Cursed to Death

by L. A. Banks

  “Metaphorically speaking,” Sir Rodney argued. “Your man was in custody at the time, true, but he is at the root of all of this.”

  The queen turned to the Vampire box, and looked at them and then the Unseelie who were seated behind them, her gaze falling on her top advisors. “Surely a man shan’t be put to death for meta phors?”

  Loud jeers rang out from both sides of the aisle and it took several minutes for the gavel to regain order.

  “Let us have the first complaint,” the crone screeched, making the pen above the pages quiver.

  “We do this with blood oaths,” Sir Rodney demanded.

  “I object on the grounds that there is no presiding judge or neutral party, thus any testimony that is inadvertently twisted could endanger the life of the witness called,” the baron sniffed. “It is the law.” His black gaze raked the courtroom. “Testimony is taken, then corroborated with blood seals after all testifying parties are safe within their respective fortified encampments or in some sort of protective custody—unless there are neutral peacekeeping forces present . . . which, if you have a look around, there are not.”

  “Objection sustained,” the gavel called out and flailed itself against the bench with a loud whack.

  “You always have an angle, don’t you, Vampire. Well, tonight, one night before Midsummer—the height of our Fae power—your luck has run out!” Sir Rodney stepped forward, recounting the series of events as the pen wrote furiously. “We have evidence,” he said, concluding. “The human girl who now lies injured in the human hospital—Tulane—took cell phone photos . . . and we have eyewitnesses who went to the three attics, and were attacked. Only, this time, they all lived to tell about it, so you do not have the shroud of death making the evidence impossible to fathom.”

  “Step forward,” the crone said, curling her finger toward Sasha, Hunter, and Shogun. “Speak. One at a time.”

  “You saw for yourselves what has been reported in the human news,” Sasha said, looking around the court. “Normally we cannot produce evidence, because magick fades or Vampire stealth cannot show up on any device that captures an image. But a fire that burns like the one captured on the news, you all know to be from Unseelie spells reacting with a backlash. Each spell had a dead man’s switch in it so that it would be hard as hell to defuse without blowing yourself up . . . And that’s what happened to one of my human teammates. She saved our lives, but hers is hanging in the balance. If nothing else comes out of this trial, I hope that someone with the specialty of unwinding bad magick will help us help Clarissa.”

  Murmurs of discontent filled the courtroom, but Hunter stepped forward and that brought curious silence.

  “As Shadow Wolves,” Hunter said, “we cannot lie. Lies are caught in our aura and trapped by the silver in it . . . The scent of burning sterling gives us away. So, I am no liar when I tell you what we encountered in the shadow lands . . . and how my family was barred entry to our natural right, and stripped of our gift to travel free and unfettered, by evil spells cast by the Unseelie named Kiagehul—aka Kennan MacDougall, when in Seelie Court.”

  “Dual identities, leading a double life,” Sasha snarled from the sidelines.

  The court grandstands were rapt, so quiet that only the sound of inhales and exhalations could be heard as Hunter gave a full accounting of all they’d endured. Shogun stepped up next and told the heart rending tale of brother being turned against brother, editing out some of the more personal issues. He described the firefight that took place at the Buchanan Bayou House and ended his argument with a challenge.

  “Anyone that has the capacity for crystal-ball magick, or is a seer of the past, can go in and slowly replay the events that took place that night,” Shogun said, folding his arms over his chest. “My brother came in and pulled me and my men out of an ambush—one that was orchestrated by the Vampires through the agency of the one named Kiagehul! The Buchanans attacked, but Vampires and Kiagehul were behind it!”

  Wolves turned toward the Vampire side of the courtroom and growled. Vampires hissed as the Fae erupted again.

  “The Buchanan Werewolf clan must be exiled for siding with Vampires!” the North American alpha Werewolf leader shouted from the back.

  Pandemonium broke out as stronger wolves leaped over the box rails and took the sparse remaining members of the Buchanan Broussard pack into custody. Once the snarling outlaws were secured, the commotion died down.

  “We demand a full and fair trial of our own,” a beta said between his teeth, but quieted when he got punched in the face by the big alpha.

  “Bet on it,” the alpha snarled and then returned his focus to the court proceedings at hand. “Let the lady tell the story.”

  “But the worst of all offenses,” Sasha said, striding up to the Vampire box, staring past Elder Vlad and taking on Baron Geoff Montague in a bold eye-to-eye challenge, “were the human deaths. You brought this to the streets and outside of the supernatural community, where the beef should have stayed, you rat bastard!”

  Order of the Dragon bouncers tried to gently nudge Sasha back to her side of the room, but fury had a stranglehold on her and Hunter was over the edge of the box, challenging the security guard, who backed down.

  “You are dangerously close to a breach of court procedure, young lady,” Elder Vlad said in a menacing tone. “State your case from inside your box.”

  “Fuck you!” Sasha shouted and pointed at the ancient Vampire.

  Gasps cut through the courtroom from the Vampire box.

  “Touch her, black bolt her,” Hunter said in a rumble, “and there will be blood. Lots of it. Wolves can sniff out lairs and we’ll open everybody’s up if anything untoward happens to my mate.”

  “You all killed innocent people back there, human and Fae alike!” Sasha said, her voice trembling with rage. “That matters!”

  Baron Geoff was on his feet. “You are out of order, and after the blood you let at my estate and at my establishments, how dare you disrespect our leadership! Since when is a human life more valuable or sacred than one of ours? We did not retaliate tonight until we had to fend off your attack at the Blood Oasis—the same as when you wrongfully breached my lair!”

  “That’s a lie,” Sasha said, pointing at the baron with a hard snap. “There were Vampires in the conflict!”

  “Anticipating a hostile affront to our peaceful way of life!” the baron spat.

  “Tonight, you involved innocent people who didn’t have anything to do with it,” Sasha shouted. “Pedestrians, parents, who knows—people’s sons and daughters who were just out to shop, or eat, or go to work, or go grab a beer, and they’re dead! That you will pay for, no matter what! This isn’t over, Baron, not by a long shot. This goes beyond what the rules are at the UCE, this is an issue of human justice!”

  “Oh, to be sure this is not over, bitch,” the baron said evenly as his gaze narrowed.

  “What?” Hunter shouted, lunging, but was caught by Shogun and two of his men.

  “And are we not getting away from the true point, which is always the Vampire diversionary tactic?” Sir Rodney called out. “You, Baron Geoff Montague, commissioned a member of the Unseelie Court, one Kiagehul, to report on the progress of black magick spells he cast against my castle—thereby partially financing this treason against the Seelie, which is aiding and abetting a person committing known treason, thus making you an accomplice, and therefore inadvertently declaring war on the House of Clerk and all members of the Seelie Court that fall under my protection . . . including the Wolf Federations, thus specifically declaring war with the Southeast Asian Werewolf Clan and the North American Shadow Wolf Clan . . . By harming their members, the human population, you have by extension also declared war against members of the US military!”

  “Monitoring the activities of one’s enemies is not the same as an attack!” the baron shouted, looking around. “I admit, we have been watching you and will continue to do so for this very reason . . . but we had no hand in the
dark magick. That is provable—we have ways to draw a confession from the prisoner that are time-tested.”

  “I don’t care what you say. On the way to court, you tried to bait us out of the protection of Forte Shannon of Inverness so that we would release the Unseelie prisoner, and you ambushed our evacuation attempts. We knew you’d try something, so we had to be sure that innocent Seelie were out of harm’s way—we just didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to butcher innocent humans and throw them through Aurelia’s Ale Alley’s front window as bait,” Sasha shouted, veins of outrage standing in her neck. “Humans, Seelie, wolves, human authorities, everyone got caught in the crossfire!”

  “That is a lie!” the baron shouted, walking over to the book. “Strike me, draw the blood and you will see that this time, she-wolf, you have erred and it will cost you dearly.”

  He produced his wrist and the pen struck it, causing thick, black blood to ooze from the slashed vein. When his testimony took, the court erupted again and the crone ran forward waving her hands, shouting over the gavel. Sasha and Hunter glanced at each other and then toward Sir Rodney and Shogun. This was not good. The baron gave Sasha a smug nod and returned to his box.

  “Enough, enough—there are so many capital offenses here that we must call the accused! Bring the prisoner up,” the crone yelled as the gavel banged on the bench.

  “We don’t have to sit for this out-of-order travesty of indignities and injustice! I demand recompense now!” Baron Montague shouted, still standing.

  “Sit,” Elder Vlad said evenly.

  Baron Montague sat slowly and smoothed down his lapels, but it was palpable that his nerves were drawn tight by the ancient Vampire’s words. He shared a look with Queen Blatand as Kiagehul was roughly brought to the front witness box by very disgruntled wolves. They shoved him into the seat and the book and pen swished closer to him to take his testimony.

  “How do ye plead?” the crone screeched.

  “Not guilty by reason of insanity!” Kiagehul called out.

  The court erupted and, after many attempts by the frazzled gavel, the audience finally settled down.

  “Speak,” the crone said, and then walked away shaking her head.

  “I was influenced by very strong forces,” Kiagehul said, beginning to weep. “My queen, I wanted to do it for you . . . It wasn’t for the money.”

  Sasha laughed a cold, hard laugh as she walked back to her box with Hunter. “The little bastard just threw you under the bus, Baron.”

  “That is an outright lie!” the baron said, standing and pointing to Kiagehul. “He came to me and offered me a chance to build an alliance, for a price. He wanted the lands and establishments that should have come to him under normal inheritance law—but that had been nationalized by Sir Rodney . . . Dugan’s properties!” The baron regained his composure and then looked at Elder Vlad. “He then said that he would show me the extent of his capabilities in a way that would utterly shock and surprise me . . . I of course had no knowledge of how far he would go; my goal was to one day meet the queen of the Unseelie Court to see if there was some common ground. But there is a third party—again, I was simply a monitor of activities, not a direct participant!”

  “She is formidable; the Vampire speaks the truth,” Kiagehul called out in a shrill voice. “My queen, save me; I’ve been duped! She has not come for me.”

  “I bet the baron did business with this unnamed third party,” Hunter said with a snarl.

  “No . . .” Baron Montague said, smiling, his eyes glittering with rage. “You will have to make blood restitution before it is all said and done, wolf.”

  “Care to put some more blood on the line?” Sasha said, turning her wrist up so that the magick pen could open a vein. “Once your black blood hits the pages of your testimony this time, even money says they’ll torch, Baron.”

  “This hypocrisy and twisting of words and intent,” the baron said calmly, “is all a fraud.”

  Queen Blatand narrowed her gaze on the baron and then on Elder Vlad. “Am I to understand that I have been brought all the way here from Iceland to learn that my court member is an outright liar?” She tsked. “Elder Vlad . . . what do you think it will do for détente if, after this man is beheaded, I find out that his argument had merit? Might that cause an unusual, albeit strained, alliance between my court and the Seelie like days of old? If any Fae finds they’ve been duped by another species, we, too, are known for our unrelenting grudges . . . We do have that in common with the Vampires.”

  Elder Vlad stood and left the box. “I should not like to see us have a falling-out and create an unnatural power-base shift that is so thoroughly one-sided, dear queen. Balance is always the way to ensure no one group becomes unmanageable.”

  “Cerridwen!” Sir Rodney called out as the queen left the box to walk with Elder Vlad. “I may have been many things, made many missteps, and our views and politics may have clashed, but I have never, ever, attacked you unprovoked.”

  She stopped her retreat and something close to warmth filled her eyes. She cocked her pretty head to the side and wrinkled her smooth brow in disbelief. “Nor have I ever attacked you unprovoked, Rodney . . . What would make you even say such a thing? I had no hand in this.”

  “Those were not your warriors, then, that fought against my men in the heart of New Orleans?” Sir Rodney held her gaze as the queen shook her head no.

  “There was a force out there, animal in scent,” Sasha said quietly, glancing around the court. “Feral female.”

  “Disembodied?” the queen said, looking at Kiagehul. “That is very dark magick, my dear . . . Whomever did you get to give up her body to increase your powers? That is never allowed without my express consent, for obvious reasons.”

  The queen walked forward as the entire court silently watched, turned over her delicate wrist, and allowed the pen to strike her flawless skin. A slow, cool blue ooze slid from the small gash and the pen dipped itself in it and then signed the page of her entry. All waited and the book never even smoldered.

  “Then how do you account for these men?” Sir Rodney said with less force in his tone.

  His guards dragged in seven Unseelie fighters and she looked at them with disdain.

  “Our courts are large. These men are anonymous to me. With profit from a source willing to pay mercenaries, I am sure they could have been bribed to carry out the vile acts the intemperate young she-wolf spoke of this evening.” She looked at her advisors. “Or there could be those who wanted to assure the release of Kiagehul, whether it was the right thing to do or not.” She returned her focus to Sir Rodney. “We should only war about things that are a matter between us, not others.”

  “Then, if I put them to death for treason, milady,” Sir Rodney shouted, “you will not take that as an act of aggression against the Unseelie?”

  “No,” she said calmly. “Some things we can discuss privately. I admit that I miss our warm chats . . . when there was a slight frost to the spring air . . . We found a way to compromise at times.” She looked Sir Rodney up and down and then turned away.

  Sir Rodney turned toward his guards and lifted his chin. “Take them to the dungeons—in the morning there will be a firing squad.”

  The courtroom remained rapt as the queen put away her wand and took Elder Vlad’s arm, sending a thin coating of icicles over his robes.

  “But what about me?” Kiagehul shrieked, bitter tears now wetting his face.

  The queen stopped walking, but did not turn to face him. “Who did you disembody, Kiagehul?”

  “Lady Jung Suk,” Kiagehul whimpered.

  “My aunt?” Shogun shouted, leaping out of his box and menacing the prisoner. “How? Why?”

  Sasha shared a look with Hunter. Now the feral scent added up.

  “I met her in the icy regions,” Kiagehul sobbed. “She wanted what I wanted—respect! A Snow Leopard’s strength, with shape-shifting ability . . . She was old, strong, and wiser than even the Vampires.”


  “We smelled her at the site of both murders,” Sasha said in disbelief, her gaze going to Shogun.

  Hunter nodded. “And at the Bayou House . . . She was stalking you.”

  “The sigils on the bodies that we couldn’t identify . . .” Sir Rodney said, horrified.

  “Ancient Chinese calligraphy, put there by a very old sorceress,” Shogun said between his teeth, almost lunging toward Kiagehul as he spat out the words.

  “She carved them into those women as a disembodied spirit . . . Heresy!” Sir Rodney looked around the court. “Do ye hear this, all of you? A man blinds me within my own castle, having access to everything personal, even my advisors, my investigator, while all the while plotting treason and committing multiple felonies!”

  “I had cause!” Kiagehul shouted back. “I got rid of that meddlesome Phoenix, who’d eavesdropped on Vampire gossip; got rid of her friend, too.” Wild-eyed, he looked at Baron Montague, pointing at him. “Had you not been gossiping, she would not have heard about the dark magick—so you killed her, not me! It was so easy for my Leopard sorceress to go to her, unseen, as pure spirit, and claw the foreign sigil that would make her flame right into her creamy flesh.” He released a pleased sigh and then returned his attention to Sir Rodney. “Milord, you should have seen them burn. It was beautiful. Almost as beautiful as executing Ethan’s bartender.”

  “The man is mad,” Shogun said, stepping back. “I have never seen a viler creature in my life.”

  “Put the sick bastard out of his misery,” Hunter muttered. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

  Kiagehul blinked furiously, beginning to laugh in madness, his mind breaking under the pressure and the toxic effect of the rowan. “My Leopard taught me things of pleasure from ancient texts that I had never known . . . and had access to your father’s hair—which holds your combined DNA . . . And it was so easy to pilfer those items from the rest who’d stayed in my cousin’s establishment,” he added, glancing at both Shogun and Hunter. “With bits of this and bits of that, it was so easy to deliver personalized spells against all of you . . . just like it was so easy to stay one step ahead of you, one step ahead of the bungling idiot, Thompson. A blinder spell, a blocker spell, so easy when lain within the same castle where you live.”