At least I had some chances at a grace period before that particular aspect tried to take over again. This time had had the best possible result for me. I felt refreshed, re-energized. And I hadn't slept with a man, with all the potential complications that would have brought. I'd been so focused on being a good mother I hadn't seriously considered a female partner before.
I just had to hope that a pregnancy wasn't triggered by the interaction of sexual satisfaction and the curse. That would be really bad thing.
There was another knock on the door. "Hurry up, ladies!" Anslem yelled through it. "It's early afternoon already. Unless you want to stay here again tonight, we need to get moving. Lunch, then Stormton." There was some slight amusement under his gruff tone. Evidently we'd been louder than I thought. Alicia had come to the same conclusion and was blushing bright red in embarrassment.
Laughing, I found the t-shirt she had been wearing and threw it at her. The tension left her frame, and a happy calm filled the room. We both walked to our bags to find clean clothes to dress in. Once we completed getting dressed, she embraced me in a bear hug, kissed me on the cheek and whispered, "Thank you," following her words with a quick lick along the edge of my ear.
The only thing in the entire situation that I felt stupid about, was the fact that I'd never considered sleeping with a woman in the last decade. I'd been so focused on preventing another situation like what had happened with Evan that it never even crossed my mind.
I hadn't wanted to feel the agony having to give up one of my children ever again. That had forcibly driven me to chastity for nearly a decade.
“Come on, ladies!" Anslem yelled, "We still need to discuss what might have happened and have lunch before we leave!"
That brought me out of my reverie, during which I managed to get myself dressed. I turned to Alicia who was just closing up her bag, having finished dressing before I had. Taking a quick turn around the room to make sure I wasn't leaving anything behind, I put away the last few things into my bag, closed it up and we both headed to the door with our luggage in tow.
After depositing our luggage at the front door, next to Anslem’s bags, we moved to the kitchen. Anslem had already made a hearty pasta dish heavy on the mince and tomatoes, and as he served it he said, “Make sure you eat all you can. Even if it makes you sleepy. Don’t trust any food or drink Alecto offers you. She’ll try and poison her friends, and I doubt any of us make that category.” Focusing on me, he said, “I’ll be surprised as hell if she doesn’t try and poison you.” I nodded glumly.
I’d heard she was a talented poisoner, but didn’t know she viewed it as standard practice to poison her guests, no matter how close to her they were. There was no plan to accept any refreshments from Alecto on my part, and never had been.
Anslem brought matters back into focus by asking me, "So what actually was going on? Why were you suddenly coming after me like a bitch on heat?" His honest confusion took the insult out of the term. He was obviously trying to describe what he saw happening, rather than hurl a random insult.
Alicia practically purred when she said, “Yes, I would have no problem encouraging a repeat.” Her eyes flicked sideways to Anslem and she flushed in mild embarrassment, and she continued, “At least as long as we are alone.”
I could feel my ears burning at their description of my earlier actions. The changing of gears required to shift from planning on facing Alecto, to what had happened to me earlier in the day, made me pause in thought. Once I had the events organized in my head—at least, I think I had them organized—I told them the tale I’ve told earlier here.
Alicia reacted first.
The look of horror that took over her face made me feel ashamed. I was happy with what had happened, and from what she had said, she had been at the time too.
"I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I would have tried much harder to control my animal nature, but you were there, smelled like you wanted…" Her voice trailed off as I hugged her and kissed her on the lips, snaking my tongue through her slight resistance. I painted the back of every tooth I could reach with my tongue.
Releasing her, I lent back and said with forceful happiness, "Gods, Alicia, don't apologize. You gave me what I needed. Needed it far more than I'd realized. I think the release you allowed me may have prevented it from happening again in the near future, unless I let it. Having something else in control of my body "—I could hear my tongue becoming slightly hesitant—"it kind of enhanced the whole situation." I admitted, waiting for the embarrassment to burn my cheeks. Strangely enough it didn't. I guess it had been nine years since I had felt this relaxed and satisfied. Even deep down I felt no reason to be embarrassed by the 'incident'.
The one thing I was still not relaxed about was leaving my children. Even though I'd left them in the care of others I trusted, I was still worried. They weren't so young that without my guidance they'd wither. I believe they respected my decision to try and solve the major problem in my life. In some ways I think it was one of the best things I could do as a role model and mother. They had Hertha and Andre to give them guidance.
It was then that I realized that if the opportunity had happened much earlier, I might not have taken advantage of it. Now, I had the drive to go through with it. I almost mentioned it, but when I looked up I saw a very calculating, considering look on Anslem's face. It rattled me, made me decide to keep what I'd just realized to myself.
Instead, I looked into his shrewd eyes nervously and asked, "What are your thoughts on what might have happened?"
He steepled his fingers together and rested his chin on the tips, deliberately cultivating a thoughtful pose. I guess it was an effort he made to put me at ease. Maybe he hadn't realized how calculating he'd looked earlier. Maybe he thought I hadn't spotted it. Either way it didn't work.
"What haven't you told us about yourself Sarah? What you describe is something that happens to Supernaturals regularly when they try and defy their core nature. From what I've heard in humans it is decidedly rare. So what are you exactly?"
Even though there was far more curiosity than condemnation in his tone, I exploded at him. "Nothing, I'm hiding nothing. The SSC did a full DNA test on me and traced my family tree back five generations. Nothing unusual in any of my ancestors. The only unusual thing about me is the fact that I was cursed by a goddamned Fury," I snarled at him in a furious tone. I'm not the sort of person who hides things from people trying to help me. Nor am I the kind of person that takes any accusations of deliberate deception from someone I'm trusting to help me lightly."
I continued my rant. "What bloody use would there be in deceiving you both, the people trying to help me? This makes no fucking sense. Besides, if I was something Supernatural, it's obviously not Were. Alicia and Andre would have spotted that in a skinny minute. No other Supernatural group I've ever heard of, outside of Vampires, bothers with dabbling in sorcery.”
Some of the Supernaturals had abilities that appeared to the uninitiated to require the same ritual. Sorcery, witchcraft and wizardry for instance. But a witch or wizard could pull off the minor magics that were the most many sorcerers could achieve without the ritual.
I calmed down a little, and continued, “They have more effective means at their fingertips one way or another. So if I am some sort of Supernatural, it's probably something the curse did to me. Hopefully, fixing it turns me back to a normal. The last thing I need is being attached to a group I have no idea about at my age. It was hard enough on Zak finding out there were other Weres. My life is already complicated enough, thank you."
Anslem blinked in surprise at my reaction. I guess it had been more emotion than he'd seen in the 'normal' me since we'd met. Alicia maneuvered behind me and gave me a hug, trying to calm me down. I may have glossy black hair, but when my temper was triggered I reacted like a natural redhead.
Anslem waited for my breathing to slow and the rage to slip from my eyes before he spoke up again. “Okay then. I will accept that if you have any Super
natural heritage you don't know about it. I will warn you if there is such a heritage and the curse has triggered some sort of reaction, you won't be able to go back. Whatever's happened because of the curse interacting with your heritage will remain. Nothing we can do about that."
I nodded glumly at him. Once the Supernatural started waking up in someone, they could only choose to halt where they were, or go deeper. There was no out. How they punished people believed to have abused their abilities was one of the reasons I didn't want in.
For serious misuse of abilities, many of the Supernatural groups had truly brutal internal justice. Up to and including execution. The SSC wouldn't have interfered with that even if the treaties gave them authority to. The bottom line was if someone abused their abilities to that level, they needed to be put down or they'd expose the whole Supernatural world to everyone.
Short of the Old Ones returning or an Apocalypse, that was about the worst thing that could happen. Having experienced the shock that the Supernatural world was real, I wasn't sure revealing it to all the normal humans wouldn't be an Apocalypse in and of itself.
"You definitely have some kind of heritage. That armor and that axe wouldn't have reacted to a normal human. They would have stayed looking almost, but not quite, in need of being thrown out." His face took a grim cast, as if there was something more he knew about that, and that what had happened to me was key to him figuring it out. "I won't tell you my suppositions. I could be wrong. But I will help you find out what the truth is," he said in a firm, reassuring tone. "Knowing this, do you still want to go forward, and confront Alecto?" He asked me in a tone that demanded decision.
I looked him straight in the eyes and firmly nodded. I needed to do this. The drive to do it was growing stronger as we spoke. "It has to be done. For me to move forward, for me to properly find out what my heritage is. All that curse can do is cloud any information we find out about what I might be," I asserted with steely determination. Alicia nodded approvingly.
I met Anslem's gaze until he shifted away, convinced in the certitude of my decision. He said, "I'll load the car while you and Alicia clean the plates and leave them on the rack. We'd best get moving, we can still make it to Stormton by mid-afternoon."
He was right. It was time for the next step in my journey. I had to face Alecto. Determination drove me forward. I couldn’t remain as I had been.
Chapter 7
Anslem was the first one to the door, and when he reached it, he threw the duffel bag with the armor and accessories to me.
"Get dressed. You need to be wearing this when we start dealing with Alecto. And no, I can't explain why. I believe you don't know of any supernatural heritage, but if others find out what I suspect…things could go badly." He was grim in his tone. Worry and concern, with a tinge of anger, infused his expression.
Alicia looked at him curiously, as if trying to parse a conclusion from what he said. When I raised an eyebrow to her she simply nodded. I went to the bathroom near the front door to get into the armor. I found it surprisingly easy—looking at it I had thought I would need someone's help. There were four buckles along the back, with three along each side. But it went over my head neatly and only required a little tightening along the sides. As I cautiously tested my flexibility in it, I found it fit me like a glove. It even seemed to be tightening around my chest in a manner similar to a corset, although I had no explanation for why it might be doing that. I quickly found the baldric built into the armor and slid the axe into it.
The axe was fascinating. I had never seen a blade or axehead like it. It had a coruscating pattern on it like mother-of-pearl, but was obviously deadly sharp. It sort of reminded me of Damascus steel, at least some of the pictures I've seen of it. But the rainbow of patterned colors was finer then you found in Damascus steel, and didn't have the black dominance that was common to that metal.
Once I left the bathroom, I found Alicia staring at me. There was an open appreciation in her eyes. Apparently, I looked good in armor.
Anslem simply grunted his approval and ordered, "Keys." Without thinking, I threw the keys to the troop carrier to him. Then thinking, I threw the now empty duffel bag to him. Grabbing our luggage, we headed to the car.
When I went to get into the passenger side front seat, I heard a disappointed, whining mew behind me. Turning, I saw a disappointed expression on Alicia's face. I sighed internally, but knew what she wanted. She wanted to snuggle up against me as we made the trip. The bench seats were incredibly uncomfortable. A wave of pleasure rushed through me at the thought of having her snuggle into me. It suddenly didn't matter whether the bench seats were comfortable or not. What we'd shared earlier today was building a connection I still felt and wanted to explore.
My mouth went dry at the thought of the simple pleasure of her leaning into me. I pushed the slight rush of arousal back, and focused on the comfort I'd be able to draw. I needed that comfort, the additional calm it would give me.
I shut the front door of the LandCruiser and headed towards the back. Sliding into the seat next to Alicia, I took the axe out of the baldric and wedged it between the two bench seats. Anslem pulled out a USB drive and plugged it into the radio, one of the few things I'd seriously upgraded in the ex-army vehicle. He grinned at me, and I heard Within Temptation start up on the sound system. I hoped that was his idea of good driving music, not an attempt to give Alicia and me some romantic music.
If it had been, then he had a seriously twisted concept of romance. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the music. I found it soothing, wearing down the jagged edges that had been caused by the events that had occurred so far today.
Between the distractions from the music, and Alicia snuggling into my neck and purring in my ear, I barely noticed the passage of time in our travel to Stormton.
I did notice that the town was living up to its name. Although there was no rain, there were heavy lightning strikes around the town that grew in intensity as we got close to the town center. We passed a building with two massive stone statues out the front and I noticed Anslem's shoulders tense. I looked at the statues more closely. The heads of both of them were following our vehicle.
That didn't make me feel particularly comfortable. I had some idea of what they might be. It seemed likely they were some form of stone golem, but a stone golem wouldn't be a threat to me. They were incredibly slow and were more suited to being arcane servants and butlers rather than a form of protection. The fact that the sight of them caused Anslem to tense told me they were probably something far nastier.
When he pulled over and started cursing, Alicia woke with a start. I hadn't even realized she had been sleeping on my shoulder.
Anslem said, "Well, there's a gigantic fucking spanner in the gears. Created Gargoyles, two of them, and they were keyed to one of us, or at least to one of our species."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but Alicia's sharply indrawn breath told me it was serious. It also confused me. Alecto had quite the reputation. I couldn't imagine what would convince her that she needed extra protection.
Thinking on it further I said, "Chances are it's either Anslem, or me. I doubt Alecto would feel she needed protection from Weres, no matter what she's done to any group of them." Alicia's eyes widened and she nodded quickly.
Anslem considered it for a little while then grunted his agreement.
"If it is me they target, then I'll deal with them while you convince whoever is in the shop to get them to back off. Don't try and help me. I can keep out of the way of two of those stone monstrosities for up to half an hour if I need to. I'll probably end up damaging them some if it takes that long, but that'll be my problem not yours."
I was still shaking my head at the thought that Alecto felt she needed protection.
Anslem answered my question before I asked it. "She's probably annoyed at one of the major factions and doesn't want to deal with the fallout personally. Those stone beasts are pointed reminders that she still has significan
t resources, and that it's not worth anyone's time harassing her over her actions. The fact that I'm a half breed will give them some…ahh…targeting problems."
Finally, some personal information about him. He was half something, half human. But a half breed what? Dammit! The information just brought forth another question.
I pushed the frustration away. I needed my head fully in the game if I was going to talk to Alecto. I wondered how Dan was. I couldn't imagine that being married to a Fury was anything other than living in interesting times.
Alicia and I got out of the back while Anslem moved around the vehicle to one of the chests. First he pulled out a mail shirt and slipped it on over his thick cotton t-shirt. He continued by loading up with a sword, a steel buckler, and two matt black .50 caliber desert eagles. Alicia cringed at the armaments he was preparing himself with.
"She can't complain," Anslem said tersely. "She's the one who put up two massive stone guardians. I have every right to defend myself and my companions."
I eyed the pistols nervously, as he started loading what looked to be steel rounds into eight magazines for them. Apparently steel was what you fought Created Gargoyles with.
"She could still report you to the police," I said with concern in my voice. "I'm sure those pistols aren’t legal in Australia. And even if they were it's not like the back of my vehicle is acceptable storage for them, legally speaking."
Anslem only snorted. Alicia looked at him quizzically, then a light of understanding dawned in her eyes. "Yeah, but Alecto has probably got a bunch of illegal stuff here herself. Supernaturals don't send normal police after other Supernaturals, and the SSC, while keeping the peace, would investigate her if she called an investigation down on us. It's one of the ways they keep things quiet. As long as the normals don't notice any battles going on, they could care less. It's almost a guarantee that someone in Alecto's position has things going on she doesn't want the SSC to find out about."
Cursed Mother: A Mongrelverse Book (Mother of Monsters 1) Page 5