Invisible Recruit: Invisible Power Part 33

Vaverek one, me zero.

Except the rage building within me from his words helped. Then he nodded his chin toward someone behind me and I heard it. A growl. A wolf's cry of pain and frenzy.

Van.

Vaverek two, me still batting a big fat zero. Unless I could stop him. Now!

I sent a silent plea to Manlike Woman, a Kootenai woman of power who was believed by my people to be supernatural because of her ability to don male roles despite her "delicate frame". And if anyone needed to man up here, it was me when facing this Were.

I quietly started my chant.

Oh Mighty Manlike Bring to justice the one before me.

Vaverek looked at me, a snarl darkening his face.

Make him writhe in pain and feel the harm that he has caused tenfold.

He started morphing. His height growing larger, broader, and very furry. I chanted louder.

May the pain, the anguish, the fear he created return Twenty times ten to him.

A Werebison suddenly stood before me. Bison bonasus, one of the largest animals in the world and most deadly. But I thought they'd been slaughtered to extinction. Maybe the true animal ones had been but obviously Vaverek hadn't gotten the memo.

Vaverek stood at least twelve feet high at the shoulder, his Were genes expanding the normal width and breadth of a bison, and that wasn't counting his horns. At almost a ton in weight, able to jump six feet vertically, and outrace a human running, I was facing h.e.l.l on hooves.

By the Great Spirits what had I done?

He was pawing the ground as I stepped back, my throat so dry I could barely utter the final words of the Retribution Spell.

Oh Mighty Manlike Let his punishment fit his crimes I call on thee, so mote it be!

Nothing happened.

CHAPTER 66.

When in doubt, run like h.e.l.l. A new Noziak motto as I turned and scrambled away from Vaverek.

Not that he was standing still. With a bellow that shook the ground he roared after me.

Nothing that big should move that fast.

I dove through the nearest row of trees placed wide enough for me to weave among them but close enough that Vaverek's wide shoulders weren't going to easily glide through. They wouldn't stop him but they might slow him down. I had agility and that was about it.

How had the spell failed?

Backlash from using blood magic last night? Could be. Magic was a fickle b.i.t.c.h.

Like one of the cartoon characters my brothers and I watched growing up I threaded in and out of the trees like a roadrunner on crack. My breath was chugging, my leg muscles burning. Every time Vaverek smashed through tree trunks I gained a few seconds as I heard the thud of muscles snapping timber and the rip of roots being pulled out of the ground. At this rate I hoped to reach the simin fae before he did.

"Bran," I screamed, using precious oxygen as I bobbed in and out from one side of the wall of green, seeing Bran and Willie on one side, the parking lot on the other. I waited till I was on Bran's side before shouting again. "Bran!"

Parking lot side.

"What?"

Gra.s.s side.

"Release the spell."

Parking lot.

My plan was born of desperation.

"When?" Willie shouted, which told me Bran was either resisting or using everything he had to contain the spell.

Gra.s.s side.

"When I say."

Parking lot.

Why couldn't the French have planted thick-limbed trees instead of wimpy ones? Vaverek was tearing through the twenty-foot trees like a St. Bernard puppy through petunias.

Gra.s.s side.

"Ready?" I called, so close I could see Bran's strain from holding the limbs of the simin fae rigid, and Bran could probably hear my chugging breath. I mentally asked the faes forgiveness for what I was about to do.

One more round between shrubs. Gra.s.s side. Parking lot. Gra.s.s.

"Now! Run. Everyone run!" I raced toward Bran, grabbing his arm to catapult him out of the way and break the spell. But he'd already released it.

I could hear the high pitch of the fae screaming in their natural tongues.

"Run!" I screamed again, waving my arm at them to get them to move, but they wouldn't listen.

In the blink of an eye Vaverek was on them, mowing them down like bowling pins. One threat gone. Now they couldn't imprison Bran.

Bran and I flew to the left, Willie to the right.

Vaverek stumbled, his forelegs bending but not stopping.

I scrambled to my feet, clutching at Bran. "Go. Go. Go."

He didn't need the encouragement. Willie was on his own, but he had a Were's speed so was better able to escape.

"Where to?" Bran shouted next to me.

"The building." The only place we might form a defense against Vaverek. I glanced over my shoulder to see where he was and groaned. He was already wheeling around and pawing the ground for a new charge. The building was the only option but it was a good forty feet away. And I had no idea if we could even get in.

One thing at a time.

That's when I heard the cry. A howl of pain. A wolf's roar.

Van?

I skidded to a stop, Bran whipping past me, shouting, "Come on."

"It's Van." But where was he?

I looked around, noticing the others. Must be Weres, not humans, as they had been racing toward where Bran had been. And Vaverek still was, which had everyone double-timing backwards.

Vaverek was in such a rage he didn't seem to care who he was took out as he gored the nearest Weres, several in the process of s.h.i.+fting.

Bran ran back to me, grabbed my arm, and tried dragging me along, but I was digging my feet in.

"There!" I spied Van, in wolf form, chained between the doctor man and another, straining against the silver chains binding him. But silver against a s.h.i.+fter meant it was pointless. Vaverek and a dozen Weres were between him and us.

CHAPTER 67.

I was Van's only chance. The only one who might be able to stop him. "I've got to go back," I shouted at Bran, still playing protective caveman warlock as he wrapped his arms around me, dragging me toward the building.

"He'll kill you."

"He'll die without me."

And that's what it was coming down to. I knew Vaverek had Van drugged. I knew Van had been programmed. I knew my brother was out of his mind.

But if I didn't try to reach him, there was no hope.

I twisted toward Bran, for once not wanting to slug him as much as make him understand. At least he'd stopped, which gave me hope. "Can you cast a containment spell?"

"To stop a raging Werebison?"

"No. I'll handle him. You keep my brother from harming anyone."

He looked past me, indecision written all over his face. "Please," I said. "Help me."

His face tightened, as if at war with himself, then he released me. His voice a low growl. The sound of a p.i.s.sed off warlock. "If you can't stop Vaverek you get out. Understand?"

I nodded, too choked up to do anything else. Bran released me and started running at an angle to intercept Van. It also meant he was moving toward the other Weres. My goal was clear then. Get Vaverek to attack me. Get the Weres to do the same. Give Bran the s.p.a.ce he needed.

One thing at a time.

I stood in the middle of the gra.s.sy lawn and started jumping up and down, waving my arms. "Here, fur-b.u.t.t," I called to Vaverek. "I'm over here you big dumb cow!"

Since bison were not bovines, I figured the insult would work. And it did. A little too well as he dug in those powerful front hooves churning up the gra.s.s as he rocketed my way.

No material for a banis.h.i.+ng spell. My reverse punishment spell had sizzled. What was left?

Not time, that was for sure.

The building behind me? That was a copout and left Bran exposed. What was the Noziak motto? Do the unexpected. Which was a given considering we were all pigheaded and not because my dad was a pig farmer.

Mind made up I started running toward Vaverek. Closer. Closer. Closer. Until I could smell his furry stench, see the foam around his nostrils, the hatred in his eyes. d.a.m.n, he was huge!

But I kept running straight toward him, my heart in my throat, my skin iced with fear, until I was within a few feet and then I hurled myself to the side.

He raced past so close the wind of his pa.s.sage slapped against me.

I landed with a tumble and roll, the earth rattling my bones. But I was still alive.

For now.

As I staggered to my feet I heard a familiar voice call from the tree line. "Alex? Over here!"

I turned to see Kelly waving at me, backed by Jaylene, Mandy and Vaughn. No Stone, not that I expected him.

They'd come. My team was here.

But what could they do except get killed? I wanted to shout run, hide, protect yourselves, but instead I pointed to where the Weres were circling Van.

"Get them."

Vaughn nodded and that's all I needed.

I turned back to Vaverek who'd sprinted past me with so much force and speed he was now a good twenty feet away. That's what I needed. Some maneuverability.

Seeing Kelly had given me an idea. It was a long shot and a spell I'd only tried once before, but I didn't have a lot of options.

I planted my feet wide, said a quick prayer to the Great Spirit to protect my back while I focused one hundred percent on the threat in front of me and started my chant. Out of the corner of my eye I could see two Weres racing toward me from the side furthest from my team.

Ignore them. Focus. I swallowed deep.

Defluo modo.

I call the chameleon to me now.