Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (32 page)

“Doesn’t make sense,” Vivian said. 
“With this much trouble here why would the wolves divide their strength by sending a team out to mess with us?”

“Enough wolves can pull down a much larger creature, especially using pack magic,” Charlie said.  “The bear would have seen the wolves leaving and chosen to attack when defenses were lowest.”

I nodded.  “So, in more ways than one, by attacking me, they brought death to dinner.”

“You look pissed,” Vivian said.  “Doesn’t removing the wolves from the whole situation simplify things?”

I crossed over to her, taking point as we entered the oaks, passing an outcropping of granite.  “Yeah, but I wanted to do the killing, especially since this is probably going to be blamed on me anyway.”

Charlie’s creaky voice came from behind me, to my left.  “If you take out the bear and she’s blamed for this, you become a hero.  If you are blamed for this, and take out the bear, you are a useful threat and too strong for others to go against. You can name the new Master of the City and no one will oppose you, openly.”

Good point.  I’d still have to locate the dream stone I’d been paid to find, but the rest of this mission would fall in place. 

We stopped in a clearing where several wolves had been torn apart.  Vivian studied the remains with cold detachment.  Joshua sniffed around, paying as much attention to the tracks as the body parts.  He froze, head lifted toward the bone pit over the next hill where the new Alpha had been chosen.  We hurried on.  I think we all sensed that the remaining wolves and their shaman would make a last stand here—on sacred ground, a place where pack magic and ritual would be strongest. 

I was suddenly very curious to see what lay over the rise.

We reached the top and paused, staring down.  There weren’t any places in the hollow to hide.  Three wolves had been torn into very small parts.  The blood smell was fresh, heavy, and metallic.  I started down and my shield remained off.  The threat was gone, leaving death behind and a strange piece of man-shaped sculpture. 

“What the hell is that?” Vivian stared open mouthed at the anatomically incorrect bone man.

It was heavily damaged golem made of bone.  I looked at the ground as I descended.  All the bone slivers once underfoot were gone.  I looked back at the bone man, trying to put myself in the wolf shaman’s place.  “I’m a shaman,” I said.  “My pack is almost dead.  I’ve been run to holy ground and the big bad Spirit Bear monster is coming to eat my liver.  What do I do?”

“Run hella fast,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, but I need to buy time so I’m not chased down before I escape.”  I walked over to a pair of detached human feet.  Bone ankle cuffs held them to the ground.  I looked for other trapped feet and found them, pointing them out.  “The shaman staked out the last of his people as a free meal for the bear, then animated the bone slivers, pulling them together by the power of that sacrifice so he’d have something to fight the bear with.  By now, he’s probably headed out of state.  When the Fenris hears about this cowardice, every wolf in the country will be after him.”

Charlie nodded emphatically.  “Good.  Shaman like him give the rest of us a bad name.”

I walked over to the sculpture.  It stood on one leg, the other shattered at the knee.  The figure was seven feet tall, solid torso, but looking skeletal elsewhere.  Bone man hunched in a frozen crouch, but as I stopped in front of it, it shuddered, lifting its skull.  One hand made a weak grasping gesture.  The sockets of its eyes were filled with a bile green witch-fire that dimmed to shadows, dying out.  The thing became heavily webbed with cracks.  There was a soft, dusty puff, and the thing fell apart as a rain of bone slivers, forming a big pile on the ground.

My phone chimed.  I pulled it out and answered.  “Caine here.”

“It’s Kat.  Five police cruisers just shot by, running fast without lights and sirens.  You’re being set up.”

“Thanks.  Wait there for us.” 

Josh was back to human form, big, blond, and naked.  Vivian was looking, but trying not to be obvious about it.  A cute little blush enlivened her pale face.

“Want me to run interference?  I can tell the cops this is a PRT case, and pull federal jurisdiction.”

“You’re naked,” I pointed out.  “No ID.  No badge.  Highly suspicious.  I don’t think it would work.”

“Let’s just get out of here,” Charlie said.  “We’re well away from the road.  We can just head into the woods and play Indian.”

“Lead on,” I said.

Charlie and Joshua ran up the hill, leaving the basin from the opposite side than the one we came down.  Vivian and I followed, with Osamu staying close behind us, watching our back trail.  Ducking under an oak, we went on past a fang-like rock.  A helicopter shot by overhead.  It hovered over the bowl, getting an eyeful, as we kept to cover, putting distance between us and the massacre.  We were all in good shape, except for Charlie.  The guy was old and used a cane.  He also had a beer belly.  I doubted he ever hit the gym.  Still, he proved a tough old bird as he hobbled on his walking stick.  Maybe the spirits of rocks and trees were lending him strength.

We angled across the wilds toward the gas station.  After several minutes, we reached someone’s backyard at a dead-end rural road.  Ducking past a chicken coop, we excited a hound that strained his chain, barking.  The nearby clapboard house was dark.  Then not so dark as lights came on. 

By then, we were on the road.  I was pretty sure the gas station wasn’t far.  Away from the house, we slowed to a walk, surrounding Josh so that if we were sighted, he’d draw less attention.  I’d have loaned him my longcoat, but then my shoulder holsters and PPKs would stand out.  Big as he was, my coat would have been tight.  Josh could never have managed Vivian’s coat.  Being naked after the action is over is a constant problem for shape shifters.

We cut in behind the gas station as we reached it, creeping around the building.  I stopped at a corner, peering around to see if the coast was clear.  It wasn’t.  A cop car had stopped and an officer with a clipboard was checking IDs, probably asking what the limo was doing there.  With my newly heightened hearing, I heard Kat’s voice quite clearly.  “Yeah, we were lucky to find the station here just as our car started to go out on us.  Soon as this place opens, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

The officer didn’t seem concerned about the red pickup truck.  That was probably due to the magic of the fey healer.  Using her glamour, she appeared to wear a chauffeur’s uniform, the cap on her head set at a jaunty angle.

Behind me, Charlie whispered to Osamu, “She looks better in that outfit than you do.  Careful, she might be after your job.”

“I will not be concerned until I see her pull a demon sword out of her—”

“Shhhhh,” I hissed.

They fell silent.  I returned my attention to the limo.  The radio worn by the cop crackled to life.  An urgent voice alerted him to the situation at the wolf compound.  The officer tipped his cap and scurried off to his vehicle.  In moments, he shot off down the road to join the other cops.

We came out of hiding.  Charlie and his fey girlfriend piled into the truck.  He waved from the cab as he wheeled the vehicle around and headed about his business.  From the passenger’s window, the fey threw a kiss at Josh’s naked ass.

Kat glowered at her, shoving Josh into the limo.

Osamu strolled to the driver’s door and got in behind the wheel.

Vivian walked beside me, her shoulder brushing mine, her arms crossed under her breasts.  “What now?”

I shrugged.  “Bear’s just become a priority.  It’s got to die.”

“No argument from me, though,” she dipped into the limo, “I could use a little sleep first.”

I went in behind her, collapsing on the leather seat, pulling the door shut behind me.  Kat had Josh by the bar and had taken out a handful of bar napkins.  They were unfolded and placed over his private parts.  Josh looked more embarrassed by this than he had by actual nakedness.  Vivian stared. 

Kat glared.  “What?”

“I thought shape shifters were fine with bare skin,” Vivian said.

“She’s pregnant,” I said.  “She has hormones going off.  She doesn’t have to be rational.”

Kat shifted her glower to me.  “Don’t you ever get tired of being an ass?”

I leaned toward her, putting forearms on my knees.  “Honestly, no.  Toss me a beer, would you?”

She grabbed a bottle and lobbed it in my general direction.

I snatched it out of the air as the limo pulled away, heading back to Sacramento.

My phone chimed.  I answered.  “Yeah?”

“Report.”  It was Old Man, wanting a progress report.

“The green flame assassin and her bear have wiped the wolves out, but it’s no loss.  They were dealing with outsiders, making cozy with vamps, feeding street people to them.  These wolves were never going to come around.  On the plus side, I can use the threat of the Spirit Bear to scare the other factions into making peace and backing my candidate for Master of the City.”

“Not going to be me,” Josh said.

We’ll see. 
I looked at the napkins in his lap. 
Obviously, you’ll do whatever Kat tells you.  I’ve just got to make it her idea.