Page 46 of Bold Mercy

Chapter Twenty-Four

The alpha nosed me gently, then licked a tear from my face. Or maybe he was only after the blood. I brushed my fingers over the wound at the back of his head. “Run, Alpha,” I murmured. “Heal.”

He wheeled around and staggered away, his wolves, howling and yipping and full of joy, at his side. They would forget, for a little while, the horror of the humans.

“Lucy,” I said, my voice raw but calm. “Call the detective.” I stood and dusted off my pants, trying not to look at the men I’d killed. There was work to do.

“First,” she said, more rattled than I’d ever seen her, “I’d like a hug.”

I pulled her small body into my arms. “Get packed, Luce. We’re going home.” At least she was. I was probably going to prison. But the promise made her happy, and she hurried off to call Rick, pack up whatever items she’d brought to Shadowfield, and get Ash. I was thankful beyond words that she’d left him at the inn instead of bringing him outside with her.

“Joe, call the mayor and then get Max over here.”

“Why Max?” Joe asked, his hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I told him. “I just need to see him.”

“I’m on it, boss. But the mayor is going to kick my ass.” He went to stand by the bodies of the humans while he made his calls.

I looked at Zach. “Are you okay?”

“Fucking vampires,” he said. “And fucking November.”

“Why?” I asked him. “Avis and her crew sent the humans. They planted shit in those humans’ minds. It had nothing to do with November.”

He lifted an eyebrow but there was something careful in his eyes. I was different to him now. I understood. I was also different to myself.

“Didn’t you see their eyes?” he asked. “Every human here today had demons in their eyes. The humans were in there, somewhere, but they were sharing space with demons, Kait.”

I sucked in a breath, both shocked and hopeful. And suddenly, I did remember, vaguely, seeing the shine of red in dull human stares. I’d been too locked in crazy mode to consider it at the time. “Are you saying the demons are somehow…working with the vampires?”

“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”

“Uh, Kait?” Joe called. “Could you come here for a minute?”

His voice was so deliberately casual that both Zach and I hurried to him. “What now?” I asked, but when I reached his side, I saw what had caused him such shock.

The humans I’d cut with my blade were not dead. They were stirring, and their deep, lethal cuts from where I’d slashed them with my blade were knitting. One of the men opened his eyes and groaned, but there was no red shine to his confused gaze.

“How?” I murmured. “How did I do this?” But the longer I thought about it, the surer I was. If I had completely shifted and let my wolf attack the humans, they’d be dead. But I had used my demon blade, and it had gone after the demons inside them. They’d expired. I knew they’d ceased to exist, because if I’d sent them back to hell, I’d have seen their spirits leaving the bodies, the way they’d left the couple whose baby had been held by demons.

No. They’d died, and their spirits had been absorbed by their hosts.

I clutched Joe’s hand, caught somewhere between extreme relief and enormous disbelief. “I killed the demons,” I said. “I didn’t kill the humans.”

“The wolves are safe,” Joe said, patting my hand.

“For now,” Zach agreed. “But this thing that happened here today is a preview of what’s to come.”

I pulled away from Joe and knelt beside the groaning human. “Jared will be ready now,” I said. “He will make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I stared down at the man on the ground. “Why did you come here?”

He tried to sit up but failed. Finally, with Joe’s help, he managed to climb to his knees. He stared around him with a dazed expression, but one that was fast turning angry. “What is this?” he demanded. “What the fuck is this?”

I stood, then pointed at the discarded weapons littering the ground, then at the three other men who had yet to awaken. “You and your friends came here with guns and attacked this community,” I told him, grimly accusing. “You got your asses kicked.”

But he shook his head and finally managed to get to his feet. He stumbled to one of the men and gave him a solid kick. “Kev,” he said. “Get the fuck up, man.” He ignored the other man, as though he didn’t know who he was.

When Joe and Zach took a step toward him, he backed up, pointing his finger, his eyes wild. “Stay away from me.”