I pocketed the bandana and the candy wrapper, and started out again. The bush wasn’t far off from the stream, so I decided to keep going along the streambed.
Not far ahead, I spotted a disturbance in a pile of leaves. It looked like somebody had been rolling in them, or scuffling in them.
I knelt to examine the ground. Here and there I could see a footprint—the tread of a boot heel, I thought. And it looked like some of the surrounding plants had been trampled. Unless I missed my guess, some sort of altercation had taken place here. I inched ahead, looking for any sign I could find that DJ had been part of the tussle.
The moss wasn’t conducive to prints like mud or dirt were, but I spotted a few places where boots had made some sort of an indentation. But it couldn’t be DJ—not for that deep of an impression. He was too small. Either someone heavier had been through here, or several people had been walking in formation.
A noise alerted me and I turned around, wondering if I had been spotted. But all I could see was a faint silver glow up the slope in a thicket of the ravine. I gazed at it for a moment, and then I saw antlers.
It must be a stag, I thought. Caught in a beam of light, maybe. At that moment, the stag vanished behind a tree.
As I started up again, following the streambed, the undergrowth grew thicker as the stream narrowed. Up ahead I could hear something—water splashing. I could also hear voices. I froze, straining to hear what was being said. But even though I had good hearing, the water and the wind muffled everything into a blur of sound. I crouched down and began to creep forward, doing my best to avoid making any noise. There seemed to be a clearing up ahead, and I sure as hell didn’t want to accidentally out myself before I knew what I was dealing with. Or who I was dealing with.
I inched my way forward, gritting my teeth as I snapped a branch below my hand. But the voices continued, so I figured that I hadn’t been overheard. In fact, it sounded like I was going to interrupt what seemed to be a heated argument. When I was almost to the edge of the undergrowth, I stopped and slowly parted one of the bushes so that I could just peek through.
I was at the head of the streambed, and sure enough—there was a culvert at the end. In fact, that was where the water feeding the stream originated. The culvert rammed into the side of the hill, about four feet above the ground. Directly in front of it, I could see DJ. He was sitting on the ground, his hands tied behind his back, and he was gagged with what looked to be a white cloth.
Standing near him, arguing full force, were two men. They were Fae, I could tell that right off, both dressed in jeans and leather jackets. I could see daggers strapped to their belts. One was about five-eight, with long dark hair hanging down his back in multiple braids. The other was a little taller, and his hair was blond and shaggy. Both looked beefy enough to make tangling with them problematic. I focused on what they were arguing about.
“I don’t like killing kids,” the blond one said. “Can’t we just take him back to Névé?”
“She told us to get rid of anybody who overheard us. I’m not questioning a royal decree.” The dark-haired man laid his hand on his dagger. “It doesn’t matter what his age is, he overheard our plans and that makes him dangerous.”
Blondie shrugged. “We don’t know if he heard us or not.” He opened a small wallet and pulled out a note, reading it. “Kid doesn’t live too far from here. His name’s Derrick Juan Jackson.”
Crap. They knew where he lived now.
“You really want to thwart the Queen’s orders? I knew you were addled, but not that stupid. We have to do something because if he’s missing for too long, they’ll come out looking. We can stuff him deep in the culvert and they won’t find him for days. But if we stand around arguing any longer, we might get caught.”
“Don’t blame me,” the blond one said. “You’re the one who wanted to come out here and look for thalacious.”
I grimaced. Thalacious was a poisonous plant that was often used on daggers and arrows by more unsavory types. Given they were talking about taking DJ back to Névé told me they were from the Light Court.
“I didn’t think we were going to be overheard out here in the middle of the woods. Besides which, we were instructed to gather the herb by Quariala. I’m not disappointing Névé’s right-hand witch, thank you. I prefer to keep my dick intact. Besides, the kid’s a wolf shifter. One less shifter in the world isn’t going to do any harm.” Brownie snorted.
“Then you’re the one who’s going to have to take care of him. I won’t do it.” Blondie took a step back and crossed his arms. “I doubt if Sasha would agree with you.”
“Sasha’s not here right now. I told him to see if anybody else is snooping around. He’s doing his job.” The dark-haired man glanced over at DJ and a sly smile stole across his face. “He’d make a lovely little play toy, but alas, we don’t have time to draw this out.” He began to reach for his dagger.
DJ struggled, his eyes wide. He knew what was about to happen.
I had to do something and do it quick, or DJ’s days were over. I unsnapped the binding on my dagger and drew it. Coming out of my crouch, I lunged out of the undergrowth and launched myself into a tackle. Before he could react, I landed on the dark-haired man and took him down.
He was strong, and even though I caught him by surprise, he reacted immediately. He wrapped his legs around mine as I straddled him, reaching around to grab me by the ponytail. As he caught hold of my hair, he yanked hard, jerking my head back to expose my throat.
I had to keep him from drawing his dagger. While I couldn’t get a good aim, considering he had hold of my ponytail and it was hard for me to see, I remembered his dagger had been on his right side. I brought my blade down swift and hard, hoping to hit his arm.
He let out a sharp cry, and let go of my hair. I had landed dead center on his bicep. But my dagger was embedded in his flesh, so I clenched my fists together and brought them down as hard as I could on his nose.
Dazed and in obvious pain, instinctively he reached for his face and I grabbed the hilt of my dagger, yanking it out of his arm. At the same time I looked up to see where the blond man was, not wanting to be caught unawares. To my surprise, I saw the stag I had seen come down out of the forest and attack the other Fae, thrashing at him with his hooves.
Blondie staggered back from a blow to the head, and I returned my attention to my opponent. I had broken his nose and probably crushed one of his eye sockets, but he was starting to shake off the shock. I had no choice. If I didn’t take him out, he’d take me out.
I dragged my dagger across his throat. Blood spouted up, a geyser of red, and he began frothing from the mouth as I rolled off of him, staggering back. I turned to see the stag trampling Blondie.
I met the gaze of the massive deer, and he backed away, inclining his head toward the prone man. I raced over and drove my dagger into the Fae’s heart before he could get up off the ground.
Panting, I dropped to the ground. I had killed goblins over the years, and other sub-Fae, but I had never really taken on anyone quite so human. I felt—shell-shocked. Everything seemed so surreal. Dazed, I glanced around and saw DJ, struggling with his bindings. I scrambled over to him and slashed the ropes holding his hands tied behind his back. I quickly untied his gag.
“Are you okay?” First things first. Always make sure the victim is all right.
He nodded, shaking as he threw himself into my arms. “I think so. They were going to kill me.” He looked around. “Where’s the other one?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here before he comes back.” I was covered with blood, but I pulled him into my arms and held him as he leaned against my shoulder, trembling. “That’s why I’m here, DJ. I came to find you.”
By now, it was growing darker in the ravine. Sunset wouldn’t be for an hour or so, but down here, at the bottom, it was already nearly dark. We had to find our way out, now, before Sasha returned. It would
take me a while to work my way back up the hillside, especially carrying a cold and scared boy, and then we had to get back to my car. And that was assuming there was no one else out here to stand in our way.
At that moment, the stag stepped forward. In the growing darkness the silver glow surrounding him flared. He looked like a massive red stag, the kind commonly found in Europe, but his fur was white, tinged with silver, and he had an otherworldly feel to him.
“Thank you,” I said, sensing that he could probably understand me.
The stag nodded, and knelt on his front legs. He seemed to be waiting for me to do something.
“I think he wants us to ride on his back,” DJ said, glancing over at the deer.
“You think so?” I looked at the stag again. “Is he right? Do you want us to get on your back?”
Again, a nod.
I grabbed DJ’s hand and we headed over to the massive animal. He had to stand at least five feet tall at the shoulder. All I knew was that this was no regular deer. There was something magical about the stag and right now, considering he had helped us, I was willing to trust him.
I swung DJ up on his back, then scrambled on, holding DJ back against me. There were no reins, but as the stag began to stand, I motioned for DJ to lean forward and I leaned over him, doing my best to hold onto the deer’s sides.
The next moment we were off, racing through the forest, heading up the slope of the ravine. We were flying along, so fast that I was terrified we were going to fall off, but somehow we managed to keep our balance as the stag nimbly wove in and out through the trees. Everything was a blur, the trees and undergrowth blending together into a trail of motion behind us.
I began to feel queasy, not so much from the movement but because everything around us seemed hazy, and only DJ, the stag, and I felt real. And then, as quickly as we had taken off, we came to a halt at the edge of the road. I realized we were near my car. The stag knelt again, and DJ and I slid off. I wanted to know so many things, but before I could open my mouth to say thanks, the stag turned and vanished back into the forest.
“Come on, get in the car.” Dazed, feeling almost numb, I hustled DJ into my car and quickly started the ignition. I wanted out of here before anybody found those bodies, because there was no way in the world I could prove myself against the Light Fae Court if they decided to push matters. Yes, I had been defending myself and DJ, but Névé always got her way.
As we headed out of the park, my thoughts were a million miles away, still at the bottom of the ravine with the two dead Fae, the one still alive, and the silver stag.
Chapter 3
ALL THE WAY back to Angel’s, I kept looking in the rearview mirror, trying to tell if we were being followed. I hadn’t asked DJ anything yet because I wanted to wait until we were safe behind closed doors. He looked like he was in shock, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he leaned forward, trying to hunch out of sight. As we rounded the curve and pulled into Angel’s driveway, I was relieved to see that no one had seemed to have followed us.
“Come on, kiddo,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s get inside and figure out just what the hell happened.”
Angel must have been watching out of the window, because she came running out the door as she saw us get out of the car. DJ dashed toward her, and as she wrapped her arms around him, he burst into tears. She let him inside and I followed, making certain to lock the door behind us, letting out a little cry as she glanced at me.
I looked down at myself. In the light of the living room, I realized that I was covered with blood. It was sticky on my skin and clothes, beginning to dry, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
“Are you all right?” Angel knelt beside her brother, yanking his hoodie off so she could check him over. “Are you hurt?”
“Don’t worry. This isn’t DJ’s blood. He’s all right as far as I could tell.” I quickly moved over to the window and glanced outside, looking for any sign of anybody passing by.
“What the hell happened? Where did all that blood come from? Are you okay?” Angel’s voice was trembling, and I realized that her shock was giving way to a flood of suppressed panic now running free.
“I don’t know. Or rather, I’m not sure what happened. As far as the blood goes, not mine either. I’ll tell you in a minute, but do you have anything I could change into? I need to get out of these clothes or I’m going to throw up.” The metallic tang of the blood was starting to make me queasy. Even though I was used to taking down sub-Fae, this was a whole ‘nother matter. I had killed two men in cold blood, and even though I had done so to protect both DJ and myself, it hit me hard and I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Of course. Go take a shower and then go through my closet. I have a couple of loose gowns that should fit you. I’m going to wash DJ in the kitchen, and check him over for any injuries.” As she hustled him into the kitchen, he was slowly wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
I stumbled into the bathroom, not wanting to take too long. I stripped off my clothes and climbed in the shower, scrubbing all over with a vanilla bath wash. I washed my hair and the blood poured down off my body in a stream of red water. Finally, the water was clear and I finally felt clean.
After I toweled off, I glanced through Angel’s closet. She was five-ten, and thin. I was five-six and one hundred and fifty pounds of muscle and boobs. I found a loose tank dress that would fit me, but I knew her bras wouldn’t begin to work for me, so I went without. My own was so saturated with rain and mud and blood that I couldn’t bear to put it back on.
I gathered my clothes in a pile and dropped them in her bathtub. I would put them in a plastic bag before I went home.
As I returned to the living room, DJ was sitting on the sofa, eating a sandwich. I hurried over to the window and glanced outside again. Still nobody driving by, which I took as a good sign. I motioned for Angel to join me and we sat next to DJ.
“I’ll tell you all about it, but first I want to talk to DJ.” I turned to him. “DJ, we need to know what happened. Tell us everything you can. Don’t worry—we won’t be angry. Tell us everything you remember.” I grabbed a notebook that was sitting on the coffee table and opened it to an empty page. “Angel, I need a pen.”
She handed me a gel pen, and I prepared to take notes.
DJ swallowed a bite of his sandwich and set it back on the plate. He took a deep breath.
“I was headed home from Jason’s, and Mrs. Harris was out in her yard.”
“Who’s Mrs. Harris?” I asked.
“She’s one of Jason’s neighbors. She’s an old lady but she’s really nice. She asked if I could help her out for a moment and she would pay me for the help. I know how hard you work,” he said to Angel. “I thought if I could help out…”
“Oh honey, I wish you wouldn’t worry so much.” Angel winced. “You don’t ever worry about money, all right? I’ll always take care of you. What did she want you to do?”
“She had some weeding that needed done, and she wanted me to help her plant some flowers. She said she’d pay me twenty dollars if I’d help her out for a few hours. So I decided it would be okay. I was going to call you, but then we got busy and I forgot. I worked there until about two o’clock, and then I realized that I had forgotten to feed Barney last night.” Barney was a tortoise that hung out in their backyard. “I didn’t want him to be hungry, and I knew that Angel would be worried if she called and I wasn’t home. So I decided to take the shortcut.”
Angel started to say something but I motioned for her to be quiet.
“Go on.”
“I was part of the way through—almost to where your car was—when I heard something in the woods. In the ravine. It sounded like somebody calling for help. I thought somebody was in trouble, so I ran over and started down the slope.” He was staring down at his hands in his lap. “I know you always tell me not to go through the park if I can help it, but I thought somebody was in trouble.”
??
?I know,” Angel said. “And you always want to help people when you can.” She glanced over at me.
I nodded. DJ was one of the most helpful children I had ever met, and he had a keen sense of responsibility.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m not mad. Please go on.”
DJ bit his lip, then continued. “I heard them call out again and it was louder this time. It sounded like somebody was hurt. I followed the voices until I saw three men down below in the undergrowth. That’s when I realized nobody was calling for help. They were yelling and screaming at each other, and at first I thought one of them—the blond man—was hurt. I slowed down because I didn’t want to interrupt if they were okay. And that’s when they quit yelling so loud and started to talk.”
“What did they say? Was it the same men who had you tied up when I found you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was them, and a friend of theirs. I’m not sure what they were saying, but I heard them making plans about bows and arrows and poison.”
I let out a long sigh. The Light Fae were probably looking to ambush their icy cousins. Par for the course, given the two factions hated each other. “Lovely. What happened then?”
“I got really scared and I tried to sneak back up the hill but I stepped on a branch and it broke. They heard me and started chasing me. I knew I could run faster if I wasn’t running uphill, so I took off to the side and then ran down toward the stream. I got tangled up in the bush, and lost my handkerchief. By the time I got free they almost had me. I tried to get away, but they knocked me down. They tied me up and started arguing about what to do with me. And then they dragged me over to where you found me and talked about stuffing me in the culvert after they killed me. The dark-haired man told the other one—he had dark hair too—to go see if anybody else was sneaking around.”
Angel let out a cry. Her hand fluttered to her mouth. “This is worse than I thought.”
I had to agree. “Did you see any others there? Besides the three of them? Anyone at all?”