“This,” Ivana continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “is my special friend. You do not touch it or you wil burn yourself, yes? Because of the fangs and the death? Vampires burn when they touch silver because they are of the undead.”
“Yes, we do.” I was getting tired of discussing the reason I couldn’t touch silver and wanted to change the subject, but she was leading this gig and once again: Elder Fae. Anger at your own risk.
“This, my bloodthirsty friend—and what makes you so self-righteous about my eating bright meat when you drink blood?—as I was saying, this wil help me rout your unwelcome friends.
These spirits are thick and greedy, angry and hateful. They belong in the bogs, not in the city. They are a strong lot and I can put them to use.”
Put them to use?
“What do you mean? You keep them? What the hel do you do with angry ghosts?” I stared at her, both appal ed and oddly impressed. The Maiden of Karask was a piece of work, al right. But then, the Elder Fae never worried about what others thought of them. They didn’t need to.
“I harvest them, yes, and fil my swamp. They sing to me at night, of their pain and anger over being trapped by one such as me, and I feed on their angst. While it’s not bright meat, it’s a sweet dessert.” She grinned at me and her mouth reminded me of a shark’s, with needle teeth and an almost cartoonish grin—a vacant smile, hungry and searching. I could al too easily see her gnawing on someone’s hand, or foot.
I tried not to think about the spirits, already miserable and hateful, trapped in one of the Elder Fae’s gardens, used as a feeding source. It occurred to me that I was basical y handing them over for enslavement, but then again, it would get them out of the city and I real y didn’t want Camil e coming out here, trying to dispel them. And she would . . . with or without Morio.
Ivana gave me a long look. I just nodded. She seemed to like that, and as she turned toward the end of the diner, she started to grow tal er. The ratty hair took on a life of its own and came alive, like serpents, hissing. Her teeth lengthened, now glistening sharp bone blades, and the nubbin of nose vanished. I gazed up at her eyes. The pupils had vanished, and now an abyss of ocean waves crashed against the shore. She rol ed her head back and the asps making up her dreadlocks rose up, hissing. Raising her staff, she let out a low growl.
What the fuck? Though I’d heard that the Elder Fae seldom showed their true forms, I wasn’t sure just how different they could be. This was on par with Morio’s demonic form compared to his human one. Scary. Big, and scary.
“Graech wallin ve tarkel. Greach wallin ve merrek. Greach wallin ve sniachlotchke!” Her voice thundered through the room and the staff sparked.
A thousand screams answered in unison, their fury caught in a high-pitched resistance. The rising shriek began to hurt my ears and I began to back toward the door, but before I could, a loud flash of light ripped from the staff and shredded the air as an inky portal opened up, through which I could see vague, vaporous forms entering the room.
They swirled, laughing, dancing, delighting in the pain that emanated from the wal s of the building. A wave of anger and betrayal filtered out in concentric rings, energy taking form in a widening gyre, undulating through the room. I was normal y headblind, but I could see everything going on.
“Graech wallin ve tarkel. Greach wallin ve merrek. Greach wallin ve sniachlotchke!” Ivana’s words echoed, ricocheting from wal to wal , and the spirits who had come through the portal ran crazed, in a dance that spiraled around both of us. I couldn’t see their faces, but that they had once been human—or perhaps Fae—was clear.
A rumble from the wal s of the building interrupted their play, and they gathered together, focusing on the hal way leading to the basement of the diner. I stiffened as Ivana let out a cackle of delight.
“Come to the Maiden, my pretty ones, my lovely sweet treats.” She reached out with one hand, and her jointed fingers curled in toward her wrist, almost touching it. A smal flame burst into life in the center of her palm, sickly green with sparkles of purple racing through it. The flame grew, then detached itself and soared into the middle of the swarm of spirits.
“Crap, what the fuck kind of freak show are you running?” I didn’t mean to speak aloud, but the words came slipping out.
Ivana snorted, but she did not look back. “What do you care as long as I meet the bargain, dead girl?”
“I guess I don’t,” I said, but wasn’t sure if I real y meant it. I’d expected some spel like Morio and Camil e might cast, not a ful floor show starring Spooks “R” Us.
“Then enjoy the show and be grateful I’m not picking my teeth with your bones, lovely one. You may be dead meat on the hoof, but when hungry, any source wil do.” Ivana grinned at me, and I decided it was better when she wasn’t looking my way.
“Not a problem. I’m enjoying,” I muttered, doing my best to plaster a smile on my face.
The portal ghosts—the ones she’d invited in—were converging at the back of the diner, and I began to notice a sparkling form in their midst. Not good sparkles—there are some shimmers that you just know don’t have your best interests at heart, and this was one of them. It was one of the diner ghosts, and it was pissed.
Ivana’s ghosts spiraled in on it, and I realized they were doing what porpoises do—forming a bubble net around it like the dolphins do around a school of fish they want to eat. The diner ghost let out a loud wail that would have frozen my heart, and there was a flare of sparks as the two forces met. Ivana’s spirits tightened their spiral, forcing the ghost into their center until I couldn’t see what was happening, but a shriek shook the foundation of the building, echoing from wal to wal , and the ghosts broke apart, again darting in their crazed dance.
I looked for the diner ghost but couldn’t see it, and it was then that I noticed a new form among the woo-hoo, party-hearty crowd. The diner ghost was now one of them, and by the intense shimmer around it, I had a feeling it was pissed out of its mind but couldn’t do anything about it.
Ivana clapped her hands. “Nok sillen vog nor taggin!”
The spirits moved forward toward the basement stairs, and Ivana fol owed. I didn’t want to go back in the basement. I’d had my fil of angry ghosts, of dancing ghosts, of ghosts that absorbed other ghosts. I backed away and leaped on the counter.
“I’l keep watch up here while you go downstairs.”
“Stupid Vampyr, you don’t know fun when you see it.” Ivana spit out the words but then ignored me, pressing forward. I watched as she vanished through the doorway.
I might be a stupid vampire, but considering the stake through Morio’s side that had been meant for me, I’d rather be stupid and remain intact. And downstairs, where the worst of the from-hel crowd were hanging out, wasn’t a safe place for anybody. Except, apparently, the Maiden of Karask and her ghostly cavalcade.
I moved back toward the door, deciding it might be wise to wait outside while Ivana did her stuff, and stepped into the thickening snowstorm. Pul ing out my cel phone, I punched in Delilah’s number. She answered a moment later.“Hey, I just wanted to know how Morio’s doing. Have they come out of the operating room yet?” I glanced at the time on my cel phone. Ivana and I’d been hanging out together a good two hours now. Lucky me.
“Sharah said they’re just finishing up. He was in there so long, Menol y.” Delilah sounded like she was trying not to cry. “Camil e’s a wreck. Sharah put her in one of the rooms and made her lie down. Tril ian slipped her a light sedative and although she’s not sleeping, she’s calmer now.”
“Good. Damn it, I wish Smoky were around.” I frowned at the snow. This was so not the right time for his family to cal on him.
“By the way, where are you and what are you doing?” The sound of chewing told me Delilah was eating something.
“Cheetos or doughnuts? And where I am is none of your business right now.” I glanced at the time on my phone. It was almost time to check in with Roman. “I’m taking care of a little matter, so keep your britches on. I’l check in with you in a bit.”
Hanging up before she could stop me, I dialed Roman and, when his maid came on, asked to be put through to him.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tel me what Ivana is? I so did not expect to be meeting one of the Elder Fae.”
“If I’d told you what she is, you might have opted out. I happen to think your plan is a good one, so I made sure you’d go through with it. When you are finished with her, why don’t you come over for a visit?”
The low, sultry voice told me just what kind of visit he was thinking of, and though the thought was appealing, now was not the time. “I’m sorry, but no. Not tonight. My brother-in-law is in the hospital and we’re not sure he’s going to live. My sister wil need me after I’m done here.”
Roman paused, then said, “Understandable.”
“Wade’s agreed to withdraw.” I realized that in al the chaos I had forgotten to report back. “So you won’t hurt him, wil you?”
“If he abides by his word, he’s safe from harm. I’m surprised you managed it without putting the bite on him. He was hel -bent on the position.”
“Yeah . . . I appealed to his desire to preserve his life. So what about Terrance? What do we do about him?” The last thing I wanted to do was infiltrate the Fangtabula—actual y, strike that. The last thing I wanted to do was head downstairs and hang out with Ivana.
“We shal discuss his situation later. Meanwhile, keep your wits about you. Ivana never forgets a face, nor a bargain. Chances are she wil be sniffing at your heels for more meat in exchange for her services. But be cautious: You may be half-Fae, but the Elder Fae are a breed unto themselves. Make too many bargains with them and they wil own your soul.”
As I hung up, I thought that Roman conveniently left important information out of his conversations, and from now on, I’d ask for more details. I slid my phone back into my pocket and, glancing at the silent street, headed back toward the building.
As I reached the front door of the diner, the ground beneath my feet shook and threw me off balance. I went sprawling to the ground just as a loud howl echoed like a sonic boom over the diner, and then the building imploded in one massive cloud of dust and debris.
I sat there, dazed, covered with white powder, as a chunk of concrete the size of my fist came hurtling down to hit me on the head. The impact knocked me back but did nowhere the amount of damage it would have caused an FBH or one of my sisters. After a moment, I shook off the thunk and jumped up. I started to brush my jeans off, but decided it would be futile.
One glance at the diner told me that nobody would ever be jerking sodas there again. It occurred to me that Ivana might be hurt and I debated going in to find out, but then a figure marched up from the basement stairs. Ivana, in al her freak show glory, leaned on her staff, fol owed by a glistening swirl of spirits.
A sinking feeling in my gut told me that I’d been secretly hoping the implosion had taken her out with the building. Anybody who could unleash enough force to destroy a diner was somebody I wanted either ful y on my side or out of my life total y. I cursed Roman under my breath. If he’d told me who I was dealing with, I would have tried to find another way to deal with this mess.
Ivana marched over to me and gave me a creepy smile. She held up her staff. “I’ve gathered the spirits and they are here, with me. Second part of the bargain—we go now. I do not wish to be abroad when dawn arrives.”
“Neither do I,” I muttered. Frowning at her, I decided to see what she’d do if I suggested altering the deal. The thought of her wandering around in Underground Seattle seemed highly dangerous, as in let’s-bring-the-city-to-its-knees dangerous. “If you’re worried about the time, we can revise the bargain—”
“You are suggesting that I won’t honor the deal, Vampyr ? Offense, I cal offense and claim amends!”
Stomping one foot, the Maiden of Karask began to grow even tal er and it occurred to me that I’d fucked up. Big-time . But I didn’t dare apologize—just like a thank you, an I’m sorry indicated a situation of debt.
“I believe you wil honor the deal. I misspoke.” The lump in my stomach was growing. I had to placate her without promising her something that was going to hurt to hand over.
She squinted at me. “You have a quick tongue on you, dead girl.” Her lip quivered and I could see the desire in her eyes, the lust over what she might be able to cajole from me, but her eyes darted toward the bag ful of beef she carried. She licked her lips. “No offense taken. This time.
Second task: Now lead me.”
I grimaced, dreading the havoc she could wreak on the tunnel where our vampire serial kil er might be hiding, but I had no choice. It was either complete the bargain or dig myself in a lot deeper than I already had.
“I’l meet you a few blocks from here.” I gave her the next address and headed for my Jag. No way was I giving the Elder Fae a ride.
Ivana took one look at the second bag of beef and headed down the tunnel while I waited topside.
I’d given her instructions, but no way in hel was I fol owing her down there. I wasn’t about to get trapped belowground with one of the Elder Fae. So she, her silver staff, and her retinue of spirits vanished down the rabbit hole while I waited in my car, grateful she hadn’t ordered me to come with her.
The more I thought about it, the more I decided that having an Elder Fae in my Rolodex was a good thing, though not necessarily safe.
I shifted, wishing I’d brought a book with me, when a movement across the street caught my eye. Quick it was, so quick I knew it couldn’t be human. My serial kil er? Leaping out of my Jag, I glanced back at the manhole. It would take Ivana some time to work her way through there. Surely I had enough time.