CHAPTER TEN
But the red stuff couldn’t be blood. Civilized beings didn’t walk around with blood dripping from their heads. I didn’t care if they were Fae or not.
His arms were the size of tree trunks. He wasn’t quite as big as a bridge troll but he wasn’t far off.
His face was a stony mask as he surveyed his surroundings, his gaze passing over me as if I was no more a threat than a fly. I was okay with that. Really.
Liam’s hand touched my back. “Steady.”
I nodded, despite the strong urge to pull the Judge.
“The red cap is a guard. He won’t hurt you unless provoked,” Liam continued in a murmur meant only for my ears.
I nodded again. That didn’t really make me feel much better. I had a terrible habit of being provoking.
“How can he wander around the city without people losing their minds?” I asked in a near hiss. It was a legitimate question. Social media alone should have blown up if anybody caught a snap of the big guy.
Liam paused. “You’re probably seeing him in his natural form.”
“What do you see?” I asked. For once, my ability to see under illusions was not one I cherished. I could have gone a lifetime not knowing what lay under the Red Cap’s glamour and been perfectly happy.
“A man. Slightly taller than me, wearing armor that would be better suited to a period three hundred years in our past,” he murmured.
“I wish I saw that.”
“I can imagine,” Liam said, his voice grim.
I finally noticed what I should have before. A woman standing slightly to the right of the guard, her covetous gaze fastened on Liam.
She was beautiful, probably more so than any other woman I’d ever seen, which was saying something, since vampires tended to pick their companions with an eye to their looks. Her face possessed a flawless perfection almost painful to look at.
If the sun had been molded into the shape of a human, she was the form it would have taken. Her hair nearly shimmered, a golden-white blond that fell in soft waves down her back. She was clad in a dress appearing both delicate and impossible as it clung to what few curves she had before falling to the ground in a graceful arc.
She should have been untouchable, with the sort of beauty only found in paintings created by long dead masters. Instead, all I could see was lust coupled with greed stamped on her features as she looked at Liam. It drained some of the light, revealing dark shadows beneath her pretty surface.
“My pet, it has been ages,” the woman said, her gaze never leaving Liam who had gone stock-still at my side.
I didn’t have to look at his face to read how unwelcome the sight of this woman was.
“Niamh.” He spoke her name in a low voice, more for my benefit than hers.
She glided toward us, her advance silent as she seemed to float over the wooden floor. I might have been invisible for all the attention she paid me. The red cap lumbered by her side.
Behind them, two Fae men paused, taking note of the unfolding scene. The two were nearly identical; obviously twins. Tall and thin with an athletic build, their faces held a hint of cruelty. Their hair was the color of autumn leaves and their eyes the amber of tree sap.
They were the men I saw last night in the bar. I think.
One whispered something to the other, causing his twin to smirk. When they noticed me watching, they gave me a long stare before slyness replaced the amusement.
“I heard you passed through our fair lands and was hurt when you didn’t stop to pay me a visit.” Her voice held the tinkle of bells, light and delicate.
Her words made Liam tense even further, his body like granite at my side.
She raised her hand, the gesture that of a queen expecting a subject to pay obeisance.
Liam didn’t move as he radiated an otherworldly stillness seemingly unique to vampires.
There was a history between these two, and it was not a good one. I could see a banked rage in Liam’s gaze, as if violence was only a breath away.
I had a feeling that would not be a good thing. Before I could think better of it, I moved between the two, smiling brightly. I grasped the woman’s hand and shook it.
“Hi, I’m Aileen. You’re awful pretty,” I chirped. Airy yearling intent on ingratiating herself with the beautiful Fae woman. That was me. “I love your dress. I wish I could wear that color.”
The woman’s lilac gaze shifted to me for the first time. She blinked as if only just noticing my presence. The twins behind her dropped their air of sardonic amusement, appearing genuinely interested for the first time. I wasn’t sure I liked that, since they still didn’t seem as if they saw me as a thinking person, but instead a pet who had just performed a particularly clever trick.
Niamh studied me, her face beautiful and still. Nonetheless, I had to fight to keep from backing away. The way she looked at me made me think she was calculating how many bites it would take to gulp me down.
Not a lovely thought given the red cap by her side.
Without warning, power began to roll off her. She looked just an ounce more beautiful, her eyes transcendent. For a brief moment, I experienced an urge to bow at her feet and worship her, to make a sacrifice in her name.
I bit down on my lip and looked away, shaken at how easily she could have rolled me.
Liam stepped up to my side, his face cool and composed as he took my arm, neatly removing my hand from Niamh’s. “You’ll excuse us. We’re late.”
He didn’t wait for her response, dragging me in his wake toward the double doors that led into the ballroom. The twins watched us go with fascination before sharing a conspiring look. I felt whatever had just happened, it had put me on the radar of some very bad and very powerful people.
“What was that?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I didn’t want to risk blood staining this dress,” I told him.
“Why am I not surprised?” he asked, not giving me time to look around the room as he hurried me to the dais where Thomas sat on an ornate chair, like a king surveying his subjects.
It was a surprising sight. Thomas expected a certain respect from those under his command, but he hadn’t struck me as the type to go this feudal. He watched us with an interested gaze, noting the tension in both our faces.
“Usually one tries not to bring themselves to the attention of the biggest predator in the room,” Liam said.
“You’re welcome,” I told him.
“For what?”
“For interfering before you could do something you’d regret.”
“I had myself perfectly under control.”
I gave him a sideways look. “Uh huh.”
A small growl slipped from him as he propelled me up onto the dais, positioning me at Thomas’s side, just behind his chair before taking his place next to me on Thomas’s other side.
“Problem?” Thomas asked.
“No,” came Liam’s abrupt response.
Thomas looked at me.
I shrugged. “He’s sensitive.”
Thomas’s lips twitched.
“Your yearling shook Niamh’s hand and introduced herself,” Liam said through gritted teeth. “The twins seem very taken with her as well.”
Thomas choked.
“Only because you looked like you were going to snap her neck,” I returned.
Thomas’s shoulders shook as Liam let out a sound very similar to a growl. “She does have a point, dearthair. You do get a certain look about you whenever that creature’s name is mentioned.”
I shot Liam a look that said “see, I’m not the only one.”
He ignored us both and signaled to his men near the door. Thomas and I turned our attention back to the matter at hand.
I took in the room, noting several vampires lined up at the foot of the dais. Aiden, a clan Patriarch I’d run into more than once and who’d proven an ally on occasion, caught my eye and winked at me before turning to face our visitors. His presence gave me the hint I needed. These men and women were the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of their clans. Powerful in their own right, and if I kept to my normal way of operating, to be avoided at all costs.
Everyone in the room was dressed to the hilt. The women wore designer gowns and the men wore high end formal wear.
Against the wall I spotted Liam’s enforcers, for the first time noticing the similarity in their dress. Their clothes were just as formal as the rest, but managed to make it appear they were wearing a uniform of dark pants and a dark jacket, the cut of which indicated all of them carried weapons.
I realized abruptly there were no humans in the room. Just vampires. Powerful ones, if what I was sensing was correct.
A woman stepped forward as Anton, one of Liam’s enforcers, opened the door. “The Fair Folk of the Silver Hills.”
Through the door stepped several Fae, each as beautiful as the last. The twins were among the first to step through, their faces coolly amused as they paced into the room, their stride that of confident hunters. By their side marched the red caps, forming a line between the Fae and the vampires.
Niamh was the last to enter, a Fae man prowled by her side with a lazy stride. He looked bored as he surveyed the room. He was just as beautiful as the rest but there was a hardness to him. This was no creature of light and laughter.
“Here we go,” Thomas said in a soft voice.
“I do not like the fact that they brought the red caps,” Liam murmured. “They’re bred for war.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Thomas said softly.
The Fae glided across the floor, the magic that was a part of them seeming to spill out over us, shining a light on their small group.
There were only a handful of them, but it felt like we were facing an army.
I went still at the sight of a familiar pair of eyes the shade of the land after several weeks of soft rain. Delicate features that should have seemed feminine except for the cold look on his face. Ash blond hair fell across his forehead.
Niall. My downstairs neighbor and evidently one of the High Fae.
Now that I’d spotted him, it was easy to find Cadell, his copper hair drawing my focus as he kept pace with the red caps. His attire was much different than the last time I’d seen him in jeans and a t-shirt. Now he looked like a hunter fresh from the woods, wearing a loose green tunic over buckskin pants.
He met my gaze, a clear warning in his.
I settled back. Fine, but the two of them were going to explain themselves as soon as the time presented itself. I wanted to know what a pair of important, powerful Fae were doing as my downstairs neighbors.
Aiden stepped forward. “The master of these territories greets our friends from the summer lands. We give warm welcome and a warning. Offer no violence to ours and you shall receive none in return.”
A man stepped forward from amidst our guests. His size alone should have meant I noticed him before now.
I’d always thought Jerry was huge. Standing next to the High Faes’ guards he seemed almost inconsequential, half their size, but still taller than any of the Fae beside him.
His gaze flicked to mine and held. His expression was grim and stoic as he gave the slightest shake of his head before bending in a half-bow toward Thomas.
“Esteemed lord, my mistress and masters have given me leave to speak for them,” he said. “They are most happy to accept guesting rights and give you a token of their gratitude in return.”
He turned and gestured, from the midst of the Fae a small boy walked. He appeared human, his frame thin and slight, dark hair on his head and eyes the deep color of mud that seemed to take in everything and nothing at the same time.
The men beside me went stock still.
I didn’t know enough about the Fae to be able to read the situation. I did know that nobody on the dais was happy.
Aiden looked back, obviously unsure of how to handle the situation.
“The days of trading humans has long since passed,” Thomas said, raising his hand and waving Aiden back.
Niamh moved forward, her lips curled in a feline smile. “You’ll have to pardon us. It’s just so hard to keep track of human convention. They die off so quickly.”
Thomas didn’t answer, just regarded the woman steadily.
It didn’t take a genius to know the offering was an insult, meant to goad a reaction from the vampires.
From the little knowledge I possessed, I knew the Fae had a nasty habit of stealing children away from their parents, concealing them in their hidden lands, only to release them much later when everyone they knew was old or long dead.
I didn’t know how long this boy had been gone from this world. For all I knew he could be centuries older than me.
She shrugged slim shoulders. “If you do not wish to accept, I can always get rid of the boy.”
She raised a hand. One of the red caps unsheathed a sword and advanced on the child.
Only years of standing in formation, expressionless as someone yelled in my face kept me from reacting. That, and the knowledge of the gun strapped to my thigh. If need be, I’d act, but not yet. Not until I saw how Thomas handled this situation.
From my position behind him, I could see the way his hands tightened on the arm of his chair. He was no happier about this than me.
The red cap neared the boy, his lips curling as he raised the blade.
“Your hosting gift is accepted.” Thomas’s cool voice rang out in the silence.
The red cap hesitated, the promise of a fresh kill tempting him. Only Niamh waving him off with an impatient gesture compelled him to sheath the blade and return to his place in line.
“Excellent,” she said, clapping her hands together. “We look forward to our stay.” Her gaze wandered to Liam, the expression on her face turning hungry. “Our appetites are many. Providing us with something to pass the time would help keep us out of trouble.”
Thomas showed no evidence of the suggestion being abhorrent, not even a muscle twitch betrayed him. “I’m afraid that is not possible. The enforcer has important business that would not leave him time to entertain.”
Niamh gaze turned toward me. “Her, then.”
I didn’t twitch. If Thomas tried to give me over to this woman as a plaything, I was shooting her with the cold iron at my side. Consequences be damned. I had a feeling the world would be a much better place without her in it.
“My yearling would not survive the attentions of one such as you,” Thomas said in an amused voice. “She is not far removed from her human beginnings and still rather breakable.”
Niamh made a moue of disappointment even as she eyed me like she was the cat to my mouse. “Pity. I could think of many things to do with one such as her.”
“Control yourself, Niamh. This is not the time for such transient pleasures,” a man drawled.
It was the man who had accompanied her into the room. As with all the High Fae, he possessed an otherworldly beauty that made my teeth ache. It was spoiled by the haughty twist of his lips and the way he looked around the ballroom like it was little more than a dirt hut.
His hair was the color of freshly turned earth and longer than most modern men kept theirs. It didn’t make him seem effeminate, more like someone who belonged in an older era, one that lacked the distractions and noise of today’s world.
His eyes were tilted at the corners, almost almond-shaped and the color of amber. His skin looked like the sun had lovingly kissed it. He probably never had to worry about sunburn a day in his life.
His gaze moved past me as if I wasn’t even there as he focused on Thomas again.
Niamh didn’t seem entirely pleased with her companion’s interruption, but she bowed her head and stepped back, ceding the floor to him.
“You will have to forgive my wife. She grows bored when so far from home,” the man said.
As if boredom could excuse using a child as a token to trade.
“I am Arlan, Lord in the Autumn Lands.” He dipped his head the smallest bit.
Liam’s dislike and unease at this information buffeted me, his emotions easy to sense despite no outward sign of them. Something about the man’s presence disturbed him.
“Welcome Arlan, Lord in the Autumn Lands, also known as a Lord of the Wild Hunt,” Thomas said in a dry tone.
Recognition jumped through me as Thomas gave him his second name. Dahlia had brought that up last night.
Arlan’s smile widened. “I am one of many Lords of the Wild Hunt as the dog at your side might tell you.”
Thomas didn’t react to that, just stared the man down with a superior expression. “And may I inquire as to what brings you so far from the Shining Lands?”
“There is to be a Wild Hunt.” He paused as the rest of the vampires stirred, his words having the effect of a bomb.
Some of the vampires seemed uneasy at the news, while others exhibited avid anticipation.
Arlan spread his hands. “Of course, you and yours are welcome to participate. I caution you, however, the hunt is fickle. Those who join are as likely to end as prey versus hunters.”
Thomas remained motionless even as his vampires stirred, hushed whispers traveling through the room. Some of the clan leaders appeared to be considering the invitation. Aiden and a few others exchanged grim looks.
“We will consider your invitation,” Thomas said after a drawn-out silence.
Liam tensed, his eyes a blaze of fire under a mask of haughty disdain.
Thomas rose from his seat. “Come, let me show you our home so we might get to know each other.”
I lingered where I was, watching the High Fae mingle without actually mingling. They remained as apart from the vampires as if they had stayed standing by the door.
“Is this as bad as I think it is?” I asked as Liam came to stand beside me.
“Worse,” he said.
I nodded. That’s kind of what I thought.
“The Wild Hunt is an old tradition. It uses ancient magic that can’t be controlled.”
“And Arlan is its lord?” I asked.
His smile was grim. “One of them. There is no true lord of the hunt. The most powerful on that night becomes its Lord until the hunt is done. The magic chooses who among those present will be the hunters or the prey. Usually the weak and criminals are chosen as prey, but not always.”
I looked back at where the Fae had begun to move through the room. For the most part they remained in a group, only a few of them drifting off on their own, Niall and Cadell among those.
The twins remained with the group but seemed more interested in watching Liam and me.
“And Niamh? How does she factor into all this?” I asked
“She’s the high king’s youngest daughter,” Liam said.
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” I murmured watching the newcomers carefully. She had the spoiled entitlement down pat.
“I’m surprised to hear she married, and to Arlan of all people,” he said.
“Jealous?” I asked, giving him a quick look.
“No, just surprised. Her unfortunate appetites are well known among their people. Even for one of them, she is considered cruel,” he said softly.
“How is she tied to the hunt?” I asked.
“Blood and death are her two preferred pastimes. Hunting others down for sport is her favorite activity. She has participated in more hunts than any other Fae I know of.”
“She’s a lady of the hunt then?” I asked.
Liam’s small laugh held little humor. “She is far too weak for that. At least she was when I knew her. Now? It’s hard to say.”
I sensed a story there, but I didn’t push, knowing how the past could tangle and tear a person up inside. If he wanted to share, he would do so in his own time.
“This doesn’t seem like a good thing,” I said. “Can’t Thomas just forbid the hunt?”
Liam shook his head. “It’s not that easy. The Wild Hunt goes where it will. That’s the nature of old magic. Even if that wasn’t the case, he still couldn’t forbid it in his borders. We have a treaty with the Fae, and to forbid it would make him seem weak in front of potential allies.”
That was just great. A Wild Hunt where anyone could be victim or perpetrator. Even worse, I seemed to have friends caught up in the middle of things.
“All we can do is try to control who participates and attempt to keep it out of the city,” Liam said.
His words didn’t fill me with confidence.
“I’ve heard stories about the Fae,” I said.
And had experienced more than one encounter with the minor Fae, who could be considered capricious and mischievous on a good day. Everything I’d learned about the High Fae pointed to them being worse.
“Everything you’ve heard is true,” Liam warned. “They have turned lying through truth into an art form. Be very careful with them, Aileen. They will seek to trick you just because they can.”
I nodded.
“Is that where you were when you were gone?” I asked, in a soft voice.
By the way Liam went still, I could tell it wasn’t a topic he welcomed.
“Briefly,” he said, his voice husky.
Not too brief, considering he was gone for nearly three months. Of course, given rumors the Fae lands experienced time differently from us, perhaps his brief visit had translated into months here.
Seeing Niamh approaching, he stepped away as he said, “Keep an eye on yourself and try to stay out of trouble for the night. Find me if you see anything amiss.”
I let him go, not wanting to attract the attention of the Fae woman or any of her companions. I moved through the crowd, giving the rest of the Fae delegation a wide berth.
Niall and Cadell remained on the outskirts of the gathering, not socializing with their own kind or any vampires. They watched the scene with bored eyes as they sipped their wine.
Cadell caught my gaze and gave a slight shake of his head, warning me off. I hesitated, my desire to know why they were here, participating in this Wild Hunt, warring with the knowledge it might be better to wait for a more opportune time when we weren’t so closely watched.
I sighed and turned away, the act enough to let them know I understood. I wasn’t going to wait forever, but I could give them this. If they didn’t find me and explain before too long, I’d get the information I wanted another way, their machinations be damned.
I drifted in Jerry’s direction, taking a circuitous route to where he stood against the wall. He was one of the few not watched by the red caps, either trusted or considered so unimportant a guard wasn’t necessary.
“Not exactly your scene,” I told him. I lifted the wine glass I’d plucked from a server’s tray to my lips and feigned taking a sip as I looked over the crowd, making a concerted effort not to pay any attention to the giant next to me.
“Aileen, you’re wading in dangerous waters,” he said, not looking at me.
Jerry was a tall man and before I’d met the red caps I would have said he had some troll in him. Compared to them, however, he looked like a foothill standing next to a mountain.
Still, that didn’t mean he was the type of person you’d like to meet in an alley at night. The permanently grumpy lines of his face alone were enough to send you screaming. Add in the mammoth build and the fact even his muscles had muscles, and the impression you took away was that of a bruiser capable of crushing your skull.
“I think mine are a little less dangerous than yours at the moment,” I told him.
He made a gruff sound that could have been taken as agreement—or he had something stuck in his throat. With Jerry, it was always hard to tell.
“What are you doing here?”
Especially since I knew for a fact that he hated vampires. He’d suffered my presence because of a favor he owed my former captain.
“It is an honor for one so humble as I to be called on to serve our lord and lady.” The words were said in Jerry’s deep rumble, but the emotionless way they were recited and his closed-off expression said they might as well have come from someone else.
“Well, I never would have called you humble,” I told him.
Imposing. Intimidating. Gruff. I could come up with twenty words to describe Jerry, but humble wouldn’t have been among them.
“It is my honor to serve, as it is for every being with a drop of Fae blood,” he continued. He certainly didn’t look like it was an honor. No, he looked like he would chew through iron to express his displeasure about his situation.
“Did they give you a script to recite?” I hissed. All this babble would make so much more sense if that was the case.
He snorted, but didn’t respond.
“What’s this I hear that Hermes isn’t currently carrying messages?” I asked.
I’d written the sphinx’s declaration off as exaggeration, a fanciful turn designed to influence me to help. In fact, I never gave the claim an ounce of credibility, but standing here next to Jerry with him acting like a puppet, maybe I should have.
“Everything I have serves the lord and lady’s agenda,” Jerry said, turning his attention to me for the first time since I’d arrived. His words had a certain weight to them, the significance of which wasn’t lost on me.
My eyes widened, even as I fought to keep my reaction under control.
That, more than anything I’d heard or seen tonight, unsettled me. I nodded to show my understanding of the message.
“Aileen, lass, you have a good heart, but listen to me this time. Steer clear of this,” he warned. “You’re digging on unsteady ground. Throttle your normal reckless impulses and keep your head down.”
Jerry didn’t wait for a response, plodding away, his broad shoulders cutting through the crowd with little effort on his part.
I watched him go as I took a sip of the fairy wine. The taste of it burst on my tongue, tantalizing and sweet, the endless possibility of spring coupled with the refreshing bite of the season’s first snowmelt.
A person could get addicted to this stuff if they let themselves.
I set the almost full glass of wine on a passing server’s tray as I considered what Jerry had told me. I was afraid it would be impossible to follow his advice.
Even if I wasn’t hopelessly entangled, I would have become invested once I’d learned about Jerry’s presence and the likely fact that all his couriers had been enslaved to the High Fae’s service.
The thing I hated about loyalty was that it wasn’t so easily discarded. You couldn’t shrug it off like you could a pair of dirty clothes. It was there, an undercurrent to every action. Whether you wished it to be or not.
Jerry had received my loyalty when he gave me a job at a time when I was lost. He’d earned it when he kept me on despite the considerable trouble I brought to his door.
I didn’t know what he’d gotten himself caught up in, but I wasn’t going to sit back and watch him and the rest drown. Not if it was in my power to throw him a lifeline.
How, was the question.