Jory Strong - Spider-Touched

Maybe she couldn’t know the cost ahead of time. Maybe she could only go with her heart and do what she considered right at each juncture, as she’d done when she stepped between Aziel and the patriarch without agonizing over the decision.

Rebekka tugged a flowered handkerchief from the pocket of her bundled pants and handed it to Annalise. “Levi will come if this is sent with a messenger.”

“I’ll need the token as well.”

ARAÑA raced toward the brothel. Fear crowded her when she saw the hyena-faced Weres standing on either side of the door instead of Levi. Sweat coated her skin, and the demon’s warning in the vision place raged through her mind like fire consuming dry tender. With that choice you will return to your flesh prison without knowing what changes you wrought.

Was this the wrong day despite the increasing uneasiness and urgency she’d felt at L’Antiquaire and after leaving it? Or was Levi’s absence proof she’d changed the pattern leading to his death?

Araña pulled the cloak around her more tightly, making sure the hood and the tilt of her head shielded her face as she went to the front door. One of the Weres opened it—and there was Levi, so close that in another moment he would have been where she’d expected to find him.

He reached out as if to take her hand, then remembered the spider and indicated they go to the right instead. Lewd comments from the prostitutes followed them down a hallway of glass-fronted rooms.

Inside, male and female Weres plied their trade, servicing humans who paid to get something they couldn’t otherwise, while others paid to walk the halls, watching them. At the corner Levi indicated a turn to the left, and they traveled a corridor marked by closed doors as well as open ones allowing glimpses into rooms containing only a bed.

“So he didn’t survive his attempt to recover the boat,” Levi said in oblique reference to Tir’s absence.

“He survived and found a hiding a place for it.”

Levi stepped into the last room before the hallway ended. “So you’re here because of Rebekka. You used your gift to find her.”

“I attempted it.” Araña’s mind closed against the images of Levi dying. “Rebekka’s not at the maze. A private army stormed her house today. A guardsman general was with them.” A life lived among outcasts and outlaws kept her from mentioning the priest who’d urged Rebekka be turned over to the Church for questioning. She couldn’t be sure Levi wouldn’t trade Tir for the healer.

“Did you recognize any of them?”

“No. The cars they arrived in sported flags, a red lion rampant against a shield with a field of gold behind it. The soldiers had the same image on their uniforms. Do you know who the crest belongs to?”

Levi shook his head. “No. But it should be easy enough to find out.”

“Tir and I will do what we can to free her. And if it’s possible, we’ll free the Weres held at the maze. I made a bargain with Draven Tassone through his High Servant. Fulfilling it will require me to break into Anton Barlowe’s house.”

The statement was met with silence rather than amusement. “You’ll die in the effort.”

“Or die if I fail to accomplish it.”

Levi shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “How long do you have?”

“Three days.”

“Not even one,” Levi said, “unless you want to take on the traveling magistrate’s armed guards. By noon tomorrow the magistrate will arrive with those he’s judged guilty elsewhere, criminals he’ll turn over for the administration of their punishment. At least half of them will end up at the maze. The law requires the magistrate’s guards remain with them to ensure they get a fair run, and to certify justice was carried out either by their deaths or their experience in the maze.”

Ice slid down Araña’s spine as she remembered Thane drawing the office building and saying, It also contains living quarters for those who assist Anton as well as those who are required by law to be on the premises at certain times. He must have known when he gave her three days’ time to accomplish Draven’s task that she really had much less of it.

Araña touched the knives for comfort. It could be done. Tir was immortal, and the next time she saw him, he would be free of the collar, his power restored.

But she hadn’t lived with Matthew and Erik so long and not learned the value of gathering information when she could. “How many usually guard the maze grounds and buildings?”

“Anton doesn’t bother with guards because the demon protects him.”

“I saw only Farold, Anton, and the demon when I was held,” Araña said. “Who else is there?”

The gold of Levi’s eyes darkened in hate. “Gulzar.” It was more growl than word, a savage pledge of revenge Araña recognized and understood only too well.

“I’ll help you by doing what I can and sharing what I know,” Levi said. His hand emerged from a jacket pocket with a crumpled piece of paper. She guessed what it was, the notice putting a price on her head.

“I know about the reward,” she said when he would have given it to her.

Golden eyes lightened with surprise. “Then you took a big risk coming here. The same humans who enjoy watching Weres hunt in the maze come here and play out their fantasies of being superior by fucking them.”

Araña shrugged. Levi said, “There’s someone else who might help. A man who thinks his brother could be in Anton’s possession.”

The black-haired stranger she’d seen die with Levi in her vision came to mind. “Who?”

“Raoul. The werewolf bound for the maze and freed in the ambush.”

“Do you trust him?”

Levi opened his mouth but closed it without saying anything. His face hardened as he gave serious consideration to the question. Finally he answered, “I don’t know.”

Araña didn’t know either. Logic said the Were might be an ally. But the way his soul thread crossed and paralleled that of Jurgen’s suggested he might not be.

The door being jerked open kept them from saying anything more. Three drunken men stood in the entranceway.

“Room’s ours,” one of them slurred, pushing through his companions and tugging a doe-eyed prostitute into the room behind him.

The second man followed, unzipping his trousers and pulling out his cock.

The third also stepped into the room. He squinted at Araña, recognition struggling to swim to the surface of his alcohol-saturated brain.

“There’ll be more like these,” Levi murmured, stepping in front of her and blocking her from sight. “It’d be better if this discussion continued tomorrow.”

Araña ducked out of the room, careful to keep Levi between her and the brothel client. He was right. The hallway that had been empty minutes earlier was now crowded.

The dark cloak made her stand out. Taking it off was even riskier.

“This way,” Levi said, pressing his thumb to a spot on the wall.

There was a click followed by a panel sliding open. Araña’s heart began racing in anticipation as the staircase she’d climbed to Rebekka’s room was revealed, and beyond it, the unobtrusive door into the alleyway between brothels.

“Don’t come back here,” Levi said, crossing to a keypad. “Given the assault on the house, I can guess where the two of you will be staying. I’ll be there shortly after sunrise.”

He entered a code. Another lock clicked open.

“We’ll see you then,” Araña said, releasing the cloak and letting it hang as it would. Her hands settled on the hilts of her knives as she stepped outside, into a surreal moment where past and future came together, where a breeze picked up, bringing with it the scent of curry and the rustle of paper as a soiled newspaper tumbled over her foot, signaling the moment when the hunted became the hunter.