by Joyce Lavene
Jane shook her head, unable to speak without squeaking.
“I’ll get it,” O’Neill said.
He went to the door with Aine and Sunshine right behind him.
“Not that I think the harpy will politely knock before she comes in to kill us all,” Sunshine whispered.
O’Neill unlocked the door. His hands tightly clutched the rifle.
Outside, Malto was being held in the air by the harpy’s claws as the creature hovered above the street.
“She only wants to be left alone,” Malto yelled. “She says she’ll let me go if you stop chasing her.”
O’Neill grimly raised one of the rifles, aiming for the harpy’s human-looking head.
Malto screamed as the harpy’s claws dug into her shoulders. She was dangling ten feet above the street, blood dripping down her sides.
“Please! I’m okay,” Malto called out to him. “Put that away, or she’ll kill me. Don’t be stupid, Sean.”
He slowly lowered the rifle. “What do you want?” he yelled at the harpy.
Her voice grated at their senses but her reply was understood. “Let me be. Soon I shall depart this place. Do not seek to find me again.”
“No!” Sunshine muttered an incantation that made a large blue circle around the harpy and Malto. “Release her, and we will spare your life. Kill her, and you won’t see another day.”
The harpy cried out again but this time the high-pitched sound that came from her mouth was impossible for them to understand. She broke free from Sunshine’s impromptu spell and started to fly away with her captive.
Malto screamed, and O’Neill fired the rifle, hitting the harpy in the back as she moved away from them. Sunshine tried another spell, but nothing seemed to stop her. Aine rode the air currents from the door to the spot where the harpy had been, but the creature had moved quickly, disappearing from sight.
“We have to do something,” O’Neill yelled. “We can’t just let her take Sharon.”
Sunshine stood in the doorway with her eyes closed. “She’s too powerful. We don’t even really understand the magic she possesses. It died out so long ago that we don’t know how to fight it.”
“We need the woman—O’Neill’s lover,” Aine replied. “Once we have the summoner, she will be able to tell us where to find the creature. Quickly. Pull yourselves together. I am going to see Elena Spiros.”
Sunshine wrapped her arms around O’Neill and followed Aine as they headed toward Elena’s apartment. The sky was beginning to cloud up with a late afternoon thunderstorm from the heat and humidity of the day. Flashes of lightning accompanied them across town with the wind howling through the clouds around them.
It only took a moment to reach their destination. Aine was the first. When Sunshine and O’Neill arrived, Elena was cowering on her knees before the beane sidhe.
“Help me, Sean,” Elena called out to him when she saw him arrive. She tried to reach him but Aine wouldn’t let her move. “She’s going to kill me.”
O’Neill was shaken by his air travel with Sunshine. He tried to speak but couldn’t get the words out. His stomach threatened to heave up his lunch. He held his head down and swallowed hard, focusing on the floor.
“What he’s trying to say,” Sunshine translated, “is that we know you called the harpy. You’ve had at least ten people killed so far to make your paintings famous. We know how you got the grant money. We want the creature.”
“I won’t tell you where she is,” Elena said. “I-I’m not even sure I know anymore.”
Aine lifted the woman straight up from the floor with one hand around her neck. “Tell us, and we may not kill you.”
“Put her down,” O’Neill commanded. “She’s no good to us dead.”
With a bleak scowl on her crone face, Aine dropped Elena to the hardwood floor.
He went to his lover’s side. “You have to tell us where to find the harpy. She’ll kill again if we don’t stop her.”
Elena’s laugh was raspy from the pressure that had been applied to her throat. “You can’t stop her. No one can. She’s immortal, created by the ancient gods to serve as executioner for those who have done wrong.”
“The people you killed to get that money and gallery exhibits didn’t do anything wrong,” Sunshine argued. “You had her kill for profit. That might not sit well with her once we explain.”
“Go ahead. Knock yourselves out. Try to talk to that…thing.” Elena tossed her long, black hair. “The words I used to bring her here and bind her to my will don’t work anymore. She’s doing what she wants to do now. I’m done with her anyway.”
“What did you say?” Sunshine demanded. “What were the words? How did you know how to call her?”
Elena’s smile was cat-like on her beautiful face. “My ancestors were among those who created the first harpy. My lineage is that of the Olympian gods. You can’t duplicate what I did. Ordinary magic doesn’t cut it.”
“Let’s say that’s true,” O’Neill contended. “How do you undo it? How do you get rid of her? She’s got my partner. Sharon Malto has never done anything to you. Tell me how to get her back.”
“There’s no point in getting her back, Sean. She’s dead if the harpy has her. You can’t save her.” She smoothed her hand over his. “Just forget all this. I’m going to be a famous, wealthy artist. Stay with me.”
Aine started toward her with murder in her eyes.
O’Neill held out a hand to stop her. “I understand that you have what you wanted. But that doesn’t include me. I’ll find some way to prosecute you for these murders. I’ll see you behind bars.”
“Don’t be so dramatic—or so ethical. You can’t pin those deaths on me. I can prove I was home during the ones out of the city, and nowhere near the ones that happened here.”
“What about the other seven deaths?” Sunshine growled. “Where were you when my boyfriend was killed by your creature?”
Elena stared angrily at the three of them. “I only had the creature kill three people who were standing between me and what I deserved. The other deaths were all on her. I don’t know why she kept killing, and I don’t know how to stop her. She’s out of my control. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a luncheon.”
Sunshine turned her head away, her hair showing her anger and frustration by frizzing around her face. O’Neill put down his rifle and started toward the door.
“And this is justice in your world?” Aine asked. “We leave her unharmed though she is a murderess? This will not stand.”
Elena screamed as Aine flew at her. The beane sidhe lifted her by the throat again, shook her like a rag doll, and then tossed her against the wall.
“Never cross my path again, murderess,” Aine warned. “Never seek Sean O’Neill again. If you do, I vow swift and painful retribution.”
Aine flew out the window, her gray robe billowing in the wind. Sunshine took hold of O’Neill and followed. The three were back in the outer office of the detective agency in moments.
“Maybe she was lying,” Jane argued when they’d explained what had happened. “Maybe you should go back and question her again.”
O’Neill shook his head, his teeth chattering as he tried to recover from the wild ride through the sky.
“She’s not lying,” Sunshine said. “Between me and Aine, we’d know. She lost control of the harpy. She’s just an amateur with a god complex. She doesn’t know what to do either.”
“We must find a way to track and kill the harpy,” Aine said. “It is not impossible. The hard part is finding her.”
“I still think she’ll come here for these two.” Sunshine gestured to the sleeping shifters. “For whatever reason, she wants them dead. She’s hoping we’ll come for Malto, but she’s overestimating our abilities. We still have to wait for her to come to us.”
“But why would she continue killing past her summoning?” Aine questioned. “And why this worthless lot? We are missing a large piece of this puzzle.”
“I don’t know.” Sunshine sank into one of the purple chairs in the outer office. “I can’t figure it out, but we don’t know much about harpies either. Maybe they just lose it sometimes.”
Aine shook her head. “I have never known it to happen, albeit your words are true. I only saw a harpy once when I was very young. I thought it to be the last of her kind.”
“So what do we do?” O’Neill was finally capable of speech.
“It seems we wait.” Aine sat too.
“No.” Jane wrung her hands. “We can’t wait. We have to do something. There’s an answer somewhere. We have to find it before Malto dies.”
“No doubt she is dead already,” Aine said.
“I don’t know.” Sunshine’s fine brows knit together above her sharp eyes. “Maybe there is something. Aine—you have the ability to command Tom and Lloyd to tell you the truth. Maybe we can squeeze something from them.”
“When you say squeeze,” O’Neill queried, “you don’t mean kill, right?”
“No. Of course not,” she assured him. “But if the old legends are true, a beane sidhe can only be of Fae blood. She can make them remember everything they’ve ever seen or done. I could do it too, but it would take a strong spell, and we may not have time for that.”
“Can you do it?” he asked Aine. “Without killing them?”
She nodded. “It can be done with little or no damage to them.”
Aine went to Tom but didn’t awaken him. Instead she put her hand against his head and closed her eyes. “Show me everything you have seen and done in recent days.”
“Can you see anything?” Jane whispered.
“Quiet!” Aine said.
Jane moved away from her but didn’t leave the outer office.
Aine searched through the young man’s memories, not exactly sure what she was looking for, and yet feeling there was something there. There was a great hodgepodge of events and people in Tom’s mind. It was difficult to find something so small as to be almost unnoticeable.
She saw Amos Johnson and Lloyd Samson standing on a dark street corner with Tom and a few others she guessed at being shapeshifters. She recognized the man from Tattoo Hell who’d been killed.
“Wait!” she finally called out. “I think I may know what has caused the harpy to hunt down and kill these shifters. Why did we not think of it before?”
Chapter Twenty-three
“What is it?” O’Neill demanded.
“I must see what the other lad saw as well.” Aine left Tom and went to Lloyd.
“Can’t you at least give us a hint?” Sunshine said.
“A hint?” Aine frowned as she puzzled over the words.
“Never mind.” O’Neill shook his head. “Just look at Lloyd’s thoughts.”
“Hurry!” Jane excitedly hopped from one foot to another.
Aine knew where to look in Lloyd’s sleeping thoughts and found the same night. She opened her eyes at once and withdrew from his mind. “The shifters—including your wolf—were privileged to see something very few have ever seen. Alas, it also caused their deaths.”
Sunshine gripped the arm of her chair until her knuckles were white. “What’s that?”
“The harpy has a nest with an egg in it. She sensed the intruders and has gone after them. No one shall live to tell the tale of her motherhood.”
“She has a nest?” Jane squeaked. “And an egg? So there will be two of them?” Undone by the idea, she reverted to her true form and ran into the kitchen to hide.
“Where is she?” Sunshine got slowly to her feet. “I don’t care if she’s in line to be mother of the year. I’m going to kill her.”
But Aine wasn’t familiar with the area she’d seen in the city. She couldn’t relate what she’d seen as a place to hunt the harpy. “Perhaps if I could show one of you what I’ve seen.”
“Sounds like a good idea. Asleep, right?”
“That would be preferable.”
“No reason to use fresh meat.” Sunshine snapped her fingers and half caught O’Neill as he fell to the floor asleep.
“I gave him my word that you would not use magic on him again.” Aine helped her carry him to the sofa. “You gave your word as well.”
“Technically, I’m not guilty of using new magic on him. I already used the sleep spell before we promised not to do it again.” Sunshine shrugged. “It was already there. All I had to do was activate it.”
Aine frowned at her. “I do not like your cunning, not when it comes to O’Neill.”
“It’s already done. And he’ll thank us for it if we can find Malto still alive. Get in there and do what you need to do.”
Half agreeing with her and knowing speed was of the essence, Aine went into O’Neill’s sleeping mind. It was faster than it had been with the shifters since she had been here before.
He was waiting for her. “She did it again, didn’t she?”
“She had good reason.”
“Okay. Show me where the nest is. I’ll settle up afterward with her.”
Aine reached inside her thoughts and showed him the place she’d seen the shifters find the harpy’s nest. “Do you know it?”
“Sure. It’s only a few blocks from here, on the other side of the Wells Fargo building. She probably had to stay close to Elena. Let’s go.”
After Aine emerged from O’Neill’s unconscious mind, Sunshine rapidly awakened him with a few sharp slaps to the face. “We don’t have time for you to snooze all day.”
“I think I should drop you in the harpy’s nest after I get Malto out of it.”
“Ignore your petty disagreements,” Aine warned. “No doubt she is waiting for us. If we are to take her, it must be swiftly, or you risk death.”
O’Neill flatly refused to fly anywhere again with Sunshine. He took the rifles and left in his car. Aine and Sunshine went with him. They had to face the harpy together if they had a chance of rescuing Malto.
“Not only is this slower than we had to be,” Sunshine complained. “It’s the ugliest car I’ve ever seen.”
“At least mine isn’t in the impound lot with shifter blood all over it.” He shook his head as he put on the lights and siren to run through a red light. “I can’t believe I even said that.”
Sunshine was in front with him. Aine had chosen to ride in back. She tried to stay focused on the task ahead of them.
She’d seen a harpy hunted once, and the lives it had taken before the thing was dead. There had been an army at that time so long ago. She feared there was not enough of her group to lose so many in this battle.
At that time she had been a young queen. She was of little use to the hunters who’d killed the harpy. Now she might be the only one who could withstand the creature’s attack.
They reached the area where Aine had seen the nest. It was in a sheltered spot between two large stone buildings, a steel overhang protecting it from the wind and rain.
“I recognized this area because of the graffiti,” O’Neill said as he parked the car and took out the rifles. “It’s pretty good if you like street art. I can see why the harpy might be drawn here.”
They stared at the vision of trees and mountains rendered in multi-colored chalk that had been meticulously drawn on the walls and alley below the nest area. There were drawings of various Greek gods and goddesses with their arms raised to Mount Olympus.
“Who has done this thing?” Aine asked. “It is truly a work of beauty.”
Sunshine laughed. “Don’t tell the people who have to clean it.”
“Look up there.” O’Neill pointed to the nest. “How did the shifters even find it?”
“They probably didn’t,” Sunshine conjectured. “See that spot on the upper roof? Sometimes the shifters hang out there. That’s probably what happened. John and Marcus and their friends didn’t even realize what they were close to. She killed them for nothing. They wouldn’t have bothered her nest.”
“The same could be said for the mother bear’s den or the tiger’s
home,” Aine replied. “They do not take risks when it comes to their young.”
Sunshine and Aine went up a rusted fire escape that brought them close to the nest. O’Neill waited on the ground with the rifle poised to fire if the harpy returned. The nest was large—at least five feet by five feet. It was made of a thousand scraps of wood, metal, and cloth that the harpy had found throughout the city. Some of the cloth was still identifiable as a banner from a local restaurant.
“Is Malto up there?” O’Neill asked.
“She’s here,” Sunshine answered, carefully lowering herself into the large nest. “She’s still alive but badly injured. She can’t survive the harpy’s poison.”
“And there is an egg.” Aine held up an egg the size of a football. It was heavily armored, a dull shade of cobalt blue and gray in the sunlight. “Shall I toss it to the street?”
“No!” O’Neill and Sunshine yelled at the same time.
“We don’t know if it’s ready to come out and start slashing,” O’Neill reasoned.
“The two of you take it back to the office,” Sunshine said. “If I don’t get Malto to a witch healer quickly, she’ll die.”
“Witch healer?” O’Neill questioned. “The hospital is five minutes away.”
“They won’t do her any good,” Sunshine gently explained. “You have to trust me on this if you want to keep your partner.”
“All right. I guess I don’t have any choice.” O’Neill scanned the area around them. “Whatever we’re gonna do, let’s do it, and get out of here.”
Aine helped Sunshine gather Malto’s unconscious body close to her. “Where do you go, Sunshine? To the red witch queen?”
“No. My family can heal her—I hope.” Her eyes met Aine’s, filled with grim determination. “Don’t let this party get started until I get back.”
Not sure what she was talking about—there could hardly be a party with the creature still on the loose—Aine nodded. She took the harpy’s egg and started back down the fire escape. Sunshine closed her eyes, held tightly to Malto, and vanished.
O’Neill grabbed the egg from Aine and studied it. “All those people dead for this?”