CHAPTER 18
Total fatigue liquefied Sasha’s bones. Every battle injury she’d sustained in the last twenty-four hours cried out as her body slid down into bubbles on the opposite end of the huge claw-foot tub that she and Hunter shared. Sure, Silver Hawk had sealed up gargoyle gashes, fractures, cuts, bruises, and scrapes. But her muscles and newly healed and extremely tender soft tissue whined for regenerative sleep.
She could tell Hunter felt it, too, because the poor man just laid his head back with a wince and remained very, very still in the hot herbal water.
“You okay?” she finally asked.
“Yeah,” Hunter croaked, and then took in a deep breath through his nose.
“Some ride, huh?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m still a little queasy.. I wouldn’t care if I never saw another dragon again.”
“Nausea is not my issue,” Hunter said with another labored breath. “The knights have special leather-reinforced gear designed for their profession. We don’t.”
Sasha lifted her head and stared at Hunter slack jawed. “Oh, baby. did you tell Silver Hawk?”
“I didn’t have to.”
“Did it help?”
“I suppose he healed any nerve damage or internal injuries, but it’s all soft tissue down there. Need I say more?”
Sasha squinted and then sat up carefully, allowing the hot water to swish around her back. “Aw. man. I promise to kiss your boo-boo and make it feel better later.”
“Yeah,” Hunter said on a heavy exhale. “But right now, just let me quietly die a thousand deaths in the tub, alone, for a while, okay.”
“ ’K’.” Sasha slipped out of the water and then walked around to his end of the tub and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. “I am so sorry that happened to you.”
He kept his eyes closed and nodded. “I love you, too.” But then he captured her arm as she moved away from him. “Are you sure you’re all right?” He stared up at her and searched her face for the truth.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
He pulled her close to him and nuzzled her belly. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you don’t feel well.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said, and frowned and then bent to kiss the crown of his head. “I’m fine. I’m more worried about you, truth be told.”
“The worst of it is over.. Dry off and get in bed. I’ll join you in a bit.”
“All right,” she whispered, and brushed his mouth with a soft kiss.
Sasha grabbed a large, fluffy white terry cloth towel and slipped to the other side of the privacy screen. As usual, Fae hospitality knew no bounds. The bath was infused with Fae herbal healing, and just soaking in the water made her feel like she’d taken a sleeping pill. She pressed her face into the fragrant towel and was almost lulled to sleep by its warmth while still standing up.
Across the room a gleaming oval table was set in the far corner with two dome-covered silver serving trays. All she or Hunter had to do was speak the requested menu item of their wildest dreams and then lift the dome—Fae room service had no competitors in the human world. Same deal with the cleaning service. All she and Hunter had to do was drop their soiled clothes in the hamper provided and freshly laundered clothes would be there in the morning. That is, if one wanted their old clothes back, because the handcrafted armoires and bureau drawers offered the finest array of choices made out of the best cottons, linens, silks, and leathers one could ever hope for. Muddy boots went outside the door, and sometime in the bewitching hour of the night fresh-polished shoes would return, courtesy of the castle Elves.
The suite that Rupert now dubbed “their castle suite” was furnished with royalty in mind. Exquisite chaise lounges tastefully dotted the room, along with overstuffed Queen Anne chairs, a thick hooked rug, and pretty silk-covered settees near the fire. A four-posted rice bed sat alone with polished step stools beside it, the bed loaded with insanely soft pillows, a hand-embroidered goose down duvet, and sheets so soft that they felt like they were petting her.
The warm earth and moss tones of the forest that surrounded her calmed her weary mind while the call of the soft bed drew her across the room as though she were in a trance. All of her good intentions to wait up for Hunter and to check on him slowly evaporated as her body sank into the pre-heated warmth of the bed. Her thoughts drifted lazily between semi-conscious awareness and her knowing that her family was safe. Even Crow Shadow’s new wife and Bear Shadow were collected by the Fae and brought in by Dragon escort. Just for a few hours, everyone and everything was all right. Sasha smiled as she drifted off to sleep stroking the place on her belly where Hunter had left a kiss.
The old crone screeched and held the Fae missive aloft. “Book! Fetch thee here and take a memo!” She waited until the dusty black tome hovered in the air before her and opened itself to a blank page, its mate pen poised just inches above the ancient living parchment. “There has been mischief and malfeasance afoot!” she exclaimed. “Involving all of the usual suspects. Enter this Fae missive into the official record.”
Elder Kozlov snarled as his henchmen held down the screeching gargoyle and skinned it alive for his council.
“They have tortured a creature of this council, burning a declaration of war into its very body,” a red-eyed Vampire hissed, extending the bloody skin out for Elder Kozlov to inspect.
“It appears the Fae wanted to get your attention, Your Eminence,” one of the Council Elders said in a low, lethal tone. “They certainly have mine. This is highly unusual, even for the Fae.”
Elder Kozlov flung the dripping, scaly gargoyle skin on the table and then summarily sent a black bolt toward the squealing creature to silence it. “If these charges are true. then, gentlemen, we have a very disturbing problem in New Orleans.”
“Where is Caleb?” Elder Vlad bellowed, snatching the closest mercenary to him with a fistful of his leather coat.
“He did not come back with us, Your Grace. He said that he would search for the girl into the very dawn.”
“Which is only one hour from now!” Elder Vlad flung the mercenary against the stone wall, causing the others around him to carefully back away.
“The Fae have brought in Scot Dragon riders,” the crumpled soldier said.
“And Brits, and Welsh, some Irish, it seems,” another amended.
“Then if we cannot find the Chen girl, take all of New Orleans’ human population hostage, if that will bring her to me!”
“Yes, Your Grace,” the fallen Vampire said as he slowly stood.
Elder Vlad smoothed a palm over his bald scalp. “Leave me!”
He waited until the room was cleared and then walked over to the large fireplace mantle near his throne and closed his eyes. In his mind he could see Elder Kozlov deep within the subterranean lair in Transylvania that never knew sunlight. Elder Kozlov looked up from his council throne and made a tent with his spindly fingers before his mouth, his expression unreadable.
They have beset us with Dragon riders from Scotland to England and all small provinces in between, Your Eminence, and have decimated your gargoyle reinforcements. We may need more support.
Elder Kozlov closed his eyes. Request denied. on the grounds of possible treason. The ancient Vampire took a shuddering breath. Explain to me about the Erinyes, Vlad.
Caleb stumbled through the brambles, sloshing through the marshy bayou bog. Tears stung his eyes as he dropped to his knees and called out into the night, “Crone! Sanctuary, old woman!”
Slowly the UCE council building lifted out of the swamp and Caleb glanced at the dawning sky.
“Sanctuary for a testimony, I beg you!”
The doors opened and the old crone took her time to walk down the long, flat marble steps.
“What do you know of this unfinished business with the Erinyes?”
“Enough to have me tortured for a hundred years under Vlad Tempesh,” Caleb said, swallowing hard.
“It will be daylight in less than an hour.”
“Rather to burn and end it all than to be locked in a tomb, starving to death, going insane for a century,” Caleb said quietly.
“They will surely kill you for your blood oath in the book.”
Caleb shook his head sadly. “No, they won’t. Death is a release, and my kind is so much more creative than that.”
“Erinyes, hear me!” Megaera shouted to the numberless throngs of demons that perched on the hot crags and cliff ledges. She sent her withering gaze into the darkness, breathing in the sulfuric fumes that issued up from the bubbling lava pits. “We have bargained well and victory is at hand!”
A collective screeching cheer went up as Erinyes bumped and resettled themselves amongst the rocky inferno.
“Soon, we shall have the bodies we need to travel freely. The Dark Lord wants our legions to roam the earth, unencumbered by the demon incarceration rules set down eons ago to contain us in servitude!”
Again jubilant chaos broke out amongst the Erinyes, and Megaera turned away from the raucous crowd to tend to her fallen sister.
“Our plan worked beautifully, did it not?” Alecto stroked their injured sister’s serpent-twisted hair and then gazed at Megaera.
Megaera nodded and hissed. “The Dark Lord feeds on all compromised human souls himself, as was struck in the great bargain at the dawn of time. But he has graciously given us any wills that we might claim from the supernatural world. That is a bargain indeed. We have found our carriers.”
“Truly,” Alecto croaked, and came nearer to the rocky ledge where their fallen sister, Tisiphone, lay. “I wish it could be the Vampires, though. Such power. ”
“The Vampires are of no use to us, as their souls are already given over to our Master the moment they take a human life to feed.”
“And their bodies go to ash and embers when killed in battle,” Alecto said with a cackling laugh. “Ah, but the Fae. ”
“Yes, the Fae are another matter entirely. Mother Nature holds their souls in her orbs of light—”
“Unless they strike a poor deal and bargain it away from her, like Kiagehul did.”
Megaera nodded. “Yes. like Kiagehul.”
“And of the wolves?”
Megaera shook her head. “Too close to human, they are not immortals but simply have longevity. Unless one turns to us, like Lady Jung Suk did, the battle for their souls falls into the realm of the great bargain. The Light and the Darkness must fight to sway it and claim it.”
“But she came to us.. We cannot be blamed for her barter.”
“Calm yourself, Alecto,” Megaera crooned. “She was already dark when she came to us. The Dark Lord already had her in his records, so that upon her death he owned her. But she was wise and struck an accord for self-preservation to extend her life, even if her body was destroyed. She seduced Kiagehul and got him to call upon us to strike such a deal. and got him to implicate a foolish Vampire.”
Alecto released a screeching laugh. “Fools. Now the Unseelie and the Vampires owe us, because they never delivered the Chen girl as a sacrifice.”
Megaera smiled and wagged her gnarled talon at Alecto. “What the Vampires remain ignorant of is, the debt can easily be settled by the Vampires giving us any young virgin for Lady Jung Suk to occupy, although why she would want a virgin is beyond my comprehension.”
“Or the ice queen could end it all by doing so. true?”
“Ah, but, Alecto. our ice queen has found a warm heart within her frozen chest, and her summer king will never allow the butchering of an innocent human girl. Thus, as long as the Vampires remain ignorant, they will not fulfill the sacrifice. Kiagehul was very shrewd not to tell Baron Montague of his conjurings. just as Lady Jung Suk did well to leave a back door open for herself in case she was betrayed by the Unseelie or the Vampire. However, we must now act quickly to put pressure on the parties to go to war, lest the Vampires learn that all we need is a sacrifice to replace Amy Chen.”
“Then why not release our legions on the Unseelie before the dawn and butcher them all? We could then inhabit their bodies and go free in the morning and it would be glorious!”
“Not so simple,” Megaera warned. “Although Lady Jung Suk gave us the spell that would allow us to host within the Unseelie bodies before her demise, we cannot give ourselves a sacrifice. If it were that easy the demon legions would have been freed eons ago. It requires the willing or those in our debt to cast the spells and to let the blood. But our patience has paid off. Kiagehul opened the door.. who knew the ice queen would reunite with her estranged ex-husband? That now gives us access to the Seelie as well. But we cannot slaughter them. It must be done by those who have an outstanding debt to us—the Vampires—or it will not be seen as a sacrifice and we will not be able to inhabit their bodies. Cerridwen will not kill for us, but the Vampires had no qualms.”
The heat of Hell slowly brought Tisiphone around. The injured she-demon awoke with an agonized screech and her sisters held her down while small, ravenous Harpies bickered and shoved her disemboweled innards back into her splayed stomach cavity.
“Think of how easy it has been to send all of New Orleans’ supernaturals to war,” Megaera murmured, “and summon patience.”
“If we cannot kill them, then yes, let them foolishly butcher themselves,” Alecto hissed. “And we have the snow leopard to thank for sharing her embodiment spell.”
“Let us not forget that fool Kiagehul, who opened the door and thought that he could negotiate with the likes of us.”
Alecto nodded. “But what of the Chen girl?”
“She is of little consequence, a mere pawn to make the Vampires attack and to raise the ire of the Fae. Focusing on the girl also brought in the wolves as allies, increasing the Fae garrisons from far and wide so that the Vampires would use ultimate force against them. It is a beautiful plan. When it is all over, the death toll of the Fae will be counted as their sacrifice to us for late payment on a debt owed and we will inhabit the fallen.”
The two sisters erupted into foul screeching laughter as they dug their claws into Tisiphone to continue to hold her down.
“Megaera, how long until the army of darkness is built?” Tisiphone rasped.
“We are one war away from having enough bodies for all our sisters, and then we shall gather the soulless fallen and be free to roam the earth as we so desire. All of the combatants are poised for confrontation by the next sunset. No longer will we be trapped in the pit waiting to do the bidding of those who summon us for a specific task. No. my sisters. We shall inhabit the bodies of dead Seelie and Unseelie Fae alike, and Vampires will do our killing for us. If no blood be on our hands and a question of pending debt to us be in the Vampires’ intention while they are on the killing field, then we will accept those deaths as payment and the spell comes to life. and so will Lady Jung Suk.”