Page 3 (1/2)

Brattleboro, Ver pots She almost called for Cat to see who it was, but then she recalled that her as in the shower It had been a long day, full of tears and hard work, of grief and hopeful preparation Tori found it difficult to look forward to the equinox with the pain of Keomany&039;s death so fresh She had beco presence, and her absence would leave a dreadful void

&039;Da the back of her hand across her eyes

It had been like this ever since Octavian had shown up with the news, and with Keomany&039;s ashesin a damned wine bottle She&039;d be fine, and then the tears would start

Frustrated with herself, even though she knew that her grief was entirely to be expected, she rinsed her hands and shut off the tap The doorbell rang again as she dried her hands with a dishtowel and she tossed it onto the counter as she hurried out of the kitchen She and Cat had an agreement; at dinner time, one of them cooked and the other one cleaned up afterward Since Cat&039;s culinary achieveetables or tofu stir fry, Tori tended to be the one ht, one of their sisters in the craft had brought fresh swordfish, and Cat had gleefully prepared it blackened Cajun style, with dirty rice on the side, the one dish she really felt confident in ht gu with it, but today hadn&039;t been the day for such things A quiet night of reflection with the wolass of winethese were all she required to find contentht

And perhaps there would be e reaction to death, and always had It ry and it made her want to seize life with both hands and squeeze It h, but especially itorgasone unspoken between them, but Tori knew her pattern For herself, she would rather have mourned quietly, shared memories of Keomany, and left it until the equinox to make love, as they always did at the turns of the year But she knehat Cat needed, and she would open her heart and her body to provide that solace

That plan, however, did not allow for unexpected visitors

It was strange, getting a knock on the door Most of the eone home by now, and the earthwitches who had arrived from out of town for the equinox had all pursued their own plans for the evening Several of theinally been invited to stay here at the orchard house, but as if by reement - and perhaps that was the case - they had all retreated to hotels upon learning of Keo their hosts tih the telass panels in the front door She flicked on the outside light, turned the lock, and pulled the door open

&039;Ed? What&039;s wrong?&039;

The orchard fore at her ide eyes Ed Rushton had been with the at Summerfields Fifty-one years old, tall and powerfully built, he alore a baseball cap to protect his balding pate frohtly in both hands

&039;Best you just see for yourself,&039; he said, nodding, and he started down the steps The ATV he used to motor around the orchard sat on the dirt road, fifty feet fro breeze blew past her, bringing the rich smells of earth and plants and apples

&039;Ed?&039;

He shot her a look that spoke of fear and wonder in equal s since coave ic, naked witchy rituals, loving the earthto be honest, I like it And not just the naked part I don&039;t understand witchcraft - earthcraft, or whatever - but I know you&039;re good people and that there&039;s only love in what you do But this isHell, I don&039;t knohat&039;

&039;What is going on?&039;

Despite his farotta just come with me,&039; he said &039;If I try to explain, it&039;ll sound crazy or stupid or both&039;

&039;All right&039; She glanced back into the house, thought of Cat in the shower, and then pulled the door shut behind her Whatever this was, she&039;d be back soon And she had her cell phone; Cat would call or text her if she orried

Ed clihtly to hi up, she&039;d always ridden like this on the back of her brother Johnny&039;s dirtbike, and the ered in her head as Ed drove her down the road and turned up into the orchard Johnny had died when she was fifteen, and memories of him were always bittersweet She loved her life, loved Cat and what they&039;d built here at Su to have another day with Johnny Unfortunately, there were soh a pothole in the path leading up into the orchard They passed pumpkin beds and entered the thick of the orchard, with rows of apple trees stretching across the hill for acres in either direction

When she realized where Ed hter

&039;What the hell is this?&039; she called over the guttural growl of the ATV&039;s motor

He turned his head and raised his voice to be heard &039;You&039;re going to have to tellwhere they had said their goodbyes to Keo their equinox cere stood the new tree that Keomany had nurtured from seed to maturity in moments It was the most robust tree in the orchard, noith the finest apples

So

Ed killed the ATV&039;s engine, its growl echoing in Tori&039;s ears for several seconds The silence that followed, broken only by the rustle of the breeze in the trees, felt like the world holding its breath

She cli at the new thing that had sprouted fro the orchard and now, having seen it once, had no interest in getting near to it again

&039;Goddess,&039; Tori whispered as she walked toward it, unsure even as she spoke if it was a prayer or a cry for help The s on the breeze

Her heart thrubird Her face felt flushed and her breath came in short, shallow sips as she knelt in the dirt and stared at the nehich looked like no tree or bush she had ever seen Perhaps fourteen inches high, it had skin like an apple, and thick roots that went deep into the ground, covered in bark It had the shape - the figure - of a wo caused by the wind, and though it had no expression, it did indeed have a face

Keoh she felt a shiver of fear, most of what she felt - what rin that broke out on her face - was the joy ofwith eht&039; She stood and looked at him &039;And don&039;t breathe a word&039;

Airborne

The deep, bass chop of the helicopter&039;s rotors felt like an assault on Charlotte&039;s ears, a thu heart that beat from without instead of within Normally she would not have been quite as nervous A vampire could easily survive a helicopter crash - even an explosion But she still had traces of the Medusa toxin in her blood and she didn&039;t like her chances if the chopper went down

Five people shared the rear compartment of the helicopter with her Three of them were rank-and-file members of Task Force Victor, soldiers-turned-vampire-hunters who clearly had a very di, no lances at her that seeirl who looked near his own age was a bloodsucking freak Song kept getting disgusted scowls from the only other woman on the chopper, a Brazilian named Galleti who had a quartet of scars on the left side of her throat that could only have been claweant Omondi, a New Yorker by way of Kenya He was maybe thirty, six and a half feet tall and built like a tank, though the intellect sparkling in his eyes belied that great size Oued her, these ar her kind, she was farin the back of the chopper The ruoateed Barbieri carried a few toofifty, but he had kind eyes He certainly didn&039;t e herin tracking vaer who scared her the most When she&039;d been taken into custody in front of the Shadow Registry building, it had been Metzger&039;s order that kept her fro burned alive with the assassins Cortez had sent Charlotte had been bustled indoors and into a room that was the equivalent of an iron box and seated in a steel chair bolted to the floor, where she had waited alone for hours while soer to burn her and be done with it

Peter Octavian was the only reason they hadn&039;t killed her on the spot, and the reason that instead of burning her, Metzger had come into the iron box with two cups of coffee and sat down across from her

&039;I know, it&039;s a TV show cop cliche But it&039;s here if you want it Actually, the coffee around here&039;s pretty good,&039; he said, taking a sip as he slouched back in his chair

Charlotte hadn&039;t hesitated She&039;d taken the coffee and swigged it, wishing forit just the same A little bit of civilization in theabout what kind of signal itto drinkto accept what he offered Either he was playing soa herself to care

&039;Thank you,&039; she had said, and she thought he&039;d known she&039;d ratitude for both the coffee and her life

&039;I&039;er had said &039;Octavian says you can be trusted, and that&039;s good enough for me Whatever issues my predecessor had with hi to have someone cooing to sign it, both because you say you want to and also because if you don&039;t, you won&039;t leave here alive&039;

The strangest part of that bit of interaction had been that when he&039;d said it, Metzger had smiled in such an amiable way that Charlotte had smiled in return She&039;d found herself somewhat charmed by a man who had just threatened to kill her, and so she had told hin the Covenant and nearly been killed already by assassins anted to htful, then

Two soldiers - Song and Galleti, though she hadn&039;t known their names at the time - had come in with a pen and a copy of the Covenant Charlotte had only skiist It wasn&039;t hard to iine what humans would want by way of promises from vampires I won&039;t hunt humans I won&039;t take blood without perood little Shadow

Then the interrogation had begun, about Cortez and the killers who had been hunting her, about Octavian and how she&039;d come to meet hi to Cortez, and after It had gone on for so long that she&039;d lost track of tieant Omondi had come in to interrupt his coer had been irritated, right up until O and that he&039;d said it was urgent

Less than thirtya helicopter, Charlotte and a handful of people whodown va in the back of a chopper with them like she was somehow part of the tea to school in your underwear Charlotte had been vulnerable most of her life, and she didn&039;t like it She had been drugged and raped and murdered and transformed into a monster, and the only upside of all that horror was that people couldn&039;t physically hurt her anymore Medusa had taken that away and now Charlotte felt haunted and uneasy, acutely aware of every possible threat to her well-being

The thrulanced out the smallbeside her The pilot had said the trip would take about forty hts below ood; itsoon Thus far today her luck had been for shit - sort of par for the course of her life - but if it turned in her favor at all, she would never have to get on a helicopter again

&039;You don&039;t look good,&039; a voice called

Charlotte glanced up to see Metzger watching her with ice blue eyes He arched a wiry gray eyebrow as if punctuating the co it into a query

&039;I&039;er cocked his head to indicate he hadn&039;t heard With the roar of the rotors it was necessary for her to speak up

&039;I said I&039;h he looked doubtful &039;Not hungry? When was the last time you fed?&039;

Charlotte winced at the question Fed, not ate Like an animal A beast on the prowl It shouldn&039;t have surprised her to get this peek into the way Metzger saw her kind, but thus far he had treated her fairly humanely, so it did shock her a little And hoas she supposed to answer that, anyway? Yes, it had been a while since the last time she had had huured the most fundamental difference between the Shadoho lived in peace with humanity and those who chose to embrace the word &039;vaer&039;s question, turning again to look out the

She didn&039;t hear hiht sight of the rabbed hold of her wrist and crouched beside her seat Charlotte glanced at the others Barbieri had nodded off, but the three soldiers were alert with tension, watching their CO closely

&039;Let&039;s be clear,&039; Metzger said, squeezing her wrist for e at her with those ice blue eyes &039;I&039; hospitable If you need blood, I will see that you get it, not because I&039;uy but because I don&039;t want you losing control and trying to drain one of ht hurt somebody, and then we&039;d have to kill you Octavian would be pissed and nobody wants that I don&039;t want the guy turning rinned as if this was a joke, but Charlotte could hear the truth in it

&039;You still haven&039;t toldthis,&039; she said &039;Octavian sent&039;It&039;s Octavian&039;s business You&039;ll learn soon enough But I brought you along because he asked for you, and because I trust him If I didn&039;t trust him, I&039;d have to kill hio about it So I don&039;t really have a choice - I have to trust hih The last time the commander of Task Force Victor trusted a vampire, it didn&039;t turn out too well&039;

Charlotte scowled Allison Vigeant had been a Bloodhound for Task Force Victor until its previous coone kill-crazy and tried to take down every Shadow he saw, ally or ene, which was fairly close to the truth

&039;What was it you were saying about blood?&039; she asked, raising her voice over the chopper noise She s at her teeth &039;I see the Medusa toxin is starting to wear off&039;

Charlotte ran her tongue over the sharp tips of her fangs &039;Sure looks like it&039;

Metzger nodded slowly &039;When we&039;re on the ground, I&039;ll make a call to local law enforcement and set up a volunteer There&039;s always so to share&039;

She didn&039;t rise to the bait of his disdain After a second, Metzger slid back into his seat and buckled hian to yaw and pitch a little, in addition to the usual shuddering, and she glanced out theto see the lights of the airport beloith trucks darting to and fro and the large H of a helipad loo with answers, but for the first time, Charlotte wasn&039;t sure she wanted the an eye on everyone who came and went Two uniformed officers stood near the elevator bank and checked the identification of everyone ent up or ca Charlotte saw a pair ofto a cop who looked like he ured the suits for FBI Whatever had happened here, Octavian was right in the h to warrant this kind of attention The nineteen-year-old girl in her wanted to ators with their guns and handcuffs weren&039;t there looking for her Besides that, she could feel the Medusa toxin wearing off, her ability to alter her flesh returning al its lier and his tea it before they hit her with another dose of the toxin But before she took any action, she wanted to see Octavian and find out what this was all about