Relentless (34 page)

From somewhere in the house above us I heard what sounded like gun fire before a blood-curdling howl rent the air. My heart leapt into my throat. My friends were up there fighting for their lives, I had to do something and fast. I searched the room for something I could use even as my heart told me there was nothing here to help me. What I needed was a demon. I let out a desperate laugh. Where were all the vampires when I actually needed one?

“Sara.” Remy’s voice was filled with despair. “Help them… please.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. I’d barely gotten within two feet of the cage before the demon fire had driven me back. I was as helpless as Remy.

Remy’s tortured eyes met mine and he placed a hand over my chest “Demon in here.”

I shook my head and backed away from him. “No! I can’t do that. I-I don’t even know how.” All my life I’d struggled to control that side of me. Before I ever knew what it was, I knew it was dark and ugly; something to be kept locked away. The thought of releasing my hold on it now terrified me. What if I couldn’t restrain it again? What it if took over and I went insane like those other orphans Nikolas had told me about? What if I hurt one of my friends?

“Sara!” cried a small plaintive voice from the cage.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. The trolls were in danger because of me. If I didn’t save them, I could never live with myself. “I’m coming, Minka.”

I heard noise on the stairs and growling in the other room and I knew our time was running out. God only knew what was going to come through that door.

Come on
, I told the Mori hovering in the shadows of my mind.
I need you
. I had no idea how to do this so I just dropped the wall that held back the demon. At the same time, I closed off the well of power at the center of my being. The demon was afraid of my power and it would not emerge unless I promised it safe passage.

The demon shifted and stretched and inched forward hesitantly as if it could not believe the barrier around it was gone. Like a moth emerging from its cocoon it pulsed and spread its wings joyfully. My body shuddered as a new consciousness invaded my mind, rapidly spreading until my head felt like it would explode from the pressure inside.

I cried out and fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands. “Stop!” I screamed as the demon moved through me, filling me, boiling beneath my skin. I tried to push it back but it was too late. I could no longer tell where I ended and the Mori began. It was strong, so much stronger than I ever realized. It was consuming me and I was powerless to stop it.

My legs moved and I found myself on my feet, walking toward the cage. Dimly I waited for the blast of scorching heat. It never came and I knew the demon owned this body now. I watched as hands that looked like mine grasped the glass bars and ripped them apart like they were toothpicks. Through a haze, I saw the smallest troll throw her arms around the neck of the demon that looked like me, felt it lower her impassively to the stone floor and turn away as the two remaining trolls jumped from their glass prison.

“Sara?”

The voice came from a long way off. The demon whirled to face the man filling the doorway and my shrinking consciousness gasped at the powerful primal connection that stretched between the two of them like an elastic band pulled too taut. The band began to shrink, drawing the man and demon toward each other.

“What happened to her?” the man demanded of the troll as he strode towards us. The troll said something but I did not hear it. The man stopped in front of us and took the demon’s face in his hands with gentle firmness. “Look at me,” he commanded. The demon sighed at his touch and we looked into the man’s stormy gaze. I felt a tug at my dwindling consciousness but no name came forth.

“Sara, it’s time to come back now. Your friends need you. Roland needs you.”

Those names meant nothing to us. The demon blinked and stood with its arms at its side. I took one last look at those demanding grey eyes and began to slip away into the endless cavern of the demon’s mind. I sensed rather than felt the slap against the demon’s cheek and its head snapping back as the man shook the demon.

“Goddamnit! You will not do this, do you hear me?” The words were faint but the furious tone stirred a glimmer of recognition. I felt the demon twist violently as it struggled to break free of the arms that encircled it like bands of steel. I heard its roar of frustration when a voice began to speak incessantly into its ear. The words reached me like echoes in a vast room and there was nowhere I could turn to avoid them.

“You were right, Sara, you are not weak. In fact you are one of the strongest, most infuriating people I have ever met. You fight monsters, you befriend trolls and beasts, and you face horrors that would break a lesser person. And you walk headfirst into danger to protect the ones you care about. You are loyal, stubborn, and foolhardy and, though you don’t believe it, you are a warrior.”

The demon stopped moving and I floated closer to the man’s voice. A name floated just out of reach and I knew it belonged to the man whispering in our ear. Nikolas.

“Few Mohiri could have done what you did tonight, giving up yourself to save those trolls,” Nikolas said with quiet conviction. “You did what you had to do and now you have to come back to us. To Roland.”

The name conjured an image of a smiling face with warm blue eyes. “Roland?” I was not sure if it was me or the demon who spoke.

“That’s right. Your friend, Roland. He needs you now.”

Memories burst across my mind as my life, my friends, Nate – it all came rushing back. Roland needed me? I struggled against the demon but it was too strong. The Mori settled back, enjoying its new freedom and the feel of the strong young body it possessed.

Desperation filled me. I reached for the power I had closed off when I released the demon. The Mori knew what I was going to do and it fought me, trying to force me into the same place where it had been contained all these years. But I was gaining strength, enough to nudge open the gate. The Mori was strong but it was no match for the tide of power that swept upward, pushing it back and forcing it back into its previous state of sullen watchfulness.
No fair
, it whined as the barrier shot back up.

Sounds filled my ears: people talking and shouting, someone crying. My eyes focused and I found myself looking at Nikolas’s worried face. For a moment, I was disoriented until it all came back to me slowly. Then I remembered Nikolas’s words and the world slammed back into focus.

“What happened to Roland?”

“Where is he?”
I cried as I raced through the main foyer of the house, skirting around fallen bodies of men and vampires without sparing them a glance. I burst through the front doors to find two men I did not know standing guard on the steps, their warrior garb identifying them as Mohiri. They stared at me curiously and one of them who looked Indian said, “Who?”

“My friend, Roland. Nikolas said he was shot.”

“Oh, the werewolf,” his Korean companion replied dismissively. “He took a round of silver to the chest. His pack came and took him away a little while ago. Didn’t look good.”

His words, spoken with such indifference, were like a knife in my heart. “No!” I darted past them down the steps to the driveway. My breath came in short gasps and it felt like my chest was in a vise. I couldn’t lose Roland. I turned back toward the house as Nikolas came through the door. “I have to go to him. Please. He needs me.”

He came down the steps, sympathy written on his face. “Roland is with his people. If anyone can help him they can.” He stopped in front of me. “The men had silver ammo, most likely to protect themselves from the vampires they were working with.”

I shook my head and backed away. “No, no, you don’t understand. I can help him.”

Nikolas put his hands on my shoulders. “He took a direct hit in the chest, Sara. The pack will do what they can for him but this type of injury is almost always fatal to werewolves. I’m sorry.”

“No! I won’t let that happen!” I pulled away from him and swiped at the tears running unchecked down my cheeks. I raised my eyes to his. I would beg him if I had to, I would do anything to reach Roland. “I know I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and you have no reason to do this for me but I have no one else. Please help me, Nikolas.” 

Nikolas turned away and I closed my eyes as my heart broke.

“Erik, I need your bike.”

My eyes flew open as the Korean man who had so casually written Roland off as dead tossed a set of keys. Nikolas caught them and led me to two black motorcycles, handing me a helmet before he started one of the bikes. I jumped on behind him and we took off. He slowed down at the gate and I saw a tangle of bodies lying on the cobbled driveway. So much death. I closed my eyes and pressed my helmet against Nikolas’s back to block out the sight. I would not let my best friend become another casualty of this bloodshed.
Please, God… let us get there in time.

Nikolas did not try to talk to me as we sped back to New Hastings. I wrapped my arms around his body and clung to him as I tortured myself with images of Roland dying before I reached him. My visor was wet with tears by the time we hit the Knolls.

Brendan’s farm had always been the hub of activity for the family so I knew that’s where we would find Roland. The house was lit up and the driveway packed with vehicles when we got there. What if we were too late?

Nikolas drove the motorcycle along the edge of the driveway, taking me right to the front door where a dozen or so people milled around the step. Roland’s cousin Francis was there along with the two men who had shown up after the crocotta attack. I leapt off the bike and tossed the helmet aside as I ran up to them.

“Haven’t you done enough?” Francis demanded angrily, blocking my way to the door. “You are not welcome here.”

I had no defense because he was right. This was my fault. But Roland was my best friend and I would be damned if I’d let anyone keep me from him, especially now.

“I have to see him.” I started to push my way through but one of the other men held me back with one hand. I twisted, trying to break his grip. “Let me go!”

“Take your hand off her,” said a voice so frigid that the air around us seemed to drop several degrees. Nikolas walked up behind me and the man’s hand fell from my arm but he did not move out of my way. The tension on the porch was palpable as the werewolves faced the Mohiri warrior.

The door opened and Brendan appeared holding a tobacco pipe. “What’s going on here?” he growled and everyone on the porch fell silent.

“Brendan.” I used the distraction to slip between Francis and the man who had stopped me. “Please, I need to see Roland!”

He laid a large hand gently on my shoulder and shook his head. “I know how much you care about him but you can’t go in there right now. It’s not safe.”

“Not safe?”

“The silver went in too deep. It’s too close to his heart and we can’t get to it. He’s half mad with the pain and he doesn’t know anyone right now. He’d tear you apart.”

At that moment, an agonized howl split the air and I gasped at the pain I heard in it.

“He can’t heal,” Brendan explained gruffly. He coughed and his eyes glistened. “A couple of hours at the most.”

“No!” I pushed past him and he did not try to stop me. “Roland is not going to die!”

The house was full of people, most of whom I recognized from my time spent out in the Knolls with Roland and Peter. Some looked at me in confusion as I barreled past them and others sent me openly hostile stares. I ignored them all and shoved my way through them until I saw Judith step out of a room at the end of the hall. She carried herself with strength but her face was lined with grief.

I went to her, expecting her to throw me out of the house. Not that I wouldn’t deserve it. But I was willing to risk her rejection if there was the smallest chance I could help Roland.

“Sara, you shouldn’t be here,” she said in a choked voice. “Roland wouldn’t want you to see him like this.”

“I have to see him, Judith. I can help him.”

“Oh, honey.” She pulled me into a tight hug and I let her, sensing that she needed it. “I know it’s hard to accept but there’s nothing we can do for him now.”

“But I can. I really can. Just let me try,” I begged.

“This is no place for you, Sara,” Maxwell said from behind me and I could hear censure mingled with sorrow in his voice. “There is nothing you can do in there but cause yourself more grief. You should leave.”

I spun to face him. “No, goddamnit!” My voice rose above the din and people started to turn our way. It was the first time I’d ever raised my voice to Maxwell, but right now I didn’t care if he was the damn alpha of a werewolf pack. “I’m not going anywhere until I see Roland!”

I grabbed Judith’s hand and stared into her reddened eyes, willing her to believe me. “We can’t give up on him without doing everything we can. I can help him.”

“Sara –”

From inside the room a werewolf let out a long painful cry. I laid my hand on the door and felt the agonizing waves of pain on the other side. “Please,” I begged Judith.

Judith looked at Maxwell then nodded at me. I reached for the doorknob.

“What’s going on?” someone asked behind us. “What is she doing?”

I opened the door. “Whatever it takes.”

I walked into the room and let out a strangled cry when I saw the creature foaming at the mouth and thrashing wildly in the corner. The room had been hastily stripped of its bed and there was only a mattress on the floor. Thick chains ran from loops embedded in the floor to manacles on the werewolf’s wrists and ankles. I shuddered to think that they had a room already set up to deal with something like this.

The wolf’s fur was matted in places and still wet with blood and there was blood on the walls, mattress and floor. It was impossible to believe that this savage creature was my best friend.

“Roland?” I called softly and the wolf began to snarl and strain at the chains. Someone yanked me out of the room and I turned to see Nikolas.

I held up my hand. “It’s alright. I just tamed two hellhounds, remember?”

Whispers started in the crowd behind us. Nikolas reluctantly let me go and I went into the room again. I sat on the floor like I had in the cellar earlier tonight and opened myself to let the warm energy fill the room. I forced myself to relax then I began to talk to him in the same soothing tone I’d used on the hellhounds. I had doubted myself when I first tried to tame the dogs but now I knew what I could do. A crazed werewolf could not be much different than a pair of monstrous hellhounds.

“Roland, do you know who I am?”

The werewolf bared his impressive fangs and answered me with a low threatening growl.

“I see. Well that won’t do at all. I know you are in a lot of pain and we are going to deal with that soon, but first I think we need to have a talk. Or I’ll talk and you can listen. How does that sound?”

Another growl filled the room.

“I know I said that Remy was my first friend here, but you were always my best friend. The best times of my life have been with you and Peter. Remember when we used to have slumber parties and Brendan let us camp out in the hayloft that one time? We told ghost stories until we were all too scared to sleep and we ended up sneaking back into the house after everyone else went to bed. Or the time you nipped some of Brendan’s whiskey and we got drunk for the first time. I never touched that stuff again.”

I talked for half an hour, reliving the happiest memories I had of him and reminding him of the things we hadn’t done yet, the plans we’d made. My power filled the small room and slowly the wolf eased its thrashing and stared at me with tortured eyes. I stopped talking and noticed the silence in the room. It took me a few seconds to realize that the whole house was quiet, everyone was listening to me.

“Roland?”

The wolf let out a short mournful whine, his yellow eyes never leaving mine.

“You were pretty shocked to learn about Remy, weren’t you? But he’s not my only secret.  Remember the other day after the marina when I said there were things I had to tell you about me? Do you want to know what it is – what I can do?”

He blinked and made a small whimpering sound.

I got to my knees and began to inch slowly toward him until Nikolas grabbed my arm to hold me back. “What are you doing? That’s an injured werewolf. He’ll rip you apart.”

“No, he won’t,” I said without taking my eyes off the wolf. “You always ask me to trust you. Now it’s time for you to trust me.”

He held on for a long moment before he slowly released me. I continued toward Roland, stopping at the edge of the mattress to let a stronger wave of power flow over him. “I know it hurts a lot but I’m going to make the pain go away now. You know I would never hurt you, don’t you?”

The werewolf eyed me warily as I reached out one hand. It felt like the entire house held its breath as my hand touched a hairy paw. As soon as I made contact I sent the power pooled in my hand pouring into him. The effect was slower than I was used to but none of my other patients had been a four hundred pound werewolf.

“There you are,” I said when the yellow eyes finally softened in recognition. “You had me worried there.”

The wolf opened his jaws and made an inhuman sound like he was trying to talk to me before he sagged against the mattress and let out a shuddering sigh. My heart broke at seeing my friend in so much pain.

“Shhh,” I whispered to him, laying my other hand on his chest so my power could search for his injuries. It did not take long to find the source of his pain, a silver pellet embedded in one of the muscles around his heart. I needed to remove it if he was going to live. I had never used my power to remove a foreign object but I imagined it wasn’t that different from forcing an infection from the body. I hoped that was the case because Roland’s life depended on it.

I laid both hands over his heart and focused my healing on the piece of silver, trying to shrink it like I would an infection. I felt it twitch but it refused to be moved from the muscle.

The wolf looked up at me with trusting eyes and I gave him a reassuring smile. “I think this is going to require a bit more contact.”

I lowered my body to the mattress amid gasps from the people crowding the doorway, and wrapped my arms around the huge furry body. He did not resist when I pulled him to me and released a torrent of energy into him, directing it to the piece of silver that was slowly killing him. I held on tight as the heat built up in my chest where it touched him and my hands began to glow like pieces of iron in a forge. The werewolf twitched violently when the fire surrounded the silver pellet, slowly melting it and incinerating it into oblivion. The healing fire receded enough to fix the damaged tissue and smother the deadly fever that had started to spread through his body. When I could feel no more injury or sickness, I pulled the power back inside me.

My arms loosened their hold and I sagged against the wolf, more drained than I had ever been after a healing. “Now you know my secret,” I mumbled happily.

After several minutes, I felt the body next to me begin to shrink and lose hair. From somewhere close by I heard shouts and Brendan’s booming voice say, “Holy Mary, Mother of God!”

Arms lifted me and held me against a warm hard chest. “I think she’s just exhausted,” Nikolas said, his voice a mixture of worry and reverence. “Hopefully, all she needs is some sleep.”

So I slept.

*     *     *

A shaft of sunlight across my face woke me up. I raised a hand over my eyes and stared at the vaguely familiar lace curtains and striped wallpaper for a minute before I shifted to look around the room. My eyes fell on the shape of someone sitting on a chair in the corner.