I smiled. Not a nice one, either. No, my smile was worthy of the Fae, laced with evil intention. "Oh, I promise you I am a real partner. Join me, and I'll give you a fight like you've never had before."
He grunted, spat again to one side and walked off. I wanted to tackle him, make him fight me. I glared at the ring master. "Can he do that?"
The master nodded. "You always have the right to reject an opponent." He looked at his list and then called out, "Cin, you're up."
I caught my breath. Cin? And sure enough, the small Asian woman came walking up to the ring. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.
"Ah, we finally get to fight each other!" Our plans for a work out had never... well, worked out.
I smiled, this time a nice one. This should be interesting. Cin was considered a master of fighting in her own country, and while I didn't know Karate, I did know how to fight.
She climbed up and faced me. "We throw out rules?" she asked.
"There are rules?" I responded.
She laughed and nodded to the man. The bell rang and I was on the floor, still grinning. Of course, I didn't stay there long.
To say that our battle drew attention would be a little like saying the Fae were a tad bit manipulative. Within minutes, the entire gym had gathered around the ring. A very small part of my brain registered the staring eyes and the shouts of encouragement, but the rest was all focused on Cin. She was incredibly good. In fact, in all the land of Fae, I had never faced her equal. And that was saying a lot.
Ring time was limited to ten minutes per fight. Most were done well before that time ended. Cin and I battled for half an hour. Thirty long minutes with first one of us on the ground and then the other. I figured either the ring master had forgotten there even was a bell, or else he was afraid of the backlash of the crowd if he rang it. Either way, we fought on.
But eventually we both began to tire. Thing is, neither of us was willing to be the one to end it. Big sign of weakness that. Besides, there was our perfect records to think of too.
So Dunwood climbed into the ring and ended it for us. The crowd wasn't happy, but Cin and I understood. He was giving us a way out that enabled us both to be winners. I've said it before, but Dunwood is a good man.
It wasn't until we had both climbed out of the ring that we were accosted. In a good way.
"It's about time someone matched Cin! We were beginning to think no one could!"
"Way to go, Newbie! Sure glad I didn't come up against ya!"
And on and on, all the way to the showers. It seems even coming out in a draw with Cin was a very good thing. I caught a quick glimpse at Dunwood's face before we hit the locker room doors. His expression seemed to be torn between amazement and pride.
We didn't have a chance to talk in the showers, as too many women had followed us in. So, after we were cleaned up and dressed, I pulled Cin to one side.
"There’s something you need to know,” I said. "That thing in the forest has grown."
Her eyes snapped onto mine, and her lips thinned out. "Meeting at Taz's?"
I nodded. "I'd say just as soon as you can get there."
"I'll call Mindy and follow you there," she hesitated. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything. I really don't have any secrets... well, from you anyways."
"Do you think I should tell Mindy? I mean, everything?" Her voice sounded so timid. Not the voice of the warrior I'd just met in the ring at all. "Your Dunwood knows, and that must be nice, right? To have partner that understands and truly knows you?"
"Well, first of all, Dunwood isn't mine. Not yet, anyway. But, yes, it's nice that he knows all my secrets too."
She sighed. "I thought it would be."
WE WERE THE VERY LAST of the pack to show up. Well, plus one, because no way was I leaving Dunwood out of this. In fact, I really hoped to make him a member of the pack during the meeting. He had well earned his place, even if he would be the sole one hundred percent human among us. He was a very special human, damn it.
We all took our places in the living room, although with the warmth of the spring day, there wasn't a need for the fire to be going. They had hooked up the large screen TV to Jed's computer, and from the look on their faces, I could tell this wasn't going to be good.
At first, the screen just showed the forest, with the slightly wavy rift in the background. Jed fast forwarded to the good part and people starting filing into the scene. Robed people. All the robes were black as night, making it hard to tell what was a person and what was shadow. But a glimpse of reflected moonlight helped us pick out one robe that was trimmed in gold. Under the hoods and massive amount of cloth, it was impossible to tell who they were, or even if they were men or women. That changed, though.
Their first action was to build a fire. Two of the solid blacks laid out the wood and got the flame going while the others watched. Then, in a matter of seconds it was no longer hard to tell the men from the women. Not because the fire shed so much light, but because all the members had dropped their robes. And none of them was wearing a stitch of clothing underneath. Unless, of course, you counted the masks. But they only covered the faces.
"Witches," Rose said, trying in vain to cover Lily's eyes.
As we watched, the group danced naked around the flame. It looked as though they were chanting, but unfortunately, the small cameras didn't have voice recorders, so we only had the visual to go by. Their dancing reached a peak of frenzy and then suddenly stopped, all the dancers but one falling to their knees to face the sole remaining one standing.
I was betting that was the one who had been in the gold trimmed robe. Her mask was simple and only covered the upper part of her face. Black and gold feathers framed her eyes and gave her the appearance of a great horned owl. Well, from the neck up anyway. From the neck down, she was all lady.
Flawless pale skin shone in the moonlight, every inch of it perfect. Too perfect. I'd seen that perfect body before, I would bet my life on it. And as the clouds uncovered the night's moon, she turned her violet eyes to the camera, a smile on her lips.
The Royals may be lacking in power inside of Fae, but out here, they could still accomplish almost miracles simply by pulling a glamour. Unfortunately, glamours were an innate ability of the Fae. As such, they required no power use at all. Just a thought and sometimes a flick of the wrist.
I glanced around at the pack. They were still watching the video, seemingly unaware of just how deep our trouble had gotten. We had been counting on their lack of power to open the rift from the other side, but Titania had beaten us to the punch.
She was widening it from our side, and not having to use an ounce of power to do it. Time was running out.
Queen Titania of the Seelie Court of Faerie had a coven of evil witches at her disposal. Hell had to be laughing right now.
Chapter 9
I had known that Titania had to be involved with the sacrifice of the rabbit. The timing was just too extraordinary to be anything but her evil plan in action. Still, when those violet eyes flashed in the camera, I just wanted to throw up.
Luckily, the rabbit’s stolen lifeforce hadn't widened the rift much, but all of us knew that it was only the beginning. Knowing the queen, there was much worse in store for us. And if such a small sacrifice had any impact at all, which it obviously did, then a big sacrifice... I really didn't want to think about it. I had to, of course, but I really didn't want to.
Most of our group's faces showed varying degrees of horror or apprehension. Interesting enough, Rose just looked thoughtful. That was enough to give me hope.
I wasn’t the only one to notice.
"Spill it, Rose," Taz said.
Rose looked at her in a daze, still distracted with her thoughts, obviously. When she spoke, it was slowly, as if she was trying the thought on for size even as she said it.
"I was just thinking that it is interesting that the rift can be affected by our side. As we've just seen, an evil act can have an adverse effect and make i
t bigger." She paused.
Jed's eyebrows rose, and he sat up a little straighter in the chair. "If evil makes the thing bigger, then good should shrink that blasted thing. Maybe even close it for good."
Rose nodded. "That was what I was thinking. If nothing else, it's definitely worth a try."
"How do we do that much good in such a hellish spot?" I asked.
"Well," Coyote drawled looking at Taz and Jed in turn. "Making love is certainly good. Love everlasting and all that."
Taz gasped. "I am not making love in front of an audience of demons and Creator knows what else. It's not happening."
Jed smiled. "He got you on that one, Taz."
She opened her mouth, then shut it as the whole group started laughing. Okay, the pack needed that, I guess, so she shouldn't be too angry about it. But I was betting that was definitely going in Taz’s payback bank for Coyote.
"The church!" Rose exclaimed. "It was flooded..."
Taz’s voice rose at least an octave. "My wedding is not going to be at Hell's portal!"
"Calm down, Taz," Rose said. "That wasn't where I was going. Although, truthfully, I can't think of a bigger act of good." She looked thoughtful again. "You know, that just might work."
Taz swallowed, obviously wishing she hadn’t mentioned her wedding. Because now that seed had been firmly planted in Rose’s mind. It just might work, at that.
Jed saw her distress and came to the rescue. "Where were you going with it, Rose?" He said, getting her back on track.
"Well, if the church is so flooded that they canceled the wedding weeks from now, it means they can't have church services there this Sunday. I'll pit a full church congregation against a measly half dozen evil witches any day of the week. Hell's portal or no," she said.
"Prayers, hymns, sermons of God's love..." Jed was smiling. "I've got to make a phone call." He stood up then looked at me and Taz. "Would it be okay if I tell him we want to have the service there as a memorial for your parents?"
We both nodded. In a small way, that would mean our parents were still helping us, even years after their death. I liked the thought of that.
He went into the other room to make the call, and I cleared my throat. "One question, though. If the church agrees to hold their Sunday services at the clearing in the forest, how are we going to hide the rift?"
We all looked at Rose who just smiled. "Why, I think a nice big wooden cross would look just fine right in front of it, don't you?"
"And we should make sure that everyone gets a four-leaf clover too. Just in case Titania decides to show up in full glamour," Taz said.
Creator love her for thinking of that! It would be very hard to convince a horde of people that they weren’t really seeing what they were obviously seeing. Titania was great at glamours. The best, in fact. It would have helped me greatly if I’d known that little clover trick back in Faerie.
"How long would it take to make up more necklaces like mine?" Lily asked. "And how many would we need?"
All of the non-Fae adults in our pack (basically everyone but Lily) had recently gotten a permanent tattoo. Thanks to Shaylee and Mac who kept testing out our plans with glamours, we had learned that if you mix a dried and crumbled four-leaf clover in with the ink, it makes a permanent talisman against Faerie illusions. Best of all, it didn't go away when we changed forms, it was still right there under the fur. Although we really didn't think the shape or design mattered, we had all went with a simple lucky clover image in green.
Tiny, yes. But very effective.
Of course, where we had them varied. Taz had hers high up on her right shoulder. According to her, that had not been Jed's first pick of areas, but she had been adamant that there was no way she was going to bear that part of herself to a tattoo artist.
That human modesty thing again. Maybe in time, I’ll understand it. I know that Taz will be a lot more comfortable around me once I do.
As for Lily, Rose had thought her too young to be sporting a tattoo, even an innocent little one, so for her we came up with the idea of a necklace. A fresh clover frozen forever in the middle of a clear crystal-like substance. It was actually quite pretty. And we had made up several extras at the time. Not enough for the entire congregation, but it was a start, anyway.
"Our congregation is on the small side, so I'd say we would need a couple of hundred roughly. A lot less probably, as not everyone will be willing to travel so far to go to the service. And then there are the ones who won't be able to walk to the site too." I looked to Rose. "How many do we have made up?"
"About a dozen right now, but once I get the supplies we need from the craft store, we should be able to knock them out in an evening if we all pitch in." She looked at Coyote. "That is if we can count on you for the clovers."
He nodded. "Not a problem." I'll admit it was nice to have a godling on our side. He was starting to come in handy.
Jed came back in the room wearing a big smile. "Hook, line, and sinker. Of course, it helped that I sweetened the pot with a free pizza picnic after the service. I figured a little extra laughter and good will wouldn’t hurt our cause." He looked at the rest of us. "So, what'd I miss?"
We caught him up and then sorted out our assignments for the day. Rose, Shaylee, and Lily were on craft detail making the necklaces, while Jed and the men were headed to the lumber yard for the makings of the rift-hiding cross. Taz, me, and Rebel drew guard duty and patrol.
But there was one more piece of business before we disbursed our separate ways. Once again, Dunwood impressed me by beating me to the punch.
"I’ve been thinking a lot about your offer to join the pack,” he said, giving Coyote a sideways glance. It may have just been my inexperience with human emotions, but to me Coyote looked a tad bit disappointed. Which made me think that Dunwood was doing himself a very big favor by joining us.
“I have to admit,” he continued, “I’m not really sure how much help I’ll be. I’m not a were, you know. But if you still have room for a human in your midst, I’d be honored to be counted among you.”
The others just smiled at him, but it was Rose that spoke. "Jed is Benandanti, but he isn’t a were either. Or at least if he technically is, it doesn't matter as he is permanently stuck in skin form, as am I now. And Shaylee and Mac are both Fae, not Benandanti. And Coyote is..."
Roy smiled. "A one-of-a-kind genuine Trickster Godling."
"Yes, that," Rose said, not taking her eyes off Dunwood. "Our pack isn't your normal group of wolves, or even weres. And I think you deserve a place in our ranks. You bring more to the table than you think."
Dunwood looked around at all of us. "That is a decision for the pack to make without me here, so you can discuss me freely. I've known Taz and Rebel for years and would trust either of them with my life. And since I've gotten to know the rest of you, my respect for who and what you are has only grown. Your pack is solidly on the side of good. Just where I've always considered myself to be."
He looked back to Steele. "I want this. But only if the whole pack agrees to it." And then he turned and walked out the door.
Like he even had to leave. We all knew the kind of warrior Dunwood was. He was in.
Chapter 10
Taz and Rebel took the home patrol, and the rift guard duty fell to me and Dunwood. Not quite the day I had planned to spend with him, but all in all not bad. It could still end as I hoped it would.
Even though Dunwood and I had been seeing each other now for about a week, we hadn't taken our relationship to the physical level yet. We were still just friends. The closest he had come to anything physical was holding my hand when we were crossing a busy intersection. And that was more a safety thing than a romantic one.
I had begun the day with high hopes that things would end differently by tonight. I still had those plans, but it was just like Titania to put a chink into them. But all was not lost yet. I still had time to make it happen.
Unfortunately, this was where my mind was when Dunwood asked m
e the question, so I was totally unprepared for it.
"You are planning to go back for them, aren't you?"
I had stuck to skin form since I was on guard duty with a skin, and because it's hard to make a move on a guy wearing skin when you were wearing fur. But right then, I wished I'd just furred out instead. I know that my emotions have been getting stronger the longer I stay here in this world of feelings, but I really thought that I was getting better at hiding them. How had he seen through me so very clearly?
"I take it you are talking about the humans in Faerie?" I asked, not because I had any doubt, but simply as a delaying tactic while my disorganized brain came up with an appropriate answer.
Did I plan on going back for them? Hell, yeah, for multiple reasons. One, a lot of them were my friends. Two, none of them deserved to be tithed to hell for all eternity. And three, taking them from Faerie would cost Titania and the Erlking power. Lots of power. Power that if they were allowed to obtain would mean lots and lots of trouble for us here.
The problem was, I hadn't planned on mentioning my mission to the pack. I'd gotten to know my sister pretty well in the last month, and really didn't think she would agree for me to go waltzing off to the land of Fae on my own. And no way would a full-scale invasion of Faerie work. On any level. I'd planned a solo mission. I was willing to risk my life. I wasn’t willing to risk theirs.
"You know I am," he answered. "You’re planning a Faerie raid to get them out, aren't you?"
I hesitated. "Maybe. But this isn't the job for a large group of people. That would be noticed and they'd never make it in and out alive, let alone bring anyone back with them."
"I agree wholeheartedly." He paused for a minute. "Did I ever tell you about my military training?"
"Military?"
He smiled. "Yeah, that's what we call the people who guard our country and our way of life."
Demon Peepers Page 6