I could see the entrance to the cave from where I was, but I refused to hurry. Haste made for easy accidents. Sure enough, on the next step as I tested my footing, the ledge beneath me gave way. If I had been in a rush, I would have fallen into the water. As it was, I paused to regain my equilibrium, then took a longer step over the gap, testing to make sure the next step would hold. I glanced over my shoulder.
“There’s a gap in the ledge,” I said softly. “Test each step as you go.”
Two more yards and I was at the opening. I wasn’t sure how far back Kuveo was in the cave, so I paused to listen, straining to hear anything. Yutani, who was behind me, noticed what I was doing and he leaned in beside me, listening as well.
A moment later he shook his head and whispered, “I think it’s okay.”
Trusting that his hearing was better than mine, I swung myself into the cave, crouching as quietly as I could. I was still ankle-deep in water, but two more yards and I stood on dry ground.
I paused as my eyes adjusted. I was hiding the dimlim, pressing it against my jacket so that it barely gave off a glow. If Kuveo was nearby, I didn’t want him seeing us before we were ready.
Herne and Viktor joined us, and we all caught our breath. A moment later, I glanced at the others, and Herne motioned to me. He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear.
“Would you like me to take over from here? We should arm up here.”
I realized that we were close to the creature. I gave him a nod, and slipped behind Yutani, giving him the dimlim back. We drew our weapons, and Herne took over the lead, motioning for Viktor to join him. We started off again, heading into the cave.
The cave might have started out sloping up into the embankment, but it quickly leveled off.
It was also shallow, and I wondered where Kuveo was hiding. There was only one chamber, but it was filled with massive boulders, so he was probably behind a pile of rock and rubble. The fact that he hadn’t come after us yet meant he was likely still in a lot of pain.
The next moment, my musing was interrupted as Kuveo leapt out from behind a nearby rock. Yutani shot the dimlim on him so that we could see while Herne and Viktor immediately went on the attack. The thought occurred to me that we could further disorient him if we had a bright light.
I poked Yutani. “Flashlight! The bright light will disorient him.”
He nodded and I took that as a go-ahead, yanking my flashlight off my belt.
“Close your eyes!” I yelled as I switched it on, aiming it directly at Kuveo’s face.
The creature let out a howl, waving his hands in front of his face as he stumbled back. I was right, he was more disoriented than ever. Herne took the opportunity to dash around behind him, and the next moment he slammed himself against Kuveo’s back and knocked the creature forward.
“I need help to keep him down!”
Viktor raced over and straddled Kuveo’s back, helping Herne hold him face first on the floor. “Somebody cut off his tails! Hurry, because he’s too strong to hold for long!”
Yutani’s hands were full, so I tossed my flashlight on the ground and skidded to a halt beside them. Yutani flashed the dimlim my way, giving me enough light to see by.
Kuveo’s tails were a bloody mess, the stumps of the three we had already cut off still oozing blood, and for a moment I felt horribly sorry for the creature. He couldn’t help his nature. But he had destroyed thirteen lives and was set on destroying another. And he would kill us if he had the chance.
Resolved, I grabbed hold of the stump that conjoined all of his tails to his body and, taking a deep breath, brought my dagger down. My blade was sharp—I kept it razor-sharp—and it sliced smoothly through the thick trunk, cleaving it from the creature’s body. Kuveo let out a loud shriek, and I stumbled backward, scrambling away from his flailing feet.
Herne and Viktor were thrown to the side as Kuveo thrashed. I tossed the tails to Yutani, not sure if Kuveo could make use of them to heal himself in any way. But the next moment, there was a loud humming noise, and another shriek, and as we watched, Kuveo’s flesh disappeared in a cloud of black dust, and all that was left was his skeleton. The tails that Yutani was holding vanished as well.
I dropped to the floor, staring at the bones. “Cripes on a shingle.”
“Yeah,” Victor said, groaning as he picked himself off the floor. “You got them all? I don’t want a rematch.”
“Yeah. I cut all the rest off.” I felt queasy, but forced myself to breathe slow and steadily.
“We should take the bones with us,” Yutani said. “I’d like to study them.”
“Morbid much?” I asked.
“The more you know about your enemy, the better. Even if he was the only one of his kind—and we don’t know that—there’s always something to learn.” He prodded the bones and began to pull them apart in order to take them with us.
I sat there, unsure of what to do next. “What now? Do we talk to the Fae? Or does this just end here? What will they do when they realize that we’ve destroyed him?”
Herne let out a slow breath, sitting down on the boulder next to me. He looked about as tired as I felt.
“Now we go home, clean up, and sleep. Tomorrow I let Cernunnos and Morgana know that we’ve closed out the case. The Fae can’t do anything about it, since they’re bound to the agreement I told you about.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s the thing about this job,” Herne said. “There’s no fanfare. Unless it’s a private case, there’s seldom anything to mark that we finished. We’re the only ones who really know what we’re up to. The Fae will realize we killed Kuveo but they can’t do anything about it, nor will they acknowledge it in any way, given their actions started the whole mess. Private cases? Sometimes our clients take us out to celebrate. But we don’t do this for any glory.”
“It’s all in a day’s work?” I asked.
He nodded. “Pretty much.”
There wasn’t much I could say. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but what he said made sense. We worked behind the scenes. We might have just saved war from breaking out, and we had potentially stopped a number of other deaths, but nobody would know. Nobody except the gods and the Fae, and the latter wouldn’t be throwing us any congratulations party.
“I’m ready for some sleep,” Yutani said. “I still feel shaken up from earlier. It’s going to take me a while to regain my equilibrium.”
Wearily, I stood and stretched. “I’m ready for a shower. I feel covered with gunk and dirt.”
“Welcome to our world, Ember. We’re a grimy little bunch.” With a laugh, Herne wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, let’s get back to the office and put this one to bed.”
And with that, we headed out of the cave, dragging along Kuveo’s skeleton for Yutani. I glanced back at the water as we headed up the road toward the car.
From the depths of the lake, I could hear a call. Yes, I needed to have a talk with Morgana. I could feel her calling, although what she was saying I couldn’t quite understand. But I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before I’d be standing in front of her and she would be very very clear about what she wanted out of me.
Chapter 16
THE NEXT DAY I slept until three. When Angel woke me up, she was still in her pajamas. Herne given us the day off, considering we had just finished the case.
I was still reeling with emotions over what had happened over the past few days, but at least I’d slept deep without nightmares. Mr. Rumblebutt purred as I picked him up and gave him a big smooch on the forehead. He squirmed out of my arms and ran into the kitchen, chirping for breakfast.
“Doofus, I already fed you.” Angel turned to me, yawning. “So, what do you want for breakfast, Supergirl?” She and Talia had been awake and waiting for us when we got back. Angel had driven us home, because I was so punchy that I didn’t trust myself behind the wheel.