by Tally Adams
This shot was true and caught the man right in the belly. Blood blossomed on his shirt. He bent forward, clutching the wound as smoke began to rise from it in earnest. He looked toward them again; his eyes finding Lyric this time. While he was too far away to see the color of his eyes, she felt like she'd been trapped by the power of his gaze. She couldn't look away, and she felt a wave of such revolting madness and deadly promise, her legs went rubbery.
The man staggered, went down onto his knees and shifted into a large silver wolf that was bigger than those around him, but still smaller than Emily. Silence fell for a heartbeat as the wolves stilled, then withdrew and surrounded him, falling back from the assault. After a tense moment more, they faded from view, disappearing into the night. Lyric watched until the last one was gone from sight entirely, then let her arm fall limply at her side; gun still in hand, feeling somehow soiled by the touch of that man's power.
Emily gasped beside her; drawing her attention. Lyric turned to see her back in human form, looking exhausted and panting on all fours. "How badly is William hurt?" she choked, wheezing for breath.
Lyric scrambled to her feet, tucking the gun safely back into her waistband.
"He's all right," Sekhmet's voice said from the black fog on Emily's other side.
Lyric squinted for a better look, but as she stared, he seemed to materialize and step forward out of the cloud. He moved to Emily and threw an arm around her shoulders, guiding her unsteadily to her feet. "The battle's over and I thought you might need some help down," he said, giving her a concerned look.
"Thank you for that," she said, holding his shoulder for support. "I'm fine," she insisted when he crouched to peer into her face. "Just take me to William."
Lyric hesitated when he held his free hand out to her, staring at him nervously.
He gave a heavy sigh. "You might as well get used to it, Lyric. Come on," he said, shaking his outstretched hand impatiently.
Lyric realized she'd come too far to fear them now, and took the proffered hand.
Sekhmet pulled both women to him and stopped, leaning toward Lyric with a curious expression on his face. "Damn him," he swore under his breath before he once again seemed to fade into fog, sliding down the building with both women in tow; to land at the doorway they'd escaped through.
Emily rushed forward to William's side, despite her own obvious weakness. He was now sitting on the floor, propped against the wall with his leg extended and in the process of being wrapped by one of Jonathon's men. Blood soaked his torn pant leg and pooled around him in a large, dark puddle. An open first-aid kit lay on the floor and half-unraveled rolls of beige wrapping littered around it.
"I'm fine, just a bite," William assured her when Emily flew into his arms.
Lyric glanced around. Paoli was leaning against the wall beside William; Jonathon was standing beside Empusa along the wall opposite William; one of his men was off to the side of the doorway they'd just entered; but she realized that although he'd brought them here, Sekhmet was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Sekhmet?" she asked with a frown. "He was just here."
Paoli looked up from overseeing the medic and his eyes—still that same blood red—immediately scanned her, raking over her from head to toe. "He has trouble with blood," he answered her query, his voice sounded rough and harsh.
Lyric looked at William's injury, taking stock of all the blood pooled around him and felt rather stupid for having asked. Of course Sekhmet would have difficulty dealing with it; he was a vampire, after all. Her eyes sought Paoli again and she looked at him, wondering how he could stand the blood when Sekhmet couldn't. Then again, the red gleam in his eyes showed it wasn't without difficulty for him, either, she supposed.
Paoli's gaze met hers, and she clearly saw respect in his eyes. "Nice job," he said with absolute sincerity, and she found she couldn't look away.
She stared at him wordlessly. He was covered in blood in various stages of drying, but seemed otherwise unharmed. In fact, aside from the strange color of his eyes, he seemed almost relaxed. As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't help thinking about the black fog and all the deaths he'd just dealt. Granted, it was the deaths of their enemies, but still. In a matter of minutes, he'd ended many lives.
Lyric looked away and cleared her throat. "I don't understand how it worked as well as it did," she confessed, her voice a little raspy as she tried to speak around the lump in her throat. The image of the blood slowly spreading on the man—who she assumed was Lycaon—was raw and fresh in her mind. "I was under the impression silver didn't make very good bullets."
"You must have loaded the ones I was experimenting with," Emily said, looking up from the spot she'd settled herself, beside William. "I made a small batch that was all lead with silver tips, trying to get around the problem."
"Well, the experiment must have worked, because the shot hit really well," Lyric said enthusiastically, unsure if Emily would know that; if she remembered things that happened when she wasn't in her human form.
Chapter Twenty One
"We've got clean-up to do," Jonathon announced heavily. "Paul, please pull the van around to the back lot so we can get the bodies taken care of," he told the man standing nearest to the door. The man gave a curt nod and ducked out to follow the instructions.
"I'm sorry your intentions were changed so dramatically," Paoli said, pulling his gaze from Lyric and looking at the alpha. "But we really appreciate you helping us."
Jonathon shrugged unconcernedly and leaned against the wall. "We didn't expect to strike a peaceful deal with Lycaon, anyway," he admitted. "Diplomacy was our only hope to avoid a confrontation and keep the pack safe, but we had little faith in the plan."
"Were any of your wolves injured?" William asked, glancing around to notice one of Jonathon's men weren't present.
"My third in command has a pretty significant injury. He's being treated now," Jonathon said, gesturing down the hall behind them.
"Will he recover?" Empusa asked, his brow creased with concern.
Jonathon shrugged one shoulder and made a non-committal sound. "He'll be out of commission for a while, but I think he'll make a full recovery. Werewolves are hard to kill, although having a couple of vampires proved more helpful than I would have imagined." He inclined his head toward Paoli in thanks.
"Even then, I doubt we'd have been victorious without a quick-thinking human in our midst," Paoli said, gesturing toward Lyric.
She felt immediately awkward as most everyone's attention shifted to her. Some of them looked bemused, while others bore unmistakable looks of unflattering surprise. Under such close scrutiny, she felt her face grow warm and turned her attention to the open doorway instead of looking at any of them.
"Okay," the medic said, breaking the tension in the room as he gathered his supplies back into the first-aid kit. "That's as good as it's going to get. Make sure you feed well tonight to speed the healing." He stood up and glanced around. "Does anyone else have wounds that need treatment?"
A low murmur of negative responses sounded and the man seemed satisfied. He and Empusa each got an arm under William's and helped him to his feet. What little color he had seemed to drain as he stood upright, and he was far from steady.
"I think we'd better get him back to the motel to recover," Empusa said, obviously holding a large amount of William's weight.
"Do you really think he's in shape to travel?" Jonathon asked doubtfully.
William snorted. "I'm fine. That damned wolf just tore the artery and cost me a good deal of blood."
"Besides, I don't think we have a lot of choice," Empusa said. "Our supplies are back at the motel, as is the only safe place for two of our party."
"We could set him up in one of the rooms here, with the pack to watch over him," Jonathon said.
"We appreciate the offer," Paoli cut in, moving forward to take the medic's place supporting William. "But we prefer to stay together. Will your pack be safe for the day?"
Jonathon'
s eyes darted through the door, then back to Paoli. "I don't think they'll be back tonight. Lycaon seemed to have a worse reaction than normal to the silver."
Paoli nodded a little distractedly, his attention still on William. "That's because he carries the curse personally. Since it was deemed he corrupted his own soul, the purity of silver will have a more powerful effect." He stopped, apparently considering that. "It's something we might be able to use," he added.
"Do you need anything from us before we go?" William asked through gritted teeth.
"No, we'll take care of it. You go and heal. I'll call you tomorrow to arrange further discussions," Jonathon said. "Obviously, things have changed from our original plan."
Paoli extended his free hand to the alpha. "Thank you," he said earnestly.
The alpha held his gaze and shook the offered hand. "I suspect this could be the beginning of something significant," he said.
"Let us hope so," Paoli replied with a small smile.
His attention turned to Lyric and he pinned her with the force of his stare. "Stay in your room tonight. I don't want any accidents," he told her before he and Empusa guided William through the door and toward the waiting car Sekhmet pulled up to meet them in.
Lyric watched as they got William situated in the back seat and Paoli stepped in beside him. She looked at Emily, who was standing with her. "Are we taking the other car, then?" she asked.
Emily shook her head, her face turned away. She didn't speak.
A hand unexpectedly grasped Lyric's elbow and she looked up to see Empusa standing there. "Emily, go with them. I'll bring Lyric," he said firmly.
Lyric watched as Emily nodded and headed toward the waiting car without once looking at her. She gazed at Empusa in utter confusion. "Is she upset with me?" she asked.
Empusa shook his head. "Come on," he said, steering her toward the side of the building. They walked through the small rock beds that hugged the structure and gave home to a few immaculately-kept shrubs, neither of them speaking while they made their way toward the car that was parked in the front.
Lyric's nerves were stretched to the breaking point as they moved along. Dancing shadows gave her a new rush of fear with every touch of wind until she feared she might just lose her head and jump on Empusa's back if so much as a cricket chirped. She glanced at her silent companion and found his face set in hard lines that did not invite conversation. It was a direct contrast to his usually jovial manner; completely at odds with the man he usually was.
Safely back in the car and on their way, she gave a sigh of relief and turned her attention to his silent form. "Why am I riding with you?" she asked.
At first, he seemed not to have heard her. "There was a lot of blood," he said eventually, his voice pitched low and gravelly.
It gave her pause. "Are you all right?" she asked in a hollow voice.
He glanced briefly her way. "No," he said.
Lyric was unnerved by his answer and fell silent, watching him closely. "Am I safe?" she asked.
His eyes cut to her again. "I won't hurt you," he said. "But right now everyone's primary instincts aren't human."
Lyric remembered Emily's rigid back as she walked away. "Does my being human make it worse?" she wanted to know.
Empusa was nothing if not honest. "Yes."
She'd expected him to say that. Still, it caused a pang of regret in the region of her chest. These people were ones she was coming to think of as friends; Emily, especially. To think that being near them in times of trouble made it even harder on them filled her with guilt.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking away.
The trip back to the motel was quiet after that. Empusa made no attempt to break the silence, and Lyric stared through her window at the night, lost in thought. The look Lycaon had given her kept coming into her mind, again and again. It was a look to make a person's blood run cold; one of total insanity. She fully expected to have nightmares for days to come.
Chapter Twenty Two
She woke the next day with a new determination. Having slept fitfully; her dreams and memories haunting her, she decided the best thing she could do would be to master her gun. That way, if Lycaon carried through with the deadly promise in his stare, she'd at least be ready for him. Also, if she were to find herself in another scene like yesterday, she wanted to be of some use, rather than a liability. She couldn't help making their dark sides harder on the group, but she could, at least, learn to give them support in battle. And that's exactly what she intended to do.
She spent more than an hour shooting the trees; first the close ones, then the ones that were farther away, until she was feeling much more confident in her abilities. Eventually, her arms began to shake with the effort and she decided it was enough for one day. Just as she slid the hot gun into its little wooden box and closed the lid, she looked up to see Emily headed her way.
"You're getting quite good in such a short time," she said in greeting, stopping beside her to squint into the trees, as if she could see the small marks the bullets had left behind. For all she knew, Lyric realized, maybe she could.
Lyric smiled at her, feeling just a little sheepish. "I'm determined to hold my own," she admitted. "I don't want to be the weak link."
"You did more than hold your own last night," Emily said earnestly, watching as Lyric latched the clasp and rose, the box cradled in her arms. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't shot Lycaon." She shivered visibly, as though the idea was too much to contemplate. "We weren't winning that battle, as outnumbered as we were."
"How's William?" Lyric wanted to know as the two of them started back toward the motel.
"He's fine," Emily said, glancing at her. "Jonathon called. He and a few wolves are coming here to meet with William and Paoli to discuss a...I don't know, a pact, a treaty, maybe?"
Lyric looked at her in surprise and almost stumbled when the terrain switched from grass to gravel, since she hadn't been watching where she was going. "Is he up to having that kind of discussion already?"
"He's fully healed and rearing to go," Emily confirmed. "Immortal wounds heal quickly, unless they're silver-based. His biggest problem last night was from the blood loss, but it was easily rectified."
Lyric's mouth went dry at the mental images that statement brought up. "Did you guys...eat anyone we know?" she heard herself ask, thinking of the night desk clerk at the motel.
Emily glanced at her face and began to grin, which quickly led into an all-out laugh. "We hunt game, Lyric, and the bus is well-stocked for our other needs," she said once her laughter subsided enough for speech. "I'm sorry." She laughed a bit more. "But the look on your face." She shook her head, still chuckling. "Have you been thinking we were terrorizing the countryside all night?"
Lyric could feel herself turning pink since that was, indeed, what she'd been thinking. "But Paoli told me to stay in my room last night," she said defensively. "To avoid an accident."
Emily sobered quickly and looked away. "None of us would hurt you. Even after..." She paused and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about my reaction, but Paoli was being overly-cautious. Anytime his vampire side is triggered, he gets jumpy. And he's protective of you."
That struck Lyric as strange. "He's not a new vampire, is he?" She didn't get the feeling he was, but it would explain a few things.
"No, he's actually quite old," Emily said. "He just avoids temptation to keep himself from doing anything he'll regret."
Emily sounded like she found it amusing, but it made perfect sense to Lyric.
"Do you mind if I hang out in your room during this meeting?" Emily asked when they stepped onto the motel's walkway. "The wolves want just William and Paoli."
"Why?" Lyric asked in surprise.
Emily shrugged, looking supremely unconcerned. "Who knows? William said something about werewolves and home territory, but I wasn't really listening," she said with a smirk.
Lyric smiled. "At least I'm not the only one. Of course you can
hang out with me."
Instead of staying in the room, however, they decided to leave the men to their own devices and took Lyric's car—thanks to Emily having the keys—down the road to a drive-through. They parked in the parking lot and rummaged in the bags.
Emily sniffed the fries for a minute before she ate one carefully, almost like she half-expected it to be poisonous.
Lyric looked at her questioningly, pausing in her own food. "You okay?"
Emily hesitated for a second, then nodded. "I think so," she said, reaching for more fries. "I was just recently changed," she explained. "And this is the first time I've eaten anything other than what we catch in wolf form or have on the bus. I wasn't sure how I'd do with it."
Lyric swallowed and said a little apprehensively, "Geez. Maybe I shouldn't have suggested this."
Emily bit into her burger and shook her head. "I'm glad you did," she said, her voice muffled around a mouthful of food. Then she giggled and covered her mouth until she was able to swallow. "Sorry," she offered, her eyes still dancing with good humor. "All the men are too old to understand the beauty of fast food. I wouldn't have thought to try it otherwise, and I love the fries here. They taste a little different now," she added, giving the fries in the bag a curious look. "But still good."
They finished eating and headed back to the motel as the sun set around them, slowly casting the world into beautiful shades of lavender. Having enjoyed a stress-free outing and a filling meal, they were in high spirits when they pulled into the parking lot. Until they found Sekhmet and Paoli standing beside the bus, practically toe-to-toe.
Chapter Twenty Three
