“Wow, you really broke the imagination bank for that one didn’t you?” I scooted down the soft, putting a little distance between us. If he was going to lash out again and clamp his hand over my mouth then I was going to see him coming.
He gave me a rueful smile. “This is serious. The whistler hasn’t been loose among humans in four centuries.”
“No, you’re wrong. He was a young man. Younger than I am.”
“No one actually knows how old he is other than they think he crawled straight out of Hell itself.”
“Well what does he do?”
“He whistles,” Jason said, his voice matter of fact as though that one simple statement explained everything.
“No shit, Sherlock. What else does he do? Why was he locked in the pit?”
“I’m serious. He was down there because of his whistling.” Seeing the look of incomprehension on my face, Jason sighed. “You’ve heard of an ear worm right?”
I nodded. Everyone knew what an ear worm was. Some ridiculous song that you just couldn’t shake, no matter how hard you tried.
“Well that’s what he does. The tunes he whistles are basically ear worms but instead of quietly driving you a little loopy because you can’t remember all the lyrics, these actually drive people mad. We’re talking zombie rage virus mad.”
“Shit…”
“That’s not the worst of it,” Jason said. “It spreads like a virus too. That’s why I couldn’t let you repeat the tune for me. The infected infect others by whistling the tune aloud. When they initially had him locked away he kept driving all the jailers mad so in the end they stuck him down in the pit. It was the only way to protect everyone from his power.”
“How do we stop him?”
Jason shook his head. “Nobody knows. Locking him up was the best the Saga Venatione could do the last time he was on the loose.”
“Great.”
My cell phone chose that moment to start ringing and I practically ripped it out of my pocket.
“Hello?”
“Amber, I got your messages. What’s up?” I never thought I’d be so happy to hear Victoria’s voice as I was in that moment.
“Are you still at the mall?”
“Yeah, I thought you’d be here already.”
“Look, I’m on my way there now. Please don’t go anywhere. I’ll tell you everything once I get there.”
“Okay.” Victoria was never good at hiding her true emotions and this time was no exception. The skepticism in her voice was palpable.
I hung up and glanced up at Jason. “Want to do a little hunting?”
He raised his injured arm still wrapped up in a sling and I half expected him to turn me down. “I guess I need to start working this arm or it’ll stiffen up on me.”
Nodding, I climbed to my feet. “I need to do something first.”
Leaving him alone in the living room I went back to the bathroom. Alastor still lay on the bathroom floor but he was propped up now and he was awake.
“What’s happening to me?” His voice was low and sounded more like his demon counterpart than his human half.
“It’s the collar,” I said, directing his gaze to the metal ring around my throat. “It’s a long story but I’m working on a plan to get it off and get you back on your feet.” I kept my voice light and bright and for a moment I thought he’d actually bought it.
“You can’t lie to me, Amber, I am your demon.” He coughed into his hand and black spittle coated his lips. He drew in a deep shuddering breath, the noise rattling in his lungs. “I am dying.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
He started to shrug and then seemed to think better of it. “We don’t always get a choice in these things. I know I am dying but there is still hope for you.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You could sever your tie with me. We are not fully bonded and if you broke it now you might still live when I am taken back to Hell.”
“You said it was impossible.”
He grinned up at me, his teeth blackened from the blood in his mouth. “I wanted you to need me, Amber. I am your demon. I need you far more than you need me.”
Closing my eyes, I pressed my hands to my face. “Look, just get up off the bathroom floor and go into my bedroom. That way you’ll be a little more comfortable.”
“And what about what I said? Are you going to sever our bond?”
“I don’t know.”
He nodded. “Well if you choose to, please don’t tell me.”
“You’d prefer it to be a surprise?”
“I would rather not know the moment of my death, yes.”
“Lily, help me get him up.” She was perched on the edge of the bath tub watching with keen interest our back and forth discussion.
I expected her to protest but instead she crouched down next to Alastor and slid her hands beneath his arms. I took the other side and between us we just about managed to get him on his feet. Getting to the bedroom was another story.
Staggering from the bathroom, I collided with the wall as Alastor’s entire weight shifted over to my side.
“Keep him balanced.” Gritting my teeth, I slipped his arm around my neck, careful to keep him away from the collar.
“Need a hand?” Jason appeared in the hallway ahead of us.
“I didn’t think you’d want to help.”
“I’m already up to my neck in shit. Making sure you don’t break your neck trying to shift his weighty ass around your apartment is a minor infraction.”
He glanced at Lily and for a split second, I could see a softening in his gaze but it was gone as quickly as it had arrived. Jason reached over and Lily shrank away from his touch. She moved so quickly that I was left holding Alastor upright.
His legs collapsed beneath him and I slammed into the wall again, leaving an indentation in the plaster.
“Why are you so heavy?” I muttered more to myself than anyone else.
“My demon form is much bigger. It makes this shape denser because I carry more mass.”
“Well could you try and get your legs under your giant mass a little better please, you’re going to crush me.”
His weight disappeared as Jason slid into Lily’s spot and took most of the burden. Alastor hung between us and despite the wheeze in his lungs I was sure I could hear him chuckling.
“You know there was a time when I wanted to crush you,” he said. “There was a time when I would have gladly ripped your spine out through your chest and sucked the marrow from your bones.”
“Now is not really the best time to tell me this,” I said. “You’re kind of at my mercy here.”
“I know,” he said softly, glancing over in my direction. His demon black eyes were unnerving but I was finding it easier to meet his gaze with every moment that passed. Almost as though I was growing used to them. Could you grow used to a demon, was it possible?
It hit me then. If anything happened to him, I would actually miss his smart ass. It was a sobering thought. Not too long ago, I was wishing he had never entered my life and now here I was wishing he wouldn’t leave.
We hoisted him into the bedroom and carefully laid him out on the bed.
“I’m going to fix this,” I promised.
“I know you will.” He grinned up at me before his smile slid away and was replaced by a grimace. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I was supposed to help you. Not the other way around.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He shook his head. “Who will keep your sister in check?”
I glanced back at Lily, who was propped against the door jamb. “Nothing I guess.”
Lily met my gaze head on. “You won’t try to stop me from leaving?”
I sighed. “I’ve got bigger fish to fry right now. Our father is out there somewhere with the Whistler and my boss wants to use me as a means to broker a peace treaty with the fae. Not to mention the collar and
the fact that my demon is dying. So no, I won’t be trying to stop you, Lily. Go if you have to.”
She shrugged. “I guess I could stick around here, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
I stared at her incredulously. “Seriously? After everything you’re just going to stay?”
“Well where else would I go?”
“Last night you couldn’t wait to get back into our father’s good books. You were convinced he was going to swoop in and rescue you at any moment.”
There was a flash of bitterness in her eyes. “But as you so aptly pointed out, he left me to die in that prison. Why would I go looking for him after he did that?”
I was at a loss for words. It was exactly the point I’d been trying to make all along. But her sudden change of heart didn’t make any sense.
Glancing down at the time on phone I swore silently. Only two hours until Jon’s deadline and I still had to meet up with Victoria and get her somewhere safe.
“Stay if you want to,” I said. “But I’ll try not to be surprised if I come home and find you gone.”
She shrugged.
“We need to go I’m kind of on the clock here,” I said, turning to Jason.
Before I could move away from the bed, Alastor’s hand found mine. “I always knew I’d get into your bed,” he said with a smile.
I gave his hand a gentle squeeze as I rolled my eyes at him. “You never quit do you?”
“Plenty of time for that when I’m dead.”
Pulling away from him, I left Lily with him as I followed Jason to the door. Giving up a silent prayer to the Goddess for Alastor’s survival—which seemed ironic enough—I grabbed my kit bag and slammed the door behind me. Would I come home to find him dead?
Would I come home at all?
18
Pulling into the mall’s parking lot, I parked behind the yellow tape that cordoned off the area from the public. The rest of the parking lot was empty. A couple of abandoned shopping carts drifted in the middle of the space, making me think of the last zombie movie I’d watched.
Locking the car, I led the way toward the main doors. Jason fell into step behind me.
“Amber!” Victoria’s shout brought me up short and I pirouetted in the direction of her voice.
She wore her midnight black hair high in a ponytail and it swung in the gentle breeze as she jogged over to us.
“I thought you’d have been here hours ago,” she said, not sounding the least bit out of breath as she came to a halt next to me. “The others went on ahead to scout the area but I said I’d hang back here and wait for you.”
She peered into my face and her gaze dropped to the metal collar. “What’s that thing?” Her shoulders stiffened and she subtly leaned away from me as though she could sense the magic it exuded. And maybe she could. She was after all a changeling. She could do a lot of things a normal human couldn’t.
“It’s my new collar,” I said bitterly. “Jon’s got me on a leash now.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he can control everything I do.” Victoria’s eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline.
“Is this his way of punishing you for what you are?”
“Something like that. It gets worse,” I said and quickly filled her in on how Jon planned to use her in order to bend me to his will.
“Like hell I’ll be his whipping boy,” she said indignantly. She started to pace. “The arrogance. Who does he think he is? I could snap him in half with one hand.”
“He’s got the powers-that-be on his side, not to mention the Saga knights.” I cast a wary glance in Jason’s direction.
“I have heard of them before,” she said. “But I’ve never had the privilege of meeting one.”
“Count yourself lucky.”
Victoria nodded. “He’s right about one thing, though.”
“And that is?”
“Faerie does not care for changelings. If he chooses to make a move against me, I will not have the support of the fae. They will gladly throw me under the bus. They’ll probably even enjoy it,” she said wryly.
“Well I’m not going to give him that chance to move against you. If I have to go and play nice with the fae then I will.”
“They won’t just want you to play nice, Amber,” she said kindly. “Fionn was not the only faerie with an interest in cross-breeding powerful humans with the fae.”
A cold sweat broke out across my skin and I curled my fists. “Then I will kill them just like I did Fionn.”
Victoria shook her head sadly. “I do not doubt that you would try but with that thing around your neck, you are vulnerable. And I have no doubt that whatever fae will be present at these peace talks will be powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than the Father of the Hunt himself.”
“Well let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said uneasily. The last thing I wanted to spend my time doing was discussing the fact that within a few short hours I would be at the mercy of some fae who only wanted me for my power and my ability to have a child. “In the meantime,” I said. “We need to get you somewhere safe where Jon can’t—”
“I’m not going to run and hide, Amber.” Victoria straightened so that she towered over me. “I’m sorry but I won’t hide, not even for you.”
“But if he gets his hands on you—”
“Then I will fight. But you cannot ask me to behave like a coward.”
I groaned inwardly. “I’m not asking you to—”
The sound of screaming erupted from within the mall causing the three of us to start.
“Who’s in there?” I said, pulling my gun from my holster.
“We left two of the men behind as guards—”
I glanced up as the sound of shattering glass exploded over our heads. The screaming intensified and I had just enough time to see the rolling eyes and frothing mouth of the man who had propelled himself out of the third story window before I dived out of the way.
He hit the ground with a sickening, meaty thud, the sound of his bones crushing within his body turning my stomach.
He gurgled incoherently on the asphalt, bloody bubbles escaping from his nose and mouth as he struggled to move. It took a moment for him to grow still and the light in his eyes to fade as his spirit left his body.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, glancing back up at where he had come from, half expecting to see the second man hurl himself to his death too.
“Do you think that was the work of the whistler?”
“I don’t know,” Jason said honestly, crouching down next to the body. “I can’t see any external wounds aside from the obvious trauma. It’s impossible to tell if this was the whistler’s work.”
“The what now?” Victoria interjected.
“The whistler,” I said. “It’s what escaped from the pit. Or I should say, it’s what my father let out of the pit.”
“Your father was behind the jailbreak?” Victoria gave a low whistle. “Why am I not surprised. I suppose Lily is out then too?”
“Yeah but not because of him…” I chewed my lip nervously. Victoria was definitely going to hate this. “I took Lily with me. She’s back at my apartment.”
“You what?” Victoria exploded, her pale skin taking on a mottled hue. “Have you lost your mind? Have you forgotten all of the things she has done? How could you have allowed this?” Victoria turned on Jason who stood watching the back and forth with a bemused expression on his face.
“I didn’t allow anything. Amber made her own choices.”
“I had no choice. She was going to die if I left here there and—”
“So what if she was going to die? It’s no more than the crazy cow deserves.”
I shook my head. “I know she deserves to be punished for what she has done but—”
“Have you forgotten what she did to Graham? How she used him to get to you?”
I stiffened. I hadn’t forgotten the way she had used Graham. However, what she had done h
ad also saved him. She had done what I couldn’t and I wouldn’t forget that.
“She will be brought to justice, Victoria, but it won’t be served up by my father.” I sighed. “Look, I think she might be useful. My father obviously left her behind for a reason and I’d like to know what that was.”
“He’s probably manipulating you too, just like she was.”
“Guys, we really don’t have time for this,” Jason interjected. “We’ve got a body here and a guard unaccounted for. Do you think you could put your bickering aside for five minutes while we do our god-damned jobs?”
Victoria bristled under the censure but she clamped her lips together in a tight line.
“We should go in there,” I said, gesturing to the mall. “If it is the Whistler in there then we need to find him and stop him.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know, Jason,” I said smartly. “Do you have a better idea?”
The sound of gunfire broke out behind the mall.
“I’m going after them,” Victoria said, as she started to run in the direction of the gunfire. Jason followed on her heel leaving me to stand staring down at the body of the fallen Elite officer.
The hairs on the back of my neck slowly prickled and stood to attention as though someone or something was watching me. I slowly turned in a circle, my gaze scanning my surroundings for signs of anything untoward but there was nothing. The parking lot was too open and exposed for anyone to hide within. So why the hell couldn’t I shake the feeling?
Years ago, I’d heard my mother describe the same feeling as someone walking over your grave. At the time I’d thought it was strange. How could you have a grave if you weren’t yet dead? But as I stood and surveyed my surroundings, I couldn’t help but agree with her analysis. That was exactly what it felt like.
“Are you coming?” Jason shouted back to me from the corner of the mall and I nodded as I drew my gun and jogged after him.
19
The rear of the mall was made up of loading areas so the shops within could have their goods easily delivered. It was surrounded on all sides by rough scrubland.
A Wicked Power Page 11