Blood Lines

THIRTY-SEVEN

THE moon was high when they pulled into the parking lot across from the Nutley courthouse. The location was Cullen's suggestion. It was neutral ground and open enough to discourage ambush on either side.

It was nearly two a.m. They'd made good time, but they'd had a couple of stops to make before leaving D.C.; first at the house for Lily's laptop and a few items from Benedict's arsenal, then to the hospital to check on Toby and get Benedict's help.

Benedict was rarely openly angry, but when he realized he couldn't come with them—they couldn't leave Toby unprotected—he cursed for two minutes solid. Then he sat down, studied the documents on Jiri's disk, and came up with a plan of attack.

There was only one other car in the courthouse parking lot. Rule's Mercedes. Alex Thibodaux and four other men waited beside it. One of them was Brady.

Brady had not been part of his arrangement with Alex. Rule parked and got out slowly. Cynna and Lily got out on the other side but followed instructions, saying nothing.

"You have a reason for bringing him to this meeting?" Rule nodded at Brady.

"He was Randall's brother," Alex said. "If the story you tell is true, he has a right to be in on the kill."

Rule had told Alex nearly everything when he called to set up this meeting. The Leidolf Rho was still deeply unconscious, unable to make decisions for the clan, which was one piece of luck. Victor would have found a way to turn this into a death trap for Rule. He didn't think Alex would, if he handled things right.

If he handled the mantle right, to be specific.

Rule seldom invoked the heir's portion of Nokolai's mantle. He didn't need to. The clan respected him, and they felt the mantle's presence even when it rested quietly within him. But he knew how. He knew, too, that once invoked, the mantle wouldn't let him leave what he began unfinished. That was its nature.

Lily, Cullen, and Cynna ranged themselves behind Rule, staying several feet back. Cullen knew what to do and, more to the point, what not to do. Lily and Cynna had promised not to interfere, but Rule wasn't sure he could depend on Lily's word if things went badly.

He'd have to make sure they didn't.

Alex straightened, his arms at his side, his face expressionless. "Why are you here, Nokolai?"

Rule reached inside with his attention, touching the more restless of the two mantles. Power flexed within him like a wild thing waking—flexed and rose, sending a physical rush through his body. And unbidden, the familiar mantle came roaring up, too, mingling with the new one, the twinned magics making every hair on his body bristle as the night turned sharp and achingly brilliant.

That wasn't part of the plan—but oh, the heady rhythm of it, like the moon's own song, but utterly physical. And his. His. It sang within him, the certain knowledge that he could not be defeated.

Not that the mantles bestowed invulnerability or some illusion of it. He knew he could die tonight. His plans could fail; he could meet with disaster. But neither death nor disaster was defeat to the mantles.

He walked up to Alex. The air was thick with sent, the scent of aggression and dominance. "I come, Alex Thibodaux, as heir of your clan while the Rho is incapacitated, unable to lead. I come to command you."

He sensed more than saw Brady's movement—and that the men on either side of him held him back. He ignored them. Brady was no threat at this moment. Everything depended on Alex.

If the heir can't command the strongest fighter, he can't be Rho.

Rule had no desire to become the Leidolf Rho, but he had to command this one man, whom the others would follow. And Alex had to know he could be commanded. Rule looked Alex in the eye and waited.

Alex was alpha. He didn't back down readily but stood stiff, his hands fisting, his own gaze steady. "Why do you come, Noko-lai?" he demanded again.

"I come because the enemy of all lupi seeks to destroy us, and has killed the former heir to Leidolf. I come to call Leidolf to the hunt. You are Lu Nuncio. You know this is necessary. You know I have the right. You will accept my lead of the hunt."

A moment longer Alex met his gaze, then slowly his eyes dropped. Slowly he lowered himself to one knee and bent his head, baring his nape. "I accept your lead… heir of Leidolf."

Brady made a strangled noise. Rule looked at him, and Brady's gaze dropped, too. One by one he looked at the other three men. One by one they looked down.

Two-mantled. The power was heady… and a little frightening. These men weren't his clan and would normally be his enemies, yet at a glance from him they became his.

He was definitely going to ask Cullen about that Etorri tale.

The mantles were subsiding now that the others had acknowledged his dominance, but they jittered within him, uneasy. He soothed them the way he imagined a rider might calm a restless horse, then touched Alex's exposed nape, accepting the man's submission. "Rise."

Alex flowed to his feet. "I've loaded your weapons back in the trunk of your car, like you asked. Tank's full. Hennings brought his climbing gear, and we have our own weapons. You've got a map and a plan, you said. I'd like to see the one and hear the other."

THEY reached their rendezvous at ten minutes after four in the morning—the entrance to a trail with more ruts and overgrowth than road. The ocean was near and the sound and scent of it steadied Rule's heart. He thought Lily would find some comfort in the ageless rhythm, too. Even in hell, she'd been glad to have the ocean near.

Cullen had slept on the way to Nutley, then driven the last leg of the trip so Rule could sleep. Rule knew how to shut down before battle, and he'd done so, but he suspected it had taken Lily longer to fall asleep. Still, she did sleep; he woke her as they slowed.

The Suburban pulled up behind them. Alex, Brady, and the others got out. They'd travel the rest of the way on foot.

The trail struck out straight through scrubby trees for half a mile, then dropped steeply through rocky outcroppings to end at a narrow beach. Jiri was waiting there, as promised. Her demon familiar was nowhere in sight, Ihough Cynna had fold them he was near.

"This way," Jiri said abruptly and led them down the beach.

On their right, the ocean hushed itself ceaselessly, the wind from it steady and cold. Rule kept an arm around Lily while he could, willing some of his warmth into her. He wished fiercely he could have left her out of this.

She wouldn't thank him for that. She was a warrior, and both her skills and her Gift would be needed. But immunity to magic didn't render her immune to teeth, claws, or bullets.

He knew Cullen was finding Cynna's involvement every bit as difficult to face, though for a different reason… or perhaps not so different. Love had many forms, and Rule didn't doubt his friend treasured the life so newly begun.

On their left the land rose, rocky and rough, until they stood at the base of a cliff rearing fifty feet above. Jiri stopped, looked them over, and spoke for the second time. "You were late."

"I don't know how you travel these days," Cynna said caustically, "but we had to use cars. You knew we were here once the electricity went out."

The woman gave her a measured look, then dismissed her to speak to Cullen. "The wards start at the top of the cliff."

He tilted his head back. "I see them."

"Do you, now? And will you be able to disengage them?"

"I've got sorcerous vision, not eagle's vision," he snapped. "They're fifty feet up. I'll need to be a little closer to study them. But I expect I'll be able to shut them down and let your pet in."

"So confident," she murmured, looking up herself for a moment. The house wasn't visible from here, but the fence was— probably not to human eyes, but the moon provided plenty of light for him.

The house might be out of sight, but they knew it was dark. They'd stopped a few miles away at a transformer that supplied electricity to the area. Cullen had fried it, eliminating the regular alarm system. He'd deal with the magical one, too—the wards only he could see.

"It's time," Rule said. He didn't grab Lily for a last kiss. It wouldn't be their last, he promised himself. But he rested his hands on her hips and looked at her, just looked at her, for a long moment. "Lady's luck to you," he said at last.

She smiled, stretched up, and gave him a quick kiss. "And to you." She shouldered the AK-47 Alex had returned to them and melted off into the trees.

A sensitive couldn't be stopped by wards. Nor would she set them off.

Tonight was the only night Jiri could mount an attack, so surprise wasn't possible. Cordoba would be expecting someone to drop by. It was up to them to fulfill that expectation… in an unexpected way.

Lily would work her way around to the front and wait for Rule's call. When she got it, she'd go in alone. Cordoba had a security system but no backup power, so it would be inactive. In addition to the machine gun, Lily had a key to the front door and a small charm, made by the child's mother from a lock of her hair. It should lead Lily to the little girl.

The rest of them would climb the cliff and engage whatever demons took an interest. Jiri and her demon would join the action from a different point once the wards were down, creating all the distraction one might wish, giving Lily a chance to find the little girl before she could be used to stop the rest of them.

Rule's stomach clenched. It was Benedict's plan, and a good one. He hated it. "You ready?" he said curtly to Cullen.

Cullen finished blacking his face with the goo Benedict's light-skinned guards used for night duty. "Done." He tossed the small can to Rule and turned to Cynna. "Kiss for luck?"

She hesitated, then grabbed his face with both hands and gave him what he'd asked for. Thoroughly. Then she stepped back, frowning. "You're crazy, but watch your back anyway, okay?"

His grin flashed. Then he jogged to the cliff and began climbing. Alex followed him up. He would stand watch while Cullen worked on the wards and call Rule when they were down. Then Rule would call Lily.

Rule began spreading the goo over his own face and the backs of his hands. He passed the can to Cynna. "Slather up." He looked at the heftiest of the Leidolf men. "Hennings."

Not all of their equipment came from Benedict's hoard. The climbing rope Hennings brought was his own. He began hooking it to the harness Cynna wore. He would be her anchor.

Cynna grimaced. "I keep telling you I don't need that."

"You'll humor me."

She rolled her eyes and pulled on the black stocking cap they'd picked up at an all-night Wal-Mart along the way.

Eveyone still on the ground was fair enough to need to darken his face. Rule passed the little can around, getting a sense of how each man dealt with his fear. Alex had chosen well, he thought. He got no more than a whiff of fear scent from any of them. Even Brady.

Brady did sneer at him when he accepted the can. "If you've brought us out here on a wild-goose chase, I'll rip your face off and spit in it when I Challenge."

Rule didn't bother to answer. Brady meant to kill him regardless of the outcome tonight. He just hoped the man wasn't so mad for blood he'd try it before they killed their mutual enemy.

There was nothing left but the waiting. He hunkered down to do that, but glanced up at the top of the cliff. He couldn't spot Cullen or Alex, which was reassuring. The wind off the ocean would carry their scent toward the house, but demons didn>t have a very good sense of smell. That had been one of the advantages he had over Gan, much resented by the little demon. But it had resented everything about Rule.

He shivered. Mostly he tried not to think much about the time they'd spent in hell, but tonight, looking up the cliff, the memories were suddenly fresh. There'd been a cliff there, too, higher than this one, rearing above their cave.

The cliff that killed Lily. While he lay useless, unconscious, she'd raced to the edge and—

His shoulders bunched as he pulled himself up, his left foot automatically finding a toehold in the stone. He froze.

God. It had happened again.

After a few seconds he looked up. The edge of the cliff lay about ten feet up. Cullen waited there; he caught a glimpse of his friend's face peering down. He checked to the side, then below. Several dark shapes were following him up. He had to keep moving.

Methodically he did, his mind racing. This was one helluva time for Cullen's charm to lose its potency. Even if it had quit altogether, though, he probably wouldn't have another blackout right away—the most he'd experienced was two in one day, and they'd been widely spaced.

But was he willing to bet everyone's lives on that assumption?

He didn't have a choice, he realized as he heaved himself up onto the thin strip of ground next to the chain-link fence. The Leidolf men wouldn't follow Cullen or Cynna, and Cullen wouldn't follow the Leidolf Lu Nuncio. Rule was only one who could hold their party together, and there was no way to call things off.

God. He hoped he'd done everything the way he'd planned. He didn't remember one second of it, but he had to assume he'd called Lily.

Cullen crouched beside him. "Problem?"

Alex was keeping watch; Rule saw him crouched beside the hole he'd cut in the fence a few yards away. "It stinks of demon here."

"They're around. None close right now, but a couple of redeyes have been pacing the perimeter. Alex should smell them if they get close, even if they're dashtu." He added under the tongue, What's wrong?

Another blackout.

Cullen's startled face said more than he put into words. Do you remember what you're doing here?

I didn't lose that much time. The last thing I remember… He swallowed. His last memory had been a memory itself. It hit shortly after you reached the top and cleared up while I was climbing.

Fifteen or twenty minutes, then.

Rule nodded. Don't speak of this. • We're still going in ?

Lily's probably already in.

Cullen nodded and moved away, making room for the next man to pull himself over the edge. It was Hennings. Cynna followed a few moments, later, winded and trying not to show it. Cullen went to unclip the rope and help her pull off the climbing harness. The others reached them quickly. Cynna had been slowest, of course; however fit, she couldn't climb as quickly as a lupus.

"The wards?" Rule said to Cullen—low, but not subvocal.

Cullen answered the same way. "I made a hole in them to match the one in the fence. We can cross there without setting off any alarms, but I couldn't shut them off entirely without alerting Cordoba. They're good," he said grudgingly, "damned good, with plenty of power behind them."

"Enough to stop Jiri's oversize pet?"

"I'm no expert on the pet, but probably."

"Can you shut them down?"

"Sure. I'll need to be close, though—within thirty feet or so. And Cordoba wili know."

"We'll be more distracting if he knows we're here, but hold off until we're on the other side of the fence."

The hole wasn't large. Rule went first, staying low when he reached the other side. The others crawled through one at a time, their weapons held carefully; Rule was pleased by the way the Leidolf men moved; they'd been well trained. Cynna came last, and almost as quietly as the lupi.

The house was a long, low bungalow. It lay about half the length of a football field away with nothing but dirt and grass between them. On the left, trees climbed the slope toward the house, stopping forty feet from the south wall. To the north, as in front of them, there was only grass, dry and stubby from a late mowing. No cover, and dead grass was hard to cross silently.

Good thing they weren't really trying to sneak up. He wanted to get closer before engaging the enemy, though, if they could. He motioned for them to follow and started across the field, crouching low, his rifle held ready.

All at once Cullen straightened and sang out, "Incoming!" He flung out a hand.

Fire bloomed in the night. Something screeched in pain. In the sudden glow Rule saw what looked like darker masses of air speeding toward them from the north end of the fence line.

"Hennings—Robbins—now!" He fit his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the almost-visible demons charging them. The loud crack from his gun was followed quickly by others, even as the two he'd named Changed.

"Holy shit!" Cynna cried. Rule spared her a quick glance and saw her looking straight up—at a nightmare diving at them out of the sky.

The creature's wingspan was easily forty feet. It was fanged and leathery, the reptilian head made up mostly of jaws. It had a compact body and muscular hindquarters powering short legs that ended in huge talons, and Rule had seen its like before.

In hell. Gan called them Xitil's pets. "Hit it with your spell!" Rule yelled, aiming up.

"It's not a goddamned demon!"

Holy shit was right. "Hennings, Robbins," he called to the two wolves. "Keep the others off us. Everyone with weapons, fire at the big guy. Cullen—the wards." Rule shot at the creature's head, but it was diving so fast he missed.

At the last minute it swerved to the north. He tracked it with his weapon, firing again—and he hit it. He was sure he did, and the others were firing, too. It never faltered, swooping and grabbing one of the wolves in its talons.

The wolf's weight didn't bother it any more than the bullets had. The enormous wings beat strongly, and it soared up.

The red-eyes were almost on them, though Hennings ran in front, trying to draw them off. They popped into full visibility twenty feet away even as Robbins's dying howls faded overhead. Rule howled, too, in sheer rage and charged the red-eye in the lead. It checked, disconcerted, but only for a second. Then it leaped.

He fired right into the gaping jaws. The back of its head exploded.

He spun, rifle ready, but the other two red-eyes were circling, not attacking. He fired anyway.

"Stop! Stop, or she dies!"

That shout came from the house. Rule darted a glance that way—and froze.

A small man, dark-skinned and dapper in a brown suit, carried a bundle wrapped in a blue cloth of some sort over his shoulder. He led four other humans across the field toward them. Those four wore the hooded robes of the Azd and carried rifles… rifles pointed at Lily, who walked in front of them, her hands behind her back.

"He was waiting for me," Lily said. She spoke quietly, but he heard her easily across the twenty yards that separated them.

They'd been betrayed.