Exodus (Imp Series Book 8) (25 page)

I heard Nyalla’s sharp intake of breath.

“Was. Now she’s mine. I bought her, and I have the paperwork to prove it. Any of you tries to steal her or make her do your laundry and the vampires will be the least of your worries, got it?”

Lysile nodded, wide eyed. “I would never… I don’t think you understand who we are. We’re not high elves. We’re the laborers, the basket weavers, the gardeners, the wheelwrights. None of us have the funds or clout to have ever owned a changeling slave. We were usually the ones working beside them. And if it helps any, I always thought Aelswith was a complete durft.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the elven slur.

“So all of you are the elven equivalent of Lows?”

She winced. “Yes. Most of us have little to no magical skills. We have rudimentary healing abilities, maybe one or two defensive spells, and an affinity for our trade. That’s it.”

I was confused. “Then why Nirvana for you? I thought that maybe the High Lords were sending out the disposable members of their society first to test the waters, but I’m beginning to believe that elves have been coming here for quite a while.”

Lysile nodded. “For almost two years there have been scouts coming here. Even I knew that. The High Lords would never had put such an enormous migration plan into motion if they didn’t know exactly where and how to best settle our people.”

It made no sense. “But why choose the places they did? Iceland—yes I can see the people there kind of like their elves—but France? The group there was imprisoned. And you lost four of your party before the angel and I found you injured and frightened in that forest.”

“We were supposed to have a greeting party. When no elf came, we figured maybe the humans were aware of our pending arrival, so we approached the nearest one. It didn’t go well, as you saw.”

None of them had an elven greeting party. All the three groups did was cause some chaos among the humans and run me halfway across the globe.

Which was exactly what was supposed to happen. I was such an idiot. How could I have not seen it? They sent their most disposable elves over in situations where they were bound to cause trouble and come to my attention. All of that would keep me from seeing…whatever it was that I wasn’t supposed to see. And it worked. I’d wasted time rounding up elves, sending them back to Hel, breaking them out of jail, arguing with human officials and farmers and vampires, setting up tents and shopping for groceries. And while I was doing all that, Gregory was equally busy, leaving Aaru to set up this Elf Island and help me.

If only I knew what we weren’t supposed to see.

“In addition to your group, I encountered some elves in a place called Iceland and another group in France. Are there more?”

She nodded. “At least eight other groups before us, and probably another six afterward. They already have settlements organized. I don’t know the human names for what they are, but they’re supposed to have homes and land for us. Of course, we won’t be given slaves, but other elves have been promised double what they lost when they needed to free their changelings in Hel. By this point almost half the elves have already migrated.”

Fucking assholes. And stupid me. How the fuck had I not known this? How had Gregory and all his angels not known this? How had it not been all over CNN and MSNBC and BBC that one hundred and fifty thousand elves had suddenly appeared through magical gateways? This was the best kept secret ever, but that didn’t make me feel any the less of a chump.

“I guess we’re supposed to be dead.” Lysile’s voice cracked slightly. “There was no one to meet us. That human shot us and killed two. The metal death boxes killed another four. The vampires killed Swyllia and almost killed Cliey and me too. I think we were meant to be sacrificed, to wind up dead. I think we were just supposed to be a diversion.”

It made me feel guilty for wishing that these forty-three elves in my pasture were dead. They were pawns, sent to keep me busy—perhaps keep me busy with killing them.

“Why would Wythyn elves be trying to assassinate me?”

“They aren’t Wythyn elves anymore,” Lysile said. “We’re all part of the Alliance of Elven Kingdoms. While we still retain our ethnic identities from our prior kingdoms, we no longer are separate. So if there are elves trying to kill you, and it’s not a personal grudge, then it’s a concerted effort by the High Lords to do away with you.”

Killing me would make it easier for the elves to integrate. As Gregory said, the other angels would welcome them with open arms, turn over the guidance of the humans to them in a heartbeat. And if I were dead, perhaps Gregory wouldn’t be at his best in fighting the rebels. Perhaps he just wouldn’t care anymore.

An angel had lured Little Red over. An angel had coordinated this with the High Elves. They get Aaru, the elves get this world and plentiful human slaves. What a deal.

I needed to kill a bunch of High Lords, and find out who this angel was and rip his wings off one feather at a time.

“Tell me about the High Lords,” I asked. “There used to be ten elven kingdoms in Hel. Are nine of them running the show here?”

“No. There are three High Lords and two High Ladies left, but one of them is considered the leader of the Alliance. He’s the one who worked with the angel and got the agreement for elven lands and rule here among the humans. His name is Lliam Thi.

Lliam Thi. I recognized that name. He was the one who’d put a price on my head, who that young elf last year said had promised them all Nirvana. Well, Lliam Thi better enjoy what short time he’d had here, because he was about to visit the afterlife. Permanently.

“Nyalla, do we still have those chains and handcuffs in the basement?” I asked.

“Chains, yes. But the only handcuffs we have are the one’s Leethu left here.”

They’d have to do. “Bring them. I’ve got some elves to interrogate.

N
yalla got the handcuffs while I dug the chains out of the basement, but when we got to the corner of the pool patio where the elves had been stacked, it was empty. Nada. Nothing but pavement.

What the fuck? The elves were gone and I had no idea what had happened. There was no way they could have gotten out of those nets unaided. I doubted the other elves in my field would have helped them since they rarely came up to the house. I stood holding about ten feet of chain and cursed, wishing I’d put Diablo on guard. Although how was I supposed to know they’d vanish in the twenty minutes I was in the house?

What pissed me off more was that the nets were gone too. Those fuckers were expensive, and I’d had them modified so that they worked on angels, demons and elves. I needed them. Nyalla needed them.

Other than the missing nets and my inability to interrogate Nyalla’s captives, I was sort of relieved. Netting one elf and keeping him prisoner in my basement wasn’t that difficult. Several posed more of a problem. Killing and trying to bury ten bodies might result in more than just a bunch of paperwork.

“You know what this means,” Nyalla said. She was about as close to brooding as I’d ever seen her.

“That we need more nets? That these fuckers are coming back to try and kill me once more?”

“That we have a traitor.” She pointed to the field. “None of them would have come near the house without an invitation and an escort. They’re scared, and as Lysile said, they’re not powerful elves.”

“Not necessarily,” I countered. “Maybe yet another assassin arrived while we were in the house and let his buddies free. If they sent ten, there’s no reason to believe they didn’t send eleven.”

“Maybe.” Nyalla nibbled a finger as she thought. “Boomer and Little Red are guarding the elves in the field. They’d know if one of them came up to the house. No one is guarding the stables, though.”

I knew she wasn’t accusing Nils. “Bob? You think Bob had something to do with this?”

“He’s the one who gave you the information on the elven migrations. He’s the one that’s had you running around after them while the High Elves lock down their presence in this world.”

She had a point, but I was still finding it hard to believe that Bob was a traitor. “Leethu vouched for him. And he’s a half-elf. I can’t see him siding with Wythyn assassins. I believe he’s just as much of a pawn as the elves in my field.”

“Lysile is a pawn,” Nyalla corrected. “We honestly don’t know about the rest of them. It would be easy to sneak a spy in a group of fifty migrating elves and tell him to relay information back and stab you if he or she gets the chance.”

One of the elves, or Bob, or an eleventh late-to-the-party assassin. “Or maybe an angel? There are a bunch of rebels, and at least one of them is working with the elves.”

She shook her head. “I would have sensed him. I might not have any magic, but with my gift I can tell the difference between humans and others. Demons and angels feel the same, and you’re it within my range. Other than the dragon, all I’m getting is elves. It had to have been an elf—or a half-elf.”

I didn’t want to accuse Bob without digging into this further. “Okay, so an elf. You’ve netted ten of them so far. Let’s say another one came to kill the blow-up doll in the pool, saw the nets, and decided to let his buddies out and make a break for it instead.”

“Maybe.” Nyalla eyed the blow-up doll. “But how would he know there are elves in those nets? They can’t be heard more than a foot or so away once the net is sealed and closed. And elves aren’t generally susceptible to nets—just angels and demons.”

“So he thought he was letting out a bunch of demons?” I couldn’t see how that would pin this on Bob. “Bob wouldn’t know there were elves in the nets either.”

“Yes, he would. He saw them this morning and commented that they’d been modified. If he knows they’re modified, and he knows how you feel about the elven migration, then I’m sure he put those two things together and got a net that works with elves.”

“But why? Why would he do that? We had a deal where he and the Klee elves got to stay while the others were cooped up on Elf Island. Why go against preferential treatment in this world for…for material gain?”

Nyalla shrugged. “I don’t’ know. I just don’t trust him. Maybe what the High Lords are offering him is more than what you can. He is the one that’s been telling you about these groups of elves—the ones in Iceland, France and Iowa. If that was meant to distract you from the real migration, then what better plan than to send an elf to ‘help’ you, and make sure you’re too busy chasing down elves in Iowa to see what’s really going on.”

Nyalla was smart. Way smart for a human girl with less than a quarter century of life under her belt. But then again, she had been a slave to the elves for most of her life. No one knew them like she did.

I kicked at a nearby patio chair. “Since I don’t have any of the assassin elves to interrogate, I guess I need to go find Bob. Any ideas?”

Nyalla looked out to the barn. “If he’s smart, he would have gotten the heck out of here. He’s smart, but he’s also arrogant, so I get the feeling he might still be around, thinking that you wouldn’t ever suspect him.”

Everyone always underestimated me. And that was usually the last thing those people ever did.

We found Bob out among the elves in the field, helping one of them weave dried grasses into a basket for fruit. So innocent. He looked up at me with his mismatched eyes and smiled.

“Where the fuck are my captives?”

His confusion was very convincing. “Huh?”

“Captives. Elves from Wythyn came to kill me. We had them bagged and tagged over by the hydrangea near the pool pump. And now they’re gone.”

“Wythyn elves?”

Oh for fuck sake. I grabbed Bob by the front of his shirt and yanked him upward. “Where. Are. My. Elves?”

“I. Don’t. Know.”

I’d had enough of this. I started dragging Bob toward my house. The other elves watched wide-eyed. Bob struggled, which made it even more difficult to get him poolside. Finally we reached the far side, where I pointed to the empty spot where the elves had once been.

“They came to assassinate me, or whoever they thought was floating in the pool. Which pisses me off even more. What if it had been Nyalla? Or Candy? Or one of my other friends? We’d restrained them, but someone came to set them free.”

“Why would you think that someone was me?”

Bob was good. He was real good. “Well, it seems while I’ve been busy chasing down these groups of blue-collar, working-class elves, the big dogs have snuck in and set up shop. And who was giving me tips to chase down these groups of trash? You. Why were you doing that? Who paid you off, Bob? What are you getting out of this? You keep me busy running down a bunch of basket weavers and that gives the others a chance to slip in unnoticed.”

Where he was stoic in the face of my accusations about the assignation elves, Bob paled at my latest.

“I…I didn’t know about the others. I was told by my contact that he’d give me info on the elven migrations. I figured that was worth trading to you for safe passage and the ability to live here. I’m a half-elf, a nobody. Do you seriously think the High Elves would make deals with me?”

Probably not, but the High Elves would definitely not be above using him. “Who was your contact? And what made you think he was trustworthy?”

“His name is Drexell. He was a northern elf from Asha outside of Eresh. They’re typically neutral, and he was eager to trade information. I shared what I knew about the human world and their magic. He offered to let me know when the groups were migrating over.”

Idiot. I wasn’t sure what to do with Bob. I wasn’t even sure if I trusted him anymore. Nyalla sure as heck didn’t. It was possible he’d been duped and was just as innocent as the elves in my field, but if he was, then who the heck had taken the captive elves from beside my pool area?

It was time to lay my cards on the table. “Got a problem here Bob. From what I’ve been told, elves have been coming here for months, if not years, and are already entrenched in some portions of human society. I don’t know where. I’m more concerned right now in finding out where the High Lords and Ladies are—especially Lliam Thi. And I’m also interested in who came onto my property and took the trespassers that we’d restrained. I’m not going to tell you how I know this, but it had to be an elf.”