Blood Winter (26 page)

Gregory’s expression was incendiary. “I can take care of myself. It’s not your business.”

“But it is,” Alexander said. “We need you to go after Sterling.”

“These people are in trouble. Half of them are going to die if I don’t help them.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” said one of the four guards, and fear turned his voice high. “It’s just a bad cold. Happens.”

Gregory shook his head. “It’s not just a cold. It’s strep, too. And very likely the flu. The way you’re living, half your population could be wiped out. One of the boys actually had rheumatic fever.”

Alexander cocked his head. “You are sure? I thought that was cured in the 1800s.”

“I am sure. Once upon a time, I really was a doctor. And rheumatic fever has not been cured. Outbreaks happen still, and we’re probably looking at one. It happens when strep goes untreated. The only way to cure it without magic is plenty of antibiotics over several months. I don’t think these people have nearly enough.” He looked at the men. “We’re looking for swollen, painful joints, skin rash, fever, nosebleeds, shortness of breath, and maybe a lack of coordination. Sound familiar?”

They exchanged looks. Then one wearing a John Deere cap and a gray down jacket nodded. “Maybe.”

The man in stained Carhartt overalls beside him chimed in. “Yeah, okay, me, too. A few. It’s not that bad.”

“Oh? Are you willing to bet your life on it? And your family’s lives?” Gregory demanded. “Once it sets in, rheumatic fever can destroy a person’s heart and cripple them forever. Plus, even with a long-term course of antibiotics—months and maybe years—the fever is quite likely to return.” He glared at Alexander. “Which means they need me.”

“They do. But so do we. You had better deal with that fact right up front,” Alexander said. He shifted, gathering the woman and the four men in his gaze. “You need to triage. Find out who is sickest. That is, if you want help from the likes of us.”

The four men stared at Alexander and then at one another. Indecision bound them.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” the woman exclaimed. “Warren, Larry, and Carl, you go start checking on folks and making a list. Jerry, you go tell Kara what’s going on and start pulling together the Board. We’re going to need a plan.”

They hesitated, eyeing the two Shadowblades and the witch, clearly not wanting to leave them alone.

The woman made a disgusted sound and stomped forward. She poked her finger sharply into the Carhartt overalls. “Understand me right now. No one here is going to die because the help is coming from a witch, not if I have anything to say about it. And there’s no mother, no father, who’s going to let their child die because they don’t like magic.” She stepped back, putting her fists on her hips. “What are you waiting for? Get on with it. Now.”

The men turned away reluctantly.

The woman swung back around to examine Gregory. Her mouth pursed. “You look wrung out. You need something to eat and drink. I have a stew going. It’s not much, but it’s filling.”

“It’ll be perfect,” Thor said, even as Gregory started to shake his head. “And he thanks you for it.”

With a frown, Gregory brushed away the snow from a log and sat on it.

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Right,” Max said as she joined them. “You look it, too, all scarecrowy and anorexic. You could be voted Missoula’s most handsomest zombie.”

The witch scowled at her but accepted the bowl and spoon that his patient handed him. “Isn’t it a little late to be cooking?” he asked with ill grace.

“You’re welcome,” the woman said as she returned to her pot, giving it a sharp stir before poking at the fire. “You try being sick and having two sick boys. Time might get away from you, too. The fire went out with the snow, and then Cody started crying, and there wasn’t anything I could do but hold him—”

Her mouth pinched shut. Gregory looked as if she had just spanked his nose with a rolled-up newspaper. He scooped up a mouthful and gulped it down. His eyes bulged, and he gasped.

“Don’t you like it?” the woman snapped.

“It’s good. Just hot.”

“You might have noticed that it
did
just come off the fire,” she pointed out.

Thor snickered, and Max grinned at Alexander. He only stared. A moment later, her expression turned troubled, and she looked away. It left Alexander feeling . . . nothing. It was like looking at a stranger.

What has happened?

This sudden cessation of feeling could not be real. Could it? Was it magic? Was he under a spell?

His brows winged downward. Would he know if he was? And then—would he want it broken? Would he want to go back to the torment that was loving Max?

He could be done with that dreadful, shredding, gnawing desperation that tore incessantly at him with rusty claws. Every moment of every day, he felt as if he was caught up in a storm that left him seasick and drowning. The need for her was crushing, ugly, inescapable. All of that could be over forever.

Did he want it back? Perhaps more important, if this was a spell, what else had been done to him? The thought was more than unsettling. He did not feel, smell, or taste foreign magic on himself. But would he even know?

His musing was interrupted by Max.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, looking first at Gregory and then at Thor and Alexander. “Is Tyler back yet?”

“Why do I get the feeling I am not going to like this one bit?” Thor asked.

Gregory looked up at her and then back down. He had finished his stew and scuffed the snow away from the dirt beneath his feet. He took the spoon and dug an
anneau
—a circle enclosing a five-pointed star enclosing a triangle. At the center was a small dot. He dug it deep into the hard soil. The spoon handle bent, and he straightened it again. When he was satisfied, he touched the center of the
anneau
with his forefinger and whispered a chant. The
anneau
glowed bright green and then faded away. But instantly, a bubble seemed to grow around the campsite. It was probably twenty feet in diameter and contained the tent and the fire pit, along with parts of the hovels on either side. Within, the snow ceased to fall. Instead, it dusted the top of the invisible dome. Heat from the fire stopped vanishing into the cold night and instead began to warm the now-enclosed space.

Gregory gave Max a defiant look and stood, handing his bowl back to the woman. “The stew was delicious.” He turned to Max. “I’ll listen, but I plan to stay and help these people before they die of an epidemic.”

Max gave him a long look and nodded. “Everybody has choices to make,” she said, and Alexander’s mouth dropped open and then snapped shut.

Was she under some sort of spell, too? They needed Gregory to fight Sterling.

“Did you bump your head?” Thor asked, clearly thinking the same thing. “Or maybe someone gave you a frontal lobotomy?”

Her mouth quirked, but the smile did not reach her eyes. “Not that I noticed. Let’s talk. Somewhere a little bit private.”

“You can use my house,” Kara said, having now joined them. “No one will bother you there. Help yourself to the cider.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m going to go pull the Board together.” Kara looked up at the snow collecting on top of the protective bubble and then at the woman Gregory had helped. “Okay if we meet here, Lena?”

Lena nodded. “Of course.”

“Good deal. I’ll be back shortly.”

Max silently led the way back to Kara’s shed. Tyler joined them just outside the door. The five of them could barely fit inside. Thor and Tyler sat on the bed, and Alexander stood at the foot. Max poured cider for everyone and sat down at the table. Gregory had found a knife and was carving an
anneau
symbol into the floor. Soon Kara would also have a magic bubble protecting her home.

“I take it you’ve got a plan?” asked Thor. The orange striped cat had appeared on his lap and was nuzzling furiously against his knuckles as he pet her.

“I do.”

“We’re going to hate this, aren’t we?” Tyler asked, his lips pinching tight.

“A lot. But it is a plan, and it could work.”

“Let’s hear it,” Thor said, casting Alexander a worried look.

Alexander merely leaned against the wall, listening.

“Thor and Alexander, you two go find Tris. Tyler’s going to go get Giselle.”

“And you?” Alexander asked, rubbing his finger over his upper lip. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go become Benjamin Sterling’s newest follower.”

A
RE YOU FUCKING NUTS?” THOR EXCLAIMED
, jumping to his feet. The cat squalled and dove under the bed. “You can’t hide what you are. He’ll kill you for sure, if the sun doesn’t get to you first.”

“He won’t kill me fast. I should have enough time to find Kyle and the kids and then take them out through the abyss. As for the sun, I’m going to take the Amengohr amulet with me,” Max said. “Takes the sun out of the equation.”

The amulet made a Shadowblade invisible at night and allowed her to walk in the daylight without getting cooked extra-crispy.

“You will require far more food than usual to sustain it. You will not get anything like what you need from Sterling, if you get any food at all,” Alexander pointed out.

He was bizarrely calm. A few hours ago, her announcement would have sent him into a raving frenzy. Max’s heart spasmed, and tears burned in her eyes. She blinked them away as she tried to swallow the rock that rose in her throat. Tyler still hadn’t said anything. His silence was unnerving.

“I don’t intend to take long.”

“And what if he prevents you from stepping into the abyss?” Gregory pointed out.

Max shrugged. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

“You’re nuttier than squirrel shit,” Thor said, his Texan drawl becoming more pronounced. “He could swat you like a fly. It’s suicide. Tell her,” he said to Alexander, his blue eyes sharp with accusation. That Alexander should care more, that he should want to stop her.

Instead, Alexander said, “Is that the whole plan? You go in alone and do an abyss rescue?”

“I can’t risk any other Blades and Spears,” she said, matching his even tone. “I’ll be the only one with the amulet.”

“Giselle will not go for this at all,” Gregory said.

“It’s not like she’s around to object. Phones stopped working. We don’t have time to waste waiting to track her down.”

“Waiting for her to spank your ass and tell you no, you mean.” Tyler spoke at last.

Max smiled and cocked her head. “So we don’t need to ask her. We already know what she’ll say.”

Tyler made a frustrated sound, then swung around and punched his fist through the wall.

“I’m not sure Kara was looking for a window,” Max said.

“Fuck you,” he said, his back to her. He pulled his hand back in. Blood streaked his arm from where the wood and metal had cut deep gouges. He turned to glare at Alexander. “Why aren’t you trying to stop her? You know this is crazy, even if you have suddenly gone mental and forgotten how you feel about her. What’s your fucking problem?”

Frustration sent Tyler’s Blade to the killing edge. He was strong. Nearing to Prime, really. Max looked at Alexander, waiting for his reply.

“There is no use in trying to stop her,” he pointed out. “She is going to do it with or without us. May as well try to figure out how to help her. Maybe she will not die.” He said it offhandedly, like he was talking about a flat tire.

It was like a kick to the chest. The breath went out of Max, and it was all she could do not to fall onto the floor and curl up around the hurt. But then anger rescued her. So he was done with her. So what? It had to happen sooner or later. She’d known that all along.
Pull up your big girl panties, and deal with it,
she told herself.

“I would prefer that we had Spike or one of the Grims,” Alexander added after a thoughtful moment.

“Well, we don’t,” Max said tartly. “What we have is a guy with too much power who hates witches and isn’t afraid to torture people.”

“It’s a lousy plan,” Thor said, but without force. He had already given in. “What are you going to do if he pulls magic on you? Or locks you up in a dungeon and you can’t get out?”

“If I get into trouble I can’t get out of, I expect you guys will get me out of it.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “I’m not crazy,” she said quietly. “This is the best way to find Sterling before he kills Kyle and the kids. If I can’t kill him, you will.”

“Your cheese done slid off your cracker,” Thor said. He wiped a hand over his mouth, then nodded. “All right. I’m done arguing.” He glanced at Alexander. “You going to say anything that doesn’t sound like you’ve been possessed?”

Max noticed that Alexander twitched and stiffened, but then he shrugged and slid his gaze to her. “Be careful. Do not get killed.”

“Yeah, because that would bother you a whole bunch,” Max said.
Damn.
She wished she could pull the words back. She didn’t want him knowing how much she hurt.

“Anything else you want to say, Tyler?” she asked.

“No,” he said, not looking at her.

She stood. “All right. I’m out of here.”