| |
“I’M SORRY I TOOK SO long baby.” Sig kissed me as soon as I got in the truck, hugging me tightly, like he needed it.
“What’s wrong honey?” I searched his distressed eyes. “You’ve been gone all day, what happened.” I noticed he had Gage in the back seat.
“Apparently he’s a father.” Gage half snickered. “And to a grown half-Vampire.”
“What?” I turned in my seat to see if Gage was drunk again, but his face was stone sober. “I don’t understand?”
“Greisen Calder is my son. I had a bit of a fling with his mother back in the summer of ninety-four and it would seem that I didn’t pull out fast enough at some point.”
“Greisen? Is your son?” I drew out the words, taking them in. I knew about his Dragon side. He’d shown it to me, but he hadn’t told me about Sig being his father, I wondered why. “What does that even mean?”
“Hell if I know. I know it means my life is a fuckload more complicated now.” He ran his hand through his honey blonde hair, messing it about, blowing a large puff of stressed smoke.
“Wanna go easy on the smoke, papa, some of us like breathing.” Gage coughed, waving his hands around the space of the truck.
I reached out, taking Sig’s hand in mine. “What are we gonna do now?”
“I’m taking the pup here up to the Pepper Pot to meet Tawny for a meeting with Kendall, then you and me are going on a little expedition. I saw a woman today at your job that I want to try and track down. I’m hoping you may be able to help me ferret her out.”
I nodded, giving his hand a squeeze. “Alright honey, I’ll do what I can.”
***
WE DROPPED GAGE OFF at the Pepper Pot for his meeting, and then headed into town to the Groove Brew. When we arrived, something was odd. I hopped out of the car and was hit with a scent I shouldn’t have. “Mary?” I whispered. “There’s no way, she’s supposed to be with the Leanan Sidhe.”
“Who, with the who?”
“Mary, my little sister... Her scent is all over this place. She’s supposed to be training with the Unseelie Court though.”
“Is she about yay high with ultra-pop red hair and bird blue eyes?”
“That’s her!” I chirped. “I don’t understand what she’s doing here.”
“She was spouting her mouth off is what she was doing.”
“I was telling truths actually.” Mary stepped out of the darkness, wearing black leather pants and what looked like a Kevlar lined corset top. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and braided. She looked like she was ready for a fight as she fingered the sais on her hips. In the darkness beyond her, several inches above her head, were a pair of glowing yellow orbs with vertical slits, that I realized were someone’s eyes. She wasn’t alone.
“Who do you have with you?”
“Oh, a Guardian... But he likes to remain hidden unless he is needed. Is he needed, sister? Are you a danger to me with that Dragon beside you? The one whom I cannot bend?”
“I’m no puppet to be mastered by a woman such as you,” Sig spat, lunging forward, but I grabbed him, holding him back. The figure in the dark didn’t move, didn’t speak, Hell, it didn’t blink!
“Why are you here, Mary?”
“To spread the Unseelie message, of course. The Vampires are on their way out, it’s time for the Courts to rule. The Underdark will rise and then those who wish for it shall have a place in this world that is to come.”
“At what price, Faery Witch?” Sig growled, pulling his weapon. A single edged Katana with a bone handle manifested in his hand from his spine. He pulled from me, launching toward her.
“No!” I screamed as the figure broke its place in the darkness. I had been sure it was my brother Adrien, I couldn’t have been more wrong.