“I don’t know your wolves.” I looked at Jim. “Why can’t you go if you’re so concerned?”
He sighed. “Because certain people aren’t altogether rational at the moment. If I came with you, I’d have to answer uncomfortable questions. I ask questions, I don’t answer them.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Why were you in a vehicle with Kate, alone? What were you wearing? What was she wearing? How long were you there? Did you do something or did you talk? What was the nature of your discussion? Could this trip have been avoided?”
I rubbed my face. “So basically you’re scared that His Lordship might get his panties in a bunch?”
“That’s one way to put it. The other way would be that I’m dedicated to observing the Pack’s social protocol. If you were ‘officially’ mated and installed in his rooms in the Keep, it would be less of an issue. However, technically you’re still available, since you have yet to commit.”
I made an effort to enunciate my reply very carefully. “Available?”
“Up for grabs. On the market. Ready for action. Putting out the vibe.”
He was just jerking my chain now. Two could play that game. “Fine, I don’t care, give me an escort, send me in a car or a cart or whatever. Just don’t send your girlfriend as a chauffeur.”
A stunned silence issued. Jim’s eyebrows came together. Judging by his expression, if Jim had been in cat form, every hair on his back would’ve stood up. “My girlfriend?”
Jennifer kept a perfectly straight face.
In for a penny, in for a pound. “You know, short, glasses, Indonesian, drives like a demon from the lowest bowels of hell?”
“She isn’t my girlfriend.”
“Oh, so she’s still up for grabs? Fair game?”
“Putting out the vibe?” Jennifer added.
Jim turned and walked away without a word.
Holy crap, I’d struck a nerve. I had no idea that there was anything there. It was a total shot in the dark.
Jennifer looked at me. “I’ll give you three wolves.”
“Why three?”
“If there is trouble, one will take custody of you and execute a retreat, while the other two will run interference.”
My jaw tried very hard to hit the floor. If it was physically possible, I’d be picking up my teeth from the carpet. “We’ve met before, right?”
“I do believe so, yes.”
“Then you do know that if your wolf tries to carry me from a battle, I’ll cut her arms off?”
“What are we chatting about?” Aunt B came out of the kitchen. “I just saw Jim and he had a peculiar look on his face.”
“Jennifer wants to saddle me up with an escort. They’re supposed to grab me and run like a bat out of hell if someone sneezes in my direction.”
Aunt B raised her eyebrows. “There is no need. The boudas will provide the escort.”
Jennifer’s eyes turned flat like two chunks of ice. “Are you implying there is something wrong with my people?”
Now I knew why Curran was crazy.
“Of course not, dear.” Aunt B’s smile was so sweet, you could spread her on toast. “But Clan Bouda and Kate have a special bond.”
Jennifer’s voice turned equally sweet. “Clan Wolf and Kate have a special bond as well.”
Steel slipped into Aunt B’s smile. Her voice remained sugary sweet. “You should let me take the escort.”
Jennifer’s eyes flared with yellow. She gave Aunt B a big happy smile. “Take care, Beatrice. You’re in my house.”
“Why, goodness me, is that a threat?”
If you couldn’t hear what they were saying, you’d think they were two Southern women catching up on local gossip at a church picnic.
Jennifer rocked forward. “I’m tired of you coming around here and poking your nose into everything.”
A ruby glow sheathed Aunt B’s irises. “You’re young and you want to assert yourself. But don’t think for a moment you will do it by taking me down. On your best day, you’re only as good as I am on my worst with one arm tied behind my back.”
“Is that so? Maybe we should test that theory.”
I took three steps back and slipped into the hallway. Behind me a vicious growl announced someone going furry. I jogged to the end of the hallway. Two shapeshifters stood guard by the door.
“Aunt B and Jennifer are about to have a showdown,” I told them.
They took off. I waited a couple of seconds for them to reach the stairs, opened the door, and walked out into the snow. If they wanted to fight, that was fine. I had a poodle to rescue. Jim’s safe house was only thirty minutes from my place. Even with the snowdrifts, I’d make it in forty-five. Hold on, Grendel. I’m coming.
I TRUDGED UP THE STAIRS TO MY APARTMENT. My feet refused to move, as if filled with lead. My back hurt. I was so tired. In the last twenty-four hours, I’ve fought for my life twice and been healed with magic both times. Medmages accomplished miracles, but they used the body’s own resources to heal, and whatever Doolittle did had drained me down to nothing. I was spent.
My eyes kept wanting to close and a couple of times I almost pitched over into the snow, because it looked soft and inviting. If it weren’t for a Biohazard van I flagged down, I might have taken a nap along the road and frozen my ass off. As it was, the Biohazard medtechs gave me a ride, cutting my travel time down to a third. I’d scored fifteen minutes of half-sleep in the van on the way, safe and warm. My luck had to be turning for the better. One flight of stairs and I’d be home.
The splinters of my front door littered the landing in front of it. Fatigue vanished, burned in a rush of adrenaline. I stepped through the gaping doorway and stopped breathing.
Chunks of furniture and fabric lay scattered across my floor. Wooden shards protruded from the wall, marked with gashes and holes. The door to the library had vanished. The bookshelves inside had been pulverized. Four dozen glass bottles lay smashed, their contents staining the floor, mixing with torn pages of rare books and Greg’s prized artifacts, now crushed and shattered. Herb dust swirled in the draft from busted windows.
My house wasn’t just trashed. It was obliterated, as if a tornado had swept through it.
The bathroom door had been torn off its hinges. Deep gouges scoured it, too big for Grendel. Erra must’ve brought the Beast in. I checked the bathroom. No Grendel. No blood either. If she’d killed him, she would’ve left the body on display for me.
In the kitchen, holes gaped in the plaster where she’d ripped the cabinets from the wall. The wood was broken, not cut. She’d kicked them to pieces.
I stepped back into the living room, walking over the floor filled with mutilated books. One of Greg’s dirks protruded from the wall, piercing Julie’s pictures. Cuts sliced the photographs—Erra had stabbed Julie’s eyes and face, again and again. Ice climbed down my spine. If she could’ve found Julie, I would be cradling my kid’s corpse with her eyes sliced out.
I had to do the world a favor and kill the bitch.
When Greg died, he’d left the apartment and everything he owned to me. The books, the artifacts, the weapons. I couldn’t let it go. I’d moved here, to Atlanta, to keep his memory alive. He was my last link to anything resembling a family. I assumed his place at the Order, and made his apartment into a home. This was my space. My corner of the world where I felt safe and secure. A shelter for me and Julie. And Erra had violated it. She’d torn it apart.
There was no coming back from this. It was all gone. No matter what I did now, I couldn’t restore the library or the apartment to its previous state. She had destroyed it so completely, it would never be the same.
It felt a little like dying. I’ve stared at death often enough to recognize being in a tomb. I should’ve felt something more, a deeper sadness, a sense of loss, but I just stood there, numb.
She’d made her hit. It was my time to hit back.
A small noise floated from the stairs. Grendel dashed into the a
partment and hit me, pawing at me.
“Hey, you idiot.”
I grabbed him and hugged his smelly neck, running my hands along his sides. No blood. His sweatshirt hung in shreds, but he seemed no worse for wear.
“Let’s get out of here.”
I walked out the door, the dog in tow, and didn’t look back.
Twenty minutes later we made it to Andrea’s, where I used my mad detective skills to deduce that she wasn’t home. Her door was locked, and she didn’t answer when I knocked. She was probably at Raphael’s. That left me with one option: the Order. The Order had the added benefit of military-grade wards. It would take a small army of mages to break through them. Or my aunt. What a pleasant thought.
I dragged myself to the Order. Sleep still clung to me and fatigue made me slow and stupid. It took me over a minute to get the foldaway cot from the armory. I set it up in my office, and collapsed on it. Grendel flopped next to me and we passed out.
I HAD EXCELLENT REACTION TIME. THAT’S WHY I didn’t run Andrea through with my saber when she barged into my office. Instead I dropped Slayer a fraction of a second after I’d grasped it and sat up slowly. Best friend, no kill.
Andrea glared at me. “You’re here!”
“Where else would I be?”
She shut the door. “You have no idea.”
“My apartment is in shambles. I stopped by your place, but you were gone, so I came here. It’s safe and warm and there is coffee.”
“You were at Jim’s last night.”
“Yes. Jennifer and Aunt B were about to have a fight and I made my escape. Normally I would’ve paid money to see something like that, but I had to go and get my dog. Where is my spawn of hell, by the way?”
“He was scratching by the door, and I let him out. That’s how I knew you were here.” Andrea shook her head. “After you left, Doolittle broke up the fight. Eventually everyone calmed down enough to realize you’d taken off. Doolittle wigged out because he’d loaded your tea with sedative and he thought you would pass out somewhere in the snow. Both the wolves and the boudas have been combing the snowdrifts for hours looking for you.”
I picked up a book and bumped my forehead on it a few times. Why me? Why?
“And nobody thought to call here and check?”
“Jim called, but Maxine told him that you weren’t here and she would give you the message when your shift started.”
Of course. Standard policy of the Order meant that when a knight was off, she was off, unless it was an emergency. Otherwise knights tended to work themselves into complete exhaustion.
I concentrated. “Maxine?”
“She is out. Ted dragged her off to some meeting. There is nobody here but you, me, and Mauro.”
“What meeting?”
“I have no idea.” Andrea waved her arms. “Kate!”
“What?”
“Focus. Jennifer, Aunt B, and Doolittle are going to tell Curran this morning.”
Hi, Your Majesty, we drugged your love muffin and then let her walk out into the dark, in the snow. Her apartment is destroyed and we’re not sure where she is . . . “He’ll need a lot of metal plates.”
“What?”
“Never mind. It’s not my job to comply with Aunt B’s body guarding. I didn’t agree to it.”
Andrea leaned toward me and spoke very slowly and clearly. “You need to call the Beast Lord. Before he skins my boyfriend’s mother, if at all possible.”
I dragged myself to the desk and picked up the phone. Call the Beast Lord. Right.
Trouble was, I wasn’t sure the Beast Lord and I were okay.
I dialed the Keep.
“Kate Da—”
The line clicked, and Curran’s voice filled the phone. “Yes?”
Here we go. “Hey. It’s me.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to call.”
Is that waiting good or waiting bad? “How’s it going?” That’s me, chipper.
“It’s been better.” He didn’t sound like he was in the middle of skinning anyone. Although knowing Curran, calm voice didn’t indicate much. I’d seen him calmly jump on a silver golem’s back and be completely rational about it afterward despite the excruciating pain.
Andrea paced the floor like a caged tiger.
“Me, too. I’m at the Order. Been here since last night.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
So they told him already. “Did you rip anyone to pieces?”
“Not yet. I’m thinking about it.”
I leaned back. “Andrea is wearing a hole in my carpet, because she’s worried you might be upset with her future mother-in-law. She is a little emotional about this issue.”
Andrea paused her pacing and gave me her thousand-yard stare. I’d seen this precise look on her face when she peered through the scope of a sniper rifle sighting a target.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Can I tell her to stop pacing?”
“Is that what you would like?”
“Yes. As a favor to me.”
“As you wish.”
I couldn’t figure out who was the bigger idiot, him for saying it to me, or me for wanting to drop everything and go straight to him because he said it. This insanity had to stop. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. A favor,” Curran said. “Would you let me pick you up at the Order today?”
He didn’t finish but I knew what he left unsaid: Let me pick you up and take you home, to the Keep.
“My shift started”—I glanced at the clock—“twelve minutes ago. It ends at six. If it’s at all up to me, I will be here waiting for you. I promise.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry about your place.”
“Me, too.”
I hung up. That was the second civil conversation we’d had since we’d known each other. Too bad there was no champagne handy to celebrate the occasion.
“He’s let it go. Satisfied?”
Andrea frowned. “The Beast Lord just asked you for a favor?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Were Aunt B and Jennifer there?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t think to ask.”
“I bet they were there.” Andrea squinted at me. “Curran doesn’t ask for favors. He doesn’t bother. And he just let this whole thing go without an argument. That kind of influence is something only a mate would have . . . You slept together.”
I gave her a blank look.
“You slept with Curran and you didn’t tell me? I’m your best friend.”
“It didn’t come up.”
“How disappointing for you.”
Ha-ha. “That’s not what I meant.”
She pulled up a client chair and sat down on it. “Details. Now.”
“We had a fight, screamed at each other for a while, I kicked him in the head, and then he stayed the night.”
“That’s it? That’s all?”
“That’s it.”
She waved her arms in the air. “How was it?”
Like fireworks, only better. “It was good.”
“Getting information out of you is like pulling teeth. Does Aunt B know?”
I nodded.
“That explains their collective panic attack. So did the two of you trash your apartment?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
That wasn’t a question I could answer with Mauro down the hall. I took a piece of paper from the drawer, wrote “My Aunt Erra” on it, and showed it to her.
Andrea paled.
I tore the paper to pieces and threw into the trash can. “The good news is I know who the Steel Mary is. Her name is Erra. The bad news is I know what she can do.”
I gave her the rundown on Erra, her history, and her powers, keeping our family connection out of it in case anyone was listening. “She’s completely amoral. She has absolutely no connection to any other human being except Roland. For Erra, the world breaks down into family and not-family. Not-family is fair game. And just because you we
re born to the family doesn’t keep you safe. If she decides that you’re not up to snuff, she’ll fix the mistake of your existence. Her words, not mine.”
“She has a high opinion of herself,” Andrea said.
“Oh yes. When she gets into a car, her ego has to ride shotgun.”
She tapped her fingers on my desk. “Are you thinking direct challenge?”
“Exactly. Issue a challenge, throw a couple of insults, use me as bait, since she hates me, and she won’t be able to resist. If we do this somewhere outside of town, where she can’t screw with the crowd, and throw every female knight the Order can scrape together at her, we may have a chance.”
“I’ve asked Ted to let me assist you with this twice,” Andrea said. “The second time in writing. It was denied.”
“Ted went behind my back,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
I sketched it out for her. Midway through it, she got up and started pacing across my floor again. Faint outlines of spots ghosted under her skin.
When I was done, she unclenched her teeth. “What he did was against the code of knighthood. But you have no recourse. There is nothing in the Charter that protects your rights. You aren’t a knight.”
“I don’t want recourse.”
She spun to me. “Are you leaving the Order?”
Magic flooded the world. My heart skipped a beat. I chose my words carefully. “I have a problem with dedicating myself to an organization who considers my friends nonhuman.”
“Ted Moynohan isn’t the entirety of the Order.”
“You’ve gone through the Academy. You know he isn’t the only one.” I leaned forward. “It’s a deeply ingrained organization-wide prejudice. I understand why it’s there, but I don’t agree with it. Nonhumanity is a dangerous label. If someone is nonhuman, they have no rights, Andrea. No protection.”
She stopped pacing and looked at me. “That’s why you have to stay and fight. If people like you leave, the Order will never change. The change has to come from within to be effective.”
I sighed. “It’s not my fight, Andrea. Nor am I in a position to change anything. You said it yourself, I’m not a knight. I’m not part of the fraternity. I’m a barely tolerated outsider and I can be fired at any time. My voice doesn’t matter and it won’t be heard no matter how loud I scream.”
Magic Bleeds kd-4 Page 27
