Courting Darkness (5 page)

As Delilah and Shade pulled in, a flicker of regret skittered across his face but disappeared so rapidly I thought I might be imagining it. Chase was dating Sharah now—the elfin medic at the FH-CSI—the Faerie Human Crime Scene Investigation unit. They seemed casually happy together.

“Thanks for coming,” he said. “I know you must be tired from your trip.” He searched my face. “How’s Iris?”

I shrugged. “Better than when we left. But it was hard—it was rough on her. It was difficult on all of us. The Northlands are a terrifying and harsh place. And I kept worrying that we might run into Hyto. Speaking of which . . .” Chase had to know. Hyto could wreak havoc on the city. “Chase, Hyto’s hanging around here.”

Chase gave me a sharp look. “Smoky’s father? Here? In Seattle?” A faint look of bewilderment skittered across his face. Or perhaps it was denial. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“I wish I were. Apparently, he’s stirring up trouble. And we know he’s out to get Smoky and me. We just got the word tonight. I don’t mind telling you, Chase, I’m scared spitless. Dragons are dangerous—all of them. Even Smoky. And Shade, who’s only half dragon. But a dragon with a grudge . . . Hyto threatened me when we met. I know he’s more than capable of carrying out those threats.”

Shuddering, I let it drop. There was nothing more to say. Chase couldn’t do anything except keep a lookout. If he tried to go up against Hyto, he’d be charcoal. Or worse. The memory of Hyto’s hands on me, of his whispered threats, ran through me like ice water, and I tried to shake it off.

“What have you got for us?” I asked, before Chase could say anything else.

He paused for a moment, our eyes meeting. A flare of magic whirled in those dark orbs, and for a moment, I felt pulled toward him—as if there were a connection that resonated through both of us. It wasn’t sexual, but a deeper link, one born of magic, of the dark of night.

“Camille,” he whispered. “What . . .” And then, as quickly as the mind-touch flared, it vanished, and we were standing among the others as if nothing had happened.

I shook my head at him and mouthed,
Later
.

“You were going to show us what you think is a portal?” I didn’t want anybody else noticing what had happened. Chase was going through so many transformations that a bunch of nosy questions weren’t going to help him. But I decided to privately have a long talk with the detective. We needed to test him, find out just what sort of magical talents were emerging.

He stood there for a moment, pensive, then nodded and motioned for us to follow him. “Yeah, this way.”

As we fell in behind him, he explained how he found it. “I got a call on the tip line, of all things, telling me there was something in the park that wasn’t right.”

“Male or female?”

“I honestly don’t know. But I sent Shamas and Yugi out here and they found this . . . thing. It reminds me of Grandmother Coyote’s portal. But it’s . . . different. It doesn’t have the same
feel
, if that makes sense.” He frowned. “Like when you see an impersonator. Maybe he looks like the real thing, but there’s something off . . .”

I pressed my lips together. There were so many things in our world that were “just a little bit off” that the normality of life had taken a backseat. “Yeah, I know. Show us, please.”

We scuffed through the snow, along the ice-covered sidewalks into the heart of the park. Tangleroot Park gave me the creeps, to be honest. I usually loved the outdoors, but some woods are too dark, some places too wild for comfort. Especially over here, Earthside.

The home of massive cedar and fir trees, Tangleroot Park also housed a couple of ancient yew trees. The tree of death, the tree of rebirth. A dark soul in a bright night, the yew was one of the most holy of trees, and yet it calved off into a hundred trunks, a hundred roots, all twisting in on the heart of the trunk. The spirit of the yew belonged to the winter, to the barren and fallow season, to the Underworld.

And the minute we began to walk toward the center of the park, I could feel the yews watching us. Watching
me
. They were curious, and their curiosity came creeping out, feelers reaching for my energy.

Startled, I jerked my head up, but even though I glanced around, I knew that no one walking on two feet had said that. It was the forest. The yews.

I tried to keep my thoughts to myself, tried to rein in my aura. Lately it had become a challenge not to blast it wide. The more Morio and I worked together on our death magic, the stronger I was becoming.

And when I backfired, the backlashes were more intense, and more dangerous. As I cloaked up, warding myself against prying eyes, we turned off on a side path, silently filing through the snow-laden trees. A faint mist ran through the park, sparkling and electric. Mist didn’t usually crackle; something had to be infusing it for it to shimmer so much.

I glanced up at Smoky. “Something is feeding the mist.”

He gave me a faint nod. “I feel it, too. This is unnatural.”

Delilah slipped up beside us. “Shade just told me that he senses Netherworld energy here, but there’s something more. Something far removed from the spirit realm.”

Shit. What were we dealing with? As we wandered farther into the flurry of white steam rolling along the ground, my ankles began to tingle, and then the tingling moved up my legs and before I knew it, I was shaking like a leaf.

“What’s wrong?” Smoky reached down and cupped my elbow. “You’re trembling. Are you thinking about my father?”

“Yes, but that’s not what’s making me shiver.” I stopped long enough to tell everyone what was happening. “Anybody else feel it?”

Shade nodded. “I do, but it’s not affecting me as bad as it appears to be hitting you.”

Chase let out a short sigh. “I feel something—a discomfort, like a prickling—but I thought it might be the cold.”

“Hold on for a moment and let me suss it out.”

We had stopped near a bench. Trillian swept the snow off, and I gratefully slid onto the seat. I pulled my cloak tighter around me, then lowered myself into a trance.

“Just what’s out there? Who’s creeping around in the fog?” The mesmerizing strands of energy clouded my focus, and I shook them off.

Touching the strand, I sucked in a deep breath as it sang to me, reverberated through me like an electric fiddle, ripping out an ancient, keening reel. Like a live wire scorching the inside of my eyelids. I caught a glimpse of sentinel fir trees dripping with moss, and toadstools growing off downed snags. Silhouettes flittered here and there—sparkling with energy and yet the sparkles were shrouded in darkness.

Red eyes glimmered at me from the forest. An ancient entity, male, old beyond reckoning, he waited in the shrouded night.

I shook out of the web being woven around me and realized that while I’d been in trance, I’d been warm—warm as a summer’s night under the stars. I could still smell rich roses, and honey wine, and the fragrant loam of the earth. The winter snow around me glared, stark and unyielding, and I longed to join the summons.

Clearing the catch out of my throat, I stifled the impulse to run toward the energy. As foreboding as it was, I still longed to reach out, to touch it, to embrace the entity waiting in the dark.

“What is it?” Delilah asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it’s Fae in origin. There are several beings waiting down this path. Something dark and hungry—all scuttle and cunning. And the Hunter, I think. He’s old and crafty, waiting in the dark of the night. I want to shed my cloak and go running toward it.” I turned to Chase. “Show us the portal, please.”

Another five minutes of ever-increasing energy and we were standing in front of a shimmering blue field between two trees, off the sidewalk, to our left. Chase had been right—the thing looked just like a portal, only it had a distinctly different feel from the ones we were used to. Which meant it was either a different kind, or a mimic.

I motioned for Shade to join me. He was the most versed in magic now that Morio was laid up, and he’d have a better chance of helping me if some Big Bad came tumbling through.

He leaned down and whispered, “This portal stems from the ancient forests. Be cautious, Camille. Powerful beings inhabit the woodlands of Earth.”

Smoky cleared his throat, eyeing Shade as his lips neared my ear. I rolled my eyes. Dragons didn’t do all that well in the same territory; even a half dragon like Shade had territorial issues, but mix him with Smoky—whose full-blood dragon testosterone put most alpha males to shame—and we’d been breaking up sputtering matches for several weeks. As polite as Shade could be, he was still, beneath it all, part dragon, and that side had risen to the challenges Smoky had pushed forward.

I took a slow step away from him to calm Smoky down. Shade cracked a faint smile, and I realized he’d stirred the cauldron on purpose.

“A real jokester, huh?” I mumbled, then turned back to the others. “We can’t just walk through—we have no idea where it might lead. This has the energy of the Fae Queens written all over it, but I sincerely doubt they conjured it up. They’d summon it to their Sovereignty if they summoned it at all.”

“That makes sense.” Trillian stroked his chin. With his glistening obsidian skin, he was almost lost in the dim light. “But they might know what it is. What do you think about asking them?”

Delilah and I glanced at each other. The idea of asking the Triple Threat to come out here to help us wasn’t an easy decision. As much as I respected Aeval and Titania, I equally distrusted Morgaine. She might be our distant cousin, but she was out for pure power—her own—and I wouldn’t put anything past her in her attempts to claim what she could.

I slowly shook my head. “I don’t know, but—”

“Do you hear that?” Chase interrupted me, blanching as he turned toward the portal.

“Hear what?” I listened but couldn’t catch anything different from the energy I’d already been feeling. But Chase looked like he’d seen a ghost. He wavered, his eyes taking on a glassy look, then began to bolt toward the portal.

“She’s calling my name . . .”

I jumped to grab his arm, but he shook me off, like he might shake off a leaf. I knew damned well that Chase didn’t have the strength to do that.

I whirled to Smoky. “Catch him—don’t let him get through that portal!”

Both Smoky and Shade rushed past me, but Smoky suddenly stopped, bouncing back as if he’d hit an invisible barrier. Shade was struggling, his steps sluggish and forced.

“I can’t move.” Smoky’s hair lashed out at whatever the force field was, sparks flying every time the whips hit the invisible barrier.

“I can barely slog through it,” Shade said, his voice strained.

“Fuck! Come on!” I motioned to Delilah. We began to run. It felt like I was running through mud, but at least I could move. So could she.

Trillian was on our heels, and he passed us by, faster than we were. “Elder Fae energy—pure, crystal Elder Fae energy,” he shouted over his shoulder.

And then, the siren song enveloped me, a beckoning dance that promised to last forever if I’d just embrace the energy. I gasped, reeling from the desire to shed caution to the wind. The wave of passion rolled over me like the scent of peaches, ripe on the vine. Beside me, Delilah let out a choking sound and dropped in her tracks, grasping at her throat.

Chase was almost to the portal. I paused, torn between going after the detective and helping my sister. But Trillian was within arm shot of Chase, and Delilah was struggling for breath.

Making my decision, I grabbed her wrists and began to drag her away from the mist that now encompassed us like a sparkling fog. The siren song still lodged in my head, I did my best to block it out as I pulled her to safety. Shade loped in our direction, while Smoky was still trying to break through the barrier.

Delilah sat up, wheezing. “I couldn’t breathe—it felt like I was breathing water. Chase—what’s happening to Chase?”

Turning, I saw that Trillian was struggling to control the detective, but Chase broke away, pushing him back. With a wild, panicked look, the detective plunged into the portal, screaming. The gateway exploded with a brilliant light, and then—in the snow-filled night—it vanished, taking him with it.