by Shéa MacLeod
As if it had heard my thoughts, the trees and bushes began to bend away. They parted, letting me by unmolested, leaving a clear path to Brent Darroch's retreating back.
"What the hell?" I wasn't even channeling Earth, yet the Other World flora was definitely acting as if I were. I hesitated for a moment before deciding to just go with it. I'd figure out why later, provided the spooky-ass forest didn't eat me first.
The sound of Jack crashing and cussing his way through the underbrush made me grin. He was catching up.
I took off again down the path made by the retreating plant life, narrowing the gap between me and Darroch. With one last surge of speed, I dropped the sword and leaped the final distance, landing on his back and taking him to the ground with an audible oof. We went tumbling through the bushes, rolling to a stop in the midst of a small glade.
"Stay down, you asshat. Or so help me, I'll break every bone in your body."
"Fine. I'm down." Darroch spat out a few blades of grass. He lay there panting for a minute with me still sitting on top him. "Will you please let me sit up so I can breathe?"
"Don't try anything funny." I clambered off him.
"Or what?" He sneered, his Julian Sands good looks turning ugly as he brushed random bits of greenery off his clothing with an elegant hand. I noticed his nails were professionally manicured. "You're unarmed."
I smiled. "You think I need weapons?" Not to mention there was a fairy sword laying a few steps away.
That made him go a little pale and sweaty. I turned my attention from Darroch to our surroundings. We'd somehow made it back to the place where Jack and I had come through the portal to the Other World.
I frowned. Something wasn't right. "Where's the portal?"
Darroch glanced around, an expression of panic crossing his usually haughty face. "It's not here."
"Yes," I said dryly. "I can see that. What I want to know is, where is it?"
"I have no idea." He seemed to be on the verge of a complete meltdown. Clearly he hadn't expected this turn of events any more than I had. "It's supposed to be here. It's always been here. She must have moved it."
"She?" I had a bad feeling.
"The queen, of course. Only she can control the portal. You have to find it. You have to make her tell you what she did with it." Yep. Definitely panicked.
"Listen buddy," I said, keeping my voice calm and low like I was talking to an unstable person, which maybe I was. "I don't have to do anything. Why are you so worked up, anyway? You're the one in cahoots with Her Majesty."
His expression turned dark. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean I want to be stuck here. If you think this place is all fun and games, you're as much a fruitcake as she is."
Jack suddenly crashed out of the bushes, interrupting my train of thought. He saw my fairy sword on the ground and snatched it up in one hand. "Where's the portal?" He glanced from me to Darroch and back again, as if one of us might be hiding the damn thing in our back pockets.
"Apparently, the queen moved it while we were off having our little huddle. He," I pointed to Darroch, "says only the Queen can control the portal."
"Crap." Jack ran a hand through his hair before handing me my sword. I nodded my thanks. Every inch of him was vibrating with frustration. "So only she knows where it is."
"Not exactly," Darroch interrupted. We both whirled on him.
"Explain," Jack barked.
For a moment, I thought Darroch wouldn't tell us. He must have decided we were the lesser of two evils, or maybe we were the best way for him to get what he wanted. In any case, he finally nodded.
"The queen is the only one who can control the portals, but anyone in the fairy realm knows where the portal is. It's as though they can sense its location."
"We're in the fairy realm," Jack pointed out. "I don't know about you, but I sure can't sense any portal."
"You also have to be of the fairy realm," Darroch explained impatiently.
"So all we need to do is find one of the fae creatures and make them tell us where the portal is," I said.
Darroch nodded. "Yes. Exactly."
I imagined it was easier said than done. Except...
"Those damn dragonfly creatures," I said. "They kept wanting to bite me. Maybe if I caught one of them?"
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Jack asked. "We have no weapons except your sword. Nothing to capture them with."
"Oh, ye of little faith." I grinned. "I'm going to try something. Guard him." I nodded to Darroch before stepping away from the men, closer to the woods.
An interesting thought had wormed its way into my brain. I had wished for the forest to open up and let me pass, and it had. The first two trips to fairy land, my powers hadn't worked, and now they did. I carried Earth power within me, and the Sidhe were made of Earth power. Heck, the whole Other World ran on Earth power. It was the very essence of Earth magic made manifest. Perhaps I could draw those little fanged fairies to me.
I took a deep breath and let a hint of my Earth power out of me. My skin began to shimmer as green tendrils of magic worked their way across my body. I focused my thoughts on the winged fairy creatures, imagining their colorful wings and tiny little fangs, and waited.
At first there was nothing. Then, one by one, I saw little splashes of bright color flitting closer and closer. With a smile I held out my hand. Dozen of the tiny creatures hovered above my palm, mesmerized by the shimmering green aura surrounding me. Their tiny voices chittered with both excitement and fear.
One of the females grew brave enough to move a bit closer. The daring creature alighted on my hand, feet so delicate it felt like the tickle of butterfly wings. Faster than a blink, I closed my fingers around her. The rest of the dragonfly creatures scattered as the one in my hand started shrieking. I half expected her to bite me, but oddly, she didn't. Instead she wriggled around, letting out that ear-piercing scream over and over.
"Shut up."
She went silent, staring up at me from between the gaps in my fingers, her enormous eyes like one of those Asian tarsier primates, only this creature's eyes were a bright emerald green and took up half her face. She hissed at me, flashing her miniature pointy teeth.
"Put those fangs away."
Cowed, she did what I told her. She let out a mewling sound, cowering inside the cage of my hand.
"I want you to do one simple task for me. Then I'll let you go unharmed to rejoin your friends."
She stared at me blankly. I wasn't fooled. It was a defense mechanism, and given half the chance, she'd bite my hand off. Still, I had no doubt there was one thing she couldn't resist, no matter how much she might want to. I infused my next words with the full weight of my Earth power, my voice echoing with it.
"Show me the portal."
Chapter 36
Thanks to the little fairy creature, we found the portal deeper in the woods of the Other World. It dropped us on the steps of the Sacre Couer. Not exactly what I expected, but at least it was still the middle of the night, so no one noticed three people magically appearing out of nowhere. Granted, most Parisians wouldn't have batted an eyelash, but one didn't want to upset the tourists.
"If we head down to one of the main streets, we should be able to find a taxi," Jack suggested.
"And pay the driver, how?" I asked. "We left our money back at the hotel." Along with our phones and IDs. We hadn't planned to go joyriding when we'd set out for the catacombs.
"One of us stays with the car while the other runs up and gets the money." Jack's tone was that of a person speaking to someone very, very dense.
I felt like smacking myself in the forehead. I hadn't even thought of it, mostly because my lack of French would have led to one pissed off driver. Jack, however, could easily explain.
"Okay, fine." I grabbed Darroch by the arm. His hands were still tied together with vines from the Other World. They seemed to operate just fine in ours. "And while we walk, Brent, you can tell us what the heck you and your buddy are up to w
ith the Fairy Queen."
"I wouldn't call him my buddy." Darroch stumbled a little as I jerked him along beside me down the steps, yet somehow he managed to maintain his usual air of haughty disdain.
"Then what would you call him?" Jack demanded, following us closely.
Darroch heaved a sigh. "We were friends once. But Alister Jones is too busy plotting world domination and mass murder to consider things like friendship."
"Oh, you mean like you?" I snapped.
"It seemed a good idea at the time." It was clear from Darroch's tone he still thought it was a good idea. One he'd be happy to reinstate given half the chance. "In any case, Jones used me and the Queen of the Sidhe to get what he wanted, then left us behind to... "
"Wait a minute." I stopped dead in the middle of the street. "Alister double-crossed you? And Morgana?"
Darroch flinched a little at the use of the Fairy Queen's true name. "Yes."
"How is he not stone cold dead?" I should know. Not that I'd actually betrayed her, mind you. More like the other way around, but Morgana had an odd way of looking at things. "The queen does not take betrayal lightly."
Darroch sighed, stumbling to a halt beside me on the sidewalk. "Under normal circumstances he would be dead, but she can't kill Alister until we find out what he did with the book."
"Whoa. Wait a minute. What the hell are you talking about?" Jack grabbed him by the arm. Hard, too, if Darroch's expression was anything to go by.
"Listen." Darroch glanced around as if he thought someone might be spying on us. "Get me somewhere safer than the middle of the street, and I'll clue you in. Deal?"
Jack and I glanced at each other. "Okay," I said. "Deal. Just tell me one thing."
Darroch raised an eyebrow, waiting.
"Why are you willing to tell us anything? You haven't exactly been cooperative in the past." Understatement of the year.
Darroch's expression turned grim. "Believe me, what Alister has planned is far, far worse than anything you could possibly imagine. He needs to be stopped. And I imagine you're one of the few who might actually be able to do it."
That was ominous. I tried to get Darroch to explain further, but he refused until we were somewhere he considered safe. He kept silent through the cab ride back to the hotel and up the elevator to my room. When we were inside, the door locked and bolted behind us, I shoved him down on the bed.
"Okay. Spill," I said, standing in front of him with my arms crossed, trying to give him my best Kabita 'look.' "What were you and the queen up to? And how does Alister figure into it?"
"Many years ago, the queen and I met under unusual circumstances."
I started to interrupt to ask what circumstances, but Darroch shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. What does matter was we found we had similar agendas."
"Which were?" Though I could pretty much guess.
"Power, of course. For me, it was to attain the abilities I'd been denied, thanks to my human blood." The way he said "human" made it sound dirty and disgusting.
His explanation made sense, though. Despite Darroch's Atlantean DNA, he didn't have the smallest speck of power. And he wanted it. Bad. It was the reason he'd stolen the Heart of Atlantis from Jack in the first place, and later kidnapped me. He'd wanted the power of the amulet for himself.
"And the queen?" Jack asked.
Darroch shrugged. "The queen claims she wants to bring her people back to what she feels is their rightful place in this world."
I stared at him in horror. The Sidhe had existed in a time before humans had evolved. In fact, one of the reasons they'd withdrawn to the Other World was that both species had developed to a point where they could no longer occupy the same space without destroying each other. And now there were more species than just humans to worry about. "You have got to be kidding me."
"I am not."
"But the djinn, dragons, humans... This planet can no longer sustain the Sidhe. She would destroy us all." I felt like I was on the verge of panic. The thought was truly monstrous.
Darroch carefully draped one leg over the other, smoothing out the creases in his trouser legs. "Believe me, the thought crossed my mind, but we came to an understanding. One we could both live with."
"Which was?" Jack prodded.
"It's not important." Darroch flicked an imaginary piece of lint from his knee. "What is important is we began to put the pieces in place, preparing for the day when we could make our vision of a new Earth a reality."
"Jade." It hit me all of a sudden. "It wasn't Alister I saw in my dream with the queen. It was you. The two of you altered Jade's memories."
"Yes," Darroch admitted. "That was one of our initial steps in the process. For the next, we needed Alister."
"Why?"
"He has technology and information which are useful to us."
"The soul vamp technology." It was a guess, but I was sure I was on the right track.
Darroch gave me a creepy smile. "Yes, but that wasn't all. Alister forced us to work with him after he used Jade to his advantage. She was a lost, angry child, and he made her believe he had her best interests at heart." Darroch let out an elegant snort.
"What exactly did Alister want from you?" I asked. I could understand why they might need something from him, but Alister was not the type to share glory.
"My method for controlling the vampires."
The entire room spun for a minute. I braced myself against the cheap dresser. "But he knows how to control vamps. He's the one who stole the technology from the SRA."
Darroch's smile grew even creepier, if that were possible. "Alister knows how to shove a soul into the body of a vampire with stolen technology and brute force. He does not know how to control them. We... needed each other." Darroch carefully smoothed back his white-blond hair. "Unfortunately, once Alister had what he wanted, he disappeared, along with the technology and the book." He nodded in Jack's direction. "Now I am back to square one."
"What does Alister want with the book?" My brain felt like it was spinning in seven different directions.
"To use it, of course." Darroch's tone told me he thought I was a moron. No surprise there. Darroch had always thought he was the brightest crayon in the box, never mind that I'd kicked his ass. Twice.
"What's in the book? Why do you guys want it?"
Darroch frowned. "We don't know specifically. What we do know is it's a key."
The key to the key.
I leaned in, staring him straight in the eye. I needed to know. "What does it have to do with me?"
This time his smile was genuine. "Everything."
I swallowed, half afraid to ask. Jack had no such fear. "What do you mean?"
Darroch's expression was enigmatic. "Let's just say, without the little hunter here, all would be lost. So, the Queen and I created a backup plan."
Feeling a little wobbly, I sank into the armchair next to the bed. Man, I needed a drink. "Jade."
"Again, yes. She was supposed to be our backup plan. Just in case."
"Then why the hit?" I asked, rubbing a hand over my face, suddenly exhausted. Nothing made sense to me.
"I don't understand." Darroch appeared genuinely confused.
"Someone put a hit out on Morgan," Jack explained. "Was it you?"
"Ah." Darroch's expression cleared. "No. Definitely not. We would prefer to use the original Key. The backup was simply that, a backup. An insurance plan. My guess is, the hit is Alister's doing. He has very specific goals, and Jade is far more biddable than Morgan." He said it like it was a compliment. I guess, in a weird way, it was.
"But why hire someone to kill her?" Jack asked.
"The only way for Jade to become the Key is for Morgan to die."
Freaking brilliant. "You still haven't told us what Alister's plan is. Why it's so much worse than yours or the queen's."
"Like I said, I simply want my birthright."
"Believe me," I said with a sigh. "It's not all it's cracked up to be."
That I did. But just because you wanted to go home, didn't mean you could. "Go on."
"Alister." Darroch shook his head. "Alister wants more. So much more. He wants to rule the world, and he's willing to kill billions to do it. He wants to unleash a plague of vampirism on the planet. With his technology and what I taught him, he could control them all. And with the book he can, theoretically, unlock the Key. He would be unstoppable."
"Holy God," Jack breathed.
Darroch continued, "Alister has two problems. First of all, he doesn't yet know how to read the book, and therefore has no idea how to unlock the Key."
"And second?" I had a bad feeling.
Darroch gave me a pointed look. "You're still alive."
"Wonderful."
"I did try, you know. To protect you." He said it with some pride, as if he'd done something special and worthy of note.
"Excuse me?" Was he serious?
"The soul vampire you killed in Notre Dame? He was the last of mine. I sent him to watch you. I knew it was only a matter of time until Alister sent someone else, and I was trying to prevent your death."
I snorted. "Why? If you have Jade, what's the point?"
"In truth, Jade is Alister's creature. There is only so much we can do with her. The queen was hoping to bring you around to her way of thinking."
"Lord, she must be batshit crazy if she thinks she can do that. Inigo... "
Darroch held up his hand. "I know what she did. I told her she made a critical error in judgment, but the queen is not human. She does not understand love."
As if he did. "So it was Alister who got you out of Area 51?"
