Ellia came with me, since I was going to give her a ride to the meeting, and on the way back to my place I tried to think of a way to tell her that I thought Puck was still hung up on her. After a moment, I decided to just be blunt.
“I think Puck still has feelings for you,” I said.
Ellia let out a long sigh. “I know he does. And I still have feelings for him. He may look around your age but he’s far, far older than either of us. I wasn’t going to tell you, because it is his secret to tell, but I’m going to confide in you and ask that you keep this private.”
“Of course. I promise I won’t say anything.”
She nodded. “Good. The reason I can’t be with Puck is very simple but very big. He’s an incubus. He can’t commit to one woman because it’s not his nature. And I am not the sort of woman who can share. My life is too complicated, and there is far too much danger for any of the other women in his life. Suppose one of them decided she was jealous and came after me? There’s always the danger I could drive her insane. If I am to have anyone share my life in an intimate way, they have to be able to survive my touch, and they have to lead an uncomplicated life of their own.”
I kept my eyes on the road, trying to navigate the icy patches. The snow kept coming down, and the snowplows couldn’t keep up with it.
“An incubus? That would explain why he looks the same age as he did when I was a little girl. And that would explain the constant parade of women. But I didn’t know incubi could get STDs.”
“Perhaps I should have said, he’s half incubus. His mother was human, and his father was an incubus. If he’d been born a woman he would have been born part succubus. His mother died a couple hundred years ago. That’s when Puck came to the United States. He was born in Moldavia in 1741. He came to the United States in 1832.”
“That explains a lot. I won’t pressure you. I just hate to see two people who obviously care about each other go their separate ways. But I guess love can’t conquer all, as you said earlier.” I decided to change the subject. “I hope Bryan has made it home. By the way, his daughter is coming for a visit. I finally get to meet her.”
“How do you feel about that?” Ellia asked.
“Honestly? I’m a little frightened. I don’t think that we’ll clash, but meeting the family is always such a big step. Bryan and I are already engaged, so it’s not like we’re seeking her blessing, but I suppose I’m worried that she won’t like me, and that will drive a wedge between Bryan and me.”
“Bryan adores you. He wouldn’t have asked you to marry him if he didn’t mean it. His daughter is a grown woman, and he may respect her feelings but he’s not going to base his choice to marry you on her reaction. That I guarantee you.” Ellia smiled.
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. And thank you for what you said about Puck. I know he still has feelings for me. But he and I agreed long ago that we’re better off as friends. We’ll always be fond of each other, and care about each other, but sometimes love just can’t win out over big obstacles.”
As we pulled into my driveway, I saw Bryan’s Lexus sitting there. I noticed he had gotten snow tires. Ellia and I hustled inside, thoroughly chilled and wet from our zombie chase.
Bryan peeked around the edge of the kitchen, smiling when he saw me. “Where have you been? I texted you three times that we were on the way.”
I shook my head, pulling my phone out to check it. “I didn’t hear the notifications, but that doesn’t surprise me, considering a zombie was chasing me around Piper’s Copse. We have to hustle. The meeting convenes in fifteen minutes.”
Bryan stopped short. “What the hell are you talking about? What zombie?”
“I’ll tell you all about it at the meeting. The others will need to know. Where’s Juliana?” I looked around, expecting to see her behind her father.
“She’s over at my house settling herself in. I told her we’d hang out after the meeting. Are you all right?” He addressed the question to both Ellia and me.
I shrugged. “I’m just cold and wet. I’m going to change before we go, so if you could get everything ready and out to the car, we can just head out as soon as I’m done.” I hustled into the bedroom, leaving him to talk to Ellia.
I stripped off my clothes and glanced at the clock. We had ten minutes, not enough for a full shower, but I hurried into the bathroom and turned on the water, stepping under the wonderfully warm shower just long enough to take the edge off the chill. After a couple of minutes, I reluctantly toweled off, then changed into clean jeans and a turtleneck sweater. I sat on the bed, pulling on clean socks and a different pair of snow boots, lacing them up quickly. Then, finding another coat that wasn’t soaked through, I slid it on. Finally, I jammed a hat over my ears and pulled on a pair of dry gloves.
Finally, I glanced at the clock again. We had five minutes to get to Niles’s garage. We’d be late, but that was just going to have to be okay.
Jogging back out to the living room, I threw my purse over my shoulder and turned to Ellia and Bryan. “I’m ready. Let’s go.” As we headed to the car, Bryan wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Ellia told me what happened,” he whispered. “This is why I’m retiring. I should have been there.”
“Why don’t you drive,” I said, climbing in the passenger seat.
As Ellia settled herself into the backseat, Bryan fastened his seatbelt and we eased out of the driveway. I glanced back at the house, trying to remember if I had locked the door. Then, as Bryan began to tell me about his day, I returned my focus to the present. I was tired of worrying, and for once, I just wanted to enjoy the evening.
The Crescent Moon Society met in the bottom of the auto garage owned by Niles Vandyke, a gorgeous, muscled, heavily tattooed mechanic. There was a secret entrance to the meeting chambers in the back of the janitor’s closet, and there was always a guard posted up front, watching to keep unwanted visitors out.
As Ellia, Bryan, and I descended the steep circular staircase leading down to the meeting rooms, I ran over my notes in my mind.
The Crescent Moon Society had formed shortly after Whisper Hollow was founded, and their primary duty was to back up the work of the spirit shamans. Later, they had branched out to take on creatures that the spirit shamans couldn’t deal with—the forest denizens who made their home around the town.
Currently led by Starlight Williams, the Crescent Moon Society answered to the Matriarchs of the town. For that matter, I answered to the Matriarchs as well. Oriel, Ivy, and Ellia were truly the ones who ran the town, at least when it came to the magical side of things. Unfortunately, Cú Chulainn’s Hounds had infiltrated a number of the financial sectors of Whisper Hollow, and there was an uneasy balance between the two sides.
Everyone had gathered around the table by the time we got there.
Starlight glanced up. “You’re late.”
Of course she would announce that I was late. That was just the way Starlight was.
“That’s because I was running from a zombie all afternoon. A zombie most likely raised by the necromancer who is terrorizing the town and murdering our teenagers. Now, do you want to continue to dwell on the fact that I’m late? Or should I dive right in to the heart of the matter?” I flashed her a dazzling smile, showing my teeth just a little to remind her that she didn’t intimidate me.
Starlight blinked, immediately switching gears. “I think we can adjourn with old and new business for the moment. Please, tell us what’s going on.”
“Let’s see, first there’s a serial killer running around town. Second, it’s been brought to my attention that he’s a necromancer. Third, not only is he slaughtering our children, he also happens to be stealing souls from the Unliving to fuel whatever other powers he’s using. Fourth, this afternoon Puck called Ellia and me over to deal with what he thought was one of the Unliving. It happened to be a zombie. Who can raise the dead into zombies? Necromancers. I think we have a pattern.”
Pe
ggin, who was sitting with Deev across the table, coughed. Her eyes twinkled as she winked at me and suppressed a smile.
Starlight and the others sat there, staring at me, open-mouthed. I wanted to add something flippant like, Not so quick to judge me now on being late, are you? But I decided to take the high road.
After a moment, Trevor Riverstone, owner of the Vintage Bookstore, let out a slow breath. “How many kids has this guy killed? I haven’t even heard anything on the news about it.”
“Three that we know of. And you probably haven’t heard anything because it didn’t hit the news until a day or so ago. But there’s more,” I said.
“Of course there is,” Starlight muttered.
I didn’t even look at her. “I had a long talk with Veronica. Apparently our serial killer has been hard at work across the entire United States. He’s traveled around the country, draining the souls of the Unliving and using that energy to strengthen his powers. Apparently he’s got the ability to charm his victims. He’s a true psycho, a real fucknut.”
“And he targets teens,” Ellia said.
“Right. He stabs them brutally, then rapes their dead bodies before he dumps them. Once he thinks the authorities are closing in, he moves on to a new town and the cycle starts all over again. We have to stop him. I don’t know how many victims he’s claimed over the years, but if he’s topic-trending on the gossip mill among the Unliving, you know it has to be quite a few.”
“What happened with the zombie again?” Tonya said.
I told her. “If Puck hadn’t had a flamethrower, I’m not sure what we would have done. And then, of course, Sophia had her silver bullets.”
“I found out who the zombie was, at least when he was alive,” Frank said, speaking up. He was still in uniform. “A few days ago, Chester Beauchamp vanished. He was part owner of one of the local gyms and also a regular at Misty’s Bar & Grill. In the old days, Chester cut quite a figure, and he was still extremely strong. But he fell off the wagon one too many times when it came to the booze, and lately he’s been hanging out at the bar most of the time. He came up missing a few days ago and his wife reported it to the police, but we all thought he was just on another bender.”
“That’s the problem with regulars like that,” Gareth muttered. “It’s hard to tell the difference between This person’s in trouble and This person’s drunk off his ass again.”
“When Chief Castillo saw him behind Puck’s, she recognized him, even though he had been dead for about four days. The medical examiner is checking him over now, trying to ascertain how he died. The guy was still in pretty good health except for his liver, and even that hadn’t taken too much damage. His wife said he disappeared when he went out to run an errand late one evening. He didn’t come home. At first she thought he might just be at the bar but when she woke up the next morning and he was still gone, she called us and filed a report.”
“So, we have a necromancer running around town. He’s a serial killer, not only deadly with his magic, but with his desires. Do you have any other information?” Niles leaned back in his chair. “I suppose we could send out a posse to look for him. Whisper Hollow isn’t that big. I’m sure if we went through every thicket and copse in the area we could drive him out.”
“Yeah, I talked to the spirits of Rosemary Leeland and Emmet O’Malley, her boyfriend. They gave me a basic description.” I told them what the spirits had told me, including the information about the guy’s backpack. “It shouldn’t be terribly hard to find him. As you said, Whisper Hollow isn’t that big. Also, he should have a speaking skull, which he uses to store the energy from the Unliving in. I think that if you break the skull, it may destroy that extra power.” I leaned back in my chair. At least I didn’t have to go through this on my own.
“I feel so horrible for the parents,” Ivy said softly. She knew what it was like to lose a child too young.
“I was thinking,” I said. “Can you talk to the Faerie Folk and ask them if they’ve noticed anything around town? Maybe check out the ones in the areas where Rosemary, Emmet, and Nancy Westerford were killed?”
She frowned. “Chances are, they won’t respond. The Winter Fae are far more aloof than the Summer, and the forest Fae aren’t going to want anything to do with this sort of thing. I suppose I could try, but honestly? I don’t think we’ll get any help.”
Gareth spoke next. “I’ll call out my men, and we’ll start a thorough search of the surrounding area. If he’s out there, we’ll find him.”
Frank held up his hand. “I don’t mean to put a crimp in your plans, but we’re dealing with a serial killer who can also work powerful magic. Death magic. We don’t know what spells he can cast, and he’s draining the souls of the Unliving to strengthen his abilities. Do you really want to put your men in that danger?”
Gareth thought for a moment, then gave Frank a single nod. “That’s what we’re here for. That’s what we do. My men aren’t afraid, but they aren’t stupid, either. We’ll go in threes. That way, if he targets one of us, the others can just shoot the sucker in the gut. That’ll put a stop to him casting any magic.”
Frank winced. It had to be hard for him to hear plans that went against his oath as a police officer. On the other hand, both Frank and Sophia knew that we didn’t live in a normal town, and the villains in Whisper Hollow weren’t any ordinary villains. Quite often, they couldn’t be confined behind cell walls and iron bars. Sometimes our only options were ones beneath the radar.
“All right. You made your point. Once I leave this room, I know nothing about what you’re doing. But keep in touch. And call if you need backup.” Frank tossed his pen on the table.
“I have another thought, and it’s probably far-fetched, but do you think that the necromancer was targeting me with the zombie? It seemed fixated on me.”
That escalated a cascade of chatter.
“Do you think he’s originally from Whisper Hollow?” Oriel asked.
“I don’t know. It just seemed odd that the zombie would focus on me. He’d already attacked Liza, Puck’s girlfriend du jour. You’d think the blood would draw his attention more than my presence.” I shook my head.
“But why would he be in Puck’s woods?” Starlight asked. “Wouldn’t he be hanging out in your backyard instead? I honestly don’t think that the zombie was targeting you in particular. Maybe he sensed your energy? Remember, you’re the spirit shaman. You work with the dead, so you have a similar energy to a necromancer. And I can tell you right now, magically, that’s true. I can feel it. It shrouds you like a cloak.”
Part of me wanted to snap at her, but I knew she didn’t mean it as an insult. And she was essentially correct. My aura reeked of death and the spirit world.
“You have a point. If it was targeting me, why didn’t the zombie show up in my backyard? But I just can’t get rid of the feeling that the moment it saw me, it turned its focus to me.”
She smiled, giving me a light shrug. “That could be explained by it sensing your energy when you arrived. But I agree with you that this is a serious problem. If anything, it indicates an escalation of the necromancer’s powers. Or ego. At least Sophia instituted a curfew and I encourage everyone, if you have kids, make sure they’re safe and indoors when they aren’t at school. He may be targeting teenagers, but who knows if he’ll switch his MO to younger victims. I’d suggest calling in the FBI, but somehow I don’t think they would fully appreciate the nature of this town.” She sat back, looking pensive. Starlight had two children of her own, and even though one was a first-class troublemaker and a budding sociopath himself, I knew how worried she was.
“Speaking of Sophia, Frank—did you guys find anything in that lair that Trecht found last night?” I asked. “You told everyone who Trecht is, right?”
Frank shrugged. “I told them. And there were a few things. Castoff clothing, and at least one piece belonged to Rosemary, so the serial killer is taking souvenirs. Some discarded cans that had contained food. Nothing th
at can help us identify the killer, though.”
So much for that lead.
“I was wondering if there’s anybody in the Society who has magical powers like Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings,” Peggin spoke up. “If we have a first-class tracker who can use magic to track others, then wouldn’t it be easier to find the serial killer?”
Gareth gave her a thumbs-up. “My brother would be perfect for that. If he’s willing to help us. I’d have to ask him. What do the rest of you think?”
“Are you talking about Liam?” Frank asked.
Gareth gave him a quick nod. “I know you told him never to show his face around town again, but he lives up in the woods, and quite frankly, he’s the only one I can think of who could pull off something like what Peggin is talking about. Liam’s the best tracker out there, and you know it.”
“I know, but…” Frank paused, glancing at the rest of us.
But Gareth continued, ignoring the fact that we were all watching them by now. “You know this feud between the two of you is stupid. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I’m telling you this and you’d better listen. The last thing you need is to have him on the other side. Right now he’s playing Switzerland. But if you don’t do something to mend the fence that you broke, he’ll move over to the Hounds. And trust me, the last thing you want is Liam working for Cú Chulainn’s Hounds.”
With that, Gareth fell silent and all eyes turned to Frank.
The cop stared at him, impassive. After a moment, he heaved his shoulders and said, “Fine. I’ll talk with him if you set up a meeting. Find a neutral place and we’ll find some way to make peace. I’ll find a way to make peace. We can use Liam’s help, and I will be the first one to admit it.”
The Phantom Queen Page 17