by Lucy Lyons
I scoffed and shook my head. “Don’t worry. I won’t enjoy this any more than you will, hunter.” He relaxed slightly, and I took it for permission to continue. A whispered prayer rolled over my tongue, and Vladikk’s mouth moved in unison with mine as he recognized the verse I murmured more from habit than faith. His flesh was feverish in my jaws, and the heat, combined with the heady smell of blood and the frantic pace of his pulse, brought my beast to the forefront. I bit through until my teeth met, far more than was needed to heal him but not nearly kill that my wolf demanded.
Forcing my jaws open, I released him and rocked back on my heels, shifting back to human form and spitting the blood out of my mouth before I could swallow any of the venom in it. There were whispers from his men, and the hunter who had fought Vash with us on the cliff’s edge handed me a square of black cloth, a Venatores handkerchief. I nodded and wiped out my mouth and scrubbed at my face until I was sure I’d rubbed skin off with the tainted liquid then left without a backward glance to see my handiwork.
Caroline stayed behind with Nick to look after Agnarrson, and Ashlynn followed me out to the market square. Simi and Somayo joined us as I surveyed the magic circle Caroline had traced in the fine dust that covered the stones. The runes she’d drawn glowed to my power, shining brighter as I approached and receding when I backed away. I glanced at Somayo, who did the same, with similar result.
“It’s warded to us furry people, huh?” he asked, and I took a shaky breath.
“Felt like I stuck my finger in a light socket for a second.” I rubbed my hands over my arms to flatten the raised hair there.
Somayo chuckled and slapped me on the back hard enough to propel me back toward the circle then grabbed my arm to pull me toward him again. “To be honest, it knocked me on my ass when I did that. I guess you really are more powerful than me.”
“I’m the alpha, Somayo. I have to be the most powerful or it weakens my pack. I have a feeling when you find your own pack, you’ll find the strength to lead as an indomitable alpha.” Somayo didn’t answer, but the look on his face told me he hadn’t thought of ever being a leader again. My pack had an adopted Leo holding down the fort back home, but when we were done, I knew I was going to introduce them over a beer and see what came of it.
Ashlynn made a rude noise, and when I glanced at her, she and Simi both rolled their eyes at me. “You men done with your deep moment? I can go get Caroline so we can finish the circle, if you’re ready.” Ashlynn grinned at me, and I flipped her off, making her laugh.
“Just don’t let Agnarrson . . .” I began, and she tilted her head to one side. “Never mind, Ash. Just watch your back. We took a Big Bad and, like, tripled his power.” Somayo and I shared a look, and before I spoke again, he nodded and gestured to Simi.
“He’s about to ask us to vacate the children Sophie recruited before they get themselves killed,” he declared, and I waggled my hand at him.
“I was going to say before Agnarrson’s added power gives them enough of an edge to hurt our people, but sure, your way works too.” He gripped my shoulder and glanced around.
“I felt him when he passed by before. If I could feel that power as a human, he shouldn’t be able to take you by surprise.”
He nodded seriously, gently shaking my shoulder, and I returned the nod, automatically reaching out with my power, trying to sense all the shifters. I felt my wolves in a broken building that overlooked the circle and turned to them, proud that so many had volunteered when they knew the dangers of joining me. I felt Somayo, and in the hut, I felt the faint burn of power from a new shifter, one whose form I couldn’t discern. Agnarrson. I shuddered and cursed myself for trying to take some misbegotten “high road.” If I hadn’t done that in the beginning, Vash would be safely behind the walls of his prison. Yet I’d probably signed my own death warrant, trying to be some noble creature to prove to the Venatores they were wrong.
I reached out for the wererats, concerned when I couldn’t feel them. My power stretched out from me like fingers on a hand, rifling through rubble and centuries of decay and growth as I searched for my allies who had gone below to set charges. Suddenly, the fact that Vash hadn’t attacked us yet filled me with urgency. He’d had almost an eternity to learn the ins and outs of the ruins, all the way into the deeps. I pointed at the wolf I caught staring out the window at me and he came running.
“Bernie, Vash is already here. He’s below us,” I hissed as I scanned the ruins. “Get Fin and his rats out of those goddamned tunnels and somewhere away from the market square—the wolves too.” Caroline was jogging toward us, and I waved at the circle. “The Fae have left us to fend for ourselves. Care. What do I do to get this thing to take Vash and not put me down?”
She shrugged apologetically. “Know where we can find a bowl for blood?” she asked with a sigh.
“Are the vampires still above us?” I asked in a low voice as I reached down, shuffling through the loose stones until I found the kind of shale I was looking for.
“We’re still here, Clay,” came a voice from one of the flat rooftops. “What do you need?”
“I’m sending the hunters away. I need someone to watch over them and Simi and Somayo,” I asked.
“But mostly your friends, right?” asked a male vampire whose name I couldn’t remember. A feminine laugh floated down from behind him, and Colette, Caroline’s second, landed softly on the stones near the circle. I glanced at her feet, but the runes stayed quiet in her presence. “We got your back, Clay,” she assured me, lacking her usual warped humor. “Never thought I’d be a hunter’s guardian angel,” she continued, making me smile. “Friggin’ world’s all upside down for me, Clay. You’d better save some of the good fighting for when I get back.”
“Thanks, Colette. Just make them take the long way, through jungle with no cell signal. The moment they hit civilization, they’ll bring the Venatores down on us. We’re not going to have the fight left in us for that battle.”
She turned to leave when a crash from the shack filled with hunters made us both leap into action, racing toward the building as it fell around its occupants. She made it first and slid to a stop almost causing me to crash into her.
“Well, that’s a new one,” was all she said before I sidestepped her and came face-to-face with a creature beyond almost all description. His muzzle was short, a misshapen human face, rather than an animal’s. He had a mane, like our Leo, but his body was almost a man’s taller with limbs and muscles that seemed normal in shape for an eight-foot frame, at least. The scales that covered them were definitely not. Then again, the tail that whipped back and forth behind him was not feline or reptile, but I couldn’t place it. For just a split second, I regretted not taking the “Fae, Mythology, and Biology” course Caroline had talked Maria into giving the vampire clan. Then he turned away from me, and I saw the thick ridge of stiff hair down his back.
“Well, holy shit, Agnarrson,” I breathed, just as he let out a pained cackle that made my skin crawl. “You’re a goddamned hyena hybrid.”
“I think the term you’re looking for is chimera, Alpha.” Onyxis breezed through the rubble without a speck of dust clinging to her crimson gown. “You are an amazing miracle of Fae magic. Perhaps you should let our alpha push you through to your human form again.”
He nodded, and I flexed my shoulders, stretching as I tested my own strength. I needed to reserve enough energy to fight the Fae prince, and I still had to donate blood to help focus Caroline’s magic, bleeding for the cause . . . again.
“Am I too strong for you to force back down, Clay?” Agnarrson mocked me in a voice that was no longer his own, caught between the rough gravel of a growl and the screech of a mountain lion.
“No, Agnarrson, you’re not more powerful than me,” I sighed. He reached out his hand, palm facing me, fingers pointed skyward.
He grinned, and I silently echoed the sounds of shock and horror from the young hunters that Simi was trying to usher out a hole in th
e back wall. He spread his arms and turned in a slow circle before replying. “Then put me back in the box, Pandora.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
He put his hand out again in challenge, and as the last of the hunters escaped out the back of the building, I placed my palm against his, not giving any power yet, just holding against him as he tried to figure out his own magic.
I felt the prickle of wild magic on my hand and waited for the inevitable thrust of power he’d have to make to assert himself. When it came, it was more powerful than I’d thought, meaning he’d either blown his wad with the first push of power or I was in for a real fight if he wanted to prove himself.
He pushed again, physically pressing his hand against mine as he tried to force his way through my shielding, but I’d been practicing a lot longer than he had, and the shields held. I dropped my hand and my shields, blasting him with the power I’d been hoarding while he expended his own, driving him to his knees.
He fought back, but the moment our eyes met, I saw his defeat. I pushed harder, and he curled in on himself in an upright fetal position, his head tucked into his stomach and his arms crossed over his neck, but no matter how hard I tried to pull his humanity back to the surface, I couldn’t. There was no humanity left in him to draw from.
“You knew about this, didn’t you?” I panted, and Onyxis gave me a cat-eyed stare.
“Whatever do you mean, wolf?”
I pointed to Agnarrson, who was unfolding himself, limbs shaking from the aftereffects of being used as a punching bag. I started to reach for him, to help him to his feet, then thought better of it and let him stay seated and rest.
“You knew he wouldn’t change. Why did you let me do that to him? Don’t you know how much pain he was in? Why let me hurt him unnecessarily?” I straightened up to my full seven feet of hybrid wolfman and stood toe-to-toe with the vampire queen, deaf to the hiss of warning from Colette. “I needed that strength for the battle ahead. Or is that what you wanted? Does our annihilation better serve your agenda, Night Mother?”
Colette bypassed subtlety and cuffed me up the back of my head, levitating herself to do so. “I’d apologize for him, but he’s the alpha, and if you screwed over Nick and Caroline by making him work that hard, you’re going to have a lot more than just the wolves to answer to, my Queen.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine and glanced at Agnarrson, who jumped and stared up at me. “Did you do that too?” he asked. I shook my head and cursed under my breath.
“We’re out of time, Onyxis.” I turned to Colette. “Change of plans, since you’re still here and the hunters are long gone. Stand with Caroline, and as soon as she closes the circle, you grab her and take her away from here.
Agnarrson struggled to his feet and held onto my while he tested the strength of his legs. “What do I do now?” he asked in that alien, guttural voice.
“You find your feet, and we see how steep your learning curve is.” I looked over my shoulder at the new voice, and Dominique smiled at me. “But first, let’s get the strongest shifter we have back to full strength. He still needs to bleed for us.” I saw her cast a sideways look at her mistress and wondered if her last words were a veiled rebuke to the Night Mother. I’d been around enough vampires to know their love of drama.
Another chill swept over me and I knew Vash was topside in the city. I prayed the wererats had all gotten out of the tunnels below and were safely away from the ancient market where we planned to stage our last stand.
“We’re done here, Dominique,” Onyxis said, the neutral expression falling away from her face for a moment. I felt another shudder of immense power and agreed.
“Please, take Onyxis as far from here as you can, Dom. I’ll watch out for Agnarrson.” I started out of the building, but Vladikk followed me and grabbed my arm.
“I’m OK now. Let me fight. I’m a monster now. I have to at least fight this thing.” Onyxis nodded from behind him, and I shrugged.
“I don’t have time to protect you, hunter. You’re on your own.” He flexed his arms out to the sides and breathed in deeply.
“I suppose I should see what this new body does, right?” he asked, and gave me a malicious, fanged grin.
“Don’t die on us, Chimera,” Onyxis ordered him. “You are proof of the wild hunt. You are the first hound of hell seen on this plane in centuries. You belong with me, a general in my army.”
He laughed and shook his fist in my face, forcing me back a step. “I bet you didn’t plan that now, did you, little wolf? You hoped it would kill me. I saw it in your eyes.”
I didn’t bother to deny it. Instead I turned my back on him and strode toward the circle, knowing I was surrounded by Nick and his loyal vampires above me, and my wolves a stone’s throw from the circle in a building. I didn’t want to waste power to search for Fin’s complement of wererats, but prayed they had all made it out of the tunnels while I’d been christening Agnarrson into the shape-shifter fold.
“I have work to do. You want to make yourself useful, go see what you‘re capable of. And if you survive an encounter with our crazy Fae prince, try herding him back toward that,” I directed him, pointing at the runic circle.
Without another word, he sped off, moving lightning quick and leaping to the second floor of a partially collapsed building. I watched him make another unbelievable jump to another perch before he disappeared around the corner into the kapu trees and deeper ruins of the city near the temple.
“That was disconcerting, Clay,” Caroline murmured, holding out a shallow bowl she’d fashioned from the shale I’d give her. “Talk about fish to water . . .”
“He was always a monster, Caroline It’s just that now the external and the internal match.” I took the knife she’d offered and sliced my arm from wrist to elbow and clenched my fist to make the blood flow faster. The cut started to close almost immediately, and I was forced to reopen it, cutting deeper than I wanted, which meant it was probably exactly what was needed. “Why don’t you use silver knives, Caroline? It’d make this job a lot easier for me, considering how often I’m opening a vein for you these days.”
“Well, Clay, as soon as I’m sure my baby isn’t as weak against silver as her father or, say, you, I’ll think about it. Until then, no firearms near her and no silver.” I hadn’t thought to look, but I glanced at her neck, now devoid of the silver cross that she normally wore, a gift of protection from Nicholas from before they were wed.
There was no point in remarking on it, but for some reason, knowing she was even less protected than usual made me feel the importance of having the circle we were fortifying as strong as possible. I followed Caroline around the circle, holding the stone dish as she dipped the blade into my blood and carefully dripped it over the runes. The proximity was making it difficult to breathe, and as the blood touched each rune and made them flare up, the tightness in my chest grew worse. I was so focused on simply staying on my feet that before I realized it, we were back at our starting point, and with a final flick of her wrist, Caroline sealed the circle.
Immediately, the pressure on my ribcage eased, and I could breathe again. I took several cleansing breaths, grateful to feel my lungs fill up completely, and backed away several feet, one eye on the circle, the other on the roofline of the buildings around us.
Nick joined us and reported that he’d seen Agnarrson on the scent of something, racing into the temple and disappearing down the stairs. I knew he’d never risk his vampires for the Venatores zealot, even with his new look, but I still wished he’d send one of his people down there instead of me having to send more of mine to possible death.
“Nick, you need to grab Caroline and get high, OK?” I warned him as another shudder jarred me almost off my feet. “It looks like the cavalry isn’t going to be joining us for this fight, and baby Ro needs her mom and dad.”
Caroline opened her mouth to argue, but Nick scooped her into his arms as the shudders that ran through me changed from metaphysical to lit
eral, and stones skipped and scuttled across the square. I kicked a particularly large stone away from the blood line we’d created, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back on the far side of the circle, watching Agnarrson and Vash grappling.
I was the most powerful human shifter on the top of the mountain. But when I saw Agnarrson and Vash fighting, I knew who as going to end up the winner of our fight and who was going to end up on the pyre. He’d figured out how to avoid the prince’s venom, and the two of them circled one another before both lunged forward, almost tumbling over me as they grappled again.
For my part, I knew I had to get out of the circle to close it for good, but Agnarrson was lost to the fight, and I didn’t know how to get him out without Vash getting back over the line. I crouched near the runes, still feeling a tingle as my finger brushed the edge of a rune, and felt Caroline’s silent admonition to avoid smearing them, to ensure the circle’s power. Mentally, I cursed Maria for not giving Caroline a better, or at least more fool-proof, manner with which to hold her son.
I stood and pushed my power outward, careful to conserve as much as possible and creating a bubble shield around myself. It was something Caroline had taught me when she realized I had a portion of the power she had grown into. I stretched the bubble, estimating the extra power needed to fit the bubble over Agnarrson’s new build and how strong I could make the shield against attack without draining myself.
