Blood and Mistletoe by E. J. Stevens Read Free Book Online Page B

ground. 
    She cocked one long finger at the skeleton, beckoning for him to join her.  When the skeleton did not respond, because, hello, he was dead as a doornail, the faerie scooped him up into her arms.  The cloak fell to the ground as she twirled the naked skeleton in a macabre parody of lively merriment.  But the thing she embraced was long dead and the cruel curl of her lips lacked the warmth of happiness.
    “Soon all shall witness your talent again, my love,” she said.  The faerie sighed, tilting her head of brilliant red hair and frowning playfully.  “You were always the most gifted of all of my human pets.  Now their art appears garish to my eyes and their music discordant to my ears.  Return to me, my sweet, and we shall create beauty together once again.”
    The faerie spun a graceful pirouette, turning her face toward the spot above the blood puddle where my consciousness hovered.  I gasped.  The otherwise beautiful woman had empty eyes that seemed to radiate blackness darker than the night around us.  As she leaned in to gaze at her skeletal lover, lines of darkness spread further across her face.
    Whatever spellwork she was dabbling with, it wasn’t doing her any favors. 
    The faerie gave the skeleton a passionate kiss that made my stomach roil then skipped away, melting into the shadows. 
    I gasped, the killer and her gruesome vision were gone, but I remained trapped within the psychic impressions left on the blood.  I was tethered to the dark, red puddle and nothing I tried would cut me free.
    That, of course, was when the nightmare vision went from twisted to absolutely terrifying.
    One by one, the alley filled with redcaps.  They surrounded the puddle of blood, licking their lips with worm-like tongues.  I tried again to break free of the vision and failed.
    Redcaps normally live in remote locations, within the ruins of old castles and stone towers.  In the North East, they had settled along the coast in abandoned lighthouse towers and crumbling civil war fortifications.  Redcaps don’t normally live in cities, or stray far from their nest, but I had run into one last summer, literally, while walking the streets of Harborsmouth. 
    My redcap encounter had been in broad daylight, another aberration since the small, dwarflike fae were nocturnal.  But that wasn’t the most unusual part of that meeting.  After wounding me, the redcap had run his tongue along his evil, black blade.  But upon tasting my blood, the creature had bowed to me and apologized, even gifting me his dagger as compensation for his actions.  He’d run off too quickly for me to get answers, but Kaye still grumbled whenever she looked at that blade.  The encounter remained a puzzle.
    Redcaps shouldn’t be in the city.  But now there were a dozen of the vile creatures dipping their hats into the puddle of blood that the female faerie had left behind.  These must be her servants, though who knows what redcaps were good for.  I really didn’t want to know.
    Sadly, I had a ringside seat for the show.
    Once the redcaps had each soaked their hat in blood, they surrounded the merry dancer’s body.  An individual with a particularly large hat lifted the sprig of mistletoe from the corpse and dangled it in the air with a mocking grin.  Blood ran down his face, from the cap on his head, as he bent down to kiss the dead faerie.  The others leaned in as well, looking for all the world as if they were giving the deceased a departing kiss, but when they came away chunks of flesh were missing from the body.
    I’d seen enough.
    The merry dancer had been killed as part of a blood magic ritual and red caps were involved.  I didn’t know what it meant, but I did know now what I needed to do.  I had to find the faerie mage’s lair, and fast.
    I fought against the vision, gagging as the image of feasting redcaps swam before me.  Come on Jinx.  Get me the Hell out of here.   The redcaps dove their heads back to the