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“Then take your payment.”
The Corpse Talker pulled up the shirt of the body of the elf she’d communed with, then took out a thin, sharp blade. She deftly sliced a thin line down the elf’s chest, and then, with fingers cloaked in the shadow of night, reached into the cold cavity and withdrew the heart. How she severed it so quickly from the body, we couldn’t see, but she placed it in a small box and shut the lid, then ran her hand over the wound and it pulled together again.
I stared at the elf’s body. I’d never seen a corpse after the Corpse Talker took her payment, so I had no clue that they were able to mend up the wound like that. The dead elf would return to Otherworld seemingly intact. And the Corpse Talker would take his heart and eat it, in a bloody communion.
She stood and turned to Shade. “I will return now.” Without a word, Shade stepped forward and the Corpse Talker allowed him to loosely wrap his arm around her waist, and they vanished into the Ionyc Seas.
Camille let out a long breath. “What could have attacked the guards? I don’t recognize that description of any ghosts I know about. It’s wasn’t a revenant. But maybe, a shade?”
Revenants weren’t as dangerous as shades; they could suck out all the warmth from the body and leave you frozen, but shades…a single touch from a shade could give a human a heart attack, and they could do nasty things to the Fae, too. But I didn’t think they were responsible for these deaths.
“No, I just…don’t think so. Shades don’t appear in a fiery vision, either—they’re usually hidden in the shadows and attack without any warning.”
“These attacked without warning.” Camille turned to Morio. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been racking my brain but can’t think of anything. We’ve got some research to do.”
“What do we do about the body of the doppelganger?” Smoky motioned toward the patch of woods where I’d almost lost it.
I blushed. “About that…I have no idea of what went on. Roz…” I didn’t even want to get near him. I was afraid I’d damaged our friendship for good.
But he managed a wan smile. “Enchantment. Morio said it could put out a form of hallucination—make you see what you want to see. A type of charm, so that’s what happened. You’d never take advantage of me unless something triggered it like a spell. And…” He flashed me a slow wink. “It wasn’t all bad, was it?”
I didn’t want him to be nice to me. I constantly had to guard against my predator nature. Vampires were high up on the food chain, and it was too easy to lose sight of perspective and begin viewing everybody as your own private blood bank. I never wanted to fall into that mindset—the mindset of a monster. But for now, I accepted his forgiveness. We needed to find out who had sent the creature our way. The why was apparent—we had enough enemies that there was no need to ask why. But the fact remained that we’d been attacked in our own home again.
“No, it wasn’t bad at all.” I smiled at him gently as he struggled to his feet. “We should get back to the house. I need to get my ass in my lair before long. It’s nearing dawn.”
“Yeah…Morio and I will stay out here and reset the wards. Smoky, will you stay with us in case anything else comes through?” Camille leaned against him. At six four, Smoky towered over her, but a strand of his hair rose up to gently stroke her face and she smiled at him, a glowing smile—one filled with love. Morio leaned over and pressed a kiss on her shoulder, and the three of them headed off toward the driveway where the first batch of wards were hidden.
Roz, Shade, and I trudged back to the house. I motioned for Roz to hang back a moment, and Shade moved off to the side to give us some privacy, still within sight, but studiously ignoring what we were saying.
“I’m truly sorry.” I motioned for him to show me his neck. My fangs had left a deep wound, and dried blood encrusted the holes. “I should never have done that. I was looking at Morio and the next thing I knew, the bloodlust came over me. It’s not an excuse, but damn, I’m usually in better control than this. Do you really think it was the doppelganger’s charm?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll tell you one thing. We’re being targeted, and we’re being watched.”
He grimaced and rubbed his neck. “I’ll admit, as sensuous as you made it, I don’t think I ever want to feel your fangs again. The rest…well…I’d be happy to take another go. And you know with me, it’s all play. I can’t settle down. It’s not my nature. If it was…to be honest, I’d probably have swooped in and tried to break up Iris and Bruce. If you haven’t guessed, I have a distinct fondness for that house sprite, and she’s gorgeous.” He grinned again. “But don’t worry. I’m not mad at you, Menolly. This wasn’t your fault and I’m thinking it wasn’t really my idea, either. However, we’d better figure out what the fuck is going on and we’d better figure it out as soon as we can.”
“I have to sleep, but I may be able to do something even then. Roman’s been working with me, teaching me to lucid dream. While I can’t do much in the dream state, I can talk to him and control my dreams to some extent. I haven’t had a nightmare for several months.”
My dreams had been filled with fire and pain ever since Dredge had turned me, and while I’d slept better after staking my sire, still the memories caught me up at times—especially when I least expected it—and I’d relive the experience, unable to wake out of it. Now, thanks to Roman, I usually could divert the nightmares before they became too intense, and they’d transform into nebulous wanderings through the dream state.
Roman had taken me in hand and begun to teach me things that only an ancient vampire would know. He was sharing with me the secrets he’d learned through the centuries, and I was his grateful student.
I clapped Roz on the back and held out my arm. “Come on, dude. You’re weak. I drank way too much. You need to rest for a while.”
As we headed back to the house, Shade fell in behind us.
“I’ll heal up fast. I’m demon, remember—even if I am a minor demon. I could have staked you if I thought you were in danger of killing me. You know I keep stakes in my duster.” He opened the jacket to reveal a couple of wooden stakes hanging off two of the numerous hooks inside his coat, amid a flea market of weapons including a mini-Uzi, a magical stun gun, a blowgun and darts, knives of all sorts, a wooden hammer, and who knew what else the fuck he had in there.
“How the hell do you carry all that?” But I knew the answer—he was an incubus. All demons had superior strength. “Doesn’t that get annoying, clanking against your body?”
“I’m used to it,” he said. “And it gives me a feeling of security knowing that I have so many weapons at my fingertips. I like weapons. I like collecting them.” And then, with a darker edge, he continued. “And I like using them. As much as I’m happy you took out Dredge, hunting him kept me going. It was my only reason for living for centuries. I chased him like a dog, sniffing him out, only to see him slip through my fingers time and again, and the failures fueled my desire for revenge. When he died…all of that focus vanished with him, leaving me empty. So now, I’ve replaced the hunt for Dredge with the one for Shadow Wing and his cronies.”
That explained a lot. I knew why our lovers were fighting alongside us, and I even understood why Vanzir stayed with us…but Roz—I hadn’t fully figured out why he cared so much about Shadow Wing.
Dredge had hurt me, but he’d wiped out Rozurial’s family when Roz was a child. And Roz had watched every sordid detail, hiding and praying he wouldn’t be found. That moment had turned him into a tracker. A few centuries later, after Zeus and Hera had destroyed his marriage and turned him into an incubus and his wife into a succubus, Rozurial’s hunt for the Scourge had only intensified.
“Well, your help is invaluable. And if I ever do cross the line…” I paused and looked at him. “I’ve asked Camille this, but I’d also ask you. If I ever cross the line like Sassy did…if I ever turn into the monster I do my best to keep at bay…”
