There was a deceptive tangling of alleys that gave the impression of a map that shifted behind him, gargoyles tiptoeing away, stones like puzzle pieces rearranging themselves into new configurations of maps to places unknown while he weren’t looking. Nova Scotia entranced anyone, limitless seas like endless possibilities, confined only by those who fetishized geography and kept close eyes on it. But it tricked them, like mythic Fay who trick travelers into deep jungles to be lost forever. Mikhail felt all of this when he didn't want to. His priorities could be straight as an arrow but the animal won. It always did. And he needed the animal to survive today. With its sharp wit, even sharper claws and a sore back because the flight here had been uncomfortable. The fight with Noah over coming here even more so. He removed his black goggles to take it all in, near the harbour where ships were docked, people in summer clothes, sandals and sliders-lots of them. If he saw anyone in shoes,
Wet hair clung, curled like mermaid at the end, his black shirt a see through. Jodie itched where water gathered at the small of her back. Her foot was relatively better. Evan's eyes shifted from the window to where she stood against the front door. If those men barged in, asking someone working at the front of her description, they won't be able to tell anything. When she had entered the motel last night with him, there was only one person and presumably he worked the night shifts. The only person they could've seen was Evan, he had stayed here for two days now. But Evan wasn't at the bar, or at least, but he didn't get into a fight. So how did they know about this place? She cleared her throat to catch his attention."Dont ask." Oh. Same line of thought."What are you really doing here?" If they had any chance of getting out of here alive, they had open this can of worms right now."Following orders." His back was to her but she felt the ramrod straightening in his voice. He was ph
There had to be a different kind of hell, ready to receive souls that were self-centred to the point everything became about them and what they wanted. There had to be. After the events of the past hour, where she was suffering from labored breath and sweat clogging her skin pores, seeping from the cracks in her body, Evan hadn't yet trusted her with a weapon. It also had been flimsy eighteen hours since she was presumably missing. Clavin wouldn't start looking for another twenty. She doubted she'd be here by then. Or alive. She was trailing behind him but couldn't shake the feeling that if she swayed an inch out of line, he'd handcuff them together.Jodie had seen crazy alright. Evan was paranoid and crazy. What made him that way? Past the hedgerows and a column of teak benches stocked to one side of the footpath, she wasn't ready for what lay beyond the clearing. Teak was expensive and so was the marble with Persian slogans embedded in it."Junkyard," she grumbled, "you had us walk
The cathedral below the kasbah was a castle built of earth. One of the hundreds that stayed hidden under newness of Nova Scotia with blinding lights and car spewn roads. Morocco had left some of its parts, like old lovers leave fond scars. Silas looked up, marvelling at its architecture. High gothic arc, semi circles of tiles on the roof, sound of water weeping through the stone.Intense pillars stood on all four sides like watchful eyes with broken chandeliers-made for candle sticks, not bulbs- hung like wormy bats. Disgruntled, frowning. If inanimate objects could frown. He dropped his bag and plopped down in the middle, felling the cool breeze making its way from openings in the cavern. Same old. Same old. These walls had been home to warrior clans and their retinue back in the days. He knew because he had come from long line of the clan royalties. They had kept secrets- wolves, cats, sorcerers-although countable sorcerers existed now, he had been an apprentice of one. Secrets of
To see them together they looked like the photocopier, an accountant and a desk clerk of a branch office on their way to sales convention. They didn't stick out like a sore thumb. A dark small man, a middle-aged white man, and a the one wearing sensible Birken-stocks despite the city pavement heat, the sort of millennial who tries to be cool. And all of them wore a bored, harassed expression that city dwellers are born with. No one would think they didn't belong here. One of them carried a satchel, fixing his time every now and then. They all looked like normal pedestrians, except three pairs of eyes were set on an old man. Maybe sixty, medium height, bulky. A doctor would've called him on the heavier side- after the BMI calculation but really his muscles had aged gracefully holding onto some fat. Light gray pants, wide at the top, narrow at the bottom, off white shirt with open collar, no jacket. The three men following him, not to his knowledge, weren't surprised he didn't wear a j
The hatch stayed open and even from the doorway he could smell two things-cleanliness and blood. Blood had spilled then been vigorously cleaned. The small handprint on the back of the door suggested the door had been used for support by whoever entered before shutting themselves inside. Long slender fingers, iron and wild flowers, both the image and scent imprinted on his mind. It'd take a long long time before he could forget about it. Mikhail reigned in his temper. And the snarling urge to call Noah and ask him how had he known Beatrice would be here- in one of the abandoned shipping yard. The small cabin lay down few stairs on the boat. And the boat was big enough to accomodate three people. His wolf had pre calculated the risk from the bridge across. The boat had been parked, no one had visited in past eight hours. The wait to get to Beatrice had nearly killed him but he couldn't risk her life for his impatience. He was buying time. He didn't know what he'd do once he found her.
Back in the cabin, where he had been almost a week ago with Vanessa, Noah had washed off her scent- scrubbing the place down himself and changed the interior to look like his office. Rhys had covered the roof with plenty of foliage to deter the use of hover-facalities, in case someone had an aerial eye on them, and to make sure no one can sneak upon them. Beside the briefcase containing the archives of every law passed, every meeting held stood a sleek computer screen pinging to be recieved. Rhys sat out of the line of sight when Noah accepted the call, but the man appearing on screen was so familiar, Rhys had no trouble recognising him. He broke out in cold sweat, a rebel to Noah's composed form. The man was Van Arik Leichtenberg, the notoriously famed second-in-commad of of Orgur Kosotva. Orgut Kostova was the most influential member of communion, his brand on all eastern European territories remained a token of his power. He was very passive too. Because Van Arik saw to it. Leicht
"I had Ashleigh create a lab-controlled DNA copy we found in those dead bodies. Remember when that creature attacked us? It looked gnarly, grotesque and not itself. The deformation had already begun. They were never going to be able to create a stable prototype because the ones injected with mutated blood were unable to survive. Desmond gave away his plan the moment he let that creature attack us, whatever it was." Noah shuddered in phantom disgust."Children adapt to new changes better than adults. Our priority is to keep them safe. And hold onto what our enemy wants the most. So I simply passed on the blood samples made in the lab to the members high up the chain. Greggory delivered it. That's why I could never tell you or Evan. You had Vanessa's best interest at heart. Evan is very…… fond of her. Secrets weigh a lot, Rhys. How can you carry them when I barely can? For what it's worth, I am sorry." Rhys swallowed another shot of rum. Noah had kept them in dark. All of them. He sud