Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness) (20 page)

“Yeah, he is.”

It hurt to kill them when they were young. Hurt to see, after all the waiting, the procedures, when in the end they’d failed to control and discipline the beast inside.

All of a sudden Kylian leapt into the air, to land beside the rogue, lightning fast. Taking the head between his hands, he gave it a sharp jerk. There was a popping noise, and the wolf silently slipped to the ground. Broken neck.

I straightened, and tucked Cutter away. Rolling my shoulders to loosen my muscles, I went over to where Kylian was crouching, beside a now human body, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Chastel joined us. “What are the chances that there are two rogues in one city?”

“Scarce.” Kylian pulled out his cell and hit the speed dial button. “Hey grandpa, were there any motions for turning approved for the area of Paris, say in the last couple of weeks?”

He stayed silent for a while, then “Okay, thanks.” He hung up. And didn’t say a thing.

“And? What did he say?” I prompted.

Kylian looked up at me, a little confused, then his lips curved into a little, faint smile. “Right, you can’t listen in. No motions approved. He was turned illegally.”

I closed my eyes. “Poor boy.”

We said prayers, and then disposed of the body.

“I really want to punch somebody. The third hangout isn’t far from here, am I right?” Kylian demanded.

“Err. Yes, why?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

“Let’s check it out.”

I was surprised it was already open. But since it served the same cause as the first club, though in a less brothel kinda way, and given the waxing moon and its extraordinary effect on the shapeshifters, it seemed logical.

The second we stepped over the threshold of the shapeshifter hangout, neon signs started flashing ‘Jackpot, jackpot!’ in my head. A quick gaze into Kylian’s eyes, which had turned ice blue, confirmed my instinct.

The club had the size and the furnishings of a normal Parisian café. A bar to the left and behind it I noticed a winding staircase leading to the basement. Very common in this district, but the ‘private’-sign dangling on a heavy chain blocking the passage made me curious.

“He’s here!” Kylian growled, and lead the way into the club, at the same time loosening the reins he kept on his inner beast. His hands were now crowned by six-inch long, razor sharp claws, instead of harmless fingernails. And, although I couldn’t see his face, I was pretty damn sure he bared a lot of big, pointy teeth. ‘But grandmother...’

Chastel and I took up the rear, ready for battle and weapons drawn, with me holding Cutter in one hand and a silver coated Trident dagger in the other one, and Chastel trusting his crossbow combination weapon.

Kylian came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room, a strategically rather unfitting place to be in an outnumbered fight, but he just didn’t seem to care. Instead, Kylian roared. A loud, inhuman sound, invoking big beasts of prey and bloodshed.

“Give us the rogue! He needs to be punished, according to the second Council law.”

The alpha attitude and sheer dominance radiating off him, made most of the crowd duck their heads. Others obviously weren’t as smart.

A big man came forward. Big was the only word that came to mind while looking at him, since his broad shoulders were as wide as a good-sized closet. “Why? So you can kill him?”

Well, have an educated guess!

“Exactly,” Kylian snarled, with just a little touch of excitement and rapture in his voice.

Now the folks not lusting after a nice spanking hightailed it out of here, leaving the three of us against a group of twenty-five shapeshifters behind. All of them had shifted into a not-quite-human-nor-animal form, just like Kylian. I couldn’t stop wondering about their behavior. Why were they covering for a rogue? Why would they fight for him? It wasn’t as if the laws were new to them.

Chastel and I positioned ourselves in a way so we’d form a triangle with Kylian, each of us covering the others’ back. I covered the left side, Chastel the right one. Adrenaline rushed through my veins and had my every cell buzzing with excitement and readiness.

“Last chance, give us the rogue and we won’t hurt you,” Kylian called out.

Closet-guy just laughed. “Last chance for you, man. Look around you, you’re outnumbered.”

Kylian just grinned. Or at least I thought he was as he displayed his perfectly white and lethal teeth.

Then all hell broke loose; and my universe shrank to claws and teeth trying to tear me to pieces. Two shapeshifters attacked me at once. I trapped the first ones’ claws with my Trident Dagger, and rotated my wrist to swiftly trap his hand. After adding a quick kick into his groin, I turned and shoved Cutter into the soft flesh of the other one’s stomach, as he was about to jump me, leaving himself unprotected.

And so it continued, an exciting and deadly dance. Block, block, strike. Sweat began to bead on my forehead, my muscles becoming pliant. I smiled as my weapons sang for me an harmonic and absolute symphony of death. Block, strike, strike.

More came at me. Most of them now in full animal modus. Wolves, big cats of prey and bears were circling me. Their different heights and angles of attack gave the battle an extra particularity as inattention and in-adaptability would be severely punished.

A bear was suddenly right in front of me, standing on his hind legs he easily reached nine feet. I looked up, up, and grinned at him. The bear frowned, cocking his head to the side. With lightning speed I ducked his mowing front paws the size of a good bass drum and sliced the backs of his knees, or whatever you call that part of human anatomy in a bear. As he toppled down I jumped to the side, thrusting Cutter into an oncoming wolf.

Ice, swiftly followed by white-hot pain burned my shoulders. Ouch, that hurt. One of the shapeshifters was climbing my back. Thanks guys. I didn’t get her off me, so I changed my grip on Cutter and moving it behind me, sank my sword into the leopard’s soft side. With a sharp yelp she let me loose.

I stood, ready for the next attack, but it never came. I gazed over at the staircase leading downstairs. A quick glance at Kylian and Chastel showed they had no struggle controlling the last remaining opponents, so I headed for it. I hopped over the chain, and slowly began my way down the stairs. It was a small and spiral staircase, made out of big and roughly cut stones that were typical for the basements in this area of town and drowned out the grunting and blood splashing noises of the fight upstairs little by little.

As I made the last turn, I could make out the end of the stairs. Darkness flooded the room lying behind. I waited a moment for my eyes to adjust, which generally didn’t take long. Slowly, and above all quietly I slid along the wall, taking the last steps to reach the doorway. Then in a fast and efficient move I checked out both sides, right and left. Clear. I took in the room, searching for exits and hide-outs. Got nothing on the first and a lot on the second.

At least a dozen canopied beds draped with thick, dark-red and black velvet curtains filled out the entire room. That gave the ‘private’ sign upstairs a whole new meaning. I carefully began to check in, under and around every bed, looking for the rogue. I knew he had to be here somewhere, and if that’s the case he’d probably smelled me by now.  Since the rogue was really just a crazy wolf, maybe I could get him to make a mistake. Or at least get some information as to where he was and whether he was in animal or human form.

“Don’t you want to come out and play?”

“I don’t play with food.” There you go. Good boy. Human form.

His deep and rough voice, though, seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the stone walls and getting lost in the labyrinth of velvet. Nevertheless I quietly moved forward, expecting him more in the back of the room.

“Right, you prefer fast food. Like the couple I found you with, remember?”

He chuckled. “Fast food? Yeah, you might be right. They were really just a snack...and then I had a taste of you for dessert. I have to admit you’re quite mouth-watering. In every sense.”

Although his voice was rough and laced with blood craze, it seemed familiar. Which meant it was one of the Parisian pack and probably one of higher rank, explaining why there’d been so many upstairs and ready to fight to protect this particular wolf.

“Want another bite? I’ll be delighted to give you your worst stomach ache. And more.”

He chuckled again. “Always the hard-ass Patroness, aren’t you? I will eat you afterwards, ma puce. First, I’ll teach you some manners and take you on your hands and knees, fucking your brains out.”

Ugh, the second best thing for a rogue after shredding humans? Sex.

“In your dreams.”

“Ah, Maiwenn as I know and hate her. Always a big mouth and nothing in it. You know, they should call you the Virgin of Paris.”

He was to the right, in the back of the room. Two rows of beds were still separating us. I had to find a nice topic so I’d be able to sneak up on him, which wasn’t an easy task. But hopefully he was too distracted and caught up in his fantasies.

“Make up your mind, where do you want me to be? Which position you want me in?”

Treading softly but quickly I made it to the last bed. Slowly, without making any noises I parted the soft curtains and climbed on the bed, behind which the rogue was hiding.

“I’m not stupid. So, though you’re only a human I’ll be damn careful to go anywhere near your sharp mouth.” I parted to curtains slightly to look at him. He was standing with his back to me, to be able to look around the bed, to look for me. He was dark haired and tall but other than that I couldn’t make out a lot more that would have made it possible for me to identify him. He went on, caught in his disgusting fantasy, “Better I have you on your knees, yeah, that’d be good...hands tied up, and behind your back...your face pushed in a pillow...yeah, that’d give it an extra thrill, don’t you-”

Without losing another second I lounged at him from behind the slightly parted curtains. Taking him to the ground, I straddled him, and rammed Cutter into his throat. Not even hesitating a second as I recognized him.

“No thanks, I’d rather be on top.”

Pinned to the ground, all he was able to get out were awful, gurgling sounds. I leapt off him, and cut off his head in one smooth motion. Not even close to satisfied with his too fast death, something he’d withheld from his own victims after all, I made my way back to the staircase. Halfway there, I first heard, then saw Kylian and Chastel rushing in.

“How are you?”  Kylian asked.

“Where is he?” Chastel demanded at the same time.

I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “In the back, to the right. And thanks I’m fine.”

As Chastel followed my directions to check it out, I passed Kylian to sit on one of the steps.

“Jesus, your back is a mess.”

“Some cat confused me with her scratching post.”

“Do you have your first-aid kit with you?”

“Yeah, in here. It should do it,” I answered and patted the bag slung around my waist.

“Okay, then let’s patch you up, first.” I wanted to protest but Kylian was already pulling me to my feet and urging me up the stairs.

The club had seen better days. After the fight it was hard to find a thing not broken. Some bodies were lying on the ground, now completely human and mostly naked, although the three of us had gone for disabling them, not killing.

I unsnapped my hip bag and gave it to Kylian and pulled one of the remaining chairs to me. Turning it I straddled the chair like a horse, this way giving Kylian better access to the wounds on my back. I took off the leather harness and laid it on the floor beside me. It was soon joined by my sword, which I’d forgotten I still held in my hands, and followed by my shirt, or rather the shreds that were left of it, and my bra since one of the straps had been neatly cut in half. I grabbed the black, spare tank top I always kept for emergencies in my bag and covered my front.

Kylian came to stand behind me and carefully began to clean the wounds. His fingertips brushing softly over my abused skin.

“You’re burning up, you sure you’re fine?”

I waved a hand in the air. “Well, I’ll be. It’s just my magic fighting the shapeshifters’.”

“If you say so. Which of these creams should I use, now?”

“Err, the blue tube, would be best.” He did as I’d told him, and began to apply the special ointment on the cuts. Too late I remembered it contained silver. Quickly I jerked away from his hand and stood, turning around to see him. “Putain, I’m sorry, I forgot it had silver in it.”

He followed my gaze and looked at his hands. The fingertips of the right hand were swollen and a bit gray. Kylian’s lips curved as he looked back at me, a little blue showing in the depth of his eyes, making me feel rather naked in spite of the black shirt I was holding to cover me up.

“It’s nothing, will be gone in a minute. Your cuts won’t, so sit down and let me finish.”

Without arguing I sat back down, if only to get away from those mesmerizing eyes.

Chastel chose that moment to come back from the basement. “I took some pictures, just in case and then destroyed the body. Any idea who he was?”