Blind Salvage (17 page)

“Pamela and Liam,” I said, tearing my eyes from the scene.

I sensed more than saw the approval in the other ogres. But none of that mattered, not at that moment.

We ran through the empty stone hallways without a problem; no one had been expecting us this time around. The exit we needed was open and we piled through into the dusty old mine shaft that was buried in the badlands of North Dakota. The ogres lit the torches, and I paused to get my bearings.

Sla spoke softly. “This is the home of Seps. I can smell her, but it is faint, from many years ago.”

“Great, you can visit another time,” I snapped. With the light held high, Liam led the way, and I let him. Eve’s threads were unraveling, weaker by the minute. Once I got to her, how was I going to help her? I had no ability to heal. Milly did, Terese did … .

“Here, the climbing gear is still set up.” Liam handed the rope to Sla. “You go up first, make sure the area is clear.”

Sla nodded, taking direction from Liam far easier than I would have thought. Then again, Liam wasn’t asking.

The grey ogre climbed the rope quickly and, within minutes, was at the top. “All clear, wolf, send Rylee up first.”

I grabbed the rope and Sla hauled me up. If I’d thought his ascent was fast, it was nothing compared to mine.

Thirty seconds, tops, and I climbed out of the mine shaft. Stumbling, I gained my feet and lifted my head. Across from me was a white vehicle that, with a gut-wrenching lurch, I recognized.

It was one of Milly’s vehicles. An SUV that she’d gotten after her last beau dumped her. I jerked a sword from my back and Tracked the witch. Remarkably, I couldn’t feel her at all, which meant she was across the ocean somewhere. The last thing I needed was for Milly to show back up again, proclaiming she was here to help. Scratch that; I’d suffer through it if she would heal Eve.

Liam was the next one up and he drew me toward the car. “This is how Milly brought me across to London. I was pretty sure her car would still be here.”

He jerked the door open and felt above the driver’s side visor. A set of keys fell down into his hand, which he then tossed to me.

“You drive, me and Calliope can ride in the back.”

It was then that I realized Liam was running things because I wasn’t holding it together. The thought of losing Eve, or Pamela, or both, had turned me inside out.

I clenched the keys in my right hand. No, I wouldn’t fall apart, that wasn’t doing Eve or Pamela any good.

“Liam, give Dox directions to the farmhouse.” They put their heads together; Liam was worried. About me.

Pull it the fuck together, Rylee.

One of the triplets set Calliope into the back as I slid into the driver’s seat. Liam got in behind her. “Let’s go.”

Eve slipped further and I threw the car into reverse, peeling out backward, and then slamming it into drive at the same time I pushed the pedal to the floor.

“Rylee, we’ll get there.”

I knew he was trying to soothe me, to keep me calm.

“You can’t feel her inside your head. We’re losing her.” And that was the crux of it; Eve was slipping too fast—unless Terese was there, waiting for us, there was no way we’d save the Harpy.

Eve was going to die and it was going to be on my head. This was my fault for sending children into battle, for asking children to protect each other.

The SUV powered over the ruts and bumps in the road, and then we were on the interstate. I pushed the SUV as hard as I could, weaving in and out of traffic with a cold precision that I clung too.

We were on the road to the farmhouse when it happened.

Eve’s life blinked out. There was no pain, no fear; she was just gone.

This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I sucked in a sharp breath and clenched my teeth tight.

Eve, how could Eve be gone?

“Rylee.” Liam reached forward, cupping the back of my neck with his hand. He knew, even though he wasn’t in my head, he knew.

Spinning the wheel hard, I cranked the SUV onto the driveway, jerking the emergency brake up, which brought the back end drifting to a stop. I leapt out and ran for the barn where I could still sense her. What was left of her.

A howl erupted out of the barn, Alex’s mournful cry burrowing into my heart. I wasn’t the only one losing someone they cared about. Alex’s howls broke through the thin grasp of control I still had; his pain on top of my own was too much. Tears streaked my face as I ran. She was so young, too young to be gone already.

I burst through the barn doors and Alex spun, a snarl on his lips, the fur standing up all over him, teeth snapping at me. “No more hurts Evie!”

Then he saw me, really saw me, and his snarl faded into a set of trembling lips. “Rylee, Evie … .”

Behind him, Eve lay in a slump, her tawny feathers covered in blood, her wings twisted at angles that shouldn’t have been. I fell to my knees, reached out and touched her back. Still warm, but I knew she was gone.

Eve was gone.

H
ead bowed, I
didn’t hear Liam bring Calliope in. The filly stumbled up against me, her broken leg healing, but still not strong enough to support her well.

You grieve for your Evening Star as if she were your own.

I reached up and touched the filly’s nose, my voice cracking on the words. “She is a part of my family.”

Calliope said nothing else, just leaned forward, and touched Eve with her muzzle.

My father believes that she will help the other Harpies remember the bonds they once had with us.

“Why then would he let them do this?” I swiped my tears away, angry that I’d let them out, angrier that the Tamoskin Crush would break their word.

This is not my crush’s doing. This is something else. But I think I can help.

I frowned up at her, but it was Liam who caught my eye.

“Peter S. Beagle.” He mouthed to me. And I frowned harder. Then I caught it, but damn, how could I have been so stupid?

Calliope leaned forward, pressing her nubbin of a horn into Eve’s side. A soft shimmer of golden light spread from the young unicorn to the Harpy, travelling over Eve’s feathers, lighting each one up before fading into her body.

That is all I can do. She will still need to be healed.

“All you can do?” I whispered, and then jumped as Eve let out a groan and took a deep breath. Calliope had brought her back to life. Her threads were suddenly there again, and I could grab them. She was alive. But not for long if we didn’t get her healed.

“Liam, stay with Eve!”

I leapt to my feet and ran to the house. Terese, we had to get Terese here.

The back door was locked and I kicked it open, the glass panel shattering. Alex was on my heels howling. “Evie, Evie, Evie!”

“Alex, shut up and watch for the glass!”

“Okie dokie.”

I grabbed the phone, my hands shaking. We weren’t going to lose her. Terese would get here in time. The leader of the local coven picked up on the first ring. I didn’t give her a chance to speak.

“I need you at the farmhouse to heal someone who is going to die without you.”

“Rylee?”

“Yes, now hurry your witchy ass up.”

Alex bounced at my side whispering, “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”

“I’m coming, it’ll take me at least a half hour.”

It would have to do. I slammed the phone down, grabbed some towels from the bathroom, and then ran back out the door. “Alex, get some blankets!”

“Going!”

Back in the barn, Liam had set Eve’s head up on a bale of hay. “She’s in and out, but hanging on. The worst injury is there.” He pointed under her left wing at the gaping wound. Blood and bone, torn muscle and the flutter of something moving inside that I suspected was her heart. Whoever did this was going to be wishing their mother never whored herself out to their father. Because I was going to fucking slaughter them. Slowly, and with great amounts of creativity and pain.

I folded the towels and pressed them against the open wound. Eve let out a groan, her eyelids fluttering. “I tried to stop them, there were too many of them.”

“Shhh. Just hold still. Terese is coming and she’ll patch you up,” I said, hoping that Terese would get here in time.

Alex came barreling in, two blankets streaming out behind him like capes. Liam took them and laid them across Eve. Calliope curled up next to Eve, laying her head against the Harpy’s side, mortal enemies no more. Alex shuffled next to me and then wrapped his arms around Eve.

“Evie hang on.”

Liam cleared his throat, and I looked up to see the moisture in his eyes. “She’ll make it. I’ll go wait for Terese.”

Seeing Eve lay out like that … he hadn’t realized how much he had grown to care about Rylee’s ‘crew’, as he called them, until that moment. When he’d thought they’d lost Eve.

Not since he’d had to bury his parents had grief swamped him like that. The bracing cold air outside the barn helped clear his head. What could have taken Eve out? What had the strength to kill a Harpy without leaving any evidence behind?

Had the unicorns gotten fed up with waiting? Somehow, even knowing as little as he did, he doubted it. Something else then. Milly? No, this wasn’t her style, too messy.

He paced the barnyard, then paused, lifted his head to the air, and took a deep breath. The scents were jumbled. Alex and Rylee came through loud and clear, a whisper of Eve, Calliope and then another scent. One he recognized all too well.

Faris, the motherfucker; he’d been here.

There would be no respite this time; he’d seen it in Rylee’s eyes. It was one thing to hurt her, one thing to take a child she didn’t know, but to hurt one of her own?

Liam had a feeling that Faris was about to meet a side of Rylee he’d not yet encountered. A side that Liam had seen glimmers of over the years, but that she’d never fully unleashed.

The squeak of tires on the hard packed snow brought his head up. Terese pulled into the farmyard in a small red truck. He waved at her and she ran toward him.

“Who is it, who’s hurt?”

He didn’t answer, just led her to the barn. Gods, let her have made it in time.

Terese stepped into the barn followed by Liam. A fierce look settled on his face, reminding me of his Agent days when he thought he’d caught me in a lie. There was only one thing I could think of that would leave him looking like he was ready to interrogate someone at the end of a hot poker.

He’d figured out who’d done this, or at least, he thought he did. I didn’t ask him, though; right now, there were more pressing matters. I’d kill who I needed to kill soon enough.

“Terese.” I pointed at Eve.

The witch stopped. “Are you serious? You called me out in the dead of night to help a
Harpy?
”

I fought not to reach over and smack her for her assumption Eve wasn’t worthy of healing. Pissing Terese off wouldn’t help anyone. “They took Pamela, the young witch I told you about. We need to help Eve and then we can figure out who has Pam.”

That seemed to get through to her. “They took … .” Her eyes widened and she dropped to her knees next to Calliope. Startled, she stared at the filly for a full ten seconds.

“Terese, we are running out of time.” Eve was slipping again, and I didn’t want to take anymore time than we had to.

“Right.” She leaned forward and put her hands on Eve, words breathed out past her lips as she wound the spell over Eve’s body.

The Harpy let out a low, pain-filled moan, her body jerking as it knit back together.

“Hang on, Eve, I know it’s bad. But it’ll ease,” I said, but I kept my hands to myself. No need to have my Immunity interfere with the healing.

Eve shifted, clacked her beak, and Alex started to jump up and down. “Evie!”

Evie, indeed. Her threads were running strong, if fatigued. She rolled to her feet, and I pointed at Calliope.

“Watch out, your savior is rather tiny.”

Eve ducked her head down. “Little foal, you brought me back. I am forever in your debt.”

Calliope bobbed her head once. But stayed where she was.

Terese bent to her. “Since I’m already here.” She laid her hands on the foal, and the broken leg knit in a matter of seconds.

The filly scrambled to her feet, startling us all as she reared back, front legs flashing in the air. I Tracked her, felt the joy running through her.

Two Salvages now, one for Calliope and one for Eve. One more to go. One that I couldn’t feel.

A fucking blind salvage. Why, oh why did Doran have to be right about this?

Terese stood, dark circles under her eyes. “I hope you have no more injuries because I am done. I do not have the power you are used to seeing in Milly. Most witches are lucky to perform one spell a day, never mind curatives of this level.” She waved her hand at Eve. The Harpy bowed her head. “Thank you, Terese. I am, it seems, in your debt as well.”

Calliope stomped her foot into the straw, then flicked her head to the doorway. Standing there was her father, the leader of the Tamoskin Crush. The filly ran to her father, butting her head against his shoulder.

Tracker, you have brought her home. You have our undying loyalty.

At that moment, I didn’t give a shit about his loyalty. “Where were you when Eve was attacked?” I snarled, pissed off that they would just allow this to happen, to just stand back and watch Eve get gutted.

They came on suddenly, and we ran them off, but it was too late. We grieved the Harpy’s loss. How is it she is yet alive?
He tipped his head to one side, then flicked his nose toward Eve.

“Your daughter saved her.”

Calliope saved … the Evening Star?

I nodded, the anger flowing out of me. “Yeah. She’s going to be something when she grows up. They both are.”

He bobbed his head once.
A new generation, a new understanding. So it begins; Tracker, you are the catalyst we have waited for.

With no more words, he backed away from the door. Calliope reared up, tossing her head, her thin-spiked mane waving, and struck her front feet into the air.

“Stay away from Rocs!” I called after her as she bolted, bucking and leaping after her father into the night.

I turned to Eve. “There is no time to waste, Eve, who did this?”

“There were two groups; they hit us at the same time.” She ruffled her wings and settled away from the blood that had pooled in the middle of the barn. “First was Faris. But we didn’t think he was going to be trouble. He asked only that we take a message for you, and he took Pamela into the house to write it down.”

I Tracked Faris as Eve spoke, while my anger rose into a white heat that would put the lava we’d dodged to shame. He was on the other side of the veil, which wasn’t terribly surprising. But Pamela wasn’t with him. With her, there was still a large, blank nothing. Not even that shimmering sensation of knowing she was alive, but not being able to pinpoint her, that came with someone being across the veil. With her, there was nothing. She wasn’t with him. She was across some large body of water.

Eve continued. “The second group was like vampires, but not. I know that doesn’t make sense but—”

Liam lifted his hand. “Shadows, the servants of the vampire. They have abilities, but not quite at the level of their masters if they are like the ones we tangled with in Venice.”

“They came with weapons, in the dark. I did not hear them, and they did this while I slept.” She hung her head. “I was caught unawares. I am sorry, Rylee.”

“This is not your fault, Eve.” I put a hand to her side, just grateful she was alive.

The barn door creaked open and Dox stepped in. Alex waved at him, his claw-tipped paw flopping bonelessly.

“Hiya, Dox!”

“Hi, Alex.” He stepped into the barn. “The others are checking the perimeter. Is Eve … ?”

“I am well.” Eve fluffed her wings once, settling deeper into the hay.

Everyone looked to me, even Liam. I was going to have to make the call.

And again, I was going to have to leave Eve behind. Logically, I knew that the chances of another attack on her were slim to none. But I didn’t like it. And there wasn’t time for any other preparations.