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Gilly gave her a serious look. “It could be because of what happened at the compound. You’re the clairvoyant. What do you intuit from this?”
Viv studied the mirrors, the swirls of gray roiling ever faster. “That the future is uncertain because of something that must unfold. That’s why we can’t see anything. Something must’ve happened to change the order of what was to be.”
Gilly clamped a fist on her hip and turned to Viv. “Tell us exactly what happened when you were at the compound.”
“What are you talking about? I already did.”
“Do it again,” Gilly demanded. “Don’t leave anything out. It could have been something you did or something you said without realizing it that made this change.”
With a heavy sigh and slow shake of her head, Viv retold the story. Only this time, she included the very end. “So after I whacked Milan over the head, I turned around to leave, pointed at Stratus and told her if she wanted to play games she was on her own because I quit.”
Evee gasped.
“Wait. Wait one damn minute,” Gilly said, holding up a hand. “You said what?”
“How could you say you just quit?” Evee asked. “That’s why these mirrors are gray. I mean, did you really mean that, Viv? You’re not going to watch over the Loup Garous? You’re just going to leave them at the compound?”
“No,” Viv said. “I was just pissed off. Was in a real crappy mood. It’s not like I really meant I was quitting this whole gig for good. I just had enough for the day.”
Gilly closed her Grimoire and held it close to her chest. “Do you think the universe knows the difference between a bad mood and truth when it comes out of your mouth? You might have set something in motion, and we have no idea what that is.”
“I said I’d fix it,” Viv said, growing frustrated.
“It has to be done immediately,” Evee said, closing and picking up her own Grimoire. “Viv, you forget how powerful your words really are. When you said ‘I quit,’ you rubbed up against the aura that covers the Circle of Sisters. The universe itself. So if you’re really going to fix this, you have to go back there now.”
“I intend to,” Viv said through clenched teeth.
Neither sister responded.
Viv looked from Evee to Gilly. “Look, tell me the truth. Don’t either of you get tired of all this sometimes? What we do is not normal, even for witches. We can’t even use the spells we know to enrich our own lives. Everything gets sucked up taking care of the broods we’re responsible for. We have to babysit them because of something our great-great-times-thirty grandmother did. Why do we have to be punished for it? Don’t you get tired of it?”
“Of course I do,” Gilly said. “But quit acting like a martyr. We all get sick of it, just like any human gets sick of their job from time to time. But it is what it is. We have big responsibilities, and you can’t just throw words around like ‘I quit,’ then pretend you can just walk into your boss’s office the next day and say, ‘Oh, I really didn’t mean it. I take it back.’”
“Fine. Got it. Enough already!” Viv said, and whirled about, ready to leave the room. She had more than her fill of her sisters ragging on her.
Chapter 4
Any silence was short lived because Hoot, Elvis and Socrates started a cacophony of squawks, hisses, chirps and shrieks.
Amid the noise, the sisters heard someone pounding on the front door downstairs. Pounding hard, as though they meant to break the door down if it wasn’t answered right away. The sisters glanced at each other, then ran downstairs as quickly as possible.
Viv made it to the door first. Already angry and half expecting to see a wayward missionary standing on the front porch ready to show them the error of their ways, she yanked it open. “What in the hell do you—”
The words died in her throat when she saw four men standing side by side on the porch. For more than a few seconds, she stood mesmerized. As a clairvoyant, she didn’t sense danger. As a woman, she saw trouble times four.
All four men appeared to be in their early thirties, stood over six feet tall and were dressed in black. Black jeans, black T-shirts pulled taut over huge, muscular chests and biceps that rippled when they moved. Their shirts were neatly tucked into their pants and held in place by wide black belta with ornate silver buckles.
Although there were four, Viv seemed incapable of taking her eyes off one in particular. He had gray eyes the color of storm clouds and smoke. Walnut-colored hair fell to his shoulders. A cleft accented his chin, and his beard and mustache were trimmed into a perfect Van Dyke. Had he been ice cream on the lawn, Viv would’ve gladly licked him away from every blade of grass.
“May we help you?” Gilly asked, stepping up alongside Viv.
Viv blinked quickly, surprised and a bit unnerved by her sudden and blatant hunger for the man. Remembering she was still covered in blood, she darted away from the door and ran for the stairs, leaving her sisters to deal with the strangers.
“Is she all right?” Viv heard one of the men ask as she took the stairs two at a time. She wanted to hide in a closet for the rest of the day from embarrassment.
After showering and washing her hair in record time, she dried off. Although her long black hair was still damp, she whipped it into a braid, then headed to the closet, where she pulled out a pair of white linen pants and a light blue pullover to wear. She slid her feet into sneakers then bounded out of the room and down the stairs.
Viv found her sisters and the four strangers in the sitting room. It was a spacious area that Evee had tastefully decorated in mahogany and leather antiques. Two Chippendale couches covered in delicate beige fabric needled with gold-and-maroon filigree faced each other in front of a stone fireplace.
Three of the men sat on the couch to her left. The fourth, the one with the storm-gray eyes, sat in a maroon wingback chair beside it. Her sisters sat on either end of the couch on the right.
Six pairs of eyes locked onto her the moment she entered. Everyone looked cordial but grim.
“If you don’t mind,” Evee said as Viv walked toward her sisters, “would you please start again so our sister can be brought up to speed? This is Vivienne, by the way. You can call me Evee, her Viv, and Abigail goes by Gilly.”
On her way to the couch to join her sisters, Socrates suddenly darted into the room and ran between Viv’s legs, causing her to stumble. He jumped onto the couch between Gilly and Evee, while Viv flailed to find purchase.
A strong arm caught her mid-stumble, and she held back a hiss. In that second she felt ready to combust. The heat that abruptly shot through her body from his touch made her feel like she’d spontaneously combust. Viv didn’t have to see his face to know the arm belonged to Storm Eyes. She glanced up to confirm. Oh, it was him all right.
Regaining her composure quickly, Viv gave him a brisk nod, then hurried over to her sisters. Socrates scurried off the couch to make room for her, then darted out of the room as quickly as he’d entered.
When she sat, her heart thudding in her chest, Viv tried to appear nonchalant.
“Are you all right?” Storm Eyes asked Viv.
“Quite all right,” she said. “I apologize for disappearing so suddenly when you arrived. An incident at work... Well, I’m sure you noticed my appearance. I wasn’t injured. And as for the stumble just now...” Viv shrugged. “Cats will be cats. They have minds of their own.”
“They certainly do,” Evee said, tossing Viv an odd, questioning look. She turned back to the men. “Gentlemen, if you would continue...”
Storm Eyes smiled and nodded. “Once again, I do apologize for intruding without prior notice. We came as quickly as possible, directly from the airport. My name is Nikoli Hyland, and these are my cousins.” He motioned to the men sitting on the couch and named them from left to right. “Lucien, Gavril and Ronan Hyland.”
Each man looked like he deserved a front cover on GQ Magazine.
Lucien’s hair was the color of gingerbread, shoulder-length, and his emerald green eyes seemed to hold a perpetual sparkle. He had full lips and sported a well-trimmed beard and mustache.
Gavril had collar-length, tousled, soot-black hair. His eyes were violet and set deep into a well chiseled, lightly bearded face.
Ronan sat and moved with the precision of a drill sergeant. His serious black eyes were hooded by long-thick lashes, and his collar-length black hair was neatly groomed. His square-jawed face held the hint of a five o’clock shadow.
“Why are you here?” Viv asked Nikoli bluntly.
“According to them, they’re here to help us,” Gilly said, not giving him a chance to answer.
Viv felt her blood run cold. “What do you mean?”
“Allow me to explain,” Nikoli said. “As we were telling your sisters—”
“It’s complicated,” Evee said to Viv. “I’m still not sure I understand everything.”
Lucien nodded. “It certainly is complex, but we’re more than happy to go over everything again with you.”
“We’re Benders,” Gavril said to Viv. “And we’ve been commissioned to you.”
Viv frowned. “What’s a Bender, and who do we know that would commission you to us? How do you know us?”
“We’re the tenth generation of Benders assigned to keep watch over Triads,” Ronan said.
“Ten generations?” Gilly said. “Why haven’t we heard of you before? Our Elders would’ve told us about someone like you.”
“Not necessarily,” Nikoli said, then looked at Viv. “There are many generations of Triads who never knew we existed.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Evee said. “If you’re supposed to help us, how does anyone get that help if they don’t know you exist?”
“They didn’t know because they didn’t need us,” Nikoli said. “Unless there’s an emergency, we tend to be more of a blend-into-the-background sort of group.” He smiled, and his dazzling white teeth and full lips made Viv shift uncomfortably in her seat.
Gilly shook her head. “You’re going to have to start from the beginning because I’m totally lost.”
“If we were here to con you,” Ronan said, “wouldn’t we be asking for something?”
“Yeah, so?” Viv said, in Gilly’s defense. “We haven’t gotten the whole picture yet, so the bullshit might easily be hiding in the back story, and you just haven’t gotten to it yet.”
“Good point, Viv,” Nikoli said, his smile broadening. “But I know you’re a clairvoyant, so you already know we mean you no harm. Isn’t that true?”
Viv looked at Gilly then Evee. “Did either of you tell him that?”
Both shook their head.
“We know of the Triads,” Nikoli continued. “The Circle of Sisters is a very cloistered group, and they keep knowledge of you close to their chest.” His eyes moved ever so quickly down to Viv’s covered breasts before he turned away and shifted in his chair. “Just the fact that we know all about you—where to find you, what you can do, what you’re responsible for—should tell you something.”
“If what you say is true,” Viv said, “then what are Benders supposed to help us with?
Nikoli’s eyes darkened and his face hardened. “Serious trouble is headed your way. An attack on one of your factions. More attacks will follow.”
All three sisters sat staring at him, open-mouthed.
“A-attacks?” Viv said.
Nikoli nodded slowly. “What’s expected is total annihilation of each of your sectors.”
The sisters moved to the edge of the couch like they were about to spring off it.
“Whoa!” Gilly said, holding up both hands. “What the hell?”
“All of them?” Evee asked, her hands beginning to tremble.
“H-how do you know this?” Viv asked, trying to keep her voice level.
“Because our job is to find, keep tabs on and kill Cartesians, many of whom are planning attacks on your territory,” Nikoli said.
Viv got to her feet and gestured for a time-out. “Hidden Benders, too much knowledge of what you should know nothing about, now you throw in these...these Corinthians?”
“Cartesians,” Gavril corrected.
“Whatever,” Viv said, starting to pace. “What are they?”
“Cartesians are monstrous creatures,” Nikoli said. “Many stand ten feet or taller. They have incredibly thick scales that cover their body, and the scales are hidden beneath a dense mat of fur. The scales and fur protect them from any form of human weapon. Even a grenade wouldn’t faze them. Their teeth are all massive incisors, made to rip and shred, and their claws are four to six inches long and butcher-knife sharp. They travel through dimensions and get into our world through rifts. Their sole purpose is to destroy the whole of the netherworld so they will have absolute power. Every time they kill a creature, be it a vampire, werewolf, djinn, or anything from the netherworld, they absorb that creature’s power into themselves. That power allows them to multiply in numbers.”
“That can’t be possible,” Viv said, her head buzzing with all the information. “If creatures that size were roaming around this planet, surely we’d know of their existence.”
“I remember the Elders talking about them,” Evee said, biting her lower lip. “When we were little. Much, much younger. Remember? Taka told us. She didn’t call them Cartesians, not that I recall anyway, but it sounded like bogeyman-talk to me. You know, something to scare us into being good.”
“I don’t remember any of the Elders or even Mom talking about that kind of creature,” Gilly said. She turned to Viv. “You?”
“No.”
“Wait,” Gilly said, standing up and whirling on the balls of her feet to face Nikoli. “What’s this about traveling through dimensions?”
“The reason Cartesians are not as widely known as others from the netherworld is because they hide between dimensions.” Nikoli placed one hand atop the other, indicating layers. “They’re able to travel through the folds of time and space, move from dimension to dimension. They attack, then simply vanish into another realm. Like they never existed at all.”
“How many dimensions are there?” Viv asked. “How much hiding space do the bastards have?”
“Ten dimensions,” Lucien said. “But we’ve only been able to push them back to six.”
“Actually, there are eleven dimensions,” Ronan said. “The eleventh is still controversial in today’s scientific think tanks, but it exists.”
“What causes a rift in a dimension?” Viv asked.
Nikoli slid to the edge of his seat, giving her his full attention. “Anything that produces a large amount of atmospheric, electrical static. Like a tsunami, Category Five hurricane... Words from a powerful Triad. Once the tear is created, one or many Cartesians will plow through it, capture whatever netherworldly creature it can, kill it, then return the creature’s power to the Cartesian’s leader to do with as he sees fit.”
“The creeps have a leader?” Gilly asked.
“Yes,” Nikoli said. “He’s the one all Benders truly seek. He wants to possess the power of every netherworldly creature in existence. Once he’s accomplished that, we fear his ultimate goal is to control mankind. To be the supreme power of the universe. He’d be able to control the very structure of planetary alignment with that much power.”
Gilly and Evee looked over at Viv, who lowered her head. She knew they were thinking about her saying she’d quit this morning. She wondered how Nikoli knew.
“Ten—eleven—dimensions, does it really matter?” Viv said, to get her sisters’ eyes off her. “How do you kill what you can’t see?”
“Oh, we can see them,” Lucien said, “but only after we track them by scent.”
“What kind of scent?” Evette asked.
Gavril wrinkled his nose. “Like rotten eggs and cloves mixed together.”
Evee’s head whipped in Viv’s direction. “Cloves?”
Viv swallowed hard, eyeing Evee and Gilly. She turned to Gavril then to Nikoli. “We’ve smelled it. The cloves, I mean.”
The cousins looked at each other, appearing puzzled.
“You smelled it?” Nikoli asked. “Where?”
“Here, in the house,” Evee said. “In our Gr... Our books. We opened three books and caught a whiff of it.”
“Why did the four of you look so...I don’t know...out of sorts when we mentioned the scent?” Viv asked.
“Because, normally, humans can only pick up a whiff of that scent at the time of a Cartesian’s entry or right after an attack. It concerns me that you smelled it in your home. What kind of books were you referring to?” Nikoli asked Evette.
The triplets eyed each other. No one knew of their Grimoires except the Elders or those within the Circle of Sisters. They were taught from a very young age that the books and their contents were not to be shared with anyone except another Sister.
“Personal books,” Viv finally replied. “Doesn’t matter what kind of book. The point you’re trying to make is that we smelled it in here, right?”
Nikoli stared at her, and Viv saw something in his eyes that made her insides feel hot and quivery. “Right.”
Suddenly a loud, frantic pounding came from the front door. Without a word, Viv, Gilly and Evee ran toward it.
Through the side windows that bordered the heavy front door, Viv saw Jaco, her East pack leader, standing at the front door, his face serious and drawn. In human form, he stood over six-four with a massive chest and a long mane of black hair that reached below his shoulders. He wore jeans and a white T-shirt. His eyes, usually a brilliant green, looked faded, dull. The sight of him made Viv’s heart stutter to a stop. Even though he had access in and out of the locked compound as one of her generals, Jaco never came here. For him to come directly to her home meant something had to be seriously wrong.
Jaco pounded on the door again and was about to give it another hit when Viv opened it.
Jaco took one look at her and took a step back. “I must speak with you immediately,” he said.
She motioned him inside.
He shook his head. “I think it is best if we speak privately.”
Viv motioned him inside again. “Whatever needs to be said can certainly be said in front of my sisters.”
Jaco nodded. “As you wish.” He stepped inside, and Viv closed the door behind him.
“Is there a problem at the East lair?” Viv asked.
“No,” Jaco said. He looked uneasily at Gilly and Evee. “May I speak freely?” he asked Viv.
She glanced toward the sitting room, saw the four cousins had remained inside. “Absolutely.”
He nodded, then lowered his eyes slightly. “The problem is not at the East lair. The problem is at the North compound, where you were this morning.” He hesitated and Viv signaled for him to continue.
This time he looked her square in the eye. “There has been a breach in the North compound. We have at least a hundred and fifty Loup Garou dead. The front and back entries were wide open and there are many gaps throughout the fenced territory.”
Gilly moaned and Evee gasped. Viv simply stared at him.
“If a hundred and fifty are dead,” Evee said, her eyes wide with panic, “then that means at least two hundred might be loose in the city.”
“Or dead farther back on the feeding grounds,” Jaco said. “I didn’t have a chance to check every inch of the territory.” He looked at Viv. “I had gone there to get Milan as I had been notified he was missing and suspected he would be near Stratus. I spotted the massacre as soon as I arrived. Did a quick check along the entire fence lines, then came here to let you know.”
Viv nodded, feeling like someone had thrown a fifty-pound boulder into her stomach. “Go back to the North compound. I’ll meet you there and get this figured out.”
Jaco nodded, turned on his heels, opened the front door and disappeared in a flash.
As soon as the front door closed, Gilly whirled about and faced her. A cocoon of hot air wrapped tight around Viv. Always an indicator of Gilly’s fury.
“Viv François,” Gilly said in a low, trembling voice. She took a step closer to her sister. “What the fuck have you done?”
Chapter 5
The first emotion to hit Viv full in the heart when she made it back to the ranch and the compound with Nikoli was shock. A huge sob suddenly locked up in her chest, and she feared if she released it, she’d be changed forever. She didn’t know what to think—how to think.
She didn’t even remember leaving the house. Somehow in the midst of the scramble to get to the compound, Nikoli appeared to take charge, ordering Lucien and Ronan to go with Evee to check on her Nosferatu, and Gavril to go with Gilly to check on her Chenilles. Gilly had started to protest, but instinct told Viv Nikoli was right and she told her sisters as much.
Viv stood, holding a hand over her mouth. Still a sob escaped. “Who could have... How did... Oh, this can’t be. It can’t.”
Socrates sat between Viv and Nikoli, his head lowered. Then he let out a loud mewl and said to Viv, “I told you not to leave! Oh dear, oh dear. This is so terrible, so horrific.” He sounded like an old, fretting, English butler. “What shall we do, Vivienne? What shall we do?”
Reflexively, Viv turned her head away from the scene before her and buried her face in Nikoli’s shoulder, never giving a thought to the fact that they’d only met hours earlier. He cupped her head with a hand. “How?” she whispered. “Who?”
“The Cartesians,” Nikoli said, his voice hard.
Viv forced herself to turn back. The very gate that she’d opened earlier, and knew she had locked before she’d left, had been torn away from the fencing that held it up. Rips and gouges ran throughout the fencing as far as the eye could see. Far worse were the bodies of her Loups strewn everywhere. Many lay in the area where Milan and Warden had been fighting earlier that morning.
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