Oddly is what I usually say, I told him.
Oddly on Mercedes. Some works fine, some not so well. But she has a keen nose, and that allows her to penetrate glamours. Ive seen her break through a glamour set by a Gray Lord. This one we are after is no Gray Lord.
Phin bled on that floor, Jesse, I said. I dont have much hope that he survived his encounter. But we didnt find his body. We went down to the basementwhich was also trashedand while we were down there, one of the fae who had destroyed the store turned up on the stairs.
Thats the one who was dead in the basement, Alicia said in an odd tone. The one someone started to eat.
Sams not been himself lately, I told Jesse. The fae knocked me cold, and when I woke up Sam had killed him and . . .
Sam, the fae said softlyand her hands clenched on her lap. You have friends who are werewolves, Zee tells me. This Sam is a werewolf?
Sam is a werewolf and my friend, I told her. Maybe my tone was a little sharp, but I was getting tired of people attacking Samuel. Who saved my life by killing the not-so-jolly green giant. Im okay with it if he helped himself to a little snack. If it squicked my thou-shalt-not-be-a-cannibal button, that was a button my mother gave me, not the werewolves. He hadnt violated any werewolf tabooseating your prey is better than leaving the bodies lying around.
Alicia didnt seem to be too upset about my snapping at her, though.
Samuel Cornick, she said, her eyes catching mine. Samuel Marrokson, Samuel Branson, Samuel Whitewolf, Samuel Swift-foot, Samuel Deathbringer, Samuel Avenger. I couldnt remember what color her eyes had been in the bookstore, but I knew it hadnt been green. Not hazel, not a human color at all, but a brilliant grass green that darkened to blue and brightened.
That would be me, said Samuel, standing in the doorway. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and had managed to find a pair of jeans that were only a little baggy. Hello, Ari. Its been a few centuries. His voice was soft. I didnt know you had a talent for true naming.
She looked at him, and I saw the pupils of her eyes widen past her changeable irises until her eyes were as black as a starless night. And then her glamour went all funky.
Ive seen fae drop their glamour before. Sometimes its cool, with colors sliding and mixing; sometimes its like when I shapeshiftjust blink and the man in front of you suddenly has antennae and six-inch-long hair growing from his hands.
But this was different. It reminded me of an electrical appliance shorting out, complete with quiet fizzling noises. A patch of skin appeared on her arm that had been covered by the sweater she wore, and on the patch of skin was a little scar. Then there was a sound and the sweater reappeared and there was a six-inch-by-four-inch section of skin revealed on her thigh, but most of that space was taken up by a horrendous scar that looked deep and stiffa wound that healed badly enough that it probably interfered with her ability to use her leg. After an instant it disappeared, and three scarred areas appeared on her face, hand, and neck. Her skin tone around the scars was darker than the one she wore to hide from the world. The color was nothing outlandish, a few shades darker than mine or lighter than Darryls, but to my eyes the texture was softer than human skin. It appeared as if the old wounds were presenting themselves to usor rather to Samuel, because she never took her attention off him.
Jesse reached out and grabbed my knee, but her face didnt change as the fae woman slowly stood up. She began to breathe hard as she took several steps back, sliding her chair behind her until it bumped into the shelving in back of her, and she couldnt retreat anymore. Her mouth opened and she began panting, and I realized what I was seeing was a full-blown panic attack done fae-style.
Zee had said her panic attacks were dangerous.
Ariana, Samuel said, in a voice like Medeas gentlest purr.
He didnt move from the door, giving her space. Ari. Your father is dead and so are his beasts. I promise you are safe.
Dont move, Zee told Jesse and me in a low voice, his eyes on the fae woman. This could go very badly. I told you not to bring any of the wolves.
I brought myself, old man, said Samuel. And I told Ariana that if she ever needed me, I would come. It was a promise and a threat, though I didnt mean it that way at the time.
Alicia Brewsterwhom Samuel had apparently known as Arianahummed three notes and started to talk.
A long time past in a land far from this one, said Alicia in a storytellers voice, there was a fae daughter who could work magic in silver and so she was named. In a time where fae were dying from cold iron, their magics fading as the One Gods ignorant followers built their churches in our places of power, the metals loved her touch, her magic flourished, and her father grew envious.
He was a nasty piece of work, said Samuel, his eyes on the womans wrinkled face that sometimes wore scars on her cheek or at the corner of her eye. Mercy would call him a real rat-bastard. He was a forest lord whose greatest magic was to command beasts. When the last of the giantswho were beasts controlled by his magicdied, it left him a forest lord with no great power, and he resented it as Arianas power grew. When the fae lost their ability to imprint their magic on thingslike your walking staff, Mercyshe could still manage it. People found out.
A great lord of the fae came, continued Ariana. She didnt seem to be listening to Samuel, but she waited for him to quit speaking before she started. He required that she build an abominationan artifact that would consume the fae magic of his enemies and give it back to him. She refused, but her father accepted and sealed the bargain in blood.
She stopped talking, and after a moment Samuel picked up the story. He beat her, and she still refused. His was a magic sort of like the fairy queens, in that he could influence others. It might have been more useful, but he could only influence beasts.
So he turned her into a beast. Arianas voice echoed even though my office was full enough that a gunshot shouldnt echo, and it was eerie enough that Jesse scooted nearer to me.
Ariana wasnt looking at Samuel anymore, but I couldnt tell where she was looking instead. I dont think it was a happy place.
In those days, the faes magic was still strong enough that it was harder to kill them unless you had iron or steel, said Samuel.
He didnt seem worried about Ariana, but Zee was. Zee had gradually moved off his chair until he was crouched between Jesse and the scarred fae woman.
He used his powers to torture her, Samuel said. He had a pair of hounds who were fae hounds. Their howls would drop a stag in its path, and their gaze could scare a man to death. He set them at her every morning for an hour, knowing that as long as he went not one moment more than an hour, she could not diebecause that was part of these fear hounds magic.
She broke, Ariana said hoarsely. She broke and followed his will as faithfully as his hounds. She knew nothing but his commands, and she built as he desired, forged it of silver and magic and her blood.
You didnt break, said Samuel confidently. You fought him every day.
Arianas voice changed, and she snapped, She couldnt fight him.
You fought him, Samuel said again. You fought, and he called his hounds until his magic failed him because he used it one time too often. I had this story from someone who was there, Ariana. You fought him and stopped, leaving the artifact incomplete.
It is my story, she growled, and she turned those black eyes on Samuel. She failed. She built it.
Truth belongs to no one, Samuel told her. Arianas father visited a witch because his magic was insufficient to work his will. There was something in his voice that made me think that he knew and hated that witch. He paid the price she demanded for a spell that combined witchcraft with his magic.
His right hand, said Ariana.
Samuel waited for her, but she just stared at him.
I think he wanted to call his hounds, Samuel said. But they had strayed too far for him to influence. He got something quite different.
Werewolves, said Ariana, then she turned her back to us, hunching her shoulders. I saw that there were scars on her back, too.
We attacked because we had to, Samuel said gently. But my father was stronger than we were, and resisted. He killed her father. We stopped, but she was so badly hurt. A human would have died or been reborn as one of us. She only suffered.
You doctored her, I said. You helped her heal. You saved her.
Ariana crumpledand Samuel leaped over all of us and caught her before she hit the floor. Her body was limp, her eyes closed, and the scars were hidden safely behind her glamour again.
Did I? Samuel asked, looking down at her with his heart in his eyes. The scar on the top of her shoulder was one I gave her.
Hot damn, I thought, watching him. Hot damn, Charles. I found something for Samuel to live for.
Samuel had been upstairs with Adam when the fairy queen called to tell us what she was looking for. Silver Borne. The mention of the artifact alone was enough to make it impossible for him to yield to his wolf. But it had been when Zee had called me and Ariana spoke that hed come back to us.
You saved her, I told him. And you loved her.
She didnt know, did she? said Jesse, sounding as caught up in the story as Ariana had been. You doctored her up, and she fell for youand you couldnt tell her what you were. Thats really romantic, Doc.
And tragic, said Zee sourly.
How do you know its tragic? sputtered Jesse.
The old fae scowled and gestured toward Samuel. Im not seeing a happy-ever-after ending here, are you?
Samuel pulled the fae woman against him. It looked odd, a young man holding a woman who could have been his grandmother indeed. But fae dont age, they fade. Her grandmotherly appearance was a glamour. The scars were realbut I saw his face and knew that he only cared about the pain they represented.
Endings are relative, I said, and Samuel jerked his head up. I mean, as long as no one is dead, they get the chance to rewrite their endings, dont you think? Take it from me, Samuel, a little time can heal some awfully big wounds.
Did she look healed to you? he said, and his eyes were the color of winter ice.
Were all alive, said Zee dryly. And she didnt disappear on uswhich she still has the magic to do. Id say you have a chance.
Chapter 13
SAMUEL STARTED TO SAY SOMETHING TO ZEE WHEN the woman he held opened her eyes, which were green again. She gave us all a bewildered look, as if she could not imagine how shed gotten where she was.
I knew exactly how she felt.
As soon as he saw that she was awake, Samuel set her down with careful haste. Im sorry, Ari. You were falling . . . I wouldnt have touched
I had never in my life seen anything like it. Samuel, the son of a Welsh bard, who shared his fathers gift for words, stammering like an infatuated teenager.
She grabbed Samuels sweatshirt and looked up at him in utter astonishment. Samuel?
He stepped away from her, but stopped short of pulling the shirt from her grasp. I cant give you space unless you let me go, he told her.
Samuel? she said, and, though it hadnt caught my notice before, I realized that her voice had changed sometime in the middle of her panic attack, and sounded way too young for the late-middle-age face she wore. It was also lightly accented, some combination of British and Welsh or a related language. I thought . . . I looked but I never could find you. You just disappeared and left me nothing. Not a shirt or a name.
He pulled away again, and this time she let him go. Free, he retreated to the damaged door that separated my office from the garage. Im a werewolf.
Ariana nodded and took two steps forward. I did notice that when you killed the hounds who had come for me. There was a hint of humor in her voice. Good, I thought. Any woman Id allow to have Samuel would have to have a sense of humor. The fangs gave it awayor maybe the tail. You saved me againand then you left, and all I knew was your first name.
I scared you, he said starkly.
She gave him a half smile, but clenched her hands. Well, yes. But it seems I scared you worse because you ran away for . . . a very, very long time, Samuel.
He looked away from her gazethe most dominant werewolf in the Tri-Cities, and he couldnt meet her gaze. Didnt he see that even if he scared her, she still wanted him?
She tried to take another step toward him and stopped. I could smell her terror, sharp and sour. She backed away from him with a little sigh.
It is very good to see you again, Samuel, she said. Because of you I am whole and here all these centuries after my father would have destroyed me. Instead, his body long ago fed his beasts and the trees of his forests.
Samuel bowed his head and, to the floor, he said, Im glad you are welland apologize for causing your panic attack today. I should have stayed out . . .
Yes. Panic attacks. They can be pretty . . . She looked at Zee, who was back in his chair looking as relaxed as if hed spent the last ten minutes watching a very boring soap opera. Did I hurt anyone, Siebold?
No, he said, folding his arms. Just true-named our wolf, and told Mercedes and Jesse the story of the Silver Borne.
She looked at me, then at Jesse, maybe to see how frightened we were. Whatever she saw reassured her because she gave a shy smile.
Oh, thats good. Good. Her shoulders relaxed, and she turned her attention back to Samuel. I dont have them often anymore. Not at all with mortal canines. Its just the fae dogs, the magic onesblack dogs and houndsthat set me off. Only when I am overcome with She bit her lip.
Fear? Samuel suggested, and she didnt answer. She also had left off werewolves, I noticed.
I am glad to see that your magic has returned, he said. You thought it was gone.
She took a deep breath. Yes. And for a while I was glad of it. She looked at me. And that has bearing on the present situation. You are Samuels friend, Mercedes?