“Speaking of sisters, what did you think about our cousins? I liked Hester Lou, but I’m not sure what to think of Daniel.” Something scurried over my hand and I shook it off. Probably a spider of some sort, but we’d all learned not to react loudly when on a mission.
“He’s hiding something—that much I can tell you, but I don’t get any negative feelings about him. Just . . . he’s crafty.” There was a hint of a smile in Camille’s voice and I knew instantly that she’d taken a shine to him. “I’m intrigued and I want to know more.”
“I have a feeling we’re going to find out. Hester, especially, seemed to cotton up to the idea that we’re kin. I have to admit, it cushioned the blow about Father—just a little.” I honestly didn’t know if I was trying to make myself feel better, but just saying the words gave me false courage.
“We’re going to have to get used to this. We’ve lost friends. We’ve lost family. It’s part of life and as much as I hate to sound fatalistic, considering what the fuck we’re up against, we’re lucky we haven’t lost more people. We have our husbands and wives and fiancés, we have Iris and Hanna and Maggie. We’ve lucked out. So many things can go wrong so easily.” She rapped lightly on the tree. “Knock wood we continue in that luck.”
I was about to say something else when there was a blur in the air and then we saw Menolly, hovering above us. Another blur and she transformed back into herself. It was hard to believe she’d made so much progress; she’d been such a klutz when she tried to turn into a bat before Roman’s intervention.
“I think I know where they are. The nest of them is going to be tough and we have to avoid getting bitten. Delilah got lucky with her bite—it’s healing up, but there’s no telling if the next one won’t be worse.”
“Should we wait till morning and come back with the guys?” Camille asked.
Menolly shook her head. “They took out somebody tonight. I don’t know who but they’re eating the woman’s remains.” She grimaced. “We can’t chance letting them get another victim. Who knows how many people they’ve killed so far?”
Camille frowned. “I can’t use the horn again—not until it’s recharged under the new moon. I didn’t even bother bringing it. I could call down a storm and I have my Moon Mother magic.”
“What about a death magic spell? Do you have anything that might work on them, that you can cast without Morio around?” I wasn’t sure just how entwined they were on the energy, though I knew Camille had some power on her own in that sphere.
She snorted. “I could try but there are no guarantees.”
“There’s no guarantee with your Moon magic either. In fact, your fuck up ratio seems to be pretty strong with it.” I meant it playfully but it came out a sharp jab. With an exasperated sigh, I apologized. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a bitch.”
“Don’t sweat it. You’re right. The question is, will death magic even work on them? They’re magical beings, children of the Elder Fae. Does that make them Elder Fae in their own right, or are they a hybrid?”
“Well, I can try to drain them of blood.” Menolly frowned. “But I can only attack one at a time. Luckily, their toxic venom won’t do much on me. Delilah, you have Lysanthra? Can she do anything?”
I had still only tapped the surface of my sentient dagger’s powers. We were in tune, and on occasion she surprised me with a new move, but it was haphazard at best.
“I don’t know. Fuck, why didn’t we plan this out better? I feel like we’re right back to playing the Three Stooges.”
“Maybe I can help.” The voice took us by surprise. We turned around and there stood Vanzir. He grinned. “Don’t even say a word, girls. Shade sent me. If he can’t protect the house, nobody can. So just keep your yaps shut about me being here and let’s get to work. I can attack them and they probably can’t do a whole lot to me, not with their actual venom. They can hurt me but, then again, I can hurt them.” Here, he laughed, and it took on an ominous tone.
Vanzir’s powers had shifted since he and Camille had their unwilling tryst and the Moon Mother had stripped them away. They had been returned to him changed, altered in ways that even he didn’t understand. It seemed like we were all going through our metamorphoses and none of us knew where the light at the end of the tunnel was.
“I brought someone else with me,” he added, looking at Camille. “You’re not going to be too thrilled but tough titty.”
She slowly stood. “Who?”
Out of the shadows, from behind Vanzir, stepped a pale-skinned, dark-haired man. He was handsome, but had an otherworldly look about him, angular and harsh and glittering.
Camille let out a groan. “You didn’t.”
The man snorted. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Lady Camille.”
And with that, Bran, the son of Raven Mother and the Black Unicorn, stepped fully into view.
Chapter 17
Menolly stepped between Camille and Bran. “Thank you for coming. We can use the help.”
I couldn’t help but think that when Menolly had to be the diplomatic one, something had gone to hell. But Bran and Camille had developed a hostile relationship, even though they’d been ordered to work together, and from what she’d said after her training sessions out at the Court of the Three Fae Queens, things weren’t getting any better. She couldn’t read Bran, couldn’t read how he felt about the fact that she’d killed his father—even though it was by divine design. And his mother, Raven Mother, had long been after Camille to come join her in the Otherworld Forests of Darkynwyrd.
Bran gave Menolly a short, studied glance, then turned back to Camille. “Aeval bids me to come help you until your men are back from Otherworld. She sent several of her guards to your house tonight and they are patrolling the boundaries. I will stay with you for a few days until you have things settled back to normal.”
“Like hell you will. I doubt you’d enjoy our hospitality.” Camille’s eyes narrowed and she let out a little growl.
“Oh, trust me, I shall. Aeval commands it. Do you wish me to return to Talamh Lonrach Oll and inform Aeval that you decided to defy her wishes?”
A threat was implicit in his voice and I wanted to slap him, but decided that wouldn’t be the best move. This was between Camille and Aeval, and chances were, the Fae Queen would win hands down. I knew it, Bran knew it, and by Camille’s smoldering look, she knew it too.
“Fine. Just don’t get in my way.” She glared at him, relenting. “You willing to kill the children of Elder Fae?”
His nostrils flared, but a thin, razor smile appeared on his lips. “I have no qualms about killing anything or anyone I need to. Why do you think Aeval is putting me in charge of her armies?” And with that, he pulled out an extremely sharp looking short sword. It flared with a pale, shimmering light. I realized it had been charmed in some manner.
Vanzir pulled out the magical stun gun we’d taken off a dead guard during a raid when the Koyanni had been kidnapping werewolves to make Wolf Briar. He’d developed a love for the weapon, and had found alternative ways of recharging it now that the Energy Exchange nightclub had vanished. Especially since Vanzir had been the one to implode it.
I readied Lysanthra and she sang in my hand, crooning to me in a voice only I could hear. Dumbfounded, I turned around and realized she was responding to the energy in Bran’s sword. He simply stared at me, with a sardonic smile on his face.
“You like that energy, do you?” I whispered to my long dagger.
So very much. Like recognizes like, you know. The voice was clear as a bell in my head.