Blood Sacrifice

by Maria Lima

  “Gigi planted the phones at the hotel, didn’t she?”

  “Seems so,” Adam said. “At least, one of her Protectors did the deed, whilst Raine flew Minerva to Wales after dropping off our vampires. Raine flew back after Gigi went Underhill. Evidently, Minerva’s glamour was strong enough to fool even Rhys, Ianto, and Liz—none of them noticed. They thought that the person with Raine was a copilot. Some cousin they’d not met.”

  “Damn that woman,” I gritted out the words through teeth so tightly clenched, if I were human, I’d be buying an entire fleet of luxury cars for some orthodontist. I whirled to face the cave opening, held back the energy swirling around me, my own Texas tornado, itching to be loosed on someone, somewhere. It was probably a good thing that neither Gideon nor my mother were around.

  Two hands caught me before I stormed outside.

  “Keira, get a grip,” Tucker said softly. “You can’t just prance through the cemetery without taking precautions. We can’t know for sure if the ground’s safe—even if it may be consecrated again.”

  I stopped and took a deep breath, then spoke to Adam. “We’ve got a bit of a situation, love,” I said and quickly told him more about what had happened. “The door here’s still open. You and Niko can get out here via the overhang, then we can all go Below. We’ll go get Gigi. You and me, Tucker and Niko. Slide down, through Faery, find her. Settle this stupidity once and for all.” The Four Musketeers… or the Four Horsemen, I thought bitterly. Though this apocalypse would be for Angharad, not the mortal world.

  “And that will accomplish…?” Adam sounded skeptical.

  “We can confront Angharad on her own turf, three rulers against one. Find out what Gideon’s truly up to and put a stop to this.”

  “How, Keira? Storming the castle isn’t an answer so much as a declaration of—”

  “War?” I whispered, realizing that my bullheaded “go now and kick some fey ass” impulse would be less than effective unless I truly planned to trip that particular wire and take the consequences. Truce, I’d break, but starting a war? I couldn’t make that decision foolishly.

  “All-out war,” Adam agreed. “We can’t afford a Faery war, Keira. We’re not in the days of the Firbolg and the Tuatha Dé Danann and tiny human tribes cowering in their caves or crude huts. Billions of humans populate the Earth. Too many would die as a result of what is, after all, a simple family squabble. Our spells could not directly affect them, but we could kill the land for good. Do you wish to unleash full-on famine, drought, pestilence? That’s what we could bring, if we do this.”

  Damn it all, he was right. The apocalypse wouldn’t be confined solely to Angharad. “So what do we do?” I asked. “What can we do?”

  “We wait?” Niko’s voice came over the speaker. “We continue to work on our strategy, work on the Challenge and we wait.”

  A horrible thought occurred to me. Being trapped in Faery… oh holy… “Adam, would the same rules apply to Gigi as to humans?” I asked, my words tumbling over each other in my haste to wash that thought out of my head. No, they couldn’t? We weren’t human, but as magickal as any Sidhe, if not more so. Gigi was our matriarch, our leader, a couple of millennia of practice, of wielding stronger magicks than I’d ever seen Below. “Insofar as being Below, I mean. Trapped there, loads of time passing up here?”

  “I do not know,” Adam admitted. “Minerva, you—you’re both strong, more talented than any one Sidhe, any fey in existence.”

  “And Gigi’s beyond crafty,” Tucker said. “She’s at least as sly as any in Faery.”

  “Oh yeah, she’s a right Slytherin,” I snorted, feeling a little better. “But… it’s the Seelie Queen—”

  “Queen or no, Minerva is an equal if not higher ranked ruler,” Niko said. “I don’t pretend to know the intricacies of the Faery courts, but I did learn about intrigue at the feet of the best in Elizabeth’s court. If another queen had approached her, she would cause them no harm.”

  Yeah, but no harm didn’t mean freedom, I thought. Nor did not being the overt cause of harm preclude getting someone else to do your dirty work—a Seelie Talent. Elizabeth herself had been known to play some pretty sneaky tricks, and she wasn’t even of Faery. As for not harming a fellow queen, tell that to Mary, Queen of Scots. She’d lost her head thanks to her royal cousin.

  “I’d not rest easy yet, Niko,” Tucker said. “Gloriana was just as ruthless and wily as any Sidhe monarch.” A soft smile played across his lips as he confirmed my own thoughts.

  Niko sounded startled. “You knew her majesty?”

  “For a time.” Tucker seemed a bit sheepish. “It was long ago and far away, and of no consequence, cariad. We would not have crossed paths then,” he said. “I came well after the plague that nearly took you.”

  “Okay, well then, enough of who’s stronger, who’s cannier and whether or not my brother might have seen or met his future lover in sixteenth-century London,” I said. “We can muddle around and wonder, or we can figure out some sort of plan. Do we try to find Gigi? Do we leave her to her own devices in Faery? For that matter, is this part of some sort of twisted subplot of Gideon’s?”

  “Minerva going to Faery?” Adam asked. “If I were to gamble on an answer, that was pure Minerva. She wanted to help you, help us by intervening directly with Angharad.”

  I leaned against the rock wall and slid to the ground. “Fuck.” Could Gideon, too, be a pawn in some overarching plot of the high queen? I’d heard of stranger plots. Then again, Gideon wasn’t the type to allow himself to be used, queen or not. No, whatever the underlying machinations, I’d no doubt that both Angharad and Gideon were in this as partners.

  “So do we go Below?” Tucker asked. I looked up at him, Daffyd standing at his side seemingly unsure of what to do. I didn’t envy my cousin, for all his Sidheness, he’d been helpful before. He’d sworn fealty to me, yet was still sworn to his own queen, as well. His deliberate siding with us could cause interminable repercussions for him Below. Unlike me, he was full Sidhe, full Seelie. Everything he was belonged to Angharad. That was the way of the Faery Folk.

  “Come back to the house and let’s regroup,” Adam said. “You’ve got the priest there with you. We couldn’t just leave him while we go Below, if we decide to do that. No matter the decision, we’ll need to wait until dusk so Niko and I have the ability to join you.”

  “That’s hours from now,” I said. “Adam, I don’t like leaving this door open, at least, not without us here to guard it. I propose that Tucker and I wait right here at the cave mouth. You two can drive over soon as it’s dark.”

  “Is it safe for you?”

  “I think so. Antonio claims he re-consecrated the place, but we’ve not set foot on cemetery ground yet. This part of the land—at the cave entrance—is neutral, not included in the cemetery, so neither consecrated nor spelled.”

  Daffyd touched Tucker’s shoulder. “I could help you with the runespells whilst we wait for Aeddan,” he offered. “I can feel them from here. There are many of them. Simple, if annoying.”

  “Unseelie?” I asked.

  “Mostly Seelie,” he said. “Other things woven in, though. Darker things.” He looked out toward the graveyard. “It might take some time, but between us, we should be able to remove the spells.”

  I rubbed my face. “Adam, I think I’m going to see if I can at least get out to the car and let Antonio know what’s going on. He can go back to the ranch. Then Tucker and I will stay here with Daffyd and help him defuse the trigger spells.”

  “Keira, you can just phone Fray Antonio,” Niko suggested. “I gave him a phone.”

  “Good thinking. What’s the number?”

  “As a matter of fact,” Niko continued. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of that for you. You three just concentrate on your side of things… and stay safe.”

  “Please be careful, love,” Adam said. “Both of you. Retreat if you run into anything you can’t handle and phone us. We can send some
one for you if need be.” Now that we’d told Carlton, it would make things a lot easier if we needed his assistance. No more trying to come up with a convoluted explanation for the weird.

  “Will do,” I said, crossing my fingers and ending the call.

  “I saw that,” Tucker said. “What was with the finger crossing?”

  I scrambled to my feet and tucked the phone back into my pocket. “Just being careful,” I said. “What Adam considers something I can’t handle and what I know I can handle could be two vastly different things. I don’t want to stop if we can get this cemetery de-rigged. And Daffyd thinks we can, right?”

  “That we can remove the spells? Yes.” Daffyd walked to the edge of the cave. “There are many traps, many tangled charms, but it can be done.” He turned to look at me. “Without involving your consort. Or yours.” He bowed to Tucker, who smiled back. “I must ask, however, if you could tell me the specifics of the Challenge that was presented. A battle for land?”

  “In a way, though not quite so simple. Gideon Challenges that the land is barren, dying because of us. It states that we lose the land to him if it does not claim us, acknowledge us.”

  “Ah.” Daffyd seemed to understand the premise, at least. “Though, perhaps, I do not grasp his purpose. Why should he wish to have your land? The world Above is large, surely there are other places.”

  “Many places,” I said. “He does this because he can. It’s personal between us,” I said.

  “Perhaps he simply wishes to start afresh.”

  “No, too simple, too… human. One thing he’s never been is that. He pities humans.”

  “You are of an age with him, right?” Daffyd asked.

  “Months apart,” I said. “Gideon’s a bit older.”

  “I do not understand then. Why the disparity in attitude?”

  “Sorry, not following.”

  Daffyd cocked his head, as if figuring out how to phrase the words. “You seem easy with humans. Your friendship with the woman Bea is fierce, familial. I’ve seen the way you treat other humans, as well. People you don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be any awareness that there is a difference between you and them.”

  “I think I understand what you’re getting at,” I said. “Gideon wasn’t brought up much around humans. The Kelly line in the UK is a bit more old-school.”

  “Traditional?”

  “If by tradition you mean insular, hidebound, and exclusive, then yes.” I smiled up at Daffyd. “I was mainstreamed, raised as much in the human world as I was reared as a Kelly. I’m not sure of Gigi’s original intentions, now that I know some of how I came to exist, but both my late cousin Marty and I became part of the community in Rio Seco. Gideon, as far as I know, remained on the Kelly estate in the UK during his childhood. He only went to London in his early twenties—and then, to a Kelly house in town.”

  “Similar to the British royals. Raised in the mortal world but not of it,” Daffyd stated. “They mingle, but it is limited and with severe restrictions. I understand.”

  I shot him a quizzical look. “You know of the current British royals?”

  “I have watched some television,” he said. “On days I could roam.”

  Tucker threw a casual arm around my shoulder as he explained further. “Gideon was even more isolated from the mundane world when you take into account being Talented. As kids, youngsters, especially in the modern world, we do our best to shield humans from accidental magick. That’s why most of our primary homes are in the countryside. Fewer neighbors.”

  “For all I know, all of this was part of Gigi’s master plan,” I grumbled. “Mainstreaming me, isolating Gideon, half-and-half really with Marty. He went to school part-time, I think. I never really paid much attention to him when I was in school, since Marty was nearly four years my senior. Maybe she figured she’d see what we’d turn out like.”

  “It bloody well sounds as if Minerva experimented with all aspects of your lives,” Tucker growled. “I am sorry I never saw that before. None of us had knowledge of her plan to breed heirs. Seems as though she did it with a scientific set of conditions, to see which one of you emerged the victor.”

  A hell of a point. I could certainly see that having been her goal. Three possible heirs via biological shenanigans, then manipulating our environments as we developed, aged, became adults. “Oh, that’s just more than I wanted to consider right now,” I said. “Gigi’s own version of nature vs. nurture? I hope she’s happy with her little Darwinian experiment.”

  “Galtonian,” Tucker said. “Francis Galton coined the phrase. He was influenced by Charles—”

  I glared, effectively shutting him up. “Really? You want to do that now?”

  He mock bowed. “My apologies, my lady.”

  “Okay, then,” I said. “So maybe Gigi set us up—again. Old history now. Let’s get on with our task, shall we?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “’Tis now the very witching time of night,

  When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out…”

  —William Shakespeare, Hamlet

  The sun had barely set when we finished the last of the dismantling spells. With Daffyd’s help, it went quickly if not entirely without incident. Tucker had sustained at least three bad cuts. I’d suffered a blow to the head and scraped both knees and an elbow when a particularly nasty spell resulted in me being tossed like a rag doll against one of the larger funerary statues. At least there were no more plagues of insects. No ants, no locusts—though I admit I covertly watched the horizon for any unexplained, swiftly moving dark clouds. No frogs or rains or any other sort of living thing, either, though right now, a rain of anything resembling water would be welcome. I dripped with sweat, my red tank top darkened to nearly black with perspiration and dirt. Tucker had removed his T-shirt within the first hour and bound his hair back with the shirt, using it as a sort of do-rag. Daffyd, on the other hand, seemed as cool and collected as if he carried his own stasis field with him. I couldn’t do any cooling charms, not even a small one as we were afraid that any magick could trigger a trap we’d not seen.

  I slumped onto the floor of the cave mouth, happy in the slightly cooler temps inside. “Those last few were doozies,” I said as I wiped my face with the hem of my top. “Ugh. This is totally gross. My shirt’s soaked.” I pulled it off and threw it to the ground, leaving me wearing my sports bra, also soaked. “I’m disgusting. And I stink.”

  “I think it’s safe to cast a couple of spells now,” Tucker said. “I’m in the same boat you are, sis.”

  I waved a hand and set a cooling charm along with one that helped act as a fan to move the air. Instantly, I felt better.

  “Got any cleaning spells up your sleeve—oh wait, you don’t have any sleeves.” Tucker grinned and snapped his shirt at me. I threw a stinging hex at him.

  “Ouch.” He rubbed his side. “Gee, thanks, sis.”

  “Don’t slap at me with your stinky shirt next time,” I said. “And no, I don’t know any personal hygiene spells. They weren’t exactly included in the repertoire during my training. Gigi said we’d work on that kind of stuff later.”

  Tucker threw back his head and laughed. “You asked her about hygiene spells?”

  “Yeah, so what? I did do a lot of physical activity,” I said. “The mountains in British Columbia may be a lot cooler than here, but I still got stinky.”

  “Allow me.” With neither a wave or incantation, nor nose wriggling nor eye blinks, we were clean. Daffyd simply smiled.

  “May the light shine on you in perpetuity,” I breathed, thankful to feel fresh again. Along with the charm I’d set, the atmosphere inside the cave mouth was almost pleasant. Tucker grinned and tossed his shirt back on.

  “Hello, down there,” Adam called.

  I got to my feet, pulled on my tank and walked outside, enough so I could see up to the overhang. Two heads peeked out over the edge. “Come on down, we’re all—”

  With no warning except a ru
mbling sound, the earth itself began to move. A cloud of dust and debris showered onto my head. I stumbled, nearly fell but caught myself, keeping upright only by grabbing onto La Angel’s marble robes. “Adam!” Both his and Niko’s head had disappeared from view.

  “We’re fine.”

  I sighed in relief. “Tucker, Daffyd. Get out of there,” I cried out as the ground continued to shake. Earthquake? We’d had one or two before, but nothing of major consequence. This area lay along the Balcones Fault and so was prone to a few shakes now and again. This, though, strong enough to shake me, to nearly knock me down—this was no minor adjustment to the fault line.

  Tucker and Daffyd came running out. Tucker grabbed onto me and the statue, his strong arms holding me as still as he could. “The cave…” His breath was strained, rough. “Part of the wall began to collapse,” he said. “Daffyd tried to go down, but—”

  “The path has been obliterated,” Daffyd said. “We can no longer remain here.”

  “Adam, meet us back at the bottom of the hill,” I said. “We’ve got to leave.”

  “Will do.”

  The three of us ran, did our best to keep our balance as we did so. For a brief moment, I considered shifting to wolf, given that four paws were better than two human length legs when trying to maneuver on unstable ground. After a particularly vicious shake of the ground, I thought better of it. I’d have to stop, strip, and shift. That took time.

  We managed to make it to the graveyard entrance without further incident. As we passed through the gate, the quake stopped, ground solid and still once more. I turned to survey the cemetery damage. Stones uprooted and falling over, a few of the smaller statues keeled to one side as if in a drunken dance. Nothing too horrible. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.