The shoya—the leader of the prison guards—investigated. Turns out the guard who had been on duty the days prior had vanished, along with Straff. It was an anti-magic zone, which negates personal and innate magic as well, so he couldn’t have charmed her. But the pair are gone, and nobody knows where they went. From what we can tell, this happened a few weeks back and nobody thought to tell my father. Heads are rolling, you can be sure.”
I grimaced. Knowing Cernunnos, heads could literally be rolling.
Herne shrugged, tossing a file on the table. “We don’t know that this murder was committed by Straff, but we can’t rule it out. I’ve alerted Rhiannon to be on watch. She’ll keep an eye on the news and let us know if anything further happens.”
I stared at the table. Straff had been a gnarly opponent, and his case had been my first realization that punishment in the world of the gods had a very different nature than it did here. The thought that Straff was out in the world again, at large, unnerved me. His father had been a freak. But Straff was psycho-crazy.
“Just what we need. Straff at large again.” I glanced over at Yutani, who gave me a faint nod. “Although, given Typhon’s nature, I think I’d rather face Straff and his father again.”
“Well, that was a good catch, and my father thanks both of you. He’s pissed out of his mind and I have no clue what he’s going to do now. If he ever finds that guard, I pray she has time to slit her own wrists, because anything my father does will be worse.”
The thought of being on the bad side of Cernunnos was terrifying. He was massive, with the primal nature of the forest behind him. It occurred to me that as Herne aged, he, too, would grow into that power. Grateful I’d met him when he was young—relatively—I hoped that I could grow with him once I turned into a goddess, so I wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed as time went on.
Herne must have noticed my expression, because he said, “I know, love. And I truly meant what I said. Death would be far preferable to my father’s anger over something like this. The forest isn’t a gentle place when it’s angered.”
That darkened the mood of the room.
Yutani cleared his throat. “Do you think we’ll end up over there again? On Whidbey Island?”
“I hope not,” Herne said. “But I can’t promise we won’t.”
“Wouldn’t he get as far away from there as possible, given that’s the first place Cernunnos would likely look?” Talia asked.
“I thought that too, but then again, Straff has a disease that drives him to seek energy and blood. His father allowed him to feed on his victims without stepping in. Blackthorn might cover up for his son again, even though he allowed us to drag Straff off without protest.” I shook my head. “The island is probably the only place Straff was familiar with.”
“It’s not that large. Surely we could find him again,” Talia said.
“Maybe. But there’s something else. Remember, Straff’s condition was still in a sporadic stage. The disease hadn’t advanced to where he was pushed to kill on a frequent basis. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t gotten worse. I wonder if there’s a way to contact Blackthorn without going over there. He might give Straff up if he thought his own neck was on the line, and I doubt he wants Cernunnos on his back.”
Herne shook his head. “Unlike Raven, Blackthorn’s not carrying around a cell phone. He’s far more primal. As I said, I asked Rhiannon to stay in touch.”
Rhiannon was head of the Foam Born Pod—a pod of waterhorse shifters, or hippocampi, as was their proper name. I had enjoyed getting to know her and her people.
“Okay. Anything else until Ashera gets here?”
“Yes, actually. Rhiannon mentioned they’re having another problem now. She wanted to know if we might be able to come over and check it out and I told her we had to see how things were going here. She hadn’t heard about Typhon, and actually, her issue might tie into his return. There are unusual goings-on in their compound and she’s getting worried members of the Pod coming up to her right and left. I’m going to call her back and ask for more details later—she was on her way out to an appointment when I called her to ask about the murder.”