Bittersweet (16 page)

 

 

This time it was my turn to wait in silence. Was he going to explode in anger or jump at the offer? Of course emotional extremes were more my thing than his. His reactions were typically levelheaded and controlled. As the silence thickened between us I forced myself to look at him. He had a strange expression… unreadable yet unsettling.

“He told you he could do all of those things?”

I nodded, trying to decipher what he was thinking. Feeling. All I could sense was the tornado turning my insides. I'd never felt so vulnerable. This didn't have to be a defining moment in our relationship, and yet, in many ways it was.

Adrius narrowed his gaze. “It must be a powerful stone to afford someone of non-magical blood such power. A mere human, if that's what he really is, wouldn't be able to pull off something like that on his own.”

“He's working with others. There's an organization keeping watch on the fey who pass through the veil. He claims they're looking out for the safety of humanity.”

“And you believe him?”

His question made me pause. The truth was I didn't really know what I believed anymore. I was going purely on blind instinct. “I don't entirely trust him, or his motives,” I answered after some thought. “But he knows how to find my father and can get us into the Shadow Court safely. I doubt even Zanthiel could pull that off. And if there's a chance he's telling the truth, then there's hope. For us.”

Time to lay it on the line. The dam burst and the tsunami of words I'd been holding back burst out. “I know this is all new for you, Adrius, but I've had time to think about it. I'm more than willing to give up what I am. These powers mean nothing to me. They've brought more problems than they're worth. I'd happily trade them for the chance to have a normal life with you. But I don't expect you to feel the same. And I'm not asking you to. I never would. Just tell me, ‘cause I can't stand not knowing. What are you thinking?” I'd forgotten to breathe, so I gasped a deep breath.

Adrius scrubbed a hand through his hair, eying me speculatively. He didn't say a word.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and then back. “Okay… say something resembling anything.”

“I'm thinking…” he finally said.

Emotions flashed in his eyes too rapidly to decipher before they clouded over, impassive and unreadable once more.

The doorbell rang. When I answered there was no one there. No sign of who might have rung it. I was about to head back in, when a yellow envelope caught my eye. It was on the ground, partially hidden by the doormat. Inside was a note, handwritten in black ink.
Your great aunt is in hiding and with good reason. I suggest you find her before they do. After that it will be too late.

Now we had a plan. We find Camilla. Connect with Peterson and get him to send us safely back to Faery. Find my father and return with the amulet, and with any luck my healing powers restored. Then we lure Venus back through the veil before Peterson's organization seals it permanently with her safely locked on the other side. Right. It sounded impossible. It sounded crazy. There were a million and one ways things could go south, but I couldn't focus on any of them right now. This was the plan. It was all we had. It had to work.

Returning to Adrius, I unfolded the note from the anonymous and unseen deliverer and gave it to him. The return address was the same address I'd gone to with Abby and Brianne a few weeks before. The one where we'd found Camilla's scarf.

We exchanged a silent look and without another word, we grabbed our coats and headed for his car.

It was a long drive, somehow longer than last time. I stared at the bleak scenery as it rolled by. What was she doing hiding out here of all places? And who was she hiding from? Questions swirled one after the other until Adrius put a hand on my knee.

“We're here,” he said gently.

I chewed my thumbnail, then twisted in my seat to face him. “You still haven't told me what you think. I mean of Peterson's offer.”

“I'm thinking… we need more information.” His tone was dark and resolute.

Something inside me fell. I swallowed. “Right, yeah of course,” I said around the ball in my throat.

With warm fingers, he held my chin, tilting my face up to his. “And, I was thinking I'd give up anything, if it meant I could be with you.”

I'm not sure but I think the sigh of relief I exhaled was audible. I didn't care. This was all I needed to know for now. I smiled. “Are you sure? I mean, it would be permanent. You'd never be able to return home.”

“This is my home now, Lorelei. If I could stay here now without the aid of magic, I'd never leave your side.”

The warmth of his touch flooded my face, spilling down into the rest of me and I threw my arms around him.

“Are you sure this is what you want? It's an equally large commitment for you,” he said. “I've had several decades to live different experiences. You might one day prefer… a change.”

“Not a chance,” I mumbled into his chest as he stoked my hair.

“So she says now.” His words were muffled as he nuzzled the top of my head. “Now, let's go find your aunt and see if this guy is actually worth his word.”

We climbed out of the car and faced the same decrepit building with its broken glass doors.

“You still sure about this? Something seems off about this place.” He frowned at the smell he could no doubt already pick up on even before entering.

“You have no idea how off. But this is what the note said.” I shrugged, then unbuckled my seatbelt. The car door was already opened for me by the time I'd picked up my bag.

“So what's your plan, Lorelei?” He had a tight grip on my hand as we headed toward the abandoned building.

I stopped walking and looked up at him. “Well, for starters, I need to go in alone. And before you protest, I have to remind you of what Peterson said. That might be why he was a no-show last time.”

“I don't care what he said. There's no way I'm letting you go in there alone.”

“I'll be fine. Really.”

He huffed. “I've heard that before.”

“I have to do this. It's the only way.”

He wasn't happy about it, but he gave a reluctant nod and released my hand. “I'm giving you five minutes then I'm coming in after you.”

I didn't tell him, but it gave me a great deal of comfort knowing that. I stepped over the broken glass doors, through the haze of dust into the place I was going to find my great aunt. But unlike our last visit, this time, the front desk wasn't vacant. A pair of amber eyes gleaming in the dim light peered at me, moving steadily closer until a full unsightly form appeared.

I froze. This wasn't just any derelict.

“Mmm. Something yummy,” it said in a low hiss.

A goblin? Here, in my world. This was a first. I stared, blinking to refocus in the dust he'd stirred with his movement. Until now, the only supernatural beings who'd entered my world were Adrius and Zanthiel. And of course Venus. But they were all here because of me in one way or another. This was different. Goblins and other lower creatures weren't supposed to be able to pass through the veil. Yet here one was, staring me down while black froth dripped from its jagged teeth.

I stepped to the side to evade him, but the creature skirted around me, so I couldn't pass. His glamour would have fooled most into believing he was human, not an attractive human, but human nonetheless. I could see otherwise. With the costume of magic stripped away the gangly creature resembled the goblins more than it did the fey. He had the body of a human male, but something about his appearance… his black pupilless eyes, the pasty shade of his skin, the overpowering stench of rotting leaves… Perhaps he was once a normal human and had been tortured and twisted for centuries into something nearly undefinable. He wouldn't be the first, nor the last. Unless Peterson's people got their way and they managed to eradicate the co-mingling of fey and humans. I didn't want to think about how they planned to pull that off.

“I'm not here for you. I'm looking for someone.”

“The one they call Camilla, yesss?”

I stared hard at the creature. What did he know about all of this?

“So, which room is she being held in?” I tried to sound persuasive, authoritative… but that was a mind-altering device best left to the elves. I was more than capable of fending off a goblin, but finding one here in the back alley had thrown me more than a little. Plus I wasn't exactly armed. But we had agreed, I'd go to meet with him, before we knew the him I'd be meeting was a goblin from the Unseelie Shadow Court. He'd claimed to know of Camilla's whereabouts, and I needed to find her. I needed to get answers about what was going on once and for all, and with any luck find a way to prevent the veil from sealing. And if things went according to plan, I'd be able to break the curse binding Adrius to Venus and free everyone from her wrath.

“I'll tell you which room whelp, after I gets what I's wants.”

I pulled out an envelope of bills. Not even sure how much Adrius had put in there.
Enough to make most human miscreants salivate
he'd said dryly. Not sure what a goblin would think.

I had practiced enough spells with Abby to know I could conjure one to weaken this creature, but I had to be in touching distance. Not the best plan. I stepped back, trying to stay out of his reach, but my back hit a brick wall behind me. To my left there was a chain link fence and the locked door of the warehouse to my right. He glided toward me, moving steadily closer until his chest pressed against mine.

Glancing at the envelope with eyes as black as tar he sneered. "What I want, is you," he said urgently. “Just need a lil taste, lovely.”

I sucked in a gasp of air. “You don't want me,” I assured him, shoving at his caved-in chest. “Even goblins find me unsavory.” Craning my head to the side I searched wildly for something,
anything
to double as a weapon.

“I'll make it quick.” He sniffed me, then licked my face, running his sandpapery tongue up my cheek. “I can be gentle,” he hissed as I shoved against his chest. I brought my leg up to knee him in the groin, but his hand snaked down to push it back in place. Curse their superhuman strength. The foul stench of him made it hard to get any air, and the more I struggled, the less oxygen I had.

“Ah-ah, I thought we agreed this was going to be nice.”

His knee slid between my thighs. Panic raced through me. I started to call for help, but his hand slapped over my mouth, slamming the back of my head against the brick. Splinters of pain shot through my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, to dull the ache. I bit down hard on his fingers, nearly gagging from the bitter taste. He hissed and pulled his hand away from my mouth and clamped it around my throat.

“Listen, just let me go and you won't get hurt,” I rasped through his charred fingers choking off my air. “You don't want to hurt me. Let go and you can have what you want.”

I felt something stir beneath my skin. A slow simmer that grew to a raging boil in a flash. With a burst of force, I put my hands on its throat. The creature began to cough, choking and sputtering black phlegm. He staggered back away from me. I ran toward the door, but he recovered and flew in front of me to block my path. “I will hurt you,” I said. My voice sounded dark, foreign, and when I spoke I felt cold winds swirl around us.

The goblin didn't seem to notice. “Shhhhh, sweet one,” he cooed, burying his pointed nose in my hair, and sniffing me again. “Mmmm…” Gobs of saliva dripped over his chapped lips. “It won't hurt at all.”

“That's where you're wrong.” Adrius' voice filled the darkness and he plunged a flaming blade into the goblin's back. “It's going to hurt a lot.”

I shrieked as the scorched remains of his body withered to the ground.

Gasping, I stared at the smoky corpse. “You know, I could have handled him. He was about to tell me what I needed to know.” My chest was still heaving.

“Really?” he raised his brows while sheathing his knife. “Before or after he violated you.” His boots stepped over the ashes smoldering on the chipped concrete.

I shook my head, but didn't reply. This was a losing battle. I knew by the fierce look in his eyes there was nothing to discuss...my safety, real or imagined, was never up for debate.

I brushed the remains of the goblin's flaked skin from my hands and clothes, shuddering inwardly. “You came prepared.” I pointed to his sword.

He nodded. “Always.”

“Looks like magic is working for everyone more and more. How did he get here anyway? I thought creatures from the Wylde weren't supposed to be able to cross the veil.”

“They're not. But this isn't just any building,” Adrius said, surveying the dusty abode. “This is a Leyline.”

I frowned up at him. “A what?”

“A portal. Between your world and Faery. It's a link much like the veil I took you through in the forest. The one that leads into Mythlandria.” Guarded, he glanced around. “The Leylines were all closed centuries ago after the war. Only wizards can use them now.”

That goblin was no wizard. I squinted into the murky building. I had thought the forest was the only porthole between our worlds.

The far door at the end of the corridor was propped open. Adrius sniffed the air and made a face at something my all-too-human nose couldn't detect. He insisted on entering first, but I followed right on his heels, determined to see for myself what had become of Camilla. Taking one step forward into the dingy warehouse, Adrius stopped. “Lorelei, wait.”

It was too late, I stepped around him into the room… and screamed, before his hand clapped firmly over my mouth.

It was a scene as dark and depraved as the Shadow Court of Faery. Only this wasn't Faery. This was my world. And it had made a victim of someone in my family. Pinned to the wall with thorn-laced vines in the darkest corner of the room, swayed the chalky, lifeless remains of my great aunt. One word was written in writhing moss stained with Camilla's blood…