Part 9 (1/2)

”I think it's Sat.u.r.day night,” I replied, ”I'm not good at keeping track of days.” I neglected to say that I lost track of days when s.h.i.+t was. .h.i.tting the fan.

I heard a heavy metal door being unlocked. The sc.r.a.ping of metal as the door slid open was an ear ringing pitch. The light from the hallway flooded into the room, making me squint my eyes. We were in the Warehouse District, I realized, in one of the many empty buildings. I had been here before during another investigation.

A beautiful, tall, exotic woman glided into the room. With the grace of magick, she stalked towards me. From the buzz in my head, I knew she was a powerful lycanthrope. It was weird, she smelled like honey. She walked and stopped in front of me, very close. Too close, invading my personal s.p.a.ce.

Her straight deep brown hair hung to her waist and her eyes were so pale green they appeared to be white. Her deep bronze tan and high cheekbones screamed Brazil, maybe, and I don't know how I knew that. She wore a long silver gown that went to the floor. From what I could tell, she didn't have shoes on. But, I was more interested in the man that entered the room with her. To my surprise, it was White Hair. Apparently, he was her toady. It made me wonder if he held a grudge. You know, over the whole blowing out his knee thing.

”Ah... Logan Wolf, so good to have you here. I have a couple of questions. You will answer them or things will not go well for you. Where are the other scrolls?” she asked in a sultry voice.

My stomach tightened. I wasn't sure if she saw anything on my face. I tried to keep an 'I don't give a s.h.i.+t' look on. I cleared my head before I opened my mouth. It doesn't happen often.

”I have no idea what you're talking about,” I said like I could really give a s.h.i.+t. I guess we'll see how good my acting was. ”Plus you didn't say the magick word.” All of a sudden, she backhanded me so hard and so fast that I thought my eye was going to explode. ”Now you're going to have to say pretty please.” I said, trying to get my hair out of my face and not succeeding.

A couple more back hands to my face. I ran my tongue across my lip and tasted blood. Just before she could hit me again, White Hair stopped her.

”Palmira, stop! We can turn up the heat and in about twelve hours she'll talk,” White Hair said with a grin. He looked at me. ”Maybe I can repay you for our fight earlier.”

”Oh, I sense hard feelings,” I chimed in. Oh yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment.

He too gave me a backhand, but I guess I deserved it. Some days I was my own worst enemy. They walked out and the slide of the mechanism told me they locked the door. My hair hung in my face and stuck to the blood and sweat. I leaned my head back, hoping to get my hair out of my eyes.

”Logan, we need to get the h.e.l.l out of here. Are you able to help?” Rafe asked.

”I'm fine. Let me try something,” I said.

I was going to try a spell that would turn the silver into gold. Because of the lycanthrope being allergic to silver and the pain of his skin burning and raw, there was no way he could break the chains. Gold would be a lot easier. It's not one of my favorite spells, because it's in Latin, a language I struggle with. I started out slow and the more I repeated the spell, the faster it came, which is the norm. The chains warmed and vibrated, but the problem was that if it kept getting hotter at this rate it would burn us before it came off. Rafe would heal after a s.h.i.+ft but for me it would take a lot longer.

”Rafe, can you break the chains now?” I asked in a low urgent tone. What was I suppose to say, 'get these the f.u.c.k off me'?

I felt the chain tighten around my wrists and a second later, they fell to the floor with a heavy thud. I pushed my hair out of my face and got up. I rubbed my wrists. They hurt like h.e.l.l and were burned from the chains heating up. I moved round to Rafe and lifted his head, holding his face in my hands. I didn't notice until now, but I was having a hard time breathing. I must have broken a rib in the accident, but I would have to deal with it at a better time.

His was badly beaten, his eyes swollen, and there were dark bruises all over his face. I ripped the amulet around his neck off and stuck it in my pocket. We wouldn't want it to get back into Palmira's hands. It would come back and bite us in the a.s.s, things like that always do. Besides, it may come in handy at some point.

Looking at Rafe, I knew that he wasn't in great shape. But, he was coming with me. There was no way in h.e.l.l I was going to leave him here to take more of that sick b.i.t.c.h's abuse.

”Are you going to be able to do this?” I asked, looking at him with nothing in my voice. I was in survival mode. There wasn't any time for feelings.

”If I s.h.i.+ft I'll be fine,” he replied. One thing I could say for the werefox King, she couldn't break him.

”As long as you don't eat me, go for it,” I said and stepped back.

Without a word, he stripped off all his clothes and went down on all fours. In the dimly lit room, I could see his silhouette, and he was well built. If he got noisy, I didn't think it was going to be a problem. This room seemed to be soundproof, but I could be wrong. Not that I expected Palmira to come check on us. I don't think she gave a s.h.i.+t if we were in pain.

Watching a human s.h.i.+ft into an animal always horrified and fascinated me all at the same time. At first low moans came from Rafe, then his spine bowed. My eyes got used to the dark again and I could just make out the extra ribs appearing under the skin. What really got my attention was the popping, cracking, wet sounds that made my stomach turn. Rafe's arms and legs elongated and fur sprouted out all over his body. Last but certainly the most gross, the nose and mouth formed the snout, including sharp teeth. From the pointy ears to the long bushy tail, he was a large eight-foot long fox. His coat was a beautiful shade of rusty brown, his eyes amber.

I sensed no threat, walked to him and touched his head. He was so soft as my hand sank into his fur. I really didn't pay too much attention to the tingling in my head. I'd learned to control my listening to it. Kind of like a teenager with convenient hearing. My plan was to make it out of here without being killed or the s.h.i.+t knocked out of me.

I looked at Rafe. ”I hope you have a plan for what we're going to do after I open the door.” He used his head and pushed me towards it.

I walked to the door and raised my hands. I said an unlocking spell, just like that the mechanism clicked, and I opened the door. It was nice of them to leave the light on in the hallway for us. I stood there for a second trying to let my eyes adjust to the light. It was wide enough for us to walk down it side by side. We cautiously walked a little further and came to a fork in the hallway.

”Which way, Rafe?” I whispered in such a low tone that if Rafe weren't an animal he probably wouldn't have heard me.

He looked right than left, and finally resorted to sticking his snout up and snorting the air. He stood there for a moment, and then slowly headed left. I followed him. He could sense the outdoors, or more than likely, he could smell it. A couple more turns, right then left. We couldn't be far from the exit. Could we? The only problem was this was excessively easy. I put my hand on Rafe's back and stopped.

”I'm going to send out a sensing spell.” I put out my hand as if I was feeling the air and I focused. I scanned the area, making a complete circle. ”There's three coming towards us. Two coming at us from the front and one from the rear.”

Rafe got in front of me so he could take the two and I only had to deal with one. I could kick myself in the a.s.s for leaving the Realm without any weapons. Apparently, I was a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t. I looked around and saw a short steel pipe that lay near the wall. I quickly picked it up and moved back to my position. We continued. Maybe, just maybe with the G.o.ds luck, we'd make it out of here before we ran into White Hair.

At the end of the hall was the best thing I'd seen since Rafe. The exit sign. As if on cue, White Hair and a dark-haired man appeared at the end of the hall. I heard something coming up behind me. I turned just in time to see a boot coming at my face. I dodged it at the last second, stepped back and swung the pipe like a bat.

I hit him square in the chest and knew that I had to keep swinging. I heard growling and deep chirping barks behind me, territorial sounds from Rafe. When I believed that my opponent was going to stay down, I stopped swinging. The blond lay on the floor with blood coming out of his ears and nose.

I turned to see that Rafe had ripped out the throat of one fox and White Hair was nowhere to be seen.

”Do you know what we're going to do when we get out of here?” I asked Rafe. ”Because I have no clue. My car's trashed and the snow is going to make it hard to reach the Realm. The only thing I can think of is walking.” I was not thinking happy thoughts. I was thinking Donner Party. I couldn't stop myself.

Chapter 12.

We went to the exit, opened the door and walked out. A burst of cold air hit me in the face and at first, it felt good, but after a couple of seconds, the cold hurt. I wore only my leather coat. I zipped it up, turned up my collar and stuck my hands in my pockets. I really needed a heavier coat.

Trying to walk against the wind and the deep snow was a b.i.t.c.h. At first, it wasn't too bad. I kept my eyes on Rafe and followed him, trusting him to find his way to the Realm. We trudged through one snowdrift after another. It made me walk even slower.

”Okay, all I have to do is just keep walking,” I said, quietly to myself.

My legs felt so heavy and we weren't even halfway to the Realm. The first hints of doubt that I would freeze to death popped into my head. I was having a hard time concentrating, my body didn't want to move, and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Never a good sign.

My feet got tangled up in each other and I went down, face first into the snow. I just lay there, p.i.s.sed that we were in this situation. I didn't attempt to move or get up. I felt sorry for myself and wanted to give up. After a second, I could feel Rafe nudging me with his snout.

”Just leave me here and get help,” I said through chattering teeth.

Rafe wasn't going to leave me and he tugged at my arm. I got to my hands and knees then slowly rose to my feet. Every movement was painful. I held on to Rafe's tail as we pressed on but our progress was slow. Rafe pulled me along more than anything. For a while, I concentrated on the softness and warmth of his bushy fox's tail. As my hand warmed just a little, it pushed away the frozen haze of confusion.

I stopped, reached out to my magick in Ronan. I even opened up to Alex and Paris, hoping I could reach someone - anyone. I was too unfocused to know for sure if I reached anyone. I threw out one unfinished thought after another; just praying to the G.o.ds that one of them heard my pleas for help. Would anyone be able to make sense of the jumbled mess that I threw at them?

Rafe pulled me along but I was so cold and I didn't want to walk any more. I was in horrible pain with every step I took. I stumbled several times but I was determined to stay on my feet.

”Rafe, I need a break,” I said, slurring my words, ”or I won't make it.” I walked to the closest store alcove and sat down. I hugged my knees to my chest and Rafe sat in front of me, trying to break some of the wind.

”I don't think I've ever been so cold. If you go get help, it would be faster. I'm too cold to move and I can't even feel my feet anymore.” I leaned my head against the door and just wanted to take a short nap. I closed my eyes and could feel sleep falling over me like a veil. Rafe licked my cheek. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He ran off towards the Realm and I was alone. I had the strangest urge to say 'what is it La.s.sie? Did Timmy fall in a snow bank?' I busted out laughing. It just bubbled up and I couldn't control it.

All of a sudden, I got a vision and all I could make out was people wandering the streets. It wasn't uncommon but there wasn't anything around that looked modern. Things looked to be from well over one hundred years ago. As quick as the vision came it was gone, and then I dreamed of the murdered women in every horrible detail over and over. It was as if I was there examining the bodies all over again. I could feel the cold organs in my hands and again the smell of perforated intestines nauseated me.

I opened my eyes to find that I was still sitting in the storefront alcove. It took a couple of tries to get my eyes to stay open but my body didn't want to work. What was taking Rafe so long to get help? Did something happen? Time seemed to move so slowly.

I wonder if I could reach down the link I had with Ronan and actually make contact with him this time. I stared at the wall in front of me and focused, trying to reach out to him but I couldn't get a clear connection. My body tingled and jasmine filled my head. Ronan. I actually welcomed the scent. I got a sense of him and some of the others riding in Paris's SUV. They were on their way to get me and all I had to do was just hold on a little longer.