The Avatars Series: Books 1-3

by Blackwood, Lisa

  “No great lady, you may not have yet gained wisdom in this life. But that is why you have allies.” A dower voice invaded her thoughts. And accompanying it, the pooka trotted out of the darkness between two trees. “You have two groups of humans converging on your location.”

  “Which one of the Fates did I piss off to warrant so many?”

  The pooka snorted as he came alongside her shoulder. A sunny yellow halter encircled the pony’s head, the colour a near match for his bright yellow otherworldly eyes—though there was nothing sunny in his expression. A lead was clicked to the halter. The pooka held the excess clamped firmly in his teeth. With a shake of his head, he tossed the lead at her. “Take it. And try to look like you know how to lead a horse. When the humans arrive you will say a predator spooked your horses and you followed our trail into the forest.”

  “Would a horse bolt into a dark forest where who knows what predator could be waiting in the shadows for its next snack?”

  The pooka chuckled. “No, but when they find us and assume their dogs have been trailing me and the One Horned Fool over all this distance, they will be so disgusted with themselves and the dogs, they will call off the hunt.”

  Being within touching distance of the pooka was not always the best place to be, but once again she found herself grateful to the evil tempered beast. Following his instructions, she took the lead he offered and looped it around her hand, and then glanced in the direction of the lights.

  “What part of ‘look like you know what you’re doing’ didn’t you understand? Don’t loop it around your hand—do you want me to drag you around? And stand on my left.”

  Lillian juggled the lead rope, and then situated herself at the pooka’s shoulder, still fighting to untangle the rope.

  “Left! My other left. Hurry!”

  Lillian grumbled and switched sides. She didn’t have long to wait. Two excited dogs, their handlers only a few feet behind them, burst from between the trees. Retina searing light flashed directly into her face, blinding her for several vital seconds. She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the bright light.

  One of the dogs, a wiry haired terrier and the smaller of the two, jerked away from its handler and streaked pass both Lillian and the pooka with barely a glance. Nose to the ground, it leaped over an old rotted stump and vanished down the path leading toward Gregory. The last Lillian saw was its short tail wagging hard enough to snap off.

  Its handler cursed, flexed his fingers like he was checking to see if they were all accounted for, righted his jacket, and then glared at Lillian as he stomped past like it was all her fault.

  “Gregory,” Lillian reached for his thoughts, “there’s a small dog coming up your trail, and his handler will be not long behind him. Watch yourself.”

  A mental chuckle was his only reply. Lillian didn’t have time to interpret his mood, the other dog was alternately sniffing, barking, and lunging at the pooka in a way that had Lillian worrying for its little doggie life.

  For his part, the pooka was playing the role of spooked pony too well. He bolted in a half circle, dragging Lillian along for the trip. He slammed his shoulder into a large, bearded man with a really big gun pointed at the ground. His fatigues registered on her senses a moment later. Next to the soldier, the surprised dog handler fell backwards with an astonished expression. Lillian spotted RCMP on the shoulder patch of his dark jacket. The pooka spun around, pinned his ears, lowered his head, and kicked out at the next closest human.

  With a yell, the man dodged to the side. He stumbled into the man next to him before finally coming to a painful looking stop by slamming into a conveniently located tree. While the newcomers fell like dominos, she felt the itch of the pooka’s magic, confirming the source behind all the chaos.

  Swearing, Lillian turned to the pooka in time to see him strike the police dog. The blow glanced off the dog’s flank, leaving a mark in the fur and probably a nice bruise come morning, but it wasn’t a killing strike, which told Lillian the pooka was playing nice. The dog rolled away with a yelp but circled around, coming at the pooka from a different direction. The pony swung his neck to face the still barking dog. A wash of the Fae’s power slid along Lillian’s skin, then on past her, to where the dog continued his mad barking.

  Lillian knew the exact moment the pooka’s magic impacted the dog. It jerked its head to the side, tucked its tail so far between its back legs it was a wonder she didn’t see the tip between the front two, and loosed a mournful whimper before belly crawling back to its handler where he was picking himself up off the ground.

  The pooka snorted, shook his mane out and then trotted back over to Lillian’s side, entirely too pleased with himself. Belatedly, Lillian’s shocked mind realized several sets of eyes, both human and canine, were focused on her.

  “I’m so sorry!” She rushed the words together as she pulled the pooka over to a tree where she proceeded to tie him up. He snorted with displeasure, but she didn’t care and tightened the knot.

  “You should have used a quick release knot.”

  “Shut up! You’ve done enough damage. I’ll be lucky not to get charged for assaulting a police officer with the stunt you just pulled.” Lillian ignored the pooka’s angry snort and faced the humans. Her cheeks burned with heat, and her body was bathed in nervous sweat. She would have preferred to face one of the Riven—at least they would not make her fill out paperwork.

  “Hi,” Lillian ventured into the silence. “Sorry about the fuss. Your dogs frightened my pony. He’s worked up over getting loose and losing his way in the forest. He can be a touch reactive on a good day. Is everyone okay?”

  Grumbles and cursing echoed in the forest. A gruff cough was quickly followed by a clipped, “Miss, this is a quarantined area. You don’t have authorization to be here.”

  Lillian glanced at the speaker. It was the big guy with the beard, the one the pooka had slammed with a shoulder, and the human didn’t look happy.

  “Oh! Sorry,” she didn’t have to fake the nervous, fearful squeak in her voice. It quivered quite naturally all on its own. “As I said, something spooked my horses and they both bolted into the forest. I’ve been trailing them for the last four hours. I just found one—well actually he found me. But the grey is still missing. I was about to go back and get my brother, some flashlights, snacks, and a couple bottles of water before resuming the search.”

  “You’ll have to come back with us, ma’am. I’ll radio about the other missing horse.” The soldier didn’t break eye contact as he pulled a radio from one of many pockets, and raised it closer to his face. “You can stand down. The dogs were tracking a horse. We found the owner and one of the animals.” The soldier continued to give a description of Lillian’s appearance, including her hair colour, height, weight, and clothing.

  His fine attention to details registered on Lillian’s mind and worry flashed to life. He had no reason to relate her description with such detail. It occurred to her they might be looking for someone fitting her description. And if they were interested in someone fitting her description, then they must know something more than Gran had suspected. And it didn’t bode well for either Clan or Coven.

  “You’re Vivian’s granddaughter, aren’t you?

  “Yes, may I ask how you know that?”

  He smiled, but it wasn’t the type to put one at ease. “She has pictures of you and your brother on her mantle. When I was there, I noticed them. I never forget a face.”

  “Oh,” Lillian laughed, but didn’t relax. “Gran always plasters our pictures on just about every surface she can find. It’s embarrassing.”

  “Must be difficult to find the real estate with that extensive sword collection she has on her walls.”

  Lillian swallowed the next bit of fluff she’d been about to spout and frowned as she juggled several possible responses. “Some of those have been with the family for generations—Gran didn’t start the collection. She is more a curator of sorts.”

  “I thought s
he said you and your fiancé were still up in Kirkland Lake for the rest of the summer.”

  Lillian’s mind scrambled to keep up with the soldier’s rapid change in topics. Trying to follow his logic was as dizzying as trying to track a chipmunk jacked up on an energy drink. His rapid change in topics must be some method to catch her in a lie, and if it was, she was already a suspect. Damn and double damn. It was just her luck. Of all the soldiers she could have run into in a forest, it looked like she’d tripped over a military interrogator. Ah, her usual luck. “Yes, we were there looking into some property. Gran wants to expand the family business, possibly opening a chain of resorts. Anyways, our plans changed when we heard about the rumors. We just had to come back and see what all the media frenzy was about. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t, you know, not with all the talk of monsters and aliens. Can you believe people?”

  With another gruff chuckle, the bearded man glanced over Lillian’s shoulder, out beyond the dark trees. “I never believe people.”

  “Ah,” Lillian floundered for some response.

  The soldier snapped his intense gaze back to her as quickly as he’d taken it off. “Have you seen monsters in the forest, Lillian?”

  His question so caught her off guard, she had to snap her jaws closed, and could only stand there and look upon him with utter disbelief.

  “Monsters?” She cleared her throat. “I’ve seen the news and heard all the rumors—terrorists, cults, monsters, and aliens. I have to say I’m on the side of those who believe it was some kind of twisted cult, or an elaborate hoax gone wrong.”

  “The way those bodies were torn apart and scattered around the forest was no hoax.”

  Lillian’s stomach dropped and a cold wave of fear slid across her skin, followed by a swift blanket of gooseflesh.

  “We need to get out of here.” The pooka’s voice in her mind was calm, though he had started to jerk on his lead rope, likely as fearful of a trap as she herself was. “These humans know more than the other Fae believed. The soldier wouldn’t otherwise mention any details about an ongoing investigation. He’s fishing. We need to retreat and regroup before your gargoyle comes crashing through the forest to rescue you. I can’t stress how unfortunate such an event would be.”

  Lillian swallowed as she met the soldier’s gaze. “You mean it wasn’t a cult murder-suicide like the media believes?” She cast a nervous glance over her shoulder purely for show. “Are you saying there is something or someone hunting in the forest—and it killed those people?”

  “The investigation is ongoing—we’re still analysing evidence.”

  “Is that code to say you’re hunting for some kind of urban legend like the rumors suggest? Sir…” Lillian gave his fatigues a once over, looking for a name or something with his rank, but realized she still would not have known what the bars and badges met anyways.

  “Major Resnick, of the 48th Highlanders of Canada,” he supplied. “4th Division, Joint Task Force Central. And no, I’m not hunting for a yeti.”

  Lillian started to laugh. “Glad to hear it. I wouldn’t like to think I’ve been exploring the forest for all these years when there might have been something else studying me in return.”

  “However, while I have you here. Have you ever seen or heard something out of the ordinary in all your exploring? Anything at all. It might not have seemed like much at the time, but anything you remember might have importance. We’ve been interviewing many of the locals.”

  While he used the word ‘interviewed’ Lillian imagined ‘interrogated’ would have been a more accurate one. She frowned, and pretended to think for several moments. “My family runs a spa, and we’ve had some unusual patrons from time to time, but I can’t think of having seen anything out of the ordinary.” If you don’t count a gargoyle, and numerous Clan and Coven members.

  The pooka nickered.

  “However,” Lillian continued with more authority. “I saw some signs of bear, a mother and cub by the tracks—the bears might have been what spooked the horses in the first place. And I certainly don’t want to lose the one I just found…so if you don’t have any more questions…”

  A rustling in the underbrush along the path saved Lillian from having to continue. The small, wiry haired terrier burst out from behind cover and bolted between Lillian and Major Resnick and then continued to run full out, all four legs churning at maximum speed. Two seconds later, the dog was well up the path and out of sight.

  Everyone stared after the dog for a few seconds more than turned to look the way it had come. Lillian turned too, fervently hoping not to see Gregory pursuing it. He wasn’t and she released the breath she’d been holding. All her plausible lies would have been for nothing if there had been a gargoyle galloping up the trail in pursuit of the dog.

  The terrier’s handler jogged up the path, cursing as he came. He stumbled into their midst holding his side and sucking back deep breaths. “Something big spooked Socrates. Didn’t get a good look, but it was a damned big son of a bitch.”

  “Bear,” Lillian commented nervously, but for different reasons than the handler. Gregory must have finished with his spell.

  “Gregory,” Lillian sent, “I assume you intentionally just scared a year off that man’s life on purpose.”

  He sent a grumbling huff in answer. All the humans twitched and their hands darted to their weapons in a way that made Lillian genuinely nervous.

  “Don’t come any closer. The humans are twitchy enough as it is. Let me handle this.”

  Gregory’s thoughts touched hers, confirming what she feared. “I do not care for the emotions I’m picking up from the humans. Extract yourself now or I will deal with them myself.”

  “Dammit. I love you, but you can be such a pain in my ass! At present, I’m not in any immediate danger.”

  “Yes you are. Their leader is thinking of taking you to a secure site where there are many more of his kind. I can see it clear in his thoughts.” Another huffing rumble issued from the darkness behind her.

  “Stay out of this. I’m leaving. They don’t have any reason to hold me at the moment. Don’t give them one.” Out loud she hiss ‘bear’ loud enough to draw everyone’s attention away from the area where Gregory was making a tree shake. She bolted for the pooka and worked loose the knot that tied him to the thick branch.

  The pooka arched his neck and sniffed at her fingers. “In the future, I’ll instruct you on how to create a proper safety knot. You wouldn’t be having trouble if you’d done what I told you.”

  “Stop fussing with the pooka and get out of there now,” Gregory injected from an unknown location.

  “Quiet! Both of you.”

  Lillian jerked on the knot until it came free and then she hauled the pooka around by his head, uncaring if she was being rude. As she and the pooka made it past Major Resnick’s position, she glared at him. “Tell your men to fall back. It’s probably the same mother bear I saw earlier. Don’t have your men shoot the poor bear just because she’s protecting her young.”

  She didn’t wait to see what they would do, instead storming on down the path that led to civilization, and probably more uniformed military types, but she didn’t have any choice. Not if she wanted to find a peaceful end to tonight’s outing.

  “Let her pass,” Major Resnick called, “Everyone fall back, nice and slow. Get the other dog out of here, and then bring up the tranquilizer guns.”

  The forest around Lillian came alive as a second military team she hadn’t even known was there eased out of their hiding spots. She didn’t even try to hide her shock, it probably looked innocent enough. Beside her, the pooka started trotting, his motion more up and down than forward in his excitement. Lillian didn’t think his agitation was an act. She had the impression of big guns, night vision goggles, and more camouflaged fatigues.

  As Resnick continued to call out orders, the military unit split in two. Four men spread out to take up the rear and guard the others’ retreat, always keeping themselves between
the main group and Lillian’s ‘bear’. Presently, her ‘bear’ was following a few paces behind the last human. While Gregory was actively cloaking himself in shadows and magic, he didn’t bother to hide his presence or his simmering displeasure from her, and she had a difficult time keeping her eyes forward.

  Gregory worried for her safety, and she in turn worried for the humans should he decide they were an immediate threat, or they were simply too close to her.

  “They most certainly are too close.” Gregory’s annoyance came clear across their mind link. “You said you would extract yourself from them.”

  “I tried. They followed. They’re not going to just let me walk off into the forest. They’re like burrs or gum; I think I’m stuck with them.”

  “Find a way.” Gregory’s thoughts were almost a shout.

  She covered her flinch by pretending to swat a mosquito. “Something else is wrong. I know if I was in immediate danger, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and the poor soldiers wouldn’t know what hit them. They’re not the enemy. They simply have a job to do. But you know that, or they would already be smoking black smudges on the forest floor. So what’s really bothering you? Are they leading me to a prison cell?”

  “No.” His short answer told her nothing useful.

  “Then what?”

  “Some of them watch you.”

  “They are probably bored after tromping around the forest day after day for the last three months.”

  “Their thoughts are not the thoughts of a ‘bored’ male.” His clipped tone told her much more than his earlier one word answer.

  Oh boy.

  “Merciful Mother, he’ll annihilate them.” The pooka loosed a distressed whinny. “My Lady, your gargoyle is enraged by their lack of respect. He’s never had to deal with people who do not know to respect the Avatars.”

  She didn’t need the pooka’s commentary to tell her how bad the situation could get. “Gregory, my love. It doesn’t matter. It means nothing.” Lillian kept walking, she and the pooka doing their best to keep the soldiers to a fast pace. The sooner they could part company, the safer everyone would be.