E J Stevens - [Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective 01] Read online

  “The Human World,” he murmured.

  I wasn’t sure that I’d heard him right. Pitched low, his voice was like the burble of a stream trickling over sand and pebbles.

  We walked together up the hill in silence. I felt confused and embarrassed. I had expected our meeting to bring balance and closure, and instead I felt like I was struggling to stay upright on the deck of a ship in a hurricane.

  I was relieved when we entered the familiar coffee shop. The smell of roasted espresso beans and hiss of steamed milk calmed my racing pulse. Ceff insisted on purchasing the drinks, so I gave him my regular order and grabbed us a corner booth.

  I studied him while he waited in line, reading the menu board and smiling at the barista behind the counter. The kelpie king was an enigma. I was good at solving puzzles, it was one of the reasons why my work suited me, but Ceff was a jumble of random pieces. I was missing the key to solving the Ceff cipher. The only way I’d solve the puzzle would be to ask him questions.

  He beat me to it.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?” he asked.

  “That depends,” I said, blowing on my skim milk latte.

  “What do you know of your parentage?” he asked.

  That wasn’t what I thought he’d ask. Again he’d managed to unbalance me. He was eyeing me intently over his coffee, the dark currents within those eyes threatening to pull me under.

  I looked away and took a swig of my latte, letting the scalding liquid burn my throat. Sometimes pain stabilizes me. It’s foolish and dangerous and completely unhealthy, but at that moment I needed to feel strong and in control. I gulped down another boiling mouthful of latte and set my cup carefully on the table, placing my hands against the cool surface on either side.

  “I don’t get along well with my parents,” I said. “All of this freaks them out.” I waved a gloved hand, the gesture encompassing my second sight and the faerie sitting across from me.

  “When you refer to your parents, you mean your mother and step-father,” he said. “But what do you know about your real father.”

  I felt like I’d been slapped. No one ever mentioned my biological father. The subject was taboo, completely off limits.

  “I never knew my father,” I said. “He left.”

  I let all the unsaid hurt and disappointment hang in the silence between us.

  “So, it is as I thought,” he said.

  “What?” I asked.

  I wanted to rage at someone and Ceff was conveniently sitting within reach. He was also the one poking a stick at the pixie nest of emotions. My dad leaving was a sore subject. I didn’t need someone stirring up the past to sate their own curiosity. King or not, if Ceff didn’t watch out, he was going to get stung. I’d face the consequences of striking a kelpie king later.

  “Your mother never told you,” he said. “I guess I cannot blame her for that.”

  “She never told me what exactly?” I asked. “If you know something, spit it out.”

  The cool hatred in my voice was misdirected. I knew it and hopefully so did he.

  Ceff was no fool. He flinched at my icy tone, but anger didn’t flood his face. Ordering a kelpie king around, especially in a waspish tone, was probably an offense with a death sentence attached to it, but like I said…he was the one waving a big stick. I was just drinking coffee and minding my own beeswax.

  Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I might even start to believe it.

  “Have you ever wondered why you are different?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I said, shrugging. “It used to bug me. I got over it.”

  “Your friend, Madame Kaye, never did a tarot reading into your past?” he asked.

  Your past is shrouded in the mists of secrecy. Kaye’s words came back to me. She had been disturbed by her inability to read my cards. I, strangely enough, had been relieved. I’m pretty sure that isn’t a normal response.

  Damn him. Ceff was right. There was something fishy about my past. Something I couldn’t remember or chose to forget.

  “Kaye couldn’t see into my past,” I said. Mab’s bones. “She tried once, but said my past was shrouded in mists, whatever that means.”

  “Do you remember anything at all about your father?” he asked.

  I tried to think back, but it was like hitting a wall—a big, blank, nausea-inducing wall. I hadn’t thought about my dad in years. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I brought him to mind at all.

  The realization made me feel mad, and guilty. What kind of daughter forgets her own father? I clenched my fists as my shoulders shook and a lone tear escaped to roll down my cheek.

  A cool hand reached out to cover my own. I tried not to flinch. The king of the kelpies comforting me? Stranger things have happened, I think. I moved my hands into my lap. Even gloved, I didn’t like people touching me and I definitely didn’t want to risk a vision. I’d experienced his pain once and wasn’t ready for a second showing.

  “It’s okay,” he said, gently.

  “No, it is definitely not okay,” I said. Good. Anger was something I knew much more intimately than shame, like a long lost friend. Anger I could use. “I forgot about my own father. Until you asked about him, I forgot he ever existed!”

  Okay, my voice was getting shrill and my anger was shifting into hysteria. I was supposed to be on vacation. How did I end up being interrogated?

  I closed my eyes tight, hands moving to cover my face, and tried to block out the confusing whirlwind of emotions. Ceff was only being nice, I shouldn’t have pulled away. It had nothing to do with him being water fae. His cool touch would have been soothing if I didn’t have to worry about sudden visions, and the looming wall blocking my memories wasn’t smothering me into claustrophobia. Hopefully he wouldn’t be pissed by my reaction. I didn’t need to cause an international incident with the faerie courts. Ceff had been calm so far, but everyone has limits.

  I heard the sliding of denim against vinyl as Ceff withdrew from the booth seat across from me. Good going, Ivy. He’s leaving. Happy now?

  I lowered shaking hands to my lap and glanced over to see Ceff’s bare feet still standing beside our table. Frayed, sun bleached jeans dragged the floor. Huh. I hadn’t noticed until now that he was walking around the city barefoot. I wonder how he managed to enter Starbucks without any shoes on. Faerie glamour? I’d ask, but it’s not like he was ever speaking to me again—not after the way I had treated him.

  I had forgotten my own father’s existence and insulted an immortal kelpie king. Could this night get any worse?

  Bare feet shifted apart and a snort erupted somewhere above me. That snort sounded suspiciously like a snicker. Did he think this was funny?

  “You’re getting angry again,” he said. “Good, you are even more beautiful when you are mad.”

  “Aren’t you leaving?” I asked. I bolted out of my chair to stand facing Ceff. He met my glare with a smile. Bastard.

  “After you,” he said, nodding his head to the glass exit doors.

  “Why?” I asked, immediately suspicious.

  Walking out into the night with a water fae was all kinds of stupid. Heck, kelpies eat people. They may not play with their food as creatively as the each uisge, but dead is dead.

  “The night awaits,” he said. He was all charisma until he realized I wasn’t budging. With a sigh, he reached for my arm and pulled me toward the door. At least he was careful not to touch any bare skin. “Come on. I saw you breathing heavy and eyeing the exits. You’re getting claustrophobic. You need to be under the stars.”

  Not, I noticed, you need fresh air. That was interesting.

  “How would you know what I need?” I asked.

  “It is in your nature,” he said. “This,” he said gesturing at the chrome, vinyl, and glass room, “is not.”

  I hated to admit it, but Ceff was right. I needed to get out of here. The fluorescent lights were humming a room spinning tune.

  “Okay,” I said, shrugging from his gr
ip and charging toward the door on my own. “Fine.”

  The door clanged as I burst out into the light pooled beneath an old-style street lamp. Cool, cleansing night air brushed against my fevered face. Moonlight caressed my skin and I drank deeply, nearly drunk on moonbeams and star shine. I had to be sick. How else could I explain the bizarre sensations?

  “Mab’s children require time beneath the night sky,” he said. “Especially when they are under extreme emotional and physical stress.”

  “Mab?” I asked. “As in The Queen of Air and Darkness?”

  “Yes,” he said. “The one and only.”

  “Am I…?” I asked.

  “Fae?” Ceff asked. “Yes. You are a half-blood. Your mother is human, but your father was of Mab’s court.”

  “The Unseelie Court,” I said.

  “Yes, but don’t hold what you’ve heard of the Unseelie against us,” Ceff said. “All fae possess the ability for good or evil, just as humans do. Our liege may encourage our dark side, but our court does not define us.”

  “That’s a strange statement, coming from a king,” I said.

  “We all have our faults,” Ceff said, smiling and spreading his hands wide.

  Chapter 29

  My thoughts raced for days, buzzing around my head like annoying pixies. Ceff left me with a lot to think about. We’d met a few more times, usually walking side by side under the stars. It didn’t seem that strange anymore, being in the company of a kelpie king.

  According to Ceff, I had my own faerie king not so very far back in my family tree. Not far back at all.

  My absentee father was William, or Will ‘o the Wisp, King of the Wisps. That was a lot to process, but Ceff was helping me fill in the blanks and accept who I was. I’d always been different, that much hadn’t changed, but now there were details that explained why. In a way, that made the whole bitter pill of truth easier to swallow.

  It would have been easier for both of us if Ceff had never brought up my father. When I asked him why he’d risked upsetting me on our first date, which it turned out to be, he replied that he didn’t want to begin our relationship on a lie. If he had pretended that I was human, when he knew that I was wisp, it couldn’t last.

  So we each set about discovering our own truth with the hope that when we were ready, the other would still be there waiting. Ceff was honest about his feelings during his days of captivity and I shared my confusion over being fae.

  I still had more questions than answers, but it was early days yet. There were some secrets that even Ceff didn’t know. Would I develop certain wisp abilities? Was I a half-faerie princess? Did my mother know what my father truly was? Where was my father now?

  When Ceff didn’t know, I tried asking Kaye, but she was unusually tight-lipped on the subject. I was dying of curiosity, but I didn’t push the topic, yet. She was regaining her strength, but the battle to save Harborsmouth had depleted her magic reserves and left her physically weak. She had her brownie and troll nursemaids, so I was sure she’d be feeling better soon—if only to escape their attentions.

  Hob and Marvin fussed over her like worried mothers over a sick baby. They had both come through the attack on the city without harm. That was a huge relief to me, but I suspected that they secretly felt like they should have done more. That may be what motivated them to try so hard to nurse Kaye back to health and pitch in with odd jobs around The Emporium.

  It also gave Marvin a temporary place to stay. Hob had graciously offered the kitchen to Marvin since, “it wouldna do ta send ye home when da madam be sa poorly.” The each uisge had forced Marvin from his bridge home. I didn’t think he was ready to go back yet, he had his own demons to face, but the kid wouldn’t go homeless. Hob and I would make sure of that.

  There were so many things to worry about. I bit my lip until it bled, and pulled at my hair until Jinx threatened to cut it all off. After a few days I decided I couldn’t go on like that. It didn’t pay to worry about every little thing. I would have to take each problem as it came.

  Speaking of payment, I still owed the glaistig. The Green Lady had held up her end of the bargain. She could ask for not just one, but two wishes, at any time. So far, I hadn’t heard from her, but I knew that someday she would collect.

  I was the daughter of the king of the wisps. The very thought made my stomach clench. I was sure that with that position came responsibility, even if no one had bothered to tell me who I really was. And now I owed the glaistig two wishes. It was no wonder the glaistig wanted two favors from me. I should have known that was a bad idea. It is always a bad idea when the bargaining goes that easily.

  Another lesson learned. There was a lot of that going around.

  Our Monday appointment with Forneus had met with disastrous results. There had been an incident, a clash of wills between that Jinx and Forneus, that left me shaking my head at them both. I was surprised there was anything left of the office after that meeting. The place still reeked of brimstone—that smell was never coming out.

  It was all because of a job offer that Forneus had made to Jinx…and the things he had written into her work contract as “payment.” We may not have a 401k, but our business did alright—and we didn’t get paid with demon sex.

  Forneus was lucky he still had his pitchfork to offer potential employees. When he tried to make a deal with Jinx for her “clerical skills,” she ran him through with a letter opener. Now he wanted her all the more. Unfortunately, silver doesn’t do much damage against demons. Judging by the way he was acting, it might even be seen as foreplay.

  Thankfully, we had already been paid. That was one detail Jinx made sure we covered as soon as the demon arrived. We would have enough to make rent. Hopefully we’d have some money left over to cover the cost of cleaning the demon funk from the room. Most of our new clients may be supernatural, but no one except a demon enjoyed the smell of brimstone.

  When Forneus finally disappeared in a puff of putrid smelling smoke, his laughter lingered setting my teeth on edge as it echoed around my skull. Finally, his voice faded, but I knew he wasn’t gone for good.

  Our deal had been profitable for both of us. Representing the kelpies, against the each uisge, was seen as a bold move in the legal underworld. Gaining status amongst his demon peers gave Forneus even more reason to pester me for jobs.

  I better find a damn good cleaning service.

  Epilogue

  Dating Ceff was never dull. He was full of surprises, like the party we were about to enter. The loft was still off limits for social gatherings, I hadn’t changed that much, but I had agreed to renting a space at a hotel owned by one of Kaye’s hunter friends. According to Kaye, her friend and his team cleaned out a nest of vamps here over a decade ago and ended up running the hotel when they retired from hunting. I supposed that’s one benefit of vamps being into real estate.

  A hotel owned by retired hunters seemed like a weird place for a mixed race soiree, but Kaye and Ceff both assured me that our hosts would let anyone in who was on the guest list. That list was surprisingly long.

  Jinx was one of the first to arrive. She looked fabulous in a red halter dress that matched her new shoes. It took me a month of saving to buy those shoes for her, but I didn’t regret a single penny. Good help was hard to find. Amazing friends were even rarer. In Jinx, I had found both. It was best to keep her happy.

  Forneus made a grand entrance right behind Jinx. At least they didn’t arrive together. Forneus had shown an interest in my friend which I had tried to discourage. A demon dating my roommate? Over my dead body. Though honestly, he probably wasn’t much worse than most of her boyfriends—aside from his brimstone aftershave. No one would ever be good enough for her in my mind. She was a ruby in a room filled with rocks.

  Actually, the room was filled with fae not rocks, though a few resembled geodes and a piece of coral that I had assumed to be decorative was now chatting up a mermaid. Knowing mermaids, the coral was probably the more intelligent of the two.
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  I looked around the room and shook my head. Things sure can change in just one week. How did I end up with so many new friends…and so many fae in my life? Perhaps like, really does attract like.

  It’s weird thinking of myself as fae. I am a half-breed, half human and half wisp. I’m not sure how I feel about that. To be honest, I think I’m still in shock.

  I had been different for so long. It is a comfort to know that I’m not alone. I still had questions about my past, but for now, I was content to let my friends show me around this new world opening up to me.

  A big part of that new world was Ceff, King of the Kelpies and my date tonight. How the heck did that happen? Even from across the packed room, I could feel his presence. He was powerful, confident, gorgeous, and looked mighty fine in a suit. He moved with liquid grace and his muscles rippled beneath his suit pants, yes I had looked, and pulled the fabric of his jacket tight across his chest and shoulders. Mab’s bones, he was hot.

  Ceff caught my eye and winked. I may have a huge new world to navigate, but I had the most amazing tour guide ever. Blushing, I returned Ceff’s wink and went to join him by the dessert table. At least, I think it was dessert. It looked suspiciously like sea foam frothed on top of fishy smelling cupcakes.

  I passed Jinx and Kaye who were standing, heads together, beside the punch bowl. Jinx raised an eyebrow and I grinned from ear to ear. I was about to give the girl a heart attack. Turning back to shine my smile at Ceff, I went to hold his hand.

  Yes, I was wearing gloves, silk evening gloves instead of my usual leather gloves, but this was progress. This whole intimacy thing was completely new to me. I was still scared, but mostly, I was happy. That was all I could possibly ask for.

  It was going to take time to get over my fears and phobias. Looking up into the dark green eyes of my immortal date, I realized that that was okay. For once in my life, the thing I needed most wasn’t in short supply. Time was something we had in abundance.

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