Stormwind (The Storm Chronicles Book 3) (24 page)

“That wasn’t like you, Ray,” Levac said. “You can be blunt, violent, angry, but I have never seen you hurt or threaten an innocent or someone you cared for.”

“She’s not an innocent, Rupe,” Raven replied. “She’s two hundred years old, lives off vampire blood and until she met my mother was a houngon, a dark voodoo priestess. She became a mambo because of my mother. They always assumed I didn’t know.”

“I also said people you care for,” Levac said, stepping close behind Raven. “I know you love Marie.”

“I do. But she’s the only one who can save Aspen,” Raven replied. “She will try. You should have seen me when you got hurt. I think two people died of fright.”

Marie stepped through the curtain followed by a group of people who filed out through the broken door, the last one trying to wedge it shut behind him. When they were gone, Marie began to examine Aspen.

“Your blood is keeping her alive,” she said. “You are stronger than you know, my Ravenel.”

“And you are stronger than you always pretend,” Raven replied. “She’s alive. You can heal her, so let’s make with the voodoo before she’s gone forever.”

Marie frowned and looked away from the angry dhampyr. “Healing someone this far gone isn’t like doing a gris gris, Ravenel. This requires much power and many favors.”

“Fine.  Power and blood I have. We’re losing time.”

Marie stared at Raven for a long moment before nodding.

“As you wish, Fürstin. You are your father’s child. I will need a blood offering from you.”

Raven nodded and pulled an offering bowl toward her. She drew one of the silver knives she still carried and sliced her palm. Dark claret poured until it nearly filled the small bowl. She then bandaged her hand and looked at Marie.

“Done. What’s next?”

Marie was gathering herbs and a selection of bones and other items from her supplies.

“I will begin the ritual. You have agreed to pay the Baron’s price. That is all you need do.”

Raven nodded and turned away, feeling weak. Levac caught her and helped her to sit on the floor nearby. He wiped her face with a cloth and offered her another blood packet from his spacious pockets. Raven bit into it and drank, but more slowly, fighting how much she hated the taste.

Levac sat next to her and held her hand.

“You did good down there, Raven,” he said.

Raven shook her head. “Lots of innocent people are dead and I couldn’t bring a single one of the creatures responsible to justice because our legal system can’t hold them. The best I could do was avenge them and try to get us out of there. I only got it half right.”

“You did what you could,” Levac said. “That’s what I realized about what happened with Xavier. You did what you could to save me. It wasn’t ideal and it wasn’t what you would have wanted, but I’m breathing and I’m grateful to still be among the living.”

Raven held her aching head with one hand. “Rupe, I swear if I had seen any other way…”

Levac ran a hand through her hair. “I know, partner. I know what you do isn’t always easy. You do your best which is more than I can say for a lot of our contemporaries who treat this as a job, not a life. It’s okay.”

Raven lay her head on Levac’s shoulder. “Thank you, Rupe. And thank you for finding us. I was almost spent. I’m not even sure how we got to the door. Thank you for being there.”

“I had a little help,” Levac said. “Ming figured out that the thing I found in Diarmait’s place was a key. A little playing dumb with No Nose junior and I found out about the tunnels beneath the Green Mill and one that was forbidden even to the mob. I took a chance and you fell into my arms.”

Raven smiled. “That Codumbo luck of yours.”

“Whatever works, partner.”

Raven closed her eyes to rest, quickly falling asleep on Levac’s shoulder.

SHE WOKE SEVERAL HOURS LATER to Marie shaking her shoulder with gentle hands. “It is done, Ravenel. Your friend lives.”

Raven bit her lip and reached up to touch Marie’s face. “I’m sorry, Marie. My behavior… I wasn’t me.”

Marie smiled. “You are always you, my Ravenel. And in that moment I needed to be reminded who I am and that sacrifices are sometimes necessary for the ones we love. Some things are worth risking your soul for and love is one of them. Your Aspen is resting in my bedroom upstairs.”

“Thank you,” Raven replied, trying to stand.

“One moment, Ravenel,” Marie said.

“Yes?” Raven asked.

“The Baron. He would not say what boon he asked for his help,” Marie said. “I am uncertain…the price he asks may be terrible.”

“Whatever it is I will pay it to have Aspen among the living. May I see her?”

“You may, but know she is sleeping.”

Raven stood and adjusted the bow that still hung across her back to make it more comfortable. She looked around, surprised Levac was missing.

“He returned to the 42nd to turn in the car you stole and try to get your things out of impound now that he has found you alive,” Marie said to the unvoiced question. “He will be back soon.”

“Thank you again, Marie. I will make this up to you.”

“No need, Ravenel,” Marie said. “You were frightened and desperate. It can make a person do the wrong thing for the right reason. I owe you many favors. I have repaid one.”

Raven smiled softly and turned toward the curtain that would lead to the stairs. She was almost to the stairs when a terrible pain slashed through her gut. She reached down expecting to find a bloody weal across her stomach, but her hand came away dry. Feeling anger and fear building in her belly she charged up the stairs and down the hall to Marie’s room. She crashed through the door to find the room empty and the window open. Blood trailed from the bed and over the sill.

Raven ran to the window and looked out into the darkness. One building away she could see the lycan with Aspen held over one shoulder. The lycan howled in defiance and continued across the roof.

Raven reached for her Automag and realized it was empty. She tossed it aside in frustration and drew an arrow from her quiver. The obsidian wouldn’t stop the lycan but maybe it would slow the creature down and give her a chance to catch up.

She drew the bow back and fired, her heart sinking when the arrow fell short of the target.

“Damnit. No way are you getting away with her,” she said, climbing out the window.

“Take these, Ravenel,” Marie said behind her.

Raven turned to see Marie holding a handful of silver arrows.

“A lycan hunter left them in my care many years ago. I’ve held onto them for sentimental reasons, but they will serve you better.”

Raven added the arrows to her collection and slipped through the window. She leapt to the fire escape on the opposite building and began to climb, reaching the top as a cool summer rain began to fall. Lightning crackled across the sky and in the flickering light she spotted the lycan moving among the vents and air conditioning units. She ran after her, her boots slapping on the pea-gravel roof, an arrow knocked and her bow ready to fire.

She caught up to the lycan as she was preparing to jump an alley to the next building. Raven slowed and drew her bow all the way back. She sighted down the silvered arrow and let the barbed tip fly. The lycan must have heard the twang of the bowstring because it turned at the last instant and the arrow pierced its shoulder instead of its heart. It snarled and faced Raven, Aspen held over the ten story precipice behind her.

“I knew taking your pet would bring you out of hiding, dhampyr,” the lycan growled.

Raven frowned; the lycan didn’t sound like the alpha from the tunnels. She knocked another arrow and aimed it at the lycan’s eye.

“I wasn’t hiding. Put her down, step away from the ledge and you can tell me what you want from me,” she said.

“What I want is easy, dhampyr,” the lycan growled. “I want your skin on my den wall and your blood, your power, fed to my pack. I will trade your servitude for your pet’s life.”

“Deal,” Raven said. “Put her down in front of you and back away. When she’s safe I’ll go with you.”

“Oh lady Ravenel, your humanity is your weakness,” the lycan said.

“Actually, furball,” Aspen said, “it’s her humanity that makes her strong instead of a psychotic monster like you. It’s why her friends love her and I’ll be thrice-damned before I let you take that away from her.”

Aspen lashed out with her silver dagger, cutting the tendons in the lycan’s hand. It dropped her, howling pain and Raven watched in shock as Aspen disappeared over the edge.

“No!” she screamed, running forward. “What have you done?”

She leapt off the roof of the building, twisting to face the lycan as she fell. Her aim fell on the lycan and she loosed the arrow at her head, watching as it punch a hole through its eye and out the back of its head.

Raven continued the roll and looked down. She could see Aspen not far below her, her body limp in anticipation of hitting the ground. Raven pointed herself like a skydiver and plummeted into her friend, wrapping herself around the smaller girl.

“I’ve got you,” she said.

Aspen opened her eyes in surprise. “You’ve got me, who has you?”

“Um…”

“Great plan, honey,” Aspen said, burying her face in Raven’s shoulder.

Raven held her familiar tighter and tried to guide their fall toward a car, which was marginally softer than the ground. When they were lined up she rolled again, using her body to cushion their fall. She kissed the top of Aspen’s head and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact.

A second later she screamed in pain as they crashed into the roof of the car at ninety miles an hour. Glass exploded around them and she was aware of it falling in slow motion before darkness overcame her consciousness.

She woke on a hospital gurney with a paramedic leaning over her.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You fell off a roof,” he replied. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

“Where’s Aspen? The girl who was with me?”

“Don’t worry about her, worry about you,” the paramedic replied.

Raven’s hand shot out and she grabbed the paramedic by the collar. “Where’s Aspen?”

“She’s in another ambulance already on her way to Mercy,” the paramedic replied in a calm voice.

“Good.  Good…” Raven said. “Help me up and somebody call my partner.”

“I beg your pardon?” the paramedic asked.

“I’m fine. Help me up,” Raven repeated. “Or do you want me to break these stupid straps?”

“I think you better do as she says,” Levac said, stepping up with two cups of coffee.

“You’re both crazy,” the paramedic said.

“Maybe. But we also have badges and I, for one, have a gun. Let her up.”

The paramedic complied and Raven sat up, accepting one of the coffee cups gratefully.

“Thanks, Rupe. How was Aspen?” she asked.

He looked away for a beat. “I don’t know. She was gone when I got here. And I should tell you, that isn’t coffee.”

Raven groaned, but sucked down the warm claret, knowing she needed it to keep going. She tossed the empty cup away in disgust and held her hand out for Levac’s coffee.

“Hey, this is mine…” Levac said.

“Gimme,” Raven said, opening and closing her hand. “If I ever get my wallet back I will buy you all the coffee you want. I need to get this taste out of my mouth.”

Levac handed her the cup and she held it in both hands, sipping from the sweet, hot brew.

“Tell me straight, Rupe, was Aspen alive when they took her?” she asked between sips.

“I really don’t know, Ray. Like I said, they’d already taken her. All I know is you had crushed ribs and a punctured lung. It took them forty minutes to extricate you from what was left of the car. Aspen they just rolled off you and carted away to the hospital.”

“I hope she’s okay, I can’t feel her,” Raven said. “Have you been to the roof?”

“Yeah, I went to see why you jumped off a roof. You got him, one naked man on the roof with an arrow through his eye,” Levac said.

“Man?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, Caito. You killed him with one shot,” Levac replied. “I’m guessing he was a lycan. I’ve got a team up there bagging and tagging his ass right now.”

“Shit,” Raven said, sliding off the gurney.

“What’s wrong?”

“Caito isn’t the alpha I saw in the tunnels,” Raven replied. “I’m not even sure he was an alpha at all. Just a warrior.”

“How do you know?” Levac asked.

“Cause the alpha was female, a she-wolf and Eliazarr’s mate. She’s the one pulling the strings.”

Raven began to pace back and forth in the rain, holding the cup in front of her lips.

“Ming must have run the evidence we collected. What did you find? Anything useful?”

Levac nodded and pulled his soggy notebook out of his pocket. “Ming examined that key thing we found at Diarmait’s place and figured out it was made from native stone cut approximately four thousand years ago, Pocock ran DNA on the bone weapons and confirmed they were made from a variety of animals, but primarily deer and moose, he collected a few prints from the bodies, but they didn’t match anyone in AFIS, he matched a partial from Diarmait’s place to that Evangelina woman who was at your house, she had a record for prostitution. Frost sent Corona and Driemeier to question her, but it was just like we left it before. There was no sign of her.”