She's No Faerie Princess

by Christine Warren

  Rachel looked startled, as if she'd forgotten Fiona was there, but when she opened her mouth, her son cut her off.

  "She's right, Mom. You did the right thing," Jake said. He had to clear his throat before he got the words out, but he did, and he even backed them up with a sad crooked little smile. "After all, it would be really unfair of you to die and leave Uncle Tobe paying the rest of my tuition. Especially since I've been thinking about med school."

  She stared at him for a long time while the words sank in. Then she gave a watery hiccupping laugh and reached out to grab her son by the back of the neck and haul him close for a kiss. "Don't worry, kid. You're not getting rid of me anytime soon. But you're still going to have to do your own laundry this weekend."

  Fiona felt the change in the atmosphere of the room. The grief was still there, and the anger, but the worst of the tension had defused. Exhaustion took its place, and Rachel seemed to droop in her chair. She looked tired and worn and a bit numb after the violence of her recollections.

  Her son watched her with concern plain on his face. "Mom, I think you need to go up to bed. Try to get some sleep."

  "I don't think I could, baby. Every time I close my eyes, I just see—" She broke off and looked down.

  "You have to try," Walker said. "You're worn out. Not only is it late, but you've had a huge shock, and you've cried enough to put any five women I know to sleep. You need to at least lie down."

  She shook her head. "You're a sweetheart of a baby brother, Tobias, but I just can't."

  Fiona spoke up. "I understand. I'm sure the last thing you need is to shut your eyes and start reliving the past few hours, but if you want, I could maybe help you sleep. Keep you from having nightmares."

  For the first time since they'd walked in the door, the Lupine woman seemed to really see Fiona. Rachel's face smoothed into a mask of polite interest, but something deeper lurked behind it. Curiosity, maybe, and speculation. "I'm sorry. It's really rude of me, but I'm afraid I can't remember your name."

  "It's not rude at all. My name is Fiona. I just wish we were meeting under different circumstances."

  Rachel nodded. "So do I. Especially since this is the first time my baby brother has ever brought a woman home to meet his family." She slid Walker a reproving glance. "How long have you two been seeing each other?"

  "Not long." Walker went from looking alternately concerned and homicidal to looking decidedly uncomfortable.

  "I had just come into the city for a visit when I ran into your brother." That sounded good. True, as far as it went, but vague enough not to start trouble. "He's been letting me tag along with him."

  "Oh, right." The speculation in Rachel's eyes shifted into a frank evaluation of Fiona's merits and flaws. She tried not to shift from one foot to the other. "And did you say you're a witch?"

  Fiona shook her head. "No."

  "I'd just assumed, since you offered me something to help me sleep. Did you mean some kind of herbal thing, then?"

  "No. I'm not a witch, but I do have some magic," she said, wondering what Walker wanted her to reveal and what he wanted her to conceal. "The offer was genuine. Just a tiny little suggestion, and you could get to sleep without having any nightmares."

  Rachel looked uncomfortable, as if she was trying to figure out how to refuse without sounding rude. "Thanks, but, uh, I'll be fine. The tea is great. It always helps me sleep."

  "Fiona isn't a sorcerer, Rach, and she's not going to turn you into a toad," Walker said, his eyes on the woman he'd claimed as his mate. "She's Fae."

  His sister's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

  Walker shook his head.

  Rachel stared at him for a long minute before she seemed to realize he wasn't going to grin and tell her he was joking. Her eyes narrowed on his face; then she turned and took another look at Fiona. Brushing her brother's hands away, she stepped closer and gave the Fae a head-to-toe once-over. She took another step, and her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply. Her chin hit her chest, and she spun back to face her brother.

  "You're kidding me!"

  Fiona's stomach did that nasty clenching thing again as she braced herself for Rachel's next words. She hadn't realized how important it was that Walker's family liked her. Or at least didn't consider her a huge mistake on his part.

  Well, if Rachel Chase didn't like the idea of her brother taking Fiona to mate, she thought, that was just too bad. She'd have to learn to deal with it, the same way Fiona had. No princess of her family line had ever backed down from a fight, and no one had ever mentioned any of them losing one, either. She held her head high and waited for the other woman to rail at her brother for his choice of partners.

  "Tobias Adam Walker, I can't believe you didn't tell me the very minute this happened! What were you thinking?"

  The words sounded like what Fiona had expected, but the tone didn't. Instead of anger and disapproval, Rachel's voice held excitement and laughter completely at odds with the emotions she'd expressed for most of the evening. When she launched herself into her brother's arms and planted a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek, Fiona felt almost as dazed as he looked.

  "Congratulations! This is wonderful!" Rachel kissed Walker again, then released him to pounce on Fiona and haul her into an enthusiastic hug. "Oh, I'm so happy for both of you!"

  Pulling back, Rachel looked down into Fiona's nonplussed face and smiled. Then sniffled. Fiona felt a surge of alarm.

  "I'm so happy," Rachel said again, quieter this time. "I can't think of anything else that could have made me smile tonight, so it looks like I'm doubly in your debt, Fiona. Once for taking this big lug off the family's hands, and once for giving me something to be happy about on the second-worst day of my life." She leaned down and kissed Fiona's cheek. "I don't know if that was the magic you were talking about, but it sure worked like a charm."

  * * *

  CHAPTER 20

  It took another half hour or so to drag themselves away from Rachel's house. First she'd had to hug each of them another twenty or thirty times; then Jake had needed to put his own two cents' worth of congratulations in, along with a teasing comment or two about "spoiled princesses" not seeming so bad once you got to know them better. Which, of course, had meant Walker had to box his nephew's ears for referring to his mate with that particularly appreciative glint in his eyes.

  Rachel had wanted to pop open a bottle of champagne and toast the new couple, a suggestion that Fiona had greeted with a smile that failed to completely conceal the look of panic in her pretty purple eyes. In sympathy with that feeling, Walker had found a polite way to refuse and accompanied it with a promise that he'd bring Fiona back for a real celebration another night.

  Even though Rachel's state of mind had drastically improved since the discovery of the happy news, Walker hadn't liked the idea of leaving her and Jake all alone in their town house. He'd called and arranged for a couple of her friends to come and stay the night and made Jake promise to call if there was any trouble. Walker would have preferred to stay with them himself, but he and Fiona had work to do. Before tonight, the need to find the demon had been motivated mostly by duty and an innate desire to see justice done for the humans he had never met. Now, his abstract desire for justice had become a very concrete need to avenge himself on the thing that had killed a long-standing friend and threatened the safety of his family.

  He waited until they left Rachel's building before he flipped open his cell phone and dialed Graham's number for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last week. Graham would fill Rafe in, Walker knew, but his first loyalty was to the pack, and his first instinct was always to alert the alpha. That was how packs operated.

  "We've got a problem," Walker barked as soon as the other man answered.

  "I know. Is Rachel okay?"

  "Yeah. She wasn't hurt, just shaken up. Maggie and Samantha are on their way over to her place. They're going to spend the night."

  "Good. I managed to get a pack member on the homi
cide squad. Shel—I mean, the body is on its way to the morgue and Adam and Annie are right behind it."

  "We can be there in twenty."

  "Walker, we need to find this thing," Graham said, his voice low and intense. "Not just because of Shelby, though God knows that makes me want to rip it apart with my bare teeth and dance in the leftovers, but…"

  "But what?"

  "The negotiations. The delegates voted this morning. The Europeans and the Asians will ratify the basic language of the declaration of rights. With them on our side, we think the Africans and the Americans can be persuaded. But if news of these demon attacks gets out before the signatures are on the document, we'll be in trouble."

  "Yeah, I got that, Cuz. Trust me, I'm giving this everything I've got."

  He hung up and headed for the corner to hail a cab.

  Fiona hadn't said much since Rachel's congratulations, but she followed along behind him, her silly pink sneakers soundless on the pavement. He really hoped she wasn't gearing up for another argument about their relationship.

  If she wanted to brood, that was fine. He sat in the taxi beside her and stared out the window, trying to pretend that he wasn't acutely aware of every breath she took. It didn't feel like she was brooding, though. She lacked the requisite pout and the air of wounded dignity. Instead, she just seemed to be lost in thought, her expression pensive but neutral in the light that shone through the taxi's windows.

  The cabbie let them out a block from the hospital's entrance, and Walker and Fiona made their way inside to the elevators. Even after visiting hours, the hospital buzzed with activity, but no one gave them a second glace as they stepped into the car and pushed the button for the basement. Morgues were always in basements. An irony, considering what store humans put in the idea of heaven as a celestial realm high above them.

  Graham had been as good as his word. When Walker and Fiona arrived at the morgue, Adam was waiting outside. He used his key card to open the locked door and ushered them inside.

  "Sorry to see you back so soon," he said, and the bags under his eyes looked even more pronounced than they had the other day. "Annie is inside. She seems to feel a connection to these victims, and she's a hell of a scientist. She's been playing forensic investigator. Looking for trace evidence before I do the autopsy."

  Walker nodded and stepped farther into the cool, sterile, windowless room that housed the hospital's morgue. It seemed odd somehow that the institutional green paint and spotless tile should look familiar to him. If that didn't mean he'd spent too much time around death lately, he didn't know what did.

  He avoided looking at the autopsy table and the calm, efficient brunette who hovered over it. That was Shelby Lupo on that table, not some strange human, but a pack member and a longtime friend at that. He didn't want to see her this way, to have to acknowledge that he'd never see her any other way again. Fiona must have read his expression. Her small hand slipped into his and squeezed in reassurance.

  His own hand tightened along with his heart. It amazed him that he could need her so much so fast. Already he was coming to rely on her in a way he'd never relied on anyone else. It both unnerved him and exhilarated him.

  Adam saw them stop just inside the room and paused beside Walker. "I'm sorry," he said. He didn't touch the higher-ranking male, but his voice held the same intent as a sympathetic hand on the shoulder. "The alpha said she was a friend of your family. We're hoping the princess can pick something up, especially since the… ah, the time of death was so recent. But it isn't pretty. If you don't want to get any closer…"

  Walker stiffened. "I'm fine. I want to see what happened."

  Nodding, Adam fell silent and led the way to the metal table that held Shelby's remains. Annie looked up at their approach, her warm brown eyes filling with sympathy.

  "Walker, I'm so sorry," she said, putting down the large metal tweezers she'd been holding and rounding the end of the table with outstretched arms. Her intent to hug him was clear. "I hope Rachel is okay."

  At his side, Fiona stiffened, and Annie caught the subtle movement. She hesitated, sniffing the air and then freezing just an inch away from embracing her friend and packmate. Her eyes widened. She looked from Fiona to Walker and back again several times in rapid succession before she yanked her arms back and clasped her hands together behind her back. She took one large Simon Says step backward.

  "Ah, well… um, let me know if there's anything I can do."

  Beside him, Fiona relaxed, and he could sense her satisfaction. Walker found himself almost amused in spite of the situation. "Thanks, Annie. We appreciate it."

  Exchanging looks of mutual understanding, Annie and Adam retreated to the far side of the examination table from the newly mated couple and made sure to keep their eyes focused on their work.

  Walker tried to avoid doing the same. Adam had gotten it right. It wasn't pretty.

  If Walker hadn't known the body's identity, he would never have looked at it and thought, Oh, that's Shelby Lupo. He wasn't sure if that counted as a blessing or a curse, but he barely recognized her. Someone had taken care to… reassemble her as neatly and naturally as possible on the shiny table surface, but it was still easy to see where her extensive and ugly wounds had cut clear through muscle and bone. The gash on her neck was one, and similar red lines banded both arms and her right leg halfway up her thigh.

  Gritting his teeth, Walker forced himself to take stock of each injury. If he avoided looking at her face, he realized, it was easier. The scent of her blood and her death made it impossible to pretend she was just another human, but at least he could stop himself from looking at her and seeing her as she had been, whole and healthy and full of energy.

  "I collected whatever trace evidence I found," Annie began, clearing her throat. "There wasn't much, and I think most of it is just crime-scene debris—some gravel, organic matter, a few hairs that seem to belong either to her or to another Lupine. I'm guessing your sister."

  Walker nodded. "Yeah. The thing that attacked them wasn't furry. The hairs have to be either Rachel's or Shel's."

  Annie nodded. "Other than that, there's not much here. I did swab a couple of the wounds that looked more like bites than claw marks. Maybe we can get some information off the saliva. My lab has DNA sequencing equipment, and since I'm the boss I can skip all the red tape Adam would have to deal with here at the hospital. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting."

  Taking his cue, Adam nodded. "I took a quick look at things before you guys got here, and on the surface I'd say this looks a lot like the human woman who was found in the park earlier this week. The wound patterns are consistent—lots of force, no hesitation, really sharp claws. And, of course, the heart is missing again."

  Walker nodded. He had his teeth clenched too hard to say anything.

  "You sound as if there's something more you need to tell us, Adam." Fiona spoke quietly, and her eyes were on the physician, not on the body. "What's the 'but'?"

  Adam shrugged. "It's nothing I can put my finger on. Like I said, the wounds are consistent with those found on the last woman. But," he paused, "there are a lot more of them. There's just a lot more damage overall. It's like the last girl, the thing was just doing a job. Kill the human, spill a little blood, go home, and order a pizza. This time it looks like it took more time, if not with the killing, then with the rest of it."

  "What does that mean?" Walker managed.

  "Well, the decapitation came early on. That jibes with your sister's recollection, but it also explains why a lot of these wounds on the extremities and the torso showed very little evidence of bleeding." Adam made a face. "I don't know if it's much comfort to anyone, but it looks like Shelby was already dead when the thing ripped her apart."

  "Not much comfort, no."

  Adam nodded. "I didn't think so."

  Walker felt Fiona's hand give his another squeeze before she let go and took a step closer to the table. "Is it all right if I look?" she asked. "I'm sure what
you've told us is accurate, but if Shelby can tell us something more, so much the better."

  "Of course. Be my guest."

  The others watched curiously as Fiona took a deep breath and repeated the spell she'd cast on each of the previous demon attack victims. Walker could see the glow that surrounded Shelby's corpse, could even make out some more glyphs like the ones that had appeared on the others, but he still had no idea what they said. He did know, however, that when Fiona swore, her concentration wavering and blinking the spell back out of existence, something was very wrong.

  "What is it?" he barked. He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her away from the table as if he needed to protect her from what lay on it. "What happened? Did you see something?"

  Fiona nodded, and her expression was grim. "Yes. Something bad."

  "What is it?" Annie asked, breathless and wide-eyed.

  "The demon. It's trying to break the hold of its master," she said. "And if it keeps gaining strength this fast, next time, it's going to do it."

  Fiona wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath, maybe in a solution of water and disinfectant. The taint of the demon's foul magic left her feeling contaminated, and that was just from reading the residual magic it had left on its victim.

  She felt Walker's arm slip around her waist and pull her against his side, and she leaned into him gratefully. Being with him made the air seem a little less foul.

  "Are you all right?"

  She nodded. "I'm fine, but this is really bad news, Walker. We need to talk to Graham and Rafe again. And I need to see if I can find Squick. I really, really hope he's been able to turn up something useful."

  "I'll call the club and see if they can meet us," Walker said, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to meet his gaze. "Tell me what you saw."

  She shivered a little and wished her denim jacket would turn into something warmer. She felt a soft flannel lining appear inside the material and knew her energy was waning if she couldn't manage any better than that. She'd done a lot of spells tonight. Small ones, but the drain added up.