by R. L. Naquin
“I’m sorry you came out for nothing.” I fought the urge to rub my palm against the leg of my jeans. “The portals are gone now. There’s nothing for you to guard.”
“If it’s all the same to you, ma’am, I’d just as soon stay. Obviously, someone is trying to kill you, and you’re the only Aegis we’ve got.” He lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head and stared at me with serious, green eyes. “Leprechaun scams and domestic disputes can wait. My team needs to remain here. The more protection you have, the better.”
I would have preferred he not stick around, but I had to admit he was right. Another portal could open at any moment, loosing a hungry aswang with my face in his head or spilling out a bajillion mindless zombies hungry for humans. Either way, I had some awesome people on my side, but they weren’t enough. We needed professional watch dogs.
Because, you know, I didn’t already have enough people in and around my house.
Unfortunately, two of the people I most wanted to spend time with were the only ones who had to leave to get back to their own lives. Since I couldn’t go to the office anymore, I didn’t see either of them nearly enough. I was used to dropping in on Andrew nearly every day when I worked around the corner from his shop. Dropping in was now a forty-five-minute drive.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Andrew put his arm around my shoulder as I walked them to their car.
I sighed. “Right as rain. I guess. The house is as safe as anyplace can be. We’re following up on that cult, so maybe we can track down who’s behind everything. The folks who were here are definitely a subgroup of the original church. I think it’s pretty obvious they’re being used to control the aswangs, if not the portals. I just wish we could figure out who’s controlling the cult and why so we could stop him.”
He stopped and spun me to face him, his freckled face serious. “Let people take care of you, okay? Don’t run off half-assed trying to save the world. This time, the danger is after you.”
I made a sour face. “Yes, sir.”
He gave my shoulders a small shake. “Seriously, Zo. This time you have to take a back seat for the saving. You’re not the heroine of this piece, you’re the damsel in distress.”
I rolled my eyes. “Been awhile since I was that. I don’t think I like it.”
He chuckled. “None of us do. But we’ve all taken a turn or two at it lately.”
He wasn’t kidding. The Leprechaun Mafia had strolled into town last year and nearly killed him when he’d refused to pay their protection money.
Daniel returned from putting Milo and Howard in the car. “He’s an adorable damsel in distress, though, isn’t he?”
I grinned. “Cute as a button.”
Andrew released his grip on me, and Daniel took his hand, lacing their fingers together. The way they looked at each other warmed my heart. Not everything had fallen apart around here. Some romances were working out fine.
They hugged me then got in the car. Andrew rolled down the window with a pensive expression. “Zo, it occurs to me that the bad guys know where you live. If this stops being a safe place for any reason, we have room for you at our place. And your mom.”
I cringed inside at the idea of sharing a room with Mom. “I’ll remember that,” I said.
I stepped back over the line to the safety of the fairy ring while I watched them drive off. They both stuck their arms out their windows and waved as they disappeared around the corner.
“He’s right.”
I startled and turned to find Riley standing behind me. “Right about which part?”
“You’re the damsel in distress this time. I know it’s killing you.” He spoke in a soft voice, as if I were a deer he was afraid of startling.
“Not entirely correct. Mom’s a target too. Plus the handful of other Aegises around the world. It’s not just me in danger.”
He scratched his ear. “True, but only in the sense that, if you die, a lot more could die. Save the Aegis, save the world.”
I didn’t answer at first. I listened to the wind blowing in the trees, the grass rustling, and far off, probably behind the house, laughter. “Riley, what if all the Aegises die and the Covenant is broken? If we don’t know what the real consequences of losing are, how can we know what we’re fighting for?”
Riley dropped his gaze, and his voice was so low, I almost didn’t catch what he said. “I’m fighting for you. Your life is the only thing I care about.” His fists clenched and unclenched by his side as he tried to compose himself. He met my gaze and cleared his throat, his voice louder. “Mailman’s here. I’ll go take care of it.”
My heart ached while I watched him walk down the driveway to grab the mail and exchange a few words with Rick. Neither of us had wanted to break up. But neither of us had been entirely happy together.
“Save the Aegis, save the world,” I said under my breath. “Then maybe the Aegis can have her life back and make some better choices.”
* * *
That night, my sleep was broken and fitful. As I lay in the dark staring at the ceiling, I decided the “toss” part of “toss and turn” referred to the chucking movement of throwing the covers to the side because they were too heavy on my legs. They kept me from flipping over with enough momentum to emphasize my disgust at still being awake. Unfortunately, as soon as the heater kicked off, my body objected to the lack of covers and I woke from a light doze, shivering.
I was insomnia’s bitch.
When I did drift off, my dreams were filled with vampires—both the sexy and the pus-faced terrifying kind. I had no idea where those images came from, but I jerked awake, sweating and panting from chasing the creature while carrying a plate of spaghetti that, for some odd reason, I had to keep from sliding off the plate and hitting the floor or I would die.
I sat up and took a few sips of water from the glass on my nightstand. My stomach gurgled, and I wondered if there was any leftover spaghetti from dinner. After a moment of serious consideration, I fell back asleep, still sitting.
This dream was different. I couldn’t see anything. Either I was blind or there was no light. Murmurs came from the darkness—a soft voice whispering to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. Wind whooshed over me, as if a thousand birds had taken off in flight. The whooshing receded, and one word echoed in the velvet dark: Curator.
My eyelids flew open, and I fumbled to click on the light. Bleary-eyed, I scanned the room. I appeared to be alone, though a person could never tell in my house. “Maurice?” I waited for the closet to drift open, but it remained shut. Bending at the waist, I hung over the bed to peer underneath. “Stacy?”
A pair of large eyes blinked at me in the darkness. The monster under my bed yawned. “Hey, Zoey.”
“How long have you been there?” My hair pooled on the floor and blood rushed to my upside down head.
“Not long.” She yawned again. “I haven’t slept much lately. I always sleep better here. You were already out cold when I showed up a little while ago, and I went right to sleep for once.” She flipped to her back and slid the top half of her into the room so I could sit up. “Is everything okay?”
I pulled myself to an upright position and rubbed my neck. “Just a weird dream. I thought someone was whispering to me. And there was the sound of birdwings.”
Stacy climbed on the bed and her eyebrows rose. “What kind of bird?”
I shrugged. “It was dark. No idea.”
“Was it a big bird? I mean, a really big bird? Kind of rainbow colored?”
I scrubbed my face with the palms of my hands. “I told you, it was too dark to see anything.” I dropped my arms and my hand brushed something laying on the other side of the bed. Stacy let out an odd squeak. Her eyes were wide and focused on the object next to me.
The feather was the length of my leg, and it sparkled with iridescent colors. I ran my finger down the hard quill, then traced the colors that followed the rainbow from brilliant crimson at its base all the way through to t
he violet at its tip. It was lovely but completely off-putting, since it was in my bed with no explanation.
I cradled it, appreciating the softness of the downy edges. “Do you know of a bird that would have feathers like this?”
“No.” Stacy swallowed. “But it must be pretty powerful to send you a feather through your dreams.”
I pinched the quill between my fingers, careful not to crush it, and strode from my bedroom into the hallway.
Mom stood in front of her door, a baffled expression on her face. An identical feather trailed from her hand. I stopped walking and held mine up.
“Curator,” Mom said. Her face paled when I nodded.
“What does it mean?” I took a few steps toward her, and we compared feathers. Definitely the same bird.
Darius emerged from the room behind her, shirtless. Faceless. Winged and monstrous. I averted my eyes. I had no words to describe how awkward I felt about the two of them being lovers. The feeling hadn’t gone away with time like I’d thought it would.
I didn’t want to consider what went on in that room. My parent’s room. The one I’d run to in the middle of the night after a bad dream and crawled under the covers between my mom and dad. Now Dad was long gone and Mom was sleeping with a mothman. During the day, it was a little easier, since he looked human. This was more difficult.
And if that made me a bad person for being icked-out, so be it. There was a lot more baggage going on there than simply an interspecies problem.
Darius rested his enormous hands on Mom’s shoulders. “That can’t be from a real bird. The only bird that big is a thunderbird.” He waved at the feather. “And we’ve seen one of those. It wasn’t this ridiculous color.”
“What about a roc?” Stacy ducked around me and stood in the middle of the group.
I shook my head. “I think rocs are extinct. Also, I don’t think they’d come in Skittles flavor either.”
Stacy craned her neck to look down the hallway toward the kitchen. “Where’s Maurice?”
It used to be, whenever I was up in the middle of the night, Maurice was right there. He’d make me hot cocoa or tea, and maybe a snack. Not lately. “He’s probably at Sara’s again. She’s still having nightmares, though the sleepwalking has stopped since she started therapy.” And sleep showering. And sleep treadmilling.
“Oh.” Stacy folded her arms and tucked her hands away. “Okay.” She shifted her feet. “Will he be back in the morning, you think?”
Fabulous. Not only was Maurice oblivious, but I was left with the mess.
I brushed her hair from her eyes. “He’ll be back eventually.”
Sara was mooning over him, possibly because he was the first person to ever see her truly vulnerable. Stacy was his first love and now couldn’t get his attention no matter what she tried.
And there was Maurice, blissfully unaware, trying to make everyone happy.
Muffins aren’t going to get you out of this one, my friend. My stomach gurgled. But I wish you were here to make them anyway.
We all split up and went back to our rooms, except for a deflated Stacy, who’d muttered something about needing ice cream, then headed in the other direction.
Back in my room, my phone had nearly vibrated off the table. I grabbed it before it jumped to the floor, then checked the screen.
Bernice.
It had to be important at three in the morning. Either that or she was still in England and forgot about the time distance.
I tapped to answer. “What’s up, Bernice?”
“Did I wake you?” Her voice sounded tired.
“Nope. We had an incident.” I did my best to sound matter-of-fact so I wouldn’t alarm her. Maybe incident wasn’t the best word choice.
Frantic concern pelted me through the phone. “Was anyone hurt? You’re staying inside, right?”
“We’re fine. Just some weird dreams. Are you okay? You don’t sound okay.”
She exhaled into the phone, causing a windstorm in my ear. “There have been more attacks.”
“Aegises?”
“Yes.” She hesitated. “We...we lost two more. One in Peru and one in New Zealand.”
I felt like she’d reached through the speaker and punched me in the stomach. “What happened to them?” My voice was close to a whisper. It was all I could muster.
“The blood was drained from their bodies, as if by a vampire.”
I closed my eyes to ward off the queasiness swirling in my gut. “But it wasn’t a vampire, was it. It was an aswang.”
“It’s difficult to tell from the body, but it’s the most likely answer. My Peruvian counterpart spoke to Papa Dino when he came to close the portal. Two aswangs are missing from their village in his world, and he managed to stop three more at open portals around the world.”
“I assume Aegises were near each portal.”
“That’s correct.” Her weariness seeped through the phone. And there was something more. A nervous edge to her emotions I couldn’t quite pin.
“Bernice, are you alright? I mean, besides all this shitty stuff. What’s wrong?”
She laughed, but the sound came out bitter. “Can’t fool an empath, can I?” Ice clinked in a glass as she drank something that was probably stronger than iced tea. “Marcus is on his way down here.”
“Your boss? Why?”
“Well, Canada has no more Aegises. You and Clara are all we’ve got in North America, so he wants to keep a closer eye on things.”
“Wait, so you’re not in England right now? When did you get home?”
“Yesterday. Just long enough to unpack my suitcase and pack up my office. I’ve been demoted.”
I hadn’t been a huge fan of this Marcus guy in the first place. Now I wanted to punch him in his smarmy face. Bernice and I might not have always agreed on things, but I trusted her a hell of a lot more than I did Marcus.
“What about Art?” Despite our rocky beginning, I trusted Art more than I trusted Bernice.
“I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen to either of us, Zoey.” Glass tapped glass, and I knew she was refilling whatever not-iced-tea she was drinking. “Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re down to seven Aegises in the world. All the governments are in their death throes.” She took a sip. “The Covenant will be broken any day now, and we’ll all die horrible deaths, either as zombie chow or as walking dead ourselves.”
This was not the Bernice I’d first met over a year ago. That woman had been strong and hard, holding up the entire Board of Hidden Affairs by herself, with nobody knowing the rest of the Board members were dead. After another year of hit after hit, she was done. I didn’t have to be an empath to sense it.
And I had no words that could make it better.
We’d either survive all this, or we wouldn’t. That sure as hell wasn’t the kind of pep talk she needed.
“Bernice, how did the aswang vampires get to those Aegises? Didn’t they have protection like I do?”
“Oh, they had it. They just didn’t stay put. For some reason, they left their safety zone. Nobody knows why.”
A sound outside caught my attention and I looked out my window. People had gathered outside the fairy ring to hold hands and sing. Not far from where they stood, a new portal shone in the darkness.
“I think I know what made them go outside. I’ll call you back.”
Chapter Ten
Stacy stopped me at the front door. “What the hell is that?”
I stood in the open doorway with one foot on the porch and one inside the house. “It’s a portal. Probably to the vampire world, but maybe to the werewolves.”
She blinked at me. “I know that. I mean what’s the light over there?” Her arm pointed past me and to the left, toward the side of the house.
A single ball of white light bounced across the yard, shattered into smaller lights, then rejoined. As we watched, the pattern repeated and moved farther away.
Kam’s voice startled me. “It’s an aswang.” A b
oard creaked on the porch, and Kam pulled herself out of one of my wooden rocking chairs. “I think it’s testing the fairy ring and trying to get past the fairies. They won’t let it in.”
For once, even Kam sounded exhausted. And her clothes were ordinary. Jeans and a T-shirt on Kam didn’t seem right after all the elaborate costumes.
Most of the lights inside were off, but the hall light shone bright enough to make a beacon into the front yard. I stepped out, waited for Stacy to follow, then closed the door behind me.
“How long has it been doing that?” I squinted at the lights, but couldn’t see the aswang the fairies were harassing.
“About a half hour. I called Lionel already about the portal. He’s on his way.”
“Good.” I didn’t care much for Lionel and his creepy sliding face, but somebody needed to evict the cultists singing nonsense words under my oak tree. “When he gets here, make sure he takes out the trash too.” I jerked my chin toward Pansy and her crew, swaying in the light of the portal.
Stacy leaned over the railing. “I think it’s coming back.”
She was right. The ball of light rose higher and flew toward us, picking up speed. Either the aswang was on the move, or the fairies were reporting in. Since they’d never done that before, I had to assume the aswang sensed my presence.
I pulled out my phone and texted Talia as quickly as my clumsy fingers could muster. Demon, vamp or werewolf, it didn’t matter. I needed somebody in charge to come get this thing before somebody got killed. Possibly me, considering how fast it seemed to be moving.
When the aswang finally came into sight, it looked nothing like the demon version we’d seen before. It hissed, rather than snarled. I couldn’t see its face in the darkness, but it moved differently, as if swooping and gliding.
The fairies were quick to catch up before the aswang crossed the line and charged up the steps. Ten feet out from where I stood, the aswang made a high-pitched keening noise, then scrambled toward me. The ball of fairy light broke apart, and individual lights attacked. The aswang was lifted into the air from the number of fairies tugging it backward.