She Dies at the End (November Snow #1) (13 page)

November was secretly a little happy at the news.  It was hard to relax knowing he was down there in the dungeon.  William continued, “I mean for you to have those quiet days that you requested.  We’ve put you through a lot.”  He reached out and touched her hair, brushing the heel of his hand lightly against her cheek.  The contact gave her chills.  “I’m proud of you,” he added, and then he walked back out the door.  “I need to inform Pine that he’s been robbed of his chance for vengeance.  Then I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me,” he called in their general direction.  November looked after him, feeling both relieved and perturbed by his exit.

Savita sat down on the floor next to November’s chair.  “Your work last night was very helpful.  I am wondering if you would be willing to work more closely with me on the investigation of these bombings.”

“Of course, I mean, if you think I can add something,” the human replied a bit nervously.  “I’ve never done anything like that before.  What would it entail?”

“I would like you to examine the evidence I’ve already gathered, to see if you can offer any additional insight.”  Savita looked up at her.  “I could certainly use the assistance.  I have made very little progress, sad to say.”

“Sure,” November said, steeling herself in advance for what promised to be a very unpleasant task.

“I’ll set something up with my brother.  I’d better make a move and get back to Livermore,” she finished, rising gracefully.

“Have a good night,” November said as Zinnia gave the vampire a friendly wave without looking up from her books.  The fairy had a test the next morning, apparently. 

Ben joined them a few minutes after his elders vacated.  “Well, you’ve certainly got your pretty face back.  You sure you feel alright?”

“I’m fine.  Really.”  All this attention was beginning to alarm her.  Ben backed off a bit, reading her face.

“I hear that fairy healing can be pretty painful,” he said sympathetically.

“Yeah, I hope to avoid needing it in the future,” she replied.

“Unfortunately, I need to go out and find some food,” Ben said with a voice full of reluctance.

“Unfortunately?” Zinnia asked, confused.

“I’d rather stay here with you two,” he answered.  “Be back in an hour.”  He gave November a lingering look before he rushed out the door.  November blushed furiously.  Zinnia laughed.

“What in the world was that all about?” November asked her friend when they were once again alone. 

“He obviously wants you,” Zinnia replied, amused at her cluelessness.

“Two days ago he was complaining about babysitting me,” November countered.

“Things change.  You’ve shown yourself to be more than the typical, disposable human,” her friend said.  “Nothing can come of it, of course.”

“Why not?” November demanded.  She wasn’t sure that she even
wanted
anything to come of it, but the decisive statement offended her nonetheless.

“You belong to Lord William.  You cannot steal your lord’s human, seduce her, feed on her blood.  You just can’t,” Zinnia explained.  “Especially when Lord William seems to be taking rather a shine to you himself.  I’ve never seen him so affectionate toward a human before, and I’ve known him all my life.”

“I’m not his property,” November said.  “And who says anyone wants to feed on my blood?  Maybe Ben just has a little crush on me.”

“Don’t think of it as being his property.  It’s more like you’re under his protection.  He would have to give another lower ranking vampire or fairy permission to pursue you.  They would never dare otherwise.  And of course Ben wants to bite you.  Blood and sex go together for vampires.  Same goes for fairies and life energy.  It’s all bound up together.”  Zinnia paused.  “You should be careful, with Ben.  If you encourage him, and Lord William sees that Ben’s after you, or if he bites you, heaven forbid, Ben could get in serious trouble.  I’m talking scourging, banishment, who knows what.  Lord William would view it as defying his authority.  Ben is the one who would be punished, not you.”

“Eek!  This is all so confusing,” November complained, throwing back her head in frustration.  “
You
seem to be pretty fond of Ben.  Unlike everyone else in the house.”

The fairy sighed. “Yeah.  I feel bad for him.  He’s in a tough spot.  Here's the story I heard:  his maker turned him as a gift to his young daughter.  The girl was having a really hard time adjusting to being a vampire, and she took a liking to Ben.  So their maker turned him to try to make his daughter happy.  Ben liked her, too.  He fell for her pretty hard.  But she was still miserable as a vampire.  She wound up killing herself.  Then his maker got killed, and he was left all alone for about a year, until Lord William forced him to move up here when the locals in So Cal got tired of his drama.  And now he doesn’t really fit in here,” Zinnia continued.  “It’s been almost a year, and he just can’t seem to get along with most of us.  He and I are friends, maybe because we’re close to the same age.  But the others find him irritating and arrogant and careless.  Lord William doesn’t trust him, and Ben doesn’t even really try to improve his reputation.”

“Wow.  What a mess,” November replied.  She had more sympathy for him now.  His attitude seemed a bit more understandable now that she knew the back story.  “So, you don’t like him in a romantic way?”

“Of course not!  He’s too much of a slacker.  Besides, it’s pretty unusual for a fairy and a vampire to be involved.  They can't drink from us, which is kind of their whole bag.  For a fling, we all prefer humans we can feed from.  For a serious thing, we mostly stick to other fairies because our population is so small.  We have a duty to preserve our people.”  Zinnia sounded like she was reciting something her parents had drummed into her head.  “Do you like Ben?  Or maybe Lord William?” Zinnia asked in a sing-song voice, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Ew!" she exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her friend.  "Jeez, I don't know,” November replied more honestly after a long minute.  “Maybe?  There’s just too much happening all at once, and I don’t want complications or trouble right now.  This is not a good time or place for me to try to learn how to date.”  She stopped for a moment, hit with an unpleasant realization.  “Of course, it seems this might be the only chance I ever have,” she said slowly, considering her upcoming, oft-viewed burial.

“Just be careful and smart about it.  And don’t do anything you’re at all unsure of.  It seems like you’ve got your head on straight, as far as I can see.  You’re not acting like most people our age seem to, throwing themselves right into bad situations,” Zinnia said, trying to be supportive. 

“Thanks.  It’s good to have you to talk to, Zinnia.  I’m not used to having a girlfriend.”  November smiled.

“Me neither.  It’s kind of awesome,” Zinnia agreed, grinning.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” the human asked.

“There’s a boy in one of my classes, Rigo.  He plays piano.  We have lunch together.  He eats.  I pretend to eat.  Then I feed on him.  Sometimes we make out.  The circle of life.  And then there’s Acorn.  We’re betrothed.”  She sighed heavily.  The engagement did not seem to be a source of joy.

“You’re engaged.  To be married.  And you have a human sort-of-boyfriend.  Wowzers." 

“We’ve been engaged since I was, like, 5.  I’m almost 20 now, and we probably won’t marry until I’m 50.  That’s about the age when we have the best chance of carrying a child to term.  I’ve met him once.  My parents picked him because his dad is Lord of Georgia and we’re not too closely related.  It’s all about politics and making baby fairies.  Love is not the objective.”

“That sounds incredibly difficult.” November responded.

Zinnia shrugged.  “It is what it is. Hopefully, we’ll come to love each other.  If I don’t find love in my marriage, I’ll find it elsewhere, and no one will think any less of me.  When you live for centuries, monogamy isn’t that prized.  Most married fairies and vampires take human lovers as well.  That’s just how our world works.”

“But don’t people get their feelings hurt?”  This system sounded to November like a recipe for disaster.

“Sometimes.”

“So if you fall in love with a human, you can never tell him who you really are,” November said.  “And you’ll almost certainly outlive him.”

“Yes.  Vampires get to make a choice if they fall in love with humans: they can make them vampires.  We can't make someone a fairy.  It’s a hard knock life," she shrugged.  "So, most of us try not to get too emotionally attached to humans.  We try to save our love for each other.  It’s safer that way, for everyone,” Zinnia said, a little sadly.  "Pine had a human husband, though, but that's pretty unusual."

“Huh,” November said, thinking of her own efforts not to get too close to other people, isolating herself as a survival mechanism, a way to protect herself and her sanity.  People had always found her to be cold and unfriendly.

She wondered why she felt closer to these strangers after only a few days than she felt toward human people she’d known a long time.  Part of it was that it was easier to block visions of their lives.  It seemed that she had to look on purpose to pry into the past and future of these supernatural creatures, which meant they could touch her without setting her off.  Part of it was that she didn’t have to hide what she was or pretend to be normal.  And perhaps part of it was that they had similar a survival strategy: a distancing from the ordinary human world while simultaneously trying to function within it. 

True to William’s word, November enjoyed a few weeks of quiet domesticity.  She read a few novels.  She enjoyed her catered meals and settled into a schedule, going to bed a few hours before dawn and rising in the afternoon.  During the daylight hours when she was mostly alone, she explored the house until she was so used to every part of the residence that none of the rooms any longer spawned visions or specters or half-heard conversations. 

Her favorite room besides the library was the ballroom, once she got accustomed to it.  She hated crowds and public places ordinarily, but she loved listening to the music and watching the dancing from twenty years of lavish parties held in that chamber.  She followed their footsteps and admired their shoes and their clothes, feeling like some kind of Cinderella spying on high society.  She learned all their favorite dance steps, pretending to be the belle of the ball.

She did not enjoy, however, watching what usually happened once the dinner bell rang.  It wasn't that the fairies and vampires were particularly cruel or savage as they fed and seduced.  Self-control seemed to be expected under Lord William’s roof.  What bothered her was how addled the humans were, as though they were drugged, which in a sense, of course, they were.  It was all a little too close to rape for her liking.  She was grateful once again to be immune to being enthralled.  She’d rather live with some fear than live lobotomized, without any real feelings or thoughts of her own.  She’d made that decision when she'd decided to face her gift head-on and get off the drugs and out of the hospital.

November also began her self-defense lessons with Willow and Pine.  They taught her along with Ben and Zinnia.  Obviously, the other youngsters were way ahead of her, but they were willing to be patient.  It turned out that there was a shooting range in the bowels of the government half of the building.  Her tutors taught her how to shoot a handgun and a rifle.  They laughed the first time she staggered from the recoil, but she quickly improved.  There was an outdoor range for archery practice.  November knew nothing about weapons of any kind, and she certainly had not known how much strength was required to draw a crossbow.  They ordered a lighter one especially for her and promised her that in time she would get stronger and using the bow would get easier.  Her aim was quite good, which gave her something to be proud of.

Hand-to-hand combat was obviously a challenge, given how weak and slow she was compared to any supernatural creature.  Pine encouraged her to focus on her strengths.  These strengths turned out to be playing possum and ducking.  She found that when she was in “the zone,” she could use her gift to see where the next blow was coming from and move out of the way, which sometimes allowed her to get a blow in under her attacker’s defenses.  And she was good at pretending injury or weakness to deceive an opponent.

William gave her teachers permission to give her a few weapons to carry on her person in case of emergency, so she wouldn’t have to rely on her killer rosary.  So she now carried a small silver switchblade and what Willow called “werewolf mace,” a spray bottle full of a suspension of colloidal silver.  They decided not to give her a gun, reasoning that it was be more likely to be taken from her and used against her than to be useful to her in a fight.  November agreed with that assessment and was secretly relieved not to have to carry a gun.  The knife scared her enough.

November began spending a few days a week working with Savita.  The investigator would bring files from various bombings, and they would go through them together, November using her gift to try to tease out more information or make new connections.  Photos, bomb fragments, clothing samples, videos: all were examined and re-examined.  She learned all the gory details of attacks in Arizona, Texas, New York, Washington, and Louisiana. Progress was slow.

November was surprised to find that the man she’d seen apparently giving orders to Dogwood was in fact one of the first victims of an attack, escaping with moderate wounds.  Savita identified him as Luka, the Lord of Arizona.  “He is vicious, cunning, greedy, and powerful.  He is also our brother, turned by our mother, Marisha,” she added, shocking her new colleague.  “He would not be above staging an attack on himself in order to deflect blame, so he cannot be eliminated as a suspect.”