by T. G. Ayer
Nerina’s eyes were wide, and they glistened with tears. For a moment, I was convinced she was going to throw a hissy fit, but then she burst out laughing. Standing in place, she bent over almost double, slamming her palms on her thighs as she laughed, almost cackling in amusement.
She lifted a hand and pointed one finger at me, “You...it was you...” then, overcome with laughter again, she fell silent, swiping her palms at her cheeks as tears streamed down her face.
“Um...This is not the reaction I expected.”
“You...you have no idea what the theft of that key did to Kira.”
I sighed. “Crap. Did she get into trouble or something?” I asked.
Nerina shook her head, giggling now.
“Oh, crap. Did someone else get in trouble? Ugh. I knew it was a bad idea at the time. I just didn’t have much of a choice. Drake and his desire to keep breathing, you know.”
Nerina waved a hand at me and grinned. “That theft was a source of true amusement for a lot of us at the estate.”
“What?” I asked, a little off balance with her response. I’d really been expecting Nerina to fly into a Kira-style fury. And here she was laughing her guts out. This did not compute.
At last, she managed to gain control of her laughter and only hiccupped twice before taking a deep breath. “The theft of the portal key went unnoticed for almost a week before one of the newer girls mentioned the stock counts were incorrect.”
“You have stock counts for the blank keys?” I asked, eyes wide. “How many keys do you guys make?”
Nerina gave me an impatient glare. “Most of the keys are one-use-only. After which they are just a hunk of carved metal. So we’re constantly commissioning them to be cast—we have them made by a dwarven family of the Niflendi realm. So Kira takes it quite seriously and makes sure each and every key is accounted for. That particular key was one of a batch that the forge recalled due to imperfections. There is a specific way in which the carvings need to be formed in order for the key to work properly, and Gulin from the Roskia forge insisted on having all twenty sent back to be discarded and new ones made. Being short one piece shouldn’t have been such a big deal—in fact, if it weren’t for Gulin. It was almost inevitable that some of the blank keys would have been used, after all, they took their sweet time to figure out something was wrong. Anyhow, Kira sent them what we did have, but the frustration of the stolen key, combined with her problems with her daughter, made for a tempestuous response to what should have just been a security matter.”
“Your cameras wouldn’t have detected me.”
“Kira didn’t know that. She was convinced the security company had something to do with it. We had the whole system stripped and called in a new company and had the workmen underfoot for a week as they installed a new system. But I think Kira took it more as a personal violation, considering it was her own library that had been accessed. I think the theft made her unbelievably insecure and suspicious. And not long after that, her daughter was killed, so she suspected the agents responsible had something to do with the theft.”
“Agents?”
Nerina nodded. “Yeah, Kai helped out on that end, investigated a spate of supernatural deaths all involving teens, kids coming into their powers. In the end, it was linked to Division 7 and an Agent named Blake.”
“Ah, shit.”
Nerina looked over at me. “What’s that mean?”
I let out a sigh and tossed the pen onto the table. “Agent Blake seems to be popping up everywhere these days,” I said gritting my teeth. I’d thrown the pen away because, as angry as I was, I’d have ended up breaking it into pieces.
“Hello, anyone home?” Nerina waved a hand in front of my face. “Care to expand?”
“Just that I just saw this Agent Blake in the flesh, so to speak. In Mithras. He seemed to be running the show. Throwing instructions at the MindMelder. Walking around like he owns the place.”
“Crap.”
“Agreed.”
“So I guess Division 7 never did close down,” Nerina muttered.
“Doesn’t seem so. Blake’s appearance working with the Shifter Council implied that something was going on, but Kai wasn’t entirely sure then.”
Nerina let out a sigh. “Well, it looks like there is way more involved here than at first glance. Maybe let’s just relax, and I’ll get the portal key, and we can get moving from there.”
“Are you able to code the key yourself?” I asked, realizing a little too late that the question could be an insult.
Nerina smiled and nodded. “Well capable. You just need to be ready to give me some of your blood.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “I seem to be donating the red stuff all the time. Not likely to stop in the near future.”
Nerina grinned and gave me a wave. “Right. I’m going to get that key. Kira moved the stock to a secure safe, but I have access given my position.”
I frowned. “Back up a bit. What position is that?”
Nerina’s cheeks darkened with a blush, and she gave a nonchalant shrug. “I’m a threat to her because my power is stronger than hers. As such I’m next in line, or second in command, at the moment.”
Okay then.
Nerina appeared unaware of my surprise as she said, “Kira doesn’t like it, but she’s got her instructions, and she can’t do anything about it. It’s likely she’s been feeling stonewalled and powerless which could explain why she may have fallen in with Agent Blake and his ilk.”
I bit my lip as I thought about the larger picture, much of which would have included the lives of the members of the Ni’amh that we have not yet been privy to.
Nerina was a perfect example of a person who I cared for, and who had become significant in my life, but who I hadn’t had the time to dedicate to getting to know better.
I gave her a rueful smile. “I have to apologize. I’ve been so involved in my own drama that I never gave a thought to what you may be facing in your own life. You just let me know if you ever need any help when it comes to taking Kira on. That one sure needs her just desserts…I don’t mind helping you serve it.”
Nerina smiled. “My intention isn’t really to punish her. But the sisterhood needs honest and true direction. The priestess who heads up our order needs to be pure of heart and have the best of intentions, thinking of both the sisters within the order and the people of the realms who need our help. Kira has lost her way, and as time passes, it seems less and less as though she is capable of finding it again.”
“If she ever had it in the first place,” I muttered.
Nerina chuckled. “It’s more than likely that she did. The high priestess is chosen from a list of candidates who both display intense power and who are also good souls. She would have had to display those qualities, and believe me the sisters are stringent in their choices.”
I sighed, feeling a little sad for Kira and for Nerina, both women locked in a battle, one fighting for herself, the other fighting for all her sisters. I hoped Nerina would win in the end.
“Okay, I’ll let you go. I’ll have a short rest and try to get things in order. Likely need a chat with Natasha to see if she’s joining us or not. Although, I’d rather not have her also come and risk her too. If we all bite djinn dust, we’re going to be taking a whole lot of talent and power away from the DarkWorld. Something the realms so do not need right now.”
Nerina blinked at my sober declaration, and I smiled and gave a sheepish smile.
“Agreed. Back soon,” she said as she faded away.
Chapter 31
She’d barely gone when Drake walked in, narrowly missing the fading gray shadows of the disappearing DeathTalker.
Drake’s face was an indifferent mask, which reminded me again of the friction between the two. I held back a sigh. Here was another issue that needed resolving. My head was beginning to hurt with all the mini-dramas going on around me.
And Drake not only carried his friction with Nerina around with him, but als
o his strange romance with Natasha, not to mention the assassin who could pitch up at any moment wanting his blood and soul, if not his hand in marriage.
I stared at him, and he merely held my gaze, shoulders straight.
“How long am I going to have to wait?” I asked as I headed for the sofa and curled up at one end.
“For what?” the gargoyle asked, his dark features turning an inky blue as silvery black shadows swirled upon the surface of his skin.
I shook my head and let out a breath slowly. “Don’t be dense. Let’s start with Nerina. What’s your problem with her and is it going to be an issue when we are on a mission?” I asked curtly. My patience was slowly fading, and that reminded me that I was in need of rest.
Drake grunted and stalked over to the empty chair in front of the sofa, his stiff spine telling me he didn’t want to have this conversation. “Not much to tell,” he said as he settled onto the chair, managing to look fragile and dangerous at the same time. That took skill.
I narrowed my eyes. “Look, you and I have always had our cards on the table, haven’t we?” He supplied a short nod in response, then worked his jaw. I continued, “And we will both readily give our lives for each other. So I need to know what history you have with Nerina. Or I may have to leave either—or both—of you behind.”
Drake blinked, startled at my ultimatum. Had he really believed I’d continue to brush it aside? Yes, I’d been side-tracked with the possessed-by-an-evil-spirit episode which kinda ran straight into saving Kai and Celeste, but I had the time now to deal with the issue, and I wasn’t going to let it slide.
Drake seemed to see that, his eyes going darker, the muscles in his shoulders and chest bunching. “It’s not Nerina herself.”
“So you don’t know her?” I asked, frowning. I scooted forward to peer at his face. “Please don’t tell me this is a race thing,” I said, well aware of how I sounded and not caring. Among supernaturals, one’s race rarely came into play as a reason for disliking every person of that race. Not unless something terrible existed in their common history.
Drake glanced up at me. “I guess you probably didn’t notice her behavior?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “What I noticed was her discomfort with your attitude. And I’m not sure she’s been a DeathTalker long enough to harbor deep-seated hatreds.”
Drake almost flinched at that, and then he sighed and sank back against his chair. “Look. My family has a very good reason to hate them. The DeathTalkers, I mean. And it’s not deep-seated. In fact, it’s quite recent.” Drake got to his feet and began to pace, popping his knuckles as he went. I winced, but remained silent as I waited for him to continue. “My sister was five when she first showed signs of communicating with the dead. At first, we thought it was the usual imaginary-friend nonsense that kids engage in, but a few times, the things she said...there were details that nobody would have been privy to. Eventually, we discovered she was a DeathTalker. And then, by whatever radar the priestesses use to search out new blood, they found Nadia, and they came for her. You know well enough that my father wasn’t the most loving of souls, but his little girl was the apple of his eye. They came...Kira and her contingent, breezing in as though they owned the place. They promised she’d be taken care of, they mentioned her power, that she was destined for greatness and that they would help groom her and keep her safe.
“Mother refused to listen, but oddly enough it was my father who agreed to let Nadia go. Whether it was the man’s political aspirations, or if he saw it as a way to forge a relationship with the sisterhood, or if he was just a proud father…I guess we’ll never know.” Drake fell silent, his brow creased, his eyes on the floor. “They took her away. And that was the last we saw of her.”
I sucked in a breath. “What? What happened to her?”
“Apparently she was taken away from the estate. We were not told. We only found out when my father and I went to the estate to visit. They kept her in a castle in Spain. Some sort of training facility for the newest acolytes. But they said she disappeared. On the day we went to see her. I’d often wondered about that, the irony of it all. Father and brother come to see her, and she mysteriously disappears before they make contact?” Drake shook his head.
I shook mine too. This was insane.
You really couldn’t make this shit up.
Chapter 32
I cleared my throat. “Did they have proof. Like...show you what happened? How would you have known if she’d been gone long before that?”
Drake smiled. “We knew. Father and I did a recon the day we arrived. We were in time for afternoon lessons, and we watched her spar with the students. Still, we were only there for a few moments, not long enough to be seen, but enough time to know that she was happy and healthy and safe. Father had a meeting booked early that morning, but he returned furious, saying they canceled the appointment. He was angry, subdued, preoccupied. Then we went out to the school again, after I insisted. But when we got to the castle, there was mayhem, soldiers everywhere, people being questioned. I realized then that though she’d been taken, it didn’t appear that the priestesses were involved. I remember Kira arriving and ripping into one of the older DeathTalkers—in fact, I believe she may have been the High Priestess in charge.”
“That must not have gone down well.” I could just picture it happening.
Drake snorted. “Yeah, Kira pretty much got told off in front of Father and me. Didn’t take it well either. Stormed off saying they will pay for their incompetence and that they have no idea what they have done. When I mentioned to Father later that Kira had seemed far more upset than she should have been, he’d agreed but didn’t add to the theory. I let him be, well aware that we had quite likely lost my sister forever—which turned out to be the case. Father went to the afterlife without ever seeing her again. And Mother still cries for her.”
“Is that one of the reasons you went home?” I asked, my stomach tight with grief for Drake.
Drake nodded. “Father demanded that his family be together to commemorate Nadia’s life. Or rather the life that she would have had. There was much discussion about a war and exacting revenge on the DeathTalkers.”
“Is that why your lady assassin is after you?”
Drake’s nostrils flared. “Partly. I’m a traitor on so many levels. And one of those is not agreeing that a war was necessary to avenge my sister’s honor. I told them that when the day came, and we found out the truth about what happened to Nadia, then that would be when I’d seek retribution. But that even then, I wasn’t about to arbitrarily arrest and judge a person without proof of their complicity.”
“Was your father in agreement to that?” Somehow I could picture the father Drake had described as being one hundred percent part of the war.
“Interestingly enough, he wasn’t. He refused to discuss it with my sister and brother. The pair of them even sat me down and interrogated me, threatened to call a MindMelder to see into my memories for clues I may have forgotten.” Drake let out a deep sigh and rubbed his neck. The veins in his temple and neck bulged, but though I could see the toll it was taking on him to delve into his past, I didn’t regret it because his revelations had cleared up one huge issue for me.
And then it hit me. I’d been unaware of the weight Drake had borne on his shoulders all this time, and I wished he’d shared it with me. I got to my feet and rounded the coffee table to place an arm around his shoulders. Muscles still tense, he didn’t move, but he didn’t push me away either.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“What for? You’d didn’t do anything,” he growled.
“But I did. All this time I’m searching for Ari and making it my top priority, as well as yours, and I never knew that you were in the same position. And I never helped you either.”
Drake shook his head, the silver in his skin flaring. “Don’t beat yourself up. I didn’t share, so there was no way you could have known.”
“No, that’s not a good enough e
xcuse. We are friends. Closer even. I should have known that something else was troubling you—Actually, I did know, but I believed that you’d tell me when you were ready. Had I known this was what you were keeping to yourself…I just feel like I’ve let you down.”
Drake let out a grating laugh. “Just like you to take someone else’s burden onto your own shoulders even when you don’t need to. Look, Mel. Nadia was taken, there were no clues, no evidence, nothing to track. Just gone. She could be dead or alive, and we’d never know because we had no way of finding out.”
“Sounds a little familiar to me, dude.” I lifted an eyebrow and glared at him. “To be honest, I’m offended. Your family is my family. I would have helped.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to. There was nothing left, not a thing to track her with. Her room had been cleaned out, nothing left.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Look, gargoyle. Cleaned out means nothing to me. I’ll have you know that I tracked a fae using hair that I found in a friggin’ drain-pipe.”
Drake made a face, but his eyes did flicker with interest.
I raised a finger in the air and waved it at his face. “A fae queen, might I add, who is technically not supposed to be trackable.”
“Huh?” he said, officially impressed.
I patted his hand. “I’ll help you do some searching. You just never know what I will find. But for now, do you think you could ease up on Nerina? Just a little bit? She’s going through a lot—seems we all have super heavy baggage. I just want to make sure that we engender a strong team spirit, I have a feeling we’re going to need it badly when we get to Mithras.”
Drake cleared his throat and shifted his gaze to meet my eyes. “Thank you, Mel,” he said softly. “Maybe I should have told you, but at the time, I couldn’t bring myself to. You had your own millstones to bear; I didn’t need to be giving you any more.”