by Julie Wetzel
That line, so filled with promise and warning, pulled at something deep inside her. She shifted in her seat, torn between answering that call and bolting from the car. Vicky closed her eyes and worked to get enough saliva to dampen her suddenly dry mouth. She twitched a little when the leather of Darien’s seat creaked as he climbed in.
“So, what do we have to do today?” His voice had returned to normal.
Vicky let out a shuddering breath as she pulled out the appointment book. She flipped it open to Monday and reminded herself not to get snarky with the vampire that could fire her.
***
Zak was waiting in the foyer when Darien and Vicky stepped out of the elevator. He rolled happily over Vicky’s feet, nearly tripping her up as she tried to maneuver herself and her shopping into the penthouse without stepping on him.
“Back up a little,” she said to the overanxious creature.
“Just ignore him,” Darien said as he stepped out and around her. “He’ll make sure he’s not stepped on.”
Vicky looked down at the mass swirling at her feet and placed her foot down. The tentacles moved so her foot touched the floor. She took a few more tentative steps forwards and found that Darien was right.
“Well, aren’t you a smart boy,” she said as she made her way to the steps.
“Smarter than most people give him credit for,” Darien said as he went upstairs to change. Zak made some garbled barking noise and writhed his way up the steps after the vampire.
Vicky headed into her bedroom to take care of the new clothing and shoes. She had been surprised when Darien offered to take her to the mall. She had planned to just take the bus. It had been odd seeing the vampire inside Old Navy as she picked up a few pairs of yoga pants. Her last shopping trip had all been work clothing since she couldn’t find her wallet. Somehow, Darien had no problems pulling the missing item from her bag. After putting away her new shoes, Vicky slipped into the new pants and a T-shirt before heading downstairs to find food.
“You can’t just claim her like that.”
Vicky could hear Darien’s voice as she came down the steps.
“The world’s changed since the last time you were out.”
The fay gurgled in response.
Vicky turned towards the living room. She peeked around the corner to see Darien sitting on the couch holding Zak up to eye level. The small creature waved his tentacles, and Darien chuckled at it.
“I know, I know,” he said. “You can stay, but you have to be good.”
Zak whined a little.
“Don’t give me that,” Darien scolded him lightly, “I’m letting you stay.”
Zak wiggled happily in his hands.
“Just remember, her friends are human and don’t know about our world.”
Zak barked in response.
“And don’t eat any more of her shoes.”
Vicky backed quietly from the room and left through the foyer to the kitchen, where Odette had already set out a plate for her. She sat down and started to eat, pondering the scene she had just witnessed. Was Darien really talking to Zak as if he understood him? Did the small creature understand what he meant, or was it more like the way one talks to a real dog? She shook her head and pushed the questions away. Her head already hurt from trying to understand the things she had been shown in the last two weeks. Vicky decided it would be best to just accept it without questions. It would be better for her mental health that way.
Vicky looked at the clock on the wall while Darien finished up his meeting. It was Friday, and there was just one more thing before she could relax for the weekend.
She fingered the silver medallion Darien insisted she wear as she thought about the changes in her life. It had been a fairly normal, albeit hectic, week at the office, accented by the occasional comment about Vicky’s new look. The fay’s magic hadn’t lessened, and she was still having issues with her hair. Every evening, Darien would cut it off, and the next morning he would braid her waist-length hair and pin it up for her.
One board member had asked her where she’d gotten her hair done. Vicky was shocked when Darien had casually answered, “Tír na nÓg.” She nearly choked on her coffee when the man said he would have to look them up and send his wife there. Darien just smiled and went on to his next meeting without a word.
Vicky’s life at home had fallen into a strange routine also. Darien had let Zak stay, and the little creature spent most of his time wiggling around her feet or in her lap. She had objected on Monday night when Zak tried to climb into her bed, and Darien had taken him out, but she woke up to his soft feelers touching her face. Sometime in the night, he had gotten into her bed and wormed his way into her arms.
Darien hadn’t been happy with him, but there was no stopping the small creature. He was banned from the bathroom after he unexpectedly jumped into the tub of water Vicky was relaxing in. The surprised squeal she let out brought Darien tearing into the room, expecting trouble. He had snatched the wet fay from the water, apologized to his very embarrassed assistant, and left, growling, with the little fay wiggling to get back in the tub.
The only thing that had been somewhat troublesome was the ring of silver flowers Zak had placed around her ankle. There was no clasp on the continuous band, and she had problems getting her stockings on underneath the thing until Darien yelled at Zak. The small fay begrudgingly changed the object so she could get it off, but he rumbled insistently when she took it off while getting dressed. The one time she had forgotten to put it back on, Zak brought it over and reattached it with a barking growl. Darien had shaken his head with a deep sigh as the small creature staked his claim on Vicky once again.
“Have a good weekend.” Darien shook the manager’s hand as they parted.
“Thanks for your help, Mr. Ritter,” the man called as Darien left.
Vicky followed her boss out to his car.
He stopped and laughed as a long-haired dog bounced out from under the DB9 and trotted over to them.
Vicky looked down at the dark-haired Shih Tzu as it pranced over and rubbed up against her leg.
Darien knelt down, and the dog wiggled over to him for pettings. “We were coming back before the meeting.”
Vicky looked on in confusion. He had told her there was going to be a gathering tonight to discuss what could be done about the ifrit, but who did this dog belong to?
“There are things at the house that I still need,” he explained to the animal as he stood up and made his way to the car.
The small dog came back to Vicky and barked at her happily.
Following Darien to the car, she sat down when he opened the door. She was surprised when he let the small dog jump in on her lap.
“Don’t chew on my car,” he growled, shutting the door. The little dog snuffled and shook its head. The Shih Tzu nuzzled Vicky before jumping over the center console and into Darien’s seat. It wagged its tail and put is front feet up on the door to watch the vampire come around.
“Get out of my seat, Zak,” he scolded the horror lightly as he opened the door.
Vicky’s eyes widened as the dark-haired Shih Tzu barked before jumping back over into her lap. “Zak?” Picking up the dog, she looked into its face. She had to move the long hair back so she could see the creature’s familiar, beady eyes, hinted with intelligence.
It made a garbled barking noise, and the ends of the hair curled gently around her fingers.
Darien chuckled at his assistant’s reaction.
“How?” she asked, trying to wrap her mind around another impossibility.
“Glamour.” Darien explained as he started the car and headed towards his home. “A lot of the fay can change how people perceive them.”
Zak had wiggled loose from Vicky’s hands and stood on her lap, looking out the window at the passing world. The tips of his hair moved unnaturally in his happiness.
She petted the small creature in her lap as she thought.
Darien pulled up in front of the Toura
ine and killed the engine. “I need to grab a few things for the meeting tonight and change. You might want to find something more comfortable, too.” He got out of the car.
Vicky opened the door, and Zak bounced to the sidewalk happily.
***
Ten minutes later, Vicky was ready to go. She had changed into some stonewashed jeans and a sky-blue, fitted shirt. She had left her hair pinned to her head in the long braid.
Zak had changed back into a ball of tentacles and pulled at the lacing of one of her black sneakers as they waited for Darien to come back down.
Her pulse skipped when he finally reappeared, dressed in black jeans and a dark green T-shirt. He always looked good in his suits and ties, but there was just something about him in casual clothes that excited Vicky. Maybe it was the fact she didn’t see it very often. Closing her eyes, she swallowed, trying to calm her heart.
“Okay, let’s go,” Darien said as he pushed the button on the elevator.
Zak barked his reply, and Vicky glanced down to see the little fay had changed back into a dark Shih Tzu. She looked back over to the man standing next to her and noticed a heavy-looking bag pulled over his shoulder. “What’s that?” She shifted her bag.
“Things we’re going to need tonight,” Darien said as they got back into the elevator and headed towards the street. “There’s some bad blood between the vampires and the wolves. I’m setting up special conditions, so they can meet without things getting out of hand,” he explained. “Hopefully, they can either work out their issues or put them aside, so we can stop the ifrit.” Darien let out a deep breath.
“What if they can’t?” Vicky asked quietly.
He stared hard at the door of the elevator as they rode down in silence. “Then I’ll have some heads to bust.” There was a good possibility that it would take him smacking a few of them around to get them to work together.
Vicky didn’t ask any more questions as Darien loaded everything into the car and got in. He held out something wrapped in a napkin to Vicky.
“What’s this?” she asked as she took the package. Zak sniffed at it.
“Odette sent you dinner,” Darien explained as she unwrapped the turkey sandwich. “It may be a while before we get back.”
“Thank you.” Vicky pushed Zak back. The little fay was eyeing her sandwich hungrily. She took a bite and pulled a bit off to feed to the dog in her lap. Darien chuckled and shook his head as he headed out.
***
The warehouse Darien pulled up in front of was huge. Vicky checked it out as they got out of the car. It was old but well preserved.
Darien pulled his bag from the trunk before heading over to where she stood. “May I have your bag, please?” He held out his hand, and Vicky passed the leather satchel over. He fished in it for a moment and pulled out the heavy ring of keys that was always in the bag. “We won’t need this.” Opening up the passenger door, he chucked the bag into the floorboard before heading towards the warehouse.
Vicky looked back at the Aston Martin before following Zak and her boss to the door set in the side of the building.
Darien used a key from the ring to unlock it and held the door open for Vicky.
The inside of the warehouse was two stories high and almost empty. There were a few shelves at one end, stacked with things too far away for Vicky to see, but most of the floor was bare. She stepped in as Darien flicked a switch on the wall and closed the door behind them. Industrial lights that hung by long wires kicked on, flooding the warehouse with pools of light and shadow. They put out just enough light to illuminate the room as the sun started to fade.
“People will start getting here shortly after full dark,” Darien explained as he walked towards the open room. “We need to have everything ready so we can start.”
Vicky followed him, unsure what she could do to help. As they crossed the room, a shimmer of light reflected off something on the floor. She paused for a moment and saw the cool hint of silver arching away from her. Looking in the other direction, she saw the same gentle curve running off along the floor. She stepped over the silver line and jogged to catch up to Darien.
He dropped his bag in the center of the room to rummage in it. “We’re meeting under a parlay tonight,” Darien explained as he pulled bundles out of the bag. “I know you’re not familiar with magic, but I’m going to need your help.”
“What can I do?” Vicky asked as she drew a little closer to kneel down by her boss.
“For a proper parlay, there needs to be a neutral party to oversee the groups talking,” he explained as he started to unroll the bundles. “Someone to act as judge to mediate the situation, two to act as guards to protect the group bound by the parlay, and someone to act as keeper to bind everyone to the parlay.” Darien paused in his work and looked up into Vicky’s eyes. “Since I’m calling the parlay, I’ll act as judge, Elliot has offered his services as inside guard, Zak will act as outside guard, but I need you to stand as keeper.”
Vicky cocked her head as confusion creased her brow. He wanted her to do magic? “Okay,” she agreed. “How do I do that?”
“You really don’t have to do anything,” Darien explained as he went back to unwrapping the bundles. “Just stick close and hold what I give you.”
Zak rolled over as a ball of tentacles and wiggled encouragingly against Vicky’s leg.
“Is everything secure?” Darien asked the fay.
Zak wobbled around, gurgling at him.
“Good, then let’s get this set up before anyone arrives.” Darien handed Vicky a stack of candles and some bundles of herbs. They both stood up to prepare the space for the magic they were going to do tonight.
It only took about thirty minutes for Darien to walk the walls of the warehouse with a lit bundle of the herbs. He explained that he was using the sage to clean the space as Vicky followed behind him with her armload of things. Every so often he would put down a white candle into a hole in the concrete floor. Zak rolled along behind them and felt each of the candles as they went.
By the time they got back to the front of the building, a small group of people had shown up. Vicky recognized some of their faces, but she didn’t know them.
Darien ignored the group and went back to his bag in the middle of the room.
Vicky gasped as he pulled an ornate longsword and two daggers out.
Zak rolled up against him expectantly.
“You’ll get it in a bit,” he said as he pushed Zak away. “Just wait for everyone to get here.” Zak backed off and rolled over to rub against Vicky. “Why don’t you go check out who’s here,” Darien suggested, and Zak sneezed at him. “Don’t give me that,” he chided the fay. “I can always get someone else to help.”
Zak waved his tentacles angrily at Darien before turning to check out the growing crowd. Vicky could hear squeaks of surprise as Zak’s tentacles touched the more squeamish of the group.
Darien took out a copper bowl and something wrapped in a black cloth. Pulling the cloth back, he revealed a light purple orb the size of a softball. He placed the crystal in the bowl and set the bowl on the floor before looking up at Vicky. “I need some of your blood.”
“Um… okay,” she said, coming over to him.
He held out his hand, and Vicky took it. Drawing one of the daggers from its sheath, Darien poked the end of her index finger. A droplet of blood welled up from the cut, and he pressed it to the top of the crystal ball. Taking her injured finger, he stuck it in his mouth. Releasing just a hint of power, he sucked away the blood and released the digit healed, as if the cut never happened.
Vicky rubbed the pad of the damp finger against her thumb as she watched him take the knife and sliced his own hand.
After dropping his blood on top of the crystal, he stepped away from the bowl, still bleeding. “Come with me.” Darien walked away from the bowl with the dagger in hand. He held his injured hand up, so the blood flowed back into his palm. Vicky stood and followed him over to the silver strip
in the floor. She watched the vampire squat down to draw something on the floor in his blood. Darien spoke words that Vicky didn’t understand before standing and following the line as it curved away from him.
He repeated his actions three more times until they had made a complete circle with the silver line. Darien rubbed the injury to stop the bleeding and headed back to his bag. He pulled out a towel to clean his hand off before returning the dagger to its sheath.
Vicky looked around the room to the four bright red marks evenly spaced around the silver line. “What was that?”
“I was just setting a circle.” Darien explained. “It’ll define who is in the parlay and keep everyone else out.” He looked up at the door.
Vicky turned to see Elliot walk in. His long blond hair hung loose around his shoulders and billowed behind him as he walked.
“Good evening, My Lady,” Elliot greeted Vicky as Darien stood up. “Master Darien.”
Darien held out his hand in greeting, and she was surprised when they didn’t shake hands. Elliot grasped Darien’s forearm, just past the wrist. Darien repeated the gesture so they were bound together in a greeting older then Vicky knew.
“Thank you for coming tonight.” Darien said as they held on to each other’s arm for a moment longer. They broke apart, and he turned back to the preparations. “Everything is almost ready.” He lifted the sword from the ground to hand over to the other vampire. “We’re just waiting for everyone to arrive.”
Zak rolled over and banged into Darien’s leg, causing him to stumble slightly.
“All right, all right,” he said, “here’s yours.” He picked up the second dagger and handed it to the small creature.
Zak’s tentacles took the hilt before he wiggled over to rub against Vicky. He pulled on her until she walked with him over to inspect Darien’s work.
Elliot hitched an eyebrow as the creature wobbled around the edge of the circle with Vicky in tow. “You’re letting Zak be the outside guard?” He wrapped the belt attached to the sword around his waist and secured it in place.