A locked door would have meant nothing to a Sanguinati, and yet Nyx had waited outside. It was that respect for Tess’s need of a private moment that made her hand over the wrapped book.
“Keep this hidden from everyone until I ask for it,” Tess said.
Nyx took the book. “Is it dangerous?”
“I think so.” After all, secrets could be very dangerous.
Blair came around the corner. “You ready? Let’s get this stuff out of here so I can bring up the Wolves for defense.”
“You’re not going to defend the apartments,” Tess said, her hair turning solid red and coiling.
Blair took a step back and snarled. Nyx looked curious.
“We’re going to let the thieves break in,” she continued. “We’re going to let them start searching the apartments so that other humans will know they were enemies.”
“And then?” Blair asked.
“And then I’ll kill them.”
CHAPTER 47
Watersday, Maius 26
Simon glanced at the merchandise on another table, then looked away, uninterested.
Too many people, too much noise, too many things. Why did humans need so many things?
Nathan had stayed inside the big metal building that sheltered the stall market for a whole fifteen minutes before claiming that someone needed to guard the Courtyard’s small bus against vandals or thieves. Simon would have gladly joined him, but the leader needed to stay and keep an eye on the rest of the pack. Sure, Henry and Vlad were there to help keep an eye on Jenni, Starr, and Crystal. Kowalski, Debany, and MacDonald were there too, but they had their hands full—literally—with being two-legged packhorses for Ruthie and Merri Lee.
“I guess Crows and humans have something in common,” Kowalski said as he came up beside Simon. “They like filling their homes with trinkets.”
Simon studied Ruthie, who seemed to be cooing over some kind of jar. “You’re going to let your mate purchase a jar that looks like a sick cow?”
“What makes you think the cow looks sick?”
“Because I’ve never seen a healthy cow sit that way.” He wasn’t sure cows—or any other kind of four-legged prey—could sit that way. “What is she going to do with it?”
“Put it on the kitchen counter and use it as a cookie jar or something.”
“But you’ll have to look at it too.”
Kowalski shrugged. “She’s my mate. I can live with it if it makes her happy.”
Simon looked at the bulging carry sacks Kowalski had in each hand. “Couldn’t you just give her the best parts of a bunny?”
“Doesn’t mean the same thing to a human female.”
He sighed. He’d had a feeling that would be the answer.
“Jenni and her sisters are having fun,” Kowalski said. “They really like hunting for treasures.”
“Can they stop having fun soon?” A Wolf could travel a hundred miles in a day when he needed to. But after an hour of this noise and confusion—and all the stinky smells!—he was tired and wanted to go home and nap. And see Meg. He really wanted to see Meg. He wanted to play with Sam. He wanted . . .
He ignored Kowalski’s laughter since the human was laughing at him, and answered his mobile phone. “What?”
“Simon, get out of there now,” Elliot said.
“We’re almost—”
“Now! Meg had a vision, and what she saw about you being in the stall market scared her so much she fainted.”
Simon stiffened. He watched Kowalski study him, then set the carry sacks aside and motion to Michael Debany. “Meg cut herself?”
“She fell on the stairs leading up to the efficiency apartments. Something bad is going to happen up there too, but you—”
“Keep her safe.” He ended the call and looked around for the rest of the terra indigene.
“Problem?” Debany asked, joining Simon and Kowalski.
“Danger,” Simon replied. “Meg says we have to get out of here.”
“Should we call Lieutenant Montgomery?” Debany asked Kowalski.
Kowalski shook his head. “The lieutenant and the Denbys took the children to the movies this afternoon. His phone will be turned off. You call the station. I’ll call Captain Burke.”
As the two men made their calls, Kowalski headed for Ruthie and Merri Lee, while Debany made his way back to the table where Lawrence MacDonald stood, a questioning look on his face when he noticed his partner heading toward him.
Simon looked around and swore silently. Henry was easy to spot, even with so many humans. Jenni, Crystal, and Starr were spread out at different tables and kept disappearing as humans crowded the tables and blocked the Crows from his line of sight. Jenni and her sisters had heard his order, but their attention was too caught by the objects filling the tables. He was going to have to talk to the Crowgard leaders about this obsession with shiny objects. It was getting in the way of survival.
He tried to avoid bumping into humans as he moved toward Jenni, but it seemed a couple of the men deliberately shouldered him, delaying his approach to that merchant’s table. When he reached her, something about the shifty, nervous way the merchant looked at him made his fangs lengthen. Fur suddenly covered the upper part of Simon’s chest and back, and his hands were no longer even passing-glance human.
Jenni glanced at him and immediately stepped away from the table—a silent admission that she had ignored his command.
“What about this?” the merchant said quickly, flipping a cloth out of the way to reveal a flat piece of metal that, as far as Simon could tell, didn’t do anything except shine.
“Ooooh,” Jenni said.
Before she could step close to the table again, Simon grabbed her arm and pulled her away, ignoring her protests.
“Simon!” Jenni cried.
“Meg says we need to leave now.”
“Just one more thing. Please, Simon. Just one more—”
He turned on her. “We’re in danger,” he said with quiet menace. “Whatever Meg saw scared her so much she fainted. She didn’t faint the last time she saw Crows in danger, so this is bad, Jenni. This is very bad. Stay if you want to, but I’m not going to risk the rest of us because you can’t resist grabbing another bit of shiny.”
“Our Meg says?”
“Yes.” He began moving toward the front of the building.
Jenni wouldn’t let go of the damn carry sack, but she hurried to keep up with him, darting and dodging around humans as they headed for the front doors of the big building.
He kept moving, kept watching. The shoppers and merchants at nearby tables looked around as he passed, like deer that sensed there was something wrong but weren’t sure if they should run. Humans a couple of aisles away paid no attention. But the feel of the place had changed; an ugly scent now drifted in the air ahead of him, a scent Wolves recognized as a threat.
Kowalski and Debany were on his right, keeping pace with him. Ruthie and Merri Lee, along with Starr, were a step behind them, each lugging a carry sack. The men were still talking on their mobile phones, but their shirts were rucked up to reveal the badges attached to their belts.
Simon called.
/> No, he didn’t think they cared.
Jenni stopped and looked back when Crystal cried out. Simon looked over his shoulder and snarled. A man had snatched one of the Crow’s carry sacks and waved it above his head, taunting her to try to get it back.
Crystal dropped her other carry sack and tried to reclaim the sack that had been taken from her, leading her away from the rest of the Others.
Simon snapped.
MacDonald caught Crystal around the waist and lifted her off her feet. Ignoring her cries about her lost treasures, he headed toward the rest of their group, pushing aside humans who didn’t have enough sense to get out of the way.
Nathan shouted.
Looking toward the front of the building, Simon saw the men standing between him and the building’s open doors. At first he thought there were only six men looking for a fight. That made it an even number of males, with the terra indigene and police officers having the advantage of teeth, claws, and training. Then more men joined the first six enemies. And more. And more.
And all of them carried some kind of weapon.
Simon stopped. Kowalski and Debany stopped with him, forming a line.
“These are not good odds,” Debany whispered.
“We’re police officers,” Kowalski said, his raised voice both a warning and a challenge. “You men step aside and let these people leave.”
“They aren’t people, and you’re nothing but a fucking Wolf lover,” one man said. “Don’t care if you’re a cop. We’re going to teach you a lesson.”
“You don’t want to do this,” Simon warned.
The man bared his teeth. “Yeah, we do.”
Kowalski shouted, “We’re police officers! Put your weapons down now!”
“Humans first, last, and always!” the man shouted, rushing toward Simon.
As the man swung a length of pipe at Simon’s head, Henry yelled “Simon!” and swatted the Wolf, knocking him to the ground at the same moment the Grizzly roared with rage and pain—and the man who had swung the pipe fell to the ground, his shirt turning wet and red.
Shouts. Screams. Gunshots behind them.
People ran toward the doors or to another part of the building or anywhere that would take them away from the fight. But the men with clubs and knives rushed toward Henry and Simon while others attacked Kowalski and Debany.
Instinctively, Simon shifted what he needed as he sprang up to meet the attack. Wolf head with teeth that could slash and jaws strong enough to break bone. Hands with claws that could tear flesh.
He fought hard, biting and clawing, until he broke through the human wall, providing an escape for his pack.
Nathan howled.
A Wolf alone had no chance against a mob.
More shots and screams and . . .
“Officer down! Officer down!”
Simon hesitated. Nathan was a Wolf, one of his own. Nathan needed him. But as the Courtyard’s leader, his pack included Crows and Grizzlies and vampires . . . and even a few humans.
Sorry, Nathan. Sorry, Meg.
Turning away from the doors, Simon leaped back into the fight.
* * *
A car pulled into the Courtyard’s customer parking lot. Two young men, college age, got out and walked toward Main Street. As they passed Howling Good Reads, they looked in the windows and paused when they spotted an old man standing near the counter. Not knowing, or caring, who he was, they laughed and gave him the finger. When he smiled, revealing the fangs of the Sanguinati, they shuddered and hurried to cross Main Street before the traffic light changed.
Another car pulled into the lot. A man and a woman, a little older than the other two humans, walked up the street and went into the Stag and Hare.
Two more cars pulled in, as if the Courtyard’s lot was suddenly public parking. Humans walking or driving past wouldn’t have thought there was anything unusual when a van pulled into the lot. Three men exited from the van’s back door and casually walked a few steps to the glass street door that led to the efficiency apartments above the seamstress/tailor’s shop.
* * *
Tess didn’t hear anyone in the hallway, but she felt the presence of someone outside the efficiency apartment being used by Lieutenant Montgomery and Lizzy.
Her coils of hair turned the pure black of death as she stepped out of the apartment, but she kept her eyes lowered, just in case the presence wasn’t an intruder. A direct look from her—eyes meeting eyes—would kill her prey, but even looking at her when she was in her true form would damage flesh.
Looking at the floor, Tess saw smoke that gradually became an old-fashioned black velvet gown. “Nyx,” she warned.
“My eyes are closed.”
No reason to doubt Nyx, but Tess still focused her eyes on the wall next to the Sanguinati’s shoulder, allowing her to see without actually looking at the other female.
“While it’s possible to harm us in our smoke form, it’s very hard to kill us,” Nyx said. “An earth native like you might succeed in killing one of us, but you wouldn’t survive the fight.”
Harvester. Plague Rider. For years she had kept her secret from the rest of the Lakeside Courtyard. Now it seemed there were many who knew what she was. What bewildered her was that they didn’t seem to care that one of Namid’s most ferocious predators lived among them. Normally her kind lived on the fringes, avoided and feared. Acceptance, true acceptance, was a rare and valued gift.
“What do you want, Nyx?”
“A van pulled into the customer parking lot. The enemy will be here at any moment.”
“Then you should leave.”
“No, I should stay. A bullet can hurt you, even kill you, if the enemy is able to fire a gun before you can harvest enough life to incapacitate him.”
True. And if the enemy knew anything about her kind and fired without looking at her, she would be at risk. “What are you suggesting?”
Nyx smiled. “That sometimes it’s more practical, and more fun, to hunt in pairs.”
* * *
Grab the human weapon to block a blow while his teeth tore into flesh. Dodge the blows that could break bone and leave him helpless.
Simon couldn’t keep track of his pack. Humans and Others didn’t know how to fight as a unit to bring down the enemy, and their defense of the weaker among them was more like adult bison bunching together to protect the calves. That worked well enough for big animals with hooves and horns, but it wasn’t going to work for the pack. Despite the number of humans they had already wounded or killed, more enemies were closing around them. They had lost the chance to run, and when there was no longer enough room to fight . . .
Nathan shouted.
Help. Maybe. But would it come in time to save any of them?
* * *
The Crowgard watched from the trees and rooftops, memorizing the faces of the humans who had left their vehicles in the lot. The Sanguinati watched from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to snatch the van’s driver.
Moving casually and acting as if they belonged, the three men picked the lock on the glass door and went up the stairs.
Stealth and speed. One picked the lock on Merri Lee’s apartment and slipped inside. The other two went to Montgomery’s apartment. But when they went inside, they had one startled moment to look at Tess’s face, to look into her eyes. In that moment, in that one look, she harvested enough of their life force to cause legs and arms to fail and hearts to flutter. The two men collapsed, twitching on the floor, too weak to reach for their weapons.
Tess collected two guns and a short, flexible, leather-covered club. She looked toward the doorway and the column of smoke hovering on the other side.
Nyx asked.
With effort, Tess hid her true nature behind the human mask. When her coiled hair relaxed a bit and green streaks broke up the death color, she looked at Nyx.
“Blair can take them?”
Tess nodded. She bent and patted their pockets again. “No identification.”
Nyx smiled. “No identification, no obligation to any human.” She sniffed delicately. “At least yours didn’t make a mess. Mine peed on the rug. We’ll have to figure out how to clean it—and how to explain the urine smell.”
“Blame Skippy,” Blair said, joining them. “We’ll say he got into the apartment somehow and peed on the rug while he was sniffing around for cookies. I doubt a human nose can distinguish between Wolf and human urine, so the human pack won’t know the difference.”
“The pack will know we expected trouble,” Nyx said.
“Thieves broke in, found nothing, and went away,” Tess said. She wagged the short club. “Don’t know what this is. A weapon of some kind.”
Blair took it, slapped it against his palm, and winced. “Meat tenderizer?”
One of the men made a sound.
Tess studied him, then said, “This one’s tongue is starting to blacken and rot. If you want him to tell you anything, ask your questions very soon.”
* * *
Three things happened at once. Something slammed into the back of the building hard enough to shake the structure; half the roof tore off and went flying; and Nathan yelled,
A hesitation in the fighting as a fierce and furious wind entered the building through the open roof and hurled tables and merchandise at humans—a wind that, curiously, didn’t touch the tables that might injure the Courtyard’s pack.
Despite the screams of people throughout the building, Simon heard the sirens getting louder. And he saw Fire walk through the open doors, her hair and gown fanned out as she approached. The floor smoked in her wake.
That explains the burning cars, Simon thought, shuddering as the Elemental moved closer. Nothing would escape her if Fire wanted to burn, especially if Air fanned her sister’s rage through the building.