Chapter 10
Lilah ran flat-out down a small hiking path, and the rest of us followed. Abruptly the path ended in a clearing, one of those rare natural forest glens where the ancient trees formed a perfect circle, edged in a ring of clover and dandelions. On the far side was the edge of a small hill, cluttered with rocks except for a small, dark opening, the kind that evoked an image of raccoon dens or slumbering copperhead snakes. It was the sort of place that would stir a naturalist’s heart, but in truth this was the fairy circle that marked the gate into Underhill.
It was a perfectly clear night, and the open field was bathed in the light from the stars. The growing radiance from the moon had almost fully crested the horizon, giving us all an excellent view of what was happening. Lacking the right kind of tree to hang their sacrifice from, the Neighbors had set up a portable scaffold, the type that I’d seen contractors use to touch up the paint in my mother’s grand foyer, where they had to safely deal with restoration at a height of eighteen feet. Hanging upside down from the middle of the scaffold was Felix. He was fully awake and struggling, but they’d gagged him and he couldn’t make a sound.
Several feet beneath him was an inflatable kiddie pool, bright blue and incongruously decorated with cartoon dolphins and starfish, a sight that made me regret the unnatural sharpness of my eyesight. Inside the pool was a young woman who bore too close a resemblance to Lilah to be anything other than her nineteen-year-old sister, Iris—the hair was the same, as well as something in her face, despite the fact that she was a three-quarter cross and showed the signs of a heritage that had far fewer ties to humanity. She was completely naked, her pale skin almost phosphorescently pale in the starlight, and she sat with her legs folded and a look of blank and uncomprehending docility on her face.
Circled around their two victims were ten figures who were intently focused either on the scenario in front of them or the slow progress of the moon in the sky. At first I’d concentrated on looking for Soli, but my brain stuttered when I realized from their completely distinctive silhouettes that five of those figures were full elves—the first I’d ever seen. The presence of so many of what remained of that dwindling, doomed population spoke more for how invested they were in this than anything Lilah or Lulu could ever have said.
They didn’t notice at first as we came to the end of the path and passed into the fairy circle. Prudence and I moved naturally into the lead, with Suze and Lilah falling just behind us. But three of the figures broke away from the circle, three older half-bloods around Lulu’s age who would’ve looked completely at home organizing a church jumble sale had it not been for the butcher knives in their hands as they moved toward where Felix hung. We were getting nearer but were still halfway across the clearing, so I raised the Ithaca above my head and gave one warning shot. That stopped them, and all wheeled around to face us, and I saw the last of the elves full-on.
They were all tall, at least six feet each, but with almost delicate builds displayed by the loose fur wraps that each wore around his waist, with nothing on the upper body. Their hair was long, ranging in color from one whose black hair seemed even darker than the sky above us to a brilliant blond, but it was clear that this wasn’t the same as the hair of any human or hybrid cross I’d seen, and looked more like spun metal. From just above the hairlines of each of the elves emerged a full set of horns, as smooth and black as polished marble, and as long and pronged as a deer in autumn. There was a distinctly reptilian cast to their faces, wholly inhuman, long and disturbing, and those large eyes I’d admired so much in Lilah were much different when seen in their natural setting. And yet I was almost viscerally struck by how beautiful each of them was. It was a terrifying beauty, nature at its most vicious, but even as we advanced toward them I could feel the echo of their allure and compulsion, and I understood why the legends referred to them as the Fair Folk.
Beside them were their most loyal half-bloods—two men and a woman, all holding knives—and one younger man, bulky like a football player and with a face like a pale imitation of the elves, clearly a three-quarter hybrid. And at the far end, standing just apart and behind the others, was Soli, smiling with Beth’s mouth but with a venom that she had never been capable of.
The sound of the Ithaca rolled through the clearing, and we were close enough now that when I yelled for them to stop, it wasn’t because my voice had to cover a long distance. The elves were the ones who moved toward us, just a step, but Prudence made a low sound and they froze where they were, almost immediately shifting their weight to make it look as if they’d stopped because they’d wanted to—like scolded cats deliberately lifting one paw to lick. In the car, Lilah had described in enough detail the five elves who allowed themselves to be seen to me that, looking at each Ad-hene, I was able to match their names to their distinctive coloration. She’d also warned me that some might not back down willingly. As they looked at us, it was clear that there were divisions among them—two of them, Hobany and Beron, were cringing at the sight of us and shifting their feet nervously. The other three, though, Amadon, Shoney, and Nokke, were simply staring at us out of those gleaming eyes, and they looked angry instead of afraid.
“Stop all of this,” I ordered, forcing as much authority as I could into my voice and reminding myself that I was my mother’s representative. Over the past few months I’d heard Chivalry give orders to those who lived in my mother’s territory dozens of times, and I tried to put some of that confidence into my own voice.
“Why?” asked the one with golden hair, Amadon. “Madeline Scott can have no argument with what we do here, out of sight of any humans and in the company of our own kind.”
“Killing people from her territory?” I asked. “Snatching them away and then making a halfhearted effort at disposing of the bodies?” Arguing about the evils of the deaths themselves would’ve been a waste—I was being as careful as I could to argue in terms that my mother or Chivalry would’ve used, and that the elves were more likely to recognize and hopefully back down from. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Prudence give me a subtle nod of approval, and I felt a little reassured. If my argument was resting well with one sociopath, perhaps it would work with others.
“We would never break the rules that have been laid down,” said another, in a whining and nasal voice. This one was Beron, who Lilah had told me was more cautious. “None of Madeline’s stock have been poached—all who died were ours, from our bloodlines.”
Another, Hobany, joined in eagerly, with his head and dark horns dipping like a sycophant toward my sister and me. “If too little care has been taken with disposing of remains, then the fault lies with our offspring, and we will gladly put them forward for your mother’s punishment.” Behind him, the half-breeds who had just been offered up as fodder simply bobbed their heads in agreement, their faces as they looked at the Ad-hene never wavering from open adoration.
Needing to keep this completely on track, I pointed at Soli. “And that? A skinwalker stands right beside you, a creature my mother has banned for over sixty years. What is your explanation there?”
“Is that your concern in this?” asked Shoney, the one with the dark hair. He turned for a moment and drew one of the half-breeds forward, a lanky man with wispy gray hair and unglamoured ears that were the only signs of his heritage. “The fault for that lies in our dear Tomas, so I’m sure that he would gladly pay the price for his foolish actions. Wouldn’t you, Tomas?” The older man nodded eagerly, never looking away from Shoney’s face, even when the elf reached out and with one quick movement ripped out Tomas’s throat, the blood spurting across the elf’s chest as the body slumped and fell over. Even after a lifetime with my family, the sheer casualness of the killing shocked me profoundly, and behind me Lilah made a soft noise of protest, quickly stifled. No one else reacted at all, and Shoney gave a thin smile as he looked back at me. “Are we all in agreement?” he asked politely, lifting his hand to his mouth to delicately lick the blood that spattered across it with a tongue that was altogether too long and thin.
I stared at him. “Not even a little.”
Then Nokke spoke, his voice harsh, and from the way that Amadon and Shoney immediately snapped to attention, it was clear which of them was in charge here. If I hadn’t already known his connection to Lilah, it would’ve been obvious from his hair. Even in the dim light of the rising moon, that hair would’ve put a newly polished copper teakettle to shame. “Enough of this. We have brought in the tools we needed to complete our work, and those who were killed belong to us.” He sent a sharp look Lilah’s way, the first time that any of them had acknowledged her. “As does your apparent informant.”
Lilah’s voice was frightened but firm. “Grandfather, you have to stop what you’re doing. You can’t kill your own child to try to create a better one.”
“Can’t I, granddaughter? What life I create is my property and mine to destroy at my will.” His eyes narrowed. “When this is over, I think you will need a lesson in where your loyalties lie.” The threat was very clear.
I moved slightly to my left to block the look that Nokke was shooting toward Lilah. “Her loyalty is where it should’ve been, with the one who rules all of you.” I looked across the line of elves facing me, making eye contact with each of them, and worried that only two looked away. The odds were not in our favor, but there was nothing to do except push forward and lay everything on the line, and hope that self-interest won out in the end. “I speak for my mother, and I say that your plans for tonight’s activities are over. Leave Felix and Iris unharmed, hand the skinwalker over to us, and go back into your hole. Do that, and I’ll ask my mother to be merciful in her punishment. Disobey, and you will learn your own lesson about the costs of betraying loyalty to the Scotts.” Beside me my sister shifted, putting her weight forward like a wrestler waiting for a match to start. Relief pounded through me—at least she was on my side.
There was a long pause as the elves looked at each other, some hidden communication clearly shared among them. Then Beron slowly turned back to me and nodded once. “Very well,” he said, then turned and began walking away, followed almost immediately by Hobany. They crossed the clearing to the pile of rocks, then disappeared inside Underhill.
For a second I thought that everything would be okay.
Then Nokke hissed, opening his mouth wide to reveal a gummy smile more suited to an octogenarian anticipating pudding, but then at least fifty serrated teeth slid easily out of the gums, and I knew without a doubt that the attempts at diplomacy had ended and that the only course now was to fight. “I’ve bent my neck to your mother for long enough when it suited me, little vampire, but I will not be dictated to in this matter,” Nokke said. And then everyone was moving at once.
The three remaining elves came forward in one fast, horned mass, but before I could take aim with the Ithaca my sister was in front of me, cutting off the elves and engaging with them. They were faster than she was, but she was clearly stronger and tougher, and almost immediately they fell into a loose net around her, moving in quickly to swipe at her but moving back before she could return the hit, like a pack of wolves harrying a moose.
While Prudence kept the Ad-hene busy, Suze, Lilah, and I began running toward her sister and Felix. The half-bloods managed to turn their attention away from the situation of the Ad-hene and did their best to block us, but they were holding those butcher knives awkwardly, as if the closest they’d come before this to serious combat had been a particularly resistant cut of chicken. The man came toward me, and for a brief second I considered whether to shoot him, but he looked so awkward and vulnerable—a fanatic carried far past where he should’ve stopped—and so instead I bashed him in the face with the butt of the Ithaca, crunching his nose and sending him tumbling to the ground. In front of me the half-blood woman, the tips of her ears peeking up through her soccer-mom haircut, hesitated at the sight of her compatriot’s fate, then edged back, frightened, when Suze very deliberately lifted her long knife and moved toward her. While all of this was happening, Lilah ran straight to her sister like a homing pigeon, unassaulted by anyone.
I didn’t follow Lilah, because strolling toward me was Soli, Beth’s face pulled into a malicious smile. I didn’t hesitate this time, shooting the Ithaca’s remaining shell at her, but again she moved with a speed that I couldn’t match, dodging to the side. The bullet didn’t miss her entirely, clipping her in the side and causing enough damage to immediately stain her shirt red, but even though she stumbled at the hit she kept coming toward me, and I didn’t have time to reload the Ithaca before she was directly in front of me and swinging. I was able to dodge her first strike, and I swung the Ithaca itself at her like a club, but she knocked it out of my hand and I was immediately too engaged with blocking her strikes to even try to reach for the Colt where it was holstered at my back.
Suzume had shadowed Lilah further, making sure no one went for her, but when she saw what was happening between me and Soli she immediately spun around and ran flat-out toward us. But she was so focused on getting to me that she didn’t pay attention to who was around her, and the three-quarter hybrid man was able to tackle her from behind, bringing her down to the ground. The sight of it happening distracted me for just a second, but that was more than enough for Soli to gain the upper hand, and her fist drove into my chest like a cement truck, knocking me over. She followed me down, those long black claws slicing out of the flesh of Beth’s hands, and I was barely able to grab her wrists, using all my strength to keep those slashing claws away from my throat. I could feel them gouging at my forearms as Soli kept ripping at me, and my brain somehow registered the feeling of the blood running down my arms more than the pain itself.
The Colt was now completely pinned beneath me and the Ithaca lost somewhere in the grass, even if I’d had a free hand to reach for one of them, which I didn’t, as both were more than engaged with keeping Soli’s claws just a hairsbreadth away from my throat. I could actually feel the air movement each time she reached for me, and I was horribly aware of the vulnerability of every artery that pumped through that spot she was reaching for with single-minded ferocity. I glanced around desperately, but Prudence was still pinned down—Amadon was writhing on the ground, both hands trying to push his intestines back inside his belly, but Shoney and Nokke moved around him without even a glance. Suzume’s eyes were fixed on me as she stumbled to her feet, her long knife now painted red from tip to handle, and the crumpled body of her assailant behind her, but I could feel my arms shaking with the effort of holding Soli back, and I knew that Suze wouldn’t reach me in time.
The crack of a pistol cut through all the noises of the fighting, and Soli was suddenly thrown backward and off of me as a gout of blood exploded from her shoulder. I looked, and five feet behind me stood Matt, his face pale, his eyes fixed and wide, but his feet were planted solidly and his hands were steady on his .38.
My stunned wonder at how the hell he’d followed me was washed away at the realization that he’d seen it all—monsters fighting on the grass of Lincoln Woods State Park—and for just one heartbeat I was frozen and unable to move past the knowledge of what this meant. But then the world came rushing back to me and there was no time to pause. Soli was pushing herself back up when I rolled forward and pulled out my Colt, and the first bullet caught her just below her neck. For one horrible moment the eyes that stared at me with utter surprise were Beth’s, but I gritted my teeth and sent a second bullet into her head, followed immediately by a third, and the skinwalker went down. Half the skin of Beth’s face was gone, revealing the shiny black carapace beneath it, and just enough to realize that not only did the skinwalker actually have mandibles, but also they were still moving, because Soli was dropped but still alive, and now her limbs were actually pushing her upper body upright again.
I drew in a panting, ragged breath and I lifted the gun, intending to empty the rest of the clip, but then Suzume reached me. With no hesitation at all, she brought that long knife down and began the systematic removal of Soli’s head. That white fluid I remembered from before foamed out, but after one last spasm the skinwalker stilled and didn’t move again.
I was wobbling to my feet, and I forced myself to look back at Matt, frightened about whether his gun would be aimed at me now, but when I did I shouted desperately to Suze. The Neighbor with the soccer-mom hair had skirted the edge of the fighting, and while Matt had been focused on me and the skinwalker, she had attacked him with that butcher knife. Now he was on the ground, one hand pressing against a large red stain on his arm, and she was coming toward him again. At my shout, Suze was moving for them. I would’ve followed, but I saw Prudence stumble, and Nokke and Shoney moved in like jackals for the kill.
Trusting Suzume to keep Matt safe, I tightened my grip on the Colt and ran toward my sister. But just before I could reach them enough to trust a shot, Shoney attacked Prudence. The wide smile that crossed her face was his only warning, and one of her manicured hands shot out, grabbed one of his antlers, and with a low grunt from my sister a bone-crunching sound echoed beside Shoney’s hysterical scream of agony as she ripped his antler completely from his head, accompanied by an enormous rush of blood, chunks of his skull, and several pieces of things I didn’t even want to try to identify. Shoney collapsed onto the ground, twitching spastically as the blood continued to flow, and I could see the horror spread across Nokke’s face as he realized that all of my sister’s attention was now solely fixated on him.
I took a deep breath. “That’s enough, Prudence,” I yelled, and she stopped to look at me, Shoney’s antler still gripped in her hand. Nokke looked at me as well, and this time his gaze swept across the clearing, and I could see the moment when he realized that he was the only one still left standing. Glancing behind me, I saw that the soccer mom was down, and Suzume was crouched beside Matt, putting pressure on his arm. She gave me a quick nod, reassuring me that everything was fine. I looked over at Lilah and saw that she’d managed to lower Felix and was now standing in front of him and her sister, the borrowed gun shaking in her hands.
I focused again on Nokke. “Are you ready to hear what I have to say, or do I let my sister take you apart one piece at a time?”
“Talk,” the elf gritted between his clenched serrated teeth.
“This is over,” I said. “Your breeding experiments are over as well. Keep the seven-eighths crosses you created, but if one more of those is born than is already conceived, the Scotts will take the price out of your skin.” A spasm of rage passed over Nokke’s face, but after a pause he dipped his head in reluctant agreement. I continued. “Clean up your dead.” Movement caught the corner of my eye, and I glanced over. Seeing that negotiations had begun, Lilah had put the gun away and was leading the two younger Neighbors toward us. I glanced at her grandfather and added another condition. “It’s clear that we can no longer trust you to behave, so from this moment onward your representative will be making monthly reports about your activities to my family.”
Nokke frowned. “What representative?” I pointed silently at Lilah. He fumed, “You cannot be—” But Prudence inched forward, clearly eager to inflict more damage, and he broke off his statement, sucking his anger down again. “Yes. My granddaughter will deliver the reports.”
“In perfect health,” I said coldly. “With no complaints about how she has been treated by her relatives.” He nodded, clearly beyond speech. I looked over at my sister, who gave me a sign of approval. “Do you have anything else you think should be added, Prudence?” I asked.
My sister smiled slowly. “Only that our mother will doubtless have some ideas later on how the elves can . . . atone . . . for breaking her laws. I’m sure that I will be seeing more of them.”
I nodded. “Sounds fair.” I looked at Nokke again, seeing the rage and pride battling across his inhuman yet inhumanly beautiful face. There was no regret there. Not for the death he’d led his followers to, and certainly not for the deaths he’d caused. Without a word I quickly aimed the Colt and squeezed off a shot. Nokke fell to the ground, clutching his knee. I nodded, satisfied. “Now we’re done,” I told the Ad-hene. Crawling, his expression now pained, the elf reached a hand toward Amadon, still lying on the ground but his belly already knitting before our eyes, and hauled him backward. In a moment they were both gone, hidden back inside Underhill. Behind them were the bodies, including Shoney, who lay rigid in death.
My sister smiled at me, a grisly sight with her hands bloody up to the elbow. “Excellently done, Fortitude,” she complimented me, and for a moment I relaxed. But she had turned her attention to Matt and was moving toward him, ignoring the hand I threw out to try to catch her, speaking as she moved toward the injured man. “Matthew McMahon,” she said, pleasure dripping from her voice. “You really do seem to have quite a talent for making a nuisance of yourself. But this is the end, at last.”
Suzume dropped Matt’s arm and moved backward, and I could see the recognition fill Matt’s face as my sister stalked toward him. His eyes darted from the body of Shoney to the ripped antler still lying on the ground to my sister’s bloody hands, and back up to her face, and even as death incarnate came for him I could see him putting the pieces together. And the look on his face when he finally solved the case that had driven him for seventeen years was equal parts horror and euphoria.
“You,” he breathed. “Whatever you are, it was you. You killed Brian and Jill Mason that night; then your family covered it up.” As the truth that I’d spent so long hiding from him echoed from his mouth, I froze, my heart seeming to slow in my chest at the blow.
She laughed as she moved closer. “At least you can die a contented man, with no last secrets nagging at your mind.”
Her arm was drawing back when I was able to move again, and I moved with the vampire speed that I’d only managed once before in my life, and I caught her hand in mine before she could strike.
She half turned to frown at me. “Brother, this is necessary. Even you can’t deny that the detective has seen far more than we can allow.”
I squeezed my hand tightly and shook my head, struggling for a reason, any reason, that would stop her. “This is a decision for Mother, not us,” I stuttered, playing for any extra minute of time that would give me a chance to find a better plan.
Prudence’s frown deepened, her eyes narrowing with that old suspicion that I hadn’t seen in the past few days. She pulled her hand out of my grip, and she was strong enough that there was nothing I could do to hold it. “Don’t play, Fortitude,” she spit. “You know that there’s nothing Mother would do except wonder why we bothered to ask her. This dog has yapped at our heels for years, and it was only for your sake that he wasn’t taken care of long before now. Now he has seen truths that were not meant for him.” Her lip curled. “If it’s weakness that drives you, just turn your head. It will be done in a moment.”
She turned back to Matt, and I knew that there was nothing I could do—I couldn’t persuade her; I couldn’t overpower her. Even Suze looked at me and slowly shook her head, knowing even better than I did that this had been a foregone conclusion the moment Matt had somehow found his way to the park and stepped foot in the clearing.
There was nothing I could do.
But that wasn’t true.
I pressed the Colt against my sister’s head, just at her temple. She froze at the feeling, and her brilliant blue eyes darted over to stare at me, and her jaw loosened in shock.
“What are you doing?” she asked, the shock already wearing off, replaced quickly by a brewing rage that promised to be far deadlier than what we had just faced from the elves. “You can’t possibly be serious.”
“Don’t push me, Prudence,” I warned her, and I knew in that long moment that I was capable of pulling that trigger, and looking into her eyes I knew that she knew as well. “Remember what happened to Luca.”
Her upper lip curled and revealed her fully extended fangs. But I kept my arm steady, not even daring to breathe, and one slow step at a time, Prudence drew back from Matt. I kept the Colt raised, lifting a second hand to steady my grip, and watched as she moved away.
“You are right in one small way, brother,” she said, never glancing away from me. “All decisions truly rest with our mother. But who will be the first to present this one to her?” And with that my sister turned and ran up the path to where the cars were parked.
I glanced down frantically. Matt was staring at me, an expression on his face that I couldn’t even bear to process, but Suze had dropped beside him and pressed her hands against his arm again. “Go!” she yelled at me. “I can handle this.”
Behind me I felt a sharp push, and Lilah was behind me, nodding in agreement with Suze. “You need to get there first,” she agreed.
I didn’t need any more than that, and I was running up the path after Prudence, running faster than I knew I should’ve been able to, and I could feel the tendons in my legs shrieking with pain at the demands I was placing on them twice in one night. I reached the parking lot just as Prudence was backing up her Lexus in a cascade of gravel, and I was inside the Fiesta just as she pulled out.
As if sensing my need, the Fiesta started on the first attempt—something it hadn’t managed at any point in the past two years. Without even pausing I threw it into reverse, and the tires squealed in protest as I set off in pursuit, beginning the long journey to Newport.