First Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 22

  “Yeah, what’s up with the normal, anyways?” Luke asked.

  “It’s his lady friend,” JJ answered.

  There were a lot of jokes and ribbing, but nothing too horrible.

  Lunchtime was sandwiches I’d brought with me, but the pack had gone hunting while on patrol and had come back with a feral hog and had shifted to eat it, away from the camp. Rose stayed close to me and I explored the area. I got an idea of the terrain and was starting to get comfortable when I heard a murmur of voices. I got up and started walking towards the car when a gate opened behind me.

  “Are we ready?” Vivian’s voice came out of thin air as the portal closed.

  “Yes, where the hell—”

  “Behind a veil,” Rose said. “Almost as good as mine, but I can still see them. ”

  Somebody cursed and I grinned. “Sorry about the other day folks. And… there’s been a change of plans. You have to be careful about attacking me from here on out, especially here. In this location.”

  “I wasn’t attacking… oh hell, what are you talking about exactly?” Vivian said coming into view as two others became visible as well.

  “Didn’t bring the whole team?” I asked her.

  “Couldn’t, somebody fought us in an enclosed area full of innocents, so some people took longer to heal up.”

  “Ahhh, Rasmussen said as much. Well, my pack has gotten larger and the arches territory is now a Wright pack property thingy.”

  “You did it again?” Vivian asked, stunned.

  “Yes. This time I didn’t want the fight though. Vassago had been through first and had stirred them up. I came to scout it out and look for information. Instead, I ended up with seven more in my pack.”

  One of the agents, I didn’t know his name, cursed again.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Vivian asked.

  “Depends. If he plays it straight, I give him the knife and I get Cindy back.”

  “That doesn’t get us any closer to the House of Shadows,” Vivian said sharply.

  “No, and it doesn’t get you the assassin either, but for today, getting the innocent back safely—”

  “JJ?” Vivian said sharply, and I turned to see him walking up towards us, hand in hand with Dana.

  Ooops.

  I watched her face turn scarlet and JJ looked over his shoulder to see if there was somebody behind him then pointed at his own chest and mouthed, ‘me?’. Vivian looked away and the agents with her noticed. My eyes were on Dana though, who was gripping JJ’s hand tighter, staring daggers at the new woman, making sure Vivian knew a stake had been claimed.

  “What time is he coming?” Vivian asked.

  “After supper. Get situated and I’ll go over the traps and claymores we set up so you all don’t step in the wrong spot.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” a voice said from over my shoulder and Rose screamed a warning.

  I checked the futures by instinct and saw if I didn’t dart to the side, I was about to feel an agonizing pain, then blackness. The voice and Rose’s shriek startled me, and I was already moving. I didn’t know if it was skill, luck or knowing the future, but I felt a hand brush against the back of my shirt instead of the back of my neck, where Vassago had planned to rip the life out of me with a skin to skin touch.

  Lightening flew over my head and there was a tremendous crash of thunder almost immediately after. I rolled to my knees to see Vassago’s feet flying up behind him. It threw him on his back, where he used the momentum to roll up on his knees. That was when I saw he was dressed again in dark leather clothing, with a ballistic face mask and a hood made from a stiff material that might have also been leather.

  He pulled something out from a sleeve and threw it. A leaf bladed throwing knife flew through the air, aimed at the man who had thrown the lightening spell, when a sudden wall of stone formed in front of him, making the knife clatter uselessly to the ground before the rock wall dissolved like it was water flowing back into a lake.

  Vivian was already murmuring under her breath and, when she threw her hands towards Vassago, a gust of wind blasted past me, almost flipping me on my back. The air burst hit the assassin squarely, but he leaned forward and into it, his feet slipping back a few feet. I took his lack of attack as an opportunity to regain my feet and I was reaching for my guns when the earth mage made a motion with his hands and let his spell go. Rock rose up out of the earth, encircling Vassago’s foot. He looked down, startled, and his lack of attention made his balance falter.

  He fell backwards and let out a cry that was muffled by his mask. I heard his ankle snap and soon there was another band of stone encircling his other ankle. I aimed the gun and watched as he struggled. Vivian was building a black ball of dark magic, probably a death magic taser of some sort, when the earth mage made a grunting sound and walked towards the assassin. He reached down, touching his hand to the earth, and when he pulled his fist back, it was encased in stone.

  “My way is more fun,” he said, and crashed the stone fist into the masked face of Vassago, who fell limply. “He wasn’t that tough, was he?” he asked, turning towards us, smiling.

  “Get out of there,” Rose yelled and I saw what she’d been looking at.

  The earth mage believed he’d knocked out Vassago, or crushed his skull. Hell, if he’d hit me with that kind of blow, it would have killed me. Vassago had been playing opossum. He sat up, despite the broken ankle held at a funny angle, and reached forward, grabbing the mage by the ankle, his hand making contact with the skin above the mage’s sock. The brief bit of skin contact was enough and the stone mage fell, as if poleaxed. The bands across the ankles of the assassin disappeared and he rolled to his feet as a black ball of magic hit the ground where he had been. Vassago had just killed him by a touch.

  The other mage hadn’t given up, but he had been distracted by the scream and the falling earth mage. He was yelling for Martin, his attention focused in the wrong direction. Vassago pulled another throwing knife out and sent it forward in a flicking motion. I saw the lightening mage put his arm up, probably a reflex, and it sank into his forearm. He screamed in pain as I started firing. My shells blew holes straight through Vassago’s jacket and the illegal conversion I’d done on the Calico made it sound like a long, loud, lethal burp.

  His leather jacket was torn as the slugs spat out, but the sound was wrong, and there wasn’t a spray of blood from fifty careful hits, even though his jacket and shirt were reduced to smoking shreds. I scanned the future where I pulled my pistols and saw that shooting him there wouldn’t have any effect either. So, I shot him in the face. The bullet exploded against the mask and ricocheted off the death’s head that had been painted on. The slug rocked Vassago’s head back and that was when another black orb of magic was thrown. It hit him square in the chest, just under the neck, and the assassin spasmed and fell bonelessly to the ground.

  “Don’t make the same mistake Martin did,” Vivian warned.

  I started changing out the tubular magazine in the Calico as I walked forward.

  “I hit him with what would normally be a lethal hit on a regular human. He’s still breathing but I don’t think he’ll be out long,” she finished, but I could see another dark orb of magic forming in her hands.

  “He killed my brother,” the lightening mage howled, coming to his feet, murder in his eyes. “That lousy bastard killed my—”

  I put a round between his feet and he jumped back startled. Vivian spun and was about to aim the orb at me, but I had her dead to rights with both pistol and Calico.

  “Don’t,” I told her. “He was about to kill him and, in the futures I checked, Vassago stayed dead. His bolt was going to pop his head off like a grape and dead is no good to either of us.”

  “Capturing him is my priority,” Vivian said through thin lips.

  “Getting Cindy back is mine,” I snarled, and then split the aim between Vivian and Martin’s brother, the lightening mage.

  “Seems we have another differ
ence of opinion,” Vivian said.

  “Difference is, I have a three to five second warning before you throw that at me. You’ll be dead before you ever do, and so will your partner there, because he’ll attack me immediately after, so stand down and let’s get this guy disabled so we can both get what we want. It doesn’t have to be a one or the other situation.”

  That took her back a moment and she nodded and let the magic soak back into her body. Martin’s brother still had his hands up, but they were wavering between the assassin and me, the blade in his arm forgotten. There was a cough and Vassago sat up. Both mages readied their spells again as the sounds of a howl rent the air. Everyone looked and Vassago had started getting to his feet when I shot him in the knee. Gore flew backwards, and for once I smiled, and checked all the futures to see where he was armored. Apparently, I’d hit one of the places that wasn’t, but I kept checking as he cursed and healed, his swearing tapering off.

  “Where is Cindy?” I asked him.

  “Where is my knife?” he asked, rolling onto his butt, and looking at me through the mask, his eyes barely visible.

  “I have it.” I patted my pocket.

  “Since you spoiled my fun, how about a trade? I’ll give you the knife in exchange for a gate charm to where your lady friend is. I’ll even open the portal for you, so you can see that I’m not lying.”

  “No deal,” Vivian said coldly, the ball of light in her hand growing.

  “Dear, you talk as if you were a part of this. If I wanted you and your other partner dead, I would have done it already. I killed the spare because he got careless.”

  I saw over his shoulder that JJ and the pack were racing our way in their hybrid forms. I was thankful that no motorists had stopped during this time frame, but the entire fight had lasted maybe forty seconds. It seemed like ages, but for me it always did, because I look into so many futures at once. Twenty seconds is a lifetime to a mage with a gift like mine.

  “I am the head of the task force,” Vivian said.

  “Yeah, and I’m not under your command,” I told Vivian before turning to Vassago. “Trade me the gate stone first, I’ll open the portal and, if Cindy is on the other side, I will give you the knife. You have my word.”

  Vassago nodded and then reached up and pulled the mask up, showing his pale skin. His blonde hair was barely visible under the hood and, with a start, I realized he was wearing a Kevlar hood. He probably had a chest plate or something enchanted on under the leather. He’d learned from our last encounter, and he’d been quite effective at countering it. I reached into my inner pocket and pulled out the knife, wrapped first in cloth and then in a scrap of leather, so there wasn’t any chance of an accident. He saw the hilt and nodded.

  While I was wondering if his coat or plate could also block spells, he pulled something dark from his pocket and threw it towards me. Vivian’s hand caught it before it could finish its arc. I reached my hand out for it, but Vivian was yanking her hand away as I scanned the futures and saw I was about to be stunned. Thunder boomed and a bolt of lightning hit me in the chest, seemingly to fry out every nerve ending in one huge bolt of pain. I stiffened and fell to the ground, dazed. I heard snarling, a man screaming, and then Vivian shrieking in pain. I reached for my necklace and activated the charm Rasmussen had given me. Then the world went black as I failed in my struggle to stay conscious.

  Something cool was pressed to my temple and a warmth began to smooth out the jagged firing of my nerves and the agony abated somewhat. I stayed on the ground, my mouth half open and gritty from the hot wind that blew the sand around. My breathing evened out and I saw a fluttering of wings and something sparkled in front of my half-lidded eyes. I opened them up to see Rose standing on the ground, pulling back the healing charm.

  “Rose. Thanks,” I whispered hoarsely, it was all I could manage. How many hurt?” I asked.

  “Vivian is going to make it, but the guy who threw the lightning… your new pack tore him apart. I couldn’t stop them, then Rasmussen showed up with a few council… oh crap, here they come,” she said and then disappeared, leaving the healing charm on the ground in front of me.

  I grabbed it and sat up, tucking it into a breast pocket, out of sight of the council. I didn’t need those problems, though I knew Rasmussen would know it was there if he read my mind. Somehow, I didn’t think he would care. I heard a scrape of gravel and turned, feeling Rose land on my back, holding onto the collar as I got to my feet.

  Dianne and Trevor lay in a bloody embrace, quite still. The lightning mage was nearby, about where I remembered him being when he’d shot me with his lightning. His throat had been ripped open and numerous slashes and chunks of flesh were torn out. It was not pretty. I saw what made the noise and saw Vivian holding a handkerchief to her throat with the one arm that wasn’t broken. The other hung at a loose angle and tears of pain, or rage, coursed down her cheeks. If I had to guess, I’d have guessed both. Across from her was what remained of my pack. JJ sat indian style on the hard scrabble next to a silently crying Dana, with Luke sitting nearby.

  “Where are they?” I asked hoarsely.

  Vivian looked at me, her gaze locked and made a motion as if to spit.

  “That looks pretty bad,” I told Vivian, “will you make it?”

  “If she gets to a healer soon,” JJ said. “It’s not quite fatal, but unless somebody can gate her to a hospital, Rasmussen said she’s got a good half hour.”

  “Where did the Council mages go?” I asked JJ, the only one seemingly capable of talking.

  “After the Assassin,” Luke answered. “Take this,” he said, holding something dark up.

  Despite the healing, I felt hollowed out and sore still, probably the after effects of not having been fully healed. I had pushed some of my power into the charm, but hadn’t filled it, not sure how much of my will I had drawn on to do what little I’d done. I walked over and took a piece of dark crystal, the gate charm Vassago had given to Vivian.

  “Is this it?” I asked both of them, looking from Vivian to Luke.

  “It’s what you were trying to get from her when you were attacked. The pack did what the pack was supposed to do when one of us is attacked by a mage. It will be viewed as self defense, since none of us have been declared rogue or had given them any reason for what they did.”

  “They killed Dianne and Trevor?” I asked JJ.

  “No, the assassin did,” Dana finished, despite the tears.

  “He got the knife boss, when you fell; Vivian was about to zap you and Luke took her out before she could give you a death curse.” Rose’s words were quiet, though everyone but Vivian heard them.

  Anger boiled up inside of me. Once again, Vivian had tried to attack me, and once again she’d tried to kill me. Maybe I was right to not trust the mages. Maybe this was a long con, perpetuated by Sigmund Rasmussen. With what I’d been told and figured out of Rose, he seemed to almost be a cold war type of spy master. A shadow master. That thought had me wondering; somehow the council had been compromised and had been for a long time. Almost my entire life if things were the way they seemed on the surface to me.

  I held up the gate charm and pushed my will into it, activating it. Light shimmered and I looked inside when I was sure it was stable. I could see Cindy, so I stepped through. I was about to close the gate when the three Weres followed, almost pushing me over in their hurry to get through. It was dark, but there was a shaft of light coming through what looked like rock walls and a ceiling. A narrow tunnel went off to one side, but other than that, it seemed like a domed circular room had been carved or formed out of rock.

  “Tom?” Cindy asked, standing.

  “It’s me, you hurt?” I asked.

  “No, I could use a little water, but I’m fine. How’s my mom?”

  “I have some friends watching over her,” I told her and pulled her close.

  It’s amazing the random thoughts that go through your head in a moment like that. Your adrenaline is up, your sens
es are overloaded and those warm tingly things we never talk about were acting like butterflies in my stomach. That was when I realized how Cindy was slightly taller than me and that her hair was peppered with bits of sand and rock. I brushed it away slightly and then was pressed back into the startled Weres as a kiss so passionate was laid on me that I could only do the manly thing. I kissed her back. I had to break off early as a wave of dizziness hit me.

  “Do you know where we are?” I asked her.

  “Cave, it’s near the Arches.”

  “How do we get out?”

  “There’s a… doorway. I’m not strong enough to push the stone out of the way. Vassago could barely budge it, and he took the crowbar with him.”

  “Where there’s a Were, there’s a way,” JJ said in a cocky voice.

  I looked up and found the fissure that acted as both vent and opening for the sunlight, and smiled. It appeared to be a sandstone cave and the area we were in was nearly twenty feet in a roughly oblong shape. A foam sleeping pad and sleeping bag were on the side, along with a camp chair. Several packets of MREs were empty and on the ground, and two small water bottles littered the rock floor, empty. It would have been hell in the dark, and I didn’t know if I could have stayed composed the way Cindy had.

  Something about this place had me wondering, though. None of us could detect it, the werewolves couldn’t get her scent and we had been close by where the battle was, if we were near the arch. Something about this place reeked of magic, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  “Show me,” I told Cindy, swaying on my feet.

  “Somebody catch him,” Rose yelled and then strong arms held me up as my knees buckled.

  “He isn’t fully healed,” Luke said.

  “Are you ok?” Cindy asked, walking back over to me.

  “I’m good, let’s get out of here and into the daylight. I’ll be fine after a good meal and a week’s worth of sleep.”