“You haven’t been in a car before, have you?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, I was carried around on my throne by slaves.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that so I just said, “Well, this is similar but it involves less subjugation of human beings.”
“My slaves were totally willing,” she told me. “They dedicated their lives to me, shunning your world to live in Faerie and serve me as their queen.”
“You sure you didn’t make them dream about it first so they’d do what you wanted?”
She huffed. “Can we please drop that now? I said I was sorry.”
“No, you didn’t. You need to apologize to Jim.” I felt like I was chiding a child, not talking to a powerful faerie queen.
Jim and Leon got in the car.
“Jim, I’m sorry,” the Lady said unemotionally. She turned to me with a contented look on her face. “There, I said it.”
Jim looked at me in the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes.
Trying not to laugh, I turned to the faerie. “Do you have a name? Something we can call you instead of Lady of the Forest? If there are other humans around, that’s going to sound a little weird.”
She thought for a moment. “You would not be able to pronounce my real name.” Then her face lit up. “Perhaps I can choose a human name.”
“Okay,” I said, “go for it.”
“Gloria,” she said immediately.
“Gloria?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Gloria.”
Jim started the engine and made a U-turn so we were headed back toward the highway on the narrow trail. “Gloria it is,” he said.
“Tell us about the vampires that are hunting you,” I said as we bumped along the trail.
“Their names are Davos and Korax and they rule the House of Zabat. I believe it goes back a long way. Ancient Greece or something.”
I held up a hand, stopping her. “Ancient Greece? How old are these vampires?”
“I don’t know. They’ve been around forever. The House of Zabat has always been feuding with certain factions in the Faerie realm, so when the Midnight Cabal began taking over parts of Faerie, Davos and Korax were only too willing to help them.”
“The Cabal is taking over parts of Faerie,” I repeated. “Why?”
The Lady—Gloria—sighed. “Parts of Faerie intersect with this world. The Midnight Cabal is trying to control those parts for some upcoming war they want to start. A war against your Society of Shadows.”
“A war? I know they’re the sworn enemies of the Society but this is the first I’ve heard of a war.” My father had told me that the Midnight Cabal had resurfaced but he hadn’t mentioned anything about a war. Was it something else he was keeping from me or was the Society unaware of the impending danger? As soon as I got a signal on my phone, I needed to call him and warn him.
Gloria shrugged. “I don’t concern myself with petty feuds between humans.”
“Until it affects you,” I said. “I’m guessing the Cabal tried to do a land-grab that included the part of Faerie you ruled.”
Sadness washed over her face. “Those vampires and their demon minions took my forest. I barely managed to escape with my life. I’ve been on the run ever since.” She touched my arm lightly. “Now I have a protector. Thank you, Alec.”
The tattoo on my left shoulder began to heat up again. “Stop trying to glamor me,” I told her. “And I’m only your protector for three days, as per our agreement. After that, my debt is paid in full.”
“Yes, of course,” she said softly. “I was only expressing my gratitude. Sometimes I lose control and my magic just spills out everywhere.”
“Okay, ground rule number one,” I said firmly. “Keep it in your pants. No trying to glamor me, Leon, or Jim. Or anybody else, for that matter. Got it?”
She crossed her arms and turned to face the window. “Fine.”
Jim caught my eye in the rearview again and raised his eyebrows. I knew exactly what he was thinking; the next three days weren’t going to be plain sailing. As well as protecting Gloria from the vampires that were hunting her, we were going to have to deal with her facsimile of a human personality, which seemed to be that of a spoiled brat.
When we reached the highway a couple of hours later, I switched on my phone and checked for a signal. There was barely anything yet, so I put the phone back in my pocket. I didn’t want the connection to drop while I was trying to warn the Society of an impending attack.
Jim slowed the Jeep. “Looks like Frasier and Girard are here.”
Up ahead was the parking area where we’d stopped yesterday. A dark green Chevy Tahoe was parked by the side of the road and the two cops were standing next to it, watching as a blue Honda Civic was being winched up onto a tow truck.
Jim pulled up alongside the Tahoe and got out. “Hey, guys, how’s it going?”
Girard looked over at Jim and shook his head as if in disgust. He was still wearing shades, along with the same sports jacket and tie he’d had on yesterday. “Back off, Walker. The real police are doing their job. Unless you think the car’s haunted or something.” He gave Jim a wide grin.
Detective Frasier took Jim gently by the arm and led him back to the Jeep. “Ignore, Girard,” she said, “he must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed again. You find anything?”
“Yeah, we dealt with the creature,” Jim said. “It won’t be giving you any more problems.”
“What was it? Do I even want to know?”
“Not unless you want nightmares for a while. I can show you on the map where we left the body if you want to take Girard out there and prove to him the thing is real.”
She shrugged. “No, he’d only say you faked it somehow.”
“Then all you need to know is that the problem is dealt with.”
“Thanks, Jim. And thanks to your friends, too.” She looked into the Jeep and gave us all a friendly wave. When she saw Gloria, she looked surprised, then hid it with a smile. “Oh, hi there.”
Gloria pressed the button that opened her window. It buzzed all the way down. “Hi, I’m Gloria,” she told Frasier. Then she looked over her shoulder and gave me a conspiratorial wink.
I rolled my eyes.
“Hi, Gloria. I’m Detective Claire Frasier.” She came up to the window and shook Gloria’s hand. “Do you work with Jim?”
Gloria looked momentarily confused, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. She frowned and then said, “Alec and I have a deal.”
Frasier looked in at me through the window, a confused look on her face.
I offered her a weak smile. “Gloria means I’m helping her out with something.”
A look of understanding crossed Frasier’s face. She looked back at Gloria. “Oh, you’re a client. I see. Well, good luck with whatever your problem is.”
“Vampires,” Gloria said. “And demons.”
Frasier looked shocked. “Wow, that’s some problem. Don’t worry, I’m sure these guys will sort it out for you.” She looked closer at Gloria. “Are you from around here?”
“No,” Gloria said. “I’m from a place far away.”
“Oh?” Frasier asked, waiting for Gloria to elaborate.
“We have to go,” I said, reaching across Gloria and putting the window up. “Nice seeing you again.”
“Okay,” Frasier said, giving us another little wave. “Have a nice day.”
When the window was all the way up and Jim had taken Claire away from the Jeep to talk further with her, I looked sharply at Gloria. “What the hell was that? ‘Alec and I have a deal’?”
She shrugged. “I’m a faerie, I can’t lie.”
“But you’re supposed to be good at deceiving people. What about all the humans you’ve dealt with in the past, using your faerie cunning to trick them? I didn’t see any of that. Where was the faerie cunning?”
She looked flustered. “I don’t know. She just threw me, all right? Having a conversation when th
ere’s a deal to be struck is one thing but just talking for the sake of it is something new to me.”
“Well, don’t get too used to it. My deal with you is three days and three nights. After that, you’ll probably have to return to Faerie. Unless you have some other human protector lined up.”
“No, there is only you,” she said. “You are all I need, Alec.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I suddenly felt as if I was being used for something more than she was telling me. I sat back in my seat and sighed.
Gloria might not be able to use her faerie wiles on Detective Frasier but I was sure she was deceiving me somehow. There was definitely more going on here than met the eye.
Great. Just great.
Chapter 9
We drove out of the park and I got enough signal on my phone to call London. While it rang on the other end of the line, I glanced over at Gloria.
She was looking out the window, quietly watching the scenery roll by. I had no idea what was going through her mind. She was trouble, I knew that much, and I wanted to kick her out of the car and tell her she was on her own where the Greek vampires were concerned but now that I’d promised to protect her for three days, I had to do it.
Breaking a deal with a faerie had bad consequences. I’d probably end up trapped in the faerie realm forever and there would be nothing anyone could do about it. That seemed to be the usual punishment in the lore.
As soon as my call went through to the phone on the main desk of the building called Mysterium Import & Export, a magical process of identification would have kicked in and told the Society exactly who was on the other end of the line.
“Hello, Mr. Harbinger, how can I help you?” a male English-accented voice said in my ear. I didn’t have to ask how he knew it was me calling. The Society’s identification methods went beyond simple caller I.D.
“Hi,” I said. “I need to speak to my father, Thomas Harbinger. Could you put me through to his office, please?”
There was a half-second pause before he said, “I’m afraid Mr. Harbinger isn’t available at the moment. Can I take a message?”
“Do you know when he will be available? This is important.”
“I’m afraid not, sir.”
“Okay, then I’ll leave a message. Tell him to contact me urgently. This is an emergency. You got that?”
“Yes, Mr. Harbinger. I’ll get that message to your father’s secretary right away.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Put me through to the secretary.”
“Very well,” he said.
The line went silent for a few seconds and was then picked up by a man with an American accent. “Michael Chester speaking. How can I help you, Alec?”
“Are you my father’s secretary?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I need you to get a message to him urgently. Can you do that for me?”
There was a moment of silence and I wondered if the call had been cut off. Then Michael Chester said, “I can’t do that at the moment, Alec.”
“What? Why not? Look, if this is because he thinks I’m calling about the x-rays…”
“No, Alec.” He let out a low sigh and said, “Your father is missing.”
Chapter 10
“What do you mean he’s missing?”
Michael cleared his throat. “He disappeared four days ago. He wasn’t even doing anything dangerous at the time, just going for lunch at The Swan, a pub near here where he eats regularly. He never arrived.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me? You’re looking for him, right? What have you turned up so far? There must be something.”
“Of course we’re looking for him. According to his driver, Thomas insisted on getting out of the car while they were driving through Hyde Park. He said there was something he had to do and that he’d be back shortly. Then he walked into the woods. The driver waited ten minutes before going to look for him. There was no sign of your father in the woods and no one has seen him since.
“We didn’t inform you because the remaining members of the Inner Circle decided there was no need. They were going to handle this themselves and find him.” He paused and then his voice took on a worried tone. “But that was days ago and they don’t seem to be any closer to knowing where he is. I was going to call you, Alec, but I was under strict orders not to give out any information regarding your father’s disappearance.”
Anger rose within me. I should have been told about this the day he went missing, not four days later. Anything could have happened to him and the Inner Circle decided not to tell me?
“You’re probably angry,” Michael said, as if he could detect it over the phone line. “I don’t blame you. And what I’m going to say next might make you angrier but I’m just telling you what’s happening here, all right?”
“What is it?” I asked through gritted teeth, not sure I could get any angrier.
“There’s talk,” Michael said in a hushed tone, “of the Midnight Cabal. I’ve heard a rumor that your father may be a traitor, that he may have gone over to the Cabal willingly.”
I was wrong; I could get angrier. The idea of my father betraying the Society he had dedicated his life to was unthinkable. Whoever was spreading those rumors needed to be stopped. “No one has given more of themselves to the Society than him,” I told Michael.
“I know that,” he agreed. “But you have to realize what we’ve been through lately. Traitors have been revealed at the highest levels. There are changes sweeping through the Society. It’s only natural that when your father disappeared, the rumor surfaced that he was a Cabal member.”
“I need to speak to someone in the Inner Circle,” I said. “I have information I was going to pass on to my father but since he’s not there, I have to give it to someone else.”
“That would be Hans Lieben,” Michael said. “He took over your father’s duties shortly after he disappeared. Lieben is a member of the Inner Circle but I’m not sure I trust him, Alec.” He lowered his voice to a whisper and added, “I’m not sure I trust anyone. Your father is a good man. It doesn’t make sense that they’re saying these things about him.”
“Can you put me through to Lieben?”
“No, I can’t do that. I’m just a lowly secretary as far as Lieben is concerned; he won’t talk to me. The best I can do is to leave a message with his secretary, asking Lieben to contact you.”
“Make sure you tell him it’s urgent,” I said.
“If I find out anything about your father’s whereabouts, I’ll let you know,” he said before hanging up.
I took the phone from my ear and realized I was gripping it so tightly my knuckles were white. My father had dedicated his entire life to the Society of Shadows and there was no way he would defect to the Midnight Cabal. The members of the Inner Circle were crazy if they thought otherwise.
Unless someone was trying to discredit him. Maybe a Cabal member was using the current climate of fear to fan the flames of paranoia until they spread through the Society’s headquarters like wildfire.
“Everything okay?” Leon asked, turning in his seat to face me.
“No, my dad has gone missing.”
His face fell. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Thanks. It sounds like there are search parties out looking for him but they haven’t come up with anything yet.”
“You think he was kidnapped?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You going to fly over to England and look for him?”
“No, the Society has people searching for him and it has more resources than I could ever get my hands on. If anyone can find him, it’s the Society. That’s assuming he wants to be found.”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently, just before he vanished, he told his driver to stop the car and he wandered into the woods at Hyde Park, alone. If he was taken, his abductors would have to know he was going to get out of the car at that exact location and be there waiting for him. It sounds
too implausible. Maybe he disappeared on purpose.”
“Why would he do that?” Leon asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. But the Society is in turmoil. My dad has been rooting out the traitors there. Maybe he needed to escape before he became the target of one of those traitors.”
“It’s possible,” Jim said. “Your father is a clever man. He might have seen danger heading his way and disappeared to avoid it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “The problem is, who’s left in charge of the Society? My dad’s secretary mentioned a man named Hans Lieben. I’ve never heard of him. Have you?”
Jim shook his head. “No, I haven’t. But we don’t know the names of most of the Inner Circle members. Hans Lieben could be one of the good guys.”
“Yeah, I know,” I admitted. “It’s just hard to know who to trust right now.”
“I hear ya,” Jim said, looking at me pointedly in the rearview mirror. I knew he was referring to Gloria.
Turning to her, I said, “Tell me more about these vampires.”
She turned from the window and shrugged. “I’ve told you everything I know. They’re trying to kill me because they want to take over my part of Faerie. My forest.”
“You said they want something that only you know the location of. What is it?”
She sighed and waved me away, turning her attention back to the window. “That is no concern of yours.”
“We’re putting our lives on the line to help you protect this thing. We want to know what it is.”
Gloria sighed as if frustrated. “Our bargain does not include the exchange of information. Your task is merely to protect me.”
“That isn’t the way I do things. I’m of more use to you if I know what these vampires want than if I’m fighting blind. And I don’t like being put in situations where there’s more going on than I’m being told.”
Gloria turned to me and said, “You will escort me to where I need to go and protect me from the vampires and their demon minions. Our deal is as simple as that.”
Dead Ground (Harbinger P.I. Book 4) Page 7
