Tattered Thorns, page 8
He could easily break my neck if he wanted to, I thought. I gathered my thoughts and said, “I heard the dragons may be in for a shock?”
“Oh yes,” he said. “In fact, we may have news later in the day. I can’t talk about it at this moment, but if you notice a sudden swarming of dragons into the sky, get the hell to a safe spot and hide.”
I nodded, wondering what was going down. “I’ll remember.” I stared at Melinda. “Do a lot of cases go like this? We go in and find out it’s not what we thought?”
Cernunnos chuckled. “Yes, actually. Nothing is ever quite what it appears. In fact, I’d say that’s true for most things in life.”
“Well, that’s true.” I paused, then added, “Excuse me, I need to talk to Morgana for a moment.” I worked my way through the room. Morgana was sitting between Ember and Talia, talking. As I approached they looked at me.
“I just wanted to thank you,” I said, curtseying to the goddess. I’d been born to be diplomatic, and even though I’d spent the last two years learning to do whatever it took to survive, I still knew how to butter bread on the right side.
“You’ve already thanked me.” She held my gaze. “Do you think you’ll be happy here?”
I looked around at the room. I didn’t really know anyone here—not well—but it beat living in a flop house, and it beat thinking about my family and former status.
“I suppose so,” I said. “I’m willing to give it a fair shot.”
“That’s all we can ask,” Ember said. “Once you’ve settled in, you’ll enjoy it.” She gave me a long look, and I felt her piercing through the glamour I always kept up. “Come,” she said, standing. She put her arm around my shoulder and led me down the hallway. It was intimidating—all of the gods presented themselves as over six feet tall, and the power rolling off them was heady and intoxicating.
We were halfway down the hall when she said, “Someday, you’ll be able to tear down that wall you protect yourself with. Right now, you need that protection, but don’t let it cloud your vision.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer, so instead I asked, “When should I pledge to you?”
“I’ll let you know when you’re ready.” She lightly placed her fingers on the necklace around my neck. “For now, know that you can trust Yutani and Talia, Wendy and Wager. They’ll have your back.”
Even though I was leery about everything that had happened, I knew in my heart that Ember wasn’t lying, and that I could trust her. “Thank you, Lady,” I whispered, feeling in over my head. But you never let them see you dog-paddling. In the game of sink or swim, there was only one viable option.
“I’ll talk to you later,” she said, leading me back to the table. “We should get going. We’ll take Melinda with us.”
“By the way, the office is almost finished and the building will be ready to move into in two weeks or so. So you won’t have to work out of here much longer,” Herne added.
As the four of them walked toward the front door, I stood beside Yutani, watching them go. Instead of opening the door, though, they began to blur into a fog, and then vanished through a ripple of energy that formed on the wall.
“How do they do that?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Yutani said. “But you can damned well be sure that they aren’t going to tell us.” With a laugh, he shook his head and proceeded to show me how the laptop, tablet, and phone he had assigned me functioned.
I spent the afternoon learning how to fill out paperwork for the cases we took on. It was boring, but I reminded myself that sometimes boring was far better than its opposite. By the time I had learned which form to fill out for what circumstance, it was almost four o’clock. We were due to meet Vixen at around eight p.m.
“I’ve never had much experience with the Ante-Fae,” I said.
“You’re in for a treat then,” Talia said, only half joking. “They’re not as powerful as the gods, not usually, but they are crafty and a good share of them go far back before civilization reared its head on this world. I have no clue how old Vixen is, although since they are an Exosan, they’re probably fairly young. When Raven and Kipa come to visit, you’ll get firsthand knowledge. Raven’s wonderful, but she can be unpredictable at times.”
I walked over to the living room window, and stared out at the house across the end of the cul-de-sac. “So you said that members of LOCK live over there?” I asked.
The house had an interesting feel to it, even from here. I was far more psychic than most of my family, and sometimes I could feel things happening and right now, I sensed something—a hyperactive energy—coming from across the street.
Talia joined me, holding her cup of coffee as she stared out the window. “Yes, actually. Their names are Trefoil and Meadow O’Ceallaigh. They’re twins, brother and sister, and they work for the paramilitary branch of LOCK. We’ve never really had much to do with them, other than meeting them at parties. I’m curious about the whole operation. I’d like to know just how deep they dive, and what they actually do.”
I nodded. Then I decided to approach a subject that had been touched on earlier. “So, you were a harpy? Do you like being human now?” I wasn’t subtle, but I hoped she’d feel free to tell me to bugger off if she didn’t want to answer.
She nodded. “Actually, I am a harpy, I’m just under a glamour. As I told you, I lost my powers to a liche. Herne was my salvation, actually. My mother turned me out after my wings more or less healed—they had been broken—but I couldn’t hunt anymore. And since I couldn’t hunt, I couldn’t feed. Essentially, my mother sentenced me to a death warrant. Death by slow starvation.”
Even though my own mother had thrown me out, at least she hadn’t cast me out to starve. I hung my head, feeling an unexpected kinship with Talia. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth ever being a parent. What if you ended up like that? I would never want to cast a child out into the wilds. It’s cruel.”
Talia took a sip of her drink. “The world is a cruel place. The sooner you learn that, the better.”
I stared at the ground. “I know.”
She paused, then added, “I’m sorry. I don’t claim to understand how bad it was. The Kelpies are a cruel and vindictive race.”
“My race can be vindictive too. We drain energy off of others. We’re predators. Harpies are predators too,” I added, glancing over at her. “Do you ever miss the hunt?”
She thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. “I suppose working here provides an outlet for that energy. I miss flying free. But that was so long ago and I’m not the same person I was. Living among humans and the Fae, among shifters and all sorts of other creatures, has changed me. I see the world through different eyes. And quite frankly, I’d rather have a plate of spaghetti and meatballs over a freshly killed carcass any day. Beef cooked in tomato sauce tastes so much better than a hunk of raw flesh,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
My stomach churned and I laughed. “I see what you mean. Feeding on energy is very different than feeding on flesh. My kind can also drink blood if we choose, but I never have. I don’t have any inclination toward it.”
“That’s good to know,” Talia said as she looped her arm through my elbow. “Come on now, let’s get back to work. Let me fill you in a little on Vixen and their club.”
Feeling like I had just made a friend, I followed her back to her desk. Maybe this gig wouldn’t be so bad after all.
CHAPTER TEN
That evening, I asked Yutani what I should wear to the club.
“What kind of vibe is it? I don’t want to stand out.”
“Oh, you do want to stand out,” he said. “If the murderer is there, you want to catch their attention, given you’re Light Fae. The Burlesque A Go-Go isn’t exactly a fetish bar, but it’s not far off. While the club is an Ante-Fae bar, not all of the clientele are Ante-Fae. But they all like to walk on the fringe.” He motioned me to follow him over to where he kept his laptop. He quickly opened it, pulling up several pictures. “These are the Vulture Sisters. They dance there. And here’s a picture of Apollo—Vixen’s boy toy.”
The man was stunning. He had platinum blond hair down to his ass. He was tanned and muscled, but not so muscled that he looked threatening.
“Yummy,” I said, staring at the picture.
“Just make sure you leave it at that,” Yutani warned me. “Vixen doesn’t share their toys, especially Apollo. I actually think Vixen loves Apollo, but I don’t think you could ever get them to admit it. Apollo is studying to become the business manager for the club. He and Raven are good friends.”
“Isn’t Vixen jealous of Raven?”
Yutani shrugged. “Raven is engaged to a god—Kipa, Lord of the Wolves. I don’t think Vixen has anything to be jealous of.”
I detected a slight tang of bitterness behind his words. “What’s up? I hear something in your voice.”
Startled, he focused on me. “What do you mean?”
“The Leannan Sidhe are a race of muses. Didn’t you know that? I can hear inflections in voices.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “I can also sing with the best of them, I inspire dreams and arts and music and words. Or I can if I choose to. We don’t just go around draining off energy, usually. We give something in return.” My hands on my hips, I stared at him.
He held up his hands, grinning. “I’m sorry, give me a break. Ember never really talked much about that side of herself. I’ve seen it in action a couple times, and it was scary.”
I snorted. “We can be. And I like it. If I learned one thing in the two years I spent in captivity, it’s better to be the one doing the intimidating than to be the intimidated.”
“So, have you ever inspired any famous artists?” He really seemed curious.
I sat down on the arm of the sofa, twirling a strand of hair in my fingers. There had been so many over the years as I grown up. “Actually, yes. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Ian Grains. He lived about a hundred years ago, and was a famous painter for a short time. His work is still famous, but he didn’t live to enjoy much of his notoriety.”
“And you were his inspiration?” Yutani leaned against the wall, staring at me.
“When I met Ian, he wasn’t doing too well. He was one of those starving artists, living in a garret. And he truly was starving to death. I made a deal with him. I would give him inspiration that would catapult him into notoriety—into the world in which he desperately wanted to live. He would pay me in chi. He agreed.
“I didn’t take much energy from him at first; he was too delicate for that. But I gave him incredible dreams. And he began to paint, and his paintings began to be noticed. Within three years he was at the top of his game in the art world. He had money, and fame, and a legacy. He painted like a madman, night and day for weeks at a time. Then he would spend two or three weeks getting drunk as a skunk, sleeping with all the best whores. And I fed off his energy. When he was in a painting frenzy, his chi was intoxicating. I drank deep, and he was so on fire with the muse that he would never notice the loss.”
“What happened?” Yutani leaned forward, his gaze fastened on me.
I let out a long sigh. “A tragedy. We could have gone for years like that. I would have stayed with him and he would have been the most famous painter in the world. Except that, on one of his drunken benders, he got in a fight over a little bitch. She instigated it. She told him that she was for sale, but really, she had a drunken brute of a husband. The brute came home while Ian was fucking her. The little cunt’s husband shivved him right through the ribs, into the heart. Ian died on the spot.”
“Did the man ever get arrested?”
I gave Yutani a wry smile. “He didn’t get the chance. I knew something was wrong, so I went in search of Ian. I found him in the gutter, outside their house. I broke in because I could smell Ian’s presence and his fear.”
“Was the couple there? Had the brute killed her too?”
“No. This was a little scam they pulled on a regular basis. They were counting the money that they had stolen from Ian when I found them.”
“What did you do?”
“Oh, I drained them both dry. I caught the man in a glamour and forced him to watch as I sucked the life out of his wife. And then I drained him dry. I took Ian’s money, and left the bloody knife right where it could be found. The police put it together, although they weren’t sure exactly how the man and his wife died. I believe they chalked it up to an alcohol overdose.
“I mourned Ian for a long time. He was a goodhearted person. He gave a lot to the poor. He had left a stipulation in his will that everything he had earned should go to helping out at the orphanages. I like to think I had something to do with that as well.”
As I finished my story, I let out another sigh and turned toward my bedroom. “I’ll get dressed. I’m sure I can find something scintillating to wear.”
As I headed into my room, I heard Yutani murmur, “I’m sure you will.”
The Burlesque A Go-Go was an underground club in a suburb near TirNaNog. As we waited by the door, the bouncer—a tall baldheaded man with dark skin, wearing a zoot suit—spoke into his cell phone. A moment later he motioned toward the door and unhooked the velvet rope that kept people from entering at will.
“Vixen will see you. They’re at their usual table, if you know where that is.” The man’s voice was so deep it sent shivers through my back and I wanted to jump him right there. I must be starting to recover, I thought. Sex was becoming attractive once more. But then again, sex—as well as drinking chi—was part of my nature.
Yutani nodded. “We know where their table is. Thank you.” He led us through the door. “Us” being Talia, Wager, Wendy, and me.
Once inside, I saw that the club was fairly large, with a large dance floor, and a long polished bar that ran the length of one side of the club. In the center of the dance floor was a raised stage, with an array of spotlights above it. But the mood lighting was dim at this point, and we were bathed in shades of purple, gold, and red. It gave an interesting ambiance to the room, and made me wonder what went on here after hours.
Yutani led us over to a corner table, where a tall, thin gentleman was sitting, wearing an expensive suit.
“Even though Vixen is in their male persona, they still prefer the pronouns they and them.” Yutani spoke softly, but I heard him loud and clear.
As we approached the table, Vixen stood, a wide smile spreading across their face. I noticed how sensuous their lips were, and how bright and glittering their eyes sparkled.
“Vixen, you know most of the crew, but this is Lyrical. She’s recently joined the Wild Hunt Agency and is working with us now. She comes from Ireland.”
Vixen held my gaze for a long time, and I wasn’t sure whether they were flirting with me or observing me. It was a hard call, given how seductive their eyes were. “Welcome to Redmond, Lyrical. I hope you enjoy working here. You’re lovely. Leannan Sidhe, are you not?”
I melted at the sound of their voice. “Why, yes I am.”
I was the one who usually amped up the sexual tension. I wasn’t used to being held in thrall. As Vixen motioned for us to sit, I quickly took a chair as far away from them as I could. Vixen might be seductive, but I didn’t like being at the mercy of anyone else.
“So, someone is hunting Light Fae. You know this has been happening around the area, as well—not just your club?” Yutani asked.
Vixen looked surprised. “Well then, that is a problem. But given it’s happened three times at my club, we can assume that the murderer has either been in or around here.”
“Would anybody have reason to target your establishment?” Talia asked.
The sexual tension vanished as Vixen became focused on the discussion. I took a deep breath and relaxed.
“I wasn’t sure whether to tell the cops this or not—you know how things are going lately.” Vixen stared at Yutani, and I realized that it was a warning not to question their choice.
Yutani leaned back in his chair, nodding. “I understand. Go on.”
“There have been rumblings between the Fae Queens again. We had a big fight break out about two weeks ago, between several of Névé’s Fae and several from TirNaNog. I had to chuck the whole lot of them out. Scuttlebutt has it that Saílle thinks Névé may be working with the Dragonni against TirNaNog. It’s ridiculous, but you know how…testy…both groups can get.” The look on their face told me exactly what Vixen thought of the Fae—both sides.
“Good gods. Save me from paranoia. Anything else?” Yutani asked.
“In all three cases, the client was killed within a few miles of here. They were regulars, and I knew they had been here that night. In fact, Apollo found one of the victims when he was on his way home. I was staying late. Of course, we called the police but they had no clue what killed any of them.” Vixen looked rather horrified.
Before I could stop myself, I spoke up. “Have the cops checked out everybody who works for you?”
Vixen let out a slow hiss, their eyes narrowing.
Yutani scrambled to intervene. “I can see where Lyrical is going with this, so back off, Vixen. We can’t assume or overlook anything.” At the same time, Yutani flashed me a warning look.
I frowned, irritated. I hated having to grovel to someone I didn’t even know.
“That would seem a logical step. Granted, I doubt it’s anybody in your employ, but have you hired anybody new lately? Has anyone changed their routine lately?” Talia said. “Can you think of anything that might give us any sort of clue?”
Vixen relented, deflating as suddenly as they had puffed up. “Actually, there is. Here’s the thing: I believe that the cops are thinking the same as you. That one of my employees might be the killer. The cops tend to be Light Fae, and you and I both know that the Fae and Ante-Fae don’t always get along. The Fae don’t like being reminded that they sprang from a race more powerful than their own.”
“That’s true enough,” I muttered. “My family definitely didn’t have anything to do with the Ante-Fae. Though they hated the Dark Fae even more.”
