Page 23 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
The vampire blinked, disoriented. "You in control, Shane?"
Shane wobbled his head. "More or less. We’ve got a traitor."
"Jillian," he snarled as he sat up and coughed. "That shit burns my lungs."
The old Shane would've glared at the use of language. The past six months or so he'd stopped caring. Out of habit he kissed the archangel pendant around his neck and muttered a Hail Mary, which was more as thanks for them getting away safely rather than use of language.
"Those assholes mucked up my hair." Antonio released his hair from its ponytail, finger combed through it, and pulled it back again. He glared. "I said mucked, not fucked so I get at least one point for that."
Shane shrugged. "I need you to do whatever you do to traitors. Find out all she knows about who she reports to and what she told them. I don’t care how you get the information. I don’t care what you do to her afterward. We can’t trust anyone in the Alliance. I need everyone vetted. Pull us out of the Brussels headquarters."
Antonio typed fast into his phone. "We go to first fallback?"
"No. Jillian would guess that as our move. We go to option three. The one only you and I know about. Only send those who’ve been vetted there. But consider no one vetted at this point."
"Consider it done. Sending Faro after her. He hates humans and would never fall to their bribery." The chill in Antonio’s tone meant Shane didn’t want to think further on what would happen when Antonio's trusted right hand, a scary vampire named Faro, caught Jillian.
Antonio asked, "Where are we going? I’m going wherever you go."
"South. To catch the witch. This is personal. She’s not a danger to the world, but she is in danger. Those running the lycan incarceration facilities, FenCor, have sent their super soldiers after her and seem confident she won’t survive. I have to make sure she lives."
He knew where Madeline had been yesterday. He had seen her in one of his broken visions, courtesy of Baku. Last night he recognized the Temple of Debod, an authentic Egyptian temple transported to Madrid and reconstructed piece by piece to preserve the historical relic, which corroborated the text she’d sent.
* * *
The Madrid gardens,a tourist magnet, seemed an odd place for Madeline to hide, but the high amount of human foot traffic through the expansive garden paths did deter nonhumans like himself from visiting. The mage rarely made mistakes when locating people, but Madeline in this place?
He was tempted to phone Dom back to confirm the location, but the mage was grumpy. He got the feeling Dom only offered help out of fear Shane’s mother might've gotten angry if he hadn’t. Odd that a being so powerful could be in thrall to his mother, but apparently, they had a full-fledged fling going on.
Shane wiped sweat off his forehead as he dodged people exiting and avoided security guards sweeping to get all visitors out of the gardens before dark. Hotter out here than expected for November. Sure, he could’ve ditched his coat, but he needed it to camouflage his weapons. He ducked behind a tree while a sense of impending dread sharpened into something more specific as he caught a scent.
Lycan.
The one hunting her was one of his kind? Lycans made good fighters, being stronger physically than most other nonhuman species, except demons. But to fight a witch or anything capable of magic required a bit more than brute strength and cunning. Maybe the person had a magical ability. Not unheard of in lycans, but magic in all senses was forbidden by the ruling Lycan Council. Few disobeyed them. Practicing magic in any sense, if discovered by the Council, usually earned a swift execution. So, unless this lycan had inherent magical powers prior to being captured by FenCor—unlikely—the odds of the hunter being able to wield magic at the level necessary to counter Madeline would be low. Maybe they had a witch on their team able to train others.
The Lycan Council’s distrust of magic was a holdover from a war with witches and warlocks over a century ago. Generally, the Council was populated by elitist jerks who thought lycans the dominant species. After years of fighting witches, they wouldn’t admit the conflict ended in a tie and mutual ceasefire.
However, the Council had left him and his brothers alone despite the fact they employed magic all the time in their battles. There was no other option when trying to counter heavy magic. They’d thought the Council ignored them because they didn’t know the Lanzo brothers still existed, but Shane ran across a higher-up in the Council last year. He found out the Council was aware of them and of what they did. They were in awe of them and the horrendous creatures they tackled. The Council left them alone on purpose because they both feared and respected them. Even lycans needed someone to police themselves and other magical nonhumans who went out of control.
The adrenaline rush as he moved toward the source of the lycan scent brought into grim focus the knowledge that the impending fight would put death on the line. He might have a long life, but he was mortal.
"With me, you’re virtually immortal,"Baku chimed in.
He rounded the line of ancient, gigantic trees and scurried past manicured shrubs and recently planted colorful flowers toward a greenhouse with a sign indicating it housed exotic plants. Stepping inside was the equivalent of choosing to sauna in full clothing. Instant stickiness. The smell of mildew and wet dirt inundated his nostrils. Above that, he picked up the perfume of Madeline, which burrowed deep into his chest. It reminded him of the hot, addictive urgency that had surged between the two of them in Puerto Rico.
Wrong time to be distracted. But the smell of her made him want her with an agonizing intensity. This was the effect of her in reality and not the fantasies in his head that had tortured him for months. Too many fantasies.
The anticipation of seeing her again jolted him. His heart beat irregularly and rapidly—faster than would be expected in anticipation of a fight. His breaths came rougher, and he felt almost lightheaded with eagerness.
Focus on what you need to do. Protect her.
At the far end of the building, a fight progressed. Two people going at it hand to hand.
Madeline dodged and, to her credit, was fast with a knife, although not fast enough. Her long dark hair was in a tight braid that whipped behind her. Why wasn’t she using her magic to not only shield herself but also to keep this fight at a distance? Knife fighting was too up close and personal. It guaranteed someone bled. It also heralded a brutal death for the loser.
The sight of her left him irrationally irritated and flustered. Each emotion swelled with surprising fierceness paired with something new—an abrupt and intense longing.
He shook his head as if doing so would help him forget the emotion and concentrate on the fight.
