Normally, I’d agree with him. But the dirt incident was still getting to me, and sauciness overtook my tongue. “No, I’d like a straight answer before the Fae courts bring hell down on my head for killing a damn bear shifter who wasn’t really a bear shifter!”
“Allis!” Cendric hissed.
“Careful there.” Linus laughed, but there was more anger than amusement. “That isn’t as hilarious. Especially since you’re just as dangerous.”
“Oh, how am I?”
“Because a bear shifter fighting off a vampire trying to take over his soul would be operating purely on instinct. His instincts would have told him the truth.” Linus picked up a pair of very sharp scissors from a nearby table. Something about their magic told me he could make them any size, and any weapon, he chose.
And he was aiming the shears at me. “His instincts would have told him that you, Allisandra, were the greatest threat at the time.” Linus’s voice lowered. “He was right.”
Chapter 14
As if to taunt me, my Jinn magic shoved against the barriers in my mind, eager to escape and play with the leprechaun’s bones.
Turn them into a fascinating sculpture, inside out. Tie everything together with the sinews and intestines. Paint with blood, glaze with eye jelly and liquified bone marrow.
Disgust and anticipation swirled in my gut.
I really hated my own creativity sometimes.
Cendric started to move forward. “Linus, you go too far…”
I shook my head and held up a hand. “Let the lep speak.” I shrugged. “It’s not the first time someone has threatened my life, and it won’t be the last.”
“Such comforting words.” Cendric didn’t back off, but he didn’t move forward either.
Linus laughed, raspy and somehow melodic. “If I was going to kill her, she would be dead already.”
Heat rose within me, and words spilled out of my mouth without prior approval from my brain. “Or I would have made an inside-out art piece from your body and turned your entire warehouse into a new theme park.” I waved out. “And you still haven’t put down the scissors.”
“Maybe I like pointing things at people.” The leprechaun gave the scissors a snap. “Although it’s good to see you acknowledge your power. I guess the fact that my magnificent shop is intact is a credit to your split-mind.”
“Split-mind?”
“You’re fighting your Jinn side, aren’t you? Struggles like that always happens with this moral tightass vampire.” He gestured toward Cendric with the scissors. “He refused to drink blood for months. Ended up outside my doorway, and I managed to get some down his throat before he went on a full-out starvation rampage.”
Cendric cleared his throat. “I’ve since found other ways to slake that thirst.”
“Yes, but you also admit what you are: a vampire. A strange one with just enough raven blood and soul to make you fit in and walk in daylight, but a vampire nonetheless. Owning it gives you power over it, instead of it turning you into a monster.” Linus studied me skeptically with his green and gold eyes. “Allis is a Jinn. As I mentioned, I’ve met a few of those, and they are dangerous on their best days.”
“I’m also part human.”
“Even with human blood in you, the Jinn will dominate. The only question is, do you roll with it, or do you fight it like this Phantom of the Opera understudy?”
I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the vampire. “Really? The Phantom?”
The vampire’s pale face flushed. “Only for a few years. It was Linus’s idea.” Then he grinned. “It was rather enjoyable, until some misguided dhampirs tried to kill me.”
“Eh, it happens.” Linus set the scissors down on the table. “The question is, what’s going to happen to you, Allisandra? Are you going to fight it, or roll with it and make it work for you? Because the magic will win, in the end. And it won’t be pretty.”
“I already killed a bear shifter vampire from the inside out,” I huffed. “I can handle unpretty.”
And I wasn’t even sure he was telling the truth. Leps could lie just fine.
Linus shook his head. “What went down with the bear shifter was a mercy. That grizzly had already been possessed by one of Neil’s goons. Neil probably thought he was an easy mark since the shifter was visiting, but a grizzly shifter is hard to control. Neil got cocky.”
Cendric grimaced. “One of his many less estimable traits.” Darkness shadowed the vampire’s eyes as he looked at his friend. “Why didn’t you tell me of his treachery?”
“His threats toward my person, principally.” Linus spread out his arms to encompass the warehouse. “Do you see all of this? I’m one of the best underground designers of footwear and clothing in Pittsburgh. I have a name for myself along the East Coast.”
Cendric’s scowl deepened. “So you would betray a long-time friend?”
“In order to stay alive and keep being your friend? Yes.” Linus grimaced. “Especially because he threatened to tell everyone what happened to me. He said my life was the same thing, the bastard. It isn’t. What happened to me was pure chance.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And what happened to you?”
The leprechaun’s bravado faltered for a moment. He stared down at the paint on his torso. “During the Blood Wars, leprechauns were some of the first casualties. We chose not to ally with any other race. But the iron elves and dwarves turned on us. I was killed—or I would have been.” He rubbed at a gleaming clock painted over his heart. Beneath it was a thick, puckered scar and the faint outline of silvery runes. “I was given a gift. A human slave, destined for death. I wanted another chance at life, and I wanted a new body because mine was mangled beyond repair. A bored Jinn happened to be in the area and with guidance from a fellow leprechaun, the Jinn merged my spirit into the slave’s body. Pressed our souls into one. Although in a surprising twist, the human persona took over more.”
I did a double-take. “So, you’re not really a leprechaun?”
“I most certainly am.” He drew himself up to his full height—all six feet. “The magic defines that. But I can say that the leprechaun I was before the merge would never have assisted a grayling vampire at his doorstep. In a way, those memories are better off in the past.”
I nodded, trying to keep sudden elation out of my tone. “So the human side can matter.”
He caught my tone and winked. “Yes, I suppose it can.” Then he whistled low. “What Neil is doing is dark and dangerous magic. From what I’ve learned, he’s transferring the spirits of burned-out, decayed vampires into the bodies of Fae. It tricks the magisphere, in a way.”
“How so?”
Cendric cut in. “Some vampires might call themselves undead, but they’re alive on borrowed time. In most cases, their bodies will require steadily more blood, and then decompose entirely. By putting vampire souls and dark magic within the bodies of Fae, Neil is attempting to make the vampires under his command invulnerable.” Anger deepened on his face. “It directly assaults the Fae and goes against all the laws established after the Blood Wars.”
“Which is why he’s been quietly sneaking in his deadwalkers—he is amassing a power base in Pittsburgh to challenge the local Fae court. You know how cautious Queen Epriana Verdane is, especially after what happened to the rest of the royal family.” Linus waved his hand over his heart, repairing the smeared body paint with a swipe of magic. “The bear shifter must have gotten away from him.”
“No, it didn’t. The attack was intentional.” My stomach twisted as I connected the dots. “He wanted to turn me.”
“Ahhh.” Linus nodded. “It should be impossible to turn a full-blooded Jinn, but you might have just enough human blood for it to happen...and Neil does have at least seven high-end curse-mongers on his side, doing the magic. I would think a Jinn would make the process of creating deadwalkers even easier. Twisting the laws of nature and all that.”
I swear I could hear Cendric grinding his teeth. “And I was completely
blind to it.”
“Seems like that curse-mark on Allisandra had some unexpected side effects that Neil was capitalizing on.”
“What side effects?” The words came out louder than I intended. But I was tired, sweaty, and I still had a film of dirt in my mouth, which was gross. “The curse-mark was only meant to block my magic, and…” Damn it, the rest sounded lame. “…maybe prevent me from finding true love or having kids, because my parents had a whirlwind tryst and made me. And that pissed off the Fae. But that isn’t confirmed at all. Could be a pack of lies.”
I decided to leave off that apparently Cendric and I had some other weird connections going on. You had to be careful what information you dropped around the Fae. Plus, I wasn’t quite ready to admit to myself how strongly I was tied to the vampire, much less share that fact with a painted-up lep DJ.
“Now isn’t that interesting.” Linus’s gaze flashed between Cendric and me. A crooked grin spread across his face. “I wouldn’t put it past those self-important tree elves, trying to control destiny. Seems like your precious destiny finally kicked back, Cendric.”
I let the perpetual confusion in my brain filter through my voice. “You can’t mean that me and Cendric are destined…”
“Not quite the right word. Although, maybe it is.” The leprechaun’s eyes flickered, as if stirred by an unseen lure. “Are you willing to trade for that? A chest of gold sounds good.”
“What?” Typical Fae, turning the tables when it was convenient.
Cendric’s expression hardened. “No.”
“Come on, Cendric. I have the chest right there, filled with worthless slugs and pennies.” He gestured to an open chest on the dais. “And I know Jinn can transmute. Easy magic. Friends don’t let friends give information without payment. Especially when you could call that information a gift.”
The words rang through me. “Not a gift. I’m fine with a trade. But I want my first question answered before I change anything into gold.”
“Why should I trust you?”
I shrugged. “I’ve had Jinn magic for a lot less time than you’ve been a leprechaun. Which means, according to your earlier reasoning, it’s had a lot less time to alter my perceptions and ‘taint me.’ Ergo, I’m more trustworthy than you.”
“Hmph. You have no way of knowing if I’m telling you the truth.”
“Jinn powers.” Okay, that was a bluff. “If you are not entirely honest and true in answering my questions, the gold disappears.”
I strode over to the dais and ran up the stairs, over to the open chest.
He gave a quick, anxious look around. “Very well. Three questions. You have my word.”
I buried my hands deep into the contents of the box, feeling the potential for change. My magic screamed for release. All right, all right. Only a little fun.
“What did you mean about Cendric and I being destined?”
“I never said you were destined.”
“You’re not answering my first question.”
He sighed. “I meant that destiny has roles for you and him together. That is why you continued to meet each other.”
So it didn’t have to be romantic? Then why did it feel irresistible?
“I answered the first question,” Linus said. “The gold?”
“Oh, fine.”
Gold. As quickly as the thought came, the entire chest of coins turned to gold. Real, heavy gold. It was as though my brain had a catalogue of elements locked away, and I now had full access.
A wild, triumphant laugh escaped me. “Question two: did the curse-mark given to me have the power to prevent true love?”
“No. It didn’t. It merely kept you from anyone who would break the curse-mark.”
I shook my head. “Liar, because I was with Kiran—”
“Kiran Singh might rebel in some ways against his mother, but he knows enough not to cross her too much. He might have had the potential to break the mark, but he would never have done it—ergo, he wasn’t a threat.” Linus’s eyes drilled into me. “As for preventing true love, your will is too strong for that. It can only be surrendered by you. You are the only one who could decide that you would never find true love.”
A strange relief and sadness filled me. It would have been oddly reassuring to know Cendric was the one. To know that breaking up with Kiran had been destined. But it only meant that Cendric could break the curse-mark. And Kiran, well, he was an art-obsessed loner who couldn’t commit. At least, not to me. But even then, he was under thrall as well. Could I have done something to help him? Could I have made my other relationships work?
Maybe Cendric was right. The Fae could be victims as well as vicious predators. And they weren’t quite as vicious as I thought. At least, not all of them. You just had to manage them, as I was managing Linus. And considering the turn of my own thoughts lately, I could hardly judge.
He took a step toward me. “Of course I must check the gold.” A greedy look overcame his features. “Prove the quality…”
“Only after one more question—”
“Hellfire.” Suddenly, Cendric’s face turned deadly serious. “Allis, they’re here. We have to go.”
“Who’s here?”
He inhaled deeply, his eyes darting around the room. “Shifters. Bears, wolves, a few tigers.” He glared at Linus. “You told them we were here!”
The leprechaun winced. “As I told you—short-term betrayal for long-term survival. Also, the promise of quality gold from the Fae court when I bring her in, as a law-abiding Fae should do.”
Cendric’s eyes turned black, and shadows swirled around him. He grabbed Linus’s shoulders. “She’s under my protection as blood binder intermediary.”
The other man pulled away. “And you have strong feelings for her, blinding your judgement. She’s mostly Jinn, and she’s out of control. I was doing you a favor. She’ll turn into a psycho eventually.”
“I’m the psycho?” Fear pulsed through me. “You’re the one selling out your friends for gold!”
He shrugged. “I am a leprechaun. And I’m not selling out Cendric.”
Growls and snarls reverberated through the building. At least there were no dragons that I could see. The other shifters must not have had enough gold to trade for dragon help.
“See how that works out for you.” Filled with shock and rage, I touched the chest again. The entire box turned to ashes. A grieved, despairing cry wrenched from Linus. I had no pity. The stupid leprechaun hadn’t even let me get a shower or clean clothes. “Now distract them and give us a head start, or your entire building and everything inside it goes down.”
He met my stare with a look of defiance. “You’re too late.”
Four grizzlies, three tigers, and a pack of wolves entered through the various doorways of the warehouse, surrounding us. Every last shifter in their beast form, which were far larger than normal animals. And all of them out for my blood.
Several shrill screeches filled the room, echoing painfully. I clapped my hands over my ears, even as Cendric’s words emerged from his cries. “This one is mine. Stand down.”
“You have no mate mark on her, magical or otherwise,” the largest grizzly said.
“Yet she is mine to protect by right of intermediary.”
The grizzly snapped his jaws. “There is no protecting one such as her. You do so at your peril, blood raven. We allow you in our city—”
“This is not your city. It is mine.” The shadows around him increased, and he cast aside his duster. Huge black wings emerged from his shoulder blades, bursting through the fabric of his shirt, their feathery edges barbed with strange magic. Cendric flung out his hands and struck the nearest grizzly with what look like blades of shadow. The beast groaned and fell to the ground.
The wolves circled around him, growling. “But we can finally drive you from it, cursed mongrel. Dead, if necessary. The death of the unfit Blood Lord of the court would be sweet.”
“That wasn’t the deal!” Linus excla
imed. “Cendric, get out of here!”
“You know I can’t do that.”
One of the tigers swatted at Cendric’s wings with a massive paw. The feathers recoiled, then struck out with their barbed edges, embedding themselves into the beast’s flesh. At the same time, another wolf launched at him, dragging his teeth through Cendric’s left arm. The one with the tattoos that matched mine.
Agony screamed through me. At the same time, sharp claws swiped across my back. Shock and pain arced through my spine. I whirled around on the grizzly who’d made his way to the dais and grabbed him, wishing my hands were implacable steel, not mere flesh.
Heat from deep blue flames filled my palms. A moment later, the grizzly was flung off the podium and landed on the ground with a whimper. A twinge of pity pierced my fury, staying my hand from further, deadly mischief.
Another shrill screech filled the room. I turned to see more creatures lunging at Cendric.
Anger choked out my fear. I glanced at Linus. “Final question: will you help me rescue Cendric right now, even if you lose your gold?”
“My gold’s already gone,” he bit back.
“This place have booby traps?”
“Enough. You’ll have to make a run for it.”
“Got it. Just clear them out of the way.”
Linus nodded and muttering a string of words in Irish Gaelic. Green-gold clouds filled the room from the corners, descending and coating the beasts, Cendric, and myself.
“Targets shifters,” he said. The grizzlies and wolves backed away from Cendric, blinking in bewilderment. “It’s usually good for a half hour, but they’re in a good rage. Go, now!”
I set my jaw. There was only one answer. And only one clear path from the dais to Cendric.
“Cid. Get ready to hold tight and hang on.”
Without waiting for a response, I leaped off the platform and careened through the shifter horde, right into his arms. Stopping quick to grab the duster before I tripped on it. There was no time to consider his molecules or picture our destination. My Jinn magic would have to take over and hopefully not kill us.
If Wishes Were Curses Page 14
