And with that, he motioned us out of the throne room.
BY THE TIME we returned to John’s yard, stepping through the scarlet oak portal, two hours had passed. It felt like far longer, but that’s how interdimensional realms tended to work. Herne pulled out his cell phone, checking to see if he had any messages.
“Talia wants to know if we’re back yet. I’ll text her that we are on the way.”
I glanced at my wrist, which Ferosyn had wrapped again. It wasn’t hurting as much, and the jar of salve was comfortably tucked away in my bag.
“So what did you think of my father?” Herne held the car door open for me and I slid into the passenger seat, fastening my seatbelt.
I had expected the question and was prepared with an answer.
“He’s intimidating. I sure as hell wouldn’t want him angry at me. But he was really nice, and I wasn’t as afraid of him as I thought I would be.”
Herne’s phone rang and he answered it before turning on the ignition.
“Cernunnos,” he mouthed to me. “Yes? Uh-huh, really? So what does that mean for us?” He paused, frowning. “Can you send me the information? Email me the file, if you would. All right, thank you.” Again, he paused. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she? She said she liked you, too.”
As he popped his phone back in his pocket and started the car, I waited for him to tell me what he had found out. I already knew he had been talking about me at the end.
“My father likes you a lot. He says you have spunk. That’s a compliment. It looks like we are dealing with Blackthorn, the King of Thorns. My father is emailing me a file on him now. He warned me to be very careful. Blackthorn is highly dangerous. He’s extremely old, which makes him even more cunning. He’s going to hold off talking to Astrana for as long as he can.”
“Then we’ve bought a little time before she figures out we’re on to things. Once he gets back to her, she’ll know we talked to Cernunnos and told him everything. Or will she? Is there any chance that she’ll assume he made an arbitrary decision without finding out the facts?” It wasn’t likely, but I could hope.
“I don’t think so. She’s not stupid. My father’s right, we have to walk carefully on this one. Considering what those bushes did to your wrist, I think that being tangled up in an entire patch of them could very quickly lead to death.”
“Do you think the murder victims found out something about Blackthorn and were going to cause trouble?”
Herne turned onto Oceanside Drive. “That seems like it would be a possibility, except for the timing. They died during two time periods per year. Near Beltane and near Samhain. When did all the missing people vanish?”
I thought for a moment. “It had to be during those time periods. They were the only ones we checked the papers for. April and May, and October and November.”
“That’s hard to ignore. Some of the Ante-Fae are drawn into the cyclical nature of the year. There’s something ritualistic about these murders. Which means they’ll continue until we put a stop to them.” He paused. “Wait, why did we just look during those times?”
“Rosetta told us she looked into it and suggested we check those periods. Why? Do you think there might be others throughout the year?”
Herne paused, staring at the road as we drove. “I don’t know. My head says yes, we should go back and check every single month. My gut tells me no, that we’re onto the right path.”
“Then go with your gut. I know it’s counter to logic, but there’s a reason your father put you in charge of the agency. But we can always have Talia or Yutani go back over it, if you like.” I paused. “How long has Blackthorn been in this area? If it’s longer than thirty or so years, why weren’t there unexplained murders before then? Or were they just never found or recorded? Has this been going on since he came to the area? And if not, why did it start now? Or rather, forty years ago? What set off the spree?”
“Maybe the file my father emailed us will answer some of those questions. They’re good considerations, though.” Herne parked the car. “It really does seem unlikely that, after thousands of years, one of the Ante-Fae would suddenly turn into a serial murderer. I don’t know, Ember. I’m perplexed. Come on, the file’s in my inbox so let’s go inside and have a look.”
As we headed into the hotel, my phone rang. I glanced at the Caller ID. It was Rachel Madison, the real estate agent. “Hello?”
“Well, if you still want it, the owner has accepted your offer. The house is yours, pending inspection.” She sounded almost giddy. I supposed I would, too, if I finally sold a house that had been on the market for well over a year.
“Yes, I do! I will set up an inspection as soon as I can. I’d like to be there, but I’m not sure how much longer this case is going to take.”
“Just let me know by tomorrow if you’ve been able to reach anybody. We should get this going as soon as possible.” Which was code for: I really don’t want this to fall through, can you please follow up on this.
“I’ll be in touch with you by tomorrow morning. Thank you!” As I hung up I couldn’t help but feel a little gleeful. “I got the house! If the inspection goes through, that is.”
Herne clapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him as he planted a kiss on my forehead.
“Congratulations! You and Angel need this. That condo of yours is nice, but it’s far too small.”
“It served its purpose, but you’re right, it’s time to move on. And Mr. Rumblebutt will like having a place to stretch out and a garden to play in.”
We darted across the parking lot, dodging the rain that had suddenly broken loose. Herne must have texted for everyone to meet us because when we entered the Edgewater Coffee Shop, they were all there at one of the tables. I stopped at the counter to order a quint-shot mocha, and Herne asked for a triple-shot cappuccino. We carried our drinks over to the table and joined them.
“Well, you look like you survived,” Angel said, giving me the once-over.
“I actually enjoyed my visit,” I said, playing it blasé. “Cernunnos is intimidating, but he made me feel welcome. However, I think right now we have more important matters to discuss.” I looked at Herne.
“Ember is correct. We have a major problem on our hands. I’m going to email each of you a file that my father sent me. We need to discuss this, and we need to discuss it in private. Yutani, can you check my room again, just in case they figured it out and came back to plant another bug?” Herne took a sip of his cappuccino. “Text me if everything’s all right.” He handed his key card to Yutani, who nodded and took off toward the elevator.
Talia frowned. “We aren’t dealing with a simple murder case, are we?”
“No,” Herne said. “And we’re into a delicate balancing act. A deadly one.”
He said no more, and I turned my attention to my drink, welcoming the rush of caffeine into my system. A few moments later Yutani texted that everything was all right, so we gathered up our drinks and gear and headed upstairs to Herne’s room, where he shut the door and locked it.
As we settled down around the room, he dove in.
“First, Astrana knows that we’re on to this case. She’s complained to Cernunnos. He’s going to put off answering her as long as he can, but chances are, she’s going to know—or at least think we know—her secrets. So she’s absolutely no help and will interfere with us if she can. Now please, open the documents that I just forwarded to you.”
I quickly brought up the document, startled that it was so detailed and well laid out. Apparently, the gods really did understand technology.
Morgana had emailed Herne several files on Blackthorn, and Herne directed us to the first one. With my help, he filled everybody else in on what had happened during our visit with his father.
“The Ante-Fae? Crap.” Talia shook her head, and the look on her face told me she already knew what they were. “We really don’t need to tangle with them.”
“To
make things worse, we’re dealing with Blackthorn, the King of Thorns. Cernunnos seemed extremely unhappy about that. Let’s see what my mother has to say about him.”
Morgana’s document contained what appeared to be an encyclopedia definition, although it wasn’t from any encyclopedia I was aware of.
Blackthorn, the King of Thorns, is one of the most ancient of the Ante-Fae. Originating from the UK, he has control over almost every thorn-bearing plant, specializing in blackthorn trees. But he can also control bramble bushes, rose bushes, and any other bushes containing thorns. Like most of the Ante-Fae, the source-roots of the King of Thorns are unknown. However, he is linked to shadow magic, dream magic, and it is said he feeds off of pain and despair.
He has had a number of children with various other Ante-Fae, and not all of them are accounted for. Unlike a number of the Ante-Fae, the King of Thorns thrives in inhabited areas, and has an insatiable greed for power. He is, however, willing to make deals, and in fact, is always looking for a way to increase his network. He is said to have made alliances with some of the vampires over the eons, finding them useful allies. He tends to prefer coastlines, and at one time or another has lived all over the world. His most current known whereabouts is said to be somewhere in the Puget Sound area. Very little is known about his ultimate goals, and any further information would be welcomed by the Historians.
I stared at the information, trying to reconcile it to what we knew about the case.
“He doesn’t sound like a serial killer to me. What about religious beliefs? Could he follow some ancient god who requires a sacrifice every few years?” I still wasn’t clear on the Ante-Fae and how they related to the gods.
“That’s one possibility,” Herne said. “But I tend to agree. He doesn’t sound like a serial killer. He may feed off of pain, and he probably has sadistic tendencies, but that alone does not a serial killer make. That doesn’t even necessarily correlate to regular murderers. Sadists tend to get off on pain, not death.”
“He likes deals, which accounts for his dealing with vampires. They’re all about networking and grasping for power that way. Ten to one, he’s made a deal with Astrana, in his favor, of course. So she’s covering up these murders for a reason. If he’s not the killer—and we don’t know that yet—then why is he enlisting her to hide them?” Yutani tapped the other documents, opening them. “Most of these say approximately the same thing. Who’s the historian mentioned?”
“I can tell you that,” Talia said. “There are several agencies that watch over the Ante-Fae, as well as other ancient creatures and beings. The Ante-Fae are only one sector of bogeyman that we have to pay attention to. The historians belong to the society of record-keepers. They do their best to keep track these creatures and beings. They aren’t always up to date, but they do what they can.”
“What’s the name of the society?” Angel asked. “Are we even supposed to know about it?”
“It can’t hurt that you do—especially considering that we’re part of the Wild Hunt. It’s better off that most people don’t know about it, though.” Herne flipped through his wallet, then pulled out a business card and tossed it on the table. “You all might as well enter that information into your contacts. That’s the local representative for LOCK—the Library of Cryptic Knowledge. It’s the brainchild of Taliesin, one of the Force Majeure—and the less you ask about that, the better. He started it about two thousand years ago, and like the Wild Hunt, it’s spread all over the world. There are branches of the library in every major country.”
I picked up the card. The name on it read Gwydion Jones. I entered it into my contacts along with the phone number and address, both of which were in Redmond.
As Angel entered the information into her phone, she asked, “Just how many secret societies are out there? I think I’ve learned more about the world in the past few months than I ever have before in my life. It feels like everywhere I turn, there’s some secret organization or group doing something or researching something.”
Talia laughed, her eyes twinkling. The harpy had quite a sense of humor, I had to give it to her for that.
“You haven’t even scratched the surface, child. You should feel privileged, though. Not many humans know much about this, and a lot of those who do stumble over this sort of information end up vanishing off the face of the earth.”
At Angel’s horrified look, Talia added, “I don’t mean they’re killed. It’s just that sometimes information needs to be kept private in order to safeguard operations. Some of them end up being relocated with their families, or they have their memories wiped of whatever they learned. A few of the darker organizations, of course, resort to murder.”
“Lovely. Let’s just hope we can keep out of their way.” Angel handed the card back to Herne.
“My father suggested we still interview those four families, but our goal is to find out where Blackthorn’s located, and what his intentions are. We need to put a stop to these murders. That Cernunnos was firm on. The carnage is spilling out into the mortal world, and even though the Ante-Fae are not part of the Fae Courts, he still wants us to end this. So we have our marching orders. Angel, you might as well book our rooms for the next few days. I don’t think we’re going anywhere soon. But do so under my own account. I’m not charging Rhiannon for the rest of this investigation since my father ordered us to continue.”
“It’s going on four o’clock now. Should we interview the families today? We can probably get through all four in the next couple hours if we split up,” Yutani said.
“I think so. Yutani, you’re with me. Viktor and Ember, you go together. Angel and Talia, stay here and do whatever research you can. Try to find out just where the blackthorn patches are on this island. The doctor said there weren’t any, but we know that’s a lie.”
“That means he may be in on this, too,” I said.
“He could well be. Somebody has to be examining those bodies and not making a peep over how they were killed.”
“We’ll comb the Net,” Talia said.
“Right. Don’t go driving around looking for them.” Herne’s hair fell forward. Before I could stop myself, I reached out and brushed it back behind his ear. He gave me a twinkling smile and winked.
Yutani’s nose was still deep in the files. “If all the bodies were found in the state park, shouldn’t we search the park as well?”
“Yes, we should. But for now let’s interview those families. Then we can decide how to approach the park.” Herne looked around, letting out a long sigh. “Are we ready?”
I suddenly remembered Rachel’s call—with all the worry over Blackthorn, the good news had slipped my mind.
“Oh, I forgot! Angel, we got the house!”
Angel gave me a high five.
“Can you look into inspectors—you know, house inspectors—while I’m out?”
“Sure thing,” she said.
And with that, we headed out.
Chapter 11
THE FIRST FAMILY that Viktor and I were headed to meet were the Douglases. The murder victim had been Rebecca Douglas, their daughter, and she had vanished sixteen years ago. They found her a week later. She was human. And they were one of the four families that had come across a sizable streak of good fortune, although exactly what that fortune was, nobody really knew.
I was driving, and Viktor was in the passenger seat, looking glum.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“We’re facing the Ante-Fae. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of them, given your heritage, but given your background, I guess it makes sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say that Fae Courts don’t appreciate not being considered the top of their game. A lot of them don’t want to acknowledge the Ante-Fae as their ancestors, because the Ante-Fae are so much more powerful.”
I groaned. “I hate to admit it, because I bear their blood, but you’re right. It seems a little r
idiculous, kind of like humans denying their Neanderthal ancestors. Or something like that.”
“Nobody ever said people have to make sense—regardless of race or species or whatever you want to call it. You know that most of the Fae are anything but sensible.” He paused, then added, “How do we want to go about this? How do we introduce ourselves?”
“We could say that we’re reporters investigating cold case files for a story.” Even as I said it, another thought crossed my mind. “Wait. What if Astrana has gotten to them first? Do you think that she has the foresight to visit the families and warn them to keep their mouths shut?”
It made perfect sense to me that she would do that, given her nature. And if Blackthorn had something on her, then it was in her best interest to obey.
“I suppose.”
It occurred to me we were looking at this the wrong way. “What if… Suppose that it’s not Blackthorn dictating to Astrana? Could she be blackmailing him? That seems right in her nature.”
Viktor flashed me a quick look. “You’re right, that does seem right up her alley. However, I’ll say this. The thought of blackmailing the Ante-Fae—that’s playing a deadly game. Worse than Russian roulette. You’d have to have nerves of steel to do that and I don’t know if she’s capable of that.”
“Nerves of steel, or a massive ego. What’s her background? Can you dig up anything really quick? You guys may have worked a case she was involved in, but I wasn’t around at that time.”
Viktor scrolled through his files.
“Yeah, I remember it vaguely, but here’s a record. Astrana was kicked out of Navane for overstepping her boundaries with Névé. She dared to speak for the Queen, without getting permission in advance, and nearly caused a serious incident with the town of Woodinville.”
Oak & Thorns Page 16
