Grave Visions (Alex Craft, #4)(51)

A moment later a small dart flew silently through the spot I’d been standing seconds before.

Someone in the crowd screamed and wooden chairs creaked and toppled, as people rushed out of their seats. Tamara moved as though she would run to Holly and me, but Ethan grabbed her arm and rushed up into the relative safety of the gazebo. I was thankful for that. Goodness knew there was no cover where Holly and I crouched in the grass.

“We’ve got to move,” I said, but other than the gazebo, there was no cover anywhere near us.

Holly seemed to realize the same thing, because without a word, she turned and crawled toward the wooden structure. I followed, the grass damp through the thin material covering my knees. With Holly in the lead, I needed only to pay marginal attention to where I was going, leaving most of my attention free to watch the two fae.

The hobgoblin reloaded his blowgun, his large fingers fumbling with the small dart. The woman was otherwise engaged, primarily with Mrs. Greene. Now that her daughter’s wedding was well and truly interrupted, she’d lost any pretense of civility toward the two fae and was now cursing, loudly. Not bad words mind you, but a true curse. The kind that made the Aetheric swirl around her, giving her curse power.

I was still a foot away from the gazebo when the hobgoblin lifted the blowgun to his lips. I cringed, an instinct that did nothing to help me get to cover sooner. Thankfully, while I may not have thought it necessary to wear my dagger under my bridesmaid dress, many of Tamara’s guests were on the police force, and they’d had no such compunction against carrying their service weapons.

The hobgoblin’s small red eyes flickered to the crowd of off-duty cops as a half dozen officers drew on him. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but it was enough for me to dive behind the gazebo.

“You okay?” Holly asked, leaning down to help me to my feet.

I nodded, turning to peer back around the edge of the gazebo while staying as covered by the structure and glowing flowers as possible. I’d missed only a moment, but in that time the scene had changed. The two fae were running from the wedding now. I could see them clearly, but then I was still peering across planes of existence. Judging by the fact the cops had lowered their weapons and were looking around in all directions, I guessed the fae had glamoured themselves invisible.

Once the two fae vanished through the arch and across the park, I stepped out from behind the gazebo. Chairs had been knocked over on both sides of the aisle, and nearly half the wedding guests had fled. Holly and I both had grass stains on our knees, and Tamara’s bouquet looked the worse for wear where it lay forgotten at the steps of the gazebo. Mrs. Greene fluttered around, trying to put things back in order, but even if most of the guests returned, I seriously doubted this wedding would continue.

I surveyed the chaos and guilt clawed at me like daggers sinking into my guts. Was this my fault? Had the bogeymen been targeting me? It seemed likely. They had appeared to be able to see me. And whatever the man had shot from his blowgun had been aimed at the bridal party, of which I was a part. But I wasn’t the only bridesmaid. Still, who else here had recently taken a trip to Faerie, questioned shades who’d died from drugs distributed by fae, or left her card at the Bloom after asking questions? I wasn’t sure which action had gotten me noticed, but it certainly seemed I’d gotten someone’s attention.





Chapter 16





Two hours later I sat in the reception tent with a huge slice of wedding cake in front of me. The dance floor was empty, as were most of the tables. Tamara sat beside me, what looked to be an entire half a tier of wedding cake crammed onto her plate. Since the wedding had never resumed, there really weren’t any guests to eat the cake, so Tamara had stated that she’d be damned if we didn’t eat and enjoy it. It wasn’t like she could return it. Despite her words, she was only poking at her ginormous slice with her fork. Holly just watched.

Several cops still milled around—some guests but others on duty finishing up their reports on the “interruption.” Crime scene techs combed the area around the gazebo, searching for the dart the hobgoblin had shot from his blowgun. It had yet to be found. One FIB officer had responded to the scene. Aside from the children, I was the only person who’d seen the true faces of the two bogeymen, but everyone had seen them vanish without a trace and there were more than a few sensitives who hadn’t felt an invisibility charm trigger. Despite all that, since no one had been hurt and there was no proof fae had been involved, the FIB agent who’d responded seemed less than interested in what he labeled “a disturbance of the peace.” When I’d ask about Falin, the agent had only scowled at me and refrained from answering.

So, cake.

But I wasn’t eating much more of it than Tamara was. I shoved it around my plate, staring at the fluffy white frosting. It was good cake. I knew that. I’d been part of the sample group who’d tasted all the options and helped Tamara decide which to order for tonight. But the sugary concoction no longer tasted good.

It tasted a lot like guilt.

“This is not what I imagined,” Tamara said, stabbing her cake. She’d said that exact phrase a dozen times over the last hour, and I still didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t even sure she was aware she’d spoken. At least she wasn’t crying anymore.

Holly put her arm around Tamara’s shoulder, but she seemed just as lost for an appropriate response. I mean, this was not a “sometimes these things happen” kind of situation. People did not prepare for the possibility of bogeymen crashing their big day. There were no Hallmark condolence cards with sympathetic phrases for when your wedding turned into a crime scene.