Black Wolf (67 page)

* * *

*I can't reach
him right now, it'd take too much concentration, and we can't
afford that,* Lori said in Shaine's mind, her voice nearly as cold
as the ice he'd just trapped Kevin in. *We're going to have to
finish this without him.*

*Any thoughts
how?* He tried to keep his thoughts off Kevin, off his own prayers
that it wouldn't do the mage any permanent harm. He was certain
that much cold had to be very bad for an elvenmage, but he hadn't
been able to think of anything else that might work.

*Can you do to
him what you just did to Kev?*

*Yes, but
since he's using demon-power, it won't hold him for very long.*

*Damn.*

He picked up
on a flicker of movement, to one side, and scanned the area without
turning his head.

Jess, his
silver dagger in one hand, bare feet silent on the grass, limped
closer. The effort in every step made Shaine long to run to him and
support him, but that would get them both killed. If Jess could get
close enough unnoticed...

*Hit him
all-out,* he told Lori. *Throw everything you have at him.*

She must've
caught the information about Jess from his mind, given how
instantly she agreed.

Lori flung at
the demon-mage a hail of daggers made all of moonlight; Shaine sang
moisture out of the air into a second rain of flying daggers, these
ones made all of ice, coming from an angle instead of straight on
like Lori's. Trying to deal with that kept the demon-mage occupied
briefly, long enough for Shaine to start a different song, while
Lori simply fed him her own power and that of the circle in the
house.

This song was
of confusion and fear and disorientation, the same technique his
family had used on Unity, muddling the senses and blurring the
mind. It was meant to spread out, pouring across a broad area and
affecting everyone within a supernaturally large hearing range.
Though it meant he had to sacrifice some of its strength, he
focused it as tightly as he could on the demon-mage alone. Still,
it inevitably spilled over.

Aindry or
Jaisan whimpered, and let out a plaintive puppy-howl.

The demon-mage
hesitated, his shields rippling.

Jess stumbled,
caught himself before he fell, and kept going. He couldn't be more
than six feet away, behind the demon-mage and to one side. Would
shields formed partially of demon-power keep out a demon-wolf?

Better safe
than sorry. He shifted the song, gradually, made it speak of
acceptance and belonging and home, of peace and safety.

The
demon-mage's shields wavered and fell, fading away into
moonlight.

Evaline, with
a couple of dark streaks in her pale fur and one forefoot not
taking her full weight, darted directly through the face-off, very
close to the demon-mage. She seemed to be in better shape than her
opponent, who had to be on his feet still only through pure mad
will. The larger wolf ran after her, though in less of a straight
line, and his shoulder bumped glancingly against the mage's legs.
Automatically, the mage spun in place to track them, raising both
hands again.

It only took
Jess one side-step to be directly in front of him. With both hands
wrapped around the hilt of his dagger, he thrust it upwards through
the jaw, through the throat, and judging from the way the mage
collapsed bonelessly with total disregard for how he landed,
hitting the spinal column where it joined the skull at the back.
Shaine wasn't sure the demon-mage had even seen Jesse, between the
light levels and the distractions and Evaline's perfect timing.

Jess dropped
to his knees, head bowed; where he'd found the strength, Shaine
wasn't sure, but it had obviously run out.

Evaline
trotted back and nuzzled him, tail waving slowly, and Jess draped
an arm over her. "Kev?"

Shaine
surveyed the area, but it was over: the larger wolf was moving only
a little, small twitches accompanied by soft whining, the female
mage was unconscious still, the demon-mage was very definitely
dead. There were no demons left to fight at the moment, the one
Alfari had cornered had vanished at some point, and the others were
dead. Aindry and Jaisan were a couple of largely motionless
shadows, but it wouldn't take long for assistance to show up, he
was sure.

Lori let go of
his hand and ran to Kevin; Shaine headed for Jess instead, helped
him to his feet.

"Is Kev okay?"
Jess asked.

Evaline
whined, nosed Jess briefly, and loped unevenly over to Kevin.

* * *

Kevin's
consciousness blurred, the raw cold draining him more than any
mage-battle ever could, his metabolism struggling vainly to keep
his body temperature at its usual level.

The ice
shattered.

Oh gods, now
what?

*I'm here,
Kev, it's okay.* Lori's arm around him, Lori's wonderfully warm
body pressed against his, heat wrapping around him in an intangible
blanket. *Brigid, you're cold. C'mon, Kev, tell us you're okay.* A
warm, furry body snuggled against his other side with a soft whine.
A third body, much smaller, climbed onto his lap and purred.

"Kev?" That
was Jess, out loud, coming closer, but he sounded terrible. And
worried. "You're still you, right?"

"Still me?" he
echoed fuzzily.

"There's no
more outside influence, it's all just Kev in there now," Lori said
reassuringly. "I called the others, they'll be out here in no time.
Wake up, Kev, you can't sleep now, not until we get you warm."

"Damn," Shaine
muttered. "Maybe I overdid it. Is he going to get over this?"

Shaine
sounding all concerned about Kevin's wellbeing was a sufficiently
unusual occurrence to make Kevin blink and focus on the meren. "I'm
cold."

"No shit,"
Jess said. "Get up, so we can go inside and get you warm."

"Inside. Warm.
Right." Something clicked into place, and he gazed at Lori and
Shaine in horror. "Oh gods, I attacked..."

"He was
messing with your mind somehow," Lori said firmly. "It was probably
easier to trigger old behaviour patterns than to try any kind of
direct control. He found a weakness and he used it. That doesn't
mean you deliberately betrayed us. Get over it. Get up."

"Yes, do,"
Bane said, leaning down to slide an arm around Kevin and halfway
pull him to his feet. "Walk. Inside. Flynn has the kettle on."

Things got
fuzzy, but he knew there were familiar arms around him on both
sides helping him to his feet; in the warm brightness of the house,
a cup was held for him, and he obediently took a swallow of
soup.

"Jess?" he
asked.

"They're fine,
all three of them," Deanna said. "Badly exhausted. No injuries to
them or Eva that are going to be a major issue. We'll get them
cleaned up and fed and Mandisa can look at them tomorrow."

"Shaine?"

"In better
shape than you are. Take another drink."

"Too bad elves
don't jump-start," Aindry said, with a weak, slightly hysterical
giggle, from nearby.

"The other
guys?"

"Cynthia's
dealing with it," Sam said.

Bane hugged
him, and Kevin gratefully leaned against him, absorbing his warmth
through the blanket someone had wrapped around him. "It's all over,
phoenix. Now we can all get on with our lives."

"That sounds
awesome. Just as soon as I'm awake enough to do it..."

63

Jess shifted
position so Jaisan could lean against him more comfortably, and
surveyed the living room.

Everyone was
there, all more or less recovered from the battle a few days
before, though magically speaking it was going to be some time
before anyone was up to normal levels. Mandisa had taken care of
the wounds of the demon-wolves and Evaline, which would heal, and
treated Kevin's brush with hypothermia; exactly what she'd said to
the two healers while checking them, having banished everyone else,
they kept to themselves. Time would take care of all the rest. All
three cats had found welcoming laps and obliging hands, and Gwyn
lay sprawled next to Naomi.

"Well,"
Evaline said. "Looks like life can now get back to normal."

"Or become
something like normal," Jaisan countered.

"So. What are
you, meaning Aindry and Jess and Jaisan, going to do now?"

"Find a home
and a job," Aindry said. "Maybe someone to teach me more about
cars, that seems to be one of my stronger talents."

"You have a
home," Cynthia said.

"Will there be
room?"

"I'm in no
hurry to leave my mom," Flynn said. "This house has plenty of room,
it'll just take some time to fix up the parts that are in the worst
shape. You guys might need to share or something for a bit while we
get that done, but ultimately, we'll all fit. Stay here."

"I can't
really argue. There were some people who've been very kind to us,
too. I'd like to make sure they know why we couldn't stay and
couldn't explain and that we're okay."

"That should
be easy enough to do, and I'm sure it'll make them happy. And I bet
if we visit the garage, there'll be a job just opening up."

"I think I'd
like to go back to high school," Jaisan said slowly. "After that,
we can see what happens." He snuggled against his twin. "As long as
we're together. I think I'll get used to having lots of friends
again."

"Can be done,"
Lori judged. "Jess?"

He thought
that over. "I don't know. Maybe in September I'll go back to school
with Jais. It would be really cool to see if we can make us and Sam
exist legally again."

"We can call
one of Haven's very own lawyers and ask what we can do," Cynthia
said. "We can track down birth certificates and such, and get your
name changed back to what it should be, and whatever else."

"My uncle is
one of them," Evaline said. "He'll tell us for free."

"And I'm
wondering if it's too late to bring someone up on abuse charges. I
didn't realize until that demon looked like him, but... I think I'd
be able to leave it behind better. Not that he isn't a hotshot
lawyer himself, and he'll probably get off..."

"That's how it
goes," Shaine said dryly. "Hit the hookers and the street kids hard
and heavy, let the rich sons of..." He stopped, switched phrases.
"Bastards walk away after fucking with innocent lives."

"But just
knowing I tried might help."

"We'll look
into that too," Cynthia promised. "And you're quite right, we
should at least do our best. Anything else?"

"Long-term?
Maybe find a way to help the kids still on the streets who don't
have demon-luck and awesome friends to bail them out. But I have to
get myself sorted out first, so for right now I'm going to just
stick with working at the Brewery, if Tomas doesn't fire me."

"All of us,"
Sonja sighed. "I bet we have to work serious overtime for a while.
Maybe he'll put that on hold until after exams."

"This time,"
Kevin said, nestled between Deanna and Flynn—he said he still
couldn't quite get warm, and he spent all the time he could
cuddling with anyone willing, "nobody forget Jess is around,
okay?"

That got a
variety of winces and chuckles.

"We could
also," Aindry said, "get word out about Mom, if we aren't trying to
hide. We might not ever know what happened, or if she's alive or
dead, but we have to try."

"Definitely,"
Naomi agreed.

"Sam?" Liam
said. "This sets you free, too. What about you?"

Silence for a
moment. "After so long of it always being in the back of my mind
that I'd failed and that I had to watch for any survivors... I'm
really not sure. All the ghosts in Unity can rest now. Maybe if
some of the misinformation and prejudice about demons has been
shaken enough, I'll see if I can find anyone interested in learning
my kind of magic, since as far as I know I'm the only one left in
this part of the world who knows it."

"You can,"
Nick and Cynthia said in perfect synch, and looked at each other,
and laughed.

Sam smiled.
"Otherwise... if I'm not so worried about keeping secrets, it might
be nice just to relax and live."

"And come
party with us," Lori said. "We've been inviting you long enough."
She smiled. "And maybe other stuff."

"That
too."

"Shaine?"
Kevin said. "What are you going to do now? You don't have to feel
responsible for Jess anymore."

Shaine
regarded him quietly. "I could just disappear."

"You could,
but we'd miss you."

"True," Sam
said softly. "We would."

"You won't
find anywhere you belong better than right here with us," Caitryn
seconded.

"Besides,
without you, who'll yell at me when I'm being stupid?" Jess asked.
"And I might need you to tell a judge you saw lots of bruises. And
I think you and Kev and Lori are going to have an awesome time
messing around with fire and water magic. And..."