Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson #13)(81)

I winced theatrically. “People have been disappearing since September. That means this all started just a couple of months after we got back from dealing with Bonarata in Europe.”

“Maybe this isn’t something new,” Adam said slowly. “Maybe it’s a continuation of the vendetta he’s had against Marsilia since he banished her however many years ago.”

“That sounds about right,” I said. “So maybe my kidnapping this summer was a part of a much longer plot.”

Adam smiled grimly. “God help us. It’s like trying to unweave something Bran put together—or claimed credit for. I imagine we’ll figure out everything eventually. As long as we survive.”

Our wolves were waiting for us in the parking lot. I was a little surprised to see one of the bay doors open and Zee standing outside talking with Adam’s second. Zee looked frail and small next to Darryl’s muscular sleekness. No one would suspect that he was the more dangerous of the two.

I got out of the car and waved at the assembled werewolves but headed straight for Zee.

“I thought that you weren’t going to be here today,” I said after greeting Darryl.

“Do you have a minute that we can talk?” Zee asked.

I glanced at Adam and said, “Give me five?”

“We’re still waiting for Warren and Zack,” he said. “Take your time.”

Zee led the way to the bathroom and shut the door, turning on the fan for good measure. He listened to the gentle hum and made a sound of disgust.

“The fan in the old building would have kept our voices from carrying to a werewolf sitting with his ear against the door,” he complained.

He turned off the fan and waved a hand. I felt his magic fill the room.

“Bonarata is here,” he said.

“We think so,” I agreed. “Both Adam and Larry have word that he’s still in Italy, but all signs point to that being wrong.”

“Talked to a friend in Seattle,” Zee said. “Bonarata is building a home there. My friend says that there’s been a black copter flying in and out of the property three, four days of the week. The only person who uses that helicopter is Bonarata. He’s been in Washington State for five, maybe six weeks.”

“Okay,” I said. I’d felt better when we weren’t certain.

“Bonarata’s at the heart of this,” Zee said. “Found out that he’s had the Soul Taker for centuries. I didn’t look in that direction because, given a few centuries, I would have thought that the Soul Taker would have found a way out of his hold, one way or another.”

“You said that you didn’t think it could take Bonarata,” I said.

“Bonarata doesn’t fill his castle with old, powerful vampires,” Zee said. “It should have found someone.” He frowned. “I think he found a way to contain it. After you helped me understand exactly what it’s doing with its dead, a web of death magic that spans an abyss we have no way to measure, I don’t think anyone is safe. Not you. Not Bonarata. Not me.”

I thought of the vast blackness of the abyss I could sense at the edge of my awareness and shivered.

“Okay,” I said.

There was a bead of sweat on Zee’s forehead. I knew the temperature of the bathroom was sixty-five degrees because I’d lost the battle with him to raise it to seventy. Talking about the Soul Taker scared me—it did something else to Zee.

Zee had settled in the TriCities more than forty years ago because he thought there was a possibility that the Soul Taker would show up here again. The Soul Taker had the same effect on him as the full moon did on a werewolf. I could smell his eagerness.

“How did Bonarata protect himself?” I asked. “Is it something we could do?”

“Not anymore,” Zee said. “That’s where the spider-fae come in. Uncle Mike remembered the story. About eight hundred years ago, a colony of spider-fae discovered the Soul Taker. When it was done with them, they were all dead except for two half-breed younglings who had learned how to contain its power so that it could be handled without danger.”

“The ones we killed at Stefan’s?” I asked.

“They match the description I was given,” Zee agreed.

“Okay,” I said.

“You should tell all of that to Adam and your people,” he said. “But this is what I wanted to tell you alone.”

“Okay?”

“When you find the Soul Taker, do not touch it. Do not let those you care about touch it. Kill its wielder and call me.”



* * *



—

When I came out of the garage, Adam was in the middle of explaining everything we knew about the enemy so far. He glanced at me.

“Bonarata’s here,” I said. “He’s got a place in Seattle and a helicopter. He’s been here for over a month.”

Adam glanced at Zee, who nodded.

Normal people like me would be scared to find out the Lord of Night had come to visit. I could see the pack come to alert, their bodies stiffening. That the feeling I got from them through the pack bonds was eagerness for the hunt was a testimony that all werewolves are crazy.

Adam looked around at them, lips quirked in a smile that told me he’d caught the same thing I had.

“Are we going up against him at the seethe?” asked George. “Because if we are, we need more people.”