Out of Smoke and Ashes

  She opened her eyes as Callie bent in to look. She let out a snort. “You have to be shitting me.”

  Lacey smiled. “It’s rather apropos, I suppose.”

  Her finger had come to rest on a small spot called Loco Mountain.

  “But you don’t know for sure?”

  Lacey shrugged. “You know how this works for me. What comes to me is more accurate than what I deliberately set out to see. All I can tell you is that it feels right.”

  “Well, good enough for me. It’s a start.” She leaned in and hugged her. “Thanks.” When she straightened to leave, Lacey grabbed her hand.

  “Wait.”

  “I really can’t. I need to find Carla.”

  “I have someone I think you might need to call. They might not be able to help, and I don’t even know if the number is still valid, but it might be worth a shot if it means saving Carla.”

  “Why didn’t we start there?”

  “Because…” She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a pad of sticky notes. She wrote the number on the top piece, ripped it off, and handed it to Callie. “It’s…complicated.”

  “I thought we were on the same team and here you are holding out on me,” she lightly teased. She held the number up. “Do I know this person?”

  “I’ve never met him in person. I doubt you have.”

  “Sooo…who am I asking for?”

  Lacey’s expression turned grim. “You might have heard of him. I know you’ve heard of his…company, as it were.”

  Callie frowned as she stared at the number. It had a 404 area code, which she thought was Atlanta, if she remembered correctly. “Um, can I get a better hint than that?”

  “You and your sisters tend to stay out of his way, and he stays out of yours. Different bailiwicks, one might say.”

  Callie stared at her. “Still not tracking. Just give me a name.”

  She leaned back in her chair. “You and your sisters deal with things on this plane, as it were. In this world.”

  “Are you feeling okay?”

  Lacey slapped the desk so hard it startled Callie. “Listen to me!” the old Seer said, her voice angry. “You fucking know damn well who this is. I don’t want to have to say his name out loud.”

  “Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “Not like we’re at Hogwarts and we’re talking about Voldemort or something.” She laughed. “He Who…” Her voice trailed away as it finally clicked home. “Oh, shit,” she whispered.

  Lacey nodded. “Yes, oh, shit. Him.”

  Suddenly, Callie didn’t want to be holding the paper any longer. Yes, her and her two sisters had their responsibilities. And she was vaguely aware of a myriad of different deities both minor and major from various pantheons scattered across the Ether. But they’d had little to no contact with most other beings not strictly of the earthly realm. She, herself, had crossed paths with Selkies on occasion, but she’d never crossed over to their home realm. She knew there were other worlds, other planes, other creatures, and they each had their own corporate structure, as it were…

  She’d just willfully ignored their presence since they didn’t have anything to do with her or the shifters and lands in her care in her younger years. And the others normally didn’t dip their toes into her pie, either. Live and let live. The vampires, for example. They even let shifters host their Gatherings at Yellowstone, which was run by them.

  Her hand trembled as she held the paper. “If this number is still good, and…he…himself…if he answers…”

  Lacey sat back nodding. “You see why it was my last resort option for you?”

  “Shit.” On the one hand, he might be able to give her the information she needed to rescue Carla.

  On the other…

  She didn’t want to contemplate that.

  The numbers on the sticky note had her transfixed. Ten little numbers.

  Lacey sighed. “I wouldn’t have given it to you if I didn’t think you might need it. Just…please don’t let it be known I gave you the number. Okay? I’d rather not get a visit from him if he’s unhappy about me giving it to you in the first place.”

  She stared at the numbers. “Then there’s the chance I could start here and have Carla back safely by daybreak.”

  Lacey glanced at the clock on her wall. “There is that.”

  Any means necessary. She made her decision. She leaned in and quickly hugged Lacey. “Thanks.”

  “Good luck. If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

  She held up the sticky note. “I think you did.” She would try her other options first, but not waste too much time on them.

  Callie closed her eyes. She opened them to find herself staring up into a cloudless, star-filled expanse of sky without a single street lamp to cast light pollution.

  “Welcome to Montana,” she muttered under her breath. It only took her a moment to orient herself once her cell phone picked up one bar of service and she was able to pull up the maps service on it. She closed her eyes and opened them in her intended position. Standing outside a closed convenience store, there was still a phone book in the working pay phone.

  And her cell phone picked up an extra bar of service.

  The fucker was, miracle of miracles, listed in the book. With his address. Once she had it plugged into her phone, she was quickly standing on the man’s front porch.

  No one was home.

  She materialized inside the living room.

  “Wow.” She flipped on a light. The room looked like the house was occupied by a couple of frat boys. Beer and soda cans lay discarded on the floor and on other horizontal surfaces.

  “Blech.” She found a pile of mail on what she guessed was supposed to be the dining room table. It was all addressed to Casper Gallatin at this address.

  Working her way through the house, she found a notepad on the kitchen counter, underneath where an old rotary dial phone hung on the wall.

  She smiled as she ripped the top page off, where he’d noted a Southwest flight number and time out of Spokane to Pittsburgh for two days earlier…and an address out in the right area of Montana to possibly be associated with a Loco Mountain compound. “Bingo.”

  It was a start, and more information than they had before.

  By the time dawn was preparing to break on the eastern seaboard, Callie had crossed the country several times following different leads without any luck locating Carla. Rodolfo’s Montana compound, once she located it, didn’t give her any clues, either. There were some men sleeping and standing guard, but the only females on the property were an older Hispanic woman and a young girl.

  Neither of them Carla. But Callie strongly smelled the horrible aftershave the old bastard liked, so she guessed she had the right place, at least.

  She felt around for the sticky note she’d shoved in her pocket, the one bearing the phone number she really didn’t want to have to use.

  It’s my last option.

  “Well, Sir did say any means necessary,” she muttered to herself. “He probably didn’t have this in mind.” She pulled out her cell and dialed the number.

  It rang three times and Callie was considering hanging up when a man’s voice, British and clogged with sleep, answered. “It bloody well better be important, calling me this early.”

  She didn’t know what to say.

  She wasn’t even sure who she was talking with. “Um, hi?”

  The man hesitated. “Is that a question or a response?” He sounded a little less asleep now.

  “Um, hi. Hello. Who am I speaking with?”

  He laughed. “You call me and wake me up out of a perfectly sound sleep to ask me who I am? Brilliant. Absolutely bloody brilliant.”

  She swallowed back the urge to get snarky. It might prove very hazardous to her health and fly in direct contradiction to her Master’s edict to stay safe. “I’m sorry. I was given this number by someone who thought it might be of help.”

  He sounded even more awake now, and a little more serious. “Since y
ou seem to be at a loss for my name, how about you give me yours?”

  “Callie Maher Blackstone.”

  “Never heard of you, dear. Good-b—”

  “Cailleach,” she blurted out. “The Cailleach. You know, Baba Yaga and Brighde’s little sis. One of the three Immortals. That Cailleach.”

  A moment of silence met her admission. When he finally spoke again, he sounded completely awake, professional, and all too serious. “Ryan Ausar, my dear. How may I be of assistance?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  She didn’t have to figure out where he was. He simply brought her to him. The man who met her when she appeared in his Atlanta condo didn’t fit her expectations in the least. Taller than her, maybe not quite as tall as Daniel, his green eyes seemed to peer into the depths of her soul. He’d pulled on a bathrobe, and his sandy hair looked disheveled.

  He walked over and shook hands with her. “Sorry I’m not more properly attired,” he said. “You woke me up.”

  Heat filled her face. “I’m really sorry. I wouldn’t have called except I think you’re my last hope. If you’re even able to help me.”

  He walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “I think you should start at the beginning and tell me what the problem is before we go any farther.”

  She did, condensing the whole “cockatrice hate everyone” section of her tale into two sentences. She didn’t miss his frown when she mentioned them. Then how the dragons and the Lyall wolves’ Clan, among others, were joining forces against the cockatrice, and that Rodolfo Abernathy had a hard-on to get Elain and Mai in his clutches.

  When she finished, they were both holding mugs of coffee and sitting on his couch.

  He studied her for a moment. “I’m not sure how to help you, to be quite honest,” he said when she’d finished. “The Firm doesn’t normally get involved with squabbles between terrestrial beings. Our job is more to keep things that don’t belong here from coming here and starting problems, protecting innocents, helping souls move on when they’re stuck, that sort of thing. In fact, the higher-ups tend to frown on us crossing between territories, as it were, except in the most extreme of situations.”

  “I know,” Callie nervously said. “I realize that. I wouldn’t ask except that Carla is…Well, she’s like a mom to a lot of us. And she’s human. Liam wants to mark and mate her, if she’ll have him, but she was abducted before he could talk to her about it.”

  He stared out the windows for a moment, which overlooked Turner Field. “I thought wolves simply took their mates,” he finally said when he turned back to face her.

  “No. Most don’t. In the old days, yes, but most of them have civilized themselves.”

  “And you, I take it, are now mated to one?”

  She blushed, something she damn sure wasn’t used to doing.

  Well, not unless it was her Master and husband making her do it. “Yes,” she softly admitted. “I am.”

  He nodded, indicating her day collar that she never took off unless Daniel took it off her. “And even more than just a mate,” he observed.

  She nodded. Why deny it? “He’s my husband, mate, and Master.”

  “You gave up your Immortal status to do so, I take it?”

  She nodded. “Still have most of the powers, but sort of abdicated the office.

  He slowly nodded. “Admirable. I have met your eldest sister before. Courtesy visit on my part when we had to do business in her neck of the woods, as it were. Charming lady.”

  “Are we talking about the same woman?”

  He smiled. “I never said she was meek or mild. But considering she is far older than I, and perhaps one of the few beings out there with the kind of authority, so to speak, that I have, I found the visit quite nice. Refreshing. Is she the one who gave you my number?”

  “No.”

  “Who then?”

  “Are they in trouble? Because they don’t want to be. I told them I wouldn’t give them up.”

  “Obviously they aren’t in the habit of giving it out, so I’d say no, they aren’t.”

  She sighed. She didn’t want to piss him off. “Our wolf Clan Seer, Lacey.”

  His brows went up. “Lacey? Really? Now her I’ve heard of.” He tapped a finger against his teeth. Then he snapped his fingers. “I’m guessing Bertholde gave it to her, considering how long they knew each other.”

  Now it was Callie’s turn for surprise. “You knew Bertholde?”

  He looked a little sad. “Wonderful woman. We crossed paths several times in the old days. Never afraid to speak her mind. When I set up office here in Atlanta, I made sure to give her my number in case she ever needed to reach me. I was very sad to hear of her passing. Please pass my regards to her flagyer.”

  Color me shocked. “Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but I think I’m running short on time.”

  He stood. “Of course, dear. Let me get some clothes on.”

  Really? Sure enough, he walked through another door, closing it behind him.

  She didn’t know what to do, so she sat there and waited. If she didn’t know who Ryan Ausar really was, and what The Firm really stood for, she might be able to relax and enjoy her time.

  As it was, knowing she was sitting in the bowels of what passed for Hell while waiting for the Devil to change out of his bathrobe left her a little on the uncertain end of the emotional scale.

  * * * *

  When he returned, he looked even less like a major figure of purported evil than he had in the bathrobe. Khakis, a button-up Oxford shirt, and loafers. And he’d brushed his hair.

  She stared.

  He noticed and gave her a smirk. “Do you believe your own press?”

  She shook her head.

  “Exactly.” He took his mug into the kitchen. “Before we do anything, I need to speak with Daniel Blackestone.” He looked at her over a pass-through breakfast bar. “You did say he’s also head of your Clan Council, correct?”

  She nodded, still speechless. A fairly rare occurrence for her, regardless.

  “Then we need to go meet with him.”

  “I, uh, I don’t know how to do that.”

  He frowned. “You don’t know how to locate your own mate? I thought that was something—”

  “No, I mean, I know how to do that.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  This felt surreal, that she was wasting time standing here, arguing with the Devil himself. “I can only transport myself, not another person.”

  “Oh, that’s not a problem.” He walked over and took the coffee mug from her and set it on the counter. Then he held out his hand. When she hesitated, he waggled his fingers at her. “Come on. I have a busy schedule today.”

  She slowly reached out and took his hand.

  She didn’t explode in a ball of flame or anything.

  He smirked. “Just think about where he is.”

  She did. Before she could blink, they were standing in the living room of the cabin. Daniel and Ain were in the kitchen. When Daniel turned around and saw her standing there holding hands with someone not him, he curled his lips and stalked toward them.

  She jerked her hand free and stepped in front of Ryan, waving her hands at Daniel. “Sir! Wait, no, it’s okay.”

  “It is?” he growled.

  “He’s…” She turned to him, not sure how to introduce him. “Helping.”

  Ryan arched an eyebrow at her before stepping past her, hand outstretched. “Ryan Ausar. Your wife has brought me up to speed. We need to talk, and I gather it’s rather pressing.” He glanced at Ain. “Outside, I would imagine, is best.”

  He finally shook with the man. At least he isn’t trying to kill Ryan.

  “About what?”

  She leaned in and dropped her voice. “Sir, you said any means necessary.” She looked into his eyes, and when one eyebrow deliciously slid skyward, she knew he understood.

  He sighed. “Okay, outside.”

  The three of them convened in fro
nt of the cabin.

  “No offense, Mr. Ausar—”

  “Ryan.”

  “Okay, Ryan, but who are you?”

  He smiled. “You might not be familiar with me, but your Seer, Lacey, is. She is the one who put your wife in contact with me. Let’s just say that I’m called many things, most of them wrong. In terms of my true job description, at least.”

  It would be full daylight soon. “He’s the fricking Devil, Sir. All right? He runs The Firm.”

  Daniel frowned. “The Firm?”

  “It is,” Ryan said, “what we call what we do. We can sort that out later. Right now, I need to hammer out a few boundaries, as it were. What I’m about to do is generally frowned upon by others.”

  “What others?”

  “Sir,” Callie said, feeling desperate, “he’s like one of us. Me and Babs and Gigi. And there are people over him and us. And over them. Et cetera. Please, we’re losing time.”

  “Okay,” Daniel said.

  “Usually,” Ryan said, “we’re all expected to stay to ourselves. The Firm, as misrepresented as it’s been throughout history, is usually in charge of keeping things that don’t belong in this plane out of this plane. Protecting innocents. As man has matured, perhaps evolved is a better term, our focus tends to stay on keeping Earth closed to unwanted immigration or hostile takeover from other planes. What I’m about to do severely strains the boundaries of my jurisdiction, but from what your wife has told me, it seems a worthy cause. However, considering your other…dynamic, I feel it necessary to clear my involvement in this. In both a professional and personal way.”

  “In other words,” she interjected, “he’s not trying to get into my pants. Sir, please, just shake and whatever. I want to get Mom before they get her to Abernathy!”

  Ryan smirked. “Well, that’s a rather blunt way of putting it.”

  Daniel nodded. “She does have a certain way with words.” He extended his hand again. “We’d be grateful, both our Clan and myself personally, if you’d help. And if you ever need our help, we’ll pledge it.”