Cursed To Death

Fisher lifted a shoulder ca

“I like the way this man thinks,” Sir Rodney said with a smile.

“Before we blow the roof off the sucker,” Sasha said, staring at the mansion, “we need to know if there are any i

“Anybody in there is not i

Baron Montague opened his eyes and sat up slowly in the dark chambers beneath the house. “We have guests,” he said calmly as two female Vampires gathered in closer to him yawning. “I smell blood.” He looked up at the vaulted ceiling in the concrete cavern. “Blood tainted by silver,” he said snarling. “Guards!”

A huge blast rocked the house. Small crumbles of concrete rained down on the bed as he jumped up and dressed in a flash. All above him he could hear battle raging. He shut his eyes and his entire estate came into view. The manor was an inferno above-that would draw humans!

“Fools! There will be blood for this transgression!”

“Give them Kiagehul!” one of his lovers screeched. “The little bastard has caused us nothing but trouble-we are not involved in this… There are Fae out there fighting alongside both wolf clans!”

The baron slapped her in frustration, but fear for her life made her hiss and challenge him. “You may not like to hear my words but you ca

Her sister screeched and drew to her side. “Listen to her, Geoff-they will find the vault and open this sanctuary in broad daylight, damn you! Give them the fucking little troll, or whatever he is! Let the Unseelie queen be outraged that they took the law into their own hands and beheaded him! This is not our battle.”

“Oh, but there will be hell to pay for an unprovoked attack without proof!” the baron snarled between his fangs. “A botched attack on their human boy does not begin to redress this offense… We lost one of our own-according to law, that is enough of a fine for going after the little miscreant… And now they’ve laid siege to my lair in an unauthorized attack?”

“Feel the walls,” the other sister said in a hiss. “They are practically glowing. How long do you think it will take for the house to burn down to ash and for them to find us huddled in a corner, screaming for them not to open this tomb!” She stood up on the bed and then levitated toward him. “Give them the betrayer!”

The baron sent a black charge toward her, but she and her sister deflected it with a snarl.

The eldest sister circled him like a hissing cat. “You do not have enough energy to hold them off from this lair, keep it cool enough in here that we not suffer, and fight us-now choose!”

Priceless antiques were going up in flames. Machine-gun reports rang out and echoed in his mind’s eye. His best human security forces were slaughtered… his bouncers in upper-floor lairs had been sentenced to instant death by daylight. The baron turned away from her, closed his eyes, and sent a hard, flashing image of Kiagehul’s hidden coven to Sir Rodney.

“Fall back!” Sir Rodney shouted.

Sasha looked at Hunter as he jerked back a silver-shell-loaded AK-47. Shogun caught up to them, dusting dead Vampire embers off his fatigues.

“Woods, Fisher!” Sasha hunted for her men in the billowing smoke, but let out a hard breath of relief when one last grenade blew and she saw them jogging from the far side of the building as it collapsed.

Sir Rodney used two fingers to point toward the woods, and then closed his eyes and grabbed his forehead. “I can see him,” he said, wincing. “The Vampire gave him up, put the image in me bleedin’ ’ead! But we will have hell to pay… The Vampires were not involved, only spectators in the larger game. I can sense it in me magick; it’s deep in the marrow of me bones!”

“Oh… shit…” Sasha stood numb for a second. “The retaliation is going to be a bitch.”

“I’ll say.” Woods spat on the ground.

“Who would ever have believed that Vampires were i

Hunter ran over, grabbed Sir Rodney’s temples, grimacing as his right arm shook from the pain. “We’re healers… by nature,” he said, breathing hard. “I’ll take the pain; he’s stabbing the image into your mind, enraged… but the information is invaluable.”

“Your arm,” Sasha said. “Let me do the extraction.”

Hunter just stared at her but didn’t stop. She nodded and backed off. It was an intimate process; if there were other thoughts, they could complicate matters.

“Just get it outta me bleedin’ head! For the love of all things holy… it was duplicity in its highest form!”

Sir Rodney slumped as two of his best men held him in Hunter’s grasp. After a few moments, Sir Rodney’s body relaxed and Hunter’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. When he came out of the daze, he was snarling and his eyes were pure wolf. He dropped Sir Rodney in the arms of his men, pivoted, and took off into the glen. Shogun and Sasha were right behind him with a retinue of archers swiftly navigating the trees.

Helicopters were not far in the distance. Fire-engine and police sirens were closing in. But Hunter had the trail in his mind. He picked up the scent on the back of his palate; if he could have called his wolf, he would have been four paws on the ground and one with the wind.

When Hunter found him, Kiagehul was barricaded in a mansion that instantly faded to nothing more than a quickly drawn black magick circle. The onslaught of now strong Seelie Fae tracking magick had left his target exposed. Hunter skidded to a stop, and the frightened Unseelie brandished a dark charm and a wand, following Hunter’s every move.

“Stay back, wolf!” Kiagehul shouted, fear stripping his glamour.

“Your head is mine,” Hunter said, taking short lunges to terrorize the evil being that had wreaked so much havoc.

“If you touch me, you will be cursed for a hundred generations!”

“Don’t touch him, Hunter!” Sasha shouted.

But Shogun left her side to begin circling with Hunter.

“MacDougall?” Sir Rodney said, pushing past the wolves. “Me own damned bodyguard-me best man? What is this madness?”

“Ke

“Treason!” Sir Rodney shouted, his fingertip sparking as he pointed hard at Kiagehul. “You were my most trusted, because of who your mother was to my court!”

“As though my father’s Unseelie line never mattered?” Kiagehul said, his eyes narrowed with hatred. “Had the Fae wars waxed differently, I would have been in line to rule.”

“But they didn’t… and I gave you a high post nonetheless-for your Seelie mother!” Sir Rodney shouted, veins of rage now standing in his neck and at his temples. “You take up your fate and lack of inheritance with your cold hearted queen, not me! She was the one who passed you over because of your father’s ineptitude in battle. I gave you asylum!”

“Dead man walking,” Hunter said, snarling.

“It’s like watching a foxhunt when the quarry is finally at bay, eh Kiagehul, you rat bastard?” an archer shouted from the trees, and then spit out the twig he’d been chewing on. “Only I’d like to see these dogs of war leave nothing of your stinkin’ carcass to bring home.”

“Did your queen know?” Sir Rodney paced along the perimeter of the black magick circle. “Out with it!”

“My queen will benefit greatly from your fall,” Kiagehul sneered.

Woods and Fisher finally caught up to the group, but all the Fae backed up as Kiagehul began to scream.