Forsaken (36 page)

I
looked out at the rest of the shape shifters in the room as they
slowly pulled themselves back to their feet.

"I
take no joy in what I'm about to do, but it is past time for us to
stop allowing the Coun'hij to direct our aggression inward. Our
natural enemies sit out there growing in strength. I will see them
trimmed back, but before that can happen the Coun'hij must be brought
down."

I
turned back to Agony, but before I could strike he managed a scream.

"Kill
him!"

Half
of the Coun'hij bruisers started toward me instantly. I relaxed my
grip on my power slightly and brought Agony's enforcers to the floor
in two distinct groups. Those who had remained still, ignoring
Agony's command, and those who'd tried to attack me. None of them had
made it more than a few steps.

"We
don't have a legitimate government anymore so might is the only thing
that rules us now. By the might our Maker has granted me, I pronounce
a sentence of death on Agony and those who were about to attack me en
masse, in opposition to every tradition of challenge we've ever had
as a people."

**

It
had been me who screamed when Agony had been about to kill Alec. I'd
sworn to myself that I would be strong, but when Alec had collapsed
and been unable to get up, I hadn't been able to help myself. I'd
cried out and squeezed both Dom and Rachel's hands.

When
Alec's ability had re-manifested I'd fallen in such a way that I'd
been able to see him still from my little spot on the ground. I'd
watched as he'd realized that he finally had the power to protect all
of us that depended on him.

The
lure of that kind of power was undeniable, but when Alec looked at me
I didn't see avarice in his eyes, I saw relief. More importantly, I
saw hope there again.

I
pulled myself to my feet along with everyone else when Alec allowed
us to stand and I stopped breathing when Abaddon and the others
rushed him. As Alec pronounced a death sentence on Agony and over
half of his men, I saw him shrink back down to the human shape that
in many ways represented what he was trying to accomplish with his
speech.

I
watched Alec shift his hand back to something with the claws he
needed to carry out his pronouncement, and I watched as Alec ended
Agony's life. It was terrible. I didn't want to be the kind of person
who could watch someone die without feeling anything, but it was
also justice. Agony had killed hundreds of people, and for their
sakes, I refused to look away.

Alec
moved from one fallen hybrid to another, killing each of them until
he'd finished with the group that had tried to attack him, and then
he looked over at Oblivion.

"I
have no wish to fight you, Oblivion. If I let the rest of your men up
will you guarantee their good conduct?"

Oblivion's
nod was unmistakable, and an instant later, Alec shut off the greedy
little black hole that I'd been able to feel trying to slip the
bounds of his will. Oblivion waited impassively as the rest of
Agony's men slowly got back to their feet. They moved like old men,
like Alec had captured more than just the strength of their muscles,
but maybe that shouldn't have been such a surprise. These were brutal
men who'd hitched their wagons to the Coun'hij's star. It had to be a
shock to see Agony fall and know they were walking out of here solely
on Alec's sufferance.

Once
all of the enforcers were on their feet, Oblivion led them out of the
room without looking back. Alec stood in silence for several seconds
while every eye in the room remained unwaveringly fixed on him.

"Ulrich,
I'd like to talk to you."

"Is
that a demand or a request?"

Alec
sighed and pointed at the corpses he'd left scattered about the room.

"It's
a request. I have no desire to kill anyone else. If you refuse me
then I will take my people and leave, but I think a better course
would be for you and I to talk."

Ulrich
looked at Alec for several long heartbeats before he finally nodded
and stood. As Alec followed Ulrich towards the stairs Vicky, Shawn
and another man detached themselves from the rest of the Chicago pack
to follow. James and Ash headed that direction too. I was pretty sure
I wasn't supposed to be in the meeting, but I couldn't bear to let
Alec out of my sight right now, so I followed along after all of the
bodyguards.

Everyone
moved quickly but I managed to stay only a few steps behind them.
Five minutes later, Alec, Shawn and Ulrich stepped into a huge study.
I tried to follow them inside but Vicki put a hand out and stopped
me.

"You
have no standing in either pack."

James
growled and took a step forward, but Ash put a hand on his arm and
shook his head. It wasn't an order, more like a bit of unsolicited
advice, but James stepped back to his original position. The door
wasn't shut yet so I could hear Alec's question to Ulrich.

"I
know it's against protocol, but I'd like to have her in here with us
if you don't mind."

It
was Shawn who responded. "I'm here in an advisory capacity. It's
not unreasonable for Alec to have an advisor in here with us."

Ulrich's
deep rumble didn't sound happy. "Are you keeping counsel with
humans now, Alec? How can you guarantee that she can protect our
secrets?"

"I
can't guarantee anything of the kind, Ulrich. I have no good reason
to request her presence other than the fact that I would like her
here. I've...missed her."

Shawn
returned to the door a second later and waved me forward. The inside
of the study was only a hair short of opulent. Leather-bound books
filled bookcases that reached all of the way to the twenty-foot
ceilings. A massive desk dominated one side of the room, with stained-
glass windows taking up that entire side of the room. I had a brief
second to take in that the window seemed to be a scene with a king
and four figures arranged before him, and then my attention was
pulled to a group of chairs that was arranged off to one side of the
room.

Alec
and Ulrich were both already sitting down and Shawn was headed back
towards the chair next to his father. I took the chair next to Alec
and then watched while Ulrich picked up a remote that presumably
turned on a privacy box.

"What
do you want, Alec? I need to start damage control for the mess you
just handed me."

"I
want you to know that I was serious about what I said out there.
Every word of it."

Ulrich
snorted. "I could tell you were serious about it downstairs. You
didn't need to drag me up here to tell me so in private."

"No,
I didn't. I wanted to see where you stood, though, without putting
you on the spot in front of your people. I won't start this out by
destabilizing healthy packs. We're going to need every wolf and
hybrid we can get if this is going to work."

Even
I could tell that Ulrich wasn't impressed. He leaned forward and
speared Alec with his gaze. "This can't work, Alec. You're one
man, you can't be everywhere at once. Whoever throws in with you is
going to be in constant danger of attack from the rest of the
Coun'hij. You've struck a blow today but you haven't crippled them.
Even if you managed to find their headquarters and wipe out every
one of their enforcers, you still couldn't stand against Puppeteer.
He'll bring an army of mind-controlled werewolves down upon you, and
when they leave you'll all be dead."

"We're
going to have to face the werewolves eventually. It's only a matter
of time before they rampage through the world and destroy
everything."

"I
can't argue with that, but the way to kill the werewolves is a few at
a time. Surround two or three of them with a couple dozen wolves and
minimize our losses. That's not the way Puppeteer works. Is anybody
really sure how many he can control at once? Fifty? Sixty? A hundred?
Even if he has a limit to how many he can actively control, what's to
stop him from staging them and bringing them in wave, after wave,
after wave? Two packs can't stand against that. Hell, six packs
couldn't stand against that."

Ulrich
sat back in his chair, and for the first time since I'd arrived, he
looked tired. Not tired like he'd just got done having Alec drain him
of energy, exhausted like he was fed up with having his back to a
wall, like he wished for once that he could trust someone beyond his
family and his immediate lieutenants.

"Alec,
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to believe in you, but your dad
and I talked all of this through more than two decades ago. Back when
his pack was nearly as big as my pack, and he thought he was just
months away from an alliance with Jaclyn. Even back then with more
bodies than we could possibly muster right now, I still didn't
believe it was possible. The other side just has too many cards in
their favor. The best we can hope for is to wait Puppeteer out. Once
he dies of old age, you and Shawn might have a chance."

I
watched as Alec considered Ulrich's words and then shook his head.
"No, there will always be a reason not to act. Between now and
when Puppeteer dies, there will be more hybrids who manifest powers
and join the Coun'hij. For all we know, one of the idiots that walked
out the door with Oblivion is only days away from manifesting
something that makes Puppeteer look positively benign. We need to act
now and rely on providence to provide options for us. I will
overthrow the Coun'hij no matter the cost to me personally."

Ulrich
looked over at Shawn and waited for several seconds until Shawn
reluctantly shook his head. I suddenly realized why Shawn was
present. He was here to tell his father whether or not Alec could
accomplish what he'd just promised to do. Alec needed Ulrich's
support, and he wasn't going to get it.

I
wasn't strong or dangerous, but Shawn's comment from back at the
airport was running through my head. He seemed to think I had some
kind of potential to make a difference. I didn't know if he was right
or not, but I couldn't let Alec do this alone.

I
reached out, took Alec's hand, and then cleared my throat. "I
will do everything in my power to help Alec bring down the Coun'hij."

Shawn's
head snapped towards me. It was a small movement, but it was abrupt.
In someone else it would have been the equivalent of falling
out of their chair.

I
squeezed Alec's hand. "Promise to bring down the Coun'hij now,
Alec. But remember, this isn't just about you."

Alec
looked at me oddly. I knew he didn't understand what I was doing, but
he nodded in trust and then turned back to Ulrich.

"I
will use all of the resources at my disposal, my power and the powers
and abilities of those sworn to me, those who support me in any way,
to bring down the Coun'hij and usher in a new era for our people."

Shawn
had gone completely still. Ulrich seemed content to wait him out, but
I wasn't.

"Tell
them, Shawn. Tell them exactly what you know."

Neither
of the Bishop men were happy about the order, but it was Ulrich who
stood up like he was going to do something about it. Alec rose to his
feet a fraction of a second later and put himself between Ulrich and
me, but it was Shawn who waved his father back into his seat.

"I'm
the one who told Adri, Dad. She promised not to tell anyone, which
she hasn't quite done yet."

Shawn
looked at the three of us and then took a deep breath. "Alec, I
haven't been completely honest with you. I developed a power a few
years ago. I can sense whether or not someone can deliver on a threat
or a promise. When you said downstairs that you were going to see the
Coun'hij trimmed back, I knew you could do that, but I was surprised
by the effort that was going to be required."

Shawn's
eyes went distant for a moment. "You trimming back the Coun'hij
will require blood and suffering on a scale I've only seen in one
other potential promise. When you said just now that you'd overthrow
the Coun'hij, I weighed the forces on both sides of your promise.
Your commitment is pure. It is a cleansing pillar of fire that was
poised to recruit powers that dwarfed your earlier promise, but it
wasn't sufficient for the task you'd vowed to undertake."

For
nearly a minute, Shawn looked at me in silence. "When Adri
promised to help you, I felt the forces that she will somehow bring
to bear, and they are only slightly less than what you were going to
amass. Just now though, together, you're bringing potential power
into play that makes anything else I've ever seen look like a drop in
an ocean of violence. Together the two of you are truly more than the
sum of your parts."

I
returned Shawn's stare and then very deliberately asked the question
we all wanted to know. "Is it enough? Can Alec...can we
stop the Coun'hij?"

For
a second I thought Shawn wouldn't respond. "It's not just the
Coun'hij. I've felt the power of the Coun'hij, and they can't match
what I just saw arrayed against you. There are forces at work that I
don't understand, but yes. You can succeed...I think you have to
succeed or there won't be anything left of the world."

Alec
turned to Ulrich one last time. "Will you help me, Ulrich? Will
you give our people, our world, a chance?"

Ulrich's
nod was a short, simple thing, but I was realizing that it was simple
things that turned the world.

"Yes. The house of Bishop will stand with you."

Adriana Paige
The Bishop Compound
The Outskirts of Chicago, IL

I'd more or less moved through the rest of the day in shock. I'd tried to
pay attention while Alec, Shawn and Ulrich had started planning for
their war on the Coun'hij, but by that point I was so tired that it
was all I could do to keep my eyes open.