Chloe and Beezle were both loud, demonstrative players. More than once the play of a certain card was punctuated by a noisy “Ha!” or “Beat that!”
I tried to keep my mind on the game, to not mentally follow Jude through the streets of Chicago. I tried not to think about what the Agents might have suffered already in Therion’s tender care.
Most of all, I tried not to think about J.B. standing on a street corner telling me he loved me.
After a while, Chloe and Beezle needed more food to fuel their antics, and Samiel produced another feast. We turned on the news for a bit but they had nothing new to say, and the sight of Therion’s face made me want to smash things, so we shut it off.
Beezle popped JAWS into the DVD player in concession to my extreme anxiety. For some reason that movie always makes me feel better, like comfort food for my brain. There’s probably something wrong with me at the proton level if a movie about a town being terrorized by a great white shark is comforting.
We had just gotten to the point where Quint was telling the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis when I heard the howl of a wolf.
“Jude,” I said, and bolted for the door. Samiel beat me there, clattering down the steps to let Jude in. I stood at the top of the stairs, my heart in my mouth.
Jude sprinted inside. J.B. was not with him.
“Oh, god,” I said, covering my face. Therion had him.
Nathaniel put his arm around me and drew me inside. Jude had already changed back into a man.
“It’s not what you think,” Jude said as soon as he saw me. “Therion doesn’t have him. Titania does.”
9
“TITANIA?” I SAID. “WHY?”
“It took me a little time to put the pieces together; otherwise I would have been back sooner,” Jude said, pulling on his clothes as he spoke. “But I managed to eavesdrop on that little shit Sokolov.”
“How did you get inside the Agency?” I asked. “J.B. told me three days ago that the place was on lockdown. Shouldn’t the wards have kept you out?”
“The wards recognized me as a friend. I was cleared when the cubs were there, remember?” Jude said. “And I know how to keep to the shadows. Those security guards in the lobby never even saw me run past.”
“So what did Sokolov say?”
“He was complaining that Titania had overreached her authority by taking J.B. from the Agency, even if he was a king of a faerie court. And the person he was talking to asked why it was so damned important for Titania to take J.B. when there was a crisis going on. Sokolov said it was to punish you.”
My heart stilled. “She’s going to use J.B. against me in repayment for Oberon.”
Jude nodded. “They came for J.B. just after the vampire invasion started.”
“She’s had him for three days? For the love of the Morningstar. He could be dead by now.”
“No,” Beezle said. “She wants to hurt you. If she’s going to kill him, then you can bet she wants to make you watch. But I bet he wishes he was dead.”
Nathaniel nodded. “Faeries are well versed in methods of torture.”
“Not helping,” I said shortly.
“You’re not going to like this, either,” Jude said. “There was blood all over J.B.’s office. He put up a fight.”
“How much of the blood was his?” I whispered.
“Enough.” Jude’s face was grim.
“Well. I’m not going to wait for an invitation from Titania. We’ve got to go and get J.B. out of there now.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Chloe said. “What about the vampires, and Therion’s threat? You’ve only got two more days to solve that problem or else the vampires are going to invade the rest of the country. Are you really going to let hundreds of innocent people die so you can rescue one man?”
“Who says I’m going to let them die?” I said. “First I get J.B. Then Therion will pay.”
“And how are you going to defeat the vampires?” Chloe said.
“I don’t know yet,” I said. “But once I know J.B. is safe, then I can figure something out.”
“What—once all the Avengers are assembled, a solution will magically appear?”
“I will not leave J.B. in the hands of that bitch,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Watch out. She’s using the B-word.”
“Keep arguing with me and I’ll be using the C-word. I thought you were on my side.”
“I am,” Chloe said. “But you’re following your heart again instead of your brain. The bigger problem here is the vampire invasion, not Titania’s gripe with you.”
“She never uses her brain,” Beezle said.
“Oh, great, another country heard from,” I said. “I’m doing things the way I’ve always done them.”
“Well, the way you do things is inefficient and illogical,” Chloe said.
“It works for me,” I said.
“Fine, fine,” Chloe said, throwing up her hands. “Let’s break out J.B. I have nothing better to do. How do you propose we get there?”
Nathaniel looked at me. “Lord Lucifer brought you there the last time, through the old ways.”
“And Lucifer is out of touch. But I know someone else who will take us there. For a price.”
“Madeline, no. You cannot possibly indebt yourself to Puck any further. It is too dangerous. We are not even certain what kind of creature he is, nor what he will ask of you in return. You already owe him a debt for helping us escape Titania’s court the first time.”
“I don’t see any other way,” I said. “And I won’t leave J.B.”
“I wouldn’t suggest it,” Nathaniel said.
“He’s all insightful now,” Beezle said, looking at Nathaniel.
“J.B. went willingly against his mother and his court when Amarantha kidnapped Wade. I would not leave him to Titania, either,” Jude said.
Nor would I, Samiel signed.
“It’s like your insanity is infectious,” Chloe grumbled.
“I like having her around,” Beezle said. “It saves me the trouble of being the sensible one.”
“There is no planet on which you would be considered sensible,” I said.
“Compared to you, I’m a paragon of logical thinking,” Beezle said.
“How will you contact Puck?” Chloe asked.
“He gave me a jewel,” I said.
“That jewel brings him here,” Nathaniel said.
“Yes, it does,” I said. “And I’d better talk to him alone. I don’t know how he’ll respond to my call, and I don’t want him to refuse just because he has an audience.”
Plus, I wanted to keep Nathaniel out of his sight for as long as possible. I wasn’t sure how Puck would respond if it did turn out that Nathaniel was his son and I’d revealed him—even if it was by accident. Nobody ever seemed to give me a pass for my accidents.
“I’ll take the rest of the inmates downstairs,” Beezle said.
They all looked reluctant except Chloe, who just appeared curious.
“I’m not certain you should be alone with him,” Nathaniel said.
“He doesn’t want to hurt me,” I said. “He might refuse to help, but he won’t hurt me.”
I was pretty sure that if Puck was going to hurt me, it would be in service to his vendetta against Lucifer. And he did not appear quite ready for that yet. I didn’t tell the others any of this, though.
After a few minutes they’d all cleared out, and I was alone in my apartment. I took a moment to breathe, and to appreciate the fact that a lot of tension went away when Nathaniel wasn’t in the room. Whatever was between us, it wasn’t healthy.
I realized I was in my pajamas and somewhat grubby, and detoured into the bathroom for a shower before I contacted Puck. If I was going to have a standoff with the faerie queen, then I wanted my hair to be clean.
I emerged from the shower several minutes later, wrapped a towel around my body and another around my hair, and padded in wet feet to my room.
I stopped
in the doorway. On my bed was a pair of black leather pants that I knew did not belong to me. Next to the pants was a wine-colored sweater that looked like it left nothing to the imagination. There was also a scrap of black lace barely identifiable as underwear, and a matching bra. Next to all these things was a winking blue jewel—Puck’s talisman.
“You little shit,” I swore. I don’t know how he knew I was going to call him, and not for the first time I wondered whether the talisman allowed him to eavesdrop on my life. I swept the clothes aside, intending to ignore his not-so-subtle directive.
But then I reconsidered. My own clothes were always getting ripped or torn or bloodstained, and I was never able to present myself very impressively to the faerie. Even though I could give a flying farthing about faerie protocol, I could appreciate that my chances of getting J.B. back were stronger if I made a good impression.
Not on Titania, of course. Nothing I did was going to make a good impression on her at this point. But the rest of the court could sway her if I presented my case well enough—and if I looked like I belonged.
I drew the line at wearing the underwear. There was something really creepy about Puck choosing underwear for me, like he expected to see me in it.
I put on my regular cotton undies and pulled on the pants and sweater. I glanced at myself in the mirror and almost changed my clothes. The pants and the sweater clung to every curve I had. I felt indecent, even though I was covered up from wrist to ankle.
The jewel winked at me, reflected in the mirror. I grabbed it and said his name. “Puck.”
It grew warm to the touch. I sensed the air in the room change.
“Those pants look good,” Puck said.
I spun around and found him lounging against the doorframe. He looked me up and down.
“Looks good from the front, too,” Puck said.
“Will you quit ogling me? You’re old enough to be Lucifer’s brother,” I said.
Puck gave me a half smile. “Not just old enough to be.”
Well, it was certainly a week for revelations. “You’re Lucifer’s brother?”
“Why else would we hate each other so thoroughly?” Puck said. “Nobody knows how to swing the knife like family.”
“And that means you’re my great-great-great-whatever-uncle?”
Puck nodded, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Then that is even freaking ickier that you would buy me underwear.”
“Don’t worry. The blood relation is distant enough that it would not be unnatural for us to have sex.”
“It would be unnatural in my brain,” I said, shuddering.
“It would be like nothing you have ever experienced before, I promise,” Puck said, winking at me.
“Stop talking, stop talking,” I said. “Angels might have no compunction about screwing their relatives, but humans definitely do.”
“You had sex with Lucifer’s grandson,” Puck said. “And you are also related to Lucifer.”
“Yeah, but there are a lot of intervening generations between me and Lucifer…” I trailed off, because Puck was grinning at me knowingly. “It was different with Gabriel.”
“How?”
“I’m not having sex with you, and that’s final,” I said.
“Too bad,” Puck said. “In any case, I am not an angel.”
“You said you were Lucifer’s brother,” I said.
“I am. But that doesn’t make me an angel,” he said.
“I know, you are the leaf on the wind or whatever,” I said, remembering something he’d said the last time Puck was in my bedroom. “Why are you telling me all of this now?”
Puck shrugged. “Perhaps I would like you to call me Uncle. I thought you would like to know that we are family.”
“Nobody swings the knife like family,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
His blue eyes danced like the jewel I gripped in my hand. “So suspicious.”
“I think I have earned the right to my suspicions. And you haven’t asked why I called you here at all.”
He tilted his head to one side. “I had presumed that you wanted your king back, and called me to assist you in that matter. Since brother dearest is out of touch again.”
“He’s not my king,” I said. “J.B. is my friend. And where does Lucifer go when he disappears?”
Puck shook his head. “That is for him to tell.”
“He’ll never tell me,” I said.
“He will. Soon enough,” Puck said.
“Can you see the future, too?”
“Elements of it. Possibilities.”
“Like Lucifer. In other words, nothing really useful.”
“Would a crystal ball be a comfort to you?” Puck asked. “Would foreknowledge of your lover’s death have made it easier to bear?”
“If I’d known about it, I could have tried to stop it,” I said.
Puck tutted. “And you would have broken the rules. You know that once a death is foretold, it cannot be undone.”
“Who sets these rules, anyway?” I said.
“Now, that is knowledge you are definitely not permitted to have,” Puck said. He held out his hand to me. “Now, shall we go to fetch your king?”
“I can’t go without the others,” I said.
Puck frowned. “How many others?”
“Five,” I said.
“Titania may take it amiss if you arrive with an entourage. She may interpret it as a hostile act,” Puck warned.
“I’ve already interpreted her kidnapping of J.B. as a hostile act, so that will make us even,” I said, and then asked the question I’d been afraid to ask. “How damaged is he?”
Puck considered. “He is alive. I cannot speak to the quality of that life.”
“Why didn’t you do anything?” I said. “You could stop her if you wanted to. You’re more powerful than she is.”
“I could, but it doesn’t suit me to reveal my power to Titania at this time. And while one life may be essential to you, it is practically meaningless to me. I have witnessed more lives than you can number.”
“And yet you came when I called,” I said.
“So that you can rescue him,” Puck said. “It is nothing for me to take you there. It is even a benefit to me. You will owe me another boon for this.”
“I want it clear right up front that none of these favors I owe you will involve me getting naked,” I said.
“I wouldn’t waste such a powerful favor in such a manner,” Puck said. “Besides, if I really wanted you naked, I’m sure I could convince you.”
“No, thanks,” I said, leaving the room as quickly as possible. “Why don’t you go in the living room, and I’ll get the others.”
I went to the back door to call down to Samiel’s apartment and found Nathaniel sitting on the landing with his sword slung across his knees.
“You didn’t trust me?” I said.
Nathaniel got to his feet. “I did not trust him.”
“Well, he said he would take us to the court,” I said. I went out on the landing so I could yell down the stairs. “Hey! You can come back now.”
I turned around to say something else to Nathaniel but he was already gone. In the living room I heard the sound of glass shattering.
“That can’t be good,” I said, sprinting down the hall.
Puck and Nathaniel stood like gunslingers in the dining room, face-to-face several feet apart and both stock-still. Puck’s eyes blazed with light. At his feet were the shattered remains of a snow globe. The air in the room was thick with magic.
“What have you done to him?” Puck said, and his voice was not the merry lilt that he usually possessed. It sounded like the voice of the earth itself, and I was afraid.
“I didn’t…I didn’t mean to,” I said, and didn’t bother trying to pretend that I didn’t know what he was talking about.
Footsteps sounded on the back stairs. Puck raised his hand and slammed the back door. I heard the others pounding on the wood, sh
outing my name.
“What is happening?” Nathaniel said. His hand went to his sword. Puck looked at Nathaniel’s hand and it froze in place before it reached the hilt.
I tried not to breathe too hard or otherwise draw Puck’s attention to me. I knew he was strong, but I’d had no idea how strong. He could stop my heart with a look.
“I’d hidden him so carefully, and you’ve undone that work in a moment,” Puck said. “Worse, you left it at half, so that he cannot even defend himself from those who recognize him.”
“I told you, I didn’t mean to,” I said. “It was an accident.”
“What are you talking about?” Nathaniel said. “Tell me.”
“Tell him,” I said to Puck. “You owe him that.”
“This is your fault,” Puck said. “I should have known, daughter of Lucifer, that it was unsafe for him to be in your company.”
“You cannot get angry with me for what I didn’t know,” I said. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours. What did you hide him for, anyway? Why not claim him in the first place?”
“Tell me what is happening!” Nathaniel shouted, and the hot swirl of power in the room grew stronger. “Do not speak around me as if I were a child.”
The glow in Puck’s eyes receded a bit, and they seemed to soften. “But you are a child, Nathaniel. My child. My son.”
I’d thought Puck would ease into it, that he would not say it so baldly. The words seemed to hang in the air between them.
“No,” Nathaniel said, shaking his head. “I am the only son of Zerachiel.”
I approached Nathaniel carefully, reached for his shoulder.
“I would not touch him right now,” Puck said.
“I am the only son of Zerachiel,” Nathaniel repeated.
“I had a feeling you’d take this hard,” I murmured. So much of Nathaniel’s self-worth related to his parentage.
“You knew of this?” Nathaniel said softly.
I eased around so that Nathaniel could see my face. “I didn’t know before we kissed. But I suspected later.”
“And why did you not mention your suspicions?” he said, equally softly.
It was as if Puck had ceased to exist, and there was only Nathaniel and me. I sensed I had to tread very carefully here.
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