Vowed

by N R Tucker

  In this instance, demon didn’t mean demon in a religious sense. Preternatural religious beliefs were as varied as those the humans held, with no more knowledge of God, and the divine, than humans have. Demons in the Seen had more in common with a goblin from the Farseen, except that demons held as much brute casting power as a wizard. Lucky for the Seen, demons didn’t perfect their talents unless they were bound to a sorceress or sorcerer. Unbound demons remain deep in the earth, in caves or volcanoes, using brute force in battle.

  Approaching the young sorceress and her demon, he said, “I’m Ryan of the Alpha Clan. You must be Lilith. I thought Hadley would accompany you.” The wind whipped around Lilith blowing her long midnight blue hair and her cloak. Her cloak was open, so it blew back, revealing a skintight outfit. The wind touched nothing else. The young sorceress was showing off.

  “Mother has no need to escort me to such a trivial task,” Lilith responded.

  A shield of wind arrived a couple of seconds ahead of the wizard and witch teenagers. With them was Murdoch, a member of the wizard high coven. Murdoch looked like he had just left the gym, his normal state. He took in the scene, dropped his shield and motioned his charges toward the hangar. “Lilith, stop the performance. Ryan, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

  Lilith snarled but stopped the wind. She followed Murdoch with her demon guard in tow.

  *****

  From his hillside post, Airman Brian Collins sneered. “Look at them. They look like normal teenagers, except for the gothic one with the demon. My sister could be dating a preternatural, and she wouldn’t even know.” What he would never admit is that he had dated a shifter and hadn’t known what she was until the Smokey Mountain Clan was exposed.

  “Forget that,” Airman Chad Raman replied. “Can you imagine dealing with teenagers who have powers? There’s no telling what those freaks could do.”

  “You don’t need to worry about what they can or can’t do. You better worry about what I will do if you don’t cut the chatter. You’re on duty, not at a family picnic.” Sgt. Chris Hall bellowed.

  He glared at Collins and Raman. Those two were trouble. Both had joined the military to get out of jail time, and both were members of the IGI. In theory, their get-out-of-jail-free option required them to give up the IGI and harassing preternaturals. They had found each other within an hour of being assigned to the same unit. Hall purposefully selected them for this security detail to gauge what their reaction to preternaturals would be. Now he knew.

  “Mouthpiece,” Collins muttered under his breath. Of course, he kept his voice soft. The sergeant had a soft spot for preternaturals, even admitting that he had worked with and admired the courage of some of them. Fool. But fool or not, Sgt. Hall was a huge man with a righteous temper and serious skills on the training mat.

  *****

  Lady Z took a walk around Beryl Lane listening to the elementals. She had spoken with the four mother elementals and didn’t like what she heard. If the humans didn’t watch it, they would have an uprising on their hands. The question was, should she stay and help or leave the people of the Seen to fix the problem they were creating.

  She normally didn’t concern herself with such issues, leaving the cleanup to those who created the problem. This time, if she didn’t help it would be her family who was injured. Regardless of what Tempe believed, Z felt terrible for leaving her nieces and nephew to Ellwood’s not so gentle parenting.

  As she approached the house, an impromptu party kicked into high gear. Steaks and veggies on the grill, side dishes everywhere and a couple of chocolate confections.

  “Lady Z, wanna see?” Logan swaggered over, obviously pleased with himself.

  “See what?”

  “License. I can drive anywhere now.” He eyed the powerful fae. “Don’t suppose you need anything from the store, do you?”

  “Which store?” Lady Z smiled at his enthusiasm although she wasn’t sure why he was so happy to be able to drive. It was much easier to open a gate, but then not all shifters could do that.

  “Any store. I can drive anywhere!” Logan all but danced around the patio.

  Cinnamon rolled her eyes and looked over from the chair she was currently lounging in. “If you want to drive, you have to earn money for gas.”

  At his sister’s words, Logan’s face fell. “Aw man. No fair. I can’t get a job. No one will hire a known preternatural.”

  “And it gets better,” Nash commented as he plopped down beside Cinnamon. “The local cops are fond of following us around. You will get pulled and given a ticket, not a warning, for any infraction.”

  “And the cops know you just got your license. The names of the preternaturals that just passed the driver’s test, which I’m proud to say was all those who tested, have been posted on the IGI web site,” Tempe commented from her chair in the shade.

  “Who leaked that?” Ryan growled.

  “Probably one of the people giving the test.”

  “Or that jerk Brian.” Lucas popped another veggie in his mouth, waiting for the steaks to get done.

  “Brian?” Willow looked over at Ryan in surprise, waiting for an explanation.

  Ryan glared at Lucas and then shrugged, “I didn’t see any reason to mention it. He must have joined the military to get out of going to prison.”

  Brian had dated Willow until the preternatural exposure. Once he found out she was other, he dumped her, in email no less. He then went on to join the IGI and got himself in a spot of trouble.

  As one, they looked over at Tempe. She kept track of everything.

  She sighed. “Yes, he did. Brian, along with a lot of humans who had spotless, or only slightly soiled, records, before we were exposed, were given that option.”

  “So, the humans are training and arming the people who most hate us. Wonderful.” Willow scowled.

  Logan sighed at the injustice of life. It would be limited driving for him, but at least he had his license.

  “Logan, Lucas, come over here.” Both boys ran to see what Bryce wanted. Bryce tossed his keys to Logan. “Tempe wants ice cream with the brownies. Why don’t you drive over to Vitvarg and get some vanilla out of the freezer? Logan drives over. Lucas drives back.”

  “Alone?” Logan asked, not believing his luck.

  “Well now, you both have your license, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir,” Lucas replied in a rush.

  “Then why would anyone need to go with you?” Bryce raised an eyebrow.

  “Let’s go.” Logan grabbed his twin, and they ran for the car before anyone objected.

  As the boys enjoyed their first solo drive, they didn’t notice the Gyrfalcon in the sky or the mountain lion and panther tracking them on the ground. They also didn’t know about the avoidance spell that Ryan sent to keep the humans away. They simply enjoyed their first drive without adults. A rite of passage realized.

  Chapter 9

  Meeting over, Joey grabbed his laptop and headed for the door.

  “Wait up Joey,” Tempe said.

  Joey sighed and closed the door. He turned to face Tempe and Ryan. “I’ll work harder. I’ll be ready.”

  Ryan leaned back in his chair, not sure what was going on. He only stayed because Tempe held him back. Tempe had kicked Joey’s butt on the mats earlier, but she kicked everyone’s butt, so that couldn’t be the issue.

  “What?” Tempe wrinkled her forehead in confusion for a moment before it cleared. “Oh, don’t worry about this morning. Your training is proceeding rather well. No, the problem is Lord Ellwood.”

  “What now?”

  There was a knock on the door and Star entered without waiting for approval. She held up her phone with a text message. “You demanded my presence, urgently, and said to walk right in.”

  “Good timing,” Tempe motioned to a chair, and Star sat. Joey walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. They faced Tempe and waited.

  Ryan watched in envy. Star waited with patience, as expected sin
ce she was raised in a realm court. Joey showed significant improvement in the art of waiting. Ryan wished he could say the same of himself.

  “Lord Ellwood decided to invite representatives from each realm to visit for the entire two weeks we’ll be there, a chance for the younger generation to get acquainted. Those are his words by the way.” While Tempe spoke, the others moved forward in their seats.

  “What’s his plan?” Star asked.

  “Unknown,” Tempe shrugged, “But I doubt this is a benign proposal.”

  “Who’ll be there?” Joey ground out the words.

  Ryan smothered his grin. His friend wouldn’t appreciate it, and he understood the frustration of dealing with the Farseen.

  “From the Central Realm: Kamden, Beval, and the Ladies Misty and Samma.”

  “Expected.” Star leaned back and sighed. She and Samma were sociable enemies.

  Tempe grinned, “Apparently, Ascan is working to fix his interest with Lady Samma, so I doubt you two will have the desire, or time, to engage in verbal sparring now.”

  Star raised a skeptical eyebrow but didn’t respond otherwise.

  Joey narrowed his eyes on Star, “Is Kamden the one who chased after you before you shifted?”

  “Yes, but only because he wanted to apprentice under Father. He got the apprenticeship, so he’s not an issue.”

  “I doubt that,” Joey couldn’t stop the growl this time.

  Tempe ignored the side conversation, “The Eastern Realm will send Thorn, Varg and the Ladies Varya and Geena.”

  “Misty will like that.” Star smiled. Her sister and Thorn had been friends since they were kids. As they grew, so did their friendship.

  “The Western Realm will send Feri, Uxio and the Ladies Kaner and Idell.”

  “Also expected, and none will cause issues for us.” Star nodded.

  “The Southern Realm will send Rune, Pagan and Ladies Dawn and Fawn.”

  “Congrats, Ryan,” Joey muttered.

  Again, Tempe continued as if she hadn’t heard him, “Father Aldous is sending his son, Asphodel, as his representative.”

  “Great, just perfect.” Ryan tried to keep his growl to himself but failed. He and Asp were both interested in the same lady of the Southern Court, and they had little tolerance for each other.

  Tempe stretched in her chair, “And just to round out the party, Lord Ellwood has invited the shifters to send four additional guests. Ryan, you were invited specifically.”

  “I’m going as a guest and not a guard?” A slow grin spread across his face.

  “Yes, let the good times roll.” Tempe stretched her neck, trying to remove the tension.

  *****

  “Tempest, I never thought I would say this, but do you know what you’re doing? They’re all I have left of my wife. I noticed you aren’t taking your kids.” Ben winced, sorry as soon as he said it. It wasn’t fair. Thank goodness the rest of the alphas had dropped from yet another videoconference. He shook his head, “Sorry. I do understand. You need to take adults, unmated males and females, who have the power and training to defend themselves against the creatures of the Farseen. It’s not a large pool to pick from. I get it, but you’re taking all of my children to the Northern Realm.”

  “Would you feel better if you came with us? You could be one of Star’s guards.”

  Ben snorted. “We both know I would be too busy watching my kids to pay attention to Star. That would be a disservice to everyone.” Ben paced around the room and then laughed bitterly, “You made the offer on purpose, didn’t you? To force me to admit I wouldn’t be value added on this trip.”

  Tempe wisely didn’t respond.

  “Okay, fine, but I expect frequent reports.”

  “Already taken care of. Dylan will send daily reports to the alpha distro. Talk to him if you want additional statuses.”

  Tempe finished up with Ben and headed back to Beryl Lane, looking forward to a few minutes of downtime. Being exposed to the humans had upped the paperwork and the irritation. How could the humans think preternaturals would roll over and do what they said? It was no secret that preternaturals were stronger. The humans were lucky the rulers of the preternatural world, the Tetrad, did not want to rule the humans. There were times throughout history when that wasn’t true. Humans still didn’t suspect that some of the ancient leaders, and even some of the so-called gods, were preternaturals. Hopefully, humans would never find out just how some preternaturals had ruled.

  She took the steps from Calabozo and exited into her home office, ready for some peace and quiet. Tempe pulled up short and raised an eyebrow, “Naomi, has something happened?”

  Naomi, the human wife of Theo Clark, was one of the calmest people Tempe had ever met, but today she set aside the book she had been reading and nervously wrung her hands. “I’m afraid so. My niece meant no harm.”

  Whenever Tempe heard the phrase ‘meant no harm’ it meant harm had been inflicted, intentional or not. She walked over and sat beside Naomi on the fainting couch. Fainting couches were spread throughout her home, a joke of sorts. “What happened?”

  “Victoria, my niece, believed she worked for the good guys. She thought her research would make preternaturals safe.” Naomi shook her head, “She hoped to keep me safe. My family knows about Theo. Since he runs a Harmony Bar, they figured it out pretty quick. Anyway, she’s young and idealistic. She believed if magic could be traced and licensed, like a gun, humans would quit blaming the preternatural community for everything.”

  Tempe leaned back and groaned. Save her from the idealistic fools of the world. They believe the world promised safety and friendship for all. “What did she do?”

  Naomi sighed, “She’s a brilliant scientist.”

  “And?”

  “She’s the one who figured out how to track gate events. Once she understood the knowledge was being used to hurt, not protect, she left. She came to me because she wants to make things right.”

  “She’s here?” Tempe didn’t bother to hide her surprise. For a human to walk into a known preternatural stronghold was unusual. Either Victoria was too idealistic for her own good, or too brave, probably both.

  “She’s at the bar waiting to talk to you. Victoria knows she caused huge problems for the preternatural community and you specifically. She wants to help fix it.”

  Tempe stood and walked out the door. “Let’s not keep her waiting.”

  *****

  Victoria watched the entrance to the bar since Naomi left, ignoring her entourage. In retrospect, she shouldn’t have told her family the real reason for her visit. Her father and brothers decided they needed to protect her. Like those three could do anything if the powerful shifter became angry. Fact was, she didn’t think Tempest would hurt her. She had paid close attention as the preternaturals were exposed and Tempest protected everyone, not just shifters or preternaturals.

  The door opened, and most of the room turned toward the entrance. Victoria noticed the preternaturals did that when someone of strong powers entered the building. The scientist in her filed that data away for review at another time.

  Tempe and Naomi walked into the Harmony Bar. Tempe nodded to the room, and everyone resumed their varied activities.

  Victoria’s family took defensive positions around her.

  Naomi smiled, and said, “Tempest, this is my brother Olivier, his sons Rhett and Tad, and his daughter Victoria.”

  “Ma’am,” Olivier held out his hand.

  Tempe smiled and shook the proffered hand. Most humans backed away from her now, few offered to shake her hand. Apparently, Naomi wasn’t the only strong-willed Nelson on the planet.

  Victoria pushed past her brothers and extended her hand, “It wasn’t my intention, but I’ve caused you a lot of trouble. I’m...”

  One of the wizard waitresses interrupted by laying out sodas and snacks. “Theo said y’all might be hungry.” She turned and left without a backward glance.

  Tempe grinned. That was Theo’s
way of reminding her these people were his family. Even though she rarely invoked the rule in the Seen, she was half-fae, and an apology was as good as a favor owed. Tempe grabbed a nacho and sat down. “Let’s hear your story.”

  Victoria started at the beginning. “While completing my doctorate, I received an offer to work on a government funded project. At least, that’s how they explained to me. I wasn’t the only one. We were all doctoral hopefuls at the beginning and being invited to work on a well-funded grant is the stuff of dreams in my world. Upon completion of our degrees, some of us received full-time positions. The way they explained the work I understood I would be helping preternaturals, making the world safer for good people of all species and identifying the bad.” She hung her head, “I was wrong. They took my findings and used them to hurt you and yours. I’m the reason gate events can be tracked now.”

  A couple of unaligned fae glanced over at that comment, but Tempe stared at them, and they turned away. They didn’t stop listening. Tempe waved her hand in dismissal making sure her voice carried. “I’m sure you’re intelligent, but if you hadn’t discovered it, someone else would have. It was only a matter of time.”

  Victoria smiled, “I’m glad you feel that way. I didn’t turn over all my research. I can track a lot more than just earth side and dimensional gates.”

  The unaligned fae stopped all pretense of not listening. Tempe stared at them until they turned and left. Tempe sighed. She would need to protect this human and her family from the preternaturals as well as the humans. The fae were much more likely to kidnap someone for their knowledge than to try and work with them. She ate another nacho before saying, “There’s someone you need to meet.”

  *****

  Just after midnight Destin looked up from the research and stared at the young woman who had only recently completed her doctorate. It was a good thing she wanted to help the preternaturals, not harm them. “You’ve found markers to track almost all magic.”