Autumn's Bane Read online

  “Thunderstorm weather. Don’t be surprised if we have a doozy of a storm over the next couple days.” I shifted in my seat. Thank gods we had air conditioning in the office.

  “Okay, we’re all here,” Herne said, ignoring the weather chat. “First, Yutani, you said we have a name to put to these creatures?”

  Yutani nodded. “I called Raven. She combed through Beltan’s Bestiary. She thinks we’re facing a Greek form of ghoul called vrykos.”

  “Lovely. Can they reason?” Viktor asked.

  “Yes, to a degree, and they’re forced to obey the necromancer who summoned them back to the corpse. They aren’t necessarily the same soul who inhabited the corpse during life, though. Basically, they’re pissed off, and they have a hunger that cannot be satisfied. They feed off the living.” Yutani was reading off of an entry he found online.

  “Great. Just what we need. So… how do they attack? Do they eat their kills? Drink blood? Just what are we talking about here?” I was jotting down notes, though Yutani would be sending everyone the info. But sometimes I found I remembered things better when I wrote down what I heard.

  Yutani paused, skimming the article. After a moment, he pushed the laptop back. “All right, this is what we know about them. They will eat those they attack; however, they don’t siphon off life force. But there’s a different concern. Their saliva carries a virulent form of bacteria, a lot like a Komodo dragon. And that bacterial infection is not only deadly, but it can spread. It’s highly contagious, through touch, airborne droplets, and bodily fluids exchange.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Are you talking a potential plague here? How many of these creatures are considered carriers?”

  “Almost one hundred percent. If you get bit, you’ll almost certainly end up infected. Add to that their bite also has a necrotic toxin in it and you’ve got one hell of a potent weapon.” Yutani leaned his elbows on the table. “If this is happening on a nationwide scale…”

  “It means we could end up with a plague sweeping through the country.” Talia let out a slow breath, accepting the tea that Angel handed to her. “What about the rest of the world? Is this happening in other countries as well?”

  Yutani pulled his laptop closer and began tapping away. “Let me check.” A few minutes later, he looked up. “Yes. This is going on worldwide. Only it’s not just the vrykos. There are reports of skeletal walkers, ghouls, and zombies cropping up all over. The dead are pouring out of their graves.”

  Herne reached for his phone. “I’m texting my father. He and some of the other gods have to meet with the United Coalition and other world leaders. This could blow up into a nightmare if the governments take the wrong actions.”

  “What stops the vrykos?” I asked. We had already been dealing with an upswing in skeletal walkers, though we hadn’t seen zombies or ghouls so far.

  “Same thing that stops skeletal warriors, ghouls, and zombies. Cutting them to pieces. Bombs—maybe. Fire will destroy them.” Yutani was glued to the screen. “I was right. In France, they’re noticing the beginnings of a new disease. Bacterial, and linked to the victims of the vrykos. There have been ten cases, and they all died. Two of them weren’t victims of the creatures—they were family members who sat with their loved ones at the hospital.”

  “Are there any known antidotes?” I asked.

  Herne once again took to his phone. “I’ll get Ferosyn on it.” He stepped away from the table and moved over near the window.

  Yutani paused, then shook his head. “Some antibiotics seem to be slowing the progression of the disease. The bacteria shuts down the internal organs, even as the necrosis begins to eat away at the flesh. And…we have one report of one of the victims who died and reanimated as a zombie. The doctors had to torch the corpse in order to stop it. So zombie-like aftereffects.”

  “What about luring them into anti-magic zones? Will that deactivate them until the spell runs out or the vrykos are removed from the area?” Angel frowned. “I don’t even know if there is such a thing.”

  “Oh, there is,” Yutani said, “but I can’t find anything that answers whether it would work on them.” The coyote shifter was still reading.

  Herne returned. “I talked to Ferosyn, who’s looking into antibiotics that will work on the Fae and Cryptos, given most human antibiotics have massive side effects for them.” He paused. “No groans—I know tomorrow is Lughnasadh and it’s also a Saturday, but I need you guys to be on board with this. Everybody be here bright and early and ready to work tomorrow morning.”

  I restrained myself from sighing. I had been looking forward to having the day off before ritual, but I sucked it up.

  “We’ll be here,” Viktor said, motioning to the rest of us, and we nodded.

  “Good, because I also called Mayor Neskan. She asked us to meet with Jana Wildmere, the president of the Shifter Alliance, to discuss forming a militia formed of shifters. And tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock, Ember and I are going to parley with Saílle and Névé to ask them if we can commandeer the Fae militia they drummed up during the Iron Plague. Humans simply aren’t strong enough to cope with these creatures, so the Cryptos have to take the helm on this one. I also convinced the mayor to call for a statewide curfew until the situation is under control. She’s going to discuss it with the governor.”

  The last thing I wanted to do was parley with Saílle and Névé, but this wasn’t the time to complain. “We should talk to the Vampire Nation, too.” I glanced over at the screen. “Charlie, who runs the show for this state?”

  “The regent for the Pacific Northwest is Dormant Reins. He’s a thousand years old and was here long before any white settlers ever came to the area.” Charlie leaned back, crossing his arms. “Getting an audience with him isn’t going to be easy.”

  I worried my lip. “What about calling Eldris? He seems to have a lot of power in the Vampire Nation.” Eldris was the manager of a nightclub called Fire & Fang, and he was too slimy for my tastes, but he had connections and he might actually be willing to talk to us.

  Yutani caught my gaze. “You might be on to something there.”

  “Should I call, or should you?” I asked.

  Yutani thought it over for a moment. “Probably you. He was intrigued by you. And now that he knows you’re not my sub, I doubt if he has much interest in talking to me.”

  Herne cleared his throat—hard—and leaned forward. “Don’t you think I should have a talk with him instead of Ember?”

  There it was again, that flicker of jealousy. Herne didn’t want to share me. I was fine with that, even though a number of the gods and the Fae were far from monogamous. But I wasn’t a piece of property. I had conflicted feelings every time Herne’s possessive side reared its jealous little head.

  “Yutani’s right. I caught Eldris’s eye, and as uncomfortable as that made me, I’m not above using it for all it’s worth.” I pulled out my phone. “Should I ask him to come in tomorrow night, or are we going to go down to Fire & Fang?”

  Herne’s smoldering look told me exactly what he thought of that idea. “I’d prefer here, but I doubt we have the upper hand on this. Find out where he’s willing to meet.”

  I brought up my contacts and found Eldris’s number. He answered on the first ring. “Hey, it’s Ember Kearney. Remember me?”

  “Most definitely. I never forget a beautiful woman.” His words were smooth and flowed over me like sweet honey.

  I shook my head, trying to chase away the strands of glamour that flickered through the phone. Eldris was old, and he was a powerful vampire. Try as I might, his ability to charm overwhelmed my ability to ignore it.

  “We need your help on a matter that’s going to affect everyone, including the vampires. We need to talk to the regent of the Pacific Northwest.” I paused, waiting for his answer.

  Silence…then, “You really think you can just walk into his office like you would a city official?” Eldris laughed. “Pardon me, but that’s the funniest thing I’ve hear
d. You won’t get in by namedropping your boyfriend’s name at the door. Let me work on it. I can’t promise you I’ll have you an invitation by tomorrow, but I’ll do what I can.”

  “It’s really important,” I said. “Please, don’t take too long. A lot of lives hang in the balance.”

  Eldris paused, then when he spoke again, his voice was somber. “I’ve seen the news. I know why you’re asking. I’ll do what I can. I’ll call you when I have anything to report.” And with that, the line went dead.

  I sat back, closing my eyes for a moment. I glanced over at Herne. “He’ll do his best and I believe him. Should we head out to the Worchester District now?”

  Herne pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Just killing a few of them won’t solve the problem. The mayor said she’ll assign the strongest Fae officers she’s got to the outbreaks. Meanwhile, we need a systematic plan of action. Until then, everybody be on your guard. I think the war has come to us.”

  Chapter Three

  It felt wrong, not charging in to do something, but Herne pointed out the police could barricade the vrykos into an area for the night and keep watch over them. We had to be at our best for our meetings with the Fae Queens and the president of the Shifter Alliance. Reluctantly, I agreed that we needed to focus our efforts where they would do the most good instead of just going in swinging.

  “Just relax, love. I know that’s a tall order, but we have to take advantage of every chance we get. We’re headed into the trenches, so we sleep when we can, smile when something good happens, and deal with death when it’s in front of us. We may not have much downtime for the foreseeable future. I’ll tell you what, I’ll go over to the Worchester District and find out how things are. If needed, we’ll go in to help.”

  Herne pulled me to him as we stood in his office. He wrapped his arms around me and leaned down for a long kiss. His eyes were the purest blue I had ever seen, untouched by all the horror and pain he had been through, gentle as a young buck in the field, and yet, as deep as the early morning sky.

  Angel and I had ridden in to work together, and as we headed home, we stopped at Ben’s Big Burgers to grab dinner. They made the best shakes in town—especially in March, with their biggy-piggy lime milkshakes. But the restaurant was good any day of the year. We ordered double-stack bacon cheeseburgers, orange cream shakes, and double-crisp curly fries.

  As we pulled into the driveway, I felt a warmth run through me. Our home, a safe haven. It was my house, technically—Angel rented from me—but it really was our home. I stopped as the thought crossed my mind that if—when—I married Herne, either he would have to move in, or I would have to give up the house to move into his home. The thought of living without Angel as a roommate gnawed at me. I wasn’t ready to let go of seeing her face every morning. We had developed a rhythm to our lives, and I wasn’t sure I was willing to give that up.

  “What are you thinking about? You have that mopey look on your face,” Angel said as we headed toward the door. She was carrying the takeout bags so I paused at the mailbox to get our mail. “You might as well tell me, because I’ll pry it out of you one way or another.”

  I snorted. “All right, I was just thinking that if I accept Herne’s proposal, what will that mean for this house? For you and me being roommates? I love living with you. You’re my best friend and I can’t imagine…not being in the same place.”

  Practical as always, Angel said, “We’ll deal with that when the time comes. You can’t let a house be a dealbreaker to accepting Herne’s proposal. I sure wouldn’t,” she added, giving me a long, hard look. “I refuse to be your excuse for you not giving him an answer. And I won’t be the reason you say no to him. If you don’t want to marry him, then don’t. But you have to give him a good answer, either way, soon.”

  I stared at her, surprised by her tone. She usually wasn’t so abrupt. But as her words sank in, I realized she was right. I was coming up with obstacles to either accepting or refusing him. I needed to figure out why. I loved Herne more than I had ever loved anyone. He was the man of my dreams. But then…he wasn’t really a man. And that was where my confusion lay. Herne was a god, not a man. And I’d have to become a goddess. And that meant so many changes.

  As I unlocked the door, letting Angel enter first, I took a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right. Confession time. I’m scared.”

  “Scared of what? Living happily ever after?” Angel carried the food into the kitchen.

  I followed her, setting the mail on the table before washing my hands. I brought out plates and forks as we settled at the table. Mr. Rumblebutt jumped up on the chair next to me and let out a loud purp, reminding me that I had been gone all day and he desperately needed acknowledgment. I kissed him on the nose and scratched behind his ears while Angel opened the takeout bags and began to spread out our meal.

  “What am I afraid of? It’s the whole becoming-a-goddess thing. The thought of it scares the hell out of me. I just went through the Cruharach. That was such a huge change. I don’t know what becoming a goddess means. I suppose I’ll ask Morgana tomorrow, during dinner.” I sipped my milkshake, staring at my plate. “Once you marry a god, it’s forever, Angel. I mean, even if we split sometime down the road, there’s no going back. I’d be a goddess, adrift in a world that I wasn’t sure of. There’s no way to reverse the process.”

  Angel thought for a moment, then said, “All right, let’s look at that. So, Herne lives here for the most part, on Earth. He doesn’t spend most of his time in Annwn. He goes grocery shopping at the Q-Mart. He eats fast food and watches television and likes to grill steaks. That’s about as human as you can get, god or not. He’s not going to suddenly sweep you off to Annwn, is he?” Angel licked ketchup off her fingers, then picked up her shake.

  I blinked, suddenly realizing that was exactly what I had imagined happening. That we’d get married, go back to Annwn, and I’d be lost in a world I didn’t know.

  “Um…yeah, I guess not.”

  “That’s what you really thought, wasn’t it? That he’d take you back to Annwn and you’d lose your life here.” Angel laughed. “Ember, use your brain. Herne’s been in charge of the Wild Hunt for over two hundred years. He spends most of his time here on Earth. We’re fighting a war against Typhon and that means he’s needed here more than ever. So I don’t think I’d worry myself if I were you. You won’t be going anywhere soon.”

  I rubbed my head. “You’re right. But…”

  “But what? The house? I do understand. You love this house—you bought it. But nothing says you have to sell it, even if you end up moving in with Herne. Hell, I’ll rent it from you if that happens. I’m sure Rafé would move in, if we’re still together by your wedding. He hates that crappy little apartment of his and I think he’d welcome the chance to move.”

  I felt like an idiot. Angel was looking ahead at a positive future. She was seeing possibilities I hadn’t even really thought about. Which reminded me…

  “So, how are you and Rafé doing? I know you’re doing better, because…therapy. He’s come a long way in the past few months.”

  “We’re good. The Elves are really good with their therapeutic techniques and he’s coping with the PTSD so much better. He’s the Rafé I remember, only more thoughtful. And he’s glad to have a steady job that doesn’t require him to wait on tables. When I asked him if he misses his acting career, he said no. He’s looking into online classes so that he doesn’t have to disrupt his schedule at the office.”

  “What’s he want to do again?” Rafé had been a waiter/actor trying to make it to the big time and having a hard time advancing.

  “Counseling. The idea of being a mental health therapist for the Fae appeals to him. He’s been talking to his counselor over in Annwn a lot about that. By the way, speaking of counselors, how’s Raven doing with Sejun?”

  Our friend Raven had been through a traumatic kidnapping a few months back. While she was Ante-Fae—the race that preceded the Fae—even wi
th her potential and powers, she had sunk into a deep depression. She had been talking to a therapist from Cernunnos’s palace for a couple months now.

  “It’s helped a lot. She told me that she’s getting the nightmares and flashbacks under control. She and Kipa are on an even keel again. Her mother has helped a lot, too, although quite frankly, just having the Queen of the Bean Sidhe as my mother would be enough to freak me out. But Phasmoria has been checking on Raven a lot lately.”

  We moved on to other topics as we finished our dinner, and then I fed Mr. Rumblebutt as Angel rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. She pulled out some cookie dough she had frozen earlier in the week, and set a couple batches to baking. I popped the popcorn and made myself a triple decaf caramel latte. By the time the kitchen was clean and the cookies were done, we were ready for our binge-fest. We had recorded four episodes of English Gardens Explored—one of our favorite shows—and we curled up on the sofa with our goodies and dove into watching.

  As the light outside faded into dusk, we tried not to think about the vrykos. Tomorrow was Lughnasadh—the first of August—and Marilee was set to lead the ritual. We would celebrate the season of sacrifice, and hopefully wouldn’t be interrupted by dragons and undead and all the things that were currently going bump in the night.

  Mr. Rumblebutt joined us on the sofa, and I pulled him on my lap, burying my face in his fur. He purred up a storm as I petted him, and once again—even though I tried not to dwell—my thoughts turned toward the future. Could Mr. Rumblebutt become a god, too? Could cats become immortal? And what about best friends who were human?

  With a score of unanswered questions on my mind, I brought my attention back to the show and lost myself in a garden filled with wildflowers and ferns, enjoying the sedate pace of the narrator’s voice as a village filled with flowers soothed my frayed nerves.