L. BANKS - Cursed To Death

“Bullet passed through my arm, didn’t knick bone. Twenty-four hours and a session with a good healer, and I’ll be fine,” Hunter said, studying the plantation-style mansion. “Trees to the east are good cover. We have to decide how to take the property-there will definitely be security forces present. Humans to prevent daylight incursions. Maybe even some wolves from the Buchanan Brous-sard camp-so let’s not get overconfident. It ain’t over till it’s over… Never underestimate Vampires.”

“True. And Vamps are like sharks,” Shogun said. “You know that, brother. You’re bleeding and you can’t merge into the shadows… This isn’t like going up against humans; in a pitch-black lair they move faster than-”

“I know. I understand the risks. But we go in there full force, one clan, allies.” Hunter’s gaze slowly surveyed the group until he received nods of agreement.

He motioned with his chin toward the large, antebellum mansion. “Quite a beaut… I’d say forty, fifty rooms to sack, and who knows what they’ve got under the ground?”

Fisher lifted a shoulder cannon and smiled. “We could do it the quick, just-add-water way and be home before dark to have a brew.”

“I like the way this man thinks,” Sir Rodney said with a smile.

“Before we blow the roof off the sucker,” Sasha said, staring at the mansion, “we need to know if there are any innocents in there.”

“Anybody in there is not innocent,” Sir Rodney said. “But if it’ll make you feel better, we do stealth very, very well.”

Baron Montague opened his eyes and sat up slowly in the dark chambers beneath the house. “We have guests,” he said calmly as two female Vampires gathered in closer to him yawning. “I smell blood.” He looked up at the vaulted ceiling in the concrete cavern. “Blood tainted by silver,” he said snarling. “Guards!”

A huge blast rocked the house. Small crumbles of concrete rained down on the bed as he jumped up and dressed in a flash. All above him he could hear battle raging. He shut his eyes and his entire estate came into view. The manor was an inferno above-that would draw humans!

“Fools! There will be blood for this transgression!”

“Give them Kiagehul!” one of his lovers screeched. “The little bastard has caused us nothing but trouble-we are not involved in this… There are Fae out there fighting alongside both wolf clans!”

The baron slapped her in frustration, but fear for her life made her hiss and challenge him. “You may not like to hear my words but you cannot deny the truth.”

Her sister screeched and drew to her side. “Listen to her, Geoff-they will find the vault and open this sanctuary in broad daylight, damn you! Give them the fucking little troll, or whatever he is! Let the Unseelie queen be outraged that they took the law into their own hands and beheaded him! This is not our battle.”

“Oh, but there will be hell to pay for an unprovoked attack without proof!” the baron snarled between his fangs. “A botched attack on their human boy does not begin to redress this offense… We lost one of our own-according to law, that is enough of a fine for going after the little miscreant… And now they’ve laid siege to my lair in an unauthorized attack?”

“Feel the walls,” the other sister said in a hiss. “They are practically glowing. How long do you think it will take for the house to burn down to ash and for them to find us huddled in a corner, screaming for them not to open this tomb!” She stood up on the bed and then levitated toward him. “Give them the betrayer!”

The baron sent a black charge toward her, but she and her sister deflected it with a snarl.

The eldest sister circled him like a hissing cat. “You do not have enough energy to hold them off from this lair, keep it cool enough in here that we not suffer, and fight us-now choose!”

Priceless antiques were going up in flames. Machine-gun reports rang out and echoed in his mind’s eye. His best human security forces were slaughtered… his bouncers in upper-floor lairs had been sentenced to instant death by daylight. The baron turned away from her, closed his eyes, and sent a hard, flashing image of Kiagehul’s hidden coven to Sir Rodney.

“Fall back!” Sir Rodney shouted.

Sasha looked at Hunter as he jerked back a silver-shell-loaded AK-47. Shogun caught up to them, dusting dead Vampire embers off his fatigues.

“Woods, Fisher!” Sasha hunted for her men in the billowing smoke, but let out a hard breath of relief when one last grenade blew and she saw them jogging from the far side of the building as it collapsed.

Sir Rodney used two fingers to point toward the woods, and then closed his eyes and grabbed his forehead. “I can see him,” he said, wincing. “The Vampire gave him up, put the image in me bleedin’ ’ead! But we will have hell to pay… The Vampires were not involved, only spectators in the larger game. I can sense it in me magick; it’s deep in the marrow of me bones!”

“Oh… shit…” Sasha stood numb for a second. “The retaliation is going to be a bitch.”

“I’ll say.” Woods spat on the ground.

“Who would ever have believed that Vampires were innocent?” Shogun dragged his fingers through his hair and began to walk in a circle.

Hunter ran over, grabbed Sir Rodney’s temples, grimacing as his right arm shook from the pain. “We’re healers… by nature,” he said, breathing hard. “I’ll take the pain; he’s stabbing the image into your mind, enraged… but the information is invaluable.”

“Your arm,” Sasha said. “Let me do the extraction.”

Hunter just stared at her but didn’t stop. She nodded and backed off. It was an intimate process; if there were other thoughts, they could complicate matters.

“Just get it outta me bleedin’ head! For the love of all things holy… it was duplicity in its highest form!”

Sir Rodney slumped as two of his best men held him in Hunter’s grasp. After a few moments, Sir Rodney’s body relaxed and Hunter’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. When he came out of the daze, he was snarling and his eyes were pure wolf. He dropped Sir Rodney in the arms of his men, pivoted, and took off into the glen. Shogun and Sasha were right behind him with a retinue of archers swiftly navigating the trees.

Helicopters were not far in the distance. Fire-engine and police sirens were closing in. But Hunter had the trail in his mind. He picked up the scent on the back of his palate; if he could have called his wolf, he would have been four paws on the ground and one with the wind.

When Hunter found him, Kiagehul was barricaded in a mansion that instantly faded to nothing more than a quickly drawn black magick circle. The onslaught of now strong Seelie Fae tracking magick had left his target exposed. Hunter skidded to a stop, and the frightened Unseelie brandished a dark charm and a wand, following Hunter’s every move.

“Stay back, wolf!” Kiagehul shouted, fear stripping his glamour.

“Your head is mine,” Hunter said, taking short lunges to terrorize the evil being that had wreaked so much havoc.

“If you touch me, you will be cursed for a hundred generations!”

“Don’t touch him, Hunter!” Sasha shouted.

But Shogun left her side to begin circling with Hunter.

“MacDougall?” Sir Rodney said, pushing past the wolves. “Me own damned bodyguard-me best man? What is this madness?”

“Kennan Kiagehul MacDougall! Did you even know my Unseelie name, Kiagehul?” the Unseelie shouted, holding his wand out before him. “Disinherited! Abused in your Seelie Court because of who my father was… Never in line for what was rightfully mine-well this time I decided to take it!”