J. Nelson - Free Agent

In the movies, you always see people shooting to the head. Head shots may get more attention, but I’ll take a solid body shot any day, because you are ten times as likely to pull it off. The troll rippled like water, and the flesh melted from it, leaving a smoking skeleton where it had once stood. Nice.

“Grimm, any idea where I’ll find Ari or Liam?”

The new bracelet worked perfectly, and he snapped into view on the door knocker. “Ari is your priority. Without her power Liam becomes just an interesting prisoner.”

“Why is that?”

“They’ll want to recover the curse, not just kill Mr. Stone. A soul sieve takes immense energy to separate a curse from a person’s body and soul. Torturing a seal bearer would supply that power.”

I’d looked up a soul sieve after Grimm mentioned it the first time. The drawings resembled a food processor the size of a room, thousands of enchanted blades that would slice a body to pieces. Once the magical deflectors engaged, the soul would leak out one end as a slimy green liquid, the curse out the other, to be captured.

I pulled on the door, and it ground open. At one time, there was an entire team of liveried house servants to open those doors.

The castle was big. The new castle was about seven times the size, because it housed most of the actual government for Kingdom, but the old one was plenty large. Too large to go exploring in all the nooks and crannies. Fortunately I had a good idea where to find Ari. See, Fairy Godmother was sort of a stickler for tradition. Apples, snake curses. Myself, I’d keep the prisoner on the ground floor, in a blind hallway with murder holes in it. Ari would be in the tower, for sure.

I opened door after door, and finally called for help after finding my sixth empty conference/ball room. “Grimm, I could use help. Directions? Maps?”

“My dear, I would love to assist, but I have to point out there’s another fairy at work here. Her magic is countering my own to the point where simply communicating is difficult. Once she is aware of your presence, even that may be impossible.”

“Nice knowing you, Grimm.” I reached the main chamber of the castle, and I saw what stood between me and Ari. Grimm would have hired mercenaries, a whole freaking boat of them, if he were going to guard a castle. Godmother hired wolves. I’m guessing every wolf that wasn’t in the wolf town was in the castle, plus they must have been having a wolf family reunion with folks from out of town. They lounged in the central chamber, dozing or scratching, in wolf, human, and every form in between.

The other thing to note was that wolves made lousy guards. Mercenaries would have patrolled the grounds, set up perimeters, that sort of thing. All the wolves did was sit around and gnaw at their fleas.

“Marissa,” whispered Grimm in my ear, “don’t attack them. I’ve sent help.”

That’s about when I heard the howling. From a hallway across the chamber, came a pack of wolves at full speed. Their mouths were frothy, and their fur matted with blood. They weren’t hunting. They were running. Behind them, two women walked out, calmly, slowly into a cloud of wolves. Jess and Evangeline.

Evangeline was dressed like always, loose black pants and a sleeveless purple top. Jess wore something that looked like she had wrapped herself in the night. It was a long, sleek suit that clung to her curves like it was painted on. The fabric glittered as she moved, but otherwise it was like light simply disappeared into her.

The wolves circled and growled, and Jess pulled something from a sheath on her thigh. A knife. A simple double-bladed knife. The blade shone in the light and I knew it was silver. If the wolves in the chamber had any sense at all they would have run. One wolf attacked and the pack converged.

Jess and Evangeline moved like a sea of fury. Evangeline broke bones and bent limbs like taffy. Behind her Jess carved wolves the way one carves a turkey. I knew I wouldn’t eat dark meat again for a while.

A heap of dead wolves lay at odd angles along the floor. The alpha wolf stopped and howled, called back his pack, halting the attack. The wolves ran from the hall on two legs and four, leaving the wounded behind.

In the silence I felt safe to leave the shadows of the hallway. “Hey.”

Evangeline spun toward me, and I nearly caught a knife with my throat. “M, I thought I told you to stay someplace safe.”

“I’m done taking orders. Ari and Liam are here somewhere. Any guesses where?”

Evangeline thought about it a moment. “There’s a blind hall at the back of the west wing according to my map. They’ve probably put guards along the walls. They’ll shoot anything that moves in the hallway.”

I grabbed her arm. “The Princess Arianna.”

Evangeline shook her head. “Tower’s up the main stairs across the hall.” Evangeline took a tiny map out and pointed.

“The half-dragon will be in the dungeon,” said Jess. “Only place with enough stone to keep him. Also, as I recall, it’s down the hall from the soul sieve. I’ll head down there to find him, you two go get the princess.” She jogged off down a hall into total darkness without fear.

I felt something coming. The ground shook and the chandeliers swayed. With each step, the wine sloshed from bowls where the wolves had filled their bellies. The formal arches at the end of the main chamber buckled and the doors caved in. I knew now why the wolves ran. The thing that walked in was like a wolf, only larger and heavier. It had white fur covering it and one eye slit so the lid never closed. It stepped forward, crushing the wounded wolves underfoot without so much as glancing down.

It growled, and I recognized words in the voice. “Red Riding Hood,” and “Fenris.”

I wished I’d worn something else on that first visit to the wolves. Anything else. I could’ve worn a bikini and caused less commotion. Come to think of it, I’d never caused a commotion in a bikini, but a red sweatsuit was now on my “does not look good on Marissa” list.

“M, get out of here,” said Evangeline. She was smiling, a true smile, one that made the cuts on her face hang wide open, and her eyes were wild, wide like she’d found a treasure.

“I don’t feel like fighting fair,” I said, pointing my gun at it.

Evangeline stepped in front of me. “This one is mine. The Fae Mother said he was coming.” She pulled off the veil and threw it on the floor.

Fenris began to shake and roar with laughter. He held up one paw, splaying the claws wide. Claws that ended in a green tinge that looked like rotting death. I knew in that moment exactly what Evangeline had gotten into a fight with.

I put my hand on her shoulder and pushed her aside. “I said I’m done taking orders, and all I need is a clear shot.”

Fenris leaped at me, a blur of flying fur. Something hit me from the side. I flew through the air and crashed into a bench. Evangeline had thrown me a good eight feet. She had always fought barehanded, but now she held knives in her hands, wicked, curved knives, with blades that twisted.

Fenris swung at her, and she dodged. This time she sliced him, carving meat from bone all the way up to the shoulder.

He fell to the side, howling. As I watched, the skin knit itself back together as though it had never been torn. “Run,” I yelled, but they were already at it, claw and blade, in a dance so close it was impossible to separate them.

I needed a clear shot, and there was as much Evangeline as wolf in my way. They moved back and forth across the floor, and Fenris shifted like putty as he did. Sometimes on four feet, sometimes almost a hulking man, always a blur of death. Evangeline had blood running from her face, and her purple top shone with what I hoped was wolf blood. He went for her throat.