“No. I do not share my—”
The earth erupted around FireWind’s feet and before he could move, roots and vines had climbed to his knees, over and beneath his jeans. He didn’t twitch except to say, very softly and very…politely, “Ingram?”
“You left the machete in the car, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Don’t fight it. The more you fight it, the worse it gets. And it will take your blood if you don’t give it.” I let a faint smile cross my face. “It grows thorns four inches long.”
I heard a folding knife open and felt the drops of blood hit the snow-covered earth. They splattered into the Green Knight’s hand and trickled over his gauntlet. To the Green Knight, I thought,This is my superior, a skinwalker. He has hunted on my land in cat shape. You know him. He means me no danger. He’s welcome on my land. Have others of my family, in the form of devil dogs, crossed my land?
I saw a vision of dogs racing past. One vampire followed. The thought came,Not yours.
I jerked at the words. The knight didn’t talk to me.
The vision changed and I saw vines and roots and thorns trap and pull the vampire beneath the ground.Not yours,he repeated.
He meantNot Yummy. He showed me an image of a vampire, male, naked, pierced by thorns all over, trapping him with a long thorn through his belly like a stake. Inigo was asleep,buried in the land not far from me. Sam and my half brothers would be very unhappy that two dogs and a vampire had gotten so close to the church in the night.
How had a vampire gotten so far up my road?
The Green Knight showed me the vampire getting out of a car on the Vaughn property and walking-popping after the devil dogs. He had been moving so fast that the vines hadn’t been able to trap him until he stopped.
Between my knees, the earth moved. I opened my eyes to see all the gold that had been on Inigo’s person. Six rings and two solid gold chains with crosses on them had erupted out of the ground. There was also a terminated quartz crystal on a gold chain. At this rate I’d be rich. I closed my eyes.
Where did the dogs go?I thought at the knight.
Here.
I saw a vision of the Nicholson house. Under the foundation, curled up next to the entrance to the root cellar, were two dogs. They were shivering and afraid. The way a tree feels when fire, or a farmer, is near.
How did they get through your branches?I thought at him.
I saw an image of dogs growing hands. Bleeding on the tree. Offering a sacrifice. With the hands they went high, into the limbs. The vampire had been less…wise.
Okay. Yes. They are mine, as is the skinwalker.
He thought at me, something that might have beenMate?
No! A…political alliance. Does the skinwalker in human form have safety to cross the land?
He nodded once.
The vines and roots withdrew from FireWind and the boss-boss got back in the car really fast. I said, “The tree accepted your sacrifice and it won’t eat you now.”
To the tree, I thought,I have given the shape-shifter in human form a sharp instrument to carve a way through to the land where you were…I searched for the right word and there wasn’t one.Where you were born. After we are there and safe, I will ask you to please seal the breach behind us. Will you do this small request?
He nodded.
I almost said thank you, but stopped in time. To some paranormal creatures of myth and legend, the phrasethank youmeant a gift given and a gift owed. I didn’t want to owe the tree anything.
You are gracious.I opened my eyes and was pleased to see a single root pull away from each hand. Nothing had penetrated my flesh. I made fists. The roots under my skin were again more prominent, contracting and relaxing with the motion of tendons and muscles before they settled deeper into my flesh. Dang tree had—what?—put a communication device into me?
At the thought, the vines in my flesh and the rooty place in my belly quivered as if an ax had struck home.Holy moly.
However. This was something I would have to deal with, emotionally at least, another time. I wasn’t sure I could deal with it on a power-struggle level ever.
I opened my eyes and tapped my mic. “FireWind and I have acquired the trail of twogwyllgiand one vampire at the hard north boundary of my land, where it meets the church boundary. I recommend all the big-cats shift form and head to the church as humans, in your cars. The tree feels—” I stopped. Hungry? Territorial? Possessive? I settled on: “Difficult.”
