Black Spring Read online

  He’d veiled his wings, and his eyes were unsure as he stopped a few feet from me. The Retrievers growled more intensely, but I put my hand on Stock’s neck, and they quieted instantly. They were obviously still on their guard, though.

  The man before me stood silently, waiting to see what I would do.

  “Samiel,” I said.

  Everything was knotted up inside me. I wasn’t sure how to feel. There was happiness, and pain, and lots and lots of anger.

  Samiel was my brother-in-law, and seeing him again reminded me of happier days, when Gabriel was alive. But I was also reminded that he had left me, left me when I was in need of help, left me after I’d taken him in and sheltered him.

  He’d left even though I’d risked my life to save him from the court of the Grigori. He’d left knowing I carried his brother’s child, blood of his blood, and knowing that child needed protection.

  As I thought these things the anger and the darkness rose up inside me, and he took a step back, like he could feel the pulse of dark magic. The Retrievers crouched, ready to strike.

  “What do you want?” I asked, and my voice did not sound like my own. The effect was lost entirely on Samiel, who was deaf. But he could see my face, and read my lips, and know he was not welcome.

  His hands moved tentatively, signing out the words, Maddy, I’m sorry.

  He meant it. I could see it in his eyes, in the pleading lines of his face. He was sorry.

  Part of me wanted to unbend immediately, to take the apology that was freely given, to return back to the way things were before.

  The other part of me knew that we could never return to who we were before, and that part wanted to hold on to the anger and the hurt, to rage in pain and make Samiel suffer, make him hurt as I had when I thought everyone had abandoned me.

  An image of Samiel bent and broken, blood seeping from many wounds, flashed across my brain.

  That shocked me out of my anger, made me realize it was wrong, all out of proportion to his crime.

  The Retrievers would take him down if I gave the words. They were attuned to my feelings, had sensed the building inferno inside me. I willed that anger away, fought to remember who I was.

  “Stand down,” I told Lock, Stock and Barrel. They immediately sat back on their haunches and let their tongues loll out. I sensed their watchfulness despite their easy posture. “He’s a friend.”

  Some of the tension seeped out of Samiel’s body, but not all of it. Am I? he signed.

  “Are you?” I asked, raising my eyebrow. “Or have you come to try and eliminate me before I give birth to this baby, who just might be a monster unleashed on the world?”

  Samiel looked shocked. I could never hurt Gabriel’s child. And why would you think your own baby is a monster?

  It was a thought I allowed myself only rarely and briefly. Mostly because I was sure I would still love and protect him, no matter what he was.

  “It’s always been a possibility, hasn’t it?” I said. “Gabriel was Ramuell’s son, and Ramuell was most definitely a monster.”

  But Gabriel wasn’t. And neither are you.

  “Are you sure about that?” I asked, thinking of all the things I had done, the dark compulsion that was becoming more difficult to control.

  Samiel shook his head. I know who you are, in your heart. I nearly killed you twice. I cut off two of your fingers. And yet you saw how my mother had twisted my love for her. You forgave me. You made me a part of your family.

  “And you left me,” I said. There was no anger now, only hurt and sadness. “I trusted you. And you left.”

  I was confused, he signed. It’s not an excuse. I just wasn’t sure what would happen after everyone in the world saw you on television destroying those vampires. And Chloe . . .

  Here he stopped signing and frowned.

  “I know,” I said. “You wanted to protect her from the hordes you thought would be breaking down my door at any moment. She’s your girl. I get it.”

  No, he signed, then backtracked. I mean, yes, I did want to protect her. But she’s not my girl. At least, not anymore.

  “She kicked you out and now you’re here looking for a roof over your head?” I asked, getting annoyed again.

  No, Samiel signed, shaking his head. It’s not like that. We broke up because I wanted to come here, to make amends.

  “Let me guess,” I said. “Chloe didn’t agree.”

  You could say that, Samiel said, grinning.

  I could imagine how that argument went. Chloe has an extremely strong personality. And once she’s decided something, no force in the universe could make her change her mind.

  “What’s the heaviest thing she threw at your head?” I asked.

  A cast-iron frying pan.

  “Seriously? A little cliché, that,” I said.

  She had just finished cooking breakfast, he signed. I thought it would be a safe time to raise the subject since her stomach was full.

  “According to Beezle her stomach is never full,” I said.

  Beezle should talk.

  And just like that, it was all right. I didn’t want to be angry at Samiel. I had enough legitimate enemies without spurning an apologetic friend just to soothe my pride. I stepped forward and he put his arms around me. I felt safe and warm there. He leaned back, his hands on my shoulders for a moment, and looked me up and down, shaking his head.

  “Don’t say anything about my weight,” I warned. “Don’t say it looks like I swallowed a basketball, or that it looks like I’m about to pop, or ask me if I’m having twins.”

  Samiel shook his head. I was just going to say you look tired.

  “And don’t say that either,” I said. “When speaking to a pregnant woman, only compliments should flow from your lips. ‘You look great’ is an excellent fallback.”

  Even if it’s not true?

  “Especially if it’s not true. I already feel like a whale on two legs. I don’t need anybody to tell me I look like one.” I sighed. “I have to clean up after the dogs. Why don’t you stay here for a minute and get to know them?”

  Samiel crouched warily before the three Retrievers, holding his hand out for them to sniff. I went away to collect the dogs’ leavings, confident that Samiel would make friends with them. Everyone loved Samiel.

  And if for some reason the dogs didn’t like him . . . well, at least Samiel could fly if necessary.

  I went down the gangway between my house and the next to drop the plastic bag in the garbage can in the alley just outside the back fence. When I reentered the backyard I noticed someone standing there, his back to me.

  “No wonder Daharan made so many pancakes,” I said. “Apparently it’s my day for a family reunion.”

  Jude turned around, his shaggy red beard and piercing blue eyes as familiar and welcome as Samiel had been. He looked like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  “They told me you were dead,” he said hoarsely, taking a step toward me.

  “I could say that thing about death and rumors and exaggeration, but you probably wouldn’t get it,” I said. Jude was very old, and very serious, and very literal-minded.

  “I thought you were dead,” he repeated.

  I realized I’d been a little thoughtless. Jude remembered the “B” in B.C. He also had lived through the “A” in A.D., long ago, when he was called Judas Iscariot and his name became infamous. He’d lost someone he’d pledged his life to, and for more than two thousand years he hadn’t made a pledge like that again. Until me. And he’d thought I died.

  “Jude, I . . .” I began.

  Several things happened at once. The back door flew open. Beezle, Nathaniel and Daharan streamed out onto the porch, all looking frantic.

  The Retrievers came howling down the side of the house, chased by Samiel, who also appeared panicked.

  Jude spun to face the new arrivals just as Beezle cried out, “Maddy, get away from him!”

  And then a huge red-and-gray wolf leapt over the n
eighbor’s fence, into my yard, and tackled Jude to the ground.

  Jude transformed into a matching red-and-gray wolf. The two canids tangled with each other, biting and clawing while I—and everyone else—stood frozen in surprise. Beezle flew to my shoulder.

  “That’s not Jude,” he said.

  “I figured that out,” I said. “But is the other one Jude?”

  “Yes,” Beezle said, squinting at the two snarling wolves. I knew he was looking through all the layers of reality to see the creatures’ true essence. “It’s a good thing he showed up when he did. You looked like you were about to hug the fake Jude.”

  “I was,” I admitted. “So who’s the fake?”

  Beezle’s answer never came, for one of the wolves suddenly yelped and then bounded over the side fence into my neighbors’ yard. The other wolf growled and made to follow it.

  “Wait!” I called, then glanced at Beezle. “I’m assuming that’s the real Jude there?”

  Beezle nodded.

  “Jude, wait,” I said.

  He turned toward me, his muzzle streaked with blood, and growled low in his throat. He didn’t want to let his quarry escape. But I hadn’t seen Jude since before I destroyed the vampires infesting Chicago. He’d gone away to attend to some pack business, and he’d never come back. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized just how much I’d missed him.

  “Jude, stay,” I said, and fell to my knees. Beezle fluttered away.

  Jude took a half step toward me, then looked back in the direction of the imposter.

  “We’ll find him,” I promised. Tears sprung to my eyes. I wiped them away with the heel of my hand. “Only—don’t leave. I can’t bear any more leavings.”

  Everyone in the yard was silent, watching. The last time I’d fallen to my knees in this place I’d covered Gabriel’s bleeding body in the snow. Jude had helped me stand again, pulled me away from the snow and the cold and blood. It was spring now, and Gabriel was gone forever, but Gabriel’s heart lived on inside me, in the beating heart of his child.

  The tears fell fast and thick now, and I could hardly see in front of me. Jude’s cold nose pressed against my cheek, and then I buried my face in the thick ruff of fur at his neck. He whined softly in his throat.

  The spell was broken by Nathaniel, who abruptly took to the air, flying into the thick leaves of the catalpa tree that grew in the corner of my yard.

  I heard someone familiar say, “Ow! You can’t do that!”

  I came to my feet and spun toward the tree. Nathaniel emerged grim-faced, holding Jack Dabrowski by the collar of his jacket like a truculent child. He landed in front of me with Jack wriggling under his grasp like a worm on a hook. Nathaniel held a video camera in his free hand.

  Daharan moved up to my left side, Samiel to my right. Beezle returned to his perch on my shoulder. The dogs crowded around our ankles, treating Jude like he was part of their pack.

  Nathaniel looked at me, then at the camera.

  “Break it,” I said.

  “Naw, you can’t—Oh, man!” Jack said as Nathaniel looked at the camera and it burst into flame. A second later nothing was left but ash, which Nathaniel dumped in the grass.

  “I told you to leave me alone,” I said to Jack.

  “And I told you that I wasn’t going to stop,” Jack said, his feet dangling above the ground. “Hey, can you get your goon to let me down? It’s kind of hard to breathe when I’m in this position.”

  “It’s kind of hard to breathe when angry supernatural creatures decide to punish you for not leaving well enough alone,” I said, but I nodded at Nathaniel to release Jack.

  He did so, but made sure to stand close by and loom over the blogger. Nathaniel looms well. His height—well over six feet—helps with that.

  Jude gave Jack a pointed look and growled. Jack gave Jude a nervous glance and backed away a few inches, which naturally caused him to bump into Nathaniel. He glanced up at Nathaniel’s cold, hard face, muttered, “Sorry,” and tried to find a position far from both Jude and Nathaniel.

  Since we were all crowded around him in our best menacing fashion, this necessitated a lot of uncertain shuffling on his part. I watched him with a mixture of amusement and frustration. He was so far out of his depth, but he refused to be scared away.

  Jack had waited his whole life to discover that all the things he believed in were real. He’d blogged about supernatural happenings in Chicago before anyone had realized there actually were supernatural happenings. And now that normal folk had become aware of things like vampires and angels, Jack Dabrowski had become something of a high priest among the faithful and the true believers.

  Unfortunately Jack’s hobby conflicted with my own personal preference to stay under the radar as much as possible. He’d decided that I needed to be an intermediary between the magical world and the regular world. I didn’t want this job for numerous reasons, starting with I had enough trouble and ending with I am not a people person.

  “You need to leave me alone, Jack,” I said. “Every time you meet me I break something that belongs to you. So far it’s only been your electronics.”

  I let the threat hang in the air, hoping it would have some kind of effect.

  Jack made a dismissive gesture. “You can’t fool me. I’ve been asking around about you since the last time you threatened me. I know you don’t hurt innocents.”

  “Not on purpose, anyway,” Beezle mumbled. “But if you’re in her path when the avalanche starts rolling, watch out.”

  I ignored Beezle. My heart had gone cold at Jack’s words. “Who have you been asking about me?”

  He shrugged. “Around online. You know, you have quite the reputation. Did you really kill the High Queen of Faerie?”

  “Gods above and below, you’re not even supposed to know that there is a High Queen of Faerie, much less that I killed her,” I said. “I don’t know how you found out about that, but you need to stop talking about me, especially online. You don’t know who you’re conversing with.”

  My mind seethed with possibilities, all of them bad news for Jack. Leaving aside all the creatures that hated my guts and could potentially use Jack to get to me, he might draw the attention of Lucifer. And if Lucifer decided that Jack’s pursuit of me was attracting too much notice to his court, he would squash Jack like a bug.

  “Like I don’t know how to trace people online?” Jack scoffed. “Believe me, I’ve verified the identity of every source I’ve ever had.”

  “Are you crazy?” I shouted. “Do you want to be killed? Do you know how insanely dangerous it is to track down powerful beings who use the Internet for its anonymity?”

  “Didn’t I say he was too stupid to live the first time we met?” Beezle said.

  This was even worse than I thought. He was actively seeking out dangerous people in the name of research. Sooner or later he would stumble into a situation that would get him killed. And I would be responsible, because I couldn’t stop him.

  Nathaniel looked at me. He understood a fair bit of what passed inside my mind without my saying a word. Ever since I’d released his magical legacy from Puck, there had been a powerful connection between us.

  “You’ve warned him,” Nathaniel said. “His fate is in his own hands.”

  Daharan nodded. “You cannot save everyone, Madeline.”

  Their solemnity penetrated Jack’s bravado in a way my anger had not.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me,” he said defiantly.

  “Oh, yes, it is,” I said softly. I could almost see it happening—his capture, his torture, his death. A cloak of darkness seemed to settle over him, the resolute hand of the Reaper on his shoulder. We all felt it. We were attending Jack Dabrowski’s funeral.

  “I’m not going to die!” he said angrily, desperately, backing away from me.

  Nathaniel moved aside so Jack could free himself from our circle, from the relentless certainty of his death.

  He held his hands palms up in front of him, to p
lead, to defend. “I’m not going to die.”

  Jack backed into the fence, fumbled with the gate, stepped into the alley.

  “I won’t,” he said before the gate slammed shut and we heard his footsteps running away.

  “You will,” I said softly behind him. “Everything dies.”

  2

  A short while later we were all assembled around my dining room table eating gigantic stacks of pancakes. Jude had changed into clothes magically produced by Daharan. The wolf shoveled food into his mouth like it had been a long time since he had eaten a hot meal. Beezle was doing the same, but Beezle always ate like that.

  Samiel, Daharan and Nathaniel ate more sedately. I picked at my food, my appetite gone.

  “You must eat something,” Nathaniel said. “The baby is using too many of your resources.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said.

  “She’s feeling distraught because she won’t be able to stop that moron from committing suicide,” Beezle said through a mouthful of pancake. His chest and belly were coated in butter and syrup.

  “Did you get any food in your mouth?” Nathaniel asked, his face a mixture of fascination and repulsion.

  “You ought to be used to it by now,” Beezle said.

  “There are some things to which I will never be accustomed,” Nathaniel said.

  “I couldn’t care less about that fool of a blogger,” Jude growled, breaking in. “What I’m concerned about, and what ought to concern you as well, was that shifter in your backyard pretending to be me. You’ve no idea of the trouble he’s caused.”

  I’d nearly forgotten about the shifter in the kerfuffle over Jack. “What do you know about him?” I asked.

  Jude shoveled a few more mouthfuls of pancake into his mouth before continuing. Now that I looked at him closely, it did seem that he had a lean and hungry look about him, and new lines were present around his eyes.

  He leaned back and took a large gulp of coffee. “Remember when I left, before you destroyed the vampires?”

  I nodded. “Beezle said you had pack business.”

  “I did. Wade contacted me because we urgently needed to move the pack. Someone had discovered we were werewolves and ratted us out to the townsfolk. Before the vampire lord went on television, they would have thought the very idea of werewolves a load of rot. But after everyone in the world saw the nice Chicago commuters having their faces eaten off by creatures of the night, the locals were more than ready to believe in our existence.”