Blood Reign (#4): Alpha Warriors of the Blood (The Blood Series) (15 page)

Tharell caught sight of Jason and Julia at the crest of the knoll. The great Victorian homestead rose behind them like a yawning pursuer.

He was not comfortable with his uneasy alliance. Gabriel lacked integrity in so many ways. And Domiatri would never forgive him. However, if Tharell could enlist the largest coven of the Pacific Northwest region to aid him in bringing down the demonic werewolf, the cost of one would be justifiable.

Tharell needed to progress a contingency plan he never imagined to employ. Yet he must.

He had struck the deal. There was no going back. He was fey, and the fey did not lie. Tharell would not be an oath breaker for all the wishes on earth.

Julia drew nearer, and Tharell leaned down into her embrace, guilt striking him like a lashing wave against rock. In her solemn eyes he saw she pressed through her grief.

“Now that my dead have been buried, we should discuss our promise.”

Tharell inclined his head in agreement. “I am pleased you understand the importance of an oath with the fey.” At his words, guilt hardened like an uneaten yolk in his belly.

She gave a sad laugh.

It deepening his disquiet about his choices.

“There aren't enough of my people to negotiate with. However, I've found another option that might satisfy what I'm trying to do and save other Singers from...” He hesitated in the face of her remorse.

Tharell watched her struggle, tears sliding out of the corners of her eyes like a diamond river that has burst its damn.

“Blooded Queen,” Tharell began, and dropped to one knee before her, “I know your sorrow.”

“You can't know dick, Tharell,” Jason spoke for the first time.

Tharell's crisp blue eyes met hardened hazel, unwavering and distrusting.

“I have been in war, Were. Many have died—legion.” Tharell dismissed him. He had never warmed to the Were. That was the problem with a turned Singer. They were unpredictable and maintained much of their humanity. A distinct disadvantage.

Humanity did not overly impress Tharell. Their apathy killed any respect the fey might have for them. Now, the Singers were another matter entirely. The talents they possessed alone put them in a different league, one parallel to the Sidhe.

“Jason,” Julia hissed and Tharell rolled his lips together in a grim line to cover his smirk. The story of this Were was of being in the state of Feral for too long. When he erupted from his fugue, and he had been lucky to do so, he had gained none of the knowledge or history of either lineage.

Ignorant and angry, Jason Caldwell was a ticking time bomb of spontaneous decisions and reactive conduct.

It might prove useful. Others’ emotions were malleable.

Tharell sensed they had not joined as a female and male, their energy remained separate. Julia was still pure; claimed by the paper of human law; not body and soul. He knew of her vulnerability. Yet with the chaos of Region One’s slaughter, coupled with escaping the rogue band from Alaska, that fact had been overlooked.

It would not be for much longer. And the Reds that had not submitted to the newest pack master, Slash, would regroup and attack again.

It worked well for Tharell, as so many agendas going on at one time would additionally camouflage him.

“I think I will contact William's kiss and, if I can manage it, we will ask their cooperation in finding Tony. Only his death will stop this... butchering.”

Splendid,
Tharell marveled. Gabriel of the Northwestern would send his troops to locate the interloper, and if Julia could secure it, she would also recruit the Southeastern. They would shred Tony.

The demonic threat would end, and he would make his payment to Gabriel. Faerie would have a bevy of Singers to take the threat of extinction away and fulfill his illicit pact.

His eyes found Julia's. Keeping her hands in his, his gaze slid with wary consideration to Jason. He towered over her. “That is a wise choice. I accept.” He cocked his head. “Region Two is in Montana?”

Julia nodded.

“Let us assemble a caravan.”

She frowned slightly at the expression. “I'll reach out to the vamps.”

Jason stalked away, and Julia turned toward him while Tharell gave a broad smile they did not see.

“I don't like it!” Jason yelled, throwing up his hands.

Julia strode to him, grabbing his bicep. “Do you have a better suggestion?” Her small figure vibrated with anger and the urgency of the truly committed.

“I don't have the effing time to consider how much I don't want to ask for help. I don't have the luxury. The Singers that would have had better ideas are gone. I found out we have angel's blood. That somehow heaven is on earth, and we're all here to make the wrong right. How can we not save their lives? Tony might already be there!” Julia said, her face taut.

“God!” Jason shouted to the heavens. “When can this be over?” He grabbed Julia against him. “I don't want to give you up. I don't want that jackass getting his talons on you.”

“He can't kill me.”

Jason pulled away from her. He looked at Tharell.

Tharell nodded, speaking the full truth for once. “She is proof against the metal of the blade he carries. It will not work against a full-blood.”

Jason gripped her arms, spinning her to face him. “You're an angel.”

Julia quirked her lips. “I don't feel like one.”

Tharell circled around the pair. Jason tensed.

Tharell hated Jason Caldwell’s instincts. It made everything he necessitated accomplishing more of a challenge. “When something has a choice, do you choose good or bad?”

Julia blushed, a lovely peach color washing across high cheekbones, her whiskey eyes flashing in the low light of impending night. “Good, I guess.”

“Would you sacrifice your life for another?”

She lifted her chin. Surer now. “Yes,” she answered with an imperceptible hesitation.

Tharell's eyes narrowed. “Do you love more than hate?”

Resolute. “Absolutely.”

Jason shrugged in apparent agreement. “See Jules—full angel. Must be cool to be you.” Jason said it with admiration.

Though Julia appeared to feel unworthy of the title, humility was also the stamp of the purer bloods. So rare.

So valuable.

Tharell squeezed her shoulder. “I think you've made a wise choice. The vampire will require payment.” He cupped his chin, pondering as Jason looked on with a sour expression. It was clear he did not like another male's hands on her. “You might offer an unbroken alliance, citing your truce via their former leader, William.” He spread his palms out as if that was the obvious choice.

Julia nodded slowly, a tentative smile lifting her mouth. “Thank you, Tharell.”

Tharell hardened the seed of tenderness he held for her. He could never allow it to germinate. “Do not thank me until Tony’s blood blankets the land of the Singers.”

Julia frowned at his words.

The best lies hid within partial truths. The fey were expert in that area. Tharell's mixed lineage made it even more so.

He watched the two walk away.

When Jason Caldwell turned and gave him the glance he expected, Tharell nodded once.

Jason's expression was speculative.

Tharell would not win over the Were. That was an absolute. He had seen to the protection of the Rare One for too many years.

Tharell put his hands on his hips and looked to the sky. The sinister encroachment of sunset was a wash of blood that leaked over the dying clouds like a sinister encroachment.

His plan solidified within the confines of his mind, the methodical order of events clear. Julia communicating to the other arm of vampire in this region was fortuitous. He had not anticipated the move, and it would aid the groundwork already laid after two decades of careful planning. As the humans liked to say, an alignment of the stars.

It was the same for the supernaturals and truer than the lowly humans could ever know. There was but one chance every one thousand years or so. And as when the Jewish carpenter died on the cross, the celestial climate had been portentous. As it was again.

The Singers had grown complacent when they should have gathered in large numbers. The fey had watched the heavens whisper what was to come, and paid heed to the opportunity. Now it was at hand and Tharell the catalyst, a queen on the chessboard of fate. How powerful a piece she was. Moving in any direction, coveted and stealthy, she was renowned for taking out all the players.

Tharell would not gain pleasure from what he must do. However, one did not always control their life's path. His first loyalty must be to his sovereign.

Praile would pay in the coin that Tharell wished to have most.

Vengeance.

Julia was relieved that Tharell had given the nod to her communication with the vamps. Ten adopted Reds added to Slash, Jason, and Karl Truman. Cyn and Adi were hard-hitters, not weak girls to scream and wail when they tough things needed doing.

Scott and Lucius stood missing. Tom Harriet of the FBI was bent on having her.

She was determined to elude him.

Julia didn't want any more death, but she wouldn't allow herself to be captured again. She bit down on her sadness over the potential of Scott coming home only to find his family wiped out.

Then there was Jacqueline, the strangest thing of all. If he were to return whole, then maybe, just maybe, they could have a relationship. Though for the life of her, Julia couldn't even
see
Jacqueline as the same woman she'd been before.

The green Unseelie Sidhe warrior shadowed Jacqueline constantly. Julia supposed it was the rarity of children in Faerie. The little bit of Faerie culture she'd experienced had been frightening. She couldn't imagine a child living in the torture as norm for anyone who dared stray from what was acceptable in Faerie.

They had not located Reagan or Delilah.

Has Tony killed his own offspring?
Had Delilah escaped because she had been vampire enough to negate the power of demonic blood over magic metal? Further... what had happened to Alan and Lacey Greene? Many were missing, but the sheer amount of bodies now buried near the lake convinced her that Tony had killed most of the Singers. The method of their murders had made it impossible to identify everyone. A sad truth.

They had only Cyn as a Healer. Julia didn't have to be told they were in an insecure position with regard to injury. Few Singers had escaped, and maybe their talents had left them able to defend themselves. Or blood purity. Her remaining band of friends and few subjects may or may not survive the siege against Tony. Julia would not be directly responsible for their deaths, even more motivation to contact the kiss.

Julia massaged her temples. She tramped down the static, like a fire begging to start, of people's constantly buzzing thoughts, a low-grade headache that wouldn't go away.

“How do you propose to contact the vamps?” Jason asked, kicking a small rock with the toe of a borrowed sneaker. It shot across the yard in front of the huge house and launched off a tree trunk, a bare spot where the bark fell away, marring the surface. She turned to him, frustrated.

His earnest face stopped the scathing comments she almost made. Julia was sad, tired of the constant fighting, worried about Two, and frantic about securing help so more people would not be killed.

“I don't know,” she admitted.

“Listen,” Jason said, roughing his hair with irritated fingers. It stood on end, and Julia smiled at the familiar gesture. “I say we go back to the last known place William was held.”

Julia stopped walking. “I don't know where that is. And”—she shrugged—“who knows what has happened in the weeks after William's death?” She looked into his eyes. “They could have a new leader and I come, hat in hand and say, ‘Hey guys, sorry William's gone, and your torture of him to get to me didn't work, but I need you to go kill a bad werewolf’.” Julia made a sound of pure disbelief. The words were utterly ridiculous when she said them.

Jason slung an arm around her shoulders. “It's solid, babe. It just takes guts.” He paused and she glanced up at him. “Let's take the fey dude...”

“Tharell?”

Jason made a face. “Yeah, I guess... and he can act as a go-between. Put his ass out there since he thought it was such a great idea.”

Julia didn't want to owe the Sidhe any more than she already did, but she wanted to save the other Singers. Tony was traveling on foot; that much they knew from his tracks. The Reds had followed his prints to the road, where they disappeared.

Someone had given him a ride, she bet. While she stalled, intimidating herself out of the toughest part of solving this mess, Tony was heading east.

The good Samaritans who gave him the ride forfeited their lives doing it. Knowing Tony, he'd done it at night so they wouldn't have caught the blood.

“Okay. Enough with The Dumb of us running around until our feet fall off.”

Julia laughed. That'd been brutal but unplanned. Cyn had made the worst of it better, but they still ached from the abuse.

“Right?” Jason leaned back and thumped his chest, and she laughed harder.

“So true.”

“So where's a set of proper wheels at this joint?” Jason looked around as if a great 4x4 would pop out of the ground. “I say we four by it to where the fangs live, get the A-Okay, then chase after Tony's murdering ass. Is there a better tracker than another Were?”

There had been
, Julia thought.

He searched her face and grimaced. “Sorry, babe. That didn't come out right.”

“No.” Julia looked down for a moment. Then she lifted her chin. “But it's the truth.”

“That's my girl,” Jason said.

She gave a watery smile and answered, “I've always been your girl.”

He held Julia while she cried.

*

A truck in the huge shop reminded Julia of her 1977 Blazer left in Homer.

She ran her hand down the side then flicked a fingernail against the tires’ deep treads.

“Look familiar, Jules?” Jason asked, not requiring a response.

“Yeah,” she said anyway.

“All these wheels were here, and dipshit Tony didn't take a one.”

A stealthy noise made Jason liberate a knife he wore clip-tucked in his front pocket.

It glinted as he flipped it closed when he recognized the figure.

“He was likely possessed with the influence of the blade.”

Jason relaxed his posture as Tharell went on, “A blade rendered magical by the blood of a demonic casts a powerful thrall over those of the right lineage.”

“Sounds like we're all just whores to genetics.”

Tharell's expression was unreadable, but he answered with more feeling than Julia normally heard from him. “Crudely put but accurate.”

“Well whatever, it's time for us to find the fangs and get on the road. The sooner we do in old Tony boy, the faster we can move on.”

Julia's gaze went from Tharell to Jason.

“What?” Julia asked Tharell.

“The fey do not like metal.”

Jason jerked his chin back, confused. “Why not? I mean, we can be to the vampire coven in forty-five minutes if we go hard.”

Tharell's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. “I can manage it, but Domi could not.”

Interesting,
Julia thought.

“So you're a no-go?” Jason curled his lips into a smirk.

Tharell appeared to rise to the bait, his forearms curling into tight slabs of muscles and his fists like clenched hammers. “I will bear it.”

“Good thing,” Jason said, giving him a guy clap on the back with his open palm. “Let's get everyone that'll fit in this thing and take off.”

Tharell glowered at Jason, straightening his back where Jason had struck him.

Julia had a fleeting premonition as something flashed across Tharell's face. She couldn't identify it, but she almost recognized it.

It had felt a little like Tharell was biding his time.

Julia was interpreting his impatience for her to fulfill her promise. It saddened her that Tharell could not understand the deaths of so many made his timeline longer.

People had died. That was more important than a race of supernaturals threatened with extinction but that still survived.

Her people had almost been wiped out.

The two weren't comparable.

Julia could not be everything to all.

A handful of survivors decided to accompany them. No one was really in charge of her direct safety. Julia felt a sense of relief. She'd never loved all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Combatant. Fate hadn't been kind, but she lived another day.

They hadn't found Lucius, Scott, or Victor, the remaining Combatant. Slash, Truman, Jason and Tharell were joining them.

Though the men didn't like it, Julia insisted on Cyn coming. If someone got hurt, there was no way to speed recovery. She was their lone, surviving Healer.

The potential for something to go wrong was high. Julia was just going by historical precedence.

Nothing had been easy.

Or free of violence.