Jorta took deep measures to up the security measures on the blood vault. Never again would they take its sanctity for granted. It would take more time to replenish the stores of blood contained within its oak walls. In keeping with the severity of the shortage, Jorta saw to it, despite his father’s protests, that the compensation to those willing to help fill that shortage was double for the foreseeable future.
Under the careful management of Jorta and her grandfather, they assembled and dispatched large parties of guards throughout the grounds of Wyndoor to secure the remaining afflicted vamps. They housed them temporarily in the dungeons, awaiting additional antidote. It would be a simple matter then to give them the sachets for a snack and then wait for their recovery.
Emerald wandered down to the pastures and barns, relieved to find that several of her favorite ponies had survived somehow and were waiting patiently for her to feed them their grain. Her fingers stroked Daisy’s soft muzzle and he nickered and head butted her gently in response. Emerald looked to the pasture and woods beyond. It would be awhile before it was safe to ride there, though. A few rogue vampires remained at large.
A soft scuffling sound reached Emerald’s ear and she turned as Daisy pulled away, whites of his eyes rolling in alarm. With a snort, he took off at a nervous gallop to the far end of the pasture.
Emerald smiled. “Hello Bale. Are you trying to sneak up on me?”
A raspy, gargling sound like the slide of wet gravel on stone reached her ears. He didn’t do laughter well. Emerald watched as her friend’s features emerged and his camouflage fell away. “You scared the horses.”
“Taste… chicken.” He said.
Emerald snorted. “Do I want to know how you know that? And since when have you ever had chicken?”
He shrugged, dark fur rippling over dense muscles. His lip-less mouth pulled into a parody of a grin guaranteed to frighten grown adults.
“Saying.”
Emerald groaned. “I don’t think cracking jokes is something any Yeti should ever try on for size. Just saying.”
His eyes grew serious. “Emmie okay? Safe?” he tried, struggling for the correct words. He’d called her by the nickname since she’d been a toddler and he’d first appeared to save her from a nasty fall. He’d been there looking out for her ever since.
Not that that was that long ago, since vampire children matured to puberty at an alarming rate before the aging process slowed down. She would mature in the next year to somewhere in her early twenties, and there she would remain for the rest of her life.
“Yes, we’re all good, thanks to you.”
He nodded, looking satisfied.
“Bale? Do you have a family? Are there more of you?” she asked.
His features darkened and his eyes flashed with an emotion too fleeting to identify. “No more. All gone.” He said the words with a finality that did not invite further questions.
Fair enough, they all had their secrets. A shadow crossed her features and for a moment she seemed to zone out, the iris’s clouding as she looked inward and far away. Several moments later she came back with a gasp. Her eyes flashed to Bale’s.
“Uh oh. Bad dream.”
Emerald nodded. “Yeah. Are you interested in taking a trip with me? There is somewhere I have to go and someone I have to see.”
And she’d need to be leaving by tonight.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Major Tuttle gave a final expert twist of the screwdriver in his hand and stood back with a grim nod to look at the repaired lock on Jerry Waverly’s front door. “That should hold,” he decided.
I looked up from the living room where I was systematically sweeping bits and pieces of broken glass and picture frames where they had been ripped from the walls and coffee stands into a dustpan. The basement was in worse shape, and I could hear movement in the lab below my feet as Jerry and Kimmy worked to rescue equipment that had survived the destruction wrought by what they now knew was called the Shadow Guild. I heard the occasional clang and clatter from the back of the house as Nick worked on the door there that had been almost ripped from its hinges when the Guild had left.
The Major’s expression was without a trace of humor. He had had little to smile about lately.
“Any sign of Thomas yet?” I asked.
His eyes flashed to mine and he heaved a sigh. “No. And it’s now been officially over a week. I don’t know whether he took off because the change hit him particularly hard. That happens sometimes. Or whether he simply took off to look for Sirris. He was worried about her and the fact she hadn’t returned yet. Frustrated too that his change was affecting his ability to look. But there’s been no word. I hope he’s just being inconsiderate. I don’t like to think of the alternative.”
I frowned and knocked the full dustpan against the side of the open garbage container to empty it. “Well, we know she went to Deep Lake in the Tobacco Root Mountains. Have you sent anyone to check it out for signs he was there?”
The Majors brows knitted in frustration. “I have. No luck, though. It’s like he vanished and took her with him. No sign of either of them.”
“Do you know anything about her family? Her mother’s side? The Mermaids and Mermen?”
Major Tuttle took his time answering, gathering his tools and moving to the drawers in the kitchen, several of which were hanging off kilter and damaged. “Not much. According to Thomas, they are a bit wacko if you ask me. I don’t believe her mother is alive, but her aunt is. And I think she has a sister. She made her choice to live with her father years ago. They have rigid rules regarding mingling with the rest of the Magical or human community.”
“Then why go? I was under the impression they didn’t get along?” I noted, as worried about my mermaid friend as he was about his son.
He shook his head, pulling the second drawer free and scowling fiercely at the damage. “Thomas said they summoned her. They required her attendance at some meeting. I know little more than that.”
And that, I knew, was the root of the problem. We didn’t know, and it was driving us crazy.
#
By noon we’d made a serious dent in restoring Jerry’s house to at least livable.
“I still don’t think you should stay here alone. Not while the Judge and his goons are still at large and unaccounted for.”
Nods all around. He scowled.
“I’m tiring of being a burden on the Major and his family.” Jerry started.
The Major growled. “Don’t be stupid. You are family, you and Sirris. You’ll stay at my place as long as it takes. No arguments!” he stated, folding his arms manfully in front of his burly chest.
Jerry rolled his eyes. “Fine, you don’t have to go all werewolf on me.”
The Major’s lips twitched reluctantly. “It’s what we do.”
Beyond us, the sun was tipping towards evening.
“Nick and I have to get going soon. We are heading into Bitterroot to check on Wendy Seul. We want to see if she’s heard from Lucas. He went to Portland to talk with the head of the Vampire Nation there. Fino’s boss, so to speak.” Even as I said his name, Nick appeared in the hallway, his eyes scooting to mine and making my insides warm under his hooded gaze.
“I don’t like it that mom’s all alone. I know she thinks she’s supermom and can take care of herself, but dad and I like to keep a close eye, just the same.”
Jerry, filthy and worn out, spoke up. “I think she’s lucky to have you two to look out for her. It’s getting late, maybe you should go now. I think we’re about done for the day here anyhow.” Jerry grimaced, glancing towards the stairwell leading down. “Besides, I need to get back and boot up Kimmy’s computer. I have a long list of supplies I need to order, again, to replace what they destroyed. I’ve had it. I’m upping my insurance policy.”
I couldn’t prevent the small laugh that escaped me. None of it was funny, but we’d still kept our sense of humor.
#
Nick and I entered the outs
kirts of Bitterroot, keeping to the side streets and back alleys. Until we knew for sure where Fino Vas had gotten to, it remained better for our well-being if we remained unseen, and at least in his mind; dead.
The darkened crack of a shadow that bled from the partially open front door of Nick’s house sent a sense of foreboding creeping along my spine. The panic in Nick’s face made me gulp.
“Maybe it’s nothing… it didn’t latch?” But neither of us believed it, and I called my magic until it sizzled and crackled along my arms and to the tips of my fingers. I reached for my knife and Nick pulled his staff, the end sizzling blue before we crossed the thresh-hold, silent and watchful.
Fifteen minutes later we were back in the living room, hearts pounding with alarm. The struggle had been brief, contained to the kitchen and the swipe of containers to the floor as she clung to the edge and they wheeled her past. Flour and Sugar mingled on the ceramic tile in a white gritty powder next to their cannisters. She would hate the mess.
“Gone. The bastards have taken her. If they’ve touched one hair!” Nick hissed, flames leaping along the staff and power surrounding his dark form in a halo of brilliant orange. He looked like what he was, a formidable sorcerer in training, his magic more deadly than mine.
“Clues, let’s look in the kitchen a little closer. Your mom is brilliant. Maybe she left us a clue… something to where they might take her.”
He slanted me a hard glance. “She was in a wheelchair and obviously she didn’t have time to change, so what makes you think she had time to leave a freaking clue!” he snarled.
“Stop yelling at me. I’m not the enemy here. Do you have a better—”
“—what the devil is going on and where is my wife!” a voice thundered from the doorway.
We both whirled, our feet skidding in the flour scattered over the tile floor. Lucas Seul had arrived home.
It took Nick less than five minutes to give him everything we knew. Once more we walked through the house, looking in vain for any possible clue to what had gone down we might have missed. There was nothing.
I slanted a glance at Nick and Lucas. Both were pale, their blue eyes faded and terrified. They looked on the verge of shutting down, and that wouldn’t work to help Wendy at all.
“Hey, here. I need your attention. This is what we do know. She’s alive. How do I know this? Because if she weren’t they’d have killed her here for us to find. Second, they have her for a reason, which I’m sure we’ll likely know sooner rather than later. Mr. Seul, the Council needs to be informed so we can start looking. The quicker we find her the better for everyone. Nick, we should let the Tuttles and everyone else know what’s going on as well. Could be we’re all in danger here.”
I had no sooner finished speaking when there was a scraping sound at the front door. Without waiting to see if it were wise, Lucas strode to the door and wrenched it open, pulling the young Magical that had just grabbed the door from the other side—inside so fast he fell into a stumbling heap. He stared up at us in confusion, his eyes distant and vague. He blinked and trembled, his waxy complexion clammy with sweat. They had drugged him.
Lucas snatched him up, lifting him by his shirt front and bringing him in close. “Who are you and what are you doing on my front steps? Speak. Quick!” he snarled, shaking the young man like a rag doll.
The kid squeaked and started gasping, unable to breathe. “Dad, put him down. He can’t speak if he’s dead.”
In no mood to play, Lucas growled and opened his hand, dropping the young man to land in a crumpled, sobbing heap at his feet.
One trembling hand held up a crumpled note, the other grasping at his bruised throat and gagging.
Lucas snatched the note and opened it with trembling fingers. Both Nick and I looked over his shoulder so we could read it at the same time. There was no way he was leaving us out of this one.
It was addressed to Lucas, personally.
Dear Mr. Seul,
As you have by now figured out, we have invited your wife, Wendy, to be our guest until such a time as she is no longer necessary. I have a favor to ask of you if you value seeing her alive again. Step down as Mayor—resign. You have twenty-four hours. I’d hurry. My companions are hungry and they haven’t had such a treat in centuries. I’ve heard fox shifters are particularly sweet.
Fino…
I gasped as I reached the end and Lucas’ hand closed, the crumpled note flaming bright orange in his fist. He opened his hand and the ash sifted through in a powdery cloud. “The bastard. If he hurts her,” Lucas hissed, echoing Nick’s earlier sentiment.
Lucas bent down, following the scooting messenger as he propelled himself backwards towards the door with a cry of terror. “Where. Did. You. Get. That. Note!” he thundered.
The man raised his hands in front of his face protectively. But the dull expression in his eyes never changed. Lucas looked ready to tear him apart.
I cleared my throat—twice, before I got his attention. “Sir, he doesn’t know. Look at him. They have drugged him with something. I doubt he knows his own name at this point. My guess? He was taken close to here, given the note with a very direct set of directions. He’s a victim too.”
If I expected my words to make him react kindlier towards the terrified young man, I would be disappointed. But he didn’t stop him when he staggered to his feet and ran out the door.
He ground his teeth, his expression savage. “I need to call an emergency meeting of the council immediately.”
We nodded, both of us grim. Twenty-four hours wasn’t a long time to find her. What we all knew was that the moment Lucas stepped aside as Mayor, Fino Vas would have no more use for Wendy Seul.
#
The bars gleamed, brand new and shiny. Wendy hated them. She stared at the bars of the six-by-six foot cage she sat in from the small darkened corner of a basement in what looked like an abandoned house. She rubbed her arm where they’d poked her with a needle and drugged her to keep her compliant during transport. And to prevent the shift as well, she realized; if they knew what she was. At least they’d included her wheelchair, but the drugs had made her thirsty and there was nothing to drink. Not that she would have trusted anything they gave her, anyway.
They’d left her unguarded, the door locked from the outside, assuming correctly that a crippled woman in a wheelchair wasn’t going anywhere, soon. She looked at the small rectangular window high in one corner of the room. It was no bigger than a breadbox and smeared with grime and dirt. The pale light of evening barely filtered through, dust motes spinning crazily in the air where it lay down jagged slashes on the floor of the room. But it gave her a faint idea of how long she’d been there. Hours had passed and she wondered if Lucas had returned, if he even knew she was missing yet. When he did, there’d be the devil to pay, she knew. But in the meantime, Wendy Seul would count on herself to get out of her current predicament. Wheelchair or no, she wouldn’t sit helpless and afraid, waiting for a rescue that might not come in time. She was far from some weak damsel. Her blue eyes moved around the room, taking in the contents and plotting. Her captors’ mistake was in their assumption that her handicap made her weak.
Wendy smiled coldly. In truth, it was her greatest advantage.
We’d never realized how big Shephard’s Mountain was. Not the outside where so many of my friends and their families lived, nor the collection of caves and even Portals we’d used in the past year and beyond. And Then the inside of Drae Hallow, nestled magically within the center of the mountain, concealed from eyes above by a Magical shield that protected us all. The vastness hit us as we looked for Wendy Seul. I never left Nick’s side, and I offered comfort where he allowed it. But he was hurting, and like a wounded animal, he was difficult to approach when his world was in pieces.
On our way out of Bitterroot we charged down side streets and dead-end roads, looking for signs of recent habitation in the windows of houses that were abandoned. But in the city limits of Bitterroot there were only
two, and they were still mournfully empty. We took the trails that were less traveled along the far side of Bane Lake, the paths there less popular and unexplored by us. By the time we stood in front of the short portal that would come out beneath the falls on the other side of the mountain, we were already exhausted. And we’d found nothing to indicate where she might be kept.
We weren’t expecting company when we came out on the other side. So when we emerged face to face with a furious Thomas Tuttle, it was hard to see who was more shocked. Beside him stood Fern and Neil, our friend from Greylock Mountain, where we’d attended camp the previous summer. Like me, he was a Dragon shifter.
I remembered back to when Nick had been jealous of the other teen’s sharp good looks and our budding friendship. Before we’d realized we were actually distant cousins and he had eyes only for my strange and crazy roommate, Fern Mason.
Before I could stop myself I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Where have you been Thomas? Do you know how worried we’ve all been? Couldn’t you have at least let your father know you were alive?” I blasted him.
He growled at me. I mean straight up, teeth showing, needing a brush, and eyes flashing werewolf yellow. It just made me madder.
“Oh, shut it. I’m only glad to see you are okay. What’s got you so hot, anyhow?’
He snapped his mouth closed, his teeth grinding as he steamed. “Sirris. She’s missing and nobody cares. She’s disappeared beneath that lake to visit who knows and hasn’t surfaced in like a week. It’s driving me mad,” he admitted.
I nodded, unsmiling. She wasn’t the only one missing. “Nick’s mother, Wendy, has been kidnapped. We’re looking for her and we only have 24 hours; less now. They’ll kill her if Lucas doesn’t step down as Mayor. That’s a fact. And when he does? She’ll be just as dead.”
Rule 9 Academy Series Boxset: Books 3-5 Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy (Rule 9 Academy Box Sets (3 Book Series) 2) Page 48
