‘Nae wolves, doll. Werewolves.’
‘Werewolves? Really?’ Surprise mixed with trepidation flashed through me. And I had a sudden memory of Katie telling me she thought the flasher from last night was a werewolf. Fuck. ‘Are you sure the two wolves aren’t just animals?’
‘Aye, doll, I’m sure. I’m sending you some more photos.’
I brought the pictures up on my phone. The first showed a cropped close-up of one wolf’s eye; the second showed a front paw. The eye was human, a green iris with a starburst of hazel fanning out from the pupil. The paw was furry but, unlike a normal wolf’s paw, was prehensile with a short but definite opposable thumb. Two sure indicators of a werewolf in their animal form.
I almost asked Tavish if the pictures could’ve been ’shopped, then didn’t. The Emperor was a vamp. No way would a vamp falsely advertise having a couple of werewolves at his beck and call, not if he wanted to keep his blood cred. Of course, the fact that he had a couple of werewolves chained like pets meant he was probably pretty much at the top of the vamps’ blood-tree anyway.
Which was sort of reassuring in a way. If the Emperor was that überpowerful then the chances that he knew how to release the fae’s fertility from the pendant just rocketed up. Not that I hadn’t believed the cards, but a strange vamp knowing the solution to London’s fae’s fertility problem wouldn’t have been my first guess. No, my first had been the Autarch, my very own bloodsucking nightmare. One I might be getting reacquainted with soon, if Malik or his answering service ever returned my call about our date.
I took a calming breath and told Tavish about the flasher Katie and I’d seen. ‘Think it’s related?’
‘Could be, doll.’
I shared Katie’s worries that the werewolves could end up hunting her because she was a virgin. ‘Is she in any danger?’
‘Och, dinna fash yerself about that. ’Tis an old story from the Shining Times, and I doubt there’s a werewolf alive who remembers it, never mind kens the truth of it.’
The Shining Times supposedly came after the dinosaurs but before man first struck cold iron. Which didn’t pin it down much. Though if anyone would know, it was probably Tavish. Rumour has it he’s a couple of millennia old, but he’s always been cagey about his age, and with his angular, almost classic sidhe, features I’ve often wondered if he’s older. Maybe even born in the Shining Times. Which was when the sidhe and magic and the humans’ world first came together, and the sidhe procreated with any living thing that took their fancy – like humans, animals, trees, and even the elements – bringing whole new species into being. Including werewolves, by the sounds of it.
I frowned. ‘Are you saying that werewolves came from the sidhe? Like the rest of the fae?’
Tavish’s snort over the phone was faintly derisive. ‘Nae,’tis different magics that birthed the shifters. And ’tis long lost now.’
‘So Katie’s not in danger?’
‘Nae more than from any Other. And ’tis unlikely these werewolves will bother with the wee girlie, but we dinna ken what this Emperor vamp is like. So to be sure I’ll stir up a scent potion from wolfsbane and mistletoe for her. And for you too, doll. ’Twill encourage the beasts to keep their distance.’
Great. Katie could be in danger because of me. Again. ‘Okay, thanks, that puts my mind at rest.’ A bit, anyway.
‘Mind, ’twill nae smell too good.’
I blew out a breath. ‘Doesn’t matter if it helps keep her safe.’
‘Aye. And ’twill give her something to hang her worries on too, so they dinna bother her as much.’
Like the vamp-repelling kit he’d given her. I told him she’d shown it me, and that I was grateful he’d done that for her.
‘Och, she’s a good wee girlie, ’twas a pleasure to do, no thanks needed, doll.’
‘So, the Emperor’s got a couple of pet werewolves I need to watch out for,’ I said, digging out a Phone Privacy spell as a group of teens climbed onto the column’s plinth to get a closer look at the pixie, now dancing a passable jig. Their giggles and chatter cut out as I activated the crystal. ‘Any ideas why the tarot card didn’t show them, and why it gave the Emperor a knife instead?’
‘’Tis possible the werewolves are nae important to our question, doll, and the knife is. But how ’tis difficult to say, with only one card revealed.’
Right. ‘So when can I expect the other four to reappear?’
‘Och, when she’s got something more to tell.’
‘She?’
‘The spirit in the cards, doll. Who else?’
I had a sudden duh moment. Of course. ‘But why’s it taking her so long?’
‘Told you. Answers are nae always there for the taking. She has to search.’
I frowned. ‘She didn’t for the first card? That was instant.’
‘Aye, well, you ken I had already asked. ’Twas why I wanted you to have the reading there and then. The cards were after reminding me you were the key.’
‘Okay,’ I said, ‘so why did the eagle in the card cut the reading short, as if it was holding back info?’
‘Ah, her readings are always a bit abrupt, some things are nae always clear even to her, or a question’s asked she needs to look into.’
In other words, wait and see. ‘So if she’s out looking for answers, how do you know we can trust the spirit?’
‘Och, dinna fash yerself, doll, the cards are sidhe made. Means the spirit’s bound to tell the truth of her findings.’
Disbelief flashed in me. ‘Call me paranoid, but that doesn’t exactly reassure me, Tavish. Sidhe might not lie, but they don’t always tell the truth.’
‘The spirit’s never steered me wrong yet, doll.’
‘Fine,’ I said, deciding I’d reserve judgement. ‘So the knife’s important, but we don’t know why. But you don’t think the werewolves are?’
‘Hmph. Nae to the question’s answer. But you’re likely to be dealing with this Emperor, so they’ll be a consideration. I take it Malik al-Khan dinna say anything about werewolves?’
‘Nope,’ I said, ‘all I got out of him was that there’s a vamp called the Emperor; he’s badass’ – as are most überpowerful vamps, so nothing new there – ‘and he’s not the Autarch by another name.’ I shuddered. ‘But I’ll ask next time I see him.’ On our date. When he confirms it. I stifled my impatience. ‘So anything else helpful you can tell me about this Emperor?’
Chapter Fifteen
‘Nae yet, doll,’ Tavish said. ‘Could be I’ll find out more soon as I get into the Emperor’s website.’
Shock rocked me. Tavish is a techno-geek for hire – he’s rumoured to freelance for the Ministry of Defence – so for him not to have hacked the website meant it had some serious firewalls. ‘You haven’t got in yet?’
‘Aye, but ’twill nae take long,’ he added, determination roughening his voice. ‘So ’tis naught to worry about.’
‘Okay,’ I said, then it dawned on me why he’d been incommunicado. It wasn’t the body in the river, or not only that; the arrogant kelpie hadn’t wanted to admit the Emperor’s security had beaten him. Males and their egos! Good thing he’d won himself major kudos points by helping Katie. Though thinking of egotistical males— ‘Oh, yeah, there’s something else. Did you know the Fertility spell in the pendant is leaking?’
‘The spell is leaking?’ Genuine surprise sounded in his voice.
‘Yes, if I’m to believe Mad Max. I ran into him’ – well, his roundhouse kick anyway – ‘and, long story short, that’s what he told me. I think it’s the cause of the problems I have whenever you use your magic, not a side-effect from that Chastity spell.’ I told him my theory about my abstinence combined with the leaking fertility magic inadvertently setting me up for my own impromptu fertility rite.
He snorted. ‘’Tis nae something I’d have imagined being the cause. Any times I’ve been part of the fertility rites, the magic is nae picky like that, ’tis more indiscriminate. And you ken the witch wore the pendant for all those years and she dinna have a problem with it.’