Ruled by Tainted Blood Read online

“I don’t smell one, but they could have an Arch inside my apartment.”

  “You’re not human then?” Mrs. Cox asked.

  I shook my head absently, focused on my senses as I eased open my apartment door. I choked back a gag and a sob at the same time. A tarp covered a mostly cleared space in the center of what had once been my living room. Rotting faerie bodies lay upon a plastic square amid the ruin. Barb maggots undulated atop the corpses like pallid seagrass. Tiny high-pitched moans of zombie sopranos created an eerie chorus, the song interrupted slightly whenever the larvae bent double to gouge out a mouthful of flesh.

  Old china plates circled the rotting goblins, ashes and a few unburnt chunks of white sage on their blackened surface.

  Mrs. Cox scowled. “Those things weren’t here before.”

  I pushed Mrs. Cox back toward the door, eyes flitting around the unlit room. Goblins had marred every inch of my walls. They’d cobbled together broken furniture into a hybrid easel and crucifix.

  For torturing me or...oh, thank God Dylan never came back.

  “Dear, they’re only maggots.”

  “No, they’re barb maggots, and where they are, damsel sprites aren’t far behind.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Mrs. Cox said.

  “They’re like flying piranha the size of your pinky, they’ll eat anything they can get their teeth around.”

  “Should I get more white sage?”

  “Won’t help. Sage won’t affect the maggots and since they become the damsel sprites, there’s nothing for the sage to ward away from entering.”

  “How do I get rid of them?”

  I shook my head. “This isn’t something that a wafer can take care of, Mrs. Cox.”

  “Now see here, missy.” Mrs. Cox planted hands on her hips. “I can handle anything you can, and I’ll thank you not to call me a wafer—whatever that means.”

  “A mortal, a normal, nonmagical being—plain as a vanilla wafer.” I drew a silvered feather from my neckline.

  “I’m not a woman to waste energy taking offense, but I don’t like that one bit. It’s degrading.”

  “I’m sorry, but it won’t bother you long.” I raised the feather to my lips.

  A quiet croak halted the call before it escaped my lips. “Quayla?”

  I scanned my apartment, all too aware that damsel sprites could cost me another life. A shift of movement drew my eye to the kitchen cabinets. A tiny hand flopped weakly in a crack between door and frame.

  “Stay here.” I rushed across the room, drawing the attention of the barb maggots like I was some kind of snake charmer. I threw open my cabinet to find Grynnberry laying in a puddle of his own blood. “Grynn?”

  “I-I tried to stop them.”

  I eased fingers carefully under the little nymph. Using a plastic plate, I shifted Grynnberry over onto his stomach. Half of his dragonfly wings had been badly broken. A wing on his other side bent to a lesser extent.

  There’s no way he could fly.

  I had to get him out of my apartment. Damsel sprites were a real danger to Mrs. Cox and myself, but they’d eat Grynnberry alive—literally.

  “What happened?”

  “I heard the goblins talking about it. They followed that woman from your flower shop. I unlatched the door when I heard her knock, hoping she’d know what had happened to you,” He coughed, spitting green. “I was worried about you.”

  I eased us around the piled bodies, eyes scanning and ears straining for any hint of a damsel sprite.

  “She came in, freaking out about the blood and ran for the door. Their hobgoblin was waiting for her.” he gestured at the crucifix. “The rest was pain, vile Unseelie.”

  “Who’s this little fellow?” Mrs. Cox asked.

  “Grynnberry, he’s a...friend.”

  “Hold him while I summon help?”

  Mrs. Cox took the plate.

  Grynnberry tensed. “If you’re going to summon a divine, I need to leave first.”

  “You can’t fly, Grynn, and I can’t wait and risk damsel sprites getting lose in Creation.”

  She frowned. “What is he? He doesn’t match anything I’ve seen before.”

  “He’s pretty badly beat up, or maybe you just don’t remember.” I withdrew the silvered feather pendent from my neckline. “Summuseraphi, Summuseraphi, Summuseraphi.”

  “My mind is sharp as a tack, young lady.”

  Summus appeared in a blinding flash of life. “She’s not just boasting. Good day, Hadley.”

  “That’s Mrs. Cox—widowed, not divorced, young man, and I do not socialize with naked men.”

  Summus offered me a longsuffering smile.

  “I need to go after the other goblins,” I said.

  “I’ll take care of things here. Do your duty, shield,” Summus said.

  I took one last look at my apartment, swallowing the sob desperate to escape and bolted down the stairs. I hopped onto my Jahammer and addressed the bronze angel.

  “Ani, I need to find that Detective Foxner.”

  “Pardon me for saying, Shield Quayla, but seeking the police detective trying to arrest your body from two rebirths ago seems an ill-conceived plan.”

  “Can you do it?”

  “I cannot, but I will contact the Isaac.”

  “Has Dylan already gotten your systems hooked into cellular communications?”

  Please say yes, I’d rather call than talk over the open angel network.

  Anima didn’t answer. She went quiet for several minutes.

  I tapped my thumbs against the electric motorcycle’s handlebars, double-checking its remaining battery levels.

  “Apparently the goblins eluded her,” Anima said.

  “Did you get her location?”

  “I did.”

  “Where is she?”

  “If she doesn’t know where the goblins are, there is no need to risk a meeting with her,” Anima said.

  “Damn it, Anima. I’m a full shield just like the others. Stop questioning me and just give me what I requested.”

  Guilt swept in on me like a sea breeze. I rationalized it away, keeping in mind that Anima was just a computer AI.

  No, that’s not right. She’s something else, and I owe her an apology.

  Anima’s wooden reply cut even deeper than the guilt had. “Detective Foxner is en route to her precinct. If there isn’t anything else, I have duties to perform.”

  “I’m sorry, Ani. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  Silence.

  “Anima?”

  “Message received. Do you require anything more from me, Shield Aquaylae?”

  The trip to Foxner’s precinct took less time than I expected despite traffic and the guilt dragged out the time so I could replay my conversation with Anima over and over. I’d hurt her feelings—emotions I could no longer dismiss as a quirk of programming like the others.

  I parked in front of the precinct and went inside to ask the front desk for directions. Officers stopped me at the metal detector, examining my karambit hilts. Despite the lack of a blade, they forced me to leave them behind before entering the precinct.

  The directions led me to a tidy desk with wolf figurines and a bronze nameplate for Detective Sabrina Foxner. The detective wasn’t in evidence.

  Now what?

  “Can I help you, miss?”

  I turned, neck craning up to a pleasant dark-skinned face with a soft smile. The plain clothes officer had at least a head and a half more height than me.

  God, I’m short.

  “I was looking for Detective Foxner.”

  “I figured that out for myself.” He flashed a wider smile. “Insights like that are why they call me a detective.”

  I returned his smile. “Do those skills include knowing where she is or when she’ll be back?”

  He licked his finger and raised it into the air. With closed eyes, his wetted finger swayed back and forth.

  “I sense...I sense...,” He spun, his opposite palm sweepi
ng toward a hallway. “She’s in tech ops, through there, take a left and then down the stairs on your right.”

  I flashed him another smile and sped down the indicated hall. A door at the bottom of the stairs bore only a T and a partial E. I eased the door open.

  A wall of video screens displayed a white panel van as it distended and drove under a semi-truck trailer. The view jerked left then right.

  A dash camera.

  The van’s backdoors flew open. Two goblins worked together to throw a hex. A brick wall sprang to life in front of the camera. The car’s driver managed to stop just in time.

  Foxner’s rosebud mouth bent down in frustration. Snakes of dark brown hair escaped her normally restrained bun. Her athletic body was drawn taut, seemingly poised on the edge of violence. She slammed a fist into the desk and pointed. “It’s right there on camera, Miri.”

  The other woman’s dark curls framed thick, oversized spectacles. Her rumpled polo and loose jeans hid a modest figure visible only because bending over the console stole the shirt’s slack. She blinked hazel eyes at Foxner. “But the wall is gone now?”

  “The wall couldn’t have been there before. Even if I had somehow not noticed it, the semi couldn’t have pulled in to make a delivery with that there. Please tell me you have a rational explanation—preferably one that doesn’t include blood cults.”

  Miri took off her glasses, wiping them with a cloth. “Some kind of wall of stone spell.”

  “A spell,” Foxner said.

  “As in magic, wizards, that sort of thing,” Miri said.

  Foxner ran a hand down her face. “Please don’t mention Dungeons and Dragons.”

  “You are familiar with Dungeons and Dragons?” Hope brought Miri’s voice up a few notes. “Do you play?”

  Foxner groaned into her hand. “I asked you not to mention it.”

  “All right,” Miri said. “If you prefer.”

  I debated.

  The video offered some of what I needed to track down Judith, but I didn’t recognize the location. Going through Atlanta checking behind grocery stores for a portal to another world wasn’t fast enough to save Judith.

  I’ll just have to get her a rewrite later.

  “That’s a hex, not a creation spell,” I said.

  The other two jerked around to face the door.

  “They layered a glamour spell in front of you with a nasty curse on it in case you drove through,” I said.

  Foxner’s eyes narrowed, running up and down me—and not in a good way. “Buckler.”

  “You’ve lost mass,” Miri said.

  “It’s been a rough month,” I said.

  Foxner took three rushed steps around intervening workbenches.

  I backed away, hands up. “I’m here to help you, Detective.”

  “That would be a first.”

  “I need your help in return,” I said. “We need to find the goblins that took Judith.”

  Miri’s brow rose. “Would you please repeat that?”

  Foxner closed until her body pinned me against the doorframe, but I didn’t flee. Her gaze drove into me like a laser drill. Foxner’s hands clenched and released, but she didn’t strike.

  I glanced over Foxner’s shoulder at the other woman. “The word you want repeated is goblin. Is this room under surveillance?”

  “Of course,” Miri said. “She cannot accost you.”

  “Could you please turn it off?” I said. “Please.”

  Miri’s other brow joined the first.

  “I’m not your enemy, in fact we’re very simila—”

  “You and I are not the same,” Foxner snapped. “You’re a criminal. I don’t know how you change your body, but you’re guilty.”

  I need her help, and I don’t have time to waste.

  “I’m not human. I’m actually a phoenix.” I squeezed my essence, compacting magical energy into a tight ball under pressure as I slid around Foxner into the room’s center. “You should step back.”

  Foxner’s lips pressed into a harder line.

  Your choice.

  I released my core. A starburst of power exploded outward. Magic rushed over my every cell, seizing each and rearranging it. I leapt upward a moment before my legs dissolved.

  Foxner backpedaled into the door frame, rattling the glass of the thankfully closed door. She hit the ground hard, but still managed to draw her weapon.

  My wing slapped the gun from her hand just before she pulled the trigger.

  Foxner seized her hand, blood running down her knuckles from where my pinion had scratched her. She scrambled after the weapon.

  On the opposite side of the room, Miri let out a startled squeak and fell out of her chair. She lifted her glasses to her forehead and blinked up at me from the floor. “Th-that’s not possible.”

  I floated above them. Gentle strokes of my wings kept me floating and managed my position just below the ceiling.

  “Then I’m not the only one seeing this?” Foxner asked.

  “I-I believe I see what you see. Maybe, I hope so...kinda,” Miri said. “Are you seeing a large bird which seems to be made out of water?”

  “Y-yes.” Foxner snapped up the gun. “Could it be a hallucination of some sort?”

  “If it is, do you intend to shoot it?” Miri asked.

  “Shooting things makes me feel better.”

  “It’s made of water.”

  Sabrina held up her hand. “It’s physical enough.”

  “You cannot possibly be a phoenix. You’re made of water.”

  “A woman just changed into a bird floating in the room and you’re being picky?”

  “I’m trying to be rational.”

  Foxner gestured. “Rational? About that?”

  “I can either apply logic or let the tiny shrieking voice in my gut focus on the giant bird of prey floating over both of us.” Miri climbed with exaggerated slowness back into her chair and righted her glasses. “Phoenix, um, Quayla...Quayla? As in short for Aquaylae?”

  I nodded.

  “What are you talking about?” Foxner demanded.

  “Latin for water. Never mind. Quayla, there are several things that trouble me.”

  “Why are you talking to her?”

  “Hush, I’m trying to understand and not scream.”

  “She’s a bird.”

  “A bird that was human a few moment ago.” Miri addressed me. “You did nod, yes? You can understand us?”

  I nodded my head.

  “Can you speak?” Miri asked.

  I shook my head.

  Miri cursed.

  “What are you doing?” Foxner asked.

  “Learning.”

  Foxner’s tone rose in pitch. “You’re just going to stand there and calmly ask this killer questions?”

  “You should holster your weapon, Sabrina.”

  “Are you nuts?

  “Considering her talons and beak, I have no doubt if she wished you dead, you would already be so. Additionally, while I am baffled by the existence of a phoenix not formed of fire, I seriously doubt your bullets would affect what appears to be a body composed of glowing water.”

  I squeezed my essence once more, wishing not for the first time that I could transmog into a hybrid form like the divine phoenixes did. I focused on the little details and released a wave of essence to rewrite my form while restoring clothing and possessions.

  “I am indeed Aquaylae, Shield of the Undying Light, protector of Atlanta,” I addressed Foxner. “I was at the Humane Society trying to save the animals and stop a Sidhe incursion.”

  Miri brightened for a heartbeat before all color drained away from her skin. “Sidhe, actual beings from the Seelie and Unseelie races of the Fae?”

  “Yes, I died attempting to seal a breach in the Veil between this world and the world of Faery.”

  “Fascinating,” Miri picked up a yellow legal pad and a pen. “You said you died, but how were you reborn? Do you ignite when slain?”

  “Miri?
” Foxner asked.

  Miri shushed the detective.

  “No, I’m a water phoenix.” I said.

  “You aren’t reborn from ashes then?” Miri asked.

  “Miri!”

  “No,” I said. “I only told you these things because we must find those goblins and rescue Judith. If you’ll tell me where the goblins vanished, I’ll take it from there.”

  “The hell you will,” Foxner said. “There’s no way I’d let a person of interest go off hunting anything in my jurisdiction. Besides, you just confessed to breaking and entering.”

  The noise escaping me was one part sigh and two parts growl. “What are you going to do, Detective? If you try to apprehend me, I will have no choice but to resist so I can go after Judith. You can’t hold me here.”

  Foxner jiggled her gun. “You don’t think so?”

  “I imagine that if you killed her,” Miri said. “Her rebirth wouldn’t happen here.”

  “I’d rather not die again,” I said. “It’s a huge pain in the ass. Just the same, I will surrender my life to save Judith.”

  Foxner frowned, gears running full speed behind her eyes.

  “What’s it going to be, Detective? Find a mop or help me save a mortal life?”

  Foxner’s calculations ran a few moments more. I tensed to force the issue, wishing what came next didn’t necessitate replacing my karambit hilts once more.

  “Fine, let’s go,” Foxner said.

  “I do not believe the phoenix intended for you to accompany her,” Miri said.

  “She’s correct, it wouldn’t be safe for you to accompany me.”

  Foxner bristled. “I can take anything you can.”

  Miri cleared her throat. “Even returning from the dead?”

  “You’re not helping,” Foxner snapped.

  Miri shrugged. “Reason or gibbering.”

  I knew the expression on Foxner’s face. It didn’t leave any budge room, but the longer we argued, the longer Judith remained in faerie clutches.

  I’ll have her rewritten as soon as she gives me the information. Vitae’s going to kill me when he finds out.

  “Fine, but this is my jurisdiction. You’ll follow my lead.”

  Foxner snorted.

  “If we’re going, get what you need,” I said. “I’ll wait here with your friend.”

  “Excellent, I have more questions,” Miri said.

  Foxner eyed me with suspicion.