Jade (19 page)

I smelled James leading his crew upstairs. I now knew that was where they were holding Sarah and Chris. Rolfe was ahead of me, near the back of the building on the first floor, a dining hall, I could tell by the smell. Bullets were flying at us almost immediately, three guards were behind the reception desk with automatic weapons. I felt three of my group fall, silver rounds, I knew. I took a hit in the gut on the lower left side, a serious hit, but I didn’t slow down. About half of my group had shifted already into huge wolves as we swarmed over the guards ripping them to pieces and heading down the hallway towards the dining hall, I had only four shifters still with me at this point, most had been injured or killed along the way.

Two guards stepped out of the door to the dining hall, firing with machine pistols, running through their entire clip in moments.
It was like shooting ducks,
I thought.

The hallway was a shooting gallery—something we could not know ahead of time. I was hit probably eight times but I kept going, ripping through and killing the two guards in process of changing clips, bursting through the door, I fell to the floor. I could not move my legs any longer, I must have taken a hit to my spine. I was full of silver, I knew, and I was close to dying, only making it this far through sheer speed and determination. I didn’t feel a thing, still crawling towards Rolfe, they had him chained to one of the dining chairs, in the middle of the hall. All the tables and chairs had been stacked along the walls, the Mayor, my Captain and one guard with an assault weapon were all that were left. I had come so close.

Large windows surrounded three sides of the dining hall, it had been located at the very rear of the building. Through the window I saw Jane drop to the ground from the second floor, Sarah draped over her shoulder, followed by the Queen’s blade, carrying Chris. They had succeeded, I knew. I could sense that both Sarah and Chris were still alive and healthy. I don’t know how the Queen’s Blade had made it upstairs so quickly to help, the man was unbelievable.

Rolfe’s condition was not good. The Captain was still holding the handgun he had shot him with at least five or six times, hollow point silver, to the chest and gut. He had done it to torture him as some sort of punishment, I knew. For being something that they were not. He was full of silver and he was dying as well. Many aspects of Death were out and about, including his primary aspect. I knew he was interested in me, not knowing what I was but sensing something very strange and unusual. I had kept our split from him; he thought he had always been primary. He would want to talk with me when he collected my soul.

When I had fallen, I had my hand stretched out towards Rolfe. He had looked up at me, too hurt to talk, but knowing I had come for him. He was now unconscious and was fading fast. The Angel of Death was in the room, waiting as I had waited many times before.

“Smith,” the Mayor said. “So glad you could join us. I promised that you would burn in Hell and now I get to keep that promise.” He nodded to the guard, who shot out one of the big windows leading to the outside, I could hear a helicopter landing just forty yards away from the building. The Mayor and Captain climbed through the window and the guard turned over a huge barrel of gasoline in the corner, following them outside, but not before throwing the match.

I smiled, my beast was not afraid of a little fire, she loved it and reveled in it. I had modeled my beast after an extinct creature created in Faerie, escaping to the human world through portals they had opened themselves with their own natural magics, eventually being hunted down and killed by a fae army that went after them, they were judged too dangerous to live.

I shifted, growing taller and larger than the room itself, snatching up Rolfe with my front hand, talons fitting around him easily. Twenty tons of scale-covered fire-breathing dragon emerged from the roof of the second floor, pieces of building shedding around me like tissue paper. I had Rolfe safely underneath me so he would not be hurt. I swiveled my head, seeing the Mayor, Captain and guard had turned around in shock. They had made it halfway to the chopper. Shrugging the rest of the building off me I spread my wings and with a great snap that could probably be heard a mile away, flapped them one time, taking a little hop in the air, landing with my back feet on top of the ones trying to escape me. I felt their bones snapping very briefly and their blood and innards oozing out between my toes. I screamed in triumph, sending a stream of fire to the chopper and it burst into flame.

Squashed like a bug,
I thought as I took to the air, seeing Jane had turned around at the edge of the woods, her eyes full of wonder. She would recognize me in any of my forms, I knew it in my gut.

I headed towards Butler cabin, and Emily, she would be Rolfe’s only chance of living, he was too far gone to shift and only an Alpha’s Alpha could force a change in another Alpha. I could sense the Angel of Death following me, close behind.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jane must have called them,
I thought as I landed behind the cabin, laying Rolfe down on one of the picnic tables the shifters had set up for outdoor eating.

Emily was the first one there, her mother Lily close behind, followed by Markus and Hans. I shifted back to my natural shifter shape, all my original coloring and appearance back, the only difference was that the dragon tattoo on my upper left arm had returned. I was naked, but Lily had grabbed one of James’ bathrobes, a white terry cloth one, on the way out the door. I knew I had Jane to thank for alerting them I was coming and what my beast was otherwise they would have probably run for cover.

Rolfe was still chained to the chair as I had picked him up chair, chains and all. Emily was on him in a flash, ripping the chains apart as if they were made of yarn and tossing the chair to the side. I could still feel Rolfe fighting but he was fading fast. The man will not give up, I knew, I kept that thought in mind as Markus handed me my dagger he had kept safe for me. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, tears running down from my eyes, placing the dagger in the voluminous pocket of James’ bathrobe. There was nothing I could do to help Rolfe, it was all up to Emily, my Alpha magic was simply not as strong as hers and if I tried to help, I would just distract her.

Even as she fought, forcing her Alpha magic into him, commanding him to shift, I felt his heart stop beating and the Angel of Death was upon us preparing to collect his soul from his body.

No longer hanging back, he had become more comfortable in my presence, still not knowing what or who I was but realizing that I was not a threat to him. I was about to change that notion. No way was I letting Rolfe go without a fight. Rolfe had stood with those kids, I recalled, facing down impossible odds, and he and the kids had survived to live another day. Even with his heart stopped, I still did not hear his soul screaming for release. Even dead, he was a fighter.

In the language of angels I spoke Death’s true name, forcing him to manifest in mortal form. When angels manifest, it is generally to fight with another angel, for Death, it had happened before when another angel had contested with him over a soul. For that time they are mortal, still the most powerful creature in God’s creation, but still capable of killing and of dying. Death had never been defeated in such a contest.

Wrapped in a black cloak, seven feet of sinewy muscle and bone, and carrying his trademark scythe, he appeared in front of me. He looked dangerous of course, he was Death, after all. I stood between him and Rolfe. Emily was not giving up, sparing us only a glance, continuing to give it everything she had even though she knew as did I that his heart had stopped beating. She gave him a mighty thump to the chest and leaned her face close to his, whispering something even I could not hear as I spoke again in the language of angels. “You shall not have him,” I said.

Lily, Hans, and Markus had backed off a few paces. When a mortal sees Death, they instinctively know who he is, it is built into their very souls.

“Little one,” he replied, in English. “Are you seriously contesting with me over this mortal’s soul? Are you going to take that belt off your bathrobe and whip me with it?” he continued, sounding amused. I knew what he was feeling, I had been there and done that. This was interesting to him but he was not in the least bit afraid of me, but he was prepared to have it play out, the business of being the Angel of Death was boring, to say the least. Something like this was a welcome change for him, I knew.

The Scythe of Death was well known and had been used countless times by Death on countless occasions to reap the souls of mortals. The Scythe of Life on the other hand, had only been used a few times since the beginning of creation. It had been used at God’s command, given to one of his archangels, to transport a mortal directly to heaven, body and soul together, before they had died. Manifested, it would be just as an effective weapon as Death’s Scythe, a magical blade capable of killing any mortal creature, including an angel that had manifested.

I said its true name and with every ounce of my power willed it to me and it appeared in my right hand. We were both now armed with magical scythes. I smiled at him showing my fangs, letting him know he was going to be in for a fight.

I struck in a blur, using every bit of my strength and speed and almost caught him off guard. I had picked the best qualities of various supes in the mortal world but even combined it was not good enough. God had made angels to be superior to other creatures and even with everything I had, he was just stronger and faster than me. Fighting with a scythe is like fighting with a quarterstaff, only with a long dangerous blade at the end. The staff of the scythe, although it appeared as made of wood was also magical and could not be cut by another blade, even a magical one. The staff part was used for defense, as well as offense and I had given him a good thump on the elbow when I had surprised him in my initial attack. He had since almost sliced my head off, it was only a matter of luck that I had leaned back just in time, instead only taking a slice to my left cheek. It was a wound that would not heal as I had healed other wounds, I knew. It would heal as a human would and I would surely have a scar there if I managed to survive this.

We must have been a sight to see as we danced across the yard, exchanging blows. The seven foot Angel of Death dressed in black robes with a black scythe fighting a little shifter mortal girl dressed in a white terry cloth bathrobe that was dragging the ground.

I had one chance and one chance only. Angels can’t cheat, it is simply not part of their nature. I was not now an angel, however. He swung his scythe and I met it but instead of resisting and countering I let it easily knock my scythe to the ground without any resistance and he stumbled just for a fraction of a second and I was on his back, the dagger of darkness I had in the pocket of the bathrobe at his throat, the light of heaven shining forth, letting him know he was in mortal danger of being killed.

He had stopped, frozen, the tip of my dagger had drawn a small drop of blood. “You cheated!, he exclaimed.

“Mortal girl,” I answered.

There was a sound of ripping, of bones growing and knitting together and Rolfe fully shifted, lowered himself off the table, towering over us both, making Death look a bit small and puny. Rolfe was almost a force of nature himself, I knew. He was holding Emily’s hand and they took a step towards us.

“Is this guy bothering you, Smith?” Rolfe said.

“No,” I replied, untangling myself from Death and placing the dagger of darkness back in my pocket.

Death looked at Rolfe in wonder, not challenging, he would not take a soul from a living body. “He lives,” he said. “Thank you for stopping me,” he added. “How in the world did she bring him back to life?” he continued.

“Who knows,” I answered. “I am not God.”

You could see the pieces of the puzzle beginning to fit together for him as he looked at me and smiled.

“Are you sure this guy is not bothering you?” Rolfe asked again.

“No, Rolfe,” I replied. “He’s family.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I sat on top of the picnic table watching Emily lead Rolfe around. He had shifted again now back to his human shape and Emily had taken him inside and found some sweats he could wear. I missed his bear shape and that deep gravelly bear voice of his. It was really cool, not many shifters have a beast shape they can actually talk in, usually it was growls and howls. Death had departed, taking both scythes, I still had my dagger. He had indicated that he wanted to talk to me and didn’t want to wait around for me to die in order to do it. I had told him that I would be in touch and explained how I would do it. We parted on good terms.

Hans and Markus sat on either side of me, also watching Emily and Rolfe. They were now a bonded pair. She had gone deep to bring him back and I don’t know what she had whispered to him but it must have gotten his attention. For shifters, despite the huge age difference, this was a natural course of things and a bonded pair of shifters is pretty easy to spot. It was like their Pack magic had blended together as one, if you looked at them and tried to sense the shifter magic, you could not tell them apart.

James had called, he had made it out okay and only lost a few of his group. They had managed to pull out a few of the wounded from my group from the front part of the building before the Feds had arrived to take over the crime scene. They hadn’t been able to sense any more living in the back of the building, the four that had followed me into that hallway of death had not survived. Lily was watching the interviews and the news inside the cabin, she told me the back part of the admin building was caved in, the rubble from when I had broken through the roof must have snuffed out most of the fire as she said there were just a few wisps of smoke rising up from that side. Our group of shifters had done what we set out to do, but at great cost, and many families would be grieving right now.