by Helen Scott
There was a whispered exchange between the two of them, making Ellie want to rush at them and break them apart. One of her ravens that had been sitting quietly on her shoulder seemed to pick up on her thoughts and flew at them, cawing and flapping around their heads. Once they broke apart, the dark bird flew away, only to circle back and land on her shoulder once more. The pain that sliced through her heart when Rae turned around was unexpected.
The black markings on her face were gone, and the slender facial features were more defined. Her memory flooded her mind with images of her mother. The green eyes and brown hair that Ellie had received from her mother were reflected back at her, but not her facial structure—that all came from her dad. As she looked at Rae, she saw her mother’s face staring back at her. Ellie’s breath started coming fast and shallow as her world narrowed down to a pinprick of light. She focused on the feeling of the raven’s talons digging into her shoulder through her cloak and the weight of the bird as it rested there. Everything else could hold on for a moment while she tried not to flip out.
“Mo nighean donn.” Granddad’s voice came from off to one side as he called her his favorite endearment, his dark-haired lass. “Breathe, Eilidh,” he said, using her full name. He’d always preferred calling her that to Ellie while she was growing up. It was only when she was really an adult that he started calling her Ellie, almost as though he was recognizing that change within her.
“Granddad?” she breathed, though her throat constricted and the image before her blurred with tears.
“My poor lass, such emotion from ye. Do ye miss me that much?” he asked in a joking tone, but Ellie didn’t find it funny.
“How can ye ask me that? You were my family, all of it, and had been for a long time. Of course I missed ye!”
“You’ve a better life now than the one you were living when I was alive. I ken that! So, what is there to miss about me?”
He was right, in part. Her life was better, but that almost made her miss him even more, if that was possible. The slurry of anger and sadness, grief and regret, thundered inside her and came out in a choked voice. “I’m getting married, and you’re not going to be there. You were the most important person in my life, and you won’t be there to see me marry my soulmate. Not only that, but you were wishing your life away when you were alive by not goin’ to the damned doctor when you needed to and messing around with resurrection spells and summoning spells. What were you trying to do? You think Gran would want that?”
“Nay, she didn’t want any of that, but I did. I missed her more than I missed anythin’ ever. It was the worst pain of my life. A pain I hope you never have to feel, although, by the looks of things, ye willnae have to.”
“What does that mean?”
“That wee necklace of yours, an’ the fact that your beau is a siren.” He paused when he saw her startled face. “I ken what’s been goin’ on. He’s a good lad, is Alec. I’m happy you two found each other.”
“Ellie?” Rae’s voice drew her attention away from her grandfather, and the rest of the world suddenly bloomed into focus. “May I give ye a hug?”
Her throat closed up, so she just nodded. When her mother’s arms closed around her, she could feel their wiry strength as the woman squeezed and whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry I dinnae tell ye sooner.”
The clapping sound started as Ellie wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks. She knew if she started crying, she wouldn’t stop. When she looked up, the Cailleach was giving them a round of applause.
“Quite the family reunion!” The woman’s smile was forced, showing too many yellowed teeth, and if Ellie didn’t know better, she would swear the woman looked older, as well. “So, who is going to pay me the tribute I missed out on?”
The question hung in the air. She didn’t understand what the woman was talking about, and with her mom and granddad looking silently at the ground, she didn’t know what else to do. The question slipped from her mouth without her even really intending it. “What tribute?”
“The tribute owed to me as the crone. Your life is never going to end. You’ll never grow into the old woman you were meant to be, and I will never get my tribute because of that.”
“How would me getting old have paid you tribute? It happens to everyone!”
“Child!” The Cailleach spit the word at her like a curse. “You were meant to grow old, and that pays me tribute. You’ve been a maiden, and it is clear that you will be the mother, but you cannot honor me as you should. You have fallen out of alignment with the world, honoring two of the three goddesses.”
“So, you’re the goddess of old age?” Ellie asked with a slightly bemused tone. She hadn’t intended it, but the idea that there was a goddess specifically for old age seemed silly to her.
“Nay, my role is bigger and more complicated than that, but it is part of it.” She sighed, as though the anger and fury that had been flowing through her a moment ago was a thing of the past. “I simply wish for you to accept yourself. You will never be one of my children. You will never be a crone, but I will not stand by and let you only be half the person you are.”
The end of her speech made the hairs on the back of Ellie’s neck stand up. Her grandmother had said something similar to her before she and Granddad had left for the US.
“How can I do that? I don’t even know what I am anymore.”
“Yes, you do!” This came from Rae. “I’ve watched you become a fighter, become a hunter, survive your nightmares, and wield lightning!”
“Those are just things I do, not who I am.”
“True,” Granddad chimed in, “but the parts work together to make up the whole.”
“I’m sorry I have to do this, but you need to accept yourself before you can move on with the rest of your very long life.” The crone tapped forward with her cane, drawing a symbol in the snow.
“Do what?” Dread sank like a stone in her stomach.
“This,” she said as she tapped at the edge of the symbol.
It flew up into the air and smacked Ellie in the chest like a brick. Suddenly she was up in the air, hovering just above the ground, pinned as though her arms and legs were locked. She couldn’t move, couldn’t even wiggle.
The Cailleach slowly walked toward her, as though her body hurt when she moved. As Ellie stared down at the hunched figure, she looked up, her hood falling backward and revealing the haggard side of her face that had been hidden until that moment. The eye socket on her left side was empty, a big gaping black hole where a matching milky blue eye should have been. It was that more than anything that made her shudder, and not just because the eye was missing but because the darkness of the socket was so black that it seemed to go on forever.
A gnarled hand reached up as she leaned heavily on her cane. Ellie glanced at Granddad and implored him with her eyes to stop the madness as her heart beat an odd rhythm in her chest. The ice-cold fingers scraped against her skin as the Cailleach grasped the necklace, her connection to Tír na nÓg and Tapa, the only thing keeping her alive. With one swift tug, she pulled the necklace off.
Chapter 15
Ben shifted uncomfortably in the chair. He’d tried to wake Imogen hours ago, but she didn’t budge, so he kept watch while she slept. When his phone buzzed, he snatched it up from the side table. Alec was requesting a location for him to jump to. Since the speakeasy was warded, his brother-in-law wouldn’t be able to just appear in their room, which would, of course, have been easiest. Ben responded with where to meet him and had advised Alec that he needed to wake Imogen, so it might be a few minutes, and in response, he’d received a frowny face emoji. He hadn’t thought Alec would know what emojis were, but after a moment’s thought, he realized Ellie must have dragged him kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.
“Mo.” Ben touched the woman’s shoulder, trying to wake her as gently as possible. Her dark chocolate-brown hair had fallen over most of her face as she slept, and he thought he spied some drool on the pillo
w, which made him happy. At least someone was getting a good night’s, or day’s, sleep. “Imogen, wake up.”
“Hmm.” The sleepy noise barely made it past the woman’s lips. When her eyes opened and saw Ben, they widened to the point that it almost looked as though they might pop.
“It’s just me. We were tracking together last night.” He spoke the words quietly and quickly so that she didn’t scream and scare anyone in the surrounding rooms, not that they’d come to investigate, but damaging his reputation in a place like this wasn’t something he was particularly eager to do.
She froze for a moment, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her head as her brain caught up with her body. A beat later, she relaxed and said, “Sorry, I’m not used to waking up in strange places with strange men standing over me.”
“No worries. I’m glad you slept well.”
“Am I on watch?” she asked. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion as she took in the light dimming behind the curtained window.
“No, but Alec’s outside, so we need to go meet him.”
“Did you not sleep?” Imogen stretched her arms over her head, and Ben backed away from her. The woman was confusing as all hell, fragile and strong, scared and comfortable. He was getting whiplash from the speed of the changes.
He shrugged in reply. What was he going to say, “You passed out so hard, I couldn’t wake you up to keep watch”? Or that he suspected if he had been able to rouse her, she would have just fallen asleep in the chair? No, it was better that he stood, well, sat, guard all day while she slept. Plus, this way she could report back to her pack how much of a gentleman he was for letting her sleep.
When she finally stood and looked awake and ready to go, he said, “We have to go out the way we came in. Try not to make eye contact with any of the patrons. Now that the sun’s going down, they are about to get busy, and these places can get pretty rowdy with the different beings.”
She nodded at him, and he took her hand just for good measure. They opened the door and weaved their way down the stairs and back into the bar. The exit was close enough that he’d thought they’d made a clean getaway, but then her hand clenched painfully around his. He paused. Ben looked over his shoulder and saw her wide eyes had a gold tint to them.
“We’re almost outside, just follow me,” he whispered under his breath.
Reluctantly, she began to move along behind him once more, and as they crossed the last threshold into the restaurant on the ground floor, he practically sighed with relief.
“Someone up there smelled like the glove.” The words came out through gritted teeth and were partially a growl.
Ben wasn’t sure what it was about the glove that had set her wolf so close to the surface, but he didn’t like it. “Come on, I want to talk to Alec before we make any decisions.”
They left the restaurant and rounded the end of the block to find an alleyway that went behind the buildings for deliveries, where Alec paced.
“What’s goin’ on, boss?” Ben asked, seriously worried about whatever shitstorm had pulled Alec away last night.
“Oh, just the usual. Gods dicking with us, most likely, or unruly blood magic, or a combo.” The other man snarled the words as he spoke, as though each one only served to ratchet his frustration and anger higher.
Ben knew the last thing Alec wanted was to be there with him, so he gave him the fastest, most efficient rundown that he could.
“Glove?”
Ben pulled the glove from his pocket where he’d been keeping it and handed it to his friend, glancing over his shoulder at Imogen. Her eyes glowed with the wolf inside. By the gods, he hoped that she could keep it under control.
The siren was muttering under his breath, and the glove began to inch along his outstretched hand in one clear direction.
“Okay, so we can go back in and figure out who’s in there and interrogate them, if you want?”
“I can easily pick them out of the room,” Imogen chimed in.
Alec grunted an agreement. “Find out what you can and text me before you do anything with the info.” He seemed to turn like he was going to leave, before running his hand through his hair and turning back to them. “You should know . . . Ellie is under some kind of spell. I have a witch, who happens to also be a doctor, helping me, but we aren’t sure what is going on or how to get her to wake up. I’m sorry I’ve left this in your lap.”
“Alec, man, it’s okay. You take care of your lady. Imogen and I will figure this shit out and keep you in the loop.”
“Thanks. The thing is . . . I need to be there when the fae are found, so if you think you have info that will get us there, then let me know. I need to be able to tell the Morrigan exactly what was going on, who took them, and assure her that they’ve paid for making that mistake.”
“I understand.” Ben nodded his head. Before the man could leave, he asked, “Do you know anything about fae biology?”
“Looking to get lucky?” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not exactly what I was thinking. The glove was wet on one side with something—blood, maybe? I’m not sure what it was. It wasn’t red like our blood, but I didn’t know if fae blood was different. The stuff was kinda tacky. like blood that had started to dry, but it was clear.”
“You could have started with that before you put the thing in my hand.” Alec looked down at his hand with an almost disgusted expression on his face, which was only overshadowed by his obvious exhaustion. “I have no clue, but I can ask the Morrigan and let you know.”
Alec patted Ben on the shoulder and disappeared.
He looked over at Imogen. “Look, I’m not trying to be a dick, but are you going to be able to keep your wolf under control when we go in there?”
“For not trying to be a dick, you sure sound like one.” Imogen stepped back from him slightly and wrapped her arms around herself.
“I’m sorry. I just want to know what I’m getting into when we go back inside.”
“Can I see the glove?” One hand unwound from her tiny waist and extended toward him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked as he pulled the glove out from his pocket once more.
She nodded, and he dropped it into her waiting hand. Immediately her eyes turned a wolfish gold, and he could swear he heard a growl, but other than that, she remained human. As much as he wished he could suppress it, a shiver of fear and anticipation skated up his spine.
“You’re scared of me?” She whispered the question as pain shimmered in her eyes, and he was immediately swamped in guilt.
“I don’t want to be, but what Valentina said put me on edge, that’s all.” He knew he was passing the buck, but he didn’t care.
“What did she say?” The woman’s beautiful pale eyes turned shrewd as she pinned them on him, watching for every minute reaction.
“That you have amazing control over your wolf, but if it came out, then I needed to get the hell out of dodge, so to speak.”
Her shoulders sagged at his words. “Is that it?”
“Yeah, we were just talking about keeping you safe, that’s all.”
Her face paled for a moment. “I need you to know . . . I trust my alpha. She’s wonderful, but I was worried she may have overshared.”
He smiled at her, but he could feel that it was tight on his face. “Your relationship with your alpha is none of my business. Now, come on, if you’re okay, we should get back in there so we don’t miss them.”
As they walked back into the restaurant, the man behind the counter simply nodded at them in greeting. They were up the stairs moments later, and Ben pulled his coin out for the bouncer once more. The big man moved aside, and as they walked into the club proper, the atmosphere was already starkly different than it was the last time they’d entered, and radically different from when they’d first entered that morning.
In the short amount of time they’d been outside with Alec, the club had filled almost to capacity. Most people looke
d human, but they all had to be supernatural beings in one way or another to be in there, which meant that whomever the glove belonged to had sold out another being. That was bound to create bad blood between the society and whoever owned the glove.
The only seats available were at the bar itself, which was fine. He sat Imogen in the corner so she could be facing outward toward the crowd, while he faced the bar and kept his senses on high alert. Most of the time when he’d been in the society bars, it had never been a big deal, but when it was? Oh, man. Knockdown, drag-out brawls ensued. Shifters, vamps, demigods, they all seemed to love a good fight, and since they kept themselves hidden most of the time, the aggression could build up, and suddenly each person in there was a powder keg waiting to explode.
When the bartender came over and asked for their order, Ben kept it simple with a couple glasses of wine. His body processed alcohol too quickly for it to affect him, so he wasn’t worried about a couple glasses of wine while he waited for Imogen’s tracking abilities to work their magic. Her eyes had been tinged with gold since they walked in, and while he wasn’t worried about her wolfing out on him anytime soon, it was still unsettling.
He could feel a man approaching them; waves of predatory energy hit him in the back like a tsunami. “Well, hey there, sweet thing. Haven’t seen you in here before. You new?” The man’s voice was low and attempting to be sultry behind him.
Imogen reached over and took Ben’s hand. “Not interested, but thanks.”
“This little thing? He ain’t even big enough for me to snack on.”
“Big enough to put my foot up your ass,” Ben said, slowly turning around on his bar stool, knowing that he probably should have just ignored the asshole.
The man behind him was bigger than he’d expected and could probably kick his butt, which was what was about to happen judging by the expression on the guy’s face.
