Magic to the Bone

by Annie Bellet

  “Who took her? How?” Ezee said.

  “Samir,” I answered, guessing. He wanted sacrifices, and Vivian was well known as a shifter to the other supernaturals. I clenched my hands into fists.

  “Yeah, him and those humans he has working for him. They’ve hit quite a few of the shifter families. They even captured the Alpha. Used her unconscious body as bait right in the middle of the damn road to grab a few others. Then they took the kids, even the ones not yet gone through the change, right out of school yesterday. Fucking coordinated.” Rachel spat the words out. Her face was lined, her eyes angry and hard.

  “How?” I repeated Ezee’s question. Shifters, even kids, weren’t easy prey. Taking Freyda, the Alpha of alphas, would have been damn near impossible. At least taking her alive would. “And why isn’t anyone out there?” I added, waving a hand at the window. “Kids got kidnapped and nobody is doing anything?”

  “The humans are hiding or have fled. Shifters that tried to flee got grabbed, like they were watching for that. They have tranq darts fit to maim an elephant that have to have some kind of magic going on. Get hit with one, and a shifter falls over like they’re dead, except they aren’t. I barely got away when they came for me at the station.”

  “Why aren’t people leaving Wylde?” Alek cut in.

  “There was a roadblock up on both sides going into and out of town until last night. Guess they got what they wanted. State cops are pretending Wylde doesn’t exist, my damn deputy disappeared, and I’m suspended. We’ve been abandoned. Fucking humans.” Rachel’s eyes glittered, and I was glad she wasn’t still holding her gun.

  I understood her rage. The human world not knowing about the supernatural world usually worked in our favor, but it had downsides. It was painfully clear that as far as the human Powers That Be were concerned, our mess was ours. I wondered if they would feel the same way if Samir achieved godhood.

  Of course, if the Seal was broken and magic flooded the world again, and all the gods walked the Earth, every human on the planet was in for the rudest awakening ever. Sheer numbers wouldn’t matter a whit against actual immortals.

  “Fine,” Harper said. “So we’re abandoned. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to go fuck that bastard’s shit up. Where did they take the kids and Dr. Lake?”

  “I don’t know,” Rachel said. “We’re meeting up at Mikhail’s trailer park, those few of us left. I came to grab some first-aid supplies here, but then we’re going to track them down. They left town in trucks heading toward Juniper.”

  “Could they be there?” I asked, looking at Ezee.

  “No students are allowed to stay over winter break, but there’s some security and janitorial staff on, plus a few professors usually around catching up on work,” he said. He shook his head. “So, maybe?”

  I stepped forward and leaned a hip on Vivian’s desk. Something was teasing at my brain, something Rachel had said. I was missing an important detail and needed to work it out quickly. My instincts were screaming at me. I rubbed my fingers over the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut, thinking.

  Samir knew about the shifters. He knew about the college and he knew about Wylde. Because of the witches.

  “You dealt with Peggy and her coven a lot?” I asked Rachel, opening my eyes.

  She tipped her head to the side at my apparent non-sequitur but nodded. “Sure. She helped me keep some things quiet from time to time, deal with nonshifter supes on occasion.”

  “Meeting up at Mikhail’s, was that a normal plan? Or something you made up just now on the fly?” I said. Things were falling into place in my head, pieces fitting together to form a horrible picture.

  “That’s the plan in general. We’d often meet up there if we needed to talk about things on neutral ground. When the kids were taken, that’s how the remaining shifters knew to come here. Not that there are many of us left. The Pearsons, Kameron, couple of others, plus Mikhail and his younger son.”

  “So Peggy knew about meeting up there,” I said.

  From the corner of my eye I saw horrified looks pass across Ezee and Harper’s faces as they figured out what I was getting at.

  “Yes,” Rachel said, a line forming between her eyebrows.

  “So Samir knows,” Alek said softly. “How long since you left there?”

  “A few hours. I wanted to check on people now that the roadblock is down, see who might be around. Oh, shit.” Rachel grabbed up a duffel bag that had been hidden behind Vivian’s desk. “Shit,” she repeated.

  “Come on,” I said. “We’ve got to get to Mikhail and Sons right fucking now.”

  Maybe Samir had all the shifters he needed. Maybe he wouldn’t bother going after them.

  Maybe Firefly would be revived with a full second season.

  Yeah. I wasn’t going to bet on any of those things either.

  Alek and I piled into Rachel’s SUV. Levi, Ezee, and Harper took Levi’s Jeep and followed us. No traffic meant no one to slow us down. Just the slick roads, but Rachel and Levi had both grown up driving in these kinds of conditions and handled their vehicles like they were racing on a dry track in perfect weather.

  “Guess we won’t get a speeding ticket,” I joked as I clung to Alek’s arm with one hand and braced myself against the dash with the other.

  “I’ll cite myself later,” Rachel said with a teeth-baring grin.

  “Just make sure to let Levi off with a warning. I don’t think his license can handle more tickets.” I returned her smile.

  Mikhail’s RV park was on the very edge of town directly off the main road leading into Wylde from the southeast. In non-winter months it was a scenic, lovely spot for a park. Bear Creek flowed past it in a jumbled rush of boulder-filled rapids and the park had permanent structures for grilling and picnics, also including a laundry room, a huge river rock-lined hot tub, and showers. Mikhail lived in a two story log cabin with his younger son, Vasili. The older son drove trucks most of the year. I couldn’t remember his name. In winter the park was mostly shut down, the stalls empty, the campsites snowed under.

  It wasn’t empty now. The snow on the drive was churned up and ridged from many vehicles using it recently. We headed straight down the long driveway. Two big trucks with cages in their beds were pulled up in a haphazard wedge formation in the big RV turnaround area in front of the main cabin. Men in black-and-white patterned fatigues scrambled around a big flatbed trailer hooked up to one of the trucks. A huge, unconscious—or dead—brown bear was strapped down to the bed and another lay in a heap of ropes and cables at the foot of the trailer.

  I feared we were too late. Except they were still here. These bastards were going to regret that.

  We didn’t go for subtlety or stealth. Rachel yanked hard on the steering wheel and brought her SUV sideways to partially block off the driveway. She was out of the car with her gun drawn before we’d even stopped skidding.

  Levi took her cue and pulled his Jeep to a quick stop behind us, keeping the SUV as cover. That was all I had time to see as I lurched sideways out of the truck behind Alek.

  The mercenaries started shouting and bringing guns up. Alek and I had come out on the wrong side of the truck if we wanted cover, but I had shields up instantly, blocking fire for us both. The snow under my feet was dirty, and spattered with red. We weren’t the first to fight here.

  “Body armor,” Rachel yelled from behind the truck where she had smartly grabbed cover.

  “Drop it,” Alek told me. I let the shield go for a bare second, and Alek took the nearest man down with two rapid shots to the head. My ears rang and I gritted my teeth. Guns were freaking loud when fired this close to my damn head. A dart bounced off my shield as I summoned it back into existence just in time. Rachel had said they were tranqing the shifters. These guys were in for a rude awakening now.

  Another went down as Rachel shot his legs out from under him. That still left about six men, who were all wising up and going for cover.

  A bullet slammed into my
shield, the force rocking me back on my heels. I skidded in the snow and nearly fell backward as my foot hit a chunk of ice. They were wising up in other ways. Damn. Bullets, not darts. Alek put a steadying hand on my shoulder, keeping himself behind me and the shield.

  The mercenaries scrambled back, getting behind the truck and trailer. Shooting at them now meant risking the bears. I heard Rachel cursing behind the SUV as another spatter of gunfire shot bounded off my shield and clipped her vehicle. I hoped she wasn’t hit. The mercenaries were shooting over the truck beds, spraying and praying. They had the advantage of more guns and better cover.

  An advantage I was going to take away from them.

  “I’ll keep my shield up,” I said to Alek, hoping my voice was quiet, since my ears were still hating me from the shots he’d fired. “We’re gonna go take their cover away.”

  “Ready,” Alek said. Hesqueezed my shoulder and stepped up just behind me.

  I poured more magic into my shield. I had to fight Samir today, but conserving too much magic now might get us all killed. I couldn’t afford to take a bullet or ten. My magic was much stronger than it had ever been, but I knew the limit was still out there. I compromised, using the shield but not trying to do a second spell. I still wasn’t the world’s strongest at multi-casting.

  We walked forward step by step. I braced against the shocks of bullets slamming into the wall of my shields. Purple sparks blossomed and fell away on impact, my magic slipping in to fill any cracks. The mercenaries were the ones swearing now. I heard the crackle of a radio. Were they calling for help? Not good.

  One tried to make a break for the cabin, and Rachel took him out. He sprawled, blood spattering the snow. Two others jumped up behind the giant bear, crouching to fire at us again, still using the poor creature, which I assumed was Mikhail himself, as cover. The bear’s sides rose and fell and from this close his heavy breathing was audible even to my injured eardrums.

  “Go now,” I said in Russian, hoping only Alek would understand me.

  We were almost to the trailer; my knees would touch it in another step. I dropped the shield and Alek sprang to the bed, his speed and height allowing him to fire down directly over the bear and into the men.

  Ignoring the protest of my leg muscles, I jumped also, using magic to push myself much farther into the air. From this vantage I saw two more men scrabbling back in the snow, bringing assault rifles to bear on Alek.

  “No you don’t,” I yelled. Lightning crackled from my fingers as I zotted them.

  Body armor was apparently shit against magical attack. They fell back screaming in the snow.

  The remaining man went for the cab of the truck and made it before Alek could get over the bear and try to stop him. I dropped to the ground and ran to the side, reaching out with magic for the door of the truck.

  The engine kicked in and he floored it, running the truck straight at Rachel’s SUV.

  Not today, motherfucker. I didn’t even think, just threw magic in a force wave from my hands, all my mind focused on bricking that engine beyond usefulness or recognition.

  The truck slammed forward and to the right. Metal screamed as the trailer bed went with it, chains snapping. From the corner of my eye I saw Alek running backward in the snow to avoid the flipping trailer. The truck crumpled like a soda can and smashed through a tree and into a bigger tree.

  I grabbed at the trailer with my magic, pulling it back toward me. My muscles screamed in protest and spikes of pain slashed into my head. I hadn’t practiced moving large objects that often. The trailer rolled up on its side and then bounced back down, rolling to a jerking stop. The bear was still strapped to it, unconscious but safe.

  Silence reigned for a long moment as I hunched over, breathing in deep, painful breaths of cold air.

  “Jade? You okay?” Harper called out.

  “I’m okay,” I said, looking up.

  Alek was checking on the downed men, moving guns away from their hands, checking for signs of life. They looked pretty dead to me; even the ones I’d electrocuted were still and silent now. Blood spattered the snow and ice chunks, not all of it fresh. The snow lumped over the picnic tables made them look like white coffins as I scanned the area for any other threats or signs of life.

  “Lee is hit,” Ezee said, loping up to us.

  “Shit.” I followed him around the SUV.

  Rachel was on the ground but still conscious. She smiled grimly up at me.

  “Leg gave out, sorry,” she said, waving at hand at her blood-soaked pant leg.

  “Let’s get you inside,” I said, nodding at Levi and Ezee. They could carry her, no problem. Go go shifter superstrength.

  “Where are the others?” she asked with a wince as Levi lifted her himself, careful of her leg.

  Harper had pulled the duffel bag of medical supplies out and held up a bag of gauze pads.

  “Inside,” I said to Harper. To Rachel I said, “I don’t know. Just two bears; I think Mikhail and Vasili. Maybe the others are hiding?”

  All that blood and the churned up ice and snow around the drive said they were long taken, but I figured that speculation could wait until Rachel was inside and safe.

  “They are breathing, but will not wake,” Alek said to me as we passed him.

  “Any of the bad guys alive enough to talk?” I asked.

  Alek shook his head. “I will check truck,” he said, starting toward the truck I’d smashed.

  I seriously doubted that guy was even in one piece, but it couldn’t hurt to confirm. Damnit. Having someone alive to question would have been good. The guy Rachel leg-shot had ended up in the path of the truck and trailer. He was pedestrian pancake now. Everyone else had taken magic to the heart or bullets to the brain. We were a little too efficient.

  Searching my heart, I tried to feel something other than relief that these guys were down. We’d just killed a bunch of humans. Nope. Nothing. Maybe tomorrow I’d feel remorse. Somehow I doubted it. They were capturing my friends, citizens of my damn town, for my evil ex-boyfriend to use in a sacrifice. Choices had consequences. They had made their choice. I was their consequence.

  A part of me hated Samir even more for making this my reality.

  I walked to the edge of the turnaround. From here the burble of the creek sang up through the snowy trees. Snow dusted the rocks down the slope like powdered sugar. Looking this direction, it was like the carnage behind me had never happened. Out there in the woods, life went on. Despite men with guns. Despite sorcerers and shifters and vendettas and ambitions.

  It was a world I barely remembered and wasn’t sure I’d ever return to.

  Harper’s footsteps pulled me back to my world.

  “Nobody inside. Levi’s putting pressure on the wound but the bleeding is already slowing. Normal bullets, I guess,” she said. “What should we do about the bears?”

  “Unstrap Mikhail. I don’t know that we can or should move them, but I hate having them in the open like this.” I remembered the man swearing at the radio, the crackle of a reply I hadn’t quite caught. “There are more of them somewhere, and I think one got a call out.”

  “Shitballs.” Harper summed up the situation eloquently.

  I looked up at the flat blue sky. The sun was sinking already.

  “We’re running out of time,” I murmured.

  Alek made his way around the trailer toward us. Then he froze, his gaze on the woods to our left. He had his gun back out before I could blink, but didn’t fire.

  Turning, I saw a rangy red-brown wolf lope out of the trees. It dropped its head and then flopped down, baring its belly. In a blink, it became a man. He was thin and plain in appearance, wearing a grey sweater and tan cargo pants. He was unarmed, his hands up in the air as he lay there in submissive position like a roach that had been flipped over. I called up my magic and searched for signs of a spell or Samir on him. I sensed nothing, no trace of Samir’s sickly sweet power.

  “Goddamnit,” Harper muttered beside me. �
��Not him again.”

  “Him again?” I asked, giving Harper a sideways glance.

  “I just came to talk,” the wolf shifter said. “I think we can help each other.”

  “I would rather shoot you,” Alek said, though he didn’t. Yet.

  “He works for Samir,” Harper explained. “But he did help me escape.”

  “You trust him?” I didn’t take my eyes off the prone man again, but I caught her nod and half shrug in my peripheral vision.

  The wolf shifter looked from him to Harper and me, resting his gaze on me. He licked his lips in a quick, nervous flick of his tongue.

  “That would be the biggest mistake you’ll ever make,” he said.

  He sounded utterly confident for an unarmed guy lying in the snow.

  “Let’s hear him out,” I said. At the least he was someone alive to question. Best case? He was going to be the key to unlocking Samir’s doom.

  The office had a front desk area that was just a standing case full of candy and other snacks. Beyond that was a good-size room with a rustic carved wood coffee table and a random assortment of chairs and cushioned benches that looked as though they’d been collected from the side of the road at various times in history, which they probably had. Rachel was sprawled on the floor, propped against one of the benches, holding a thick gauze pad to her leg. Ezee was standing over her, and Levi came down a set of steps at the back of the waiting room as we entered.

  “Nobody here,” Levi said. He sent a curious look at our guest. “Who’s he?”

  “You got a name?” I asked the wolf shifter as we arrayed ourselves in an uncomfortable semicircle among the chairs. Alek kept his gun in his hand and stayed between the wolf and the door. Nobody sat.

  “Cal,” the wolf shifter said. “Those guys took the other shifters who were here. You missed them by half an hour. These were staying to try to load the bears up.”