Black City

My heart stilled. “She’s going to use J.B. against me in repayment for Oberon.”

Jude nodded. “They came for J.B. just after the vampire invasion started.”

“She’s had him for three days? For the love of the Morningstar. He could be dead by now.”

“No,” Beezle said. “She wants to hurt you. If she’s going to kill him, then you can bet she wants to make you watch. But I bet he wishes he was dead.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Faeries are well versed in methods of torture.”

“Not helping,” I said shortly.

“You’re not going to like this, either,” Jude said. “There was blood all over J.B.’s office. He put up a fight.”

“How much of the blood was his?” I whispered.

“Enough.” Jude’s face was grim.

“Well. I’m not going to wait for an invitation from Titania. We’ve got to go and get J.B. out of there now.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Chloe said. “What about the vampires, and Therion’s threat? You’ve only got two more days to solve that problem or else the vampires are going to invade the rest of the country. Are you really going to let hundreds of innocent people die so you can rescue one man?”

“Who says I’m going to let them die?” I said. “First I get J.B. Then Therion will pay.”

“And how are you going to defeat the vampires?” Chloe said.

“I don’t know yet,” I said. “But once I know J.B. is safe, then I can figure something out.”

“What—once all the Avengers are assembled, a solution will magically appear?”

“I will not leave J.B. in the hands of that bitch,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Watch out. She’s using the B-word.”

“Keep arguing with me and I’ll be using the C-word. I thought you were on my side.”

“I am,” Chloe said. “But you’re following your heart again instead of your brain. The bigger problem here is the vampire invasion, not Titania’s gripe with you.”

“She never uses her brain,” Beezle said.

“Oh, great, another country heard from,” I said. “I’m doing things the way I’ve always done them.”

“Well, the way you do things is inefficient and illogical,” Chloe said.

“It works for me,” I said.

“Fine, fine,” Chloe said, throwing up her hands. “Let’s break out J.B. I have nothing better to do. How do you propose we get there?”

Nathaniel looked at me. “Lord Lucifer brought you there the last time, through the old ways.”

“And Lucifer is out of touch. But I know someone else who will take us there. For a price.”

“Madeline, no. You cannot possibly indebt yourself to Puck any further. It is too dangerous. We are not even certain what kind of creature he is, nor what he will ask of you in return. You already owe him a debt for helping us escape Titania’s court the first time.”

“I don’t see any other way,” I said. “And I won’t leave J.B.”

“I wouldn’t suggest it,” Nathaniel said.

“He’s all insightful now,” Beezle said, looking at Nathaniel.

“J.B. went willingly against his mother and his court when Amarantha kidnapped Wade. I would not leave him to Titania, either,” Jude said.

Nor would I, Samiel signed.

“It’s like your insanity is infectious,” Chloe grumbled.

“I like having her around,” Beezle said. “It saves me the trouble of being the sensible one.”

“There is no planet on which you would be considered sensible,” I said.

“Compared to you, I’m a paragon of logical thinking,” Beezle said.

“How will you contact Puck?” Chloe asked.

“He gave me a jewel,” I said.

“That jewel brings him here,” Nathaniel said.

“Yes, it does,” I said. “And I’d better talk to him alone. I don’t know how he’ll respond to my call, and I don’t want him to refuse just because he has an audience.”

Plus, I wanted to keep Nathaniel out of his sight for as long as possible. I wasn’t sure how Puck would respond if it did turn out that Nathaniel was his son and I’d revealed him—even if it was by accident. Nobody ever seemed to give me a pass for my accidents.

“I’ll take the rest of the inmates downstairs,” Beezle said.

They all looked reluctant except Chloe, who just appeared curious.

“I’m not certain you should be alone with him,” Nathaniel said.

“He doesn’t want to hurt me,” I said. “He might refuse to help, but he won’t hurt me.”

I was pretty sure that if Puck was going to hurt me, it would be in service to his vendetta against Lucifer. And he did not appear quite ready for that yet. I didn’t tell the others any of this, though.

After a few minutes they’d all cleared out, and I was alone in my apartment. I took a moment to breathe, and to appreciate the fact that a lot of tension went away when Nathaniel wasn’t in the room. Whatever was between us, it wasn’t healthy.

I realized I was in my pajamas and somewhat grubby, and detoured into the bathroom for a shower before I contacted Puck. If I was going to have a standoff with the faerie queen, then I wanted my hair to be clean.

I emerged from the shower several minutes later, wrapped a towel around my body and another around my hair, and padded in wet feet to my room.