The Undoing (28 page)

As he stepped closer to the bushes, Bear suddenly sat up.

Initially, Gundo thought his friend had simply had too much to drink and had passed out in the bushes. Except, he noted that Bear was naked.

“Where is she?” Bear asked.

“Where's who?”

“The dog?”

Gundo recoiled. “Oh . . . Bear. The pit bull?”

“No! That's disgust—” Bear closed his eyes, took a breath. “The
woman
. The shifter? Who could turn into an African wild dog?”

“Oh. Yes. Well, thank Tyr for that. Because there would be no explaining away—”

“I don't even want to discuss that.” He looked around again. “Guess she left me.”

“It happens. Especially with shifters. They're a very love-them-and-leave-them form of human being. As most wild animals are. But if we were Ravens or Giant Killers I would just congratulate you on getting laid.”

“Why?”

“I don't know, it's just something they do.”

Bear nodded and then, abruptly, his head tilted and turned. He was tracking a sound.

Gundo heard it, too.

They gazed at each other for a moment, then followed what they heard around to the side of the house. The crows were in the trees, silently watching as the winged pit bull, her maw wrapped around the thigh of a man, dragged him all over the grass, shaking him.

Most likely attempting to get him to release the puppy he held. Jace's puppy.

Gundo didn't know this man and he wasn't Clan. So who was he? And why was he holding Jace's puppy? She wouldn't like that; he knew that much. She was quite protective of that animal.

Bear started to move but Gundo held him back with his hand on his shoulder.

“Let me. You're naked and might spook him.”

Gundo stepped close, and although the pit bull didn't release the man, she did stop shaking him.

“She wants you to release that animal you're holding. Here.” He held out his hands. “Give it to me.”

Sobbing and blubbering, the man handed the puppy over to Gundo.

“Thank you,” he replied before stepping away with the puppy tucked into his arms.

“Wait!” the man begged when the dog began to yank him again. “You said she'd stop.”

“No, I didn't. I said she wanted you to release this puppy. You did.”

“You have to help me!”

Gundo shook his head. “No. I don't. I can tell just by looking at you that you don't belong here. And to be honest, you're much better off getting your throat ripped out by the dog than being found by one of the ladies. They can be . . . unreasonable when it comes to invaders.”

The puppy licked his chin and Gundo smiled. “Come on, little one. Let's get you back to the human who feeds you.”

As they walked toward the back of the house, ignoring the screams coming from behind them, Gundo held the puppy close to Bear's face and asked, “Does seeing it make you forlorn for your lost doggy love?”

“I hate you.”

When the woman didn't leave fast enough, the elderly one snapped her fingers at Leigh and the Crow immediately got the woman up and out into the hallway.

Ski put Jace on her feet. She'd already rebounded from her full-blown rage, something Ski had never seen before from her, and he turned her by the shoulders, leaning down to look her in the eyes. All he saw was the beautiful clear blue he adored. “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine.” She pulled away from him, faced the elderly woman. “Don't do that to me again,” she ordered.

“Then learn to control yourself. It's been two years.”

“Oh! You are—”

And then Jace was yelling at the woman in a language Ski did not understand. Albanian? Romanian? He had no idea. But the elderly woman was yelling back in the same language and he couldn't deal with it. There was just too much going on.

“Everyone, stop it!” he barked.

Both women turned from each other, arms folded over their chests, each tapping one foot.

“By the missing hand of Tyr,” he gasped, suddenly understanding, “
this
is your grandmother, Jace?”

The elderly woman turned her head toward Ski. She sized him up with cold blue eyes before she reached out and placed her hand against his chest. He felt a jolt of unadulterated power shoot through him and his wings burst from his back, ramming into an already wounded Alessandra. She screamed and hit the wall, cursing up a blue streak as several Crows went to help her.

“Another Protector,” the woman sighed. “Just wonderful.” She pulled her hand away and Ski's wings disappeared.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“She's obviously a witch of some kind,” Erin accused.

“Not a witch and watch your tone with me.”

“Or what?” Erin pushed, stepping forward, arms thrown wide.

“Are you really about to fight an old woman?” Ski asked, before adding, “No offense.”

“I am leaving,” the elderly woman replied, not sounding angry or upset so much as just annoyed by it all.

“Good!” Jace snapped back. “Go!”

If the woman heard her granddaughter's tone, she ignored it. “In two weeks,” she said, “I'm having a family dinner. You will come, little
inat
. Bring this one.” She gestured toward Ski.

“Oh,” Ski said, truly pleased. “Thank you.” But his smile faded when Jace spun around to glower at him. “What? That was really nice of her to invite me.”

“I never said I was going.”

“You'll come, little
inat
, or I'll be back,” her grandmother warned. “And we wouldn't want that, would we? And where's that other Protector so he can take me back home.”

Before Ski could ask for more information, Gundo rushed in holding Jace's puppy. He placed the animal in Jace's arms and then charged after Jace's grandmother, who'd already walked out.

That was around the time he noticed Bear standing there. Naked.

“Where are your clothes?”

“No idea. I think the dog took them.”

Kera, who'd been examining Alessandra's poor face, asked over her shoulder, “Brodie took your clothes?”

“No. It was a human dog.”

“I don't know what that means.”

“Well, get some clothes.”

“I thought you could just drive me to my house.”

“You do know that you're not getting into my car naked, don't you? You've known me for years. I should not have to explain that to you. That being said, we're not going home. Yardley needs our assistance.”

“I do!” she said cheerfully. Way too cheerfully for a woman about to go to a funeral. “We have to leave soon.” She looked at her gold diamond watch. “Yeah. Soon. Although I don't think Alessandra should go.”

“No,” Kera agreed. “She shouldn't. Her nose is pretty bad and I think her cheek is broken.”

“I'll take her to the medical room. You guys get ready.” Yardley placed her hands lightly on Alessandra's shoulders, then looked at Ski and Bear, smiled, and said, “Thanks!” before she walked out with her sister-Crow.

Ski had to admit . . . her cheeriness was off-putting.

“I still need clothes,” Bear pointed out.

“I don't think even Rachel's clothes will fit you,” Erin replied. “At least not the pants. But her stuff might fit you in the shoulders.”

Kera pointed at her boyfriend and ordered, “Vig, give him your clothes.”

“I already gave the geek my clothes. Let me call some of my brothers to go with us, and the bookworms can go home.”

Erin smirked. “Most of your brothers are passed out in our basement by our Fate's statue. And I swear to God, if even one of them pissed on her—”

“No one pissed on her,” Vig snapped back, but then he quickly muttered, “And we'll clean it up if we did.”

“Clothes, Vig.” Kera smiled at the Raven. “Please.”

Growling, he walked out of the room.

“I think he wants you to follow,” Ski told Bear.

“He does? He didn't say that.”

“
Would you come on! Idiot!
”

“Well,” Bear sighed, “I hear it now.”

He followed, and that was when Ski noticed that Jace was no longer standing there.

Ski looked around the room. “Jace?” He hadn't seen her leave. So where had she gone?

Lips pursed, Kera stalked across the room and using her fist, banged on the top of a large wood cabinet. “
Get out of there right this second!
”

Kera reached down and snatched open the door to the cabinet, and that's exactly where Jace was. Huddled inside with her puppy in her arms. The dog seemed to be handling the forced imprisonment quite well.

Ski crouched down and gazed at Jace. “What are you doing?” he had to ask.

“Just . . . relaxing. With my puppy.”

“Jace—”

“
I don't want to talk to anybody!
”

“Most people just walk out of the room. They don't stuff themselves and their dog into a cabinet as if they're attempting to be smuggled out of the country.”

He held his hands out. “Give me that animal.”

“Can't you call him by his name?”

“Jace.”

She handed Lev over and Ski held the dog in one hand and offered his other hand to Jace to help her out of the cabinet.

When she was standing, her fingers nervously brushing her curly hair behind her ears, Jace said, “Soooo . . . that was my grandmother.”

“Interesting lady,” Erin said softly.

Without even looking at her, Kera reached back and slapped Erin on the shoulder.

“Let's understand,” Jace went on, “and I'll only explain this once. My grandmother is not a witch or any variation thereof.”

“How is that possible?”

“Witches derive their power through worship, rituals, and sacrifice. My grandmother doesn't. Instead, she's an obtainer of knowledge. And what she obtains, she uses for power and control.”

“How?”

“With the power of her mind and sheer will. She worships no one, but knows practically everyone.”

Kera took a step back. “Is
that
why those archangels knew you?”

Erin smirked. “Archangels know you?”

“They called her Jacie-girl.”

“That's so cute. Can I call you Jacie-girl now, Jace? I have wings.”

Jace held up her hand in front of Erin's face to shut her up. “My grandmother is . . . unusual.”

“If she has so much power,” Erin asked, pushing Jace's hand away, “then why didn't she just come get you from the cult right away?”

“Because my mother said that if anyone tried, the first thing she'd do would be to slit my throat. She'd rather I die in her arms blessed by the Great Prophet than live in evil purgatory with my grandmother.”

“Nothing like a battle between a true believer and a true user.”

“
Erin
.”

“Don't be mad at her, Kera. She's right. My grandmother is a user. A very brilliant user. And exactly what the gods hate. She can use the power they dole out to others without ever giving them her love or fear. And she only uses her power when it benefits her or the family, never to help others. I love her, but this,” she said, gesturing to everyone in the room, “she does not and will not ever understand.”

“Why?”

“Because I chose.”

“She thinks you chose the cult?” Kera asked, flabbergasted. “You were ten!”

“No. My grandmother doesn't blame me for any of that.”

Erin studied the spot where Nëna had been before guessing, “It was because you chose to be a Crow. To be one of us. You chose a god.”

Jace shrugged, feeling a little sad. “And for that I'm not sure she can ever forgive me.”

Y
ardley adjusted her black sunglasses, smoothed down her black dress. The designer silk outfit ended just above the knee, but wasn't so short that anyone would be able to see her blue thong when she stepped out of the limo.

“Ready?” she asked her team.

“You sure about this?” one of her girls asked.

“Don't worry. We've got the easy part. And you guys are all set?” Yardley pointed to her own ear and her team nodded. Each of her sisters had in an earpiece so they could hear what was going on with Chloe and the others. Yardley didn't have one in, though. She was afraid Brianna would see it.

“You hear me, Tessa?” one of the girls asked. “They're ready, Yardley.”

“Great.” Yardley nodded at her team. “Performance time, ladies.” The driver opened the door of her limo and Yardley stepped out. Cameras went off and people filmed her with their cell phones. It was Los Angeles, so there was no sense of proper grieving. Instead, journalists and fans called out her name, acting like this was a movie premiere rather than a man's funeral.

A man who'd lost his skin.

Although that bit of information had been kept out of the news. Most likely by Brianna herself.

Yarldey's team surrounded her and walked with her to the church stairs.

Brianna waited at the top, wearing a sparkling designer gold dress and designer, six-inch gold pumps. Accenting that already bright outfit were diamond earrings, a diamond necklace, and multiple diamond bracelets.

The woman managed to stand out in a crowd of megastars.

That was
not
by accident.

When Yardley reached her, Brianna threw her arms wide, tears pouring down her face.

“Are you okay?” Brianna asked, hugging Yardley tight.

“I'm . . . okay.”

Brianna pulled away and Yardley suddenly had the worst feeling. As if dread and foreboding had been wrapped around her entire body.

She didn't know why she felt that way. Brianna hadn't said or done anything to cause it. Her tears seemed real.

“Come,” Brianna said, taking her hand, but that's when she noticed Yardley's watch. “A Rolex?” she asked.

“No. A Patek Phillipe. The Ladies Twenty~4.”

“How many diamonds?”

“A lot.”

“I love it.” Brianna lifted her head and purred, “At some point . . . I
must
have it.”

Yardley didn't know what that meant. Did Brianna plan to buy her own—a lack of originality that annoyed Yardley in general—or did she mean to take it off of Yardley's dead body?

A situation that would annoy Yardley quite specifically.

Brianna led Yardley into the church, somberly greeting each person by name as they passed.

Brianna moved down the aisle until they reached the front pew.

The family section.

Yardley tried to pull back, to sit somewhere—anywhere—else. But Brianna tightened her grip, nearly crushing Yardley's hand, and tugged her forward.

“It'll be great exposure,” Brianna whispered before she made some sobbing elderly gentleman move over so they could sit down.

Mortified, Yardley glanced back at her team, but what could they do? Especially since Yardley felt certain that Brianna would make a scene if given half the chance. Something this family did not need.

So, Yardley sat down and hoped that her fellow Crows were finding out something useful.

 

Jace walked back into the stairwell of the artist agency that still had Betty's name on the letterhead.

“It's clear at her office, but we'll have to be careful. Some agents are actually working today, but they're holed up in their offices and security is in that back room with all the cameras.”

“There are cameras?” Kera asked.

“Not in Betty's office. Mostly on her vault and in her agents' offices because she doesn't trust any of them.”

“Why does Betty have a vault?”

“I think that's where she keeps the screaming souls of her past assistants,” Erin said. “At least that's what everyone in her office thinks. Personally, I like to pretend it's just a joke.”

“Don't worry too much about the cameras,” Chloe explained. “Security is made up of shifters and they understand what's important.”

“Then why are we sneaking around?”

“The agents. Until we really know what's going on, we don't want them reporting back to Brianna that Betty's friends were hanging around. So be quiet and careful but don't panic.”

Erin joked, “So don't start killing people if they happen to see us?”

The others laughed but Kera didn't. “How is that funny?” she snapped.

Staring at her, Erin said, “We
just
had a wonderful, relaxing party barely a few hours ago. How are you already so uptight?”

“
Relaxing
party? How's that eye?”

Erin's non-swollen eye narrowed, but before Jace's two friends could start slapping each other silly, Chloe said, “Jace, Erin, Tessa, Kera, Annalisa, take the office with me. The rest of you, keep everyone else off our back. Nicely.”

The team moved and as Jace walked toward Betty's old office, she immediately felt a twinge of nostalgia.

Many good times she'd had here with Betty and some of the Elder Crows.

Jace loved just sitting and listening to them talk. And being chatty bitches, they didn't need Jace to say a word. It had been heaven.

Until now, Jace hadn't thought for a moment that she wouldn't experience those times again. But seeing what had changed in Betty's office . . .

Brianna had clearly made it her own.

There was just so much gold. And mirrors.

Apparently she loved looking at herself.

“It's like a narcissist's wet dream,” Annalisa muttered.

“I don't see anything obvious,” Kera noted. “Just the office of a tacky woman with an unhealthy love of the color gold.”

“We still have to check Betty's private room.” Erin pushed open the door to the bathroom, a luxurious space with a shower and a sitting room. She led them inside and, on the farthest end, she pressed her hand against the marble wall.

A latch unhitched and the wall opened to reveal another room.

“Betty used this space for Crow business,” Erin explained as they all moved inside. “And sleeping with male actors she thought were hot.”

The windowless room was pitch-black, but Erin moved her hand along the wall until she found the switch.

Jace stepped back in surprise at what she saw.

There was no blood. No carnage. But there were nine sacrifices of men and women.

And all suicides from the looks of it.

They'd drunk something and then had lain down to die, their naked torsos draped over the legs of each other until they formed a perfect circle. Their empty wine cups were still gripped in their hands. Smiles on their faces.

Blood anointed their foreheads, chests, and groins. And they'd been tattooed with ancient runes.

They were all young and beautiful.

Standing still, the Crows looked around the room, but they didn't see any demons. No spirits. Nothing had been called, from what they could see, that would warrant such a sacrifice.

Then the first one moved. A jerk, really. The entire body sort of spasming in death. Because they were dead.

“They're coming back,” Annalisa warned.

But Jace didn't think so. “No. They're not coming back. They're a portal.”

Chloe pulled out her blades and everyone followed suit. Seconds later a fist punched through the chest of one of the sacrifices. The fist pulled back but was quickly followed by two big arms. Hands slapped against the ground, blood and organs pouring on the floor as a man pulled himself out, blood-soaked leathery wings following.

“Oh fuck,” Chloe breathed out, motioning to the others to back away. “Go,” she softly ordered. A command Chloe had never given before. A retreat? Crows didn't retreat.

“What?” Tessa asked, as shocked as Jace.

“Go. Now.”

Kera turned toward the door but it slammed in her face. “Guys?”

“
Tear it down!
” Chloe screamed at her and Kera turned to her side, angled her shoulder, and ran full-out, slamming her body into the door, ramming it off its hinges.

She and the door landed on the floor.

“Get out!” Chloe yelled, pushing everyone back into the bathroom. “Out!”

Jace looked over her shoulder. More men had torn their way out of the sacrifices. Like full-grown newborns, they were naked but covered in blood and bile and waste.

The Crows all scrambled into the office, Chloe slamming the bathroom door shut and pressing her back against it.

“We have to go!”

“What's happening?” Tessa demanded. “We've fought demons before, Clo.”

“These aren't demons.” She let out a terrified breath. “They're Hel's Carrion.”

The air left Jace's lungs and even Annalisa and Erin showed fear as they backed away and moved toward the front door.

Only Kera seemed confused, looking around at her sisters.

The bathroom door jerked and Chloe shoved back, trying to keep it closed with her body.

“Chloe, run!” Tessa ordered.

But their leader shook her head. “Go! Now!”

Yet Jace knew they wouldn't leave their leader. Not to face the Carrion alone.

“Kera!” Erin barked. And the battle-buddies who rarely got along in everyday life became a mighty team. Understanding each other without more than a word.

Kera dashed forward and grabbed Chloe around the waist, tearing her from the door. Erin took her place in front of it, and flames leaped from her fingers and then her hands. She began to chant and the flames grew until she held two lines of bright orange flame. Like two whips, one wrapped around each arm.

Erin unleashed those whips, slashing through the door. The Carrion roared in rage from the other side and burst through the wood.

They were all big, strapping Vikings of old who hadn't been taken by Odin or Freyja, but Hel herself, goddess of Helheim, land of the dead, and the one Nordic deity who truly did not answer to anyone, even the mighty Odin. Some of the Carrion had been damaged by Erin's flame, parts of them slashed, but already that skin was healing.

Erin spun one of the fire whips above her and when she lashed out, it wrapped around the neck of one of the Carrion.

Erin pulled, trying to remove the head—a move that had worked for her in the past. But not this time.

As one, the Carrion roared again. They had fangs and their eyes were green and black.

Erin released the Carrion's throat and clapped her hands together. When she pulled them apart, a wall of flame spread out from one side of the room to the other.

“Go!” Erin yelled at her sister-Crows. “
Gooooooo!
”

They ran, charging out the door, into the hallway past shocked agents and security guards, and down the fancy stairs that had won the building's architect important awards.

The Carrion screamed a battle call from the office.

“Move!” Chloe ordered seconds before the entire building shook, all of the Crows tumbling down the massive stairs until they hit the first floor.

Jace was the first to get to her feet. When she looked back at the stairs, she expected to see the Carrion right behind them, but all she saw were the agents and security guards who'd tumbled down the stairs themselves.

The human agents were still too stunned to move, but the shifter security guards were getting to their feet.

One shifter, a woman whose auburn eyes suddenly changed to bright yellow like a dog's, stared past Jace to the front exit. As Jace watched, the woman's lips pulled back over growing fangs, and claws eased out of her hands.

Jace knew what the shifter saw. She knew what scared her.

Jace pointed at the humans. “Get them out of here,” she ordered the security team. “Now!”

As the shifters moved, picking up the few agents and running back up the stairs and out another exit, Jace finally turned around and faced what was behind her.

The Carrion blocked the front door—and the Crows' way out.

“Are you frightened, slave?” their leader asked in Old Norse, his voice dark and gravelly. He bent down so that he could look Jace in the eyes. “Because you should be.”

“And you should leave, now,” she replied, also in Old Norse, surprising the Carrion.

Their leader studied Jace, but before she could convince him, Chloe got to her feet . . . and extended her wings.

“Crow!” one of the Carrion roared.

Weapons were pulled and one of them slashed at Chloe. She reared back, but the blade wouldn't have touched her anyway. Kera's axe—a weapon given to her by Freyja—blocked and held it, the runes on her handle glowing.

As she struggled with the Carrion in front of her, another came up behind her. Erin tried to step in but was backhanded, sending the redhead spinning across the room and into the wall.

Seeing her sister-Crow harmed, treated like the slave these ancient Vikings believed them to be, had rage rising up in Jace, splintering and racing through her veins.

Jace screamed and charged all the Carrion, no longer caring about their powers, her fear, any of it. She bellowed and ran at the leader. The one she couldn't stop focusing on. The one she automatically hated. She ran at him, launched herself into his arms, and rammed her blade right into his eye.