He wouldn't have told anyone about what had happened with her even if he hadn't lost control of his car and died in a fiery crash that day.
She looked from man to man. "That's why your escape plan will only hang you with me, because VIPER will hunt me to the ends of the earth if I run. I have to beat this."
"We're going to help you." Tzader spoke the words, but Quinn's agreement was written all over his face.
"I think Isak may have some information on the Birrn." She broached the topic just to see what Tzader would say.
"Don't go near him. Farther you stay from him the better."
Shouldn't be much threat of running into him socially after standing the man up twice in twenty-four hours. But she needed to know what Isak had on that Birrn and hated to go hunting him without telling Z or Quinn, so she tried again.
"What if Isak has information on these demons? I could just talk to him--"
"No, you of all people shouldn't talk to him." Tzader's jaw muscles worked for a second as he thought. "Remember that Alterant Isak was suspected of killing in Tehran? The beast ripped his best friend in half. Isak hates Alterants. The number one mission for his Nyght Raiders is to track down every Alterant they can find and destroy them."
That gave her pause.
Did all Alterants have the same aura as hers? How was she supposed to protect herself when she'd never met another Alterant and had no idea where they'd originated? Had Isak seen the other Alterant's aura? Had it looked like hers?
The Rak demon had alluded to more Alterants. Was Isak only playing along with her thinking she'd lead him to the others, then he'd kill her once he knew where they were?
She swallowed against the bile trying to run up her throat. If Tzader and Quinn thought Isak was a threat to her, they wouldn't leave her side while she helped search for the Ngak Stone. Isak would probably not come near her with Tzader and Quinn around. Or with Storm around.
But Isak was the only one with any possible lead on the demons and maybe even the Alterants.
Between Isak and Storm, it was a toss-up as to which one might be the more dangerous to her existence.
TWENTY
The men are tired, Batuk." Sleep pulled at Vyan as he changed to clean jeans and a faded blue shirt with buttons, preparing for the first night of hunting for the Ngak Stone in Atlanta. The sun had vanished minutes ago. "The men need rest after the march through the jungle and the trip back here."
Batuk did not look up from where he sharpened his sword. "The men can sleep when we return home. We have less than two days until the full moon and no idea what woman the stone has chosen. We cannot rest until we find her and take the stone."
Thumping music shook the walls behind Vyan when a car rolled by outside. A common sound in the area known as West End, where he'd found this crumbling building that smelled worse than fresh camel droppings. Cobwebs wide as a blanket spread across the corners.
"I hate that noise," Batuk muttered. "Two more days in this world will be torture. We must find that stone. Our scouts should return soon with Nightstalkers."
Vyan held his tongue for a moment. He'd caught Batuk and Tristan talking secretly once during the trip, which removed any doubt Vyan had about how far he had fallen as the first in command in Batuk's eyes.
Had the Alterant monster and his warlord struck a new deal?
Vyan saw no point in talking in circles. Not with so little time left. "What is the plan when we have the Ngak Stone? Do we leave quickly or fight the Beladors?"
Batuk's face had not been shaped well for smiling. No humor gathered in his eyes. "We shall leave as soon as Tristan has fulfilled his agreement."
"I thought sending us home was the agreement."
"As your leader, I have ensured we will never be at the Beladors' mercy again. When we return home, our ten will be powerful enough to slay any enemy. Then we will have none."
His warlord spoke the truth, but he hid something among his words. Vyan wrapped that away in his mind to look at later and see if he could unwind the lie hidden inside. He kept his voice soft to address his more important concern. "I'm not convinced Tristan can collect the stone without harming the woman."
"Tristan knows the stone could choose to destroy him if he killed the woman." Batuk's tone wavered some, giving reason to believe he was not so confident.
If not for endangering the woman, Vyan would enjoy watching Tristan pay the price for his arrogance. "He may be unable to control his actions or his power. The serum is not holding. Maybe it is because he is an Alterant. You saw what happened on the way back here when--"
"--you provoked him," Batuk finished. "I have little worry as long as you do not anger him again. Tristan will control himself." He walked away to where the men had begun stockpiling supplies they'd scavenged.
Vyan hid a knife in his boot in addition to the sword strapped to his side. He had a knee-length black raincoat for concealing it.
The access door to the building opened and Tristan strolled through. The cocky bastard was now dressed in a shirt the color of dark clouds tucked inside sleek sand-brown pants similar to clothes worn by the businessmen who scurried around this city during the day. White teeth glowed in the dim lighting when he smiled at Vyan.
A smile that said he knew something Vyan did not and the knowledge amused him.
Vyan noted Tristan's blond hair was both shorter and damp. "Where have you been?"
"Showering and locating decent clothes, since I have no intention of dressing ... like you." A folded pair of dark sunglasses hung from where they were hooked at the neck of his shirt. Fancy eye covering that the Alterant had probably taken from an expensive shop, whereas Vyan wore a discarded pair of dark glasses he'd found.
But his were to hide his double pupil eyes from the public. Tristan wore eye covering as a king would don a crown.
"In my time, clothes were merely protection from the elements." Vyan had bathed in a lake and changed to the comfortable clothes he would miss when he returned to his time. Maybe he would pack a bag to take back. The strange clothing would bring good coin if the cloth survived traveling back through time.
"Dressing like a sheep herder is probably why I heard you had no woman with you when you were sent below Mount Meru, but then I guess it's a matter of so many sheep, so little time."
Vyan's heart thumped at the reminder of losing his wife, but he'd never let Tristan know he'd struck his mark. Instead, he answered the insult. "Yes, I was alone when I arrived beneath the mountain, which meant I had all the consorts I wanted while there, because they wanted only virile men. What I should have explained about clothes was that in my time, a warrior wore clothes only for protection, not to preen as a bird would. The pretty men who spent hours worrying over their face and clothes turned more heads of young men than women." Vyan smiled to punctuate his taunt.
Tristan stopped short, eyes glowing a hot green. His lips rippled with an unspoken snarl. He twitched, his head jerking to one side. His forehead jutted out with a loud snap, and his jaw extended down from the sharp teeth, which lengthened.
"Tristan, stop it!" Batuk ordered, rushing over to where they stood.
Tristan growled and clenched his fists. He twisted his neck, straining as his face cracked and distorted into jagged planes of skin over misshapen bones.
Batuk swung around to Vyan. "What did you say?"
"Me? Nothing. I merely complimented him on how nice he looked." Vyan crossed his arms and turned to face Batuk. "I told you when this happened the last time he could not be trusted alone. Now do you believe me?"
"I believe you are causing him to change." Batuk opened his mouth to say more, but Tristan spoke.
"Don't worry, I'm okay. Just a little tired."
Vyan turned to find Tristan once again perfect.
"That is understandable considering the past few days, but we will all rest tonight." Batuk swung his black gaze to Vyan. "Do not provoke him again."
Vyan started to argue further when the air coo
led unnaturally without warning. His arms pebbled from the chill.
Batuk and Tristan straightened, alert and glancing around.
Two soldiers walked in. One said, "These are the only Nightstalkers we found so far that would leave their area."
A smoky figure, thin and shaky, appeared. The hollow eyes stared straight ahead as three more transparent figures floated into the room from different directions. Vyan's next breath slipped out in white puffs against the frigid air. None of the Nightstalkers acknowledged the existence of one another.
"Do you know what we want?" Batuk asked the translucent bodies floating in front of him.
"Yes. You want the woman with the Ngak Stone," one Nightstalker answered in a hollow voice that swirled around them. The others echoed his words.
"How will you recognize her?" Vyan asked them.
"She'll be glowing bright pink like the boots of a streetwalker," one ghoul answered. The other three nodded, which meant they were aware of each other.
"The first one to find her will shake with me for a full fifteen minutes," Batuk declared, offering an enticing trade. "But the one whose lead ends with us finding the Ngak Stone and taking possession will be rewarded with a twenty-minute handshake with both me and Tristan."
All four images quivered, blinking in and out with undisguised excitement over the exorbitant offer. Vyan disagreed with this, too, as he'd heard it was dangerous to shake longer than ten minutes or with two powerful beings.
What if Batuk and Tristan created monsters that turned on the Kujoo?
"Two of you go with me." After giving that order, Tristan headed for the door.
All the ghouls rushed after him in a blur and collided with each other in a mob of confused shadows until Tristan swung around and snarled. "Cease!" When the cloudy forms separated, he pointed as he spoke. "You and you, come with me."
Two ghouls whisked to hover above each side of Tristan when he walked out.
Vyan snatched his coat from where it hung on a nail, then stepped forward. "You other two come with me."
"I will remain here to meet with more Nightstalkers as they arrive," Batuk announced. "When the woman has been located, I will send someone to let you know."
Vyan paused at the door but did not turn around when he replied. "Have you no faith in my ability to find this woman?"
"On the contrary. I have no doubt you will find her. My concern is if you will bring her back."
That struck at his honor.
Vyan did not want to see the woman hurt, but gaining that rock was the only chance of saving his people and returning to a life he had once known and was quickly forgetting. This time he wanted a new life of spilling sweat as he tilled the land instead of watching other men's blood run.
"I have always given my best for you and my people," Vyan told Batuk. "I will give no less now." With that, he pushed through the door. Once outside, fumes belched from the metal cars, assaulting his nose. By all saints, he missed fresh air. He searched the streets until he saw Tristan striding along the opposite side.
Tristan paused at the corner to glance back with a look so full of challenge that he might as well have produced a gauntlet and tossed it at Vyan's feet, before vanishing around the side of the brick building with his two ghouls in tow.
So be it.
Tristan might have been born of this world originally, but Vyan had spent his last ten months learning Atlanta well. He would start his search in Piedmont Park, where he'd once held the stone during a battle with the Beladors before losing it in a small stream there.
Now he wondered if he had actually lost the powerful rock or if it had been choosing its path even then.
Neither Tristan nor Batuk had considered what kind of being the stone would call to it or how powerful the woman would be if she resisted giving up the magical treasure.
Vyan's powers were mighty, but he would lose a battle against Tristan if the Alterant shifted into a beast.
The woman would lose as well if that happened.
One of his ghouls became agitated. "The stone is revealed."
Vyan's blood pumped fast. "In the park?"
The ghoul shook with excitement. "Yes."
TWENTY-ONE
Evalle came ready to deal. But it had to be fast.
"What kind of trouble are you in to show up with that and to come out this early?" Grady's pale form hovered at eye level.
"Plenty." She sat six feet off the ground on the top of the concrete wall that backed up to the interstate embankment behind Grady Hospital.
Grady's gaze was stuck on the bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 clutched in her hand. She held a McDonald's bag in the other. She hated to give him alcohol when she'd rather just feed him, but it was hard to deny the old guy one small moment of happiness.
Rain drizzled off the bill of her Braves baseball cap. The storm that had rolled in at twilight to completely blacken the skies had given her a faster head start tonight, but she only had forty-five minutes until nine o'clock, when she had to meet Storm at the park.
"I'm waiting." Grady's eyebrows crawled up his forehead.
She tapped her little finger against the bottle. Monday night rush hour squealed, honked and banged a hundred yards behind her while it sounded as though the god of thunder, Taranis, played a solo backup overhead. "Okay, here's my offer, and I'll warn you right now I want quick answers."
"Then make a quick deal."
"I am not breaking down specifics. If you want a handshake and this bottle, I want any question I ask answered." She didn't demand, just laid out her cards face up.
Grady lifted his chin in his way of thinking and floated sideways into the embankment, then flickered back in front of her. "Things must be really bad."
Evalle didn't reply. The less she said, the better her chances were of getting a carte blanche deal, since Grady was one big mass of curiosity.
"All right," he said. "But only this one time."
Not a problem, because if she didn't figure out what to do soon, she wouldn't have a reason to make future deals. "Understood."
Evalle jumped down from the wall and landed on the sidewalk as Grady floated down to face her. After giving the area a fast once-over to ensure no one was paying attention to a woman in rain gear and soaked jeans standing in the dark, she extended her hand and connected with his.
"Damn, I hate the rain," Grady said as soon as he was a solid form. Water shed off him like it did off her GORE-TEX riding gear. "Hand it over."
"Have you found out who was controlling the Cresyl and Birrn demons?" She gave him the bottle and he twisted the top off and guzzled a three-finger slug of the cheap wine.
Lowering the bottle, satisfaction softened his face. "Not exactly, but I think it's someone who's in the city now."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because there was another demon here, a Hindu one."
Evalle nodded. "A Rakshasas. I heard."
"I think the same person is controlling all the demons."
"What or who could be doing that when all the demons should be originating from different power sources? I've never heard of such a thing before."
"Might not be specifically one power behind all of them but a partnership of some sort between two dark powers," Grady suggested.
She tilted her head to one side. "What would have caused two groups to join forces?"
Grady barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the bad guys decided to do their own recruiting when VIPER opened an ark for every weirdo with an extrasensory ability."
"Guess you've got a point." She hooked her thumbs into the corners of her rain slicker pockets. "We had someone tracking the Rak and his master, but the master got away and the Rak ended up repackaged in a suitcase. What do you think the chances are of finding his master?"
"Not good. Not if he's sending in demons to do his dirty work, and I'm betting those demons aren't the original forms but some kind of copies. Especially with that Birrn having Celtic markings. You need to find
the source of the power for the demons to determine who the master is, but that's going to be hard to do when you've had a Nigerian demon with Celtic markings, a Cresyl demon that is German and now a Hindu Rak. No common denominator. If I am right and they're all being controlled by the same power, then they're being sent out with a glamour disguise to hide their true origin."
"A Fae glamour?"
"No. Some kind of witch spell that disguises the demon."
Witch, as in Noirre majik? She was back to her conspiracy-against-Evalle theories. "Crud. Can this get any more difficult?"
"In a word, yes."
That got her attention, because Grady hadn't been kidding. "Why? What else have you got?"
"An ancient synergy has entered the city."
She immediately thought of Vyan, the Kujoo she'd seen last night near the Iron Casket, which she'd forgotten to tell Tzader and Quinn about. Crap! That wouldn't have happened if Tzader hadn't gotten an urgent cell call from headquarters and taken Quinn with him when he'd left--and if she hadn't needed to catch up on two days of lost sleep so she could work tonight.
She'd have to start issuing hourly bulletins at this rate to keep the boys in the loop.
Evalle pushed her soaked ponytail off her neck. "You know the origin of this synergy?"
"Got an idea who." He paused for another libation break then said, "Remember that time a couple years back when you and those other two Belador hoodlums had a smackdown in Piedmont Park with a Kujoo?"
"Yes." She didn't even bust him for calling Tzader and Quinn hoodlums. Grady was confirming her worst fears.
"Same synergy this time, but much stronger."
The only reason the synergy would be stronger was if Vyan had found a way to bring more of his kinsmen forward in time. "I think you're right. Probably the Kujoo and they've come for a reason."
"I doubt VIPER'll be happy with the Beladors or the Kujoo if they have a showdown in the city again for no reason."
She wanted to tell Grady about the Ngak Stone, but there was a limit to how much she could share even if he had held her confidences in the past. She hedged, "I don't think the Kujoo are looking for the Beladors since that didn't go well with Shiva last time. But they're here for something. If you find out what, I need to know."