“Sweetheart, you can bite me any damned time you want.” She could have sworn it was his coyote that smiled back at her. “So long as you’re ready to get double from me.”
“Houston, we have a problem.”
The sound of Tom Hanks’s voice from Apollo 13 blaring from their kitchen was the last thing she’d expected to hear.
Even more surprising was how fast Tate rolled out of bed and headed that direction.
The same phrase repeated and she propped herself upright. “What’s that?”
“Priest’s ringtone.”
“Your ringtone for Priest is a movie quote?”
“It’s appropriate.” He snatched his jeans off the back of one kitchen chair and dug his phone out of the back pocket. “I can count on one hand the number of times he’s called me and they usually mean I’m in trouble.” He slid his thumb across the screen. “What’s up?”
From deep inside, her eagle squawked and ruffled its feathers, an uncomfortable warning itch tickling beneath her skin.
“You’re sure?” Tate asked. His gaze narrowed on Elise and for the first time since she’d learned it was possible, she realized how handy being able to use her eagle’s hearing could be going forward. “Yeah, give us thirty minutes and we’ll be there.”
He ended the call, slid the phone to the dinette and started pulling on his jeans. “We gotta get dressed and get to Priest’s house. Sabina got an in with a cop who’s been working the crime scene where Jerrik’s parents were killed. Alek’s pulling in Garrett and a few key warriors, and Naomi’s pulling together the strongest seers we’ve got.” He strode to the bed, leaned over and gave her a sound kiss. “Get dressed, beautiful. Priest wants all hands on deck to see if we can figure out what Draven’s up to.”
In the end, they made the trip in twenty minutes. Katy met them both at the door, wrapped Elise up in a quick hug and then waved them the rest of the way in. “Sorry for the wakeup call, but Priest wanted his primos here before he talked to everyone.” Her gaze dipped to Tate’s bite mark on her neck and she grinned. “Though, I’m pleased to see the plan worked.”
Tate chuckled, draped his arm around Elise’s shoulder and pulled her in tight to his side. “If that’s the outcome from you meddling, you’re officially allowed to plot and scheme with my mate anytime you want.”
“That good, huh?” Walking through the entry at Elise’s other side, Katy leaned in and muttered, “By the way, you owe me. You have no idea how hard I had to work to make sure you and Tate were the last two Priest called.”
The last two called was right. The room was already full and a heightened, almost anxious energy filled the open space. While the far edge of the room usually boasted an exceptional view of the lake, this morning the landscape was blocked by two tri-fold display boards set up on long folding tables. Nearly everyone was gathered in front of them, each taking their time to study the pictures on one side and a map with pins in it on the other. “Where did those come from?” Elise asked.
“Sabina’s been busy.” Katy directed them both to the board on the right. “Between her and Alek, they’ve turned up a lot of information. These pictures are from the crime scene where Jerrik’s parents were murdered. It’s a mostly empty warehouse that’s been up for sale or rent for over a year.”
Elise stopped dead center in front of the board and soaked in the images. Dark, like something from a horror flick with only a few stray columns of light slanting from slender rectangular windows high on one wall. The flashes from the cameras, though, did a more than capable job of highlighting the gruesome symbols painted on the old concrete floors and a few cheap candles burned to the nub. “Is that blood?”
Katy nodded and pointed to another picture directly next to the one Elise had studied the longest. “This one is identical but it’s actually a different set. Crime scene reports show one set ties to the blood of Jerrik’s dad and the other matches his mother. There’s a third blood type, but the cops don’t know who it belongs to.”
“Jerrik,” Elise said.
“That’s what we’re thinking.”
Behind her a few of the warriors traded hushed comments she couldn’t quite make out and on the far side of Tate a seer whose name she couldn’t remember gently pressed her fingertips to the corner of a picture and closed her eyes. “Has anyone come up with any ideas? Seen anything?” she asked quietly so as not to disturb the woman.
“Not yet,” Katy said. “Alek and Sabina are up in Tate’s old room working through other details they can bring down. Priest thought he’d give them time to finish combing through details before we huddle up and start brainstorming ideas.”
The sliding glass door that led to the raised wooden patio opened and Priest stalked in dressed only in loose black cotton pants and his usual charms on leather cords around his neck. Despite the number of people in the room, his gaze cut right to Kateri and the intensity that had gripped him eased just a fraction.
“Ah, fuck,” Tate murmured with the same dread a teenage boy busted after curfew would use. “How bad is it?”
Kateri responded almost as quietly, but the pain in her voice was palpable. “Bad enough the only time he hasn’t been in panther form since meeting with Sabina this morning was when we were making calls.”
“What triggered it?”
“The pictures.”
“Wait.” Elise focused on Kateri. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Draven’s dark magic.” Katy frowned and nodded toward the pictures. “The second Priest saw them, it reared its head and won’t shut up.”
“But I thought the two of you kicked that.”
“We didn’t kick it. It just decided to play nice. Or, more to the point, it decided it liked me. But when it saw and recognized Draven’s handiwork, it decided it was time to wake up.”
“It works against him,” Tate said. “Like a really bad case of negative, evil thoughts all the time.”
“That’s how it used to be,” Kateri corrected. “This time it’s pissed. It knows Draven nearly killed me. Seeing the pictures woke it up and it wants vengeance.”
“So, Draven’s magic is working against him?”
“Something like that.”
Priest prowled up behind Kateri and banded his arms around her waist. “You told them what Sabina found?”
She covered his arms with hers, an affectionate contact intended to ease and comfort. “Most of it.” She twisted to look at the maps and the tacks anchored at various locations across the US. “I haven’t explained those yet.”
Not waiting for a segue into details, Elise slid past a man she hadn’t met yet, but recognized as a warrior by his vibrant red aura, and stood in front of the map. The number of red pushpins marking different locations weren’t exactly vast, but they were considerably spread apart and all of them were close to natural habitats. She scanned from a little state park just outside of Austin, Texas, to Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. “What do the marks mean?”
“The team working the case in Blacksburg found mention of similar symbols, also drawn in blood, in other cases.” Priest motioned toward the pushpins. “One thing led to another and these are the other cases that match.”
“He’s been at this for a while, then,” Tate said. “No way he’s hit all these locations in just the last few months.”
“And who else has he possessed or killed in the process?” Katy added.
Elise cocked her head, a thought that wouldn’t quite crystalize coming in and out of focus in her head. The coverage was massive, but it didn’t look random either. More like there was an art to it. A shape partially formed.
She took a step back. Then another.
“Elise?” Tate’s voice was right beside her, his presence an anchor in the middle of a swiftly rising storm.
Behind her sternum it seemed her eagle fought for release. Either
that or was trying to warn her of something.
Not warn.
See.
Her eagle’s sight. It was tenfold better than her own. A gift of nature from the Keeper.
As soon as the thought floated through her mind, the pattern solidified—two circles. A big one on the bottom, and a little one on the top. The cross was there, too. “He’s performing a rite.”
The room’s chatter went silent in a heartbeat.
Tate’s heat pressed tight against her back and his hands rested firmly on her hips. “How do you know?”
“The symbol.” She tore her gaze away from the pushpins and met Priest’s tense stare. “The one I told you about. It’s right there. It’s missing a few spots, but it’s the same one. He’s performing a rite.”
Priest faced the map, studied it for all of ten seconds, then frowned and faced her. “You only saw it listed next to the rituals, though. Never in the ritual itself, right?”
Maybe. Maybe not. She’d crammed more studying of that journal into the last ten days than she’d studied through all her time in college.
Reanimation.
For a creature lacking a human vocabulary, her bird had a striking memory and ability to communicate. But she was right. There’d been one rite—one of the last ones listed—that focused on restoring a physical form. “Has anyone actually seen Draven? Like the way he used to be?”
Kateri shook her head and cast a wide-eyed look at Priest. “I only saw him as Jerrik and as Jerrik’s owl.” She scowled. “But there was a dark cloud for a second. I threw my magic at it and it scattered like ashes.”
“He doesn’t have a body.” Naomi’s hushed voice cut through the silence from behind them. Her gaze was distant. Unfocused. But there was no question of the clarity flashing inside her head. A second later, her gaze sharpened and she scanned the room, her sole focus landing on Elise. “He wants his own body and he’s using his Volán victims to bring it back.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dark, dank and depressing. As a setting for what everyone hoped was the final showdown with Draven, the isolated warehouse just outside of Rapid City, South Dakota, that Naomi had seen in her vision was something Elise would have cast for a B-rated horror flick. From the exposed and weathered wood beams overhead and the slender murky windows high on each metal wall, to the dirty concrete floor strewn with random, discarded packing material, the place was as dismal as they came. Especially in comparison to the beauty and majesty of South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest just miles away.
It’d taken them five days to plan, prep and travel—two of them spent driving in a motley caravan because logistics for a group of fifteen by air had been too much of a hassle. Plus, there had been Priest’s darker half to contend with. As agitated as the darkness inside him had become, flying would have been a risk of nightmare proportions.
Katy and Sabina stood silent in the deepening shadows on either side of her, two sizable stacks of crates hiding them and the four guards around them while Priest, Alek and Tate prowled the rest of the building for signs of activity. Only the barest hint of sunlight still colored the skies outside.
“Do you think Jade’s okay?” Sabina whispered.
Doubtful. She’d been furious when Priest had done an about-face just before they left for the long drive and insisted she stay home, and no amount of begging or outright demanding from her or anyone else had caused him to change his mind. “I think she’s going to be a major thorn in Priest’s side for a long time after this is over.” The resolute determination on Priest’s face as he’d shared the news reflected in Elise’s memory once more, tickling some hazy realization that wouldn’t quite come into focus. “I still don’t get why he changed his mind.”
A stillness came over Katy. A subtle hitch in her breath, before she glanced at Naomi sitting cross-legged on the top of a wide crate with her eyes closed roughly twenty feet away. Ready. Open. Waiting for more direction from the Keeper.
Katy sucked in a quiet breath. “Priest didn’t say as much, but I’m pretty sure Naomi saw something. If that something involved Jade, I’m not surprised we couldn’t talk him out of it. Frankly, if it means keeping her or anyone else safe, I’m fine dealing with her pouting.”
The switch from Jade coming to Naomi taking her place.
How Garrett rarely left Naomi’s side and the two extra guards that trailed them everywhere.
Braced for attack.
Yes, the logic absolutely made sense. It also explained why Katy and Alek had been so uptight leaving the hotel tonight. Knowing your grandmother was willingly putting herself in danger couldn’t be an easy pill to swallow. “But if she’s seen something, she knows what to look for, right? How to counter?”
“I don’t think it works that way,” Sabina said. “From what Naomi and Jade have taught me so far, visions are more like clues. Snippets to be used as guideposts or omens. To give anything too concrete violates free will and the cycle of destiny. The only differences between what seers are offered and those given to everyone else day to day are the visual aspect and the strength they’re delivered with.”
A slight rasp sounded well behind them. The subtle grate of loose dirt against the concrete floor.
Both Katy and Sabina twisted to see what it was, but Elise knew what had made it. Or, rather, who. Had been all too aware of Vanessa’s presence the entire trip and the stubborn distance she’d kept from everyone except a few unmated warriors. A distance Elise had tried more than once to broach with polite conversation, but had been met with nothing but stony silence. As if Vanessa couldn’t decide whether to wring her neck for daring to speak to her, or simply couldn’t find anything decent to respond with and opted to keep her mouth shut.
“I’m surprised you brought her,” Katy murmured, turning her attention back to the open space beyond. Considering she knew not only the way Vanessa had treated Elise in front of the clan, but what Elise had overheard the night of her celebration, Elise had done an exceptional job of displaying an impartial demeanor publicly. Privately, was an entirely different matter.
The same held true for Sabina, though her way of showing Elise support was usually more silent and backed with a glare that said she wasn’t above guerrilla tactics to even the score if any more underhanded crap happened. “It’s a good maneuver as the healer prima. It shows the clan Elise won’t let her personal feelings get in the way when she’s making decisions.”
That was some of it. Another factor was that Meara had no business being in the middle of what could turn into a full-scale battle and Vanessa was the next best option. The bulk of her reasoning, though, was far more self-serving. Namely, that she had complete confidence Vanessa would heal Tate to the best of her abilities just to spite Elise if anything should happen to him.
I’m expendable. You’re not.
Tate had all but drilled the mantra into her head from the time Naomi shared her full vision until just before they’d left the hotel tonight. Logically, Elise understood it. Absolutely grasped the magnitude of her position within the clan and what it could mean to the Earth’s magic if she, Priest and the other primos didn’t survive the next few hours. But that didn’t mean she had to like it, or that she wouldn’t do everything within her power to make sure he stayed safe.
Including rely on Vanessa.
Two shadows moved on either side of the building, sharpening her awareness.
No, not shadows. A coyote and a wolf, their lighter coloring nearly muted in the room’s darkness.
The third beast registered only seconds before it was upon them, Priest’s massive panther blending completely into the blackness. He shifted only four feet in front of them, the usual silver wash of light that came with the transition eerily absent and making it seem as though Priest appeared out of thin air.
Tate’s hands settled on her hips a second later, his earthy scent and deli
cious warmth soothing the uncomfortable chill that had blanketed her skin.
Alek materialized just behind Sabina. “We’re clear. No one in the building, but this is definitely the place he’s planning to use.” He nodded toward the farthest edge of the building. “He’s got a good supply of ropes, candles and the knife Naomi described ready to go behind that crate.”
The last ritual.
Where the Keeper had been limited with her visions before, this time she’d given far more. They’d still had to work at it. Had to piece together the moon phases to figure the correct timing and sort through a slew of warehouses inside the immediate region to find the one with the right sign out front, but they’d pulled it off.
Now it was down to Elise. Down to trusting that she’d interpreted the information from the ancient journal she’d been given the right way.
Tate must have sensed her apprehension because he wrapped both arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him. “It’ll work.”
Directly in front of her, Priest met her stare. Confident. Unflinching. “What you’re feeling right now—let it go. The Keeper gave you your instincts for a reason. They were right for Sabina and they’ll be right this time, too. Trust them. The rest of us do.”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one who’d gone against feedback from the rest of those who’d studied the rituals outlined in the journal and insisted on one with far less details.
Judgment by Blood.
Even thinking about the ritual now, her body hummed with a certainty that left her a little dizzy. Her logical mind had other ideas, though. At least a half a dozen arguments as to why she should have picked other, more obvious options. “I still don’t understand why I think this one’s the right one to go with.”
“Instincts aren’t meant to be understood,” Priest said. “They’re meant to be followed.” He faced Kateri and the tight lines in his posture eased a fraction. “You know what to do?”
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