"I know. It's just- I'm tired of being the princess with the power. Can't I be Priscilla Nakamura, the office worker? I'm almost afraid of going back to Japan to visit my parents and grandparents because what if Tamamo-no-Mae wants to contract with me again and it starts all over again?"
"It's not going to happen," Isela told her firmly. "You'll be fine."
Priscilla looked down at their hands, and Isela swore she could feel electricity between their skin as Priscilla's fingers stroked across Isela's hand. She looked up at Isela, her lips parted slightly. In return, Isela leaned forward without realizing it.
And Priscilla let go of her hand. "I'm going to call Masaru regarding dinner. Go ahead and start a new episode. I'll be right back."
Isela nodded, turning back to the TV as Priscilla left to call Masaru. Well.
That was a moment.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Chapter 12
"Okay, I would have thought you would have had made some kind of Japanese dinner or something."
"I like McDonald's," Priscilla insisted. "And Masaru likes their frozen drinks."
Masaru didn't react to it, almost as if he was acting like he didn't hear her.
"Still," Isela said, munching on a fry. She crossed her pajama-clad legs, reaching for her drink on the coffee table as her baggy sleeveless shirt fell across her fries. "I can't believe you didn't cook dinner at all."
"I need to go grocery shopping," Priscilla admitted. "And-"
"You didn't feel like it." Masaru's voice was slightly amused. Isela jumped a little, surprised he spoke in English and not in Japanese. Priscilla did shoot something back in Japanese, which made him chuckle.
Priscilla sighed, turning to Isela. "Anyway. We should probably work on you summoning your Fae at some point. Fae are not supposed to leave bruises like that just trying to be summoned."
"I didn't think it was normal," Isela admitted, sipping her soda. She put it back down on the coffee table, going back to her fries. "At the same time, I don't really know was is normal here. I have a Fae living inside of me because I made a contract. One I didn't even realize I was making."
Priscilla nodded. "That's usually how it goes. And living inside you… that pretty much is how it feels like, even if it's not quite true. I don't know how to describe it," she said, cutting Isela off. "All I know is that the Fae we contracted with does lead their own life and comes when we call. It can't force us to summon it, though it looks like your Fae tried." She reached out, grease stained fingers hovering over Isela's bare arm. "I wish I could heal that or something. The Queen isn't that type of Fae."
Isela felt the graze of her fingers across the hair of her arm, her heart jumping a little at the touch. "It's okay," she murmured. "They'll heal on their own. I don't wear short sleeves to work anyway. I look a little skinnier if I wear long sleeves."
"Doesn't it get hot, though? I mean, Texas weather is terrible. It must have reached 32 degrees today."
"Uh…" Isela blinked. "You're not talking Fahrenheit are you?"
Priscilla paused. "Yeah. I'm not. 90 degrees then?"
Isela shrugged. "I spend most of my time inside. It only gets hot for me when I'm in a place without AC like my grandmother's house. Otherwise, I'm fine."
Masaru chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. "Impressive."
Priscilla nodded. "Yeah. I don't deal well with heat, so it's impressive to me too."
Isela just ducked her head. "It's not that impressive."
Priscilla reached out, patting her leg. "You never know."
"If you say so. So, about me learning how to deal with this Fae…"
"Mm." Priscilla nodded. "I think we could go out to- Stop shaking your head, Masaru. We have to leave eventually."
He said something in Japanese to her, which made Priscilla fire off a line of angry Japanese. And Isela… just wondered if this was how everyone else felt when she spoke Spanish around non-Spanish speakers. Finally, Priscilla groaned. "Fine. We'll stay here for a little longer. But in return, Masaru, you're paying for dinner tomorrow."
"Of course, hime-sama."
Priscilla turned to Isela. "There's not much we can do," she told her. "The problem is, if I use my abilities, I pretty much run up a flag to the other Queen as to where I am. We can't do that, because… well, we don't know why the Queen wants me. And it seems like the other Queen wants kill you for some reason as she's using Laura to do so. So… we have to stay here while the one person that can kill the Faceless without a Fae goes and figures out what's going on."
"And you are useless unless there is room to use them," Masaru pointed out. "It's not like when you had the previous Queen. You cannot just throw fireballs. Isela's Fae would be more useful in that case."
Priscilla's eyes narrowed.
Then she sighed. "You're right." She looked over at Isela. "He's right. We have to be careful. I don't have Tamamo-no-Mae anymore. I'm learning about my Queen and what I can do with her. You're probably going to be more useful than you think if we need to fight." She smiled at Isela, something warm blossoming in Isela's chest as she did.
And reached over to steal a fry.
------
The office had been a wet mess. This would normally not be anything for Lawrence to think about except for the fact that it had not rained that day. It shouldn't have been so wet it felt like it had flooded. But the carpet squelched under his shoes, making him sigh. Something must have happened. A water line or something. He'd call it in on Monday. Right now, he had to get back to his wife and kids. He had promised only to go in for a few hours today, to get everything done… and he wasn't getting out until the sun had set.
Tiana would understand, he told himself. She knew that he had to go in to catch up after Caren Edwards had stopped coming in. He just didn't expect to stay that long. But it was what is was, and he was heading home.
Something started whispering in his ear. A female voice, speaking in a language he couldn't understand.
Lawrence spun, trying to find her. But no matter how hard he tried, he could only see out of the corner of his eye a hint of blonde hair. And all the while, the woman whispered in his ear, making a shiver run down his spine.
"Where are you?" he demanded, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Who are you?"
Soft laughter, then the whispering back again.
"Don't make me call the cops!"
The whispering died off. When he turned again, he saw nothing. Which was good. He didn't want to call the SAPD unless something truly awful was happening. At least it was over with. Lawrence got into his car and left, driving down to 410. If he tried really hard, he might be able to get home and-
There was a man in the road. No… several men. Definitely a few dozen. And when they all looked up at once, they didn't have faces. Lawrence swore, backing up and turning around. He could still get to 410 if he went down Broadway- except they still cut him off, leading him back down another way, further away from 410, back into a neighborhood as they kept appearing…
------
Isela pulled the blanket over her chest, hearing the fan whirl overhead. It was a lot quieter then she expected at Priscilla's. No noisy clocks ticking on the walls, the appliances weren't overwhelming loud… It was almost too quiet for her to deal with. She kept expecting ticking or something.
With that thought, she got up, heading for the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. Just something. Anything to do. She sipped on the water slowly, trying to calm down enough to sleep. Yes, she was in a strange place but she was… safe. Hopefully. Masaru had saved her life before. He would again. Though she did know in his mind, Priscilla took precedence over Isela. That was just how it was.
But with any hope, Masaru would take care of whatever was going after Isela and everything would be back to normal. Isela might even find a way to break whatever contract she had made with Kelpie so it didn't beat her black and blue again trying to be summoned. She could go back to a normal life.
Isela sighed. Ma
ybe. Hopefully. That wasn't getting anything done. In order for things to get done, people had to go out there and do it. Nothing was going to get done sitting here with Priscilla.
She jumped as she saw someone at the entrance of the kitchen. Masaru. "Hey," she said, tapping a finger on her glass. "Couldn't sleep?"
"The Lady is restless."
It still took her by surprise when she heard Masaru speak English. "The Fae you made a contract with?"
He nodded. "She is expecting me to go out and protect hime-sama. Telling me that I have much more to do than lay in bed and sleep."
Kelpie shifted under her skin, agreeing.
Isela tried to ignore it. "So what are you going to do?"
"Practice in the back yard. It should be enough to exhaust me, allowing me to sleep."
She nodded. "I see. Um…" Isela lifted her glass. "Good luck, I guess."
Masaru smiled at her. "What about you? What do you plan to do?"
She sighed. "I don't really have anything I can do. I mean, I can check some things on my phone, but… I mean, I can't really practice like you can." She patted her stomach, feeling it jiggle. "Kind of missed the gym a lot of days in a row."
"If you wished, we could practice with your Fae. It could-"
The two of them to jumped as they heard a car crash. Isela nearly threw her glass aside as she followed Masaru out the front door as he grabbed his sword, her heart in her throat. A thought to grab her phone occurred to her as they rushed out, seeing a car smashed into a lamppost with a tall, slender black man turning to see…
Oh God that was Lawrence.
Isela started to rush over to him as she heard Masaru say something under his breath in Japanese. Her boss was hurt. She needed to-
Masaru grabbed her, pulling her back. "Faceless," he murmured to her. "Allow me."
She looked over to where Lawrence was looking and saw- oh God, dozens of Faceless. And they were all coming for them. Where was Laura? She had to make them stop! This wasn't right! "I can fight too," Isela shot back, holding out her hand, ready to summon Kelpie.
The air started whipping around harder, almost making it hard to breathe. As it did so, Isela could almost hear whispering, reaching out to her… and a blonde white woman leaning over Lawrence's shoulder, clawed fingers gripping him as she whispered in his ear.
"Lawrence!" Something told Isela, no, don't let him. Masaru started to let her go, to go fight the Faceless as Lawrence held up a hand.
No.
"Leanan Sidhe!"
The wind nearly blew Isela off her feet, disorienting her. She could see Masaru stagger, nearly losing his balance. Several Faceless dropped to their knees, but it wasn't enough. If Isela could focus, could remember why the feeling of something kicking inside her skin was important-
The air stopped, growing charged.
"TITANIA!"
The name rung out, terrible and great. Several lightning bolts came down, frying half the Faceless immediately. Isela could see them drop, dead. Masaru ran at the Faceless, pulling his sword free from its scabbard. She turned, seeing Priscilla stand there, her short hair raised in the static charge as she waved her hand, more lightning bolts taking out the Faceless Masaru didn't kill. A woman stood next to her, clad in a white, almost translucent dress that moved in an unseen wind and long blonde hair that whipped around her. Then, Priscilla lowered her hand, slumping as the woman, Priscilla's Fae, Titania faded. Isela rushed over to her and caught her, Masaru just a second behind her.
All was quiet for a moment as everything started to settle. Then-
"Does anyone want to explain what just happened?"
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Chapter 13
Laura had failed her for the last time.
Devi paced. She had given Laura one last chance. One last access to the Faceless. And she had wasted it. Thirty-three Faceless… dead. For what? What kind of pettiness was Laura trying to indulge in now? Or was she just that dumb? It had shaken her when the Faceless fell, the bond quavering inside of her. She had never felt that on such a large level before.
And she knew exactly what caused it.
The Seelie Queen herself.
Her own Queen shifted under her skin, chilling her bones at the thought of the Seelie Queen. It was only natural. She wanted to engage her opposite in battle. But it wasn't time. And while it would do to take down the Seelie Queen, to kill her… they needed the human attached to her. They needed Priscilla Nakamura. She was not allowed to die until the appropriate hour. Not until they could tap into her power and use it. Use it, set… her free. Use it as her dreams told her to.
But Laura… well…
There was no use keeping her.
She just had to go.
------
Lawrence blinked at them incredulously behind his glasses, and Isela sympathized. It all sounded so insane, but he had seen the Faceless too. He had seen Leanan Sidhe and Titania. It was all true. Priscilla looked at him from where she was laying on the couch, expectant.
"It just sounds…" Lawrence paused, searching for the right words. "Like a fairy tale."
"That's kind of what the Fae are," Priscilla pointed out. "That's what any of the creatures that make contracts with us are: real fairy tales."
Priscilla's words just made Lawrence shake his head. "It makes no sense. See, monsters and fairies and all that don't exist! And- Tiana and the girls are going to wonder where I am. I should call them."
"Masaru, let him use your phone," Priscilla called, mercifully in English. Probably so Lawrence knew what she said and why Masaru was handing him a cell phone now, Isela reasoned. Lawrence walked away and Masaru and Priscilla started talking to each other in Japanese, low and intense. Masaru said something that made her sit up slowly, eyes blazing. "I had no choice," she hissed in English, then finished her thought in Japanese.
Isela rubbed her head, getting up to go to the kitchen. She needed water. This was just all… she needed a lot of water. She needed all the water-
What.
She stopped, looking down at her arms and the bruises lying there. She'd been drinking a lot of water lately. Was her sudden need for water a result of Kelpie? Because she didn't summon Kelpie in that fight? What else did it want? Isela held herself, shaking her head. All of this needed to be over with because her Fae… Damn it. Kelpie needed to go. She didn't need to have it anymore.
But she didn't have a choice. Laura was after her for some reason. And what was it Priscilla had said… once it was all taken care of, Kelpie would go on its own? She shuddered. Hopefully, anyway.
"Marisela." Lawrence's voice made her jump and turn towards him. "Are you okay?"
She let out a long breath, running a hand through her hair. "It's just been… a very long few days," she told him. "Is everything okay with your wife and kids?"
"I need to go home." Lawrence pushed his glasses up his nose. "The girls won't go to bed unless I'm home."
"Yeah." Isela needed to go home too. But… She looked out towards the living room, remembering Priscilla laying there. Even though she had Titania, she still… she still needed help. And someone was still after her. It almost seemed like whoever it was almost… "Did it seem like those Faceless were coming here?" she asked, turning to Lawrence.
He thought for a moment. "Now that I think of it, it does seem like it. It kind of seemed like they were following me, but I just happened to go in the same direction of them." Lawerence studied her. "What're you thinking, Marisela?"
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