Shadow Underground: A Romantic Urban Fantasy Murder Mystery (The Shadow Series Book 3)

by Candice Bundy

Becka tried to reassure herself, but tendrils of doubt crept through her. None of this made sense. She knew Mimir had extended her life by feeding on other fae, so the age didn’t shock her. That she had actually found one of these messages meant… what exactly?

  “Wait, what do you mean by Liberator?” Becka asked.

  “The prophetic codex states our Liberator will come to free us from the shadows, bringing us back into the light once more.”

  The codex, which was a children’s book. Becka couldn’t believe they’d given it such power.

  “That’s typically ambiguous for a prophecy. It implies that Shadow-Dwellers were once in the light, err, public, right?”

  Mimir drew herself up in her seat. “Our house once proudly led the way in matters of politics and vision for all fae-touched.”

  “A missing house?” Becka stammered. “Do you mean House Holly or Mistletoe, which have both dwindled? Or House Yew, who was massacred?”

  “A great loss to our people, all of them. No. Our name is no longer spoken.”

  Becka took a deep breath. A lost house? She’d heard there were tribes, or branches of fae magic, back during the time of the Ancients which never transitioned into proper houses. Ones that were lost to the ages.

  “Do you mean you’re from a lost tribe? But that would mean you’re three or four hundred years old, at least?”

  Mimir’s enigmatic smile descended. “A lady never reveals her age.”

  So that’s a yes? Becka’s brain locked up for a moment, considering how old, and how powerful, Mimir surely must be if that were true.

  “When I went to view the tome of the Great War, I saw several blank sections. Was that the work of Shadow-Dwellers… your house, as well?”

  Mimir’s smile turned frosty again. “There are many things which shall be revealed unto you once you surrender to your destiny.” She sighed dramatically. “I tire of this, Becka. Are you ready to assume your place in prophecy? Don the mantle of Liberator for our people? Join with us for the greater glory of all fae?”

  How can I do that if I’m dead?

  “It feels like there’s more to this Liberator role than just taking my blood and my power,” Becka said.

  Mimir arched a brow. “Join us and find out. Surely for a student of life like yourself, the quest for knowledge is paramount?”

  Becka definitely wanted to know more, but at what cost? “I need to think about it. Digest what you’ve shared with me today.”

  Her lips formed a hard line, and all mirth fled her features. “Unfortunately for both of us, we’re on a deadline. The prophecy is clear that your power joins with ours on the Flower Moon following your awakening. Time is running out. For you, and those close to you.”

  A shiver ran over Becka’s skin. The full flower moon was tomorrow? The next day? “Don’t threaten my friends,” she replied, the words sounding more like a threat than an entreaty.

  “I’m afraid it’s baked in. Delays have certain costs. We,” she gestured to the people in the surrounding room, who all stopped what they were doing, turned, and watched them, “have finite patience and time. As we need you to give over your powers willingly, we cannot directly force your hand, but I assure you we will motivate you. You had a taste of it this morning, I believe?”

  The image of a dead Saige and Caeda lying on the ground near the river sprung immediately to mind. As the panic welled up within her chest, Becka had to force herself to breathe evenly. “I can’t allow you to harm my loved ones, but I do not know what you would do with a power such as mine,” Becka whispered, speaking her fear aloud.

  “Have no fear, Becka. We do. Tick. Tock.”

  With a flick of Mimir’s wrist, Becka’s world turned upside down.

  Becka hit the chair with enough force that it slid back and into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Her head ached from her exposure to the magic in the club and her muscles were sore all over.

  Had that really happened? Had she really triggered the totem to open a portal?

  The interview room was empty, and the totem still lay on the table in front of her next to her backpack. She grabbed her spicy sauce, taking a long pull. Then another.

  Which was when Caeda, Saige, Hamish, and of course Quinn arrived, all looking like they’d seen a ghost. They rushed into the room, which quickly felt overly full.

  “Becka, you’re back! And healthy,” Caeda said, her face was awash with relief.

  Hamish looked grim, yet relieved as well. Saige’s eyes were wide with curiosity. Neither said a word.

  And Quinn? He stood there, hands on his hips, glowering. She could have fried an egg with the heat rolling off him.

  “Everyone, out,” Quinn declared.

  “But we need to know if she found Mimir,” Saige said, eyes full of hope. “Did you? Do you know where she is?”

  Becka gave her a single nod, and Saige’s triumphant smile lit up her face.

  “We’ll get her now,” Saige promised.

  Becka certainly hoped her accidental journey would be worth the risk. What would have happened if Mimir hadn’t willingly sent her back? A chill ran over her skin. They’d have never known what happened to her.

  “I said, out,” Quinn repeated.

  Saige grumbled, but she allowed Hamish to escort her out. Caeda followed, weighed down by a worried frown.

  When everyone had filed out of the room, Quinn grabbed her and pulled her into a rough, almost smothering hug. “I asked you not to take any risks.”

  Becka managed to angle her face up, and when she spoke, her lips moved against his neck. “Elowen said we needed to step things up and find Mimir. She said to pull out all the stops.”

  “You were gone for about ten minutes, Becka. Caeda said you just disappeared as you were examining the totem.” Quinn relaxed his grip and gave her some space, but the look he gave her was tortured. “We had no ability to track you, and no idea if you’d come back.”

  “I didn’t make it do that.” She gestured to the totem on the table. “Well, not on purpose anyway. I was looking at the energy and how the different enchantments all flowed together. As you’d expect, it’s some expert work. But it’s a portal device, which we didn’t know. One that Mimir constructed, or had constructed for her by another Shadow-Dweller. How could I have known it was more than a magical video call?”

  Quinn replied with a sardonic smile before he even opened his mouth. “I wonder what the respectable Duchess Rowan would say to that reasoning?”

  “Don’t bring my mother into this.”

  “You know she’ll most likely find out. What then?”

  “By then we’ll have Mimir in custody?” Becka offered.

  “That’s positive thinking. And you just happened to trigger this portal how?”

  Becka searched for the right words. “There was a spot where all the magical threads were kind of stitched together. I, well, pulled on it, I guess you could say.”

  Curiosity got the better of him. “I didn’t know your power could do that.”

  “I’m still pretty new to working with it,” Becka replied. “Despite all my practice. It’s not like Nulling came with a user manual.”

  “Right.” He looked contemplative for a moment. “Where did the portal take you?”

  “Well…” Becka stalled.

  He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

  “Mimir’s Shadow-Dweller club.”

  “Can I assume she was there and you two had a nice talk?” Quinn asked.

  “We did,” Becka replied, hearing the dubious tone in her voice. “I learned quite a bit.”

  “You know this is not what I had in mind when I asked you to be careful,” Quinn said, scrubbing his hand across his forehead. “Did you at least find out where she was?”

  “Uh, no, but I can describe who I saw there and what the club looks like.”

  “That’ll help. Too bad you were only inside of the club.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t move from the spot I was portalled to.”


  He nodded. “Why do you think she let you leave?”

  “Enlightened self-interest? Mimir can’t rip my power from me without risking losing her own from my Nulling. She needs me to willingly surrender it to her, and become the Shadow-Dweller’s Liberator by joining with them by the Flower Moon. Whatever all that entails.”

  “Which you’ll never do.”

  “Duh. I also get the impression they need more than just my power. Or my blood. Otherwise they’d just use a human or shifter to steal my blood, right? This Liberator role must be important to them.”

  He frowned. “So, the bodies this morning which were left to look like Caeda and Saige were your encouragement to comply?”

  “Exactly.”

  He sighed. “Did the psychopath give you a deadline?”

  “The Flower Moon. She also said tick-tock.”

  “How villainous of her. But that’s just three days from now?”

  “It is, and I don’t know how to stop her, Quinn. She’s so powerful and seems to have all the angles covered.”

  Quinn reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. “This is why I don’t want you going off on your own. We’ll need to work together if we hope to defeat her.”

  Becka threaded her arms around him, luxuriating in the clean, cedar scent of him and the solid, comforting presence of his strength. “Like I said, it wasn’t on purpose.”

  Quinn brutally pulled her into a hug. “You purposefully took on risk; you just misjudged your exposure. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

  Unable to argue his point, Becka shrugged against him and he hugged her all the tighter.

  After a minute, Quinn relaxed his grip on her.

  “We’d better come up with a plan, because at this point it’s Mimir on one side and Maura on the other.”

  Quinn disengaged, giving Becka room to grab her bag. He claimed the evidence bag with the totem in it, sliding it into a pocket before she argued.

  “First, the team needs to debrief you. Hopefully, there’s some detail in that clever mind of yours that will help us home in on Mimir.”

  Chapter 20

  A grid of paired exposed brick walls paired with window casements flashed across the display screen. Each was slightly different. Just enough to have them blur together, and not enough to make picking them out of a lineup easy.

  “A, B, C, or D?” an unusually perky Nikkita asked.

  How had she gotten roped back into this hellscape? Oh yeah, her adventures in portal land.

  The team had spent an hour debriefing Becka’s conversation with Mimir, and then Nikkita had taken the reins and run with it. She’d compiled a dataset of all buildings in the city which might fit the parameters Becka had covered and was forcing her to review every one like some lineup of criminals.

  Every. Single. Known. Pair.

  Since she hadn’t answered, Nikkita asked again. “A, B, C, or D?”

  “Maybe C? Also A,” Becka replied. “How many more of these do you have?”

  “Just a few dozen. You’ve made great headway.”

  Becka frowned and rubbed her eyes. A fresh grid of images flashed onto the screen. Were they different from the last one? She couldn’t quite tell.

  “A couple of your selections have been along the potential Gullet routes earlier,” Hamish replied.

  “That’s great, really. I’m just worn out.”

  “We can take a break,” Nikkita offered.

  Anxiety crept through Becka, tying her stomach in knots. Mimir had put her on the clock, with the flower moon as some sort of pivotal moment. The threat loomed over Becka’s thoughts, urging her forward. “No, we can’t. Keep going.”

  Caeda got up and left the room, her normally upbeat mood replaced with pure tension.

  It was a good thing the conference room was huge, because the entire team had been camped out in it all day long. Everyone looked exhausted, and Becka knew there had been little sleep in the past couple of days.

  The images flashed by. “A. None. None. D.” Becka gave a brief nod between each one, letting Nikkita know she was done.

  When Caeda returned, hot drinks in hand, Becka sighed in anticipation.

  “Hot chai with soy,” she said, placing the steaming drink in front of Becka.

  “You’re too good for me,” Becka said. She carefully blew over the surface before taking a tentative sip. Drinking caffeine this late in the day might keep her up, but Becka doubted she could keep focused without it.

  A rare smile crept across Quinn’s face, and he arched a brow her way. “That’s all it takes?”

  “In this moment of tedium? Heck yeah.” Becka took another sip.

  “Sounds like I’ve been trying too hard,” he said under his breath. “But really, thank you, Caeda.” He toasted her with his cup. “We all could use a pick-me-up.”

  “It helps, but we’ll need to break for dinner sooner than later.”

  “We will,” he replied, before turning his attention back to whatever he and Ted were muddling through.

  Another thirty minutes passed before the desired announcement came.

  “And, it looks like that’s all I’ve got,” Nikkita said.

  A rush of relief ran through Becka. “I thought I was going to grow old churning through that list.”

  Nikkita flashed her a genuine smile. “Do you want to go back over the positives?”

  “Why don’t we wait until tomorrow?” Quinn said, standing up and stretching. “Caeda’s right, we need to break for dinner. In the morning we can see what the beat officers found and also review the locations again.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ted asked. “Mimir’s clearly got Becka on a time-dependent schedule, which could mean an escalation.”

  Everyone looked from Quinn to Becka and back. Becka hated knowing that all the recent increase in Shadow-Dweller activity was because of her and her Null power.

  “If we exhaust ourselves, we’ll make mistakes. Better to come back with fresh eyes tomorrow.”

  Ted grumbled a little. Nikkita looked disappointed. All of the team started packing up for the day.

  Becka finished her chai and joined Saige on the couch. “How are you doing?”

  Saige shrugged. “I’d prefer to be doing something, not sitting here waiting for Mimir to strike again.”

  “If I knew how to defeat her, I think I’d feel the same way,” Becka replied in low tones.

  “What do you mean?” Saige replied, confusion knitting her brow. “You’re the one person Mimir doesn’t either kill outright or control like her puppet Gullet.”

  “So?”

  “So, she must fear you, or at least your Null ability.”

  “She must, otherwise Mimir would have already stolen it from me by force,” Becka agreed.

  “If I were you, I’d be asking myself how to use that power of yours to knock that queen down off of her lofty tower.”

  Becka nodded at Saige, but then got quiet processing her words. Could she just obliterate Mimir’s powers with a single touch, like she had Hanna’s? Would it take longer, considering Mimir had amassed so many powers? Surely the ancient fae wouldn’t let her close enough to get the opportunity.

  What was she not considering in this situation? Becka needed to come up with something Mimir wouldn’t expect. Would she expect Becka going on the offensive?

  Hamish and Quinn headed over to them.

  “You ladies ready to go?” Quinn asked.

  Becka stood up, feeling the exhaustion of the day pulling at her limbs. “So ready.” She looked over to where Caeda was gathering her stuff. “Hey, are you coming with us?”

  Caeda shook her head. “I doubt Mimir would target me.”

  “I don’t know about that. You’re in the danger zone. I mean, you make a mean chai and I like you.”

  Caeda rocked her head from side to side and then sighed. “You make a valid point. Is there room left at the inn?”

  “There’s another
room upstairs,” Hamish replied, “which you can have because I’ll be sleeping on the couch.”

  “Becka doesn’t like you that much, Hamish,” Saige snapped. “You’ll be lucky to get use of a couch.” Saige had to know the only reason he was crashing at the townhouse was to monitor her, so she didn’t sneak off again.

  Becka was eternally grateful.

  “I like him some,” Becka chimed in.

  Nikkita laughed. “At least I know I’m in the clear.”

  “Yeah, this is one club I’ll happily pass on,” Ted said as he headed out the door. “Later!”

  Becka turned to Quinn. “You think they’ll be okay?”

  He nodded. “My read is that Mimir will go after those who would hurt you most to lose. A coworker you barely know is a low-value target.”

  They closed up the conference room, leaving it locked up tight. Quinn insisted on driving, Hamish called shotgun, and so the three women took up the back seats.

  “Should we grab dinner on the way back?” Quinn asked. “I don’t want us to descend on Lydia like a pack of ravenous beasts.”

  “Let me call her,” Becka replied. But when Lydia didn’t answer, a nagging fear tickled at the back of her mind. “She’s not answering.”

  A quiet stillness filled the car. No one said their fear out loud. Not everyone answered every phone call. But while the psychopathic blood-drinking fae was hunting the city, it was best practice.

  “Do you know what her plans were today?” Hamish asked.

  “Of course I do. Kind of.” Becka pulled up the household calendar on her phone. “It says here she’s back at the art school all day today ‘glorying in nature’s beauty.’”

  “Is that code…” Caeda said.

  “Nude. She’s posing nude for painters,” Becka replied. “Hold on.” She dialed the school, relieved when someone answered on the second ring.

  “Thanks for calling Michelangelo's Angels,” came a warm, masculine voice. “This is Michael speaking. Can I interest you in our depth-in-watercolor class, which starts next week?”

  “Not likely,” Becka said. “I think my Aunt Lydia was with you today?”

  “Are you Becka?” he asked.

  “That’s me.”