Smiling, Talia agreed.
So, a little more about who I am. I’m Ember Kearney, and as I said, I’m half Dark Fae and half Light Fae, and never the twain shall meet, according to the Fae Courts. I just turned thirty-one years old a couple weeks ago, and I’ve passed the Cruharach—the Fae coming of age ritual—so now my body’s aging mechanisms are drastically slowing down. That’s why most Fae you meet, unless they’re incredibly old, look somewhere in their thirties.
My parents were murdered when I was fifteen, and I went to live with Angel, my BFF since I was eight. Mama J.—her mother—owned a diner that subbed as a soup kitchen, and she was an incredible tarot reader. Angel inherited both her mother’s cooking and empathic skills, and our friendship has stayed the course since we first met in grade school. She had pushed me in the mud. I dragged her into the muck with me, and we both ended up in the principal’s office. That cemented our friendship.
Life went on. I became a freelance bounty hunter, chasing down goblins and other sub-Fae who were creating a hazard for people. Then, last year, everything changed.
Angel’s little brother vanished. I found him, alive, thank the gods, but the situation ended up with Herne recruiting Angel and me into the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt Agency officially keeps war from breaking out between the Fae Courts, and we’re a law unto our own. We work on the fringe of society, though the police and government know about us. We do our best to keep the squabbles that break out between the Light and the Dark from affecting humans and shifters and other potential targets. But a few months ago, the Tuathan Brotherhood raised its ugly head. They claim to be Fae, out to take back what’s rightfully theirs. The Fae Courts both disavow knowledge of them. Lives have been lost and we’re all at a stalemate. Right now, things are only promising to get worse before they get better.
After Morgana left, I called Raven. She answered on the second ring.
“Hello?” She sounded breathless, and I had a sneaking suspicion I had caught her fresh out of bed. She and Kipa were all hot and heavy. Kipa, or Kuippana, was sort of a distant cousin of Herne’s, from Finland. He was Lord of the Wolves, and wildly chaotic, but he tried to help out when he could.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” I laughed. “Kipa’s there, isn’t he?”
“Oh good gods, Kipa’s not always here.” She paused. “Yeah, he’s here. What do you need?”
I cleared my throat. “So, I’m down to the wire. I need to go to TirNaNog and Navane, like I told you, and I have to go tomorrow. You said you could go with me. Still up for it?”
“Hell, yes. I’m looking forward to it, too.”
I paused, thinking over the wisdom of taking Raven. She was full-tilt, impulse driven, and a little bit on the crazy side, but that was one of the reasons I liked her. We hadn’t known each other a long time, but we already had a backlog of adventures to talk about—some of them our own fault, others not so much.
“I’ll pick you up at your house tomorrow morning at ten. Can you be ready to go?”
“Sure thing. I’ll be ready.” She let out a peal of laughter and I heard her whispering, “Stop that, I’m on the phone.”
“Listen, you’re clearly occupied so I’m going to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Before she could protest, I laughed and said good-bye, then tossed my phone on the table. “Raven and Kipa are at it again.”
Herne glanced at me, his eyes flickering. “They’re made for each other.” For once, he didn’t try to run down Kipa. Herne and Kipa had some male-testosterone thing going, and while I knew they had a lot of baggage between them, it could be annoying. It had also nearly gotten Raven and me killed at one point.
“Ah-ah…,” I said, waving my finger at him.
“What? I didn’t say anything bad,” he said with a grunt. “All right, so the meeting’s over. You can go for the day if you want.”
“I think I’ll stay for a bit and work on the laptop,” Yutani said. “I feel like I’m getting close to finding those files.”
“I’m out of here. I need to stop at the farmers market, then go grocery shopping, and I have a friend coming over for dinner,” Talia said, waving at us as she slipped her jacket on and headed for the door. “See you Monday.”
Viktor headed out too. He had a date with his girlfriend, Sheila.
I glanced at Herne. “You sure you’re busy tonight? Angel and I are going to see a movie, but I thought afterward, we might get together.” We hadn’t made plans, but I wasn’t averse to spending the evening with him. We could take a cue from Raven and Kipa, I thought. The past couple weeks the physical side of our relationship had been a little quiet, mostly due to all the extra hours we were putting in.
He gave me a regretful look, dropping the file folder on the table. As he held out his arms, I slid into them and he wrapped them around me, kissing my head.
“I’m sorry, love. I’ve got business. I have to put in calls to Mielikki’s Arrow and Odin’s Chase, to find out if they’re facing the same problem with the Tuathan Brotherhood. They were having a few issues for a while, but we haven’t heard from them in some time. Then I promised my father I’d touch base with some of the portal keepers and make certain all the entrances to Annwn are working smoothly. You could come with me, but it’s really not going to be much fun.” He tilted my chin up, staring deep into my eyes and slowly pressed his lips against mine.
I melted into his arms, wanting more. I wanted to slide my hands under his shirt, against his chest. I wanted to feel him slide his body against mine.
As I broke away, I looked up into his eyes and put my hands on his shoulders. On my left ring finger was a ring made of antler. Herne had made it out of a sliver of his own tines, carved it into a polished circle and given it to me as a promise ring on the solstice.
I held up my hand. “Go do what you need to do. This ring promises me you’ll be here when you can. We’ll have time soon.”
“I love you,” he said, never taking his gaze off me. “I love you, and I want you. Tomorrow night? Your place?”
“My place,” I said, and he kissed me again. I lost myself in the feel of his lips against mine, the scent of deep woods and fern surrounding me. I could smell the rain dripping off cedars, moss growing on the trunks of trees, the cool scent of morning fog rolling along the ground. Herne was the embodiment of all of these things.
A moment later, he reluctantly pulled away. “I’d better get moving. What are you going to do tonight?”
“Movie with Angel. We’re going to see Atomic Brenda. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I’ll even buy the popcorn.”
Herne laughed. “I think that I can safely say I’ll pass. But truly, love, I do have to work, or I’d go with you even if I didn’t want to see the movie. Is Rafé going?”
I shook my head, glancing around to see if Angel was still in the room, but I could see her down the hall, near her desk. “No. Apparently he’s expected at some family gathering. Which won’t be a barrel of laughs. Rafé’s family cares as much about him as my grandparents did me, I think. Although, maybe since Ulstair was killed, they’ve come around. The loss of one child would, I would hope, make them value their remaining children more.”
“You’d hope so, but it doesn’t always follow. Especially among the Fae.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You don’t have to tell me that. All right, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Text me when you’re planning to come over. By then, hopefully I’ll still be alive and have the bow and the crown to show your mother next time we meet.”
“At least you’ll be able to tell her that you tried, if nothing else. Morgana is demanding, but if she knows you’re trying, she tends to go easier on you. Or at least, that was my experience when I was growing up. She and Father were exacting, but they were also just. I never really felt like they were unfair.”
He gave me another kiss, then grabbed his files and headed for his office. But he barely made it a couple feet before Yutani let out a yell and came flying out of his o
ffice.
“Yes!” He thrust his fist into the air. “I found it!”
“What? What did you find?” Herne said, turning.
“I found the wormhole. I found out the location on the laptop where the files are hidden. I don’t know what’s in them yet, but I should be able to recover them. And when I do, we may just find the break we’ve been looking for. Nalcops wouldn’t have hidden them if they weren’t vital to the Brotherhood.” Yutani sobered, shaking his head. “Whoever set up his system is brilliant, and I think—a technomage.”
“Uh oh. That could be bad news,” Herne said. “Technomages are also brilliant at creating computer viruses. You’d better hurry, because I’ve seen cases where files self-corrupted when they were discovered. Sort of like an electronic suicide command.”
“This tape will self-destruct in five minutes,” I quipped, then sobered as they both frowned. “I know, don’t be so flippant.” I turned to Yutani. “How long till we know what’s there?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, to be honest. I know how to get to them, but Herne’s right. I’ll have to be cautious so I don’t trigger a virus that might erase those files. So it might take an hour, it might take a week. I’ll know more once I get my hands dirty. But I wanted to let you know. It’s time we caught a break, and at least this gives us a glimmer of hope.”
Herne clapped him on his shoulder, gently. “Good going. Thanks, bro, and do what you have to in order to preserve as much information as you can. Every single thing we can discover is a step in the right direction.”
And with that, we disbanded for the day. Yutani went back into his computer cave, Herne headed into his office, and Angel and I took off for dinner and a movie. Yutani was right, I thought as we got in the car and pulled away from the building. We needed a break, badly. And maybe, just maybe, this would give us one.
Chapter Four
After the movie, Angel and I decided to make a stop at Medinos, one of the local SubCult clubs. We were still wound up from the movie—Atomic Brenda was a kick-ass super ninja action heroine and the movie was fun, cheesy, and left us in a really good mood.
“No goblin blasters, though,” Angel warned. “I can’t drag you up the stairs by myself.”
Last time I’d succumbed to the lure of goblin blasters, I’d gotten shit-faced drunk and made an ass of myself. I blushed, shaking my head. “Nope. No goblin blasters. If you want a drink, I’ll drive.”
She snorted. “No, I’m good. I’ll stick to a burger and fries. You go ahead and have whatever you want.”
We settled into the booth, and the waitress hurried over. Angel ordered her burger and fries, and I ordered grilled cheese, tomato soup, and for a change—a microbrew. I didn’t drink much beer, I didn’t have the taste for it, but now and then it just hit the spot. I wasn’t planning on getting drunk, I just wanted a little buzz to take the edge off of the day. Considering what I was going to be facing tomorrow, I felt I needed it.
“Do you think Yutani can actually find out something that will help us?” Angel asked. She winced as a loud burst of music hit us. Glancing around, she added, “I’m going to ask if they can turn it down a little. There are barely any people in the club right now, and nobody’s dancing.”
I nodded, waiting as she walked up to the bartender. A moment later he turned the music down to a more reasonable level and she returned to the booth. As she slid back in, the waitress brought my beer and Angel’s hot cocoa. When she left, I took a long drink of the beer and slid it back on the coaster.
“I don’t know. I hope he can. If there are hidden files, and it seems he’s hit on at least several, then they’re hidden for a reason. That gives me hope.”
“It seems like we’ve been fighting the Tuathan Brotherhood forever, but it’s only been a couple months, hasn’t it? Since October?”
I nodded. “Yeah, only two months. Almost three. And that’s three months too many. I’m so tired of dealing with them. If something isn’t done soon, relations between the Fae Courts and the rest of the United Coalition are going to break down even further. I wanted to believe the Fomorians were behind this, but it’s looking more and more like it’s not them. Did you hear that Elatha actually has offered to help find out who did this? Of course, he probably hopes that the Fae Courts are behind it. That would turn the tide against them even more.”
Angel played with her cocoa, stirring the whipped cream into the steaming drink. “What do you think about the Fomorians? Do you hate them as much as the rest of the Fae do?”
“Given they’ve tried to wipe my people out since the beginning of time, I don’t hold a whole lot of love for them.” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts, then continued. “But I also know that groups are made up of individuals, and not every individual conforms to the stereotype. I wouldn’t kill a Fomorian just for who they were. I’m not that bigoted. But I most definitely would be on guard around them, given they tend to have a The only good Fae is a dead Fae attitude.” I hesitated again, then added, “You remember the KKK? Before they were outlawed and went underground?”
The KKK was a hate group targeting nonwhites—mostly Blacks. They had been outlawed years ago, but they had just taken their organization underground, because hate—especially hate without reason—didn’t just vanish because of a law. But at least it became harder for the KKK to meet, and harder still for them to take action against their targets, given the swell of feeling had turned against them.
“Right.”
“Well, the Fomorians don’t work like the KKK do. They aren’t as clumsy. Most of their actions are done with the intent to undermine without claiming responsibility.”
“How so?” Angel asked.
“Remember last summer? The iron disease that could have wiped out my people? We know they were responsible for infecting the food at the Fae Day festival. But there’s no way we can prove it. They did a good job of covering their tracks. They’re not sitting on the council right now, demanding the genocide of the Fae race. But given the history between our two races, and given what we know of them, you know that they’re working in the background, hoping to achieve their goals. I’m not sure which enemy I’m more leery of, the one who’s vocal about their bigotry and hatred, or the one who is friendly on the surface and scheming underneath. Neither can be trusted, but which one is the more dangerous?”
Angel nodded. “There are plenty of subtle bigotries that I face every day, that my family faces. That any person of color faces. We understand all about privilege, and the lack thereof. It’s better now, but it’s still rife within some organizations. I don’t know if we can ever be rid of it. I hope so, but to be honest, I’m not sure it’s possible to wipe it out.”
“Why?” I asked, even though I agreed with her.
“Because people are people, and when somebody takes it in their head to hate somebody else, logic doesn’t usually win out.”
“You can say that again,” I said, somberly staring at the table.
Our waitress arrived then, bringing our food. As we ate, we turned the conversation to happier subjects, because sometimes, you had to get away from reality, even for just a little while.
The next morning, I woke with the lingering feeling that something was off. Then I remembered what I was scheduled to do, and I groaned. Pushing myself to a sitting position, I stared forlornly out the window. It was raining again, but that was common enough for this time of year. Most of the snow was gone, melting as the rain splashed down. I blinked, and yawned. Luckily, I had limited myself to one beer the night before, so I woke clearheaded.
I glanced at the clock. It was eight a.m., and I needed to get showered and dressed and over to Raven’s by ten. With yet another groan, I pushed myself out of bed and headed for my shower.
As I studied my closet, I realized I had no clue what to wear. It had to be something appropriate, since I could only push my luck so far with either court. Saílle and Névé both knew that I was due in their cities today, and I would be
provided with an escort once I reached the gates. Otherwise, I could easily be run out of the city by angry Fae who didn’t take to having a tralaeth walking the streets.
I opted for a new pair of black jeans and a silver corset that zipped up the front. I fastened a black leather belt around my waist, and was going to wear a black leather jacket.
I brushed my hair into a high ponytail and applied my makeup carefully, accentuating the blue and silver colors of my eye shadow with a navy eyeliner. Then I added a slick of pale pink lip gloss and sat back, staring at myself. I had gone out of my way to make sure that the necklace Morgana had given me was visible, hoping it would provide some sort of protection. I thought twice about the leather jacket and tossed it onto my bed. Instead, I found a black denim jacket with slouch sleeves that I was able to push up to my elbows. That way, the tattoo on my arm showed, marking me as a protected member of the Wild Hunt.
“That’s better,” I said to myself, finally slipping on a pair of chunky-heeled ankle boots and zipping them up. I slung my black leather bag over my shoulder, and headed downstairs.
Angel was waiting in the kitchen, breakfast ready. I glanced at the table, seeing a bowl of oatmeal waiting for me, along with three fried eggs, four sausage links, two pieces of toast, and a tall travel latte mug.
“I thought you might want to fortify yourself with a lumberjack breakfast.” She gave me an encouraging grin.
I smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you so much. I’m really not looking forward to today, and it helps to have you on my side.”
“Always! We aren’t BFFs for nothing.” She carried over another dish, a smaller amount of oatmeal, along with a plate with sausage and eggs on it. “I’ll eat breakfast with you, then I’m heading out on a shopping trip. My favorite jeans ripped out in the crotch. And while I’m at it, I thought I’d replace the waffle iron because it’s about ready to give out. And we need more coffee and groceries.”
A Sacred Magic: A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 9 Page 4
