That suited him. It wasn't wise to go too fast, expanding their horizons.
Life was perfect. Even when they were late getting to work, which was nearly every day, life was perfect.
If he used his amazingly steady magic to get them through traffic without having to stop once, and to have their costumes ready for them to slide into, did it really matter? No one noticed. He was glad to be a Fae for probably the first time in his life, because his magic was useful for something. As long as Megan smiled at him and got that smoky, hungry look in her eyes whenever he touched her, life was perfect.
Until his Aunt Mynirva showed up in the front row of their midnight show, on their three-month anniversary. Alexi nearly didn't recognize her, until the two miniature Birds-of-Paradise in her hat winked at him and one lifted a wing in greeting.
Alexi stuttered through his patter and nearly dropped the oversized deck of playing cards when he saw Mynirva's best friend, Gwendolina, sitting next to her. Gwendolina's Valkyrie-shaped daughter, Gormendina, sat beside her mother. All three women had pink hair, wore glitter and Spandex, and the youngest of the trio was over three hundred years old. They fit right into the audience, and that worried Alexi. Either his relatives had started doing research before they left the Enclaves or these women were on the hunt, and he was the prey.
* * * *
Megan didn't spot the Fae women in the audience through the glittery lighting effects and colored gels. She didn't sense their vibrating magic fields until the applause died down after Alexi's levitation trick, which required some real, Fae magic to work properly. She found it adorable that he worked so hard to hide his magic from her. Then she realized that the three women in the front row, the four women directly behind them, and ten other women scattered through the audience, weren't at all impressed. It was kindergarten-level magic for Fae, after all.
Megan used her magic, which had grown enormously since she and Alexi became lovers, to filter out the special effects. She nearly fumbled her foam balls when she looked at the women and saw their fluctuating magic fields.
Poison green stripes, intertwined with grayish lavender blotches and yellow spots. Clear signs of women caught in Need. At least three were in the last, painful stages of Need. If they didn't get some release soon, Las Vegas could go up like a nuclear bomb had hit it.
Something growled and bared its fangs, deep inside her. It didn't take a genius to realize those women stared at Alexi like... Well, like the last Fae male within three hundred miles.
He's mine! Megan amputated her routine, to get to the flying knives ten minutes ahead of schedule. She leaped across the stage and snatched up the knives from the display rack. Alexi stepped back, eyes wide, his mouth crooked with a grin he could barely repress. Megan spun and flung the knives into the board with a conspicuous man-shaped outline drawn on it, without missing a beat.
The knives landed exactly on the outline, with perfect accuracy. Megan trembled deep inside where it didn't show and bared her teeth. There! Let those wimpy Enclave twitches try that, even with their magic to help!
"Do we have any volunteers?" Alexi said, after only the slightest hesitation. Megan knew better than to look over her shoulder and see whether he was upset, amused or just thrown off balance by her shortcut in the routine. "I trust Marga the Magnificent--how about the rest of you?"
Murmurs rose up from the audience. Megan knew he had stepped over to the target board and moved inside the outline formed by the line and knives.
The glitzy, pink-haired woman in the front row raised both her hands. Megan shuddered at the sudden mental image of that Need-scorched woman grabbing at Alexi. What did it take, anyway, to snag a male Fae during Need?
Her father's words, assuring her she was in Need, came back to slam into Megan's mind. What if he was wrong? What if it was an unreasonable facsimile of Need, making her hot and itchy, but not really a permanent bond?
Alexi is mine, you stupid twitch! Megan mentally screamed.
The Fae woman didn't even flinch. She batted her extra-long eyelashes at the stagehand who helped her climb up onto the stage and sashayed toward Alexi. Her intent was clear to Megan. The stupid twitch thought she could throw her arms around Alexi, tackle him to the ground, and he would be hers.
A mental-psychic scream reverberated through the auditorium. Megan flinched. So did half the Fae women in the audience. Green and red sparks of magical distress shot through the air, bounced off the ceiling, and rained down again.
"Right this way," Megan called, and reached for the woman's hand, intercepting her before she got within five feet of Alexi.
A low, primordial growl reverberated through the mental atmosphere. Megan nearly laughed aloud to realize it came from her, first, and then all the Need-scorched women in the audience echoed it.
Halfling! The shriek of dismay modulated into scorn. You can't have him.
Yeah? Who says so? Megan retorted, and yanked hard on the woman's wrist, to drag her toward the target outline.
Every Fae woman here will fight you.
Every Fae woman here will shred the one next to her, to get Alexi. Did you ever think he might have some say in this?
The concept that a male might resist a female in Need so stunned the woman, Megan got her backed up against the target and the belt in place before she could resist.
"Let me go!" she wailed, and wriggled against the restraints.
The belt held tight, when it was made to tear away if Alexi needed to duck out of the way of a miss-thrown knife.
Megan stepped over to the stand holding the remainder of the throwing knives. They were plastic painted silver, with a magnetic core to make them stand up straight on the magnetic line underneath the target. The worst damage anyone could get was a bruise, no matter how hard the knives were thrown.
Megan knew that. Alexi knew that. The Fae twitch and the audience didn't know that.
Fighting an evil grin, Megan held the knife by the blunt side of the blade, poised between two fingers. She held her breath and flung it.
As the knife slipped from her grasp, she felt a ripple of magic. The plastic turned to metal. Sharp metal, that shattered the light on the razor-fine edge. Megan stared, stunned for half a crucial second, as red and yellow-streaked magic yanked the knife off course, heading straight for the twitch's heart.
Alexi! She threw every bit of her magic into the call. Then she reached with all her strength and pulled on that warped, angry magic field.
Alexi somersaulted across the stage, into the path of the knife. He snatched it out of mid-air, less than a foot from the twitch's heart.
The audience roared approval, clapping hard enough to deafen. Alexi bowed with a flourish, his sweat-darkened hair flopping in his face. He looked around the audience and his expression darkened when his gaze landed on the Fae women in the front row, and the ones behind them, and the others scattered through the room. Megan's heart sank, even in her relief that he was aware of who had worked that little bit of nasty magic.
At least Alexi didn't blame her.
But knowing those women were there, hunting him, meant Alexi was going to vanish. As in, run away.
Their partnership was over. The act was destroyed. Even worse, no more snuggling until two in the afternoon, leisurely breakfasts in bed, laughing over the Sunday comics page, experimenting with off-beat recipes in the kitchen. No more sparks. No more trail of clothes from the door to the bedroom. No more bouncing off the ceiling and the world vanishing around her. No more kissing Alexi.
While those thoughts flashed through her mind, Alexi made a speech to the audience that had them laughing. Even the twitch, still trapped against the target board. Megan saw the hot red and orange sparks of magic from the twitch's Need, dancing around Alexi, trying to pierce his skin and rev his hormones to make him susceptible. He shrugged the magic aside like raindrops.
No!
The sound erupted from the minds of half the Fae women in the audience. The loudest shriek of dismay
came from the twitch. Her magic shifted to furious black sparks. Her eyes glowed red. Her head nearly spun on her neck.
"You!" she shrieked, and flung handfuls of furious black, purple and silver magic in a killing blast straight at Megan.
"Stop!" Alexi bellowed.
He flung his hands up in the air. Everything non-Fae froze, including the light coming down from the spotlights in the ceiling and along the catwalk. He leaped, crossing the five feet of space between him and Megan, and the furious magic hit him in the chest. It bounced off like confetti and faded with a sizzling sound.
"What do you think you're-- No, I know what you think you're doing. If you're able to think at all," he growled. He snapped his fingers and every Fae woman in the audience was yanked from her seat and tossed up onto the stage with all the care of a hotel maid doing laundry. A dome of crackling blue and silver magic formed around them.
For the space of ten heartbeats, the two sides glared at each other. Alexi took long, deep, loud breaths, visibly fighting for control. The women cowered together, their former rivalry forgotten in their fear of him. It was all Megan could do not to do a victory dance on the stage. Whatever had been wrong with Alexi's magic had definitely healed itself. Maybe she had been right, and he had been trying too hard. When he didn't think, just reacted, his magic flowed as naturally as breathing.
He was one of the strongest, most potent Fae ever born. He was destined for great things. His magic was so strong, so penetrating, she could feel it sizzling in her fingertips.
Megan felt the floor try to vanish from under her when she realized she knew what he had been about to do, half a second before he did it. How had that happened?
"You're in violation of a dozen laws for the protection of the non-magical," Alexi said, having finally regained enough control to speak with only a touch of growl in his voice.
"What does that have to do with her?" the twitch with the lavender-glittery hair snarled. She flicked her fingers at Megan. Three sickly yellow sparks of magic leaped off her fingernails, but bounced off the dome and bit her.
Alexi's mouth dropped open when he turned to glance at Megan and saw she wasn't frozen. "Megan?"
"She's a Halfling," the older Fae woman from the front row said. A hint of a chuckle in her voice startled Megan. Alexi stared at her, shaking his head. "Honestly, Alexi, the family curse has evidently lost its grip on you, so how could you be so oblivious you didn't realize you were working with a Halfling?"
"Excuse me." Megan stepped a little closer to Alexi. She had the feeling that when the explosion came, the safest place would be right next to him. The calmest point was in the eye of the storm, so to speak. "Alexi's magic was really bad when we first met. And I'm really good at hiding what I am. Okay? So don't go ragging on the guy."
Alexi laughed.
"Oh, do stop braying like the proverbial donkey and let me out of here," the woman said. She flinched when Alexi snapped his fingers and she popped out of the dome. A chair appeared from nowhere, nearly knocking her off her feet as it scooted up underneath her. She settled into it and nodded satisfaction. "Very good, dear. I don't know what happened to you--"
"Megan happened to me." Alexi wrapped his arm around Megan's waist, which earned hisses and shrieks of dismay from the Fae women still trapped inside the dome. "Aunt Mynirva, Megan is my lover, and I plan on marrying her."
Words failed Megan. She couldn't even summon up a smirk for the twitches in their prison. Mynirva just chuckled.
Alexi turned Megan just enough to face him. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"That I was a Halfling who couldn't stand her relatives, or that your magic field was healing?" Megan said. It was easier than going through all the ideas and problems that had tangled in her mind over the last few months. "I figured, you were on the run just as much as I was and...well, once you figured out what I was, you wouldn't want anything to do with me."
"Not want anything? Megan, I think I'm Fixated on you."
The screams that rose from the trapped women made Megan jump. Mynirva snapped her fingers and an opaque green shield formed over the dome. The sound instantly stopped.
"I thought it was impossible, when I thought you were a Human, but I didn't really mind. I kind of liked knowing we were linked," Alexi added, his voice softening. "And lately, it's like we're growing these roots into each other and getting tighter and--" He shook his head. That goofy, intoxicated grin Megan loved covered his face. "I'll use up my last drop of magic to keep them from coming between us." He hooked his thumb toward the dome.
"Your last drop of magic?" Mynirva sniffed delicately. "My dear nephew, I am on the Magical Standards and Controls Commission, and in eight hundred years of service, I have never seen such depth and purity of magic. You could hold those idiots in their prison for fifty years and not feel the drain."
"That's impossible." Alexi snorted. "My magic helps with our act, but that's about all I can manage. And I don't care. I mean, Megan lives just fine without magic. If we have enough between us to survive out here in the Human world, and if we can have the next three or four centuries together, that's enough for me."
"Ummm..." Megan gently slid free of his arm around her. "Alexi, your aunt is right. Your magic field is blue, really pure, so it's white in spots. When you first got here, it was fizzing like a can of soda going flat, but now..." She had to shake her head in admiration. "I honestly don't know what happened. I mean, it's so strong, it soaks into everything. I can feel your magic. I knew what you were going to do with them." She gestured at the dome and turned her back on it. "I knew what you were going to do before you did it. That's pretty strong magic."
"I felt no such thing," Mynirva said. She turned her penetrating gaze on Megan. Slowly, her frown melted into a smile. A smug, satisfied, mischievous smile.
"Aunt Nervy, what are you thinking?" Alexi snagged Megan close against him again. "You're not making me go back, and you're not doing anything to Megan, hear me?"
"It's not what I did, dear, but what she did." Mynirva snorted. "Actually, what the two of you have done together. Honestly, Alexi, you're over three hundred years old, and you come from a long, distinguished line of--well, that could be part of the problem. Be that as it may, I swear the two of you are mere babes in the woods. Especially when you don't realize what you have. Tell me, Megan, when did you hit Need?"
Megan flinched. She couldn't help it. She froze, refusing to look at Alexi. His arm tightened around her, but at least he didn't jerk away like she had turned into a hot potato.
She sighed, knowing it was no use to lie to this powerful old woman. "I didn't think it was real, or that it would be fully potent. And when Alexi kissed me, I didn't want to let him go. He's my best friend, not just my partner. My father said it was Need, that maybe I had some Fae blood from my mother's side to push it over the safety margin. I thought I'd never go into Need. Honestly. Alexi, I swear, I didn't mean to trap you!"
"When did you go into Need?" he asked so quietly, she almost wouldn't have heard him, except that he still held her pressed close against his side.
Megan took some comfort from that. If Alexi didn't shriek, push away, and run for antiseptic, then maybe he wasn't totally disgusted at having been caught in her Need.
"Umm, some time during our last two cruises. Those dreams I was having--"
"I was sharing your dreams since before our first cruise," he said, stopping her by pressing two fingers against her lips. "I figured I was Fixated on you, but I couldn't explain how. But I didn't mind."
"You didn't?" she managed to say, muffled by his fingers.
"I liked it, okay?" He leaned close enough their foreheads touched. "For all we know, my Fixation triggered your Need. Which sounds kind of fair, if you think about it."
Megan snorted laughter.
"So," he continued, finally sliding his fingers off her lips, "technically, I trapped you before you trapped me."
"Fixated." She let out a long, loud breath. "I don't understand.
Fixation is about as mythical to the Fae as the Fae are to most Humans."
"Summon the Ether Lexicon," Aunt Mynirva commanded.
Both of them flinched.
"I forgot about our audience," Alexi grumbled.
Megan yelped, twisted free of Alexi's hold on her, and turned on her heel, pivoting to see the entire audience. Fortunately, all the Humans were still frozen in place.
"Time bubble, or is the spell just affecting this room?" she asked.
"You'll have to ask him," Mynirva said, flicking her wrist at Alexi. "Once he consults the Lexicon, we'll know what exactly is going on with him."
"I can't," Alexi said. That gleam faded from his eyes, making Megan want to cry. His shoulders slumped, and he looked like that tired, lost figure she had first seen in her office so many months ago.
"Oh, but I think you can. Your magic field is, as Megan said, much stronger. Purer. Yes, blue shading into white in spots." She narrowed her eyes and considered Megan for a moment. "My dear girl, your relatives are fools, to have dismissed you so cavalierly. Yes, I know who you are. Your father courted me for a time. Just before the Boston Tea Party." She winked at Megan. "You have far more talents than-- Well, you have the strength to hide your talents. Clever girl. I'm starting to think...but no. Alexi, summon the Lexicon. That will confirm my theories." She waved her hand in an imperious gesture.
Sighing like a little boy being forced to practice the piano instead of play hockey, Alexi spread his hands, closed his eyes and muttered the summoning spell.
An enormous volume reeking of dusty pages and sour ink, glittering purple, blue and silver, appeared in his hands. He nearly dropped it before his magic field could support it. Alexi stepped back, eyes wide in shock.
Megan was impressed. She had heard about the ultimate source of answers and instructions for the Fae, nearly four feet wide, three feet high and two feet thick when it was closed. And that was just the interface point, where the gathered knowledge of the Fae intruded into physical space.
Smoke and Mirrors Page 7