“I’ve got the amulets,” Winifred said. “If you just want to take them and go, you can, but I thought it might be nice to visit for a few minutes in this calm between storms.”
I looked to Frost. We had an hour before we needed to meet the others at my club and nothing else pressing to do. “We’d like that,” he said, reading my thoughts, or just knowing me better than anyone else on earth. “It’s rare that we get to enjoy a quiet moment with a friend.”
Winifred smiled and sat on the couch next to him. “I’d like to be your friend. I haven’t convinced my grandmother or any of the other priestesses of her generation, but the rest of us in the community understand that we need to work with the fae, that we need to work together and educate each other about our different magics.”
“We’d like that,” I said. “But you may want to lay low until we find out how the humans react to our presence.”
Winifred’s smile widened. “I appreciate your concern for our well-being, Chloe, but I’m not the sort to be fair-weather friends with anyone. You are doing a brave and good thing, going to help the people of your homeland. Your actions there will keep us safe from the nightmares for a very long time. I’m appreciative of your sacrifice and I don’t turn my back on friends. No matter what happens.”
“Thank you. But you shouldn’t minimize your role in this fight. These amulets and your knowledge of the nightmares have been invaluable.”
Winifred rose to her feet in one fluid motion. “What would you like to drink? I’ve just made a batch of peanut butter cookies if you’d like one.”
“A glass of water and a cookie would be wonderful,” I said.
“I’ll have the same,” Frost said.
Winifred nodded and walked out, leaving me and Frost alone. “You’re upset about something.”
I gave him a warm smile. “Only that I don’t have more time with you in human form. You’ve only been my husband for three days.”
He smiled and leaned back in his seat, his shirt rising just enough to reveal smooth skin and tight abs. “I’ll make it up to you when we get back. I won’t forget that I owe you a honeymoon.”
“A honeymoon? Congratulations,” Winifred said. She set a plate with a cookie and a glass of water before each of us on the coffee table. She resumed her seat on the couch, curling her legs under her. “I didn’t know you two had gotten married.”
“It was a small ceremony,” I said. It had been a surprise wedding, sprung on me early in the morning before I’d gotten out of bed. We’d been surrounded by our friends and it had been perfect. I’d never had dreams of planning an elaborate wedding and party. All that mattered was that my friends had been there, and that I’d married Frost.
Winifred smiled, a hint of wistfulness creeping into her expression. “The very best weddings are small and intimate, in my opinion.”
I bit into that soft, chewy peanut butter cookie and it was like biting into a little piece of sugary heaven. It was the best part of my day so far.
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket and my moment of pleasure ended. I considered ignoring it, but there were too many people depending on me and Frost for me to hide. I put down the cookie and pulled my phone from my pocket.
“Hey, Pally,” I answered, cookie heaven still in my mouth. “What’s up?” I chewed and swallowed.
“Benny brought a stranger to the house, informed us that he was the new gatekeeper, and asked us to assist him in settling in. He’s living in our house, Chloe.”
A dull ache started pounding behind my right eye, Benny always seemed to cause me pain, even when he wasn’t physically present. “Benny’s coming with us to Rubalia. He told me he was going to find a substitute gatekeeper, but he didn’t tell me the guy would be living there. In fact, I’m pretty sure I told him the guy couldn’t live there.”
“Well, nobody informed the new gatekeeper. He’s already moved in all his possessions and he’s an insensitive, overbearing, egotistical cad. You can’t expect me to co-habitate with him, Chloe.”
“I’m leaving in less than an hour, Pally, but I’ll see what I can do.”
I hung up and looked sadly at my uneaten cookie.
“You can take it with you,” Winifred said. “And stop by for another when you get back from Rubalia.”
I smiled at her. She was a strong, intelligent, kind woman, someone I could see being a very good friend in the future. “I’d like that.”
Winifred stood. “I’ll get the amulets for you.”
While she was out of the room, I stuffed the rest of the cookie in my mouth and swallowed most of it without chewing. It sucked that I couldn’t savor it, but the sugar burst was totally worth it.
“You are a savage beast,” Frost said, eating his cookie in small bites, like he had all the time in the world.
“You love it.”
“I’m a bit frightened of it, honestly. I’m just relieved you still have all your fingers.”
“Ha. Because you’re such a model of civilized decorum. I have seen you eat after a run.”
“After a run. What’s your excuse?”
I glared at him, but Winifred returned before I could hit him with the devastating retort I hadn’t quite come up with yet. I stood, smirking when Frost left more than half his cookie on his plate.
Winifred handed me a box. “These are all we had time to make. I hope it’ll be enough.”
“How much do we owe you?”
She patted my shoulder. “Just consider it a donation to the cause.”
“If you have a few minutes,” Frost said to Winifred. “I’d like to discuss an idea I had with you.”
Winifred’s smile was warm and open. If I was the jealous type, I might be worried, but I wasn’t. “Of course.”
“I’ll catch up with you in a bit,” Frost said to me. I raised my eyebrows, but he shook his head. “I’ll explain later.”
I started to turn and make my way to her door, but a thought stopped me. “Do you know anything about dragons? We know they live in the nightmare realm and are slaves to the nightmares, but we don’t know much else. A group of them is joining us on our mission to Rubalia, and I’d like to know as much as I can about them.”
Winifred pursed her lips and tapped her jaw. “Dragons? I’ll have to check the records, but I’m pretty sure they were mentioned.” She narrowed her eyes as she thought. “I’ll look over the papers again and give you a call in a bit.”
“I’d appreciate that.” I wasn’t sure she’d tell me anything that could help, but I felt at a disadvantage with Benny and I didn’t like that feeling. Not. At. all.
***
I called Benny on the way to his house. So many people lived there and so many fae visited for training or assistance, that it didn’t feel like Benny’s house any more. It felt like an institution.
“Chloe,” Benny answered on the first ring. “Want to enjoy a last fuck before we head off to battle?”
I sped through a yellow light and ignored the cars honking at me when the light turned red halfway through. If Frost had been with me, he would have pulled the cell phone from my hand and insisted I focus on driving.
“I want to know why you moved some guy into your house without telling me. There’s a portal at my club, there’s no reason for him to be at the house.”
“Correction,” Benny said. “The portal is wherever immigrants are able to get through. Given the unrest in Rubalia, they’re just as likely to come through a portal in my house as they are in your club. Plus, everyone knows my house and will send any new immigrants there first. Durango needs to be at my place.”
Shit. I hated it when Benny made sense. “He can live anywhere, Benny. Indigo can direct immigrants to him wherever he is.”
“After she’s lulled them into a false sense of security with her sweetness? Immigrants need to meet the strong arm of the law first.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your guy can’t be at every portal all the time. What difference does it make who they see first as lo
ng as they see him eventually?”
“Right,” Benny said. “But the portal at my place sees the most traffic. Durango’s got connections and he’s got muscle. He’s the guy you want welcoming the immigrants to Sarsaparilla, but he’s from out of town and he doesn’t have anywhere to live.”
“If he’s got all these connections,” I said. “Why can’t he find a place to live?”
“Would you have the gatekeeper sleeping on someone’s couch, Chloe? He needs to present a certain image and he needs to have a place of his own, a place he controls.”
“But he doesn’t control your house, Benny. Other, autonomous people live there, too.”
“I have explained that to him. He is an exceedingly reasonable and well-mannered individual.”
“Not according to Pally.”
Benny sighed. “She will learn to adjust. Won’t she be working with the old hag finder, anyway?”
I bit back a frustrated groan. I so didn’t have the time, energy, or inclination to deal with this drama. “Just meet me at the house in…” I just missed a pedestrian who was moseying across the street with no crosswalk in sight. “Five minutes. Introduce me to this guy and let’s see if we can work things out before we leave.”
“I am not at your beck and call, Chloe. I have several things to attend to before we leave.”
“No. Nope. I’m not getting stuck cleaning up another one of your messes, Benedict. Meet me at the house in five minutes or you can stay in the Non when we go to Rubalia.”
He sighed. A very pronounced, extended, and dramatic sigh. “Fine. But I’m on the other side of the city. Give me ten minutes.”
I parked in front of Benny’s house, got out of the car, and headed up the walk. I wanted to turn around and walk back out as soon as I stepped inside. The crying. I could not deal with crying. I froze in place. I was just inside the front door, no one had seen me, yet. I could leave and wait for Frost.
I peeked around the wall into the front room and saw Pally on the couch, sobbing, while Indigo patted her back and smiled fondly. Unlike me, she was a natural-born nurturer. “Pally,” Indigo said. “Chloe’s here. I’m sure she can straighten this out.” If I ran away at this point, I’d look like the coward I was, so I stepped all the way into the room.
Pally lifted her head from Indigo’s shoulder. Her eyes were red and her face was puffy and tear-stained. “I can’t live with him,” she said. “I just can’t. Please. Find him somewhere else to live.”
I looked to Indigo, brows raised in question, but she just shrugged. “What happened?” I asked. “Was he mean to you? Did he threaten you or attack you in some way?”
Indigo shook her head, but it was Pally who spoke, “He doesn’t need to touch me to attack me. His mere presence is an assault. He’s vile and he smells…He smells…”
“I probably smell like cologne and deodorant.” A man stepped into the room, a man the size of a WWF wrestler and dressed like a hipster, in skinny jeans, a vest that held an actual pocket watch, and a newsboy cap. An odd look on a big guy, but somehow it worked. He just might be Jared’s soul mate. Durango wasn’t good-looking, his face too square or his eyes too small, or something, but he had a nice smile and I didn’t get a bad feeling from him. In fact, I immediately liked him better than I’d ever liked Benny.
I walked over to him and extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Chloe Frangipani.”
“Durango Lawson,” the man said, as he shook my hand. His voice was deep and had a bit of Southern twang. “It’s nice to meet you both. Benny has told me about you.”
“All bad, I’m sure,” I said.
Durango shrugged. “Benny’s a finicky sort of guy.” He glanced over at Pally, who was sobbing in earnest now and had moved to the far end of the couch. Clearly, she was trying to stay as far from him as possible. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want me here because I’m human.”
I looked back at him, shocked. I’d never considered he might be human. “Pally,” I said. I did my best to stay calm, although I hated intolerance in all its forms, especially when it was based on something as intrinsic as species. “Are you upset about Durango living with you because he’s human?”
Pally nodded. “He’s just so…” She waved her hand like she was swatting the air.
Durango smirked. “I get that a lot. I am just so…” He waved his hand in an imitation of Pally. He didn’t seem upset by her dislike of him, though he had every reason to be.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I have very good friends who are human. Not all fae share this prejudice.” I looked at Indigo. “You don’t have any problems with humans, do you?”
“No,” Indigo said, her lips pursed. Indigo was so sweet I couldn’t imagine her having a problem with anyone.
Rube stepped into the room, wearing athletic shorts and a tank top that showed off his rocky skin and his muscles. “I am ready to try that thing you talked about,” he said. “The lift?”
Durango smiled and slapped Rube on the back. “Lifting. I think we’re going to have to do that later, man. Your roommate’s got a problem with me staying here.”
Rube may have acted like he didn’t know there was a scene going on in the room, but he wasn’t a guy who missed much. “Pally?” he said. “You don’t like Durango?”
“How can you permit him to touch you?” Pally asked with a shudder. “Are you not aware he’s a human?”
“Yes, Pally,” Rube said. “I know he’s a human. Since when do you have a problem with humans? Didn’t you know they lived here before you came to the Non?”
“Yes,” Pally said with a teary sniffle. “I didn’t think I’d have to share a house with one of them, though. Mammy told me there were more fae in Sarsaparilla than humans.”
Judging by the way Pally was eying Durango, I didn’t think we’d get her to calm down as long as he was in the house. “Why don’t you two go to the gym?” I asked. “As much as I hate to admit it, it does make sense for the gatekeeper to live here and, if no one else has a problem with him being here…”
“I haven’t spoken to Lilith,” Rube said, “but considering her mate is a human, I can’t imagine she’ll be terribly upset. Ransom gets upset about nothing.”
“Wait a second,” I said. How had I forgotten about Ransom? “Pally, you already live with a human.”
Pally shook her head. “Technically, Ransom is a tenth brownie.”
Huh, that explained so much about Ransom.
“Everybody calm down,” Benny said, blowing through the door like a storm wind. “I’m here.” He marched over to Durango and gripped his neck with one hand. “Have you been causing trouble already?”
Durango had the good sense to look nervous, but he didn’t back down or cower.
“Actually,” I said. “The problem is Pally’s. She has a prejudice against humans.”
“He deserves it,” Pally said, her tears abating a bit. “He’s vile and vociferous and…And gigantic. He just…He takes up too much space.”
Benny released Durango and glared at me. “I drove across town for this?”
“You may leave,” I said. “Rube and Durango, you two go to the gym. We’ll talk to Pally and see if we can work out a solution.”
Durango nodded and left the room. Damn, I liked the way the boy took orders. So much better than Benny.
Benny didn’t leave, but turned his glare on Pally. “If you don’t like humans, I can send you back to Rubalia. Easy peasy, pumpkin squeezey.”
“Really?” I asked, turning to give him my best glare.
He smiled. “I’m trying to find a new catch-phrase, what do you think?”
“I think it’s perfect for you,” I said. “But it’s not helping. Leave, so I can get her calmed down.”
“I can find her a new place to live,” Benny said. “There’s a fae-only apartment building on Beechwood.”
That stopped me. “Seriously? There’s enough fae who hate humans to fill an apartment building?”
Benny nodded, looking r
ather proud of himself. “The owner uses the exclusivity anger to double the rent.”
“You own it, don’t you?”
“There’s a fairies-only building on the East side, but that’s because the other fae don’t want to live with fairies, and not the other way around.”
Did I say I was glad to be going to Rubalia? I was ecstatic.
“Come on, Benny,” I said. I gripped Benny’s shoulder and dragged him toward the door. “Didn’t you say you’ve got a lot of business to attend to before we leave?”
Benny looked at his wrist, which was bare, and frowned. “Nothing I’m going to get done in half an hour.”
“How about you find something?” I asked. I opened the door and shoved Benny out. Benny wasn’t much bigger than me, but he was stronger and could have stayed in the house if he’d really wanted to. He grinned and waved at me as he skipped down the stairs. I slammed the door, feeling like he’d gotten the better of me somehow.
I knelt in front of Pally. “What is it about humans you hate so much?”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Um, the Elves and the Shoemaker? Humans view elves as servile at best and pests at worst.” She hmphed. “Like they have any room to belittle anyone else. They are elephantine and ignorant and belligerent and malodorous. They lust only for violence and money. I mean, that one can dress up like a civilized being, but he’s still little better than a beast. He doesn’t even have any magic.”
“I heard that,” Durango said in a cheery voice. “I have a master’s degree from the University of Virginia, so I’m not dumb. I don’t lust only for violence and money, I also lust for the touch of a good woman from time to time. And I smell delicious.”
Rube walked over and sniffed the air around him. “He does smell good.”
Both men were dressed to work out. “It was nice to meet you, Chloe. I’m sure I’ll see you when you get back,” Durango said.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, wishing I could leave with them.
“Good luck over there,” Rube said with a wave. They left and I turned back to Pally.
“I don’t understand where you got this bad impression of humans,” I said. “Haven’t you lived in Rubalia all your life?”
Fairy, Neat (Fairy Files Book 6) Page 6