Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  It was possible that she could. Especially if they were traveling on a Tuesday. She worked all of those, in the evenings. Sometimes at other times.

  She nodded.

  “Not an issue for me. I won’t think less of you for it.” What the others were going to think about it, she didn’t have a clue.

  Except that both of them just hugged their third partner and didn’t even bother speaking about it at the moment.

  Before anything in particular could be brought up, there was a hush over the room.

  “Oh! Hey, they have the final count.” It was also the first one, but that was just how the Shifters did things. It was so no one would feel like they shouldn’t bother voting.

  Avery had. It was surprisingly boring. It did leave her feeling adult, though. She was enough of a member of her community that her voice was counted as being real. As much as anyone was. Nearly. At least as far as that day went.

  They all floated to the television screen. Interestingly, Steve York pulled out a small video camera, and started to get the whole thing down. No one else had thought to do that.

  Avery had been studying things like that for her new show, just in case it was useful to have cross training.

  “Steve, set up over to the side? Calley, you should be in the front, with Tyler and Ginger behind you. Mr. Little, you need to be there as well. Then we’ll put the others behind them. Hurry. We don’t know when the announcement will be released.” The television man, the newscaster, claimed it could be any moment.

  For some reason everyone did what she’d suggested. The only thing that she didn’t get was that Calley waved her over. Then Wendel Little shook his head.

  “Ah… We’d best not do that. Our line walker needs to be seen as politically neutral. No matter who wins today, or who they voted for, people need to understand that Ms. Rome will be there for them at need.”

  Instead of seeming upset by that, Hale looked at Avery and nodded. It was Presidential, even if she didn’t win.

  “Good plan. Avery, perhaps you should stand by the door, so you can leave instantly, when the announcement is made? If that’s a good idea, I mean.”

  She did it, having to fight through seventy-odd people to make it happen. Given that she might have to actually hurry out of there to one of the other places that she’d memorized, it could make a difference. Not that it was an emergency. Whoever won would still be the winner if she got there five minutes later than she intended.

  There wasn’t a lot of buildup to the announcement, just a flash on the screen, showing the percentages, and a man’s voice.

  “It looks like Calley Hale, former Ambassador at Sparks for the Shifter Nation is now President. She has thirty-two percent of the vote in this very evenly split, winner takes all race.” There was more data, but the cheering in the room drowned that out.

  It was enough that Kaitlyn put her hands over her ears. A few of the others did as well. Calley, President Hale, didn’t do that, knowing she was being captured on camera at the moment. Instead she simply put a hand up, then, very clearly, looked at the television again. Double checking, like anyone intelligent would have done. Then there was a single sound, as everyone became silent.

  A cellphone ring tone. It was a simple buzzer, instead of music.

  It also came from her bag.

  “Well, that’s embarrassing timing.” That was from Ann, since she was ever so helpful. Avery just answered the device.

  “Avery Rome, how may I help you today.”

  “Ms. Rome? This is Jahn Samson. It looks like Calley Hale is the new President of our people. I know that you have a plan in place?” He didn't add any more than that.

  Really, his voice sounded both pleased and a bit hesitant. As if she were going to not deliver the new President to where the cameras were.

  “I’m on site right now, President Samson. President Elect Hale has just gotten the news. When do you want us there for her acceptance speech?” Everyone was listening to her. Most of them were listening to both sides of the conversation, she knew.

  Certainly, Calley was.

  “Would being here in ten minutes be too soon? I don’t know the schedule there…”

  There was a nod from Calley, though she didn't call out.

  “That works. We’ll be there directly. Thank you for calling, President Samson.” Then she hung up, since there was a mission to take care of.

  Like the Humans did, the Shifters didn’t pass power instantly or without ceremony. They had speeches and things like that. It would happen sixty days after the election. That day, there was going to be a different speech. One that she didn't have to give, which made Avery happy.

  “We’re heading out now. Who’s going? We have to move to a node first, but we can do that from the front yard.” She headed out, only to be followed by every single person in the place.

  Three of them were line walkers, and another was a Greater Demon, so at least she wouldn’t have to take them along with her. Before she could mention that, Calley moved forward.

  “Tyler, Ginger and Wendel. Is that too many? We can leave them all, if it is…”

  Avery didn’t talk about it, since she had been about to take everyone in on her own. It would take over an hour to do them all, but four people would be easier.

  It actually only took her about three minutes to move them all from Tyler’s house to the Colorado complex. It would have taken less time, but they had to go to Westfield first, and use the node there. The Shifter node, which had taken her a bit of effort to work out the exit on. There was really only one node at the mall, but it had a lot of potential openings. The trick of it was that the shortcut from Tyler’s went to the back of the Yoghurt World specifically.

  Drawing a new link for it wasn’t impossible, but it took her time to work out how to make it work right. All of that was done in the node, without Calley noticing. That probably meant that, inside of her, she could manage being there if she needed to. How long it took, Avery didn’t know, but Calley didn’t mention it when they got to the shop. The next three trips were simple compared to that first one. Then it was easy to get to the right place.

  She’d been there before. Many times.

  By the time she had Ginger Harris in place, the others were standing there, waiting with Jahn Samson, who stood there alone. Smiling at Calley.

  “President Hale. We have a room ready for your speech. There are…” The man actually shook his head. Then he leaned in to whisper softly. “We had to turn some of the camera crews away. We just didn’t have space for them. This way?”

  They all followed along, including her. The Avery plan was to hang back, away from the cameras and attention, so that she’d be there and ready to remove people back to the party. That was her job for the time being, so she moved into place, holding back by the door of the room they went into. It was a large place, with cameras up in front.

  Calley didn’t seem nervous at all. In fact, she seemed slow and still, for her. That was still twitchier than a regular person, but for her it was really telling. She was being confident and Presidential. After Jahn introduced her, she moved to the front of the room. The staff there was on the floor, but there were only about forty of them. The cameras were behind them however, which would make it seem like the clapping and cheering was coming from a larger group.

  “Thank you. Thank you all.” She looked at the room for a moment, until the space fell silent. The podium was a light blue color, with a gold curtain behind her, instead of a decorative wall like Avery had noticed had been there earlier in the day.

  It was festive enough.

  “Every time there’s a transition of power, there are growing pains. My goal is to keep that to a minimum, while focusing each and every day on improving the life of each and every member of the Shifter Nation. That’s my goal, my mission and my promise to you all. The first thing I do in the morning will be looking out for your best interests. The last thing I do at night will be the same.” She looked over
at the cameras then, and opened her right hand, gesturing with it toward that area of the room.

  “I’d also like to say this. The Shifter Nation does not exist in a vacuum. I hope that, in the coming years, we will work even more closely with our Human, Vampire, Mage and other friends. There are too many to list, but I do mean all of you.”

  There was a bit of shifting in the room, but nothing else, since they were there to listen to the speech being given.

  “As we go on, into this new partnership, the Shifter Nation will be strong and ready to stand with our allies, both new and old. Thank you all.”

  Then, after her short statement, she got off the stage, moving out of the room to the side. Along with the others. Not that they were planning to leave without her. It meant that Avery was stuck in the flow of bodies leaving the room however. Most of them were staff there, but there were camera people as well as the face persons that were there to get interviews.

  Several of them followed her out into the hallway.

  “Miss? Would you like to comment on the new Shifter President? Calley Hale.” The man that spoke said it as if she wouldn’t know who had won or something.

  A hand touched her arm, getting her to turn around. Then there was a bit of a gasp from several people. As if her being there was strange. It really wasn’t all that odd anymore. She’d been in every week or two for almost three months.

  From the crowd, someone, a Human reporter, called out.

  “Avery! Avery Rome! Did you come with President Elect Hale? Are you dating?”

  That got her to blink, but instead of shutting down, she focused on feeling very confident and centered for a few seconds. When she was ready, and not a moment before, she spoke.

  “Dating? No. I provided the line travel for today, since I’m a Shifter. It’s my duty to serve. My people and anyone in need, if I can manage it.” She just meant with line travel for emergencies, but everyone would probably understand that part.

  That answer didn’t really stop the questions, though she was able to talk about Calley for about ninety percent of it. Mainly focusing on how happy she was with the decision that the Nation had come to, along with how hard working Calley and doubtless her new staff, were.

  Not that she knew about that.

  Then, thankfully, other people were allowed to be on the hot seat, instead of her. It took a bit of care to work her way back to the node room, avoiding the press while doing it. No one else was waiting there, but it seemed a natural place to find a line walker, if you needed one. To her at least. There were no chairs in the space, since it wasn’t often used and when it was, the matter tended to be fairly big. Meaning that sitting around wasn’t the first thing that came to mind in that particular space.

  Not at all the kind of thing that had a lot of lounging going on. It was a shame, since she was feeling a little hungry and tired at the moment. The creeping exhaustion was mainly down to having been around people all day long. That always took it out of her, she was starting to realize. It was worse when she was supposed to be herself, instead of just working.

  The room was nice and quiet though, even if she could hear the booming sounds of dozens of people walking around the place. With a little attention, she located where Calley, Jahn, Tyler and Ginger were in the place. She thought that Wendel Little was with them, but the telling thing was that Ginger was there. She only moved when she wanted to. The rest were much louder, but the Vampire could vanish from time to time, just by not moving. The others were all near her, and Calley, being a Bat Shifter, just moved so much that she was one of the loudest things in the area.

  It wasn’t too bad, thankfully. Larger crowds were harder to handle that way.

  After about twenty minutes of standing, the group started to move in her general direction. They were intercepted by other people, several times, stopping to chat with them. Finally, adding another person to the collection, they made better time on the last thirty feet or so. The new person was small, and female, but Avery couldn’t tell who it was exactly.

  Not until they got to the door of the room.

  Tyler waved at her speaking loudly after the relative silence in the space.

  “There she is. I knew that she wouldn’t leave us here, all alone and wanting her company.” He walked over to her directly and gave her a hug. It was a real embrace, not just something you did with a friend. That got a snicker, from Ginger.

  No one commented on it, and Tyler moved back after about ten seconds. From the back of the space, Rutha Samson watched, her face a bit still. Stiff, but not angry. Avery smiled at her and waved.

  “Rutha! Are you coming back to Tyler’s?” She didn't know if that was going to be a thing that night, but Calley nodded, seeming happy about it.

  “Yep. If that’s good with you? We have a whole thing planned. The only difference is that I’m not going to get drunk to cover my pain at losing. It should be wild.”

  That was, again, about the line walking, not anything else. It wasn’t like she was going to prevent them from going to have fun. Even though she didn’t really know her own place in something like that.

  The movement through the void took longer this time, though only because they picked up Catherine Peterson at Westfield. The woman didn’t ask to come, really, just standing there at the door of the node room as it filled with people. It was far from grand seeming, being where the clothing shop kept their extra merchandise, or at least a big part of it. That had the place filled with boxes, half of which had been opened already, a few with brightly colored cloth showing through the top.

  Rutha sniffed a bit, but Calley accepted it pretty easily. So did Jahn. Catherine moved into the space silently, her face a little bit set. She was pretty, in an exotic way. She was a cat Shifter of some sort and it showed in her movement and face.

  The woman spoke, softly.

  “President Samson. So lovely to see you. President Elect Hale.” She grinned then, and shook her head. “That one is going to take some getting used to! Congratulations!” There was a hug then, which Tyler got in on as well. The woman had told Avery that she’d had a hard time with bigotry herself for a long time, but that didn't seem to extend all the way over to Tyler Gartner. At least she held him back well enough to sell the whole thing as them being friends.

  Calley invited her to the party, but was rejected. With a rueful grin.

  “I can’t. Someone has to work this place this evening. At least until nine. We should get together soon? I need to call Ben anyway and commiserate.”

  That got the Bat Shifter to make a considering sound.

  “I need to do that as well. Make a call to each of the others that were in the running.”

  Technically they were supposed to call her, which Wendel Little pointed out. Rutha nodded, then managed an actual, if slightly sad, smile.

  “That’s right. We should probably go? I’m sure that your friends will want to celebrate the night with you.” If she was sad about her husband leaving power, it didn’t show.

  Which was different than what Avery would have guessed for the woman. The few times they’d met she’d always seemed rather impressed with her own power and place in the world.

  “Good idea. Here, let me… This way, everyone.” It was familiar to all of them, so it didn’t take much work and no one stood in front of the shortcut they were using to get to Tyler’s house, on the other side. Eventually, she got Tyler through, since he’d come through last, chatting with Catherine while he could.

  She just waited and let them talk for a while. It was different than she would have suspected. To her, the obvious thing for them to be talking about would either be the new President, or a date. Tyler was good looking and in an open relationship. He also obviously enjoyed sex, even if he was of the unclean Undead.

  Instead, they spoke about Humans.

  Catherine went first on the topic.

  “My contacts have mentioned that the Human government seems to think that they have the matter of the atta
cks handled. Do you have anything on that?”

  Tyler actually looked over at Avery, his face blank. He spoke anyway, right in front of her.

  “I have some people that are looking into it. Demons. So far it seems like there’s a group of about ten thousand military men behind this. Some politicians as well. It really wasn’t the old President and definitely isn’t about the new one. The feeling is that we’ll be seeing more attacks soon. We might be able to break this open. I hope so. We don’t need a real war coming out of this.”

  That made sense. Ten thousand men and women couldn’t really do that much to them. What could happen however was a concentrated attack, which forced people to protect themselves. Eventually making a war take place, since no one would be able to tell the good Humans from the bad ones. It would be a real problem if that took place. She had friends that were Humans now, even. They could be hurt. They couldn’t just Shift if it happened, either. No, if they were shot, it wouldn’t just be a few minutes of pain while they fixed it, then a run in a furry, feathered or scaled form for a while. They could even die from things that no Shifter would bother to fear.

  The conversation was informative though, so Avery tucked things away. There had been a low-level fear almost constantly since the last big attack. Time had kind of pushed that down a bit, but three months didn’t mean that the people who wanted them all dead had gone away. It reminded her to keep her eyes open. Not that she didn’t try, day to day.

  It was just hard to do, when nothing happened for a while.

  That wasn’t just her issue, either. Everyone had the same problem. It had been in her lessons at battle camp. Soldiers left in the field too long without threat went stale and couldn’t keep their guard up. Training helped, but everyone would eventually grow used to the place they were at. The trick was to recall that and try to fight against it, as well as you could, day to day. She’d been lacking in that a bit, over the last weeks.