Rose: Briar's Thorn (5 page)

The wolf seemed to smile at her and I realized it had human eyes, like the Alphas!  It lithely hopped into the vehicle and I plastered myself against the rear window in panic, not wanting to kill the Red Hood's pet with my touch.  The wolf paused and looked at me. I saw concern and compassion in her eyes and the silly thing smiled and then leaned in and rubbed up against me, like she was marking me, as it passed to sit beside me next to the far window.

I inhaled sharply as she came into contact with me.  There was some blackening of her fur, but she seemed otherwise unphased by my touch.  Red got in and said, “Rose, meet Daria McQueen.  Daria Rose of Deva, or more commonly known as the Little Briar Rose, Sleeping Beauty.

I mumbled, “Fucking Grimm Brothers.”  And they all laughed.  The wolf offered a paw and I stared at it for a few seconds then timidly took the hot paw in my hand and she shook.

I looked down at the paw in my hand and at the impossibility of the grinning wolf.  I held onto her reveling in the touch.  I reached out a shaky hand to her and paused, pleading with my eyes and the beast nodded once.  My hand was shaking as I buried it in the fur that was much softer than I would have believed and just touched the wolf.  She seemed unphased. I smiled like the mad woman I was, and buried my face into her fur and sobbed once before I got myself back under control.

I pulled back, not releasing her paw and whispered to the gods, “How is this possible?  Poison, kill, sick, dead.”

Red answered, “Daria is the same as me, only another wolf can kill her.  She received all of the negative aspects of my own curse.”  She looked at the wolf with such loving eyes.  Dear Lord, I understood.  The two were lovers before the curse.  What a cruel trick for the Scales to play.  Yet another reason to hate them.

I turned to see Ella arguing with someone, to her left, but nobody was there.  Was she as crazy as me?  Parker said from the driver's seat, where Gretta was giving her directions,  “She's right, love.”

Ella sputtered out, “Fine, you bloody wankers.  Manners...”  Then she turned and smiled sweetly at me and in a much calmer voice went about making the proper introductions.  I smiled when I realized the Red Hood was still a Romanian girl.  Maireni Damaschin that was why her accent made me smile.  And Ella despised the Deathbringer name like I have all of the titles of death the humans have given me over the years.

We arrived behind a golf course that was outside the wall near the main gates of the city.  There was a large tangle of trees that were twisted around each other creating a dome.  When everyone exited the vehicle, I timidly followed on spider legs of vines and lowered myself to my feet then retracted my vines.

Gretta brushed her fingers lightly across the trunks of the trees which created the dome gently, almost lovingly, and then with a rustling sound, they retreated into the Earth, smoothly disentangling from each other.  I blinked.  There were two women finishing up getting dressed in torn clothing in the middle of the spot where the dome had been.

A squirrel darted out from somewhere in the golf course and ran up Gretta's leg, slipped under her shirt and popped up face to face with her, chittering away.  I found myself smiling again, it felt so foreign on my face.  Gretta was rolling her eyes.  “Yes, yes, Conrad.  You did good watching to make sure they didn't get out.  Help yourself you little stinker.”  Then she pointed at me. “Do not go near her, you are not protected.”  He tilted his head and nodded like he understood her.

The squirrel then extracted himself from her shirt and spiraled down her body to her coat pocket and took out what looked like some berries and nuts, packing his cheeks before skittering back off through the golf course.

Then Gretta stepped up to the two new women who smelled like wolf to me.  Cursed.  Gretta brushed the back of her hand across the cheek of the smaller one but then smiled hugely at the tall one and offered her long, supple neck to her.  The tall one gently bit her neck then nuzzled her and they wound up kissing.  Red clearing her throat until the two broke apart giggling.

Snow looked between them and me and said to me,  “They are not protected, so forgive them for not shaking your hand.”  She looked at the women and warned grimly, “Do not get to close to her nor touch her.  Her skin and vegetation contain neurotoxins that will kill you in seconds.

Then she smiled at me and made introductions, “Rose of Deva, please meet my mate, Rachel Paige, she thinks she's Alpha, she's wrong.”  They exchanged toothy grins and growls.  Then she looked at the smaller woman who looked just as dangerous as Rachel.  “And Amanda Danes, our beta.”

The woman scrunched up her nose and complained, “Why do you always have to introduce me as your beta?  It's demeaning.”

Gretta smiled. “Because it is the only thing that gets a rise out of you, and it is fun to ruffle your fur.  Besides, you know we love you.”

The woman looked at me and said, “Pleased to meet you, Rose.  I've half a mind to shake your hand so I wouldn't have to listen to these two anymore.”  She grinned playfully at the other two.

I muttered, “Like canids.  Like wolves.  Dancing around like pack.  Pack.  Yes, pack.”

There was a glint of humor in Gretta's eyes and she nodded. “Yes, we, Conrad... our squirrel and scout, and Thomas, our bull moose enforcer, are pack.”

Amanda growled, “Conrad is beta, not me.”

Rachel cocked an eyebrow at the woman, who rolled her eyes with a grin then lowered her eyes as she tilted her head slightly to expose her neck in a very wolflike submissive gesture.  Then she bumped her hip with Rachel and said, “I hate you.”  Then hugged her arm and started gathering shredded gear around the space the dome had caged them in.

I tilted my head almost upside down as I watched the playful display.  I had never spent any time with the cursed in human form.  They seemed quite human and normal for the most part.  More human than me.  I had only dealt with the wolf aspects of the ferals, the monsters, killing machines.  I felt a slight tinge of guilt knowing that I also killed the human under the cursed beasts.

Maireni whispered to me, “Humans don't tilt their heads like that.”  I blinked then quickly moved my head back to a more natural angle and prompted her with my eyes and she nodded with a smile.  Then she took note of me watching the cursed, then spoke like she was reading my mind.  “The ferals made their choice.  They try to spread the contagion.  And the compelled have no free will and are unwitting weapons against the Clean Bloods.  Tragic I know, but the innocent need to be protected.”

I nodded and found myself nervously worrying the end of a black vine sticking out of my sleeve.

The she reached out and gave my hand a quick squeeze.  I basked in the touch.  She dropped her hand and lazily grasped at the air until Daria slid between us, her heat on my leg where we touched, and Red's grasping hand sunk into the wolf's thick fur, just ahead of her backpack straps.

She spoke with authority, a natural born leader.  “Okay, we know what has to be done.  We need to prepare for what is coming and we need to guard Gretta as she disables all of the druid transport circles on the city wall over the next few weeks.”

She looked around, I hadn't a clue, but she winked at me.  “We'll have to break out into two groups, one for inside the walls and one for outside since they won't let our wolves or Rose inside the gates.”

Then she seemed to sigh and relax a bit. “But first,  let's secure a motel out here so we can eat and get some well-deserved sleep after these three busy full moon nights.”

Ella looked at me and said in a decidedly French accent, “And eet will allow us to get to know Rose better.  Oui?”  Parker took her hand and nodded.  I had to smile, each of them seemed to be paired up.  They each had someone so they were not alone.  Love.  I remember love.  Safin, and Nicole.  I am poison to love.  My love kills.  Poison, kill, dead.

Gretta said, “We'll need to separate my betas from Rose.  I'll see if my Perchta form can't come up with an enchantment to protect them in the meantime.”

Rachel growled and asked playfully, “Hey bird girl, who you calling beta?”

The hungry look Gretta shot her made me grin as she said, “Why, you of course Wolfie.”  They grinned at each other and she said, “We'll follow you in Rachel's vehicle.  Everyone notice our tails?”

I actually laughed when as a group we all said, “Four vehicles to the west.”  I was glad they were all observant.  Situational awareness. There were various dark SUVs and one Seattle Police car that had to be from different agencies like the Department of Defense who had held me for decades.  Red bumped me and tilted her head slightly, and I realized my laughter was a little unhinged.  I tried to step back over to the sane side of the line and nodded my thanks.

We drove down to Ballard I was marveling at the city as it passed by.  I rarely ventured into the cities, especially ones with large populations like the Seattle metropolitan area.  Too many chances of incidental contact that would leave an innocent person dead.  Maybe I should get one of these motor vehicles so I can pass through like this in isolation.

I watched as the world slowly modernized over the years.  The ingenuity of man never ceases to amaze me.  They even sent rocket ships to the moon, can you believe that?  I looked at all the structures and parks as we drove.  Always from the outside...

Red instructed Parker to drive around in circles near the Ballard Bridge.  It wasn't to evade our tails apparently as we just cruised slowly around.

When Mari saw a large ship coming through the waterway, she asked Parker to call Gretta and tell her, “Now,”  as soon as we turned a corner.  We looked back at the following vehicle and a white crow darted out the passenger window. It spread its wings to land on the roadway, and it was suddenly just Gretta in her goddess form and not a bird.

I looked around and nobody seemed to react.  Did they not see it?  Did I see it?  I rubbed my eyes, but she was still back there.  Gretta spread her arms and a large truck materialized from nowhere, blocking the road.  She whipped a hand through it and grinned and was suddenly a crow winging up into the sky.  I grinned.  An illusion.  But it wouldn't fool the people following us for long.

Maireni was slapping the back of Parker's seat repeatedly. “Go go go.  Get across the bridge now!”  Parker looked back at her then I could see realization dawn on her face and she smiled and the vehicle lurched forward as she poured on the speed, Rachel's vehicle close behind us.

What were they doing?  I looked at all the women who looked smug.  They all knew something I didn't know.  We went roaring across the bridge and moments later the bridge split in two!  The two halves of the middle section rose as the large ship reached it.  Another modern miracle.  I laughed when I saw our shadows stopping at the far end of the bridge.

I looked around as Ella said, “Bloody well done Parker.  Now let's head north and find a motel while those sodding wankers play with themselves back there.”

Parker was beaming, then her face fell a bit.  “Hey, everyone could have just clued me into the plan.  I had no idea what was going on.”  I noted the slight crystal tone to her voice.  I agreed whole heartedly.  The others just chuckled at her.

I froze when I realized that Daria was laying on the seat next to me with her head in my lap and I had been absently scratching her ears.  When had that happened?  I smiled down at her and reveled in the contact again.

Then Parker asked, “You think we lost them?”

Daria and Red both shook their heads and Mari said, “For an hour or so.  Longer if the outside police here don't get along with the alphabet soup.  They'll reacquire us, but it is satisfying to let them know that we are aware that they are there and can lose them on a whim.”

Parker's next question was, “How did Gretta know the plan?”

Ella smirked at Mari.  “She didn't.  Ol' Red here was just counting on the fact that Gretta would suss it out.  None of us like being followed and treated like criminals when we are saving their asses.  That was just a statement to those tossers back there.”

Then Maireni nodded thoughtfully. “And I think we are all reading each other like we are somehow in tune.  I saw it in our battle last night.”

I shrugged like that was obvious.  “You are... we are, the Avatars.  This is the Gathering.  The Alphas make their move soon, can't you feel it coming?  It is like a sickness in my gut, something huge.  And also, the looming approach of the Scales.  Those bastards are finally going to step out of the shadows, instead of playing us like chess pieces.”

Maireni spoke again, she was the natural leader of the group.  “Avatars?  Gathering?  Who are these Scales?”  Then she grinned.  “We obviously have a lot to discuss.”  I nodded and glanced over to observe Ella Deathbringer apparently in a conversation with herself.  For some reason, I liked that I wasn't the only one of us that was holding on to sanity by a thread.

Before long we pulled into a little motel named Mort's.  It was an old single story building, in disrepair, that stretched out along the parking lot.  There were apparently six rooms and a manager's office at the end under the old arrow shaped sign that said 'vacancy' in red lights.  There was only one car in the lot.  Anyone desperate enough to stop here overnight had already moved on.

The only thing about the place that was not dilapidated were the sparkling silver Full Moon Bars on the guest rooms which were meticulously maintained by the local government.  They would keep any Clean Bloods who were traveling outside the gates, safe from the wolves on a full moon.  You only saw FMBs on hotels, motels, and the few residences of the Clean Bloods who preferred to live outside the gates, as the rest of the residents were of the cursed who locked themselves into silver cages three nights a month.

The others pulled up beside us and Rachel jumped out of her vehicle and slipped her feet into some shoes.  She was now in a new set of clothes and had a gun holstered on one hip and a police badge on the other.  Now that was a trick, these motorized vehicles seemed to be complicated to operate, and she was the driver.  I missed the days of horse and wagon transport, it just seemed easier to me, and people are in such a rush in modern times.