The Curse (25 page)

“… preventing my bounty hunter from performing his duty, which in turn has cost me not just the bounty but a client—”

Tired of Dakkar’s nonstop drivel on how he’d been wronged and was due justice, Macha shifted her simmering anger toward the Slavic god Varpulis, the entity called in as arbitrator over this Tribunal meeting. Varpulis wore only bright yellow shorts and ran in place. Skinny, pale and no muscle.

A god of wind or some such.

She’d had enough. “Dakkar is not a member of the Coalition and, therefore, is owed no compensation for any loss not committed as an act of intentional aggression by a member of my pantheon.”

“I may not be a member, but the Coalition calls upon me when they have a need that requires my resources.” Dakkar paused, his face reflecting undisturbed emotions. He had the chiseled lines, blunt nose and smooth, nut-brown skin of a man born under the rule of Genghis Khan. He’d been addressing Varpulis as if Dakkar actually cared about the Tribunal arbitrator’s opinion in this discussion.

And this certainly ranked no higher than a discussion.

Macha appeared here only out of respect to the other gods and goddesses who supported the Coalition, but she would not tolerate another minute listening to Dakkar’s ridiculous grievances.

As if he really cared about losing a bounty hunter? To Dakkar, that was merely a cost of doing business in his field.

His kohl-black eyes shifted from Varpulis to her. “As I understand it, Goddess, you have filed a charter for Alterants to be accepted as a recognized race … though it appears an unwise move on your part.”

She’d grind the little peon into the dirt. “You are not much of a judge of what is unwise if you dare to criticize any choice I make. If you have nothing new to add, I suggest we dismiss this meeting and stop wasting the time of deities.” She’d come up against this mage more than once over the decades and had no intention of repeating a mistake she’d made the last time they’d met.

Undeterred, Dakkar pressed on. “I don’t repeat what’s known to merely hear myself speak. I bring up the charter you’ve filed for a specific reason. You have offered sanctuary to Alterants. They are not hunted as the dangerous beasts they are known to be, now that you’ve opened the charter, which would indicate a certain level of responsibility.”

Macha answered carefully. “Only for those who come forth and swear their loyalty to me. Make your point while we’re still in this millennium, Dakkar.”

“My point is simple. An eye for an eye.”

He wants Evalle?
“I am not handing over my Alterant.”

Dakkar held his arms out, palms up in a gesture of we’re-at-an-impasse. “You refuse to compensate me. I’m penalized every time one of my people has to enter the southeastern region of North America. I am offered nothing in return. Not even a beast.”

She ignored the poke about Evalle being only a beast, something that could be handed off as easily as cattle. “If Evalle had committed this crime, she would be forfeited, but she did not.”

His body radiated confidence and passivity, but his fingertips straightened, then curved, flexing with contained anger. “Then I want an agreement based upon precedent.”

“Of what nature?” Varpulis asked, not even winded by his running.

“That if one of my bounty hunters
accidentally
kills an Alterant,
any
Alterant, there will be no retaliation and no recompense expected.”

The miserable cur wants blanket amnesty for all of the future, for one killing?

He had to be crazy to think she’d agree to that. “I will not tolerate anyone attacking or killing a being who has been accepted into my pantheon and is under my protection.”

Dakkar’s eyes thinned with impending battle. “I feel the same way about my bounty hunters. I think it only fair that you either finalize the charter and accept responsibility for all the Alterants or withdraw your charter until you are ready to make that commitment.”

“If I withdraw the charter, it will not be due to a bounty hunter’s losing one of his mutts.” Now she understood what this was all about. Dakkar was merely establishing his position in the eyes of the Tribunal, setting the stage for what he really wanted. An Alterant.

Offering him anything else at this point would be a wasted effort, but she would flush him out. “What will compensate you, Dakkar?”

“A decision on this before the next full moon.”

“Done.” Varpulis sped up until he turned into a blur.

Dakkar’s sly smile widened into a predator’s grin.

Macha understood why. He knew she’d have to go against a Tribunal to change that decision. With the Medb threat hanging over her warriors and Brina, this was not the time to start a war on all fronts.

He gambled that he would walk away with an Alterant. And damn his miserable hide, he just might.

Evalle had better come through on her promise to bring in Alterants. And on time.

TWENTY

H
ow could someone so small be so scary?
Evalle followed Kit, the diminutive package of energy who, it appeared, ran Nyght Industries as she’d claimed.

Isak’s mother.

Kit directed Evalle to follow as she headed for a group of men who’d been assembling weapons before the Rías attack. She made short work of dictating who would take what shift to guard the cell containing Jasper.

Evalle recognized some of these men. She’d seen them carrying special weapons on black-ops maneuvers with Isak Nyght when he hunted nonhumans.

Men born with sharp eyes who lived on a diet of adrenaline and grit.

Not a one of them said a word to Kit other than a respectful “Yes, ma’am.”

Oddly, Kit’s high-handedness didn’t put Evalle off the way other people’s had when they’d tried to force her to jump through hoops. Kit gave orders to keep chaos from turning into insanity, not as a power play. Evalle could respect that and go along to get along, for now.

Turning toward the area in the gargantuan warehouse that had been sectioned off into offices, Kit said over her shoulder, “How does my son know you, Evalle?”

“Uh …” What could she say to Isak’s mother without knowing what he’d told Kit? “He didn’t tell you?”

Kit didn’t answer her. She opened the door to the offices and passed through an interim sitting area furnished with blue leather chairs and a sofa. A hallway to more offices spilled off to the left.

Evalle kept step right behind Kit, who finally entered a windowless room painted in soft beige colors. The plain cherrywood desk suited Kit’s bullet-point style. Files and paper sat on one side, neatly organized. A picture of her and Isak was perched on an eye-level shelf of the matching credenza behind the desk. Kit’s all-in-one computer monitor had been mounted on an adjustable metal arm, ready to slide into any position for the woman who clearly demanded respect and compliance even from inanimate objects.

She dropped into a high-back leather office chair that consumed her body, then she pointed at the armchair facing her desk. Not a request. “Don’t answer my questions with a question. How do you know Isak?”

Had there been an
or else
at the end of that?

Evalle saw no way around giving this woman a version of the truth. “I met Isak by accident when we both found a demon at the same time.”

Leaned back with elbows propped on her chair arms, Kit folded her hands together in a thoughtful pose. “What happened?”

“Isak used his blaster and turned the demon into chips.”

“Were you trying to kill the demon, too?”

Tricky question. “I needed intel first. I was questioning the demon to find out who had sent him to Atlanta and how he was involved with a human that had been killed by another demon.”

“You must have seen Isak more than once for him to bring you to the warehouse.” Kit could probably play poker with the pros in Las Vegas. She had an unreadable face.

“We’ve crossed paths a few times.”

That drew an indulgent twist of Kit’s lips. “Isak called to tell me he was bringing a friend here. That’s enough alone to pique my curiosity since Isak hasn’t exactly been social since losing his best friend since high school to an Alterant. Then you show up … and he finds out the truth about you.”

Things had been going pretty good until Kit reminded Evalle of Isak’s loss.

She needed to convince Kit that she presented no threat to humans. “Just so we’re clear, I did not come here to harm anyone or to sabotage your operation.”

“I can accept that.”

That sounded promising. Almost too easy.

Then Kit asked, “What are you to Isak?”

“We’re friends.” Evalle said that before she’d thought about it, but they
were
friends, at least from her point of view. She doubted Isak would agree at the moment. Worse than angry, he’d been disappointed when he found out he’d been associating with an Alterant, as if her being dangerous wasn’t nearly as bad as her lying to him about her identity.

Questions buzzed silently through the room until Kit snagged one from the air. “How long ago did you two meet?”

“Couple months back, not long.” Evalle preferred questions about the demon, the forklift-driver Rías in Kit’s lockup or the weapon Evalle had come here hoping to borrow.

Evalle would disappoint a string of men today. First Isak, now Tzader and Quinn, who had put their faith in her returning with a weapon for the team.

The door between the office and the warehouse opened and closed behind her on a soft hush of air, but she didn’t hear footsteps. No doubt one of the men had stuck his head in, realized Kit had a meeting in progress and withdrew just as quietly.

“What kind of friend of Isak’s are you?” Kit asked with enough steel in her voice that Evalle caught the protective warning.

How do I answer that? I haven’t had so many friends that I’ve had to break them down into categories. I thought you were either a friend or not
.

Evalle gave Kit the best answer she could. “The kind who has eaten dinner with Isak and who told him about how to see the Rías in a dangerous fog that covered parts of the country a few weeks ago. I fought a Rías on my way through Atlanta and was forced to kill it to protect a human, then I ran into Isak and gave him a tip about the fog camouflaging the shifted beasts.”

“Dinner?” Kit mused aloud. “You went on a date with Isak?”

Of course Kit picked up on
that
and not Evalle’s point about helping her son. Evalle had never been on a date and doubted what Isak had done that night qualified as such. “Not exactly.”

“How exactly?”

Evalle wouldn’t win any points with Isak’s mom by saying he’d sent a team to kidnap her, but that’s what had happened.

“We had dinner at the hangar,” Isak said, entering Kit’s office.

Had he been standing in the other room behind Evalle all this time? She angled her head up so she could assess his mood when he stopped next to her chair.

He glanced down at her with ice-blue eyes that could drop the temperature ten degrees before he looked away to address his mother. “She missed a meeting. I sent the men on a ‘snatch and grab.’”

Kit’s poker face fell away with a scowl. “You kidnapped her for dinner?”

Isak moved one stiff shoulder in a half shrug. “I had to interrogate her … it.”

He
what
?
It?
Evalle had originally thought he’d hauled her into his hangar for a browbeating, but that had been before he’d acted like the perfect gentleman and served her a mouthwatering Italian dinner
he’d
prepared.

Then he’d kissed her.

She turned all the way to face him. “
Interrogation?
Really? That’s not how I remember it, Isak.”

“I’m not speaking to you,
Alterant
.” He crossed his arms, eyes staring straight ahead, refusing to look at her.

“Well, I’m talking to you, buster.” Evalle stood up with her hands balled at her sides and stepped in front of him, turning her back on Kit.

That should have forced Isak to face her, but he stared over her shoulder.

She would not tolerate his attitude. “Okay, the secret is out. I
am
an Alterant and there’s no twelve-step program to cure it. But I’ve also put my life on the line many times to protect humans. You can be mad at me for not telling you the truth, but you can
not
stand there and judge me for things I haven’t done.”

His jaw muscle clenched, but he made no sign of listening to her.

She wanted to pound on his chest to make him see her again like he had before. As a woman. But he only saw a beast, so she stuck to facts. “I’m sorry you lost your friend to an Alterant, but I didn’t do that.” She nodded when his eyes finally shot to hers. “I can understand how you feel about losing someone who’s important to you. That was one reason I tried to avoid you, but you wouldn’t stay away from me.”

That square jaw of his moved when he ground his teeth. Blue eyes turned thunderstorm gray, but he didn’t say a word.

She unballed her fingers, dragging as much calm from her next breath as she could before she spoke.