by Susan Conley
“The Lycoan has Tania!” Mona yelled, pointing out the door. Nic turned and ran for the door, slowly opening it and slipping out once he’d taken a look.
Mona slumped against Cart even though she felt a whole lot better.
Huh.
She removed her hand from where it rested against Cart’s bare back. She felt a lot worse. She slipped her hand back around his waist. “I think I have the energy I need to deal with the Weres.”
Cart was already heading to the door. “We need to go help Nic and Tania.”
“No, we don’t,” Mona said as she hurried to his side.
“Yes, we do.” Cart put his hand on the door to open it but Mona put hers over his, stopping him.
“Nic has as much power as the all of the protectors you brought combined. He makes Tania’s look like a lake to his ocean. If he can’t beat the Lycoan, we’re all screwed.”
“If he fails. . .” Cart didn’t say anything for a minute. “If he fails, he’ll still have damaged the Lycoan. We need to be there to attack then, before he has a chance to recover.”
“And if he’s not beaten and he’s able to call all those Were’s back to him because they’re still linked since he made them, we’ll never win. I need to truly sever the bonds, so we have a chance. Plus I think he may have someone here he’s coercing to help make his spells stronger. If we can find that person, we’ll weaken his ability further.”
The indecision was clear on his face. “Let’s see how Nic is doing before we decide.”
Mona took her hand off of his. They opened the door just enough to ease out, then ran, hunched over in the hopes of remaining out of sight, to the edge of the Lycoan’s platform to get a better look. They needn’t have worried, the beast had its back to them.
And beast it was. The Lycoan didn’t change into a true animal like other Weres. Instead he’d become the tall, hairy, fang snapping half-human Werewolf figure that nightmares were made of. He leaned over, fangs bared. Tania must be on the ground.
They could see that Nic had the rifle with the darts aimed at the beast, even if he could not. He got off two shots. The beast rose and snarled in fury as Nic said something they couldn’t hear. Nic set down the gun and walked into the ring of fire.
Nic’s energy was spilling out and making the fire cackle around him. There was another short exchange then Nic’s foot lashed out and slammed into the Lycoan’s shoulder.
“We need to go,” Mona said. “I need time to work on the Weres.”
Cart watched as Nic did a couple more kicks and drove the Lycoan back. “It goes against my better judgment to leave, but you’re right, you need to do your job.”
Mona felt a glow of admiration for him. His understanding her need to do her duty was one of the things she loved about him.
Oh crap, she did not just have that thought.
“You just want to see him fight,” she said, in a jocular attempt to ignore the revelation.
“No shit.”
Neither voiced any worry over Nic’s being defeated. As soon as they rounded the corner of the barn they were met with a phalanx of snarling animals.
Cart snarled back.
“Not helping,” Mona muttered. She took a step forward. Creatures flitted around the edges of the group, unnoticed by the Weres, who were entirely focused on Cart.
Salamanders. Here. They were natural healers. Hopefully they’d help.
“I am Warder Kubrek,” she said loudly over their growling reaction to Cart. “I’m here to break your links to the Lycoan.”
She paused. The attention of most of the group was on her. “I do not know the long-term effect of doing this. It may mean you will never change back to human. But you will be free of him and not killed by his senseless actions.”
There were a couple of whines quickly followed by more snapping and growls.
“If we can’t change you back,” Cart said, his voice low and calming despite his earlier reaction of snarling at the group, “the protectors will arrange for you to be moved to a safe territory near Elfhaven, and help you however they can. You will not be abandoned, you will always be pack.”
It was as if a collective sigh went through the group. Cart’s words brought them a reassurance Mona would not have thought to offer.
“We now have an Oberon,” Mona informed them, trying to match Cart’s tone, “which gives me hope that if I cannot change you back, he can. First, though, I must sever your bond. I need to touch you to do this.”
No noticeable reaction.
“And I need the help of my partner. So you must let him near too.” A few of the animals reared up, not liking her restriction. Once she did a couple, she hoped they’d get over it. “Who wants to go first?”
The huge wolverine who’d been the last to leave the Lycoan by the platform lumbered up. Mona looked at him.
“I think I’ve met you before. In the hospital, you were sent after us, and when the Lycoan called you back you turned and attacked him.”
His black masked snout nodded while his brown eyes remained steady on her.
Mona looked over the spell on him. He was a strong Were, he’d needed no help to change. From what she could see, the affect the Lycoan had on him was to make him freakishly large in his animal size. And kept him there until the Lycoan changed the spell otherwise.
She reached out to touch him, but he took a step back. Like a grouchy aunt, the wolverine petulantly turned his side to her so she could reach him. Mona placed one hand on him, while keeping the other in contact with Cart’s skin. A soft brush against her ankles let her know at least one salamander was there as well.
Running on instinct, Mona thought of the cleansing she’d done for the protectors. She ran her hand along his side and went over the spell on him as if it were the same thing as cleaning his inner essence, and stripped as much of the Lycoan’s imprint on the sigils as she could all the while searching for one that might contain something like a signature.
She didn’t see one.
Shit, all she saw was the angry red where someone had supplemented the spell. No one here had enough magic to have helped the Lycoan. His helper was somewhere else.
Maybe, she was going about helping the Weres the wrong way. Maybe, instead of concentrating on the actual pieces she saw, she should see if she could change the color of the working, get rid of the Lycoan and his helper’s color. Could she do that? Would there be a way to disassociate the spell caster by changing the color, their personal mark?
At the end of the lines of rune, Mona concentrated on the color. Nic’s hue came to mind and there was a jolt as she realized she’d somehow connected to him. It was the salamanders, she realized, they acted as a conduit for the energy, keeping it clear and steady. As she worked her way back, the angry red of the original spell’s sigils and markings was now a blue. The red pooled in front, as if it was being scraped off, although she was certain it was being replaced.
Halfway through there was a tug and the rest of the runes rushed through. So focused on the work, she hadn’t realized the wolverine had shifted until she reached the end and stepped back.
Cart was growling at the naked man.
“Cool it, dude,” the tall, muscular man said to Cart, his voice low and gravelly. “I don’t have designs on your lady.”
He ducked his head at her. “Thank you.” He turned his back to the pair and stepped into the crowd of animals.
“Do the pair of bears next, they’re bothers and were caught together in the spell,” he tossed over his shoulder, clearly looking around the group for someone. “You might even be able to do them at the same time.”
Cart looked at the man, a grin splitting his face. “Any chance I could talk you into training to be a protector?”
“Rather not go through the training again, thanks all the same. Need to go find the rest of my group.”
Cart snapped his fingers. "You're with the Reno group."
The man nodded still looking through the crowd. The bears
had worked their way to the front and the man slid out of sight behind the large animals.
Mona set her hands on the bears. With Nic’s added help she didn’t need to touch Cart for energy. She did both, a little more quickly, since she knew what to expect and do this time. They too changed back to their shapes, ducking their blond heads and murmuring thanks as they stepped back.
“How many can you do at once?” Cart asked looking at the good two dozen left.
“I think if the spell is the same I could do several,” Mona said after a moment’s thought. With the salamanders’ help and Nic’s magic she should be good. “If they’re not the same it could get slowed down quite a bit.”
“Last five Weres who were changed up next, Reno,” Cart called out.
“Okay, New York.”
Reno pointed out the animals to the brothers who helped push them forward, including one extremely reluctant badger. They went quickly, too, although as the badger transformed, it became clear why she’d been reluctant. Mona handed over her jacket without a word.
Mona now had a pile of hostile magic residue at her feet, ribbons of anger and evil. The salamanders, she noted, were keeping the tendrils confined so nothing would leach out. She needed to get rid of it. She leaned over, and the ground spun and dove at her. Cart reached out for her but she shouted “NO!” and he stopped. A rush of energy was coming back along the line from Nic, and she worried what would happen if Cart touched her. The magic was all evil, as if Nic had stripped someone of the taint—but who? The Lycoan. She squatted down, setting her forearms on her knees and bowing her head against nausea.
“Don’t touch me, just . . . give me a sec,” she managed to get out when Cart knelt down beside her.
She watched as the color leached out of her fingertips and drifted to the ground, threads of magic making crazy looping patterns on the hard packed snow. By the time it was done she was taking shallow breaths through her nose and swallowing against the bile in her throat.
“We need to get rid of this,” Mona said before she remembered Cart wouldn’t be able to see the residue.
“It looks pretty nasty,” Cart agreed.
She lifted her head and blinked at him. “You can see it?”
“Only when I’m around you.”
Something else to figure out. Later. She gathered the red up, the strands feeling, and looking, like cold, slightly slimy noodles. The Weres, she noticed, had stepped back and were warily watching her.
“I think the Lycoan is gone.” Her pronouncement set of a series of reactions, not all good. Reno and the group she’d cleaned moved to create a barrier. She couldn’t help but notice that the bear brothers had hairy asses. Right at eye level.
Cart took her elbow and helped her stand. She swayed a bit before getting her balance.
“Can you jump us somewhere? Maybe the Maven’s old place?”
“I don’t know if I can, my energy is fluctuating a lot.” Oops, Mona hadn’t let him know she was drawing on him, she’d assumed he knew. “Let me try a short one, back to the shed.”
“I—” She was cut off by Nic.
“Mona! Cart!” But his call was too late, the darkness surrounded them as Cart hauled her forward a step. Mona stumbled, her feet almost too tired to lift. Her elbow slipped out of Cart’s grasp.
She let go of the red strands, reaching out to grab where Cart should be. His energy, the aquamarine she’d never consciously associated with him was right . . . there. . .
The strands she’d let go were squiggling like worms in the blackness. Distracted, she watched as one of the faint streaks of color creating specters of dark on dark wrapped itself around the thread and dimmed its light. She looked around. It was as if she’d acclimated herself to the dark and could now see so many colors where there’d be none before.
Go!
The idea pulsed in her brain, not her thought and clearly an order. Cart’s color was there, right there! She flung herself at the glow, colliding with him and causing them both to tumble to the ground as he stepped out of the jump. The landing bruised them both.
Cart didn’t seem to notice. He wrapped his scraped arms around Mona and held her close. His kiss was strong and domineering, and more than a bit frantic. When he broke off the kiss, Mona found their rapid breaths fogged the air between them.
“Don’t ever let go of me during a jump again!” His voice shook. “I couldn’t find you. I thought—”
His body shook, and he didn’t continue.
“I don’t plan to,” she said.
He lifted off her. “I—” he started but was distracted by something. “Shit, the fire circle’s still in place.” He looked around. Mona, under him, couldn’t see what had made him tense. “We need to get up.”
He scrambled up and dragged Mona with him. Hand in hand they raced to the fire, cutting off the Weres so they were in front.
“Tania!” Cart’s worried voice carried over the fire.
“She’s safe,” Nic called out.
Mona watched as the energy of the fire disappeared and the flames melted down to tiny flickers before fading away. Nic was standing over Tania, braced as if for another fight. There was no sign of the Lycoan.
Tania struggled to rise but fell back.
“Your ankle?” Nic leaned over, his hand outstretched. Mona could see his power gathering.
Tania, though, waved him off. “Save your energy for the Weres. I can heal myself once I have my power back.”
He nodded and pulled his hand away. With a half smile, he tucked something into in an inner pocket in his vest then pulled out small plastic bag, which he offered to Tania.
“Salmon jerky? I’m told the vitamin D in it works wonders, but isn’t as good as the real thing.”
“Thank you, I think I will.” Tania took several large pieces.
As she ate, Nic picked Tania up. He strode past Cart and Mona to the platform the Lycoan had been standing upon when they’d first seen him. He carefully set her down. Mona looked around. The sun hung its golden disk just above the horizon—perhaps an hour had passed since they’d arrived.
Closer now, Mona realized there was another series of spells under the contraption. The lime-green color of the original casting was overlaid with the angry red with tints of deepening vermillion. Actually, there was a bit of the red spells on the top too, on what looked to be a rack or something the Lycoan may have used to . . . she wasn’t going to go there. He had used death magic.
Chapter Nineteen
Nic frowned at the construction as he paced around the rectangle one way and then back the other. Looking up, he waved Mona over to him.
“What is that?” He pointed to a particularly large bump of orangey red.
Mona looked through the sigils to the runes. Both were linked through a containment rune. The top one also had the death rune, but it was on its side, which would mean a curse of some sort.
“A couple of things going on. The foremost is the top containment spell—it has a nasty counter curse imbedded in it. I can’t be sure what the curse does; the symbols are all under the top portion.
Nic nodded and poked at the knot. Mona watched his finger slide through and tap just the green portion of the containment rune. Sparks shot out and Nic caught those and absorbed them. Mona watched as he converted the wild energy into something he could use. He shared some with Tania, given the thread between them, but that was probably not on purpose.
He poked again, this time tilting the death rune, flipping it over so it would be ineffectual. A loud keening occurred causing every Were in sight to drop and roll around in an attempt to cover their ears. Mona reached out, flipped the rune all the way over and the keening stopped.
Nic nodded at the work she’d done. “Can you tell now?” he asked her.
Mona peered at the spell again. Yes, just that little flip had exposed some major workings. The bit she could see under the containment looked similar to the memory spell on Smythe’s journal. But also a bit like the spel
l Tania had used to show them where the ‘traitor’s gate’ was back at the compound.
“Some ancient . . . half beast . . . is in place to keep you from opening the top holding spell. There’s definitely a tie there and I can’t do anything to change the second one, it’s too ancient a spell.”
Tania came over and peered around Nic’s shoulder at the knot of magic. Mona glanced around—Cart was over with the Were he’d called Reno, talking quietly while they worked this out.
“That’s what I see. There’s a weak spot here,” Tania said, pointing to a place where the sigils were slightly less vibrant. “If you trigger the spell there, it could be whatever is trapped below gets out that much faster.”
“Okay.” Nic yanked at the spell.
Mona scrambled back as the platform erupted, sending shards of wood everywhere and making everyone duck. Everyone except Nic and Tania, who stood side by side behind a vibrant blue energy shield. Mona blinked at the shield—the energy was from the spell. He’d taken the magic and forced it into another shape. Cracked acorns, he had crazy power.
A great bovine head, with bronze clad horns and a ringed nose, arose from the wreckage. Once on solid ground he stomped his unclad feet then shook his wrestler’s arms and body like an animal shedding water. Snout high in the air, his massive shoulders under the pelt skin shifted and stretched, then some scent caught his attention. Still now, except for the twitching tail over his bare buttocks, he breathed in the smell deeply.
Slowly, his nose leading the way, he turned his bull’s eyes toward Nic and Tania.
A growl was all the warning they had before he charged right at them.
Mona turned and ran toward the shed, Cart by her side, although she had no memory of when he got there. Behind her, she felt a surge of magic. A jump. She looked back over her shoulder. Tania and Nic were now behind the beast who again scented then turned around.
“We need to find some weapons,” Cart said. “The only known method of killing them is to separate the head from the body.”
