Shadowfever
Page 15
Call to arms, dudes! Get outta that abbey and fight, fight, fight!!! Enough reconnoitering already! Rhymes with loitering, dudesUSELESS! DO something. We CAN make a difference. Haul ass to Dublin Castle. S new headquarters for the new Garda, and theyre way cool. Said all sidhe-seers welcome. SPECIALLY SINGLE ONES!!!!
Need to repopulate Dublin, ya know. Aint gonna happen by itself. Lots of heroes on the streets, risking their lives, kicking Fae ass. Hook up NOW!
MEET TONIGHT!!!
DUBLIN CASTLE!!!
EIGHT OCLOCK!!!
JOIN THE HUNT!!!
PS: Macs sorry she cant be there, still busy with other stuff, but shell be back REAL soon.
I slap the latest edition of my rag to the streetlamp and pound in a nail. I tell em whatll work for me and dont tell em what wont. Times you gotta lie.
I cram a candy bar in my mouth and freeze-frame to the next streetlamp on my route. I know my rags are getting to the peeps. I been seeing results. Couple sidhe-seers ditched the abbey already. Im taking over where Mac left offshit-stirrer extraordinaire, bucking Ros rules and regs, all the while telling her whatever she wants to hear.
Two candy bars and a protein pack later, Im done with my route and burning up the pavement for my fave place. I got hours for myself now and gonna spend em all circling Chesters, slicing and dicing everything that comes within a ten-block radius of it.
I swagger down the street.
Ry-O and his men are in thereleast I think they are. Aint seen none in a while but keep hoping. See, cause they piss me off. They threatened me.
Nobody threatens the Mega.
I snicker. Pub aint no good if patrons cant get in. I cant keep em out all night, cause I hunt with the Guardians and kill what they trap, but I do nuff damage during the day. Jayne caught me one afternoon, said theyll kill me for it. Hes heard tales of em, steers clear. Says theyre no more human than the Fae.
Told em the pricks can just try to mess with me. See, nother thing I didnt tell nobody is, when I stabbed the Hunter, something weird happened: The dark came all the way up my sword and got into my arm a little. Infected me like a splinter. For a couple days, my hand had black veins and was icy like it was dead. Had to wear a glove to hide it. Thought I might lose it, hafta learn to fight right-handed.
Looks okay now.
Aint in no hurry to kill a Hunter again.
But I think Im faster. And Ros orders dont seem to make me feel near as conflicted as they used to.
Think Ry-O and his dudes maybe got nothing on me, and Id like to test it. Like to show Mac, but its been more than three whole weeks since I saw her last. Since we broke into thelibraries.
Barrons aint round neither.
I dont worry. Aint my nature. I live. Leave the worrying for the warts.
But I sure wish shed show up. Any time nowd be real good.
Sinsar Dubhs been all over this city past few days. Took out a dozen of Jaynes men in one night, like it was playing with us. Kept dividing us, picking us off.
Kinda starting to wonder if its looking for me.
5
In the House, away from my enemy, I find solace for a time. Grief, loss, pain melt away. I wonder if they cannot exist inside these walls.
The weight of my spear in the holster beneath my arm is back, heavy against my side. Like Vlane, Darroc has some way of taking it from me, but when we are apart he returns it. Perhaps so I can defend myself. I cant imagine needing to in a place such as this.
There has never been and will never be another place in any realm, in any dimension, that holds me in such thrall as the White Mansion. Not even the bookstore competes for dominance in my soul.
The House is mesmerizing. If, deep down inside where I feel psychotic, I am angered by this, Im too lulled by whatever drug it feeds me to focus on it for long.
I wander the rose-floored corridor, absorbing it in a dreamy daze. Windows line the right side of the hall, and, beyond the crystal-edged panes, dawn blushes over gardens filled with pink roses, wreathed heads nodding sleepily in the gentle morning breeze.
The rooms that open off this corridor are decorated in hues of morning sky. The colors of the hall, the day beyond, and the rooms complement one another perfectly, as if, from every angle, this wing was designed as an outfit, flawlessly accessorized, to be donned depending on the mood.
When the rose floor ends and a sudden turn in the corridor sets me on a lavender path, violet dusk clings to the windows. Nocturnal creatures frolic in a forest glade beneath a moon rimmed with brilliant cerulean. The rooms in this corridor are furnished in shades of twilight.
Yellow and reflective floors open onto sunny days and sunnier rooms.
Bronze corridors have no windows, only tall arched doors that lead into enormous, high-ceilinged, kingly roomssome for dining, some filled with books and comfortable chairs, others for dancing, and still more for what I think are forms of entertainment I dont understand. I imagine I hear echoes of laughter. Lit by candles, the rooms off bronze corridors are masculine and smell of spice. I find the scent intoxicating, disturbing.
I walk and walk, looking into this room and that, delighted by the things I find, the things I recognize. In this place, every hour of day and night is always available.
I have been here many times before.
Theres the piano I played.
Here is the sunroom where I sat and read.
Need to repopulate Dublin, ya know. Aint gonna happen by itself. Lots of heroes on the streets, risking their lives, kicking Fae ass. Hook up NOW!
MEET TONIGHT!!!
DUBLIN CASTLE!!!
EIGHT OCLOCK!!!
JOIN THE HUNT!!!
PS: Macs sorry she cant be there, still busy with other stuff, but shell be back REAL soon.
I slap the latest edition of my rag to the streetlamp and pound in a nail. I tell em whatll work for me and dont tell em what wont. Times you gotta lie.
I cram a candy bar in my mouth and freeze-frame to the next streetlamp on my route. I know my rags are getting to the peeps. I been seeing results. Couple sidhe-seers ditched the abbey already. Im taking over where Mac left offshit-stirrer extraordinaire, bucking Ros rules and regs, all the while telling her whatever she wants to hear.
Two candy bars and a protein pack later, Im done with my route and burning up the pavement for my fave place. I got hours for myself now and gonna spend em all circling Chesters, slicing and dicing everything that comes within a ten-block radius of it.
I swagger down the street.
Ry-O and his men are in thereleast I think they are. Aint seen none in a while but keep hoping. See, cause they piss me off. They threatened me.
Nobody threatens the Mega.
I snicker. Pub aint no good if patrons cant get in. I cant keep em out all night, cause I hunt with the Guardians and kill what they trap, but I do nuff damage during the day. Jayne caught me one afternoon, said theyll kill me for it. Hes heard tales of em, steers clear. Says theyre no more human than the Fae.
Told em the pricks can just try to mess with me. See, nother thing I didnt tell nobody is, when I stabbed the Hunter, something weird happened: The dark came all the way up my sword and got into my arm a little. Infected me like a splinter. For a couple days, my hand had black veins and was icy like it was dead. Had to wear a glove to hide it. Thought I might lose it, hafta learn to fight right-handed.
Looks okay now.
Aint in no hurry to kill a Hunter again.
But I think Im faster. And Ros orders dont seem to make me feel near as conflicted as they used to.
Think Ry-O and his dudes maybe got nothing on me, and Id like to test it. Like to show Mac, but its been more than three whole weeks since I saw her last. Since we broke into thelibraries.
Barrons aint round neither.
I dont worry. Aint my nature. I live. Leave the worrying for the warts.
But I sure wish shed show up. Any time nowd be real good.
Sinsar Dubhs been all over this city past few days. Took out a dozen of Jaynes men in one night, like it was playing with us. Kept dividing us, picking us off.
Kinda starting to wonder if its looking for me.
5
In the House, away from my enemy, I find solace for a time. Grief, loss, pain melt away. I wonder if they cannot exist inside these walls.
The weight of my spear in the holster beneath my arm is back, heavy against my side. Like Vlane, Darroc has some way of taking it from me, but when we are apart he returns it. Perhaps so I can defend myself. I cant imagine needing to in a place such as this.
There has never been and will never be another place in any realm, in any dimension, that holds me in such thrall as the White Mansion. Not even the bookstore competes for dominance in my soul.
The House is mesmerizing. If, deep down inside where I feel psychotic, I am angered by this, Im too lulled by whatever drug it feeds me to focus on it for long.
I wander the rose-floored corridor, absorbing it in a dreamy daze. Windows line the right side of the hall, and, beyond the crystal-edged panes, dawn blushes over gardens filled with pink roses, wreathed heads nodding sleepily in the gentle morning breeze.
The rooms that open off this corridor are decorated in hues of morning sky. The colors of the hall, the day beyond, and the rooms complement one another perfectly, as if, from every angle, this wing was designed as an outfit, flawlessly accessorized, to be donned depending on the mood.
When the rose floor ends and a sudden turn in the corridor sets me on a lavender path, violet dusk clings to the windows. Nocturnal creatures frolic in a forest glade beneath a moon rimmed with brilliant cerulean. The rooms in this corridor are furnished in shades of twilight.
Yellow and reflective floors open onto sunny days and sunnier rooms.
Bronze corridors have no windows, only tall arched doors that lead into enormous, high-ceilinged, kingly roomssome for dining, some filled with books and comfortable chairs, others for dancing, and still more for what I think are forms of entertainment I dont understand. I imagine I hear echoes of laughter. Lit by candles, the rooms off bronze corridors are masculine and smell of spice. I find the scent intoxicating, disturbing.
I walk and walk, looking into this room and that, delighted by the things I find, the things I recognize. In this place, every hour of day and night is always available.
I have been here many times before.
Theres the piano I played.
Here is the sunroom where I sat and read.
