Ambushed (20 page)

A
couple of seconds later Jasmin, Jess, Brindi and I were all inside
the booth. Shawn only had one other person inside the booth with him
and she practically screamed shape shifter. Even to the eyes of my
human form she still bled off energy and light the way that only
really powerful hybrids could. That wasn't a guarantee that she had
some kind of ability, but it was a pretty good sign and I decided to
keep the table between us at all times.

Now
that I had an idea of just how dangerous his bodyguard was, I looked
Shawn over as I slid down the bench seat until I was nearly inside of
arm's reach—for a hybrid.

In
human form at least, Shawn wasn't anything special at first glance.
It was hard to tell for sure inside of the dim lighting of the club,
but he looked like he had short blond hair and a boyish cast to his
features that would have made it hard to take him seriously if you
didn't know who his father was.

That
impression wasn't helped by the fact that he was built like the
quintessential debate geek. So far he hadn't manifested any of the
legendary Ulrich bulk and muscle; he looked like he would blow away
if a strong wind came through the club. He was sitting down, so it
was hard to be sure, but he didn't look like he was much over
five-eight.

Even
his power level didn't seem to be anything special. He glowed about
as much as you would expect from a hybrid, but without the extra
strength of the bodyguard next to him. It was still possible that
he'd manifested a power that I hadn't heard about, but it wasn't very
likely.

It
wasn't until I got a good look at his eyes that I knew I was in the
presence of Ulrich Bishop's heir. Shawn had the eyes of someone born
into power. He didn't look arrogant, but there was an assurance there
that people would do what he said, and a weight that said he carried
more secrets than anyone our age should have to bear.

"Thank
you for agreeing to talk to me, Shawn."

Shawn
held up his cellphone. "It's hard to pass up a chance to talk to
someone as infamous as you are right now. Just so you know, none of
us texted, emailed, called or otherwise informed anyone else that
you're here."

"I
appreciate that."

Shawn's
shrug implied it wasn't a big deal, but I knew his father would have
been hard pressed not to turn me in if it had been Ulrich I'd
approached instead of Shawn.

"So
you're the one who wanted to talk, go ahead and talk."

"Agony
has been captured."

"I
hope you weren't expecting to surprise me with that little tidbit.
That's practically ancient history at this point."

"No,
I knew you'd be aware of his capture, and I suspect you understand
exactly what it means to the resistance. I want to break him out, but
I need help, a lot of help, preferably from a group that the Coun'hij
isn't keeping too close of an eye on right now."

Shawn
pursed his lips. "You're not the first one to approach me about
this, Alec. It's no secret that I've got connections with people who
would like to see your dad and the rest of the Coun'hij overthrown.
Some people want me to convince my dad to jump into the situation
with both feet, some people just want me to help arrange a meeting
between likeminded parties, but so far I haven't helped any of my
visitors out."

That
wasn't the most promising start to the conversation, and the fact
that Shawn's eyes kept sliding away from mine and drifting over to
Brindi was another sign that I didn't have his full attention.

"Why
is that, Shawn? The word on the street is that you talk a good game,
but you're not actually
doing
anything. Seems like maybe it's all just a bunch of hot air."

Shawn's
metaphysical roar of power was strong enough to make my hair stand on
end, but I forced myself not to respond in kind. The goal was to get
his attention, to
really
get his attention, not start an actual dominance fight.

"You
don't come into my city and question my commitment to
anything
,
Graves. There are four of you and four of us, but I recognize the two
girls, they are wolves. You wouldn't stand a chance against us."

I
held my hands up. "No insult was intended, Shawn, but you have
to admit that it's hard to believe you're really committed to the
cause when you don't seem to be making any kind of difference.
Agony's capture is a huge deal; it's one of those pivot points that
could change everything."

Shawn
could taste the truth of my statement—that I hadn't wanted to
insult him—and that went a long way towards calming him down.
He wasn't completely back to how he'd been, but that was okay, I
didn't want him to go back to only listening to me with half an ear.
He studied me over the rim of a glass of what looked like whiskey.

"All
right, you've made your point. I actually agree with you, Alec. Agony
being captured is as big a deal as we're likely to see in our
lifetimes. The biggest question is whether anything we can do will
make it better."

"What
are you talking about? Of course we can make it better. Agony was
captured just south of the Mexican border. It's only a matter of time
before the Coun'hij decides to move him to somewhere more secure.
Once he's in motion, his guards will be vulnerable."

Shawn
sighed. "Let's just assume you're right. Let's assume that you
can rescue him despite the fact that the Coun'hij currently have eyes
on every pack that isn't already in their back pocket. Let's assume
you're able to pull together a big enough force to take out whatever
Kaleb and the rest have guarding the delivery, and let's just say
that this isn't all a gigantic trap. What's the best-case scenario?"

"We
rescue him."

"That's
a lie and you know, it, Alec. That's the best-case scenario for
Agony, but it's not what you're hoping to accomplish. The best-case
scenario is that his rescue serves as a catalyst that causes our
entire race to rise and overthrow the Coun'hij."

My
beast didn't appreciate being called a liar. I stepped on it, forcing
it back into a corner of my mind.

"It's
all a question of timeframes, Shawn. In the short term I want to
rescue Agony but obviously the long-term goal is to free our people."

"Right,
well, here's the thing about revolutions. You only get one real
attempt per generation. If you do this and everything doesn't go off
perfectly, then thousands of our people are going to die and, at the
end of it all, the Coun'hij will have an even stronger grip on
whoever survives."

"If
we're successful then…"

Shawn
cut me off. "If you do everything perfectly then thousands of
people are going to die and at the end there will be a power vacuum
that will take another generation or two to shake out. The best-case
scenario is that you get a lot of people killed and then we spend
another six hundred years as a people trying to hammer out another
system of governance which hopefully is better than what we've got
right now."

"So
the risks aren't worth it? Is that what you're trying to tell me? If
so then your reputation as a firebrand is exaggerated."

"Honestly,
I don't care what you think, Alec. You're coming from a position of
not having any other choice. That's not the case for me. When I take
over my pack, I'll have an actual possibility of sparking a
revolution. It's a lot easier to throw everything to the wind when
your actions only influence a few people."

My
hands clenched into fists despite my best efforts. I'd come with the
intention of keeping my cool. I'd even managed not to escalate things
when I'd called him on the carpet for ignoring me, but his incessant
barbs were becoming too much. There was too much truth to what he was
saying for me to just shrug off his words.

"Where
does that leave us?"

As
Shawn opened his mouth to respond, the lights went off in the entire
club simultaneously. It was one of the eeriest things I'd ever
experienced. There was absolutely no natural light inside the club,
but I could still see flickers of light emanating from the people
around me. Shawn's bodyguard was on her feet, and I realized that I
hadn't seen her move. I was actually tempted to say that she'd moved
even before the lights had gone out.

Jess
reached for her cellphone, but it died in her hands a second later.
Shawn had his hands up and pointed in my direction; he was only a
split second from shifting.

"It
wasn't me, Shawn!"

"Crap,
it wasn't me either."

Jasmin's
voice cut through the bedlam as people started screaming.

"Werewolves?"

Shawn
shook his head. "No the blackout is too complete. Someone
physically cut the power to the building."

"What
about the phones?"

There
wasn't any need for me to interject anything; Jasmin was asking all
of my questions.

"It's
got to be some kind of EMP device. My dad has been funding research
into a portable device that could knock out cellphones and cameras."

"Why
on earth would you want to replicate the kind of devastation that
werewolves cause?"

The
question shot out of me before I had a chance to think. Shawn's
response was quiet enough that I was pretty sure Brindi hadn't heard
him, but he was obviously not happy at my tone.

"This
isn't Utah, Alec. Our kind wasn't ever intended to live around this
many humans. We needed a way to contain incidents when they happen.
Things are a lot harder now that every individual walking down the
street has a video recorder attached to their phone and the ability
to post to YouTube."

The
girl next to Shawn was already moving along the side of the booth,
headed towards the dance floor with a speed that screamed she thought
we were about to come under attack. Jess pushed Brindi out of the
booth and Jasmin was only a split second behind them as Shawn and I
both started moving too.

"That
means that your pack is responsible for this?"

"It's
not my pack, it's my dad's pack. Besides, it's not the whole pack or
my people would have warned me, this is just the bootlickers."

"The
bootlickers?"

"Yeah,
the faction that wants my dad to cement our relations with the
Coun'hij. We call them bootlickers, they call us traitors."

James
and the two bodyguards Shawn had left at the doorway to the booth
must have been able to hear enough to understand that Shawn and I
weren't at each other's throats. All three of them had stepped a few
feet away from the booth in an attempt to establish a perimeter.

My
beast didn't want to take second place to anyone, but this was
Shawn's hometown, so I let him exit before me and then it was my
turn. I stepped out into what looked like a snapshot of hell.

It
was still too dark to see anything inanimate, and the people who were
stampeding towards the exit were just humans so they didn't give off
as strong of a glow to my otherworld sight, but I could still make
out enough to see that people had been trampled already. I took a
step towards the dance floor and the worst of the injured, but Shawn
grabbed my arm.

"They're
here, I can smell them."

He
pointed at more than a dozen figures approaching in three separate
groups from both sides and the front. I bit back a curse as I
realized that I should have noticed them myself. Their glow was much
too bright for them to be humans.

"They're
from your pack, what are the rules of engagement?"

"Would
you just roll over and let them kill you if I told you to only use
non-lethal strikes?"

"No,
probably not."

Shawn
gave me a sad smile that wasn't at all in keeping with his image as a
revolutionary who was only moments away at any given time from
shattering his father's pack into pieces.

"Do
what you have to do. If you can disable them that would be great, but
don't hesitate if it's you or them."

I felt a pair of trembling hands on my arm. Brindi had glued herself to my
side.

"What's
going on? Why are you guys all whispering?"

I
reached over and pulled her hands off of me as I placed my other hand
on the warm skin of her back and guided her into the booth.

"Stay
here, Brindi. Go all of the way to the back of the booth and stay
there until the lights either come on or I come get you. It's really
important that you not see what happens next."

She
tried to resist my gentle shove, but it was a passive kind of
resistance which meant that she had no chance against my superior
strength. I watched her disappear into the back of the booth and then
turned around just in time to see the first set of transformations
ripple through Shawn's people and my friends.

I
threw open the cage where my beast spent most of his time and a blast
of power ripped through me. There wasn't any reason to hold back, so
I cut loose with the most intense blast of energy I was capable of.

It
was…impressive…even to me. For a split second I almost
thought I'd bluffed the other side into backing down. A couple of
them took involuntary steps backwards, and even the boldest of them
started moving with less confidence, but the four or five biggest
guys stepped forward and the rest of them followed.

"Don't
say you weren't warned."

The
words rumbled up from my chest, deeper and harsher than my normal
voice, and then I threw myself forward at the hybrid who had just
replaced one of the closest men.

It
was a confusing melee of fang and claw.

The
Chicago shape shifters knew who was on each side of the fight, but
the four of us from Sanctuary weren't as sure. It was still pitch
black, and the lights each wolf and hybrid gave off weren't enough to
identify someone. That meant my sense of smell was my best way to
determine which guys were with Shawn. I hadn't gotten as good of a
read on the two bodyguards and now it was too late. I simply
concentrated on the hybrid I'd picked out before the lines merged and
hoped for the best.