Total eclipse of the moo.., p.22
Total Eclipse of the Moon, page 22
He turned to Madeline. "Do you know how to deal with the disc?"
She shrugged. "I don’t know what it is. It invokes nightmares?"
"Yes."
"Can Baku help you with that? Isn’t he the nightmare eater?"
"He can try. Don't burn yourself up to contain it with magic. Just…don't."
"I won’t," she interrupted. "But if you’re in trouble then all bets are off. If we can’t do this, then you have to let me get you out of there however possible."
The front door was guarded by mercenaries. Some guy in a white robe came through the bunker's front doors. He wore the disc. Although well away from the entrance, they must've triggered some alarm. The enemy knew they were here. So much for the element of surprise.
The disc had been stolen from their depository in England, they suspected by their old handler—the one that tried to kill them. Now Shane wondered if the king had ordered the theft so he could give it to someone associated with FenCor.
Shane had to give the mercenaries standing to either side of the human with the Curmsun disc credit. They were more than merely competent. They carried the best combat guns and they had covered every possible angle of fire for the entrance to the concrete bunker set into the side of a hill and surrounded by forest. They simply hadn’t accounted for one type of predator who might go against humans. Vampire.
Standing on the edge of the parking lot around the compound, hunched behind a line of white industrial vans, Shane whispered, "Antonio, you get the humans."
The vampire smiled. "I’m actually a bit hungry."
Shane frowned. "I thought you didn’t drink from the source."
His humor fell. "You’re right. It’s disgusting to drink direct. The body odor alone from humans is nauseating. Now, a witch…" He eyed Madeline’s neck.
"If your mouth touches my neck I’ll pluck those sharp teeth right out of your mouth," she said.
"I’m kidding." Antonio held up his hands. "Much better to get prepackaged blood. They sell them in interesting flavors for vamps these days. I’m partial to the bourbon-flavored blood, but the Cheetos-flavored one is a new close second for me." He rubbed his stomach.
Shane blinked at him.
Antonio’s stomach growled.
Madeline giggled.
"Cheetos?" Shane shook his head dismissively. He direct-eyed Madeline. "For now, you get to be our sniper. Can you do that? Aim for their legs. Try not to shoot either of us."
She nodded and took a rifle from Evie.
Evie and Dom… Whatever personal battle caused their breakup, it must’ve been epic. Both remained stiff near each other and avoided eye contact.
"We’re going to slip in from the south while you have them distracted," Evie said. In the blink of an eye she, her team of four lycans, and Dom vanished.
The man with the disc stood with his miniature army in front of the only obvious door to the building. The humans around the man empowered by the disc were down in less than a minute. Way to go, Antonio. As expected, two lycans with collars that indicated they were "controlled" emerged from the building’s front door along with ten more humans. The guy with the disc remained standing imperiously, eyes shut as if channeling the invisible force of the disc. Shane sensed its malicious pull tapping at his brain. A countdown clock to losing himself to the fears it induced started.
Shane’s reflexes accelerated as a male lycan approached him, shooting, such that seconds stretched. He dodged projectiles, which to him traveled slowly enough he could see them drifting in the air, an ability he had due to the combination of both his lycan and demon powers. These weren’t normal bullets. He examined a passing shell. It was armor-piercing in a size that wasn’t supposed to exist. He had all the time in the world to move out of the bullets’ way. The collared lycan didn’t pause as it rushed him, shooting wildly. It expected him to dodge but probably figured statistics were on his side for one or two bullets to get him. As he closed in, Shane went to demon mist and emerged on the other side of the lycan.
Sad that he couldn’t save this lycan who had no clue why he attacked, Shane sighed and prepared himself for what had to be done—this warrior’s death. Before the male could draw a weapon other than the now empty rifle, Shane caught his neck and squeezed until he passed out. Not dead but out.
"Kill him" Baku said.
"He doesn’t deserve to die."
"Him not dead is going to bite you in the ass."
Antonio engaged the second collared lycan, a tall lithe man who moved as if decently trained. The vampire disarmed him and fought hand-to-hand, but the vampire’s face twitched. The man with the disc targeted him, hands outstretched and chanting. Not good. Their resistance to the disc’s power was about to end.
Antonio cast a glance toward Shane moments before the vampire ended the lycan. Yeah, it made Shane sad to lose another of his kind, but he supposed there was no choice.
More humans emerged in a steady stream of mercenaries. Three…six…eight. All shooting the same armor-piercing ammunition. All of it an annoying distraction. He dodged but realized one bullet headed toward Madeline. She might not see it. At super speed, as mist, he moved in front of the projectile to ensure it caught him in the left thigh.
Jehoshaphat, that hurt.
Antonio threw a swift left hook, sending the redheaded lycan Shane had chosen to subdue rather than kill into the air. The impact into the side of the building would’ve been enough to pulverize a normal human, but it merely stunned the lycan. The vampire turned to disarm and annihilate the stream of endless humans. He seemed slower as he managed to dispatch one after another. As he reached the last one, he dropped to his knees, holding his head within mere feet of the man with the disc around his neck. Looked like his time clock hit zero. All humans ceased attacking him. They too were dropping to the ground when they got close.
The Curmsun disc holder grinned.
Shane’s fist connected with the face of the redheaded lycan who now charged him. The guy’s metallic collar flashed in the moonlight.
"Told you to kill him," Baku said.
"Shut up".
"I don’t want to kill you," Shane warned.
Baku cautioned, "Little time. One more minute and you’ll lose the ability to mist-form because of this disc’s evil. Kill him."
Shane felt his feral form emerge—longer nails; sharper, longer fangs; more strength. He was starting to lose himself to the rage. To Baku’s influence. But, no. He would not forget who he was. He was still in charge of himself.
A new swarm of humans shooting at random charged. He was too slow. Two bullets hit him before he dodged.
He watched in horror as the lycan he’d been fighting headed toward Madeline’s hiding spot. Shane fought through a new swarm of humans to get to her. The buzzing in his head broke through the barrier and distracted him, slowed him. Another bullet caught him being too slow. He started seeing death visions of Madeline. His worst nightmare. This was the disc’s influence. "It’s not real. Baku, help me."
No answer.
"You’re the nightmare eater. So, eat these nightmares. Or do your nose bleed thing on the humans."
"These aren’t nightmares. They’re your fears. No one can erase your fear, but remember fears aren’t evil. They keep you alive. Tell her to call Aldri before it’s too late."
"Who's that?" Shane yelled the name in her direction. Unsure if she heard, he hoped he conveyed Baku’s message. He prayed Baku hadn’t lied to him. Need to tell her to run…get away.
But no more words would come out. Images filled his brain. He flailed, fighting all who came close to him. Humans around him also fell, which meant the disc holder wasn’t being cautious about who got hurt.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Madeline cursed as she limped on the leg that had been nicked during one of the several bullet showers. She uttered a spell that caused the redheaded lycan lunging for her to fly several hundred yards away when he touched her. She tugged at stray strands of hair that tickled her face to tuck them behind an ear. No time to re-braid her hair.
Call Aldri? That’s what Shane had yelled. Could she summon a dragon? She’d never tried it. This particular dragon was irritable and hated humans, but he had given her a stone once. That had to mean he wouldn’t kill her, but would he hear her call?
She rifled through her backpack while the lycan shook off his surprise. Where was that one dragon stone, the one Aldri gave her? She didn’t carry all of them with her. In fact, she stowed eighty percent of her collection in a secret location in France. But she kept her favorites with her, like the one Aldri gave her, not that she knew if they could do anything other than be pretty. When feeling sad, touching the stones soothed her. Maybe if she found the one from this dragon it might help her focus on him? Maybe with that she could contact him, not that she knew how or had ever tried.
She found the small, green-flecked, smooth brown stone the size of a chestnut that he’d presented to her years ago. Why had she kept it with her? By far, this wasn’t the prettiest of the dragon stones, but it’d been the one she felt most heartfelt when earned. Aldri’s trust hadn’t been easy, but it had been essential before he’d let her help him heal the festering wound on one of his feet.
Cupping the stone she said, "Aldri, I need help. Please, hear me. Please, help."
Nothing happened. The stone didn’t glow or warm or do anything reassuring. It still looked like a boring stone.
The lycan was coming for her again. Guess he’d used all his bullets and extra magazines since he now held a huge knife, the kind used for carving up a carcass. The weapon wasn’t the greatest knife for a fight, but still could be deadly. She slid the stone into her side pocket and palmed her own knife. Years of self-defense classes shuffled into the fore of her mind.
She hated blades. Her skin attested to the times she’d almost lost. Her gut screamed run, but she wouldn’t get far, not with her leg bleeding. Both Antonio and Shane looked to be battling inner and outer demons. Neither of them could help.
She muttered a quick protective spell to cast on them, hoping it’d at least keep them alive long enough.
She was thankful her spell to block out the nightmares from the disc held, but the knife…
Footwork. Survival of a knife fight was in the footwork. And escape. She managed to keep herself outside of kicking range as they circled each other. Light on her feet, she moved fast. Her opponent towered over her by more than a foot. He lunged at her. She felt it—that split second opening and struck, hitting his wrist.
He grunted but emitted an eerie laugh as he lunged, catching her arm with the edge of his knife. She roared in pain. A surge of energy whipped through her. The crystal on its chain around her neck burned. Ducking in expectation of the neck knife swipe, it didn’t come. The lycan sat against one of the vans now many yards away. The car’s passenger window had splintered into a spider web of broken glass where he must’ve landed hard against it. Had she done that?
Please, Aldri. I need help. Hear me.
The stone was now hot in her hand. Was that surge of energy Aldri’s way of helping? She’d take it.
Determination to see his orders through to the end glowed in the redheaded lycan’s gaze as he pushed off the ground to a stand. He held a new knife. She backed up against a van. Nowhere to go.
"Madeline. Center yourself."
"Cora?" she asked out loud. She looked around and gasped when she saw Cora behind her.
"Seems I was right to think you needed me." She pinched her lips together. "I can’t believe that lycan was so irresponsible as to put you in the middle of this shitshow. I brought help." Cora waved behind her to where Roman and Ky stood, evaluating the action.
"You’ve done well kid." Roman squeezed Madeline’s shoulder before he ran into the fray, knocking the lycan that’d been her aggressor in the head. Over his shoulder Roman yelled, "Stay alive. Both of you."
"I thought they were under orders to stay away. Won’t the curse hurt them for being here?" Madeline watched in awe as Roman and Ky plowed through humans on a direct path toward the leader with the disc. Injury didn’t faze them. Shane had been good but these two were bulldozers.
Thank God the boomerang curse had been rescinded yesterday or she'd be catatonic by this point.
"I may have done some curse modifying of my own," Cora said. "Something small to buy them time to do this."
"Won't it hurt you? Zap you of energy?"
"Hon, I'm not silly enough to give up that much energy."
"Can you reverse the big curse without me having to go through with it?"
"No." Cora pulled something out of her jacket and held out a ring. "Time to move up to level three."
"I’m barely to level two. I’m not ready for the Ring of Perpetuity."
"Things are about to get—"
The redheaded lycan who’d attacked her moments ago was up again and headed her way. Persistent guy.
Madeline held up her hand, the ring on her middle finger, and froze the man without uttering a spell. "Kind of in the middle of an important conversation here. You’ll have to wait." Then she realized what she’d done. "Holy cow, that’s cool."
Cora beamed. "Congrats. You’re level three. Remember, with the ring you must be focused."
"Why am I moving up now?"
"Things are about to get much worse. As in, right now. We’re going to need you fully functional because it's going to take two of us to handle this."
"I don’t see Shane." Madeline squinted into the dark, through the people and chaos to find Shane, but couldn’t. Had he been hurt or captured? Where was he?
"Trust his brothers. We have to face…"
The slithery evil of dark magic snaked through Madeline’s shoulders. She whispered, "What is that?"
"Something vile," Cora said.
A slim woman in black meant to blend with the night in calf-high boots walked through the chaos without being affected. The redheaded lycan ducked his head and ran away into the chaos around the man with the Curmsun disc.
"Who’s that?" Madeline whispered.
"Georgiana Sigge. Top level dark one. Half witch."
"She’s a part of all this?" Madeline hurt from too many physical wounds to do a magical battle tonight.
"Must be. Maybe those mental triggers aren’t all a human’s doing but magically implanted instead. I’ll hold her off, but I need you to focus and get that dragon here. He can protect you."
"I’m not sure Aldri will actually show up." Madeline’s stomach squeezed so hard out of fear of letting everyone down that it hurt. "Are you sure you're not tapped out from helping them with their curse?"
"I don’t know." Cora cringed, a facial expression Madeline had never seen.
Dread coiled in her stomach.
"Hello, ladies." Georgiana stopped several feet away. Her shoulder length brown hair and bangs were perfectly groomed with a sheen that made her hair look shellacked into place.
A ring of magical blue fire surrounded all three of them, separating them from the fight.
"Why am I not surprised to see you here, Georgiana?" Cora asked.
Georgiana ignored her. "Are you Madeline?"
"Who exactly are you?" Madeline asked.
A gleeful expression crossed Georgiana’s face. "Perfect. I’ll eliminate you and these three brothers so finally they can stop interrupting my work."
Protective anger fueled Madeline. You will not touch them.
Georgiana snapped her fingers to make the blue flame burn higher. She uttered a spell.
Madeline felt her lungs heaving as if the air disappeared. Without thinking Madeline strode forward and punched Georgiana in the face.
The witch squealed and covered her nose. "What the hell?"
A snort-laugh erupted from Cora that sounded part surprise and part mirth.
Yeah, witches usually tried to keep apart when it came to fighting but Madeline had learned a thing or two on the streets. Seemed more effective to simply make this physical.
The flames fell lower. Madeline tugged in a refreshing breath.
"You’re behind all this? These facilities and the mind control techniques?" Madeline asked. She threw another punch, catching Georgiana in the cheek.
"This isn’t how we do it," Georgiana said as she rubbed her face. "Not how we’re supposed to fight."
"I didn’t know there were rules for beings like you."
A laugh started deep inside Georgiana as she stood upright. "You care too much about those lycans that you screwed over. That’s pitiful. Lycans are the enemy. And, look." She waved toward the fight. The blue flame lowered to improve the visual. "They’re dying, if not already dead. Getting that disc was a brilliant idea on my part."
Shane lay on the ground, not moving.
Madeline lifted the pendant Shane had given her off her neck and held it close to her mouth. "Angel, if you care at all about these lycans you chose, then you—and maybe your friends—better choose now to show up. They’re worthy. All so worthy of life. Look at them fighting to save the world. Please."
"What are you muttering over there?" Georgiana asked.
A blue hue that had nothing to do with the fire lit the night. She could’ve sworn a guy with wild blond hair in a T-shirt and distressed jeans glowed as he moved toward the fight. Madeline couldn’t see what he did as the flame around them went high again. Please let that be the angels coming to help their chosen lycan warriors.
The dragon stone in her front pants pocket burned against her body. That was good, right? She pulled it out and held it against her chest. A sensation of peace filled her. And safety.
A loud trumpet noise battered her eardrums.
Both Georgiana and Cora stared in horror at her. No, they were focused behind her. The noise…she glanced over her shoulder to find the gigantic brown body with green flecks. Aldri. Tension inside her released as tears sprang across her eyelids.
Aldri bellowed again. As he landed, he snatched Georgiana off the ground. The blue flames disappeared. He said, "I destroy all who endanger my healer."
Not that she thought anyone but her understood his guttural language.
