The exchange confused me, until I remembered she hadn’t told him about Milus Dei searching for her. “She can’t—”
“I’ll go,” she said, shooting me a shut-up glare. “If you’ll give me a glamour.”
“A what?”
Both of them ignored me. “Why would you need a glamour, Sadie?” Taeral’s voice was too smooth, dangerously calm. “You’ll tell me where you’ve been all these weeks. Or I’ll find out the hard way.” He stepped closer to her. “You won’t like the hard way.”
Her spine stiffened, and she glowered up at him. “They had me,” she said. “I escaped.”
For a minute I thought he’d hit her, or maybe break her neck. “No one escapes them,” he snarled. “Not in one piece, at least. Do you have any idea what you could have done? Foolish, ignorant child!”
“Yeah, I know what I did,” she said, her voice trembling slightly with anger. “I survived, and I got away. Just like you.”
“Just like me.” His gaze locked with hers. “You know nothing of me. What I once was, did not survive that place. They took far more than my arm. And what I’ve done since—” He glanced at me and shuddered. “You may have undone the only small good I’ve accomplished.”
Sadie snorted. “What good is that, Unseelie? Keeping the local liquor stores in business?”
“Enough. I’ll give you a glamour, but you must go quickly. Bring me the body.” This time, he addressed me when he looked at me. “Once you do, you’ll have your answers, boy. Even to the questions you don’t know you should ask.”
Whatever that meant, it sure as hell didn’t make me look forward to finding out.
CHAPTER 13
It was a long, awkward, and silent walk back through the tunnels and up to the surface. By the time we reached the van, I wasn’t sure I could remember how to speak.
I didn’t even know if I wanted to. An angry fairy with a metal arm, who somehow knew my name and knew about the Valentines, had just sent me to dig up a corpse in Central Park. And in return, he’d tell me things I was increasingly convinced I’d be better off not knowing.
All I wanted was my life back, minus the murderous cult. This was not going to make things normal again.
Sadie climbed into the passenger seat and bowed her head. “Well. That didn’t go like I planned,” she said. “What does he want with some dead guy, anyway?”
“Let’s not try too hard to find out.” I started the engine, but I didn’t go anywhere just yet. “We should wait until dark, so there’s as few people around as possible,” I said. “Shouldn’t be long now. In the meantime, want to tell me about that thing he gave you?”
“The glamour?” She gave me a sidelong smile and pulled the small silver band from her pocket. “I’ll show you,” she said, slipping the ring on her finger.
And suddenly, she wasn’t Sadie anymore.
The compact, hazel-eyed woman with a mass of auburn curls was gone. Now there was a tall, slender brunette with olive skin and pale green eyes. Her black tee and cargo pants had been replaced with skinny jeans and a silky turtleneck.
“Drop your jaw any further, and you’ll have to pick it up off the floor,” she said—and Sadie’s voice came from the brunette’s mouth.
I tried to reel it back in. “Um. You…”
“Exactly.” The brunette removed the band and turned into Sadie. “That’s a glamour,” she said. “An illusion spell that changes your appearance. The Fae wear them all the time to look human. Because they’re not, and their natural forms are extremely non-human.”
“Wait. You’re saying Taeral doesn’t actually look like that?” I said. “If he can change the way he looks, why doesn’t he do something about that arm?”
She frowned, tucking the ring back in her pocket. “I don’t know. He’s kind of touchy about the subject,” she said. “He won’t talk about Milus Dei, or anything that happened… before.”
“Before what?”
“Generally, anything before the time he’s talking to you. He’s an in-the-moment kind of guy.”
The faraway look in her eyes told me way more than I wanted to know. I could imagine what at least one of those moments had been. Nothing like sleeping with the enemy, I guess. But at least that explained some of the tension between them. “Okay,” I finally said. “Listen, we’ve got an hour or so to kill, so—”
My buzzing phone interrupted me. I had a feeling it was Abe, and I was right. With a hold-on gesture, I answered the call. “Hey, Detective,” I said as casually as possible. “What’s the word?”
“Damned strange,” he said. “Gideon…you need to lay low for a while. Stay away from cops.”
Damned strange was an understatement. “Why?”
“Ran into the chief earlier.” Abe spoke in a loud whisper, even though I knew he had to be alone at home. “He asked about you.”
“Yeah? Well, I gotta say, I had a bizarre conversation with him at the last crime scene,” I said. “I thought—”
“No, listen. He asked where you were. And when I said I didn’t know, he told me to find you and bring you to his office.”
The suspicion I’d felt toward Chief Foley before deepened to alarm. “What’s he want with me? I’m nobody to him.”
“Yeah. But he seems to think you’re somebody of interest to something, and he won’t say what.” Abe paused for a moment. “I don’t think I like that.”
“I’m with you there.” I closed my eyes and briefly considered asking Abe if he wanted to try getting the chief naked and searching him for ankh tattoos. But that probably wouldn’t go over well. “All right,” I said. “Thanks for the heads-up, Abe. Hey…what are you going to tell the chief?”
“Not much, except that I don’t know where the hell you are. So don’t tell me.”
“You got it.”
“One more thing,” Abe said. “SWAT’s mobilizing again, but they’re not headed for the park. No one’ll say where they are going. So watch out for those big black vans.”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Thanks.”
I hung up, replaced the phone and felt Sadie staring at me. “Friend of mine,” I said.
She raised an eyebrow. “Detective?”
“Don’t worry. He’s unofficially suspended.” I let out a sigh. “Chief Nigel Foley. You happen to know anything about him?”
“Nope.”
“Great. Well, I think I do.” I put the van in reverse and headed out of the parking garage. “Abe called to warn me that the chief’s looking for me, for unspecified reasons. And he’s mobilizing SWAT.”
Her breath caught. “They going for the park again?”
“No. They’re not saying what they’re up to. But I think Foley is Milus Dei.”
“Of course he is,” she said after a heavy pause. “Makes sense. I mean, if they’re in control of the city cops…no wonder they kept finding me. Bastards.”
“Yeah, well at least we’ll be clear for our little excavation mission,” I said. “And I still think Taeral’s insane, but he’s right about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
I looked at her. “We need to hurry.”
An hour later, the shortest time I dared to wait, I parked the van under a stone bridge in the north end of Central Park. “Hope this is the right place,” I said. “It’s not like there aren’t fifty more of these in here.”
“Looks close enough on the map.” Sadie got the ring out and put it on. “Okay. I’m ready.”
I stared at not-her. “That is just wrong.”
“Not if it keeps me alive.”
“Yeah. Guess you’ve got a point.”
We’d made a stop to pick up a few things. I got out, opened the back of the van and grabbed the shovels, the flashlights, the big canvas bag and the plastic sheeting. We had no idea what shape the body would be in, but I figured this should cover it regardless.
“Okay,” I said. “A thousand paces southwest from here to a big pine tree.”
Sadie and I stared a
t the dense forest stretching in that direction. About half of it was pine. “Right,” she said. “No problem. Good thing you’ve got me here.”
We each took a flashlight and started walking. “About that,” I said. “I’m guessing you can find dead bodies by scent. Does that mean you have to…er, go wolf?”
“No. My senses are heightened, even in this form.”
“Can you turn it off?”
“It’s part of who I am,” she snapped. “Can you turn off being an idiot?”
“Only on special occasions,” I shot back.
She sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to working with…
“Humans?”
“Anyone,” she said softly. “I’ve been on my own for a long time. My pack, my family, they…well, they aren’t that nice. I was seventeen when I left them.”
My gut twisted in sympathy. “Believe it or not, I know what that’s like.”
“I’m not sure you do.” Her voice strained as she spoke. “Anyway, Taeral’s right about Milus Dei. They don’t just hurt you physically. They break you. I know what they took from me, and I can’t even imagine what they did to him. I was only there for three weeks.”
“How long did they have him?”
She shivered. “Eight months.”
“Jesus,” I rasped. “How did he—”
“Hush.” She stopped in her tracks and held an arm out, directing her flashlight ahead. “I think that’s the tree,” she said, pointing to a tall pine with broken lower branches. “But I don’t smell anything, except…magic.”
“Come on,” I said. “You can smell magic?”
“Course she can,” a lilting male voice said out of nowhere. “She’s moon folk, ain’t she?”
Sadie’s gaze narrowed on the tree. “Show yourself,” she said.
The branches rustled, and a short man dressed in green with a deep red wool cap strolled out. “Evenin’ to ye,” he said, executing a quick bow. “It’s about time y’got here.”
CHAPTER 14
“What the hell is that?” I whispered loudly. “A leprechaun?”
“No. It’s a Redcap.” Sadie grabbed one of the shovels from the bag slung on my shoulder and held it like a baseball bat. “They’re low Fae, protectors of places. Kind of a supernatural alarm system. This one’s probably guarding the body,” she said, and grumbled, “Thanks for the heads-up, Taeral.”
The little man grinned. His mouth was far too wide, splitting his face almost ear to ear—and it was full of yellow-brown, pointy teeth. “The ol’ girl’s long gone from this place,” he said. “Ye’ll find no body here, but I’ve waited ages for someone to come and claim her.” He pointed a long, gnarled finger at me. “Not the one I expected, but ye’ll do. The Unseelie Queen, she’ll let me back for sure if I give you over. So I’ll be bringing ye for an audience with her Majesty.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“You’re not bringing him anywhere.” Sadie bared her teeth and ran at him, drawing the shovel back. She swung hard—and stumbled as she hit the empty air where the Redcap had been a second ago.
Then I felt something grab the lower edge of my jacket.
“Oh, but I am, dearie,” the little man beside me said as she righted herself. “Be a good dog now and stand down, or I’ll be wetting me cap with yer blood. It’s gone a bit dry of late.”
I decided I didn’t want an audience with the Unseelie Queen, whoever the hell that was.
I wrenched my jacket free, stepped back and pulled the other shovel. Sadie was already charging again. “His hat,” she shouted. “Go for his hat!”
“Right,” I muttered. Because obviously, leprechauns with sharp teeth were most vulnerable in their fashion accessories. I assumed she had to know more than me, so I aimed a blow for his head—kind of hoping I’d fracture his skull in the process of knocking the hat off.
Sadie swung first. Once again, the Redcap wasn’t there. And her shovel smashed into my shin.
The blow cracked bone. Pain exploded through me, and my knee buckled and pitched me to the ground. “Ow, goddamn it!” I gasped, glaring up at her. “I had that, you know.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I could’ve—behind you!”
My shouted warning was too late. The Redcap grabbed her leg with both hands, his huge mouth unhinging impossibly wide, like a snake’s jaw. He bit down hard on the back of her thigh.
Sadie cried out and flailed blindly behind her back with the shovel. The edge of it caught the little man’s temple. His teeth came out with a horrible ripping sound, and she stumbled forward to fall on hands and knees in front of me.
The Redcap grinned and spat her blood from his mouth. “I warned ye, dog,” he said. “Ye’ve my thanks for hobbling me little bargaining chip, though. Be easier to handle him now.” He turned away and murmured a few words, raised a hand and brought it down in a slashing gesture.
In front of him, a shimmering rip appeared in the fabric of the world.
Sadie gasped, crawled off to the side and stared at me. “Don’t…let him take you across the veil,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah. The veil. Got it.” It wasn’t easy to look away. The impossible seam shone with colors I couldn’t even name—and something in it called to me. It sang, with words I knew I could almost understand if I wanted to.
But I wasn’t about to try.
I tore my gaze from the hole in reality and adjusted my grip on the shovel, using it to haul myself erect. “Hobbled, my ass,” I said, taking a limping step forward. “I’m not letting you handle me. Go protect a bowl of Lucky Charms or something, leprechaun.”
His grin faded. “If ye won’t come hobbled, ye’ll come crippled.”
The Redcap moved fast. This time I kept my eyes on him. I brought the shovel down and out, in a hard arc that connected with the green blur headed for me. The impact sent shockwaves up my arms.
And the little man flew back, right through the shimmering rip. It vanished with a popping hiss.
I dropped the shovel and let out a hard breath. It kind of disturbed me that the appearance of a fanged leprechaun hadn’t bothered me much. Because it really should have. I should be extremely bothered right now. “You know, I miss working with dead people,” I said as I limped back to Sadie, who’d managed to prop herself on her side. “None of them try to chew your leg off, or drag you through a fairy portal, or whatever the hell that thing was.”
“Yeah. Nice shot, by the way.” Her eyes were closed, her jaw clenched tight. “Listen, he’ll be back. We have to do this fast.”
“Do what? Lucky the Vampire there said the body’s gone.”
“And you believe him? He’s Fae.” She dragged up further and winced.
I knelt gingerly next to her. The back of her pants were torn and glistened darkly with blood, but I couldn’t see much more. “How bad is it?”
“I don’t think I can walk.”
“Great. And I can’t stand for long, so how are we supposed to dig up a corpse?”
She frowned. “Have to risk it,” she muttered, and pulled the ring from her finger. The wound looked a lot worse when the glamour spell vanished. “Help me with this, will you?”
I was about to ask with what, when she unbuttoned her pants.
“Er. What are you doing?”
“I didn’t plan on going wolf, so I don’t have spare clothes. But I have to now. The wolf heals faster.” She pulled the zipper down and looked at me. “Little help?” she said. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”
I swallowed and tried not to look as I eased her pants from her hips. She hissed when the fabric cleared the wound. Once they were off, she stripped her shirt and dropped it on the ground.
At least she was wearing a bra. But it really didn’t cover as much as I wanted it to.
“Okay, new question,” I said. “The moon’s not full. How’s this going to work?”
She rolled her eyes. “Moonstone, remember? You turn it on, I
change.”
“Great plan. Only I don’t know how to turn it on.”
“Just do whatever you did at Taeral’s place.”
“I don’t know what I did!”
“Well, think about it!”
I held back a clipped response and tried to think. The stone glowed before he’d grabbed it—right when I decided I’d had enough of the knife-to-the-throat thing. And the only other time I remembered the pendant glowing, my brothers were about to shoot me. “Maybe it’s self-defense,” I said slowly. “I guess it happens when I’m threatened…and pissed off about it.”
“Huh.” A slow smile crept over her face. She grabbed the nearest shovel—and somehow managed to stand. “In that case, you’d better get pissed,” she said. “Or I’ll break your other leg.”
I shook my head. “Won’t work. You’re not a threat.”
“Really? Or are you just too stupid to know when you’re being threatened?”
Okay. That pissed me off.
“Thank you.” She dropped the shovel and staggered in place. “Take it out. Hurry.”
I glanced down. “I’ll be damned,” I said, and drew out the glowing stone. “What now—should I point it at you or something?”
Sadie was already changing.
I watched with horrified fascination. Her eyes changed first, from human hazel to wolf gold. Auburn fur rippled into existence everywhere as her hair drew into her head. Her frame stretched taller, her limbs thickened and elongated. Claws formed where her fingernails had been. She opened her mouth, and a growl rolled from her throat as her jaw kept stretching and her teeth got bigger. A lot bigger.
Maybe I should’ve asked exactly how much control she had over who the wolf attacked.
The whole thing took less than a minute. When it was done, her lips lifted in a snarl—or it might’ve been a smile. “Dig,” she said, sounding like a chainsaw cutting stone.
Then she pivoted, loped for the tree and plunged under the branches.
“Right. Dig.” I picked up both shovels and her clothes, and limped my way over. I figured she’d have changed back by the time I got there. Hopefully she was healed enough to move faster than I could.
Wrong Side of Hell (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 1) Page 7