Along Came a Spider tt-3

by Kate Serine

  Nicky was frowning, his expression darker than I’d ever seen it. I wasn’t sure if he was more upset about the pictures Al had showed me or the fact that I’d quit my job over him. Both had brought out a flash of rage in his eyes that made me a little nervous. I was still getting to know him, still trying to understand him completely in spite of everything I’d already seen of his soul. There were still places that had been out of my reach, dark corners that my sight hadn’t penetrated. And he was careful to keep those hidden.

  “I don’t think that agreement means shit to the Agency,” I said. “They obviously didn’t care what lines they were crossing when they showed up at Halloran’s and took out Sophia.”

  Lavender glanced between Nicky and me, her concern written all over her face. “Okay, so how can we help?”

  “You can’t,” Nicky snapped before I had a chance to respond. “I don’t want to involve anyone else in this.”

  “Well, I think it’s a little late for that,” Lavender shot back. “We care about Trish.”

  “You think I don’t?” he spat.

  Lavender met his gaze evenly. “I’ve known you for a long time, Nicky Blue. And I know a lot about you, more than you probably realize. If I thought for a second that you were just dicking around with Trish and felt nothing for her, I’d have already turned you into a toad and sent you hopping. So stow all this brooding bullshit and tell me what we can do to help you out. Otherwise, you can get used to dealing with warts.”

  Nicky’s eyes narrowed at her as if he was trying to figure out whether she would carry out her threat, but then his face suddenly broke into a smile. “Glad to see you’re back to your old self, Lav.”

  She winked at him. “Back atcha. So, what do you need?”

  “Gideon still hasn’t gotten back to us about the audience with your father,” I reminded her. “Could you get us in to see him?”

  Lavender’s smile faded to a grimace. “I can, but you’ll have to see my mother, too, I imagine.”

  I heard Seth groan, but gave Lavender a terse nod. “We’ll just have to grin and bear it.”

  Nicky glanced at all of us with a confused frown. “Come on—it’s Lav’s mom,” he said. “How bad can she be?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Are you sure about this?” Lavender asked sotto voce, taking my arm as we walked up the marble steps to her parents’ manor.

  I nodded. “If dealing with your mom again means we’ll get a few answers, then I’ll suck it up.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” she said, glancing over her shoulder where Seth and Nicky were hanging back while Seth filled Nicky in on what to expect from the Seelies. “I’m talking about Nicky.”

  I frowned at her. “He’s not what a lot of people think.”

  “I know that,” she replied. “He’s a great guy at heart. But he’s been through some serious shit, Trish. I don’t want you to be his rebound. I know how much you—” She paused for a moment, considering her words. “I saw his handkerchief last fall when you were asking me about how it felt being with one of Red’s exes, remember? I knew then that you were in love with him.”

  I felt my cheeks going warm. I knew exactly which conversation she was talking about. “It’s not what you think,” I mumbled.

  “For your sake, I hope not,” she said on a sigh. “Just be careful, sweetie. I don’t want you to get your heart broken.”

  Before I could respond, the twelve-foot-high doors to the house swung open and a brightly dressed man bowed deeply to Lavender. “Greetings and welcome, Your Highness. Your father awaits you and your guests.”

  “Thank you, Felix,” she said with a smile. Then she turned and motioned to Seth to get his ass up the stairs. Her fiancé sighed and exchanged a glance with Nicky. They both looked like they were heading to the gallows as they trudged up the stairs.

  The opulence of Seelie Manor was truly breathtaking. The marble floors were so polished we could see our reflection in the stone. The crystal chandeliers were delicate and looked more like dew-laden spiderwebs than light fixtures. And the magnificent sculptures that lined the domed foyer were so lifelike, I half expected them to rush forward to greet their beloved princess.

  We waited for just a few moments before a towering man with dark hair and a sparkling blue gaze swept into the room and spread his arms wide. “Hello, petal!” he said, his booming voice echoing off the marble. “I am delighted that you could visit us after all!”

  “Hi, Dad,” Lavender said, hugging him tightly.

  The man then turned his smile to his future son-in-law. “Seth, m’boy—good to see you. Treating my daughter well, I see. She’s absolutely glowing!”

  I hadn’t noticed it before, but Lavender had taken on a slight purple glow just under her skin and her eyes were brighter than I’d ever seen them.

  “Absolutely, sir,” Seth replied, shaking the king’s hand. “You’ve no worries there.”

  “Of course, of course!” He clapped Seth on the back, then turned to Nicky and me. “And who have we here?”

  “Dad, you remember Trish Muffet,” Lavender said. “She is to be one of my bridesmaids this spring.”

  “Oh yes, yes. Of course. My apologies.” He leaned in and whispered, “I’ve been trying to stay out of all that business. Mab can be very particular, you know.”

  “So I’ve heard,” I said with a tight smile.

  He chuckled. “Oh, I’m sure you have. I’m sure you have.”

  “And, Daddy, this is Nicky Blue,” Lavender told him.

  The king’s response to Nicky wasn’t nearly as warm. He looked down his nose at him, sizing him up. “Mr. Blue,” he said, shaking his hand. “I understand you wished to have an audience with me.”

  Nicky gave him a terse nod. “Yes, sir, I did. I still do.”

  The king regarded him for a moment. “Gideon tells me he owes you a debt of gratitude for assisting him the other night.”

  “He hardly needed my help, sir,” Nicky demurred.

  The king laughed in a short burst. “I daresay he didn’t. Gideon is a force of nature. But you offered your assistance nonetheless. And for that I am grateful. You have done me a favor, have shown your friendship, and now I will show you mine. I will see you.”

  “Thank you,” Nicky said, inclining his head. “I appreciate your generosity.”

  The king swept his arm toward the arch that led from the foyer. “Well then, shall we?”

  We followed the king into a dining room that held a twenty-foot-long table already laid out for a feast.

  “You didn’t have to do all this for us, Dad,” Lavender said, her eyes wide.

  The king gave her a somewhat put-upon look. “The girls are visiting.”

  I glanced at Lavender. “The girls?”

  She rolled her eyes, but before she’d even had a chance to explain, we heard a chorus of giggles and a dozen or so young women came hurrying into the dining room, twittering and chattering like a flock of birds.

  “These are my sisters,” Lavender announced on a sigh, as they bounded into their seats at the table and offered up sunshiny waves before pointing at Seth and Nicky and giggling behind their hands.

  “I thought Poppy was your only sister,” I said as the king swept an arm and motioned for us to join them at the table.

  Nicky and Seth pulled out chairs for us and waited for Lav and me to sit before taking the seat on either side of us. Two of the girls from the other side of the table immediately hopped up and came around to nestle in close to the guys, their cheeks flushed and eyes glowing with amorous intent.

  Lavender sent a glare of warning at the one next to Seth, which made her instantly wither and resign herself to batting pretty orange eyelashes at him. “They’re my half sisters,” she ground out as she turned back to me. “Let’s just say Puck comes by his wandering eye honestly.”

  “Oh.” I glanced down at the king, who was looking more than a little irritated with the silly brood he had sired. Guess what goes around co
mes around. . . .

  “Lavender,” Seth said, leaning a little away from the doe-eyed gaze of his companion, “would you care to introduce your siblings?”

  She huffed. “I guess.” Then she went around the table in rapid fire. “Ivy, Lilly, Daisy, Rose, Pansy, Flora, Blossom, Petunia, Hyacinth, Iris, Dahlia.” Here she paused and sent another look of warning to the woman beside her fiancé. “And your little friend, Seth, is Calla.”

  Calla twisted her face into a grimace and stuck out her tongue at her elder sister. She looked like she was about to say something petulant and snotty when she suddenly straightened and snapped to attention, as did all of her sisters. I glanced around to see what had happened to settle them down in an instant, but the reason was immediately evident.

  Standing in the doorway in all her imperious glory was Lavender’s mother, Queen Mab, her beauty as stunning and unchanging as the first time I’d seen her. The king rose to his feet and took Mab’s hand to escort her to her seat at the other end of the table, then kissed her fingertips with an adoring gaze before leaving her side. Mab slowly surveyed the king’s brood with barely disguised disgust and then turned her golden eyes upon her own daughter.

  “Hello, Lavender, darling,” she said with a hint of a smile. That trace of warmth vanished in an instant when she glanced at Seth and gave him a nod. “Werewolf.”

  He forced a strained smile. “Your Majesty,” he replied with a polite nod, although his tone clearly conveyed Bitch.

  The queen bristled, but before she could send an angry retort his way, Lavender piped up, “Mother, you remember my friend Trish Muffet, of course.”

  Mab narrowed her eyes at me as if she was deciding whether or not she cared to admit it. “Of course.”

  “And this is our friend, Nicky Blue,” Lavender introduced.

  Mab clucked her tongue. “Perfect. Another nursery rhyme at my table.”

  “Mother!” Lavender hissed, her magic sending up a crackle of electrical charge at the insult, a tiny pop of purple spark shooting off and landing on my hand. I winced and sucked in air through my teeth, rubbing at the skin where it had burned me. “Mr. Blue has business with my father.”

  Mab lifted her brows at her husband. “Indeed?”

  The king lifted his goblet of wine. “Mr. Blue recently did me a courtesy, Mab. He is now a friend of ours.”

  She made a little noise but said nothing.

  “I welcome all of you to my table,” the king said, looking pointedly at his wife. “Let us feast and then we shall discuss whatever business brings you here. I—”

  “Sorry, sorry!” came a cheerful voice from behind me.

  I turned to see Lavender’s sister Poppy rushing into the dining room, her bubblegum pink hair a bit disheveled, her clothes not quite in perfect order. And to my amazement, she wasn’t alone. Beside her, looking a great deal better than when last I’d seen him, was J.G. Squiggington, the former publisher of The Daily Tattletale, whose brain had been pretty much turned to mush by a fairy dust overdose courtesy of Sebille Fenwick.

  “J.G.?” Lavender gasped.

  He gave us a boyish smile in response. “The one and only—thank Christ, most people would say. Am I lyin’?”

  “Not in the least,” I heard Mab mumble.

  “You look fantastic!” Lavender gushed, hurrying over to give him a quick hug. “The treatments with Poppy are going well?”

  Poppy flushed very prettily and cast an adoring look at J.G. that was hard to miss. “Totally.”

  Lavender drew back and glanced at her sister and J.G. “Oh?”

  Poppy suddenly jumped up and down with a quick clap of her hands and threw her arms around her sister. “I have some, like, totally awesome news!”

  I exchanged a glance with Nicky, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable at the tension I could feel in the air. “You know,” I said, scooting my chair back, “maybe Nicky and I should—”

  “We’re getting married!” Poppy announced.

  Lavender’s face went slack. “Wow. That’s . . . well . . . I’m happy for you guys, I guess, but are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, J.G. was in pretty bad shape. . . .”

  J.G. put his arm around Poppy’s waist and drew her close, planting a big wet one on her cheek. “And I still would be if it wasn’t for this gal right here! She’s the shit—and seriously fuckin’ hot, too, you know what I’m sayin’?”

  “Oh, God,” I mumbled when I saw the king’s jaw tighten ominously. “Nicky.”

  He nodded and pushed his chair back from the table.

  “And here’s the best part,” Poppy was saying as Nicky and I stood to go, “we thought we’d do a double wedding with you and Seth!”

  “Ah, shit,” I breathed.

  “I beg your pardon?” Lavender gaped, purple sparks dancing all around her now.

  “Over my dead fucking body!” Seth snapped, standing abruptly, his eyes glowing with anger.

  “Seth, honey,” Lavender said with a glance at her parents. “Please.”

  “No, Lav,” he replied, his voice growing louder. “Now, if you two want to get married, have at it. Good luck and congratulations! But you are not hijacking our day.”

  Poppy’s eyes welled up with tears. “But I thought you’d be happy.”

  “Happy?” Lavender screeched. “Are you serious? Why would I be happy about having to share my wedding day?”

  Nicky and I started edging to the door, hoping to duck out before magic really started flying.

  “Ms. Muffet and Mr. Blue,” the king’s voice boomed. “Please do not leave on account of my children’s little squabble.”

  “Oh, yes,” Mab interjected. “By all means—please stay and witness the tragedy that is my family. I sit here surrounded by my husband’s bastard daughters and my future sons-in-law who are a werewolf and a gossip peddler. Yes, do stay and add your own low-born blood to my lovely assembly.”

  Now it was the king’s turn to launch himself to his feet. “Mab! I would speak with you. Privately.”

  Everyone in the room went instantly still, their eyes focused on the king and his queen. Mab rose to her feet in a shimmer of golden fairy dust that just about made J.G.’s eyes roll back into his head. Then she peered down her nose at each and every one of us before sweeping from the room.

  The king made a courteous bow and offered us a smile. “Please,” he said, gesturing to the table, “enjoy the feast. I shall return momentarily.”

  “It was Mother’s idea,” Poppy said quietly as soon as their parents had left the room.

  Lavender shook her head. “I’m sure it was, dearest. You and J.G.—well, I wish you every happiness. If you love each other, then I’m excited for you. But you deserve your own day.”

  As they all resumed their seats and began to eat in silence, Nicky and I looked at each other again, weighing our options. Part of me wondered if we should still slink out and leave the family to settle their issues in private. But then another part of me didn’t want to squander the chance we had to speak with the formidable king and possibly get some answers to our questions about what was going on with the Agency.

  “Please stay,” Lavender said, grasping my hand in hers. “I haven’t seen you since you left The Refuge.”

  My gaze snapped toward where Poppy was cooing over J.G., trying to sooth the sting of her mother’s tirade. The Refuge. “J.G.,” I said, “when you were investigating Sebille Fenwick and the cult at The Refuge, did you come across any information on Dracula?”

  J.G. shrugged. “Yeah, sure. They were in league for a while.”

  I nodded. “We need to chat.”

  “That bloodsucker was a helluva lot better at covering his tracks than Sebille,” J.G. said, snipping off the end of a Cuban cigar that had been part of the king’s personal stash in the study. “I couldn’t ever find out anything concrete on the guy—just rumors and innuendo. That kinda shit. Nobody was willing to flap their gums and risk ending up dead, you know what I’m sayin’?”

>   “That must be what I was picking up on when I was asking around during the werewolf murders,” Nicky mused. “Nobody was talking. Nothing tips me off faster that something big is going on than when Tales won’t talk about it.”

  J.G. grinned around the cigar as he lit it up. “I like you, Blue. I don’t care what anybody says.”

  Nicky jerked back a little. “What are people saying?”

  “So how do we get them to talk?” I said in a rush before J.G. could spew out whatever gossip he’d heard about Nicky.

  “Just gotta ask the right questions of the right people,” J.G. said. “I was focusing on Sebille before, not that bloodsucker Dracula.”

  “And who would those right people be?” Lavender asked. “Trish and Nicky need something to go on.”

  J.G. blew out a long curl of smoke and nodded. “If it was me, I’d start with Renfield.”

  “Renfield?” Seth scoffed. “That guy’s freaking crazy. He lived in The Refuge for a while after Dracula went off the grid. But he started wigging out again and had to be sent back to the Asylum. No offense, J.G.”

  J.G. shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I was in the room next door to the guy and had to listen to him rant and rave all fuckin’ night. Thank Christ Poppy came along and got me the hell outta there.” He sent a wink her way that made her blush fiercely. I had to wonder if I ever turned that particular shade of red when Nicky looked at me.

  “So, we’ll make a trip to the Asylum,” I said with a determined nod. “Renfield might be a total lunatic, but if he can help us track down Dracula’s lair, then it’ll be worth the visit.”

  J.G. shook his head. “Nah, he’s not going to know how to find Dracula. The count wouldn’t trust that crackpot with anything like that. If you want to find the lair, you’re going to have to track down whoever built it. It’s a shitload of dirt to move around, so it’d be a big job.”

  “Everyone knows Dracula is wanted by the FMA,” I said. “Who would take on a job like that?”

  Seth and Nicky exchanged glances, and I heard Seth curse under his breath before they said in unison, “The Piggs.”

  I frowned. “I thought the Pigg brothers were indicted for fraud for their shady home building practices before the housing bubble burst and were serving time in the Ordinary prison system.”