Red-Headed Stepchild

Page 36

I shook myself. “I guess so,” I said with a shrug.
“Oh, stop,” he said. “You’re going to make me blush.”
Vinca giggled and slapped his bicep playfully. “Don’t listen to her,” she said, sending me a mock frown. “You’re a total stud.”
He smiled at her. “Don’t try to charm me, nymph. I know all about how you girls operate.”
Vinca batted her eyelashes at him. “Moi? I wouldn’t dare think of seducing you. I prefer my males like rocks—dumb and hard.”
Adam laughed out loud and even I cracked a smile. Vinca sashayed away, her hips swaying. I shook my head at Adam. “She’s a piece of work, isn’t she?”
He chuckled. “I pity the poor male she really sets her sights on. He won’t stand a chance.”
I grabbed my purse. “You ready to go?”
He blinked at my abrupt change in subject, but walked to the door. I didn’t like the green spike of jealousy I’d had when Vinca had been flirting with Adam. I didn’t have any right to it, but there it was. It didn’t seem to matter that their flirtation had been a joke.
Adam opened the door for me and indicated I should precede him. I swung my hair over my shoulder and didn’t meet his gaze as I passed. However, I couldn’t help taking a deep breath of the pleasing scent of spicy soap mixed with sandalwood. Someone should bottle that stuff.
“I thought we’d take my car,” Adam said as he followed me down the walkway to the street. The beep of a car alarm disengaging caught my attention. A black SUV sat across the street.
“Nice wheels,” I said.
“It gets me around,” he said. I frowned at his understatement. The thing was huge with blinged-out rims. When he opened the door for me, I noticed soft Corinthian leather and burled wood on the dash.
His mood had shifted again as he pulled away from the curb. I tried to breech the silence. “So, you’re from New York?”
He nodded as he turned onto the freeway, heading north. “Manhattan.”
“Where is the Hekate Council headquartered?”
“North of the city.”
At that point, I figured out he wasn’t in a sharing mood. I settled back into my seat with a sigh, watching the city speed past.
When we crossed over the Golden Gate, I started to get restless. “Where are we going?”
He jumped, almost as if he had forgotten my presence. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and shifted in his seat. “Muir Woods.”
“The national park?” I asked. “Isn’t it closed this time of night?”
He shot me a look. “For mortals.”
I nodded, thoughtful. “What? Are you going to teach me about plant life or something? We should have brought Vinca.”
“No, not plant life.”
I frowned, wondering at his mysteriousness tonight. “Adam, just tell me, already.”
“We’re going to meet a faery by the name of Briallen Pimpernell. Sound familiar?”
His question seemed a tad too casual. “No,” I said. “Should it?”
He pulled off the 101 where a sign directed us to Muir Woods. “Yeah,” he said finally. “It should.”
“Why do I have a feeling this isn’t just some random field trip?”
He stopped at a red light and turned to me. “Because it’s not. Briallen was there when you were born.”
My stomach lurched. “What?” I whispered.
“I lied to you when I said we were training tonight.” Adam pushed the accelerator. I barely felt the movement because of the shock of his admission. “We’re going to meet with Briallen because it’s time for you to learn the truth.”
I was almost too scared to ask, but I did anyway. “What truth?”
“I’ll leave it to Briallen to tell you.”
25
The faery greeted us on a stone bridge that spanned a bubbling creek. Night sounds served as an organic soundtrack to our hushed introductions.
Despite my wariness after Adam’s cryptic remarks in the car, I found myself liking Briallen Pimpernell right away. She stood barely five feet tall with a body shaped like a pear. The wrinkles around her eyes and mouth served as evidence of a lifetime of laughter. She took my cold hand in her soft, warm palms and smiled.
“My, how you have grown, young lady. Last time I saw you, your small face was purple with rage as you screamed for your mother’s breast.”
I felt myself flushing, embarrassed for some reason I couldn’t fathom. Perhaps it was the fact this woman gave the impression of knowing everything about me. The knowledge was in her alert eyes, which darted like a small bird’s, catching every nuance.
“I’m afraid I don’t remember you,” I said.
“Ah, well, we shall remedy that soon enough. Please, come out of this soggy night. My cottage is nearby if you can stand to walk for a bit longer?”
Adam nodded for both of us. “Thank you. I appreciate your taking the time to meet with us.”
She nodded and waddled off across the bridge. Adam looked at me, as if checking to make sure I wasn’t going to bolt in the opposite direction. Funny. If you’d asked me back in the car, I’d have guessed the same thing myself. But now, after meeting the faery, I felt intrigued to know whatever she could tell me about my birth.
Without a word, I marched after her, despite my aching feet. Not for the first time since our hike into the woods started an hour earlier, I wished Adam had thought to tell me to change my shoes before we left the apartment. While he wore broken-in Doc Martens, I had opted for high-heeled boots. Not the best footwear for picking one’s way through undergrowth or bounding over fallen logs. More than once, my heels had sunk into the damp stew of moist earth and leaves. Mindful of this, I took to mincing on my toes. I must have looked ridiculous, but Adam never said a word. Proof he also felt tension over the meeting with Briallen.
A few minutes later, lights appeared ahead. The soft glow came through small windows at the front of a cottage nestled between a copse of trees and another creek. A cheerful plume of smoke rose from the chimney.
Adam had caught up with me and plodded along, silent. “I didn’t think anyone could live in a national park.” I commented under my breath.
“They can’t. Faery magic prevents the mortals from detecting her presence.”
I made a silent O with my mouth. Again, I wondered how I could have lived so long and not known more about the other races. Of course, the answer was my grandmother. She’d kept me fairly sheltered at the temple in my youth, teaching me about vampire history and customs. That education included instilling a healthy distrust of anything nonvampire.
Briallen shooed us inside the warmth of the cottage. The scents of herbs and fire mingled to create a homey atmosphere. This impression was buttressed by cozy-looking chairs and aged wooden tables throughout the small space. Adam and I both had to duck down to fit under the thatched ceiling.
The faery bustled around, pushing mugs of spiced wine into our hands and urging us to take seats. I carefully perched on the edge of a rickety wooden chair with a flat cushion covered in calico. Adam followed my example in the chair next to mine. Briallen set out a plate of cheese and bread before finally sitting in a tattered armchair across from us.
“Forgive my excitement,” she said. “It’s not often I have such esteemed guests in my humble abode.”
Adam waved off the compliment. “We are the ones who are honored.” I darted a glance at him, wondering where he’d learned such diplomacy.
Briallen chuckled away his flattery. “Now, you said you wished to discuss the circumstances of sweet Sabina’s birth?”
I blushed, utterly charmed by the woman’s innate goodness. She fairly glowed with maternal warmth. Beside me, Adam grasped his mug in both hands and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“I was hoping you could tell us about Sabina’s parents.”
Briallen’s head tilted to the side, like a curious bird. “I’m afraid I never met the father.” She sent me a sympathetic glance. “He passed before Phoebe came to me.”
“Why did she come to you?” I said. I ignored Adam’s look and focused on the faery.
“Surely you’ve been told the story?” She looked from me to Adam, who shook his head.
“Actually,” I cut in, “I know a little. But not about the birth. Mainly just the circumstances leading to it.”
Briallen clucked her tongue. “Well, then, we shall start from there.” She took a deep breath, as if relaxing into her tale. “Back then, births happened at home. My breed—we call ourselves the Spae—specialized in these matters and were often sought out by members of all the species to assist. I suppose you could say we were midwives of a sort. I had developed somewhat of a reputation in these parts and my services were in high demand.” She flushed, as if embarrassed to brag on herself. I nodded eagerly, encouraging her to continue.
“That summer, I was contacted by emissaries from both the Dominae and the Hekate Council. They said they had a delicate matter and needed my assistance. They said a forbidden match between a mage and a vampire had occurred. The young vampire female was with child and they needed me to oversee the birth. This news shocked me because usually anyone found breaking these laws was put to death immediately. However, when they offered me a king’s ransom to do the task, I naturally assumed those involved were most likely of noble classes, which might explain why they were allowed to live.
“I agreed readily to the terms, despite their oddness. You see, normally I performed my services at the client’s home, arriving once the female was already in labor. However, in this case, they wanted me to shelter the girl here starting immediately. She was only about four months along, so you can imagine my surprise that they wanted her to stay with me for the remaining eight months of her year-long pregnancy.”
“Wait. My mother lived here?” I looked around the room, as if some trace of her lingered.