Black Spring

by Christina Henry

  11

  I might not want to use that power, but dark magic has a life of its own. If I had not been weakened by the shifter’s spell, there was a chance I could have suppressed the darkness. But it sensed a threat, and I wasn’t strong enough to hold it.

  The darkness surged forward in a great explosion of power, which was immediately noticed by everyone in the room. Unfortunately, the shifter sensed the change in me and abandoned its efforts almost immediately. Its desire to remain anonymous was obviously greater than its need to defeat me, at least for the moment. I hoped that Beezle had been able to find the creature before it dropped the spell.

  Nathaniel had pulled me into his embrace when I staggered, and I knew the darkness inside him answered the call of my own. His eyes changed color for a moment, burning midnight-dark.

  “None of that, now,” J.B. said briskly, and he scooped his arm around my waist and pulled me away from Nathaniel, breaking the connection.

  The surge of dark power was also broken, like water had been thrown over me. I gave J.B. a grateful glance as he settled me back on my feet.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “No problem,” he replied softly. “I just didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the basement of my building. I didn’t think you’d appreciate it if everyone in the room was watching you and Nathaniel.”

  The whole room was quiet, and I could feel the curious glances of the guests. I also felt the pleasure that Lucifer had experienced when he witnessed my little display. Pleasure, and curiosity. He was surely wondering what had caused me to lose control.

  I kept my eyes steady on J.B. “Everyone is watching me, aren’t they?”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “But if we’re lucky, something more interesting will happen in a minute and they’ll go back to their business.”

  “I’m not usually that lucky,” I said.

  As it turned out, I was. A servant entered the room from side doors and announced that dinner was to be served. The guests immediately queued up at the door to the dining room. I guess that free dinner trumps all things, even if you’re a supernatural.

  Nathaniel, J.B. and I waited while everyone else flowed around us. A moment later we were rejoined by Beezle, Jude and Samiel. I could tell by the irritated look on Beezle’s face that they had been unable to finish the tracking.

  “You couldn’t have held on to your control for one more minute?” Beezle said. “I almost had him. I think.”

  “Did you see anyone familiar in the area where the spell was going?” I asked.

  Beezle shrugged. “It was going in the direction of Focalor’s party. But let’s not make any assumptions.”

  “Yeah, let’s not make any assumptions just because Focalor has tried to kill me a few times before,” I said.

  “Sure, but he could also be fooled by the shifter pretending to be a member of his group. Jude said that the wolves didn’t even suspect the shifter was among them,” Beezle said.

  “The gargoyle is correct,” Jude said. “While Focalor may be involved, it’s best not to assume he is. We don’t want to miss the real culprit because of past prejudice.”

  “How about you give Focalor’s table a good hard stare anyway?” I said to Beezle as we joined the rear of the throng making its way toward the dining room.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I will,” Beezle said. “Even if he isn’t the shifter’s master, he’s probably up to no good. He can’t seem to help himself.”

  We were among the last to enter the dining room, which was already arranged for the reception the next day. There was a long table at the front of the room for Lucifer and Evangeline and Puck and Alerian. Other groups were seated at small round tables scattered throughout the room. I looked for Michael, since his status as Lucifer’s only friend would seem to indicate that he be seated at the upper table. But he was elsewhere, with a small knot of angels who all appeared to have come from the same place as Michael. No fallen there, so they must have been Michael’s entourage.

  “So, do we just sit anywhere, then?” I asked. I was still feeling a little woozy and wanted to get in a seat as soon as possible.

  A servant materialized at my left elbow. “Ms. Black, you and your guests are to come with me. King Jonquil is to join his party at table thirty-one.”

  It took me a moment to realize who King Jonquil was. J.B. frowned.

  “I will take care of her,” Nathaniel said quietly.

  “I know you will,” J.B. said. “I just don’t want to go back to my own people.”

  I patted J.B. on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be able to ditch them at the reception tomorrow.”

  “Don’t be so certain,” J.B said. “I’m probably going to have to dance with every female in the group just so no one is offended.”

  He walked away toward the faerie table as we followed the beckoning servant.

  There was an empty round table just underneath the raised front table where Lucifer, his brothers and his bride-to-be were on display in front of the whole room. The servant indicated that Samiel and Jude should sit. I started to pull out a chair, but the servant shook his head.

  “Ms. Black, you are to join your grandfather at the main table, as is your escort,” he said, indicating Nathaniel.

  I gave the servant a dirty look. “No way.”

  He seemed taken aback at my vehemence. “But Lord Lucifer wishes . . .”

  “I’m not sitting up there like a monkey on display,” I said.

  The servant hesitated, uncertain how to handle an intractable grandchild of his master. Suddenly Lucifer himself was there, speaking quietly to the servant, then guiding me toward the upper table. Nathaniel followed behind.

  “There is no need to, as you would put it, shoot the messenger,” Lucifer said. I thought he would remark on my inappropriate attire, but he said nothing about it. “The servant was simply doing as I asked.”

  “I don’t want to sit where everyone can gawp at me,” I said.

  “But I do want you to sit where everyone can see you, especially after that little display,” Lucifer said, and his voice was filled with deep satisfaction. “Everyone in this room has now felt what my granddaughter is capable of.”

  He steered me to the chair to his immediate left and seated Nathaniel beside me. There was a small plate in between our chairs for Beezle, who hopped down and rubbed his hands together.

  “When’s the first course? I didn’t get any of those appetizers that were circling the room with the cocktails,” Beezle said.

  Servants were moving around the room spooning soup into bowls, so Beezle didn’t have long to wait. I averted my eyes once he started eating. Soup and Beezle are not a good combination, especially since Beezle won’t wear a bib.

  Evangeline was on Lucifer’s right with Alerian and Puck beside her. There was an empty chair next to Nathaniel’s. Lucifer saw me looking at it.

  “That is for Daharan. I am frankly surprised he did not arrive with you,” Lucifer said.

  “I haven’t seen him for three days,” I said. “He walked out of the house and never came back. I thought you might have something to do with his disappearing act, actually. You or Alerian.”

  “Not Puck?” Lucifer asked with a raised eyebrow as he sat down.

  “My impression was that he liked to keep his distance from Daharan,” I said.

  Lucifer laughed, and Evangeline glared in my direction. That is, she glared as much as an eyeless person can. My many-greats-grandmother has no particular love for me. She does not like anyone who distracts Lucifer’s attention from her. I really wanted to tell her she could have him and all the baggage that came with him.

  I studiously looked down at my plate as dinner was served. I was more than a little irritated that Lucifer had managed to turn the attempt on my life into an advantage for himself. Especially since he’d expressed no interest in the reason why I was using magic in the first place.

  Unless he knows why, I thought. Unless he knows who th
e shifter’s master is. Unless he IS the shifter’s master.

  I paused, my soup spoon halfway to my lips. It was possible. It was just possible that Lucifer, like Puck before him, was manipulating me. Lucifer wanted me to come to the dark side. What better way to get me over there than to threaten my life again and again, make me lose my control of my power?

  It would even fit in with Daharan’s warning to Jude to look to his past for the reason why his pack was being targeted by an unknown enemy. Lucifer and Judas had a long and storied relationship, and Lucifer seemed to enjoy messing with Jude’s head for petty reasons of his own.

  I glanced at Lucifer from the corner of my eye, wondering. My grandfather was feeding Evangeline morsels from his own plate. Their overly affectionate display made me shudder. Beezle looked up from his intense concentration on his meal.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” I said, and went back to eating. It was some kind of squash soup, and it tasted pretty good.

  After a bit, the soup plates were cleared away and out came a salad. Beezle moved the greens around his plate in distaste.

  “Rabbit food,” he pronounced.

  “Not everything can be deep-fried,” I said.

  “Even lettuce could be improved by the liberal application of beer batter and frying oil,” he said. “And maybe cheese sauce.”

  The resulting image was so unappetizing that I pushed my salad fork away. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore during dinner. Somehow I always end up losing my appetite.”

  Nathaniel opened his mouth, doubtless to inform me that I needed to eat to keep the baby healthy, but Lucifer beat him to it.

  “You must eat, Madeline,” Lucifer said. “My grandson needs plenty of nourishment. He is growing quickly.”

  “As is our own child,” Evangeline cut in, possessively rubbing the bulge of her belly.

  “Of course,” Lucifer said. “But I do not have to fret over you eating enough. You are staying here under my watchful eye, which Madeline refuses to do.”

  “I am certain Madeline is old enough to take care of herself,” Evangeline said dismissively. “I don’t see that it is necessary for her to house with us.”

  Lucifer clearly did not care for Evangeline’s attitude. “Madeline has been involved in many dangerous incidents since becoming pregnant. And every child of my line is important to me.”

  He said this with a finality that made it clear he would not tolerate any disparaging remarks about me or my offspring.

  “Of course, darling,” Evangeline cooed, but her face was wrinkled in distaste.

  It was no secret that Evangeline wanted Lucifer to prioritize her child over all his others—his many, many others. Lucifer certainly had not been faithful to Evangeline’s memory in the years since she had been taken from him. But Evangeline had a special hatred for me, because I would not allow myself to be used as her tool of revenge against Ariell and Ramuell.

  The funny thing was that the reason Lucifer held me in such high esteem was because I was the last direct link to the children he’d had with Evangeline so many centuries before. Evangeline didn’t share his nostalgic feelings. She saw me as an obstacle to her goal—the complete and total monopolization of Lucifer’s affection. She didn’t just want to be queen of his kingdom. She wanted to be queen of his heart, and she would do anything to get that.

  I had noticed that Zaniel was not seated at the main table, even though he was Lucifer’s son. He was at a table with several other angelic-looking creatures, who were quite possibly his half siblings. I wondered why Lucifer had put his other children at another table when he was so interested in a show of family strength. Was it because those children had not shown themselves to be exceptional? Or was it Evangeline’s influence? If she had her way, she would probably eliminate every child of Lucifer’s bloodline, excepting her own and starting with me.

  There were already plenty of people present who would be happy to see me dead. Focalor. Alerian. Oberon. Nameless members of the faerie court who hated me for killing Amarantha and Titania. In fact, when I glanced around at the tables full of guests talking and laughing, I did not see a convivial party. I saw a nest of vipers waiting to strike. I pushed the plate of salad away from me to indicate that it could be cleared.

  “See, you don’t want the rabbit food, either,” Beezle said.

  “I just don’t have much appetite right now,” I said quietly, hoping Lucifer would not overhear. He was engaged in conversation with Evangeline and Puck, any previous signs of strife forgotten. “For some reason I keep thinking about all the people in this room who want to kill me.”

  “Yes, I keep thinking of that as well,” Nathaniel said.

  He had been so quiet that I’d nearly forgotten his presence. Now I realized he was on high alert, like Samiel and Jude. Waves of tension radiated off him.

  “Gargoyle, can you not see the shapeshifter in this room?” Nathaniel said. “His presence should be easy to discern with all of the guests before you.”

  Beezle shook his head. Despite his protestations of “rabbit food,” I noticed he was gnawing on a piece of carrot. “He must have slipped out another door when everyone exited the main hall.”

  “So he’s probably not disguised as one of the guests,” I said. “The people who arrived with him would notice him missing, especially during dinner.”

  Beezle nodded. “It would be easier to impersonate a servant. You would have an excuse to come and go, then.”

  “Or to get close to your target,” Nathaniel said as the main course was carried out on large trays. “I hope you are watching everyone who approaches Madeline closely, gargoyle.”

  “Don’t tell me how to do my job, half-blood,” Beezle said. “I’ve been a home guardian longer than you’ve had wings.”

  “Don’t bicker,” I said. “It’s bad enough that we’ve got enemies all around us. I don’t want us to fight among ourselves, too.”

  “You must be feeling bad if you don’t want us to bicker,” Beezle said. “You’ve perfected arguing to an art form.”

  “Says the gargoyle who taught me everything I know,” I said.

  The salad plates were taken away and replaced with a filet of beef stacked on top of root vegetables and artfully drizzled with some kind of sauce. Pink juice oozed from the steak and my gorge rose. There was no way I could stomach eating meat right now, especially since the effects of the shifter’s spell were lingering. Beezle, naturally, dove into his plate like he had not eaten in a hundred years.

  Nathaniel was making a show of eating, but I noticed he was picking at his food. When I looked over at Samiel and Jude, seated at the table just below ours, neither of them was eating, either. They weren’t even pretending to communicate with each other. Both of them shifted restlessly in their chairs, glancing up at the head table and then around the room. I knew for sure that Jude would have preferred to shift into wolf form and walk the perimeter. Unfortunately, Lucifer seemed to want to give a more upscale impression.

  I found J.B.’s table among the throng of guests. He appeared to fare no better than the rest of us. He was pushing food around his plate, twirling his wineglass and generally doing a bad impression of a person enjoying himself. I’m certain that any courtiers trying to get his attention were getting curt answers.

  It was a fact that none of us could really relax in Lucifer’s presence, and the additional bonus of Alerian and Puck wasn’t helping. I know that Beezle and Nathaniel would disagree with me, but I would feel a lot better if Daharan were with us.

  Daharan was the eldest, he seemed to be the most powerful, and the other three were respectful of his presence. Plus, out of all the brothers, Daharan liked me best, no matter what lip service Lucifer paid to valuing all of the children of his line. And it would be really, really nice to have someone big and superstrong who liked me the best backing me up.

  But where was he?

  Beezle polished off the filet on his plate with a smack of
his lips. “Are you going to eat that?”

  I shook my head. Lucifer glanced over at me, frowning, although he didn’t make another remark about my need to feed the baby. Which meant that he was definitely listening to everything that went on at my side of the table no matter what impression he gave to Evangeline.

  I had to get out of this place. Nothing good was going to come of my staying under Lucifer’s roof.

  Beezle shoved his empty plate away and pulled my plate in front of him. If nothing else, we had to get out of here before Beezle gained twenty pounds gorging himself on food from Lucifer’s kitchen.

  After the first course came a second course of gnocchi in pesto. I thought that the pasta course should have come before the meat course but, as Beezle pointed out, I knew nothing about etiquette and even less about formal dinners. Once upon a time I’d been a food writer, so I knew how to cook and could recognize good food when I saw it, but serving it was beyond me. I hadn’t had many opportunities in my life to play entertainer.

  I had a few bites of gnocchi so that Lucifer wouldn’t pay any more attention to me than he already was. He nodded in satisfaction every time he looked over and saw me chewing.

  Alerian sat at the opposite end of the table next to Puck, and he appeared to be steadily drinking his way through several bottles of wine. He did not speak to anyone and resisted Puck’s attempts to draw him out by glaring every time his brother spoke to him. Nathaniel was equally silent and stoic at my end, so the two looked like a pair of frozen bookends.

  Was Alerian anxious in the presence of his brothers? Or was he irritated at being away from water, the source of his magic? I wasn’t an expert in geography and I had not seen the outside of Lucifer’s home, but I was under the impression that his mansion was in or near Los Angeles. And I thought Los Angeles was at least kind of close to the ocean. Alerian could draw more power from the Pacific Ocean than from Lake Michigan, I would think.