Black Dog (28 page)

Alejandro glanced at Thaddeus again, this time perceiving the knowledge of defeat that dragged the black dog down more heavily than the chains. So, Ezekiel was right.
Bueno
. Alejandro faced forward again and tried to relax.

They turned north from Brighton and reached Lewis at only a little past seven in the morning, exactly as Ezekiel had predicted. It should have been light by then, but the sun rose late in this frozen country, even if it had not been hidden behind a thick overcast.

Ezekiel grunted suddenly, lifting his head. Alejandro felt it a heartbeat later: a sharp astringent hum in the air, with a low undertone that buzzed in the back of the skull. Though one could not exactly hear it because it was not exactly sound. Nor feel it, as it was not
exactly
painful.

“Natividad's been busy,” Ezekiel said, sounding surprised and pleased and worried and angry all at the same time. “What was Grayson thinking, bringing her out this far from Dimilioc? Asking her to draw a circle around a whole town. At her age! If Vonhausel…” He stopped short, shrugging, and glanced back at Thaddeus. “Keep an eye on him,” he told Alejandro. “We may need to go around. That'd be a problem, in this weather.”

Alejandro nodded, understanding. Natividad had never done a circle so big, but if Grayson had asked her to do it, of course she would try. And she would do it right; that wasn't a surprise at all. That was why he and Ezekiel could pass through it: Natividad's circle wouldn't be meant to keep either of them out. But Thaddeus might be exactly the kind of black dog it
was
meant to stop.

Thaddeus certainly felt the circle. His head was up, his lips drawn back in a grimace that was half a snarl. His wife put a hand on his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder, cradling her son with her other arm. Alejandro could see the tension run out of Thaddeus like anger, or strength. The boy stirred but did not wake.

“I think it will be alright,” Alejandro said to Ezekiel. “DeAnn is protecting them.”

“Just watch him,” Ezekiel said shortly. “Watch them all.” He eased the SUV forward.

Whatever Natividad had done, they felt the pressure of it all the way through Lewis. Then they drove out of it, with a sharp little “
pop!
”
like going up too fast in a plane. Ezekiel only shook his head like a man shaking away a cobweb he had walked through, but Thaddeus shuddered all over and leaned his cheek against the top of his wife's head.

The road was rougher and narrower once they were through the town. Alejandro found that he could not reliably make out the edges of the road, could barely see the black trees that lined the way, could not begin to guess whether the darkness under those trees was thick with black dogs just waiting for their chance to run out, batter the SUV off the road, tip it over, haul them out to their deaths… His shadow pressed him, wanting to rise. Alejandro would not give way to it, but he wished they were already back at Dimilioc.

“Huh,” said Ezekiel.

Alejandro glanced at the
verdugo
, waiting to see if he would explain his surprise.

“The road's clear.”

It was not clear. There was a lot of snow on the road. But then Alejandro blinked, realizing what Ezekiel meant. He could see, now the
verdugo
had pointed it out, how the snow blew sideways off the road, piling up instead under the trees. Away from the road, the snow was much deeper, maybe chest high in places.

“Your sister is truly gifted,” Ezekiel said. He sounded pleased about it. He sounded
possessive
. Alejandro set his jaw against showing a sudden blaze of angry resentment. Ezekiel cast him an amused glance and drove a little faster.

 

Ezekiel had not called ahead, but nevertheless the Dimilioc wolves were waiting, gathered in a tight-knit group on the front porch, just as they had been when Alejandro and Miguel and Natividad had arrived. Neither Miguel nor Natividad were among them. Alejandro wanted to see the twins,
para
asegurarse de estaban bien
. But it was good they were not here, at this moment when violence burned in the air like fire.

Grayson Lanning stood at the front, autocratic and immovable. Harrison Lanning stood to his left side, aloof; Zachariah Korte to his right, disdainful and curious. Benedict Mallory and Ethan Lanning leaned side by side against the snow-covered railing. A little to Alejandro's surprise, Keziah stood behind and to one side of the Master, hip cocked and arms crossed and black, black hair pouring like a waterfall to her hips, looking scornful and superior and elegant. Even Amira was there, though she had tucked herself half out of sight behind her sister.

The Dimilioc wolves may have gathered like that when Alejandro and the twins had come here, but that had not been the same. They had been afraid, but they had come into Dimilioc territory
deliberdamente
. They had had a plan, and followed it through the fear and the doubt, and it had worked – at least so far as to bring allies to their side against Vonhausel so they did not face him alone. So, they had been right to come.

It was different for Thaddeus, for his family. The boy was too young to understand what Dimilioc was, but not too young to feel the deadly strength of the black wolves. He clung to his mother, but he did not bury his face against her the way a human child might: he was angry as much as frightened. He might cling, but he was ready to push away, go into the
cambio de cuerpo
,
fight. Even a little puppy like that one
would
fight.

DeAnn held her son tightly. If the child began to change, she would try to stop him. Alejandro could tell by the way she walked a little apart from Thaddeus that she thought there was nothing she could do to protect her husband. She thought Grayson Lanning was going to kill him. Thaddeus thought so, too. That was very obvious. It was almost painful to watch – it was so easy for Alejandro to imagine exactly how the big black dog felt. Alejandro wished, momentarily but strongly, that he had defied Ezekiel just so far as to tell Thaddeus the truth.
Papá
would have told him. But as soon as he thought so, Alejandro was not sure. Maybe Papá, too, would have deferred to the Dimilioc executioner. But probably not out of fear.
He
had not dared, and so now Thaddeus had no hope.

Ezekiel had taken off the steel chains, but not the silver bracelets that mattered so much more. Thaddeus's shadow had been pressed flat by the bright fire of that silver, but Alejandro could not imagine the black dog trying to fight now, even if he could get rid of the bracelets. The weight of all the powerful Dimilioc shadows filled the air, until it almost surprised Alejandro that the porch was not crushed under the load it had to bear, that the earth itself did not crack open in protest at the burden.

Thaddeus walked forward without lifting his gaze from the snow. A few feet from the steps that led up to the porch, he went down, not kneeling, but all the way down on his belly, his hands open, his face flat against the snow in absolute submission. Alejandro thought that Thaddeus might not realize that he appeared even bigger stretched out that way, his body dark against the white of the snow. He looked huge. Even bound with silver, his shadow radiated anger and power.

Grayson tilted his head, clearly pleased. Alejandro thought he was pleased by the black dog's obvious strength as well as his surrender, but he was not sure.

“Keep an eye on the woman,” Ezekiel said to Alejandro. He strode past the prone black dog and leaped up to join the other Dimilioc wolves on the porch. He looked very young and slight beside the Lannings, but Harrison and even Grayson shifted aside for him as though he was much bigger than he really was, and Ezekiel accepted the space they yielded as his due. He gave no sign of weariness or injury, but the Dimilioc wolves turned their heads as they caught the scent of blood from the reopened cut. Ezekiel only said, pleasantly, before either of them could speak, “You didn't specifically ask me to bring the pup, but I thought you might like a look at him.”

“That is an unexpected bonus,” Grayson agreed, his deep, gritty voice growling through the winter quiet. “And his existence is instructive.” He added to Thaddeus, “Up. Up, dog. Let us have a look at you.”

Thaddeus pushed himself up to kneeling, the muscles in his arms and shoulders bunching. But he obviously intended no challenge. He kept his head down, glancing covertly up at Grayson the way a weaker black dog would look at a stronger… though one on one, Alejandro was not absolutely certain Grayson would actually prove stronger. But of course that did not matter.

“You'll kill me,” Thaddeus said, speaking straight to Grayson, ignoring all the other Dimilioc wolves. His voice was as deep as the Master's, maybe deeper, rough with black dog anger. “That's alright. That doesn't matter. But don't kill my son. He's DeAnn's son. She's sensible – she's smart. Let the boy alone and she'll do what you want, anything you want. I swear she will.”

He still didn't look at his wife, even when he said this. Alejandro did. He couldn't help it. Natividad hated it when Alejandro spoke for her that way – she usually insisted on speaking for herself. But Thaddeus' wife didn't even change expression. She looked up, though; she looked into Grayson's face, met his eyes. But then, maybe because she still held her black dog son in her arms, she lowered her gaze again immediately.

“Tell me you'll let him live,” Thaddeus said. He looked directly into Grayson's eyes just for an instant. “Just tell me that. Please. Before you kill me, tell me you'll let him alone–” He stopped, with an abruptness that suggested he didn't trust the steadiness of his voice.

Grayson studied him for a long moment. “Unusual, for a black dog to care so much.”

Thaddeus' hands, set on his thighs, closed hard into fists. He said harshly, “What difference does it make to you? But if you want DeAnn for Dimilioc–”

Grayson held up a hand, and Thaddeus halted. The Master said calmly, “I've no intention of harming your son. A black dog's life is hardly secure, but he will come to no harm here from any Dimilioc wolf. Not while he is still a child.” He paused and then asked, his deep voice making the question seem almost a threat, “Do you believe me?”

Thaddeus sat back on his heels. He stared at Grayson for a moment, then looked down again. He started to rub one big hand across his bald head, flinched from the silver band around his wrist and dropped his hand instead to rest again on his thigh. Clearly he did not know whether he believed Grayson or not – and did not know whether he should say that, or not.

“Well?” said the Dimilioc Master.

“I hope it's true,” Thaddeus said. He glanced up. “I don't know why you'd lie. Maybe it's true. If you're lying, I hope you kill me before you do him.”

“Take the silver off him,” Grayson said to Ezekiel. “Let's take a look at him.”

That clearly surprised Thaddeus, who nevertheless held out his hands one after the other so that the Dimilioc
verdugo
could remove the silver bands. He took a deep, shuddering breath when they were gone, some of the tension easing out of his back and shoulders. But then his muscles visibly tightened again as his shadow suddenly expanded, filling out the space around him, so dense it almost seemed it might take on physical form without him.

Alejandro half expected the huge black dog to explode into violence, but Thaddeus only took another breath, shut his eyes, and locked his shadow down tight with pure willpower. He did not otherwise move except to rub each wrist in turn, hard, as though trying to scrub away even the memory of the silver. His wrists showed marks, char-black against the dark brown of his skin, where the metal had burned him even through the leather backing.

DeAnn had given Grayson a sharp look when he'd ordered her husband freed from the silver. She said nothing, but she swung her black pup son down to stand on his feet beside her, though she kept hold of his hand. But the boy tugged, tugged again, black dog instinct driving him down. At last DeAnn let her son kneel, crouching so that she could keep an arm around his shoulders.

“Well?” Grayson said to Thaddeus.

The black dog flicked a glance up, then fixed his gaze firmly on the ground. “You expect a fight? I won't fight.” He glanced up again, not quite as briefly. “You think I want black dog violence here? Now?”

“He's had good control right through,” Ezekiel said casually to Grayson. “Once he got his shadow battened down in the first place. Which was, however, a little difficult. Alejandro was helpful there. It seems he's picked up your special trick.”

The Dimilioc Master turned his powerful stare on Alejandro, who instantly dropped his gaze. It had not occurred to him that Grayson Lanning might not welcome a demonstration of that particular skill from any other black dog. If that had occurred to him at the time… he had no idea what else he might have done besides what he
had
done. He knew he would have lost control of his shadow if he hadn't managed to use it to force the boy's black dog down and back. He did not dare say that. So he said nothing.

Before Grayson could respond to Ezekiel's comment, however, the front door of the house opened and Natividad stepped out onto the porch. All the Dimilioc wolves turned toward her, a powerful reordering of their interest that sent alarm of an entirely different kind down Alejandro's spine. Only Ezekiel kept his attention tightly focused on Thaddeus. The black dog knew it, staying very still under the young
verdugo
's
cool gaze.

Grayson, obviously displeased, began, “Natividad–”