Faerie Magic (19 page)

“Do you think keeping quiet will dissuade him from carrying out his plan?”

The hint of disgust underlying his voice pierced right through me. I didn’t need his anger, not after the night I’d had already. Seeing that dead kid had filled me with enough guilt for both of us, even though I doubted I could have stopped Calder. Not without dying myself, for real this time.

It made me really, really mad.

“So call me a fucking coward, then,” I spat. “It’s the reason I’m still alive after three years in Faerie. I killed Avakis because I didn’t confront him until I had the upper hand. That might have been cowardly, but it kept me and the other captives alive. If a handful of people find out about Calder, he’ll kill them to keep them quiet. If everyone in town finds out, he’ll unleash whatever he’s plotting against humans and half-faeries alike.” I paused to breathe. “What would happen if he gave this drug of his to every half-faerie at once? They’d be more inclined to believe his offer of immortality than believe me if I told them about the Grey Vale. It’d be a bloodbath.” I met his stare defiantly. “Go ahead and call me whatever you like.”

“I didn’t call you a coward.” His voice was dangerously quiet. “But it’s your job to inform me of any threats to the population of this city—human or supernatural. This dangerous individual has caused many deaths already.”

“I know.” I also knew I’d pissed him off, because Vance only reverted into formal Mage Lord mode when he was angry. “But even if I’d told you, the odds of catching a powerful faerie who doesn’t want to be found are pretty low. He nearly killed me, and I have Avakis’s magic. I couldn’t even touch him with my sword.” The excuses poured out even as the twisting sensation in my chest dug deeper. I didn’t need Vance to lay on the guilt trip, too. “Telling the whole universe will open up a can of worms we’re not ready for. The supernatural community will panic. The half-faeries will accuse us of lying. I’ll bet Calder would
love
that. We’d cause chaos without him having to lift a finger.”

Vance’s sharp gaze bit into me. “You seem to have given this a lot of thought, Ivy. Did you really think I would be foolish enough to announce the presence of a dangerous half-faerie to the human public?”

I opened my mouth then closed it. “I guess not.” Arrest warnings might be how the mortal police alerted the public to dangerous criminals, but supernaturals played by different rules. “If word reached him, though…”

“He’d kill more half-bloods? That child would have died no matter what. He chose to work with Calder.”

“If you’re implying I’m weak for failing to kill him the first time—”

“I said nothing of the sort,” said Vance. “Anyone with the blood of a Sidhe lord has magic most mortals cannot hope to match—including most of my mages. As for me, I intend to search him out myself.”

That’s what I’m afraid of.
My guts twisted in knots. “Don’t. Vance, don’t.” My voice came out a whisper. “He—he wants
me
to find him. This is a sick game, I know it. He’ll have picked it up from Avakis himself.”

“Game or not, we can’t let him walk away alive.”

I crossed my arms. “What did you think I expected to happen tonight? I figured the kid would take me straight to him.”

“And you planned to go alone.”

I continued to stare him out, though my eyes began to water. I was sick of fighting with my allies when Calder had slipped away. “I can beat him with Avakis’s magic. Don’t you dare say I can’t. I’ve had a shitty night and I’m not in the mood for any more of your crap.”

I turned away, and his hand rested on my arm.

“If you’d let me get a word in edgeways,” said Vance, “I never implied you couldn’t beat Calder on your own. You need to stop letting your injured pride cloud your judgement.”

My eyes burned.
That’s not the problem.
Over my dead body was I going to melt into a weeping mess again. “Injured pride? His father made my life a living hell. I’ve seen proof of what he can do to a person—tonight. He’s the same as Avakis, and if he so much as gets a hint that you’re searching for him—well, he’s killed one Mage Lord already.” I stopped as he flashed me a dangerous look again.

“I’m searching for him,” he said. “And I intend to find him. You needn’t concern yourself with my safety. Calder is hardly unique amongst rogue supernaturals, and I’m certain a large number of people would happily see me dead. You don’t end up in my position without making a few enemies.”

Now he said that, I realised how stupid I’d been. “Okay, I get it. I wanted to tell you. I told Isabel, but she’s not likely to wander off and try and poke holes in him.”

“He’s in for a worse fate, when I find him.” A chill wind swept through the room, and the dim light made Vance look more menacing than ever. “He’s no Sidhe lord.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck who he is. It freaked me out because he looks just like Avakis and jumped at me out of nowhere. And his magic.”

“He’s half-human,” said Vance. “Think about the other half-faeries you know. Even if he thinks he’s on the same level as a Sidhe lord, he isn’t.”

“I guess not, but that doesn’t mean he won’t have something nasty up his sleeve if you hunt him down. He’s been hiding all this time. Maybe in plain sight.”

“Not for much longer.” Vance moved closer to me, and the tension simmering around us tightened. “I’ll take you home, and we’ll discuss this again tomorrow.”

I nodded, not willing to get dragged into another debate. Vance clearly wasn’t budging on this one, and who knew, maybe we’d be able to come up with a better plan together.

His hand closed around mine, icy-cold and rough, like he was seconds from shifting. The chill in the air made me certain I wouldn’t be getting a goodbye kiss this time. I’d well and truly fucked up.

It shouldn’t bother me. At all.
But I had to blink tears back when he left me on my doorstep, disappearing immediately without another word.

Shit. I was in trouble.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Almost show time,” Isabel muttered, applying the finishing touches to the spell circle at the foot of the stairs. Vance stood watch at the top, while I’d thoroughly checked all the rooms inside the basement of the old building, including the auditorium where the Trials were held. Mercifully, this time I didn’t stumble upon horny half-faeries
or
a dead body. An improvement on yesterday already.

No traces remained from last night. No blood, either, and I’d been too rattled to pick up a sample. Isabel, with her usual forethought, had found some on my shoes where I must have trodden in it on the way out. A tracking spell would be able to show me the half-faerie’s last moments, and maybe hint at where Calder was hiding.

Of course, the dickhead hadn’t left any traces at the scene. I’d been too out of it last night to really look, and aside from my erratically behaving magic, no sign of Calder had remained behind. You wouldn’t think there’d been a brutal supernatural contest here last night, either. The place looked abandoned in daylight.

I hated the idea of bringing Isabel to a murder site, but she refused point-blank to be left out of the investigation. While Isabel continued to check the spell circle, I walked up the stairs to join Vance. Today, he didn’t seem in a particularly talkative mood. He watched the spell circle with narrowed eyes.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“See the spell? I have every right to. I’m certain he killed the half-faerie kid to get to me.”

Vance’s grey eyes met mine. “I meant the Trials.”

“Don’t really have a choice, do I?” I forced a laugh.

“You’re risking your neck. You might have died.”

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“No,” he said. “You didn’t.”

I didn’t argue with him. He was entirely right. Even though the three of us knew who the real bad guy was, by mutual assent, nobody mentioned Calder by name.

Isabel looked up at me with worry written all over her face. “I’ve set up the spell.” Her expression also said,
Are you sure about this?
No, I wasn’t sure. Watching the play-by-play of the last moments of a half-faerie’s life had
not
been on my plan for my free day.

“Okay.” I walked back downstairs to the spell circle, refusing to let Vance see my hesitation in case he stepped in himself. This was a long shot, I knew, but short of hiring a necromancer, we had no other way to find out if Calder had been here.

I took a deep breath, and prepared to relieve the half-faerie’s final moments.

As my hands touched the spell circle, my magic hummed in response. I nearly jerked my hands away. The blood in my veins seemed to freeze underneath the glyphs spiralling up my arms. My head dipped forward, and images flashed into my head. It took a moment to orient myself and realise I was looking into the corridor as it had been last night—dark and shadowy. I squinted, trying to focus on the scene. Figures drifted past, climbing the stairs. These were the half-faerie kid’s memories—or the echo of them—so he must have hung out here for a while instead of watching the fights in the arena. Maybe waiting for someone.

The crowds died down, suggesting the first match had already begun, but the person whose eyes I watched through didn’t move. The view remained too dark to see much besides shifting shadows, until the bright glow of faerie magic descended the stairs.

It’s him.
Every muscle locked, and it took all the self-control I had left not to flinch and let go of the vision. Calder descended the stairs, looking much the same as he had the other night. His tall form was wreathed in blue threads of magic. His mouth moved, but of course, I couldn’t hear a damned thing.

Calder gestured, something in his hand. Not a weapon. A paper bag, emblazoned with a vaguely familiar logo. He held it up, and the half-faerie’s hands reached out to take it. Calder held it out of range, an expression of rage distorting his features.

The half-faerie turned to the side, and a huge, furry body materialised, teeth sinking into my—his—arm.

I didn’t need to hear the sound to know the half-faerie was screaming. Calder watched, not moving, and the world blurred into a confusing mess of claws and blood.

I jerked back into my own body, gasping, tasting the echo of his fear on my tongue. Vance and Isabel both watched me, both wearing equally concerned expressions.

“Yeah, it was him,” I said. “He set hellhounds on that kid.” I withdrew my hands from the circle, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans. He’d stood right here and watched someone die.

“Anything else?” asked Vance.

“I think he offered the guy the drug, but I can’t be sure. He had a paper bag… shit.” I stopped. “I know where I’ve seen it before. I’m certain the logo on the bag looked like one of the witches’ places. It was a stylised letter “E”.”

“Edith’s Apothecary,” said Isabel. “It’s the only place you can get certain herbs… damn. I have half the ingredients in our flat, and I never considered…” She ran a hand through her curly hair, a distraught expression pinching her face. “But does that mean one of the coven members knows who he is?”

“Probably not,” I said, pushing to my feet. “He could have used glamour and lied.”

Isabel didn’t look convinced. “I want to talk to them. I can stop them stocking the herbs as long as it takes for this to end.”

“Bet he already has the ingredients,” I said. “And as for what he’s planning to do with them… no clue. It doesn’t make sense.” Frustration burned in my blood. “He’s hiding this drug and giving it out to a couple of people at a time. That suggests he’s testing it.”

“Because he doesn’t know the full effects,” said Vance. “And he doesn’t want to draw attention.”

“Maybe not, but what’s his goal? Stir up every half-faerie in this realm?” I paused. “I keep thinking he has a plan, but if he’s anything like his father, his goal’s to incite chaos. Avakis didn’t have a goal when he kidnapped a bunch of humans. He just liked the power and dominance.”

I looked away from Isabel and Vance, not willing to acknowledge their pity. I was
through
with being the victim.

“His goal might be to anger the half-faeries,” said Vance, “but I’d guess he seeks a way back into Faerie himself.”

“Probably,” I said. “I’ll bet he wants to take over what’s left of his father’s kingdom.” The armour he’d worn must have come from there. Half-faeries couldn’t usually cross over, so maybe Velkas had taken him or given him the armour in person. Maybe he intended to pave the way for another invasion, as Velkas had… but again, I kept thinking there might be some form of rationality behind this. Avakis had been everything
but
rational. I’d spent three years at the mercy of his whims, wondering when it’d be my turn to die.

“One thing’s for certain,” said Vance. “There’s no longer a doubt he was responsible for the deaths.” The air hummed with power, while Vance wore the darkly dangerous expression he usually reserved for when he killed someone.
Oh.
The other mage. He wanted to punish the person behind the drug and avenge his friend. Probably by poking holes in the culprit.