Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires #6)(67)
Author: Chloe Neill

One way or the other, the city would pay for this.

Magic erupted in nervous bursts as vampires began to funnel toward the first floor. I pasted on a smile and directed them into the front room.

"Everything’s under control," I said, watching to ensure they were settled and wouldn’t – given the rising tensions – make everything worse.

An hour later, Lieutenant Hays came storming out the front door.

Ethan folowed her but stopped on the threshold. "As I was saying, my attorney looks forward to your cal and your explanation about your apparent lack of probable cause."

"This isn’t over," Hays said. "We know you’re behind this, and one way or the other, we’l prove it."

" ‘We,’ as in Mayor Kowalcyzk’s misguided administration, or ‘we,’ as in you and whoever else in your office believes harassing citizens is the way to a promotion?"

She growled. "Just watch yourself," she said, then marched down the sidewalk again, her cabal of officers behind her.

We al released a colective breath.

"It seems we have made another enemy," Ethan dryly said.

"We’l add her to the list," Malik said, stepping behind Ethan.

"But first, let’s get this place cleaned up."

I volunteered to help clean up the yard, raking bits of the hacked-away shrubbery into piles and moving furniture back into the House again. It wasn’t glamorous work, and the night air was chily, but the manual labor was a nice change from the usual. I could lose myself in the rhythm of the work, instead of fretting over the problems I couldn’t solve.

I’d just raked up the final pile of branches when one of the fairies at the gate approached. I stopped working but kept a hand on my rake just in case.

"What do you want?"

His gaze was narrowed, his expression fierce. "Come with me."

I gave him an Ethan-esque eyebrow arching. "You may ask me, and I wil accept or decline. But you do not dictate where I do or do not go."

His lip curled. "She wishes to see you again."

Claudia wanted to talk to me? "Why?"

"She does not share her motivations with us," he said.

"Nevertheless, we understand there has been a faling out of sorts."

"Between her and Dominic?"

He nodded. "You wil see her. I believe you wil find it…enlightening."

He gestured toward a black SUV that puled up to the curb in front of the House. Two fairies already filed the front seats. It was odd to see a mercenary fairy driving a car, probably because I imagined them in different times, perhaps standing in an ancient keep, bow and arrows at the ready.

"I know where she lives. I can drive myself."

"She is not there."

"What? I thought she couldn’t leave the tower."

"She cannot – not without cost," he said. "She wanted fresh air and believed the matter worth the risk."

I looked back at him. "What’s your name?"

He looked confused. "My name?"

"You want me to go with you. I’d like to know your name."

He looked vaguely uncomfortable. "My name is Aeren."

"I’m Merit."

"The car, please, Merit."

But I shook my head. I’d wel learned my lesson about running off alone with supernaturals. "I appreciate your invitation, but you have your procedures, and I have mine. Give me a moment?"

He didn’t look happy about the request, but he acceded. I ran back to the House but found Ethan’s office empty. Malik, however, was in his, straightening files disturbed by the police.

He looked up when I darkened his door. "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine. Claudia, the fairy queen, wants to talk to me about Dominic. Apparently they had a faling out. I think I need to go.

There’s a connection between her and Tate that I need to figure out, and they aren’t going to wait around."

"As per usual, this could be a trap," he said.

"Par for the course," I agreed. "That’s why I’m teling you."

"Your instinct says to folow this through?"

I appreciated the question. "It does. But let everyone know.

You can plan a rescue mission if necessary."

"You have your phone?"

I assured him I did. My due diligence addressed, I ran back to the car again and cast a final glance at the House behind me.

The car smeled of flowers and grass, and I wondered if Claudia had ridden in it. We didn’t drive toward the park, but toward the lake. The driver steered the car into a public parking lot, and the man in the passenger seat hopped out of the car and opened my door.

"Take that path," he said, pointing to a sidewalk that led closer to the lake. "She awaits you there. Alone."

Claudia was waiting for me, and without guards. Dangerous or not, this certainly bore investigating.

I walked closer to the lake, huddling into my jacket as the wind picked up, icier as I neared the water. The lake was bounded by a long sidewalk. It was usualy filed with runners and bikers on pleasant days. But tonight, in the dark and chil, it was empty. A lone figure stood in one of the low stone circles that offered seating along the path.

It was Claudia, in a long brocade dress with pointed sleeves, and a voluminous velvet cape long enough to pool on the ground.

The hem was dirty, and the hood was puled over her head, but tendrils of strawberry blond escaped.

"You wanted to meet me?" I asked, stepping inside the circle as a hundred Irish and Scots women might have done in older days to seek an audience with the fairy queen.

She lowered her hood, her hair gleaming in the moonlight. "It is time to tel the truth," she said.

I thanked God my instincts had been right.

"He was strong," she said, and I assumed she meant Dominic.

"A messenger. A man of right and justice and wilpower. I was a queen, with legions at my command. The union between us was powerful. It was righteous."

"You were in love?"

"Fae care not for love," she defensively said. "We understand desire." Her expression darkened. "We are not cowards, but nor do we involve ourselves in the adjudication of others. We are brave, but we do not fight battles for the sake of the fight.

Dominic began kiling more often. Fighting more often. Humans were angered. The magicians believed they could simply lock the messengers away. The messengers, of course, had no desire to be confined for eternity."

"So what happened?"

"We had not spoken in many moons, but he came to me one night. We shared our bodies and he asked for a boon. He did not trust the magic makers, and he feared he and the others weren’t strong enough to avoid their magic."