Cursed To Death

weave.

“We need to get this man out of here. He’s lost a lot of blood, and with the demon doors opened around him…” Bear Shadow said.

Hunter looked at Bear Shadow. “I’m good.”

Crow Shadow and Silver Hawk caught him before he hit the ground.

Cartel Elderman Vlad opened his eyes, receiving Baron Montague’s telepathic transmission. His fangs lowered slowly as outrage caused his hands to tremble with fury.

“I don’t know who to be more vexed with!” he shouted into the darkness of his lair, also transmitting the message as a searing telepathic barb. “You would risk sending our nation to war during this precarious time of rebuilding in New Orleans-and for what, to toy with one of the wolves’ humans? Vengeance over a small taxation matter against your blood club? That is hardly worth the exposure to human authorities!”

“It was for much more than that, Elder Vlad,” Baron Montague shot back. “I had been monitoring the progression of Unseelie Fae dark magick, whereby, if they had been successful, we would have had a rare opportunity to break the Wolf Clan Federations that united against us, as well as break the back of the very fragile and newly united Seelie Fae Parliament, along with those third-world groups like the Mythics, The Order of the Dragon, and the others that sided with the wolves. My goal, sir, was to simply monitor the situation as the Unseelie magick weakened those allied forces, got them squabbling and at war amongst themselves, and thus… in time, we would have been in a position to be restored as a single voting bloc at the United Council of Entities. There was a larger objective than a mere blood club and a couple of casinos. However, we are not culpable for any of this, beyond the attack on the boy-to which I lost a lover… This illegal retribution was beyond the pale, and now they owe us for the offense.”

Deadly silence lay in wait between them. Baron Geoff Montague remained stone still. An infraction of this magnitude could cost him his life.

“Fix this,” Elder Vlad finally murmured. “You are a valuable member of our society and the Cartel… I would hate to have to witness your untimely demise. Make sure that it is clear, in court, that your hands were clean, so that none of this causes backlash on our Cartel.”

“It shall be addressed immediately upon sunset.” Baron Montague closed his eyes and released an inaudible breath of relief. “All that is necessary is the UCE trial and-”

“I don’t think so,” Elder Vlad said with a hiss in his tone.

“Sir? Pardon?”

“Several issues are at hand… Have you not been monitoring the human airwaves-their news reports-while in your lair?”

For a moment, Baron Montague couldn’t respond. “Uh, sir, I was battling for our lives using all available energy to keep my crypt concealed and to quell the inferno of the mansion and-”

“Well, let me give you a news update,” Elder Vlad said with a hiss. “The humans think there is Mexican drug cartel activity erupting in the area, since the establishment of Buchanan Broussard burned to the ground… and they found machine-gun casings, dead bodies, and drugs littering the property. Then, earlier this afternoon, smoke was seen billowing from Dugan’s Bed & Breakfast and Finnegan’s Wake, and there was an actual police shoot-out followed by an unsuccessful attempt to apprehend what the humans believe to be a vanload of drug terrorists that firebombed Ethan’s Fair Lady. However, like at the other establishments, the fire was immediately brought under control with minimal damage.”

The baron said nothing as the ancient Vampire drew a wheezing breath and continued his energy-sapping rant from his hidden crypt three parishes away.

“All of that would have been fine, except that there was a fire at your estate that left human bodies, shell casings, rocket-propelled grenade blasts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That cannot be dark-glamoured away by your Unseelie friends. That cannot be removed from the collective consciousness of the entire American public. That is already in news archives!” the elderly Vampire shouted.

Elder Vlad didn’t allow Baron Montague to draw a breath to interject. His voice became punctuated by warning hisses as his rage spun out of control.

“That is a highly visible debacle that literally leads to your front door, which means it has led to our front door! It could possibly open us up to human investigation into all establishments, like our casinos, bars, restaurants, waste management contracts, oil companies, our military mercenary and security firms abroad, everything that is linked to you-which is way too much at risk. Do you realize that if the stupid humans believe that this is all a part of Mexican drug cartels moving into the southern region, crossing the border, with their economy in shambles and an aggressive new administration, they could nationalize a significant part of what we own? The war started at Buchanan Broussard’s wolf house-his lineage is from Texas-that’s been all over the news, including the mysterious disappearance of him and his daughter only months ago. The humans have made a leap in thinking-and it all circles back to us!”

“I will fix this, sir… You have my word.”

Elder Vlad drew a shaky breath. “You might want to ensure that you do before the trial.”

“Yes, Your Eminence.” Baron Montague sat up and then stood. “They must have clear evidence that we were involved, and they don’t.”

He bent and held his head as Elder Vlad sent a black lightning strike through his mind. Tears of black blood leaked out of his eyes as the ancient, stronger entity exploded in a fit of rage.

“You do not know how you could be implicated, simply by monitoring the situation, as you say. How many times do you have to see with your own eyes, Sasha Trudeau was human, and US-military trained! She wouldn’t allow the wolves to simply rip your liaison to shreds and to decapitate him to reverse his spells. They captured him in iron and rowan bondage! They are not so foolish as to go to war directly with Cerridwen!”

“Queen Cerridwen Blatand of Hecate is coming to trial here?”

“If this doesn’t go right,” Elder Vlad said very quietly, “I will rip your heart out myself with my own bare hands when I see you. As I said earlier, fix this.”

“What do you mean they went dark?” General Westford shouted into the cell phone. His short, blond hair was spiked with nervous sweat and his ruddy face had bloomed to near crimson as his voice exploded into the receiver. “I want to know what the hell is going on in New Orleans, Doctor. Has Sasha Trudeau flipped near her twenty-fifth birthday like the others did? Is the virus in her system under control or what? Is she stable? Do we need to send a Special Forces squad to put her down?”

“No, she’s fine and doing what she’s been trained to do in Delta Force, Special Ops Command. She’s in full control of all her faculties and is advancing the cause of the PCU.”

“But how can that be when there are bodies all over creation?” the general shouted. “This is supposed to be a covert operation. I’m getting calls from the Joint Chiefs; everybody needs answers and I haven’t got any to give them!”

“The entire reason PCU came back into this region after having left it not so long ago is that Captain Trudeau rightfully suspected a resurgence of evil-entity activity that could threaten the human population here.” Xavier Holland dragged his fingers through his gray hair, speaking in deferential tones while pacing away from the seance still in progress. “She went undercover with her known sources, and at present, I don’t know exactly where she and her team-”

“Find her! How dark could they be if a state trooper said what sounds like two of her men came through a roadblock carrying what our boys said were biohazards! Holland, this bullshit came right to my door! The Paranormal Containment Unit is supposed to do just that-contain the threat, not have it spill out into the city streets of New Orleans in broad daylight in car chases and gunfights! This isn’t the Wild Wild West.”

“Sir, I assure you that-”

“State police called for us to send in backup, if we could, because they think we’re about to go to war with the Mexican drug cartel on our borders. They’re about to contact the White House, do you read me?” General