Crimson Daggers- The Complete Trilogy

by Emma Savant

  She whined and took another step back, and I shook the dagger again.

  “Go.”

  She went, leaping away from me with a swish of her tail. She hobbled toward the door, and when she shifted back to her human form out on the sidewalk, she still limped as badly as if her leg had been broken. It would hurt her for a while.

  But it wouldn’t kill her.

  I knew I should have destroyed her. She was a werewolf, and she had attacked me, and I was a Dagger. But it was clear she had her reasons for coming here tonight.

  Alec had the other wolf by the throat. I approached them cautiously, dagger outstretched.

  “You,” I shouted. I threw another fireball, just to get his attention. It hit the wall behind him, scorching the paint and leaving the wall smoking.

  That would be fun to explain to Grandma in the morning.

  The wolf turned to me, and Alec growled at him in warning.

  “You’re outnumbered, and I handled Cheyanne on my own, just to give you a sense of what’s going on here.” I held up my dagger, which was coated in a dark film of her blood. “You’re not taking me in tonight, but I’m willing to talk to your alpha. Tell him to meet me at Nelly’s mansion. Tonight. Or he can text me or call me, which might’ve been easier for everyone involved.”

  It was impossible to keep the irritation out of my voice. Kidnapping my grandma on a whim was one thing. Sending his wolves out to goddamn murder me was another.

  “And tell him to chill out,” I snapped. “I don’t know what’s going on with you all, but this is not the way to handle it.”

  Alec snarled at the wolf, and the low, rumbling sound stood my hair on end.

  The wolf looked at Alec, then at me, and then at my dagger. He lowered his head in a werewolf’s imitation of a nod.

  I lowered the weapon and fixed him with a glare that I knew contained all the fire that still simmered beneath the skin of my palms.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Now get out of my fashion house.”

  Alec and I watched as the wolf ran out of the building, leaving the shattered glass door and the stain of Cheyanne’s blood on the floor behind him. I kept my dagger out and held it up toward Alec.

  “Am I going to need to use this on you?”

  He shifted, his fur melting back into skin and his eyes shrinking until they were hazel and only a little bit too large. His clothes were tattered, as if they’d been stretched but not quite destroyed by the transformation.

  “Glad you don’t come back naked,” I said dryly.

  “Takes some concentration,” he said. “I’m not great at keeping my clothes in one piece but I didn’t think you’d appreciate a naked man in your lobby.”

  I sheathed the dagger. “I’ll get you some cleaning cloths. You wipe up the blood on the floor. I’ll do what I can to enchant the door back together. And then you’re coming to the mansion with me, because clearly we have some stuff to talk about.”

  He didn’t try to argue.

  Before we left Carnelian, I texted Brendan.

  Scarlett: What in the seventh circle of hell do you think you’re playing at?

  Scarlett: Nelly’s place, half hour. Be there or I swear to every goddess I can think of that I will be having BBQ werewolf for breakfast, and you’ll be the first course. And P.S., I didn’t attack any of your wolves.

  Scarlett: Except Cheyanne, and she was asking for it. You. Me. Nelly’s. Now.

  That taken care of, I dragged Alec out onto the sidewalk and made him wait while I sealed up the badly repaired glass door with every spell I could think of. Grandma would have someone down here soon, so it wasn’t likely to stay unprotected for long, but I wasn’t about to take chances. This night hadn’t been the best of my life, and an extra hit of robbery and vandalism wouldn’t help things.

  “I should have told you,” Alec said.

  I held my hand up, sealing the last spell, and then turned to him.

  “It’s not like I’m shocked,” I said, which seemed to surprise him. I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re a lot better at keeping secrets than you are.” I strode toward my motorcycle and waved him to follow. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little pissed that you didn’t tell me, but I don’t know that I’d tell a Crimson Dagger if I were a werewolf, either. I assume you know I’m a Crimson Dagger.”

  “I’m aware.”

  I slung a leg over the seat of my bike and widened my eyes at him.

  “Come on.”

  He edged back. “I can’t say I want to ride on that thing with you again.”

  “Gee, must be nice to have choices,” I said. I reached out, took his hand, and yanked him forward. “Come on, I don’t have all night.”

  Reluctantly, he climbed onto the bike behind me. He seemed hesitant to touch me, so I grabbed his hands and wrapped them around my waist.

  “Don’t fall off,” I said.

  The engine roared to life, and I took off down the street, then turned and headed back to the mansion where, I hoped, Brendan would be waiting.

  41

  I paced outside the mansion gate, counting the seconds and trying to decide whether I should go wake up the rest of the Daggers or give Brendan five more minutes to show up.

  He still hadn’t texted me back. But if someone had attacked his den, maybe he had other things to be dealing with.

  On the other hand, since he had sent two of his guards after me, didn’t that suggest I should be somewhere near the top of his priorities?

  I spun on Alec, who was sitting on my silent bike and watching me. He looked cold in his ruined clothes, and I was having a hard time generating much sympathy.

  “You’re one of the Wildwoods,” I said.

  It wasn’t really a question, but he confirmed it with a nod.

  “Used to be,” he said. “Guess I still am, in a way. Always will be.”

  “You ran away right after Brendan became alpha, then? Because of the Cate thing?”

  “Had been meaning to leave for a while.”

  “Because of his dad?”

  Alec was silent a moment. He kicked the gravel under his toe.

  “My uncle,” he said. “We didn’t get along.”

  I folded my arms and kept pacing. “Brendan’s your cousin?”

  “Cousin,” he said. “But more like brother. My parents were killed by monster hunters when I was a kid, so we were raised together.”

  Monster hunters. The phrase was starting to turn my stomach a little.

  “Daggers?” I said.

  He shook his head. “Some guys wanted them for their pelts,” he said in a voice so quiet I would have had missed it if my ears hadn’t already been so strained for the sound of Brendan’s approach.

  I tried to think of something to say, but the right words didn’t appear.

  “That’s disgusting,” I said after too long of a pause. “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “It’s life.”

  “It’s screwed up.”

  “Part of being a werewolf,” he said. “It’s what my parents got for daring to live with their own kind instead of trying to hide in Glimmering society.”

  That really did make my stomach turn.

  I hugged myself and avoided meeting his eyes.

  Brendan still wasn’t here.

  I sighed. “Come on, we need to go wake my grandma up.”

  Alec jumped off the bike so quickly he stumbled. I got the impression he would just as soon plunge headfirst into the forest around us.

  “She’s not going to want a Wildwood in her house,” he said.

  “Yeah, well, I invited you.”

  I hoped that would be enough. When he still didn’t seem convinced, I added, “Look, she loved the clasps you made. That’ll earn you some goodwill.”

  He made an exasperated sound. “The leader of the Crimson Daggers is not going to be bought off by shiny cloak fasteners.”

  “Don’t underestimate Nelly Carnelian’s dedication to good craftsmanship,” I said. �
��If any of my sisters try to attack you, I’ll stab them myself.”

  He didn’t seem convinced, but he also seemed to realize he didn’t have a whole lot of options, short of walking home in the middle of the night wearing what looked like glorified cleaning rags. He sighed and followed me through the gate and up the gravel driveway.

  I walked my motorcycle up to the house, leaving the engine shut off. I needed to speak with Grandma, not the opinionated entirety of the coven.

  Once inside, Alec seemed too anxious to touch anything but plenty anxious enough to accidentally knock over an umbrella stand and hit his head on a coatrack. I caught the stand before it hit the wall, and he threw a hand to his mouth and bit it instead of yelping.

  I grabbed his shoulder and held it tightly.

  “Dude,” I whispered. “Chill.”

  The house was quiet. Someone had to be awake—the whole house was never asleep, what with so many witches with different schedules and missions that kept them up at all hours of the night—but we were lucky in that everyone seemed to be safely holed up in their own bedrooms. We crept up the stairs and down the hallway, and I held out a hand to stop Alec in front of Grandma’s room.

  I tried the doorknob. It turned easily and silently, and I waved Alec to step back.

  “Wait here,” I mouthed.

  He backed into the wall opposite and nodded, his hands shoved deeply into what remained of his pockets.

  Grandma was fast asleep with the blankets pulled up to her chin. I whispered at her to wake up, and when that didn’t work, shook her gently by the shoulder.

  Instinct had her sitting in an instant, hand raised to attack or defend and eyes wide as she tried to take in my silhouette against the light from the doorway.

  “It’s me,” I whispered, then laughed. “What big eyes you have!”

  She made a disgruntled sound and lowered her hand. “The better to see that it’s the middle of the night, my dear,” she muttered. “What time is it?”

  “You don’t want to know,” I said. “Something happened, and we need to talk to you.” I gestured behind me to where Alec was standing and looking pointedly anywhere but into the bedroom. “You remember the clasp maker?”

  Grandma reached for her glasses on the nightstand and fumbled as she put them on. She noticed Alec and pursed her lips at me.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “He’s a werewolf,” I said. “The Wildwoods just attacked Carnelian.”

  She sat up a little straighter, and I got the impression she was about to jump out of bed in her pajamas and head straight for Alec.

  “I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” she said. She looked sharply at me. “Make tea.”

  42

  Alec sat at the table with his shoulders hunched and his hands clasped tightly together. He watched me as I put the kettle on to boil.

  I opened a plastic container of cookies and slid it toward him.

  “Chocolate chip,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Rowan made them.”

  He took one and held it like he didn’t have any intention of eating it but needed something to do with his hands.

  “Who’s Rowan?”

  “One of the Daggers,” I said. “My age group. She’s a sweetheart.”

  “Not a word I’d have thought could apply to a Crimson Dagger.”

  I snorted. “Thanks a lot.”

  A smile crossed his face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. His gaze wandered from the clock on the wall to the window and the dark lawn outside.

  “You grew up here?”

  I nodded. “Been in the family since the early twentieth century. It was the first house in this neighborhood.”

  “Nice place.”

  “Nicer after Grandma’s renovations. Old houses need a lot of upkeep.”

  “How big is it?”

  I sat at the table next to him and propped my feet up on the chair on the other side. “Don’t know,” I said. “I’ve been in every room but never counted them. It’s got a ballroom and a conservatory, so pretty big.”

  “What’s a conservatory?”

  “Like a greenhouse,” I said. “But attached to the building. It’s all glassed in, and flowers grow there year-round.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve seen those. Didn’t know they were called that.”

  We fell silent. The clock ticked the seconds by, and then Grandma’s steps sounded outside. She opened the kitchen door and shut it quickly behind herself. She was still in her pajamas but had thrown a chenille dressing gown over the pink-striped satin.

  I pushed out a chair for her with my foot, but she didn’t take it.

  “Grandma,” I said, in a voice that I hoped made it clear I expected this conversation to be calm and measured. “This is Alec Forrest. He made the clasps for the cape collection. Alec, this is my grandma, Nelly.”

  They observed each other, the werewolf and the hunter, and Grandma seemed to be taking him in and sizing him up.

  “Alec is one of the Wildwoods and knows who we are,” I said.

  “I’m estranged from the pack,” he said quickly.

  He pushed his chair away and stood to face her, and Grandma’s shoulders tensed slightly. He held out a hand.

  Cautiously, she shook it.

  “And why are you in my home in the middle of the night?” she said. She looked over at me. “What did you mean, the Wildwoods have attacked Carnelian? What happened to the showroom?”

  “Nothing,” I said. I nudged the chair I’d pushed out for her. “We kept them away from the showroom, but the front door is a mess. Sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  It didn’t take long. Grandma didn’t interrupt or ask questions, just listened in silence as I recounted everything from the werewolves showing up and Alec shifting to help me fight them off.

  “I patched the door as well as I could, but it might be better to take it out entirely for the show tomorrow,” I finished.

  “We have until early evening,” Grandma said. “That’s a silver lining.”

  “The main point here is that something is going on with the Wildwoods, and I don’t know what it is.”

  Grandma sighed and tapped the side of her teacup. “It seems clear enough to me,” she said. “Kidnapping me didn’t work, so they’ve decided to try kidnapping you. Reasonable enough to think they’d get more from me that way. I’d pay a much higher ransom for my granddaughter than myself.”

  “I don’t think it’s about that,” I said. “But I texted Brendan, and he isn’t texting me back, so I don’t know what’s going on.”

  One silvery eyebrow shot straight up.

  “You texted the alpha?” she said.

  The blood drained from my face as I realized what I’d said. I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

  “I told her to,” Alec said. It was the first time he’d said anything since I’d started talking, and I shot him a grateful look.

  And then I turned back to Grandma and took a deep breath.

  “That’s not true,” I said. “I’ve stayed in contact with the alpha since you got back. I visited his den a few weeks ago to talk.”

  For the first time in my life, Grandma seemed speechless.

  “I took all the necessary precautions,” I said.

  “There are no necessary precautions,” she said. “Scarlett.” She pressed her fingertips to the spot between her eyebrows and massaged it, regarding me like she’d run out of ideas.

  I shifted in my seat, but it was impossible to get comfortable under that stare.

  “Brendan asked me to come talk,” I said. “So I talked. And he talked, more to the point, and while we all agreed kidnapping you was stupid, he just did it to protect his pack. Someone’s been murdering them.”

  Past the kitchen, the front door opened and slammed closed again, loudly enough that Grandma and I exchanged looks. I was the first to stand, but she was the first to have a weapon in hand. She edged toward the door, her blade a sharp contrast again
st her fuzzy bathrobe. She stepped out of her slippers and crept forward in bare feet, muscles tense as a cat’s.

  “Shut up, you’re going to wake the whole house,” a voice giggled, and Grandma straightened and tucked her dagger back under her robe.

  Alec squinted at her. He seemed to be trying to figure out where exactly she’d been storing the thing.

  “Sienna,” I said. I couldn’t keep my voice from going flat at her name. “Didn’t realize she had a mission tonight.”

  “She didn’t,” Grandma said.

  The tension in her shoulders was still there, and her voice stayed low. A sick feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

  She burst into the kitchen, Blaze and Autumn behind her. Sienna stopped abruptly when she saw us sitting there, and Autumn crashed into her. Sienna shrugged her off and smiled at Grandma. The smile was broad and cheerful and didn’t reach her eyes.

  “Hey, guys,” she said. She eyed Alec up and down. “Who’s this?”

  “Friend of mine,” I said shortly.

  Grandma put her hand on the back of one of the chairs. Her knuckles paled as she gripped it. Behind Sienna, Blaze edged backwards, taking in the scene as only a Dagger could.

  “What are you three doing up?” Grandma said. “I thought Blaze was the only one out tonight. How did your mission go, dear?”

  “Guy’s safely in custody,” Blaze said. “I ran into these two on the way back in.” Her lips tightened to a thin line, and she and Grandma exchanged a look of understanding. “I think I’m going to go hit the hay.”

  “Sleep well,” Grandma said.

  Sienna reached over Alec’s shoulder and grabbed a cookie from the plastic container. She tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. It had been tied up in a braid, but pieces were falling loose, like she’d been busy for a while and hadn’t had time to fix it. Behind her, Autumn seemed to be shrinking in on herself.

  “What were you up to?” I said. I tilted my head. “Autumn?”