by Jen Pretty
"Then who will?"
Falcor shook his head and looked away. No one was going to try and take the crown from Falcor. His father was the most loved king that there had ever been. Falcor was the right person for the crown, and they all knew it. He had hated his line of succession since I met him. Telling me once 'heavy is the head that wears the crown.' But now, he had so much worse to deal with.
Vampires were out for blood. Literally and figuratively.
I let my hand reach out and take his. A spark of magic passed between us, and Falcor's shoulders dropped. "You belong here. Maybe not in this mausoleum," I said jokingly and was rewarded with a tiny grin. "But you were wrong when you thought you didn't belong as the king of your people. You’ll get through this and lead them to new heights.
"I wish I could believe that."
"Well, you better, because Colvin has been telling everyone that he knows the king of the vampires, the king of the witches and warlocks, and the Black Crow personally. We can't let him down now."
I bumped his shoulder with mine, and he squeezed my fingers.
"I just wish I could take it all back."
We both sobered. "They want to take your magic."
"I think I should let them."
"Not yet," I said, my voice dropping a few octaves and resonating like a command from God himself.
Falcor's eyes latched onto mine again. He just nodded, but that was enough.
"I'm all alone now. It's too hard without family."
I nodded. I had never had a biological family, but the family was more than blood.
"You have me. And Colvin. And Nick. We are a family, Falcor. No one can take that away."
He took a shaky breath, and we sat in comfortable silence for a while, each caught up in our own thoughts.
"I might need your help," I said finally.
"With the witch?"
"Yeah. I really need to get rid of these people." I waved toward the crowded balcony in front of us.
"I don't see anyone."
"I know. It's making me look like a crazy person. They are all invisible, except for me."
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"I am not crazy. There are like twenty of them."
"Jesus," he said, still staring at the empty balcony as if he could see them if he just kept looking. "I'm sorry I left you alone with this."
I scooted closer. "I'm sorry I left you alone with all this."
"It hasn't been as hard as I thought. Apart from the whole vampires wanting my head business."
"I can see how that could suck." I grinned at him, hoping he would notice my terrible pun. He did; I could tell by how he shook his head.
"Will you come with me for a short trip to Canada?"
He nodded before I was even done talking. I felt like Falcor might need the trip more than I did. A little time away might even help settle things. Plus, if he helped me find the witch, maybe he would be redeemed a bit.
"We can leave in the morning. I really need to get some sleep. I might have drunk too much on the plane."
"I'm not surprised," he replied.
"Hey," I complained. I had been so good recently. His comment was way out of line. Well, a little out of line, anyway. Okay, he probably had a point. He rose; first, his long overcoat fluttered in the breeze, and he reached down to help me to my feet.
"I'm sure Jessie has you all set up somewhere. She has been running this house since before I was born. If you need anything, just let her know."
"Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."
Falcor nodded, and I walked back into his room, admiring the massive king-size bed with black sheets. The floor was engraved with symbols I didn't recognize, but I was willing to bet it was the protections that Jessie had mentioned earlier. Wards of some kind to keep Falcor safe in his own house from anyone who might want to hurt him.
My bodyguards stood a little taller and more alert as I approached, and Jessie rose from a chair she was sitting in at a small table.
"Follow me," she said. "We have your rooms ready."
"We only need one room," Pete said. That was how I found out that I wouldn't be alone ever on this trip. Apparently, they were taking over for Nick and planned to watch me sleep all night long.
Just what I needed. More dead people staring at me while I slept. I remembered I would have wraiths watching me in the shower, and a shiver tore down my spine. Maybe I could get away without a shower. A quick sniff check assured me that was not the case. Binge drinking and travel always left me less than fresh. Showering with company, it was then. I sighed and followed Jessie and the vampires back through the halls. Living the dream.
CHAPTER FIVE
The next morning, I woke to the smell of coffee and nearly kissed Jessie as she abandoned the food cart and left with a small wave to my Henry and Pete.
"Thank you!" I creaked through my sleepy throat.
"You're welcome," she replied before walking out and shutting the door behind her.
I slipped off the bed and staggered to the food and coffee. I bypassed the bacon for now in favour of the black gold in the carafe. Then paused.
"You guys don't eat bacon, right?"
They both shook their heads, each wearing the same amused grin. I presumed my hair was some kind of way and returned my focus to my coffee. There were even flavoured creamers on the cart, which I took full advantage of. My coffee was nearly white with all the vanilla creamer, but damn, it was so sweet and delicious.
I slipped back into the bed and hugged my coffee while I tried to wipe the last of the sleep from my eyes.
"We leave in a couple of hours," Pete said as he crossed to the cart and checked the trays. There were two bags of blood under one of the domes. I would have to be sure to thank Jessie again for that. I was sure they weren’t required to make special arrangements for the vampires, and considering the current tension between the two races, I wouldn't have been surprised to find they hadn't hosted my vampires with open arms. But I supposed that if Jessie had been taking care of the house for as long as Falcor said, she would have had vampires here sometimes over the decades.
We all lazed about, well, mostly I did. Pete and Henry spent a lot of time talking about safety protocols and emergency exits in the airport in Boston as well as in Calgary. I let them have at it until I'd finished my coffee and had fetched the bacon from the cart. I wasn't going to let it all go to waste. But I took a croissant too.
The baked pastry reminded me of Crow, and I wondered, not for the first time, where he was. It was as if he'd vanished. Of course, he always showed up when I needed him, and I hadn't exactly been risking my life and limb while I was hiding at the Sanctuary.
I finished my breakfast and rose again, saying goodbye to the cozy bed. I had wasted an hour with breakfast and planned to waste the next in the shower. That thought made me realize I had no wraiths.
"Where are they?" I asked, looking around the room.
"Where are who?" Pete asked.
"The wraiths," I said, not even thinking.
Pete and Henry were at my side. "Are there some here now?"
I still hadn't explained to them that the wraiths were always there and had been since I lost my knife. I would have taken the time to explain it, but my mind kicked into gear, and I realized that someone who scared off my wraiths must have been close by.
I ran to the door and slipped out, looking up and down the hall of the mansion. "How is that possible?" I asked nobody in particular.
"What?" Henry asked from right behind me, startling me.
"Nothing," I replied. Instead of knocking on every door in the place to see if I could find whoever was chasing away my wraiths, I returned to the room and picked up the phone Jessie has indicated would get right to her.
"How can I help you, Black Crow?"
"Who is in the rooms near us? Or maybe below and above us?" I wasn't sure what kind of radium I was looking for, but I had wraiths in part of the plane, so whoever it was had to
be close.
"No one. Sometimes we have visiting dignitaries on your floor, but right now, the house is just yourself and Falcor."
"Is there any like house cleaning or anything?" I asked, moving toward the balcony door that was covered by a thick curtain.
"No, they only come in after guests have left," she replied.
Henry and Pete were getting agitated, and finally, Pete stomped ahead of me to the balcony and flung back the curtain. I had convinced myself that there would be someone there, but it was empty.
"Okay, thanks," I said to Jessie and hung up.
The wraiths all came floating back toward me, and a shiver ran up my spine. "What the hell?" I whispered as they floated and bobbed around me, obscuring my view of Pete until he stepped forward through a long hairdo female wraith and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Have you lost it?" he asked, staring me in the eye as if that would help him determine my sanity.
I shook my head. "I don't know. Maybe." I went on to tell them about the wraiths and my little problem, then about the woman at the airport. And the man when we arrived in Boston.
They looked pretty appalled, and I couldn't miss Henry looking around the room as if he expected to see them there somewhere. I assured them they were completely harmless, though I didn't know that for sure. The wraith at Headquarters had been able to touch me and interact with inanimate objects. I would just have to hope I didn't meet someone like that.
"Can we get out of here?" Pete asked.
"Sure, I'll check on Falcor and see if he's ready to go," I replied.
"I'll go with you," Pete said. "Henry can take our things down."
Henry didn't look put out at having been designated the luggage person. He seemed a bit relieved. Maybe the tough vampires were more for show than actual protection. Not that I needed protection from Falcor.
I travelled the halls, not sure where I was going, but thankfully Pete managed to steer me in the right direction, and I found Falcor in his room, his bag packed and pulling on his jacket.
"You ready?" he asked.
"Yup."
"Where is your other guard? I can shift us to the airport."
"He's downstairs," I replied.
Falcor took my arm, and the sensation I hadn't experienced in a while shot through me as the room tilted, and I was suddenly standing beside Henry in the foyer instead of beside Pete in Falcor's room.
A shout from off in the house proceeded a blur of motion as Pete caught up to us with that super vampire speed they had.
"Please don't do that," he said as he ground to a halt beside Falcor and me.
Falcor and I grinned at each other. It was the first real smile I had seen from him in a long time. So long that I had actually forgotten how his face lit up when he did that.
It vanished as soon as it came, but I would dump my bodyguards a hundred times if it meant that I could feel that lightness back in Falcor.
"There is too much luggage," he said. "Jessie?"
Jessie appeared in front of us. I had forgotten she was a witch and hadn't expected her to be able to shift, but many powerful witches and warlocks could do it. It brought her up in my esteem quite a bit that she was happy serving the king while also being a powerful witch in her own right.
"Can you take some of this? We are going to the airport. I thought we'd skip the traffic."
"Of course, sir," she replied, and I wanted to snicker at the term 'sir,' but Falcor was the king, after all.
Falcor took my hand, and in a second, we were gone. I had thought he would bring along at least one of my guards, but instead, he left the guards and luggage to Jessie.
"Before they get here, I want to say something to you."
"Sure, what is it?"
"I'm sorry. I--"
"You don't have to apologize. I know you weren't yourself. It's okay."
He shook his head and opened his mouth to say more, but the vampires arrived. Their luggage and mine tumbled to the ground as they took up protective postures.
"Clear," Pete said. We were in a back corridor of some kind, but I could hear the announcements for flights. It only took a moment longer for the wraiths to catch up to me. A half dozen found us and bobbed around between, around, and kind of inside Falcor, the vampires, and Jessie.
"Safe travels," Jessie said before vanishing. The wraith that had been behind her shifted forward, closer to me. His face was half missing. It was pretty gruesome. My face must have shown my distaste because Henry was suddenly glancing around us.
"Is there one here?" he asked.
"There's a bunch," I replied.
"What?" Falcor asked.
"Wraiths."
Falcor shook his head and glanced at Henry. "Scaredy-cat." He grabbed the handle to his luggage and mine, then walked off down the hallway. I was the first to catch up, but the fumbling of luggage behind us proceeded both guards, not only catching up, but Pete passed us to lead the way.
He managed to find the route back to the main airport without much trouble, despite Falcor deciding that since the vampire thought he should be in charge, he could find his way. It was a bit nice to see Falcor have a bit of snark again, but we had to catch our flight, so we hurried through the crowded airport and boarded our plane for the short ride to Alberta.
Boston had been cool. But Calgary was frigid. I could tell from the plane as it came in for a landing on the cleared runway surrounded by deep snowdrifts. Anywhere I would have expected to find green was pure white. From the air, it was almost as if someone had erased a city that had been drawn on white paper, leaving only the roads in view. The snow was still falling as I gave up my window seat and grabbed my carry-on.
I followed behind Falcor and the vampires until we were inside the airport.
There we found a gift shop that had winter clothing and stocked up. Falcor had been to Canada in the winter and helped me pick out everything I would need. I felt almost like I was back in the desert when he wrapped a scarf around my neck and popped a hat on my head. The hat was a heavy knit with fleece lining, but I felt just as claustrophobic as when I had miles of thin material wrapped all around me to block out the sand storm.
"There, now you're ready," he said with a chuckle. None of them had quite as many layers on, and I felt ridiculous but wasn't going to go running out in the snow without it.
When we finally stepped through the turn-style doors and out into the street, it was like nothing I had ever experienced. My nostrils froze shut, and I had to mouth breath like a Neanderthal. Not that it was any easier considering the layers wrapped around my face.
"Holy fuck," I whispered as the cold seeped in through my jeans and froze my legs solid.
Falcor led the way as the vampires and I huddled together, and we slid into the back of a taxi. I tried to give the driver the address of the hotel we had booked on the plane, but I had miles of scarf covering my mouth, so I couldn't do more than mumble as I sat squished between two massive vampires.
Falcor gave the address, and we were off.
I started to untie myself but gave up. I’d just have to wrap it up again when we got out, though I was suffocating in the heat of the car.
At every stoplight, I glanced out the window to see wraiths bobbing along beside us, except for one.
We pulled up next to a car with black tinted windows, and all my wraiths vanished. Poof. Gone. I tried to see who was inside, but the windows were too dark.
"Wait," I said as the car sped off and turned around the corner, leaving the other car behind.
"What is it?" Falcor asked.
"Nothing," I said, staring out the back window until the car disappeared from my view.
Falcor was still staring at me when I turned back. He knew me too well. "I'll tell you later." I glanced at the cabbie, and then the vampires and Falcor gave me a single nod, understanding what I wasn't saying, thank God.
CHAPTER SIX
We unpacked in our hotel rooms. Of course, I had 2 big vampires in mine. Falcor's
room adjoined ours, making it easy to talk, though I wasn't keen on telling the vampires about the disappearing wraiths. I didn't even know what it meant myself, and I didn't want it getting back to Nick until I had some clue. If that ever happened.
"Can you guys go get some room service?" I asked.
"We can just order it up," Pete replied.
"I'm sure you can, but I need to talk to Falcor about something."
"Oh," Pete said. "Um, yeah, that's fine."
The two left, but I figured they probably didn't go far.
"Any warlock magic that can block them from hearing this?" I asked.
Falcor whispered a few words and then nodded to me.
I explained about the wraiths, and Falcor listened, his eyes narrowing in thought as I continued.
"What?" I asked when I couldn't take the suspense anymore.
"I'm just thinking of a story I once heard about a witch who chased away the dead."
"You think a bunch of witches following me?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Hopefully, Francis will have the answer. If not, I have someone I can call."
He sounded a bit cagey about that, but I let it go. If Falcor didn't want to tell me about some contact of his, I wasn’t going to press it. "Alright."
"You ready for me to let down our cone of silence?" he asked.
I grinned. "Yeah, they must be getting close to bursting back in here."
Falcor whispered a word and waved his hand like he was swatting at a fly. Suddenly the door burst open, and both vampires stumbled in.
"What the hell was that?" Henry asked. "We couldn't even break down the door."
I put my hands on my hips and gave him a stern look. "Why would you break down the door?"
"Because you could have been in danger," Pete replied.
"I doubt anything can get past me," Falcor said.
The vampires growled and looked at Falcor like he was a threat.
"Everyone just calm down," I said. "Let's order some room service. I'm starving."
The men disbanded. The vampires went to put away the few things they brought with them, and I grabbed the phone beside the bed. "What do you want, Falcor?"
