Cursed To Death

“You go ahead,” Shogun said, dropping back. “I can throw off the dogs-I’ll split the scent trail.”

Hunter stopped and turned. “We stay together.”

“We stay together,” Sasha said, giving Woods and Fisher a chance to stop and gasp in deep breaths. “Shogun, I know how the human military and Homeland Security systems work over here. You’re a foreign national. You’ll be pi

“Under the circumstances, would that be so bad an option?” he said quietly, staring into her eyes.

She looked away. “Unacceptable.”

“But honorable.”

Hunter threw a punch that felled a tree and began circling. “Don’t go there, brother.”

Confusion tore through the ranks for a moment, but a hail of silver-tipped arrows made everyone jump back. Weapons raised with hair-trigger reflexes.

“Hold your fire!” a heavily accented voice called out from above.

All eyes quickly sca

“Friend, not foe!”

“It’s Fae archers,” Sasha called out. “Hold your fire!”

Silver Hawk moved with the speed of a wolf as Doc ran behind him, covering him with a nine-millimeter. But once the inside of the ambulance had been cleared of a potential Vampire ambush, Doc ravaged the medicine supply for anesthesia while Silver Hawk covered him with the weapon.

Everybody worked quickly, racing against the clock, racing against sirens. Clarissa was in another room in the B &B on the telephone with Tulane’s physicians explaining the predicament, while Winters and Bradley spoke to the terrified women in calm tones. Their whimpers were heartrending as the men covered their eyes with strips of sheets, blindfolding them while trying to reassure them that they wouldn’t be raped, wouldn’t be killed.

But their struggles against their bindings and screams that had to be muffled told everyone in the house that they didn’t believe a word that had been said. They were close to passing out on their own without the meds, believing they were going to die.

“We heard the explosion, first off,” a tall Fae archer said, jumping down from the trees with a half-dozen armed men. “We thought the Buchanan still had finally given up the ghost-they pushed ’er like crazy pumping out rotgut, so that didn’t surprise us. Nor did a couple of shotgun blasts. No offense, but the wolves often get rowdy and they have to bounce males who get too familiar with the ladies without paying the goin’ price.”

“But when we heard machine-gun fire,” another said, “Sir Rodney sent an advance guard to be sure there wasn’t an attack headed toward the fortress. I don’t know if your men made you aware after they left off the McGregors, but our entire camp was laid bare.”

“Exposed to the brick,” the lead archer said. “Took all evening to reverse the bleedin’ magick, and it’s still waverin’ in and out, not wholly stable. Sir Rodney said we could tell you that much, even though Fae business is usually a strictly confidential affair.”

Hunter cocked his head to the side and turned on Bear Shadow and Crow Shadow so quickly that Crow bumped into a tree. “You left an Elf family in the swamp with their fortress exposed and did not communicate that information to me or Sasha!”

Silence crackled between the trees, Sasha’s voice a low, calm murmur. “Safe haven… These men, like you and I, are under the influence.”

Hunter rolled his shoulders and walked away from his men to keep from savaging them.

“You lads and the lady kicked up quite a fuss in the glen,” the Fae captain said nervously, trying to divert the potential wolf fight. “Mayhap we might take all concerned back to Sir Rodney who can discuss the particulars we know about the dark magick.”

It had taken a bit of maneuvering, but Doc spoke medicalese and Dr. Williams well understood the issues. The two civilian women were admitted and placed under heavy observation in ICU, just as a precaution-should they wake up screaming.

Silver Hawk held the small table rapt within the cafeteria as he explained what he saw on his spirit walk with Hunter.

“Can you draw the symbols you saw for me?” Bradley asked, his gaze intense as he pushed a napkin and a pen toward the elderly shaman.

Silver Hawk nodded and accepted the paper to begin re-creating what he’d seen.

“The use of sigils-symbols-is the cornerstone of chaos magick,” Bradley said, closely studying the symbols as Silver Hawk committed them to paper.

“I would see a marking,” Silver Hawk said, “and then the person-one of us… And a shadow self of the person would walk out of their body.”

“Doppelgangers?” Bradley said, leaning forward quickly and speaking in a rushed, horrified whisper. “They’ve attached a dark sigil to the etheric or energy double of the person’s spirit, and thus can send all kinds of malintent into that essence to twist the behavior or even rob the person of their natural gifts and talents. It is an insidious spell, but a complex, brilliant, diabolical process.”

“It is theft,” Silver Hawk said, his eyes burning with wolf outrage, even though his voice remained calm. “To rob a Shadow Wolf of his ability to enter the shadows is no less than severing a limb.”

“To rob a person of his or her ability to reason,” Doc said, looking around the table, “is no less than that.”

“These symbols,” Bradley said, studying the series of napkins that Silver Hawk pushed toward him, “are combinations. They’re set up like bind Runes, with several spells linked together to harm one person.” He let out an exasperated breath and then picked up the one associated with Hunter. “This takes away natural gifts-which is the same for Sasha… Look at the symbols Silver Hawk drew on her napkin.”

Using his finger he traced the geometric shape. “Their natural gifts would be the ability to call their wolf selves or to merge into the shadows. But look at the one that is similar for Shogun and Hunter… in fact, for all of the younger male wolves. Not only have they been blocked from properly calling their wolves, which was why Shogun’s shape-shift was botched earlier today as the spell took root, but there’s something even worse layered on top of that.”

Bradley sat back, his expression tight with repressed fury. “This is such bullshit… They are betting that the males will tear each other to shreds. Look at this!” he said, slapping his hand on the table and causing a mild stir in the otherwise quiet hospital cafeteria.

“Fill us in, dude. I might as well be looking at hieroglyphics or Greek,” Winters said in a quiet rush. He glanced around and waited until the few late night visitors having coffee went back to their own conversations. “And keep your voice down, man.”

“Bradley, whatever it is, we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Clarissa said, rubbing his back.

“But they’re out there with weapons, all together,” he said, his voice fracturing with rage and worry. He took a deep breath and composed himself. “This symbol is sexual in nature,” he said, his eyes holding an apology in them as he stared at Doc and then Silver Hawk. “It increases libido in all the younger wolves; plus, follow this line,” he added, tracing the symbol with his finger. “This one spikes jealousy and rage right over the top of it. I can go to any one of the grimoires and pull these sigils and I bet I’ll get an exact match on what they mean; I’m 99 percent sure.”

“This explains so much,” Doc said, rubbing his hands down his face with a weary sigh.

Silver Hawk nodded and closed his eyes. “I have sent prayers to the Great Spirit to guide our children in the way of unity.”

“I’m also praying for peace,” Bradley said quietly. He returned his attention to the napkins. “Go to Sasha’s… Her libido is being tampered with, too. But rather than jealousy or rage layered next to it, hers is entwined with indecision. Do I need to say more? Both Federation alphas are out there with machine guns and grenades!”