Crimson Veil

Chapter 19

As the pile of dust and debris settled, Shade came up beside us, the two captives with him. He’d given the girl his duster to cover her nakedness. The young man had been wearing a loincloth. Both looked shell-shocked and dazed.

“They’re still drugged. I found out her name is Sealy, and his is Grynald. She’s from Siobhan’s pod—a Selkie—and Grynald is a water nixie. For some reason, Lowestar decided to pick on the water Fae for sacrifices.”

Why? We would probably never know, but there had to be some reason.

“What the hell now?” Delilah stared up at the sky. “Suvika… he could be anywhere.”

“I’m hoping he decided to hike it a long, long ways away. But it’s been a while since he’s been in the world. Look at how much money there is flowing now… look at the corporate greed. He’s not going to go far, I think. Not with all the bright shiny toys to attract him.”

In the distance, sirens wailed as the fire department and the cops responded to what had to be an avalanche of 911 calls. The noise must have been heard around the city for miles. You don’t just explode an entire building without somebody taking notice.

“Let’s head back to Carter’s.” I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go. We’d killed Lowestar—or rather, Suvika had—and considering a good share of his cronies appeared to have been with him, I had a feeling Supernatural Matchups was going down the toilet, as well as their slavery operation and a number of other sideline businesses.

We’d done a bang-up job… but everything felt surreal and I wondered if the others felt as confused as I did.

Slowly we headed to our cars. As we pulled out of the parking lot, the first-responders were starting to sift through the rubble. I called Nerissa to let her know we were safe. All in all, the night was turning out to be one hell of a clusterfuck.

Carter was waiting for us. I’d called ahead to let him know we were there. But he wasn’t alone. A woman was just getting ready to leave. She was tall—Delilah’s height—and she had long hair that tumbled down her back to her butt. Multicolored, it was dark brown with streaks of purple and blue running through it. She was muscled, sturdy, and busty, and there was something about her that struck me as odd. She seemed familiar. Something about her eyes struck me. They were brilliant blue, and flashing. She was wearing a pair of black jeans and a V-neck tank, which showed off the muscles in her arms as well as her impressive cleavage. A silver belt wrapped the low-riders, ending in a knotwork buckle.

“I’d like you all to meet Shimmer, my date.” Carter introduced us one by one, and covered in dust and blood, we shook hands as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

She gave us the once-over, a smile playing on her lips as she came to Smoky and Shade. “Well met.” She curtseyed, which seemed odd enough, but Smoky’s response was even odder.

Smoky let out a little harrumph and he inclined his head in acknowledgment. “Well met, Shimmer.”

Shade cocked his head, a smile creasing his face. “Well met yourself.”

Before we could ask what that was all about, she slid on her coat and vanished out the door. As the door swung shut, Smoky turned to Carter.

“Since when are you dating a dragon?”

Immediately Camille and Delilah turned to stare at him.

“For a week or so now.” Carter motioned for us to have a seat. “But we’ll talk more of her later. Now sit and tell me what happened.”

And so we did. We told him about Lowestar and Suvika, and we introduced him to the Selkie and the nixie. “They need to go back to their homes. They’re drugged, and we have no clue with what.”

Carter nodded, then let out a long sigh. “All the records are gone then in the destruction. We can’t ever begin to realize the full extent of Lowestar’s holdings, or who he might have partnered with, or how many of the Fae he ran through his slavery operation.”

“I can’t see how, unless we can find the people he was working with. Even then, I think we’re running on empty with this one. But he’s gone. His precious demigod gave him a present for waking him up, all right. A crushed skull.”

I couldn’t find it in my heart to give one fuck for Lowestar’s fate. He’d been cruel and ruthless, and he deserved every bit of what he got. “I have a feeling there won’t be any more fires now, at least not like the one that destroyed the Wayfarer and the Utopia Club. I’m pretty sure we will find that Vistar-Tashdey Enterprises was one of Lowestar’s holdings. And most likely, the lawyers behind it were among the group of ritualists that went down for the count.”

“So where does that leave us?” Camille wearily accepted a muffin from Carter’s maid.

“I’ll do what research I can to figure out where Suvika might turn his sights next, but I’d say, for now, there’s nothing you can do. Lowestar is dead—the Fae you rescued can come out of hiding and go back to their lives now. And you… I suggest you go home and rest. Be with your loved ones. Take a moment to breathe because you know what’s happening in Otherworld is going to need your attention soon.”

“There are two spirit seals running loose now. And Shadow Wing has three. We have to intensify our hunt for the one that disappeared from Benjamin’s body and the one that was already still missing. Whoever took his hasn’t handed it over to Shadow Wing yet, that we know of. Which means it could be someone keeping it for themselves. And that will draw Telazhar’s attention. He’s good at picking up on things like that.” Morio looked as dragged out as the rest of us.

“I have to visit Derisa. She’s supposed to come Earthside to talk to me.” Camille glanced over at me. “Maybe we can ask her to take Father’s ashes back with her and give them to Aunt Rythwar.”

“I’d like that.” Delilah toyed with the hem of her jacket. “I know it’s dangerous, but right now, I wish we could see our home again. We may not have a home to go to if Telazhar brings the war to our city.”

“I want to see home, too.” Why, oh why, did I have the feeling we were making our good-byes? True, Otherworld would be there, even if Telazhar razed the land. But if war came to our home, if war came to our city… then our childhood memories would fade in the ashes.

Camille gave me a bleak look. “I think Trillian still plans on going to the Shadow Lands to look for Darynal. I want to go with him, but I can’t. I know I’m needed here. But if he goes…” She fell silent and we all knew the end of that sentence.

Carter stood, hands on his hips. “These are dark times, yes. But this is why you must fight against them. I have watched centuries of human history go by. I have watched countries rise and fall. And during every great unrest one thing held true: Those who survived always looked to their victories and not their losses. They focused on winning, not on defeat. If you ever expect to make it through the coming fray, you have to do this. And I know you can.”

We stared at him. Camille was the first to laugh. “Okay already. I hate it when you’re right. But you are. We will pick up, and go on. We did get rid of Lowestar; that’s a major victory.”

“And his slaving operation. And we rescued not only Violet, but five others,” I chimed in. My natural inclination to pessimism had to go by the wayside, if for nothing more than rallying my sisters.

Delilah shrugged. “Seven, if you count Sealy and Grynald.”

Smoky pulled Camille onto his lap, his hair trailing around her like gentle fern fronds. “Don’t forget—we all survived. None of us died.”

That was best of all. And with that, we headed for home. There was nothing more we could do here tonight except speculate on what was going to happen with Suvika, and somehow, that thought didn’t seem all too appealing.

As we trudged to the cars, a break in the clouds allowed the light from a single star to shimmer down. I stared at it, thinking about how much it had seen, and how much time had passed since the light first started to travel. A star’s lifetime—how long was that?

Not understanding where my mind was going with this, I got in the car and leaned against the back of the seat, just letting my thoughts wander. Sometimes, not thinking was the best medicine of all.