Return of the Hunters (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 4) (8 page)

But if anything unexpected happened, we were probably fucked.

C
HAPTER 12

F
or some reason, everyone had gravitated into our room when the train attendants brought dinner that night. Like it wasn’t cramped enough already.

The storm had turned a two-hour layover into four hours, and we’d lost another hour when the train stopped in the middle of Nowhere, Illinois, to wait out a bad stretch of weather. By dinner time, which was also running late, Denei was practically spitting fire.

 “We ain’t got time for this! He’s gettin’ worse.” She paced the suite between Zoba’s bunk and the chair Reun had taken over, since I was at the table with Rex and Senobia. Isalie and Bastien sat on the edge of the raised platform that held the table and benches.

Zoba was too weak to get out of bed.

“Hold on. Tomorrow’s the second day, right?” I pushed my half-eaten plate of train-café macaroni and cheese to the side. My appetite had fled since I’d seen Orville Valentine standing five feet away from me, and knowing it wasn’t real hadn’t helped any. “We should’ve gotten there early in the morning, like five or six, and we’re only three hours behind,” I said. “It’ll still be morning. When are you supposed to meet this guy?”

Denei shook her head. “The summons came at two yesterday afternoon, so we ain’t gonna have past two tomorrow. Maybe sooner,” she said. “He’ll tell us when, exactly. But this bullshit’s cutting it too damned close.”

“How’s he going to tell you?”

Across from me, Rex frowned. “You don’ wanna know,” he said—and then broke into a crooked smile, pointing his fork at my plate. “You eatin’ that?”

“
Cochon
.” Senobia rolled her eyes and nudged him with an elbow. “He eats whatever ain’t nailed down or runnin’ away,” she said to me. “Don’t feel obliged to feed the bottomless pit,
cher.
”

I smirked. “No, it’s fine,” I said. “Help yourself.”

“Thank you.” Rex made a face at her as he pulled the plate over.

She stuck her tongue out. “You still a pig.”

“
Mais alohrs, cher
,” he said, grinning. “A pig with seconds.”

Bastien tipped them a narrow look. “Both y’all
couillon
,” he said. “Hush now, you. We got other problems.”

“Hey.” Senobia folded her arms and glared. “Don’t you pull that ‘the grownups is talking’ crap with us, Bastien Duchene. You ain’t got even two years on me, and—”

“Yeah, well I got more’n that,” Isalie said. “Bastien’s right. Y’all need to settle.”

Zoba made a sound. It was barely audible, but it stopped the chatter instantly.

“All right, listen up,” Denei said. “We gotta think of some other way to get there. This weather keeps up, we’ll need a new plan. We cain’t be late.”

“Why not?” I said.

She glared at me. “Maybe you failed to catch my meaning the first time round,” she said deliberately. “I’ll say it real slow this time. We got two days. If we ain’t there, he’ll kill us all. As in dead. Understand?”

“Yeah, I get that. But aren’t we going there to free your family?” I slid to the end of the bench. “I mean, that’s why you brought me, right? And I don’t think there’s any way we can get there faster, unless you guys can fly or something. So if we’re not on time, we’ll meet him wherever, and I’ll DeathSpeaker him before he kills you.”

“You don’t get it,” she said in flat tones. “He don’t need to be anywhere near us to kill us. Hell, if he felt like it, he could do it right now.”

“Jesus Christ. Are you serious?”

“Of course she is, child.”

There was a collective gasp at the voice from the bottom bunk—a hollow, rolling tone that echoed in the confines of the suite. Zoba slid off the bed, shivering like a wet dog as he straightened with the stiff jerks of a badly controlled puppet. He pivoted slowly to face the table.

His eyes were blank, pure white. And his mouth was filled with white flames.

“I have missed part of this conversation, no? An important part, I wager.” The white eyes stared directly at me. “Now, you want to tell Papa Legba all your secrets, do you not?”

I swallowed hard. “Not especially.”

“Oh, but you do,” he said. “DeathSpeaker.”

C
HAPTER 13

O
kay. That could not be a good sign.

“What is this you bring to me, children?” Zoba-Legba took a shuddering step toward the table, and the Duchenes shrank back collectively. “You are not planning to rise against me,” he said. “That would be…very unwise. But you know that, do you not?”

I couldn’t look away—but at the corner of my vision, I saw Denei moving slowly in front of Reun, like she was trying to block him from view. Reun seemed to take the hint and tried to make himself as small as possible.

It was a little too late for me to hide. Even though I kind of felt like ducking under the table and cowering until he went away.

“Tell Papa everything, child.” That voice was absolute. I actually wanted to tell him—just open my mouth and spill out my whole life story, all twenty-six years of it at once. “Come, now,” he said. “My children are hiding something from me, and I will know what.”

I had to start talking, or my tongue was going to run ahead of my brain and do something stupid. “I’m just along for the ride,” I managed. “Never been to New Orleans.”

“Are you, now.” Zoba’s body trembled even harder, his tattooed face a mask of pain despite the calm command of the words leaving his mouth. “Oh, my children. How you have disappointed me,” he said. “But we will deal with that when you arrive, no? Perhaps if you make a gift of this…DeathSpeaker, your suffering will be brief.”

“Hey. I’m not gonna be your gift, goddamn it.”

The instant I said it, I figured that was probably a bad idea. But he looked at me and forced Zoba’s face into a cruel semblance of a smile, baring his pointed teeth. “You are certain of that, are you, child?” he said. “Serving me does have its advantages. You would obtain power far greater than you can imagine—and all I ask in return is your soul. When you are finished with it, of course.”

I shuddered. “Hell, no.”

“Such disrespect, child. Tread carefully when you come to me.” The white eyes flashed, and he turned stiffly toward Denei. “As for you. Tomorrow at noon, in my club, and not a moment later. Do you understand this?”

“Yes, Papa,” she whispered.

“And do not think I have failed to mark your presence, Fae.” He shook his head and faced the table again. “You will come to me. Perhaps you will change your mind and serve me, no? I have no child such as you, and you would be richly rewarded. Consider my offer.”

The glow left Zoba’s eyes and mouth. He shivered once, and then collapsed.

Before anyone could react, the entire car lurched and swayed violently. The lights flickered and went out.

And the train ground to a halt.

“What the hell?” I blurted. “Did
he
do that?”

“Nah, wasn’t Legba,” Denei said in shaken tones from somewhere in the gloom. “Somebody make a light.”

“
De’àrsahd
.”

The rasping word came from Reun. When he spoke it, the main cabin light came on weakly. Denei stumbled over and dropped next to Zoba, turning him carefully onto his side.

His eyes were rolled back to white. For one nasty second, I thought he was still Legba.

“Zoba,” she said urgently. “Come on, sugar
.
Come on back to me.” Her voice caught, and a tear slipped down her face. “I know you in there. I hear you.”

One corner of his mouth twitched. He let out a rush of air, then closed his eyes.

Denei flinched. “No, it ain’t your fault,” she said. “You jes’ hang on. We’re gonna get there, hear?” She looked at the others. “Bastien, Isalie. You two go on up and find out what the hell’s gone wrong with this worthless hunk of train now. Get the truth. Any means necessary. I need to know how long this gonna take.”

The two of them nodded, stood and slipped silently from the cabin.

“Rex, you and Nobi help me get him back in bed.” Denei glanced back at Reun, and then caught my eye. “You know we’d never turn you over to him,” she said. “Right?”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Good.” She watched the young ones approach with shaken determination. “Now, we need a way to get there faster. I got a bad feelin’ this train ain’t going nowhere for a while.”

Reun stood slowly from the chair. “I might have a way,” he said. “It is not without risk, but it may be our only choice.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. “What way?”

He leveled a hard look at me. “We go through Arcadia.”

C
HAPTER 14

I
was right. I didn’t like the sound of that.

“How the hell’s that going to help?” I said. “Time is slower there, so wouldn’t it take even longer if we did that? Besides, it’s
Arcadia.
Everything there exists to kill something. And it doesn’t seem to care what.”

Denei gave an uneasy glance. “Sounds like handsome has a point.”

“Yes, time is slower. But
distance
is…fluid,” Reun said. “Once we’ve crossed the Veil from here, we can cross back from Arcadia directly into New Orleans. It would require a bit of travel through the Fae realm. But not nearly as far as we’ve yet to go here.”

“Hold on.” Denei slid her arms under Zoba’s shoulders and nodded to Rex and Senobia, who helped her lift him and carry him the short distance to the bed. Once they had him settled, she turned and nearly glared at him. “You sayin’ you can basically fold space? Take a shortcut through this Fae realm or whatever, and just step into the city like snappin’ your fingers?” She bared her teeth in a snarl. “Why the fuck we ain’t done that in the first place?”

Reun shook his head. “Because Gideon is right,” he said. “There is great risk in entering Arcadia, particularly for those who are not Fae.”

“Yeah. We barely made it through that place, and we had a Fae prince helping us out.” I’d always be beyond grateful to Uriskel for risking his life to save a bunch of strangers. Without him, we’d have died ten minutes in. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Reun isn’t all that eager to go back, after what happened…before,” I added softly.

Denei’s face relaxed instantly, and she started across the room toward him. “Oh, Lord. I’m so sorry,” she said. “Course you don’t wanna go back there. And I don’t blame you, not one bit.”

“I will,
a’stohr.
For you, and your family.” He put an arm around her and kissed her gently. “My only concern is for your safety,” he said. “Arcadia is not particularly welcoming to humans. Even those with…talents such as yours.”

She gave a weak laugh. “Are you flattering me, Mister Seelie Noble?”

“Perhaps I am.”

“Seriously, guys?” I said.

“Denei,” Senobia called from the side of the bed, where she’d sat next to Zoba. “He’s tryin’ to get up.”

She frowned and walked toward them. “Relax. Ain’t nothin’ you can do right now, brother,” she said, kneeling beside him to take his hand. “Rex, honey. Fetch me a damp cloth?”