Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

handprint appeared on Stefan’s cheek that I realized what had happened.
    â€œA foretaste,” Andre told him. “Today she is busy, but tomorrow you will report to her at dusk. You should have told her what Mercedes Thompson was when you first knew. You should have warned the Mistress, not let her find out when the walker stood against her magic. You should not have brought her here.”
    â€œShe brought no stake or holy water.” Stefan’s voice gave no indication that the blow bothered him. “She is no danger to us—she barely understands what she is, and there is no one to teach her. She does not hunt vampires, nor attack those who leave her in peace.”
    Andre jerked his head around faster than anyone should and looked at me. “Is that true, Mercedes Thompson? You do not hunt those who merely frighten you?”
    I was tired, worried about Samuel, and somewhat surprised to have survived my encounter with Signora Marsilia and her people.
    â€œI don’t hunt anything except the occasional rabbit, mouse, or pheasant,” I said. “Until this week, that was it for me.” If I hadn’t been so tired, I’d never have uttered that last sentence.
    â€œWhat about this week?” It was Stefan who asked.
    â€œI killed two werewolves.”
    â€œYou killed two werewolves?” Andre gave me a look that was hardly flattering. “I suppose you were defending yourself and just happened to have a gun at hand?”
    I shook my head. “One of them was moonstruck—he’d have killed anyone near him. I tore his throat out and hebled to death. The other one I shot before he could kill the Alpha.”
    â€œTore his throat out?” murmured Stefan, while Andre clearly didn’t know whether to believe me or not.
    â€œI was coyote, and trying to get his attention so that he’d chase me.”
    Stefan frowned at me. “Werewolves are fast.”
    â€œI know that,” I said irritably. “I’m faster.” I thought about the wild chase with Bran’s mate, and added, “Most of the time anyway. I didn’t intend to kill—”
    Someone screamed, and I quit talking. We waited, but there were no more sounds.
    â€œI had better attend the Signora,” said Andre, and was gone, just gone.
    â€œI’ll drive,” Stefan told me. “You’ll need to ride in the back with Dr. Cornick so he has someone he trusts with him when he wakes up.”
    I gave him the keys and hopped in the back.
    â€œWhat’s going to happen when he wakes up?” I asked as I settled onto the backseat, lifting Samuel’s head so I could scoot underneath it and sit down. My hands smoothed over his hair and slid over his neck. The marks of the vampires were already scabbed over, rough under my light touch.
    â€œMaybe nothing will happen,” Stefan said, getting in the driver’s seat and starting the van. “But sometimes they don’t react well to being Kissed. Signora Marsilia used to prefer wolves to more mundane prey—that’s why she lost her place in Italy and was sent here.”
    â€œFeeding off of werewolves is taboo?” I asked.
    â€œNo.” He turned the van around and started back up the drive. “Feeding off the werewolf mistress of the Lord of Night is taboo.”
    He said Lord of Night as if I should know who that was, so I asked, “Who is the Lord of Night?”
    â€œThe Master of Milan—or he was last we heard.”
    â€œWhen was that?”
    â€œTwo hundred years, more or less. He exiled Signora Marsilia here with those who owed her life or vassalage.”
    â€œThere wasn’t anything here two hundred years ago,” I said.
    â€œI was told he stuck a pin in a map. You are right; there was nothing here. Nothing but desert, dust, and Indians.” He’d adjusted the rearview mirror so he could see me, and his eyes met mine as he continued. “Indians and something we’d never encountered before, Mercy. Shapeshifters who were not moon called. Men and women who could take on the coyote’s form as they chose. They were immune to most of the magics that allow us to live among humans undetected.”
    I stared at him. “I’m not immune to magic.”
    â€œI didn’t say you were,” he answered. “But some of our magics pass you by. Why do you think you stood against Marsilia’s rage when the rest of us