by Amy Sumida
My heart was getting used to this up and down treatment from Torin, but it still hurt. I sighed and turned away as well, to head back to my seat, and the men who accepted me as I was. As I did, I caught the smug satisfaction on Queen Oonagh's face.
Chapter Thirty
We were getting ready for bed that night when Banning's contact charm chimed. There were only two people it could have been; either Cerberus or someone from Banning's gura. I'd given Banning a charm to leave at Crouching Lion in case he was in Tír na nÓg when there was an emergency with his gura. Since I had my charm with me too, I knew it couldn't be Cer; he would have called me first. So, that left the blooders.
“What's happened?” Banning asked as soon as he got the charm in his ear. “I'm on my way.” He pulled out the charm and looked over at Declan and me in wide-eyed horror. “There are monsters attacking the Crouching Lion.”
“Monsters? Serious fuckingly! What kind?” I asked the last bit to determine whether our tormentor was back to stealing from Torr-Chathair or had moved on to another realm.
“My people don't know, but does it matter?” Banning snapped. “I need to get there now!”
Declan and I nodded, pulled out our traveling stones, and grabbed Banning's hands. Banning was right; I could figure it out when we got there. We traveled to the Crouching Lion together, reforming on the main veranda in front of the golf course. Night had claimed Kansas in its embrace, and the only illumination came from the lampposts scattered across the manicured lawn, the building behind us, and the Moon above. Still, it was more than enough to see the monsters by.
“Chupacabras,” Declan hissed. “How fucking appropriate.”
Banning's blooders were already battling the blood-sucking beasts. Appropriate indeed. Whoever was behind this, they had a twisted sense of humor to send goat-suckers after blooders... and I had no doubts that this was yet another monster abduction from Torr-Chathair. Chupacabras were from Earth originally and had been a part of the relocation. The monsters were large, but nothing like death worms. They resembled hairless bears with spikes running down their spines. Vicious, but also not the most menacing thing I'd ever faced. It was their numbers that posed the biggest problem. There was a whole pack of the chupacabras, and they were pissed off to have been dumped in Kansas.
“Pull back!” Banning shouted to his people. “We need fire to repel them.”
As the blooders scrambled to get away from the monsters, I thumbed through my iPod. Blooders hated fire too, and they wouldn't be happy about having to fight with it. But if all went as I planned, they wouldn't have to. Luckily, the song I was after was right at the top, under A. Adele's “Set Fire to the Rain” had too long an intro for me, so I skipped to the chorus. I belted out the words that immediately drew forth my magic and then blasted it downward in a sheet of flaming rain. The firewall cut us off from the chupacabras, and the blooders cheered in relief.
I'd been there before, doing nearly this same thing, twice already. Banning's gura was probably starting to wonder how many times his spellsinger girlfriend was going to have to save them. I was wondering how many times I'd have to drive monsters back to another realm, and hoping that Declan would be by my side when I needed him. Because the only realms I knew how to access were of the hell variety... or perhaps heaven. I could probably try a heaven song, but it might be considered rude to send a bunch of monsters into a god's realm.
I nodded to Declan, and he did his thing, already knowing what I expected from him. As he opened a portal to Torr-Chathair, I drove more fiery rain down around the pack of chupacabras, herding them toward the portal. They were snarling and hissing, shooting angry and fearful glances toward the pursuing flames, but they went right where I wanted them to.
That's when Gage showed up.
His appearance shocked me out of my song, and the fire-rain petered out to a sprinkle. I stared at Gage as he looked resolutely upon the chupacabras, but then he glanced to the side and finally noticed me. His eyes widened and his hands—already shifted into talons—lowered in surprise.
“Elaria!” Banning shouted.
I jerked and started singing again. Adele had continued without me, but she circled back to the chorus fast enough. I got the fire falling just in time to keep the chupacabras contained. Gage strode over to us as I pushed the monsters steadily forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his hands shift back to human, and his shoulders release their tension.
The last chupacabra went running into the portal, and Declan closed it behind the beast. We all breathed out in relief then. But the peace was brief. Before I could say anything, Declan rounded on Gage, pointed in the griffin's face, and narrowed his eyes at him.
“Are you that stupid, fucking griffin?” Declan snarled.
“What the hell did you just call me?” Gage snarled back.
“A griffin; if you're not, then my apologies,” Declan said derisively. “I understand how insulted you may be the title.”
“Stand down!” I shouted to them both. “Neither of you are helping. You”—I pointed to Declan—“don't know him well enough to call him names. And you”—I pointed to Gage—“have just let me do your job for you. So, if either of you has something to say, you need to say it to me.”
“I would have done my job if you hadn't beat me here,” Gage muttered.
“He's an asshole!” Declan shouted. “I don't need to know him to see that. Just look at his outfit. He's got straps of leather tied around his wrist like a fucking bracelet. I mean, seriously, what's the point of that? Is it warrior chic?”
Yep, Gage was back to wearing his leather. I guess assimilating into human society hadn't worked out so well for him.
“They stabilize my wrist when I use my sword,” Gage growled. “Not all of us rely solely on our magic.”
Declan deflated. “Yeah, okay; that's valid.”
“I don't have time for this bullshit,” I huffed and walked away from them, onto the golf course. I needed to investigate the scene while it was still fresh.
“You're both assholes. I nearly lost my gura tonight, and you two are behaving like toddlers; verbally bitch-slapping each other,” Banning snapped at the other men before he followed me.
I cast an impressed look Banning's way, and he smirked at me.
“There!” Banning pointed toward the border of trees around the golf course.
“What?” Declan asked as he and Gage caught up.
“There's something hanging from that tree,” Banning said.
“Well, this clinches it,” I murmured as we headed for the trees. “First Cerberus, then Aoide, and now Banning; someone is going after my loved ones.”
Banning froze, Declan cursed, and Gage looked confused.
“Who did you love in Vegas?” Gage asked in careful monotone.
“My best friend's girlfriend owns casinos there,” I said to Gage. “And this place belongs to Banning.” I waved a hand at Banning. “He's my boyfriend, and this is Declan.” I indicated Declan. “He's my other boyfriend.”
“And you would have been the third,” Declan hissed, “if you hadn't been such a pussy.”
“I'm a pussy for wanting my own woman?” Gage growled.
“No; you're a pussy for not doing right by your woman,” Declan said sternly. “You know she's your mate and yet you walked away from her, leaving her to die.”
“She's not going to die,” Gage huffed. “Look at her; she's fucking gorgeous, magically kick-ass, and has a sharp tongue to go with her even sharper mind. She'll find another man to fall in love with her. I'm the one who will have to live without the bond of a mate.”
“You really are an asshole.” Banning shook his head as he went to grab the thing that had caught his attention.
It looked like a rolled up piece of paper, tied with a string.
“I didn't leave her to die,” Gage protested, then looked to me. “I don't want you to die; you know that, Elaria, don't you?”
“I do know that, Gage,” I said s
oftly. “It's okay. As I keep saying to you; I understand. I won't share either. So, how can I be mad at you for not wanting to?”
Gage sighed roughly and hung his head back to stare up at the sky.
“Yep; that's the kind of woman you've abandoned,” Declan snapped. “Go ahead and see how well you sleep tonight, birdbrain.”
“I haven't slept well for days,” Gage admitted.
“Well, I'm not sleeping today either,” Banning said as he handed me the piece of parchment.
I read it aloud, “Scared yet, Spellsinger?” I closed my eyes and sighed. I knew it was about me, but having confirmation kind of sucked.
“It's okay, El.” Banning took my hand. “This isn't your fault.”
“It sounds like it is,” I whispered.
“Give me the letter, sweetheart,” Declan held his hand out to me, and I passed it over. He read it aloud, “Your dog is worm-meat, your aunt is a demon's whore, and now your bloodsucker has been sucked dry. I hope you writhe in agony, just as I have. And keep your guard up, bitch; I've only just begun.”
“Do you have any idea who this is yet?” Gage asked.
“Nope.” I gave a mirthless laugh. “Still too many enemies to pick from.”
“That's what happens after you save all the realms,” Declan added.
Gage's eyes widened.
“Oh, our girl didn't tell you about that, huh?” Declan asked. “Yeah, your continued existence is owed to her. Everyone's existence is. Some of my fellow shining ones decided that it would be a good idea to take the Human Realm for themselves. They threatened the balance between the realms and the Veil itself.”
“But that would...” Gage looked at me in horror.
“Yes; once one portion of the Veil fell, all of the borders would fall,” Declan finished. “It's been tried once before. Back then, the witches stopped us. After they subdued the threat, they created a powerful relic and left it behind to monitor the shining ones. In the event that some dumb fairy thought he was powerful enough to upset the balance and hold the Veil together, the relic would protect the realms. And it turned out that the witches were right to do so. King Galen tried to claim the Human Realm, and he woke up the relic. But it needed an avatar to wield it, and guess who the witch relic chose.”
“You saved the realms?” Gage asked me. “Why wouldn't you tell me that?”
“Why would I?” I shot back. “Does it make a difference? Do you think you could love the Savior of the Realms more than Elaria Tanager? Because if that's true, you'll be sorely disappointed to learn that I don't have the relic anymore. The witch relic went back to sleep on its mountain, leaving me just a spellsinger once more.”
“Well, not really,” Banning muttered.
I gave him a quelling look. If Gage didn't want me for me, this wouldn't work anyway.
“No; it doesn't make a difference to how I feel about you,” Gage admitted. “But it does make a difference to how I can present you.”
“What?” I scowled at him.
“Oh, I get it now.” Declan chuckled. “The griffin here wasn't put off by having to share you as much as he was by the idea of telling his tribe that he has to share you.”
Gage looked uncomfortable.
“Seriously?” I asked him. “You walked away from me because you didn't want to be embarrassed?”
“We're a very proud people. My tribe won't accept you as my mate if you already have two other lovers,” Gage said stiffly. “But if I tell them that you saved the realms, and then you were cursed with a spell that makes you take multiple lovers, the tribes might make an exception.”
“Well, I'm so glad that I'm good enough to take home to the tribe now.” I grimaced.
“I'm sorry,” Gage whispered. “You don't know what it's like to be raised in griffin society. If you're ever seen as less of a man, you're ridiculed, or even banished, until you show your worth.”
“Sounds brutal,” Banning said gently as he cast meaningful glances at Declan and I. “We've all been through brutal times. Can't we let this go and move on?”
“I don't know”—Declan stared down Gage—“can we? You ready to man up, griffin?”
“I want to see where we can take this,” Gage said to me, ignoring Declan completely. “If you're still willing to give me a chance.”
“Yeah; I'm willing,” I whispered.
Gage held out his hand tentatively, and I took it. He used it to pull me into an embrace, and we sighed together as that perfect feeling descended upon us. I hadn't realized how much I had ached for Gage until he was touching me. He laid his head over mine, and his body relaxed around me.
“Lovely, you two look great together,” Declan drawled. “And I'm thrilled. Honestly I am, but we need to search the scene for any more clues as to who this bastard is.”
“Isn't it obvious?” Banning asked. “It has to be Galen. He was banished to this realm, wasn't he? And, Elaria, you said that the paint on that boulder was blue, right? Like Sapphire?”
I turned my head so that my cheek was pressed to Gage's chest, and looked at Declan. I saw the answer in his eyes before I said it, but he let me explain it to Banning.
“It can't be Galen,” I said. “Torin and a group of shining ones grounded Galen's magic. Galen couldn't even open a portal to get to Torr-Chathair, much less coral monsters and herd them back here.”
“Fuck,” Banning snarled. “Then who?”
“I'd say it must be a shining one,” Declan mused, “but they aren't the only ones Elaria has offended recently.”
“The spellsingers,” I whispered as I pushed away from Gage. “No; they wouldn't do this, not to family. Aoide even wanted me to call them and ask them for help.”
“I agree. I don't think it's them,” Declan said gently. “I'm just saying that there are other possibilities. This may not be related to recent events at all. It could be someone from your past.”
“Like the manticores,” Gage noted. “You killed an entire pride; that's vicious enough to inspire a vendetta.”
“I'm a fixer,” I said to him. “I'm not ashamed of it; I choose my cases carefully and try to use my magic for good. Those manticores were eating people in Las Vegas; they needed to be stopped.”
“You do help people, but to do that you have to do bad things to other people,” Declan said. “Don't look at me like that, El. I find your profession to be terribly sexy. I'm merely pointing out that your fixing things for some people may have felt like torture to others... other people who are strong enough to open portals and wrangle monsters.”
“Like blooder kings,” Banning whispered.
“Can Sorin open portals?” I asked.
“He has enough money to hire someone to do it for him,” Banning said. “My father is good at delegating.”
“Shit,” I snapped. “Then the list is endless.”
“Which is why we need to take a look around,” Declan added as he waved the letter. “And there's another clue in this that we haven't noted.”
“What's that?” Banning asked.
“He—or she—said that Cerberus was worm-food, Aoide was a demon's whore, and Banning was sucked dry,” Declan pointed out. “This person released the monsters and then left. They merely assumed that their targets would be destroyed.”
“But they weren't,” Gage added.
“The shit that went down in Vegas was covered by news reporters,” I murmured. “Anyone with a TV would know that the death worms were dealt with.”
“And anyone plotting revenge would want to see verification that their plan was working,” Banning murmured. “So, why don't they know that it isn't?”
“Because they only come to the Human Realm to torture me, then they leave and don't return until it's time for the next round,” I concluded. “That's the only way they wouldn't know.”
“I believe you're right.” Declan nodded. “They tipped their hand with that taunt, and if they got sloppy once, maybe they'll screw up again. Maybe they've even left us another c
lue that they didn't intend to leave behind.”
“I need everyone to search the grounds!” Banning called out to his gura; they were all standing on the veranda, watching us. “And do it carefully,” he added when they began to run off in all directions.
“Carefully?” One of the blooders called back. “What does that mean, Gheara?”
“You've all seen CSI!” Banning snapped. “Make like a crime scene detective and look carefully. Use some flashlights and tweezers for fuck's sake!”
The blooders scurried off.
“And put anything you find in a Ziploc!” Banning shouted after them.
“CSI?” I asked Banning and laughed.
“Well, do you want the four of us to have to cover all this ground alone?” Banning shot back.
“No, Gheara, I don't.” I smirked. “Especially since I don't have any Ziplocs on me.”
“Or tweezers,” Declan added with a chuckle.
“Assholes,” Banning muttered as he shook his head and turned to stalk away from us. “I'm surrounded by assholes, and it's really starting to stink up my air.”
Declan and I laughed hard enough that Gage joined in, and there; standing on scorched earth and beneath the pall of potential doom, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders, and hope fill my heart.
Chapter Thirty-One
We searched the entire grounds surrounding the Crouching Lion Country Club and some of the bordering forest as well. There were no other clues. I even tried singing again and got the same result; the trail ended in the Veil. But at least now we knew the culprit wasn't just jumping realms in an evasive tactic; they were going home. The problem was; there were numerous realms and the clue that I had wronged this person didn't narrow down the suspect or location list enough. I could probably rule out Torr-Chathair since Gage had come from there, and he was the first griffin I'd ever met. There were a few other realms like his, where no one associated with anything I've ever done exists, but the rest of them were up for debate. Most of the beneathers who lived on Earth originally came from another realm, and honestly, I don't remember every job I've ever done.
