Dox glared at me. "At the base of Mt. Hood is where the different Gangs meet to fight and ... mate ... on every full moon."
I didn"t have to ask him if it was a full moon. I knew it without even looking it up. How? Because that"s just the way my life went.
Dox took a deep breath, maybe seeing me get the implications of what we were dealing with. "Which means we will have to go through all of them to get even close to Mt. Hood. And a full moon, when else would be a good time for a sacrifice?"
I let out a groan. I"d kinda been hoping I was wrong. This was fantastic, just what we needed. I Tracked Calliope, to be sure she was still with us. The fact that she was still alive told me the Roc was certainly not working on its own ideas. A steady hum of uncertainty had started up in the foal, making my skin crawl with her growing fear. Whatever was happening, it likely wasn"t all that good. On an impulse, I Tracked the Roc as a species, felt the threads of them tangle around Calliope, and then Tracked ogres as a species, ignoring Dox beside me. The threads of the three types of supernaturals intersected with a precision that made me want to puke.
Liam held up his hand. "Wait, how can a Roc go unseen if it"s so d.a.m.n big? I know Blaz has his own magic, is the Roc the same?"
Dox spoke before I could. "Likely whoever is running the show has folded the veil, like at Doran"s house. The humans just won"t see it. Nice and simple."
Time to get this conversation back on track. "Dox, you"re telling me there"s no back door? No way in that you could find for us?"
He scrubbed his hands over his head, rubbing vigorously. "I might be able to get some help. Maybe. But the triplets are a long shot. As in betting on them will either be a windfall or will wipe us out."
Liam"s eyes met mine, and I nodded. There was no other choice. I knew when we were outnumbered and out-manned; I knew I was no freaking superwoman who would swoop in and save the day. "Dox, whatever help you can find for us, do it. It isn"t just the foal"s life on the line, but Eve"s too. And if there really is a demon involved, maybe more than that." Not to mention all three of our lives. But that was our choice, to be here and put our lives on the line for the sake of two children who needed us.
He gave a sharp nod, started the truck, pulled an illegal U-turn, and got back on the interstate. "Portland it is, then."
With each mile marker we pa.s.sed, the tension in the truck grew until I choked on it. I rolled the window down, breathing in the deep sharp bite of the west coast winter. Humid, not unlike London, rain spattered down and I lifted my face to it.
"Roll the window up," Dox snapped.
"Chill out," I snapped back, leaving the window down.
"Roll it the f.u.c.k up! If we"re anywhere close, an ogre can smell the difference between human and supernatural. They don"t have to see us to know that we are trespa.s.sing on their territory."
I rolled the window up. "You could have just said that, no need to get your extra large panties in a twist."
He glared at me and I glared back. Dox didn"t scare me. The idea of other ogres gave me pause, though.
There was a h.e.l.l of a lot I didn"t know about that species, despite having Dox as a friend, despite having read everything I could find about them (which wasn"t much) after meeting Dox for the first time. Despite everything that Giselle had taught me.
So we drove with the windows up and recycled air that very quickly smelled like corn chips and sweat socks. Liam"s nose wrinkled up and his mouth clamped shut. h.e.l.l, how much worse was it for him with his extra sensitive nose?
Mid afternoon, and we were in the city proper. Clean and picturesque, overcast and dreary, Portland had a relaxed feel to it. Maybe it was the west coast, maybe it was the weather keeping everyone mellow, maybe everyone was taking an afternoon drag, but whatever it was, I could feel it under my skin as we drove.
Dox"s eyes softened and his breathing, which I hadn"t realized had been hitched and shallow, evened out. Apparently, it wasn"t just me feeling the vibe the area was giving off. Liam though, I checked him out in the mirror If anything, he was on high alert. No relaxing there.
"Hey, you smoking something over there that we can"t see?" I punched Dox lightly in the arm. He shook his head, his eyes never leaving the road.
"It"s the smell of home." As if that said it all. Maybe it did; I couldn"t wait to get back to the farmhouse, to my own bed and my own s.p.a.ce. But I surely didn"t look stoned when I was jonesing for my own bed. But if it was the smell of home, why was I picking up on it?
"It"s a ruse." Dox glanced over at me. "Something to keep other supernaturals calm and mellow before-"
"Before they get slaughtered?"
He nodded and I took a deep breath. Clever, very clever.
Dox parked the truck at a pay parking lot, slid out of his side and looked around, like a seven-foot tall trying-to-be-subtle FBI agent. I slid out, checked my weapons, and Liam followed, checking his two blades and straightening his clothes. Around us were red brick buildings, each one no lower than three stories. Stamped concrete below our feet collected miniature rivers in the grooves with the steady rain that fell from the overcast sky. At least it wasn"t snow.
"I"d like to go somewhere warm after this," I muttered.
"Mexico?" Liam"s eyebrows quirked upward and I nodded.
"Yeah, Mexico, where I can just slowly roast in the heat."
Dox glared at us. "Shut up, you two. And don"t speak unless you"re spoken to."
I opened my mouth and he clamped a big hand over it. "I mean it, Rylee. Your mouth will get us killed without so much as a "f.u.c.k you" slipping out of it. And if things go sideways, you will get the h.e.l.l out of here. Understood?"
There weren"t too many people I would let get away with man-handling me. Dox was one of them, Liam the other. And that about did up my tally of man-handlers.
Jaw tight, I gave him a stiff nod. d.a.m.n, I had no idea that Dox could be such a harda.s.s. Even if it was kinda warranted. But if he thought I would leave him behind, for any reason, he didn"t know me as well as he thought. I didn"t leave my friends behind, not ever.
With long strides, Dox crossed the wide open courtyard that cut between the buildings. I scrambled to keep up, trying to take everything in, our feet slapping in the acc.u.mulated water on the concrete.
There were no humans around that I could see; maybe everyone really was on a doobie break. Or maybe it was just the steady rain. Or maybe it was something I hadn"t quite put my finger on yet.
Liam and I settled into a jog, catching up to Dox as he rounded a corner and entered a second wide courtyard, this one with small metal trivets sunk at intervals in the ground. It looked like a setup for a fancy water fountain, but I didn"t ask. Nope, I managed to keep my mouth shut. At the center of the courtyard, I could feel the difference in the air. I let my eyes droop to half mast, seeing the slightest of differences. This was not a mirrored reflection like Doran"s house, this was an actual entrance to the veil. In the middle of the G.o.ds-be-d.a.m.ned courtyard. The entrance point seemed to be one of the sunken metal trivets, rusted and bent; I would have bet good money that the humans didn"t think it worked anymore.
Dox crossed the veil as he stepped on the metal trivet, his body shifting between the human world and the supernatural. Liam and I followed.
Before we could finish crossing the courtyard, three ogres stepped out from the buildings around us, their skin shimmering in the rain. Each one of them towered over Dox, their faces bejeweled with gold. Bright gemstones pierced not only in their eyebrows, lips and ears, but were set in their cheeks and chins too. Dressed in deep brown leather pants, knee-high boots, and vests, their arms and much of their torsos were bare to the weather, but they didn"t seem to mind. I caught a glimmer of steel when they moved. Weapons, of what kind I couldn"t be sure, but they were packing. And they were big boys.
More disturbing than the weapons though-they had violet skin, the skin that had covered the book of the Lost. The book Milly had stolen. A chill swept over me that had nothing to do with the inclement weather. Coincidence? I think not.
"Motherf.u.c.king pus monkey, will you look who it is," the largest of the ogres crowed, his hands on his hips, violet eyes dancing with laughter. I took that as a good sign. An ogre who was quick to laugh, that had to be good, right?
Dox though, he tensed. Maybe I was wrong.
My friend shifted his stance and lifted one big blue hand to the others, palm out. "You are hale, Tin?"
Tin gave a laugh. "We don"t stand on puke drinking ceremony here, little man. You know that."
The second largest boy stepped up, eyes narrowing as he eyed me up. "You bring dinner with you? A little Tracker with a side of wolf. Not bad. Not the best combination, but I"ve had worse. Remember those smelly s.h.i.t waffles that Sas brought home?"
It took everything I had to stand still, to not tell him where he could stuff his dinner and just how to season it, s.h.i.t waffles or not.
Dox laughed, but I could hear the force in it. "Yeah, those were ... not good. But don"t tell Sas I said that, she"d skin me alive. And no, these are my friends. Rylee and Liam, meet the triplets. Tin, Dev, and Lop."
The second biggest one was Dev; the smallest one, who still stood at least nine feet, was Lop. Their eyes widened as Dox spoke, and it was Lop who blurted it out.
"Listen, d.i.c.k nose douche biscuit you might be, but even you aren"t that stupid, are you? You don"t bring "friends" here."
Everything in me wanted to let them have it, and it took all my willpower to keep my mouth shut, though I had no doubt Liam could hear my teeth grinding. Doran had said to follow my guts, and my guts were screaming at me to give these three a big freaking piece of my mind. The potty mouth piece.
Lop took a step forward, his eye"s widening as he took me, and all my barely contained fury, in. "Ah, look at the little Tracker. I think the white trash taint jockey wants a shot at us."
I sucked in a sharp breath, and then glared at Dox, but it was Liam who stepped forward. Yeah, neither one of us did so well with insults.
"What did you say?" His voice was a bare growl, his lips rippling as they pulled back over teeth that didn"t look so human.
A swell of appreciation caught me off guard. In my life, there weren"t a lot of instances where someone stood up for me. Usually, it was the other way around.
The triplets started to laugh, slapping their big hands on their thighs, like distant cracks of thunder. "Ooeee, I think the Tracker is banging the dog. What a s.l.u.tty c.o.c.k k.n.o.b she is!"
I managed to get a hand on Liam before he took another step, but his whole body vibrated with anger. I knew what this was about; they were trying to get us riled up, to make us stupid. I"d dealt with supernaturals long enough to know that Dox was going about this the wrong way, even if it was his species.
Again, I looked at Dox, whose eyes were lowered. "You think submission is going to gain their respect? Look at them; we"re a joke to them! You"re a joke to them." I kept my voice as low as I could. "You think that they respect you because you won"t defend yourself or your friends?"
Their laughter continued and I knew then that perhaps, as much as these were his people, Dox didn"t understand them. This, in some ways, was more my world than his. He"d lived, hiding out and being "human" for too long.
"I trusted you." I stepped out in front of Dox. "And now you"re going to have to trust me."
His head snapped up, his eyes uncertain. But he didn"t try to stop me.
That"s what I"d thought.
With my boys at my back, I faced the triplets. "You three about done with your idiotic f.u.c.kery?"
Roaring with laughter, Dev actually went to one knee, holding his guts with one hand. "Oh, G.o.ds. What a pompous b.i.t.c.h n.a.z.i she is."
I sensed Liam moving without actually seeing it, and I held up my hand, staying him. This was a game, one I"d played before. Like a schoolyard stand off. I"d never lost one of those, and I wasn"t about to start now.
I smiled at them and took a few steps closer. "Which one of you is the youngest?"
Without error, Lop and Dev pointed at Tin. He smiled at me, all big white teeth.
I beckoned him with one finger. "Mind coming a little closer, a.s.s face?"
With three long strides, he was more than a little closer. He loomed over me, all ten-plus feet of him.
"Close enough for you, pie eating-"
I swung hard, the height perfect for an upper cut. My fist connected with his oversized man jewels, and he dropped to his knees, where I grabbed the ring piercing his eyebrows, pulling until blood dripped. "I am not a child, to follow the rules of your children. You are going to be polite to Dox, and you are going to be polite to me, or I will let my wolf rip your tiny little purple b.a.l.l.s off and feed them to the Roc. You understand?"
He groaned, but I saw the flicker in his eyes, the twitch in his muscles. With a roar, he jerked backward, but I didn"t let go, the rings tearing out above his eyes. He slapped his hands over the open wounds, covering his eyes as he bled.
"WHORING s.l.u.t BLOSSOM!"
His brothers didn"t join in the fight, which I was counting on. Instead, Dev rolled on the ground with laughter, while Lop leaned against a building heaving for breath, tears running down his violet-skinned cheeks.
"Tin, you"re getting roasted by a WOMAN! A p.u.s.s.y is taking you out!" Dev shouted, his voice reverberating through the courtyard.
Dox moved up beside me. "You cannot do this, Rylee. You will have to kill him!"
I looked up at him. "I know. But I have no choice. They do not respect you, and I don"t want you to have to kill one of your friends. So I will do it."
That seemed to get their attention. The two ogres stopped laughing, and Tin rubbed the blood from his forehead.
"What did you say?" Lop straightened.
I pulled a sword from my back and rolled it in my hand, the weight and feel of it a steady comfort. "I"m going to kill him. Will you respect me then?"
They went very still, like statues.
Dev shook his head. "Nah. We"d have to kill you then. And what the h.e.l.l kind of fun is that?"
I frowned at him. "Are you three always this confusing?"
They shared a glance, then nodded and spoke in unison.
"Yes."
I glanced over my shoulder at Dox. His eyes were wide as he shrugged. "I played with them when I was a child; they were my only friends. They are the only ones I could bring you to that I didn"t think would try to kill you outright."
"b.i.t.c.h tore out my rings," Tin grumbled, swiping the blood from his forehead.
"Then don"t talk to me like that. Only my friends get to call me names."
Maybe we wouldn"t have gotten any further, except for one thing.
A new group of ogres showed up. And they were not laughing.
THERE WERE TEN of them, and they had the deepest ebony black skin I had ever seen, and I"d tangled with demons. Their clothing echoed their skin, and it was hard to tell where cloth began and skin ended. Even their eyes were black, the depthless dark of a predator made to kill. The only splash of color, if it could be called that, was their weapons. They carried an array of weapons, but mostly spiked clubs that carried flecks of blood and flesh on them from whatever slaughter they"d come from. There was no time for thought, though, after the initial realization that the courtyard had just filled up with ogres.
They spared us and the laughing triplets no words, just launched an eerily silent, brutal attack.
Seven went for the triplets, and three came for us. Dox hesitated.
I didn"t. I ran forward, ducked under the swing of the closest ogre and drove my swords upward, through his ribs and pierced his heart. As he fell, I spun toward the ogre going after Dox.
Liam"s snarls ripped the air, and I thought at first he"d shifted again. But no, he stood, dodging blows, using his now seemingly puny blades against the ogre. But he was doing damage, hamstringing the ogre, dropping him and then slicing his throat. Fighters, the ogres might be, but they hadn"t expected us to fight back, or to know how to fight.
The third ogre had Dox by the throat and had his back to me, which made killing him swift and easy. I slid my blade through his black hide from the back, again piercing the heart and dropping him instantly. Dox shook him off and scooped up the club the black-skinned ogre had held. A rage I"d never seen before clouded his eyes.
Screaming a wordless battle cry, he ran toward his one-time friends and the melee across the courtyard.