by John Conroe
“Hmpff. You’ll damn well take a nap,” I said, “and eat something first.”
“You shake more than I do,” Kristin said as he held the big 10mm out two-handed.
I whipped around and glared at her, not caring that her face immediately reflected embarrassment for speaking out loud.
She’d learned to be somewhat comfortable around me but had yet to relax around Declan. I suspect that my other two wolves had added stories of his powers to what public rumor and supposition had taught her. But now she had spoken out at the worst possible moment.
“Oh?” he asked, deceptively casual. Declan is super sensitive to his position in our little pack. I was the only Alpha wolf, but as my mate, he had to hold authority and strength. Being the most powerful witch in the world should have been enough… it certainly was for Holly and Devany. But to him, any suggestion that he was weak was instantly met with a demonstration of why he wasn’t.
“Stop,” I said. “This isn’t the time.”
“But it is,” he said. “As you’ve told me yourself, Kristin sees me as weak. Right, Kristin?”
She was mortified, her pale face now actually ashen. She froze up solid, unmoving.
“Now you’re scaring her,” I said.
“I can’t be scary if I shake, can I?”
Holly snorted, catching his attention. He raised his eyebrows at her. Damn, he was stubborn sometimes… most of the time.
“You’re not scary at all most of the time,” she said, staring right back at him. “Up until you decide to alter the world around you.”
He pulled back, astonished. “I don’t go around altering things,” he protested. “I only act when I absolutely have to.”
“Sure, but you just spent most of the night talking to elementals all over the world, right?” Holly asked. “Like, say a giant volcano under Hawaii or the thing that lives in Mount Everest. That’s pretty frigging scary.”
“I didn’t speak to either of those. Too far away, at least for now. Just Mount St. Helens and a couple of Earth elementals in the Adirondack mountains.”
“Like that’s better,” she said.
He waved a hand. “The point is, our newest recruit sees me as a weak link. I need to show her I’m not,” he said, and the glyphs on his neck and arms went black and visible.
He racked the action, lifted the pistol, and emptied the magazine into Kristin’s target, clustering his shots into the chest and head.
“See?” he asked the young girl who, if he had half the sense of smell the rest of us had, he would have known was scared out of her mind.
“I didn’t mean any… anything like that,” she said, a tiny shake in her voice.
He was tired, but he finally picked up on her fear. And took in my hands-on-hips glare. He looked at Devany, who was studiously checking his pistol’s action, and Holly, who was frowning at him.
“Ah, Kristin, I didn’t mean to get all serious on you,” he backpedaled. “I’m not a were; you could beat me arm wrestling any day of the week. But I just wanted you to know that I have ways of compensating.”
“Don’t all men?” Holly asked, turning to reload a magazine.
He didn’t know how to respond to that, but the comment made Kristin smirk for a split second. Yup, the girl had a definite spark, for sure.
“You know, Warlock, if you’re done browbeating my new recruit, perhaps you should get the cafeteria to send a breakfast sandwich to our suite while you get ready to sack out?” I suggested, my tone light.
He hates it when I call him warlock, so I save it for special occasions, like when he’s being an ass, so I was telling him that he was doing just that, but keeping my voice pleasant lessened any blow to his feelings—or at least I hoped it did. If he were a were, our mate bond would have told him all that, but he’s not, so the bond is not perhaps all that it would be with another were. Which meant I had to add imperfect communication to Stacia’s Big List of Worries. The bond did tell me that he was feeling really bad that he had scared Kristin. He hates that people are afraid of him, a phenomenon that has been with him his whole life.
He looked down at his gun resting on its case, but I don’t think he was even seeing it. He was really tired.
“Did the communication work well?” I asked.
He brightened a bit. “Yes, it did. And I think I’m getting better at understanding them.”
“Why do you just think it’s getting better? Don’t you know?”
“Well, I really believe it, but if it’s true, then what they are telling me is kind of wild.”
“Wild how?” I asked. Our pack was openly paying attention, clearly fascinated, even Kristin.
“Well, I’m pretty sure that I was just told that sasquatches communicate with some elementals too.”
“What?” Holly asked. “Those things are real?”
“Holly, you’ve heard me talk about the Winter Queen’s sasquatch, right?” I asked.
“I thought it was a nickname. You also call it a troll and I thought you just said it looked like a bigfoot,” she said.
“Sasquatch are very real,” Devany said, which brought all of our attention his way. He shrugged. “I had my own experience, in Maine.”
“Like what?” Kristin asked, forgetting, it seemed, to be shy or scared.
“I was hunting moose. My dad got an archery permit through the lottery. We were above Moosehead lake, in deep wilderness. I was on a stand on the edge of a marshy area. It got to be dusk and suddenly this… creature… just steps out of the woods. He was across a little flow of water from me, maybe as far as the back wall of this range. He kneels down and gets a drink, then suddenly looks up in the direction my dad had gone. Very casual like, he just turns and steps off into the woods. Five minutes later, Dad come out right where he had been looking. We crossed over to where I saw it and sure enough, there was a massive track in the mud. We took pictures of it.”
“Sasquatch is very real and appears all over the planet. In medieval times, they were called trolls in parts of Europe,” Declan explained. “That’s also what they are called on Fairie. But both the earth elementals in the Adirondacks and the volcano under St. Helens conveyed to me that ‘squatches have long spoken to them. Something about the infrasound that sasquatches seem to generate. And… get this… often the elementals have lent them power to form portals.”
“That’s a huge piece of information,” I said, not doubting for a second that he was understanding them clearly. My warlock is gifted beyond measure in many ways and his attention to detail was molded into him almost from birth.
“Portals?” Kristin questioned.
“The reason nobody ever captures or tracks down a ‘squatch is because they can open portals through space, like the elves do,” Declan said.
“Like you do?” the girl asked.
“Yeah, pretty much, but they’re better at it… faster, more instinctive.”
“So why is this so important?” Holly asked.
“Because with elemental power, they can easily open portals even to Fairie,” Declan said. “We knew they could do it but didn’t understand where the power came from.”
“Oh,” Holly said, realization flooding her features.
“The dude with the goblins and pucks that Caeco was guarding,” Devany said.
“Exactly. It tells us that Morrigan’s ‘squatch can come and go as it pleases,” Declan said.
“Unless the elementals here on Earth don’t cooperate with it,” I said. “She can command the power to get it here but for the return trip, it would need to ask a local elemental. What if they agreed to say no?”
My witch looked impressed, a look I like to see often and directed my way.
“Let me see what they say,” he said, nodding.
“After you sleep,” I insisted.
“Yeah, after.”
“You should also check with the other sasquatchs to see if they cooperate with the elves too,” Devany said, which caused both Declan and me to give him
a surprised look.
“Damn, I really am tired,” Declan said, shaking his head. “Okay, I’m off to catch some Zs. Please keep thinking of all the things that I’m obviously not.” He started to pack up the gear he had barely unpacked.
“How likely is it that bigfoots… bigfeet work with elves?” Holly asked, frowning.
“Morrigan’s is the only one we know of,” I said. “She apparently raised it from a baby.”
“I actually think we need to make contact with sasquatches and find out,” Declan said. “The elementals of Earth do not like the queens of Fairie at all. And I don’t recall hearing a lot about trolls on Fairie other than that they were shy. So they might be good allies.”
“I recall Greer saying something about packs of trolls,” I said. “He was impressed with Awasos and commented about ‘Sos being able to kill trolls. It didn’t sound like he was friends with them.”
“Let’s hope not,” Declan said. “Having a small army of ‘squatch transport forces for the queens would be a nightmare.”
“The fact that it hasn’t happened yet might be a sign that it’s unlikely to,” I said.
“Well, lots to think about. Oh, and we were right about the land in New York,” he added.
“Oh? It’s gonna work out?”
“Yeah, the ley lines are small but numerous and more than sufficient for what I need. Plus the Adirondack Elementals are all in for helping me out.”
He was talking about a piece of land in the Adirondack Park, far north of the eight million people who live in the City. We knew he would be a target in the coming war and we didn’t want that target situated in the middle of one of the biggest cities in America.
“Omega is buying the land,” Declan added.
“Correction – I have already bought it. Excavator drones are headed there now,” Omega said.
“Excavator?” Holly asked.
“I have modified the design of the old centipede drones. They are now primarily designed for tunneling and construction of underground structures.”
“Primarily?” Bruce asked.
“They can still fight, and fight well.”
“Omega, how long do you think it will take to carve out a new base?” I asked.
“Barring any surprises during excavation, a useable base should be ready in eight days. Full build out will take several months.”
“The closest elemental will help if we come across anything weird, but I scanned it pretty deep when we visited the land two weeks ago,” Declan said. “Anyway, I think I’ll head to bed.”
“That is your best idea yet,” I said, with a mock glare.
He swung his small range bag over his shoulder and headed out of the Demidova Tower range. Our quarters were one level up and he better be headed that way. I would need to check on him in a little while. His stubborn sense of duty is both a boon and a curse. A boon to mankind and a curse to those of us who love him. I had more contact with his aunt and step-aunt than he did, mostly because we are all checking up on him.
“Are we done too?” Devany asked casually.
“Gotta hot date or something?” Holly asked. I think they tried to hook up once themselves and it didn’t work at all. Too different.
“I have to get a whole mess of errands done today,” he allowed.
“Oh, in order to go on a date later?” Holly pressed, a wicked grin forming on her face.
Something I had heard from another member of Team Demidova suddenly jelled in my head. “Lydia?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, at least out loud, but his spike in heart rate said all I needed to hear.
“She said she was dating a new wolf, but she didn’t tell me it was one of mine,” I said.
“It’s our first real date,” he said, one hand gripping the other. “We sorta hung out after a training session last week and decided to give it a try.”
“Oh, you go on your date,” I said with an evil grin. “No worries.”
“Shit, now I’m really worried,” he said.
“There’s no rule against you two dating, Bruce, but she should have said something,” I said, packing up my own gun gear. “It’s your business who you date, just as it’s hers, but anything that can affect my pack is mine.”
He nodded, still looking a little concerned, and headed out.
“Well, I’m off to my parents’ house in Jersey,” Holly said. “No dates for me, but hopefully I’ll get to see some old friends.” Then she too was gone.
“She’s… intense,” Kristin said, her voice quiet as she handed me her equipment to pack in my bag.
“She’s the girl that got bit in Vegas,” I said. “On her bachelorette party. The wedding didn’t happen.”
“Oh,” she said. “What a dick!”
“He handled it horribly, so yeah. But having a human for a mate can be very hard.”
“What about having a witch?”
“It can be a huge pain in the ass… and absolutely wonderful. I wouldn’t trade my witch for anything,” I said.
She smiled and looked down at her shooting glasses, then handed them to me when I reached out.
“What’s your plan for today?” I asked.
Being brought to New York City for training must have been exciting for her, but she was underage and didn’t know anyone. Her guest room here in the Tower was very nice, but she had to be lonely, bored, and maybe homesick.
“I was going to call home and then watch a movie,” she said with a firm smile.
“In the Big Apple? No way. Listen, I’m hungry and I know you are too because you’re a were. Let’s get something to eat and I can show you some of New York. There are a ton of amazing restaurants and museums and stuff,” I offered.
“Can you just go out in the city? I mean, you’re famous… won’t people and paparazzi be a problem?”
“It depends. Sometimes I go in disguise and use public transportation. Sometimes I hire a car,” I said.
“How can you disguise so people don’t know you?” she asked, looking me up and down.
“I did mention I have a witch, right?” I said with a grin.
Forty-five minutes later, we left the Tower through the front door and walked right past several waiting paparazzi without them giving us a second glance. Kristin held her breath, literally, while we moved down the block, finally letting it out when no one paid us any attention.
“How is that possible?” she asked.
“I told you inside,” I said, secretly enjoying how much my mate’s magic was blowing her mind. “These little photos clipped on our shirts are spelled to lend us the image of the person in the photo. It works best if you pick someone close to your own size and of the same sex.”
“But you look the same to me?”
“And you to me… that’s part of the spell. Our spell photos are linked. But anyone else will see you as Karen from customer service and me as Mrs. Whalen from finance.”
“But what about Karen and Mrs… ah, Whalley?”
“Whalen. If you’re asking if they’re okay with us borrowing their images, the answer is yes. We only take photos of willing employees. Some people don’t want to do it, but most of Demidova’s people think it’s pretty cool, and we don’t use them often. We only take a couple photos a month and destroy the ones we don’t use so there’s nothing hanging around. These were taken this morning. That’s so that they know when and where we’re impersonating them and also so the clothes match the day. If Karen went in today in jeans but left in a dress, one of our watchers might notice.”
“Really? They pay that close attention?” she asked.
“Reporters and photographers are just a few of our observers. Several federal agencies, more than a few foreign intelligence operatives, multiple corporate espionage agents, and a number of political operatives,” I said. “Which is why I bought both ladies lunch to be delivered to their departments.”
“So the watchers don’t see them leave the building a second time without first coming back?” s
he guessed.
“Exactly. Now let’s get something to eat… what are you hungry for? Or maybe I should ask, what do you want to try?”
“Wait… Declan is sleeping? How did the photos get spells on them?”
“Declan put the spell on a pen… a Sharpie that’s kept under lock and key. So I wrote the runes, according to his instructions, with a pen that contains a bit of his power.”
“Wow! That’s a valuable pen.”
“Which is why Omega guards it. Now… food?”
“Icelandic food is heavy on seafood. I’d really like to try something different… like Asian or Middle Eastern?”
“How about both? We’re werewolves… we’ll be hungry again before we make it back to the Tower.”
We stopped at a falafel place first, each of us scarfing down a half-dozen lamb kababs before heading to Chinatown. We picked up dumplings and noodles from two places before stopping at a Thai place to sample their pad thai. We sat down just inside the door, at the last open table, as several other customers mostly filled the tiny shop. No one paid any attention to a pair of ladies on their lunch break, so it gave me a chance to watch people without being stared at.
There was a trio of Asian ladies speaking what I guessed might be Mandarin, a language I had heard a lot of recently during our trip to China to face the Ancient.
A middle-aged couple, tourists by their butt packs, clothing, and cameras, was spending as much time gawking as eating, and a thirty-something Black man with a tightly trimmed beard and close-cropped hair sat by himself, reading his phone while he ate. Something about him, his bearing and grooming maybe, told me he was either military or ex-military. His scent was wary and alert despite his head being focused on his screen.
Our food came and we both used chopsticks to eat our pad thai. Kristin was clearly unused to them but picked it up rapidly, likely due to werewolf coordination driven by werewolf hunger.
We were halfway through when the first suppressed shot was fired in the kitchen. I was moving before I was fully aware of it, standing and grabbing the edges of our three-foot-diameter table, twisting my torso to throw the whole thing at the rapidly approaching feet I could hear. The military guy was moving also, but it seemed like slow motion to me as he reached under his shirt. My table was already in mid-flight by the time he pushed away from his own table. The flying furniture hit the Asian man with the suppressed Beretta just as he exited the kitchen. I was right behind the table and my right foot clipped the fallen killer’s head as I went past him and intercepted the second assailant coming along behind him. I grabbed the man’s gun hand with both of mine, shoving the weapon back against his belly, then grabbing the frame and rotating it down and back toward me, my greater leverage having as much impact as my strength. I felt the gun go off and even though the muzzle was pointed away from me, I felt a sudden stab of pain on my right side.
