The Night Before Dead

by Kelly Meding

  “I just got here from the meeting and saw something going down,” Paul said. “As soon as I saw the boys were involved, I got Truman.”

  It was bizarre to hear Paul refer to a trio of sixteen year-olds as “boys” when he was only a day past nineteen himself.

  “Alejandro?” I said.

  “I was eating by myself,” he said. “I wasn’t involved, I swear.”

  Alejandro was one of our newest human recruits to the Watchtower. Newest meaning only a week or so. He’d been trained as a Hunter, and then basically orphaned when our training camp was destroyed. He’d tracked me down on the streets and kind of begged for work. So far he’d proven himself honest, capable, and loyal—if a little too earnest.

  “They started teasing us,” Mark said. His face was flushed, eyes bright. I wasn’t used to seeing the pups angry. “All three of them. They called us mongrels, said we should have been put down like our brothers.”

  That got a seriously dangerous growl from Wyatt that made all three Therians take a full step backward.

  “What happened to John?” I asked.

  “The cat.” Mark pointed at the Felia, his expression thunderous. “He asked John what it was like to submit to Vale as his captive, and John lost it.”

  My own temper was starting to peak at dangerous levels. John had been kidnapped, beaten, and traumatized only a few days ago. Even with their faster healing rate, the kid still had a lot of mental shit to work through. PTSD didn’t bypass Therians.

  The fucktwat Felia was on his back, blood spurting from his nose before I felt the impact shock through my knuckles and up my arm. I glared down at him, breathing hard from adrenaline, seriously itching to kick the fucker while he was down. “How dare you?”

  “Evangeline, stop.” John’s broken voice penetrated my fog of anger.

  I turned. He looked up at me, eyes wide and fearful, skin terribly pale. “Are you okay?”

  “No. But please, no more violence because of me. There’s been too much.”

  I squatted next to him, which gave me a good view of just how furious Wyatt was—full silver eyes, check. Constant guttural growl, check. I squeezed John’s shoulder, pleased he didn’t shrink from my touch. “You’re Wyatt’s family, John, which makes you my family. And I don’t let asswipes like that hurt my family.”

  “He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t even touch me.”

  “You can hurt with words, too.” I looked at Mark and Peter. “You boys aren’t in any trouble. You either, John. But you three.” I leveled a deadly glare on the trio of cowering Therians. “You can report straight to Astrid about why your nose is broken. And if I hear anything different than the truth from her, I’ll give you a broken jaw to go with it.”

  All three scampered off, and it might have been funny if I wasn’t still so pissed.

  “They’ll never accept us,” Peter said. “Will they?”

  “They isn’t a person,” I replied. “Felia and Lupa are enemies to their core. It’s instinctive for Felia to lash out, but they’re also in enough control of their beast to keep that instinct in check. There is no excuse for how you were treated.”

  “I think they’re scared of us too,” John said. “We’re more dangerous to humans than any other Therian.”

  “Maybe, but no Therian poses the same threat level to humans as the vampires, and they still exist freely.”

  “You three deserve a safe life,” Wyatt said. His voice was thick and growly, as if he was still struggling to keep his beast under control. “I promised it to you when you agreed to live here under my protection, and I’m promising it again.”

  “Thank you.” John glanced up at his brothers, who both nodded their agreement.

  My hand twinged as I stood. I’d managed to split a knuckle when I punched that cat in the nose. Add it to the long list of healing wounds. I wouldn’t have minded taking another swing at the bastard, and that kind of surprised me.

  I don’t know when it happened, but I cared about those Lupa pups.

  God help anyone who tried to hurt them again.

  Chapter Five

  18:30

  Instead of taking my bad mood out on Wyatt or anyone else, I helped him get the pups back to our apartment, and then I hit the gym. More specifically, I hit one of the heavy bags in the gym. A lot. For a long time. Until my arms felt like jelly and I’d worked up a pretty gross sweat.

  I took off my gloves and threw them hard at the far wall. They didn’t give me the satisfying thud I wanted. I landed a good roundhouse kick on the bag, then dropped three more. It wasn’t enough. The anger was still there, simmering beneath the surface like molten lava, waiting for the right crack to be released.

  “I imagine you’re picturing my face on that bag.” Phineas’s voice drifted over, at once a calming balm and a crack on an already shaky surface.

  “Not just yours.” I turned, careful not to glare. He stood near the gym’s entrance, arms loose by his sides. “I’m pissed at a lot of people right now, including myself.”

  “Why are you angry at yourself?”

  “Because I can’t do anything to help this time.” The unexpectedly honest reply shattered my resistance, and that furious lava boiled up and out. I punched the bag with my bare knuckles, hard enough to split more skin.

  Arms like steel bands wrapped around my waist and hauled me back, still swinging, trying to exorcise the fear and helplessness that were being masked as rage. Phineas held me until I stopped struggling and sagged against his chest.

  “I can’t fucking do anything,” I said. “I can’t volunteer to host one of the Tainted, because it would tear me apart, Gifted or not. You know me, Phin. I’m a soldier. I fight, I don’t sit by and watch others fight for me.”

  “You are a born warrior, Evangeline, as am I.”

  “Is that why you volunteered?”

  “Partly. My people were once the strongest, fiercest of all Therian warriors. Fighting is in our blood.”

  “I get that. But you could die.”

  “I know.” He turned me around, hands solid weights on my shoulders. “We could both die at any moment. But I’m also doing this for Aurora and Ava. I want to give them a safe world to live their lives, even if it means sacrificing my own.”

  “Aurora wouldn’t want you to.”

  “I know. In a way, I’m glad she’s disappeared. Perhaps she’ll never learn how close to Armageddon we’ve come.”

  “Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck here staring Armageddon up the ass and pretending we aren’t all scared to death of what it’s going to shit out.”

  “I so missed your colorful phrasing while I was away.” Phineas’s smile was tinged with sadness. “Bi-shifters are the strongest candidates as Tainted hosts. I have no wife or children to risk leaving behind.”

  “No, just a bunch of friends who love your self-sacrificing ass.”

  “I love you, as well. You are a cherished friend.”

  “Ditto. So maybe do your best not to be overtaken or destroyed or whatever by this demon you’re going to host.”

  “I’ll do my best.” His hands fell to his sides. “I must admit, I was surprised when Marcus volunteered to do it in place of his sister.”

  “I’m not. The idiot is so noble he bleeds it.”

  “I imagine his conversation with Milo will be a difficult one.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to go over like a brick to the head.” I wanted to check on Milo, but he might not be finished strangling Marcus yet. I’d never been close enough to Marcus or Astrid to pose the question, but there wasn’t much I was afraid to say to Phin’s face. “Are there very many gay Therians?”

  “Few that I’m aware of, but homosexual urges exist in most species on this planet. For us, however, short life spans require frequent reproduction. Our Clans are already quite small compared to other species. Most would be classified as close to extinction if we were known to the general public. Marcus made a brave choice in his decision not to marry and to be open abou
t his feelings for another male.”

  “A very human male.”

  Phineas smiled, showing off wickedly white teeth. “We cannot control who our heart chooses.”

  Something in the soft inflection of his voice made me wonder how personal that statement was. “Phineas el Chimal, are you seeing someone?”

  “Seeing someone?” He blinked at me. “I’m seeing you.”

  “No, not literally, you dork. Are you dating someone? Interested in? Have a crush on?” I needed good gossip. Happy news.

  His lips twitched. “Perhaps.”

  “Really? Who?”

  “No. She threatened to gouge my eyes out with a dull spoon if I told anyone, and I risk her wrath by telling you this much.”

  I planted both hands on my hips. “That’s mean. If I guess right, will you tell me?”

  “No.”

  “Spoil sport. I could always ask Wyatt to smell you.”

  “Pardon me?”

  Phin’s affronted look made me laugh. “Come on, Therians are always sniffing everybody, and if one more person says I smell like Wyatt, I am going to break their face.”

  For a moment, Phineas seemed seriously worried I’d sic Wyatt on him, so I backed off.

  “Okay, fine, I won’t try to find out who you’re seeing,” I said. “I’m sure she’ll tear a strip off your hide later for volunteering.”

  “Yes, I was hoping to avoid that conversation for as long as possible. Your wrath, while powerful, is far less devastating.”

  Sounds as if he really likes whoever she is.

  A tiny part of me was jealous of this mystery lover, but most of me was happy for Phineas. He deserved someone special in his life for however much time he had. “Well, if you need a bodyguard, let me know.”

  “I doubt it will come to that, but I appreciate the offer.” He clasped one of my hands with his. “I know how difficult this will be for you, watching those you care about sacrifice for you when you’re used to being the one sacrificing herself for others.”

  I held tight, grateful for his comforting touch. “I used to think I wanted to die fighting, defending my friends or innocent lives. I used to want to go out in a blaze of bloody glory and take my enemies down with me.”

  “And now?”

  “I want a beach. I want quiet. I want someone to bring me fruity drinks with umbrellas in them. And I want to be there with Wyatt, for the rest of our lives.”

  “If I’ve learned anything about you, Evangeline Stone, it’s that when you set your mind on something, you get it. Hold on tightly to that dream until it comes true.”

  “Thank you.”

  A soft growl from my right announced Wyatt’s arrival before I spotted him glaring at us from the gym’s entrance. Phineas, in an interesting display of dominance, lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles before releasing me.

  “We’ll speak again soon,” he said.

  “Definitely.”

  Phineas had to circle around Wyatt to leave the gym. Wyatt’s glare softened into a grimace as he walked to me. “Sorry.”

  “Sorry for what? Growling at Phin?”

  “Well, not exactly. He was touching you.”

  “Platonically, you jealous idiot.”

  “I’m sorry for growling because of the conversation you were probably having. Phineas is your friend, and he’s chosen a dangerous assignment.”

  “Yeah, well, apparently someone else is going to be giving him hell for that later.” I filled him in on Phineas’s avoidance of the dating topic. “I am insanely curious now. Phin has always been so…I don’t know. I mean, I know he had a wife and child once, but he’s so much about work and being a warrior and stuff.”

  “And you’re not?”

  “Yeah, well I have you, don’t I?” I planted a kiss on his mouth. “What have you been up to?”

  “Discussing engagement tactics with Astrid. According to Brevin, the magic necessary to bring the Tainted across the Break will be enough to get Amalie’s undivided attention, no matter where she is in the world. So when this goes down, the rest of us have to be ready.”

  “Oh joy. How the hell do you fight sprites and sylphs?”

  “Amalie’s human avatar is dead, but she’s apparently powerful enough to commandeer another one as long as their mind is weak or distracted enough. So we could end up facing an army of sprites in human bodies.”

  I groaned. Not good. Sprites are tiny things, maybe four feet tall, with colorful hair and jewel-encrusted skin. Not physically powerful, but they made up for it with magic. Amalie and her bodyguard Jaron used to make contact by telepathically taking over the minds of human beings and using their bodies for a while. The human apparently remembered nothing about it, but some of them went a little crazy due to all of the lost time.

  The very last thing we needed was to try and battle magically-controlled humans. We didn’t kill humans. Not on purpose. “But aren’t the Fey supposed to be pacifists? Would they do that?”

  “I don’t honestly know, Evy. Amalie said so herself in First Break, but it could have been a total lie. She’s deceived us before.”

  “True. What about her other followers? Gnomes, fairies, pixies? Are there dwarves? Tell me there aren’t dwarves.”

  “Gnomes are healers. They won’t engage, and Horzt even said they’re going north, away from the city. According to Brevin—and I’m taking his word because I’ve never seen a pixie before—are kind of like butterflies with razor teeth and venom. Too many bites can leave a person paralyzed.”

  “Peter Pan would not be pleased.”

  Wyatt snorted.

  “So can’t we create some kind of magical, anti-fairy bug spray or something?” I asked.

  “Astrid is looking into it.”

  “Oh. Really?” Here I thought I was being funny. “Okay then.”

  “And, unfortunately, yes, dwarves do exist, and they’re apparently a close cousin race to goblins.”

  “You have got to be shitting me.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “They were described as hair-covered goblins, similar in size, who walk much like a gorilla. They’re able to go on two feet, but move more quickly on all fours. The same long, sharp claws, but they lack the teeth.”

  “Dwarves are hairy goblins.” I rolled my eyes. “My second life is now complete.”

  “Wouldn’t Tolkien be surprised?”

  “About my life?”

  That got a genuine smile out of him. “About what dwarves really look like. But I suppose legend was correct about their love of caves. Apparently dwarves spend most of their lives underground, digging for precious metals and diamonds.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I’m repeating what I was told. Brevin says dwarves have a serious weakness for diamonds. Aside from being photophobic, diamonds will stop them in their tracks, and they are totally mesmerized by the glittering.”

  “Oh good, I’ve always wanted to go into battle wearing a diamond tiara.” I let go of my sarcasm long enough to catch what else he said. “Wait, photophobic?”

  “Even more than vampires. Because they spend most of their lives underground, their skin is incredibly sensitive to light, and even with their eyes shut, sunlight blinds them into immobility.”

  “So our best chance of winning is if we start this pissing match first thing in the morning on a sunny day.”

  “Correct.”

  “Then let’s hope no one tries to start shit today. It’s supposed to rain into the evening.”

  The thought did not fill me with joy. Nor did the realization that the magic memory potion Astrid had sent me to fetch was probably still in the car, waiting to be used on them. As my anger and adrenaline waned, an unwanted flash of anxiety jolted through me. The Frosts needed to be dealt with, but I still hesitated in using magic on them. Something could very easily go terribly wrong.

  Aches in my fingers stole me back to the situation at hand. I’d beaten the hell out of a bag without gloves, not long after breaking that asshat Ther
ian’s nose, and I was feeling it. Wyatt slipped an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him.

  “You know something?” he asked quietly.

  “What?”

  “I’d love to see you go into battle wearing a diamond tiara.”

  I laughed, then pinched his ass, and for a brief moment, everything was okay.

  Astrid wasn’t happy about me punching that Felia, but she also didn’t pitch much of a fit. Wyatt and I grabbed a quick lunch, then returned to the apartment to be with the boys for a while. We didn’t have anything to do until orders were given, or we were sent on patrol, and I wasn’t about to remind Astrid of the memory potion, so we watched TV.

  It was really weird, but also really fucking nice as a change of pace.

  In the middle of the afternoon, our phones both dinged with a message from Ops. An Equi named Boone had volunteered to be the third host. I’d met him a handful of times in passing. He was young, only five years old, and a Clydesdale-shifter so the guy was huge in both forms. Three volunteers meant Brevin was contacting his kin, so we were expecting two more elves among us by the end of the day.

  I wasn’t sure if that was good news or the start of the end of times.

  No more goblins had been spotted at the junkyard, so with help from the owners, the sewer access was permanently sealed shut and the VW bus cleaned up. Ops was still working on matching the remains to missing persons reports, but chances were good that the victims had been homeless and no one was missing them.

  A little after three p.m., whatever program we were mindlessly watching on TV flashed to a news report.

  “We apologize for this interruption of your regular programming,” an old guy with white hair said, hands clutching sheets of paper. His co-anchor was a blond lady who looked a little shell-shocked. “We have just received word that the Coliseum in Rome has crumbled to the ground.”

  I sat up straighter.

  “The hell?” Wyatt said.

  “Reports state that the ground near the Coliseum began to shake, and large parts of the structure began falling away and shattering. Hundreds of tourists are currently trapped inside of the debris.”