Quinn staggered toward a bench in Woodruff Park, a place where anyone in downtown Atlanta could enjoy a peaceful break.
Correction. Where humans could enjoy a break.
Most of the VIPER force was getting run ragged trying to catch demons running the streets like hungry rats on the move. He sat down hard and leaned back, groaning at the relief just sitting down gave his body. He couldn’t stay awake and moving much longer.
Not while he was having episodes of blacking out.
He wasn’t exactly blacking out so much as losing touch with reality. Dangerous for someone with his power. If his head would stop throbbing, he could actually think and figure out a way to fulfill his duty and leave Atlanta at the same time.
And that was so fucking illogical he snorted at it.
There was no way to do both.
He’d always performed his duty from the heart. Would stand and battle against any odds to protect his Belador tribe.
But right now he had no heart. He was as barren inside as a Medb.
That was not an entirely true comparison. Kizira had a heart filled with love.
But Kizira was dead.
Flaevynn, that miserable bitch who’d birthed her, had sent her daughter into a bloody battle and blocked Kizira’s ability to heal herself. Flaevynn had caused her own child to commit suicide when Kizira threw herself in the way of a gryphon diving to attack Quinn.
His sweet Kizira had sacrificed her life for him.
He hadn’t deserved her love.
Then there was Phoedra, a daughter he’d never known about until Kizira’s dying breath. He still couldn’t wrap his head around that, but Kizira had been telling the truth, frantic for him to find their child. But she’d died before she could tell him where she’d hidden Phoedra, which he had no doubt Kizira had done to protect their daughter from the Medb.
A blast of agony swept through him with the force of a tidal wave. His chest throbbed with pain, the deep kind that would never go away.
Phoedra. He’d let down both of them when he failed to protect Kizira. Had failed to realize that Kizira was as sincere as she’d tried to show him during the times she hadn’t been compelled.
He grabbed his head, clamping his hands so tight his skull should crack. Kizira’s face faded in and out in his mind’s eye, calling to him, crying and begging him to find their daughter.
“Quinn.”
He sat up at the sharp order. “Tzader. What are you doing here?”
Tzader’s holographic image hovered next to the bench. Quinn knew Tzader could project himself from one location to another as a hologram, but as far as he knew, Tzader had only traveled this way to visit Brina in the castle. Tzader’s black T-shirt and jeans were his normal attire, but now his skin lacked the deep luster of walnut wood. He was still powerfully built, but his face had sharp edges and his eyes were almost black from lack of food and sleep.
Quinn could relate to what Tzader was going through, but Quinn hadn’t been much of a friend before leaving Treoir. What caused me to act like such a bloody asshole when Tzader asked for my help?
Tzader took a minute then cleared his throat. “Before I tell you why I’m here, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry about what happened on Treoir, Quinn. I don’t know what got into me.”
“I was just thinking how I was the one out of line,” Quinn admitted. “I don’t know what was up with me either.”
“Are you any better?”
Quinn gave him a grim smile. “You mean do I still want to kill my best friend? That passed as soon as I left Treoir.”
Tzader frowned at that. “I’m still battling with my temper. You think something on the island caused us to rip into each other?”
Sitting up and thinking on that, Quinn said, “You know what, I wasn’t hostile until I went with you to see if I could do anything about Brina.” He looked up at Tzader. “Has anyone else acted aggressive?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. No, wait. I take that back. Garwyli tried to help, then he and Macha got into a shouting match.”
“Garwyli? Older-than-Moses Garwyli?” Quinn shook his head, then stopped and rolled the sequence of events leading up to their confrontation back through his mind. “The minute I touched the hologram, it was like something bled into my veins and released all this aggression. I was better outside, but I was still struggling with control.”
Tzader stared off. “Sounds a lot like what happened to me.”
“Has anyone else been in the room with the hologram?”
“Just me, the druid and Macha. And Evalle, but only for a few minutes.”
“Did Garwyli actually touch the hologram?”
Tzader nodded as he thought. “Yes.”
“But no one else, not even that guard Allyn has touched it?”
“Hell no. I won’t let Allyn step beyond the doorway.”
Quinn let Tzader’s sharp tone pass, because he believed he had their control issue figured out. “It might be the Noirre majik clinging to the hologram. I touched it and tried to enter the hologram with my mind. It was cold and had me on defense within seconds.”
Tzader’s gaze drifted away from Quinn in concentration. “Damn. You may be right. I put my hands on the hologram, too, right after you walked out. Now that I think back, it was weird how when you first came into her solarium I was feeling bad about asking so much of you when you were in no shape to do anything, but I put my hands on the hologram when you walked out and I went to major pissed off in seconds. I was furious that you had quit trying to help Brina.” Tzader washed a hand over his face. “That’s fucked up, bud.”
“Tell me about it,” Quinn muttered then nudged the conversation back to Tzader’s unexpected visit. “You must have a strong reason to come here in this form. What is it?”
“Something’s up with the Medb.”
That drew a dark chuckle from Quinn. “You don’t know the half of it. We’ve been spotting warlocks and witches all over the city.”
“Really? What’re you doing about it?”
Quinn’s temper boiled for a moment at the insinuation that he hadn’t been performing his duty, but now that he understood where the aggression was originating, he forced himself to settle down. “You don’t understand. The Medb have actually been helping out.” He took in Tzader’s shock and nodded. “Now you’re getting an idea of what’s going on. We have Medb running around at the same time that someone has dumped at least eight demons here. Those are only the reported demon sightings. I’m betting there are more.”
“Macha was called to a major coalition meeting and she thought it was about them booting us from VIPER, but–”
That brought Quinn to his feet. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, she thinks VIPER wants to cut the Beladors loose because we’re becoming dead weight that’s drawing the attention of everything evil. I’m thinking maybe it’s about this Medb outbreak of witches and warlocks. She left me in charge of Treoir with orders that she did not want an issue with VIPER right now while the Beladors are in a crisis.”
Quinn had bad news for Tzader, because he’d already caused an issue with VIPER. Once he shared that incident, Tzader would understand why Quinn might just be the worst choice for acting Maistir. He quipped, “If that’s the case, Macha will probably go postal when she hears about Medb saving humans from demons.”
“A postal goddess. Just what this clusterfuck needs. What do you mean saving humans? Did the Medb show up at the wrong place and time then the demons went after them?”
“No, I mean the Medb are actively hunting demons and making kills, clearly before a demon can touch a human.”
“That makes no sense,” Tzader muttered. “Got any idea who the demons belong to?”
“I can’t get close enough to one to determine an origin and, from what I’ve heard, neither has any other Belador. The Nightstalkers are hidden, probably terrified by so much dark activity in the city. The minute a demon shows its face in public, there’s no Belador close enough to deal with it, but out of the blue a Medb witch or warlock shows up, nukes the demon then disappears. They have to be using a cloaking spell because humans are not noticing, but there are always plenty of nonhuman witnesses to vouch for what happened.”
“What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but Sen is getting testy with me.”
Tzader didn’t snap at him this time. His silence was more damning, because Quinn knew his friend was biting his tongue to keep from making things worse. Quinn owed him the truth. “My control is in tatters. I managed to not kill a troll that was stalking a human, but I screwed up the mind of a Medb.”
“That doesn’t sound like a problem.”
“Depends on how you look at the final outcome. I should have killed the troll, but I was starting to wonder just how dangerous it was to leave me in your position.” Quinn cast a glance at Tzader who remained motionless so Quinn continued. “I grabbed the troll before he got close to the human, did some creative therapy and sent him on his way. He shouldn’t harm anything worse than a fish or frog at this point since that’s what he now believes his favorite meals are, but neither will he be able to carry on a conversation with other trolls.”
“Still not seeing the downside.”
That was Tzader, Quinn’s friend all the way to the bloody end of the world. Quinn had to make him understand just how desperate the Beladors were if they left him as acting Maistir. He explained, “I caught a Medb warlock and intended to bring him in for questioning. I was going to charge him with having knowledge of who dropped the demons in Atlanta, plus I recognized him from a raid we did in Charleston.”
“The one where those filthy warlocks were using that young girl’s body to cook a Noirre aphrodisiac spell?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck him then. Hope you killed him.”
“I did, in a way. The arrest was going fine until he started yelling that it wasn’t his fault. He’d been compelled.”
Tzader slapped a hand over his eyes. “Ah, shit.”
“That pretty much covers what happened. I heard that word and all I could see was Kizira dying in my arms because that whore Flaevynn had compelled her daughter not to use her own healing skills. I. Lost. It. I grabbed the warlock’s mind and clutched it so hard with mine his brain literally exploded inside his head.”
“I’m having a hard time digging up any remorse for a warlock. Compelled or not, that prick deserved to die.”
“He wandered around in a circle while I tried to pull myself back under control. I looked up just as a MARTA bus hit him.”
Tzader frowned and looked around.
“It wasn’t here. It was over by Centennial Park. Had to call in Sen to clean it up and deal with anyone who saw it since there was no chance of getting someone with Atlanta PD who was Belador.”
“What you did was ...”
“Unacceptable,” Quinn finished for him. “Sen’s furious. He keeps hearing how the Medb are dealing with the demons and the Beladors are crippled power-wise. He reminded me that as acting Maistir I’m supposed to contain a situation and he threatened to take me before the Tribunal if I caused another public scene like that.”
Tzader studied Quinn for several seconds. “What’d you do?”
“I didn’t try to kill Sen, if that’s what you mean.” Quinn gave him a half-serious smile. “I was actually starting to get a grip after I released that warlock. That might be the only thing that saved one of us.” With the rumor mill purporting Sen to have powers akin to a god or demi-god, Quinn had a reasonable idea of who would have won that short battle.
“Man, I hate doing this to you,” Tzader admitted.
“It’s okay. I’m just disappointed in not performing better.”
“Give me a break, Quinn. You just lost the woman you love and you haven’t even had time to grieve her.” Tzader paused. “Have you decided where to bury her yet?”
“No. I took Kizira to a friend of mine who deals with our kind and told him I’d be back soon. I ... wanted a little more time before I took that last step.”
“I understand. Tell me when you’re ready and I’ll be there.”
Quinn swallowed the thick lump in his throat. He wanted to tell Tzader about Phoedra now that Quinn could carry a decent conversation, but he didn’t think he could say her name without breaking down. He said, “I know you’ll be there when I ask. Now, is anything else going on with Treoir?”
“First, can you continue standing in for me?”
“Yes. I’m okay for now.” That tasted like a lie, but Tzader needed to hear those words.
“Thanks. I hate asking this of you, but you’re the only one I trust to be Maistir in my place. I’ll take over as soon as I can, which might be sooner than I expected.”
Quinn stood to face Tzader. “Why? Has something happened to Brina ... or Lanna?”
The weight bearing down on Tzader’s shoulders showed in his face. “Not a word on either one yet, but I’m not leaving until we get them both back or ...”
“I understand. Just tell me what you need.”
“That’s why I projected my hologram to reach you. I don’t know what all Evalle is doing, but I couldn’t risk going to her and interrupting anything she had in the works that might lead to Storm. I need her to find him like yesterday, because our oldest druids have no idea what to do. We’re running short on time.”
“I thought she had two days left.”
“That was an estimate based on how often a piece of the hologram disappeared. But parts are starting to vanish faster.”
“Bloody hell. What can I do?”
Tzader’s smile was sad and tired. “You’re doing it, old friend, and I will never forget this, but I need you to have Trey locate Evalle since I don’t think she has a cell phone unless you gave her one.”
“No, my head was too far up my ass to think about anyone else when we got back to Atlanta,” Quinn muttered. “I’ll call Trey right away. How do I get word back to you?”
“It’s not good news if I come back to Atlanta before Evalle and Storm arrive at Treoir. Just have Sen teleport those two as soon as you can. If Sen threatens you again–”
Quinn held up his hand. “I won’t allow that to happen. I’ll make nice with every Medb if that’s what it takes to keep peace with Sen until Brina and Lanna are safe at the castle.”
“Once that happens, the Belador power will be a force to reckon with once again and anyone who has taken advantage of this vulnerable time will pay dearly.” Tzader’s eyebrow lifted with a thought. “You know what, part of the problem you’re having with your control may be due to Brina being out of the castle.”
“I had considered that. I hope you’re right.”
“I need to go. I’ve never risked projecting my body unless I was locked in my car, and it’s warded. Everyone should be outside protecting the castle, but that prick Allyn keeps coming by to check on the hologram.”
“Do you really think Brina was going to marry him?”
“No.” Tzader shook his head and made a sound of disgust. “That was all a ploy. Macha was behind it.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“It was Macha’s idea of motivating us to figure it out. Tell you more later.”
“Very well. I hope not to see you again until you have news of their return.”
Tzader disappeared.
Quinn used his cell phone to call Trey and gave him the message to pass along to Evalle.
Trey said, “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from her. It might take a few tries, but I should be able to connect to her mind. I was able to speak to her telepathically earlier and she was able to reply. She’s impacted less than full-blooded Beladors.”
“Very well. Keep me informed.”
Quinn had closed his phone when he caught sight of two suspicious characters a block away. They were dressed as tourists in casual clothes, but didn’t move with the easy strides of humans.
He might have dismissed that until one of them glanced around, giving Quinn a chance to see the yellow eyes of a Medb.
Had the Medb released the demons?
If so, the fastest way to find out who had dumped killers into the city would be through those warlocks. Either way, catching that pair would be quite useful if Quinn could show a little restraint this time.