Ravenous

Chapter 27

While Holly and Alessandro slept, Geneva had dared the nonhumans to do battle with her on campus that night. She had done it the traditional way, with a written challenge and the gift of a silver knife. The bloodied silver blade meant it was a fight to the death.

It was cold, the skies clear and starry. The south campus—farthest from the coffee shops and movies—was all but deserted, as if the humans sensed coming danger and huddled indoors. It was only eleven o'clock, but the windows of the nearby residences were mostly dark. Vampires, werebeasts, and other creatures hid in the shadows, waiting.

Omara and the other leaders of pack and clan conceded that the demon's choice of location was logical. Fairview U was dead center of the successful portals. For whatever reason this was where Geneva's magic worked best. Nor was the challenge itself a surprise, though it had come sooner than expected. Fresh from the Castle, Geneva should still have been weak.

That raised questions.

They were nervous. Not sure what to expect. Worried about keeping the humans safe. Worried about humans seeing what they shouldn't.

How Geneva would wage her war was unknown, but nobody thought she'd do it alone.

Accordingly, Queen Omara summoned her champion to join her on the campus at once.

Alessandro found Omara striding across the dew-laden lawns. With cold, fixed purpose, he descended like an evil storm.

Grabbing her arm, he dragged her away from her two guardsmen. With a regal flick she waved them away as they hastened to intervene. Her expression was unconcerned. As Alessandro released her, she smoothed her hair into place and slipped her hands into the pockets of her long, fur-trimmed coat. Queens did not show fear.

Alessandro ached to change that. "Malevolent bitch!" he snarled. "You knew. You knew there were other ways to save Holly."

Omara's response showed only in the sharp line of her mouth, the widening of her eyes. The queen was still, but her stance was a haiku of future violence.

Alessandro wasn't sure he cared anymore.

"I had to be sure that we were in control of your witch's magic," she said with utter calm. "The risk that she would Turn before we could help her was too great."

"Not if you had wanted to save her. Then your reasoning would be quite different."

"You malign me."

"I know you."

"You took what you craved."

"I could have controlled myself."

"I wonder. I wager you ache to savor her blood even now."

There was no good reply to that. Alessandro glanced away from Omara. If I love Holly, I must face the hell of leaving her. Anything less will be her destruction. Sick anger seared him like poison. Omara would have been kinder to kill him.

He still reeled from the look on Holly's face when she relayed what her grandmother had said. She had gone specter-white with shock. Oh, Holly was strong. There were no tears, no wild exclamations, but her eyes had been full of hollow disbelief that their lives had been shattered for nothing, because vampires played cruel games.

That moment changed everything. Something inside his soul had slammed shut with a sepulchral clang. Now he turned back to Omara, decisions made, past loyalties sealed behind that door.

"You grow reckless with my goodwill, my champion." Omara's upper lip curled, showing fang. "Your affairs of the heart are not my concern."

Alessandro nearly laughed. The irony of it all sickened him. "Goodwill? You destroyed the one bit of peace that I had found. Whether it was for jealousy or convenience doesn't matter."

A moment passed as the truth hung in the air, noxious and thick enough to choke. He was calmer now that he had said it. The real question was what he did next.

"I have always served the good of our people."

"Public concern does not excuse private cruelty."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, a mix of affront and surprise on her face. Alessandro did not flinch.

"There are more important things." Omara brushed away a strand of hair. She had been so still, the gesture seemed monumental. "Geneva didn't neglect the niceties. She couriered each of the nonhuman leaders a knife."

"Impressive. At least she has style."

Omara waited while the wind stirred their hair, his bright, hers dark. "Is that all you have to say?"

The moment had come, the fork in the road. He took it. "What is there to say? I will fight this night, but only because the demon threatens us all. I will not fight for you. I've been your knight, but you betrayed all the loyalty I've given you. All my trust. You do not deserve my fealty."

Omara's eyes flared a pale gold. "You are my retainer."

"And you repaid my services so well."

"I'm sorry. That was my blunder." Omara met his eyes, but her boldness had faded.

Alessandro read the expression. "What happened?"

"Clan Albion did not answer my summons. The entire clan has disappeared from Fairview, down to the last fledgling."

Pierce's clan. "Treason."

Omara gave a helpless gesture. "You win. I should have listened to you. You guessed they had a hand in it."

The queen had effectively steered him away from venting his anger. He knew it, but Alessandro still considered what she had just told him. Albion had the best fighters.

She put her hand on his, wordless. All she had to say was in her touch. Come back to me.

Alessandro's breath caught. "No," he said, ending her unspoken plea.

"You will fight for me this night?" she asked. The question was bald, querulous, perhaps the only words he had ever heard that came straight from her heart.

"Yes."

After, if there was an after, he would walk away from Omara's service and any place in the society of his kind. There were things worse than loneliness. Chief among them was dishonorable servitude.

One bitch queen at a time.

Focus on Geneva and whoever brought the soul-sucking road show to Fairview. Once this is over, you can find some way of grinding Omara's bones to dust.

Besides, the vampire diva of evil was already occupied.

Holly could see Alessandro and Omara as distant shadows, their gestures backlit by the haze of the lampposts that dotted the paths across the campus lawn. She didn't need to hear their words to understand that their long relationship was tearing apart. Their hands sketched the pain in understated slashes as they spoke.

Holly turned away, feeling like a voyeur.

A whiff of leather and pine hung on the breeze, an odor of wild and ancient places. Werebeasts. The packs and prides had begun to arrive, roaming the pathways in groups of two and three. The appointed time for battle was drawing near.

Down to work. Holly narrowed her focus, shutting out the scene around her. The murder victims had mostly been students. All the recent portals had happened at or near the university: the Flanders house, the faculty club, Sinsation, the cemetery, and even her own house weren't that far distant. That meant something local facilitated the magic, something that touched all those places. A natural power source? That could be bodies of water. Fissures in the earth. Ley lines.

She knelt in the grass, pushing her hands into the dense, damp lawn. She scanned the earth lightly, the same way she had in the graveyard. With her power unblocked it was too easy, almost laughable. Holly sank into the scan, deepening it, digging in.

Holly saw them. Thick, gold streams of magnetic power streaked under the earth, brush strokes of brilliant energy throbbing with the force of the earth's core. Holly inhaled in wonder. She had never been able to see ley lines before. They ran too deep for most witches to get a visual. She didn't just have power; she had a lot of power. And there's no pain!

Holly followed the streams with her mind. They branched and trailed in every direction, but flowed more or less toward the east, under the university and then south to the cemetery. She let the largest line take her, pushing her mind along like a tiny craft in a race to the sea.

The earth sped by, the current of the ley line covering city blocks as quickly as a car. It was less than a minute before turbulence came. Electricity raced through Holly, a physical feeling, even though it was only her thoughts that it touched. And then the power began to whirl.

There was another line flowing from north to south. A mightier line, dark as old rum, pounded past her. It was chill and wild, bleak as the forsaken lands of ice. The two flows collided, smashing with a force that made the etheric atmosphere shake and shudder. Power zinged in ripples of lightning, circling outward from the whirlpool of magic. It was hair-raising, beautiful, terrible. She let her mind float upward, pinpointing the location of the storm.

It was right under the Flanders house. Well, that explains a thing or two.

What a choice location for a witch's house! Even without an added dash of demon, the spell that gave the house its sentience would have gained power from the maelstrom of power under its foundations. No wonder it had been so hard to defeat.

With this network of power under the area, it was obvious why the summoning rituals had worked. Power permeated the campus air like fog. Geneva could harness it easily. She had chosen an arsenal for her battleground.

But I can use that weapon, too. Holly withdrew her mind, slowly returning to herself. She staggered a little, then slowly sank to the wet grass, putting her head between her knees.

"Are you all right?"

The blackness of the night compounded her dizziness. She blinked her vision clear to see Perry dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans. His forehead was creased with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just doing some magical scouting. I came back a little fast."

She needed practice with her newfound powers, but there was no time. She was taking her driver's test during the Grand Prix. Sink or swim, honey. She let Perry pull her to her feet.

Behind Perry stood a tall, dark-haired young man with sharp cheekbones and wary eyes. A strange expression for one so obviously strong, she thought. His whole body spoke of fleet physical strength.

"This is Lore," said Perry. "He came from the other side of the portal, along with the rest of his pack. He's their alpha."

"Pack?" Holly dusted the grass off her damp rump. The clammy cloth made her shiver.

"We are hellhounds." Lore said it like a dare, as if he expected her to slap him.

"They're fighting with us in return for amnesty. They want to live in Fairview," Perry explained. He looked shell-shocked. "I had no idea what sort of a hell… I mean… I knew about the demons, but…"

Lore gave a single, solemn nod that might have been meant as a greeting. "If you are to fight Geneva, you need to hear this. The portals enter a place called the Castle." He spoke slowly, with the precise measure of someone coping in a foreign language. On the other hand, he didn't seem to have an accent. Maybe he just doesn't talk much.

"The demon prison," Holly replied, wondering what the hell hounds had been on the other side of the portal. Then she thought of the picture in Grandma's book. Lore did look like he'd fit right into a Gothic decorating scheme.

"It is more than that. There are many who live there, creatures of all kinds. It is a huge, winding place without end. There are no doors or windows. No one has ever walked the length of one wall and returned to tell his tale."

"More than just demons live there?" Holly said, confused.

"There are many prisoners. Many peoples. All are forgotten there."

Holly was speechless. How did that happen? she wondered.

He went on. "Your summoner has made many tries to free this demon. Whenever a doorway opened, as many as could escaped. Many changelings. The hounds. Then at last the demon herself."

Perry interrupted, speaking about twice as fast. "It sounds like a few changelings from our side of things were involved at first, then invited their friends from the Castle to come on over and form an army. They're crossing back and forth, using the Castle as their barracks. They've got a spell book they're using like a passkey."

An army. That explains what I saw at the cemetery, Holly thought.

Lore continued. "We lived quietly for years, and the Castle guards forgot our corner of the prison. If Geneva or her soldiers attract their notice, they will remember that part of the Castle. They will punish any they find still living there."

"Will the guards cross the portal to our side?" Holly asked.

"Yes. The guardsmen are to be feared." Lore clenched one fist, the gesture expressing far more than his simple words. "I regret that there is no way to keep the door open and let those who deserve it go free."

Holly studied Lore, taking in his rough clothes, the constant vigilance of his gaze. An escaped prisoner. A refugee. How many others like him were still in the Castle?

Her thoughts took a sharp turn. Alessandro crossed the lawn toward them, his long, worn leather coat flaring behind him. In addition to his usual weapons, a studded baldric crossed his chest, supporting a silver-edged broadsword. The champion's badge of office, the huge weapon was forged to kill immortals. Beheading with a silver blade was forever.

He stopped before Holly, cupping her face and kissing her. The power between them flared, making her knees go soft. The demon could wait. She wanted, needed to have him in her arms. There had to be couches in the student lounge. An empty dorm room. A study carrel.

Perry and Lore shuffled, the embarrassed-guy noises bringing the embrace to an end. Alessandro released her, raising his head to sniff the wind. A paper coffee cup skittered down the path, chased by the rising breeze.

"The fey have arrived."

"I thought they were neutral," said Perry.

"They won't fight, but they've agreed to keep the humans out of it. They've made their base to the north," said Alessandro. He turned to Lore. "Hounds patrol the perimeter. Keep any humans who get past the fey clear of the action. Frighten them if you have to. Wolves fight with the vampires. Omara's forces cover the south. She leads them herself."

"If she leads the vampires, what are you doing?" Perry asked.

"I guard Holly. She is our chief weapon of magic. Call my cell the moment you have any knowledge of where Geneva has shown herself."

"I found the energy web of this place," Holly put in. "We may gain some advantage if I watch for disturbances. There'll be a power spike before a portal appears. If we catch it soon enough, we can be waiting."

"How do we know she'll open one?" asked Alessandro.

"Lore says she's been stashing her army inside the Castle."

Alessandro looked at the hellhound with interest. "Inside the Castle? No wonder we could never find the changelings."

Perry slapped Lore's shoulder. "Let's go." They turned and ran north.

Alessandro drew near Holly, so close their sleeves nearly brushed. She could feel the tension in the air, as if she could touch the combined dread and excitement of every creature in the area. It reminded her of a stadium before the big game.

"How did it go with Omara?" Holly asked.

"I'm no longer her servant. I'm through tangling myself in her lies." He shifted, settling his baldric more comfortably. "We should get you somewhere safe while you look for… whatever it is you need to see."

"I don't need safe. I need to be in the thick of the energy."

"Where, then?"

"We have to go back to the Flanders house."

Alessandro did not look impressed.