AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Anadey shook her head. "I don't know, but he's old enough to be the one."
"And Myst lives in the forest next to our home," Rhiannon whispered, voicing my thoughts.
I shivered, feeling an alarm ring in the pit of my stomach. "And now they're ready to climb out of obscurity, back into the light. That could well mean the destruction of everyone and everything they touch. And . . . I think they've turned Grieve."
I crossed to the window and stared out. The snow was back, lightly drifting down. If we were right, the world had just turned upside down and we were a step away from chaos. I turned back to the others.
"So what do we do to stop them?"
Anadey let out a long sigh. "I suppose we find out what their weaknesses are. We have to scour that book for information. Rhiannon, Leo works as a day runner. Do you think he can ask his employers about the Indigo Court? Apparently they hate each other so much the true vampires believe there's a war coming. We might find out some useful information from them."
Rhiannon wrinkled her nose. "I can ask, but that seems dangerous to me. But . . . I'll see what I can find out."
"I need to read this book from cover to cover," I said. "For some reason Marta entrusted me with her business. Could it have something to do with what New Forest is facing? I mean, I'm a competent witch, but totally self-taught, and Ulean's really the reason I'm alive."
No, that's not true. You do much without my help. I just offer what I can. Ulean swept around me, her soft currents embracing me. I'll be here to help you as much as I can in this. You know that.
"I don't know," Anadey said. "But now, more than ever, I think she foresaw something that called out to have you take over her business and her place in the Society. I'll see if I can find her information on how to get in touch with the leaders of the greater organization. I have no idea who they are. Meanwhile, I'll do what I can to help. Trust me, there's a reason she invested you with her magical practice. We just don't know what it is. Yet."
I didn't voice my thoughts, but couldn't help but wish that my aunt were around to help guide me. Heather could handle this--I had no idea what to do. I'd managed to keep myself alive on the streets over the years, but that was different. People were easier to deal with than Supes, and from what we'd just read, the Indigo Court basically made me think of vampires on steroids.
And now, Grieve was one of them--or at least it appeared so. I should back away, hold on to my heart until I knew more about what had happened to him. The thought made me want to cry, but I'd learned the hard way: Trust people when they warn you not to trust them. Grieve had given me plenty of warning.
"Okay, what do we know about the Vampiric Fae? How do they differ from the vampires? We're going to have to figure out if what works on vamps will work on the members of the Indigo Court." I looked around. "Got a notepad?"
"Better than that," Peyton said. She pulled out her net-book and booted it up. "What's your e-mail address? I'll e-mail you a copy of my notes."
"E-mail?" I snorted. "I don't even have a computer."
"We can take care of that at home," Rhiannon said. "Heather has a laptop that she used for a backup in case the desktop went down. And I've got my own laptop. Send it to my addy, Peyton. When we get Cicely set up with her own address, I'll forward it to her."
Peyton grinned. "A woman after my own heart--multiple computers. I like that. Okay, what's your e-mail?"
"Fire_Maiden at bestwebmail dot com."
I glanced at her. "At least you're owning your power through the magic of the Internet."
Rhiannon stared at me for a moment, then broke out laughing. "Oh man, I needed that smile. I didn't even think about it when I chose that user name."
"Yeah," I said softly. "I think we all need a laugh, however small. Okay, getting to the matter at hand. Let's see--silver hurts vampires, right?"
"Yes, but the Fae tend to like it," Anadey said. When I glanced at her, she added, "I may own a restaurant but my degree is in mythology and folklore."
"So would Vampiric Fae love or hate it?" I mulled over both and decided we didn't have enough to go on for that. "Okay, just put a question mark after it. What else? Garlic? Holy water?"
"Garlic--another maybe," Anadey said, pushing back her chair. "But we know that religious artifacts only have power over mortals. And even then, they only have power over the living who believe in the religion, and over ghosts who followed that particular religious system. A cross won't harm a ghost who was an atheist in life, a Star of David won't touch a Christian spirit. And astral creatures who were never human aren't bothered by any of them." Pausing, she shook her head. "I'm going to make some tea. I'll be back in a moment."
While she was in the kitchen, I turned to Rhiannon. "If Myst now rules the wood, I wonder what happened to Lainule. If there's any way to get in touch with her? The Queen of Rivers and Rushes always seemed to be friendly to humans. I hope she's not dead." A thought crossed my mind. "If she's still alive, will she help us? Another task."
Peyton blinked. "I can do a tarot reading and see what I can find out."
"I thought of another question," Rhiannon said. "Do the Vampiric Fae make meals off humans? Do they drink blood like other vampires?" Her voice was low and I knew she was thinking of Heather. "Maybe they're keeping people as cattle--as blood donors."
I'd been thinking along the same lines myself and began to flip through the book. It was dense, and much of it talked about things that I didn't understand--people long dead, places I'd never heard of. I skimmed, letting Peyton and Rhiannon talk.
After a moment, I came to a couple of passages that seemed to address our question. "I think we found our answer, guys. Listen to this."
And so they fed, and drank deep of their enemy's blood, and rent the flesh of their victims until they were unrecognizable. But their thirst was unquenchable until Myst discovered one of their newfound powers born from their vampire bloodline: Members of the Indigo Court could drink from the souls of their victims . . . and a whole new round of terror began as the Shadow Hunters began to feed on humans and Fae alike . . .
