Iron Bones

by Yasmine Galenorn

  I marked the appointments down for the next few weeks. “How long do you think it will be before this is all over? The Cruharach?”

  “From what I’ve seen in the past, I’d say you’re about six to eight weeks away from fully entering into it. So I’d estimate sometime near the equinox in September. If things go as usual, you should be done by Samhain—November.”

  She guided me to the door. “Next time, we’ll start working on some magical exercises for you to do. And then, at the end of the month, we’ll go in search of your father’s bloodline, because I guarantee, you may have a strong tendency toward the Leannan Sidhe, but the Autumn’s Bane blood is no slouch. Now, have a good evening and try not to worry.”

  I murmured good-bye, but as to not worrying? That was more to ask than I was capable of. As I headed home, I wondered how I was going to explain to Angel and Talia what was happening. They had to know, and the sooner the better, but it wasn’t something I was looking forward to.

  Chapter 14

  ANGEL AND TALIA were waiting dinner for me. The table was covered with takeout Chinese, pizza, and fried chicken. By the expansive feast, I knew something must be up.

  “All right, I’ve had a rough afternoon. What’s going on?” I glanced at Angel, then at Talia.

  Angel started to say something, then glanced at Talia. “Why don’t we talk after dinner?”

  Yeah, something was up. “Spill it.”

  “I’ll tell you,” Herne said, swinging around the corner from the living room. “I decided you’d be exhausted after your meeting so I filled them in on the situation.” He ran his gaze over me. “You look beat.”

  I felt a surge of irritation. I had wanted to break it to them. Gently, in my own way.

  “Thanks, but you might have let me decide how to tell them.” I felt grumpy and hung over, probably a side effect of the tincture and of stirring up the Leannan Sidhe that I had locked away inside me.

  “I’m sorry. I was trying to help, but you’re right.” By the look on Herne’s face, I realized I had hurt his feelings. I struggled between wanting to be right and just wanting to eat dinner.

  “I didn’t mean to snap, but I like to do things like this in my own manner. It doesn’t really matter, I guess.” I turned to Angel. “Well, now that you know what I am, how do you feel? Do you still want to live with me now that you know I carry dangerous blood in my veins?”

  Angel smiled, though beyond the smile I could see concern in her eyes. “You’ve always carried dangerous blood in your veins, Ember. We just have a name for it now.”

  I let out a deep sigh. “You may not feel that way after I tell you about my visit with Marilee. But first, I need food. It’s been a long, long day.”

  I piled a plate high and carried it into the living room. “I’m too tired to eat at the table. Let’s eat in here, if you don’t mind.” I just wanted to curl up on the sofa and rest. Mr. Rumblebutt was sprawled across the cushions, but he took one look at me and jumped up on the back of the couch, making room. “Thanks, Mr. R. You’re a sweetie.”

  He let out a purp and went back to sleep.

  As we settled in with our food, I could tell they were all on edge, and I finally set my plate down and wiped my hands on a napkin. “All right, I’ll get to it. I met…” I paused, trying to think of how to explain exactly what had happened. “I’m near the Cruharach. Very near. Marilee estimates another two months at most before it fully overtakes me. Today, I met the Leannan Sidhe part of myself. And she scared the hell out of me.”

  They listened without commenting as I filled them in on everything that had happened. Finally, when I finished, the room felt heavier and I felt near tears. I picked up my plate again, more to fill the awkward silence than out of hunger.

  Angel was the first to speak. “Marilee thinks you can control the hunger, though?”

  “Yes,” I said, finishing off another egg roll. “She says I can learn how to blend both sides, though we’ll have to see which one will win out in terms of dominance. It could be my father’s side. Right now, I’m not hedging bets on either of them—I have no idea which is the most ruthless and dangerous. I can tell you, my mother’s bloodline is seductive. It was tempting to just give in, to let the hunger swallow me up.”

  “You had no idea your mother was a Leannan Sidhe?” Herne asked, refilling his plate.

  I shook my head. “That alone gives me hope. My parents were caring. They were good people. If they were true to their Fae natures, I don’t think I ever saw it. Or maybe, I just remember them that way because I was young.”

  Angel carried her plate to the kitchen. On her return, she brought a platter of cupcakes. “Dessert, because sugar always makes everything seem brighter.” She handed me a dessert plate with two cupcakes on it. They smelled like rich chocolate, with a swirl of peppermint icing on them. “Ember, your parents were always kind to me. I think…there was an edge there to them, but I never saw it in action. Mostly, they seemed wary and cautious, probably because they knew that your grandparents weren’t happy.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t just my grandparents. Both families were fairly well placed in their respective Courts. Thinking about it now, I’m not surprised they were killed. Well, I was then, but after the shock wore off, I realized that I had always harbored a secret fear that somebody would make them pay for their choices.” I licked the top of the icing swirl, blinking as the sharp mint hit my taste buds. “I think…I think that I should spend some time digging into their lives, if I can find a way. Now, I’m curious. Did they reject their natures? Or did they just hide them from me?”

  Herne looked at me warily. “I’d be cautious going down that road. You may find out more than you really want to know.”

  I caught his gaze. “Do you know any more about this than you’re telling me? I realize that your mother and father may have told you to keep quiet, but I’m tired of the secrets and of following a labyrinth just to find out who I really am. If there’s more baggage back there, I want to know. I want it all upfront, so I can deal with it.”

  He frowned, biting his lower lip. “I’ll be honest. Did I know your mother was Leannan Sidhe? No. I didn’t. Morgana didn’t tell me. Did I know your father was descended from the Autumn’s Bane? Yes, actually, but I never thought much of it, because most of the original clan are over the Great Sea. Their descendants here tend to be on the roguish side, but the truly dangerous members are few and far between nowadays.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, though?”

  “I thought you had been through the Cruharach and that everything had been sorted out already. I didn’t know that you hadn’t faced the transformation yet, so I thought you’d talk about it when you were ready. If you ever wanted to.” He shook his head. “My mother and father chose not to confide in me. I think they didn’t want to chance me opening my mouth. I’m good at keeping secrets, but not that good.”

  I still wasn’t happy about the fact that he had known that I was descended from the Autumn Stalkers and had chosen to say nothing, but I understood his reasoning. And I understood why Morgana and Cernunnos had remained silent. If I had learned about the Cruharach a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to cope with the knowledge—or at least, not well. The truth was, I had grown a lot, and I didn’t realize how much until now.

  “It’s okay, truly. I get it.” I paused, then glanced over at Angel. “You still okay with living with me? There’s a part of me that’s terrified I’ll somehow hurt you.”

  Angel smiled. “I’m not afraid, Ember. We’ve been best friends since we were in grade school, since we were eight years old. I’m an empath—you know how good I am. And I have no worries about living with you, other than I’m going to be stuck cooking all the meals because…well…I’m a good cook and you suck.”

  Talia laughed. “She’s got you there. Angel’s right, though. You won’t hurt her. When I had my full powers and was fully dedicated to my nature, I had a best friend who wa
sn’t a harpy. She wasn’t human, but she wasn’t one of us. And while my nature is to hunt and lure people in with my song, I never once tried with her, because the hunger you’re talking about—it discriminates. It’s not like being a succubus, not fully. You aren’t at the nature of your libido, and the Leannan Sidhe don’t require life force in order to live.”

  “I guess you’re right,” I said, relaxing. “It’s not like I’ll be driven by necessity to feed off people.”

  “There’s another facet you aren’t thinking about,” Herne said. “What I do know of the Leannan Sidhe—they prefer men. All the Leannan Sidhe are women, and when they give birth, there’s a fifty-fifty chance their child will be born fully immersed in the bloodline. So your grandfather on your mother’s side had to be different blood.”

  “Great. I wonder what he was. Morgana didn’t mention anything about him. Is there a third bloodline I’ll have to watch for? And what about the Autumn Stalkers? Are they all male?”

  Herne shook his head. “No. They aren’t. There’s a good chance Farthing’s wife is also from that line, because they tend to stick to their own, whereas the Leannan Sidhe don’t have much of a choice if they want a mate. They have to look outside their race.”

  “This is getting to be more complex than I can handle for one day.” I brushed my hand over my eyes, suddenly so tired I could barely move. “Can we just table this discussion for tonight? We have to get up early tomorrow to leave for Cavanaugh Peak, and I’m exhausted.”

  “Of course.” Angel began to carry dishes into the kitchen. “Herne, why don’t you help Ember to bed?”

  Herne laughed. “I’m afraid it won’t be as much fun as it usually is, but yeah, I’ll help her.” He wriggled his eyebrows at me and winked.

  I laughed. I needed silly right now. Silly and lighthearted and something far away from talk of Leannan Sidhe and the hunger and how I had suddenly become a powder keg just waiting to go off. I handed Talia my cupcake plate as she passed by, helping Angel to clear, and pulled Mr. Rumblebutt into my arms.

  “Hey, little guy…I’m going to be gone for a couple of days so you need to be good for Angel. Okay?” I nuzzled the top of his head.

  He let out a purp, then began to purr, kneading my shoulder. He was a Norwegian Forest cat, and he was big and gorgeous, with shiny black fur that waved when he walked. I finally set him on the sofa.

  “I’m going to bathe and then go to sleep. Herne, I love you, but go home. If you stay, I’ll want to talk and frankly, I’m about talked out for the night.”

  “Got it.” He stood, leaning down to plant a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll see you on the curb around five-thirty. And you two,” he said, turning to address Angel and Talia. “Tomorrow’s Sunday, so enjoy the day. Got it?” He gave them a stern look, but I could see the smile creeping beneath it.

  “Yes, sir!” Angel saluted him, then stuck out her tongue. “While the stag’s away…”

  “What? The bunnies will play?”

  “Bunnies, my ass,” Talia said. “I used to eat rabbits for breakfast. Come on, I’ll walk you to the elevator, and you can escort me to my car.”

  As they left, Angel locked the door behind them. She dropped into the rocking chair next to me. “I didn’t want to mention this while Herne was here, because I figured we could do without the drama, but you got another call from Ray.”

  I groaned. “When?”

  “He left three messages this afternoon. I guess he’s back in town.”

  Ray and I had dated for a brief time, a year or so back, and then when he had interrupted me while I was on the job—I had been hunting down a goblin for a client—he had almost ended up dead. He had a long scar on his leg from where the sub-Fae had tried to take a good-sized bite out of him. I realized that he was in danger, and since I had already lost two boyfriends, although Leland’s death had been a heart attack while we were making love, I opted not to see Ray anymore. But somehow, I always felt I had been at fault. Robert had died while trying to help me put a stop to an infestation of will-o’-the-wisps. They had managed to lure him away and drain him.

  So when I found myself falling for Ray and realized how fragile he was, I had ended the relationship. All seemed to be well until I had met up with him again in March, when his store was vandalized. That one meeting had set him off and he had been stalking me ever since.

  “I thought maybe he finally got the message,” I said, glumly. “I haven’t heard from him for a couple of weeks.”

  “I did a little poking around after I got the message this evening,” Angel admitted. “I’ve still got a good foothold in the grapevine around here. Ray was out of town at an uncle’s funeral. He just got back last night.”

  “And he’s right back on my ass.” I sighed. “What did he say?”

  “I kept the messages. You might want to turn them over to the police. As I said, I was tempted to tell Herne about them, but I thought you didn’t need the drama tonight. But when you’re well rested, you need to talk to someone. We have to do something about him before he shows up again.” She shook her head, grabbing the landline when I reached for it. “No. Not tonight. You don’t need to listen to what he said tonight. Go to sleep, Ember. Rest up for tomorrow.”

  I stared at the phone, but finally nodded. “I wonder why he didn’t call my cell this time.”

  “Because he knows you blocked his number. He said so. We forgot to block him on the landline.” She pulled me off the sofa, turning me around to face the hallway. “Go to bed. Sleep deep. Don’t have nightmares.” With a little shove, she pushed me toward my bedroom.

  Impulsively, I turned to give her a hug. “Thank you. Thank you for being you.”

  Angel gave me a squeeze. “I love you too, Ember. Now go.”

  I dragged myself into the bedroom. I managed to take off my makeup but decided I was far too tired to take a bath. I’d catch a shower in the morning instead. So, wearing an oversized shirt I had stolen from Herne, I climbed into bed. I had barely turned out the light and rested my head on my pillow before I fell asleep. Luckily, my dreams were mute, and I slept through the night without stirring.

  MORNING ARRIVED AND I was showered and waiting on the curb by five-twenty-five. Angel had dragged herself out of her room while I was making a quick sandwich to take with me for breakfast. She fixed me an iced quad-shot latte to go, and I gave her a quick hug and kissed Mr. Rumblebutt on the head before heading downstairs to meet Herne.

  He was good to his word, pulling up in his sleek, black Ford Expedition at precisely five-thirty. Viktor and Yutani were in the back. They had left the front seat for me. I tossed my pack in the SUV and climbed in, fastening my seatbelt. As soon as I was strapped in and my drink was in the cup holder, next to Herne’s mocha, we took off.

  “How are you doing this morning?” he asked me.

  “Better than last night.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Did you tell them?”

  “Yeah. They had to know.” He navigated toward the freeway. “We’re taking I-90 across the lake, over to the summit of Snoqualmie Pass. There, we turn onto Erste Strasse Road, and follow that to Alpental. We’ll park and head out on the trailhead. It’s near the Chair Peak trail.”

  “And then a three- to four-hour hike in?” I glanced out the window. The day was overcast, threatening rain. “Looks like we might have some weather today.”

  “Eighty percent chance of rain, but the snow level’s at over seven thousand feet so we shouldn’t see any new snow up there. I doubt if there are any patches left from winter, either, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Yutani said. “We’re going in at the perfect time. August is the best month to avoid getting slammed by bad weather.”

  “A three- to four-hour hike, yes, though if it pours, that will probably add a good hour or two to the hike. I think we really do need to plan on staying the night, given we don’t know where to hunt for the bones of the Aillén Trechenn.” Herne frowned as we headed onto the fr
eeway. The ramp was metered, and the traffic was beginning to bog down. “Damn it, I had hoped to miss rush hour. I guess we should have left another hour earlier.”

  “Speaking for myself, I’m glad you didn’t think of that.” Viktor snorted. “Oh, I decided to have a drink with Charlie Darren last night. That vamp is actually a pretty good egg, from what I can tell, but he’s definitely got some social anxiety issues going. I ended up drinking more than I usually do, just to get through the evening. It was awkward.”

  “How so?” Yutani asked.

  “He got into a crying jag over the life he left behind. I guess he had a girlfriend who dumped him, and parents who really didn’t want to claim a vampire for a son, and one thing after another until I wanted to take him by the shoulders and give him a good shake and tell him to pull himself out of it—to move on. I think he’s trying, but he’s so angst-ridden that by the time I left, I was three sheets to the wind, just trying to blot out the endless drone of complaints.”

  I was trying not to laugh, but the thought of Viktor playing Dr. Phil to an emo-vampire was just too funny. “You had a better evening than me, I’ll bet. Now for the million-dollar question: did you agree to go out with him again?”

  “It’s not like I’m dating him, woman.” Viktor was sounding surprisingly grumpy.

  “Well, did you?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” the half-ogre said.

  “You did. You agreed to get together again, didn’t you?” I turned around in my seat, staring at Viktor. “Why didn’t you just say you were busy for the next few weeks and stop it at that?”

  Viktor let out a huff. “Because it’s obvious the boy is hurting. He lost his entire way of life, and was turned into something that seems to go against his nature. He’s doing everything he can to cope, but he doesn’t know how. He might say he wants to work his way up in the vampire community but I know that’s a lie. He doesn’t like vampires, and is dealing with some pretty severe self-loathing right now.” He paused. “I get the impression he’s been thinking a lot about walking into the sun.”