Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Mom knew I was onto her. She would have already gathered any information I could use to track her and take her by surprise. Mom wanted me to come to her and would know when she’d beaten me down enough for me to give in. She’d always had a knack for knowing when I was about to give up.
The mistake was involving Ethan, and she had yet to realize when he was involved, I’d never give up—even if it meant losing him forever.
Armed with a handful of cookies and a thermos of Earl Grey, the next morning I stepped outside to find Evie.
My best friend sat barefoot on the ground. Her dark hair swayed in the wind, and her eyes were closed. A small smile rested on her lips.
From the shadows of the trees, a red fox came out and padded over to sit at my feet. “Hey Ember,” I whispered, nudging the fox over as I settled myself on the ground to wait for Evie to finish communing with the earth.
The fox hopped into my lap and curled up, wrapping his tail around his fluffy body. He huffed and closed his eyes.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Been busy?”
He cracked an eye open. Was there a hint of accusation in his eyes?
“Things are weird around here,” I confessed. “I haven’t had a lot of time to go onto Cernunnos’s lands.” Nor had I wanted to exactly.
Fatigue pulled at me, the lack of food and blood starting to make itself known. I unscrewed the top of my thermos and poured some tea into the attached cup. Ember popped his fuzzy head up and sniffed at the cup. Finding it lacking, he snorted and laid his head back down.
“Snob,” I said fondly.
Ember sniffed, nudging my hand when he spotted the bag of cookies.
“You’re not allowed to have chocolate.”
“He’s a magical fox, Moira,” Evie said with cool amusement. “Give that fox a cookie.”
“You’re awake.” I fed Ember a nibble from the bag, which perked him right up.
He nudged my hand when I ran out.
“Yes, though I’m finding myself having to commune more and more to keep my power levels under control. Taking Danu out wasn’t a mistake, but she left a big vacuum behind. The earth requires more from me than ever.”
Her voice sounded almost wistful.
“You alright, Evie?” Worry speared me. She’d been a little off lately. Nothing terrible. Just…different.
“I’m fine.” She smiled. “I promise. You worry too much. Being the queen is a weird experiment I’m not sure I love. It makes me a little maudlin.”
She reached over and scratched Ember behind the ears. “You here to see the body?”
I grimaced. “Does it smell any better?”
“I put Mom in charge of corpse duty.”
We both laughed.
She stood and wiped the seat of her pants off. “Come on. I’ll show you where she is. I’m assuming the travel didn’t pay off today?” Her eyes twinkled. “Though I did see a handsome Lord following after you like a little puppy dog.”
My cheeks colored. “He was the Ethan I remembered. Maybe even better.”
Evie’s eyes softened. “I wonder how much she took from him. He doesn’t remember his friendship with Rowan, and I assume it’s because you are so entwined with that friendship your mother thought it best to wipe it away. He doesn’t remember being nice to me and grunts when I try to speak to him.”
Her lips twisted. “Though he’s not antagonistic to me. A little backward from where we were, but progress nonetheless.”
“I hope I can get him back.”
Evie scooted closer and laid her head on my shoulder. “You will. Never doubt yourself.”
“My mother…” I swallowed hard. “She doesn’t know how to give.
All she does is take. If she sees something she wants, she becomes a single-minded organism.
Her entire life revolves around getting that thing, and it doesn’t matter who has it or who rightfully owns it. She wants it, so it becomes hers.”
Evie wrapped her arm around my waist and scooted so close we were joined hip to hip. “She included you in her desires?”
I shook my head. “It’s not that simple. She didn’t want me. If she could have what I have without gaining me in the process, she’d just take it. But my youth and I are entwined forever. So she needed me to stay alive to take it.”
Evie let out a soft breath. “I’m so sorry your own mother treated you that way.”
“She didn’t count on the vampirism giving me the power to get away. Mother relied on my fear to keep me with her forever.”
“Fear is a powerful motivator,” Evie said quietly.
“I was only afraid when I thought I might die. It took me a long time to realize she’d never kill me.
If she did, I’d stop producing what she craved.
What better creature to keep captive than a vampire?
We live forever. She could drain my youth for all time and keep herself young and healthy forever. ”
“But you aren’t a vampire. Not completely.”
“No. Mom made a mistake by having me turned so young. I stopped aging, stopped producing those hormones that kept me youthful. She spent years trying to figure out how to reverse the vampirism just enough to get me to start the aging process again.”
Evie stilled. “You aren’t immortal?”
I shrugged. “No way to truly tell. I think I am. The aging process seemed to have stopped around twenty-five, maybe thirty. I can no longer remember.”
“But you’re still producing those hormones. Even after all this time?”
“Mom seems to think so.”
“Do you think she’s figured out a way to take those from you and keep producing them without you?”
I’d thought about the possibility, but if that were the case, Mom wouldn’t be trying so hard to win me. “If she had, I think I’d be dead by now.”
“Well, thank the gods you’re not,” Evie said. She blew out a breath. “Alright. Let’s go see the body and see what we can find.”
We smelled her before we saw her.
“If it’s better, I can’t tell,” Evie said, looking positively green.
“Yeah. Gods. This poor woman’s soul must be suffering so much, trapped in that cycle.”
“Good thing she doesn’t have a sense of smell,” Evie said dryly.
Cliona rose when she spotted us. “You get used to it.”
She handed us both small white jars. “Put some of that underneath your nostrils. It blocks the worst of it.”
We obliged, the putrid scent overwhelmed by the strong scent of menthol and lavender. “Oh.” I held up the jar. “So much better. Magic?”
Cliona shook her head. “No. A salve I put together from things in my garden.” She clicked her tongue.
“It’s a shame we can’t use magic to block the smell, but Cernunnos is right.
This spell is already volatile. Adding anything else into the mix could upset the balance and cause unforeseeable complications. ”
“Such as?” Evie asked as she bent closer to studying the glowing symbols.
“Sarah dropping dead, for one,” Cliona said. “Or turning into a mindless zombie.”
“Braaaaaainnnnnns,” I moaned.
“There’s no truth to those rumors,” Cliona said primly. A funny look came over her face. “Unless you’re in Florida. And that incident was caused by bath salts.”
Evie looked up. “The magnesium kind?”
“No. Like man-made drugs.” Cliona shivered. “Just when I think the fae are bad, the humans come up with shit like fentanyl and bath salts, and we see the worst of human behavior.”
“No bath salts here,” I murmured as I drew closer to the body. “Just dark ass magic and power.”
“I’ve looked as closely as I can.” Cliona’s lips curled in distaste. “Something about this magic repels my own. I can’t get as close to her as you can without feeling ill.”
Evie frowned. “I seem fine.”
“Yes, darling. Don’t forget whose daughter you are.”
Evie smiled at her mom. “You still don’t know what these are?”
Cliona shook her head. “I spoke to everyone I know and showed them those pictures Moira took, but everyone is stumped.”
“We need a necromancer.” The glowing symbols seemed a little familiar, but I couldn’t recall a time or place I’d ever seen them. Maybe they were in a book?
“Yes,” Evie said. “I’ve got one on speed dial.”
I looked up hopefully, only for my friend to roll her eyes. “Good luck. If you get one to answer, expect to pay an arm and a leg just to talk to them, let alone come out to take a look.”
“I don’t mind paying, but I’d rather keep the location secret since they all work for the government. They can work from photos.”
“Ethan can chip in,” Evie said. “Since the spell was directed at him.”
“Because of me,” I added.
“Yes, but technically you’re running around magic free, and Ethan is at home playing the human equivalent of Pet Sematary.”
Cliona laughed. “Such a creepy book.”
Evie grinned. “I introduced Mom to Stephen King recently. She doesn’t believe me about It.”
I shuddered. “Read that book during the daytime.”
“Wimps,” Cliona said fondly.
“That creepy clown lives forever in my nightmares.” I walked around the entire body and couldn’t see anything different from the first time I’d seen it. “I’ll be right back,” I said. “I want to try something.”
At Evie’s questioning look, I held up a finger. “Back in five.”
I leapt away and put on full speed to reach my apartment in less than a minute. Another minute and I had the finger bone in my pocket and was back on my way to Evie.
The bone shivered in my pocket when I walked within a few feet of the body. I held it up to show Evie and Cliona. “It wants to rejoin,” I said.
Cliona blinked. “Don’t come any closer.”
The body on the table let out a slight shiver.
“Creepy,” Evie said and took a few steps back.
“What does it mean?”
Cliona’s eyes narrowed. “This was the only piece of her you found?”
I nodded.
She looked back at the body. “Your mother was using this as the link.”
“She’s got the look in her eyes,” Evie said. “The one that says she’s about to tell us something either very awesome or very fucked up.”
“My favorite kind of look,” I responded.
Cliona came over and held her hand out for the finger bone. “Hand it to me, then go take your pictures. I have an idea.”
I didn’t ask questions. Once I dropped the bone into Cliona’s palm, I pulled out my cell and took tons of detailed pictures of the poor witch’s body, starting from the head, all the way down to her feet.
Wherever there was a glowing symbol, I snapped a picture.
When I finished, Cliona jerked her head.
“Come. Let’s see if we can stabilize that spell and wrest all control away from your mother.”
Evie gawked at Cliona. I blinked in surprise. “You think the bone can do that?”
“No,” Cliona said. “I think a powerful witch can do it. We’ll have to move the body to a safer place, just in case, but I have a spot.
Evie, contact your husband and tell him you’ll be home later tonight.
” She looked at me. “Moira, go get your gloves, hat, and sweater. It’s a little chilly where we’re going. ”
I locked eyes with her. So she’d noticed my issue with temperature, too.
Dang it. I nodded and rushed back home to do as she asked.
When I exited the apartment, Evie and Cliona were standing by the main Keep house waiting for me.
“Ready?” she asked.
I reached for her hand. “Let’s go.”