Night's End

  Here and there, the Shadow Hunters were still feeding—one munching on a hand, another on what looked like someone’s cheek. Our men fell to them while Rhia and I were cloistered against a wall, guarded by our personal guards. As we watched, there was a noise to our left, and suddenly, a group of three Shadow Hunters broke through the barricade of guards, surprising them from above as they dropped through the ceiling tiles.

  Rhiannon shouted, and the next thing I knew, she held out her hands and let loose with a volley of fire, aiming it squarely at the center of the trio. The flames were white-hot, and they scorched skin as they hit the Vampiric Fae. They did not extinguish, however, but clung like gel, the heat blistering as the Shadow Hunters screamed and began to stagger.

  Rhia’s face was contorted, her eyes ablaze, and I could feel her anger rising. “You will not win—do you hear me? You will never win!” And with that she sent another bolt of fire at them, and this time, our guards fell back as it landed in front of the creatures and exploded, showering them with the smoldering gel. The minute the goo touched their skin, it exploded, and they became fiery pillars, dancing back as they tried to free themselves of it.

  I felt my own fury rise to match hers. I caught sight of more Shadow Hunters above in the crawl space and called up the winds. As they buoyed me up, I began to spin, the vortex created by my wake sweeping into a twister. I was becoming a tornado—no longer simply riding at the helm but creating my own tidy funnel cloud. I spun up and into the crawl space, turning, sweeping through, shrieking as I went. The Shadow Hunters there tried to scurry out of the way, but there was nowhere for them to go, and I barreled through them, sending them through the ceiling to the floor below with my force. As they hit the floor broken and battered, I began to lose steam. The next moment, I doubled back and dove through the opening to land near Rhia as I once again took control of the currents and shook away the rage.

  Our men finished off the injured Shadow Hunters, taking them down before they were able to come to their feet.

  I turned, shaken. “I’ve never done that before.”

  “You became the tornado. I saw it—you weren’t just controlling it.” A look of fear crossed her face, but it was immediately replaced with a fierce pride. “We’re evolving.”

  “That we are.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but there was no way to stop this train ride we were on. Whatever we were becoming, it was our destiny, and we had accepted it. “Come—we’re done here. Let’s go.”

  Grieve caught my gaze, as did Lannan. Both men stared at me, silent, unspeaking. I said nothing but motioned for us to move forward.

  “Fan out and search for both survivors and more of the enemy. Destroy any Shadow Hunters you find!” Grieve ordered our warriors and the vampires to spread out and begin searching for any of the Vampiric Fae still hiding in the shadows or corners of the rooms as we passed.

  Shrieks and screams punctuated our passage as our warriors routed the remaining Shadow Hunters. We killed every one we found, giving them no opportunity to escape. There would be no mercy here, or compassion. Full-scale war demanded ruthless precision.

  An hour later, we held the building and radioed for the cops to return. As we waited, our men began fortifying the entrances and boarding up windows and unnecessary doors. The fewer chances for the enemy to penetrate our defenses, the better. By the time all fourteen units returned and had checked in, we were ready to turn it over to Lannan’s men and some of our warriors, who would sleep till morning and take over when the vampires had to return to their lairs at daybreak.

  Lannan walked us to the door. “I can take this from here for now. I suggest that you call me when you get back to the Veil House. We need to know what Luna and the Petros woman are doing. It’s imperative we keep in contact at this point, and I’ll have Regina pick one of our strongest and most trusted day-runners to take any messages during the day so that we get them upon first moment’s waking.”

  “Makes sense to me. How many do you think we killed today?” I stared at the bloodstained floors around me.

  “Not as many as they took out. Probably fifty . . . maybe sixty. But I estimate they killed at least two or three hundred townsfolk. Make no mistake, Cicely—this is war. Outright war. There’s no room for mistakes.” And with that he shook his head and turned away.

  We trailed out the door, leaving twenty of our best there. Whether it would be enough, who knew? But we’d have to chance it. As we stepped out into the darkening night, a howl echoed through the air, from far away. A woman’s shriek, but it wasn’t pain. No, it was anger and fury and madness. And right then, I realized Myst knew we were on the offensive, and she was letting me know that she was aware of our actions.

  We left those who had joined our army behind with Lannan and his men, and now, as one mass, we began to run.

  When the Fae run, it’s like the Hunt. A blur of motion, a blur of speed. Fleeing treachery and danger on the wind, we flew. Racing through the snow, we sped through the town. The Summer Fae ran right alongside us, though they traveled through the warmer months of the year faster than us, and we traversed the Winter realm in the blink of an eye. But we ran as a group, faster than any magic-born or yummanii could hope to see or even keep up with. The guards caught Kaylin and our other yummanii troops up and carried them with us.

  We raced the length of town back to the Veil House. When we came to the end of Vyne Street, where my aunt’s house stood at the end of the cul-de-sac, we dropped out of the slipstream and stood, filling the yard, listening for any sign of Shadow Hunters. But none were about the property. Ulean checked and verified that fact for us.

  While the warriors waited outside, Check, Fearless, Rhiannon’s personal guards, Grieve, Chatter, Kaylin, and I went inside. As we entered the house, a cloud seemed to descend—a darkness I’d never before felt in the Veil House. It wasn’t gloomy, but dense, and alive, and prickling at the back of my neck.

  One of Lannan’s men nodded for us to go on through to the living room, and we did, cautiously approaching the Circle in which Luna sat. Ysandra stood outside the chalked outline, on the left, and Peyton on the right. Both were dressed in black dresses, and Luna was in a silver gown. Ysandra glanced over at me and the look on her face was enough to freeze water. There was no warmth, no compassion in her expression. Peyton’s expression matched Ysandra’s.

  Luna turned then, her arms outstretched. The gown shimmered across her full breasts, caught at the waist by a simple black belt. Her hair was down, cascading around her shoulders, and the look on her face was feral and fierce. Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, and I had the feeling we weren’t facing Luna at all, but someone who had taken possession of her.

  “Who are you?” I stepped forward.

  “I am not harming your friend, so do not interfere.” The voice echoing out of her plump, crimson lips was not her own—was not even human, but lush and opulent.

  “What are you doing here?” I cocked my head, knowing better than to intervene before I knew exactly what was going on. There were rites and rituals that you just didn’t go stomping into—no matter how afraid they might make you feel. One wrong move and whatever—whoever—this was, might turn back on Luna and hurt her.

  “I was summoned. I am Dorthea. Luna’s great-great-grandmother. And I will be taking possession of this body as needed, until my task is done. My help has been requested, the price has been paid, and so I fulfill my end of the bargain.”

  My breath catching in my throat, I stepped to the very edge of the Circle and stared into the silver-tinged eyes of the woman whom I considered my friend. “What are you?”

  With a dark laugh, Luna let out a long volley of song, a trembling array of notes so beautiful that they hurt my heart. They spiraled up and around, echoing off the walls, ricocheting from door to ceiling to floor to center of the room. It was an orgasm of sound, magic weaving through voice, through sounds s
o primal they could form no words. But the music spiraled up, like the minarets on a mosque, into the night.

  The next moment, I was on my knees, weeping at the song’s beauty. She was singing of death, and darkness, and falling into decay—I could see it all, see the dark forms spiraling around her, shadows of the past clinging to her aura. They infused her with their essence, shoring her up. They empowered her as she slowly danced—weaving her song, weaving her magic.

  Ysandra slowly crossed to my side, helped me to my feet. She looked almost as entranced as I was, but tears clung to her face, and I knew there was something dark and terrible here—some secret we hadn’t been told yet.

  Luna came to rest again, so light on her feet it looked like she might be floating an inch above the floor. “I will help you fight this queen of darkness, and my army of shades will move with me. We will move as a blight. You tell us what we are to destroy, and we will seek them out and hunt them down and drain their life from their bodies and souls.”

  I staggered back a step. “Such power . . . Luna . . . I didn’t know she possessed this ability.”

  “She does not—not without our help. But she paid the price when she first opened herself to speak to the ancestors. And she guaranteed a new price tonight, in exchange for the ability to call the spirits. She belongs to us now, and we will give her everything she needs.” Dorthea laughed then, and Luna’s expression followed form, turning vicious and malevolent. “We will destroy those who seek to destroy our daughter.”

  Ysandra pulled me away past the others, who were staring at the whole scene with horror. As we stumbled into the kitchen, I whirled on her.

  “What is going on? What the hell is happening in there?”

  “It is as she says. Luna summoned her great-great-grandmother. And Dorthea was apparently a witch of tremendous power. She’s working through Luna now and won’t desert us until we either win or go down in flames.”

  But there was something else. Ysandra’s face was normally pale, but I’d never her seen her look like this. Not horror, but a healthy amount of fear and—something more.

  “What’s going on? Tell me. You know something—that much is obvious. What aren’t you telling me?” I grabbed her by the shoulders, not caring whether she could deafen me with one shout.

  The witch stared at me, then slowly shook her head. “The price she paid . . . the price she promised . . .”

  “What? What is it?”

  Ysandra’s brow furrowed as she rubbed her head. “Before I could stop her, Luna promised them her life. If we lose, they will let her be. If we win . . . she dies when they choose.” And with that a high-pitched bout of laughter echoed from the living room, going on and on and on.

  Chapter 9

  “What the fuck did you say?” Before I could help myself, I hauled off and slapped Ysandra across the face. “How could you let this happen?”

  “I had no say over the matter. She was holding the Circle. She called them in. She’s the one who made the deal. If I’d tried to break in, the spirits would have been free to come and go as they please, and you do not want the spirits riding free, Cicely. They are dark and dangerous and vicious. They will do as they promise because they made a deal, but do not expect them to befriend us, or to be anything but treacherous outside of the bargain they have made.”

  I stared at her, horrified. “Why? Why did she do this?”

  This time it was Ysandra who grabbed me by the shoulders. “Because we are facing a monster. Because we are at war. Luna was doing what she could to help. And . . .” She stopped and shook her head.

  “No, tell me. What is it?” Whatever it was, I wanted to hear.

  “You couldn’t trust us. I understand why you did what you did. You had to. But Luna . . . having Kaylin—of all people—force himself into her mind and sift through her innermost thoughts? It changed her, Cicely. Consider her a casualty of the war. Because even if she comes through this . . . Even if she makes it out alive somehow, she’ll never be the same. And I doubt if she’ll ever be your friend again.”

  I crouched on the floor, hands over my face. “I broke her. I broke her.”

  Ysandra yanked me back up. “Never kneel. You are a queen. You did not break her, but your actions changed her. She was determined to prove herself true to her word. But in doing so . . . she signed her own death warrant.”

  My heart plunging, I stumbled back. “How can I fix this? How can I make this better?”

  “You can’t. Face it—this is what war is like, Cicely. This is what it means to lead a nation and that’s what you’re doing. You are going to lose people along the way. You just hold on as best you can, and do what you need to do. There is no win-win scenario in a situation like this. Luna, even in her misguided anger, actually did us a favor.”

  “A favor? How the hell do you see that?”

  Ysandra lowered her voice. “With the dead on our side, we stand a better chance. They can drain the Shadow Hunters’ life force. They can’t be killed; they’re already dead. We have a small army of very deadly soldiers on our side now, thanks to Luna’s sacrifice. Don’t let it be in vain. Accept what she did and quit whining about it. You can grieve later. There’s no time for tears now.”

  Grabbing me by the elbow, not giving me any chance to say another word, Ysandra dragged me back into the living room where Luna—or rather, Dorthea—was waiting. She cocked her head, a wicked smile on her face.

  “And so, she is back. The Winter Maiden. What say you now: Will you accept our help, or do we ride free of our promise, using my great-great-granddaughter as our mare?”

  She’d do it, too. I could tell. She’d take over Luna and rage through the world doing whatever it was that she’d left unfinished. I had no doubt that Dorthea was an intensely powerful witch, and I had no idea what kind of magic she could work. Especially with a host of the dead on her side.

  “We accept your help. But I beg you to reconsider—don’t take Luna’s life in payment. Surely we can think of something else you might want even more.”

  “Enough. The body must rest. I will vacate till the need is here, and then I will come and bring my legions with me, and we will decimate your enemy.” And with that Dorthea vanished, and Luna crumbled to the ground as the Circle broke. We could tangibly feel it snap, and the chalk outline on the floor swept open.

  “Luna! Luna? Are you all right?” I was by her side, on my knees, before anyone else could move. She stirred, sitting up slowly, holding her head. “Luna, can you hear me?”

  “Yes.” Luna pinched her nose between her eyes, grimacing. “I feel sick, and I have a horrible headache.” Then she focused on my face, and her look turned to icy. “Cicely. How did it go in town? I hope everyone’s all right.”

  I slowly backed off. I knew she meant what she said, but the tone of voice left no question as to her mood. I bit my lip, wanting to beg her to forgive me, but one glance at Ysandra, and I knew I couldn’t do that.

  “We came through with minimal losses. We took back city hall, and some of Lannan’s men are there with the police and some of the Fae.” I reached out to help her up, but she ignored my hand, instead struggling to stand on her own. Grieve gently took my arm, drawing me back as Peyton entered the Circle to help her. Luna let Peyton guide her over to the sofa, which had been pushed out of the way.

  “I’m glad everyone’s all right.” She was staring at Kaylin as she spoke, but again, her look was cold as ice—cold as my realm—and I realized Luna had erected a wall between us. She was on our side, but she’d never be my friend again. Or Kaylin’s. Not unless something happened to shift the balance. “I’m afraid I feel queasy. Ysandra can give you all the details. Peyton, would you take me to my room? I need to rest.”

  Peyton gave me a sad, understanding smile, then helped Luna out of the room. As soon as she left, I whirled on Ysandra.

  “Tell me, what now?
What do I do?”

  “I told you. I doubt she’ll ever trust you again. Not unless mountains fall and the earth quakes and fire rains from the sky. Or some such miracle. Luna will hold your back, though. Don’t ever doubt her loyalty again. She will fall in service to you, even if she curses you doing so.” With a long sigh, Ysandra motioned for us to sit down. “Let me make some tea. It’s been a long and grueling evening for everyone.”

  “We cannot keep our men so long from the Barrow.” I looked up at Grieve. “What do you think?”

  “I will talk to Olrick. He leads the brigade. Stay here.”

  As he and Chatter went outside, Rhia and Kaylin joined me on the sofa, and I leaned back, suddenly realizing that I smelled. Looking down at my clothes, I saw the spatters of blood covering me, and I shook my head.

  “I honestly don’t know what to do next. We can’t keep waiting for Myst to make the next move. We can’t keep running from fire to fire, cleaning up after her raids. We have to find out where she is and then go on the offense. It’s really our only hope.” I wearily accepted a plate of cookies from Peyton as she returned to the room. She sat down opposite me, leaning forward to prop her elbows on knees, hands crossed between her legs.

  “That means planning out how to kill her. Finding her won’t be the hardest part.” Peyton’s gaze flickered over to Kaylin. “Let’s get this out of the way, shall we? What you did? I hate you for it, but I understand why you did it, and unlike Luna, I can let it go. So you know my secrets now. But I trust you to keep them to yourself unless you feel they breach some security around Cicely and Rhiannon.”

  Kaylin sauntered over. “I would never have done what I did had there been another way. But we have so little time, and so many enemies facing us. Cicely needed me to help, and so we chose the only path we had at the moment. If we’d told you about it beforehand and you had been a spy, you could have warned Myst we were onto her. As it is, by now she probably knows, but we needed every second we could buy.”