by Eric Asher
“Dad didn’t think so,” Sam said. “If I remember, it wasn’t long before he stuck me in your canoe.”
“That was tragic,” I said. “It was a shame how you fell out in those rapids.”
“Fell out?” Sam said, narrowing her eyes. “You had Jasper push me out.”
I grinned.
“Lass,” Graybeard said, “just spend some time on me ship. You’ll have sea legs as sturdy as one of the Green Men.”
“And maybe as sexy as the Green Men,” Foster said.
Sam’s scowl could’ve stripped the bark from the tree. “Watch it, bug.”
Graybeard laughed and crossed his bony arms, the parrot dancing back and forth on his shoulder. “So, you already discovered half the plan for yourself. I have my crew stationed in the waters, and some deep in the mud.”
“Alexandra will be deploying some of the witches here,” Nixie said. “Down close to the old railroad bridge, and more near your coliseum.”
“Our what?” Frank asked.
“Riverport,” I said. “The amphitheater? Whatever they’re calling it these days. Seems like they change the name every week.”
“The queen isn’t a complete fool,” Nixie said. “Don’t let the soldiers drop their guard. Or we could lose far more.”
I crossed my arms and leaned on the railing between Nixie and Graybeard. “There’s something we need to tell you. Something that happened at the hospital.” I relayed the story of the soldiers gone mad; those who didn’t survive regardless of the healings, and those who didn’t survive because their own men gunned them down. “I saw Morrigan carry them from that place. Just a shadow, but I’m sure it was her.”
Nixie’s frown grew deeper as I finished the story.
“There are some things that were far easier when I was just a dead pirate,” Graybeard muttered. The parrot’s eyes flashed yellow. “I believe the vampires have arrived.”
I raised my eyes to the parking lot and watched as one of the Pit’s black SUVs parked beside Sam’s.
“This will probably either go really well,” Sam said, “or really bad.”
“Happy thoughts, sis,” I said. “Happy thoughts.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Vik stepped out of the driver’s side as Zola slid from the passenger seat and struck her knobby old cane on the asphalt beneath her feet. They exchanged a few words, and then headed straight for us.
My confidence in Zola’s mood on her text message waned when I saw the hard lines on her face.
“We can’t leave you alone for an hour,” Zola said. She smacked her cane a couple times on the wooden dock. One of the skeletons clapped its forearms together in a rapid staccato. Zola gave him a satisfied smile. “So they do understand Morse code.”
Graybeard’s eye lights narrowed. “Welcome to my ship, Zola Adannaya.”
Zola nodded. I could never tell what those two thought of each other. I remembered Zola taking Graybeard away when I was a teenager, after I’d bound the soul of the old pirate into a dead parrot. But Graybeard had flourished in the Burning Lands, and I wondered if he still resented her, or if he had long since moved past that banishment.
“Samantha,” Vik said, “you must be more cautious when involving yourself in the affairs of Faerie. You are a representative of this Pit, and there are things I must do that I do not wish to in order to uphold appearances.”
“The dark-touched are here,” Sam said. “You mean to ignore them again? It’s what Vassili would’ve done.”
The venom in my sister’s voice made me take a step backward and lean into the railing. I knew that tone. I knew how close she was to exploding. And for a brief moment, I wondered if Sam could take Vik. Or if the old vampire was so far beyond her that she’d never stand a chance. I shook my head, casting out that dark thought of friends battling friends, and stepped in between Sam and Vik.
“Vik, she didn’t mean that.” I held my hand up to the old vampire. “It’s how she talks to family. You should be flattered.”
“Stay out of this,” Sam said. “Those harbingers could’ve destroyed the city last month.” Sam stepped around me. “You can’t stay out of this forever. You can’t stay out of this when they come for our home, our families. When they come for you.”
“Samantha!” Vik snapped, a fury in his voice that I’d rarely heard. “I am not ignoring what is happening in the world around us. I am ensuring that we survive it. Zola has been helping me move some of our most important works from the archive.”
Sam blinked. “What?”
“I have no intention of staying out of this battle. The dark-touched have plagued vampire-kind and humankind for millennia. Their return is an event that must be undone.”
“And they stand with Nudd,” Aideen said. “Which leaves you in a convenient position.”
“Convenient?” Graybeard asked. “It sounds like it leaves him stuck between people who want him dead.”
Vik gave a slight shake of his head. “Aideen is right. The dark-touched are allied with Nudd’s purpose, which makes it an easy task to convince people that he controls them.”
“Doesn’t he?” I asked.
“No one does,” Vik said. “They’re much like a rabid dog. The disease will progress to a point where they will turn on their own master. For now, I can use Vassili’s betrayal as an argument for anyone who would question my motives. Nudd must be overthrown, and his allies must fall with him.”
“I don’t know if I’m more pissed or less pissed at you now,” Sam said. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
Vik offered her a sad smile. “Because when our enemies see us at odds, they may believe us to be weak. It may encourage them to strike at a moment they believe to be opportune, which is anything but.”
“God damned vampires,” I muttered. “Here I thought you were all just assholes.”
“Now,” Zola said, “tell us of your plan to disgrace a queen and overthrow a king.”
So we did.
Zola and Vik listened attentively, pointing out potential flaws in the idea that Graybeard’s men could detect the water witches. And other issues, like relying on the humans, who could be deceived by a fairy’s glamor.
“Stay close to Park,” Zola said. “He’s your line to the commanders in the area.”
“Casper has the most respect, from what we’ve seen,” Frank said. “I think it’s best if we stick close to her.”
Zola nodded. “Ah agree. Do what you are required to, to maintain their allegiance.”
“No matter how distasteful it may be,” Vik said, giving Sam a meaningful look. I wasn’t sure if that was his way of apologizing for misleading her the past couple weeks, or if it was his way of asking her to keep her temper in check. But I was sure it was the vague musings of a vampire. Which could be really annoying.
“I am confident in the skills of your lieutenants,” Vik said, nodding to Nixie. “Alexandra and Euphemia are both formidable. I am not so certain about Rivercene. Is that our Achilles’ heel?”
“Don’t worry,” Sam said. “They’re quite good with shadow puppets.”
Vik hesitated, waiting for Sam to expand what she’d said. Sam just flashed him a beaming smile.
“She means they’re probably okay,” I said. “Whatever comes their way.”
“I’m sure Angus will be there,” Aideen said. “Boonville is his home.”
“So be it,” Vik said. “And you are sure of the blood mages’ ability?”
“Oh yes,” I said. “What they did to defend the Arch was one of the most unnerving things I’ve ever seen.” I glanced at Graybeard, and the parrot cocked his head to the side.
“Quit while you’re ahead, boy,” Graybeard said.
I smiled at the parrot. He could be unsettling at times, especially with his warship carved from the skull of a harbinger, but those things Beth and Cornelius had summoned… I shook my head. “You saw those things.”
The skeleton nodded, its beard shifting down and then back up wit
h the motion of the bird’s head. Each of their movements was perfectly synchronized. “I’ve seen many things, Damian. I’ve seen things in the Burning Lands, things beneath the Sea of Souls that would pale a normal man. But the shadows …” The parrot shook his head. “I’ve never seen their like.”
“Graybeard has centuries of experience under his belt,” Vik said. “And not only in our realm. I am not sure if I find this reassuring, or unsettling.”
“If you’re smart,” Zola said, “it is a measure of both.”
“Doesn’t anyone know where the Queen’s Army is?” Frank asked. “It seems like we should be hunting them down, instead of making a stand here. There’s too many commoners. Too many innocent bystanders.”
Nixie paced a few steps back and forth. “Nudd has given them full access to the Warded Ways, Frank. Undines are hard enough to track when they can’t vanish into another plain. But with the ability to use the Ways as they please, the task becomes impossible. We’ve found scouts, traces. And at times, victims.”
“Victims?” I asked.
Nixie took a deep breath. “Near Falias. Two Coast Guard cutters were pulled to the bottom of the lake.”
“I have heard nothing of this,” Vik said.
“Neither have we,” I said. “When did that happen?”
Nixie opened a pouch on her armor, and slid a thin, blue obsidian disc out of it, spinning it briefly between her fingers. “Late yesterday, we think. The Fae around Falias haven’t been on the best terms with the commoners. Or the military, for that matter. Two vessels vanished, but no one thought to look at the lakebed. Euphemia found them, and neither was sunk by anything natural.”
Visions of leviathans rose into the back of my mind, those massive titans of gray flesh and beaks and tentacles. A cutter wouldn’t stand a chance. One quick snap, one brush against something that large, that violent, and anything would sink.
“What did they find?” I asked.
“The holes were cut out from beneath,” Nixie said. “It’s an old approach, one that water witches have used for millennia. It was easier when ships were made of wood and tar, but it’s not so difficult if you attack the seams between plates. Attack the natural weak points, or cut away the rivets holding those weak points in place. Once the water gets through, it’s an easy thing to guide it to fill the cabins, to wrap around the crew, and drag them to their fate.”
I shivered at the thought. What that must’ve been like for those crewmen. What kind of horrible final moments were those? The screams of rending metal echoing all around them, the snapping bolts, and shattered rivets, before the water took on a life of its own. And what? Drowned them quickly? I doubted it. The more sadistic water witches had pledged their loyalty to the queen, and a spike of anxiety squeezed my chest as my imagination showed me increasingly horrible fates beneath those lakes.
“Who reported the lost ships?” Zola asked.
I didn’t understand why she was asking. What did that matter? You had ships and a dead crew trapped at the bottom of the calm lake. What else mattered?
“Euphemia did,” Nixie said. “She led a search and rescue team to the ships, and some of our witches helped to raise the remains from the mud. The ships were a loss, but they were at least able to recover their soldiers.”
I cursed and looked out at the river, that dark body of water that seemed so peaceful on the surface. But I’d seen what could happen to water in war. I had visions from the souls I’d touched, from the men I’d raised. I’d seen those tiny peaceful streams become clouded and bloodied with the lifeblood of thousands. Stones River, the wights at McFadden’s Ford. It was little more than a peaceful stream now, but in the distant past, it had been a horror. That battlefield had seen the deaths of thousands. But it still wasn’t the darkest place my boots had tread.
Nixie’s recounting of the events pulled me out of that dark memory. “They raised the ships enough to beach them,” Nixie said. “There wasn’t enough left to do more than that. Some of the crew had been buried in the mud. Euphemia stayed behind to help, making sure they recovered all the bodies.”
“So Euphemia has made contact with the Coast Guard, then?” Zola asked. “She’s on friendly terms with them?”
“As friendly as they can be, I suppose,” Nixie said. “So close to Falias, there’s been a great deal of lives lost. I don’t mean only Gettysburg. The disappearance of commoners has escalated, and I’m not sure if it’s the queen meaning to draw us out, or if it’s simply Nudd’s Unseelie allies’ bloodlust.”
Zola rubbed her thumb on the top of her knobby old cane. “Then we stay the course. I believe our decision to split our forces was the best we could make with the information we have.”
“Agreed,” Vik said. He glanced at Sam. “Keeping the vampires centered here, at least those of our Pit, may benefit the city as much as it benefits our home.”
“This city is our home,” Sam said. “That old house may be where we live, but these people, our families, that’s what makes it our home.”
Vik gave Sam a small smile.
“I don’t think the old fang is arguing with you, lass,” Graybeard said. “The fact is, I think he’s agreeing with you.”
Graybeard’s words tumbled a few of the vampire-related puzzle pieces in my brain. And the realization of Vik’s misdirection made me smile. He hadn’t simply abandoned us to the fight in Greenville, he’d set things in motion back in Saint Louis. To preserve the archive, no matter what occurred. To keep that knowledge on the side of our allies, and summon his Pit back to his side.
“This was your plan all along,” I said, not raising it as a question at all.
“All along?” Vik asked. “I do not believe I would say all along. These are rather new occurrences, Damian. We prefer a long game, of well-planned strategy and assassination in the shadows. The vampires do not yearn for an open war with the humans, or the Fae.”
“A little late for that,” Graybeard said.
Zola snorted a laugh. “The captain is correct.”
“Dominic and Jonathan are preparing the others,” Vik said. “We will cover what we can from here to the Mississippi. If an attack happens east or west of either river, I will not stretch my forces to assist.”
“Ah assume,” Zola said, “that old town behind us is included in your protection. Lord.” She emphasized the title, drawing an uncomfortable twitch from Vik’s eye.
“Of course,” Vik said. “I have little doubt that Sam will be stationed here, regardless of my orders. Which is why Jonathan and a small detachment will be nearby, with Frank as the liaison for the military.”
Sam and Frank exchanged a glance.
“Seems reasonable to me,” Frank said. “Are we just using open phone lines?”
Vik shook his head. “The Fae may not seek to intercept our communications over electronic transmissions, but we cannot be so sure of the military. Or so Dominic tells me.”
Vik held out what looked like a dull gray plastic rectangle. “Dominic calls it a burner phone, and assures me that the military cannot trace it.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Frank said. “With the right—”
Sam jabbed him in the side with her elbow, and Frank’s dissertation on the vulnerabilities of Vik’s electronics came to a sudden end.
“Thank you,” Frank said, taking the phone from Vik.
“What of the one called Drake?” Graybeard asked. “Who is he?”
“We believe he is an old Demon Sword,” Aideen said. “Right hand to the Mad King. His allegiance now lies with Nudd.”
“If he is as mad as Foster,” the parrot squawked, “I would prefer not to cross him.”
Foster barked out a sharp laugh. “His allegiance is to Nudd,” Foster said. “That means as long as Nudd lives, Drake is a threat.”
“It seems like Drake is a threat no matter who’s alive,” Sam muttered. “A bloodthirsty fairy with control over fire?”
“Hey,” Foster said, “I’m a bloodthirsty f
airy with control over fire.”
Sam frowned at Foster and shook her head. “You’re not crazy, and that kind of makes a difference.”
Foster gave a dramatic sniff, and wiped the corner of his eye. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Sam reached out to swat Foster. He leaped off the railing and fluttered over to Graybeard’s left shoulder. From there, he flashed Sam a broad smile.
“What do you need us to do?” I asked, glancing between Vik, Zola, and Graybeard.
“Prepare your house,” Graybeard said.
“I agree with the captain,” Vik said. “Prepare as much as you can, even if that means trying to get a decent amount of sleep. We don’t know when they are coming, but they are coming.”
Vik’s words reminded me of the spirit who had appeared in the ghost circle. The spirit who had brought an ancient warning. I wondered if its warning had been about more than Drake.
“I need to check some things in the Book that Bleeds, boy.” Zola rubbed her wrist. “Do you still have an air mattress? I’d like to sleep on something other than one of those damned chairs.”
“Damned?” I placed my hand over my heart. “I think you mean most comfortable chairs in the world.”
“Not for sleeping. I don’t think my old back can take that kind of abuse anymore.”
“I must return to Falias,” Nixie said. “It may take more than an hour, depending on what I must avoid.” She turned and looked upstream and then down at the river. “Be safe, all of you.” I slid my arm around her waist as she leaned back to give me a chaste kiss over her shoulder. And then she was gone, slipping into the water.
“A strange gift,” Graybeard said, looking down at the blue obsidian disc between his bony fingers. “A gift from a sea devil. Has been an odd life. A very odd life.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “You’ve been dead a long time, Graybeard.”
The beard around the skeleton’s teeth lifted, and the parrot cackled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“You sure about this?” I asked, unrolling the air bed at the end of the bookshelves on the second floor of Death’s Door.
