Chapter Sixteen

Angelo

I'd spoken to Olga Fischer exactly once.

The lovelorn woman had a bit of a reputation for falling hard and fast, and the last thing I wanted was to give her any ideas—something that, as an incubus, I never thought I'd say. Apparently, life was having a very large laugh at my expense.

As for Olga, I supposed she was attractive. She'd aged gracefully, every line on her face artfully placed. As a rule, I didn't care how old a woman was—I could find beauty in all women, whether young or old. And Olga was certainly no spring chicken—in fact, she was over three hundred years old. Her long white hair hung down around her shoulders today. She tucked a lock of it behind one ear distractedly as she turned the tooth over in her long, graceful fingers.

As to the Scapegrace Coven, I'd never intended to go for any of the witches in the coven. Too many odd ducks, in my estimation. And then Lydia had turned up, arguably the oddest duck in the flock, but I'd been instantly transfixed. Still was. Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

"Tumulus Manducare," Olga said finally, her German accent thick. If you weren't good at placing accents, you'd still know she was German, based on the lederhosen her familiar, Franz, insisted on wearing.

"Tumulus what?" I asked, frowning at the German familiar as he weaved in and around Olga's legs, singing what sounded like a German ditty.

I glanced over at Maverick, hoping I wasn't the only one in the dark regarding whatever the hell Olga had said the beast was. Maverick was sounding out the name under his breath, as if trying to make sense of it. He didn't know what the hell the thing was, either. Good. I felt a little less like a moron. I curled Lydia a little closer to my side. It took everything I had not to draw her onto my lap. For once, my response to her wasn't even sexual. Instead, I simply wanted—needed—to feel more of her skin against mine, so I'd no longer worry that she was still warm. I wanted my arms wrapped around her tightly, so I could feel it every time she breathed. I wasn't sure what we were to each other, but I did know that I cared about this woman—something that didn't sit well with me, mainly because it was such a new and foreign feeling.

Wanda sat up a little straighter. She'd been curled in the corner of one of the coven house's many sofas. She was stuck inside until the sun set, and it seemed to have soured her mood. If I'd been a shop owner, I would have found the limitations of her ruse onerous, too.

Wanda had been busy sketching something into a notebook when we'd arrived—both of us bloody—and asked to see Olga. Lydia had showered all the blood off (and borrowed a shirt and pants) while Wanda went to phone Olga, who was out for brunch with one of her lovers. By the time Lydia emerged with damp hair, Olga had finally arrived.

"Are you sure?" Wanda asked, staring wide-eyed at the older witch.

"Ja," Olga said with a nod, as she turned the tooth over in her hands once more. "I only saw it once, but zee signature coming from zis feels right."

"Could you stop talking circles around the point, please?" Lydia asked, stealing my line. Olga looked at her with raised brows and Lydia explained. "None of us has any idea what you're talking about, and I don't know about the rest of you," she continued as she looked from me to Maverick. "But I still have no idea what the thing is?" She paused. "I can't even remember what you called it."

"Tumulus Manducare," Wanda answered. "More colloquially known as ‘the Grave Eater'."

"You know what that is then?" Maverick asked.

Wanda nodded. "I read about it in one of Mother's more obscure tomes." She looked up at Olga then. "It was created between the first and second blood wars, right?"

Olga nodded. "Ja. It vas made in collaboration wiz zee Vinter Court of Faerie."

"So the monster is fae?" I asked, just to be sure I understood.

"Ja," Olga said. "I believe Taliyah's parents donated zeir magic in return for a favor zey received from Sabine Grimsbane, one of the surviving descendants of Alixia Grimsbane."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

She nodded, as if that were a question she expected. "Becauze I vorked at Blood Rose at zee time. But zee beastie vas not just fae. Celestine's mozer helped work on zee creature too."

"Then it's witch and fae?" Lydia asked.

Olga nodded again. "Ja, it's a dangerous fusion of vitch and vinter magic. Zee creature is carnivorous, a predator." She rolled the large tooth over in her hands. "See, it has sharp teeth and long claws made of unmelting ice. It zrives in zee cold."

"Hence why the cold has been infiltrating everything lately," Lydia said as she looked up at me.

"Does it have any limitations?" I asked Olga.

"Ja. It has faerie limitations, like an aversion to certain metals."

"So… was there a reason it went after Florence?" Lydia asked.

I thought I knew the answer to that one. "Because it's driven to seek out the undead, and as a zombie, Florence is technically dead. No matter what she looks like on the outside, she's still a corpse. The rules change when your biological processes cease."

"Exactly," Olga said. "Und it's not surprising zat zee Grave Eater vent after Florence becauze it vas designed to target zee undead—vampires. It waz supposed to be a veapon to turn zee tide in zee witches' favor during zee Blood Vars. Obviously, zat didn't happen."

"Why not?" Lydia asked.

"Because it didn't target just vampires," Wanda answered. "It went after any form of undead, and it was vicious about it. Vampires, zombies, ghouls, ghosts—the whole lot of them. And I don't have to tell any of you that there are numerous ghost populations."

"So it was too general in its appetites then?" Maverick asked.

Wanda nodded. "It started causing problems with other supernatural groups and the mundanes alike." She paused as something appeared to occur to her. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it must have been trying to get to Libby earlier. Spell, maybe it even went after Darla too."

"But Darla's alive," Lydia pointed out.

"Yes, but she wasn't always alive," Wanda argued. "She's still touched by death, as a former ghost." She cocked her head to the side. "In fact, my death magic probably saturates the duplex from my days living there."

"And it probably sensed Indigo all over Lydia," I said, nodding, because this was starting to make sense. "Indigo died a pretty spectacularly gory death not more than a few yards away from Lydia. Now Lydia has the essence of a dead woman all over her."

"I just don't understand why it's going after the formerly dead and not the, you know, actual dead," Lydia pointed out.

"Right," I answered. "There are numerous vampires in the Hollow—why hasn't it been going after them?"

Wanda shrugged as if that answer were an easy one. "It would have—but both my brothers and their clan are away for the week," she answered as she waved her hand as if to say she wasn't sure what their business was but that it wasn't of much interest to her. "Some political thing with their vampire bloodline. And Lorcan is currently at Blood Rose with Astrid."

"If this thing is after the dead," Maverick nearly interrupted as a concerned expression overtook his face. "The ghost hotel here in town will probably be its next target."

"Could be," Wanda answered.

"We could set a trap for it there," Maverick continued.

I nodded. "I say we get the drop on the SOB and kick his cowardly ass."

"That sounds like a plan," a new voice announced from the front entryway. I craned my neck in time to see Taliyah rounding the corner. Her icy demeanor hadn't melted away in the intervening hours. If anything, she looked even more pissed off. She crooked a finger in Lydia's direction. "I need to have a talk with you now."

Lydia stood, brushing imaginary creases from her clothes.

"I'll be back," she said with forced cheer. "Don't start plotting murder without me, okay?"