Jess Haines - Enslaved By the Others

“Tread carefully, mon cher . You are an interesting piece. I would hate to see you taken from the board before the game is through.”

I ... wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He winked at me, then ducked into the car, out of my view. We all watched the chauffeur in what was probably uncomfortable silence for him as he picked his way through the slush and around to the driver’s side. The car was soon pulling into a U-turn, the taillights disappearing back into the night as the vehicle whisked around a curve in the road.

Whatever the others may have thought, I was certain Francisco couldn’t be trusted, and that he must have done something to screw this up for us. Not in an obvious way. There would be some trap waiting for us once we were too deep inside to get out again, I just knew it.

Angus’s voice rumbled in the darkness, as close to a whisper as the Highlander could get. “Are we ready?”

No. Nope, nope, nope, never, ever, not in a million years.

Despite my misgivings, a soft string of whispered “aye”s and “yes”es spurred us on. I beat my survival instinct into submission and led the way through the trees, ignoring the voice screaming in the back of my head to turn around and run while I still could.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the wall. When I was running away, it had felt like there was a much bigger stretch of forest between me and the road, but that was probably because at the time I had been trekking through the underbrush in ill-fitting heels and in the most pain I had ever experienced in my life. The hiking boots Kumiho had given me for tonight’s venture fit far better, as did the sweater, jeans, and jacket she had bought me. Arnold had a small pack slung over his shoulder with the clothes and shoes she’d bought for Sara. I hoped I had remembered her sizes correctly.

I also hoped she was still alive and would need them before the night was out.

Once we reached the wall, two of the vampires climbed to the top, fingers finding purchase or biting into the frozen stone with sharp cracks. At the top, the pair peered over to check for any patrols or other signs we would have a welcome party waiting for us on the other side. Before long, they were signaling it was clear, holding out their hands to help the magi over while the other vampires climbed or leapt to the top.

I accepted an offered hand, though I bit back a yelp of surprise when I was yanked up, only to find myself face-to-face with Fane. My free hand shot out, clutching his arm for balance. He grinned at me with a hint of fang, a glimmer of red flashing deep in his eyes as he helped me steady myself on the ledge on top of the wall.

“Watch your step.”

The rolling lilt of his voice didn’t sound like a challenge, even though his stare and smirk told me it was. Tempting though it was to the animal side of me, I didn’t rise to his bait, yanking my hand free. His footing slipped and he had to make a quick grab and shift his weight, barely keeping his balance. Without bothering to lend him a hand, I leapt down to land in a fluid crouch. He didn’t say anything else, but I felt his eyes on me, burning holes in my back.

I took a deep breath, focusing on the sprawling mansion perhaps an acre away. Max hadn’t made any attempt to get into my head yet, so I hoped he hadn’t noticed I had returned. He’d know soon enough.

Once everyone was safely over the wall, five vampires paired off with the five magi who would trap us inside, four of the pairs striking off to set up their impromptu circle around the property. Nothing would go in or out of it until they let the shield fall. Two hours, they said. That was the maximum amount of time they could hold a circle of that size, even working together.

I had the feeling we had far less time than that to decide how this battle would turn.

It took longer than I expected for them to find their places. The property was big, and they had to do everything they could to avoid detection. The vampires didn’t appear bothered by the wait, but Kumiho was growing restless, flexing her hands repeatedly and staring a bit too intently in the direction of that mansion. There wasn’t any trouble, but Xander, the mage who had stayed behind, commented how it was also taking them so long because they had to shift the local ley lines into alignment. “Too wild and untapped” was how he put it, moving his hands like a conductor of an orchestra to shift something I couldn’t detect.

He and Arnold both stiffened and looked to the north at the same time. Something was moving against the snow. A human shape. Not one of our people. Running back to the main building.

Kumiho grinned in a way I didn’t like. “Start your distractions, little wizardlings. I’ll return in a moment.”

She took off at a sprint, far faster than the other figure was going. She would catch up to whoever that was soon.

Arnold shouted something I didn’t catch, some guttural-sounding word, gesturing in the direction of what I thought might be a guesthouse. It looked like a firework shot from his hand, lighting up the snow in a glittering yellow-red arc as it raced to the building.

The impact was like a missile from a rocket launcher, punching through the outer wall and exploding with a shock wave that sent most of us staggering back and throwing up our arms to protect our eyes from the flash. The ground shuddered under my feet, and a straight, narrow depression formed in the snow like a miniature valley. It led directly from the guesthouse to the mansion. Angus had been right. There was—had been—an escape tunnel there.

On the other side of the house, more fireworks went off, the flash briefly blinding me. I hoped whatever they were casting didn’t cause the prison rooms beneath the house to collapse like the escape tunnel had.

Though my ears were ringing, I still heard Arnold just fine. “Holy shit. That was fucking awesome!”

Xander laughed. The rest of us sidled a few steps away. Yes, even me.

“Careful there, lad,” Angus muttered, giving me a nudge to get me moving along Kumiho’s tracks. Kimberly and the remaining vampires, save for the one assigned to be Xander’s bodyguard, were soon following us. “Don’t let the power go to yer head. We need ye focused on the task at hand.”

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” Arnold said.

No kidding. Shaking my head to dispel the lingering ringing sound, I focused on Kumiho’s tracks in the snow, scanning ahead to spot her as I sped up. Angus quickly passed me, taking the fore, and Arnold picked up his pace to run beside me.

I came to a screeching halt when I saw what Kumiho was doing, Arnold plowing into me from behind to send me into a spectacular face-plant in the snow.

Arnold landed in a sprawl on my back, and I was momentarily blinded by snow. It didn’t take him long to roll off me. Rough, huge hands dug into my jacket between my shoulder blades and yanked me back to my feet. I flailed and batted at them with one arm, the other scrubbing furiously at my face to get the snow out of my eyes.

“Are ye ruddy daft, woman?”

Blinking the last of the melting snow out of my eyes, I squinted at Angus, then the hulking form of the creature looming over the blood-spattered corpse of the person who had been fleeing from Kumiho.

I knew it was her. Shreds of her jeans and unmistakable hot pink jacket dotted the snow around her. Even with the thick smell of blood on the air, I recognized her scent. It made sense now, why she smelled musky and strange, Were-but-not.

The creature lifted its head, and bright orange eyes peered at me. It had a body that reminded me of a shifted werewolf. A kind of animalistic half-man, something equally at home on two legs or four, with claw-tipped black hands that could easily be mistaken for paws. Silky orange fur covered the top of its muzzle and most of the body, with black, tufted ears, white on the underside of its jaw, belly, and on the tips of all nine of its poofy tails flicking and swaying like serpents.