by Jayne Hawke
It had been a good while since I'd just sat surrounded by greenery and peace. Ash walked next to me with his arm around my shoulders as we walked between the wide trunks of the ancient-looking oaks. In truth, they weren't more than a couple of decades old. The forest had been formed by the fae when they came to the Earth plane. People said that the world was very different before the fae. They brought a lot more greenery with them and wiped away a lot of dirt and pollution.
We walked at a slow and casual pace rather than our usual brisk businesslike clip. The trees were all strong and healthy as they towered around us with broad bows and thick canopies. I listened to the bright bird song that filled the air and smiled. Everything was quieter and more peaceful. As we walked into a small clearing full of lush grass and small blue flowers, the bright sun on our faces for a rare moment, I felt the pressure of the case slip away. Ash had been right. That was exactly what I'd needed.
The magic of the place almost hummed over my skin. I didn't dare indulge in taking any of the threads for fear of severe repercussions. The shifters might own the forest on paper and be the ones to hunt through it, but it was still a fae-made forest. We sat down in the middle of the clearing and looked up at the clear blue sky, watching the birds going about their business.
It was as though we had stepped into another world entirely. There were no sounds or feels of the city. I was tempted to close my eyes and pretend I'd been whisked away to the great Canadian forests far from civilisations. I couldn't do it. That wasn't my nature. The case was ticking away in the back of mind, testing theories and thinking of potential new leads.
Ash squeezed my shoulder and smiled at me.
"You remember the camping trip we took in the Highlands?"
"The one where you convinced some poor American that the haggis was a real animal?"
"Oh, come on, that was entirely on her! Who would seriously believe that a creature something like a sheep with legs longer on one side than the other was real!?"
"She lives in the country where wendigos, Chupacabra, jackalopes, and yetis are real. The haggis probably seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to her!"
"Why on Earth would an animal have legs longer on one side than other?" Ash said.
"Because, and I quote what you told her, 'they live on the mountains and that makes mountain life much easier.' I'm pretty sure she was from some flatlands, so she had nothing to compare to."
Ash shook his head and tried to hide the laugh that bubbled up on his lips.
"As I was saying, the camping trip where we lay out and gazed at the stars?"
"I remember. it was really peaceful right up until that damn puka thought he could join us."
Ash laughed.
"And he wouldn't shut up! We got not only his life story, but that of his entire family, too!"
"I felt a little bad for him, he must have been lonely."
We both paused when we heard hooves against the grass to our right. I slowly turned my head expecting to see a deer. The forest had a large herd of red deer, which the wolves maintained so they could hunt them when the need or desire arose. There was nothing in sight, but the hairs on the back of my neck had risen. We were being watched, and it didn't feel like it was the gaze of prey.
Not wanting to spoil the only bit of relaxation we’d had in too long, I reached out with my magic to check for signs of assault before I said anything to Ash. It was a critical error. Just as I found the signature the thing struck. The magic was faerie magic, starlight, illusion, and planes walking. I didn’t need to know that to know it was a dullahan. It was, rather critically, lacking a head and devouring the light all around itself.
It grabbed onto Ash and tried to drag him through to its plane, faster than either of us could react. The combination of bright sunlight and the protective ink that Ash relied so heavily upon was enough to keep it stuck between planes, neither strong enough to pull its prey through nor weak enough to be trapped entirely on the earth plane.
It had to have been sent, there was no other reason for it to hunt at midday. I wondered what the contract was that had put it so deep in thrall to our man behind the curtain that it was taking the risk. Even as I wondered, I began to gather up great masses of sunlight energy, the massive source of energy sustaining the entire plane shining brightly and clearly above for the first time since we’d gotten to rain-soaked Edinburgh.
Threads broke as I quickly and carelessly formed them into a hyper-dense spear of energy, but there were so many it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to strike too early, drive it off without killing it so that it came back again at a less opportune moment. Ash could wait, could keep up his struggle and draw on the sun himself to keep on the right side of the veil. He was a witch, a gifted one as men went, and if I could just trust him for a few more seconds I could put together a spell strong enough to make sure the dullahan never came for us or anyone else again.
Ash was beginning to look weak, pale, and a quick check of his magic showed that we were coming up on the end. I carefully wrapped the spear in a final thread of sunlight and pressed it outward into his assailant, the night-bound huntsman letting go at the last second and attempting to slip away on his own.
Too slow.
“Glad to see you had time to make such a nice spell for the occasion, I was worried that my impending eternity in a dullahan larder would make the whole thing come out rushed,” Ash said drily.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Besides, you need the practice.” I gave him a cheeky grin and helped him up. Time to get back to work.
TWENTY-NINE
We knew that we had to be getting closer to something. Innocent people didn't send headless horsemen after knights. I was waiting to hear back from my contacts. Someone had to know something. The guy running the zoo was looking more likely. We knew that witch magic was involved. The fact that he had himself down as a pure-blooded human meant nothing, as he was clearly hiding a lot.
I slowed my breathing and looked out of the window, gazing over Leith. It was a wild landscape with tall grass, easily as tall as I was, perfect for predators to hide in. The grass ran down to the river that lazily flowed through the city. I knew that Leith was the heart of the kelpies’ businesses. Mostly drugs, some mercenaries; rumours were they dealt in slaves, too, but there had never been any evidence of that. I wouldn't put it past them to pick up shifters and part bred fae to sell on as slaves, guardians, etc. There were certainly enough people in the world who'd pay for such a thing.
Personally, I thought they dealt in parts rather than slaves. There is good money to be made from parts. They don't even have to be magical. It was amazing what you can do with human blood and bones. Blood is useful in a lot of life and death magic, bones can be ground up to form a base for other things, the organs would be sold on to the less reputable hospitals and such. Nothing would go to waste.
The grass shivered where something was slowly moving through it. My money was on a barghest hunting something small and desperate. It’s unusual for the barghest to go after non-magical things, though. Still, food was food. The grass parted slightly, revealing the powerful black back of a young kelpie. Its shoulder must have stood about where mine did. I'd thought kelpies cavorted around playing the pretty pony rather than slowly stalking their prey.
A grizzled-looking pixie leapt out of the grass and landed on the kelpie's back. That should have been enough to bind the pixie to the kelpie and give the savage water horse a meal. The pixie, however, had come prepared. I watched as a brutal battle ensued. The grass barred a lot of my view, but it was quickly stained with blood. The squeal of the dying kelpie brought no one. The herd had no time or fucks to give for those who couldn't look after themselves and bring benefit to the herd.
My phone rang. I sprinted across the space between me and the couch. Ash tossed the phone up towards me and I caught the number on the screen. Gemma was finally getting back to me.
"Did you get anything?" I asked.
; "The owner of the zoo is one ‘Rafe Adair’. He's a failed shifter."
"Yes! You're a fucking star."
“I'm emailing you over everything we've managed to dig up on him. He sounds like a piece of work.”
"Thanks, Gemma, seriously."
"This means we're done. I owe you nothing."
"Yes."
The older witch hung up. I wouldn't hear from her again unless she had a deal to cut. Nothing was done for free or out of charity in the witch world. I'd procured a rare set of stones for her a couple of years back, and she'd been finding me information since to pay off the debt. Now we were even. It was a shame to lose a valuable asset, but resources exist to be expended.
I vaulted over the back of the couch and opened up my laptop to read Gemma's email.
"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Ash said.
"He's really called Rafe Adair, and here's the best bit - he's a failed shifter."
"So, he has a vendetta against shifters?"
"Exactly!"
I opened up Gemma's email, and it was disappointingly short. She'd managed to find out that Rafe was based in Edinburgh, he came from a pack up in the Highlands, and he was ridiculously rich due to intelligent investments. That was it. I was beginning to feel like I shouldn't have let her out of her debt quite so easily.
"Shifters all know each other, right?" Ash asked.
"Yea."
"So, we go and talk to Rhian, see what she knows about him."
I was disappointed and frustrated. I thought Gemma had given us a really solid lead, but now we needed to confirm everything. The fact he was a failed shifter gave him some motive. He'd hate shifters. That didn't explain the witch connection, though. I ground my teeth. We needed good evidence before we could go storming into his house.
Ash picked up his phone and rang Rhian while I started digging into Rafe Adair to see how good his political connections were. That would give us an idea of whether we were aiming to kill him or hand him over to the fae. I was sure the fae would love to lock him in a deep dark hole for putting their kind in a zoo, but it might be easier to outright kill him. This was the part I hated.
"Rhian says we can come over in a couple of hours. She sounds beyond exhausted," Ash said. "Have you found anything?"
"Not sure yet. I'm trying to figure out the full set of owners of this zoo. We want to shut down the entire thing if we can. If we kill Rafe, will it keep going? There's a chance that his fellows will keep going after shifters to put in the zoo to honour his memory or some crap."
Ash curled his lip.
"People are the worst."
"I want to hand this over to the fae, but their hands will be bound without the paperwork to back up our theory. Rafe wasn't stupid. He knew putting it on the Continent gave him leeway to do what he wanted with fae beings,” I said.
"Did I tell you how much I hate this political bullshit?"
"No, not once," I said innocently.
Ash raised an eyebrow and looked at me in some attempt at a serious expression. He failed spectacularly as he burst out laughing.
"You can't play innocent to save your life," he said.
"Hey, sometimes I'm innocent!"
"No, you're good at covering your ass. You might have been into books and getting all the elders to love you, but you were far worse than me for breaking the rules."
"Then I'm clearly very good at looking innocent," I said with a grin.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew I had him.
"I walked right into that," he grumbled.
THIRTY
We picked up espresso for Rhian on our way over there. She was being kind enough to give us her time. We thought it was best to bring a small gift with us.
Rhian opened the door with a small smile.
"We brought espresso," Ash said as he handed it to her.
"My blood is pure caffeine," she said with a harsh laugh.
We followed her into the room we'd sat and talked in before. A younger shifter with fox-red hair and pale golden eyes brought in a tray of sandwiches and tea. She kept her eyes down the entire time. Frowning, I realised that she was a fox shifter, not a wolf. It was very unusual for packs to contain multiple species.
"Our particular curse means that sometimes our cubs are foxes instead of wolves," Rhian said before she knocked back the espresso.
The girl practically ran out of the room once she'd placed the food and all down.
"Tensions are high at the moment. Everyone's on edge," Rhian explained.
"We have found the owner of the supernatural zoo we mentioned. He has stated he'll have a large selection of shifters, so we believe he might be behind Ben's problems," I said.
"No one has been able to go into Ben's room today. He's almost lost to us," Rhian said softly.
"We're close. We just need a little more information," I said.
"What can I do?"
"Have you heard of a ‘Rafe Adair’? He's a failed shifter."
Rhian's eyes narrowed.
"I believe I know the name. Wait here a moment, I will go and speak with the alpha. Leave me some sandwiches."
Ash pulled his hand back away from the sandwiches.
"This could be just what we need," Ash said.
"Ben sounds like he's in a bad way. I really hope we're not too late."
"Rhian hasn't given up yet. If the pack can give us that last little bit, we can go after him as soon as we leave here."
I took a sandwich and found it to be beautifully fluffy white bread with a lot of very good quality ham. I could get used to eating like that. It was weird the things you ended up missing when you were travelling a lot. Home cooked meals, sandwiches with good-quality bread, drinks that didn't come in a bottle or can.
"Do we have any other options if this guy just happens to have been born a bit broken?" Ash asked.
I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment.
"No. Our only other option is to hunt down the fae bloodlines that hunted the shifters, but everyone knows fae don't work with witches."
"There are exceptions to every rule," Ash said wearily.
Ben was in his room above us dying. Time was ticking. We needed this Rafe guy to be the one behind it.
"We need to know how this guy bound the nightmare. We have nothing without that," Ash said.
He took another sandwich and gulped down tea like he hadn't drunk in months.
I'd forgotten about the damn nightmare. I'd been so excited to have a real lead, something we could hunt down, that I'd somehow forgotten about that. Ash was right. We needed to pin that little detail down, else we were screwed.
"Knights, this is Alpha Zoe," Rhian said.
We both stood and nodded to the alpha, keeping our eyes low out of respect.
"Rhian tells me you're asking about Rafe Adair."
"Yes, ma'am," Ash said.
"Don't call me ma'am, I hate it. It's American and makes me feel old."
"I'm sorry, Alpha," Ash said.
The alpha settled herself into the armchair opposite Rhian's. We lifted our eyes enough to look at her without meeting her gaze.
"Rafe Adair is a fucked-up son of a bitch. He was born to a good, loving pack. They gave him everything in the world. They treated him exactly like their shifting cubs. That was never enough for him. No, he grew to hate them. The older he got, the more vicious he became. it started with innocent accidents, such as a broken ankle here, a tumble down a hill there. The elders thought it was just rough housing cubs. It became apparent that it was Rafe's attempts to kill his shifting siblings when he thrust a knife into one of their eyes."
I'd expected him to be a bit disturbed, it wasn't easy growing up that situation, but he sounded as though he'd been born with something broken inside of him.
"Do you know if he had any witch magic?" I asked.
"Rafe? No. That asshole was allergic to anything remotely magic. He did, however, have a little witch friend that followed him around like a lost lamb. Nicholas som
ething or other. He didn't have much magic of his own, ran away from his coven when he was just fourteen. Rafe saw an opportunity and held onto it. They went everywhere together. I think Nicholas loved him, but Rafe's incapable of love. Maybe he gives the poor witch a pity fuck every now and again, but even that would surprise me."
I was surprised at the harshness of the alpha's words. Still she continued on.
"A few of us kept an eye on Rafe. We had a feeling he'd do something vindictive to our kind. I don't know how he hid the zoo from us, but we know he got into collecting magical artifacts. It all began quite innocently. A necklace to bring a little energy to your day, a small stone to help you sleep better at night. His interests turned to more dangerous things, though. Nicholas helped him; he had a knack for finding and using artifacts."
This was sounding like exactly what we needed.
"About four months ago, a shifter artifact went missing. It wasn't made by us, but for us. One of the now fallen, she watched over our kind before the other gods removed her from her rightful place on their plane." The alpha growled for a moment. "It was a very useful tool, something to help the young ones. The stone helped smooth out the dreams of young shifters to aid them through their first shift and the full moons as teenagers. The full moons are always hard on the teens, their hormones are difficult enough without the moon's serenade. That stone helped with that."
I glanced at Ash. I didn't see how this was relevant.
"That stone would make them more vulnerable to something like a nightmare. I found out this morning that Rafe and Nicholas secured another artifact recently. The first bridle of a nightmare."
"Wait, there are bridles for nightmares?" Ash asked.
"Oh yes. There was a time a very long time ago when they were harnessed. The art was lost, and the horses became truly wild. Nicholas has enough magic to be able to use said bridle. Those two artifacts combined would produce what we're seeing in Ben."
That was it. That was what we needed to go after Rafe.
"And you're sure that Rafe and Nicholas have both artifacts?" I asked.