Thaumatology 12: Vengeance (18 page)

‘Your skin’s changing again,’ Lily commented as they walked.

Ceri groaned. ‘What now? Am I growing wings or turning purple?’

‘Actually, it’s looking more normal. I think you’re even getting some colour in it.’

‘No chance,’ Ceri scoffed.

‘She’s right,’ Michael said, his eyes never rising above Lily’s waist. ‘It’s a little smoother than it was, but it’s not as pale. I may be male, but I notice these things.’

‘It took you a week to notice I’d cut my hair,’ Ceri pointed out.

‘No, it took me a week to
say
I’d noticed. Also, you cut it and then I didn’t see you in human form until five days later.’

‘Huh.’ Of course he was right. ‘You are better about noticing things like that than most men.’

‘That’s because I’m a wolf. We’re just naturally better than most men.’

‘Not arguing,’ Ceri replied, grinning. She stopped as they turned a corner in the track and the bowl of Llyn Cau appeared to their right, and she felt… something.

Michael’s head lifted and he sniffed, moving up to stand beside Lily. ‘Fae,’ he said softly.

Male laughter echoed from the walls of the rocky bowl and the sky grew darker. As they watched, the water of the lake grew still and then ice began to form, spreading from the far bank as a tall figure seemed to step out of nothing and begin walking toward them. Ceri was using her staff as a walking stick and she shifted her grip on it. The inlay around its upper third began to glow more brightly.

The man stopped, perhaps ten yards from them. His face was still clothed in shadow, but they could see a broad grin full of bright teeth and eyes that shone a bright blue. Black hair shrouded his head like a cowl and his body suggested that he knew how to use the long sword slung at his left hip.

‘Stay your hand, sorceress,’ he said, his voice deep and full of humour. ‘I am Gwyn ap Nudd, but I mean you no harm. I pass on the regards of Oberon and Titania. They also pass on good wishes to your young warrior for his birthday tomorrow.’

Ceri executed a short bow. ‘Gwyn ap Nudd, King of Annwn, Lord of the Wild Hunt. I hope we’re not disturbing you.’

The fae bowed his head in return. ‘Lady Ayasha, Overlord of All Demons. You bother me less than the tourists.’

‘Huh. Well, thank you for coming to see us personally.’

He waved the comment away. ‘I try to stay on the good side of those with power. You’re going to Bala after this little side trip?’ It sounded more of a statement than a question.

‘That’s right.’

‘Be sure to pay your respects to the Lady. Enjoy your walk.’ He turned and started back across the frozen lake.

‘I… will do that,’ Ceri told him, but he was already vanishing back to wherever he had come from. Colour returned to the sky and the ice was gone as though it had never been there.

‘That was… weird,’ Michael commented. ‘I mean, the way it went dark and the ice…’

‘Yeah, well… what do you expect the Fae Underworld to be like?’ Ceri replied before heading off down the track again.

Westminster, London.

‘It was definitely her?’ Barry was scowling, but his irritation was at the situation rather than his detectives.

‘Alexandra recognised her,’ John stated.

‘Damn it,’ Barry growled. ‘If it comes to it and we have to take her down…’

‘The vampire underground will gain power,’ Kate said. ‘It’ll be like Raynor, but less organised.’

‘We have
no
idea who this other vamp is?’

Kate frowned. ‘Well…’

Both men looked at her and she shrank a little in her seat. ‘If you know something, Kate…’ John said.

‘Before Ceri went to rescue Lily she came to see me. Braun told her something and she wasn’t sure what to do with it, but she didn’t want to go off and die without telling someone…’

‘So she told you? It was related to the Greycoats?’

‘To… one Greycoat in particular. It might not be him. It just seems like… I mean, it seems a bit weird that Braun should say something and then someone tries to use Lorna to kill John. Again.’

John’s eyes widened. ‘Chen. His name was Simon Chen.’

‘Apparently he’s really called Lo Chan. Braun said he’d come south, but he wasn’t actually
in
London. Maybe she told Ceri because she hoped someone would take him out before he came into her territory.’

There was an angry, dark shadow hanging over John’s face. ‘You should’ve told me.’

‘No,’ Barry stated flatly. ‘And the way you’re reacting is the reason she was right not to. I should take you off the case…’ He held up a hand before John could argue. ‘I won’t because I need the two of you on this, but I also
need
one of my best detectives on this, not an angry husband. Your wife is in the safest place she could be right now. Switch off your emotions and use your brain.’ He gave his detective a bleak smile. ‘Arresting someone like that is next to impossible. It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if he never made it to a cell.’

John nodded. ‘Thanks, Chief.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Kate said once they were outside Barry’s office. ‘I should’ve…’

‘No,’ John snapped. ‘Barry’s right.
You
were right. I’d have gone off alone and got myself killed trying to nail him. And that’s why we’re not telling Lorna about this until
after
he’s a pile of ash.’

Bala, Wales.

It was sunset when they walked down to the edge of the lake, choosing a spot on the northern bank away from the water sports centre at the very northern corner and the campsite on the other side of the river. It was quiet; no one went on the water after dark and they cleared from it well before then. Not everyone knew about the Lady, but everyone got the feeling that letting the dark waters have some peace was a wise idea.

Llyn Tegid was about three miles long, maybe half a mile wide. In the summer it shone, but now it seemed to carry the cool of the winter with it into spring. Ceri stood on the water’s edge, looking out at a lake she had never seen with adult eyes. Her parents had moved from the little town when she was still a baby and had never taken her back, even though they had visited other parts of Wales.

‘So you were named here,’ Lily said from behind her.

Ceri nodded. ‘My parents brought me down here, to this spot, days after I was born. I think it was the done thing, maybe still is. You’d bring a newborn down to the lake to show it to the Lady. I don’t think she usually made an appearance though.’

‘But she came to you.’

‘She spoke to me. I didn’t understand what she was saying until the advice was past its sell-by date, but she spoke.’

The water in front of them, about a yard from the edge, rippled and then rose upward, rapidly forming into the shape of a woman. Lily gave a soft gasp; she had seen the same sort of trick done before, in a room somewhere under the Dubh Linn, but that water had been thick and black. This time the liquid seemed to solidify more and when the Lady stepped out onto the bank, she appeared to be a fairly normal, if incredibly beautiful, Sidhe in a clinging white dress, her black hair slicked down by the water.

‘Do you understand me better now, Ceridwyn Brent?’ the Lady asked.

‘My Welsh is still a little basic,’ Ceri replied, ‘and my friends don’t understand it.’

‘Then I shall speak English. You’ve done much since we last met.’

‘It isn’t like I had much choice. I’ve been pushed and prodded into doing what other people wanted for most of my life.’ Ceri tilted her head, regarding the fae woman thoughtfully. ‘I can’t help but wonder what you want of me.’

‘Me? Nothing. My family always considered me something of a… doormat, I believe is the modern colloquialism. They were most annoyed when I exiled myself along with my sister.’ She looked back at the water. ‘I am allowed a little more freedom than she is; I can actually leave my pool.’ Shaking her head, the Lady turned back to the trio before her. ‘I want nothing of you. And you have made much of being directed. Sorceress, scientist, the name “Ayasha” is on the lips of half of both Courts, your companions are the stuff of legend.’

‘I don’t think…’ Michael began.

‘The return of the Morrigna did not go unnoticed, young man,’ the Lady told him. ‘The wolf who fought as Anann’s champion was seen by thousands of Sidhe. You are well regarded, Michael.’

‘Oh,’ Michael said, frowning.

Ceri grinned at him. ‘Sucks being famous.’

The Lady was smiling. ‘And a happy birthday for tomorrow. You’ll enjoy it, I think.’

‘I’m sure I will, ma’am,’ Michael replied.

Then the raven-haired fae turned and started back toward the lake. ‘I’ll leave you to your evening. And that advice I gave you, Ceridwyn… You have not actually
met
my sister yet…’ Laughter like wind chimes rippled out across the water, but the woman who had made it was gone, vanishing into the lake without a ripple.

Fulham, London, April 17
^th
.

The body was lying in an alley, half-wedged behind a dumpster at the back of a fast-food outlet. They still had uniformed officers scouring the area for the head.

‘Unconfirmed, obviously,’ Kate said, ‘but she was probably Lucy Benton. She worked here, left about eleven-fifteen. No one heard anything. Seems like she just lay down and let him do that to her.’

‘Six days again,’ John mused. ‘I think we’re missing a body. He’s on a six-day cycle and there was a twelve-day gap between the first deaths.’

Kate nodded glumly. There was not much they could do about that unless the victim was found, but she figured he was right. ‘You think this is Chan?’

‘I think that this is Chan, and I think the new drug we’re seeing is his work too. You remember when this started, Gwyn suggested an alchemist might be involved? I think she was right. I don’t know whether he needs the blood for his experiments, but I’m betting the bastard knows alchemy.’

‘All the deaths have been north of the river, and the drugs are being distributed north of the river.’

John gave a nod. ‘And I’m thinking that he would keep his activities away from where he was holed up.’

‘That’s cut the search area in half, but…’

‘I think it’s time to ask for some help from some friends.’

Llyn Arenig Fawr, Wales.

They had not stayed in Bala itself, but in a small bed and breakfast establishment under Arenig Fawr, one of the mountains in the Snowdonia range. The place was run by Siwan, one of the local pack, with her mate Nye, and Rhys had said it was a well-run establishment which would not bat an eyelid at anything they got up to. Certainly Siwan had just smiled when three werewolves had run off into the hills above the cottage just after an early breakfast.

Now they were lying beside the lake which provided water to Bala and its surrounding villages, sitting in the shadow of the mountain. The sky was bright and clear above them; the wind was light enough not to be cold, and strong enough to cool them from their run. It was a perfect morning to be out in the hills with the senses and power of a werewolf.

Michael, lying between his two bitches, nuzzled at Ceri’s throat and she gave a snicker, but did not respond in the way he had expected. He turned and did the same to Lily.

No,
Lily growled.
Mate tired if now. Wait. Run top.

Michael gave a disapproving rumble and both girls snickered back at him.

Mate getting much bitch,
Ceri said.
Too much?

Lily gave a non-committal semi-bark and Michael let out a whine which was almost pleading. There was more snickering.

Coming to a decision, Michael bounced to his feet and reached out hands to help his women to theirs.
Come. Top. Now!

Ceri and Lily looked at each other, and then crawled slowly up Michael’s body, their muzzles ruffling the fur on his neck as they straightened. Michael let out another whine, this time of frustration, and then there were more snickers as the two girls turned and ran for the mountain.

Westminster, London.

The desk sergeant blanched a little as three werewolves entered the lobby at Greycoat Street led by a tall, elderly woman with long, silver hair. Two of the wolves took up position on either side of the doorway while the third, obviously a female, followed the woman to the front desk.

‘C-can I help you?’ the man asked.

Alexandra smiled. ‘Not long on the job, dear? This place does seem to go through desk sergeants at an alarming rate. Would you please tell Detective Inspector Radcliffe that Alexandra has some information for him?’

‘It’s the shitty job they give people when they get promoted and sent over here,’ Kate explained as she led Alexandra and Anita through the corridors of the Greycoats’ HQ. ‘Once they get the hang of it, we tend to move them somewhere else, or they get out before they go ga-ga.’