Maid of Ice

by Shona Husk

  Alina had thought him asleep. His eyes had been closed and he’d been silent for the last hour. She’d kept checking to make sure he was still breathing. “I thought you didn’t want him there.”

  “I don’t. But an innocent human shouldn’t die because Will made a mess. He did this. He should see it through to the end.” There were definite cracks in Finley’s voice. He wasn’t the man she’d first met in hospital. The grin was gone and his eyes no longer flashed with silver. They were dulled with pain. And he was still losing blood. The bandage on his hand had soaked through already. Whatever Walter had given him was no longer working.

  She didn’t like seeing him this way. But luring Will to his death? That was wrong.

  Sure, she hated him and what he did, bringing down those who had what he wanted, but none of that was worth dying for. Her anger at Will had faded into stomach-churning uncertainty.

  Finley grimaced. “I don’t want to do it either. But he isn’t innocent. He gave his grandfather iron poisoning too, Alina. It’s how he knew it would hurt me. He hates our kind.”

  “If he wants to expose us, feeding him to the Keeper would be very helpful,” Archie said.

  Alina nodded. She knew all of that and agreed that Will should pay for what he’d done. While feeding him to a vampire was fitting, wouldn’t it come back to haunt them? “I’m pretty sure leading someone somewhere to be killed is illegal.”

  “So is attempted murder,” Archie said, checking on Finley in the rearview mirror. “He wanted Finley to die. Painfully. Will is no innocent victim. He is a murderer with an agenda.”

  That was her choice, either Will got shown the worst of the Albah before dying to save the man he hated, or he kept going with his sick plan to reveal the Albah to the world.

  * * * *

  Will scrolled through his photos of a very ill Finley as he went to the doctor. He’d checked out pictures of Dr. Silverman but he wasn’t Albah, obviously just a human in the know. Why a human would choose to help an Albah, Will had no idea.

  He rubbed his face. Sometimes when he was falling asleep, he could feel the air pressing on his face as though it wanted to kill him. Whatever Finley had done, it had been so wrong. His grandfather had never done anything like that. He’d lit candles and the like.

  That bitch Alina had brushed him off again. She thought he was a no one, because he didn’t have magic and fame. How long after Finley’s death would she linger before looking for someone else to lift her falling star? He would take great pleasure in documenting her next affair. Yes, he had a new target to bring down. She’d be sorry that she snubbed him and hadn’t listened to his warning.

  His cell phone rang. He didn’t know the number so he left it. They could leave a message. Sure enough, they did. It was the cops wanting to talk to him about his visit to the set of Out of Control and the following altercation in the parking lot with Finley.

  They couldn’t have traced the iron and nails to him. He’d been careful. As for the parking lot, he’d been there, but Finley had attacked him. He took a couple of breaths to shake off the tension that was knotting around his gut. The cops only wanted to talk. They didn’t know that it was him on the set. He’d been careful to keep his head down and cap on. He’d gone straight to Finley’s trailer and planted the cocaine somewhere it could be found. He’d even left some powder in the bathroom, before putting nails where Finley was sure to grab. The cupcakes had been tampered with long before they’d arrived on set. That person had owed him a favor and would remain silent.

  His plan had worked perfectly. Except now the cops were interfering.

  The phone rang in his hand, he dropped it and it answered the call for him. Shit. He didn’t want to speak to the cops. He hadn’t gotten his story straight, yet. They wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him and once Finley was dead there would be no one to press charges. He only had to hold out a few more days.

  “Hello? Hello?” It was a panicked female. Not the cops calling back.

  He picked up his phone. “Hello?”

  “Will? It’s Alina. Finley has gone weird. He keeps talking about being poisoned with iron and how the only cure is to become a vampire. He says he needs to kill me.”

  He wanted to tell her to go to hell, which is what she had pretty much told him to do, but the words wouldn’t form. He could save her. He could prove that he was the good guy while Finley was literally the monster in waiting.

  “What do you want me to do?” He went with playing it cool so she could freak out for a little bit longer. He was sure he had a crucifix and something that could be used as a stake around there somewhere. He’d even throw some garlic into his pockets for good measure. “How is he planning on becoming a vampire?”

  He hadn’t realized that was even possible. He pressed record and put his phone on speaker. This was the proof that the magic-using Albah—that’s what Finley had called himself—were bad that he needed.

  “I don’t know, some magic ritual or something. He’s taking me to the mountains, to some sacred site.”

  That sounded serious. He hadn’t known there were sacred sites, but it made sense. Maybe they gathered there on the full moon or something like witches. “Where is he now?”

  “I told him I had to pee so I’m behind a tree. He’s waiting by the car. Maybe I should run? If I run, will you come and find me? I didn’t know who else to call. No one else would believe me if I started talking about magic. You know it’s real, don’t you?”

  His heart beat a little faster. She had listened to him, and he was the only one who could help her. “Sure, I can come and get you.”

  “Thank you.” She hung up and he got a text with a map and her location.

  He considered calling the cops so they could catch Finley doing something awful red-handed, but if he rang the cops they would probably drag him in and leave Finley alone.

  Will gathered up some anti-vampire supplies. He’d never doubted vampires were real. If magic was real and so were elves then so were vampires. He hadn’t known that elves could turn into vampires with magic.

  This was excellent.

  But he wasn’t stupid either. Now was the time to make his Web site go live. All the pictures and everything that he’d discovered needed to be known by everyone. The pages he’d been building he made live. It would be hours before it was fully loaded. By the time he returned with a very grateful Alina, the world would know. He’d be known as the guy who’d uncovered a major conspiracy. The grin wouldn’t leave his face.

  He’d get all the vampire stuff on camera, then at the last moment rush in and save Alina. He’d be the hero. Then he’d sit back and watch Finley die like a bug stuck with too many pins.

  Chapter 22

  Finley was freezing even though he should be sweating as they made their way along the trail. Archie didn’t check a map. She just kept going. If Alina hadn’t been helping him he’d have fallen on his face. He let his mother get a little further ahead.

  “If this doesn’t work out I want to apologize for involving you with the Albah. Maybe your mother was right and being ignorant is safer.” He was so out of breath it sounded like he’d run five miles at a sprint.

  “This will work.” She squeezed his hand.

  He stopped and leaned against a tree. The forest was so quiet. No city sounds and no people. Alina had pointed out her mother’s car in the car park, but they hadn’t seen her yet, and according to Archie, they were close to the tomb.

  He wished he had Alina’s optimism. “Done a reading?”

  “No. Has your mother?”

  The mother in question had stopped and was watching them.

  “Not that I know of.” He took her hand. “I was wrong about Hawaii. If we get through this let’s go to Vegas. Find a chapel and get married.”

  She laughed then stopped when she caught his gaze. “You’re serious.”


  “Bad idea? Bad timing? I’m running out of good times.” And he wanted something to look forward to. “I’m sorry about last night.” That was his second apology; he wasn’t very good at them because he didn’t do relationships. But he didn’t want to lose Alina. She’d made him realize that what he was, was as important as who he was. He was Albah and he couldn’t run away from that and what it meant.

  “We’ll get through this. We’re almost there.”

  Whatever happened he wasn’t going to be walking out of here. He didn’t have the energy. There were worse places to die than in the mountains. He hadn’t been out here in years. Too busy, too much city life. The wind sounded different out here. It rustled the leaves more gently and whispered different stories.

  “You didn’t answer my question.” He made himself smile, but it wasn’t a joke. “I love you. I knew I was falling, but it was only the iron that made me realize it was more than that.” He’d been told by an ex that he was heartless and couldn’t love, and for a while he’d let that be the truth, but it was a hollow kind of truth, one that had been ringing sour for a while even though he’d tried to ignore the sound.

  “I love you,” she said.

  “But?” He could hear it in her tone and it was a stake to the heart. If she said no, he wanted to sit down and spend whatever time he had left doing nothing. This walk couldn’t be prolonging his life any. Maybe it was only a sympathy I love you because he was dying and she knew she’d be able to get out of it. He didn’t think she was that kind of person, but they hadn’t been together that long. He was rushing. He had to rush in case this was all he got. And if by some good luck, he did survive he didn’t want to waste any more time.

  “Aren’t Vegas weddings a bit…” She wrinkled her nose. “Tacky?”

  “I have a reputation to maintain.” The tabloids would have a field day with his wedding.

  “Fine. But then we go to Hawaii for the honeymoon.”

  “That’s a yes then?” He didn’t want to sound too hopeful, but hope was all he had.

  “It’s a yes.” She smiled and her eyes glittered with silver.

  “And you aren’t secretly crossing your fingers and hoping I’ll die?”

  She kissed him, softly, on the lips. “I’m not hoping you’ll die.”

  “Come on, you two. We don’t have all day,” Archie called, but she was smiling as though she’d looked into his future and knew more than what she’d let on.

  He was going to find out what exactly she’d seen. With Alina’s help he got moving again, but the ground sucked at his feet, each step sapped more energy from him. He gritted his teeth and kept going. He had to keep going. He wasn’t going to fall on his face in front of his fiancée.

  His mother took his other arm. “There’s a clearing up ahead. Kirin is waiting for us. You can rest then.”

  He was going to need it. “Will you do a reading, or at least tell me what you’ve already seen?”

  Archie nodded. “I’ll show Alina how to do it properly too.”

  “Where’s my mother?” Alina asked.

  “She took a wrong turn at the fork back there.”

  An awkward silence filled the clearing. They all knew it was no accidental wrong turn. Kirin would’ve done something to lead her away. Hopefully that was all he’d done. The last time he’d seen Kirin, he’d still been in primary school. Now he was an adult about to take on the responsibility of protecting the Keepers.

  Finley wasn’t sure anymore if he’d been wasting his life or living it. He certainly had done nothing to help the Albah, and now he was going to marry Alina and fall into line. It didn’t even chafe.

  The trees thinned, and then the clearing was revealed.

  Of Kirin, there was no sign. Right now, Finley didn’t care. He just wanted to sit. The ground was cool in the shade, the water that Alina handed him even colder. He drank it down, glad that they were almost there. The next part would be worse. There would be no trail to follow, only his mother’s instinct.

  * * * *

  Alina stood in the small clearing staring up at the blue sky. It was a perfectly ordinary day, as if the world didn’t care what was going on. But there’d been nothing ordinary about her life since meeting Finley. They’d come here to wake an ancient vampire and she’d ended up getting engaged, neither of which she’d seen in her visions in the ice. She hoped their engagement wouldn’t be over in less than a day. Although he might change his mind when he was better. When this was all over, would he get tired of her the way her mother had warned?

  Would she get tired of him?

  Neither of them had the best track record with relationships. The only way to find out was to see what happened, and for the moment they both wanted to do that. That had to count for something.

  Archie stood next to her. “I’m going to do a reading.”

  Finley’s mother was tanned, and her hair was bone white, but her eyes were bright and sharp. There were no soft edges on this woman, and she didn’t seem like the kind who would offer a lap or a hug to a small child, yet she’d had three. Maybe she just didn’t like people, but her own family was fine.

  Alina nodded. “Why aren’t we rushing to get this done? The Keeper could heal him.” They were so close, but they were stalling. Finley was getting worse even though he was gritting his teeth and pushing on. If it weren’t for Alina helping him, he wouldn’t have gotten this far. Why not wake the Keeper and bring him here?

  “And what language do you think the Keeper speaks?”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.” The world had changed since it, he, had last walked the earth. “So after the reading what then?”

  “We wait for Will and Walter to arrive. I sent Walter these coordinates. Will should be coming up the trail about an hour behind us. Kirin will make sure that he gets here.”

  No one seemed to care about what was going to happen to Will. She wasn’t sure she did either. He was an ass, an ass who liked to drag down celebrities and kill Albah. But death was still death. “You’re okay with killing him?”

  “Yes. He tried to kill Finley and Will admitted to killing his Albah grandfather. People like him get a kick out of other’s pain. You told me how he schemes to bring down other actors. Besides.” She shrugged. “I won’t be killing him. The Keeper will.”

  “Do you know how to wake one?”

  “The way has been handed down. Whether it works or not, I don’t know. But Walter will have done his part by then and I will have shown him where the Keeper is.” She inhaled. “It is a good day for it. There’s a vibration in the air and a stirring in the earth. That fault line is moving.”

  Alina’s heart gave a bounce. “There’s going to be an earthquake?”

  Archie frowned. The corners of her eyes crinkled. “Probably not today, but definitely within the next week.”

  Archie could feel that? Why wasn’t she more concerned about what was going to happen? “Shouldn’t you warn someone?”

  “Their machines will pick it up when it gets a bit stronger. It won’t be a big one.” She exhaled. “Let’s do this reading before we’re interrupted.” She glanced at Finley. “Are you all right?”

  He lifted a hand. “Fine. Tell me what my future holds.” His hand dropped to his side.

  “He’s not fine.” Alina could tell that just from looking at him.

  “I know. I’ve seen iron poisoning before. It’s not a good way to go.” And for a moment fear flashed across her face before the mask of calm and certainty replaced it. Archie was just as worried as the rest of them. She was just doing a much-better job of hiding it and keeping it together so they didn’t all fall apart and panic.

  Maybe it was only her that wanted to panic; Finley seemed resigned to the whole thing. Or maybe he didn’t have the energy to waste on panic. He hadn’t eaten any of the snacks. Could he no longer eat? He was so sick Alina
was worried he wouldn’t be able to recover.

  Archie pulled a palm-sized copper disc out of her pocket. It was scratched up and well worn. Alina knew immediately it was Archie’s scrying prop. Much more convenient than ice.

  “Have a seat.” Archie sat cross-legged on the dirt without batting an eyelid. Alina sat more gingerly to make sure she wasn’t about to sit in animal poop or an ants’ nest. “What do you use?”

  “Ice seems to work the best. I don’t have any with me.” She was never going to be able to carry a lump of ice around.

  “Are you kidding?” One eyebrow shot up. “As long as there’s water around you, you can make ice.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. She could make her own ice puddle. “I’ll grab the water bottle.”

  Alina went to get up, but Archie put a hand on her knee. “No, you won’t. Draw up some water out of the soil, make a puddle and then freeze it.”

  She’d pulled water out of the air; it wouldn’t be much different drawing it up from the ground. “You might get a wet ass.”

  “If that’s the worst thing that happens today, I’ll laugh about it tonight over a beer.” Archie drew a rough circle around herself with her finger in the dirt. Some of it was lost in the grass but Alina could feel it even before Archie pushed magic into it to make it real.

  Finley had done the circle for her most of the time, one less thing for her to do.

  Now she had to do it on her own. This was going to get messy. She mimicked what Archie had done then pushed some energy into it. Half the time it felt as though she was playing pretend. Today there was a snap and the hairs on her arm lifted.

  There was definitely something in the air.

  She put her hands on the ground to draw water to her. It wasn’t as easy as drawing it out of the air. The earth had more resistance. She used more power and a spring burst from the ground beneath her hands. Water spouted a foot high.

  Too much.

  It was her ass that got wet. Great.

  She stopped drawing up water, the impromptu fountain became a dribble and then stopped. Then she froze the water that was left sitting on the ground. One muddy ice puddle. She glanced at Archie.