Shadowspell

Chapter Ten

The Erlking must have been doing some kind of magic to muffle the roar of the bikes, because by the time I heard them, they were practically on top of us. Cries of alarm filled the air as the Wild Hunt effortlessly wove through the pedestrians and onto the patio as people scattered and scrambled out of the way. Ethan and I both knocked over our chairs leaping to our feet.

“Dana!” my dad shouted, and I saw both him and Finn sprinting across the short distance that separated us.

They were Fae, and therefore fast, but not as fast as the bikes. Before they could reach me, the Wild Hunt pulled its little circle trick again, the bikes barely an inch apart, surrounding my table, forming a wall between me and my bodyguards. Dad was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear it over the roar of the bikes.

Magic prickled over my skin, and I was pretty sure it came from Ethan. He was a magical prodigy, capable of spells no one his age should be able to cast, but I seriously doubted he was a match for the Wild Hunt.

A slight gap opened up between a pair of the circling bikes, and the Erlking strode through it. He was wearing the same frightening leathers he’d worn the last time I’d seen him, but he’d ditched the helmet. He smiled at me, but there was no hint of warmth in it.

My mouth had gone completely dry, and I think I was even shaking a bit. Without thinking about it, I reached for Ethan’s hand. His palm was sweaty, but I didn’t mind. The Erlking noticed the gesture and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment.

I reminded myself that as scary as the Erlking was, he couldn’t hurt me. Somehow, that wasn’t very comforting when his Hunt had me trapped and he was looming over me. I clung to Ethan’s hand a little harder.

The Erlking bowed from the waist without ever taking his eyes off me. “We meet again, Faeriewalker,” he said.

“Am I supposed to curtsy when you do that?” I asked. The quaver in my voice undermined my attempt at sarcasm.

Ethan poked me in the ribs with his elbow, but the Erlking laughed like I’d said something absolutely hilarious. The laugh even reached his cold blue eyes, though his first smile had not.

“You may curtsy if you like,” he said, his lips still twitching in amusement. “However, it is not required.”

I looked longingly past the riders and caught the occasional glimpse of Finn and my dad, standing helplessly outside the circle. They couldn’t get to me without knocking the riders out of the way, and I suspected that would release the geis that kept them from attacking.

“What do you want?” I asked the Erlking.

“Don’t talk to him, Dana,” Ethan warned.

I didn’t exactly want to talk to him, but if it would make him go away faster, I was all for it.

“What do you want?” I repeated, ignoring Ethan’s dismayed groan.

The Erlking licked his lips like a dog about to chomp down on a bone. “I want the freedom to hunt like I did in the days of old,” he said. “The Fae are adequate game, but the Queens dole them out far too rarely. I am lucky if I am allowed a handful of hunts a year. And, too, I long for more variety.” The smile that stretched his lips now was pure evil. “Before Avalon seceded from Faerie, I could hunt the mortals here whenever I grew tired of hunting only the Fae the Queens allow me. I have not hunted a mortal for a century.”

Oh, crap. I did not like where he was going with this.

“So what you’re saying is you want me to use my Faeriewalker mojo to take you out into the mortal world so you can kill a bunch of people?”

He cocked his head to one side, looking puzzled. “If by ‘mojo’ you mean ‘magic,’ then yes.”

“Um, let me think about that a minute,” I said, tapping my chin. I didn’t know where I was finding the nerve to be such a smartass with him, especially not when my knees were so wobbly it was a miracle I managed to stay standing.

I shook my head. “Nope. Don’t think I can do that. Sorry.”

I thought being denied might piss him off, but he surprised me by smiling again. When he let that smile reach his eyes, he was a thing of beauty. Terrifying beauty, but beauty nonetheless. “Ah, well. There was no harm in asking.”

Somehow I didn’t think he was planning to give up that easily.

“I guess we have nothing more to talk about, then,” I said, trying to sound confident.

The Erlking’s smile broadened, and he looked me up and down slowly. A shiver crawled up my spine. His eyes said he was mentally undressing me, and I had to glance down to convince myself his magic hadn’t stripped my clothes away. My face burned with embarrassment as if I really were standing there naked in front of him.

“Stop it,” Ethan said, letting go of my hand and stepping between me and the Erlking.

Once again, I felt the prickle of Ethan’s magic. I didn’t like having the Erlking leer at me like that, but I didn’t want Ethan getting all protective and getting himself into trouble. Fae boys suffer from testosterone poisoning as badly as human ones do.

I reached out and put my hand on Ethan’s arm, giving it a little pull so he was standing beside me instead of in front of me. He gave me a startled look, but didn’t argue.

“Are you certain you can’t be persuaded to ride with me?” the Erlking asked, and his voice was strangely different now, lower and huskier. Sexy, even, though in a way that gave me the shivers. “You might find the ride more enjoyable than you expect.” He raised one eyebrow suggestively.

Beside me, Ethan stiffened, and his muscles went taut under my hand. It occurred to me exactly what the Erlking was doing, and it was almost a relief to see through it.

“Don’t take the bait, Ethan,” I said while keeping my eyes on the Erlking. “He’s hoping you’ll do something stupid so he can hurt you.”

The Erlking shook his head, making a face of exaggerated regret. “Alas, you see right through me, Faeriewalker. My wiles are wasted on you.”

He finished by heaving a big sigh. Then the expression on his face changed, turning cold and menacing once again.

“ ’Tis a pity we cannot reach an agreement,” he said. To my horror, he reached over his shoulder and grasped the pommel of the sword. “Faeriewalkers are born so seldom it’s a shame to waste one.”

The sword made an ominous hissing sound as it slid free of the scabbard. The metal shone as if there were a light inside it, and the blade was as long as my legs. It looked like it weighed a ton, but the Erlking held it in one hand like it weighed no more than a butter knife.

I shook my head, trying to hold on to my courage. “You can’t hurt me,” I said, hoping I sounded surer than I felt. “The geis won’t let you.”

He gave me another one of those cold smiles of his, the kind that didn’t reach his eyes. “Is that so?” he asked. Then he swung the blade toward my neck.

I screamed and ducked. Beside me, Ethan bellowed in what sounded more like rage than fear. Instead of ducking or dodging the blade as any sensible person would do, he was surging forward. I screamed again when I saw the silver knife in his hand. He and Kimber always carried hidden knives. Kimber said it was because their affiliation with the Student Underground put them in danger. I tried to grab Ethan’s arm to stop him, but my first instinct to duck made me too slow.

One corner of the Erlking’s mouth rose in a triumphant smile as his blade passed harmlessly over my head. It wasn’t because I’d ducked, either—he’d missed on purpose, had never had any intention of hurting me. But Ethan didn’t know that.

The Erlking winked at me, then raised his arm to stave off Ethan’s attack. He didn’t even wince when Ethan’s silver blade sliced through his leather jacket and drew a line of blood on his forearm.

I think at the last second, Ethan realized he’d been tricked, but it was too late and he couldn’t stop in time.

“Too easy,” the Erlking said, but he didn’t sound a bit unhappy about it. Putting the sword back in its scabbard with one hand, he casually backhanded Ethan with the other.

Blood flew from Ethan’s cheek as the blow knocked him back. He swayed for one moment, then his legs crumpled. I ran to his side as the Erlking examined the bloodied spikes on the back of his gauntlet.

I dropped to my knees beside Ethan, relieved to see that his chest still rose and fell with his breaths. How long that was going to last, I didn’t know. My mind churned frantically, trying to figure out how I could save Ethan without doing anything that would allow the Erlking to attack me. I came up blank.

But when the Erlking squatted down on Ethan’s other side, he made no hostile move. The smugness was gone, and when he met my eyes over Ethan’s body, I thought I caught a hint of something sad in them. His voice when he spoke was surprisingly gentle, and so soft that only I could hear it.

“He is mine now, Faeriewalker.” He reached down and plucked a strand of Ethan’s long blond hair out of the blood that marred the side of his face. “His wound will heal within the hour, but he will not be the same man you once knew.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks as he scooped Ethan’s limp body up and rose to his feet. I reached out, wanting to stop him, but not sure how.

He made a gesture with his chin, and the Wild Hunt quit circling us. They even left enough space between them for my father to slip through. I wanted to throw myself into my dad’s arms and sob, but I was afraid if I moved or took my eyes off the Erlking, he’d disappear with Ethan.

The Erlking just stood there, Ethan’s body completely limp in his arms, as my dad came to stand beside me. In one of his extra-demonstrative moments, Dad put his arm around my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. For a moment, I wondered if Dad was glad that the Erlking was removing Ethan from the field of play. Like I said, he’d never liked him. But that moment was fleeting.

There was a slight tremor in the arm that draped my shoulders, and I was able to tear my eyes from the Erlking to look up at my father’s face.

His jaw was clenched so tight you could see the outlines of his bones, and I’d never before seen such fury in his eyes. His cheeks were flushed with it, and I was half convinced there really was such a thing as a look that could kill.

My dad’s face isn’t what I’d call expressive, but he was so shaken by what had just happened that he was completely unguarded. Under that murderous anger, there was such a weight of pain and sorrow that my own chest ached with it. I didn’t know what that was all about, but I knew it couldn’t be just because of Ethan.

The Erlking gave my dad one of those chilly smiles that didn’t reach his eyes. “Will you fight me for this one, Seamus?” he asked. “Truly my Hunt would be honored to have one such as you in our midst.”

Dad’s arm slid off my shoulders, and both his hands clenched into fists beside him. “Leave my daughter alone, Arawn,” my dad replied through clenched teeth.

The Erlking—Arawn, apparently—frowned in feigned puzzlement. “I have done your daughter no harm. And this one”—he raised and lowered Ethan’s body briefly—“is no kin of yours.”

Dad swallowed hard, and to my horror, there was what I could swear was a sheen of tears in his eyes.

The Erlking made no visible gesture, but one of the Huntsmen lowered the kickstand on his bike and dismounted. He kept his back turned to my dad and me while he unbuckled his helmet, then took it off and laid in on the seat of his bike. Long blond hair cascaded down his back. Then he turned around.

My dad made a horrible choking sound, and I reached out and grabbed his arm, afraid he was about to collapse.

The Huntsman’s boots made metallic clicking sounds against the pavement as he came to stand by the Erlking’s side. The Huntsman stared at my dad, his attention so focused you’d have thought there was no one else around.

My heart thudded against my breastbone, and for a moment I forgot to breathe as I stared at the unmasked Huntsman. He was a little shorter than my dad, and his chest was a lot broader. But his eyes were a dead match, and the shape of his face was just similar enough to make the resemblance unmistakable. A smaller version of the Erlking’s tattoo curved around his brow and under his eye.

The Erlking handed Ethan to the Huntsman, who took him without looking away from my dad. There wasn’t much of an expression on the Huntsman’s face, but the look in his eyes was haunted.

“Connor,” my dad said, his voice raw with pain.

The Erlking smiled wide, then patted Connor on the head like he was a pet dog. “I’m sure your son would greet you,” he said, “but as I’m sure you know, my Huntsmen do not speak.”

Even though I’d already begun to guess exactly what was happening, I couldn’t help gasping.

I had a brother.

At least, a half brother. There was no way Connor had any mortal blood in him. He looked far too Fae for that.

The Erlking turned to look at Connor. Connor bowed his head at the Erlking, then cast one last longing look at my dad before he carried Ethan back to his bike. Ethan still hadn’t regained consciousness. I didn’t know how Connor was going to drive his bike with an unconscious man on it, but I had no doubt he would manage.

The Erlking focused his attention on me once more. “You might want to remind your father he still has a daughter to protect, Faeriewalker,” he said. “While I would rejoice to have him join my Hunt, it would hardly be sporting of me to take him now.”

I grabbed on to my dad’s arm just as he started to take a step forward. He was shaking with rage, and the look in his eyes was so inhuman a part of me wanted to let go and run away.

“Don’t, Dad,” I said. “Please. I need you.” I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks, and I didn’t even know who I was crying for—Ethan, Connor, my dad, myself. Maybe all of the above.

Dad hesitated, but I could feel his urge to pull away in the tightness of his muscles. He looked at me briefly, then focused on the Erlking once more. I knew with every cell in my body that he was about one second short of throwing everything away in a futile attack. So I did the only thing I could think of that might stop him.

I threw my arms around my dad’s waist, then buried my face against his chest and let my sobs loose.

For a long, agonizing moment, he just stood there stiffly, though at least he didn’t push me away. Then slowly, tentatively, his arms closed around me.

I didn’t look up as the sudden gunning of engines told me the Erlking and his Hunt were leaving.