Black Spring

“He’s going to use the city of Chicago to herd anyone out of the ordinary into his camp. Then he’s going to use one of his shapeshifters to control the whole mass as an army to start killing off humans. He’s breaking Lucifer’s toy, wiping the slate clean,” I said. “It’s diabolical, really. We know about the plan but it’s difficult to stop. He’s got the machinery of the city in motion, so even if we remove Alerian from the equation, all the supernatural creatures would still be rounded up and fenced in. We could find some way to prevent Alerian from controlling them as an army, but all the supernaturals will still be in one place. And what do you think will happen then?”

“A leader will rise. Someone who would tell them that they need not submit to human law,” Nathaniel said. “A revolution would begin.”

I nodded. “And it would spread to other places and other cities, and humans would be killed. There would be total chaos, and Alerian’s purpose would be served regardless.”

“What if we can stop the imprisonment of supernatural creatures before it happens?” Nathaniel asked.

“I’m not sure how. Like I said earlier today, there will doubtless be motivation for ordinary humans to turn in their not-so-ordinary neighbors. The collection may have begun already. And if we encourage those creatures to resist—”

“Fighting would inevitably ensue, and deaths, and chaos,” Nathaniel finished. “You are correct. It is diabolical. No matter how we examine the problem the ultimate outcome is the same, and Alerian obtains what he desires.”

“Yes,” I said. “Maybe we’re just not looking at it the right way. Maybe we need the rest of the brain trust.”

I wondered what J.B. would think of all this. I hadn’t spoken to him in a couple of weeks. He’d taken a leave of absence from the Agency after I’d killed Titania. He needed to spend some quality time with his faerie court. He was a king by right and by blood, but since he was almost never there tending to his courtiers, there was often a lot of rebellious grumbling.

The death of the High Queen of Faerie and her only son, Bendith, caused sufficient ripples through the faerie world that J.B. deemed it prudent to spend some time acting like a king. Since I’d been the one to take out the High Queen (and a lot of faerie were angry with me about that), he had also deemed it prudent that I not try to get in touch with him while he was there. Which was too bad, because J.B.’s advice would probably be useful.

“It is some consolation that we now know the identity of the shapeshifter’s master,” Nathaniel said.

“No, we don’t,” I said with a hollow laugh.

Nathaniel looked puzzled. “You said Alerian would use his shapeshifter to control his army, as in days of old.”

“Yeah, a new shapeshifter that he hasn’t made yet. He wouldn’t risk Daharan discovering and destroying the new one before he had a chance to really get his plans under way,” I said. “And there was something else, another shadow working in the background, I think. There was a flash of something that I saw but couldn’t latch on to.”

“So there is another master for the creature that tried to attack you this morning,” Nathaniel said.

“Yup,” I said. “Nothing is ever easy when I’m involved. And here’s the worst of it. Have you thought of how Lucifer will respond once he figures out what Alerian’s up to?”

“If it appears that Alerian is raising an army for his own purpose, then Lucifer will declare war on his brother,” Nathaniel said. He took my hand and held it tight.

“Boom! goes the world,” I said. “No matter what story plays out, that seems to be the result.”

“Perhaps you could speak to Lucifer, make him see reason. Perhaps you could even influence him to halt Alerian’s plans,” he said.

“I think you are vastly overestimating the effect I have on Lucifer. Plus, when has Lucifer ever done anything out of the goodness of his heart?” I said with a pointed look at my belly. “He’s made it clear from the start that he wants my baby. If I ask him to help out with Alerian or to give up what he would view as his rightful vengeance for Alerian’s behavior, then he will want something really good in exchange. Like my child. Or me as his heir.

“Daharan might be able to influence Lucifer,” I continued, “but I don’t think he can do much with Alerian. He keeps talking about how their powers are in opposition to one another.”

“He says that, but he can influence Alerian when he so chooses,” Nathaniel said. “He forced Alerian to give up the shapeshifters, do you not recall?”

“Hey, you’re right,” I said, wondering why I hadn’t realized this before. “Why does he keep acting like he can’t do anything?”

“Perhaps he believes that if he repeats it often enough, you will think it is true, and not question his motives,” Nathaniel said.

For the first time I felt a flicker of doubt. Did Daharan have some sinister purpose here? Was he in fact working with Alerian? Was it his job to lead me away from Alerian’s true intentions, to distract me?