Vesik 04 - This Broken World (24 page)

Something was coming down the highway on the other side. It was too big to be a car, and it was driving forward without lights.

“Oh my God,” Sam said. “That’s a tank.”

“That’s a fucking tank!” Foster said. He leaned against the windshield. “What the fuck are they thinking?”

I recognized it at the same time Foster and Sam did, and my jaw was on the floor. The tank fired, and the concussion was massive, even shielded in the SUV my ears rattled. The shell exploded in the distant hills, almost exactly where the first had.

“Then, that was another tank earlier?” Sam said.

“Yes,” Zola said. “The witch hunt has already begun.”

“Those are military,” I said.

“No shit,” Foster said. “Martial law my fucking ass. They’re using tanks!”

Then I saw it surging through the river. Its tentacles swept along the banks, leveling a city block. Its flesh was fiery, lit by the flames and flashes of the falling city around it. Before we cleared the next hill, I could just barely make out the tank held up in the air. The Leviathan hurled the crushed metal into a mass of buildings.

“We can’t just leave that thing there,” I said. “We have to go back.”

“No!” Zola said when Sam’s foot eased off the accelerator. “We
must
kill Ezekiel. The thought of leaving Alan to battle that … thing.” She squeezed her forehead. “It’s … it’s almost too much, but we
have
to. We have to, Damian.”

“Zola’s right,” Foster said. “The needs of the many.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I like it, Foster.” I glanced at the fading fires and ruins behind us. “I don’t think it’s the needs of the many. I’m afraid it’s the needs of the whole fucking world.”

An idea struck me. “I need water.”

“For what?” Foster asked.

“For Nixie,” I said as I fumbled with my back pocket.

Sam slammed the brakes and we all slid toward the front of the SUV. “Creek,” she said.

I was out and running before anyone said another word. I slid down the bank and splashed into the waters, slamming the disc into the shallow creek. “Answer, dammit, answer.”

She came fast. “Damian? What’s wrong? I can feel it.” Her translucent face formed in the water. There was no graceful pooling of water in this sending. One moment she wasn’t there, and the next she was.

“There’s a Leviathan in Cumberland. Alan and some of the wolves are there. The military sent in tanks.”

“It will destroy the tanks,” Nixie said.

“No shit,” I said. “We saw it.”

“Get away,” Nixie said. “It is beyond you.”

I nodded. “I know. I know. Can you help?”

“I will send undines.”

“Can you use the Ways?”

She hesitated, and then nodded.

I nodded back. If she didn’t want to answer out loud, it was probably for a damn good reason.

“Now go, Damian. Go!”

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you too.”

I ripped the disc out of the water and the connection vanished. I was back in the car a moment later. “The witches are coming. Get us the hell out of here, Sam.”

“Call Frank,” Sam said. “Call him now. You tell him to get the coven together and stay with Bubbles and Peanut.” Her voice was shaking. “You get Ashley over there now.”

Frank’s line was already ringing.

Sam punched it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

W
e made it to Hagerstown in thirty minutes. I wasn’t sure how Sam kept the SUV on the road on that curvy-ass highway at those speeds. I was damn thankful for her superhuman reflexes.

I stepped out of the SUV. “Nice driving.”

“Thanks,” Sam said. She opened Zola’s door. Foster sat on Sam’s shoulder.

I grabbed the bags out of the backseat. Sam grabbed two suitcases out of the far back and set them on their wheels before we walked toward the hotel entrance. Zola followed behind us, her cane cracking against the asphalt. The roar of the highway still echoed in the distance, but the bugs slamming themselves into the exterior lights were louder.

The door slid open and I saw a diminutive man sitting behind the counter. The light glinted off his balding head and gave his skin a deeply tanned appearance as he moved to turn the page of a thin book. Reading glasses perched on his nose.

“You are welcome to stay,” the elderly man said without looking up. “I will warn you it’s a full house. You’ll be sleeping on a piss poor excuse for a mattress. On the floor.”

“We appreciate any hospitality,” Zola said.

“You fight for Gywnn Ap Nudd, yes?” he asked, looking up over the rim of his glasses.

Zola nodded.

“I would have you know, this may be neutral territory, but I still have the right to refuse shelter to any wolf, or woman.”

Zola’s lips tightened into a thin line.

I snarled and took a few steps forward, slamming my arm onto the counter and letting the hooked line of scars flash in the light. “I fight for the commoners. I fight for the Fae. And I fight for
you.
I am
River Pack.”

He leaned down and sniffed my arm. His eyes flashed up to meet mine. They were a blinding golden sunburst. “Vesik.”

I nodded.

He shifted and power exploded across my aura. My jaw slackened as the small man became an enormous golden werewolf. The wolf-man extended his paw. I angled my head up and looked him in the eye. He was at least eight feet tall. His lips peeled back and the expression was somewhere between a grin and a snarl.

“I welcome you as a brother.”

I smiled and slapped my arm into the werewolf’s enormous grasp. “I was a bit concerned you were going to eat my grandmother.”

The wolf laughed. It was deep, and throaty, and somewhat terrifying. “My name is Wahya. Hohnihohkaiyohos has told me much of his time with you.”

“Hugh?” I said.

The werewolf nodded. “Yes. An old enemy who has become an old friend. Come, I will show you to your room.”

The wolf delicately took a keycard in his claws and popped open a small room. There was one small bed and a rollaway.

“This is a fantastic room,” I said. “I thought you were overcrowded?”

“It is my room. I will not be sleeping anymore tonight. The eve of battle has never led to rest for my old claws.”

“Thank you,” I said.

The wolf nodded. “Rest well. Tomorrow we ride into blood, and death.”

I watched the golden monster walk gracefully down the hall. I wondered if he was planning on shifting back, or if he was just going to scare the shit out of people for a while.

“That was a huge fucking werewolf,” Sam said. “I thought they stayed close to their human size, no?”

“Apparently not,” Zola said.

“He’s ancient,” Foster said. We all piled into the room and let the door close. “Possibly older than Hugh.”

“And how old is Hugh?” Sam asked.

“Old,” Zola said. “Very, very old.”

Sam’s phone beeped and she slid it out of her pocket. She stared at the screen and frowned.

“Who is it?” I asked as I dropped the bags beside the television.

“Vik. He says Happy and the water witches fixed Cumberland.”

“Fixed my ass,” Zola said. “They probably leveled the damn city.”

“Vicky?” I asked.

Sam shook her head. “Doesn’t say.” Her thumbs blurred as she typed a response. Her phone beeped again. “She wasn’t there that he saw. He says the military is there in force now. Our people left once the Leviathan retreated.”

“Retreated?” Foster said. “Why would a Leviathan retreat? They aren’t that smart.”

“Let’s try to sleep,” Zola said. “Be thankful we heard from our friends. We’ll see them soon enough.” She leaned her cane against the wall and hopped onto the rollaway bed.

Sam stared at Zola and then glanced at me. “Split the bed?”

“It’ll be just like camping,” I said.

“Only you won’t scream like a little bitch when I drop a garter snake on you,” Sam said.

“I may scream like a little bitch,” I said as I kicked off my shoes, “but …” My aura flashed out and wrapped around Sam’s arm. The flash of knowing was subtle, I knew most things about my sister already, but the new mini-film of Frank lovin’ I could have done without. I pulled my hand back, and Sam’s arm followed.

Foster and Zola started laughing.

“Demon, don’t. Dammit.”

I gave a little flick of my wrist and Sam slapped herself in the face.

“You are so dead.”

I grinned at my sister. She narrowed her eyes at me, and then she leapt. She crossed the room in a heartbeat, but I was faster. Both my hands shot up, formed into half claws. My aura surrounded her, and suspended her.

She blinked and let her arms fall. “Dammit, that is so cheating.”

I let go and she bounced off the bed once. She was laughing the whole time.

“Sleep, children,” Zola said. She pulled a sheet up over her cloak. “Or Ah won’t make you pancakes in the morning.”

Sam and I both smiled. Zola had always made us pancakes when Sam came to visit in Coldwater. Back when Sam was human, and shit was a lot less complicated.

“Pancakes,” Foster said. “Let’s dream of pancakes. I like pancakes.” He curled up on a double stack of napkins and pulled a hand towel up as a blanket. “And maple syrup.” He yawned and stretched.

Sam slipped into her pajamas before coming back to the bed. They were strikingly similar to Ashley’s Paul Frank pajamas. I changed into a slightly too big Death’s Door t-shirt. Frank had a few of them made up for some holiday sale. They’d actually gone over pretty well.

I shook my head, wondering why I was thinking about such nonsense. I reached up and killed the light. The room was pitch black and quiet.

Sleep did not come easily.

***

I awoke to the sound of heated whispering. The light leaking through the edge of the drapes surprised me. We were well into the morning, at the least. I glanced at the small desk in the corner. Zola was leaning over Foster, pointing at something beneath him.

I crawled out of bed, careful not to wake Sam up. In a few steps, I could see they were looking at a map.

“Gettysburg?” I asked.

“Yes,” Zola said quietly. “Ah’ve been thinking about the best entry point. Ah think we should go through the heart of the old city.” Her finger traced a route.

Foster crossed his arms and shook his head. “I’m not convinced. Ezekiel won’t expect us to come from the north.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

Foster and Zola both looked up at me.

“He knows we’re coming. It doesn’t matter where we come from. Short of popping out of one of Glenn’s vortexes, he’s going to know we’re there.”

Zola leaned back and gave a slow nod. “You may be right. Still, the city will lend us more cover.”

“Shouldn’t we try to stay away from the city?” Sam asked.

We all turned to look at her.

“Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s fine,” Sam said. “I don’t need as much sleep as the others.”

“Ah don’t think we need to worry about staying clear of the city,” Zola asked. “If any of the city survives, it will be a good day.”

Zola’s words hung in the air. She was right, and we all knew it. We’d seen what Ezekiel was capable of. Or maybe we hadn’t. That was an even more unnerving thought.

“The city will provide more cover,” Zola said.

“True,” Foster said. “There is more than one nexus in the area. It may do even more to conceal us than the physical city.”

Sam started flipping through her phone.

“Vik?” I asked.

She nodded. “Happy and Vicky are traveling with the Nashville Pack, and Hugh. The Watchers are already there. It just says ‘Anubis dies in the world below.’ ”

“Edgar,” Zola said. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Edgar is moving in from the north.”

My phone vibrated. “The Brigade lives for the light,” I said. “The dead live for the night.”

“I know that one,” Foster said. “It’s twofold. The vampires will move in from the west, but not until night. The Irish Brigade from the east.”

“Then we strike from the city,” Zola said.

“We don’t know where he’ll be,” I said.

“Ah know exactly where he’ll be, boy,” Zola said. “Come, let’s get breakfast. We’re going to need the energy.”

***

I didn’t expect the awed looks mixed with sheer hatred as we wandered past the dining hall and into the kitchen. I heard the whispers of “Vesik, Addanaya, vampire sister.”

A man in the booth closest to the kitchen stood up and walked up to Sam. He wore a torn, stained tank top. “You are not welcome here, dead one.”

“Don’t,” I said. The man barely spared me a glance. All of his attention was on Sam.

He put his arm around her shoulder as she turned away. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, you dead bitch.”

I started to do a very bad thing, but Foster beat me to it. He exploded off Sam’s shoulder, sending a shower of glistening fairy dust out into the dining hall. He wrapped a hand up in the werewolf’s shirt and walked the wide-eyed wolf backwards until the wolf’s back slammed into a pillar. A thin webwork of cracks crawled up the drywall.

“You touch my friend again,” Foster said as he drew his sword, “and I will eat my Fruit Loops out of your skull.”

There was an older, gray-haired wolf in the back. I heard him whisper the words, “Demon Sword.” The room fell silent. I heard a faint clicking noise that grew louder. Wahya appeared at the front of the dining hall.

“You insult us by your actions, Jon,” he said. “If we did not need the cannon fodder for today, I would kill you myself.” The wolf’s lips pulled back in a smile that made the werewolf cringe beneath Foster’s grasp.

Foster let him go, and Jon scurried back to a booth at the far side of the hall.

“Do not threaten our allies,” Wahya said. “The peace between our peoples has been long in coming. If that is not motivation enough, I would invite you to remember the fairy could kill you all before you could shift.”

As he turned away from the enraptured audience, Wahya winked at us. He knew Foster couldn’t kill all the wolves that fast. The others didn’t need to know that though.