The collection of buildings must have been a farm at one point. In the light of the waning moon, I easily saw men with automatic weapons patrolling the area. Lights were on in the farmhouse. I reached out to Ben through the blood bond. However, it grew fainter by the moment as it neared its end and I could only get the vague sense that they had moved him from one location on the property to another.
The mate bond tempted. If I let it close, as I had before, I would be able to know so much more. However, I couldn't do it. The time of delusions was gone.
The large barn with its boarded up windows had to be where they moved Ben. I loosened the sword in my scabbard, my weapon for when the bullets ran out. The old excitement, the trembling longing for blood and violence, rose to the fore. I had put on my ass-kicking shoes; it was time to go to work.
Drawing my handgun, I screwed a cylinder into the barrel. Some people called it a silencer but there was no way to silence a gunshot. It was a suppressor, taking a loud bang and making it a small pfft. If my plan was going to work, then I needed to do this seriously. And in a serious job, I never tried to draw more attention than absolutely necessary.
I slid into the deep ditch that ran parallel to the farm and used it to get close to the perimeter. A mercenary on patrol stood nearby. I jumped up onto the edge of the ditch.
The man turned on me. Faster than a human could, I aimed and squeezed the trigger. He jerked, the bullet tearing through his skull, and he dropped. Iron blood and meaty, broken brain scented the frigid night air. I ghosted past him.
Between the ditch and the barn, I met three other guards. All of them human. The first two I shot. For the third, who stood just outside the barn, I had other plans.
I ripped the gun from his hands and swept his feet out from under him. With one hand pinning him down, I held his hands in the other. Looking into his eyes, I drew his mind under my power. His struggling stopped.
"Are you all part of the same mercenary company?" I asked him.
"Yes," he replied.
"You're going to go kill them all."
"Yes, ma'am."
"When you're done, you're going to kill yourself."
"Yes, ma'am."
I let him up and gave him his gun. The mercenary walked off on his grisly errand. A few moments later, gunfire broke out.
Mercenaries I expected. But where were my father's vampires? I hadn't so much as scented one yet.
Stefan would arrive with the cavalry soon. Ben once told me that Adam was in the military. I knew he could round up the troops quickly. I hoped it was quick. I was about to transition from smart to stupid. But it was stupid with a purpose.
As I approached the front door of the barn, a familiar scent gave me pause.
When the witch cast the spell to allow my mother to conceive me, she burned gum acacia for soul, myrrh for death, and applewood for life. All three, either individually or together, affected me like silver harmed a werewolf. A stake made from acacia or sandalwood could drop me like a stone, no matter where it pierced me.
The barn stank with the trio. Someone had painted the oils of acacia and myrrh into the wood. No doubt the barn itself was built from apple trees. The cloying smell blocked my nose and other senses. Father could have been standing just on the other side of the door and I wouldn't know.
Slowly, I reached out and touched the handle. Pain seared flesh. I jerked back with a strangled cry. Blisters covered my fingers. I grimaced. If Ben wasn't in there, I was going to be pissed.
Grasping the handle, ignoring the agony, I jerked the door open.
A large cage sat in the middle of the barn. A red, long-legged wolf stood in the center, as far from the bars as he could get. The long, high-ceilinged room appeared empty but the oils saturating the barn's wood blocked my senses even here.
I cradled my injured left hand against my belly and slowly walked inside. The wolf whined. He was beautiful. Of course, he was. He was Ben.
Halfway to the cage, the door groaned closed. I turned. Father's vampires stood in silent rows, about thirty of them, between the exit and me. I shot one in the head. Hissing, they rest lunged forward. I dropped the gun and drew my sword.
They threw themselves on top of me. I swung my sword as hard as I could, dancing out of their way. Dark blood oozed from their wounds that closed almost as quickly as I made them. In a blur, I gutted one, the reek of his broken bowel filling the air. One female vampire lost her head.
A vampire sank his teeth into my arm. I slammed the pommel into his skull, breaking it open and exposing grey brain. With a scream, I slashed outward with my power, sending several sprawling to the floor.
"Stop!"
Power flowed through the room. The vampires, even me, froze in our poses. One vampire, behind me, had his hands around my throat. His fingers were in mid-squeeze.
"Release her."
The vampires sidled away, vanishing from sight and leaving the handful of fallen comrades. Ben growled in his cage, lowering his head as his hackles rose. My father, Federico, wore a three-piece pinstripe suit. He and I were of the same height and we both had the same curly red hair. But his eyes were brown. I inherited my mother's blue eye color.
"Darling." Federico walked a few steps forward. "How I've missed you."
His power pressed against me, slithering over my skin like tentacles. I clenched my eyes closed, tightened my grip on the hilt, and hunched my shoulders. I would not let him in. Not yet. I needed to wait for Adam. However, I couldn't hear or sense anything outside the barn because of the oils. I would have to last as long as I could and hope it was enough.
"Did you like the flowers I sent you?"
"So that was you?" I gasped out. "I thought Stefan was trying to win me back."
"I had spies watching Stefan, you know. I think I found him a good decade before you did."
My eyes snapped open. "Spies?"
"I knew you couldn't resist going back to your mercenary if you had the chance. But instead, you chose the wolf." Federico smiled at Ben, who snarled. "Interesting. I suppose, after your first wolf, you couldn't go back."
"You don't get to talk about Daniel."
He directed his gaze back at me. The weight of it pressed against my chest. I dropped my eyes. His voice was soft and sweet. "No, I want to talk about my former son-in-law. What was he like?"
I swallowed. "He was kind." My right hand was starting to ache. I didn't dare loosen my grip. The pain, in both of my hands, kept me centered. "And he loved me."
"He died because of a collapse, no?"
"Yes." I clenched my left hand. The blisters popped and oozed.
"You were his mate. Did you feel it? Did you feel him die?"
I hung another shirt on the line. It was a cool day. A breeze played in the gold and brown leaves. I was thinking about making pot roast for supper.
JUDITH!
I staggered back from the clothesline and dropped me to my knees. I couldn't catch my breath. Couldn't move. Couldn't think past the all-encompassing pain.
Judith…
The link between us, the ever-present song in the back of my mind, vanished. And I was alone.
"Interesting." Papa tilted his head. I slowly realized I must have said some of that aloud. Like he wanted. Adam had better be outside because-
His power descended on me in a heavy cloak. I fell to my knees. The sword clattered onto the concrete. My vision grew dim around the edges.
"You won't find my power so easy to shirk again," Federico said. "It was impressive, how you worked at it, finding all the weak spots until you broke it. But not again. This time is for keeps, as they say."
I forced my eyes up to Ben and choked out a faint "I love you."
Father's power crashed over me until I was consumed.
#
Ben whined as Judith fell to the floor. He took a step toward the silver bars. Ever since he came to in the barn, it slowly became harder and harder to get a reading from Judith. It was almost as if the bond was shut down on her end.
As she collapsed, the bond went completely dead. He surged forward, whining.
"Stand and take up your sword," Federico said.
With fluid grace, Judith regained her feet and scooped up her weapon. Ben's ears flattened. Her eyes blazed like sapphires held to the sun. The skin around her cheeks and jaw were tightened, like a corpse's. Her mouth opened and her fangs, long and thin, ran down.
"There's my girl," the vampire said. "I want you to kill your werewolf lover."
She walked over to the cage and yanked on the door. The lock mechanism let go with a snap and she swung the door open. Ben wagged his tail, willing her to recognize him, but the look on her face was blank. The pilot light was on but no one was home.
Judith didn't come any closer. From outside the barn came the sounds of growling and gunfire. Adam had arrived with the pack. How did they even know where to find him?
Federico frowned. "Judith, I order you to kill that wolf."
She began to shake. Her knuckles whitened on the hilt of the sword. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Ben smelled rage, fear, and anguish rolling off her in waves.
Ben, her voice whispered through the mate bond, run.
He lunged forward, knocking her to the side. At the same time, the barn doors broke open. Wolves and vampires boiled into the room, fighting each other. Judith whirled on Ben but Stefan was suddenly there. He parried her strike with a sword of his own. The pair fought in a blur of pale steel and snarls.
Ben rushed Federico, catching the vampire in the side. They both fell to the ground. Ben tore at the man's torso with his claws. Fangs bared, Federico punched Ben in the shoulder. The joint dislocated. Ben yelped and fell back.
Federico got to his feet and drew a dagger. Samuel came from the opposite side, raking his fangs down the enemy's arm. Federico screamed and stepped back, swiping outward with his dagger. The bars of the cage stopped his retreat.
A fine, hot fury filled Ben. His wolf wanted blood. He leaped, caught the vampire by the neck, and ripped his head off. He and the body dropped to the concrete. Half-wild with anger, he tore into the corpse, rending it limb from limb. Blood splattered over him, pooling on the floor. He tore open the belly and was rewarded with the sweet-sour reek of entrails.
Judith screamed, the cry cutting short.
She laid on the ground. Her sword, broken in two, lay nearby. A stake protruded from her gut, just above the navel. Stefan stood over her. He moved to kneel.
Ben body checked him before Ben even knew he was moving. He stood over Judith. Lowering his head, he growled, lips pulled back from his fangs. He had to protect his mate. She was hurt and needed him. He vaguely noticed Samuel pushing himself through a rapid change.
"Ben," Adam said. "We need to take care of her. Back off."
Ben gradually noticed that the fighting was over. The other pack members watched Ben and Adam. The power that made Adam the Alpha pushed against Ben. He stared at Adam. He didn't want to back off. He needed to stay where he was. Adam scowled and pushed harder with pack magic and dominance.
"We won't hurt her. We need to save her," he told Ben.
Reluctantly, Ben stepped back. Samuel came to kneel beside her.
"I can pull out the stake," he said, "but there may be splinters left behind. I'll have to pluck those out back home, where I have tools and better light. She'll probably bleed. I need something to plug up the hole."
Adam shucked off his shirt and held it out. Samuel took it in one hand and, with the other, pulled out the stake. Blood, thick and dark, welled up from the gaping abdominal wound. Ben whined. Samuel shoved the shirt in.
"I'll take her," Adam said. "Ben won't mind it as much as you doing it."
He carefully lifted Judith in his arms and strode out, with Ben hard on his heels.