Serpent Moon

by Unknown

  Paolo jumped like a hot poker had been stabbed into him and the knife fell slowly toward the floor—much slower than any ordinary object should. Nasil knew it was the magic being pulled into it that helped ease the fall.

  Nasil leaned forward and put his lips right next to the man’s ear and whispered. “Where is the egg, Paolo? I’ll put the knife away for the exact location. You know you want to tell me. You want to do anything I ask, don’t you?”

  He moved back, picked up the knife, and tapped it on the counter. He looked into coal black eyes glazed over with both drugs and pain. “Tell me, mi amigo. Tell me and I’ll give you pleasure instead. Won’t that be better?”

  The slackened face nodded, but his eyes followed the movements of the knife with a fear that bled from his pores. His words were slurred and slightly singsong, but Nasil has no doubt they were the truth. “Sí. The egg is in Colorado, near the green table. There is no healer, but there is a guard, the high priest of the Order of Marduc protects it.”

  “Is there a password so he will know you sent me and I may be trusted?”

  Paolo shivered again, his brain obviously realizing the information shouldn’t be revealed. But when Nasil moved the blade in an ever-so-slow arc toward him again, his lips loosened. “The passcode is serpent moon. That is when the Goddess is to be born. So says the prophecy.”

  Very fitting. “Thank you, Paolo. That’s just what I need to know. And now I will take away the blade.” But he didn’t remove the glove, because Paolo really couldn’t be allowed to leave that easily. Yes, he would eventually die from the poison that, even now, was beginning to chew away at his magic. But after causing so much pain to so many, he really deserved a little payback from those who could no longer speak.

  The cell phone in his pocket began to cheep and Nasil checked his watch. Right on time.

  He pressed the button to answer the call and began to speak without waiting for the other person to talk. “You will stop for gas at the station nearest the Coober Pedy airport tomorrow night at precisely seven o’clock. You will open the passenger door when you go inside to pay. When you come out, you will have a passenger, whom you will not notice and will not engage. The passenger will be me. I will ask you questions while we drive and you will answer them completely and honestly. You will take me to the meeting you’re attending and speak freely about the drug RSA17 when asked. Do you understand?”

  “I understand.” The words sounded mechanical, which meant the compliance drug the caller had been given the previous day—the batch that actually worked correctly—was activated.

  Nasil turned off the phone without another word. “Well, apparently I have a meeting to attend tomorrow night, to find the location of the rest of the RSA17. When I return, we’ll talk again. That is—” He moved toward the door and placed the knife, point toward Paolo, on the floor. “If you’re still alive when I return. Oh, and you don’t want to scream or call for help, do you?”

  Paolo shook his head, and his lips closed. But his eyes were wide, watching Nasil’s movements.

  Even as he stepped back and took off the glove, the knife was vibrating, sensing the Sazi energy that surrounded Paolo. It lurched forward once, so slowly it was hardly noticeable. The glass blade made an odd scraping sound against the concrete. Paolo’s eyes were locked on it.

  Once the knife had sought him out the same way, but it seemed to be very selective. Once he’d used the knife to slowly kill one of the priests, it lost a taste for his magic. But Nasil still wasn’t willing to risk it discovering a new appetite for him. “You’ll survive without food or water for a day, but I wonder, will the blade reach you before I return?”

  Nasil closed the steel door behind him and walked into the sultry Australian night. He wondered whether there would be anything left of the great and feared Paolo Montez, mentally or physically, when he returned a day from now.

  And he realized he didn’t really care.

  Chapter Four

  “So? TELL ME about these enemies of the Sazi. Who would dare attack us and how big a threat are they really?”

  Eric and Ivan were parked in the empty lot of a rural clinic in the small town of Cortez. Tatya was inside the high-tech semi-trailer getting everything set up. Eric had wanted some time alone with Ivan to talk about things, and it just seemed easier to jump right into the middle of his questions.

  Ivan shook his big, bald head. “I can’t tell you that, my friend. And you should know better than to ask.”

  Eric unbuckled his seat belt and turned so he could watch the other man’s face. He sort of had to, since Ivan was wearing the special Wolven cologne now. Apparently he’d sprayed it on just after he’d walked out of the building. So now he was a blank slate to Eric’s nose, and to Tatya’s as well. While the special chemical that Bobby Mbutu had created was terrific in the field, making agents all but invisible to even the best Sazi nose, it was frustrating to them too, because it was completely indiscriminate. All emotions disappeared, so they had to rely on plain old body language and intonation to guess intent. It made keeping secrets much easier. “I’m a pack leader. I have the right to know about anything that could endanger my wolves.”

  Ivan smiled, but didn’t turn to look at him. He kept watching out the window, staring at the trailer. “You’re not a pack leader yet, young wolf. That will only happen if the council approves you. If we do, then of course you will be privy to information that will help you protect your pack.”

  Eric felt a frustrated sound escape his mouth. “That’s a mere technicality, and you know it. The council wouldn’t be going to all this trouble unless they planned to install me. Besides, do you really think Lucas is just going to let me wander back to Australia now that he’s got his clutches in me? I’ll be conscripted into Wolven if I don’t make the cut for pack leader.”

  Ivan dipped his head once, not denying the logic. “True. And when that happens—”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Ivan! If you’d just—”

  The telephone in Ivan’s pocket started playing “God Save the Queen,” a tribute to his adopted home, no doubt. The little BlackBerry looked tiny in his wide hand as he pressed the button to connect the call. “What is the problem, Tony?”

  Ivan didn’t leave the car, meaning the call wasn’t sensitive enough to worry about.

  “Thompson left his cell phone here,” came the light baritone over the speaker, and it caused Eric to frantically pat his pockets. Damned if he hadn’t left it in the rush. “I went ahead and answered it when it rang. It was his mother calling. Said it was an emergency, so I figured I’d pass along the message.”

  Mom? There was only one thing that would make her track him down, rather than wait for the weekly call he always made. Shit. It’s Derek again. It must be. He sighed, shook his head, and pounded his fist on the door’s armrest. It must have spoken volumes to Ivan, because he gave a slow shake of his head. “He heard, Tony. I’ll have him call. Tell Lucas we’re at the site. Tatya’s inside now, working out the details. I’ll let him know what I’ve decided after we get back.”

  What he decided? That was interesting. Eric was starting to wonder just how much power Ivan had on the council, and what it meant that he was down here.

  Ivan clicked off the phone and handed it his way. “I presume you’d like to call her?”

  The laugh that escaped Eric was more bitter than warm. “Like to? Hardly. But I probably should.” He reached for the phone almost reluctantly and dialed the international number from memory.

  He heard Ivan mutter under his breath. “Wolves. With wolves it is always something.”

  “Hello?” Eric’s mother answered on the first ring, but cautiously, her voice telegraphing the fact that she didn’t recognize the number on the display.

  “Hey, Mom. I got your message. I’m calling on someone else’s phone, so let’s keep it short. What’s up?”

  “Eric!” Now her voice changed to not only happiness, but real excitement. “Oh, sweetie! We’re all
just so excited for you. Your own pack! I always knew you’d be a leader someday. And you’ll be closer to home so you can visit.”

  Eric felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach. The glowering look on Ivan’s face didn’t help any. He raised one hand in protest and mouthed the words, I didn’t say anything. I swear! To further cement his innocence, he spoke his outraged confusion into the phone, hoping maybe a lie would throw her off track. “Mom, why would you think that? I’m just in the country doing some testing. I don’t know anything about a pack.”

  “Oh, you’re always being so modest. But there’s no reason to hide it. We heard it from a reliable source, someone you don’t even know. So you can’t possibly get in trouble for it.”

  That raised Ivan’s brows and he motioned for the phone. Eric reluctantly handed it over and winced at what was going to come next. His mother might be Alpha Female of the Canadian pack, but there shouldn’t be any way for her to find that information out.

  Ivan opened his door while speaking. “Mrs. Thompson, this is Councilman Ivan Kruskenik. I’m with your son, and I’d be very interested to learn where you found out this information—especially since it hasn’t been approved or discussed outside the council chambers.” He shut the door before Eric could hear the response and even though he rolled down his window, the traffic on the highway nearby made it impossible to make out her voice once Ivan had moved a dozen feet away.

  He could see lips moving rapidly, but really, he didn’t want to know. He rolled up the window again. This just had to have something to do with his older brother, the Alpha Male of his former pack. He just didn’t know what yet.

  After a few moments, Ivan finally walked back toward the car and opened the driver’s door. “Delilah has a question to ask you. I’ll allow you to answer it . . . under the circumstances.”

  God. Weren’t there always circumstances when it came to his family? This time he got out as Ivan climbed back in. The air had chilled to near freezing and this close to the full moon, it felt good. The air smelled of piñon and ice. He almost wished he could disconnect the call, pretend none of this was happening, and go out and run in the trees. “Okay, Mom. What’s up?”

  “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.” That much was clear. She sounded contrite and afraid, meaning that Ivan had done his job. Eric couldn’t argue with that. He was pretty ticked off too that someone had blabbed. “But you have to accept Derek into your pack, sweetie. They’re going to put him down unless you do.”

  Whoa, whoa, whoa! “What the hell, Mom? When did we move from ‘Congratulations, sweetie’ to ‘you have to’? Who’s going to put Derek down? He’s the pack leader there, for heaven’s sake. Who could put him down?”

  There was a pause where all he could hear was his own breathing. But he knew she was still there. She did this every time she needed something important. “Wolven, Eric. Wolven is going to put Derek down unless someone agrees to accept responsibility for him.”

  Eric let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Damn it. Not again. “What did he do this time?” So Wolven had finally caught up with Derek. No. It was reality that had finally caught up with him, now that Eric wasn’t there to blame everything on. And they had. He’d been considered the pack fuck-up for as long as he could remember. Except he wasn’t. It had been Derek. Unfortunately, the older Thompson brother was the handsome one, the powerful one, and the charming one.

  And Eric wasn’t.

  Of course, nobody believed Derek was also the sneaky one, the conniving one, and the violent one until Eric finally went so far away that there was no possible way to blame him for things.

  “It’s a long story,” his mother finally said. She sounded beaten, tired, and so very frightened. That was going to make it even harder to say no. Which he fully intended to do. “The short version is that a human girl is injured . . . seriously. She may or may not be pregnant with Derek’s child.”

  Eric could fill in the gaps by himself, even though he didn’t want to. He stared into the night sky and tried not to think about the poor girl’s future. She might become one of them, or her body might not handle the change and rip itself apart. If she survived, the baby might not.

  Either way, it was a death sentence for Derek.

  There’d been rumors of things like this before, when Eric was there. But he couldn’t get anyone to investigate and the girl had simply . . . disappeared. “Even if I were going to get a pack, Mom, why in the world would I want to take him in? How long did I try to convince you that he was dangerous? Maybe he needs to be put down—for everyone’s good.”

  “Eric Matthew Thompson!” The shock and outrage in her voice said he’d overstepped but frankly, at this moment, he didn’t really care. “He is your brother! He just needs some help . . . some time away from everything.”

  “What help is there in the middle of nowhere, Mom? Even if I get this pack, there aren’t any treatment facilities nearby. We might not even get a healer. What help could he possibly find down here?” Eric opened his mouth to say more, but there weren’t any arguments that would change his mother’s mind. Derek was still the golden boy in her eyes, and this was all just a big mistake. Better to delay and hope it became a moot point.

  She started to speak, but Eric cut her off. “You know what? Let me think about it, Mom. There isn’t even a pack at this point and the council might not make their decision until the next quarterly meeting.” He’d reached the car again and could see the staff of the mobile MRI unit descending the steps with coats on. “I’ve got to go. They’re about to start the next round of tests on me. We’ll talk soon, when I’ve got my phone back, okay?”

  “But . . . but what do I tell her, Eric? She’s set the sentencing for tomorrow.”

  “Tell who?” His hand paused on the door handle.

  “The Wolven agent who’s here. The tiger named Raina. She said her investigation warranted a death sentence and she’s carrying it out tomorrow. Derek’s been confined to his house with a magic barrier. I can’t even get in to talk to him. To find out if what she says is true. Please! I have to be able to tell her you’ll take him in. He’ll die. My boy will die.” She started to cry, the sobs sounding like hiccuping static over the speaker.

  Shit. Now what? Eric pulled open the door and ducked his head in, letting the warm air from the heater chase some of the chill from his skin. “Did you know about this, Ivan? What the hell am I supposed to tell her? Can you order Raina to give some sort of stay of execution until I even know if I have a pack?”

  Ivan looked at him with confusion and crossed his arms over his chest. They barely fit between the steering wheel and his chest. “I believe your intentions were very clear when it came to your brother. Didn’t you tell me when you left for Australia that you wanted to let him rise or fall of his own accord? Now he has. Wouldn’t a stay of execution merely delay the inevitable? If he’s part of your pack, it will be you who will have to bloody your hands to enforce a death sentence. This way you have no responsibility.”

  Even though the phone was still outside the car, Eric couldn’t help but hear the word please being repeated over and over, between sobs. “I know. But—” He thought about it for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few seconds. “Being a pack leader is all about responsibility. I guess there’s no difference whether I take on a dozen unknown problems, versus one known one. It’ll just help make the decision I’ve been struggling with anyway—whether to bind the pack or let them have autonomy. If I bind him, he can’t get into any trouble that I won’t know about in advance.”

  Ivan’s face was skeptical. “He’s strong, Eric. And unpredictable. We’d planned to give you a first pack that was all lesser wolves, to build you into the position slowly . . . before we introduced any alphas who might challenge you. And he will challenge you. You have to know that.”

  Eric nodded, even though he hadn’t planned to agree. “I know. But I’ve gotten tougher over the years. I’m not the same person
I was when I left home.” He took a deep breath and stared at Ivan, willing him to tell the truth. “But it’s not just me or him. There will be innocent wolves who have nothing to do with this. Men, women, and children who I wouldn’t want to be terrorized if he goes off the deep end—either here or in Canada. So be honest. Who would win if it came to a battle between us? You’ve known us both for years.”

  Ivan uncrossed his arms and rested his hands on the steering wheel, his fingers tapping the padded leather cover. “Truthfully? I don’t know. You’re nearly equal in strength and fighting ability. But you play by the rules, and I don’t know that he would. He might not allow the fight to be just between you two. He’ll take any advantage.” He let out a sigh. “But I believe I would put my money on you in the end. So, if you feel strongly about it, I will call Raina and have her guard him until the council decides. That is the best I can do. If you are granted a pack, he will be spared and delivered into your custody. Will that do?”

  It was the best he could hope for. He moved the phone back to his ear. “You catch all that, Mom?”

  “Oh, thank you, my darling. Thank you. And thank the councilman too. I’ll go tell the agent to expect his call.” She ended the call and Eric handed back the phone just as Tatya stepped down the stairs and motioned with her hand for them to come forward.

  Ivan was still shaking his head as he began to dial a number. “I hope you know what you’re doing, old friend. I fear this isn’t over. And I fear you will regret this choice.”

  Eric clapped him on the shoulder with a wry smile, which was a lot like slapping a rock. It made his hand sting. “Regret is the price we all pay for charity, Ivan. Charity doesn’t save the world, and often doesn’t save a single life. But it’s a chance. Then it’s up to the people being helped to move forward. It’ll be up to Derek whether this second chance means anything.”