Chapter 125

“Though I suppose,” the leader said. Her voice was warmer and amused. “That is a harder order to follow after such a riveting speech. Such passion. Such determination…”

She scoffed. “Such bullshit. You’re basically sitting ducks in your little compound, waiting for them to find you.”

She floated down, but there was nothing dangerous about her movements. She seemed to simply be hovering in the air above us, watching us like a spectator’s sport. I could see the heels of her boots, sharp like stilettos in the light. There was something stylish about the clothes that I could see and otherworldly. Her pants weren’t jeans, but they had an odd sheen to them that I couldn’t place. Maybe they were leather, but that didn’t seem right.

I didn’t smell anything in the air.

I couldn’t smell anything. A little alarm went off at the back of my mind, but I didn’t know what it meant.

“Are you the reason the caves won’t move?” Francium asked.

She chuckled. “Among other things. You should not have come back. How many times must I issue the warning? Honestly, hard-headed, the lot of you. Werewolves, how could I expect anything else?”

A ripple of laughter drifted down from above like an echo.

“Are you threatening us?” Claire asked, her voice low and furious.

She laughed. Her voice was loud as it carried. It felt wicked as it echoed through the space and stirred up the wind. She could have been a villain in a move with that laugh. I felt something pass over the back of my neck then I saw her appear like a wisp of smoke beside Claire with a shiny blade pressed against her neck. I smelled burning flesh when Claire flinched back and noted the redline across her neck and the slow trickle of blood that escaped her.

Yet, I couldn’t smell it, and that only put me more on edge. This close, I should have been able to smell the blood easily.

“I do not make threats,” she said. “Thus, take what I say to heart: manage your tone when speaking to me, youngling, and perhaps you will see the end of the war.”

Francium whirled around, and the guns swiveled, but they stopped. I looked around to see others with daggers to the gunmen’s necks. It looked like they had all drifted down to stop them.

“Let me be clear to the rest of you as well,” she said. “Despite the show, no one is going to harm you. However, it is still too dangerous for you all to be down here… half-cocked, exhausted, and barely armed enough to defend yourselves…Blind, young, and fool-hardy—I could go on.”

“Who are you?” Candido asked, his voice hard and authoritative. “Are you vampires or werewolves?”

She scoffed. “Oh, please. That voice may work on your subjects and perhaps even your lovers, but I owe no allegiance to you, child. Nor do I owe an answer to that bastard’s bastard offspring.” She chuckled. “Especially when you’re barely keeping your eyes open. Sleeping while entering enemy territory? I expected more of you.”

She vanished and appeared again, standing on the barrel of a gun at an impossible angle. How was she doing that? It didn’t make any sense. It was like she was weightless. Maybe she was. Maybe it was some form of energy manipulation? Maybe she was an elemental too. My stomach churned. If she was strong enough to lock down the caves, did that mean she was stronger than Candido or just more experienced?

“Though I suppose, you are a man. They tend to be more disappointing than you expect when it comes to performance.” She looked at her nails and sauntered through the air towards another jeep. She landed so lightly the other jeep didn’t even move when she stood on it.

“But I will be nice, a show of goodwill, hm? We are neither, in a matter of speaking.” She chuckled. “Fair enough?”

“What do you want?” Candido asked.

“Of you? Personally? Nothing… Well, maybe a bit more efficacy, but that is neither here nor there,” she turned and I could feel her gaze on me. “With your precious little princess, however. An audience.”

“No way in hell,” Claire growled, turning sharply, only to stop just before puncturing her own neck on the silver blade the woman was holding.

She was so fast. I hadn’t seen or felt her move, yet there was nothing… threatening about it. It felt like she was just proving a point.

“No,” Candido said. “Whatever you have to say—”

“I’ll go,” I said, stepping around him.

“Pandora,” Candido hissed.

“They’re not going to hurt me,” I said. “They… would have done that already if they were going to.”

“You can’t,” Claire hissed. “You can’t trust these people.”

I stepped away from Candido. “Pandora, I’m—”

“She didn’t ask for Pandora,” I said, looking up at him. “She asked for the princess.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re not going alone.”

“It’s precious that you think you have a choice in the matter,” she said, crossing her legs and floating straight up. “I’m being nice and asking for an audience. I could just as soon pluck her from your caravan and send you to your deaths.”

My stomach jolted, and my blood went cold. I thought of that cave that I had been in alone with that beast. Would she send them somewhere like that where there was no light, just dark water with currents too strong to fight against?

“I said I’d go.” I looked up at her. “But I… can’t fly.”

“Oh, darling, I know that,” she chuckled and gestured through the air. A staircase appeared in the wall. “A nice quick walk. Stairs are good for the figure, you know?”

Candido stepped in front of me. “You can’t—”

“I’ll be fine,” I said evenly. “I’ve made my choice… In all the ways that matter… I won’t be far.”

He didn’t move. I stepped around him to climb down from the jeep. He caught me by my arm. His hand trembling. I met his gaze and peeled his fingers from my arm.

“I’ll be fine,” I looked back at her as she hovered near the staircase. “Right?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I have no intention of harming you, your king, your knights, or even your little toys. Younglings and halflings, included.” She scoffed, and I could hear her rolling her eyes. “The sooner we get through our little chit-chat, the sooner you can go back to playing vigilante in hoods and masks with your king. Okay?”

My lips twitched and I turned away. Candido growled, leaping down between us.

“No,” he growled. I felt him pushing his power to do something. “No way in hell, I—”

He choked, and bent forward, panting, and gripping his chest. I went to him, kneeling as he grunted and groaned.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“He’s probably having a heart attack,” she said lightly. “He’s certainly old enough to be worried about those… too much butter and whiskey I suppose.”

“Shut up!” I cried, trying to get Candido to talk to me as he slowly started to catch his breath. “What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”

He shook his head and lifted his head, panting as he looked at her across the way.

“Not a heart attack?” She asked and crossed her arms. “A shame. It would probably save a lot of people a lot of time. You have a successor in mind, don’t you?”

“What… have you done to me?” Candido growled.

“Me?” She asked. “I? Why would you think I had anything to do with it?”

“I can’t shift,” her grunted. “I can’t use my powers at all.”

She chuckled. “Oh, well, isn’t that obvious?”

“Do you think I’d be asking if it was obvious?”

“Shame, no wonder the werewolves are being slaughtered with a leader like you.”

He growled, getting to his feet, before he staggered and went down to his knee again. She laughed.

“Heart attack? Brain aneurism? Maybe your knees are bad?”

I looked away from resting my hands on his shoulders. I looked around, listening to her taunts. I looked at Claire and Francium. They seemed a little paler. Then, I looked around the other werewolves who also looked a little pale and pained. I lifted my eyes to the walls and above us to where the circle of eyes had been, but they were gone.

There weren’t any more of them by the gunmen either. Where had they all gone? I dropped my gaze to the ground and frowned as a glint of something caught my eye. I put my hand down. The stone felt warm beneath my hand, almost too hot to make sense. I brushed some of the dirt aside, swallowing nervously as the glint turned into a sheen then into a metallic gleam.

“Silver,” I whispered.

She clapped. “Ten points to Pandora!”