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"Fae?" Rhiannon asked.
"I have no idea," I murmured. "Whatever it is, it's horribly strong. I don't think it expected you guys to help me. And the owl startled it."
Rhiannon turned to the forest, staring mutely at the trees. After a moment, she let out a long breath. "Do you think my mother came this way?"
Leo swallowed hard. "Maybe Heather went searching for my sister." He turned to me. "Elise, my sister, is one of the members of the Thirteen Moons Society. She vanished a few months ago."
"Somehow, I don't think Heather went in the forest to look for her," I said softly. "What about the Society? Can they help us?"
"Only Rupert, Tyne, and LeAnn are left, now that Heather's vanished," Rhiannon said. "With Marta dead, and Heather missing, I guess we could go to LeAnn."
"LeAnn has a new baby," Leo said. "We can't ask her to risk--"
But he was cut off when Rhiannon's head dropped back.
"She's here . . ." Her voice sounded far away, as if she were speaking through a tunnel, and her eyes glazed over with a white sheen.
"What is it? What do you see?" I let go of her hand and stepped back, motioning for Leo to give her some space. "Rhiannon, can you hear me?"
"That's what my sister looked like whenever she went into trance. She was a seer." Leo circled around behind her. "If she falls, I'll catch her."
"I hope she's okay. Rhiannon, can you hear me? Where are you?" If she didn't answer in another moment, I was going to shake her out of it. A trance as deep as the one she was in could suck a person under so far they'd never resurface. But then, her throat rattled and she opened her mouth. The voice that came out was ancient and keening, to where it might shatter like glass.>Rhiannon blushed. "Honestly? No, I don't believe they did it. My boyfriend, Leo, is a day runner for Geoffrey. And while Geoffrey admits that the energy feels similar to his people's, he insists that they aren't to blame for what's been going on."
That was news. First that Rhiannon had a boyfriend--she'd always been rather shy--and second, that she was dating someone who worked for the vamps.
The Vein Lords--also known as the Crimson Court--kept to themselves for the most part, but on occasion, they mingled with people. As in socially, not a feeding frenzy. They tended to hang out with the magic-born more than anybody else. The vamps had their bloodwhores, but most of them were willing humans, only too happy to play host for their masters.
My aunt and cousin had kept me abreast of the latest exploits of the bite-me set over the course of our phone calls and my brief visits home.
"But can we believe Geoffrey? I'm not up to snuff on vampire lore, but they are predators. There's nothing to say they can't lie."
"I think we can take his word for it. The Vampire Nation has a lot to lose if they're lying. They're stronger than we are, but they are stuck in stasis half the time, and the retaliation would be horrible if they turned on their word. No, our problem is hiding out there.
"No." She shook her head and glanced out the kitchen window. "Whatever caused those deaths, and the deaths of our Society members, whatever is taking the people of New Forest, isn't human. And I don't think it ever was."
"Then I guess our next step is to search the forest, and for me to contact Grieve. Do you have anybody that can help us? Maybe your boyfriend?"
She let out a long sigh and nodded. "I haven't talked to him about Heather yet, because his sister was one of the Society members and she vanished, too. And he was studying wortcunning--herbal lore--with Heather. She really liked him and ever since Elise vanished, Heather acted as kind of a buffer for him--almost like his aunt. I didn't want to put him through the pain of losing someone all over again until I knew for sure. But I guess . . . do you think she's really gone? Could I be wrong?"
I hated breaking the fragile hope in her voice, but right now, we needed to face reality. "Yeah, and if we don't find her soon, who knows if we'll ever have the chance? You call Leo while I get my things from the car and take a shower. Then we'll bundle up, and head out to the woods to see what we can find."
And just like that, without ceremony or even time to sit and chat, I was home.
Chapter 3
While Rhiannon called Leo, I headed upstairs to my mother's old room, to unpack and take a shower. The incident at the hotel had made me so uneasy that I'd slept in my clothes, not wanting to be caught unprepared. After two days on the road, I was overripe and ready to hose myself off.
The thought of looking for Grieve weighed heavily on my heart, but I had to face him sometime. The memory of his skin against mine, of his lips against my lips, flashed through my mind and I bit back my heartache.
I loved him. I'd always loved him, but when he wanted me to stay, I'd still been too young to commit myself . . . too afraid of what it meant to bind myself to someone so strong and so different. Now, at twenty-six, nine years distance had put a lot of mileage on my soul. I'd seen the worst of the worst. I was ready to come in out of the cold, to build a hearth fire. The only question was: Did I still have a chance with him? Was he even still around?
The room was just like I remembered it, in shades of violet and ivory, which seemed out of place for my junkie mother, but then again, she'd just been starting down that road the last time she was here.
Deciding to leave the unpacking for later, I pulled my tank top over my head. The room was cool and I shivered as I exposed my skin to the air.
Banding my upper left arm, a pair of blackwork owls flew over a silver moon with a dagger stuck through its center. A matching tat banded my upper right arm. The owl was my familiar, though I didn't have one, and never had. Owls responded to me, though, and I was drawn to them. I gazed at them, and once again, it felt like they were there for a reason, but I didn't know why.
Every tattoo inked on me had a meaning. My fingers trailed down my left breast, lingering over the gently raised skin against which blossomed a deadly nightshade plant. A feral, wild girl peeked out from behind the glossy leaves and drooping violet blooms, with her shadow creeping along behind her. I didn't know what she stood for, either, but she was there for a reason.
