Portal: A Nina Decker Novel Part 3

"Even your buddy Coates?" I asked. In my mind Stettler and his partner Coates were a double act of offensive humor. Twin rednecks.

"Coates has s.h.i.t for brains," sneered Stettler. "Every day I had to resist the urge to murder that fool. I would've been doing the world a favor."

Incredibly Stettler made me feel sorry for Coates. I'd been around a lot of cops while working at the ER and most of them weren't like Stettler and Coates. There was bond between partners that was deep. It had to be as these people trusted each other with their lives. I'd seen a tough as nails policeman break down when his partner died. He took it as hard as the man's family. Coates probably thought Stettler felt the same way about him. He probably trusted the man with things he wouldn't dare tell anyone else. And this was how Stettler repaid that trust.

I had a sudden urge to pull out the bow and feather his arrogant a.s.s. I realized that Stettler hadn't been acting during our unpleasant encounters in the ER. He was that vial and depraved, it was just the true objects of his hatred that he kept hidden.

Severin was in Stettler's face with a few long strides. "Stay professional and don't get sloppy. Or else."

"Best be careful, mate," he said in an exaggerated Aussie accent. "You know what kind of ammo SEMA issues to us field operatives." Stettler tapped the side of his jacket. I could make out the outline of a gun.

"If SEMA even suspects who you really are they'll use those silver bullets on you and the rest of the pack. "

That got Stettler's attention. He backed away.

"This isn't a permanent change," Severin said. "You're only in charge until I return."

"If you return," Stettler muttered. Severin must have heard but made no reaction.

With that settled, we turned our attention to the tree in the middle of the warehouse. I could still make out the shape of Ralph Donnelly. I was dreading this next part.

"So how do we use the portal?"

Severin held me tight but it only comforted me a little.

"It's not going to be pretty. I'm sorry for what's about to happen."

I smelled gasoline and saw Stettler return with a chainsaw. "Well, let's get you two to Nightfall."

He revved up the saw and strode towards the tree. He swung it into the trunk with wild abandon.

"That used to be a person," I gasped.

"Believe me, he knows," Severin whispered in a low growl.

I could still see poor Ralph standing there as Stettler cut into him. Severin squeezed my shoulder but it didn't help. I couldn't forget that a man had died so I could enter Nightfall. As a nurse, as a human, the idea made my stomach turn.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered although I knew Ralph couldn't hear me anymore.

In moments the tree fell. A bright yellow light emanated from the stump. Stettler backed away from it.

"There's your portal," he declared.

It was a strange light. It cast odd shadows on the walls and ceiling and it constantly changed. New patterns emerged like a kaleidoscope. It changed shade as well, moving from a bright sunshine to a mellow golden color.

I tore my attention from the light when I sensed Stettler's gaze on me. He sent shivers through me. His face was cold and hard, completely devoid of emotion.

"Is there something you want to say?" Severin asked.

Stettler kept his eyes on me when he spoke.

"Yeah, I do. You know there is another way. We've been handed a portal right to Nightfall. If these faeries want a war that badly, let's give it to them. Instead of just you two going, let's send the entire pack. Wipe 'em all out."

I knew right away that "wipe 'em all out" included me.

"Not happening. So just forget it," Severin growled.

"Present excluded of course," Stettler answered with an obvious lack of sincerity.

"You're still dreaming, Stettler. Even at full strength we don't have enough to take on all of Nightfall. Their numbers are greater than ours."

Stettler said, "Don't just send our pack. We can send every pack from around the world. We can spread the word."

"There's still a peace treaty on and I won't have our pack to be the one to break it. That would make us outlaws in the werewolf world. Besides, the fae gave us this portal as a gift. A gift to Nina. You don't think they'll have some kind of welcoming committee on the other side?"

The gleam in Stettler's eyes faded. "Yeah but just by entering Nightfall you're breaking the treaty."

"Then it will be on my head alone. Now leave us."

"And you're heading right into the hornet's nest."

"Why Stettler, I didn't know you cared."

The turncoat cop took one last glance at me. It was like he was sizing up his next meal. "No piece of a.s.s is worth this."

He slunk away with the chainsaw. I was happy to see him go. Usually I felt furious after talking with Officer Stettler. Now I felt like taking a shower. The man was genuinely sick.

So why is Severin putting him in charge? I wanted to ask but my attention was drawn to the glowing stump. The light continued its dazzling display. A buzz or a hum came from the stump. Were the lights singing? I watched and listened and forgot all else except for what was in front of me, beckoning me. I'd never been hypnotized before, but I thought this must be what it was like. Then I remembered poor Ralph and I came back to my senses or nearly.

"Are you ready?" Severin asked.

My heart pounded in my chest. Part of me desperately didn't want to go. I knew once I stepped into the portal that would be it. Regardless of what happened next my life would be changed forever. But I had no choice. My father was somewhere on the other side, in Nightfall. I had to go in order to find him. To bring him home. To save him from my mother and her ilk.

"Could you hold these?" I asked Severin handing him my bow and quiver. My heart was thumping so hard I didn't trust myself. I might lose my only weapon.

I took a deep breath and walked towards the glow.

For you, da.

I stepped up to the stump and into the light. It swallowed me whole.

And then I was falling.

Chapter 5.

For a long time I fell through the bright yellow light, my stomach doing flip flops. Then my descent slowed and became gentle. Soon I was no longer falling, I was floating like a leaf suspended in the air. All around me, I could see was bright yellow light. Then I looked down and saw the ground beneath me. I was a ways up but descending. At first the ground was just a dark ma.s.s. As I got closer I saw it was the canopy of an immense forest. I braced as I pa.s.sed through the branches but none of them hit me. I floated safely down to the forest floor.

I landed without a sound on the hard ground. There were trees around me. I wondered for a moment if this really was Nightfall or if the portal had simply dumped me outside the Vancouver city limits. But then I looked closer at the trees and I knew this couldn't possibly be British Columbia. It couldn't be any spot on Earth.

I was no stranger to woods. Vancouver may be a big city but fifteen minutes away and you're in serious danger of being eaten by a grizzly. I'd been on nature walks since kindergarten. And I'd sat through a dozen school lectures about Our Friends the Trees. Because of all that, I knew I wasn't in any normal forest.

It was darker and more alien than any woods I'd ever seen. It was the trees themselves that were the strange part. Their trunks were straight and tall, not twisted and malformed like I half expected. They were wide but no wider than the mighty redwoods I'd seen before. But these giant trees were closer together than they had any right to be. Back home the old large trees were imposing but spread out from each other. That's because they had equally large root systems. But here the ma.s.sive, dark trunks were packed together. They should have been strangling each other but there was no evidence of that. On Earth, even in the thickest forest it was still the open sense. You were outdoors. Here it was the opposite. The forest was claustrophobic like the trees had closed ranks to intimidate intruders. And perhaps that's exactly what they had done.

The canopy above me was thick but I glimpsed a dark blue night sky above me. I saw no stars or moon but there was bright silvery light everywhere. By that illumination I made out my surroundings. The trees were so close together it was more like a being in a maze. I was on a narrow dirt path that snaked this way and that between the enormous trunks. Ivy and brambles grabbed at my ankles as I moved around. The air had a loamy and earthy odor like freshly tilled soil. The scent made me think of a newly dug grave.

I didn't see Severin about and suddenly regretted handing him my only weapon. I didn't know if it was safe to call out with no idea where he was but I pressed on through twisting path on my own.

That's when I began to feel it.

It was like being back in my garden where I felt connected. Despite the darkness and the giant tree looming that same sensation washed over me. A familiarity, a calmness. This was a feeling of true belonging. I felt a connection to this place deeper than anything I had ever known. With every step it was like I knew the soul of this land more and more. And it knew me. This was a living land and a living forest. It had a soul I could almost see with my own eyes. That's when the path began to widen and became more open. I could breathe better. I sensed this wasn't an accident. The trees had decided I was not a threat and they were letting me pa.s.s. I wanted to say thank you because I knew the trees would hear me. At the same time I thought they didn't want to be disturbed. They were old and cranky, these trees and all they wanted was to be left alone in peace.

The canopy above parted. The night sky was still starless and moonless. This forest should have been pitch black yet there was plenty of silver light. I looked around for the source.

"Nina!" Severin shouted as he came stumbling from the path. "It was like a maze back there. Fortunately I had you to guide me."

"I guided you? How did I did I do that?" I wondered if he had followed my scent like a wolf.

"You don't know? Have a look."

There was a small pool next to some rocks. I gazed down into it.

The light wasn't coming from the moon or the stars. It was coming from me. My skin was beyond porcelain now. It was literally luminescent with a silver glow. My hair was blacker than pitch and my eyes were a blue so bright they glowed. My wings stuck out of the back of my shirt. They were delicate as crystal and shone with their own radiance. Purple and gold played upon their gossamer surface. They were so beautiful I wanted to cry. I remembered how weeks ago I had fought them, tried to keep them buried inside my flesh. I'd been so afraid of them and what they represented. Now I just wanted to stare at them.

I tried moving them. They fluttered at a thought. I ran my fingers along their sides. Tingles rushed over my back. I beat them some more, thinking of the insects and humming birds that buzzed around my garden. I had a sudden desire to be like them; to float among the trees and flowers freely. I beat my wings harder and harder, but I stayed rooted to the ground. All I managed to do was create a breeze.

"What are you doing?" Severin asked.

"Trying to fly," I said sheepishly. I had the wings, why couldn't I fly?

Severin laughed. I noticed he had changed as well.

His hair was s.h.a.ggier. There was more of it on his arms. His fangs were now prominent and his hands ended in claws. But when they stroked my chin they were still somehow soft and warm.

"You are radiant."

Heat filled my belly. Although I was pretty sure this was the wrong time and place, I wanted to have s.e.x. It was almost painful the way my thighs clenched. But he knew as well as I that we weren't safe in these woods. Eventually someone would come for us.

I stretched on my toes and kissed him. It wasn't the long, deep kiss I desired, but it would have to do for now until we were safe.

We got back on the path, determined to do what we came to do.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked.

"I think Nightfall Palace is the place to start," Severin said. "All of your answers are in there somewhere. There are just two problems, getting in and getting out."

"Oh is that all."

We walked a little further. Now that I had time to digest my new surroundings there were some questions that wouldn't go away.

"I never expected you would be friends with Stettler," I said.

Severin didn't answer right away. "The man's hardly a friend. He's been a thorn in my side for a long, long time."

"Yet you trust him," I said. "Enough to give him an important a.s.signment. Enough to take over the pack while you're gone."

The thought of Stettler in charge of the pack made me uneasy. I had seen the pack, or a large part of it at their private retreat in the woods, the big house Stettler now had the run of. It was a large and powerful group.

But Severin said, "It's precisely because I don't trust him that I sent him undercover."

"That makes sense." The sarcasm dripped from my voice.

Severin said, "Think about it this way, infiltrating SEMA was the most difficult and dangerous mission I could give to any of my Pack members."

I nearly stopped in my tracks. "You were hoping he'd get killed?"

Severin went on. "More like there would be an upside in case of failure. No, I wanted him to succeed. I needed him to. Regular mortals fear us greatly. They created SEMA for their protection. But the organization could easily become a weapon against all werewolves. By placing Stettler inside not only did it give me insight to SEMA and what it knows but it also neutralized a potential threat to my leadership. See this job is so dangerous that he answers to me and me alone. It's hard enough for the two of us to get together. It takes considerable work on my part to make it happen. He can forget about trying to meet with any of the other pack members behind my back."

Suddenly it made a lot of sense.

"I see. It sidelines him. It's pretty brilliant. But what about leaving him in charge?"

"It's the same idea. SEMA still thinks he's one of them. Remember what he said. They think he's taking two weeks leave to go hiking up in the mountains. If they find out he's still in Vancouver it'll be very difficult for him. If they discover he's at the Pack's house, it will be a b.l.o.o.d.y disaster. If Stettler wants to stay alive he can't set foot out of the Pack's compound. The other pack members will keep their distance because he's red hot. So all Stettler will be able to do while I'm gone is sit in the compound and make phone calls. It's the next best thing to having him under house arrest."

I remembered the stern warning Severin had given Stettler before we left. SEMA was an arm of the police department, but it was manned by people like Officer Coates who thought werewolves ought to be hunted down and exterminated. Coates wouldn't hesitate to go gunning for Stettler if he knew the truth and he'd have plenty of help.

"So it's sort of like the old mafia saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer," I said.

As I said that I felt a sudden chill. That's how he deals with his enemies. But then how close am I to Severin?

I tried to dismiss those thoughts. Severin and I had been through a lot. He was risking his life to help me find my father. I had to trust him. I had to.

Severin suddenly stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air.

I didn't have to ask what it was.

Severin growled, "Trouble."

Chapter 6.