"It's to my Prius in the driveway," she said. "Please bring it back in once piece."
"You don't have to," I said, although I really wanted to ride in a car as opposed to having Stacey give me a piggy-back ride. How humiliating would that be?
"An ecologically-friendly sorcerer," Ryland said with a grin. "A woman after my own heart."
She smiled, almost shyly. "I want to help you and your mother, Justin. I don't want my mother's life to have been lost in vain."
"Maybe you can dig up more on Shelton?" I said.
"Perhaps I could." She paused, seeming to wrangle with a decision. "I'll talk to the seeker I hired. Maybe Ryland could call me later and let me know what you find from Smith."
"Do you know if my mom was working on some hardcore spells with your mom?"
"They did spend many hours together, though most of the time they met with other people. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed in their meetings."
I got Stacey to release my arm so I could pull the flash drive with Mom's spells from my pocket. "Copy these files and take a look. I need to find out what these spells do, but Shelton said they're missing a lot of variables."
She retrieved her tablet computer and copied them in seconds before handing the flash back to me. "I'll look, but I'm not much at deciphering spell code outside my area of expertise."
"I wouldn't let anyone else know about them," I said, thinking of the murderous intent the spells seemed to have. "Just in case."
She nodded. "I'll be careful."
We left. I managed to hobble to the car and get in without much help from the others since the painkiller seemed to have helped. But I wasn't going to be running marathons anytime soon.
Stacey stared at the car for a long moment, and even longer once Ryland slid in behind the wheel. "Perhaps I'll meet you there," she said.
"You afraid of the big bad wolf, sugah?" Ryland said with an amused grin.
"I'm afraid my delicate nose couldn't handle your stench."
Ryland laughed.
I sighed. "Stacey, please get in the car. I want to talk to you."
She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, all the while giving Ryland a distrusting look, but finally got into the passenger seat. "I suppose I can make a sacrifice for you, my lamb."
Ryland pulled out of the driveway and headed toward Trader Mike's. Very little traffic was on the road at this early hour, but it was already past six and the number of cars would be increasing exponentially before long.
"What was it you wished to discuss, dear?" Stacey asked, turning her body to face me.
"When the hellhounds attacked, did you notice anyone else with them?"
"I had very little time to react and even less time to see beyond the immediate threat. Nightliss warned me first. She told me she happened to be near your home and saw strange people rummaging through your house and some of them were coming our way."
"Nightliss saw this? Did she mention anyone with red hair?"
"She had little enough time to warn me the strange men were trespassing on us. Marmalade and Dots rushed to meet them, and I thought for sure they would scare the men away." She took a deep breath as a large tear rolled down her cheek.
"Is Nightliss okay?"
"I don't know. She dashed away, warning the others and that was the last I saw of her."
"She was warning the other cats?"
"Of course. Why would she not?"
Our conversation reminded me of the unpleasant news I needed to tell her. "I'm afraid a lot of your friends died. I pulled several bodies from the rubble."
More tears rolled down her cheeks. I wanted to hug and comfort her, but my lack of energy and the size of the car made it difficult. "We need to bury them. They do not deserve to be left out as food for crows."
"We'll need help to clear them from the rubble," Ryland said. "And there's no time for that now."
Stacey glared at him. "As if you care a bloody whit about them, wolf. I'm sure you're content to let them rot."
"Stacey, that's not fair," I said. "He helped me dig through the rubble. He killed one of those hounds. Why the hate?"
Ryland gave Stacey a sideways glance. "I'll help you bury your dead, sugah."
"I don't want your filthy paws anywhere near them!"
At that point, I was certain I should have let Stacey meet us at Trader Mike's. This was like the time when a friend's dog had tried to make buddies with a cat, only to have his nose clawed every time he got too close. I wasn't sure if the cat was scared of the dog or simply hated it. If ever there were two types made to hate each other, it had to be lycans and felycans, although I'd hoped their human sides would have won out at some point thanks to, oh, I don't know—brains, maybe?
"Are you certain you're not a female dog?" Ryland said.
"How dare you even insinuate I'm one of those filthy things? I do not eat my own feces."
"Good lord, people!" I said, trying to throw my hands into the air but only managing a shrug in my weakened state. "Apparently it was a horrible mistake on my part to think two mostly human people could put aside their differences long enough to help me out." I felt like sniffing in disdain, but was too tired to try. "Ryland, why don't you just go back to Thomas? I'm well away from his property now and obviously not an immediate threat to his daughter."
"I told him I would see you home and I intend to do just that."
"Yeah, except my home was overrun by hellhounds earlier today. I don't have a home right now."
"I also need to return Meghan's car at some point—"
"Then return it. I'll catch a cab."
"I'd be happy to carry you, my lamb," Stacey purred.
"And there is that," I conceded despite the indignity of it all.
Ryland sighed and pulled over, parking next to the curb in front of a row of small shops. "We're here," he said.
I glanced out the window and spotted Trader Mike's two stores down from us. We were near Grant Park, just a little way from East Atlanta Village and not far from where two of my friends, Ash and Nyte lived, although I'd never actually been to their homes. Thinking of them reminded me of school. It also reminded me of football practice and the reason I had to be there. The principal, vice principal, head coach, and probably half the school staff were members of the Quarterback Club which, in my opinion, was the mafia of my high school, Edenfield High. If I didn't want anything to happen to me or my friends, I had to win games for our football team. Otherwise, Principal Perkins had warned me unpleasant things might happen to my "devil-worshipping friends." Apparently, that's what Goths were in his eyes.
In less than an hour and a half, school would be starting. I didn't see how I was going to make it in time. Maybe I could just show up for practice. Not that I'd be able to do much except lay around and groan pitifully.
"I'd like to get to the bottom of this mystery," Ryland was saying. "I can help you."
I didn't answer right away because I wasn't sure what exactly was the best thing to do. True, I needed help, and Ryland was a Templar. But I didn't want to suffer through him and Stacey going for each other's throats. On the other hand, I didn't want to make Stacey leave. I considered her a friend and felt obligated to help her recover and bury her dead.
"A wolf is bad enough, Justin," Stacey said. "But a Templar wolf is even worse. How could you trust him?"
"As if he could trust a felycan," Ryland growled.
"You two are going to drive me insane," I said. "I get it, okay? I totally understand the cats versus dogs thing, but I don't have the luxury of watching the train wreck happen. I need steady support I can depend on until I recover, and that means one of you has to go." I looked at Stacey and opened my mouth to speak.
"Surely you can't mean me!" she said. "How could you?"
"I was about to tell you to stay, for crying out loud. Can't you give me two seconds to talk?"
"But you were looking at me after you said—"
I waved away her concerns, or rather flopped my arms around a little bit as I tried. "You're my friend. I know you and, despite your oddities, I trust you." I turned to Ryland. "You, on the other hand, work for Elyssa's dad, a man who obviously wishes I did not exist."
"My loyalty is with the Templars, not one man."
"And I think you're a good person, from the little I know of you. Maybe we can become friends someday." I shrugged. "Stranger things have happened, believe me. But right now I can't have you two getting into pissing matches all the time. I need to know we're on the same page."
"I can tolerate her if she agrees to behave," Ryland said, a lopsided grin on his face.
"So wolfy wishes to play," Stacey said, her eyes narrowing to amber slits, lips sliding up into a playful smirk. "I can ignore his jibes, Justin. If that will help you."
"This is worse," I said. "Now you're both gonna go all passive-aggressive instead."
"I swear to help, not hinder," Ryland said.
"And I will not let his body odor affect my judgment," Stacey said with a sniff.
I had a sudden sense of déjà vu all over again. The universe had a decidedly wicked sense of humor.
And my life depended on it.
Chapter 14
Elyssa
Elyssa turned the Harley down the twisting maze of alleys and backstreets until her GPS told her she was in the right vicinity. Few working street lamps lit the place but her night vision negated the issue. The real problem was she'd been so hungry and tired when she and Justin had left earlier she wasn't sure which of the doors in this wretched foul-smelling alley was the one to Shelton's hidden lair. The GPS on her phone wasn't pinpoint accurate and the tall downtown buildings made getting an exact lock on her position even more difficult. She parked the Harley behind a nearby dumpster and surveyed the line of similar doors before setting out to find the correct one.