Quickening, Volume 2

by Amy Lane

  Quickening, Vol. 2

  By Amy Lane

  Little Goddess: Book Five

  Volume Two

  The elf queen who infected the werewolf population isn’t going away—and neither are the two heartbeats that will soon be the children in Cory’s arms.

  Cory’s used to throwing herself physically into the fray, but as their enemy gets closer and more dangerous, she’s forced to choose between her safety and the people sworn to protect her. Her guardians are tired of worrying about Cory and her unborn children, and Cory is getting plain tired.

  The preternatural world isn’t her only worry—basic human birthing rituals are going to be a pain in the ass for a woman whose children will be sidhe. Cory’s mother is still fuzzy on the concept of a polyamorous multispecies marriage and sets her up with an OBGYN obsessed with the inhuman silhouettes of her babies.

  Cory doesn’t want her children born in the middle of a turf war, but the people she and Green have nurtured and fought for aren’t about to let her face this enemy alone. This battle is for queen and home, and the babies quickening in Cory’s body are a symbol of hope. Cory’s going to have to give up the idea of being a weapon and embrace the idea of being a mother, or she’ll let down those depending on her most.

  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Dedication

  Character Lexicon

  Green: Victories and Small Mercies

  Cory: Mothers and motherfucker!

  Bracken: Breaches and Breeches

  Cory: Fall-ing

  Nicky: Fatherhood

  Cory: Bed Rest

  Green: Small Celebrations

  Teague: Second Bananas

  Cory: Sidelined Goddammit

  Bracken: Pop Goes the Weasel

  Green: Afar

  Teague: Tactical Error

  Cory: Home Fires

  Nicky: Not a Moon

  Cory: The Joys of Raising a Family in a Two Front War

  Green: Terrible Choices

  Teague: Disasters and Mercies

  Lady Cory: Vacant Chambers

  Bones and Battle

  Cory: Little Acorns, Tall Trees, Inconvenient Motherfucking Squirrels

  The Child-raising Village

  Cory: Not a One-Woman Show

  Purple: Amy’s Alternative Universe Romance

  Readers love the Little Goddess series by Amy Lane

  About the Author

  By Amy Lane

  Visit DSP Publications

  Copyright

  These books are for everyone who picked up a self-pubbed book written by nobody special and loved it, and has stuck with me ever since.

  These books are for everyone who followed me from urban fantasy to gay romance—and then read everything in that new genre and loved it.

  These books are for everyone who followed me from gay romance back to my roots—and told me that they loved the Little Goddess series too.

  And these books are especially for everyone who wondered, asked me, begged for the answer to the singular question of “Goddammit, is she going to be pregnant for frickin’ ever?”

  No. She is not. And this is how that happens.

  I hope you love this book as much as I’ve loved having readers as wonderful as you.

  Character Lexicon

  CHARACTERS INTRODUCED in Vulnerable:

  Cory. Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick op Crocken Green started this little adventure as a gas station clerk, and then she met Adrian, a vampire who loved her, and Green, who loved them both. She is now married to Green, Bracken, and Nicky, carries three of Adrian’s marks and so leads his kiss of vampires, and is still trying to get that degree.

  Green. Vernal Green, Lord of Leaves and Shadows. The leader of most of the supernatural peoples in Northern California, Green is not a warrior. Instead he leads and heals with sex and love, and people would die to protect him.

  Bracken. The youngest full-blooded sidhe on the hill, Bracken was Adrian’s lover and fell in love with Cory at first sight. He stepped away from her then, because Adrian loved her and they didn’t share well, but upon Adrian’s death, he became her full-time lover.

  Adrian. Adrian started life as the sexually abused cabin boy whom Green rescued on his way to America. Adrian became a vampire so he wouldn’t age and leave Green alone, and even after he fell in love with Cory, he couldn’t survive without his ties to Green.

  Arturo. Arturo came from the jungles of South America to the new world in the fifties, trying to find an easier life. He found Green’s hill instead, and instead of conquering, fell exquisitely in love (in a very heterosexual way) with a leader who would lead with compassion instead of violence.

  Grace. A devoted family woman, Grace was dying of untreated breast cancer in Redding when Adrian heard her yearning to see her family grow, with or without her. He granted her wish and made her a vampire, and Grace has come to love her Green’s hill family even more intensely than she loved the mortal family she left.

  Mitch. Mitch was Renny’s first lover. Renny loved him since they were kids—when Mitchell was accidentally transformed into a were-kitty, Renny actually seduced him so he’d bite her and turn her too. Mitch was skittish and independent and refused to accept Green’s generosity and live in the hill, but Renny’s heart was so twined with his that she almost lost all of her humanity when he was one of Sezan’s first victims.

  Max. Max is the police officer who tried to ‘save’ Cory from Green’s hill when she first met him. In the end, Green’s hill saved him, and he ended up beguiled by a girl who was more cat than human.

  Renny. Renny became a werecat to follow her first husband, Mitch, into the life. When Mitch was killed, Renny’s cat personality became dominant and nearly feral. She’s become more human since she and Max have become a couple and gotten married… but not by much.

  Marcus. Marcus was a history teacher with a passion for snow skiing. He’s got curly brown hair, big brown eyes, and a teacher’s affection for Cory, who wants to document the world they’ve found themselves in now that he has fangs and a taste for blood.

  Phillip. Phillip was a stockbroker with a passion for snow skiing. After Marcus found him buried in an avalanche and brought him over as a vampire, the two spent twenty years struggling with their sexuality and their boundless love for each other. What they finally decided upon was a relationship based on the sentiment “I apparently can’t live without you, asshole,” and that seems to be working for them.

  Sezan. Part sea-nymph, part human, Sezan is what happens when someone is warped from conception on. He came to NorCal to torment and kill Adrian—but he had help.

  Crispin. Crispin was the kiss leader of the Folsom vampires until Sezan arrived and brainwashed/drugged/threatened him to force Crispin into Sezan’s own vendetta.

  Crocken and Blissa. Bracken’s parents, Crocken and Blissa, are a study in opposites. Blissa is a flittery sex kitten of a four-foot pixie, and Crocken looks like an undusted pile of rocks. Together (and with a little bit of Green’s magic to make everything fit the way it should) they managed to produce Bracken, whom they love to distraction.

  Leah. Leah’s little brother died and Leah descended into a spiral of sex, drugs, and self-destruction. Adrian saved her from all of that, but Leah’s emotional makeup does not include any sort of monogamous relationship. Still, she misses the stability of having a small nuclear family and has spent years trying to find a balance in the hill.

  CHARACTERS INTRODUCED in Wounded:

  Nicky. Nicky is an Avian—a shapeshifter who turns into a bird. He met Cory while she was attending CSU San Francisco immediately after Adrian’s death, when he was working for Goshawk, the bad guy. Nicky accidentally bonded to Green and Cory in the course of saving
Bracken’s life, but because he was trying to atone for his assault on Cory at the time, Green and Cory took them into their family—and their bed.

  Mario. Mario was an Avian who worked for Goshawk, the bad guy in Wounded who convinced Nicky to mind-rape Cory on their first date. Mario’s wife, Beth, was killed in an assault on Green’s hill, and Green gave Mario back his will to live. Mario is midheight, stocky, and very proud of his Mexican heritage.

  LaMark. LaMark is another sweet-tempered Avian who had the misfortune to meet up with Goshawk while struggling with his identity. Unfortunately, LaMark’s identity is not a comfortable one—a gay, black Avian is sort of doomed wherever he goes, isn’t he? In spite of that, LaMark is a nice guy with a sense of humor and a blinding smile.

  Andres. Andres is the leader of the San Francisco vampires. In Wounded, he allied his vampires with Cory’s—and passed up on an opportunity to take both Cory and Bracken into his bed.

  Orson. Orson is the leader of the San Francisco werewolves. He’s not a particularly physical fighter, but he is an aggressive advocate for his people.

  Mist. Green’s old lover, Mist betrayed Green to Titania and Oberon. When Green escaped their faerie hill, Mist watched jealously as Green fought for a place of his own. Mist was responsible for sending Sezan Adrian’s way—he couldn’t stand that Green was happy, especially with someone Mist considered inferior.

  Morana. Mist’s lover at the time of Wounded. She’s mostly just a smug, superior, elitist bitch who thought Green was a good lay. For that alone we despise her.

  Goshawk. Goshawk was the leader of the Avians in San Francisco. He was working on world domination when he convinced Nicky to mind-rape Cory in order to get her most powerful memories to drive his power. Nicky was guilt-ridden and turned against his former leader in order to help the girl he hurt.

  Timmy and Danny. Timmy and Danny were two of the Avians who were set against Green’s hill. They were captured instead and given sanctuary. Like LaMark, Mario, and Nicky, they chose to stay at the hill instead of rejoining Goshawk’s forces.

  Titania and Oberon. The traditional leaders of the sidhe in England, Titania and Oberon ruled over a court full of sexual excesses and cruelty. They held Green prisoner in their famed faerie hill because nobody could provide sexual satisfaction like Green. Green hoarded his power, though, and eventually snuck himself and his lime trees out of their garden and across the sea.

  CHARACTERS INTRODUCED in Bound:

  Chloe. Grace’s bitter, unpleasant daughter. Chloe had to have her memories of her vampire mother and of Green’s hill wiped in Bound because she was not the kind of mortal Green allowed at the hill (i.e., she was a real bitch).

  Gavin and Graeme. Chloe’s sons, they adored Green’s hill and completely accepted all of the strangeness within. Once a year they come back to the hill—Green has arranged a sham “camp” to cover for their chance to visit with their grandmother and all the other people they have come to love.

  Sweet. Sweet is one of the more promiscuous sidhe at the hill—but also one of the most pleasant. She’s also one of the three sidhe who are known for being healers.

  Ellen Beth. Ellen Beth was brought to the hill when her lover was infected with some poisonous blood. Her lover died horribly, and Ellen Beth was turned over to Sweet for emotional healing. Sweet decided to keep her, and Ellen Beth has been happy to be kept.

  Erik. Erik is a werecoyote with a sad past and a long-ago history with Green, Bracken, and Adrian. He is content to live in Austin and run his own company, until he meets up with Green and Green introduces him to Nicky. Both of them realize that they have something in common—too low-key for the intense emotions of the hill, they both make better secondary characters… except to each other, where they are the heroes of their own story.

  Kyle. The lone survivor of the Folsom vampires, Kyle’s beloved, a girl named Davy, was killed because she and Cory vaguely resembled each other—and because they were friends. Cory took Kyle into her kiss and forced him to want to live.

  Hallow. Hallow is a sidhe and a professor at Sacramento State University, where Cory and the other students attend school. He is also—by Green’s request—a counselor for the students themselves. Although Green usually counsels his own people, he felt that he was way too close to the situation as Cory’s lover and her leader to be objective or effective, and thus his trust in Hallow.

  CHARACTERS INTRODUCED in Jack & Teague (& Katy):

  Jack. Jack is actually a nice, quiet young man. When his sister—who became a werewolf by choice—is killed, Jack asks Green for some answers to her world and the people who would kill her. Paired with Teague to be human liaisons to Green’s hill and to go out and deal with violent and legal matters outside the hill, Jack fell utterly and irrevocably in love with his damaged, noble partner. When the two of them become werewolves (Jack by accident and Teague by choice), Jack’s transition to the hill is marred by his realization that Teague really is the great man Jack has always believed—and that means that his loyalties cannot ever be exclusively Jack’s.

  Teague. Teague was brutally abused as a child and inculcated in the same ideas of hate and prejudice that killed Jack’s sister. One night while hunting a werewolf, he is injured while saving the life of a young man who looks very human—and Adrian pays him back by bringing him to Green. From that moment on, he is Green’s devoted subject. When Jack is injured and Cory comforts him while waiting for the injury to heal, Teague’s loyalty is transferred to the lady of the house, even while he pursues a relationship with Katy and Jack, whom he loves beyond reason.

  Katy. Katy has loved Teague Sullivan since she was barely old enough to talk. When she found that fate had brought him to Green’s hill too, she pursued him—and Jack—with a single-minded quest for happiness. Now that they’re a family, she wants to be a part of Teague’s adventures whenever she can be.

  Lambent. Lambent joined the hill just before Jack and Teague were bitten. He had always been semi-independent of Titania and Oberon, but until he ended up on Green’s Hill, he had no idea how much he’d valued his autonomy—or how much he hated the antique laws that governed sidhe behavior in the old country.

  Ellis. We officially meet Ellis—a young vampire with little self-control—in Bound. He shows up again in Being.

  CHARACTERS INTRODUCED in Rampant:

  Tanya. A not-yet-mated sylph.

  Sam. Offspring of “the other” and a human.

  Walter. A sweet, young, newly made vampire.

  Rafael. The leader of the Redding vampires.

  Annette. Nicky’s unpleasant ex-girlfriend.

  Gretchen. A child vampire who is eventually allowed to meet the dawn, because child vampires are such terrifying creatures in so much pain.

  John and Terry. Nicky’s parents.

  CREATURES:

  Sidhe. High elves—lots of powers, humanoid attributes and physical beauty.

  Fey. All the underclasses of elves existing at Green’s Hill—pixies, nixies, sprites, gnomes, sylphs, red-caps, trolls, fairies, etc. etc. etc.

  Weres. Shapechangers, they age at about 1/3 – 1/4 the speed of a human, have super strength, super speed, and whatever characteristics their creature possesses. Were-creatures reproduce by biting humans. They probably can carry young of their own species, but interspecies mating is so prevalent at Green’s hill that no one knows for sure.

  Vampires. The blood-sucking undead—but in a nice way.

  Sylphs. Sexless fey, they choose their gender when they choose their mates.

  Avians. The only shapechanger that’s born and not made by another shapechanger. The Avians are bonded for life with the person/people involved in their first sexual experience. If this mate doesn’t produce offspring within ten years, the Avian is doomed.

  CHARACTERS ADDED from other works:

  Whim and Charlie. Originally introduced in Litha’s Constant Whim, which can be found in The Green’s Hill Novellas. Whim and Charlie first met on the shortest night of t
he year, when a miserable adolescent Charlie was planning to kill himself. Whim’s company was too captivating for that idea to stand, but Charlie was too young for Whim to want to bind to a life on Green’s hill. What followed was thirteen-year courtship of meeting on one summer’s night a year. By the time Charlie ended up on the hill, he and Whim were so stupid in love, even the gods couldn’t separate them. But why would the gods want to do that?

  Shepherd and Jefischa. Shep and Jefi were the two angels in Guarding the Vampire’s Ghost—their job was to make sure Adrian didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to while in the anteroom to heaven. Trouble was, heaven doesn’t do vampires, and nothing about Adrian was like Shep and Jefi were expecting. Including the way they were coming to feel about each other.

  CHARACTERS WE meet in Quickening:

  Iris Masterson. Bad guy’s assistant—although that’s not what she wanted to do with her life.

  Conno. Werewolf made specifically to be a soldier in the bad guy’s army—but he got away and got imprisoned.

  Dylan. Half elf psychic busted for a poker game—then imprisoned to keep him out of the bad guys’ radar.

  Cami. Half elf psychic friend to Dylan, who begs Green’s help to get Dylan out of jail.

  Cerise. Another reluctant werewolf

  Dr. Nieman. World’s worst obstetrician

  Green: Victories and Small Mercies

  GREEN HOVERED in the air and watched as the latest batch of werewolves went sailing to the lake. Bracken and Cory had not, as Cory had suggested, combined forces and set their penises on fire while making them bleed out the asshole. (She’d been particularly cranky, and he couldn’t blame her, but still… bloodthirsty, his beloved, oh yes she was.)