The Black Tide

by Keri Arthur

  Jonas reappeared, guiding the air-powered miniature medicot with one hand. I pushed up into a sitting position and tugged the sheet back over my breasts. I wasn’t normally so modest, but for some weird reason, I was in Jonas’s presence.

  He stopped the cot next to my bed and locked the brakes. Raela giggled and reached one hand toward me. I smiled and caught her little fist, then held out my other hand to Jonas. Without comment, he wrapped his fingers around mine, his palm calloused and skin warm.

  “Now what?” he said.

  “Connect with my mind.”

  It was easier if he did it. I was still very much a novice when it came to that sort of thing, and was only randomly catching his thoughts unless I concentrated extremely hard.

  An odd buzzing ran through my mind—a connection that was different and weaker than the one I had with my ghosts, and one that very much spoke of his skepticism.

  I closed my eyes and reached with the seeker part of me for Raela. Heard her giggle and then felt the spark of warmth as her fledgling seeker skills merged with mine. I dove deeper into her being, deeper into her thoughts, showing Jonas all that she was, all that she could be. Showed him her knowledge that I would come for her, that I would save her.

  And then I quickly retreated, not wanting to tax her strength too much. Her talent might be impressive, but she was still untrained and extremely young.

  Jonas released my hand but for several minutes, didn’t say anything. He simply studied the little girl, his expression remote and giving little away.

  Then he raised his gaze to mine. And I knew in that instant, he’d been connected to Nuri when I’d shown him Raela’s bright soul.

  Anger rose, but just as swiftly died. In truth, I needed Nuri on my side if I was to have any hope of not only keeping Raela safe, but away from the forces that would come after her. In fact, given the shifters’ rescue of the two of us, it was surprising Dream hadn’t already sent her forces against this place.

  “That’s because we killed all those who were chasing you,” Jonas said. “And because we know these mountains far better than any she might send here.”

  “That doesn’t alter the fact that every moment we’re here, we’re putting your people in danger.”

  “Yes, but it’s also a truth that if Dream succeeds in her quest, then my family and everyone else in these mountains will be fighting for survival as never before.” He glanced down at the medicot. Raela immediately gurgled and reached up to him with chubby fingers. A smile twitched the corners of his lips. “There is a belief amongst many shifter clans that in times of need, the souls of our mightiest warriors will be reborn into the young, so that they may lead the way out of great darkness. I see the truth of that in her.”

  “And Nuri?” I asked softly. Hopefully.

  “Says she is far too young to guide us out of the current situation, and has no desire to see how much worse the future might be if this child is a reborn warrior.”

  My heart began to beat a whole lot faster, though I wasn’t entirely sure if it was relief or trepidation. “Does that mean she supports my intention to raise Raela as my own?”

  He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. “Has she really any choice, given the rather deadly army you can raise against her?”

  She was talking about the adult déchet soldiers who haunted the lower reaches of my bunker, and who had—rather surprisingly—acquiesced to my request for help when we’d gone into the heart of a vampire den to rescue five of the missing children.

  “I hardly think she fears them,” I said, voice dry. “She’s an earth witch of great power, and can very easily force their souls on to whatever hell she desires long before they ever caused her or anyone else any harm.”

  Which was something she’d threatened to do on more than one occasion if I didn’t help her quest to find the missing children—and her threat hadn’t just been aimed at the adult déchet.

  It was something that had made me extremely wary of her. While I respected Nuri—and even liked her—she very much reminded me of some of the shifter generals I’d been assigned to during the war. They’d often been so single-mindedly focused on one definitive outcome that they were blinded to the true cost of that action or to other, better means of achieving it.

  “Even an earth witch of her status has their limits,” Jonas said. “And she wishes you to know that your ghosts are no longer under any threat. Indeed, she says that Central may yet have need of their services.”

  I snorted. “Has she forgotten that those déchet were designed to kill shifters rather than protect them?”

  “No, but Central is a racially mixed city.” He shrugged. “But that is neither here nor there. Despite her serious reservations, she agrees with your desire to raise her. But for her safety, Raela cannot be taken back to the bunker until all this is over. That place is now too easy a target.”

  I frowned. “I don’t like entrusting her safety to others. Not when it will draw evil to the door of this place.”

  “I agree.” Jonas reached past Raela’s grasping fingers and lightly tickled her belly. Her happy laughter filled the air and tugged a smile from my lips. “Which is why I’ll make arrangements for Tala to take her to Jarren over in New Port. She can keep an eye on the babe, and he can keep them both safe.”

  Jarren was Jonas’s grandson. I’d met him a couple of times now, and he was very much a younger version of Jonas. Not that Jonas looked, in any way, his age. The rift he’d gone through just after the war’s end had frozen the aging process in him, although he was not in any way immortal. He could die, just as I could. It’s just that it was a whole lot tougher to kill either of us.

  My frown grew. “Isn’t that simply shifting the danger from one point to another? And why would Tala even agree to something like that, given she’d be leaving her life and her family here for who knows how long?”

  “Jarren controls the New Port mercenaries, and believe me when I say that no one will dare cross him.” The smile that twisted his lips was part pride, part amusement. “He is, in every way, a chip off the old block, in a way my sons and daughters never were.”

  “But what about Tala? We can’t make any guarantee on how long she might have to be away.”

  “Tala is my great-grandniece and will do as I ask, as she—like most of my family—is aware of both what has happened to Penny and of the dangers we now face.”

  “Ah. Good.” I glanced down at Raela. I hated the thought of parting with her, but at least it was only temporary and for the best. “Promise me, Jonas, that if I die, you’ll find her a good home. Someone who will love rather than study her.”

  “I promise.” He reached out and caught my hand again. “But nothing will. You and I made an agreement, remember, and I will not let you out of it so easily.”

  I grinned, as he’d no doubt intended. “Nor I you.” I once again disentangled my fingers from his. Until the situation was settled with Dream, I could not allow myself to linger on the promise in his touch. The man’s presence was distraction enough. “Was the geo-locator still in my pocket when you found me?”

  He nodded as he moved around to the other side of the bed and sat down. “Central has sent a squad of rangers out to investigate the sand base, but Nuri has ordered no action be taken against whatever stands at the Longborne coordinates as yet.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Why? I would have thought it best to mount an attack ASAP, otherwise we’re merely giving Dream time to mobilize her defenses.”

  “Yes, but she’d rather that than sending people in without knowledge of what they might be facing.”

  Confusion stirred. “Why would it be Nuri’s decision rather than the House of Lords councilors?”

  “They cannot decide on what she does not tell them,” he said. “Remember, Dream is inhabiting the life of someone either in the government or on that council.”

  I frowned again. “Yes, but she’s obviously given them the sand base’s coordinates if the council has ordered a
ranger squadron in to investigate.”

  “Because Dream would be well aware of that attack by now, so there is no harm in passing on such information. We both rather suspect that anything relating to Dream’s plans or her experiments at that place would well and truly have disappeared by now.”

  “Only if those who didn’t get out survived the mess I made of it.” I hesitated. “That RTX is rather deadly when you use a few of them in close proximity.”

  “I did warn you they were powerful,” he said, amused.

  “Yes, but I hadn’t expected them to be strong enough to practically destroy a base.”

  “I take it, then, that it was bad enough for an evacuation order to be given?”

  “Yes, and if Dream follows the procedure of every other military base I’ve been in, then the rangers definitely won’t find anything of note.”

  “We still have to investigate.” He hesitated. “Nuri wants the two of us to check out the Longborne base.”

  “I figured that the minute you said she hadn’t given the coords to anyone.” My tone was dry. “I am surprised, however, that she’s risking your presence on such a mission.”

  His expression hardened. “She had no other choice, given it might be a case of third time unlucky when it comes to you going into a base alone.”

  There was an undercurrent in his voice that had the ridiculously attracted part of me tripping along quite happily. “Meaning she had no choice because you gave her none?”

  “Indeed. A good general does not take unnecessary risks with the people under his or her command unless there is no other option,” he said. “And that is not the case here.”

  It hadn’t been the case before, either, so what had changed? I doubted it was the tremulous threads of attraction, if only because he—like me—was determined to save this place and his people from Dream’s mad machinations no matter what the personal cost.

  Perhaps it was simply a matter of him still believing Nuri’s earlier decree that if I didn’t rescue the missing children, no one would. And those missing children were now intricately entwined in the greater mission to stop the vampires and the wraiths from gaining sunlight immunity.

  “In that case, why is she only sending the two of us?”

  A smile twisted his lips. “Because I can put my foot down, but only so far.”

  “Which surprises me given she gave way to your desire to keep Penny near despite her own—decidedly fierce—reservations.”

  “Reservations that ultimately proved correct.” His expression was a mix of regret and anger—the latter aimed at himself more than anyone else. “If she is not in Longborne, I will hold you to your promise to investigate the rift into which she was taken.”

  “I know.” And I couldn’t help but hope that we’d find her at Longborne. I had a bad, bad feeling that going into that rift would be nothing short of stepping into a trap. “Has Nuri been able to uncover anything about Longborne itself?”

  He shook his head. “She hasn’t dared ask. Dream would be alert for any search or question regarding that place.”

  “So we’re basically going in blind.”

  “Not exactly,” he said. “The coordinates place it deep within the heart of the Algar Plains, which means it’s not a military base, as none were ever built out that way—not even temporary ones.”

  I frowned. “Then what is Longborne?”

  “The Algar region produces most of Central’s fine wool and cotton. As far as we can ascertain, Longborne is, in fact, Warehouse Five. It apparently holds the cotton bales in climate-controlled conditions until they’re sent to the mills for further processing.”

  I frowned. “I wouldn’t think a warehouse would be a particularly safe place for a genetics lab to be situated.”

  “No, but old military bases in a usable condition are rather scarce these days.” He thrust to his feet. “I’ll go make arrangements and let you rest. Nuri wants us out of here by tonight, if you’re feeling up to it.”

  “And still wants us out of here by then even if I’m not.”

  A smile twitched his lips again. “Indeed.” He briefly placed his hand on mine. “Rest, Tiger. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  Shall I follow him? Bear asked, almost eagerly.

  If you want to, I said, amused. But I do trust him these days.

  Which was something I never thought I’d say about a ranger.

  Then I will, Bear said, and zoomed after him.

  He’s such a boy, Cat said, in an almost motherly tone.

  I laughed. It was sometimes hard to remember that she was actually six years younger than Bear. And while the mental age of all déchet had rarely matched their physical age, thanks to the use of growth accelerates, it often seemed—both then and now—that Cat was the more mature of the two.

  “He’s only had my company for over a hundred years, Cat. I think he’s deserving of a little male time.”

  There is nothing wrong with your company, Cat said, rather indignantly. And it’s not like there’re only girls in our bunker.

  “But he is the oldest of them.” I glanced toward the door as a woman came in. She was wearing everyday clothes—light brown pants and an emerald, close-fitting top—rather than a white coat, but I was in no doubt that she was the doctor. And given her mottled black hair, regal nose, and the fact that her eyes were the same shade of vivid green as Jonas’s, I also had no doubt that this was his great-grandniece, Tala.

  She stopped and scanned the bed’s readouts. “Everything is looking rather impressive given you were at death’s door two days ago. How do you actually feel, though?”

  “A little tired, but other than that, fine.” I hesitated, and then said, “Has Jonas talked to you yet?”

  Her gaze came to mine. “About going to New Port? Yes, he has.”

  There was nothing in her tone to indicate how she felt about the request. Or indeed, whether she was a willing participant in the scheme.

  “If you have no desire—”

  “I have no desire for this world to be plunged into another war, and yet we all know that’s what comes.” Her voice remained without inflection, but there was something in her eyes that spoke of anger and heartache. “The vampires grow bolder and the wraith attacks more frequent. Light is our one protection and if that fails us....” She grimaced. “So I will play my part in this drama and hope that, in doing so, the future we all fear does not eventuate.”

  “Thank you—”

  “Duty doesn’t require a thank-you.” She glanced down at Raela, and the shadows of heartache pressed closer in her gaze. “But I cannot deny it’ll be a pleasure to look after a little one again.”

  I bit back my instinctive question, as it didn’t really take a genius to figure out what might lie behind that sadness. It was also obvious she had no desire to talk about it. “Please keep her safe. She means a lot to me.”

  Tala’s smile flashed, though that heartache lingered. “As is natural.” She stepped around Raela’s crib and removed the IVs from my arm. “I’ve ordered a protein meal to be brought in to you, as well as some fresh clothes. I believe Jonas is intent on leaving at sunset.”

  “And you and Raela?”

  “Will depart with the New Port shuttle in the morning.”

  I frowned, wondering if that was safe, even as I knew Jonas wouldn't approve any plan that would endanger either Tala’s or Raela’s life. She must have guessed what I was thinking, because she added, “I’m a regular visitor to New Port—I help out at the clinic over there a couple of times a month. No one will think it unusual.”

  “Oh, good.”

  She smiled and patted my arm. “Rest until your meal gets here. I suspect my great-uncle won’t allow much of it once you leave this haven.”

  “Probably not,” I agreed, amused.

  She smiled, checked the readouts on Raela’s medicot, and then gave me a nod and walked out. I adjusted the bed so that it supported my back in an upright position, and leaned back into its
softness. I was neither sleepy nor tired, and I very much wanted to be doing anything other than simply lying here. There was a growing itch in the back of my mind suggesting I needed to get back to Central and the false life I’d created there—a life that involved being the lover of one Charles Fontaine. Until very recently he’d been the financial director at Winter Halo, and I’d initially hooked up with him in the hope of gaining information about the company. But he’d quit just before all the shit had gone down there in order to take up his family seat in the House of Lords, and as much as part of me might have wanted to end our relationship right there and then, I couldn’t. Not when being his mistress might well provide our only chance of getting anywhere near Dream without raising suspicions.

  And though he was little more than a means to an end—just another target in a very long line of them—I couldn’t help but feel some regret over the situation. Charles was a very nice, if somewhat old-fashioned shifter, and he deserved more than the falsehoods I was feeding him.

  I thrust the thought away in irritation. This was what I’d been designed to do, and at least this time, I was doing it by choice rather than order.

  I reached sideways and carefully drew Raela from her cot. She giggled happily as I flicked aside the sheet and laid her on my chest. After squirming about for several minutes, she fell asleep.

  I’m glad she’s going to be living with us, Cat said.

  “So am I,” I replied softly, resting my hand protectively on Raela’s back. “So am I.”

  There were no tears during our goodbye. Raela might be nothing more than a babe, but the old soul within her seemed to understand the necessity of our parting. I promised I’d be back for her as soon as possible, and followed Jonas from the room. I didn’t look back. I very much suspected those nonexistent tears just might make an appearance in my eyes if I did.

  Cat and Bear danced along happily to the quick sound of our footsteps as we made our way through the bright halls of this place. The shifter clans might be nomadic, but the more I saw of this medical center, the more it seemed to be a permanent installation. There was nothing temporary about the concrete walls or floors, and there was a heaviness to the air that spoke of an underground structure.