Chapter 19
Quinn
Even though we’d only been here for a matter of hours and Torrent often stuck to the shadows wherever we were, the house felt quieter after he left. At least for the half hour or so before Rollick prowled into the kitchen where I was eating a pot of yogurt I’d found in the fridge.
“They have to be doing it on purpose,” he was muttering. “Of all the fucking cities in the entire world…”
His angry tone made me immediately tense up, even as a flicker of heat raced through me at the memory of the conversation I’d just had with my lovers… about the potential of this man becoming my lover too. But any consideration along those lines went out the window when I took in his furrowed brow. There was obviously something more important going on.
Rollick didn’t often let any emotions show through his cool confidence. He wasn’t upset enough for me to have picked up on it through that weird one-way bond we now had, so maybe the situation wasn’t that bad, but he was definitely irritated.
I set down my spoon, bracing myself. “What happened?”
Rollick swiped his hand over his face and composed it into a more typical nonchalant expression. “Oh, just that the bastards have decided to target the one city I particularly like around here. They’re menacing mortals all over L.A.”
A chill washed over me, deeper than the cool currents from the air conditioning system. “What? What are they doing to people?”
“Mostly just spooking them from the shadows, from what I’m hearing from my contacts back ho—back there. But a few humans have been outright attacked by their minions.”
He’d almost called the city home, I thought. Did it bother him to think of any mortal place that fondly? Even if he wasn’t willing to say it out loud, he clearly felt particularly protective of the place. And the thought of the kinds of shadowkind beasts I’d been attacked by threatening the entire city made my stomach knot, even though I’d only spent ten days there.
Lance leapt into being out of the patch of darkness by the doorway and clicked his claws against the counter near me. “They’re hassling mortals openly? Isn’t that against the rules?”
Rollick grimaced. “Slaughtering them openly is against the theoretical rules too, but that hasn’t stopped this bunch. I don’t understand their game plan, though. Terrorizing a city full of non-sorcerers hardly connects to their other activities.”
I folded my arms over my chest, hugging myself. “Could they be looking for me there—or trying to provoke me into showing myself? They know I was staying in the city before.”
“I think they’d be more likely to pick your hometown for that,” Rollick pointed out. “It could be intended to rankle me, in which case, bravo, they’re succeeding. But it’s too random right now. It has to add up to a larger picture.”
“Maybe they’re just cuckoo,” Lance suggested, making a spinning gesture next to his ear that he must have picked up from his mortal observations.
The demon sighed. “As much as I’d like to believe we’re merely dealing with a couple of ancient beings gone ferally unhinged, they’ve handled themselves very efficiently so far. I don’t think we can count on that.”
Crag strode into the room then, back from the patrol-slash-hunt he’d gone off on after our interlude in the bedroom. He frowned at Rollick. “Who’s unhinged? What are the villains up to now? I didn’t spot any concerning activity near the house.”
“No one much comes near this part of the country,” Rollick informed him. “That’s why we’re here. They’re toying with the mortals in Los Angeles for purposes unknown.”
“What are we going to do about it?” I asked, drawing my spine straighter. “I mean, we’re not going to let them get away with it, right? If they’re attacking people—innocent people, not just sorcerers now— Have you been able to get many of your contacts or whoever ready to push back against the behemoth and the leviathan in general?”
“I’m working on it.” Rollick rubbed his jaw, his gaze going momentarily distant. “It’ll take some doing, you know, considering I didn’t develop my connections with the idea of building an army in mind. And most shadowkind aren’t inclined to stick their necks out unless it’s necessary to save their own hide. I’m having to start slow—planting the idea that their hides are actually at stake. I don’t think they’re ready to rush into battle just yet.”
My spirits sank. “Then what can we do? What about Sorsha and the shadowkind she hangs out with? She said we should go to her if we need more help against our enemies. She’s pretty powerful, isn’t she?”
The demon gave me a baleful look. “How much do you know about the shadowkind who calls herself ‘Sorsha’ and her history?”
I paused, abruptly uncertain. Did Rollick know some reason to distrust her? I’d never gotten any bad vibes from her… but then, I wasn’t all that experienced at judging shadowkind intentions.
“She’s a phoenix, right?” I ventured. “She can conjure fire. I thought… she saved a whole bunch of people a while back. She said something like that when we first met her, and Torrent knew what she was talking about.”
“Well, that’s essentially true. From what I understand, she’s some kind of hybrid: a nearly impossible mix of shadowkind and human origin that makes her powers particularly potent—and unstable. I’ve heard from beings who were there during the final showdown she was involved in, and they say she nearly burned down the entire continent before her friends managed to calm her down. The Highest believed she might destroy both this world and ours.”
I blinked at him. “Oh. Um, she didn’t mention that part.”
Rollick smiled thinly. “I wouldn’t either, if it were me. But I’d rather not count on allies whose main fighting skill is razing everything around them to the ground. Personally, I’d prefer if Los Angeles was at least mostly still standing when we’re done dealing with these pricks.”
I could see his point. But still… “Are you saying we’re just going to hang out here and let them harass people until you can convince the other shadowkind you know to actually help, then?”
“No,” he said. “I’m going back to L.A. to see if I can’t decipher their motives. You should be safe enough here with?—”
“No,” I broke in, raising my chin. “You’re not leaving me here to just sit around and relax either. The fiends are attacking humans—my people. I can help. You need to question the creatures carrying out the attacks—I can use my sorcery to compel them to answer, right? I don’t mind wearing the vest, and no one should notice I’ve arrived in the city while I have it on.”
Rollick fixed me with a steady, penetrating stare. I gazed right back at him. If he figured he could glower me into submission, he obviously didn’t know me as well as he thought he did.
I didn’t even have to make the stand alone. Lance bobbed his head and tucked his arm around me. “I want to tackle the beasties too. We’ll keep Quinn safe wherever we are. Right, stony one?”
He glanced over at Crag, who hummed low in his chest. “Yes. We should all find out what we can. They’re escalating the threat. We don’t know how much time we have until they do something worse.”
“There,” I said to Rollick. “We’re all agreed—well, except for you. Three to one. We can leave a note for Torrent for when he gets back to let him know where we’ve gone. Or maybe you have other ways of sending him a message.”
Rollick exhaled with a sound of exasperation, and then, to my surprise, he grinned at me. “I shouldn’t have expected anything less. Come along then, sweet sorcerer. We’ve got quite a trek ahead of us.”
* * *
When Crag nudged me from the doze I’d fallen into in the back seat, the city ahead of us was nothing but gleaming lights amid the darkness of night. We’d flown into California on a small private jet that was apparently in Rollick’s arsenal, but he hadn’t wanted to land too close to L.A. itself in case our enemies were keeping a close eye on more blatant comings and goings.
I straightened up and rubbed my eyes. At my awakening, Lance blinked back into physical form in the passenger seat. He kicked out his legs, eyeing the oncoming buildings avidly. “Now we teach some beasties a lesson.”
“We take a cautious approach,” Rollick reminded him in a dry tone from behind the wheel. “We’re not in a position to go head-to-head with the dastardly duo just yet.”
“Do we have any idea where to start once we get into the city?” I asked.
“I’ll touch base with my contacts when we’re there.”
That only took a few more minutes. Rollick pulled over to the side of the road and got out his phone. As he skimmed through his messages and placed a couple of calls, Crag tugged me closer to him with his arm around my shoulders. He seemed determined to show he wouldn’t shy away from me anymore, and I couldn’t say I minded. I leaned my head against his solid chest and let myself relax just for a moment.
It was only a moment, because then Rollick let out a sound of consternation. “They’re really getting bold. Look at this.”
He passed his phone back to me with no hesitation or warnings not to exploit the opportunity. I might have reveled in the trust he’d shown if my eyes hadn’t widened at the sight of the news video he’d brought up on the screen. The headline said, WILD DOG ATTACKS RAMPANT.
“What the heck?” I muttered to myself, and hit play.
The reporter in the video feed talked in an urgent voice about the rash of brutal assaults across Los Angeles, which appeared to be the work of feral animals—they were assuming packs of stray dogs. One shot of a victim showed deep gouges across his face, neck, and chest. I winced at the sight.
“Six attacks already tonight,” I said as the video finished, my gut churning. “What are the shadowkind thinking? What are they getting out of this?”
“I don’t know,” Rollick said. “They’re really skirting the line of exposure. Some of those victims must know it wasn’t dogs, but whatever they’ve reported, the human authorities will find it impossible to believe.”
Lance growled. “The beasties should know better.”
“Maybe they do,” I pointed out. “They might be under a spell, not doing it because they want to.” But we didn’t know yet whether my sorcery might be able to break our enemies’ hold on their enslaved minions. “If we could find the beings who are carrying out the attacks and question one of them—if any of them can talk?—”
“Already one step ahead of you.” Rollick started the engine. “Three of tonight’s attacks and one of yesterday’s two were in the same general neighborhood. It must be a favorite stalking ground for at least a couple of these creatures. And if they can’t tell us anything, we’ll see if they can lead us to someone better informed.”
He drove into a part of the city much less posh and shiny than the neighborhood around his hotel. Low-rise brick and concrete apartment buildings stood amid a few smaller homes with scruffy lawns and the occasional corner store. Some of the streetlamps were broken, leaving the sidewalks cast in intermittent pools of light.
Not many people were out at this late hour. Most of the activity seemed to be centered around a few bars on the outskirts of the residential area, their windows still glowing and occasional shouts and barks of laughter carrying from within. Rollick parked down the street from them and motioned for us to get out.
I hefted the crossbow I’d left at my feet, fully loaded, and unzipped the pocket on my messenger bag where I was keeping a stash of extra bolts so I could grab them quickly if I needed to reload. Once I was out of the car, I held the weapon down by my thigh where it wasn’t too obviously visible in the darkness.
“We’ll patrol in the shadows,” Rollick said. “Quinn, you amble around and keep a close eye on any pedestrians who could become targets.”
“She could become a target,” Lance pointed out.
The demon shot him an amused glance. “I think she’s proven she can handle herself. At least for long enough to give one of us the chance to jump in there as need be.”
His confidence in me didn’t stop my nerves from jittering. I might be able to handle a shadowkind creature on the attack, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed the thought of it.
Taking a deep breath, I set off down the street. The men vanished into the shadows, but I took comfort from knowing they were nearby. I walked past the bars, circled the block, and was just coming back into view when a man and a woman came out through one of the doorways.
I meandered along behind the couple for a short distance until they got into a car. No beasts showed themselves.
A guy who looked like he was probably homeless shuffled by. I trailed him for a few blocks without any interference. He hunkered down on a bench by a bus stop, and I watched from the other end of the street for several minutes until it seemed better to search for other potential targets. Who knew what criteria the creatures on the hunt were using?
After doubling back, a murmured voice reached my ears as I neared the bars. A woman strode my way from the direction I’d been heading, swaying a little on her feet, her phone pressed to her ear. I pulled back against the building I’d been passing, and she walked on by without showing any sign that she’d noticed me. I waited until she’d almost reached the next corner, then pushed myself forward to follow her.
She lowered her phone—and a clump of shadow burst from a nearby alley to hurtle toward her.
A yelp of warning broke from my throat. I dashed forward, raising my crossbow and registering that it was two creatures leaping at her, not just one. But I couldn’t risk hitting her with one of the bolts.
I sprang to the side, bumping into a parked car, and fired at the smaller beast that’d landed on her shoulders as it solidified. It tumbled off with a squeal. The woman was shrieking and flailing out her limbs at the larger creature, which looked like a cross between a wolf and a sheepdog. It shoved at her from behind as if trying to knock her down.
I aimed at its head as it snapped its fangs, but it was moving too quickly for me to get in a good shot while avoiding its intended victim. My fired bolt hit it in the shoulder instead. It stumbled to the side, and the woman took off with a sob. She left her heels behind on the sidewalk, her bare feet pattering frantically across the concrete.
As I spun toward the wolf-thing, which was heaving itself back to its feet while smoke streamed from its shoulder wound, my three men materialized around it. Crag caught it by the shoulders, digging his thumb into the wound. “Shift,” he demanded.
Before my eyes, the being shed its shaggy, course fur and canine shape, swinging upright into a man with rumpled hair and eerie yellow eyes. The wound from the bolt didn’t disappear. He hissed through his teeth as Crag gripped him harder.
Rollick stepped over beside me to look the shadowkind in the face. “Why are you hunting the mortals like this? Is it your idea, or did your masters force you?”
The wolf shifter simply growled at him. A quiver of my power raced through my nerves. I drew myself up as tall as I could and willed the energy from my heart to sizzle through my whole chest, into my lungs, and up my throat.
The words that spilled from my tongue weren’t any I’d have recognized, but I understood the compulsion behind them. Answer our questions.
But the command seemed to smack against a barrier, the energy tremoring apart between us instead of taking hold in the being’s mind. I’d never felt that sensation before.
“He must already have sorcery on him,” I said. “It’s blocking mine. But I might be able to break through.”
I inhaled deeply to try again, and the man squirmed in Crag’s grasp, panic flashing across his face where before he’d only looked defiant.
“My masters will it, so it is so,” he snarled. “And they’ll destroy all of you too.”
Lance leapt in. “Be careful. The one I caught before?—”
He was too late. The wolf-man jerked his head—and managed to smash it into the brick side of the building next to us so hard his skull caved in. Horror congealed in my stomach as his body crumpled.
That hadn’t been an action I could imagine any creature, mortal or shadowkind, managing on its own. There must have been a suicide command implanted in the spell his masters had cast on him.
Rollick muttered a curse and motioned for Crag to release the body that was now gushing smoky blood. “Well, now we know for sure that some of the beings responsible aren’t acting of their own accord. We’ll have to restrain the next one more carefully. If we can find a next one.” He glanced grimly down the street. “Back to the patrol.”