Rose: Briar's Thorn (17 page)

I saw many of the wolves on the battlefield dropping to the ground as they started changing to human now that their Alpha was dead.  I knew the same thing was happening across the globe for half of the remaining billions of the cursed.

Styche the Trickster paused in the air and let out an ecstatic whoop and then started flying away, high into the sky.  His binding to the Alphas must have been broken.  Good lord that means he is free to roam the mortal realm now!

In his distraction, the other Alpha had been looking at Mari where she had killed his brother.  Daria's one good arm arced out at wolf speed, her hand in a claw, and she tore the other Alpha's throat out.  Before he fell, a silver crossbow bolt slammed into his eye.

I reached Nicole just as the demons were diving at the women in the briars.  Instead, they slammed into a wall of thorns that extruded from my hand.  Most of the other wolves were transforming back to human.  I swallowed.  That meant virtually all the cursed were now free from their personal hell on the full moon now.  Most were dazed, and many started screaming and running away when they saw the demons.

As the other Avatars joined me to take on the last of the demons, Mari asked, “Gretta?”

I gave her a nervous look and shrugged, saying, “She took a massive hit and went down hard over there.”  I pointed just as the ground started shaking.   From behind the building which Snow had fallen, Perchta came striding toward us with a deadly look on her face, her eyes gleaming with red fire instead of white.

The thundering pounding grew louder as she spread her arms and thousands of animals came exploding onto the battlefield, flowing around her.  They were answering her call from before the battle.  The Wild Hunt had arrived!  There were hundreds of bears, natural wolves, wild cats, elk, and moose.  They must have come through the active druid portals in the city walls.

They slammed into the back flanks of the enemy, biting, clawing, ripping, shredding and trampling the demons.  We all bellowed our battle-cries and I dropped my vines and caused the briars all around the battlefield to crumble to dust, I didn't want to kill any of our new allies.  We took to the front lines of the enemy while Perchta and her Hunt handled the rest.  It wasn't pretty, and I'm sure I'll have nightmares about it for a quite some time, but we prevailed.

I had nothing but pride for Nicole, it seems I underestimated her.  She took to the demons with her blades as skillfully as she fought the two or three wolves that remained after the lupus curse was lifted.  They must have been of Cristian's line.  There couldn't be more than a few hundred of them scattered around the globe.

For all intents and purposes, the human race had been freed from an evil that has cursed the majority of them for centuries.  I absently looked at the city walls in the distance, knowing that much was going to change in the world after this day.  A paradigm shift and a reuniting of the two halves of humankind that had been separated by walls for far too long.

I swung my gaze up to the Space Needle, but not a soul could be seen.  Then I smirked at the irony.  An Alpha werewolf had been our salvation.

We all stood in the middle of the carnage that was the battlefield, thousands of human bodies, former werewolves or black magic users, were piled around.  The demon bodies were slowly dissolving into a gelatinous mass of ichor.

Perchta let out a warbling cry and all of the animals of the wild hunt charged off back toward the city walls to the east and the Hadley floating bridge, to go back to the forests.

We just stood, exchanging weary hugs in silence for five or ten minutes.  Perchta looking stressed.  Then an entirely crystalline Parker released Ella, who was mostly crystalline herself now, and stepped forward.  She started grabbing all the charms and talismans she could locate, off of the bodies of the fallen enemy.

She said to nobody in particular in a voice that sounded like a violin with glass strings, “Can't allow any of these into the hands of the wrong people.”

Then Mari stood from where she was crouched, watching Daria's damaged arm healing at wolf speeds.  She cocked her head from side to side then whispered to all of us, “Do you hear that?”

We all stood stock still and listened, I couldn't hear anything, so I opened my senses, questing to feel for any threat.  I shook my head and Nicole hugged my arm and smiled hugely and said, “Silence.”

I looked around and could see realization dawning on all the women.  Parker looked to the moon then back toward the main gates with a smile.  I furrowed my brow, was nobody going to tell me?  Nicole kissed my cheek and said, “Listen to the silence in this great walled city.”  I listened and almost hissed in frustration and she added, “On a full moon, love.”

Then I got it.  My eyes snapped wide.  There was no howling or gunfire in the distance that always marked the ferals at the walls and the brave men and women stopping them at the gates.  The world was free of werewolves now.  Except for a small handful.

I smiled and listened to the silence with the women, only to hear dozens of weapons being cocked and readied around us.  A man's deep voice rang out.  “Don't move!  Place your hands on top of your heads.”  I glanced around.  We were surrounded by men in military uniforms, men in black suits and police.  They all had their guns and rifles pointed at us.

I couldn't agree with Ella more when she blurted out, “Oh for fuck's sake!” I closed my eyes and shook my head at the humans.  Typical.

Maireni looked at the man who spoke since he seemed to be in charge.  The Chief and Detective King were standing beside him, but I noted their sidearms were still clipped into their holsters and they had sour looks on their faces.  That alone told me they didn't agree with what was going on.

Red turned her head slightly to look at Mendez instead.  Daria moved beside her and asked, “Chief?”

He closed his eyes for a brief second, then opened them and shook his head.  “It is out of my hands McQueen.  It seems these pricks had alternate orders if you were successful.  D.C. Is pulling their strings.  Once the ferals at the walls turned human and the last couple wolves at the gates were dealt with, these assholes started mobilizing to get to the city center.”

He glared at the man wearing a captain's uniform who had a menacing-looking rifle pointed at us and added, “I thought they were coming in to support your fight, until I was informed they were under orders to contain and detain you, using lethal force if necessary.  You or your bodies are to be shipped off to some black site for study.”

The Red Hood started to growl, it began as a feeling in the soles of my feet and started vibrating through me.  It went from subsonic to a threatening low rumble that made the hair on the back of my neck to prickle.  The men around us looked nervously at each other then her.  She started walking forward toward the captain, and all of the weapons snapped more intently to all of the soldier's shoulders as they took aim.

The captain looked away from his weapon, which was now trained on Red, and called out, “Hold fire!”  And as they all started to relax, a single shot sounded out that hit Mari in the chest, just left of center.  It twisted her, but she kept advancing as the deformed metal jacketed slug fell to the ground with the tinkling of metal on asphalt.  Just what in the hell is that cloak made of?  Was it enchanted?  I couldn't tell since Mari radiated so much power.

Everyone turned to a young agent wearing an FBI badge on his belt, who was raising his pistol up high and spreading his other palm nervously as he croaked out, “Sorry. My bad.”  A few soldiers shook their heads at him.

When the Red Hood reached the Captain she stood there with her forehead against the barrel of his rifle and then she calmly said, “We just freed the human race of the Werewolf plague.  Defended millions just here in Seattle against the Alphas, against demons and black magic users.  We did what you couldn't do... and this is our thanks?”

The man winced a bit and moved his barrel away from her head, but still had it at the ready.  “I'm following orders, ma'am.”

She nodded.  “Following orders?  A lot of good men did the wrong thing by following orders without questioning them.  A lot of men lost their souls doing what they knew to be wrong by following orders.  Are you one of those men?   Willing to follow an unlawful order?”

He was conflicted, I could tell.  He responded like he was trying to convince himself, “You're all paranormals.  Dangerous. Something not natural.”

She nodded ascent.  “We are, just be glad we are on the side of right.  Look around you captain, we accomplished what you couldn't.  Look at the battlefield.  We brought an end to the Alphas, something humankind could not do in hundreds of years.  We fought demons from your worst nightmares.”

Then she hardened, and though he stood a head above her he shrank back slightly as she asked, “Do you think you and your men could really win if you start a fight with us?”

Then she smirked. “And something more dangerous, more malevolent that the Marcus brothers escaped tonight.  The very demon who created the curse of the werewolves that has terrorized the world for generations.  Can you stand against Styche the Trickster?  We can.  And there are still many dangers out there that are beyond your capabilities to defend against. Can you stand against them?  We can.”

She waved a hand toward the pulsating portal.  “And what are you going to do about this open portal to Europe?  See all the trees and plants dying along the sidewalks?  The black magic powering the portal is a corrupting force.  Its sphere of influence will continue to expand.  You can't close it... we can.”

Then she lowered her hood and opened her palms to her side in a pleading, placating gesture that made her so... human. “So it is your choice captain, are we allies or enemies?”

He stared long and hard at her, dropped his gaze, and cussed as he lowered his weapon.  “Damn it.  I don't get paid enough for this bullshit.”  He looked back. “Radio!”  Another man hurried up to him, he had a communications pack on his back.  It hissed and squealed, Red took a step back and the static settled.

We stood while he murmured things into the mic and listened to the headset.  After what seemed like an eternity, the man turned back to us and made a lowering motion with his hand.  “Stand down.”  The soldiers and most of the suits lowered their weapons.

Chief  Mendez had a predatory smile on his face and stepped forward beside Red. He looked at the other agents and said, “I can't do jack about the military, but you bastards are out of your jurisdiction! You are here as observers.  So lower your goddamn weapons in my city or I'll have them taken away and shoved so far up your asses, they'll need a deep space probe to find them.”  The other agents hesitated, then holstered their sidearms.

The corners of Daria's lips quirked into a smile.  “Still badass as ever, Chief.”

He grinned and said, “Shut up McQueen.  I'm still mad at you.”

The captain spoke, “Ma'am, I've been ordered to debrief your group and report back to my superiors.  Some of the higher ups want meetings with you about this Styche demon thing.  When will you be going after the last Alpha?”

The chief said, “You can sit in on my debrief Captain Kendrick.”

But Red's eyes were on Perchta, there was concern in them.  I looked at the troubled looking nature goddess.  Mari absently said, “We can be in your office first thing in the morning Mendez, we need sleep and to get cleaned up, so we feel human again.”

Neither man looked happy, but he gave a heavy exhalation and looked over at Daria. “Nine AM sharp McQueen.  Don't be late like you always are.”

Daria nodded and flipped him off with a grin. “You got it, Chief.”

Then Mari called over, “Snow?”

Perchta glanced up at her, and Red nudged her eyes to the portal.  The antlered woman said softly, “Oh.”  And stepped to the shimmering portal, and started speaking in a tongue I didn't understand as she wove her fingers in an intricate pattern.  Her eyes went solid white except her pupils.  It sounded like a cross between a chant and a song.

I blinked, I recognized the tune.  It wasn't a spell, it was an old Romanian lullaby, but the words were in a different language.  Wisps of feathery white mist formed, constructs of pure light and magic.  It was mesmerizing.  Again, in the light of purity, I felt unworthy.  The tendrils reached out and touched multiple points on the pulsating surface of the portal.  I could see rune signs appearing in the very air, then one glowed more brightly.  She made a crumbling motion with her fingers, and that rune dissolved, taking the portal with it.

Then she looked back to the north then down at her hands.  It was Parker that asked what we were all wondering, “What is it, Gretta?”

She looked back down at her hands then almost whispered, “I don't know if I can find my way back to my Gretta, I expended too much energy.  I think I'm stuck as this amalgam of the two of us.”

Ella dropped her rough Cockney accent and said in a meek voice with an upper-crust English accent, almost matching Gretta's whisper, “It isn't so bad.”  I felt as though she was speaking more to herself than to Snow, but what did I know about reading people?  I have been on the outside looking in for so long I can't even identify my own emotions when I have them.

Then Gretta looked at Maireni and could barely voice, “What of my pack... they are healed?  Will they... are they... my pack anymore?”

Daria said, “Let's get you to them and we can find out.  They love you.  Rachel is in love with you and she'll take you any way she can have you.”

Mari looked around, at the fringes of the carnage and squinted.  “Ella, your bike might still run, but Rachel's four door truck is trashed.” She turned toward Mendez as the soldiers started mobilizing to disperse.  “We seem to be in need of transportation.”  That told me that they were as exhausted and uncomfortable as I was as we all nursed our injuries and didn't want to run all the way back to the motel.

One of the black-suited agents stepped in front of the Captain. “You aren't just letting them go are you?”