The Night Before Dead

by Kelly Meding

  “You’re half-human,” Astrid said.

  “I’m also half-Lupa and losing more of myself to that part every time I bi-shift. Every time I kill for the wolf inside of me.”

  She studied him with a bizarre mix of fear and respect. “Brevin will have to agree.”

  “Then ask him.” Those words came out on a terrifying growl. “But it won’t be the boys.”

  “Okay. I’ll ask.”

  Astrid left the room to do just that, leaving me alone with Wyatt. As alone as we could be with Ops going full-steam on the other side of the wall. I couldn’t seem to let go of Wyatt’s face. Couldn’t move at all, except for the faint trembling in my fingers.

  Trembling he recognized, and his entire face softened. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize.” I let him wrap me tight against his chest, my own palms flat to his shoulders. Unable to hold him back. “I actually do understand why you have to do this.”

  “You do?”

  “A few months ago, I wouldn’t have. I never used to believe in fate, or that things worked out a certain way for a reason, but you changed that in me. Your constant support and love changed that.” I raised my head to hold eye contact, because this was important. “I believe that Phin came crashing down on that car and scared us to death for a reason. I believe that Marcus chose to defend his people as a warrior rather than as a father for a reason. I believe that you died and rose again and were bitten by the Lupa for a fucking reason. And I believe the three of you will lead us to victory tomorrow.”

  Gentle adoration shone in Wyatt’s eyes, and his mouth quirked into a smile. “Knowing you believe it makes me believe it, too.”

  “Good. Now we just need to make sure both Milo and Phineas’s mystery lover believe it with their whole hearts.”

  “Make sure who believes what?” Phineas strode over from the entrance to Ops. Blood-free and in clean clothes, he watched us both with his head slightly cocked. “What going on?”

  I couldn’t make myself say it. The words got stuck in my throat.

  “Astrid said that after your kind, the Lupa were the next strongest choice as a Tainted host,” Wyatt said. “So I volunteered.”

  Phineas blinked hard several times, his shock almost comical because I’d never seen Phineas at a loss for words. He stared, lips pressed together, until I shifted my weight and his gaze dropped to me. His surprise turned to confusion. “And you haven’t talked him out of it?”

  Part of me wanted to. I wanted to take Wyatt and the boys and get the hell out of dodge before tomorrow morning, final battle be damned. But I knew neither of us could have lived with ourselves if we did that. Wyatt had been there at the start of Amalie’s deceptions, which led all the way back to the formation of the Triads. He wouldn’t leave, and I would never ask him to.

  Not after everything we’d been through.

  “Don’t faint,” I said, “but I agree with him.”

  “You do.”

  “Yes. He’s half-Lupa. He can bi-shift. He carries the blood line of a very strong, ancient race. He’s also Gifted, so he’s connected to the Break. He can do this.” I reached out and brushed my fingers lightly across Phin’s cheek. “All three of you can.”

  His fierce expression softened a fraction. “You are so unlike the woman I first met many months ago, Evangeline. Your spirit is stronger, your resolve more intact. You think with your heart and your head. I am honored to be your friend.” He looked past me to Wyatt. “And yours.”

  I half-expected Wyatt to growl. Instead, he extended his right hand. Phineas shook it in a sure grip, and my love for both of those men compounded.

  “Brevin has to agree,” Wyatt said.

  Phineas nodded. “He will. You are the logical choice.”

  A wash of pride flooded me. “And all three of you will have an army at your backs,” I said. “Shifters and humans, and if we’re lucky, the vampires will be able to assist us.”

  “Has anyone spoken to Eulan recently? Or Omal? Will the vampires join us?”

  Someone behind us cleared their throat. “We will,” said a familiar female voice.

  I spun out of Wyatt’s arms, a shot of joy carrying me the six long strides to where Isleen stood in the War Room doorway. She held tightly to Quince’s arm, another face was I crazy happy to see back at the Watchtower, and I froze before I actually did something ridiculous like try to hug her. Her complexion was nearly snow white, paler than any normal vampire, and she listed slightly, as though unsteady on her feet.

  She probably was, and doing her damnedest not to show weakness. Thackery’s virus had changed the infected vampires irrevocably. Isleen and the others were alive, but they were forever weakened.

  “I am so fucking happy to see you,” I said, my words for both of them.

  “Likewise, Evangeline,” Isleen said with a ghost of a smile on her lips. “When I went to sleep for the last time, I did not honestly expect to awaken in this world. I hear our survival is by your hand.”

  “No, it wasn’t me. An Apothi I know gave me the potion that saved your lives. All I did was deliver it.”

  “After a lengthy battle and at great cost.” Her smile dimmed. “I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.”

  My heart ached but I pushed it away. “Thank you. So your Families have agreed to help?”

  “They have,” Quince said. “It didn’t take as much convincing from Eulan as you’d expect. Our Fathers know what is at stake should the Fey succeed in wiping out mankind. We would very likely be next. This war will only be won if we band together. Vampire, Therian, human.”

  “Glad they figured that one out before the ball dropped.”

  He blinked. “What ball?”

  “Never mind.”

  “To bring a Tainted across the Break is an enormous risk,” Isleen said. “Your folklore calls my people monsters, but the Tainted are far worse. They are emotion and power and the thing of nightmares. If they are not contained properly, then we’ll have done the Fey’s work for them.”

  “We are well aware,” Phineas said.

  Isleen held his gaze a beat, then those lavender eyes met mine. “Do you trust the word of this elf Brevin, despite what his kin attempted?”

  “I do.” My lack of hesitation in answering must have helped her believe me, because she nodded again. “In a way, Tovin had the right idea but he went about it all wrong.”

  “And where is the Tainted that Tovin summoned?”

  I stared at Isleen, not understanding. Not until Wyatt went tense beside me and said, “Oh shit.”

  Months ago, Tovin had successfully summoned a Tainted across the Break—but instead of going into me, I dodged that bullet and the Tainted infected Tovin. Between me and Wyatt, we killed Tovin and trapped the Tainted inside of a black crystal prison. Amalie hid it with her kin, only to have it stolen by Walter Thackery. Thackery then ransomed it back to us, and we’d housed it in a lead-lined box at Boot Camp. But Boot Camp didn’t exist anymore, and it hadn’t for months.

  “What happened to everything from Boot Camp?” I asked. With the building of the Watchtower, our pursuit of Thackery, and the looming war with the Fey, I hadn’t given much thought to the research and modified weapons that had been taken out of the Research and Development building. “We took the box with us. Did it end up here?”

  Wyatt looked at Phineas, who only shrugged.

  “Where’s Gina?” I asked. “She might know.”

  “In her room,” Phineas replied.

  The fact that he knew that made me give him a hard stare. He returned it with is trademark poker face.

  Phin and Kismet? Now that’s an odd pairing….

  Instead of racing all over the universe to find her, I did the logical thing and used my phone. She picked up in the third ring. “Kismet.”

  “It’s Stone. When we were packing up Boot Camp back in July, we got the box that held the Tainted crystal, right?”

  “The Tainted crystal? Yes. Adrian had an inventor
y list of everything we put into storage. What do you need it for?”

  “A paperweight.” I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see it. “I don’t need it, but it just occurred to me that we had it.”

  “Do you think Brevin might find it useful?” Phineas asked.

  “I don’t know, but let’s ask him.”

  “Ask who what?” Kismet said.

  “Never mind,” I said to her. “We’re in Ops if you want to join the party. Your boyfriend’s here, too.”

  She made a squawking sound that I hung up on. Phineas’s poker face stayed on point.

  “Brevin has been here for days,” Isleen said. “Do you truly believe that no one thought to mention you have a Tainted in containment?”

  Only Isleen could make a simple question into a personal barb about my being slower than everyone else to grasp the obvious. So I did a nonchalant shrug. “I don’t know. And it’s not like I’ve ever had a sit-down with Brevin to discuss the particulars of tomorrow morning. I’d forgotten about our crystal-shaped Tainted hostage, that’s all.”

  “You want to help, Evy,” Wyatt said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  I grunted. “Isleen’s right, though. I’m sure Brevin knows about it. Maybe he can’t break the magic around it, or maybe he can’t use an already trapped demon. Who knows?”

  “You would be correct in that assumption.” Brevin’s voice made me jump. “While the Tainted’s continued entrapment is quite an impressive feat of both magic and human engineering, it has been removed from its power source for too long to be of any real use. The joining to the host would simply not take.”

  At least that answered that question.

  Brevin shuffled toward us, coming to a stop in front of Wyatt. He peered up, his long, narrow face more exaggerated from such an angle, but he studied Wyatt with a sharp gaze. “You are not fully Therian, and yet you wish to take this risk.”

  “Yes, I do,” Wyatt said. “I’ve overcome great odds, and I’ve cheated death dozens of times, and I believe in my heart that it was all to bring me to this point in time. This action.”

  “Good. That belief is what will help you control the being that will become a part of you. Any doubt or fear on your part will allow the Tainted to take control.”

  “I understand.”

  I squeezed Wyatt’s wrist, mostly to keep myself grounded. So much pride and love filled my heart, and I didn’t know what else to do with it. Despite spending the bulk of the past ten years out of the field, directing Hunters, he was as fierce a warrior as anyone else in the Watchtower.

  The sudden blaring of the perimeter alarms shattered the meaningful moment.

  Now what?

  Our entire group, sans Brevin, barreled into Ops. Rufus had an aerial map of the Watchtower grounds up on one of the big monitors, with dozens of tiny blue and red dots all over the building. Humans, Therians and vampires. In the lower left side of the screen, a large cluster of red was moving toward us.

  “What is that?” Wyatt asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Rufus replied.

  Astrid stormed the room with Marcus and Kyle hot on her heels. “Is it an attack?”

  “Unknown.” Rufus hit something on the console in front of him, and a second bank of monitors woke up. The six smaller screens flashed various views from exterior security cameras. The mall, the parking lot, even several of the nearby side streets. Other than a stray cat and one passing car, there was nothing.

  “There are at least three dozen warm-blooded creatures heading toward us in a group,” Astrid said, pointing a finger at the sensor map. “Where the hell are they?”

  “The sky,” Phineas said. Something in his voice made me look at him. He wasn’t worried or angry. Instead, his narrow face held a bizarre kind of relief.

  Without a word, he turned and ran. I followed without any real thought, vaguely aware of other footsteps behind me. He headed down the western corridor toward the gym area, then banked a sharp left to the old maintenance rooms and roof access. I half-expected him to rip off his shirt and fly to the top of the ladder, but something had him too excited (or freaked) to bother.

  I stayed right on his tail, up the metal ladder that kind of made me dizzy for its straight-up wrungs. He shoved the hatch open and disappeared through it.

  “Evy, be careful.” Wyatt, below me.

  I didn’t have any weapons on me, but something deep down told me I wouldn’t need any. I climbed through the hatch and swung out onto the gravel-covered roof. Phineas stood near the edge, his wings spread wide, staring south.

  And in the light of a nearly full moon, I saw them. Like a heavenly host of angels from on high, dozens of winged men and women were flying toward us, high in the sky and gradually dipping lower. The beauty of their wings stirred the air around us, and all I could do was stand next to Phineas and stare.

  “Coni?” Wyatt asked.

  Phineas nodded, his bright blue eyes shimmering with emotion.

  “I thought you said you didn’t find any,” I said.

  “I didn’t.” Phineas made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. “Someone else did.”

  He pointed. I followed the trajectory of his finger to a woman flying at the very front of the flock. Long, brown spirals of hair, gorgeous white and gray wings. As she drew closer, I started to laugh, too. And maybe shed a tear or three.

  Aurora was home, and she’d brought backup.

  Chapter Eight

  10:40

  I lost count of the number of Coni who landed on the roof, all in bi-shift, and all wearing very similar outfits. The men were bare-chested, while the women wore what looked like leather bikini tops. All wore knee-length leather pants that disappeared into rustic boots, and I’d have laid money on those clothes behind hand-made. Deadly-looking forged blades hung from their hips by leather straps. They had the same familiar features as Phineas and Aurora—the narrow faces, sharp cheekbones, and piercing blue eyes. Long, wild hair on the women and many of the men.

  They were beautiful.

  Aurora stepped forward from the flock, her cheeks blazing and panting slightly. I’d seen her in bi-shift only once before, and she looked even more the fierce warrior she’d been that night. She stood with a confidence I didn’t remember, power rippling beneath her skin.

  She stared at me with open shock. “Evangeline?”

  “Surprise,” I said.

  “You’re not dead.”

  “No, and neither is Marcellus Dane. I’m so sorry you had to see that deception.”

  She shook her head, blinking hard. Her questions stayed silent, though, because she turned her attention to Phineas. He went to her and swept her smaller body into his arms. Their wings closed around them, as if joining the embrace. Keeping their reunion private for a moment.

  Behind them, the other Coni stood silent, staring. They were starting to give me the creeps, so I glanced behind me to see who’d come up. Wyatt, Astrid, Marcus, Quince, and Kismet stood in a wide circle near the roof access.

  One of the Coni hissed, and the sound broke up Aurora and Phineas’s hug. A tall, black-winged man with inky hair had gone rigid, his attention fixed over my left shoulder.

  Wyatt. Coni and Lupa were not a good mix.

  I shifted sideways to stand directly in front of Wyatt and bared my own teeth.

  Aurora held up a silencing hand, and the man went silent.

  Damn, girl.

  She approached us with open concern. “I’ve explained Wyatt’s condition to them, but the reaction is very instinctual. They’ve lived away from mankind for many generations.”

  “Where did you find them?” Phineas asked. He looked like he was trying very hard not to cry, and I didn’t blame him. For a long while, Phineas believed that Aurora’s daughter Ava would be the last of the Coni, and now at least three dozen had flown in from gods knew where.

  “Greece,” Aurora replied. “On a small island in the Sea of Crete.”

  “You’ve been gon
e such a short time. How did you find them?”

  “I’ll tell you everything, I promise.” She looked past us both. “Astrid, may we come inside?”

  “Only you for now,” Astrid replied. “Everyone else can remain up here with Marcus and Quince.”

  Aurora nodded. “I appreciate your caution.”

  By the time we all reconvened in the War Room—plus the addition of Rufus, Kyle, and Paul—my questions were bouncing around in my head like pinballs. No one sat, but Aurora stood at the head of the table like she’d been holding meetings like this her entire life. The shy, terrified were-kestrel I knew from before was gone, replaced by a warrior.

  “Where are Ava and Joseph?” I asked.

  “I left Ava with trusted friends on the island,” Aurora replied, her song-bird voice clear and strong. “She’ll be well looked after.”

  “And Joseph?”

  Grief bracketed her eyes. “Joseph lived to the end of his life. He passed three days ago.”

  Wyatt’s arm slid around my waist, and I leaned into him. The news didn’t surprise me, but it still hurt.

  “How did you find the Coni?” Astrid asked. Business as usual.

  “They found us,” Aurora said. “When we fled the Dane house, we were uncertain where to go. No place seemed safe, so Joseph and I decided to leave the country entirely. We flew to Europe, occasionally stowing away on freight vessels to rest. Joseph was the one who wanted to see Greece. He said he wanted to live his final days near clear water, eating good food.”

  The affection in her voice made my throat tighten with unshed tears.

  “We spent much of our time in our true forms, flying and fishing and being happy. And then one day we met an eagle that had no business living in Greece. His name was Pike. He’s the man with the black wings who hissed at Wyatt.”

  Wyatt grunted.

  “I never expected to meet more Coni, so I was shocked to be brought to their island. Hundreds of our people are there. Many have spent their lives in their true forms, but they remember how to bi-shift. When I explained who we were and what was happening here, a clutch of warriors volunteered to help. After Joseph passed, we began the journey back to this city.”