“Not here in Faerie,” he said quickly. “On the Earthly side, in Las Vegas proper. It’s a new resort.”
In the Old World, there was an actual hedgerow in many of the places that marked a doorway between Faerie and the Earthly realm, which was how the terminology “hedge” originated. The Cataclysm made it possible to anchor Faerie territories to locations in what we called the New World—the Americas. Here, there was usually no physical hedge to mark the boundary between the Faerie and Earthly realms, but we still used the term “hedge” when we talked about the division between the two realms.
“Good. Any aliases?”
“He goes by Van Zant.”
I snorted. Vamps and their pretentious goth names.
I let go of his arm but gave him a stony look. “Were you aware he’s passing around VAMP3 blood?”
I could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t known. “I’ll make sure he’s no longer allowed to patronize Druid Circle.”
“Don’t do that just yet,” I said. “If the address you give me doesn’t work out, I may have to come back here to find him.”
He looked slightly ill at the prospect of allowing Van Zant back in his club. “Okay.”
I was silently cursing the fact that cell phones didn’t work on the Faerie side of the hedge. I gave him my number anyway, which he wrote on the palm of his hand, in case he might be able to step out of Faerie to call me if Van Zant returned.
“Anything else you can tell me about Van Zant?” I asked.
The man’s brow furrowed. “I’ve heard he has a gambling problem. He likes the high-stakes poker tables at the Millennium.”
“That’s helpful. Your name?” I asked.
“Gregory.”
I nodded.
Gregory looked like he wanted to disappear, and I didn’t blame him—between the assassination attempt and what I’d just told him about VAMP3 blood being sold in his club, his day was really going to shit.
I wanted to slip out but instead forced myself to go bid a proper farewell to King Sebastian.
“You belong in the Spriggan kingdom, Petra,” the king said. “It’s where your roots are, the seat of your origins. And it would be far better for you if you come willingly. Waiting until your people decide as a group to give me their fealty will put you at a grave disadvantage in terms of where you’ll land within the kingdom.”
Irritation prickled through me. I’d literally just saved his life, and he was already threatening me. But for the moment, the threats were empty, as Marisol had no intention of subjecting the whole of the Stone Order to someone else’s rule. For once, I appreciated her obsessive drive to establish the New Gargoyles with an independent kingdom.
Maxen moved closer to us. “This isn’t the first of these attacks in Faerie,” he said. “There was a message at the Stone Order today. Something similar happened in the kingdom of the Undine early this morning.”
I frowned. The Undine were water elementals. These part-dwarf attackers were completely the wrong choice for taking on water folk. Dwarves typically feared the water. Kelpies—water horse shifters and long-time enemy of the Undine—would have been much more effective assassins against water elementals.
Strange, but I couldn’t hang around to investigate. I needed to get back to my assignment.
“I must take my leave,” I said, facing the men. “Your Majesty. Maxen.”
After gracing King Sebastian with one of my ridiculous curtsies and flipping a parting wave at Maxen, I got the hell out of Druid Circle.
It was time to head back to the Earthly realm on the other side of the hedge. I exited Druid Circle and went to a subtly-designed arch in the side of the building next door. Whispering the magic words and drawing certain sigils in the air with my finger, I stepped forward into what appeared to be solid stone. It gave way to the void of the netherwhere, the space between Faerie doorways.
Chapter 3
AS SOON AS I emerged into the Earthly realm, my cell phone began chirping and vibrating with the messages that had accumulated while I was on the other side of the hedge.
The sigils I’d used took me into a doorway that was situated in the vestibule of a Vegas gym called MonsterFit. The windows on all sides of the space had been treated with Fae magic to keep the people on the inside and the outside of the gym from seeing Fae pass through. It was one of the trickier doorways to use because if anyone was in the vestibule the netherwhere would hold you in the void until it was clear. But the lot outside had free parking, and that was a hard thing to come by this close to the Strip. At this hour, the gym was closed, so I didn’t have to worry about cross traffic.
I scanned through the windows as the chill of the netherwhere seeped away, and I headed toward the parking lot where I’d left my scooter, a vintage GTS Vespa I’d named Vincenzo. I had a few texts from my Fae roommate and best friend for years, Lochlyn, about bills and groceries and her plans for later that evening. I’d also missed call from my father and a voicemail from an unfamiliar number. When I listened to the voice message, I nearly deleted it after a couple of seconds because it was obviously a recording. Then I realized it was a call from the Stone Order.
I let out a groan and started the message from the beginning.
“Hello, this is your official summons to an emergency meeting of the Stone Order scheduled for tomorrow at ten in the morning San Francisco time at the stone fortress. All New Gargoyles sworn to the Order are required to attend. Again, there is an emergency meeting . . .” The recorded voice repeated the date and time.
In spite of the considerable independence my life in the Earthly realm afforded me, I was still a subject of Marisol and the Stone Order. With extremely rare exceptions, all Fae had to be sworn to a Fae leader. It was another of those Faerie things there was no way around. To renounce all fealty would mean that I’d lose my Fae magic and the ability to ever pass into Faerie again. I wanted distance—as much of it as I could get away with—but not to renounce Faerie forever.
I shoved my phone back into the pouch sewn to my scabbard, pulled the faded hand towel off the seat of my scooter, and stuffed it into one of the saddlebags. It was dark out, but when I’d parked, the evening Vegas sun was still blazing, and out of habit I’d covered the seat.
I was just about to hop on when there was a petulant yowl behind me. I turned to see a skinny striped tabby sitting on the sidewalk and looking up at me with big yellow eyes.