by Liz Schulte
“How long have you been waiting?”
“Who can keep track? What year is it?”
“2013.”
“Huh.” He leaned his head back. “Twelve years, I guess.”
My mouth fell open. Talk about the line from hell, but I didn’t have twelve years. I didn’t even have a full twelve hours. I had to find Corbin or wrangle my own way across without being judged. “Well, good luck. Thanks for setting me straight, but I need to go. I have things to do.”
He laughed, making people stare at us. “You don’t have anything to do. Not anymore.”
The crowd suddenly shifted and squeezed in tighter. A few people screamed and someone shouted, “Vampire!”
I immediately moved forward, looking for Corbin. The man grabbed my shoulders. “You have to avoid vampires. They come for the souls. Easy pickings. This platform might as well be a buffet.”
Struggling to see the direction of the vampire, I saw heads of people vanish before my eyes, as if a path was being cleared. I pulled away from the man and shoved through the sea of people. The closer I got, the harder the people in front of me pushed back on me. Occasionally someone tried to hold me back, but I kept my forward momentum until I broke through to the cleared path. I recognized the white-blond head immediately.
“Corbin,” I called. He turned around.
A smiled eased across his face. He looked drunk and predatory. He strode toward me, touching spirits to his right and left, absorbing them. “My pet, how about a kiss?”
I shuddered. Something was wrong with him. A stranger’s hand clamped down on my arm and tried to pull me back into the crowd. “Stop it,” I shouted. Corbin was almost to me, his hand reaching out, lust in his eyes.
Not knowing what to do, I went with my gut and took the final step to Corbin, even though I was terrified. He gazed down at me like a lion looks at a gazelle before he inhaled deeply. “I wish I could smell you,” he said. “Anyone who looks this delicious must smell divine.”
“You don’t want to hurt me, Corbin.”
“I don’t?” His arm shot out to the left, taking another spirit. “They are good, Selene, but you, you will be …” His tongue trailed over his lips. “Sinful.”
“Corbin, look at me.”
“I am looking at you, pet.” His eyes were devouring my body, but that wasn’t what I meant. “I have been waiting for this a long, long time.”
“No. Look at me.” His eyes drifted to mine and I locked my gaze to his. “You know who I am. You came to help me, remember? I’m Selene. Your friend.”
Something flickered in his blank stare. Without him, I was dead anyway. Disappearing was probably better than hell. I put my hand on his chest, and his breath hissed out between his teeth, but he didn’t absorb me. He restrained and sobered considerably.
“Best remove your hand, pet.”
I rubbed my face hard, so relieved I wanted to cry. We still had an audience.
“I told you, you didn’t want me to come with you,” he said, looking a little sheepish.
“Not exactly inconspicuous, are you?
He shrugged. “We don’t have time to waste. Follow me.” Corbin started back down the path he’d cleared and people parted, trying to avoid him. “Once they cross the bridge, they’ll beg me to take them,” he said, his eyes gleaming and dark.
“Who are you?” the guy’s voice said from behind us. “What are you doing?”
I turned back to my rock-climbing friend and smiled. “It was nice to meet you, but we have to go.” Corbin and I were almost to the perimeter.
“You know a way out, don’t you?” He stared at me.
I shook my head. “I really have to go.”
“Wait. I’m coming with you.” He started after me.
“You can’t come with us,” I told him.
“You can’t stop me,” he said back.
I looked at Corbin.
“If he can keep up, what’s the harm? Besides, it’s always good to bring along a redshirt.”
Redshirt? What was a redshirt? I sighed. “What’s your name?” I asked the man.
“Simon. You?”
“Selene.”
He gave a wide, sweet smile. “So where are you going? How are we getting out?”
Corbin had a devilish smirk. “Across the bridge. How else?”
“But the only way across is” —Simon hooked a thumb over his shoulder— “that way. You’re headed for the meadow.”
Corbin stopped and I raised my eyebrows at him. Then we turned and headed in the other direction. Another path cleared for Corbin. We definitely weren’t sneaking up on anyone. Before we made it to the bridge, he stopped.
“You two hang back. You’ll know when to cross.” He trotted off, and Simon and I squeezed through to the front. Corbin walked up the bridge with what could only be called swagger. Under the bridge, a violent river thrashed and swirled. Hands flailed in the water and gurgling cries muffled the sound of rushing water.
“Those are the people who tried to escape judgment,” Simon said, noticing where I was looking. “They’ll put us in there if we’re caught.”
“How long are they kept there?”
He shrugged. “Some say until their sins have washed away. I really don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone get out.”
“Fantastic,” I muttered, but I refocused on Corbin.
“Minos.” Corbin held his arms wide in greeting to a blob of a man with yellow eyes and a putrid face who sat on a pedestal, overlooking all those who passed.
“You,” Minos snarled. Demon guards materialized out of nowhere, seizing Corbin by the arms.
That was our cue. It was now or never. I grabbed Simon’s hand and took off at a run across the far side of the bridge. None of the guards even flickered an eye in our direction. Perhaps the necklace didn’t hide me from the dead—it hid me from demons.
“I told you to never come back here.”
Corbin chuckled. “A misunderstanding.”
No one even batted an eye at Simon or me. The bridge was stone and longer than it looked. We passed several people creeping along, not in a rush to meet their punishment on the other side. We hid behind the large stone post and waited for Corbin to crest the bridge, but he didn’t come. I bit my lip, willing him to show up.
“They didn’t see us at all,” Simon said. “How is that possible?”
I ignored his question, focusing on Corbin. Minutes ticked past. I couldn’t leave him, but I also didn’t have time to wait.
I glanced back at Simon, who was staring in the opposite direction. “I have to go back.”
Selene’s body went still. I was both relieved and furious. The urge to wage an all-out war on the necromancer was strong, but I pushed it aside. I needed her to bring Selene back.
Frost looked momentarily startled. Then a mask of indifference melted her features. “I said you should leave,” she said without looking at me. She opened Selene’s mouth and removed the necklace, fastening it around her neck again, and placed the coins on her chest. “Now we wait.” She sat down, started a timer, and pulled a smutty romance novel out of her bag. Instead of looking at the pages, however, she stared at Selene.
“How will you know when she is back?”
“In theory, I’ll feel a tug.”
“What do you mean ‘in theory’?”
“No one’s ever made it back.”
My heart slowed and my blood drained from my face.
She pursed her lips. “I was very clear about that. She said she didn’t have a choice. No refunds.”
I cleared my throat. “Selene neglected to share that bit of information with me.”
Frost raised her eyebrows as if she pitied me before glancing down at her book.
“Can you still bring her back?”
“I told you—”
“Not later. Now,” I snapped.
“She won’t have the pole.”
“I. Don’t. Care.”
“Look. I’m sure she has a good reason for
going there. Give her a chance to do what she needs to do.”
“If my wife dies—”
“It will be her own fault.”
I clenched my fists to keep from strangling her. Once again, she buried her nose in a book. “You’re going to read?”
Frost rolled her neck. “We have twelve hours. If you have something you need to do, feel free. I’ll be here.”
“I’m not leaving you with her.”
“Suit yourself.” She went back to reading.
I paced the room, looking anywhere but at Selene’s body because every time I saw it, my rage at losing her was harder to control. My phone buzzed in my pocket, startling me, which pissed me off more. “What?”
“Corbin made it through,” Sebastian said on the other end.
“Fine.”
“You need to meet me at Southbend,” he said.
“Now is not a good—”
“You don’t have a choice, Erlking. You have already put it off too long. I will see you there in a few minutes.” Sebastian hung up.
I gripped my phone hard, wanting to crush it, but put it in my pocket instead. I transferred my glare to Frost, who was pretending to ignore me. “If you do anything—”
She raised a dark eyebrow. “Anything worse than killing her? What exactly would that be?”
I clenched my fists. “Or if you try to leave, I will make sure you live long enough to regret it over and over again.”
“Do you honestly think I’m scared of you?” Her cold, pale eyes met mine. “One touch from me, Erlking, and you’ll be lying next to your pretty wife.”
There was a knock on the door—another irritation! I had ordered the posted guards not to disturb us or allow anyone inside. I opened the door, frowning and ready to yell.
Selene’s grandmother, flanked by guards, greeted me with a stubborn glare. “I have a right to be here, Cheney,” she said. “I’m not leaving.”
I looked back at the old witch, an idea forming. Maybe Frost could kill with a touch. And maybe she wasn’t scared of me … But maybe, just maybe, she’d be scared of someone who didn’t need to touch her to kill her. Edith had proven her grit when fighting with Selene. I motioned for the guards to let her through.
Edith gasped when she saw Selene on the bed, her skin turning increasingly gray and lifeless. “I’m too late. I wanted to …” Her voice cracked.
I placed a hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be back and you can tell her anything you want then.”
Edith nodded.
“I think she’d like to hear whatever you have to say.” I really did want Selene to make amends with her grandmother. She had so few connections in life. Growing up, I had my father, my mother (for a time), my sister, my mother’s relatives, and my father’s family. I was surrounded by people who cared for me. Selene had only her cousin and aunt. Family was grounding—something Selene needed whether or not she knew it. Perhaps someday, Selene might even forgive her father, but she had time for that. Edith was old by human standards. Time was no longer a luxury. I patted her shoulder once more. “I have to go, Edith. Do you think you could—”
“Keep vigil? Of course.”
Frost eyed Edith from her chair, seeming to sense the power in the old witch. I smiled a little. “Edith, this is the necromancer, Frost. Frost, meet Selene’s grandmother. Frost is the only one who can bring Selene back. Make sure she doesn’t leave.”
The two women stared at each other, and the air filled with hostility. At least if they were focused on each other, neither would want to harm Selene further. It wasn’t a comforting bright side, but it was a bright side nonetheless. “I’ll be back,” I said, both as a promise and a warning.
The forest at Southbend was young. It still had a vibrant essence, and if I had time to stop and listen, I was positive I’d hear the trees stretching toward the sky. However, I didn’t have time.
“What’s so important I had to come right now, Sebastian?” I asked when I heard his distinct footsteps behind me.
“We need to release the bodies.” He walked past me, and I followed. We went deeper into the woods and stopped in a thickly forested area.
“The Gemini were killed here.” He pointed to the ground where two blanket-covered bodies lay.
I looked around. “Here? Are you certain?” Gemini weren’t typically in forested areas, but there could be exceptions.
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me levelly. “The water nymph was killed over there.”
Another stark-white sheet lay on the ground next to a thick patch of trees. None of this made sense. “But there’s no water source for miles in any direction.”
“Do you still think this doesn’t need your attention? What made these fae leave their habitats? What took the Smaragdine elves?”
I walked around the area. Again I sensed nothing amiss specifically, but the crimes were strange—I’d give him that. “How did they die?”
Sebastian uncovered the nymph. “Strangled and this insignia burned into the back of her neck—just like the others.”
It was a symbol I knew well: a simple circle with the tree of life surrounded by thorn bushes—my family’s crest. I let out a slow breath. “My father.”
“It would appear so.”
“We have to find him.”
Sebastian nodded. “There have been no sightings. He seems to have vanished.”
My father was old and powerful, but even he couldn’t make himself invisible. “What about the Smaragdine elves? Have any of them been spotted?”
The grim crease between Sebastian’s brows said it all. He thought they were all dead. My insides went cold at the thought of an entire community of people disappearing.
“How could Father have done all of this on his own?” I tried to imagine ways he could have pulled something like this off to undermine me but came up with nothing. I shook my head. “He couldn’t. He had to have help. There’s always a weak link.”
“There is a possibility we haven’t considered. What if it isn’t your father?”
I tilted my head back. Several species had no love lost with the fae races, and some of them actually could be invisible. “You think he might be dead too?” I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, my father had tried—and would continue to try—to kill Selene, and possibly me, so long as he was living. On the other hand, he was my father and I loved him.
“You know as well as I do what the disappearances could mean,” he continued.
Sebastian was referring to the fact that elves disappeared when they died. There would be no bodies to find if they were all dead, but the question remained: how had the killer slaughtered everyone at once without leaving some trace and without starting a panic? “What about the insignia?”
He shrugged. “A piece of jewelry isn’t a hard thing to take.”
“That’s assuming he wasn’t wearing it when he died—if he died.”
“Did he always wear it?”
“I have never seen him without it.”
“Okay. That’s good. You father was smart, a hunter.”
I nodded.
“If he escaped and didn’t wish to be tracked, he would’ve left everything behind, including the ring. He knows you have access to witches and would use the ring to track him.”
Sebastian had a point. If Father wanted to disappear, he would do a good job of it.
“So, if your father is alive, the ring might still be at the house where he was held captive.”
I frowned. “Perhaps. But if someone stole the ring and is now murdering fae, how would we know the difference? I would think Father would keep a low profile to ensure a surprise attack, not kill helpless subjects. Why would he draw attention to himself by random killings?” I looked around the quiet, dark forest again, but I still saw no signs of life. No animals, no insects—nothing except stillness. What type of magic could I not detect?
“Unless he gave it to whomever he was working with,” Sebastian said.
&n
bsp; “Why would he do that?”
“Distraction. If we’re chasing our tails, no one is guarding Selene.”
“But she’s already dead. I don’t see the gain.”
Sebastian rolled his neck. “He doesn’t know that.”
I scratched my jaw. “We have less than twelve hours to find him and stop this before she gets back and he actually can hurt her. I won’t let her go, Sebastian.”
“The fastest way to find your father is to find the person working for him. Maybe there’s something we missed in Smaragdine.”
It only took a few moments in my father’s quarters to locate his ring. I tossed it to Sebastian. “Any other ideas?”
“Did he only have the one?”
“That I ever saw. I have mine.” I flashed my ring at him. “The only other ones were my mother’s and my sister’s, and they were wearing them when they died.”
“Could another one have been forged?”
“Only direct descendants get the crest.”
“What about illegitimate descendants?”
“You mean Jaron.” I shook my head. “I highly doubt Father gave anything to a half-elf.”
“Jaron is the only one you know about. There could be others. Do you really know?”
I ran my hand through my hair. It was possible. If one illegitimate child, why not two or ten? Then again, it was hard to imagine my father that way. “I don’t think the Abyss is filled with my half-siblings.”
“There only needs to be one who wants to take the throne. Look what Jaron wanted and managed to do.”
“With your help,” I couldn’t resist pointing out.
Sebastian nodded and pressed his lips together, looking dutifully ashamed.
We continued looking for clues, correspondence, anything that might point in a particular direction, but there was nothing. No indication that my father had been dealing with anyone. “Do you think the witches could trace my blood? Father might be able to leave behind his possessions, but we share blood.”
He looked over at me. “Probably not without Selene.”
“The coven is strong.”
“But are they strong enough?” Sebastian thought about it for a moment. “If we could get her grandmother, maybe they have chance.”
I didn’t love the idea of taking Edith away from Selene, but if it would help, we had to try. “You get the girls. I’ll get Edith.”