“Oh, good,” he said. “I was going to suggest getting rid of the bloody dress, given the circumstances.”
I gestured into the hobbit hole. “It’s on the floor. Can you burn it up or something to get rid of it?”
He nodded. “Good idea.” He twitched his fingers, there was a pop of flames, and then a smudge of ashes on the wooden floor. With a wave of his hand, the ashes disappeared and, other than a small dark spot on the wood, the dress and blood were gone.
Clive held out his hand to shake. Bracken took it.
“Thank you very much,” Clive said. “I’d hate to think of how much more damage could have been done while we waited for a healer.”
Bracken tipped his head. “Not at all. I’m glad I was here. I think, perhaps, I was meant to be here.”
The vampires all went on alert and turned as one toward the back entrance to my apartment. A moment later, a tall elven warrior jogged toward us. Her long silver-white hair was braided down her back. A heavy sword hung at the hip of her long tunic and breeches. Her leather boots were silent as she made her way down the path.
I lifted my hand. “Galadriel.” I wanted the vampires to understand that she was known to us.
Why in the world she was here, though, was anyone’s guess. Last I’d heard, she hated my guts. She blamed me for my great-aunt Martha’s death. She’d said she’d kept her wife alive and happy for fifty years. I showed up and a week later Martha had been tortured to death by Abigail. In her defense, that was all true.
Clive and I went down the steep path, Bracken on our heels.
“Where is it?” Galadriel demanded, her sword in her hand.
“We already got it,” I said.
She shook her head. “He shifts and regenerates. Where did you last see him?”
“We know. My great-uncle here, Martha’s younger brother Bracken, used a spell to slow the pooka’s shift so I could strike him down with my axe.”
Galadriel’s shoulders relaxed and she sheathed her sword. “I will let my lady know that he has been dispatched. She will grieve his loss, but she understands that he needed to be stopped. It was why I was sent.”
“We rather hoped someone would have come sooner,” Clive said. His tone was mild, but the reproof was clear. “Before more innocents had died.”
Galadriel gave Clive a look that would have had me backing up. He didn’t flinch.
To distract the rising tension, I said to Bracken, “This is your sister’s widow. Galadriel, Bracken. Bracken, Galadriel.”
The warrior finally tore her glare from Clive and took in Bracken with a nod. “Martha didn’t like to talk about her childhood, but she said if anyone had had it harder in that cursed family than her, it was you.” She held out her hand and they gripped forearms.
“I was very sorry to hear of my sister’s passing,” he said. “She was my favorite. I was so very glad to learn, though, that she had been happy, that she’d found love and acceptance. Thank you. She deserved all the happiness.”
“Yes,” Galadriel agreed, her body held taut. She turned back to me. “My mistress, and therefore Algar and the guard, have been quite busy. She wasn’t able to spare anyone until now. I will tell her you have removed the threat from this realm. She will be pleased to hear it.”
“Is she okay?” I asked.
Galadriel took a moment and then said, “My lady is, unfortunately, always under threat by those who would presume to usurp her.” She stared at Bracken a moment. “She will be interested to know that you’re here, that you’ve already made this connection. My lady sees far and sees true.” She nodded, considering. “I must get back. I am needed.” She turned and sprinted back toward my apartment.
I looked at Clive. “What the heck did that mean, and how did she get in?”
He shook his head. “I’ll do you one better. How did the pooka get in?”
Bracken held up a finger. “I believe I know the answer to that one. When we turned the corner outside your house, it felt as though I’d driven over the curb. I’m a very good driver and according to the mirrors, I was not next to the curb. I think that was when the pooka became a stowaway.”
I rubbed my forehead. “And then I altered the ward to let you and your car in through the garage. I invited it in.”
Clive kissed my temple. “What matters is that the two of you destroyed it before more were killed.”
“And vampires blamed for it,” Vlad added.
“Fergus!” I shouted, worried I didn’t see him yet.
