Chapter 17

"This is where you tracked them to?" Siena asked softly, squinting her eyes so that her keen vision focused on the forest below their perch on the mountainside. "This is not one hundred miles from my castle."

"And barely twenty from where I was attacked," Elijah added.

"I don't know about you guys, but this looks like a staging ground to me," Isabella remarked, holding up her binoculars again. "Jacob, move back, you're making this thing blurry."

She reached behind herself to push him away, and the Enforcer, who needed no such devices to see at a distance, backed up as ordered. He continued to peruse the same area she did from an added distance.

"Ah, better," Isabella said, clearly pleased to be able to use the human invention.

"I think Bella is right. Magic-users so close to Siena's seat of power? Risking being so deep in 'Thrope territory?" Elijah shook his head. "What else could it be?"

"A search party."

That remark made everyone look back at Gideon, who was leaning back nonchalantly against the rock face, his feet casually crossed at the ankles.

"Look back farther, beyond the encampment," he instructed. "See the ground? It has been churned up like a farmer's field, even deeper than that in some places. You know, I once spent well over a century of my life pursuing the ancient histories and cultures of medicine. I do not claim to be an expert on excavation, but those grids of twine in the field look very much like those in an archaeological dig. It appears to me that they are looking for something and they are going about it very carefully."

"Looking for what?" Siena queried. "Goddess, just look at the size of that dig. It's enormous. It would take years to properly excavate anything of that size." She turned to look at Gideon. "Why are they in Russian territory, in winter no less, digging in near-frozen ground?"

"Yes. In winter. When the usual traffic in this territory is almost nil because the only beings who could present any possible danger to them are all settling down for a nice, long nap," Elijah speculated.

"Yes, of course! A third of us are already in hibernation. More than half of the remaining population probably went to the caves right after the Samhain feasts!" Syreena spoke up in a hushed voice. "Let me fly over and take a look."

"No!"

The chorus of voices and hands that stopped her from rising made her crouch back down immediately.

"There are wards all over the place. You cannot see them, but I can," Jacob told her. "They make unnatural currents in the wildlife and vegetation."

"And before you say it, they are in the air as well," Elijah added before she could point out that she intended to fly, not walk.

"Oh." Syreena felt more than a little foolish for her unthinking haste, and her skin flushed. "How is it that you see this, yet we who are of the forest, we who live here constantly, cannot?"

"Do not sell yourself short," Gideon said quietly. "We do not see them easily either. You have to be looking for them, and the signs are almost impossible to sort through without centuries of experience. Even so, Elijah no doubt tripped a few of those wards the day of his original attack. That is, after all, what brought their attention to his approach. It was also quite likely the motivation behind their attempt to murder him."

"Don't remind me," Elijah said wryly. "Some warrior I am. I walked smack into the ones on the ground."

"You could not expect to see them. The rhythms of the wildlife and the forest are not your area of expertise," Noah countered him, dismissing the warrior's self-recriminations. "On the contrary, I think you just happen to be a little too good at your job. I don't think they meant to attract you. I also do not believe they set out to trap you in specific, Elijah. Just anyone who came too close to uncovering their clandestine proceedings."

"The purposeful trap came later," Siena mused aloud. "They probably cast wards around the battle area shortly after, setting the trap for anyone who came looking for Elijah's body. Only they didn't realize that he had been rescued before they had even stopped running away from the cougar's scream."

"So close," Anya said softly, the bitter edge to her voice attracting their attention better than a shout would have. "These are my woodlands," she explained, her sleek eyes glittering with hard anger. "My territory. My responsibility is to guard and protect them exactly as I guard and protect the Queen who rules them. I should have at least set a territorial perimeter of guards after the Battle of Beltane. This is an unforgivable lapse in security."

"And I should never have taken Legna to a known territory last night when Ruth was aware that our Imprinting would leave us … shall we say … sufficiently distracted from concerns of safety." Gideon looked the half-breed over calmly. "I believe we can come to the consensus that we all have made some mistakes over this past year. It is to be expected when there is so much for us to think about. These women, these stained creatures, are focused on only one thing. Eradicating us. All of us. That gives them the luxury of uncommon focus."

"For them, it is a holy war," Noah added. "They have the advantage that fanaticism gives them. They do not struggle with their consciences like we do. To them, it is black and white. We are evil and we must be destroyed for it."

"This search, I guarantee you, is probably a means to that same end," Gideon speculated darkly. "Every Crusade was as much about gathering valuable relics, religious or otherwise, as it was about upholding claims to religious principles or lands."

"Ah, the good old days," Isabella quipped with a lopsided grin as she winked at Magdelegna. "Memories of a reckless youth, Gideon?"

Gideon flicked the little Druid an acidic glare that only managed to send her into a fit of giggles.

"As much as I would love to hear about Gideon and Richard the Lionheart rounding the pubs of the Byzantine Empire," Siena said seriously, although there was repressed humor in her golden eyes, "I want to get these particular crusaders off my territory."

"Well, Siena," Noah mused, "since I have a feeling you will not take kindly to a speedy, exterminating forest fire, what do you suggest we do?"

Siena bit her lip in thought for a moment, absently scratching a patch of newly healed skin beneath her ear until she heard an unexpected chuckle echoing inside of her head.

What?

You were right. You do look like a leopard.

Very funny, warrior. Do you think we could pay attention to the problem?

Elijah turned to look over his shoulder at the congregation of expectant faces. A strange sense of distance fell over him as he did so. Oh, he would always be close to these people; there was never going to be any doubt about the depth of his affection for them. Be it the one year he had known Bella, or the hundreds he had known Noah, nothing could truly separate him from the feelings he had formed for his comrades.

But in this moment, he was realizing he was about to leave a dramatically important period of his life behind him. He was clearly turning toward the new one he was entering with Siena.

That meant that these woodlands were now his, because they were hers. It required him to be aware of the fact that her interests and concerns became his, whether they involved the Demon race or not. The comfort that came from this era of change they had been clumsily breaking into was the realization that the Demon race and the Lycanthrope race would be intermingled with one another for as long as they lived their lives. Destiny had proclaimed it to be so the moment She had linked Elijah to her, and Siena to him.

Frankly, it was an impressive solution. The mating of enemies. Forcing an integration of species and making them come to understand one another more clearly. Destiny had made her mind clear to all of them. There would be no turning back to old squabbles without risking the separation of the mated couple who, under Imprinted compulsion, would rather die than allow anything to separate them.

Siena reached up to rub her hand over Elijah's where it was curled around her bare neck. It was yet another reminder, a clever, voiceless coercion, to have him focus on the issues of the moment instead of mulling over things that would take much longer than that instant to resolve. He flicked his attention to the half-breed, Anya, who had stood up and begun to pace. He knew that expression and the thoughts behind it just about as well as he knew himself.

"The problem is the way they are entrenched," Anya remarked, kneeling closer to the cliff side. "Granted, this is the high ground, but those wards are as good as the solid walls of a castle fortress. I'm willing to bet not all of them are merely part of a sensor net. I'd put money on many of them being active defenses. Half of us will get fried if we cross those barriers. Not to mention the fact that they are humans, in spite of everything else, and that gives them access to munitions."

"I doubt we will have to worry about that, Anya," Elijah countered thoughtfully. "First of all, Ruth is very likely to be in that camp. She was in the fray pretty fast when she had her little minions all over me, which tells me she was pretty close by. That means she would have had to come up with excuses to keep the area clear of things mechanical or technological in nature, else she would tip her hand about being a Demon herself. That's the advantage of making this an archaeological site. It is expected to be done by hand, rather than with machinery."

"Ruth also knows that in close combat, our chemistry will cause malfunctions to complex equipment. Those malfunctions would be far more likely to backfire onto her fighters rather than do damage to us," Jacob added.

"Their weaponry has been of the most efficient type to harm Demons. Iron bolts in crossbows, iron blades, magic."

"Yes, but they are in Lycanthrope territory," Siena mused. "The hunters in there would be unable to resist their nature to arm themselves for so real a possibility of encountering one of my people."

"That means silver," Anya added. "Silver bullets, to be exact." The half-breed rolled her eyes. "As theatrical as it may be, it's effective enough."

"Okay, wait a sec," Bella piped up, nibbling on her bottom lip as she ordered her thoughts. "They are prepared for Demons. They are prepared for Lycanthropes. Let's just take that for granted. But given your history of war together, I bet there's one thing they are not prepared for."

"Both!" Anya said immediately.

"Just like at the Battle of Beltane," Siena added. "I still wonder if she ever figured out that there were more than Demons there that day."

"Don't underestimate Ruth," Elijah warned "She was warrior before she was Councilor. She's a skilled tactician, and I never knew her to make the same mistake twice."

"Guys," Bella said suddenly, her head tilting as she turned her focus onto something she was sensing. "I hate to say this, but I have that funny feeling I get in my belly when there is a Transformed Demon nearby. I think they are being guarded by a lot more than magical wards." She sighed loudly, the breathy beckoning encouraging Jacob to reach out automatically. He slipped his hand beneath her hair and rubbed soothingly at her neck. "You know," the little Druid continued, "for once I wish there was such a thing as a good sorceress. One that was on our side. Someone who could unravel the wards and change Transformed Demons back to themselves again."

"Impossible," Noah said quietly, instantly quashing the naive hybrid's fanciful desire. "To become a sorceress or a warlock, you have to pick up books of magic and spells that are, in and of themselves, innately unnatural and evil."

"I thought magic-users were born magic-users. Just like Demons are born with their abilities."

"You will find that to be true of the more powerful magic-users," Noah agreed. "But most learn to become what they are by intellect, resources, and studying alone. You could pick up a spell book, Bella, just like Ruth has, and learn that magic as easily as any one of them has. But the moment you begin to use tainted spells from tainted books, you become corrupted yourself. Unfortunately, the easy access to those powers is why there are so many of them, so suddenly. It is spreading like a cult."

"A cult lead by the powerful magic-users who are just … born that way?"

"I am afraid so."

"Are you telling me that being born with the natural potential for magic makes you innately evil?" Bella's body language was a matching protest to her words as she became extremely tense. "That means they never had a choice! Just like you never had a choice of what element you were going to rule, or Siena had over what forms she takes."

"They have a choice. They can choose not to pick up the black magic," Jacob retorted. "Do not try and defend them, Bella. It would be a mistake to feel sympathy for them."

"So you are telling me it's a choice between pursuing your innate power … or not? Jacob, that is not fair. It would be like it was when you and I first met, as you tried to fight off what you instinctively felt for me. No matter how wrong you felt it was in your moral heart, you could not resist. How many of us who are here now have come to understand how impossible that is?"

"Fine," Elijah bit out suddenly. "Forced to the choice or not, it does not change what they are. It does not change the fact that they hunt us and destroy us with impunity, save what we ourselves bring to their door in answer."

"I see. And if a wild animal attacked you because it was in its nature to do so, you would feel justified in killing it?" Syreena spoke up suddenly, her gray brow rising toward her hairline.

"An animal has motive and instincts. It kills to eat, protect itself, or in madness from some disease such as rabies. Nourishment and self-defense are the right of every living creature, and I condemn no one for having those needs. It does not even matter to me how crude or sophisticated they are in the methods they use to bring those needs to fruition.

"But I assure you," he continued, his voice one of deep ice and impenetrable steel, "I would destroy a rabid animal in a heartbeat. An animal of that maddened ilk will infect anything it can sink its teeth into if I do not take action to stop it. I will destroy these women with the same ease," Elijah assured his sister-in-law coldly. "These women are rabid. They are spreading their disease and sacrificing hundreds of innocents in the process. Those they lure to join their task, those they steal from us, and those of us who have been brutalized during their attempts to hold authority over us."

"Syreena, you are a Monk of The Pride. Half warrior, half pacifist," Gideon said, his tone far more diplomatic than Elijah's. "We all understand your tendency to view all sides of an issue. Have faith when I tell you that these are questions we have been asking ourselves for as long as even I can remember. Our conclusions were not approached lightly when it came to these issues."

"Do not forget, Isabella," Noah added, "that your human integrity, while noble, does not always suit creatures of our kind of power. It is a different standard with high consequences if not handled with a stricter level of jurisprudence. I think you know that."

"Kill or be killed?" Bella spoke up bitterly. "I despise the idea of my daughter being raised in such times."

A moment later, she sighed softly, rising to turn toward her husband. "Don't be upset, Jacob," she said gently. "I would feel the same if it were a human war. You know that, in my heart, I prefer that she become part of a species where affection, love, and morality are such abundant standards. My upset is with our enemies, not with our society."

"Forgive me if I seem to be continuously ignorant," Syreena said quietly, "but, as Bella originally asked, is there no such thing as good magic?" Syreena looked at her sister pointedly. "In my lessons, I was taught these bands we three wear"—she indicated the slender link around her throat—"are enchanted. This necklace is made with natural products, but imbued with abilities and properties you cannot find in nature. That is what I would call magic," she said. "Does it follow then that because they are made of magic, they are evil? I know of no Nightwalkers who can make anything like this. So if it was not us, then who created them? Magic-users? These creatures of evil?" She extended a hand toward the distant woodland. "I refuse to believe something so intrinsically evil had a hand in this magic that is so powerfully a part of Lycanthrope traditions and our way of finding our soul mates."

"This is not an exemplary moment for philosophical discussions," Gideon said abruptly, his serious silver eyes gleaming in the moonlight as he looked at Syreena and Isabella pointedly. "Nor is it a prudent time for investigating the histories of our races. Whether there is such a thing as ‘good' magic or not, innate evil or not, we are assured in our understanding of these particular enemies.

"Here and now," he continued, "these women are a threat to all of us. Here and now, those women are growing stronger and deadlier with every moment they continue to immerse themselves in their arts. And if we do not take action against them here and now , Ruth and Mary and every last female in that encampment will introduce themselves to us once again, and it may not be a meeting any or all of us will be so lucky as to survive this time."

"Point taken," Anya agreed firmly. "The medic is correct. We are risking ourselves with ‘what if' and ‘could be,' wasting this time better spent finding a realistic resolution to our immediate problem."

"Agreed." Elijah nodded sharply. The two of them could never be mistaken for anything other than the fighters that they were. From their stances to their focus on the battle to come, they were both warriors to the last.

The group, guided by their example, refocused on the matter at hand.

"I believe …" Siena turned to inspect the lay of the land once again. "Yes. I think I know of a way we can get past those wards." She turned to Jacob, giving him a once over and a grin. "Yes, I think I do."

Mary entered her mother's tent in the encampment to find her parent pacing the relatively luxurious accommodations she had been given due to her position of leadership. Like Demon society, the rank in this grouping of females was according to power, and none of them could top her mother. That was because there was more to Ruth than the abilities of a mere "sorceress." But, of course, the magic-using simpletons that surrounded them did not know that.

There were old, musty books stacked around the small desk the female Mind Demon had been studying at incessantly since they had encamped there a little less than a month ago. But it was clear her disturbance was keeping her from studying them further.

Ruth was a brilliant female, but she was no scholar by nature. Her abilities had always been focused on the battle. She had been a warrior before she had become a member of the Great Council. It wasn't just luck and power that gave her the ability to outstep Demons as skilled in hunt and battle as Elijah and Jacob were. Ruth had spent centuries as their ally, and as such knew everything about the way they acted, reacted, and how strong they really were.

"Mother, what troubles you?" her daughter asked, sounding as bored as she looked. The boredom occurred often when Mary was not kept amused by attacks and excursions against others. She had developed a significant taste for those things. "We have killed Gideon. You should be celebrating."

"No," Ruth said sharply. "This celebration is a waste of time and energy. We should be back in the dig site looking for our treasure. Especially now. Noah will be livid when he finds his dead family, and we should be prepared."

"Noah?" Mary snorted out a contemptuous laugh. "The great pacifist Demon King? He doesn't get angry."

"Do not be a fool!" Ruth whirled on her daughter. "What do you know? You know nothing about it! Since he reached adulthood, I have known Noah to lose his temper only three times." Ruth ticked them off on her fingers. "When his mother was murdered, when his father died, and the night his precious little sister was Summoned.

"When his family is threatened or damaged, Noah's rage has the force of a nuclear fury. It is nothing you ever want to see, girl. Believe me when I tell you that. Tonight we killed his sister's Imprinted mate and very likely Legna herself. And if Legna is dead, Noah's unborn niece or nephew died with her. If he ever catches up with us, our deaths will come in a conflagration to outshine the humans' ideas of hell."

"But no one knows where we are. Who would look for us here?"

"Elijah knows!" Ruth snapped at her child. "We were just lucky he did not arrive a few minutes sooner. Together, Gideon and Elijah would have destroyed us easily." Ruth took a breath as she stopped to slam a hand on the pile of books. "And now that it is confirmed that Elijah is alive, that means he has reported what happened to him to Noah. Now, despite all my work to mislead the Enforcers who tracked him, they probably will soon know exactly where we are."

"But surely they would have come here sooner—"

"Mary, who do you think walked through the wards the other day, coincidentally where Elijah's dead body was supposed to be? It had to be Jacob, or even the Warrior Captain himself retracing his own steps."

"That is twenty miles from here," Mary pointed out.

"And you do not think Noah has the wisdom to widen a search for us from there? Stop being so ignorant, girl!" Ruth turned her flaring blue eyes on her offspring. "For all we know they are already on their way."

"Then we should go," Mary said, sounding suddenly fearful.

"Yes. We should. But I am not leaving without spending every possible second searching for what we came for. I can teleport us to safety in a heartbeat. We can let these ninnies distract Noah's forces while we escape." Ruth paced some more, rubbing slim fingers over her tense forehead. "Legna is the only one who might be strong enough to interfere in one of my teleports. Even if she did not die in the fire, it was Gideon's power that was making her such a force to contend with. Without him, she will no doubt revert to her common, simpering little adult self once more."

"I will get the others back into the dig site," Mary said, her boredom gone now that she was aware of the danger stalking them.

"See to it. We need that spell book if we are to destroy Noah and all those self-righteous idiots he calls a Council."

"I will, Mother. I think we are very close. That lesser spell book that we found may mean the other is close by."

"I would count on nothing if I were you, child. I will join you shortly. We need to remain close to one another in case of an attack. If we leave before finding the Black Tome, they will know we were looking for something and no doubt continue the search themselves until they figure out what we were searching for. We will have led Noah right to it. If he finds the Tome and if he is half the scholar he is claimed to be, he will figure out what we are up to shortly after."

"Mother, you said yourself that no one knows about the Black Tome. You said no one even knows about the scroll you found that has led us to this place. If they find it, they won't know what it is for. Only magic-users can read it, you said."

"Trust me, daughter. The Warrior Captain will have no trouble coaxing a magic-using prisoner into deciphering the book for the King once Noah figures out that it is required. In that case, our only hope will be that it takes us less time to manage alternatives than it takes him to figure things out. Now go. We are wasting time. I can feel it pressing on me."

"Even if they do come, the wards and the Transformed ones will keep them busy," Mary tried to reassure her. "We have some time still."

"Let us hope so."