Autumn Whispers

Chapter 5

As I opened my eyes, I realized three things. One: I was lying on the floor. Two: The floor felt uncommonly good—nice and cool and smooth. Three: I didn’t think I was supposed to actually be down here.

That’s when the burning hit. My hand itched so bad I let out a croaking scream. I tried to sit up and found hands against my back, helping me. Shade was bracing me up. I shook my head, trying to clear the drone, but the buzzing grew worse, making it hard to even hear my own thoughts.

I squinted as Menolly knelt down beside me, Chase fretting behind her. “Kitten, Kitten, are you okay?”

“I . . . I . . . No.” Truth being, I wasn’t. I felt feverish and on pins and needles.

“I’ll go get Mallen.” She jumped up and disappeared from sight.

Shade gathered me up in his arms and laid me on the sofa. “Love, love . . . can you hear me? Delilah—can you hear me?”

His voice grated in my ears against the buzzing that wouldn’t shut the fuck up. It was beginning to annoy me. “Yes, I can hear you. Stop asking me that.”

“You’re burning up.” Shade pressed his hand against my forehead.

A moment later, Mallen rushed back into the room, followed by Camille. The elf looked straight out of med school but he was probably several thousand years old, and he had a calm, cool demeanor that both felt aloof and yet comforting at the same time.

He leaned over me, touched my forehead, then straightened up. “We need to get her to the FH-CSI. She needs more care than I can provide here. Smoky can take her through the Ionyc Sea. Don’t let Rozurial do it—he’s not strong enough to carry someone in fragile condition. Smoky can offer more protection from the elements out on the Sea. So go. Find him now. I’ll call ahead so they’re expecting her.”

Camille ran off.

Mallen turned to Shade. “Camille should go with her. Menolly—I understand that you’re needed at the Wayfarer. We’ll let you all know if anything serious happens with Iris, though I don’t expect any complications.”

Menolly looked ready to argue, but turned and headed out the door with Chase.

Shade worried his lip. “Who’s with Iris?”

“My assistant, and Hanna and Roz. I have to get back to her—this is her first labor and with twins, it’s not going to be easy. Someone find Bruce and send him in.” Mallen stared down at me. “Get Delilah a cool cloth for her head until you can get her to headquarters.”

At that moment, Smoky and Camille burst in.

“Smoky, take Delilah and Camille to the FH-CSI. A team will be waiting. Somebody—get your ass on the move and bring me Bruce. Now.” With that, Mallen turned and headed back to Iris.

Shade kissed me. “I’ll find Bruce, then join you at HQ. Go, love, and be safe.”

I tried to kiss him back but the fever hit me again and I started to pass out. The next thing I knew, the world was spinning—another period of darkness and I woke up in a bed in the FH-CSI.

I had no idea of how long I’d been out, but as I tried to push myself to a sitting position, Camille stepped into view and shoved me back down again.

“Stop right there. No moving. How are you feeling?” She ran her hand over my cheek, and I saw the worry filling her eyes.

I assessed my condition. Burning, itching hand? Still throbbing but much better. Buzzing in ears? Faint and muted. Feeling like hell? Check—still that.

“I’m better,” I croaked out, my throat raspy. “Water?”

She nodded, holding a glass to me with a bendy-straw in it. As I sipped, the cool water raced down my throat, easing the harshness. After a few minutes, I could breathe better, and I leaned back against the pillow.

“What happened to me? I don’t remember anything after Smoky picked me up to bring me here.” I had a few vague images of someone grabbing my arm, and I thought I might have screamed at one point, but I had no other clue.

“You were phasing in and out, but you’ll be okay. Be prepared though. You’re going to hurt like hell for a while as you recover.” Camille looked around, motioning to someone outside my field of vision. A healer joined her, staring down at me with a soft smile. She was Fae, and I’d lay bets she was part Goldunsan, from Otherworld. Her nametag read “Aswala” and she radiated a warm, welcoming energy.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake.” She fluffed my pillows and adjusted the blanket over me. “Do you know what happened to you yet?”

I gave her a brief shake of the head. “No, I just woke up. I’m not even sure . . . where am I?” I was pretty sure I was in the medic unit of the FH-CSI.

“You know that bite on your hand? Well, we know what those creatures are now. And we now know that they have a necrotic enzyme, like a brown recluse spider only worse. It helps them digest the flesh they eat. If you hadn’t gotten your lovely self in here, you could have died. As it is, we are able to counter that type of toxin, and you’re on the mend. But I won’t kid you, the pain’s going to continue for quite a while, and you’ll have a scar on your hand.” Aswala took my pulse and checked my heartbeat. Seemingly satisfied, she jotted down her findings in my chart.

The thought of a scar didn’t scare me. Hell, both Menolly and Camille had more than their fair shares of scar tissue. It was my turn, apparently. “So what are they?”

“They are children of Jenny Greenteeth and the Dark Dugald. Apparently the pair had several litters and it appears that we have at least a small nest of them around here. They’re called dreglins, and they run in a pack.” Camille let out a disgusted sigh.

Jenny Greenteeth and the Dark Dugald were both flesh eaters, and both were frightening and powerful members of the Elder Fae. Singular, terrifyingly powerful Fae, the Elder Fae were older than even the great Fae Lords. That this particular pair had decided to get their groove on and breed was both a sickening and frightening thought.

Jenny Greenteeth was similar to a kelpie, and far more dangerous. The Dark Dugald was the leader of the barguests—the Black Angus dogs, which were a lot like hellhounds. And according to what we knew, the Dark Dugald was a hellion and considered worse than a number of demons.

“Lovely. So now we have to track them down and get rid of them. We can’t let them just camp out and prey on anybody wandering by, and if they are flesh eaters, you know they won’t limit themselves to Supes. They’ll go after FBHs, if they haven’t already.” I wanted to get up and chase after them, but when I tried, both Camille and Aswala pushed me down again.

“You aren’t going anywhere for another hour or two, until we make sure you’re stable. You seem to be responding well to the antivenin treatment, and the healing magic. If you are feeling better in a few hours, then we’ll let you go home, but you have to go right to bed when you get there. No running around till tomorrow afternoon, and absolutely no fighting for a day or two. If you can’t promise, we won’t let you out.”

I restrained a snort. “Sure, no problem.”

Aswala leaned down to whisper in my ear. “We’re going to make sure your sister and friends know about this so they can haul your ass back in here if you break your promise. Got it?”

Startled by her take-no-prisoners attitude, I stammered a “yes” as she gave me another shot of something and took Camille off to the side. I had the feeling Camille was getting an earful of Aswala’s orders.

After she finished, I motioned to Camille. “What about Iris?”

“She was still in labor when we left. She probably has a while to go before the babies are born. I imagine we’ll be home before then.”

“Where’s Shade?” I looked around, wanting my fiancé. My lover anchored me. Over the months I’d learned a lot about strength and self-acceptance from him.

“Remember? He stayed home to hunt down Bruce, who apparently wasn’t around when Iris went into labor, and I gather it took longer than he expected. Bruce is never going to live that one down.” Camille let out a laugh. “Smoky will be back to get us the moment he gets my call.”

A few other memories began to phase back in that had been lost in the sudden onslaught of fever. I shot straight up. “Menolly! The Wayfarer!”

Camille hung her head. “She called half an hour ago. I won’t lie—it’s bad. They extinguished most of the flames, but the place is still smoldering. We won’t know till morning how badly the bar was damaged, but it’s not good. Menolly didn’t have much to say. She’ll be here soon, though. Chrysandra’s fighting for her life, and so are several others—customers who were caught in the flames. We may never know how many vampires died—they would have been dusted by the flames if they were caught.”

This time, I laid back down without being shoved. Chrysandra had been with the Wayfarer for years. She was there when Menolly took over and had helped her during the transition. She was easily the best waitress at the bar and she and Menolly had become friends.

“You don’t think . . .” I didn’t want to verbalize what was going on in my mind and I hoped Camille would understand what I was asking without me having to spell it out.

Her thoughts must have been running in the same direction because she sucked in a deep breath. “I know what you’re thinking. I hope to hell Menolly doesn’t decide to sire her.”

“How close . . . how bad . . . is she . . .”

“Chrysandra’s dying. There’s no chance for her to pull through, and Menolly doesn’t know that yet. I plan on being there when Menolly walks in to check on her. Maybe I can stop her, if her instincts get the better of her.” Camille glanced up at the clock. “Speaking of, I guess I should go wait for her. You rest. And by the way, Kitten . . .”

“Yes?” I stared at her defiantly, knowing what she was going to say.

“Aswala told me what she told you. Don’t you dare think of trying anything exerting for the next few days. Though, your hand is going to be hurting so I doubt you’ll be able to do more than bitch and moan.”

She sounded all too gleeful and I waved her out with my left hand. When she was gone, I looked down at my right hand. It was swathed in bandages, but at least it was still there. Necrotic bites could so easily cause gangrene, and I had movement and feeling in my fingers—all too much for comfort.

I shrugged, then flipped on the television, bored. The news was on and they were showing clips of the Wayfarer, engulfed in flames. I caught my breath, staring at the brilliant tongues of fire licking the building. Luckily, the shops next to it had been spared, but I had a sick feeling that morning wasn’t going to see more than a pile of rubble where the bar used to be.

Wincing at the announcer’s flippant tone, I changed stations until I found a nice, brainless rerun of Jerry Springer. I knew it was trash, and Camille and Menolly constantly teased me about it, but the truth was that I was a total fan girl and was crushing hard on the dude.

For some reason, he tripped my trigger and I fantasized getting locked overnight in a supermarket with him, and meeting in the junk food aisle where he’d drag me to the ground and fuck me like hungry bunnies.

By the time the “Shocking Family Secrets” episode was over, I was beginning to worry. Camille wasn’t back yet and I hoped to hell there wasn’t a crisis going on in Chrysandra’s room. Since Aswala wasn’t around to stop me, I pushed back the covers and slipped out of bed. A wave of dizziness and nausea hit me, but I pushed it down and headed slowly for the door, making sure my gown was firmly tied shut. An IV was in stuck in my arm, but it was hanging on one of those poles and I was able to roll it along with me.

The way was clear as I peeked out into the hallway, and I scurried out, holding onto the wall with one hand while I rolled alongside my drip-bag buddy. As I passed each open door, I glanced in—there weren’t that many rooms in the medic unit and Chrysandra had to be here somewhere.

I was about to run out of hallway when I saw her—in the ER at the end of the corridor. The doors were closed but I was tall enough to see a group of healers next to Menolly and Camille through the windows. They were gathered around a bed that appeared to be cordoned off behind clear plastic curtains. One of the healers looked engrossed in casting a spell, another worked furiously at some machine to which she was hooked up.

I pushed through the doors and Camille turned, letting out a little noise. Menolly’s back was turned to the wall and her shoulders were shaking.

“Don’t even say it.” I moved over to her side and turned to look at Chrysandra. “Oh Great Mother . . .”

Encased by what was—for all intents and purposes—a plastic bubble, Chrysandra looked like she’d been spitted and roasted over a bonfire. Any resemblance to who she had been was gone, the skin largely burned away to reveal raw muscle and sinew covered in blisters and remnants of blackened skin. Her hair was gone. She was on a ventilator and a host of tubes were feeding meds and liquids into her. But what struck me as most horrific was that her eyelids and lips had been incinerated. She was so still, I thought she must have passed out.

I stared, unable to look away, then hung my head, the pain in my hand receding as I focused on my feet. I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. I wanted to help but there wasn’t anything I could do.

Camille placed her hand on my shoulder and I glanced at her. She silently shook her head and I turned back to look at Chrysandra. There was no way in hell she could make it back from this. A moment later, she woke and began to scream, but her voice was so strained that only a rough croaking came out.

“Can’t they stop the pain?”

Camille shook her head. “They’ve given her what they can. She’s too fragile to be transported right now, and even if she was at a burn center, all they could do is prolong her life for a few more hours. Maybe a day.”

“Then why can’t they help her die? Put her out of her pain?”

“She’s human, Kitten. The FBHs have a problem with that concept. If she was conscious enough to tell them to stop . . . but she’s not. She’s caught in the pain, that’s all that exists for her right now. She’s dying and she’s not going easy.” Her words were whispered, but as she spoke, Menolly turned around, bloody tears slicing a trail down her cheeks.

“I want her to die. I want her to get out of that body, to be free from it. If you’re worried that I might turn her, don’t for a moment think I’d sentence her to eternity in a body so disfigured. But I can kill her, if they’d let me. I can take her out, give her release. All I need is a moment.”

At that moment, the healer who was casting the spell stopped. “I can hear you.”

Menolly faced him, defiant. “And you have a problem with what I said? Some fuckhead set fire to my bar—I know it was no accident. A murderer is responsible for Chrysandra lying here, dying. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it, so I want her to go, to be free from this pain. And then, I will track down the motherfucking cocksucker who did this and I will make him pay—I will make him pay and pay with an excruciating and painful death.”

“If I answered your question, I would be suspect.” He stared at her for a moment. “She’s going to go on in pain for too long. I can’t remove the ventilator without permission from her family and we can’t find any of them.”

“That’s because she left them behind. I’ve known her for years now and I have never heard her mention a single member of her family.” Menolly held his gaze, and I could feel her glamour reaching out, trying to ensnare him.

But he was Fae, and he merely smiled, cool and aloof. “You know, I think I need to consult with the others. And for that, we need privacy. Excuse us for a few moments, please.” He said everything he could not say aloud in one dark, deliberate look.

As he motioned for his colleagues to follow him, Camille whispered to me. “Guard the door.” As I moved to keep watch through the windows, she pulled back the plastic for Menolly. I didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see what she did. She couldn’t very well break Chrysandra’s neck—that would be too obvious, so she’d have to drink her down and I couldn’t bear to watch her sink her fangs into the burned flesh of the woman we called our friend.

But Camille swallowed and fastened her gaze on the bed. And even though I didn’t want to see, I had to. Menolly was about to play the angel of death. And Camille and I . . . the least we could do was to stand witness.

The sterility of the ward, its pale cream walls and stark stainless counters faded into the background. The rise and fall of Chrysandra’s chest, powered by the soft hiss of the ventilator, was the only noise as Menolly approached her side. This woman we had partied with. Watched movies with and shared appetizers. This woman, our friend, was here in front of us, but she was nowhere in sight. All that remained of her was a charbroiled living steak. The blood of her burns stained the sheets, flowers on snow, spreading their fatal blooms.

Menolly stood over her for a moment, then leaned down and whispered in her ear. Chrysandra began to breathe quickly, and with one last look, my sister bared her fangs and sank them through the crisped, flaking skin, searching for the jugular as she pressed her lips to Chrysandra’s neck in one final kiss. Pressing her eyes shut, Menolly’s tears raced down her face, their crimson drops falling to spread across Chrysandra’s featureless cheeks and brow. The sound of life transferring from one body to another, the hush of pained breath moving to shallow pants to a faint, faint whisper and then . . . silence.

My shoulders began to shake as I watched Menolly slowly withdraw, her chin covered with burned flesh that had stuck to her skin, her mouth stained with the red of Chrysandra’s life. She looked from Camille to me, turned and crossed to the sink where she washed her face, wiping her mouth softly with a paper towel. A moment later, the three of us were standing by Chrysandra’s bed as the monitor shrieked out the lack of a pulse, the lack of a heartbeat.

The healer came running in. He pushed through the plastic without giving us a second look, and checked Chrysandra for a pulse. Then he listened for her heart, and lastly, he lay a gentle hand on her forehead, and I could tell he wanted to close her eyes but couldn’t—the lids had been burned away.

He noted the time in her chart as his colleagues joined him. A few whispers later, they exited the plastic curtains and he stopped by Menolly’s side.

“I’m sorry to tell you that your friend didn’t make it. She died. Her burns were too extensive.” He caught her gaze again, and compassion flickered across his face.

Menolly nodded. “If no one claims her body, I will. I honestly don’t know where her family is.”

Nodding, he turned away. “I’ll make a note of that. Six others also died in the fire.”

Menolly crouched down into a squat as she wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock. “No . . . no . . . no . . . what the fuck happened? Who did this and why?”

Camille stepped between her and the healer, pushing him back. “Keep us informed,” she said brusquely. She took Menolly by the shoulders and drew her to her feet, moving her toward the door. Menolly allowed herself to be guided along. She did not resist, did not speak, a horrified expression branded on her face. And then we were in the hall and Aswala was there, looking ready to scold me.

I shook her off. “We need to leave.”

“I have to see them. I have to know who died.” Menolly’s stammers were barely above a whisper, but they echoed through the still hall.

“You aren’t in any shape—” Camille started, but let her words drift off. “All right. Delilah, go get dressed. You’ll still be on bed rest till tomorrow when we get home.”

Pain flared in my hand, digging deep, sending me leaning against the wall moaning. The image of a scalded Chrysandra came to mind. I couldn’t fathom the pain she’d been in—it must have been excruciating beyond any scope of the imagination. I straightened my back as I headed back to my room. By the time I got there, I’d broken into a sweat, but I downed a glass of water, then another, and my stomach slowly began to settle.

Aswala followed me in, and silently handed me my clothes. She removed the IV from my arm and stood back, watching me.

“Your sister. She’s going to need some counseling over this.”

“Riiiggghhht. . . .” Menolly was about as likely to agree to counseling as I was to agree to a boob job. “That’s not going to happen.”

“It was her bar. She feels responsible. I could see it in her eyes. Until they find the reason for the fire—and let’s hope the reason is beyond her control—she’s going to imagine the worst possible scenario.”

“Oh, we’re pretty sure this was arson. We have full reason to believe it.”

“Regardless of that possibility, your sister is still going to blame herself. Trust me, I’ve seen this sort of situation far too often.” Aswala opened my chart and scribbled something in it. “I’m releasing you, because otherwise I have a feeling you’ll just sneak out. But get your butt home and in bed. You hear me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I do. I just . . . we need to be home right now.”

“I understand. Get dressed. And I want you to drink a lot of water over the next few days. It will help dilute what toxin still runs in your veins. The antivenin is helpful but it can’t negate all of the poison.”

I accepted the bottle of water she pressed in my hand and began to dress. All the quietude of the past couple of months had vanished in a snap of the fingers, in a quick gust of wind.

Aswala handed me a kit containing the healing salve to put on my wound, as well as a week’s worth of bandages. Then, feeling I should say something, I caught her gaze.

“I promise to go home and rest. But our lives . . . there is seldom down time. We’re . . .” And then I stopped. I couldn’t tell her about Shadow Wing. I couldn’t tell her about the war back in Otherworld. All I could do was shrug and give her a faint smile.

She held my coat for me. “I understand. Perhaps more than you know.”

I headed out of the room, bracing my arm from time to time against the wall to steady myself. “Where are Camille and Menolly?”

“I imagine the morgue. It’s—”

“I know where it’s at.” I waved her off. “Go do what you need to do.”

I found the elevator and punched the button for the third floor down and held on as the car descended to the underground levels. The Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation unit had the main floor, then three stories below ground. There was rumored to be another floor, lower still, but no one had ever confirmed it. Not even when I was dating Chase.

Riding in the quiet elevator, I stared at the nicely polished mirrors in the corner. I knew they housed hidden cameras and I realized just how pale I must have looked. Too fucking bad. There wasn’t anything I could do about it right now except take it as easy as I could.

The doors opened with a soft whoosh and I stepped out. The morgue was straight ahead and I pushed through the double doors with a muted thud.

Here, the dead came to rest, limbo before their final consignment. Here, memories were severed. Blood and bone were mere leftovers of lives once lived and now lost. Death played no favorites, claiming the young and the old, the sick and the well. There was no get-out-of-jail-free card. And then my gaze fell on Menolly. She was standing in the middle of six tables covered with the snow white blankets of the dead. Sheets so pristine they made me shiver.

There were ways to cheat death . . . but at a high cost. Menolly had found out the hard way. Though eternity had not been her choice, she made the best of what she had. I wondered—could I do it? Could I face an unchanging existence, caught in my body, my soul trapped until either fire claimed me, the sun took me, or a stake plunged through the heart? Mortal thoughts, these, and not easy ones.

Camille had her phone out and was writing down the names of the dead as Menolly turned from table to table, the expression on her face fading from horror to disbelief. She was losing her ability to take it in—I could see it in her eyes. She’d reached overload and, for the first time in many years, fear flickered in her eyes. She began to back away toward the wall, whimpering.

“Camille!” I nodded toward Menolly and Camille dropped her pad and pen, softly moving forward. Menolly was crouching again, leaning against the wall, and the predator was coming to the surface. She looked cornered, like a mountain lion trapped against a cliff face.

“Be careful.” I kept my voice low.

“Yes, I see.” Camille didn’t look back at me—she was close enough that she didn’t dare take her eyes off our sister. When Menolly was in the grips of this sort of stress, her vampiric nature rose up, and it would be all too easy for her to attack those trying to help her.

“Call Nerissa. Get her on the phone. See if she’s here. Chase may have dragged her in to talk to some of the customers at the fire—that’s what she does.”

I punched in Nerissa’s number and she answered almost immediately. As Camille speculated, she was in the building—a boon for us—and I quickly explained what was going on. She hung up, on her way down before I finished.

And then, Camille was kneeling just out of arm’s reach. Not far enough to save herself, but enough to give Menolly a second to clear her thoughts, should she attack. Camille held out her hands in an imploring gesture.

“Menolly . . . can you hear me? Menolly, honey, it’s Camille. Your big sister. Remember me?”

The frightened, trapped look in Menolly’s eyes flickered. She pressed against the wall, shaking her head. “Get out of here.”

“No. We can’t leave without you. You need to let us help you. Listen to my voice.” And as she spoke, Camille’s voice grew stronger. She didn’t have the command voice down pat, but she could force a reasonable facsimile when necessary. “Menolly, I want you to listen to me. Do you hear me?”

“Leave me alone . . . just . . . leave . . .” Menolly stammered and fell silent. “Don’t make me walk past their bodies again. What have I done?”

“You did not do this. It was a fire. You are not to blame. We know it was arson—you know this. Listen to me. You aren’t at fault.” Camille’s voice grew stronger, but Menolly still resisted.

And then, from behind us, came a male voice. Chase.

“Menolly. Stand up. Now.” His voice rang through the room, echoing with authority. I shivered, staring at him. I knew he had some ability in this, but had no clue he had reached this level. I wasn’t even sure if he recognized how well he was able to use a command voice.

Nerissa stood behind him, her eyes teary as she took in the scene. But she kept quiet, letting Chase take the lead. He moved forward, slow and deliberate.

“Menolly. Listen to me. Come back to us. Come back to yourself. Do you hear me? Answer me, now.”

And just like that, Menolly’s face flashed again and she turned to Chase, her face softening out of the predator’s gaze. As she saw Nerissa, her expression crumbled. She folded then, not in defense, but in tears, and Nerissa ran forward, gathering her in her arms.

“My wife, my beautiful, wonderful wife, can you forgive me for this?”

As Nerissa led her through the field of bodies, holding Menolly’s face to her breast so she wouldn’t have to look at them, Chase gestured to Camille and me. We turned to follow, leaving the carnage behind.