Black Spring Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  BLACK HEART

  “A fast-paced, spine-tingling adventure ride that won’t let you go till the end . . . Maddy is one gutsy heroine . . . A very good read . . . I can’t wait to see where [Maddy] goes from here.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “With this sixth entry in the heart-pumping Black Wings series, Henry delivers once again. Maddy is a strong, courageous character, and she grows with every book in the series. The supporting characters are just as engaging . . . The plot also continues to develop with steady, satisfying action.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “For urban paranormal action, this is a good choice. If you like quirky mini-sidekicks, there’s a gargoyle with an attitude in here that you should meet. If you want to hobnob with Lucifer, Puck, Titania and other immortals, you’ll have a great time. Black Heart really has a heart of gold.”

  —Kings River Life Magazine

  “Nothing is as it seems . . . Black Heart is a pretty wild ride, and I firmly remain a huge fan of this series.”

  —My Bookish Ways

  BLACK CITY

  “A complex and engaging universe. The monsters and mythological creatures encountered are dark and delightfully horrifying.”

  —Open Book Society

  “Black City is the butt-kicking continuation of the Black Wings novels. It’s fast-paced with intriguing twists that keep the reader enthralled right to the last page and wanting more.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A killer read . . . Secrets and revelations of the most awesome and diabolical kind.”

  —My Bookish Ways

  “Action-packed, complex and filled with believable characters, Maddy’s story is loaded with twists and turns.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  BLACK LAMENT

  “Another amazing read by Christina Henry.”

  —Literal Addiction

  “Great snarky dialogue, continuous action, excellent world-building and innovative twists on urban fantasy conventions are par for the course in Henry’s series.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Prepare yourself for plenty of snark, plenty of action and plenty of fun from this endearing and exciting series.”

  —My Bookish Ways

  BLACK HOWL

  “Maddy is a strong female heroine . . . The ending of Black Howl will probably leave you shocked . . . and dying for the next.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A roller coaster of emotions . . . An incredible read from start to finish that only further cemented my love for this series, and I highly recommend it.”

  —A Book Obsession

  “This series reminds me of the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher or Rachel in the Hollows series by Kim Harrison . . . It has enough action, suspense and sarcasm to keep my attention. I look forward to seeing where Christina Henry takes us next.”

  —Dark Faerie Tales

  “Action-packed. You are sucked in from page one and set on a roller-coaster ride of action till the end.”

  —Paranormal Haven

  BLACK NIGHT

  “The Madeline Black series employs a blend of two great common urban fantasy tropes: the ‘big reveal’ (where a mundane character discovers magic exists) and an open world where magic is commonly accepted. The mix of these two story lines creates a chemistry that adds new zest to familiar concepts, an energy that I thoroughly enjoy.”

  —All Things Urban Fantasy

  “Madeline Black is back and super badass in her second installment . . . If you’re looking for a brilliant urban fantasy with page-turning action, witty dialogue and fun characters—this is your book.”

  —Rex Robot Reviews

  “The style of this book is just like the first book in the series—playful and light, yet also adventurous and dark . . . The bottom line is that if you enjoy adventure stories, you will enjoy this book, especially if you’re a nonstop-action junky.”

  —SFRevu

  BLACK WINGS

  “A fun, fast ride through the gritty streets of magical Chicago, Black Wings has it all: a gutsy heroine just coming into her power, badass bad guys, a sexy supernatural love interest and a scrappy gargoyle sidekick. Highly recommended.”

  —Nancy Holzner, author of Hellhound

  “An entertaining urban fantasy starring an intriguing heroine . . . The soul-eater-serial-killer mystery adds to an engaging Chicago joyride as courageous Madeline fears this unknown adversary but goes after the lethal beast.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  “Henry shows that she is up to the challenge of debuting in a crowded genre. The extensive background of her imaginative world is well integrated with the action-packed plot, and the satisfying conclusion leaves the reader primed for the next installment.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Ace Books by Christina Henry

  BLACK WINGS

  BLACK NIGHT

  BLACK HOWL

  BLACK LAMENT

  BLACK CITY

  BLACK HEART

  BLACK SPRING

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  BLACK SPRING

  An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author

  Copyright © 2014 by Tina Raffaele.

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

  ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-61817-2

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Ace mass-market edition / November 2014

  Cover art by Kris Keller.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  For all the fans who have read and loved Maddy’s adventures. This one is for you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks to Danielle Stockley for shepherding this series through many ups and downs. These books are better because of you.

  Much gratitude to Lucienne Diver, agent extraordinaire and part-time therapist to crazy writers.

  Special thanks to Kris Keller for all the beautiful covers for this series.

  I could not get through each book without the friendship and support of my running buddies, Anne Posner and Pamela Schneider.

  Love to all of my family, who have supported me throughout this process.

  CONTENTS

  Praise for the Black Wings Novels

  Ace Books by Christina Henry

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

&nb
sp; Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  1

  I woke to the sound of dogs barking. My eyes drifted open halfway, just enough to register the sun streaming through the open blinds. Nathaniel’s arm was thrown around my waist, his body snuggled into my back. The child inside my belly shifted under his hand. The scent of bacon cooking drifted from the kitchen.

  My three dogs, Lock, Stock and Barrel, nosed inside the bedroom door, their nails clicking across the hardwood floor. They came around to my side of the bed, their doggy faces set in mute appeal, tongues lolling.

  It seemed like a pretty typical domestic scene, except that there is nothing typical about my life. The dogs weren’t dogs at all, but Retrievers—powerful magical creatures who’d given me their allegiance when I’d freed them from slavery to the Agency.

  The man in bed with me wasn’t a man, but the son of an angel and a . . . Well, I wasn’t sure exactly what Puck was, but he was definitely something old and powerful. Besides his lack of humanity, Nathaniel also wasn’t the father of my child. He wasn’t even my lover, or my boyfriend. I didn’t know how to define our relationship status as any other way except “complicated.”

  The person cooking the bacon in the kitchen was my many-greats-uncle Daharan, brother of Lucifer, dragon shapeshifter, creature of fire and something older than the Earth itself.

  As for me, I was the daughter of a fallen angel and an Agent of Death. Lucifer was my grandfather. My baby had the blood of a half nephilim inside his veins, a legacy from his dead father. I had more enemies than I could count. I’d spent the last several months trying to stay alive while those enemies tried to kill me and my very ancient family members plotted around me.

  We were definitely not going to win any awards for normality in this family.

  The dogs needed walking, but everyone pretended not to notice because no one could control them except me.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I grumbled, sliding out from beneath Nathaniel’s arm.

  This was harder than it sounded. I was only three months pregnant, but it appeared that I was twice that. I’d never fully appreciated the ease and elasticity with which I’d rolled out of bed before I took on the aspect of a hippo.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Nathaniel murmured.

  “No one is going to mess with me while I’m walking these three,” I said. “Besides, it’s been a quiet couple of weeks.”

  And it had been, I reflected as I got dressed. Since I’d killed Titania, the faerie queen. Since Nathaniel’s half brother—and heir to the court of Titania and Oberon—Bendith had been killed by his biological father, Puck. Since Puck had tricked me into freeing him from his bondage to Titania.

  Since I’d had an adventure in another space and time, and discovered the darker places in my heart, the black menace at the core of my magic. I’d worked hard to force that darkness to recede, to let my natural personality reassert itself. But it seemed that since I’d tapped into that power, it floated closer to the surface, shadows seeping into my edges.

  Like so many things that I’d discovered since becoming aware of my ancestry, my new magical abilities were impossible to undo. And my darling grandfather Lucifer definitely preferred it that way. All the better to tempt you with, my dear.

  Lucifer cherished a long-held hope that I would give up my life and become heir to his kingdom. I’d rather eat nails for breakfast than manacle myself to the first of the fallen. Besides, Lucifer’s crazy lover Evangeline was pregnant with his child, and I knew very well that she was angling to put that kid on the throne. If I expressed even the smallest iota of interest in taking Lucifer’s offer, she would set a thousand assassins upon me, regardless of what Lucifer might want.

  No, embroiling myself further in Lucifer’s machinations was definitely not at the top of my to-do list. I pulled on a pair of jeans I couldn’t button. The taut roundness of my lower belly protruded over the fly. I pushed a rubber band through the buttonhole, looped it and wrapped the other end around the button to keep the pants from sliding down. A long, baggy Cubs sweatshirt completed this uber-stylish look. I shoved my slippers on and padded out of the room.

  In the kitchen, my uncle Daharan was making pancakes and bacon in large quantities and placing them on covered platters I didn’t even know I owned. He’s not your garden-variety uncle. He’s an ancient being, one of Lucifer’s three brothers, and he spends at least part of his time in dragon form.

  For the moment he was living in the apartment downstairs. Locks didn’t keep him out, and he came and went freely between my place and his. Somehow I couldn’t be irritated about this. There was some quality about Daharan that made me trust him, trust that he would do me no harm. Beezle wasn’t so sure, as he tended not to trust anyone so closely related to Lucifer, but as I entered the kitchen I noticed his mistrust of Daharan did not extend to disdain of his cooking. Beezle was perched on the counter next to the platters filching as much bacon as he could while Daharan’s back was turned.

  The dogs trotted ahead of me, down the hall, and stopped before the front door while I paused in the kitchen.

  “That’s a whole lot of breakfast for three people and a gargoyle,” I remarked.

  “You’re eating for two,” Beezle said before Daharan could answer.

  “And you’re eating for five,” I said.

  Daharan ignored the byplay. “We will be having guests this morning.”

  “What guests?” I asked warily. The last thing I wanted was for one of Daharan’s brothers to show up. Alerian terrified me. Lucifer infuriated me.

  And Puck . . . Well, when I thought of the way Puck had manipulated me into destroying one of the oldest creatures in the universe for his own personal gain, those shadows on my heart threatened to overtake me. I truly thought I could beat Puck bloody with a crowbar and it wouldn’t bother me in the least. Of course, when I had thoughts like that I knew that the darkness was spreading inside me like a cancer. I wasn’t sure if there was anything I could do to stop it.

  “You will see when they arrive,” Daharan said.

  I’d almost forgotten I’d asked a question, so caught up was I in thoughts of vengeance on Puck.

  “Did you invite someone?” I asked.

  “No,” Daharan said mildly, but with a finality that let me know he wasn’t going to tell me anything more.

  Lucifer and all of his brothers could see aspects of the future. Daharan was able to see with the most clarity. So someone was coming. Someone whose arrival Daharan had foreseen, but he didn’t want to share with me for some reason.

  I shrugged and went to the waiting dogs, who panted in anticipation. As soon as I opened the front door they crowded out in a rush, jumping all over one another in their eagerness to leave. They thundered down the steps ahead of me, whining when they reached the closed door at the bottom of the stairs.

  I trudged slowly after them. I might be imbued with some of the strongest magic in the universe, but I was an ungainly waddler just like every other pregnant woman there ever was. I finally made it to the bottom and opened the door.

  The dogs created another bottleneck in the foyer, where a final door, this one clear glass, made the first threshold between me and mine and anything nasty that might come knocking. I managed to herd the dogs to one side so I could get the door open. They ran down the front porch steps and out to the sidewalk, terrifying a nanny walking a couple of babies in a double stroller.

  The former Retrievers looked like oversized black mastiffs, and while I was pretty sure they wouldn’t attack an innocent human being, they definitely looked intimidating. She gave me a look like she wanted to chastise me for defying Chicago’s leash law, but then gave the dogs a second glance and obvio
usly thought better of it. She hurried down the street with the kids, eager to get away.

  I’d tried to keep Lock, Stock and Barrel on leashes. But they would weave in and out and get tangled up, and finally I threw up my hands. They would do what I said—mostly—so why bother with leashes?

  The dogs ran in three different directions to do their business. They each had a preferred spot staked out. I monitored them from the sidewalk in front of my house, wondering idly why supernatural creatures made of darkness and bearing the power to destroy souls needed to crap on the neighbor’s lawn in the first place. Was it because I expected dogs to do such things?

  The Retrievers had become more doglike as I considered them so. They were connected to me in a way I didn’t fully understand. I could feel their presence always in the back of my mind. It wasn’t as disturbing as it should have been. It was comforting. It kept me secure in the knowledge that they would come to my defense if I needed it. More important, they would come to the defense of my baby.

  I placed my hand over my protruding belly, secure in the knowledge that my son was safe inside me. I hardly allowed myself to consider what might happen after he was born. At night I was plagued by dreams of him being rent from my arms, stolen and kept by one of my enemies—or worse.

  My own family might try to take him from me. Lucifer had made no secret of his interest in the child. Did I have the strength—and the allies—to keep Lucifer from my son? Maybe. But I didn’t want to be forced to find out. I was thinking all these things, lost in my own worries, when the growling of the Retrievers brought me back to the present.

  They crowded around me in a protective circle, making horrible noises low in their throats, just waiting for me to give the signal so they could leap, rip, tear.

  A figure approached cautiously, the object of the Retrievers’ suspicion. The person was dressed like a college student, a slouchy gray T-shirt over loose-fitting jeans and beat-up sneakers. But the baggy clothes could not disguise the obvious strength in his body, or hide the muscles flexing in his arms. Nor did the grimy Cubs cap completely cover the gold-blond of his hair or shade the brilliance of his green eyes.