Once Slade readjusted her vision, she hurried to help Eli up.

“E. Hang on. E.”

A wolf came bounding toward them. It jumped and shifted. Lomos recoiled at the sight of them.

“How—how—I—I ran for miles. How are you two here?”

Slade pleaded, “Get Eli. We’ve just made an enemy who’s smarter than us.”

Lomos fixed his kilt and tucked his head under Eli’s arm. “Come on. Walk with me. Move them legs. Come on.” He twisted his head, partially shifted and let out a howl. Once he was back to normal, he assured them, “The boys’ll come.”

And they did. Six wolves accosted them and shifted. They got Eli as far as the top of the steps before a barrier forced them to stop.

“Can’t bring in wounded?” Lomos asked.

“No, sir. Sovereign Manos swore Eli and her would be back beat up. He said to let them die, sir.”

Another werewolf interjected, “But there’s no telling if he was serious.”

Groaning in the back of his throat, Lomos started down the steps again. “Of course he was serious. How convenient if one of us gets gutted, there’s no way to come back here.” Once they reached the bottom, they hurried to drag Eli to the base of the stone staircase. A metal door came into view with the shifting of some branches.

Lomos banged.

The peep latch slid open.

“It’s me.” Lomos waited.

Bolts after bolts sounded and the door creaked open. The face there had Slade frozen.

Margarite had the grace to blush as she bowed her head. “Sovereign.”

She held the human baby close with both hands.

“No time for pleasantries,” Lomos said. “We have to get him into the main house. That dwarf—”

“Fuck the dwarf,” Slade said, overtaking him. “If it’s even a real dwarf and not something else. So that means it’s useless for healing. We need Trixie.”

All men, including Lomos, slowed in their efforts to find Eli fast help.

“The harpy?” Lomos asked. “Must it really be her?”

Slade nodded.

“Shit.” Lomos swore under his breath a second time, “Shit.”

Margarite blocked their path. “Lo,” she begged, “don’t challenge him—Manos is...he doesn’t bluff.”

Her words resounded; Lomos looked ready to give up. In time, he glanced at Eli, blood still dripping down his body, then her yet again.

“I need all the loyalty runes I can get. Doing this isn’t an empty gesture. He’ll owe me one. Maybe—maybe if shit goes south and I’m stuck in the wolf, this rescue can earn me some magic. But we have to do something. And we’ve gotta do it fast or he’s as good as dead.” He hefted more of Eli’s body weight onto him and instructed the other men there, “Clean the blood and two of you stay with Marg and the baby. Don’t leave ‘em, even if I call. You pretend you didn’t hear it.”

A chorus of, “Yes, sir,” sounded behind them once Lomos brushed Margarite aside and slid the metal door open. He gave her a fleeting glance.

These steps even outnumbered the ones at the main entrance.

“Emergency escapes,” Lomos explained, “and only two of them in the entire house.”

“Yes. I remember. Wait, there are two?”

The wolf brigade captain continued to drag Eli on his own. A time or two, Slade tucked her head under Eli’s other arm and tried to help but ultimately she slowed them down. Lomos’s rune was on full blast because he scaled those steps with ease, Eli barely able to move on his own.

“That room where you locked us. Do you remember? It’s similar to that. I can take you to Sovereign Manos but I’ll warn you, he’s...even before you lot came and dragged me away, he’s been...strange.” They reached the top step and Slade flung open the door for them. “Whatever primate he’s drunk from’s got him strung out. The Monkey God’s not one to mess with. Word has it he doesn’t appreciate his apes being food. Sovereign Manos even killed one. I’ve never seen anything like it. So brace yourself for when you—”

A force slammed into him, sending Eli sliding to the ground.

Slade recovered from the shock to find the dwarf twirling a metal chain.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” the dwarf warned.

“The dwarf...” Lomos marveled.

“Dwarf my ass.” Slade took on a fighting stance.

Lomos jumped up and landed as a wolf. He shed his cover and bared his teeth.

“Barbra’s the name.” The dwarf smirked. “Call me whatever you like,” she said. “But I made my covenant. Legion promises me everything I need.”

Eli wasn’t far but Slade feared more for this confrontation.

“Lomos,” Slade called, “can you get him to Trix?”

As a wolf, he couldn’t answer but his head turning to her meant he disagreed with leaving her alone.

“No one’s moving. No one’s going anywhere,” Barbra warned. “Not until—” She froze. All aggression faded from her stance when she folded her arms. “So you’ve come back?”

Slade prayed she was wrong, “Legion.”

The dwarf puckered her bearded lips and regarded Eli with a pout. “And he’s hurt.”

With this tactic, Slade was ready. “And you need him.” Barbra didn’t budge but Slade wasn’t having it. “Because I’ll rip out my womb and leave myself to fester if you think I’m going to bed another man than him much less another werewolf.”

Barbra swung her head back around to face Slade, her big brown eyes holding a challenge.

“Same ole wishy-washy Sophie.” Letting out a snort, it said, “Perhaps it is us who should give up on you.”

Slade glanced from Barbra to Eli then back again. She made a final decision.

“I’m on your side if you heal him.”

Lomos growled but Slade ignored him.

Barbra eased her stance, more than interested in the offer. “We cannot heal—this vessel cannot. But we know how. Are we agreed you will do nothing to help your brother’s efforts?”

Resolve set, Slade nodded. “You have my word. How can I help him?”

The dwarf bowed and said, “Agreed. Then we are set. The solution is quite easy. And it will heal anything within a hundred-mile radius.”

Slade lost patience. “What should I do to help him!”

“You’ve already helped him by entering this structure. If you want him recovered,” Legion’s voice wavered. “Break the egg.”

The dwarf blinked. She regained her senses and held the linked chain up. A moment later, she lowered it. “So you’re on our side now?”

Lomos shifted to a man and snatched up his kilt. He wouldn’t look at Slade as he reached for Eli.

“Stupid,” he muttered. “You’re making deals with a deity you don’t understand. It’s stupid.”

Slade helped him. “You’re one to talk.”

Lomos whistled for two more werewolves to join them. As they took to carrying Eli, he asked her, “And how you gonna convince the boss to break that egg? It’s like he thinks it’s his.”

Slade nearly slowed in her stride at those words. No. Trixie wasn’t that foolish. Her obsession with Manos Dresden ended fifteen years ago with a kick to the back for trying to spare Slade from the whip. No. No. Absolutely no. No. This was a mistake. It wasn’t that.

They found Manny sitting in the dining area, staring down at an emaciated Trixie who quivered on the floor whispering in her sleep.

“Break it. Save Trixie.”

Eli landed on the table as did Slade’s hands shortly after. “There’s an army ready to take your head and you’ve got few allies, I need your help.”

Manny’s gaze never shifted. “Hello to you, too, sister.”

“Eli’s never done you any harm,” Slade entreated. “And he needs help.” She hesitated then asked, “Have you—will you...?”

Scoffing, Manny smiled though he didn’t change his posture. “Will you look at that? The holier than thou Sophia Dresden asking me to kill an offspring for her own benefit. The offspring of her friend.”

“An offspring that you helped make,” Slade challenged, praying she was wrong.

Manny said nothing.

Each breath Slade took left her queasy, but she couldn’t back down. “And one that was not invited.”

“Then you do it.” Manny tore his gaze away from Trixie and met eyes with her finally. “Since it’s so easy. You do it.”

Slade’s heart pounded. She had nothing to say.

Manny’s look of ennui shifted to fury in the blink of an eye. “Because it’s so easy to never get your hands dirty! That way you can judge and look down your nose at others! I asked you for help granting us freedom.”

“At the loss of an innocent life.”

“Yes. Because all things difficult should come with a clear conscience.”

“It wasn’t your fucking neck you put in the noose, brother. That’s why I can’t respect you or your damn choice.”

Manny stared her down for ages. Finally, he stood and crouched down to trace Trixie’s nearly bald head, “Harpy?”

“Save Trixie,” she begged. “Please save Trixie.”

“And how can I do that, harpy? You’re falling apart.”

“Will you save Trixie if Trixie tells?”

The vampire watched the path of his fingers. “You want me to break the egg.”

“Break one,” Trixie begged. “Save Trixie. Break one.”

“But there’s only one,” Manny snapped. The way she flinched had him quieting. It took a considerable amount of effort on his part. He finally asked, “If I break it, will your pain stop?”

“Pain stops, everything stops. Everything repairs.” A boney hand reached up to touch her right shoulder. “Wings... they were lovely wings.”

“You look better without them,” Manny lied.

“Three weeks,” she muttered, shrinking in on herself. “Three weeks.”

No one understood what that meant but Manny played it off as he left her there on the floor.

“All right, harpy. You rest here. But you must remember you asked for this.” He held her in his sights for a moment longer. “I’ll break it.”

Trixie caught his hand before he could comply. “Thank you for her,” she said. A tear escaped the swollen slit of her left eye. “Thank you.”

Her feeble hold held Manny captive for a long while.

Finally, he patted her face. “I’ll be back, harpy. I’ll bring the cracked egg to you. Swear it.” He managed a chuckle. “Least I got my egg. But you said harpies did not lay ‘em.”

Trixie’s twisted expression amounted to a smile eventually. “A lied.” One sniff wiped all amusement away. “Figured you’d hate it.”

Manny opened and closed his mouth several times before finally giving up. He stroked her face, then her cheek and said, “You look sweet all transformed up. So let’s finish it, ‘eh?” The next tear had him putting their foreheads together. “You look sweet.”

The lies were coming incredibly easy. She looked a fright. Anyone could see that. Even Slade, her biggest champion, couldn’t bear to look at her for long.

When Manny stood, he stared Slade down.

Too ashamed, Slade couldn’t meet his gaze.

“I don’t think I should do this for nothing,” Manny said. “Allow me to drain the runes in the egg.”

Disgust stole Slade’s protest although she couldn’t say if she was disgusted with herself. The sight of Trixie on the floor there made her lose most of her fight. Was it even Trixie or was it a Legion? Was this really her choice? And once she was back to normal, if she could go back to normal, would she have wanted this?

The fact that Manny was on the fence but Slade wasn’t worried her to no limit. This wasn’t right—not when they didn’t understand it.

“I have a rune stone,” Barbra said, digging through her satchel. “Sucks runes right out.” She paused then handed it to Manny. “Can put runes in too if you need a bit extra. Got some left.”

More magic for vampires meant less compassion. He could do his job without worry.

“Red for out, blue for in,” the dwarf explained but Manny’d already put the stone to his throat.

He winced, an action that had Slade trembling.

She needed to save Eli. She needed to save him.

Manny faded from view then returned, the large egg in hand. Slade expected it to be something plain, but instead it was ornate. The color was light green, an intricate design swirling around it.

“Brother....” Slade began. “Brother...” was all she could manage despite her so-called convictions.

But Manny looked her in the eye when he held the egg up.

This was wrong. Maybe Eli’s fate was already sealed.

Slade took one step toward her brother, but he put the stone against the light green shell. Ten seconds later, it cracked.