Faerie Blood: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Changeling Chronicles Book 1) (18 page)

“It’s a hobby,” I said. “I told you—you don’t get my life story. I guess I have faerie ancestors somewhere.” I was at my lowest ebb, but I’d keep my secrets on pain of death. For all he knew, I
might
have faerie ancestors. My family tree didn’t exist anymore.

“You told me you were human.”

“I
am
human,” I snapped. “What do you want, a DNA test?” The room swayed. Goddammit. He didn’t appear to notice the blood dripping from my side onto the plush carpet. His eyes were narrowed to slits in an animal-like manner and the aura of power I’d noticed during the fight crackled around him like lightning. The part of me wasn’t about to faint from blood loss turned to watery terror, and my hand rested on the desk, leaving a bloody handprint. “You’re not human yourself, so it’d be hypocritical of you to attack me even if I wasn’t.”

He glanced down at the black scales on his hand like he’d only just noticed them. “I never denied what I was,” he said. “But you’re in denial about your own identity. Is that why you only accept menial pay from Larsen?”

“What the hell does my job have to do with anything?” I shot at him. “I kill faeries. Magic helps me do that sometimes. I’m crap at regular witch magic.”

“You’re not a witch at all,” he said. “Are you?”

“I don’t know.” Damn. Why did this have to happen now? “You’re the one who came up with the definition. Your sort define ‘witch’ as any magic user who doesn’t belong to your little cult. I’m not a necromancer, so ‘witch’ is the only label left. Not my problem if you don’t like it.”

“I didn’t come up with the definition,” he said. “But you don’t have a licence for magic.”

I laughed harshly. “So give me one. I saved your neck, Vance. Even you can’t deny that.” I managed to shut my mouth before the accusation escaped—
your people abandoned me when I was desperate.
He’d pried enough secrets from me already. Even if he didn’t hold my abilities against me—and I couldn’t yet be sure those claws wouldn’t make a reappearance—the very last thing I needed was pity.

I wasn’t that scared girl anymore. I’d reverted into her back then for a moment, during the fight, and it irritated the crap out of me. Almost as much as the fact that I’d thrown myself into the path of a knife on Vance Colton’s behalf and not had so much as a word of thanks for my trouble.

“No,” he said, “I can’t deny it. Nor can I deny you deceived me, and put myself and all the other mages in the town in danger. Did you know about the faerie beforehand?”

“No, I’ve never met him in my life,” I said. “Most faeries attack me on sight because they’re assholes. I figured
something
evil was waiting for us in there, since you don’t go into a creepy old factory expecting a surprise birthday party.”

His eyes narrowed a little at the sarcasm. “You’re an infuriating woman.”

“You’re not exactly a stellar personality yourself.” The room swayed. “Also, your carpets are tacky.”

“Cheap insults will get you nowhere.”

“But it’s worth it to mess with you.” I attempted to walk. My wound disagreed. I bit down on the pain, pushing it aside, refusing to let him see how dependent on his mercy I was.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.” The word came out weaker than I’d have liked.

He moved to bar the way. “If you think I’ll honour your whims after that, you’re mistaken.”

“Whims? This is my safety I’m talking about. You think the faeries will leave me alone if you tell the whole city I can use a tiny bit of their magic?” If all else fails, the guilt trip’s a guaranteed success. I
hated
admitting weakness, but he was the type who wouldn’t relent until he was the one in control.

“If they all find out,” I continued, “every faerie in the region will come down on me in a swarm. I’ll die. You’ll lose this case, those kids will be trapped in Faerie forever, and your reputation will take such a hit, I doubt you’ll ever recover.”

His mouth parted a little. “You think I care about my reputation? I was under the impression we were going to find two missing children in the factory. Instead, I found out you were deceiving me.”

“My heart bleeds for you.” Bad choice of words. I accidentally looked down at my wound, and nearly fainted at sight of all the blood.

He frowned. “You’re bleeding on the carpet.”

I drew in a shaky breath. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I’ll try to bleed to death in the hall next time.”

“There won’t be a next time.” His tone went deadly quiet, the sort he might use before decapitating someone. “Sit down.”

“What?”

“Sit down.” He pulled a chair out of thin air, startling me so much I fell into it without meaning to, leaving a trail of blood behind me.

“Are you going to teach me how you do that?”

“Stay where you are.”

I slumped to the side, closing my eyes against another wave of dizziness. “Have you ever spoken a single sentence that didn’t involve ordering someone around?”

He didn’t answer, because he’d disappeared. Not going to kill me, then. Okay.

Next thing I knew, cool hands pressed to my side. My limbs were too numb to move, though I feebly pushed the person’s hands away.

“Don’t move. You’ll make it worse.”

“Huh.” Apparently, I’d lost more blood than I thought. If I didn’t know better, the Mage Lord was at my side, his cold hands over the wound. A fragrant aroma filled my nostrils. A witch’s spell. Since when did the mages keep hedge witch healing remedies?

Probably because they work.
Within seconds, the blood flow halted, the world stopped spinning long enough for me to open my eyes, and I jumped. Vance leaned over me, my blood dripping from his hands… and my clothes were shredded worse than ever. Indecent, even. I was practically topless, the ruins of my T-shirt hanging from my side and exposing my bra. At least it was plain black, strapless and, god forbid, without any holes. Still, I shakily grabbed my jacket before this got any more awkward.

“A thank you would be nice.” Vance hadn’t even looked at my exposed skin. Not in more than a cursory manner, anyway. Score one for Vance Colton. And another for healing me. It warmed me inside, though like hell I’d admit it. I wasn’t entirely sure he was done accusing me of being buddies with Faerie.

“Thanks.”

He grunted and turned away, conjuring a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his hands.

“I have to go and shout at some necromancers,” he said, still standing close enough to make me self-conscious about the amount of skin I had on show. “Assuming you aren’t about to tell me how you knew how to beat the faerie’s spell. Even my sword couldn’t cut through those cobwebs easily, and I thought all faeries were allergic to iron.”

“They are,” I said. “I reckon that creature had been there feeding on people’s lives for years. The cobwebs were a defence mechanism. It only had a few good attacks left in it, I think, otherwise it’d have been more aggressive from the outset.”

“And
your
magic? What can you do?” His tone didn’t sound accusing this time, but I knew I needed to clear this up, now.

“Mine’s defensive,” I said. “When a faerie attacks me with magic, my own magic acts like a temporary shield. It deflects other faerie magic, and my speed and accuracy increases. Just lasts a few minutes, usually. And it only works on faeries. Iron works just as well, so I use my sword instead. You can put me under all the tests you like. I’m telling the truth."

A long pause. He studied me, and it struck me that the barely-restrained power I’d seen crackling over his head had disappeared like it had never existed. Instead, there was only him, without magic, without the claws, and the faint scent of the witch spell he’d used to heal me.

“Did you know what was waiting in the factory?” he asked. His gaze remained steady, but warmer than before.

“No, of course not. The tree faerie either lied or told us a half truth.”

“I believe
that,”
said Vance. “I’m less convinced you aren’t hiding important information.”

“What good would that do?” I said. “Don’t you think if I’d known how to get those kids back, I’d have done it by now? I’ve been as upfront as possible, but you’ve given me no reason to trust you.”

His brow furrowed. I’d bewildered him. Maybe ‘don’t accuse your employees of plotting against you and threaten their livelihood if you want them to trust you’ wasn’t in the mage handbook.

I tried to put myself in his position, but I couldn’t imagine having such a level of influence over other people. Also, I was bone tired and couldn’t be bothered with another argument. “I’d like to go home. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

From a whole heap of jack shit. If anything, we’d
lost
momentum. And apparently the
faeries can’t lie
rule was a lie itself, because the Lady of the Tree said I could find those children in the factory.

Helpless anger simmered, but tiredness won out and I stumbled towards the door.

“Hold on.” Vance barred the way again. He leaned slightly forward, close enough I could smell
him
beneath the witch’s spell—something unidentifiably masculine. Appealing. Unwanted.

I let out an impatient hiss. “Didn’t I say I was done? I’m all out of fucks to give, Vance.”

“Please,” he said. “If you know anything about the faeries—anything that might solve this case—tell me. You can trust I won’t spread the information. Part of my position is as a confidant to all mages, and I’ll extend that courtesy to you.”

My head throbbed too much to make sense of mages’ social niceties. I shrugged. The movement didn’t hurt, but my arms were limp. I needed a major blood sugar hit, otherwise I’d pass out. “What do you want to know?”

“If we went to Faerie,” he said. “Those cobwebs—the whole room wasn’t natural.”

“It wasn’t Faerie,” I said. “Just a spell. Trust me, if there was another way to Faerie open, we’d know. We were in the factory all along.”

“The faerie used Summer magic. But what it said to you… it was drawing power? Where does faerie magic come from?”

“Within,” I said. “Usually. Each faerie has a certain amount. Don’t ask me how that’s determined. I haven’t a clue. I know pure faeries, the knights of the courts and nobles, have a shit-ton of magic. Wild creatures like trolls have almost none.”

“He wasn’t a noble.”

“He was an exile,” I said. “I guess they shoved him into the mortal world during the invasion.”

“And the children? How might you have found them in the factory?”

“No idea. The Lady of the Tree said they weren’t in this realm. But the factory wasn’t linked to Faerie. That sad old monster was never going to get back.” And good riddance.

“Could he have opened a way into Faerie?”

“No. If just any faerie could do it, there’d be a second invasion. It hasn’t happened in twenty years.” Not strictly true, but what I’d done didn’t count. I’d broken through the realms by using the lord’s power in sheer desperation. I didn’t know how.

He watched me, eyes unblinking, and my heart sank. That’s what I got for not rehearsing a cover story.

“You don’t look like a faerie.”

Huh? “I didn’t think I’d be glad to hear you say that.” Oops. There went my filter. “Never mind. I’ve lost a shit-ton of blood and don’t know what I’m saying.”

“You sound pretty coherent to me.” His eyes lingered on the bare skin at my waist, possibly on the pretext of examining the now healed wound. But the spark igniting in his eyes was the opposite of concern. The word
predatory
came to mind, along with a rush of warmth I couldn’t entirely put down to weird aftereffects of blood loss and nearly dying.

His gaze stripped the rest of my clothes from me as surely as though I’d read his thoughts.
Oh.
Heat crept up my neck and I forgot how to speak, even to tell him to look the hell away. The scent of him grew stronger, and I inhaled almost against my will.
You don’t get on with predators
.

Tell that to my thumping heart.

All Vance said was, “Will you be able to get home? I can ask someone to give you a lift.”

I licked my lips, suddenly overcome with a fresh wave of tiredness. At least, I assumed that’s why my legs wanted to fold at the knees.

“Uh. That’d be great. Thanks. By the way, what did you mean by ‘shout at some necromancers’?”

“Somebody,” he said, his voice dropping on the word, “is going to pay.”

I had no doubt about that.

“And Ivy?” His eyes caught mine, captured my gaze like a moth in a sunbeam.

“Yes?”

“Don’t ever take a hit on my account again.”

I gaped at him. So that was why he hadn’t arrested me. Because I’d saved his neck. Mage code, maybe.

Right. Time to go home and lick my wounds, and take on tomorrow when it came. With our leads a bust, we’d have to start again. I was up against the worst of Faerie. No denying it now. But could I drag anyone else into this again?

No,
was the obvious answer. I’d go it alone. Never mind Vance. Never mind that he’d believed me, helped me, even.
There won’t be a next time.
Wanda said he had a protective streak. I hadn’t believed her, but now I saw it. Oh, boy. This was heading down a dangerous road. I wasn’t the type to salivate over a guy who acted like a total shit most of the time. Hell, I normally avoided his type. Just as I did mages.