Steal the Moon

Chapter Eighteen

I raised my gun and had the former demon in my sights. I would have popped off a quick round, but he had me in his sights too, so I settled for a nice standoff. As Halfer looked at me, his self-satisfied smile told me everything I needed to know. I had walked into a trap. I could only hope I had a way out.

“So the aswang was a decoy,” I began, trying to give myself time for one of three things to happen. I needed Dev to get back with the car, Lee to get back to himself, or Zack to show up with teeth and claws.

Halfer laughed, his eyes on the statue in my hand. “I like to think of her more like a herding mechanism. She got you right where I needed you to go. I doubt you would have responded if I’d sent you an e-mail politely asking you to steal that thing for me.”

“Couldn’t steal the thing yourself? Is the whole mortality thing difficult for you?”

He shrugged. “I probably could have, but why do all that work myself when I could get you to do it for me? Stay down, wolf.”

I fought the urge to look at Lee. The minute my attention was drawn away, Halfer would make good on his threat to kill me. Where the hell was Dev?

Lee had crawled to my side. I heard him as he was trying to get up. His strength was being sapped by whatever magic was in the statue.

“Please just stay down, Lee.” I begged, knowing how hard this was for him. “He will kill you.”

“I really just want to kill Zoey, wolf,” Halfer affirmed. “As long as you stay out of my way, I couldn’t care less about some muscle her husband hired.”

A sudden thought occurred to me. Just how carefully thought out was this plan of Halfer’s?

“What did you do to Danny?” There was no way in hell my husband just forgot. He’d been worried about this night for days. He’d made me go over and over the plan with him until he knew it better than I did. He forced Dev to prove he could perform his job three times before he grudgingly gave his approval. He would have found a way to leave LA on time even if it meant pissing off the Council.

Lucas Halfer no longer had fangs, but he smiled like they were still there, ready to take a chunk out of me. “I think you’ll find I delayed your hubby with a little emergency. When I was cast out of Hell, I was informed that if I tried to interfere with Vampire affairs, I would face a trial. But they didn’t say anything about firebombing a house containing a bunch of vamps the Council doesn’t even know about.”

It took everything I had not to shoot that bastard then and there. “Why? Why go to all that trouble? You have to know Danny is going to kill you. He wasn’t in that house.”

“I know,” Halfer replied. “I just needed to make sure he was distracted. I gave him a heads up. I even sent him pictures. I love modern technology. He’s pulling bodies out even as we speak.”

I tried not to think about all the people I cared about who were in that house. I could only hope they’d been out. They were a nocturnal lot. Maybe they were out on dates or roaming the woods. They couldn’t be dead. I wasn’t even going to think about that possibility. Daniel would have gotten there, and he would have made sure everyone got out alive.

“I’ll take that artifact now, Zoey.” Halfer held out a hand.

“Why do you want it?” I asked, trying to come up with any way to keep him talking. “It just seems to make wolves sick.”

“I’ve been around a long time. I know exactly what the Strong Arm of Remus does. It’s been missing for millennia,” Halfer explained. “I never gave a damn about the wolves until I found out Donovan wanted them. I would really do just about anything to fuck with that husband of yours. I’ll make sure he gets caught by the Council even if I can’t go to them myself.”

One of Lucifer Morningstar’s dictates to Halfer was to stay out of Council business. The king of Hell was interested in seeing where the vampires were going and didn’t want his soldiers influencing the upcoming battle. I was sure it was the only reason Halfer hadn’t called up Marini and laid out what he knew.

“So you’re going to make the wolves sick? How exactly does that help you get back at Daniel?”

“That’s not a normal wolf,” he said, glancing down at Lee, who was moaning but refused to leave my side. I wasn’t sure what he thought he could do except distract the ex-demon with his groans. “That’s a loner. The Strong Arm calls to wolves both normal and alpha. It calls to their instincts to lead and be led, to follow the strong. That pitiful dog at your side doesn’t have those instincts, so the object seeks to destroy that which will not follow it.”

There was a sudden pop of gunfire behind me, and I couldn’t help but look. I turned back around quickly and was surprised to find Halfer calmly standing there looking at me. He had a small smile on his face that let me know he wanted me alive, at least for now. He wanted something else from me.

“That would be my employees, Zoey,” Halfer said softly as though intimating a secret to me. “I found I still had followers even without Hell’s stamp of approval. I think you’ll find that faery of yours is dead again. Too bad there are no vampires around to bring him back this time.”

There was nothing to stop my finger from pulling the trigger now. I firmed my stance and shot. I preferred a two-fisted hold, but I couldn’t put the prize down. The recoil kicked me back, but I was ready for it.

The shot managed to hit Halfer, his big body slamming back before he could return fire.

“Move it, Lee.” I jumped back and used the front of the big truck as a shield.

“That fucking hurt, bitch,” Halfer growled. He groaned a little as he moved the shoulder. He would bleed and hurt, but he was still as strong as a demon. It would take more than a single wound to even slow him down. “It won’t work. Give me the damn artifact now or I’ll blow your wolf all to hell.”

I felt the hard rim of the tires against my back. I gazed to the hill where Dev had disappeared. My eyes filled with tears at the thought of him never coming back down. I sucked it up because I had to get myself and Lee out of here before I worried about avenging Dev. Besides, until I saw his body, I wasn’t giving up hope. He had a gun, too, and he was no easy mark.

I moved to my knees and let myself look out from behind the tire. Halfer was positioned over Lee. He held my wolf’s head by his curly hair and pointed the gun at his temple. Lee was too weak to even fight anymore.

“I’m serious, Zoey,” Halfer called out, his voice hard as nails. “I’m going to blow this wolf’s head off if you don’t get your ass out here. You have ten seconds. Unless you’ve stopped giving a damn about your employees, and then please feel free to stay where you are. If you don’t care, then I applaud you for finally growing a set.”

He started his countdown, and I tried to see a way out. I was pretty sure he was still going to kill us both no matter what I did, but I knew I couldn’t just stand back and let Lee die like that. I stood and took a deep breath. I forced myself to move away from my cover. “Okay. I’ll trade you the statue for my wolf.”

Halfer snorted. “You’ll kick the gun over here first. I don’t heal the way I used to and bullets hurt more now, thanks to you.”

I kneeled down and carefully put the Ruger on the ground. I kicked it toward him and waited for him to shoot me now that I was an easy target. The sound of gunfire split the night around me, and I waited for the sting of the bullet hitting my body. I was surprised when Halfer cursed and jerked backward.

I turned my head and saw my green-eyed boy all healthy and whole, walking toward the scene, gun in hand, ready to take another shot.

“Your men are gone, Halfer,” Dev shouted as he approached. “You’re on your own.”

There was a loud growl as Zack ran toward his brother. Halfer took one look at the big brown wolf who seemed to be suffering none of the effects his brother was and retreated. He took a dozen steps back. I could see his shirt was starting to get soaked in blood. I couldn’t tell exactly where Dev had hit him, but it was definitely in the torso. Unfortunately, he’d been allowed to keep his demonic strength when he’d been cast from Hell. He could die, but he was one tough son of a bitch.

“I can still shoot her, Quinn,” Halfer yelled, his face savage. The bullets had done some damage, but not anywhere close to enough. “You might get another shot off, but I swear I’ll take her down if it’s the last thing I do.”

Zack growled, looking between his brother and the threat, unsure of what to do. I knew.

“Get Lee out of here.” I used my best badass alpha voice. Zack was strictly a follower. He wanted to be told what to do. He could follow orders and would do so with great efficiency once someone stronger told him what to do.

Before Dev could countermand my order, Zack had his brother’s shirt in his teeth and was pulling him away as fast as his four feet would carry them.

“Not the way I would have gone, Zoey.” Dev frowned my way. “That was stupid. Zack could have killed him.”

“Maybe, but he would have gotten either me or Lee,” I shot back, wondering if I could get my gun back in my hands. It was between Dev and Halfer, just lying there in the road.

Dev read my face and shook his head sharply. “Get behind me now.” I frowned but did what he told me to. Dev’s eyes focused on the ex-demon. “I killed your little cohorts back there, Lucas. You’re all alone. I can kill you here or you can run and let Daniel kill you later. It’s your choice.”

“Or I could find door number three.” Halfer’s face lit with a shit-eating grin. “Isn’t that what you like to say, Mrs. Donovan?” He kept the gun trained but started walking backward. I hadn’t even thought about what we had left sitting back there, all tied up and gagged. Halfer had noted them, though. He pulled one of the men from the truck out in front of him now and placed the gun at his temple. “Give up the statue or I’ll kill this man.”

“So kill him, Lucas,” Dev replied, his tone flat. “You think I’m not ready for some collateral damage? This is war. People die. Innocent people die.” Dev glanced back at me. “Zoey, get in the car. I’ll follow you in a minute.”

I heard him, but I just couldn’t help but think about the fact that this was the guy with a wife and two kids. He’d been calm and done absolutely everything right. He should have survived this heist and been able to go home and crawl in bed with his wife and hold his children. Now, because I screwed up, he was going to die.

“I’m going to kill this one, Zoey,” Halfer stated. “Then I’ll kill the other one, too, just for kicks. Do you think he’s just collateral damage? Are you going to be able to live with that?”

“She’s going to go to the car,” Dev said as though saying a thing with enough force of will could make it happen. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way with me.

I moved away from Dev, making sure to stay out of arm’s reach. “I’m bringing it to you, Lucas. Don’t hurt him.”

I moved quickly before Dev could react and found myself taking the man’s place with Halfer’s gun at my head. I do stupid things sometimes, but Halfer was right. I don’t believe in collateral damage. I couldn’t live with it. Even in the dark I could see Dev’s panic.

“Now, it’s going to go like this, Quinn,” Halfer started, firmly in control of the situation. “I’m going to take your lover and get in the car. You’re going to watch and do absolutely nothing or I’ll blow her head off. Is she collateral damage in your little war?”

“You’ll kill her anyway,” Dev said, and I saw the hatred in his eyes.

“Maybe, but I think that vampire is probably figuring out he should get his ass here, and I would love to not have him rip my heart out again,” Lucas explained logically. “I’m going to get in my car with Zoey here and I’ll leave her down the road. Her husband can come and save her. He likes to do that. Tell him to bring that blood of his because she’s going to need it.”

I felt the cold at my temple and then I was being herded toward a black Lincoln Navigator. I could see that Dev hadn’t taken out all of Halfer’s accomplices since there was a small man with beady eyes behind the wheel. Dev followed us, waiting for any slipup. I could see how angry he was in the way he held himself. His rage at being completely unable to save me was in every muscle of his body. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just Halfer he was mad at.

Halfer opened the door to the back seat.

“Zoey,” Dev yelled. “Don’t you dare die. I’m planning on killing you myself.”

“Love you, too,” I shouted as Halfer shoved me in the car. The minute the door was closed, the driver hit the gas and plowed through the night.

“Let me have it,” Halfer ordered, pulling the statue out of my hands. He groaned as he moved, but he forced himself to grip the artifact despite his obvious pain. He held it up and inspected it. He didn’t seem to have any of the same concerns I had about the piece. He admired it like it was a blessed object. “It’s a shame, really. It’s so lovely.”

Halfer smashed the statue against the door with his good hand. It came apart under the strength of the impact, sending pieces of marble flying. I covered my eyes but when I looked up again, he was holding a petrified paw.

“I thank you, Zoey,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “I could never have gotten this without you. This is going to change the game. This gives me all the power in the world.”

Suddenly there was a loud thump and the car swerved wildly.

“It’s a wolf,” the driver said, trying to get the car under control. “It’s a big brown wolf.”

Score one for Zack. I tried to look out the window to see if I could make him out. He seemed to be moving on the roof. Then there was a horrible screeching sound and a claw became visible through the top of the car.

Halfer cursed but held up the paw and intoned a spell in Latin. Demons love their Latin. I think it’s pretentious and silly, but they don’t really listen to me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t working as Zack was doing a fine job of creating a sunroof where before there was none. I started looking at Halfer’s gun, wondering if there was any way I could get it.

“Why isn’t it working?” Frustration saturated his words.

“Guess you’re out of luck,” I said with that smile I was sure he hated. “It doesn’t work on Zack. That’s the name of the guy who’s about to eat you. I’ll introduce him properly when he gets through the roof.”

With a howl of rage, Halfer slapped me across the face, and I felt my lip start to bleed. He reared back his fist and I waited for him to break my jaw. He stopped suddenly as Zack was almost through. I brought my hands up to try to protect my head.

“Time to see how well trained your wolf is.” Halfer leaned over and opened the door on my side of the car. I took the opportunity to reach for the paw. The damn thing was mine.

“Uh uh,” he said as the wind rushed in. We had to be going seventy. “Not going to happen, Zoey. Time to drop you off. It’s been nice seeing you. Hope you enjoyed the ride.”

He leaned back and with his expensive loafers, kicked me out of the car.

The world rushed by in a blur. I hit the pavement and rolled for a really long time. Without a doubt I would have been a dead girl if I hadn’t been taking Daniel’s blood on a regular basis. Even with that vampire blood, I felt every bone in my body. I wasn’t sure how many were broken, but I was certain it was a bunch. I didn’t even try to lift my head off the pavement. My whole body was a mass of pain. So much I couldn’t really tell where it was coming from. It simply was. Pain. Utter agony blanketed me.

I heard a little whimper and felt the tentative lick of a warm tongue on my face. I opened my eyes, but everything was fuzzy and blurry. I tried to cry but that hurt, too. A low moan was all I could manage. Zack did the only thing he could. He stood beside me and let me know he was there. He threw back his head and howled to try to let the others know where we were.

My left arm was at an odd angle. I stared at it, trying to make sense of why it pointed the wrong way. I tried to move it but had no luck. My muscles seemed too concerned with pain to respond. I heard a car zooming along and then the screech of brakes. I would have turned to see if someone was going to call an ambulance or maybe animal control when they got a look at Zack, but then Dev was turning me over and I was moaning again. Every touch brought fresh agony.

“Oh, goddess. What did he do to you?” Dev asked quietly, looking me over.

“He pitched her out of a moving car.” Zack was suddenly human again. He was naked, of course, and like most wolves, he didn’t seem to care. “That bastard kicked her right out of the car without slowing down even a little. She should be dead.”

Dev sighed. “She’s not and we have more trouble than that. The vampire blood is going to start healing her soon.”

I wasn’t following the conversation well because Zack’s face screwed up in horror at the thought. The vampire blood healing me seemed like a really good thing. I was pretty heinously broken and being whole again was a thing I’d like to achieve. Anything to make the pain go away.

Dev frowned down at me, his face tense. “Sweetheart, I’m not going to lie to you. This is going to hurt. I’m so sorry.”

“It already hurts, Dev,” I managed to get out. Tears stung my eyes. I really thought I couldn’t take any more freaking pain. “Where is Danny?”

“I don’t know,” Dev said softly. “Hold her arm at the elbow, Zack. Don’t let it move.”

Zack kneeled beside me and held my elbow.

I got really nauseous at the sight of my bone sticking straight out of my arm. “Don’t touch it!”

“Zoey, if we don’t set that arm, it’s going to heal like that,” Zack pointed out.

My stomach rolled at the thought. I’d had a bunch of internal injuries healed with vampire blood, but this was my first broken bone. It was also apparently my second and third as Dev explained that both of my legs were broken. I just let the tears roll now as Zack held me firmly and Dev pulled. I couldn’t help the scream that came but welcomed the blackness that followed shortly after.

“Hey, baby. You have to wake up, now.” Daniel’s voice broke through the darkness, and I moaned as I came right back into pain.

He was behind me, a smoky smell clinging to his clothes. He held his wrist to my mouth and the blood was flowing. I let it coat my tongue, wanting it more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I lapped at it, praying it would start to work and I wouldn’t feel every nerve in my body alight with agony. Relief washed over me as the blood started to warm my insides.

“That’s right, baby. Take what you need,” Daniel was saying as his free hand stroked my hair.

Dev stood over me, his expression grave, and I knew I was in for some kind of lecture when I was feeling better. Lee was sitting in the car, looking like he was getting over the worst of the sickness, but his eyes were guilty as he stared at me. Zack was dressed again, though in jeans and a T-shirt he resembled his brother more than normal.

“I’m so sorry,” Daniel was saying quietly.

“Is everyone all right?” Dev asked, looking behind me at Daniel. I was sure Daniel had filled everyone in on Halfer’s activities.

“Joel is dead.” Daniel’s voice was a flat monotone. “The house is gone. Justin worked fast or it would have been a whole lot worse. He got the girls out. Jean-Marc is burned pretty badly, but he’ll recover. I moved everyone over to Chad’s.”

“We’ll find a new place tomorrow,” Dev assured him.

I let my head fall back against Daniel’s chest. Exhaustion swamped me, but the blood was doing its work now. I could feel myself healing, and the pain was replaced with a warm sense of well-being.

“Take her, will you, Dev?” Daniel asked, and Dev picked me up and started toward the car.

I looked back at my husband. Danny’s body was rigid with tension. He caught my eyes but there was nothing encouraging in his face, just a flat, hollow look.

Guilt pressed on me. I’d been reckless. I should have vetted the entire situation better, but I’d been eager to get ahead of Halfer, to prove that he couldn’t best me in my own world. And Danny had paid the price. Joel had paid the price.

Daniel pulled his cell out of his back pocket and punched in a number. Dev was putting me in the car as Daniel began to speak.

“This is Donovan. My access number is 75502E45. Yeah, I’m going to need a cleaning crew. Send everyone you have to I-35 about three miles out of Fort Worth. You can’t miss it.” He paused and sighed. “It’s not for me. Yes, it’s my wife again. Just call Vorenus. He’ll clear her. Hell, call Marini himself. I don’t care, but if you don’t get your ass out here, I can tell you what the front page of the Star-Telegram is going to be tomorrow morning.”

Daniel snapped the phone shut. He frowned down at me. “I have to meet the crew at the drop sight. I’ll see you at home.”

I shook my head. “Dev has to go with you. He has to fix the oak grove.” We couldn’t leave it there. The mutilated road could be explained away, but not a bunch of trees.

“I did that while Zack chased you down. It took me thirty seconds, but I worry the drivers saw me. They need their memories wiped,” Dev said.

Daniel nodded, and then he was gone again. Dev closed the door. He got around to the other side and joined me in the backseat. Zack and Lee were in the front, and Zack pulled away, driving us back toward Denton. We were going to take the long route home to avoid anyone remembering the car.

Lee looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Zoey.”

“You couldn’t help it.” I’d gotten him into a bad situation, too.

“You should have left me,” he said in a voice that told me he respected me because I hadn’t. He turned back around and let his head rest against the seat.

“If you ever try anything like this again, I swear to the goddess I will lock you up,” Dev started and I knew he was going to blow off some steam. “I’m going to be saying no a whole lot in the future, my mistress. I’m going to become the king of no. Do you understand me? Let me go over all the ways you tried to kill yourself tonight.”

Dev yelled, letting all of his terror out in a torrent of words. The list of things I’d done was really long and went on for many miles, but I did one right thing as Dev was screaming.

I reached over and clicked my seat belt closed. I had learned that lesson.