by N R Tucker
“Excellent suggestion,” Shawn blushed and hurried over to Lady Snowbell.
Saffron didn’t bother to hide her smile when Ridge walked over.
“You could have sent the shifter away from my niece and not into her arms,” Ridge groused.
“I could have, but the young have met in the hall of battles for over six thousand years. In fact, you and Lady Tempest are credited with starting that tradition.”
Ridge didn’t dignify the remark with a comment as he walked away. He wasn’t worried. Lady Saffron, regardless of flippant remarks, was in the hall specifically to watch the numerous guests who happened to meet up in the hall of battles. In truth, he was surprised it took Snowbell and Shawn until the last night to meet up.
Chapter 17
No more watching every word that came out of his mouth. No more stepping to the tune the fae played. Being home was comforting. After flying in his golden eagle form, Ryan sat on the ledge overlooking the valley. He pulled the book out of his back pocket and paged through it again. Ryan would have to ask someone for help translating it, but who? Tempe was the obvious choice, but he wasn’t sure she would interpret it properly. Tempe was still over the top protective of Val’s memory. If Ryan asked anyone else they would have to keep the secret from Tempe, and aside from that being a hard task to accomplish, he didn’t want anyone to lie for him.
He sensed a presence and dropped the book back in his pocket. Ryan looked down and watched a raven fly toward him. She soared up and landed beside him, shifting in the process.
“Is this a private Zen moment, or can I join you?” Sage asked, even though she had already plopped down on the ledge.
Not wanting to go into the whole thing, Ryan commented, “Just thinking.”
“Anything I can help with?” She smiled when he didn’t answer and asked another question, “What were Val’s quarters like?”
Ryan shot her a suspicious look, “You already know, don’t you?”
“You’re difficult for me to block.” Sage smiled. “Tempe says it’s because we’re so linked. Of course, I still don’t know what that means.”
Ryan laughed and leaned back on the cliff. “Yeah, I suspect she’ll drop that bomb on us at some point, but I haven’t wanted to ask.”
“Exactly. I have to return to Calabozo soon. I just wanted you to know you could talk to me. We haven’t had much time to just talk with everything that happened.”
“True,” Ryan watched Sage stand. Before she shifted, he added, “I don’t think you can read ancient fae either.” He pulled the book out of his back pocket.
Sage turned in surprise, “Did you find that in Val’s quarters? Tempe or Star is probably your best bet. I know Tempe doesn’t like to talk about Val, but if she agreed to translate it for you, she wouldn’t hide anything, but she might take a long time to translate it.” She jumped off the ledge and shifted.
“My thought as well,” Ryan muttered. He sat for a few more minutes with the book in his hand. A slow smile spread over his face as an idea occurred to him.
*****
Victoria looked around in awe, still amazed after a month at her new job. She had been vetted and allowed into a shifter research facility working for Destin. He spent her first morning showing her around, and she was seriously impressed. The preternaturals, shifters at least, seemed to have money enough for every cutting-edge gadget. Heck, they invented or improved a few of them.
Getting to work every day was interesting. Meeting up with other humans working the same shift at the facility, they rode in the back of a van with no windows and arrived inside the complex in less than a minute. Victoria suspected magic kept her and the other humans from realizing the passage of time, so they couldn’t figure out where they were going. Each trip passed without the vehicle speeding up or slowing down, and with no external noise.
The shifters ran their facility like a military installation. Victoria’s badge granted her access to her work area, the restrooms, cafeteria, break room, and a first aid station. That was it. The only other door, she assumed it accessed the rest of the facility, was guarded by two uniformed shifters at all times. The only human who ever used that door was Destin. Occasionally, a shifter would enter from there, but that was it. Even with all the cloak and dagger, it was the nicest place she ever worked. The facility was underground, but the break room had screens hooked up to show video cams from all over the world. You could watch street scenes in Italy and Japan, underwater video of a reef, the open plains in Africa and jungles in South America, and even various news stations. It was relaxing.
Victoria finished up her work for the day and left for her vanpool. Once in her car, she ran a few errands. Back home, Victoria hopped out of her vehicle, slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed two bags of groceries, and grinned. Her bangs didn’t fall in her eyes. They were finally long enough to pull back out of her eyes.
At her door, Victoria placed one of the bags on the ground to put her key in the lock. Door open, she picked up the bag, and something pinched in her neck. Geoffrey Watson, her old boss, the one who had corrupted her research, walked toward her. With him was a huge man Victoria didn’t know. She fell to the ground, unconscious.
Victoria woke with a hangover. The bed was too firm. She groaned in confusion. She hadn’t gotten drunk since that one time in college, freshman year. Who wanted to feel that bad the next day? There was too much to learn to waste time on self-inflicted pain. Oh, no! Her eyes opened wide. She was in a cell, not her bed. Geoffrey stood on the other side of the bars
“Where am I?” She pushed her bangs out of her face, realizing that the band that secured her bangs was no longer in her hair. Did they think she could use it as a weapon? Perhaps someone could, but not her.
“You shouldn’t have left like that, Victoria. You shouldn’t have deleted your research.” He grinned, “But all’s well that ends well. Now you’ll tell us everything you’ve learned about the shifters, working in their secret facility.”
“I won’t betray them.” Victoria sat up straight and eyed her former boss.
Geoffrey laughed and walked away.
Victoria sat back down on the bed. Yeah, Geoffrey was right to laugh. She didn’t know anything about interrogation but doubted she would present much of a problem for a seasoned interrogator, or a new one for that matter. At least she couldn’t tell them anything other than the specific research she was working on. Two guards opened her cell and Victoria looked up. She didn’t cause a scene. She simply walked with them. No reason to waste the energy.
Five hours later she was returned to her cell, in handcuffs. Victoria curled up on the bed and breathed deeply, relieved to be alone. She hadn’t given anything away, not even about her research, but so far, they just asked questions and threatened, nothing physical, but she was sure it was coming. Geoffrey said something about taking it to the next level. Exhausted, she drifted off to sleep, only to be shaken awake.
“Get up. Let’s go.” A rough hand pulled her up and pushed her toward the door.
Victoria stumbled down the hallway, fully alert with the realization that they were done playing nice. They took her to a different interrogation room, sparser and much more menacing. Victoria’s mouth fell open in surprise. Dave Roberts, former director of the defunct AIB, sat across the table. He smiled.
Victoria sat down but didn’t return the smile. She had heard the whispers about the AIB and what they did to humans and preternaturals alike. Victoria even watched the 60 Minutes exposé on the AIB last year. How could she rank a visit from the preternatural boogieman?
“Ms. Nelsen, can I call you Victoria?”
“Call me anything you like. I’m not talking.”
A smile spread across Dave’s face, “Okay, I’ll talk, Victoria.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’ve been lied to. You think you’re helping humanity, but you aren’t. If these… creatures… are allowed to move about freely they can destroy the world. Their powers
are dangerous.”
Victoria huffed, “Of course they’re dangerous. Humans aren’t the apex predator anymore, never have been really, and it sucks, doesn’t it? But the fact is, they’ve been on this earth with us since the beginning, and for the most part they’re more humane than we are. They protect the weak. They haven’t made slaves of us all, and it’s obvious they could. Only humans are trying to kill that which is different.” She held up her cuffed hands, “Seriously, you have armed guards in this room, and I’m in cuffs. I have no special powers and zero military training. I’m a geek.”
“But we don’t know that, do we?” Dave nodded to someone behind her.
“Know what?” Victoria looked up in surprise.
“If you’re human.”
The blow to her shoulder connected with such force that she fell out of the chair and hit the floor with a thud. The guard stood over her, poised to strike again.
“Preternaturals heal faster than humans. Consider this your verification that you’re human.” Dave watched, disinterested.
Gasping for breath, Victoria raised her right arm to block the next hit, forgot she had on cuffs and nearly pulled her left arm out of the socket. The second blow the guard dealt landed on her ribs, and she heard bones break. She hit the ground, once again gasping for breath. This time it hurt. She couldn’t get her mouth open to protest as tears fell down her face. A simple blood test would verify that she didn’t carry the magic gene, as it was called. This was a statement of some type.
Overhead an alarm pulsated.
“A gate just opened,” Geoffrey ran into the room, leaving the door open. The sounds of fighting grew steadily louder. He eyed Victoria’s injuries and cringed. “What have you done? You said you just wanted to talk to her.”
“And you… you believe him?” Victoria’s voice was so soft that she didn’t think anyone would hear her.
“Fools believe what they’re told,” Tempe explained from the doorway. Standing with her was Serenity, Ryan, Bryce, and Phoenix, all well-known public faces of the shifter community.
“You came for me,” Victoria sighed in relief.
“Of course, we came. Hold still so I can heal you enough to get you out of here,” Ryan said.
She looked at him in surprise. She must have spoken out loud.
Ryan got good and rattled. He couldn’t heal her. He didn’t have the medical training to do it correctly. A shifter could recover from the damage he would inflict realigning the ribs, but he wasn’t sure a human could. Ryan grimaced and then gave her his version of the medical everything-will-be-all-right smile, “You have broken ribs. One punctured your lung. I’m taking you straight to our doctors. I have to pick you up to carry you into the gate. I’m sorry, it’s gonna hurt.”
Victoria nodded and prepared for the pain. Ryan picked her up and tears ran down her face. She didn’t scream only because she passed out.
Serenity walked over and opened a gate. The three of them left.
Dave Roberts had kept his eyes on Tempest the entire time. From the moment Serenity entered the room until she opened the gate and left, Tempest had drawn an ancient stone dagger, green in color, and held it between her and her sister. Why would she do that?
Tempe dropped her dagger back in its sheath. She pulled the two guards and Dave Roberts into a wind funnel, opened a gate and left. Bryce and Phoenix went with her.
Geoffrey stumbled back into the wall and tried to steady his breathing. What had happened?
A tall blonde male entered the room, “We need to leave. This place is gonna blow.”
“You… you can’t do that,” Geoffrey whined.
“It’s already done.” The shifter grabbed Geoffrey and frog-marched him down the hall.
*****
Phoenix exited the gate in front of the Supreme Court Justices in the middle of a meeting. Stacks of paperwork on various cases and petitions were spread out in front of them. Phoenix looked around, no longer surprised his eldest sister opened a way into the internal layout of buildings she shouldn’t have knowledge of.
Tempe dropped the wind funnel, and the three men fell to the floor. “We are done. Either you police humans who cause harm to shifters and humans working with shifters, or we will treat humans who break our laws the same as we treat shifters who break our laws.”
Matthew Goldwin, one of the justices, stood up, “As I understand shifter law, you have three telepaths read their mind and, if they are guilty, they die.”
“Exactly,” Phoenix replied. “Shifters don’t have prisons. The Three look into the mind of the person and determine the level of guilt. If there is a chance of rehabilitation and a shifter steps forward as guardian, the guilty are allowed the opportunity to rehabilitate, if not, they die.”
“What are the odds a shifter would be willing to become the guardian of human?” Matthew asked.
“Very small,” Phoenix acknowledged.
“But that means these so-called telepaths could lie and have you kill an innocent.” Marie Pentax protested.
“They can’t lie to the executioner.” Tempe narrowed her eyes on the justices.
“You mean you don’t think they would lie to you,” Justice Pentax said. Tempest was the executioner.
“No, I mean they can’t,” Tempe pressed her lips together.
Pentax looked at the powerful shifter, and her eyes narrowed, “In addition to the powers we know about, you’re a telepath as well?”
Tempe inclined her head in agreement.
“You lied on the forms,” Pentax smiled in victory.
Bryce stepped forward, “And you want to bag and tag us. We will not allow that to happen. The question before us is what do we do about these men? Will you prosecute them, or do we kill them? They were torturing a human who works in one of our facilities.”
Matthew Goldwin silenced Pentax with a look and answered, “You have instant justice. We have processes and procedures that take time. We also need proof, physical evidence to prosecute anyone. We don’t have telepaths and, to be honest, many of us don’t believe in them.”
“Here’s your proof. The AIB’s own video of their interrogation.” Phoenix dropped the disks on the desk in front of Goldwin.
Maria Pentax smiled gleefully, “It’s not admissible in our courts. It wasn’t gathered properly.”
“The human courts need to catch up with reality. I have been ordered to assist in setting up acceptable laws and guidelines for authorized shifters to submit evidence.” Bryce kept his eyes on Goldwin.
“And if we refuse?” Pentax asked.
“That’s your choice. These three we leave with you, do what you will. Just know that we will be watching, and if you can’t handle human on preternatural crimes then the next time we catch humans torturing anyone connected with the shifter community, I will kill. It’s certainly easier for me to kill rather than detain.” Tempe returned Maria’s smile.
Bryce handed his new business card to Goldwin. This card identified him as the sovereign’s legal advocate. “Discuss amongst yourselves and contact me if you want to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Tempe opened a gate, and the shifters left. The gate exited on Bryce’s property, Beryl Lane. In this case, it seemed like the best option and would cause no harm. They exited in the tower that served as both a lookout over the valley and a kid’s playhouse.
“That was fun. I need to meet with Sage before returning to PAC HQ,” Phoenix waved and headed for the entrance to Calabozo in Tempe’s house.
Tempe looked over the valley, “It looks peaceful, doesn’t it? I keep waiting for an invasion force, either other shifters or the humans. Funny, I’m no longer all that worried about the fae.”
“Do you truly believe Rafael will make a play? He doesn’t have the raw power needed to take on the Alpha Clan.”
“I’m not sure he sees it that way. Rafael was never happy under Rayna’s rule, but he understood she alone could take him out. He doesn’t think Sage has built up the
strength and knowledge to stand against him, one on one. Rafael seems to be waiting for some signal, and I think he’s hoping I won’t be around for the attack. He doesn’t like me, but Rafael respects my fighting skills. Over the last few centuries, he’s made comments about the other alphas getting weaker while I was the only one fighting. Rafael believes they’ve gotten rusty and are no longer a fighting force.”
Bryce stepped up behind her and pulled her into his arms, “Not taking the prifs to the Farseen for the Freed Fae War means they haven’t seen you guys in action for a long time. Perhaps the other alphas should showcase their talents more.”
“That’s one of the reasons Sage set up the teams for going out and handling issues.”
Chapter 18
Victoria came awake with a start. She had been questioned and beaten and should be in a lot more pain than she was. Where the heck was she now? Victoria could open her eyes to see, but she was afraid to do that.
“It’s okay, you’re safe.”
The comment came from a voice she didn’t recognize. Victoria opened her eyes to look at the woman, obviously a preternatural. Even without her current bruises, all preternaturals made her feel decidedly average looking. Victoria pushed her bangs out of her eyes.
The woman handed her a clip for her hair and placed a hand on her arm. “I’m Lea, a sister of Tempest. Doctor Long and I treated your injuries, but you should move slowly for a few days.”
“How? My ribs were broken, weren’t they?” Victoria touched her side. It was tender, but she wasn’t taped up, and nothing felt broken anymore. She pulled her bangs back with the clip and sighed in relief. She would never allow her bangs to be cut again. “You’re a healer? I thought healers were a myth.”
“We aren’t common, but we do exist. Working with Doctor Long, I was able to heal you, but since you’re human, your ribs will be tender and easy to break again for at least a couple of weeks.”
“Cool. Don’t suppose you could ask the crazies to leave me alone while I heal?”