By the Embers Dies the Fire Read online

  An hour later, everyone was awake, breakfast was in the works, and plans had been settled. Ortega’s jet would fly the guys home that evening after the recognition ceremony.

  “What about Brighton?” Elain asked.

  “That’s up to him,” Ain said. “I’ll have to call him and find out.”

  It turned out Brighton was fine staying there in Maine with the others. His new house had automatic storm shutters he’d rolled down before leaving for his trip.

  Elain wasn’t sure why that unsettled her, but she’d ignore it for now. Ortega and his men were staying because Kitty had received some confirmed rumors of cockatrice nest activity about forty miles away, and the jaguars wanted to help check it out.

  As everyone dispersed for the morning to attend to meetings that had been moved from Saturday to today, that left Elain, Lina, Mai, and Carla alone around the table while the kids either slept or watched TV in the living room.

  Mai scrunched up her face in a frown. “Am I the only one with a bad feeling about this?”

  “Bad how?” Lina asked. “Bad, we need to blow shit up bad, or bad, we need to play slap-a-ho bad?”

  “I don’t know.”

  A knock on the guest cabin door caught all their attention. Elain was the one who went to answer it, and was surprised to find Kitty standing there.

  “I need some backup,” she said,

  “What kind of backup?” Elain asked.

  “Triad backup. We’re planning the takedown of that nest for tomorrow instead of Sunday. They really won’t be expecting it, since they might think we’re still celebrating. Oh, and, heh, sorry. Ain, Brodey, and Cail already said they have three edicts ready and waiting to keep you here in the Clan compound with the babies.”

  “Great.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Lina said. “Mai’s got lightning, and I kicked ass.”

  “I had a gun. And I can poof.”

  “Both of which are great talents,” Lina said. “But if your guys don’t want you there, I’m not going to argue with them. Give us a minute to get dressed.” Lina headed down the hall, but called back, “Oh, get Lacey here to help you and Mom.”

  “She’s already on her way,” Kitty said. “I called her on my way over.”

  “I feel like this has been planned behind my back,” Elain said.

  “No.” Kitty glanced after Mai and Lina and dropped her voice. “The men want you to stay here with the kids because of your abilities,” she whispered. “If there’s trouble, they know you can grab all the kids and move them to safety. And you seem to have the best relationship with Ryan Ausar. They know he’ll help you protect the kids just on the off-chance there were any problems here. Which no one thinks there will be. You’re not being benched. You’re actually the quarterback.”

  Elain blinked, shocked that she hadn’t thought about it like that. “Oh.”

  Kitty nodded. “Yeah, oh. Leaving you behind is like leaving a bunch of shifters behind.” She tipped her head toward the hallway, where Lina and Mai had headed. “But don’t tell them that.” She smiled. “Don’t want to hurt their feelings, but they’re kind of second-string at this point.”

  Elain felt a lot better when Kitty framed it like that. Yeah, if she sat down and gathered all their babies in her lap, maybe with her mom sitting in front of her and holding hands…yeah, she could poof them all at once.

  Mai could throw lightning bolts, but she’d also accidentally pantsed one of her own men in their front yard.

  Not exactly confidence-inducing when it came to that skill.

  Lacey arrived minutes after Kitty, Mai, and Lina boogied out the door for the planning session.

  “So how does this mess up the celebration tonight?” Elain asked.

  “It doesn’t,” Lacey said. “It’ll still go on as planned. But tomorrow, early, they’re going to move you and Carla and the babies all to my place for the day.”

  “Why?”

  “Just in case.”

  “In case of what?”

  “Everyone knows where the guest cabin is,” Lacey said. “My place is easier to protect and defend if necessary. Not that it will be necessary,” she said. “I haven’t seen anything to make me think there’s any trouble coming right now.”

  “But what if that blank spot Baba Yaga now has extends to you, too?”

  “I haven’t seen anything bad about these children, let’s put it that way.”

  “This still feels…wrong.”

  “In any case, this is a perfect weekend for them to go on a cockatrice raid. We have several dozen very powerful shifters here for the celebration. That’s not counting Ortega and his men.”

  Colleen pulled herself to her feet using the couch and on wobbly legs walked over to Lacey, who scooped her up. “Hello, Miss Puppykins.”

  “Auntie Wacey!”

  “Ready to spend a day with me and Aunt Elain and Aunt Carla?”

  Colleen clapped. “Cookies, pweese!”

  “I certainly can make cookies. Would you like to help?”

  The toddler nodded. She was still not quite a year old yet, but as with other shifters she was advanced for her age. So their morning activities consisted of turning the cabin’s kitchen into a bunch of messy, happy, cookie-hyped toddlers. Ellie, Connor, and Joss were too little to partake in the festivities, though.

  George and Luke, seated in chairs at the kitchen table, carefully watched what Lacey showed them to do. Then the boys reached in to help BettLynn do it.

  Elain realized what Mai and Lina had both talked about. Elain interrupted the boys, hoping the not-quite-two-year-olds could understand the concept. She gently grabbed their wrists and opted for visuals.

  “Let BettLynn try. Trying is good for her. Helping is okay, but she has to learn to do it.”

  She sent them mental images of sitting by and watching BettLynn do things while they demonstrated the tasks to her, but letting BettLynn actually tackle the project herself.

  The brothers looked at each other, then at Elain, their heads cocked in identical, quizzical ways.

  Just like their fathers, they would be night and day in terms of appearance and personalities. But regarding BettLynn, they were always on the same wavelength.

  Elain handed BettLynn a cookie cutter and pointed at the small square of dough in front of her. The boys seemed to be fighting their instincts to help her, but watched her as she struggled and finally got an odd-shaped cookie cut out all by herself. Then she clapped and laughed, delighted at what she’d done.

  The boys clapped and laughed with her, and it was only then Elain realized the brothers were also talking to each other and BettLynn in a language Elain didn’t understand.

  “That’s exactly right,” Elain said, holding her hands up for high-fives from the boys. “Good job. Let BettLynn do what she can.”

  Both boys grinned at her.

  “That was amazing,” Carla said.

  “Yeah, well, I figured I’d try something. It seems to have worked.”

  Lacey sounded equally stunned. “What’d you do?”

  “I just sent them a picture in my mind of what we’ve been trying to say. A mental image of them demonstrating to BettLynn, but letting her do it on her own.”

  Lacey slowly shook her head. “Wow.” She lightly smacked Elain’s shoulder, leaving behind a flour handprint. “And you were worried you wouldn’t be a good mother.” The old Seer grinned.

  * * * *

  Elain was never so glad to collapse as she was that night. The ceremony, dinner—she felt wiped out. She’d said good-bye to Cail and Ain and the others before Ortega’s men drove them to the airport. The hurricane was still on a course to make landfall around Venice, meaning it would likely sweep across Arcadia.

  And their ranch.

  “What time tomorrow are you guys all moving out?” Elain asked Brodey, nearly asleep already.

  “Six. Callie’s going to come over here to help you and Mom get the babies moved to Lacey’s. We’re leaving you
the minivan.”

  “Four adults against eight shifter babies and toddlers. That’s not fair odds. They’ll slaughter us.”

  “Three against seven. Callie’s got to help out with some of the events still going on here at the compound, since Blackie won’t be there.”

  “That’s even worse.” She snuggled against Brodey’s side. “I hate you.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “No, I don’t. But I’m exhausted.”

  “No offense, so am I.”

  “You be safe tomorrow.”

  “We will.”

  “I take it Brighton will bring up the rear?”

  “Actually, he’s staying behind.”

  “Why?”

  “To help Callie and some of the others here with research. To be honest, I’d rather have him here. I don’t know what his cockatrice fighting skills are like in real life, but the rest of us have already worked together as a team. Several times. We don’t want him getting overzealous and taking people out who we want to question.”

  “You already have to worry about Lina doing that,” she only half-joked.

  “True dat.” He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

  “Famous last words.” She dropped into what was, fortunately, an exhausted and dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Early Saturday morning, Brighton double-checked his notes. It had taken him slightly longer to climb the tree and place the trail video camera than he’d planned, but he had everything arranged. As long as all the parts fell into their proper places, he would be able to rid their line of the false heirs, get rid of the Dark One in their midst, and be able to prove to his brothers and everyone else once and for all that he wasn’t simply “tetched” in the head.

  That he was right. That throughout all the years, everything he’d done, he’d been right.

  He’d have proof.

  Proof that the cockatrice menace was all around them, everywhere, even deeper and closer than they’d ever dreamed possible before.

  That no one could be trusted unless it was direct family they knew. Even then, perhaps not.

  Fortunately, many of the cockatrice were bloody idiots, falling for his bollocks that he was, in fact, a cockatrice who’d used dark magick from the spell book to occlude himself. All he’d had to do was show the amulet, show the knife, and show them pictures of the spell book in his possession for them to take a step back and believe he was the real deal.

  Pitiful, really.

  He could barely stand to be around them, tolerate their foul stench. To not instinctively curl his lips and bare his teeth at them.

  It didn’t help matters any that the baby Elain had suddenly and mysteriously brought, likely from Bolivia, bore traces of that same stench as well. Even Ortega and his men carried hints of it on their clothes.

  How could no one smell it but him? Were they blind or just plain stupid? Were they all so deeply caught in a spell by Elain to just blithely ignore it? Ortega and the other jaguars being part of the scheme saddened him, but he supposed perhaps they’d been infiltrated, too. Which made sense from what he’d heard about how Liam had hidden out in Ortega’s territory for all those years.

  The jaguars couldn’t be trusted. They were obviously traitors, having adopted Elain as their Seer after helping hide Liam for so many years.

  The task remained solely up to him to rid the world of this menace, starting with within their own ranks.

  He’d show them all.

  With Brodey, Blackie, Kitty, Liam, Lina, Mai, and many of the others off on the wild cockatrice chase he’d sent them on, leaving him behind with the predictable excuse that they wanted him to help guard the Clan compound, it would leave him better able to accomplish what he needed to do, uninterrupted. As he finished setting up and headed away from the rock pile to finalize his plans, he felt in his heart this was the only path left.

  The true path.

  The path that would eventually lead to utter freedom.

  It would be difficult for the others to understand, at first. Until he showed them the truth, the proof.

  Then they’d all realize how right he’d been.

  * * * *

  Elain and Carla had gotten moved and settled in for the day at Lacey’s with the kids and Jasper. After everyone had eaten breakfast and been changed, pretty much all the babies fell asleep. Carla checked in on them. Joss, Connor, Colleen, and Ellie were all fast asleep in travel cribs in Lacey’s guest room, Connor and Ellie sharing a travel crib. Callie had actually taken pity on Elain and Carla and had volunteered to take BettLynn and the Beasts with her.

  Elain thought Callie was nuts for taking on the burden by herself, but since Lina and Mai were fine with it, Elain damn sure wasn’t going to argue about it.

  That was a stove Callie would have to touch herself.

  Elain sat at the kitchen table with Lacey, Jasper lying on the floor and staring up at them.

  Carla stood in the kitchen doorway. “If you want to go for a walk with Lacey, honey, I can watch the kids.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure.” She walked around behind Elain and hugged her. “Go talk Seer stuff. It’s okay. We’ll be fine. They’ll all be asleep for at least another hour or two.”

  “I just have a really…unsettled feeling.” Elain looked up at her mom. “I wish Brodey had let me go with them.” She didn’t like that Ain and Cail and Micah and the others were all down in Florida, and Brodey and her dad were out hunting cockatrice without her.

  “Your father, much less Brodey, would never have left us all behind if they had even a hint there was a problem, right?” Lacey asked. “And they’ve got Mai and Lina and Kitty and everyone else.”

  “They’re not bulletproof,” Elain mumbled. “None of them are.”

  “And having you there doesn’t make them more bulletproof,” Carla reminded her. “You’re not bulletproof, either. You’re worrying about nothing. Well, not nothing. But I’m sure it’s fine. Go down to the thinking rock with Lacey and clear your mind for a little while.”

  Lacey stood and walked over to get Jasper’s leash. “Come on. That sounds like a great idea.”

  Jasper jumped up, tail wagging.

  Lacey was one of the few people Elain could talk to anymore. One of the few people she could talk to without having to censor herself. There was Ryan, but he was busy with issues of his own to deal with. Certainly running The Firm wasn’t a part-time job he could slough off on some middle-management wonk. Ortega knew some things, but not all of them, and she didn’t want to burden him with knowledge that he didn’t need and shouldn’t have in the first place.

  And then there was Marston. Surely a last-ditch person to talk to, but at least he wasn’t going to tell anyone anything.

  The irony not only escaped her, it pissed her off. No way in hell could she even attempt to make Lina see the full story about all of that. Lina would go off half-cocked and blow up fricking Bolivia, instead of calmly, rationally looking at the larger picture.

  Elain couldn’t let her friend do that. Not when Elain knew, for all his shortcomings, Marston was as damaged by life as anyone else, yet was trying to atone.

  He was a good father. A fierce father. He would protect Colleen with his life.

  Killing him was not an option. Not at this time. The longer Marston lived, the less Elain liked the idea of killing him.

  They walked through the backyard and Elain tried not to glance over at the sundial as they passed it. The Tablet of Trammel wasn’t there. A fake lay in its place, as did a fake one in Bertholde’s garden back in France.

  Ryan now held the original for safe-keeping, so it couldn’t be used in another realm to create problems.

  Beneath the sundial lay Mercedes’ body, where Elain had moved it from its original resting place.

  As Elain and Lacey headed down the path toward the cliff-side trail that would take them to the secluded beach area, Lacey hoo
ked an arm through Elain’s.

  “You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, dear. You need to learn to let some things go.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Elain muttered.

  “I understand more than you think I do. I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have, remember.”

  “Not this,” Elain corrected. “Not the Triad. You were a Seer.”

  “No, but there are secrets locked away in my memory as a Seer that would make you glad to be living in the age we’re in now and only dealing with what we’re dealing with now.”

  “Something’s wrong,” Elain said. “Really, really wrong. I don’t understand what. It’s like…I feel like I’m missing something. Something right in front of me. Something…bad. Not just about this nuclear bomb vision, either.”

  “All the more reason for us to go to the thinking rock. Suck in some clean, cool, salty ocean air. Let you clear your mental sinuses and blow out the snot.”

  “Ew.” But Elain laughed.

  Lacey smiled. “See? Helping already.” They walked on. “What’s the immediate thing on your mind? I’m seeing something fuzzy. As your powers get stronger, it’s harder for me to read you, even the things you let me read.”

  This wasn’t even a secret, really. Not for much longer. “I think I’m going to have to tell Ain and the guys about the baby monitors and that I think Brighton was spying on us. And what Baba Yaga said.”

  “Why haven’t you, then?”

  “Because I was the one who, when Brighton first showed up, went to bat for him with my guys. They were all making these snide comments about him. I threw a slight hissy fit at them and told them they should go easier on him. Especially since he was—”

  “‘Special’?”

  But Lacey used air quotes around it.

  “Yeah. He’s got cockatrice on the brain. Massively. That Ancient Aliens dude with the feral hair has nothing on the serious level of crazy Brighton’s serving up. I don’t want him anywhere near my kids, or BettLynn and the Beasts, or Joss. I don’t want him around my dad. I know Brighton claims he’s been hunting cockatrice in Europe, but why hasn’t Kitty crossed paths with him if that’s the case?”