Tahira exchanged a look with him that said volumes and then addressed the clerk. “She is? Well, I… I want to make sure … that is … uhm, will she get her commission on the sale?”
The woman nodded strongly. “That is not our way, but yes, I am the manager. I will be most certain she receives credit.” She swiftly began scanning tags, carefully folding and bagging the clothes as she progressed. When the last item was being scanned, a loud noise caught their attention outside. An ambulance pulled up in front of the store. Gretchen looked up and moved from behind the register in a rush. “You will excuse me at this moment, yes? I will return in a very quick time.”
Antoine listened in as Gretchen reached the glass door and held it open for the attendants. She spoke in low tones, frequently glancing their way, but neither he nor Tahira gave any hint that they were interested or listening.
As they passed by, still talking, he bent close to Tahira’s ear. “One of the clerks passed out in the back room and they can’t wake her.” He continued to listen as they walked to the back of the store, carefully hurrying without attracting undue attention or causing a panic in the milling customers. “Her name is Bertha Kassner and… ah!”
He nodded his head with mingled anger and relief. “Our dark-haired friend was an impostor. One of the attendants just commented that they’ll need help to lift her. Apparently the real Bertha is a large woman. We need to finish this quickly so I can call Raven back. He needs to make an additional stop before he comes here. But I don’t think we’ll have time to wait for him.”
Less than five minutes later, Gretchen appeared from the back room, looking a little less composed than she had been, and smelling of worry and fear. “I am very sorry for the delay in my presence. Thank you for waiting.” She hurriedly finished the transaction, and Antoine passed over his credit card. She was apparently quite stressed, because she didn’t ask for his identification and nearly forgot to give him the slip to sign.
As soon as they were outside with their bags again, Tahira whispered to him. “What did you see about the woman? Do you know where she is?”
Antoine took a deep breath. “I believe that she’s gone. If I’m correct and my vision was somehow in real time, a green Volvo picked her up near the Schlossplatz. But the air is still, and I can smell her scent. If you concentrate, you should be able to as well.”
He watched Tahira close her eyes and flare her nostrils and then slowly turn her head from side to side. She sighed after a moment, and her scent was rife with frustration. “Nope. You’ve just got a better nose than me. But you really did see her? Why are you worried? What’s going to happen?”
He transferred his bag to his other hand and put an arm around Tahira’s shoulders. “It’s a very long story, and not one for open air. Please trust me when I say that you’ll have my wholehearted support in finding your brother and the others as soon as possible.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and a hint of worry filled her scent. “You saw something, didn’t you?
You said ‘others.’ ”
He kept his face blank, which frustrated her. “Let’s go meet Le first, and I’ll try to follow her scent. If she is truly gone, then we’ll simply pick up the item and return to the house. That’s a better place for this discussion.”
She pointed a finger at him and smelled vaguely angry. “All right, but when we get there, I want answers.”
“I’ll tell you what I can. Is that fair?”
She was debating how to respond when he heard a chirping in his pocket. He flipped his wrist up and discovered that more than forty minutes had passed. A glance at the display didn’t surprise him. He pressed the button to connect the call. “Sorry, Raven. I got tied up here. Do you have a flight lined up?”
“By the skin of my teeth.” His voice sounded weary and frustrated. “I leave in a few hours, and I should make it there by nightfall tomorrow, if the connections happen on time.”
Antoine hated to do it, but there was no choice. “Does one of the connections happen to be Washington?”
He heard fumbling fabric and papers for a moment. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, it is. The flight from O’Hare is to Washington and then I catch a puddle-jumper to New York for the flight to Berlin. Why?”
“I’ll have to talk with Ahmad about this, and probably find at least one more council member to agree, but I might have someone meet you at the airport with a package to bring with you.”
“Aw, hell, Antoine! That’ll totally screw things up, and you know it! I only have about thirty minutes of layover for the international flight. I can’t afford to wait for someone.”
Should he tell Raven? What sort of panic could that start?
“Are you there? Give me a damned good reason why I should take a chance on missing the flight.”
Antoine walked over to a tree and rested his hand on it. Sitting would be better, but at least he wouldn’t fall over. The aftereffects of the strange vision were stronger than usual. He was feeling a bit lightheaded, although it could have been the subject of the vision that was causing it. He lowered his voice and tucked his chin inside his jacket to further muffle his words. If it were anyone else but Raven, he’d simply tell them that he was a councilman, and to shut their mouth and do it. But their friendship, and Raven’s position as second of Wolven, demanded some level of honesty.
“If the package is necessary, Raven, you’ll want to wait for it. If a vision I just had is correct, another spider has been born in this generation, and it’s in Stuttgart.”
There was silence on the other end, punctuated by distant conversations and loudspeaker announcements of arriving flights. When Raven finally responded, the voice was stunned and slightly panicked. “Holy shit. When will you know if it’s necessary? Should I call anyone?”
He shook his head, even though Raven wouldn’t see it. “No, not yet. But I want to be prepared if we need it. Ahmad is here with me at Charles’s house. He doesn’t know yet, so I want to talk to him first. We can find a quorum by phone and decide what to do. What time do you arrive in Washington?”
“Let’s see.” Rustling paper interrupted the dead air again. “It looks like I arrive there at about 5:00
tonight. I won’t have cell reception on the plane, but keep calling and leave me a message. Just yes or no will do, and I’ll know how to proceed.”
“I’m sorry to place this on you, mon ami. But if Ahmad and I aren’t… here when you arrive, it’s only fair you know why.”
His reply was low and concerned, but he kept a note of teasing. “Well, if you aren’t… there, I guess I win the bet, huh?”
Antoine chuckled, but it was filled with regret. “Absolument. That will be the least of my worries, mon ami. Please hurry, and bonne chance.”
He hung up and took a deep breath before turning back to Tahira. When he did, the bags were sitting in a pile of slush and her arms were wrapped around her body tightly. With the sun setting behind her, she looked like a little girl who just learned there really were monsters in the closet. Her voice was hushed and serious, mirroring her scent. “I didn’t like that conversation, Antoine. I don’t understand what’s going on, but it sounds like you don’t expect us to survive until tomorrow afternoon.”
He picked up his package and held out his hand, burying the dread deep down inside. “Come with me. Let’s meet Le and enjoy the display for a few moments before we have to face what’s to come.”
Tahira shook her head and stayed frozen in place. The look in her eyes should be able to burn through skin and bone. “Not until I find out what’s going on. Who was that woman and what’s she want with me and Rabi?”
“Please, mon chat du feu—please trust me until we’re alone and can talk. Nothing will happen in the next few minutes. I don’t believe anything is going to happen to your brother until they have you, too, and I don’t plan to give them the chance. Gather your things and let’s finish the trip and get back to the house so we can talk to people. I’m just hoping there are still people to go back to.”
When she still didn’t move, he clucked his tongue in annoyance and walked over to her. He placed a hand on each shoulder and squeezed, “Tahira, you’re better than this! None of what’s happening should be a surprise. Your brother is a sahip, an alpha male in his prime. Surely you’ve already realized that whatever captured him is strong enough to hold him. But we now have the advantage, in that we know who has him. We’ll know what to expect if they make another attempt on you before we’re ready, and we are warriors, all of us. The Sazi and the Hayalet will take the battle to them, and even Ahmad, for all of his ego and puffing, is a powerful, skilled fighter. We are a force to fear.”
She blinked repeatedly as she processed what he was saying and stared at him for a long moment. Then she nodded, and her scent grew confident and her eyes clear. “You’re right. We have more information than we did, and there are several of us to stand against them. If you’ll fight alongside me to save my brother, I’ll find some way to repay you. I promise.”
There was a sudden stabbing in his chest that shouldn’t have been there—wouldn’t be there for anyone else—and he hated knowing what could happen if his visions became reality. Whatever it took, no matter the cost, he would keep her safe from that fate. He gave her a brief nod and winked. “I’ll hold you to that. Now, let’s find Le and start the dance.”
CHAPTER Fifteen
Antoine was as good as his word. They had quickly walked to the plaza at Schlossplatz and, using his nose, instantly found Le and Melanie. They made the appropriate platitudes, collected a wooden box that he didn’t even look in, and gazed at the lovely display for a moment. It felt so very surreal to see all the lights and conifer boughs and banners that spoke of peace and love, while they were on their way to plan a war.
Now, sitting in the SUV beside him as they sped along the winding, icy road, she tried to decide what she could possibly do to help Rabi, even if they found him. Antoine had been right—the moon was gone, and she couldn’t change at will as an alpha could. She knew some martial arts, but what good would that do against something that frightened a powerful sahip?
“When we get there,” Antoine said, startling her out of her musings, “I want you to stay in the library. There’s only one entrance and no windows, so it’s easily defensible. Keep Giselle or Larry with you while I talk to Ahmad. I don’t want you alone at any time until this is done.”
“Can you at least tell me what sort of shifter we’re looking for? I’ve never smelled anything like her.”
Antoine took a deep breath, and his fingers fidgeted on the steering wheel. He was controlling himself, but she could nearly taste his frantic heartbeat, and the steely determination in the car was overwhelming.
“Do you know the legends of your people? Have they ever spoke of an ancient being that preyed on our kind?”
“Well,” she said, desperately trying to remember the fables that Grammy had told her and Rabi when they were children. “She said there were once great snakes that towered as high as the mountains. They battled with our people and they were defeated, never to return. I think there were also some legends about tigers disappearing with no trace, and one legendary warrior sahip who defeated the mysterious shifter that had killed our people with a web of deceit. But he was killed in the process, so whatever it was became sort of a bogeyman for children.”
She saw him nod in the light from the dashboard. His jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth. “So, they had made it that far east. Very well. Tahira, what would you say if I told you that the woman you met was a were-spider, a being that lived on the essence of other shifters?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Uhm, I’d probably say you had some really good drugs.”
“Well, it’s true. Originally, nature created balance. Even we who were on top of the food chain, who preyed on humans and animals, could be preyed upon—like a mongoose that kills a cobra, or a praying mantis that feeds on a deadly black widow. Unfortunately, the spiders were too efficient, and the shifters were all dying. They made species after species extinct, including all of the humans in their territory. Because they could not grasp discretion in their choice of prey, it was decided they were too great a threat to exist. Two of our greatest warriors eliminated the were-spiders. Or, at least, they thought they eliminated them. But like the other shifters, they bred with humans, and now we are faced with those long dormant recessive genes coming to the surface. Once again, the were-spiders live, and every living being on earth is at risk if they can manage to breed a sufficient population.”
“So this shifter is like a real spider? One that makes webs and can crawl up walls and stuff?”
Antoine flicked on his blinker and turned the wheel hard enough to send the rear end skidding to the side, nearly hitting a tree. He stomped on the gas once more and powered out of the slide onto the driveway, while Tahira clutched at the armrest and tried to get her heart to slow down.
When he spoke, his voice was cold enough to drip frost. “Yes, and ‘stuff.’ I’ve heard the webs are so strong that even the most powerful Sazi can’t escape once trapped. There is also the venom to consider. As I understand the process, the spiders wrap their prey in webbing and then inject a venom that will liquify the organs and tissue of the person. Unfortunately, the person is still alive while it’s happening. I try not to think about that too much.”
Tahira felt her brow lower in confusion until her long eyelashes touched the hairs. The entire conversation seemed so surreal it felt like a joke. But she knew that Antoine wasn’t kidding. His scent held no humor. “So why does she want Rabi, or me?”
“Since you smelled him still alive but afraid, from the scent on the lion’s hand, my best guess is that the spider has learned your talent, and has discovered some way to use that power to breed. Or, perhaps it’s a vendetta specifically against your people. You might be only the first to be captured. It’s possible we’ll never know for certain.”
Tahira clenched her jaw as the back end of the SUV fishtailed again when he made the final turn to where the porch light blazed. “But what about the prisoner killed? Didn’t you say it was snake venom?