A Mate Worse Than Death

by J. L. Ray

  “Why is that, Sammeal?”

  He turned to Phil and suddenly Tony saw the remnants of the power and the majesty that had been, to primitive Naturals, the face of an angel from heaven. “Because they made me crazy. Lilith made me crazy. She...I...she teased me and taunted me.” He slumped against the bar, his hands cradling his head, his snarled greasy hair hanging over the sides palms. “She really only ever wanted me. Even when she was all over that fucking Sphinx asshole. Everyone knew it, everyone! Even Agrat. Hell, she pushed me to do it.”

  “To do what, Sammeal?” Phil needed no prompting from Tony for that question.

  “To try to take back what was mine!” Sammeal eyes blazed as he lifted his head up. Flecks of spittle came out of his mouth and a line of mucous ran from his nose. “I did. I staked my claim on her. She would have had to leave that little Sphinx shit for me once she had the kid. But it died. It died,” and here Sammeal only sounded confused.

  “How did it die?” Phil asked after he heard Tony’s prompt.

  Sammeal didn’t answer at first, still lost in dark thoughts.

  “Sammeal, how did the child die?”

  “Agrat says I killed it,” Sammeal told him in bewilderment.

  “Did you?”

  “I, I don’t know. I lost time then. I don’t remember.” Sammeal looked at him, “But Agrat says I did it. I killed him. So I must have killed him.” Sammeal lay his head down on the wooden bar and started sobbing.

  The bartender, Willow, walked over to them, towel in his hand, drying a pint glass which he then racked under the bar. He nodded at Phil and then looked right at Tony, who should have been invisible in her cloak. “Time for you lot to go,” he said in an Irish lilt.

  Tony’s jaw dropped. “How can he...how can you--”

  Willow nodded, “See you? Aye, and I can. There’s willow bark woven into your magic cloak. Willow can see willow magic, yeah?” He turned and looked at the sobbing fae who had once been worshipped in Mundania as an angel of heaven. “Leave the poor sod alone. He can’t hurt no one no more. Got not’ing left t’hurt wit’.”

  Tony looked from Sammeal to Willow, “He’s not traveled to the Mundane lands any time lately?”

  “Luv,” the Willow laughed, “he ain’t traveled from that stool in a week. When he does, ‘tis to go sleep off what he’s had at me bar in the grass at the foot of me tree. If you’re looking for someone whose done ought in Mundania, t’ain’t old Sammy here. That fae is so pickled, I doubt he could remember an idea long enough to start to follow it. That’s the longest conversation he’s had, other than beggin’ for more credit on his tab, in decades.”

  Tony nodded, then turned to Phil. “We need to go. You’re almost out of time.”

  “Not so fast, luv,” the Willow stopped her. “I answered a question. You owe me.”

  “No, no I don’t,” she told him. “You have to negotiate up front, or I have to say the wrong thing. Just seeing through this cloak entitles you to nothing, Hamadryad.”

  “The wrong t’ing bein’?” Willow asked, big-eyed and curious, obviously hoping to trick her into thanking him, a surefire way to owe fairies.

  “Oh no you do not, sweet dryad,”Phil told him. “She is one of the police in Mundania. She knows the rules.”

  Willow looked peeved until Phil added, “And her overprotective partner is an ogre.”

  “Sure then, I was only going to ask for a few more coins to pay Sammy’s tab,” Willow told them nervously.

  Phil looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but then he pulled a handful from his pocket and tossed them to the Willow. “Those are from Naamah, not from us.”

  Willow pulled back the hand that he had put out to catch them and let them hit the floor. “Are they spelled?”

  Phil shook his head. “No spells. Just don’t tell Sammeal. He would not understand pity and might take it as an invitation to harass her. We all had a bad habit of underestimating Naamah.” Phil snorted. “It might be a fatal mistake for Sammeal to make now.”

  “You overestimate his ability to t’ink and plan, boyo, but mum’s the word then,” and while the Willow bent over to gather the coins, Tony and Phil skirted around the other drunks at the bar and between those at the tables and made their escape to the Harley.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  They sat for a moment in front of the tree, the rainbow sign blinking in the dark above. Tony had settled onto the Harley, her bag up on her shoulder, her robe tucked up so it couldn’t catch in the machinery of the bike. Her arms were already around Phil’s waist, though he hadn’t started the bike yet. They just sat in the dark. After a few minutes, Tony heard Phil sigh.

  “I am sorry,” he told her, there in the dark, facing away from her beautiful gray-green eyes.

  When he paused, Tony prompted him, “For?”

  He sighed again, “For the kiss. For my reaction later. For being an idiot. I put you in danger without thinking. I am far too old to make those kinds of errors. I cannot believe I was so stupid.”

  She breathed very deeply, relief filling her. She didn’t want to analyze why it mattered so much that the kind of anger that been flowing between them for the last few hours now dissipated. “It’s okay.”

  “It really is not okay, but this will have to do for now,” he reached one gloved hand down and patted her hand where it rested against his stomach. She leaned forward enough to rest one her cheek against his back, and in front of her, he closed his eyes, content to feel the weight of her pressed against him. Then his watched beeped a seven hour warning.

  She sighed. “Time to go?”

  “Yes, it is.” He felt her sit back up. “Hang on. We should get back to the portal relatively quickly.”

  “Why?” Tony asked, curious about how travel seemed to stretch or bunch in this realm, like old animation techniques.

  “Because it wants to be found,” he told her. “I can feel the pull of it.”

  “The portal is sentient?”

  “No more than the Geas is, but trust me. I can take us to it. Remember, there are rules to magic. But the rules are rather like those of your English grammar and spelling. They do not always make sense and there are many exceptions to every rule.” And with that, he punched the starter and pulled away from the The Willow Tree.

  This time the portal door was in Phil’s old house instead of Dienah’s pantry, which saved them having to explain why they wouldn’t be taking any cookies back with them as well as any potential physical mayhem from the angry goblin. In fact, the door was in Phil’s old bedroom. And that led to some tense moments while he watched Tony look around the room, taking in the bed, the luxurious, blood-red sheets, the mounds of pillows, the mirrored ceiling. And the gilt. It was all so last century, so Niagara Falls honeymoon with just a touch of Roman orgy. Mostly, that touch came from the scenes on the walls. He suddenly realized that the walls of his old bedroom rivaled those in the elevator to Monster-Mate’s offices.

  “How very embarrassing,” he found himself murmuring.

  “Well. I’m just glad you said it,” Tony swiped fake sweat off her brow. “I didn’t want to be the one to break it to you, but I’m going to hope your tastes have changed. A lot.”

  “I did mention that this house came furnished and that I was too busy to be bothered with redecorating?”

  “Yes, yes, you did.”

  “And you do believe me?”

  “I believe that you have picked that story and you’re sticking to it,” Tony told him. “Now come on--the portal must be here, behind the door.” She walked over and opened the mirrored door. “It’s in the closet,” she said as she walked into what she thought was a clothes closet before Phil could stop her. There was a loud pause, then she stuck her head out and told him, “Interesting outerwear in here, Phil. I’m gonna guess the portal is behind that wall with the fluffy pink set of handcuffs hanging on it. Yup, I see the lock, right behind that...uh...that...is that a whip?”

  “Just put the passcode in and let
’s go.”

  “Sure I will. Just let me move this thing first. What did you say it was?”

  “I said it is a delay that is keeping us from finding out if Naamah correctly predicted another murder.”

  Tony grimly typed in the code. “And I keep losing track of that. Thanks for the reminder. Okay, let’s go.”

  The grip of darkness, an absence of air, and again, the two of them found themselves in the Eighth District Office, just outside the portal. They found Lt. Azeem waiting there for them, but no Calvin.

  “Hello, sir, I can have a report ready for you in--” Tony began, but the Lieutenant, one of the most polite Beings she had ever known, cut her off.

  “You’ll have to tell me on the way to the hospital. You can record it with your f-light as we go.”

  “Hospital? Has there been another victim?”

  Azeem’s face tightened and his tail whipped around for a moment in sharp displeasure. “Yes, there has been. I’ll fill you in after you tell me what you’ve learned.” His expression lightened, “However, we’re going to the hospital for a very different reason. Berthell has...uhm...”

  Tony squealed, then slapped a hand over her mouth. “She’s popped!” she said, after she trusted herself not to squeal again.

  Azeem lifted a paw and patted her shoulder, “She has, and the little one is taking its time coming out, which is causing a bit of a problem at the hospital. Cal seems to think she’d be calmer if you came.” He paused and looked horrified, “She tried to rip Calvin’s arm off at one point, so he’s staying in the birthing chamber but out of arm’s length from her bed for now. He’s trying to give her somewhere to direct her...energy. But he cannot actively help her with the birth in that position. He thinks she might let you assist her.”

  “Oh, my. I guess she’s cussing six ways to Sunday!”

  “Indeed.”

  Phil leaned in, “Are you taking a squad car?”

  Azeem nodded at Phil. “Faster would be better.” He turned back to Tony, “Your parents are sitting with the other children.”

  “Get out.”

  Azeem looked puzzled until Phil told him, “She means that your statement is hard to believe.”

  “Ah. Yes. Well, it was touch and go at first, but Calvin had no choice but to call them. Calvin’s parents are out of town, and since Berthell’s are no longer living,” he coughed and moved on from that since they all knew that in the early days of the Geas, her parents had fought the restrictions and had not survived the Geas’ reaction to their rebellion. It didn’t quite make up for the little village of Nattys in the French Alps who had gone in the cookpot, but it had sold young Berthell on the importance of following the rules in the new age of Supers in the Mundane world. And it became one of several famous examples that convinced most Supernaturals stuck on this side of the portal to behave, if the Geas wasn’t strong enough on its own to make them obey.

  “Are Melly and Freddie with them?”

  “They came as soon as they could get there. School, I think.”

  “That’ll help a lot.” She looked from one fae to the other, “Let’s go! Oh, hang on.” She sat down the tote and dragged the cloak off over her head. “I need to take these down to Glinda.”

  Azeem shook his head, “Stuff the cloak in the tote for now, and we’ll stop on the way back. I really don’t think Berthell can wait for too long.”

  They raced to the squad car and Tony grinned when Azeem opened the back door, with the cage, for Phil. “I’ve got shotgun,” Tony called and hopped in front.

  On the short drive, Tony gave the Lieutenant the Reader’s Digest Condensed version of her report, promising to add detail and f-mail the more complete information later. When they got to the hospital, Azeem asked Phil to go fetch coffee for all of them from the cafeteria. Phil gave them both a look that acknowledged that he was not to be privy to in-depth information on the new murder investigation and sauntered off in hopes of some decent brew at the cafeteria.

  While Phil’s hopes for a decent tasting coffee were being blighted, the Lieutenant filled Tony in on the latest victim, Signa Engstrom, a swan matron with no apparent connection to Lilith or Monster-Mate. Unlike Lilith, she had been found in a more public area, near the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which her husband, Hammond Engstrom, told police was a favorite swimming place for her. She admired the 16th President very much, and liked to be near him when she was in bird form. However, like Lilith, her body had two puncture wounds on the neck, and while the Lieutenant still had to go in for the autopsy results, it looked like the vampire had once again drained a Super in downtown Washington D. C.

  “You coward! You ingrate! You rat bastard piece of shit!”

  Calvin looked at the door where his beloved lay in bed, groaning and pushing, each push punctuated with invectives that might have burned his ears away had he been a lesser Being.

  He turned to Tony and shook his head, “I’m just worried that she’s using too much energy hollering at me instead of concentrating on pushing! Tony, this is it. I’m getting snipped after this one! I’m not putting Sweet B through another one of these!”

  Tony reached over with both arms and threw them around as much of Cal as she could, then gave him her best squeeze. “It’s gonna be okay, big guy. She’s done this three other times. Weren’t they all just as loud?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Didn’t she cuss like a sailor every time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And haven’t you pledged to get cut every time?”

  “How could you know that?”

  Tony leaned back and punched his arm, “Because she told me, buddy. You guys have this dance you do. I figured it was my job to calm you down. Sounds like I have to do double-duty here.”

  Cal grinned. “You’re right, you’re right. Well, should we go in?”

  Tony laughed, “We better check on the rest of the spawn and my family, first. Make sure they haven’t eaten anyone yet.”

  Cal looked shocked, “Tony, you know we raised our spawn better than that, right?”

  “Dude, I meant make sure my parents have eaten anyone yet! Metaphorically speaking. Dad’s sarcasm can suck a room dry.”

  Cal rumbled out a chuckle, and the chairs in the hallway near them rattled.

  They headed to the maternity waiting room. Outside the door, they found Lt. Azeem and Phil, who were peeking around the corner. Phil lifted one eyebrow and pointed to the scene inside. Tony looked and saw her father playing a game of checkers with Norah, Cal’s twelve year old. Her mom had six year old Calvin, Jr., who went by Junior, in her lap. He was not taking this drama well at all, and it looked like despite being a big boy, he had cried himself to sleep. Amelia and Fred were sitting with sixteen year old Angel, the three having a low-voiced but animated conversation.

  “Who’da thunk, huh?” Tony murmured.

  Her mother looked up from stroking the downy, orange, baby hair that Junior still sported, to his dismay. Most ogre spawn lost the orange for brown by four or five years of age, but his head still stubbornly grew soft, bright orange hair. Amanda smiled at her daughter a bit ruefully, then looked back down at Junior, who was ten years younger than Fred, but about his current size. “They grow up so fast,” she said to Tony in a quiet voice. “I remember when Alfred used to let me hold him like this.” She had somehow managed to cradle most of the ogre child into her lap, but the spillover was pretty hilarious. Tony gave her a sweet smile, overjoyed that her mom seemed as taken with the kids as she had been from the moment she had met them last year.

  Fred looked over at them, having heard her last comment, “Mom! Jeez!” Then he hopped up and came over to Tony and Cal. “Hi Tony. We finally got to meet your partner and all.”

  “I see, I see! Does this almost make up for losing out on the camping trip?”

  “Camping is pretty cool, but this is way cooler,” he assured her. Amelia and Angel came over to give her a hug, and she got sandwiched between one sisterly squeeze
and one ogre squish.

  “Hi, sweeties!”

  “Hey! Where have you been?” Melly asked her. “I figured you’d get here with Calvin.”

  “Working a case, sis. Can’t say anymore than that,” Tony told her, hitching up the Vuitton tote full of crazy magic bits self-consciously on her shoulder.

  “I love that bag,” Melly said, eyeballing it and Tony, knowing that in any sane universe, her sister and a $2,500 bag didn’t belong as a unit.

  “Work stuff. Let it go, sis,” Tony smiled.

  Surprisingly, she did, probably assisted by Lt. Azeem’s arrival. The Lieutenant paced in slowly, giving Tony’s family a chance to adjust to his presence in the room. A Sphinx takes up a bit of space, especially in a hospital waiting room. When he came in, Junior woke up a bit and sat up. He waved at the Lieutenant, and Norah hopped up, then turned around and gave Anthony a hug, “Thanks for playing with me. I hope you weren’t too bored,” and ran over to hug Azeem.

  Anthony walked over to his daughter, polishing his glasses. “She’s a very affectionate little thing,” he murmured. The “little thing” he referred to was as tall as Tony and much broader, but she grinned her agreement.

  Then Phil walked in. He had transmutated the biker leathers back to an expensive suit, a charcoal Brooks Brothers, if Tony wasn’t mistaken. Her father picked up on the message of wealth in that suit, but apparently didn’t realize that the man wearing it wasn’t a Natural. He stuck out a hand to Phil, “Anthony Newman. You are?”

  Phil looked down his nose at him for a moment, and Tony saw the hauteur in his bearing that she had not seen since her very first meeting with him. In the blink of an eye, it was gone, and Phil shook Anthony’s hand. “Phil Akkadian.”

  Anthony looked over at Tony, who, taking her cue from Phil when he altered his full name, added, “He’s assisting in a current investigation, and Dad, I can’t say more than that.”

  “I understand,” he told her.

  At that point Junior and Amanda came over to hug Tony as well. “Should you and Cal go on and help Berthell?” Amanda asked. She swung Junior’s arm, “This one is impatient to see his new brother or sister!”