by Jayne Hawke
He turned into a rougher neighbourhood where the narrow grey buildings had patches of broken concrete slabs in front of them instead of pretty gardens. They were crammed in close together, giving people little to no room to call their own. I noted that the cars parked alongside the road were all older, a lot of them with patched paintwork.
We pulled up in front of the house at the very end of the row. The door had been messily etched with sigils, large slashes carved deep into the wood. There was magic in there, inelegant though it was. Not enough to keep us out, but it slowed us down as I pulled on the magic buried deep inside the dead wood while we approached the house. The door exploded outwards as we stepped through the creaky little wrought iron gate. Elijah gave me a proud smile before we pulled our blades. (I'd hidden a couple under my dress. Date night or not, I wasn't taking that risk.)
Elijah led the way through the now-shattered doorway. He paused to listen, and I reached out to check for life essences. This was certainly not a quiet grab, but given the court wanted her it hadn't crossed my mind to try and be subtle. Elijah nodded towards the kitchen. I felt it, then, the small bundle of terror and life. We ran down the narrow hallway painted in a hideous avocado green and burst into the tiny excuse for a kitchen.
Nia had curled up beneath the sink. Elijah ripped the flimsy door off and dragged her out by the collar of her shirt.
"Please! I never hurt anyone! I swear I didn't hurt a soul. It was that man. That awful man. I don't know who he is, or what he wants, but he killed those people. I just wanted to call down a phoenix. Gods, please, please, I don't want to die. All I wanted was to become a phoenix witch so I could protect people. I never hurt anyone. Never. I wouldn't do that," she babbled.
Elijah exhaled slowly. She was telling the truth. Which meant we had a dilemma.
The court had technically hired us to bring in the arsonist, but the real problem was the asshole killing the fae. Yes, they were partbreds, but something about it had brought the court into play.
"We'll take her home," Elijah said quietly.
I nodded. Jess would be able to make sure she was telling the truth and get whatever she knew about the murderer out of her. We'd have to decide her fate once that was done. I was reticent to hand her over to the court if she hadn't actually harmed anyone, but a bounty was a bounty. If she could get us evidence the other guy was the killer, maybe we'd be able to make some arrangement.
Twenty-Five
Elijah had thrown her over his shoulder and taken her to his car. She hadn't made any attempt to fight back. I was beginning to wonder if this was some fucked up trap.
"Call Jess. We'll take her somewhere safe," I said.
I couldn't feel any alchemical stuff on her, but that didn't mean that she didn't have something hidden up her sleeve.
Elijah tossed Nia on the back seat of the car, and we headed out into the industrial area. The pack had a small warehouse there full of what Jess considered to be toys. Others would call them torture implements. Either way, it was safe and kept her out of what was supposed to be our sanctuary.
Jess and Rex were waiting for us outside of the two-storey warehouse. The outer walls appeared to be simple corrugated steel but were in fact something far denser that made it soundproof, magic proof, and bullet proof. The fae had stopped all firearm manufacture and quietly scaled them nearly out of existence, but it never hurt to be sure. I'd never handled one, myself, but I knew that the Knights were fond of using them if they could. I didn't blame them. There were situations when being able to stand back and shoot someone would have been fantastic. They could even engrave the bullets with magic, adding some extra kick when needed.
Elijah dragged Nia out of the car and Jess searched her. She hadn't made a sound on the way over to the warehouse, and I still couldn't feel anything magical on her. The alchemist-turned-firebug stood on the old cracked concrete with her eyes down and her arms slack by her side while Jess checked every possible hiding spot. Nia's long dark hair hung loose down her back, her shirt was three sizes too big, and her old jeans had holes over the knees. She certainly didn't look like a mastermind, but that was the potential beauty in it.
"She's clean," Jess said.
The cougar shifter nudged Nia in the back and herded her inside. Nia stopped dead when she saw the uncomfortable metal chair sitting in the middle of the wide-open space. The roof stretched up high above us. A half floor extended from the far wall forward to the middle of the room. Jess had said that the upper level contained a year's supply of the essentials - healing stuff, coffee, and long-life cookies. There was also a bed up there, should they need to take shifts with someone. I doubted that would be the case with Nia, but you never knew.
Jess continued pushing Nia until she sat in the metal chair.
"Now. This is very simple. You give us good honest answers to our questions, and you'll live," Jess said.
Elijah and Rex stood over her with their muscular arms crossed over their broad chests. They were playing the part of imposing guards.
"Why did you set the fires?" Jess asked.
Nia sobbed.
"I just wanted to become a phoenix witch. I wanted the magic to help people."
Truth.
"Did you kill the people found at the burn sites?"
"No! No, I've never hurt anyone, I swear! I've already told them. Please, I haven't even glared at someone. I want to help and protect people."
Truth.
"Do you know who did kill those people?"
"He's some scary guy! I don't know his name. I saw him carrying something weird as I was leaving the first time. I stopped to see what was going on and to see the flames a little longer." She hiccoughed. "His eyes are so cold and scary. I don't know his name, but he's a normal human. I hid. I didn't want him to do that to me next."
She hadn't told a lie yet.
"We need more than that," Elijah said.
"He's, erm, in his late thirties, I think. Short dark hair, cold dark eyes. He dresses like an office manager. That's all I know, I promise. I never got too close to him. I was too scared."
"We need more than that, Nia. He's killing fae," Elijah said.
"Fuck. He, he always comes from Hove direction, and I think he drives a silver car. An estate, something newish like the past couple of years. Fuck. Erm. The license plate might end with an S. Maybe. I really didn't want to get anywhere near him. I'm sorry, I'm trying."
Elijah texted Liam. It wasn't much, but it might be enough for his databases. He'd found Nia via the cameras near the site maybe he'd be able to track this guy down too.
"We use her as bait," Rex said.
"No. Give Liam a chance," Elijah said.
Rex growled and said nothing.
"If we let her burn again, there's a chance Varehn catches her. Then we have a mess to deal with," Elijah growled back.
"So we keep her here?" Jess asked.
Elijah rolled his jaw as he thought.
"No. We take her home, keep her safe. If we found her, there's a chance Varehn will too. She's not the murderer. We keep her safe. Then we find the real murderer, frame him for the fires, and get her somewhere she can start fresh," I said.
"Didn't have you down as a bleeding heart," Rex said.
I ignored him. Nia was an innocent. How someone with qualifications in alchemy could be naive enough to try what she'd tried, I didn't know. The fact remained that she wasn't trying to hurt anyone, and she didn't deserve to be handed over to the courts. Now we just had to find the real murderer.
"She can stay in spare room. She's never left there alone," Elijah said.
Nia finally relaxed some. She was going to live.
Twenty-Six
Jess had offered to loan Nia some clothes while she stayed with us. It wasn't safe to return to her house. She looked absurd in the pale pink t-shirt with a cupcake on it and leather trousers, but it was what Jess had offered her.
"I'm working on it. This isn't as easy as it looks on the movies," Liam s
aid when Elijah asked if he'd made any progress on the murderer.
I had planned on returning to my hunt for the lone elf mercenary, but I needed to do something more. Yes, keeping the pack safe was important, but now that we had Nia it felt like the clock was ticking. If the court found out we had the arsonist and weren’t turning her in, they might take a dim view of our playing things so close to the vest. Further, the killer might notice she was gone and take the hint to get out of Dodge. Glancing at my phone, I knew that my contacts still wouldn't give me anything, and more importantly, they might report back to Varehn.
Nia had curled up on the chair that Jess had pointed her at. She looked around at the pack with wide eyes, not that any of them were paying her much of any attention. She was a bunny in a den of some of the Isles most dangerous predators.
"What are you going to do to me?" Nia asked quietly.
"We haven't decided yet," Elijah said.
Personally, I planned on setting her up with a new life in a new country. Somewhere far away from whatever this bullshit was. As much as I hated not going through with a bounty, the fact remained that she was an innocent. The guy who'd killed the fae would suffer for the crimes he'd committed.
"What do you need for your alchemy? Maybe you can be of use to us," I said.
She raised an eyebrow at me, her back straightening some.
"That really depends on what you need. Alchemy works similarly to your witch magic. We need ingredients to make the whole."
"Bombs! Bombs are always good!" Jess said.
"I can make bombs. If you'll get some things for me. I should be able to do it in your kitchen," Nia said, hope shining in her eyes.
It certainly wouldn't do any harm to have some alchemy backing us up when things inevitably went south.
"We'll make you a list of what we want," Elijah said before he picked up his phone and left the room.
Rex was out in the garden snarling at someone on his phone, Liam was typing frantically on his laptop, and Jess had disappeared somewhere. It was just me and Nia.
Given someone had to keep an eye on her and I wasn't making any progress elsewhere, I thought I'd see if I could glean any new information.
"Why an alchemist? Is that how you started the fires?"
"Ah, well, that's a little complicated. You see, I'm a bit of a mongrel. My father was half pixie half human, my mum was a quarter witch, a quarter sidhe, and half human. So, I do have a little spark of both witch and fae magic. It's not enough to do what you can do, but it means that I can use some of those witch artifacts. I created an alchemical potion that amplifies my natural magic without all the side-effects of the drugs on the market that do that. I should have filed a patent on the recipe. Anyway! I used that and then I used a supposedly phoenix-witch-formed artifact to start the fires. I wanted as much tying into the phoenix as I could."
It was unusual to have someone who was quite as mixed as she was. Fae and witches just didn't mix. It was very strictly frowned upon. Both fae and witches were proud of their bloodlines and didn't like anything fucking with them. Of course, that hadn't stopped the fae from screwing everything with a pulse and abandoning the resulting offspring. That was, until the law was brought in that the fae was responsible for any and every mixed offspring they helped create. Suddenly fae were the contraception experts.
"How exactly did you picture this going down? I mean, you were burning buildings to call down a phoenix..."
The plan seemed beyond insane to me. Phoenixes weren't known to be kind and fluffy. It wasn't often people wanted to grab their attention, let alone work as hard as Nia had done to get it.
"I... I don't think I'd really thought that far ahead. It was just this dream, and I thought that fire was a good way to bring one to me. In my head it was-" She blushed and looked away. "It was going to almost romantic. They'd see how much I wanted to protect people and bestow their magic on me so I could go out and protect people. When I was a little girl, I'd wanted to be a knight. But they're born not chosen, so I figured on plan B."
"I wouldn't tell a phoenix they're plan B."
She wrinkled her nose.
"I know it's stupid, but you have to understand. I want so badly to be more, to help people. Right now, I'm just some small alchemist that everyone overlooks because I'm not pretty enough, or rich enough."
"Your alchemy could help people. If you study some business stuff, you could build a small empire with enough work and dedication. The potion you created is something people have been crying out for for years, and you just made it. Apparently just like that. Stop ignoring what you have. And for the love of everything, stop burning shit."
It was frustrating to hear that she was ignoring what sounded like an incredible talent in favour of chasing some ridiculous unattainable dream. Phoenix witches were born, not made. I understood wanting the glory and praise of being a saviour, but the world only needed so many kick-ass heroes. It also needed a lot more quieter heroes who worked in the background to make the world a better, happier place.
"You're right. I know you are. I've been an idiot."
"Lily, we should discuss what we'd ideally like from the alchemist," Elijah said.
"Bombs!" Jess shouted from the stairs.
Jess bounced into the living room and sat down in her usual seat where she proceeded to give poor Nia the unblinking cat stare. I stood and followed Elijah into the workout room.
"I know it's a risk letting her do alchemy, especially in our kitchen, but we could use every advantage we can get," I said.
"Agreed. I think Jess is onto something, bombs and grenades could be very useful."
"We'll see if we can over all of our bases. Fire, lightning, spiky things, light, shadow, water," I said.
Elijah paced back and forth.
"I'd like something poisonous, and something to directly reduce our enemies' life essences, but allowing her to make those right next to us a big risk."
It wasn't exactly the best idea to have her making normal bombs in our kitchen, but I saw his point.
"Ok. I'll stock up on a variety of poisons and see if I can weave something to remove someone's life essence. Those spells are a real bitch, but I might be able to get some death-dealer magic."
Elijah smiled and pulled me into his arms.
"We're going to get through this. I'm pissed that our contacts turned on us so readily, but such is the trade we operate in. We'll have to evaluate how we deal with that once this is over and done with. I trust that you're planning on giving Nia a new life."
"Can you blame me? Yes, she burnt a few buildings, but she was so careful not to hurt someone."
Elijah gently stroked my cheek.
"I like this softer side. It's not something I've really seen in you before."
I leaned into his touch, allowing myself to sink into the gentle affection. With the storm rolling around us, I needed a little piece of light and hope to keep me going.
Twenty-Seven
Nia gave us a long list of ingredients for her alchemical stuff. I opted to be the one to go and get it all. I wanted to go to Threads and Sparks anyway. Damien had the very best quality magic, and there wasn't a chance that I was going to skimp on the stuff that I gathered up. Whether we liked it or not, a small war was brewing. Varehn and the court had decided that this little game needed higher stakes, and it was our lives that were on the line.
I started my shopping spree with Threads and Sparks as it was familiar and looking through the magics was somehow soothing. My bank balance was not going to appreciate the hit it was about to take, though. Stepping inside the ultra-modern space brought a smile to my face. There was something almost thrilling about knowing the sheer amount of magic that hid the lock boxes around the room. Each one was small and precise. Every single one of them contained at least a few threads of potentially very dangerous magic.
Damien wasn't within sight, and I wasn't in a huge hurry, so I casually wandered around looking at the lock boxes. Phoenix fire, ifrit
fire, unicorn blood, rain bird rain, fae dragon blood; they were all very tempting. And all cost in the high five figure range. I was sorely tempted by the unicorn blood. It was versatile and incredibly potent. If I could wrangle it, then it would work as a healing potion which could practically raise the dead or amplify any other magic I wrapped around it. The problem was, did I have the skill to work with it? The magic was slippery and didn't much like bending to my will.
"Lily, I'm surprised it took you this long to come here," Damien said.
"Oh?"
"Come now, everyone's heard about your little war with Varehn. Given the number of hits out on you and that lover of yours, I'm surprised you haven't come by to gather ammunition yet."
I hated the fact that he'd heard. The entire city must have been talking about it.
"Better late than never," I said brightly.
"Personally, I recommend the elf life essence over the unicorn blood. The elf is much more malleable. If you're looking for fire you know you can't go wrong with ifrit, and poison, well, I have a good range of those. Hydra's a classic, basilisk is good, death root is very potent, and I got a fresh shipment of blood vine threads."
Now I was spoilt for choice.
"Give me one of everything for the poisons." I turned and looked at the other wall, debating what else would be useful. I only had so many charms, after all, and each charm was keyed to hold a specific type of magic. You couldn't put fire magic into a charm made for water magic, the charm would shatter. "Ifrit fire, rain bird water, and some tempest."
Poison, fire, water, and storm. That was a pretty good mix. The ifrit fire would burn through most things a fae might think to throw at me. It wasn't as good as phoenix fire, but nothing was. Still, it held more potency and burnt longer than wildfire. The bill when Damien gave it to me almost made my eyes water. It was a good thing I had a healthy savings account. The lord had better pay us the full agreed upon amount after all of the trouble we were going to for this.
