by Layla Harper
“Then who is he worried about?”
I release his hand. “Other”—fae—”kinds of people.”
Todd slips the phone back in his pocket. Scratches his head. His arms. The back of his neck. Considers me and then shakes his head.
We walk this stretch of lawn in silence, the wards grating against our skin. The compulsion to run has me nearly bowling over at times.
Todd grabs my hand, and I’ll give it to the guy, he’s white as a ghost, but his mouth is set in a determined line.
I give him a fierce squeeze and let go. He could have made this hard, but he didn’t. Because he knows me. He knows I wouldn’t rush headlong into a situation unless it was important. And he cares enough about me to not let me do it alone.
I’m going to miss him when I go.
We hop the five steps onto a large deck without a stitch of outdoor furniture. I pull the dagger from my boot.”
“Holy shit, Kyra.”
I shrug. Lo and behold, the door isn’t locked. I cross into a breakfast nook area open to a spacious kitchen on the right and a sunken family room to the left.
Todd closes the sliding patio door behind us.
“He’s not here.” I sense it the moment I move deeper into the room. The pendulum lights hanging over the large island are on, but there’s no sound from the adjoining dining room or the short hallway connecting the back of the house to the front. And unlike the interior of the store and what I remember of Rick’s office, the house is immaculate.
“It’s too clean,” Todd says, mirroring my exact thoughts.
I’d ask if he were sure this house belongs to Rick, but no sane human living in an affluent community like this would leave their doors unlocked without a top-of-the-line security system in place.
Besides, I saw the symbols.
This is Rick’s house.
Upstairs, the four bedrooms resemble the lower level. Clean. Tastefully decorated with showroom furniture. No pictures. No personal items. Empty drawers and closets.
Todd inspects a copper-plated vase with a fake orchid and sets it back down on the bureau. “Does he even live here?”
I’m starting to wonder myself. But I can’t be wrong about Rick. I can’t.
“What are you looking for, Kyra?”
“I don’t know,” I say truthfully. I think I’m after the portal spell Rick used to send me to Alfhemir, but since I returned home with the stone, will the spell even work?
I’m here without a plan. I guess I expected to confront Rick, force the truth from him, and then what? He’d say, “Hey, sorry, Kyra,” and send me home to Rogar?
The little hope I hold deflates. “I need to search the basement.”
Todd grabs my shoulders and turns me around to face him. “I can’t help you if you don’t let me in. You said Rick is involved with the people who took you?”
“Yeah. I saw him. On campus the night I… disappeared.”
Todd’s jaw clenches. There’s a hardness in his eyes I’ve never seen before. “The police questioned him about you and your roommate. He swore he had nothing to do with what happened to either of you.” Something akin to horror blankets his expression. His gaze drops to the floor before flicking back up. “I get why you’re here after…” He can’t finish the sentence. “You can’t take justice into your hands, but I understand why you would.”
“I wasn’t hurt, not like how you’re thinking.” But I may have been if Rogar hadn’t saved me.
“So why do this? What are you looking for?”
“A way back? Evidence? Proof of what he did?” My voice shakes with the truth of it all.
Todd’s expression softens. “Okay.” He lowers his hands. “Okay. There should be a door near the kitchen. We’ll check the basement, and if you don’t find what you’re looking for, I’ll take you to the police.”
I don’t say anything because… well, it would be another lie, and I don’t want to keep lying to my friends.
I run down the stairs, Todd behind me. We hurry along the short hallway, and at the end of the wall, adjacent to the kitchen, we find the door.
“This must be it.”
Before I can twist the handle, Todd drags me behind the granite island, his hand over my mouth. The other presses down on my head until we’re completely hidden below the height of the cabinets.
The front door opens without the jiggle of a key.
Arrogant asshole.
I elbow Todd and signal for him to release me, which he does.
A feminine giggle reaches our ears.
“Wow,” the woman says in a high-pitched voice. “Nice house.”
Great. He’s not alone.
The click, click, click of heels sounds against the polished wood floor, growing louder. They’re heading for the kitchen.
This should be fun.
There’s shuffling and a squeal from the woman. Then a low growl followed by more giggles and a soft thud. Like bodies pressed against the wall.
Eww.
I squeeze my eyes shut, like the mere act of blocking out the visual would stop the licking and slurping noises from infiltrating my ear canal. Please, please, please, don’t have sex in the hallway. I’m not sure my MacNamara burger can survive the assault.
There’s a slight rustle. Then the woman moans, loudly.
Oh God. I’m going to be sick.
“Almost, doll,” Rick says in his sleazy voice. “Almost. But not yet.” A door opens. More slurping mixed in with gasping breaths filters into the kitchen.
Todd looks as green as I feel. From behind the cabinet, he points in the direction of the door.
Rick’s taking the female into the basement?
That can’t be good.
Todd raises a brow and points to the phone in his front pocket.
I bite my lip and raise my forefinger. “Wait,” I mouth while praying the delay doesn’t deliver an innocent woman to indescribable horrors. I need the portal spell first.
The steps fade.
“I have to get downstairs. Give me ten minutes and then call the cops.” I hope the instinct driving me doesn’t get us killed.
At the stairs, I’m not surprised to find Todd right behind me. We descend, every creak a loud blaring horn. When we reach the landing, I hesitate. The basement, which runs the length of the house, probably four or five thousand square feet, is finished. The same dark mahogany wood used upstairs lines the floors here. We’re surrounded by six doors to six rooms. My own Alice in Wonderland hell.
My ears strain, listening for a clue to point me in Rick’s direction. Given how animated the woman was, we should hear a muffled moan or scream. Maybe some heavy breathing.
But… nothing.
Todd motions to his ears, then mouths, “Soundproof?”
To hide screams.
Great. Just great.
My instinct tugs left. Todd’s close, his head two inches below my right shoulder given our height difference. Odds are whatever is happening behind the door is consensual, but I can’t in good conscience let it happen, not if Rick had a hand in sending Victoria into Alfhemir too.
I lean back and whisper, “Have your phone ready.”
Smirking, Todd shakes the device in his hand.
He really is the perfect wingman.
Gripping my dagger with one hand, I reach for the doorknob with the other, and like everything else in this house, it turns without resistance. In my peripheral vision, I catch the feral look on Todd’s face, 911 at the go if he hasn’t already pressed Call.
I open the door, turn on the light, and…
Fuck.
There’s an elf in a cage.
16
Kyra
Being tall has its advantages. I slap my hand over Todd’s mouth to silence his gasp and close the door with my foot.
So much for soundproof, especially when panic overrides logic.
And holy freaking crap. I entered the room expecting to see a skinny, hairy ass in the air, not a real-life elf
.
In a cage.
On Earth of all places.
Todd whips us around, shielding me from the fae reclining on a cot surrounded by iron bars.
I grip his arm. “Don’t freak out, okay? I can explain what you’re seeing.” I think. “He’s fae, and he’s trapped inside that cage. He can’t break out because it’s spelled.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because up until a few hours ago, I was held in a similar cage. Only mine was suspended above hordes of scary, hungry goblins.”
My words spark an alertness in the elf’s gaze. He unfurls his body and rises to his feet to stand directly across from where Todd herds me to the door with his back, his arms out in a protective stance.
The elf is tall, about Rogar’s height, wide shouldered but lacking the thick muscle an orc carries. His silver-blond hair is tied at the nape. Glowing, bright blue eyes shine beneath silver brows. There’s a familiar regality about him I can’t quite place.
Blue eyes.
“You’re a winter fae. From Forvarra.”
He stands utterly still, yet I sense those words jolt something inside him. He angles his nose ever so slightly, sniffs, and then cocks his head. “Human. Both of you.”
Todd stiffens. “Why did he just call us human like he’s not?”
“Because he’s fae. From a place called Alfhemir.”
“Where?”
I hear the confusion in Todd’s voice, but I’m too shocked to find a winter elf in Rick’s house to take in much more. “It’s a realm like—”
“I know what Alfhemir is.”
Now it’s my turn to be surprised. My head snaps to Todd. “You do?”
“Yeah. It’s one of the Norse realms. Come on, Kyra. I took you to see Thor. We watched the movie together.”
The elf’s mouth widens into a saucy smile. Like he’s actually enjoying my bumbling of this whole conversation.
I bite back the immature urge to stick out my tongue. “Do you remember the Doras Ring? The sculpture all the crazies came out to worship at Stonehill?”
The elf’s grin snaps in two.
My friend nods. “What about it?”
“Rick used the ring to send me to another realm, and he might have done the same with Victoria. Alfhemir is real. It exists in his world.” I gesture to the elf. “I just don’t know if he’s on our side or their side, but I suppose if Rick’s got him locked in a magic cage…”
Shit. This just got way more complicated than I anticipated.
“How do you know of Forvarra, human?” The elf’s English is thickly accented with an old-world feel, reminding me of a Spanish professor I once had.
“I met one of its princesses.” Briefly.
“Which one?”
“Daenestra?”
“Where?”
“In Lithyr.”
He frowns. “Lithyr?”
“Yeah. She…” Tricky fae. I catch myself before revealing anything important. “You’re good. I’ll give you that.”
“Release me,” he orders.
“Sure. Let me get right on that.” But first I’ve got a boss to trap and a human to free.
Todd moves closer to the crate. “You’re telling me he’s not human? He’s some kind of elf?”
The imprisoned fae lifts an amused eyebrow.
I motion to the crate. “He’s seven feet tall and aesthetically perfect. Know anyone in real life resembling him?”
He shrugs a shoulder. “Gene Simmons wearing his dragon boots?”
“Ha ha.” I forget Todd’s a huge vintage metalhead. “He’s not wearing heels.”
“Yeah, but he looks airbrushed. Like a Madame Tussauds wax figure.”
I snort because he kinda has a point.
The elf crosses his arms, and his body expands with what I presume is indignation. “Are you working with the demon?”
“What?” Todd and I say in unison.
“I will take that as a no. You met my sister and lived, human, so therefore she did not take you for a threat.”
“Wait. Your sister?” My heart sprints in a circle. “You’re Daenestra’s brother? The prince rescued from autumn?”
If I didn’t have his attention before, man, do I now.
His voice goes gravelly. “There are only a handful of beings who know this truth.”
Goose bumps break out over my skin.
He steps as close to the bars as possible without touching them. “A handful I would die for. The others I will kill when I am freed. Who told you of Nagir?”
My head spins with how intricately fate has woven itself around me. Tirian is here when my orc needs him most. “Rogar.”
The prince steps back. He takes in another lungful of air, sorting through the scents. Something I wouldn’t have recognized weeks ago.
“You are his?” he asks me.
“Kyra,” Todd pleads. “What is going on?”
“I am.”
Tirian bows his head and strikes a fist over his heart. “I am in your debt, then.”
“How do I open the gate.”
“Turn the handle.”
Todd stops me. “Think about this. How do you—”
“Trust me.” I clasp his hand and squeeze. The girl who spent a lifetime trusting no one but herself is taking giant leaps of faith and asking others to do the same. “My gut hasn’t led me astray. It brought me to you. And now him.”
I turn to Tirian. “The lock isn’t spelled?”
“Against fae, yes. Humans, no. The incubus preys upon your kind. He does not fear you.”
Incubus?
Todd and I exchange a look.
Rick is two-timing Aelinor with a demon? It totally jives with his character.
When I place my hand on the handle, a vibration shoots through my palm. I shimmy the latch until it clicks open.
An irate fae strides out of the cage. “Cursed fates, I have been bound to this plane for far too long.”
The door opens. Rick’s lanky forms darkens the space between the frames. His shirt is unbuttoned. Pants loosely thrown on, the belt undone. His eyes land on Todd and then slide over to me and widen.
Tirian wrenches the dagger from my hand. In a blur, he’s across the room, and by the time I register what’s happening, blood spurts from the blade embedded in Rick’s heart.
I’m too shocked to move. I hated Rick, but…
The prince stoops and reaches for something around my former boss’s neck. An amulet that’s a near match to the one Rowena had made for me.
He yanks.
The chain around Rick’s neck snaps.
“Fuck.” Todd jumps back. That’s—”
“Not Rick.” Bleeding over mahogany floors is a small gray-skinned creature with a gargoyle face. Leather-like bat wings stretch beneath its supine body.
Tirian slides a hand to the collar of his tunic and pulls a metal band free, dropping it on the floor with a sigh. “With his death, the demon’s wards fail.”
Todd steps over the body. “I’ve got to get to the girl.”
Blue light floats above Tirian’s outstretched palm and slowly whirls to form a cyclone of snow. “I have been too long without my magic. You should not be witness to what I must do next. Tend to your human, female. I will join you.”
I exit the room, but not before looking over my shoulder. Tirian’s magic encompasses demon-Rick in a sheet of blue ice.
I hurry to where Todd is opening doors when a boom sounds. Thousands of tiny pieces of ice ping off the hardwood floor. My stomach rolls, then rolls some more when I see what’s hidden behind each door.
Beds.
That girl wasn’t the first woman to find herself in Rick’s basement, and I’m almost too afraid to discover what happened to the others.
Are they dead?
Or did Rick transport them to Alfhemir like he did me?
Chills race up my arms. Todd is frozen outside the opened door of the last room.
Beyond him, lying on a plush bed
in the middle of the room, is a petite woman about my age with short blond hair. She’s on her back. Unmoving. Wide brown eyes pointed at the ceiling.
“I’ve seen her at the pub before.” He swallows, his throat bobbing. “We’re too late.”
I jerk when Tirian passes into the room, a chilled breeze whipping between us.
“She is tranced. To feed, the incubus immobilizes his prey.” He rounds the bed and sits beside the woman. “I have little healing ability, but I will do what I can.”
He slides long fingers over her eyes, closing her lids. His hands hover over her chest, palms facing down, a blue light misting over her upper body. He frowns, face tight in concentration.
The woman gasps and her chest visibly rises, but she doesn’t wake.
“She will require the aid of your healers,” Tirian says matter-of-factly.
“I’ll take her.”
“Todd, you can’t. You won’t be able to explain any of this. I mean you could, but—”
“I won’t leave her here.”
I sigh. “I’ll go with you.” I won’t let him take the blame for something he had no part in.
He laughs, the sound bitter. “And if I show up with you and this unconscious girl? I’ll be acquainted with the inside of a jail cell quicker than you can say ‘elf.’”
I hate that he’s right.
The woman’s purse lies discarded atop a chair in the corner of the room, her pretty black stilettos placed neatly beneath the cushion. Touching as little of the bag as possible, I hold the strap and scan the interior. Her cell phone peeks out from an inner pocket.
“Tirian.” I set the bag down. “When you removed the necklace…” I point to his neck.
“The torque? It bound my powers.”
Where have I heard that term before? “Okay. When you removed the torque, you said something about the wards failing.”
“Yes,” He rises from the bed without sparing the woman a glance. “With the incubus dead, his magic no longer holds sway over this land.”
“So humans won’t be compelled off the property?”
Todd’s gaze snaps to mine, understanding dawning in his hazel depths.
The prince nods. “Human and fae alike will enter without resistance.”
“Do it,” Todd says.