Darkness Splintered (DA 6) (2 page)

Sable was Mirri’s mom. I’d met her only once, but I’d seen her often enough on TV. The woman was a cooking phenomenon, with two TV shows behind her – the repeats of which still pulled good ratings – and a slew of books on not just cooking, but herbs and natural healing. Mirri’s dad, Kade, had worked with my aunt Riley at the Directorate years ago, but had unfortunately been killed when Mirri was little more than a baby. It had been Sable who had looked after his herd and kept them all together when he’d died.

“After the events of the last week or so, sleeping the rest of my life away certainly has its appeal.” I couldn’t help the grim edge in my voice. “Why the hell are we at Mirri’s mom’s rather than home?”

“Because we figured a change of scenery might get you out of your funk. You coming down for lunch?”

“Funk” was definitely the
polite
description of what I’d been through the past few days. “Lunch would be good,” I said, even as my stomach rumbled rather loudly.

Ilianna’s eyebrows rose at the noise. I grinned and walked down the rest of the stairs, only to be enveloped in a hug so fierce I swear she was trying to squeeze the last drop of air from my lungs.

“God,” she whispered. “It’s good to have you back.”

I blinked back the sting of tears and returned her hug. “I’m sorry, Ilianna. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just —”

“Needed to cut loose a little,” she finished for me. “I understand. More than anyone else ever could.”

It was gently said, but nevertheless a reminder that I wasn’t the only one who’d been played and abused. Guilt swirled through me and I pulled back, my gaze searching hers.

“Are you —”

“Yes,” she said, interrupting before I could finish. “As I said in the hospital, my pregnancy was meant to be, even if the method of conception was both unforeseen
and
unwelcome. But we are
not
discussing me and my pregnancy right now.”

I half smiled. No, we were discussing me and mine. “I’ve a feeling I’m about to be told off.”

“Not told off. Just… warned.”

Tension rolled through me. “About what?”

She hesitated. “While I understand your need to cut loose after everything that has happened recently, others do not, and they are looking for you. Specifically, one person. And she’s not someone any of us should piss off.”

“Hunter.” I practically spat the word.

Madeline Hunter was the head of the Directorate, a top-ranking member of the high vampire council, and a monster clothed in vampire skin. She was also, unfortunately, my boss, thanks to an agreement I’d made the day I’d scattered my mother’s ashes.

Of course, that agreement technically no longer stood, because I’d been the one to find and kill the man who had murdered my mother, not Hunter. That man had been my Aedh lover, Lucian, who had managed to fool me in more ways than I was willing to think about. Not only had he been responsible for my mother’s murder, but he’d also been involved in the theft of the keys.

And, as a parting gift, he’d kidnapped and impregnated Ilianna, and had tried to do the same to me. Thankfully, I’d already been carrying Azriel’s child by that time.

Ilianna grimaced. “Yeah. Tao’s fobbed her off a couple of times now, but she’s getting pretty scary.”

Scary was a normal state for Hunter, but I certainly didn’t want to piss her off any more than necessary. Not after what I’d seen her do to the dark spirit who’d murdered her lover.

Still, it was decidedly odd that she didn’t know where I was. “Why would she be hassling Tao, or anyone else, for that matter? She knows
exactly
what I’m doing every single minute of the day, thanks to the fucking Cazadors.”

Cazadors were the high vampire council’s kill squad, and they’d been following me astrally for weeks, reporting my every move back to Hunter.

“In this case, she doesn’t, because they
can’t
follow you here.” Ilianna tucked her arm through mine and escorted me down the hall.

I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve
spelled
the place?”

She nodded. “Mom found a spell that automatically redirects astral travelers every time they approach the spell’s defined area.”

Just
astral travelers, not Aedh, I guessed. Which was logical, given that the only spell we had to keep the Aedh out was the one we were using around our home, and
that
had originated from my father. Which meant my father and the Raziq could get to me here. I shivered and tried to ignore the premonition that I’d be confronting both far sooner than I’d want.

Still, some protection was better than nothing, and at least we could plan our next move without the Cazadors passing every little detail on to Hunter. “There wouldn’t happen to be a mobile version of that spell, would there?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Of course not. Why on earth would fate throw me a lifeline like that? “Then I guess I’d better give the bitch a call ASAP.”

And pray like hell she didn’t have another job for me. I really didn’t need to be chasing after escapees from hell right now – especially, I thought bleakly, when chasing hell-kind was all I had to look forward to in the long centuries after my death.

Besides, I needed to find the sorcerer and snatch the second key back. While he might not know which one of the items he’d stolen it was, there was nothing stopping him from taking them all to hell’s gate and testing them out one by one.

And while my father and the Raziq had been relatively patient so far when it came to my lack of progress on the key front, I doubted that would last. They’d already threatened to destroy those I loved if I didn’t find the keys. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to actually kill someone close to me, just to prove how serious they were.

As if tearing
me
apart to place the tracker in my heart hadn’t already proved that.

“Calling her should definitely be a high priority,” Ilianna agreed. “But come and eat first. You look like death warmed up.”

No surprise there, given I nearly had been. “So what’s stopping Hunter or the Cazadors from
physically
finding us?”

“She probably could, given enough time. While the spell is designed to confuse astral senses, they’d still have a general idea of location.”

“But all she has to do is hack into my phone —”

“Which was left at home,” Ilianna interrupted. “Along with anything else that could be used to track you. We’re not that dumb.”

No, they weren’t. And Hunter was undoubtedly hassling Tao simply because she couldn’t get to anyone else. Even
she
had more sense than to contact Aunt Riley. I might not be related by blood to Riley, but she and her pack were the only family I had left. They would not have reacted nicely to the news that Hunter was after me. “Knowing Hunter as well as I now do, I’m surprised she hasn’t done more than merely threaten him.”

Hell, she probably considered a spot of bloody torture a good way to start the day. Although, given that Tao was rapidly losing the battle with the fire elemental he’d consumed, maybe I should be hoping the bitch
did
attempt to torture him. Crispy fried Hunter was a sight I wouldn’t mind seeing.

“She’s given him until tonight to find you, so there’s time. You need to regain some strength before you run off to confront that psycho bitch.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” I muttered. “Especially now that I have to do it alone.”

Ilianna hesitated, then said quietly, “Look, I don’t know what actually went on between you and Azriel, but —”

Something twisted deep inside me. Pain rose, a knife-sharp wave that threatened to engulf me.
No,
I reminded myself fiercely,
you can’t go there
. Not just yet. Not so soon after waking. I needed at least
some
time to mull over the implications of my actions by myself.

“Ilianna,” I said, when I could, “leave it alone.”

“But he wouldn’t have left you —”

“He did, because he had no choice. I banished him.”
How
I’d actually managed that I had no idea. I mean, he was a reaper, a Mijai, and me telling him to leave me alone had never worked before now. So why the change?

“Why the hell would you do that? Damn it, Ris, you need —”

“Ilianna,” I warned, the edge deeper in my voice this time.

She drew in a breath, then released it slowly. “When you want to talk about it, I’ll be here. But just remember one thing – he’s not human. He’s energy, not flesh, and he doesn’t operate on the same emotional or intellectual levels as we do. But whatever he did, he did for a reason. A
good
reason. And no matter how absolute or final his actions may seem to you, it may not be a truth in his world.”

“The truth,” I replied, bitterness in my voice, “is that the keys were always first and foremost to him.”

And I wanted more than that. Wanted him to feel about me the way I felt about him. But was love an emotion reapers were even capable of?

I blinked at the thought. I
loved
him. Not just cared for him, but
loved
him.

When the hell had
that
happened?

I’d spent far more time with Lucian than I ever had with Azriel… I paused at the thought. No, that wasn’t true. Not really. I may have spent more time
sexually
with Lucian, but for every other part of the day – and night – Azriel had been by my side. Somewhere, somehow, he’d snuck past my guard and stolen my heart. How that was even possible when we were still little more than strangers, I have no idea. It wasn’t like love and I were on familiar terms. Quite the opposite really, given the only other man I’d loved had been Jak – the werewolf reporter who was one of the people we’d pulled in to help with our key search – and
that
had turned out to be a complete and utter disaster.

Obviously, my heart had no damn common sense when it came to picking men. Or it just liked to be broken.

Ilianna said, “I would not be so sure of that —”

“Ilianna,” I warned yet again.

She sighed, then pushed open the door and ushered me through. The twin scents of curry and baking bread hit, making my mouth water and my stomach rumble even louder than before.

The room itself was a kitchen bigger than our entire apartment. The country-style cabinets wrapped around three of the four walls, providing massive amounts of storage and preparation space, and there were six ovens and four stovetops. A huge wooden table that would have seated at least thirty people dominated the middle of the room, and it was at this that Sable, Mirri, and two other women sat.

They glanced around as we entered. Sable smiled and rose. In either human or horse form she was stunningly beautiful, with black skin and brown eyes that missed very little. Mirri, a mahogany bay when in horse form, had taken after her dad.

“Risa, so glad you’re recovered.” Sable kissed both my cheeks, then stood back and examined me somewhat critically. “Although you do need some condition on you. You, my girl, are entirely too thin.”

I smiled. “Werewolves do tend to be on the lean side.”

“Not this lean, I’ll wager. The ladies and I are just about to go out, but there’s a curry in the oven and the bread should be done in about five minutes.”

“Thank you —”

She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “Ilianna is family now, and her family is my family. So please, don’t be thanking me for something we’d do for anyone in the herd.”

I smiled. At least Mirri’s mom had accepted her relationship with Ilianna. The same couldn’t be said of Ilianna’s parents – although I personally thought they
would
come round if they actually knew about it. But Ilianna refused to even tell them she was gay.

Sable collected her coat and bag from the back of one of the chairs; then she and the two women retreated out the glass sliding door.

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Mirri. “That felt like a deliberate retreat.”

Mirri grabbed a couple of tea towels and rose. “I told them you and Ilianna need some alone time for a war council when you woke up.”

“War council? Sorry, but whatever I do next —”

“You’re
not
doing alone.” Ilianna began setting the table for the three of us. “Azriel may be gone, but Tao and I are still here. And we’re a part of this now, Risa, whether you like it or not.”

I didn’t like. Not at all. She and Tao had been through enough because of me and this damn quest. I wasn’t about to put them through anything else. But I also knew
that
tone of voice. It was no use arguing – not that
that
ever stopped me from trying.

“The first thing I have to do is find the damn sorcerer who stole the key, and that’s not something I want you involved with. It’s too dangerous, Ilianna.”

“Maybe.” Ilianna gave me a somewhat severe look. “But the Brindle is more than capable of taking care of a dark sorcerer. There aren’t that many in Melbourne, you know, and they’d be aware of all of them.”

The Brindle was the home of all witch knowledge, both ancient and new. Ilianna’s mom was one of the custodians there, and Ilianna was powerful enough to have become one – and in fact had started the training when she was younger. She’d walked away for reasons she refused to discuss, but if the predictions of the head witch, Kiandra, were to be believed, Ilianna would one day not only finish that training, but her daughter would save the Brindle itself.

“Yeah,” I said, “but given Lucian was probably working with him, he’ll know about my connection to both you and the Brindle.” I grimaced, then added, “I’d bet my ass he’s taken steps to ensure you – and they – can’t find him.”

“But it would take
major
magic to achieve something like that, and it would create a ‘hot spot’ that could be traced.”

Maybe that sort of ruling would apply to Earth-based magic, but would it apply to magic that was Aedh sourced? And even if it did, that still meant dragging more people into the search, and I really didn’t want to do that unless absolutely necessary. It was just too damn dangerous.