Burning Bright (Ivy Granger) (29 page)

Of course, if the glaistig had left orders not to let me in,
they might just kill me on sight and screw my lifeless corpse.  Satyrs weren’t
known for their discerning tastes.

One of the men clomped toward me and I clenched my fists,
resisting the urge to palm my knives.  If I had a weapon in hand, I’d use it.  I
knew exactly what my first target would be, and although his leer made my
stomach twist, it wouldn’t be the satyr’s fur covered face.

He unhooked the chain that was strung across the entrance
and waved me through.

“Thank you, sugar,” I said.  His buddy came up beside him
and they both were definitely happy to see me.  I pushed out my bottom lip and
shook my head.  “Sorry boys, business before pleasure.  I have to see The Green
Lady, but I promise to make it quick.”

I winked and the satyrs nodded.  One led me down a sawdust
strewn path, which left only one guard at the gate.  So far, so good.

The carnival was quiet, with most of the fae turning in for
the night or kicking back with a drink or three.  The amusement rides were shut
down, the skeletons of the roller coaster and Ferris wheel dark voids against
the starry sky.  The grinning funhouse clown’s teeth and eyes seemed to glow in
the dim light and I shivered.  I never understood the appeal of clowns.  They
were right up there with vamps and spider fae for breeding nightmares.

We passed the funhouse and ducked beneath the flap of a
large tent.  Fae reclined on pillows in various stages of undress, long pipes
in their hands.  It was no secret what these faeries were up to.  The air was
thick with the sickly sweet smell of opium.  My nostrils flared and I flushed
hot as I took in the disheartening scene.

Apparently, the glaistig had found another way to keep her
workers compliant—as if swearing eternal servitude wasn’t enough.  I clenched
my jaw, teeth grinding so hard it was a miracle they didn’t break.  These fae
trusted The Green Lady to take care of them and instead she used them as free
labor in her carnival and then pimped out drugs to them in their off hours. 
She claimed to love her people, but she was as bad as Puck dealing Ice to the
patrons of Club Nexus.

I wanted to wring the faerie queen’s neck, but instead I
kept a smile pasted on my face and my blades up my sleeves.  I needed to gain
the glaistig’s trust and find her pet incubus.  I’d leave her fate in Kaye’s
capable hands.

I followed the satyr to a dark corner, all the while keeping
an eye out for threats.  He beckoned for me to pass behind a sheer curtain and
I resisted the urge to tuck tail and run.  If the satyr was taking me here to
drug and rape me, he had another thing coming—namely, a date with my friends
Sharp and Pointy.

I
ducked as the
satyr held the curtain back and I caught sight of a familiar face.  The
glaistig was still fully shrouded in an emerald green cloak, but semi-naked men
sprawled like puppies on the cushions she lounged on.  A girl covered in red
fur, wearing a gold bikini that would make Jabba the Hut proud, fanned The
Green Lady with an honest to goodness palm frond.

I was here to behave, but I couldn’t resist cocking an
eyebrow at the foliage as climate control.  Hell, with the satyr at my back,
this room didn’t need any more wood.

“Is that shrubbery?” I asked.  “And look at me empty handed,
no herring in sight.”

Sometimes there was just no controlling my mouth.

“I see that you are as insolent as ever,” the gaistig said.

“Well, I figure I deserve a little gloating…now that I’ve
fulfilled our bargain,” I said.

“Yes, I felt the witch’s death,” she said, smiling and licking
her lips.  She sipped wine from a golden goblet, not unlike the one which Kaye
had drunk the death potion that had at least temporarily killed her.  “But if
you are here for a reward, you are sadly mistaken.  You have fulfilled the
terms of our bargain, nothing more.”

I nodded, keeping my eyes averted.  Let her think I was
sheep, she’d feel my claws soon enough.

The satyr bent down and whispered something into the
glaistig’s ear.  Her eyes widened and a slow smile crept across her face.

“Yes, splendid idea,” she said.  “I will have use for you
tomorrow, so spend the night enjoying my hospitality.”  By hospitality, I’m
pretty sure she meant the groping hands of the satyr.  “Return to me at dawn.”

An invitation to stay was exactly what I wanted, but I
couldn’t afford to sound too eager.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t…” I stammered, my eyes on the pillow
strewn floor.

“I insist,” she said, eyes narrowing.

“Um, okay, if that’s what you want,” I said meekly.

The glaistig nodded.

“My satyr has taken a particular shine to you,” she said.  “Go
and make merry, but do not think of leaving.  I have something special planned
for that second bargain you owe me.”

I kept my eyes averted, hiding the fiery rage that simmered
within.  She thought she could send me off to fuck her satyr’s brains out and
then order me to implement another one of her foul orders.  The woman was a
faerie queen alright.  She was an evil, self serving, manipulative bitch.

A twisted part of me wanted to know what her second request
would be—Which one of my friends would she want me to kill this time?—but I
didn’t want to press my luck.  Best to look beaten and avoid further scrutiny.

I palmed one of my knives and followed the satyr out the
door.

I
let the satyr
lead me far from the glaistig’s tent before putting on the fake waterworks. 
Nothing like a red face and snot to ruin the mood, and keep an amorous satyr at
arm’s length, right?

“The Green Lady is sending me away in the morning,” I said,
lip trembling.  “I need to see my friend Delilah before I go.”

The satyr shook his head and reached for my jacket.  I
slapped his hand away with the flat blade of one of my knives.  My lip curled
and I bared my teeth—so much for snot and tears.

“No,” I said.  “I need to see Delilah.”

The satyr shoved me, hard, and my head hit the side of a
food truck.  My ears rang with the force of the blow, but I shook it off.  My
knees wobbled, heart racing at the thought of this guy touching me—and it
wasn’t just the threat of visions that made my gut twist.

He stepped forward, trying to press his body against mine
and I rammed a knee between his legs.  He let out a high pitched bleating cry,
but I didn’t stop there.  On the downward motion I kicked out to the side, using
my momentum to ram my boot into his knee.  As he buckled forward, I shoved his
shoulders, pushing him away from me and onto the ground.

I grabbed a metal box of napkins that was on the fold-out
counter of the food truck, and cracked him over the head.  The bleating
stopped.

“No means no, buddy,” I said.  “You should have listened
when I said it the first time.”

I left the satyr curled in a ball, hugging his family jewels
even in sleep.  He’d live, but he might think twice before forcing himself on
the next woman who told him no.

I brushed my gloved hands together, smoothed out my hair,
and slipped into the shadows.  One satyr down—one succubus and one incubus to
go.

I
found Delilah
just as the alarm rang out.  The smell of smoke mingled with the breeze off the
harbor and I knew that Kaye’s spell had worked.  I patted the demon vessel in
my pocket and grinned.  The fire imps had come.

I scanned the area for threats, but the only person in sight
was the succubus who was tugging down the skirt of her skimpy dress.  I may not
have caught the succubus in flagrante, but she looked sated.  Hopefully, her
recent feed would make her slow and not strong as hell.

I palmed a throwing knife in one hand and grabbed a holy
water grenade off my belt with the other.  I kept the weapons behind my back
and slipped out of the shadows, looking more like I was out for a stroll than
ready for a fight.

But looks can be deceiving.

“Hello, Delilah,” I said.  “Fancy meeting you here.”

Here was a dark patch of grass covered ground beside the
fortune teller’s tent.  But the area didn’t remain dark for long.  The rage at
what the succubus had done to Jinx rolled through me like wild fire, warming my
body, and setting my skin and eyes aflame.

Delilah hissed and jumped back into a crouch.  But when she
saw that it was just little old me, albeit a glowing me, she relaxed.

“Oh,” she said, pulling herself upright and straightening
her dress.  “It’sss you.  What are you doing here?”

I stepped forward, closing the distance between us.  In one
fluid motion, I held the balloon filled with holy water aloft and brought my
knife to her neck.  I swallowed hard, but kept my hand steady.  It was risky
being this close to the succubus, but I’d taken some precautions.

After leaving Kaye’s I’d made a pit stop back at the loft
where I suited up in two layers of silk long underwear.  The neck of the
turtleneck was pulled up high and my thumbs were securely through the holes in
the top’s sleeves.  With my gloves, jeans, tall boots, and leather jacket worn
over the long underwear, there was barely an inch of exposed skin.  I’d also
added a skullcap from my pocket, which I’d pulled down over my ears moments
before.  If I kept her from touching my face, I’d be safe from unwanted
visions.

“I know about your role in hurting Jinx,” I said.  “You
rufied my best friend.  I can’t just let that go.”

“I wasss jussst following ordersss,” she said, eyes wide.

I shook my head.

“Not good enough,” I said.  “Jinx is my vassal, which gives
me the right to take your head.”

Delilah licked her lips, face shifting from fear to
seduction.

“Perhapsss we can come to an underssstanding,” she said.

She heaved her more than ample bosom, rolled her tongue
along pouty lips, flashing a tiny fang.  I shuddered and Delilah smiled, but my
reaction wasn’t desire.  The succubus may be sex incarnate, but a) she wasn’t
my type, b) sex with a succubus is a death sentence, and c) she’d drugged my
friend and handed her off to a horny incubus.

Nope, I’d rather eat glass than touch Delilah with anything
other than my blades.

“Keep that up, Delilah, and I take your head,” I said.  “You
can’t seduce me and if you call for help, no one will come—your coworkers have
their hands full battling a horde of fire imps.  But if you help me find the
incubus who’s feeding on Jinx, I’ll let you live.  We’ll call it even.”

She pretended to think about my offer, but it was all show. 
It was within my rights to take her life, but instead I was giving her a chance
at redemption.  It was a deal and she knew it.

“I will take you to Adam, on one conditsssion,” she said.

“And what would that be?” I asked, eyes narrowing.

“You take me with you when you leave,” she said.

Take the succubus with me?  Now that was unexpected.

“Why would you want to go with me?” I asked.

“Onccce The Green Lady knowsss I’ve helped you, I am as good
asss dead,” she said.

I thought about it.  If I’d become the glaistig’s lapdog,
would I be looking for a way out?  I didn’t have to dig too deep to know my
answer.

“Come on, show me where I can find this Adam, and I promise
to take you with me,” I said.  “But I can’t promise your safety.”

“Deal,” she said.  I backed away, feeling the bargain settle
between us.  “Thisss way.  Adam isss working.”

What did an incubus do for work?  I was tempted to ask
Delilah, but shook off the idea.  Some things were best left unknown.

D
elilah was as
good as her word.  She showed me the way to Adam’s place of employment.  I
frowned, cursing myself for not asking what the incubus did for work.

“That’s the glaistig’s tent,” I said.

“Yesss,” she said with a nod.

We were ducked behind a sign for the strongman.  Delilah
crouched behind an oversized cartoon thigh, eyes flicking up and down the
path.  Harried carnival fae ran in every direction carrying buckets of water,
weapons, or both.

“So, is Adam the glaistig’s…concubine?” I asked.

“Concubinusss,” she said.  I raised an eyebrow.  “Concubine
is female, Adam is male.”

Ah, okay.  Now that we had the terminology straight, I tried
to wrap my brain around what was going on inside the forest green tent.  Bile
rose in my throat at the idea of The Green Lady using her subjects for sex,
even if the man was an incubus.

I spit to the side and surveyed our options.  The fire imps
were keeping the carnival fae busy.  In the chaos, it would be easy to slip
inside The Green Lady’s tent.  I just didn’t want to think too hard about what
I’d face when I got there.

“Okay, you stay here,” I said.  “I’ll try to gain access to
Adam.  If I’m lucky, the two are done knocking boots and I’ll catch him on a
smoke break while the glaistig sleeps.”

Delilah gave me a dubious stare, but nodded.

I palmed my knives, not worrying about brandishing weapons
out in the open since most of the carnival fae were currently armed, and ran
toward the tent.  I slipped around to one side and carefully pulled back the
fabric flap.

I gasped.  I’d expected to see the glaistig sweaty and naked
with her concubinus.  Or if my luck held, they’d be fast asleep.  What I didn’t
anticipate was The Green Lady in a faceoff with a pack of fire imps.

“Mind if I join the party?” I asked, drawing the glaistig’s wide-eyed
gaze.

“Come, half-breed, douse these flames,” she ordered,
pointing to her bed.