Ilona Andrews own the Kate Daniels series.
A/N: Seleyda's adventures continue...
Un-beta'd
Chapter 9 - Night
The fireplace crackled as fresh wood was dropped into it. The day had been long as the shapeshifters learned new horrors of their former comrades. A makeshift spit had been erected, and hunks of meat were slowly roasted over the fire under the hungry eyes of the shapeshifters. They were tense and constantly on alert, eyes shifting over the shadowy clearing that had taken a life of their own. They knew, at any moment, from the depths of the shadows, one could strike, and any sand-even the slightest rustle of leaves-could mean live or death. They swarmed around the happy flames, their ears peeled as they received chunks of carved cooked meat with muttered thanks. Many were thankful for Seleyda Farrer's guidance.
Some, however, are not.
It didn't help that there was only one render amongst them. The other two had followed Seleyda into the mutated shapeshifter's lair. For a light raid, according to the twin wolves, Gerome and Eric. Arkansas, the bouda render, was in the clearing only because he was the youngest of the trio.
He prodded angrily at the fireplace with a long branch. "Why the hell was I left here?" He asked for the umpteenth time to no one in particular. "I'm the strongest render of my generation! Even the Beast Lord has a problem taking me on!"
One of the guys near him muttered," Only because you're too dumb to pass for a genius." It garnered a few snickers. Arkansas' head whipped around.
"Who said that?" He demanded, eyes glowing.
No one replied. Arkansas stuck out his chin and stood up. "Well, if that's the case," he said loudly," then I'll just carve the answer out of you."
"Calm down, idiot," one of the older shifters said. "You know what Ms. Farrer said about talking too loud."
Arkansas' nostrils flared. "I don't care what the little slut thinks I have to do. She left me in charge here, and I'll do whatever the hell I please, thank you very much." One of the jackals fidgeted nervously.
"Oh shut up Arkansas," he hissed, nervously glancing about. His meat laid forgotten on a makeshift plate on his lap. A second later, another jackal snagged it. The movement went unnoticed. "We all know your junkis huge, since last summer's party. I don't care if you want to be slaughtered out here, but I have people at home waiting for me." Even if you don't, he implied. Arkansas's eyes went bright red.
"WHAT THE - " He roared. He didn't get to finish.
A sudden figure darted out of the shadows of the forest. It slammed into Arkansas, who was caught off-guard, and both fell to the ground. Immediately, Arkansas snapped into action, manoeuvring the deranged mutated shifter into a headlock. Its massive jaw chomped onto one of Arkansas' arm. He howled in pain, cursing the air blue. He grabbed its skull and tried to snap his neck. It punched Arkansas in the gut. Arkansas exhaled in a huge gust, gasping. The rest were backing away, their minds half-frozen in the sudden situation amongst them.
Oh shit, Arkansas thought in panic. I'm going to die. I'm going to fucking die here in the middle of the most fuckastically dangerous place in fucking Atlanta and it's all because of -
Gold-tinted metal flashed in the flame-brightened air. The monster's head, an amalgamation of man and animal, hit the floor with a low thud. Arkansas scampered backwards, gasping heavily at the pain in his arm. In the flickering light, Seleyda picked up the head, her form shrouded half in red-gold light and the other in thick, cloying darkness. She dug a hole in the ground. No one dared speak or breathe in the tensed silenced as she scraped soil with bare hands.
"It wasn't my fault," Arkansas said. "You left me here alone. What was I supposed to do?" Seleyda continued to dig. "Are you listening to me?" No answer. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" He reached out to pull her hair.
A second later, the same arm was cruelly twisted backwards. Arkansas flinched, not so much as from the pain as looking into Seleyda's eyes. Chained madness and violence stared back at him, teeth, claws and magic baring, and a chilling rage telling him that if she ever let herself even the slightest bit off the chain, he would not survive. She radiated pure malevolence the way Curran radiated terror, on some deep, primordial level, wielding terror of dark nights in ancient past like a steel blade. It was like staring into the face of death, and knowing without an inch of doubt that when the time comes, it will not be with mercy.
"The little slut who saved your ass." She dropped the head into the hole as she released him. Seleyda slid the bloodied sword through the skull. She jerked her wrist, and a loud crack sounded. One eyebrow raised itself. "A young turn. You're lucky." The eerie drawl of her voice resonated with quiet power and slithered over their bodies. Arkansas shuddered sickly. "Afraid of a little power?" How disappointing, she almost seemed to imply.
The young jackal moved closer. Awe shone in his eyes. "That's awesome. What are you doing?"
"Purifying." She looked at the jackal. "Get me one of the branches in the fire." He jumped up to help her.
"Here!" Seleyda glared at him. He flushed, chagrined. "Oops. Sorry." He lowered his voice significantly. Seleyda took the branch. The light hit the planes of her face beautifully, highlighting the high cheekbones and the pale orbs of her eyes. It made her seem almost...magical. She frowned, and the spell was broken. "The flame's not pure enough. It never is," she added softly. She grabbed the fire with her bare hands. People gasped. Someone screamed.
It didn't burn her hand. The flame licked the black leather gloves, but not one inch was singed. Seleyda pursed her lips and shook a finger at it. "Now, calm down." The flames flickered, hesitant. "Yes, you. I'm not going to hurt you." The flames stilled, as if listening to Seleyda. "You can join your family when I'm finished." The flames burned violently. Like it was arguing with Seleyda. "I know I don't own you. I'm just asking you to help me burn something." The flames quickly calmed down, dancing softly to a beat of its own.
"Magic!" Arkansas hissed. "Witchery."
The flames spiked, growing in intensity. Arkansas shrank back, eyes wide as he heard a tiny voice chattering angrily. He'd also swore that he saw something in the flames. Seleyda stared at him, her eyes an eerie red. "Mykolo isn't witchery. He's a nymph salamander. You can't see him because he's not strong enough to create his own form, which only happens in magic flares. No, he's just startled," she continued, addressing the flame. "He's not breathing because he's not used to meeting a nymph salamander." Arkansas let out a sudden gust of air. The young jackal moved closer.
"Tommas!" One of the older jackals hissed. "Come back here!" The young jackal, Tommas, ignored her.
"What's a nymph salamander?" Tommas asked.
"The progeny of a particularly powerful fire nymph and a young salamander," Seleyda explained.
"So the mother's more powerful than the father?"
The flicker of a smile curled Seleyda's lips. "I didn't say that. His mom just happens to be older than his dad. And stronger, for now." Seleyda looked at the flame. "Just relax and let me do the work." She closed her eyes and started singing.
"Igne lux, ignis splendens, fac ut iste ignis, Dura et albus." The fire flickered, once, and started to vibrate. Near violently, the red, gold and warm orange clashed against each other within the flame. Seleyda whispered one word. "Fuoco." The fire shook. Its colours drained themselves in a startling frenzy as a high-pitched scream reverberated through the clearing. While the fire drained itself of colour, Seleyda held it against the edge of her sword.
"Brennen."
The changing flame adhered itself to the blade. Seleyda blew lightly and the flame flowed down the blade. The shifters stared as the flame slid silkily down the edge of the blade like liquid. At the last possible second, the fire flashed white, blinding everyone. The sharp smell of burning flesh hit them. People recoiled, gasping for breath.
"You wanted to know why I left you here," Seleyda began. Arkansas blinked. "I left you here because you are the strongest, as you've said so yourself. I thought you were worth two average renders. Sufficient to protect the pack for a few minutes. Enough time for me to finish it off. Instead, you managed to lead a stray here with all your stupidity."
Arkansas' mouth opened and closed. His throat worked, but no sound arose. "You left me here to die?" There were murmurs of displeasure and fear. What could the rest of them do, when even the prodigy render would have been easily slaughtered by one of them?
"If I'd wanted everyone here death and six feet under with none the wiser, you will be." She pulled up her sword. They backed away. "Funny thing about power; everyone wants to have it, but once you have it, you lose everything else." Seleyda cleaned her sword. No one could find something to say. "In fact, it would be a much easier and faster work if I'd never met any of you. I have to slow down a lot to compensate for all of you." A pair of wolves in warrior form ran into the clearing. Blood smeared their fur and muzzles. They shifted back and were quickly handed spare clothes to dress themselves in. They didn't seem to care - or didn't notice - the pale faces illuminated by the merrily crackling fire. They sat down and carved themselves some freshly cooked meat, then descended on them like a pack of wolves.
"How was the hunt?"
"Goo', ma'am," one of the wolves said. He cleared his throat. "We'd gotten our hands on some of them. Killed them after, of course," he hastily added. "The other pack was also chased off. 'cuse me." He gestured for his dark-haired partner to continue, and started on his meat again.
"We'd cut them up," the other boasted, grinning at the cheers he got. "Hung them intestines over the tree branches around their corpses. Dirty work, it was. But it worked, just like you said it would."
"Wait a minute!" Arkansas objected. They stopped eating. "W-Why are you still listening to h-her? She left me here to die!"
They rolled their eyes. "Duh. Because she already told us." The first wolf added, "Besides, you brought it onto yourself."
"See, we weren't at all happy at the idea that you got the easy job while we risked our lives out there. Babysitting," Wolf A clarified, gesturing at the watching shapeshifters.
"But Ms. Seleyda there told us that he - well, you - are supposed to have a harder job coz you're stronger than us. She put you here because you're the best chance they have to survive," Wolf B went on.
"B-But w-w-what about y-you?" Arkansas cried, still not convinced.
Wolf B looked thoughtfully at Arkansas. "I canna remember much, but she said something about singing?"
Wolf A smacked B on the back of his head. "It's sync, you brickhead."
"So it ain't singing?" B continued dubiously. "Coz me pipes are preety good." Wolf A smacked his forehead. Why me? He mouthed, beseeching the heavens.
"Gerome and Eric are twins, as you all can tell," Seleyda commented. "And they came from the same clan, which was an unexpected bonus. Blood and family binds them, making the best team I could find at such short notice." The flame, Mykolo, licked Seleyda's hand like a little puppy. Julie blinked.
"He's yellow," Julie whispered.
Seleyda straightened. Her nostrils glared. "Sensate. Why didn't you tell me?" Mykolo flickered rapidly, chattering away. Seleyda flicked him off. "Here. You and Tommas take care of him. Feed him." She tapped her temple. "Where was I? Oh, yes." She cleared her throat lightly.
"I'd already had a plan, as you all know. The first thing I needed in order to execute my new plans was a pair of shifters, preferably renders and possibly twins." She flickered a glance at the twins. "Apparently, I'd struck gold." Gerome and Eric grinned. "I needed them to follow my orders to the letter, no question asked. Soldiers who take orders well. Preferably with little ambition." She glanced at the wolves. "No offence."
"None taken," they chorused.
"Have fun, have fights and have food is our motto," Gerome boasted. He winked lascivious at Seleyda. To everyone's shock, she blushed. "Would you like to be entertained, Ms?"
She cleared her throat. "I didn't need some hotshot idiot who thinks he's all that." She levelled those imperious grey eyes at Arkansas. "Going off half-cocked is the last thing we need so close to the enemy HQ. The pair needed to be thoroughly in sync so when sudden obstacles appear, there's no need for words because both know exactly what the other wants to do. Twins are born with that kind of rapport, whether they want to or not. Veteran fighters who've fought together for decades have something similar. Gerome and Eric aren't even close to veteran fighters for another twenty years, but they have the best damn rapport of the lot of you." The twins in question bared their teeth in happy feral grins.
Arkansas' hands were shaking. His eyes refused to move away from Seleyda's, or rather they could not. Her eyes were sheathed in arrogance and ice, peering from a facce too young to bear them.
"Turn down those headlights, will you?" Derek quietly asked. "You wouldn't want him to go furry on you, right?" Coz he's damn near scared enough to do it, he seemed to imply.
Seleyda blinked. "I am sorry. I didn't know I was doing it." A half-smile caught her lips. "Habit, I guess."
In the firelight, her eyes suddenly flashed gold. Arkansas blinked. He opened his mouth, but thought better and closed it.
Someone was knocking on the door.
I mumbled something and went back to sleep. The guy cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I am afraid I can't, Consort. Your friend is most persistent on talking to you."
Friend? I don't have any friend, except Andrea. Andrea. Oh fuck. "Let her in."
I managed to claw my eyes open. Curran stirred a little, but went back to sleep. Whatever that Farrer girl had put in the charm must've been strong. I might have to ask her for the recipe. Provided she survived this. I stopped in mid-thought when I could clearly see Andrea. Any sleepiness I had in my system vanished.
Her hair was a complete mess. I remembered she'd braided it before battle - had it only been less than a day? - and now it was halfway between cute and fugly. I can't believe I just thought that. Her eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed; she'd been crying. The only reason why Andrea even cries nowadays is because of one word; Raphael.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Fuck. Please don't.
Andrea looked at me with those mournful eyes. "Raphael and I got separated during battle. There was a mass retreat and all hell break loose. Everyone went back to their clan house after you dismissed them, so I went over to the bouda house to look for Raphael." She closed her eyes tightly, as if just thinking the word hurts her. "Aunt B said she hadn't seen him since he left with me." Oh crap. Raphael's Aunt B's only son and apple of her eye. She'd move heaven and earth to find her baby.
"What did she do?" I was almost afraid to ask. Andrea tried to smile.
"She's throwing me out of the clan for failure of protecting an alpha. It's even in the rulebook. You'll be geting a notice tomorrow morning."
Or prosecute the woman who might have killed her son. No way. No way in fucking hell.
A/N: Here you go! R&R please.
*Spoilers*
There will be at least 7 chapters like this. You'll be seeing Seleyda in action with Julie, Derek and many more new characters. Enjoy!