The Waning Moon Read online

  “Let’s talk.”

  I gave her the Cliffs Notes version of the last month. I started with the deal I’d made with Raj the evening after I’d last seen her: his assurance he and his would leave me alone in exchange for the life of his blood servant, Salem. I glossed over the opening of the gate and brought her up to speed on the hunt for gate number three, along with the information Raj had shown up to assist us with a future gate in New Orleans and Florence was along to provide assistance, protection, and coaching.

  I didn’t mention my upcoming bonding, Florence’s ulterior motive, or Raj’s agreement to help us find and kill Michelle once this was all over. No reason to share intimate details with a servant—or whatever she was.

  Once she was up to speed, I went into a little more detail about the effects the gate openings were having on the world. At first, Arduinna was delighted modern technologies were being rendered null by the overwhelming outpouring of magic, but when I explained about nuclear power plants to the best of my abilities, her look of subtle amusement was replaced with an expression I found inscrutable.

  “You’re concerned they’ll explode?”

  “Not only that, but they’ll poison the surrounding area. The people and plants in the region will sicken and die.”

  “Why would humans build so many things that could kill an entire region if disaster struck?”

  “You’d be surprised at how little humans consider the future when they’re exploiting the earth for the present. When I Googled it—Googling is a way to search for information using technology that will soon be absent from this world—I found 500 active nuclear power plants. That didn’t cover any that are no longer creating energy but still drawing on energy to keep from blowing up. We can provide you with a map. There are another two or three hundred that don’t make energy for the masses.”

  “What do you expect me to do about this?” Arduinna asked. “How do you suggest we keep so many things from exploding? There aren’t many of us in this world yet, and those who are here don’t have the training to prevent nuclear fallout.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Her use of the term nuclear fallout made me think she understood better than she’d let on. I replayed her earlier words in my head. “Arduinna, earlier when you said you didn’t understand, did you mean you didn’t understand why you should protect the nuclear power plants, how to protect them, or what I meant when I made that statement? Please clarify.”

  The flash in her eyes was gone too quickly to interpret. “I specifically meant I didn’t understand why you were recruiting me to save a bunch of humans from the follies of their race.”

  “But you knew it’d render the surrounding areas uninhabitable for decades if not centuries, which is beneficial to the Fae. Will you help?”

  “I will get in touch with my contacts in the government to see where they are regarding plans to protect the power plants from the initial surge and do a controlled shutdown of the reactors and cooling ponds so when the power sources go offline, they will not explode.”

  Obviously, she’d been playing me if this was something that had come up, been discussed, communicated to her, and was well into the planning stages. In retrospect, it was arrogant of me to assume that I was the first person to think of something like this. I persisted, nevertheless. “Might I make a suggestion?”

  “Of course, Your Highness. Serving you is an honor I don’t deserve.”

  I burst out laughing. “Bullshit. But that was funny. I’m glad you have a sense of humor.” I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or not, but it looked like Arduinna had almost smiled for a second. “I don’t know if this is possible, but your reference to the flow of time being different on the Fae plane than here made me think of it. Would it be possible to create bubbles around the nuclear power plants that would move them into a faster time stream? That way the spent rods could be cooled appropriately in days instead of years, then moved to long-term storage before it became a real issue.”

  Arduinna looked at me. “I’m impressed, Your Highness.”

  “I’ve been doing some reading.”

  “I could wish you were more tractable—it would be easier to deal with you after—but I begin to believe you are what we need, if not what we want.”

  “Thank you, I think.”

  “If I may, Your Highness. I have one additional question.”

  I nodded my head in acquiescence.

  “What of the half-breed?”

  “Excellent question. Before I answer, I have a clarifying question. When you said it would not be possible to give me information on how to break the link Finn forged in my mind, did you mean it was impossible to break the link, impossible to tell me, or an impossible situation all around?”

  Arduinna did grin this time. The narrow band of teeth visible had a faintly greenish tint to them, causing an uncomfortable twinge in my stomach which I refused to admit might be trepidation. “You learn quickly.”

  I waited.

  “In this case, it is an impossible situation. The only ways to break the link are for the half-breed to do it himself or for one of you to die.”

  “That doesn’t sound like such a bad option,” I muttered.

  “Forgive me, Your Highness, but when first we met, you seemed rather enamored of the bastard. What has changed since then that has you casually wishing for his death?”

  “He kidnapped me and had iron bands tattooed on my dragon.” I didn’t think Arduinna would care he’d threatened Isaac.

  Arduinna grew so still, I was beginning to think she’d taken root.

  “And he is still alive?”

  “For now. I haven’t seen him since.”

  “And the bands?”

  “Broken by a coven associated with the witch you smelled earlier.”

  “Did they know what you were?”

  “Only the one that came with me into my mind to break the bands.”

  “It appears we miscalculated the half-breed’s usefulness. He was to fall in love with you and give his life to protect you.”

  “You got it half right. He fell in love with me, but when I didn’t return the sentiment, he decided if he couldn’t have me, no one else could. He tried to make me weak. He bound me. He betrayed me. And he was the protector named by my father and cleared by you. This makes me wonder where your loyalty lies.”

  Arduinna paled from forest green to a lighter fern color. “My loyalty is with the king by birth and with you by command.”

  “Even if I am not the Fae you wish I was? Would you attempt to manipulate events to remove me to make way for someone more pliable?”

  “My oath, sworn to your father in front of his Queen and the assembled court, was to protect you. I would never knowingly do anything to bring you harm.”

  “That leaves a lot of room for plausible deniability, Arduinna.”

  Her skin was now a celery color and I took pity on her.

  “Swear to me now you have never, nor will you ever, do anything, overlook anything, or order anything that will lead directly or indirectly to my death, dismemberment, mutilation, weakening, kidnapping, etc. if it is, in any way, in your power to stop it.”

  “I do swear, Your Highness. I will never make a choice I see leading to your disadvantage.”

  I stopped myself before I thanked her. “What do we do about Finn?”

  “Is Your Highness determined to see his death? I do not want to hear later that you are angry with me because I had him killed because you were irritated.”

  “I want the bonds broken, but you are correct. He was my friend for long enough that the thought of his death does cause me pain. I would rather he repent, break the bond of his own will, and then go live in a bog.”

  “A bog? Why a bog?”

  “It sounds nasty. All damp and stinky and full of bugs.”

  “Are you ordering me to have him killed, or to capture him and relocate him to a bog?”

  “Right now, I’d rather you capture instead of a kill. If he refuses
to remove the bond, we can explore other options. I do want to see him before his relocation, though.”

  “If you agree, I will make safeguarding this land from the poisons harvested by the humans the priority and after that has been taken care of, I will put more energy towards finding the half-breed.”

  “That sounds like a capital plan.”

  “Your animal is coming back,” Arduinna said.

  “His name is Isaac.”

  “If you take the throne, you’ll have to stop rutting with beasts.”

  “If I take the throne, I’ll take that under consideration.”

  I stood up, and Arduinna flowed to her feet as well. I held out my hand and she looked at it.

  “Thank you, Arduinna.”

  She took my hand, but rather than shaking it as I’d expected, she brought it up to her lips and kissed it as she bowed.

  “Your Highness.”

  “Stay in touch.”

  “You authorize closer contact, then?”

  “As long as you hold to the clause of not reporting my every move to my father unless under direct questioning.”

  “I gave my word.”

  “Then yes. Please report in regularly.”

  She dropped my hand, bowed again, and backed towards the tree line.

  “You can turn your back on me. I won’t stab you in the back or have you disemboweled for failure to show proper respect.”

  She turned and strode off into the trees. Isaac stood next to me and slipped an arm around my waist. I leaned into him and he kissed the top of my head.

  “Did you get the outcome you wished?”

  “I did. For the first time since I realized what the magic was doing to technology, I feel this won’t be a complete catastrophe. I really am going to miss the internet, though.”

  Isaac laughed and hugged me again. “What did she say about Finn?”

  I got him up to speed on the salient points of the conversation, leaving out the animal insults.

  Chapter Nine

  SUNLIGHT STREAMING INTO the camper woke me earlier than I’d have liked, but later than I should’ve been up. After a cup of coffee and a cold toaster pastry, we were on the road to pick up Florence. The tugs of magical energy grew more uncomfortable the closer we got to Nashville. The gate was behind me and I had the sensation of being torn in two—like the worst menstrual cramps ever.

  Florence was waiting out front with her overnight bag. She looked radiant.

  “Good night?” I asked as she climbed in the back seat.

  “The best,” she said.

  “You got laid,” Isaac said.

  “Whoa! Did you bag a cowgirl? Nicely done.”

  “You two are crass.”

  “Spill, lady.”

  “I’m don’t kiss and tell.”

  “It’s unfair that you know all the details of my love life and you won’t share with me.”

  “I don’t want to know the details of your love life,” Florence pointed out.

  “Pleeease,” I begged.

  “There is nothing you can do or say that will induce me to give up private details of my personal life.”

  “Was she pretty?”

  “I found her attractive. I seldom sleep with people I find unattractive.”

  “Fair point.” I opened my mouth to dig further, but she interrupted.

  “There are more important things to discuss. Did you get in touch with Arduinna? Did you talk to Raj? What’s going on in our supernatural quest?”

  “Whatever. This isn’t over.” I updated her on my conversation with Arduinna. “Raj didn’t show up. Has he seemed weird lately? He hasn’t tried to seduce me in at least a week.”

  “Hmmm, that is weird.”

  “I’m serious. His need to spew double entendres is like my need to eat. It was odd to have a conversation devoid of innuendo.”

  “Maybe he realized his attempts to get you into bed are futile.”

  “He told me we were inevitable the night we met. I’ll be insulted if he’s already given up. It’s obvious something is bothering him.”

  “Since there’s no real way to know what’s bothering Raj until we see him again, let’s table it and make a directional decision,” Isaac said. “I know you need to go west, but do you want to head straight west towards Lexington, or northwest towards St. Louis?”

  “Can you point in each of those directions?”

  Isaac did, and I oriented my body in those directions as best as I could confined by the seat belt. “St. Louis.”

  “Positive?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Isaac pulled away from the curb. Once we were on the Interstate headed northwest, the discomfort I’d been feeling released—further confirmation we were going in the right direction.

  By the time we hit St. Louis that afternoon, power surges battered me at regular intervals. I wondered if the Arch was the gate—it had the physical presence.

  “Can we drive by the Arch? I don’t think that’s it, but we should check it out.”

  Isaac handed Florence his phone and asked her to map us to the Arch.

  “How come you never let me do that?” I asked.

  “You’re hard enough on my electronics when you’re not vibrating. I don’t want you to fry the circuitry.”

  Twenty minutes later, Isaac pulled into a parking spot near the arch. This wasn’t it, but maybe a ride would give me the information I needed. I bought tickets and we went up to the top. The energy tugged at me and I pointed. “It’s that way.”

  Isaac pulled up a compass app and asked, “Any idea how far?”

  “Not exactly. It’s close, though.”

  When we got back to the car, I looked at my companions. “Now what?”

  “I need to get in touch with the pack, convince them I’m not a threat, get an invitation to run with them on the full moon, and see if they’ll witness the mate bonding that same night.”

  I forced a smile and picked the least threatening part of his statement to respond to. “It’d be great if we could get out of here without assisting in another pack coup.”

  “It was for the best,” Isaac pointed out.

  “No arguments from me. I like Rebecca, but I don’t want to watch you fight again.”

  “Now you know how I feel when I hear about battles to the death with crafty old vampires.”

  I dropped a kiss on his cheek. “That was not my idea of a good time, either.

  “Let’s find a camping spot outside of the city before it gets too dark, have dinner, wait for Raj to show up, and figure out next steps.” I felt commanding and decisive.

  We got in the car and followed the GPS’s directions to a little state park across the river in Illinois. The campground had shut down for the season, but the campground host was still there. He said we could pull into one of the RV spots for the night as long as we didn’t need hookups, promised to find us an open campground for the next month, and gave us a large bundle of firewood.

  “Will you stay tonight?” I asked Florence after dinner.

  “Yes. You’re vibrating like a tuning fork and I’m concerned you might attract the wrong sort of attention.”

  “We’re really, really close. I can feel the gate’s rhythm. My body is trying to match the gate’s vibrations to bring us in sync. It feels…,” I trailed off.

  “Yes?” Florence prodded.

  “Like a powerful vibrator.”

  “Sorry I asked.”

  “I’m not,” Raj said.

  “Hey! A little warning next time!” I said.

  “Sorry. It took me longer to find you than I thought it would. I wasn’t really paying attention and thought you were going to be in Memphis. It was only after I got there I realized I was too far south. It’s a good thing I tasted Florence, though. Right now, you’re hidden from me—like you’re on a different frequency.”

  “We’re really close to the gate.” I felt giddy.

  “This is our home base, then?”

 
“Yes. We’re going to find the local pack tomorrow,” Isaac said. “The Alpha is a cousin of Rebecca’s and she sent a letter of introduction. I need to declare my intentions within seventy-two hours of entering his territory, or they’ll assume I’m here for a hostile takeover.”

  “It is the same for me, although I have only forty-eight hours.”

  “You guys are all so territorial,” I said. “Florence, do you need to find the local coven and do the same?”

  “No. As long as I’m here on my own and not traveling with twelve others, they won’t consider me a threat.”

  “Raj, do you want a beer?” I asked.

  “No. I’m really not much of a beer drinker. I brought a bottle of wine, though.”

  “Is it actual wine?” I asked as he uncorked the bottle and poured it into the glass Florence offered him. It was dark red but didn’t look thick enough to be blood.

  “Of course. Bottled blood would be disgusting. I prefer to drink from the source.”

  I covered my neck with my hand before I realized what I was doing.

  “I don’t need to take it from your neck. There are other, more...intimate...veins with more appeal.”

  “Glad you’re feeling better tonight,” I said, trying to will away my blush.

  Raj stilled—and when an old vampire stilled, they were perfectly still. He looked like a sculpture, a work of art. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “Last night, you didn’t make any lewd comments. Since you flirt every time you open your mouth, I made the logical assumption.”

  “You know me well.”

  “Well enough to know you’re avoiding the subject.”

  “Indeed.”

  Goddamn supernaturals and their refusal to answer questions.

  Florence and Isaac were already up when I regained consciousness the next morning. I heard them talking to someone I identified as the campground host from the night before. I homed in on his voice.

  “…month if you don’t need hook-ups for a hundred dollars. I’m heading out this weekend, so there won’t be any maintenance done, but if you promise to clean up after yourselves and report if there are any disturbances, you can stay.”

  “That sounds like an excellent deal,” Florence said. “Let me grab the cash.”