ivy granger 05 - hounds bite

by E.J. Stevens

  I wanted to rage at Torn and Forneus. I wanted to defend Kaye, who had been a longtime acquaintance and one whose wisdom I’d come to rely on. But they were right. Kaye had changed since regaining the full force of her powers. Her little stunt on the Old Port streets had proven just how much that power was clouding her judgment and influencing her actions.

  Kaye had always had a temper, and a mischievous streak, but the woman I knew would never stage a demon/gargoyle death match in the streets. Not only had she done so, but she’d brought trouble to her own doorstep. A niggling voice inside my skull had been warning me that the witch was itching for the kind of fight where she could test the renewed strength of her magic.

  I hate it when I’m right.

  Ceff, who had been standing as silent sentinel, cleared his throat.

  “I find it troubling that she is so easily distracted from the task at hand,” Ceff said. “The Wild Hunt is a very real threat to this city and its human inhabitants. Not even the fae are safe from Herne’s insatiable bloodlust.”

  “Like I said, I don’t fully trust Kaye right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need her help,” I said. “We can’t stop the Wild Hunt without that binding spell. Not unless we learn of some new weakness we can exploit.”

  “Then we better hope either the Guild or my spies turn up something useful,” Torn said.

  I nodded, casting one last longing glance at my weapons, and marched across the street. I was about to go unarmed into the lion’s den. With a little luck, a lot of bluster, and a bluff or two, I just might make it out alive.

  Chapter 11

  Hendricks scowled down at me longer than necessary before letting me through the gate. I kept my breathing slow and steady, and let my hands hang loose at my sides.

  The walk across the old school grounds to the main building took about five minutes, but it felt like a century. It’s amazing how time crawls when you’re doing the walk of shame.

  I may not be slipping out of some man’s bed after a night of overindulgence, but my face flared hot all the same. I’d come here in the past claiming to be half human, but that was a lie. I hadn’t known the truth, but that didn’t change the fact of the matter. I was a fraud.

  I had to hold on to my glamour just to make it across the grassy parade grounds and up the stone steps of the building where Master Janus waited. I was the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I was the monster hiding amongst humans.

  Hunters stopped and stared as Hendricks led me to my meeting, and my glamour was all that kept my glowing eyes and skin from their notice. In fact, if they were wearing faerie ointment, they’d be able to see the glowing evidence of my discomfort. That would explain the way they all gripped their weapons as their narrowed eyes tracked my movements.

  I tried to remember my uncle’s training, the control I’d gained through months of practice. But I was no longer in Faerie, the source of all fae magic, and the thought of my uncle and his betrayal only made things worse. A tingling began along each shoulder blade, and I nearly gasped with relief when I made it inside the building and escaped the staring Hunters. I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if wings had sprouted from my back.

  I remembered a long ago visit to Harborsmouth’s small natural history museum and a display of winged insects beneath glass, a sharp pin thrust through each of their bodies, holding them in place to be ogled by dusty scholars and bored schoolchildren. The anxiety that had plagued my march through the Guild’s grounds was slowly replaced by a growing anger. I hadn’t asked to be born fae, and I’d had no knowledge of my father’s magical sleight of hand when it came to my true origins. What I had done was prove over and over again through my actions that I valued the lives of the humans of this city, and that I was willing to risk my life to protect them.

  If these Hunters couldn’t see past the ends of their blades and their own prejudices, that was their loss. I’d held some of those same ignorant beliefs at one time, when I’d been the only one to see monsters walk our streets and had no one whom I could trust to share that knowledge with. But once I began to learn more about the fae, and even the undead, I came to realize that, like humans, there will always be those who are good and those who are bad. Even when I questioned my own humanity, I never truly doubted that deep down I was a good person. I was flawed—hell, I was so broken that some days I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed and try to reassemble the pieces—but I wasn’t evil just because I wasn’t human.

  But if the Hunters decided to make me and my friends their enemy, I had no doubt that I could become their worst nightmare.

  Surprisingly, that thought gave me the strength needed to stroll through the halls of the Hunters’ Guild without so much as a flicker. The glowing was gone, and I held my chin high as I strode into Master Janus’ office.

  Hendricks, of course, was pissed.

  “You bitch, you can’t just go in there without my say so,” he growled.

  He hurried to head me off, but I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

  “Hey, Janus,” I said. “Sorry if I broke protocol or something, but time is of the essence, and the door was open.”

  “That’s ‘Master Janus’ and…” Hendricks sputtered, face flushing red.

  Apparently, I should have waited to be properly announced. The thing is, I’d spent the equivalent of a year watching supplicants come and bow and scrape in a faerie court. My first action when I’d been given the power to rule that court had been to hand it over into the care of my hearth brownie friend Skillywidden who was now in the process of creating a democratic council for the future rule of the wisp court. I’d had it up to my glowing eyeballs with pretentious introductions and red tape.

  I sauntered over and sank into the chair opposite Janus’ desk. The message was clear. I was here, and I wasn’t going to budge any time soon.

  “It’s fine, Hendricks,” Janus said. The guild master came to his feet, and though he stood a foot shorter than the guard, he managed to look menacing. “Return to your post.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hendricks said.

  He bowed, and backed out of the room. Janus came out from behind his desk, and followed Hendricks to the door. He watched, making sure that Hendricks didn’t linger in the hall, and then shut the door. Silence fell on the room, filling the office with palpable tension, as we studied each other.

  “So,” he said, eyes lingering over my shoulder. “You wanted to see me.”

  I had to fight the desire to reach behind my back and check to see if I’d unleashed my wings.

  “Yes, I think Kaye already alerted you that a powerful faerie has set off her wards,” I said. He nodded, and I swallowed. “The Wild Hunt is in Harborsmouth.”

  He swore, his hand going to the sword at his hip.

  “Give me a status report,” he said. “Where were they last seen?”

  I leaned forward, gloved hands resting on my knees. Where to begin? I had a nagging suspicion that withholding facts from Janus might be as bad as lying in his eyes, and he was a man I’d like to someday count as an ally. I took a deep breath, nodding as I made up my mind.

  “They’re on the edge of the city, in an industrial area near my friend’s junkyard,” I said.

  “How’d you happen to come upon the Hunt?” he asked. “Was it dumb luck, or is there something more to the story?”

  My heart raced, and the room started to spin. This was it, the moment where I had to decide whether to hold my cards close to my chest or go all in.

  “They followed me and my friends back from Faerie,” I said. “You could say I was there to get my wings.”

  I smiled, showing too many teeth. But Master Janus was a tough man and didn’t so much as flinch.

  “I thought there was something different about you,” he said. “You’re not even a little bit human, are you?”

  “I didn’t lie before, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said. “What I told you about being half human was true at the time, and you
know how I was raised, but you’re right. Human blood no longer runs through my veins.”

  We stared at each other, my fingers itching for weapons I didn’t have. It was probably a good thing I’d been ordered to leave my blades behind. If I had them on me, the desire to draw them might have gotten me killed. As it was, Janus took his time before nodding and moving his hand from his sword.

  I let out the breath I’d been holding. The Guild might have archaic rules, rituals, and red tape, but their guild masters weren’t fat old men who sat around ordering others to do their dirty work. Their leaders earned their positions through blood, sweat, and sacrifice. That made Janus a formidable opponent, even if he hadn’t stood there armed with a blade.

  “I’m guessing you’re not going to share how you got into Faerie when all the pathways are said to be sealed,” he said.

  “Nope,” I said.

  “Didn’t think so,” he said. “Then what else can you tell me about the Wild Hunt.”

  “Herne has some kind of magic horn that he uses to control his hounds, a pack of barghests,” I said. “He’s already sounded his horn once. Kaye said that was a rallying call to bring his hounds to him. We have to stop him before he sounds the horn again at sundown.”

  “And what did she say will happen then?” he asked.

  “The hunt begins,” I said. “We can’t allow that to happen.”

  “No, that we can’t,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve also had word from Kaye, but it doesn’t hurt to have it confirmed. Are you the one she’s enlisted to aid with the binding?”

  “Yes,” I said, head snapping back to look him in the eye. “You know about that?”

  “There’s this thing called a telephone,” he said, a grin on his lips as he glanced at the phone on his desk.

  “Could have fooled me,” I muttered.

  I’d never been able to get Master Janus on the line.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  I shrugged.

  “I’m supposed to get a piece of Herne for Kaye,” I said. “My friends and I have a rudimentary plan for making that happen, but I could use more intel. Maybe even backup. I know I’m a faerie, and probably not your favorite person, but I was hoping we could set aside our differences to protect the people of Harborsmouth.”

  He nodded, and clasped his hands behind his back.

  “Since you have been honest with me, it is time that I am honest with you, Miss Granger,” he said.

  “Um, okay,” I said.

  I had an idea of what might be coming. Jenna had gone to extreme lengths to get me a message about a war on the horizon—a war that would pit supernaturals against humans. It wasn’t as black and white as that. Things involving the fae rarely are.

  There was a faction of supernaturals, the most bloodthirsty of the fae and the undead, who believed that humans were little more than a food source to be dominated and fed upon at their leisure. There were some who missed the thrill of the hunt, the intoxication of chasing down their prey and leaving chaos and terror in their wake.

  These supernaturals balked at the rules that demanded hiding and suppressing what they believed to be their true nature. I’d seen the horrors of that nature in the basement of Club Nexus. The chained corpses of ravaged victims and the reek of blood and terror still filled my nightmares. I didn’t want to imagine that kind of wanton violence and disregard for human life on a larger scale.

  “What I’m about to share with you is not common knowledge, even amongst my men,” he said. His face darkened, and he fixed me with a stare that had been known to bring trained Hunters to their knees. “Do ye ken my meaning?”

  The last he said with such intensity, and in a brogue so thick, it took me a moment to parse out the implications of what he was saying.

  “Yes,” said, nodding and swallowing hard.

  One of the most respected leaders of an ancient organization whose sole purpose was to police rogue supernaturals, an organization that guarded their secrets like a dragon hoarded gold, was about to share something with a faerie. By Mab, the guild master had my full attention.

  “Good,” he said. “First, what do you know of Fae and Vampire Law?”

  I fidgeted in my seat. I didn’t envy the students who had Master Janus as an instructor. I wasn’t even in a classroom, and I had the unsettling feeling that this was a pop quiz and I’d spent the night before goofing off instead of studying. I had to force myself to concentrate and remember that I was a trusted peer, not one of his novitiates.

  “Vampire law states that feeding on humans must be done discreetly,” I said. “The vampire council encourages vampires to take blood slaves from the fringes of society, the homeless, addicts, and runaways whose disappearances are less likely to be noticed. But whether taking blood slaves or feeding on the fly, they use their glamour and a mind altering drug released in their saliva during feedings to keep their existence secret from humans. The fae have a similar law. All fae must hide their existence from the human media, or face execution.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “We protect innocent humans by taking down rogue supernaturals who would do them harm. Members of the Guild put their lives on the line every day in cities around the world. But how much more difficult would our job be if the fae and vampires weren’t already policing their own?”

  My mouth went dry. We already had our hands full with rogue vamps, ghouls, and fae. It was hard to fathom what the world would be like if they were allowed to come out of the supernatural closet and feed on humans with impunity.

  “You’re talking about anarchy, total chaos,” I said.

  Not all supernaturals were blood-crazed psychopaths, but I had to admit that even some of the more peace-loving fae liked nothing better than to mess with humans. The implications of Janus’ words kicked me in the gut, knocking the air from my lungs.

  “Aye, and more bloodshed and terror than we’ve seen in centuries,” he said. “And it will come on the heels of a war that will take more lives than any plague or cancer.”

  “So there are vampires and fae who want to go against the vampire council and the faerie courts to break the old laws, and they’re willing to wage war with us as well,” I said. I shook my head. “Immortality won’t protect them from a stake through the heart or a sword in the gut. It seems like a big risk.”

  “But one with huge rewards for those who desire to hunt humans without repercussion from their own kind,” he said. “And they’ve begun amassing magic weapons that could give them an edge in the coming battle.”

  “So, are you saying that the Wild Hunt being in Harborsmouth is part of this war?” I asked. “You think someone in the Unseelie court managed to slip the Hunt through before the portal closed behind us?”

  He rubbed a calloused hand over his face, and for a moment the guild master aged before my eyes.

  “That I can’t say for certain, but it’s a good theory given what facts we know,” he said. “What I do know is that Kaye means to bind the Wild Hunt and use them as a weapon.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked. “That’s not what she told me.”

  But I had to admit it made a sick kind of sense. Kaye was drunk on power and she faced an opponent that gave her a chance to exact revenge on a pack of barghests for the friends she lost at the hands of a rogue barghest long ago, all the while knowing that a larger threat loomed on the horizon. It wasn’t all that farfetched.

  What hurt was that she’d lied and manipulated me into being a part of her plan.

  “I suspected as much,” he said.

  “So do you agree with this plan of hers, to enslave a group of fae to fight for you?” I asked.

  I held my breath, waiting for his answer.

  “It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “But there’s some who’d say that all is fair in love and war.”

  “Well, I’m not one of them,” I said.

  I thought of the tormented looks that crossed Ceff’s face when he thought no one was
looking. I recalled living through the worst moments of his captivity through the visions I’d had dozens if not hundreds of times. The torture by iron had been painful, but the most heinous acts had been his own.

  Ceff was highly skilled with water magic, but there are some things that water can’t cleanse. The each uisge had stolen his bridle, and with its magic forced Ceff to fight against his own people. He would never wash that blood from his hands.

  “We cannot win this war if we are being assailed on all fronts,” Janus said.

  He was staring at a map hanging on the wall above his desk. It depicted the city, and was covered in a complicated maze made up of thumbtacks and colored string.

  “Then we need to defeat the Wild Hunt before this battle makes it to our doorstep,” I said.

  “Any idea how to do that, aside from Kaye’s binding spell?” he asked.

  “I have a few ideas,” I said. “But we’ll need your help if there’s even a chance in hell of pulling this off. Can I count on the Guild?”

  A slow smile spread across Janus’ face, tugging at the old scars that crisscrossed his cheek.

  “Aye, by Athena, you have my word,” he said. “Now let’s invite your friends in so we can have us a chat.”

  Chapter 12

  “That was the strangest hour of my life…lives,” Torn said. “And I’ve got nine of them, as you recall.”

  A ridiculous smile split my face in two. For all of my friends’ bewilderment, anxiety, and at times flat out ire, I’d spent the meeting with the Hunters’ Guild like a pooka hopped up on Jimson weed.

  Skillywidden had warned me that I was showing extreme signs of depression, but I hadn’t listened. I’d had Ceff and Torn to worry about. Now my friends were all here, and they were safe and we had a plan that not only made sense, it included the local Hunters’ Guild.

  My smile wavered when I thought of Kaye’s duplicity and mental instability, but I quickly shrugged it off. I’d lived under the tutelage of my uncle. Not only was he the poster child for lies and manipulation, but the man was as unstable as a losing move in a game of Jenga.