“Yep.”
“What does it do?”
“Near as we can figure,” Jessup explained, “it stores up whatever power the Full Bloods were after during the rise of the Breaking Moon. Don’t know how to tap into it yet, but we’ll figure it out.”
Paige started to reach for the dirty little rock, but paused with her hand lingering just above the opening to the small hole. “Mind if I take a look?” she asked.
A knowing grin slid across Jessup’s face. He tapped another couple of runes, which caused the air within the small hole to crackle before settling down. Fortunately, both Cole and Paige had seen the runes at work enough times to realize they did much more than cover secret panels or warn of approaching vampires. Now that the barrier had been dropped, she reached down to pick up the prize that was important enough to be guarded by at least a dozen armed Skinners, several false fronts within a single building, and multiple arcane rituals that had probably been burning intruders down to the bone for centuries.
Paige used her right hand to pick up the stone, but quickly shifted it to her left. Even though she’d been making huge strides in healing that arm, there was just no way to compare it to what she could do with a hand that hadn’t been through the hell of nearly being petrified into a stump.
“You’ve worked with the Gypsies,” Jessup said to them. “Anything you can tell us about this thing? Maybe they keep files you could hack into?”
“Haven’t been able to try it without a dozen military techies looking over my shoulder,” Cole said. “Even firing up my laptop makes me wonder if someone in a black van is blazing past my firewall to look at how much porn I’ve got.”
“We might be able to scrape up a few computers for you to use.” Although Jessup knew exactly which of the others in that room to look at for a response to that, the tall young woman sitting near one small bank of monitors didn’t seem particularly happy to return his grin.
“Maybe you’d like to see the main attraction?” Jessup asked as he took the Jekhibar back and placed it in the box. “It may be enough to convince you that we have more to offer than those government jokers who’ve been doing nothing but shooting up the whole damn country.”
“You talkin’ about me?” Rico asked as he strode in from one of the two back rooms. “Because if you ain’t, I’ll be real disappointed.”
Chapter Five
“So,” Rico said, “how you been?”
The instant Paige stepped toward him, she was flanked by men on either side. “I’ve been out there fighting. How about you?”
“Unless yer blind, you’d know we’re already losing that fight. All you been doing is riding around with the IRD providing cover fire while the military tries to impress the common folk by blasting a few Half Breeds to hell. Then you show up here and figure we’ll welcome you with open arms? For all we know, you’re settin’ us up to be taken down. Which, by the way, would be a very bad move on your part.”
Paige stood with every muscle in her body tensed and ready to go. “We’re not the only ones fighting with the IRD,” she said.
“Right. You also got that Squam playing scout for ya. How’s that workin’ out?”
“There’s a few other Skinners working with them as well,” she continued. “Two in Texas and a few in Jersey.”
Without missing a beat, Rico said, “The Texas crew is gone. Wiped out when the IRD flew into San Antonio and stirred up all those Half Breeds that were tucked away in the suburbs. Nobody walked out of that cluster fuck. As for the Jersey bunch, I believe Maddy is the only one left there, and she’s locked up by the cops on more of that bullshit from the Nymar frame-up.”
Paige bristled at that but let it slide.
“So that leaves me with the million dollar question,” Rico said. “Why the hell did you decide to drop everything and come here now?”
Cole could see the tension in her neck fading away. It left her looking weary when she said, “You’re right. We’re losing this battle. Cole and I have been fighting alongside the military and all we’ve been seeing is soldiers getting killed.”
“All they want to do is keep firing weapons at things that barely feel a bullet,” Cole said. “And all they want from us is to make them more bullets.”
“Did you give them my Snappers?”
“Yeah. They work great.”
Rico beamed like a proud papa.
“They put down a Half Breed in one shot,” Cole continued. “Doesn’t do much against a Full Blood, though. Slows them down, but not long enough for us to finish them off before they jump away to heal.”
“So put another one into them when they’re runnin’!” Rico snapped. “Jesus, do I have to do everything for you guys?”
“Actually,” Paige said, “we were hoping you might be able to give us some more of those Snappers. They go a long way in helping to keep things under control out there.”
“I can do that.”
“And there’s something else.”
Jessup let out a short, snorting laugh. “Sounds like you made a whole list of demands. Why not save us some time and let us see it?”
“Where’s Cecile?” Cole asked.
That was enough to quiet everyone else in the room. “Why the hell do you wanna know that?” Jessup grunted.
“She’s still new to being a Full Blood, and unless she’s had a complete change of heart in the last few months, she still hasn’t bought in to what they’re doing.”
“She’s one of them,” the older man stated. “Plain and simple. The most she can do for us is stay out of the fighting before more of them Half Breeds decide to rally around her. Unless you ain’t noticed, those things have been getting tougher to kill and better organized. Some packs have more’n thirty sets of fangs in ’em. That’s getting worse every week.”
“And you think she’s behind it?” Cole asked. “She was just a girl trying to get the hell away from all of this.”
“So what makes you think she’s got anything to contribute?” Rico asked.
“Because the other Full Bloods must have approached her by now,” Paige replied. “According to what Cole told me, she’s already been in contact with Randolph Standing Bear. He’s the one that gave her the Jekhibar in the first place. She could know where to find him or at least be able to stand still long enough for him to find her.”
Jessup looked as if he’d just been forced to drink lemon juice when he asked, “And then what? Your friends in the Army shoot at them some more?”
“No. We take care of them the old fashioned way. I would have thought you guys would be into that sort of thing.”
“If we were ready to stand toe-to-toe with Full Bloods, we’d be out there doin’ it by now.”
“We’ve got connections to get some improved weaponry,” Paige said. “Finding Cecile may take some time, and even if it doesn’t, it’ll probably take a little while for her to lead us to another Full Blood. When that develops, we’ll be back with the weapons needed to kill at least a few of those things. Do you know where she is or not?”
“Yeah,” Rico said. “I know just where you can find her.”
“Hey!” snapped the woman sitting near the computers. “We don’t know if we can trust them!”
When Rico swung his gaze toward that other Skinner, it was with an intensity that even Cole could feel. “I been working with Bloodhound well before I ever knew who the fuck any of you guys were. I’m takin’ these two downstairs. Anyone got any objections,” he added while looking primarily at Jessup, “tell me right now.”
