Sin's Dark Caress

by Tracey O'Hara

  They moved through the back streets until they got to a twelve-foot chain-mail fence with razor wire on top. It looked like something out of those old prisoner-of-war-camp movies on late night TV.

  “You don’t seriously expect me to climb that, do you?” she asked him.

  “You brought your tools, I brought mine.” McManus pulled a pair of wire cutters out of his pack and began attacking the fence.

  He made his cuts straight down from about a foot and a half off the ground, then as he neared the bottom, snipped at the wires on a right angle with the first cuts. When he’d cut another foot and a half, he pulled the wire back from the bottom corner, which left an opening big enough for her to crawl through.

  She pulled the fence wire inward from the other side, looking around as he squeezed through.

  “Okay, this way,” he whispered, and led her toward the private tarmac at a crouching run.

  “I’m surprised by the lack of security,” she whispered as they stood flush against the wall of a warehouse and McManus peered around the corner.

  “When you have canian security guards and enchantments, what else do you need?” He glanced at her in the darkness. “Besides, anyone dumb enough to break in and steal from Corey O’Shea is going to end up in a shallow grave or at the bottom of the harbor.”

  “So,” she said. “What are we doing here again?”

  “I never said I was smart, and I have no intention of stealing anything.” He glanced around the corner again. “Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  He started around the corner, then shoved her back against the wall as light from a vehicle flooded the road.

  Kedrax entered her head. Use a concealment spell now.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated, visualizing an invisible shield cloaking her and McManus.

  “I heard something, I tell you,” a security guard growled. “It came from over there, but it’s gone now.”

  She froze and stared at McManus.

  “We’d better take a look,” a second voice said.

  Footsteps crunched in the gravel, heading in their direction. Something brushed against her leg then shot around the corner.

  “Hey, look man, it’s just a cat,” the second guard said.

  “It didn’t smell like a cat,” said the first.

  “From the looks of that old black tom, he’s been living rough. See, he’s only got one ear. Maybe we should put it down.”

  Bianca’s heart stopped. Vincent.

  I’ll look after him, Kedrax said.

  “No, keeps the rats down. Come on, Fido, let’s go get a coffee,” the second voice said.

  “Stop calling me that or next time I shift, I’ll bite you.”

  As the vehicle pulled away, she unclenched her fingers from McManus’s forearm.

  I told you to wait in the car, she thought to the dragon.

  We did—for a few minutes at least, Kedrax’s reply entered her head.

  “Shit,” she spat.

  “That was close.” McManus checked around the corner again. “Right, we’re clear. The hangar is just behind this building. You ready?”

  “Go,” she said.

  McManus disappeared. With her heart thundering in her chest, she followed, sticking to shadows close to the wall. She was so intent on looking for a black cat and small dragon that she almost ran into him where he’d stopped at the other corner.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered. “Are there more guards?”

  “No.” He looked around, confused. “It’s just I don’t think this is the right way.”

  “It’s part of the concealment spell protecting the warehouse.” She pulled a thaumaturgic disruptor out of her pack and flicked it on.

  “So you’ll be able to remove it?” McManus said. “Like the one in the magic shop.”

  She held up the disruptor. “No, it’s very different from that spell.”

  “Is that significant?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said, then frowned, suddenly certain. “McManus, this isn’t the place. It feels too different. He doesn’t have the babies in there.”

  McManus placed his hands on his hips and looked around. He knew already.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, not even acting surprised.

  “Positive.”

  “Since we’re here anyway, we may as well take a look. He’s still hiding something in there.”

  She sighed. “Okay, but this had better be worth the risk. I should be able to punch a hole with this if I can find the right place.”

  “How about there?” He pointed at a blue metal door about twenty feet away.

  “Perfect.”

  She set the disruptor to create a field in a six-foot arc and placed it at the foot of the door. Nothing happened. It was too strange and too strong, neither familial nor druidic magic. Kedrax was right; the enchantment was much too powerful, and too different for her instruments.

  Can we boost it? she asked.

  I think so, Kedrax returned.

  Bianca felt the thaumaturgic energy fill her body. She folded and wove it before directing the new energy pattern into the disruptor, boosting the power of the field to push a hole through the spell.

  “Okay, it’s disabled,” she said to McManus, “but the door is still locked.”

  “Leave that to me.” McManus pulled a device from his pack and attached it to the number pad.

  “You’re a bit of a surprise lately,” she said.

  “I told you my past wasn’t all innocent; some skills you never lose.” The door mechanism beeped and clicked open. “After you.”

  She picked up the disruptor and entered a small dark room. As soon as McManus closed the outer door, she turned the disruptor on low and placed it on the ground. “Just in case we need to make a quick exit.”

  She felt different, like she was missing something. Are you still with me, Kedrax? Her thought was met with silence. The spell must’ve formed a barrier between them, which meant she wouldn’t have access to any more thaumaturgic energy in here. For the first time since their bonding, she realized how much a part of her Kedrax’s presence had become.

  “This looks interesting,” McManus said as he stood in front of a pressure-sealed door and turned the large wheel in the center. The red light above the door changed to green and a seal hissed.

  A breeze hit her in the face, smelling like loam and cinnamon. “Holy Mother Goddess,” she said staring open-mouthed at what appeared to be an indoor old-growth forest.

  27

  Fantasy in Green

  McManus could not believe his eyes. The trees grew so high they blotted out the ceiling. An eerie, ethereal glow lit the forest. Flowers and ferns grew in the leaf-littered loam soil around the enormous tree trunks. Butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects buzzed around, and birds sang sweet songs from the trees. It was like something out of a fairy tale, one of the most beautiful forests he’d ever seen.

  “Now we know what he was hiding.” Bianca’s voice was little more than an awed whisper.

  McManus stepped out onto the trail leading off through the undergrowth, but Bianca grabbed his arm. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea. There’s something strange going on here.”

  “You think?” he said. “Because I would’ve thought forests grew in aircraft hangars all the time.”

  She gave him that play-nice look. “There’s something different here . . . different to anything I’ve ever felt before.”

  “How often do you get a chance to visit a secret forest like this? Come on, what can it hurt?”

  She raised both eyebrows. “Are you kidding?”

  “Come on, just a quick look.” He needed to see what was in there. Maybe this is where the O’Shea brothers cooked their drugs. But in a forest?

  She sighed. “
Okay, just a quick look.” She reluctantly stepped onto the path beside him.

  The otherworldly glow shone from above, through the trees, dappling the ground with shadows and light. A few feet in, the door and wall were no longer visible through the foliage. The climate was as temperate as a perfect spring day. After a few minutes a small clearing appeared off to the side and Bianca stopped. A fat rabbit hopped out from the undergrowth to nibble on some grass or roots or whatever it was rabbits ate.

  A strange noise came from the bushes, almost like singing. Beautiful singing, and goose bumps peppered McManus’s arm. The rabbit lifted its head and looked in the direction of the sound, still chewing. It sniffed, wiggling its little nose, and hopped a few steps closer, then wiggled its nose again. The singing continued and the rabbit moved closer still, sniffing the air, then disappearing into the foliage.

  The bushes vibrated violently and a terrible high-pitched scream filled the air, stopping abruptly as a bloody tuft of white fur flew out and landed on the ground.

  “Oh . . .” Bianca breathed beside him, eyes as round as saucers, filled with a mix of horror and revulsion.

  “I need to see what it is,” he whispered in her ear.

  “No,” she whispered back, gripping his arm tightly.

  “I’ll be careful.”

  He crept forward, keeping his footfalls as silent as he could. Curiosity outweighed his fear; after all, whatever it was didn’t look that big, given the height of the undergrowth.

  The vibration of the leaves had settled, and he swatted at the insect buzzing his ear as he reached to part the greenery.

  “What do you see?” Bianca asked softly.

  He put his finger to his lips to silence her and turned back to the bush. The annoying insect buzzed again. He batted at it, his hand connected with a satisfying thump, and he reached forward to part the undergrowth.

  The rabbit carcass was already half stripped by many little creatures with what looked like glowing blue wings.

  Little people?

  He bent to get a closer look and a faint neon glow burst into full megawattage in front of face. It zigged and zagged at eye level, then flew straight at him, stopping mere inches from his nose. He stared at a three-inch female with translucent blue wings and a filmy dress. The others on the rabbit carcass all turned, their little hands and faces covered in the rabbit’s blood.

  “Fuck me,” he said, falling back.

  The tiny woman screeched in a high-pitched language he couldn’t understand and appeared very, very pissed. She flew at his face, brandishing a tiny weapon she’d pulled from her belt and slashing at his cheek just below his eye. It was a surprisingly vicious attack, and his hand came away with a smear of blood.

  “Protect your eyes,” Bianca yelled at him as she raced to help him up, then froze as she got a closer look at what had attacked him. “A faerie?”

  He swiped away the vicious little faerie female hard, and she slammed into a nearby tree trunk. Her glow grew even brighter as she flew at him with renewed vigor.

  Persistent little thing.

  A second glow joined her. This time a tiny male. Then a third. McManus held his arms in front of his face. They were only three inches tall, but they inflicted some nasty wounds. Already his cheek was open and bleeding freely.

  Bianca screamed. McManus backhanded two of the flying creatures away and glanced over at her. Three more of what could only be faeries had yanked off her beanie, pulled her hair, and slashed at her arms.

  Time to get out of here.

  He smacked away a couple more of the flying pests. The little fuckers were tough; no matter how hard he hit them, they still got up. He grabbed Bianca and pulled her close.

  “Run!” he yelled.

  Bianca felt a moment of dizzy disorientation as she started to run. Which way out?

  A buzzing horde of winged little warriors flew out of the trees to join the others. Most headed straight for McManus, who had his back to her, swatting at the half a dozen glowing blue sparks flying at him. She held out her hand and pushed the air at the oncoming onslaught, scattering the swarm before they could reach him. But she used up all the residual thaumaturgic energy she had left, and with her connection to Kedrax cut off, she had no way to source any more.

  McManus fought through the swarm and ran toward her. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back down the path she couldn’t find a few moments ago. As the door came into sight, a glowing wall of blue appeared between them and their escape.

  “This way,” he said, turning right.

  High-pitched laughter and taunting howls followed them as they ran blindly on. The amazement of this hidden enchanted forest had long worn off, and they’d be lucky if they made it out of there alive.

  Another wall of blue appeared ahead of them. They turned. More faeries appeared, and she and McManus changed directions. The little creatures were playing with them, herding them where they wanted them to go.

  McManus led her out into a clearing ringed by mushrooms and toadstools. Faeries were on all sides. They had them trapped and started to close in, primitive little weapons raised.

  “STOP THIS,” a strong voice boomed.

  Everything stopped. They all turned toward the voice. Bianca hugged McManus’s side. Several open cuts seeped on his face, and though his black clothing didn’t show much, she could smell the blood on them.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Corey O’Shea stood just outside the toadstool ring with three men and his brother behind him.

  One of the faeries started to speak in a strange language, and Corey listened before calling out, using the same tongue. He held out his hand and the creature flew onto it, the blue glow now dimmer than it was before. It began to glow again as the tiny female launched into an animated tirade in the faeries’ strange language, periodically pointing toward them.

  McManus struggled to stay standing, and collapsed into a sitting position on the ground, clutching his leg around a small spear buried deep in the flesh of his thigh.

  The tiny female’s glow seemed to grow stronger the angrier her tirade got. Corey asked a few questions, which the faerie met with quick pointed answers as Bianca tried to follow. Even though she couldn’t understand, she could tell it looked bad for them.

  “Li-anis tells me you attacked them as they fed,” Corey said to McManus.

  “I did not,” he answered. “One minute we were minding our own business—”

  Corey raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the right. “In a locked-down aircraft hangar that you broke into?”

  “Ah, right.” McManus shrugged and dragged a hand over the top of his head. “About that—”

  “What are you doing here, McManus?” Corey asked.

  “It’s my fault,” Bianca answered instead. “I sensed the power hiding something . . . but never in my wildest fantasies could I have imaged anything like this.”

  “It’s something, isn’t it?” Corey folded his hands behind his back and looked around. “It’s been difficult keeping my subjects safe, both from humans and themselves.”

  It suddenly hit her. “That’s impossible, you can’t be.”

  He smiled and inclined his head. “Very good, Dr. Sin, I see you’ve worked it out.”

  28

  The Faerie King

  McManus crawled to his feet holding his thigh. He was starting to think the only possible explanation was that O’Shea had slipped him some highly potent hallucinogenic. But the pain was real enough.

  Very fucking real, in fact. And everyone but him seemed clued in.

  “What the hell is going on here?” he asked.

  Corey O’Shea addressed the faeries in the strange tongue, and the creatures reluctantly melted back into the forest. The little female that attacked him flew at his face and flit
ted her wings angrily before flying off to join the others.

  When they were all gone, O’Shea looked at McManus. “The good Dr. Sin has worked it out. Ask her. ”

  McManus shifted his weight. Warmth ran down the inside of his trousers and pooled in his shoe from the wound in his thigh.

  “The O’Shea brothers are Unari, the first ones. The original magic wielders from which all castes are descended, though they were thought to have died out long ago.”

  O’Shea held out his arms. “As you can see, we’re very much alive. However, while we still have some extraordinary talents in the outside world, our magical power is only confined to habitats like this.”

  “The faeries, they’re the source of your magic,” Bianca said.

  O’Shea nodded. “Why we set up this habitat and several others like it.”

  “So, why did they attack us?” she asked him.

  “The Fae are naturally curious but can become nasty when crossed. Li-annis said she was just trying to say hello, but when you went after her family while they were feeding, she attacked.”

  Unbelievable.

  “So, let me get this straight,” McManus said, his head growing light and dizzy. “You have an enchanted forest hidden in a hangar housing vicious Tinker Bells, and you’re some kind of king of the faeries?”

  Corey’s lips curled in amusement. “I prefer Lord of the Fae.”

  “But you’re supposed to be extinct,” Bianca said.

  Corey bowed at the waist. “As you can see, reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. Mostly by us. Misinformation is one of our greatest tools.”

  “You knew about them?” McManus said to Bianca.

  “Only by legend and myth. When the tribes turned on the Dark Brethren, they disappeared,” she said.

  McManus could see it was the truth. “So are you going to tell us about Jimmy?”

  Corey glanced at him. “Like I said before, we had a falling out. Jimmy was human, a cousin by marriage only, but he was still family. When he stole from me, I was furious, but I would’ve forgiven him in time as I had before. He knew this too.” His expression took on a hint of regret. “But I have no idea what he was up to or who he was working for.”