by Jeff Hale
I moved to swing towards the tiger when a silvery form moved in at me from my right, a very familiar silvery form. I paused momentarily as a silver werelynx in Aspect form pounced onto me and knocked me away from the tiger before I could land the killing strike I had begun. I only knew one shifter that turned into a silver lynx. Katelyn.
I was distracted, and Henry thought to use that as a sign that my guard was down. He roared and lunged at me. I stood shakily for a second, dazed by the pummeling I had just taken, and not taking any more chances, I dismissed my right blade, raised my hand, palm outward, and called forth a massive blast of ice that encompassed Henry and froze him in mid-lunge. He slid to a halt within inches of me.
I staggered for a second from the use of so much Aetheric energy. I got light headed sometimes if I used too much. I had even blacked out once when training with Merlin, and woken up three days later feeling like I had been on the worst binge in my entire life; coming from a former junkie, that was saying something.
I calmly walked around the huge ice block that was now in front of me, shooting warning glances towards the various shifters as they made threatening advances towards me. I knew that if I decided to fire-blast that ice block it would kill Henry, shattering him into hundreds of pieces. Guaranteed kill, just as it would have been for any other creature in that block.
I’m sure they had other weaknesses, like the legends say, but I didn’t have anything like silver or wolf’s bane on hand, and I wasn’t sure any of that really worked. I hadn’t thought I’d be fighting here; I thought I’d just find out what was going on, so I hadn’t done my usual research.
“I have your leader at my mercy.” I wreathed my hand in flames. “All I have to do is blast that ice block with my fire, and Henry there is going to have to be picked up with a sponge, and identified through DNA analysis. Now, does anyone else have delusions that they can beat me?” I said, pacing around, making it a point to walk around to each grouping.
“No. No one else will threaten you, Rick. Just let Henry go, I know you have the power to do it. I know you were just protecting Dave, but Henry was defending himself. He didn’t know. Not that he didn’t deserve this,” I heard a familiar voice say softly.
A voice that matched the face I had glimpsed earlier, as well as the silver werelynx I had seen. I looked over towards the door, where Dave lay, Nina hovering over him, with Katelyn standing nearby, surprisingly fully clothed. I had no idea how she had gotten dressed and managed to get across the room so quickly. Shifters tended to destroy their clothing when they shifted.
She looked as good as ever. Her dark-red hair fell to just below her mid-back, and her green-blue eyes looked at me, pleading with me to stop. She was wearing a simple blue t-shirt and black denim jeans.
“I heard Nina scream,” I argued.
“In pleasure. I’d guess that she’s probably going to be changing pretty soon,” Kat said quietly.
I noticed that she was visibly shaking, trying to control herself it seemed. “Change? What are you saying, Kat?” I started to walk towards her, to comfort her. To find out what was wrong.
“No, Rick. Don’t come any closer. I don’t… I don’t know how I feel about you right now. It’s hard just to see you as is. You just came in here and involved yourself in things that you had no business involving yourself with. This is shifter business. This is shifter territory. You attacked their leader, and you attacked my friend,” she said forcefully, gesturing towards the tiger that was nearby. She didn’t yell; I thought she might be too scared to.
“Okay, so back to my question…”
“Nina’s a wilder. Like I was. I think that’s why we were drawn to each other. That’s why I felt all… weird when I caught her in the bathroom at school that time.” She was shaking now, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s okay, Kat. I only defended myself. You know that. You saw. He would have killed me if I hadn’t done anything to defend myself.”
“You didn’t have to attack Henry! You didn’t have to try and kill Sayuri! Is violence a way of life for you or something? Do I even know you anymore? You could have just talked to him!”
“Kat, it’s still me, but you saw what he did to Dave. No way I was letting that slide. Then he had the audacity of challenging me without even knowing who or what I was, he just assumed he would kill me easily, without consequence. He needs to learn, same as any other shifter. He’s lucky he isn’t dead. Besides, he didn’t exactly look interested in talking.”
“Any other shifter? And me? Would you have killed me without a thought if I had attacked you?” she asked, rushing me, and pushing me once she reached where I was standing. “Huh? Would you have?” She pushed me again, and again, and again. Each time I moved only in the slightest, letting her play out her anger. “What gives you the right to come in here and attack us? This is Darien’s territory, in a manner of speaking. You had no right! You should have taken the diplomatic route! But, no. Instead you had to attack him!”
“Wrong! I had every right! This city is mine. Any Aetheric creature that decides to harm humans in my city will answer to me! I will not allow it! Those Aetherics that have yet to fall in line with what MAGE has decreed, will. And that includes you, Kat. If you refuse, then so be it, you’ll fucking deal with me! You and your little wolf fuck buddy!” I screamed at her, feeling a wave of hatred fill me.
“Whatever. I guess we’ll see. I just never thought that the next time I saw you that you would see me as an enemy. Maybe Darien and my da were right about you, and about MAGE. See you around, Rick,” she said, walking towards where Dave and Nina were. “What about Henry?” she asked as she knelt beside Nina.
“Is Dave alive?” I asked simply, glaring at her now.
“Yeah. He’ll be fine. Concussed at worst, maybe some broken ribs, but he’ll be okay,” she said, not even looking at me now.
“Then Henry lives, as long as this pack does nothing to hunt me down or harm anyone who I hold dear,” I said, looking around. I saw most of them nod in agreement, and I heard the word ‘witnessed’ muttered by a few of them.
“Good,” I said, releasing the ice around Henry. Several of the shifters moved towards him, checking him to make sure he was still alive. “By the way, I mean that. If any of you think to come after me, or anyone that I call friend, you will not only deal with me, but you will also deal with my partner, who, by the way, is fae royalty. I swear we will wipe you out, to a person, as well as any others that come after us.” I turned and walked over to Dave. As I did so I did a double take as the gator shifted to human form to check on Henry. A familiar tattoo of a hooded, fanged skull was prominent on his chest.
Fuck me.
Kat and Nina were already on their way out the doors. I figured that Kat was going to help Nina cope with her change. She was best for it, having gone through hers not too long ago. I couldn’t help but wonder if Kat knew who or what she was dealing with here, and if she did if she was my enemy now.
I picked Dave up, and headed out towards where I saw his car parked. I activated a magical beacon I knew would be picked up by Raven, and teleported myself to the nearest hospital. It was probably a bad idea considering how much power I’d used fighting Henry, but I would do whatever it took to get Dave help as quick as possible.
It was only half way through the year, the beginning of June to be exact, and I had already alienated one of the most influential, and populace group of AEs within the city. To make matters worse, they worked for Baba Yaga.
It was going to be a long year.
TWO
I sat in the hospital waiting room and Raven sat next to me. She had received the transmission I had sent and driven Dave’s car to the hospital so it would be waiting for him when he was discharged. By my figuring that should be any minute. The doctor had said he had a minor concussion and some severe bruising, but that otherwise he’d be okay, that he was lucky to come away with as little as he did from a bear attack.
“I didn’t t
ell you about the new case yet, did I?” Raven asked as we sat there, trying to distract me.
“No, you didn’t. Must involve a vamp though, since your blinds were drawn,” I said, looking her up and down. Most anyone in the hospital had probably done the same. She was wearing very little. A pair of vinyl hotpants that were probably a size too small, and a string bikini top that she was threatening to spill out of. To top it all off, she was wearing thigh-high leather stiletto boots.
She looked like she could have been turning tricks on Fremont Street, if it weren’t for the black feathery wings she was sporting on her back these days. They had appeared shortly after the Barrier had fallen. For some reason, the fae had started manifesting physical signs of what they were when the Aether came rushing into our world, their Visage Shapes partially failing them.
“You’d be right. The Vixens of Drakkan want us to be their personal security while they’re in town. Apparently they’ve had an individual of no small abilities harassing them. Almost managed to kill Kandee at one point,” Raven said as she pulled a file folder from her messenger bag and handed it to me.
The Vixens of Drakkan were a Goth-alternative band that had been catapulted into the mainstream spotlight once the Barrier dropped due to all four band members being vampires. Kandee was their lead singer. I looked through the file. They’d be in town for five days, and they’d require our services the entire time. We’d accompany them twenty-four-seven. Or twenty-four-five as the case might be.
“Doesn’t look like we’d have any free time. What if MAGE needs a case handled during that period?” I asked.
“Did you look at how much they’re paying us? If other contracts slip by, so be it, we’d be able to afford it.” She pointed to the file.
I looked, and sure enough it was a lot. As in six zeroes a lot.
“Five million?” I asked, my jaw dropping at the number.
“Yeah. A million per day.”
“Count me sold.” I handed the folder back to her.
“That sounds like a lot of money, Rick. What’s the job?” I heard Dave’s voice ask.
I looked up. Dave was hobbling towards us. He had a short crutch to help his bruised leg muscles not have to strain as much when he walked.
“Bodyguard for the rich and famous. We’re gonna be security for the Vixens,” I said happily. I was liking this idea more and more.
“Oh, suweet, bro! You have to get some autographs for me, and especially for… er well… Nina, I guess. I mean… maybe not. Do shifters and vampires get along?”
“On occasion. Depends upon the individuals involved I’d imagine. There are the occasional vampire and shifter alliances. There are even shifters that are vampires, called rakshasa, though they’re a bit rare from what I gather. I’ve only ever met one, and that was a while back. Kat’s dad is one from everything I’ve heard,” I said, standing up and heading for the door.
“How’d you hear that? I thought her dad was dead?” Raven asked.
“He isn’t. Lucien had a run in with him a while ago.”
“Back when Kat was at the Flame?”
“Yeah, we were out at the time apparently.”
We all piled into Dave’s car and headed back to the office. Dave dropped us off and headed home, stating that he was going to call in to work and collapse in front of the TV and get some rest. Dave had found work at a nightclub as a bouncer. Sure he was small, which meant people tended to underestimate him, but believe me, he could dish it out. Even if it wasn’t a normals only club. Normals only meant that only non-Aetherics were allowed in. There were plenty of Aetheric only establishments, but only a few that that welcomed both. The prejudice hadn’t started right away, but as things sank in it was only natural.
Before the Barrier fell, people didn’t know to be prejudiced against Aetherics. But Aetherics, or at least certain ones, were plenty prejudiced against regular humans, and it didn’t stop just because the Barrier fell. The idea that humans were lesser, or just food, or stunted in their understanding, have all been long standing views held by various Aetherics. Now the humans had the chance to be prejudiced right back, and were they ever.
There was even a group, called the Movement for the Purity of Humanity and Spirit, or Purity Movement, which preached about the purity of the human spirit and how it was untainted by this release of ‘dark energy’ known as the Aether.
I just thought it was humans fearing what they couldn’t easily quantify or didn’t understand. Either way it was dangerous. That sort of unreasoning hatred only led to bad things, which was why I’d taken the opportunity with the tourist couple the night before. Well over half the wars in the world’s history were based on such hatreds.
As I opened the door to the office for Raven she shook her head. “Got a meeting to finalize our case, now that you’ve agreed,” she said, heading back towards her car.
“Okay, guess I’ll just finalize the paperwork on some of our previous cases then.” I headed inside, waving to Raven as she drove off.
It had been weird working with her at first, given the mutual attraction, but we both promised to keep it professional. Fae were not relationship material, at least not for me, and I certainly wasn’t going to otherwise, especially not after the whole Lily thing. It was difficult sometimes, though, especially since I knew Raven felt otherwise most of the time. She thrived on sexual energy, and when she was hit with some of her more powerful urges, I could feel the lust roll off of her in waves.
Similar to what I felt coming out of my office right now. In massive quantities, except for the fact that Raven wasn’t here. Confused, I headed into my office to find out what was going on, surprised to see Nina pacing about inside. I could have sworn her hair was black and red the last time I’d seen her, but right now it was teal on the right and pink on the left, falling across shoulders left bare by a silver skintight minidress that tied behind her neck. Something about the way she moved threw me before I realized what it was.
She’s not pacing… she’s prowling.
She stopped as I walked in, her body tensing for a moment before she turned to look at me. Her hands went up under her hair, fumbling with the dress tie, but she gave up after a moment, as though she wasn’t able to pull off such a coordinated effort. She let her hands drop to her sides, where her fingers bunched in the fabric of her dress, and just stared at me.
“Rick, I don’t know what to do,” she said finally, her voice strained. Her eyes, usually a light blue, seemed darker. “I’m so confused, I…. Dave. I love him, I do. Or I think I do.” Her eyes squeezed shut for a moment and she swallowed hard before opening them again. “And I can’t seem to help myself. All these others, I keep… I keep screwing it up. And now, I think I’m in over my head. I got pulled into it all too soon, I was going to wait, talk it over with Dave. He doesn’t even know yet. Oh, no, Rick, what have I…?” A shudder went through her entire body and she stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black now, and she gave me a hungry look. Like a cat spotting a mouse.
“Nina… what the…?” I started to ask, but before I could get half a breath out, she pounced on me, wrapping her arms almost painfully tight around me and pressing her lips against mine. I felt her tongue push its way into my mouth as she kissed me forcefully.
I tried to turn my head to the side, put my hands on her shoulders to push her away, and then a strange sensation washed over me and I found myself wondering why I was fighting it. All thoughts of one-night stands and relationships went straight out of my head and I gave in and kissed her back. She hooked her arms around my neck, then using that as leverage, lifted her legs up and wrapped them around my waist.
I’m not with Kat and Nina’s not with Dave right now, I justified to myself. And he said he’d be okay with it if me and her ever did anything. So why shouldn’t I go ahead and do this? I’ve always wanted to after all. Dave wouldn’t mind. Hell, he doesn’t have to know.
I let my hands slide up her bare thighs and past, c
upping her ass so that I was holding her against me as we kissed. We continued that way for a few minutes and then Nina stopped and pulled back and put her feet on the ground. She gave me a wicked smile that promised naughty things, then reached down and popped the button on my jeans.
“Come on, Rick. Fuck me. I know you want to.” Her fingers began working the zipper down. “I’ve always wondered what you’d be like. You can’t tell me you haven’t wondered about me. All those years we’ve known each other, tell me you haven’t wanted to be inside me,” she breathed, yanking my jeans down in one quick motion.
Her hands felt smooth as she touched me. She kissed me again, briefly, then dropped to her knees, the warmth and softness of her mouth nearly sending me over the edge, her tongue piercing teasing me. My breath was coming in short gasps and I looked down at her. She’d managed to get her dress undone and it pooled around her knees on the floor, leaving her naked. She continued to torment me, then after a minute or so, stood, leaving me wanting.
Nina stretched languidly, then stepped out of the tiny heap of her dress and sauntered over to my desk. She hopped up onto the edge, giving me a sultry look, then leaned back as though offering herself to me. She had a slim athletic build to her body and legs that came from her constant training in martial arts and her breasts were full, probably a solid C cup. Her skin was smooth and lightly tanned, and considering she dyed her hair a new color every three days or so, it was impossible to know her actual hair color. Her nipples were pierced, as was her belly button, and other more sensitive parts. I slipped out of my boots and pants, reaching over to close the blinds although it was probably too late. As I stopped next to the desk, she gripped the edges of my button up and yanked, buttons hitting the floor. I didn’t care. I just lifted her off the desk and she wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Fuck me,” she demanded in a whisper.
I didn’t hesitate to follow her request. She cried out in pleasure and clawed at my back. I felt the pull of the need, the want, the pure desire to do this to her, to do this for myself. I gave in to all those times I had wanted her but never made any moves because of my friendship with her, because of my friendship with Dave. I pushed all that into the raw animal lust that now burned inside of me, wanting release. When I was done with her she was breathing hard, her eyes half-closed, head tilted back, mouth partially open, the look of someone who was thoroughly sated.
