She looked at Scylla. "Tell Toryn what kind of power this Goblin has."
Scylla got the impression Brendi didn't really want him to do that, but she was making herself look good in the eyes of the court. And he'd realized there were a lot of Faeries in the throne room as he looked around. Perhaps he was on trial and didn't realize it. "The Goblin had the ability to create a guard around him, much like a ward I couldn't penetrate. The light from his hands numbed, blinded and slowed me." He thought about any other power that wouldn't be attributed to whatever book that was.
Should he mention the wings?
"My lady," Toryn spoke up again. "It is possible this Goblin is Daoine and should be given the graces afforded to him by the four queens—"
"No!" Brendi stood and looked even smaller than she had before. Scylla felt a tightening in his chest, much like he had the moment she summoned him. But the tightening intensified and did not let up. He clutched his chest and went down on his knees, gasping for air, the pain was so bad. "This Goblin has betrayed my father and I want him brought to me in chains! I demand it!"
More murmuring. Lots of raised voices. Some in agreement, some surprised.
Scylla writhed on the floor, gasping for air until finally the grip on his lungs eased and he was able to pull in great, painful lung-fulls of air. All kinds of arguing broke out as Scylla lay on his side, just happy to breathe. He could jump out of the body, but he needed it and he liked it. It was a good body. Good looking, lean and quite attractive to both sexes.
It was perfect for him.
But the price he was paying for it was starting to nag at him. There was something else going on here. Something the other Faeries weren't aware of, though he was pretty sure this Toryn suspected something. The declaration this Goblin betrayed her father was new. Scylla knew Brendi was human, so that meant her father was human. But he'd seen and felt the Goblin protect two humans…and why was there a Hunt beast in that house?
Too many questions and it was obvious the Queen wasn't going to give him any answers.
He could always go to Morgana for guidance…
"Stand," Brendi said.
Scylla felt the compulsion to stand, even though it made his lungs and chest burn. He stood, though at an odd angle, and faced her. She was still standing and most of the court was no longer in the room. Toryn was gone as well.
"You will bring him to me, Scylla. That was the agreement you made with me for that body. You have until midnight tonight, and if you do not, that body will disintegrate and you will fade back to the Well of Souls without it." She raised her hand.
"Wait!" He held up his hands and his voice was little more than a croak. To his surprise, she did wait. "As I said, this Goblin is…powerful"—careful how you choose your words—"and was able to stop me on my first attempt. Perhaps it would be in both of our interests if I consulted the Spring Queen on how to proceed?"
"Why Morgana?"
"Because, as Toryn said"—he suddenly wished the purple Faerie was there—"she has been a sponsor for my family since my grandmother's abandonment of us. She might know of a way I can use my magic to protect myself, and to bring the Goblin here."
Brendi seemed to consider this. "Then go. But I will not give you more time. Midnight is the deadline, and then your body dies."
He bowed as well as he could, given the pain in his chest. He turned and limped out of the throne room to the back hall where he knew of a particularly deep shadow. There, he slipped inside of it, let the ice cold of absence take him as he thought about Morgana and her sweet, sweet kisses…
Eleven
WiTCH AS PREY
DAGS
Meeting Ivan was interesting. I'd never actually known a Cyber Witch before. He was tall and lanky, with thick black hair and a slight Asian look to his face, especially his eyes. He was also what my dad, my adopted dad, would have called whip-smart when it came to anything electronic.
He noticed the wards right away when he came in the back way as Detective Holliard and Detective Tulose left, introduced himself to me and sat at the big table in the back and shared breakfast as we filled him in on everything that'd happened while he was sleeping. He had a tablet with him, one hand on it while he ate with the other and watched us, but I also noticed an eerie green glow to his eyes now and then.
Finally, he took his hand off the tablet, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and held his hands out above the table. Now his eyes really glowed green as I spotted images and streams of text and code moving between his hands. It was fast and I couldn't actually read or recognize anything. Sam and Kyle kept talking as he did this, but I was more fascinated and stared.
Yeah, it was rude but…damn! This guy had a really crazy magic if that's what I'd just seen.
Finally, Ivan said, "Sam…there's really not much in the way of the weird out there, which is…well, weird for New Orleans."
Sam and Kyle looked at him. "Nothing?" Kyle said.
"Well…there's this police call about two hours ago. A woman called and said her boyfriend went out to grab dinner last night at Pat O’Brien’s and never came back."
"Let me guess," Sam said. "The police are telling her it's New Orleans. He probably went to a party and he's sleeping it off somewhere."
Ivan grinned. "You've been in this city way too long."
I blinked a few times. "Wait…you heard this phone conversation?"
"Yeah. Most stations record all incoming calls."
"And you listened in?"
"Well, I sort of bypassed their security and went through all the calls that came in between midnight and this morning. That's the only one that sounds off. And then again, given this is New Orleans, it's not really that off."
What was off was how this guy got the information. I never saw him actually pick up the tablet, swipe the surface, or make a phone call. "You…that's what you were doing just now? Going through the phone calls?"
"Yep. I did it remotely."
Kyle put his hand on the table in front of me. "You'll get used to it."
No. I didn't think I'd ever get used to that. He was like some strange, magical Google Boy.
"Thanks Ivan, but it's not strange enough to think it has anything to do with Scylla," Sam said.
"Unless he got hungry. I mean, Dags here did whammy him last night."
Whammy? Really? Kyle and Mike had very similar vocabularies. Then I sort of got what he said. "Hungry? Oh…that sucking out souls thing?"
"More like absorbing the soul's energy," Ivan said. He was doing that hands out above the table thing again with the green eyes and the faint images and stuff moving between them.
"So you're not worried he's going to try and come back here to bring you to Brendi?" Kyle said. It was really a question I'd been wondering myself.
Mike came down the stairs at that point, waved, and helped himself to some coffee. He looked a little better, though he was thin. Much thinner. I didn't think that Djinn took care of him at all. And if he ate, he burned right through it. I wanted to talk to him and see what was going on in his head. I needed to know how much he remembered, or if he remembered anything. And then again, I was too chicken shit to even bring it up. I wanted him whole. I needed him whole. And if he remembered any of what they said the Djinn did in his body…whole would be something Mike Ross would never know again.
"I'm more worried about him not coming back." Sam traced a few of the natural knot formations on the wood table with her index finger. Her nails were buffed and natural, and her hair was back in a ponytail. She wore a white blouse and jeans and looked so much like the girl next door.
"I think that's a valid point." Ivan blinked a few times and the green left his eyes. So did the images between his hands. "Doing a quick hack into a few Ceremonial tomes—I have to say, the more I learn about Faeries, the more I do not like them."
Join the club.
He looked at me. "No offense."
"None taken. Never knew I was one till recently."
"Be
ing a half-breed, or halfling or Goblin, which is a really odd word to describe a half Faerie, half human," Ivan said, "can be a blessing or a curse. If you're a half human and half any other kind of Faerie, then your life is pretty much your own. But if you were say, half Daoine Sidhe? Then you'd have some problems."
"Oh?" Sam and I said at the same time.
"The Daoine are the most powerful of the Faeries."
:Yes, we are!:
All of us groaned at Medbh's intruding voice.
"Stuff it, Medbh," Sam said quietly.
:No, no. I can tell if the humming Witch has the right answers.:
"It's what she calls me," Ivan said. "I'm not sure she has any contextual experience with the Internet to understand cyber," he continued. "The Daoine are the nobles, the leaders, because their magic is the most powerful. Medbh might be crazy, but she's still high born as a Daoine."
:Yes, I am!:
I couldn't help but smile. Powerful, yet she'd been reduced to a ceramic head in…where exactly was Medbh? I could hear her, but I had no idea where Sam was keeping her.
"If it was revealed you were of this bloodline, and male, then they would want you in Alfheim, not this realm. Given you were left here, I'll bet you aren't Daoine Sidhe."
I pursed my lips. I already knew I was Daoine Sidhe, because that's what Raven said my mother was. And yet, no one had ever tried to drag me back to Alfheim…except…Brendi.
"Dags?" Sam was looking at me with real intensity. "Are you Daoine Sidhe?"
"Uhh…" I shrugged. "My memory of my mother is pretty much non-existent, so I don’t know,” I lied. “But if I am…if I have that bloodline, could that be why Brendi wants me in Alfheim?"
Kyle whistled. "Wow. You're fucked if it is. I know from my reading that families don't always remain loyal to each other. Like, say if you were from the Summer bloodline, Tzariene, you could just as easily switch to Autumn and become a powerful Goblin for them."
"Powerful, how?" I held out my hands. "You mean this weird power of light I have? And the sword?" I held out my right hand to demonstrate the flaming sword. My palm glowed bright yellow gold, then the sword shot out of the center of it and I caught the pommel. The blade itself blazed with yellow-gold fire.
Ivan was up on his feet and pointing. "That is freaking awesome!"
Sam twisted her mouth to the side. "I'd say that pretty much exemplifies her want of you. If she had you on her side, it might be a boon for her."
"But I don't want to be on the side of any of the Faerie bloodlines." I dismissed the sword and it flared bright red and disappeared. "I just want to live my life."
Mike held his coffee in his hands and leaned against the kitchen sink. "Then fight for that, bro. It's your life. And to make it a reality, I think it's time I had a talk with Brendi, father to daughter."
Ivan sat back down. "Father to daughter?"
Sam said, "Brendi is Mike's daughter."
He pointed at Mike. "You're the one that had the missing daughter. The one you guys went into Alfheim to find."
Mike nodded slowly. "I'm not sure we did any good, other than break the hold of Medbh the insane—"
:Watch it.:
"—Because my daughter, who'd been transformed into a Hunt beast, was the one that bit off the Queen's head and decided to stay."
I heard Grey sigh in my head, though she sat next to Sam's chair.
Ivan shook his head. "And since that time she's claimed Medbh's throne."
:Usurper!:
Sam looked thoughtful as she held her mug. "I was just as surprised as anyone else when she did that. Even more surprised that the court of the Winter Queen would allow a human to sit on the throne. Though, word is she's called for a Convocation."
Ivan put his hands on the table. “I’m assuming that means something different in Faerie culture?”
“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “She’s declared a request for the three other Faerie queens to accept her as Obsidian, the Winter heir, so to speak. She has to have all three voices to complete her transformation.”
Now that was something a bit new. I said, "She's changing into a Faerie?"
"She'll never be a full-blooded one. But she can achieve a higher rank by certain spells and incantations. The problem is the other three queens have to help because she needs their blood to start the change. I don’t know if they’ve all agreed or not. Don’t really care. What I am curious about is how she was able to control Scylla."
"Yeah," Kyle said. "He didn't strike me as the kind of guy who takes orders."
"Unless she's got something on him," I said.
"True, but we're not really looking at the bigger picture here," Kyle said. "If Scylla was sent to bring Dags in like a bounty, and he doesn't, that means the bargain Sam struck with Brendi, who’s human but still an acting Faerie queen, will come into play and Brendi will be able to summon Sam to Alfheim. And she won't need a Cairn to do it."
Ivan shook his head. "I don't see how your bargain is legit. I mean, she's not a Faerie. She's a human."
:The rose.:
"Blabbermouth." Sam frowned.
I looked at Sam, Kyle and Ivan. Mike did too. He said, "What rose?"
Sam sighed. "She used a rose as a focal point. The bargaining chip. It's more of a spell rather than a bargain. It works the same though."
I leaned forward. "What exactly did she do?"
"She had me hold a white rose when I bargained you for the Djinn's name. The thorns pricked my fingers, tasting my blood. The rose turned red. Slowly the rose will turn black red, and when it does, time's up and I become her Hunt beast. Or whatever she wants of me."
"You don't seem very worried," I said.
"Oh, I am. What surprises me is that you're not angry with me."
"Why should I be?"
"I used you as a bargaining chip."
I shrugged. "You were trying to save Mike. That makes me happy. I'll deal with Brendi if I have to."
"Well, I'm not happy about this," Mike said as he approached the table. "I think it's a good idea to talk to Brendi."
"No." Sam put her hand on the table. "You should not speak to her. She's not the girl you remember, Mike."
"She's my daughter."
"I know that. But she's not going to listen to you. Don't you see?" She looked up at him as he stood beside her. "As Queen she should know that Djinn had possessed you. You, her father. And yet she did nothing. Even when I went to her to give me the name so I could save you, she bargained for your best friend. She used you as collateral."
His expression didn't change as he looked at her over his mug, but I could see the twitch in his jaw. He was thinking about what she said, and he wasn't happy. It had to hurt to hear that after risking his life to rescue his daughter, that same child would allow her father to experience the horrors of being possessed by a Djinn and do nothing, only to offer up the means to free him for the life of another.
I agreed with Sam. Brendi wasn't human anymore, not in her soul. Maybe it was too long as a Hunt beast in Medbh's care that did it. Maybe it was something else.
Darren, Grey's voice touched my mind. I too was a Hunt beast for a period of time. Yet it did not corrupt me.
What are you saying? I asked her, silently as the others talked.
That Brendi was never the simple child her father thought she was. She partook of the food of Faerie, drank the blood of a Daoine Sidhe when she bit off the Queen's head. This is how she’s prepared for the Convocation and was able to legitimately petition for it. She just needs the blood of the other three, given willingly.
:She's right,: Medbh's voice was very subdued, and I got the impression I was the only one hearing her when no one else reacted. :But there is something none of you have mentioned, or considered.:
What's that?
:The Wild Hunt. There has not been one since I came to this realm to take the Witch Elizabeth Hawthorne in a deal I made with a Leviathan. If Brendi truly wants her subjects, her army, the whole of the Winter Court t
o follow her, she will have to initiate a Hunt and bring down the prey. If she can do this, she will certainly win favor. And possibly the support of the other three queens,: she paused and I strained to hear her as Mike and Sam argued. :And there is the possibility she might use Sam as that prey.:
Twelve
A BODY FOR THE PRiNCE OF DARKNESS
SCYLLA
Scylla woke to those kisses, opening his eyes to the soft pink hues of cherry trees in full bloom. They always bloomed here in the kingdom of eternal spring. The realm of Morgana. She bent down over him, her greenish tresses falling over his face. "Ah…the Prince of Darkness awakes."
He made a rude noise and pushed her away as he sat up. Morgana delighted in calling him that due to his ability with shadows. It wasn't his favorite nickname. "How long have I been here?"
"Perhaps a day, perhaps a fortnight. Thou know I rarely pay attention to such things."
They were on thick grass in the thicket to the left of her emerald castle. It sparkled in the sun, a bright spot in the center of new birth. Pink, white, orange, and red petals floated through the air, lodging in her hair as she sat next to him. She wore a soft pink dress with sparkling green leaves along the breast line and sleeves. Her bright green eyes watched him as he stretched and turned to face her.
"‘Tis a very pleasing body you have arrested, little prince."
"It was given to me. In a matter of speaking."
"Care not I for the manner of acquisition. Humans are fragile and often times needy. Pray this fellow was well kept and makes a fetching countenance."
Morgana spoke in a manner that sometimes confused Scylla, but through the centuries of living within the Alfheim realm, he'd adapted to it. Mostly. Sometimes.
And sometimes he wished he could just get her to talk plainly and not all flowery. "Thank you, Morgana."
"And what has brought you to me? I say the fledging seated in the Obsidian throne gave not a reason for your arrival, only an order not to tarry your departure. I like it not such an upstart should think to give me and mine an order."
Chimes At Midnight (The Grimoire Chronicles Book 3) Page 7
