by D. R. Rosier
Chapter 5 – Vinnie
It was official, my sister was nuts. She sat there with a coffee in her hand; she looked confident and sure, something that she had grown into over the last four plus years. It looked good, and natural, on her now. But I could sense she wasn’t nearly as confident as she appeared about this decision.
Kristi pursed her lips, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Rafe asked, “Why?”
Callie asked, “Humans have magic?”
I coughed loudly.
“We talked about this sis, it would kill millions, destabilize governments, religions, everything! You can’t do it.”
Hope shook her head, “No, it’s the only way to save them Vinnie. You have already guaranteed their destruction; you are the eldest, first born. It’s the only thing that fits… If we don’t do this, and let millions die, they’ll all die.”
I felt like she slapped me with that accusation, “How can you know? What, do you think the humans will beat the fae if they have their magic?”
She shook her head, “It’s not that simple. And no. I think if they have their magic, they won’t attack at all, and the fae will attack here instead. You see, it’s not just the technology that is going to get them killed, it’s that plus the fae enchantment.”
I was a little lost, “Explain that?”
She gathered her thoughts, “I believe that when they do create a stable portal and find the fae, that with the enchantment still in place they will attack. Humans won’t understand, mostly because of the enchantment, they won’t believe the truth. They’ll be incapable of understanding. Even more than that, the enchantment screws with people in subtle but different ways, so there will be multiple opinions, all of them wrong.
“The humans will go in and start massacring the fae with superior technology and the fae’s greatest weakness, iron. I can’t be positive of course, but it lines up with history and what humanity has done in the past.”
I frowned, “So why then does that lead to humanities destruction?”
She said, “Because it’s not limited to the fae and humans. What do you think the demons and angels will do, when they see humanity start a cross realm holy war that will spread? It’s simple really; they will unite with the fae and destroy this world.”
I nodded, “So you think if they have their magic, they will understand the fae and other realms of humanity? And not attack?”
She said, “Yes, but it won’t get that far. As soon as I cancel the enchantment I believe the fae will panic and attack earth. They will see earth with the tech and the magic to beat them, and will try and exterminate the humans before they can perfect the science or learn control of their magic.
“Then the demons and angels will… take the other side instead. They don’t want another realm war; I don’t think any aggressor has a snowball’s chance in hell. They’ll be cut down. Of course, a lot of this is guess work, but even without it, ending the enchantment is the only way humanity will be able to deal with true reality, which you opened up to them.
“Lastly, even if I turn out to be wrong about everything, it’s the right thing to do. The price is high but it’s all right now, if the enchantment lasts so many others will continue to die for no reason at all, simply because humans can’t see or understand the whole of reality.”
Kristi nodded, “I think she’s right love. And no, I don’t know for sure, but it feels right.”
I asked, “How would you even do it?”
Hope shrugged, “Remember Feinir? He was around when it was done. It won’t be easy, I’ll have to disrupt the power spells first to make sure there isn’t a huge explosion, and then take out the center stone where the enchantment is while it is shielded so it can’t hurt anyone.”
I nodded and breathed out a sigh. “Alright, I don’t like being the bad guy here, but assume you’re right. What will the rest of us do?”
She snorted, “You’re not the bad guy. Just pivotal. If the fae hadn’t put up the enchantment in the first place your paper wouldn’t have mattered at all. This will all be the fae’s fault. We are responsible for our own actions, but it was theirs that started this. I’m trying very hard to think of it like a doctor in surgery. Yes, I have to cut this guys leg off so he heals, but it wasn’t my fault his leg has gangrene on it. It was the guy who stabbed him and his fault for not taking care of it sooner. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t feel bad doing it.
“Make sense? As far as what I need you guys for, there are a lot of fae running around, I’m sure they won’t just allow us to waltz in and turn off their enchantment. Oh… one more thing. We’ll be totally outing ourselves when we do this, not only will humans have magic they’ll have evidence others do too. We may want to hide out afterwards, until the humans adjust. On the other hand, if we stick around we might make a big difference against the fae as well as teaching humans.”
I asked, “Okay, looks like you put a lot of thought into this. If you’re right about everything it’s a good plan. I can also agree it’s the right thing to do regardless, but why will we be exposed?”
Hope shrugged, “Stonehenge…”
Shit… Figures. They not only have guards there, but a damn live webcam.
I asked Rafe, “What do you think, will the angels and demons react as she predicted?”
Rafe shrugged, “Most likely. The first part I’d say is more definite, if the humans invade the fae realm and start an extermination… the angels will feel threatened and will attack Earth. The demons will most likely follow. The second one is a little iffy. They will find the fae’s attack a bit abrupt, maybe even uncalled for. But the fae are an old and accounted for threat in the universe. The angels won’t feel threatened by the action and will only respond if it looks like it might spread to other worlds.”
Rafe smiled wryly, “In short, I don’t know. I think she is right about one thing for sure though, if you don’t take out the enchantment, Earth will be toast in some way or another in the next decade or two. Their only chance is to see reality clearly. Not that I would ever advise you to take such an action…”
I snorted.
I suggested, “Let’s go with the first part of the plan and reassess based on what happens after that. Hope’s suppositions sound right, but it gets a little murky the farther it goes out. I also don’t want to just hide away, but we shouldn’t flaunt ourselves either. Say, be in a position to help, but not out in the open?”
Callie giggled, “Like a secret base… maybe a bat cave?”
I snorted, “Something like that yes, but I was thinking of the island. Also, another issue, what about the communities? Without an explanation they will probably all be trying to kill us, or at least find us, like the humans in the beginning. We can have my parents brief Chicago, but most other places will freak out and forbid the action.”
Shit, phone. I picked it up and it was a one word message from Toni, “Help.”
“I gotta go, let me know what you come up with.”
Hope asked, “Do you need help?”
I shook my head, “I don’t think so,” as I stepped into limbo and teleported to outside Toni’s apartment.
Her door was banged in. I walked through and found her on the floor hurt, but she looked to be yelling at the guy, who had her phone in his hand. I had thought the message strange, she wasn’t one to ask for help. I snorted, what woman was?
I stepped out of limbo with my shield up. This seemed so familiar. I’d never had to rescue a damsel before; this was my second this week.
“Let’s hear it, I suppose although you’ve broken into council property and assaulted one of Chicago’s sorceresses I’ll hear you out anyway.”
I cast a glyph to shield Toni, just in case this guy tries to hurt her more. When she flinched I remembered she hadn’t seen my immortal magic yet. I sent a healing magic her way as well and she seemed to relax.
The guy asked aggressively, “So are you the one that killed…”
I int
errupted sharply, “Who are you? You’re in my city, if you ask nicely after answering my question I might tell you. You’re the intruder here.”
I realized I was being an arrogant asshole, but I was really pissed, where do these women beating assholes keep coming from?
Toni said softly, “He’s Manny, the head council in San Antonio and a vampire.”
I frowned, wishing I’d taken my sister up on her offer. Just for the fear factor, the guy was staring me down.
I said angrily, “Very well, I’ll satisfy your curiosity. Your brave sorcerer ambushed Toni here and blew up her car. Then when I asked what was going on, he tried to burn both Toni and I, when that didn’t work he tried ice. That’s when I killed his stupid ass. Are you happy now that you sacrificed your life for such a fool and coward? You should have gone to the council with any queries… and not done it this way.
“Any more questions or last words?”
Manny sneered, “I am a master vampire and head of a city council. How dare you threaten me! As if you could kill me.”
I stressed the word as my patience was about gone, “You… are… in… Chicago. That makes you an intruder, a thug and bully who assaulted one of our own, not a council member. If you’re head councilor why didn’t you follow the rules?”
Manny growled, “If you succeeded this town would be drowned in blood as my coven took revenge. You wouldn’t dare.”
I shook my head, “You do know we have two necromancers in this town right? One on the council? Plus, you seem like kind of an asshole, I’d bet they’d all be happy to be free of your compulsions.”
He still hadn’t attacked me despite my insults, probably nervous about the golden shield. This was a waste of time, but even though I was in the right, I didn’t want to kill him in cold blood. He wasn’t actually attacking anymore.
I wrapped the three of us in magic and transported to the council building, which had a prison that could hold any of the races.
“Have fun in here waiting, the council will decide your fate.”
I pushed him in with my magic and shut the door, and then I warded it.
“You okay Toni?” I asked softly.
She jumped into my arms and gave me a tight hug. Her body felt… really good against me. After a minute I started having an awkward reaction.
“I’d invite you home with me and my mates, but were in the middle of something kind of crazy.”
She asked, “What? Do you need help? It’s the least I could do, you’ve saved me twice.”
I was both relieved and disappointed when she stepped away, and resisted the urge to fix myself. I tried to give her the short version, but even that took about a half an hour.
She looked incredulous, “So… you’re going to expose magic, free humanity’s magic, then hideaway and react on the fly as needed to keep casualties down? All to save the world?”
I snorted, “Exactly. But it sounds a little crazy when you boil it down to bullet points like that.”
She chuckled but her face turned serious when she said, “I’d really like to help.”
I looked at her closely, “Are you sure?”
She nodded, so I wrapped her up in my magic and took her back home with me. I took a minute to introduce Toni to everyone and I filled them in on what happened. Hope sent a ghost to fill in dad, so the council will know about the dumb ass in holding. They’d probably just kill him, hopefully.
I noticed Kristi took charge of Toni and they were talking with their heads together. I hoped I wasn’t in trouble; most guys can’t get in trouble for thinking about other woman… I can. Kristi gave me an amused look and winked. Just more proof I’m screwed but I smiled back.
I asked, “So what did you guys decide?”
Alicia said, “There really is no way to warn them all to go to ground. They’ll have to lie low when it all hits the news. Our little group here will keep away from supernaturals as well, although if we succeed at Stonehenge that appellation will become meaningless. Point being, until the why is as widely spread as the what, we’ll need to hide.
“I’m sure your parents will be helping to spread that word, so hopefully it won’t take too long. The fact that cities don’t cooperate that much will slow us down though.”
Alicia took my hand and dragged me out of the room.
She kissed me softly and before I could ask she covered my mouth with a finger, leaned in, and whispered in my ear.
“My wolf likes this Toni… you have my blessing to take her as another mate.”
Alicia had been trying to push another mate on me for years; I think it was a wolf thing. The more mates I had, the stronger I was, the more secure Alicia would be. It was a pack thing and would prove my strength as well. This time was the first however where the idea didn’t seem quite so absurd to me. She must have scented it on me because she smiled, and then kissed me again briefly. When she turned I followed her back into the room.
Of course, Alicia was the easiest as I didn’t have to convince her at all. I wasn’t quite sure what Kristi would think of the idea. Toni seemed attracted to me, but I wasn’t sure if that meant she was up for such a… unique arrangement. I was sure Kristi would let me know though; surely she knew where my thoughts were. If it was no, it would be no. I wouldn’t hurt Kristi for anyone or anything.
I suppressed a snort, we were going to be changing the world soon, this probably wasn’t the best time to be thinking about Toni’s body and all the things I could be doing with it. She was exotic and lovely, and she was an open giving person. And this line of thought wasn’t helping me at all.
“So, should we move this group to the island, stock it with food and all? That way when were done in England we can go straight there without worrying about it. We should also have some sort of portable satellite radio or TV?”
Hope shrugged, “If you want, my ghosts can keep an eye on all that stuff. I have over a hundred I can put in strategic positions, including in front of a TV. But yes on all the rest, let’s do that then get this done. The longer we wait will just be extra deaths with all the riots and shit going on right now.”
Kristi came over with Toni, “We can help you with that. Toni would be perfect for building an underground freezer and keeping it iced up. And I am course am your muscles.”
She looked so damn cute when she said that, it was hard to remember she could toss a two ton bounder like most people would a pebble with her telekinesis.
Everyone split up at that point and we got to working on it.
Kristi and Toni took care of food, Hope took Callie on a blood raid so she would have food, the others split up to buy tents, air mattresses, a grill, a kid pool for a tub, which Toni or I could fill as sorcerers, and some soap and shampoo. We didn’t bother with bottled water since we could make it on the fly. By Friday midday we were all on the beach drinking beers. We were going to wait until after dark to go for Stonehenge.
We might have been exposing ourselves, but there was no reason to do it in broad daylight with a bunch of tourists around, mostly because they could die in the crossfire if the fae came in force. With any luck they had no idea of our plans, though it was an obvious attack point, they shouldn’t be caught flatfooted.
Kristi pulled me aside and we took a short walk, then she kissed me. When she pulled back her smile was wide. She extended her magic and connected us, not even bothering to try to explain with words. She was joyful with me, and I with her.
She shared what she thought of Toni, and how she knew how I felt and wasn’t threatened in the least. That she had in fact known how I would feel about Toni, and Toni about me, long before my first day of work. She saw an amazing life for the four of us if we managed to get through the tumultuous events ahead. She also agreed with me that Toni was a wonderful person, and she found Toni as exotically beautiful as I did.
She kissed me again and I knew I was the luckiest man alive as she withdrew her magic.
Now all I had to do was to seduce Toni, although based
on what I saw in Kristi’s mind I didn’t think that would be too hard a chore. We still had hours before the mission, so I went and searched her out. When I saw her my jaw almost dropped. She was wearing a creamy white bikini with a sarong; her dark brown hair was down and flowed in the light breeze. Her petite body was sexy; her perky B cups looked perfect on her five foot one frame. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Her beautiful eyes spotted me and she smiled at me. I made my way over.
I held out my hand, “Go for a walk?”
She nodded and held my hand, an amused look in her eyes.
“You look great.”
She looked me up and down and said, “You too.”
I asked, “So what do you think of the idea of my unique family?”
She stopped walking and pulled my hand so we were facing each other.
She put a hand on my chest and said softly, “So, is this where you seduce me into joining your little harem? You’ve got your sexy blonde and the submissive black haired wolf bitch and figured you’d add me for a little exotic, sexy, dark brown haired and tanned skin variety?”
I choked, “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
She sighed and shook her head sadly and pouted, “You wouldn’t? But I was really looking forward to it.”
I saw her lips twitching in the corners. I’m ashamed to say I sputtered a bit at that point, but I finally came to my senses and tossed her over my shoulder. I carried her, as she hit my ass and back in a very unconvincing attempt at outrage, to a somewhat small but secluded stretch of sand.
I summoned a beach blanket right before I dropped her on it.
She blew out a breath and glared up at me.
“You’re really sexy when you’re mad. I know it’s only been five days, but I really do care about you. I can tell Kristi and Alicia do as well. So Toni, would you like to join my harem? I don’t have the exotically sexy position filled just yet and you’d fit that description perfectly. You’re also an amazing woman and intelligent, which makes you so much sexier than just what is on the outside.”