Jay was in his late twenties, with long reddish-blond hair. The young man was so good-looking, most of the women in the Home Guard, Angie included, had harbored a crush for him. Jay's left arm, where he had taken a Feral arrow in the shoulder a week earlier, was bound across his chest, but he held a sub-gun by its pistol grip with his good hand. His smile faltered. "Now you're just being mean." He turned to Angie, who still wore her NVGs. "How'd it go, four-eyes?"
"Good and bad," Angie said with a weary sigh. "Good and bad."
"More gooder or more badder ... badderer?"
As she drifted past him, Angie trailed her fingers over his stubbly cheek. Jay needed a shave. After days in the mountains, he had far too much scruff on his face. It made him look all woodsy and rough, but Jay was too sweet for that.
Even if he was another werewolf.
Jay sighed. "Badderer, then. Story of our lives."
The young man left his sentry post to follow the two women. Normally, abandoning a sentry post could get you in a lot of trouble, but Angie had learned that it was almost impossible to sneak up on the Seagraves. With their enhanced senses, they could hear a mouse fart from a hundred feet away ... probably smell it too.
The rest of the party sat on fallen logs or moss-covered stones around a fire so small it barely counted as such, but that was all Rowan would allow while the Aztalans hunted them. Rowan waved them over. "Take a load off."
In his late fifties, Rowan was the eldest of the Seagrave family and pack leader, the alpha wolf. He wasn't a particularly large or muscular man, but he was just about the toughest person Angie had ever met. With his graying red hair, thick porn-star mustache, and grizzled features, he exuded the quiet confidence of an elite warrior. Before the Awakening, Rowan had been a Navy SEAL. Three of the Seagrave brothers had been in the U.S. armed forces in one capacity or another and had been stationed together on A-Day in the same unit as Angie’s father: the Electro Magnetic Vulnerability Assessment Facility—now the Home Guard’s Bunker. Only Erin and Jay had been too young to serve and had joined the Home Guard shortly before Angie had graduated from Char’s Fey school of magic in the Fresno Fey Enclave.
The others made room for Angie, Erin, and Jay around the small fire. Angie sat on a stone, pulled off her NVGs, groaned, and rubbed her sore butt. After all the hiking they had been doing the last few days, every part of her hurt—especially her feet.
Casey Seagrave, a tall, red-haired, bushy-bearded brute of a man, draped a muscled arm around her shoulder. "Need some help with sore muscles, Angie-baby?" he leered in a suggestive voice. "Full-body erotic massages are my thang."
She elbowed him in the ribs, and he grunted and removed his arm, but she smiled. Casey was kidding ... well, probably. It was hard to take Casey seriously at the best of times. He was the second oldest and by far the largest of the Seagrave family. A huge man, at well over six feet and hundreds of pounds of muscle, Casey seemed way too big to be an ex-Special Forces helicopter pilot. With his large, oft-broken nose, thick beard, and disheveled red hair, he elicited one of two reactions from people: exhausted eye rolling or underwear-spoiling terror.
"No," snapped Jay. "Pulling your wang every half hour is your thang."
Casey snorted. "When you grow some hair on your balls, little brother, you'll learn real men have many talents, including the manly art of self-pleasure." He leered once again at Angie, but she pretended not to notice.
Jay had plopped next to Tavi, even though there was more space elsewhere. Tavi was young and pretty—okay, beautiful—and in her early twenties, with long brown hair, big, expressive hazel eyes, and a pert nose. Over the last few days, Tavi and Jay had been spending an inordinate amount of time in each other's company, their voices lowered in conversation, and more than once, Angie had watched out of the corner of her eye as Tavi trailed her fingers over Jay's arm or shoulder, a happy laugh on her lips at something he had said.
Angie should probably have been jealous—God only knew Erin had been pushing Angie and Jay together for weeks now—but, to her considerable surprise, she wasn’t jealous. Like, at all. She liked Jay. She really liked Jay. And a year ago, she would have happily birthed an entire litter of his wolf cubs, but this wasn't last year. Angie had been through the wringer and had become a different person.
To be fair, Tavi had been through just as much. In the course of a single week, Tavi had lost her mentor, discovered her lover was a Tzitzime spy—who then tried to kill her—and watched helplessly as a pack of monstrous chupacabras ripped him apart. So … yeah. If something good was going on between Tavi and Jay, that was just fine with Angie. She sincerely hoped that when nobody was watching, they were sneaking off to the bushes to screw like bunnies.
Well … maybe not that. But something sweet. Maybe holding hands.
Besides, even now, Angie couldn't stop stealing glances at Tec, who was sitting sullenly across from her, staring at the fire. Tec wasn't particularly tall, like Casey, but he was solidly built, with powerful arms and shoulders and a narrow waist. His bronzed features were a blend of Spanish and aboriginal, with a large hawklike nose and striking green eyes. His hair was dark and curly, blacker than hers, and she wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through it and then down his chest and toned stomach to his…
She gave herself a shake. What the hell is wrong with me?
The others were a pair of elves—although only one of them looked like an elf. Deldin Gar was a Phoenix Guard warrior, the lone survivor who had accompanied them on the raid to rescue Tec and Wyn Renna. Thin, with an elongated egg-like skull, long pointy ears, and straight black hair, Deldin Gar sat beside Wyn Renna, who, despite looking like a tall blond human woman with pale skin and the sides of her hair shaved, was another elf. Wyn Renna was a changeling and the daughter of the elven queen, Elenaril Cloudborn. Almost two decades ago, the elves had used powerful magic to turn her into a changeling, altering her features to look exactly like those of Constance Morgan, the woman everyone had always thought was the legendary leader of the Brujas Fantasmas. The real Constance Morgan had lived among the elves, taking the name Wyn Renna and serving the queen as the leader of her Phoenix Guard—right up until the moment that evil bitch Rayan Zar Davi had beheaded her atop the Temple of Zolin.
It really had been a hell of a week.
"Okay, everyone," Rowan said, getting their attention. He pointed to the ground next to the tiny fire, where he had used small stones and sticks to represent the walls of the church, with a large strip of bark for the church itself. "What are we looking at?"
"There was a section of infantry, eight men," Angie answered. "And at least twice as many horses."
"Was?" Tec asked, speaking for the first time in what seemed like days.
If Angie was surprised to hear Tec speak, she was thrilled to see him watching her. Her lips felt too large and numb, and she struggled to answer him. "I ... well ... there was this ... er—"
"Another patrol arrived," Erin said, staring at Angie. "Just as we were leaving."
Angie’s face heated with embarrassment.
"Patrol?" Rowan asked, picking up on the tone in Erin's voice.
"A dozen more Aztalan soldiers," Erin answered.
"And fuck our lives," Casey said, yanking on his bushy beard with both hands. "A section? No big deal. An entire platoon? Not so easy."
"Not just a platoon," Angie said miserably. "They have a Tzitzime mage with them as well."
Rowan sighed, his expression world-weary. "Well, better to find out now. We'll find another target."
"Rowan," Erin said in a tight voice, "we can't wait. The full moon is—"
"I know when the full moon is. We'll just have to move fast."
Fear shot through Angie, and her gaze swept across the Seagraves. Each one looked miserable. "Wait. You've told me before you lose control when you change to werewolves. Is it safe for us to be around you?"
"No," Erin said simply. "It isn't. It really isn't. That's why we were hoping to get t
he horses. That way we could put some distance between us and you before the full moon. We planned on catching up to you … well, after."
"If we can," Jay said. When Erin glared at him, he met her stare defiantly. "It's the truth, and you know it."
"Damn, damn, damn," muttered Rowan softly, running his hand back through his hair and massaging his neck.
"There's more," Angie said.
"That wasn't enough?" Jay asked.
"They have prisoners. Women and children."
From the expressions on their faces, this pleased no one. "Prisoners?" Rowan asked, articulating the word as if it made no sense. "Women and children?"
"It was creepy," Erin said. "Especially the mage. Really creepy. I know how stupid this sounds, but he smelled … bad."
"It isn't stupid," Tec said. "The mage you saw was Tzitzime, a blood mage. Their sacrificial magic turns their souls black. You smelled the foulness."
"What are they going to do to those people?" Angie asked.
"Do? They're going to kill them, ritually sacrifice them, cut their hearts out, and gain more power."
Angie's jaw dropped. "What ... what do you mean?"
Tec's eyes locked on hers. "The dragons, the Twin Deaths—Itzpapalotl and Tezcatlipoca—taught their Tzitzime worshipers sacrificial blood magic. The more people they sacrifice, the more power they gain. This is how Rayan Zar Davi has lived as long as she has."
To her horror, what he described sounded far too much like what she did as a source mage—absorb the life force of others and convert it into mana to cast powerful spells. No, that wasn’t entirely true. She wasn’t taking anyone’s life force, the Shade King, the powerful supernatural entity she shared her body with, had taken those lives, not her. Never her. She was merely the conduit for its magic, not faultless certainly, but not responsible either.
She felt like throwing up but turned to Rowan. "We need to do something."
"Angie," Rowan said softly, misery in his eyes. "We're in enemy territory. We can't help everyone. There's an entire platoon as well as a blood mage in that church now. It's too much."
She jumped to her feet, her emotions surging. "You're a family of werewolf super soldiers." They were all staring at her now as if she had lost her shit, but she kept going, couldn't stop now. Her mind kept going back to what Tec had said about the Tzitzime sacrificing those people. "Helping women and children, that should be enough of a reason, but if you need more, think about this: They have everything we need in that church: weapons, supplies, horses. We need to hit them—tonight!"
"She's right," Erin said, standing in support and staring down Rowan. "We didn't listen to her when the chupacabras went after Tavi. Let's not make that same mistake. I vote yes."
"This isn't a democracy, sis," Rowan said. "I didn't ask you for your vote. We're just talking right now is all."
Casey spat, but some of the spittle missed and ran into his thick beard. "Well, more enemy means I get to do more fighting, so there's that."
"Jesus, people," Rowan said, glaring at Erin and Angie, mostly Erin ... maybe a little bit at Casey. "We're werewolves, but we’re not invulnerable, and even for us, an entire platoon is a lot—and there's that Tzitzime mage."
"I'll deal with the mage," Angie said defiantly.
"I'll help," offered Tavi. "Two against one is pretty good odds, even if they know different magic."
"Three against one," Wyn Renna said. "And the Tzitzime are not the only ones who know more spells. We elves are not helpless."
Rowan shifted his weight, crossing his arms and leaning back as he considered the others. "Well ... three against one is the kind of odds I like. Only chumps fight fair."
"There's more," said Angie. "There's a radio in that church. I saw the high-frequency antenna. Maybe we can call someone for help."
Casey snorted. "Who'd come? Not the Commonwealth, not after we burned their helicopters. And last I heard, the Nortenos don't have no helicopters."
"I doubt they'd be able to help us even if they did," said Tec, "not while they're facing an invading Aztalan army."
"My mother," Wyn Renna said with conviction.
They all stared at her. "What about your mother?" Rowan asked. "Elves don't use technology, not airplanes at any rate."
"Don't presume," Wyn Renna said. "If I can contact my mother, I can get help."
"How?" Rowan asked.
Wyn Renna glanced at Tavi before answering. "There's a frequency I can use that's always monitored in her palace on Coronado Island. It's how I used to pass information from the Brujas compound in Canyon City."
Tavi glared at her, shaking her head. "You mean all those times you volunteered for the radio watch at night, all those times you said you couldn't sleep, you were really transmitting information to your mother, spying on us?"
Wyn Renna didn't argue; it was all true. Wyn Renna had been an elven spy, and nothing was going to change that for Tavi—especially considering how Tavi had hero-worshipped the woman for years when she thought she was Constance Morgan. Angie understood Tavi's anger, but Wyn Renna and the elves weren't the enemy. Tavi was going to have to accept that.
"Okay," said Rowan thoughtfully. "That kind of changes things." He looked about at the others, waiting until they were all paying attention. "We have a choice to make, people. My responsibility is to my family, not those civilians. I don't like hearing about executions and sacrifices any more than any of you, but we're a long way from friends. Right now, the enemy doesn't know where we are, or at least not exactly where we are. We hit that church and they will."
"That's not going to last," Erin said. "And you know it. They're already hunting us, and besides, no one goes a thousand kilometers without getting seen by the locals, not even us."
"She's right," Jay said. "It's a wonder we've hidden as long as we have."
"Agreed," said Rowan. "But if we light up that church, it'll be like kicking a hornet's nest."
"Fuck it," said Casey. "Kick away."
"Wait," Rowan said tersely, glaring at Casey. "You'll get your vote."
Casey looked down at his feet as if he had just been scolded. Casey was much larger than Rowan but always deferred to the older man. Hell, Angie was pretty sure that Rowan frightened Casey.
"So we are voting?" Erin asked, watching Rowan with a look of incredulity in her eyes. "What happened to ‘this is not a democracy, sis’?" She lowered her voice in a gruff imitation of Rowan.
"This isn't about the family. And I don’t sound like that." Rowan sighed and looked to the others. "This needs to be a group decision, but it has to be unanimous. It's all of us or none of us. Now, I'm willing to give it a go, but if it goes bad, we'll be in the shit. So, what do you all want to do?"
"I'm in," said Angie.
"Me too," said Erin.
Casey raised his hand. "Here's me voting to kick some Aztalan ass."
"Agreed," said Tavi. "I have to get home. My people are dying, and I can't spend a month walking back."
"My mother will help," Wyn Renna said. "Just get me to that radio."
"I'm with her," the other elf said, looking at Wyn Renna with near reverence.
"Quel surpris," said Jay sarcastically in what Angie recognized was French, having heard it before in one of the many movies on disc in the Home Guard’s Bunker. Jay earned a dirty look from the elven warrior who clearly understood the tone if not the words.
Rowan turned his attention to Tec. "That leaves you, my friend."
Angie watched him, knowing how badly he had taken the death of his dragon master. Is he up for this?
"I've spent my life fighting those people," Tec said. "I'm willing to die fighting them."
Rowan sighed, smoothing the ends of his mustache with his thumb and forefinger. "Okay, then. We attack."
Chapter 4
Just after four thirty a.m., Angie crouched behind a short stone wall next to a farmhouse in the mountain village that offered an unobstructed view of the church on the hill. Rowan and the other
s—his brothers, Tec, Tavi, and the two elves—knelt in a line alongside Angie. Erin had climbed atop a nearby barn with a scoped rifle. Angie wore her NVGs but saw nothing moving atop the hill. Angie hadn't seen as much as a cat, but with four werewolves and a were-jaguar in the village, the animals likely hid.
She knew she would have.
The assault force was armed with an assortment of weapons they had salvaged from the helicopter wreck: more of the silenced sub-guns, an assault rifle, and the scoped sniper rifle Erin used. Deldin Gar carried only a short sword and had refused a firearm, while Angie and Tavi both carried hexed swords. Wyn Renna had only a pistol, which put her at extreme risk against the Tzitzime mage and his hexed weapon. Angie had already decided she’d take on the mage personally. She had no idea what kind of a swordsman he was, but she had bested Nathan, the best fencer she knew, and was confident she could take care of herself.
Nine people against an entire platoon in a fortified outpost seemed like terrible odds, but numbers weren’t always the most important factor. Each member of the Seagrave family had enhanced speed and strength. Rowan was an ex-SEAL, Casey was a brute, Erin was an expert shot, and even with only one good arm, Jay was frighteningly quick and strong. Both Tavi and Wyn Renna were trained combat mages, and Deldin Gar had proven his worth during the battle in the underground temple. Then there was Tec, the were-jaguar, who had been waging a one-man war against the Tzitzime for years. Unlike the Seagraves, who were slaves to the moon's cycles, Tec could shift into a monstrously powerful all-black were-jaguar whenever he wanted. She had seen him rip apart a dozen Tzitzime cultists. He didn’t like shifting because he always ran the risk of losing himself in the beast, but he would do it if the situation became dire.
And then there was Angie herself.
As a source mage, the only one of her kind, she was immeasurably more powerful than other mages. And she was bonded with the Shade King, a supernatural entity orders of magnitude above other shades. She didn’t understand exactly how her magic worked—nor did it always work the way she wanted it to—but when it did, she was a powerhouse. Like crazy strong.
The Awakened World Boxed Set Page 60
