Mercy

It was hard to look like I’d won when I was still stuck in the stupid cage.

MINUTES PASSED. I GOT A GOOD LOOK AT THE PERSON the golem had pulled out from the stairway. He was the middle-aged man who had led the other humans. I was still trapped in my cage. Galina tried to help, but her abilities to interact with the real world were limited to rolling heads around.

I tried to contact Adam, but my bond had fallen silent again: there but not there. As if I’d overloaded it.

The man moaned a lot. At one point, he started to crawl. I don’t know where he was going, but he didn’t get there. And there was nothing, not anything I could do about him. Nor could I do anything about the sunlight that entered through the broken corner and from the open door at the top of the stairs. I watched, helpless, as it crept closer and closer to the dead who waited under the stairway.

—

THE WEREWOLVES CAME JUST AFTER NOON. ADAM didn’t bother with the broken stairs; he just jumped over the handrail at the top. He stepped over the rapidly rotting body of the man the golem had killed.

His bright gold eyes on me, he took a step toward my cage and stopped with a grunt. I felt the magic flare up as it had not for the vampires, the ghosts, or the golem. Galina petted his shoulder and looked concerned for him. He took a half step back, then he squatted so his head was level with mine.

He didn’t say anything, just stared at me with those gold eyes, his hands clenched into fists.

If I had been free, I’d have climbed into his lap and buried my face in his shoulder and cried. It was probably better for my dignity that I couldn’t do that. I reached out and put my hand against the cage where it was closest to him.

“I think Coyote sent me here,” I told him. My voice was hoarse from the power I’d used to destroy the golem. “To fix things or make me crazy—it’s a toss-up.” I was almost certain that the reason I’d chosen “sunder” instead of “die” was because of Coyote. “I hope he’s happy. I think I’ve ensured that all of the vampires in Prague are dead. Except for the four people under the stairs.” Suddenly anxious for them, I leaned forward. “They are the good guys, I think. So make sure no one shines any sunlight on them, okay?”

He didn’t say anything for a while, just put a hand up toward me and then pulled it back with a grimace.

“Who hit you?” he asked, his voice in that deep place it went when the wolf was riding him. He didn’t say anything about the vampires, but I could trust him to take care of it.

Had someone hit me? I frowned at him, and he ran his hand down the left side of his face. I’d forgotten about that.