Nine Lives of an Urban Panther (23 page)

I walked toward her slowly. “I just don't understand. Why him? Hell, I could have taken better care of you than him. At least I'm in the same zip code.”

Inez looked up at me, the fire's light burning in her eyes. There was a charred mark on her shirt and if she had been human, she wouldn't have been breathing.

“He's more powerful than you know.”

“I don't care how powerful he is. He won't win.”

Inez pushed herself up to her feet and I let her. It would be more fun to knock her down again.

“It was Spencer who took the ghouls. All of mine with the mark. He was strong enough to rip them right from my fingers.”

“But that's Jovan's mark.”

Inez shook her head and smiled. “Guess you don't have everything figured out.”

I fought a ball of fear weighing heavily in my stomach. If it wasn't Jovan taking the power, then it had to be Jovan letting him take the power. Right? I hardened my stomach and pushed the question aside. “I know the important parts. You've betrayed your people.”

“He will protect them.”

“Aww. Did he promise you champagne wishes and caviar dreams? It's crap, Inez. Everything he says is crap. I should know.”

“You don't know, Violet.” Inez rolled up the sleeve of her jacket and I saw a freshly carved mark on her forearm. The Demon Lock.

My Legacy flared around me, fueled by the anger at this vat of stupidity before me. She'd bonded herself to Spencer. “He's been in my head for the past year, in my dreams. I know him. I know his ambition and exactly what he's capable of. He will not protect you. He certainly can't protect you from me.”

The magic of my panther ran down my spine, eased by the frustration at such a powerful woman being seduced by him. I shifted down into my panther form just as she threw a fireball where my head had been. The smell of singed hair was sharp as it filled my nose.

I leapt at her and she put up a wall of fire. I flew through it and we tumbled to the ground as I hit her straight in the chest. She fell back with me on top, claws digging into her jacket as I fell with her.

She landed on the ground and I looked down into her fiery eyes. Her magic filled her and fire spread from her fingers down her arms and covered her entire body.

I sprung from her chest and landed a few feet away, the hair on my legs still smoldering. I defaulted to the only fire prevention I knew. I rolled on the ground until I was sure that I wasn't smoking anymore.

Only to have to leap over another fireball, and then another.

This was a little harder than a wind elemental with a death wish. This felt like she was playing with me. Little fireballs. I'd seen this woman burn down a warehouse and walk away unharmed.

This was a distraction. We were dancing around something bigger.

I shifted on the other side of my car in its rock-star parking spot right out front like I'd asked for. From the smell of completely melted leather seats, it looked like my car had been the source of the explosion, and it still smoldered. Poor Miata.

“What are you keeping me from, Inez?” I asked stretched my neck, kneeling behind the car. My jacket was singed down the arms and my jeans were covered in ash. This was my favorite jacket. It was my power jacket and these jeans made my ass look amazing. Now I was pissed.

I rose just as she pushed the fire at me. It seemed to start at her shoulders, burn down her arms, and extended out through her hand as she aimed at me.

I stayed still and just put up my borders. Rock hard, a foot thick and cool as a cucumber, my power wrapped around me and I felt the heat from the fire as it flew around me but didn't touch me.

Then I smiled. Peter said that I could do it. That was a new trick for the books.

When the blast was over, I used the door of my desecrated Miata to leap over the car and land before her. Surprise filled her eyes before I wrapped my power around the two of us.

I let the Legacy swirl around us, and as much as she pulled for her power, it couldn't reach her through mine. Still a foot thick, I let it close around us and the sounds of the fire and the brawl faded away.

While my power suppressed hers, I let my words break her. “We could have been amazing, Inez. Two angry orphans protecting their families. Now I'm going to have to protect your people because you couldn't.”

I curled my hand behind her neck and landed a balled fist into her solar plexus. Inez crumpled. And with a throat chop to her scarred neck, Inez fell to my feet, unconscious.

As I looked down at her, I dropped the swirling wall of power around us. It was harsh. I knew it. But she had made her choice. She'd ended up on the wrong side of my line in the sand. There was a sickening thought and it churned my stomach. It really was my way or the highway.

No. It was my way or Spencer's way. I looked up at the others who had their elementals pinned or down for the count. I was wrong again. It was our way, or the highway.

Sensei walked up to me. He had a smudge of ash down his forehead and a twinkle in his dark eyes. “That was an excellent execution.”

“Not the best word choice right now.”

“She will be fine, Prima Jordan.”

“As long as it's not today.” I started toward the rest of my pack.

They were all fine. Bruised but better for it. There was a fire in their eyes and it had nothing to do with the still smoldering coffee shop.

“We've got about forty-five seconds before we get company,” Tucker said.

I was just about to suggest that we regroup when pain filled Jessa's eyes and she reached out for me. I barely had time to catch her before she hit the ground. The moment I took her hand I knew what had happened.

The words Jessa forced out hurt as she dug her fingers into my arm as she gasped for breath. I felt it too, like a dagger dragged through my gut. And I actually know what that feels like.

“There's been another sacrifice to the Veil.”

“Why does it hurt so much?” I whispered to her.

“The more powerful you get, the more powerful I get. I've told you this like a million times.”

I smiled. If she was dogging on me about this, she was going to be fine.

Jessa was the one who moved to stand. I helped where I could but did not interfere when she reached out to Tucker to keep her standing.

I looked around at the others. This semicircle of mismatched creatures, flushed from the fight, eyes still burning with their power.

“It does seem that trouble follows you,” Andrin said as he ran his fingers through his long black hair, creating that still perfection again. Like he hadn't just been dodging fireballs with the rest of us.

“Well, now you know that I didn't lie about anything.”

I heard sirens coming down the street. I pointed to the other side of a fence. And remarkably enough, everyone followed.

“I'll give us a bubble,” Willowbourne said. “They won't be able to see us.”

As she worked, I turned to the rest of the group. “This is your moment. I'm going in. I can't let Spencer get free. He's too powerful. Even if it's not Spencer, it's big.”

“Do enjoy your evening, Miss Jordan.” Andrin turned and walked down the street with a swagger that could have made any girl drool. If that girl didn't think he was a complete coward.

Valiance stayed. It looked like he planted himself on the concrete and forced his eyes to me and not his Clade Seat.

“You really ready to do that? I asked. “He is your leader.”

Valiance winced and I looked over his shoulder to see Andrin glaring at us. “I'll live.”

“I think I will respectfully bow out,” Kurt said. “We are not fighters, but if you need us, we are ever at your service.”

I nodded. “I understand. I might need to redecorate this place after it stops burning.”

Kurt bowed and stepped away from the circle.

A shimmer covered the space around us and the night grew a little quieter and the air stilled, like she'd put a glass cake dome over the small circle of us. Willowbourne joined the conversation. “I'm in. I'll bring the whole Coven if I need to. Except Twila.”

“Mom,” Twila whined.

“You are the heir to the Coven, Twila. I need to secure an heir.”

Twila actually stomped.

Willowbourne just raised a red eyebrow and there was something exchanged between them that made Twila drop her eyes. Her mother looked back up to me. “What do you need?”

I looked to Chaz and Jessa.

“Nothing special to mirror magic, except for the mirror,” Jessa said.

I looked to Chaz. He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “I've got everything in the back of my car.”

“Got a sword in there?” Valiance asked.

“Broadsword, katana, rapier? Iron or steel?” Chaz shot back.

Valiance nodded. “I'm good then.”

I was still awestruck. “Um. If we are going to make this stick, I'll need the Haverty knife.”

Twila practically jumped. “Oh, I can get it.”

I shook my head. “No it's—”

“Actually, she
can
get it,” Willowbourne said.

Twila wriggled to the middle of the circle of grown-ups. She put out her hand. “Just think about where it is, really hard.”

I took a deep breath. We were wasting time, but showing trust like this could secure the Willowbourne on our side for good. God, I was even thinking like a politician now.

I slipped my hand into Twila's and looked into her emerald green eyes. I thought as hard as I could about the knife and where I'd hidden it in the wall behind my washing machine up as far as my monkey arms could get it.

Twila smiled. “You're good.”

Her eyes took on the same stormy appearance as her mother's had and the cool spell crept up my arm. Twila reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out the Haverty blade.

I jumped back and broke our connection.

The girl simply held it out before her. “Ta da!”

“Holy cow,” I said as I stared at the thin blade.

“Is that the actual one?” Chaz asked.

“From behind your washer,” Twila answered.

“Guess there is only one way to find out.” I reached out for the blade and touched the flashing edge. The silver burned my skin and I snapped my hand back and shook the pain away. “Sure enough.”

Chaz took the knife and I smiled down at Twila. “That was amazing.”

Willowbourne put her hand on her daughter's shoulder as she addressed me. “I would appreciate if you didn't tell many people. It's a powerful skill and—”

Already, my brain was thinking of all the kick-ass things I could do with that power, the simplest being I'd never be without a pencil. “Secret's safe.”

Willowbourne nodded. “Now Twila. If Prima Jordan doesn't require his assistance, I'd like you to go to Remy's.”

Twila walked away from the group.

“Thank you, Twila. Tell Remy to set the stones tonight.”

Twila gulped as the grown-ups watched her draw a circle in the gravel of the parking lot with the toe of her tennis shoe and vanish with nothing more than a twinkle of light and the smell of ozone.

“I wasn't sure about Remy, but if he's one of yours, then she's better with him.”

“He really is a good kid. I promise.”

“Do we need to call in the troops?” Tucker asked. “Nash will kill you if he's not here.”

“I want all who will come.” I turned to Peter. “Except you. I want you safe.”

Peter's jaw turned to steel. “No, Violet. I want to help you.”

“I need a second line of defense. Go to Waylon. He'll know if you'll need to get the other Wanderers together. If you need to call in the Cause.”

Chaz's hand rested on my shoulder. “Aren't you being a little dramatic?”

“No, I'm being prepared. Plan A worked; I want to make sure Plans B, and C, and D are good to go, because I'm not letting Spencer's feet touch Dallas soil.”

Peter's blue eyes searched mine and I took hold of his hands. “I have faith in you.”

He opened his mouth and closed it again, then opened it again.

I smiled. “Have I actually struck a lawyer speechless?”

“No.” He fought the smile on his lips. “I'll call Devin and get him ready for incoming casualties.”

I warmed all the way down to my toes and smiled. “Thank you, Peter.”

Peter left the circle at a slight jog.

The street behind us was filling with police cars and fire trucks.

“Okay. Let's go.”

I led the six of us away from the fire. The whole front of the building was up in flames now. Poor Miata. Didn't see that one coming.

The elementals were being taken away in ambulances and the firefighters were already preparing the hoses to fight the flames. People were starting to gather to watch the flames. We had to look suspicious as we fled the scene, a ghostly pale blond man, a woman in a green cape, and a six-foot-tall woman with a burnt jacket.

Maybe it was Willowbourne's spell still wrapped around us. Maybe it was the dazzling display of the storefront burning against the night sky. Or maybe it was simply that the fair citizens of Dallas just were not ready to deal with vampires, witches, and shifters.

 

Chapter Twenty-Two

“A
RE YOU SERIOUS?”
I asked as we looked up at the Kessler Theater. “Isn't he dramatic enough?”

The Kessler was an old movie house that had been recently resurrected. It had history, which unfortunately made it a perfect place for a rip in the Veil.

Fourteen of us stood outside, about a block away, looking at the neon sign that lit up the neighborhood. This was the first front. Tyler and Nash had gathered Kandice and the Fang sisters. Willowbourne had called in two other witches. It was odd to see her pull a cell phone from the folds of her green cape, but the others came. Sensei looked small and humble in his nice dojo T-shirt and his usual practice pants. And Valiance looked like the cover of a romance novel with his blue eyes and white blond hair in the moonlight.

“What's the plan?” Tucker asked.

I looked to Chaz. “Should we go with the usual?”

“Seems to work.”

Chaz rubbed his hands together. “Okay. We split into three groups. Violet goes in the front all willy-nilly and—”

“Willy-nilly?” I asked.

“You know, with your power all out and scary. And I'll lead a group in through the sides and I'll meet you in the middle.”

It was as good a plan as any.

“Anyone else?” I asked.

“I'll put a spell around the perimeter, make it like tar to pass through, should keep the net small,” Willowbourne offered. “But its going to prevent help from coming as well.”

“I think the shifters should go in together. Just to keep the element of surprise when the rest of us show up,” Valiance put in.

“That's sort of brilliant,” I said. “Why aren't you Clade Seat?”

“About a hundred years too young.” He shrugged as he went to the back of Chaz's car to arm himself.

The others prepared. Tucker stretched. Nash took off his shoes. As I was reaching down for my own, Chaz pulled me aside.

“I don't want you to do anything stupid in there, Violet.”

His eyes were golden, readied with his power. I reached up to hold his cheek. “You know I can't promise that.”

Chaz smiled. He slid his hand around my waist and pulled me close. His entire body was tense, hard. He pulled my other hand to his chest and if it was anyone else in the world, I would have said that it was shaking. “But after this, we are getting married.”

“Wasn't anything stopping us before.”

“Yes there was. Always has been. You've got the biggest unfinished business I've ever heard of. We finish this. We get married and I take you on the longest honeymoon known to man and Wanderer alike.”

My eyes teared up. It was the last thing that I needed right now, to cry in front of the new recruits. “I like the way you think, Mr. Garrett.”

He leaned down to kiss me. A good luck kiss, and it tasted like honey.

“Get a room,” Jessa hollered.

I pulled away from my golden-hearted fiancé and turned back toward the troops.

“Really wishing you had worked on that ‘Roll Out' line, aren't you?” Tyler said as he popped his neck.

I laughed. It's what I needed right now to release the tension between my shoulder blades, which would only make it harder to shift later. And Tyler knew that. He saw what we all needed to be better versions of ourselves.

“We could just say, ‘I'll be right back,' ” I offered.

Nash rolled his eyes. “Because that works out well in the movies.”

Willowbourne joined us. “We have a saying. May the ground support your steps and the wind be at your back.”

“I like it. May the ground support your steps . . .”

“And the wind be at your back,” they echoed back.

And with their words came a sharp rededication of their promise to me. Without another thought, I pushed my power out to them, making my pack stronger and faster for this fight.

They were going to need it.

T
HE GLASS DOORS
to the theater were unlocked and I wondered what had been done to get this place this quiet at only eleven o'clock at night. The foyer was dark and smelled like ancient cigarettes and popcorn.

“Now be careful. We have no idea who's here,” I whispered as we slowly made our way across the space and to the theater door.

“He probably had to ship in help,” Nash said. “He's sucked all of his Dallas followers dry.”

I shivered at the thought of the ghouls again. I really didn't want to deal with ghoul guts again.

Carefully, I looked through the porthole window of the main hall. There was a spotlight on the stage but the rest of the room was dark. Not just dark, but pitch black, like all the light had been sucked out of the rest of the room and tossed onto the stage.

Where a man in a sharp suit stood next to a mirror, preening himself. Running his fingers through blond hair that was longer than I last remembered, as the suit stretched across shoulders that seemed bigger than the last time.

I growled and the knot of tension between my shoulder blades turned into steel. Spencer was already here.

“Keep calm, Violet. It's fourteen against—”

“Against Shades,” Nash said from the window of the other door. “Looks like he's been collecting an army on the other side.”

I focused on the darkness. It was squirming. I jumped away from the door and pressed myself against the carpeted walls behind me.

“More than likely, they won't hurt us. He won't let them. He'll want that honor himself,” Tucker said. I saw his knuckles go white as he gripped the trench knife.

Sometimes I forgot what Spencer had done to them. That this was as much their fight as it was mine. Their fight to officially separate themselves from that dark time in their lives. They had unfinished business here too.

“Let's get in there,” Praline said, a hot pink stun gun in her manicured hand and a bone-handled bowie knife attached to a custom pink leather belt around her tiny waist.

Lucy nodded in agreement. “We only paid the babysitter until midnight.”

I looked up at Tucker. “All willy-nilly?”

“Worked last time.”

I kicked off the wall and faced the door. With one deep breath, I dropped all of the shields I had around me. It enveloped the eight of us and my pack relaxed.

We could do this.

I pushed through the swinging door and was met with the acrid smell of Spencer and the coppery smell of blood. Of course there had to be blood.

Spencer turned around at the center of the stage, and even from the back of the room, I could see that the other side had not been kind. His beard was grizzled and covered a new scar down the left side of his face. But his navy blue eyes were still the same.

“Dearest sister.” His voice was still the same. The same smooth tone filled with confidence and ill will. “You look ravishing.”

I flashed a quick smile as I walked toward the stage. “I do try.”

What I couldn't see out of the corners of my eyes, I could feel. My pack fed me information through the connection of our power. The darkness didn't hide the Shades. The darkness was the Shades. And he had shipped in helpers. Bodies lined the edge of the theater. Someone had to perform the ritual, but in the one second I glanced away from him to study them, I could tell it was all him behind their dead eyes.

Full-on possession of others. He really was a demon now.

A self-made demon with an army of life-sucking Shades, plus two dozen meat suits. And I had fourteen in total.

The odds were not in my favor.

Halfway across the wooden floor, I realized it wasn't a mirror on the stage, but the rip itself undulating with a radiant light. Its cool energy began to trickle around me as I approached.

And then I smelled the faintest whiff of dust and cashmere. My eyes jumped down to the floral mass quivering on the floor of the stage.

“Iris.” My feet stuck to the ground and my stomach hit the floor. My entire body went numb as my brain tried to process what was happening.

There was a soft moan at Spencer's feet and he just glanced down at the woman as he walked closer to me. “Well, takes a big cat to get a big cat.”

What had I done?
“She was protected.”

“Until little Jane moved one little stone out of place.” Spencer smiled.

It hit me like an anvil to the chest. I couldn't breathe. Jane's possession not only moved a stone out of place, but also gave Spencer the location of the only other big cat in this area. Why hadn't I thought of Iris? What massive block had kept me from considering Iris as a potential target?

Tucker's hand crept over my shoulder. And then he pushed me forward with a loving you-stop-moving-you-die sentiment.

He couldn't know the stone in the pit of my stomach. I licked my lips and forced out some snark as I took another step toward him, the sharp smell of blood more vivid than anything else. “So you're adding maiming old ladies to your resume?”

“Seemed fitting. My father took her city, I took her life.”

My entire body flinched and the Legacy ran hot around me. “The two of us will have to start another cycle. You attack me, I kick your ass. You attack my friends, I kick your ass.”

Spencer smiled. I'd forgotten that his physical presence made part of me twinge. That his panther had tried to seduce mine. I steeled my nerves against it with the thought of how he'd violated Jane and I.

“We'll just have to see about that.”

The Shades attacked but we were ready for them. The shadow men came at us with their arms outstretched and mouths hungry. The eight of us had our stun guns readied and juiced before the first one laid a hand on Tyler.

I jabbed the stun gun into one and it ashed before me. I turned quickly toward Tucker and pried one off his back, slicing its neck with the Haverty blade. The shadow faded into my hands and I quickly turned to slice through another one on Praline's arm.

There was poetry in our motion and when I saw my people not even break a sweat as they dusted one after another, I leapt onto the stage to face Spencer.

“You have done a pretty good job with the leftovers.”

I held the blade tightly in my hand and holstered the stun gun. “You've obviously not gotten any smarter on the other side if you think they're leftovers.”

“But I have gotten more powerful.”

With a small flick of his hand, his power reached around me and threw me across the room. The frame of the stage stopped me and I cracked the wood with my head before I slid down. Two concussions. Maybe I'd break my own record.

“That's pretty decent, big brother,” I wheezed out. He certainly had gotten stronger on the other side. “Ever seen this one?”

With the focus of the blade, I threw the lightning energy at him that Yasmina inspired when she electrified me. Really did give a new meaning to Monkey see, monkey do.

It struck Spencer in the chest and he flew into the darkness of the side stage.

The rest of the first wave flooded in from the sides and the meat suits went for them. The battle had officially begun.

I rushed to Iris and fell to my knees. I dropped the knife by her head and grabbed her hand. I turned her face toward mine and still felt a small pulse at my fingers. They'd taken her in her favorite house dress and camel-colored shoes. “Iris.”

She parted her lips but nothing came out. Her blood covered my hand from the long slits up both her forearms. If nothing else, Spencer had gotten more thorough in his follow-through.

“I am so sorry, Iris.” I brushed a few wisps of her white hair from her still clear blue eyes, gentle of the purple bruise on her cheek.

“Shhh,” she whispered.

I looked over my shoulder at the Veil opened by her blood. It was large, larger than what Jessa was used to closing by herself. It pulsed at my back as I looked down at Iris.

Chaz leapt onto the stage and dropped next to us. “Iris.” His chin began to quiver.

She moved her hand so Chaz's was under hers and mine. With every breath she took, my power swarmed hotter and faster around the three of us. A few meat suits tried to attack us, but they couldn't get through. My world focused to just the three of us.

“You get Dallas back for good, Violet.”

I couldn't answer for fear of the sob that might escape me. I simply nodded.

Her head dropped toward Chaz. “Take care of yourself. And the farm.”

“Thank you,” he managed to get out, but he too was fighting tears. “For everything.”

Iris gasped and her body went rigid. I grabbed Chaz's shoulder, knowing we were both about to crack if apart.

She calmed and her gaze fell to me again. “Would to have liked to see some grandchildren.”

I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I've seen them. Seth and Jesse. They grow up on the farm and Seth is exactly like his father.”

Iris smiled and I kissed her temple. “Go, Prima. Leave me to my son.”

I looked up at Chaz. His jaw was rock solid as he pulled Iris into his lap. “You kill that sonuvabitch.”

“Nice and dead this time.”

Iris squeezed my hand before I pulled away from her. My bloody hand grabbed the knife and I rose.

The power still swirled around me as I turned to where I'd seen Spencer fly. Out like this, I could feel him. Where he used to be an inky black panther, he was now a tangled mess of power. Stolen power that was icy to my burning energy.

I followed the cold trail of power as I walked through the back of the stage, turning the handle of the knife over and over in my hand.

Where the wings of a theater would have held ropes and pulleys, the renovations had replaced all that with aisles of storage containers and catering tables.

I went for the Exit sign and kicked open the door to find Spencer just outside, stuck in the binding spell Willowbourne had put around the place.

I grabbed his collar and ripped him backward. He crashed against a wooden crate bigger and taller than him. The contents spilled out, an entire wooden crate of glass lightbulbs. That was a lucky shot if I'd ever seen one.