Imperative: A Quinn Larson Quest (17 page)

I turned to walk around the perimeter of the room, working counterclockwise. I passed a painting of the Wild Hunt, tall fair people who looked like Maeve riding in the moonlight, then a sculpture of the same scene, these Sidhe looking more like Fionuir. Beside that was a tapestry of a picnic the setting looking like something out of the sixteen hundreds. Fionuir had covered most of the walls with art depicting hunts and parties and landscapes of an Ireland that never really existed.

The tapestry Maeve described was further from the door than I remembered but I could see the table underneath it. I tiptoed past three Sidhe women who lay in a crumpled heap in front of a sofa; they were going to be sore when they woke up.

The table was cluttered with china ornaments. I placed a shepherdess and a filigreed bowl on the floor. Then I started moving the rest of the contents around. There was no amulet. I couldn’t feel any tingle of a disguise spell. I looked around the room; I was going to need a day, not just an hour to search the whole area.

My internal clock told me I’d been in the room for ten minutes tops. I had an hour easy. If I had a strategy maybe I could do it.

I did a fast tour of the room, not stopping to search, just looking for possibilities. There were six places where Fionuir might keep something that important to her.

I found her, sleeping in a chair, a glass of wine spilled on the rug beneath her. I worked outward from her checking all the tables and baskets. I found gems and ornaments and baubles. I found bowls full of gold chains and rings. What I didn’t find was a lump of stone with spells painted on it. No disguise spells either. As far as I could tell the amulet was not in the building.

Fionuir shifted in her sleep and I realized it had been too long.

I slipped out of the room and ran down the corridor. The front door was still sitting ajar and I pushed it as I ran through. The twins were stretching, eyes still closed but they were seconds from waking. I looked toward the corner where I knew Cate was waiting for me and saw shadows. Good, she was still hidden.

Then one shadow slipped away and I stopped dead in the middle of the street. The shadow was hunched and its outline moved as though rats were fighting under the skin. Then it drifted toward the rooftops. I stopped watching it and drew my eyes back to the doorway. My stomach clenched, my blood sank to my feet. I knew I was in shock but I couldn’t let that stop me. I ignored the cold that grasped me. I tried to breathe but it was too much effort.

I stepped toward the doorway. Cate was there. She was leaning against the door. Her head was hanging, hair falling like a curtain.

“Cate.” I tried to get above a whisper but I had no breath.

I kept stepping forward. “Cate, please say something.”

Now I was standing in front of her. I lifted the curtain of her hair and saw what I dreaded; her eyes were drained of color. There was a round burn mark on her forehead. The shadow had been a demon. Someone had conjured a power demon. It had drawn Cate’s entire magic potential through that burn mark.

Cate was gone. Cate was dead.

I picked up her body, she was so light, and carried her home, to my home, not hers. I knew she was gone but I couldn’t leave her here. The demon would go back to its own plane now. Whoever summoned it and didn’t contain it would still be worried until daylight.

Fed or otherwise it wouldn’t live longer than the night.

If I found the person who summoned that demon, I would give all my power away by violating my oath and be happy to do it.

I reached my door and saw someone was lurking in there. I ignored them and went around the side to my garden. There was an old oak tree in the far corner. I cast a dig spell and within minutes there was a deep hole big enough for me to lay Cate inside. I placed her as gently as I could and then picked a bouquet of roses and lilies and placed them across her body.

Then I pushed the dirt back in place.

I sat beside the grave trying to make sense of what happened. This afternoon we were planning to save the fairies and humans. The twins had been so vigilant because they knew about the demon. And that was why all the Sidhe had been in court. They weren’t willing to take the chance of encountering a hungry demon.

“No, I didn’t. I swear to you, Quinn, I wanted you to succeed. I’m sorry, had I known there was danger to either of you I would have done something.” She reached to touch me but jerked her hand back when she hit the defenses I had around my home. “Please, can I come inside? This is too public.”

She composed her features to sorrow again before speaking. “There is still the problem of Fionuir stealing power from the Fairies. You must stop that.”

“I don’t care. Find someone else to defeat your enemies. I have better things to do.” Like shut out everyone and mourn what could have been with Cate.

“You didn’t think that a few hours ago.” Her voice hardened and I saw a glimpse of the queen she claimed to be. “Grieve for her, but don’t walk away from this, Quinn.”

My vision clouded with a red mist. I reached across the gate to slap her. She pulled away at the last second. “Don’t be foolish,” she hissed. “I know you are obligated to not harm a Sidhe. I will forgive you the attempt because you are grieving.”

“I don’t need your forgiveness, Sidhe.”

She smiled and it was a cold expression. “You need two things I can give you. I will find out where the amulet is now, and I will find out who released the demon. I know you have a spirit oath, Quinn. I will leave it to you to decide what to do with the knowledge.”

She caught my attention with that. “Let me know when you have found the fool who can’t contain his summonings.”

“Oh, Quinn, I expect to be able to find out both things and quickly. I will tell you who summoned the demon after I am queen.” She smiled that predator smile and walked away.

I watched her go then turned back to the tree. The mound of earth seemed to reproach me. As if I was supposed to be doing something. Even from death Cate was trying to tell me something.

“Lionel.” I felt my shoulders slump. I was going to have to tell him.

I wiped my hands on my jeans and headed for Cate’s house. I hoped Lionel had managed to clean it up since the last time I was there. Remembering the hurricane incident stopped me in my tracks. Could Lionel have summoned the demon? No. I started walking again. He didn’t have the experience to do that. Summoning was not just speaking the spell and having the right ingredients. You had to know what you were doing.

From the outside, Cate’s house looked fine. The front door was locked, and now that she was dead, I didn’t feel right just walking in. She’d passed me through her protection spells but still, I felt that the permission ended when she died. I knocked on the door.

No one came so I knocked harder.

I heard someone approach, heavy footsteps and a bang of some piece of furniture being knocked over. The curtain twitched in the window beside the door, and then the door flung open.

He sank his hands into the pockets of the overalls he wore, the light going out of his smile. “Something has happened, hasn’t it? I expected her to come home last night but I told myself she was probably with you. She likes you, you know.”

He swallowed and wiped a tear from his cheek. “I should leave soon. I mean someone will want this house. I can’t just stay here. I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be talking about this, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“Lionel, don’t worry about that right now.” I didn’t think he was about to be evicted. “You can stay here. I’ll see if I can find you a new master.”

“Thank you. I don’t want to put you out. I can go back to Master Vollont, he’ll find someone for me.”

Master Vollont lived in San Francisco now; I didn’t think it was a good idea for Lionel to be traveling that far without an escort. “No need for that. You stay here and keep studying. I need to figure out who summoned that demon and deal with him, or her I guess. Then I’ll either take you to Master Vollont or find you someone else.”

He sighed before nodding. I felt some of my fury drain away at the sight of his wretchedness.

I went home after making sure Lionel had food and other supplies to last a few days. I would think about getting him a new master in a day or so — when I felt better.

I sat in my workroom staring at the floor, at the circle waiting to be used. I couldn’t bring up the energy to call a spirit and ask about the demon. I couldn’t stand the thought that whoever I summoned wouldn’t know the answer. Better to be ignorant than to face yet another disappointment. My back sent a message to my brain, move or die. I realized two hours had passed without me noticing.

I moved, it hurt, but pain was better than nothing. Princess was still covered completely with the blanket. I knew she couldn’t feel anything, or see anything but it made me feel worse to see her hidden like a mirror during Shiva.

The least I could do is let some light on her. As I lifted the cover, I noticed she had paled a little, the spell kept her in complete suspension, but I guess she needed some light to keep her healthy just like a flower. I took the cover off and let the sunlight flowing in from the row of basement windows fall on her skin. I thought a little color came back to her, but that could be wishful thinking.

I perched on the edge of the couch and started talking. It felt good to talk, it didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear me, or maybe it was better that she couldn’t.

“I am such an idiot,” I said, “and a coward.”

As I expected Princess didn’t contradict me.

“I should have said something. I should have offered to kiss her when we were both apprentices. If I had, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe she would be living here with us.”

I dropped my head into my hands. I hated this spiral of self-pity but I couldn’t stop it. “I don’t know what to do now. I don’t know why I should keep fighting this battle. I should just take up hermiting.”

“The battle started long before Cate joined.”

It took me a second to realize the voice was coming from the doorway and not the fairy beside me. I looked up and saw Olan swooping toward the bench. “Yes, and if we had kept her out of it, she would be alive today,” I said.

“Maybe, but maybe not. A demon took her and it could have been sent to do just that? It could have taken anyone but it chose her. Maybe nothing to do with the Sidhe.”

“It would be a stretch of the imagination to think someone was trying to kill her for some unrelated purpose just as we were about to get the amulet.”

“But not impossible.”

I didn’t have the energy to argue any more. What did it matter, she was gone. “Look, I don’t really want to talk about it. I know I didn’t contact her for years, but we still had time. I was planning to get around to it.”

“No you weren’t.” He hopped on my shoulder and tapped my head with his beak. I hoped he was trying to be gentle, but it hurt anyway.

“Well, maybe you are right. I was ignoring what could be while I built my power and reputation. I really did intend to court her; eventually. I thought we had an eventually.”

“Well, that might be. I won’t argue with you because I don’t know what goes on in your heart. But, I know you can’t let her life be spent for nothing.”

“For nothing, or for something, what’s the difference? She’s still gone. And it would have been horrible. She must have kept the spell going until the last second. The Sidhe didn’t start to wake until I was almost out of room.” I realized that the demon must have attacked her just as I gave up on finding the amulet. “If I had just left as soon as I realized the Gur amulet wasn’t where Maeve said it was, I could have saved her.”