As I watched, something moved across the ground like shadows shifting through the sea of fog, heading straight for them. But these shadows were covered in skin and mangy fur. Hundreds of rats rushed toward the children, teeth and eyes flashing. The children whimpered and pulled each other closer.
I spun around the headstone and leapt to my feet, but as I rushed toward the children, the notes of the song became more urgent. The children were jerked upright, compelled by the music as if pulled by invisible puppet strings. Rats nipped at their ankles as they joined hands and began dancing in a circle.
I pulled my eyes away from the children and searched for the source of the music. A tall, slender faerie stood opposite my position, the circle of children between us. He held a flute to his lips with long, slender fingers that danced along the instrument like spiders. The man was wearing colorful pantaloons over hose and a matching vest over a loose, puffy blouse.
I’d found The Piper.
Though The Piper’s unusual clothing and tall, slender build were typical for a faerie, his lined face was not. Wrinkles creased his forehead and chin and his ebony hair was streaked with white. The Piper’s mortality was showing.
Coiled beside him like a cobra ready to strike was Melusine. The lamia’s lips were parted in a smile of total ecstasy. The bitch was getting off on the children’s terror.
“No!” Ceff yelled.
I looked over my shoulder to see Ceff rushing toward the circle. He was staring in horror at his ex- wife.
“Ah, my love,” Melusine said. “I knew you would come. You always did care too much for the children.”
She tut-tutted, pouting her lips. With her fangs retracted Melusine was beautiful—if you could ignore the fact she was a crazy, psycho bitch.
“How could you do this?” Ceff asked. He gave a slow, disbelieving shake of his head. “What did you possibly think you could accomplish by harming these innocent children?”
“You have only yourself to blame,” she said. “I was the perfect wife and yet you loved our children more than you loved me. Children should be put in their place. They should be made to suffer for stealing what is rightfully mine.”
The color drained from Ceff’s face.
“You cannot fault me a father’s love for his children,” he said.
Melusine ignored his words, caught up in her own fantasy. The woman was truly crazy. Her hatred and jealousy had grown into an evil, festering wound that could only be healed with the suffering of more children.
That was what Melusine gained from tonight’s charade. She would revel in the pain inflicted on these kids. If her ex showed up to watch, that was a bonus.
“You and I can be together again my dear,” she said, eyes gleaming. “As soon as I destroy this half-breed distraction.”
Melusine turned to me, fangs extending. Scratch that. She was also here to win Ceff back and kill his new girlfriend. Lucky me.
I stepped forward with my left foot, adopting a throwing stance. I bent my knees and shifted my weight to the ball of my right foot. I needed to get close enough to The Piper to disrupt his spell, but first I had to make it past Melusine.
I yawned and stretched my right arm overhead. If I kept her talking, maybe I could get my knife into position without her knowledge. I hoped she’d underestimate the lowly half-breed.
“If you’re going to kill me anyway, how about you tell me how you tricked the wisps into helping you,” I said.
I moved my right hand just behind my head. I hoped it looked like I was scratching my neck, not readying to toss my iron-tipped blade.
“Do not blame your foolish brethren,” she said. “The wisps were promised the return of their princess for their service. And I, my dears, have delivered.”
Faerie bargains; they were always filled with loopholes and trickery. I spat. I would show her what happened to those who bound my people with deception and lies. I would show them all what it meant to anger an Unseelie princess.
Melusine had to be stopped. She would never change. The fact she’d used my own people in her more recent evil machinations added to my conviction. Melusine may have been Ceffyl’s queen, but she never cared about his people. The bitch cared only for herself. In a jealous fit Melusine had murdered the heirs to their kingdom and abandoned her king. It was time she paid for her treasonous crimes against the kelpies.
Melusine shot toward me, fangs fully extended. As she rushed me, she lifted a sword and aimed it at my head. I adjusted for the change in distance and threw my knife with lightning speed, faster than I’d ever thrown a blade while practicing with Jenna. I smiled. I was drawing strength from the wisps now hovering around my head.
My knife buried itself deep in Melusine’s shoulder, putting her sword arm out of commission. The sword fell from her hand, arm hanging limply at her side. Without hesitation, Melusine dipped her body and retrieved the sword with her left hand. Great, the bitch was ambidextrous—just my luck. I readied my second knife to take out her left shoulder when Ceff stepped in front of me.
“I will not let you do this,” Ceff said, facing Melusine. He risked a glance at me and shouted. “Go! I’ll take care of Melusine. You and Jinx rescue the children.”
Ceff turned to face Melusine and widened his stance. The telescoping handle of his trident shot outward as he flicked his wrist hard, the move an open threat. If it came down to a choice between Melusine and the children, he’d pick the children, just as he’d always done. The knowledge made the tension bleed from my neck and shoulders.
I nodded and lowered my blade. I’d wounded Melusine which should slow her down. If Kaye’s information was correct, lamias can only regenerate the serpent portions of their bodies. Even with the rapid healing common to full blooded fae, she wouldn’t be using her right arm in this fight.
I had to trust that Ceff could handle his ex. I sent up a silent prayer and turned my attention to the children who were indeed in need of rescuing. Tiny feet stomped atop graves and gravel paths as the children’s bodies lurched to The Piper’s music.
The Danse Macabre had begun.
Chapter 23
I watched in horror as Jinx struggled to rescue children from the circle. She pulled and cajoled, but their tiny hands held firm. No matter how hard Jinx tried, the spell was too strong.
As she tugged at the hands of a young wood nymph, a bony hand burst from the ground and batted her away. Jinx stumbled, the earth roiling at her feet.
The dead were rising from their graves.
We needed to free the children from the dance. I searched recent memory and began to recite the prayer that Father Michael had given me. It was worth a shot.
“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, oh prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls,” I roared. Nothing happened. I choked back my frustration and pulled my phone from a zippered pocket. Maybe the prayer had to be read in Latin. “Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur, tuque, Princeps militiae coelestis, satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.”
But the dead continued to rise. I grunted in frustration. I was too far away from The Piper and his demonic flute. I shifted the phone to my left hand, gripping a throwing knife in my right.
