by Randi Darren
“You’re not going to help us?” Ina asked.
“No. I’m going to go back home for a short while. I want to bathe in the lake, see Nia and everyone else. See what’s going on, then come back,” Steve said. He’d been thinking about it for a while, and he really did want to go back home for a quick check-in.
He wasn’t exactly an introvert, but he didn’t feel right not being at home at the moment.
Shitty Steve had put him there for a reason, and so far, Steve had no reason to doubt him.
Other than trading away his memories, he’d done right by Steve.
“I understand,” Kassandra said. “I’ll make sure to have a workable plan by the time you return.”
“Good. Anyone need anything while I’m over there?” Steve asked. “And just to confirm, we haven’t seen much of the Creep since I busted the wall, right?
“I haven’t seen much of it personally, at least. A little here and there, but less and less every night.”
“There was none last night,” Kassandra said. “Not a wisp of it.”
Jaina and Ina seemed thoughtful, then looked at one another.
“I haven’t felt any. Have you?” Ina asked.
“No, no. None at all,” Jaina responded.
Ina was still regarded as the leader of the Creep Witches. Every one of them, including Jaina, deferred to her.
Turning her head to Steve, Ina shook her head. “We can usually sense it when it’s near. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I haven’t felt anything from it in days.”
Steve nodded as that single statement solidified his final thoughts.
Kill all the murderers we don’t need, gain prestige, protect ourselves. Just because the Creep is gone, doesn’t mean this hell-hole country will magically become safe again.
No. This is going to continue. It’ll probably get worse unless they let the country back into the alliance.
If they do, we move.
If they don’t, we gain authority by killing everyone with a price on their head. Then we go for the citadel or something similar.
And that’s all there is to it.
Now we just need to run it all by Nikki and see what she says.
***
Trooping toward the bridge and towers of his farm, Steve felt better already. He’d seen it a long way away, and it had made his spirit rise with every step.
Standing in the towers were a number of women he recognized, but didn’t know. There were more people than ever all over his farm, and he had no idea who they all were.
At least we’re still under a hundred people. This isn’t a village or a city—it’s a farm.
Falling free of its hinges, the drawbridge began lowering down toward the ground.
Nikki, Misty, Shelly, Ferrah, and Lucia stood there in the gap.
Speeding toward him at full speed was Nia, and halfway between her and the other women was Gwendolin. Gwendolin had clearly started to chase after Nia before giving up.
Chirping, singing, and stumbling all over herself, the little girl came onward. Gwendolin’s daughter, the miniature version of her.
The moment Steve heard Nia’s “Steve song,” he felt like the weight of the world was gone.
It gave him a feeling of invulnerability and enduring strength, like he was a massive rock in the ocean. Like he gave ground for no one and nothing.
Then Nia slammed into him and hugged him for all she was worth.
“Welcome home, Steve!” Nia said happily. “It’s a good afternoon because you’re home!”
Grinning, Steve pulled her up and cradled her against his side. She fit there perfectly, and she didn’t seem to mind.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she gave him a fierce hug, and her shoulder jammed right into his throat.
Chuckling, he turned his head slightly to one side so he could keep breathing. He looked back at his welcoming committee, happy to see they were all there.
No one was missing.
His mind skittered away from thoughts of Chessa, Rachel, and Raelin. Their deaths were something he’d tried to put behind him as quickly as possible, without feeling them.
He didn’t have the time or luxury for such foolishness. There was simply too much to get done for the living.
Like making sure Nia was well.
“Well, thank you. I’m glad to be home. I’m only here for a short while, though. I just came to talk to your mother and aunts.” Steve reached up to tap Nia’s nose.
“Mama’s pregnant,” Nia said. “I’m going to have a brother or a sister!”
“I know. I’m going to be their daddy. Whether it’s a brother or a sister to you, I have no idea.” Steve nodded. He was walking towards Gwendolin as he talked to the small girl.
“Oh! I see. Yes. You can be my daddy, too,” Nia said, nodding her heard in the same way as Steve.
“Is that so? Well, I’d like to be your daddy, but I think pretty Mama has to say that’s okay,” Steve said as he stopped in front of Gwendolin
The Siren was standing there, her hands clutched together in one another. He didn’t doubt she’d heard what Nia had said.
There was a clear tremble in her lip.
“Mama, can Steve be my daddy, too?” Nia said, looking at Gwendolin.
“I… if that’s what you want, of course,” Gwendolin said with a tremor in her voice.
“Yes! I do,” Nia said. Then she promptly hugged Steve around the throat again, partially strangling him.
He knew it was probably going to be a change in his life, but he’d wanted to provide for Nia since the start.
He’d have to work doubly hard to make sure she remembered her actual father as well, while making room for himself to be her new daddy.
After all, without that man, Nia wouldn’t be here at all. Steve would need to respect his memory.
“You got lucky, Shelf-ren. It happened after you got what you wanted,” Steve said with a grin at Gwendolin. “No need for you to hold those toys up after all.”
Wrinkling her nose at that, and smiling, Gwendolin smacked him gently on the arm. Then she took his elbow and guided him into the farm.
Steve’s eyes immediately went from person to person in front of him. Checking them.
Ferrah the Dwarf looked the same as she always had, though significantly cleaner.
Her hair was a thick red braid behind her, except it no longer looked like she’d done it three weeks ago and forgotten about it. Her face was free of the normal soot and dirt he usually found her with.
She was dressed in her leather apron like usual, which only made her stout frame stouter. Though he knew she had more to her beneath it than the imagination might suppose.
Holy fuck, she doesn’t look like a wheelbarrow after a hard day’s work.
Next to her was Lucia the Fae. Her wings were fluttering, and her bright blond hair was pulled back from her face with little wooden clips. Her black eyes were locked on Steve, and she had a full-lipped pout on her face.
Moving down the line, he found Misty. The last time he’d seen her, he’d wondered if she was getting close to six-foot-six. Now he didn’t have to wonder.
The beautiful and athletically fit Nereid was huge. Wearing little better than a tank top and a loin cloth, she looked like some sort of Amazonian warrior. Her blue hair was wet, and it made the small black horns on her head glisten. Her green eyes were locked on him.
Side by side at the end were Shelly and Nikki.
The former was one of the most hauntingly pretty, if not achingly beautiful, women he’d ever seen. Shelly had been built hair by hair, toe by toe, to catch a man. Her light-brown hair looked like spun silk, and her green eyes were so brilliant, they sparked.
Last in line, and first in his heart, was Nikki.
A Faun of limited beauty, with black curly hair, slotted brown eyes, dark horns, and furry legs.
Her smile was like a sunrise, and it chased away all the doubts in his heart and head.
Gwendolin guided
him to Ferrah and released him over to the Dwarf. She picked up Nia in her arms at the same time.
Steve immediately gave Ferrah a hug, holding her tightly. He wasn’t going to impose on her, but he was delighted that she’d showed up to greet him.
“Don’t forget the kiss,” Ferrah said in a gruff voice, hugging him in return.
Gleeful at that proposition, Steve immediately gave Ferrah a firm, if brief, kiss.
Then he worked his way down the line, giving each a hug and kiss, although Lucia demanded that he kiss her cheek instead.
Which he, of course, gave in to.
When he reached Nikki, he took her by the hand and immediately led her away from everyone else. He had a lot to talk to her about, and he just wanted to be alone with her.
“Steve, you really shouldn’t,” Nikki murmured, letting him escort her away even as the other women stared after both of them.
“Why? Give me a good reason. You were here first,” Steve said, forcefully sliding his arm through hers. “You were the woman I spent my first night in this world with. We cuddled for warmth under a lean-to with not a coin or scrap of food between us.
“They all look to you for guidance—why shouldn’t I steal you away for my own needs?”
Nikki sighed, then leaned her head to the side and laid it on his shoulder.
“I love you, my brute,” Nikki said. “Lay your worries at my hooves, and I’ll tend to you and them at the same time.”
“That’s… just what I wanted. Well, let’s start with the murderers,” Steve said, trying to figure out where to get the story moving from.
Two hours later, and just before dinner would be served, Steve felt like he’d wrung everything out of his mind for her.
From the villages to the cabin and the outpost, to Nancy, and to the innocents, children, and the voice that had spoken to him.
“Well,” Nikki said, her fingers slowly curling through Steve’s hair.
Opening his eyes, Steve looked up at the Faun above him. She was staring out at the lake, looking thoughtful.
“That’s certainly a lot more going on than I expected,” Nikki said softly. “Gwendolin told me some of it, but I don’t think she really understood it all.”
“No. Probably not. She was, uh… her brain turned off after she got pregnant,” Steve said.
Laughing at that, Nikki nodded.
“Yes, it really did. She’s better now, though. Much more like herself. When she got back, it caused a bit of a stir on the farm,” Nikki said. “Many people who’d been harboring fears and worries were suddenly assured.
“Not to mention that the woman you got pregnant was a widow. One with a child from her previous husband. I can only begin to imagine what kind of stories that’ll generate for us. Both good and bad.
“Wait, is anyone else pregnant?”
“No,” Steve said.
“Oh, that’s good. I think if both widows were pregnant and no one else, I’d be rather nervous,” Nikki said. “That would be almost as bad as having no pregnancies.”
He wanted to tell Nikki that he could control it.
Wanted to desperately. But he didn’t. There was something holding him back from doing it. Something he couldn’t explain.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; it was that he didn’t trust himself. That he hadn’t already told her.
There really wasn’t a way to walk into that conversation without making everything worse around it.
“Do you want to be pregnant?” Steve asked instead.
Nikki frowned at that, her hand pausing in his hair.
“I do,” she said after several seconds. “Not simply for my duty, but because… because I want a little one. One I can show the world to. To experience the world through their eyes. Guide them and set a place for them in the world and… and just be a mom.
“I do want to be pregnant. I do. Even if it’s still a little scary at times. Just the idea of it is scary.”
“In other words, if I bedded you tonight and you got pregnant, you’d be happy?” Steve asked.
“Very,” Nikki said, looking down at him now. She gave him her square-toothed smile, her slotted eyes twinkling. “But don’t take that as me saying you’re a failure if it doesn’t happen, Steve. My brute. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
“I’m very content to be with you. But it’d be fun to have a little brute of a daughter running around. Hopefully, she’ll have your ridiculous strength.”
“That’d be weird,” Steve said with a grin, peering up at the Faun. “So… about the other stuff. What d’ya think?”
“Mm. It’s not really what I had in mind,” Nikki said, tapping a thumb against Steve’s brow. “I wanted more land because I want places for our children to go. They won’t want to stay on the farm.
“Having the outpost up there gives them one more spot to go other than Filch. Whether they’re my babies or, say… Shelly’s. Misty’s. Or Gwen’s unborn baby. They’re still our children. My children. And I’ll care for them just as my own mother did for me.”
“What was your mother’s name?” Steve asked suddenly.
Smiling wider at him, Nikki tilted her head to one side.
“My poor brute, you’re going soft on me,” Nikki said, one of her fingers running along his eyebrow. “Her name was Annette, though her friends and family called her Ann.”
“Still your brute. I just love you. Would burn the world for you,” Steve said.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want that.” Nikki stuck her tongue between her teeth. “The world is perfectly fine the way it is. I’d rather you better the world in my name.”
“Well, apparently that’ll start with me killing hundreds of murderers,” Steve said.
“Or putting them to work. I do think that’s a valid solution. It’ll give them a chance to redeem themselves and live a life,” Nikki said. “For all you know, they could be the sweetest and nicest women you ever met. Just put in some ugly choices they had to make.”
“I know. I know. I think we’ve killed like… five, so far,” Steve said. “Everyone else is working.”
“Good. I’d like to think we’re giving them a chance to fix their lives,” Nikki said. “Let them figure themselves out and work towards it.”
“Speaking of figuring themselves out,” Steve said. “Nancy Abellis. Nancy the Wight. Nancy the Mistress. I’m not really sure what to make of her.”
“Yes… I gathered that,” Nikki said, peering into his face. “I’m afraid this is another one of those little blocks in your head.”
“It is?” Steve said, feeling confused by that statement.
“Wights are definitely considered a parasite race, but they’re not that rare,” Nikki said softly, her fingers curling along his jaw. “They feed passively, and honestly they don’t have to do much other than live around other people.
“As for her… self… soothing, that’s really just a preference, I imagine. I’d more likely equate it to masturbation with a fantasy in mind.
“She doesn’t seem that strange to me. Just with different needs.”
Frowning, Steve wondered whether by leaving out certain parts of how he’d dealt with Nancy and her titles, maybe he’d undersold her oddities.
“Truly, she’s not that concerning to me,” Nikki said. “If anything, it’ll be good for you. She’ll be a positive outlet to explore your own emotions and feelings with, to a degree. One who won’t judge you, because you’ve already seen the darkness in her.”
Steve didn’t agree with that, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. Nikki tended to be right about stuff like this. He could disagree as much as he liked, but she’d still be right in the end.
“Truly,” Nikki said. “Give her what you feel comfortable with and no more. Other than that… I think she’ll work hard for you and will do well for us up there.
“Though I’m a little concerned about these collars you had Ina and Jaina make. I fear that perhaps they’ll be used for t
errible purposes down the road.”
Didn’t think about that. She’s not wrong, though.
Need to make sure we keep a tight hold on all the collars.
“You’re right, of course. My beautiful and kind Faun,” Steve said. “I’ll make sure none of them get away from us.”
“Good. Oh, I made a decision on your behalf. I need a leatherworker to join the farm. My hands can’t handle it, and I’m busy with all our clothes,” Nikki said.
“Okay, sure. Just… pay ’em or whatever and make it happen,” Steve said. He really didn’t care about hiring people. There were roles they’d need to fill, and that would be that.
“Okay, thank you, dear. I appreciate it. I know it isn’t really something you’d wish for, so… thank you.
“Lastly… the voice,” Nikki murmured, lifting her gaze up to the area around them. “I don’t know what to say about that at all. At the very least… you know the message you left yourself is honest now, and that someone is watching you.
“All we can do is keep on keeping on.”
“I guess,” Steve said. That was the one he felt the least secure about. He wanted to know more, but it simply had never responded to him again.
And it didn’t sound like it was going to.
“It’s all we can do. Unless there’s something you haven’t said?” Nikki asked, peering back down at him again.
“No. That’s everything that happened,” Steve said.
“Good! There isn’t much to be said for things here. It’s all rather mundane. Though we did have a close encounter with Linne in Filch. Nothing bad, though.
“Outside of that, other than that I’m very much done with leather-working, all is good.
“Now, how about we go to our bed and see if you’re just lucky this month?” Nikki said. Then she leaned down and kissed him warmly, one of her hands cupping his cheek. “Because we both know that after, Nia is going to try and steal your time away, while your other women do the same.”
Okay. Definitely… going to let Nikki have a child soon.
She’d be a wonderful mother. Not giving her what she wants would be an incredible loss for the entirety of existence.
