The Cardinal Gate

by Amy Cissell

  When I yelled deflower, vines, leaves, and flowers burst from all the houseplants in an explosion of life. I stalked up to Finn and jabbed a finger into his chest. “You’re more than a half-breed bastard. You are my friend. If I’m some kind of royalty, I will issue a decree that I can fuck whomever I want and anyone who has a problem with it will be…will be…decapitated!” Flowers popped off their stems and the room filled with a gentle rain of petals.

  “Ellie, scale it back a little. Although I appreciate your ire on my behalf, if you don’t rein it in, we’ll be covered in greenery.”

  My eyes drifted over to the engorged plants. “Shit. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I appreciate your willingness to go to bat for me.”

  “What now? Who beat you up? Can I kick his ass?”

  “Her name is Arduinna, and I’m not sure I completely understand her interest. The Fae don’t typically care who’s coupling with who, so the objection to you rebuffing my advances is odd, at best. She can’t lie, no full-blood Fae can, but we are adept at misleading with the truth.”

  “What do we do?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. I don’t suppose that this is making you want to sleep with me out of spite?” I rolled my eyes at him. “I thought not.” Finn sighed. “Oh, well. Now, tell me about this naked man and the goth girl.”

  After glossing over my meeting with short, pale, and peppery, I detailed my encounter with tall, dark, and naked. Finn dismissed goth girl and asked, “He smelled like death?”

  “Well, on closer reflection, maybe more like an open grave. He was rank.”

  “And fangs?”

  “Right, but not vampire fangs, more ‘sharp, pointy teeth.’”

  “Killer rabbit?”

  I grinned. I loved it when people got my Monty Python references. “More predator than prey. His teeth were almost canid; his relationship with personal hygiene could use improvement; he had more body hair than I’ve ever seen on a black man; and he was naked. Very, very naked.”

  Finn narrowed his eyes. “You keep emphasizing his nudity.”

  “Well, yeah. I’ve never seen anything quite like that before. He was rather…well-endowed.” I tried for delicacy, but wasn’t sure I’d succeeded.

  “You saw a naked, smelly Sasquatch and you checked out his junk?”

  “Yeah. Key word is naked. Trust me, you would’ve noticed, too.”

  “Ellie, stop! I don’t want to hear you wax poetical about someone else’s equipment.”

  I laughed. “Fine. I’m done. Any ideas?”

  “My guess is some kind of shifter, and likely an old one. They’re usually a little crazier and more likely to forget about human conventions as bathing and clothing. Can you take a guess as to animal species?”

  “No. How would I know?”

  “They typically have some animal traits, even in human form. The fact that his teeth were pointy meant that he wasn’t completely human; you said they were canid, right? Since he was hairy, it’s likely he grows fur instead of feathers or scales.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on pulling up my image of him. I fixed his appearance in my mind and then mentally walked around him, seeing things I hadn’t noticed in the moment. Tattoos covered his back, chest, and upper arms. A scar ran the length of the back of his left leg where it looked like he’d been hamstrung. Small, round scars on his right ass cheek looked like buckshot wounds. I inhaled deeply, filtering out the surface scents and finding an underlying musk that was rich and earthy and wild. His golden eyes darkened to brown around the pupil. Then I steeled myself and looked at his teeth. They were sharp and pointy. I leaned in close and sniffed again. This time, it was easier to filter out the stench and smell the man beneath.

  “Canine, but not a dog-dog.”

  “Dog-dog? As opposed to what? A cat-dog? A fish-dog?”

  “Shut it. I meant not a domesticated dog. Maybe a wolf or a coyote. When I re-watch the whole encounter, he blurs as he enters the trees, and I can see the tip of his muddy, cream-colored tail before he disappears completely.”

  I opened my eyes. Finn was staring at me. “What?” I knew I sounded a bit defensive.

  “That was amazing. Have you always been able to do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “The total recall thing.”

  “Kind of.”

  Finn cocked his head to one side and pointed a finger at me. “Explain.”

  “I’ve always had fantastic recall, down to scents and peripheral vision. How do you think I can always put everything away in your house so flawlessly?”

  “I assumed you were stalking me and learning the layout of my place so you could impress me and win me into your bed.”

  I ignored his comment and continued. “In the last few weeks, it’s gotten sharper. If I concentrate, I can remember almost everything.”

  “That’s amazing. This is probably a result of natural talent honed by the practicum I’ve been putting you through.” Finn nodded solemnly and self-importantly, with only a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth giving him away. “Now for the important question: why didn’t you call me?”

  “I did! As soon as he came out of the woods. I knew he wasn’t a lost jogger, because of the stealth and nudity. When you didn’t show, I assumed it was supposed to be a lesson, even if I didn’t get the objective.”

  Finn went still. “You called?”

  “Yeah, of course. I might hate your bossy-pants attitude and the need to be rescued by a guy, but as of now, you’re more equipped to deal with weird threats than I am.” I grinned at him, but he didn’t relax.

  “I didn’t hear you. That fucking bitch kept me from hearing your call.”

  “Other than the pepper attack, which was pretty low-key, everything turned out okay. And the fucking bitch has no reason to interfere again, does she?”

  Finn looked at me a little hopefully.

  “No.”

  “Fine. I am much more concerned with the fact that I wasn’t able to hear you when you called.”

  “It’s fine,” I soothed.

  “I’m going to pop out. Wait ten minutes and then call, okay?”

  “Sure, we can absolutely do a test of the emergency Finncasting system.”

  Finn disappeared with a barely audible pop. I stared at the space where he’d been. That was completely unexpected. If it turned out that I could teleport, too, I was going to be seriously pissed off that he hadn’t led with that bit of training.

  I waited ten minutes and then thought as hard as I could, “This is a test. This is only a test. If this was a true emergency, I would be much less coherent. Please come home now.”

  A few seconds later, Finn reappeared. “What the hell, Finn? You disappeared! Can I do that?”

  “I doubt it. It’s a rare ability that runs in bloodlines. It never spontaneously shows up, and I wasn’t told that it was one of your potential abilities.”

  “You have a list of my potential abilities? How come I haven’t seen it?”

  Finn ignored me. “The good news is that your mental call worked. Arduinna must have been actively blocking all mental communication. It doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t be good if you were damaged while she was beating the crap out of me.”

  “Yeah, my damage would be ‘not good.’ Maybe even tragic.”

  “I didn’t know anyone could make air quotes look that sarcastic. Impressive.”

  “Whatever. Back on point. You are not getting out of this. I want the list.”

  “I can’t give it to you. Things need to show up naturally. If you concentrate too much on something you think sounds cool—like teleportation—and not enough of something that you’d be stronger in, your training won’t be as effective.”

  “Bullshit.” I glared at him. It made sense, in a way. But still… “This isn’t over. We will be having words.”

  “We’ll talk about it after we open the first gate. Being that close to a flood of magic should trigger everything
in you that’s dormant for lack of available power.”

  “There are angry vampires, pepper-wielding goth girls, fetid were-beasts, and violent Fae mucking about with things. What if I don’t find the gate?”

  “You will. The knowledge is inside you. You just need to channel the power.”

  “What happens to me if I fail and the magic rushes through earth like a tsunami?”

  “I honestly don’t know. The key could be destroyed with the door.”

  “What’s the world going to look like when all the gates are open? What will that much magic do to a world that’s been without for so many centuries?”

  “That, Eleanor, is an excellent question. There’s only one real way to find out.”

  Chapter Four

  FINN AND I hiked east on Wildwood Trail for about twenty minutes before I stopped and held up a hand. I turned around slowly.

  “What is it?” Finn asked.

  “We’re being watched, and it’s the same…person…I encountered before.”

  Finn raised his head and sniffed the breeze. “If he’s here, I can’t smell him. Are you sure?”

  “Not completely, but there’s something out there, and it feels familiar.”

  “Let’s ignore it for now. We’re forewarned, so he can’t take us by surprise. Now that I’m here, that’s nearly impossible anyway.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Right. Impossible that you’d be taken by surprise by a wolf shifter you can’t smell. What would I do without you?”

  “Hey! Don’t criticize my macho posturing. I need to feel useful for something.”

  I chuckled and led the way further down the trail. About a mile later, I paused at a dry stream bed and left the trail, following the small wash downhill. When I got to a clearing, I walked to the center and sat cross-legged.

  I took a deep breath, confident Finn was on guard, and started the breathing meditation that allowed me to sink into a light trance. When the relaxation and lightness settled on to me, I opened my eyes. The forest had a different cast. I could see the life energy of all the trees and forest denizens. There were deer and humans near but not too close, and the shifter was about fifty yards away, stock-still.

  I got Finn’s attention and cocked my head in the direction of our watcher. Finn nodded and transferred his attention in that direction. Satisfied Finn had made the shifter, I turned my attention even deeper. The forest’s life force became background and new energies appeared. There were lines of almost pure magical energy flowing through the forest, creating a web. I knew that this is what the great mages drew on for energy. The energy was humming and feeding the forest and its inhabitants, but I still couldn’t find the gate.

  I stood and began turning in a circle. As I hit 270 degrees from where I’d started, I saw it. There was a gathering of the energies to the southwest. It was dark shimmer, nearly imperceptible. Every time I tried to look directly at it, it disappeared. It felt both alien and familiar.

  I crouched and drew an arrow in the grass with the chalk bag I’d brought for this purpose. Then I pulled my awareness back into my body, blinked rapidly to clear my sight and my mind, and lost my balance, sitting down more abruptly than I’d meant. Finn started towards me, but I waved him off. “I’m tired, but okay. Give me a minute.”

  Finn got out the compass and a map and lined things up with the chalk arrow.

  “Do you want to try to find the site today?” I asked as Finn finished up the recording and I tried unsuccessfully to suppress a big yawn.

  “No, the sun will set soon and I don’t think we want to be in the Forest after dark. We can come back tomorrow.”

  I looked up and noticed the dimming light for the first time. “How long was I meditating?”

  “About six hours. I ate all the snacks.”

  “So weird. It felt like only a few minutes. What happened to our stalker?”

  “He’s still there.”

  I turned towards the direction from which I’d last sensed the shifter and waved.

  “What are you doing?” Finn hissed.

  “He knows we’re here and we know he’s there. Might as well let him know he’s not as sneaky as he thinks he is.”

  “Now isn’t the time to be antagonizing a shifter. It’s a full moon tonight and the moon is due to rise in oh, approximately four minutes!” Finn’s voice rose as he waved his watch arm in the air.

  “Yelling’s probably not going to help with either staying on the DL or with future Fae/Shifter relations. Besides, you said they weren’t tied to the phases of the moon.”

  “The wolves are traditionalists. They always shift for the full moon days.” Finn stuffed the topo map, GPS, and compass inside the backpack and started towards the dry stream bed. “Come on Ellie, before you’re a snack.”

  “It might be too late for that,” the shifter growled as he stepped into the clearing. He was completely nude, but he was cleaner with less of a grave stench. His yellow-streaked eyes glowed in the dissipating sunlight. “Maybe tonight I’ll find out how a fairy princess tastes.” He licked his lips and the look he gave me made it clear his hunger wasn’t for food.

  Heat kindled in my lower abdomen and a flush rose up my cheeks.

  “Ah, I see the fairy is not averse to being eaten.”

  Finn looked at me and then stepped between me and the shifter. He drew a sword that hadn’t existed a moment before and brandished it towards the naked man. “Leave her alone. There are two of us and only one of you. You’re outnumbered.”

  “There may only be one of me,” his low tones reverberated and made me shiver, “but tonight, that is enough.”

  A glow rose up and distorted the view of the shifter. Through the haze, I could see his limbs lengthening and changing shape. “Finn, now would be an excellent time to get out of here.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  Finn grabbed my hand, and we scrambled up the dry creek bed towards the trail. We turned left on the trail and started running back to the road. Before we’d gone more than a half mile, I heard the faint sound of footsteps hitting the trail, quickly followed by wet, fast breathing approaching from behind. Before I could react, the wolf soared over our heads and landed on the trail in front of us.

  The sky was turning indigo as the sun went down and the light of the rising full moon lit the red and cream fur of the largest wolf I’d ever seen. He opened his mouth, displaying sharp fangs, and growled. Finn grabbed my hand again, and we stood side-by-side facing the wolf.

  He growled again and slowly approached us.

  Finn squeezed my hand tightly. “I don’t know if this is going to work, but hold on.”

  “What? What might not work?” I winced at the sound of rising hysteria in my voice.

  Finn didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled me into a tight embrace, and the forest blinked out of sight.

  The air felt thicker, and I gasped for breath. Before I could panic, my lungs re-inflated, and the sensation of floating overcame me. As soon as my weightlessness registered, I dropped towards the ground and hit hard. I lay there, panting, and looked around. I was in the middle of a large room with stained concrete floors. There were leather couches and recliners scattered about, and on the wall was a ridiculously large flat-screen TV.

  “Where are we? What did you do?”

  Finn was sitting on the floor looking as bad as I felt. He held up a finger as he gasped for breath.

  I waited patiently—for about thirty seconds. “Seriously, Finnegan Byrne. W.T.F.?”

  “You’ve seen me teleport before; this time I took you along for the ride.”

  “If you can do that, why have we been wasting time driving?”

  “I wasn’t entirely sure I could do that. I’ve never taken anyone with me before. I don’t think I ever will again. I kind of want to die now.”

  “Where are we?”

  “My place.”

  I let skepticism color my voice, “Seriously? I’ve never seen this room before.”

  “I
’ve never had you over to watch television.”

  “That’s not true. You’ve had me over to watch movies dozens of times. You told me that the only TV you had was in your bedroom…ohhh…you’re a dirty scoundrel, Finn.”

  Finn smirked through his labored breathing. “Why on earth would I want to watch a movie with you down here when you might insist on completely separate sofas?”

  “Why are there so many?”

  “I am a popular man.”

  I snorted. “Whatever, let’s go home.”

  “We’re staying here tonight. I don’t have a car, and I’m not interested in ever teleporting…”

  “Can we call it tessering?”

  “Nerd. Whatever. I’m not interested in ever tessering with another person again. I am so wiped out right now, I don’t think I could even teleport myself to my bedroom. Another reason is that my house is pretty well warded against most unwelcome guests.”

  “Most?”

  “It can’t keep out any other Fae who are more powerful than me.”

  “As long as you have food and beer, I don’t care where we stay and who drops by.”

  Finn stood up and held out a hand to haul me to my feet. He led me upstairs and closed the door behind me. We’d come out in the pantry and the door now looked like nothing more than empty shelves. “You have a fucking secret passage, and you never told me? I hate you! That is so awesome!”

  Finn laughed. “Had I known how impressed you’d be, I would’ve risked my love life and brought you downstairs for movie night.” He pushed me towards the kitchen table. “Sit. I will bring you sustenance.”

  “What are we having?”

  “Whatever I find in the fridge. Choices are pretty limited.”

  “We could order in.”

  “I’m not bringing the wards down for anything, not even Chinese food. It’s the full moon and an angry shifter has our scent. Let’s stay safe and sound behind the walls.”