14. Assassin

Alcide listened for a while as Sky began to chatter to Sam in a shrill, off-kilter voice. Her comments were spasmodic, as if she were paranoid and insecure.

"Did you know that a cat's purr is the exact frequency for healing bones and stimulating them to growth?" she asked randomly.

"No," Sam told her. "I didn't. Is that true?"

"Yep. Twenty-five to fifty hertz is the frequency that helps to heal and stimulate bones. That's why cats seem to have 'nine lives'. And..."

Alcide tuned it out as they continued to chat, sitting back and leaning his head back against the seat. He thought about her comments the day before. He'd started to think that he was happy as he was, without his wolf. But her statements brought him a great deal of deep thinking.

He didn't want to lose her. He'd thought being free of Marrok would release him to be with her without fear or hesitation. He was no danger to her without Marrok. Yet she was right. He didn't feel as if she wanted him for who he really was. He wanted her to want him without Marrok, but he didn't. He wanted to have Marrok and still be safe for her.

He thought of her, and how sweet and kind she was, and how at odds her treatment of Mitch was with her real self. Somehow, though, it didn't surprise him. She was capable of violence. She had slapped him, and thrown a lamp. But he'd never seen it turned on anyone with real harmful intent.

He couldn't help but wonder how she felt about it. He was pretty sure he knew. She was probably being eaten alive with guilt, although any one of the men in the room would have done the same thing without the least bit of guilt, ever.

He leaned forward to look at her profile. How could she not know how beautiful she was? Even tense and exhausted, she looked like a million bucks. Her hair fell in waves around her face and he wanted to bury his hands in it.

The plane dipped and he realized it was landing. He hadn't found a house. He hadn't gotten her telephone number or anything. He had just argued with her and picked fights with her and... he listened to her easy banter with Sam and hated himself.

He followed her off the plane, ducking all the way out.

Once off, he helped load her car, then waited for Sam to step off towards his vehicle. It was clear that he had been hoping that Alcide would go first, but Alcide wasn't going to leave without speaking with Sky alone.

She leaned back against her car. "I'm going to the mansion," she told him, her jaw set in a belligerent line.

He nodded. "I expected you would. I'll follow you there."

"You will?"

He stepped closer to her, running his knuckles down her cheek. "I know you're angry with me, Sky. I don't blame you. But I didn't mean to hurt you. Ever."

"I'm not sure that makes it better," she said, her voice coming out in a whisper.

He loved that he could do that to her. He smiled. "Do you know of any man that's going to always get it right?"

She chuckled, a breathy, light sound. Then she grinned up at him. "If it wasn't for the killing people, eating people, threats of bodily harm, kidnapping, extortion, running faster than the speed of sound, throwing people to the wolves, and the whole dead thing; Eric doesn't do too bad."

"He's got a thousand years on me," Alcide told her. "I'll catch up." He pressed his body against her.

"I..." she started to say something, but he was nibbling at her neck and she stopped. She tried again, "Stop. I can't think when you're doing that."

"Really? You think too much, so that means I'm not doing it enough." He pulled her hair backwards so that he could reach more of her delectable neck.

She clung to him and he felt her leg slide up the outside of his. He found her mouth with his and tasted her deeply, reveling in the feel of her body against his and her response to his touch. His hand ran up the side of her body, grazing the side of her breast, and she groaned into his mouth. Emboldened, he pressed against her, thrusting as if he were inside her and she made a soft sound that brought him to the brink of forgetting where they were—or more accurately, where they weren't.

"Ahem," someone behind him cleared his or her throat.

He jumped away, feeling like a schoolboy caught in the act during assembly.

"I think there are more appropriate places for that?" the elderly, rather portly security guard suggested.

"Of course," Alcide responded. "Good night."

"Hmm, good morning, more like it," he said, trundling off toward the elevators.

Alcide turned to find Sky holding in laughter, her hand covering her mouth. Her blue eyes, so similar to her name, danced with mirth. "He told you," she said slyly, then broke into giggles.

"Yes," he admitted. "Yes he did."

She sobered immediately, though, and his heart fell. "We should hurry to the mansion, Alcide. I still really do have a bad feeling."

He nodded. "I'll follow you," he told her.

They got in their vehicles and headed for the King's mansion. When they arrived and went inside, they found the place astir with people. "What's going on?" Sky asked.

"Preparation for resurrection tomorrow," one of the guards replied, looking her up and down in a way that made Alcide bristle.

"Resurrection?"

"The witch is going to try to make them walk into the sun again. She tried it once before, but the King prevented it from killing more than a few," the guard answered. "Sorry, gotta run. Be careful if you're staying here today. If they get out of that silver, they'll kill you to get outside."

Sky exchanged a look with Alcide. "They're in silver?"

"Yeah. Only way to keep them from walking right out into the daylight. See you tonight," he said, rushing away.

Sky ran for the steps, heading for the dungeon below. She found them each in a cell, guards standing outside of them.

"You should not be here," Bill told them. Sookie was beside him.

"I won't let them out, no matter what," she told Sky.

Sky nodded. "I understand."

She looked at Eric, and her heart twisted. Kneeling beside him, she reached out to touch one of the chains. "Is this truly necessary?"

"I am very old, Sky. It may not be enough."

"It hurts you."

"The sun would destroy me in seconds." He smiled slightly, "So are you going to agree to marry me now?"

She tried to smile. "If you're trying to play on my sympathies, sir, I'll have you know that I'm quite a vicious beast, myself. I suspect that Mitch may never reproduce now, for certain."

His face sobered. "You must be careful today. If any one of us gets free, do not try to save us. You will die a certain, and probably gruesome death."

"Would you like for me to stay here?" she asked him.

"I would rather you not. I do not wish you to suffer as I know you would from watching my suffering."

"I can handle it," she answered. "If you can survive suffering it, I can survive watching it."

"Sookie will be here with us," Eric answered.

Sky looked over at the blond and their eyes locked for long moments. "I won't let them get free. I'll put more silver on them if it will save them."

Sky's eyes returned to Eric. She grasped his cool, hard shoulder before standing up and turning to leave again. Back upstairs, she said softly, "I know he has done terrible things, but he's right. It hurts to see him like that."

Alcide's heat against her was reassuring and grounding. His lips against her hair and the tickle of his beard through it also comforted her. "He'll be okay. He has lived a long time."

She sighed and snuggled closer to him.

"It's nice not to have to break my back bending over to give you a kiss on the head," he said. She looked up at him, and found him also trying to smile and not quite making it.

"I'm afraid," she said softly. "Something terrible is coming."

"The witch-"

"This is more than that, Alcide. It's like when the 'weres came to my house-"

He jerked away from her, gripping her by the arms. "Do you have that same feeling again?" he demanded.

She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself.

He lunged for the stairs down to the dungeons.

"Eric!" He stopped at the door. "Did you plan for werewolves?"

"Plan what?"

"What if a pack attacks here today? Did you prepare for that?"

"Why would we have prepared for that?" Eric growled.

"You didn't tell them?" Alcide asked Sookie.

"You said you weren't sure!" she objected.

"Sky thinks they are coming today." He drew a deep breath. "Well, she feels like they're coming today," he amended.

"She feels like it?" Bill asked, his voice irritated. "Are we living according to the whims of humans now?"

"When I was at her house, the Shreveport pack came. She sensed them and got us out just before they attacked. In fact, Marcus howled as we were leaving and forced my transformation." He gripped the bars of the cell they were in. "Please tell me that this facility can withstand a 'were attack."

"It cannot," Bill admitted. "And we dare not leave the silver, in case the witch casts resurrection today."

Alcide couldn't believe he hadn't spoken up. He cursed himself for every kind of a fool. He'd known all along that Marcus and Debbie were up to something. But he hadn't wanted to believe it, because he hadn't yet let go of Debbie.

He looked up the steps at Sky and realized the gravity of what he had done. In some ways, he had tried to recreate Debbie in Sky, only without the cheating. But since he was trying to recreate Debbie, he'd seen cheating where there was none. Because he hadn't let go of one woman, he had missed what was right in front of his face all along.

He ran up the stairs to her, taking her face in his hands. He kissed her, a firm, certain kiss.

"I'm not sure it's them-"

"It's them. I know it is. Before today, even when they attacked you, when they attacked Sookie... I didn't see Debbie for what she really is. And I didn't see you for what you really are. The witch was right, Sky. There's magic in you. They're coming. There's no doubt of it. And the vamps can't help us. We have to fight, and we have to do it alone."

"Not entirely alone," she told him. She picked the phone up and called Sam.

Alcide felt a rising tide of jealousy, then let it go. This wasn't Debbie. And she was right—he was judging her on another woman's merits. Or lack thereof.

"How long do you think we have?" Sky asked.

"A few hours. They won't attack until late afternoon, but not so late that the vamps can come help combat them."

She nodded and dialed again. He heard Carlos's voice at the other end of the line, but took off to find a guard and warn them of what was coming. He heard a car a few minutes later and saw Sam get out of his truck from an upstairs window. Sky spoke to him for a few minutes, and he took off toward the woods at a run.

From his vantage point, Alcide saw the shapeshifter turn into a bird and flap away. Perhaps they would have some idea of how long they had.

He went in search of the armory, finding it surprisingly well stocked. Sky came up behind him. "What have you got?" she asked.

He stepped back to let her get a look. She started pulling things out that he didn't even recognize.

"What is that?" he asked her.

"That's a trigger," she replied. "We can rig up some boobie traps."

He chuckled. "Did you just say 'boobie trap'?"

She gave him a sly grin. "I did, sir." Then her smile turned downright cold, and he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Here's something you didn't know about me, Alcide. I wasn't always going to be a veterinarian. The FBI, the CIA, and even the NSA were all vieing for my resume because of my skill with a weapon. When I found out that I would be trained as a certain kind of spy, I declined. I do not wish to be an assassin. But that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything along the way."

His eyebrows rose to his hairline. "From assassin to veterinarian? That's a huge leap," he told her.

"Not so much when you realize that I thought I would be doing something to save the country," she answered, pulling more stuff out of the pile. "So instead of saving the world, I just decided to save what animals I could."

She started stacking his arms with things that made him want to run away. "Is this going to be dangerous?" he couldn't stop the question.

"Yes," she answered. "But not for you. Unless you step in the wrong spot."

"I can't believe you were going to be an assassin," he told her two hours later as they shut the front door.

"What?" Sam demanded, having rejoined them and given them what little information he had on the pack. They were definitely in the area and in force.

"I was courted by the letter agencies when I was young," Sky told him. "But when I found out I would be a covert assassin, I declined."

Alcide almost laughed aloud when Sam echoed his earlier comment; "To be a vet?" the shapeshifter demanded in surprise.

She put her hand on her hip. "Well, I'd like to think that I'm a good one-"

An explosion rocked across the lawn and howls erupted.

"It's on," Sky said and raced for the upstairs.

Alcide went to the other side of the house as another explosion rocked the building. Gunfire erupted from Sky's window, and he shivered. Once upon a time, those wolves out there would have been him.

As if having read his mind, he heard Marcus's howl rise, the only howl in the area that had the ability to force the transformation on Alcide. He felt nothing. He picked up the gun, knelt at the window, and fired out of it. Wolves fell to his shots, but he had never been exceptional with a weapon. Many got through.

They struck Sky's second line of defense, and Alcide ducked inside the window and felt sick. Wolves died by the dozens as they reached the buried mines. They hadn't dug very deep to place them—but they hadn't needed to.

Alcide felt a pain in his heart and wondered how he could ever look at Sky again, knowing she had killed his kind so wantonly, so willingly. Then he hated himself for a hypocrite as he ducked over the window sill and shot more wolves.

But even as the wolves died, he saw exactly what Sky had predicted. From the treeline emerged the witch and her coven.

Sky appeared beside him, holding a gun with a scope on it. She sat it down and aimed, then adjusted the scope. The gun barked and a bright golden glow blossomed around the witch.

"Fuck," Sky swore.

Alcide realized she was sweating. Then he realized something else. He could smell her tears. She was not unmoved by what she was doing at all.

But that did not deter her. She aimed again, and one of the witches beside Antonia fell. She aimed again, and another died.

After the third one, the others seemed to realize what was happening, and some of them broke and ran for the woods. Another of those that stayed, died. The gun barked yet again, and then the witch stopped. She began chanting, and Sky grabbed Alcide's hand and ran for the door. The room exploded behind them.

Sky let go of him, still holding the gun.

"Holy shit," Sam said from behind them. "You're picking them off one by one."

The sounds of howling and gunfire were all around now. Sky's handgun barked and Alcide turned to see a 'were transform back into his human state.

"We've got to protect the vampires," Sky said. "We've cut down their numbers, but I don't think it's going to hold them for long. We have to hold out until nightfall."

"We'll never make it," Sam said. "That's still two hours away."

"Don't write us off yet," Sky told him. "I threw in a few surprises for the witches. I don't know what that gold glowy shield thing does, but unless it's more powerful than an explosion or two, this may be over sooner instead of later."

She tossed the gun with the scope and it skidded across the room. "Good gun, but the sights are off by a few millimeters. Very sloppy of the guards."

Another explosion rocked the compound, this time much bigger than the others. Sky dropped to the floor. "I hope that didn't hit any guards." She shimmied forward under a table until she was looking through the bannister at the door.

Alcide turned and shot two 'weres who came up from the back. Sam shifted into a mouse and zipped away.

"Be careful," Sky warned. "There are still three more charges somewhere."

"You kept count?" Alcide asked her.

"Didn't you?" she answered.

"No..."

"Well, you should. You don't want to leave undetonated boobie traps just laying around."

The door slammed open and Antonia and four witches walked in.

"For your crime of aiding these vampires," Antonia said, lifting her hand, "I sentence you to death by fire!"

She began to mutter, and Sky picked off one of the other witches. Before she could fire again, though, the floor fell out from under Alcide as it exploded. Landing hard on the ground, he looked over to see Sky, and the world fell away with the floor.

Her entire lower body was on fire.