Skeleton Crew (3 page)

“So you want to show your gratitude by stabbing him in the fucking back? Remind me never to do you a favor.”

“No one has to get hurt, Domino. I'm not talking about taking him out. He'd get bumped down to lieutenant again, but in a stronger outfit. It's still a promotion for him, from where he was before. We annex his territory and he runs it for us.”

“I'm pretty sure Terrence wouldn't see it as a promotion. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't blame him.”

“Maybe. He's not stupid, though, and I think he'd come around. He'd listen to you, Domino.”

“I'm not going to push him out without giving him a chance.”

Adan sighed. “What do you suggest, then? The current situation isn't stable. If we don't push him out, someone's going to put him down.”

“Simeon Wale's crew is going to cross. Terrence will give him lieutenant.”

“No one mentioned this to me.”

I shrugged. “I thought you had more important things to worry about. Anyway, I'm telling you now.”

“You're weakening our outfit to support Terrence.”

“Letting Wale cross doesn't make us weaker. I know
I'll
sleep better at night.”

“The other outfits will know you're supporting Terrence. It will involve us in the conflict. It could escalate.”

“I don't see how. The move is between Terrence and Wale. I'm just stepping aside.”

Adan frowned and shook his head. “I don't like it, Domino. I should have been consulted about this. I don't like you dropping it on me after it's already done.”

I smiled. “Yeah, it stings a little, doesn't it?”

“This is different, Domino. Okay, I didn't tell you about the Koreans. You made a move that impacts my responsibilities without discussing it with me.”

“There wasn't anything to discuss. If we can help Terrence get right, we're going to do it. That's the way we treat our allies around here. Maybe it's different where you come from.”

Adan flinched, and I had to admit it was a low blow. Adan may have been the crown prince and maybe he'd made his triumphant return, but he was still an outsider to
most of the guys in the outfit. A few even suspected King Oberon of running a long con on us. They figured Adan would turn out to be some kind of Manchurian Candidate even more dangerous to our outfit than the changeling had been. Adan had inherited a certain amount of power—enough to make life difficult for me—but he was isolated. In the underworld, that's an uncomfortable place to be.

In my experience, men weren't usually very complicated, and Adan was no exception. In the last couple months, he'd made it pretty clear he wanted to be friends. Problem was, I needed an associate I could count on a hell of a lot more than I needed a friend, even if he was nice to look at.

“We're on the same side,” Adan said, as if he knew what I was thinking. “I'm just trying to protect my father's interests, the same as you. We don't have to be rivals, Domino.”

I wasn't sure how we could avoid being rivals if he challenged all my decisions. Maybe he thought we could avoid it if he were the one making all the decisions. If that's what he had in mind, he was going to be really disappointed.

“There's something else,” I said. “Terrence had to bury two of his nephews yesterday. I was at the cemetery.”

“That's rough, but from everything you've said about Mobley, that's the way the Jamaicans play the game.”

“That's not what I'm getting at. After the service, the kids got back up and tried to eat us.” I told Adan about the zombies and about my visit to the Between.

“And you're sure it wasn't something Mobley did?” I shook my head. “There was no magic on the kids. I've been down that road before so I don't want to make too much of it. But it wasn't sorcery and it wasn't glamour.”

“So what does that leave?”

“I was hoping you might have an idea.” Avalon, where
Adan had grown up, was in the Beyond. He'd had more experience with this kind of thing than I had.

“It could be a plague, like in the movies.”

“Jesus, Adan, I was hoping you'd have something a little more solid than fucking Hollywood. Anyway, I got bit by one of them and I haven't been feeling any cannibalistic urges or anything.”

“Sorry, Domino, I really don't know. We didn't get much in the way of zombies. I guess it could be an Unseelie thing. They were hooked up a little more closely with the realms of the mortal dead than we were.”

“The Unseelie?”

“Yeah. There are twin kingdoms in Faerie, one light and one dark. The dark one is called the Unseelie Court.”

“So the Seelie are supposed to be the good fairies? They swapped you out for a changeling, killed a lot of my guys, tried to kill me and planned to take down your father.”

Adan grinned. “Light and dark, not necessarily good and evil. The distinction is more about personality than morals. The Seelie fey are usually in a better mood.”

I didn't know the Seelie king well, but I had to admit even when he was conspiring to kill me he'd been pretty cheerful about it. “So you think the Unseelie fey might be raising zombies?”

“I don't really know, Domino. I was raised by the fey but I was never one of them. Everyone knew who I was, what I was and why I was there. I wasn't trusted. If I had to guess, I'd say no. The Unseelie are still fey. If there were Unseelie glamour on the zombies you'd have seen it.”

“Should we be expecting the Unseelie to move on us, just like the Seelie did?”

“Another thing I don't know. There wasn't much contact between the courts, except for the occasional war. I do
know King Oberon has an army of spies whose only job is to keep tabs on them. You could ask him.”

“Okay, thanks. I'll stay in touch.” I stood up and left. Adan might have called after me but I was already out the office door and heading down the stairs to the club.

I'd like to say I was thinking about Terrence, about the Jamaicans, about zombies and the possible involvement of the Unseelie Court. But I wasn't. I was thinking about Adan. I was thinking about how badly I'd wanted him—or at least, the creature that had taken his place—just a few short months ago. At least I'd thought I wanted him. Looking back, it was hard to remember why. But then Adan would smile and those fucking dimples would soften his chiseled face, or he'd tilt his head to the side as he listened to what I was saying. Just like the changeling. I'd catch the scent of apples and cinnamon and I'd feel that familiar pull. It was just like waking from a pleasant dream and wishing for a moment you could go back to sleep.

This Adan wasn't a changeling. He wasn't a monster. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.

 

I'd averted a war with the Seelie Court by giving them Hollywood. King Oberon had taken over a club on Sunset Boulevard that had belonged to one of the conspirators, a vampire I'd gotten to kill. It had been called the Cannibal Club under the vampire's management, but Oberon had since changed the name to the Carnival Club. He'd done some remodeling and redecorating, too. The Mardi Gras theme was a lot less played out than the Goth thing, and I had to admit the purple, gold and green decor was a lot more festive—gaudier, too, but what do you want from fairies? All in all, Oberon could have done worse. It wasn't like the world needed another Irish pub or anything.

I spun my parking spell and left my Lincoln out front, then went inside the club. I found Oberon behind the main bar polishing glasses with a white cloth. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt and faded jeans and looked more like the drummer in a garage band than a fairy king. The Carnival Club wouldn't open for hours but a few sidhe were hanging around, lounging at the tables and booths or drinking at the bar. The fairy queen, Titania, was there, and she didn't look old enough to be in the club.

“Domino, welcome,” Oberon said. “Tequila? I'll join you.”

“Too early for me, King. How about some of that apple cider you make?”

Oberon reached below the bar and brought out a carafe of the amber liquid. The cider wasn't too sweet, a little spicy, and I was pretty sure it had some narcotic qualities. I didn't care—it was one of the best things I'd ever tasted and it reminded me of better times.

“With ice,” I said as he filled a glass.

“You're a barbarian, Domino,” the king said, but he dropped a few cubes in my glass. He pushed it across the bar to me as I sat down. “What brings you in?”

“The Unseelie Court.”

Oberon frowned. “What about it?”

“I maybe got a problem with zombies. Adan thought the Unseelie fey might be involved. He said they were more closely aligned with the realms of the dead, and all that.”

“Queen Mab has, at times, made the mortal dead a part of her court. Mostly to torment them, from what I've seen.”

“Queen Mab? Is she your sister or something?”

“They were lovers,” said Titania.

Oberon glanced over at her. He looked worried. “That
was a long time ago, my dear. We've been enemies far longer than we were lovers.”

“She doesn't do zombies, though,” Titania continued. “Very few mortals can cross physically into Avalon, so you're not likely to find any animated corpses there.”

“Many of the Unseelie sidhe can raise the dead, though,” Oberon said. “When they cross into Arcadia.”

“She hasn't crossed, husband. None of them have. I'd know.”

“She will.”

“But not yet. And Domino doesn't care about that. She's asking about zombies.”

“Yeah,” I said. “One thing at a time.” Arcadia was the sidhe name for the mortal world. The idea that a grouchier sidhe nation would eventually cross over—that was a problem for another day.

“Tell me about your zombies,” Oberon said. I gave him the whole story, and I have to say, neither he nor his queen seemed all that interested.

Oberon kept polishing his glasses. “I know of the kephn. Human souls are its food of choice, but it's been known to hunt the fey and other spirits in lean times. It feeds on juice and so it can be quite dangerous to the lesser fey. Graveyards, as you might guess, are its primary hunting ground.”

“Well, I don't think it's my problem. It's dead, and any way, it seemed to have a hankering for ghosts, not zombies.”

“Yes, the kephn is incapable of manifesting in the mortal world. It would have no use for zombies so I doubt it was responsible for their creation.”

“So what's creating them?”

“What makes you think there will be others? Perhaps it
was just something that happened to those two and you'll never know what caused it.”

“Yeah, I'm not going to waste time hoping there won't be more. I'm not that lucky.”

“Maybe it's a plague—a viral outbreak or something.”

“Everyone watches way too many movies.”

Oberon shrugged. “This is Hollywood.”

“So you've got nothing for me?”

“I'm no expert on zombies, Domino.”

I sighed. “All right, thanks anyway. How's everything else going? You settling in okay?”

Oberon grinned. “It's perfect. Hollywood may not be much to look at, but there's so much juice here. We're all quite content, I assure you.”

“That's good.”

“Are you coming to the Bacchanal Ball?”

“What's that?”

“I'm throwing a party. Here at the club. You should have received an invitation.”

“Sometimes I forget to check my mail. When is it?”

“Tomorrow night. You must attend, Domino. It will be a celebration quite unlike anything you've ever experienced.”

“What are we celebrating?”

“Him,” said Titania. “What else?”

Oberon frowned at her. “Our return to Arcadia. The ceremony with which you celebrated our arrival was simple and elegant, but a little understated. That's not really how we roll.”

“Yeah, okay, I'll be here. Thanks for the invite. Is it formal?”

“It's a masquerade, of course.”

“So I need a costume?”

Oberon laughed. “You stole my shapeshifter's glam our, Domino. I'm certain you'll come up with something wonderful.”

“All right, but I'm bringing Honey.”

Oberon shrugged. “That's fine. I don't hold grudges.” That was a lie—he held them better than just about anyone. “There's one more thing, Domino, a somewhat more serious matter.”

“What's that?”

“It's Terrence Cole's outfit. We're concerned. We feel as though we've left the back door open while our family sleeps.”

“I'm handling it, King.”

“I've no doubt you'll do what you can, within the limitations of the political situation. I understand you've given him Simeon Wale's crew.”

That didn't take long, but then Oberon's spies were better than most. “Wale crossed on his own. Wasn't my idea. I can live without the bastard, though—if it helps Terrence, that's just a happy coincidence.”

Oberon nodded and smiled. “I don't know this man Wale as well as you do, of course, but I'm concerned that it won't be enough. I'm concerned that I was…too diplomatic…when I agreed to surrender Cole's territory.”

I let the feeling drain from my face and looked at him. “Your diplomacy meant we didn't have to kill each other. That's still what it means.”

Oberon held up his hands in mock surrender. “Easy, Domino. I'm not proposing a breach of our treaty. I'm merely pointing out that I could hold Cole's ground better than he can, with or without Simeon Wale.”

“You couldn't hold it without the other outfits behind
you. And we're not. Remember that. Maybe there's something for you in Reseda if you're feeling cramped.”

“What the fuck would I do with Reseda? Open a carwash?”