“Yeah, sorry about that. The portal we took back from Faerie shuttled us forward in time. Sort of a long story.”
“I’m just glad you’re back. Saw you on the monitor coming in.”
As I crossed the holding area to meet her, the skin across my girlfriend’s brow looked as taut as a drum. I felt horrible for worrying her, and here I was, about to hit her with more worry. But any inclination I had to back off was met by Mae Johnson’s stern admonition: You need to figure it out together.
I wrapped Vega in my arms and gave her a full-bodied hug. She reciprocated with a powerful embrace of her own. “I see you’re with Bree-yark and not the Upholders,” she said. “Was the time catch a bust?”
“Yes and no,” I sighed as we separated.
“All right, I recognize those bad-news eyes.” She circled her hand for me to spill it.
“The fae are compromised. Probably by Malphas. When we got to Crusspatch’s place, he was dead. Murdered. No doubt to deny my passage back to the time catch. Malphas must need more time for whatever he’s doing in there.”
“So what does that leave? Anything?”
“Well…” I shifted my gaze over to the cells.
Her eyes followed before cutting sharply back to mine. “Arnaud?”
“He has a direct line to the time catch that we can access.”
“So you’ll be depending on that scumbag to get you there?”
“And back,” I added.
“No. He’s not leaving that cell unless it’s in a dustpan.”
“I’ve tried everything else,” I said. “Claudius, Gretchen, the fae. It stinks to high hell, but this is what’s left.”
Gripping her arms across her body, Vega looked away and exhaled hard through her nose. “How long have you known?”
“I’m sorry?”
“How long have you known he offered a way back?”
She hadn’t taken the Arnaud news well, and now she suspected I’d withheld info. Which, of course, I had.
When her eyes returned to mine, they were hard as obsidian. Would she consider my admission endangering Tony? Our unborn child? Once more Mae’s frowning face appeared in my thoughts, nodding for me to go on and tell her. I opened my mouth. But before I could get the first word out, someone else spoke.
“I told him.”
I turned to find Caroline walking toward us. The hood of her cloak was down, and though her golden hair and cyan eyes were less radiant than they’d been in Faerie, they still suggested the supernatural.
“And you are…?” Vega asked.
“Caroline Reid,” she said, a hand appearing from her cloak as she arrived in front of us.
When Vega took it stiffly, I realized this was the first time the two most significant women in my adult life had met. And yet they couldn’t have been more different—an academic turned fae royalty and a child of the projects turned NYPD detective. Surreal didn’t come close to describing it.
I also noticed Caroline had used her maiden name.
“I think I remember you,” Vega said. “Reported missing a couple years ago?”
I looked between them in confusion, even more so when Caroline replied, “Yes.”
Holy crap, that’s right. The night Caroline had gone to Faerie with Angelus, and subsequently married him, Vega and I had been following a trail of Arnaud leads to recover her son. Throughout the night, I’d taken intermittent stabs at locating Caroline. At one point I’d even had Vega check to see if anyone had filed a missing person’s report on her. Though I’d never spelled out our relationship to her that night—which was at least a year before Vega and I got personal—she would have seen my anguish. She would have guessed that Caroline and I were close, if not involved.
Vega gave me a look now that was hard to read.
“We found her in Faerie,” I hurried to explain. “Or rather, she found us.”
“I have interests in the time catch too,” Caroline said. “And Everson’s right. Arnaud is our last recourse.”
“What does Arnaud get in exchange?” Vega asked.
“This.” I made a zero with my thumb and first two fingers. “The line to the time catch is embedded in his demonic makeup. We don’t need his consent to access it. We just need him to be with us.”
“To get there and back?” she said dryly. “And how do you plan to manage that?”
“Portable wards,” I said. “They’ll keep him cut off from the demonic realm.”
“And if he escapes?”
“He won’t,” Caroline said. “He’ll be under our power.”
One of Vega’s eyebrows went up. “Our?”
“The demon trap will be reinforced with fae enchantments,” I said. “Caroline here is fae,” I added awkwardly.
Vega’s lips pursed into a tight smile. “Everson, honey. Can I talk to you?”
I nodded at Caroline to tell her she could return to the cell. I wondered now why she’d come out in the first place. To help? She may have sensed the tension between Vega and me, prompting the intervention. Though now that I thought about it, she’d more likely acted out of self-interest. She wanted to speed things along.
Vega moved off a couple steps, then turned to face me.
“I thought you said the fae had been compromised,” she whispered.
“Yeah, someone high up in fae royalty. But when Caroline saw it happening, she left the kingdom, went into hiding.”
“And you know this how? Because she told you?”
“Because what she told me lines up with what I’ve observed.”
“And now she’s telling you the only way to get into this time catch is to free Arnaud.”
“He won’t be free. He—”
“Yeah, I know. He’ll be in portable wards with fae enchantments for ‘reinforcement.’” She air-quoted the word. “Her fae enchantments. How do you know they won’t be undermining your magic?”
She was sounding more and more like Bree-yark.
“You’re going to hate this answer,” I said, “but I just know.”
“Everson, she’s fae. You’ve never brought them up without using your next breath to list all the reasons why they can’t be trusted.”
When I caught Bree-yark nodding his head, I moved our conversation farther away.
“Look, you’re right to be suspicious,” I said. “Most fae are exactly how I’ve described them. But Caroline’s human side tempers that. We’re also … old friends. She was the one working behind the scenes to get the Upholders and me into the time catch.”
“Should I be worried you never mentioned that?”
“Oh c’mon, of course not. I just didn’t think the name meant anything to you.”
She studied my eyes for a moment. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“About Caroline?”
“About anything.”
Geez, where to begin? I was riffling through all that had happened that day—from my talk with Arnaud, to my vision of Malphas, to the pixies’ warning, to my encounters with Angelus and then Caroline—when I blurted out, “I think there’s another reason we’re supposed to take Arnaud into the time catch.”
“Another awful one?”
But her cynical remark barely registered. My words had arrived on the crest of an epiphany, and now the rest of it was crashing through me. I began pacing to compose my thoughts. “In that dream, Arianna told me the key to releasing her and the other members of the Order was to find Arnaud, right?”
“Mm-hmm,” Vega said impatiently.
“While waiting for some kind of follow-up message, I’ve been trying to get back to the time catch to find the Upholders. When I went to Gretchen for that help this morning, I told her Faerie was threatened. But when that failed to move her, I claimed the key to defeating Malphas and freeing the Order was in the time catch. I was talking completely out of my backside…”
Vega gave me a deadpan look that said, Really?
“But,” I thrust up a finger, “my magic agree
d. It’s been in this weird, almost meditative state all day. But when I said that, it suddenly snapped to and nodded. I think that’s what Arianna meant when she told me to find Arnaud. Because she knew I’d need him to return to the time catch, where I can also help the Order.”
Vega’s brow furrowed. “But didn’t the dream happen before you even went into the time catch the first time?”
“It did, but our collective magic isn’t bound by limited constructs of time and space. None of us can access the extent of our magic’s intelligence, but Arianna comes closest. She was relaying what it was telling her.”
“I still have a lot to learn about your world,” Vega muttered.
“So if my read on this is right, we have a shot at the Upholders, the Order, and stopping Malphas.”
“You’ve got that manic light going in your eyes again.”
“Which should tell you how strongly I feel about this.” Because the more I considered it, the more sense it made. Increasingly, the thought of using Arnaud to access the time catch felt less like a problem and more like a grand and elegant solution. I just hoped Vega would see it the same way.
She sighed. “Fine.”
I took her hands and squeezed. “Thank you.”
“But I do have a condition,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Regardless of whether or not you’re right, the first thing you’re going to do when you get back is destroy Arnaud. No discussion. No debate. I want his ass smoked. He can’t be in our world anymore.” For the first time, a kind of vulnerability crept into her eyes. She was asking for her son and our daughter.
I squeezed her hands again and nodded. “Done.”
“So who’s going with you besides Caroline?”
“That would be me,” Bree-yark said, jumping up from his chair and hustling over. Dropsy hopped to catch up. “Oh, and of course this little girl. She’s good luck.” When he stopped to lift her, she kicked excitedly.
“A pet lantern?” Vega asked.
“She’s enchanted,” I said. “We found her at Gretchen’s.”
Vega nodded as if that explained everything. “Have you considered support? I could arrange a unit to go with you.” She cocked her head toward the members of the Sup Squad. “Help you keep an eye on Arnaud.”
“Their weapons and tech can’t make the journey. And without that stuff, they’d be more liability than asset.” I thought again of how human they were beneath their cutting-edge equipment.
“I’ll be all the support he needs,” Bree-yark told Vega with a hint of insult.
“She’s looking out for all of us,” I said. “Anyway, you’ve helped enough. You don’t—”
He thrust a palm at me, cutting me off. “Can it, Everson. You’re not gonna shake this runt. I admit, I don’t get everything that’s happening here, but if it affects Faerie, it affects goblin-kind too. Besides, I started this thing with you, I’m gonna see it through to the flaming end. Debate over.”
Vega smirked. “How can you argue with that?”
“I’m not even going to try,” I said.
Bree-yark craned his thick neck around. “Is there a bathroom down here? I think the raisin bran just caught up with me.”
“That way,” Vega told him.
As Bree-yark hurried off, I said, “If nothing else, he’ll be good company. And when we locate the Upholders, we’ll have immediate reinforcements. Plus, there’s the time catch version of my grandfather. If we need him, I know where to find him. We’re going to have all the support we can handle.”
“Still, it’s Arnaud,” Vega said. “He escaped Hell.”
“Which means I’ll be more careful with him than ever.”
Vega squinted toward his cell. Though we could only see a sliver of window from our angle, the demon-vampire hadn’t approached it. He remained in the back, waiting. Taking him into the time catch was the right call—I still believed that—but a part of me hadn’t stopped recoiling at the idea.
“So, what now?” Vega asked.
“We build our portable trap,” I said.
And make it damned strong.
18
I slick-gripped the door handle and pulled until only the oscillations in the charged air separated me from the demon-vampire.
“Mr. Croft,” Arnaud said from the back of the cell. “How nice to see you.”
The grin below his predatory stare caught slightly as I stepped through the wards. He hadn’t expected me to enter. Up close, I could see the sunken skin around his eyes better. Less than twenty-four hours after being cut off from the infernal realm, and he was starting to waste away. The demon-vampire kept his composure, though, back erect, thin fingers laced around his folded knee.
“I trust your outing was fruitful?” he asked.
“After giving the matter careful consideration,” I recited stiffly. “I’ve decided to enlist you in accessing the time catch.”
His eyes snapped past me to the two members of the Sup Squad positioned outside the door, weapons aimed. They were wearing noise cancellers inside their helmets in the event he tried to talk to them. His grin steepening, he returned his attention to me.
“Of course you have,” he purred. “Just as I foretold it.”
“Good. Then I’m going to need you to stand and face that wall.”
Arnaud chuckled. “You seem to be missing a key point, Mr. Croft. I am the sole proprietor of an asset you urgently need. More so now with the time you’ve squandered. Am I to surrender something so valuable without talk of recompense? Oh, no. That’s not how this is to go at all. Indeed, I have some terms.”
“Stand and face the wall,” I repeated.
Anger flashed in his eyes, and he released his knee. “I will not be talked to like a—”
“Balaur!” I shouted.
The power I’d been withholding detonated from Grandpa’s ring and drove Arnaud’s flailing body into the rear wall. The cell’s ward repulsed him, throwing him against the side wall, and then the wall opposite. Each collision wrung a scream from his scorched body. At last, he slumped at my feet, smoke drifting from his tangled robe.
I’d hoped the son of a bitch wouldn’t cooperate.
Even so, I had held back. We needed him alive.
Dropping a knee onto his low back, I pulled a set of manacles from the rear of my pants. Arnaud moaned as I secured his wrists and then clamped a connecting manacle around his neck, covering the brand of his master. A warded muzzle went over his mouth, and I cinched it as tightly as I could.
I never wanted to hear that fucking voice again.
The restraint system was one of several implements I’d custom-made for the NYPD for use on supernaturals. With a few modifications it would be suitable for Arnaud.
From a pocket, I produced a pen with a tungsten carbide tip and began scratching out sigils in the restraint’s alloy metal while uttering charged words in a long-dead language. The essential energies of the cell funneled through me and into Arnaud’s new confinement. When I finished, I tested each sigil, then hauled Arnaud to his feet.
“You want recompense?” I whispered in his ear. “How about no one gives a shit?”
I dragged him from the cell and threw him onto the polyethylene sheet I’d pulled from my cubbyhole and spread over the floor. He collapsed into the casting circle and pulled himself into a tremulous ball. I retrieved my coat and cane and walked over to where Vega and Bree-yark were watching.
Caroline’s turn.
As she knelt behind him, Arnaud’s gaze rolled up to her. Recognition seemed to take hold. He looked over at me, eyes staring with a kind of bloodshot desperation. I returned a smirk and a shrug.
We had cleared the basement of extra officers, and the space was so quiet now that I could hear Caroline’s fae energies whispering through his restraints. Some of them kept Arnaud subdued, while others bolstered the wards and sigils I’d installed, and still others wove in new enchantments. His eyelids quivered, then closed. After another
moment, I sensed Caroline exploring his memory.
“What’s she doing?” Vega whispered.
“Looking for what he was up to in the time catch,” I answered. “Along with anything else that might be relevant to Malphas’s plan.”
As Vega slid an arm around my waist, I imagined the doubts running behind her brow. How do you know she won’t be undermining your magic? The reasons I’d given her were sound, but in the end it was an odds game. Nothing was one hundred percent. I rubbed Vega’s shoulder and pulled her against me.
Caroline turned toward us. “I’m afraid the memories are scrubbed out.”
By Malphas, no doubt, I thought bitterly. Probably before I transported Arnaud here to the cell. “So, there’s nothing?”
“Just fragments of him handling the energy you described, but not how or why.”
Disappointment weighed on me like chainmail. It looked like we’d have to investigate the questions ourselves. When Caroline fell silent again, I sensed her exploring the line to the time catch. Hopefully that was still intact. As seconds stretched into minutes, my shirt clung damply to my back.
At last, Caroline opened her eyes. “The way is ready.”
Surprised by the announcement, my voice snagged for a second. “To the time catch?”
She nodded and stood. Vega patted my hip before separating and helping me back into my coat.
“Are you sure you have everything you need?” she asked.
“I have everything that’s going to make the journey.”
With my coat on, I slung my pack over a shoulder. Everything was lighter. Like the last time I’d made this journey, there were restrictions on what I could take. No potions, combustibles, or electronics, and only two enchanted items. My cane was essential, and I wanted Grandpa’s ring as a backup for Arnaud. But I’d also pocketed Gretchen’s iron amulet, putting me one over the safe limit.
I turned to Bree-yark. “Hey, would you mind carrying this for me?”
I’d agreed that he could bring Dropsy—he kept insisting she was good luck, and she had bailed us out in Kinloch Forest. That left space on him for another enchanted item. He nodded and opened the mouth of his pouch.
Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) Page 12