Night's End (38 page)
Authors: Yasmine Galenorn
Character List
CICELY AND THE COURT OF SNOW AND ICE
Check:
Cicely's personal guard.
Cicely Waters:
A witch who can control the wind. One of the magic-born and half Uwilahsidhe (the Owl people of the Cambyra Fae). Born on the summer solstice at midnight, a daughter of the Moon/Waning Year. The new Queen of Snow and Ice.
Druise:
Cicely's lady's maid.
Fearless:
Cicely's personal guard.
Grieve:
King of the Court of Rivers and Rushes. One of the Cambyra Fae (shapeshifting Fae) now turned Vampiric Fae. Obsessed and in love with Cicely.
Hunter:
Cicely's grandfather. Wrath's father.
Silverweb:
The treasurer of the Court of Snow and Ice.
Snow Hag:
One of the Wilding Fae. A friend of Cicely's.
Strict:
Cicely's chief advisor.
Tabera:
The late Queen of Snow and Ice.
RHIANNON AND THE COURT OF RIVERS AND RUSHES
Chatter:
King of the Summer Court. Grieve's best friend.
Edge:
Rhiannon's Court Advisor.
Lainule:
The former Fae Queen of Rivers and Rushes. Grieve's aunt and Rhiannon's aunt. The former Queen of Summer. Destined to fade back to the Golden Isle.
Rhiannon Roland:
Cicely's cousin, born on the same day as Cicely, only at daybreak, a daughter of the Sun/Waxing Year. Rhiannon is also half Cambyra Fae, and half magic-born, and she controls the power of fire. The new Queen of Rivers and Rushes.
Wrath:
Cicely's fatherâone of the Uwilahsidhe (the Owl people of the Cambyra Fae) and originally a member of the Court of Snow and Ice.
PEYTON AND THE COURT OF THE MAGIC-BORN
Anadey:
Traitor; was a friend of Heather's and mentor to Rhiannon. One of the magic-born, Anadey can work with all elements. Peyton's mother. Deceased.
Kaylin Chen:
Martial arts sensei, a dreamwalker, has a night-veil demon merged into his soul.
Luna Saunders:
Yummanii bard.
Peyton MoonRunner:
Half werepuma, half magic-born. Anadey's daughter.
Rex MoonRunner:
Werepuma. Peyton's father. Deceased.
Ysandra Petros:
Member of the Consortium. Yummanii and powerful witch who can control sound, energy, and force.
THE INDIGO COURT
Myst:
Queen of the Indigo Court, mother of the Vampiric Fae, the Mistress of Mayhem. Queen of Winter.
Heather Roland:
Rhiannon's mother and Cicely's aunt. One of the magic-born, an herbalist, first turned into a vampire by the Indigo Court, now truly dead.
THE VEIN LORDS/TRUE VAMPIRES
Crawl:
The Blood Oracle: One of the oldest Vein Lords, made by the Crimson Queen herself. Sire to Regina and Lannan.
Geoffrey:
Former NW Regent of the Vampire Nation and one of the Elder Vein Lords. 2,000 years old, from Xiongnu. Deceased.
Lannan Altos:
Professor at the New Forest Conservatory, Elder vampire, brother and lover to Regina Altos, hedonistic golden boy. New NW Regent of the Vampire Nation.
Leo Bryne:
Was Rhiannon's fiancé, a healer and one of the magic-born. Leo was a day-runner for Geoffrey, turned to a vampire by Geoffrey. Deceased.
Regina Altos:
Emissary for the Crimson Court/Queen. Originally from Sumer with her brother and lover, Lannan. Was a priestess of Inanna. Turned by Crawl.
Playlist for
Night's End
I write to music a good share of the time and have been sharing my playlists on my website. I finally decided to add them to the backs of the books for my readers who aren't online.
âYasmine Galenorn
A Pale Horse Named Death:
“Meet the Wolf”
A.J. Roach:
“Devil May Dance”
Adam Lambert:
“Mad World”
Agnes Obel:
“Close Watch”
Air:
“Moon Fever”
“Astronomic Club”
“Napalm Love”
“Surfing on a Rocket”
“Playground Love”
Android Lust:
“Here and Now”
“When the Rains Came”
“Saint Over”
“Stained”
Antaeus:
“Palm of the Prophet”
Atlas Sound:
“Angel Is Broken”
AWOLNATION:
“Sail”
Black Angels, The:
“Vikings”
“Don't Play with Guns”
“Young Men Dead”
“Manipulation”
“You're Mine”
“You on the Run”
“Indigo Meadow”
“Haunting at 1300 McKinley”
Black Mountain:
“Queens Will Play”
“Wucan”
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:
“Feel It Now”
“Shuffle Your Feet”
“Fault Line”
Broken Bells:
“The Ghost Inside”
“The High Road”
Buffalo Springfield:
“For What It's Worth”
Chris Isaac:
“Wicked Game”
Clannad:
“Newgrange”
“Banba Ãir”
Cobra Verde:
“Play With Fire”
Crazy Town:
“Butterfly”
Cure, The:
“Charlotte Sometimes”
“Pornography”
“Cold”
Dragon Ritual Drummers:
“The Fall”
“Black Queen”
Eastern Sun:
“Beautiful Being”
Eels:
“Souljacker Part 1”
Faithless:
“Addictive”
Faun:
“Lupercalia”
“Pearl”
“Zeitgeist”
“Hymn to Pan”
“Sieben”
Foster the People:
“Pumped Up Kicks”
Gabrielle Roth:
“The Calling”
“Raven”
“Rest Your Tears Here”
Garbage:
“I Think I'm Paranoid”
“Bleed Like Me”
“Only Happy When It Rains”
“Queer”
“Beloved Freak”
Gary Numan:
“Melt”
“Dead Heaven”
“Hybrid”
“Dead Son Rising”
“In a Dark Place”
“Walking With Shadows”
“When the Sky Bleeds, He Will Come”
“Pure”; “Dominion Day”
“The Angel Wars”
Gotye:
“Somebody That I Used To Know”
“Hearts a Mess”
Hedningarna:
“Grodan/Widergrenen”
“Räven”
“Tuuli”
“Ukkonen”
In Strict Confidence:
“Silver Bullets”
“Snow White”
“Tiefer”
Julian Cope:
“Charlotte Anne”
Kyuss:
“Space Cadet”
Lady Gaga:
“Paparazzi”
“I Like It Rough”
“Teeth”
Ladytron:
“Black Cat”
“I'm Not Scared”
“Ghosts”
Lindstrøm and Christabelle:
“Lovesick”
Lord of the Lost:
“Sex on Legs”
Low:
“Half Light”
Madonna:
“Beautiful Stranger”
“4 Minutes”
Marcy Playground:
“Comin' Up From Behind”
Marilyn Manson:
“Tainted Love”
Mark Lanegan:
“Phantasmagoria Blues”
“The Gravedigger's Song”
“Methamphetamine Blues”
“Riot in My House”
“Bleeding Muddy Water”
Nine Inch Nails:
“Get Down, Make Love”
“Sin”
“Closer”
Nirvana:
“Heart-Shaped Box”
“You Know You're Right”
Notwist, The:
“Hands on Us”
Orgy:
“Blue Monday”
“Social Enemies”
People in Planes:
“Vampire”
Puddle of Mudd:
“Famous”
“Psycho”
Rammstein:
“Ich Will”
“Stripped”
“Wollt Ihr das Bett in Flammen Sehen”
Red Hot Chili Peppers:
“Blood Sugar Sex Magik”
Saliva:
“Ladies and Gentlemen”
Sarah McLachlan:
“Possession”
Scorpions:
“The Zoo”
Screaming Trees:
“Dime Western”
“Where the Twain Shall Meet”
Seether:
“Remedy”
Stone Temple Pilots:
“Atlanta”
“Creep”
Susan Enan:
“Bring on the Wonder”
Syntax:
“Pride”
Tamaryn:
“While You're Sleeping, I'm Dreaming”
“The Waves”
“Violet's in a Pool”
Toadies:
“Possum Kingdom”
Tom Petty:
“Mary Jane's Last Dance”
Verve, The:
“Bitter Sweet Symphony”
Dear Reader:
I hope you enjoyed the final book in the Indigo Court series,
Night's End
. I have loved writing this world, but as with all faerie tales, it's time now to close the book on Cicely's story. While not everybody found their happy ever after (and like Cicely, I really don't believe in HEA), I am content with how the story wrapped up, and I'm ready to turn the final page on their lives. This has been a journey, this mystical, icy world I've created, but now it's time to move on.
However, even as one door closes, others open. Next, I bring you an e-novella,
Flight From Hell
, in August 2014âthe crossover story that links the Otherworld series with my new Fly By Night series. And thenâbook sixteen in the Otherworld series:
Priestess Dreaming
, coming October 2014. Camille goes in search of the Merlin, and her journey takes her far into new realms and new dangers. After that, I'll have Delilah's next book,
Panther Prowling
. For more information, see my website and follow me on Facebook.
I'm enclosing the first chapter of
Priestess Dreaming
to whet your appetite for the next adventure coming up for Camille and her sisters. For those of you who are new to my books, I hope you've enjoyed your first foray into my worlds. For those of you who have followed me for a while, thank you once again.
Bright Blessings,
The Painted Panther
Yasmine Galenorn
I contemplated going back into the house, purse over my shoulder. Should I, or shouldn't I? Utter mayhem lay within. Absolute chaos in a kitchen, complete with spilled food, a huffy dragon, one very pissed-off house sprite, and my sister, the wide-eyed,
catch-da-giant-bird
, turkey-chaser. Add to that the rest of the millingâand by now, thoroughly confusedâthrong that was our extended family, and I made my decision.
Not a chance. Nope. Not gonna happen.
I was perfectly fine out here in the pouring rain, getting soaked. Let Smoky take his lumps from Iris. This was all
his
fault, not mine. The only part they could blame me for was that I had assigned him the chore of bringing home a twenty-five-pound turkey for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. Was it my responsibility to remind him to make certain it was already dead?
Not. My. Fault.
And neither was the Three-Stooges aftermath that followed. Now, with Iris and Hanna both on the warpath, I had no desire to go back in there and subject myself to their outrage.
As my gaze wandered over to the turkey pecking around our backyard, it occurred to me that the bird was eyeing me with an evil glareâlike some demented ostrich. The fat old Tom was closer to the woods than our backdoor, and I wondered if he realized just how lucky he was.
I stamped my foot in his direction. “Go on, you dumb bird. Make a break for it while you can, before Smoky comes looking for you.” As if he understood me, the turkey turned toward the treeline back of the yard and slowly began to waddle off into the sunset. Or rather, the pitch darkness. It was only around five-thirty, but by this time of year, the Seattle area was swathed in night. Sunset had come and gone about an hour ago.
I snorted. “Have a happy Thanksgiving, bird. You lucked out so give your thanks to the Great Turkey or whoever it is you pray to.”
As I watched him vanish into the woods, I wondered where the hell Smoky had found him. No doubt he'd stolen him from some turkey farm or something. Wild turkeys generally didn't go running around the streets of Seattle. But I wasn't going to ask. After this fiasco, I had a feeling that my dragon-shifting husband wouldn't be in any mood to discuss turkey-hunting.
Thanks to sheer dumb luck, the bird had managed to escape from the kitchen. He'd left behind a trail of walking wounded, thoughâincluding me. That beak was nasty sharp and I had the scratch to prove it, but at least I didn't have a hole in my hand like Roz did. Yeah, in the great dinner war, the bird deserved his freedom. He'd earned it. As the last of his tail feathers vanished from sight on the path leading to Birchwater Pond, I saluted him.
“You've got what it takes to make it, soldier. Carry on.”
With one last look at the house, I straightened my shoulders and headed toward my car. We still needed a turkey. I might as well head out to buy one. On the up side, by the time I got back, things should have smoothed over.
Families.
One thing was for certain: Mine was loopy, batty, and all around a freakshow crew. But I wouldn't trade them for all the glitter and glitz in Otherworld
or
Earthside.
I slid into the driver's seat, but as I inserted the key into the ignition, a shiver ran down my back. A shadow passed through me, cold and dark and incredibly ancient.
Quickly, I locked the door, suddenly nervous. Maybe it was the wind that rattled the trees that had spooked me. Or, maybe it was the driving rain. Or perhaps the darkness and perpetual gloom had finally managed to suck the smile off my face. Whatever the case, I glanced back at the house, anxious.
PTSD, maybe?
We had recently come through a horrible stretch, what with the war raging in Otherworld and losing our father. We were all still a little shell-shocked. I had been coping with a lot of nightmares and flashbacks the past few weeks, but this didn't feel like it originated from the same place.
Trying to quiet my mind, I listened, breathing slowly.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Listen . . .
At first, I could sense only the wind and rain that lashed the yard, but then . . . below that . . .
there it was
. Something was on the move. Something
big
. I searched my feelings, examining the sensation. Was it fear? Yes, but more. Anticipation? Anxiety? A tingling at the base of my neck told me that deep magic was afoot, and would soon be knocking on my door.
Magic rode the currents, on the wings of a flock of birds. They were there, in the astral, black as coal and shrieking warnings of an ancient wood filled with extraordinary beasts. The rolling mists of time poured past as the ravens cried, their song echoing with magic. Dark magic, deep woodland magic.
Death coming in on waves of flame and smoke
.
As if in sync with my thoughts, a shriek cut through the darkness, startling me out of my trance. I recognized the cry.
Raven.
Oh, fuckâraven was calling. And where raven flew, Raven Mother couldn't be far behind.
And behind Raven Mother, chasing her, was a dragon. At first I flashed back to Hyto, but then caught hold of myself. Hyto was dead and gone. I forced myself to focus, to examine the energy that went rushing past. This dragon was ancientânot a dragon from the Dragon Reaches, but from the depths of the earth, come awake after eons of time asleep in its lair.
As he roared to life, chasing the flock of ravens, he vanished from sight.
I found myself sitting in the car, my hand on the keys. Wondering what that had been about, and almost afraid to examine it, I shuddered and started the ignition. As the car warmed up, I stared into the darkness of the night, my thoughts far from Thanksgiving.
Yes, something big was headed my way and there was no use trying to avoid it. I might as well just open my arms and brace for trouble. Trying to hide from potential trouble had ceased to be an effective defense mechanism a few years ago when the demons had first shown up.
With a grimace, I pulled out my phone and texted Menolly that I was heading for the store to replace the turkey. As I eased out of the driveway, I whispered, “Bring it on, Raven Mother. Bring it on. I'm waiting for you.”
A faint laughter echoed over the howling of the wind. She'd heard me, all right. And she was waiting.
“Give me that!” Delilah's voice rang out and I turned, scanning the mob for her face. Somebody was bound to get hurt in this mess. People were shoving in every direction, trying to push their way through the mass of churning bodies. To my left, a woman tripped and fell. I tried to maneuver through the crowd to reach her, but a man stopped to help her back to her feet and she dusted herself off, looking no worse for the wear, but then, a glint in her eye, she was gone into the seething throng.
Still not seeing Delilah, I glanced over my shoulder. Smoky and Trillian were standing at attention, waiting for my orders, both looking resigned and rather frightened. Their arms full of bags, they threaded their way through the chaos as they followed me. Delilah was still nowhere to be seen, and I made a unilateral decision. She'd just have to catch up to us later.
“Over to the pet section, pronto!”
Pointing toward the opposite end of the store, I began to traverse the aisles. Wordlessly, they filed along behind me. Gauging the easiest, quickest route, I wound through the rows of merchandise, narrowly skirting a table of precariously stacked crystal dishes. Motioning for the guys to be cautious, I held my breath until I was past the display.
Once we were out of housewares, the crowd began to thin out as we maneuvered our way over to the pet toy aisle. Along the way, I caught sight of an insulated lunch bag in fuchsia, with a cat appliqué splashed across the front. It really was cute. Another woman was eyeing it and I had a split second to make up my mind.
“Nerissa would love that.” I snatched it up seconds before my opponent could grab it and, once again, we were on the move, leaving her sputtering in the dust. A few moments later, we reached our destination: The pet care section. We had the department to ourselves. Most of the crowds were over in electronics and toys. Chase and Iris were fending their way through the latter and I silently wished them luck.
“Are we done yet?” Smoky grumbled. “Haven't you found enough loot? It's four-thirty in the morning, woman.” He didn't sound that angry, though. In fact, the twinkle in his eye told me he was putting on a show because he thought it was required. Just like a man.
Trillian, also my husband, snorted. “You really think that's going to work? Dude, you should
know
your wife and her sisters by now. We've got at least another hour to go. Remember last year?”
Trillian's obsidian skin glistened under the fluorescent lights. He'd braided his hair to keep it out of the way. The silver strands rested smooth against his back, shimmering with the faintest of cerulean highlights. He had worn a sleek black turtleneck and black jeans, but left his jacket in the car, claiming it made him more aerodynamic in the crowds. A Svartan, one of the dark and charming Fae, he usually managed to get what he wanted by smooth-talking whoever was in his way. But on Black Friday, all bets were off.
Smoky, on the other hand, was attired in his usual getup: white jeans, V-neck pale blue sweater, and long white trench. At six-four, my dragon towered over the crowds. Though I kept him near, even his imposing nature didn't offer us much protection during the early hours of the most terrifying shopping day of the year. He, too, had braided his hair, though it was ankle length instead of mid-shoulder like Trillian's. Luckily, his hair moved all on its lonesome. If it hadn't, his braid would have gotten trampled several times tonight.
“Don't remind me.” Smoky rolled his eyes. “Last year was worse than this, I'll give you that.”
“The others aren't done yet, so just hold your horses. Remember? Hanna promised leftover turkey soup along with fresh baked homemade bread if you guys play nice.” I picked up a catnip mouse and shook it, frowning at the
squeaky-squeaky
sound. Delilah would love it.
Her toys were constantly ragged, she played with them so much. And then, the thought occurred to me that we should get her panther form a toy, too. One that could withstand a good mauling. Alsoâwhy not one for Nerissa? Her puma liked to play and, on occasion, Delilah and our sister-in-law went hunting together in the forest behind our house. They never really caught anything, but the big cats liked to prowl through the trees.
“After we're done here, we're heading over to the stuffed toys. So gird your loins, or whatever it is you boys do in order to stay sane.”
Oblivious to their groans, I began tossing toy mice in my cart, before we pushed onward.
Delilah had driven her Jeep, Menolly had brought her Mustang, and I had driven my Lexus. Morio had also played chauffer, driving his SUV so that Iris and Chase could come with us. That way, we had enough room for all the packages as well.
Hanna had stayed home to watch Maggie, our baby calico gargoyle. And Bruce, Iris's husband, had begged off because he'd promised to help Vanzir and Rozurial with some secret surprise they had planned. They had shooed us out of the house, instructing us
not
to return till early morning. I wasn't sure what they were up to, but could only pray it wasn't something stupid like turning the house into a giant video game or something.
It was nearing six
A.M.
as we pulled into the driveway to our lovely old three-story Victorian with basement. Menolly still had some time before she had to be in her lair to sleep. Vampires and sunrise? Not such a good mix, so we always made sure she was home in time to get to bed. But we still had nearly ninety minutes before the sun crawled over the horizon. Or up behind the clouds, as was more often the norm here in Seattle.
As we piled out of our cars, the men gathering all our loot for us, I glanced at Trillian and Smoky and wearily smiled. “You do realize how much I love the pair of you, don't you? And Morio, too.” Morio was my third husband. I was one hell of a lucky woman.