Jake held up a hand. “Whoa, hold on there. You’re staying with Sev. This is no place for you. We don’t know what kind of danger might be—”
Zak silenced him with a glare. “These are our people. I am their leader. It is my choice. Casey will return to his home, gather up what he needs to keep Mikhail safe while you and I return home. There will be no discussion in this.”
Jake grumbled, clearly unhappy with the decision, but not able to forestall his headstrong mate.
“See, told you. Whipped.”
The growl from Jake rattled Sev, even if he knew it was in fun. The Protector was as scary a man as you’d ever find. Since he’d come to the enclave, he’d adopted the people as his own. His size and ferocity made him intimidating to most, but he was gentle, even with the smallest child. Let someone get between him and his mate, and Sev feared for their lives.
***
Casey swallowed hard as he left the hut. He’d only been joined twenty-four hours and already everything was going to hell in a frilly little hand basket. The fear on Sev’s face and the feelings he’d gotten from his mate steeled Casey’s determination. He would do whatever it took to stop Elizar, because the man threatened his family. Casey could never explain it to Sev, but he’d give his life to save what he’d found.
Gathering herbs and potions, balms and salves, and whatever else he could think of, Casey threw everything together, needing to return to Sev. He spied a small, worn leather-bound book nestled among the various tomes Hakiim had written. Casey had read through many of Hakiim’s journals. Deciphering the scrawl was another task entirely. He opened it, hoping his mentor could at least give him a clue how to fight Elizar, but instead, found stories about shamans and their place in society. Casey returned the book to the shelf, and hurried from the house, glancing back as dark thoughts niggled at the corner of his mind that he might never see it again.
“I’m back,” he said, pushing his way into the hut. Lines of worry creased Sev’s forehead. Casey could feel the tension rolling off him and wanted to gather him up and drag him off somewhere he’d be safe, but he knew there was nowhere. Each of them had been touched by Elizar’s evil, and the wards would only hold him back for so long.
“Ready?” Jake asked him.
“Let’s do it. We’ve got people to save.”
Jake led the way out of the hut. Casey could feel Sev’s gaze on him, and the concern through the link they shared, but he dared not stop, because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to walk away from his family.
The Alpha’s compound was immense. Two stories, dozens of rooms, each decorated in garish designs by Elizar, who had lived like a king while his people suffered from starvation. Still, it was an impressive edifice considering it had been constructed using materials from the area and crafted by people with only rudimentary tools.
Jake and Zak had blocked off whole sections of the house, which they had to open again so they could search. Jake’s nose was of no use. Shortly after Elizar’s death, Zak had gutted the place and Casey had gone through and cleansed the house, eliminating all traces of Elizar’s foul stench. It was the only way Jake could stand to be in the place.
“I wish I knew what the hell I was looking for,” Jake grumbled.
“Me, too. It would have been easier if Elizar had drawn you a map. Perhaps you should go back and ask him,” Zak replied dryly.
“Not funny. Keep it up and you won’t be sitting down for a week.”
“Do not threaten me with a good time, Jake.”
Casey knew the banter was due to nerves. In the eight months they’d been here, Zak had made incredible strides to undo all the horrors Elizar wrought. This was a serious blow to his plans. Casey wished he was more powerful. He’d heard tales of former shamans who could do magic night and day, seemingly able to do miracles. Casey, on the other hand, was only able to do things with natural ingredients—blending teas, salves, and potions. Everyone else had decades of experience, but his people needed him now, and he was going to fail.
He had no doubt people were going to die.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
For hours they searched. Most rooms had very little in them, but Jake insisted on looking for hidden panels, loose floorboards, drop ceilings, or anything that might contain Elizar’s hidden item of power. The worst of it came when they uncovered a small room which contained body parts, gems, bits of jewelry.
“This is where Kell stored his trophies,” Zak said glumly. Row upon row of shiny baubles, jars which held fingers, eyes, and ears. Most disturbing was the human head that hung on the wall, caked with dried blood. Each spoke of Kell’s sickness that Elizar had encouraged.
“It’s not in the house,” Jake announced. “Whatever it is, he hid it somewhere else.”
“If I thought it would help, I would put a torch to the place myself,” Zak said, stretching and popping his vertebrae.
“So now what? Do we tear the enclave apart? What if the item isn’t a thing, but a person? Could Elizar have had his shaman put it inside someone?” Jake muttered.
Casey scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d been so proud of what he’d learned since he’d been here, but this served as a reminder he knew next to nothing. Even with everything he’d read, he had never seen anything like this even alluded to. How did you beat a spirit when it was more powerful than you? Hell, it was more powerful than the Protector.
“It’s not a living thing,” Casey said grimly. “It’s got to be somewhere safe. A human host could die too easily. A shifter body wouldn’t accept anything foreign like that. I think he has to have it hidden somewhere.”
“How can you be so certain?” Zak wondered.
“I can’t. I’m going off gut instinct. From everything we learned, Elizar is an egomaniac. I don’t think he would allow anyone else to be part of his victory. I’m doubting he even told Kell where it was, considering how little he trusted anyone.”
“Your intuition is good enough for me.”
Casey’s skin tingled at the unexpected praise. “Thank you, Zak. That means a lot. But we’re not any closer to figuring out where he’d hide it.”
“We could ask around the enclave. See if anyone knows anything about how Elizar spent his time when he wasn’t torturing or maiming people. Maybe he liked being somewhere special. It could be somewhere he took his…dates.”
Jake’s disgust was obvious in his expression. Elizar had done some really messed up things, especially to the younger people of the village. Casey had met and spoken with many of them. His job seemed to be a dash of psychologist, a bit of pharmacist, and a shoulder to cry on, something many of the people did. If he’d stayed at school, he would have been graduating soon. Adrift in a world with no idea what he wanted to do. Here he had a purpose, a large family, and no desire to give up any of it. Or see it taken from him.
“I’ll talk to Sev. See if he knows anything. We need to hurry, though. I can feel Elizar pressing against the wards. He’s going to get through, and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”
Zak gave a grim nod, and Casey hurried to Sev’s hut. The short distance between the compound and his mate’s home could be traversed in minutes, but Casey could hear high-pitched shouts that had him hurrying in the other direction. He made it to Mrs. Riley’s house as she berated her husband. Shouted at him about saddling her with children she didn’t want, and if he came near her again, she’d kill him.
Mrs. Riley was a rabbit shifter. She was prey. As such, she was a kind, gentle soul, who would rather flee than fight. The person before him had wild eyes and spittle rolling down her chin. Her husband snatched up the children and fled, while she threw pottery at him, screaming invectives.
This was all the confirmation he needed. Elizar had broken through the barrier.
***
Mikhail’s fever spiked once again. He shivered violently, spasms racking his body. He’d gone ghostly white, and Sev began to pray to the spirits. If Mikhail is to die, at least let his passing be peaceful.
Vadim had been sent to the Alpha’s compound so that he would not see whatever was to transpire. Sev didn’t want to think of his youngest brother watching his older sibling die.
Generous applications of the salves and ointments had seemed to be working, but then Mikhail’s eyes rolled back into his head and he began groaning. Minutes were an eternity as Mikhail began gasping for breath. The sounds that passed his lips were that of a dying man, Sev no longer doubted. He applied the last of the oils he had left, but it did nothing to ease his brother’s passage from this life.
When the door burst open and Casey entered the room, Sev leapt up and flung himself into his mate’s arms. Casey pulled him in and stroked gentle circles around his back.
“Elizar is coming,” Casey whispered. “I can’t stop him. I’ve failed Mikhail.”
At that moment, Mikhail lurched up and cried out, speaking in a language that Sev didn’t understand. He turned his head slowly and smiled. Never before had Sev seen anything so ghastly. Mikhail’s mouth was filled with blood, which dripped down his face. His eyes were now completely white, but the worst was the crooked grin.
“No,” Sev shouted. He tried to reach his brother, but Casey pulled him away.
“We have to go,” Casey urged, pulling Sev toward the door.
“You have to help him. Please,” Sev begged, still straining to reach Mikhail, who now stood on wobbly legs and stumbled toward them.
“Tsvetok, it’s been too long.”
It was Mikhail’s voice, but it was hoarse and raspy.
“Your brother misses you. He’s asking for you to comfort him with a hug.”
Arms hung at unnatural angles when Mikhail held them out.
“Elizar,” Sev hissed.
“I suppose I should be grateful. It’s nice to know that people haven’t forgotten me. After everything I did for them, they should deify me.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Your brother is a vessel. No more. He’s my means back. Should a better body become available, I would gladly abandon this shell. It’s small and cramped, and it smells.”
“Take me,” Sev offered. “Leave my brother alone, and I will become your host.”
Mikhail shook his head, the shaggy hair flopping in his face. “You’re useless to me. Another already resides in your body.”
“What do you mean?”
“There is something within you that wasn’t there before. It vexes me that so much has changed in my absence. Without a strong leader, everything has decayed.”
“I believe the people would differ,” Zak said calmly as he and Jake entered the room. “If they had the choice, they would choose my rule over your tyranny.”
“They are vermin. This is why they don’t get a choice. Without an iron fist to keep them in line, they would have killed themselves off already.”
Sev felt rather than heard the low growl. The huge black jaguar lunged at Mikhail, snarling as it attacked.
“Jake, no!” Casey cried.
Jake skidded to a halt and turned to look back at his friend.
“It’s Mikhail. You’ll kill him,” Casey pleaded.
“No, Jake. You do not wish his death to be on your conscience,” Zak said quietly.
“Even if you were able to kill this body, Protector, it would do you little good. Each person now carries the seed of my essence. Should I perish here, I will simply find a new host. It wouldn’t be difficult. Perhaps one of the two children? I would rather not be a prey animal, but if necessary, I could make it work.”
Elizar forced Mikhail to run his hands over his body, touching himself intimately. “This body is virile. The boy is not yet a man, but there is enough there that I can work with. What do you think, Alpha? Would you have sex with this body?”
Zak stepped forward. “Mikhail is a decent and honorable young man. You make a mockery of everything he has been through and risk destroying what he will become.”
“He’s nothing more than what I make of him now. Still, there is a spark here. He fights, and that will make his ultimate failure all the more delicious. I haven’t felt this alive in many years. Perhaps I’ll stroll around the area and see if something catches my eye. It has been a long while since I’ve had pleasures of the flesh.”
“No!” Sev yowled and hurled himself at Elizar. “You won’t steal Mikhail’s chance at love.”
A hand flashed out and grabbed Sev by the throat, slamming him against the wall. “I’ll do what I please with this body. With every body in this village. If I wish them to line up so that I may take my fill of them, no one can stop me. As my will grows stronger, the seed within the people shall grow and they’ll become more malleable, ready to do what I want. Even now, my personality overrides theirs.”
“So you will become a ruler of puppets?”
“I prefer to think of them as extensions of myself. And with them, I’ll finally expand out, absorbing first the clans, then larger groups, until whole cities kneel before me.”
Jake paced around the room. His muscles were locked and ready to strike, but he appeared conflicted. Zak strode to him and ran slender fingers through his coat.
“What do you want?” Zak asked, his voice echoing the defeat that Sev saw in his eyes.
“What do I want? Nothing. I already have it all. Kill this body, if you want. It’s nothing to me. In fact, I think I know a body I prefer more.”
Elizar’s gaze landed on Jake.
“Your body would suit, Protector. I have craved you since I first laid eyes on you. Never have I witnessed a rival in your power and ferocity. To have that under my control would allow me to do great things indeed.
“You will not have him,” Zak stated defiantly.
“Oh, Zak. I already do.” He faced Jake. “Shift.”
Jake turned amber eyes in Zak’s direction before he was torn screaming out of his form and stood naked before them, shuddering and whimpering.
“My power grows every moment. Very soon I will be as a god here, like I am in the spirit realm.”
“Casey will stop you,” Sev snapped. His voice belied his certainty, and he knew it.
“No, I don’t think so. The shaman is dangerous, I won’t deny. He resists me, even more now than he did when we fought last. I can’t allow that.”
Elizar stepped closer to Jake and touched him lightly on the shoulder. Sev could see the revulsion that burned in the Protector’s eyes. When Zak opened his mouth to speak, Elizar cut him off with nothing more than a sharp glance.
“Jake, I have a very special task for you. And you do want to please me, right?”
“Yes,” Jake ground out, spitting venom even as he agreed.
“Very good. What I want you to do is kill the shaman.”
***
Casey saw the expression on Jake’s face. He knew his best friend fought Elizar’s control, but the gleam in his eye, that of a hunter seeing his prey, told him Jake couldn’t win the fight. He gripped Sev’s hand and jerked him out of the hut.
“Go. Grab Vadim. Meet me in the forest.”
Sev’s voice held more than a note of panic as he gripped Casey’s hand. “Where are you going?”
“I need to grab some things from my house. Go!”
The staccato beat of Sev’s feet let Casey know his mate was away from him. He couldn’t risk Sev being caught in the crossfire if Jake couldn’t resist Elizar long enough for them to get away. He slipped into his place and glanced around. He grabbed a few bottles from the shelf and stuffed them into a rucksack, cursing that he’d left most of his supplies at Sev’s. He’d have to make do with what he had.
A roar that echoed through the enclave told Casey he was out of time. He clutched a vial in his hand, ready to throw it should Jake burst through the door. A powdered sedative probably wouldn’t have much impact, since Jake would burn it off quickly, unless he could get him to ingest it, but that didn’t seem likely.
When the door came crashing inward, broken to splinters by Jak
e’s enormous body, Casey sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, but it seemed Jake was no longer at home. His eyes were vacant and dead. Saliva dripped from his fangs as he approached Casey.
“Jakey, don’t do this. Please,” Casey begged. “I know you’re in there somewhere. You gotta fight him, dude. Remember, you always said you wouldn’t eat me. Don’t break your promise.”
Jake continued to stalk toward Casey, and a thread of terror wove its way into his heart. Jake coiled, ready to strike, when a cry of pain rent the air. He spun around and came face to face with a seriously pissed off skunk who’d sunk his teeth into Jake’s leg.
“Sev, get out of here. Get Vadim to safety.”
Tiny feet stamped as a white striped tail shot into the air and a noxious odor squirted from Sev’s scent sac. The jaguar collapsed on the ground, padding at his eyes, and snarling from the pain. Casey unplugged the container in his hand and dumped the contents into Jake’s mouth. The bitter taste would probably piss the cat off even more, seeing as how his senses were amplified, but Casey counted on the combination of Sev’s odor, which Casey found to be most pleasant, and the powder, to put Jake out of commission long enough for them to get away. What they’d do if he caught up with them was a matter for a different day.
Sweeping the skunk into his arms, Casey fled. The streets were eerily deserted, which added to his foreboding. What would Elizar do now that he had the enclave under his control again?
An armful of struggling skunk was too much to bear. Casey put his mate down and marveled at the smooth transition back to human. Sev had claimed there was pain in the transition, but from what Casey could see, it didn’t seem that way now.
“Where’s Vadim?”
“He’s waiting for us where you said. I sent him ahead and came back for you, because I knew you were going to be stupid and heroic.”
“Yes, well…stupid is kind of my thing. Ask Jake, if we ever get him back.”
“We will. I don’t know how, but we’re going to get them all back. He can’t have our brother or people.”
Scent of the Heart Page 11
