River Marked (Mercy Thompson 6)

"It's a secondary thing," he said modestly, bouncing to his feet. "Let's go get some food."

COYOTE RODE IN THE BACKSEAT AND ATE TWICE WHAT Adam did--and that was saying something.

"I've got knives for you," he said, licking the salt from the last french fry off his fingers.

"Knives?"

"Yes. Last time I did this, it took nine blades, so I brought you twelve. They are obsidian--be careful you don't slice yourself while you're at it. My sisters made the sheath and the knives, so they are as sharp as any knife I've seen. Remember, obsidian is brittle and doesn't hold an edge forever, which is why I brought you so many."

"All right," I said. I realized that I hadn't lied to Coyote back in the little park: I was ready. The nap in the sun with Adam's heartbeat in my ear had steadied me, had given me courage. Succeed or fail, I would do my best to make sure that the river devil died tonight. That was all anyone could do.

THERE WERE SEVEN OF THEM WAITING FOR US AT OUR trailer. Evidently, Hawk had decided to help as well. They'd let themselves in and helped themselves to food, drink, and--from the looks of it--every sweet thing in the place. It looked like an invasion of pirates. If I'd known what they liked, I'd have brought back a couple of dozen doughnuts.

Dark was falling.

No one said much, but when the sun touched the western horizon, clothing disappeared as they garbed themselves in things suitable to war. Like the old clans of the Scots, for most of the tribes of the Americas, war meant as close to naked as makes no never mind. Apparent age dropped away, and the animal spirits who walked out to the river with me wore bodies as smoothly muscled as any werewolves. They also were furred or feathered as their aspect demanded, and their heads were those of beasts--their true shapes, as beautiful and strange as anything I have ever seen. It reminded me of the Egyptian gods; I'd never thought about the similarity before. They went armed, too--all but the birds, who would fight the battle from the air in their animal forms.

There were no passive sacrifices here. They would go fighting, but none of them seemed to believe that they wouldn't go down.

They all knew the river devil better than I.

I wore my old blue tank swimsuit with a soft leather sheath packed with obsidian knives. The sheath wrapped around me like a snug Miss America sash or one of those old bandoleer bullet belts. The knives were stuck in and held tightly by the pale, well-tanned leather of the sheath. They didn't look a great deal like a normal knife--or even the knives Coyote had drawn to drive the river devil back to the water. These were knives like the one Gordon had used to dig the bullet out of Adam. Using them would be more like using the blade of a box cutter than anything else. There was no handle, just a blunt side that was safe to hold and a very sharp side for cutting.

Over the top of the bandoleer I wore one of Adam's dark gray dress shirts. No sense advertising our plans.

Coyote nodded at me, and I walked out into the river. Adam paced unhappily back and forth on the shore just beyond where the river devil had landed, so he would be out of her reach. He hadn't been happy about agreeing to stay out of the river, but he wasn't stupid. We couldn't risk that she could gain control of him as she had Hank.

The plan was for me to stay safe until it was my turn to act--but still we needed me to be the bait that drew her in close. We'd decided, Coyote and I, that I should go in no farther than knee-deep, which put me about fifteen feet from shore. So close, Coyote was confident he could grab me before she pulled me out into the deep water. Knee-deep meant the entirety of the river mark on my leg was underwater. Raven took to the skies to see if he could spot her from the air when she came, though it was unlikely. The night-dark river didn't give up her secrets easily.

I was ready. Ten minutes came and went.

Nothing happened. Nothing except that I was getting cold. And scared because I'm not stupid. Somewhere in this river was a monster who wanted to eat me, and I was daring her to do just that.

I looked at the shoreline, but no one seemed impatient--except Adam. Even with him, it was not so much impatience as growing frustration. Raven waved, and I waved in return before the feeling of having nothing to watch my back made me turn around again.

"She's not stupid," I muttered to myself as I stared at the dark water. "She's got to be wondering what I'm doing going out into the river again after this morning." I tried to put myself inside her head. "I wouldn't come to her to save a child, but now I'm cavorting about in the water. Is this woman merely stupid? she'll wonder. Is Mercedes the bait for one of Coyote's traps? He's killed her before, but she is stronger now and he weaker. Even if it is a trap, what does she have to fear?" I hoped that she would be more arrogant than suspicious.

"Maybe she can sense the assault team on the shore." I thought about it for a minute. "But that shouldn't worry her. None of them think they have a chance of killing her. She probably doesn't think they can, either."

Their fatality had surprised me a little. I know a bit about warriors and testosterone--and Coyote and his friends were the first and definitely had the second. Good warriors understand how to assess risk, but they also tend to beat their chests and brag a bit. Coyote certainly didn't seem to eschew bragging, but no one was predicting victory here.

After a half hour, I decided that knee-deep wasn't working. I took a deep breath and held it, listening intently to the river. Nothing--or at least nothing I could distinguish from the normal sounds. The problem was that there was too much noise. Water brushing the shore, night birds and insects hunting food or mates, even the highways all worked to camouflage any sound the river devil might make.

I stared out at the far shore and imagined her out there, watching me and waiting. I took another step out, feeling the ground under my feet start to drop off. Another step, and I was abruptly waist- deep.

From the shore, Adam howled. I turned around and waved to them to show that the move had been voluntary.

"Knee-deep isn't working," I said. "I thought I'd try a little deeper." Two steps was all it had taken --I was still quite close to shore.

An otter head popped up about ten feet from me, looking smug. He couldn't hurt me here in the swimming area, according to Uncle Mike. But where the otters were, quite often the river devil was as well. I lost my nerve and turned to go back --and something wrapped around one ankle and hauled me through the water like a water-ski boat. Something that might have been Coyote's hand brushed mine, then was gone.

I spread my body out, trying to create as much drag as I could, even as I fumbled with Adam's shirt, trying to get it open enough to get at the knives. I knew what she was doing; I'd seen her do it to others. I had no intention of being her meal, but I wasn't sure if I'd have time to do anything to stop it.