“Do you know what happens when healers can no longer heal?” The succubus with the snake tattoo on her scalp asked, standing outside Marie’s open bedroom door. “When empaths must live among hurting humans, but can do nothing to help them?”
I shook my head. Huldras never healed. We fought for the weak, protected those who needed protecting, but none of our abilities including healing, outside of learned trades.
“We gradually absorb the hurt. We become emotionally unstable, depressed, sometimes worse.” Her voice cracked and I wondered how many sisters among their ranks fought the battle against depression. “Our Goddess brought truth and knowledge to all of humankind, and how do they repay her? They make up stories about her, call her a snake, align her with negativity, the devil. Why? Because she believed everyone had the right to live their truth and be free of inner hurt?”
Marie cleared her throat. “That’s enough for now,” she said. “And anyway, I think I’ve found the perfect top for you. It’ll turn up the desire of your incubus.”
By the time Marie placed the black silk top against my chest, the succubus at the door had left and returned to playing cards. She scrutinized the shirt where she held it up on me and nodded in approval.
“Is that why Heather left, do you think?” I asked. “Why she left her galere? Because of emotional instability?”
Marie removed the top from the hanger and handed it to me. “You say the words as though they are an easy diagnosis when in fact they are as layered as this earth.”
“I’m asking because I want to know, because Heather’s choices have clearly affected us all.” I unbuttoned the front of the top and put it on, buttoning it back into place. The V-neck dipped low between my breasts. I thought to mention my own coterie’s current status, running from the Hunters, but while the worry plagued my mind, voicing the news to a non-huldra didn’t feel right, not until I received an update of some kind.
“You would not know the difficulties of running a matriarchal home within a patriarchal society,” Marie countered, moving to her open suitcase upon her bed and placing items from her closet in it. “You have no children or younger generation within your ranks. You cannot fathom the confusion they must endure in their raising, their questions as to why those outside their home do not operate like those inside their home, their immature assumptions that the world will accept and respect their personal truths the way their galere does. And then their backlash when you must create boundaries to keep them safe from a world they feel they do not need protecting from. You cannot imagine the difficulty in these things.”
“Is Heather your daughter?” I asked in shock and yet in a sudden understanding as to why Marie decided to join Heather with the incubi underground.
Marie placed a small statue of Lilith in her bag and zipped it shut. She stood the suitcase beside her. “None of us have one mother. The galere mothers each daughter so that each succubus has many mothers.”
She only answered my question partly, but seeing as it was Marie doing the answering, partly was more than I expected.
“Is Heather a minor?” I asked.
“No, she is eighteen,” Marie answered. “And yes, her choice to be with her heart’s desire over her galere is naïve, one she will grow to one day learn was unwise. But her feelings, her desire for safety and fear of the unknown future, those are shared by others in this galere.”
I sighed. “Of course we’re all afraid. It doesn’t mean we should hide away while other Wilds are being picked off. That’s what courage is, the ability to stand up to something despite our fear.”
Marie placed a hand on my shoulder. “I know something has happened very recently to those you love. I felt it earlier, and can feel the fear and worry draped like a heavy cloak on you now.”
A succubus peaked her head in and regarded Marie, “They’re here.”
Marie nodded. “Good, bring them up, invite them in.”
The shaved-head succubus left the apartment to fetch the incubi.
“But,” Marie continued with me. “Courage is an emotion that wells up within a person, urging them to walk a difficult path, to make a hard choice. And as with any emotion, it cannot be defined in one way, but takes on the definition of the one experiencing it. You may believe standing against the Hunters is a courageous act. But we do not.” She left the bedroom and sat on her red couch in her living room, waiting for the incubus leader.
The sudden urge to argue with her, to make her see her huge error in judgement, welled up within me. I stomped into the living room. But before I opened my mouth, the front door opened sharply. In an instant Marie flicked her hand toward me and my anger dissipated, replaced with desire for the tall man who now stood in her hall. My whole body tingled as Aleksander’s eyes found mine and bounced to my chest. A smile grew across his face. I followed his gaze to see what delighted him so much and then groaned inwardly.
Now I knew why Marie had chosen the loose silk top. She’d planned to make me nip like a braless woman in the frozen food section of a grocery store. And at the moment, she executed her plan perfectly.
“Aleksander,” I greeted the incubus with a nod.
His eyes found mine again and this time they sparkled. “It’s good to know you’re happy to see me, Faline.” He spoke through his smile, his accent stronger than earlier.
His voice did hot things to me that made standing in the frozen food section in only a silk top seem like a really good idea. And his body…it was a tower of muscle that went on forever. This may be a lot easier than I expected. While I wanted to hate that, part of me didn’t. Not at all.
Fourteen
Marie wasted no time in leaving the apartment. With her head held high, she made her way from their brick building, through dark alleyways, while trailing a red, wheeled suitcase, her galere silently following behind her like a funeral procession. Except, instead of all black, most of the female members of the group wore ripped jeans and tank tops. Only a few incubi joined us. Aleksander walked alongside Marie at the front, and others sprinkled throughout the group. Us huldra brought up the rear, which was fine with me. I’d rather not have a bunch of unknown supernatural males at my back.
I wondered if it was trust the succubi gave the incubi, or some other emotion yet to be seen. Did they feel a familial bond to the men? What must that be like?
“So,” Aleksander spoke to Marie for the first time since leaving the succubi’s home. “Tell me about the huldra leader.” I couldn’t see them, of course, through the group of succubi and incubi in front of my sisters and me. But I’d been listening for their voices since we left the apartment, because while I was sure Marie knew huldra had impeccable hearing, I assumed Aleksander had no clue. An advantage I clung to.
“The huldra don’t have a leader, not like us,” Marie retorted quickly in monotone. “And she has a name.”
I’d never heard the woman speak so…unemotionally. Maybe this decision to go into hiding was as she’d said, not of her making.
Aleksander’s voice showed no offense to her remarks. “Excuse me cousin. I will endeavor to do better.”
Oh, what I’d had given to see Marie’s expression. I’d only ever seen her angry, mischievous, and whatever else one would call her behavior around Celeste—I never claimed to be an emotional guru. But I’d never had the pleasure of experiencing annoyed Marie.
The parade of supernaturals into the more bustling parts of downtown Portland took well over ten minutes, though my antsyness kept me from counting exactly how many minutes. The moment I’d realized this, I chided myself for being sloppy. I’d been too wrapped up in waiting for Aleksander and Marie to finally talk and then listening for information in their conversation, that I’d let my attention to detail slide. If a group of Hunters sauntered out of an alley at this very moment, I wasn’t sure I’d know my way back to the apartment complex.
I leaned over to barely whisper in Olivia’s ear. “You haven’t been keeping track of the time or which streets we’v
e turned down, have you?”
She grimaced and shook her head.
Well, shit. I took stock of our surroundings. I didn’t know Portland like I knew Seattle and Everett, but the empty park we currently passed got my attention, or at least its trees. I inhaled their pine scent to memory and glanced at the time on my phone. That’s when I saw the GPS app. Duh. My mind had to be out of sorts in a major way for me to forget about my GPS.
Too much was going on at once. I still hadn’t heard from my coterie and Marcus. I had no idea if the Hunters had them or not. Neither the mermaids nor the rusalki had returned my phone calls. Only the harpies texted to say they were just waiting for the Wilds to show up in their territory. They still thought the plan to attack their Hunter complex was on.
So yeah, no pressure or anything.
I opened my GPS map, the screen’s brightness messing with my night vision, and put a pin at my current location to reference later. I glanced at the map each time we turned a corner and placed another pin to mark the spot.
Humans passed us on the sidewalk, some gawking at the interesting procession, others clearly unfazed by Portland’s newest oddity. I assumed Aleksander chose the night hours to escort the succubi through the city for this very reason, fewer humans to take notice.
Marie finally responded to the incubi leader she walked beside at the front of the group, “Believe me, Faline won’t take it well to you calling her ‘huldra’ rather than her name. It won’t start you two off on the right foot.”
“I appreciate the advice.” Aleksander waited a breath before speaking again. “I wonder, would you have any other advice for me regarding Faline? She intrigues me so. I’ve met Wild Women over the centuries, but never one quite like her. I’d like to get to know her better, spend some…quality time with her. How should I go about arranging that, do you think?”
Olivia shot me a look. I rolled my eyes.
There had to be another way to go about getting Aleksander to join our cause and in turn convince the succubi galere to change their minds about going into hiding. I was a huldra for Goddess’s sake! Instead, I felt like a helpless being prancing around in her bikini—or in my case a low-cut silk top—for the attention and affection of some male.
Aleksander was handsome and all, but no. Just no.
I stopped walking. “I’m not doing this,” I said aloud to my sisters. “This is bullshit and I’ll take no part in it.”
“What’s bullshit?” Celeste asked after taking two more steps and turning to see me.
“All of it.” I motioned to the crowd ahead of us, walking and furthering the gap between them and us. “I had a moment of weakness. That’s passed.” The dread I hadn’t realized I’d been feeling dissipated, a new sense of urgency taking its place. “I’m not going to roll over, belly-up, and lower myself for some male just because he’s lived a life of privilege and thinks we ought to too, like we even have that option outside of fighting for our freedom. They’re telling us to go into hiding when they will still get to walk around the city whenever they choose. To them, hiding is just living in a place that no one knows about. For us it’ll mean being shackled to a place no one knows about. Huge difference.”
I hadn’t noticed the succubi procession stop until Celeste’s gaze bounced from me to Marie as Marie walked through the center of the galere who’d been following her and made her way to us. “Why have you stopped?” she asked, probably unable to hear our earlier discussion. Aleksander joined her.
Celeste reached to Marie who clasped her hand and kissed it. “My sisters are discussing a change in plans,” my sister answered her lover.
Marie slowly nodded. “I see. And are you in agreement with this change in plans, of which, I assume, include not joining our galere for the time being?”
Celeste eyed me and then Marie again. She exhaled and bit her lip. “I am.”
Marie dropped my sister’s hand and backed away. She closed her eyes and opened them again with a tight smile, clearly fighting to rein in her hurt feelings. I expected her to try to convince us, to shift our own emotions enough to follow her into the underground. But she didn’t. She only whispered, “Stay safe,” to Celeste and turned on her high heel to walk off and lead her galere once again.
Aleksander lingered by my side. “This is quite a disappointing change of events,” he uttered, tipping his head as though we lived a hundred years ago and not in the twenty-first century.
I saw no need to respond. What he deemed unfortunate, I saw as the first clear-headed decision I’d made since Shawna and Marcus pulled away from Portland.
I would, I decided, show politeness to a fellow supernatural being that wasn’t currently hunting me or mine. “It was good to meet you, Aleksander. Be well.”
“It is disappointing,” he continued, as though I hadn’t just stated the equivalent to a socially acceptable dismissal. “But I have set a contingency plan in place.”
He paused, as if waiting for me to ask about this plan of his. When my response consisted of only a stare, he explained, as he pulled a folded paper from his pocket. “I have secured a safe house for you and your coterie.”
He held out the paper. “Here’s the address. The key to the front door is in a lock box on the knob. You’ll find the code to that box below where I’ve written the address.”
I made no move to take the paper from him.
The semblance of a smile he’d been sporting dropped, leaving pure seriousness in its place. “I realize my feelings mean nothing to you, but whether we like it or not, your feelings, your safety, mean everything to me. If you refuse to join us underground, at least for now, stay in a home unknown to the Hunters.”
I considered his offer for half a second. “Here’s my problem with all of this,” I started. “I don’t know you. How can I be sure this house of yours isn’t bugged with cameras in the bathroom or something?” It was a legit question. An even more legit question rang through my mind: what would this incubi leader expect in return? I had no interest in being beholden to him or anyone else.
The slight smile returned to Alexander’s face, framed by his five o’clock shadow. “Because it is not my home I am offering. It is a nightly rental, large enough to ensure your coterie’s comfort and procured under a name the Hunters will not recognize.”
The man seemed practiced at hiding others, a little too practiced. I wondered how many types of people he’d done this for throughout his many years on the earth. How many supernatural secrets were buried behind the incubi leader’s smile? But now wasn’t the time for questions and I wasn’t in the mood to give him any indication that I was interested in anything about him. I took the folded paper from him and stuffed it into my jean’s pocket with no intention of opening it. His intensity made me uncomfortable and if accepting the address appeased him enough to leave me be, then so be it.
A look of relief washed over his face.
The tall incubus smiled, that gleam once again in his eyes suggesting that he knew something I didn’t. This time it didn’t bother me. We all know things others do not. Doesn’t always mean they’re useful things.
“I do hope to see you again,” he said as he took a half step and bowed toward me, not fully committed to the choice. He righted himself and left my sisters and me to continue at Marie’s side, leading the procession. The little smile and glance over his shoulder gave me the distinct impression he hoped I was watching him walk away.
When he was out of earshot, I hugged Celeste. “You okay?” I asked.
She shook her head into my neck.
“They might change their minds,” Olivia consoled our sister, wrapping herself around Celeste’s back.
“She’s just doing what her galere wants,” Celeste huffed into my neck. “She knows it’s a mistake.”
So they had talked about this in their alone time. My respect for Marie rose another few points. She remained loyal to her galere, despite her opinions or her desire.
My phone vibrated in my hand and I
swiped to answer. Celeste and Olivia pulled away to give me my space.
“Hello?” I answered, unfamiliar with the phone number.
“Hey.” His voice sang to me like leaves on a breeze. “You okay?”
“Marcus, seriously?” I laughed, happy to hear him. “You guys were the ones running from the Hunters. Of course we’re okay, just incredibly worried.”
He gave a deep chuckle. “True. Yeah, we’re fine.”
I ached to wrap my arms around him. How had I ever thought I could seduce Aleksander? How had I ever thought I could bring myself to flirt with, or even touch another man in that way?
Tears trickled down Olivia’s cheeks. She nodded, staring at my phone like it was her lifeline too. Our coterie was safe. They were safe, thank Freyja.
“Did you ditch your cell?” I asked.
Bed springs groaned through the line. “We all did. We’re at a hotel, calling you from this phone. Shawna and the others want to talk to you, too, but I had to hear your voice, know that you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. We’re fine. The succubi went into hiding, left their apartment complex. They offered to allow us to stay in it, but I don’t think it’s safe, so we’ll need to find another place. If the Hunters found our house, they’ll easily locate the succubi’s.” I paused, deciding to save the shop talk for later. “Where are you guys?”
“We’re in the south Sound area,” Shawna said, past Marcus. “Outside of Tacoma.”
My ex-Hunter chimed in. “We didn’t want to stop, not even to make a phone call, until we were well out of the area.”
I fought the urge to throw my face into my hands and bawl with relief. “Good, good,” was all I could say past the lump in my throat. I swallowed it down. “Where should we meet up?”
Renee spoke up now, though Marcus still breathed into the receiver. “We’re only two and a half hours away from you. Let us get a few hours of rest and we’ll meet you there in the morning.”
Wild Women Collection Page 36
