FOURTEEN

THIRTEEN

POWER CRACKLED, ELECTRICTY and magic crashing together. A storm was building, bringing with it a pressure that was impossible to escape.

Arlan"s gaze lifted as magic cracked across the ceiling. "They"re almost here."

"Who?"

He didn"t answer, his magic barrier dropping as he stepped forward.

The sound of a bell tolled through the gathering, silencing the conversation.

The fairy lights dimmed as if a veil had been drawn over them. Magic shivered, flexing and coiling as though a great fist slammed against it.

"She comes," Arlan breathed.

The world parted and a woman wearing a long, slinky red dress stepped into the middle of the hall. Gold bangles wrapped around her wrists and biceps. The slit in the dress exposed lean legs and a gold belt showcased her thin waist.

Her face would have made artists fall at her feet begging to use her as their muse. Blood red lips parted in a smile as she noticed all of our attention on her. "My, my, it seems I"m late to the party. I do apologize. It"s so hard keeping track of the passage of time in the different realms."

A snake slithered over her shoulder, tasting the air and drawing notice to her hair. What I"d thought was oddly streaked hair, bound in gold bangles, was actually snakes. Many of them.

A medusa. A creature from myth and legend.

Only she was very, very real.

Her gaze caught mine as one of her snakes trailed down her bare arm. Her smile deepened.

Was that a wink? Yes, yes it was. A medusa was winking at me. Not good. Not good at all.

"Callie," Arlan said approaching her. "So good of you to come."

Callie"s hips rolled as she stalked toward him. "Did you think I wouldn"t?"

"One never likes to make assumptions," Arlan demurred.

"You looked like you were having an interesting conversation," Nathan said in a low voice next to me. "Problems?"

"Nothing I couldn"t handle."

Nathan hummed as he watched Arlan with the medusa. Hostility emanated from him, much more than the situation warranted. He was on edge. Tense and brittle. Very un-Nathan-like.

Nathan was always the one who never lost his cool. The situation could have descended into a clusterfuck of epic proportions and he"d greet it with a smile and sarcastic retort.

That was before. Of late, his trigger was a lot closer to the surface.

It would take little to push him over the edge right now and tip the situation to violence. Something I knew he"d regret later.

I waited, seeing what he would do.

He inhaled before pulling his attention from Arlan. His gaze flicked to me. "Consider this a rescue then."

The carefree grin broke through his stoic expression. It might have fooled me that this was the old Nathan if I hadn"t seen the tightness he couldn"t hide around the corners of his lips and eyes. That strain told me how difficult it was for him to be here, so close to a Fae, much like the one who had nearly ruined him.

Nathan no longer trusted himself. At least not where the Fae were involved.

"My hero," I told him lightly.

"What? No witty rejoinder about not needing rescue? I"m disappointed, A," Nathan murmured, his posture relaxing.

I shot Nathan a wry look. "Perhaps you lot are rubbing off on me."

Nathan pressed his hand to his chest. "Say it isn"t so." He ducked close, murmuring, "That would be a shame."

"Why would it be a shame?" Connor asked from above us, nearly causing Nathan and me to jump out of our skins.

We looked up to find Connor sitting in the crook of a tree branch, his legs softly kicking as he stared out at the gathering, his expression remote and distant.

How did he—

"Did you know he was there?" I asked.

Nathan shook his head, looking spooked. "No, and I should have."

I glanced up at Connor with pleased surprise. I could think of a dozen ways to take advantage of an ability like that.

"What are you doing up there?" I asked, focusing on more important things for now.

"I saw you talking to Arlan. I felt it best I keep an eye in case he tried anything," Connor explained.

"My hero." My words were sarcastic; the sentiment behind them was not. It relaxed some of the tension I"d been carrying since my encounter with Arlan. It was good to know I hadn"t faced him alone.

The smile he gifted me was pure. Sitting up there, the fairy lights creating an ethereal glow, he seemed much more suited to the role of nature spirit than vampire.

"Would you like to come down here?" I asked.

There was a pop of air and Connor fell into step beside us. In his hand he held a bouquet of strange looking flowers, no two alike. Each was more unique than the last. None were familiar. They were delicate and extravagant, in all shades of the rainbow. Light reflected off the surface of two of them, making them seem almost glass like.

"Where did you get those?" I asked.

Connor offered me three of the flowers.

I took them with a small smile. They were beautiful. I took a small sniff, surprised at the scent that raced across my senses. That smell was out of this world, more intense than anything I"d ever smelled before. It reminded me of dreams and expectations. Tantalizingly familiar, yet completely different than any other flower.

"I found them deeper in the barrow," Connor said, moving to place himself on the side closest to Callie.

I lifted my head and frowned. "Jerry told me that was dangerous."

Disbelief registered on Nathan"s face as he watched Connor in a way that said he doubted the other man"s intelligence.

Seeing me looking at him, Nathan mouthed "fix this."

I rolled my eyes at him. What exactly did he think I was trying to do?

Connor"s shrug was unconcerned. "Maybe for you. This barrow couldn"t keep me unless I wanted to be kept."

"I"m glad you think so," I said in a mild voice, careful not to let any of my concern show.

Connor struck me as fragile. From what I"d seen, he drifted through life, only interacting when absolutely necessary. He was content to let me take the lead, despite him having much more experience. Any other vampire in his position would have been quick to put me in my place the first time I tried to give him an order.

Not him.

I wasn"t sure if that was because of his history or if that was simply his personality. I"d noticed he tended to brush off the concern of others as unimportant—most especially Thomas.

If he thought I didn"t trust his abilities, he"d bail. Simply disappear one day, leaving me to guess at what I"d done wrong.

I couldn"t walk on egg shells around him either. One, because I simply wasn"t good at walking softly—as my sister and parents could attest. And two, because we had to be able to work together. That meant trusting he could handle whatever I threw at him.

I was tempted to let this go. Perhaps waiting until we had a relationship built on stronger foundations before addressing something like this would be smarter.

It took less than two steps for me to change my mind.

"Next time, perhaps warn me when you plan to take a field trip." If this was a partnership—and I still wasn"t sure it was—there needed to be rules.

"Why?" Connor face was reserved, but there was no mistaking the edge of challenge in the question.

There it was. He had his father in him, after all.

I guess I should have expected this. If he was the type to fall in line without question, he and Thomas would probably have gotten along a lot better.

"The military has this thing called battle buddies," I shared. "Do you know why?"

Confusion and interest settled on Connor"s face.

"It"s because no one can watch their own back. Your battle buddy does it for you. You"re powerful. Much more so than me, but you said you wanted to work with me. That means abiding by certain rules. I need to know where you are so that if something happens, I know where to start looking for you," I explained.

"You"d avenge me?" he asked.

He didn"t seem put off by the idea. More like fascinated by it.

I lifted a shoulder and grimaced. "That"s a strong word."

Anything that harmed him was likely to chew through me like I was tissue paper.

"But I would try. Sometimes being smart is better than being powerful."

There were more ways to bring down a big baddie. A head on fight wasn"t always the best solution—or the wisest.

Nathan was doing a good job of being silent and unseen as he paced beside us, but I didn"t miss the interest on his face as I navigated the challenging waters that was Connor.

"I will keep that in mind for next time," Connor finally said, inclining his head.

Not exactly the "yes, Aileen, you are right" response I was hoping for, but it was better than him telling me to pack sand before stalking off in a snit. Small wins.

We reached Liam and Anton moments later.

"Why do you always draw the crazies?" Liam"s warmth soaked into my skin, a beacon that seemed to radiate safety even if it was an illusion.

"Talent," I said flippantly.

Connor blinked at us. "Am I the crazy in this scenario?"

All of us looked at him with shock before I laughed, reaching over to pat his arm.

"Definitely, but in this sense, I think Liam was talking about her." I jerked my head at the medusa.

"I"m not crazy," Connor murmured softly to himself.

"I"ll let you in on a little secret," I told him. "In this life, we"re all a little crazy. Otherwise, it would be dreadfully dull."

"Interesting sentiment," Liam said with a glance at me. "It explains so much about you."

I tilted my head back and grinned at him. "What does it say about you that you choose to hang around me?"

He leaned forward, saying against my lips. "That I"m a little crazy too."

His lips were warm as he deepened the kiss.

"Now that we"ve settled that we"re all a little crazy, what do we think about her?" Anton asked dryly, nodding toward the medusa.

I dropped onto my heels, leaning some of my weight against Liam as I studied Callie.

That was a good question.

Arlan"s actions said she was powerful and important. His words before her arrival seemed to suggest she had some connection with the Scattered.

On the other hand, the Fae were tricky, fickle bastards. Arlan more than most. This could all be a red herring meant to lure me into an unwise course of action.

Red caps poured in from the doors, bearing weapons that they pointed at the newcomer.

"Oh? Are we going to play? I didn"t know it was that type of party," she said in a honeyed tone.

Arlan flicked his fingers at his guards. "None of that now. Callie is a guest—a fashionably late one of course."

Her lips twisted up as her eyes twinkled. "Of course."

"You"ll have to forgive them. They answer all threats to the barrow in a similar fashion."

The red caps withdrew several steps but didn"t fade back into the barrow, instead watching the woman with caution and respect.

The red caps were the size of trolls, their bodies massive and built for war. The caps they wore on their head oozed fresh blood. For beings like these to be wary, it spoke to Callie's dangerousness.

"Stay close," Liam warned.

"Do you know something I don"t?"

"In ancient times the medusa acted as the private guards for royalty," Liam said. "Now, they"re more known for their skills as assassins."

"Any idea who she is?" I asked.

"Strange as it might seem, we don"t know every player in the spook world," Anton drawled.

"Just most of them," Nathan added with a cheeky grin.

I arched my eyebrows at Anton. "That seems like an oversight to me. You may want to fix that."

Anton"s stare made it clear he was less than amused at my jab.

"My guess is assassin." Liam ignored the by play between us as he studied the medusa.

That certainly made Arlan"s insinuation that she was part of the Scattered seem to fit.

"A hundred dollars she tries to kill and/or kidnap Aileen before the night is over," Nathan offered.

Anton"s lips twitched and it was my turn to fix Nathan a dark look that deepened as he waggled his eyebrows at me.

"That"s a given," Anton said. "It"d be better to place a bet on when it"s likely to happen."

Nathan perked up with interest. "I"m listening."

Anton"s gaze was assessing as he looked me over. "I"m betting the medusa attacks as soon as they come face-to-face."

I"d be insulted if I didn"t know that was exactly the reaction Anton was going for.

Nathan stroked his chin, considering me in much the same way the other enforcer had. "I think it"ll take longer. Probably somewhere in the middle of the night."

"You have to be more precise than that," Anton warned.

Nathan screwed up his face. "Two hours. That"s my guess."

"I disagree," Connor said.

I smiled at him. I knew there was a reason I"d hired him.

"The medusa will wait for more advantageous surroundings," Connor continued, wiping the smile from my face. "I"m betting it will be on the way to the cars."

Nathan elbowed Anton. "Man has a point."

"Traitor," I muttered to Connor.

He had the audacity to look surprised. "Was I not supposed to give my thoughts?"

"You"re supposed to be on my side."

He blinked. "I am. I"ll be waiting in the shadows to destroy her."

"Comforting." But not exactly what I"d meant.

Liam stirred. "Did you learn anything interesting from our host?"

"Besides riddles and half-truths?"

Liam inclined his head.

"Not much beyond the fact he knows who they are. He insinuated she"s one of them," I said, tipping my chin at Callie.

"Any reason to suspect he is involved?"

I shook my head.

"Pity. It would have been nice to have a reason to remove him from power." Liam sounded as disappointed as a little boy denied a promised treat.

"I"m sure he"ll give you plenty of opportunities in the future," I said dryly.

"She"s coming this way," Connor observed.

Nathan practically rubbed his hands together with glee. "New bet—a hundred she stops and talks to Aileen."

I frowned at my so-called friend, a status I was questioning more and more as time went on. "Have you considered you might have a gambling problem?"

Nathan gaped at me as Anton looked down at the ground, his shoulders shaking suspiciously.

"This is the third bet in two nights," I pointed out.

Nathan sputtered.

I leaned forward, saying in a low voice. "Maybe you should visit a gamblers anonymous meeting."

The look of horror on his face made it hard to contain my chuckle. That"s what he got for trying to yank my chain. Caroline could have warned him I always gave as good as I got.

"I don"t know, that bet might be worth taking," Liam murmured.

I pointed at him. "Don"t enable him."

Liam"s smile deepened. "But it"s ever so entertaining."

"Children—all of you," I grumbled.

There was no time to talk after that as the medusa came to a stop in front of us. Up close, I could see her eyes looked more snake than human. Fae and strange, they were slitted. Their pupils were golden with spots of purple in them, a strange combination that worked for her.

Arlan lingered in the background, sipping a goblet of wine and flanked by the twins as he watched us. Seeing my gaze on him, he lifted his glass in a toast.

I focused back on the medusa who still hadn"t spoken, the ensuing silence slowly ratcheting up the ambient tension. Silence was a tactic skilled interrogators used on their subjects. Most people weren"t good at sitting without speaking. Leave them alone long enough and eventually they"d start talking of their own accord.

Only we weren"t human and all of Liam"s enforcers were highly trained in the same disciplines. The night could end, the sun rise and set again, without them saying a word.

Someone had to break the standoff. As usual that someone was me.

"I thought a medusa turned people to stone as soon as you met their eyes." It was the first thing I could think of. It helped that I was honestly curious.

A choked sound of disbelief came from Nathan as Anton's expression went curiously blank.

A long-suffering grunt came from Liam.

To everyone"s surprise, Callie laughed, the sound warm and carefree. "I think I like you."

Oh goody. Just what every vampire wanted to hear. A possibly sociopathic assassin liked them.

"It"s a common myth that we turn everyone we meet into stone. It"s a rare ability and not something we would use while a guest in another"s barrow."

"How do you stop yourself?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She leaned forward pointing to her eye. "Special contacts."

A small line rimmed her pupil, evidence of a contact.

"Do they also correct vision?" I asked.

She straightened. "If I had need of it, I"m sure they would."

"I never thought to see a human solution for a magical problem." At least not for a Fae as old as I suspected she was. The high-bloods tended to be divorced from the human realm and treated their technology with a mixture of distrust and awe.

"There are other, older ways to prevent it, including control, but this is the easiest and ensures no mistakes," she said.

Wanting a more accurate read on her, I dropped into my magic sight. Darkness blotted out my vision, obscuring any magic she was carrying. I blinked, glancing away, only to find the dark spots followed.

I let go of my magic sight to find her watching me with a knowing expression. That was impossible. This was our first meeting. Unless my secret was spread much further than any of us had guessed, she should have no inkling of what I could do.

Yet, I couldn"t shake the feeling that the reason my magic sight suddenly only saw darkness was because of her.

"What brings you to our fair city?" Liam asked, inserting himself smoothly into the conversation.

"Business." Callie"s attention moved to take in the approach of the Fae woman who"d previously offered me fairy wine.

Callie bent to take the offered drink, warmth and kindness radiating from her as she dipped her head in a regal nod. "Thank you, my friend."

The strange Fae blushed, her bashful smile aimed at the ground. "Anything for you, my lady."

Callie brushed her hand down the Fae"s hair, her bracelets clanking as they slid partially down her wrist exposing a flock of black birds, many more than mine, tattooed on her forearm. A quick glance showed them rising from a dark well of shadow near her elbow.

I nudged Liam and nodded toward her forearm. She was one of the Scattered. There was no doubt left in my mind.

Now my only question was whether she intended me to see. Why else would she wear a dress that practically guaranteed someone would catch a glimpse? For someone belonging to a group supposedly in hiding, she was awful cavalier about a mark proclaiming her status.

"What kind of business?" I found myself asking as a stalling tactic.

"I"m hoping to meet up with a few friends I haven"t seen in a while." Callie"s gaze was enigmatic. "Actually, I"ve been meaning to hire someone like you."

I stiffened. The umbrella man had wanted to hire me to.

"There"s a lot of that going around," I said after a moment.

"Then I came to the right place."

Since she was being so helpful in answering my questions, I decided to try and see if I could learn anything important. "What were you hoping I could do for you?"

"A little bit of this and that."

"That"s not vague or anything."

The corner of her lips lifted, the expression not quite reaching her eye. "Do you always require so much information?"

"I"ve found knowing the full view of a situation is generally a good policy. Cuts down on misunderstandings." Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Connor listening as if he was mentally taking notes.

A snake slid over Callie"s shoulder to stare at me. "I"m hoping to recover an item that has been lost to me. I thought you could help."

I stiffened. "And why is that?"

Her lips curved. "You have a reputation for finding lost things, do you not?"

Not that I was aware of.

"I"m sure you"re just the person for the job," she continued when I didn"t answer.

"The last guy who wanted to hire me tried to kidnap me," I said, abandoning subtlety. "If I say no, will you do the same?"

For a beat she lost control of her mask, her gaze calculating as she leaned forward. "Accept my offer and we"ll never have to find out."

Liam went still at my side. All of Callie"s snakes lifted their heads as they sensed a threat. As one they focused on Liam.

"People who back me into corners, quickly find their situations spiraling out of control. I have a tendency to do the opposite of what they want," I warned in a friendly tone.

Callie"s gaze was wide and unblinking. "Funny, I used to know someone with the same trait. I can't help but think you two would have a lot in common."

"Then you know in a situation like that, things rarely work out in your favor," I said, ignoring my impulse to ask who that might be.

Callie swirled her wine in its glass. "I"ll consider myself warned."

Why did I get the feeling she wasn"t going to heed the warning? They only worked when you listened to them.

"A friend told me you would likely be more amenable to my request if I visited during business hours," Callie said.

I was right, then. She and Don, the umbrella man, were working together.

"Funny thing, though," Callie said, staring into her wine glass. "I checked and you have no business hours posted. Not even a website. Nor do you have an office."

"That is funny," I said in a noncommittal voice.

Nathan"s eyes danced. He, better than anyone, knew I didn"t have office hours. It was what I told prospective clients when I didn"t want to deal with them. Most clients could take no for an answer, but there were times when the client was too powerful or dangerous to be refused.

As Nathan had learned when he tried to take advantage of my business to hire me to do his laundry. Not that I was opposed to doing laundry if it brought a buck in. His was a different story. If I"d taken that job, he would have made it his mission to find the most interesting ways to disgustify his clothes.

It took him two days and a lot of laughter on my part to figure out what I"d done.

Callie lifted her glass and downed the rest of the fairy wine, leaving me impressed with her tolerance. If I"d done that, I"d be slurring my words in no time.

"Well played, little one," Callie said. "I look forward to our next encounter."

Callie sauntered away, several of her snakes lifting to keep an eye on us.

"Why did that feel like a threat?" I asked.

"Because it was." Liam didn"t sound happy about it either.

Connor focused on me. "Aileen, she"s extremely dangerous."

"I kind of figured that out for myself." She"d practically had a neon sign proclaiming deadly creature here.

"I"ve never heard of a Callie, but I have heard of an assassin named Calliope," Connor said. "Several Fae in Niamh"s court were killed by her."

"Too bad the assassin didn"t kill Niamh while she was at it," Nathan muttered.

"Indeed," Connor said in a heartfelt voice. He cast a glance at the departing Callie. "No one ever figured out how she was getting in or out. All were killed with an untraceable poison."

I bet I could guess where she was getting her poison. Several of her snakes had looked poisonous. For an assassin, they would come in handy.

The similarities between the name Callie and Calliope couldn"t be dismissed. I was betting they were one and the same.

"She"s also part of the Scattered," I said.

Connor"s gaze jumped to mine. "Are you sure?"

I pointed at my forearm. "She had the tattoo."

All of us looked at Callie as she made the rounds in the hall, never staying anywhere long. There was a bubble of space around her anywhere she went, as if even the Fae were leery of getting too close.

"That is convenient," Liam finally said.

Startled, I looked up at him. "Not exactly what I would have said."

His smile when he met my eyes was that of a warlord on the cusp of battle. Hungry and vicious as his eyes darkened with a lust for violence. "My dear, we now have someone to question. Your situation is practically resolved."

"Right, because capturing a legendary assassin and making them talk is going to be super easy," I said, staring at him like he"d gone crazy.

"And fun. You can"t forget fun," Nathan said.

My bad. Of course, I couldn"t.