"I think that's quite enough chitchat, don't you?"
She rolled her note and placed it in the bird's claw.
"Yes. I think so, too," Cat replied, eyes on the window.
She was no Seth. She was no Drusilla. Her power was minimal. Inconsequential.
But for better or worse, she was a Stormhale, and she'd be damned if she let a treacherous bitch ruin her life.
Cat called to the sky with everything she had, everything she was. She called to the blood under her house and the clouds overhead. She even called to the waters of the lake, though they'd never answered her before. She dug deep inside her, emptying her mind of everything, everyone, except the one thing that mattered in the end.
Power.
The Traitress
The whisper had been clear in the night. So very clear. Bash felt like Catherine had been saying his name right against his ear. Her deep accent, rolling each syllable around her tongue, was unmistakable.
It was a dream. Just a dream. There was nothing peculiar about a man dreaming about a sexy woman's voice. Particularly a few weeks after kissing said woman.
But he heard something unsettling in that voice. Something that bothered him. He couldn’t place his finger on what, but he was uneasy.
Cat had said his name a handful of times, perhaps, but it never sounded like this. Almost a plea.
Just a fantasy, he reasoned. Nothing more.
Bash had half an hour until his shift southwest of the territory. He was almost done tidying up his last bullet point on his report when he felt the change in the air. The damn ground shook underneath the dorm. But it was more than that. A force was exploding. Shattering.
Next, he saw a flash of light through the dark skies and thunder resounded in the distance.
He was out of the dorm before his next heartbeat, and halfway up the hill within ten seconds.
The lightning had hit the second house on the hill, destroying part of the roof.
Bash rushed to the front door moments before two women burst out of a window. Cat first, kicked back under Anika’s heel.
Anika's right side was scorched, her skin burned black and her clothes in rags.
What the hell?
Bash rushed to Cat's side, helping her up to her feet.
"Are you all right?"
Moments later, he felt Levi and Chloe approach. Then Mikar, and Alexius. The uproar had caught everyone's attention.
"I caught her writing to her stinking family," Anika screeched, pointing to the large bird of prey flying away from the house.
Bash felt Cat freeze completely. She wasn't even breathing. Her eyes were the picture of shock. And fear.
"She's betraying us. Sending them secrets by air so they can't be intercepted. When I confronted her, she attacked me."
Levi took one step forward, until he'd reached Bash and Cat, his gaze cold.
Bash didn't even think. He placed himself between her and the two-thousand-year-old monster. The predator who could kill him without breaking a sweat.
Levi watched Cat without a word. Bash glared at him.
"Mikar. Ruby," the ancient called.
Ruby. He'd heard that name before; Levi and his employees mentioned her occasionally. One of Levi's slayers who worked around the territory. She wasn't very social, though.
But now that he'd called her, she appeared in the distance, like she'd been standing close by all along.
Ruby had dark hair, light brown skin, and was dressed in ancient white rags. She looked like a ghost. If ghosts could drink the blood of their enemy and bathe in mud.
Bash stilled himself, ready to fight against one, or both if necessary. They were not going to hurt Cat without hearing her out, dammit. And she wasn't in a condition to speak right now, that much was obvious. She smelled wrong. She looked weak.
But when the slayers moved, they fell on Anika instead.
Bash breathed out. Cat didn't. She was trembling, watching the whole thing with wide eyes, her breathing shallow, unfocused.
Anika was one of the best fighters Bash had ever seen in action; there was a reason why she taught the immortals and huntsmen at the Institute. Though his attention mostly remained on Cat, Bash followed the scene from the corner of his eye.
Anika had one knife in each fist, and she was ferocious with both, anticipating all of Mikar's moves. Mikar was just fast enough to avoid her deadly blades. Then Ruby joined the fray.
She wasn't like Mikar, or Levi, or Jack—or any fighter Bash had ever seen. There was no grace, no elegance to her style.
She was fast as the wind, light as a feather, and ferocious as any beast.
Anika would have won against Mikar. Might have won against Ruby. She had no chance against both.
Ruby didn't mind the knives. She didn't care about being kicked or punched or bitten. While Mikar kept Anika's blades occupied, Ruby went for the throat, planting her fangs deep inside Anika's neck and holding still. A warning. If Anika so much as moved, Bash knew the slayer would rip it open.
"You're okay?" Levi asked Cat, softly.
Cat wasn't moving or saying anything just now. Bash got it; she was in shock. He remembered his own sister after they'd been told about their parents.
So he did the same thing he'd done with Emilia back then: wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close.
She allowed it, for a moment.
Then she pushed against him, shaking her head and closing her eyes.
"What's wrong with her?" Chloe asked, rushing to Cat’s side.
"I think she's in shock."
"No—well, perhaps, but that's not the primary concern," Alexius said. "Her eyes are red, wide, and unfocused. Nightbane? Nod if that's the case."
Cat bobbed her head once.
"The—" she tried, then cleared her throat. "The letter."
Bash looked up. Even in the darkness, he could see that a bird—an eagle?—was flying away.
He frowned. For her to say that now, when every word was taxing, the message must be important. Crucial. Bash saw tears at the corners of her eyes.
Dammit. What could he do? He’d never felt this hopeless.
The wind picked up in the south, and loud, high-pitched screams came from the Institute. He glanced at the building and found it wrapped in darkness. Fast-moving darkness. Frowning and focusing on the shadows, he saw wings. Hundreds and hundreds of black wings.
The ravens used as messengers in Oldcrest.
All eyes went to Chloe, who was focusing on the eagle, her bright blue eyes narrowed in on her target.
No one was surprised when she dissolved into mist a moment later, her body and soul syncing with her beasts. Her familiars.
No raven could outrun a bird of prey, or would ever attack one. Right now, the ravens were Chloe Eirikrson.
She flew through the sky as fast as any storm, and the next cry piercing the night belonged to the poor eagle.
Bash winced on its behalf.
The ravens returned to the hill in a cloud of shadow, and Chloe reappeared in front of them, holding the brown and white bird carefully but firmly.
Cat almost collapsed against Bash. He wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her as she stood.
“There, there, beautiful thing,” Chloe murmured, her voice a soft caress so very soft.
Her tone had changed, soft as silk, sweet as honeysuckle.
Bash immediately felt like stepping closer, asking how he could be of assistance.
Kneeling.
Levi said Chloe was a whisper. He never understood what that meant, and the explanation hadn’t really helped.
"Whispering is a very rare skill," Mikar had told him. "It's a form of mind control that can't be learned; you're either born with it or you aren't."
Chloe hadn't liked that very much. "I control people? No way!"
"It's part of who you are. Accept it so you can learn to control it. When you want something, you'll ask for it, but we won't be able to stop ourselves from obeying." The slayer had shrugged. "Well, I can resist it now. It won't affect Levi or other ancients either. But with each passing year, you're likely to get stronger."
Bash was no ancient, and he could feel her influence, her power pouring over him like a comforting silk wrap. Even knowing what it was, he wanted to give in.
Bash started to move, and felt Catherine shift against his torso, bracing herself to stand without his support.
He snapped right out of it.
Chloe removed the letter tied to the bird's leg, then opened it and read, "To D. Storm. Your youngest's loyalties are questionable. Send an extraction party immediately. A."
She snorted and glared at Anika, who was still restrained by both slayers, before handing the bird to Greer.
“You lying piece of filth.”
Alexius had stayed away until then, but now he approached Cat, taking her wrist to check her pulse.
“Nightbane poisoning, I believe. Blood and rest," he prescribed. "You'll be fine after some sleep. Someone will have to cover your shift."
"And mine," Bash added. "I'll look after her."
Cat didn't protest, which attested to her state.
"How—" Her voice sounded so fucking weak. She cleared her throat and tried again, looking up to Levi. "How did…know?"
Then Bash understood her silence, as well as her shock.
It wasn't just the nightbane. She hadn't expected them to trust her. Choose her over Anika.
Bash felt unreasonably angry.
Levi snorted, as though the question amused him.
"Because whoever you were before Oldcrest, whatever you've done, you want to belong here."
Needs
Cat closed her eyes, feeling more exhausted by the second now that she felt like it was safe to rest.
Chloe got the letter. It hadn't reached Drusilla. She was going to be okay.
After one or two years of sleep.
"Are you sure she's all right?" Chloe demanded.
Cat forced a smile that didn't reassure anyone, given their expressions. She held her thumb up. "I'm peachy," she promised. "I just need to rest my head."
Then she realized she didn't have a year at all. She could only afford a nap at most. Then, she would have to speak to them.