Black Heart

15

NATHANIEL SWORE. “WHOEVER SET THE CHARGE ON the building must have known he was inside.”

He yanked a shirt and jeans from the jumble of clothes and pulled off his pajama pants. He wasn’t wearing any underwear beneath but he didn’t seem self-conscious in the least.

Beezle turned away, covering his eyes with his hands. “For the love of the Morningstar, don’t do that without warning me. I’ve seen enough naked humans for one day.”

J.B. had collected my jeans and shoes, but my underwear and shirt had burned up in the heart-of-darkness incident. I put on the jeans while he scooped a plaid flannel shirt out of the pile.

“I brought you one of mine,” he said, trying to look everywhere except my chest.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling it over my head, as it was already buttoned. I felt better once I was covered by the shirt. J.B. was a lot taller than me, so the tail hung to the middle of my thighs. “Was there any sign of a struggle outside?”

J.B. shook his head. “No. It’s like he just disappeared into thin air.”

Nathaniel finished dressing, pulling on a pair of well-worn black leather boots. “It could not have been the assassins, then. They would not have bothered to take him away.”

J.B. nodded grimly. “They would have killed him and left him there so we could see that we’d failed.”

“Somebody took him,” I said as I put on my own boots. “I don’t think he would have left of his own accord, do you?”

Nathaniel paused. “I suppose it’s possible he ran off in a fit of pique.”

“I noticed that he wasn’t too happy about my arrival,” I said.

Nathaniel directed the nightfire back toward the stairs and we all trooped in that direction. Beezle took up his usual position on my shoulder.

“No, he was not,” Nathaniel admitted. “However, I still need to find him. If Bendith is out on his own, then he is vulnerable.”

“Doesn’t he have magic of his own?” I asked. “He can’t be totally helpless. He’s Puck and Titania’s kid, after all.”

“He does have abilities,” Nathaniel said. “But they are woefully underdeveloped. It seems that Titania deliberately prevented him from nurturing his power.”

“She was afraid he might realize he was related to Puck and not Oberon if he used his magic too much,” I guessed.

“Precisely,” Nathaniel said. “I have attempted to help him access more of his magic, but it is difficult to overcome centuries of neglect.”

We spilled out into the alley, all of us braced for the possibility of attack. There was no one there. It seemed unusually silent, especially after the excitement of the explosion. I’d half expected the place to be crawling with assorted emergency personnel. But there was no one around. The scent of smoke pervaded the air, and the sky appeared to be lightening.

“Better get under a veil,” I said. “We don’t want to attract attention.”

Nathaniel dropped a veil over all of us, but somehow managed to manipulate it so we could still see one another. His power was noticeably stronger than before, and the darkness that lingered beneath my skin quickened in anticipation.

No, I thought, pushing it back. I wasn’t a time bomb waiting to go off. I was Madeline Black, just as Nathaniel had said, and I controlled my power. It would not control me.

But Beezle was a little bit right when he said that you weren’t totally out of control before, wasn’t he? You liked it. You liked feeling all-powerful.

I pushed the thought away. My heart was still my own. I did not belong to Lucifer. I would not.

“Now what?” Beezle said.

“I can trace Bendith,” Nathaniel said. “We have a blood connection, so it is a simple thing for me to follow him.”

Nathaniel closed his eyes. I could feel the pulse of his magic spreading outward, searching for a trace for Bendith. J.B. raised his eyebrows at me, and I knew that he could feel it, too.

And I was as strong as Nathaniel, maybe stronger. It was a terrifying, seductive thought.

Nathaniel’s magic pulsed again, and there was something different about it, almost as if he were frustrated.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I cannot feel him,” Nathaniel said, and I could hear the strain in his voice. “I have been able to sense his presence since we met in Titania’s forest.”

“Since your eyes changed and you both realized that Puck was your father,” I said.

“Yes. I am always aware of him,” Nathaniel said. “However, now that I realize it, I lost him when you were, ah . . .”

“. . . on fire and kissing you like she wanted to devour you?” Beezle said innocently.

“I am going to make sure you never eat hot wings again if you keep this up,” I said.

Beezle mimed zipping his mouth shut.

“In any case, he must have disappeared then,” Nathaniel said. “But I did not realize it because I was distracted.”

“So there are two options,” I said. “He left this world for another, or someone is deliberately hiding him from you as you were hiding him from everyone else.”

“The list of suspects strong enough to do that is pretty short,” J.B. said. “I’m looking at two of them.”

“And obviously you can eliminate the two of us from your suspect roster,” I said.

“So that leaves Lucifer, Puck, Alerian, Daharan, Titania and maybe a few of the fallen,” Beezle said.

“I don’t think we want to go around quizzing any of them to see if they have alibis,” I said.

“What happened to Daharan, anyway?” Beezle asked. “I thought he was going to smack Sokolov around and then come back to you.”

“He didn’t have anything to do with this,” I said.

“Maddy—” J.B. began.

“No, I know he didn’t,” I said. “I don’t know how to explain it to you. I’m not more closely related to him than I am to Alerian or Puck, but I feel more connected to him. I know that he didn’t take Bendith.”

J.B. looked skeptical, but Nathaniel looked thoughtful. “I wonder why the two of you have bonded so strongly.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know why. I just felt it as soon as I looked into his eyes. It’s like he’s my guardian angel.”

Saying it made it seem true, and right. Daharan was my guardian. He was supposed to watch over me.

“I can tell you this,” I continued. “Puck got really, really angry about it.”

“That makes sense,” J.B. said. “Puck has been trying to maneuver you into his corner, away from Lucifer. He can’t be happy that this other sibling has popped up out of nowhere and staked a claim on you.”

“This is all very well,” Beezle said. “But what are we going to do about Bendith if Nathaniel can’t track him?”

“Let’s think about this logically,” I said. “Who has the most motivation to take Bendith away from you and hide him?”

“Titania,” J.B. and Nathaniel said together.

I nodded. “That’s what I think, too. So it looks like we’re making yet another unscheduled trip to Titania’s court.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Beezle asked. “You’ve, um, wrecked a lot of her stuff.”

I’d burned down a lot of her forest, killed off several of her magical guardians, and diminished her husband to his original fairy form. Yeah, you could say I’d wrecked a lot of her stuff.

Of course, she’d tried to kill me several times, so I considered us even.

“Would it even be productive?” J.B. asked. “I don’t think Titania would hurt Bendith. She just wants her son back. And if we went to her court, something bad and irrevocable is likely to happen.”

“That happens a lot around Maddy,” Beezle said.

“You’re probably right,” I said reluctantly. “But if Bendith doesn’t want to be there, I don’t think we should leave him there against his will.”

“We are also assuming that Titania will not harm him,” Nathaniel said.

“I don’t think she would kill her own son,” J.B. said.

“I agree,” Nathaniel said. “But that doesn’t mean she will not harm him.”

“Yeah, and Titania is a very creative torturer,” J.B. said.

A shadow passed over J.B.’s face, and I knew he was remembering when Titania had captured and punished him for not making me fall in line.

The thought of a mother harming her own son made me sick. I put my hand over my belly, felt my child safe and secure inside me. I could never hurt my kid. I really did not understand immortals at all.

I rubbed my face. “Let’s think. Obviously it would be dumb to go charging into Titania’s court. She’s got the advantage there. But it’s also the most likely place where she would hold Bendith, isn’t it?”

J.B. looked thoughtful. “Not necessarily. She has bolt-holes scattered all over the place. She even has some in Chicago. I’ve met with her here a time or two, back when my mother was alive.”

“It’s unlikely that she came here herself to collect Bendith,” Beezle said. “She would have sent some flunkies to take care of the problem.”

“Especially because this is considered Lucifer’s realm,” Nathaniel said. “The old ones are very careful not to cross into one another’s territory without permission.”

“So Bendith might be here,” I said. “Then again, he might not.”

“Let’s work the problem,” J.B. said. “We’ll eliminate her known addresses here, and if we can’t find Bendith that way, then we’ll do it your way.”

“My way?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ll illegally cross into Titania’s territory, tear up some monsters, burn down a few buildings, threaten the queen, and grab Bendith and leave,” Beezle said.

I really wished I could argue with him, but that was probably the way it would work out.

“Where is the most likely place Titania would take Bendith?” Nathaniel asked.

“She keeps a condo in Water Tower Place,” J.B. said.

I shook my head. “Too visible. There are shoppers and tourists all over that area. If Bendith tried to make a break for it, he could easily disappear into the crowd. We’re probably looking for something more out of the way.”

“Hmm,” J.B. said. “I think there’s a place on Damen, down near that Kinzie Industrial Corridor.”

I knew the place J.B. was talking about. There was a whole lot of nothing that way. There were some condos built by hopeful developers who wanted the area to turn into a happening neighborhood and some large warehouse buildings. Foot traffic was light, and most people drove through that part of the city without stopping.

“If she wanted to stash him for now and move him later, that would be the place,” I agreed.

“And we’re all sure that Titania is the one who took him?” Beezle said. “We could be heading out on a wild-goose chase.”

“We have to start somewhere,” I said impatiently.

Beezle held up his hands in surrender.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We took to the sky, heading west toward the industrial corridor. The city below looked more or less normal. Maybe there were fewer cars on the streets than before. Maybe the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk were a little more alert, a little less involved in their smartphones. But all in all, it seemed like Chicago had snapped back pretty well after the vampire attacks. The resilience of the human mind is an amazing thing.

None of us spoke as we flew. My own brain was too busy working to talk.

We had all been so preoccupied by my momentary descent into darkness that we’d forgotten three important facts. Someone had put the Cimice in J.B.’s building. Someone had set an explosive in the building. And someone had put layers of protection in the structure.

Given the number of enemies that I had, it was by no means a sure thing that the same person had set the explosion and planted the Cimice. Since Titania already had an association with the insects, then she was the obvious suspect regarding the eggs. But she wasn’t the only suspect.

My own darling uncle Puck could have put the Cimice in J.B.’s building for some twisted reason of his own. Or he could have been working at Titania’s behest.

The explosives were a different story. There was something very unsubtle, very un-fae, about an explosion. It felt more like something a demon would do.

And that opened up the probability that Focalor was out and about trying to cause trouble. He was still pissed at me for humiliating him in front of Amarantha’s court. I’d also killed Azazel, his partner in rebellion, and caused him to completely lose status in Lucifer’s court by exposing his treachery.

Yeah, Focalor was a good bet for planting the explosives. But how had he known I was in the condo? Or was he trying to get at me by hurting J.B., and the plan backfired because of the protective spells on the building?

And who had set the protective spells in the first place?

Too many questions, not enough answers.

Nothing big was happening, as it had been when Azazel was massing his troops or when the vampires attacked. There was no obvious problem for me to attend—as Beezle had said, I was a soldier without a war. But all these little things added up made me uneasy. And I still wanted to know why Puck had wanted me away from the city for a few months, killing Cimice on a foreign world. He had plans of his own, and I hated to think that I had inadvertently helped him fulfill those plans.

I felt the kind of anxiety that you feel when you know a storm is coming, and you can’t do anything about it.

We seemed to be on the leading edge of something huge. All the players were moving into position, but I didn’t know yet what part I was to play in the game, or where the other players were going to move next. I was never good at predicting what immortals might be up to at the best of times, but I felt more blind than usual.

There were too many factions with their own agendas. My agenda was just to make sure that I survived and kept my baby safe. Oh, and to make sure no “normals” got caught in the cross fire.

J.B. and Nathaniel had gotten a little ahead of me while I was ruminating. Beezle had fallen asleep on my shoulder and was snoring softly.

J.B. paused in midair, looking down. “I can’t remember exactly where it is. But it’s in this area.”

He pointed toward a two- or three-block radius.

I shook my head. “We can’t go around knocking on doors. Can’t you remember anything about the place?”

“I didn’t want to be there at all, because it was an official function. So I wasn’t paying close attention. And all the buildings kind of look the same,” J.B. said.

I had to agree with him. All the structures looked like brick boxes cut out of a mold, especially from up here.

“I can scan the buildings for signs of the fae, as I did when I checked your residence,” Nathaniel said.

“Seems almost as inefficient as knocking on doors,” Beezle said.

“What if,” I said slowly, thinking it through as I spoke, “instead of scanning for signs of the fae, you scan for dead space?”

Nathaniel looked at me, recognition dawning as he figured it out. “I understand.”

J.B. glanced between us. “You think that because they hid his magical signature, he just won’t appear?”

“It makes sense,” Beezle said. “Unless Titania was with them—which is unlikely—the kidnappers would be using a bottled, quick-and-dirty spell. Titania wouldn’t be able to put a lot of complexity into that kind of spell.”

“Like when Nathaniel protected Bendith by hiding his magical essence with his own,” I said.

“Exactly,” Beezle said. “That’s complex magic. Titania wouldn’t be able to throw that kind of spell on a charm and hand it off to one of her flunkies. She could, however, put a more limited version of that spell on or in an object that a soldier could use to cast it.”

“Like a cloak,” I said. “Just enough to cover him up, make it harder for us to track him.”

“Yes,” Beezle said. “So, for a change, Maddy actually has a good and sensible idea. Look for dead space. All of you can do it, and we’ll be able to get this over and done with quickly.”

“Do you have a pressing appointment?” I asked.

“Yes, with a pumpernickel bagel, cream cheese and lox,” Beezle said.

We all stared at him.

“What? It’s breakfast time,” he said.

“Spread out a little,” I told the other two, ignoring Beezle. “Then we can each take a section. You can help, too, Beezle. You can look through the layers of reality for signs of a magic spell.”

Beezle flew off my shoulder, grumbling something about overworking an old gargoyle.

“I’m sure that old gargoyles shouldn’t be eating exciting things like cinnamon rolls and sausage pizza,” I called after him. “If you’re that infirm, I should probably limit you to porridge and prunes.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Beezle said.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Help, and stop complaining.”

“You might actually be sincere about this,” Beezle said. He flew a little distance away, glancing back over his shoulder like he wasn’t sure whether to take me seriously or not.

J.B. and Nathaniel had already flown a short distance away, spacing themselves out so they could cover the whole area. I concentrated hard, sending my power out as I did when I was searching for the portal on the alien world.

To my surprise, I found what I was looking for almost immediately. Directly below me was a nondescript brick building with a few grills on the roof, indicating that it was a residence. And on the top floor, I could sense the presence of exactly the dead space for which I was searching.

“Hey,” I called to the other three. They all looked up at me, and I pointed at the spot I had found.

“Are we still under the veil?” I asked Nathaniel. His magic was so light and nonintrusive, it was hard to tell.

He nodded. “Although it may not protect us from the fae. They are likely to see through it.”

“It’s not the fae I’m worried about,” I said. “It’s early, and people will be getting up for work. I don’t want anyone to see us landing on their neighbor’s roof.”

J.B. nodded. “And we have to make sure that the people in the building are unharmed.”

“So that means no tearing around, smashing and burning,” Beezle said pointedly to me. “I’d like to see you manage that.”

I decided it was best not to rise to the bait.

Nathaniel concentrated hard on the place I had indicated. “There is no need to worry. There are only two in the room besides Bendith, and no one else is present in the building.”

“Really?” I asked. “Isn’t that weird?”

“Perhaps they made sure that the humans were sent away before Bendith was kidnapped. It is an easy thing for the fae or the fallen to do. Human minds are very malleable. You simply set a spell so that any person who crosses the threshold suddenly decides to take a vacation, or stay late at work, or spend several hours shopping.”

I frowned. “I’ve never known a fae to care that much about the safety of humans.”

“Hey,” J.B. said in an insulted tone.

“You’re about as much fae as I am fallen,” I said impatiently. “You know and I know that we’re more human than anything. But you’re missing the point. Why would they send the humans away?”

“It might not have had anything to do with their safety,” Beezle pointed out. “Maybe they just didn’t want anyone to notice that they’re holding Bendith there. Humans might be very malleable, but they’re also very nosy. And they have a tendency to ask questions.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, but a fae would be able to glamour a human so that they would be distracted, or forget. They wouldn’t need to remove the people altogether. And I know that somebody must live in that building, because I don’t think faeries are that fond of barbecue.”

“So what are you thinking?” J.B. asked.

“There’s something going on here besides Bendith’s kidnapping,” I said. “I can’t put my finger on it. But there are all these little things that aren’t adding up. This can’t possibly be as simple as Titania wanting her son back.”

“Wouldn’t you do anything if you thought your son was taken from you?” Beezle asked.

Yes. Yes, I would, I thought. And I would probably do it with a lot less restraint than Titania has shown.

“We will approach cautiously,” Nathaniel said. “I cannot leave my brother there. He will expect me to come for him.”

For a moment I thought Nathaniel was Gabriel, and that he was talking about Samiel. They seemed so similar in that moment that my heart ached.

“Okay,” I said. But something was nagging at me. This didn’t feel right.

Beezle snuggled into the front pocket of my flannel shirt, which flopped loosely around me. Just his eyes and horns peered out over the edge. J.B., Nathaniel and I flew to the street level, landing on the sidewalk in front of the condo.

“I do not sense the presence of any special magic,” Nathaniel said. “Only the two inside with Bendith.”

He moved toward the front door. I halted him with a tug on his sleeve.

“What if it’s not Bendith?” I asked. “What if it’s something else?”

“Madeline, I must see,” Nathaniel said. “If it is him, I cannot leave him.”

“I understand,” I said, but my entire body tingled with tension.

I didn’t know why the others weren’t as concerned as I was. Usually I was the one rushing forward, heedless of danger. But everything about this felt like a trap. We had tracked Bendith too easily. The magic used to conceal him seemed clumsy, more of a lure than an effective cover.

Nathaniel climbed the steps to the front door. I think we all expected it to be locked, but it opened when he tugged on the handle.

I shook my head from side to side. “Uh-uh. That’s an invitation. Whatever is in there wants us inside.”

“How many times have you gone into a dangerous situation because you felt you must?” Nathaniel asked. “And I have always stood at your side.”

“I know,” I said. “But this is different. There’s something larger at stake.”

“What is at stake?” Nathaniel asked, moving through the lobby and up the stairs. I followed him, with J.B. taking up the last position in line.

It was too quiet. There should have been the sounds of people moving around inside their residences, the smell of the morning’s breakfast cooking on the stove. It seemed a haunted place, and cold passed through me like a shade.

“I don’t know,” I said, frustrated. “But we shouldn’t go any farther. Once we do, all the dominoes will fall.”

As I said this, I knew it to be true. Whatever happened next would set off a chain reaction that would affect everything.

“Daharan,” I whispered. “Help me.”

There was no answer. I had felt him earlier, when I’d used my power to destroy the Cimice eggs. But now I did not feel the strand of connection between us. It was like he was hidden from me. I’d felt this way before, when Lucifer had left our world for another. Had Daharan disappeared into another dimension after he’d confronted the Agency? And why would he do that when he’d told me that he would return to me?

My sense of dread increased with each step we took up the stairs. We reached the top floor. There were two apartment doors on either side of a small landing. A window hung between them, facing the street.

Nathaniel turned automatically toward the door to the right. I was so tense I felt sick. This was wrong. But I couldn’t leave. Nathaniel had put himself in danger for my sake more times than I could count. I couldn’t leave him. And J.B. wouldn’t leave me, so we were all in this together.

It seemed that time slowed, stretched out with unbearable tension. Nathaniel reached for the doorknob, turning it under his fingers.

The door swung open. We had just a moment to see the tableau before us. Bendith was tied to a chair, the cords wrapped around his body. His mouth was gagged. His blue eyes, the exact mirror of Nathaniel’s, widened when he saw us. On either side of him were two fae I did not know, both trussed up like Bendith.

Bendith began shaking his head and trying to shout through the gag. Nathaniel started to step over the threshold.

I sensed it just an instant before it happened.

“Nathaniel, no!” I cried, grabbing his arm, pulling him back.

And then the world exploded.