by Lucy Lyons
“I’ve seen that firsthand, remember?”
She rubbed the bridge of her nose and nodded.
“I never wanted to be here, Clay. I wanted to find my brother and help him take his place on the throne.”
“I thought the stories said that Fairy itself chose the king of the Fae. What happened to change that?”
“My father did. He made a pact with the lords of the Dark Court to keep him in power, then he gathered them together for a feast and killed them all. My brother wouldn’t stand for it, and when he saw the Aztec people, he knew he was home. He was growing his power through human worship and promised to come back for me.”
“But he never came back, so your mother got you out.”
“The Red Daggers used to be the most honorable guard of the Fae kingdoms. Now we babysit mortals with Fae magic, hoping they don’t become powerful enough to wipe us out completely.”
“Can the Red Daggers control Vash?” I asked, but Portia shook her head.
“The mirror of light and illusions is like no other weapon. It magnifies your greatest power but leeches away your reality. So for my brother, you’re looking at a creature who could literally set the world on fire, who only knows what he was doing last, and who can’t see or understand any deviation from that goal.”
“The last thing he was doing was protecting the mountain from . . .” I paused to think, “a white man.”
“That’s a pretty literal take,” Portia began to argue, but Simi held up a hand and flipped through the folder she’d brought with her to the table.
“As far as we can see, the only victims were pale-skinned males,” she confirmed. “It may be literal, but this king of yours—he has very pale skin?” Both Maria and Portia nodded, and Simi spun the folder around on the table to show them the photos of the victims who had been identified. I’d seen what they were looking at—blond men with pale skin and blue eyes.
“Let’s go back to the part where you ran and now we don’t know where the creature, Fae prince, whatever he is, went,” Somayo sighed, resting his forehead against his fingers.
“The creature doesn’t go far from the mountain. It should be keeping guard at the top of the temple of Tlaloc, the highest point in the old city.”
“Can he fly?” I asked Portia, who shrugged her shoulders.
“Not when he was in Fairy with me. I don’t know if he learned any other powers or if the mirror gave him any. You said you trapped him because he was killing Aztecs . . . why would he switch to white men?”
“I think I have the answer to that, Portia,” Ashlynn spoke up thoughtfully. “After a human is attacked, if the wild magic accepts them and they become a wolf, it’s like they’re crazy. They’ll attack family members, innocent bystanders, the person they love most in the world. All they know is the agony of the first change and hunger so great I don’t have words to describe it to you.”
I nodded my agreement. “Ash’s right. That’s why we keep an eye out for strange animal attacks, to get to those people and give them support, chain them if needed. But over time, control grows, and even in wolf form, your mind gets clearer. You get back your control.”
“So he’s fought to get some of his control back and remembers his enemy. He’s still trapped in the mirror though. Lordaron is still boosting his magic with everyone who’s minds are trapped in that godawful instrument of evil,” Maria pushed her chair back from the table, and it fell over with a clatter. “We can’t go after the king, especially since I’ve had the misfortune of falling back on his radar. Without the element of surprise, I don’t know how to get it away from him.”
“So we don’t try,” Somayo suggested. “Focus on getting Vash out of Brazil, either to a Venatores facility or a Fae prison that will hold him. After that, we can focus on what kind of magic, theft, or battle will yield the best results in getting his true freedom.”
“Can you take us to the mountain, Jasiri?” Maria asked, her voice carefully neutral.
“I can, but I can’t assure your safety. The ruins are dangerous, made more so by the traps set by my father and grandfather. Only shifters have the agility to even hope to make it if we accidentally trip one.”
“Well, shifters or fliers,” I amended, and the werejaguar’s eyes went big as he gave me his attention.
“There’s a member of our party you haven’t met yet. Sunlight isn’t her best friend, so she’ll come hang out with us when the sun gets closer to the trees,” Ashlynn explained as the rest of us exchanged a glance.
“She’s another Fae?”
“Pretty much,” I jumped in, “but don’t forget, technically, so are you.”
“Before I take you to our sacred city to capture or kill the last of the old gods, I need to know more about you and how you even came to be here. Who told you about a handful of deaths in South America, and what made you come?”
“That’s a good question, but since these fine hunters are devout members of the Catholic Church and Brazil is a Catholic country,” I reminded him, “the answer is the Church sent us.” I pointed at Simi and Somayo as I spoke.
“Not exactly,” Simi countered. “We were informed by a friend in the Church, but . . .” She glanced at Somayo as her voice trailed off.
“We’ll take you to Father O’Connell. He’s the one who contacted us, and he can give us the information the police withheld when we tried to interview them.” I nodded at him and glanced back at Jasiri, who was shaking his head and smiling.
“You are all so different, but right now, you sound like my brothers and me when we had to, ah, divide the duties.” He huffed out a little sigh and the smile faded. “You trust each other, even though you’re not family?”
I flinched and glanced all around me, my gaze stopping on Portia. I would never have said yes, if I were being asked if I trusted her to have my back. But I did trust her to make what she felt was the honorable choice for the greater good.
Even if it meant supporting me or sacrificing herself.
“We trust each other because we are family,” I finally decided. “Even if we don’t always like one another, I know I can count on them to do what’s best for everyone, and I’d lay down my life for them.”
I glanced back at Portia, waiting to see her irritation or disgust that I’d called her family, but the look in her eyes was just . . . sad and lonely. But it made sense. She’d lost her twin brother, her father and mother were on opposite sides of a war, and her half-sister was the thing she’d grown to hate in her centuries-long exile. She had no one.
“You’re a strange bunch, that’s for sure,” Jasiri chuckled. “But I think you may be the answer to the prayers I gave when my brothers were killed for my mistake.”
“We’re a band of American Fae and religious soldiers, Jasiri. We won’t blame you for not wanting to kill a human, especially an innocent. Stick with us, and you’ll have innocents to save to your heart’s content.”
CHAPTER TEN
Jasiri was silent for the bumpy ride into Cabeludo, but Simi and Ashlynn more than made up for his taciturn behavior. Somayo had explained in brief the latitude given to priests out in the remote areas and warned me not to make a big deal out of the fact that he had a wife and a herd of children running around the rectory.
“Personally, I think men who can marry and have families, especially good men, are necessary. What about you, Soma? Put any thought into starting a family?” I lowered my voice, but he still glanced in the rearview mirror to be sure the girls hadn’t heard. I laughed at him and behind me, I heard Jasiri chuckle too. With all the fighting and uncertainty of the Fae and Fae-kin world, it felt good to see people having totally mundane, real world, normal angst, and happiness.
Maria and Portia had turned down the offer to come with us, citing the need to at least attempt to get a bird’s eye view of the temple and Vash. After so many centuries of looking, none of us tried to argue. We’d split up, each group giving the other a warning to watch our backs and stay safe. None of
us were pale-skinned or blue-eyed, but suddenly I felt vulnerable and grateful that we were in the Humvee instead of one of the topless Jeeps. Even so, I caught myself scanning the sky again before I opened the door—an image of a great feathered dragon diving out of the sky to set me on fire dancing through my imagination.
Father O’Connell met us at the door to the rectory and ushered us inside, smiling when he saw my furtive glances skyward. I felt the crimson warmth of embarrassment creep up my neck, but he simply winked and patted the back of the pew to my left in an invitation to sit. It’d been a long time since I’d been inside a real chapel, and looking around me at the statuary and the stained-glass windows, I was struck by how much of the ritual I missed. The incense and the chants had always served to calm me when a hunt had gone south or I’d failed some stupid goal that seemed all-important at the time. The same way I felt when I ran with my pack, chasing deer through the temperate forest we called home.
“You look pensive, my son,” the aging priest said, just as a toddler wobbled up to him on pudgy little legs and held out his hands to be picked up.
“Your son?” I asked, and he laughed.
“Grandson. I officiated when my eldest daughter got married in this very church four years ago. I hope I live to marry all my children to their chosen mates.”
I looked into his watery, blue eyes and understood what he was saying without asking. The toddler watched me from his grandfather’s arms with curiosity but not fear, his tiny sausage fingers in his mouth, and I silently promised to make sure we got Vash away from these people before he could harm anyone else.
“It’s strange seeing a priest with a family. In my head, it makes more sense, but how did you make a vow to your wife after the vows you made to your God?” I asked, and the old man smiled and kicked at my leg to move me over. I slid down the ancient, scarred wooden bench, and he sat next to me, standing the little boy on the seat between us.
“I have a secret that makes most things better,” he began, leaning forward. “Do what you know in your heart is right, and the rest will work itself out.” He leaned back and winked at me, and I chuckled.
“Fair enough,” I replied. “What about our business here? Can you tell me anything about the creature or how you knew to call in the Venatores?”
“Oh, yes,” he confirmed. “I knew what the killer was because I saw him.”
I sat up in my seat, and I saw Jasiri do the same out of the corner of my eye. I cleared my throat and glanced back at him before asking, “You mean, like in the sky? Or running away?”
“No, I saw him when he came to me and asked me for help. He said many things I didn’t understand, some of it in other languages. But he begged me for help, as a priest.”
“That actually makes sense,” Jasiri blurted out before the old man continued.
“He was attacked by two great cats, and their fight took them into the jungle. I haven’t seen him since, but I fear for his mind. If he comes back, I don’t know that he’ll remember I was a friend.”
“And you know he was the killer because he told you?” Somayo spoke for the first time since we’d arrived.
“Because he confessed to me, yes,” Father O’Connell replied. “The police had come to me after the second death, requesting an audience with the Venatores. I did as they asked, and later that very day a young man came to see me. A part-man, part-creature, with feathers for hair and . . .” he touched his cheek, “and silver scales on his skin.”
Jasiri gasped, “That’s him. That’s Quetzalcoatl.” The priest shrugged and nodded.
“I can see how a creature that powerful would be worshipped, but that was millennia ago.” None of us said anything in explanation, and he shrugged again. “We saw his power when he set fire to one of our outbuildings during the fight with the two massive jaguars. When I saw his hand engulfed by flame, I knew he was telling me the truth about his ailment, and the effects of his mental anguish.”
“Signor, the man you spoke to is far older than Christianity,” Somayo reminded him. “He’s something the Venatores don’t understand yet, and we don’t know how to deal with him. You and your family should leave this place until we make it safe.”
“He is insane, you understand?” The priest continued as he hadn’t heard her. “But he has moments of lucidity, and those are much more painful for him. The cats were herding him away, and he was going along quietly, as he expected them to arrive and was relieved. Then a truck came barreling down the road and blasted its horn at the cats, thinking the man in danger, and he lost control. He attacked the truck and killed the driver. You can see that down the road behind the rectory that leads toward the mountain.”
“All signs lead back to the mountain, like you said, Jasiri,” I sighed. I took a moment to light a candle for our success and prayed, but it felt unnatural and cold in comparison to the hunt and the rituals of the pack. Still, we thanked the priest and accepted his blessing before we headed down the narrow dirt road he pointed us down, with his children and grandson watching us from the safety of his side.
The cloudless sky gave me comfort as we explored the property behind the rectory until we reached the building closest to the husk of the burned truck. In places, remnants of the frame still stood on the concrete base, but otherwise the wooden building was nothing but piles of ash inside a stone foundation. The fire had burned fast and hot enough to leave almost remains of the ancient wood, and the truck wasn’t much better—a blackened, charred metal shell sitting flat on the ground, its tires having melted during the fire.
The wolf ran itself along the inside of my skin, reminding me that I had other ways to see the scene than with my eyes. I reached out with my power and searched the ashes, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. Ashlynn joined me and with her hand slipped into mine, pushed her energy through me without being asked. With her help, I could see the faint signature of Vash’s power. It had led the way the priest had told us but veered off the path where the road turned, and we lost sight of it.
I jogged along the path Ashlynn and I had uncovered without waiting for the others, trusting that they’d follow. When I hit the trees, I stripped out of my clothing and let the wolf take over and heard Ashlynn growl behind me.
Stay with me, I thought to her. Don’t try to make this a race. The prey is more than we can take on alone. I felt her agreement and the undercurrent of apprehension she always had at the beginning of a hunt. I stretched my legs and followed the scent without looking behind but heard the others breathing hard as they ran, even the human hunters managing to stay close enough not to lose us completely. The scent grew stronger, held down by the condensation of a recent rain, and I stretched myself to the limit, pushing outward with my energy for Vash, while my nose followed the trail he’d left.
Suddenly, a black blur passed me, and as I gathered myself to leap forward and regain my place at the front of the pack, I crashed into his side, both of us tumbling to the ground and rolling several feet before we came to a stop in a snarling, frothing tangle of claws and fur.
I slashed out with both paws, striking the jaguar and sending him sliding back across the damp leaves that covered the forest floor. He didn’t fight back, instead shifting back to his human form and putting both his hands out in front of him before raising a finger to his lips.
Ashlynn jumped between us before I could leap for his throat and pressed her body against me, nuzzling my neck and chuffing softly, trying to calm me. I swallowed the power of the wolf and shifted back to my human form, making Somayo gasp as he caught up to us.
“That,” he panted, “is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” He leaned forward with his hands on his knees and caught his breath.
“The change or the run?” Ashlynn asked, holding a fan of fern leaves in front of her for modesty with the humans. If it had been just the three of us, we wouldn’t have bothered, but I was Catholic enough to know that when Simi caught up the humans would be uncomfortable with our nudity to be of
use to us.
“Both,” Somayo replied to Ashlynn’s question and held out a piece of cloth to me. “I picked these up when you started running. I thought they’d be useful.” I took the shorts and saw he’d grabbed Jasiri’s too. I tossed the other pair to the were jaguar, who was eyeing me warily.
“Simi has yours, Ash,” Somayo continued.
“She’s right behind you, Soma,” Simi interjected. She tossed clothing to Ashlynn, who ducked behind a tree to get dressed. “Now why have we stopped?”
Jasiri jerked his head to follow him, and we crept forward as silently as only our bare feet or the hunters’ soft-soled moccasins could until he came to a stop and moved to the side, holding back the undergrowth for us. I looked through the space he’d made and gasped, glancing at him in sympathy before I stepped through the wide-leafed brush and into the clearing beyond.
Ahead of me were the charred remains of men, neatly laid in two rows of six. Their bodies were blackened and looked like a strong breath would blow them away, but when I touched the nearest one, it was smooth, like glass. They shone like glass too, the sunlight glinting on them when it broke through the canopy overhead. Jasiri knelt next to me and touched the bones closet to us.
“My brother, Mzuri,” he explained. “And right here,” he pointed at the body next to it, “my eldest brother, Kwanza.” He rocked back on his heels and exhaled hard. “We must stop the Quetzalcoatl from killing again, Clayton,” he sniffed and looked at the bodies. “Their blood is on my hands. I must make it right.”
