Yasmine Galenorn - Night Seeker

“What was all the talk about asking me to promise them a piece of Lainule’s woodland? I can’t do that and they should know it.”

But if I expected my father to open up, I was mistaken. He shook his head. “Leave such matters for when they are to be discussed. Do not dwell on them. For now, we have to focus on destroying Myst. While you slept, Ysandra returned. She’s lost two more of her Consortium members and fears leaving this night, so she’ll stay till morning. And one more of the Summer Knights fell. We were unprepared. We knew they would attack but did not anticipate the level at which they chose to make their move. We have to think bigger now. We have to anticipate how far Myst is willing to go in order to destroy us.”

“Are there any reports of what’s going on out beyond the gates?” I didn’t want to know, but felt that we better accept the reality of what we were facing.

“The police scanner is fraught with incidents. The police aren’t venturing out and there are calls coming in all over the place. People trapped in their houses, people missing-men going out to walk the dog and not returning, people heading to their cars to leave and getting attacked. It’s mayhem out there. The Shadow Hunters are feeding well.” Kaylin looked grim. He caught my gaze and held it. “That we have the Wilding Fae on our side is good news, but I fear what we need is a miracle.”

“We need to know where Myst is hiding so we can go after her during the daylight. That’s the only time we can strike without fear of her people. And I wouldn’t put it past them to be searching for a cure, so we’d better move quickly.” I paused. “Come morning, we do the ritual on Grieve. Then, we plan a preemptive strike. Meanwhile, we’re all exhausted and need sleep. It’s late, but we can sleep in a little and get in at least six or seven hours.”

“Cicely is right. Back to sleep.” Grieve stood and escorted everyone to the door. Chatter and Rhiannon turned off into her room, and I smiled softly. At least they were getting their chance at love. Who knew how long any of us would survive, so we might as well be as happy as we could be for now.

I turned to Grieve when he shut the door behind the last person, and moved to kiss him. He held me tight, grazing my lips, the feral look in his eye gleaming. But he restrained himself. He did not nip at my neck, he did not graze my wrist when he kissed it. He merely held me, for a long while, shushing me every time I would have said something, until we silently moved to the bed, climbed under the covers, and let sleep claim us.

Morning came and we allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping till past nine o’clock. Zoey and Luna had ordered a simple breakfast for us all-high in protein and complex carbs for energy. I flipped on the television, dreading what I’d hear. And sure enough, most of the cable was out except for one local station. The announcer looked grave, shaking his head, as one of Lannan’s most trusted day-runners stood there.

“Once again, we regret to inform you that the town of New Forest is under siege. During the night, forty-three people lost their lives to the Shadow Hunters. I am here to reiterate what Lord Lannan Altos said last night in his aborted speech-if you can possibly do it, gather your family and get out. The Vampiric Fae will rise again at sundown. Leave before then.”

The announcer cleared his throat. “What is being done to counter this attack, and why weren’t we warned before now?”

The day-runner looked a little uncomfortable. “The previous Regent was addressing the matter privately, but it became apparent he could not perform his job correctly. This morning, before dawn, Regent Altos and the Emissary from the Crimson Court received word that another contingent of magic-born from the Consortium will be arriving this afternoon. And the Crimson Court will be sending in trained combatants this evening, the moment the sun goes down.”

“What can we do-what can the yummanii and the Weres do?” The newscaster looked positively horrified.

“Your best bet is to leave town or only go abroad during the daylight hours and lock down your homes after dark. Weres and yummanii are not all that effective against the Indigo Court. The Shadow Hunters are strong and cunning. In essence, they are sentient killing machines, a plague that seeks to spread throughout the country.”

He paused and then continued. “The Vampire Nation and the Consortium have instructed the yummanii government to allow us to take care of this incident. We are now tracking down other pockets of the Vampiric Fae that might have made their homes around the nation. If you are not police, or medical personnel, we encourage you to stay off the streets once dusk hits.”

I turned off the TV. “At least we know help is on the way, and the Wilding Fae will be contacting us today. By the way, Kaylin, you owe the snow hag meat-remember? You’d better pay the debt before she decides to come collecting.”

He slapped his head. “I cannot believe I forgot. This afternoon, after the ritual, I will take out the chicken and steak I promised her for her help.”

“We’d better get started then.”

We asked Lannan’s lackeys for space and privacy and they jumped to obey. I suppose we didn’t seem ready to go staking the vamps, so they weren’t interested in what we were about to do.

We cleared a side parlor that we’d been told we could use by Lannan’s servants and began to set up for the ritual. It involved a great deal of space, apparently, and Grieve would be strapped down to a table while we took the Elemental points around him.

“Before we begin, we need to dress in robes the colors of our Elements. I asked Lannan’s people to help us and they found us some costumes that should work.” Luna smiled at us, and I suddenly realized she was firmly in her element. Her magic involved ritual and tradition and song and training, while mine was wild and untamed.

She handed out the robes, and they were indeed works of beauty. Whoever had sewn the velvet gowns had done an exquisite job. Mine was pale silver, Chatter wore a robe of forest green, Rhiannon was dressed in crimson, and Wrath in deep blue. Kaylin wore black, and Luna wore white. Zoey was wearing a brown robe. The vampires must have had one hell of a costume party because the gowns were all the same-unisex, flowing, and crushed velvet.

Zoey had scrounged up a copper doumbek with an elk-hide head. She knelt near the fireplace, letting the heat tune the drum. As she thumbed it, listening to the tone, she tightened the head.

I walked over to Luna, who had closed her eyes and was breathing deeply. “Am I interrupting?”

She smiled, then opened her eyes again. “No, I’m just grounding and centering. Preparing for ritual. We’ll be ready to start soon. I hope this works.” She glanced at Grieve, who lay naked on the table, his arms and legs tied down with long ropes that wrapped around the four legs.

“Is that really necessary?” I hated seeing him like that. It seemed so undignified.

“It’s the only way to be sure we’ll all be safe. If something goes wrong…he could do a lot of damage, Cicely. He could kill us all before we could react, especially if we’re in the middle of ritual. Remember, as much as you love him, he was turned by Myst. He is one of the Indigo Court, even though he defies her power.”

She placed a hand on my arm. “It’s always hard to see someone you love treated in such a fashion. Once, a demon tried to possess my mother and we had to tie her down in order to exorcise the creature. It had come in through a portal that was in a haunted mirror we’d inherited. But had she been free, we wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on doing what we needed to.”