Liz didn’t want Eli in the cave. Didn’t want him to touch the metal. Knew this was all her fault because she had gotten magic-drunk and touched the copper ax and the mud. She pulled her magic back to the surface. On the surface, the battle was at a standstill.
Jane was at the far edge of the clearing. She had changed forms, into human, yet she was still coughing. They had thrown everything they had at it, and it was still upright and going strong, the vamp-killer still sticking out of the demon’s side. It was ignoring everything in the clearing except the firepit.
Eli was walking guard duty, eyes out to the woods and the dark.
Three dead werewolves were outstretched, all three in partial shift form. They had died full of silver, and so hadn’t been able to shift back to human and heal. Brute was on the ground near them, panting, bloodied, and being fed by... Lincoln Shaddock.
Shaddock was the Master of the City of Asheville. He was a powerful vamp, and vamps did not feed werewolves, even angel-touched weres. Everyone knew vamps and weres hated each other. Except Shaddock was feeding the wolf anyway, one eye on thehedge of thornsand the demon leaning over it.
Then it hit Liz why he was here. The Mayhew vampires were involved in this trap. He had condemned one Mayhew to death and clearly allowed the widower to live. So this was on him, as much as it was on her.
Liz looked up at the demon. It leaned in on the other side of thehedge, once again pressing with the shattered bone, draining the energies of their protection. As soon as the moon was below the horizon, Cia was going to lose power. The demon wasn’t going anywhere unless one of the twins moved. Then it would follow. And it would likely be able to possess whichever one of them it caught. It would use witch magic to free itself totally. Its first order of business would be to destroy anyone who might try to stop it, so it would kill her family. It would be free in the world. She had to fix what she had messed up.
“Drop thesound-deadeningworking,” she said to Cia. A layer of magics slid down into a moonstone in Cia’s hand. “Eli?” Liz called.
The Army Ranger turned to her. “There’s a cave under the falls at the pool. It’s full of dangerous poison gases. Midway to the back of the cave is an oval depression with a muddy bottom. Sitting on the muddy bottomis a chain made of flat rectangular copper pieces, each attached to the next with a floating tab. There’s also some bone fragments and a skull with a copper ax head in it. We need a small part of the chain and a fragment of the bone. But you can’t disturb the skull or the ax head. In fact, touching anything in the cave might be deadly, even the things we’re sending you to get. And when you get back, the demon will likely attack you for the bone fragment.”
“Waterfall, poison, hole, bones, ax, and a chain. It may all kill me. Got it.” He grinned widely again, the light in his eyes just a little too bright. “Lizzie, I still say this sucks as a date, but you sure do know how to show a former Ranger a good time.”
With that, he melted into the dark, grabbing up his backpack as he disappeared.
“Nice,” Cia said, staring at his butt.
“Stop that. He’s mine.”
“No doubt about that at all, sis,” Cia agreed. “And the way he looked at you?” She fanned herself as if too warm. “And that nice backside? Oh my...”
Liz grinned. “Stop it.”
“Mmm-hmm.Lizzie.”
“I hate that name.”
“Not when he says it.”
Ignoring her and the demon leaning on thehedgeover her, Liz sent her magic back along the trail to the pool and up into the cave. This time, she didn’t need Cia’s help. She had a trail of her own magic to follow.
Eli
“Waterfall, poison, hole, bones, ax, and a chain. It may all kill me,” he repeated. “Got it.” He grinned widely again, liking the way Lizzie didn’t look away from him. She was seeing him at his best, and maybe his worst. And she seemed to accept that. “Lizzie, I still say this sucks as a date, but you sure do know how to show a former Ranger a good time.”
He grabbed up his day pack and melted into the dark. There was noindication of more werewolves, but he wasn’t taking chances. He swung the shotgun around on its tactical sling and positioned the weapon at alert, ready for fast firing, but allowing free movement away on the sling as needed.
His night vision had been negatively affected by the glow stones Cia had thrown. Normally it took twenty minutes to get it all back, so he moved with care, following a path he had taken four times before now. He hadn’t exactly memorized every rock and root, but he’d been well trained. The landscape was embedded in his short term memory, ready for use. He shifted around a broken tree. Stepped over a downed limb, one with green leaves still on it. That hadn’t been here before. The demon might have brought it down or ripped it free. He slowed his pace, in case there were more unexpected surprises. He caught a whiff of the burned trees the demon had ignited, and traces of brimstone. And he caught a hint of something else, something he couldn’t identify but that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He moved slower. Checking above, around, behind.
Moving uphill, upstream, at night, under a canopy of trees was dicey, but eventually he heard the distinctive sound of the waterfall. Skirted the tree. Checked his internal clock. He had left the clearing twelve minutes ago. Too long. Moonset was coming. Cia, moon witch, would run of out power. Whatever they were going to do with the copper and the bones had to be completed before then.
The pool appeared, just ahead. He drank another bottle of water. Stopped to piss. Took in his surroundings. No sign of another werewolf. So far. But that faint stink. And the warning of his body that said he wasn’t alone.
His night vision had improved as he walked, but he’d be in a cave in moments. He’d need a flash. He would need to keep one eye closed to preserve his night sight. No way was he going to risk needing a flash for the walk back. Not with werewolves.
The aftereffects of the gun battle with the furry batshit-crazy weres coursed through him. He stopped and breathed through it. Maybe five seconds. The big battle was ahead.Waterfall, poison, hole, bones, ax, and a chain. It may all kill me.He laughed silently. Jane sometimes complained that her life was weird. She had no idea.
He moved the last steps to the pond. The waterfall was noisy enough that his hearing was impacted. There could be a werewolf at the top of the falls and he’d never know. He cursed to himself and repositioned his weapons. Again. Shotgun at the ready. Tactical flash off but ready. Breathed in and out five hard breaths.
Stepped out. Toward the falls. He caught a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. He swung the shotgun toward it. Knowing it was already too late.
Liz
