by Lexi Blake
“No one is killing you until we understand what’s going on,” Quinn said, sounding more forceful than I usually heard him when Daniel was around. He tended to take Daniel’s crown seriously. I wasn’t sure if he deferred to the king in private, but he did in public.
“We need to find Summer and save her. I can’t do that as a human,” Daniel said and winced as though his head was pounding.
“What’s happened to Summer?” a feminine voice asked.
I turned and there was a petite female standing on the porch of the cottage. She wore a long skirt and white tunic, her golden hair up in a loose bun. I would peg her age at around fifty, but if she was a supe she could be so much older. She turned to the queen and gasped. “Summer, what happened to your charm?”
“Erna, these are Summer’s parents,” Dean began to explain.
Erna’s eyes had gone wide and she approached the Queen of all Vampire. “But they’re from the Earth plane. Only a Planeswalker can get there. Did you sell your souls? Not very bright.”
“They fell in,” Dean said. “Through a painting or something. I don’t know. It seems kind of weird to me, but they’ve been arguing about it for hours. Also, the human dude claims he wasn’t always human, the tall guy is a Green Man, and I don’t know what to call Kelsey, but she’s pretty badass. I’ve checked out the Green Man and Kelsey. They’re cool.”
The woman named Erna raised a brow. “I should hope so since you’ve brought them to our home. Where is Summer?”
Dean’s eyes found the ground in front of him. “Taggart got her.”
Erna gasped. “You let a mercenary take her? Dean, how could you?”
“It wasn’t the boy’s fault,” Quinn said.
“No, I suspect we’ll find it was yours,” Erna shot back. “Years she’s gone without getting caught and you people show up and she’s suddenly in custody. Do we know who he’s going to sell her to?”
“Sell her?” Zoey looked to Quinn. “If they’re selling her, we can buy her. It might be the easiest way. I don’t want to risk her life.”
“I don’t think they take cash,” Donovan pointed out. “Not that we have any. We have to break her out.”
“Or she could simply have wished this Taggart person out of existence,” Quinn offered with a long sigh. “I am confused. Summer Donovan-Quinn is a magical being. She is literally made of faery magic. Why is she so vulnerable? She was being pursued by a military unit when we found her. Why was she fighting hand to hand? She doesn’t have to.”
“I think that’s a story Summer should tell you,” Dean said.
I’d heard that line more than once.
“I think she’s our daughter and we have the right to know.” The queen wasn’t having it. “I was convinced to send her away because she was magic and now I get here and find out she has none. She could have stayed with her family.”
Erna stared the queen down. “Yes, her family. You’re the ones who created her, the ones who gave magic a human form. You are not the ones who raised her, who had to deal with the outcomes of your ridiculous choices.”
Dean’s head came up. “I would watch what you say. You know how Summer feels about them. If you let your tongue get the best of you, they won’t stay here, won’t get the help they need, and Summer will blame you. Worse, she’ll blame herself, and she doesn’t need any more guilt.”
“Oh, I think I’d like to hear what the witch has to say.” Zoey had dropped her queenly attitude in favor of her scrappy, pissed-off, street fighter who would cut a bitch.
“Or we could deal with the king’s injuries.” I knew how to get the queen to focus. Or the wife, I suppose. The last thing we needed was a smackdown with the very person who might be able to help us get the king back. “Daniel doesn’t need us all fighting. Mistress Erna, my name is Kelsey Owens. I’m from the Earth plane. I fell through a painting looking for Devinshea Quinn. On our plane, he's the High Priest of Faery, but apparently the ancient god residing in his body couldn’t figure out how to not get sucked into artwork.”
Bris’s eyes glowed in the moonlight. “Well, it all happened quickly.”
I ignored him because I figured I had one shot to calm the witch down and I didn’t want a bloodbath. When the queen got really pissed, that’s what would happen, and I didn’t care how strong the witch was. Zoey Donovan-Quinn was meaner. “So my dumb ass fell through said painting, and then the king and queen of our plane decided they had some FOMO, and here we all are. Except that one is supposed to be a vampire king who is pretty much indestructible, but I think he’s got a concussion. I’m looking for a favor here. I saved your girl from someone named Turi earlier today.”
Erna’s jaw went tight. “I hate that man.”
“Well he’s down about six soldiers. You’re welcome,” I said and gestured toward the queen. “That woman right there will do everything she can to help you get Summer back.”
“I scarcely think I need a human’s help,” Erna replied.
“Summer is on the Vampire plane already,” Dean pointed out. “And they’ll be ready for magic.”
“The queen is a thief. An excellent thief, and it won’t be the first time she’s broken someone out of jail.” I knew the minute I had her. I intended to press my advantage. “Zoey knows how to handle this situation better than any of us. Quinn there can do things with plants that would curl your insides. Also, the fertility god can do other things that make people’s toes curl. I’m the muscle.”
“You?” Erna looked me up and down and obviously found me wanting.
“She can kick my ass,” Dean admitted. “And she really did take out Turi’s men, according to Summer. She’s got a lot of power. I felt it.”
“And the other male?” Erna looked to Donovan. “What can he do to get my charge back?”
“Well, normally I would say I can fly, influence the minds of most creatures, and generally beat the shit out of anything I can’t influence,” Donovan said.
“Don’t forget you can call wolves.” He should go through the whole list.
“Yeah, that, too.” He put a hand to his head. “Though mostly today my superpower is throwing up. Excuse me.”
The queen and Quinn followed Donovan as he dashed back through the magical curtain that shielded us.
Erna stared out and sure enough, I could see Donovan on his knees puking his guts out while Quinn and Zoey tried to support him. The good news, the magical barrier seemed to totally work on smells. All I was getting was lavender and something baking in the cottage.
“So that man with you claims to be a vampire?” Erna seemed far more interested than she’d been before. “He doesn’t look like a vampire. Why isn’t he wearing protective gear? The sun on this plane is harsh for vampires.”
“He’s an earthbound vampire,” Dean said. “Or at least he claims to be. I’m not getting that vibe off him. There was a second earthbound vampire. He’s with Summer. He really is a vamp, and he’s got some creepy scary powers.”
Erna’s shoulders shot back, and she suddenly seemed taller than she’d been before. “You allowed a vampire to be around Summer?”
I wasn’t getting into that one again. “He’s a good guy. Look, like I said, we’ll get Summer back, but we need a place to stay for the night because I’ve already been in a fight, nearly got dragged into a void, and found out I got a bun in the oven. I need a nap and a hunk of beef and I’ll be ready to go. But I need you to take a look at the king.”
“You keep calling him a king.” Erna’s hands came down to her hips as she stared at the threesome beyond her magic veil. “King of what? Summer talks about them but only in a vague way. I know he was supposed to be a vampire on the Earth plane, and the mother was some kind of criminal.”
“Well, some things changed while Summer was here. Daniel took over the Vampire Council on the Earth plane and now he’s basically the head of our supernatural world.”
“A Night King?” Erna asked, her voice going low as though she was afraid othe
rs might overhear.
“God, no. Don’t call him that. He’s still pissed about the way that show ended,” I quipped. “We call him the King of all Vampire. Except it’s going to be pretty hard to keep that title if he’s not actually a vampire. It’s kind of a prerequisite for holding that particular title. I might have to kill him again to get it back. Not that I killed him the first time. It was a car accident.”
Erna stared me down. “You speak too quickly, obnoxious girl.”
I’d been called worse. “I need you to see if there’s a whammy on him. Dean here tells me you’re a witch.”
“She’s the strongest witch of her house,” Dean proclaimed.
“I’m sure my sisters would disagree.” Erna sighed and seemed to come to some decision. “All right. If they can help save Summer, I will do what I must. Bring the king into the brugh and we’ll try to figure out what’s happened. I swear, girl, if you turn out to be some kind of con…”
I held my hands up and gave my most innocent expression. “I’m on the up and up here. All I want is to find Summer and the vamp she’s with, make sure she gets to say hi to the ’rents, and then get my happy ass back to my plane. It’s supposed to be my honeymoon.”
I would be taking Summer and Dean back to the Earth plane with me so they could take care of the bad guy, thereby fulfilling Dean’s destiny and Marcus’s sex fantasies. But I wasn’t going to tell Erna that because I hadn’t decided if she was coming with us. She seemed a little on the bitchy side.
“Like I said, obnoxious child. I’ll go and make up a couple more beds,” she said.
“Hey, about that side of beef.” I was eating for two. And I honestly ate a lot for one.
“What is this beef you speak of?” Erna asked.
It took everything I had not to scream. I didn’t need Dean. I would kill Myrddin myself.
* * * *
Zoey
“I can stand on my own, Devinshea.” Daniel got to his feet. “I don’t need help.”
He was going to be so stubborn. I took a long breath and tried to find my patience. Even as a human he’d been terrible when he was sick. “You probably have a concussion.”
“Well, I can’t exactly get to an ER,” Daniel said, taking a deep breath, as though fortifying himself.
“It’s why we brought you to the witch,” Dev said with a sigh.
“We should have stayed close to the doorway.” My vampire husband straightened up his shirt. “They’ll be trying to get us back. I don’t want Zack to get lost here.”
“Zack will be able to track us any number of ways.” Dev walked behind the curtain.
I was going to put a hand on Danny to steady him, but he gave me that stubborn look. I turned and walked through on my own. “He’s going to be impossible.”
“Cut him some slack. He isn’t used to being vulnerable.” Dev reached a hand out as Daniel joined us.
I found some strength from his hand being in mine. “We need to talk about what we’re going to do. After we figure out how to handle Daniel’s problem and save Summer and Marcus, we should see if the witch can find a way to get us home.”
“No, we need to get back to the doorway,” Danny insisted. “Myrddin will be doing everything he can to get us back. We need to be waiting for him.”
“I know he’s working hard to help us,” Dev agreed.
I dropped his hand and started for the house. If I stayed with them, I would argue and my anger would spill over.
Kelsey stood on the porch, her face pale in the moonlight. “She says she doesn’t know what beef is.”
And my day was complete because a hungry Kelsey was a difficult Kelsey. “I promise I’ll find you something. Maybe that’s not what they call it here. We’ll all need food. Especially Daniel. His body hasn’t had nourishment like that in a long time.”
Another problem I had to face. It wasn’t like I could order a pizza.
“The witch is working on a curative,” Kelsey said. “She’ll need to examine him.”
“The witch has a name.” Erna stood in the doorway, a stern look on her face. She nodded Danny’s way. “Come along then. I can heal your wounds, but it might take longer to figure out what’s truly happening in your body. We should get started.”
Daniel managed to make it up the steps, though I noticed Dev followed behind him, waiting to catch him if he should fall. “Z, why don’t you stay out here with Kelsey? Dev can come in with me.”
Yep, he was frustrating when he was sick. Dev gave me a look that let me know he wouldn’t let Danny do anything stupid, so I simply nodded as they all went inside.
“Hopefully Erna can fix him up.” Kelsey looked back to the door they’d disappeared through.
“What’s she like?” In all the horror of the day, there was some sunshine.
“Oh, I think she’s going to be difficult. I can already tell she doesn’t like me.”
I stared at Kelsey because sometimes she got off course.
“Oh,” she said, nodding. “Not the witch chick. You mean Summer.”
We hadn’t talked much on the walk here. I’d been too worried about Daniel, but now I needed something more than vague details of her kidnapping. “Yes. I’d like to know about her.”
“She looks like you. I mean, it’s uncanny. I thought she was you at first.”
“Tell me Dev didn’t hit on her.” I had to smile because Dev would have been happy to see me.
“Just a little, and then he was shocked and horrified and started playing the overprotective dad,” Kelsey said with a grin. “She’s apparently a thief and that’s why she’s in trouble.”
“Yeah, I got that.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about my daughter following the family tradition. Her life wasn’t supposed to be like this at all. It was precisely why I’d let them take her. “I would have thought she wouldn’t have a job, per se. She was basically supposed to walk around and be worshipped by her Fae family.”
I couldn’t help but think about Haweigh. Maybe it was being here, knowing Summer had been here, that had made me see her in that weird vision of another world. Why would Haweigh have let Summer go? Why send her out to roam the planes with no protection?
Kelsey eased down onto one of the three rockers that sat on the porch. “I’m not sure, but I get the feeling there’s some tragedy in there. She definitely doesn’t have contact with her old Fae tribe. I think she’s only really close to the witch and Dean. We need to talk about him, Your Highness.”
I nodded and sat beside her. “Yes. You think he’s the one Myrddin sent away, the one of two who can harm him. You think if we bring him back maybe he can do the job and then Lee won’t have to.”
“Yeah, why put Lee in danger when Dean has been training for this all his life?” Kelsey said with her warrior’s practicality.
I wasn’t sure it would work out that way, but I understood her thought process. “We’ll have to be careful around Myrddin. If he gets even a hint of who Dean is, he’ll go for his throat.”
“Who is Myrddin?”
I looked to Kelsey, who has elevated senses and should have known we weren’t alone.
Dean slipped outside, carrying a tray of something. “Sorry. I couldn’t help but overhear. Mostly because I was eavesdropping.”
“Shouldn’t you help Erna with the spell?” I asked as he placed the tray on the table between Kelsey and myself. “I thought you were in training.”
“I’m not really into the healing arts,” Dean admitted. “My magic is more about battle than anything else. Who is Myrddin? His name has been mentioned several times, and he occupies some space in the Green Man’s head.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean he occupies space?”
“Not going to explain until you start talking.” Dean uncovered the tray. There were sandwiches there. They were illuminated from the glow in the kitchen window. “Sorry it’s pretty plain. Ham and cheese with butter. Erna makes the bread herself. It’s good.”
“At least they have ham.” Kelsey fell on that sandwich like the starving predator she was.
I wasn’t the least bit hungry. I was far more interested in Dean. “Myrddin is a wizard. He’s attached to a sword. On the Earth plane it’s called Excalibur, and the king who wields it is known as the King of the Sword. Myrddin is always the mentor to that king.” It was time to put some of my cards on the table. “I also believe he’s the one who sent your mother off the plane.”
Dean sat back. “I knew it was beginning. I felt it deep in my bones.”
“You have to keep quiet about it,” Kelsey said around a mouthful of ham sandwich. “Because Myrddin is Daniel’s mentor, and he’s got this weird influence over the king and Dev. They act like fan boys around the guy.”
“Huh,” Dean said.
“The wizard has some sort of power over my husbands. I can’t get them to understand that he’s dangerous,” I said. “He’s the reason we’re here. He brought that painting into our home. It’s been sitting there the entire time.”
“I’m sure this is where Dan would say yes, it’s been sitting there and it didn’t do anything.” Kelsey polished off her sandwich and looked longingly at mine. I nodded and she sighed. “No. You need your strength.”
I wasn’t the one with a wolf to feed. “Please eat it. I’m not hungry and we need you strong and stable.” Kelsey could go crazy when she didn’t get the things she needed. And then there was the fact that she was pregnant. I had to think about that before I sent her off into battle. She took the sandwich without another argument. “I would point out to my husband that patience is something Myrddin has shown time and time again. He stayed away for an entire decade, after all. I’m sure he was making deals with demons. There’s a reason he’s known as Satanspawn. He’ll pull something when the Council has its meetings with demonkind.”
Dean had gone stiff. “She mentioned the spawn. The witch who read my fortune that day. I might not remember all of it, but she said those words. Beware the spawn.”
“It’s a theme,” Kelsey said. “Gray mentioned it, too. Do you think Myrddin meant to get rid of all of us? Or was that painting there for a specific reason? Gray called it a trick and a trap. I thought he’d been talking about something else, but now I can see what he meant. Did he mean for Donovan to fall through?”