The grey spread further and the girl’s breathing stopped, her pained expression fading as her body went from vibrant to the colour of ash in a matter of seconds. Her golden blonde hair was the last to change and the second it reached the tips, a light breeze broke apart her body and she scattered on the winds, leaving nothing behind.
“Where did she go?” I asked, watching the last of her fluttering ash disappear on the breeze.
“Nowhere,” Darcey said, bowing her head and laying her hand on the earth as though in farewell.
“You said—” I started to speak but Darcey pushed onto her feet with a speed I hadn’t been expecting and I reached for my gun without really thinking about it.
“There is nothing after this life for the Fae; we are abominations. Heaven is for humans and we simply return to the earth, ashes to ashes…” she said, her voice laden with sorrow.
“But it was better to remove her agony and bring her a peaceful death,” I said, suddenly understanding Darcey’s sadness. She wasn’t Death, this wasn’t her job; she was simply the harbinger, the messenger that brought warning of death, giving the living time to prepare to move onto whatever came next.
I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be forced to take a life … not when your entire existence revolved around the act of giving others time to prepare.
“I am sorry, Darcey,” I said.
She shook her head and lifted her storm-filled eyes to mine. “I do not want your sorrow, just a promise that we will end the one who has caused this.”
Smiling, I nodded. “That I can do.”
Chapter 14
“So what do we know about this murder?” Graham asked, breaking the tension in the air, his voice business as usual—but I could tell from the slight flinching around his eyes that he was disturbed by everything that had just gone on.
“She lied,” I said, adding what I knew from my dream into the mix. It was obviously a Fae thing and it was something I didn’t really understand, but Darcey and Victoria would.
Victoria’s face paled and she shook her head. “That’s not possible, the Fae cannot lie.”
“Well, this one did, and that’s why the Wild Hunt was summoned…” I said, searching back over the jumble the dream had become in my head.
“It is true, the Wild Hunt could be summoned for something like that, but the changeling is right, it is impossible for a Fae to lie. We all know the consequences.”
“But isn’t it possible to know the consequences and do it anyway? I mean, maybe she thought she wouldn’t get caught?”
Darcey shook her head again and stared thoughtfully down at the place where the girl had lain.
“It is more likely that whoever summoned the Hunt believed she had lied. That could account for leaving her half-dead,” Victoria offered. She moved slowly around the circle as she spoke.
“How long was she here for?” I asked.
Both Victoria and Darcey shrugged. “It’s hard to know. A lingering death like this one, it could have been days, it could be longer…” Darcey said.
“It also depends if some of her time was spent in Faerie before she died. You’ve heard the stories of those who die crossing over into the human realm—sometimes magical deaths have a way of losing their potency and it gives the sufferer a little more time to figure out a way to prevent it,” Victoria added.
It was strange listening to them help each other. For all intents and purposes, when Darcey had first arrived, I’d wondered if they would end up killing each other, but now … now it was starting to look as though friendship was a very real possibility.
“Have forensics found anything yet?” I asked, noticing for the first time since Darcey had entered the clearing that the forensic crews had stopped working.
“It’s all right, they fear me is all,” Darcey said, as though she’d just read my thoughts. “They will begin working again as soon as I am gone.”
“So what do you think caused this, or better yet, what does your Fae Court believe caused this?” I asked.
“There are many possibilities,” Darcey said. Her sidestep of the question was the smoothest I’d ever seen. It wasn’t a lie but it was as close to one as I was ever like to hear from a Fae.
“Well, we usually start with motive and then narrow it down by who would have the power to summon the Hunt and keep them controlled….”
Darcey shook her head and smiled. “It is a good attempt, but the Fae are not so simple as that. Where a motive is concerned, there doesn’t have to be one beyond the belief that our victim had lied. And as for who could call and control the Wild Hunt? Well, that could be any of the Fae; we all have the potential for it within us,” she said.
“So you’re telling us we’re back to square one?” I asked, the irritation in my voice plain to all within earshot.
“No, I’m saying I will go to Faerie and make some inquiries as to who might be culpable.”
“We need to come with you.” I blurted it out as Darcey turned to leave.
She froze, her shoulders tensing, and I waited for her to say no. When it didn’t come immediately, I slowly released the breath I’d been holding onto.
“I don’t think that will be possible, but I will ask,” she said.
I opened my mouth to speak again but Darcey stalked toward the edge of the trees and then disappeared between their bare skeletal branches.
“Well, isn’t she just a bundle of laughs,” Victoria said, her voice and disapproval of Darcey breaking the silence.
“How likely do you think it is that I’ll get to Faerie?” I asked.
Victoria grinned and shook her head. “About as likely as me inviting that banshee out for drinks after work.”
Nodding, I chewed my lip; that was what I’d thought too. But there was something about everything that was going on that told me I needed to go to Faerie. That without it, whoever was responsible for the crimes would simply keep on committing them and we wouldn’t be able to stop them.
The thought of coming across more scenes like the one we’d just witnessed filled me with a dread I hadn’t thought possible. The last thing we needed were more bodies, but I had a feeling whoever was committing the crimes was only just getting warmed up.
Chapter 15
Victoria drove the car up to the window of the drive-through and grabbed the bags of food from the young male server before he’d barely had the chance to fully open the sliding glass.
Without looking, she tossed them in my direction, before grabbing the three large milkshakes and the steaming cup of coffee. She held it out to me, balanced in her fingers among the other large paper cups, and I took it gratefully.
After everything we’d seen, the very last thing I had wanted to do was eat, but Victoria had insisted. The second I’d gotten a whiff of the bacon grease and the salty smell of fries, I’d known she was right. My stomach growled loud enough for heat to spread up through my face into my cheeks and I sheepishly took a sip of the machine coffee. It wasn’t great but it definitely beat the tar available at the Elite office.
Victoria gunned the engine and the tyres squealed on the asphalt before finally catching and lurching the car forward. Rounding the corner, she parked up in one of the free spaces down at the bottom of the parking lot and set her milkshakes out on the dashboard.
“Do you have enough there?” I asked, pushing as much humour into my voice as possible as I handed her bag of food over. She glanced at me blankly and I gestured to the three milkshakes. “You’re going to put yourself into a sugar coma,” I said.
Victoria tugged a cookie from inside the depths of the bag and stared at it in the same way I might stare at a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings. “I like sweet things,” she said, biting into the gooey chocolate mess. Her eyes fluttered shut and for the second time, I felt heat flood through my cheeks.
Turning away, I rummaged through my own bag and pulled one of the paper-wrapped cheeseburgers free. Ripping away the paper, I bit into it, my mouth
instantly beginning to water as power flooded up to the surface of my skin. I’d gone far too long without eating something and this was the price I had to pay.
My head spun in sickening circles as I tried to focus on simply chewing my food and swallowing it down before taking the next bite.
“You don’t look so hot,” Victoria mumbled, dropping crumbs all over her leather upholstery.
Nodding, I took another bite and pushed the magic back down where it belonged. The demon mark itched on my shoulder and as I tried to dampen it, I felt it flare painfully, pushing back against my command. The darkness within whispered through my mind and I crushed the cheeseburger in my grip, sauce dripping down onto the paper.
“Amber?” Victoria asked, touching my shoulder gently, but it was all I needed to regain the upper hand and I stuffed the dark tendrils of the demon mark’s magic back down into the metaphysical box I’d been trying to visualise for it.
“I’m fine,” I said hoarsely and drank down a scalding mouthful of the bitter coffee.
“Good, because for a second there, you looked like you were in real trouble,” she said, scooping up one of the milkshakes and popping off the lid. She tipped it up, gulping back the thick chocolate drink, emptying half the large container in one go.
“Does that not give you brain freeze?” I asked, watching her in fascination as I finished off the last of the burger and started in on the salty fries.
“Brain what?”
“Brain freeze,” I repeated. “You know, when you drink something icy really fast and then you end up with a terrible stabbing pain in your head and sometimes in your chest?”
Victoria gave me a strange look and then shook her head. “Why would you do that to yourself if that was the result?” she asked, horrified.
“Well, I suppose for the same reason you drink it,” I said.
“Nothing tastes good enough to cause yourself physical harm … although—” She paused and stared down at the cup. “—I guess if I was going to come to physical harm drinking this, I probably still would….”
Grinning, I started back into the fries once more, my mind wandering back to the forest and the ghost that had knocked me back down the hill. At first I’d wondered if she was one of the dead, but I hadn’t felt anything like her at the first crime scene and she was definitely human and not Fae. I just couldn’t figure out what her deal was.
“Tell me what he tried to do,” Victoria said quietly.
“Who?” I asked, the salty taste of the French fries quickly turning to ash on my tongue as I realised who she meant.
“The Fae that attacked you, what was he trying to do?”
“He wants to control me, use me as a weapon,” I said, shuddering at the memory of his breath on my cheek as he’d lain across my body and tried to force his will onto mine, slowly smothering me beneath the weight of his power.
“When the Shadow Sorcerers of old walked the earth there was a spell they used to keep the Fae from their heads.”
“I just don’t get how he can do it—I mean, I have all this power that I barely understand but I can’t stop him from waltzing right into my head and taking over. The only thing that holds him at bay is the demon mark,” I said, lifting my hand and slowly brushing it over the raised brand on my shoulder.
“The Fae’s power is different and yet the same; we all draw our power from the same place, but the Fae have had centuries to hone their skill set. You have not; there is magic within you that you will likely never conquer in your short lifetime and you have potential that you will probably never even realise you have.”
Victoria’s words didn’t bring me any comfort; I didn’t want him able to just walk into my head. And the demon mark was already dangerous—the last thing I wanted to do was give it any more of a hold over me than it had. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it already had far too much of me.
I could feel it waiting, biding its time until the perfect opportunity arose and then it would sweep in and take control. When that happened….
“As I said, there is a spell you can do to ward yourself against such intruders. But I do not know where you can gain access to such a spell,” she said.
Victoria didn’t know, but I did. The grimoire that belonged to Brigid Dubhacht would have the spell, that I knew for certain. There was only one problem: my translation of the text was beyond slow and I didn’t really have that kind of time….
“How’s your Gaeilge?” I asked, side-eyeing Victoria carefully.
“Bad, why, how’s yours?” she asked naively.
“I’ve got a grimoire, and if such a spell exists, it’s going to be in that, but I’m crap at translating it…” I said.
“Your mother would help,” Victoria said, drinking down the last of her milkshake.
“She’d probably turn me over to the Elite faster,” I said bitterly. I still hadn’t spoken to her, ignoring the missed calls on my phone and the voicemails she’d taken to leaving for me. After everything, she was the last person I wanted to talk to.
It was childish, but I couldn’t help it. She’d blocked off my memory, hidden a part of me from myself, and in the process had left me alone and vulnerable with no help to come to grips with my true nature.
“I don’t think so. She loves you.”
The French fry I’d been eating caught in the back of my throat and I started to choke. Tears filled my eyes as I coughed and spluttered, slapping my chest in an attempt to shift the offending chip. It softened enough and I managed to swallow it back before turning my angry gaze on Victoria.
“What would you know of her feelings for me?” I asked.
“I spoke to her. She loves you. She’s worried about you…. I told her you’d come into some new abilities and she didn’t seem surprised.”
“You have no right,” I warned, power rustling along my skin, lifting the practically invisible hairs on my arms.
“No, you’re right, I don’t. But I couldn’t leave her in the dark either…. She’s your mother, Amber; she’s mortal and you will not have this opportunity forever.”
There was something in Victoria’s tone that halted my anger in its tracks. Like a bucket of ice water, her words washed over me, dampening my power until it was nothing but a slight buzz in my ears.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Victoria shook her head and smiled sadly. “I know what it is like to lose those you love. My mother was human, or at least the mother that raised me…. She knew what I was and still she loved me, nurtured me, gave me everything I needed, despite knowing that I was the reason her real child was dead.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died. People did not live to a great age back then and she was no exception….”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“There is nothing to be sorry about. It was more than a lifetime ago and she is nothing more than dust in the ground now. But I think of her often and it makes me sad to think she cannot see all the things I have done, all the lives I have perhaps changed for the better,” Victoria said sadly.
“But your mother was different; she loved you, looked after you,” I said.
“A mother’s love is not different. Yours simply did what she thought was best for you. From everything I have learned of her, she did not know what you would become; she had no idea that you would be a Shadow Sorcerer, she was merely trying to protect you.”
Victoria’s argument was a persuasive one and I so desperately wanted to believe it. To believe that all those years of being told that I wasn’t good enough, that I would amount to nothing, that I was a failure and a disgrace as a witch, had been to protect me. I wasn’t entirely convinced. I knew, in a way, the things she had put me through had been to protect me—and in the same way, it had also been to punish me.
The fact that I hadn’t known what I was being punished for was merely an inconvenience.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” I said.
Victoria smiled. “She
will be happy when you contact her, Amber, and you will be happier, too.”
I nodded and kept my thoughts to myself. I wasn’t entirely convinced that my mother would be happy when she heard from me, and I certainly wasn’t convinced that I would be happier, too. But perhaps it would be good to get everything out in the open. Maybe then I would be able to leave the bitter resentment that had been building inside me.
Chapter 16
As soon as we arrived back at the Elite office, I took one look at my piled-high desk and grabbed the gym bag I kept for times when I could get some training in. I’d been neglecting my training far too much lately; all of my time tended to be eaten up out in the field. And while practical experience was definitely a good thing, if I didn’t stay on top of keeping myself in tip-top physical shape, then one of these days I wasn’t going to be able to outrun the monsters.
Changing into my sweats, I pinned my hair up and out of the way before making my way into the large gym the Elite had set up for the officers. Considering it was mid-afternoon, it was surprisingly empty, and I took my place at one of the heavy bags, starting out with some slow practice drills before I moved into some more complicated combinations.
I kept my mind deliberately blank as I worked through my frustrations, the sweat dripping down my back as I moved back and forth.
“You’re not bringing your leg up high enough,” Jason said.
He was too close and the fright he gave me was enough to send my heart into high gear. I spun on the spot, bringing my leg up in a move that would have dropped a lesser fighter. But he was faster, and it was almost as though he knew what I’d planned to do before my body’s instincts had even kicked in.
He caught my leg mid-swing. I started to withdraw but he used my own weight against me, twisting my leg easily, his power flipping me as though I weighed nothing at all. My back hit the mat, the air whooshing out of me as he sat astride me, pinning me in place.
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