"You're that frightened? Very well, I will send mindspeech to Beldris. He may make the final decision." Baltis waved Wildrif away. "Take him to a space on the far side, near the lake. I have no wish for his stench to reach my tent," Baltis growled. He'd been in the middle of making preparations for the pending attack by the Bright Ones. That attack could come at any time. Wildrif had been consulted, but as the outcome was once again murky, he was more useless than not on the matter.
Brother? Beldris was surprised to receive mindspeech from Baltis. I thought you would be making preparations for the coming attack.
I am, Baltis replied. But Wildrif seems convinced that humans are preparing an attack upon you.
Humans? What humans?
He says the human military is leading an attack against you. He cannot see the outcome—it is murky to him.
Many things are murky to him—he's three-quarters human. Beldris' amusement came through in his mental voice.
As you say, Baltis was also amused. What say you, brother? Do you wish to join me here, or does a threat from humans frighten you?
I do not fear humans, Beldris declared. We will stay and if they find us, they will regret their attack, I assure you. I have the two blasters and Treydis—he will destroy their hearts if they think to take us down.
Wildrif is frightened and wishes to stay with me, Baltis said.
Let him stay, then. Send Liridael back to me. We will sort this out after the Bright Ones fall.
That will be the most welcome of events, brother. We will celebrate it. Baltis turned to Liridael. "Go back to my brother—he is staying in Chicago to handle any threat from the humans. Assist him in his efforts." Liridael bowed to the Dark King and relocated.
* * *
For the moment, Ashe was content to sit on the floor of his new suite, an elbow leaning on the window as he stared out at the ocean. He could see it easily from this bedroom; the new design had seen to that. His other hand gripped his cell—Cori had left three messages. Each message begged him to call or come see her. Ashe ducked his head, leaning it against his arm on the windowsill. Hesitantly, he lifted the cell and dialed Cori's number.
"Ashe, where are you?" Cori asked immediately.
"At the new beach house. Winkler wanted to see how it's coming along."
"You're not going to ignore me, are you?"
"No, Cori. You'll always be my friend."
"Ashe, I feel so guilty," Cori wept. "That you came to me first, and let Hayes go."
"Cori, do you think I don't feel guilt over that too? That I can't go to Hayes's mom and dad and explain myself? Even I can't be in two places at once. Not for that. I don't have the ability to bring back the dead, either. Hayes left us while I was working on you."
"Ashe, I was trying to protect Dori. She turned and jumped on Jeremy, to keep him from shooting Sali. Jeremy hit her in the head with one of those stupid guns and aimed at her. I tried to stop him. He shot me instead and then aimed at Sali again."
"Cori, hush," Ashe soothed as Cori sobbed. "Hold on, I'll be there in a minute." Ashe was there in only a second or two. Cori sat on the back porch of her parents' home, weeping. "Come here," Ashe settled on the chaise beside her. Cori wrapped her arms around his neck while Ashe tried to get her to stop crying.
"What's going on?" Dori stopped dead as she walked onto the deck carrying a glass of juice. "Sis, what happened?" Dori sat beside Ashe as he rubbed Cori's back gently and murmured soft words against her hair.
She's upset about Hayes—that she lived and he didn't, Ashe sent, knowing Dori would hear him perfectly. And be able to reply if she so chose.
I'm sorry you had to choose. I feel responsible, Dori replied.
The one responsible is Jeremy. His parents are wondering right now how this happened. Don't blame yourself for someone else's temper and shortsightedness. Or whom they choose as their friends. Chad sent Jeremy in this direction. Now both will pay the price.
Then take your own advice, Ashe. Don't blame yourself because you couldn't save two people at once, Dori returned. Nobody blames you. You did the best that you could.
Dori, right now I don't know what my best is.
"Ashe?" Cori pulled away, wiping moisture from her cheeks.
"Cori, do you want me to take you to Marco?" Ashe brushed strands of blonde hair away from Cori's face.
"Would you?"
"Yeah. Dori, tell your mom that I'm taking Cori to Marco." Dori nodded and Ashe and Cori disappeared.
"Cori?" Marco was sanding drywall compound but stopped immediately when Ashe appeared with Cori.
"Marco," Cori was in tears again as she flung herself into Marco's arms.
"I'd take a break on the beach, dude," Ashe suggested before misting away.
"Kid?" Winkler stood in Ashe's doorway as he settled in front of his window again.
"Mr. Winkler?" Ashe stood.
"Come on, let's go into Corpus. We'll have lunch while we're there. Like sushi?"
"Never tried it, Mr. Winkler." Ashe followed Winkler out of the house.
"You might like a spider roll," Winkler grinned, draping an arm around Ashe's shoulders. "And no, there aren't any spiders in it."
Ashe tried a spider roll but liked the salmon and cream cheese better. Trajan taught him how to eat with chopsticks while Trace teased. Winkler watched, smiling slightly while having an enormous platter of sushi. Ashe was dipping a tuna roll in soy sauce when he stiffened slightly.
* * *
Josiah stopped short as the hostess was about to seat him. William Winkler and three others sat at a table not far away. The werewolves hadn't caught his scent yet; the restaurant was too crowded and smelled of food. "You know, I just remembered an appointment," Josiah lied to the young woman. "I'll come back later." Josiah turned and left the restaurant quickly.
* * *
"Hell, no I don't put all my eggs in one basket," Ezekiel growled at Josiah over the phone. Josiah should have known better than to call Zeke when the full moon was so close. "But I have to tell you, if I catch up with Fergus before the Grand Master does, he'll wish he'd handed himself over tied up with a ribbon. Sending kids to do what I asked?" Zeke was quite inventive in his cursing.
"You had Fergus?" Josiah worked to keep his voice steady.
"I got a lot of wolves in the palm of my hand. All askin' for favors, just like you did. He stole from our target and wanted me to take Winkler out so's he could get away with it. Plus, he snatched away his Second's wife while he was at it. And since his favor so closely aligned with what I wanted anyway," Zeke said.