15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Zan

When eight of the durmin were nothing but piles of vermin bones, Zan knew the remaining man must be the human a warlock used to model the rest. Standing in the ruined doorway of Sanguine, he tried to look cocky, but Zan could see he was terrified.

“Skyler,” he shouted. “You can’t hide forever. You should come to McConnel. Don’t make him find you.”

“Let’s see what's inside of you!” Mason growled and took a step toward the human. His massive gargoyle foot scattered a pile of bones in all directions.

The human made an “eep!” sound and ran. The moment that last threat was gone; Mason shifted back to his human form. Unlike Zan, Mason had invested in spelled clothing that shifted with him, so he was still dressed when he shrunk down.

Zan and the three wolves from the Lobo Gris Pack shifted back to their human forms. Because shifters were the most common supernatural creatures, everyone was used to their nakedness. Still, maybe he should look into getting some of his clothes spelled like Mason.

“First of all, is everyone okay?”

Zan turned to find Rissa standing with a tub of bar salt in her arms and a worried expression on her face.

Fear shot through Zan. This was not how he wanted to introduce Rissa to his world. “I can explain everything.”

Rissa shook her head. “You and Anatoly will be answering a lot of questions, but later. First, I want to know if anyone needs a hospital.”

Her question caused laughter among most of them.

One of the Lobo Gris wolves answered her. “This was only a little dustup.”

She eyed the ragged wound across his chest. “Sure, and that’s a mosquito bite.”

He looked down and winced. “Damn, that sucks.”

“Is it over?” Cora called from the stairwell.

“No, wait for me!” Pike said, but Cora must’ve ignored him because she came flying out, stumbling to a stop among the wreckage.

“Oh damn,” she said, taking it all in. There wasn't a single piece of furniture that hadn't been smashed. The front door was toast and one of the front windows was nothing but shards. They could clearly see people walking past, none of them even bothering to look over. Rissa’s brows furrowed, obviously puzzled by the pedestrians’ lack of interest.

“There are magic wards,” Zan explained before she could ask. “They keep humans from seeing in here or even noticing us.”

“Huh,” she said, then shifted her gaze back to him. Her mouth turned down, and she rushed to his side. “You’re hurt!”

Before he could say anything, she looked at Cora and Pike. “There’s a first aid kit upstairs. Third floor, smaller bathroom, under the sink.”

Pike nodded. “On it.” Then he turned and lumbered back up the stairs. As Pike left, Kimble moved to Cora’s side and murmured something about being thankful she’d stayed out of danger.

“I could’ve fought,” Cora argued. “Rissa stayed and fought.”

Kimble cast her an annoyed look. “She did, but she shouldn’t have.”

Zan could hear the bad human implied in those words. Thankfully, Rissa was too busy examining his wounds to notice Kimble’s tone.

“Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” Rissa asked, looking at a series of deep punctures on his left shoulder. They were sluggishly seeping blood. As far as wounds went, they weren’t fun, but they weren’t that bad either. What was worse was the way his head ached. He’d taken a couple of substantial blows before he’d broken free of the durmin holding him. He knew what a concussion felt like, and he had a pretty good one.

“I’d like to lie down,” he admitted. “Let me throw on some clothes, clean up this mess, and we can go upstairs.”

Rissa shook her head with a frown. “No cleaning. You’re marching your fine ass upstairs and laying down.”

Right then, Pike came back downstairs with the white box full of bandages and antiseptic. Placing it on the only clean spot on the bar top, he started to open it, then let out a startled sound.

“You’re still here!”

Everyone turned to see Skyler emerge from behind the counter. She was disheveled, but wasn’t crying and didn’t have any visible wounds. That was good. Nymphs didn’t heal as well as most other magical creatures. In fact, unattached nymphs were almost as vulnerable as humans.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Everything here can be replaced,” Anatoly said, gliding over to her. While Rissa was distracted by Zan, Anatoly had gone around to make sure there was no magic left in any of the durmins. Unlike Zan, Anatoly could see auras, and that made it easy for him to judge the potential danger of what looked like nothing but piles of rat bones to Zan.

“I ruin everything,” she said, not looking at Anatoly. Zan got the feeling she wasn’t hearing him either. She was lost in her own head. “I’m useless and a burden. No land wants me. I have nothing.”

“Can I offer you a safe place to stay for the night?” Anatoly asked. Zan felt the vampire’s power rise and knew he was going to put the nymph in thrall to calm her down. He reached out to take her hand. “Your name is Skyler, correct?”

“Don’t touch her!” Mason said, stomping over and shoving Anatoly away from the nymph.

Anatoly didn’t strike back, but he did give Mason an annoyed look. “I was only going to comfort her.”

“You were going to force her to join your flock!” Mason argued, putting his big body between her and Anatoly.

Anatoly shook his head. “I have Zan and Rissa. My soul is bound, and my sanity is safe. I have no need to force a landless nymph to be my flock.”

Skyler peeked around Mason’s bulk. “Do you mean that?”

Zan opened his mouth to reassure the nymph that Anatoly would never force anyone, but Rissa spoke up, cutting him off.

“If Anatoly tried to make you do something, I’d kick his ass,” she said, then raised an eyebrow at the powerful vampire. “Right?”

Anatoly’s lips twisted, as if fighting a smile. “Indeed.”

Mason still hadn’t moved, but he didn’t look as fierce anymore. “I think she’d be safer at my place.”

“Is your place warded?” Anatoly asked. “Does it have another vampire in residence that will sense when one of his kind is close and be able to warn everyone?”

When Mason didn’t answer, Anatoly continued. “The second floor is a fully furnished studio that both of you are welcome to occupy for as long as necessary.”

Zan sucked in a breath. “That’s a surprise.”

“What is?” Rissa asked. She’d moved a little and was standing next to him instead of in front of him. Lifting his right arm, he draped it over her shoulders, relieved when she snuggled into his embrace.

“Only my parents have ever stayed there,” he explained. “Anatoly doesn’t set down very many hard limits, but renting out the second floor was one of them. I wasn’t allowed to bring anyone there long term, only a night or two. Or a week if it was close family. Now he’s offering the place up to a gargoyle and a nymph.”

Rissa made a humming sound. “Why? What’s changed?”

A wave of sympathy hit him. It was coming from Anatoly as he assured the scared nymph that she’d be safe. Now he understood why Anatoly was doing this.

“You changed him,” Zan said. “He wants you to be happy, and he knows you’d want him to make sure Skyler is safe.”

“He’s doing this for me?” she asked, eyes going wide. For the first time, she looked a little unsure. “He’s changing a hard limit to make me happy?”

Zan tightened his arm around her for a moment as he placed a kiss on her forehead. “Honey, we’d both do just about anything to make you happy.”

She blinked rapidly, as if trying not to cry. “That’s, um… thanks.”

“That’s what we’ll do then,” Mason said, drawing their attention back to the conversation between the nymph, gargoyle, and vampire. “We’ll stay here tonight and decide what to do next tomorrow.”

Although she was tall, she still had to look up to meet Mason’s gaze. “You don’t have to stay here.”

“Try and stop me,” Mason grumbled. He pulled a phone out from his back pocket. “I’m going to call a friend to bring some of my stuff. She can stop by a store for things for you. What do you need?”

Skyler shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Mason didn’t move. “What do you need?”

She ducked her head shyly. “Candy bars please. Lots of candy of any kind really.”

“Right, nymphie food,” Mason said with a nod. Then he pointed at her feet. “You stay right here. I’ll be back and then we’ll go upstairs.”

She blinked, as if surprised by his orders. “You don’t need to—”

“Right here,” he repeated, cutting her off. “Now say, ‘yes, Mason.’”

A real smile formed on her lips. “Yes, Mason.”

He made a satisfied grunt, then turned and walked out of the bar to stand on the sidewalk and call his friend. Zan was full of envy.

“I need to get my clothes magicked,” he muttered. “His phone even shifted with him!”

“Perhaps for Christmas,” Anatoly said. “But you have so many clothes, it would put me in the poorhouse to have them all done so you’ll have to slim down the choices.”

Zan snorted. “Whatever. I bet if we count, you’ve got more clothes than me.”

“This conversation is way too normal to be happening while there are so many naked people standing around. And you’re still bleeding,” Rissa said with a shake of her head.

“Sorry,” Zan said, trying to hold back his laugh.

Anatoly frowned. “She’s right, we should be seeing to your injuries. I don’t like the look of several of those wounds.”

Zan eyed him warily. “Don’t call the knitter! I’ll heal fine without her.”

“Knitter?” Rissa asked, ducking out from under his arm. He was about to protest, but she grabbed his hand to lead him to the bar where the first aid kit was sitting open. The wolf shifters had already treated their wounds and were busy talking to each other or texting on their phones that they’d fished out of the remnants of their clothes. He’d need to get them all a change of clothes from upstairs so they could go home without attracting unwanted attention.

“They’re actually called bone knitters, although they can use their magic to heal any wounds, not just broken bones,” Anatoly explained.

“But their magic hurts like a bitch,” Zan said with an exaggerated shudder. “I’d rather heal at the normal rate than deal with the pain they cause.”

“As long as you heal,” she agreed and started cleaning the punctures. “If these get infected or something, then Anatoly is calling the knitter person.”

As Rissa worked, Zan watched Mason walk back in and gently guide Skyler up to the second floor. It was lucky Anatoly had bought more furniture for that apartment the first night Rissa slept there. Even though she’d never slept down there again, they’d wanted it ready in case she decided she needed more space.

Zan could only hope that after everything she’d seen, she wouldn’t suddenly decide she needed a continent of space between them.

***

Anatoly

During the fight, Anatoly was so busy ripping durmins apart over and over again that he hadn’t noticed Rissa salting them until she’d eliminated three durmins. At first, he’d been enraged at her being in the midst of danger, but then he noticed she was being careful and only getting close to the ones that were ripped in at least three pieces, if not more.

He didn’t know how she’d figured out to use the salt, but was grateful. Durmins could be vulnerable to salt, sage, water, iron, or any number of things. But only the maker knew what would cause them to dismember. Those being attacked were often forced to try things until something worked.

Or they were exhausted and defeated during the fighting.

It wasn’t a surprise to him that the magic would bring him a flock member who was smart, resourceful, and fearless.

“Looks like we missed the party!” Will and Jesse said as they walked in.

“About time you got here!” Luis said with a laugh.

“Oh damn, man, put that away,” Mikey said as he walked in behind Jesse. He tossed a handful of clothes to the naked shifters as everyone laughed. More wolves from the Lobo Gris pack walked in, some with tools and others carrying sheets of plywood.

“What’s going on?” Rissa asked.

“Lobos Gris helps their own,” Mikey said.

“I think you’ve forgotten that none of us are wolf shifters,” Anatoly responded dryly.

Will snorted. “Like that matters to Lobos Gris!”

Mikey made a shooing motion. “You guys go upstairs and talk. We’ll board everything up. I already called Misha; he’ll come out to fix the door tonight. You’ll have to figure out everything else on your own.”

Anatoly was touched by the alpha’s kindness. He wasn’t surprised to see him and the other wolves show up. One cardinal rule for wolves was that you protected and cared for your pack.

It seemed he, Zan, and Rissa were part of the pack now. Without a healthy flock vampires rarely developed ties to any communities. Before he could figure out how to thank the alpha, Zan spoke up.

“Only two rounds of free drinks each,” Zan shouted with a laugh. “Don’t guzzle all my stock!”

They laughed, and there was some good-natured teasing from the wolves.

“This is all amazing,” Rissa murmured next to him. “This is the type of community I’ve always wanted.”

The wistful note in her voice broke Anatoly’s heart. Lifting her up, he ignored her gasp and cradled her in his arms.

“Let’s go upstairs and talk about you becoming one of us,” he said. “We’re a community ready for you to join, my heart. All you have to do is say yes, and you’ll never be alone again.”