Luke glanced to the unis before he nodded. “They need to run the DNA for a fox. That’s our canine. Not a wolf of any kind.”
She blinked at his words. “Fox? Like a kitsune?”
“I wish.” He gave her a bland stare. “This smacks of the sídhe.”
“Are you telling me this is from the Unseelie Court?”
“Not that simple. And yes, it could be them or one of the other factions. Off hand, I’m thinking it’s a leannán sídhe, given that the victims are art students.”
“I’m confused. I thought there were only two sídhe courts. The Seelie and Unseelie.”
He screwed up his face. “It’s much more complicated than that. In addition to those, they have splinter groups and other factions. The Seelie and Unseelie have better press agents so people know of their existence and tend to want to put all fey into those two groups.”
Interesting…
Luke’s gaze went past her, toward the small crowd that had gathered to watch them.
At first, she had no idea why he was looking at them. Until something caught her attention. It was an exceptionally tall, handsome man with dark skin and long braids. Given his beauty and demeanor, she assumed he wasn’t human. “Friend of yours?”
“Some days.” Luke left her side to climb up the ramp to where the “man” was being held back with the other onlookers by the police who were protecting the barrier.
Luke showed his badge to the uni. “This one’s with me.” He motioned for his “friend” to join them.
Following after him, Sorcha waited for an introduction, but Luke seemed reluctant.
Instead, Luke gave her a pained grimace. “Will you excuse us?”
“Of course.” She headed back down the hill wondering why Luke had been so curt with her.
Luke led Sorath farther up the road almost to where he’d parked.
Every step they took made him more suspicious. Sorath didn’t tread in the human world lightly. He held as much love for this place as Luke—in and out as soon as possible before the stink of humanity clung to him. “What’s going on? Did you find out who betrayed me?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Sorath’s gaze turned dark and foreboding. “There’s something brewing in Hell and I thought you needed to know immediately.”
Luke waited for Sorath to continue, but for some reason his friend didn’t. “And what do you want me to know?”
“I think the Ancient Orders are on the move. Vying for power.”
That wasn’t good. For centuries their truce had remained intact. After an eternity of fighting, the Ancient Orders had divided up the world among them with a promise that no one would renew their ambition to subjugate the others. “How do you know?”
“The head of the Phoenix Society just met with your father.”
Luke snorted at Sorath’s paranoia. “That doesn’t mean anything. They could have been reminiscing about old times.”
“This is different, Xynzara. Can’t you feel it?”
“Don’t call me that,” Luke growled, hating his name. And he wanted to deny what Sorath was saying, but… “Have you seen or heard anything about The Brotherhood of Shadows?”
“Why?”
“There are art students dying and someone’s gathering their souls. I’m thinking leannán sídhe.” Not to mention the fact that there was bad blood between him and the little prick who thought he ruled over them.
Freaking sídhe. They were worse than humanity. Worse because they didn’t end up in Hell where he could torture them.
