She made no attempt to hide from him. Moving comfortably in her upright form, her muscles writhed beneath protective layers of thick, dark yellow fur that might allow her to be mistaken for a cheetah from a great distance. Long legs and a lithe body might have furthered that illusion if not for the thick musculature and tapered snout of a werewolf. As she walked toward him, the animal features melted away, leaving a woman with dark, bronzed skin and flowing black hair long enough to cover her firm breasts, if not for the whims of a restless breeze. Coming to a stop several paces in front of Randolph, she bore the countenance of a sentinel that was more than capable of fending off him or anyone else who dared take another step. Reflexively, Randolph came to a halt.
“If you’re seeking refuge from the storm to the north,” she said in a musky voice that was colored with accents from several different cultures, “you can keep running. There are still some quiet places in Panama where the military and wretches aren’t such an eyesore.”
“I’m not running away, Jaden,” Randolph said.
“Good. After all you’ve done to brew that storm, the least you could do is sit in it.” Propping her hands on rounded hips, she said, “You’d better not be thinking about reversing my deal to trade territories with Liam. If you have a problem with the arrangement, you’ll have better luck bargaining with him than me.”
“That’s quite an amusing prospect. Liam never was much for speaking reasonably with anyone. Perhaps that’s why he’s dead.”
Claws eased from beneath her fingernails, but only enough to be seen. More than likely they’d appeared as an unbidden reflex, along with the tension showing beneath her skin. “He’s dead? Did you kill him?”
“That does seem the likeliest scenario,” Randolph said with no small amount of sadness. “He fell to the Skinners.”
This time Jaden didn’t try to hide what she felt. Her hands hung at her sides, ready to put her curved, daggerlike claws to use. Wide eyes, the color of polished gold, flicked back and forth to study the trees along the riverbank. “The Skinners have acquired more Blood Blades?”
“Not yet, but they did organize well enough to take a stand. Not that the others left them any alternative. You heard about what happened with the Breaking Moon?”
“I’m out of touch lately,” she said. “Rarely leave the jungle. Only see the occasional human, and that’s easily avoidable most times. I knew there were others of our kind in America. Liam told me about the Mongrels taking a more active part in defending their homes. I honestly don’t know what took them so long to rise up like that.”
Randolph’s brow furrowed as he asked, “You’re sympathizing with them now?”
“No. We’ve been tearing at each other for so many years that it’s a wonder they haven’t grown sick of hiding or pulling up their dens when one of us gets too close for their comfort.”
“Perhaps they’re one of the few that always knew their place.”
“Now that,” Jaden pointed out, “is Liam speaking. Despite your differences, you two always were more like brothers.”
“I often wanted to kill him myself.”
“As I said. Like true brothers. So how did the Skinners manage to defeat him? Did he try to clear out another city?”
Randolph’s mouth formed a smile that opened at the edges to reveal teeth that had partially formed into fangs. “He brought the others together so they could draw more of the Torva’ox, empowering himself as well as a few of them with the ability to spark the Breaking within humans at will.”
“I haven’t heard of that happening since Gorren purged almost every other Full Blood from the planet just so he could have a Breaking Moon to himself. But that was long before my time.”
“Mine as well,” Randolph said. “The Skinners weren’t working alone. They had help from the Gypsies as well as the military. Minh was even encased by gargoyles and spirited away by the Dryad.”
Some of Jaden’s defensiveness was replaced by wonder as she asked, “Gargoyles?”
Randolph nodded. “They must have gotten stirred up amid all the confusion that brought everything else to the surface. Have you ever seen them before?”
“I’ve found a few old statues in the depths of the jungle and spotted some fleeting shapes in the upper tree cover, but not enough to be certain it was a gargoyle. I don’t know if anyone’s seen one of those dreadful things for ages.”
“They caught Liam, Esteban, and Minh by surprise, I can tell you that much. I might have been caught as well if I hadn’t distanced myself from all of that. It took more than gargoyles to bring Liam down, but he was taken down eventually. Probably poisoned or hobbled by some other Skinner trick.” His entire body shifted closer to the savage end of the spectrum as he added, “Knowing those ghouls, they’ve probably already chopped Liam into pieces and will be wearing his pelt while adorning their weapons with his teeth. With him gone, the humans have become brave enough to stand against the wretches even when it is clear the Breaking will claim them no matter how many guns or machines are at their disposal.”
“Such is the way of things, Randolph. You and Liam were always spoiled when it came to the harshness of the Balance. So much proud, self-righteous talk when it tipped your way. So much venom and contempt when it didn’t. The humans are simply doing what they do. Armies will fight and Skinners will sharpen their sticks. Shame about Minh. I know that you two had something of a history. Have you freed her?”
“I don’t even know where she is.”
Skepticism crossed Jaden’s finely sculpted features, but she let it pass. “So you came to warn me about the military?”
“No,” he chuckled. “If you need someone to warn you when those soldiers are packed into enough trucks and helicopters to announce their presence hours before they arrive, you’ve got bigger problems. I came because I have important business in your territory.”
“Asking permission for passage? Now there’s a courtesy I’d all but forgotten about. Sure you’re not seeking refuge?” Judging purely by the tone in her voice, Jaden was more than aware how much those words would grate on the ears for which they were intended.
“You know that’s not it.”
She sniffed the air and fixed her golden eyes on the strap crossing Randolph’s chest. “Then it is about what you’ve brought with you. If you intend on taking one more step into my lands, you’ll have to be rid of that filth.”
Randolph’s hand drifted to the sling and closed protectively around it. “A lot of trouble went into procuring this. Trouble, time, and sacrifice.”
“Don’t try to paint a prettier face on it, Randolph. I know what you’re carrying, although I must admit it’s hard to believe.”
“I swear to you, it’s not intended to harm you or your territory.”
“What else could you do with it? What else but evil could come from one such as him?”
In a firm voice, spoken through a mouth that was slowly forming into a snout as if to match Jaden’s partial transformation, he replied, “It’s an offering. To a Mist Born. Icanchu is here. I have studied the legends, followed the broken trails, and listened to enough of our own elders to know as much. And if he is not here—”
“Icanchu is here,” she said.
“You’ve . . . seen him?”
“That’s the beauty of the Mist Born. When you open your eyes and know what to look for, it’s more difficult to miss them. Searching for them is an understandable pastime, but trying to gain their favor or seek an audience with beings like them is more of a human quest. After all,” she added with a wry smirk, “there are more of them to replace the ones that go missing in such a pursuit. Like these trees, humans have some value, possess some beauty, but can replenish their numbers easily. Full Bloods should know better than to push the boundaries of their longevity. If nothing else, didn’t Kawosa teach us that the Mist Born are better left wherever they may be?”