by L. M. French
The sky was marbled in orange and pink like the earth had accidentally rotated straight into a sunset. People milled on the street dashing here or there, some stopping at the market booths spread down the block. I found myself drifting closer to the glass as a familiar figure eased through the crowd.
I blinked and I was no longer standing in Frank’s office but on the sidewalk. But I wasn’t really on the sidewalk any more than I’d been in Frank’s office. Because this was a dream. No, not a dream.
A spell. Ena’s potion.
Her potion to help find Sai.
Sai.
As I watched him lift objects from bins and tables I wandered closer. When only few yards separated us, another figure caught my eye. A woman with long dark hair, dressed in what can only be described as ‘hippie badass’ was keeping pace behind him.
I wasn’t the only one following Sai.
The turquoise borders of the bohemian cardigan swirled around her knees as she navigated the winding path between booths. The smooth dark skin of her legs started at the fringe of her jeans shorts and disappeared into heavy leather boots at her ankles. Her hair hung behind her in braids, but her face remained obscured by my vantage point.
Theoretically if this weren’t reality, I should be able to walk right up to them and my presence wouldn’t affect them any more than it did Frank. But it was Sai, and he threw a bunch of rules out the window, so I was cautious.
They exited the other side of the market and rounded the corner and I followed closer eager to see where they ended up. If Sai led me right to wherever he was it would totally make up for the taste of Ena’s brew. Sai approached a woman dining al fresco at a café ahead of me. Her skin was warm like vanilla and her face creased with a large smile for his appearance. She rose and embraced him; the stark white of her white lace trimmed dress a sharp contrast against Sai’s dark tee-shirt.
The mystery woman no longer followed Sai but stood right next to the pair who hugged again before taking a seat at the little table by the street. Neither one of them had acknowledged her. It was as if she wasn’t there. Like me she was invisible to them.
I looked from her to Sai and his companion, then back to her only this time she was staring at me. I stepped to the side and her eyes followed me. I took a step forward and she bolted. Running from the table and into the street.
“Wait!” Neither Sai nor his companion noticed us.
My arms and legs pumped as I ran after her cursing because real or not, I’d done enough running in the last couple of days to reaffirm my hatred for all things cardio.
“Stop, please I just want to talk!” I panted, as we swung around corners and flew down alleys. She did not in fact stop and I was feeling pissier about the situation the longer we ran.
She crossed another block and ducked through the door of the train depot. Hot on her heels I pushed through the door and skidded to a stop. Instead of the terminal, I was inside a warehouse in the industrial district. A quick glance behind me showed a door that no longer belonged to the train depot. This wasn’t me, there was no gate at that I door, I knew that for certain.
Looking around I saw no sign of the mystery hippie badass but instead what looked like a crudely drawn alter on the far side of the room. The high windows along the wall behind me allowed the pink and orange glow to filter in illuminating the rough markings on the floor.
I moved closer not sure I believed what I was seeing.
Sweat crawled down my back and I shivered. On the floor in what looked to be drawn in something or someone’s blood was my seal or what used to be my seal. Something dripped onto my shoulder drawing my eyes up. Stepping back quickly and I threw a hand over my mouth as a scream pushed up my throat.
Oh, dear Gods.
I stared at myself pinned to the ceiling, overrun with scorpions. They clung to my body where Reavers blades held me pinned to the ceiling as my blood dripped to the floor below.
“Choose wisely.”
Shrieking, I spun coming face to face with her. The mystery woman.
“What is this?” My voice was pitched high, my words frantic. “Who are you? What do you want with Sai?”
She lifted her eyes from mine to look at-well me- the other me on the ceiling. “Choose wisely.”
For fucks sake. “For once I’d like an actual answer instead of the token prophetic non-answer. Just once.” I bitched.
This was my magical answer? Sai was having a lovely meal and I was skewered to a ceiling being consumed by scorpions. The imagery wasn’t lost on me, but the underlying meaning missed me entirely.
“What does that mean?”
She looked at me. “You will battle both sides and one will eclipse the other.”
I closed my eyes. My current battle? Frustration. “Who are you? Why were you following my king?”
Silence. My eyes popped open, and Ivory stood before me. Mouth running with blood from a grin that split his face ear to ear. I shot back as my adrenaline spiked. Run, run, run.
He snatched me around the throat moving faster than my eyes could track. So much for my new super speed. Lifting me by my throat he kicked my legs from beneath me driving my body down to the ground.
Pinned to the floor by his hand around my throat, I kicked frantically as he straddled my torso. He gripped a handful of my hair and punched me once, twice, and again, before yanking my head to the side. “I do not worship false gods.”
The fuck?
He lunged for my throat biting deep, ripping through skin and bone and I screamed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Veda
The world shook violently as I struggled against the force pressing my body down. Phin’s face was all I could see but something wasn’t right. He was upside down. Pain erupted and my vision went white.
“Hold her.”
Phineas.
“Are your sure about this?”
Bay.
“I don’t know what will happen if she doesn’t channel it.”
Phin again.
Everything hurt and I twisted trying to escape.
“Trust me, dhara.”
Suddenly I was seeing spots and hands gripped my wrists pinning them to the ground. Bay’s voice broke through the rushing in my ears. “Breathe, Veda.”
I tried to look for him, but my head was held firmly in place with my eyes on Phineas. My head rested between his knees where he bent over me and I knew the glow behind his eyes matched mine. It was happening again. Like it did with Vaughn.
I struggled “No, no, no! Let me go,” I thrashed as Bay shifted to sit all his weight across me.
Phin gritted his teeth and cradled my skull. “Phin you have to stop.” I begged. Not again. Not Phin. He’d always been kind even if a little indifferent to me. I didn’t want to kill him.
His skin began to glow as he chanted softly, and I felt frustrated tears slide into my hair. “Please stop,” I whispered.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, and I jerked trying to dislodge him. He growled softly and pressed harder.
Bay’s grip on my left hand disappeared before reappearing around my throat. “Open your mouth, baby. Trust Phin and breathe.”
My chest shook as I tried to keep Phin out, the light in. And I lost all at once. Bay’s grip on my throat tightened as the power swelled. My mouth opened to gasp air he’d denied me, air choked by the power filling me. When Phin tilted his head, our lips sealed and like two ends of a current, we connected.
Phin’s teeth cut my lips and I tasted blood and him as if he’d forced his taste along with air into my body. My back arched from the release of power and Phin’s shoulders slumped. Thankfully, his hands released my head to catch himself before he collapsed on top of me. That would be two men too many.
Hands gripped my waist and slid me out from under Phin’s frame. My head lolled from side to side, lethargy gripping me. Bay cupped my cheek searching my eyes for something. Whatever he found left him frowning. “She’s got secrets.”
THE JOSTLING WOKE ME. My neck was bent oddly, and my nose was pressed to something warm... someone warm. They smelled of oranges- not Bay’s scent- no he smelled of coffee mixed liberally with hostility.
My eyes opened slowly revealing dark skin and hair shorn so close to the scalp it gave the illusion of not being there at all.
Jericho.
As if sensing my thoughts, he glanced at my face. Without a word he continued carrying me. I looked beyond him and saw we were headed back through the Pass.
I stiffened against him. “You should put me down.”
His footsteps hesitated a moment. “I’ve orders to carry you.”
I wiggled impatiently. “When we have to run, we’ll be too slow this way. Let me down,” I attempted to swing my legs free, but he tightened his grip and lifted me close to his face.
“Stop.” His voice was strong and melodic, and I stopped like a wonderfully mindful child. I really needed therapy.
“Ena granted us safe passage. We will not be outrunning her Agas,” he continued.
She did what? “Safe passage?”
Jericho nodded and continued walking.
Emerick spoke from somewhere behind me. “Apparently you’re good exercise for the Agas so she’s never bothered in the past. You aren’t outrunning anything as you are so,” he leaned in, “safe passage.”
Exercise? She used me as exercise. I dropped my head back to Jericho’s shoulder as I absorbed this newest insult. While silently contemplating the odds of spending the day binging movies or a reading, I noticed it was just we three.
Jericho noticed my perusal and answered my unasked question. “Bay trusts no one. He and Phin scouted ahead and Ozias trails us.”
Phin’s glowing face flashed in my mind and I still tasted him in my mouth. “So, he’s okay?”
Jericho arched a brow in question. “Phin,” I replied. “He’s... you know,” not dead, “he’s fine?”
Bay’s voice interrupted any answer Jericho would provide. “Better than you.”
I whipped my head around feeling suddenly uncomfortable being cradled against Jericho’s body.
“But I have a question,” Bay prowled towards us until I was pressed between the two. My heart ticked faster as a sense of inevitability washed over me. Bay stared into my eyes, “What did you think was going to happen to him?”
I saw Vaughn above me, skin aglow before it began to break away into little flakes of ash one by one. His face morphed into Phin’s and my eyes stung.
How was Phineas alive? Between the snake eater and Vaughn, all evidence suggested Phin should have been reduced to embers.
A piercing whistle came from ahead and shattered my moment of grief and halting Bay’s interrogation. Bay and Emerick fell in step with one another corralling Jericho and I under the cover of a rock outcropping.
Out of thin air Ozias seemed to materialize behind us. Realistically I knew he’d heard the whistle and returned but he did it with stealth that bordered on magical.
Jericho deposited me on my feet slowly. “Stay here.” He pressed me back against the wall as if to emphasize where ‘here’ was. I nodded halfheartedly, as Phineas slid into view.
He was indeed alive; from the deep brown of his hair pulled back into his customary man-bun to his bare feet. He was shirtless and for the first time in a long time I was not squeamish or uncomfortable. Part of me wanted to hug him to me so I could feel his heartbeat- the other part wanted to hide. He, like Bay, would have questions. Unlike Vaughn who was gone, I couldn’t out-of-sight out-of-mind Phin.
“More shifters, not ours though and their staying just inside the barrier.” Phin’s words were for Bay. His eyes were for me as a current unfurled between us.
“Expect more on the other side, then.” Emerick sucked his labret hoop into his mouth before grinning. Wolves liked to fight; no reason required.
Jericho slid his shirt over his head and tucked it into the waist of his fatigues. “So, we get bloody.”
Bay was quiet, head tipped back like he was listening to a different conversation elsewhere. “More than hounds?”
Phin nodded. “Didn’t see ‘em or smell ‘em but I found this.” He pulled a short rope from his pocket and tossed it over.
Bay caught is and held it up and I realized it wasn’t rope. Bay’s head turned and I watched his expression darken as he took in my shorter hair.
Hanging from Bay’s fist was my braid.
Goosebumps raced across my skin as howls filled the canyon around us. The men closed ranks around me, but I grabbed the back of Bay’s shirt tugging to get his attention. He looked over his shoulder and I nodded at the hair he’d wrapped around his fist. “Ivory.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Veda
Pebbles and rocks slid down the rock walls as bodies dropped into the Pass. Some shifting as they fell, others hitting the ground on all four paws.
Bay howled and the hair stood up on my arms. He and Jericho shredded their clothes as their forms gave way to their wolves. Bay’s black as the void and Jericho’s a stunning orange as they charged our assailants.
Phin’s bronzed wolf clashed with two smaller hounds, knocking them over like pins. His wolf was twice their size and easily dominated the smaller opponents. Emerick, still in human form, held another hound around the neck as he wrenched its head back and around, a sickening crack emanating from its body.
I heard a pitiful yelp and found Ozias with his hand wrist deep in the belly of a half-shifted hound. He pulled back and the knife in his hand ran red with blood. Dropping its body he looked back to me and pointed at the ground I stood on. I rolled my eyes, I know. Stay.
Suddenly shots were being fired and Bay’s wolf yelped before charging the newcomers. Vampires. I searched their midst for white-blond hair in case my brother had come for me. Then a hound slid in front of me lips peeled back snarling, a more eminent threat than my brother. Barely.
My grip tightened on my knife and I shifted to the balls of my feet. Its body coiled then it was airborne. Throwing myself backwards I thrust the knife towards its belly. We collided hard and hit the ground rolling. My feet dug into the ground an I twisted trying to gain my feet. Its jaws were there snapping towards my face.
I screamed, because that’s what you fucking do, and wrenched back. The hound saw its shot and sprang up pressing its forepaws against my shoulders. Desperation kept my hand on my knife, and I brought it up and in, trying hard to punch a hole through its goddamn lungs.
It howled and renewed its efforts to tear out my throat. When hot breath bathed my neck, I shoved my left arm in its mouth and tucked my legs close to my stomach. Teeth bit through the muscle of my arm, and I shrieked and kicked out using all my strength to flip the wolf over me.
It bounced and sprang back to its feet despite knife embedded in its side. “Fuck.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I rolled onto my hands and knees and slid back until I sat on the balls of my feet.
The hound charged teeth bared and I sprang. Hooking an arm around the hound’s neck, I used Its own momentum to carry me around to its back.
I tightened my grip on its neck, my legs around its waist, and tucked my head as I hung on. It thrashed as my arm cinched tighter and I reached for the knife with the other one.
Snarling and writhing, we scraped across the ground. The shifter tried to get its head far enough back to bite my face off and I struggled to get a hold of the knife.
Breaking through my grip the beast scraped my jaw with its teeth. Screaming, I searched its side until I felt the handle of my knife protruding from its ribs.
Gripping it, I felt the hound go from raging and snarling to frantic. Without another thought, I shoved it up and twisted before ripping it free.
Blood poured out of its body and spilled hot down my side where I laid under it.
Still, it struggled.
I brought the blade up
and shoved it under its chin. Its whining cry died as it heaved and stilled.
Breathing hard I pushed its body off me before tugging the knife free. The sounds of combat surrounded me, and I climbed to my feet. A silver wolf streaked in blood hovered close to the large black wolf as he ripped out the throat of the vampire he had pinned under him. He shook him back and forth in his jaws until the vampire’s head broke free tumbling away.
I grimaced then jolted as Jericho’s wolf streaked past me chasing two of Ivory’s hounds. They were fleeing. Not a surprise, no one actually wanted to fight Daenali wolves, assassination was much safer.
Ivory had either ordered them here or they’d thought they’d have an advantage with the vampires.
But no Ivory.
I spun in place searching for his pale hair to find dozens of bodies but not my fire-starting, bed-wetting, animal killing foster brother.
Either way, while I fought off one hound, the guys had killed more than a dozen and half as many vampires.
Emerick still fought on two legs having never shifted. His shirt was in ribbons exposing the tattoo that covered his chest. He was soaked in blood.
He looked up and caught my stare then his eyes narrowed as they fell on the dead hound. He flashed me a grin and nodded as if to say ‘good job you didn’t let the little hound kill you’.
After a brief scan to assure himself I wasn’t about to be eaten in his absence, he turned away and began checking the bodies.
A flash of bronze caught my eye and I turned towards it moving closer. I recognized Phin’s wolf. He was facing off against a hound-one I recognized.
Trulio.
An involuntary sound left my lips and Trulio’s head came up. He growled as he caught sight of me. Phin’s ears laid back against his head and he snapped his large jaws at Trulio.
Guns lay abandoned next to headless bodies I could only assume were Ivory’s vampires and skoerii. I looked for his blond hair among the scattered appendages with no luck. Relieving a headless corpse of his nine-millimeter I circled where Phin and Trulio were biting and slashing at one another.
