Karin detoured down one level intent on piling edibles onto a plate. At least she’d gotten Daide to smile, but it had been an uphill battle. The easy camaraderie marking their earlier interactions had all but fled. Should she apologize for not paying attention to her physical decline until she collapsed? Or was that even the problem?

Spreading biscuits with tinned preserves, she wished for freshly made strawberry jam to force her mind away from Daide’s change of attitude.

“Yeah, for all the good wishing will do—about anything,” she muttered and slopped a few spoonfuls from the previous night’s casserole into a bowl. She wasn’t all that hungry, but Daide might be.

As she worked, her thoughts returned to him, making her feel mildly guilty. She should focus all her energies on the Witch problem. Viktor and Juan hadn’t said as much, but she suspected the supplies they’d hoped to find in town were more important than they let on. New Zealand had plenty of other cities along its eastern coastline, but all stopping would do was slow them down. At their current rate of progress, it would take years to reach Wrangel Island in the Siberian Arctic. Years when more wickedness poured through the gateway, infecting Earth until it reached a tipping point. For all she knew, they were already there, and all their efforts would be for naught.

She bit down on her lower lip, fighting frustration. Every place they made port, something went wrong. Maybe not exactly wrong, but they ran up against challenges. She’d overheard the conversation where Moira mentioned humans and Vampires. It seemed likely these Vamps wouldn’t pose problems—not if there were only two—but she didn’t trust any of them. She’d laid her antipathy aside when Ketha’s seer skills revealed they had to work with Ushuaia’s Vampires. Aura had clinched things with the fourth unfinished prophecy. Turned out, they’d both been correct.

Breath whistled through Karin’s teeth. Her mind was really wandering. One moment it wanted to drool over Daide’s dark good looks. The next it took a side trip backward in time to their fight against the Cataclysm.

She exhaled again, very slowly. If Daide’s current attitude was to be trusted, he was a dead issue and thinking about him a waste of time. She’d been foolish to believe he might be interested in her, a woman at least four times his age. Never mind she wasn’t old by Shifter standards. Still, she had white hair, lines in her face, and far from a girlish physique. He’d been kind. Professional. And she’d been so goddamned lonely, she’d misinterpreted his attention as romantic interest.

Christ! She was pathetic and needed to get over herself. Fast.

“Yeah. What I need to determine is why the hell Vamps survived here. They should be either human or Shifters.”

She plopped two plates and a bowl on a small tray, along with silverware, and walked out of the kitchen. It was possible the vultures had gotten things wrong. Maybe there had been two Vampires, but the birds hadn’t overflown the human compound lately. The more she thought about it, the more she believed it was a logical explanation. The Vamps had morphed into something else, but the birds didn’t know about it.

Empty corridors and stairwells flashed past as she hurried up four decks and shouldered onto the bridge. The dishes made small clinking sounds as they knocked into each other when she set the tray on the floor near where Daide was seated next to Recco and Zoe.

“Sure and you’ll join us.” Zoe patted a chair next to hers. “I brought whiskey, but Juan vetoed it.” Her mouth rounded into a disappointed moue. “Probably wise of him, though I’d dearly love a wee nip.”

Karin settled into the indicated chair and eyed the fifth of spirits tucked between Zoe’s knees.

“Thanks for getting the snack together,” Daide said around a mouthful of biscuit and jam.

“No problem. The casserole is for you. I’m not particularly hungry.” Her words earned her a quick, pointed glance from Zoe, but the coyote Shifter didn’t say anything.

Boris, Ted, and the other three folk from Arctowski slipped through a side door. “Sorry we’re late,” Boris said. “Has anyone heard from the dolphins?”

The whale Shifters were lined up in front of the windows, staring at Invercargill’s quays. They turned almost as a unit, and the man Karin had left on the gangway platform shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and winced.

When he looked at everyone, he muttered, “I don’t understand. I can’t sense Leif or any of the other dolphins. It’s like the Earth swallowed them. I’ve been trying to raise Poseidon, but that wily old bastard is never around when you need him.”

Karin’s eyes widened. Part of her expected the ether to part, revealing a very pissed-off sea god, but nothing of the kind happened. She put down the biscuit she’d begun nibbling and said, “It has to be one of two things.”

“We figured as much out,” the whale Shifter said before she could finish her thought. “Either Leif has cast a protective spell around himself and the others, or the Witches have. Either way, they’re invisible, and it’s damned disquieting.”

“Is there a way to sort it out?” Viktor asked.

The whale rolled his broad shoulders amid cracking vertebrae unused to his human configuration. “If the question is whether I can tell the difference between Witch emanations and our own, the answer is yes. But when I send out seeking magic, what returns is nothing. Not Witch. Not ours. Just a void.”

“Has to be Witches, then,” Karin said.

“Why do you believe so, land Shifter?” the whale asked.

She considered her assessment, which had popped out before she sorted things through. “Shifters wear many faces,” she began, “but we’re not underhanded. I can see Leif shielding himself from Witches, but why bother to hide his presence from his own kind?”

“Fear,” one of the female whales spoke up. “If he’s terrified, he’d have built the strongest spell that came to mind.”

“Aye,” Zoe said, “but would he squander magic where ’twasn’t needed?”

“I don’t like any of this,” Juan said. “We need to launch a raft and go hunt for him and the other dolphins. From what Recco told me, the Remington works against Witches.”

“Bet the iron saber would too,” Viktor broke in.

Karin hunted for Moira, but she wasn’t on the bridge. She raised her mind voice and called the vulture shifter. “Could you open that door?” she pointed at the one leading outside near the glassed-in wall.

One of the whales moved faster than his bulk suggested was possible and propped a door open in time for Moira’s dark, feathered form to breeze through. Cawing, she curved her talons around the back of a chair and fluffed her feathers.

“Shut that,” Viktor called. “Some of us are cold.”

The whale looked surprised but let go of the door.

“You want to know about the Vampires.” Moira’s lidless, avian gaze roamed around the bridge. “In a nutshell, it’s been years since the vultures flew anywhere near the human compound. Apparently, the group either still has ammunition, or some way to make more. They shoot at them.”

“Big surprise,” Daide said. “Don’t take this wrong, Moira, but vulture tastes a lot like turkey, and I’m certain food was in short supply during the worst of the Cataclysm.”

She bobbed her head but stopped shy of squawking at him.

“What I’m wondering,” Karin spoke slowly, “is if the Vamps replicated themselves.”

“It would depend where they fell in their power cycle,” Viktor replied. “At the front end of the Cataclysm, Raphael didn’t have much trouble creating new Vamps, but that ability waned. And those of us he created lacked that skill.”

“If the Vamps were satisfied with their arrangement with the humans,” Recco said, raking hair away from his face, “there’d be no percentage to making more of them.”

“You’re right,” Daide cut in. “More Vamps means more blood. Maybe they developed a détente of sorts with the humans.”

“It’s a whole lot of maybes,” the whale Shifter Karin had come to view as their leader rumbled in his low, gravelly voice.

“I could take a few birds and fly close enough to see something,” Moira suggested.

“Too risky,” Viktor said.

“And too time consuming,” the whale mumbled. Fisting one ham-sized hand, he brought it down on a chair, which broke apart like so much balsawood. “Damn it.” Stooping, he gathered the pieces. “Sorry. I’ll be more careful. Those of you who were ashore don’t fully understand how critical it is we move quickly.”

Ketha chewed her lower lip. “They’ll kill them, won’t they?”

“Not exactly,” Karin said to spare the whale the humiliation of launching into his tale of misplaced bargains. “All those rumors about male Witches dying out centuries ago are true. Their solution to produce new Witches with credible power was to force the sea Shifters into serving as breeding stock. Only problem was whichever Shifter drew the short straw and serviced the Witches eventually went mad.”

A long, hissing breath escaped Ketha. “Oberon’s balls. Why weren’t we ever informed?”

“By whom?” One of the whale shifters dragged the heels of his hands down the rough planes of his whiskered face. “We were ashamed. And the die was cast. Naught to be gained by whining about it.”

“I hate to be indelicate,” Karin said, “but it’s damned hard to force a man to mate against his will.”

“Witchy spells and love potions fill that void,” the whale countered.

“I’m with Viktor,” another whale spoke up. “Let’s get our shore party into a raft and moving. We can stop by the human compound to solicit aid. I bet they’d give it willingly. Witches are the reason they’re stuck hiding out.”

“I’m returning to the vultures,” Moira said. “I’ll handpick a group, and we’ll meet you near where the humans are. It’s two miles north of town and then off a side road that goes west. As I know more, I’ll let you know via telepathy.”

The same whale Shifter who’d managed the door before held it open for her.

“I volunteer for the shore group,” Karin said and finished the biscuit she’d been working on.

“I’ll go too,” Daide said.

“We need to think this through.” Viktor glanced around the bridge. “Either Juan or myself must remain here.”

“You went last time,” Juan reminded him.

Viktor shot him a dirty look. “Your point?”

“Not sure I had one, but I’d like a shot at this. Seems our best bet would be resurrecting one of those jalopies you mentioned littering the roads. It’s faster than travel on foot. Fuel separates, but we can strain off the water.”

“You’re not going without me.” Aura trotted to Juan’s side and trained her green eyes on him.

“Funny.” He stared her down. “It’s kind of the same thing I said when you got back with the raft.”

“All five of us will be there,” the lead whale Shifter said. “No arguments because we won’t back down.”

Karin got to her feet. “If the whales are coming, the best magical balance will be them, and six of us. If it’s Daide and me, Juan and Aura, and Recco and Zoe, that would work.”

“If something happens,” Viktor countered, “you’ve wiped out our entire medical component.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to all of us.” Karin stood straighter and hoped to hell her words were prophetic.

“I’d like to help.” The zoologist from McMurdo stood. He looked determined—and frightened.

“You’d be a liability,” Karin told him. “This isn’t a fight for humans.”

“Kind of what I figured,” he mumbled and sat back down. “But I wanted to toss it out there.”

“Appreciate you offering,” Viktor said.

“Come on, Captain,” the lead whale Shifter urged. “Time is everything. If we arrive after Leif or one of the others has been forced into being a sperm donor, we’ve lost them.”

“Zoe and Recco, are you willing?” Viktor asked.

“More than willing.” Recco shot upright.

“Me too.” Zoe stood next to him.

“I’ll drop the raft back in the water,” Viktor said. “Those who are going get yourselves ready. You can’t count on the weather, so put on your bibs and parkas.”

“I’ll help you with the raft,” Ketha said.

Viktor headed out of the bridge with her next to him. “Thanks for not insisting on going—” he began, but his voice vanished once the door shut behind them.

“See you on the gangway.” The whales filed out the door nearest them, muttering in their lyrical language.

“Don’t worry about the debris from your snacks,” Tessa said.

“Yeah, we’ll take care of everything,” Ted seconded. “I really wish I could be more than a third wheel.”

“Someone has to hold down the fort,” Karin told him.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I’d rather be out scouting for Apaches than making sure they don’t burn down the stockade.”

Karin hurried to her cabin and selected what she thought she’d need, including a medical bag. Clipping her life vest on, she bolted for the gangway, not wanting to hold anyone up. She was pleased Daide had volunteered to go right after she did, but she’d be a fool to read anything special into it. He was a doctor exactly like her. They put themselves in the line of danger so someone would be around to save lives.

Juan and the raft were already at the bottom of the gangway, so she trotted down the wobbly steps. The day had been mild by southern latitude standards, but it was shading toward night, and a nippy breeze had kicked up.

“Going to be a cold crossing,” Juan noted.

Karin tucked her hair under her hood and cinched its draw cord beneath her chin. The whales were already in the raft, and everyone else joined them in the next few minutes.

“Feels odd not to swim,” one of the whales mumbled.

No one else said anything as they crossed the stretch of choppy, dark blue water. Karin kept her magic deployed like antennae, scanning for Witch presence. What bounced back wasn’t reassuring. While she didn’t sense Witches, the absence felt empty, ominous, as if an unseen puppeteer manipulated strings just out of reach.

“Take the main highway out of town.” Moira’s mind voice blasted into Karin’s head. “Maybe three miles out, look for a battered sign pointing west. You can still make out ‘Harrison Mineral Baths’ on it.”

“How far from there?” Karin asked.

“Half to two-thirds of a mile, but Christ on a crutch they have that place warded nine ways from Tuesday. You’ll smell Vampire long before you get there.”

“I had no idea Vamps could construct bulletproof wards.” Karin chewed her lower lip.

“Neither did I. The vultures told me you just landed. Hurry. I’m certain those fuckers know we’re around, and I don’t want any more of my birds hurt.”

“What was that all about?” Juan asked and finished tying off the raft to a convenient concrete pier block with metal rings embedded in it.

Karin sketched out the gist of Moira’s message. “Your vehicle idea is sound, but unless you find a truck, we won’t all fit.”

“Don’t worry about us,” the whale Shifters’ leader said. “We have our own ways of traveling.”

“We’ll wait for you at the intersection where that spa sign is,” one of the whales Karin had worked on added. “Would you mind if we brought the rifle?”

“Not at all.” Juan offered it to him, along with a handful of spare bullets.

Before Karin could ask for details about their teleport plans, the area around the whales blazed so brightly, she shut her eyes. The air thrummed with Shifter magic. Compared with what she’d been sensing, it felt clean and welcome. When the glare receded enough for her to pry her eyes open, the whales were gone.

“Come on.” Juan took off at a quick clip uphill toward where the town’s streets began. “First car I can get started wins.”

“We’ll help,” Daide said. “Recco and I weren’t precisely delinquents, but we picked up a few illegal skills. Jumpstarting cars was a rite of passage where we grew up.”

Karin tamped back a grin and exchanged glances with Aura and Zoe. “We’ll keep watch while you’re stealing us a car.”

“It’s not stealing,” Daide protested. “Not when the owner’s been dead for years.”

“Hell, if he’s not dead and living in that compound, he’ll thank us for bringing his car close enough to actually use,” Recco added with an engaging smile.

The men moved from one abandoned vehicle to the next. They worked fast, and in no time the ragged chug of a reciprocating engine filled the darkening sky with clouds of black smoke.

“Pile in,” Recco yelled over the noise of the engine. “Probably won’t go far, but it doesn’t have to.”

“Fuel?” Juan yelled back.

“Quarter tank.”

Karin climbed into the backseat of a four-door Citroen, medical bag in hand. Daide and Recco got into the backseat with her, while Juan, Aura, and Zoe took the front, balancing the saber across their laps. The car lurched and stumbled down what had once been a broad boulevard. Potholes crisscrossed its surface, and Juan wove around obstacles.

“Your medical equipment?” Karin twisted to look at the men next to her.

“Popped it in the boot,” Daide said. “We tried to fit the saber, but it was too long.”

“I’m amazed the tires still hold air,” Recco said.

“One was fairly flat,” Aura informed him. “I used magic to inflate it.”

“Neat trick,” Daide said.

“Aye, but it willna work if we sustain a puncture,” Zoe informed him.

Karin gazed at the ruined town. While the architecture was far different from Ushuaia’s, the net effect was the same. Crumbling structures, rotting bodies, and bones. A horde of hundreds of rats scrambled out of their path from where they’d been perched atop something, no doubt feeding from it.

“None of this was here on our first trip,” Aura said. “The streets and buildings looked pristine, as if the inhabitants had dashed off for a bite of lunch and simply not returned.”

“All illusion created by the Witches?” Juan asked.

“Aye,” Zoe said. “They’re hella strong.”

“Why haven’t they intercepted us?” Karin mused out loud.

“I’m sure we’ll find out,” Juan said, a sour note beneath his words. “There are the whales. Must be our turnoff.”

Karin craned her neck to look out one of the car’s filthy windows. Vultures circled overhead. She swallowed around a dry, scratchy place in her throat, and her palms slicked with sweat despite the chill seeping into the car.

“It will be fine.” Daide placed a hand briefly over hers. “We’ll rescue Leif and his dolphins.”

An image of Rowana dying in her arms rose to taunt Karin. She forced it aside. “Whatever happens”—she was surprised her voice didn’t tremble—“some of us will make it out of here. Whoever is left has to continue to Siberia.”

“Was there ever any question?” Zoe’s soft brogue was soothing.

Karin wanted to scream at her. Of course there’d be questions. The pull of retreat to Ushuaia to wait out phase two of the apocalypse would be hard to resist in the wake of grief. Instead, she said, “No. No question at all.”

Juan stopped the car in the middle of the road because it was the only place not riddled with fissures. He cranked his window down amid rusty squealing, and one of the whales moved next to the car, bending his head to window level.

“Not sure how close we’ll get,” the whale said. “The warding begins about a quarter mile down the road.”

“Did you try to breach it?” Aura asked.

“No. Muscling our way through will take all of us.”

“Even if we fight our way to the compound,” Daide said, “they’ll be loaded for bear by the time we show up. Is there some way to communicate with them?”

“Yes,” Juan seconded. “We need to inform them we’re playing on their team, although signing on for any team that includes Vampires sticks in my craw.”

“We can try.” Karin jimmied the latch until her door opened. Not much reason to drive any farther, so she stepped out of the car, reaching back inside to claim her kit.

What little daylight there’d been was gone. The darkness felt ominous, somehow. Nostrils flaring, she scented the air, certain she caught a whiff of Vampire. At least it wasn’t Witch stench.

Not here, and not yet, she corrected herself.

She walked to where the whales stood in a line staring down the road to the compound.

“Look sharp,” her wolf growled. “You’re about to have company.”

Zoe and Aura flanked her. “My coyote just told me—” Zoe began.

Aura cut her off. “Yeah, my mountain cat said the same.”

Karin dropped her bag and extended her hands. Aura grabbed one, Zoe the other, and they wove their power together.

“Get behind us,” the lead whale snarled.

“I don’t think so,” Karin countered.

A sound like a hundred bolts of cloth tearing at the same time made her ears ache. The slimy feel of Vampire magic cascaded around her, along with their characteristic rotten-egg reek. The fissure she expected formed about twenty feet away, and a Vampire complete with extended fangs and a black cloak stepped through.

Dark hair cascaded to knee level, and his eyes were a burnt-amber shade. Tall, beautiful, and with a body like a Greek god, his gaze traveled across their group. Shrewd and appraising, it suggested a sharp intelligence.

Karin constructed a protective spell with the other women and stood straight, waiting. The Vamp’s primitive magic probed the edges of her ward, and then moved on. She began to relax, but only a little. One Vampire would never take on eleven Shifters. No. This fellow wanted something.

Surprise fluttered across the Vamp’s striking features. “But you three”—he pointed at Juan, Recco, and Daide—“were Vampires until quite recently. What happened? I can fix whatever robbed you of—”

“Oh hell no.” Daide took a step forward. “We were turned against our will.”

Musical laughter trilled from the Vampire. “True for all of us, but the advantages are compelling.”

Karin let go of Aura and Zoe. “Skip the sales pitch. You’re here for a reason. Tell us what you have in mind.”

“How about if I save the sales pitch for later?” he crooned. Karin forced her gaze away before he mesmerized her. “What I want is simple. I know what happened earlier. I also know you’re Shifters. No love lost between you and the Witches. I propose an alliance.”

“What kind of an alliance?” Juan’s words dripped distrust.

“Simple enough. I lead you to your missing sea Shifters, and you help me kill the rest of the Witches.” He dusted his palms together. “Rids me of an enormous problem, and then you can get back on that ship and leave. Unless my offer of eternal life and endless power begins to sound more attractive.”

“How many more Witches are there?” Zoe asked.

“Ten. After the batch you dispatched today. Nice work, by the way.” The Vamp retracted his fangs and smiled fetchingly.

“You have a bargain under one condition.” Juan walked closer to the Vampire.

“What’s that?” His alluring smile widened, and the air around him developed a shimmery quality.

“No coercion. Four of us spent a decade as Vampires. Plenty long enough to decide we’d rather die than be Vamps again.”

“Tsk. Tsk. You weren’t turned by the right Vampire. Why I could—”

“No deal. We’ll find our companions on our own. Best of luck with the Witches.” Juan turned on his heel.

“No need to be so hasty.” The Vampire’s tone was pure silk. “I agree.”

The lead whale Shifter stomped to the Vampire. “Where are my kinfolk. Show me right now.”

“Pushy. Pushy,” the Vamp muttered.

Amid cawing and shrieking, the flock of vultures landed. The Vampire stared at them. “Fascinating. First time I’ve seen a herd of anything run by a Shifter.”

Magic flared and flashed, and a buck-naked, furious Moira faced off against the Vampire. “They follow my bonded one of their free will, which is more than you can say about any of your blood-turned minions.” Another flare, and her coal-black vulture returned, sharp beak opening and closing in anger.

“We need a plan,” the Vampire said without preamble.

“Why?” the whale shifter asked. “We’ll shoot the Witches—or behead them.”

“First, we have to penetrate their wards,” the Vampire’s easy mien had vanished, and he bent to draw in the dirt with a long-nailed index finger.

“Is there more than one of you?” Karin asked.

“Yes, but my companion isn’t well. Pay attention.” He pointed to his rough sketch. “The Witches are about a mile from here in a cave system that butts against the sea. This area is weakest, but once we’re within their lair, we...”

Karin listened with half an ear. How could a Vampire be unwell? And then it came to her in a rush. The other Vamp must have reverted to human—or bonded with an animal. For some reason, the Vamp a few feet away hadn’t been able to turn him—or her—again, which was an intriguing piece of data. Apparently, the Vampire gate no longer swung both ways.

An uncomfortable sensation settled into her guts like a stone. Was the Vampire planning to use them to defeat the Witches and then imprison them for his own nefarious purposes? It would be very like a Vamp. Perhaps he didn’t realize the full extent of what breaking the Cataclysm had done to his kind.

Why should he? None of us do, either.

She narrowed her mind voice to Zoe and Aura. “Something about this stinks.”

“Ya think?” Aura mumbled.

Zoe’s response was a collection of Gaelic words so old, Karin only caught one in half a dozen. Snatching up her bag, she followed the group.

Daide fell in next to her. “A favor?” His telepathy was garbled.

“Sure. What?”

“If that bastard turns me, take the saber and cut off my head.”

“You don’t have much to worry about it. I suspect it’s what he meant by his companion being unwell. He’s tried and can’t manage turning the other one back.”

“I feel stupid. Should have put two and two together myself,” Daide murmured.

Karin held out her hand, and he gripped it hard. She didn’t want to let go, and he didn’t even try to extricate his fingers. Together, they ran after the Vampire.