Parke had sent Daniel in our direction. I had the idea that he didn't appreciate that his hunt for my relatives had been called off. The others from Mobile were scheduled to arrive at any time.
I wanted to sleep.
I wanted to drink enough coffee to stay awake and do what I could.
All the escapees we'd killed the night before; I'd burned the bodies so they couldn't infect anyone else. They were nothing but ash, now.
It shocked me how effective Rob and Cliff were at killing.
Will only had to raise his hand and send a bolt of energy in a prisoner's direction. It hit them directly in the forehead, killing them instantly.
Surely, that was a better death than dying slowly of the poison in their system.
"How did they do it?" I asked aloud, startling everyone at the breakfast table. "How did they infect so many so fast?"
"I suggest searching the prisons involved," Will said. "Others are coming, and are taking up the hunt for escapees. We will rest a few hours and resume our work."
* * *
Parke
"People are already calling it the apocalypse," Mom said, setting a sandwich in front of me. "The infected haven't had time to get here yet, but there are reports coming in from all over about stolen vehicles, homes broken into, guns taken, murders and robberies everywhere, and everybody screaming and running if they think somebody's infected."
"Half of those rumors are probably not true," I said and bit into the sandwich. I had reports coming in, too. Royalty reported that the werewolves were having some success at tracking prisoners—until they got into a stolen vehicle somewhere.
"Around six hundred killed after sunrise," I mumbled around a mouthful of food.
"They're saying more than fifty thousand escaped, Parke. Six hundred is a drop in the bucket. Do we have any guarantee that more prisons won't see mass escapes tonight—or tomorrow night?"
"They're looking," I said after swallowing. "Trouble is, they don't know what they're looking for."
"Has anybody searched the empty prisons?"
"I've got Daniel and his crew headed that way. We have to clear it through the human authorities. Director Logan is working on that."
"They need to work faster," Mom grumped and walked out of the kitchen.
"I hear that," I said and lifted the sandwich for another bite.
* * *
Cassie
"What the fuck do they think they're doing?" I said. I wanted to scream. A father, incarcerated for attempted murder, had snatched his three small children after killing their mother. It was obvious he wasn't aware that he'd signed their death warrants, too.
Other reports were coming in by the fistful. A prostitute infected. Good Samaritans infected. Doors closed in neighbors' faces on suspicion only. Sales of weapons skyrocketing. Crazed politicians saying that the five affected states should be carpet-bombed.
I wasn't looking forward to the deaths of innocents, because somebody believed them infected.
"I used to watch zombie movies and laugh, because that sort of thing was impossible," Gina said beside me.
"These aren't zombies," I said. "These are thinking, mobile humans with a terrible disease."
"Yeah. I know. Some of them probably don't even know that, yet. They have three to five days to live, at most. They'll drop wherever they are, and it's more than dangerous to pick up their bodies afterward."
"At least everybody knows it's dangerous," I said, turning to look out the kitchen window. Will had removed every sign that Parke and I'd had sex on the grass in the backyard.
Those were happier days.
Who knew that the end times could come so swiftly?
"The CDC has been approved for emergency funding to search for a vaccine," Rob walked into the kitchen carrying an empty coffee cup. "It could take years, according to their director."
"Yeah. Every human on Earth could be dead by then."
"They're shutting down international flights to the affected states. It won't be long before they're all canceled," Cliff walked into the kitchen, turning off his cell phone with a familiar click as he did so.
"What about the borders?" I asked.
"Canada may cut us off soon—the border in New York is already being watched closely. Mexico is still open except for the Arizona border, but who knows how long that will last? Daniel and his crew are looking through one of the empty prisons. Actually, it wasn't completely empty—they found six inmates who hadn't gone out with the others. Don't appear to be infected, either. The State Police and State Bureau of Investigations are still trying to figure that out. Feds are on the way to ask questions."
"We need those interviews," I said.
"We're trying," Cliff said. "Give me some time, okay?"
"We must concentrate on finding the leaders of Shakkor Agdah," Will walked through the back door again.
"Will, that's unnerving," I said.
"My apologies, lady demon," he dipped his head. "It is merely more convenient and less time consuming."
"You think our time will be better spent doing that than tracking escapees?" Cliff asked.
"Yes. This may not be the full extent of their plan. It is already bad enough, don't you agree?"
"That's comforting to hear," Rob mumbled. "Averill, De-Leah and Keiran are sending out some of ours tonight," he added. "Those able to proficiently wield a blade."
"I'll let the vamps and my wolves know," Cliff hauled out his cell phone again. "So they won't be working against each other."
"Averill is attempting to contact some of the larger shifters, but they don't have appointed leaders or a strong track record of joining in," Rob said as Cliff walked out to speak on his phone. "He's targeting those who have human mates."
"Averill should attempt to contact the water sprites," Will said flatly.
Rob stiffened.
That wasn't a good sign.
* * *
Gina knew more about it than I suspected. "Water and earth have had a feud going for as long as anybody can remember," she told me.
We sat on my bed so she could tell me privately what had upset Rob so much. "Fire and air took Averill's part in this, which angered Queen Re-Anne. She hasn't cooperated or agreed to meet with any of them since then."
"How long has this been going on?" I asked. "Did Parke's father know?"
"Three hundred years, and he probably did know."
"I'm not sure Parke has had time to go through all his father's records and notes," I confessed.
"He hasn't been in office long, and much of that time was taken up in the Christmas war with Ross and Jasper," she defended Parke.
That was true, but she hadn't considered the year Parke had dithered between his father's death and his acceptance of the Chancellor's position. Plenty of time to acquaint himself with his father's records and personal journals. He hadn't done that.
His decision to wait was coming home to roost, as Aunt Shelbie used to say.
No, I wasn't placing blame on him; he'd had trauma in his life and he'd dealt with that grief the only way he'd known how—by returning to his life and work at a law firm in the nation's capital.
It had taken him a year to come to grips with all of it.
In hindsight, that year could cost all of us.
"I've never heard of an actual wizard before," I said. "And one just shows up in our backyard, so to speak?" I said what had been racing through my mind since Will woke us all in the early hours after midnight.
"My grandmother tells tales that some had foresight, but she also says that they died out centuries ago."
"Well, that would be a convenient explanation, and I hope it's the right one," I replied.
"You don't trust him? Look at what he did last night," Gina pointed out. "If he hadn't told us, we'd be in big trouble today."
"It's not that," I waved off her concern. "I just find it too convenient, if you know what I mean."
"Maybe you should talk to him, then," she suggested. "
To clear the air."
"There's not much time to talk, when we've got infected escapees to deal with."
"I worry that Shakkor Agdah may not be finished with us," Gina whispered, as if she were hiding her fears from a listening world.
"As long as they're alive, they won't be finished with us," I said and rose from my spot on the bed. "They attacked us. Will is right—we have to find out where their leaders are holed up and take them out."
* * *
"Take a look at this," Cliff handed his tablet to me when I walked into my office.
"What's this?" I asked as he hit the arrow to play the video.
"Trucks—two of them, driving past a service station not far from one of the state prisons," Cliff explained.
"Those are military-type trucks," I said, recognizing the cloth-covered backs on both.
"That road is the only one coming in or going out of the prison area, which connects to a highway. The service station owner put extra cameras up, in case it was robbed by escaping inmates. We got these images from him. The time stamp indicates those trucks moved out shortly after midnight."
"But who or what would they be carrying?" I asked. The whole thing confused me.
"We know already that a handful of inmates weren't infected. Some of those were still cowering in their cells, even with the doors open so they could leave."
"You think there were some who weren't targeted on purpose?" I blinked at Cliff.
"The guards are all dead. We have no idea whether any prisoners escaped by vehicle as opposed to being on foot. Those trucks are built to transport soldiers. These may have transported prisoners last night."
"But who would they carry away?"
"At this point, nobody knows. You can bet they have an ulterior motive, though, if Shakkor Agdah stooped to saving humans."
"Did you send this to Parke?"
"Yes. He's coordinating with the FBI's Paranormal Division to look for other sightings of those trucks."
"When will sundown come?" I asked. "How many vamps can join the hunt?"
"I don't have numbers, yet, and won't until nightfall, when they answer the Council's summons. The werewolves are limited in their hunting areas, too. They have to stay in rural or forested areas during daylight."
"It sucks to be hidden, doesn't it?" I frowned at Cliff.
"At times, yes. Most of the time, it's for the best. We don't need humans hunting us present day."
"This is the worst," I said.
"It'll be a while before we can clean up the mess," Cliff agreed.
* * *
Zedarius
I walked through an empty prison silently. One floor up, I could hear humans searching through cells, looking for clues.
They didn't know of my arrival; I could walk through distance as easily as walking through Cassie's back door. It's how I'd transported them the night before, although they were too stunned to take notice.
Short distances were of no consequence. Crossing oceans was a different matter. That's why I'd used conventional means to fly from Europe to the United States.
Those searching cells above me would likely find nothing of value to help their investigation. All were dressed in protective suits as they traveled from one cell to another, with no idea what to search for.
I looked for something small. Mobile. It was the only way Black Myth could distribute the disease so rapidly. My worry was that it might have destroyed itself when it was done.
The prison kitchen was my chosen destination. Pots, pans, dishes, equipment—all clean and waiting to be used for a breakfast that never occurred, lay all about me. Stainless steel tables for food preparation lined walls.
At the far end, racks with piles of folded kitchen towels stood; with posters outlining safe food handling procedures hanging on the wall beside them. I closed my eyes. If something new were here that hadn't been until the night before, I would find it.
My senses reached out for the smallest of clues.
* * *
Parke
"So far we haven't found anything," Daniel reported.
"We're tracking two trucks that left one of the Alabama prisons last night," I said. "We may be dealing with the abduction of certain prisoners for something other than infecting humans."
"That's not good news," Daniel said after taking a moment to let the information sink in. "Is someone looking through the inmate lists to see what their specialties were?"
"It's in Director Logan's hands; I hope he's looking into that," I replied. "He's certainly looking for trucks seen near other prisons last night."
"Shakkor Agdah holds humans in contempt," Daniel pointed out the obvious. "If they took any of them away, it was for another purpose, you can bet on that."
"You're right," I said. "So you found no clues at the prison?"
"We've gone through two and nothing turned up. I'm about to head north, to a third. It's slow going, I'm afraid."
"I'd say ask for help from the Prince, but it's the Princess and she's stretched to the limit."
"I still have my team with me; the earth sprite tracker is out on the grounds and he's coordinating with Cliff as to the directions the prisoners took and how many went that way. During daylight, the wolves can only track them on open ground or forested areas, you know that."
"I do. When night falls, I hope the Council sends out vamps in a large enough force to do some good."
"Where will they leave the bodies? Has that been coordinated? They can't just bury them all—there are too many."
"That information is supposed to be passed on," I said. "To appropriate authorities, with no questions asked."
"I heard some states are sending out police helicopters," Daniel broached another subject.
"I know. Werewolves have been warned in those areas," I said. "The troopers have been told not to shoot at wolves or dogs. I hope they follow those orders." I felt the knot of pain forming in my brain; this had been nothing but a headache from the get-go. I worried we'd be so focused on hunting prisoners that Shakkor Agdah would escape our notice and continue their attack.
We should have been actively hunting them sooner, I realized.
* * *
Cassie
"This is what I found."
Will set a small, stainless-steel pot on the breakfast table. Inside lay what looked to be the remains of a toy.
Rob, Cliff and Gina studied the bits of twisted, lightweight metal and wires, just as I did. I lifted my eyes and stared into Will's, noticing for perhaps the first time how dark a brown they were.
"Fli-Bi-Net," I whispered to him.
He'd found the remnants of a small drone.
* * *
Parke
"The poison delivery system self-destructed, as far as we can tell," Cliff said on the phone. "It was probably supposed to destroy the whole thing, but in this case, it failed."
"Well, now we know why it missed some of the prisoners," I said dryly. "Fli-Bi-Net's accuracy rate isn't the best." I thought for a moment before a shiver went through me. "You know, I think I understand what to do," I said.
"What's that?" Cliff demanded.
"Fight fire with fire," I said and hung up.
* * *
Cassie
Rob wasn't happy. Will mentioned to him again that his King ought to contact the water sprites. I think Rob saw the sense in it, although I wasn't privy to their conversation. As a result, Averill was scheduled to arrive at sundown.
It made me wonder what the original feud was about, but considered that I might never know; it appeared that Rob was more than tight-lipped about it.
When Averill arrived with his guards, he and Rob shut themselves inside my office for more than an hour. During that hour, the rest of us tiptoed about the house. Perhaps we were hoping for sounds of the argument, or a snippet of their discussion, but we heard nothing.
"Their conversation is mind-to-mind," Will said eventually and walked through the back door to get some air.
&nbs
p; "They could be screaming at each other and we'd never know," Gina said.
Averill looked angry when he left; Rob didn't look any happier than his King. "We will send a message," Rob sighed when Averill disappeared into the cleft in the backyard. It healed itself with a snap, as if someone had zipped up the ground.
* * *
Parke
"This will take everything we've manufactured up to this point," Frank Hillman explained to Randall Logan and me as we walked past a production line in his small factory.
Randall Logan, Paranormal Director of the Special FBI Division, nodded at Frank's words. Logan was a shapeshifter—what kind I didn't know. He was likely something large and nasty when he turned—large enough and nasty enough to command the vampire and werewolf agents in his division.
All of us were dressed in white suits and safety glasses as we walked through Frank's business. "We're loading the last of the facial recognition software," Frank informed us. "They'll be ready to go by tonight."
* * *
Cassie
Queen Re-Anne loved Southern cooking. She delicately cut into the chicken-fried steak Gina and I served, chewed her first bite and nodded her satisfaction.
A glass of sweet tea sat near her plate; she'd tried that first and was happy enough with it.
Rob, doing his best not to scowl, sat on the other end with Averill, who'd shown up for dinner when Queen Re-Anne said she was ready to talk.
Gina stole a glance at me; we stood near the doorway, ready to go to the kitchen if Re-Anne asked for anything. I knew Gina was about to explode from holding back her verbal admiration; Re-Anne's hair was so many shades of blue it defied imagination. If she moved, another shade emerged.
Her blue eyes, too, changed hues according to the lighting conditions. It confounded me that it was even possible.
Silence enveloped the table while Re-Anne enjoyed her dinner. Once her plate was empty, she lifted her eyes to Averill. "When you apologize to me and to your son, who is my consort, then I will agree to work with you and the others."
Uh-oh.
"I'd like you to do this," I said to both sprites as I pulled out a chair and sat at the table. "If they take the humans down, we're next, don't you think? They won't be happy until the entire planet is theirs."
Your Money's Worth: Seattle Elementals, Book 1 Page 23
