Lunar Bound, page 2
part #4 of Sky Brooks World: Ethan Series
“I’ll give you one chance to walk away,” she declared, trapped within Josh’s binding spell.
He laughed at her audacity.
“Not this time.” There was too much at stake. “Josh, take her somewhere she can’t cause any trouble.”
Tonya’s gaze flicked to her guns in the grass.
“They’ll be there when you find your way back here,” I promised, then turned to Josh. “We need a couple hours.”
He put a hand on the top of her cap and then they were gone.
“McClintock?” Steven asked.
“An old hunter I knew. We didn’t part on the best of terms.”
Steven nodded. His expression darkened as he said, “About Quell.”
I growled instinctively. Quell was Sky’s pet vampire. She had a habit of taking in strays. I couldn’t stop her, nor could I convince her that he would likely kill her one day. He was one of Michaela’s creations. For most of his vampiric existence, she’d allowed him to feed from the blood of the Hidacus, a rare imported plant capable of sustaining a vampire’s bloodlust. She’d ended that arrangement after Sky forced Quell to feed from her in order to prevent a reversion. Michaela had claimed Sky’s blood for herself. For him to feed from her, even to save his life, was a betrayal. Out of revenge, Michaela had destroyed Quell’s plants, forcing him to feed from humans. In his inexperience with human blood, he’d had a problem keeping his food alive. For some reason, Sky thought it made sense to let Quell feed from her. For some reason, he hadn’t tried to kill her.
I knew the reason. He loved her. Still, he’d try to kill Sky eventually. It was his nature.
Steven continued, his disgust plain. “Sky’s acquired more Hidacus. She wants me to help build a greenhouse for the vampire in her own backyard.”
I felt my jaw tighten, forced it loose. “Does Josh know?”
Steven’s hesitation was slight. “Yes.”
Now I understood why he’d waited to tell me until we were alone. Josh knew the danger to her, not just from Quell. Michaela was a jealous vampire, cruel. She’d already tried to kill Skylar once. If she succeeded, there’d be a war between pack and Seethe.
“Do it,” I said, hating the taste of the words in my mouth. “But do what you can to talk sense into her. She’ll listen to you.” I couldn’t understand why she trusted Steven more than me, but someone needed to get through to her.
“She listens but then she does what she wants. She thinks she’s saving him,” he said, bitter.
Josh blinked back into existence, alone. “Who is McClintock?”
“Nobody,” I snapped, turning away from him. I sniffed the air, picked up on the belocka’s scent. “We’ve got a target to track. Let’s get it done.”
A moment later, Steven found the physical trail. We continued tracking it and the scent until we found ourselves in a small green valley. The obnoxious scent was centered there. After searching some rocky debris and scanning the trees, I signaled toward the ground. We were looking for a burrow. Sifting through the tall grass proved fruitless. I began to question whether the creature had deliberately confused its scent when I noticed dark earth behind some dead brush along the valley’s southern hillside. Peering through, I found an opening that extended into the hillside. The opening was bear-sized. The exposed dirt around the entrance was bone dry. It had been there a while. By the smell of it, the cave had been home to a number of creatures, but the skunk scent was currently dominant.
At the base of the entrance, there were odd lines in the dirt, as if someone had erased their tracks by raking the ground with a leafy branch.
I held still, listening—not even a heartbeat. Only silence resided within, a disappointment, but the burrow had to be cleared. If the belocka had been there, it might return. It wouldn’t take much to turn the burrow into a trap.
I signaled to the others.
Josh scrutinized the size of the opening, raised an eyebrow at the cage he carried.
I gripped his shoulder, whispered in his ear. “Wait here. First sign of trouble, throw up a shield and hold it off until we reach you. Don’t try to be a hero.”
He licked his lips as he set the cage on the grass.
Turning to Steven, I gestured toward my eyes with two fingers. He nodded, quietly eased his backpack off his shoulder, and removed two pairs of night vision goggles. Taking mine, I slipped the band over my head, left the lenses pressing into my forehead. I waited until the breeze shifted, carrying my scent away from the opening, then eased myself into the burrow, blotting the sunlight behind me. In the dark, I drew my tranq pistol and slipped the lenses down over my eyes.
My wolf was close, ready for a fight.
Retrieving the elven creatures dead or alive paid off the pack’s debt to Liam. To get the information I wanted from Liam, I needed to return all of the creatures alive. The belocka was the last on my list. I’d be damned if it was the first I had to kill.
The goggles took what light was available, enhanced it dramatically until the outline of the entrance was revealed in shades of green and black. The tunnel slanted downward several feet, opening into a wider space. I moved slowly, picking up each foot to avoid dragging them in the dirt, inching forward. Steven did the same behind me. As more and more of the opening came into view, I saw a nest of dead grass on the far wall. Next to the nest was a crumpled pile of clothes that reeked of necrotic flesh.
I rounded the opening with the tranq gun raised in both hands, ready to fire. I cleared right, allowing Steven to step in behind me, trusting he’d clear left. I felt his hand press against my back, signaling me to continue forward. The burrow was a single, open chamber. There was nowhere for the belocka to hide except within the nest.
I inched toward it, closer and closer. The grass was a thick tangle as tall as my knees and the width of a twin mattress. From within, I barely caught the faint sound of several tiny, fluttering heartbeats. I kept the pistol trained as Steven slowly drew out a long knife from his calf holster. He eased the blade into the nest to flush out anything inside.
Nothing. He changed the angle, slid the blade through the grass once more. Nothing. On the third attempt, I heard something brittle crack beneath the tip of the blade.
Steven gave me a puzzled look, then started pulling away the grass. While he dug, I turned my attention to the neighboring pile of bloody clothes. I expected to find at least one corpse, but found two. Both were broken, gnawed, consumed beyond recognition. Despite the blood and gore, the color and style of the clothes were discernible. I slipped off the goggles as I brought up my phone, flipped through pictures I’d collected of the two missing people. I recognized the woman’s running shorts, at least.
Using my phone as a flashlight, I scanned the soft dirt floor for claw prints. Large tracks crisscrossed the burrow, revealing three clawed toes on the rear feet, and five on the front. From the length of stride, I knew the creature was bigger than we’d been told.
“Poodle, my ass,” I growled.
“Ethan.”
Steven pulled off his goggles as I turned my phone light onto the exposed contents of the nest—half a dozen eggs.
“Either this thing is asexual,” he said, letting the rest of the thought trail off.
If there were more than one belocka on the loose, that was Liam’s problem. We’d only agreed to retrieve the one. He was lucky we’d found the nest before the eggs hatched, assuming this was the belocka’s first and only batch of eggs.
“Make sure there isn’t another entrance.” I drew a knife from the sheath at my hip and proceeded to destroy the eggs and the embryos inside.
After a quick walk along the walls, using his own phone as a flashlight, Steven gestured to where we’d entered. “Just the one.”
Good. “We’ll wait for the belocka to return, then trap it inside.”
His gaze drifted from the creature’s destroyed eggs to the gnawed corpses. “It’s going to be pissed.”
I started toward the exit, a plan forming in my head. That went to hell when I heard Josh’s muffled groan outside. Fear gripped my chest. I charged up the burrow entrance, pistol in hand, my wolf snarling. Bright sky was suddenly eclipsed by a hulking beast and a roaring maw filled with shark-like teeth. Its breath reeked of dead flesh.
Steven cursed behind me.
Four folds of flesh closed around the mouth, revealing a single, wide eye just above.
Josh was on the other side of that thing, possibly dead or dying.
I fired a dart at its chest, then charged with the knife. The dart struck, ricocheted off the creature’s skin. Before I could reach the beast, the folds of its lips drew back, then pushed out. A dark wad of thick spittle shot toward me. I ducked, pressed against the wall, but Steven didn’t see the projectile in time to react. I heard the wet smack of spit striking his face. He stumbled back into the burrow and collapsed, tugging at the hardening substance that covered his mouth, nostrils, and one eye.
The creature charged in after me. Its massive body filled the opening. Its feet shook the earth like hammers.
I tossed the tranq gun behind me and let my wolf take over. Decades of experience and a deep affinity with my were-animal made the transformation almost instantaneous. My front claws dug into the dirt floor as I crouched, waiting for my moment. When it came, I ducked beneath the creature’s snapping jaws, lunged. My teeth clamped onto the side of the creature’s neck, bit down. The skin was hard, dense. I bit down harder, shook my head for leverage. I’d just reached the salty, copper taste of blood when the belocka reached up with a paw and easily knocked me off. The force of the blow knocked the wind from my lungs, stifling a howl as I tumbled down into the burrow, next to the pistol.
Steven, in coyote form, thrashed in the chamber, biting and clawing at the hardened mask wrapped around his muzzle. The transformation had broken some of the substance free, but the lack of oxygen made him frantic.
Both of our phones had fallen to the ground, still casting light into sections of the burrow, enough for the belocka to see the damage we’d done. It stood in the entryway, its powerful body blocking our escape, taking in the destroyed nest, the exposed and shattered eggs. The creature’s entire body contracted as it opened its mouth and roared in rage. The sound, echoing off the burrow walls, was deafening.
The last of the hardened spit fell from Steven’s jaws as he crouched on his front paws and snapped his jaws in answer. He slowly backed toward the nest, deliberately drawing the belocka’s ire. My ribs screamed in pain as I climbed back to my feet. Growling, I shifted to my right as much as I could, positioning the belocka to make a choice. Whether it went for Steven or me, one of us would have its back. I knew that was Steven’s plan, but it was flawed. Given the belocka’s size and the toughness of its skin, the two of us weren’t enough to bring the creature down. We needed the pack. We needed Josh’s magic.
He was either dead or dying just outside the burrow entrance. His only chance was for Steven or me to reach him. For that, one of us was probably going to die.
When the belocka started toward Steven, I lunged. Instead of taking its back, going for the neck, I snapped, forced it to face me. It plodded toward me, head low. The belocka hissed hot steam as I drew it back until I felt the dirt wall against my back. I was cornered, but I’d given Steven the room he needed to escape, to rescue Josh.
Instead he leapt onto the belocka, dug his teeth into the back of its neck. It roared, rose onto its hind legs as it reached up to rake Steven with its claws. Before it could, I bit into its exposed belly. The skin there was just as dense. I heard the thump of Steven landing somewhere on the other side of the creature. I dodged a swipe of the belocka’s arm. Desperate to find a weak spot, I bit at the back of its heel. The tendon was defined there, the skin thin, but the creature was too fast. It spun away, casting me aside with a sweep of its arm. It was fast when it wanted to be, too fast. I bounced off the dirt wall, stunned. Something was beneath me. I recognized the shape of it.
As the belocka closed in for the kill, I changed into my human form and scooped up the tranquilizer pistol. There were two more darts in the cartridge. It probably wasn’t enough, probably wouldn’t save me, but it might slow the creature down, give Steven a chance to get out. Raising the pistol, I waited for that deadly mouth to open. The tissue would be the thinnest there.
The creature seemed to intuit my plan. Instead of roaring or opening its jaws to bite off my head, it rose onto its feet and drew back to rake me with its claws.
Before it could strike, a weave of flickering orange light enveloped the creature. It resisted, clawing uselessly at the magic web that tightened around it until the belocka’s limbs were bound against its body. Struggling, it lost its balance and fell sideways with a pathetic whimper, revealing Josh standing in the light of the entryway. A clump of hardened spit still stuck to his jaw and his chest was heaving.
Relief washed over me. I’d feared the worst for him.
Steven, in human form, shuffled out of the shadow, clutching his side.
The spell completed, Josh drew a spark of light in his palm, revealing the entire burrow. He scrutinized me from head to toe, smirked. “Any chance to be naked, right?”
“How long will that hold?” I retrieved my phone from the dirt while Steven retrieved his.
“Not long.” Josh frowned at the struggling belocka. “If you’re going to tranq it, now would be a good time. I’ll open a gap.”
“Don’t bother.” I holstered the pistol, gestured toward the creature. “It’s not going to be enough to put it under. I need you to transport back to the retreat, get a bigger dose from Dr. Baker. Make sure he gives you his thickest needle.”
For once, he didn’t give me a hard time. In a blink, he was gone. I glanced at Steven, taking in his injury. He waved off my concern, gestured to the belocka.
“I thought we were looking for something like a toy poodle with big teeth.”
I scowled. “So did I.” Liam had a lot to answer for.
A moment later, Josh reappeared with a change of clothes and Dr. Baker, a large syringe in his hand. As he took in the surroundings, I directed him to the creature on the floor. I tensed, prepared for the worst as Josh opened a small hole in the web at the belocka’s back, closing it again as soon as Dr. Baker completed the injection. The drug took effect immediately.
He frowned down at it, shook his head. “I probably overestimated the dose,” he admitted, looking to me. “It might not survive.”
At the moment, I was just glad we hadn’t taken casualties. Dead or alive, Liam owed me.
Taking the bundle of clothes from Josh, Steven and I dressed. Next, I called Marko. He answered immediately.
“What’s up?”
“We’re going to need a bigger cage, and a van. I’ll text you the coordinates.”
Once done, I texted Liam.
Two hours later, I drove a black van into the parking lot of the South Loop Home Depot. The cage in the back slid, causing the creature inside to thrash and roar. The sedative had worn off a few minutes ago, but Josh’s web held. He’d recast it while the creature was sleeping, using enough magic to constrain the belocka until we’d delivered it. After that, it was Liam’s problem.
“Take it easy on the turns,” Josh growled. “You’re riling it up.”
I grinned back at him.
The parking lot was full of SUVs, vans, and company trucks loading and unloading large pieces of equipment and construction supplies. Transferring a single large metal crate between two vehicles wasn’t going to draw anyone’s attention, unless the contents of that crate rocked and growled and threw a roaring hissy fit.
Perhaps the parking lot of a Petco would’ve made a more practical exchange.
Their white van was already waiting, parked in the back of the lot near one of the light poles. At my approach, three van doors opened, depositing four J-Crew catalog models into the parking lot, Liam among them.
That was unexpected.
In the last two weeks we’d made a dozen such deliveries. Each time Liam had sent his minions, but never bothered to join them. Wounded pride, I’d assumed—not just from needing the pack’s help. The Makellos’ belief in their own superiority was a foundational principle of their existence. He’d gambled on an alliance with the witches and lost. We’d handed his ass to him just a few weeks ago, in an alley behind one of Marcia’s magic shops. We’d handed her ass to her as well.
I drove past the van, parked behind it facing the opposite direction to make the transfer easier. The crate with the belocka inside weighed three hundred pounds, at least, a difficult burden made awkward by the active, angry beast inside. That wasn’t our problem. We’d gotten the crate into the van. The Makellos could get it out. They were better known for their fashion sense than their physical strength.
After a moment’s thought, I eased the van forward and parked in the next spot, increasing the distance between the vans.
Josh rolled his eyes, gave me a sly smile. “Have you ever met an ant pile you didn’t poke?”
“Be ready for anything.”
His smile faded. He glanced into the side mirror as the elves approached the back of the SUV, waiting for us to open the doors. “You think he’ll renege on the deal?”
“If he’s figured out it was the pack that broke the curse, yes.”
Josh nodded and opened his door. I opened mine, sliding out to greet Liam. Neither of us bothered to extend a hand.
“Ethan,” he said in a tone that suggested nothing could be more beneath him than addressing me.
I answered with a mirthless smile. “Liam. Haven’t seen you since the battle. I almost didn’t recognize you from the front.”
The other elves scowled. I recognized two of them, twins who had previously guided us to the Dark Forest. The other woman was new to me. She had a hard but elegant look, with stylishly short-cropped hair. More aggressive than the twins, she clenched her fists, shifted her weight toward her front foot in anticipation of violence. Liam waved her off with a gesture.
There was an apparent similarity to their style of dress. “I see the spring catalog is out. Pastels are in.”
