Left for Undead by L. A. Banks

fixed on Clarissa.
    “We think this guy either had it on him as some kinda
juju or maybe collected it at the scene, but obviously never got to tell
anybody who cared to hear about it.” Sasha looked from Hunter to Clarissa.
“You’re freaking me out, ’Rissa.”
    Doc moved around the table, keeping his hands back but
peering at the specimen closely. “Whatever it is, it came from a huge snake.
This is only a partial, but if you extrapolate the size of the scales.  
man.”
    “You give me a diameter and I can run a model to size
the thing,” Winters said, heading toward his temporary computer bay. “I wish
we’d had a little more time to get set up here at the NAS, but if you guys are
tracking giant snakes, then I’m all for the move of being on a military base.”
    Woods pounded Fisher’s fist. “Dude, just tell me and
Fish how big that sucker is and we’ll be sure to get artillery that can handle
it.”
    “Dude,” Fisher said, shaking his head. “I love this
job, but remind me to tell you over a beer how much I hate this job.”
    “It’s not from a normal snake,” Clarissa said, her
blond lashes beginning to flutter.
    “The size alone says it’s not normal!” Winters called
out as his fingers flew across the keyboard.
    “No,” she said quietly. “This came from something that
resides in Hell.”
    “Okay, now I’m officially freaked out,” Winters said
as he stopped typing.
    “You’re sure?” Sasha rounded the table and held
Clarissa by her shoulders.
    Clarissa nodded. “The energy off it is so dark and so
thick that I almost can’t breathe.”
    “That’s enough,” Bradley said, quickly setting down
the magnifying glass and going to Clarissa. “She’d been here before and I swore
that I would never allow her to get caught up in a dark divination that could
jeopardize her life.”
    “Come out of the trance, Clarissa,” Sasha said,
beginning to panic as Clarissa swooned.
    Doc was immediately at her side and for several
minutes team members took turns calling Clarissa’s name, shaking her, slapping
her cheeks, until she finally came around.
    “Get that thing out of here,” Bradley said. His face
was flushed and his expression was stricken as Hunter carefully lifted up the
offending snakeskin and slipped it back into the uniform pocket.
    “We need to take this to the Vampires—after we record
it in the United Council of Entities Hall of Records,” Hunter said. “Sir Rodney
and Queen Cerridwen also need to know about this.”
    “Good looking out,” Sasha said, and then stared at
Doc. “See if Silver Hawk can hurry here to seal this area with a shaman’s
prayer. If me and Hunter just bird-dogged something that came up from Hell, who
knows what’s gonna happen come sundown.”
    They stood in the depths of the Louisiana bayou with a
full Fae retinue at their sides. Swamp sounds of frogs and crickets went still
as the ancient council hall rose from the mud, disturbing gators and other
slithering things that moved in the black water. Then they waited for the old
crone who presided over all matters as a neutral party to exit the columns and
come down the steps. It was a painfully slow process to watch her shuffle along
the wet marble with her huge black book of records under her arthritic arm.
    She stopped at the bottom step and glared at those
who’d called her before the sunset, seeming genuinely perturbed at the breach
of protocol.
    “Who dares call a session before the moon has arisen?”
she croaked, sending an accusatory glare around the group.
    “We do—the North American Shadow Wolf Federation,”
Hunter said, and then motioned with his chin to the book under her arm. “We
have evidence that could avert a war, if it is heeded.”
    “Speak!” the crone yelled out, and then flung the
black book into the air.
    The book hovered between her and the group and then
opened to a blank page, allowing a raven-feathered quill pen to escape its
pages with a squeal.
    “I am a