Faerie Blood: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Changeling Chronicles Book 1) (17 page)

“How do you know?”

Instead of answering, I made myself step forward. Whatever fear held me back, those kids needed me. I kept that knowledge in mind, made myself hold onto it, as we walked deeper into the building. The blue light showed the way, but only up to a metre in front of us, leaving everywhere else in darkness.

Vance kept his weapon out, too, and one eye on the vines climbing up the walls, too. Maybe my suspicions weren’t unfounded.

“Do you hear that?” asked Vance.

“The music?” The faint melody still pursued me, much as I tried to ignore it.

“Music? No. It’s like singing.”

A chill raced up my back. “No.”

Vance caught my eye. He didn’t look scared, he looked pissed. “Right.”

Without warning, his sword appeared, catching the blue light as it sliced the air. Nothing materialised.

“You could have grabbed a torch.”

“It’s a dispeller,” he said. “Reveals and negates hostile spells.”

“Really?” I blinked. Then I listened out. The music had stopped. Had his spell worked? Or had the faeries sensed us and changed their plan?

I hoped for the former, but luck was rarely on my side.

I trod carefully, but no movement followed. Thanks to the light, I now knew the corridor ended ten metres later. We turned the corner, and stopped.

The space at the end, which ought to have been the building’s centre, was empty. Just…gone, like someone had demolished the middle of the building and left the edges intact.

And in its place… Cobwebs. Too many to count. They formed a mat across the gaping hole in the ground.

Light flared as Vance took something from his pocket.

“This detects life forms,” he said.

A witch spell. “Why not use it before?”

“It only works up to ten feet. I’d rather know in advance, wouldn’t you?”
He held up the spell. “Nothing living in here.”

“Seriously?”

“A false trail,” he said. “Damn.”

I frowned. “Unless the spell doesn’t count faeries as living because they’re technically immortal. Not living.”

He looked at me. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.” And then I stepped back. Dead. The spell only detected the living.

A hand reached from within the cobwebs, clawing at my ankle. I jumped as a human sized figure leaped from the web. One. Two. Three. Human shaped, but not alive. Their faces were sunken, their bodies emaciated. Undead.

Well, shit.

I cursed myself for not bringing extra salt, then one of them jumped at me. I swung my blade, severing its hand, but another undead took its place. I hit that one with my sword’s side and immediately regretted it. The undead’s face caved in but it kept moving, head hanging at an unnatural angle. The foul smell dove down my throat and made me want to gag.

Vance snarled and lashed out, sword disappearing and decapitating two in one movement. His sword reappeared in his hand long enough to send another one flying across the web, head over heels.

“That one was mine,” I said, kicking another down. They were flimsy creatures, once you got past the ick factor.

Somebody must be controlling them.

As that thought crossed my mind, another, bigger figure appeared from the cobwebs. This one was tall and spindly, legs long and twig-like.

“All mortals who dare stray into my realm will meet the same fate as the other fools,” whispered a voice.

I stilled, dread curling around my heart.

“Who are you?” Vance asked.

“I am the one who hears all. If you wish to look upon my face, you may regret making that choice.”

“Then show yourself,” said Vance.

I frowned. Then it hit me: Vance didn’t have the Sight. Way to forget the obvious.

“What the hell are you?” I said.

“I am one who never sleeps, bound to walk these mortal walls.”

“You’re banished here?” I guessed.

“Cursed.” The figure spat out the word. “Cursed and tormented, mortals. It would be my pleasure to watch you die.”

Cobwebs came to life, grabbing my legs and pulling me towards him. I struggled, but the webs climbed up my thighs, gripping like thick ropes. I twisted around, slashing with my blade. The webs couldn’t have been part of the faerie, because no blood spilled, and the sticky aftermath coated my blade, making it impossible to cut my way out. Fear locked my legs in place as I realised my sword, my beloved Irene, was swamped in spider webs. I couldn’t pull the weapon free.

Two tendrils reeled me in, and though my panic spiked higher, the faerie was dragging me exactly where I wanted it to.

And it made the mistake of thinking I was a normal human.

Vance’s sword appeared and slashed, but the cobwebs immediately rose behind me, forming a wall. I heard a muffled sound as the blade struck the wall of webbing, but even Vance’s sword couldn’t cut through it.

Now it was just me and the faerie.

“What would you give me in exchange for your life essence, human?”

My life essence? Was this faerie like the Lady of the Tree—dying, and desperate for a replacement for the immortality of Faerie? I’d met more than a handful in the between realm. Creatures desperate enough to suck your skin from your bones for an extra day of life.

Luckily, I had a defence this creep didn’t know about. I let the web pull me in, readying my backup weapon.

The cobweb strands pulled me. The faerie bared sharp teeth in a grin.

I called the faerie magic.

Here, in a place thick with faerie’s essence, the magic rose like smoke and snaked around my sword, pushing against the cobwebs. With faerie magic, I could resist any other faerie’s ability. It only activated in a crisis, and if any time counted, it was now.

My sword flashed, severing a hundred cobweb strands at once. Blue light flared from my other hand, pushing the faerie’s cobweb spell away. The stickiness vanished from my legs and I managed to stand upright, new energy flowing through my veins.

The faerie, however, smiled at me.

“Did you really think I would not see Avakis’s spell lies over thee?”

“You’ve got the wrong century,” I said to cover up the instinctive horror that struck at the sound of his name.

Avakis.
How could this faerie know?
How?

“You’re the human who survived,” whispered the faerie. “A drop of our blood will more than suffice to make you immortal.”

Make
me
immortal? “No thanks. Know anything about missing human children?”

The faerie laughed. “What use would I have for mortals?”

“You tell me. Did you take them?”

“I took no mortals before you came here.”

“Know anyone who did? Are they here?” If the Lady of the Tree had lied, she’d pay.

“No.”

I moved, slicing the rest of the cobwebs free, and leaped at him.

The faerie directed another cobweb skein to push me aside, forcing me to land at a crouch in front of him.

“Your power will serve me.” He turned transparent as smoke, whirling around me. I blinked, sight blurring, heart thundering. What was Vance doing? Probably still trapped behind the wall of cobwebs. As I turned around, the faerie reappeared and the wall of webs
collapsed in a white mass. Vance leaped out and threw himself at the faerie with a ferocity that startled me. The faerie must have revealed himself fully, because even Vance couldn’t have aimed so accurately without being able to see his adversary.

As it was, he bodily slammed into the faerie. Bones crunched and the faerie screamed as Vance landed on top of him, pinning him down.

Then the cobwebs struck again, dragging Vance away from the dazed-looking faerie and forming a wall in front of my legs.

Vance tried to hit the faerie, but a wall of bluish light pushed him back.
Faerie magic.
Even when Vance pulled out his sword, he might as well have hit an invisible barrier. Teeth bared, he sliced upwards with the blade against the cobwebs, but for every one he severed, three more took its place.

This place must be fuelled by something. Spells couldn’t exist in a vacuum, and the faerie had to be fuelling the cobwebs somehow. He’d been a Summer faerie, once, and had mentioned stealing my life force.

Oh.
My stomach twisted. I’d met this type before. Summer faeries used life as an energy source, and some of them amassed power by sucking the life out of others. Or from mortals. Bile rose in my throat. Those undead… the bodies under the floor… how long had they been here?

A roar sounded. Vance leaped from the cobwebs, his arms now covered with black scales. I gaped a moment, then spun around, searching for the faerie. Vance landed beside me, sending strewn cobwebs everywhere, and drew his sword again.

“He’s drawing power from somewhere,” I said. “He told me he wanted to take my life force. I reckon he’s a Summer exile.”

“How to kill it?” Vance moved to my side. “Iron didn’t work.”

“It should,” I said. “Unless those cobwebs are iron-proof. But they can’t go on forever.”
I hope not.
This faerie had been here for years.

The creature appeared behind Vance and shot me a grin before blasting him with magic. My shout of alarm was lost as Vance hit the wall of spider webs with a force that shook the floor.
No.
I ran forward, speed enhanced by the faerie magic still flowing around me, and tackled the faerie. My blade kissed its neck.

“Stop there,” I gasped out.

The faerie glared at me. “You murdering bitch. You shouldn’t touch me.”

Blue light sprang from my non-weapon hand. I smiled. “Mad because I killed Avakis?”

“The Lord of Grey should have been immortal,” hissed the faerie.

“Clearly not.”

The faerie screamed aloud as I dug the blade in harder for the killing blow, but its skin was like concrete and my sword moved a centimetre before a blast of magic hit me. The smell of decay knocked into me like a train, my eyes watering, blackness crowding my vision. I kicked, grappling to get a hold on my own magic. Blue light flared along my hands. The faerie flew back, screaming, legs flailing.

Then its hand clenched around the knife I’d dropped.

The blade flew past me—right at Vance, who’d staggered to rejoin the fight. If it hit, it’d be a fatal shot to the heart.

I didn’t stop to think. I ran, shoving Vance out of the way. Unfortunately, that put me in the path of the knife. It grazed past me, and pain blossomed up my right side.

I caught the knife’s handle, took aim, and threw it at the faerie.

Unlike him, I didn’t miss.

The faerie dropped onto its back with a coughing laugh. “Avakis… I lived for the privilege of seeing your magic again.”

Another cough, and its chest rattled to silence.

Words rang in my head.
Your magic.
He meant
my
magic. Avakis’s magic was my shield now, and the thought made a fresh wave of bile rise in my throat. I turned away and vomited, my throat burning. Blood flashed before my eyes. I’d been cut, but my sight blurred too much to see how deep. Pretty deep. Crimson soaked my side, but I refused to pass out. My pride wouldn’t allow it.

Vance’s face swam before mine. “We’re going back. Now.”

“Get… my weapon first.”

A rustling movement and Irene appeared in his hand. He’d used magic…

Oh, god. He’d seen
me
use faerie magic.

His hand gripped my arm, and I started at the contact. The world faded out, then back in—and we stood in the manor’s hallway.

He’d transported both of us across the city. And Vance’s expression was pure Mage Lord murderous as he faced me. “What the hell was that?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Crap. “What?” I said stupidly. The copious bleeding coupled with the draining effect of the faerie magic wearing off pushed me to the brink of passing out. I leaned against the desk to hide my weakness.

“What did you do?” he repeated. “That magic you used on the faerie. I saw it.”

Yeah. Of course you did.
“I killed the faerie,” I croaked, my throat raw. “Don’t I get a ‘thank you’?”

Vance’s eyes flashed. He looked tired but not injured, which would have relieved me if not for the expression on his face. The black scales on his hands hadn’t receded yet, which accounted for the throbbing pain in my arm where he’d gripped it when he’d transported us out of there.

There was no way at all to cover up what I’d done. None. All I could do was spin what I had left into a good cover story. But this guy was a thousand more times more discerning than anyone I’d met.

“So,” he said. “Faerie magic. You didn’t mention that on your licence.”