by Jo Palmer
Everyone bolted. Creatures who couldn’t shift away used their superspeed, others assisted those who couldn’t shift or move fast enough, and even Penny was grabbed by Blaine, who snatched and moved with amazing speed. Out in the hall, they heard walls explode and Ace trying to calm his temperamental, overly powerful mother down so she didn’t destroy the High Council chambers.
“She has always been so dramatic.” Tacie sighed heavily.
“Her youngest son is in danger; of course she is high-strung at present. Why, if it were me, I would be tearing the world apart searching for one of my family. Nico, take the brownie to the werewolf compound.” Queen Stephanie waved a hand regally at Nico, who complied immediately, misting away with Ada, who looked stunned and alarmed as her body was transformed to mist. “Now, Divij, the moon alignment. How long do we have until they are fully aligned?”
“Forty-eight hours. Unless the ancient one hurries it along. It would be good to know why she does this…” Divij trailed off, then inclined his head. “Fairy Perry, thank you for gracing us with your presence.”
Everyone turned or glanced in the direction Divij was looking. Penny moved quickly forward, smiling at Perry.
“Wow, you’re aligning the moons! Why?”
The fairy smiled gently. “It is necessary. I do hope Giselle is OK. I can retrieve Jaac if she desires, but he has something most important to do, and I cast a protection over him to help keep him safe. Though the boy did not stand still long enough, so it may only have covered half of him—”
“That was kind of you, dear.” Stephanie moved closer, stalking. She tutted. “We need to know why and to place you in protection from Grydern.”
Penny was snatched back by Divij, who thrust her into Blaine’s arms. Blaine placed her behind him. She was shocked. Were they afraid the fairy would harm her or them?
The fairy pinned Tamsin and Andre with her dark eyes. “Where is your eldest son, Andre? Do you know what plagues him? Do you know who plots and took something they say to be the most precious from him? Do you ache and search? Do you open your eyes?”
Andre stepped forward, but Giselle appeared directly in front of Perry.
“Perry—I apologize, what a terrible name they gave you this time! Come with me to the palace, darling. You obviously require rest—”
Perry rose up so she was level with the very tall queen of the fairies and leaned close. “Beware of the viper in your nest, Giselle of the Glitters. It sneaks and slithers, leaking its poison to take all—I want him back! Now! And I will have him.”
The words were not shouted, they were hissed, Perry’s skin blasting them with brightness and she shook, power bursting through her.
“Who, Parissa of the Shining? I will give you who you seek—Dareios! Stay back.”
“Parissa will harm no one, Mother.” Dareios had appeared behind Perry and reached out a hand. “The moons needed to be aligned to reset time, I understand, Parissa. If you let me, I will assist.”
Perry, or Parissa as they were calling her, a name from the past perhaps, floated to Dareios and raised her hands to cup his face. She leaned forward and touched his lips ever so softly with her own.
Everyone moved at once. Giselle paled beneath her glittery complexion.
Penny knew the ancient one’s touch brought on a love and lust that could lead to insanity unless magic was used to remove the effects. She never touched anyone, others fought to touch her. To now instigate touching, to kiss Dareios was alarming. For one, he was probably nearly as powerful as she, and if he went insane, Gods save the worlds. And he didn’t feel, was lost from a pain so powerful it stripped him of emotions.
“Only those who are mated touch her!” Queen Tacie yelled, staying back, protecting the weaker imps.
Queens Stephanie and Giselle thrust all the men back, and even Penny landed heavily against Chase, who caught her in midair. Stephanie grabbed Parissa and pulled her back, while Giselle caught Dareios and tugged him away.
Dareios looked alive and clutched his head, squealing like a shrill fairy and hurting their ears, his golden eyes never leaving fairy Perry as she remained still in Stephanie’s clutching, lethal paws.
“I see, Parissa.” He panted. “Why not show me everything?”
Perry smiled, a beautiful, blinding smile. “I am to do the rest, dear Dareios. Do not worry; you will feel no side effects due to your condition. And here is Lucio to ease you. Oh no, Stephanie, you are becoming a bit too heated.” Perry blinked out of Stephanie’s arms, her voice still floating in the air. “Your mate will be happy to ease you, and do not worry, the effect will fade in a few days as you are mated!”
“Ugh! She got away,” Tacie exclaimed. “You OK… Oh dear.”
Stephanie howled, panting heavily. “I must return home. Boys, never touch that fairy unless you are mated. And have her captured. Dare is fine. Giselle, Lucio?”
“Surprisingly. Do not ever, ever do that again!” Giselle scolded, hugging Dareios, then wincing. “Oh dear, I feel her touch…Andre, let us go.”
Andre looked alarmed as Giselle advanced on him and pounced, and they disappeared. Stephanie had run out a few moments ago, Blaine and Nate both grinning.
“Buddy, you OK? Smoking kiss from the fairy.” Blaine grinned.
Ruine smirked. “I am jealous.”
Dare shook his head clear and waved Lucio off. “Don’t touch me. I must be cleansed of her touch, or you will go insane.”
“It lingers?” Penny was so excited. “This is amazing. She seemed extremely agitated one moment, calm the next. What was the kiss about? Is she hot for you, Dare?”
Dare sighed. “No.”
“What was that about?” Lucio demanded. The hot vamp was scowling, checking Dare over. “Your father sent you away, your mother said not to go near her, yet you always do what you should not. There is a reason they say not to—”
“Yes, I am aware. Parissa did not harm me, it is not her way,” Dare said blandly. “She was woken from hibernation centuries ago when something very important was taken from her. Now, with Grydern attacking, Parissa feels this is the time to align the moon, eliminating some deals, weakening others, and finding what was taken from her. She did not show me what, but there is, as she said, a viper in our midst, and this one is working with Grydern and the Revmiras, instigating both into overtaking Galdorcwide.”
“How does she know this?” Tamsin, Dare’s aunt, asked, looking like she wished to clean Dare off.
Dare met his aunt’s eyes, then Empress Tacie’s. “She is ancient, has seen so much. Who was the imp that cursed her originally? Who was placed in the cursed tablet?”
Empress Tacie paled, hand going to her neck. She glanced at her younger sister, Tamsin, who looked annoyed and shrugged.
“What does it matter?”
“Who cursed her?” Divij demanded. “If we can trace it back, we can work on how to take this cursed tablet spirit down, eliminate him as well as Grydern, and break the fairy’s curse.”
“Don’t worry about her, she doesn’t care about the curses,” Tamsin said flippantly.
“That’s not nice, Tammy.” Nate crossed big arms over his chest. “She looked pretty tormented to me.”
“Good!” Tamsin snarled and stalked off. “Fairies need to be brought down a peg.”
Surprised, they looked to Tacie, Tamsin’s much older sister.
“Olef.” She raised anguished eyes to them. “I was young then, much too young to be involved in locking him away for what he did. But I witnessed it. So did Tamsin and Andre. They were very little, just kids. But it damages you, leaves scars, to see your brother cast out of his body and into spirit, then locked into a tablet, cursed and imprisoned for all eternity.”
“Holy death’s blood! Your brother is the one who cursed the ancient fairy and now inhabits that fucking moron who cut me and drained me of power? Look, sorry and all, but I heard that Olef dude speaking through Grydern with the woman partner, and they didn’t like each other much. Th
ey are both whacked! What the hell did the ancient one ever do to him?”
“My brother was rejected. The ancient one, Parissa, did not love him. She avoided him, was gentle and kind, but he was obsessed, following her, using magic to try to capture her, lure her to him. He would sneak into her chambers, and in the end, her brother—oh my Goddess Wings! Etienne! That is who she wants back, who she is aligning the moons to break curses, vows, and deals for. He is the reason she wakes every few decades and wanders the earth. She searches for him.”
“A brother? And he is alive?” Divij demanded. “Can he control her? If we find him, bring him forth, can he control the ancient fairy? Because Tacie, that is one fairy it will take a lot of power to stop and control, and I am very concerned that if Grydern and your spirit brother get her first, they’ll take her power.”
Tacie straightened, glaring at Divij. “Do you really think Parissa ever let Olef near her? She could have crushed him like a bug, and my brother was very powerful. But she did not, and Etienne came, rose from his hibernation, and mediated. When he got annoyed, and hells, you did not dare annoy that man, he crushed Olef like a bug, and the council punished him for it. Olef was so angry he attacked everyone and took the power bowl. He tried to take Etienne’s power because he is the only one who can touch Parissa without falling under her spell, which has nothing to do with the curse, by the way. That is her magical talent—she can help others find and feel love.”
“Another power Grydern will want.”
“Oh yes, immortal.”
“What a mess,” Ruine muttered. “So where is Etienne now?”
“I know not. After he and others had locked my brother in spirit form to the tablet, he took Parissa away—he is a demon by the way, not a fairy—”
“Demon? Not the one who loiters out in the demon caves, is he?” Lucio asked curiously.
“No, that is Daimon, and he’s nasty, stay away from him,” Chase advised. “Do the sultan and sultana know this? Who were Parissa and Etienne born from?”
“I do not know that. All records were destroyed by Etienne. Anyway, it was centuries later that they returned to Galdorcwide, and by then creatures had forgotten, it was all just a legend. I do not know exactly what happened, but when Parissa went into hibernation, Etienne remained awake for another few years. They often did that; he’d watch over her, but then he disappeared without any trace whatsoever. The only thing they found was a talisman, a few old Montello coins, some crystals and burned ashes. He’s not dead, Parissa stated this, she rose when she felt he was gone from her and searched for years, but with no success.”
“Crystals and Montello coins?” Dare frowned. “It does begin to make sense. Did Etienne have some of this alluring quality of Parissa’s?”
“He blessed you, you know.” Tacie smiled. “All of you, around the four hundred year mark. Anyway, I guess he has a little, but he could turn it off and on, and he dampened Parissa’s. They were close, but he kept her on a short leash because she’s a ditz.”
They all choked a little on that, and Tacie shrugged, unconcerned.
“Hey, I call it as I see it. The number of times I saw him chasing after her as she smiled at some guy who immediately tried to jump her were countless. The poor big demon ran himself ragged trying to keep her safe, and she certainly didn’t help him. She just pouted.”
Penny was immensely enthralled. “So, we need to find Etienne. You got those objects that were found when he disappeared, or anything else of his?”
Tacie’s nose went in the air. “They are sacred, immortal girl.”
“You don’t have them, do you?” Divij sighed in exasperation. “Imps never keep things sacred. You like to play and are disrespectful of the past and of powerful items, that is why this imp here wears the cleansed crystal on a bracelet instead of keeping it safely tucked away, conserving its power.”
Remika grinned. “I had it set so nicely, I hope Perry likes it.”
“It is a priceless, powerful item, imp!” Divij exploded in exasperation, hair floating around his head. “Is that the crystal that was found, Tacie?”
Tacie winced. “Yeah, it was covered in dirty bad magic, and we lost it for a little while. I think Parissa—Perry, whatever you call her—found it and put it in the museum along with the coins and other things.”
“Give me the crystal, imp.”
“No way, man, Perry said it was for me— Hey! Empress, he stole my crystal! And he isn’t even a sneaky, thieving brownie!” Remika glared up at Divij, then warily took a step back. “Why is his hair changing color?”
“Oh crap. Deep breaths, old buddy. Uh, one of you demons want to dampen him down? I think he’s reached his limit of imp tolerance for the day—”
“A century, Ace, a fucking century!” Divij snapped.
“Why must he do this whenever he’s in my or an imp’s company for more than half an hour?” Tacie huffed.
“Because he doesn’t like you and imps. You taunt and disrupt, are uncaring,” Dareios said blandly, stepping in front of his aunt and the imps. “Go take a breather, Divij.”
Divij looked like he wanted to crush the imps, but Chase and Ruine dragged him out of the room.
“Why does he always go for imps?” Penny asked curiously.
“Can’t say. It really bugs Nate not knowing why either. But that’s Div for you. He keeps things real close to his chest. I think they screwed him over when he was younger, and since then, he occasionally has uncontrollable urges to kill them painfully.”
Penny blinked. That was the thing about happy, relaxed, easy-going Blaine. He was a frigging tease and often said things in a way that just shocked the hell out of others. Especially since he wasn’t kidding.
“That’s not a good thing, wolf.”
Blaine merely shrugged. “Probably not.”
They were all a bit crazy; she loved that about them. Penny smiled and grabbed her tablet. Time to write up a report on today's events.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Vamp coffee was the best. Taking a deep sip and sighing appreciatively, Ada noticed that a young-looking werewolf was staring at her and raised her dark brows in response. He wiggled his and loped over, all werewolves seemed to lope—not stroll, not gracefully walk, not amble.
“Hey, do you have a Nana Mae? ’Bout yea high?” He held up a hand to his collar bone. “Short red hair, big sherry-colored eyes, real pointed ears? She’ll never get to the Outside without covering those with magic, unlike you—you have real pretty ears, Counselor Ada.”
Ada had stiffened at the words Nana Mae, the rest was just noise. She glanced around for a means of escape and spotted a door.
“Nah, that door just leads out into the hall that curves around to the main courtroom,” the werewolf said.
“Windows?”
“Well sure, but they’re pretty high off the ground, and I’ve seen the brownies we toss from the roof land real hard; they don’t have the spring in their legs like us wolves, and I don’t think Nate will be impressed if ya break your legs.”
“Hmm. No, I do not have a Nana Mae. Put her out the front gate, and anyone else with her.”
The young werewolf’s eyes widened in shock, and his mouth fell open. “B-but…she has a similar scent, so she’s family, and she’s got the same kinda eyes… You’d have your Nana Mae tossed out?”
“Without missing a sip of her coffee, Duncan.” Nico wandered in, took a seat beside Ada, and poured his own cup. “Perhaps have the brownies removed, without tossing, tripping, hitting, and threatening them.”
The young werewolf was still gaping at her, his hands waving about expressively as he talked. “B-but you respect elders! That’s your Nana Mae, you’ve gotta see her.”
Ada rose and patted the taller, younger werewolf’s chest without any real sympathy. “Kid, do you have any werewolves in your family who’d take a chunk out of one of you, or trick you?”
“Hell no! We werewolves are real loyal, you don’t have to worry about that!”
He grinned. “Hey, don’t worry, we won’t harm your family, they’re yours, we’ll treat them like they’re ours too.”
Nico grimaced. “Poor brownies.”
“Can it, cousin,” the werewolf snapped, then gave her a dopey grin. “See, family.”
She sighed. “Do I smell like I’m worried?”
He took a sniffed and frowned. “No… You smell real good, sooo frigging good…” He sniffed again, nose nearly touching her neck. “Oh, you smell kinda exasperated or something like that. I wasn’t gonna touch her, Nico, put the talons away.”
“Then back away from my brownie, boy,” Nico said in a reasonable tone.
Stepping back, the young werewolf scratched his head as Ada took a sip of her coffee. After a moment the kid spoke in werewolf to Nico, who gave a few sighs, shrugged, and finally held a hand up to silence the barks and growls.
“We are all different. Every type of creature has their own nature and ways. It is a lesson to be learned and not forgotten, but at the same time, understand the dynamics and never underestimate the heart. The brownie said show them off the property, not toss them out. There is a vast difference.”
“Oh, OK,” the werewolf said. “Like sometimes you can’t be bothered speaking with your family, so you say you’re not here when you really are.”
“Exactly.” Nico paused. “My family is not here, are they?”
“Nah, just our brownie Ada’s. Your cousin Emelda is very hot.”
Ada nodded. “She is also our best thief and uses whatever tactics she deems necessary, which may include bodily harm and poisons.”
“See? My Ada protects you. Now heed her warning and remove the brownies, and do not tangle with them.”
The werewolf walked away shaking his head. Nico and Ada smiled at each other and returned to enjoying their coffee in silence.
“Stop calling me ‘my brownie’ and ‘my Ada,’ Nico,” she said after a lovely five minutes of silence. Usually with Remika or her family, Ada had to threaten them to make them be quiet. She selected a pastry.