by Jen Pretty
He collapsed on the bed on his back. "Whatever you're getting."
So, I ordered two bacon cheeseburgers with fries and milkshakes. He looked at me like I had lost my mind, but he had said to get what I was getting, and I was not going to be eating salads and mineral water or whatever. I had big work to do and needed my strength for body heat if I was going to have to go back outside for any length of time.
We ate in silence while the vampires sharpened their knives or cleaned their guns or whatever.
Enough sitting around. I rose and started getting my winter clothes back on. "You ready?" I asked Falcor.
He nodded, and a few minutes later, we were packed back into a cab and headed through the city. The mid-day sun was melting the snow, leaving the roads wet with all the salt that had been spread around. It was strange for it to be so cold, but the sun to be so bright. It was heating the inside of the car to the point I had to wrestle with my scarf to get it off when the sweat started dripping down my neck.
"How much farther is it?" I asked after accidentally elbowing Pete in the shoulder as I finally tugged the last of the scarf off.
"Not too far," Henry said.
I was surprised the vampires hadn't objected to Falcor coming with us. Many vampires were opposed to Falcor in general since he returned from his little killing spree. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. Maybe only a few vampires really thought he was a threat.
The cab stopped at a pair of rusted gates that blocked the tree-lined driveway up to Francis' home. I remembered there was a speaker box beside the lane, but it was gone now. In its place was a sign that said, private property.
"I guess we walk," Falcor said.
"A shiver ran down my spine as soon as Pete opened his door. Then they were all getting out except the cab driver. Falcor handed him a wad of cash and then slammed his door shut. There was a small door gate on the main gate, and I watched from inside the cab, Pete and Henry each holding their door open, waiting for me to get out.
"Shit," I whispered, and Falcor opened the smaller gate and stepped through.
"Thank you, goodbye," the cab driver sang, and my options were down to one. I was going to have to walk through calf-deep snow to get to Francis' house. His driveway was nearly a mile long, I remembered.
I sighed and slid out, the doors to the nice warm car shutting simultaneously. I immediately regretted everything. The wind whipped snow into my face, which was still uncovered. I quickly wound my scarf around me so that only my eyes were visible, but my eyelashes got frost on them immediately.
"Are you sure we won’t die?" I called Falcor. I knew the vampires would be fine. They didn't really feel heat or cold, though they wore winter coats, so people didn't look at them funny.
"It's not that cold," Falcor said, his voice in that taunting half-angry tone that I was used to.
"So, we are just going to walk through all that snow?"
"You have boots on," Pete reminded me. I didn't need reminding. My legs were so heavy with the big boots on, they scuffed the ground with every step.
"Fine, but if I die, I hope Crow pecks your eyes out," I said to all of them, but only Pete laughed.
I sneered at him before stepping into the deep snow to follow Falcor. He was already striding along, forging a path for us. Henry passed me, using his big feet and thick legs to make an even better path. I decided I liked him better and trudged along behind him, my hands in my pockets and only my eyes exposed to the bitter wind that whipped up tiny shards of snow and whipped them at me.
My boots proved too short to keep the snow out, and before long, my legs were numb from the knees down.
"Why do people live here?" I asked, noticing that a bird was flying in circles above us. I immediately thought it was Crow, but when it flew off without coming down, my hopes were dashed. I missed my annoying bird. I felt like I wasn't even the Black Crow anymore. I mean, if it wasn't for the wraiths that floated around me as if it weren’t hell frozen over in this stupid place.
The house came into view before I died of hypothermia, so I called it a win, but it was so dark and silent, I worried that we were coming all this way and nobody was here. Francis was eccentric, but he would have to get out sometimes, wouldn't he? He was a vampire. He needed nourishment.
Falcor made it to the steps first, banging the toe of his boot off on the top step before stepping onto the creaky porch.
"Maybe the vampires should go first," I whispered to Falcor.
He stepped aside, letting Henry knock on the door.
There was no answer, but I thought I heard the soft sound of music emanating from the building. "What is that?"
"Francis," Pete said. "Just go in Henry, he'll never hear us."
Henry pushed the door open, and a waft of heat blasted out.
"Thank God," I whispered, pushing past Henry to go ahead of him. The sound of music was louder now, incoming from the direction of the library. I knew the way but felt bad about walking in with my snowy boots, so I kicked them off and dropped my coat, hat, and scarf in the entryway. There was no way I could wear it in the overheated house.
"Francis!" I called, but he didn't answer, so I followed Pete through the halls. He must have visited before, too, because he walked through the halls like he had done it a million times, pausing for a second before he threw open the door to the library.
Inside, the lights were all bright, and music blasted out of a stereo hidden somewhere. Francis was dancing on a second level balcony, wrapped tightly around a beautiful woman with long blond hair.
Francis scooped her up and spun her around as she flung her head back and laughed.
"Francis!" I yelled. He kept dancing, but the woman in his arms heard me, pushing away from him and finally getting his attention.
"Oh shit!" he said in his British accent.
I snickered as he scooped up the woman and leapt off the balcony.
"Apologies, Black Crow," he said loudly over the music. "One moment, if you’ll." He leapt back up onto the opposite balcony and disappeared between the stacks of books. The music clicked off, and space suddenly went from cozy to stark. The silence was thick and deep.
"I'll introduce myself," the woman said. As she spoke, I noticed the slightly sharp incisors that pinned her as a vampire. Plus, my overflowing magic was pulling toward her. At least Francis hadn't collated a warm human body to see him through the long cold winter.
"My deepest apologies, Black Crow--"
"Call me Selena," I cut in.
"-- yes, of course, Selena. I didn't expect anyone to come here this deep in the winter."
"I wish I hadn't had to, actually. It's ridiculously cold."
"Yes. I don't go out much this time of year."
The female vampire didn't have much to say, but she grabbed Francis's arm, twinning her with his, then gave me a look that almost burst a laugh out of me. I definitely didn't want Francis. He seemed nice and fun, but he wasn't for me.
"So, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" he asked, his accent thicker."
"We have some questions about a witch," I replied.
Francis glanced at Falcor. "Oh, I wouldn't keep information about witches or warlocks here," he laughed nervously. "Why would you think that? No, I only keep vampire-related information here."
"Falcor rolled his eyes so hard I was sure he saw his brain. "Let's just pretend anything we find here didn't come from you?"
"Um, I don't know what you think I could possibly have of interest concerning witches."
"Francis," Pete said. "The Black Crow is asking."
Francis's eyes finally left Falcor and settled on me before he bowed his head and whispered, "shit."
"You can call Nick if you like," I offered. "He sent me in the first place."
"The king sent you to me? For information on witches?"
Francis extracted himself from the woman on his arm. Her face turned into a pout, but she let him go.
"I mean, if the king really sent you for that...
" he glanced at Falcor again and bit his lip. "You'll pretend you didn't see anything here?" he asked Falcor.
"I'm temporarily blind," Falcor agreed with another impatient eye roll.
"Come then!" Francis said, his voice slightly less nervous. Let's go look in the basement and see what we can find."
We climbed down the tight staircase one at a time. Henry insisted he go ahead of me, even in a vampire home. Apparently, there could be danger in a well-guarded and hidden library. Who knew? The basement was nothing like a typical basement. It was tall and stacked to the ceiling with books. There were narrow aisles between the stacks, barely wide enough for one person to slip through.
"Where do we even begin?" I asked more to myself than anyone, but Francis was already ahead of me.
"This way! I have a section."
"A whole section? Falcor questioned.
"Uh," Francis said before turning his back and leading the way. "Here we are. Is there something, in particular, you are looking for?"
I didn't want to have to explain the whole thing to him, but with the section being at least a thousand old dusty books, I wasn't going to read through them all to find my answers. So, I told him about the witch stealing my knife.
"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed when I was finished. "This is very bad."
I nodded and bit my lip, glad that Francis' woman hadn't come down with us. I didn't need more ears learning about my lack of ability. I mean, my magic still worked. Just not on wraiths. The wraiths were becoming like wallpaper to me. I could mostly see through them, so it was rare that I even noticed them much anymore.
"I have a book I think might help."
Francis turned and began systematically going through the books. Falcor started reading the spines of the books as well, through Francis kept glancing nervously at him.
"What's this?" Falcor asked, pulling a book off the shelf.
"Oh, dear," Francis said.
"What is it?" I asked, stepping up to Falcor.
He flipped open the first page, and inside was a messy script writing that was hard to read. Falcor snapped it shut, then tucked it under his arm. His face was paler than usual.
"Oh, of course, you can take that with you."
Falcor looked at me, then around the room, before he vanished, taking the dusty old book with him.
"That was not good thinking on my part," Francis said.
"What was it?" I asked.
"An old journal, belong to the past king."
"His father?"
"Precisely so," Francis replied.
"Shit."
"Indeed."
CHAPTER SEVEN
We piled a bunch of books in Pete's arms and turned to head back up the stairs when Falcor returned, scaring the shit out of me.
"Jesus! Could you, like, give me a warning? You are worse than Crow."
Falcor didn't grin, though. He looked past me to stare at Francis. "Do you have any more of my father’s journals?" His tone suggested no answer would satisfy him.
"No, I swear it."
"You know every book in the house?" Falcor asked.
"I swear it," Francis replied.
Falcor nodded, then his gaze returned to mine. "Do you have everything you need?"
"I guess so. I wish we had found something about the knife. All I know is that it can cut me."
Henry stopped scanning the room and stepped in front of me. "It can cut you? So, it can kill you?"
I shrugged. "I mean, I stabbed myself in the heart with it once and didn't die."
Henry looked up at Falcor then back at me. "But you don't know if it could kill you if someone else was using it."
I hadn't given it much thought until that exact moment. But then it was all I could think about as we moved single file between the stacks of books toward the staircase. It was possible that the knife could hurt me. The power beneath my skin still churned as it had since coming into my power as the Black Crow. I felt protected by it, knowing it would heal my skin after every cut I made.
We got to the bottom of the stairs, and Francis paused. "You know, I may have one other book!" He squished past all of us, jogging off between the stacks.
That left Falcor at the head of our little line, and he didn't wait. Instead, he started up the stairs, and Henry followed, so Pete gave me a nudge to get me moving too.
Our feet echoed off the steps as we climbed, and a few moments later, Falcor disappeared through the open door at the top. His frame disappeared from my view a moment before I heard an oof and a woman scream "murderer"!
Henry didn't even pause. He turned and scooped me up, racing me down the stairs. Books went flying as he slammed past Pete and across the basement to the far end. He drooped me in the back corner, two cement walls at my back, then spun. Pete had joined him, and the two became a barricade between me and whatever the fuck was going on.
"Let me through!" I yelled as I got to my feet and realized that something happened. "What the fuck?"
I shoved at their backs, but the monstrous men didn't move, and panic started to set in. My magic flared to life. It wanted to control the vampires, scratching at me to let my blood loose and gain control of the situation, but I couldn't free my blood. So instead, a scream of frustration bubbled out of me. It sparked something, and my magic flowed out, not with the power of my blood, but enough that it shoved both vampires to the ground and sent angry sparks around the room. My feet pounded the floor as soon as the vampires were out of the way.
I chased my own magic back to the stairs and raced up them to find Falcor on the floor, a stake embedded in his chest, a puddle of blood surrounding him.
"No!" I screamed. Francis' woman was standing by, looking satisfied. Her expression changed as my magic caught up to me and slid across the floor toward her. My anger fueled the power. I couldn't control her with the shedding of my blood, but my magic was still capable of inflicting damage, so when it reached her, it reared up and slammed into her as sharp as the wooden stake that she had plunged into Falcor's chest.
Francis came up behind me, and my magic flung him back down the stairs. I would have my revenge. The woman’s scream was enough to let me know she had been punished.
I dropped to my knees and wrapped my hand around the stake.
"Wait!" Henry called from behind me.
"Don't pull it out. We need to get him to a hospital."
My power wasn't going to wait that long. Instead, I ripped the stake out. Blood came flowing out faster and faster, but I didn't freak out. The urge was there, but I controlled it. Instead, I covered it with my hand and slowed my breathing, focusing on the injury.
My power burned as I forced it out, but it obeyed me. It flowed into Falcor's injury, shining so bright, I had to close my eyes. But I felt it then. The calmness that seeps in as the Black Crow takes control and uses me to do its bidding.
A hand came up to hold my wrist, but it didn't pull my hand away. It just held on, completing the circuit between Falcor and me and my magic. When I opened my eyes, Falcor's eyes were gazing up at me. His blood-soaked hand had joined the mess of his blood that coated my hand, holding tight to my wrist.
His breathing was normal, and he had a serene look on his face. I stayed frozen there for a beat, but then Francis' voice rose above the fuzz in my brain.
"I'm so sorry, Black Crow. Please forgive me. I didn't know."
I glanced at him. He was on his knees, his forehead on the floor in front of him.
"I swear I didn't know!" he pleaded, not even looking at me.
I glanced around the room and found the woman was nothing but a pile of clothing and dust. Had I killed her? I must have, but at the time, I didn't know what had happened exactly.
I didn't respond to Francis right away. I turned back to Falcor, and he tugged my wrist, pulling it gently off his chest. The movement swept the blood off his skin in the place where his shirt was torn, and the skin was perfect and whole—no sign of the injury that he had received. I had never been gladder tha
t I was the Black Crow or had magic. I crossed my arm over Falcor's chest and rested my forehead on it.
Francis continued to murmur behind me, while Henry and Pete stood around. I wasn't sure if they were afraid for me now too, or if they were just guarding Falcor and me, but eventually, Falcor took a deep breath and moved to get up.
I sat up and looked at him. His face was smeared with blood, but his colour was good, and there was no sign that he had just lost a ton of blood. The carpeted floor would never be the same between the blood and the ash, but I couldn't regret what I had done.
Falcor got to his feet and helped me to mine. I shook my head. "I should be helping you."
"You already did," he said, reaching around and unsticking his shirt from his back where most of the blood had pooled.
"Please, Selena," Francis said.
I finally turned to look at him, and he dropped his head to the floor again, but I caught a glimpse of his face and the tears that streaked his cheeks.
"Did you know she would do this?" I asked.
He pushed off the floor but kept his gaze at about my knees. "I swear I had no clue. She never even said she didn't like the warlock king. I swear I would never have allowed her in my home if I had known she would do... this."
I believed him but glanced at Falcor. Francis had been kind to Colvin and me. Often sending us books he thought we would like. He helped Colvin with a project for school more than once.
Falcor nodded, and I was thankful that he had. I would have hated to see Francis in prison under the Headquarters or dead. I didn't want to see him dead.
"It's fine, Francis. I believe you."
"Oh, thank you!" he said as he crawled toward me. Henry stepped in front of him, but it didn't stop his tirade of thanks.
I tuned him out. "Can we go?" I asked Falcor.
He took my hand, but Pete reached out to stop him from taking me away. "Just let me get the books, and then we can all go."
Falcor nodded, and Pete zoomed off to grab up the books that were all over the stairs and floor in the basement library.
He returned a moment later, and Falcor grabbed him. "I'll come back for you," he said to Henry when he seemed to struggle with shifting us all out of the library.
