Return of Victory Read online

  He ordered a bottle and poured glasses of something that smelled homemade, then passed them around.

  “These folk, they’ll fight the outsiders who’ve threatened us if it comes to it.” He took a swig, not even flinching. “But not many of them have their heart in it. Not after the last little skirmish. We lost a few that day, and…it just took it out of them.”

  “Maybe if you talk with Pops?” Garcia recommended.

  “Pops?” Cammie asked.

  “He’s the reason most of these people are here,” Micky explained, nodding. “We’ve done enough talking to know he ain’t budging.”

  “Fine. We don’t just sit here, waiting. We bring the fight to them, cut off their head, this—”

  “Lady Woo,” Garcia stated.

  “Yes, Lady Woo. From what I hear she’s the main problem child, right?”

  Micky scrunched up his face, considering it. “Thing is, it might’ve started with her, but you’ve got an avalanche now. You don’t stop an avalanche by pissing in the snow.”

  Cammie glared. “First of all, I’m not suggesting we piss on her. I’m suggesting we take her fucking head and throw it at the next in command so hard it kills him or her too. Second, I’m pretty damn sure you don’t stop an avalanche. You survive it, if you’re lucky, but you don’t stop it.”

  He nodded. “That’s what we’re going for here.”

  “Then you’re a bunch of cowards,” Royland said, his voice almost a purr despite the words coming from his mouth. “If that’s the case, I don’t know why we’re here.”

  Micky moved as if to stand, but at Garcia’s head-shake he sat back down.

  “How many of us do we need?” he asked.

  “To take out Lady Woo? Like an assassination attempt?” Cammie glanced around, her eyes landing on Garcia.

  “Oh, now you want my opinion?”

  “You’re the military man.”

  Garcia grunted, then looked from their immediate group to the others who had meandered in and found tables to drink at. “With this group, I’d say tactical is better. In and out. Small group.”

  “So you’re thinking…”

  “Four. Us four.” Garcia smiled as the rest of them frowned.

  “Actually, that makes sense,” Cammie agreed. “These people want to survive here, they’ll need as many as they can to defend the place. And if we want to move fast, worrying about less people and supplies is a bonus. Where do we need to go?”

  Micky glanced around the table as if looking for something, then his eyes landed on the cups they were drinking from. He took his and placed it at the edge of the table.

  “We’re here,” he stated, indicating the cup. Cammie’s, he placed half-way across the table. “That’s the compound Garcia here and his buddies fought at last time, but it’s not where we would find Lady Woo right now, I’d think. If she’s declaring war, she’s probably moved to here.” This time he took Garcia’s cup, prying it from the man’s fingers so that a tad of alcohol sloshed onto the table, and put it closer to Royland. “And you, sir, are New York.”

  Arturo stumbled up, apparently having just finished a round or five with the guy who had attacked him since they had their arms around each other and their cheeks were quickly turning red.

  “If he’s New York, we’re all fucked,” Arturo said with a chuckle.

  “Then we best make the…er…best of it!” the other man said, turning back to the bar and wandered away. “Two more, on the double!”

  “I’ll just absorb the insults in this town and redirect the pain upon our enemies,” Royland stated, eyes narrowed but otherwise appearing passive.

  “In that case—”

  “Don’t test me.” Royland’s eyes flashed briefly red, and Arturo backed up. He pointed to the cup representing Lady Woo’s possible location.

  “Hey, you want her, not me.”

  “It wouldn’t be so hard to kill both.” Royland gave Micky a hopeful glance.

  “Please don’t,” Micky countered, “though I imagine you could simply tear through us all and we wouldn’t stand a chance. This man is, believe it or not, my friend.”

  “Oh, very well.” Royland directed his attention back to the table. “How far? From where we are to that cup?”

  “A couple of hours, tops. And that’s walking. If we take the airship part of the way…”

  Cammie shook her head. “I want these people to have an escape route if they need it. Shit hits the fan, it isn’t too hard to fly.”

  “Don’t tell Arturo that,” Micky replied with a laugh. “Not when he’s had this much to drink.”

  They turned to see Arturo accept the shot from his buddy, and the two threw back again.

  “Her,” Micky stated, pointing at the redhead as she entered. “Sherry.”

  “Like the old drink?” Royland asked.

  The rest looked at him with confusion, so he waved it off. “No matter. Let’s get to it then, shall we? I won’t be much use during the day, so if we want to do this without the airship, I suggest we get her trained up tomorrow and rest, then go find this Lady Woo.”

  “What about the fancy daylight gear you brought from New York?” Garcia asked. “You could wear that and we’d be able to leave immediately.”

  “I could…but one rip in the fabric, as tough as it is, would not be good for me. If it’s all the same, I’d rather fight under the faithful watch of my dear friend the moon.”

  “And he’s right,” Cammie interjected. “We need to show Sherry how to operate the ship, and we need to ensure the town’s as ready as we can get it in a short amount of time.”

  “Right.” Garcia assessed the glasses before him. “Then we strike there firs—”

  “Runners!” A shout came from above, followed by a teenage girl leaping down the stairs, her black hair in a mess and her eyes frantic. “We spotted at least three runners headed this way.”

  “Three?” Micky frowned, staring at the bottle of alcohol in front of him as if that would help the statement make sense. “What the hell are three runners going to do?”

  His eyes went wide with realization at the same time as Cammie said it.

  “Bombs! Get everyone down and shoot those sons of bitches!”

  Men and women ran past, snatching up the few guns they had and moving to the windows to take aim. Cammie, Royland, and Garcia were right there with them, but Cammie had an idea.

  “Can you get to them?” she asked Royland.

  He glanced out, nodded once, and was gone in a flash. She knew how he could move, having gone up against him in a friendly match of very violent sparring in the first days after they’d met. If anyone could stop them in their tracks and get out of there before any sort of bombs went off, it was him.

  Still, she couldn’t let him have all the fun.

  “Get shooters on the buildings farther back!” she told Garcia.

  “I know!” he shot back, already moving for the door and motioning for Micky to follow.

  Cammie ran out into the streets, eyes quickly taking in the night. The moon was a day or two from being full, not that it actually mattered to werewolves. It just helped her understand what the lookouts had seen.

  While it wasn’t too dark, they still wouldn’t likely have been able to see more than a couple hundred yards. Based on that, she scanned the desert at the edge of town and spotted one of the would-be attackers.

  Another appeared, but a moment later Royland was there, delivering a kick that sent the man flying backward a good hundred yards. The blur that was Royland in the night moved for the next, even as the first one’s bomb detonated. Cammie didn’t wait to watch it, though, because she’d seen enough to know that Royland had made it, and that although the explosion wasn’t humongous, it was more than they wanted in this town.

  She reached the edge of town and transformed, her senses heightening and the wind carrying the scent of a woman approaching. Her target. Cammie darted into the night, growling, and saw the woman with a bundle clutc
hed to her chest. It could’ve been a baby the way she was holding it, but Cammie knew better. Her nose never lied.

  With a pounce she was on the lady, transforming back as she landed, grabbed the parcel, spun, and threw it with all her might. It hit the ground a way off and exploded, sending a wave of dust their way.

  “Ahhh!” the woman screamed, leaping up as if to attack, but a shot rang out and she fell over dead.

  Judging by the hole in her head, it had been Garcia’s shot.

  She turned to wave in case he could see her, then heard another shot, followed by a ping against a rock nearby. It had come from the other direction.

  Ducking low, she transformed again and sniffed the air. Without a doubt there were more out there, but she wasn’t sure how many. A dozen, maybe, but it didn’t make sense. Why send such a small group?

  Not waiting to question it further, she ran out into the night, careful to zigzag across the open area as more shots rang out, pelting the ground nearby.

  “Shit!” someone shouted, jumping up from what she now saw was a line of them. They had taken prone positions to fire upon them.

  That one went running while two others took aim, but the rest were frozen in fear. BAM! BAM! With a ripping pain one of the bullets tore through her back. She imagined it had taken a line of flesh and fur with it as the bullet traveled over her. It hurt, but she had always laughed at how little Valerie liked pain. For Cammie, it was almost part of the fun. A bit of pain acted like three cups of coffee. Now that she had the caffeine effect coursing through her blood, she would teach all of them the meaning of pain.

  Hey, why should all the fun be hers alone, right?

  She reached them before they could get another shot in. Her teeth tore into the face of the closest, then she moved for the next. This one at least tried to fight, using his gun like a bat on her skull. It nearly connected but whizzed by, and she decided to give him some extra pain for that. First she tore out his calf, then transformed back to her human self as he fell to his knees so she could beat him mercilessly.

  Royland ran over and took out a couple more, including the one who had run. A moment later he was on Cammie, pulling her back from the now-dead man.

  “It’s over!” he shouted, first holding her back and then wrapping her in his arms. “Calm down.”

  She hadn’t realized until just then how pissed she was. It was like one minute she was having a good time killing her enemies, and the next she was in a rage of blood lust.

  In a moment of clarity, she was able to look at herself and see what was happening.

  “I thought it might all be over,” she told him, pulling back but squeezing his hand firmly. “The killing. The violence.”

  “You’ve never been one to shy away from it.”

  “This is different, though. On the island, I felt something change. I felt belonging. A home. The dream.”

  He smiled and kissed her hand. “That’s the reality. We’re just here temporarily to help put a stop to a new evil. That’s all.”

  “And the next evil? And the one after that?”

  Royland nodded, looking out at the night. “It’s our choice. We can stay on the island, or do our part for humanity. Either way I’ll be at your side, loving you the exact same amount.”

  He stared at her and she thought he was going to kiss her, until he grimaced and said, “Is it weird that the blood all over you kinda makes you more appealing?”

  “Ugh. God, yes!”

  He laughed. “Then, just…one moment. He turned and found one of the men on the ground who was still moving, trying to slither away, and knelt, teeth to neck, finishing him off by taking the blood he needed.

  Maybe someday he too could be touched by Michael, as Valerie had been? It didn’t matter, though, since Cammie knew she would love him the same no matter what, blood dripping down his chin and in his teeth and all.

  Hell, she wasn’t much better off after tearing into these bastards as a wolf.

  She laughed, and he tilted his head with a bemused smile.

  “Aren’t we the perfect couple?” she said, gesturing around at the dead and then pulling him in for a bloody kiss.

  “We aren’t normal,” he admitted. “But then again, who is normal these days? These guys who try to bomb the town and kill it? That big guy, Micky, maybe? Normal is a stretch.”

  “Sandra?”

  He considered this, then nodded. “I mean, she’s having a half-Were kid. Kissed a vampire woman she was a servant to, helped conquer the leaders of Old Manhattan and turn the city into what it is today.” He laughed. “If she’s normal, so are we. And don’t say Jackson with his factions fighting for their turf in the city thing, or Clara and the former pirates. Nobody is normal, got it?”

  “Blood suckers and shifters are the new norm then?” She considered that idea, then kissed him again. “I like it.”

  “Come on,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her back to town. “We’ve got to get them ready, and who knows if more attackers will show up tonight.”

  She pulled back from him, biting her lip. “You know, maybe we should stand lookout down here for a few.”

  “We haven’t had much time to ourselves lately,” he noted, catching on quickly.

  She smiled, wiping a line of blood away from his mouth with her sleeve, then pressing her lips firmly against his as he lowered her to the ground. If anyone else attacked from this direction, at least the two could cause a distraction.

  CHAPTER THREE

  New York

  Valerie took her first step into HQ in what felt like years, but really it hadn’t been more than a couple of months or so. How odd it felt, knowing that this building had once been home to her enemies. She had led a siege against Commander Strake and his Enforcers, then hunted him and the CEOs behind him down. The building had become her home after that, but now felt like such a strange, foreign place.

  This sensation confirmed something she had been thinking about for a while now—that she didn’t belong here. But where did she belong? In space?

  With a glance at the skies, she wondered what sort of battles were going on in space right now. Was it possible something could go wrong and it would all be over without her even getting a chance to fight?

  Considering the fact that it was Bethany Anne up there fighting for their survival, she was hopeful.

  Several men and women in black uniforms passed by, eyes wide at the sight of her. They all knew her, apparently, though she didn’t know them. She wondered if they had thought she was dead, or if that ruse had even stuck. Knowing the way information moved around this city, she wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t.

  The elevator dinged and there was Sandra, her belly certainly leaving no doubt that the woman was moving along in her pregnancy. Otherwise, she looked the exact same.

  Her eyes met Valerie’s and the two women ran forward, wrapping their arms around each other and laughing.

  “How can such a short amount of time feel like an eternity?” Sandra asked.

  “That’s a bit melodramatic,” Valerie replied, winking to show she was joking. “I see we’re not under attack yet?”

  “Straight to business, huh?”

  “Tell me we can afford not to be and I’ll gladly head over to your café for a bottle of wine. No? I didn’t think so.”

  “Diego, Davies, and the rest are upstairs.” Sandra led the way back to the elevator and, once Valerie was in, she pressed the button.”

  “The rest being all but Cammie and Royland?”

  “And Sergeant Garcia. He was there the last time, so he went to show them the way. Cammie and Royland aren’t really part of the council anymore. Not at this point, anyway. It’s like they’ve moved on.”

  “I know the feeling,” Valerie replied, staring at the wall as she lost herself in the events in Norway. She still regretted the loss of the sweet airship with her symbol carved into its side, but life was full of loss. Better a ship than a loved one.

/>   “Er, right.” Sandra glanced at her, seemingly nervous.

  “I haven’t changed so much,” Valerie commented. “You don’t have to look at me like I’m a stranger.”

  “You haven’t…and you have.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Sandra shrugged. “It’s like, I see a different look in your eyes, you know? Like you’re ready to say good bye to us all.”

  Valerie bit her lip. That was somewhat accurate, after all. “Not until I know you’re all safe. Not until I’ve taught these assholes a lesson and sent a message so loud the whole world will hear it.”

  Sandra blinked as if she was holding back something she really wanted to say, but then just nodded. After a few minutes, she said, “I’ll be sad when that day comes.”

  The elevator dinged, and she walked out before Valerie had a chance to respond. Upon opening the doors to the colonel’s office, Valerie was pleased to see Diego in there.

  He smiled, but the first thing he said was, “I’m coming with you.”

  “No!” Sandra stepped into the room, shoving him. “Don’t you start that, not again. I’m not watching you run out to your possible death while you leave me here again!”

  “Can we start with a ‘Hey, Val, how’s it going’ maybe?” Valerie asked, glancing around to see Davies sitting at the table. The office was otherwise unoccupied.

  Davies gave her a nod. “Hey Val, how’s it going?”

  She smiled. “Thank you, that wasn’t so hard. Peachy, Davies. A couple of my friends went off into the lion’s den without me, and now Sandra here is stalling.”

  “I wanted to have Diego draw you a map, show you how to get to El Diablo, but instead he apparently wants to act like an ass.”

  “Our ability to tell her where to go might get her lost, putting Cammie and the others in danger if Valerie arrives too late.”

  “He has a point,” Davies agreed. “It’s not like you can just wander out there and find what you’re looking for just because you really want to. This is the real wor—”

  “Enough out of you,” Sandra snapped. “Val, talk some sense into them! You can find the place; you’re great with direction. You found your way back from Norway, after all.”