AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anybody want any more coffee?”
“I’ll take a cookie, if they have any.” Camille held up her latte. “Still good here.”
Delilah mumbled something about a brownie, and Tanne gratefully held up his cup. “Refill, please. Cream, no sugar.”
As Trillian headed up to the counter, I glanced around the shop. Even this late, it was buzzing. It occurred to me that, without caffeine, the entire greater Seattle metropolitan area would shut down and die an unruly death. Both Seattle proper, as well as the Eastside—just across Lake Washington, where Microsoft and Google roamed free in the sprawl of back-to-back cities.
Camille excused herself and went to the restroom while we waited. Delilah was nose-deep into her computer and Trillian hadn’t returned, so I leaned over to Tanne.
“What’s the Black Forest like?”
He gave me a long, quiet look, but it was friendly, if reserved. “Your forests here—they are old and wild and tangled, and filled with fern and bracken. The Black Forest is different. We have fir, like you do, in the highlands, but there are vast swaths of beech and oak, and we have wide meadows that open out to catch the sun. The history of my area is rich—but most of it is human history—where here, the mountains grew untouched by most human mythology. Civilization is still new to the lands here, while across the ocean, it was established when there were no inklings that North America even existed.”
“I think… I think I prefer it the way it is here, but I see how the cultural heritage over there might be a nice thing to have.”
“Ah, but it is not my cultural heritage—it belongs to the humans.” Tanne smiled again, and once more I was struck by the fact that though he looked very much like any handsome man on the street, his Fae blood crept out to tinge everything he said and did.
Camille returned, sliding into her seat just as Delilah popped her head up from her Internet wanderings.
“I found it. Or rather a reference to it. Pete’s Barbershop was located underneath the… oh perfect… it was on the outer edge of what’s now Underground Seattle, near the Greenbelt Park District. We’re talking ghost city there.”
I perked up. “Not near where Wade and I took out that priest-turned-vampire. Charles, that was his name. I doubt those tunnels have been cleared of rubble yet.” The vamp had gone over the edge when he was turned and ended up lobbing a hand grenade at us, which of course, brought down the house. Or the tunnels, rather.
Delilah shook her head. “Different branch of the tunnels but not too far from there. Those were closed off years ago by the authorities, and now only the Supes and teenagers bent on a thrill ride go down there.”
“So the sconces on the wall lead to a secret door and that is where Lowestar’s operation is stashing their victims.” I glanced at my watch. Ten twenty. “We’ve got plenty of time tonight. I suggest a raiding party. If Violet’s still alive and there, we have a chance to rescue her before they sell her off.” So much had gone wrong the past week, the chance to save someone—anyone—beckoned like a warm day in the middle of an icy winter.>“No guarantee at all.” Trillian glanced over at Camille, then in the backseat at Delilah and me. “I would walk softly for now, but there’s no real way you can put that genie back in the bottle. But tread with caution. He could be a snake, and really, what do you know about him? I’m not sure where Vanzir found out his information, but he’s proving himself more than worthwhile.”
“I’d also like to know how he found out about Daniel.” I frowned, leaning back against the seat. “This torques me off. Why didn’t we think to check him out? We’re slacking.”
“No, we’re not.” Delilah rubbed her forehead, looking stressed. “Look what the hell we’ve been dealing with the past week or so. Just when would we have had time to check out Daniel?” Her voice began to rise and I could tell I had upset her. “During the time we were staring at Father’s body? Or when we were running for cover from the storm? Or when Camille had to steal the moccasins off of a corpse to protect her feet from the broken stone that covered the ground? Just when would we have had the time to go digging into Daniel’s past?”
I held up my hand. “Okay, okay… I get your point. But now that we know this much about him, we’d better find out whatever else we can about him. If he can dig up the info he did on us, there has to be a way we can pry into his past. I want to know if we can trust the guy.”
“That reminds me.” Delilah poked me in the arm. “You better tell Camille about Shamas, if you haven’t already.”
“What about Shamas?” Camille glanced at Kitten through the rearview mirror.
Another little tidbit that I wasn’t looking forward to revealing. “Shamas went home to Otherworld this morning.”
“What?” The car swerved as she pulled over to the shoulder and turned around to stare at me. “Why? For how long?”
I stared at the back of the seat, not meeting her eyes. “I don’t know how long… he’s gone to enlist in the army, to help Svartalfheim. He told me he wanted to make a difference. We talked shortly before dawn. I was out for a walk and found him near the trail. He asked me to tell you good-bye.”
She said nothing for a moment, but then Trillian reached over and lightly stroked her arm. “He’ll be all right, love.”
“We don’t know that.” Her voice was tight. “We don’t know that anything will ever be all right again. But what’s done is done and there’s nothing we can do to stop him. We can only hope and pray.” And with that, she started up the car again. “We’re almost to the Blackthorn Starbucks. Tanne Baum told you he might have a lead on Violet?”
I nodded, but then realized she couldn’t see me in the mirror. “Yes. At least that’s one potential piece of good news.”
“Great Mother knows, we need all we can get of that.” She stared ahead at the road. The windshield wipers beat a steady tattoo against the rain, swishing it off to the sides, as we swept through the darkened night.
I looked out the window. So much danger for all of us. So much worry. And we weren’t even facing Shadow Wing yet. What would happen if—or when—he broke through the portals? We had four of the seals. Shadow Wing had three. Two were missing. If whoever had stolen Benjamin’s was aligned with the Demon Lord, then we were evenly matched. Either way, it spelled trouble with a capital T. I settled myself back and tried to turn my thoughts to something less daunting. Because there wasn’t a rat’s ass of anything that we could do about it on this cold, dark night.
Chapter 11
The Blackthorn neighborhood of Belles-Faire wasn’t exactly run-down, but it had a wild, thorny feel to it. The houses were hidden behind tangled vegetation, thick hedges, and overgrown ferns. They weren’t dilapidated per se, just mysterious and hidden. The area had become a haven for both Fae and Supes. Truth was, most of the Supe Community—and the Fae—felt more comfortable around others of their kind. Which was why the spate of vampire apartments going up were so popular. Wade, the leader of Vampires Anonymous, lived in the Shrouded Grove Suites—a tower of condos specifically designed for vamps. And there were at least two more condo towers going up.
When it came down to it, there was still a great deal of segregation going on among Supes and FBHs… but then again, there was a great deal of self-segregation as well. It would be a long time before the races were intermingling in a comfortable fashion, but overall, I thought we were doing pretty well. Change didn’t happen overnight, but what mattered was that people made the attempt.
