The truth was humans were terrifying. They were powerless as far as magic was concerned, but she had no illusions that her magic and wards would hold up long against a swat team. Not unless she was willing to kill, and the idea of that turned her stomach. Never mind the thought of a missile attack from a drone, her fire wards were good, but not deflect a hellfire missile good.
She could escape easily enough though, a simple glamour and she could just walk right past them, but the idea of running and hiding for the rest of her life wasn’t very appealing either.
She dropped into a light meditative trance, something she’d been doing too often these days. Where was the confident shifter she’d be turning into anyway? She was still there, she just didn’t know how to fight this. An invading pack or a murdering witch or shifter was easy, kill them. She took a deep breath and blew it out, she knew it was a waste of energy to borrow trouble. They would deal with it as it came, the councils would set the policies anyway, so she couldn’t even fool herself by saying she needed to figure out how to react to certain situations.
When she walked in Berny asked, “How’d it go?”
She shrugged and smiled teasingly, her voice was nonchalant, “Good. We need to fight off a pack of fifty werewolves’ tomorrow night, and we’re probably revealing ourselves to humans later today. How’s the store doing?”
Berny’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened, “Seriously?”
She sighed already regretting her flippant words, and filled Bernadette in on the meeting, and her thoughts on the way back to the store. Ed was unusually silent.
Berny shook her head, “That’s going to change a lot.”
Ed asked curiously, “Like what?”
Berny frowned, “Well your jobs for one. Do you think the humans will let us keep our own justice system, and execute rogue shifters and witches?”
Ed shrugged, “Why not? It’s not as if a human jail will hold them.”
Berny tilted her head, “Of course not, at least, not right now. However, without the need to hide, don’t you think the government and councils can come up with a jail that will hold any of us?”
She nodded, having considered something similar a couple of days ago.
“She’s right, witches can be bound, and shifters can be contained if the jail is strong enough. Keeping us segregated won’t save us. The only reason we haven’t already done it is to keep a low profile, to keep the secret. That won’t be an issue any longer.”
Ed frowned, “This will be even more complicated than I originally thought. I’d considered the various reactions humans would have, but not that our way of life would have to change.”
She sighed, “No doubt the FDA will step in and demand a study on my potions. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was told not to use them until I got approval.”
Ed snorted, “That’s a horrid thought, never say that out loud again.”
She snickered, “Hopefully they won’t think of that, but I don’t want to underestimate a bureaucracy.”
Berny asked, “How long do you think they’ll be deciding?”
Ed replied, “Fae are pretty respected, they are the strongest magical race. I imagine they probably already decided to do it. What will take time is they will talk about how to do it, and what approach to take, much like we are doing right now. It will probably be this evening, when time is running out, before they will compromise. It isn’t nearly enough time either, to consider all the angles and responses to what the humans do.”
They talked for a bit longer, but once the conversation started to go in circles, she excused herself to get some work done. She felt a bit better, ironically defining the threat seemed to settle her more, it was the unknown that had been so upsetting. Of course, they still didn’t have responses for most of it, and she was sure they were missing a few things, but she’d managed to regain her equanimity regardless.
It was only four in the afternoon when she and Ed received a page to get back to the conference room.
“Excuse me?” she asked, her newfound calm blown out of the water.
Bria compressed her lips, “You, Ed, and Paul will be the one to reveal us, on live television.”
That’s what she thought her coven leader had said. She had thought she was the crazy one.
“Are all the city enforcer teams doing it then?” she asked, though what she really wanted to ask was a plaintive why me.
Crap.
Damon answered that, “No, the reason we were chosen is because we all would have been outed tomorrow night anyway, in the worst possible way. In other words, the other cities thought it would minimize both the risk and exposure. I don’t like that we’re the only ones, but I can’t argue with their logic either. Since we were screwed anyway, we’ve become the test bed for coming out.”
Ed asked, “Test bed?”
Allen laughed until he coughed, “Yes, that way if someone in high office panics and kills us all, the rest of the covens and packs across the country can still hide. We are outing our races, but we thought it wise to not necessarily send a list of names and cities in which we reside. You won’t be the only ones in the spotlight, it will be up to the six of us to work with the government to decide what needs to change, and what level of integration we will take. It will be your jobs to… be in the public view.
“It is consistent with your jobs and duties to protect your packs and covens. Right now the only thing we are sure of, is if someone reacts negatively and attacks you, or tries to harm you, is don’t dare harm them back. Knock them out if you have to, or escape. No deadly force.”
She sighed, they were right. Still, she didn’t want to do it. Of course, life wasn’t fair and she needed to suck it up and get it done.
“Is there a talking points memo?” she asked. She didn’t mean it to come out sarcastically, but it did. She winced and sent the councils an apologetic look.
Bria shook her head, “We are still discussing it. I’d suggest telling the truth while trying to keep it as positive as possible, it will come out eventually if any of us lie, and that would cause worse problems.”
“So… werewolves are sweet puppies, and witches love nature and want to help the world?”
Huh, apparently she hadn’t stamped on her sarcasm enough yet.
Ella snickered, but Joe looked at her reproachfully.
She shrugged, “Sorry, I am taking this seriously, but I’m trying not to panic right now. But there is a grain of truth in both statements.”
There was a grain of truth, unless of course you trespassed on wolves’ territory, or challenged them. Witches were kind of the same way, though only about a few things. Ritual areas and such, and their family’s spell books. The main differences between the two were cultural. Shifters were blunt and straightforward, and wouldn’t lie unless it was absolutely necessary. For instance, keeping the secret, which was about to be moot. In a lot of cases, witches saw this as them being unsophisticated brutes, but the truth was they were just more honest, brutally so, and didn’t give a crap what others thought about them.
Witches were more… political and backstabbing, and had no problems bending the truth. They were honest and caring with those they were close to, but even within a coven there were factions. She thought the lying part, much like humans, is what made for so many problems between shifters and witches. Shifters felt a dissonance when telling or hearing a lie, and could scent the wrongness of it.
It had taken the last two months to get a really good handle on suppressing that reaction.
Paul cleared his throat, “How about you let me handle shifter questions, and Ed can handle witch questions, and you can be in the middle and rescue us if we falter?”
Ed grunted, “That’s not a bad idea.”
She was all for it, since that meant she wouldn’t be front and center…
In an alarmingly short amount of time, they were in the parking lot of the local news station in Charlotte. None of them had left the car yet. It was kind of sad, t
he powerful enforcers for the supernatural community and she could scent the fear off of all of them, including herself. Well, reporters are scary.
They’d all gone home and changed first. She was wearing a nice gray skirt down to her lower thigh, a white blouse, and a pair of black two inch heels. Over the blouse she had on a woman’s black blazer that made her look professional but hugged her curves adding a hint of sex appeal. Both Ed and Paul were in business casual. Black shoes, Dockers, and collared shirts, although they left off the ties.
“So how exactly are we doing this?” she asked, “Are we just invading the station?”
Ed nodded, “I don’t think it will be hard to get in if we demonstrate our powers. I don’t like the idea of putting on a show. We’ll need to be careful though, we want them to put us on the air and be curious, not scream and run for the exits.”
She snickered, “So no fire then. I can do a little hand tornado. I assume you can do water. That will have to be enough, I don’t think a tiger would be a good idea either. I suppose an innocent glamour would work too.”
Okay, it was stating the obvious and she knew it, but they were all out of their comfort zones, by whole counties.
“Well, it’s just after five thirty. If we’re going to make the six and eleven o’clock news, and get pulled in nationally, and by the twenty-four-hour news stations, we need to get going.”
They all got out and headed for the news station.
The brick building with huge windows in the front was only two stories, but it was very large length and width wise. She hoped the security people didn’t scream something about Satan’s spawn and shoot them, that would be a huge complication. She didn’t really believe that would happen, but that didn’t stop her from pumping some more magic into her personal wards on her jewelry to top off the enchantment.
Ed held the door open for her, so she slipped inside and smiled. She used a little gallows humor to make sure it reached her eyes as they walked up to the security desk in the lobby. It was a big lobby, the floor was marble tile, probably fake, and the walls were painted white. It had the usual potted plants and art on the walls. It was also open and two stories high, behind the guard station was a hallway leading to the back of the facility, as well as an elevator bank on the left inside the hall to reach the second floor.
She waited patiently until the guard looked up.
He seemed bored, but took a moment to measure the three of us.
“Can I help you?”
Ed took the lead, “We need to speak to a reporter, or maybe a producer?”
He raised his eyebrow, “You don’t have an appointment? Or know who you want to see?” when Ed shook his head the guard asked, “About what?”
She felt a little dizzy when Ed said, “We are local shifters and witches, and we thought we’d introduce ourselves to the people of Charlotte.”
The guard’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to look past them, “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke.”
She would have laughed if she wasn’t so nervous. Of course he didn’t believe them.
Ed waved a hand, and created a mini-glamour on the desk in front of the guard. It showed a witch, black hat and all, flying around on a broomstick. Below the witch was a large tiger, who kept jumping up and trying to swat the bristles at the end of the broom.
Paul choked, “I’ll get you for that.”
She giggled, giggled! She hated that, she wasn’t a giggler, but she was nervous, and the little glamour was pretty funny actually.
“Sorry, we’re a bit nervous, but no, he wasn’t joking. What you’re looking at is a glamour, an illusion, created with magic. So… can we talk to a reporter?”
The guy’s eyes widened, and his face drained of blood turning white as he ran his hands through the illusion. After a few moments, he apparently decided to pick up the phone instead of going for his gun. After a short conversation he pointed at the upholstered bench against the wall.
“Take a seat, someone will be right out,” his voice hardly wavered at all. She didn’t think it was bravery, or even acceptance, most likely the poor man was in shock.
They went over and sat, Paul asked, “What was that about?”
Ed shrugged, “Everyone is familiar with keeping something just out of a kitten’s reach, and of course a witch on a broom is a stereotype of sorts. I thought it would help if it I did something familiar, something recognizable but harmless, and perhaps a little humorous.”
She shrugged, “Well, we’ll know if you’re right about that in a minute. Let’s hope it’s a producer, and not a platoon of security that comes pouring out the back.”
Paul snickered, “He still seems a little wide eyed.”
About five minutes later a man in his forties came down the hallway. His face was a bit pinched with stress and impatience as he marched up to us.
“I’ve got a show going live in twenty minutes, and I have no time to waste. I wouldn’t even be here except my guard told me the story of the century was sitting in our lobby. How did you do it, some kind of new technology? Holograms?”
Paul coughed to cover another snicker, and Ed said, “I’m a witch, so I did it with magic.”
The man growled, “I don’t have time for fools.”
She raised her hand and built a mini-tornado on her palm, while Ed waved his hands and recreated the glamour. This time, he made it a bit bigger, it was almost five feet tall.”
The man turned white as the blood drained from his face, two for two, and she smiled warmly trying to be comforting.
The man spluttered, “So what do you do?” he demanded of Paul.
Paul replied in a calm voice just short of patronizing, “I turn into a tiger, a little bit bigger than in nature. Okay, that’s a lie, probably half again the mass, and I stand at least a couple of feet taller. I can’t do the witch stuff, I’m the shifter part.”
He shook his head, “So you’re telling me, no projector, these illusions are magic?”
She shook her head, and felt guilty when he got a relieved look on his face, at least until she started talking.
“Illusion, as in singular. This is actually a real tornado, if very small,” and she held it out to him.
He scowled and reached out, clearly to call her bluff, but then jumped back after touching it.
“Holy shit! What do you want?”
Ed replied, “We want to go on the air, and introduce ourselves, and our races, to Charlotte.”
His eyes narrowed, “Sorry, my manners. I’m Larry James. You can call me Larry. So, why did you want to do this?”
Larry’s voice was a bit suspicious there at the end.
Ed sighed and went for stark honesty, “Because we can’t hide anymore, it’s going to come out anyway, so we figured a gentle introduction would be better than what’s going to happen tomorrow night.”
Larry frowned and looked at his watch.
“Get up, follow me. I’d prefer finding out about all that, but we’ll have to do it on the air. We don’t have time.”
Larry seemed a bit manic, like a pot of gold landed in his lap, or he feared for his sanity. Probably both. The three of them exchanged looks and shrugged.
They were taken back to the news desk area and led off to the side out of the cameras view.
Larry said woodenly, “Stay here please,” and continued over to the desk.
Larry appeared to be having an argument with the anchors of the show, Carol Matthews and Ted Mueller. She was a bit nervous and looked around. The stage area was huge and very plain, except for the anchor desks, and the area where the weather was done. There was a third green screen with a smaller desk, presumably for sports. She looked back over and bit her lip, both Carol and Ted looked mutinous.
She could see their point, it was last minute, being shoved down their throats, and it if turned out to be a hoax it would ruin their careers. Plus… witches and shifters? Yeah… right.
She built another mini-tornado. This one though no
t in her palm, but across the room and right on the desk between Carol and Ted. The papers she hadn’t seen there were sucked up and spit out in all directions. Oops.
Carol jumped up to her feet, Ted wasn’t as fortunate, he jumped straight back and his chair tipped, landing him on his backside. Larry glared over at the three of them.
She shrugged, smiled sheepishly, and said a little loudly, “Just trying to help, they obviously weren’t buying it.”
Larry sighed and looked back. Carol and Ted both warily stepped back to the desk, touched the twister, and then sat down a look of awe on their faces. She killed the simply air magic and it dissipated. She saw a few stage hands drag over a couch and plop it next to the desk. The nightly news was not usually an interview format, just hard news, and perhaps canned portions of pre made interviews. Apparently the existence of witches and shifters was big enough news to cause a format change.
She thought that was a good thing though, they wouldn’t be canning sound bites from an interview to twist the story, not if they were getting a live interview.
She was sure whatever questions the two anchors asked would be from the producer who just ran off stage toward a door that lead to a sound booth, no doubt to call his higher ups to get on the affiliates. At least, she hoped that’s what he was doing.
So far so good, considering that they were reacting and not acting. There’d been no planning, and no script because there was no time. At least they were getting on the air, now if only they could avoid it completely backfiring into their faces she would be happy. She had no illusions it would go perfectly. After all, one of the things they needed to get across was that there was a murderous psychotic alpha werewolf with a huge pack coming to kill all the witches in Charlotte tomorrow.
She had no idea how to spin that, none at all…
Chapter 13
She held her arms rigid on her sides, to prevent herself from fidgeting as she barely listened to Ted and Carol get the show started with the top stories. She felt her stomach drop as the last item was the supernatural world stepping into the light. This was crazy.
Shifter's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 3 Page 9
