The Shifting Storm (Book 4)

by Jeff Hale

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with,” he said, ducking his head to move through the doorway.

  He stopped several feet in, waiting while I closed the door, his eyes moving between Alex and Kat. Kat had gone to stand behind Alex, her hands on his shoulders. There was fear in her eyes when she looked at Henry, and Alex was stroking one of her hands with his fingers, as though to calm her. Even with the high ceiling, Henry’s height and breadth seemed to dominate the room. I perched on the arm of the couch.

  “So what could be so bad that you would have to resort to seeking me out?” I inquired.

  He leveled a measuring look at me. “Are you even going to give me a fair shake? Or am I wasting my time here? I can take it to a higher authority if you fuck me over. Your father might be part of the European Council but mine is on the North American Council, you don’t have as much sway here.”

  I stared at him. “I’ve, we’ve,” I indicated Alex and Kat, “been sworn in as Adjudicators, Henry, you know damned well it doesn’t matter what our personal feelings are in regards to you. If you have a grievance, present it. We have to treat it fairly.” I smiled tightly. “But if you want to play the nepotism card, you should have done your research better because my mother is on the North American Council as well. Nascha Greyfeather.”

  “Nascha’s your mother? Fuck me, fuck fuck. She’s a good friend of my father’s.”

  “Really? How convenient for us both.”

  His nod was clipped. “Fine, fine. Someone’s been murdering my pack.”

  I heard Alex’s intake of breath, felt a chill go through me. “That’s a serious accusation, Henry,” I said.

  “No shit. But it’s true.” There was actual concern and fear in his body language. He wasn’t making it up.

  “How many dead?” I asked.

  “As of an hour ago before I tracked you out here? Eighteen.” Henry cast a glance over his shoulder toward the door, as though he expected someone to come through it at any point.

  Even I was shocked at the number he had given. “Eighteen?” I knew that Henry had an unusually large pack, most cities the size of Las Vegas had two or three small ones, but Henry had kept all the shifters here under his rule. Eighteen was all but four of them, counting Henry.

  “Three yesterday and fifteen more between last night and today. Could be more by now for all I know. The fucker is systematically hunting us down.” Henry jammed his hands into his jeans pockets and gave me a look that must have hurt him. His eyes were asking for my help.

  I exhaled sharply. Three yesterday. I heard Kat mutter, “He wouldn’t,” and realized she had come to the same conclusion I had. Could Aerick have sought out further retaliation?

  “What in bloody hell is so strong and nasty that it’s managed to take out that many of your pack and has you running scared?” Alex looked Henry up and down. “I’ve seen you fight, I’ve seen some of your crew, can’t be much out there that you couldn’t handle.”

  Henry actually gave Alex a slight nod at the acknowledgement of his prowess, then made a small noise in his throat, his eyes lighting on Kat. “You saw him. That day he showed up when I was fucking that little cat friend of yours.”

  Kat just chewed her lip, shaking her head. “You’re wrong. He might in self-defense, but he wouldn’t just murder anyone.”

  “I’ve got at least fifteen of my pack dead that says otherwise,” Henry countered. “You heard him threaten me.”

  “And you also promised to leave him alone,” Kat said flatly. “Looks like that didn’t happen either. We both know that.”

  “Look, Henry, you seem to think you know who this guy is. Did you get a name by any chance?” I asked, hoping for something more concrete.

  “No. But do I really need one? Fuck, Darien, how many guys are running around with conjured magical swords that can not only kick my ass, but take out my pack while they’re at it?”

  Henry had a point. There wasn’t much that could defeat Henry, and I still wasn’t sure how I’d managed it the one and only time I had bested him, but I was pretty sure there had been some outside influence. “And you have proof this same guy took out the rest of them, the ones that died this morning?” I lifted a brow.

  “What about the ones he killed yesterday?” Henry demanded.

  “Yesterday? When you were threatening humans and he defended them? I was willing to consider that taken care of, but if you want to bring it up that you threatened… how many humans was it, Kat?”

  “Five,” she answered, scowling at Henry. “And put one in the hospital as well.”

  Henry just stood there, his jaw tightening as he glared at us, then he gave me a clipped nod. “Fine. Then just the fifteen. That was afterwards, and I was nowhere near him.”

  “I’ll still need proof.”

  Henry just nodded. “Not on me, but I can get it.”

  “And you’re sure it’s the same person?” Kat asked him quietly.

  “Positive,” Henry affirmed.

  I sighed. It had to be Aerick, there wasn’t anyone else who fit that description. Self-defense was one thing, but if he was murdering shifters? As an Adjudicator, I just couldn’t let that go, at least not without finding out the whole story. The only problem was that it didn’t strictly involve shifters. If that was the case, then I would just hear them out and make my decision. If Aerick had just been a sorcerer, then I would have to contact MAGE, explain the situation and request an advocate for him, but he wasn’t a sorcerer either. On top of that, I would have a deuce of a time trying to bring Aerick in.

  I pointed a finger at Henry. “You. Go find what’s left of your pack and make sure they’re all right. Do not leave town. If you disappear I will just shrug this off as you getting what you deserve. I will get hold of you when we figure this out. Got me?”

  Henry smirked, but he nodded at me. “Gotcha.” And then he stormed out the front door and slammed it behind him.

  “Do you really think it’s Aerick?” Alex asked me. Kat looked like she was about ready to burst into tears again, whether from anger or sadness I wasn’t sure.

  “I don’t know. Yes,” I answered. “He did kill those other three.”

  “He’s not a killer, Darien,” Kat defended, although she didn’t sound too sure of her statement. “Why would he kill the rest of Henry’s pack?”

  “Not a killer?” I barked out a laugh. “You don’t know him very well if you think he’s not a killer, Kat.”

  “And you think you know him?” she retorted.

  “No. I don’t. But I’ve been there, Kat. I recognize it when I see it.” Her expression told me she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t say anything. I sighed. “Look, I’m not sure what protocol is here, because Aerick isn’t a sorcerer or a vampire that I can call in an advocate for. I’m going to call my mother and see what she suggests.”

  Alex and Kat waited in silence while I contacted my mother. After finally getting past her delight at hearing from me, and explaining the situation, she told me that my best course of action was to contact the local Fae Embassy that was in Las Vegas. While fae held a generally low view of shifters, considering us to be not much better than savage animals, they still supported the adjudicator packs and the Councils for reasons of their own. She gave me information on how to get hold of them.

  I called the number my mother gave me and a cheerful female voice answered. “You’ve reached Prism, how may I help you?”

  “Uhm, I need to speak with someone in the Embassy?” I said, unsure.

  “Which Embassy would that be? Or do you have an extension number?” the cheery voice asked.

  “Is this the number for the Las Vegas Fae Embassy?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry, no. This is Prism, the fae information hub. Did you need directory assistance for the Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Fae Embassy?”

  “Yes, please,” I said.

  “Just one moment.” There was a sound over the line, a resonant hum, and then I heard another voice, this one
masculine.

  “Hello, this is Las Vegas Embassy reception. How may I direct your call?”

  “I need to speak with someone in regards to adjudicator business,” I told the new voice.

  “Are you an adjudicator?”

  “Yes, I’m the Alpha of the Western North American adjudicator pack.”

  “I have an appointment available with the head of the judiciary branch in half an hour,” the voice said emotionlessly.

  “Half an hour? I’m not sure—”

  “The next appointment is two weeks from now, shall I book that one instead?” Now the voice sounded bored.

  I let out a frustrated breath. “No, I’ll take the one in half an hour. Where do I—”

  “Name?” the voice interrupted.

  “Darien Torre.”

  “Be at this address at the appointed time.” He droned out a street name and number. “If you miss your appointment, please call and reschedule for the next available one. Thank you.” And then he hung up.

  “I take it we need to leave now?” Alex asked me, already standing.

  “Yeah.” I yanked the front door open. The fae who had made the appointment for me sounded like he really couldn’t have cared, and he probably didn’t. Kat and Alex went outside but Kat headed for her own car. “Are you going to follow us?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m going to go find Aerick, find out what the hell is going on.”

  “No. You aren’t,” I told her. “If he’s been murdering shifters, what makes you think he won’t add you to the list?” I’d seen the way Aerick had looked at her and there was no way I trusted her safety with him now.

  “You don’t get to make that choice for me, Darien!” she argued, slamming her hands on the top of her car.

  “He’s murdering shifters, Kat!” I almost yelled the words.

  “It’s got to be a misunderstanding of sort. I’ll talk to him, I’ll—”

  “No. You. Won’t.” I started towards her, preparing to physically put her in my car if I had to. I was afraid that damned compulsion that Talon had put on me would prevent me, and it felt like it started to, then its hold on me evaporated. Alex put a hand on my arm to stop me and I shrugged it off, but just as I came within arm’s reach of Kat, she held up a warding hand and pulled her cell phone from her pocket, flipping it open.

  “Hello?” she said into the phone, scowling at me. “Dave? What’s wrong?” Silence on her end as she listened to Dave. I was too worked up to even try to listen in. “Well, yeah, I already knew that,” she said in response. Her brow furrowed as she listened again. “He went in where?! That stupid idiot!” She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth together for a moment. “Thanks, Dave. Just… let me know if anything else happens, okay?”

  She stuffed the phone back into her pocket, took a deep breath through her nose, and then she seemed to deflate. She shouldered past me and slipped into the back seat of my Mustang. Alex was already in the car, so I slid into the driver’s seat, started it, and pointed us back into Las Vegas proper. We would be lucky if we made it on time.

  “So what was that all about?” I asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

  “Aerick called Dave, told him to call me if something bad happened, but Dave decided not to wait. Apparently, Aerick decided it would be okay to walk into Baba Yaga’s house, or hut, or whatever, to talk to her. Oh, and Henry’s pack is working for her again, but we already knew that. I guess if she kills Aerick he wants you to look into Henry’s pack with Lucien’s help,” she said, folding her arms across her chest and turning her head to one side. She was biting her lip hard.

  “Baba Yaga is in the city?” I asked, trying to not sound as alarmed as I felt. It was one thing to know that Henry’s pack was under her control, something I could do nothing about. It was another thing to have her here.

  “I’m guessing so if Aerick is in her house,” she said.

  Wonderful. That was all we needed. It was bad enough that she had taken over Russia, let alone causing problems here. “Maybe she’s just pissed that someone took out her followers and she dropped in to check it out,” I suggested hopefully.

  “Maybe,” she said, shrugging. “Doesn’t help Aerick any.”

  “Well, if she kills him, it will solve the current problem.”

  “Darien!” Kat protested.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much. Aerick can take care of himself, you know that. He’ll probably be just fine. So, one problem at a time, okay?”

  She didn’t answer, just slouched down in her seat and remained quiet until we pulled into an older strip mall at the address I had been given with about two minutes to spare. The specific building was tiny and made of brick, standing in the center of the parking lot. This was the embassy of the Fae Court? It wasn’t much bigger than a Fotomat.

  A bored looking human behind the glass took our names, confirmed our appointment, and I heard the door to the left of the glass booth buzz. He told us to go on through, and when we did, we stood there in awe.

  On the other side of the door lay a long crystalline tunnel rising a good hundred feet over our heads and extending out the length of a football field. Two fae guards stood on either side of us, watching us cautiously. Multicolored lights flicked along the tunnel surface and small crystal shards floated aimlessly about.

  We walked the length of the tunnel and it opened into the courtyard of a grand palace. The grass was a brilliant Kelly green, the edges outlined sharply, almost how things looked when it rained, as though it were more real. Trees and plants of brilliant hues lined walkways and decorated the outsides of the outbuildings.

  The main building lay ahead of us, narrow, graceful towers encrusted with crystals and gems spiraling up towards an alien blue sky. Smaller buildings fanned out towards us from either side, in a curve, streets paved in more crystal connecting them.

  Fae wandered here and there. They were of different colors, some had wings, some didn’t, some had horns, some had tails. They were all beautiful in their own way, all dressed in what I guessed was royal livery of black pants and purple vests. I found myself turning in circles trying to see it all, Alex mimicking me. Guards were placed at intersections and entrances, and as we stood there and gawked, I saw a fae with wings colored like that of a monarch butterfly approach us.

  “You are the Adjudicator pack?” he asked us as he approached, grey eyes unblinking. There was disdain in his voice.

  I showed him the scar and he nodded briskly. “Come with me.”

  We followed him to a smaller building off to our right, passing another fae that was draining something from a small blue floating crystal, one of the many that seemed to be free-floating about the place.

  The fae we were following moved to sit behind a crystalline desk in the front room of the building. The walls inside were like pearlescent green porcelain, the color swirling around us. There were no other chairs, so we stood while he flipped through a folder on the desk.

  “You require help in a dispute?” he asked finally.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “Your pack can’t handle it themselves?”

  “He’s a Sentinel.”

  That got the fae’s attention. “And MAGE can’t deal with him?”

  “The crime is against shifters.”

  “I see. Name of the accused?”

  “Aerick Kerensky.”

  The fae jotted something down in the folder. “When do you want him brought in and where to?”

  “As soon as possible,” I said. “As for where?” I glanced to Alex and Kat for suggestions. “Here?”

  The fae shook his head. “Not allowed. We will bring him in, we will provide him with an Advocate, we will attend trial to help you find the truth of the matter, we will keep him under guard, but that trial cannot happen in the Embassy.”

  “Lucien’s maybe?” Alex put in.

  Before I could answer, the fae was nodding. “If the Lord Phoenix has no problem with it, that would probably be the best c
hoice.”

  “He won’t,” I said.

  “We’ll confirm it with him, and barring his refusal, we will have your defendant in custody shortly. Someone will contact you as soon as he has been acquired.”

  We stood there a moment or two, unsure what to do, when the fae pointed toward the door. “You can go now,” he said. “We’re done here.”

  We were escorted back out, finding ourselves back outside in the Las Vegas heat in the middle of the strip mall.

  “So now what?” Kat asked a few moments later as we got back to the car.

  “We wait until they contact us, I guess,” I told her.

  She didn’t look very happy. “Well, while we’re waiting, why don’t you take me back to my car?”

  I nodded and we drove back out to the house. Kat climbed out of the backseat and got into her own car without a further word, the tires of her car spitting up gravel as she pulled out.

  “She’s not happy,” Alex remarked, getting out of the car.

  “No, she’s not,” I agreed. But I was pretty sure she was just as upset with Aerick as she was with me. I opened the car door and slid out.

  “Are you going to be able to be impartial about this whole thing? Or are you just going to hang Aerick out to dry?” he asked me.

  I leaned back against the car. “I’m going to try to play it fair. But that boy has a thing against shifters, almost like he’s looking for an excuse to be able to kill us. I’m honestly surprised he allowed himself to be in a relationship with Kat knowing that she was one.”

  “Yeah, but he knew Katie when she was human and I reckon that might have made the difference, let him see her as something more,” Alex suggested.

  “You’re probably right.”

  “You don’t honestly think he would hurt her, do you?”

  “I really don’t know, Alex. But why take a chance?”

  He was about to answer me when my cell phone rang. I leaned back into the car and plucked it out of the center console, answering it as I ducked back out. The person on the other end was brief and to the point.