Harlequin Nocturne May 2016 Box Set

by Susan Krinard

  Lorcan’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Effortlessly, he lifted the other man off the ground. “A friend of mine was attacked in an alley just off the Ramblas a few nights ago. If I remember rightly, beating up girls is your specialty, Ronab. Would you know anything about this incident, by any chance?”

  Before Ronab, who seemed to be struggling for breath, could speak, Raimo moved closer to Lorcan. His gait was odd, almost gamboling, and his arms appeared much longer and thinner than Tanzi remembered. Why had she not remarked upon these very noticeable traits when she first saw him? I might be naive, but even I would not have willingly followed one whose appearance was so clearly odd.

  “You wrong us, Lorcan.” The combative note in Raimo’s voice had been replaced by a high-pitched wheedle. “It would not be the first time.”

  Lorcan laughed, letting go of Ronab so quickly that the other man stumbled and fell to his knees. “I have never been wrong about you.”

  Tanzi almost lost her grip on the window ledge as she caught a glimpse of Ronab’s face, as he turned fully in her direction for the first time. There was no longer anything left of his human features. It was as if he had donned a mask of polished bone. Roughly triangular, his head narrowed from a wide top to a sharp, pointed chin. Small, downward-curving horns protruded from the upper corners, and bright red slits glowed in place of his eyes. Ronab blinked once and, as Tanzi watched in fascination, his eyelids moved from side to side instead of up and down. As far as she could see, he had no nose or mouth.

  “We have to earn a living. Ever since we were cast off...”

  “Don’t give me that old sob story. We all know you were cast off because of your thieving ways.”

  “To our sorrow. If we could go back, start again, explain what happened.” Raimo sighed. “Too late. We miss her.”

  “You should have thought of that while you still had her protection.” Lorcan’s voice was colder than the ice on the mountains surrounding Valhalla. “The question is, what shall I do with you now?”

  “Speak sternly and make us promise never to do it again?” Ronab got to his feet. With the change in their appearance, the demeanor of the two men had also altered. They had become skittish, almost fawning over Lorcan. They were subservient to him now. Any suggestion of confrontation was gone.

  “I could do that,” Lorcan agreed. “And five minutes after I left here, you’d be back out on the street doing a number on the next unsuspecting tourist you came across.”

  “There is one way to ensure our eternal obedience.” The creatures that had once been men arranged themselves on each side of Lorcan, gazing up at his face. “Become our master.”

  Before Lorcan could respond, Ronab turned his head to slowly gaze at all four corners of the church. Despite his lack of nostrils, he appeared to be sniffing the air. “Faerie,” he grunted, when he had completed the circle.

  Raimo crouched lower in a defensive attitude. “I cannot feel it but you are better at detecting the fae ones than I. Where?”

  “Very close.”

  Was it Tanzi’s imagination, or did Lorcan actually look directly at her? She tried to draw back into the shadows, but it was difficult on such a narrow perch. “Can we get back to the matter in hand? You know very well I cannot be your master. Even if I wanted the job, I lack the necessary credentials.”

  “You changed once, you can go back again. It is what she would want.” Raimo, who was clearly the spokesperson, hovered somewhere between pleading and desperation.

  “I’m a patient man.” Tanzi decided that she loved listening to Lorcan speak. Even now, when there was a slight edge to his tone and danger in the air, those lyrical notes in his voice reassured her that she was safe. “But if you speak of her again, I swear I will raise her from her grave so that she can punish you herself.”

  “You would not!”

  “Try me.” Evidently deciding that he meant business, the creatures subsided into an aspect of supplication at his feet. Lorcan turned back to the haul of stolen goods. “Here’s the deal. You will take these to the Santa Maria homeless shelter tonight. Then you can take yourselves off home and find a new master.”

  “If we say no?” Ronab scurried out of reach as he asked the question.

  “Then I’ll beat you to within an inch of your miserable lives,” Lorcan told him cheerfully. “And, when I’ve done that, I’ll take you home myself and hand you over to someone who’ll know how to keep your light-fingered tendencies in check.”

  Needing no further encouragement, the two creatures began to gather up the items from the table. “Not these.” Unerringly, Lorcan picked out Tanzi’s property. “I’ll return them to their owner. Oh, and guys?” They paused, looking at him inquiringly. “You might want to go to the homeless shelter in your mortal guise. No point frightening the volunteers by showing them the real you.”

  Muttering under their breath, Raimo and Ronab scurried out of the building, loaded down with their haul of goods. After they had gone, Lorcan stood very still in the center of the aisle.

  “You can come down now, Searc.”

  Surprised, Tanzi sprang lightly down from the window ledge, shifting back to her own form as she landed. “How did you know it was me?”

  His grin lit up the gloom. “Sure, even the luck of the Irish wouldn’t be enough to get me followed by more than one cute faerie.”

  She came to stand beside him. “What were those beings? I haven’t seen their like before.”

  “You wouldn’t. They are imps. Faeries are their worst nightmare. They’d run a mile across hot coals to avoid you.”

  “They weren’t doing much running in that alley.” Tanzi ran reminiscent fingertips over the bruises on her cheekbone.

  “Imps are generally loyal to their masters. This pair—Raimo and Ronab—are a rarity. They proved to be subversive and disobedient to the point where their master disowned them. When that happened, they were forced to become wild and fend for themselves. They did so by donning a mortal form and taking to that which they do best...robbery and violence. I’d heard what they were up to, but I didn’t know they were in Barcelona until you told me what had happened to you. One of their favorite insults for me is ‘renegade.’ That was how I knew who they were. That and the fact that your experience had all the hallmarks of one of their attacks. In their mortal guise they lose their impish traits. They wouldn’t have recognized you as a faerie.”

  “Who was the master who disowned them?” The imps had spoken of a mysterious “she.” Tanzi sensed that, whoever “she” was, it caused Lorcan pain to speak of her.

  “My mother.” He shook himself slightly as though ridding himself of a memory. “Let’s get your stuff and go.”

  “How did you know which was mine?” Tanzi gathered up her dress, jacket, shoes and bag.

  He looked surprised and then shrugged. “They looked like your style. Which means you can’t wear them in the safe house. You’ll stand out too much.”

  “Maybe so, but at least I’ll have more than one change of underwear.”

  They walked out into the darkened square. Overhead, the sky was midnight blue sprinkled with silver stardust. Even though they were in the heart of the city, it was quiet as they strolled back the way they had come.

  “So, the cat thing. Do you do that often?”

  Tanzi cast a glance up at Lorcan’s profile. It was impossible to read his expression. “It comes in handy now and then.”

  His smile was teasing as he looked down at her. “I imagine it would. Come on, let’s get you home. I’ll get you a saucer of milk. That’ll make you purr.”

  A tummy rub from you would make me purr more. Tanzi almost tripped over her own feet in surprise. Where did that thought come from? Could she say it out loud? Did she dare? She opened her mouth to try but the words wouldn’t come. Flirting. It
was something she had never considered important until right now. They reached the steps to the safe house and the moment was lost.

  * * *

  Camaraderie. Laughter. Teasing. Fun. Tanzi was developing a new vocabulary. Sitting around the table in the ramshackle kitchen late into the night with Lorcan and his resistance friends had initially been a frightening experience.

  “What if they recognize me?”

  “Then we’re in deep shit.”

  Lorcan’s response had been to pull her into the room with him. Although their entrance halted the noisy conversation that had been taking place, no one had denounced Tanzi. To be fair, no one had taken much notice of her. Apart from one or two curious glances thrown her way, there was no doubt Lorcan was the main attraction. He was hailed with noisy delight by the group of two women and five men. From then on, he was the one they consulted and deferred to. He was in charge, and Tanzi saw a different side of him in this new role. Oh, he was still the blue-eyed charmer. He still had a laugh and a smile for every occasion, but there was something deeper in his expression when the group around the table spoke of their work. She saw the fire and passion of belief in what he was doing and felt a burning sense of shame. These people had been brought together to fight evil. And the evil they fought was her own father.

  Most of the time, she let their conversation wash over her. The persona she had donned when they carried her into the safe house, half-conscious, terrified and pleading for them to find Lorcan, stood her in good stead now. No one but Lorcan knew that her voice and her memory were back to full capacity. Tanzi was happy for it to stay that way. She was content to curl up in an ancient armchair near the fire with one of Maria’s cats on her lap and to let them ignore her.

  “Every time we close one of the brothels down, they open another.” The young faerie who spoke was called Aydan. He looked mortal, except for a faint ring of fire around his irises. He hid his eyes behind tinted glasses and wore his hair in long dreadlocks.

  “So why do we bother?” A girl called Lisbet spoke up. “It costs us so much each time we challenge them. We are lucky if we come away with every life intact. There are always injuries. If all we do is cause them a minor inconvenience, is there any point?”

  “There is always a point,” Lorcan stated, and Tanzi noticed the way every head turned his way. He was their undisputed leader, even if he made light of his own skills. “If we save only one person from a life of degradation in one of Moncoya’s hells, it is worth the risk.”

  Tanzi was aware of Aydan looking at her with sympathy, and a blush stained her cheeks. He thought that she had escaped from one of these brothels of which they spoke. She loathed, yet needed, the pretense in which their assumptions cloaked her. Their kindness and compassion was misplaced and she hated herself for accepting it. What would they do if they knew that in reality I was part of all they work so tirelessly to destroy? She pressed her cheek against the cat’s silken fur, turning her burning face away from gentle Aydan’s stare.

  “Why are these brothels so much worse than the ones run by mortals?” The man who spoke was a recent recruit called Iago. He was slightly older than the others around the table, and his eyes were an unusual pale green color, made even lighter by their bright ring of fire. He reminded Tanzi of one of the medieval knights in Rina’s tales. With his dark beard and courtly manners, she could imagine him slaying dragons or rescuing maidens. “Some of them can get pretty nasty.”

  “The beings in Moncoya’s brothels are slaves, stolen from their homes—sometimes as children—and forced to work there. They have no choice. Often they are beaten, starved or drugged into compliance. The services they offer are not only illegal, they are deadly. These brothels cater for the basest desires, both mortal and nonmortal. Moncoya’s henchmen provide a personalized service. They will kidnap a being to order. You’ve seen a teenage were-cougar you like the look of? Hand over the cash and she’s all yours. You have a fantasy about an underage male witch imprisoned in your own torture chamber? As long as the price is right, consider it done.” Somehow, Lorcan’s lilting accent made the horrors he described sound even worse.

  “Is La Casa Oscura one of these brothels?” Iago asked.

  Lorcan shook his head. “No. La Casa Oscura is unique. The darkest of the dark houses.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “La Casa Oscura was designed to be a well-disguised portal to Otherworld.”

  “Until Moncoya made it into something more.” Aydan’s pleasant features hardened.

  “Yes.” Lorcan continued his explanation. “I’m not going to pretend that before Moncoya there were never those who exploited the border between Otherworld and the mortal realm for nefarious purposes. Of course it happened. But until Moncoya, it was never done on this scale. This is organized crime that would make the gangs of Eastern Europe gnash their teeth with envy. This is people trafficking to an extent that the mortal realm cannot conceive. Yet, because it takes place between worlds, the law enforcement agencies of this world have no idea it even goes on. The Alliance has sworn to stamp it out, but they have enough problems at present bringing the dynasties around the table, and Moncoya is flexing his muscles from his hiding place. In the last few days, there have been faerie terrorist attacks in some of the major Alliance strongholds.” This was the first Tanzi had heard of this, and she sat up straighter. Lorcan, noticing her movement, threw her an apologetic glance.

  “You said La Casa Oscura is more than just a portal.” Iago drew Lorcan’s attention away from Tanzi and back into the conversation.

  “In addition to the day-to-day portals, there are other ways of gaining entry into Otherworld. These are the dark houses. They are a very specific portal, leading to the darkest reaches of Otherworld. Those who wish to gain entry without attracting attention do so by using a dark house. Smuggling, trafficking, anything illegal is done through the dark houses.”

  “Were the dark houses created by Moncoya?” someone else asked and Tanzi closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair. Even though, since the battle, she had seen concrete evidence of her father’s vile deeds for herself, it still hurt her to hear of more.

  “No. They have always existed. For as long as mortals have spoken of heaven and hell or of Otherworld and Underworld. Moncoya was not even the first to exploit their unique properties.” Lorcan looked tired. Tanzi wanted to go to him and brush back the errant lock of hair that flopped onto his forehead. When did these odd, protective feelings toward him start developing? And, more important, how was she going to get rid of them? “What Moncoya brought to the equation,” Lorcan continued, “was his organizational skills and his manpower. The dark houses are now used systematically and efficiently as a means of transporting—well, anything really—between Otherworld and the mortal realm. La Casa Oscura has been Moncoya’s greatest and darkest accomplishment.”

  “How so?”

  “It has served him well in many ways. Firstly, Moncoya is one of the few Otherworld leaders to develop a fully fledged mortal persona. He has been forced to abandon that guise since his defeat, of course, a fact that has led to intense press speculation here in the mortal realm. Just what has happened to celebrated electronics billionaire Ezra Moncoya? His disappearance is the news story of the decade. La Casa Oscura was his mortal base. Its next purpose was as a genuine portal to Otherworld. Enter La Casa Oscura and you may also, if you so choose and if you believe it to be true, enter Moncoya’s royal Otherworld palace. Finally, it is the ultimate dark house. The treasury of Otherworld’s grim secrets.” Lorcan’s beautiful mouth turned down slightly at the corners. “Moncoya may not be at home anymore, but his legacy lingers on in the very bricks and mortar.”

  “So why don’t we destroy La Casa Oscura?” Aydan spoke up suddenly, his voice excited and eager. “Just blow the place sky-high?”

  Without thinking, Tanzi jumped to her feet. The cat’s ho
wl of rage drew everyone’s attention in her direction. “No...” She thought of her beautiful childhood home. Of her sister. Of the servants who had served her so loyally and who played no role in Moncoya’s dark deeds. Words bubbled up to her lips, but Lorcan was at her side in an instant, sensing her distress and calming her before she could give herself away. His arm around her shoulders steadied her, and she leaned gratefully against his side. Tanzi held out her hand, showing him blood welling in the lacerations where the cat had scratched her when she disturbed its slumber. It was a feeble excuse, but it was for the benefit of the others. She knew Lorcan already understood the real reason for her distress.

  “It’s okay.” How was it, that as soon as he said the words, she was soothed by them? “If that was an option, sure, wouldn’t we have done it long ago? For the reasons I’ve already outlined, it can’t be done. La Casa Oscura is the cover for Moncoya’s mortal enterprise. Blow it up and we destroy the home of the world’s leading electronics firm, we kill Moncoya’s mortal employees. We draw the wrong kind of publicity to ourselves. It is also the portal to the royal palace, now the headquarters of the new Otherworld Alliance. Innocent staff work in the palace itself but, most important of all, it is now the meeting place of the peacekeeping council. Are you willing to risk the lives of the dynasty leaders? To risk Cal and Stella on the chance that we might succeed in destroying the dark house?”

  Shamefaced, Aydan begged pardon for his foolishness. “But we can close down this latest vile brothel?”

  “Of course we can. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t done it before now.” Lorcan scanned Tanzi’s face as if assuring himself that she was really okay. In response, she nodded slightly. He seemed satisfied at what he saw and released her. She felt oddly bereft as he returned to table. How foolish! Is it your goal to keep him at your side for all time?