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“That’s the man at the conference! There are some differences, but that’s the man who bumped into me, who was watching all day. I’m sure of it.” She shook her head. “He’s…almost one hundred ninety years old? How is that possible? Could it be a family member?”
Delilah shrugged. “Maybe, but…it says here Halcon was researching into Faerie lore—well, it says the “little people,” but they weren’t talking about dwarfism.” She let out a little gasp. “What if he…what if he somehow ended up getting hold of the Nectar of Life?”
“I wonder if Titania met him—she’s been living in this area for a long, long time. She was drunk off her ass for a lot of that time, and look…she had Tam Lin with her. Maybe she tried to turn another human. She never mentioned it to us, but there’s one hell of a lot they’ve never told us.” I was wondering just how I might broach the subject with the Fae Queen when Delilah tapped me on the arm.
“Can we send Lindsey a copy of this photograph? I just downloaded it.”
I pulled out my cell and gave Lindsey a call. She answered on the first ring. “Lindsey, we don’t have a lot of time, but are you near a computer, or can you get e-mail on your phone?”
She laughed. “I’m playing Plants vs. Zombies right now, so yes, I have my e-mail at hand. What’s cooking?”
“Take a look at the e-mail that—” I glanced over at Delilah, who punched the Enter key and then nodded to me. “Delilah just sent you an e-mail. Do you recognize the man in the picture?”
A pause, and I could hear her tapping on the keyboard. Then, a gasp.
“That’s the man at the psychic fair! Halcon Davis.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “You’re sure it’s him?”
“I’m positive. That’s him.” Lindsey hesitated, then asked, “What’s going on, Camille? Something’s going on. I can feel it. And what about the zombies? I know that the magical community around here—the FBH pagan community—is nervous. We’re worried about backlash on us, to be honest.”
I sorted through my thoughts, trying to figure out just what I could tell her. “Lindsey, there’s a lot of freak show things going down right now. I want you and your coven to lay low. Do protection magic for the city right now. Don’t go to—or hold any—public events right now. Tell your friends in other Circles to do the same. We’ve been dealing with creatures worse than the bhouts. We destroyed two nests of them, but we aren’t sure if there are others. And Halcon Davis and the Aleksais Psychic Network are right in the thick of things.”
I wanted to tell her that I was going in undercover, but it was just safer to keep that information under wraps. As I said good-bye, she sounded concerned. I hated worrying her, but the truth was she should be worried. And the more protection magic aimed around the city, the better off we’d be.
“So Halcon Davis was doing research on the Fae. Want to bet he managed to find out about the potion you were talking about, Iris? And maybe found a way to alter it. And somehow, his own life has been extended. We need to ask Titania if she remembers him. I wish they carried cell phones out there, but I don’t think the Triple Threat has any intention of being on the end of anyone’s speed dial.”
“We can find out, but not right now. I don’t want anybody wandering off on their own until tonight’s over and done with.” Trillian spoke up, and the tone in his voice told me he wasn’t about to be argued with.
“Fine. We’ll ask tomorrow.” I turned back to the plans. “So, I’m going to figure on Halcon being there tonight. They just wasted a sizable number of their members in feeding the spirit demons, so they’re going to need more recruits. Chances are I can wrangle my way into the inner circle, because I can guarantee you, I’ll have more magical energy for him than anybody there.”
“If he did take the Nectar of Life, then he’s going to be unpredictable, because I doubt if he’ll have been guided or counseled in how to use it. But…are there any other possibilities for his age? Halcon was human, as far as we can tell. There’s no way he could be this old without some sort of magical intervention.” Delilah kicked the table leg, frowning. “I wish we knew more about what you’re getting into before you go there.”
“As usual, we have more questions than we have answers, but I think that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. As far as Halcon…I don’t know. Shade, Smoky? Morio? Do you guys know of any way he could be this age and still be human?”
“There’s one thing you haven’t considered,” Nerissa said. “He might be Were. Weres are good at passing, and we live to quite a long age.”
That was a possibility, but something didn’t ring right to me. “If he were Were, wouldn’t you have sensed it at the conference?”
She shook her head. “There were so many people there, and I only saw him here and there. I was focused on work, and I doubt that I would have noticed if he was wearing a clown suit.”
The clock chimed and I glanced up. Six P.M. Half an hour and I needed to head out in order to be there by seven. I didn’t want to arrive early because the less time people had to meet me before the meeting, the less chance there would be that I’d be discovered.
Nervous, I locked myself in the bathroom. Logically, I knew it was me, but standing there, gazing at the face in the mirror, there was a part of me that felt like I’d lost myself. I didn’t connect with the person in my reflection. I stuck my tongue out at myself, then winked, then shook my head. Feeling uncomfortable and out of sorts, I returned to the kitchen after washing my hands and holding a cool washcloth to my neck.
The clock seemed to drag—the second hand slowly ticking around. I wanted to go, to be off, but it would be a mistake to go early and I knew it. Pacing, I went over everything again.
“So I get there. I find whoever’s in charge—hopefully it will be Halcon Davis. I gain his trust. I express an interest in becoming part of the network. And…then we see what happens.” I looked up. “I guess that’s about the extent of things.”
“We’ll be outside, waiting. If there are enough people there, we’ll hide in the parking lot. If not, we’ll park on the street, a few car lengths away. We won’t be able to contact you without giving you away, so you need to be able to get through to us.”
Shade cleared his throat. “I think you all are forgetting something. It’s dark. I can walk in the shadows and get a lot closer than the rest of you.”
I groaned. “And why didn’t you remind me of this beforehand?”
“You didn’t ask.” He grinned, then shrugged. “I thought it was a given that I’d be up there, keeping guard, so I didn’t think to say anything.”
I stared at him. “Seriously? You give us more credit than you should. But I feel a whole lot better knowing you’ll be that much closer. If there’s enough shadow inside, feel free to come in—”
