by J. C. Diem
Henry went pale as I threw the threat that he’d tossed at me back in his face. Wounds made by silver were painful and difficult for shifters to heal. If they broke the law and were convicted of their crimes, I would get to punish them as I saw fit. It had happened before when I’d been allowed to discipline uncursed citizens. I would be only too happy to use them as an example of how bad it would be to pick on my kind.
“We’ll be good,” one of the minions vowed and received derisive looks from Yancy and Henry.
“You’d better be,” I said, then I sheathed my sword and sauntered away. I had a feeling I hadn’t heard the last of these kids. They were young, stupid, privileged and bored. It was a dangerous combination.
Since I was in the Shifter District, I caught a carriage to Travis’ hospital. I was in luck and he was free when I walked in. Things were quiet, for now, but it could change in an instant.
“This is a nice surprise,” my main squeeze said when he led me into an examination room. “Are you hurt?” He scanned me, searching for blood and other signs of injuries.
“I’m fine, but I just had a run in with the same five teenage shifters that I had an altercation with a few months ago.”
“What happened?” he asked as I took a seat on the narrow bed. I told him about our exchange and his expression became grave. “You think they’ll come good on their threat to attack Night Cursed women?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “They really hate us. Yancy said something about our kind attacking more and more uncursed folks the first time we met. They fear us and I think that’s part of Azazel’s plan.”
“You still think the demons are trying to cause trouble between the Night Cursed and the uncursed?”
“It’s just a hunch, but it feels right,” I replied.
“I’ll tell Sgt. Nick Malone to spread the word through the Shifter District for the Night Cursed cops to be on the watch for these boys,” Travis decided.
“I want to know immediately if the boys attack anyone,” I said. God help them if they did. No Night Cursed women should have to suffer because these teenagers had been brainwashed by their parents.
Chapter Forty-Three
I SPENT THE REST OF the night patrolling the city, then headed home. Weariness made me drag my feet as I climbed up to the fourth floor. I sensed someone waiting for me inside and my tiredness evaporated. I pushed the door open, closed it behind me, then strode over to the living room.
Chesi lay curled up on the rug next to a small box. She was deeply asleep and didn’t even sense me. Before I could bend down to touch the box, a knock sounded at my door. I sensed it was Quilla long before I opened it. “She found it,” my bestie said in a tone that was half hopeful and half afraid. It was a statement rather than a question.
“Yeah, she found it,” I confirmed as the seer swept past me in a metallic jingling of chimes and jewelry.
I closed the door, then crossed to the living room again. Chesi had woken up and was curled around the box. I squatted next to her and scratched her on the head. She began purring contentedly and some of my concern melted away. “Are you okay?” I crooned. “Did you get hurt?”
She nodded, then shook her head. The dragon’s ability to communicate was as limited as Wrath’s, but at least she could convey some answers to me.
“So, the artifact is inside the box,” Quilla said as she hunkered next to me.
We both stared at the plain black box. It was about twelve inches long and eight inches wide and was polished to a high sheen. It looked like it was made of wood, but I didn’t want to touch it to make sure. “What are we going to do with it?” I asked. “Lord Kreaton wants this thing, which means we should probably make sure he’ll never get his hands on it.”
Quilla hesitated, then reached out. Her hand hovered just above the box and her back stiffened. “If Lord Kreaton comes into possession of the object, the Night Cursed will suffer untold agonies,” she foresaw. “We have to hide it in a place where no one will ever think to look for it until it’s time to use it.”
My mind instantly went into overdrive. Quilla slumped from using her energy and I put my arm around her to steady her. “I think I know the perfect place,” I said with a grin that was both sly and nasty.
Quilla gleaned the thought from my mind and clapped a hand over her mouth. “You’re right,” she agreed. “It’s perfect. No one will ever look for it there.”
“I’ll head there now and bury it,” I said.
“You only have an hour left before dawn will arrive,” Quilla reminded me.
“It’ll be long enough,” I said.
“Don’t touch the box,” Quilla warned me when I reached for it. “Only the fae can touch it. If anyone else tries, a spell will kill them and whoever created the box will be able to track it down.”
Her talents sometimes amazed me. Trusting her implicitly, I grabbed a cushion from the couch and stripped the cover off it. I turned it inside out and used it as a glove to pick up the box, then turned it the right way around. Zipping it shut, I tucked it beneath my arm. “I’ll need your help, Chesi,” I said.
The dragon yawned, then allowed me to scoop her up. She snuggled against me as I let Quilla out and pulled the door shut. Instead of heading down to the first floor, I took the stairs up to the roof. “Take me to the biggest cemetery,” I requested.
Chesi did a doubletake as if to be sure she’d heard me correctly, then scratched her head. She grabbed hold of me and we zoomed off to the south of our District where the graveyards were. The gray stone walls that surrounded the cemeteries were too high for the zombies, ghouls and skeletons to climb over. Fortunately, they were too stupid to work together to help each other climb out and escape.
A few months ago when I’d had to kill a bunch of escapees, I’d noticed a grave that had seemed newer than the rest. The headstone had been unmarked, except for one symbol. A balloon had been engraved on it. I’d instinctively known who the grave belonged to and I’d marked its location in my mind.
Chesi descended towards the cemetery and I directed her towards a mausoleum. Being so close to dawn, the zombies, ghouls and skeletons were bedding down for the day. One by one, they were sinking into their graves. I received dully curious looks when Chesi set me down next to the mausoleum. Ghosts would begin streaming into the cemetery soon. I waited for the nearby undead to sink into their graves, then I picked up a discarded shovel and hurried over to the unmarked headstone.
I dug down a few feet, then placed the box into the hole. The cushion cover would return to my couch come nightfall. The dirt that coated it as I filled in the hole would be magically cleaned away. No one would know it had been used to transport an unknown artifact. The box wouldn’t return to its owner, because whoever had brought it here wasn’t Night Cursed.
When I was done, I glanced at the balloon on the headstone. “Guard the box well, Bonzo,” I murmured. The evil clown had been a scourge and Nox was better off without him. It seemed fitting that someone who had caused so much misery would be tasked with hiding an item that would hold so much import sometime in the future.
I smoothed the dirt down, put the square of grass that I’d chopped out back into place, then returned the shovel to where I’d found it. “Take me home, Chesi,” I requested. Dawn was dangerously close by now. The air elemental whisked me back to the warehouse, but the sun’s rays touched the horizon. I fell asleep before I could pull the door open.
I woke up in my bed come nightfall with Chesi curled in the crook of my arm. I had a feeling she’d carried me here rather than leaving me on the sidewalk. I was glad I had such good friends. Wrath and my sword were with me as well. I couldn’t lose them if I tried.
The memory of what I’d done last night came back to me. Chesi made an inquisitive noise when I sat up and cradled her to my chest. “I’m okay,” I told her and stroked her soft belly. “Thanks for getting me into bed,” I added. She made a chirruping noise, then her stomach growled. I was hungry as well, s
o I ambled into the kitchen.
I half expected Quilla to knock on my door and ask me about how my gravedigging had gone, but she remained absent. We both knew it was best to remain quiet about the artifact. We three were the only ones who knew where it was. The fewer people who knew about it, the easier it would be to keep its location a secret.
Chapter Forty-Four
I HEADED OUT ON PATROL as usual after eating my dinner. My first sweep was through the Fae District. The carriage drove past the elven woods, but it was quiet. Whoever had hidden the artifact there either didn’t know it was gone, or they were staying under the radar. They probably feared Lord Kreaton had discovered its whereabouts and were terrified that he would use it against them. I wished I had some idea of what it was and what it would do, but I was clueless.
There was no trouble brewing in the Fae District, so I asked the driver to take me to the Vampire District next. Instead of driving around the streets, I climbed out to walk. My feet carried me back to the small park where I’d first run into Jardine. I was somehow unsurprised when the master vampire materialized out of the shadows. She was wearing another long black dress with long sleeves. “Xiara Evora,” she said and inclined her head.
“Jardine,” I replied impulsively, obeying a gut instinct. I’d overheard her secret meeting with some other masters and I knew they were plotting against the Immortal Triumvirate.
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “So, you do remember some things,” she mused.
“Yep. I remember you and the three guys who tried to kill you.” Nando had been one of them and he was now dead.
“Do you remember why they attacked me?” she queried.
“They were looking for something and they thought you had it.”
“Indeed,” she said and her expression was troubled. “The object had been well hidden in what was thought to be a secure location,” she went on. “But someone found it and took it last night. If Lord Kreaton is in possession of the object, the outcome will be catastrophic.”
“I’ve heard rumors that the artifact was put somewhere else that’s even safer than where it had been kept,” I said, remaining vague.
Her eyes narrowed again as she studied me. “Is that so?” she asked. “How certain are you that its new location is safe?”
“A fortune teller foresaw that it will remain unfound until it’s needed,” I told her.
Jardine nodded thoughtfully as she mulled that over. “This could be beneficial,” she said more to herself than to me. “It’s too dangerous to end up in the wrong hands. As the Guardian of Nox, you aren’t capable of bringing harm to the city. Perhaps it is best to be left where it is for now. I won’t ask for its location at this time,” she decided. “But we will be watching you.”
I figured she was referring to her allies and I didn’t ask her for any names. The vampire had secrets, but so did I. Neither of us had any love for Lord Kreaton. The enemy of my enemy was my friend, or so the old saying went. We’d become reluctant allies now and we seemed to have the same goals.
“Make sure no one finds the artifact,” she said. With that order, she melted back into the shadows.
“I feel like I’m in the middle of a conspiracy, but I don’t know who all the players are,” I complained quietly to Chesi. She nodded in agreement, then urged me to get moving by poking me in the cheek.
As I continued my patrol, I mused about what I knew about the factions that were forming. Raum was trying to stir up trouble by using Azazel to possess my kind. It was a small blessing that there were so few of us who could be used as puppets. I shuddered to think how much damage my kin could do to the uncursed citizens if hundreds, or even thousands of us could be used.
The master vampires who had been lured to Nox were angry that Lord Kreaton wasn’t treating them with the respect they believed they deserved. Some of them had helped him when he’d been in trouble in the past. They expected him to repay them with power and prestige. Some of them hadn’t been here all that long, but they’d already figured out that the overlord of their kind had no intention of raising their stations. They were just more pawns to be used in an intricate game of chess.
From what I’d seen of the shifter community, they weren’t happy that my kind were allowed to exist among them. They wanted us all gone and they were willing to do whatever it took to push the Night Cursed out.
There were signs of unrest in the Fae District as well that were increasing by the day. Lord Dallinar ruled them all and he wasn’t about to let anyone gain enough power to contest his leadership.
The Guilds were gaining new members as the discontented attempted to improve their lot. While the Guilds were small and unassuming now, that could change with time.
I had a feeling that things were going to change soon and that the Immortal Triumvirate wouldn’t be happy about it. They’d created Nox and the Night Cursed, but that didn’t mean they were gods. As far as I knew, there was only one actual deity in the city.
Crowmon was a new player and I would have to see what impact he would have on Nox and its inhabitants. The trickster god would either be content to continue to play his petty pranks, or he would try to seek more power. After seeing how much power he could call on during Halloween, I figured the longer he lived in the City of Night, the more energy he would absorb. Over time, he could become a rival for the unholy trinity itself.
In the meantime, my friends and I would continue to soak up information and to keep an eye on the restless inhabitants in each District. We were powerless to rebel against our leaders, but someday, someone would. I had to hold that knowledge tight in my mind each time I saw my kin being abused. Sometimes, I wanted to unleash Wrath on the uncursed population and wipe them all out.
Chesi sensed my dark mood and turned her head to regard me. She rubbed her face against mine, silently trying to sooth the rage that was slowly growing inside me.
Titles by J.C. Diem in chronological order:
Mortis Series
Death Beckons ♦ Death Embraces ♦ Death Deceives ♦ Death Devours ♦ Death Betrays ♦ Death Banishes ♦ Death Returns ♦ Death Conquers ♦ Death Reigns
Shifter Squad Series
Seven Psychics ♦ Zombie King ♦ Dark Coven ♦ Rogue Wolf ♦ Corpse Thieves ♦ Snake Charmer ♦ Vampire Matriarch ♦ Web Master ♦ Hell Spawn
Hellscourge Series
Road To Hell ♦ To Hell And Back ♦ Hell Bound ♦ Hell Bent ♦ Hell To Pay ♦ Hell Freezes Over ♦ Hell Raiser ♦ Hell Hath No Fury ♦ All Hell Breaks Loose
Fate’s Warriors Trilogy
God Of Mischief ♦ God Of Mayhem ♦ God Of Malice
Loki’s Exile Series
Exiled ♦ Outcast ♦ Forsaken ♦ Destined
Hunter Elite Series
Hunting The Past ♦ Hunting The Truth ♦ Hunting A Master ♦ Hunting For Death ♦ Hunting A Thief ♦ Hunting A Necromancer ♦ Hunting A Relic ♦ Hunting The Dark ♦ Hunting A Dragon
Half Fae Hunter Series
Dark Moon Rising ♦ Deadly Seduction ♦ Dungeon Trials ♦ Dragon Pledge
Unseelie Queen
Nox: Night Cursed Series
Hexed On Halloween ♦ Tricks And Treats
All Hallows’ Apocalypse, the next book in the Nox: Night Cursed series, will be coming soon.
If you would like to be advised of my new releases, email me at: [email protected] or visit my website www.jcdiem.com and sign up to receive my newsletter.