Pure Blooded (7 page)

Danny elbowed him in the stomach. “Quit your grousing. You’re not thinking craftily enough, mate. I think what she’s talking about is a recon mission. If we can’t find an exit, we go to plan C, which would be find the priestess’s abode in this hellhole. She’s bound to have a house—or at least someplace she can scuttle off to. And if she does, she has to eat. Eating means pots. We break in, steal one, and we’re back before you know it.”

“That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever—” Before Tyler could finish, there was a loud buzzing coming from Marcy.

All eyes went to her as she slowly reached around to her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. We gathered around her as she placed it out in front so we could see:

GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!

The message ran across the phone over and over again, ticking by so fast it was hard to read.

Rourke roared into the air, “And exactly where do we GET OUT?”

A heavy breeze laced with malice and intent rushed through the trees. Dead leaves rattled and shook, and low growls began to erupt from all around us.

“We’re surrounded!” Tyler yelled. “She called in her wolves while we were debating cooking utensils.”

Sure enough, red eyes began to light up the area as the possessed wolves crept closer through the trees on the other side of the circle.

“How many are there?” Rourke said.

“At least eight from my count,” Tyler answered. “They’re coming from all sides except behind us.”

“Marcy, does the phone say anything else?” I said as I got down into a low crouch stance. “Keep looking.”

“It says nothing!” she cried. “I’m shaking the dang thing and the message won’t change.” She held the phone up to her mouth and yelled into the speaker, “Listen, Jessica’s neighbor, we know we have to get out, but you need to give us a little more help than this!”

There was a loud cracking sound, and the wolves howled their anger.

“Over there!” Tyler called. “Do you see it?” He pointed at a tree to our right. It had started to glow, pulsing through the yellow haze like a beacon.

“The phone is telling us to go to the tree,” Marcy said.

We all took off, racing to reach it as the wolves closed in, yelping and snapping their jaws. Rourke arrived first, bracing his arms around the big trunk. One arm went through, which was a good sign. “It’s a doorway, let’s go!” He backed up and Danny lunged through, followed by Marcy. “Come on, Jessica, you’re next!”

The rabid wolves were running hard across the clearing, trying to get to us. Tyler shoved me from behind, sending me shooting through right as a ghostly voice shivered along my spine, whispering, “We shall meet soon,
bèt nan bwa
.”

“Where in the hell did you come from?” Ray yelled as we all landed at the edge of the channel, right in front of the boat.

“
Ma Reine
,” Naomi said in a worried voice as she landed in front of me. “Are you all right?”

I picked myself up from the tangle of roots and followed Marcy, jumping into the boat. “I’m fine, I think. We were chased into some kind of alternate reality by possessed snakes, but found a way out thanks to Juanita. I’ll explain later, but now we need to fire this boat up and get away from here.” I turned to Danny, who was already by the fan. “Can you get it started?”

“Working on it,” he said as Tyler landed in the boat behind me and hurried to join him.

“The snakes are gone,” Marcy called from the front as she tentatively peered over the side. “But I’m putting a containment spell around the boat anyway.”

“What snakes?” Ray asked in a bewildered tone. “When I got
here, this place was a ghost town. Not a sound for miles. It was like you, and everything else here, just up and disappeared.”

“We did disappear. I told you, we were caught in some kind of alternate space,” I replied. “The priestess surrounded the boat and forced us out because she wanted us in her realm.” I turned to Marcy. “Can you hand me your phone, please?”

She set her phone in the palm of my outstretched hand. “Good luck.” She grinned. “She killed it again.”

I glanced down. Marcy was right. The screen was totally white. I punched the button on the front, but nothing happened.

“The snakes will be back as soon as she can summon them,” Rourke said grimly as he landed in the boat, making it rock. He broke a branch off the nearest tree in the same motion. “Ray, kick the boat out with your feet as hard as you can. It’s being held by something underneath. I don’t think it’s a spell. We’re going to need a send-off.”

The boys were still trying to get the fan to turn on, with no luck.

“I leave for ten minutes and all kinds of crazy shit happens,” Ray grumbled as he took hold of a big tree branch above his head. Bending his knees, he shoved both feet into the side of the boat with enough force to knock us free. There was a huge crunching noise as something gave from below and we were finally launched into the middle of the channel.

As soon as we were free, the propeller roared to life.

Rourke ducked over the side to check out what had held us. “She must be able to control the trees somehow. The roots were suctioned to the bottom of the boat. There’s a mass of them at the bottom now.”

Ray swung himself from the branch and landed effortlessly in the boat. Rourke took the main chair and steered us around in the small space and zoomed out the way we’d come. Only once
we’d reached the end of the cypress trees and were headed into the sawgrass and water lilies did Rourke lower the throttle.

“Okay, now that we’re clear, can someone tell me, in detail, what the hell is going on?” Ray asked. “All traces of you had vanished. There are no smells, no footprints, nothing. That can’t happen. We’re in the middle of the goddamn
Everglades
. You couldn’t have disappeared that soundly unless you went through a wormhole.”

“That’s a good name for it, because that’s what it bloody felt like,” Danny answered, picking up his jug of moonshine and petting it. “It was like we’d crossed over into a fifth dimension—one without life or love.”

“We’ll explain everything in a second, Ray,” I said. “But first we need to get on the right channel to rendezvous with my dad. Where are they?”

Naomi answered. “Head south”—she gestured for Rourke to turn right—“and follow the tree line. The cypress swamp will stay to our right. There is another channel about two miles farther. They are on another boundary line of the priestess’s territory. Your Pack has set up camp at the very edge.”

“Does my father know we went missing?” I asked.

“
Non
,” she said. “We had just arrived back at the boat when you emerged.”

“Yeah,” Ray added. “Before we were going to sound the alarm, we flew over the area thinking you went on a hike or found something to check out. But you were nowhere in sight.”

“Did you feel anything strange when you flew over?” Marcy asked. “Any bad mojo?”

Naomi nodded. “
Oui
, something hit my senses once I flew closer. It was like a dark warning.”

Ray snorted. “Yeah, the air right around where the boat was parked is absolutely full of shit. Like the devil blew his nose all over it.”

“That’s a pretty picture, Ray. What did it look like from above?” I asked curiously. “Did the swamp appear any different?”

They glanced at each other for a moment as look of confusion passed over both their faces.

Ray’s eyes narrowed. “The funny thing is,” he said, scratching his head, “now that you ask, I can’t remember anything specific about it.” He looked to Naomi. “Do you remember?”

She shook her head. “
Non
, I do not. The only memory I have begins when we arrived at the boat. My mind won’t let me recall any other details. That’s very peculiar.”

“Do you think you could’ve landed there if you wanted to?” I asked. “Near the boat but on land?”

“I can answer that. I don’t believe they could have,” Marcy interjected. “The reason they don’t remember is because black magic messes with your senses, as well as your mind. The space we were in was clouded with spells and strange, lethal energy. A place like that is meant to keep unwanted supernaturals away. But if they persist, then once they leave, I bet she has a spell trigger, meant to wipe their memories clear of the location. For humans, the spells alone are strong enough to deter them from getting close in the first place.”

Danny uncorked the moonshine with a flourish. It made a big, thunking sound. “Well, if there was ever a time for a celebration, I believe it’s right at this very moment. I think cheers are in order for escaping our mystic jailer, don’t you?” He didn’t wait for a go-ahead. He simply tipped the jug back and took two long swallows.

“Be careful, big guy,” I called. “I can smell that stuff from here and I’m pretty sure it could take the finish off a floor.”

He brought it down and grimaced, running his forearm across his mouth. “Woo-
eee
! Those humans weren’t joking. It’s been a long while since I’ve had the pleasure of tasting authentic moonshine. But a long while back, when I was pursuing a Shenandoah
beauty who lived in a quaint hollow—the one I so fondly recalled when we were unceremoniously dumped into those same mountains exiting the horrid portal from the Underworld—her family invited me over several times to partake in their brew. And this, my friends”—he shook the jug and the contents splashed out—“rivals it in every way. Care for a taste?” He thrust the moonshine behind his head to Tyler, who took it from him and sniffed, then grimaced as he took a swallow.

Naomi leaned in close to me as the jug made it around and Rourke continued to take us closer to my father. “I must ask you who called you a
bèt nan bwa
?”

My eyebrows rose. “You heard that?” I was surprised. The voice had sounded like nothing more than a whisper in my ear, but it had happened right at the point of me leaving the realm and entering the regular world again.

“
Oui
,” Naomi said. “But it was only a breath of a voice. I heard it right as you emerged.”

“I don’t know who said it, but do you know what it means, Naomi?” I asked. The voice held a small accent, and now that I thought about it, the words had sounded vaguely French.

She nodded. “It is a derivative of French, a dialect of Haitian Creole.
Bèt nan bwa
means ‘wild animal.’ But in your case, I’m certain it meant to call you a wolf, so the voice said, ‘We shall meet soon, wild animal.’ ”

“Hmm,” I said. “I’m assuming it was either the priestess or a loa. I have no idea. But something was definitely there with me in that moment. But it didn’t feel like a threat… more like a promise or a warning.”

Marcy turned to glance at me, her arm resting along the back of the seat in front of me as we sped forward. “It may have been a loa, or the priestess talking through one. But with the whole alternate reality, I’m really starting to believe she’s a bokor. A sorceress
makes much more sense, especially with the zombie aspect of those snakes and wolves. No normal priestess would be able to mind-control such a force and keep them contained as well as what we just witnessed. I bet those things are technically dead and she controls them through a potion or a curse. But however you care to slice it, she’s got a crap-load of power.”

“I think you might be right. But my father told me sometimes the wolves escape. They’ve been able to track them down before they hit a city,” I said. “But that doesn’t go along with her having supreme control over them.”

Marcy shrugged. “Well, either she wants them loose or she has too many to control and some slip under the radar. Either way, it’s very bad for us.”

Rourke angled the boat down a new channel at Naomi’s direction. “We’re almost there,” he called. “I can see boats up ahead.”

A half mile down the new channel four airboats were roped to some trees on the side. Rourke cut the fan and maneuvered in behind them. On the bank there were several wolves in human form who I wasn’t familiar with. One shouted and my father emerged on what looked to be a man-made wooden walkway.

I hopped out of the boat as soon as I could and ran toward him, which meant I had to scamper over the cypress roots, but it had been too long since I’d seen my father and I was excited.

“Jessica,” he said as I jumped into his arms for a long hug, feeling like a little girl for one perfect, tiny moment. “I was so worried about you. It’s such a relief to see you home safe. Going to the Underworld was no small thing, and when I found out you went unescorted, you gave me several gray hairs, which on a werewolf is a hard thing to do.”

I laughed and hugged him a little harder. He engulfed me in his arms, not letting go. We’d always had a strong bond, but once I’d become a wolf, it had intensified. Swapping blood during an
oath had made it even stronger. I was aware of him on a different level, and being this close made our internal connection burst. His love for me zipped along my veins, like a mini hurricane of emotion, making me feel content and happy. A wolf needed to be close to their Alpha at regular intervals.

I finally pulled back, feeling a little sheepish I’d held on for so long. My brother cleared his throat behind me while I kissed my father on the cheek.

“Some of us are waiting here,” Tyler said.

“Sorry about the gray hair,” I told my father, “but I survived Hell, so there’s that. We have a lot to discuss.”

“Yes, we do. We’ll talk immediately after everyone gets situated.” He turned to embrace my brother in a wolfish hug, which meant a quick pull followed by a few back slaps on the back. No deep emotional words were spoken, but I felt their affection for each other and it made me happy once again.

Rourke came up behind me and placed one hand on my waist and reached around with the other to shake my father’s hand. My dad took it and gave him a warm smile. “You went after her to the Underworld and kept her safe. I owe you my life.” My father inclined his head down.

“You owe me nothing. She was the one who kept
us
safe. Your daughter is a natural leader, and a very powerful one at that. She did your Pack proud in the Underworld.”

My father’s head angled toward me, and I could tell he was trying to process my new signature. “Lots of changes, I see,” he said, a single eyebrow raised. “Let’s head over to our less-than-adequate headquarters and discuss it then, shall we?”

We followed him on the skinny wooden planks that ran through the trees. “How did you do this?” I asked, noticing the pathways branching off in a few directions.

He shook his head. “It’s been as tough as hell to live here, let
me tell you. We had to take multiple trips to get the supplies we needed, and once they were here, we had to build a sustainable place to live, which as you can see, isn’t easy in a swamp. When we were done building, we had to employ two witches to spell the area from humans. This is a national park, so we’re breaking many human laws, but it was necessary. We have three small areas like this staked out around the priestess’s perimeter. The Made wolves are a danger to every human they meet, and they also pose a threat to exposing our secret. Supernaturals are cloaked from humans for a reason, and allowing this priestess to break that law is unacceptable. So we’ve done what we saw fit to contain this dreadful situation.”

“What about the fracture pack?” Tyler said, glancing around us. “I can’t believe those deserters live like this in the swamp.” Tyler was referring to the wolves who joined together to move against me. I took out their leader, but they were still operational, which is why my father had come here in the first place.

“No, they set up shop in a nearby populated town. We took out almost all of those wolves when we arrived three weeks ago. They’d already been largely leaderless, so it wasn’t hard to do. Once they were gone, we figured we’d erased the threat. But then we found two Made wolves lurking on the periphery and chased them, and they ultimately led us here.” He spread his arms. “We tracked them all the way in, through this godforsaken swamp, but they disappeared before we could get to them. But we waited them out, and it became clear that was their home base. Since we’ve set up shop, surrounding her, she has struck against us four times, kidnapping our wolves in the middle of the night. I have a total of eight men gone. We have no idea how she’s taking them, but in the process of going up against her, we’ve figured out how to efficiently kill the Made wolves without getting cursed.”