"I'm not wasting my swag on my sister here," Josef nudged her foot with his. "I do just fine with the ladies."
Paul shook his head. "I was your wingman at the last little party we went to together, and I'm pretty sure you struck out once you began talking." He winked at Skyler. "They all thought he was pretty cute until he opened his mouth and began spouting some kind of number theory."
"Oh, Josef," Skyler said, covering her smile with one hand. "You didn't really, did you?"
Josef took the empty mug from her hand, glaring at Paul. "The girl was beautiful, you know, not all skinny and blond and cloned like most of them. I mean she had a real figure and her hair was dark and shiny and when she smiled, my heart sort of exploded and took my brain with it. When I short-circuit, I fall back on the numbers in my head."
"He sees in numbers," Paul said. "Can you believe that?"
Josef thrust another mug into her hand. She recognized the aroma of vegetable soup. Her stomach knotted even more. She closed her eyes, wanting to get it over with. Whether the food stayed down or not was another matter. She knew, before she slept, Josef would give her more of his healing blood. She couldn't be converted without a true blood exchange, but that didn't mean she wouldn't feel the effects.
When she opened her eyes, she was grateful that not only the soup was gone, but the mug as well. Paul handed her the water bottle again while she concentrated on keeping the food in her stomach.
"Josef is amazing," she said, meaning it. "So are you, Paul. I couldn't be any luckier. Thank you both for coming with me."
"Don't go getting all girly on us," Josef reprimanded. "The next thing you know, we'll be sitting around the fire sobbing and some Lycan will catch us and figure it would be best to put us out of our misery."
"Fine, open a patch of earth for me-take it down to where the soil is rich with minerals."
Josef looked around the forest floor. "Anywhere should be good. This is ancient land and has been regenerating for thousands of years."
He peeled back the vegetation and topsoil to expose the richness hidden beneath. Paul lifted Skyler again and gently deposited her in the two-foot-deep opening. Skyler handed him back the water bottle and turned her attention completely to the soil.
She lay back, uncaring that the dirt would get into her hair. Josef could take care of that easily. All that mattered was her connection to Mother Earth.
Great Mother Earth, who gave us all birth,
Hear my call.
Help me, great one, show me the path that I must walk,
I place myself in your arms, hear the beat of my heart,
Hear my call.
Sounds came first. The deep booming beat of a drum. Steady. Coming from the earth's very core and spreading throughout the land to give life to the plants and trees, all the flora and fauna. The trickle of water came next, so soft at first, but when she listened, the sound was powerful, the flow of earth's blood reaching out like arteries and veins to nourish.
Great one, I am of your making,
I ask for your healing balm,
I have need of you and your gifts,
My body is worn and tired.
She had never felt so stretched thin, afraid if she asked Paul and Josef they would tell her they could see where she was frayed, or holes torn in her very skin. Without Josef's blood, she knew she would never have the strength to help free Dimitri from such a terrible weapon.
Help me, Mother, bring forth your healing energies to give me strength.
My need is great. Hear me. See me. Be of me. Wrap me in the warmth of your arms.
Rich soil poured around her body, over it, a thin layer, but almost up to her neck. She should have felt claustrophobic, but instead, she felt warm and safe. As if from a great distance, she heard a gasp from Paul, but her mind was connected to the steady drumming beat of the earth's heart. Her own heart matched that strong rhythm. She felt the new growth, long twisting vines, pushing out of the soil beneath and beside her to wind around her body, a cover of forest green.
Skyler felt as if she was in the very cradle of life, held by loving arms. Small hairs from the roots reaching toward her brushed along her legs and arms. Little shoots of greenery reached for her, to snuggle in close to her body, beginning to weave together into a thin, fine blanket over her body.
I need you, great one, my soul mate burns,
He is hung on hooks, their tips delivering silver poison into his body,
Threads of silver burn their way toward his heart.
His life runs out through my fingers like fine grains of sand.
Hear me, great one, bring forth your healing energies,
Give me your strength, heed my call, heal me, Mother.
Already she could feel strength flowing back into her. The small cracks she felt fragmenting her mind slowly closed and the continuous pounding in her head faded away. Her legs and arms felt stronger than ever. The chaos in her mind stilled, and she found herself calm and determined.
Tell me, great one,
Those of the Lycan breed were born of this place,
What was their making?
How can they be subdued?
Show me their path,
Reveal to me their weaknesses,
Show me the way to diminish them.
Give me the power to release their hold.
She had to feel the Lycans when they came near. They were pack hunters and gave off little or no energy. They were somehow able to contain it, so that even the Carpathians couldn't feel their presence before an attack. She would need to know where every single wolf was, why they were there and what their plan of action would be.
Mother Earth had seen it all played out on her surface. Centuries had gone by and the Lycan species had taken on the mantle of civilization, but like the Carpathians, they were predators first. They were wolves. They hunted in packs, rather than as single hunters like the Carpathians. Packs generally had an alpha pair and they used the tried and true attacks that had worked for centuries.
They had evolved, strong, fast, very lethal, and they were smart. They had integrated into human society, looking civilized, but deep under their skin, they were always Lycan. They still hunted the same way they had been successful so long ago.
Skyler absorbed the information stamped into the very ground by the Lycans who had used this forest for so many years. She took her time, grateful to be a daughter of the earth, grateful the offering was so detailed. It was important to learn about Lycans as pack hunters in order to figure out the best way to elude-or defeat them.
When she was certain she knew how the inner workings of the pack were managed, she gave thanks and then asked for help with Dimitri. His weakness beat at her. His hunger. He was starved, and no Carpathian could go days or weeks without going to ground.
Great Mother, my beloved is of your making,
He is your own son, a son of Mother Earth.
You have judged him, you know him. You know his worth.
Spare him, Mother,
Bring forth your healing power,
Aid me in his healing,
Use me, bring forth your power through me.
Skyler hadn't realized how truly shaken she was after connecting so often with Dimitri and seeing, no matter what she'd done to help him, that his suffering continued. There was little she could do about the silver chains binding him so tightly from neck to ankle, not from so great a distance. She had barely allowed herself to acknowledge those evil chains.
She knew it was the thin loops wrapped so tightly around his body, a mummy suit of silver, that kept Dimitri contained. He couldn't reach out to his kind for aid. He couldn't free himself, or fight his enemies. She had to find the best way to remove the silver and make certain she could heal the burns in his body at least enough to allow him to travel fast.
She really didn't want to start a war. It would be so much better if they could rescue Dimitri without being detected.
If their plan worked, she would take the information Mother Earth provided on the Lycans, their strengths, weaknesses and habits, their nature and the very characteristics unique to them, and she would use those things against them.
Their last fail-safe depended on her. If they were wounded, or Dimitri was too weak, they needed that last safety zone. She would need to call on every ounce of her mage blood, of her connection to Mother Earth, of her Dragonseeker lineage, to provide a protection spell strong enough to allow anything human or Carpathian to enter, but hold all Lycans out. If she succeeded, they would have a place to run to, a place to defend if the Lycans attacked them. If not, they would all certainly die.
5
Pain was endless, slowing time so that each individual second crawled by. Dimitri could barely breathe, his breath coming in ragged, shuddering gasps, signaling he was nearly at the end of his endurance. His body shivered continuously of its own accord. Try as he might, he couldn't stop that automatic reflex, much like a wounded animal alone and cornered. His mind was in chaos, the sound of his stuttering heart thundering in his ears.