“I am no man.” He shook his head and laughed, a sound far stranger than the laugh I’d heard from him only moments before. The feeding was working. The nightmare wraith was coming to life with each and every poor innocent human he attacked. “No matter how many times you come for me, you will never win. For I can always dothis.”
Once again, he vanished into the pulsing shadows. The human leapt to his feet, cast us a terrified glance, and then raced out of the close and into the safety of the HighStreet.
Saoirse let out a frustrated sigh and threw her hands in the air. “Lugh has a point. We’re never going to trap him as long as he has those shadow shifting powers. Every time we find him, he’ll just vanishagain.”
“Ah.” Uisnech punched the air with his finger. “But the shadow shifting drains his power, his energy. As long as he uses it, he will need to feed more, trapping him here in Edinburgh until he’s been able to have hisfill.”
I frowned. “That’s great and everything—I mean, I guess we could spend the rest of the night chasing him around the city and forcing him to shadow shift—but the more he does it, the more he’ll feed. The more humans he’llattack.”
And the angrier he would get. Nightmare wraiths could feed without killing—just like vampires could. But also like vampires, they could easily lose control. Mortals could withstand a normal wraith attack, so long as the wraith wasn’t intent on a kill. But if Lugh got frustrated and became far more brutal than he was now…the streets would be littered withbodies.
And it would be ourfault.
I slid my sword back into the sheath. “This isn’t going towork.”
“We must stop him somehow,” Uisnech argued. “My dear King gave me an order so very long ago. He insisted that I never allow him to return to Faerie if he ever lost his soul. I intend to keep thatpromise.”
“Yes, but we need a different approach. Lugh’s books,” I said suddenly. “He’s spent so much of his life combing through that library. Maybe he found something that can helpus.”
“If he had, don’t you think he would have mentioned it to you?” Boudica asked with afrown.
“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe he overlookedsomething.”
There has to be some way to stop him. There has to be a way to get himback.
“Uisnech,” I said, cocking my head toward the hobgoblin. “How long will it take Lugh to gather enough strength to satiate hishunger?”
Uisnech tapped a long, green finger against his chin. “He will need more than one night. If he wishes to control the nightmare wraiths as he once did, he will need to build up his power. They have for so long resided in the fae realm. They may have forgottenhim.”
“So, he won’t return to Faerie right away,” I said slowly before glancing to the druid. “Saoirse?”
She frowned, gazing distantly. “I cannot say. It feels as though the wraith wishes to return, but I do not sense a hurry in him. To go left, we must go right. It makes sense that we would return to thecastle.”
“Okay, return to the castle it is,” I said, speaking with the kind of authority I did not have. In Lugh’s absence, I had somehow become the de facto leader, even though I wasn’t even a member of theCourt.
A temporary absence, I reminded myself. Things were totally out of control, but they wouldn’t be for long. We would find a way to stop the wraith from returning to Faerie, and we’d bring back Lugh’s soul, all while taking down Quentin to prevent him from trying anything again. Oh, and stop his army of supernaturals. And whoever else wanted to kill us thistime.
Yep. Just another normal night as afae.
16
We grabbedthe books from Lugh’s room—or at least what we could manage in a single trip—and piled into the library. I couldn’t bear to hang out in his actual space. There were too many reminders of the King. Even his scent still hung in the air. Instead, we spread our books across the ancient oak tables and got towork.
It didn’t take long for me to realise these books were bloody dry. One waxed poetic about the trade routes of the 1500s, going into extreme detail about what ports various ships used and the crops theycontained.
I tossed that book quickly into the ‘useless’pile.
Another talked about demon possession, going into great detail about how a mix of blood was the only way to complete an exorcism. Next up was a book that covered the War of the Roses. That one was a lot more interesting, but again, it had nothing to do with nightmarewraiths.
Sighing, I glanced up and peered at my fellow comrades through bleary eyes. “Anyone having anyluck?”
A few tired murmurs spread through the room. No one was having any luck. With a sigh, I turned to peer out the window, only to see pink streaking across a morningsky.
“Alright.” I shut the War of the Roses book and stood, stretching. “It’s morning. Lugh won’t attack when there’s daylight. You lot should get some rest before we try again in a fewhours.”
Saoirse nodded, but Boudica raised a brow. “And what about you,Moira?”
I frowned. “I’m nottired.”
