The Silver Stag

  “They’re in the kitchen, on the microwave,” she said.

  While DJ finished his sandwich, I hurried to wring out my clothes and scoop them into the garbage bag, tying it shut. Then I washed up the tub and drew a hot bath, pouring in a few bubbles. As I returned to the living room, carrying my bag of bloody clothes, I nodded over my shoulder.

  “The bathtub’s ready.”

  “Thanks,” Angel said. She patted DJ’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go take a bath, kiddo?”

  He had finished his sandwich, and I saw a cupcake wrapper sitting next to it. “I see you had dessert,” I said, forcing a smile to my face.

  “Do you want one?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I’d love one. Thank you.” I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of me now, considering he had watched me kill the two men. But he brought me back a cupcake, a smile cracking the solemnity of his face.

  “Thank you,” he said quietly, handing me the treat.

  I took the cupcake and peeled away the paper. The fragrant smell of chocolate wafted up to set my stomach to growling. “What did I do?”

  “You saved my life. I know they were going to kill me. I’m just sorry you had to hurt them instead, but thank you.”

  And then, he threw his arms around my neck. I juggled both DJ and the cupcake as he gave me a quick hug before running off into the bathroom. Watching him go, I bit into the cupcake and closed my eyes as the frosting melted in my mouth.

  Angel was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. She waited until we heard the click of the bathroom door before letting out a long sigh and turning to me. “What the hell do we do? There was somebody else there, he said? Do you know if they found out who DJ was?”

  “I can answer part of that. I didn’t see the third man, but there was one there, DJ said. They found DJ’s wallet and…damn it, I didn’t think to pick it up when we left. Let me tell you what happened. DJ didn’t mention the stag, but I’m not surprised because he was so shaken.”

  I told her everything, including how the silver stag had come to our rescue. “I have no idea what that creature was, but I can tell you this, he wasn’t from this world. Or if he was, he’s some species I’ve never encountered before. I’m thinking I should go back and see if the bodies are still there. If they are, I’d better dispose of them somehow.”

  “You can’t go. If this Sasha is still there, he’ll be waiting for you.” She shivered. “I’m afraid to stay here. The third man will find DJ’s wallet… Maybe he has already. He’ll know where we live.” Angel nervously paced over to the door, peeking out the front window. “I don’t want to stay here tonight.”

  “Should I call the police?” I already knew the answer to that one, but it felt like something that I should say.

  She shook her head. Angel might be human, but she understood all too well the nuances in politics concerning interspecies relations. “They aren’t going to help us. For one thing, we know that there are Cryptos on the police force. If any are secret agents for Névé, then you’d be toast and so would DJ and me. I don’t think we can chance talking to any of the authorities.”

  “Yeah, and I can’t plead our case before Névé, because she wouldn’t allow me to come before the throne. I’m half-breed, caught between Light and Dark, anathema to both.” To say I was carrying a bitter streak against both sides of the Fae world was putting it mildly. I kept out of their machinations, preferring the company of other Cryptos and humans.

  Angel frowned. “Even if we did call the cops, they would just find some way to blame DJ. He’s a young black boy and that pretty much seals his fate with the authorities.”

  I nodded, all too aware that racism still ran deep against anybody who wasn’t white and rich in the country.

  “Come back to my place for the night. We can figure out what to do tomorrow. I suppose by then, it might be safe for me to return to the ravine to see if the bodies are there. Maybe I can call a friend to help me.” But when I thought about it, I really didn’t have many friends. Angel was my bestie, of course, and I had a few other buddies, but when it came down to it, I really didn’t hang out with people very much. Angel was my go-to girl, and that was about it.

  “I’m going to call in sick to work tomorrow. I don’t know what else to do.”

  “After DJ finishes his bath, get him dressed. Pack a bag for a couple days. I’m pretty sure that if this Sasha saw me, he wouldn’t know who I was. They have your address, but there’s no way they’ll know to come over to my apartment. We can figure things out when our heads are clear and we’re not so tired.”

  While Angel packed for herself and DJ, I raided her refrigerator for anything perishable. We could take the food with us so it wouldn’t go to waste. Once DJ was dressed, Angel and I carried the bags out to my car.

  “You should leave your car here. I just feel you’ll be safer if you ride with me.”

  “As long as you drive me back for it tomorrow. Then I suppose we can tell if anybody has been in the house. I wish I was a witch—I could cast a spell to booby-trap the place.”

  “Well, I can work some magic, but nothing along those lines. I suggest that you lock every window, and when we lock the doors, leave a piece of paper between the door and the door jamb so that if the door opens, the paper will fall. Put it down low enough and make it small enough and an intruder probably won’t notice it.” It was the only thing I could think of at the moment.

  It was dark out by the time we packed the bags into my car and took off for my condo. For the first mile or two, I kept a close eye behind us, looking for any sign that we were being followed. But the only cars on the road seemed to be intent on their own destinations, and by the time we were over the bridge to Seattle, I was breathing easier.

  We reached my building without any problems, and as we headed up the elevator, I was doing my best to figure out who to call to ask for help. In a metro area of over three million people, I was suddenly feeling very alone.

  I TUCKED DJ into my bed, and he fell asleep immediately with Mr. Rumblebutt watching over him on the foot of the bed. As I looked out of the window, over Puget Sound, I was suddenly grateful that I lived on the fifteenth floor. Nobody could come sneaking in, unless they were a vampire. And vampires were the last thing we were worried about.

  When I returned to the front room, Angel was in my kitchenette, making grilled cheese sandwiches for us. The cupcake had only whetted my appetite, and while she sliced cheese and buttered the bread, I found a bag of potato chips in the cupboard. I also dug out a bottle of brandy and poured us a couple of drinks. Handing one to Angel, I held up my snifter.

  “Here’s to a long life and good health,” I said, sipping the fiery liqueur. “The gods know, I needed this.”

  “You and me both. Once again, I can’t thank you enough for saving DJ. I almost lost him, Ember. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You saved his life.” She paused, then staring down at the toasting sandwiches, said, “What the hell are we going to do? We can’t go to the cops.”

  I shrugged, not sure of the answer myself. “First, we have to be very careful mentioning this to anybody. You know how capricious the Fae courts are.”

  “Thalacious? Really? I can’t believe they were gathering that. I thought it was illegal. Couldn’t we use that against them?” She flipped the sandwiches as I poured the potato chips into a large bowl.

  “I doubt it. The poison may be illegal but it’s in use by both the Light and Dark courts. Nobody’s going to do anything about it.”

  I paused, thinking about my childhood. “My father was going to teach me how to distill it, you know. He thought one day I might need to know. But the Fae courts got to my parents before he could teach me that.” I paused.

  “I’m sorry, Ember. I know it still hurts.” Angel flipped the sandwiches.

  I shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it. How my mother and father ever managed to get together, let alone spawn me, I have no clu
e. But their love got them both killed.”

  My mother and father fled both TirNaNog and Navane because of their forbidden love. They had tried to live among the rest of the Cryptos and humans. Unfortunately, my mother was fairly high placed in the Light Court, and her family didn’t take well to her defection. When I was fifteen, I had come home after school one day to find her and my father brutally murdered on the kitchen floor. If I had been home, they would have killed me as well.

  I had recognized the daggers still in their hearts as Fae made.

  When I had called in Mama J.—Angel’s mother—for help, she had read the cards and told me Light had done the deed. But if they hadn’t, the Dark would have come along sooner or later to finish the job. Mama J. was a witch woman, a tarot reader of incredible ability as well as the best damned cook in Seattle. Angel had inherited her psychic abilities from her mother. Unfortunately, Mama J. had ended up on the wrong side of a drunk driver.

  “I think we should just try to fly under the radar.”

  “But we can’t do that. One escaped, and he’ll find DJ’s wallet and track us down. Also, can’t the Fae call in one of the Morte Seers? If they can, you’re in danger just as much as we are.” Angel handed me a plate with two sandwiches on it. She had fixed one for herself. She knew that I had a bigger appetite than she did. We carried our plates over to the kitchen table.

  “That’s why I want to get rid of the bodies, if they’re still there. If they don’t have the bodies, they can’t call on the spirits for help. It only works when the Morte Seer has a body to work with.” I paused, realizing that wouldn’t fix the problem. “I don’t know. Let’s eat and clear our heads and then think about it.”

  As I bit into my sandwich, I realized I really wasn’t looking forward to going back to those woods. I had just added two more spirits to an already haunted park, and I wasn’t inclined to pay another visit to it. But I couldn’t just leave them there to be found. I wasn’t worried about the cops. Unless the Fae were nobility, they wouldn’t pay much attention. Just two more dead Cryptos. But a Morte Seer could ask questions of the dead, and even get visuals from them.

  I polished off one sandwich and started on the other.

  Angel retrieved the brandy bottle and refilled our glasses. We had been best friends since we were eight years old—twenty-two years ago we had met in grade school. Most of the Fae studied in their own courts, but I couldn’t because of my heritage, so my parents sent me to the local school, where I met Angel the first day.

  She had shoved me in a mud puddle, and I dragged her down with me. After a scuffle, we were both sent to the principal’s office, soaking wet and covered in mud. Our mutual fear and dislike of authority spontaneously created a bond by the end of the day and after that we were fast friends. When my parents were murdered, Mama J. took over as a second mom to me. I sold just about everything that my parents owned, tucking what money there was left in the bank for when I would be on my own. I lived with Angel and her mother for three years, until I turned eighteen. Over the years I had done what I could to thank them and repay the debt.

  DJ had come along when Angel was twenty. Mama J. had fallen in with a Wolf shifter, who had stuck around until he found out she was pregnant, and then he lit out. DJ had inherited his father’s blood, and Mama J. and Angel did their best to help him grow up in human society. They had befriended a couple lone-wolf shifters, asking for help in teaching DJ his heritage. But just like the Fae turning their back on me, the Wolf shifter society seldom allowed whelps—what they called crossbreeds—into their fold. They weren’t as cruel as the Fae, but neither did they look fondly on anyone who wasn’t of pure blood.

  I knew that Angel still stayed in touch with the wolf shifters who had helped her and Mama J. “Do you think Ben and Lyle could help us? Do you think we could trust them?”

  “You know how the shifters feel about the Fae, at least in general. I don’t think it’s a good idea. They may be lone wolves, but the truth is, shifters don’t get along with many people except humans. Who knows what they might do?” She glanced at the door to my bedroom. “I’m doing my best to bring up DJ without those biases, but it’s difficult. Some of them seem inbred, to be honest.”

  “Then I’m not sure who to contact. Or if we should even try.”

  “You may not be in danger, but I still have the problem of how to protect my little brother. I can’t go home again until I have some answers.” Angel gave me the look she always did when I had totally missed the point.

  I let out a sigh. “Right. I’m sorry, I didn’t think.” I was running through a list of people I knew in my head, trying to zero in on somebody who might be useful to us, when the doorbell rang.

  Angel and I both froze. I slowly rose out of my chair and motioned for her to join DJ in my bedroom. When she had closed the door behind her, I readied my blade and quietly approached the front door, peeking out through the peephole.

  A man stood there. He was tall—at least significantly taller than I was—and with wheat-colored hair that fell below the shoulder blades and the scruff of a beard. He didn’t look Fae, and yet he didn’t look human either. I hesitated, my hand on the doorknob, when he rang the bell again. Slowly opening the door a crack, I peeked out, ready to slam it shut at the first sign of trouble.

  “Yes?”

  “Ember Kearney?” His gaze met mine, and it felt like he drilled a hole right through me.

  “Who wants to know?” I wasn’t used to visitors, and that he was here so quickly after what had happened this afternoon made me wary.

  “My name is Herne. You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are, and I know you’re in trouble. And I know you need my help. That’s why I’m here.”

  He was wearing biker’s leathers, and carrying a helmet in his hand. I tried to read his energy, and the strength of it blasted me back. Rubbing my head from the sudden pounding, I wasn’t sure what to do. He could be Fae, although I didn’t think he was. And how did he know my name and that we were in trouble?

  “You’ll have to do better than that. I need to know who you are and why you’re here.”

  “I know you’re protecting friends right now, and that’s a good thing. But you won’t be able to protect them much longer without my help. I took care of the bodies in the woods, but I couldn’t find the third man.”

  I hesitated. He obviously knew what had happened, but if I let him in, was he a greater danger? There was no other way out, given I lived on the fifteenth floor. And I’d be the only one standing between him and DJ and Angel. While I was good with my dagger, I wasn’t sure that I could take him on. He looked muscled, and it looked like he had a wicked blade strapped to his belt.

  “You can either let me in, or I can leave and let them find you.”

  I pressed my head to the door, struggling with the decision.

  “You have my help, if you choose it. I give you my word, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “Your word? And what would you swear on?”

  Herne held out his hand, then drew his blade. Immediately, I reached for my dagger but he shook his head and slashed his blade across his palm. Blood sprang forth, and he held it out toward me.

  “Under the name of Cernunnos and Morgana, I swear to you on my blood that I will not harm you. For they’re the ones who sent me.”

  At that, I knew he was telling the truth. He swore on the name of the goddess my mother had been pledged to, and it would be an easy thing for me to call down her vengeance if he broke his oath. Magic was rife in his voice, and he had just infused it into his oath and his blood.

  I stepped back, opening the door so he could enter. At that moment, Mr. Rumblebutt ran out into the foyer beside me. He looked up at Herne, then turned around and sauntered off.

  He came in, glancing around. “You need to get your friend out here. We all have to talk.”

  Angel eased the door open to my bedroom and slipped out. “I was listening.” Her gaze wa
s fastened on his face, and I glanced over at her, looking for confirmation. She was psychic enough to tell if he was lying.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  “He’s telling us the truth. There’s more, but I don’t get the sense that he’s here to harm us.” She joined us at the table and we all sat down.

  I turned to him. He was a striking man, with brilliant blue eyes, and he felt familiar, though I knew I had never met him before. “All right, we’re listening.”

  As he settled into his chair and leaned forward, his elbows on the table, I retrieved a paper towel and handed it to him for his hand. But he opened his fist just in time for me to see the wound close and vanish. He wiped off the blood that was still clinging to his fingers, but the cut itself was gone.

  “Are you a vampire?” The only people I knew who healed up so quickly were vampires.

  He let out a snort. “Hardly. I’m as alive as you are. You saw the blood. If I was a vampire, I would have bled far more slowly. I told you, my name is Herne. My father is Cernunnos, the Horned One, the Lord of the Forest. He and Morgana sent me. I’ve come to offer you and your friend jobs and safety, of a sort. My father has agreed that you should join the Wild Hunt. Welcome aboard.”

  Chapter 4

  WHEN NEITHER ANGEL nor I moved, Herne reached across the table for the brandy bottle. He waited a moment, then opened the bottle and was about to upend it into his mouth.

  “I’ll get you a glass,” I said then, shaking myself out of my stupor. I hurried into the kitchen and brought back another snifter, handing it to him.

  “My thanks,” he said, pouring himself a stiff belt. He slammed it back and then poured another. “Not bad, not bad.” He glanced up at us, the smile still tilting the corners of his mouth. “Nothing to say? I’m not surprised. That’s all right, news like this takes a while to assimilate.”

  I held out my hand. “Hand me that bottle.”

  He passed it to me and I poured drinks for Angel and me. This time, we didn’t sip the booze, just slugged it back, the way he had. I poured another round, and the liquid fire rolling down my throat seemed to drain some of the disbelief out of my system.