by Vivian Wood
The Guardians were in full swing when Alice and Aeric made it to the big conference table. Duverjay made himself apparent, moving around serving coffee and pastries while everyone was chatting and shuffling papers. There were three big bulletin boards set up against the wall. Alice examined them as she took a seat between Aeric and Echo, munching on a mouth-watering croissant as the other woman caught her up.
“So this board is about the Three Lights. That’s me, Cassie, and Kira, we think. The middle one has everything we know about Pere Mal, that’s pretty obvious. And this one… these are the guys that surfaced when we searched those three names.”
The third board was split half and half. One side favored a dark-haired, olive-skinned man who glowered in every single photo. He had striking yellow eyes, reminding Alice a bit of Aeric when his dragon was at the forefront. He was good looking in a vaguely exotic way, like he’d come from the Middle East way, way back.
The other side was given to a shockingly handsome green-eyed man, his light hair gone to silver at the temples and forefront. With high cheekbones, full lips, and an expression halfway between amusement and brooding, he was almost unbearably attractive.
“Yup,” Echo said with a laugh when she caught Alice’s raised brows. “That’s Kieran Kellan.”
“He looks sort of… Fae,” Alice said, squinting at the photos.
“He’s very, very Fae as it turns out. He’s an exiled Faerie prince, and he’s been making trouble here in New Orleans for a long time, it seems.”
“So it should be easy to locate him, then,” Aeric cut in, giving them both a skeptical glance. The other Guardians wore the same expression; it seemed that none of them loved the women's appreciation for Kieran Kellan’s good looks.
“It’s the opposite. Damn Faerie magic, can’t get a bead on this guy at all,” Asher sighed.
“I think I may have a contact that can tell us about Ephraim, but he won’t be easy to track down,” Echo said, sipping her coffee.
“What about Ciprian?” Cassie asked.
The table went quiet for a moment.
“No. Absolutely not,” Gabriel said, slapping the table.
“Who’s Ciprian?” Kira asked, looking between Gabriel, Rhys, and Cassie with confusion.
“He’s a good source,” Cassie said archly.
“He’s a bloodsucking lowlife,” Rhys said without a trace of amusement.
“Vampire?” Alice asked. When Gabriel nodded, she shivered. She’d never liked vampires; in her experience, they couldn’t be trusted with the simplest of things, like not sinking their fangs in your neck the second you turned your head away from them.
“My feelings exactly,” Cassie agreed. “But he’s the one who mentioned Kieran in the first place, who said the guy’s in New Orleans. He’s sure to know something. Besides, I think he took a shine to me.”
Everyone stared at Gabriel when a deadly growl escaped his lips.
“I think that’s an understatement. He wanted to fuck you and take your blood,” Gabriel accused.
“Well… duh. He’s a vampire. That’s what they live for,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to traipse in there alone and offer myself to him. What do you take me for?”
“No,” Gabriel hissed, arms crossed. “You’re seven months pregnant with my child, Cass. It’s not happening.”
Cassie scowled and looked around for support. Rhys sighed and reached out to pat her arm.
“I’m afraid it’s out of the question, lass. It’s just too dangerous while you’re enceinte.”
“Fiiiiiiine,” Cassie sighed, putting her hands on top of her belly and staring downward. “Darn you, baby. You’re keeping me out of all the mischief!”
“That’s how I like it,” Gabriel said.
Cassie made a soft pfft noise, but didn’t reply. It was clear that she knew her mate was right, even if it kept her out of the action for a while longer.
“Let’s all work on some connections and come back to this tonight,” Rhys suggested, pushing himself up from the table.
Everyone murmured their assent and rose, and just like that the meeting was done. Duverjay moved around, picking up pastry dishes and clucking about croissant crumbs. Alice hesitated for a moment, looking at his dour expression, then rushed to follow Aeric back toward his rooms.
She walked through his bedroom and bathroom, eyeing the shower with longing, but stopped short when she found him standing in his crowded library, holstering his weapons.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to see Ciprian. He might have taken a shine to Cassie, but today he’s going to talk to me. I’m getting some answers,” Aeric grunted, sliding a pair of katanas into criss-crossed sheaths across his back, over his black tactical vest.
“Let me get some shoes on,” Alice said, turning back toward the door.
“Alice, you can’t go with me. This is going to be very dangerous. I don’t want you around this guy,” Aeric said, his voice oddly lacking inflection. He was speaking to her, but his gaze was distant, as if he was already planning his next ten moves in his head.
“Hey,” Alice said, snapping her fingers to get his attention. When he looked at her, she poked a finger at his chest. “You’re not leaving me here. We only just found each other, remember? That goes both ways.”
“It’s not a good idea for you to come,” he said, his muscles bunching beneath his shirt as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I don’t care. I want to be with you. Besides, I’m probably the most dangerous thing in the city right now,” Alice said frankly.
Aeric paused, watching her for a moment before he huffed out a laugh.
“Fine. But you’re going to tell me about being a Fury on the way there so that I understand what I’m dealing with,” he bargained.
Alice beamed.
“Deal!”
“You’re going to see a side of me that isn’t… charming,” Aeric warned her.
“Oh, darling… wait until my Fury comes out to play. I can make the skies rain blood,” Alice said, patting him on the hand. “It’s terrifying, I’m told.”
Aeric seemed without response to that, so Alice just grinned and moved toward the door.
“I’ll meet you downstairs by all the shoe boxes,” she said brightly.
Alice always did love an adventure…
6
Chapter Six
“And that about summarizes my abilities, to my knowledge,” Alice finished as she followed Aeric around a corner in a musty, dark series of hallways. Aeric glanced at her, amused at the way she doggedly kept up with him despite her three inch heels. His mate was equal parts pretty and determined, it seemed.
“Well, to be fair,” he said, swinging his flashlight back and forth when he came to a fork in the hallway. “You can literally sing someone to death, which is frightening. Everything you listed after that sort of pales in comparison.”
“Ah, yeah,” Alice said, frowning as she toed aside a clump of frayed carpet. They were somewhere deep in the bowels of a blood brothel, in a bolt-hole stashed in the Gray Market. It wasn’t a particularly impressive date, as they went, but Alice seemed unperturbed.
“Luckily, you mated a dragon, and we’re not scared of much,” he teased, bringing her smile back. Ah, so she had been feeling a little insecure for a moment. Alice was infinitely complex, and endlessly interesting to him. To the detriment of their ever finding the damned vampire’s crypt, unfortunately.
“Hey,” Alice said, pointing down the hallway to the right. “Does that door look funny to you?”
“Funny like it’s lined with steel, yes. Good eye there,” Aeric said, reaching up and pulling a single katana from his back. “This is it, all right. Stand well back, if you will. This is going to get a bit fiery.”
Rather than kick down a steel door, Aeric focused inward and summoned his dragon. He shifted his lips and nose, the inside of his mouth, his throat,
and his lungs to the protective scales of the dragon. Most importantly, he brought forth the second stomach that allowed the dragon to breathe fire. In a few moments’ work, he produced a plume of metal-melting fire from his lips in a short growl, burning up a vampire that stood guard just inside the door at the same time.
Releasing the shift and shaking off the dragon, Aeric brandished his sword and stepped into the room. Two more bloodsuckers stood inside the room, looking terrified.
“Alice! Come on,” he urged her. When she scurried in behind him, giving a wicked little smile at the smoking remains of the door, Aeric motioned to the two henchmen. “Run along, unless you want to go the same way as your friend there.”
The smoldering spot where the first guard went up in flames was enough to convince them, apparently, because both guards fled without another word.
“Wow,” Alice said as she turned to the centerpiece of the room, a massive coffin of made of bright gold. It was beautiful, but not terribly practical. One corner of it had already begun to soften just from Aeric’s little entrance. “You’d think he’d have a fire-safe coffin, wouldn’t you?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Aeric said, shaking his head. “But this just makes it easier for us.”
With another moment’s concentration, he covered both his hands with scales of gold every bit as brilliant as the coffin. Protected from the lingering heat of the coffin, he easily peeled back one corner of the coffin’s lid and then pushed the whole thing back. Ciprian lay inside, a lethal-looking blond man dressed in leather and spikes. He looked for all the world like a late seventies British punk rocker who’d fallen asleep after rocking the casbah too hard, Aeric thought with a smirk.
“This is who we’re looking for?” Alice said, a little baffled.
Just then the vampire’s bright blue eyes popped open. He sneered, his fangs dropping and giving him a more menacing air.
“There were are,” Aeric said. “They aren’t kidding when they say your kind sleep like the dead.”
Ciprian rose with a growl, but Aeric’s sword kept the vampire’s movements slow and purposeful.
“Easy,” Aeric warned.
“It smells of flesh in here,” Ciprian said. His words were thickly accented, something Eastern European that Aeric couldn’t begin to guess at.
“One of your men was a little too close to the door,” Aeric said, unapologetic.
“You smell very interesting yourself,” Ciprian said, leaning closer and trying to get a big whiff.
“Fuck off with that,” Aeric said, bringing the tip of his katana level with Ciprian’s chest. “Don’t anger the werebear.”
Ciprian’s lip lifted in another perfect sneer.
“You might take a bear’s form, but you’re no shifter,” he declared, curiosity burning bright in his eyes. “And accompanied by a Fury, no less…”
Alice crossed her arms, favoring Ciprian with a long look.
“I knew I recognized you from somewhere,” she said, cocking her head. “You ran with Vlad and the original vampyres, didn’t you?”
Ciprian flashed her an appreciative grin, all too much fang for Aeric’s taste.
“That I did. And you, my lady, are looking quite well for your age. What are you, just short of ten human centuries?” Ciprian asked.
Alice had the good grace to blush.
“It’s not polite to ask a lady’s age,” she muttered, avoiding Aeric’s curious gaze.
“Must be why you’re with this… creature,” Ciprian said, nodding to Aeric. “He’s not the only old soul left in the world though, sweetheart.”
“Do you have a death wish?” Aeric asked, pressing the tip of the sword against the vampire’s left collarbone.
“I’ve died once already. I wouldn’t care to repeat the experience,” Ciprian said, taking a step back.
“We came here for a reason,” Alice reminded Aeric gently. “Ask your questions before he irritates you into running him through.”
“By all means,” Ciprian said, with a mocking bow of his head. “Anything for a Fury and… I’ll figure you out soon enough, Guardian. Don’t you worry.”
“Pay attention,” Aeric ground out. The man had shockingly little concern for his own safety. “I’m looking Kieran.”
“So many Kierans, so little time,” Ciprian tsked, making a show of looking at his nails and buffing them on his shirt.
“Kieran the Gray, to be specific,” Alice piped up. When Aeric raised a brow, she clarified: “When Cassie met Ciprian, she said Ciprian called him Kieran the Gray.”
“Well?” Aeric prompted the vampire. “Kieran, Kellan, Gray… whatever the hell this guy’s name is, I want to find him.”
Ciprian gave a considering pout, seeming to phrase his words carefully.
“I doubt very much that you want to find anyone who answers to those names,” he said after a moment. “It has only ever been very unpleasant, in my experience.”
“So you’ve met him then?” Alice jumped in.
“Him?” Ciprian smirked. “You could say that we have met.”
“Quit talking in circles. I am losing what very little bit of patience I have,” Aeric said. “Do not make me ask again.”
Ciprian laughed and raised both his hands, less in defense and more in a release of personal responsibility.
“As you wish. You won’t be able to take Kieran on by yourself, of course.” At Aeric’s growl, Cirprian shook his head again. “Fine, fine. You may be able to find Kieran the Gray nursing a drink at Madam White’s. Storyville province, in the Gray Market.”
“He hangs out in the red light district?” Alice said skeptically.
“I think less for the companionship of ladies than for the discretion such places typically provide,” Ciprian sighed. “It cost me a pretty penny to get that information, once.”
“Well, obviously you found him, so it’s possible. When will he be there?” Aeric asked.
“Am I a reader of minds? No.” Ciprian scoffed, then seemed to relent. “Perhaps try during a football game? I believe Kieran roots for the New Orleans Saints.”
“Anything more you’d care to share?” Alice asked, playing sweet.
“I’ve seen this all, you know. The Oracle gave me this vision. Lucky for you, I want Pere Mal out of the city almost as badly as you do. He’s bad for business. Unfortunately, I think Kieran is going to put up more of a fight than you could imagine.”
“We have plenty of weapons, vampire,” Aeric snapped. His patience was at an end now, and he was seriously considering skewering the vampire. As long as he didn’t remove Ciprian’s head, it wouldn’t kill him.
Ciprian’s amused sneer made Aeric’s fingers twitch with longing.
“You’re going to need something a lot bigger than a little sword,” Ciprian said, then nodded at Alice. “Like her, or one of the other Guardians’ girls. Maybe all of them. I’ve never seen a Faerie pull out all the stops before.” Before Aeric could reply, Ciprian held up a hand to stop him. “This is good information. A Faerie, he will want something from you, something unique that only a Fury or an Oracle can provide.”
“If you’ve seen it, tell us what he asks for,” Alice said simply.
“My vision ends with you finding him at Madam White’s. What happens after that moment, I cannot begin to guess. Now, if you don’t mind, I need several more hours of sleep before dusk. Even vampires need their beauty rest, don’t you know?” Ciprian said.
His determination to end the encounter was clear in his voice and gaze.
“Very well,” Aeric said, looking down at the ruined coffin. “You ought to get something more practical to guard you in your sleep, vampire.”
Ciprian leaned closer and sniffed the air again.
“Almost metallic, your scent. Very interesting,” he noted, raising a challenging brow. It was clear that he was leveraging Aeric’s privacy against him in order to be left alone, but it wasn’t worth resisting.
“Goodbye then, old one,” Alice said
as Aeric clamped a hand around her wrist and drew her out of the room.
“That was interesting, to say the least,” he muttered, guiding her back down the hallway. “Now if only we can find our way out of here again, I think we’ve got a solid lead.”
“I go where you go, mate,” Alice said teasingly, linking her fingers with his after he sheathed his sword.
Her words were half-joking, but they resonated with Aeric. The way she called him mate gave him gooseflesh, and the words she spoke drove him on. It was true, after all.
Her fate lay with his now, and it was up to him to keep her safe.
7
Chapter Seven
Dominic.
Wake, Dominic.
Pere Mal’s opened his eyes, staring up at the faintly illuminated ceiling of his bedroom. Had the spirits called to him? He’d heard something, but he wasn’t sure what it had been. He sat up slowly, feeling the creak of his bones. He’d slept poorly of late, tensions rising in the city and in his own domain. His gray silk pajamas clung to his ebony skin, damp from his exertions, tossing and turning in his fitful sleep.
His attention was drawn to the candle on his bedside table. There was no draught in the room, but the candle flickered wildly for a few moments before guttering completely. A wisp of smoke rose, the acrid scent filling the air, and then the smoke seemed to take shape, beckoning like an elegantly-fingered hand.
The vestiges of sleep still holding him in sway, he stood and followed it without thought. His ancestors on the other side of the Veil, deep in the spirit realm, summoned him in any number of small ways. This felt no different at first until he stepped into the small private shrine just off his bedroom.