Page 42

They materialized in her office. Ella blinked up at Vadim, who had already resumed his human form. She touched his starched white shirt.

“I actually miss the feathers. How weird is that?”

He stretched and rolled his shoulders. “It feels strange to be back in this form. I miss my wings.”

“What about your immense powers?”

He smiled. “Oh, I still have those.”

“Not all of them, right?”

“Why, are you worried? I don’t intend to use them unless I’m provoked.”

“Seeing as I’m the person who provokes you the most, that isn’t very reassuring.”

She went around the desk to turn on her laptop. “Time is weird in Otherworld. How long have we been away? Five days?” She looked back at him. “Does that feel about right? It seems like a long time to me.”

“I have no idea.”

“And it’s about two in the afternoon, so we missed lunch. Dang it.”

“I’m sure you’ll survive. Let’s see the boss first, and then you can eat.”

She headed toward Feehan’s office, Vadim at her side. It was strange not having him towering over her. It was also strange the way he’d resumed his chilly personality so fast. The door was open, so she gave a perfunctory knock and kept on going.

“Hey, Mr. Feehan.”

“Come in— Ella! Vadim! Good Lord! How good to see you! Sit down!” Feehan jumped out of his chair as he waved them into the uncomfortable seats in front of his desk.

“I must confess, I didn’t think you were going to make it out alive.”

“Neither did we,” Ella said. “But here we are, like two bad pennies.”

He resumed his seat and beamed at them. “I’m delighted to hear that.” His expression faltered. “Unless…well, I suppose, of course, you’ll both be wanting to resign, being as you’re Fae royalty.”

“Not really.” Ella didn’t dare look at Vadim in case she cracked up. “Unless you want us to resign?”

Feehan glanced covertly at Vadim and then away. “Not at all!”

“It’s all right, you know. He won’t hurt you.”

“I never thought he would. Although—” Feehan studied Vadim more closely, “—I never realized what you concealed beneath that perfect human exterior. You were quite impressive. What exactly do you shape-shift into?”

“I can shift into virtually anything. The being you saw in Otherworld is actually my true form.”

“True form.” Feehan swallowed and straightened his tie. “Okay. Well, that’s a new one on me.”

“I don’t expect to revert to it in this world, unless it is absolutely necessary.”

“Good to know, because that would cause a major panic.”

“By the way, we solved the case,” Ella said brightly.

“I did wonder about that, since you have your face back.” He stood up. “Shall we gather the rest of the team in the conference room?”

They followed him out into the bigger room across the hall and waited as Rich and Andrew filed in and high-fived Ella. Liz was next.

“Oh, you’re back! We thought you were dead!”

She hugged Vadim and then Ella, who grimaced at her partner. “I love the confidence everyone has in our abilities, don’t you? Of course we’re back!”

“My Fae-Web said differently.” Liz took a chair right next to Ella. “In fact, there were a couple of times when one or other of you was almost dead.” She shivered. “I hate that.”

“It was close at some points, but we made it.”

Feehan stood at the door, gesticulating to someone. “Come on, Sam! We haven’t got all day!”

Sam appeared, carrying a greasy paper bag that smelled suspiciously like fast food.

“Dudes!”

“Do you have fries in there?” Ella reached over and poked the bag. “Can I have some? You can’t get a decent meal in Otherworld to save your life.”

Sam tossed her the bag. “You can have them all. It’s so cool that you’re okay!” He turned to Vadim. “And I hear that you’re, like, some awesome winged black devil, man. Sweet! ”

Between mouthfuls of fries, Ella managed to mutter, “Trust me, he’s more chicken than devil.”

Feehan shut the door and sat down, his expectant gaze turned toward her.

“So tell us what’s been happening.”

Vadim opened his mouth, but Ella hastily swallowed down her fries and started talking.

“We killed Adam and I got my face back. That’s it, really.”

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that, Ella.” Feehan said encouragingly. “Can you elaborate?”

“Adam was the leader of an ancient Fae sect that liked to collect things. One of the things he wanted was three humans with blond hair, so that he could steal their faces.”

“Which is why he targeted Brad, Ms. Phelps and you.”

“Exactly.” Ella nodded. “Morosov went ahead of me to Otherworld to liaise with his family members about Adam’s whereabouts. With our combined information, we tracked Adam down to a palace where the sect had its headquarters.”

“So how did Vadim end up on trial?”

Her partner sat forward. “Well?—”

Ella cut across him again. “It was Adam’s doing. He convinced the Fae council that Morosov was responsible for a murder.”

Sam chuckled. “Like Vad would hurt a fly.”

“That’s when Mr. Feehan and I were called as character witnesses.” Liz frowned. “How the hell did you get out of that? With Spencer moderating, I thought you were both goners.”

“Morosov managed to convince the jury to commute the murder charges into combat to the death. Adam agreed.”

“You’re making all this up and leaving a hell of a lot out. Why?”

Ella ignored Vadim’s sharp question. “He was totally nuts. I think he really wanted to kill Morosov with his bare hands for messing up his trophy hunt. He also blamed me for coming after him. I wasn’t supposed to do that, and I’d spoiled his fun.”

“So what happened then?” Feehan asked.

Ella tried to look convincing. Even if Vadim wasn’t buying it, everyone else was.

“We were taken to the sect’s stronghold, and the four leaders, including Adam, went after Morosov in a weird game of deadly hide-and-seek.”

“Four against one?” Sam shook his head. “That’s, like, so not cool, man.”

Ella smiled at everyone. “You’d be surprised. Morosov easily destroyed the first three, and when Adam tried to use me to get away, I helped kill him.” She sat back. “As soon as Adam died, my face changed back to normal.”

“Wow.” Sam whistled.

Liz stared at Vadim. “You’re Death Bringer.”

He inclined his head a wary inch. “What about it?”

“The most powerful being in Otherworld.”

“I was.”

“Why would you give that up?

“Because I no longer wished to be anyone’s trained assassin. I will kill if I have to, but never again at another’s bidding.” His mouth curled in disgust. “A weapon in the wrong hands is always dangerous.”

“But you could destroy the human world.”

“If I wanted to, I suppose I could.” He glanced over at Ella. “But while my mate lives in this realm, I promise you will all be safe.”

Ella cleared her throat. “Does anyone have any more questions?” Everyone looked at her. “About the case, I mean. I don’t think we’ll be able to get Brad’s and Ms. Phelps’s faces back, seeing as they’re dead, but we can certainly try… What?”

“Don’t you realize that you hold the fate of humankind in your hand, Ella?” Liz grinned. “You’d better stop pissing Vadim off immediately.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” She managed a fake sigh. “Perhaps he’ll have to learn to be nicer to me first.”

“Very funny, Ms. Walsh.” Vadim wasn’t smiling. “Mr. Feehan, is the nurse Delia still at the hospital, or has she recovered?”

“’She’s still there. We have her under SBLE guard. There’s been no change in her condition.”

Vadim rose smoothly to his feet. “Then I think that if everyone is satisfied with Ms. Walsh’s version of events, we can consider this case closed. Despite these latest revelations about my reputation, I assume you still wish to employ me, Mr. Feehan?”

“Sure I do.” Feehan smiled up at Vadim. “I consider you an asset to our team.”

“Then I’ll be off to the hospital to see what I can do for Delia. I’ll see you all later.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Ella asked.

He turned to look at her. “No, thanks.”

With a cool smile, he left, and she slumped down into her chair. So, he was annoyed with her. What was new? Didn’t he understand that she’d just been trying to protect his ass?

“He’s not very happy with you, is he?” Liz murmured.

“Men.”

“What did you do?”

“Killed someone he wanted to dispose of himself.”

“Adam?” Liz lowered her voice even more. “By the way, you left out a load of stuff from your story.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m a Fae-Web specialist, dork. I see the truth, I can’t avoid it.” She hesitated. “He really is incredibly dangerous, Ella. Don’t you think you should’ve left him in Otherworld, where he belongs?”

“To be ordered to kill on command like a hunting dog? He hated that existence, Liz. It destroyed his soul.”

“Then who will keep order in Otherworld, now?”

“I don’t care, as long as it isn’t Morosov. He deserves a break.”

Liz started laughing. “Trust you to end up with Death Bringer.”

“I know, it’s sort of like mutually assured destruction, isn’t it? I’m the person who makes him the maddest in the whole world, and he can’t kill me because I’m his mate.” She patted her heart. “It was obviously meant to be.”

“Don’t even joke about that, honey. The Fae live forever, remember, and often plan for things hundreds of years in advance. They’ve probably been waiting for you to turn up to neutralize Death Bringer for centuries.”

“I suppose so.” Uneasily aware of the Fae queens and their meddling, she got to her feet. “And now I need to go and type out that report.”

Liz winked at her. “Before you forget what you said.”

“Something like that.” She hesitated. “Are you free for a quick drink after work? I think I need some alcohol before I have to face Morosov again.”

* * *