When she reached the spot where she'd last seen the woman with the rock, Storm put his head down to the ground and turned into a predator on the hunt.
She was glad not to be his prey.
He spent almost two minutes there, then spun around and headed for Tenth Street, where he dashed across the highway without going to a crosswalk where a streetlight would stop traffic.
Running to keep up with him, she waved her hands at cars trying to mow her down when she crossed right behind him.
Evalle, where are you? Tzader asked in her mind.
Back at Piedmont Park. Storm thinks he may have picked up a scent. Literally. Where are you two?
Sen decided there was nothing to be risked at this point by bringing in recruits since the stone is going to bond with the new master by daylight. We've been tied up all day calling in more Beladors to flood the city to search for the Kujoo.
No. That's just what the Medb wanted. I don't think that's a good idea, Z. Not until we know what they meant about wiping out all the Beladors.
We've got strength in numbers once we link. I'll put a wall of Beladors up against any Medb or Kujoo at any time.
What if the Medb had a plan to kill Brina when the Beladors linked? Massive slaughter. But that wouldn't wipe out all the generations.
Got to go, Tzader said. Call us if you find anything and we'll get warriors to you.
Will do. The lump in her throat was getting thicker by the minute. She'd put her trust in Storm, which was what she believed Nicole's vision meant. Don't let me be wrong.
Storm wove through streets, hesitating occasionally to sniff a mailbox post or a car tire. This area was packed with animals, which had to be hampering his tracking.
Or the young woman with the rock walked everywhere. If she was blind and unable to drive, that could be the case. Or if she carried her dog some of the time, she'd have broken the scent trail.
Two hours later, Evalle's legs burned from jogging up and down a couple inclines without slowing. She only had two legs, but she wasn't going to complain, dammit.
She hunched her shoulders in defense right after cursing mentally, sometimes anticipating an air slap to her head from Brina, but it never happened.
Tzader said Brina heard all cursing, but maybe she only listened to the rest of her tribe, not Alterants.
Storm bumped Evalle when he swung around, intent on something. Had he picked up an especially promising scent?
When he slowed and crept up to a house, Evalle cast a glance all around to check for animals. The last dog they'd encountered had followed them for a while. Was Storm's protection ward beginning to fail?
He padded across the street to the driveway of a cottage-style wooden house painted blue and white. The yard was neat and filled with flowers. Storm paced several feet back and forth across the driveway, then lifted his head to her.
Evalle walked past him, over to a window on the side of the house, and peered in.
The woman she'd been hunting was curled up on her sofa with her mutt next to her. Bingo.
Hurrying back to Storm, Evalle squatted down and brushed her hand over the soft fur on his head, considering what to do next. "This is the girl's house. I don't want to scare her, so I'm going in alone."
He growled and nipped at her arm with his lips.
"No arguing. That dog we passed on the last block sensed you. You're close to being out of time with the ward. Go back and change into the clothes I left in the bushes for you. I'll meet you at the park with the girl."
He didn't move.
"Storm, I need you to do this. You can't go in with me, and if someone sees you when the ward wears off they'll call animal control. I don't want Sen coming after you for doing this around humans without authorization." She stood up.
He rubbed his wide head along her leg, then took a step, but paused, reluctance to leave in every move he made.
"I'm fine. I can call Trey, Quinn and Tzader telepathically if I get into any trouble. Trey is superfast and lives maybe a mile or two away at the most. He can be here in a minute. But I'm not calling anyone until I know what's going on with this girl, the rock and Vyan." She leaned over and kissed his head. "This might save my tribe. Thank you."
He licked her cheek, then trotted away, looking back every fifty feet until he disappeared into the night.
When she climbed the wooden steps to the cute porch, she took a close look at the pottery planter next to the door that came up to her waist. She'd been studying ancient languages at night on her computer. She'd seen those letters before and made a mental note of the bold inscription across the top, but she put it aside for now and knocked on the door. When it opened, Evalle faced the young woman from the park. "I need a minute to talk to you. It's important."
The woman gasped. "I saw you in the park early this morning."
Finally. Something would be easy. "Yes, you did."
"Are you a Belador?"
Not a question Evalle expected. "Yes, I am."
"Are the Kujoo your enemies?"
That's when she noticed the rock in the woman's hand and reconsidered the first response that came to mind, since there could be a wrong answer to that question.
Easy never stayed in her vocabulary long.
THIRTY-FIVE
"Can I come in?" Evalle asked the woman holding the Ngak Stone, which could wreak devastation on the entire world.
"You didn't answer my question. Are the Kujoo your enemies?"
Evalle considered a couple things quickly, like the fact that this woman had only met Vyan, not all the Kujoo. "I don't have an issue with Vyan."
Wariness crossed the woman's pale face, but the blue eyes concentrated hard on whatever she was deciding. Her hair fell in flaming red waves to her shoulders.
A dog's bark made them both jump.
Her mutt scampered through the open door and danced around Evalle's legs. She instinctively reached down to pet the dog.
"Okay, Brutus, you win." The woman extended her free hand. "I'm Laurette Barrett."
"I'm Evalle Kincaid, and I'm here because you're in grave danger."
"I know." Laurette said that with simple acceptance and backed away, opening the door for Evalle to enter.
The interior had a cozy feel, with sheers over the windows and flowery pillows tossed on a cream-colored sofa. All the secondhand furniture had been kept clean and given TLC along the way. Something with meat had been cooked recently, filling the house with a wonderful lived-in smell.
Now Evalle felt justified in suffering a moment of jealousy over someone living in a real house that had a lived-in feel.
Laurette stopped in the middle of the room and faced her. "Vyan said to find a Belador if he didn't come back to my house by four this morning, and that was five minutes ago. I think somebody's going to hurt him."
"We need to talk about that rock in your hand first."
"I'm not talking to you unless you're going to help me trade this rock for Vyan."
Saving a Kujoo was counterproductive to saving the Beladors and civilization. Evalle wasn't sure if she could talk this woman out of the rock or take it from her, but she was not handing it over to the Kujoo or Tristan. "Why don't we sit down and work through this?"
Laurette heaved a long breath as though the world rested on her shoulders, which wasn't far from the truth as long as she held tight to the rock. She sat down on the sofa and her little dog curled across her feet. Her fingers never stopped stroking the Ngak Stone in her hand. "How do I know you're a Belador?"
Evalle never had a good answer for that one. "I have no way to prove it to you, but I know Vyan. I met him two years ago when he first arrived in Atlanta."
Laurette nodded. "He said that's when he met you. What are the Beladors?"
"The short story is that we're sort of a special group that protects national security, which is why we need to talk about the Ngak Stone you're holding."
"But you're Vyan's enemy?"
Add him to the list, but let's move this alo
ng. "The Beladors and the Kujoo have a lot of difficult history from eight hundred years ago, but none of today's Beladors are responsible for that. Where did Vyan go?"
"I don't know. I asked the rock to take me to him, but it wouldn't. He left by the roof instead of the front door so no one would pick up his trail."
No one from the street, but someone could track him back to Laurette's house. Evalle asked, "Did he tell you anything about that rock?"
"Yes."
"Then you know we're working on a tight schedule or you could end up bound to the Ngak Stone forever ... if you survive being bound to it."
"I have to keep this rock."
"Are you blind, Laurette?"
"Not yet, but soon. I can see when I hold it."
"The rock is seducing you. It's meant for a different kind of person than you."
"One like you or that guy Tristan, because I don't throw around lightning bolts?"
"That's right. You're human." Evalle wanted to tell her not to feel disappointed or hurt about her human status. Being nonhuman was no joyride. "Some of the most powerful sorcerers and wizards have gone mad after bonding with the stone. The stone has been around forever. Every time the stone takes a new master its power builds upon the previous power gained. I doubt a human would even survive the bonding, and even if you did, the stone would control you, not the other way around."
Laurette's eyes glistened with tears. "Vyan told me not to ask the stone for my eyesight. Is that too much to ask?"
"It's dangerous to seek any gain from something powerful. If you ask for your eyesight, someone else might lose theirs in exchange."
She gasped. "I would never take someone else's."
"I didn't think you'd want that." What would it take to get her to part with the stone besides saving Vyan? He must not be cooperating with the Kujoo and Tristan. "You have to decide soon, Laurette, or the choice won't be yours to make at daylight."
Laurette fought tears, struggling to do the right thing. "I'll give it up, but not until I know Vyan is safe."
"Why do you think he's in any danger?"
"Because he doesn't agree with what his warlord is planning and has gone against the Kujoo by not handing me and the rock over to them."
"What is the warlord planning?"
"Vyan gave me a message for the Beladors if he didn't return. He said his warlord wants Tristan to use the Ngak Stone to turn the Kujoo warriors that are here now into superwarriors, then Tristan will send them back eight hundred years. Those warriors will kill all the Beladors so that your race ends. Vyan said some witch assured Tristan that something called an Alterant will be safe from the genocide."
Oh, dear goddess. Evalle's heart shook with possible consequences of that happening. That's what Tristan had been talking about and why he had said she'd be safe. In this time period, Beladors lived as sleeper cells for the good, scattered all over the world in every position, from mothers to pilots to doctors to bus drivers to maybe even those in the highest levels of government.
If they all disappeared at one time, the result would be devastating to more than just the non-Belador members of the families that survived. The world could go into chaos. There would be no way to prepare for the immediate disappearance of over a million Beladors worldwide.
And she'd lose Tzader and Quinn.
Laurette's voice turned thin and desperate. "Vyan is helping your Beladors. Please help him."
Now to make the right choices that Nicole had warned her were imperative to protecting the Beladors' past and future. Evalle forced her words to be calm, though she wanted to shout at Laurette to hand over the stone. "If I promise to free Vyan, will you hand over the stone to people I know?"
Laurette got up and walked across the room to look out her window. She gripped the stone in both hands. "Who are these people you're talking about?"
The less Evalle shared with this woman about the Beladors the better, but VIPER had one person with the ability to ease Laurette's worries. "His name is Storm. He'll take you to a place that is safe to leave the rock and I'll take a team to help Vyan."
Laurette's dog jumped off the sofa and ran around her feet, growling. "I can't think. Give me a minute." She frowned at her little dog. "Okay, Brutus. Let's go out back."
Evalle had to sit on her hands to keep from jumping up and shaking Laurette to make her hurry, but the woman was coming around. Just the fact that she hadn't said no meant she planned to say yes.
This was almost too easy.
Storm should be close to changing by now. Once Evalle called him to pick up Laurette and the stone, she'd contact Tzader and Quinn to meet her at Trey's house, then they'd call in every Belador in the city to hunt the Kujoo. The minute VIPER had control of the stone, Tzader would have to convince Sen to ask the stone for help with containing the Kujoo, Tristan and the zombielike beings the Nightstalkers had been changed into.
Sen might be a miserable SOB and a mystery, but there was no more powerful operative within VIPER.
This could work.
When Laurette returned, she stopped at the door to the kitchen, acceptance clear on her face. "I guess I really don't have any choice."
"Not really, but I give you my word we will save Vyan if we can get to him in time. Let me call Storm, one of our agents, to come escort us. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we'll find him." Evalle pulled out her cell phone as she stood up.
The front door burst open and Tristan strode in. "I should have expected to find you here."
Laurette clutched the stone to her chest. "Where's Vyan?"
"Waiting on you." Tristan extended his hand. "Give me the stone and I'll take you to him."
Evalle jumped in front of Laurette and threw up a forcefield to stop Tristan's advance. She yelled at Laurette, "Go to Storm."
Laurette squeaked out something Evalle couldn't decipher.
Tristan's face erupted with rage. He raised his hand and shoved it toward Evalle, knocking her backward ... into an empty kitchen, where she slammed into the cabinets.
That rung her bell. She reached up and rubbed her head. Had a new lump on the back. Tristan must be getting stronger.
Evalle glanced around, clearing her vision.
Laurette was gone.
But had she gone to Vyan or to Storm?
Tristan barged into the kitchen. "You should have done what I told you and come to me with the rock."
"Do I look like June Cleaver following Ward's orders?" Evalle sat up. "I don't dance to anyone's music but my own."
"If you had come through I could have saved you."
"But killed all the Beladors," Evalle countered. "They won't come. I didn't tell any of them about you."
"They'll come. They're all over the city already. Don't bet on the girl going anywhere with that rock but to Vyan."
I hope you're wrong. If Laurette did go to Storm, he could come back and track from this house.
"Get moving, Evalle." Tristan stepped back so she could push to her feet. "You screwed up big time by not coming to me first."
She ignored his words, planning to contact Tzader as soon as she figured out where Tristan was taking her. If she risked it now and Tristan had the ability to pick up her telepathy, she'd blow her only chance. He'd said he wanted her, so she should be safe for now, at least until he got the rock. She held hope close to her chest until she stepped outside the house with Tristan.
Her hands slapped together in front of her as if locked.
Tristan hadn't done that.
Evalle looked past him to find a Medb priestess hovering above the grass in the front yard. "Ah, Sleeping Beauty returns."
Kizira's robes glowed in the night and billowed around her as if there was a breath of wind in the middle of summer. "Where is the stone?"
"The girl disappeared with it to ... someplace." Tristan could have said that Evalle knew where, but he was sure Laurette had gone to Vyan.
Or he'd been protecting Evalle.
No way.
K
izira's eyes beamed like two tiny yellow suns when she smiled. "You may have escaped me two years ago in Utah, Alterant, but not this time. You will tell me where the girl is."
"She's traveling first class on the Ngak Rock Airlines. If I could tell you where she went I'd play the lottery." Evalle struggled to free her hands or use her kinetics mentally, but she was locked up tight. She could only hope that wherever they were taking her would eat up enough time for Storm to find her, if he could track them.
But she had to alert Tzader to the Kujoo's plan now.
Tzader, where are ... Pain shot through Evalle's head. Her knees folded, but Tristan caught her arm to keep her upright.
"What're you doing to her?" Tristan demanded of Kizira.
"Stopping her from contacting other Beladors until we're ready for her to send a message. I'll enjoy making you pay for killing my brother, Alterant," Kizira said to Evalle.
I'll enjoy making you eat my boot heels, bitch.
The priestess lifted her arms and spoke words Evalle couldn't understand until everything swirled into darkness.
Ah, no, not teleporting.
Storm would never find her now.
THIRTY-SIX
Pain seared her neck, her back and her legs. Evalle hung from her wrists, bound by invisible threads to the ceiling of an old downtown Atlanta school auditorium that hadn't been used for years. With all the windows broken, the night air she breathed should have been fresh and not clogged with the sickening smell of Medb evil.
Blood covered the walls. This placed looked like a Freddy Krueger horror flick stuck on replay. Whatever the Medb had been doing had backfired a few times, exploding bodies. Hideous creatures that had probably once been Nightstalkers crouched everywhere on the walls, floor and ceiling with various parts of their bodies in solid form and the rest translucent.
Sweat poured down her face and stung the cuts on her neck and shoulders. One eye was swollen from where a Nightstalker she used to take gummy bear candy to had backhanded her.
She forgave the poor creature with soulless eyes who hadn't recognized her.
As if life wasn't enjoyable enough, daylight would hit in less than an hour, and the wall of broken windows faced east.
Tristan stood at the side of the cavernous room with the Medb priestess and a group of warriors that had to be the Kujoo Mount Meru escapees.
Tristan had shocked her by intervening when Evalle had taken the first blow to her head, but Kizira had locked him in place with majik.