AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just what did you hear?” Menolly asked, leaning close.
Vanzir gave her a long, studied look, and she backed away just enough to tell me she still didn’t fully trust him. None of us did.
“I overheard a goblin tell a vampire that Karvanak was offering big money for any clue to a great treasure, a gem that was priceless. The goblin seemed to think it was some sort of ring or something, but I’ll bet you anything that Karvanak’s putting out feelers, trying to find the fourth seal.” He crossed to the silverware drawer. “Anybody else need a fork? I can’t use chopsticks.”
“Me, please,” I said, raising my hand. Smoky did, too. Menolly stared at the food like she was both starved and ready to throw up. I had to give her credit. Sitting through dinner, watching all of us eat while she could never touch food again, had to be rough, but she did it for the cause.
“How does that help us, though?” Iris asked.
Vanzir handed me a fork and one to Smoky, then sat back down, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “It helps us because I also spent some time today talking to a couple of modern-day prospectors whom Karvanak at one time had thought to employ. They weren’t interested in scouting out the mountains for him, and rather than tell them as to why he wanted their help, he just passed by the rejection and let them go.”
“Prospectors?” I asked. “They spend a lot of time up in the Cascade Mountains?”
He nodded, the grin widening. “Oh yeah, and they were eager to make a quick buck today, especially when Rozurial laid on the charm. We found out several interesting things, including that one of the men ran across a cave a few weeks ago. A cave that’s haunted. But before he managed to escape the cave, sans his buddy, he caught sight of a necklace being guarded by what sounds suspiciously like a passel of wights. A ruby set in gold. And it was glowing like a firefly in June.”
A ruby? I glanced at Camille. “Is one of the spirit seals—” She nodded. “A ruby? Yes. Did the dude remember where the cave was? And, more important, did he tell Karvanak about it?”
Vanzir shook his head. “Yes, and no. And he won’t ever have the chance to spill his guts, either.”
“You didn’t—” Iris gasped and almost fell off the high stool that boosted her to the table. “You didn’t kill that poor man, did you?” she asked, steadying herself.
Roz cleared his throat. “Chill, pretty wench. No, Vanzir did not kill the guy. Neither did I, though we thought about it. After all, Karvanak can’t very well extract information from a dead man, now can he? But I charmed him and talked him into going to sleep, and Vanzir slid into his dreams and ate up the memory. There’s nothing for him to tell now, so he should be safe enough. And so should we.”
I stared at my plate, my appetite starting to return. “That means that we know where the fourth spirit seal is, but that Karvanak hasn’t got a clue. We can snatch it up and send it back to Queen Asteria.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Vanzir said, but his eyes crinkled, and the cold fire went out of them for a moment. “We’re one up on Shadow Wing’s cronies this time. Let’s just make sure we keep it that way.”
Suddenly hungry, I filled my plate and began chowing down as we sorted out our plans. We were too tired tonight, and tomorrow we had a trip to OW to make. But come tomorrow night, we could drive up into the mountains and search for the cave. And—with a little luck—we’d find the seal before anybody was the wiser.
CHAPTER 10
For the first time in ages, I crept into bed alone, not knowing if Chase would ever be in it again. At first, exhausted though I was, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. I thought about getting up, sneaking downstairs to watch late-night trash TV with Menolly before she had to go to work. But she was still pissed at me, and I didn’t feel like answering any questions about Chase right now. So I padded over to the window seat and shifted into cat form. I hopped up on the cushioned bench and curled into a ball, staring out at the moon.
Sometimes life made more sense when I was in cat form. I was still me, my emotions still ran freely, but life on two legs didn’t seem quite so important or quite so painful. I inhaled deeply and let it out with a soft purr. So Chase was screwing around. Did it really matter? In the long run, would it matter at all? We were a long way from winning the war against the demons, and who knew if any of us would be around in a year? We might all be dead. Or my sisters and I might be called back to Otherworld. Chase might just be a blip in the road map of my life.
I stood, stretched, and turned around three or four times, trying to find the most comfortable position. As I rested my head on my paws, settling in for a much-needed doze, there was a faint knock on the door, and then it opened and Menolly peeked around the side. She glanced around the room, looking puzzled, until she caught sight of me.
“Kitten? Hey, Kitten, what you doing over here, furble?” She silently crossed the room and, in one swift motion, sat down on the bench next to me. I glanced up at her, not sure I wanted to change back just yet. She caught me up in her arms. When I was in cat form, I was especially sensitive to Menolly’s scent. She reminded me of Hi’ran. Her fragrance was that of graveyard soil and old bones and dusty rooms long hidden from the sun. She smelled slightly sweet, like overripe fruit, but it was so faint that most people would never catch her scent on the wind. But the Fae—and Weres—we could smell the undead.
Sometimes I still got creeped out by the thought that my sister was a vampire. Our family had been ripped apart by her death and rebirth. Camille had managed to keep it together until help arrived, and one thing Father never knew—nor did Menolly—was that I’d been there. I’d seen the whole thing, but I’d been in cat form, and when she came bursting through the door like a bloody terror, Camille had grabbed me up and tossed me out the window, whispering for me to flee, to get away.
I’d run for help but had been so frightened that I couldn’t change back, and it had taken Camille’s piercing screams to summon aid. Long after she’d managed to lure Menolly into the safe room and lock her up—a room Father had made in case we were ever overrun by trolls or goblins—Camille had continued to scream.
When I realized that she hadn’t followed me out and that I was useless in going for help, I’d doubled back and climbed up the tree next to the living room. I watched as Camille raced to the door, still screaming, and out into the streets.
After that, I lost track of what happened, but it wasn’t long before Father arrived home, along with several members of the OIA. By then, I managed to shift back, and I came in like I’d been away all afternoon. I was too ashamed to say I’d been there but hadn’t lifted a finger to help Camille. She never told anybody, and for that, I was grateful. Later, she tried to convince me that she understood, but I couldn’t forgive myself for letting her down.
Now, of course, things were vastly different, but the memory of what Menolly had first looked like when she burst through the door, a murderous rage filling her face, covered from head to toe in blood—both her own and her victims along the way—stuck in the back of my mind. No matter how hard I tried, it was an impossible image to erase. Camille had managed to get past it, but I still couldn’t. So I tried to spend extra time with Menolly, to overcome the web of fear that still wove itself around a corner of my heart.
Menolly scooped me up in her arms and chucked me under the chin, scratching softly. I shook off my worries and settled into her arms as she cooed over me gently.
“Kitten, I know you can hear me. I know you can understand me. Chase called again a few minutes ago. He wants you to call him; he wants to talk to you. He said he’d be up for another hour or two.”
She paused, then let out a long sigh. Menolly didn’t have to breathe. When she did so it was purely for effect, though sometimes I suspected she used breathing exercises to cope with the bloodlust when it hit her. With a scritch between my ears, she whispered, “You should call him, you know. Get this straightened out one way or another.”
Obviously, she wasn’t going to let this go. I leapt out of her arms and padded softly toward the bed. I was going to have to talk to her sometime, it might as well be now. But before I could shift, I felt a lurch in my stomach. Damn it. Why now?
My body shook as I began to hack. It was like having a hair caught in your throat and trying to spit it out, only I didn’t have fingers and I couldn’t feel around inside my mouth to grab hold of it. I backed up, yowling once—loudly—before I began to cough and then it was there, slimy and thick. Struggling to expel it from my throat, I strained, coughing loudly.
