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“Yeah,” I whispered. “But at what cost?”
Camille rose, unsteady on her feet. “If that…thing…that was on my back is any indication of Gulakah’s powers, then he scares the crap out of me. Because I could feel it worming its way into my heart…like it was planting seeds of evil within me. When it died, they died, but if you’d been much longer, I would have been fighting for Shadow Wing.”
“That’s worse than the Karsetii demon. Instead of draining your powers, it turns you. And it came out of one of those tentacle-snakelike things on his head.” I turned to Shade. “Do you think he’s gone back to the Sub-Realms?”
“Probably to deliver the spirit seal, but he’ll be back. I guarantee it. We lost this round. Shadow Wing isn’t going to let that go unnoticed.”
Smoky shook his head. “No, he won’t. And Shade is right. You can be sure that Gulakah will return. And Telazhar with him. They are working in concert, that much has become obvious.” He glanced around. “Where’d that punk Trytian go?”
“Back to the Demon Underground, probably to let his father know what happened. I think…as much as I hate to say it…we’re going to have to contact him and work out some sort of long-term alliance. His army’s been decimated since he killed off most of the Tregarts who were following him, but we can’t count Trytian out.” Camille stretched, wincing. “What about the women in back?”
“We told them to stay put…bunch of Weres who’d been kidnapped. I think it’s time we tore this place apart. We need to find their armory and confiscate everything we can. Then we need to level the wall down below and close this place down for good.”
“Blow it up? The building’s empty except for the bar. There have been a number of explosions here tonight. We can pin it all on Van, and Chase can announce that the mad bomber was caught and killed.” I looked around, wondering just what had gone down in this club over the past few months.
“Sounds good to me.” Menolly glanced at Smoky. “You and Shade willing to rattle the rafters?”
“Oh, let me,” Vanzir said, with a sly grin.
“You? You have dynamite or something?” I stared at his eyes. They whirled as usual, a pool of unnamable colors, but there was something behind them—something new.
He shook his head. “Don’t need it. Trust me.”
We got the women out, calling Sharah to come pick them up and check them out. She also took the body from the tunnels and I gave her the girl’s wallet and belongings. Sharah promised to notify Clarah’s family.
After busting out several walls, we found a stash of weapons, including a number of magical stun guns. We cleared the bar, including some of the better-quality booze, and stepped outside. Vanzir stood in the archway to the entrance. He held his hands up to the sky and let his head drop back, staring at the ceiling. There was a creak, then a groan, and then a shift. After a moment, the concrete walls began to buckle. The ceiling wavered, and with a shriek, the metal struts gave way and bent, breaking through the cement.
Vanzir was sweating, his face set in a horrible pain-racked visage. He took one last deep breath and then, as he exhaled, the club began to crumble, imploding in on itself, screaming girders and all. As the thunderous sound of falling concrete filled the air, Vanzir stumbled back and Smoky caught him before he fell. We watched as the club slowly disintegrated before our eyes, and then…it was gone in a cloud of roiling dust.
Chapter 23
We phoned Chase, asking him to meet us at the FH-CSI. Everybody needed to be looked over. As we straggled in, bedraggled and bruised—except for Smoky, who was clean as fresh snow, of course—Chase stood, his mouth agape.
“What the hell happened to you?”
“Don’t ask. But the explosions should stop, at least all of the ones as of late. Menolly was almost staked, Camille’s got more bruises than a prizefighter, and I think I might have sprained my ribs again. I also think I bruised my tailbone when I was slammed against the wall.” I looked at the others. We still hadn’t asked Vanzir about what the hell he’d been able to do. Obviously, he had some new sort of power but how, and from who?
Morio rubbed his neck. “Look me over, too—check out my injury. I think I’m okay, but I got banged up pretty bad.”
Sharah nodded. “What about the rest of you? I doubt if I have to ask Smoky and Shade. What about you, Roz? Vanzir? Shamas?”
They shook their heads, mostly just dirty and bloody.
“We’ll wait in the waiting room,” Shade said. Sharah took Camille, Morio, and me back to the exam rooms. None of us were in need of hospitalization, but Sharah spread salves and lotions where we needed them, and she made sure there weren’t any lingering tendrils from the devil leech. After twenty minutes, we were pronounced fit to go home.
Chase was waiting with the guys. Roz was gone. He’d left for home to make sure there were enough people guarding the house. We gathered in the conference room and examined everything that had gone down.
“Jaycee and Van are out of the picture. Dead and gone. Most of the Tregarts are gone, too. Newkirk, dead. The Koyanni will be on the run, now that their new fair leader’s dead. They aren’t very effective without a good leader, and I have the feeling, having lost their Wolf Briar contacts, they won’t be showing their heads much around the area. Of course, that’s what I said the last time.” I ticked off notes on a steno pad.
“The Energy Exchange is gone, and Vanzir trashed the place.” Camille turned to him. “And just how the hell did you do that? You were stripped of your powers.”
He ducked his head. “The Triple Threat…when Camille was in the Northlands with Iris, they began taking me through a series of rituals. I didn’t know why, but Grandmother Coyote told me that I needed to cooperate. When one of the Hags of Fate gives you a direct order…” He stopped. Nobody questioned that little piece of news. We all jumped when Grandmother Coyote said jump.
“What did they do during the rituals?” I started to asked, but Camille stopped me.
“He can’t tell you.” She gave Vanzir a long look. “Rituals are private affairs, just like my initiation was. I knew you were studying with the Triple Threat, but I wasn’t sure why. We won’t ask how or why—not right now…but if you have other powers, you better tell us if you can. If you know.”
They locked gazes, and then, with a glance at Smoky, Vanzir gave a half shrug. “I feel like some of my prior powers are coming back, but they feel…different. I don’t feel pushed to feed on anybody now, but I feel like I could reach out and…I don’t know just yet. Like tonight, I knew that I could bring the club down. I still don’t understand how I did it, but I felt like I could reach out, take hold of the atoms making up the walls, and shake them into falling apart.”
