Rise of the Firebird (28 page)

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Yvan frowned. “Here, surrounded by dubious allies, in a destroyed town, you choose
now
to flirt with me?
Strannaya devushka
!” He shook his head.

“You’ve always known I am strange. And I don’t think that counts as flirting.”

“For you it does. Can I go back to sleep now?” he sighed and shut his eyes dramatically.

“Yvan?”

“Yes, Anya.”

“You would…you would tell me if there was something wrong with you, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t not tell me because you think I’d worry.”

“Clearly, you’re going to worry anyway,” Yvan said. Anya reached over and put a hand on his cheek, making him open his eyes.

“I’m serious, Vanya. You would tell me?”

“What’s wrong? Why are you so worried about this?”

“I couldn’t watch…”

“Couldn’t watch me die,” he finished. Anya nodded, hating that her hands were trembling. Yvan placed an arm over her, cocooning her in his warmth, “Listen to me very carefully, Anyanka. You have to let this fear go. What happened to Trajan was horrific, but you can’t let the fear of it happening again override all of your reason. You’re in a war and you don’t have the luxury.”

“If you are trying to make me feel better, it isn’t working.”

“I know.” She moved closer to him and he tightened his embrace. “It’s going to be okay,
shalosť.
”

“
Lyublyu tebya
,” she whispered into his chest as her eyes closed.

“Love you too. Now go to sleep.”

“Best not wander off, little huntress. There are monsters about,” a snide voice said from behind her. Katya turned slowly and spotted Yana lounging on top of a broken wall. She was wearing a loose shirt tucked into a slim fitting pair of the old-fashioned trousers men wore in Skazki. The blood had been washed from her hair and body and she almost glowed in the dim light.

“I’m not afraid of the big bad wolf,” Katya shrugged, “or you for that matter.”

“You should be.”

“What’s your problem? Whatever did I do to you? You can’t blame me for what my father has done. I’m
not
him.”

“So Izrayl keeps saying,” growled Yana, “but I still don’t trust you. Izrayl may be blinded but I’m not.”

“Izrayl isn’t the one who’s blinded here. You can’t even see past your own prejudices.”

“What is it that you have that you can convince him to side with you over the safety of the pack, his family and blood?”

“I like to think it’s my winning personality. I haven’t convinced him of anything, especially when it comes to the pack. From what I understand, he hadn’t been a part of any pack for a long time before he met me.”

“Times are different. Now we are at war and the pack must stay together despite all differences. Izrayl is a good warrior. We need him. You and your shamanitsa do not.”

“Goes to show how much you know.”

“You won’t be able to make him happy, huntress,” Yana said pityingly. “He needs to be with one of his own. Someone who can give him pups and that understands our ways. You may have been born in Skazki but you’re only human.”

“Wow, you really are a fucking bitch, aren’t you?”

“I only speak the truth to save you from the inevitable pain when he leaves you. Let him go so you can both be free.”

“It’s Izrayl’s choice not mine. I’m not about to force him to do anything.”

“You’re forcing him to stay with you right now! You just don’t know it.” Yana jumped gracefully from the wall and walked back towards the centre of town, leaving Katya angrier than ever.

“What do you look for in the fire?” Mychal asked, pulling Eldon Blaise out of his train of thought. Eldon shivered once and focussed on the dark face gazing across at him. He hadn’t heard or seen Mychal move from his place beside Aleksandra. That was no surprise; a loud hunter was a dead hunter.

“I look for guidance,” he replied carefully, “and for hope.”

“Hope for this battle or future ones?” Mychal placed another log on the fire, a quick glance behind him to check that the noise hadn’t awakened Aleksandra.

“Why do you assume that there will be a future battle?”

“There is
always
a future battle.” Mychal’s eyes focussed on him. Eldon had only met a few people with eyes like Mychal’s, the kind that had seen too much suffering.

“That’s true, I’ve lived long enough to know.”

“So, what did you see?”

“I don’t need to look in the flames to see your future, Mychal. I already know it.”

“You assume it’s my future that I care about.”

Eldon stretched his long fingers out towards the fire as it caught hold of the extra wood. Mychal’s eyes sheened across the fire, watching him carefully.

“You really have no idea who you are, do you?” Eldon blurted out, louder than he intended.

“I am…” Mychal began and then squeezed his eyes together in frustration. “I don’t know. Sometimes, I feel like I might. It is like it’s on the tip of my mind and then it vanishes like smoke.”

“Don’t push it,” advised Eldon. “If it’s not your time to know, then it’s not time. I know firsthand of what you speak.”

“But…you have lived for centuries. How do you not know?”

“I have a feeling magic was involved.”

“Someone spelled your memory away?”

“I’ve a strong feeling I did it to myself.”

“But why would you do it?” Mychal shook his head.

Eldon shrugged, “The pain must’ve become too great. You perhaps know a little of what I speak. You get to the point that you cannot bear it so you seek to get rid of it.”

“If you can’t remember who you are, and the spell was to make you forget all of the pain, then how come you seek death to be rid of it?”

“I still feel it, but I don’t know what it’s all for.”

“Sounds like you wasted your time with that spell then.”

“Not a very good people person, are you?”

“No, but you aren’t either. You wouldn’t even be here if God didn’t force you to be.”

“The same could be said about you, Mychal,” Eldon said as he popped a hazelnut into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “You want to know why I’m not worried about Anya and the seemingly impossible task of stopping a war. Because you’re here, which means whatever is coming next will be far, far worse than Yanka and Baba Yaga’s war mongering.”

“I don’t want to know.” Mychal’s eyes flickered again and Eldon backed down.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell you. I hope I’m dead this time, so I don’t have to live through it again.”

Snow was falling in a light mess when they woke the next morning. Katya still sat by the ashes of the fire, pale and tense. The Volk Krovi had disappeared before dawn, slinking away quietly. Anya’s small group had watched them go, determined not to give them any chance or reason to follow them.

“Let’s get out of here before they come back,” Aramis said after the last wolf was long gone.

“They won’t harm us,” insisted Izrayl.

“You mean they won’t harm
you
,” Katya muttered as she pushed past him and led the way through the town. Aleksandra and Mychal over took her as their guides as they entered the forest, heading west.

Katya hadn’t slept a wink and she was pent up, burning for a fight. Izrayl had enough sense to avoid her for the first hour. Katya had been walking through a small birch glade when she felt something grab her pack. She turned instinctively and drove her fist into Izrayl’s nose. He staggered backwards but didn’t fall.

“God woman! What was that for?” he demanded, wiping blood on his sleeve.

“Katya? Everything okay back there?” Anya called.

“Keep walking, we’ll catch up,” Izrayl waved her on. “You want to tell me what the hell is the matter with you?”

“
You
are what is wrong with me.” She started to walk when he grabbed her arm. Katya swung again but he was quick enough to block her.

“You want to fight me, Katya? Let’s do it then.”

“Suits me fine.” She dropped her pack and pulled out her silver hunting knife. “Go ahead, morph. Make the fight fair. I’m itching to beat the shit out of some
volk krovi
right now.”

“Look, Katya, I know they don’t trust you but you should know me well enough by now to know… “

“To know
what,
Izrayl? That as soon as the pack turns up, I’m suddenly not worth shit? Yeah, don’t worry, I got it.”

“Are you going to let me explain?”

“You don’t need to explain. You want to leave, so go, fuck off back to the pack. You are too embarrassed to stand beside me when they are around anyway.” She sheathed her knife and picked up her bag. Izrayl’s weight hit her like a sack of bricks, sending her sprawling onto the grass. She kicked up, trying to dislodge him as they rolled. He pinned her down as she squirmed.

“Right!” he roared, his voice changing to a furious rumbling growl. “You will stop talking and you will listen to me.” Katya couldn’t move anything else so she turned her head from him. “I don’t know where you got the ridiculous idea in your head that I’m going to leave you and go back to a pack, but I’ve a feeling that bitch Yana was involved. I spent the entire night talking to people, trying to glean whatever information I could get about the enemies movements through Skazki. I didn’t want to aggravate the situation or jeopardise your safety by hanging off you like some love sick pup. It would’ve made you and I look weak in their eyes, like you needed to be protected from
volk krovi
by a
volk krovi
because you aren’t a good enough hunter to defend yourself. I wasn’t going to let them think that. They
fear
you Katya, and with fear comes a measure of respect. In their eyes, you are the bogeyman, strong and unpredictable; they weren’t game to mess with you or Aleki. Except stupid bloody Yana messed with you in a different way. What did she tell you? That I’d go back to the pack because we are at war?”

Katya bit her tongue. She was embarrassed that she’d been baited so easily but Yana’s words still stung and compounded the feelings of abandonment. Izrayl let one of her wrists go so he could cup her cold cheek in his hand.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said softly. “I didn’t have time to explain and their hearing is ridiculous.”

“I won’t be the thing that stops you from being with them and being happy. If your heart is with the pack then you must be with them. You deserve someone who can give you kids…” Katya whispered.

“And who says you can’t? Fucking Yana really did a number on you, didn’t she?” He moved her head so she was forced to look into his amber eyes. Tears filled her own before she could get a grip on them. “You aren’t the reason I’m not in a pack, Katya. I hate being in a pack, always have. My heart lies with you and you are my home. You, Aleki, Anya, and the whole mental bunch of them. They’re the only pack I am interested in.”

Katya grabbed him with her free arm and hugged him around his neck. He sat up, lifting her onto his lap, and wrapped her tightly to him.

“I’m sorry I hit you so hard,” she sniffed.

“It’s okay, I deserved it. You drive me insane woman. Do you know that? You are the craziest -” Katya kissed him hard, gripping him tightly with her legs. Izrayl’s hands were up under her coat in seconds gripping her hips tightly. She finally pulled back from his lips, kissing his cheeks as he rested his face in the groove of her neck.

“You know I love you, right?” she whispered into his ear. “You’re the reason I’m so fucking crazy jealous and paranoid about you going back to the pack. I saw the way Yana was looking at you and I lost it. You made me promise not to start a fight. Otherwise, I would’ve torn the bitches pretty blue eyes out of her smirking head.”

Izrayl started to laugh and he kissed her cheeks. “Oh, my beautiful, violent huntress, how I love you. Come on, we better catch up. Otherwise, Aleki will send out the search party.”

“True, I forgot how much having no privacy sucks. What a shame because I would dearly love to…” Katya whispered in his ear. A growl reverberated through him.

“Ah! Enough!” he said as he covered his ears. “Get going right now before I do something to you that you won’t want your sister to walk in on. Demon woman!” Katya laughed with mischievous glee as she took his hand and they hurried to find the others.

Yanka stretched gracefully beneath the silky sheets of the Presidential Mansion in Moscow. The sleeping man beside her moved to rest his hand on her breast and she tried not to fling it from her. Alexei Barsukov was the President after all and had to be treated with appropriate tact.

Yanka didn’t truly give a damn about real world politics but a powerful ally never went astray. It had taken two hours and a few shots of vodka and now, Alexei was a very solid ally. She sighed, after sleeping for so long she lamented that a beautiful woman could still manipulate men so easily. The President had no idea who Yanka really was, the glamour laid on him that she was new on his staff. He had seen her, he had wanted her, and it was a matter of her saying yes.

As they had kissed, Yanka had whispered, “Will you promise to be loyal to me if I do this?” Alexei filled with a burning lust had readily assured her and she knew he’d been lying but it didn’t matter. Yanka bit the inside of her lip with a pretence of feigned passion and kissed him. Her blood was now in him and their covenant sealed.

Yanka smiled again, he would have no choice but to be loyal now. He began to snore softly, which signalled her time to leave. She detangled his hand from its grip and slipped out of bed. Once she was dressed and had pulled on her heavy bear fur coat she went into the bathroom, opened a gate and slipped back into her mansion on Vasilyevsky Island.

“You smell like politician,” Vasilli said as he took her coat. “I trust that everything went well.”

“Of course it did. Men are the same no matter where you go or what time you are in.” Yanka watched him pour her vodka. He was such a handsome, powerful boy, and she felt a touch of motherly pride. She couldn’t remember his father’s name or his face, only the taste of his dark magic that she had pulled from him. All the magic Vasilli had consumed had settled on him well.