Wolves and the River of Stone (24 page)

“
Foster!”
Aideen screamed as she and Cara barged back into the house with bloody swords drawn.
“Foster!
Stop, you did it. She’ll live. Stop it or you’ll die!”

The spell died like someone threw a light switch and Foster collapsed on top of Ashley. Ashley was crying hysterically. She wrapped her arms around Foster’s neck and squeezed the fairy as she cried herself out.

I looked up to find Nixie standing wide-eyed in the doorway. “Is that ... do I cause that kind of pain?” Her face crumpled and she stepped back outside the house.

I put my hand on Ashley’s forehead. “It’s okay, they’re gone. You’ll be okay.”

Ashley’s sobs turned to hiccups and she nodded. Foster tried to stand up, but Ashley wouldn’t let go.

“I’m too tired to argue,” he said and his wings went limp around the priestess.

I smiled and looked at Maggie. Aideen was already stepping through the body parts to get closer. “Let me see your arm,” she said. Maggie held out her mangled hand and winced as Aideen gently laid her fingers on it.

Nixie was next. I needed to find her. I didn’t have to look far—she was outside by Ashley’s little frog fountain. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and tears were running down her face.

I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulders.

Her voice was choked. “How could I have ever killed people without a reason, Damian?”

A white flash of power flashed through the broken door. I was sure Aideen was healing Maggie.

“That is horrible, Damian. I saw how much Ashley’s wounds hurt you, and she’s only a friend. I killed men with families, fathers. It’s just ...” Her voice cracked and she buried her head in her knees. Her voice was muffled when she said, “It never bothered me before ... What made us like this?”

Gravel crunched behind us before a deep voice said, “Vesik.”

I looked up to find Alan standing with one foot in Ashley’s landscaping rocks. “Bad timing,” I said. He was back in the Saint Louis Rams sweatpants I was beginning to think of as the wolves’ street clothes. “What is it?”

“Carter wanted me to tell you we’re checking the perimeter. He was hoping you could stay here with the fairies and watch over Maggie.”

“And Ashley?”

The whites of Alan’s eyes were an intense contrast to his dark skin as he opened them wide. “She’s alive?” He glanced at the doorway. “The Fae?”

I pointed my index finger at him like a gun. “You got it.”

“That’s good.” Alan nodded to himself. “That’s very good. Scream if you need us.” The werewolf smiled and walked to the edge of the house.

“Aren’t you the funny one?”

He laughed as he disappeared around the corner.

“He’s gone, Nix.”

She nodded her head a little.

“Nixie, you don’t have to kill if you don’t want to.”

“You don’t understand. With you, with you Damian, I don’t want to, but it’s our way. What the Queen declares, it’s our
law.”
Nixie’s eyes widened and she buried her head between her knees again.

I laughed and squeezed her tighter. “Not supposed to talk about the Queen, huh?”

She shook her head.

“So, what happens if you don’t do what the Queen says, Nix?”

“She’ll kill me.” Nixie raised her head and met my eyes. “Or have me killed.”

“There has to be some way around it.”

“No, there’s not. Even if she dies, a new queen could just reinstate the same laws.”

“Could?” I said.

“There are other beings above the Queen. I can’t tell you anything else, I’m sorry.” Nixie piled her hair into her lap and started picking bits of leaves and grass out.

“I don’t give a shit about your Queen.”

Nixie paused in her grooming. “It doesn’t matter, she is still my Queen.”

“What a bitch.”

A small smile showed itself across her lips. “Yes, actually, she is.”

I heard two quick raps of wood on concrete and turned my head to find Zola. “Maggie is fine.”

“Good, glad to hear it.”

“Nixie is not,” she said.

I glanced at Nixie and then back to Zola. “There has to be some way get her away from that
law.”

“Oh, there is,” Zola said as she sat down and leaned against the side of the tree trunk. “We’ve fought them before.”

Nixie stopped picking through her hair and stared at Zola. Her face had a look I’d never seen before, and I was afraid it was desperation.

“Where?” I said.

“Lake Okeechobee in Florida. September 17
^th
, 1928. There are some dates you will never forget. The water witches moved in behind a hurricane. They helped power the storm surge. Thousands died, from Puerto Rico to Florida. Philip found out they were planning to invade us. An old grudge against Gwynn ap Nudd.” Zola laughed. “He had cast them out for their senseless killing several years before. They found he was living in the States.”

“Yeah, unlike that Wild Hunt thing. No senseless killing there,” I muttered.

“No one ever claimed Glenn was the most consistent ruler.”

“What happened?” Nixie said.

“We fought the witches. It was a hard battle, well fought on both sides in the remnants of the hurricane. What was left of the area was destroyed by the battle. Eventually the Queen joined the fighting when enough of the water witches were dead.”

“Dead? How?” Nixie said.

“With help from below.” Zola’s smile was empty. “Ah didn’t know it then, but now Ah’m sure Philip was channeling a demon. When the Queen arrived, he struck her down like a stalk of wheat.”

“Some water witches stayed in the States in the aftermath. Only a handful abandoned the old ways. But, as Nixie said, it is not only the Queen you must worry about.”

“What else do we need to worry about?” I asked.

Zola looked at me and frowned slightly. “You must worry about what you may unleash by killing royalty.”

Nixie shook her head slowly. “This is not the time.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and looked between Zola and Nixie as an idea took hold. “Mike!” I said. “Mike the demon could help us.”

“Perhaps,” Zola said. “Remember, Mike can’t kill innocents. While we may consider the Queen an abomination, she may be an innocent. Ah cannot ask Mike to risk that.” Zola held her hand up when I started to speak. “But, it is possible Mike would be willing to teach you how to kill a water witch.”

“And then?” I said.

“And then we kill the Queen,” Nixie said.

“I thought that might be where we were going.” I rubbed my face and set my hand on Nixie’s thigh. “I guess we’ll have to talk to Mike before we can decide anything else.”

“Yes,” Nixie said, “but even if you succeed in killing a Queen, the next could be worse.”

“Super.”

Zola smiled a moment before her face turned into frown. “Edgar’s here.”

Nixie looked up as the Watcher came down on cue. He spared us a glance from the small front porch. “Adannaya, did you see the devastation behind the house?”

Zola shook her head.

Edgar gave her a slight nod in acknowledgement. “We need to talk. Come inside.”

Zola laughed a little. “Let us humor the man.” She stood up and offered Nixie her hand. Once we were all standing, Zola walked into the house.

Nixie started after her, but I grabbed her arm and turned her around. The moonlight reflected across her eyes. I kissed her briefly and pulled her close. “This will all turn out, Nix. We’ll get you away from the Queen.”

Nixie sank into me as she wrapped her arms around my back. “Thank you Damian. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s nice to know you care.”

My heart rate sped up with a surge of adrenaline. I could feel the pulse in my neck and waves of warm fear coursing through my body. I don’t know why I decided to say it then, it just felt right, even though it scared the hell out of me. “I love you, Nixie.”

She jerked in my arms and leaned back to meet my eyes. “Damian, you don’t know me that well, but ... and ...” She buried her head in my shoulder and I heard her whisper, “I love you too.”

I pulled her head back with a hand on either of her cheeks and kissed her hard. She pressed her body against mine. Her lips were a soft brush of relief after a night of hell. When I pulled away I just stared at her and smiled.

“We should go in,” she said.

I nodded and we started toward the door with my arm around her shoulders and her head leaning on my chest.

“W
here’s Ashley?” I said.

“We put her to bed,” Cara said. “She didn’t need anymore excitement.”

“I can relate.” I glanced around the room. Foster, Aideen, and Cara were all back to their usual size and camped out on one of the padded chairs in Ashley’s living room. Their armor was still covered in dried blood, but their skin looked clean. Foster was sprawled across Aideen’s lap and snoring like a model freight train. Aideen ran her fingers through his hair and smiled.

I had my arm around Nixie at the mouth of the hallway. My staff was leaning against Zola’s chair. The vampires and wolves were still outside except for Maggie, who was getting a drink in the kitchen.

Edgar leaned against the sliding door to the patio. “We need to talk, Adannaya.” We all looked at him. Edgar stood there with an amulet hanging from his right hand. “You’re the only person I know who can make these.”

“No, Edgar, I am not. You know who the other person is.”

Edgar’s face reddened and he threw the amulet onto the ground. “Philip Pinkerton is
dead!”
The calm rationale I’d always seen on Edgar’s face vanished and he snarled,
“I killed him!”

The shock on Zola’s face was plain.

Edgar started to pace in front of the patio door. “I can see it your eyes, Adannaya. You never thought I’d do it. You thought I’d sit back and
watch.
That’s all the
Watchers
ever do. Are you really that naïve?” Edgar held up his hands and flexed them into fists. “You who has lived so long? We keep the balance. We destroy what we have to. Pinkerton
can’t
be alive. I tore him to
pieces.”

“You did that?” Zola looked away and closed her eyes. “Ah saw him, after he died, or at least Ah thought he was dead too. But he’s not, Amon. Philip is alive. We fought him tonight.”

Edgar stormed over to the fairies’ chair. “Cara,
Sanatio
of the Sidhe, by word and ward, is what this woman says true?”

The glare on Zola’s face could have lit Edgar’s pants on fire.

“Edgar Amon,” Cara said. She paused and waited until Edgar started to fidget. “Philip Pinkerton lives. My sons have faced him, the Alpha has faced him, and even the vampires have faced him. You should take care to question my friends lest we put your immortality to the test on my blades.” She paused and stared at the Watcher before she said, “By word and ward.”

Edgar took a step back and stared at Cara like she’d grown horns.

Foster took the opportunity to let loose a ragged and impeccably-timed snore.

I smiled despite the tension overpowering the room. “Edgar, Philip’s not dead. Get over it. You didn’t kill him. Whatever you did kill was enough to fool Zola, but Philip’s still alive.”

Edgar leaned back against the kitchen counter at the edge of the room. “No, he can’t be. One of us would have known. How could he have fooled us?”

“Ah don’t know,” Zola said.

Edgar slid the back door open. “I don’t want to believe you, Adannaya. I don’t want to believe any of you, but after seeing the wreckage at Cromlech Glen and hearing the word of the
Sanatio ...
I don’t know what to think.” He stepped outside and started to close the door.

“He’s after something, Edgar. He came after Ashley for her soulstones. No good can come of the dark ones with soulstones.”

“No, Adannaya, you’re right about that. If that devil is still alive, gods help us.” Edgar slid the door closed behind him without another word. We all watched him float away and I wondered when we’d see him again. I had a feeling it would be soon.

“I take it you know our illustrious Watcher,” Maggie said as she walked into the room with the rest of us.

“Yes,” Zola said. “Ah know Edgar. Ah have known Edgar for almost a hundred years.”

“Has he always been such a prick?” Maggie said.

Zola laughed. “Yes, he has. Good at taking orders, not so good at improvising.” She sighed and rubbed the side of her face. “If Edgar fought Philip, Ah don’t think Edgar could actually kill him. He never had that kind of power.”

“Perhaps,” Cara said. “Philip is powerful, but do not underestimate Edgar. What about a simulacrum?”

“Strong enough to fool me?” Zola said. “No, you’d have to use another soul and ... and ...” Zola’s face fell. She put her hands over her eyes. “Oh god, Philip, that’s it. That’s what he did. That wasn’t his body.” She looked up with bloodshot eyes. “The traces of soul Ah felt by that body. It wasn’t an old ghost at all. It was the souls he tore to pieces to make a simulacrum.” Zola’s expression was so sour I was worried she was going to vomit.