Balt

 

It was five days after we’d arrived in Paris and we’d just left a restaurant to walk along the Seine and take in the sights. The sky was blue, the sun warm, but not too warm, and the crowds were bearable. It should have been a good day.

But in the last few days, the tension between Piper and I had become a constant and steady presence. It dogged us, appearing whenever there seemed to be a moment of peace.

She’d been quiet and distant, her face serene, but her smiles not reaching her eyes. For my part, I was miserable and trying to hide it. A calculating voice in my head said to take this opportunity – to burn everything to the ground – then cut and run.

Go back to Greece and meet my fate.

But I couldn’t.

There had been a brief moment where I’d thought I’d seen something in Piper’s eyes that I’d dreamed of for far too long. Something I had always wanted to see.

Something I never thought I would.

I was caught in a war of indecision – between wanting to stay and fight for us – and leaving.

Nothing made sense anymore. I didn’t know what to do. And the one person who probably could have helped me with that was barely looking at me.

At least she was over her brief illness. The paleness of her cheeks was gone and her energy seemed completely restored. There had been no other moments of vulnerability, almost to my chagrin.

“We should cross here and head back,” I said. “We’ve got to pack and check in with HQ.”

“Alright,” Piper replied.

Walking along the bridge, I suddenly noticed it was filled with couples. A man ahead of us was walking along with a woman, his arm wrapped around her and whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. Another couple had paused and were gazing at each other with shy smiles. Others were arm in arm or embracing. A few were even passionately making out.

“What the hell,” I muttered. Wasn’t the daily torture of desire enough? Why did the universe have to flaunt what I couldn’t have right in my face?

A man in a smock popped up in front of us and grinned. “I paint you two – forty euros. Best deal on bridge. Only take forty minutes!”

Setting my jaw, I glared at the man and growled as I pushed past, “No, thank you.”

“Oh, trouble in Paris?” He clucked. “Non, non. With such a beautiful woman, too.”

I was about to turn around and take a swing at the guy when Piper was there and speaking in rapid French. The man looked dubious but then nodded and vanished. But as left, I heard him say something that contained the word mari. It was the same word the doctor had used.

As we walked along, my temper frothing just below the surface, I turned to Piper and asked, “What does that word mean? He used it and so did the doctor. Mari?”

Piper didn’t answer right away. “It’s nothing,” she finally said.

“Then tell me,” I said, trying to sound light, but it came out harshly.

She glanced at me, then looked away, towards the busy street. “Partner.”

“Partner,” I echoed, startled for a moment and then hit me. “Oh.” Husband.

“Yes,” Piper said calmly, with no apparent emotion one way or the other.

I folded my arms and nodded. “People need to mind their own damn business.”

“People don’t mean anything by it,” Piper said, sounding irked. “They see a man and a woman of the same age walking together, they jump to conclusions. Nothing more.”

Letting out a snide sound, I decided not to respond and we were quiet all the way back to the hotel. I didn’t want to admit the real reason I was so angry.

It was not just jealousy of every couple on that bridge, but fear.

Fear of losing Piper.

Whether because of the curse or because of myself at this point, I didn’t know.

 

The next day found us at the train station early in the morning. Our plans had been changed after Piper got sick – SoA now wanted us heading to the country of Luxembourg. There was a suspect there who’d apparently just returned from Greece after dealing with the Kazans.

Along the way, we had a stop to meet up with a contact of ill-repute and find out what he knew. Apparently, he was desperate to talk to SoA.

One Monsieur Filian, a man who liked to play both sides of the table and whose name often popped up in the wrong places. We’d both groaned when we’d seen his name – we’d had a run-in with him before as rookies. He was a greasy, greedy man and not at all pleasant to deal with.

It was also clear that HQ was not happy with our progress, or rather, the lack thereof. After I’d hung up with Drax shouting at me, I’d wanted to crush the phone with my bare hands.

However, if I thought the stand-off chill between Piper and me had been bad in the hotel room – in this minuscule train compartment car, which I'd had to duck to get into and still had hit my head – it was glacial. I was surprised the windows hadn’t frosted over.

Piper, wearing a simple black dress and low heels, her dark curls swept up in a bun, looked effortlessly European and chic. Even down to her upturned nose as she ignored me and stared out the window.

The train rumbled out of the station and I sat down across from her. Pulling out the book she’d bought me in London, I tried to read. But the words ran together and jumbled up. After a while, I realized I’d been staring at the same page for almost twenty minutes.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the rattling wood and tried to calm myself. Nothing was working, though. And I needed to be focused for this meeting with Filian. Who knew how it could go? Gripping my bag, I chanced a look at Piper. She had her headphones in and was watching the blur of green countryside. Slowly, I reached in and pulled out my notebook.

Usually, I never wrote in front of other people – not even Piper.

But Piper was so far away, I may as well have been alone, so I pulled out a pen and began to write. In no time at all, the train was slowing down and I’d filled almost ten pages.

Sensing eyes on me, I looked up and saw Piper watching me, before dropping her gaze. We both gathered our bags and exited the train. Currently, we were in the town of Epernay, staying here for the night. After we dropped off our bags at the hotel, we picked up our rental car and headed for the countryside.

We’d made good time. It was hard to believe three hours ago we were in the city and now we were driving down a tree-lined road to Filian’s estate in Saint-Imogens. I heard Piper let out a small sigh of content as the trees rose up and grew thicker around us.

In spite of growing up in a metropolitan area on the beach, she’d always loved the endless woods and big fields. When we were younger, she used to talk about moving to northern California or Oregon or Hawaii. Somewhere, anywhere it seemed, where there were lush national parks to explore.

After parking the car by the side of the road a mile or two from Filian’s, Piper and I got out, then checked over our gear. In field work abroad like this, we weren’t given weapons. I knew she had a blade strapped to her thigh and I pulled on heavy gloves. Though at home I had a gun, I rarely used it. What use did a shifter have for it, really?

But at this moment, I didn't like not having extra protection. Neither of us was wearing any protective gear, either – Piper was still in her black dress and I found myself growing uneasy.

“Is something wrong?” Piper asked me and I looked up.

“No,” I said. “It’s nothing.”

“Then let’s go already – we’ll be late.”

We walked into the woods and shifted, running through the woods till we arrived at a high stone wall. Piper scaled a tree, a flash of gold and then easily leaped over to the other side. Grumbling, I shifted back and climbed the tree slower. With a leap, I shifted back, landing as a lion and rising as a man. Piper sniffed the air and then shifted back as well.

“Empty,” she murmured. “Huh.”

“What?” I whispered.

"There are only a few people here," she said. "This is a country estate and yet there are not enough people to make a staff. And look – the grounds are run down."

“Maybe Filian’s fallen on hard times,” I whispered back. “He does play fast and loose with his money. Remember that story about how he lost millions in Vegas last year?”

Piper nodded absently. The look in her eye told me she was running through a thousand different scenarios and she jerked her head as we began to creep towards the house.

“Piper, you know he’s expecting us. Why didn’t we go to the front door and knock?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “Follow me.”

Before I could say a word, Piper had run around the house and when I caught up to her, she was sliding through a window. We were in a dark study and she gazed around, eyes taking in everything. It was dark, with books thrown everywhere, papers askew and an air of disuse.

She walked to the door and pressed her ear against it. “This way,” she whispered.

The rest of the house was as dark and out of use as the study. It was not what I would have expected of Filian, a man with garish taste and wealth he liked to flaunt. But as we passed a parlor, I noticed it looked as though it had been hastily cleaned up and the curtains were drawn back. Beyond was the entryway and a servant waiting by the door.

I frowned, trying to figure out why that struck me as odd, but Piper had pressed on. More and more dark and unused rooms flashed by.

Then I understood. Our host wanted us to have the impression his house was well-staffed and furnished when in reality it seemed to be falling down around his ears.

I shook my head and smiled when Piper stopped and nodded towards a door at the end of the hall. Light was falling into the hallway in a long, snakelike ribbon of silver.

She turned to me and whispered, “Shift and follow my lead.” Her hand pressed my cheek and I jumped at the touch. “Do not show your face.”

My jaw clenched. While I usually loved Piper’s incredible intellect, right now I knew she’d figured out something she wasn’t telling me. But before I could grab her hand and demand she explain, she’d walked straight up to the door and thrown it open.

Shifting, I ran up behind her as she strode in.

There was a tired-looking bald man sitting at the desk with four men in masks arranged behind him. Another man, wearing a red scarf and in the act of lighting a cigarette was lounging against the desk. He had strong features, a long nose, quirked up eyebrows and a shaggy mop of red-brown hair. All of them stared in stupefaction as Piper surveyed the room, hands on her hips.

Staring at the bald man, I realized with a shock it was Filian. The years had not been kind to him – he looked wasted and ravaged by time – all his finery and arrogant smiles gone.

“Monsieur Filian, you didn’t tell me we weren’t your only guests. Nor that we were walking into a trap. Seems quite rude.” Piper shrugged. “But then, I am just a simple American.”

For a moment, I saw the image from their point of view and I wanted to laugh. A dark-haired woman in black dress with flashing blue eyes and a lion at her side, his lips curling in what they thought was hunger, but was in fact amusement.

Tossing her head, Piper said in a low voice. “I suggest none of you move unless you’d like to be lunch.” I let out a growl and one of the masked men flinched. I recognized that gear. TLO goons. What the hell was going on? Why were they here? Filian was dealing with the TLO? “Put down your weapons and answer my questions, then maybe you live.”

“Oh, Mon Dieu,” fretted the man in red, who seemed to snap out of his shock and was now grinning in delight. “Are you Piper Weslark?” His eyes ran over her and rage kindled in my veins, prompting a snarl between my teeth. “Ze rumors are true. Beautiful alone does not do you justice.” Now his eyes flicked to me and his smile grew. “You are a goddess – Diana of the Hunt in her fury – and I am merely volunteering to be consumed, darling.”

Piper let out a soft laugh. “Why don’t you tell me your name, first?”

“Call me Le Rasoir. Or Rasoir, Ras, your slave – anything that pleases you, ma belle.”

“And how long have you worked for Tapetum Lucidium, Ras?” Piper asked and I cast her a sidelong look. “You’re not familiar to me.”

“More’s the pity, that,” he said, smoking rapidly. I could tell by the way he was standing, he was doing his best to appear casual, but the wrinkles in his forehead betrayed him. He was thinking hard. “Only long enough to blackmail old Filian here. He’s long been useful, almost an endless well of information, money, and drugs. Is that why you’re here?”

Piper glanced at Monsieur Filian who’d grown pale. “Hm. I suppose his connections to the SoA and the Kazan family didn’t hurt either. Yes, I could see that – an inanis with no close ties to the shifters or our world. Rich with no morals.”

“Mm, it was true,” Rasoir said. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, you’ve come to the crux of the matter. The final swing of the bell of the empty well. Now that you’re here – I know his purpose has been wrung out. Filian, you’ve dried up, my old friend.”

Monsieur Filian let out a choked noise of protest and went to stand, but before he could, there was a flash of silver and red. He fell back into his seat, eyes blank and throat slit.

My eyes went wide with shock. I hadn’t even seen Ras move.

“No,” Piper cried out, moving forward and then stopping.

Rasoir was standing behind Filian, flipping a blade through his long fingers and grinning. “You’re supposed to brilliant and quick-minded, eh? But I am not surprised you didn’t pick up that. See, I have been a hired killer for a long time – so long that people, even the smartest of shifters – can’t sense it anymore. No, most find me charming." His eyes slid to me. "Unlike that brute of a Kazan, you're toting around. Hello, Balt. I've heard a lot about the faithful lap-lion. Didn't hear about how blind the object of your adoration was."

Piper glanced at me and Rasoir threw a blade. I knocked her to the ground and heard it vibrating as it hit the wall behind us. Looking up, I saw Rasoir grinning. He ordered something in French, then stepped out the window behind the desk and shot a wink over at me.

The four TLO guards were pulling guns and aiming them as they moved forward. Crouching over Piper, I snarled and they hesitated. I sensed her shift and she launched herself at one of them, knocking the man to the ground as his gun went off. I darted at one, shifting back and twisting as he fired, then sunk my fist into his face. My right foot flew out and sent the other one into a wall.

Turning, I saw Piper had disposed of the other one and our eyes met.

“We need backup,” I said, thinking of Ras.

“They won’t get here in time,” she said, her eyes flicking from the four unconscious guards to the dead man in the room. “I already called them. We have to try to stop Rasoir.” She swallowed as she looked at Filian. “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming. What is wrong with me?”

Before I could answer, she’d shifted and leaped out the window. I followed and we ran across the lawns. Ahead, I could see Rasoir casually strolling towards an arch leading into a wide garden. He glanced back and grinned, flicking a cigarette at us.

Piper snarled and streaked after him. I rounded the corner as she was shifting back and raising a gun she’d stolen from one of the unconscious guards. “Don’t move, Ras. You’re under arrest and coming with me.”

Rasoir swung around and put his hands in his pockets. “Oh, that does sound tempting, but I’ve got plans, belle. Can’t be missed.”

I paced behind Piper, watching him and keeping an eye on our backs. I didn’t like the smile on his face. That’s when I heard helicopter blades in the distance, closing fast and I saw Piper tighten her grip.

"It's not the Shifters of Anubis if that's what you're wondering," Rasoir said smiling and I saw a strange opalescent gleam flicker in his eyes.

Piper fired and there was a strange sound, like a whip and she let out a gasp. I looked up to see she was touching her cheek, where a line of blood had appeared.

Rasoir was standing in front of us, unharmed and still smiling. The bullet was sliced in two and lying on the ground at his feet. “Don’t make me draw more blood from that beautiful face.”

Anger tore through me and I went to move forward when silver flashed into my eyes and I was momentarily blinded. When my vision cleared, Rasoir was glaring at me.

"I suggest neither of you moves so much as an eyelash,” Rasoir said, his tone cool. “After all, you can’t be sure who I’m going to throw this blade at. Though, I know you neither of you wants that.” He paused. “Although, if I had to pick, Balt is the bigger canvas with which to paint.”

A shuddering breath exuded from Piper and I heard the gun clatter to the ground. “Enough,” she said. “Don’t move, Balt.”

Rasoir smiled. “I see. Both of you are quite blind." The helicopter was getting louder and he walked backward, blades dancing between his fingertips. As he got to the center of the field, the wind kicking up from the helicopter, he bowed ironically and then I saw his hand move.

I leaped, knocking Piper to the ground as a hot pain lacerated my side and I fell against her. Without meaning to, I shifted back and pressed a hand to my side.

“Balty,” she gasped, twisting so that I was under her. “No.”

“Couldn’t resist, Baltsaros,” Rasoir called and I saw him climbing up the ladder. “You’re so predictable. And with all that cursed Kazan blood, what’s it hurt to spill a few drops?”

The dark rage that filled Piper’s face startled me and I saw her glance over at him.

“Go,” I said, gritting my teeth. “It’s shallow. He wanted to distract you.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Piper murmured.

“Piper, go,” I snarled at her as I sat up.

Hesitating, I saw Piper glance from the gun to Rasoir. Then she moved, so fast it was almost a blur, and fired two bullets.

The ladder crumpled and Rasoir fell to the ground but landed easily on his feet. I let out a startled noise. He wasn’t a shifter. How the hell did he do that?

Piper shook her head and leveled her gun. “I knew it. Surrender. Now.”

Beyond, the helicopter landed and the blades cut out. I frowned and sat up, watching in horror as Lilian Frost and Hale Hunter hopped down out of the copter. She waved at us.

Where the hell was our backup? I raged inside my head.

“Your friends should be arriving at any moment, darlings,” Frost said, smiling as she walked up to Ras and patted his arm. “You all right?”

“Oui, mon docteur,” he said, smiling down at her.

Hunter lifted a gun, but Frost reached out and gently pushed it down. “No need for that. Piper is going to put down her gun and let us go, my pets.” A painful laugh burst from me, but Piper didn’t move. “Smart girl. I’ll give you that.”

The two women stared at each other and Piper’s lip curled.

“Don’t pull that trigger, Piper, darling,” Frost said. “I have information for you – information I’m going to give to you, free of charge and obligations. Maybe that will prove to you the TLO has nothing but the best intentions when it comes to ensuring the world order is rectified.”

“Crane screwed with powers beyond his control, Frost,” Piper grit out. “He’s made all of you into something that shouldn’t exist. Hybrids. That’s dangerously unstable, can’t you see that?”

Hybrids. I stared from Hunter to Frost to Ras. We always suspected it, but…

Frost’s face twisted in rage and I winced as I tried to get to my feet. “Crane? You still think that cross-eyed fool could delve into the mysticism and genetics of shifting to create me?” Her eyes slit. “You stand there, a strong and independent woman, one who practically raised her brother and lets that lug take up her space – and you still don’t see it?”

“Oh my god,” Piper murmured, the gun slipping a few inches as she stared at Frost.

“Yes. I did this to myself. I figured it out. That story of Crane’s that he told your brother – that was my story.” Her lips thinned. “I was going to tell him but you rescued him too soon. Kai had no idea how much we had in common. What a perfect mate he would have been for me.”

Piper said nothing in response, but I went still and my stomach roiled with nausea.

Frost continued. “It was almost adorable – you all thought you stopped us when you took Crane. He was a front-man – a clown to distract the eye. A competent doctor maybe, but this is my work. And you will not take it from me.” Her nostrils flared delicately. “It’s sad how even when it comes to a strong woman like you, Piper Weslark – you never thought a woman could do something like this.”

To my shock, Piper put down the gun and nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

My jaw was on the ground as I looked at her. Piper, what are you doing?!

Frost looked pleased and tossed her head. “Thank you. At least you’ve realized the depth of your mistake. Now that I’ve got your attention, perhaps you’ll believe me when I tell you this next piece of information.” Her eyes flicked to me and she winked. “I know how to end the Kazan curse.”

Buzzing filled my ears as I stared straight at Lilian Frost. Her gaze was serious and every word rang with conviction. Could she know? Did she know?

Too late, I then realized, Piper was also glancing over at me and she’d read my face. A darkness clouded her eyes as she looked back at Frost. “It’s a myth.”

But her voice sounded uncertain and her form shook.

“Oh no, darling Piper. It’s not. It comes and claims its own sooner rather than later.” Frost was now smiling cruelly, that show of curved teeth that was the edge of the scythe. “Balt lied to you.”