Pride Before the Fall

by Kaye Draper

  Kai made her way to the water, wobbling on the rocks underfoot, arms windmilling to keep her balance, black hair spilling around her back and waist like an inky cloud. I chuffed at her and she grinned back, not caring that she looked ridiculous.

  I watched as she waded out into the freezing water with a look of pure bliss on her face. Finally she reached the place where the rocks thinned and her feet touched smooth, solid sand. Then she ducked her head and dove under the surface, quickly moving out of my sight beneath the blue-gray water.

  The surface of the lake was relatively calm today, with only the smallest waves lapping at the shore. My sharp hearing picked up the others, gallivanting their way through the woods toward the water, and I sighed at the peace of it all.

  I laughed to myself when I heard Con say something to Hisashi about the fox licking him. My idiots were the best.

  I turned my head back to the water. Kaimana still hadn't surfaced, and I wanted to worry. But she was a damned octopus. She could probably stay down there for hours. If not days.

  The others reached the shore, Con breathless and laughing, Hisashi yipping and jumping in the air, doing little back flips to amuse Con. Oisin was pretending to be above such antics, his stag puffing out it's regal chest and picking its way toward me over the treacherous rocks.

  I glanced toward the water again as Oisin shimmered and became person-shaped. He sat on my rock and leaned against my side, stroking my back like he was petting a house cat. "Where's our octopus, then?" he asked, his voice amused.

  I shrugged one shoulder, but just then I saw movement under the water, a long damned way from shore. I watched in confusion as the water started to...bubble. A massive area of the lake began to ripple, disrupted by something below.

  "What the hell?" Con breathed.

  Oisin's fingers stopped stroking my fur as he froze.

  We all watched in fascinated horror as a roiling mass of huge purple tentacles breached the surface of the water, moving closer to where we were perched on the shore. The tentacles were thick as a person in places, tapering out to a point. About fifty feet from the shore, a humongous, spotted head rose out of the mass, complete with a beak and one huge, golden eye with a vertical-slit pupil.

  I stared upward at the creature that towered above us.

  Hisashi stood at the edge of the water, his front paws soaked. He gave a sharp yip of alarm and his ears flattened to his head.

  Oisin stood. "Fishy?" he asked the monster staring down at us.

  The thing made a rumbling sound in answer, then slowly sank back below the water. Seconds later, Kaimana's head broke the surface and she moved toward us. As she approached, I noted that she was half-shifted. Her freckles were purple, and her eyes had that film thing over them again. She looked around at us as if wondering what we were so scared of.

  Then she slowly grinned as if she had just heard the punchline to an awesome joke. She stroked closer, heaving herself up out of the water to sit next to me, at Oisin's feet, her long black hair streaming cold water onto my rock, beautiful purple-spotted breasts heaving with laughter as she patted me with a webbed hand. A tentacle wrapped around my back and she leaned into me, giving me a wet hug.

  She was still laughing at us, vibrating against me with silent guffaws.

  "That was not an octopus," Oisin said mildly.

  Kaimana looked up at him, twining a long tentacle around his leg, all the way up to mid-thigh. He stared down at the appendage, then at Kai, and one corner of his mouth twitched. "Kinky."

  She wrinkled her nose at him, then let go, swatting him on the ass with a tentacle for good measure.

  Con was now sitting cross-legged on the shore, a look of complete shock on his face. "What are you?"

  Kaimana gave him a Cheshire cat grin and lifted her webbed hands to make a hunched, monster gesture. Then she smiled.

  Oisin crouched down next to her on the rock. "Kraken?" he said, reaching out a hand to touch her webbed fingers.

  She nodded at him happily and slipped back into the water, holding up her hands and making a "come here" gesture like a child.

  Oisin laughed. "Are you insane? That water would kill even me. It's freezing."

  She pouted and turned to look at me. I shook my eagle head. No fucking way.

  She glanced at the other two guys, sighing when she got a look of horror from Con and a yip from Hisashi.

  I shifted back to human, hugging my arms over my tits as the cold breeze hit me, my feet dangling in freezing water and the stone beneath me leaching cold into my ass cheeks. "Go swim," I said to her. "Enjoy yourself while you can. It has to be forever since you could be yourself. Just...maybe don't uh...kraken out again. I have no idea what the satellites would make of that."

  She tugged on my ankle playfully and I kicked at her. "No way." Then I smiled. "Go play. We'll wait for you."

  I shrugged into my clothes as she swam away, leaving behind nothing but a ripple of water.

  "Holy fuck," I said, running a hand through my hair.

  Oisin chuckled. "I thought they were extinct. I haven't seen a kraken since my childhood—and even then, at a distance. Amazing."

  Con unwrapped a granola bar, swearing when Hisashi jumped on him, knocked him to the ground with both front paws on his chest, and snagged the treat out of his hands.

  "You all suck," Con said, pushing himself back up to sitting, glancing out at the lake. "And here I thought she was harmless."

  Oisin snorted. "Oh Con. That woman might be the oldest creature I've ever encountered. She could survive a nuclear holocaust."

  Con sighed. "Well, at least the rest of you don't seem so bad-ass anymore," he teased.

  Hisashi nuzzled the human like a dog before sticking his long, slender muzzle into the backpack to find more food. "Hey! Get out of there, geeze," Con complained.

  "You're all morons," I said without heat. They were my morons. And I loved them.

  Kaimana didn't stay out in the water long. When she clambered up onto the shore, Con produced the towel from the backpack and blushed like a kid as he helped her dry off, firing off questions so fast she couldn't hope to answer him. Things about her taxonomy and how deep the ocean was and whether she had a whole kraken family out there hiding from humans.

  Oisin opened his mouth to say something snarky to Con, but then he went completely still, a flowing elven word tumbling from his lips instead. "The wards. Someone is at the apartment trying to get in."

  Chapter 15

  While we had walked out of town to the woods, we sprang for an Uber on the way back, probably scaring the poor driver out of his wits when Oisin bitchily demanded he drive faster, or he would "sever your tiny head from your shoulders."

  But we made it back. Which was all that mattered. I really needed a fucking car. It hadn't much mattered when I lived on my own in the center of town, and it saved money not having a vehicle. But taking a cab with five people packed into it was getting ridiculous.

  When we arrived at the apartment, I shoved money at the driver, and we tumbled out before the car was fully stopped. I slid my knife out of its sheath and the air shimmered as Oisin reached for his blades. Kaimana shoved Con behind her and puffed up like an overprotective mother hen.

  "Oh, for fuck's sake," I muttered when I saw who was lounging against the front door, making the wards fry themselves in panic.

  "What kind of bookstore is closed at two in the afternoon?" The mage drawled, stupid goggles winking at me in the afternoon sun.

  I put my knife away. But the air still shimmered by Oisin's hands as if he couldn't quite decide if he needed to do some stabbing.

  I rolled my eyes. "What are you doing here?" I asked as I moved to open the door. It was locked and I slid an ordinary key into the lock before gesturing the mage inside.

  He picked up a small cotton sack and threw it over his shoulder with a clink. I wasn't sure if the clink came from something inside the bag, or the fuckton of crap he wore strapped to his person under that ridiculo
us duster.

  "I got the go-ahead from the boss to take care of your sea creature," he said, his voice that same raspy growl. "Reckoned you'd want it done sooner rather than later."

  Kaimana pushed past Oisin and I to stand by the front counter, staring down into the mage's...goggles. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her dark blue eyes at him as she inspected him. To his credit, the guy took the scrutiny like it was an everyday occurrence.

  Finally, Kaimana nodded and headed toward the sitting area where Hisashi did tarot readings on the rare occasion we opened up the book shop. She reached inside the neck of her shirt and pulled out the necklace with the sea glass pendant that had once held her magic and still held her voice. She slipped it off, over her head, her silky black hair sliding over the chain in tumbling waves.

  She seemed more energized since her swim. And now, with the chance at getting her voice back, she was practically humming with power.

  The mage set his bag down on the low table Hisashi had installed when he moved in, shoving aside a lingering resin skull leftover from All Hallows Eve and a deck of mythical creature tarot cards as if he owned the place.

  "Do you need...I don't know, like supplies or something?" I said stupidly.

  The mage snorted. "For something this simple? Just shut up for a minute and I'll have it done."

  He lifted his right hand and nipped the tip of one finger of his glove, drawing it off his hand and setting it aside. The skin of his wide, blunt-fingered hand was covered with a mass of scars, like burns, but radiating veins of an eerie dark blue color. He held out his hand for the soul stone and Kaimana placed it in his palm.

  "One thing," he said to Kai. "You want me to destroy this spell, right? They aren't holding you here against your will? This rock isn't booby-trapped to explode a mage or something?"

  The look Kai gave him must have been enough. Because he pulled his goggles back off his face, his eyes closed and face scrunched in concentration.

  Power welled up from the center of his chest and out his arm like a weapon, but it was channeled into the stone. He whispered something in that harsh voice, the words unintelligible. The sound of it sent shivers walking up my spine.

  And then it was over as quickly as it began. He shoved his goggles back on before opening his eyes. Turning his hand over, he opened his fingers to allow the blue dust that was left of the pendant to pour onto the table. "Child's play."

  Kaimana sucked in a breath. Then she slapped a hand to her throat when the inhale actually produced a gasping sound.

  She turned to me and I only then realized I had drifted close to watch the mage work. Dark blue eyes met mine and her husky alto voice wavered and cracked a bit from disuse as she breathed, "Gesa?"

  I blinked rapidly to hide the stupid fucking tears that tried to escape. "Hey there, Kai."

  She flung herself at me, sobbing and laughing at the same time. Actually laughing. It was a rich, magical sound that went right through me. Kaimana was laughing out loud.

  I pulled away and cupped her face in my hands, staring into her eyes. "You can talk."

  She nodded, eyes boring into mine. "And I have so much to say to you, gryphon."

  Her voice was rich as her laugh, sensual and...old somehow. I nodded, not knowing what to say. She had all of herself back now. She could leave. Go back to her home.

  She surged forward and up the few inches it took to press her lips to mine, twining her arms around my neck like an octopus. Or...a fucking kraken. Her lips were soft, but demanding, and her lush body pressed to mine, full of promise.

  I pulled back, remembering we had an audience. And one of them wasn't part of my pride. I turned to the mage as the others flocked around Kaimana, all talking over each other. "Thank you," I told him, still grinning like an idiot.

  He scooped up his bag of who-knows-what and shrugged. "I'll send you a bill. Where is the other one?"

  I stared at him for a minute. "The other one?"

  He sighed. "Yeah. Y'all said there was someone you wanted me to work a soul stone for. I want to talk to the woman you're planning to enslave."

  I rolled my eyes. "Oisin. Mr. Paranoia wants to speak to Evalyn. I assume you want to come hover and make asinine commentary?"

  Oisin was at my side in a flash. "You'll do only what we ask," he told the mage. "Any attempt to deviate from that will end in your death."

  The mage bared his teeth and leaned into Oisin's space. "I'll do what the fuck I decide to do, pipsqueak. But first, I want to talk to the poor lady." His eyes traveled around the room before landing back on me. "What do you want another slave for when you've already got a whole room full of them?"

  I checked the urge to slap him. "No one here is a slave, asshole."

  Oisin was already heading toward the stairs. "Come. Don't touch anything."

  I sighed as I followed the mage up to the apartment.

  He spent forever inspecting Evalyn's aura. The diminutive fae woman didn't seem any more thrilled about being around a mage than her brother, but at least she kept her mouth shut and kept her opinion limited to a suspicious glare from her purple eyes.

  Once he was satisfied, the mage pulled out a kitchen chair like he lived here and plopped down, pulling a couple of crystals and a notebook from his sack. He found a clean page in the notebook and started scribbling. Then he set it down and turned his head toward Evalyn. He whispered something, magic arcing from his finger to her chest, and Oisin surged forward. But the mage shooed him away with a dismissive flick of his other hand. "Back off, just a truth compulsion."

  To Evalyn, he said, "Now, tell me the truth little lady. Do you want me to take your magic from you and put it in a soul stone?"

  "Yes," she said in a flat voice.

  "And you want me to give the stone to that asshole over there?" He pointed at Oisin.

  "Yes," she replied.

  "Why would you want to give up your magic?"

  Her eyelids fluttered and I thought maybe she was trying to resist giving up that secret.

  "That is none of your business, mage," Oisin warned, his silky voice going deadly.

  "Because our father wants to have other mages like you siphon my magic and soul away to feed his own energy. He's a monster."

  The mage frowned, his face going craggy and lined. "You would trust this ginger guy to keep your magic safe?"

  She nodded, her expression still serene and unaffected. "Of course. He's lived his whole life protecting us. His family is everything to him."

  The mage gave a snort at that. "Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me."

  He released his magic and faced an angry, spitting little purple-eyed fae. "That was rude and uncalled for! I would have told you the truth."

  He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Only way to be sure you weren't being used or compelled."

  He stood, picking up his sack and stuffing his things back inside.

  "Well?" I asked, impatient with the whole business. "When can you do it?"

  He turned his head toward me. Probably glaring under those goggles. With someone else's eyes. "If I do it, it will take some prep work. I'll get back to you within the week."

  He paused at the staircase and turned back, pulling a shiny card out of his pocket and tossing it at me. "Almost forgot. Here's that, in case you need to contact me. And the boss had a message for you. He wanted me to tell you to get your shit together because there's a job coming your way and he wants you to make it a priority."

  He turned to head down the stairs but stopped when I called after him. "The boss? I thought your boss was the police chief. I don't take orders from him. I just do bounties for small-time shit on the side."

  He turned back to me and lifted his stupid goggles. I found myself staring into a mismatched pair of glowing eyes, one a vibrant purple, the other liquid gold. "Girl, you get your marbles rattled lately or something? My police work is a side-gig. White hired me to come here and keep an eye on your feathered tail, that's my job."

  I stare
d at him, my gut twisting. "What?"

  He rolled those strange eyes and pulled his goggles back down before heading down the stairs with a muttered, "If I'd known what an idiot I was taking on, I'd have asked for more money."

  I just stared after him, Oisin and the others at my side. "What the actual fuck just happened?" I breathed.

  Oisin just sighed. "I think," he said lightly, "you just got fucked in the ass."

  I glared at him and he raised an eyebrow. "And not in that fun sort of way," he added with a wink.

  I put my face in my hands an let out a half growl, half eagle shriek. What the everloving fuck?

  Oisin patted my shoulder in consolation. "Don't worry love. We'll figure it out. After we take advantage of the worm's powers to get Evalyn tucked away safe and sound."

  Well, there was that, I supposed.

  Chapter 16

  We all piled into my bed, which was beginning to feel small, and slept like the dead that night, worn out from a combination of stress and our run earlier in the day. And even though the question of just what devious thing Derek fucking White was up to now was a constant nagging worry in the back of my head, the relief of having Kai's voice back and a possible answer to Evalyn's dilemma was enough to let me sleep.

  After a late lunch with the whole crew, during which Kai regaled us all with tales of her time as a pirate in the Gulf of Mexico, we all dispersed. Oisin kissed first me, then—much to the fox's surprise—Hisashi, before heading off to his job at the club. With her brother gone, Evalyn took a cup of overly sweetened tea and an old book and disappeared into her own room. Hisashi muttered something about meditation, which I thought was probably code for making more sake. I was still worried about that kid.

  Since Con had the day off, I found myself in the kitchen with Con and Kaimana as we cleaned up the food.

  "Gesa," Kai said as she finished wiping off the countertop and turned to lean back against it. "I wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for me."