by Petra Landon
Rafaelo waited patiently as she pondered the matter furiously.
“The rift we engineer should be between Faoladh and Esmeralda” she said decisively. “The day Faoladh drops her, Raoul Merceau will also walk away from the Wizards he protects so assiduously today.”
“You’re right, as usual, My Lady” Bianchi said obsequiously. He did not quite understand his Lady’s obsession with Faoladh but he was confident that she was working to a plan.
“What have you discovered about the Alpha’s past?” she demanded, inured to his flattery.
“Brought up in New Orleans. Mother dead at birth and father during his early teens. He seems to disappear from New Orleans after that, only to surface in San Francisco a few years later to challenge the local Alpha Protector. He was nineteen then. The rumors say he spent most of those years as a rogue in the wilderness, and there are whispers that something bad happened to him then.”
“Like what?” She looked intrigued.
“Some say he was imprisoned by a Wizard. Others say he was tortured. No one knows for sure, but rumors indicate that his dislike of Wizards has something to do with the missing years.”
After the spectacular failure of the Guardian to bring down the Beast Lord, Rafaelo had concluded that his information about silver poisoning and Merceau’s tenuous control over his beast had not been accurate. His sources were telling Bianchi that Anderson had thrown everything at the Alpha — large doses of silver, a claustrophobic cage, and even the mouthy Wizard to tempt him, but all to no avail. The only conclusion to draw was that the rumors about the Alpha had been wrong. Something had happened to Raoul Merceau all those years ago, something that had shaped his feelings for Wizards, but no one seemed to know precisely what had befallen him.
“So, Faoladh looked the other way while a rogue Shifter fought his way to become Alpha Protector of a major Pack” she murmured thoughtfully. And, he’d hand-picked this Alpha from amongst the many to assist Esmeralda in unraveling the past, despite the Shifter’s hatred of Wizards. Very curious, this particular spider’s web Faoladh was weaving, she mused. The pre-eminent Shifter was a worthy opponent and a formidable adversary, one she would never make the mistake of underestimating. But what was he up to, she wondered. And how long would he keep her waiting before he made his move in this subtle game of chess they were engaged in?
“Does the Alpha have any surviving family on the Wizard side?” she inquired. Perhaps, the Alpha might be the key to deciphering Faoladh’s motivations.
“No immediate family. His mother’s elopement with a Wyr was a major story in her day. The family cut all connection with her.”
The nub of a distant memory danced at the edges of her mind. The Lady glanced at Rafaelo sharply. “What was his mother’s name?”
Inter-Chosen mating had been even rarer then than now, and rarely did Wizards choose Shifter mates. The Lady only knew of one such connection from her past.
“Charbonneau” Bianchi said.
“Charbonneau” the Lady whispered, as the memories came rushing back of a long-forgotten period when she had been young and idealistic; when nothing had seemed impossible, and the whole world had been at her feet — or so it seemed.
“You knew her, My Lady?” Rafaelo asked, puzzled by the strange expression on her face.
“Elenora Charbonneau” she murmured.
“No, My Lady, I believe the mother’s name was …”
“Isadora.” The Lady straightened in place. “How very interesting! The little sister who ran off with the local Were-Alpha was the Alpha’s mother. I knew Elenora Charbonneau” she explained to the Vampire studying her curiously. “We were at the Academy together.”
Rafaelo looked flabbergasted. “Do you mean the Guardian Academy, My Lady?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “The Wyr Alpha who trashed Wizard Headquarters had an aunt at the Academy. Poetic justice, wouldn’t you say, Rafaelo?”
The Vampire continued to look stunned, wondering at the irony. “She was a Guardian, this aunt?” He looked incredulous. His Vampires had done a somewhat perfunctory background check on other family members, focusing their attention on the Alpha’s parents.
“No, she disappeared much before she was to graduate. We were friends, of a sort, once. She had very strong opinions about Wizard heritages being polluted by other blood, especially that of Shifters. The little sister running away with one seemed to derail her. She was fond of Isadora, from what I remember.” She smiled. “This is very interesting, Rafaelo. It’s time I spoke to the Wyr Lord.”
“My Lady” Rafaelo spoke up hesitantly. “I do have some bad news for you.”
He’d delayed relaying this for as long as he could, but now, he had run out of time.
“Sienna does not leave the Lair much, My Lady. But my information says the artifact no longer hangs around her neck.”
The Lady’s eyes flashed to him in shock. “What?”
“I’ve confirmed it, My Lady.”
“How is that possible?” She narrowed her eyes. “I thought you bound it with Clan magic, Rafaelo.”
“I did, My Lady” He jumped to explain himself. “None of the Guardians, not even the First Wizard, was able to undo my magic. I know they tried.”
“Then how?”
“The only explanation I have is that they reached out to the First Ones.” Rafaelo had given this much thought after his first shock had worn off.
“The Ancients” she muttered. “No, Esmeralda would not ask the Ancients for assistance. They’d demand too high a price.”
“Perhaps, Faoladh …” Bianchi’s voice trailed off. “One of TorElnor’s First Ones was running with the Pack in San Francisco when I was there last.”
The Lady’s expression tightened. Faoladh was becoming a thorn in her side. Contrary to what had been foretold, he was making her path forward that much harder. It was time to sacrifice one more pawn. She would not walk away from her magic — not after the sacrifices she had made.
“Get me Raoul Merceau” she directed peremptorily at the Vampire.
Tasia watched the Alpha stretch his legs and cock his head in the familiar way he had. Whatever his ears told him seemed to satisfy him, for he jumped back into the driver’s seat to inch the car forward on the dirt road that provided the only access to the house. Beside her, a tense Sienna was silent.
“We good, Merceau?” Jason inquired from the passenger seat.
“It’s quiet, and they’ve had ample time to subdue any leeches.”
The plan, hastily concocted on the drive over, was for everyone except the Alpha and the Wizards to tackle the Clan guards, leaving the others to free Roman. Tasia guessed that Sienna and she had been kept as far away from the Vampires as they reasonably could. They’d parked a fair distance away, giving the Shifters time to make their stealthy approach through the woods to the house. The Undeads’ senses were as good as the Shifters, but Shifters were predators by nature, their beasts teaching them to hunt, almost by instinct.
“Time to get Durovic.” The Alpha parked the car on the gravel road by the mansion that loomed before them. “Take the lead, LaRue.”
With the Guardian leading and the Alpha bringing up the rear, they walked to the house. The woods were quiet, as was the house. The front door stood ajar, but there was no sign of anyone, Vampires or Shifters.
“Down the stairs” the Alpha directed as Jason hesitated.
It was not quite twilight yet, with the sky streaked by faint bright spears. The stairs were ill lit, everyone except the Alpha peering carefully to make their way down until they found themselves in a narrow corridor. Now, Tasia could sense the Ancient behind the large rusty door, his magic calling to her.
Jason glanced at the Alpha.
“Durovic’s behind the door.” Raoul confirmed what his Shifter senses told him.
The Guardian tested the door. “It’s locked.”
“Don’t waste any magic on the door, LaRue” the Alpha pre-empted him. “Save it for Durovic
. I’ll get it open.”
Jason moved aside and the Alpha strode to the door. Sienna shot a silent Tasia a quick glance. Sienna’s mind pondered over Roman, her sister and her mother.
The Alpha tested the door before leaning back to swing powerfully at it with his foot. Two mighty swings at the center and the worn-down hinges snapped, the door going down with a resounding crash. Raoul shoved the door away to lie drunkenly in the room beyond. As the others trooped in after him, Roman Durovic turned his head to watch them.
Raoul strode forward until the Ancient could see his face in the light from the window.
“Merceau.” Roman sounded relieved.
Sienna gaped at him with a horrified exclamation at his battered and bruised body. The Vampires had beaten him to within an inch of his life.
“Got your message, Durovic” the Alpha said casually. “Been getting yourself into trouble, I see.”
“Yeah.” Roman grimaced. “Knocked me out and put me in here. Those Undead that follow Lady Bethesda.”
“So I gather.”
Roman glanced from Sienna to a silent Jason who watched him with a frown. “The cuffs are Blutsauger magic. Can you get them off?”
“I can try.” Jason reached forward to feel the cuffs. He worked some magic on it and the cuff seemed to stretch and thin before their eyes but remained stubbornly welded tight.
Roman addressed the Alpha. “Do you have the girl?”
“Nandini?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not here.”
“What?” Roman looked astounded.
“Her mother’s taken Nandini with her. She warned us to come get you while the leech army was away.”
Roman looked troubled. “I’m not sure her mother will go easy on her once they discover I’m gone.”
“I’ll get her away too, Durovic. One Ancient at a time.” The Alpha’s expression was calm, his words even.
Roman shot him a crooked smile in response, wincing at the pain it elicited.
Sienna, who’d been watching Jason work on the cuffs, joined him. Her powers had been dormant for a long time, but she knew how to use them.
“Pummeled you a fair bit” Raoul noted the spectacular bruises on the Ancient’s face and the way the powerfully-built Chosen was hunched over.
“Yeah, they seemed to object to my face” he said. “Or, so they said. In between, they pumped me for information about you” he added, his voice hoarse.
“Me?” Raoul looked startled.
“Yup, they’ve got a bad case of unrequited love for you, Merceau.”
Tasia stared at the Ancient, taken aback by the bantering note in his voice, despite his obvious pain and the uncomfortable slouch against the wall.
“Well, at least, the Lady does” Roman amended, wincing again as Sienna and Jason renewed their assault on his handcuffs. “Those leeches, as you call them, can probably round up one single brain cell collectively between themselves and with great difficulty, should the occasion ever arise.”
“Are you saying they imprisoned you and beat you up to get information about me?” Raoul asked, rightly incredulous.
“It was you they seemed obsessed with.” Roman shrugged. “Why are you helping the Wizards, was the refrain.”
Sienna chose that moment to turn to Tasia, who stood silently in the shadows.
“Need your assistance, Tasia. We’re almost there, but require a little more power to break the Vampire spell. I should be better at this, but I haven’t worked any magic in years.”
“She’s an L2, Sienna” the Alpha said pointedly, before Tasia could respond.
“We need a smidgeon of raw power to push us over the edge” Sienna said briskly. “Nothing that requires any skill.”
Jason didn’t glance up, his attention focused on the cuffs.
Tasia came forward to meet the Alpha’s eyes. She’d promised him that she would not work any magic without his permission. That had been a part of their deal. But she itched to play her part today. She had been pretending to be an L2 for most of her life. By now, she was experienced at the charade and schooled at unleashing the tiniest bit of her power to disguise her true magic. As she awaited his decision, Tasia hoped that for once, the Alpha could read her, like he sometimes seemed to.
Raoul studied her. “Don’t exert yourself” he said. It was his way of warning her to not blow her cover.
He turned to Jason. “You’ve five minutes, LaRue” he warned. “Then, I take over.”
Jason looked surprised. “Can you remove the cuffs?”
“I doubt it. But I can tear down the wall. We’ll take it with us, along with Durovic. We can always disentangle him later.”
“Thanks, Merceau” Roman quipped. “Somehow, the prospect doesn’t seem as appetizing.”
Raoul’s lips quirked. “Then, you’d better hope the Wizards can get the job done. The lady of the house might be back any moment” he reminded them. “I want us gone by then. We don’t have the numbers to fight our way through.”
Duncan came striding into the room, just as Tasia joined the two Wizards at the shackles.
Roman hailed him in his hoarse voice.
“Glad to see you hale and hearty, Roman” Duncan remarked in his usual placid tones.
He turned to the Alpha.
“We found five leeches in the house, but I think one got away in the melee, Raoul.”
Raoul studied Duncan, his mind working fast. There was no telling how far the leech’s friends were. He directed another glance at Roman with the three Wizards working on undoing his cuffs. Time was running out.
There was a tiny flash and Tasia stepped back. Jason removed the cuffs gingerly to free Roman’s wrist. Soon, they had his second cuff free. Tasia moved away and Roman stretched his wrists with an audible groan, just as Jason and Sienna knelt to work on the leg shackles. Within minutes, the Wizards had his shackles undone. They’d been bound with less Clan magic than the handcuffs.
“Let’s get out of here” Raoul directed.
They hurried up the darkened stairs, Duncan supporting the injured Roman. The rest of their party awaited them by the car. Simeonov and Elisabetta came forward to support Roman and help him into the car, which the Ancient did with a few muted groans.
As the others scrambled to get in, Duncan turned to the Alpha.
“Raoul” he said simply, shaking his head.
Duncan said no more. He knew the Alpha would understand him. They’d run out of time. They faced forty-five minutes of a snaking rustic road in the dark, and no knowledge of how many leeches were closing in. If the leeches came after them, they’d be trapped in the car. The better bet was to take them on out in the open, an option they couldn’t exercise since they had three people to safeguard from the leeches — Sienna, Tasia, and an injured Roman. There were few good options left to them, but they might be able to able mitigate the situation a little.
“I know, my friend” Raoul acknowledged softly.
Already, the whiff of leech was faint in the air, close enough that his nose was twitching with it. “Go, I’ll follow with the witchling” he said.
Duncan pursed his lips to flash the Alpha another glance, before striding away from the clearing and deeper into the forest. Raoul was choosing the only option open to them. There would be danger for Tasia, either way, but he’d expected Raoul to keep her close. The most to lose from the leeches, she’d be safe with the two Shifters watching over her. The others would have their hands full, in any case. Duncan strode deeper into the forest, picking up speed through the dense woods. He knew what Tasia would need for the night — a safe and warm place to hide, while they ran circles around the leeches and the others got Roman away.
Raoul stopped Tasia before she could climb into the ten-seater. The others were already in the car, except for Jason and Luis. Hawk waited for Tasia.
“I smell leeches in the air” Luis announced abruptly.
“They’re almost here” Raoul concurred. “We’re going to spl
it up. Duncan and I’ll keep them busy in the woods, while you get Roman away.”
“What about Tasia, Alph?” Hawk asked.
“The witchling stays with me.”
Astonishment flashed across Tasia’s face and Jason shot the Alpha a searching glance, but the Shifters accepted the decision without question, like they did all of their Alpha’s commands.
“Divide and conquer, Alpha?” Luis remarked shrewdly.
“It’s our best bet. I don’t know how many are headed this way. Get away, as fast as you can. You’ll have your hands full with Sienna.”
And, Roman Durovic was in bad shape — Raoul didn’t have to spell it out.
“We’ve got it” Luis murmured. “Watch your back.”
Raoul glanced at his phone. No signal in the woods.
As Jason jumped into the passenger seat and Luis started the car, Raoul glanced through the window at the others.
“Keep an eye on your cells. If you cross a patch where you can get a message through, ask Atsá to send backup. He has the original map Nandini sent me. With your instructions, Alpha Tlizilani should be able to direct her Shifters to you.”
“I’ll make sure of it, Alpha” Elisabetta promised.
Gone was the female Were-Alpha’s sarcastic demeanor, Tasia noted. She was all business now, when it mattered.
“Thanks, Merceau.” Roman’s pain-filled eyes opened to focus on the Alpha. “And don’t worry, I’m down but not out. I won’t let those leeches get their grubby little hands on Sienna or anyone else.”
There was humor in the light statement, and it caused some of the Shifters to crack smiles. But not Sienna. She shot a worried glance at Tasia, who stood behind the Alpha, his body blocking her from view.
Raoul chuckled. “You’ve played your part, Durovic. Ju …”
He paused abruptly to turn away from the car, just as Tasia’s soft gasp floated in the air behind him. With his senses screaming, Raoul turned to face the Vampire flying at them. The car screeched away from them, its wheels spinning on the gravel — Luis obeying his Alpha’s orders to get those under his care to safety.
