His head flicked unexpectedly toward the store, drawing my attention to the large manlike creature that charged me from around the far corner. Its features were vague, but shifting in appearance. Its hands, I noted, were large fleshy mitts spiked with long, sharp claws—the kind that could eviscerate with one well-placed cut. At the sight of the creature, the boy dropped his cigarette and ran, abandoning his F-150.
Leaving the hose in the tank, I backed a few steps away from the SUV, buying just enough time to make certain I wasn’t being ambushed from multiple directions. So far, the creature was alone. I took a defensive posture as it rounded the island and swung at me like an amateur. I dodged, then countered with a punch to the jaw, followed by a left-handed punch to the torso. My fist bounced off a dense mass of muscle, but the creature was forced back a half step. I followed with a flat-footed kick to its chest, tipping my toe at the end of the strike to drive the creature down, but it only stumbled back a few more inches, then came at me again, swinging wildly. I turned from one swing, ducked under another, then slipped behind the creature, leapt onto its back, and wrapped my arms around its massive neck. Whatever the thing was, it was unnaturally strong, resisting my full effort to snap its neck. I could barely turn its head. When it slammed me backward into the back of the SUV, I held on but let go when I saw the claws coming over its shoulder for my eyes. Releasing it, I kicked through the back of its knee, which should’ve cracked and buckled. Instead, my blow bounced back harmlessly. Even the creature’s joints were heavily armored with muscle.
Swinging at me in quick succession, it drove me backward around the SUV until I tripped over the island between the pumps and landed sprawling onto my back on the concrete. Before I could rise, it was on me, mounting my chest. I raised my arms, hoping to deflect as much of the damage from those deadly claws as I could until the creature made a mistake or—
Marko crashed into the thing, knocking it off of me. The pair tumbled together toward the back of the SUV. He got to his feet first, kicking and punching with all his considerable might at the head of the creature that barely seemed to notice the blows. It rose, driving Marko back as he dodged a series of swipes until his back was pressed against the SUV. I rose to my feet, but too late. I heard the gory ripping as it slashed him four times in quick succession across the stomach. Each slash released a sideways spray of blood that streaked across the concrete.
I crashed into the creature’s side, knocking it aside—enough to grab the collar of Marko’s shirt as he slumped against the SUV and drag him several feet before laying him down.
The thing came lumbering after me. I led it away from Marko, drawing it around the island until I returned to the SUV, where I pulled the hose from the tank and sprayed the creature with gasoline until it got close enough to swipe at me. Dropping the hose, I backed up a step, then rolled onto and over the short hood of the SUV, landing on my feet on the other side, and ran to pick up the still burning cigarette from next to the front wheel of the F-150.
Without breaking stride, I led the creature away from the station. It was on my heels, too close for me to turn without taking damage. I was looking for something to put between myself and the creature when I felt the crackle of a familiar magic. Like fingerprints, each witch’s magic had a distinct feel, and I instantly recognized my brother’s.
The creature’s heavy footfalls suddenly stopped. I turned to find it a foot away, trapped in a web of energy but steadily fighting its way free. Josh was near the SUV, arm extended, straining to keep the creature restrained. I showed him the cigarette as I backed away, hoping he’d get the idea, but I didn’t have to wait. The creature clawed an arm free, tearing a hole in the energy mesh, and I tossed the cigarette inside. The creature instantly burst into flames, then disappeared. Josh waited a moment for the remaining gas fumes to quickly burn out before releasing the spell.
“Ethan!” he shouted, his tone urgent. Then a horrified look overcame him as he noticed Marko sprawled out on the concrete.
My sixth was still breathing, I noticed as I scooped him into my arms. Without Dr. Baker’s help, he wouldn’t last long. I turned to Josh, who understood instantly. A moment later, we appeared in the driveway of the retreat house. With Marko in my arms, I hurried past Sky’s Honda Civic, noting the trail of blood that led from the passenger door toward the house. Gavin’s dark blue sports car was parked beside it.
“Those creatures have attacked everyone,” Josh said, stunned. “Skylar and Winter were attacked outside the gym.” I hurried even faster toward the front door of the house. As I approached, I saw more blood trails. Inside was chaos.
CHAPTER 3
The scene inside the house hit me like a brutal defeat. I’d never seen our pack in such a state. The entryway was littered with bodies in various states of gore, bleeding red pools onto the hardwood floors. The air vibrated with the groans of the injured as Dr. Baker, assisted by the few unscathed survivors, moved among the wounded, tense with concentration as he instructed Kelly on who was to be treated, how, and in what order. He took one glance at Marko in my arms and quickly led me into the clinic, directing me to an unused table that was surrounded by the most grievously injured. The moment I slid him onto the table, Dr. Baker went to work.
Confident that Marko was in good hands, I turned to examine the rest of the wounded in the room and realized Winter was unconscious on the gurney behind me. I gasped at the sight of long stitched lines that closed slashing wounds that crisscrossed her chest and abdomen. The scarlet flesh around her wounds radiated heat, while the rest of her skin was ghostly pale. A thin sheen of sweat covered her entire body. The others in the room were in similar condition; their wounds had been sewn, but weren’t healing. Poison, I thought, turning again to the intense inflammation of Winter’s wounds. A glance to Marko revealed the same inflammation as Dr. Baker worked to stop the bleeding. Judging by his perplexed look, the doctor had no idea what poison we were dealing with.
Winter was with Sky!
Seeing she wasn’t among the wounded in the clinic, I hurried to the next room down the hall, the entertainment room, and checked the injured there. Every room on the ground floor was littered with wounded. In the entryway of the house, I found Josh lingering, his expression lost as he slowly surveyed the carnage. She wasn’t there, either, it seemed. Then I noticed three bodies covered by sheets, next to the far wall. Fear tightened in my chest as I strode toward them. As I approached, I saw her to my left, kneeling over an injured were-animal. Relief rushed through my body. Taking a moment to gather myself, I watched as she gently wiped blood from his lips with a towel, whispering comfort to him as he waited his turn for treatment.
She noticed me, obviously relieved, but turned her attention back to the were-animal.
“Those creatures have been attacking everyone,” Josh said anxiously beside me. “Winter and Skylar were attacked outside the gym. She saved Winter.”
My tactical mind took over as I took in the scope of the attack. Someone or something had expended a tremendous amount of resources to destroy us, and they damn near pulled it off. I doubted they would leave the job unfinished. So far, it appeared all of the attacks had taken place outside the retreat, which gave us the opportunity to regroup—unless the attacks were designed to bring us all to one place where we could be wiped out in a second wave of attacks.
“Is the field around the house secure?” I asked him. Josh nodded. “Sebastian?”
He entered from the entertainment room, his white workout shirt doused in blood. Steven emerged behind him. My eyes met Sebastian’s. Before either of us could speak, the front door of the house slammed open. Dr. Jimenez, the Southern Pack’s physician, entered carrying a limp figure wrapped in a bloody white sheet. Taylor, a short blond were-cheetah, anxiously followed on his heels. The Southern Pack has been hit as well. My eyes were drawn to the figure’s long red hair, sticky with blood that dripped from her head. Joan. Her face was pale, creating a stark contrast with the usually light freckles
along her cheeks and nose. She was feverish and slick with sweat, and the thick stain of red on the sheet around her neck sickened me with worry.
Skylar gasped. Steven appeared frozen in shocked disbelief as Sebastian strode forward to gently take Joan into his arms and then calmly carried her toward the clinic. The rest of us followed, with Taylor almost directly on his heels.
“How many?” he asked without breaking stride.
“All but a handful. They were forced to scatter,” Dr. Jimenez said, his voice choked with emotion. “Joan was like this when I got there.”
“Taylor, stay here,” Sebastian instructed as we passed through the entertainment room. She stopped midstep, surprised, as the rest of us left her behind. As we approached the clinic, I saw Skylar watching Steven closely, while his anxious gaze remained fixed on Joan. At the double doors to the clinic, Sebastian turned and backed his way in. “You have to stay out here,” he commanded Steven. Still in a state of shock, he stared transfixed through the portals in the door as the two doctors worked to save the only family he had left. As a child, he had lost both his parents in an automobile accident. He’d been raised by his sister until, a few years later, she’d been murdered by a vampire. Joan, on the trail of the vampire, had found Steven and raised him as her own. It was Joan who had Steven transformed into a were-coyote so that he would have the protection of the pack. She was his family. That they weren’t blood made no difference to him.
Skylar and I waited outside the doors with Steven as Sebastian laid Joan onto a gurney between Marko and Winter. Dr. Jimenez and Kelly waited for instructions while Dr. Baker cut the sheet with a scalpel, then tore the rest of it away from Joan, revealing raw, gaping slashes that covered her legs, abdomen, and chest, but the wound on her neck was the immediate target of his concern. It appeared Dr. Jimenez had largely staunched the bleeding there, which had probably saved her life.
Seeing the full extent of his mother’s injuries, Steven rushed into the room before I could stop him. Sebastian corralled him, driving him back through the doors while he struggled, seemingly oblivious to anything other than his need to reach his mother.
“Steven, stay out of here, okay?” Sebastian urged.
Sky gaped at him, horrified. As cruel as it seemed, Dr. Baker needed to work quickly if there was a chance to save Joan’s life. In the state he was in, Steven could only get in the way.
“Steven,” Sebastian commanded, but the were-coyote seemed unable to comply. Recognizing Sebastian’s patience was nearly exhausted, I stepped forward to intervene when Sky gently took Steven’s elbow. He jerked free, nearly striking her. Sebastian pushed him back against a wall, pinning him there.
“Steven, look at me.”
He stared wide-eyed at the clinic doors, as if he could see through them to his mother’s broken body. Sebastian gripped Steven’s chin, trying unsuccessfully to force his gaze to meet his.
“I have him,” Sky said, lightly touching Steven’s arm, which seemed to calm him. He stopped pushing, but his woeful attention remained fixed on the clinic doors. Sebastian released him, warily at first. After exchanging a look with Sky, he disappeared through the clinic doors. I followed him inside.
Together, we watched helplessly while Dr. Baker worked quickly, assisted by Kelly and Dr. Jimenez. Seeing Joan, Winter, and Marko … We lived a dangerous life. Any one of us could face death at any moment, but to see the pack’s strongest torn up at once was something I had never prepared for. Once the rest of Joan’s bleeding was stopped, Dr. Baker began re-breaking and then setting bones. It was a gruesome sound. I glanced at the clinic doors, ready to stop Steven before Sebastian was forced to intervene, but he didn’t appear. Perhaps Sky had managed to lead him away. I didn’t pretend to understand their relationship, but Steven trusted her implicitly.
Sebastian and I watched until Dr. Baker began stitching Joan’s wounds closed, but she wasn’t likely to heal unless we solved the riddle of the poison. More than one of my comrades would likely die before the night was over. I glanced at Winter, and Marko, and pulled myself together, but I could see Sebastian remained fixated on Joan’s injuries. Though I found her style of leadership to be far too deferential, she was as dangerous a were-animal as I had ever met—when she chose to be. Like Sebastian, she was a disciplined leader. I gave him a moment, until I couldn’t wait any longer. Before I could speak, he directed me into the hall outside the clinic.
Skylar and Steven were gone.
“Who could take on the Southern Pack and us at the same time, and win?” I demanded. “Who has that kind of power?”
Amber sparked in Sebastian’s eyes as his wolf rose to the surface, drawing mine as well. “Was Marko specifically targeted?” he asked.
“It was after me. He just got in the way. Winter?”
“I haven’t had a chance to get the details,” Sebastian said. “There’ve been too many bodies. Have you asked Skylar about the attack?”
“No,” I said, glancing aside.
Sebastian gave me a reproving look. “I know you don’t approve of my invitation to her to join the pack, and frankly I don’t care. We are under attack, so put your differences aside. The safety of our pack is your priority, and until this incident is resolved, our protection extends to her.”
I held back a sharp retort. Sebastian didn’t understand my concerns, but they hardly mattered now. At the moment, I wanted her in our protection as much as he did.
“Are we dealing with were-animals?” he asked, changing the subject.
If they were were-animals, they were something new. I had never known of a were-animal that could walk bipedal while in animal form. I preferred that they were something else. I didn’t relish a war with my own kind, but I didn’t like not knowing who our enemy was. Right now they were planning their next move, and I was helpless to stop them. “If they are, they’re an entirely new species. They’re like nothing I’ve encountered before. Primary weapons only—long claws on both hands, apparently poisoned, but we don’t know with what. They’re not skilled fighters, but they are powerful, difficult to kill by strength alone. The creature that attacked me seemed to change as we fought, as if it were slowly attempting to transform into my image.”
“I’ve heard similar descriptions.” Sebastian blew out a frustrated breath. “We need Josh. I’m going to call Cole and see if the East Coast Pack has been attacked as well.” His anger swelled in the hall, suffocating me. “Ethan, find out what poison we’re dealing with.”
As Sebastian strode toward his office, I drew my phone and left a message for Artemis. Whatever poison was used, it was made or purchased in large quantities. Those kinds of deals were done in the dark. No one knew the dark better than Artemis. All I needed from her was a clue, a place to start.
I found Josh on his way to the clinic, still wearing his bloodied graphic t-shirt and jeans, and anxiously chewing his nails.
“Is she okay?” he pleaded.
I wasn’t sure if he meant Winter, Joan, or both. “It’s too soon to tell.” His expression seemed to collapse, exposing just how lost he was. Once again chewing his nails, he began to pace the hall in front of me, temporarily blocking Kelly and Dr. Jimenez as they emerged from the clinic. She gave me a look as she jostled past Josh, who clearly hoped for news, but the pair ignored him on their way to assist the rest of the wounded. He almost followed them.
“Josh,” I said, demanding his attention. “We need answers.” He gave me a blank look, so I tried a softer approach. “Are they magical? The creatures.”
“It’s possible, but …” His eyes were wide as he shook his head in disbelief. “The sheer scale of the attack. If those creatures were summoned, their master’s power is far beyond mine.”
Suddenly determined, he turned and started toward the double doors until I stepped in front of him.
“Perhaps you will think more clearly in the library,” I suggested carefully, “with your books.”
“I’m not leaving, Ethan!” he shouted, drawin
g anxious looks from the other were-animals that were lingering nearby, already on edge.
I carefully measured my brother’s emotional state. “Josh, I know you’re exhausted—”
“I’ve made mistakes before, Ethan,” he whispered, stepping closer to me, “but never like this.”
“What mistakes?”
He swallowed hard. “I didn’t see it coming. I’m certain there is magic involved, and I was oblivious. I failed the pack.”
“You saved Winter and Marko. You saved me.” He pulled away and shook his head, unwilling to listen, so I changed the subject. “Tell me about the attack on Winter and Sky.”
“The creature overwhelmed Winter,” he stammered. “I don’t understand how. It ignored Skylar completely until she crashed Winter’s SUV into it. She got Winter into the vehicle and escaped. Gavin and I met them on the road. I brought Winter here, and then I went looking for you.” He returned to pacing, and I decided to leave him alone for the moment.
I left Josh to make a tour of the house, checking on the survivors and making my presence known. Wherever possible, I gathered accounts of individual attacks. The mood in the house was tense. Pack members were talking among themselves, drawing conclusions, and vowing revenge, but none of them knew yet what we were up against. I encouraged those I could and promised revenge to those who needed to hear it. We just needed an enemy to fight to pull the pack together.
I found Taylor crouched in a corner of the entertainment room, chewing on her nails the same way Josh did. Her expression was one of aimless fury, desperate for a target. There was nothing I could say to her now.
When I went to check on Steven, I found Sky sitting cross-legged in front of his door. She tensed at my approach, a reminder that my wolf remained close to the surface. With some effort, I suppressed it. The house was already on edge, and I didn’t want my anger to draw others out of control. In response, I noticed Sky’s heart rate slow slightly, but there remained a tension between us that had existed before the attack. “Can we talk?” I asked.
Darkness Unveiled Page 4
