To Catch A Bandit

by Emma Dean

  Walking through a forest, knowing that there was a herd of giant, poisonous arachnids just a few steps to the left, wasn’t pleasant. Emily would kill them just as easily as anything else, but spiders man…

  They weren’t for her.

  She’d rather face that massive centipede nightmare again than a spider the size of a horse.

  There was a crack of a twig underfoot and she looked back to see Jace glaring at Louis through the twinkling, glittering darkness of the shadow realm. Emily bit her lip to keep from laughing and turned her attention back to Jack, who was leading the way.

  Her gut said she could trust him, even if he was what she would deem a creature of chaos. Emily didn’t know exactly what he was, but his ability to enter the shadow realm at will said a lot. And if the Red Queen was just as crazy as the one she knew from the stories…Jack certainly had a loose definition of sanity as well.

  The trek was long, but they made good time. Sooner than she expected the trees thinned and Jack put out a hand to warn her. They stared at the massive stone walls in silence. A moat around the castle was filled with dark and murky water, things floating inside that she didn’t want to look too closely at.

  Water splashes warned her that something lived in that moat and no doubt it would be the last thing she saw if she fell in. The drawbridge was up and there didn’t seem to be any way in. That wasn’t even the worst part.

  Inside, between the walls and the castle was the notorious rose garden that had been groomed into a deadly maze. The thorns weren’t the only thing to watch out for. The queen kept monsters prowling throughout the grounds and she didn’t always keep them fed.

  How she kept them from eating her guests and court, Emily didn’t know, and she probably didn’t want to know.

  Jack knew a way into the castle, but she still didn’t like the plan. There were a lot of variables and a lot of chances for something to go wrong. But…this wasn’t her world and she didn’t have a better solution.

  He gave her the signal and Emily slipped out of the shadow realm to shift. Using magic in the shadows was never a good idea. Those creatures of darkness and mist could sense power and liked to feed on it whenever they could.

  Nothing but the sound of feathers and the shifting of air as she beat her wings to get higher and higher in the sky.

  Wonderland didn’t have shifters.

  It was strange in a place so full of magic and possibilities. Instead the animals could talk and so could some of the plants. All of life was sentient here to some degree, and Emily disliked that more than she thought she might have.

  Flying over the moat, she refused to look down. Jack had promised nothing in there could fly. All she had to do was get over the wall and to one of the doors where she could let down one of the smaller bridges.

  Jack had given her precise instructions including a warning: beware the jabberwocky. It flew and was absolutely massive with teeth and talons of poison just like everything else here it seemed.

  Another beat of her wings and she slipped into the shadow realm. Crows and ravens weren’t a natural part of the Wonderland landscape per Louis, so the fewer who saw her in this form, the better.

  Circling above the door Jack had circled on that map Alice gave them, Emily eyed the surroundings, both inside the wall and out. Something disturbed the surface of the water and she ignored it. The tall grasses around the moat would be excellent coverage, but the ground inside had close-cropped grass and stone walkways.

  There was very little cover despite the abnormally large rosebush maze.

  Inside that maze she could sense the creatures that lived inside, waiting for the next unsuspecting victim. Then there were others that didn’t live in the maze, prowling the grounds before the castle that was literally red.

  From the smell of it, it was painted with blood.

  Emily dove and slipped out of the shadow realm right before shifting. She landed in a soft crouch and waited a moment to make sure no one had sensed her.

  Nothing swung its hungry attention toward her, and there were no alarms raised.

  Reaching out for the door, Emily glanced over her shoulder. Why this particular door on this side of the castle was unguarded, she didn’t know. But Jack was right. No one was guarding this tiny side entrance.

  Emily took out one of her knives and jiggled the door handle, just like Jack had instructed.

  “I usually like to take it a little harder, but I guess I’ll open,” the door said with what sounded like a yawn.

  She nearly dropped her knife as two eyes appeared above the knob and winked at her. The door swung open and all Emily could think to do was blink.

  A fucking door just talked to her, complaining it liked it rough.

  She couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of Wonderland.

  “If you’re interested in releasing the drawbridge, I suggest unlocking it,” the door drawled. “Sometime this century before the bogs come to see how tasty you are.”

  Emily glanced down, which was a mistake.

  All she saw were milky, bony fingers that were too long and knobby…and there were hundreds of them. She didn’t know what a bog was, and decided she wasn’t interested in finding out.

  Slamming her fist onto the button outside the door, she waited and watched as a silver drawbridge sliced through the arms of the bogs crawling out of the moat. That didn’t deter them from continuing their hungry trek. All it did was gross her out as those limbs flopped and rolled on the grass, some fingers reaching like they were still alive.

  “Hurry,” she hissed to no one in particular.

  Jack appeared before her out of nowhere and sketched a bow. “Excellent work, milady raven.”

  She glared at him and jerked her chin for him to guard her back. “Where are the others?”

  Then she saw them, Alice leading the way, the four raccoons behind her slinking through the grasses like pros, and then Louis bringing up the rear with Ben alongside him. No one completely trusted the other it seemed.

  Good.

  Wonderland was a tricky place and despite the stories saying these were the good guys, Emily understood how personal motivation could chuck a temporary ally under the bus faster than one could say, Ha-ha, you thought!

  One, two, three, and four.

  Emily let herself take a second to feel the relief that suffused her body before tucking it away. She grabbed the door handle and grimaced as it moaned in pleasure. Silently she closed it and ignored the way it begged her for more.

  They didn’t need to hide in the shadow realm to get from the outer wall to the castle itself. Nothing and no one watched where the monsters roamed. Inside would be a different story.

  Emily glanced at Alice as they all took a moment to steel themselves against what was to come. The rebel leader had forgone the idea of letting the monsters into the castle. Personally, Emily thought it was a great idea even if it had been Chance’s. Chaos was always easier to hide in than silence and peace.

  Alice pointed to the highest tower where the treasury was kept. It would make it difficult to escape, but her bow and arrow would be their saving grace when they finally made it to the tower.

  Nodding once, Emily walked over to Jack, letting her fingers trail over Ben, Aiden, Chance, and then Jace. They were in this together and she wasn’t going to abandon them here. She had the decency for that at least.

  She might leave them in another world, but not this horror version of Wonderland.

  Nothing had scented them so far. Nothing was aware of their presence which meant those plants Alice had promised would mask their scent were doing their job. It was strange as a shifter to smell the chloroform and not react to it at all.

  Adjusting her mask over her nose again, she was glad the others had worn theirs too. Emily didn’t know what she would do if any of them were infected with Madness. After seeing Red, it seemed like a mercy to kill them.

  Shoulder brushing against Jack’s, Emily wished Corbin was there for just a second. She
shook her head to dispel the thought. Even if they had been the perfect team, he was no longer a part of her life.

  It didn’t matter that he’d told her they would always be friends, that she’d always be able to rely on him. That he would always come to her first, before anyone else. Emily knew they’d never really be friends, because Corbin didn’t know the meaning of the word.

  Not when he lived an emotionless existence like everyone else in her eyrie.

  But she knew if he called her, she would come. And if she needed him, he would be there.

  It was better than nothing, she supposed.

  Glancing back at Jace, Emily hid the shudder that went down her spine.

  Somehow, she’d found another faction, even if they weren’t ravens. This was their first mission together, and as the most experienced it was on her to keep them alive.

  She would do it no matter what. Emily wasn’t going to lose another team.

  Without a word she and Jack moved forward, sensing the opening at the same time. Most of the monsters prowled in no specific direction or order, but sometimes, they created a path between them as they headed for opposite sides.

  She ran as fast as she could, knowing the raccoons were faster on their own, and yet they didn’t make her feel inadequate for that. Jack nudged her slightly and they avoided one of the rose bushes that reached out with tendrils to scent them.

  Nothing could know they were there, not even the roses.

  They couldn’t go around the maze, only through. There was no other way into the castle, but Jack knew the maze. He knew the patterns it preferred and the way it moved when it sensed new prey.

  Two at a time, any more and they’d brush against the bushes. Emily kept her attention attuned to Jack’s breathing and moved when he did, stopping when he stopped, and waited those prowling monsters out.

  If they were lucky, they would manage to avoid all of them and enter the castle without having to fight their way through.

  Emily didn’t think their luck would hold, not when they’d come this far without running into any of Wonderland’s creatures directly.

  A screech and she froze at the same time Jack did.

  They shared a look as they waited it out.

  Roses started trembling and the leaves whispered to each other. The white roses started bleeding, drenching their own petals and turning a crimson that promised more bloodshed.

  “Run, run for your lives,” a rose whispered. “Or five will die.”

  Emily didn’t want to ask which five. She simply shoved Jack forward. “The quickest most direct route,” she hissed. “We’ll fight them off as we go.”

  He gave her a reproachful look but didn’t argue. “She’ll know we’re here,” he warned.

  “They already know someone is here,” Jace snapped. “Get us out of here.”

  Something massive slammed through the maze, slithering and hissing as it searched for them. Its hunting scream made goosebumps rise up all over her body and Emily unsheathed two of her longer knives.

  This was going to get dirty, and fast.

  “Let’s go.” She shoved Jack again and they sprinted through the maze, creatures taking notice all around them.

  One after the other, they screamed and screeched their hunger and rage until it was a cacophony of sound and fear.

  So much for easy.

  23

  Emily

  Black blood sprayed across her face as she beheaded the snake creature with sixteen eyes. They blinked at her as the head hit the ground with a squishy sound, but she was already moving onto the next. Jace brushed against her shoulder as they maneuvered, protecting each other like they’d done it all their lives.

  Never had it been so easy to work with someone else. And it wasn’t just him, it was all four of them. Emily knew where they were going to be, where they were planning to go next, and every move and breath felt like one of her own as they all synced.

  For the first time in her life, she understood why the mate bond might be something desirous. They hadn’t accepted it, but they were still attuned to each other more than any other normal people.

  It was almost as if she could sense their actual thoughts.

  Despite how much she hated the idea of something as permanent as a mate bond, Emily could see its benefits. She understood why those who were mated lived and acted the way they did. She could even understand to some degree why a shifter would choose to go feral if their mate denied them or died.

  She’d felt that way to some degree when Corbin had left her and their paired faction. Twins in mind, body, and soul. And he’d never understood why, but it was like a part of her ripping away. Only turning her emotions off had fixed that hole he’d left nearly a year ago.

  Sliding under another monster, she pierced its belly with one of her knives, dragging it down the entire torso and gutting it before rolling out of the way when it collapsed.

  Then she’d turned her emotions on for Samhain, and that hole had ached and pulsed like some kind of infection. Instead of dropping bodies, she’d found the raccoons and had eased that ache in a different, less destructive way.

  Never could she have guessed they’d fill that hole, the cracks in her heart and soul, and even the ones in her mind to some degree. She’d thought the ache after that night had still been from Corbin, doubled and tripled in pain because of the grief still fresh as the day he’d put in his transfer request.

  It hadn’t been because of him though.

  Leaping over a body that looked like some sort of eyeless sphynx, Emily slashed another creature’s throat before those talons could rip through Aiden’s back. Spinning, she drove both knives into the shoulders of something out of Guillermo del Toro's nightmares as it creeped up on Chance.

  Driving the knives down, the body split into three parts, dropping to the ground like noodles. Chance shot her a grateful look before grabbing a smaller monster with four mouths and ripping the head from the body with his bare hands.

  That ache in her soul after Samhain, the sheer unending emptiness had been because of these assholes.

  Emily took Jace’s offered hand and let him swing her around. Her knives were sharper than anything human, and they sliced through three charging hound-like monsters with teeth that poked through their own skin on the top and bottom of their mouths.

  All three of their heads dropped to the ground, steaming and sizzling as whatever poison or toxin they possessed melted into the ground like acid.

  She took a split second to look up at the bloody castle.

  How the hell were they supposed to make it there? They were barely halfway, and she could see Louis and Alice slicing and dicing just as effectively as they were. Jack slid in and out of the shadow realm, using whatever magic he had to explode the creatures into a million pieces.

  But whatever power, energy, or magic he possessed was waning. His ability to slip in and out of the shadow realm was flickering and dying.

  Emily made a dash for him and grabbed his arm before he could slide in again. “Don’t. You’ll get stuck there,” she warned. “I’ll take you.”

  And together they disappeared, moving through the universe like some kind of Death, reappearing before the creatures. Jack blasted what he could, and she beheaded the rest – clearing a path for the others.

  Monsters ran after them, converging on all sides and behind, herding them forward and toward the castle. Emily had a bad feeling that whatever waited inside would be worse than these things, but she couldn’t think about that now.

  They had to get through the maze first.

  “Live or die,” the roses chanted. Their whispers one after the other like a perpetual canon of lyrics. “How long can you survive?”

  Over and over until their words were her own, repeating in her head like a mantra.

  How long can she survive?

  “There!” Jack shouted, blasting through the rest of the maze and four other monstrous things. Roses screamed as they shriveled into nothing but
ash and Emily shuddered.

  The door was only a hundred paces or so from them, but more monsters were coming from around the entire castle, converging on them from all directions. They ran as fast as they could and still Aiden and Chance beat them to the door.

  Ben and Jace stayed with Alice and Louis, guarding their backs as she and Jack let Aiden and Chance take over for them. It gave Jack the opportunity to open the door, using whatever tricks he needed on this one.

  Emily sheathed her knives and pulled out her pistols, no point trying to be stealthy anymore, silencers already attached and magicked to be completely quiet unlike the human ones. She kneeled and held both guns out to either side.

  The monsters crawled over each other to get to her, and she took them out one at a time, headshot after headshot. Jace and Ben caught up to them, guarding Alice and Louis.

  “What about that fucking door, Jack?” Chance snapped, wrestling something that gnashed its teeth in his face until he could rip its head off too.

  “I’m working on it, but unless you want to sweet talk it open, shut the fuck up.” Jack crooned to the door, and whispered sweet nothings, caressing it along the hinges gently.

  Emily shook her head and pointed a gun at the knob. “Open right now or I’m blowing your head off.”

  The doorknob screeched in indignation, but it swung open and Jack glared at her.

  “Now we can never use this door again, thanks for that,” the knave snapped.

  Emily snarled and shoved him through the door. “Better than being monster meat.”

  She stood and guarded the door as the others filed through, taking out the creatures she could.

  They were never ending. Endless monstrous things seemed to come out of every nook and cranny. What would happen when they entered the castle, she didn’t know, but they certainly weren’t under the radar anymore.

  Alice and Louis went through, and then Ben who gave her a look that made her insides melt despite all the adrenaline. Jace jerked his head and watched her back so she could make it inside.