Enemies

Two hours later we collected back in the control room deep below the lodge. Greg, with Elisabeth and Carissa each chiming in from time to time, spent the longest on the first man, but they’d questioned each of Carissa’s six people before putting them all back in the sheds again. I didn’t think we were much closer to the full truth.

“Here is what we know,” Greg said. “There are at least three outfits involved. Chasen was hired, and it’s clear he had no idea what he was getting into. According to the registration papers on the helicopters, they were leased from...” he consulted his notes. “Mid-Star Aviation. The four pilots work for a third organization, Dark Gorge Consulting.” He paused. “I do not believe any of these organizations is the one ultimately responsible for what happened. Mid-Star does some shady work, but not this shady. I don’t know anything about Dark Gorge, but if I were planning an operation that could fail this badly, I wouldn’t use my own people to be captured.”

“Maybe we weren’t supposed to capture the helicopters,” Elisabeth said.

“I’m almost certain you weren’t,” Greg replied. “Which is why I haven’t ruled out either Mid-Star or Dark Gorge, but I do not believe our search ends there.” He spent several minutes discussing both organizations and promised additional information later in the day.

“I want to talk about priorities,” Michaela said. “I want the evidence gone. Gone!” She repeated that word emphatically. “And I don’t want to use our normal disposal methods for the bodies.”

“Why not?” Elisabeth asked.

“The real people responsible are out there,” Michaela said. “And they know it failed. We don’t know if this was just an attempt to get rid of some competitors or a hope it would really work, but whoever did this isn’t our friend. He may be sending law enforcement right now. I want that evidence out of here.”

“Michaela is right,” Carissa said, “but she overstates the danger represented by law enforcement.”

“I’m not sure she does,” Elisabeth said. “We avoid human politics, and we do not have the same influence with law enforcement you have in New Orleans.”

At that, Carissa allowed her fangs to grow. “I can send any law enforcement away,” she said. “Convinced of the ridiculous nature of any claims.” She smiled widely, making sure we all saw the fangs. “Any of my vampires can handle a nosey policeman or two. Between Kristian and me, we can handle an army of FBI officials.”

“What if they know what we are?” Lara said.

“FBI official policy is to stay out of paranormal politics,” Greg said.

“Humans were killed,” Lara replied.

“Lara,” Carissa said, “While I would rather not acquire government attention, if we do acquire it, we can handle it. However, I agree with Michaela. We need to dispose of the evidence.”

“We have five basic groups of evidence to destroy,” Karen said. “Helicopters, equipment, living bodies, dead bodies, and evidence of dead bodies. Did I miss anything?”

“No,” Michaela said after a moment of everyone else shaking her head. “Let us discuss them in pieces. Please don’t destroy my helicopters.”

That resulted in a few chuckles, but then Lara said, “You can’t keep them, but if you really want one, I’ll buy you one.”

“Would you really?” Michaela asked. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

She reached over and squeezed Lara’s hand then turned to Elisabeth. “Would you ever let me fly it?”

“No.”

“Brat. Seriously?”

“Michaela,” said Portia, “They’re impractical. Think about the maintenance. I think we’d love to be able to transport more people directly here, and faster than our current aircraft, but...”

“I know,” Michaela said. “I don’t want us ditching them in the lake, though.” She sighed. “How do we get rid of them?”

“Give them back,” Greg said.

“There’s evidence...” Michaela said. But then she grinned. “We’re not giving them back. We might sell them back, if you can clean them.”

Greg laughed. “We can clean them.” He turned to Carissa. “No offense, Carissa.” He paused at that, letting Carissa know he really wanted to use her title. “I agree with Michaela. I want this evidence out of Wisconsin.”

“I do, too,” Carissa said. “My point was that law enforcement does not represent a dire threat. But we have time. We should do nothing rashly.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Carissa,” Lara said. “Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. She shifted her attention. “I’m sorry, Michaela.”

“Damn it,” Michaela said. “Just once more. Please.”

“It’s not safe. Frankly, you’re not that good, and we need to get them out of here.”

“What are we talking about now?” Lara asked.

“Your mate wants another spin in her helicopter,” Carissa said. “Perhaps with the excuse that she’s one of two licensed helicopter pilots in the room. However, I suspect she and I aren’t the only two on the property.”

At that, every pair of eyes turned to Greg. “Sorry, Michaela.”

“Damn it. You brought pilots.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “My preference would be to disassemble them, cleaning them as we go, but I don’t want to try to transport two disassembled Black Hawks off Madeline Island. My recommendation is to let my team sanitize them, and then we’ll remove them under cover of dark. There’s nothing more we’re going to learn from them. I can transport them elsewhere.”

Everyone looked around. Finally Lara said, “Agreed. Carissa?”

“It’s your choice, Alpha,” said the vampire.

“Perhaps,” Lara said, “but I find myself wanting your opinion on everything.”

Carissa nodded. “Greg, do you need one of my vampires to go along to grease any wheels?”

“No, but thank you,” he said. He made some notes. “Alpha?”

“Do it,” Lara said. “What’s next?”

“Do you want to keep the equipment?” Greg asked. “I would not recommend it.”

“Karen? Portia?”

“It’s top equipment,” Karen said with a glance at Portia. “As good as anything we have. But it’s evidence. Get rid of it.” Portia nodded at that.

“Greg, do you want it?”

“As Karen said: it’s evidence. But I can sell it. We can apply it to your bill.”

“Do it,” Lara said after glancing at Carissa, who said nothing. “Are we going to learn more from our prisoners?”

“We need to question the remainder,” Greg said.

“And I need to enthrall four more,” Carissa said. “But I’m in no shape to do it now, and I won’t be for a few days. I do not want to ask Kristian to take more than he has, and my others won’t be ready for weeks, if not much, much longer.” She paused. “Kristian... He could take more, but I don’t want to ask.”

“Then don’t,” Lara said. “Bodies, alive or dead, are hard to explain, Carissa.”

“I know,” she said.

“Kill the last four,” said the fox.

“Michaela!” Lara said.

“Kill them and get them off our property,” Michaela said firmly. “Greg? Carissa? Am I wrong?”

Greg and Carissa looked at each other.

“We can move them,” Elisabeth said slowly.

“It’s too risky,” Michaela said. “Anything can happen. They forfeit their lives when they willingly engaged in an attempt to kidnap women and children. Kill them. If no one has the guts to do it, I will.”

“Michaela,” Lara said again, setting a hand on her mate’s arm.

“No!” Michaela said. “I want them off this property, and it’s too dangerous to move them while they can talk. So we have bodies, and we have thralls. I want the thralls questioned, and then I want the lot of them gone, with no way to trace them back to us. How?”

“We’re not done discussing this,” Lara said.

Michaela spun to her. “They tried to kidnap your mate!” She said. “They tried to kidnap your daughters! I’m surprised you didn’t destroy each and every one before I even got that helicopter back here.”

“I can’t think about that,” Lara said tightly.

Michaela’s expression softened, and she set her hand in Lara’s. “If I start,” Lara said, “I don’t know when I’ll stop.”

“This is my responsibility,” Michaela said.

“It’s mine,” Lara said.

“It’s mine,” Elisabeth countered.

Lara and Michaela both turned to her. “No, it’s not,” they said together. “It’s ours,” Michaela added. “I can do it coldly. Lara, you’ll go into a rage.”

Elisabeth put up a hand. “Greg, you’re awfully quiet.”

“Kill ‘em,” Greg said. “And I don’t mind doing it.”

“My responsibility,” Michaela said. “This pack is under my protection.”

There were snorts, but Michaela glared around the room for a moment, and there were several quiet responses of, “Yes, Alpha.”

“Carissa?” Lara asked.

“I can make them talk before we kill them,” she said, “but I don’t believe we would learn anything.”

“I just want them dead,” Michaela said. “We’ll do it when we’re done. Elisabeth and Carissa, I wish you to decide who will bring them to me. I want them one at a time, and I wanted them gagged. Greg, I don’t want to make a bigger mess to clean up.”

“We can make a space. Michaela, you need to destroy your sheds. You know that.”

“Fuck,” she said. “Yeah. I know. Do we need an excuse?”

“Vermin,” I said. “Something nasty got into both of them.”

“I hate to say it, but we need to burn them,” Greg said.

“Hell of a bonfire,” Karen muttered.

“Hell of a bonfire,” Michaela agreed. “God. Zoe is going to let me have it.”

“Why will Zoe care?” I asked.

“You’re not supposed to burn processed wood products,” Michaela replied. “We need to make sure we don’t breathe it.”

“It won’t hurt my vampires,” Carissa offered. “We’ll handle that part.”

“Thank you,” Lara said with a nod. “How do we get rid of the bodies, alive and dead?”

They discussed it for a while. Between Greg and Michaela, every proposal was shot down until finally I said, “Yes, it’s risky, whatever we do. Make the thralls take the risk.”

Everyone turned to me. Michaela and Carissa got it right away. “Carissa,” Michaela said, “Can you do that ironclad?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“None at all,” she said. “So that’s how we eliminate ourselves from the risk, but we still have bodies to deliver and thralls to move to New Orleans.”

“Jared,” Elisabeth said.

“Who is Jared?” I asked.

“Chicago Alpha,” Elisabeth said. “It’s close, but with the past bad blood between the packs, no one would expect us to send our mess to him for disposal. No one is going to be watching his crematorium.”

“If there’s bad blood, why would he do this for you?”

“Past bad blood,” Elisabeth repeated. “Long story.”

“Right,” I said. “I’ll shut up now.”

“We’re all a team here,” Lara said. “If you have concerns, please voice them.”

“If you’re confident he won’t create difficulty,” I said, trailing off.

Michaela looked around. “Is that a plan? Eric, I need a secure, outside line on a number he’d answer.”

“I’m on it,” Eric said. “One moment.” We all turned to watch him, and then he said, “Dialing. On speaker.”

We heard the dial, and then a male voice answered, “Good morning.”

“Jared,” Michaela said. “Do you recognize my voice?”

“I do, indeed. How are the little ones?”

“Jared, we have something we would like to discuss with you in person,” Michaela said. “It is exceedingly urgent. I wouldn’t suppose, if I send an aircraft, we could severely interrupt your schedule? We would want you to come alone.”

The line was silent for a moment. “I won’t ask over the phone,” he said. “It’s not a long drive to Madison.”

“We would rather collect you,” Michaela said. Greg held up a paper towards Michaela. She nodded. “I can have an aircraft at Midway at noon. I know this is sudden.”

“I can be there,” he said. “Do I need an overnight bag?”

“No. Jared, we really don’t want you telling anyone where you’re going.”

“All right,” he said slowly. “Michaela, is anyone dead?”

“No one I know,” Michaela said.

“Fuck,” he said. “Michaela, whatever happened, you know it wasn’t me.”

“We know,” she said.

“But you want to be sure.”

“Yeah, and we want a little bit of help.”

“Noon, Midway,” he said.

“We’ll have someone else text you with more specific directions,” Michaela said. “Thank you, Jared.”

“You’re welcome, Michaela. Will I see the little ones?”

“You will.”

They clicked off, and then Michaela turned to Greg. “Chances that was traced?”

Greg looked over at Eric, who said, “I used the relay your guys created.”

“None,” Greg said. “Unless someone is listening on the other end.”

“A risk we have to take,” Michaela said. “What else?”

* * * *

It was work, but Carissa was able to wake her vampires. She had them Call their thralls, much like she had, one at a time. And then she gave the rest to Greg for questioning. We didn’t learn anything useful.

We moved all the prisoners out of one of the storage sheds, and then Greg’s people lined it carefully with heavy tarps. Karen and Portia then brought the first of the unthralled prisoners. With more help from Eric and Rory, they bound him on his knees, his hands above him, holding him upright. Present were Greg, Carissa, and me. Lara remained in the house, Angel and Scarlett with her. Michaela sat in a heavy chair at the far end of the shed, her legs crossed and her hands on the arms of the chair. Serena, of course, stood over Michaela’s shoulder, watching everything.

“Remove his blindfold,” Michaela ordered. Eric handled it, and the man looked around wildly. His panic was clear, and he made animalistic noises into the gag.

“Look at me,” Michaela ordered.

The man’s gaze snapped to her, but then he began looking around wildly again. Eric was about to use force, but Michaela said, “No.” She held out a hand. “Gun.”

Greg pulled his, reversed it, took two steps, and handed it to her. The man’s gaze snapped to the gun.

“Ah, now I have your attention,” Michaela said. “You invaded our lands with the intention of kidnapping innocent women and children. That makes you the worst kind of person I can imagine. When you arrived, you had no idea what you were facing, so a claim that we’re monsters does not excuse your actions.” She stood and moved closer.

“I have never harmed an innocent,” she said. “Not even a little bit. I was one of your targets. My children have certainly never harmed an innocent. They were also your targets.” She came to a stop. “You arrived with significant firepower, and I presume you would have helped to kill anyone who put up a fight. You may think we’re the monsters, but what kind of human being kidnaps innocent women and children? We are not the monsters. You are. My name is Michaela Burns, formerly Michaela Redfur. I was once known as the Hunter of New England. I have lost track of the monsters I have destroyed, but until early this morning, not a single one was human. It is your fault I can no longer stay that.”

She held out the gun, and Greg took it from her. The man’s eyes followed the gun, but, moving faster than I could see, Michaela backhanded him. “I told you to look at me.”

His head rocked, and he let out a muffled cry, but then he turned to look at the fox.

Michaela smiled. “You’ve never been hit that hard by a woman my size before,” she said. She leaned closer. “You have no idea what I am.”

The man said something into the gag.

“Wrong,” Michaela said. “Vampires were once human. I have never been human.” She paused. “My name is Michaela Burns,” she said again. “I am co-alpha of the Madison Wolves. In attacking us, in attempting to kidnap my children and me, you have declared yourself our enemy. In attempting to kidnap innocent women and children, you have declared yourself the worst scum of all humanity. Your life is forfeit.”

And then, again moving faster than my eyes could follow, she pulled both knives from her wrist sheaths and slashed both across his neck, pausing with her arms wide. But then she stepped even closer, letting herself be showered in blood, to clasp his head, forcing him to look into her eyes.

As he died.

No one said a word, but before he was dead, Michaela was drenched in blood. Finally she said, “My apologies, Carissa.”

“Not necessary,” Carissa said. “I’m still a little blood drunk, anyway.”

“I made a mess.” She looked over at Elisabeth. “I’ll stuff him into a body bag.”

“No, Alpha,” Elisabeth said. “Your enforcers will do that. Get this one out of here and bring the next one.”

“Yes, Head Enforcer,” Eric said for all of them.

They were efficient. Greg had brought body bags, and so this body went into one. Five minutes later, the next prisoner was hanging where the first had been. Michaela was back in her chair, her legs crossed again, her hands on the arms.

It was deeply macabre.

Like the last, the man tried looking around wildly. Michaela gave him one chance to look at her, and when he didn’t, she threw one of her knives into his leg.

He screamed. Portia waited a moment then reached down and yanked the knife out. Casually, she cleaned it as the man panted, staring at the knife. Then Michaela held her hand out, and Portia stepped over to hand her the knife. Michaela made it disappear and folded her hands.

“Do I have your attention now?” she asked. He nodded frantically. “Good.” She then gave him the same speech, ending again by standing just in front of him. “You deserve a horrible death,” she said. And then her knives flashed.

She held him the same way she had the first, and after about two minutes, she nodded.

“You don’t have to check?” I asked.

“He’s dead,” Carissa said.

“How-“

“Heartbeat,” Carissa explained.

“Oh. Of course,” I said. I should have figured that out.

The remaining executions were different only in minor details. Michaela stood still, staring straight ahead, as the enforcers stuffed the final body into a body bag. Then Elisabeth moved to her, setting a hand on her alpha’s shoulder. “Michaela.”

“I’m fine,” she said. She looked around. “Thank you for witnessing. The power of life and death...” She shook her head. “Monsters.”

“Monsters,” Carissa agreed.

“I need to clean up. How soon will Jared be here?”

“Another hour,” Greg said.

“I want everything sanitized,” Michaela said. She turned to Elisabeth. “Rip these clothes open, please.”

Elisabeth didn’t wait, and it was only seconds before Michaela stood before her, naked except for her shoes, the bloody clothing landing in a heap. And then Serena was there with a damp towel, working on Michaela’s face. The fox stood there, letting Serena see to her.

“Thank you,” she said. “Elisabeth, does Lara know it’s done?”

“Yes.”

“I need a shower. I need Angel and Scarlett. You need to keep Lara from hugging me until I’ve gotten rid of any lingering blood. And check your own clothing. I probably splashed some of you.”

“We’ll handle those details, Alpha,” Elisabeth said.

“Thank you.”

She turned for the door. Once she had exited the shed, she kicked off her shoes and then -- quite regally, I thought -- walked to the lodge.