She's No Faerie Princess (36 page)

Fiona didn't offer an answer, but Rule didn't seem toexpect one.

"We are the side who declared war," he continued. "That much is true, but it wasn't because the Fae tried to keep us from feasting on the humans. It was a political war over our right to move unrestricted in the service of our cause."

Apparently Fiona wasn't the only person in the room leftwith a few doubts.

"That's a pretty story," Graham said, "but it doesn't explain the fact that demons have killed and fed on both humans and shifters down through the centuries. Or were those just big misunderstandings?"

"They actually were," Rule said, looking bemused, "but not for the reason you think. They qualify as misunderstandings because the killers weren't demons."

The alpha growled something rude and the demon heldup his hand.

"Hear me out," he said. "The problem stems from a basic misunderstanding of the nature of my people, one that began with the disinformation campaign begun by the Fae during the Wars, and perpetuated by religious humans looking to understand the nature of things beyond their comprehension. In earlier times, the human word for my people was 'daemon,' which means 'spirit.' It was a term used to describe a race of beings who were not human, but yet were not gods. They were something in between. That is what we were, and what those like myself continue to be."

"But you admitted the other kind are kin to you," Fiona pointed out. "The ones you call fiends. Aren't they another kind of demon?"

"They are, in the same way that the pixie who died at the gate in the park is another kind of Fae. There are things that bind us together, but we are not the same." He paused, frowning. "You have to understand that we have our good kind and our bad, just as all races do. The difference is that to live Below, as we have for the last thousands of years, is very different from living Above. There are forces beneath that change those who encounter them—isolation, despair, pain, bitterness. Forces that have molded the weaker and worse among us into forms the rest of us can barely recognize. Those are the ones who come Above when summoned and feed on the life force of others. We call them fiends, because they are no longer just demons, just spirits. They have been twisted into the evil creatures of human nightmares."

Graham continued to look skeptical. "But you claim thatyou aren't a fiend?"

Rule shook his head. "Many of us have withstood theforces that warped our kinsmen. In fact, the fiends are aminority among us, one we work hard to keep undercontrol."

"It looks like you could use a little more practice at that."

Rafe's dry tone had his mate snorting.

"You think?" Tess asked.

Rule didn't look as if he'd taken offense to theobservation. He just shrugged. "They may be few innumber, but they have a primitive kind of cleverness, likean animal might. And it doesn't help our cause whenthose from Above perform summonings and offer thementry into this plane. We have enough challenges withouthaving to chase them into other worlds."

Walker spoke up. "You mentioned earlier, in the park,that you had a mission to find the fiends here in the cityand deal with them. Can I take it that you all spend timenow doing something other than just carryingmessages?"

The demon smiled. "What messages do you suppose wehave to carry? After we were banished Below, no onetrusted us with their news anymore. The lack of apurpose made the transformation from demon to fiend goeven faster for some. In a way they were like madmen,and the stress of being cut off from the world Abovecaused their minds to snap. Once the mind had turnedugly, the body soon followed. Those of us who stayed aswe were set about building a society of our own. Now wehave politicians and healers, merchants and bankers, thesame as any other culture."

"You don't look like a banker to me," Walker said.

"I'm not," Rule agreed. "We also have what you might call policemen. Guards who keep order according to our

laws. Some of us do our work Below, and some of us go wherever the fiends do. Perhaps the correct word for me might be 'hunter.' I came here to find Morgagch and the others who were summoned, and to either bring them back Below to face justice, or destroy them if need be."

"I vote for destruction," Graham snapped. Beside him,

Missy looked like she couldn't bring herself to disagree.

"If it is necessary, it will be done."

"I don't see the alternative," Rafe said. "The… fiends have proven to be a significant threat to both human and Other in our city, but the fact that whoever summoned them wants the humans to think the kills were the work of Others makes them especially dangerous."

Rule frowned, his expression saying Rafe had just losthim. "I don't understand. What exactly do you believe thesummoner has done?"

The others in the room exchanged glances.

"That's a bit of a tale in and of itself," Rafe finally said. Concisely he explained to Rule about the fiend's previous victims and about the current state of the negotiations with the humans. "We're at a critical juncture in the talks. It's been six months. We've nearly reached agreement over the acknowledgment of the entitlement of our kind to basic rights. Almost all of the human heads of state are ready to agree and begin outlining what those rights will be. If any of them found out about the victims and

believed the surface evidence, the summit would fall apart. They'd never agree to a peace with something that had just slaughtered several defenseless humans."

"I see your point. That's a sticky situation you have."

"You don't know the half of it," Walker interrupted. "The risk to the negotiations is bad enough, but we've all been a little more concerned over the escalation in the fiends' attacks."

"Escalation?"

"It started off with the humans," Fiona explained. "At least two of them, although I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are more that we just didn't catch. But the other night, the fiend decided that humans weren't satisfying its appetite. It killed a Lupine."

Graham snarled. "A member of
 
my
 
pack."

"We think it's looking for a bigger energy source." Her

expression troubled, Fiona looked into Rule's dark eyes.

"I sent Squick and Babbage to investigate. Squick found

out a few things that led us to believe the fiends are trying

to break free of the magic binding them to their

summoner. After finding Babbage, I'm convinced that's

the case."

Her voice cracked a little and Walker tightened his armsaround her. "It makes sense," he said. "First humans,then a shifter, then a Fae. They're looking for a strongerlife force with every kill."

Rule swore. "If you're right, that's extremely bad news. The fiends are hard enough to track through this world asit is. If they had free rein to feed, they'd probably be

easier to find, but only because the trail of victims would

be so much larger."

"Comforting thought." Walker shifted to look at Fiona, and a slight frown creased his forehead. "You know, I'm wondering if Rule could tell us anything more about the sigils you found on the bodies. Or about that amulet Squick mentioned."

The imp had been sitting on the arm of the sofa beside Fiona and Walker, playing with the fringe on a decorativethrow pillow. Now he looked up and scowled. "I finds outlots. Lots and lots. If the princess need to knows anythingelse, she can asks me, furry mortal guy."

"Princess?" Rule's brows rose at Fiona's nod.

"Mab is my aunt."

"And Dionnu are her uncle," Squick supplied helpfully.

"Now that's an interesting family tree," Rule said.

Fiona dismissed it with a wave. "It's not terribly importantright now. What we need to know is whether we're rightabout the fiends trying to break the hold of theirsummoner. And what we can do to prevent that."

"Show me the symbols you saw."

Producing a pen and paper, Fiona sketched out thesymbols she remembered and handed the page to Rule. "The first three sets were carved on the bodies of thevictims. The last set was written at the gate. In Babbage'sblood."

Walker stroked a comforting hand down her back.

"Babbage?" Rule asked.

"A pixie. He was a friend of mine."

"That is the Fae you mentioned was killed?"

She nodded. She had been trying not to think about it. Ifshe focused on what needed to be done instead of whathad already happened, she thought she might be able tokeep functioning.

Rule looked down at the sheet of paper in his hands andhis stony face hardened even further. He swore in alanguage Fiona didn't understand, one that was roughand low and full of consonants. "You were right about twothings. First, the fiends are bound not by a commonsummoning spell, but by an amulet. One that was forgeda long time ago. Before the Wars. I didn't think any like itstill survived. We made it a point to seek them out anddestroy all we could find centuries ago."

"Why?" Walker asked. "Didn't want to have to answer the

phone?"

"No. Because we didn't like how the calls were placed.

The amulets are powered by death magic."

Fiona felt her eyes widen. "No one practices deathmagic. It's absolutely forbidden. I don't think the defensesagainst it are even taught anymore."

"For good reason," Tess broke in. "They don't call it death magic for nothing. I know the Witches' Council banned it so long ago I doubt they'd remember when. It was either that or watch the population of the world dwindle to nothing from magic users killing things left and right for the power of their deaths. The last witch discovered

practicing it was nearly five centuries ago, and she was

executed
 
very
 
publicly."

"There is no possibility of a human having discovered the

proper spells?"

Tess turned to Rule and snorted. Trust her not to standon ceremony. "Okay, I get that you guys have been out ofthe loop for a couple millennia, but it's been at least thatlong since humans were able to work magic. That'swhere we witches came from. The general humanpopulace has about as much supernatural juice as theaverage rutabaga."

"Death magic isn't practiced in Faerie, either," Fiona said. "Like I said, it's forbidden. And I mean taboo. Not even the Unseelie Court could get away with that kind of thing. Not on any kind of scale like this."

"It's banned everywhere," Rule agreed, "but that doesn't mean it never happens. And it doesn't seem to be stopping someone from practicing it right now."

"And I think that's what we need to focus on." Walker leveled his gaze on Rule. "How close are the fiends to breaking the grip of the amulet?"

"I think they've already figured out how. They're just

looking for the tools."

"What do they need?" Fiona demanded, her voice angry. "You can't tell me they have't killed enough innocent creatures by now."

"I forget that none of you have had to deal with this variety of magic in many generations," Rule said. "It seems having won our last battle might have done your

kind a disservice in the long run."

Fiona opened her mouth, but the demon cut her off. "It'snot how many they've killed. It's who." He looked at Fionaand the chill of his black gaze made her shiver. "They'veperformed the ritual for breaking the bond every time theytook a victim. By now they've realized that they need aparticular kind of blood to make it work."

Fiona felt Walker tense. "What kind?"

"High Fae. They need to kill a sidhe."

If that wasn't enough to kill a person's mood, Fiona didn'tknow what was. "That's why the fiend in the park wasignoring Walker. It wanted me."

Her mate snarled and tightened his grip around her. "It'snot going to get you. I don't care if we never sleep again,we're going to find it, and we're going to stop it."

"I don't think killing the fiend is going to solve the problem." Rule watched them calmly, but he didn't look

all that much happier than Walker. "As long as the amulet is out there and someone knows how to use it, they'll keep calling fiends. And as long as there are fiends in this world under its control, they'll be looking for ways to

break that control." He turned to Fiona. "If I were you, Princess, I'd cut my vacation short and head back to Faerie as fast as my legs would carry me."

She snorted. "Yeah. Did I forget to mention that someonesealed the gate so no one can get back to Faerie? That'swhat Babbage was trying to do when he was killed. At themoment, Rule, I can't go anywhere, even if I want to."

"And that's not an acceptable solution," Rafe said. "Even if the fiends can't find a Sidhe to break the grip of the amulet, they can still find plenty of other things to snack on in the city. We need the amulet found and the summoner stopped."

Tess rolled her eyes. "Right. Why didn't any of us think ofthat?"

"You know what I meant." Rafe glared at his mate. "We don't want to put a bandage on the problem; we want to cure it. And in case everyone else has forgotten, there's another high Fae in town at the moment. I don't think Dionnu would be all that happy to suddenly find himself on the dinner menu, do you?"