The Shadowed Path

13. Lawrence

13

Lawrence

I propped myself up on my elbow and rubbed the last of the sleep from my eyes. Troubadour stood in front of me, and his legs framed a beautiful, dark-haired Fae with chin-length black hair, ruby-red lips, and large, luminous dark eyes. The crystals hadn't fully illuminated, but their dim light still showed the ivory color of the Fae woman's skin. And the blood red tips to her nails. And the curves of her figure, accented by the tight leather catsuit she wore. Its neckline plunged down to her navel, and I admired her assets.

"Well, hello, gargoyle," she purred. "Why don't you come say hi?"

I found myself on my feet moving toward her. She filled my vision, and I could only take one halting step after another.

"Yes, come on then, handsome. I haven't seen a big, brawny brute like you in ages. All I've had to entertain myself with are these spoiled princes. Don't get me wrong, I've heard that one's talented with his fingers, but we're not that kind of family, and I would tire of competing with a bit of wood and wire anyway."

Something barreled into me and knocked me into a 1950's dinette set. Luckily it was all plastic and bounced around rather than splintering. I shook my head and found myself looking at Rhys.

"Don't let her bespell you, Lawrence Gordon."

I blinked at him using my actual name rather than calling me "gargoyle," but it did the trick. I rolled to my hands and knees and then straightened and checked myself for injury. If anything, Rhys seemed heavier than previously. Was being in Faerie doing something to him? Or was it affecting me as they'd said?

Troubadour walked toward the woman, his charming smile in place, although the tension around his eyes told a different story of his emotional state. "Dear cousin, what a pleasant surprise!"

"Don't 'dear cousin' me, you ruffian." She crossed her arms and planted her feet. Whatever their relationship, it had involved a lot of conflict. "Why are you in my palace?"

"If you would take your place, you wouldn't need this glorified yard sale."

Fae had yard sales? Wait, Troubadour could come through to the Earth realm by possessing humans. I shuddered at the thought of some sweet old lady playing with her Ouija board and then coming to her senses the following evening having bought a full set of velvet Magic Mike posters or something else tacky. Not that Troubadour would like such things, but he would probably enjoy messing with someone's grandma.

Rhys and I edged toward the patch of dark sand where we had landed the night before, both because it felt somehow safe and like the exit, although I didn't know what the Fae would do to me if I tried to fly straight up. Something told me fireballs were not completely out of the question.

"I'm actually happy you've come with your friends, dear cousin. I have some of my own I'd like you to meet." She snapped her fingers—Fae must like the theatrical effect of doing so, I noted to myself—and various large pieces of furniture tumbled aside. Nightmare creatures emerged from underneath. I counted two vampires, a mummy, a sort of swampy sea creature with big fish eyes and green scales, and something that looked like a giant Halloween bat decoration that had been left out too long. Rhys later told me it was a were-bat.

Troubadour wrinkled his nose. "What are these creatures from the land of nightmares doing here?"

"Tatiana decided to cause some trouble and give them a way through to the Earth realm. Sadly, someone interfered with her plans, so they got stuck here. I decided to adopt a few."

The vampires approached, and they had eyes only for Rhys. There was something different about them. All vamps had beauty and grace, but these had a feral edge to their attractiveness, which surpassed that of most humans.

"Des, those aren't true vampires." Rhys backed away from them until his back met the wall. "Those are revenants, risen Fae."

"Oh, Rhys, is that you? I didn't recognize you with that scar on your face. What happened?"

"Gargoyle and Templar. Long story." He made a ring of fire at the vampires' feet. They looked confused, then stepped over it and came on like nothing had happened in spite of their pants legs smoking. "Call them off!"

"Oh, but they haven't had breakfast yet."

Meanwhile, the sea creature had fixed its fishy gaze on me and ambled over. I didn't know what to think or how to react—it was outside the realm of anything I'd experienced. What would a predatory fish do?

It circled me, then bumped me, and I jumped out of the way just before it bit my shoulder. Right, some sharks liked to bump their prey before biting to see what they were. From the looks of its teeth, it could be somehow related to them.

She clapped her hands. "Oh, good, Goldy likes you."

I looked to Troubadour for help, but he had been surrounded by the mummy and were-bat. His normal composure had crumbled. "What do you want, Des? Call off your friends."

"Get out of my caves. Get out of my life—"

He held up his hand before she could say his true name. "Fine. You won't see me again."

"Good." She snapped her fingers again, and the creatures all raised their heads and looked at her. "Come."

They all moved toward her except for one vampire—risen Fae?—who had locked eyes with Rhys and made a sort of crooning sound under his breath.

"Gentlemen, catch!" Troubadour tossed our packs to us. "Uh, cousin, one of your friends isn't moving."

"Ugh, Farri has a thing for princes. It's what got him killed in the first place."

The vampire lunged for Rhys, and Rhys dodged, then drove him back with a hard punch to the gut. "I don't want to hurt you, mate."

"He's too far gone." Troubadour joined us. "What have you been giving him, Des? Fae blood?"

"What kind of fool do you think I am? I take them hunting in the woods outside the city sometimes. They eat what they can scare up." Then she laughed at her own joke.

"Then it's possible. I was wondering what I'd been seeing evidence of."

"Why is it bad for vampires to consume Fae blood?" I asked Rhys and assisted him in blocking the half-crazed vampire against the wall with whatever we could grab. The chair fortress we built wouldn't last for long.

"Because they get addicted to it. Especially if they're risen Fae like that one."

"What's a risen Fae?"

"Too complicated to explain now." He grunted and pushed another chair into the structure we'd made. "We need to get out of here."

"I agree. Ready?"

He nodded and hopped on my back. I took off and found myself pushed back down, albeit gently, by the same cushion of air that had welcomed us the night before.

"What are you doing? Go up!"

"I can't." The air smelled vaguely of ozone and stone. That gave me an idea. I placed my palms on the wall in front of me and whispered a request. Unfortunately, Faerie stone did not respond to Earth elementals like Earth minerals did. At home, it would have given me handholds or something to hold on to. Here, my hands slid down until we landed, leaving a pair of sweaty trails behind.

"Well, that's annoying." Rhys hopped down. "Let us go, Des. We're not here to hurt you."

"But now you know my secret. Well, one of them." She smiled, and although she didn't have fangs, her expression sent a spike of fear through me. "You can build all the blanket forts you want. Eventually, my risen Fae will get to you, and I'll enjoy watching the fun. It's been so long since I've had any sort of entertainment."

Her attitude shouldn't have surprised me. Rhys, although he had his moments, wasn't quite the ruthless Fae I'd heard about. Had I grown complacent with him and Reine, who also had her moments but at her heart was kind? Ugh, I didn't need to be thinking like that right now. What had my parents told me when faced with a Fae who toyed with me like a cat did its dinner? Ask what it wanted, but Troubadour had already done that. But I knew what he wanted. He wanted us to take him to Reine. As much as I hated the idea—and I'd have to explore why later—he would be our key to getting out of here.

"Uh, Troubadour, what about that thing you wanted us to do? Can't you figure out a way out of here?"

Des hopped up on a table and looked down at all of us. "Wait, my cousin actually wants something? How delightful. What do you want, cousin?"

Troubadour shot us an annoyed look. I returned it with a glare of my own. He hadn't exactly been helpful. Had he decided to let his relative destroy us, and oh well, he'd figure out another way to Reine? It wouldn't surprise me if he pulled a fickle Fae move like that.

Rhys seemed to clue in. "We're going to tell her unless you get us out of here."

Troubadour sighed and walked over to us. "You're starting to annoy me."

I matched his aggressive posture with my own. "You've been annoying me. Now get us out of here, or we spill." I didn't know why he wanted to talk to Reine so badly, but I counted on it.

"Fine." He spoke in secret conversation on a band so tight and focused it hurt. “When it goes dark, fly straight up.”

I nodded.

He struck a tone on his harp, and all the torches extinguished in a puff, leaving behind total blackness and a sharp, smoky odor. Rhys jumped on my back, and I again jumped into the air. This time nothing impeded me, and I allowed my sense of the wall to guide me.

“Follow me.” Troubadour glowed, although not as brightly as before, and led us out through a different set of twists and turns.

Just before we flew out into the morning, I thought I heard the echo of cackling laughter.

Troubadour took us out over a different set of woods, these with more leaves on the trees, but only a few more and most of them brown. I couldn't see into the forest through the fog that clung to the ground. The sky above us also hung heavy and gray, but at least we were in the open air, such as it was.

I noticed the trees getting closer, and I focused on maintaining my altitude, but I grew weaker with each stroke.

"Troubadour, I need to land soon. I can't carry Rhys for this long."

"Well, if Rhys would find his damn wings…"

"Trying," Rhys gritted out through clenched teeth. "You think I like this?"

Troubadour gave him one of his heavy-lidded side glares. "One never knows with the light Fae males."

Rhys tensed, and I wondered if Rhys had been flying, if he might have punched Troubadour. Or…

"It's better to be flexible than impotent and bored," Rhys shot back. "It's not like the Dark Court is known for its productive orgies."

"I didn't think orgies were supposed to be productive," I couldn't resist commenting, although each word came out with effort.

"Look, up ahead!" Rhys' finger emerged in my peripheral vision and pointed to a break in the trees, which as we grew closer, proved to be a lake. I could see shapes in the middle and two hovering over it, but not clearly enough to identify them.

I landed on the shore, and my feet sunk about half a meter into the soft, dark-gray mud. Rhys tumbled off my back, and I drew what strength I could from the land below me. Once my breath calmed and no longer rasped in my ears, I heard voices coming over the water. The first one somewhat familiar.

"Those shades weren't passengers…"

Then, a voice I had both desired and dreaded hearing again. "What happened to them?"

"Water wolves."

"A little help down here!" That was John.

I let go of the packs and launched myself into the sky. Troubadour flew just ahead of me. Without Rhys, I outpaced him and saw Reine. My jaw dropped at the stunning sight of her rainbow wings. Ellerin, the gray Fae, had somewhat drab colors to his, but they were well-shaped and nicely feathered.

Both Reine and Ellerin dropped through the patchy fog that floated over the lake and disappeared from view.