*Warning: Extreme violence contained in this chapter*
Silver Strength
"Your team is all set, Blackwell? I cannot abide any mistakes tonight. Our father considers you an asset, now is your chance to prove to me that you are indeed worthy of the trust he has placed in you. My sister and I will be taking point on this mission and on all future Lupine hunts, so you and your crew will be answering to me, got it?" I firmly state, leaving no room for questions.
"Yes Sir, my men are at your disposal, of course Sir. We await your orders." He replies, looking to me for his next command.
"Very well then, as soon as Seraphina arrives, we move out. We'll hit the Pack Headquarters from this side street here. Sera and I will diverge from the rest of the group when we get close, because we'll be heading straight into the heart of the Pack to get at Maia Roberts and her lieutenants. The rest of you are meant to provide a distraction for us, coming through the main doors of the police station, while we locate Maia's office and hit her there. Our informant on the inside says that's where she'll be and we have no reason to believe otherwise." Especially since our informant has been told we have our hands on a cure for Lycanthropy, which she'll get if she cooperates. I laugh, inwardly.
Just then, in waltzes the most beautiful goddess I have ever laid eyes on. Her shapely, slender but muscular, legs are adorned in tight, leather, gear leggings. With stiletto leather boots zipped to just below the knee, decorated all around with a series of painful looking metal spikes and covered in runes to make them easier to run in. But that isn't the best of it. Her black leather, corset style gear top, laces in the front. It remains open enough, to intentionally offer a generous peak at her cleavage and even a slight glimpse of her firm, muscular abdomen. Of course, the leather gear jacket she wears over it can be zipped up for protection, as it will be during the battle, but for now it hangs open. Her beautiful copper curls spill over, cascading intentionally out of the clip that holds them firmly in place, again adorned with runes to prevent enemies from grasping her hair in battle.
My breath catches in my throat as I look Seraphina over. Is this really the same little sister I used to torment, tugging at her pigtails? Can she really have blossomed into the most beautiful creature on the planet overnight? By the Angel, she was beautiful before, but now? She is an absolute vision. It takes all of my waning willpower to remember that we are on a mission. As I tear my glance away from her, and back to the maps adorning the table in front of me, I can still feel the pull to look at her, but I fight it. Now is not the time for fantasies. Now is the time to begin the task set out before us. Our mission: to bring Maia Roberts' and Jordan Kyle's heads to our father, and bring the New York Pack to its knees.
"What did I miss?" She whispers in my ear, standing intentionally as close to me as possible, bending to read the maps over my shoulder. "Is Blackwell's crew ready, Jonathan? You've briefed them on the mission?" She asks, resting her hand on mine and gazing up at me intently.
"Yes, we were only waiting on you, Sister." I say, somewhat bitterly, reminding her of our familial bond, since she seems to have forgotten it tonight.
"Good, then let's go slaughter us some filthy dogs, shall we? I wish to bathe in their blood tonight!" She exclaims, loud enough to get all of Blackwell's team cheering. And as we set out from our temporary base of operations (a loft in Chinatown), I hear them all singing the Circle song that has been our anthem since Seraphina came up with it as a child, and can't I help but joining in.
It is not enough to be Nephilim, if you're loyal to the Clave.
To tolerate what's Downworld doesn't make you very brave.
I'd rather be a Mundie if us Shadowhunters ain't,
Allowed to do a damn thing to those of Demon's taint.
Oh if the Clave and Council were reasonable folk,
They wouldn't treat our mandate, like some unimportant joke.
We wouldn't need the Circle if the Clave were doing fine,
So go ahead, abandon yours, but I'm protecting mine!
When we near the abandoned police station where the New York Pack resides, I pull Blackwell aside for some last minute directives. "Okay, Sera will use her runes to locate Maia's office and get us into it. You know what to do. And I doubt I need to remind you that father doesn't want any wolves walking away from this. It is your job to get a silver blade or bullet into every single one of those beasts. Just as it's our job to destroy their leaders, are we clear?"
"Yes Sir, none of my men came here to do any less than that, Sir." Samuel Blackwell nods.
"Good, then. This is where we leave you. Don't move in until you have our signal that we're in place, right? Good luck!"
"Affirmative and same to you, Sir." He says as Sera and I disappear around the corner into the alley that leads to the precinct building. She takes my arm to draw a few last minute runes for me. She gives me her potent variation of a Mendelin rune and one for herself, as well as Soundless runes for both of us. If we want to pull this off, the wolves can't know we are there until we're upon them. And because we're dealing with wolves in particular, she also administers Odorless runes, so they can't scent us out either.
Last but not least, she places a Sentient rune on her palm and proceeds to speak to it. I am the only one who has ever seen her do this, and though I have seen it several times, it still amazes me. "Take us, to the portion of the precinct building, where opening a doorway will place me directly behind Maia Roberts, or as close to it as possible, please and thank you." She whispers to the rune. And her hand lights up with directions for us to follow, similar to that of a GPS.
"That is so fucking hot." I can't help but say. "You are like the most powerful woman on the planet." I sigh, wistfully.
"You can tell me that after our mission is a success, Jonathan. It's only powerful if it works." She says in all seriousness. I follow her as we creep closer to the building, until we are finally upon it. The rune points up one story, directly above us. "We'll have to climb." She says. "Give me your arm." I comply, as she puts an extremely potent Surefooted rune on both of us and we begin to scale the wall.
"This is definitely not what I had pictured." I laugh. "I feel a bit like Batman right now."
"Muffin! Try it in heels." She states, picking up on the subtle complaint in my tone. "Now stop whining and climb faster!"
"Yes Ma'am." I say, taking one hand off the wall to raise it in mock salute. By now, Sera has reached the height that the rune led us to and I am rushing to catch up. She draws with her stele on the wall and it becomes translucent like a one way window to the room within. And indeed, it is Maia's office. We had anticipated that she'd have her mongrel boyfriend with her, and he is. Also in the room with them are Maia's second in command, Bat Velasquez and the other wolf who escaped the Praetor House, I think his name is Nick.
"Okay, while I get into position behind Maia, you sneak around to where Jordan is. Praetor Kyle should be your first kill, while I'm dealing with Maia. The two of them are our top priority." Seraphina whispers, starting to draw the rune that will dissolve the wall and allow us to enter the room.
"Wait just a doggone minute here! Who said you were said you were calling the shots on this mission, Sera? Father left me in charge of Blackwell's crew, so that means, you answer to me." I say, exasperated that she's trying yet again to boss me around.
"Okay, Jonny. If you can honestly tell me that I haven't got you by the balls, then sure, you can give me the orders." She says smugly, waiting for my response. I remain silent. "You may be in charge of Blackwell's crew, and that's fine. But for as long as you continue panting after me, then where the two of us are concerned, I am in charge of you." She smiles mischievously at me, batting her gorgeous lashes. "Do you disagree?" She asks.
"Just make sure you deal with Maia swiftly, before she has a chance to bark any orders out. If you can promise me that, then I really don't care who takes the lead on this okay?" I say through gritted teeth and sigh, not wanting her to know just how much she gets under my skin. It's hard for it not to be obvious though, when our father keeps throwing us together like this.
"Oh don't worry, Jonathan, she won't even have a chance to scream." She says, running her fingers along the side of my cheek. "Now, let's do this, shall we?" She smiles.
Seraphina turns back to the wall now and finishes the rune that melts it away, leaving an open space the size of a doorway where wall used to be. She slips quickly through it and I make my way through after her. By the time I get into position, behind Praetor Kyle, I look back to where Maia Roberts has been standing by our point of entry. There is blood already pouring down from her slit throat now, as Seraphina materializes from behind her, where before, no one was visible. I pull my silver blade out of its sheath before my rune fades and Jordan notices I'm there.
He won't be noticing anything now though, as my blade slices cleanly through his neck, severing his head from his body. It falls to the floor with a thump and at the same time, Sera has pulled her phone out to text the word 'NOW' to Blackwell's crew.
"I told you she wouldn't have a chance to scream." She says to me as she separates Maia's lifeless head from her body. "Now, would you like to deal with these two, or shall I?" She grins.
"Well, since Nick here was with Maia and Jordan when they chased us through New York and nearly got you killed, I'd like the chance to rough him up a little bit if you don't mind. Bat's all yours though, if you'd like." I say, staring daggers at little Nicky boy.
"Sure thing, Boss." She winks at me, getting an obvious kick out of the power she wields over me. She makes her way over to where Bat stands, frozen at the sight of Maia's head on the desk, where Sera has placed it. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Has Batty Watty been a bad boy? Just standing there while his widdle pack weader gets her head swiced off? That's poor form Batty Watty. Poor form indeed." Sera says as she raises her foot up and kicks him in the chest so hard he stumbles. "If I were one of your little puppy fwiends, I'd be ashamed of you. And if I were Maia, I'd have been sorely disappointed." She says kicking him again. He nearly loses his balance, obviously too much in shock to think of fighting back.
"Not so fast you don't!" I say, turning back to my task at hand, just as Nicky boy makes a run for the door. I sprint after him, grateful for Swift and Agility runes. "You and I have some business to attend to." I say as I grab him roughly by the jacket and hurl him against the wall away from the door.
"This is for Maia!" Seraphina yells as she punches Bat in the face with her brass knuckles.
"What the hell do mean?" He spits out, along with a great deal of blood.
"You were her second in command! It was your job to protect her from us! She's dead because of you, because you failed her!" She screams. "She may have been a mangy dog, but to an extent she was also a woman. So, on behalf of women everywhere, I would like to let you know what an extremely sorry excuse for a man you are. In fact, your incompetence is yet another example of why you mutts shouldn't be allowed to live.
"Tell me, what good is it to have unnatural strength and speed, if you can't even use them to protect your own pack leader? Huh Batty Watty? That's enough of this, you bore me." She sighs and kicks him one last time, right through the opening in the wall and watches as he falls, down to the sidewalk below. Being a werewolf, the fall alone wouldn't have killed him, but Blackwell has posted a guard outside while they storm the building and he finishes the job now, putting poor Bat out of his misery. Death is probably preferable to him than Sera and her mind games though.
Nicky boy appears to be back in the action now, after his appointment with the wall, and he comes charging at me, full speed. "Aarrggghhhhh!" he yells in some sort of guttural battle cry, claws and canines bared.
I step aside at the last possible second, so that he doesn't have enough time to stop, and I just so happen to have been standing in front of the opening in the wall. He realizes it was a trick and begins to frantically twist around, eyes wide, grabbing at the wall, trying to keep himself from hurtling through the opening. He manages to grab onto the inside edges of the wall with both hands and is holding himself up. "Hmm, well, let's see. What do you say Nicky boy? Why don't we play a little game, huh? I like to call it, 'Let's count Nick's mistakes', okay?" I grin and squat down in front of the struggling werewolf.
"Mistake number one, surviving the Praetor House slaughter. That was a dumb move on your part. The alternative would have been quick and painless, whereas, this won't be." I say and proceed to use my silver pocket knife to remove one of Nick's fingers. He begins to scream in agony, nearly losing his grip on the wall, which becomes slippery with the blood now pouring from his wound.
"Mistake number two, chasing my sister and I afterward, because, that only succeeded in aggravating us further." I say, sawing off a second finger slowly, drawing it out to prolong his pain. "Oh, and we mustn't forget mistake number three, cornering my sister on those rooftops, causing her to be injured. I don't like it when my sister gets injured." I say, slicing into another finger. This proves to be too much for Nicky boy. He lets go of the blood soaked wall with his injured hand and tries desperately to keep hanging on with the other.
Sera marches over and exhales in frustration. "Enough of this! The others are probably nearly done with the rest of the pack and we don't want to be the ones holding up the show. Coochie, coochie, coo! She smiles in her best imitation of baby talk, reaching down simultaneously to tickle Nick under the arm that has been holding all his weight. His arm jerks instinctively and he slips, falling to the grown below. Again, Blackwell's guard sweeps in for the kill. "Let's go!" Sera says, putting the heads of Maia and Jordan in a cloth grocery bag she's found and slinging it over her shoulder.
She holds her hand out for me to take, and we head out into the main part of the precinct building, where Blackwell's men are still battling the wolves, but obviously winning. Since our objective is complete, we walk directly through the ensuing battle toward the front doors. Just before heading outside, Sera stops in her tracks and snaps her fingers as if she's just remembered something important. "Sera, what is it?" I ask, curious what it could possibly be.
"I almost forgot my bath!" She says, and walks over to one of the nearby werewolves, engaged in fighting on of our fellow Circle members. She pulls out her silver blade and hacks the werewolf's head off. Then she proceeds to hold it up over her own head, while its blood pours down, soaking her. She gives it a final shake and flings it at another of the werewolves, knocking him to the ground. "Say, that gives me an idea. Want to stay a while and play ten pin Jon?" She grins, eyes wide. I shake my head and all but yank her out the doors.
"Let's go, Crazy Pants. We have to get these heads back to father. And you, my avenging Angel, need a shower." I sigh, completely exhausted as we make our way up the street, with Sera swinging the bag of heads and humming the Circle song happily away to herself.