Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) (13 page)

“Are you all set here?” Jake’s voice came to her from above and she looked up to find him nearby. She straightened from her bent position and went over to him.

She walked straight into his arms. It felt so good when his strong arms closed around her. He made her feel safe. He made her feel invincible.

“Are you okay?” He asked in a soft, almost uncertain voice. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze.

“Just a little anxious, I guess,” she admitted.

“It’s okay to be scared,” he offered, his gaze concerned. “Just don’t let it freeze you up. But I don’t have to tell you. You know how to use the adrenaline to your advantage. I’ve seen you do it. You’re strong, Ria. The strongest person I’ve ever known.”

When he said it in that tender tone, she almost believed him. It was good of him to give her a pep talk. She really needed it about now. The stakes had never been so dire. But then again, she’d never had this much help before.

All she knew was that she wanted to stop running. She wanted to take a stand and have this out once and for all with the evil one who had somehow learned her secret. She wanted the
Venifucus
to know that she would not be easy prey. She had teeth of her own and many allies who would fight on her side against them.

“Thanks, Jake.” She reached up and stroked his hair, running her fingers through the short strands. “You’re one in a million, you know that?” She smiled and tugged his head downward, wanting one last kiss before they faced danger together.

He obliged, lowering his head so their lips met in a tender conflagration that spoke of desire, but also of the deep and abiding love they had discovered within their hearts for each other. Her cat wanted to rub up against him reveled in the way he held her. Her human heart ached, wanting this uncertainty over so they could lock themselves away for a honeymoon neither of them would ever forget.

Soon. Everything would be decided soon.

One way or the other.

Everything was in place. Willard Fontanbleau surveyed the preparations of his small army with a gloating sort of glee. The Nyx wouldn’t escape this time. Those who sought to protect her wouldn’t even know what hit them. Between the ground troops—mere cannon fodder as far as Willard was concerned—and the little surprise he had learned from the leviathan, the enemy shifters who peppered the mountain approach to the sacred site on Mount Sterling Ridge, wouldn’t stand a chance.

Willard would only enter the area when a sufficient path had been cleared by the mercenaries he had hired or coerced into working for him. He was certain there were a number of agents among his troopers, spying on his actions for his enemies on the Council, but Willard didn’t mind. He was very much in favor of the philosophy that said
keep your friends close and your enemies closer
.

He kept an elite squad of paid mercenaries—men he had interviewed himself—to be his personal guard. Only after the others had cleared a path, would Willard arrive to confront the Nyx himself. He was the only one who could do it. He was the only one who knew her secret.

The one and only time Willard had ever successfully connected with a soul on the other side of the veil, he had learned the secret of the Nyx. He still wasn’t entirely certain the soul he had communed with had intended to divulge the secret, but it had come out nonetheless. In the ancient one’s worry for the current generation, it had connected with him and communicated more than it should have—or possibly would have—if not for his quick thinking and the spells he had thrown at the being once the first images started to come through to Willard.

He had not heard words. Not the way the Nyx was purported to do. No, he had seen images. He saw an amulet. The being that had connected with him was very worried about the amulet. It took a while before Willard was able to figure out why and exactly who he had connected with that long ago night when magic had been flying thick and heavy on the ground.

It had taken a lot of time to track down the various historical accounts of the Nyx and her powers that had finally convinced him of what he had learned. Nowhere was it written or recorded that the Nyx had any sort of physical object that brought her the power she wielded, but when Willard finally figured out who he had connected with, he realized he could not doubt the source of the image or the powers associated with the amulet he saw.

For he had been in communion with one of the ancient Nyx. Perhaps the first one, herself. He couldn’t be certain which Nyx, exactly. But one of the oldest ones. One of the most powerful—even across the veil. She had eventually broken his spells that tied her to him and allowed him to rummage through her memories. He’d seen a great deal in that short time, however. Enough to send him on the quest of his life. The quest to kill the Nyx and steal her amulet—the source of her power—for his own.

Things were falling into place and the final confrontation would come soon. Willard was in the lower staging area, out of sight of the defenders’ first string of sentries. His military commander had sent out scouts and they had even taken the initiative to capture one of the enemy shifters for interrogation. What they had learned gave Willard pause.

The Nyx had taken a mate. And the new mate was the one who had orchestrated her escape from the last attempt on her life. Apparently this mate had military training and was a force to be reckoned with. Willard didn’t like the sound of that, but he also saw a possible opportunity to exploit.

According to the prisoner, the Nyx’s new mate was human. Willard almost laughed when he heard that part. A woman of such power mating a weak human. Regardless of the man’s military skill, he was still just human. Easily defeated. Humans were only good for slave labor in Willard’s view and they would soon relearn their place when Elspeth came back to power.

For now, it was a simple matter to send out new orders to every man in his small army. Any human found on the mountain was to be captured alive. They could kill all the shifters they wanted—and Willard hoped that number was high—but the humans were to be spared and examined. And when Willard identified the one he wanted, he would use the Nyx’s new mate to bring her to her knees before him.

The order went out and the time came for their assault on the mountain ridge. Willard had timed it so that he should have the Nyx and her all-important amulet, by the time the new moon was at its peak. He would waste no time, using the blood of his enemies and his dying soldiers alike to fuel the spells he would need to bring Elspeth back this very night, if at all possible. At the very least, he would make his first attempt tonight, as soon as possible. The amulet only worked on the new moon, so it would be a month before he could try again if he failed to open the doorway this night. He had to try.

For now though, as he sent his first troops up the mountain, Willard prepared a little magical surprise for the fighters up there on the ridge. He gathered his power and launched a spell directed at the water he could feel flowing up there—a small lake from what he could sense, and a stream that would work very well for his purposes.

And his main purpose this night was terror…and diversion.

Chapter Eleven

When the enemy arrived it wasn’t with fanfare. No, they slithered in, past the outer perimeter, taking some of the foxes down as they went. The rest of the line did their duty, communicating what they could before their positions were overrun, doing their best to herd the enemy into the defenses they had constructed over the past few hours.

Jake did his best to keep up with developments. The battlefield was spread out all over the mountain, but it appeared their plan to direct the flow of enemy forces in one particular pathway was working, for the most part. They’d set up several traps which were being sprung on unwary
Venifucus
foot soldiers.

From initial reports, some were mercenaries. Some were low-level mages with minimal power but a whole lot of attitude and some were humans who had a serious grudge against anything with fur. The human hunters—for that’s what they looked like, geared up like Elmer Fudd in plaid and holding rifles—weren’t really prepared for the onslaught. Many went down under pressure from the defenders and didn’t get back up.

Jake started to feel a little optimistic when he heard splashing from the small lake just south of the stone circle. It wasn’t a good sort of splashing. Jake moved through the trees, only to find Tom Kinkaid down on one knee, bleeding profusely as the biggest, sharpest-toothed river monster he’d ever seen sank his teeth in one more time before Tom got the upper hand and flung it against the rocks.

But there were more of them. Even now, Jake could see the waters around the shoreline where Tom stood, bubbling with an evil red glow that was caused by nothing natural. There was magic at work here. Bad magic, if Jake was any judge. He ran to the shoreline and took Tom’s arm, hauling him backward.

“Let’s get you out of reach of those teeth, buddy.” Tom didn’t resist, but helped as best he could while bleeding all over the rocky soil. Geir showed up at that moment and took charge of Tom.

Jake didn’t waste time. He took aim at the toothy head that popped above the water and fired. As the creature went down, a melee seemed to happen just beneath the surface. The other monster fish were ripping apart the one Jake had shot. He hefted a shotgun the foxes had been nice enough to lend him and started firing into the turbulent waters, unable to really see what he accomplished, though after a few well-placed shots, the activity beneath the dark water seemed to abate somewhat.

He went back to check on Tom. Geir had applied bandages and seemed to have the bleeding slowed, but the selkie was down for the count. His pale skin shone in the darkness as he grabbed Jake’s arm.

“Warn Jacki! Those things are headed her way. Oh, Goddess!” His head fell back as pain seemed to overtake him for a moment. Whether it was just physical pain or the pain of worry for his sister, Jake didn’t know. Probably both.

“On it.” Jake paused to pass the warning over his radio. “Can you still shoot? This area is about to be overrun. Can you handle yourself on land? There’s no way you’re getting back in the water with those things in there.”

“I could use that shotgun if you can spare it,” Tom said, eyeing the long barrel. Jake handed it over without a word. He detached the pouch that held the shells and gave that to Tom also.

“I’ll make sure he’s hidden,” Geir said, though his face was pained. Jake got the impression the tiger-shifter wanted to run to Jacki’s aid, but couldn’t leave Tom to die. And they both knew Jake had to stay mobile.

He was coordinating things because he was the only one who knew what he’d seen in his vision. Any little thing might give them the edge they needed, but Jake wouldn’t recognize it until he saw it unfold. Only then could he act on the warnings of the vision, though he’d made various preparations for the things he could.

Jake grasped Tom’s shoulder, pausing only a moment before he left on the double to help the selkie girl, if he could. If those fish-monster things had taken Tom down, he didn’t have much hope his little sister would fare any better.

Jake followed the line of the stream that flowed northward and around the bottom of the stone circle. Jacki was stationed there, at the point where the stream meandered closest to the circle.

Jake saw Beau first. The angry tiger-shifter had his teeth bared as he used his own shotgun to stave off large numbers of the monsters from the woman who stood in the middle of the stream, her arms raised. She was chanting and whatever she was doing was turning the monsters back into small, harmless fish again—but not fast enough.

Beau was killing all he could, but the monster-fish kept coming. Eventually, there would be too many and then the selkie woman would go down, like her brother had.

And then Jake saw some of the creatures slither out of the stream and head over land toward the stone circle. Apparently there’d been some amphibians and snakes in the lake that had been changed as well. And one spiky armored thing that must’ve been a turtle.

Gunfire was heard all up and down the mountain now as Jake called for reinforcements. Ben and the Rojas brothers showed up with shotguns and even machetes to hack at the slithering things from the other side of the stream. It felt like as soon as they killed one, two more would take its place and they were getting closer and closer to where the selkie woman was standing in the middle of the stream, her arms upraised as she chanted.

Jake didn’t recognize the words or even the language that she spoke, but he felt the power. It was rising like a tide. Something big was coming and she was at the center of it. Her arms reached for the sky and her palms turned toward the oncoming rush of deformed creatures with massive teeth.

Jake kept firing and doing his best to stop any amphibian-type creatures that tried to move onto the land. These things were like something out of a horror movie and they just kept coming. Whatever Jacki Kinkaid was up to, she’d better do it soon because those things were almost to her. If she didn’t release all that power she was building up real soon, it would all be for naught.

And then she did.

She clapped her hands above her head and it was as if lighting had struck the earth and especially the water. Arcing light bolted out from her hands to the creatures in the water only a foot from her, morphing them back into their original forms. Hideous fanged serpents became small harmless tadpoles. River monsters became small fish with no teeth at all and sweet dispositions.

The lightning-like flash swept from creature to creature down the stream and all the way back to the lake, changing everything in its path back to what it had been. Mostly harmless. A snapping turtle lost the spiky armor and pincers and became merely a six-inch long turtle again, snapping at the stick that blocked its path rather than Ari Rojas’s leg, which it had been aiming for before it was changed.

Jake saw Ari reach down and pick up the little creature, placing it gently back on the bank, near the water. With a little shove, the turtle headed back downstream, toward the lake that was its home. The silence in the aftermath of the thunderclap of magical energy was startling, but all too soon, bullets started flying again.

The river monster attack had done its job—distracting Jake from the real ground assault that had made major progress up the mountain while they had been busy fighting off mutant fish. He took one last look around the area. Jacki Kinkaid was down, but the two tigers were protecting her body on the far bank. They’d hidden her in a small thicket of bushes near the bank and one furry tiger was lying in wait near her unconscious body, the other—Beau Champlain—was prowling nearby on two legs, holding an assault rifle. Jacki was about as well-protected as she was going to get on this mountain tonight. She had done an amazing thing in reversing the spell on the lake creatures. She had earned a moment’s rest while she recovered from her magical efforts.

Jake hoped that’s all it was as he turned away to rejoin the battle. He liked Jacki and admired the magic and courage she had just displayed. He’d hate to think it had killed her to help them.

Jake checked in with the different groups only to find that the foxes’ position had been overrun. The enemy ground troops were now within the outer perimeter. Those who remained of the fox scouts were making their way to a rally point to regroup. Some were helping get their injured to safety.

Jake stumbled upon a group of injured and helped get them to the only place that was still safe up here—the stone circle. He saw Ria, still protected within the circle for the moment, but they didn’t have time to talk. He merely handed off the injured and made his way back to the battle, vowing again silently to do all he could to keep the enemy from getting close to her. If they could pick off the ground troops below, maybe they could head off the more desperate parts of his vision.

Then again, after all these years, he knew how his visions worked. Most of the time, even if he did all he could to prevent a bad event from occurring, it still happened. And he had seen some pretty bad things in his most recent vision. Things he couldn’t bring himself to tell Ria. Things that would only worry her needlessly.

If any of those things occurred, he would deal with them. He had prepared as best he could for all the contingencies he had seen, and now only time would tell how it would all work out. He had been forewarned. He hoped he was for-armed enough to deal with it.

Jacki Kinkaid was groggy, but still awake. She had been able to stumble to the far side of the stream with Beau’s help. He had helped her hide in a little nest of bushes, her back against a tree. She had wanted him to stay near, but he had insisted on standing guard outside of her hiding place.

When a shifter in tiger form slunk through an opening in the bushes to join her, at first her heart skipped a beat, thinking Beau had come to her. But it wasn’t Beau. It was the strange tiger. Geir. The sensei. The scary one.

Only he didn’t look quite so scary in his fur. In fact, he looked…majestic. Protective. Sort of amazing. She reached out and he allowed her to stroke her fingers through the fur near his neck.

“Have you come to keep me company?” she asked rhetorically, knowing he couldn’t answer in words. She was well acquainted with the limitations of wearing your fur.

He shifted shape quickly and crouched before her, naked as the day he was born. Shifters were used to nakedness, since almost all had to disrobe before they could become their animal—or else spend a lot of money replacing their wardrobe all the time. Why then was she so affected by Master Geir’s nudity? She found herself looking away, casting shy glances his way and fighting the heat that wanted to stain her cheeks.

Then she remembered. Geir had been with her brother. Shyness was forgotten.

“Where is Tom?” she demanded in a fearful whisper.

“He’s hurt, but still alive. He asked me to check on you before we attempted to regroup. I left him with a very brave circle of snapping turtles around him. They were trying to protect him,” Geir shook his head with a rueful smile. “Darndest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Creatures of the water like us. We protect them when we can,” Jacki replied softly.

“As you say. I’ll get your brother and bring him to you. It is too dangerous for you to try to get to him. The woods are filling fast with enemies. Stay hidden and allow Beau to do his job. I’ll be back shortly with your brother.”

Geir shifted quickly into his tiger shape, pausing briefly in the battle form that was half-human and half-tiger. He was a fearsome creature no matter what his form, she realized as he slunk silently off into the dark woods.

She pretty much held her breath until he was back. She was afraid for him. For Tom. And for Beau. She didn’t want any of the men she felt responsible for in this situation getting hurt. It didn’t matter that they were all highly trained warriors. She felt responsible. It was part of her calling, she supposed.

She thought about ways to keep them all safe in the moments to come. The gunfire was getting closer and she heard things moving not too far away from her hiding spot. The battle would be upon them all soon and she was the next best thing to a burden, now that her task in this battle had been carried out.

She had to think of a way to do one thing more—to keep them safe. If she had the energy left to do anything at all.

Geir slunk into her circle of bushes on two feet, with Tom on his back in a fireman’s hold. Jacki tried not to gasp as she saw the many gashes and cuts on her brother’s body. He was still clothed and many of the ragged bits of his clothing were stained deep red with his blood. He was unconscious when Geir lay him gently at Jacki’s side.

“I’ll stay with you for a few moments more, but then I must go help my students and the queen,” Geir reported, crouching on Tom’s other side, helping to lift his legs and put a pile of fallen branches and leaves beneath them.

He also took off Tom’s gear belt and dug within some of the pouches, extracting medical supplies which Jacki and Geir both put to good use, staunching the flow of blood and holding together the worst of the deep wounds with field sutures and butterfly bandages.

Jacki had heard a lot about Master Geir, but she didn’t really know him. It surprised her that he had come to help her, but she guessed she shouldn’t have been too shocked. The man was the best of the best. He was the one who trained Royal Guards for the
pantera noir
queen.