CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Peter was intrigued to discover that the dragon shifter was fluent in Russian, even if his accent was of Moscow rather than Kamchatka. They were making small talk about the American bears and how Peter had gotten involved with the U.S. military unit after leaving Mother Russia for good, while they gave the sisters space to say goodbye. John hovered nearby, listening in. Paul probably didn’t realize that most of the guys from the old unit were multilingual. Russian wasn’t even the most difficult of the foreign languages some of them had mastered.
When Urse came out of the ring of stones, she had a tragic expression on her face. She was looking down as she walked away from her little sister, but when she reached John, she raised her gaze, and tears were streaking down her face as she sought the solace of her mate.
“I have to get out of here,” Urse told John. “Nonna said each of our tasks must be performed alone. If I stay, I’ll be tempted to interfere—especially if things get dangerous.” Urse caught Peter’s gaze. “You keep her safe, Peter. This thing could easily get out of her control. Or the leviathan could attack—we’re not too far from the water here. Or any number of things. You have to be on guard.” Urse sounded desperate.
“She is my life,” he answered honestly. “Nothing will get to her. I will not allow it. And, if she looks to be in danger from the potion, I will pull her out, regardless of the consequences. I will not lose her after only just finding her.” Peter tried to impress upon Urse the strength of his words, and she seemed to accept what he’d said. She nodded once and turned into John’s loose embrace, allowing her mate to lead her away.
Which meant John wouldn’t be on scene for the big show. Hmm. Problematic, but not too large a problem. Brody was here. He could coordinate the ground troops as easily as John. Even as he thought this, Brody appeared at his side.
“I’m taking the two-footed troops and will coordinate our fire,” Brody said without preamble. “Gus is going bear and will wrangle those in fur. I suppose you two will be in the circle with Mellie?”
“Until the potion is done, then we have to get her to the water to deliver it,” Peter explained as Brody frowned. “We’re going down to the beach outside the ward to give the potion the best positioning to cover as much of the coast as possible. We’ll need help getting there.”
“If need be, I will take my other form,” Paul surprised Peter by saying. “After last night, I have a score to settle with the leviathan, and I may be able to keep it far enough from shore to allow Mellie to do her work. You bears could work on protecting her from the smaller creatures,” he offered, no disrespect in his tone, despite the offhanded nature of his words. They all knew the smaller creatures were nothing to trifle with.
“It’s a good plan,” Brody said after a moment’s thought. “I’ll go tell Gus the game plan, then we’re ready to roll whenever you are.”
“I suggest we do this soon because I believe the creatures have taken note of our activity,” Paul said, gesturing toward the water, which was beginning to roil in an unnatural way.
“Shit,” Peter’s curse was echoed by Brody as he hustled away.
Mellie was just about ready to resume the brew. Urse had left, thankfully. Much as she loved her sister, this was something she had to do on her own. Just as Urse’s task had been accomplished without any help from Mellie. Now that she was mated to Peter, she realized these two tasks were really a demarcation line in their lives.
When they’d been younger and learning the craft, they’d always done everything together. Urse usually led because she was the elder, but she and Mellie had learned together and practiced their art together. Later, as they’d begun to specialize, they’d still been there to help each other and watch each other’s backs. But not this time.
These two tasks in Grizzly Cove had been the first time either of them had attempted such powerful magic on their own. Both had approached the task a single woman, and before they had completed their missions, each of them had become mated.
Had Nonna known what would happen? Mellie was close to one hundred percent certain her clairvoyant grandma had seen it all well ahead of time.
Now, it was Mellie’s turn to unleash the magic she’d been born to wield. After a number of disheartening false starts, Mellie was ready now. She had the skill. She had done the preparation. And now, she had the right ingredients. The secret ingredient, if you will…a real live dragon shifter.
As the thought crossed her mind, the two men she was waiting for crossed into the circle. She had already gone around, consecrating the sacred space, clearing it of any residual energies. She would use the power of the stones to contain her creation until it was ready to be unleashed against the leviathan.
Goddess help them all.
“We’d better get a move on,” Peter said, coming to her side. “The creatures grow restless.”
Mellie looked out toward the water and cursed under her breath.
“Let’s do this,” she said, resolution in her tone, then she looked around for Paul. Spotting him, she gestured for the dragon shifter to come and stand at her side. “Are you ready to resume?” she asked him.
“Ready when you are. Just give me the signal,” Paul told her. Peter was very impressed with the way the dragon shifter had stepped up so far.
Mellie began her chant again. This time, the words weren’t deadened by the close confines of the furnished room in her apartment. No, this time, the stones echoed with the power of her chant. Peter felt the earth beneath his feet, singing with power in a low rumble that spoke to his shifter nature…his very soul.
Mellie had poured the potion into a golden chalice Urse must have brought with her. It had a wide brim and deep-set bowl on an ornate pedestal covered in runes, gems and glyphs of arcane power. The potion bubbled gently, a dark, almost opaque brown in color. As she chanted, it looked like the bubbling increased until, finally, she signaled to Paul.
It was time for the second drop of dragon shifter blood. Paul again pricked the third finger on his left hand and let a single drop of blood well up before inverting his finger over the chalice and allowing the blood drop to drip into the potion.
This time, in addition to the rumble of the earth, there was light within the circle of stones as a protective bubble rose around the circle, each stone adding light to meet at the center of the dome above their heads. Peter remained alert, watching every angle, searching for hidden dangers.
In the light coming off the ring of stones, the roiling ocean became even more visible. Peter didn’t really need his superior night vision to see the tumult out at sea as hundreds—maybe thousands—of the evil sea creatures tangled together as they tried to get closer to shore. And, above them all, the massive tentacles of the leviathan waved threateningly.
Peter looked to Mellie, but she either didn’t see it or didn’t want to look and break her concentration. He then looked at Paul and saw his own concern was reflected on the dragon shifter’s face. They would fight a battle trying to get this potion down to the water, and they both knew it.
Peter made the hand signal that he knew his friends outside the circle could see, even if they couldn’t hear what was going on in the consecrated space. His signal said “get ready”. Grim nods met his eyes as he looked at the men closest to him. They could see it, too…and probably hear it, as well.
Inside the circle of stones, they were protected from the sounds of the creatures. The churning of the water and the eerie screeches the leviathan had been known to make when communicating instructions to its minions. It probably sounded like something else underwater, but above the surface, it was like fingernails scratching on a blackboard. Or something equally evil.
Mellie chanted on, the potion now a translucent golden brown that was bubbling madly. Her words came to a peak, and she again nodded to Paul. He allowed another final drop of his blood to enter the chalice, and at that moment, the contents burst into a pure golden flame.
Peter reared back, unprepared for the violent reaction, but Mellie stood firm. She’d known, or perhaps had guessed, this might happen. Her beautiful face was lit by the glow of magic issuing from the flames in the chalice.
“It’s done,” she said. “Now, we just need to get this into the water. Quickly.”
Peter surveyed the situation outside the circle. Though he couldn’t hear it, he could see the telltale muzzle flashes as his comrades opened fire on the increasingly bold creatures. Some were even trying to crawl up the beach on dozens of tentacles and making surprisingly fast progress.
Peter’s eyes widened. Up ‘til now, they hadn’t shown any tendencies to be amphibious, but who really knew what these evil things were capable of? They weren’t from this realm of existence. For all anyone knew, they could fly.
Peter escorted Mellie and her glowing, flaming chalice to the edge of the circle closest to the shoreline. The moment they stepped over the boundary and outside the ring of stones, chaos reigned. The sound of the creatures screeching was deafening, as was the increasing barrage of gunfire. Even as they walked, the situation was intensifying.
Peter spotted Gus rallying the four-footed troops. “To me!” Peter called out, and a chorus of bear growls answered his call.
Foremost among them was a huge auburn female. Babushka had come to help.
Peter felt relief fill him. His babushka was probably the fiercest fighter of them all—and that was saying something. She had centuries of experience and cunning, and she was larger than almost all of the other bears. Babushka was formidable.
The bears formed a row facing outward, battling the smaller creatures that dared come up on land while providing a safe passageway for Peter and Mellie. Paul had stopped at the head of the column and started shedding his clothing. If Peter wasn’t very much mistaken, they were all about to see a real live dragon in action.
He felt the wind buffet him as the dragon took to the air behind them, but Peter remained focused on his mission. Getting Mellie and her precious chalice to the water was the most important thing right now. Everyone else was there to support them in that goal, and he would not waste their efforts or sacrifice.
Around him, he heard the barrage of gunfire, and one enterprising ex-military guy had even brought along a rocket launcher. He was throwing fire with that every few minutes, when he had a good target. The leviathan’s minions were being engaged on all fronts, but there were just too many of them.
In the latest explosion of rocket fire, Peter looked up to see the outline of a massive dragon winging its way over the water.
“Holy shit, that’s a fucking dragon!” Peter heard one of his comrades in two-legged form call out over the noise of the ongoing gunfire.
“Don’t shoot him,” Brody roared back. “He’s on our side.”
And, just like that, the guns aimed to help the dragon, whose midsection began to glow eerily. A moment later, fire erupted in the sky, heading for the shoreline, illuminating the nightmare scene of thousands of tentacles crawling their way up the beach, heading for the defenders. Peter felt his heart stutter, just for a second. Then, he saw the effect the dragon fire had on the creatures.
They ran. In some cases, climbing over each other in their efforts to get away. Those that didn’t escape the flames, sort of… melted. And many died.
Peter realized that those that had been created of this earth were killable around the same time the rest of the guys did, and after that, they seemed to have new purpose. Not all those minions had come through from another plane of existence. It was clear now that many had been made here—earth creatures formed into hideous monsters by the leviathan’s twisted magic. They could be killed, and the men and bears on the beach redoubled their efforts.
Peter had his arm around Mellie as the bears closed ranks around them. The small strip of rocky sand leading down the beach that the bears guarded began to shrink as battle intensified, but the dragon’s repeated fire helped prevent anything from crawling up from the water between the ranks of bears.
Babushka was down there too, at the end of the column, two white bears flanking her—one was Sven, the town’s doctor and only resident polar bear. The other was Gus, the shaman and rare spirit bear. Both were immensely powerful. Between the three of them, nothing was getting between the two lines of bears.
Mellie guarded that chalice as best she could. The fire within heated the gold of the cup, but it didn’t harm her. It was a magical fire that would burn itself out within a few minutes if she didn’t use the potion right away. The highest potency of this particular potion was just after it was brewed. It would still be quite magical corked in a bottle a hundred years from now, but in order to do the most good, it had to be fresh.
Her job right now was to get it into the water as soon as possible.
The earth began to shake beneath her feet, threatening her balance, and she thought for a moment the potion had stirred an earthquake. As Peter steadied her, his strong arm around her waist, she realized the leviathan was causing the shaking. It was sending its heavy, muscular tentacles, thundering down on the sandy bottom of the ocean floor and partway onto the beach itself, crushing some of its minions that happened to be in the way of its wrath. It was trying to reach the bears, but they were fast enough to scramble out of the way. Thank the Goddess.
But Mellie realized she was going to have to get closer than she ever wanted to get to that creature and its crushing, flailing arms. Water was splashing everywhere, and the bears closest to the shore were half-in-half-out of the waves the leviathan was churning up with its frenzy. She was so afraid someone was going to get killed. She couldn’t have that on her conscience.
Part of her wanted to run as fast as she could down to the water, but the chalice was wide-brimmed and she dared not lose a single drop of the precious potion. She had to just calm down.
“You can do this,” she told herself, giving herself the quiet pep talk that had helped her when she was first learning how to condense her magic down into liquid form.
“I’m right with you,” Peter added. That was new. Always before, she’d faced the danger of her own power—and anything that came against her magically—with her sister backing her up. Or sometimes, their grandmother. Never a man. This would take some getting used to.
Urse’s power to cast spells was something that could be done on the fly. As a result, she was better at dealing with immediate threats. Potions took more finesse…and more time. Which was why Mellie had always been tasked with the more long-term problems.
Never in her life could Mellie have imagined this scenario. She’d usually done her work from the shadows, with the luxury of time. This time, she was on the front lines, in the direct path of danger. Without Peter at her side, she honestly didn’t know if she would’ve had the courage to continue. The leviathan was scary!
“Don’t let it get to you,” Peter shouted to be heard above the screeching and gunfire, not to mention the dragon’s roaring flame. “The creature is projecting fear. It bounces off us bears, but some of it might get through to you. Fight it, Mellie!”
Just hearing Peter’s words broke the spell. Mellie shook her head once and cursed. That damned leviathan had many tricks up its metaphorical sleeve. Mellie should have been more aware that it could try to trick her. It had done its best to lure Urse away from the protection of her own wards, after all.
“Thank you, Peter,” Mellie shouted as they kept moving. Her feet were no longer hesitant. The fear that had almost disabled her, moments before, was a thing of the past.
Oh, sure, she was apprehensive about getting too close to the water and the creature within it that wanted her power, but she wasn’t crippled by debilitating fear. No. Mellie wasn’t going to play the leviathan’s game. Not by its rules.
It was time to level the playing field and destroy the competition.
With purposeful strides, Mellie walked as quickly as she could without spilling a drop of her potion. The bears on either side growled in combat, giving of themselves and their immense strength to protect her on this dangerous promenade.
Mellie began to chant, invoking the protections of the Goddess that all strega knew. To her amazement, little tendrils of golden flame licked out of the sides of the chalice to aid the bears who were fighting for their lives to protect Mellie on her walk. She hadn’t expected that, but it was welcome. Every little bit helped.
As she drew closer to the water, the glowing fire spilling out of the chalice intensified. It formed a shield of protection around her and Peter, who remained at her side. Granny Ivana was fighting alongside a massive polar bear and a strange cream-colored bear that must be Gus. They were going tooth and claw against the sea creatures, half in the water as it sprayed high in the tumult.
“I need to get into the water,” Mellie said to Peter, breaking her chant. There had to be a way to deliver her potion without getting killed, but she wasn’t sure how.
The chalice of potion was providing some protection, but she also wasn’t sure if that shield was impenetrable. The potion hadn’t really been designed to do what it was now doing. She had to get it into the water, a few feet from shore. Only once it mixed with the water of the coastline could it take full effect.
“Follow me,” Peter shouted. He’d taken off his clothes and flung them back the way they’d come. In an instant of shimmering energy, he shifted into his bear form and moved in front of her.
Mellie understood what he was trying to do. He was placing himself between her and danger. She would not waste his efforts, though she intended to have strong words with him after this was all over. She didn’t like seeing him in danger any more than he probably enjoyed watching her do this.
Moving quickly, she held the chalice aloft and walked boldly into the splash zone. It was so chaotic on the shore that she wasn’t exactly certain where the water normally began. She had to go in up to her knees, at least, to be certain the potion would disperse to the widest possible area.
Peter slashed out in front of her, his claws coming back slicked in blood and gore, though in the darkness she couldn’t see it all that well. The night was lit with occasional bursts of dragon fire and the diminishing fire of rockets and grenades. Muzzle flashes moved closer on either side of the line of bears, aiming out to sea, but for a human mage with no real night vision, it was still pretty dark.
Mellie felt water on her lower legs and feared any moment she would feel the sting of suckers or teeth, but she had to keep going. Step by step, the water became deeper, and she finally became convinced that she was in the tidal zone.
She chanted her last incantation and raised the chalice high in front of her. Then, she did as she’d been praying she’d get a chance to do and poured the chalice out into the water directly in front of her.
The change was almost instantaneous. The glowing golden flames spread like wildfire, and the cacophony of dying evil rose high in the night air. The immediate area around her became a writhing mass of flame that consumed only evil. The defenders basked in the goodness of the glowing magic that healed any injuries they had sustained in this battle, and refreshed their souls.
The leviathan and its minions were not so lucky. The smaller ones dissolved in bursts of golden fire. The larger ones fled as fast as they could, and the largest of all—the leviathan itself—screamed in outrage as it was pushed back with incredible force on a tidal wave of golden flame.