Bobcat: Tales of the Were (Redstone Clan) (20 page)

“Let Jezza go,” Bob said, buying time.

At the sound of his name, the jaguar roused, his head lolling toward Bob and his eyes opening a fraction. That he was still aware, even after everything that had been done to him both magically and mundanely, was really something. The guy must have reserves of strength Bob could only guess at.

“Why the fuck should I listen to you? You’re only hired muscle. Go back and play with yourself like the rest of the assholes back there.” The mage was stupider than he looked. It still hadn’t occurred to him that Bob wasn
’t one of the soldiers from the cavern.

“You’re an idiot,” Bob said finally, halting a few yards from the mage. “Can’t you understand what’s going on? You’re under attack. Those assholes, as you call them, aren’t going to come to your aid. They’re under fire from the guys I came in with. The guys who want you and your kind dead. The guys who fight on the side of the Light.”

The moment he said it, the cross did something it had never done before. It began to glow. A shining, white-gold brilliance that was as pure as anything Bob had ever seen. The mage shielded his eyes and cringed backward as if the light burned. And maybe it did.

Bob could feel the goodness in the light. It was from
the
Light. Purity. Good. The Mother of All by whatever name you called Her. Bob had no fear of Her Light. He embraced the moment, allowing the Light to bathe him in its strength.

He took heart from it and knew he could defeat his enemies, as long as the Light was on his side.

*

Serena felt something change. Something in the air brought the tang of ozone, like after a lightning strike. The fresh scent of rain-soaked earth. All those images came to her as the noise of the firefight in the cavern died down a bit.

And then there were stealthy footsteps coming their way. She sensed Waldo tense on the other side of the wide mouth of the passageway. They had decided to each take one side so that anyone entering would face one or the other of them.

As it turned out, the man who entered was unshaven and unke
mpt. She smelled him coming before she saw him, but he was closer to Waldo’s side of the passageway.

She recognized him. It was the Border Patrol agent. Parker.
Definitely an enemy, slinking away from the cavern where the rest of Joe’s platoon was fighting with the enemy soldiers.

Parker was human and couldn’t see well in the dark. He had a little flashlight lighting the path in front of him, but it wasn’t really adequate. The beam was weak and not large. Parker was the next best thing to blind in the dark tunnel. The predator in her wanted to lick its chops in satisfaction.
This one might be an easy kill.

But it was Waldo’s kill to make. While Serena’s bobcat was comfortable thinking in terms of killing
just about anything, Serena’s human side really wasn’t up to killing a human being. She knew the man was evil and that helped her rationalize the need to neutralize him, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to do it herself. Not like this. Maybe in the heat of battle or in self-defense, but not in this pre-meditated way. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to act this time. Waldo was already sneaking up on their prey. Serena would be there to back him up if things went bad, but she doubted an experienced warrior like Waldo would need her help at all.

The soldier
sprang at the last possible moment, taking Agent Parker by the scruff of the neck and hoisting him over his head, throwing him into the pit with unerring accuracy. Serena didn’t have to help after all. Injured as he was, Waldo had still managed the feat of strength all on his own and it was something she never would forget. The man was a force to be reckoned with.

Agent Parker flew
into the bottomless pit, screaming on his way down. The sound of it was something she would never forget either, but thankfully, the screams faded fast and ended in a final screech of agony as he hit the river of lava far below. Serena shuddered, but at least the evil man had been given a quick, almost merciful, end.

She heard Waldo speaking in low tones to his colleagues
via the little radio in his ear. The battle in the cavern was over, it sounded like, and they were going to send someone back to help him move a little quicker toward the mine entrance where they were regrouping.

“All the enemy
forces we knew about have been accounted for, but keep your eyes open,” Waldo told her in low, urgent tones. “There could be more of them.”

She kept his warning in mind as they met up with Chico, who supported Waldo on the other side while they made their way slowly toward the main group. The rest of the men had split up—half had gone ahead to the mine entrance while the other half waited by the cavern for Waldo and Serena to catch up. They set off quickly once Chico, Waldo and Serena arrived, to regroup with the rest of their unit.

The men all but carried Waldo now that the majority of the enemy forces had been dealt with. Chico had told her what their lieutenant had reported back to them. The only enemy left was a mage and Bob was taking him on by himself. Serena wanted to run at that point, but the rest of the guys had nixed the idea. They took her safety very seriously and though they hastened their steps, they wouldn’t allow her to run ahead.

Serena arrived at the mine entrance in time to see a ball of
visible, evil red fire engulf Bob. Clearly, they were magical flames. She would have cried out, but John took her hand and pulled her back toward the dubious cover of some crates.

“Watch,” John counseled.
“The priest’s talisman protects your mate.”

And sure enough, the cross around Bob’s neck seemed to block and reflect the magical fire, sending it back on its cre
ator. Serena was astounded. She had never seen anything like it before in her life.

The mage seemed enraged and as he took a stumbling step back, toward the mine entrance, Serena caught sight of Jezza, strapped to a bloody chair. He looked half dead and his head lolled to one side. His eyes were cracked open and she met his gaze, knowing somehow that he was looking directly at her. A small smile played over his swollen and bloody features. Her heart went out to him.

Jezza had been so strong. So willing to put himself on the line to help her escape her bad situation. He had taken a lot of risks to help her, and it looked like it had all finally caught up to him. He was in really bad shape, but she vowed then and there, it was time for her to begin repaying the debt she owed him.

She shook off John’s hold, realizing the Alpha decided to let her go. She would’ve had a fight on her hands otherwise, being a lot smaller and less muscular than the big werewolf. But he seemed to understand. He let her go and she felt a calm descend over her being.

She stood from behind the crate and moved into the light. She realized finally that the light was coming from the cross around Bob’s neck and she knew it was there to help them. It was protective and healing. It was goodness itself.

She got her first good look at the man who had been lobbing the fireballs and her breath caught in
recognition. She had seen him before. Many times, in fact. She even knew his name—Victor Ramos. He was one of the drug cartel leaders. The one who had made the bobcat Clan leadership dance to his tune.

Well, no more.

“Imagine that,” she said, drawing Victor’s attention away from Bob. “Ramos is a mage. Who knew?” Serena was secure in the belief that as long as the light stood between her and the mage, his evil could not reach her.

“You’re that bobcat bitch that wouldn’t bend,” Victor said. “Where the fuck did you come from? Where the fuck did all these dickheads come from?”

Serena laughed, understanding finally that Victor wasn’t the all-powerful boogeyman she’d imagined. He was a pitiful creature, too stupid to realize when he’d been defeated.

“We
were sent by the Lady. She sends Her regards.” The mountain rumbled, as if in agreement.

Victor seemed to get angrier.

“You shouldn’t have tried to steal Koma Kulshan’s power.” John’s voice came from Bob’s other side. She peered over and realized the werewolf Alpha was standing with them, against the mage.

“The mountain isn’t alive, you primitive animal,” Victor sneered. “You’re weak, you fucking werewolf asshole.”

His language hadn’t improved since she last saw him. She’d never spoken directly to Victor before, but she had witnessed him talking—cussing every other word—with her adoptive father any number of times.

“And you are mistaken. The mountain lives.” The earth rumbled and shook slightly as if to emphasize John’s words. “And you are the weakling.”

Victor tried to let loose a bolt of concentrated power at them, but the cross reflected it back and in a split second, Bob had transformed into his cougar, and pounced. He took the drug dealer mage to the ground and ripped his throat out with one angry screech.

Serena was trembling with relief, but found her feet and ran to Jezza’s side. He halted her before she could cross the bloody circle, his voice scratchy and raw.

“Don’t touch me, sweetheart. There’s something that has to be done before the spell will be completely broken.”

She waited impatiently but it was John who answered her unspoken question. “We have to feed the mage’s body to the fires of Koma Kulshan. Only then will his magic disperse completely and let our friend go.

The cougar looked up, but kept his unsheathed claws on the still body of the mage. He was dead, but the magic was still strong—probably linked to the volcano somehow. The earth still trembled.

“Blood and magic tie us both to the mountain now,” Jezza clarified. Throw him to the flames and let the mountain have him. It might stop it from erupting
, and release me. Or it could take me with him. Either way, it will end this. Thank you for coming to get me.” Jezza’s smile was sad.

“I’ll see that it’s done,” John said, nodding solemnly to Jezza before turning to walk toward the mage and the cougar that guarded his body. The cougar transformed into Bob and she smiled at him before turning back to Jezza.

“I’ll stay with you. John and my mate will send the body into the volcano’s fire.” She turned back to talk to Bob. “The bottomless pit is filling with lava. Take the body there and throw him in.”

Bob was covered in blood, but the cross still shone silver against his bronzed skin. It had protected him and she prayed it would continue to do so. Bob smiled at her and she read something in his gaze that hadn’t been there before this mission. In addition to the caring and love, there was also pride. Pride in her.

He was beginning to see her as an equal and she was starting to feel the same way. It was a novel idea to the bobcat that had been beaten so far down that she didn’t think she’d ever feel comfortable in her own skin again. Not only had Bob helped her reclaim her
self
, but he’d encouraged her to grow into a woman who could face down a mage at her mate’s side. A woman who would be his equal and his helper. A woman he—and she—could be proud of.

*

Bob and John bore witness as the mage Serena had called Victor was consumed by lava. He burst into flames and then was gone. What was even more interesting to Bob was the release of golden-hued magic that snaked its way back up the bottomless pit and made its way through the passageways of the mine. Bob followed its progress as he loped back toward the mine entrance, John at his side.

Sure enough, the magical energy went back to its source. It filled Jezza, lifting him from the chair and breaking the circle of blood that was dried in a flash of heat from the mountain and then turned to dust—absorbed into the dirt of the floor. All that remained of that evil ring was a slight furrow in the ground.

The bindings that had lashed Jezza to the chair were also turned to ash—as was the chair itself. It left only Jezza, standing on shaky legs for a harsh moment when the golden light infused his body, giving him the momentary strength to stand.

And then it faded and he slumped toward the floor. John
moved to catch him even as Serena reached out to help steady him. Bob came up behind her, supporting her. His woman was proving to be a force of nature. A creature to be reckoned with. An amazing lady with hidden depths.

He looked forward to discovering every hidden facet of her personality over the years to come. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect mate and he was so damn proud of her for sticking this out and regaining the strength she should have had all along.

“You’re amazing, Serena,” he couldn’t help saying.

She turned and smiled at him briefly. He knew he was a mess. He probably still had Victor’s blood all over himself, but there wasn’t time to clean up. Not yet.

Joe ran over to them, a frown etched into the grooves on his face.

“Something’s going on farther up the mountain,” he reported, even as the earth began to shake again.

This wasn’t over.

“The bobcat Alpha and his council went up there with the other mage,” Jezza gasped, his strength at its lowest ebb. John was basically holding him up, his arm around Jezza’s shoulders.

“Another mage?” Seren
a asked, her head whirling. She had thought they were done, but now they weren’t? And there was another threat? She cursed under her breath.

“There’s a fissure up there that leads right to the caldera. Best place to try to tap into the volcano,” Jezza coughed, clearly in bad shape but willing to fight to get his message out.

“They’re really trying it? To seize the power of a volcano?” Joe asked, his brows drawn down in concern.

“They really are,” Jezza confirmed. “Thanks for freeing me, but the job isn’t over yet. You have to stop them.”

“But none of us have magic. How do we stop a mage?” Joe asked, still frowning.

One of Jezza’s eyebrows rose and Serena could see the humor in his eyes. “How did you stop Victor?”

“More luck than wisdom,” Bob admitted, also frowning. “I can see the magic, thanks to this talisman, and it seems to protect me, but…” he trailed off and Serena knew he was concerned about trying his luck against a mage for a second time.

“Well, somebody’s got to face her. I tried but there were too many pawns in play.” Jezza’s eyes burned with anger at his own failure. Serena knew it was going to take a
long time before a man like Jezza forgave himself for not being able to stop the bad guys from winning—even temporarily.

“We’re here for you now, brother,” Joe said in a strong, reassuring voice. “I’m only sorry we didn’t know what you were up against sooner.”

“You said somebody’s got to face
her
?” Bob asked, picking up on something Serena had noticed as well. “The second mage is female?”

Jezza looked straight at Serena and she felt a frisson of premonition. She almost knew what he was going to say before the words came out of his mouth.

“You’re not going to believe it. Hell, I didn’t see it until she turned on me. I always knew she was a witch, but I didn’t think it was literal. Somewhere back in her ancestry—and not too far back, I imagine—there had to be a mage.” Jezza was sort of rambling as his eyes started to close, his blood loss catching up with him.

“Who? John asked. “Who is the second mage?”

But Serena didn’t need him to say the name. She already knew.

“Lizzy. The woman who went o
ut of her way to adopt me when she realized I was being raised by a human foster family. Lizzy is the mage. She’s pulling the strings.” Serena felt the knowledge click into place inside her mind. Somehow, she’d always known what Lizzy was capable of, but hadn’t wanted to admit it.

Lizzy had played her role to the hilt, allowing Jack to take the lead. Lizzy outwardly gave every impression of being a good little bobcat wife, following everything the Alpha and her mate told her to do to the letter. In reality, Serena now realized, it was Lizzy who’d been giving the orders all along.

And finally, Serena knew what she had to do. If there was going to be any peace in her future, she had to confront her past.

“Lizzy came to the Cascade Clan from somewhere back east,” Serena said, thinking back. “They were always vague on the details. Jack was from here
. Old Jerimiah was his uncle.”

“She’s a follower of the
Venifucus
and the main driver behind this entire operation,” Jezza revealed. “She intends to use the power of the volcano to weaken the barrier between the worlds and pull Elspeth back into the mortal realm. And damn me, but she’s really close to achieving her goal. I could feel the veil weakening when Victor had my power connected to the volcano. The mountain is resisting, but it needs a being with free will to direct its energy. I tried, failed and was captured. But one of you might succeed where I couldn’t do it alone.”

“I can speak to Koma Kulshan,” the werewolf Alpha said with startling conviction. “If you
can get me close enough and distract the mage, I can try to connect with the mountain.”

Serena and Bob stared at John. She was wondering if he could back up his brave words, but he seemed confident and assured.

“Well, then.” Bob’s voice brightened with purpose. “Looks like we have the seeds of a plan. I’ll go in first and work on distracting Lizzy while you do your thing with the volcano.”

“And I’ll try to free the Alpha and his council,” Serena piped up. “They might have done evil things, but they don’t deserve to die for Lizzy’s insanity. All the Clan wanted was to make money. I can’t believe any of them would buy into a
Venifucus
plot to bring about the end of the world as we know it. They were stupid and greedy, not evil.”

“I don’t think—” Bob began, but she cut him off gently, stepping close and looking deep into his eyes.

“I have to do this so we can have a future together—free of my past,” she told him. His gaze narrowed and she could see that he wanted to come up with some plausible argument against her going into danger yet again, but he finally gave up. Bob reached down and kissed her once, lightly.

“I don’t have to like putting you in the line of fire, kitten,” he whispered.

“I know,” she whispered back. “But thank you for letting me be who I want to become. I know it’s hard for you, but I also know it’s necessary.” She felt that truth down to the soles of her feet.

“I’m sending our medic and Chico down the mountain with Jezza and Waldo,” Joe added in a firm voice. “The rest of my guys and I will help up top in any way we can.”

The mountain rumbled and a few rocks fell inside the old mine. It was clearly time to get this show on the road. They headed toward the exit, helping Jezza as they met with the small cluster of Joe’s men who waited just outside the mine entrance.

“Serena,” Jezza’s voice made her pause
as Joe handed him off to another soldier. “Jack is up there too. You should know…” his voice was getting weaker as his wounds began to catch up with him. “Most of the Clan has been in thrall. Under a spell. If Lizzy dies, it might free them. Tread lightly. I think none of them have been in control of their own destiny for years. They might not even realize what they’ve been doing all this time.”

It was good to have Jezza confirm her thoughts. She nodded. “Thank you for helping me get out when you did, Jezza. You’ll never know how much it meant.” She had to say something, in case she never saw the jaguar shifter again.

“I know, sweetheart. I saw…” his voice trailed off as he turned away. The medic was treating him right then and there, not waiting for them to get to safety before staunching the continued flow of his blood.

Serena met the gaze of the medic, who up ‘til now had been just another one of the soldiers. She didn’t know his name, but she could easily interpret his expression. Jezza was in bad shape.

“We’ll be here on the slope for a little while, ma’am,” the medic said as he continued working. “No sense moving him farther until we have him stabilized a bit. The guys will help and we’ll take good care of him.”

Serena saw how Waldo and Chico were already assisting, one holding equipment ready and the other cleaning off wounds on other parts of the
jaguar shifter’s body. Jezza was in good hands and as safe as they could make him for the moment. Of course, nobody would be safe until Lizzy was stopped.

Serena nodded her thanks and turned toward the slope of the mountain. Far above, they could see a glowing fissure in the rock that had been hidden until now. There was a dirt path that snaked along the outside of the mountain, leading right up to where they needed to go.
She walked up to Bob and looked around, noting that Joe and the remainder of his men were already fanning out, heading up the mountain by various paths.

“Shall we?”

Bob and Serena took the trail up to the fissure in the rock. It was the easiest path, even if it wasn’t the most direct.
The werewolf Alpha, John, was their silent shadow, following close behind.

“I don’t see any magic along here, but I expect there’ll be quite a bit once we hit the fissure up there. Don’t take any chances,” Bob advised as they jogged up the path.

The mountain began to rumble again and the light coming from the crack near the top of the mountain intensified.

“I bet the
area geologists are going nuts right about now,” Serena observed as they made their way ever closer. “They have instrumentation buried all around here to read and record seismic events. The mountain hasn’t been this active in hundreds of years.” She knew the history of the area, as most residents did.

The air grew hotter as they ascended and the light coming from the fissure seemed to grow from red to orange. The mountain shook a few times while they were climbing and Bob reached out to steady her.

“You don’t have to do this, Serena.” She knew he was pleading with her for his own peace of mind, but she also knew she had to confront Lizzy once and for all. This was Serena’s time to make a firm break with her past and the opportunity might never come again—especially if they didn’t manage to stop Lizzy’s insane plans.

“Sorry, but I do. You’ll see. Let’s just get up there.
I don’t think we have a lot of time left.” She didn’t have words to explain the compulsion driving her now, but she knew she had to go up, into the glowing fissure.

Bob looked up and then back at her as something within the mountain roared. “I think you’re right.”

They didn’t waste more time on words, heading straight for the fissure that was only a few yards away. Bob paused when they drew even with Joe, who was hiding in the shadow of a boulder off to one side of the entrance.

“There aren’t any magical traps here,” Bob reported somewhat tersely. “But I can see into the fissure a bit and the pathway into the mountain is marked with the remnants of glyphs. Most of them have shaken loose already and the glow of the string of symbols is fading. Follow where I walk and you should be okay.”

He took Serena’s hand and led her inside. John and Joe followed in their footsteps and she thought maybe a few of Joe’s guys followed, but she didn’t look back to see. Her full attention was on the wide crack in the mountain that went up more than sixty feet to form a high, narrow passageway that wound deep into the heart of the mountain. The heat intensified as they went deeper, but it was still manageable. At least for now.

Bob paused as they came to what appeared to be the final turning in the passage. Peering cautiously around the bend, she could see the bobcat Clan council lined up in a horseshoe configuration facing the center of the volcano, their backs to the passage she was in.
There was a wide ledge at the end of the passage that overlooked a vast caldera far below. Swirling and bubbling lava filled the pit and seemed to grow angrier by the minute. At the center of the horseshoe of men was Lizzy, her hands stretched out toward the swirling pit below, in which red lava flowed lazily, bubbling occasionally as it became more active. The heat was nearly unbearable and the smell of sulfur almost choked her.

Lizzy ha
d stirred the mountain to life so that the red crust of lava far below was turning to orange at a rapid pace. Things were—quite literally—heating up.

On closer inspection, Serena saw that the horseshoe formation was becoming ragged and Lizzy looked awful. Maybe when they severed Jezza’s power from Vincent’s spell, it had taken its toll up here on Lizzy. Serena could only hope that had been the case.

There were six bobcat elders in the horseshoe, the Alpha and Jack among them. Lizzy stood facing the caldera of the volcano and even Serena could see the air shimmering with power as whatever Lizzy was doing managed to weaken the veil between realms.

Bob stepped out of cover first. Serena was right behind him, as was John. Joe stayed hidden for the moment, keeping his forces in reserve.

“I really don’t think you should be doing that,” Serena called in as loud a voice as she could muster in order to be heard over the roaring of the mountain.

Lizzy turned around, startled, and her gaze fell on Serena. “You!”

Oh yeah, Lizzy was pissed. Too bad. So was Serena.

“Yeah, I’m home. Did you miss me?” Serena couldn’t help the sarcasm but she almost regretted her rash response when Lizzy lobbed a magical fireball in her direction.

She was at Bob’s side, so instead of being burned to cinders, the power rebounded back toward Lizzy, reflected from that handy cross around his neck. When this was all over, Serena was going to hunt down that old priest and give him a big hug and kiss on the cheek. That old man’s kindness had saved them over and over this night.

Lizzy screamed in frustration and a little pain when her own fireball pushed her toward the edge of the pit. She scrambled for footing, finally righting herself, but whatever spell she’d been working on to make the air shimmer and wave had been interrupted. It hung in the air, but grew no stronger while Lizzy was otherwise engaged. Good. Now they just had to end her to make it all go away.

Easier said than done.

“You bring me a wolf pup and a…” Lizzy sneered at Bob
, sniffing loudly. “Some kind of big cat, is it? With a magic trinket. You can’t stop me!” she screamed. “Nobody can stop me.” She turned back toward the pit and raised her hands once more.
Dammit.