text: Vlad, Nyx, and a handful of their kin flowed over the snow like segments of a black serpent as they headed for the Utilities Complex. Other Sanguinati were headed for the western breach to help the Hawks and Wolves fight the intruders.
  
  He and Nyx hadn't questioned Erebus's command to destroy whatever dared touch the terra indigene. Would these monkeys have started a war with the Others if Meg hadn't come to the Courtyard? Maybe not. But someone the monkeys wanted back so much was someone the terra indigene were determined to keep.
  
  Besides, he liked Meg, and her diligence in delivering Erebus's movies gave Grandfather an untarnished pleasure the Sanguinati patriarch hadn't experienced in many years.
  
  <Vlad, look,> Nyx said.
  
  A funnel of snow racing toward the buildings in the Utilities Complex. Beside it, moving just as fast, was a rising wave of snow.
  
  Gunshots. A scream of pain. And the buzzy sound of snowmobiles.
  
  Vlad and his kin flowed past the charred wing of a Hawk but didn't see the rest of the body. As they rounded one corner of the main building, he saw a handful of intruders on snowmobiles. He saw Ferus trying to crawl away from the part of the building that was blown out and burning—and he saw one of the intruders raise a gun and shoot the already wounded Wolf.
  
  Vlad shifted partway, catching the gunman's attention. Distracted by smoke starting to take human shape, the man didn't see Blair, who was in the between form, until the Wolf knocked him off the snowmobile and tore out his throat.
  
  The rest of the intruders are going to get away, Vlad thought savagely. Their machines would get them out of the Courtyard, and they would use the storm to hide among the rest of the monkeys.
  
  Then he realized the funnel of snow was heading straight for the Utilities gate and would reach it before the intruders could. As for the wave of snow...
  
  <Get Ferus,> he told Nyx, seeing the tidal wave of snow crest and understanding what was about to happen. <I'll get Blair.>
  
  Nyx shifted to her human form from the waist up, grabbed Ferus around the middle, and flowed over the snow, half carrying, half dragging the wounded Wolf . Vlad shifted all the way to human, grabbed Blair's shoulders as the enforcer continued to tear at the enemy, and almost had his face ripped open when the Wolf turned on him and lashed out.
  
  "Come with me!" Vlad shouted. "Now, Blair!"
  
  A glance behind him was enough. Blair ran, and Vlad, shifting back to the safety of smoke, flowed after him as Tidal Wave released the snow and sent it crashing down, catching the three monkeys who had tried to evade Tornado. One man, jettisoned from Tornado's funnel, flew over their heads and landed in a circle of smoke that grew hands and mouths and fangs.
  
  Ignoring the feast, Vlad headed for the spot where Nyx waited with Ferus.
  
  "Tornado left the Courtyard," Blair said, shifting all the way back to human as he trotted up to them. "There's going to be some damage to the monkeys' part of the city."
  
  "Do we care?" Vlad asked.
  
  Blair looked at Ferus, who was turning the snow red. "No. We don't care." He studied the ground and buildings around them. "Come on. I think we can muscle one of the BOWs out of the garage and get Ferus to the Wolfgard bodywalker."
  
  A frantic knocking on Simon's front door.
  
  "Meg? Meg! Are you in there?"
  
  Meg looked back at Sam, whose furry face peered at her from behind the couch. Then she went to the door, pulled it open, and just stared at the blue sweater showing under Asia's white parka.
  
  "Meg..." Asia began.
  
  "I don't know that color blue," Meg said, feeling cold inside as Asia stepped into the apartment.
  
  "I know I'm not supposed to be here," Asia said in a rush. "But, Meg, you have to listen to me. Some men are coming for you. All the other things that are happening now are just a diversion. And the other things that happened over the past few days? Those men were studying how the Wolves react. I have a BOW. It's right outside. I'll help you get away."
  
  "I don't know that color."
  
  "What difference does that make?" Asia shouted.
  
  "I saw that blue in the vision, with the sugar and the skull and crossbones," Meg said, her voice so rough it produced an answering growl from Sam. " You tried to poison the ponies."
  
  Something in Asia's face shifted, erasing all pretense of concern. "It was just a means to an end, like this is."
  
  "Like what is?"
  
  "I meant what I said. They're coming for you, Meg, but I'm not interested in you. Just give me the pup. I'll be on my way, and you can run. You might even make it out of the Courtyard and find another place to hide for a while longer. Maybe forever."
  
  Stalling for time, Meg realized. All the talk was just a way to stall for time. But there was one thing she needed to know. "Why do you want Sam?"
  
  Asia smirked. "I know some men who would love to have some leverage over a Courtyard leader. They're powerful men who could get a lot of concessions for us humans. A couple of them might even enjoy having an exotic pet for a while."
  
  He's not property, Meg thought as the cold inside her gave way to a furious heat. Giving Asia a hard shove, she shouted, "Run, Sam!"
  
  Asia returned the shove, knocking Meg into a wall. Sam exploded from behind the couch. He had filled out a lot in the past three weeks, making up for the lack of growth during the years he'd been frozen by his mother's death. His teeth didn't sink into anything but Asia's parka sleeve, but his weight and the way he swung his own body to bring down his prey was enough to throw her to her hands and knees.
  
  Meg pushed off the wall, shouted "Sam!" and ran out the door. She wasn't dressed for outside—no coat, no boots; nothing but jeans, her heaviest sweater, and shoes. But she ran to the BOW Asia had driven and yanked the door open. Sam jumped in and scrambled out of her way as she got in, turned the key, and put the BOW in gear before she closed her door. She was driving away from the apartments by the time Asia reached the road.
  
  Glancing in her rearview mirror, she saw staggered lights approaching the Green Complex. Those must be the men Asia said were after her.
  
  "You did good, Sam." She'd heard the explosion and knew there was a problem up ahead, so she made the first left-hand turn she could, pushing for speed on a road oddly stripped of snow. "You did good." Then she added silently, Now it's my turn.
  
  At first, it didn't look like there was much wrong with the Utilities Complex. Then Simon spotted Blair kneeling beside Ferus and saw the bloody snow. He pulled up close to them, put the BOW in park, and jumped out.
  
  "How bad?" he asked Blair, adding a silent call to Vlad, who immediately stopped his efforts to shift the snow around the garage doors and strode toward them.
  
  "One of the Hawks is dead, and Ferus took a couple of bullets," Blair replied. "Not sure how bad he's hurt inside, but he's bleeding plenty. We need to get him to the Wolfgard bodywalker."
  
  Simon sprang up and opened the BOW's back door. In the winter, most BOWs carried some basics: two blankets, a short-handled shovel, a snow brush, and an ice scraper. He grabbed the blankets and laid them out in the snow next to Ferus. He and Blair lifted the wounded Wolf onto the blankets, wrapped him, and eased him into the back compartment. Blair went around to the passenger's seat, but Simon waited for Vlad.
  
  "Something?" he asked, stepping away from the BOW.
  
  "Nyx says there is a broken feast," Vlad reported. "Three of the intruders are dead and already growing cold, but the other two... The hearts still beat, and the blood is still hot."
  
  "Then don't waste them."
  
  "Big hole in the back of the building. The wave of snow smothered the fire. I don't know if we'll find any of our own in there."
  
  Simon bit back impatience. Ferus was bleeding. He didn't have time for this. The Sanguinati did not always consider such things, but he knew Vlad well enough to know this wasn't idle talk.
  
  "The Elementals' steeds are running with no hands on the reins," Vlad said.
  
  He wasn't sure that was true, but he shrugged. "That isn't up to us."
  
  "What do we do if Winter unleashes her fury?"
  
  He knew the answer to that. As he opened the BOW's door, he said, "We do our best to survive."
  
  Six snowmobiles roared up to the Green Complex. The special messenger pointed to three of his men and said, "Go after her. I'll catch up."
  
  They raced after the BOW.
  
  Pushing up his goggles, he gave Asia a cold stare. "You couldn't follow orders, could you?"
  
  "You want Meg Corbyn. I just want the Wolf pup." When the stare didn't change, Asia added, "She was going to bolt. I held her up as long as I could."
  
  He turned his head and said to one man, "Take her back to her car."
  
  "My car is stuck in the parking lot," Asia protested.
  
  "Then you'd better get it unstuck before these creatures notice you," he said harshly. "You can take the ride or walk." He put his goggles back on, then drove off with one member of his team. The other man waited, watching her.
  
  She hesitated, tried to think it through. Then she realized he was about to leave her and hurried to mount behind him. She pressed against his back, shielding her face as best she could while they raced back to the business part of the Courtyard.
  
  She needed time to think. The special messenger would have cut her out of the deal, would have made some excuse so his benefactor wouldn't have to give her or her backers any payment for their help in finding Meg Corbyn. And that would probably sour the TV deal she'd been promised. But the messenger didn't have Meg yet, and if she telephoned her backers fast, she could spin the story any way that would give her the best paycheck.
  
  The team that set fire to the Pony Barn raced toward the Corvine gate. The leader looked over his shoulder and bared his teeth in a grin. Stupid fucking animals. If you left a gate open, that was an invitation to come on in, wasn't it?
  
  The Crows winging a few feet above the snow, following them, would have made good target practice, but his orders were to get out of the Courtyard as soon as the assignment was complete.
  
  Shooting one of those ponies hadn't taken extra time and was a bonus distraction. Besides, what did the Others use ponies for anyway? Transportation? Food?
  
  Then fog suddenly surrounded him and his team, so thick he could barely see the headlights on the other snowmobiles.
  
  "Halt!" he shouted, hoping his men wouldn't run over him. How could fog roll in so fast? And where the fuck was the road that would take them to the gate? And what was that sound?
  
  A gust of wind pushed the snowmobile forward, and heavy rain drenched him.
  
  Rain? When it was this cold? What the...?
  
  The last man in line screamed as spinning winds and punishing rain turned snow into an ice field. The snowmobiles slid away from one another, lost in the thick fog that should have been blown away with the wind—and wasn't.
  
  Gasping for breath, the leader tried to see something, anything. "Report!" he shouted.
  
  "Here!" a member of his team answered.
  
  The leader didn't have time to shout a warning before a funnel of snow appeared out of the fog, snatched the man off the snowmobile, and turned away in a move that didn't belong to any natural storm.
  
  Another shout. The lights of a snowmobile headed right for him. He revved the engine of his own machine, then realized with a shock that the runners were frozen to the snow. The other man veered at the last minute, clipping the leader's machine enough to break it out of the ice before the other machine suddenly pitched forward, tossing the rider over the handles.
  
  The fog lifted as quickly as it had arrived, giving the team leader a clear view of one of his men struggling and thrashing and screaming and sinking into the snow.
  
  And he suddenly had a clear view of a horse the color of sand standing beside the odd snow, watching him.
  
  Snow acting like quicksand. Gods above and below, what kind of place is a Courtyard anyway that snow can turn into quicksand?
  
  Seconds later, only silence. A snowmobile, its nose buried. Unmarred snow that gave no indication that a man had just died beneath it. And a horse staring at him with hate-filled eyes.
  
  He raced away, ignoring the twisted machines and twisted bodies, intent on outrunning the horse that raced after him.
  
  The right side of the snowmobile sank, pitching him off. He rolled, then tried to get to his feet, but the snow sucked his legs down. Unbalanced, he fell back, and his arms sank to his elbows, pinning him.
  
  "Help me!" he shouted. "Help!"
  
  The Crows winged in, and the horse ran off. Before he could free an arm, they were on him, shifting into three naked females and one male. They yanked off his goggles, ripped off his ski mask, tore open his parka.
  
  "What do we do with him, Jenni?" the male asked.
  
  The one named Jenni cocked her head to one side, then the other. "He killed a pony. And he's one of the monkeys who were trying to take our Meg. So I say one for me." Her head shifted from human female to black-feathered Crow. She grabbed his head in strong hands and plucked out one eye with her beak. Tipping her head back, she swallowed the eye, then shifted back to a human female with a few black feathers still mixed with her hair. "And one for you."
  
  The male's head changed. The Crow plucked out the man's other eye.
  
  Ignoring his screams, they were gone in a flutter of wings, leaving him blinded and bleeding and half buried in the snow.
  
  Meg slowed the BOW to a crawl as she drove over Ripple Bridge. The sky was a dark gray that made it hard to see without headlights, but the headlights would have made her easier to see.
  
  Once they crossed the bridge, she rolled down her window and listened, then looked at Sam. "Do you hear the bad men?"
  
  He whined, which she took for an affirmative answer.
  
  Rolling up the window, she drove as fast as she could to the Chambers. She had to get this much done. She had to.
  
  The interior roads weren't clear of snow, and the BOW slipped and slid and a couple of times almost got stuck. Finally reaching the gate in front of Erebus's home, Meg jumped out and held the door open for Sam. Before he could dash off, she picked him up and staggered to the gate.
  
  "Mr. Erebus! Mr. Erebus! We need help!"
  
  The door opened, and Erebus glided over the snow-covered walkway.
  
  "Why is our Meg out in such weather when an enemy is among us?"
  
  She tried to lift Sam above the gate, but couldn't do it. "Those men," she panted. "They're after Sam. I know they're after Sam. Please take him, Mr. Erebus. Simon is protecting the Courtyard, and there's no one else who can keep those men away from Sam except you. I know it's against the rules for anyone to enter the Chambers, but he needs your help. He needs you."
  
  Sam began to squirm and struggle, but she held on to the pup while her eyes stayed fixed on the old vampire. "Please help us."
  
  Erebus pulled open the gate. "Come in. Both of you will be safe here."
  
  She heard snowmobiles approaching from two directions. They didn't need to stay on the roads, so they must have split up in the hopes of trapping her. And that meant she had run out of time.
  
  She shoved Sam into Erebus's arms and stepped back. "I'll lead the men away from here."
  
  "No," Erebus said. "You come in too."
  
  "Sam won't be safe if I stay." She cut off his objections by adding, "I know this."
  
  She got back in the BOW and took off, shivering from cold and blinking back tears as she drove recklessly down the interior road that would take her to her fate.
  
  An explosion, Monty thought as he hung up the phone. In the Courtyard. Oh, gods. He grabbed his coat and headed out to commandeer whatever car was available.
  
  When his mobile phone rang, he almost ignored it, but Debany and MacDonald were already on patrol, and they might be calling to report. "Montgomery."
  
  "Kowalski, here. Ruthie just called. There was an explosion in the Courtyard, maybe more than one, but not near the shops. I'm heading there now. Thought you should know."
  
  Then the Utilities Complex was probably the target of one of those explosions. "How can you get there?"
  
  "I do some cross-country skiing. I can make it to the Courtyard."
  
  He understood why Kowalski wanted to get to Ruth, but how were the Others going to respond to any human right now, especially an armed man? "You take care, Karl, and stay in touch."
  
  "Yes, sir."
  
  When Monty stepped outside, Louis Gresh was waiting for him.
  
  "I heard," Louis said. "You're going to need help. And you're going to need someone driving who can handle this snow."
  
  "Thanks," Monty said as they got in Louis's car.
  
  "Just doing my part to keep us alive," Louis replied.
  
  As they reached the intersection of Parkside and Chestnut, they saw the flashing lights of patrol cars and emergency vehicles. Louis shook his head and continued on Chestnut. "We'll go up Main Street. We'll have the best chance of getting through that way."
  
  Monty just nodded—and hoped they got through in time.
  
  The special messenger and his fourth man caught up to the three he'd sent to chase down the benefactor's property. They were idling in front of a black wrought-iron fence.
  
  According to the information he'd been given, the damn female was supposed to be physically weak and without the practical knowledge needed to operate machines or drive vehicles. Unless they were following a decoy, which he didn't believe, the benefactor's information was out of date.
  
  "Where?" he snapped.
  
  "She left the pup with the old man who lives in that little building," one man reported. "We saw her turn onto the road up there." He pointed. "We'll have no trouble catching her."
  
  Maybe not, he thought. But there were things happening now that hadn't shown up during their testing forays—like those snow funnels that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast. In addition to that, the team that had set fire to the barn wasn't answering their radios anymore, and the men who came in through the western breach in the fence were talking about the ground shaking and water twisting up into frozen walls, blocking their escape. They were heading for the exit around where the Crows roosted or whatever the fuck Crows did. Trouble was, according to the map Asia Crane had provided, the Wolves were between the western breach and the Corvine gate.
  
  Maybe he should have wondered why the money had been so good for this assignment, but he hadn't, and none of them would get anything if the property wasn't reacquired.
  
  He wagged a finger at two of the men. At least Asia Crane's fumbling had supplied them with a bonus acquisition. "You two get the pup from the old man. We'll reacquire the property, and then we'll all get out of here."
  
  That said, the messenger raced up the road the property had taken.
  
  Simon and Blair carried Ferus into the bodywalker's den in the Wolfgard Complex and laid him in the bed of straw she had prepared.
  
  "Bullets," she growled as she unwrapped the blankets. "Are the monkeys with the guns still alive?"
  
  "No," Blair replied.
  
  She nodded in satisfaction, then said, "Go. I will do what I can, and Namid will decide if he is to remain with us or become a part of Thaisia."
  
  They backed out and looked at each other, not sure where they were most needed—until Simon heard Sam's panicked <Arroooo! Arrooooo! Meg's gone! Meg's gone!>
  
  <Sam!> Simon called. <Where are you?>
  
  The pup didn't answer him, but Vlad did.
  
  The Sanguinati gathered around Erebus's home, all smoke and shadows as the two men pushed open the gate and stepped into the Chambers. Sam had stopped trying to escape from Erebus's arms and now howled and howled as if his puppy heart was broken.
  
  Erebus stood on the threshold, smiling at the prey who were so obliging to bring themselves to the feast.
  
  "Give us the pup, old man," one of the monkeys said.
  
  "Eh?" Erebus replied, turning his head as if to hear the words better. As if he couldn't hear a heartbeat anywhere within Sanguinati land.
  
  "Give us the pup if you know what's good for you."
  
  "Come, little one," Erebus whispered, taking a step back. "This is not for you to see."
  
  "Hey!" one monkey shouted as the two men rushed toward the closing door.
  
  <They are more than prey,> Erebus said, his words rolling through all the Sanguinati. <They are enemies of our Meg, and they are enemies of the Sanguinati. Take them away and punish them.>
  
  Vlad was so startled by the words, his smoke form condensed into a partial human shape. Punishment was a death that took days and broke the mind before it destroyed the body. Only the most hated enemies were condemned in that way, and the words told him the depth of Erebus's hatred for these particular humans. So Grandfather's next words didn't surprise him.
  
  <Vlad. Find our Meg. Keep her safe.>
  
  As his kin surrounded the two intruders, he sent a message to Simon. <Sam is with Grandfather.> Then he shifted fully to smoke and pursued the men who were pursuing Meg.
  
  Asia picked herself up, still not sure what happened. They hit something. Or something hit them. But she'd heard the sound of bone breaking before the driver went flying and the snowmobile went up a snowbank at a bad angle and tipped over. Lucky for her, she bailed out before it tipped, but...
  
  Had she really seen a giant bear made out of snow just before the accident? Impossible!
  
  Asia glanced at the dead man and swallowed hard. Then again, something had swiped off the man's face.
  
  A howl rose from behind her. She didn't know squat about the supposed tonal qualities of Wolf howls, but that particular Wolf sounded pissed off, and she didn't want to run into him.
  
  She took a step toward the snowmobile, thinking she could right it and drive out of the Courtyard, maybe all the way back to her apartment, where she would pack and be ready to leave town as soon as the driving ban lifted.
  
  Something nearby growled.
  
  Stepping away from the snowmobile, she began walking toward the Market Square and the parking lot. She didn't give a damn about the driving ban. She'd just get her car unstuck and get out of town.
  
  Nothing growled as she continued walking, but another howl was flung to the night sky—and was answered.
  
  Asia broke into a jog.
  
  Meg braked too hard and did a 360-degree spin before regaining control and stomping on the power pedal. She'd be scared later about what she'd just done. Right now, she had to get to the lake. She wasn't sure if Winter would be there, but Spring would be. Maybe Air and Water too. She hadn't met Earth or Fire, the other two cousins, but she'd filled a couple of library requests for each of them in the past week. If they were around, they would help her. Wouldn't they?
  
  A yellow triangle next to the power bar warned her that the BOW wasn't going to run much longer. Behind her, she glimpsed lights. Those men, the enemy, were still after her.
  
  Almost to the Courtyard Creek Bridge. And once she crossed the bridge, she would be in the Elementals' part of the Courtyard.
  
  Simon stripped off his clothes, shifted to Wolf, and burst out of the Wolfgard Complex, followed by Blair and Elliot. <Meg!>
  
  <She's headed for the lake,> Vlad reported. <There are three intruders behind her, and I'm behind them.>
  
  The lake. Not too far from the Wolfgard land, then. Not far from him.
  
  He took off, running, loping, bounding into and through drifts in the road, moving steadily toward the lake and Meg.
  
  As Thunder and Lightning galloped toward the lake, Jester hung on to the front seat of the sleigh. Every time the horses' hooves slammed into the ground, the potential for another storm grew in intensity. It could fade; the storms did sometimes. But Jester doubted this one would fade.
  
  Humans often said payback was a bitch. Well, Winter was looking for payback.
  
  Having survived the results when Winter was in full temper, he almost felt sorry for the humans.
  
  Almost.
  
  The yellow warning triangle was replaced by a blinking lightning bolt—the "charge me" symbol. A few seconds later, the BOW rolled to a stop within sight of the bridge. Meg got out, poised to run across the bridge. But the snowmobiles roared into sight, the headlights blinding her.
  
  She knew what it felt like to be free, to have friends, to have a life. To have people she loved. She wasn't going to let anyone take that away from her.
  
  She bolted down the bank that led to the frozen creek. Harder to catch her, harder to disappear with her if she could reach the creek where she would be in the open and the Others could see her.
  
  Her feet went out from under her, and she slid to the edge of the constructed retaining wall next to the bridge. As soon as she lowered herself to the creek, she screamed "Help!" and began shuffling across the ice.
  
  "Stop!" a man shouted behind her. "Stop, you stupid bitch!"
  
  Meg kept moving toward the other bank, slipping and sliding while men shouted for her to stop.
  
  "Winter!" she yelled. "Winter!"
  
  "Meg?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere—from the snow and from a coldness that was so bitter, Meg felt like she was breathing ice.
  
  "Stop!" a man shouted.
  
  The crack of gunshot. Something hit the ice near Meg's right foot. Shards struck her, and she jerked to her left, still moving toward the bank.
  
  Cracking sounds under her feet. Remembering Spring's warning, Meg veered toward the right. Another shot sprayed shards of ice that had her turning back toward the weakened ice.
  
  Winter suddenly appeared on the bank.
  
  "They have guns!" Meg shouted. She tried to hurry and get off the ice before her friend was noticed by the men with guns. Just another step, she thought. Just another step.
  
  "Meg, no!" Winter screamed.
  
  As she took the last step, her hands reaching for the stones that acted as a natural containment wall on this side of the creek, the ice shattered beneath her feet, and Meg went under.