by Jen Pretty
One of the men I danced with got me another drink, and I drank it. I knew better than that on earth, but right now I had lost all common sense. So when I started to feel dizzy, and the man I was dancing with started leading me to the back of the building, I mentally kicked myself in the brain. I tried to push my magic to stop time, but all I managed was to slow it a tiny bit. That was apparently enough to get the attention of Roman though because he looked like the wrath of hell itself when he picked up the man who had drugged me and tossed him across the room. The music stopped, and grant rushed over, but he froze when he saw Romans glowing eyes.
"Someone had better tell me what that asshole put in her drink, or I will suck dry every person in this room." His teeth flashed in the dim light.
Grant spoke up, "there is an herb that grows in the mountains to the north that acts as a sedative. It's illegal for anyone but a medicine woman to have it though." Grant walked over to the unconscious man and checked his pockets. He stood up and handed Roman the small pouch of what looked like dust. "This is it. It only lasts an hour or so. She will be ok. I'll call the guard to take this man away. I extend my apologies on behalf of all of us at Kingsville."
Grant was a great guy. Such a gentleman. I would hug him again if my arms worked or tell him I loved him if my mouth worked but nothing seemed to be working, so I just stood there leaning against the wall while the guys hashed out the boring stuff. I was watching the back of Romans head. His ears wiggled a bit when he talked. It was kind of funny. I tried to laugh, but that didn't work either.
Then Roman was looking at me. I couldn't hear what he was saying anymore, but he was so handsome I just stared at him. Then the world started to fade and went black.
When my eyes opened I was being carried, typical. "Armond, I can probably walk," I slurred.
"I doubt that," Roman said gently and it all came back to me. I was in this weird land, and Armond was gone, and some asshole had tried to drug me.
I garbled, "Fucking fantastic."
"Won't disagree with you on that. You seem to lack self-control and any sense of self- preservation. Are you always like that or is this part of the whole ‘Fae alone' thing?" Roman asked as he rounded the top of the third-floor stairs in the King’s castle and headed towards the room in which we were staying.
"I don't fucking know. I'm a little messed up in general, so it's not a far fall when I go over the edge," I admitted.
"I see," he said as he opened the door to our room. "I suppose I should be glad you have yet to have a battle with local flora." How the hell did he know about that? Ugh. I bet the whole magical world knew about my attempt to beat up a tree.
"I knew I'd never live that one down." Take out your frustration on a tree one time, and nobody ever lets you forget it.
He laughed and set me down next to Daisy on the bed. When he stood up, I grabbed his hand and stopped him from moving away. "Thank you. For saving me. Again, I mean. I'm sorry," I said awkwardly.
"That's alright. It was kind of weird though, I was in the middle of a game and just stopped and turned towards you before you slowed time a bit. Like something pushed me in your direction before my mind could even recognize a problem."
That was weird. Roman and I weren't bonded. He shouldn't be able to feel me like that. Weird. I brushed it off.
Roman shook his head before lifting my hand and bending over to kiss my knuckles. "Go to sleep, I'm sure we will have plenty more adventures tomorrow." he tucked me under the big blanket then walked into the bathroom and shut the door.
I remembered the hot springs and wished I was in them right now, but they could wait until the morning. I was too tired to move so I just shut my eyes and it wasn't long before I was off in dreamland.
When my eyes opened again, they filled with tears. I had wanted to see Luke so desperately, but he didn't dream walk to me, and now I was awake and wouldn't see him today. Daisy quacked at me, and I tried to put the sadness aside. I had work to do here. I had to find Armond and make friends with this king. I took a deep breath and strengthened my resolve. No. Fuck this stupid world and that sleazy witch. I slammed my hand down on the bed beside me before pushing back the blankets.
"I feel like you just went through every possible emotion in the last 3 minutes," Roman said from across the room.
I narrowed my eyes at him, got up and gathered some clean clothes from my backpack. "What can I say, I'm a crazy bitch. Get used to it because it's only going to get worse."
"I didn't say I thought it was a problem. It's just impressive. I got directions to the hot spring from the butler. Breakfast won't be here for another hour."
I walked past Roman towards the door. "Perfect, let's go see the fucking hot spring."
He smiled and snapped his teeth at me. I snapped mine back. He didn't scare me.
He laughed and led the way through the castle to the basement.
The ceiling was low, and it felt like a cave, but even the air in here was warm and damp. Only the entrance was lit with a burning torch, leaving the cave dim and the water was nearly black in the darkness. Roman stopped at the door, and I walked to the edge where the rock floor dropped off, and the water flowed.
I bent down and put my hand in; the water was actually quite warm. The perfect temperature. I turned around and looked at Roman who was facing away from me and had his shirt off and was unbuckling his pants.
"Holy shit, Roman," I said as I swung around to face away from him. "A little warning before you go stripping."
He chuckled and said, "Well I'm not going in there with my clothes on."
I heard a splash and turned to see him up to his neck in the water. "Turn around you creep," I said, and he spun around in the water. I turned my back to him and quickly undressed and slid into the water. Holy shit, it was so hot. All my muscles were still tense and sore, but the hot water worked hard to relax and soothe them. I couldn't quite reach the bottom of the spring, so I floated around for a while in the silence. There were some flowery smelling oils on the side and I used a block of what I assumed was soap to get my hair clean.
"You about ready to get out?" Roman asked finally. "Our breakfast is probably getting cold." He heaved himself up out of the water with no warning, and I got an eyeful of his ass.
"Jesus, you have no modesty," I said spinning around in the water.
"Correction, I have no shame and who would be ashamed, if they looked like I do?"
I snorted, "No problem with self-esteem, either."
"When you live as long as I have, you stop worrying about such things,” he chuckled, “plus I work out.”
I had to admit, from the glimpse I got, he was in great shape. Honestly, I barely noticed his teeth or eyes anymore either. I gave my head a shake.
"Turn around super-vamp," I said once he had a towel wrapped around him.
I hopped out and pulled a towel around myself too. Then wrapped my hair in a second towel and followed Roman back to our room.
When we got back, our food was sitting on a tray with a cover over it, but the whole room smelled amazing. I realized I was starving so just ate with my towel on while Roman got dressed. I didn't recognize most of the food, but it smelled familiar like pork of some kind and a type of bread and of course, eggs.
Daisy waddled over and helped himself to some of the bread. He was having a hard time getting a piece off, so I started pulling bits off for him. I kissed him on his soft feathered head, and then he waddled a short distance away, curled up and tucked his head under his wing again. He was kind of a lazy duck.
"He's going to get too fat eating like that," Roman said from across the room. I realized he had been watching me, sitting in a chair by the closet.
"Creeper. Also, don't shame Daisy. He has a healthy appetite." Daisy made a soft quack noise, and I grinned at him.
"My heart skips every time you smile like that," Roman said as he stood and walked towards me.
"Don't," I replied raising my hand and stopping him before he got to
me.
"Don't what? Tell you the truth? You are amazing."
"I don't feel amazing. I feel terrible. I need Armond back. I have to stay focused on what's important. Getting Armond and making this treaty with these people. That's what I need to do." I shook my head.
Roman sobered "what if we can't get him back?" he questioned.
"We will," I insisted. “Did the elders say he would come home?" I asked now with a single tear on my face.
"I'm sorry Lex," he whispered as he put his arm around my shoulders.
I just nodded. Then I jumped up and ran to the bathroom where I vomited all the food I had eaten in the toilet. I sat there shaking for a few minutes and wiping my face on toilet paper. Roman came in and handed me a cold, wet cloth, and I rubbed my face with it. Then I curled up on the floor in front of the toilet and closed my eyes. I prayed for Luke to come, no such luck though.
I was in a forest again, this time it wasn't my forest in homeland though so I knew it wasn't Luke who had come to my dream.
I yelled, "Show yourself, Theo!" since there was only one dreamer I knew other than Luke.
"Hello, young timekeeper. I'm glad to see you are still in one piece." He smiled at me like I should find this amusing. News flash, I did not.
"Why am I here, Theo?" I asked him.
"Alright let's cut to the chase then, you should leave Armond for now. He is fine."
I plopped down on the ground and looked up at the sky. "Is that's what's best for the Fae or Armond?" I finally questioned.
The old man stood for a moment, silently studying me. "It's what is best for you." He sounded sincere.
"How can you say that? I'm not doing ok here. I don't even know why I'm here anymore!"
He frowned "You still have an important task here. The humans, Fae and vampires are counting on you to secure our future with these new people. This is your priority now."
"Fine. I will get this treaty, but I'm not leaving without Armond."
"Please just stay focused."
"Ok. Fine." I muttered before a loud quack in my ear woke me.
I was in my bed when my eyes opened, and there was a duck beak directly above me and two black beady eyes staring intently at me.
"Good morning Daisy. Why are you on my pillow?" I asked, as if he could reply.
He waddled off the pillow and flapped down onto the floor. I rolled over to watch him, and he waddled across the room quaking softly and nudged a cart that held my breakfast.
"Did you just wake me up so you could eat my food?" I rolled back over and pulled the blanket up over my head.
Suddenly, I was under attack by a demonic duck. He was flapping and hopping all over me a quaking loud enough to wake the dead. I threw back the covers and hollered at him. "What do you want from me? Shoo, you crazy bird!" I swung my arm at him, and he jumped back and took a tumble off the bed.
"Oh shit! Daisy!" I jumped up and reached down scooping him up off the ground. "I'm sorry buddy,” I cooed. Some pet owner I turned out to be. No wonder we didn't have pets when I was a kid. I'm not cut out for it. I got up with Daisy still in my arms like an infant and walked across to the cart of food. I grabbed all the toast and carried Daisy back to the bed. I cuddled him in a blanket in my lap and started hand feeding him tiny bites of toast. When my poor sweet duck was nearly done his toast Roman walked in, took one look at us and laughed.
"Did he pretend to get hurt for you too?" Roman asked.
"What? No, I swung my arm at him, and he fell off the bed. It was all my fault. I should have just got up and fed him when he was hungry.
Roman took the top off the other tray of food displaying the lack of toast on it as well. "He made me think I'd stepped on him. I'm sure I didn't touch him, but he was acting as I'd nearly killed him, so I gave him my toast." He laughed then as Daisy got up and quacked loudly at Roman before hopping off the bed and waddling out of the room.
Roman was in hysterics at this point, and I couldn't help but laugh too. My duck was quite the actor or maybe quite the piglet.
Once we both calmed down again, Roman just shook his head and sobered.
"Are you Ok?" he asked, sitting on the side of the bed beside me.
"I guess. The elder visited me and said Armond is fine and I should focus on the job they gave me. I guess I'm going to try and do that," I said falling back into the pillows and staring at the ceiling for a long moment.
"I need some good news," I said, still staring at the ceiling.
"The King has returned and is ready to talk to us," Roman said. I sat straight up in the bed.
"Well, let's not keep his royal highness waiting!" I said throwing back the covers.
"Umm. There is something you should know," Roman hesitated.
"Oh God. What now?"
"The King has found his magic. These people are werewolves, and the King can't seem to change back," Roman scoffed.
"Are you telling me the King is a wolf? Do I have to make a treaty with a wolf?" Things were getting extra weird if I had to talk to a canine about leaving earth alone and not killing all of the humans.
"Yes. The King can speak, thankfully but he is unable to change back yet. According to the word in the kitchen anyway. They have been sending him raw meat."
"Oh, super. Is this King going to eat me? Oh shit, what about Daisy?"
I turned to the door, "Daisy!" I called, and the fat duck came waddling back in. "You stay close to me! I don't want you to be a snack for the king." I wagged my finger at the duck while I spoke. Roman laughed, but I ignored him. This was life and death important for my little feathered buddy.
"I don't think the King is a threat to your duck, as appetizing as he is looking now that he is filling out a bit," Roman said indicating Daisy's expanding middle.
"That's rude. Daisy is well-proportioned. Look how long his beak is - If he were slimmer his beak would look ridiculous," I said petting Daisy's soft head feathers.
Roman just shook his head lightheartedly, and watched me as I scooped up my duck and set him on my lap where he nestled down and closed his eyes to have a nap.
After another moment Roman cleared his throat. "Anyway, the King is still who he was apparently, just in the form of a wolf so we can still speak to him and see if we can make a treaty."
"Alright, we should get this over with then," I said setting Daisy down on the bed and giving him one last pet. I was never going to get bored of having a pet.
We walked out the door of our room and were greeted by a guard who told us to follow him and we walked for several minutes through the castle. It was eerie how quiet it was until the guard knocked once on the door and a howl echoed through the halls. I jumped, but Roman put a hand on my shoulder, and I felt a bit of calm pass from him to me like I did with Luke or Armond. I looked back at him, and he held my eye for a moment and didn't take his hand away immediately.
"What is that?" I asked him quietly as the guard was opening the door.
"We can talk about it later," he whispered back.
Then we were being ushered into the large room, and I let it go. All of my attention was suddenly on the giant wolf that sat at the other end of the room. This was apparently the king, and he was huge. Easily as tall as a man at the shoulder, he was more like a horse than a dog. His coat was sandy brown, the same shade as Aldridge’s’ hair. His eyes, though were an unearthly iridescent green. I slowed my walk as we got closer to where the beast sat on a plush cushion which seemed too conflict with the wildness he exuded.
"You need not fear me, traveler," came a rough, gravelly voice. Hearing words from a dog mouth were strange but hearing the monster speak put me at ease a bit.
"Thank you for seeing us," I said, "I understand you have only just discovered your magic and this is a difficult time for you. I, too, only recently learned to use my magic."
"Yes, I was informed you could control time. I feel that might be a more commendable gift than turning into a large canine," he said as he stood and shook his head,
"I'm still not sure how to return to my previous form."
"Magic will do as it will until you tell it otherwise. That is what my teacher told me. I'm not sure it was constructive advice, but I'm sure you will get the hang of it soon."
"Thank you. However, this is not why you have come today, and I should not complain about having magic returned to our people since that was what we had hoped for these past many centuries. My son has told me the witch has taken one of your people and you hope to retrieve them."
"Yes, my bonded, Armond, has been taken," I said.
"That is quite distressing. I'm afraid I don't hold any power when it comes to the witch. She held our power for generations and, although our magic has been restored, as you can see, we have no control of it at this time nor do we know the full extent of our magic," He lay down then and put his nose between his wolf feet, rubbing his eye with one giant paw. I had to stifle the smile, so I didn't offend the good old' boy I mean king. He looked wiry and coarse, but I bet his undercoat was thick and soft like a typical wolf.
"Help us with our magic, and perhaps we can help you. If we are all wolves, we should be formidable. The witch and the rebels have been trying to get enough magic to take over the whole world, but her armies have not been strong enough to get past my guards yet," he said.
I considered his words, the people here seemed to be honest except for a few bad seeds, but there were dangerous people everywhere, and the elders told me not to focus on Armond for now, but how would I stay stable without any family here. I'd have to be stronger than before. I didn't have any choice.
"Alright, that's a deal. I can't teach everyone to use magic though. Perhaps get together a small group of people who can then teach others."
The wolf King smiled as well as a dog can. "That is an excellent idea. I will gather some leaders from other communities, and the leaders can return to teach their people. It will take a few days for them to arrive, in the meantime, please enjoy our city and my home as if it were your own."
"One more question," I said quietly.
"Yes. Go ahead."
