Blood Kin: A Novel of the Half-Light City

by M. J. Scott

  I met Simon’s gaze without flinching, but I didn’t say anything. The vampire—Atherton—was still far too close for comfort, the gaslights making his pale skin eerily white. His fangs were paler still, glinting at me. He could tear out my throat before I could blink if he chose.

  “Would you care to tell me exactly what you’re doing here?” Simon continued when it became clear I wasn’t going to answer.

  I lifted my chin. “How about you tell me what you’re doing here first?”

  The vampire hissed at me and I flinched.

  “Atherton,” Simon said sharply. “Let her go. She can’t get very far.”

  No, I couldn’t. Nor was I going to try with Simon’s pistol pointed with casual ease at my head.

  With another snarl, the vampire stepped back.

  “Are you armed?” Simon asked.

  I shook my head. I hadn’t thought to grab even my razor as I’d set out. I hadn’t expected to need it. Getting too cocky. Or too driven by the geas into following before I could properly prepare myself.

  “Search her,” Simon said to Atherton.

  I held out my arms and let him pat me down. No point doing otherwise. To his credit, his hands were coolly professional. He didn’t take any liberties.

  “Nothing,” he reported.

  Simon nodded, and then gestured with the gun. “Miss Everton, why don’t you take a seat? There are things we need to discuss.”

  I nodded and did what he asked, choosing a high-backed wooden chair beside the nearest bed. I wasn’t looking forward to this next part. I didn’t think the geas was going to let me answer any questions, and Lady knew what would happen to me after that.

  Simon sat on the bed opposite and the vampire moved behind me, making me wish for eyes in the back of my head.

  “So, let’s start again,” Simon said. “Why are you following me?”

  “I—” I tried to answer, but my throat closed over, a wave of nausea gripping me. The geas. My throat burned and tears rose in my eyes. I shook my head at Simon.

  He frowned. “Come, now, we have you red-handed. There’s no point in trying to protect whoever it is you’re working for.”

  I swallowed and shook my head again, making a slashing gesture across my throat. Let him think I was in fear for my life. Maybe chivalry would make him treat me with some understanding.

  “I take it from your silence you are unwilling to name names?” Simon’s fingers drummed the barrel of the pistol.

  I shook my head again. Not unwilling. Frankly, there was nothing that would please me more than to cast Cormen into the hands of the humans and let them do with him as they would.

  I tried again to speak, but as expected, the geas bit again, sending a throb of pain to my head so fierce it made me gasp. “I—” I tried again, not knowing why I was bothering. Other than the fact that I felt more loyalty to the man in front of me and his brother than I did to the man who’d sired me.

  Apparently I pushed the geas too far. The next thing I knew I was slumped on the floor, with Simon leaning over me.

  “Don’t move too fast,” he said, sounding exasperated. “You’ll faint again.”

  “I fainted?”

  “Yes.” His blue eyes narrowed at me. “Though there’s no earthly reason why you should have. Which makes me suspect an unearthly one. Lady Bryony is on her way down. Perhaps she’ll be able to discern what I cannot.”

  Lords of hell. That was all I needed. A high Family Fae poking around in my brain. Would she be able to spot the geas? If she did, could she remove it?

  Doubtful. Cormen wouldn’t have sent me here in the first place if that were possible. Still, a small shred of hope flared within me.

  While I waited to find out, I looked carefully at the beds around me but couldn’t determine what was wrong with their occupants. Nothing to indicate why they were hidden away down in the bowels of St. Giles, under the care of a sunmage and a vampire. My mind buzzed with possibilities, but I was also more than a little distracted wondering what was going to happen to me next.

  Would I be handed over to the human authorities? Sent back to the Night World? What would Cormen do to me? What would he do to my mother? Or Reggie?

  I laid my head on my knees for a moment, not wanting Simon to see the despair I felt written on my face.

  But I didn’t get the luxury of being able to compose myself for too long. The door snapped open again and Bryony appeared.

  “What happened?” she said, her gaze fixed on me. I shifted uneasily. The chain around her neck had a dark blue-purple tinge to it. An angry Fae was something to be wary of.

  “She followed me down here.” Simon plucked the invisibility charm he’d confiscated. “She used this.”

  The hear-me in my boot felt very hard against my skin. Atherton hadn’t discovered it in his search. It shouldn’t be noticeable in its dormant state, but who knew what Lady Bryony could or could not sense? I didn’t want to give it up.

  Bryony took the charm in her hands and studied it a moment. “Nice work,” she said, rubbing it between her fingers. “Yours?”

  “Yes,” I admitted.

  Her eyebrows flickered upward. “You could earn a lot of money making charms this strong,” she said. “What are you doing sneaking around St. Giles?”

  “My charms don’t work very well for other people,” I admitted. I avoided answering the second part of her question. I really didn’t want to faint again.

  “I see,” said Bryony. “She fainted?” She directed her question at Simon.

  He nodded. “Nothing wrong with her that I can see. She was worn out earlier, but we were just talking and then she gasped and keeled over.”

  Bryony’s eyes darkened further. She came closer. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  I waited for the grip of the geas, but it didn’t come. I nodded my head slowly.

  The dark head tilted. “Next question. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

  I knew the answer to that one. Felt the geas rise within me even as I considered nodding my head again. I stayed motionless, not knowing if even a denial would bring on another fainting fit at this point.

  Bryony made a curious humming sound in the back of her throat and then laid a hand on my head. Power swirled around me, invisible but turning the air around me to prickling eddies. Not warm and calm like Simon’s. No, this was more like standing on the edge of a summer storm.

  “Anything?” Simon asked.

  “No. But that’s to be expected.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I suspect Miss Everton is under a geas,” Bryony said. “The whole point of a geas is that it can’t be detected. They’ve been used for assassinations in the Veiled Court. Not that the assassins usually survive the experience. Those who compel them usually add a command to commit suicide at the end.”

  I sucked in a breath, ice seizing my stomach. Could Cormen have done that to me? I hadn’t heard him say it, but I hadn’t understood all the Fae conditions he’d added at the end. Was I going to go through all of this and then kill myself?

  Nausea swept through me and I had to close my eyes and breathe slowly not to vomit.

  “Though,” Bryony added, “that is unusual. It’s more likely she was sent to find something out. Would that be right, Miss Everton?”

  I risked the merest fraction of a nod. I paid for the small gesture of acknowledgment, though, when my throat tightened painfully, making me fight for air. I bent over, gasping, head throbbing.

  “Don’t fight it,” Bryony said dispassionately. “Do what it wants and it will loosen its grip.”

  “I was doing what it wants,” I said when I could talk again. “They stopped me.” I nodded toward Simon and Atherton.

  “What do we do now?” Simon asked.

  “We should hand her over to the Templars, let them deal with her,” Atherton said. His scarred face turned toward me, mouth twisted down. The sense of thunder brewing around Bryony had eased in the last m
inute or so, but Atherton still seemed poised to strike.

  “Doing that entails explaining why we have her down here and exactly what she was up to,” Simon said.

  My ears pricked up. The Templars didn’t know about this place? My stomach coiled. Gods, did Guy not know? What on earth could Simon be doing down here that he would be hiding from his own brother?

  I looked at the beds, at all the sleeping patients. Who were still asleep despite the conversation being carried on in their midst. The unease in my stomach deepened. I turned back to the three who were deciding my fate.

  Simon rubbed his chin. “Can you undo the geas?” he asked Bryony.

  “No. Only the one who laid the geas can do that. Or perhaps the Veiled Queen. If she should choose.”

  I choked again, this time from surprise. The Veiled Queen could free me? I swallowed. Somehow, doing what Cormen wanted seemed more appealing than begging a favor from the Fae queen.

  “Obviously whoever sent her is interested in what you’re doing down here,” Bryony went on. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

  “Nothing was said,” Atherton replied.

  “I don’t know anything,” I added, trying to work out how to minimize the damage that had been done. Talk fast, Holly girl. “Only that this ward exists.”

  “That could be enough,” Simon added.

  “I didn’t want to do it,” I said, then doubled over, retching again, as pain gripped me.

  “Free will or its lack might count for something,” Simon said. “But that’s not up for me to decide.”

  I straightened. “Who does get to decide?”

  “Given the situation, I think you know the answer to that,” Simon said. “I’m turning you over to Guy.”

  “No!” I sprang to my feet, panic flaring. I couldn’t face Guy. Not now.

  “Too late for regrets now,” Simon said, shaking his head at me.

  Bryony suddenly twisted toward the door, a strange expression on her face. “Truer words than you think,” she muttered.

  Simon turned as well. “What—” His words cut off, his face paling as the door swung inward and Lily and Guy walked through.

  Simon moved to block their path. “Lily? What are you—”

  “I was looking for Holly,” Guy said. “I found Lily down here in the tunnels. She was kind enough to bring me here when I asked where you might be.”

  “Have you lost your mind?” Simon said to Lily.

  Lily didn’t blink. Just shook her head, red hair flicking around her shoulders, face set. Even I could tell she didn’t mean to be stopped from doing whatever it was she had decided to do. “It’s time, Simon.”

  Simon’s eyes flicked from Lily to Guy. “I—”

  Lily moved closer to him, put a hand on his cheek. “It’s time.”

  Simon bowed his head, eyes closed. The rest of us were frozen, where we stood, watching the two of them.

  “Somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on,” Guy said.

  Chapter Twenty

  GUY

  “I think we’ll let Holly explain,” Simon said.

  I tried to keep my temper as I turned from my brother to Holly. “Holly?”

  She stared at me, eyes huge in her face. She looked scared. Scared and guilty. My hand curled around my sword hilt while I waited for an answer. I still wasn’t entirely sure where Lily had led me, through the tunnels and two warded iron doors, but it seemed I wasn’t going to like it when I found out. Any more than I liked the expression on Holly’s face.

  My gut twisted. Had she played me? This woman who’d gotten under my skin? Who’d gotten me into her bed and led me into the Night World. I glanced down at the mutilated tattoos on my hands, sickened. Had it all been for nothing? All lies?

  Holly folded her hands in her lap, her knuckles white. But she met my gaze. “I was spying on Simon.”

  I froze. “What?” She was working against my brother? My hand tightened until the metal hilt bit into my skin.

  “You heard me.”

  “Why?” It was all I could think to ask, through the fury setting my brain alight.

  She shook her head. “I can’t answer that.”

  “Can’t?”

  “Literally, can’t,” Bryony said, moving to stand beside Holly. “She’s under a geas, Guy.”

  I blinked. Bryony defending a half-breed? Maybe the world had gone mad tonight. I tried to think through my need to hit something. “Someone is forcing her to spy?” The new scar on my head throbbed. “Is this because of what happened at the Assembly tonight? Is it Ignatius?” Could a Blood Lord compel her through his blood? Please let it be true. I wanted to believe she hadn’t been lying to me. That my faith in her had been justified.

  “No,” Holly said.

  Her blunt answer felt like an actual blow. I couldn’t breathe. So much for faith. I found my voice with an effort. “Then when?”

  Holly didn’t answer.

  Fuck. “This whole time?”

  She nodded, not looking at me.

  “Fucking—” I swung around to Simon. I wanted answers. Even if I had to pound them out of him. “What was she looking for?”

  Simon stiffened. “I don’t—”

  “Don’t lie to me, Simon. If Holly was sent here, then there’s something worth finding out. I didn’t press you when Lucius came after you, but I’m asking you now. What are you doing that has the Night World up in arms?” I looked around the room, registering the rows of beds with sleeping patients. “What the hell is this place?”

  “What makes you think I’m doing anything?” Simon said.

  “For someone who isn’t doing anything, you’re attracting an awful lot of attention lately,” I snarled.

  Simon folded his arms, not moving. “Are you going to behave if I tell you?”

  “That rather depends on what you’re going to tell me.” I folded my own arms, more to keep my hands away from my sword or my brother’s face than anything else.

  He was up to something. All this time, through the assassination attempts, through killing Lucius, he’d been up to something. There was a reason he’d been targeted beyond the strength of his magic. One he hadn’t told me. The thought of Simon lying to me tore at my guts.

  “Sit down,” Simon said, gesturing to a chair near one of the beds.

  “I prefer to stand.”

  Simon swore under his breath. He turned to look at Lily. She just nodded at him.

  “Any time now,” I said as the silence stretched.

  “I’m figuring out where to start.”

  “That seems simple enough. Tell me whatever it is that you’re doing that made Lucius want to kill you. People have gone to a lot of trouble for you, Simon. People have been killed because of what you did to Lucius.”

  Simon’s face was grim. “I know.”

  “So tell me what’s so important that you hid it from all of us.”

  “Bryony knew.”

  “If you think the fact that you told one of the Fae before you trusted me is going to improve my mood, then think again, little brother.”

  “All right. I’ll tell you. But you have to promise to hear me out.”

  “No. Don’t,” Holly said. Her voice sounded strained and she was suddenly gasping, bent over double.

  “She’s right,” Bryony said. “If you tell her, then it may trigger the geas to do Lady knows what.”

  Holly was still gasping, writhing in place. Part of me wanted to help her. I ignored it. I wasn’t going to be fooled twice. “What do you mean?”

  “If this is what she was sent to find out about, then once she does, she will most likely be compelled to try and return to whoever cast the geas. She’ll fight.”

  “She can’t fight her way past Lily and me.”

  “Are you willing to cut her down?” Lily said. Her eyes were cool.

  I looked at Holly, who stared back, eyes frightened as she gasped for breath. She had betrayed me. But I couldn’t kill her. “You can knock her out, can�
��t you?” I said to Simon finally.

  “Yes,” he replied slowly, looking unhappy at the thought.

  “It may be too late already,” Bryony said. “She knows about the ward.”

  “I think we can safely assume whoever is behind this knows Simon’s hiding something down here. Otherwise they wouldn’t keep coming after him,” I said. “Knock her out. We’ll deal with her afterward.”

  I watched as Simon touched Holly’s head and the green eyes slid shut. She slumped over in the chair. Simon lifted her and laid her on an empty bed.

  I made myself look away. Ignored the fool part of me that wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt, lying there so still. Simon wouldn’t have hurt her. And even if he had, I shouldn’t care. “Talk,” I said when Simon came back to us.

  “You still have to promise to hear me out,” Simon said stubbornly.

  “I’m not in a promising type mood.” I heard the drawl in my voice. Involuntary this time. My grip on my temper was slipping. I gritted my teeth.

  Simon let out a breath. “A few years ago I was coming to the hospital, very late. I’d been sent for. I was passing that alley near the east gate and I heard something.” He paused, frowned as though trying to find the right words.

  “When I went to look, I found someone who’d been wounded. Burned very badly. He’d lost his sight. So I took him in.”

  I didn’t like his tone. Or the lack of information. “Wounded by who?” I asked.

  “Lucius, as it turns out.”

  I felt my hands curl again, reaching for my sword. I couldn’t think of many people who’d be likely to survive torture by Lucius. No, that would take more than human strength. “Are you telling me you rescued a vampire?” I heard my voice rasp, hoping my guess wasn’t true.

  Simon nodded. “Yes. He was hurt. It’s my job.”

  Hell’s fucking balls. For a moment the room seemed to close in on me. A Blood. He’d rescued one of those who’d killed our sister. Only my idiot brother would take in a wounded Blood. One who’d escaped from Lucius’ tender mercies.