Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

windowless room where the light didn't change. Had they been there two days? It was more than one day, Lily thought, but she didn't know how much more.
    "Gin," Cynna said, spreading her cards.
    "You're going to clean me out of my imaginary millions."
    "I'm up by three hundred big ones, by my count. You're not paying attention."
    No, she was too busy worrying.
    Rule had found her already. She'd felt him draw close, then linger in one spot perhaps a hundred yards away. And then he'd left. He'd left a very long time ago.
    He needed to plan, she told herself. Whatever he planned might take time to pull together. That made sense. The long delay did not mean something had happened to him. He was alive; she knew that much.
    But wouldn't Kun Nu enjoy having a second hostage to use against Lily? Wouldn't she relish the shock as she dumped Rule's unconscious body in the little prison with Lily and Cynna?
    Lily pushed to her feet. "I'm not good at waiting. I'm not good at not doing something. I'm going to do some stretches."
    "That's part of Bird Woman's plan, making us wait. Making you wait, I should say," Cynna said matter-of-factly as she gathered the cards again. "She doesn't care if I get antsy and jumpy, but she's hoping you do."
    "I know. I still need to move."
    There was one small open space of floor between the bunks and the cot. Lily lay down there, trying to focus on her body and breath. She stretched her arms over her head.
    The earth groaned. And twitched.
    It was a quiet sound, almost a grumbling, as if the rocks around them had a minor complaint - one they threw off with a little shudder Lily felt all along her body.
    She looked at Cynna and saw the fear in her friend's eyes, a fear that matched her own. Then, determinedly, she began her yoga stretches.
    This was the third time they'd heard the noise. The third time the earth had trembled. The first time it happened, Lily had been hit by the irrational hope that the little shudder might somehow mean help was coming, even though she knew Rule wasn't near.
    Cynna's guess was more likely. "Is it her?" she'd whispered. "Is she pulling a shake, rattle, and roll on us?" Lily had had no trouble figuring out what she meant. The Chimei might well be causing mini-quakes to scare them.
    If so, she'd hit on a great technique. There was a crack in one wall now, up near the ceiling. Dust sifted down from that crack as Lily brought her knees to her chest.
    It was also possible that the little tremors had nothing to do with them or the Chimei. This was California. Quakes happened.
     
    Like any war, this one involved a good deal of waiting.
    It was after midnight. Rule lay flat on his stomach in the dirt, taking advantage of the cover offered by scrubby growth at the edge of a small woods - sage and bindweed and some kind of sedge, their scents mingling with that of the tiny white flowers on a struggling toyon bush.
    Also with the scent of the hamburgers the gang members had grilled earlier, and that of the other lupi hiding, as he was, in the weeds and grasses around a dilapidated house just outside the city. One of them lay very near Rule - one who must be finding this wait extremely difficult. Cullen often said he was not a patient man.
    The clouds had moved off, the moon was three-quarters full, and Rule could see his targets clearly. From Rule's vantage point he could see the side of the house, some of the front yard, and most of the back - if you could call bare dirt a yard. The house they watched had probably been abandoned for years before its current occupants moved in. If not, someone had liked living rough. The roof had fallen in on one side. There was a porch light out front and two floodlights in back - the floodlights apparently so the gang members could see to play cards and drink beer.
    Sixteen were in view now. There were thirty-six altogether. Four of the others were patrolling the area immediately around the house, though with their limited senses it didn't do them much good. The rest were sleeping in the more intact part of the house.
    Thirty-six armed gangbangers against a dozen lupi warriors and one sorcerer. Good odds, especially since the lupi wearing charms were Benedict's best. The obvious move was to kill the sentries silently, then shoot the ones drinking and playing cards outside from a safe distance, then go in and clean up the sleepers. Nasty, but obvious.
    Also disastrous. The place was warded to hell and gone. One of those wards, the outer one,