Cursed To Death

CHAPTER 24

It was great to be able to shadow jump again and get where she needed to go without delay or discovery. She held the returned amulet in her fist and said a quiet prayer of thanks as she jogged alongside Hunter and emerged in the pub. Nervous Fae archers were milling about. Woods and Fisher stood the moment they saw her.

“Damn, you guys are a sight for sore eyes,” she said, just having killed their demon spirits with rapid machine-gun fire.

“Missed you, too, Cap,” Woods said in a confused but good-natured tone. “How’s everybody back at Tulane?”

Hunter shook his head as Fisher stepped closer. “What happened?” Fisher glanced around their small group.

“Clarissa is in critical condition,” she said in a tight voice. “I need to talk to Sir Rodney’s advisors to see how to break the dark spell.”

“Son of a bitch,” Fisher said, spitting out the wad of gum he’d been chewing. “I knew we should have smoked that little weasel the moment we saw him-right between the eyes.”

Hunter nodded as Sasha rubbed Fisher’s shoulder. “Have you seen Shogun? It’s getting dark; there’s trouble brewing… The hair is standing up on my neck.”

“He’s cool. He’s on patrol outside with his men,” Woods said. “He’s-”

A huge crash shattered the plate-glass window, as a body fell through it. Everyone stopped, ducked, and took cover as patrons screamed and ran. Tables overturned, and patrons bailed over the bar. Wolf howls rent the air. Sasha and Hunter were a blur.

The body was human; she could smell the blood as she passed it. Sulfur hung thick in the air, but oddly it wasn’t a typical Vampire signature. whatever it was had used a human as bait, trying to draw the wolves out since they would never be able to find them behind Sir Rodney’s fortress walls. Cowards! This would only add to the heat from the NOPD.

Sirens immediately sounded; the local law enforcement agencies were on high alert. Sasha ran like the wind, her hair lifting off her shoulders as she and Hunter closed in on the scent. Fae archers were on lampposts and telephone wires, fleet-footed agility keeping them aloft as they went after their invisible prey.

Hunter ducked out of the way of a fireball that hit a tavern and set it ablaze. In an instant he was inside the inferno, ushering out humans that would have been trapped. Then a Fae archer turned to put out the fire and paid for the service to mankind with his life. A blue ice bolt came out of nowhere and speared the gallant archer in the chest.

Seelie archers yelled a war cry; arrows were cast down; wands came out; the battle had clearly changed to Fae against Fae.

Innocent people were in harm’s way; Sasha and Hunter turned from the battle, doubling back to help civilians out of burning cars and collapsing buildings. Collateral damage was mounting and there was seemingly no way to stop it.

White lightning and colorful sparks streaked the sky, hit rooftops like fireworks, and turned eaves into tinder. New Orleans was burning. Sheets of ice covered rooftops, making it difficult for Seelie Fae archers to stay aloft. But they zapped the roofs dry, put out flames, and went in hot pursuit of the aggressors.

On the ground, wolves become a single pack, following the undead scent. A blue-lipped Fae crashed to the ground right at Sasha’s feet, stopping traffic as he clutched his narrow chest, holding on to an arrow lodged in it. But something invisible and deadly whirred past her that had an animal scent that she’d never encountered.

Human pedestrians gaped and screamed; one woman got blown off the corner by a swirling gust of snow as Unseelie fighters raged past her. Hail came down like bullets, crashing through windows, damaging roofs, and bringing downtown traffic to a complete standstill.

Police vehicles couldn’t get through. SWAT choppers beat overhead. Three Unseelie warriors materialized in the middle of the street; Shogun leaped, becoming wolf before the viewing public to collide midair and rip out a throat.

Humans shrieked, not knowing which way to run first. Cars drove into buildings, disoriented drivers slammed into other motorists. A blue Gnome dropped down behind Sasha and she spun, kicked him in the face, and sent him into Hunter’s powerful grip.

Machine-gun reports echoed in the distance. Aurelia’s had to be under siege, and that meant her men were, along with all others in the establishment. Her men would be trapped. Police helicopters took stationary positions so that the NOPD could take aim at the only thing they could, wolves attacking what they clearly thought were people on the ground, not realizing the wolves were savaging Unseelies.

Assault rifles squeezed off rounds. Shogun and his men dodged bullets by seeking the alleys. Then suddenly the choppers’ blades ceased whirling; ice covered them, the outer skin of the choppers froze over, and men plummeted to the ground.

The results were horrific; the explosion catastrophic. They had to get the fight out of the city limits. Law enforcement vehicles were everywhere and they were sitting ducks.

“Let Kiagehul go!” a female Unseelie screeched as she materialized for a second and pointed at Sasha. “Your humans die if he dies. Fair exchange is no robbery!”

Sasha and Hunter looked at each other. Vamps were obviously in this now, after the lair bust earlier in the day.

“The blood clubs!” Sasha shouted. Dodging traffic, she mounted a roof through a shadow and grabbed a Fae archer’s arm. “They want the prisoner and are using humans as hostages. Fall back and take it to the blood clubs. That ought to get the Vampires to force the Unseelie to come to court and bring a cease-fire. Since they want to play hard-ball, let’s do the same damned thing!”

Hunter ran ahead of the pack as Sasha doubled back for her men.

“Listen to me, Woods,” she said, ducking down behind a Dumpster in back of the building. “I want you and Fisher out of this hot zone now!”

“But-”

“No buts,” she said, eyeing him and Fisher hard. “You’ve done your part. I want you to guard ’Rissa and Doc. This is gonna get uglier before it gets better, and you hear all those sirens out there? NOPD and all types of authorities are gonna be crawling all over this place… Westford already got a call from state police.”

“Oh, shit,” Woods said, leaning back against the building.

“Yeah, oh, shit. That’s why I want you guys to have plausible deniability, if this doesn’t end up right.”

“But we’re not big on leaving your ass out in a firestorm, Cap,” Fisher said.

“I love you guys, too-but right now, cover your asses and make sure the rest of the team at Tulane doesn’t come under attack. Use the iron shells and the rowan as well as silver. Vamps and Unseelie could be working as a unit… plus there’s something else out there that I can’t see.”

She didn’t have time to argue with them, it was a direct order. Fall back. “Where’s the grenade launcher?”

Fisher and Woods gave her wide smiles.

“In the van we came in, across the street,” Fisher said, seeming much improved.

Sasha was in and out. The Dumpsters cast a shadow; there was nothing but shadows inside the van. Full metal jacket-she was locked and loaded. So the Vampires wanted to allow their Unseelie buddies to use innocent humans as hostages, huh? She came out of the darkness in front of the baron’s Blood Oasis, aimed, and fired.

“Kill another innocent on my watch and it’s your ass! I, Sasha Trudeau, declare war!”

She slid into another shadow, but not before she saw Shogun in her peripheral vision. He and his men were decimating fleeing Vampires that came out of the inferno like rats jumping off a sinking ship.

Insanity had her in its grip; she walked in the front door of the baron’s casino, a semiautomatic in each hand, hit anything with fangs point-blank, and was out. Wolves came in right behind her, savaging anything that dared to move.

Overturning crypts, she sent a message that the next time it would be daylight. She, Hunter, and Shogun came together at the edge of the swamp with Fae archers. Sir Rodney’s men had captured eight Unseelie and one Vampire.

“Dead or alive?” Sir Rodney asked his men.

“Dead,” his captain of the guards said, taking Sasha’s gun out of her hand and pulling the trigger hard twice toward the Vampire prisoner’s head. His men let go as embers exploded. “In the morning, we torch all their graves.”

“Truce!” a disembodied voice called out. “This is a matter for the courts to decide!”

“Good, you bloody bastards!” Sir Rodney shouted. “Court is in less than an hour!”

This was a very different session than she’d attended before. This time there were no neutral parties. Order of the Dragon security forces were clearly vexed with the Vampires and Unseelie; Fae archers had hair-trigger tempers, having just lost a man. Wolves were united, except for the very small minority faction that still had allegiances to the Buchanan clan. Mythics and Flame of the Phoenix members were so traumatized by the carnage that even they wanted blood. Then there were the Vampires-who were flanked by the Unseelie Fae.

Yeah, this time was wild. Sasha looked around at the tense groups waiting for the UCE’s pillared hall to rise out of the swamp and for the emergency session to be called to order. Everything was out of control. She had no way to know how many innocent human and Fae civilians had been hurt or killed as collateral damage. If something went wrong here, there was no neutral party to intervene and to restore order. It was as though all of the superpowers in the region had their fingers on the nuclear buttons, and everyone was so riled up that they really didn’t give a damn if they left a smoking black hole-even if they’d go up with it. The entire issue of principle seemed to be the core of the debate. Screw the greater good, the helpless, and the meek. The entities coming into this hall wanted a pound of flesh.

The blind, old crone that always presided over the trials came out with her bewitched ledger and pen, which looked more like a wand than a writing instrument. She set the book of records in the air aloft and flung the pen at it so that the pen hovered above the book.

“There is no stenographer, save the book. It records only that which is truth. The normal recorder is too traumatized to attend… She is of the Mer-a Siren crier of the deep-and even she will not be party to this travesty.”

The crone’s voice sounded like fingernails on a blackboard and all the wolves in attendance cringed until she was done speaking. She pointed to the gavel and it immediately stood on its handle and spun around, wildly shrieking.

“All rise… Court is in session! The book shall be the judge, the record cannot be altered!”

The large, dusty tome that appeared as though it were covered with ancient black serpent skin creaked open with a thud in the air, flipped several of its moldy pages to a clean page, and then waited as the pen poised itself above it.

“We have a very serious complaint,” the crone murmured. “A capital offense that could and has caused war to break out even in front of humans.” She turned toward the back of the court and pointed with a gnarled, arthritic finger. “Bring in the prisoner!”

Wolves howled and Shogun and his men escorted the slight figure down the aisle bound in iron and reeking of rowan. Fae drew back and covered their noses and mouths with cloths and forest leaves, but their eyes hardened and their jeers rang out as a sickly-looking Kiagehul passed their grandstands. A growl crawled up Sasha’s and Hunter’s throats; this was the man who had nearly wiped out their entire family. Vampires curled their lips, showing fangs, insulted by the open hostility exhibited by the Seelie in court.

But the aisle suddenly became ice slicked as a frigid blast dropped the temperature by forty degrees and caused frost to cover the boxes and chairs. Sir Rodney turned from where he sat with Sasha and Hunter in the front box on the right and all eyes followed his as Queen Blatand of Hecate strode down the aisle.

This new threat absorbed Sasha’s complete focus for a moment. The queen had the most fragile features she had ever seen. If she weren’t so evil, one might have called her beautiful. She had large, amazingly clear, pale blue eyes. Her eyebrows were a perfect arch of platinum hair that nearly matched her skin as though she were albino. Set against her huge, questioning eyes was a delicate dusting of white lashes. She had a tiny button nose and a cherub’s mouth, interestingly hued a deep blue that caused such a contrast against her skin that Sasha had to stare. Her small breasts were the perfect teacup size, pushed up in an elegant, old-world, beaded gown, her entire tiny torso and wasp waist held firmly by unforgiving corset stays.

Icicle earrings sparkled in her ears; seed pearls, diamonds, and bits of blue ice crusted her ice-blue gown. In her delicate hands she carried an ice wand and a large fan made of packed snow that had a pattern of snowflakes. But it totally blew Sasha’s mind to see her strut down the center aisle in ice stilettos, eyes locked in hatred with Sir Rodney’s.

“Clearly you did not believe that I would allow you to put a member of my court to death without the proper trial and formalities to be sure that action would be sanctioned.” She gave Sir Rodney the evil eye and then promptly slid into the Vampire booth, taking the baron’s arm.

“I might have known that you would be in bed with that cold-blooded Vampire bastard,” Sir Rodney spat. “Ice water also runs in your veins, so I’m not a bit surprised by the alliance.”

The queen fanned herself as the Vampires hissed, remaining cool. “Always hotheaded, my summer prince,” she said in a deceitfully sensual tone. “It is uncomfortably warm in this swamp of a location you’ve exiled yourself to… therefore, I do not take your unchivalrous welcome as an affront. It must be the heat that has you so cross and unmannerly.”

“Welcome to New Orleans, Your Majesty,” the baron crooned, his eyes black with rage as he looked over at the Seelie bench. “Although this has at times devolved into what amounts to a kangaroo court, today our objective is justice for your captured national who is being held hostage-as well as for my wrongfully attacked lair and establishment.”

“Held hostage?” a Fae archer shouted from the back. “The bastard killed me brother!”

“Order, order!” the gavel yelled, whacking itself on the empty judge’s bench.

“My top advisors tell me that when the Seelie Fae archer died, my court member was in iron chains,” the queen said coolly.

“Metaphorically speaking,” Sir Rodney argued. “Your man was in custody at the time, true, but he is at the root of all of this.”

The queen turned to the Vampire box, and looked at them and then the Unseelie who were seated behind them, her gaze falling on her top advisors. “Surely a man shan’t be put to death for meta phors?”

Loud jeers rang out from both sides of the aisle and it took several minutes for the gavel to regain order.

“Let us have the first complaint,” the crone screeched, making the pen above the pages quiver.

“We do this with blood oaths,” Sir Rodney demanded.

“I object on the grounds that there is no presiding judge or neutral party, thus any testimony that is inadvertently twisted could endanger the life of the witness called,” the baron sniffed. “It is the law.” His black gaze raked the courtroom. “Testimony is taken, then corroborated with blood seals after all testifying parties are safe within their respective fortified encampments or in some sort of protective custody-unless there are neutral peacekeeping forces present… which, if you have a look around, there are not.”

“Objection sustained,” the gavel called out and flailed itself against the bench with a loud whack.

“You always have an angle, don’t you, Vampire. Well, tonight, one night before Midsummer-the height of our Fae power-your luck has run out!” Sir Rodney stepped forward, recounting the series of events as the pen wrote furiously. “We have evidence,” he said, concluding. “The human girl who now lies injured in the human hospital-Tulane-took cell phone photos… and we have eyewitnesses who went to the three attics, and were attacked. Only, this time, they all lived to tell about it, so you do not have the shroud of death making the evidence impossible to fathom.”

“Step forward,” the crone said, curling her finger toward Sasha, Hunter, and Shogun. “Speak. One at a time.”

“You saw for yourselves what has been reported in the human news,” Sasha said, looking around the court. “Normally we cannot produce evidence, because magick fades or Vampire stealth cannot show up on any device that captures an image. But a fire that burns like the one captured on the news, you all know to be from Unseelie spells reacting with a backlash. Each spell had a dead man’s switch in it so that it would be hard as hell to defuse without blowing yourself up… And that’s what happened to one of my human teammates. She saved our lives, but hers is hanging in the balance. If nothing else comes out of this trial, I hope that someone with the specialty of unwinding bad magick will help us help Clarissa.”

Murmurs of discontent filled the courtroom, but Hunter stepped forward and that brought curious silence.

“As Shadow Wolves,” Hunter said, “we cannot lie. Lies are caught in our aura and trapped by the silver in it… The scent of burning sterling gives us away. So, I am no liar when I tell you what we encountered in the shadow lands… and how my family was barred entry to our natural right, and stripped of our gift to travel free and unfettered, by evil spells cast by the Unseelie named Kiagehul-aka Kennan MacDougall, when in Seelie Court.”

“Dual identities, leading a double life,” Sasha snarled from the sidelines.

The court grandstands were rapt, so quiet that only the sound of inhales and exhalations could be heard as Hunter gave a full accounting of all they’d endured. Shogun stepped up next and told the heart rending tale of brother being turned against brother, editing out some of the more personal issues. He described the firefight that took place at the Buchanan Bayou House and ended his argument with a challenge.

“Anyone that has the capacity for crystal-ball magick, or is a seer of the past, can go in and slowly replay the events that took place that night,” Shogun said, folding his arms over his chest. “My brother came in and pulled me and my men out of an ambush-one that was orchestrated by the Vampires through the agency of the one named Kiagehul! The Buchanans attacked, but Vampires and Kiagehul were behind it!”

Wolves turned toward the Vampire side of the courtroom and growled. Vampires hissed as the Fae erupted again.

“The Buchanan Werewolf clan must be exiled for siding with Vampires!” the North American alpha Werewolf leader shouted from the back.

Pandemonium broke out as stronger wolves leaped over the box rails and took the sparse remaining members of the Buchanan Broussard pack into custody. Once the snarling outlaws were secured, the commotion died down.

“We demand a full and fair trial of our own,” a beta said between his teeth, but quieted when he got punched in the face by the big alpha.

“Bet on it,” the alpha snarled and then returned his focus to the court proceedings at hand. “Let the lady tell the story.”

“But the worst of all offenses,” Sasha said, striding up to the Vampire box, staring past Elder Vlad and taking on Baron Geoff Montague in a bold eye-to-eye challenge, “were the human deaths. You brought this to the streets and outside of the supernatural community, where the beef should have stayed, you rat bastard!”

Order of the Dragon bouncers tried to gently nudge Sasha back to her side of the room, but fury had a stranglehold on her and Hunter was over the edge of the box, challenging the security guard, who backed down.

“You are dangerously close to a breach of court procedure, young lady,” Elder Vlad said in a menacing tone. “State your case from inside your box.”

“Fuck you!” Sasha shouted and pointed at the ancient Vampire.

Gasps cut through the courtroom from the Vampire box.

“Touch her, black bolt her,” Hunter said in a rumble, “and there will be blood. Lots of it. Wolves can sniff out lairs and we’ll open everybody’s up if anything untoward happens to my mate.”

“You all killed innocent people back there, human and Fae alike!” Sasha said, her voice trembling with rage. “That matters!”

Baron Geoff was on his feet. “You are out of order, and after the blood you let at my estate and at my establishments, how dare you disrespect our leadership! Since when is a human life more valuable or sacred than one of ours? We did not retaliate tonight until we had to fend off your attack at the Blood Oasis-the same as when you wrongfully breached my lair!”

“That’s a lie,” Sasha said, pointing at the baron with a hard snap. “There were Vampires in the conflict!”

“Anticipating a hostile affront to our peaceful way of life!” the baron spat.

“Tonight, you involved innocent people who didn’t have anything to do with it,” Sasha shouted. “Pedestrians, parents, who knows-people’s sons and daughters who were just out to shop, or eat, or go to work, or go grab a beer, and they’re dead! That you will pay for, no matter what! This isn’t over, Baron, not by a long shot. This goes beyond what the rules are at the UCE, this is an issue of human justice!”

“Oh, to be sure this is not over, bitch,” the baron said evenly as his gaze narrowed.

“What?” Hunter shouted, lunging, but was caught by Shogun and two of his men.

“And are we not getting away from the true point, which is always the Vampire diversionary tactic?” Sir Rodney called out. “You, Baron Geoff Montague, commissioned a member of the Unseelie Court, one Kiagehul, to report on the progress of black magick spells he cast against my castle-thereby partially financing this treason against the Seelie, which is aiding and abetting a person committing known treason, thus making you an accomplice, and therefore inadvertently declaring war on the House of Clerk and all members of the Seelie Court that fall under my protection… including the Wolf Federations, thus specifically declaring war with the Southeast Asian Werewolf Clan and the North American Shadow Wolf Clan… By harming their members, the human population, you have by extension also declared war against members of the US military!”

“Monitoring the activities of one’s enemies is not the same as an attack!” the baron shouted, looking around. “I admit, we have been watching you and will continue to do so for this very reason… but we had no hand in the dark magick. That is provable-we have ways to draw a confession from the prisoner that are time-tested.”

“I don’t care what you say. On the way to court, you tried to bait us out of the protection of Forte Shannon of Inverness so that we would release the Unseelie prisoner, and you ambushed our evacuation attempts. We knew you’d try something, so we had to be sure that innocent Seelie were out of harm’s way-we just didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to butcher innocent humans and throw them through Aurelia’s Ale Alley’s front window as bait,” Sasha shouted, veins of outrage standing in her neck. “Humans, Seelie, wolves, human authorities, everyone got caught in the crossfire!”

“That is a lie!” the baron shouted, walking over to the book. “Strike me, draw the blood and you will see that this time, she-wolf, you have erred and it will cost you dearly.”

He produced his wrist and the pen struck it, causing thick, black blood to ooze from the slashed vein. When his testimony took, the court erupted again and the crone ran forward waving her hands, shouting over the gavel. Sasha and Hunter glanced at each other and then toward Sir Rodney and Shogun. This was not good. The baron gave Sasha a smug nod and returned to his box.

“Enough, enough-there are so many capital offenses here that we must call the accused! Bring the prisoner up,” the crone yelled as the gavel banged on the bench.

“We don’t have to sit for this out-of-order travesty of indignities and injustice! I demand recompense now!” Baron Montague shouted, still standing.

“Sit,” Elder Vlad said evenly.

Baron Montague sat slowly and smoothed down his lapels, but it was palpable that his nerves were drawn tight by the ancient Vampire’s words. He shared a look with Queen Blatand as Kiagehul was roughly brought to the front witness box by very disgruntled wolves. They shoved him into the seat and the book and pen swished closer to him to take his testimony.

“How do ye plead?” the crone screeched.

“Not guilty by reason of insanity!” Kiagehul called out.

The court erupted and, after many attempts by the frazzled gavel, the audience finally settled down.

“Speak,” the crone said, and then walked away shaking her head.

“I was influenced by very strong forces,” Kiagehul said, beginning to weep. “My queen, I wanted to do it for you… It wasn’t for the money.”

Sasha laughed a cold, hard laugh as she walked back to her box with Hunter. “The little bastard just threw you under the bus, Baron.”

“That is an outright lie!” the baron said, standing and pointing to Kiagehul. “He came to me and offered me a chance to build an alliance, for a price. He wanted the lands and establishments that should have come to him under normal inheritance law-but that had been nationalized by Sir Rodney… Dugan’s properties!” The baron regained his composure and then looked at Elder Vlad. “He then said that he would show me the extent of his capabilities in a way that would utterly shock and surprise me… I of course had no knowledge of how far he would go; my goal was to one day meet the queen of the Unseelie Court to see if there was some common ground. But there is a third party-again, I was simply a monitor of activities, not a direct participant!”

“She is formidable; the Vampire speaks the truth,” Kiagehul called out in a shrill voice. “My queen, save me; I’ve been duped! She has not come for me.”

“I bet the baron did business with this unnamed third party,” Hunter said with a snarl.

“No…” Baron Montague said, smiling, his eyes glittering with rage. “You will have to make blood restitution before it is all said and done, wolf.”

“Care to put some more blood on the line?” Sasha said, turning her wrist up so that the magick pen could open a vein. “Once your black blood hits the pages of your testimony this time, even money says they’ll torch, Baron.”

“This hypocrisy and twisting of words and intent,” the baron said calmly, “is all a fraud.”

Queen Blatand narrowed her gaze on the baron and then on Elder Vlad. “Am I to understand that I have been brought all the way here from Iceland to learn that my court member is an outright liar?” She tsked. “Elder Vlad… what do you think it will do for détente if, after this man is beheaded, I find out that his argument had merit? Might that cause an unusual, albeit strained, alliance between my court and the Seelie like days of old? If any Fae finds they’ve been duped by another species, we, too, are known for our unrelenting grudges… We do have that in common with the Vampires.”

Elder Vlad stood and left the box. “I should not like to see us have a falling-out and create an unnatural power-base shift that is so thoroughly one-sided, dear queen. Balance is always the way to ensure no one group becomes unmanageable.”

“Cerridwen!” Sir Rodney called out as the queen left the box to walk with Elder Vlad. “I may have been many things, made many missteps, and our views and politics may have clashed, but I have never, ever, attacked you unprovoked.”

She stopped her retreat and something close to warmth filled her eyes. She cocked her pretty head to the side and wrinkled her smooth brow in disbelief. “Nor have I ever attacked you unprovoked, Rodney… What would make you even say such a thing? I had no hand in this.”

“Those were not your warriors, then, that fought against my men in the heart of New Orleans?” Sir Rodney held her gaze as the queen shook her head no.

“There was a force out there, animal in scent,” Sasha said quietly, glancing around the court. “Feral female.”

“Disembodied?” the queen said, looking at Kiagehul. “That is very dark magick, my dear… Whomever did you get to give up her body to increase your powers? That is never allowed without my express consent, for obvious reasons.”

The queen walked forward as the entire court silently watched, turned over her delicate wrist, and allowed the pen to strike her flawless skin. A slow, cool blue ooze slid from the small gash and the pen dipped itself in it and then signed the page of her entry. All waited and the book never even smoldered.

“Then how do you account for these men?” Sir Rodney said with less force in his tone.

His guards dragged in seven Unseelie fighters and she looked at them with disdain.

“Our courts are large. These men are anonymous to me. With profit from a source willing to pay mercenaries, I am sure they could have been bribed to carry out the vile acts the intemperate young she-wolf spoke of this evening.” She looked at her advisors. “Or there could be those who wanted to assure the release of Kiagehul, whether it was the right thing to do or not.” She returned her focus to Sir Rodney. “We should only war about things that are a matter between us, not others.”

“Then, if I put them to death for treason, milady,” Sir Rodney shouted, “you will not take that as an act of aggression against the Unseelie?”

“No,” she said calmly. “Some things we can discuss privately. I admit that I miss our warm chats… when there was a slight frost to the spring air… We found a way to compromise at times.” She looked Sir Rodney up and down and then turned away.

Sir Rodney turned toward his guards and lifted his chin. “Take them to the dungeons-in the morning there will be a firing squad.”

The courtroom remained rapt as the queen put away her wand and took Elder Vlad’s arm, sending a thin coating of icicles over his robes.

“But what about me?” Kiagehul shrieked, bitter tears now wetting his face.

The queen stopped walking, but did not turn to face him. “Who did you disembody, Kiagehul?”

“Lady Jung Suk,” Kiagehul whimpered.

“My aunt?” Shogun shouted, leaping out of his box and menacing the prisoner. “How? Why?”

Sasha shared a look with Hunter. Now the feral scent added up.

“I met her in the icy regions,” Kiagehul sobbed. “She wanted what I wanted-respect! A Snow Leopard’s strength, with shape-shifting ability… She was old, strong, and wiser than even the Vampires.”

“We smelled her at the site of both murders,” Sasha said in disbelief, her gaze going to Shogun.

Hunter nodded. “And at the Bayou House… She was stalking you.”

“The sigils on the bodies that we couldn’t identify…” Sir Rodney said, horrified.

“Ancient Chinese calligraphy, put there by a very old sorceress,” Shogun said between his teeth, almost lunging toward Kiagehul as he spat out the words.

“She carved them into those women as a disembodied spirit… Heresy!” Sir Rodney looked around the court. “Do ye hear this, all of you? A man blinds me within my own castle, having access to everything personal, even my advisors, my investigator, while all the while plotting treason and committing multiple felonies!”

“I had cause!” Kiagehul shouted back. “I got rid of that meddlesome Phoenix, who’d eavesdropped on Vampire gossip; got rid of her friend, too.” Wild-eyed, he looked at Baron Montague, pointing at him. “Had you not been gossiping, she would not have heard about the dark magick-so you killed her, not me! It was so easy for my Leopard sorceress to go to her, unseen, as pure spirit, and claw the foreign sigil that would make her flame right into her creamy flesh.” He released a pleased sigh and then returned his attention to Sir Rodney. “Milord, you should have seen them burn. It was beautiful. Almost as beautiful as executing Ethan’s bartender.”

“The man is mad,” Shogun said, stepping back. “I have never seen a viler creature in my life.”

“Put the sick bastard out of his misery,” Hunter muttered. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

Kiagehul blinked furiously, beginning to laugh in madness, his mind breaking under the pressure and the toxic effect of the rowan. “My Leopard taught me things of pleasure from ancient texts that I had never known… and had access to your father’s hair-which holds your combined DNA… And it was so easy to pilfer those items from the rest who’d stayed in my cousin’s establishment,” he added, glancing at both Shogun and Hunter. “With bits of this and bits of that, it was so easy to deliver personalized spells against all of you… just like it was so easy to stay one step ahead of you, one step ahead of the bungling idiot, Thompson. A blinder spell, a blocker spell, so easy when lain within the same castle where you live.”

Hunter and Shogun shared a look as the deadly silent court gave Kiagehul its full attention.

“My love knew your weaknesses from your sister, Lei, before she died, Shogun. Lady Jung Suk, as you recall, was shunned by your self-righteous lineage. Don’t pretend to be shocked. She told me the whole story of how, just because her own Snow Leopard father never stuck around to legitimize her lineage in the clan, leaving your grandmother temporarily disgraced until the baby could be sent back to the mountains as a stillbirth and an acceptable royal marriage could be arranged, your people acted as though Lady Jung Suk didn’t exist. They called her a stillbirth, but she is very much alive. Southeast Asian Were politics are always complex, I suppose… but please do not act as if you are a sudden stranger to political expediency and mitigating scandals.”

“We will find her and bring her to justice, too,” Shogun said, his voice containing a low, threatening promise. “She was given a lineage allowance-but that was obviously not enough for the twisted and ambitious evil thing she’s become.”

“She, like me, was a hybrid,” Kiagehul said with a satisfied smile, “a being caught between worlds, and she knew what it was to live in shunned duality-it was easy to trick Sir Rodney; he, like Shogun, is arrogant. Who would suspect Kennan MacDougall, the faithful, the overlooked, on errands to do the king’s bidding? I was a step ahead of you at every turn, because, as your investigation progressed, I received full reports and knew how best to hide, and when to increase my magick to turn up the maddening heat. Even Sir Rodney’s top advisors were blind to the malcontent within your own court! It was no different than Shogun’s blindness, thinking he could shun his aunt, thinking there’d be no consequences, sharing nothing but the crumbs from his table with her… She is perfect…”

Kiagehul’s gaze roved over the stunned courtroom before it returned to his queen’s rigid back. “I, alone, would have broken Sir Rodney’s court, as well as the Wolf Federations. My Lady Jung Suk would have had her body restored into whatever nubile young one she chose-perhaps Sasha Trudeau’s… Yes, yes, I would have accomplished that for her, once it was all complete… And I would have been able to support her, since I would have been wealthier than my wildest dreams-Vampires would have owed us, my queen. Had this unfortunate turn of events not occurred, I would have also had revenge on the baron for killing my family member… Dugan.”

Rubbing his hands together with insane glee, Kiagehul turned to the Vampire box, mocking Elder Vlad. “I would have set Baron Geoff Montague up to take the fall-his arrogance also made him blind enough to discount me… What Vampire would think that a small Unseelie, low in the court, would craft such a plan to hang him out to dry? I was almost successful, that counts for something-I still got his lair breached, ha! The she-Shadow still firebombed his Oasis!”

Kiagehul laughed a shrill, mad laugh and stared at the shocked baron. “You think that Vampires are the only ones to carry a grudge? We, the Unseelie, are remarkably known to redress an offense!” Kiagehul wiped his oily face. “What say you, Queen? Do you see my plan, how it could have helped your empire, as well as built one for me? It was all so perfect, had the wolves not been involved. Who knew Sir Rodney, a monarch, would break with Fae secrecy-he is the heretic, the blasphemer of our culture, not me!”

Queen Blatand turned and blew Kiagehul a kiss that immediately formed blades of ice in the air. The second she lowered her hand, the blades took off after him like heat-seeking missiles, severing his head from his shoulders. She looked at her advisors with the coldest blue eyes Sasha had ever seen.

“Sometimes, in the interest of alliances, there are sacrifices.” The queen turned to Elder Vlad and lifted her chin. “All of this jockeying for position was done without my express knowledge or consent, therefore I sacrifice the fool from my court. Outright war is costly.”

“Indeed,” Elder Vlad murmured, instantly sending a black lightning bolt toward a stunned Baron Montague to fry his black heart inside his chest cavity. “A new alliance, Your Majesty, requires that both parties put in equal weight. Consider the Vampire Cartel’s portion… several pounds of worthless, resource-squandering flesh. I am glad that we are of the same accord.”

“Good… We will hunt down this disembodied Snow Leopard together then, to clean up this unfortunate mess.” The queen smiled as the Elder Vampire gave her a gentlemanly nod.

No one moved or spoke for several minutes as the new alliance was clearly forged. Sasha looked at Hunter, then Shogun, her gaze finally locking with Sir Rodney’s. This wasn’t over by a long shot. Sasha shivered, feeling the chill in her bones left in the icy queen’s wake.

If anything, the Unseelie forging a power bloc with the Vampires-and both having lost face as well as key men-was going to mean they could all expect revenge to be served ice cold. That fact was as plain as day and written all over Sir Rodney’s worried face.

“I know,” Hunter murmured and squeezed her hand. “I’m bracing for winter.”

Finally, the gavel came out of hiding and timidly tapped on the bench.

“Court adjourned.”

Clarissa sat up with a gasp and began choking. Hospital staff immediately rushed to help Doc begin removing tubes from her throat while the rest of the team held Bradley up as he sobbed into the folds of her sheets.

“The general wants to have a meeting, ASAP,” Doc said with a smile.

“Yeah, I know… This was really, really bad.”

Sasha sprawled out in a chair in the lounge. The whole team was gathered around, except Bradley and Clarissa. Doc had insisted on them running a battery of tests and another series of CAT scans and MRIs before she could go home; Bradley wasn’t leaving her side for a minute.

But at one in the morning, Sasha was so tired that she could barely lift her head and was glad that Hunter’s quiet, solid presence remained just behind her. All the Shadows were in the room; she didn’t even have to open her eyes to feel them.

“But, since you’re still dark,” Doc said with a sigh, throwing up his hands and smiling. “And since tomorrow is your birthday, as well as the Seelie Fae ball… and under diplomatic circumstances, you really are supposed to take a team deep undercover to be sure all threats are secured…”

“Yes!” Winters whispered, and squeezed his eyes shut.

Sasha opened her eyes and glanced around at the expectant faces in the lounge. “Doc,” she said in a quiet, hopeful voice. “Are you serious?”

“What’s the general going to do, fire me?” Her secret father laughed and shook his head. “Then he’d have to hire me back as a supernatural consultant making ten times what I make now for the Feds… And, anyway, the real meeting isn’t until next week.”

Sasha leaned forward and hugged Doc. “What real meeting?”

“The one on Air Force One. Seems our new Commander-in-Chief is thoroughly fascinated by the concept of anything new-and they’ve even got a defibrillator on board for the general.”