by Joyce Lavene
“I had matters of my own to settle.”
Sunshine sat on the bed. “What happened? Did you catch O’Neill with his lover or something?”
“I observed the two as they shared a repast.”
“Not sure what that is, but it doesn’t sound all that great. Are you in love with O’Neill? Before you answer, I know you’re not supposed to be. I’ve read everything I can find on beane sidhes. You don’t fall in love with the ones you serve. You just take them away when they’re dead. But this one is different, isn’t he?”
Aine remained at the window. “Once long ago, I did love one of the O’Neill men.” She thought about the miniature portrait. “I believe he loved me too. But it could only end in heartbreak. I am not a woman of flesh and blood any longer. When he died, and I left him in the underworld, a part of me stayed there with him. It made what came after harder to bear.”
“So you can fall in love with them, but it’s really stupid because you keep going. I get it. I’ve fallen for some normal humans too. We have to love where and when we can, Aine. We aren’t ordinary women. It will never be easy for us.”
“I had to announce O’Neill’s death to him today.”
“What? He’s dying?”
“At this time he is well and healthy. I can only assume his premature death comes from his investigation into this case or another. I cannot see into the future. It may be the harpy that takes his life.”
Sunshine bounded off the bed. “All the more reason we need to take out this creature. Between us it should be a snap. We’re as big and awesome as women can be.”
Aine thought about her conversation with Mr. Bad. “A harpy may be impossible for us to slay.”
“Maybe.” Sunshine repeated her words. “We’re strong together. We can take her. Did you warn O’Neill?”
“Of his death.”
“Did you mention how he might die? He could protect himself. There’s a big difference between getting shot by some punk in the street and being ripped apart by a harpy.”
“No. It is not my place to give him notions of how he might die.”
“Or what? You burst into flames? The earth swallows you?”
Aine held her hands tightly together. The witch was starting to anger her. She resisted changing form into the crone. “It is not allowed. There are rules.”
“And you gave him warning of his death. Does that mean he has to die? Have you ever warned one of the O’Neills and something changed so that he didn’t die?”
“Yes, but—”
“So there you go. We have to see him and tell him what we suspect. Maybe he could start wearing protective gear. At least he’d have a fighting chance. Or are you just happy it will be over when he dies?”
An immediate change came over Aine. The room around them shook with it. The force of her transformation shattered the mirrors and the glass in the window she’d been looking out of.
“Don’t you imagine I want to save him?” Her voice was like nothing human as it came from her skeletal form. “I would help if I could. Being with him is all that matters. There is nothing left for me when he dies.”
Aine didn’t realize until the rage left her that she was grasping Sunshine by her plump, white throat and shaking the breath from her. As she came back to herself, she released her, praying she hadn’t taken her life. Sunshine dropped to the carpet and dissolved into it. Puzzled, Aine pushed at the floor with her foot.
“Over here.” Sunshine whistled to draw her attention. “I told you I read all about the beane sidhe—including that they have a bad temper and little use for humans not in the family they serve.”
“You tricked me.”
“Sort of.” Sunshine grinned. “Better that than Jane running up here trying to get revenge because you killed me.”
The image of the mouse attempting to avenge the witch made Aine laugh. It hadn’t happened in so long that she choked on it, and her form changed to the young queen. Rosy-cheeked and pink of flesh, she continued to bubble with merriment.
“All right,” Sunshine said. “That’s gotta put you in a better mood.”
The laughter slowly died, but the young queen’s regal beauty remained. “It is forbidden for me to tell O’Neill how he might meet his death. To do so could mean he and I would both wander the earth forever without peace. I would not wish that for him.”
“But I’m not governed by those rules.” Sunshine stared deeply into her bright eyes. “I’ll tell him about the harpy. Let’s save him now instead of mourning him when he’s gone. We can kick this harpy out of our town. Don’t give up so soon.”
Aine had never felt as strong a bond as she did with this woman that she had only known a few days. She knew the pain behind the brilliant blue eyes that stared into hers. She could feel the strong magic in the witch.
Slowly she nodded as her form reverted to the middle-aged woman in black. “You are wise beyond your years, Sunshine Merryweather. Let us vanquish our foe and show no mercy. I swear my allegiance in this matter to our cause.”
“Awesome! Then let me tell you what I learned at the hospital as we look for O’Neill.”
Sunshine told Jane to take the rest of the day off as they headed out to the car.
“Lloyd met me at the hospital,” she told Aine. “We sneaked in to see Amos. He was barely alive. I haven’t had a chance to research harpies yet, but I saw the claw marks all over him. She nearly scratched him to pieces. Some man came into the alley where she was attacking him, and she flew away.”
“Flew away?”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought too. The big, bad harpy of ancient mythology just takes off if someone sees her at work. Does that sound right to you?”
“No. Harpies have no thought of self. They do what they are sent to do. She should have finished killing Amos and probably killed the man who interrupted her.”
“Why didn’t she?” Sunshine pondered. “This way she left Amos alive to tell people about her.”
“Is there a knight protecting the lad at the hospital?”
Sunshine made a quick U-turn in the street. “I don’t think so. We better find out.”
They drove to the hospital. Its stark cleanliness and white walls amazed Aine as they rushed inside. They ran by O’Neill and Malto in their haste to reach the elevator.
“Hey,” Malto called out. “What are you two doing here?”
O’Neill couldn’t make eye contact with Aine as they got in the elevator with them.
“We’re here to save Amos Johnson’s life,” Sunshine said.
“He just woke up,” O’Neill told her. “We’re on our way to question him. There’s an officer stationed outside his door. He’s in no danger now.”
“You won’t mind if we ride up to confirm that with you, right?” Sunshine’s blue eyes were steely.
“Who are these women, O’Neill?” Malto demanded. “Why do they keep following us around?” But her eyes never reached Aine’s gaze.
“I’m a licensed private detective.” Sunshine fished around in her bag until she found her ID and then flashed it at them. “We’re working a case just like you.”
“Except that you have no authority to be here.”
“It doesn’t matter if they go up with us.” O’Neill ended the discussion. “But not in the room, Merryweather. It ends at the door.”
Sunshine agreed only a moment before the elevator doors parted. The two teams quickly left the conveyance, headed for the same hospital room.
O’Neill took a deep breath when he saw the officer still stationed outside the door. “Everything okay here?”
The officer got to his feet. “Yes, sir. No one in or out, just like you said.”
Malto turned to push open the hospital room door with a supreme expression of righteousness. “That’s it for you, ladies. We’ll take it from here.”
Her manner changed abruptly when the open door revealed an empty room with blood-splattered walls.
“The window.” Aine rushed to
ward it. The glass had been broken from the outside, but there was telltale evidence that someone had been dragged out of it. Bits of flesh and green hospital garb clung to the fractured edges.
Malto dared to look over her shoulder. “That’s not possible. This room is eight floors up. The wall is smooth. There’s nothing to climb on.”
Aine removed a single feather from the window pane. “I wish that were so.”
Chapter Fifteen
Malto and O’Neill were immediately on their phones summoning help from the police department.
“He can’t have gotten too far,” Malto told her partner. “Even if he had suction cups for feet and climbed up here to snatch Johnson. He still had to get away with him.”
A cup of coffee dropped and burst on the floor behind them. “What the hell happened here?” Lloyd asked. “Where’s Amos?”
“I’m sorry, sir.” Malto escorted him out of the room. She put the officer stationed outside the door to work gathering security guards to search the hospital.
“Tell him,” Sunshine urged Aine when they were alone with O’Neill.
“You said you were going to tell him,” she replied with trepidation as she glanced at him.
He looked away. “Tell me what? What’s going on?”
Sunshine stepped hard on Aine’s slippered foot. “Tell him for goodness sake.”
Aine angrily glanced up to yell at Sunshine but found herself gazing into O’Neill’s questioning eyes.
“Tell me,” he urged. “I guess there aren’t any other secrets between us, right? Tell me the truth.”
“Your killer is a harpy,” Aine explained. “She is most likely thousands of years old. She does not kill for sport. If she’s here, someone summoned her to kill for them.”
O’Neill blinked. “A harpy? You mean like in the movies—kind of like a woman with wings and sharp claws. That kind of harpy?”
“Yes.” Aine was surprisingly relieved to tell him the truth. “She is cunning and devious. No doubt it is her presence which caused me to warn you of your death.”
He stared at her for a moment. “About that. You were in the apartment with me and Elena, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I guess having your own beane sidhe means having no privacy. Is that about right?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “What good is my sworn duty to take you to the underworld at the moment of your death if I am not present at that moment?”
“Okay. Let’s just put that aside for now. I can’t handle that and what’s happened here at the same time. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but what makes you think a harpy is killing people?”
Aine gave him the feather she’d found. “Observe this, O’Neill. It is one of the harpy’s feathers yet unlike any feather you have ever seen.”
He took it between his fingers. “It feels more like metal. Are you sure it’s real?”
“Is Amos Johnson still here attached to an IV?” Sunshine asked. “Snap out of it. You have a beane sidhe that you’ve seen in full beane sidhe mode. There are other things in the world that you don’t know about. You have to protect yourself and find some way to tell your obnoxious partner that she could be in danger too.”
“Saying it’s real, how do we find this thing?” He studied the feather. “I’m giving this to forensics.”
“We must follow the trail of the kill,” Aine said. “They are not secretive predators. We should find remnants of Amos Johnson as we track her.”
“We don’t have time for forensics,” Sunshine explained. “We have a list of possible targets for the harpy. Amos was one of them. Our friend in the other room might be another.”
She explained what they knew about the killings. O’Neill listened carefully, ignoring the chaos going on outside the door.
“So you think the harpy was sent to kill John Lancaster and Amos Johnson but took it on herself for whatever reason to kill Harley Matthews and the other two at the tattoo shop.”
“That’s what we think.” Sunshine glanced at Aine who’d been quiet throughout her explanation. “Of course we have an expert on harpies and all things ancient with Aine here. She’s been around since dirt too. If beane sidhes are possible, anything is.”
“But if the harpy only kills what she’s sent to kill,” O’Neill added, “why kill the other men?”
“They were helping her find the ones she wanted to kill, but they got greedy and wanted more money. She wasn’t willing to share.”
“The creature cares nothing for gold or fame,” Aine finally said. “She is bound by unbreakable law to finish the task her master has set. You must understand the needs of the master to understand why the harpy kills.”
“And how do we find the master?” O’Neill asked.
“I have already explained to Sunshine that we must locate a strong, dark witch who would be capable of summoning such a creature.”
“And now we’re looking for witches and a harpy.” He shook his head. Malto called sharply for him. “I gotta go. I don’t know what to say about all this. I’m not really good with things I can’t see or touch.”
He left them to find Malto.
“It was useless telling him the truth,” Aine said. “He doesn’t believe.”
“He does believe part of it—you. He knows you exist. It won’t be that big a stretch for him to believe the rest. In the meantime, he’s been warned. Maybe he can use that to his advantage. You and I have a visit to pay to the worst witch in the city, at least that I know of.”
“Are you not afraid of this witch?”
“Not with you around.” Sunshine grinned. “Besides, she’s kind of old and probably isn’t as strong as she used to be. But just in case, you’re my ace in the hole.”
They walked through the hospital corridor as more police officers poured through the hallways, radios squawking.
“How will you locate this witch?” Aine asked as they got in the elevator.
“Piece of cake,” Sunshine bragged. “It’s not like she tries to hide. We’ll just go knock on her door. Briana will see us when she takes a look at you.”
The elevator dropped to the ground floor and the doors opened. But they weren’t at the hospital lobby. Instead, there were several women in red gowns waiting for them in a room filled with antiques and protective sigils which was backed by red brocade walls. The pungent smell of burning sage was thick in the air.
The red-gowned women bowed to them as one. “She will see you now.”
Sunshine tried not to appear nervous. “You see. I told you it would be easy to find her.”
The five women became a guard around them as they walked down a long hall. One woman was in front and one behind them. The other three stayed at their sides. The hall seemed to go on forever. It finally came to an abrupt end as it became a cavernous red space. No walls or ceiling were visible.
A woman was seated at the center of it. She was completely dressed in white. Her hair was also white, but her eyes were black.
“Hello, Sunshine.” She smiled as she said it. “I haven’t seen or heard from you in a very long time. How is your aunt? I understand she was here for a visit recently.”
“Hello, Briana. Aunt Molly is doing well. I can’t recall the last time you and I spoke.” Sunshine raised her brows. “Oh wait. I remember now—it was the day you tried to kill me.”
“Surely that’s all water under the bridge. All things have been forgiven and forgotten between us.” Briana’s gaze flicked toward Aine. “Who’s your new friend?”
“This is Aine of Ulster. She’s here for a visit. Maybe the two of you have run into each other at some point in the last few hundred years.” Sunshine relished trying to provoke the other witch.
“Your majesty.” Briana respectfully inclined her head. “I believe we have met before. How are you faring these days? The world has changed since last you glimpsed it.”
Aine could feel the witch’s power. Her magic was strong. Her words about having met before rang tr
ue. She didn’t recognize Briana, but she remembered something about her. It was fleeting and old, gone before she could capture it.
“Greetings, Briana,” Aine replied respectfully. “I think we have met. Your magic feels familiar to me.”
Briana’s lips were bright red in her face. “What brings you here, my lady? Surely you don’t belong. Where is the O’Neill that you serve?”
“Let me answer that,” Sunshine interrupted, afraid that Aine might go beane sidhe on the other woman before they got answers to their questions. “We’re here about the harpy. Know anything about it?”
“A harpy?” Briana gave nothing away. “Here in Norfolk? I haven’t heard anything about it. But what an intriguing idea.”
“It’s killed some shifters and a werewolf,” Sunshine said. “It might be hunting any kind of magical creature. I’d hate to think it would come after you.”
“I’m sure you would, dear. But you needn’t worry. I can take care of myself, as you well know.”
Sunshine took a step toward her. The five red women moved to defend their mistress.
Aine’s middle-aged form changed to that of the boney crone in gray rags. “If we find you are aiding the harpy, we shall return, Briana. I am capable of more than simply serving O’Neill.”
Her voice shook the room around them, causing fear and panic in the red women.
Briana still appeared unmoved by her threat. “I would expect nothing less.”
“Now might be a good time to leave,” Sunshine muttered to Aine. “I think you made our point.”
Aine returned to her black garb. “She is not telling us the truth. She knows about the harpy.”
“But only because we told her,” Sunshine replied. “I’m willing to bet she’s behind the eight ball on this.”
They got back in the elevator, and Sunshine pressed the button for the ground floor, hoping they didn’t end up smashed against it when they got there. Briana was capable of anything.
“You have the most peculiar manner of expression,” Aine told her. “What is an eight ball?”
The elevator made a chiming sound, and the doors parted on the lobby floor of the hospital.
