A Gray Area Read online

  “Hopefully our mystery man will tell us,” I muttered.

  A screeching interrupted our conversation as the men carried Ms. Dudley over to us. They laid her down as carefully as possible on the street and then everyone looked at me expectantly.

  “It will be easier if you all stand closely together,” I said.

  The team went to wait on the sidewalk in a circle; everyone facing out to cover all angles. I nodded in approval and then wove the color wavelengths around them as a group until they disappeared.

  Are we good?” Davorin asked. “I can still see everyone.”

  “We're concealed together so we can see each other,” Malik quickly explained. And then he called to me, “Amara, isn't that the place the Leech disappeared?”

  I didn't have to see Mal to know he was talking about the building on the left side of the street; the one with the biggest chunk missing from it.

  “That's the place,” I confirmed.

  “Fuck!” Malik cursed. “This is deeply unsettling.”

  There was nothing to say to that. When a bleiten was unsettled, it was a sign to start running. But we couldn't run; we were the ones who'd been sent to handle this. So, instead, everyone went quiet. Everyone except for Ms. Dudley, that is. She screeched and rattled her cage; claws reaching through the bars for me.

  “I'm so sorry this happened to you,” I said to her. “I'm going to do my best to find out what this is and fix it.”

  She cocked her bulbous head at me and screeched again. Before I could say anything more, her bloodshot eyes went round and she jerked away from me. Her screeching became a whimpering, and she pressed her body back against the bars.

  I searched the area as I stepped in front of her. The edge of a sparkling aura gleamed in the corner of my eye, and I turned to face it. He was suddenly standing before me; the man from the alley. He said something in a language I didn't recognize as he cocked his head at me. Since I knew almost every language there was to learn, his speech was nearly as shocking as the state of the Gray.

  Damn; he was stunning. Taller than I'd remembered, and that aura didn't hurt either. Those amazing eyes surveyed me with cool calculation until they focused on my eyes. His stare widened slightly and he blinked; similar to the reaction he'd had the last time we met. It was as if he saw something startling; perhaps something that he'd convinced himself he hadn't seen the last time. He spoke again in that strange language.

  “I'm sorry; I know many languages but not the one you're speaking,” I said.

  “Ah, English,” he murmured. “I haven't spoken the tongue for many years. I should have known to use it here.”

  “I'm just relieved that you do speak it,” I said. “My name is Amara Madison; I'm here on behalf of the President of the United States of America to speak with you.” I held out my hand to him.

  He looked at my hand and smiled. His smile was like that patch of green; Summer in the midst of Winter. A rare treasure. It made my throat go dry.

  “I am Sir Varian of the Eastern Kingdom.” He took my hand and bowed over it; placing a kiss on the back.

  The gesture reminded me of Cyprian, but Varian did it in a way that felt noble and courtly. Just a respectful greeting for a lady. Ironically, it affected me far more than Cyprian's over-the-top seduction routine.

  “It's nice to meet you, Sir Varian,” I said.

  I was about to ask him where his Eastern Kingdom was when Ms. Dudley whimpered. Varian pulled his knife and started toward her.

  “Sir Varian.” I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “That was once a woman who lived here. She was changed by whatever force has altered this area. I'm here to ask for your help in discovering what did this so we can change her back. Please, don't kill her. As you see, she's contained. She's not a threat.”

  Varian frowned and lowered his weapon. “She can't be changed back. I'm sorry, Lady Amara, but this is permanent. The kindest thing for you to do would be to allow me to end her suffering.”

  “Is that why you killed the last creature?” I asked. “Out of kindness?”

  “My Queen sent me. She sensed the mutation and its pain.” He nodded. “Now, please, stand aside.”

  “First, tell me what this is,” I insisted. “Tell us how to stop this.” I waved a hand back at the meadow. “There are numerous people who were living here and who are on the verge of changing as this woman has. Can you help me save them?”

  The muscles in Varian's cheek clenched as he looked away. “We're not sure how to stop it.”

  “You and your Queen?”

  He nodded. “We've been looking into the strange occurrences which have led me here. I will do what I can for your people and your world, Lady Amara, but I can't tell you how to end this. I wish I could. I'd advise you to mercifully kill those affected as soon as possible. Leaving in this state is cruel.”

  Before I could say anything more, his hand shot out and he stabbed Ms. Dudley through the heart. She barely made a sound, it was so fast. I flinched and then shot forward and grabbed his arm.

  “I asked you not to do that!” I snapped at him.

  “And I told you it was necessary,” he said calmly. “I'm under orders from my Queen. I can't heed the request of a lady; no matter how beautiful her eyes are.”

  I blinked at him. Malik growled. Varian's gaze shot over my shoulder and then narrowed at me.

  “You're not alone,” he said. “I should have suspected.” He shook his head and smiled ruefully. “I've allowed your charms to distract me. It won't happen again.”

  Varian turned away.

  “Sir Varian!” I called after him. “Please; my friends mean you no harm. They're here for my protection. Just tell me who your people are. Where are you from? Where are these plants from?”

  Varian paused briefly and looked at me over his shoulder. “I'm Danutian, from the Danu Realm. I doubt that will mean anything to you, but you may recognize my racial caste. I'm of the Sidhe.”

  Then he was gone. He didn't run into the wall as the Leech had; he simply turned in a circle and before he made it fully around, he had disappeared.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Did he just say he's a fairy?!” Lily shrieked as I gaped at the empty spot Varian had been standing in.

  I dropped the color wavelengths hiding them and saw the matching shocked expressions on every face. I looked at the corpse of Ms. Dudley and when I looked up again, Malik was standing before me. He pulled me into an embrace.

  “It's not your fault,” he murmured. “He was fast; too fast to stop. And he may have been right. He sounds as if he knows more about it than we do.”

  “I know,” I whispered. “I just hate that she's dead because we brought her right to her executioner.”

  “He seemed to be honest with you,” Malik noted. “If nothing else, he believed that there wasn't any hope for her.”

  “Can we get back to the fact that he's a fucking fairy?” Davorin asked. “Did any of you know they really exist?”

  We all shook our heads. The Fey was the one race that was truly make-believe. Or so we'd thought. As usual, humans had got their name wrong. Or had they only been partially wrong?

  “Danutian,” I murmured. “Danu. As in the Tuatha Dé Danann. It means 'tribe of Danu.' The Tuatha Dé Danann were deities in pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland. They've been associated with fairies, but not everyone believed they were actually fairies. Or Sidhe, rather.”

  “Danu was supposed to be a goddess or possibly one of their leaders,” Kyrian pointed out. “Not a place.”

  “Evidently, the humans got that wrong too,” Malik said in a deadpan voice that conveyed clearly how often that happened. “It's not a goddess, but a realm.”

  “What's the difference between a realm and a planet?” Jason asked.

  “A planet is what we're standing on; it's physical,” Davorin explained. “A realm is a place of pure magic. In short; it shouldn't exist.”

  “We're Supes,” Lily huffed. “We have astoni
shing abilities. How can we not believe in magic?”

  “I'm not saying that magic doesn't exist; I'm saying that a realm with no physical foundation—a place of pure magic—shouldn't exist,” Davorin said. “There has to be something solid to support it, doesn't there?”

  “I don't know, and I don't care. You can call it whatever you like,” I said. “But Sir Varian of the Eastern Kingdom of Danu just disappeared in a way that looked pretty damn magical to me.”

  “No matter what name his realm is, Sidhe was the name for a type of fairy,” Kyrian said. “And that's what he said he is. So, we can safely assume that the myths about the Fey are about his people.”

  “There are some very troubling stories about fairies,” Leo murmured.

  We shared grim looks.

  “Let's get Ms. Dudley's body back to Alex and his agents,” Malik said as he stared around the Gray. “At least her life has bought us some potentially useful information. The best way we can honor her is by not wasting it.”

  I turned to stare at the body of a monster that had once been a woman. A woman with dreams and desires just like any other. Someone's daughter and perhaps someone's mother. Then her life had been sucked away—leeched away—and she'd been turned into a nightmare. I couldn't accept that all those other people were doomed to suffer the same fate. I wouldn't accept it. As long as they lived, we could try to save them.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “You're telling me that a fairy did this?” Alex waved a hand at the back of the truck.

  The door was open; showing Ms. Dudley's corpse in the cage.

  I nodded.

  “A fairy with little wings and pointed ears just flew up and stabbed Ms. Dudley in the heart?”

  “I never gave that description,” I said blandly.

  “Are you playing a joke on me?” Alex asked suspiciously.

  “No, we're not,” Malik growled. “And I'd thank you to stop speaking to my dvarra like that.”

  Alex looked at all of us and then back at Ms. Dudley. “Fuck. I really have to call the Secretary of Homeland Security and tell her that we're under attack by fairies.”

  “Varian said that he was sent to investigate strange occurrences by his Queen,” I reminded Alex. “I don't believe the Fey are attacking us. Perhaps one of them is, but not the race as a whole. The Secretary and you agreed with me earlier. Why should Varian's race make a difference?”

  I don't think Alex had heard much after I said the word “Sidhe.”

  “Did you tell this friendly fairy about the Leech?” Alex asked.

  I grimaced. “It happened so fast. I didn't get the chance.”

  Alex sighed and rubbed his forehead. “So, this is most likely magic; some kind of fairy spell. But we don't know for sure because even the fairies don't know what it is?”

  “Yes.” I grimaced.

  “And this Sir Varian is going to help us as much as he can, but he doesn't think there's any hope for the ailing residents?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that means that all of the affected people all over the world have no hope of recovering either?”

  “I don't think we should give up just because he says so,” I argued. “Varian may think there isn't hope, but what if he's wrong? He doesn't even know what this is. Perhaps we can find a cure.”

  “I will report this as reasonably as I can, and we'll see what the higher-ups say,” Alex said wearily. “Honestly, I'm glad this decision is out of my hands. I haven't a fucking clue what to do.”

  Alex gave one last, long, sorrowful look at Ms. Dudley and then closed the back of the truck with a startling clang.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  We all went home after that. Kyrian and Malik said they wanted to contact their people and see what information they might have on the Danutians. They both went to their ships to make the calls and access records. Davorin decided to conduct his own research on the Fey and see what myths he could dig up here on Earth. Jason, Leo, Lily, and I just wanted to lie down and forget the sight of Ms. Dudley's swift death. The four of us went home to attempt to do just that. If Kyrian, Davorin, and Malik wanted to keep working, that was fine, but I needed a break before I dove back into the Gray.

  I was soaking in a tub of hot water and frothy foam—eyes closed and head leaned back on my bath pillow—when my doorbell rang. I grumbled and contemplated ignoring it. It was probably Davorin wanting to discuss his findings with me. I didn't want to talk about fairies or the Gray. Varian's eyes were haunting me enough already, as were his words.

  And you can just stop judging me about my attraction to other men. I couldn't help my body's response to them. I'm not dead nor did being with Malik make me blind. That's not what they mean when they say love is blind. It blinds you to your lover's faults, not to other people. The only things I could control were my actions, and I had no intention of betraying my boyfriend. That being said, my response to Varian worried me. It had felt magnetic; as if a line had connected us the instant our gazes met. There was something about him that affected me. Something more than base attraction.

  The doorbell rang again.

  I growled and stood up; bubbles and water sluicing down my body. I quickly toweled off and slipped into a silk kimono before I stomped downstairs. I hadn't had a lot of alone-time lately, and this interruption was also a huge irritation. A third ring came just as I reached the door. I jerked it open angrily—ready to berate Davorin until he turned into stone simply to escape my wrath—but all I did was gawk at my visitor.

  Cyprian stood on my doorstep holding a bouquet of purple flowers. He smiled and handed them to me. “I haven't interrupted anything, have I?” His sexy voice was back.

  “I was taking a bath,” I murmured as I accepted the flowers.

  “I see that.” His emerald eyes gleamed as they coasted over the wet baby hairs clinging to my face and neck. The rest of my hair was piled on top of my head. He looked at that too and then at the places where the kimono clung to my body. “You're practically steaming.”

  “Why did you bring me flowers, Cyprian?” I asked calmly.

  “They're an apology for the other day,” he said. “Are you going to invite me in?”

  “No.”

  “Your Bleiten is here.” He smiled smugly. “You don't want him to see me.”

  “He's not, but if he were, I would have no problem with him seeing you.” I lifted my chin. “I told him all about our conversations.”

  “Did you now?” Cyprian sounded skeptical.

  He looked me over and then pushed past me and strode inside.

  “Hey!” I went after him. “Cyprian, get out!”

  “I just want to look around. You got to see my home. I think it's only fair that I see yours.” He waved at the bouquet. “Why don't you put those in water? We don't want them to wilt.”

  I tossed the bouquet in the trash can and grabbed his arm. “Get out.”

  Cyprian shifted so that he was pressed against me and grabbed my other arm in a similar way to how I was grabbing his.

  “I've come to offer you some information,” he whispered as he lowered his mouth to hover just above mine. “Wouldn't you like that?”

  “What information?” I asked crisply as I pulled away.

  Cyprian let me go but only to glide over to the door and shut it. “Why don't we sit down?”

  I sighed heavily and waved a hand toward the living room. Cyprian sauntered ahead of me while he slipped out of his coat. He made it look like a striptease; the way he slid first one sleekly-muscled shoulder and then the other out of the sleeves and then let the heavy wool swing across his ass as he pulled it forward. He casually tossed the coat over the only chair in my living room and did a slow circle; taking in the antique furniture, framed artwork, and carved mantle over the fireplace. Even that motion was sensual; his hips rocking and his hands trailing down the cashmere sweater he wore; stroking it as if he enjoyed the feeling.

  I rolled my eyes. This man was practically a professi
onal seducer. The honest way Malik moved was far more attractive.

  “This fireplace is gas; may I turn it on?” He lifted a blond brow at me.

  Cyprian's eyebrows were a few shades darker than his hair; it kept him from looking too alien. It softened him a bit. But those glittering eyes were absolutely supe, and they fought that softness all the way to his lush lips.

  “Be my guest,” I said sarcastically.

  Cyprian flicked the switch and the flames whooshed to life behind the glass panel. He settled himself on the end of the couch closest to the fire and then patted the cushion beside him. I rolled my eyes and sat at the other end.