Uncertain Allies Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Praise for

  unperfect souls

  “Peeling back layers in Del Franco’s mystifying Weird series only whets the appetite for more.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Mark Del Franco is rapidly staking a claim as one of my favorite non-comic urban fantasy authors. What’s not to like? . . . I thoroughly enjoyed reading Unperfect Souls and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary fantasy.”

  —Fantasy Literature

  “[A] hidden gem.”

  —Night Owl Romance

  Praise for

  unfallen dead

  “Connor is an engaging character with a real heart and a sense of humor that humanizes him to the reader. The world that he lives in is well constructed and easy to sink into. I also find it incredibly refreshing to read [about] a male protagonist when so much paranormal fiction is dominated by female protagonists. Del Franco has created the perfect hero for the modern age.”

  —BookFetish

  “[A] fast-paced ride through the Weird side of town . . . Rob Thurman and John Levitt fans will want to check out this urban fantasy series.”

  —Monsters and Critics

  “One of the most compelling aspects of this first-person detective series is the evolutionary track taken by its damaged yet persistent hero. Del Franco continues to enhance the backstory relationships between secondary characters while laying out a gritty, compelling mystery. In the hands of a talent like Del Franco, murder, revenge, and attempted world conquest add up to urban fantasy at its best.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Damaged druid Connor Grey is back in his third mystery, which ramps up the magical action considerably . . . lots of snarky characters to keep things fun.”

  —Locus

  Praise for

  unquiet dreams

  “A tale filled with magic, mystery, and suspense . . . Unquiet Dreams is a well-written story with characters that will charm readers back for another visit to the Weird.”

  —Darque Reviews

  “Unquiet Dreams is an urban fantasy wrapped around a police procedural, and that makes for a fast-paced, action-packed novel . . . a great new urban fantasy series.”

  —SFRevu

  “A solid adventure filled with unique characters and plenty of fast-paced suspense.”

  —Pulp Fiction Reviews

  “It’s back to the Weird for the second chapter in this striking first-person druid-detective series. Del Franco’s clear and textured voice ensures that readers [invest] instantly in characters and story. Waiting for the next installment will be tough.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Readers who like a mystery as the prime plot of an outstanding fantasy (think of Dresden) will thoroughly be entertained and challenged by Unquiet Dreams. This is a great new series.”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “Mark Del Franco is a master at combining modern fantasy with crime detective mystery. Fans of either genre are sure to find a good read in Unquiet Dreams.”

  —BookLoons

  Praise for

  unshapely things

  “A richly detailed world . . . It will pull you along a corkscrew of twists and turns to a final cataclysmic battle that could literally remake the world.”

  —Rob Thurman, national bestselling author of Blackout

  “An engaging urban fantasy . . . a bravura finale.”

  —SF Reviews.net

  “[An] entertaining contemporary fantasy mystery with a hard-boiled druid detective . . . a promising start to a new series.”

  —Locus

  “Masterfully blends detective thriller with fantasy . . . a fast-paced thrill ride . . . Del Franco never pauses the action . . . and Connor Grey is a very likable protagonist. The twisting action and engaging lead make Unshapely Things hard to put down.”

  —BookLoons

  “The intriguing cast of characters keeps the readers involved with the mystery wrapped up in the fantasy . . . I look forward to spending more time with Connor in the future and learning more about him and his world.”

  —Gumshoe

  “A wonderfully written, richly detailed, and complex fantasy novel with twists and turns that make it unputdownable . . . Mr. Del Franco’s take on magic and paranormal elements is fresh and intriguing. Connor Grey’s an appealing hero bound to delight fantasy and paranormal romance fans alike.”

  —The Romance Readers Connection

  “Compelling and fast paced . . . The world-building is superb . . . Fans of urban fantasy should get a kick out of book one in this new series.”

  —Romantic Times

  “A very impressive start. The characters were engaging and believable, and the plot was intriguing. I found myself unable to put it down until I had devoured it completely, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the sequel.”

  —BookFetish

  “A wonderful, smart, and action-packed mystery involving dead fairies, political intrigue, and maybe a plot to destroy humanity . . . Unshapely Things has everything it takes to launch a long-running series, and I’m very excited to see what Del Franco has in store next for Connor Grey and his friends.”

  —Bookslut

  Ace Books by Mark Del Franco

  The Connor Grey Series

  UNSHAPELY THINGS

  UNQUIET DREAMS

  UNFALLEN DEAD

  UNPERFECT SOULS

  UNCERTAIN ALLIES

  The Laura Blackstone Series

  SKIN DEEP

  FACE OFF

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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  South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 8
0 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  UNCERTAIN ALLIES

  An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Ace mass-market edition / May 2011

  Copyright © 2011 by Mark Del Franco.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-51407-8

  ACE

  Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  For Jack, as always

  1

  Nighttime in the city made me feel at home no matter where I was. The sun went down, and the city changed, became its own dark twin, rich with mystery and surprise. The interplay of light and shadow, the garish and the mundane, produced stark contrasts that changed my perspective of the world. Details stood out in the pooled light of streetlamps that were lost clutter in the daytime. Faces became cloaked with meaning or menace. Mysteries deepened, too, the unnoticed receding into the unseen.

  Maybe that was my way of romanticizing the Weird, the decrepit Boston neighborhood I called home. It looked abandoned during the day, the tired dumping ground for the shunned fey—the fairy folk from Ireland and Germany. At night it came alive, filled with humans and fey folk hustling for one thing or another, partying too hard, staying too long, and pushing themselves to the limit. At night it came alive, which meant that sometimes someone ended up dead.

  That’s what Convergence brought to the world. When Faerie merged with modern reality a century ago, it brought not only fey people but all of their hopes and hatreds. Danann fairies ruled from Tara in Ireland and looked down at all the rest of the Celtic fey. Teutonic elves occupied significant parts of old Germany and threatened war at every turn. Caught between them were the refugees from the old ways—the solitary fey that didn’t fit in with the mainstream. They spread across Europe and the Atlantic, hoping for a better life than they had known. Instead, they ended up in places like the Weird while the usual power players moved into the upper echelons of human society.

  I had spent my professional career seeking justice for the fey. Connor Grey was the go-to guy for crimes involving fairies and elves or any other fey species. I was one of the best—maybe the best—investigators the Fey Guild ever had. The Guild was the administrative arm for High Queen Maeve at Tara and leader of the Celtic fey. When I lost my druid abilities in a fight with an elven terrorist, I got kicked to the curb. That’s when I learned the Guild cared only about the Guild, the rich, and the powerful, and I had been a pawn in its political schemes without realizing it. I spent a year moping, watching my friends, my home, and my money disappear. For another year, I helped the Boston police department solve crimes that the Guild could not care less about—crimes against the weak and the powerless rungs of fey society. I didn’t help the Guild or the police anymore, not really. Now I did favors. That was a kind way of saying no one wanted to give me official sanction. I had screwed up a lot of plans for a lot of powerful people in the last year. Now, I helped people I trusted and hoped that my trust wasn’t misplaced.

  Eorla Kruge Elvendottir was one of those people. She had tried to find a way to unify the Celtic and Teutonic fey and failed. She defied her cousin, the Elven King, and broke away from his rule. With her own court in the Weird, she vowed to take care of anyone who needed it and leave ancient rivalries behind. When she received reports that people were going missing and a strange blue light marked their disappearance, she asked me to look into it.

  I had spent the evening chasing rumors, loud noises, and flashes of light. The light came from essence, the energy that bound everything in the world together. As a druid, I sensed the nuances of essence and could recognize things by their unique signatures. Except hunting essence in the Weird was an exercise in frustration. With so many fey living here, sorting out trails was a painstaking process. I was good at it, but tonight wasn’t successful. Whatever was causing the disappearances was as elusive as my reputation.

  I was on my way home when I spotted a Boston police car parked beside a pile of broken concrete. The Tangle lay beyond, the section of the waterfront that made the rest of the Weird safe and secure by comparison. This end of the neighborhood was a burned-out husk, the epicenter of a night of fire and riot a few months earlier. Little remained of the businesses that had managed to survive. Where the Tangle was a nest of intrigue and danger, the area next to it had become a wasteland of nothing. Even electricity was spotty—a few streetlights remained standing, but the buildings were clothed in darkness without even a hint of a squatter’s candle. The hard white light of an arc lamp made finding the crime scene easy.

  A building had once been where I stood but had collapsed into a heap of rubble from the heat of fire. An unsecured strip of crime-scene tape fluttered in the wind. I climbed over the first pile of soot-stained bricks and brittle mortar. Light shone from behind the next pile, dark shadows cutting through the beam of the arc light as people passed in front of the lamp. I threaded along a narrow wedge of space too filled with debris to be called a vacant lot.

  “Something about not crossing a police line not apply to you, Grey?”

  The dark shape of a uniformed police officer stepped into view from the side of the pit. Officer Gerard Murdock directed his flashlight at me, forcing me to turn away. “Hey, Gerry.”

  He moved closer. “I asked you a question.”

  I tried to squint past the beam of light. I knew Gerry—I knew all the Murdocks—through their brother Leo, a homicide detective with the Boston police force. Gerry’s tone didn’t sound like he was joking. “Eorla asked me to check things out, Gerry. What’s going on?”

  He had his hand on his holstered gun. At least, I thought it was holstered. “I don’t care what some trumped-up elf queen wants. Get out of here before I get clumsy.”

  To be kind, Gerry had what might be described as an anger-management problem. His father—who had been the police commissioner—was murdered under odd circumstances, and Gerry wasn’t happy the case had not been resolved yet. “I’m just doing my job, Gerry.”

  “Do it someplace else,” he said.

  I held my hand up to block the flashlight beam. “I’m sorry about your father, Gerry, but I didn’t kill him. You know everything that happened that night. I know you read the report.”

  He inched closer. “Yeah, well, of the people who were there, two are dead, one’s in a coma, and you used to sleep with the other. Excuse me if I’m having a hard time with your credibility.”

  For months now, I had been letting his attitude slide. His father was dead. I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t do it, but I did have an unwitting role in the events that led to it. It made me feel guilty, so between that and respecting his grief, I took the taunts and accusations. “Gerry, I told the truth. When Manus ap Eagan wakes up from his coma, he’ll confirm it.”

  He sneered. “Really? He’s going to confess to murder? That I’d like to see.”

  Except for their father, I liked the Murdocks. I was getting tired of tiptoeing around Gerry’s te
mper and tired of him. “Yeah, well, I don’t see you so quick to confess to murder.”

  Gerry dropped his flashlight and grabbed me by the front of my jacket. He bent me back, keeping me off-balance. “You listen to me, you punk bastard. I don’t give a damn about you. You want a bullet in the head, you keep talking.”

  I smirked. “You wouldn’t be the first Murdock to shoot me.”

  I read his body language wrong and didn’t see the arm moving. He punched me in the face, his fist sliding off my cheekbone. I pushed him off me, and we stumbled away from each other. He pulled his gun.

  “I miss something important, Gerry?”

  Detective Lieutenant Leonard Murdock stood on the pile of bricks I had come down. If it wasn’t for Leo, I would have died now and then. I’ve returned the favor. We were gym buddies first, then work partners, then friends. Why he stuck by me after the mess I brought into his life baffled me, but it meant a lot. With his hands in his pockets, Leo stared down at his brother. Gerry glared at him, then at me. He holstered the gun and stalked off. Leo picked his way down the pile. “I see you’re making friends as usual.”