Legend of the Ir'Indicti 5 - Destroyer (13 page)

"Yep."

"Kid?"

"What, Mr. Winkler?" Ashe gulped half a glass of milk quickly.

"Know anything about Peyton Miller?"

"He contact you?"

"Yeah."

"You should hire him."

"What?"

"He's mighty tired of Zeke Tanner. Might be willing to help fight off what Zeke sends our way."

"Kid, I've already talked with the Grand Master. He wants to question Peyton before executing him. This'll throw a wrench in the works." Winkler shook his head, his dark eyes focused on Ashe.

"I just saved the Grand Master's posterior. Maybe he'll cut me some slack on this." Ashe drained his glass of milk. "Who are you getting to replace Craig? Good move, by the way. He was prejudiced up to his eyeballs."

"I hired Amos and Florence Thompson this morning. She'll cook, and he'll help guard during the day."

"Another good choice. Mr. Thompson is cool."

"It's not every day you meet a white buffalo shapeshifter," Winkler flashed a grin. "They're even rarer as shifters. Almost as rare as unicorns and bumblebee bats."

"Don't dis the bat, man."

"Not dissing the bat," Winkler laughed.

"Who's dissing the bat?" Trace walked in and ruffled Ashe's hair with a large hand.

"Everybody," Ashe ducked his head to hide a half-grin.

"Heard you got into it last night," Trajan slouched into the kitchen and went straight to the coffeepot.

"Gavin and Tony, well," Ashe shook his head. He still found it difficult to believe how fast they'd moved. Six heads had been removed before Ashe could blink twice. And then there was so much blood—blood he'd had to destroy by turning it to sparks. If it hadn't been important to return the bodies to the Dark King, he'd have done the same with them. He found it nauseating to look at them afterward. Sighing, Ashe worked to get the visions out of his head.

"Kid, it's the nature of what we are. What the vamps are. And the way I hear it, those six were prepared to destroy Fort Arland. How many others would have died if they'd succeeded in their plan?"

"I tried to send a message to the Dark King. Tried to tell him his revenge against the humans is useless. He may choose another target to go after," Ashe muttered, pulling out a barstool at the island and sitting down. "Displacement."

"You mean choosing someone else to vent your anger on?" Winkler lifted an eyebrow while he sipped coffee.

"Yeah. Guess you had a chat with Gavin and Tony after we got back last night."

"It wasn't even one o'clock when you got back. Tony said it was the fastest they'd ever gotten anybody."

"I hope he doesn't expect that every time," Ashe replied, rising and going back to the fridge. "Anybody else want scrambled eggs?"

* * *

"Why can't the teachers get together and stagger homework assignments?" Dori was already complaining about the assigned paper in English, the math homework and the research required for a history exam. She and Wynn sat at a table in the new school cafeteria. She could see Adele Evans behind the serving line, talking with the two shapeshifter women serving lunch to the students.

"Our school is getting smaller," Wynn remarked, ignoring Dori's complaint. "We only have sixty-two students this year."

"There isn't a first or second-grade class," Dori agreed, watching as students went through the line to get trays of food. "You don't think the shifters and werewolves are dying out, do you?"

"You know," Wynn pointed her unwrapped straw at Dori before dropping it into her milk carton, "that sounds like a good essay to research and write at the end of the year."

"You think we can find that out? You think there's information out there?"

"I think Principal Wright might know a lot."

"You think he'll talk to us?"

"He might."

* * *

"I didn't expect to get visitors this soon." Bear Wright smiled at Wynn and Dori. His empty lunch tray lay before him—he'd eaten at his desk in order to get paperwork done during the meal break.

"We just had a thought," Wynn began. "When we were at lunch, talking about how there's no first or second-graders this year."

"And we were wondering if this is a problem everywhere, and not just here, in Star Cove," Dori added. "And we thought it might be a good topic to research for the end of school essay."

"That's very insightful," Bear nodded. "And it's something that I've done research on, too."

"What did you find out?" Wynn asked breathlessly.

"I'm afraid numbers are dwindling," Bear sighed, leaning back in his chair. Unlike Principal Billings', Bear's office chair was more modern and cloth-covered. It didn't creak when he moved. "That's one of the topics I wanted to discuss with the shifters who are coming to visit this weekend. Just to see if they've noticed it, too, and have any ideas," the Principal sighed. "Do your research, girls. I'll accept a joint paper at the end of school if you work on it together."

"Really? You'll let us do that?" Wynn clapped her hands and bounced in her seat.

"Sure. It's a weighty topic and deserves as much work as you both can put into it."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Wright," Dori smiled. "This will be so awesome."

* * *

"Ashe? This is Wynn."

"Wynnie, I'd know your voice anywhere." Ashe left his cell on the island while he ate scrambled eggs and bacon. "What do you need?"

"We might need help doing research. Dori and me."

Ashe grinned and didn't correct Wynn's English. "What's the project?" he asked instead.

"We noticed that there aren't any first or second-graders, and thought it might be a good topic to research for our end-of-year essay. We asked Principal Wright about it, since he might know something. He said the numbers are dwindling, and he's willing to let Dori and me do a paper together."

"That's outstanding, Wynn. I warn you, though, if I give you information, a lot of it may not have concrete evidence to back it up."

"It won't be true?" Wynn sounded troubled.

"It'll be true, I just can't back it up with physical proof, that's all. Some people might question its veracity, because of that." Ashe wiped his hands on a napkin and lifted his second glass of milk to take a drink.

"Ashe?"

"What, Wynn?"

"Who uses words like veracity?" Wynn teased.

"Wynn, I haven't heard you tease in a while. It's kind of nice," Ashe grinned.

"Yeah. Ace likes it, too."

"I imagine he does. I also imagine he thinks he won the lottery—like every time he looks at you."

"Ashe, stop it." Ashe's grin widened—he knew Wynn was blushing.

"How's Sali?" Ashe asked, switching topics.

"He sits by himself in class. I'm not sure he talks to anybody. Larry and Jeff only talk with each other. Everybody misses Hayes."

"Hayes was an omega. He knew instinctively how to calm people and keep them happy."

"A brave omega."

"Yeah. Look, Wynn, keep an eye on Sal for me. Discreetly. If things look like they're not going so good, will you let me know?"

"Can I ask Dori to help?"

"If she can keep it to herself."

"I'll tell her that. I don't know what to do, Ashe. I know school just started and all, but it seems so different. Like we've set our feet on a path we can't change, and the destination may not be what anybody planned."

"You're a real unicorn, Wynnie."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you're special. In a very good way. You have insights that others don't, sometimes."

"Ashe, stop making me blush. It's embarrassing. I have to get back to class."

"I know. Have fun." Ashe ended the call with a sigh. Less than thirty seconds went by when he received mindspeech from Dori.

Ashe?

Dori?

Sali only ate half his lunch.

That's a problem.

Yeah. He's moping, too. Like the world ended and he didn't participate.

Interesting concept, Dori.

Well, it's like something big happened, and he wasn't a part of it. Because he's too dumb.

Dori, Sali isn't dumb. He's smarter than people think. He just makes bad choices now and then.

Then he needs to stop playing dumb. And he needs to wise up.

That's redundant, Dori.

I guess it is, huh?

Yeah. Did you talk to Wynn already?

Yeah. Ever since Sali and I broke up and you stopped talking to him and Marcus grounded him and took his keys away, he won't talk to anybody. Now he's not eating. Sali always eats.

Agreed. Does he go home right after school?

He has to. His mom is waiting at the door to make sure the grounding is enforced.

Good to know. Don't you think you ought to pay attention in English, instead of sending mindspeech?
Ashe added a mental chuckle to his words.

Fine
, Dori's reply was falsely grumpy.

* * *

Sali walked past his mother, who stood at the front door of the DeLuca home, waiting for her youngest to arrive.

"Straight from school, as commanded," Sali muttered as he headed for the hallway leading to his bedroom.

"Want a snack?" Denise DeLuca called out. Sali didn't reply.

Sali cursed softly as he turned the knob to enter his bedroom. His stomach growled, but he wasn't going to let his mother know it was also tied in knots. Everything was wrong with his life.
Everything
. How many times had Marco gotten away with stuff Sali always got grounded for? How many times had Marco flouted Marcus' commands and driven away from Cloud Chief in a huff? It was always Marco this and Marco that. Marco now worked for Mr. Winkler, probably the most wealthy and successful werewolf in the U.S. Nobody thought much of Salidar DeLuca. He'd just be a minion in a Pack someday.

Sali walked into his bedroom with a sigh, shut it behind him and leaned against it, his eyes closed.

"Dude, want a burger?" Sali's eyes popped open in shock. Ashe sat on his rumpled bed, waving a sack full of Dandee Burgers' food at him. The scent of hamburgers and fries hit his sensitive nose like a blow.

* * *

"He's reading in his bedroom, I peeked," Trajan informed Winkler, who'd asked where Ashe was.

"Andy has something Ashe needs to look at when he comes down for dinner. Loren caught a discrepancy and we need the kid's help."

"He ought to be sleeping, in case the vamps have other business tonight."

"I know. We'll have to be careful, Traje. He gets tired. Needs sleep. Just like anybody else. We can't expect him to work day and night."

"Yeah. The Thompson's will be here first thing tomorrow, at least."

"Thank goodness. We can order pizza tonight. Get extra. We can always put leftovers in the fridge."

* * *

Sali wolfed down the first burger and was halfway into the second before taking a long pull on the large soda Ashe brought for him.

"Dude, I'm sorry. Really sorry. I messed up," Sali bit into his burger again and chewed while he watched Ashe's face.

"Yeah. We all do, sometimes." Ashe leaned against Sali's headboard. Sali ate at his desk beside the bed, leaving the bed for Ashe. His mother hated it if he dropped food on the comforter. Sali watched as Ashe raked fingers through his slightly curly, light-brown hair and closed his eyes. "Sal, I watched a vampire die last night. Six others, too. Those vamps don't mess around when they kill somebody."

"Dad said they were here." Sali took another bite of burger. "I really want to ask about the full moon incident, but I won't. I'm not giving Dad another thing. If he wants to know, he can ask you himself."

Ashe opened his eyes and turned toward Sali. "It's called releasing particles. Reducing something to its most basic level and letting the energy float away. Only a few can do it, Sal. None of the Elemaiya have ever been able to. Feel free to tell Marcus that, if he really wants to know."

"I heard something else, too. About your mom. And Buck."

"Don't bring that up. It's painful."

"Yeah. Understood."

"Sali, what would you do if you found out your dad, well, that your dad was really depressed? Thinking about ending it all."

"My dad isn't depressed. He's just an unbending tyrant," Sali muttered before stuffing the last bite of burger in his mouth.

"I'm not talking about your dad."

"Oh. You're talking about yours, aren't you?" Sali blinked dark eyes at Ashe. Aedan, depressed? That wasn't good. It was ridiculously easy for a vampire to end it all. Took minutes, at the most, if what he'd heard was true.

"Do you have us shielded?" Sali finally thought to ask.

"Since I showed up. Your bedroom is soundproofed, dude. You could scream your lungs out and your mom still won't hear," Ashe grinned wryly.