Darkness Bred (21 page)

Elin jumped up. She lifted her arms and dropped them with a frustrated thump. “Not everyone knows these things just because they’re fae,” she said. “And Sally’s banished, too, remember. She can’t just walk among her own kind. They wouldn’t tell her anything for me, and they wouldn’t tell Sally unless she said who she wanted the information for.”

“Why not for you? You’re harmless enough—I take that back—you seem harmless.”

She looked so startled by the question that Sean took both of her hands in his. Once again he wished Dora weren’t there, but the fae had pulled a chair close and sat down where she could be sure not to miss any of the action.

“Elin,” he said quietly. “What is it?”

“Have you forgotten I’m Deseran,” she said and took a deep breath. “You’re still angry with me for keeping that from you. I can feel it. But honestly, I decided if you thought I was fae and if you fell in love with me, I’d know it wasn’t because I’ve got this universal blood and I might be able to carry your child.”

He breathed deeply through his nose and said, “You lied to me.” He felt more confusion than hurt. “Or you weren’t honest. But neither was I with you.”

“She’s been abandoned once already,” Dora interrupted, with tears in her eyes and voice. “You can’t blame her for being afraid you might not want her for herself.”

“Dora,” Elin said, winding her fingers together. “Sean and I have to talk this through. Sean, I just didn’t tell the truth.”

“What is it when you don’t tell the truth?”

“Doesn’t it depend on the situation?” Elin asked, challenging him. “Like when you fall for someone the instant you set eyes on them and you know you’re probably not at all what they’re looking for.”

“Go on,” he said, feeling just a little bit guilty for wallowing in being loved by the only woman he wanted.

She settled her hands on his shoulders. “You are…incredible. Not just the most gorgeous male imaginable, but you’ve got a good, kind heart. And you’re so smart. For a long time I felt I wasn’t the one you need. You need someone who matches you. A woman who’s all woman. But I am meant for you. I am your match. I make you all you can be just as you make me all I can be.”

“Uh-huh.” He gave Dora a long look and she tiptoed out of the room. They heard the front door close. “We are perfect together, my love. Without you, I’d be lost. You are perfect to me—except for your shaky judgment about some things. You are my forever mate, ma’am, so we’ll just have to work on it.”

“Yep.” Elin made a sad face. “I need work but I’m willing to learn—as long as you take a look at yourself, too.”

He grinned at that. “Could be fun. You’re going to want to spend time here figuring out what it means to be Deseran, aren’t you?”

“I won’t be the only one. I wonder how many of us there are. Sean, you know I’m as involved in what happens on Whidbey as you, don’t you?”

“Yes. But I don’t like it that you have to be.”

“We have to go back and look for whoever does Quitus’s dirty work.”

The front door slammed very loudly and Dora entered after knocking on the sitting room door. For an instant she was silent, then she spread her arms as if she would burst into song. But she didn’t.

“What is it?” Elin said.

“You’ll have to go back to this nasty Whidbey place with him.” She wrinkled her nose at Sean. “Since he’s your mate. But that’s not the only reason. Well, I suppose it is. You can really help him but you’ve got to promise me you’ll come back to me sometimes.”

“I will,” Elin said.

Sean was edgy to get going but Dora came close and looked up, unblinking, into his eyes. “The story they tell about Deseran is false. They were never given up because they were thought to have no useful paranormal skills. They are the most versatile and superhumanly skilled of all. The combination, always of a superior human and a super talent, produces creatures like Elin. They have been abandoned because it was thought best—by some of the old ones who feared them—to try to hide the truth about them. She is more evolved than any I have seen but she has barely begun to develop. When I took her as a baby, it was my intention to bring her to her full capacity. Now that is your responsibility, Sean—or at least to help her when she asks you, but I will share it with you if you want me to.”

“Who are my parents?” Elin asked softly.

Dora sighed. “I expected that. I don’t know. There is always an intermediary who delivers the child and never returns. That’s all I can tell you. You are more fortunate than your friend, Leigh. She lived for some years without knowing she was different from the humans around her. She will need help to realize her potential. Perhaps she will come here with you one day.” She pressed her hands over her ears and her eyes widened. “It’s Sally. Can you hear her, Elin?”

Sean watched his mate with amazement as she nodded. “We have to go now,” she told him. “Right now. Sally’s calling for us.”

“Something terrible has happened,” Dora said. “I think—” She covered her mouth.

Elin said, “She fears for her life. But her voice is garbled now—I can’t make any more of it out.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, murmuring words that sounded senseless, and they spun until the room disappeared, until there was no form around them.

Sean held Elin tightly. They were as good as fused together. He felt their joint power propel them into flight.

S
ean? Sean? Help me.”

It was still dark.

He sprang out of calf-deep snow, onto the porch at Two Chimneys, following Elin into the cottage.

Elin knelt on the floor of the living room, holding Gabriel, rocking him. “This is meant to stop us,” she said, looking up at him. “No one is safe. They want to frighten us into not fighting back.”

“My God.” He dropped down beside her. “They’re not going to win. Sally and Cassie are gone?”

“Where can they be?” Elin massaged a bright red Q on the back of unconscious Gabriel’s neck. “He’s still alive. Do you think this just happened?”

“Maybe not. It could be that it’s taking longer to work because he’s strong,” Sean pointed out. “He’s big and athletic. He’s got more to fight back with than the average woman.”

“We haven’t seen this done to another man,” Elin said. She had torn off her parka and the skirt of her dress clung, sodden, to her legs. “It’s happening. The mark is reacting to my touch. I can’t get away from it now.”

“When you drag off the mark, why doesn’t it hurt you? You’re small and light—you ought to be hurt by the thing. Maybe all the power goes out of it with the first strike.”

Her smile wasn’t what he expected. “Or perhaps it’s because of what I am. I must be immune. Or I hope so. The one on Cassie disappeared once I pulled it off. I hope my luck doesn’t change.” Her smile disappeared. “We can be strong together, can’t we?”

Sean nodded, yes, but he had doubts about fighting the forces of evil they confronted now. With one hand he pulled the quilt from the couch and threw it over Gabriel before going to close the door.

“Elin?” He searched around. “What time is it? What
day
is it? With two of us together we must have at least halved how long it took to get back here.”

“And we were both sure of the way this time,” she said, working on the red Q, starting to lift one side of it from Gabriel’s neck. “We probably made the journey very fast.”

Sean checked his watch. “You left yesterday. I left early last night. It’s three in the morning. We’re in the same twenty-four hours. When I left, Cassie was still in a deep sleep on the couch and Sally was here keeping the fire going.”

“Contact Niles or one of the other hounds,” she said. “Ask if Sally and Cassie are there.”

Niles was already hammering at Sean’s mind, demanding to know where he was. Sean had shut him out until now.
“Are Sally and Cassie down there?”
he said, prepared for Niles’s wrath.

“Where have you been, dammit? I wouldn’t have tried to help you if I’d thought you’d decide this was any time to run off somewhere private with your mate. You know you’re needed here. I need you here while I’m unsure about Leigh. I told you that.”

Sean winced.
“I wish I had been having a cozy time with Elin. Save it, Niles, and answer me. Are Sally and Cassie there?”

“No. Cassie’s brother said she was up at the cottage with Sally and he went up to be with them.”

Where were the clues he needed? “
We’re at the cottage and they aren’t here—none of them. We just arrived and found Gabriel. He’s been hit with that damn Bloodstone. That’s what makes the red Q. I told you about it. Thank God these madmen haven’t got the thing right yet. No…no more explanations now. It’ll take too long.”

Elin tapped his arm. Her eyes were huge and horrified and she made a sign that she wanted to talk privately.

“Stay where you are. All of you. I’ll get back to you.
It’s important for you not to come until I tell you,”
he told Niles and shut down on his alpha. He knew Niles would do as he asked because only a dire crisis would make Sean assume the lead, and he was assuming the Team lead.

“Look,” Elin said, pointing to one of Gabriel’s clenched hands.

“Something he grabbed?” Niles looked closer. “Yellow fibers.”

“Yellow silk fibers. Like the dress Sally was wearing. He must have tried to save her from something.”

“Or to stop her from doing something,” Sean said, looking away from Elin. “Like hitting him with that stone. She was here alone with Cassie—and probably David after he got up here. I know Gabriel wanted to see me and he could have decided I might be here with you. Could be Sally panicked and started taking them out.”

“Killing them? How can you say that? Sally’s my best friend—she’s stuck with me through everything and Tarhazian makes sure she suffers for it. She couldn’t kill anything.”

“Then where is Sally—and the other two? Whoever did this to Gabriel expected him to die before anyone came.”

Rumbling started at the front of the cottage, at the foundation. Elin kept massaging Gabriel’s neck but she reached for Sean and he took her hand.

Neither of them spoke but they both looked around them and the rumbling continued, under the earth, gradually surrounding all of the little building. The lamps rocked. The crystal birds on the bookshelves clinked together. In the kitchen something fell to the floor and broke. The entire cottage shook.

“Is it an earthquake?” Elin asked. “It feels as if it is.”

It wouldn’t be the first Sean had lived through but this was no earthquake. He put a finger to his lips, slid his hand from Elin’s, and bent low to work his way to the front window. He switched off the lights and stood where he could see through the side of the curtain.

And he swore under his breath. “Vampire attack,” he said. “I recognize Colin and his slaves, Fireze and Hubert, but I don’t see any others I know. Brande’s there, and all his pack, including some new candidates. Seven is with them, and Mark—and Booker. I didn’t think he’d recover after the last fight. There are more of them, an army.”

“Is the renegade hound who betrayed all of you there?”

“No. We won’t speak of him.”

Elin shook her head. “What do we do?”

Elin’s calm made him proud. “I think I’ll make sure Niles and the rest don’t try to come up here. There’s not enough of them to wage a fair fight—for the hounds.”

“We need an edge,” Elin said.

He didn’t want to, but Sean pulled out his cell phone and called Saul, praying the vampire would answer. He did. And he listened to what Sean had to say without interruption.

“I don’t know why they would send such a horde,” Sean finished.

“Don’t you?” Saul said. “Look at your mate and ask that question again. Her organs renew, just like her blood. The One—or Quitus as you probably know he is called by now—wants her at any price. I noticed Elin never mentioned being Deseran but you must know this too.”

It galled Sean to ask but he said, “Any ideas about how to get out of this?” He refused to comment on Elin denying her roots.

“Make sure the rest of the Team stays where it is. If they come up the bank, they’ll die.”

“I know,” Sean said.

“Does Elin have her wand?”

“Wand?” Sean said to Elin, raising his brows.

She nodded and touched a scarf wound about her waist.

“She has it.”

“Very well. Tell Niles to stay where he is and not to make a move until he hears from you. I’ll wait.”

Sean contacted Niles and told him to keep everyone where they were. Niles was still cursing when Sean broke off the connection.

The door crashed inward and a werewolf Sean didn’t know reared up on the threshold.

Elin screamed and the wolf lunged toward her, in time to fall over Sean’s leg and smash his head against the rock fireplace. He fell unconscious but Sean didn’t expect that to last for long.

These wolves had never discovered that the werehounds were even stronger in human form but that was a secret the hounds preferred to keep. Colin ought to believe it, but didn’t seem to want to.

Sean wasn’t ready to cut off his verbal communication so he would resort to diversionary tricks for as long as he could. He was determined to be accepted as a human and for him that meant that he would avoid taking on his werehound form whenever possible.

He shoved the phone to Elin, who picked it up and slammed it to her ear. “Saul, they’re breaking in,” she said, watching Sean take a long, curved knife from a sheath beneath one jeans’ leg. “The werewolves are breaking in. The vampires can’t come over the threshold. I hope not anyway.”

She hesitated, listening, and covered the mouthpiece. “I think he’s laughing at me. I guess he’d already know about vampires and thresholds but he doesn’t have to be so arrogant.”

“Okay,” she said and listened again. “He says he’s on his way, Sean. He wants me to make fire with the wand and throw it at the wolves and vampires.”

Sean stopped himself from groaning. Elin didn’t know how to do these things.

“Perhaps it won’t work,” she said breathlessly into the phone, but she worked the wand free. “Why do you think it will just because I tell it to?” She gave Sean a helpless look and raised a hand.

Frustrated at being on the outside in this exchange, Sean longed to snatch the phone back.

 “He says it’ll throw fire if I want it to,” Elin said.

Sean crouched, ready to spring from behind the open front door.

Elin peered into the darkness. “There are too many of them,” she said, her voice failing her. “We can’t fight them all.”

But he crouched back, preparing for the next onslaught.

“Right!” Saul appeared behind Sean and slammed the door shut. He bowed slightly and said, “I have a permanent welcome in the homes of my friends unless they say otherwise.”

“Welcome,” Elin said in a quavering tone. “They’re going to kill all of us.”

He went to examine Gabriel and said, “He’ll pull through. Follow me, Elin, and stand by the front door.”

“Just a damn minute,” Sean said, leaping into Saul’s path. He remembered the knife and sheathed it. “She’s not going anywhere near the door.”

“She won’t be alone,” Saul said. “Break the logs into thinner pieces and get them ready to throw. Elin, point the wand to the fireplace and light those logs.”

This was not a man to be argued with. With the wand held in a shaking hand, she pointed it at the fireplace, closed her eyes, and told it to burn. The immediate blowback of heat shocked her. When she looked, logs in the fireplace shot flames up the chimney.

“Fire won’t stop them forever,” Sean said. “But we all know that.” He began to shift and the change was fast. The thick, blue-black coat covered him and he felt his jaw cracking into its canine formation at the same time.

Another werewolf, one Sean knew by the hostile but familiar greeting he gave, appeared in the doorway. It only took one bound before Sean was upon it, great teeth flashing, his body twisting the other’s this way and that, rolling over and snarling.

Twice the wolf went for Sean’s throat, and twice Sean evaded the fangs. At the second attack he ducked his head and ripped open the belly of the other animal. Blood and entrails spurted and a glance showed Elin with her face buried in Gabriel’s back.

Sean hauled the other wolf into the air and thumped him down in a senseless, bloody heap. He yelled a triumphant, “Done.”

“We mustn’t forget for an instant that even as they go down, they’re already repairing themselves,” Saul said. “So will the vampires if you burn them.”

Sean gave a derisive grunt.

The rumbling in the earth continued and Sean saw the ring of creatures outside move a little closer to the porch. They seemed like one silent entity.

“Out of my way,” Elin cried.

She dashed to the door and hurled out three flaming torches, one after the other.

That brought noises from the ones outside.

Back and forth, she ran, tossing out more sticks of fire, pausing momentarily to light another bunch with her wand when the supply got low.

“You cannot help her with that,” Saul said, and a strange expression came over his face. “But she’s giving us the diversion we need.”

“Either we hold them off and get rid of them, or they’ll finish us,” Elin cried.

“You are about to learn more than any nonvampire has learned. You have to do what I tell you, Sean.” Saul took a polished jug with a long neck and a stopper from a deep pocket inside his coat and held it by an ornate handle. “Enough fire and the werewolves will scatter. But this is the blood weakness—or so I believe. The only known disease a vampire can contract and very rare. If I can, I’ll tell you how I got it one day, but not now. Its real name in Italian is
Sangue Debolezza
, but it means, simply, blood weakness.”

Sean looked at Elin’s slender arms and wrists, and her hands covered with black soot, and feared she couldn’t keep up what she was doing.

“You call out those words very loudly and we’ll hope all the vampires make a run for it. If they don’t believe what they hear, hitting one vampire with some of this should prove we aren’t lying. The rest of them will be gone before we can turn on them. And the ailing one will follow to infect the rest.” Saul’s eyes were like black holes. “I must ask you to shift again and throw some of the contents, Sean. I believe it may sicken the werewolves but they will recover in time. Any vampire who comes in…”

“How can you hold a silver jug?” Elin asked, pausing to breathe.

“It’s pewter polished to look like silver. Keep the fire going. Will you do it, Sean?” Saul’s jaw worked. “I can’t be absolutely certain what will happen to you if the powder touches your skin. Perhaps…If I’m careful about the direction of the wind, I should be able to—”

“No,” Elin shouted, intensifying her barrage of fire. “Neither of you can take that risk.”

Already changing, Sean struggled to free himself completely of his hound form. He yelled and grabbed Saul as he would have gone out the door. “No! Give me that and stay back. Elin may need you.”

He seized the jug and ran outside. “Blood weakness,” he shouted, holding the shining silver thing high so it reflected fire. “Blood weakness. Who will be first to test the
Sangue Debolezza
?”

A mumble of voices among the vampires rose to a roar, then gradually sank away to sibilant whispers that passed between them in waves.

Sean pulled the stopper from the jug and moved forward. “Come on. Who’s first?”