“I didn’t realize I had any ‘powers’ until just now,” I said cautiously.
Green eyes held mine for a long beat before Albigard gave a small nod, as if to himself. “Then I extend forgiveness for your violation of my person. Endeavor not to repeat it, or I may grow to be less forgiving.”
A smart-ass remark was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it back upon realizing that I’d apparently just sexually assaulted a faerie so I could feed from him. “I honestly didn’t intend to do it,” I said instead. “Now, if we could just address the part where we’re still locked in a cell in your creepy dungeon-basement, everything’ll be peachy.”
I felt jittery... almost itchy, like I’d taken a hit of bad drugs. If this was my brain on faerie animus, I was never straying from vampire juice again. My eyes flicked sideways to Rans, and I looked away quickly.
“Seriously, Alby,” Rans was saying, “there’d better be a good excuse for this farce. When I suggested meeting at the airport, I didn’t expect us to be joined by a full squad of Chicago’s boys in blue.”
Albigard exhaled sharply and took a step away, running a hand through his fine, straight hair. The movement drained some of the tension from the atmosphere, as well.
“Something big is going on in this city,” the Fae said. “Big, and secretive.”
He waved a careless hand at me, and tingles rushed along my skin. When I looked down, my appearance had returned to normal.
“And whatever this big, secretive thing is, it’s tied up with the human man I told you about?” Rans pressed.
“Apparently,” Albigard said, sounding suddenly tired. “Of course, once the higher-ups realize you’re tied up in it somehow, they’ll be after you in force—assuming they aren’t after you already. You’ll be safe here for a bit, but I had to glamour you to make you seem like random prisoners. The human law enforcement officers I used at the airport don’t know enough to be a problem, but only one of the two guards here is trustworthy.”
Rans nodded. “I figured it was something like that. Though a bit of warning wouldn’t have gone amiss, you know.”
Albigard waved the words away as though they were a mere annoyance. “There may well have been listening charms attached to the automobile. You’re here; no one is aware of your presence for the moment. I fail to see the issue.”
“And my father?” I asked, ready to move past the bullshit even if Albigard’s proximity did still make me want to crawl out of my skin.
The Fae’s lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. “I will take you both to the residence that Darryl Bright is listed as owning, though we should not linger there.”
“Wait,” I said. “How are we going to sneak past your guards and get out of the house? I thought you didn’t want anyone knowing we were here.”
Albigard gave me a look that implied I was mentally deficient. “I will transport you there magically, of course. Though I suppose I should still refresh your glamours, first.”
I stared at him. “I have no idea what that means. But if it gets me to Dad’s condo, then let’s stop standing around and fucking do it.”
“You heard the lady,” Rans said, in the tone of someone who was about ready to be done with the day’s bullshit. I could sympathize.
Albigard summoned his glowy magic again, and moments later Rans and I were once again disguised. Presumably, this was the glamour he’d mentioned. I twisted my newly pale hand back and forth, fascinated.
My attention was wrenched away when the Fae described a large oval shape with a smooth movement of his hand. A blazing gateway formed in thin air, tall and wide enough for a person to slip through.
I gaped at the hole in reality. “Oh, my god. You can make portals? I had a friend in high school who freaking loved that game.”
“Come,” Albigard said, ignoring my words even though irritation practically rolled off of him in waves.
I couldn’t help casting a glance at Rans, trying to telegraph ‘Is this safe?’ without actually having to say it aloud. I had a sneaking suspicion that doing anything else to piss off the portalmaster right now would be ill advised.
“It’s fine, luv,” Rans said, taking my oddly unfamiliar hand in his.
He led me into the gap in the air. I squeezed my eyes shut as I stepped through, a wave of disorientation passing over me. When I opened my eyes, I was... someplace else. Someplace that should have been familiar, except that a tornado had torn through the familiarity.
Albigard stepped through after us, and the portal shrank to a point before disappearing completely. I looked around the room, a sinking feeling taking root in my stomach.
“Is this the place?” Rans asked.
“Yes,” I whispered, not wanting it to be true.
My father’s home had been torn apart—furnishings upended and broken, personal belongings shattered and torn to pieces. It wasn’t immediately obvious to my untrained eye whether the wholesale destruction was the result of a struggle, or whether it was the result of a thorough—and callous—search for something hidden.
Either way, it was clear from the unnatural stillness of the place that my father wasn’t here.
In eight years, I’d only been here five times... maybe six. Each visit had been tense and uncomfortable, punctuated by low-pitched arguments and hurtful comments. I walked forward in a daze, my eyes trying to reassemble the broken objects around me into a picture of normalcy. My gaze caught on a corner of colorful cloth, faded from its original vibrancy by the passage of time. I leaned down to grab it, tugging it out from behind the overturned table where it had been largely hidden.
Shaking, I clutched the torn quilt—a crazy patchwork of pink, blue, and lavender that had always decorated my parents’ bed when I was a child. My knees went wobbly, and I sank to the ground.
My
