She looked at the old man standing at the gate, smiling gently at her. “Mr. Erebus.”
“I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I know. I just didn’t see you.” She glanced at his mausoleum. The door was open, but there were no footprints marring the fresh snow on the walk. She had gotten so used to seeing smoke drifting over the snow, she hadn’t even noticed it this time.
Erebus didn’t comment. He just stood there, smiling gently.
“Sam does like movies,” Meg said to fill the silence. She closed the full delivery boxes, then went back to the BOW for another group of packages. “But I don’t think he watches the same kind of movies that you do.”
“I like many kinds of movies,” Erebus replied, looking at Sam. “Have you seen the movies called cartoons? I especially enjoy the ones where the animals or people do the most foolish things and still survive.”
Sam stayed close to her while she filled the boxes, but when she went back to the BOW for the final packages—the ones addressed to Erebus—Sam eased up to the gate to study the vampire patriarch.
Erebus opened the gate, crouched down, and extended one hand beyond the Chambers boundary. Sam sniffed the hand, licked a finger, and wagged his tail.
Erebus laughed softly as he petted the pup. “You’re a delightful boy. I’m glad you’re looking after our Meg.”
“Looks like you have another movie,” Meg said. When Erebus rose, she expected him to tell her to put it in the delivery box. Even when she had gone up the walk and delivered his packages at the door and he was watching, she had set them on the stoop per his instructions. But he had petted Sam, and she had a feeling that meant something. So she held out the package.
He hesitated. Erebus actually hesitated before he took the package from her hand.
“Namid is full of many things, some wondrous and some terrible,” he said softly. “And some of her creations are both. Thank you for bringing my movies, Meg. I do like my old movies.”
She opened the passenger’s door, made sure the towel was on the seat, and let Sam jump in. Once he was settled, she got in, waved at Erebus, and drove off.
Why had he always hesitated to take a package from her until now? Was there some taboo about Sanguinati touching
cassandra sangue
? Did he even know what she was? And why had he looked at
her
when he said some of the world’s creations were both terrible and wondrous? Yes, prophecies could be either and sometimes both, but she didn’t think Erebus had been talking about prophecies.
Which made her wonder what he knew about her kind that she didn’t.
The snow was falling faster. Meg stopped the BOW and took out the copy of the Courtyard map that she tucked into her purse each time she went out to make deliveries. She wasn’t ignoring the danger of taking a map out of the Liaison’s Office, but she was careful to keep it out of sight. And while it did show where each gard
lived within the Courtyard, the map didn’t show any roads except the paved ones that were suitable for vehicles. It wasn’t anywhere near as detailed as the map of Lakeside that she had found in the Courtyard’s library.
The Controller would have paid a lot of money for even this much information about the interior of a Courtyard.
After studying the map for a minute, she tucked it back in her purse, put the BOW in gear, and turned onto an interior road. She’d make the other deliveries tomorrow if the roads in the Courtyard were passable. Right now, she wanted to get back to the Green Complex while she could.
By the time the BOW slid across Ripple Bridge, Meg was gripping the steering wheel and hardly daring to breathe. Even with the wipers going and the heater switched to blow on the front window, it was getting harder and harder to see.
The white horse standing at the edge of the road blended in with the swirling snow, and she wouldn’t have seen him on his own, but the black horse and his rider stood in the road, waiting for her.
She stopped the BOW and put it in park, afraid that if she shut it off, she would never clear the snow off the windows enough to drive home. Rolling down her window, she peered at the riders who came up alongside the vehicle. Not girls. Closer to adult women, but still looking a bit too young to be considered mature.
Their faces—eerie, seductive, and compelling—looked even less human than their child faces, but the green scarf confirmed the identity of the black horse’s rider.
“Winter?”
Winter laughed, and the snow swirled around them. “Yes, it’s me. Thunder and Lightning wanted to stretch their legs, so Air and I are out riding.” Her smile was chilling.
Meg stared at the horses—beautiful, otherworldly creatures with flowing manes and tails, who, except for their color, didn’t look anything like the chubby ponies who delivered the mail.
Then Thunder lightly stamped a foot, and sound rolled softly through the Courtyard.
“Be patient,” Winter scolded mildly. “This is our Meg.”
Thunder tossed his head as if agreeing. Then the horse poked his nose in the window at the same moment Sam clambered into Meg’s lap. The two breathed in each other’s scent and seemed satisfied.
“More snow is coming,” Winter said once Thunder pulled his head back. “You should go home.”
“I have the library books you requested.” Nudging Sam back into the passenger’s seat, she started to twist around to find the carry bag.
“Leave it with Jester,” Winter said. “We’ll fetch it on the way back.” She studied the BOW, then exchanged a look with Air. “And we can give you a little help getting home.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Meg wasn’t sure what they were offering, but she didn’t want to face Thunder and Lightning anytime soon if they ended up hitched to the front of the BOW to pull her back to the Green Complex.
“No, we don’t. But it will be amusing,” Winter replied.
“Do you think the storm will hold off long enough for Simon to get home?” Meg asked. It was more thinking out loud than an actual question.
Another look between Winter and Air. “The Wolfgard will be able to get home tonight. Follow us.”
Turning, they cantered down the road.
Rolling up her window, Meg put the BOW in gear and followed.
Snow blew off the road in front of her, leaving the pavement clear so the BOW could keep up with the horses, and filling back in moments after Meg drove past. It was like driving through a snow-shaped tunnel that was lit up by flickers of lightning and trembled with the thunder that followed. It should have been frightening, but she felt oddly safe in the cocoon of weather the Elementals were shaping around her. A few flakes drifted down and were cleared by the wipers, but she could see the road and the horses up ahead, and that’s all she really needed.
As they neared the Pony Barn, she spotted another rider heading out on a brown horse—and noticed the funnel of snow that followed Tornado.
They stopped at the Pony Barn long enough for Jester to run out and fetch the bag of library books. After that, Winter and Air escorted Meg and Sam all the way back to the Green Complex’s garage.
“Thank you,” Meg said, grabbing her own carry bag and Sam’s towel as the pup jumped out of the BOW.
With a nod of their heads, Winter and Air turned the horses and rode off.
Meg paused long enough to check that she’d shut off the lights. She couldn’t remember what the power gauge read, but she shook her head and closed the garage door. There should be enough power for her to get to the office, and she could charge the BOW in the garage there. Besides, the snow was coming down harder now, and it was lung-biting cold outside.
Sam didn’t have any trouble running in snow, but after Meg skidded a couple of times and almost landed on her butt, he slowed down to accommodate human legs. Pausing at the bottom of her stairs to catch her breath, she noticed the black sedan idling at the side of the road.
“What does he want?” she muttered uneasily as she looked around. No lights on in Henry’s apartment. Most likely he was still working in his studio. She paused a moment longer, then climbed the stairs to her apartment.
“Come on, Sam. You can stay up here with me until Simon gets home.” She’d spent so much time in Simon’s apartment these past few days, she hadn’t had a chance to settle into her own place.
“Meg!”
Meg opened her door, tossed the towel on the floor near the boot mat, and told Sam to stay on the towel. Then she greeted Tess as the other woman bounded up the stairs.
“Here,” Tess said, holding out a bakery tin. “Chocolate chip cookies, still warm from the oven. I booted everyone out and closed A Little Bite early, but after I got home, I felt restless and decided to bake.”
Meg took the tin. “Thanks, Tess. Do you want to come in?”
“No. I’ve got a casserole in the oven now. You’re shivering. You should get inside.”
Tess wasn’t shivering—yet—but she wasn’t dressed for being outside for long.
Meg stepped inside.
Tess’s hair began to streak with green. She shook her head, but the hair continued to change to green and started to curl. “It’s this storm,” she explained. “Everyone will be edgy if the Wolfgard gets stranded tonight.”
“Winter said the storm will hold off and Simon will be able to get home,” Meg said.
Tess gave her an odd look. “Did she? Well, she would know.”
Bounding down the stairs, Tess ran back to her own apartment. Meg closed her door and set down the tin with the rest of her things as she took off her boots and hung up her coat.
Sam immediately began sniffing at the bakery tin. When he couldn’t nose it open, he sat and grabbed it between his front paws, trying to hook his claws under the lid to pull it open.
“No,” Meg said, taking it from him. Going into the kitchen with him bouncing beside her, she set the tin in the middle of her table, opened it, and recalled everything she could about cookies and animals.
The chocolate chip cookies smelled delicious, and she wanted to bite into one. But she looked at Sam, balanced on his hind legs with his front paws resting on the table’s edge, and closed the tin.
“I’m sorry, Sam, but I don’t know if Wolves can eat these cookies. I remember that chocolate is bad for dogs—” She held up a hand to stop him when he began vocalizing. “Yes, I know you’re not a dog, and maybe since you can change shape you’d be fine eating chocolate even when you’re furry, but I can’t take the chance of you getting sick, especially tonight, when it would be hard to get help. So no people cookies. And I won’t have any either.”
At least, not until you go home.
Sam howled.
Someone pounded on her front door.
Meg hesitated, rememories of bad things happening when someone answered a door flashing through her mind. Then, reminding herself that she was safe in the Green Complex, she hurried to the door. It was probably Vlad checking to make sure she and Sam had gotten home all right. Or maybe Henry had come home in the past few minutes and wanted to let her know he was close by.
But when she opened the door, Elliot Wolfgard stepped inside far enough to prevent her from closing the door. The hatred in his eyes froze her—more so when Sam bounded in from the kitchen, trailing the leash because she hadn’t had time to remove the harness.
“Sam,” he said, still looking at Meg. “Come with me.”
Sam whined and looked at her.
“Sam,”
Elliot snarled.
“It’s all right,” Meg told the pup. “Simon will be home soon.”
Elliot scooped up Sam. “Once I get him settled, I’ll be back. I have some things to say to you.”
As soon as Elliot went down the stairs, Meg closed the door and hurried to the phone.
“Tess?” she said as soon as the other woman answered the phone.
“Meg? Is something wrong?”
“Elliot Wolfgard was just here. He took Sam back to Simon’s place. Was it all right to let Sam go with him?”
A pause. “In human terms, Elliot is Sam’s grandfather, so there’s no reason why the pup can’t go with him.”
Then why didn’t Simon ask Elliot to watch Sam?
“All right. Thanks. Have to go. Someone is at the door.”
“Call me when your visitor leaves.”
She hung up without promising to call and hurried back to the door.
Elliot stepped inside, leaving her to shiver because, once again, he wasn’t far enough inside for her to close the door.
“The enforcer may be willing to protect you, but the rest of the Wolves will never forgive what you’ve done,” he snarled. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re barely useful meat, and I am going to do everything I can to have you running before the pack as prey for what you did to Sam.”
“I haven’t done anything to Sam!”
He slapped her face.
“Enjoy your evening, meat. You won’t live to see many more of them.”
He went down the stairs, leaving her shaking. A few moments later, she heard Simon’s front door slam.
She was going to die in the Courtyard. She’d known that since the first time she’d set eyes on Simon Wolfgard.
She swallowed convulsively, but her mouth kept filling with saliva. She barely made it to the toilet before she threw up.
Vlad flowed over the snow toward the Green Complex, ready to spend a quiet evening at home. Blair was on his way to pick up Simon and the two guards who had gone with him, Nathan Wolfgard and Marie Hawkgard. If the weather forecast was right about Lakeside getting another foot of snow this evening, the drive home would be slow going.
After hearing that report, he had sent Heather home, closed Howling Good Reads, and locked up the social center. Tess had already closed A Little Bite, and Run & Thump, along with the rest of the Courtyard businesses, had closed an hour after that. But a bar across the street from the Courtyard was still doing a brisk business. He had fed sufficiently on two delightful girls who claimed they had missed their bus and were in the bar drinking while they waited for the next one. He was suspicious about their reason for being in the bar, but he had no doubt they’d been drinking, because he was a little drunk from the alcohol in their blood.
If the weather had been milder, he would have let the girls find their own way to the bus stop, since it was within sight of the bar. By itself, the amount of blood he’d taken from each of them wouldn’t do more than make them tired. But the police officer, Lieutenant Montgomery, paid attention to the Courtyard now, and Vlad didn’t think Simon would appreciate questions about two girls falling into a drunken sleep and dying in a snowdrift so close to where the Sanguinati lived—especially when there was no reason for the girls to die. So he flagged down a cab and paid the driver to take the girls back to their residence at the nearby tech college.