Wild Hunt (5 page)

G
raham’s arm
on my shoulder was the only thing keeping me steady as I sat on the side of the bed and did my best not to give into the rolling nausea.

Victoria crouched next to me. The foul smelling poultice she was rubbing into the bite was about the only thing that seemed to slow the burning itch that threatened to drive me completely mad.

“This will slow it down at least,” she said, sitting back on her heels.

“What is it?” I asked, speaking slowly as my head spun once more and I was forced to grip the mattress hard enough to rip the plastic.

“Heart Hound,” she said, saying the name as though it was supposed to mean something to me.

“What the hell is a Heart Hound?” Graham asked the question that had been hovering on the tip of my tongue and I glanced up at him gratefully.

The demon side of me growled and I crushed it down inside as far as I could manage. It was louder in my head now, closer to the surface, and I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about it all. It was simply waiting for me to screw up, to lose control, and then it would pounce.

“They patrol the forest around Faerie, sort of a way to keep the Fae in and wandering humans out….” Victoria trailed off.

“What is it?” I asked, noting the concern in her eyes.

“The Heart Hounds obey no one, so I don’t understand how he had one,” she said, casting a wary glance over her shoulder.

When she’d stepped into the room and noticed the dead beast I’d watched the colour drain from her face, fear setting her jaw. And despite the fact that the creature was dead, if I wasn’t mistaken, Victoria was still afraid of it.

“Is there something he could have used to control it?” I asked, pushing up from the bed.

The sudden movement set my head off again and the room spun violently enough that I contemplated sitting back down, but Graham’s hand on my arm steadied me.

Smiling gratefully at him, I slowly extricated myself from his grip and crossed the room to crouch down next to the creature. I needed to be able to stand on my own two feet. The Heart Hound venom coursing in my veins couldn’t be allowed to stop me from doing what I needed to do.

The creep had broken into my apartment, he’d tried to mind-rape me, and he’d let his dog take a big assed chunk out of my arm. There was no way in Hell I was going to just let him get away with it.

The beast lay on its side; its long pink tongue lolled out of its mouth and I could still see the blood on its teeth from where it had bitten me.

“Could a Heart Hound do the kind of damage we saw at the crime scene?” I asked, studying the sharp curve of its teeth.

“Not one on its own. You’d need a pack…” Victoria said.

Something in the way she said “pack” had me turning back around to face her.

“What is it? What did you just think of?” I said.

“Heart Hounds run in packs, but as I said, it’s impossible to control even one of the creatures never mind a pack of them,” she said.

“Victoria, I think we’re past the impossible. He was controlling this one, why would it be such a stretch to control a pack?”

She shook her head and the smile on her lips was more than a little patronising. “You’ve never seen a pack of Heart Hounds in operation. They obey only their Alpha. The only reason the Courts have allowed them to remain in the forests is because they rarely wander out of them, and the Fae know better than to go and hang out in the woods.”

“But you thought of something that can be controlled?” I prompted.

“The Wild Hunt,” she said, her words dropping ominously into the silence of the room.

“I thought that was simply a part of myth,” Graham spoke up.

Victoria shook her head. “Not myth, but not much is known of them. The Wild Hunt is rarely called upon. In times past, they often rode of their own accord, sweeping up unsuspecting humans in their frenzy. But like everything in this world, the Fae’s magic is beginning to fade and so, too, the Wild Hunt.”

“Why would the Fae’s power be fading?”

“We’re connected to the earth itself. The humans like to build using steel and iron, they cover the green lands in acres of cement, burying the earth beneath tons of the very thing most dangerous to us. And the less contact we have with nature, the more our power fades….”

“Even you?” I asked, and the question brought a smile to Victoria’s face.

She knew exactly what I meant. As a changeling, she wasn’t fully Fae, but that didn’t mean that iron and steel wouldn’t still hurt her.

“Even me,” she said.

“So you think it’s the Wild Hunt?” Graham asked, crossing the room to stare down at the creature lying at my feet.

“I know that when it rides, the Heart Hounds join. They will obey the call of the Hunt. If someone had a found a way to tap into that, then perhaps….” She shrugged and gave the beast another wary glance. “It sounds impossible but it’s still the best I’ve got.”

I nodded. She was right, it was about the only thing we had. I’d seen the Fae responsible, but none of that made any difference. The only thing I could identify about him for certain was the way his voice made me feel. Despite the fact that he had spent time lying across me, I wasn’t entirely convinced that I could pick him out of a line up if I needed to.

“So where do we go to find out about this Wild Hunt?” I asked, cringing as the bite began to itch once more. The urge to tear at it was overwhelming and I curled my hands into fists to try and stop myself from doing the exact thing I knew I definitely shouldn’t.

“Well, there really is only one place, but I’m not sure if you should,” she said.

“And?” I asked. “When have you ever seen me doing the things I should?”

Victoria smiled and shook her head. “Never, but I think you misunderstood me.”

I waited for her to finish, watching her eye the creature on the floor with an intensity that had me thinking this really wasn’t her first encounter with a creature like this.

“The only ones who would have the kind of information we need are in Faerie, but I don’t think they’re going to allow you in there.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re human, and Faerie business is Faeries business. They really don’t take kindly to people sticking their noses in where they don’t belong.”

It made sense, but I didn’t have to like it. The idea that the Fae could do something like this and get away with it by hiding behind their veil, well, it more than rubbed me the wrong way. No one was supposed to be above the law of the land and the Fae should have been more than happy to help us uphold our laws.

“So what? We’re supposed to just let them carry on murdering humans and turn a blind eye to it?”

“No. The Fae will send an enforcer, and when they do, you can ask them all the questions you’ve got…” Victoria said, glancing down at the bite on my arm. “It still itches, doesn’t it?” she asked.

Nodding, I gritted my teeth as a particularly nasty wave of itch rolled over me. All I wanted to do was scratch and tear at it until every last inch of the biting, burning itch was gone.

“You do know that….”

I cut her off. “If you tell me that scratching it is a bad idea, I will end you,” I said, my irritation evident in my voice.

Victoria grinned again and I contemplated wiping the smug look off her face, but I didn’t.

“So why does it itch so bad? I’m not going to turn into one of those things on a full moon or anything?”

“Not that I know of, but Heart Hounds aren’t really my area of expertise. I’m pretty sure that now it’s dead, you won’t have other nasty side effects other than the one you’ve got until it wears out of your system.”

Her words didn’t exactly fill me with the confidence I was looking for, but I smiled anyway.

Moving back across the room, I crawled up onto the still plastic covered bed and dragged the sheet over my head.

“What are you doing?” Graham asked.

“Going back to sleep. Unlike you, I didn’t exactly get a proper night of rest, and if you expect me to be in tip-top shape tomorrow then you’ll both leave me alone.”

Neither of them answered me, so I took it as a sign that they agreed with me. I knew I was being grumpy, but I couldn’t help it; my arm hurt, and if I thought for a second cutting the bite out of me would get rid of the itch then I’d have done it. But it was more than just that; the act of expelling the Fae had taken all the energy out of me. I felt as though I should sleep for a month and not just a couple of hours.

The sound of the door clicking shut told me I was alone, and as soon as I realised that, darkness borne of exhaustion washed over me.

T
he grass smelled
sweet under my feet and I knew without looking that nearby there was the biggest blooming rose bush I had ever seen in my life. The tinkling sound of water met my ears, and for a second I could have sworn it was the sound of laughter.

Following the rushing of water, I walked until I came to a halt next to a fast-flowing river. I didn’t need to touch the water to know it was icy.

The sound of laughter met my ears once more and I jerked my head up, staring across the river at two of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever laid my eyes on. Their gossamer, violet, and crystal web wings arched up over their shoulders. Her hair hung down her back in a shimmering curtain of gold and she stared lovingly up into the face of her companion.

He was tall and slender but from the way he scooped her up and swung her around, I could tell he was strong, his muscles moving and bunching beneath the light shirt he wore.

Their laughter was interrupted by the sound of snarling and I turned to see other Heart Hounds approaching. The very earth itself seemed to boil before it split and creatures I didn’t have words for burst forth, their tentacled bodies both terrible and beautiful.

Drum beats filled my ears and I found myself unable to resist; the Heart Hounds raced toward me and then passed me, leaving me to trail after them as other creatures joined the Hunt.

The girl screamed, her terror etched into her face before she broke free of her companion and started to run.

The man stood and watched as we leaped the river in one easy bound; his fear filled eyes slowly filling with a blank hunger before he, too, turned and joined the pack.

We raced after the girl. She was fast, but her terror made her clumsy and she fell before she reached the forest. Within the blink of an eye, she was back on her feet and running once more, the very branches of the forest tearing and clawing at her as though they, too, sought to join the chase.

The scent of her blood filled the air, blossoms and copper and nothing like the scent of human blood.

The thought was enough to snap me back to myself and my steps faltered even as a cry of triumph rang from my throat. She’d fallen again and we were close.

Knowing how close we were to getting our quarry, my thoughts were consumed with catching the girl.

She screamed, one long, agonising cry of terror that ripped the night, and the beasts I ran with joined with her, our howls of anticipation causing the trees themselves to tremble.

Racing into the clearing, I was behind only the Heart Hounds, the tentacled creatures bringing up the rear. The girl was backed against a tree, her hands outstretched as though she could prevent us from claiming what was rightfully ours.

“Please, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, please….” Her frightened pleas met my ears and I shook my head.

“The Fae do not lie, child. You knew the rules and the price to be paid….”

Moving forward through the Heart Hounds, I paused in front of her as she dropped to her knees.

“Do not do this, please!” she pleaded, the terror in her eyes tugging at my heart.

She was just a child; she hadn’t known what she was doing.

The thought was enough to send the Heart Hounds into a frenzy and I felt them begin to turn on me. The Hunt was losing its hold; I could feel it ebbing away like the moon pulls the tide.

“Liar,” I whispered, pulling the small obsidian dagger from my belt and slicing it across her chest.

She screamed again, her blood welling forth, violet and beautiful.

The creatures surrounding us descended, her screams growing wet as they feasted upon her, ripping her body apart and spreading her across the forest floor.

Lifting the blade to my mouth, I tasted her blood, letting it soak across my tongue. Grief as sharp as any blade ripped through me and I dropped to my knees and howled my misery to the night and anyone who would listen.

* * *

I
awoke with a start
, sweat coating my skin as I stared around at my familiar surroundings. My hands still felt sticky with the dead Fae girl’s blood and I glanced down at them, but there was nothing to see.

I could taste the sweet blossom of her blood on my tongue and I ran for the bathroom.

Reaching the faucet, I turned it on and quickly rinsed my mouth out with as much water as I could get into my hands.

It was simply a dream, and yet it had felt so real. It hadn’t been me but it that hadn’t made it any less real. How could they do that to one of their own? How could they join with the Hunt that had ripped her asunder? How did they live with themselves after it? The one whose dream I had shared had howled their grief to the sky, but it hadn’t stopped them from bathing in her blood after.

It was nuts. I was sick and tired of getting glimpses into the perverse and twisted crimes that took place in the human realm. The very last thing I needed was blow-by-blow playbacks of what went on in Faerie.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door and I slowly made my way back into the room to drop onto the bed.

Nic poked his head into the room, and without thinking, I straightened up and stared at him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. The question sounded a lot more accusatory than I’d intended. But then, he had been the one making assumptions over the way Jason and I felt about each other.

“Graham called me, asked me to come round and stay with you….”

Shaking my head, I dropped my face into my hands and scrubbed them across my eyes. I needed something to clear the clinging terror from my dream out of my head and pondering why Graham had called Nic over here wasn’t going to help.

“I need coffee,” I said, pushing up onto my feet and making my way to the door.

“Are you all right?” Nic asked, catching my hand and forcing me to meet his gaze.

“I’m fine,” I lied. If I was going to relive the horror of the dream, then I needed to do it in a place where I only had to talk about it once. The thought of having to discuss it over and over again filled me with dread.

“Liar,” he said, the word causing me to jerk out of his grip and back myself up until my body was pressed against the wall. “Whoa,” he said, lifting his hands in surprise and surrender, “what did I say?”

“It’s not you, it’s just a dream I had…. Well, more of a vision, and that word….” I shuddered at the implications of it all.

Nic nodded and dropped his gaze to the floor. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice almost inaudible, and it took my brain a couple of seconds to process what he was saying.

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said. There was no point in carrying on the argument we’d had the night before. He wasn’t the first person to be misled by something in a book supposedly written by an expert, and he wouldn’t be the last.

“Last night, if I’d just….” He trailed off and then crossed the room, pausing in front of me cautiously as he stared down into my face. I could see his hesitation and it quickly dawned on me that he wasn’t going to reach out and touch me without my consent first.

“I’m fine, Nic, I’m not fragile,” I said. The words were woefully inadequate but I couldn’t think of anything better to say.

“Graham told me what that thing tried to do last night…. What it did to you at the crime scene….”

Swallowing past my fear, I nodded. I could still remember the feel of the Fae’s magic crushing mine beneath it, tendrils creeping into my head as he tried to take control of me. I’d fought him, but I had known without a doubt that my magic was no match for his. The only thing that had kept me safe had been the demon mark; without it, the Fae would have claimed me as his own, he would have made me do things that….

I trailed off. Thinking about what could have happened wasn’t going to solve the issue at hand and it wasn’t going to catch the son-of-a-bitch before he tried the same thing again.

But did I really want to catch him?

The question caught me and knocked my thought process sideways. My demon side had posed it and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that actually, I didn’t want to catch the Fae responsible. I wanted to kill him. I wanted the Wild Hunt to rip him asunder just as it had done to that poor girl I’d seen in my vision….

“I know you’re not fragile, I know you’re a fighter, but I want you to know that I’m sorry. If I hadn’t behaved like such a jealous, possessive asshole, I would have been here. I could have helped….”

Pushing my dark thoughts aside, I smiled up at Nic and shook my head. “You’re incorrigible, do you know that?”

“What?” he said, a smile lighting his face.

“That you think you’d have been here,” I said teasing him gently.

“Oh, I see, it’s like that now is it?” he teased right back, wrapping his arms around me.

I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up from my core and I really didn’t want to either. Nic made being with him so easy, and despite us having a slight wobble the night before, the fact that we could both make each other laugh put a huge tick in the positive box as far as I was concerned.

His expression turned serious as he pinned me against the wall and his lips found mine before I could get another word out.

The kiss was the type to buckle the knees and send the world spinning off its axis. His hands slid behind me and beneath the sweat shirt I wore so that he was cupping my ass with his large hands. I forgot to breathe when he dragged me closer and crushed me to his front, allowing me to feel every hard, muscled inch of him with nothing but the thin fabric of our clothes between us.

My cell phone rang and I groaned but Nic dropped his mouth to my jawline and proceeded to plant feather-light kisses along it. “Ignore it,” he said.

“I can’t. The case is a big one and it’s kind of all hands on deck,” I answered slowly, extricating myself from his grip.

Reluctantly, he let me go and the moment his arms were no longer around me, I felt his absence keenly. I wanted to ignore the call, to return to his warm touch and lose myself in his passionate kisses.

Scooping up the cell phone, I pressed it to my ear.

“She wants to see you,” the voice said, and it took me a couple of seconds to realise who was on the other end of the line.

“What?” I said. I’d been expecting a call from Graham but definitely not from Jason.

He sighed and said it slower, as though repeating the words in the way one would speak to a three-year-old was going to make me understand just what he was rambling about. “She. Wants. See. You,” he said again.

“Who wants to see me, Jason? You’re not making any sense.”

Nic stiffened at the mention of his brother’s name and dropped the pretence he’d been making at not listening to the conversation.

“Lily, she asked to see you. Says she’ll only speak to you and that it’s important…” Jason said, and then the line went dead, leaving me to stare blankly at the phone in my hand.

“What did he want?” Nic asked, doing his best to keep his jealous feelings to himself. But it didn’t matter; he couldn’t hide them from me and I could read him like a book.

“Lily wants to see me, says it’s important,” I answered as I dumped the cell phone on the bed and then made my way to the wardrobe.

What exactly I was supposed to make of her sudden summons, I had no clue. Had she decided to come clean, tell Jason everything? And if that were the case, then why ask to see me at all?

Perhaps she just wanted to see the panic and fear in my eyes when she made her announcement. Something like that was certainly more than plausible where Lily was concerned.

“I thought she was refusing to see you,” Nic said, dropping down onto the bed next to the cell phone.

“She was, but….” Poking my head out of the wardrobe, I shrugged and dove back in. “Your guess as to what she’s doing is really as good as mine. Where she’s concerned, anything is possible.”

“What will you say to her?”

His question caught me unawares. I’d been so focused on what she would say to me that I hadn’t even considered what I might say to her. There were so many questions I wanted answers to, but a high security prison for preternaturals wasn’t exactly the place to ask said questions, even if I could be sure that no one else would accidentally spy on us.

“I don’t know…” I said truthfully.

Nic didn’t answer, and I cast a look at him over my shoulder but his eyes were focussed on the floor, his gaze troubled.

Clearly he felt the same way I did about family. Nothing they ever did was trustworthy and how you were supposed to handle them … well, the day I ever figured that one out, I’d be able to sell it and make a small fortune.

But from what I could tell, at least Jason actually loved his brother; he’d obviously changed but not enough to damage the way he felt for his family. I couldn’t claim the same feelings on Lily’s behalf toward me. Given half an opportunity, if she thought it would benefit her, she would sell me down the river.

And if I was honest about it, I would do the same to her, if only as payment for the pain she’d caused from the moment she decided to walk into my life once more.