"Fine," she said, opening them again. "I'll go lay down. But we need to figure this out, before what got Caren gets me."
"Of course, hime-sama."
Slowly, Priscilla laid back down, closing her eyes tightly as she felt the static shock with each touch against the fabric. And tried to rest, still feeling the rush over power under her skin and the desire to go, meet her destiny.
She was tired of meeting her destiny.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chapter 8
When Isela woke up, she was covered in sweat to the point her blankets were soaked. Gross. After taking that shower last night, she had made herself disgusting again overnight. She peeled herself out of bed and bundled up her bedding, starting for the bathroom. As she walked, the carpet under her feet squished, as if it was wet.
She blinked.
And looked behind her, seeing a trail of her wet footprints in the carpet.
What the- Isela's eyes went wide. What was that? This was-
A horse chuckled in her ear, and Isela whipped around, trying to find the horse. What- oh. Memory returned to her, bringing back the fear and panic of being attacked, then… Kelpie. Melting into her skin, melding with her. She remembered when Kelpie was sitting on the couch, the wet spot left behind… was this because of Kelpie? Because of that damned water horse?
Kelpie chuckled again.
Isela felt so confused. She had no idea what was going on. Just what was Kelpie? She hadn't heard anything about a water horse growing up. It didn't make sense. And the way Kelpie fell into her… what was that all about?
She looked down at her clock and swore. She didn't have time to worry about this. Put bedding and start the wash, and get ready. That was all the time she had. She'd have to drink some coffee at work. Isela threw the bedding into the wash and went to get ready, moving as quickly as she could. It felt so strange to step into her heels with any amount of water pooling by her feet, but she endured it. She'd have to deal.
On her way to work, she could feel the seat of her car get damp.
This was getting annoying very quickly.
When she got to work, she tried to move as quickly as she could to her office. She absolutely did not want anyone to see her today. Just do her work, and get done. No one needed to see her and her drenched self, the way the clothes stuck to her skin. She just needed to work.
"Isela?"
Of course Priscilla would see her. "Hi…" she said, trailing off. She just wanted to get to her office.
"You okay? You look kind of pale and sweaty."
"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine."
Priscilla didn't look convinced. "Well, I need you today. Some reports…" She stopped and sniffed the air, and Isela felt a pulse of panic run through her. What did she smell? Did she smell bad? "Huh. Well, some new reports came in and Caren's not here to take care of them."
"And you don't trust Patrick to take care of them."
"I asked Lawrence if we should give it to him and I swear, if he was less professional, he would have snorted," Priscilla said, her eyes sparkling. "Anyway, you're awesome. You're always able to do anything."
That was their Boss Man. She knew he was smart enough not to promote Patrick into Caren's position. Isela found herself blushing a little at Priscilla's words, and tried to put the praise aside. Now was not the time. "When are they due?"
"Next Friday, so one week from now. Can you get them done?"
Her normal reports should get done today, and she should be able to do the other reports. Isela nodded.
"Thank you, Isela." Priscilla smiled warmly. "I'll get them- oh." She pulled out her buzzing cell phone, and made a face. "I'll have to take this. I'll email you the reports once I'm done." She started for the doors, speaking Japanese into the cell phone.
Who was that? Isela shook her head, taking squelching steps down the hall to her office. Was Priscilla dating someone and no one knew? She frowned at the idea, not particularly liking it, then shook her head. What the hell. That was her priority, thinking about Priscilla's love life? That should not have been her priority at the moment! She carefully set herself into her seat, instantly making it wet. No, she had reports to do. A Kelpie to figure out. And Laura.
God. Laura.
She hoped Laura wouldn't show up any time soon.
------
"Are you sure, hime-sama?"
"I'm sure," Priscilla said, standing under the awing in the shade. Why was Texas so hot, even in the shade? The thought occurred to her as she stood there, sweating. Summer had barely even begun. "The Queen could feel it too. Isela made a contract." The words made her shudder. Why did Isela make a contract? She should have stayed pure of this. Stayed… she shook her head.
She could almost hear Masaru frown over the phone. "That's not good. If she's the one we've been thinking of-"
"Not Isela. She just contracted. No, it's someone else." Priscilla glared at the parking lot. But how did Texas get so hot so fast? It'd only be around 20C in Japan. She'd put up with the xenophobia for being mixed race if it meant not dealing with this kind of weather again. Except… Priscilla closed her eyes, remembering the other reason she moved to the States.
"Your friend could be working for the other Queen."
Damn it. Masaru was right. "But she just contracted," Priscilla pointed out, knowing what she was saying was weak. "They wouldn't want her if she just made the contract."
"They could have forced it on her and then took her in," Masaru said and damn it. He was right. They had done that before. Or at least offered it to people that couldn't normally make contracts.
"Isela wouldn't hurt me, though. She isn't that type of person." Her heart just knew it. Isela wasn't that type of person.
"You've thought that before, hime-sama."
Priscilla touched her stomach with her free hand, shivering. She had.
"I'll come pick you up-"
"Masaru, no. I need to work."
"Hime-sama, I need to protect you."
"If something happens at work, I can protect myself. You know that. If something happens now, I won't hesitate. Not like before. You can pick me up after work."
There was a sigh. "Of course, hime-sama."
Priscilla turned to look at the entrance into the building. Isela wouldn't hurt her. She was her friend. But then, why did she make a contract? What happened to her?
"I should be done around 17:00," she told him. "Come pick me up then."
"Of course, hime-sama."
Priscilla murmured a goodbye and hung up. There were so many questions now. Why did Isela make a contract? Was it related to Laura making a contract? Were both of them working for the other Queen? She knew Laura wouldn't do anything, though. She had chances in her life to do more and greater things, and she wasted them on her shoe store. But Isela… Isela would be close to her every day.
Maybe she should cut both of them out of her life. It'd make things a lot easier on her. Laura seemed kind of like a bitch, so it wouldn't be much of an issue. She barely saw Laura anyway. Isela… that would hurt. She really wanted to see Isela as much as possible. But she couldn't. She would just have to when she needed to see her. No more being friends. No more going out with her or looking her up. Just… cooping herself up.
That wouldn't be fun but she would have to do it.
She valued her life over everything else, after all.
CHAPTER NINE
Chapter 9
Isela stretched, feeling her spine pop as she did so. But she was done for the week. The last report had been sent out, just in time. It might have gone faster if the intern they had showed up- actually, didn't Lawrence say he had found a job somewhere else? Well, at least the internship with them had given him some skill to get that job.
Still. It might have been nice to have that intern to take some of the work from her.
But now she was done and time to slide on out. Possibly literally, considering how she was still overflowing, making the carpet wet with every step. Damn it. What w
as Kelpie doing? Why was it doing this? She didn't understand a single thing.
She made her way out of the building, noticing only Priscilla was left, light coming out from under her door. Poor woman never got a break, Isela thought. Her new position made it so she couldn't even leave on time. Well, at least she didn't have to deal with a supernatural horse-woman making everything uncomfortably and horribly damp. And not in the fun 'oh look there's a hot woman' way. It was just… gross.
Isela made her way down the halls, shifting her grasp on her purse to search for her keys. Traffic on 410 shouldn't be all that bad. It wasn't peak rush hour. She should be on her side of town in no-
A footstep behind her made her turn. "Hey Priscilla. Did-"
She froze, breath catching in her throat.
A man stood there, dressed in a nice suit… without a face. It was literally a blank slate. Isela took a step backwards, horror rising in her. That wasn't normal. This wasn't- Isela took another step backwards, trying not to scream. She couldn't-
Kelpie made an angry noise in her ear, and she could feel something beating against her skin that wasn't her pulse. It felt like something pummeling her from within, and she had a distinct feeling she would be bruised by tomorrow. Isela made a soft pained noise at the feeling, watching the monster come closer. What was Kelpie trying to do? Why was it being so… upset?
"What are you…" Isela lifted one hand, as if to fight the monster off. As if that would do anything.
Kelpie screamed in her ear and she doubled over. What did- It wanted out. It wanted- Isela straightened up, swallowing. And held out her hand, letting Kelpie guide her. "Kelpie! Whatever you need to do, do it!"
The horse pulled itself out of her skin, feeling like her bones were being ripped out while her skin was whole. Isela gasped once Kelpie was free, staggering. She watched as Kelpie transformed again into the woman, and dove for the faceless man, surrounding both of them in water.
More footsteps- Isela looked up, seeing two more faceless men, in identical suits. "Kelpie!" she yelped.
But Kelpie didn't listen.
Rapid footsteps sounded down the hall and all the faceless men turned to meet Priscilla. She grit her teeth, holding out her hand. One of the faceless men rushed her and Priscilla had to take a step back to keep from being grabbed, her eyes narrowed. Priscilla's hand rose, then she took several steps backwards as she bared her teeth.
"Kelpie! Help Priscilla!" Isela cried out, pleading.
This time, Kelpie broke free, the faceless man she had been attacking dropping to the ground. She surrounded the one going after the one closest to Priscilla. As Kelpie did so, Isela rushed forward, grabbing Priscilla's arm and dragging her away. "We need to go," she told Priscilla, shaking as they made it to the parking lot. "We need to run!"
"Damn it," Priscilla swore, making Isela look at her blinking. "I didn't realize can't do anything in these confined spaces." Her hand went to her slacks' pocket, pulling out her cell phone. She quickly started calling someone, making Isela stare at her. What was she doing? When the other person picked up, Priscilla started speaking in what she assumed was Japanese to them. Then, she looked up at Isela, saying something else to the person on the line. Finally, she hung up. "Masaru will be here soon," she told Isela.
"Who's…"
Isela trailed off as the last faceless man came out of the building. Kelpie wasn't following and she couldn't feel the horse anywhere…
The gate started to swing open and Priscilla pulled on her arm. "Come on. We need to go!" She dragged her across the parking lot to the gate and the car waiting there. The driver's side door opened, showing a Japanese man around their age starting to step out of the car. And in his hand was a gun. Isela flinched as Priscilla pulled her to one side and the man started shooting. She looked behind, seeing the faceless man get hit and not stop, still coming close. The Japanese man holstered his gun and rushed forward, and now Isela could see the sheathed sword he carried. The man unsheathed it, and with one smooth motion…
Beheaded the faceless man.
Priscilla dragged her into the backseat of the car. "We need to get out of here," she said urgently, sliding in beside her. "Call your Fae back."
"I-I don't know how."
"Call its name and tell it that it's time to go to bed. Or something. Whatever it takes."
Isela swallowed. "Kelpie. Time to come back."
Suddenly, there was a horse impossibly in the front seat. Good thing the Japanese man was standing outside the car, she thought dizzily as she reached out. "So uh," she started, touching its back.
Kelpie started to meld into her skin, making her yelp in surprise. But… that was what happened before. This was okay. And once Kelpie was done, the Japanese man slid into the driver's seat, throwing the car into reverse to get onto the main road before driving away from the building. He directed a question over his shoulder at Priscilla, still in Japanese, and she answered back in kind.
"We're going back to my place," Priscilla said in English, turning to Isela. "We'll be safe there."
"Safe from what? What were those things? How do you know about them? Who is he?" Isela jabbed a finger at the man driving. "What's going on?"
Priscilla sighed. "We'll be safe at my place because the Faceless and whoever is commanding them aren't dumb enough to attack Masaru and I on our home turf. And I know about them because I've had to deal with people commanding them since I was living in Japan. They're probably not after you… not really." Priscilla smiled, the curve forced. "They're after me."
"Seemed to me like they were after me in some way," Isela shot back.
"Trust me." Priscilla held up her hand, and a zap of lightning ran across her fingers. "They're not after you."
CHAPTER TEN
Chapter 10
None of the Faceless she sent came back. Laura grit her teeth as she realized this. It wasn't like she could summon them, just send them out to do what needed to be done. And somehow, Isela had killed them all. That fat bitch had killed every single one of them.
It had to be that damned horse. Whatever it was. Isela had made a contract and it was strong enough to kill the Faceless she had borrowed. Laura would remember that next time. She'd go with them. Isela managed to take on Nighe, and the Faceless, but she couldn't take on both at the same time. Laura grinned at the thought. And Nighe would be able to kill her. It would be so nice.
Her phone rang. Laura picked it up, groaning as she saw the number. Her. She picked up her phone, answering. "Hello?"
"Do you have her?" The voice on the other end didn't even bother saying hello.
"She still has allies and friends-"
"Put aside you petty needs and get her. You have one last chance."
Laura let out a long breath as she was hung up on. She had one last chance to get Priscilla. Which meant she had no time to waste on taking out Isela. And her access to the Faceless would be revoked as soon as she got Priscilla.
But she had made a promise, and given Nighe to fulfill it.
She had to do it.
She would have to attack as soon as possible.
------
Priscilla laid back on the couch, and Isela jumped a little at the sound of static electricity as she did so. "Masaru," she called, saying something in Japanese as she tilted her head back. Isela looked, seeing Masaru bow and leave. "He's just gone to get us something to drink," she told Isela. "Relax. We're safe here."
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