CHAPTER 15

She needed to be at three places at once, but Hunter wasn’t hearing anything about splitting up and each doing a part of the mission solo. They had to get Amy’s parents back to the Sidhe, and also get word to the Sidhe to try to get Sir Rodney’s forces to stand down. But there was also the not too likely chance of getting word to Elder Vlad without a fight—and even if they did, him standing down just on a my-word-is-my-bond code of honor scenario was insane. Still, they had to try.

“I don’t get it,” Sasha said, thoroughly agitated. “This is what we do—combat. We’ve been in a hundred brawls before. What’s different about this one, Hunter? You are on me like you’re my freakin’ shadow, and we need to fan out to accomplish everything we’ve gotta do.”

“I am your shadow,” he said, not looking at her as he stepped down harder on the gas pedal.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” she said, and then looked out the window. “We can’t keep asking for Jeeps from the base, either, and not bringing them back. There’s a pattern here that’s not gonna go over well with the brass.”

“The shadow lands are too dangerous at present. Amy Chen’s parents cannot physically withstand the distortion, because they are human. Do you have another alternative I should explore?”

She hated it when he got snippy. “No.   but we could have saved time by—”

“We’ve discussed that option and I told you my reservations.”

Oh, so now he was gonna try to pull the badass male alpha wolf thing on her and put more bass in his voice than was necessary? Sasha rolled her eyes. Pullease.

“And what if I just went to Amy’s house alone?” Sasha folded her arms, not liking his tone.

“I would have followed you to be sure you were safe.”

His response was so bland, so calm, that she wanted to scream.

“I do not want to fight, Sasha. I just want to deliver the humans to the Sidhe and avoid a war. I should not have to become locked in a confrontation with you now, simply because I seek peace.”

Sasha blew a stray wisp of hair up off her forehead. Oh, brother.   now her man had become the Zen master!

“May I come in, Mrs. Chen?”

The older woman stared out through the cracked door, keeping the chain lock firmly latched. She could not place the man’s face, but things inside her head told her that he was a friend of her daughter’s. His face was handsome, his eyes strange and crystal blue.   his hair long, flowing blond so fair that it was almost white.

“Again, I ask for an invitation. May I come in, please, Mrs. Chen?”

She cracked the door open a little wider. “Ah.   Well.  ”

“No!” Mr. Chen shouted. “We do not know you!” He slammed the door shut and shook his wife hard. “What are you doing? Sasha Trudeau is on the telephone and says there are people trying to abduct our Amy again. It is like the trouble before.”

“Heads-up,” Sasha said, bailing out of the Jeep. “Vamps!”

Hunter swerved the vehicle to a stop and rushed up the storefront stairs. “Mr. and Mrs. Chen, are you all right? It’s Hunter!”

Sasha swept the alley and then took a running leap to catch a fire escape grate to propel herself up to the rooftop. A boot kick to her jaw sent her sprawling backward. She answered the affront with a hail of silver shells. But the quick-moving flash of white hair and black coat eluded her. She watched him jump buildings, grab a fire escape, and swing to a landing on the ground. Their eyes met. He gave her a toothy smile and then headed toward the house.

A pump shotgun blast met him in the doorway, giving Sasha just enough time to drop down behind the injured Vampire and cock the hammer on her weapon. In a flash he was gone. Hunter spun and gave the shotgun back to Mr. Chen.

“That only slowed him down. It was just a regular shell, not hallowed-earth packed or silver.” Hunter nodded toward the Jeep. “C’mon. We don’t have much time. They’ll be back.”

“Why does this keep happening? What have we done?” Mrs. Chen cried as they hurried down the steps.

“They don’t want you; they want your daughter. Some really, really bad men want her dead,” Sasha said, pushing the older couple into the car. “And we don’t want that to happen.”

“But why?” Mr. Chen said, leaning forward. “We don’t understand. We are simple people. Honest people.”

Sasha couldn’t answer; there just wasn’t time. A thud on the roof rocked the vehicle and she renewed a clip, then shot skyward while Hunter careened away from the curb. No matter how fast Hunter was driving, the Vamp kept its footing and moved with grace, avoiding every shell. Frustration tore at Sasha, making her fling open the Jeep door and flip herself onto the roof before the Vampire could reach through the compromised metal to yank out the Chens.

Instead of the platinum blond male vamp, a dark-eyed female terror stood before Sasha baring fangs. Wind from the hurtling vehicle and supernatural energy lifted the Vampire’s black coat and suddenly two razor-sharp daggers slid into her palms. She smiled at Sasha and then slashed forward the second Sasha lifted her weapon and fired. A burning, stinging pain shot up Sasha’s forearm. Fuck. She was cut.

The Vampire’s smile widened. “Just give them to us and you’ll live, wolf.”

“Sorry. Can’t do that, bitch.” Sasha lunged and the Vampire tumbled over her, now standing at the front of the vehicle with Sasha crouched on the roof above where the Chens sat in the backseat beneath her.

“This is no business of yours, wolf!”

In a split second, Hunter’s hand crashed through the roof and grasped the Vampire by her left leg. The Vampire screeched and yanked to get away while the Jeep perilously swerved.

“Oh, but it is,” Sasha said, holding on, and quickly unloaded two slugs in the center of the Vampire’s forehead.

Burning ash immediately covered the top of the vehicle and Sasha hunkered down as soot and debris flew over her. At the intersection, Hunter slowed down and Sasha jumped off the roof and got back into the vehicle.

She looked at Hunter’s bloodied fist. “Thanks..   You need to have Garth or Silver Hawk take a look at that.”

Hunter grabbed her arm and turned it over, looking at the deep slash. “And you.”

“Yeah. She got me.”

“I smelled it.   the blood. If we didn’t have human passengers I would have come up there and ripped her worthless throat out.”

“Now the wolves are officially involved!” Elder Vlad paced away from the long onyx table in his dining room and waved for his servants to take away the nude dead woman littering the furniture. “That is a good thing, given the recent developments. But the one thing I have yet to understand is how you have allowed them to destroy my Mara? Is this what you have come to grovel at my feet to explain?”

“Yes,” Caleb said through a labored breath, holding his injured chest. Black blood oozed through his fingers as he clung to the ravaged flesh destroyed by a close-range shotgun shell. “But I must feed, Your Excellency.”

“And so you shall,” Elder Vlad said, slitting his wrist over a golden goblet. He watched Caleb lick his lips and stared at the trembling hand that reached for the goblet, somewhat amused. “Where are the Chens?”

“Still with the wolves that escaped, Master.” Caleb dropped to one knee, weakening by the moment as the pool of black blood around him widened on the cold stone floor.

“And you were not able to do such a small task for me alone?”

“I came directly here once I was injured.   but not before telling Mara. We work as a team.”

“And you left her to be incinerated by the most troublesome pair of wolves in our region!” Elder Vlad flung the goblet away to the stone floor. “All you had to do was collect Amy Chen’s parents—two weak humans—and bring them to me! To avoid more Vampire losses I needed them tonight! Do you understand that there is no negotiating with demons once they are owed and feel betrayed?”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Caleb stammered, beginning to wheeze. “But the wolves were an added complication.”

“Added complication?” Elder Vlad swept away from Caleb, trembling with rage. “You have no idea about what it means to endure a so-called added complication! Will Elder Kozlov understand that we were in error? That our initial assessment of the situation was incorrect and that we unnecessarily baited the Fae into a global confrontation—all because you and Mara were sure that this was an attack by the Unseelie but were wrong? Will our Transylvanian Council understand that we overlooked demons on a vendetta—demons whom we owe? No, Caleb, that is a complication of the highest order.   and all that I’d asked was that you rectify the situation that you created, and you couldn’t even do that.”

Caleb gasped and lay down prostrate on the floor in his own blood and began to weep as he dragged his body toward Elder Vlad’s feet. “I will make this right. I swear to you.   I will make amends.”

“What shall I do with you? This isn’t even my debt, technically, but with Erinyes there is no such thing as a technicality. They only understand absolutes. Such as it is, demons do not understand fine points, shades of gray, or compromise. Nor does Elder Kozlov, whose reputation precedes him in zero tolerance for error. The demons were promised the pristine soul of the Chen girl. Period. Or they will exact the price of retribution in that which Baron Geoff Montague sought their services for. The toll of not paying the demons what they’re due is the total destruction of this region’s Vampire and Unseelie population—just as the baron had colluded to wipe out the Seelie Fae and the wolf federations with that little slug Kiagehul. It is all very simple, not that complicated at all. Bring me the Chen girl.”

Caleb grasped Elder Vlad’s ankles and pressed his blue lips to Vlad’s boots. “Just allow me to regenerate and I will make this right.”

Elder Vlad kicked him away. “Drink your fill from the floor like the pitiful dog you have become. Why is it so hard to find good help these days?”

“Okay.   this is going to be a really delicate dance we’ve gotta do,” Sasha said in a private whisper. She came in closer to Hunter as she looked over her shoulder at the Chens.

“I know. They are already frightened out of their minds. Plus, they probably now believe their daughter is marrying someone from the Korean mafia, or something equally insane.”

“And marrying a Werewolf is better?”

Hunter stared at Sasha for a moment. “How can you make jokes at a time like this?”

“I’m just saying.” Sasha let out a long breath. “Okay, I’m sorry. But it keeps me from just losing it altogether. Battlefield humor. Learned it while in the Service and it’s a hard habit to shake.”

“We have to split up.”

Sasha just looked at Hunter.

“I know, I know,” he said. “But I’ve got to get to my brother and Amy while the Fae roll out the red carpet for the couple’s parents. We can have the wedding, feed Amy’s parents, get them nice and relaxed.   you know, distract them so they don’t have a heart attack.”

“Sooooo.   I get to stay with these very freaked-out people in the castle and make up all the explanations while you go tell Shogun and his wife to get ready.”

“Right.”

“And this is the better end of the deal how, Hunter?”

“You’ll know better what to say to these humans..   You do damage control and diplomacy far better than I do—and you were the one who helped them think this was just an oasis before.   a small village in the bayou. A little yeast that helped the bread rise is what you told me before. I cannot lie..   You.   have a more dexterous way with words, Sasha.”

“Watch it,” she said, pointing at him within the inches between them. “Calling me a good liar does not win you brownie points, mister.”

Hunter glanced over his shoulder at the Chens, who were huddled in a tight, frightened hug only ten feet away. “You know what I meant..  ”

“You owe me, big-time, buddy,” Sasha said as the Fae guards came to collect them. “And later I’m cashing in on that for all the points that’s worth.”

Hunter waggled his eyebrows. “I’m banking on it.”

Ditching the Chens in a comfortable suite with food and wine was not as easy as she thought it might be. Amy’s parents now had questions, like 3 million of them, all delivered in rapid-fire broken English. The sumptuous environs of the sidhe now were being equated to a drug dealer’s hacienda—and the Chens swore that they’d somehow been abducted through the swamp across the border to Mexico.

Rupert, Sir Rodney’s trusted valet, stood at the door confused, trying to read Sasha’s eye signals and facial expressions. But the man was clueless. He didn’t understand what the Chens were babbling about or why the more hospitality was thrust on them, the more Amy’s mother cried and father protested.

“You need to give these people something to relax,” Sasha finally whispered, stepping in close to Rupert. “But I doubt they’ll drink or eat anything you offer. It’s a matter of principle. They are very honest people who are completely freaked out.”

“I would imagine,” Rupert finally said in a dignified murmur, peering over Sasha’s shoulder and dispassionately watching Mr. Chen try to comfort his near-faint wife. “They did, after all, have a run-in with Vampires. Unpleasant sort, especially for red-blood bleeders.”

“Exactly,” Sasha said, trying to bridge the human–Fae cultural divide. “They don’t understand any of this and can’t tell a Vampire castle from a Sidhe stronghold.   so can you just make them chill out so I can go get my arm healed? I also need to talk to Sir Rodney, stat.”

“Are we prisoners, then!” Mr. Chen demanded, clearly upset by the private exchange taking place between Sasha and Rupert at the suite door. “You have hidden my daughter and are holding her hostage?”

“No,” Sasha said in a weary tone. “Don’t you remember before, we were the good guys? We saved you and called you and told you what was going on.”

Mrs. Chen nodded and blew her nose on one of the linen table napkins her husband had given her. “Then, you are still the police? The side of good?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sasha said, giving Rupert the nod to hit the Chens with a little Fairy dust. “Your daughter saw something that she probably shouldn’t have. Uh, she can ID bad guys. We thought we got all the bad guys before, but we didn’t. They now want to make sure she isn’t a witness. But all these good people here are on your side. They are even going to a lot of trouble to make sure her wedding day is perfect.   and, uh, that you all are safe. It’s a part of our new uhmmm.   Homeland Security witness protection program.” Oh, brother.   maybe Hunter was right. She’d dumped the whole can of yeast in this loaf!

“And you will keep us safe?” Mr. Chen said, wringing his hands. “And what of my store and friends?”

“We’ll make sure that whatever you lose, the people who caused your problems will pay that back.” Sasha squared her shoulders. If there was any truth to what she’d just said, this was it. The Vampires were so gonna pay this nice family back for all the trauma and drama they’d experienced.

Sasha stared at Mr. Chen and lifted her chin, then cleared her throat, forcing authority into her voice. “So let the store stay closed for a week or two.   and uhm, once this nasty business is all over, you’ll be able to go back to your old life.”

“And my daughter is safe?”

Sasha nodded. “Right now, she’s in good hands.”

“Shogun!” Hunter called out. “Brother!” He listened carefully, cringed, and kept his eyes averted. He so did not want to be standing at what had become his brother’s wolf den door at a time like this. It was humiliating. Even the guards gave him broad smiles from where they played cards in the next room. When there was no answer, the guards shrugged and went back to their game.

“My timing is not good, Brother, but I would not.   disturb you.   unless it was urgent.” Hunter waited and kept his gaze to the floor. Finally, after a moment he heard rustling sounds but still didn’t look up.

“Hunter?”

A wash of relief ran through Hunter. The last thing he wanted to have to do was go inside the cell to get Shogun’s attention. “Yes.   my apologies. But there’s been a bit of a complication.”

“How so!”

Hunter closed his eyes. The angry wolf had entered his brother’s voice and Hunter couldn’t blame him a bit.

“Vampires attacked Amy’s parents’ home and—”

A female shriek rent the air and within seconds the inside dungeon door flew open. Amy stood before Hunter disheveled and wearing only a sheet. Shogun was right behind her wrapped in a duvet.

“But we got to them in time,” Hunter said calmly.

Amy melted against Shogun’s body as he lifted Hunter’s fist, inspecting it.

“You did battle for my parents-in-law?”

“Of course,” Hunter said, staring at his brother. “I told you, your family is my family. Amy is now my sister, just as she is Sasha’s sister. Also know that Sasha took a Vampire blade to her forearm, as well. But we are whole.”

Shogun nodded. “It seems that I am again in your debt. Forgive my irritable tone just now.”

“When it comes to family, there is no debt. When it comes to one’s wolf, no apology is needed.”

Hunter extended his left hand and arm to Shogun for an awkward warriors’ handshake.

“You need to get that looked at,” Shogun said, glancing at Hunter’s right fist.

Amy touched Shogun’s chest and then turned to look at Hunter. “My thanks are not worthy of your sacrifice.   but please, tell me, how are my parents? Where are they?”

“Right now they are in the castle..   I have no idea what truths Sasha had to bend in order to get them to calm down. But I am sure that she used all of her human diplomacy, and perhaps even some Fae assistance, to help them relax. However, I suggest that you move to a better suite.   maybe arrange to be married in the castle after all. The details I have left in Sasha’s capable hands.”

Amy buried her face against Shogun’s chest. “My parents are here. They cannot see me like this—I’ll die!”

Garth sat across from Sasha in the medicine room watching Silver Hawk perform an ancient Shadow Wolf healing. “We have a different way,” Garth said, openly intrigued that the laying on of hands could knit skin and torn muscle. “Our healing is branded with centuries-old magick.”

Silver Hawk nodded. “Asking the plants for their nutrients before using them—out of respect for the part they will play, observing Mother Nature’s rules out of respect for her natural earth laws—asking the Great Spirit to guide my hands out of respect for Divine Intervention.   asking the cells within Sasha’s body to listen to my energy and to heal, out of respect for the interconnectedness of all things living.   it is all miraculous and centuries old, therefore magic, too.   yes?”

“Yes, my friend, you are wise.” Garth gave Silver Hawk a little bow from where he sat on a toadstool across the room.

Silver Hawk smiled and briefly looked up from the task at the old wizard Gnome. “Words often get in the way. Magick, magic, healing, faith, belief, medicine. The objective is the same: that her arm heals. If it does, then what does it matter what we call it by name?”

Garth smiled as the wound on Sasha’s forearm slowly sealed. “This is what I like most about the Shadow Wolves: You see all things as being a part of the whole. You do not split things up and say, ‘Because you are this sliver of life, you do not belong.’ That is truly the magick; it is knowing that we are all connected. We are all of The One.”

“That is the missing element that the darkness does not see. They are blind and angry and use hate to create great divides.” Silver Hawk nodded and then removed the poultice from Sasha’s arm. “You must eat and then rest, daughter. By the dawn you will be as good as new.”

“Thank you, grandfather, but I don’t think I can rest,” Sasha said, leaning forward to kiss Silver Hawk’s weathered brown cheek. “Like I told you, the Vampires tried to abduct Amy Chen’s parents, which can only mean that they know they owe the Erinyes. Once Hunter comes down here and gets his fist healed, we’ve gotta send a message to the Vamps that we’re on to their game.”

“Eat, first,” Garth said. “I will bring Sir Rodney into the Roundtable Room with Queen Cerridwen. They need to hear what your investigation has uncovered. They also need to understand that we now know why the Erinyes are attacking the Vampires and using Unseelie methods to do so in order to create war.”

Garth stood and smiled a wicked little smile. “No need to trouble yourselves about delivering a message to the Vampires. We will send them a Fae message that they will not soon forget. Ah, Elder Vlad, you have finally been had. He has killed sixty Fae and then learned that he has been rash. That will not sit well with his hierarchy, I’m sure.   and all the more reason he must appease the demons, very discreetly. He cannot just come out and admit that he has ordered our countrymen killed with no sure evidence. Nor can he admit that he must give the demons what they seek before another sunrise or there will be more Vampire tombs raided.”

“But as messed up as this whole situation is, doesn’t that make you feel a little better about Queen Cerridwen?” Sasha said, standing.

Garth shrugged. “Only marginally. She’s still quite the icy bitch, for my tastes.”