Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness)

by Natalie Herzer

  “What’s your name?”

  He blinked, “I don’t have one.”

  The way he replied, full of surprise that someone would ask at all, made my heart ache in return. That bastard Mordred had no sense of family. He’d used his own children as if they were disposable soldiers, means to an end, nothing more. “We’ll change that as soon as we are out of here.”

  With that I grabbed Cutter lying on the ground since the altar had been blasted as well and went out the door like the good obedient experiment the human standing guard on the left expected me to be. The raven followed, and then, with a quick move to the side, he rammed his elbow into the stunned human’s face. Bone crunched and the guard dropped to the floor. I grabbed the gun lying at the ground. “Does the tranquilizer kill humans?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Good. Where’s the rest of my weapons? And my clothes?”

  “No clothes but the weapons are in a storage room on the left.” He pointed towards the grand corridor.

  I wanted to move on, but the raven took my arm and said, “Wait, let me call for back-up first.” Then he let out a hoarse shriek, reminding me of a crow and a few seconds later, with a rustling of feathers, the two other ravens joined us. Both were in their human form with their wings still visible. The man looked nearly identical to the one standing beside me, except his hair was black showing streaks of violet, and his eyes were a light shade of that same color. The woman was about my height, had silky, auburn hair and stunning golden eyes.

  “We’re with her,” the raven beside me announced.

  That was all it took, and we moved on, first stopping to get my leather harness, knives and throwing stars and then advancing along the corridor sweeping every room leading away from it. At the sight of us, me with the tranquilizer gun and sword in my hands and three grim ravens at my back, most of the white coats dropped whatever they’d been doing and lifted their arms as high in the air as possible.

  “Tie them up!” I called out. The ravens smiled and two of them went to work.

  In every room we found a magical creature. Vampires, witches, faeries, you name it. Bound onto that goddamn operating table, their eyes either dull and helpless from loss of hope, or filled with so much hatred they were on the verge of an all-consuming blood craze. One by one we freed them and my heart drummed erratically in my chest as I thought of Pauline. I hoped she was alright.

  In the next room I found Josianne Bellemort, her beautiful face distorted from pain, and tears were running down her cheeks. Directly above her left hand those motherfucking white coats had placed an UV-lamp which made her skin burn and blister with a crackling sound, that came to close to that of popping popcorn. Maybe I should rethink my merciful tie-up politic.

  With a sweep of my arm I pushed the lamp aside so it fell to the floor, broken. Opening the metal cuffs around her wrists and ankles I pulled Josianne up into my arms. “Shhh, Josianne, everything will be fine now, you hear me. Romaric’s been looking all over for you.”

  Romaric’s name got into her head and hearing it seemed to calm her down and fuel her with energy at the same time. She stopped crying and nodded, and weakly she slid of the table, ready to follow me but nevertheless eyeing the ravens suspiciously. Good girl.

  After we rescued fourteen creatures and had almost reached the end of the corridor, a woman in a white coat leaped out of a room on the left, and blocked our way. She was armed, revolver in one outstretched hand, tranq gun in the other one.

  “S-Stop right there.” Let me guess, the crazy scientist bitch so keen on experiments. Our little but growing troop of tied-up white coats and freed victims came to an abrupt halt. “You can’t escape,” she added on a nervous breath.

  “Oh, is that so?”

  She nodded vigorously. “I won’t let you.”

  “Ah,” I took a small step towards her, all the while holding her gaze locked with mine, “good thing we weren’t planning to escape then, huh?” Another step. She looked confused, so I explained, “We just gonna walk the fuck out of here.”

  I went directly for her and locked my hands around her wrists. Pushing her arms wide, I brought them quickly to her side, muzzle aiming at the floor before giving her a smacking Glasgow kiss. She dropped to the floor, a trembling hand at her blood spurting nose as I collected the weapons.

  Pretty sure one of the ravens would take care of her I headed for the next room, opened the door and gasped as I finally found what I’d been bracing myself for while moving down this corridor.

  Pauline lay unconscious, bound to the table, cuts similar to mine showing on her arms. The scientists in her room showed no signs of resistance after a glance at me, so I practically flew to her to get those damn cuffs off her.

  “Pauline, Pauline, it’s me, Maiwenn. Oh please, wake up. Wake up.” My voice was hoarse from anger, sorrow and guilt choking me. Unnoticed tears ran down my cheeks.

  She gave no reaction so I pulled her up to gather her into my arms only to jerk away as I found her back wet and sticky with blood. Oh, my God. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out at the sight of her wounds. They’d ripped out one of her wings, the other one was in shreds. Her beautiful wings, gone. My vision became red with the white-hot need for revenge.

  Taking a deep breath I gently carried her out of the room. It was time to get her the hell away from this place. Back out in the corridor I turned to the raven, “Way out?”

  The female answered, “Right ahead, then up the stairs to the left.”

  And that’s where we went. Heading up the stairs and pushing open the doors what I first thought of as a laboratory turned out to be an old, vacant hospital.

  Finally outside I noticed the surroundings and that the sun was already flirting with the horizon despite my every cell burning with a savage hunger for vengeance. We were losing the cover of darkness; bad news not only for the vamps but also for the rest of us. Humans were ignorant, sure, but only to a certain degree. A group of scientists and bloody, tortured magical creatures might be too much even for them.

  I had to act fast. So I went over to the –raven with red-rimmed eyes. “Could you please take care of her?”

  “But of course.” He gathered Pauline gently in his arms.

  “Take them away, out of reach.” I ordered before going back for one last time. Down the steps and into a hell of pain, sorrow and coldness.

  How could that have happened? How could humans do such things? Out of curiousness or out of fear of the unknown? The chief of the white coats might have been under Mordred's control and he might have manipulated her, but the seeds had been there…and those others? They’d just followed in the name of science or whatever excuse that made them sleep at night. In the end they all saw in us nothing more than lab rats.

  Remembering Pauline’s shredded wings, the ‘it’s coming round’ I heard when I woke up, I sat my jaw and marched the long of the corridor. Beginning in the back and quickly working my way to the exit, I emptied every bottle with even the slightest hint of a chemical inscription onto the floor, and opened every gas tap I could find.

  A smile twitched at my lips as I climbed the stairs to the first floor of the hospital. Standing at the top I looked back. “I really hope this will warm your heart, Mordred. It sure as hell does mine.” And with my breath I lightened a match and let it fall onto the ground.

  I tried to take a run for the doors leading outside but the roaring explosion ripping through the hospital’s foundation knocked me right off my feet. Through the rocks crashing down I caught a glimpse of blue, then…nothing.

  My eyelids fluttered open but the harsh light of day was such a horrible reminder of the nightmare I just had, that I turned onto my side, buried my face into my soft pillow and closed my eyes again.

  “Oh, no. You don’t!” Someone snarled.

  My eyes popped open. Kylian?

  I rolled onto my back and looked up. Yep, there he was, leaning over me. The worry showing in his bright blue eyes belied
his hard words though, and I swallowed the ‘Fuck off’ that was ready to bounce off the tip of my tongue.

  I tried to sit up. With the operative word being ‘tried’ since my left arm turned out to be trapped in a sling and I was pretty sure someone had smashed my right knee with a sledgehammer. The mean teeth of pain were picking my every bone and I sucked in a sharp breath. Then two strong, warm hands grabbed me under my arms, pulling me easily up into a sitting position, so the next instant I found myself leaning comfortably against the headboard of my bed.

  “Thanks,” I murmured. I looked around me and noticed that the bright light that had annoyed me earlier was coming from the setting sun as its last, strong rays flooded through my window. Apparently I’d slept the whole day.

  “Don’t mention it, I mean I had to do something. It was like watching all those birds trapped in pools of petrol on Discovery Channel. Heartbreaking, really.”

  If looks could kill.

  Kylian pulled up a chair and sat down beside my bed. Serious now, his eyes scrutinizing me, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been hit by a truck,” I replied honestly.

  “Try concrete.”

  I arched a brow at that.

  His tone reproachful he explained, “Yep. After whatever you did inside of that damn hospital, the whole building came crushing down. On you.”

  “Shit, hadn’t considered it. I admit my plan had some holes in it.”

  “A damn Swiss cheese has more consistency. Your arm is broken, your knee was dislocated and that’s not even half of it. Viviane ordered for you to stay in bed.”

  I rubbed my face hoping to wipe away the persistent layer of fatigue there but found it hurt. Ah, I remembered Mordred punching me there. “Okay, let’s start at the beginning. What happened in the park? I mean, after I’d been drugged.”

  He leaned back in the chair. “One of the birds grabbed you and the bad guy, and flew off. Chastel and I fought the other two, till they, too, took off.”

  “And the faeries?” I had been wondering what had happened to them.

  “Got away.”

  I sighed in relief. “That’s good, that’s good.” One of many weights lifted, I continued, “So how did you find us?”

  “Well, after the fight we had to take care of Chastel’s wounds. When that was done, we decided to head for the north-eastern suburbs since you magically tracked down Pauline there. And believe it or not, searching the area we stumbled over some wasted bum rambling about angels of death. So we asked him, and he gave us a rough idea as to where those bastards might be hiding. Later, the weird troop of birds and lab coats standing in front of the hospital were clue enough.”

  He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I saw you through one of the windows, and wanted to go inside. Then everything went boom. And I tried to get to you as fast as I could. The birds, too.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Surprised the hell out of me when they told me they were with you and would kill me if I hurt you.”

  “Yeah, their change of camps might appear a little drastic, but I’ll explain later. First tell me what happened to the white coats and the victims?”

  “We left the scientists at the hospital with a note for the Police, that their illegal laboratory blew up and that for farther information they could contact you. Tell them it was a P.I. case.”

  “That’s what I had in mind. Of course I planned on thoroughly punching and kicking them beforehand.” I smiled and he smiled back at me.

  “Of course. Well, the others called their families or friends and were out of there as fast as they could.”

  Totally understandable. “Did the raven tell you what’s happened down there?”

  He shook his head. “No, they didn’t.” Puh. “Though a bunch of scientists, an abandoned hospital, a look at you and Pauline…don’t have to be a genius to figure that one out. The picture is quite telling. But I’d hoped you’d tell me what has happened since you were drugged, anyway?”

  And I told him. About a Celtic half-god named Mordred trying to escape his prison. One existing between realms and therefore not affected by the Turn. One his own mother had banished him into. That the ravens where his children, the result of an affair with - in my opinion - the Gaulish goddess Catubodua, also known as the Battle Crow. I’d given it quite some thought and was pretty sure of it, since Catu had always liked to piss of Morgan and Morgan had always been jealous of her nickname. I also told him that after being neglected and forced to do evil against their will by their own father, the ravens had decided to change camps.

  I just left out the degree of relationship between me and Mordred. Why bother? Kylian would soon be gone anyway. And okay, I admit, I was a little vague on the how I managed to kick a half-god’s ass back into oblivion, mumbling something about witch magic running on instincts. And given the fact that Kylian kept staring at me with those observing blue eyes of his the whole time, I for one was kind of proud of myself. My story was almost coherent.

  “Oh, and the ravens have no names, I promised we take care of it,” I said and finished my shaky report.

  Kylian looked at me, no blinking, no twitching, nothing. Shit, he knew I lied. I was toast. Before I turned into a pile of coal, he finally stood and said, “You know, you’re a strange woman. And you make strange friends in strange situations. But sure, we’ll give them names.” And my lungs got back to work as relief flooded me.

  I had one more question but was afraid of the answer. Struggling for words and a voice, I croaked, “Pauline?”

  “Let’s find out.” Before I could say anything Kylian came over to my bed, scooped me up into his hard arms and carried me out of my room and into Pauline’s across the hall.

  “Visitor”, he announced before putting me gently down onto the side of the bed. Then he turned around and left the room.

  I turned my head to look at Pauline, who was lying on her side to avoid farther damage to her wings. It would probably take months for them to grow back. “Hey.”

  Pauline was pale, and there were big blue circles under her eyes. She smiled in spite of it all. “Hey.”

  I cleared my throat. “How are you?”

  “No pain for a change, thanks to your ointments and some painkillers Viviane forced me to take.” She sounded normal, not angry as I’d expected.

  “Listen Pauline, I’m really sorry about what happened. God, those words seem so lame. But I am sorry, and I’d understand if you’d want to move out. Don’t-”

  She held her hand up. “Stop. Do you want me to move out?”

  “No…Yes…Dammit. What I mean is, it’d be better for you. Safer.”

  “Maybe you’re right, maybe I’d be safer,” I knew she’d understand, “maybe not.”

  My head snapped up. “What?”

  “One can never know what might happen. The point is I don’t need safer. Wanna know why?”

  I nodded. Maybe those painkillers were clouding her judgment?

  “If something happens, I know you’ll come for me. I knew it in that damn laboratory. The whole time I told myself ‘Maiwenn will get you out of here’. And you did. What do I need more? You and Viviane, you grew on me. I don’t want to move.”

  We looked at each other through watery eyes.

  “You’re stupid.” With that I pulled her into a one-armed hug.

  “Besides I don’t want to miss out on that thing going on between you and Kylian,” Pauline said into my hair.

  I pulled back and looked at her. “What thing?” When she opened her mouth to counter, I held up a hand in surrender. “No, scratch that. I’ll rephrase. You won’t miss out on anything since he’ll soon be gone.” Ha.

  Pauline just smiled up at me, her eyes growing heavy.

  “You’re exhausted. Do you want me to put you into a healing sleep?” I asked.

  “No, I’ll make do with the normal one.”

  We hugged each other one last time, and then I got up, slowly and carefully. At the door I tu
rned. “Sweet dreams, Pauline. I’m really glad we have you back!”

  Her eyes were closed, but her lips curved. “Me, too.”

  I closed the door silently behind me. And bumped into Chastel. The impact made him wince and knocked me nearly off my feet, if he hadn’t grabbed my elbow to steady me.

  “Shit, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

  “Nothing’s broken that hasn’t been already,” I assured him with a smile, and looked at him, taking in the deep gashes across the left side of his face. They would leave scars, and he could be lucky he hadn’t lost his eye. From his stance and controlled breathing I knew he had a couple of cracked ribs, too. “And you?”

  He gave me a quick grin. “Same here.”

  “Thanks for getting us out, by the way.”

  “You did most of it. I just helped to howl the stones off you.”

  “No, that’s not true. You did more than that. And I’m grateful and glad we had you as back-up.” Since the praise made him a little uncomfortable, I changed the subject. “So, you wanted to visit Pauline? She wants to sleep a little.”

  “Damn. Viviane wanted me to give Pauline her medicine. I hate to wake her up.” He looked at the door as if he could see right through it, at Pauline lying hurt but safe in her bed. Worry shone brightly in his eyes, but there was more. Something unexpected, something sweet and soft and warm.

  “You’ve fallen in love with her.” When the hell had that happened?

  “No.”

  I grinned. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that when you try to x-ray that door to get a look at her.”

  The tease was back in his eyes. “Don’t be jealous, M. You’re a sweet, strong and beautiful woman but let’s be honest Kylian had his mark on you right from the beginning.”

  “He certainly didn’t.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  We both laughed.

  But serious now, I had no idea how Pauline felt about him. Should I encourage him or not? I opted for logic. “It’s better to wake her now, than for her to wake up to a whole lot of pain later,” I said softly.