I sat very still, trying not to anger him again. He looked about two steps away from backhanding me across the room. But he let me go then, and flipped open a cell phone.
"She's ready to go home. Wait for her out front. Don't come in."
I stared at him as he snapped the phone shut. "Leo will be waiting for you in the limo. I advise you don't tarry long. The night is dangerous, and there are monsters abroad far more fearsome than I."
Shaking, I stood and polished off the cookies and swigged down the milk, then gathered my purse and headed out the door without another word. As I slowly descended the stairs of Vecktor Hall, I heard a rustling in the bushes nearby and something whispered my name on the wind.
Cicely . . . Cicely, I need to talk to you.
It wasn't Ulean--she'd chosen to stay home since vampires didn't care for Elementals much.
Who are you? What do you want?
You must come speak to me. I'm staying by Dovetail Lake. Please, come tonight. The voice was female but I felt no hostility, no deceit, in it.
I don't know--it's been a rough night . . .
Please, stop on the way home. I must speak to you about Grieve.
Grieve? What about Grieve?
But the voice drifted away, with simply a Meet me by the boat moorings. I'll be waiting for you.
I headed for the limo, pulling out my cell phone. Rhiannon answered. "Don't ask me how things went, please. Not now. I need you to do something for me. I want you to go stand in my room and say out loud, 'Ulean, Cicely needs you to meet her at Dovetail Lake right away.' Will you do that?"
"Of course, but what's going on?"
"I don't know, but somebody wants to meet me there and I swear, I've heard the voice before--it came in on the slipstream, and it seems like . . . something I heard when I was very young."
"Should I come, too?"
"No," I said, thinking it over. "You and Kaylin stay and keep a watch on the house. I won't be long, and Leo will be with me." As I hung up and crawled in the limo, it occurred to me that life had gotten terribly complicated, terribly fast. My old life had seemed a nightmare, but I wasn't sure this new one was any better. Except that I have Grieve and my cousin, my mind peeped up.
I smiled. True, I whispered back to myself. I have Grieve and my cousin, and both are worth fighting for.
Leo didn't have anything to do after driving me home, so after an argument about it, he acceded to my demand to stop at the lake. I slipped out of the limo, warning him to stay inside. "You have to be able to get away in case it's a trap. If worse comes to worst, I can try to turn into an owl again and escape."
"I don't like it," he argued, but in the end, I won and he stayed. I played the I just got bitten by a vampire so do what I want card on him.
Dovetail Lake was a small lake or a large pond, depending on how you looked at it, an ellipse of dark water hidden away down a lonely road. Surrounded by a thicket of alder and fir, of cedar and weeping willow, the lake was a local hangout for weekend warriors looking for a quiet fishing spot. It wasn't suitable for swimming--the lake was deeper than it was wide, and gave way suddenly once you got past the edge. The last time I'd been back home, two local boys had drowned trying to snorkel in it.
I quietly edged down to the boat mooring and waited by a stand of frozen rushes and cattails that were ragged and weather-beaten. The water was restless and dark, frothing around the pilings as the wind ruffled its surface. I leaned against one of the railings--cautiously, they didn't look all that sturdy--and thought I heard something in the bushes around the side of the lake.
As I turned, a shape appeared from behind one of the scrub alders crowding next to the shore. She was shining, gloriously beautiful and wreathed in silver fire. I caught my breath and slowly stepped off the dock, back onto the icy ground, and made my way over to her.
"Lainule." I stared at the Fae Queen who stood before me, cloaked in the ragged robes of summer. The look on her face sang of sadness and loss, of pain and the weariness war can bring. A stirring inside rang a bell of recognition, and I knelt before her, realizing that if I was Cambyra Fae, then I was of her people, too. I looked up at her gentle touch on my head.
"Stand, Cicely. I'm grateful to see you. I'm glad you got my summons to bring you home." Her voice danced over the words, lightly, playing a musical scale with each syllable. She was as beautiful as Myst, as terrifying as Myst, and yet Lainule didn't strike my heart with the same sense of dread.
"Lady. You were the one who called me back?"
"I . . . yes, and my guardians. The owl summoned you home, Grieve summoned you home, and I . . . I summoned you home. We need you, Cicely."
"But what can I do?" I looked at her, helpless. "I can't fight Myst--she'll tear me to pieces."
"No, you cannot fight her directly, but there are ways to hurt her, to knuckle her down. She's defiled the Courts, defiled the Seelie, the Unseelie. She's destroyed the Court of Rushes and Rivers and she is an abomination against the very code that makes up the essence of our people. Your people, too, as you now know. It's time to bring her into the open, to wage war, to stop her."
Lainule stroked my chin, smiling, and her smile was feral and fearsome but it called me close to her. I stepped into her embrace and she murmured soft words in my ear, stroking my hair, kissing me gently on the forehead.
"I didn't want to let you leave when you were so young, but it was necessary. You needed to become your own person, away from New Forest, away from our people, before you could return to join us. You needed to embrace both sides of your heritage, and learn how to stand strong on your own feet. Your mother was sacrificed, so we might have you."
I looked up at her then--she was tall, oh so very tall and radiant--and her smile blinded me. "My mother . . ."
"Your mother was chosen to be your mother by me and by your father."
"What about Rhiannon? Is she like me?"
"That is for her to find out, but her path lies along a slightly different road. The fire is thick within her."
"Can I meet my father--" I'd always wondered who he was, always wondered why he'd left my mother after getting her pregnant with me.
"In time." She gently pushed me back, looking me over. "Pretty, girl. You have grown up lovely."
"What can I do? How can I help fight Myst? How can I free Peyton before they kill her?" I searched her face, praying she would care enough to help me.
"Peyton? What will happen, will happen. Peyton's fate is not in my hands, but in yours. For now, go home and wait. Grieve will come to you and you are not to speak of this meeting. But you two belong together. He's not the enemy--not in the long scheme of things." Lainule turned to go, then stopped and looked over her shoulder.
"Welcome home, Cicely--both to New Forest, and to your newfound family. You may work for the vampires, but you are mine at the heart of all things, at least this time around. And you will obey me over any other, or I will most assuredly sacrifice you in this game of chess that Myst and I are playing."
And then, she vanished into the brush and I watched her light disappear as she blurred and was gone from sight.
"I don't know what to think. First, we have the war between the vampires and the Vampiric Fae, and now, another battle--this one between Lainule and Myst. And I'm caught in the center of the vortex. The Indigo Court is my enemy twice over and I don't even know what we're fighting about other than to keep them from destroying everything they touch."
Leo, Rhiannon, and Kaylin sat in the living room with me. I looked up, confused and in pain. Lannan's bite ached on my neck, and my forehead felt hot. I was embarrassed about my reaction to him but my body kept prodding me, reminding me that while I'd orgasmed several times, my body still longed for actual touch and connection with someone to whom I could give my whole self--body and mind.
"At least we know the Queen of Rivers and Rushes is alive. And if she's on our side--so much the better." Rhiannon glanced at the clock. "Anadey wants me over there at dawn again--she's got me on a training schedule so that I meet with her before work every day for the next few weeks. While that won't be enough time for me to learn how to use the fire properly, she said by the end of this week I should be able to control it without a problem--to pull it back and prevent the accidental breakthroughs."
"If only your mother had trained you during your childhood. This wouldn't have happened." Leo frowned. "Heather seems so levelheaded . . . seemed . . ." His voice drifted off and he blushed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't bring her up right now."
Rhiannon shrugged, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I have to accept what's happened. And Marta would have kicked Heather out of the Society. By the way, I heard through the grapevine today that all remaining members of the Society besides Tyne, Marta's grandson, have skipped town. Vanished." Rhiannon shrugged. "They're smart. I'm half tempted to do so myself, now that Heather's lost to me."
"We can't. We can't let the town fall to Myst--she'll just spread her horrors to the next town, and the next. And besides, we have to rescue Peyton."
Kaylin patted me on the shoulder. "We'll think of something. I created a few offensive charms today, and I've also rigged more than one Molotov cocktail. If we have to, we'll burn our way in and take her by force. We can do a lot of damage with fire to the Indigo Court."
Suddenly feeling wiped, I slumped back in my chair. "Sounds good to me. We should just burn the whole damned forest down. Make sure my owl pal is out of there and light the match. Okay, I'm going to bed. Rhia, I'll call you at work tomorrow to see what's going down. Leo--don't you tell the vampires about my little to the docks tonight."
He shrugged. "As long as they don't ask . . ."
"No--do you understand? You just keep quiet about it altogether. I have no desire to see them start up another feud. Not on my account."
I pushed myself out of bed and headed for the stairs, turning to shake my head. "And life just goes on as normal. People are shopping, going to work, as if nothing is happening--but we've got dead and missing everywhere. You'd think somebody would say something."
Kaylin stood and stretched. "Oh, the townsfolk know something's up, but they don't want to be next. Old superstition: Talk about something, you bring it too close. And not always a superstition. Good night, Cicely. Sleep well."
I trudged up the stairs. As I entered my room and stripped off my clothes, a sound at my window startled me and I turned. Grieve was waiting outside. I pushed up the sash and nodded him in, too weary to do anything else.
"How can you get past the wards when your charming family can't?" I stared at him for a long moment. "And when the fuck were you going to tell me what they'd done to Heather?"
Grieve hung his head. "It only happened yesterday. I had no idea they'd send her to you before I could get here to warn you."
"Fuck you, too." I turned to him. "And you--what's your part in this? To convince me to leave well enough alone? To turn me and make me one of Myst's slaves like Heather? Apparently your adoptive kin seems to think a war's brewing. According to them, I'm not supposed to interfere."
Grieve started to move closer; he suddenly froze. "Who have you been with? You've been . . . Were you fucking somebody? Somebody . . . dead?" He was suddenly beside me, holding me by the shoulders. "Have you been with a vampire?"
I tore away from him, too angry to be afraid. "No--I didn't let a vampire fuck me, but I let one drink from me. It's in my contract. Your spies seem to know everything about me, so you might as well, too."
"What do you mean?" He looked stricken and let go of me. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shaken you like that."
"You damned well better apologize. Here's the deal: I've been forced into working for the Crimson Court. Because I know you. As a side bonus, they were going to help us get Heather back, which is more than I can say you offered. To gain their assistance, I had to agree to a monthly blood donation. But now, my sacrifice is useless--at least as far as Heather's concerned."
"Cicely . . ." He lifted his head, wincing. "I'm so sorry . . ."
I waved away his words, no longer caring if I hurt his feelings. He could have stopped them, somehow saved Heather if he'd really wanted to. I truly believed it, despite what Lainule had said.
"Sorry doesn't mend fences or bring people back from the living dead. No, your people have turned her, and there's no chance to save her. She's gone to us--her life and everything she stood for wiped out in the blink of an eye. We've lost her and the best we can hope for is a bloody staking and putting her soul to rest. But maybe I'll luck out. Maybe my contract isn't all in vain. Peyton is still out there and we're going to rescue her, come hell or high water."
"So, you really are working for the Crimson Court?"
As he stared at me incredulously, I snorted. "Did you not hear what I said? And so what? You are aligned with the Indigo Court. Thrust and parry, my love. Thrust and parry. We're both pledged into the arms of hell, now."
He gave me a sideways glance. "Who was it? Who drank from you?"
I realized that--Fae or not--he was playing the testosterone card. I'd had enough of tiptoeing around.
"Fine. You want to know? I'll tell you. Lannan Altos, a professor at the conservatory. And yeah, he drank my blood, he made me beg him, and he made me come so hard I about lost consciousness when his fangs hit my neck. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and even though I tried to block him out, I came over and over again."