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“Cicely! Get a move on!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” I hurried into my favorite boots—a pair of Icon Bombshells—and slung my purse over my shoulder. Polishing a smudge off my left boot, I decided that I was as good as I was going to get, especially after a tussle with a goblin and a Shadow Hunter.
My hair hung free, smooth and ink-black to my shoulders, and I pulled it back into a sleek ponytail, then slipped on a pair of driving gloves and my leather jacket. I slid my moonstone pendant over my neck and secreted it beneath my sweater, then clattered down the stairs.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” I said.
Rhiannon was waiting, freshly showered herself, in a pair of khakis she’d paired with a plaid button-down shirt, and a camel wool coat.
My cousin was as bright as I was dark. Heather, her mother, used to call us Amber and Jet—fire and ice. Her hair was flame red, my own jet-black. We were both twenty-six, both born on the summer solstice—she in the waxing hours, me in the waning. I was short and sturdy, Rhiannon tall and willowy. Opposites, yet we had referred to ourselves as twins when we were little.
Leo looked snazzy as usual. Geoffrey insisted he dress well for work, and most day-runners had extensive—and expensive—wardrobes. Leo was lucky. In his case, Geoffrey financed his expenses. Leo’s tawny hair was a mass of curls barely skimming his neck and he towered over me, more lean than gangly.
“Be careful,” Kaylin said, looking up from his spot on the sofa, where he was reading while petting a half dozen cats who sprawled around him, including Bart, Leo’s Maine Coon familiar. “You go off half-cocked and try to stake Lannan and you’ll be in a world of hurt.”
Lannan. My face flushed and I let out a low growl. Lannan Altos was near the top of my wish-you-were-dead list, only slightly lower than Myst. He was a vampire—one of the Vein Lords—and I was bound to him by an ironclad contract. He’d mind-fucked me once already while drinking the monthly blood tithe I owed him. Next time it would be worse.
Lannan wants to break you, Ulean whispered on a light current of air.
I know, trust me. I know. He can try all he likes, he won’t do it.
Ulean brushed me with her impatience. Don’t be too cocky. Lannan has thousands of years of experience. He is a master of head games. Just be careful.
I will. Have no fear. I’ve already made too many mistakes. I’ll watch my back.
“Cicely? Promise us you won’t go off on Lannan? We can’t afford to alienate him.” Kaylin caught my gaze and would not let go.
“Because he’s helped us so much already?” I shot him a nasty look. “Lannan knew he was infecting me and that I’d infect Grieve, and now look at the whole mess. The Indigo Court is far more dangerous than they were, even if they can no longer walk under the sun. They were bad enough before; now they’re like a pack of rabid dogs. With nasty big teeth and soul-sucking abilities.”
Geoffrey and Regina, agents for the Crimson Queen—the queen of true vampires—had come up with a hunkydory plan to stop the Vampiric Fae. Only it hadn’t worked right. It prevented the Indigo Court Fae from walking abroad during the day all right, but now light sent them into a feeding frenzy—a rage from which they could not extricate themselves until the darkness once again hit. I’d been the weapon, unknowingly passing a plague to them when I’d kissed Grieve, thanks to Lannan’s infecting me with his bite, and I’d never forgive them for that.
“He was doing his job,” Leo said, grimly. “Remember, when Regina and Geoffrey decide something, everybody jumps. Even Lannan.”
“Right. Doing his job, just like the SS during World War Two. Goddamn, I’d like to dust that pervert. He hurt Grieve! And he . . .” I stopped, not wanting to think about what he’d done to me. “You just know Lannan’s going to sit there, looking so smug and self-satisfied—”
At Kaylin’s raised eyebrows, I stopped, catching my breath. My fury surprised even me. I knew I wanted to dust Lannan, but I didn’t expect to be quite so explosive about it. After a moment, I added, “Okay, okay. I promise. I’ll keep my mouth shut. But I don’t have to like it.”
The phone rang and Rhiannon answered while we went on talking.
“Actually, I doubt Lannan had much to do with producing the virus,” Leo said, sliding on his gloves. “And he’s one of the true vampires—why would he care about Grieve? He cares about no one except his sister and himself. Lannan’s not interested in politics, and my bet is he’d rather ignore Myst and her Court. He’s too self-centered to really give a fuck about whether the Shadow Hunters take over the town, as long as they leave him and his stable alone.”
That was the longest speech I’d heard out of Leo and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear another. He seemed too willing to take Lannan’s side. But I had to admit, he was probably right. Lannan wouldn’t have been the engineer on this plan. He wasn’t that ambitious. It was probably all Regina could do to force him to play his part in carrying it out.
“If Myst gains control of New Forest, his stable will end up as mangled as that goblin did,” I muttered.
“Crap, that was Anadey. There’s been another attack,” Rhiannon said as she replaced the receiver on the cradle. She paled, shaking her head.
“Another? Where? Who?” The past five days had been hell. The attack on a movie theater the other night pretty much outed the fact that a pack of hunters was on the loose. The majority of people didn’t know exactly who was behind the attacks, but they knew that anybody was fair game and that people were dying.
“Two. A mother and a child. Eaten down to the bone. Cops found them two hours ago and are circulating the rumor that there are wild dogs in the area.”
“That makes ten victims, including two children.” I stopped, giving her a bewildered look. “Did you say wild dogs? They really expect people to believe that?”
Kaylin bookmarked his novel and put it on the table. He frowned. “It’s amazing what people will accept when they don’t want to believe something worse.”
“Oh, I don’t think people are that dense. They know something’s out there. They also must realize by now that the cops aren’t going to protect them. I can understand why the magic-born aren’t all leaving—we’re connected to this land by the energy. But why aren’t the yummanii leaving?”
Yummanii was the term the magic-born used among themselves for those born fully human. The yummanii possessed their own kind of magic—not as obvious or flamboyant as the magic-born, but a psychic energy . . . call it instinct, if you will, and the power had grown more noticeable among the yummanii children of the past few generations. Whether the yummanii realized they were growing strong, we did not know. But it wasn’t our place to tell them or we risked altering their natural evolution.
