As we rounded the corner, we abruptly found ourselves not in another tunnel, but in a large cavernous chamber. It must have been fifty yards wide, and probably that much and more long, with two exits on the other side, one opposite to us, and one to the right.
A series of sparkling lights circled the ceiling, from what looked like a sea of delicate floating witch balls, all illuminated from within. They were beautiful, and seemed to move on their own, floating softly in what appeared to be a random pattern. I knew they weren’t will-o’-the-wisps, but I wasn’t sure what they were. They seemed alive, and I wondered what kind of magic had created them. They provided enough light for us to see the edges of the cavern.
As I was staring at the lights, Yutani poked my side and nodded to the center of the chamber. On the floor was a large symbol carved into the rock, about three feet in diameter, and painted with what looked like a ruddy brown paint. For a moment, I wondered why they had painted it such an ugly color before I realized that wasn’t paint. It was probably blood.
Herne held his finger up to his lips as we crept further into the chamber. I couldn’t see anybody around. On one hand, I was relieved. On the other, the tension was growing the farther we went.
Yutani stared at the symbol for a moment, then pulled out his phone. He consulted his pictures, and showed them to us. There, from a still taken from Kevin’s video, we saw a group of Fae standing around the same symbol.
“This is where they summoned Kuveo.” He glanced around the chamber, suddenly stiffening. “We’re not alone.”
As he spoke, there was a rustle from the walls as three figures moved forward off of the rock, carrying large swords made of shadow. And they were headed right for us.
Chapter 14
“WHAT THE HELL are those?” I wasn’t worried about being heard now. The jig was up and we were in for a fight.
“I’m not sure,” Herne said, pulling out a second dagger in his other hand. “But I think we’re going to find out.”
Yutani whipped his pistol grip crossbow off his shoulder, where it had been hanging on a sling. Within seconds, he had aimed at one of the shadows and fired. He was fast, faster than I had expected him to be. The arrow drove through the shadow, disrupting for a moment, but the inky darkness reformed immediately as the arrow tip bounced off the wall, falling to the floor.
“Crap, arrows won’t work.” He immediately slung the bow back over his shoulder and pulled out a blade. “Let’s hope silver does the trick. Or iron.”
The shadows advanced, moving quicker now, and we spread out so that we could all manage an attack. My breath was tight in my chest and I forced myself to exhale, then breathe in again slowly. I had faced unknown enemies before, opponents where I hadn’t a clue how to attack them, but they had all been corporeal, flesh and blood.
The next moment, I dismissed thought from my mind because the shadows were close enough to attack. I moved in with Yutani on one as Herne and Viktor took the others.
The fact that the shadows were carrying swords made it more difficult, even though I had a feeling their blades were actually just extensions of themselves. But they had a long reach, and I wasn’t sure at all what the damage would be.
“Distract him,” Yutani said.
I darted to the side, yelling at the shadow. As it turned to follow me, Yutani came sweeping in from behind, driving his blade through the smoky form. The creature let out a yowl, sounding like a wounded animal, but kept coming my way. It looked a bit thinner, however, its form less dense.
As it swung at me, I leapt into the air, dodging the blade as it rounded beneath my feet. As I landed, my feet touching the floor again, I plunged forward, driving my dagger toward the shadow. My blade bit deep, and as soon as the silver touched the shadow, the creature shrieked again and once more thinned out, the remaining shadow stretching out to fill the gaps.
Yutani attacked from the back at that moment, and the shadow swung around, striking him with the blade before he could move out of the way. The coyote shifter let out a choked cry, and fell to his knees.
I rushed in toward the back of the shadow, driving my blade into the thick again. This time I stayed put instead of darting away, holding the blade firm inside of the shadow. The shadow struggled to get away from me, its shriek reverberating through the chamber, and then, as it tried to turn on me, it vanished in a puff of smoke.
A quick glance at Herne and Viktor told me they were well on their way to defeating their opponents, so I knelt beside Yutani.
“Are you all right?” I couldn’t see any blood where the shadow’s blade had pierced him, but he was obviously wounded and in pain.
He grunted, nodding. “I think so. Help me up.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I helped him struggle to his feet. He was shaky, and he felt jarred, as though his energy had been disrupted. At that moment Herne and Viktor ran over, the other two shadows gone.
“What happened?” Herne patted Yutani down, pulling his hand away quickly as a crackle and spark jolted both of them.
“It disrupted his energy field.” I wasn’t sure how the shadow had done it, but I knew what was happening. Yutani had been wounded on an energetic level, and the question was, would he continue to lose energy or would the gash heal over enough for him to go on?
“I feel strange.” Yutani wavered. “I feel like I’m going to faint, and I never faint.” He glanced around, looking panicked. “I don’t know what to do.”
Herne stared at him for a moment, then said, “I know what you need. Change into your coyote self. That should help you heal faster.”
“But what about—”
“Just do it, man. Otherwise, I think you’re in danger of dying.” Herne began grabbing Yutani’s things off of him. He pulled away his bow and grabbed the blade from his hand.
Yutani struggled to get out of his jacket, so I took hold of the collar, yanking it off of him. His phone dropped to the floor and Viktor snatched it up, making certain that it was still all right. As Yutani struggled out of his jeans, sitting on the floor, Viktor helped him take off his boots.
It was obvious that Yutani was having trouble doing much of anything, but he was finally naked, and as he rolled over on his side and whimpered, he began to shift shape.
I gathered up his clothes as Viktor kept an eye out for anybody else who might enter the chamber. A moment later, Yutani lay there in coyote form, a gorgeous, lean specimen of an animal, with haunting topaz eyes and a thick bushy tail. He whimpered again, but had stopped panting, and now he rested his chin on his front paws.
“How long will it take him to heal enough to change back?” I knew very little about shifters, although I knew they healed better in their natural shape. And their natural shape was that of the animal whose nature they shared.
“I don’t know,” Herne said. “Hopefully not too long. I hope it’s before Kuveo decides to come meandering along.”
I stacked Yutani’s clothes by his side, and knelt, slowly stroking his forehead. He whimpered and looked up at me, and I wanted nothing more than to give him a hug, to reassure him that he’d be okay. I sought for any water elementals that might be in the area—sometimes they could bring a healing force with them—but there were none, and I let out a sigh of exasperation.
Viktor pulled out a small bottle from his backpack. “Aren’t you glad I remembered to bring this?” He held it up so Herne could see it.
“Man, I could so kiss you for that. Get it down his throat now.” Herne was keeping watch on all three of the exits from the chamber.
I joined him, blade at the ready. “What is it?”
“There are certain restorative potions that can heal life force lost. They’re expensive to buy, and they take a long time to make, but whenever we’re going into what’s likely to be a highly dangerous situation, I try to make certain that we have some at hand. I forgot this time, but thank heavens Viktor remembered.”
I glanced over
at Viktor, who was holding the bottle for Yutani as he poured it into the coyote’s mouth. “How fast will it work?”
“If it does work against this sort of attack, it should be almost instantaneous. If Yutani was unconscious, that might be a different matter. Or if he had lost a great deal of blood. Potions like this can’t replace blood lost from the body, and they can’t take care of amputated limbs or anything of that nature, obviously. But they can go a long way to helping somebody get back on their feet.” Viktor stood back, waiting. A moment later, Yutani struggled to his feet, shaking his head. He really was a beautiful creature.
“I hear something,” Herne said, as Yutani began to shift back. I wanted to watch him—I had seldom seen anybody change shape and it was a fascinating process—but Herne needed me as backup. Yutani was struggling into his clothes, protected on one side by Herne and me and on the other by Viktor, as a loud noise sounded from the tunnel ahead.
“I don’t think that’s a person,” I said. The growling and snarling couldn’t be human or Fae.
As we prepared to meet the oncoming opposition, Yutani finished dressing and cocked his pistol crossbow. He gave us a grateful nod. “Thanks, guys.”
“Are you up to this?” Herne asked.
“I’d better be. Yes, I’m ready,” Yutani said. “Let’s do this.”
As he finished speaking, a figure appeared at the edge of the tunnel, rushing into the room. Over seven feet tall and bipedal, the monstrous fox form with nine tails entered. Here was the creature we had come to slay. Kuveo.
OVER THE YEARS I had fought some interesting creatures, but never one quite so terrifying. His muzzle was narrow, with sharp teeth protruding from the edges of his mouth, and the light in his eyes was cunning and deadly. He was bulky, as wide as two men, and his arms were long and thick, with sharp claws instead of nails. He was naked, and I really didn’t need to see the massive penis that was standing at attention. Apparently, facing enemies gave him a hard-on.
“Crap,” I muttered, back up a step. “We’ve got trouble.”
Yutani immediately fired an arrow toward Kuveo’s heart. It bit deep but the creature barely seemed to notice it, yanking out the quarrel and tossing it aside. He let out a low growl and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, slobber dripping down.
“Fuck that. He’s hungry.” Visions of his victims flashed through my mind, their bodies ripped to shreds. I didn’t have any plans on joining their company. I edged to the side, holding my dagger ready. I needed a distance weapon, I thought. Tomorrow, I’d be out in the field, practicing with the company bows, provided we survived this.
Herne pulled out a blowgun and several darts. The darts looked small and useless against such a large creature, but that didn’t seem to faze him as he began shooting.
Viktor unsheathed his short sword and began to edge around the side of Kuveo. He was going to try for the tails, but he would need a distraction. I glanced down at the floor and saw several loose rocks lying around. I swept up several and began pelting Kuveo with them, hitting him square between the eyes. While the rocks bounced off, I managed to get his attention and he turned toward me, offering Viktor better access.
Herne managed to land two of the darts. He dropped the blowgun and pulled out his dagger. “We need to buy several minutes, but that should slow him down.”
“They were coated?” I asked, dancing out of the way as the creature charged toward me. He was fast, faster than I had expected, and I barely missed being eviscerated. It was easy to see how he mutilated his victims now, and I forgot all about my question as I started to run, with Kuveo right after me.
The heavy thumping of his feet behind me left no doubt as to how close he was. I could feel his breath on my neck in the damp, cool air. I dodged to the left, around a stalagmite on the outer edge of the chamber, and then circled in a figure-eight pattern around yet another one.
Kuveo tripped on a boulder, sprawling forward as he skidded along the rough floor, but before I could swing around to try slicing off one of his tails, he was on his feet again, charging after me. The moment’s respite gave me just enough time to figure out where I was and I took off again. Viktor and Herne were just catching up—apparently I could run faster than they could. At least when I had a raging maniac monster behind me.
I saw a corner up ahead behind a pile of rocks that looked long and narrow enough for me to hide in and be out of his reach. At least, I thought Kuveo was too large to follow me in there. As I slid into the v-shaped niche and struggled to push myself back as far as I could, Kuveo lashed out, his long arms coming perilously close to ripping into me, but there was about twelve inches to spare. I sucked in my gut, just to make sure. The question was, would he be able to rip out the rocks in order to get to me before the others could take him down?
“Keep his interest!” Herne’s voice echoed from behind Kuveo.
“I don’t think I can do much else!” I yelled back, jabbing at his long, furry paws with my dagger. Kuveo let out a shriek of frustration and began to thrash against the rocks.
I snorted, but then he grabbed hold of my blade, cutting his paw as he wrapped his fist around it and yanking it toward him. Luckily, I was still taking my own advice and hadn’t been holding it tightly. I let go before he could drag me forward.
Then Kuveo froze before raising his head. He let out a shriek that echoed through the chamber, almost deafening me.
He dropped my dagger and spun around, and I saw that three of his nine tails were gone. He was bleeding profusely and for a brief moment—but only briefly—I felt sorry for him.
I grabbed my dagger as Kuveo charged toward the others. I saw the tails on the ground, and Herne’s blade was dripping with blood. We needed to knock him down to cut off the rest, because if we only took out one more, he would vanish back to his realm with his mission still intact.
I estimated whether I could body slam him from here. I probably could, but I doubted if my weight would knock him off his feet. The next moment, my theorizing became moot as Kuveo charged toward the others, breaking through them as he headed for the tunnel from which he had come. He moved like the wind, so fast that it seemed to defy how big of a creature he was. As he vanished into the tunnel, leaving a trail of blood behind him, I stumbled out of the nook.
“Should we go after him?” I didn’t relish chasing him through the tunnels.
“No,” Herne said. “That space is too enclosed. We’d be at a distinct disadvantage.” He let out a sigh. “He’s going to find someplace to heal. But there may have another way to track him.” He knelt by the tails and the puddle of blood. “Yutani, have a body bag?”
I blinked. “You carry body bags?”
“Figure of speech,” Yutani said, handing what looked like a large plastic bag to Herne. “We carry bags that seal reliably for cases like this.”
Herne gingerly picked up the three tails and dropped them into the bag. “Come on. We need to get a move on before Kuveo heals up enough to go after Névé. I wish I could warn her, but we can’t. Let’s go.” He turned, motioning for us to follow him back through the tunnel to the spiral staircase. I fell into line, wandering what he had in mind next.
AS WE SHUFFLED back to the car, I hoped that we were done for the night.
While the three of us scrambled into our seats, Herne stayed outside, leaning against his door as he put in a call to someone. I leaned against the backseat, exhausted. I was pretty sure my body would be a kaleidoscope of colorful bruises by morning. Viktor looked just as ragged, and Yutani still looked green around the gills. I had the feeling he was going to have one hell of an energy hangover by morning. I yawned, just wanting to close my eyes and rest.
“Here,” Viktor said, stretching out his arm. “Rest. Ogres make great pillows.”
I was so tired I didn’t even question him. I just leaned my head against his chest. Damned if he didn’t make a good pillow, all right. And he didn’t smell anything like I would exp
ect an ogre to smell like. In fact, he smelled a little like Calvin Klein or some other designer fragrance.
“You’re not used to this. At least, not with our group. I imagine you’ve pulled a few doozies on your own.” He sounded so friendly that I couldn’t take offense. In fact, it felt good to sprawl out on the car seat.
I snuggled closer, drifting. It had to be past midnight, or at least it felt like it to me.
“Call me in the morning,” I said, closing my eyes.
“Not so fast.” Herne slid back into the driver’s seat, frowning when he saw me curled up on Viktor’s arm. He buckled in. “Sit up and fasten your seatbelts. We’re making a stop in Medina.”
“Is that where you think Kuveo is headed?” I felt all sorts of grumpy. I didn’t want to go to Medina. I wanted to go home.
“No, but that’s where my source lives who can tell us where he might be.” He sounded a little bit reticent, and Yutani gave him a long look.
“Oh please, don’t tell me we’re going to go visit her. The last time we did that, you warned Viktor and me to stop you the next time you got the bright idea to bring her in on a case. Newsflash, dude: it’s the next time.” Yutani sounded so disgusted that I forgot about being tired and straightened up, buckling my seatbelt as I watched the interplay.
“I know what you’re thinking. I really do. And normally, I’d agree. But we can’t give up. And you know that she can help.” Herne seemed dead set on whatever it was he was planning.
Viktor let out a little huff. “Fucking hell. You know he’s right.”
“Who’s right?” Herne asked. “Yutani or me?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Both of you. I feel the same way Yutani does and I’m not going to hide it. If I never lay eyes on that woman again, it will still be too soon. I’d die a happy man if we could pretend she’s dead and gone. Happy ogre. Whatever.”