Crimson Dahlia (18 page)

Ramsey
held back a smile as he watched Lila tilt her face up to the sun.  After being
cooped up underground, they were both enjoying the freedom of finally being outside
for a change.

Well…
relative freedom,
he thought with a grimace. They were invisible at the moment, thanks to
Griffin’s shield. They could see each other, but no one else was aware of their
presence.

Only
a day had passed since Ramsey had figured out where Maddox was located. Selene
and the clan leaders had quickly shifted their plans. Any moment now they would
begin their attack. They’d used the last twenty-four hours to demonstrate to
each other their various strengths and worked to combine powers that would help
each other in different ways. Lila and Ramsey were still technically hiding but
had come out to watch and learn and mentally prepare.

“Can
you even feel that?” Ramsey whispered to Lila as she basked in the sunlight.

She
didn’t move or open her eyes. “Not exactly,” she said dryly. “Something to do
with the shield. But it’s closer than we’ve been to sun in weeks. I intend to
enjoy it.”

Ramsey
knew what she meant. He stopped talking and just watched her, taking the
opportunity to observe her uninterruptedly and without her really being aware
of his close attention. He let his eyes wander the planes of her face. He knew
every curve, every small freckle, even the barely-visible scar above her lip
she’d gotten when she was ten and fell out of a tree.

“Do
me a favor?” he asked her.

“Hmmm?”

“Stick
close to me when this happens, huh?”

That
caught her attention. She looked directly at him. “You tryin’ to keep me from
fighting?” she asked.

He
shrugged. “Now that would just be a waste of my time.”

She
narrowed her eyes. “Then you’re trying to protect me.”

Ramsey
looked down and knocked a rock over with the toe of his boot. “Maybe. And maybe
I need your help to keep a lid on the fire.”

“That’s
not the real reason. I can see it.”

Ramsey
cursed silently. He often forgot about Lila’s ability to see if someone was
telling the truth or not.

“I
won’t get in your way,” he said. “Or stop you. But I won’t lose you again,
Lily. Not if I can help it anyway.”

Lila
looked away. She pretended to watch the practicing going on around them as she
thought about his words. The scene was an impressive display of the abilities
gathered in this castle. Wolves ran in small packs, some sparring, their lips
drawn back over their teeth in snarls as they circled each other. In a far corner
of the yard, earth moved and shifted as Darius played with it. Further away
still, Jason crushed rocks with his telekinesis. They were ready.

“Okay,”
she said softly.

Ramsey
blinked. She never caved like that. He was tempted for a second to tease her,
but no way would he mess up her agreeing with him about something so important.
So instead he nodded.

“Look
over there,” Lila pointed across the courtyard where they were all gathered.

Ramsey
turned in the direction she indicated. "Nate.”

Lila
glanced at Griffin, who stood underneath his shield with them. "Is Talia
here too?"

Griffin
shook his head. "No. That's part of the plan. We’re leaving a few guards
here to watch her. Besides, she can’t handle being around so many people."

"Who's
watching Nate?" Ramsey asked.

Griffin
looked suddenly grim. “Adelaide."

Lila
and Ramsey both frowned. "Is that a good idea?" Lila asked.

Griffin
shrugged. "She insisted. After that first night, it's as if she shut off
all her emotions. She's been walking around like some kind of robot. She’s even
been around Nate a couple of times since then. He has no clue what she
knows."

Ramsey
didn't say anything. Neither did Lila. But he could tell by her expression that
they were both thinking the same thing.
I hope she didn't shut Delia's
emotions off entirely,
he thought.

"Me
too," Lila muttered aside.

Ramsey
gave her a startled look. He took her arm and turned her face him. “
Can you
hear me?”
he thought.

"Yes,"
Lila said.

“Since
when?”

She
made a face. "It's been coming on gradually. Not like Adelaide. At first I
wasn't even sure it was happening. But over the last day or so I've heard more
and more."

“Five
powers. Well, you didn’t blow up or turn insane. So I guess that’s good.”

Lila
chuckled. “Yeah. I feel stretched, though. As if I can barely contain what’s
inside me.”

“We
should probably talk about that when we get back," Griffin said.

Lila
looked over Ramsey’s shoulder with a small smile. "Good idea."

Another
thought occurred to Ramsey, and he let Lila go and turned back to Griffin.
“Why’s Adelaide coming at all? She can’t defend herself.”

“Well
actually…” Griffin glanced over to where Adelaide was now standing beside Nate.

“She
got another power?” Lila asked.

Griffin
nodded. “The falcon shift. Selene has it now too, actually. Plus, Adelaide can
help with the telepathy.”

“Wow.
All four of us can shift into falcons. That’s incredible,” Lila said. Ramsey
mentally echoed that sentiment.

Suddenly
Griffin looked over the crowd. “Time to go,” he said.

Lila
and Ramsey both looked at him, though neither spoke. Griffin lifted the shield
and heard an angry growl from the wolves.

“It’s
us, Maggie,” Ramsey said as he recognized the little brown wolf.

Maggie
shifted and stood before them in her human form. “Sorry. You startled me.”

"No
worries," Lila said. "You take care of yourself out there."

"I'll
be watching this one's back," Desmond said as he walked up to stand beside
them.

"That
goes for you, too, you know," Lila told him.

Desmond
ran his hand through his shaggy, sandy blond hair. "Thanks.”

Griffin,
his attention obviously elsewhere, suddenly left them and made his way over to
Selene. A hush fell over the gathered group as she stepped up on a raised
platform. With a nod, she summoned Maggie to her side. Maggie was able to
project thoughts and voices, almost like a one-woman PA system.

Selene's
voice rang out over the courtyard. "First, to the various clans and tribes
who have agreed to fight beside us, despite our history, I thank you. With the
element of surprise on our side, I think we have the best opportunity to
finally put an end to an evil that has been among us for too long. May we be
successful."

Selene
and Maggie stepped down. Over one hundred people gathered together in an
extended version of Ellie’s wagon wheel formation. Ramsey kept his eyes on
Lila, though she closed hers… teleportation always left her a bit disoriented.
He barely blinked and they were standing in an open field, seemingly out in the
middle of nowhere. The surrounding oak trees provided some shade. The extreme
change in humidity felt a little bit like swimming through bath water and
breathing soup. And the song of cicadas in the trees set up a constant hum in
the background. Something about the sound was soothing.

Ramsey
watched as Darius and Charlotte spoke with Selene in low tones. The plan was to
do something similar to what they had done when they rescued Lila, but before
they could test the waters… before Darius and Charlotte could do their thing…
before they could organize at all…

A
hush fell over the surrounding area, as though the creatures all around them
had gone silent all at once. A chill rushed up Lila’s back.

She
wasn’t the only one concerned. Everyone around her searched the fields for
signs of danger, their faces grim. The crunch of dried leaves was Lila’s only
warning. She spun around and came face to face with not just one wolf, but more
than she could count.

They
were surrounded by scores of Maddox’s forces, in both wolf and human form, who
hadn’t been there a moment before. Looking around, Ramsey guessed that Maddox
had at least the same number of fighters as they did, if not more. Ramsey
slowly stepped closer to Lila and pressed his chest to her back.

“You
move, I move,” he whispered in her ear.

Lila
gave a tiny movement of her head, which Ramsey took to be a nod.

A
sharp cry pierced the still air.

And
suddenly all hell broke loose.

All
of the Vyusher instantly shifted to wolves, growls ripping from their throats.
Chaos reigned as Maddox’s forces attacked. And Selene’s carefully crafted plan
went right out the window. There was so much going on, Lila couldn’t track the
action. She barely knew where to look.

“Lila,
down!” Ramsey yelled.

 Lila
dropped to one knee and covered her head. Balls of fire flew past and landed on
the grey wolf that had been running straight for her. The unfortunate creature
howled in agony as its entire body went up in flames.

Before
Lila could stand back up, pain – that terrible, debilitating pain she had gotten
so familiar with during her stint in Maddox’s prison – wracked through her
body. Ariel was here, then, and still under Maddox’s control. She saw Ramsey
hit the ground as he experienced it for the first time. She could also hear
screams, beyond what the pain would cause. And she knew. Maddox’s wolves were ripping
into her friends and their allies, viciously killing them as they lay there
immobilized.

Lila
gathered her strength… and pulled upon her own powers from some place inside
her she hadn’t realized existed.  Using her newfound telepathy, she mentally moved
through conscious mind after conscious mind, assuming that those were Maddox’s
unaffected fighters. And what she saw through their eyes made her sick. Loads
of blood and skin that looked as if it’d been through a meat grinder. She was
seeing exactly what they were doing to her people. Finally, Lila found what she
was searching for - Ariel.

“Selene,”
she called
mentally.

She
knew that Selene heard her when screams of anguish filled her head. She pushed
a sense of peace into her friend. Her emotional healing didn’t seem to make the
pain go away, but it at least helped them both hang on to some sanity.

As
soon as she felt Selene’s screams let up, Lila talked fast.
“The person
controlling the pain is here.”
And she showed Selene where Ariel was.

And
then she held her breath and prayed that Selene would have the strength to lock
on to the girl and use her powers to stop it - despite the anguish wracking her
body. After a few moments, the pain lessened. And then, just as suddenly as it
had started, it was gone.

Lila
sucked in a deep breath.

“She
won’t be using that power again anytime soon... As in
ever
,”
Selene’s exhausted voice sounded in Lila’s mind.

Lila’s
heart broke for her Louisiana friend, but it was better this way. Lila thought
back one word to Selene. “
Good
.”

*****

What
the hell was that?
Ramsey
thought as he struggled to stand. Then he reached down and helped Lila to her
feet.

"That
was how they controlled us when Maddox had us in that damn cave," she
muttered. Without another word they stood back to back and surveyed the
situation. They seemed to have recovered a little faster than most of the
others. Unfortunately, Maddox's wolves were still attacking at will.

Ramsey
rekindled the flames in his hands, ready for anything that came their way.
"Let's start moving toward Selene," he said to Lila from over his
shoulder.

"Yep."

Slowly,
they moved in sync, with Lila leading. They couldn't move too fast as wolves
seemed to block their progress each step of the way.

"Your
six o'clock," Lila called for the second time. She dropped to one knee as
he turned and shot a blaze of fire in that direction, hitting another charging
wolf.

"Switch
with me and watch my back," he said, and she nodded.

Ramsey
could hardly make sense of the pandemonium as he led them through the throng.
He caught a glimpse of Ellie in jaguar form chasing down a pack of three wolves
with a lioness – one of the metamorphs from Africa – hot on her heels. But
before he could check that she had it under control, Lila yelled, “Duck and
roll!"

Ramsey
did a great imitation of a military maneuver. He felt a gust of wind over his
head. Looking up, he saw a giant condor sailing through the sky.

Back
on their feet, Ramsey and Lila continued their slow progress. He looked for
Ellie but couldn't find her.

"Holy
shit," he heard Lila mutter behind him. "Is that a—?”

He
chanced a glance over his shoulder in time to see an impossibly massive black
Anaconda coiled around two large wolves.

He
didn't have much time to watch as he returned his attention forward.

Lila's
voice sounded in his head.
"Ellie should definitely talk to the
Brazilians about tapping into that power."

They
kept moving, though their progress was agonizingly slow. "Can you use your
telepathy to somehow force them to clear a path?" Ramsey asked Lila.

"Not
even Griffin can do that yet," she said.

Oren’s
ghost-like form appeared in front of them. "Selene would like Lila closer
to her. Griffin says Maddox is after Lila, even in all of this.”

“We’re
already trying to get to her,” Ramsey said. “It’s just taking—” He caught sight
of two wolves closing in on Oren from opposite directions.

“Oren,
hold your position and disappear when I tell you to,” Ramsey said.

Oren
gave a small nod. “I’ll let Selene know you’re on your way.”

“Is
Charlotte able to come?” Lila asked.

Oren
looked grim. “No. She’s a little busy with the injured and the dead and getting
them back to the castle.”

“Now!”
Ramsey shouted. The wolves jumped for Oren at the same time and collided with a
vicious
crack
as he disappeared, knocking themselves out.

“We’re
on our own if Charlotte can’t get to us. Let’s keep going,” Lila said, turning
her back to Ramsey once more. They’d only taken a few steps, when she added,
“Something’s coming for me. I just caught a stray thought.”

He
didn't have time to answer her. He came to a dead halt and then hopped a bit as
Lila slammed into him.

"Ah,
bloody hell," she muttered.