by Stella Blaze
“Who the hell do you think you are? I ought to burn you to a freaking cinder!”
He locked her gaze with his and slowly nodded. “There’s the Min I know.”
She was close to throwing a punch at his handsome face when it dawned on her. “You just pissed me off to get my mind off my fear, didn’t you?”
“Yep,” he made the word pop with humor. “Did it work?”
Min reached out and grabbed Luca by the collar of his bedraggled silk shirt, and pulled him into a brief though heated kiss. “Damn straight it did.”
She let go of him and turned to the seemingly endless chasm between where they were and the mount of Winter’s Keep, and the petulant shape of the shadow cat waiting on them.
“So how do we get down off this damned mountain and up the other?”
The shadow cat closed his eyes for a beat, and seemed to smile to himself. “We won’t be going down. We’re going across.”
“Across?” she asked. “Can a shadow cat sprout wings? Because I left my jet pack at home.”
In a tone one would use for the very young or mentally infirm, the cat said, “Many of the Sidhe, of the assorted faerie Courts, cannot fly. That is why the secret bridge was fashioned.”
Min laughed and made a show of looking over the cat’s head and back. “Bridge? I don’t see any bridge.”
“And why should you?” the cat said smoothly. “It wouldn’t be a secret if you could see it.”
Min looked nervously to the fathomless canyon and gulped. Luca walked past her to the edge of the cliff. He leaned down and picked up a handful of pebbles, then tossed them out in front of him. The pebbles fell swiftly into the pitch nothingness of the chasm and disappeared.
Luca stood and shook his head. “I was sure this was one of those Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade things.”
“No,” taunted the shadow cat. “It’s one of those you have to physically step out onto the expanse for it to solidify things.”
“Well, that sucks,” Luca growled. He turned back to Min. “So we have to trust this faerie—”
The shadow cat hissed, his fangs glowing sharp and white in the cold night.
“That there’s a bridge that stretches from this point to somewhere on Mount Crazy?” Luca continued. “Boy, our choices are getting better and better.”
The shadow cat cleared his throat indignantly. “If it will appease you, I shall go first. I would hardly throw myself off a cliff, now would I?”
“But you’re made out of smoke, you little kir.” Luca flicked his broad sword menacingly at the cat. “You could just float out there and we’d be none the wiser!”
A pulse of Summer heat radiated out from the dagger and into Min’s hand, and with it an idea.
Min walked over to the cat and reached out, taking a tuft of its shadowy form into her hand. It turned solid the instant she grasped it, and the cat moaned in what could have been pain or ecstasy. The cat peered up at her. He looked surprised.
“Now you’ll fall just like one of us.” She leered over the cat and showed him her teeth. The power of Summer burned in her veins, yet she could tell she was in full control. “So is there still an invisible bridge out there?”
The cat’s moon-glow eyes widened, but his gaze did not falter. “Yes, my lady. The bridge is there, and will take us to where you want to be.”
~*~
The first step should have been the hardest. Min held a death-grip on both Luca’s hand and the soft fur of the shadow cat. To her extreme displeasure, each step on the solid, though alarmingly invisible bridge was just as hard as the one before it. She didn’t look down…much. But even without seeing it, she couldn’t just ignore that she was walking over a thousand feet up—or that she had no idea how wide the bridge was, where it stopped, or how close she was from the edge.
Min shook her head and pulled her imagination back in check. All she needed to know was she was walking across a solid bridge, and that Luca was with her. Maybe that was why she wasn’t huddled in a little ball, shivering with her eyes clenched shut. Maybe it was his touch.
Though she knew the wind was blowing as hard as it had been on the mountain, since they had stepped foot on the invisible bridge she hadn’t felt the slightest breeze.
Guess the fae don’t like being blown off invisible bridges either.
Her heart was pounding excessively hard at the halfway mark, and only every ounce of will she had, kept her from running the last hundred feet to the dark mount of Winter’s Keep. But once there, she felt a little differently.
She’d thought her legs might give out, and she’d fall to the ground and hug and kiss it in the greatest relief of her life. But the instant her feet touched the terra firma of Winter’s Keep, the most profound sense of being in danger engulfed her. Her pounding heart sped up, her breathing came in gasping rasps, and she looked around her with such force she was sure her head would snap off.
But as the shadow cat had said, they were utterly alone, and it seemed that nothing and no one was able to see them. But still…
The shadow cat made a pained growl, and Min realized she had tightened her grip considerably. To elicit such a sound from a fae meant she was using some of the Summer Queens power. She let go of the cat’s hide, because she hadn’t meant to cause it pain, and because she certainly didn’t want to be using the Summer Queen’s powers for no good reason.
The shadow cat shook itself, as if it was wet, and then made a somewhat agonized sound. Again, Min could not tell if it was pleasure or pain. It prowled forward and swiped an insubstantial, though sharp looking, claw over the stone side of the mountain. Immediately the darker-than-night stone split open, and though there wasn’t any light emitted from inside of the crag, there were eerie green and red lights, almost like the veins of color in marble, and they throbbed, gently moved, and even changed shapes.
“My lady,” the cat pronounced, and looked over its shoulder to her, “here is the way you seek. This passage will lead us to the great hall. There you will find your sister, and the Queen.” The cat glided into the fissure.
Min wondered only for a moment why her sister would be held captive so close to the Queen, but the pulsing heat of Summer told her the answer.
She will keep her prize in sight of her own eyes; at least until she has taken what she wants from it.
Min shivered at the words that had floated through her mind. The Queen thought of her sister as nothing more than an object of power, something to own, to devour.
Luca gripped her hand all the harder, and then pulled away, taking both the shotgun and the sword in alternate hands, ready to fight.
Min gritted her teeth. Over my dead body.
Her grip of the silver faerie blade hardened, and she plunged into the dark fissure with sure, urgent strides.
~*~
The fissure didn’t lead in a straight shot. It curved and jutted from side to side, but Min got the definite feeling they were heading deeper and deeper into the mountain. The walls throbbed all the more brightly, so she could make out the shadow cat’s shape as it slithered before her. Luca moved backward and watched the way they’d come.
Then, with a jarring abruptness, they came upon a dead end. The wall before them was huge and solid, and carved with glyphs and runes—all symbols alien to Min. But one rune did come across to her loud and clear. It practically glowed as she stepped closer to it.
Summer shall not pass, it read.
Min shivered as the words passed through her mind and caused cold tingles of fear through her. Did this mean the power of Summer couldn’t come with her? Would she have to face the Winter Queen and her minions without any help at all?
The warmth of Summer flowed into her, at first pleasant, and then red hot. The weight of the dagger evaporated in her hand, scalding as its metal melted into her flesh. She looked down to her outstretched palm and a silver rune glowed in answer. It read, Go with thou, shall I.
Okay, that was weird. But as Min’s mind tried to wra
p itself around what she was looking at, the power of Summer enveloped her, and she knew. The runes warding the Winter Queen’s center of power would keep out Summer’s eternal power, but it wasn’t designed to keep out a mortal. And even though Summer’s power flowed through her like water, she was still only a mortal.
“Open it, Graysyn.”
Luca changed his stance, so to see the way they were heading, his sword held to strike before them, the Bellini pointed to the rear. The shadow cat looked up with his smoky, moonlit eyes, and with a swipe of his claws the wall started to open.
It slid open silently, and the room it led to wasn’t so much lit as it glowed with moonlight. It was huge, with vaulted ceilings, and grand sculptures adorned its walls. Some were carved murals of battles past. Some were of goblins holding actual gems the size of human skulls in their grasps. Some were life-sized mermaids, parts of their bodies reaching out, beckoning. Sirens.
But the room was empty, and there wasn’t a door of exit anywhere in sight.
The shadow cat’s eyes flicked left and right, and it growled out a confused sound. And just as it started to fade and disappear, a net of silvery light lashed up out of the stone floor and caught it whole, wrapping around it and holding it painfully flat to the ground. The cat hissed and cried as the silver treads of the net dug into its form and seared its shadowy flesh.
Without any more warning, twenty shapes appeared around them as if they’d always been there. They’d been veiled so well, even the shadow cat hadn’t been able to tell.
Luca reached out and pulled Min back toward him, both the sword and the shotgun facing the sudden cadre of faeries.
“Betray our Queen, you have,” a tall, beautiful Sidhe man said, his long hair the white of snow, his eyes glowing golden. In his hands he held a long, menacing silver trident. His voice was deep and metallic, utterly inhuman. “For that, you shall pay for an eternity.”
He turned his cruel golden eyes upon Min and Luca, and the smile that formed on his face was not his own. Min knew this smile, and the voice that came next from the male’s lips was smooth and feminine, and absolutely crazed. The voice of the Winter Queen. “But you two, I think, will die now.” And she laughed, the sound like the tinkling of tiny bells, beautiful and painful all at once.
The assembled fae gave a cackle of glee and all of them surged forward at once.
Chapter 29
A goblin reached out for Min, but his lumpy knuckled claw fell off at the wrist as Luca severed it with a flick of his sword. The wound burned a hot green, and the creature shrieked in agony.
But that didn’t deter any of the others. The faeries moved on them like a tidal wave, and though Luca slew three more of their number before she could even breathe, Min knew he was sorely out matched. But then she took a breath—and the room stood still for a quivering moment. And without even thinking about it she took hold of the ogre closest to her, a huge beast probably twenty times her size, and smashed the creature into the wall to her left. It hit the great stone with a dull, wet thud, and she heard its thick bones crunch from the blow.
She spun back to the oncoming fae and they had barely even moved. Either time had slowed down or she was moving far faster than her usual. She backhanded a slimy creature with what looked like spider web encrusted antlers. It hit the floor like a load of bricks. And then there were six fae charging her all at once. Both her palms burned with fierce heat, and she lifted them as she moved forward. Flames so great it could have been the very fires of hell, erupted from her hands and leveled the charging fae. No, they weren’t knocked down by the magick fire, they were incinerated by it.
Luca at her back, Min moved forward with quick, clicking strides, blasting any creature that dared get in her way with the white-hot fire of Summer. Her blood blazed with the glory and power of it. It was nice to for once be the more powerful. Hell, the power she was wielding was more than anything she could imagine. It made her heart pound with unbidden longing. Somehow, deep inside, she wanted even more power.
Her steps faltered for only a moment, but she shook the greedy hunger from her like a watershed. This power wasn’t hers. If she started thinking it was hers to keep, then she would find herself owned body and soul by the devious faerie Queen who had started this whole mess.
And the bitch had, hadn’t she? Min made a note to take that up with her royal highness the very next time they met…if they ever met again. For with all the power surging through her at the moment, just looking at the far wall, and the double doors that were suddenly materializing before her, she knew without a doubt that power wouldn’t make a bit of difference.
She still hadn’t a chance in hell against the Queen of Winter on her home turf. Nobody did.
But she pushed through the gilded door all the same, making the not-quite-formed entrance crack as she pitted her new strength against it. The doors swung open, overly dramatic as the hinges whined their displeasure, and Min saw a room ten times the size of the previous chamber, ceiling rising out of sight, walls an icy black, yet sparkling with their own kind of fae light.
The room was filled not only with a ghastly assortment of many different, and rather nauseatingly gruesome faeries, but also some of the most beautiful men and women Min had ever laid eyes on. And they were all looking at her, all calm, all absolutely certain of what was going to happen next.
Min looked forward to the front of the great room. There, on a raised altar, was an enormous throne. It sparkled like diamonds, but was most certainly ice, and the cascades of ice rose up and up and up, as far as the eye could see. A chilling, beautiful thing. But as Min looked harder, the ice had shapes in it; bodies, nude and held in the throes of ecstasy and agony. Some human, many obviously not. All, Min just seemed to know, were not just sculptures. They had been real, alive…and even now, they still were.
She saw a woman, by far the most beautiful creature in the room, standing over the kneeling, shuddering form of her sister. Andy was held to the spot by long silver shackles, and she was sickly pale and crying.
The Queen turned and a brilliant smile parted her lovely, blue lips. Her teeth were stark white, and as her mouth opened more, her red, red tongue curled with pleasure.
“Oh look, my little star, your sister comes to the rescue.” She turned back to Andy and grabbed a handful of her hair, jerking her face to see Min. Her eyes were swollen and red, and she was obviously scared out of her mind. But the moment she laid eyes on her sister, a surge of hope, of utter love and gratefulness filled them. And then very distinctly, the glow of defiance.
~*~
Andy could not believe her eyes. I’m not alone…
Min was there. Min had come for her. Min was aglow with fae power, and as pissed off and dangerous looking as Andy had ever seen her. The vampire was behind her, his back pressed against Min’s, a broad sword in one hand, and the family Bellini in the other.
She hadn’t a hope that anyone would, or even could come for her. She’d read long ago that there were very few ways any mortal, witch or no, could make their way into Faerie. And to make it to the heart of Faerie, to the heart of Winter…
But there stood her courageous sister, and though it was impossible she had come, the moment their eyes met, Andy felt a surge of something more than hope, more than gratefulness. She felt loved. Her sister loved her enough to lay down her own life to save her.
She really wasn’t alone.
“You’re an idiot,” Andy sobbed, but a smile pulled at her lips.
Silence spread through the gargantuan chamber, and Min’s eyes softened as she looked at her sister. “I couldn’t just leave you with her, now could I?”
And then Min’s eyes hardened again and glowed an unnatural green. “Okay, bitch. Let her go and I won’t wipe the floor with you!”
The Winter Queen smiled and let go of Andy’s hair, causing her balance to shift and she fell over to the floor. By the time she regained her kneeling position the faerie Queen was slithering down the stairs lead
ing to Min, and frigid darkness seemed to gather around her, like spider webs.
No…
~*~
Min didn’t wait for the faerie Queen to attack; she started throwing the hell hot flares of fire at her the second she started down the stairs. The Queen stopped for the briefest of moments, having caught the great lance of flame in her hand. She held it, as if examining it, and then snuffed it out by closing her hand. She laughed and started forward again, not hurrying one bit.
Min kept throwing the flames. Maybe the closer she got, the more Summer’s power would work. But she knew that was just wishful thinking. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t throw every ounce of heat Summer had implanted in her at the bitch.
But the more she threw at her, the more easily, it seemed, the Winter Queen swatted it away. And the closer the Queen got, the colder the air felt. For the first time since first entering Faerie, Min felt everything in her start to be chewed and blown away by the bone crushing cold of Winter.
It wasn’t that Summer had abandoned her, it just wasn’t enough. Having the Winter Queen so close was overwhelming Summer completely.
Min let out an involuntary scream as the Winter Queen reached out her snow white, blue nailed hand toward her face. Luca turned in a flash and the hand he held the iron sword in flashed to take off the Queen’s head. But the Queen was oh so much faster than Luca, and with a single light touch Luca halted, his hand turning to ice, and his entire body freezing solid in no more than a heartbeat. His breath came out in a cloudy gasp and died before he could say another word.
Min’s heart stopped beating as she watched her lover be turned into an ice sculpture…would that kill a vampire? And in an instant she felt her own fiery anger well up within her. That emotion joined with the fire of Summer, and she raised her hand, the one with the silver rune emblazoned upon it, to Sliva’s heart.
