I blinked. Death stood behind the rookie, the man’s soul in his hand. A moment later a shot sounded. The rookie’s body spun and collapsed in a heap.
I stared, my lungs burning from the breath I’d been holding too long. I let it out as the rider coalesced in the air above the rookie. No. This had to stop. It could keep jumping bodies until everyone in the room was dead.
But how the hell could I stop it? Would it follow if I ran, leaving the others alone? It was clearly after me. And my big mouth. I’d just had to tell it I could track it to any body it took, didn’t I? I needed to get it somewhere with a hell of a lot fewer people. And guns.
But first I had to get out of the damn handcuffs.
As I doubted the rider intended to give me enough time to politely ask someone to release me, I had to be a little more creative. Or destructive. I was already touching multiple planes, how hard could it be to push the cuffs into the land of the dead?
Harder than anticipated. Especially since they were behind my back and I couldn’t see them. I’d moved items to the land of the dead before, but typically by accident. Now I focused on what the metal would look like rusted and corroded. I flexed my arms, trying to pull my wrists free. Agony tore through my injured arm, but I didn’t stop. I kept the image of the cuffs degrading in my mind, and I felt the metal give, a rung in the chain breaking. The bracelets dangled around my wrists, burning into my flesh, but I could move my arms.
“Come on,” Death said, pulling me to my feet. “We have to get you out of here.”
I couldn’t agree more, but it had taken me too long to break the cuffs and the rider had surely jumped bodies by now. I needed to know where to expect the next attack to come from.
“Where is it?” I whispered, searching for the rider as I moved. Death didn’t have time to answer before I spotted the shadow. It was already squashing the soul of its next victim, an officer I recognized from Kingly’s crime scene.
Crap.
I pointed as I called out, “It’s in Larid.”
Some of the officers lifted guns; others kept their weapons pointed toward the ground. John’s was halfway between the two positions.
“You’re sure?”
“Oh, she’s sure,” the rider said with Larid’s voice as Death pulled me back. “Will you kill this body too? I’ll just take another. Which one of you wants to be next? Or you can let me kill Craft, and I’ll walk out of here.”
“Unacceptable options,” a voice I didn’t expect to come to my defense said. Then Detective Jenson, John’s partner and a feykin in hiding who I was pretty sure hated me, pulled the trigger on his Taser. Two probes attached to wires shot out, hitting Larid in the chest.
Jenson sent thousands of volts of electricity into Larid, and the rider dropped his gun, falling to his knees. But he wasn’t down. Reaching up, he pulled the probes from his chest. They hit the linoleum with two soft clinks.
“Thanks for volunteering,” the rider said to Jenson as he reached for his gun.
He never made it. A blue foam dart hit Larid between the eyes and magic exploded into the room. Larid collapsed, out cold under a combined knockout, immobilizer, and Aetheric blocker spell. I coughed, choking on the thickness of magic in the air, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Larid.
What are you going to do, rider? Can you leave a living but unconscious body?
Either the rider was as knocked out by the dart as its host, or the host had to die for the rider to jump to the next body. I had the growing suspicion it was the later. I could see it still coating Larid’s soul, but it didn’t pour out of him. The unconscious man had become a container.
But what would happen when he woke?
Of course, with that nasty combination of spells, it would be a while. A nasty combination I’d seen before. Which meant Briar was here. With everything else going on, I hadn’t noticed her enter. I still didn’t sense her or the armory she carried. My nerves were too frazzled to zero in on her magic through the lingering miasma of the spells from the dart. In fact, about the only thing I was up for right now was sitting down. But I forced myself to turn, to look for her.
The movement morphed into a sway and only Death’s arms kept me upright.
“You’re hurt,” he said, his hand moving to hover over my wound.
There was a lot of blood, but the shot had only grazed me. “I’m a lot better than I would be if you hadn’t…” I didn’t finish because he’d ripped a soul out of a living body to save my life. Granted, the rookie had been shot seconds later, and those crucial seconds would have been too late for me, but collectors didn’t take souls early.
Ever.
I’d known only one who had, but he’d been bad news. Very bad news. In the name of love, he and his lover had crossed line after line until they were willing to tear the world apart to be together. A month ago they’d almost succeeded. That night, the gray man had told me to remember what had happened in that ill-begotten clearing. That it was why Death and I could never be together. That was the night Death vanished from my life.
Now he’d just crossed a line to save me. A big line. And we both knew it.
People crowded around me, and Death leaned down, kissing my forehead lightly before releasing me to a pair of hands belonging to someone who had no idea I was already being steadied.
“We need to talk,” I whispered to him.
But it was Briar Darque who stepped into view and said, “Yes we do. What the hell is going on?”
I suppressed a groan. Now that my adrenaline was dropping back to normal, my arm throbbed, as did my head, and my wrists, and the shoulder I’d landed on. And hell, pretty much all of me hurt. I’d been exhausted before this little adventure. Now I felt ready to collapse. I didn’t want to talk to Briar Darque.
I twisted to see who had taken me from Death—and who would hopefully rescue me from Briar—and got another shock. Detective Jenson had a firm hold on my elbow, helping me keep my balance. With my shields open, I could see through the glamour he wore that hid the fact his lower jaw was elongated and two large tusks curved over his upper lip. He had troll blood somewhere in his history, but the only physical sign of it was that unfortunate jaw. He was the only feykin I’d seen who bore obvious traces of their fae ancestry—or who had enough glamour to cover it up. Of course, his soul was more silver than blue. My father had told me that there were humans with fae blood, and then there were fae with human blood. I wondered if Jenson was an example of the latter.
Jenson noticed me staring and that overlarge jaw clenched. He knew I could see through glamour. “Can you stand, Craft? Yes? Good.” He released my arm, turned on his heel, and marched away.
I stared at his back. So much for a rescue from Briar.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her as I staggered to the closest desk to steal a wad of tissue. I was bleeding on the floor.
“I told you that I’d be keeping tabs on you. I heard you were involved in the deaths of two people, so I came to find out what happened. Now what the hell was that?” She pointed to the unconscious officer. Someone had put handcuffs and ankle shackles on him, which seemed like a good idea to me.
“He’s possessed. The MCIB has protocols to deal with that, right?” Because I was so done with this case. I just wanted someone to take the rider and, I don’t know, banish him? Bottle him? He obviously wasn’t going to stand trial by a jury of his peers.
“Possessed?” Briar cocked a dark eyebrow. “That sounds more up your alley than mine.”
“Isn’t there someone in your division who deals with this sort of thing?” The MCIB had a ghoul hunter; surely they had someone who would know what to do with Larid and the rider.
She shook her head. “I’d execute the host. It sounds cruel, but just like victims infected by ghouls, it’s better to put them down while they’re human and not monsters.”
“It jumps from host to host.” I sank into a chair. I didn’t know whose. It was just closest. “I think the previous host has
to die before the rider can escape to a new body. Keeping him alive should contain it.”
“Then you better try the hospital, because I don’t have time to babysit.”
So no help from the MCIB then. I sighed.
“Alex, let me see your arm,” John said, stepping close enough that he crowded Briar away. Normally I’d have been uncomfortable, but I was glad for the break from the woman.
“It’s just a graze.” But I obediently pulled the wad of tissues away from the wound.
“You’re right, but you should probably go to the hospital. You might need stitches.”
I so couldn’t afford a hospital bill. “If you have an OMIH first aid kit laying around, I’m sure that will be fine.”
John’s mustache gave an irritated twitch, but he called for someone to fetch the kit and then offered to help me to his office. I started to refuse, but my legs felt like my bones had been replaced by cooked spaghetti, so I let him help me hobble to his office.
“What happened to those cuffs?” he asked, looking at the bracelets I still wore. I’d intended to turn the suckers into a shower of rust, but I’d barely corroded them. They looked weathered, not ruined, so I shrugged. Then I winced because the movement hurt.
John collapsed into his chair, his shoulders slumping as if a great weight pressed down on them. Then he unloaded his gun, preparing to turn it over when the inevitable internal affairs investigation started. “This is over now, right?”
I looked back toward the lobby. The idea of being blind after the attempt on my life terrified me, so I hadn’t released my touch on other planes. Glancing out the door all I could see were crumbling walls and wisps of magic, but I knew that beyond that were two bodies who shouldn’t be dead, and a third person spelled unconscious as a living container for a malevolent spirit.
“I hope so,” I whispered, but as long as the rider still existed, I couldn’t help feeling like the question wasn’t if it would escape, but when.
Chapter 25
“Alex, wake up.”
I groaned, willing the voice away.
“Alex.”
Grabbing my pillow, I pulled it over my head and rolled over. Which hurt like hell.
“Alex,” Rianna said again.
“Go away.” I didn’t want to be awake. I felt like I’d been used as a giant’s punching bag. I needed more sleep, and a pain charm. Or six.
“Alex, the equinox starts soon.”
“Good for it.”
“You promised you’d go to the revelry.”
Why the hell would I do that? Waking up at o’dark thirty to go to Faerie was definitely a stupid idea. I pulled the pillow tighter around my head, but she was right, after weeks of Caleb and Rianna bugging me, I had promised.
But yesterday I’d spent hours at the police station, first answering to the ABMU and then to the OMIH, who were a hell of a lot more interested in Larid and the rider than Briar had implied. I’d also fended off a psychic attack, had my soul ripped at, been arrested, shot at, and saved by Death collecting a soul early. I seriously thought I deserved an out on that particular promise. Unfortunately it didn’t work that way, and I felt the tug of magic below my sternum. I was fae enough that a promise was as binding as any magic-laced oath.
I spouted a few creative curses and pried open my eyes. I’d been blind when I finally closed my shields yesterday, and I wasn’t surprised to discover that my vision was still dim, washed out. Rianna stood at the side of my bed looking like a grayscale image with a light wash of watercolors on top. Desmond, being black to start with, had no definition.
I glanced toward the windows but couldn’t see any light. “Is it still dark?”
Rianna rolled her eyes. “Of course. The equinox starts at dawn.”
And she couldn’t be out of Faerie then. Right.
“She awake yet?” Caleb yelled from somewhere downstairs.
Rianna looked at me.
“I’m up, I’m up.” And I needed coffee. Lots of coffee. “Remind me why I’m going to this equinox thing again?” I asked as I hit the BREW button. PC pressed against my legs, peering at Desmond from around my calves.
“You’re going because revelries like this only occur four times a year.”
“I’m really not up for a party,” I said staring at my coffeepot and willing it to brew faster. It didn’t work. I could screw with reality, but coffee still took forever to brew, or at least it seemed that way before my first cup.
Rianna pulled a mug out of the cupboard for me, which I accepted with all the grace of a hibernating bear woken far too early.
“It’s not just a party. It’s…” She paused, as if looking for the right words. Ones that would convince me—not that she needed to bother. I couldn’t break my promise. “It’s a neutral time, so it will be a safe time for you to experience more of Faerie. To interact with the fae and the courts. You’re going to have to make your choice and pick a court soon.” Quieter she added. “Or declare yourself independent and take their oaths.”
Rianna might be spending an ever-increasing amount of time in the mortal realm, but she belonged and lived in Faerie. Me declaring myself independent would have potentially disastrous consequences for her. She wanted me to pick a court, any court. Caleb also wanted me to make my choice, if only to stop the Winter Queen’s harassment, but he wanted me to declare independent so I didn’t have to leave Nekros. I stared at the slowly dripping black gold filling my coffeepot. It was way too early for Faerie politics.
Forty-seven minutes later—and I’d felt every single one of them—I was begrudgingly awake, caffeinated, and walking toward the Eternal Bloom. Rianna had her arm hooked in mine, Holly doing the same on my other side. I’d like to say it was all cheerful camaraderie, but the truth was I couldn’t see a thing in the predawn darkness and their scorching heat was better than falling on my face.
“So what will it be like?” Holly asked, practically skipping as we walked. She was way too much of a morning person.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” was Caleb’s answer, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He always went to the revelries, disappearing for a day every few months, but this was the first time we’d accompanied him.
“And what is it I’m supposed to do?” I asked, and heard a petulant whine in my voice. I cleared my throat. I was so not that person. “You guys don’t actually expect me to join a court today, do you?”
“Of course not.” The smile wasn’t in his voice this time. “You just need to enjoy yourself and stop seeing Faerie as terrifying. Go, interact with other fae, and have fun.”
Yeah, I don’t see that happening.
I took the Bloom’s front steps carefully, and too slowly for my friends, both of whom were far more eager than I. Which wasn’t hard. All I wanted to do was go back to bed.
“Oh,” Holly said, stopping short as we reached the top. “It says they’re closed for the equinox. How are we—” She cut off abruptly. “Do you hear that?”
I listened, but all I heard was an old car chugging down a nearby road. “No.”
“It’s music.” She dropped my arm, and took another step toward the door. “The sweetest music I’ve ever heard.”
Her voice sounded dreamily far away, and I grabbed her, pulling her back. “Caleb, are you sure this is safe?”
“She’s already addicted to Faerie food. There are few other dangers to mortals at revelries. I’ll be with her the whole time.” Something soft touched his voice as he said the last, but my thoughts were imagining endless dances, soul chains, slavers, beautiful things that liked to feast on mortal flesh, and somewhere in the back of my head, I heard the echo of words from when a fae had called Holly a lovely doll, saying that all changelings were dolls.
Of course, Holly wasn’t a changeling yet, but she was a step away.
“Al, relax,” Rianna whispered, her voice low enough that only I could hear. “I told you, the revelries are neutral. This is one of the safest times to enter Faerie.”
<
br /> Right. Then why was my gut twisting at the idea?
Because Faerie scares the hell out of me.
Caleb ignored the closed sign and ushered us into the small receiving room. Normally a bouncer sat in this room, making sure that humans went to the public side of the Bloom and fae were given access to the VIP room.
“Does someone want to sign us in?” I asked as I pulled my gloves out of my back pocket—I didn’t want to see the blood on my hands as soon as I stepped through that door. Not that I could see much of anything. The overhead light was far too dim, or my eyes were just that bad right now.
“No need today,” Caleb said marching up to the door to the VIP room. A door the bouncer normally kept hidden. “I need to use a couple glyphs to reveal the door. You’ll have to give me a moment. My ability to weave the Aetheric makes my relationship with my fae magic…unusual.” He sounded almost embarrassed, which was odd for Caleb—he always sounded so sure of everything.
I frowned at him. “We can’t just walk through the door?”
“We could if we could see it.” He stopped. “You can see it, can’t you?”
I nodded. I could barely see the room around us, but I could see the damn door. It glimmered, as if a small sun blazed behind it, the light seeping out of every crevice.
Caleb stepped back and motioned to me with his hand. “Then by all means, after you.”
The irritated note in his voice caught me off guard. It wasn’t like I was trying to see the door. The queasy feeling in my stomach intensified, but I stepped forward and grabbed the door handle. It felt pleasantly warm under my gloved hands, as if it were alive, which was rather creepy. It had never been warm before.
Better get used to the unknown, Alex. The next few hours would be full of it.
Starting with the fact that what was on the other side of the door wasn’t the VIP room, but a dense deciduous forest. I stood in the doorway, staring—and blocking everyone else. “Uh, where did the rest of the Bloom go?”
Caleb gave me a small shove in the base of my back, pushing me through the door. “It’s the fall equinox. All doors lead to the fall court throughout the celebration.”
Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel Page 23
