Page 25 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

Chapter Thirteen

Harvest

I hate the stars because I look at the same ones as you do, without you . —Anonymous

“ K ev?” Marcus shook Kevin by the arm.

Finding Kevin had posed no problem at all.

He stood like some paramilitary version of a fashion mannequin in front of Lincoln Center, one hand raised to waist height, fingers curled as if he tried to grasp something.

People looked him up and down as they passed but they smiled and chatted as they walked on, obviously convinced that he was engaging in some piece of performance art.

“Is he paralyzed?” Marcus asked in a hushed tone. “Neurotoxin or something?”

Lugh stepped close, sniffing the air around Kevin’s head. “Spell. It is a simple one. Perhaps I can…” He slid an arm around Kevin’s waist and whispered in his ear. Kevin moaned and Lugh caught him before his knees could buckle.

“Goddamn, oh, goddamn,” Kevin muttered as they helped him into the back of the security van and onto the stretcher Zack had insisted they install. At the time, he had been thinking about Diego’s seizures and the ever-present possibility of iron poisoning for any fae on a diplomatic outing.

“Kevin, look at me.” He shone a penlight in Kevin’s eyes, watching for any uneven reaction in the pupils. “Anything hurt?”

Barrel chest heaving in ragged gasps, Kevin shook his head and croaked out, “brW six two Z.”

Puzzled, Zack repeated the disconnected words and it hit him. “License plate. Marcus, can you get me a plate check?” He patted Kevin’s chest. “Good man. State?”

“Jersey,” Kevin answered.

“On it, Sarge. Gimme a couple.” Marcus settled in the front seat with the laptop, phone to his ear. Former NYPD, he had contacts in the department that helped cut through the red tape they might encounter as an international security agency.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Lugh asked gently.

“Kids. Damn kids. Took Mr. S.” Kevin gulped a breath, the gray pallor beginning to fade from his face. “Whispered in my ear. Couldn’t move.”

“Took him? By force? Were they armed?” All sorts of terrible scenarios played out in Zack’s whirling brain.

“No weapons. Whispered in his ear, too. Wasn’t walking on his own. No violence. Seemed careful with him.”

“They whispered in his ear,” Zack repeated, mystified. “What kind of weird stuff are we dealing with?”

“Human magic,” Lugh said. “The magic’s scent is most assuredly human. I have heard of such things before, human mages who could speak compulsion spells.”

“We got a match,” Marcus called back. “Car’s registered to a Nathan Cooper. Address isn’t too far.”

“Let’s go, boys. They may have been kids, doesn’t make them harmless.”

At a red light, Marcus turned in the driver’s seat. “You okay, you dumb jarhead?”

“I’m good, you brainless flatfoot,” Kevin said with a wan smile. “Eyes on the road, babe.”

They had come as a set. Kevin had left the Corps to be with the man he loved, working soul-draining customer service jobs rather than re-enlist and spend another three years apart.

Marcus had been the one to spot the online call for qualified security officers for the Fae Collective and had pushed Kevin to apply.

Both Diego and Lugh had been impressed with the former M.P.

, but when he’d learned accepting the job would mean relocating, he’d dug his heels in.

If they wanted him, they would have to take them both.

After a brief interview with Marcus, there had been no question at all.

“Coming up on the building, Sarge.”

“Good. No rushing in. Let me kinda…feel the vibe as we go.” Zack unsnapped the top of his holster, just in case. “His Highness—”

“Goes with you,” Lugh growled. “Magical backup.”

“He’s got a point, Sarge,” Kevin said, testing his balance before he exited the van.

“And you should probably stay put.” Zack wasn’t sure who to turn his glare on first.

“There were at least four of them,” Kevin pointed out.

Zack raised an eyebrow at that. Four kids against the four of them hardly seemed like fair odds. But then, this wasn’t a football game. “Fine. But you start to feel less than a hundred percent, you fall back, got it? All right, boys, let’s rock and roll.”

Halfway up the second flight of stairs, Zack’s head jerked up.

“What is it?” Lugh whispered.

“Smoke. Oh, shit.” Body slamming caution against the wall, he leaped up the stairs, Lugh’s hooves clattering in his wake. He realized belatedly just how fast he was moving when he reached the apartment door alone. He forced himself to wait for the rest of them to catch up.

Hand signals replaced words now. Zack motioned to Marcus to go in high while he went low. He raised a hand and counted down on his fingers from three…two…one…

Marcus kicked the door open and they spun to either side.

Zack wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it sure as hell wasn’t this.

The little apartment looked like a cartoon Tasmanian Devil had ripped through it.

Papers littered the floor. Books lay on their faces and spines, sad casualties of some cruel passing storm.

Furniture lay overturned. The cheap, particleboard coffee table was still smoking.

Zack took quick stock of the horrified faces and holstered his gun. These kids looked shell-shocked, the ones who were still standing. One sprawled unconscious by the far wall. Another kid knelt by him, sobbing inconsolably.

“Who the fuck are you?” the brown-haired girl asked, trying for bravado while her voice shook in little earthquakes.

“Sergeant Zack Morrison, Fae Collective Security.” Zack flashed his badge. People cooperated better when they saw one. “What happened here? And where’s Mr. Sandoval?”

The one boy standing, a handsome youngster with a mop of thick brown curls, said, “We don’t know what you—”

Kevin stepped forward. The young man paled. “The one on the floor. That’s the one who spoke the spell. The little blond one distracted Mr. S. This one here…” He jerked his chin at the boy who had spoken. “Drove the car.”

“Nathan Cooper, I’m guessing?” Zack said in a dry tone.

The boy dropped his gaze as he flushed bright red. “Yessir.”

A tiny dark-haired girl, who seemed to be fading in and out of sight, said in a strangled voice, “He’s gone. We didn’t mean to. He’s not himself and he made a door and left.”

Lugh came into the apartment now and the youngsters all gasped. Him , they had no trouble recognizing. “Your friend is hurt. You are all badly frightened. I hear your hearts race. Let us help you. Tell us what has passed here.”

The blond boy raised his tear-stained face. “Highness, can you help him?”

“We will do all we can.” Lugh settled on the sofa so he wasn’t looming, his deep, calm voice a natural balm to any frightened soul. “Zachary? Could you have a look, please?”

Zack crossed the room and crouched by the prone figure. Pulse was steady and strong. Respirations even. Normal reflex reactions. Lump on the back of the head… “Concussed, I think, Highness. He should be all right.”

“Good. Come, my dears.” Lugh patted the sofa. “Sit with me and tell me everything.”

Once hesitantly begun, the explanations accelerated, four voices tumbling over one another in an avalanche of words. Zack wanted to swear and rant. This was exactly what he’d warned Diego about. But then they got to the part where Diego had changed. Icy spider feet scurried up his spine.

“My braveheart?” Lugh shot him a concerned look. “What is it? You’ve gone white as frost.”

“Darkness follows…in your wake,” Zack said softly. “They were trying to tell us.”

Lugh shook his head. “Even those who know the bane sidhe do not always follow their meaning. Do not blame yourself. It is these youngsters here who must carry the burden of blame.”

“We were trying to do something good,” the brown-haired girl said with a scowl.

“Yes. But the way you went about it, did it feel right to you?”

They all shook their heads.

“Very well. Done is done, and your intent was not malicious. But you must come with us.”

“Are we under arrest?”

“No, not in the usual sense. You are not safe here. The dark mage said he would return for you.”

Zack stood with a sigh. He really didn’t want to be saddled with a bunch of kids, and this was their own fault.

Still, even if he could tell his conscience to shut up and abandon them, logically it was a bad idea.

Diego, in his current state, might find them useful and it didn’t sound like anyone needed to be handing him extra weapons.

The sooner they found him, the better. Damn it, we better find him quick.

An ache lodged under his own heart to think of Diego, sweet, kind Diego, changed like that, as if his heart had been torn out. It reminded him of some story, something with snow in it…

And how the hell would they tell poor Finn? He rubbed his hands over his face, wishing he had followed his first instinct and insisted Diego cancel the appointments.

“The prince is right. Don’t feel safe letting you all stay here.” He managed a little smile for Lugh. “Think you can carry our new patient, Highness?”

Lugh simply rose and scooped the kid up off the floor.

The boy probably weighed a good one-eighty, all hard-packed muscle, but Lugh cradled him gently as if he were a tiny pup.

Any other scion of a royal house would have balked or argued about being used as a pack mule.

Lugh had more sense, knowing his security needed their hands free, and Zack loved him even more for it.

“All right, kids. Five minutes to grab what you need. Then we’re out.

” Zack looked from one to the other, all of them staring at him with some level of resentment or dismay.

He sighed and moved from gentle persuasion to his best drill sergeant voice.

“Now! Get your heads out of your asses! Move like you’ve got a purpose in life! ”