Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel (31 page)

“You’re sure?”

“Oh, she’s sure,” the rider said with Larid’s voice as Death pulled me back. “Will you kill this body too? I’ll just take another. Which one of you wants to be next? Or you can let me kill Craft, and I’ll walk out of here.”

“Unacceptable options,” a voice I didn’t expect to come to my defense said. Then Detective Jenson, John’s partner and a feykin in hiding who I was pretty sure hated me, pulled the trigger on his Taser. Two probes attached to wires shot out, hitting Larid in the chest.

Jenson sent thousands of volts of electricity into Larid, and the rider dropped his gun, falling to his knees. But he wasn’t down. Reaching up, he pulled the probes from his chest. They hit the linoleum with two soft clinks.

“Thanks for volunteering,” the rider said to Jenson as he reached for his gun.

He never made it. A blue foam dart hit Larid between
the eyes and magic exploded into the room. Larid collapsed, out cold under a combined knockout, immobilizer, and Aetheric blocker spell. I coughed, choking on the thickness of magic in the air, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Larid.

What are you going to do, rider? Can you leave a living but unconscious body?

Either the rider was as knocked out by the dart as its host, or the host had to die for the rider to jump to the next body. I had the growing suspicion it was the later. I could see it still coating Larid’s soul, but it didn’t pour out of him. The unconscious man had become a container.

But what would happen when he woke?

Of course, with that nasty combination of spells, it would be a while. A nasty combination I’d seen before. Which meant Briar was here. With everything else going on, I hadn’t noticed her enter. I still didn’t sense her or the armory she carried. My nerves were too frazzled to zero in on her magic through the lingering miasma of the spells from the dart. In fact, about the only thing I was up for right now was sitting down. But I forced myself to turn, to look for her.

The movement morphed into a sway and only Death’s arms kept me upright.

“You’re hurt,” he said, his hand moving to hover over my wound.

There was a lot of blood, but the shot had only grazed me. “I’m a lot better than I would be if you hadn’t…” I didn’t finish because he’d ripped a soul out of a living body to save my life. Granted, the rookie had been shot seconds later, and those crucial seconds would have been too late for me, but collectors didn’t take souls early.

Ever.

I’d known only one who had, but he’d been bad news. Very bad news. In the name of love, he and his lover had crossed line after line until they were willing to tear the world apart to be together. A month ago they’d almost succeeded. That night, the gray man had told me to remember what had happened in that ill-begotten clearing. That it was
why Death and I could never be together. That was the night Death vanished from my life.

Now he’d just crossed a line to save me. A big line. And we both knew it.

People crowded around me, and Death leaned down, kissing my forehead lightly before releasing me to a pair of hands belonging to someone who had no idea I was already being steadied.

“We need to talk,” I whispered to him.

But it was Briar Darque who stepped into view and said, “Yes we do. What the hell is going on?”

I suppressed a groan. Now that my adrenaline was dropping back to normal, my arm throbbed, as did my head, and my wrists, and the shoulder I’d landed on. And hell, pretty much all of me hurt. I’d been exhausted
before
this little adventure. Now I felt ready to collapse. I didn’t want to talk to Briar Darque.

I twisted to see who had taken me from Death—and who would hopefully rescue me from Briar—and got another shock. Detective Jenson had a firm hold on my elbow, helping me keep my balance. With my shields open, I could see through the glamour he wore that hid the fact his lower jaw was elongated and two large tusks curved over his upper lip. He had troll blood somewhere in his history, but the only physical sign of it was that unfortunate jaw. He was the only feykin I’d seen who bore obvious traces of their fae ancestry—or who had enough glamour to cover it up. Of course, his soul was more silver than blue. My father had told me that there were humans with fae blood, and then there were fae with human blood. I wondered if Jenson was an example of the latter.

Jenson noticed me staring and that overlarge jaw clenched. He knew I could see through glamour. “Can you stand, Craft? Yes? Good.” He released my arm, turned on his heel, and marched away.

I stared at his back.
So much for a rescue from Briar.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her as I staggered to the closest desk to steal a wad of tissue. I was bleeding on the floor.

“I told you that I’d be keeping tabs on you. I heard you were involved in the deaths of two people, so I came to find out what happened. Now what the hell was that?” She pointed to the unconscious officer. Someone had put handcuffs and ankle shackles on him, which seemed like a good idea to me.

“He’s possessed. The MCIB has protocols to deal with that, right?” Because I was so done with this case. I just wanted someone to take the rider and, I don’t know, banish him? Bottle him? He obviously wasn’t going to stand trial by a jury of his peers.

“Possessed?” Briar cocked a dark eyebrow. “That sounds more up your alley than mine.”

“Isn’t there someone in your division who deals with this sort of thing?” The MCIB had a ghoul hunter; surely they had someone who would know what to do with Larid and the rider.

She shook her head. “I’d execute the host. It sounds cruel, but just like victims infected by ghouls, it’s better to put them down while they’re human and not monsters.”

“It jumps from host to host.” I sank into a chair. I didn’t know whose. It was just closest. “I think the previous host has to die before the rider can escape to a new body. Keeping him alive should contain it.”

“Then you better try the hospital, because I don’t have time to babysit.”

So no help from the MCIB then. I sighed.

“Alex, let me see your arm,” John said, stepping close enough that he crowded Briar away. Normally I’d have been uncomfortable, but I was glad for the break from the woman.

“It’s just a graze.” But I obediently pulled the wad of tissues away from the wound.

“You’re right, but you should probably go to the hospital. You might need stitches.”

I so couldn’t afford a hospital bill. “If you have an OMIH first aid kit laying around, I’m sure that will be fine.”

John’s mustache gave an irritated twitch, but he called
for someone to fetch the kit and then offered to help me to his office. I started to refuse, but my legs felt like my bones had been replaced by cooked spaghetti, so I let him help me hobble to his office.

“What happened to those cuffs?” he asked, looking at the bracelets I still wore. I’d intended to turn the suckers into a shower of rust, but I’d barely corroded them. They looked weathered, not ruined, so I shrugged. Then I winced because the movement hurt.

John collapsed into his chair, his shoulders slumping as if a great weight pressed down on them. Then he unloaded his gun, preparing to turn it over when the inevitable internal affairs investigation started. “This is over now, right?”

I looked back toward the lobby. The idea of being blind after the attempt on my life terrified me, so I hadn’t released my touch on other planes. Glancing out the door all I could see were crumbling walls and wisps of magic, but I knew that beyond that were two bodies who shouldn’t be dead, and a third person spelled unconscious as a living container for a malevolent spirit.

“I hope so,” I whispered, but as long as the rider still existed, I couldn’t help feeling like the question wasn’t
if
it would escape, but
when
.

“A
lex, wake up.”

I groaned, willing the voice away.

“Alex.”

Grabbing my pillow, I pulled it over my head and rolled over. Which hurt like hell.

“Alex,” Rianna said again.

“Go away.” I didn’t want to be awake. I felt like I’d been used as a giant’s punching bag. I needed more sleep, and a pain charm. Or six.

“Alex, the equinox starts soon.”

“Good for it.”

“You promised you’d go to the revelry.”

Why the hell would I do that? Waking up at o’dark thirty to go to Faerie was definitely a stupid idea. I pulled the pillow tighter around my head, but she was right, after weeks of Caleb and Rianna bugging me, I had promised.

But yesterday I’d spent hours at the police station, first answering to the ABMU and then to the OMIH, who were a hell of a lot more interested in Larid and the rider than Briar had implied. I’d also fended off a psychic attack, had my soul ripped at, been arrested, shot at, and saved by Death collecting a soul early. I seriously thought I deserved
an out on that particular promise. Unfortunately it didn’t work that way, and I felt the tug of magic below my sternum. I was fae enough that a promise was as binding as any magic-laced oath.

I spouted a few creative curses and pried open my eyes. I’d been blind when I finally closed my shields yesterday, and I wasn’t surprised to discover that my vision was still dim, washed out. Rianna stood at the side of my bed looking like a grayscale image with a light wash of watercolors on top. Desmond, being black to start with, had no definition.

I glanced toward the windows but couldn’t see any light. “Is it still dark?”

Rianna rolled her eyes. “Of course. The equinox starts at dawn.”

And she couldn’t be out of Faerie then. Right.

“She awake yet?” Caleb yelled from somewhere downstairs.

Rianna looked at me.

“I’m up, I’m up.” And I needed coffee. Lots of coffee. “Remind me why I’m going to this equinox thing again?” I asked as I hit the
BREW
button. PC pressed against my legs, peering at Desmond from around my calves.

“You’re going because revelries like this only occur four times a year.”

“I’m really not up for a party,” I said staring at my coffeepot and willing it to brew faster. It didn’t work. I could screw with reality, but coffee still took forever to brew, or at least it seemed that way before my first cup.

Rianna pulled a mug out of the cupboard for me, which I accepted with all the grace of a hibernating bear woken far too early.

“It’s not just a party. It’s…” She paused, as if looking for the right words. Ones that would convince me—not that she needed to bother. I couldn’t break my promise. “It’s a neutral time, so it will be a safe time for you to experience more of Faerie. To interact with the fae and the courts. You’re
going to have to make your choice and pick a court soon.” Quieter she added. “Or declare yourself independent and take their oaths.”

Rianna might be spending an ever-increasing amount of time in the mortal realm, but she belonged and lived in Faerie. Me declaring myself independent would have potentially disastrous consequences for her. She wanted me to pick a court, any court. Caleb also wanted me to make my choice, if only to stop the Winter Queen’s harassment, but he wanted me to declare independent so I didn’t have to leave Nekros. I stared at the slowly dripping black gold filling my coffeepot. It was way too early for Faerie politics.

Forty-seven minutes later—and I’d felt every single one of them—I was begrudgingly awake, caffeinated, and walking toward the Eternal Bloom. Rianna had her arm hooked in mine, Holly doing the same on my other side. I’d like to say it was all cheerful camaraderie, but the truth was I couldn’t see a thing in the predawn darkness and their scorching heat was better than falling on my face.

“So what will it be like?” Holly asked, practically skipping as we walked. She was way too much of a morning person.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” was Caleb’s answer, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He always went to the revelries, disappearing for a day every few months, but this was the first time we’d accompanied him.

“And what is it I’m supposed to do?” I asked, and heard a petulant whine in my voice. I cleared my throat. I was
so
not that person. “You guys don’t actually expect me to join a court today, do you?”

“Of course not.” The smile wasn’t in his voice this time. “You just need to enjoy yourself and stop seeing Faerie as terrifying. Go, interact with other fae, and have fun.”

Yeah, I don’t see that happening.

I took the Bloom’s front steps carefully, and too slowly
for my friends, both of whom were far more eager than I. Which wasn’t hard. All I wanted to do was go back to bed.

“Oh,” Holly said, stopping short as we reached the top. “It says they’re closed for the equinox. How are we—” She cut off abruptly. “Do you hear that?”

I listened, but all I heard was an old car chugging down a nearby road. “No.”

“It’s music.” She dropped my arm, and took another step toward the door. “The sweetest music I’ve ever heard.”

Her voice sounded dreamily far away, and I grabbed her, pulling her back. “Caleb, are you sure this is safe?”