by K. C. Hamby
“It’s clothing, Eddie. It doesn’t have feelings.”
“Well, seeing your everyday attire, I wouldnae think your clothes would have any feelin’ left.”
I roll my eyes and click my tongue, pulling away from my reflection. “Whatever. You and Nina can get together and burn my clothes on the beach if you feel so strongly about it. Dance around the ashes if it makes you feel better.”
“Aye, we will dance like witches, calling to the gods to bless you with a sense of style,” she adds, laughing at herself and surely the growing frown on my lips.
My middle finger makes a perfect appearance right in front of Eddie’s face.
She cackles like a hag, and I’m starting to wonder if punching her in the face would put a crack in our decently new friendship.
Her eyes glaze over, and she stops laughing abruptly. “Ashy is about to be on Olympia.”
“Shit. I’ve got to go.” My nerves are too shot to get shit from Ash right now. “I can’t deal with Ash and his puns.”
“Run along then, bod ceann,” Eddie cackles and shoos me with her hands.
I stop walking and glare at her smug face. “What did you just call me?”
She grins enough to show her teeth. “A dickhead.”
I just groan and rush out the door, but not before yelling, “Thanks, asshat!”
Chapter 22
Nina
“Althea, I’ve never asked you how you became a Council member.”
She has settled back into her chair now, feeling a little better getting her thoughts out and with a little help from my healing.
And since Fal is, you know, alive, taking someone’s depression doesn’t affect me anymore.
Althea crosses her arms over her chest, raising a brow. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
“But satisfaction brought it back,” I counter and smirk when she snorts.
“Fine, mija. So nosy.” She waves me off with a smile when I stick out my tongue. “I was a part of the Spain Pack. It is where I was born in 1901.”
“I’m sorry, you’re how old?” I choke. My face heats when she frowns at my question. “Sorry. I’m still not used to the longer lifespan of Lupi.”
“I’ll let it slide,” she tells me with a playful growl. “I trained with all the weapons of that time, but I found poisons were my favorite. I have a knack for deciding what kind of poisons fit certain occasions; which ones can be mixed with drinks and which ones are better injected directly in the veins. My favorite part is how I can make my victim’s death painless or choose to use a poison that drags out their suffering for days. I am master of the Rapier, but it is no match when compared to the excitement of my poisons.” She winks and my eyes widen.
The way she talks about poisons like they’re a beautiful art form is inspiring and…a little scary. But everyone has their own idiosyncrasy, I guess. Even if it is a little…concerning.
“Is the Rapier the pirate looking sword?”
She nods eagerly. “The long, slender blade of the sword is light enough to wield it with deadly speed. It has always reminded me of a pirate sword. Or a Fencing sword without the guard on the end.”
“Cool, okay. I’m with you so far,” I announce and wave for her to continue.
“I think it was in 1929 when the dictator Jorge Francisco came into power. He was a…” She squints with her lips pushed into a line. “Como se dice diablo…” she whispers to herself and snaps her fingers. “He was a devil. Truly. To the point where he got support from Nazi Germany. He would kill those who went against him. Disedentes.”
I cock my head at her, and she whispers under her breath again.
“Um, dissenters?”
“Ah. Okay, gotcha.”
“Anyway, he was a bad bad man. So many died under his power. Long story short, I wanted to do something about it.” She growls and it is super scary.
I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side, that’s for sure.
“So, I got a bunch of my Pack together and we set out to do small attacks on his men. Not enough to tear the whole tower of power down, but enough to cause histeria colectiva in his ranks.”
“Mass hysteria?” I ask, so deep into the story that I want to know every detail.
“Sí. Muy buena, mija,” she praises, and I smirk to myself.
I remember a little Spanish.
“It spooked him enough to get heavy guards on him day and night. Which wouldn’t have been a problem for my Pack. We were a killing machine when we worked together. Francisco was very good at evading assassination, though. Every time we thought he would be somewhere; he was always one step ahead and we would miss him.”
“That’s frustrating. Amazing that he could get away from a Pack of Lupi assassins.” And impossible, I think.
Althea growls and pulls her hair back, tying it in a perky ponytail. “Yes, well. He had information from someone who worked closely with me. No one realized until years later. I got suspicious when he would disappear when I needed to speak with him, so one night I followed him right to the house of Jorge Francisco. I let him say what he came to say to Francisco and went back home to wait. And then I took care of it.” She grins and it could be mistaken for pure evil. “Dinner laced with brodifacoum tends to silence most people.”
“Brodifacoum?”
“It’s one of the nastiest poisons out there. It attacks the Vitamin K in the sangre, um, blood; the vitamin helping with clotting. So basically, one poisoned with this will have massive internal hemorrhaging and would leak blood from every orifice in the body, making them feel like they are melting alive.”
I swallow hard and peer at her from the corner of my eye. “Oh.”
“Anyway, I became Pack Alpha after a while since I was eventually Chosen.” She smiles and nudges at the Mark surely on her side. “But I was still obsessed with finding the bastardo and killing him. It was a lot easier when I disposed of the rat in our Pack.
“It was around 1975 and Francisco had been forced to give power back to the monarchy. He tried to do some repenting by going to church, but he was still a dirty bastardo at night, hiring hits on people of the new order. And I never forgot how many people died innocently throughout the years because of him.” Her eyes glow as her jaw clenches, anger flooding her features.
“No, that would be really hard,” I agree.
“I acted as one of his maids, gained his trust...and atención.” She growls a bit and rubs her arms. “It killed me to do it; I hated to put myself in a position to have that man spit orders at me and make sexual advances...but I was determined. I convinced him I was willing to accept his advances if I could have a bit of wine with him first. Being the pervert he was, he agreed without question. I put some strychnine in his wine and stood over him as he convulsed until he died of exhaustion. It took hours.” The grin she gives me is nothing short of demonic.
“Wow,” is all I can think of to say. She’s a big part of history, even if it’s in the background. Just like Caden. “That’s super cool. And the Council reached out to you after that?”
“Sí. I suppose they were impressed.” She shrugs.
“Well…yeah. I’m impressed.”
She just waves me off. “I was happy to rid the world of the bastardo.”
I sigh. Everyone here is so badass. I’m sometimes envious. Especially when it comes to their shifting, but I try not to be.
“So, I found out I have a cool magic trick.” Best to stay off the topic of shifting in my brain for now.
Her brows raise in hilarity. “Another one?”
“What can I say, I’m a woman of many talents.”
She snickers, but says nothing by way of agreement, waiting for me to reveal my new superpower.
“When I was sparring with Ash, I got flustered when his fist was flying at me…”
“His fists are a bit alarming,” she agrees.
“Right, well I remember telling myself I didn’t want to be punched and I held my hand out to try and stop his fist maybe? I
don’t really know what the end goal was there, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that, when I held my hand out, Ash’s fist smacked into an invisible barrier I created. It busted his knuckles.”
Althea stares, blinking rapidly as I bite the inside of my lip and wait for this growing awkwardness to be over. Her brows furrow, eyes darting all over my face like she’s looking for a pimple she knows is there but hasn’t come to a head.
“You created a shield,” she finally concludes, and her smile is back. This time, it lights up her eyes brighter than I’ve seen in a long time. “Do you know how useful a power like that could be, mija?”
“Pretty useful?”
“You could shield Lupi as they fight and prevent them from getting injured. You could shield yourself. There are so many possibilities…”
“Whoa, wait.” I hold my hands up, panic stinging over my skin. “I don’t even know how to do it again. That’s what I wanted your help with.”
She stands quickly and I follow, a little dizzy with the speed, and fling sand everywhere.
“Do you remember how I told you to pretend your energy is a white cat and you needed to coax it out slowly?”
I nod, watching her pace with thought.
“I wonder if that approach isn’t something to be used with a shield. You’ll have to use it quickly, after all.” She digs her fingers into her thick, chocolate hair and scratches. Her feet move her back and forth as she stares at the ground, deep in thought. “What if you imagined this shield as…a blanket?”
My lips tilt down, and I squint. Is this blanket going to warm me or something? “A blanket?”
“Sí. Por ejemplo, when I was a child, I would get frightened and hide under my blanket for protection…”
“Oh! Wow, okay, that makes sense.” I nod furiously. A blanket. I like blankets.
“And I would dive under the covers, thinking the faster I got there, the safer I would be.”
I’m practically bouncing on my toes at the revelation.
“So, I wonder if you picture the shield as a blanket to pull over yourself whenever you must use it, you will be able to access it more rapidly.”
“I mean, it’s worth a try, right?”
Althea nods and smiles wide.
I focus, picturing pulling a blanket around me in my mind. It’s white and soft, warm to the touch. My chest heats with the thought.
“Okay,” I announce with gritted teeth and closed eyes. “Try to touch me.”
In a few seconds, her rough hand rests on my shoulder. I instantly deflate.
“Why didn’t it work? I thought for sure the blanket theory was a good one.”
Althea cocks her head to the side and this…grin travels across her lips. It’s devious and I’ve seen this exact look on one other person.
Caden.
She moves in a flash, fist flying right for my nose. I squeak and hold my hand up to stop her…
And her fist slams into a barrier.
“Santa mierda,” Althea snaps and pulls her hand back like she’s been bitten by a snake. She shakes out her fingers and I can see her knuckles…
“Wait! Althea, let me heal you. This is my fault.”
She snorts and puts her already swollen hand in mine. “No, mija. I’m the one who went for your face. You were just protecting yourself.”
My fingers heat as my healing flows under her skin and to the broken knuckles.
“So, not like a blanket, then,” she murmurs more to herself than to me. “It’s more like you’re pushing out your aura or something similar from within you. From what I can see, your aura expands outward when you use the shield. That’s where we went wrong to begin with, Nina.” She bounces when I release her hand, excited energy swirling around us.
“What do you mean?”
“I was thinking you used the energy around you to create your shield. I never thought it was coming from within you. You’re using your own energy to shield just like you use your energy to fight.”
I mean, I suppose that makes sense. I’m trying to guard myself when I use it, so it would be right to use my own energy to do so.
“Huh,” I grunt and furrow my brows.
“Now, use that knowledge to your advantage and block me.”
Althea holds her hand out, coming at me slowly this time. With only a slight hesitation, I pull on the energy in my soul and, kind of, project it outwards. In my mind, I see it as this extra, invisible layer that always sits on top of my skin and all I’m doing is stretching it, molding it into something to protect myself.
Before Althea touches my shoulder again, her hand stops a few inches away.
“Asombrosa,” she whispers and glides her fingers against the shield. It’s a little strange because I can feel her touch, gentle and curious. She looks like a mime, though. “Try to move it with me.”
She moves her hand to my other side and I compel the shield to adjust. Her hand never gets any closer, even when she goes faster and faster, moving around me almost in a blur. I keep up with her, barely.
I’m panting with a huge headache by the time she stops.
“This will be very useful to you, Nina. Practice until it’s barely a second thought to use it.”
I nod my head, a little impressed with what we’ve figured out in such a short amount of time. This immortality stuff really does help.
***
We walk up to my apartment building and I give Althea a small glance before I head inside. “Thanks for helping me, Althea. I seriously don’t know where I would be without you.”
She chuckles. “Probably flinging your energy around and ending the world.”
“Hey, come on. I wasn’t that bad.”
She stares at me, twitching her nose with a small sniff.
“Okay, fine. Yeah, I was that bad.”
“Adios, Nina. Gracias for pulling me from my apartment, even if it wasn’t directly.” She winks and, with that, walks back to her own apartment building.
***
I step out of the shower and wipe my palm over the fogged mirror. I look like a wet poodle with the mess of white hair drenched on top of my head. I needed that shower, though. One whiff of myself was all it took for me to confirm that.
The apartment door shuts suddenly and I watch my foggy reflection jump at the sound.
“Fal?” I ask through the steam still lingering in the air.
No answer.
I step out of the bathroom expecting to see her, but I’m all by myself in the chilly apartment. Nothing is disturbed. All my totally necessary crystals are in their rightful places, the super soft and fake fur blankets on the back of our green couch haven’t been touched.
“Weird,” I grumble and make my way into the bedroom to throw on some clothes.
Something white sits on the bed, fluttering a little because of the ceiling fan. I pull the note to me as I tug the towel closer to my body.
With all I have
And all I don’t…
Live without you,
I surely won’t.
Come to the beach,
You know where.
I’ll show you that
We are the perfect pair.
Love, Faligator
I stare at the paper with my mouth hanging open for what could be forever.
Fal wrote….a poem?
For me?
Wait. The beach. The place with the log.
I bustle through the apartment, trying not to think about what the hell she’s up to, but anxiety finds me anyway. I move through the closet, nearly falling face first on the floor when my foot gets stuck in my underwear.
I’m out the door and on my way within thirty minutes, wearing a cute flowery dress with my still damp hair down and flowing down my back. I tap the box in the pocket nervously because, yes, this dress has pockets.
I’ve been carrying the ring around ever since I bought it, terrified of either losing it or Fal finding it.
I bite the inside of my cheek almost e
nough to make it bleed.
What the hell is going on with her right now?
I could always look in Fal’s mind, of course, but that’s something we agreed not to do to each other unless it was extremely necessary. I’ll find out soon enough.
I make it to the beach, only tripping a few times along the way. I take off my sandals and walk in the sand, looking around for Fal.
Where the hell…?
“Nina?”
I stop and tilt my head at her voice behind me. It’s shaky. I take a breath and turn around.
“Fal, what….oh.”
My breath catches in my throat. She steps out from behind a tree and is...in a form fitting black suit with a satin black collar on the jacket? Her black vest is over a white collared shirt and...she has on a tie. And black oxford shoes.
“Wow.”
Am I even breathing right now?
I’m sure I’m drooling at the very least.
She smiles slyly before walking up to me and grabbing my hands. Hers are clammy and she’s shaking like a scared chihuahua needing to pee.
“Fal, what’s wrong?” I search her wonderful face, but I come up short. She’s not revealing anything but nerves.
I won’t pull it from her mind. She’ll tell me in a second.
I hope.
“Nothing, Nina. Nothing is wrong.” She releases one of my hands and brushes a fluttering strand of hair from my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, Fal. Always.” I smile up at her and kiss her lips when she leans down to me. But she pulls back too quickly.
I stop the groan of protest wanting to fall from my mouth. Usually, her short kisses mean she is super nervous and has something to say.
She takes a huge deep breath.
“When I first met you, I didn’t know how much you would mean to me now. Like...I literally ran away from you.”
I chuckle. “Oh, I remember. I was there.”
The corner of her mouth tilts up in humor.
“But, goddess, Nina. You are absolutely everything I could ever need.” She holds my hands in front of her chest, bouncing them around with her words. “Everything I will ever need. I didn’t realize how much happiness was missing from my life until you came as a beautiful ray of happy sunshine.” She smiles and it’s...stunning. Nothing but truth and joy shining in her eyes. “I want you to be mine.”
