but it’s Emme’s reply that causes his muscles to tighten. “He doesn’t want me to touch him, Taran.”
Gemini shakes his head slowly, making it clear to me that now is not the time to go all “Taran” on him.
Celia looks up. “Misha,” she says.
Aric releases her slowly. He doesn’t want to, but also doesn’t want her upset.
Misha and Ileana emerge, his bodyguards Hank and Tim flanking them, and the naughty Catholic schoolgirls strutting behind them. The schoolgirls still have their damn stilettos on. I’ve been barefoot for what seems like hours, and here they are, runway walking along the grass save for Edith Anne, who’s…jumping rope?
Ileana is completely naked. In girlfriend’s defense, she didn’t have much on to start with. Misha ditched his jacket, and his shirt is filthy and torn. His long blond hair drifts around him in the breeze, and blood and dirt smear his face. Somehow, he still looks good. It must be nice being immortal.
His steady pace slows as Celia reaches him. Aric shadows her. I think it takes everything that wolf has not to snap Misha’s wrists and toss them at his feet when he kisses her hands.
“You are well?” he asks.
Celia nods, the smile she greets him with fading “How many did you lose?”
Hank spits what looks like a finger on the ground. “Too many. What’ve you got?”
Aric and Gemini update the vamps. I keep my eyes on Edith Anne. Out of all the she-vamps in naughty Catholic schoolgirl clothing, Edith is the most… Hmm, what’s a good word for it? Oh, yes, nuts.
She jumps along in circles, her skin oddly pale for someone who regularly sunbathes naked, and her features are giddy in the most psycho way possible.
Ileana glides her hand down her face, wiping the blood coating her skin. She takes several long, appreciative licks, grinning when several weres pause guard duty to watch.
She slides her tongue between her fingers and laughs. “I don’t know, mighty wolf,” she says, addressing Aric. Amid the chaos and bloodshed, her Russian accent remains delightful and flirty. “These Nytes, as you call them, don’t taste like anything I’ve ever sucked on.”
Given all the skilled lickin’ she’s doing, I agree she must have sucked her share of things in this life.
“We tasted blood, heavy with magic,” Aric tells her. “But there’s something else.”
The were closest to us drools when Ileana takes another swipe at her face and resumes her rather enthusiastic licking. Gemini shoots him a warning glare, and he quickly resumes his watch.
“Mm, tasty,” Ileana says. It doesn’t matter that her hair is doused with body fluids. She tosses it back, her taut nipples pointing north when she moans. “The Fate’s power is delicious.” She grimaces, somehow maintaining her allure despite her sudden displeasure. “The other component isn’t good. It borders on poison.”
“Then why aren’t you sick?” Shayna asks.
Ileana smiles, regarding Shayna as if she’s the most important thing on earth. She has a gift of doing that. It’s more than her vampire charm; it’s a tactic meant to attract and make others want to please her. She perfected it centuries ago by the looks of it, and works it unfairly well. “My precious mistress of weaponry, what an excellent question you ask,” she begins.
Wow, layering the phony adoration with a title. Nice touch.
Ileana winks at me before continuing. She knows that I recognize what she’s up to. “Poison doesn’t affect me. I’m too old to be taken by such piddly methods. But while the taste reminds me of poison, it’s not what it is.”
“No,” Gemini agrees. “It’s different from the scorpion creatures we fought on the way here.”
Shayna stops stroking Koda. “Scorpion creatures?”
Bren rolls his eyes. “Yeah, you should have seen them. They were total freaks. One, the female, I’m guessing, had tits all along her underbelly. They dug grooves into the ground every time she moved.”
Shayna shoots a rather snarky look our way. Celia doesn’t notice, placing her hand on Aric’s arm to draw his attention. “There are females and males,” she says.
Aric knows where she’s headed. “Yeah, and they have all the parts from what we can
tell. I don’t know if they can use them, or if they’re for show. But if they can, they’ll be able to breed. It’s not enough to get you out of here, love. We have to kill everything here.”
Ileana stretches her arms. “Unless they kill us all first, beloved alpha.”
I should pay closer attention to the conversation, but Edith Anne is seriously wigging me out. I start for her without thinking only to stop when I realize that’s not a rope she’s skipping with.
“Edith,” I say. “Why the hell are you jumping rope with intestines?”
Ordinarily, I would be met with several eye rolls and more than my share of insults. The remaining Catholic schoolgirls regard me with neither. They exchange looks before Agnes steps forward. “We encountered several winged serpents. Some had claws, others tusks, like boars. All were poisonous. Edith was struck multiple times.” She shrugs. “She’ll heal. The master said she would.”
“Why isn’t she sick?” I ask. “Vomiting or something?”
Agnes adjusts her tiny librarian glasses, blinking her almond eyes at me as if I shouldn’t ask. Her ponytails are askew, and her full lips pressed tight. She’s acting tough, but I can tell she’s worried about Edith. “From what I’ve determined, the poison contains parasites.”
Emme stops in place. “Parasites? As in worms?” she stammers. She turns to me. “I can’t heal that.”
“Nor should you try, sweet Emme,” Misha warns. “As a vampire, they won’t affect Edith like they will you.”
I take a step back. I don’t do worms, especially of the supernatural element. “Relax,” Agnes tells me. “They’ll crawl out of her brain sooner or later.”
“Jesus God,” I say, holding up my hands. “I’m going to stop your right there.”
“Nyte has come…” Edith sings.
Okay, she has everyone’s attention now.
“Nyte will kill… Nyte will open up your gills…”
Shayna leans in. “Gills?” she questions.
“I don’t want to know,” I admit.
“You can’t run…”
