Melancholy hung heavy in the air, the scent of it an oppressive warning to stay away. Death mingled with the bright magic up ahead. Fae power hooked into Lucifer and drew him closer.
His boots crunched over decaying leaves and fallen twigs. Lucifer didn’t have to use his magic to tell him he was near the leshi. His nose told him. The familiar scent of rotting garbage and fermenting alcohol tickled his sinus cavity.
Lucifer gathered his stores of electricity in his core, churning it into power. He armored himself with a current of electricity crackling under his skin. Too much and he would scare off the Fae. He only needed enough to defend himself.
The Venus man trap was almost hidden in the thicket of growth. Lucifer wouldn’t have noticed it except for the faint glow chasing away the shadows. The petals of the giant flower were closed around a meal it had lured. Whatever it contained was smaller than a full-grown human. It might have been a rabbit.
Or a baby.
Lucifer crept closer. A twig popped under his foot. The prey inside the bulbous belly shifted. Lucifer could make out the shape of a limb but not whether there was a hand or foot at the end.
Abigail wouldn’t have allowed a child to die by a leshi’s hands. He suspected Kelsie wouldn’t have either. As much as he wanted to go about his mission and be on his way as quickly as possible, he needed to know what was inside the plant belly. If it was a baby, he had to rescue it. Even if it was half digested or burned with acid like Godric and his sister had been, Lucifer needed to try.
Not that freeing a leshi’s meal would endear the Fae into crying into a vial for Lucifer. In truth, he still didn’t know how he was supposed to go about this task. Was he to hurt this leshi for his tears? Electrocute him and drain him of magic without provocation? Or might Lucifer be able to tell him a sad story? The latter seemed unlikely.
The dinner inside the plant thrashed and then stilled. There was no sign of the leshi himself, only the trap he used to catch and subdue his food. Lucifer broke a dead branch that barred his way and then another. Each crack of the wood echoed in the silent forest.
“Ah, it’s you again,” a raspy voice said behind Lucifer. “I had hoped you would come back to visit.”
Lucifer whirled, seeing the Fae standing next to an oak tree, ducking out from behind the trunk. The creature resembled a collection of twigs and plants gathered together into the shape of a man’s body. A cluster of ferns grew from his back, and lichen covered his chest. His head was shaped like a deer’s skull. The features of his face were skeletal and unfriendly. Golden light burned within his eye sockets. He was only yards away.
Lucifer’s heart raced like unicorn hooves beating against his chest. His enemy was too close for Lucifer to be safe from those spindly fingers as sharp as spears.
“Where are the two young ladies I saw you with before?” the leshi asked.
Lucifer attempted to keep the anger from his tone. “You mean the two maidens you saw when you were spying on us?”
“I wasn’t spying. I was just curious. I . . . I suppose you would call it spying. I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.” The leshi’s shoulders hunched. He was at least a head shorter than Lucifer, closer to Abigail’s size. “I just wanted to see what it was like where you’re from. You have kin. You’re so very lucky.”
Lucifer readied his magic should he need it, but the Fae didn’t advance. “Where is your family?”
“I am all alone in this world,” the leshi said. “Since the day I sprouted from the earth, I’ve had no one but myself. I might be the last of my kind for all I know.”
The meal within the bulb thrashed again. Lucifer spared a glance over his shoulder. “What did you capture?”
“A duck.” The Fae’s fingers danced over the bark of the nearest tree.
“I don’t hear it quacking,” Lucifer said.
“No, it drank too much wine.” The leshi giggled.
Lucifer had witnessed how leshi used their Venus man traps. The victim would bathe in a marinade of acids and its own decomposing flesh, only for the leshi to tap into and drink at night as it slept. Abigail had seen the results on her brothers with her own eyes. The horror of it made Lucifer sick.
“I don’t believe you,” Lucifer said. “You caught a child, didn’t you? You’re going to eat a baby.”
This leshi was smaller than Coinneach and hunched, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t strong.
“Such a peculiar accusation coming from a Witchkin who apprentices with Baba Natasha, the Witch of Nightmares.” The leshi tilted his head to the side, his expression unreadable. “I should think you’d be so used to eating children and cutting off the fingers and toes of the other apprentices that dining on the tender flesh of a child wouldn’t alarm you.”
Revulsion churned in Lucifer’s belly. It was difficult to tell whom he truly despised at the moment—the leshi for spying and speaking the truth—or himself that he hadn’t been able to stop Baba from hurting Abigail.
Lucifer had wanted to make this new life better for Abigail than their previous one together, but so far, all his mistakes had followed him, chasing away hope for a fresh start.
“Do you wish to see if I speak the truth? It would be too late to save a baby by now anyway, but I can prove to you I’m less of a monster than you.” The leshi waved a hand in Lucifer’s direction.
Twigs cracked behind him. Lucifer jumped away from the Venus man trap and the thicket surrounding it. The plants danced away from the glowing orb, parting from between Lucifer and the bulging belly. Lucifer glanced from the plant trap to the leshi, not wanting to take his eyes off the creature, but not wanting to be snatched by a Venus man trap either. Lucifer circled around the plant to the other side so he could keep watch over both.
Petals curled back from the top of the belly. A long slender limb thrashed from side to side before poking out. It wasn’t a duck. The creature was a goose. Relief flooded through Lucifer to find the plant didn’t contain a baby.
The leshi crossed his arms, his voice smug. “I’d wager you haven’t enjoyed such a fine feast in quite some time. I’d offer you the food and hospitality of my home, but . . . I don’t think this meal would be to your liking.” Amusement laced his tone. “As you can see, not all Fae are monsters. Some of us refrain from preying on humans.”
Lucifer had never assumed all Fae were monsters, just all leshi. He inclined his head in acknowledgment. “I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge.” Lucifer wanted to believe there could be a good leshi out there who didn’t dine on human flesh. Abigail certainly wasn’t like her ancestors. Even so, doubt still dwelled in Lucifer’s heart about this leshi.
Lucifer didn’t intend to let his guard down. He stepped back from the bulb and kept space between himself and the leshi.
“Apology accepted.” The Fae waved a hand, and the petals closed once again. The thicket shifted back into place around the meal.
Lucifer edged farther back from the trap, closer to his foe. “I’ve come here for a reason.”
The leshi retreated behind the oak. “You’ve come to kill me? To finish off the last of my kind?” He poked his head out from the other side of the tree.
Lucifer couldn’t tell whether this leshi was truly afraid or toying with him to try to get him to let his guard down. “I want no more murder and death in my life.” Not if he didn’t need to do so anyway. If this leshi truly only ate animals, he saw no reason to harm him. Those reports of rogue Fae in the forest and the experiences Kelsie and Godric had had might have been different leshi or not leshi at all. “I’m here to request a favor.”
The leshi straightened. “You wish to request a boon? Yet you have done nothing to warrant such a gift. If anything, I should return your insults with insults of my own.”
Lucifer swallowed. The leshi didn’t hurl insults at him, so that was promising.
“It’s a small trifle for a spell.” Lucifer shrugged and smiled, trying to play the pa
rt of an indifferent apprentice. “I’ve been sent to fetch tears of a leshi for one of Baba Nata’s potions.” It was better for the leshi not to know how badly he needed the tears. “If I come home empty handed, she won’t be pleased, but at least if I tell her a price for her request, she won’t be completely vexed with me. There’s a chance she’ll grant it.”
“How fascinating. I had no idea my tears were so valuable.” There was a hint of mocking in his tone, though his face remained a wooden mask that gave nothing away. “Do Witchkin often express interest in leshi tears for spells?”
“Probably not. Baba has peculiar tastes. Not every Witchkin eats children, for one.”
He inclined his head. “Nor every leshi.”
The creature strode through the brush, circling Lucifer like a predator, though he didn’t come closer. “I will grant your boon if you bring me a maiden.”
That sounded like a typical fairy-tale bargain from a Fae.
“For what purpose?” Lucifer asked.
“It is lonely in the forest. If it isn’t someone trying to kill me, it’s the accusations. It grows tiresome and yet . . . I think I should like companionship.” The leshi sighed despondently.
Lucifer could only imagine one reason this Fae would want a girl if not to eat her. “I’m not going to kidnap some girl and bring her to you so you can force yourself on her.”
The leshi placed a hand on his heart. “Nor would I ask such a thing. I simply wish for friendship. Companionship. I wouldn’t keep her forever. Just long enough to speak with a maiden, to break the monotony of my existence. You would be welcome to stay the entire time. Perhaps you would bring one of the maidens from your family. Such lovely hair they both had, one as blue as the sky and the other with orange like autumn leaves. Their voices were so sweet when they sang in the garden. And that time I saw you swimming with the autumn-haired one, she was so lovely I wanted to join you.”
Lucifer’s hands turned cold and clammy. He had known the leshi had watched them that one time, but he hadn’t known about the other occasions. “I’m not bringing my friends. Kelsie would kill you. A leshi murdered her baby brother and sister.”
“Ah. Hence the reason you thought my duck might have been a baby. How sad for that maiden.”
“And you don’t know who might have done that to her family?” Lucifer asked.
The leshi hunched down, almost hidden in the tangle of brush. He blended in with the forest, save for his burning eyes. “As I said, I am the last of my people as far as I know.”
“Yet, either there is another leshi out there or you were the one who murdered her family.” From what he’d overheard from Vega’s conversation with Baba, Kelsie’s siblings weren’t the only ones attacked by leshi. “Godric’s sister was also a victim of such an attack.”
“Who is Godric?”
“One of Baba’s patients. He was covered in burns from leshi wine when I first met him. From what I gather, his sister is covered in even more scars than he was.”
“I see. Survivors. Then as you say, there must be another leshi about, for I was not the one to inflict such damage on these Witchkin.” He waved a hand at his goose marinating in a vat of acids. “I only eat animals, not Witchkin children.”
Lucifer couldn’t keep the suspicion from his tone. “I didn’t say they were Witchkin.” Nor had he said Godric and his sister had been children. The possible slip only set him further on edge.
The leshi rubbed at his chin, the sound like twigs scraping against bark. “No, but the maiden with blue hair isn’t a Morty. Nor would a Morty be likely to visit a hedge witch for healing.”
That wasn’t completely true. Baba had served as a midwife for Morty women in the past. But perhaps this Fae didn’t know that, and it was a reasonable assumption. Lucifer couldn’t decide if this leshi was as benign as he claimed. He wasn’t like the other leshi, using glamours and tricks to lure Witchkin—not that Lucifer could see anyway. Either he was an innocent Fae or he was playing a different game.
“What about your other friend, the maiden with the autumn hair?” the leshi asked.
“She isn’t my charge anymore. She’s somewhere else, too far to bring.” Nor would Lucifer do so even if that was this leshi’s price.
“Ah, too bad for Baba Nata. She’ll have to find me a maiden. A princess to kiss me and break my curse.”
“What curse?”
“Leshi are always cursed, are we not?” The creature stood abruptly.
Lucifer stumbled back. He told himself he was being silly. He pulled electricity into his palms, ready to strike if the leshi approached.
Instead, the creature withdrew into the brush. Lucifer tried to track him, but he blended in so thoroughly with the bark of trees and green of plants, it was difficult to spot him. Plants shifted around him, and the air tingled with so much Fae magic it was difficult for Lucifer’s senses to adjust. He could see through most glamours, but this wasn’t an illusion. It was plant magic. The forest responded to the leshi’s command.
Never before had Lucifer felt like the forest was such a dangerous place.
Lucifer hadn’t succeeded in his quest for leshi tears, but no one had died either. He feared what he still might need to do in order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.
CHAPTER THREE
Love and Leshi
Lucifer found Baba knitting a violet blanket in her rocking chair. The house stank of something sour and burned.
She lifted her nose and sniffed without turning to look at him. “I smell leshi magic. You have leshi tears, nyet?”
Lucifer didn’t know how Baba could smell anything with the fumes coming from the cauldron.
Kelsie left her position stirring the vile witch’s brew, clutching the wooden spoon like a weapon. “Did you kill him? Make him suffer? I want to hear how you made him cry.”
The need for vengeance in her was suffocating. Or perhaps that was her potion.
“Not exactly. No.” Lucifer stood there awkwardly, not wanting to admit his failure.
Baba jabbed a needle at the cauldron. “Keep stirring or your spell will spoil.”
Kelsie pursed her lips and returned to the hearth.
Lucifer pulled up a chair beside Baba’s rocking chair. He kept his voice low so Kelsie wouldn’t hear and interject her ever-so-helpful commentary as he told Baba what he’d found. Baba continued knitting, nodding as he spoke.
“He claims to be the only leshi left,” Lucifer said. “He also claims he doesn’t catch humans. Perhaps it’s a lie. But maybe he didn’t have anything to do with Godric’s sister or Kelsie’s brother.”
“Brother and sister,” Kelsie corrected. “As in plural. They were both little.”
Lucifer sighed in exasperation. Apparently he hadn’t been quiet enough. Or she’d used a charm to eavesdrop.
“Both statements cannot be true.” Baba sucked on her teeth. “Either he is last leshi and killer, or he isn’t and there are others.”
“He’s Fae and a liar,” Kelsie said, venom in her voice.
“Or he does not know of any other leshi,” Baba said. “What does this have to do with you not capturing his tears for spell?”
Lucifer stared down at his calloused hand. “I didn’t know how to make him give them to me.”
“I’ll tell you how I would make him cry,” Kelsie said.
“There is spell for silencing apprentice’s mouth.” Baba squinted at Kelsie. “Perhaps I teach it to Lucy.”
Kelsie turned away in a huff.
“He offered to make a bargain with me,” Lucifer said. “He wanted me to bring him a maiden to have a conversation with. He said he was lonely and wanted friends. If I did that, he said he would grant me a boon and give me tears.”
“Da,” Baba said, jabbing a knitting needle at Kelsie and shaking her head. “And you have no suitable maiden.”
“Not one that wouldn’t kill him.” Lucifer looked at Baba’s knitting, notic
ing the way the violet blanket was streaked with red.
“Too bad Abby is here no longer. This leshi would be satisfied with taste of her, nyet?”
“He said he didn’t want to eat her.” Even if Abigail still lived with them, enough doubt weighed on him that he wouldn’t bring her and risk endangering her.
Kelsie dinged the spoon against the sides of the cauldron and huffed loudly.
Baba held up her blanket, running her fingers over the streaks that resembled blood. “You do not believe him? It is just as well. Past teaches you to proceed with caution. Now you must look to future.” She gazed at the blanket as though it held the secrets of tomorrowland. From the frown she wore, Lucifer suspected she didn’t like what she saw. “Which is more important? Keeping peace with conscience or finding Abby’s soul?”
“Finding her soul!” Of course. “But . . . I don’t want to repeat the past. If I have to use my powers to kill him, and she’s there. . . .” He swallowed, looking again to the ominous stain of crimson threading through the blanket. “I don’t want to drain her again. Or anyone else.” He glanced at Kelsie, turned away. Her shoulders remained tense with anger. “I want everything to be perfect this time.”
“Life is never perfect.”
He wanted this rebirth to be his second chance with Abigail, to live the life with her they both had wanted.
“I teach you to spin essence of plants into yarn, starting upon morrow,” Baba said. “You collect leshi tears another time and weave it in when done.” She patted his face fondly. “Perhaps you will decide what you must do to collect tears by the time you are done, nyet?”
Kelsie threw down the wooden spoon and marched past him, muttering to herself on the way to the door.
Baba pointed to the cauldron. “Your potion is not finished. You must keep stirring.”
Son of a Succubus Series Collection Page 43