Chapter Twenty-Seven – Ryder

 

The soul, the spirit of us, was what made us truly ourselves. Our consciousness, our willpower, our memories. Our very existence. It was so powerful, so unique to each of us, that only one could be contained within a body at a time. Any more, and both might tear themselves apart.

At least, that’s what Col. Harrington had taught me.

From what she’d already detailed about her sister’s plan, about using Esther as a recipient vessel for the soul of Winifred, I knew what the outcome would be if Marguerite was successful. The town of Camelot would effectively disappear, and all the things that made the woman in front of me Esther, would go right alongside all the townspeople.

For all intents and purposes, she would cease to exist. In her place would be Winifred O’Bannon.

I nodded, reaching across the bar to put my hand next to hers. “I know she’s your sister. But, it’s just the way things are. We can’t let any more innocent people get hurt. And that includes you.”

She pulled back her hand and went to look away, her eyes beginning to water. A tear formed at the corner of an eye as she turned.

“What now?” Stephanie asked from beside me. She leaned forward, putting her hand over mine.

“Do you need us to give you a moment?” I asked Esther as I squeezed Stephanie’s hand, my thumb rubbing across the backs of her fingers. God, it was good to have her by my side throughout all this. But even I knew she couldn’t stay by it the whole time. Soon, I was going to have to walk into the lion’s den and deal with this on my own.

There was only one person here who could go in after Marguerite, and it was me.

Esther stayed turned away, her shoulders slowly rising and falling as she tried to come to terms with what was happening. That we needed to stop her sister through any means available. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was going through. What kind of choice she was having to make.

Deep down, I was already dreading my own fears I was going to have to face. I needed to tell Stephanie my secret soon. Needed to unload my burden on her. Especially if I was going to walk right up to Marguerite and face her. After all, this was more or less a suicide mission I was embarking on.

I gritted my teeth, set my jaw. Not that I minded. Every mission you went on might be a suicide mission. Those were just the rules of the game we were all playing.

This time was different, though. Never before had I had anything I was worried about losing. It had always been about doing the job, or keeping the soldier beside me safe. And now, to think that I was about to leave her in this hotel all by herself, while I went out and faced a witch drunk on necromantic power.

I squeezed Stephanie’s hand a little more tightly. It was almost too much for me to consider losing this beautiful woman, especially after I’d just now found her.

Esther turned back to us as she wiped the heel of her hand across a cheek, removing evidence of her tears. “I’m aware of how you need to stop her. Of why you need to stop her.” She took a deep breath as she set both hands on the bar and leaned in towards me. “But, I’m going with you.”

Surprised, I released my grip on Stephanie’s hand and sat upright. “Excuse me?”

Beside me, Stephanie stiffened as Esther continued. “I’m walking in there with you, Ryder. You need me if you’re going to get close enough to Marguerite to bring her down.”

“No,” I said, flatly. “This is what I’m trained for.”

The older woman gave a short, derisive bark of laughter. “What you’re trained for? You could barely do anything to harm me!” She gestured first to Stephanie, then to her arm with its stinging wounds covered in bandages. “If it hadn’t been for Stephanie, you wouldn’t have gotten even this far. No, I’m going with you.”

I shook my head as I went to stand. I turned to walk away from the bar, to head right for the door leading out into the hallway.

“Ryder,” Stephanie called to my back, “I’m sorry, but she’s right.”

I stopped in my tracks, but didn’t turn around. “Both of you?”

Stephanie’s tiny footfalls sounded on the old, worn down carpet as she came up behind me. She touched my arm lightly as she came to a stop. “What’s to stop her from just siccing her whole army of cat-people on you? Or just using some kind of magic, the way Esther did?”

As she spoke, I turned and looked back towards Esther. “But how would your coming along change anything? Saying you were fighting me with one hand tied behind your back? That you’ve actually got enough magical firepower to stop a small army out for our blood?”

Esther didn’t reply at first. Instead, she just carefully drained the glass in front of her, and set the empty on the counter in front of her. “No. I don’t.”

I glanced to Stephanie. “See?”

“But,” Esther said, “I don’t need that much to get you close to my sister. All I need is something you can’t possibly have.”

“What’s that?”

“What else?” She looked me right in the eye, her gaze dead level. “Me. I’m the key to her spell. Neither Marguerite nor I had any children, Ryder. I’m the only person she can use to bring back our mother, excluding herself. We’re the last of the O’Bannon bloodline, and it has to be one of us.”

I remained silent for a long moment, just trying to think of a better plan. A safer one. But, as much as I wanted to go in there alone, to minimize the loss of any more life, the older woman was right. If Marguerite even suspected I was headed her direction, they’d tear me to shreds. Even being a shifter didn’t give me any protection from these things.

“Shit,” I whispered. “Goddammit.” What else could I say?

Beside me, a cloud seemed to fall over Stephanie’s face, and she turned away.

I touched her shoulder. “Stephanie? What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, but didn’t turn around. “Nothing. Let me go make that call to Jeff, see if he’s willing to do it.”

“Yeah,” I replied as she headed out the door. “Sure.”

I watched her go. I almost stopped her, asked her what was wrong. But even in the short time I’d known her, I could tell she wasn’t going to answer me.

As soon as Stephanie was gone from the room, and headed back down the hallway, Esther cleared her throat and got my attention. “You need to tell her, you know,” she said as I turned back to her.

“About what?” I asked.

“Don’t play stupid, Ryder. You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s not fair to her, or to you. Especially when you two clearly already care about each other.”

I just shook my head and didn’t respond. Of course, I knew exactly what she was talking about. How could I not? I’d been thinking the same thing just moments ago. The only question was, how did she know?

“If you don’t want to tell her, that’s fine,” Esther said, pouring herself another little bit of brandy. “After all, I know all about keeping secrets. But, if we do all make it out of this alive, you’ll have to tell her some day.”

“How?” I asked as I walked back over to her.

She glanced at me, eyebrow raised, and snorted a little. “Think I’ve been around for this long and not learned how to spot a shifter? Knew what you were the moment you stepped through my front door, Ryder. What are you? A wolf? A bear? No, you’re a lion, aren’t you?”

I stopped by the bar. She didn’t know quite as much as she claimed, it seemed. Just that I was different. An oddity like her. “Close,” I said as she took a sip of her drink. “A panther.”

She made a little face at the taste of the liquor. “Even worse,” she said, putting the glass aside, “what if something does happen to you? What if, when all the dust clears, she finds you?”

I clenched my jaw tightly. I didn’t want to admit it, but there was always the price of doing the business of Full Moon Security. The ultimate price, just like when I was back in the service. “What, then?” I asked. “Just tell her?”

“If she loves you, and if she’s willing to accept you, then it won’t matter when you tell her. It’ll only matter that you do. And honesty never killed anyone, Ryder.”

“Telling the truth’s killed enough messengers that they made a saying about it, lady.”

She shrugged and gave me a little smile. “Guess you’ll have to risk the executioner’s ax, then, won’t you?”

I sighed.

Stephanie must have been able to find the landline out in the front lobby. I could hear her talking on the phone with Jeff, trying to explain what we needed the truck for.

Concern about what had upset her so much just now gnawed away at my insides, competing with my having to tell her the truth about what I really was. I wasn’t sure which would win out.

“Tell her,” Esther said again from behind me. Her voice carried the weight of some kind of authority, this time. Like it was my grandmother coming down through the years.

Damn, she was like a terrier.

But, terrier or not, she was right. I needed to tell Stephanie before I walked into that concert. Because what if I never walked back out? Didn’t she deserve to know the truth about me? And, if everything went according to what little plan we had, and I walked back out in one piece, shouldn’t I tell her before either of us made a decision to pursue this?

And I knew I did want to pursue it. Already, I could close my eyes and remember her smell. Could see it hanging in the air around me. Could picture my life with Stephanie, with her smell draping itself all over my life.

I pushed my shoulders back and sucked in a deep breath, my nerves more frayed and jangling than during my fight with Chad back at Christina’s house. Worse even than any of my time over in the sandbox. I swallowed hard as I headed for the door.

At least with a physical fight, you knew a punch was coming, or the bullets would be flying. The threat was real, tangible, and the wounds left behind could be seen. Not just felt.

“Good luck,” Esther said from the bar, but I could barely register what she was saying over the blood rushing through my ears like the Mississippi in high water season.

I didn’t turn back to her, just headed out into the hall.

This was it.

Do or die time.