He got up and prowled around the small space, just another converted hotel room.One with a ward to make it look like a blank stretch of wall, which someone had then plopped a bright and shiny visible deterrent across, which might as well have been saying ‘look here!’to anyone with an ounce of magic in their veins.But the people here didn’t have my training, did they?I thought, looking around.
Maybe it was the best they could do.Or the best they could afford, paying a down-on-his-luck mage to cast a spell to give them some measure of protection.And somewhere to retreat when the bad guys came knocking.
As one of the said bad guys, it did not feel great.
“And the Corps is the least of it,” Noah added bitterly.“There are worse things out there.The Dark Circle has been recruiting, and they’re targeting Weres.Especiallyvargulfs, ‘cause they know we don’t have anybody else.Or we didn’t before Cyrus, but a lot of the guys are too scared to trust him, a big-time clan wolf—”
“He wasvargulfuntil recently,” I reminded him.Cyrus had been outcast for political reasons until he’d taken up Whirlwind’s challenge for his brother.
But Noah just laughed.“He was nevervargulf.Not like us.But he wanted to help, and he meant it.I couldn’t believe it when I realizedhe meant it.”There was wonder in his voice where there had been only bitterness a moment before.“And then the crazy bastard did it—or he tried.”He looked at me, and his expression was suddenly a lot older than his years.“You know this isn’t going to work, right?They’re never going to let us back in.”
“They already have.You were presented—”
“Yeah, because you literally tore that Rand guy a new one for objecting.But how long do you think you can keep doing that?How long do you think Cyrus is gonna let you do that?”
“Let me?”
“You’re hismate. And you didn’t see his expression when Bleddyn got in that one good hit.He was, like,thisclose to forgetting about politics and restraint and all that stuff his brother wanted and taking him the hell down—all the way down.If he’d seriously hurt you, or Rand had when they piled on you—”
They did seriously hurt me, I almost said, but bit my tongue.Because I shouldn’t be here in that case.And feeling better all the time, as if the fight had happened weeks instead of hours ago.
“Cyrus is going to leave us, too,” Noah said softly.“He just doesn’t know it yet.Maybe Jace was right to get out early.The longer we stay—”
But I didn’t get the end of that sentence, because the ward suddenly fritzed out, and a triumphant-looking Caleb was standing in the now bare doorway.
“Bastard thing,” he said viciously, flicking the residue off his hand.“You okay?”
No, I thought, looking at Noah.
“Jace was here, but he’s gone,” Noah told them, evading my eyes.
“Where did he go?”I asked, directing the question at the boys, because this wasn’t the moment for a heart-to-heart, and because somebody had to know something.
They looked at the warning on the wall and then at each other.But my fledgling clan hadn’t disintegrated yet, and I was still Lupa.And moreover, a Lupa who had fought for them.Jason broke first.
“Tartarus,” he said hoarsely.“It’s where everybody ends up, sooner or later.I’d bet money we find him there.”
Chapter Eight
Ishould have taken that bet,” I told Jason, half an hour later.
“The hell is going on?”the redhead yelled, grabbing one of the fleeing people in the underground city known as Tartarus.
It was pretty apt if you knew your mythology.Hades, AKA the Greek underworld, had had many different areas, some of them pretty nice, depending on whether or not you had managed to please the gods in your lifetime.Elysium was for the high rollers and heroes, where the wine flowed, and the entertainment was never-ending; Asphodel Meadows was designated for the regular Joes, a mediocre afterlife that mirrored their crappy mortal existence; and Tartarus was for the damned.The local supernatural community had seen an analogy to Vegas in the old story, and Tartarus hadn’t gotten its name fondly.
But it was useful to the magically down-and-out.There were flop houses where you could get a bed for cheap, bars where you could grab a drink or a meal, and markets where you could find most of the supplies you needed, including the magical variety, at a lower price than the going rate in the city above.You also didn’t have to hide who you were, as the denizens of Tartarus were a confused mix of supernatural types, and any norms who accidentally staggered in through a malfunctioning ward were usually too drunk/high to notice the difference.
Of course, having a pool of down-and-out magical types had been a boon to the other side in the war, who had been heavily recruiting down here pretty much from the start.The Corps had offered safehouses in the desert for those who wanted to get away, and many had.But a lot of people had pointed out that their livelihoods were in Vegas, and had refused to go, leaving a bunch of vulnerable people trying to ride out a war on their own.
The Corps used to patrol down here, but ever since the war heated up and manpower had become a problem, those patrols had gotten fewer and fewer.These days, I didn’t think this place had seen a Corpsman—or woman—in months, although I hadn’t heard that it had gotten this bad.Or even knew what the hell this was!
“Let me go!Let me go!”the man Jason had caught was wild-eyed and panicked, and started beating him with human strength that did nothing.And then cursed him with a crap-tier spell that nonetheless shocked him enough to let go.
The guy stumbled back into the crowd that was surging all around us, carrying whatever they could grab in their arms.It was a mad scramble up the tunnel we’d just come down, with hundreds of fleeing, panicked people.Some of whom were pushing shopping carts full of their possessions, which made them into heavy bludgeons that threatened to mow us down.
Dimas threw up a shield, leaving me looking at a bunch of crazed faces that were suddenly plastered against it, before they realized what had happened and slid off in either direction, parting around us like a river flowing about a rock.It looked like the whole place was clearing out.And then I spotted somebody I knew.
“Gerald!”I yelled, and Caleb’s bald head jerked around.
