“You heard nothing?” I asked, running a hand through my hair and starting to pace.
I couldn’t face my friends’ worried looks right now. I needed to focus on getting Sparky back. That meant treating this like any other missing persons case.
“No, the cartoons were playing, but not very loudly,” he said.
“There were no broken windows, no sign of a break-in or a struggle?” I asked, ticking off possibilities.
Not that a break-in was likely. Not with the apartment warded with the best Kaye had to offer. Considering her newly juiced magic, that was a lot.
“No, certainly not,” he said.
“Okay, let me think,” I said, biting my lip.
Someone had managed to slip through my front door, past Kaye’s magical protective wards, and into our apartment where they quickly and silently convinced Sparky to leave a perfectly good dinner and playtime with someone who was great with kids. That narrowed the suspects to my closest friends.
An oily sensation churned through my gut, and I gripped the phone so tight it made a creaking sound of protest. I raised my eyes to meet the worried looks of my friends, and Torn sighed.
“We must all be thinking it,” he said.
“Thinking what?” Jinx asked, turning on Torn, then me. “What the Hell is going on?”
“Sparky’s been kidnapped,” I said.
“From the loft?” she asked. “But that…that’s impossible. You said…we paid…”
“Yeah, that’s what Torn is hinting at,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“You mean?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, an icy chill running up my spine. “Those wards were keyed so that only specific friends of ours can pass through. That’s not a lot of people. Most of us are here, which eliminates us as suspects, and there’s no way that Marvin or Hob would harm one floppy ear on Sparky’s head. They already love the kid like family.”
“He has that effect,” Forneus said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Was that a tear on his cheek? If so, I wasn’t about to mention it. I didn’t feel like taking a fireball to the chest.
“So, it really is her?” Jinx asked.
“Yes,” I said. I hesitated. Saying it would make it real. “Kaye took Sparky. It had to be her. No one else could have waltzed through those wards, and into our apartment.”
“And Sparky knows her,” she said, nodding. “She doesn’t like demons, but she was never outwardly mean to him. Not in any way he’d notice.”
“Yes, he is…was…he IS naïve in that way,” Forneus said. “Always seeing the best in people.”
“A peculiar trait in a demon,” Torn said.
I thought Forneus might lash out, but he nodded.
“Yes, I always thought so,” he said. “It’s probably why he left Hell, the first chance he got.”
I sometimes wondered about what Sparky’s life must have been like before he came here, and how exactly he’d managed to get trapped in a vessel with a bunch of fire imps. He was a tezcatlipocan demon, which meant he should have grown up to dominate other demons. In the demon plane where tezcatlipocan demons ruled, torture and violence would have been a daily occurrence—business as usual.
I shuddered. At least there was no way his own kind could have entered my apartment, or Harborsmouth. If demons were behind this, then they were acting through Kaye. That was unlikely considering her abhorrence of demons.
Unlikely didn’t mean impossible.
At the moment, I didn’t have a lot to go on. Kaye seemed our prime suspect, but there was no clear motive for her actions. My best guess was that she intended to use Sparky as a pawn, a bargaining chip if I chose not to bring her what she wanted. But her motives could be darker, much darker.
Tezcatlipocan demons are a rarity here in the human world. There were spells that called for rare ingredients. Kaye may have walked the line in the past, sticking to using her magic for good, but she’d changed since her death. She’d been reborn a darker and more powerful woman, one who might be capable of harming a demon child if doing so helped to quench her thirst for strong magic.
“What does she want with Sparky?” Jinx asked, her question echoing the one raging inside my head. “Do you think…will she hurt him?”
“If she harms that child, no pet gargoyle will stand in my way,” said Forneus, eyes flickering. “I will hunt the witch, and I will drag her to the deepest depths of Hell and acquaint her with my brother. He would enjoy torturing a witch of her power. It’s been decades since he had such a challenge. Even Hell grows dull over the centuries.”
He said the last with a shrug, and I stifled a shudder. Thank Mab, the demon counted me an ally. We’d got off to a rocky start, but we weren’t enemies. Right now, I was extremely glad of that fact.
Forneus was focusing all of his anger on Kaye, and he wasn’t the only one.
Nobody threatened a child without facing Ceff’s wrath, not even Kaye. She may have done us favors in the past, but if it turned out she’d harmed Sparky in any way, Ceff would drive a trident through her heart without a second’s hesitation.
I wouldn’t be far behind him.
Kaye had been a mentor to me, and a friend. At one time, when I’d felt abandoned by my own family, she’d been like a surrogate mother. She’d helped me navigate a world that I could see, but didn’t understand. When I learned that I was indeed a part of that world, she didn’t judge me or turn me away.
She helped me to adapt to being the daughter of Will-o’-the-Wisp, and she gave me the tools to survive in a city filled with threats. I was alive because of Kaye. I would never forget what she’d done for me, but I would do whatever it took to keep Sparky safe. If Kaye threatened that kid, I would take her down.
We all would.
Looking around at every face, I could see that truth. It was written in the lines between Jinx’s eyes, the widening of Torn’s pupils, and the set of Ceff’s jaw.
We were all ready to rush off, blades and arrows out, running like the hounds of Hell were hot on our tail. Every one of us cared about Sparky, and wanted to bring him home safe. But our lives weren’t that simple, and we were short on time.
With sunset fast approaching, and Herne unwilling to negotiate, things were about to turn bloody. Forneus would soon be needed to aid Benmore and the dwarves in their assault against Yue Fei and the rogue vampires. The Wild Hunt would soon attack, likely tearing their way to the heart of the city.
We were already threatened on multiple fronts, and we were the last line of defense this city had against supernatural threats. If the human police got involved, they wouldn’t stand a chance. And with the penalty against revealing our existence to humans being death, we would all face execution if we warned the media.
The most we could do was call in bogus reports of an incoming storm, and hope innocent civilians stayed indoors. The thunder of Herne’s horse riding through the portal, the howl of his hounds, and the sounding of his horn helped substantiate those rumors. Humans have an uncanny ability to overlook the supernatural and find a rational, mundane explanation for what they don’t understand.
That combined with glamour would hide the truth of the Wild Hunt from humans right up until Herne’s hounds tore out their throats. Then the One Law would be moot. You can’t tell the world that monsters truly exist when you’re dead.
“We can’t all go,” I said. “With both the Wild Hunt and the rogue vamps preparing for a fight, we can’t just leave this in the hands of the Hunters’ Guild.”
“Are you saying you want us to stay here, and let you face Kaye on your own?” Jinx asked.
“Not on my own,” I said.
I took a deep breath, and nodded. They wouldn’t all like my decision, but that was too damn bad. I wasn’t about to leave this city vulnerable, no more than I’d let Kaye harm Sparky. But I knew just how bad this could go. If Kaye went homicidal, it would be better if some of us survived. Otherwise, there’d be no home for Sparky to come back to.
“Torn, you’re with me,” I said. “I’ll call back Father Michael and have him meet us outside the Emporium. He’s still at the loft which is an easy hike over, even for the priest.”
Torn raised an eyebrow at my choice, but nodded.
“Can’t let you have all the fun,” he said, lip lifting in a lopsided grin.
“And the rest of us, Miss Granger?” Forneus asked, flames flickering in his eyes. “You can’t possibly expect us to sit idly by while there is a threat to the little one.”
“We all have jobs to do,” I said, shaking my head. “Yours is to kick vampire ass. Until then, keep Jinx safe.”
“He doesn’t need to stay here to keep me safe,” Jinx said, hands on her hips. “I’m not staying. I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not,” I said. “I need you to stay here with the Hunters.”
“No way,” Jinx said.
“Look, I know this sucks, but…” I said, running a hand through my hair.
“But I’ll just slow you down,” she said.
“Yes,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Torn and I can run faster unencumbered. Plus, she may not despise you as much as she does Forneus, but you and Kaye have never really gotten along.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “She’s not my biggest fan.”
“This is our best shot,” I said. “And you’re all needed here. If we don’t make it back before sunset, kick some barghest ass for me.”
“You will come back in time for battle,” Ceff said, dark eyes locking on mine. “If I have to grab the moon to change the tides, you will be here.”
His threat was clear. He’d stay here and work with the water fae and the Hunters’ Guild to coordinate our attack plan. But if I was running late, he’d drop everything to come find me. For a second, I almost felt bad for Kaye.
“Don’t worry, Fish Breath,” Torn said, eyes roving over my body, lingering on my chest before turning to Ceff with a wink. “I’ll take good care of her.”
I turned tail, and started running toward the Old Port with Torn on my heels. Coward, me? If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck.
I’d rather face an angry witch than listen to one more second of Ceff and Torn’s arguing. Too bad the witch was likely to turn me into a frog. I swallowed hard, and eyed the sky as I ran. Only good thing? I’d be too small for the giant, killer owls to bother with.
Chapter 20
I would have recognized Father Michael by his nervous head bobbing, even if he hadn’t been the only soul pacing up and down the sidewalk. In this case, I spotted the lanky priest from over a block away. The area was unnaturally silent, without a car or person in sight. The entire street was deserted.
“Creepy,” I muttered, halting to scan the area before rushing headlong into a potential trap.
“Even my cats are wary,” Torn said, narrowing his eyes at the intersecting streets. “I suspect our witch friend has cast some kind of look-away spell to keep prying eyes away.”
“Great,” I said, waving a hand at the normally busy section of the Old Port Quarter. “She could have staged this all—Sparky’s abduction, even Father Michael’s call to us—just to get me here.”
“Do you really think she’d go to all that trouble for a clandestine meeting?” he asked. “Seems a lot of trouble, even for you, Princess.”
“Yeah, well, I know Mab is gunning for me, but nobody seems to know where she is,” I said. “The abduction of Sparky moments before a battle we know she orchestrated seems both evil and convoluted enough to be one of Mab’s schemes.”
“Let’s hope you’re wrong, Princess,” he said. “As much as I enjoy a fight with poor odds, I’d rather not face the Queen of Air and Darkness and the strongest witch on the damn planet. Not at the same time and without backup.”
“What am I, chopped liver?” I asked.
“What you are is stalling,” he said.
Torn was right. I was stalling.
“Everything about this stinks,” I said. “But you’re right. Putting it off won’t help. Whatever is in there, we need to face it and get this over with before sunset.”
Father Michael looked up and started toward me, recognizing us. Not that we were hard to identify. Torn looked like a rocker who enjoyed the underground fight scene with his leather pants and scarred body.
“Miss Granger, I am so sorry that this happened,” Father Michael said.
“Not your fault, Padre,” I said. I was pretty sure that blame lay squarely on me. “Any news?”
“No, I checked all through the apartment one final time, then ran here as you requested,” he said.
“Any sign of Kaye or her pet gargoyle?” Torn asked.
I frowned. I liked Humphrey, but Torn had a point. Kaye had Humphrey on a magical leash. She could take control of the gargoyle, making him a fierce enemy. It was something to keep in mind.
“Gargoyle?” he asked, head bobbing. “Yes, yes, he has been scrabbling along that wall, up to the stone rainspout and back to the door lintel. I think he was surprised that I could track his movements. Must not be accustomed to a priest who wears faerie ointment, I should think.”
It made sense that Father Michael would be wearing the magic ointment around his eyes. It was the only way to see through glamour, and he’d been in a faerie’s home babysitting a demon child. The ointment was a wise precaution, and would come in especially handy now.
Although it did make for some awkward, furtive glances at Torn’s slit-pupil eyes.
“Cat sidhe,” Torn said. “In case you were wondering.”
“Oh, no, I mean, I wouldn’t dream of…” Father Michael stuttered.
I held up a gloved hand.
“He’s just messing with you,” I said. “It’s what he does. But right now we need to focus on Kaye.”
Torn rolled his eyes, and Father Michael fidgeted.
“Do you have a plan?” Torn asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Father Michael, you stay behind me, and if I say run, hightail it as fast as you can out of there. If we get split up, meet us back at the loft. Torn, you cover our backs.”
“So the plan is to go in fighting?” he asked. “If so, I like this plan.”
“No,” I said. “But be ready for a fight.”
Torn lifted one hand, and razor-sharp claws slid from his fingertips.
“Always.”
Chapter 21
“Hey, Humphrey!” I yelled, getting the gargoyle’s attention.
He tilted his head to the side with a grinding sound that set my teeth on edge. I liked Humphrey, but he was a behemoth of solid stone that could crush our bones like matchsticks. A behemoth who might not currently be in control of that bone crushing body.
I waved a hand at the street, and smiled.
“Quiet out here today,” I said. “We should liven things up. Break out the rock n’ roll.”
Torn groaned at my pun, and muttered something unflattering. Father Michael paled, and inched away from Torn’s grouchy remarks. I tried to ignore them both, keeping an eye on Humphrey. My bad puns were part of our usual banter, and the easiest way I knew of how to tell who was in the driver’s seat.
“Can’t brrreak rrrocks,” he said with a rumbling chuckle. “Even you know that, Ivy.”
“Yeah, buddy, I do,” I said, letting my shoulders relax. “Glad to see you’re feeling more yourself.”
That was an understatement. The gargoyle’s ears drooped, and he looked away.
“Sorrry about earlierrr,” he said.
“You can make it up to me by answering a few questions,” I said. “Has Kaye left the Emporium at all today, and did she bring a demon back with her?”
Humphrey looked up and down the street, although I knew Kaye had eyes and ears everywhere, including the ability to see and hear through the gargoyle if she turned her attention that way. He held up his arms to his head, indicating longer ears than his Doberman style ones, and my heart sunk.
“Small, with long, floppy earr
rs,” he said.
“That sounds like Sparky,” Father Michael said.
Humphrey shifted, looking over my shoulder at the priest.
“You herrre to send it back to Hell?” Humphrey asked.
“N-n-no, Sparky is but a child,” he said. “We only wish to bring him safely home.”
“Nobody’s sending anybody to Hell,” I said.
At least, I hoped that was true. With Kaye’s newfound power, she might be able to open a portal straight to Hell, and bring through or send back whatever, or whomever, she chose. I slid a gloved hand to my wrist, feeling the reassuring shape of my knives beneath the leather jacket.
Humphrey met my eyes, and nodded.
“I suggest we take that as an invitation,” Torn said, eyeing the street at our backs.
The sun was already sitting lower in the sky, casting ominous shadows across the empty pavement.
“Later, Humphrey,” I said. “As for earlier, we’re square…or round. Cool as glacier rock.”
“Laterrr, Ivy,” he said.
I ducked my head, and reached for the front door of the Emporium, knowing that next time we came through that door, I intended to have Sparky with me. I just hoped that didn’t mean we’d have to fight our way through Humphrey.
He was the only guy I knew who enjoyed my bad puns.
Chapter 22
“Ivy, what are you doing here?” Arachne asked, eyes going wide.
Arachne was Kaye’s assistant. That meant the good-natured teen spent most of her time running the touristy part of the shop, schlepped boxes on delivery days, and once in awhile learned a bit of magic. Trouble was, with Kaye the spell was just as likely to backfire on her apprentice, the older witch’s idea of a practical joke.
But the fear in Arachne’s eyes had nothing to do with hazing. The kid looked genuinely afraid. Her hands were fidgeting atop a pile of books she’d been pricing at the counter beside the register, and within seconds of our entrance, she started chewing on a strand of purple-tipped blond hair. Arachne was shaking in her Chuck Taylors.