“I am feeling generous this evening. Your necromancer is not dead, Druid. Her pulse is weak, but she will live. The coven may break treaties, but the vampires do not. I will allow her to live on the technicality that she did not attack the vampires during her stay in Salem. The only use of her necromancy was under great duress and what she perceived to be self-defense. When your love regains consciousness, do her the favor of reminding her of her manners. I may have found a purpose that will spare her life and keep her in Salem, but I will not overlook such behavior a second time,” Kedehern said coldly.
“Having a necromancer under our control would certainly give us an advantage over any challenging vampires. Or it could incite them to challenge us. Whatever shall we do with her? Decisions, decisions. I will agree to this indulgence. For now. Remove this trash from my sight,” Agrona said with a wave of her hand.
A couple of vampires stepped forward to do their queen's bidding. One grabbed the chains and started dragging Amalie, Oberon and Graive out of the room. The other went for Mahalia.
“Leave that one. We have other plans for her,” Agrona said, sparing a glance at the fairie twins.
Amalie screamed for Mahalia as she was dragged away from the head of her coven - a leader that she had loved and followed without question, and that she was obviously still loyal to. Oberon said little to comfort her. He was too focused on whether Graive would in fact wake up. I turned away as they left the room, just as I had turned my back on the coven when the Council had sentenced them. I hadn’t spoken on their behalf, even though I knew there were some in the coven who were innocent. They would share in the punishment along with the guilty. A small part of me felt bad about that. The rest of me said that was the naive part of me that got suckered by the coven in the first place. I really would miss Amalie, though. Or maybe I would just miss the idea of having a friend. I’d had so few. Even if she didn’t know what Mahalia was trying to do, I doubt that I’d ever be able to trust her again and I doubted even more that she’d forgive me for this.
Aidan came over and took me gently by the arm. “Let me take you home.”
“Now? But Agrona hasn’t finished with Mahalia yet,” I whined.
“She’s finished with the witch. Trust me,” he said, nudging me toward the door.
“Why the rush? You’re not telling me something,” I pressed.
“Ian and Kellen are very creative. You won’t want to stay for the next part, trust me,” he whispered in my ear.
“Ian and Kellen?” I asked.
Blue Eyes looked up at the mention of his name. Was he Ian or Kellen?
“Keep your voice down. Don’t draw their attention. You won’t like the games that they play,” he whispered.
“You mean torture? Aidan, are they going to torture her?” I asked. I was horrified at the thought, even though I had been ready to slice the blade of my sword through her neck not an hour ago.
“Did you think that she would not suffer for her treason? She tried to kill you. She will be made to pay for that. If not in kind, then in blood. That is the law of the Council. I know that you will not stand by and watch it without opening your mouth, so I am taking you home,” he said.
“Well, you’re right. I am going to say something. Agrona can put a stop to this. If she isn’t getting the death penalty, then she should get life in prison. Not torture. I don’t do torture. Don’t you all have a prison or something she can just rot in?” I asked.
“This isn’t the U.N., Maurin. Agrona and Roul had to concede to some of their demands. She will be imprisoned at the UnSeelie Court. Not all of her fears of the Fey holding a seat on the Council were unfounded. They aren’t all pixie dust and pots of gold. They can be cruel. Mahalia will see the worst of them tonight. Her campaign to keep the Fey off of the Council has been going on for years,” Aidan explained.
“The UnSeelie Court? How do you know all this?” I asked, confused. “I must have missed all this on the itinerary.”
“I’ve been with the Council a lot longer than you, Maurin. I know how things work. We’re leaving. Now. So get that pretty little ass of yours moving,” Aidan said, encouraging me with a gentle shove toward the door.
I turned to look at Mahalia one last time. Ian and Kellen were walking towards her. I knew that she was afraid, but she didn’t show it. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I prayed that they broke her quickly. I wouldn’t wish an all night torture session with the Fey on my worst enemy – even the ones who had tried to kill me. Something told me that the list of people who tried to kill me would be getting longer. Someday I might actually need to re-evaluate my moral stance on torture instead of just turning a blind eye to it like I had with so many of the other morals that I had adhered to in my human existence.
Agrona gave a little nod as Aidan tugged me out of the room by my arm. I couldn’t change it or stop it, so I walked away, leaving Mahalia and another piece of my humanity behind.
22
We weren’t at my apartment for five minutes before the buzzer for the intercom was going off. There really is no rest for the wicked.
“Don’t answer it,” Aidan pleaded.
“If I thought that would actually work, then I wouldn’t,” I replied with a heavy sigh.
“Yeah,” I said as I held the talk button down.
“Buzz me in, Kincaide. You’ve got a hell of a lot of explaining to do.”
The voice was distorted and broken up from the out- dated intercom system, but I knew that it was Masarelli.
Aidan just rolled his eyes. “I told you not to answer it.”
I hit the other button to let Masarelli in and held my apartment door open as he walked up the three flights of stairs.
“You want to explain what the hell happened back there?” Masarelli asked.
“Not really,” I said.
“Kincaide,” he warned.
“You asked,” I chided. “Are you going to come in or what?”
Masarelli stepped inside, but didn't bother to make himself at home. I got the impression that he didn’t want to stay in my apartment any longer than was necessary. That was fine with me.
“How did you do...whatever you call the thing that you did? You know, the disappearing thing,” he said, waving his hands around as if he were a magician.
I started to explain, but all you could hear every time I opened my mouth was barking. Masarelli looked at me like I had completely lost my mind.
“It's not me, jackass,” I said, sounding as exhausted as I felt.
“When did you get a dog and who thought it would be a good idea to give you one?” he asked, totally serious.
I didn't bother with false indignation over his last comment. The current state of my life certainly was not well-suited for a dog. Unfortunately, there was no ignoring the undeniable sound of barking coming from my bedroom. Did I tell him that my long lost father had apparently stopped by – uninvited, I might add - and brought his enormous dog with him? Of course not. Masarelli would have pressed for more information or, even worse, insisted on meeting him. His curiosity would have made him stay longer than either of us wanted him to. So I did what any rational person would do. I lied.
“I just got him, but he's a jumper so I put him in my room. Can we make this quick so I can let him out before he gnaws my bedpost in half?” I begged, almost convincing myself that I had a new pet.
“If his bark is any indication of his size, then you're going to need a bigger place,” Masarelli said, backing up just a little as the Cwn Annwfn howled.
“Yeah, well, I don't plan on letting him take over my life,” I said, though that was actually directed at Arawn- whom I assumed was still waiting in my room with his pet.
“Dogs that size usually do. Maybe you should have gotten a min-pin,” he chuckled.
“A what? Never mind. You didn’t come here to talk about dogs. Mahalia tried to-” I stopped when I heard scratching on the door. “Okay, I'm just going to sum up here before my dog completely d
estroys my room. Mahalia knew that I would be banished with the demon. She tried to kill me. When she realized that her plan didn't work, she tried to escape. I saw her working the spell, grabbed Aidan and went after her. She worked the magic. We just went along for the ride,” I told him.
I didn’t have the time or the energy to try to tackle a conversation about the between and my growing ability to move through it. Mahalia was more than capable of teleportation. I knew that he'd believe my tall tale.
“Where is she now?" he asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“With the Council.” I didn’t elaborate.
“What are they going to do with her? Why did she want to kill you in the first place? Believe me, I understand the feeling, but I thought that you were tight with the coven. Does this have anything thing to do with your love triangle?” he said, looking pointedly at Aidan.
Aidan was leaning against the wall at the entrance to the hallway with his arms casually folded across his chest. Damn! He made my apartment look good! He raised a quizzical brow at the mention of a love triangle, but I could see the smile in his eyes. He thought that Masarelli’s mundane approach to figuring out Mahalia's motive was hilarious. I knew that he was holding back a slew of witty comments that would only encourage Masarelli and his line of questioning.
“Did you come up here to question me about my love life, or to finally close your investigation? There is no love triangle. More like a power struggle that I managed to get caught up in,” I explained.
“It's always the same thing. Even with Others. Love, hate and greed.” He seemed satisfied with my explanation.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said, relieved that Masarelli seemed to be buying my story.
“I'm going to assume that you don't want to press charges or make an official statement about the events that occurred tonight.” There was a hint of a question in his voice.
“You assume correctly,” I told him.
“I thought as much,” he said, but this time he was the one who sounded relieved. “Just one more thing. How am I supposed to explain your disappearing act to my team?”
“Tell them that Mahalia used her magic to jump us into the demons realm so that we could bind him there,” I said quickly.
“They were there when you came back. They know that you killed the demon. They'll notice the coven leader has gone missing.” He sounded disappointed that this was the best response that I could come up with.
“Oh, yeah. I don't know, Masarelli. How come I've got to come up with something? Let's just glamour them. Then we don't have to worry about it,” I told him, only half joking.
“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” He sounded pretty excited about the idea.
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
Aidan's interest was piqued. He left his spot in the hallway and came to join us by the door. “I'll do it,” he volunteered.
“Are you serious? Because I know he is,” I asked Masarelli as I gestured at Aidan.
I knew that it would make things infinitely easier - that's why I had mentioned it. I just didn’t expect anyone to go along with it. Especially Masarelli.
“You saw my team. They’re still cutting teeth. I'm smart enough to know that I don't want to be involved in a power struggle within the Council. They're still young enough to believe that they can change the world. I'll set up a briefing and tell them you're coming in to brief them on what happened during the banishing spell and its aftermath,” he informed us.
“Just let me know when you want me to be there,” Aidan told him.
“Tomorrow night around six-thirty. We should be able to catch them all around the shift change. I'd prefer that we only do this once,” Masarelli said.
I couldn't believe that he was going to let Aidan do it at all. Matthison would never have considered glamour an option. I saw the second thoughts creep across Masarelli’s face. He cleared his throat and pulled his coat a little tighter around him in an effort to strengthen his resolve.
“Tomorrow night. Don't be late.” That was the last thing he said as he walked out of my apartment.
I shut the door and leaned against it. Aidan moved in, his body pressed against mine.
“You seem disappointed,” he said as he kissed behind my ear.
“Maybe a little. I just feel like we're crossing a line. Matthison would never go along with this,” I sighed.
“Need I remind you that this was your idea? And I wouldn’t be so sure about Matthison if I were you.” He didn’t elaborate.
“You don’t expect me to believe that. Matthison...no way. He wouldn't."
Aidan's mouth was on mine, ending my protests. His hands traced the outline of my body. My hands slid across his chiseled chest and grazed his neck before finally cupping his face. I wrapped a leg around his. His hand slid up and down my thigh. I pushed gently on his face to break our mouths apart. Aidan busied himself with my neck as I caught my breath. He grabbed my legs and slid me up the door. I wrapped myself around him, preparing to be carried to my bedroom. I dropped my head on his shoulder.
“What is it? What's wrong?” he asked breathlessly.
I raised my head to remind him of what was waiting in my room, but Arawn was already in the hallway. I couldn't help it - I jumped and screeched, “Holy shit!”
Aidan put me down and spun around, shielding me with his body. I could feel the tension leave him when he saw who it was. I stepped around to Aidan's side. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I slid one around his waist.
“I forgot about him,” Aidan muttered.
“Do you intend to keep me waiting all night, Daughter? I come bearing gifts and this is how you receive me? I was left waiting in your room, rather than being introduced to your friend,” Arawn said with mock hurt in his voice.
“Masarelli isn't my friend. And I was doing you a favor by not introducing you,” I told him.
“If you say so,” he said.
“You said that you brought me a gift?” I asked nervously.
He whistled and the Cwn Annwfn padded out of my room, stopping beside him. The two of them filled the little hallway.
“If you insist on continuing this charade of a mortal existence, then I must insist that you keep one of my pets with you,” Arawn said.
“What? I can’t keep him! I can barely take care of myself, never mind an enormous ethereal dog. What am I supposed to do with him?” I asked.
“He will live here with you and you will take him with you when the Council sends you on quests. He is your guardian,” he said in a fatherly voice.
“Yeah, because bringing a dog the size of a Shetland pony along everywhere I go is so practical. Maybe now would be a good time to set some boundaries,” I suggested.
“I'll give you two a minute,” Aidan said on his way to my bedroom.
I stopped him. I had a feeling that this was going to take a while. The moment was lost anyway. “Maybe we should just call it a night.”
“Really?” Aidan asked with disappointment in his eyes.
“It's already late and I need to take care of this,” I told him.
“Are you sure? I mean, are you sure that you're going to be okay?” Aidan asked, trying to find another reason to stay.
“The Cwn Annwfn is more than capable of keeping her safe, vampire,” Arawn said.
I took Aidan by the hand and walked him to the door. “I'm a big girl. I'll be fine.” I got up on tiptoes to give him a kiss good night.
“Call me later,” he said before kissing me back.
“I still don’t have my cell phone,” I said before he shut the door.
I heard him sigh from the hallway, before handing me his through the partially closed door. I knew that he wasn’t happy with how the night was ending for us. I wasn’t thrilled about it either, but I couldn't put this conversation off any longer.
Arawn had made himself comfortable on my couch, even managing to look powerful and confident despite my worn out furniture. I took a deep brea
th, pulled my shoulders back and made my way over to the armchair. I didn’t want to sit next to Arawn for this conversation.
“What is so important that you needed a private audience with me, daughter?” Arawn asked sounding mildly irritated.
“I just think that we need to set some ground rules. You know, like not showing up in my bedroom unannounced,” I said cautiously.
“I am Lord Arawn. I will not be bound by rules. And I do not need permission to speak with my own daughter!” he bellowed.
“Well could you at least use the door?” I shouted, throwing my hands up.
“I have already conceded to letting you remain here. What more do you want from me?” he shouted back.
The negotiations were not going according to plan. The Cwn Annwfn howled at our raised voices. I needed to get him to see things my way. I ignored the desire to yell about how he wasn’t letting me do anything and moved over to the couch to sit beside him. You can attract more flies with honey than vinegar, after all.
Unless you’re Arawn, that is. It didn’t matter how sweet I was, I couldn’t get him to see things my way. We argued over the semantics of our father/daughter relationship for the rest of the night.
Aidan must have called a dozen times in the midst of our heated discussion. I made the mistake of sending the first four to voicemail. As I should have expected, the remaining eight or so calls came in rapid succession. I finally answered and explained that I was still talking to Arawn. We made plans to meet for coffee around five and then head over to the police station.
Witch Hunt, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series) Page 23
