Chapter Thirty-Eight
Bran listened to my terse account in silence, though I knew he was as surprised and relieved as I was about both the number of submissives and what Ramona Velasquez had managed to do. When I added my unlimited permission to travel via Underhill, though, I heard him sit up.
/Has ap Lugh admitted the debt fae owe you?/
"Tried to, Bran, but I headed him off at the pass. He's staying to meet the Feebs as well, because he wants to know how many dead are in the shaft. Plan is for the trolls to drop off the records Underhill for us to collect, while Nemane gets the freed fae out of here. And I need to call Fisher for food and clothes, soonest."
/Yes. Where are those wolves going to go?/
"We don't have the beds. Aspen Creek, dispersed among the pack as hosts, under your direct examination and instruction? Longer term, they'd be a very odd pack with a female Alpha and that many submissives, Bran — so odd Adam might be willing to let them share the Tri-Cities and hunt with us, and I'll ask him — but I think they need you and a lot of kindness for a while."
/Aspen Creek is not a kind place, Mercy./
"Isn't it, Bran? Anna and I disagree, however you might have to give Leah an order or two. Anyway, splitting them up now isn't on, so if not Aspen Creek, which has always been the place for offbeat wolves, where? Just don't go too Marrok on them — what Ramona's done is weird, and not how things should be, but she's an Alpha after your own heart, all the same, even if she is female. I think it'll be OK if you let it be. And you'll have the medical wolves. And Medicine Wolf as soon as I can talk to it, or it senses the cloak in use to reach you. Which — forgive me, Bran — might be a very good thing for you as well. Did anyone tell you Asil — Asil, kill me now Asil, the mad Moor — has started an Aficionados de Mercy club? Says he likes my style. God only knows what you'll be inspired to do when it reads you and gives you some glass against your older memories."
There was silence for a moment.
/Asil started a fanclub./ Bran laughed richly, and his voice eased. /Wonders never cease, and you help them along, Mercy. Alright. Bring those poor wolves here, in front of the meeting barn, and make sure Fisher brings them some proper winter clothing — we don't have that much spare to hand. Bless you./
He rang off and I stared at the phone for a moment before flipping back to contacts to dial Fisher.
"Sure could have done with you forty years back, Mercy, when I had to convince the Marrok I was in control of my wolf and would stay that way as a loner."
David's voice was a little wondering beneath its flatness, and I looked up at him.
"Bran thought quite hard about just killing me when Mom dumped me on him, David, but once he decided not to I was family. What he has to be to you and every Alpha is not what he has to be to me."
I'd already dialled Fisher and held up a hand as she answered.
/Ms Hauptman?/
"SA Fisher. Mission accomplished. Nine fae and twenty-six wolves rescued. Three things in order of priority. One, let the AED and SAC Vance know we've secured this place, and that it and the captives had been abandoned, so SWAT can stand down. Two, scramble that meat chopper, please, with at least a hundred pounds, and add twenty-six sets of clothing that will work for winter, all small to mid-sizes. Go unisex. Army gear and boots would be good. We can pay but we need it now — they're all naked, and when Cantrip's torturers fled they cleared out all food. But three, you will need major forensics — there are four human and one wolf bodies just inside, all mangled, and three wolf bodies in cages, all shot with silver sometime Tuesday night. Also a couple of rooms that have been stripped but may have trace evidence of who the dead perpetrators and the six, at most, who are in the wind might be. There is also a mineshaft that stinks of rot and was breathing ghosts, so the casualties were dumped there — meaning forensic speleologists, if they exist and you have them, and, though magic might be available to help, lifting gear for a deep shaft."
/Got it. Hang on./
I heard her make other calls — one to Vance saying he should call out everyone forensic he had, a terse order to send the meat chopper, and politely phrased instructions posing as requests to DC about logistics.
/Clothing will take a bit longer, Ms Hauptman, but I'll call the AED and whoever next. Anything else?/
I didn't much like it, but there was. "Appreciated, SA Fisher. And yeah. Allowing for mental trauma and starvation, the twenty-six wolves are in better shape than anyone expected, so the medics can stand down too, but it's for what seem some pretty weird reasons. This is cutting corners, but they've formed a pack of sorts among themselves, under a woman who's a strong Alpha. Name of Ramona Velasquez, kidnapped from Cheyenne. So two more things. One is that they're not coming to us any more, and they'll be off-radar for a while, until we know what's best for them, and is possible, and two is that Ms Velasquez says some of them are illegals. For several reasons, very fast naturalisation papers would be good, and we'd count that as a favour."
/No need, Ms Hauptman. AED wondered about that one, and though we can't give orders about that the pump's been primed. Their being off-radar is more of a problem, though — if we don't have primary statements from the victims we'll be weakened legally./
"I can do outline statements, unless something else happens, but follow-ups will have to wait."
/We can live with that./ I heard her exhale heavily. /Twenty-six surviving wolves, and nine fae. Dear Christ. How many dead?/
"Beyond the eight I don't know, but with at least twenty-nine successful forced Changes, and from the number of ghosts I saw, two hundred plus human corpses will not surprise me. And however many fae. Air in there is very dry, allowing for the captives' breath, and rot's inhibited, but that shaft's deep and the smell is still strong." My mind clicked and I chose words carefully. "This isn't urgent, but Cantrip had some major resources somewhere. Customised iron and silver cages, and steel doorways — serious fabrication for the outer ones, and they had good seals too. Pass that on to whoever's looking at Heuter's financials?"
/With pleasure. Outer doors' size and weight?/
"Fifteen feet high and thirty across, in two leaves. No idea of the weight but high-grade steel four and some inches thick."
/That narrows the possibles by a way./ There was a brief pause. /Tell me to mind my own, Ms Hauptman, but how did you get through those?/
"Trolls. And magic. SAC Vance can inspect what's left all he wants."
/Trolls./ There was another pause. /And ghosts. SAC Vance will want to document everything./
"He's welcome, but the trolls will be gone. Ghosts too, mostly. If there's nothing else I need to go, but how far out is he now?"
/Maybe forty minutes. AED is an hour and some. Go. And congratulations — thirty-five rescues is a very good day's work, no matter what else is vile. Time's out, by the way, and you are on the cover, on two legs and four. Rightly./
For the second time in five minutes someone rang off on me, and I glared at my phone while David smothered a laugh.
"She's not wrong, Mercy. I didn't mind this morning at all, but this has my kick. Rescuing anyone alive is as good as it gets against the worst the world has to offer."
"I don't disagree, David, but philosophy isn't helping just now."
I messaged Jesse to say we were safe and well, but would be a while yet with twenty-six freed wolves to see to, and set off back towards the mine entrance.
"Looks like we'll get everything we really wanted — saving who we can, suppressing knowledge of vamps pro tem, getting the data, and ID-ing the guilty, one way or another, but …" I took a breath of clean air, thanking God for it. "Sorry, David, it's not on you, but I purely hate this place and what it represents. And I really do not want to have to think about how they came up with criteria that caught people who survived the Change as submissives. Or what the hell Travers or Cantrip thought they were doing."
"Lying to one another, I guess. Cantrip wanted a pack of their own, and couldn't get yours so they set about building one. Travers was a loner and insufficiently dominant to be an Alpha. But did Cantrip realise that?"
"Huh. Good question. But living here amid that smell?"
"Oh yeah. And it's gonna get worse."
"Tell me."
The trolls were gone from the entrance, and as we could see one coming back down the tunnel with the desk in its hands we waited. Ap Lugh's two knights looked at me with what I thought was curiosity but didn't say anything. I could smell mince being cooked. The troll hopped clean over the carnage, landing with a thud I felt through my feet, and stopped when it got outside, looking down at me.
"Irpa's about to bust your friends out, and we found the selkie skins Preskylovitch stole. I'm taking this Underhill to the Garden of Manannán's Death."
Trust the fae to call it something like that.
"Good to know. I am gladdened by your help, Þorgerðr."
I didn't think I'd got the voicing right — and what kind of language has separate letters for voiced and unvoiced th anyway? — but she didn't seem to mind.
"Gwyn ap Lugh commands it, and you are the first Elf-friend in a long while. Besides, I didn't like Manannán and pulling those doors open was fun."
Still holding the desk Þorgerðr said something incomprehensible and walked through an archway as it opened, vanishing. I decided I needed to think better of trolls, and headed back up the tunnel, stopping only to grab a pile of clean sheets stacked in the utility area, thank George and Mary Jo, dealing with mince, and glance in at Charles and Adam, piling iMacs and rolls of cable into a sack made from knotted blankets. Nemane, ap Lugh's other knights, and the released fae were gone, the cages all having had their locks cut out, but Zee was standing with ap Lugh, Samuel and the other wolves, and David and I joined them.
Irpa took up a lot of space, and the captive wolves were all as far back in their cages as they could get, but what she was doing was oddly delicate. Cage by cage, she simply gripped the silver bars above and below the iron locks, squeezed hard for a moment, flattening the silver, and then twisted each lock a few times before tapping them with one gloved finger, sending each to the floor inside the cage with a clunk. She was also nudging each door open, mindful of wolves and silver, and my opinion of trolls went up still further. And she was avoiding the steel plate in the floor, so we had to shuffle round to let her get to the third row of cages. I counted the sheets, finding twelve.
"Wolf strength needed, please. If each of these is torn in half, we have covering for twenty-four, and I'll go find one more though it won't be clean. Ramona, if those in wolf form can change, that would be good. FBI will be here in about thirty. And I've had reassurances about the illegals — sounds like fast-track naturalisation will be one compensation offered, if it's still wanted."
"Quick work. Thanks. I don't know if they've had enough food to change, though."
"More is on its way. Proper clothing, too." I spoke over the sounds of cotton being ripped. "We had no idea of your numbers until we got here. It's up to them, but with unknown FBI agents coming in, human would be best. And while we'll get you out of here as soon as we can, to a wolf sanctuary, the Feebs will need basic statements so they can get their investigation rolling. I've told them more will have to wait."
"This one at least will need help to change, Mercy." Asil was crouched by an open door, crooning softly to the wary wolf within. "She is hiding deep within her wolf. Adam or Charles might be able. I do not have the touch."
Samuel joined him for a moment, and nodded. "Charles, I think. But though they'll be exhausted the others should be able to change on what food they've already had, Ms Velasquez. An Alpha can force it, but persuasion would be better."
"I hear you." Velasquez wrapped a half-sheet round herself and came slowly out of her cage. "Being free again's gonna take some getting used to. I'll try with the others if you can get your Charles to help Carla. The fear's been bad for her and she's grieving for Estelle too — they were close."
I went closer to Carla's cage, widening my vision, and saw the ghost tangled into the wolf's fur, like ivy on a wall. Or maybe mould on bread. Asil and Samuel let me through with wary looks, and from the cage door, pulling on Adam, I used one hand to project Alpha command to the wolf while the other summoned the ghost, promising justice and demanding retreat at the same time. It wasn't keen, and the wolf whined discontent before I prevailed and the ghost slipped sideways to somewhere else. I spent a moment soothing the wolf, and left the cage to face Velasquez.
"I also see ghosts, and Estelle's was clinging to Carla. I've … moved it on. The grief should be less paralysing."
Velasquez's eyes were narrowed and she gave me a look, but also saw Carla easing more upright and shaking herself, and she nodded.
"I don't see squat, Mercy, but Carla's looking better, so I'll take what you say on trust."
I thanked her, but there were distractions. Irpa had opened the last cage, and all the wolves were helping captives. I hated the thought, but they were going to have to stay in the chamber for a while as well, because there wasn't anywhere else to go that was warm and wouldn't mess up forensics. And ap Lugh and Irpa were approaching me.
"Irpa will take the computers and return Underhill, Mercedes."
I gave Irpa a slight bow. "I and the wolves are gladdened by your aid, Irpa. You have done good deeds this night."
"Makes a change from eating toll dodgers who can't dodge trolls." Her grin was something to behold. "And you're interesting as well as polite. I'll put the sack on the desk."
She rolled off down the tunnel, having to stoop slightly, and I saw her pick up the bundle Charles offered with one hand.
"I don't know much about trolls, Gwyn ap Lugh. Is the sunlight thing true?"
"No. No fae is harmed by any kind of light, however some prefer to be nocturnal. Why?"
"I was thinking they'd be pretty useful on a construction site, if we could get them some clothes."
Ap Lugh laughed softly. "Those two, maybe. Most trolls are … less amenable, and cruder. Do you ever stop thinking, Mercedes?"
"Do you? And can you make it Mercy, when formal's not needed? Mercedes makes me think of my Mom when she's mad at me."
"If you like, though I cannot reciprocate."
I wondered why, but the fae have always been finicky about names. Zee was unusual that way, and had once told me the Iron Kissed tended to be less formal. He wasn't being that way now, though.
"Do you wish me to stay also, Gwyn ap Lugh?"
"No, Dark Smith. Return to Hanford, or go as you will. Your aid is appreciated."
"In spades, Zee."
His face softened a little. "I am glad to help with this, Mercy, as with Hanford. Being able to drop my glamour for a while also dispels the radiation itch. And I will come by when I can to have a longer look at your cloak."
"Any time. I was hoping to ask your advice about a sheath for Carnwennan, too."
He gave ap Lugh a sideways look. "She had one once."
Ap Lugh sighed. "So she does still, Dark Smith. I'll put it on the desk, Mercy. Or someone will."
"That'd be good."
Zee said farewell and headed down the tunnel, passing Charles and Adam with a nod each returned. Adam had a couple of blankets in one hand that he passed to Asil for the freed, and as he turned to me his expression was quizzical.
"You said tall bronzed warrior but I hadn't quite imagined rightly."
"Yeah. I've always found it funny his glamour is maximally unglamorous. I think he does too. But there's business, for Charles, probably — a wolf called Carla needs help to change. Velasquez says she's been very fearful and grieves for one of the dead, and Asil says she's hiding deep in her wolf. I pulled on you to keep the wolf quiet while I got a ghost off it."
Charles's face was impassive, though I knew he loathed this place as much as I did.
"I will see. But I have something first, Gwyn ap Lugh. Preskylovitch did payroll here, and kept paper accounts." He handed ap Lugh a folded sheet of paper. "The names, home addresses, and bank details of those who worked here, but I do not know which are the dead. One very interesting name."
"Ah." Ap Lugh took it, looked at it for a moment, and nodded. "Yes. I will make a call. How soon will the humans have this?"
"Not soon, from us, but there may be other ID on the bodies or in the dormitory. And whatever the freed know."
"Not until dawn will do, Charles Cornick."
He stalked off down the tunnel, and I felt more satisfaction than anything else. No-one who'd helped run this place deserved anything but death, and if it had to be of their minds only, too bad. Velasquez had got seven of the eight wolves started on changing, and a few minutes later, when George brought in two pans of mince cooked sufficiently to be more palatable to human mouths, I told him to keep most of it for them while Charles commandeered some for Carla. Entering her cage he knelt and pushed it slowly towards the crouching wolf while Adam and Asil stood poised to intervene if necessary. Anna was pushing zen, as well. I was watching carefully, and Velasquez came to stand beside me.
"Can you tell me what they're doing?"
"Only in principle. If it was Adam I'd see and feel his Alpha magic more clearly, but though Charles is my adoptive brother we're not pack. What it comes down to, though, is that he's using dominance, as gently as possible, to make Carla's wolf eat. Good, she's doing it. It means she's accepting his protection, in some measure, and then he should be able to push the wolf down and let the human through. Or pull her through, if necessary. Most Alphas could only do it for a pack member, but Charles is older and has a lot of unusual experience, and Anna being able to zen Carla is helping."
"OK. Someone said they're mated?"
"Yup. And married." I explained that difference. "There's a whole lot of wolf stuff you all need to know, and should have been told. That'll happen at the sanctuary we'll take you to — in Montana, up in the Cabinets. And I should warn you both that it's another place not to mention to anyone who doesn't know about it already, and that the travel will be magical and weird. And very fast. You'll all need to be holding onto the cloak, and not letting go."
I got a sideways look.
"Everything about you is magical and weird."
"Weirder, then."
I told her in outline, adding another warning about not mentioning Underhill openly just yet.
"OK. No vamps, no Underhill, nothing to ID the sanctuary, and no Marrok if we can help it. List's getting longer."
"Un huh. Part of life as a preternatural, I'm afraid. But you'll be meeting Bran, the Marrok. His pack is taking you in for now, so he can meet you and offer the help his power makes possible. Asil, Charles, and Anna are members, so they'll be around. And I'm hoping Medicine Wolf will be there soon after you are as well. Anyone told you about it yet?"
"The … manitou? Big thing that ate Preskylovitch, anyway."
"That's the one."
"Spanish wolf — Asil, yeah? — said it could do miracles for wolves."
"Pretty much. And humans. Asil's Moorish rather than Spanish, by the way. But we've only known Medicine Wolf existed since Monday, and we're still discovering what it can do, so the surprise is still strong. It's magic, though, not divine intervention."
"OK." She shrugged. "For some value of OK that escapes me. He said some other stuff I … Carla's changing."
We watched in silence for a moment before I turned away.
"I give changes privacy, if I can."
"Huh. We don't expect that. Shit, I'm even finding it weird not to be naked."
I digested that, shivering a little, and spoke as softly as I could. "Besides the forced Change, is there rape trauma?"
She nodded. "Yeah, women only. Travers and Preskylovitch, usually, before the savaging, and Baston with the Anglos. Happened before we were Changed, though, and I think it's receded. Has for me. One thing the wolf helped with."
I swallowed rage that wouldn't help just now. "Nothing after?"
"Leers, man-talk. But Preskylovitch wouldn't lie with what he called beasts, and the others were scared of him. And us."
"Figures. Did you see the failed Changes?"
"No. Heard them, though. Saw the corpses dumped down the shaft."
Which might well be worse. "How many?"
"I lost count. Lots and lots."
"What success rate did Travers have?"
"Fuck knows. One in eight or ten, maybe."
"Hell. Alright. Tell the FBI everything you can bear to about those, with the rape trauma make sure Bran knows, and talk to Anna, if you need someone, or call me. We've both been there, and Bran has my number. And call him, fast, if anyone is causing one of your women a problem. Shouldn't happen, but there are other fragile wolves at the sanctuary and a submissive female might make them feel … over-protective, say. Plus Bran's present mate, Leah, is a bitch as often as she can get away with it. Remember that though she can pull on his authority, you're not in her pack. As Marrok he has the right of command over all wolves, and the power, but she doesn't."
"I hear you. And I'll add some thanks. I didn't think we'd be making it out of here alive, and every one of your people says you've been driving a search for us. Say you took out Cantrip, too, after Preskylovitch tried snatching you."
"Helped expose them. A lot of people who hated them have been involved. Including the FBI. President brought the hammer down when their investigation turned up evidence Cantrip's been paying for assassinations of known or suspected preternaturals, but the announcement hasn't been made yet. Later today, probably. Lots of prosecutions for murder in the works you'll be able to watch play out."
"And the ones who ran from here?"
"Do you have names?"
"Oh yeah. And descriptions."
"Let the FBI have them, when they ask. But know that we have their names too, from Preskylovitch's payroll records, and while we can't just kill them, given how things are, the Fae will be visiting each and every one as soon as they can find them. There will be … disabling punishment."
"Good. Carla's almost done. Excuse me."
I gave it another moment before turning back. Carla was a slight, quite dark-skinned Hispanic, from her face no more than teenage. Most freed looked younger than Bran would allow anyone to attempt the Change, and I wondered why Velasquez had been picked, then if it might be that for whatever reason Travers had had better survival rates with younger victims. Adam and Asil ducked out of the cage to let Velasquez in, and though newly changed wolves didn't usually like being touched for a while, Carla went straight into her arms with a sound I never want to hear again. The other freed reacted, wanting in, but there was no room in the cage and Velasquez just stood with Carla in her arms and manœuvred her through the door so they could all wrap around the pair, touching what they could reach. Adam came across to me, and I could feel the rage he was holding down very tightly.
"To do this to kids, Mercy."
"I know, love. But look at them. That's a pack, bondless as it may be."
"Yeah. You sense anything magically?"
"No. It's human bonding, shaped by wolf needs. You think they could work as a bonded pack under a female Alpha?"
Adam thought about it. "Probably. Mix is way screwy, but they don't care about that. There'll be interest in the submissives, though. You know how helpful they are to a pack."
"Oh yeah. But these people get what they want, not what Tom, Dick, or Harry Alpha wants. Given that make-up, though, could you share the Tri-Cities with them? Told Bran I'd ask. Aspen Creek's necessary now, but they can't stay there."
"Huh. Maybe. I have to respect Velasquez, and she's no threat to me." He gave me a sudden grin. "And you've been pretty good training for coping with a female Alpha. You think they'll stay together?"
I thumped his shoulder gently. "Falpha, schmalfa. I think they'll have to, love, for a while. And I wondered about the Tri-Cities not just because it's us, and I bet you feel the same responsibility I do, however unreasonably, but because they're owed a lot of compensation, and one place the Federal Government has housing to spare is Richland. Gonna have some vacancies, too, unless they come up with some other project for the Hanford Site, and turnover even then."
"True. More good thinking, Mercy. Either as a pack or this … gang they are now, in one place would be easier for me than scattered. And I want to know more about them individually, but so long as the problems are … more personal than social I could live with a Richland Pack."
"You'd be good for Velasquez, too, love. Bran for the Rules, and you for proper sergeant's care. Though if Medicine Wolf does to Bran what it's done to Asil …"
Adam laughed, earning looks all round he didn't care about at all. "Aficionados de Mercy, you mean? Hate to tell you, but I'm in. Hold it."
The last was because one of ap Lugh's knights was striding up the tunnel, and the chamber fell silent as he stopped in front of me.
"Mercedes Elf-friend, Daughter of Coyote, Prince Gwyn ap Lugh bids me tell you a child of Hawk informs him that four human vehicles that came north on 220 and south-west on 410 have turned onto the track that leads to this place. The first will be here in ten mortal minutes."
The high formality didn't help persuade me that he or any of the knights were people in any sense I'd understand, but this one was being useful, and I prefer being polite even if I haven't been introduced.
"I am gladdened by your telling me so, knight of Prince Gwyn ap Lugh. Please tell him that Adam and Mercy Hauptman will join him outside in five mortal minutes."
"I will do so, Mercedes Elf-friend, Daughter of Coyote."
He strode back off down the tunnel, and Adam and I exchanged a long look before I surveyed the watching wolves.
"I know, but I think he's part of a royal guard that does nothing else. Gwyn ap Lugh is the Prince of the Gray Lords, and if you saw him behead Les Heuter, that was one of the faceless mounted guys who accompanied him. But don't judge other fae by that standard — most are autonomous beings. Formal politeness is always good talking to any fae, though — helps keep things straight."
Velasquez let out a breath. "No offence, Mercy, but he's no weirder than you are. Less interesting by a distance, mind."
Anna was smiling, but others weren't.
"No offence taken, Ramona, but you all have a steep learning curve to follow. You are all now preternaturals, and that means you need knowledge of preternaturals, out and otherwise. I'm guessing you've been told over and over that you are monsters, and it is not true. Preskylovitch was a monster. Travers was a monster. You are not just because you can turn wolf. But you can become monsters, if you're not careful. And because you've survived one lot of monsters doesn't mean you can't run into another lot. And you heard the … knight. FBI coming in. Brace yourselves to deal, everyone, and older wolves, please help the freed be as clear as they can be on what they mustn't say. Charles, Anna, the Feebs should know of you, so your presence outside might be good."
"If you want." Charles hesitated. "How long are you expecting to remain here, Mercy?"
"No longer than we have to, but it's gonna be a while. We need the clothing and the Feebs need outline statements. Dawn, at least, I'd think."
"Then we need to be able to use the other rooms."
"Yeah. I heard Fisher tell Vance to scramble any forensics that weren't already moving. I'll push him on it."
"That would be good." Adam rolled his shoulders. "Mercy, you still have that body armour on?"
"Yeah."
And it was just as uncomfortable as I'd thought, but even so I'd as soon not find out if I was right that the rose cloak made it redundant.
"And I've got mine. So let's go see who's arriving."