by K. A. M'Lady
She smiled down at me, a crooked grin of pointy teeth in a poison-berry smile. Her small, ovular face with its wide, sloping brow and large black eyes were what you would expect to see on a lizard; each obsidian orb shimmering like an oil slick, perched over the peak of her thin, straight nose and equally small pert chin. Her skin was ghastly grey, yet it somehow worked with the dark, gothic look and all-black tailoring of her outfit.
I had no idea they made jackets with so many pockets and buckles. She seemed to have some sort of weapon stowed everywhere about her person; a knife tucked in this slot, a sword in that. Daggers stashed here and there and everywhere. She even carried a few guns in odd holsters, some obviously hidden and some not so hidden. Many within easy access.
She moved, offering me a free hand, the weight of the Were seemingly nothing as she flipped him over her shoulder. It was all a very surreal moment, and I couldn’t decide if I was completely mad or dead myself, which might explain why I was seeing her—this Sweeper.
“Quite possibly mad,” she said with an easy smile as I took her hand and she pulled me to my feet. “But definitely not dead. Not as of yet. It is not ye time, Rihker of the Forest.”
“How do you know my name?” I cringed as searing pain lanced through my stomach, blood welling from the wounds caused by the Were.
“Much to do and debts to collect,” she said, in a sing-songy sort of verse. It sounded almost habitual.
I looked around us taking in the stilled silence of the hall. It appeared as though the hall was completely empty; Ien, Jade and Garric nowhere to be seen. Not even Cage or any of the cops were anywhere to be found. It was like everyone had disappeared. What the hell is going on? I wondered as a hesitant fear crept up my spine.
“Hell,” she said with a distant glow to her strange dark eyes. “Tis a possibility.”
“Who are you?” My brain was seriously on overload and the day apparently wasn’t about to get any better. It was bad enough that I’d had to deal with rampaging Zombies, crazy fucking Death Stalkers, and amped up Werewolves. Now I got blessed with a seemingly overly-friendly fucking Sweeper to boot.
Could this get any… Oh, I was so not even going to say it. I didn’t want to know.
“I’ve been called many things, I have. O’re time. Many things bad. Many things…” Her voice trailed away. I didn’t think we needed to go there. I was quite certain most of the things were bad. To my mind, I didn’t recall anyone ever saying anything good about a Sweeper.
“In the end of the darkness, me fellows call me Dax,” she stated, her heels clicking together, body stiff like a soldier in some sort of army regime. “We are all merely foot soldiers to those who walk between,” she added, completing my thought process. I really hated when they did that.
There was something eerily peculiar about her that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Nor could I explain the banter between us. Never had I heard of a Sweeper stopping in their duties for a bit of a chat with an Other. So why was I suddenly Pixie-on-the-spot? Why pick me out of the masses?
“Chosen, she is, and she’s yet to know it,” Dax stated with a nod of certainty to her spiky little head.
“What am I Chosen for, Dax?”
“The Chosen, Rihker of the Forest. The bringer of peace, the comforter of the wandering. Ye will bring Light to the Darkness, Hope to the dying. And the suffering will know a sweet surrender.” Her voice echoed through the hall with that small prophetic summation. “And ye will tame the beasts and ease the hunger of the masses.”
She all but glowed with the conviction of her words; she was so caught up in the telling. Here we go again, I thought dryly. Poor girl sounded like she’d been hanging out with Maebe and was a few bones short of a graveyard. “Pretty big affair for a half-breed, don’t you think?”
“Do ye mock the Prophecy? Do ye not believe yer own worth?”
“No, no,” I said, waving my hands before me as though to push away such a grave insult. Now I’d gone and offended her. Real fucking bright, Rihker. Just when she was on your side. Though on my side for what, I had no idea. Come to think of it, I had no idea if it was a good idea to even have her there in the first place or not. All this damn talk about the Prophecy made my brain hurt. Pretty soon she’d be on some rampage, just like my freaky-ass witch Maebe, telling me to, ‘Find the book. Seek the clues.’ Blah, Blah, fucking blah.
“Have it your way, Rihker!” she suddenly growled, her eyes blazing as she looked at me, clearly annoyed by everything I had not said aloud. I really, really hate it when people read my thoughts without my permission. It ought to be a damn rule somewhere that said there was ‘No mind reading without permission’.
“You will have need of me at some point, and Dax will be there. You’ve only to call my name.”
“What?” I asked, blinking as she suddenly began to shift out of focus, taking the Were with her.
“You’ve now the gift of Claiming,” she remarked, as if that explained everything.
“What? What do you mean the gift of Claiming?”
Her form was fading right before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to stop her. “Dax! Wait. What do you mean? What gift of Claiming?” I was starting to panic. I didn’t want another gift. Claim this. Know that. Why did they keep giving me these damn Tells and not tell me how to use them? It wasn’t fair. Someone should at least explain the damn rules to me! Shouldn’t they?
“See an item in your mind and call it to your hand, Rihker,” she whispered, her image now almost completely vanquished. “Claim it, and it will come.”
“But how do I get you to come? How do I get a person to come?”
“By the Claiming…only by the Claiming.” Her voice was a silent whisper like the wind, or a shadow that had never been. The hall completely empty once again.
There was absolutely no sign of her existence. Even the Werewolf had vanished as though he’d never been. Both had utterly disappeared. Every last drop of blood; every bit of slop, sludge and scratch. Hell, if it weren’t for my wounds, I’d swear the whole damn escapade had never even happened.
I stood in the hall, my mouth an O of awed shock as I blinked at the nothingness before me. The only other thing to convince me—besides my seeping wounds—that the whole thing even occurred was thirteen inches of cold hard steel clutched tightly in my hand.
Yet another red-letter fucking day. Scarlet was becoming my least favorite color.
Chapter Nine
Light breaks on secret lots,
On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain;
When logics die,
The secret of the soil grows through the eye
And blood jumps in the sun;
From Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines by Dylan Thomas
“I want to know what the hell happened here, Rihker, and I want to know now!” The slam of Cage’s fists on the steel table bounced around the small interrogation room he’d crammed all of us into as he gave me the third, fourth and fifth degrees. I’m fairly certain his uncontained fury would have made most humans break under the pressure. Me, it was only grating on my nerves, and he had about two seconds more of his ‘Bad Cop’ attitude before I decided to put an end to it.
“Fuck you, Cage,” I finally said after another three minutes of listening to him rant and rave while his eyes blazed daggers. “You wanted your damn Werewolf taken care of. Consider it taken care of.” Jade was crouched before me, winding gauze around my belly to staunch the blood that continued to seep from the slowly closing wounds, ignoring Cage’s rampage a lot better than I seemed to be.
I was pissed off beyond measure, sore as all hell and becoming real tired of Cage acting like the humans hadn’t gotten what they really intended in the first place, and having the audacity to be pissed off about it. They wanted that Were off their precious little hands. So I took it off their hands. What the hell was he bitching about?
“That’s not how we wanted it, Rihker, and you know it. Where the hell did he go, an
yway? What did you do with him?” he asked, his pale green eyes accusing.
“Me? What the hell do you mean, what did I do with him? I’m damn lucky to even be alive, you fucking idiot!” I stood up from the chair, knocking it over. My anger level was rising as was my color; the room beginning to glow with the tint of forest green.
Cage stepped forward and Jade moved out of his way, the anger between us thick enough to part with an ax as we stood toe to toe. “You heard me. I know you did something with him. So where the hell is he?”
“Go fuck yourself, you ungrateful little—”
“That will be more than enough, Rihker. Inspector Cage.” The thick roll of command that accompanied the voice instantly set my aggravation radar on sonic mode as I grit my teeth, physically holding back the rest of my response to Cage’s asinine behavior. The only person with enough vibrato and authority to stifle my next words sauntered through the room in his pinstriped suit like he owned the world and it had best bow down before him.
Xavier Drae, Troll Overlord and Silent Court Judge had somehow just become my savior. Not a good sign.
“It seems, Inspector, that the human authorities have much to thank us for; keeping a rampaging Werewolf from destroying its Department and many of its on-duty Policemen.”
“What?” The look Cage flashed Drae was distinctly unfriendly as he tried to gain his composure.
“As I was saying. Your Police Chief and I have had a very lengthy conversation and it would appear your Department is once again indebted to our Court for assisting you in the detainment of such an unruly creature. He could have been a huge menace to the society at large. But now that he has been removed to the Silent Court’s Penile System, the humans will have no worries and nothing to fear of further harm by such a creature. We have you and our own Hunter, Rihker, to thank for taking such great measures to keep us all from harm.”
His smugness was nauseating, but the underlying, unsaid words were not lost on any of us standing around the small room. The humans and the Silent Court had reached an agreement. We took care of their little mishap with the killing of the pup and the mess of the rampaging Were, and everything was swept nicely under the rug. Case closed. No questions asked.
I looked from Drae’s fiery red, pockmarked face to Cage’s ashen one. Cage was clearly pissed that he was not going to be told what had happened to his Werewolf, but there was nothing he could do about it. His superiors had gotten what they wanted—a coverup. End of conversation. The Department’s record wasn’t going to be smudged and Cage got to keep his job a little longer.
The little son-of-a-bitch. I was really beginning to dislike him. What the hell I ever saw in him I had no idea.
“Do we understand each other?” Drae asked, his cold yellow eyes glaring a hole inside Cage’s soul—if the bastard even had one left.
“I got it,” he responded, clearly unhappy.
“Good. Then, Rihker, you and your wolves are dismissed.”
“What? I never agreed to that.” Cage turned towards me as though he’d physically stop my departure.
“Ms. Tennai is finished here today, Inspector. Anything else you would like to say to her will keep. But I suggest to you in the future, you keep it professional.” It was an order, not a request and from the way that Drae was staring at Cage it didn’t appear to be one that would broach anymore argument. “Now, if you’re through, I believe your Chief has a few words he’d like to discuss with you.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched Cage shuffle out of the interrogation room, shoulders slumped. He was obviously going to get an ass-chewing, one that he deserved. Forgive me, but it made me very happy.
“And you,” Drae said turning back to face me, deep lines of aggravation marring his already crinkled brow; his yellow eyes still blazing. “I suggest that in the future you be more careful. If I have to send anyone else to guard your ass, I’m not going to be happy about it.” With that parting shot, he turned and left the room.
Drae had sent the Sweeper? Now that was just downright fucking off. Why the hell would Drae help me? I wondered.
“Because you are the Chosen,” he said, his voice echoing from out the door and down the hall. I could only groan at his choice of words.
The ride back to my house was a very quiet one. The silence, I was thankful for. I was starting to feel the exhaustion sink in and I’d only been back on the job for two days. I guess getting my ass kicked every day required some serious strength training. Apparently I’d been slacking for the past two months. From the way my body was beginning to feel, it was very telling.
Ien drove with Garric in the front while Jade and I sat in the back. Well, I more or less sprawled—my belly was killing me where the damned Were tried to gut me.
“The least she could have done was fix me up while she was sweeping up the human’s mess before she decided to get out of Dodge.”
I was grumbling mostly to myself, but Jade commented anyway. “I don’t believe that she was able to heal you.”
We were talking about the Sweeper. Normally they just wipe away any sign of blood and carnage from a scene that shows there’s been a sign of Other. That way the humans aren’t running around screaming about the monsters.
So why did she leave me all banged up?
“What do you mean?” I asked, shimmying around in my seat, trying to find a comfortable position. It didn’t do any good. Every time I moved pain shot through me, and I was starting to break out in a sweat.
“The creature deals in death. From all we know they are collectors and dispensers of death. I don’t believe that they are capable to do anything that will accommodate the living.”
I looked up at Jade from where I had rested my head in his lap, my belly beginning to burn, the lacerations feeling more like fire ants racing through my blood as the minutes passed. His comments made sense, but that didn’t explain why I suddenly felt like my wound was burning from the inside out.
I twitched, reaching for my belly and groaning as a sharp pain ripped through me. “What the hell!” I exclaimed as the fire intensified, beginning to spread to my arms and down my legs.
Jade lifted me by the shoulders and pulled me into his lap. “What is it, Rihker? What’s wrong?” Concern marred his pale, worried eyes. My body spasmed and his head snapped up as he began to scent the air above me.
My body stiffened, hands reaching for something to clench onto as knifing pain like a thousand bolts of lightning tore through me all at once. I threw my head back and tried to scream, but my throat was closing off, my blood boiling.
“Holy Prophet!” he whispered, the color draining from his face.
“What? What is it?” This from Garric as he turned in the seat, his chest leaning against the front seat as he reached over to touch me. “Oh, my God.” He looked from where I lay writhing in Jade’s lap to Ien, then back to Jade, worry and a brief moment of fear streaking across his face before he quickly hid it. “That isn’t possible,” he said his voice still edgy as he tried to contain it.
The pain was intensifying, my body beginning to feeling like a living flame, burning hotter every time someone touched me and everywhere my skin touched. “I’m hot,” I groaned, lashing back and forth in Jade’s arms. “Why am I so fucking hot?”
I felt like I’d been plunged in a vat of boiling water, the heat of my skin suddenly so uncomfortable I didn’t want to be in it. My clothes began to hurt my flesh and I wanted nothing more than to be out of them. Violently I began tearing at them, trying to rip them off as Jade struggled to hold on to me. As he struggled to keep me from hurting myself...and him.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” I screeched slapping at his hands as he tried to still my frantic movements. “Get these fucking clothes off me!” I was yelling at all of them, still trying to desperately tear my clothes from my body.
“Ien, get this car home. Now!” The cold demand in Jade’s voice sent a chill down my spine and tightened things low on my body, causing me to p
ause in my mad rampage.
“What? Why?” Worry and confusion had him looking at Garric, but he was no help. “What the hell is wrong with her?” he asked as the car accelerated through traffic. The panic in his voice and the concern in his eyes as he glanced in the rearview mirror was enough to skip my heartbeat, but it wasn’t enough to turn me from the strength of Jade’s hands on my body.
Suddenly I could smell Jade as I’ve never smelled another being before. I turned in his arms, my face resting along his chest as I slowly, meticulously inhaled the deep, rich scent of him. At first all I smelled was the spice of his cologne; sandalwood and pine, but then suddenly there, underneath like a remembered breeze, was the hint of flesh, and underneath that was musk and fur and all the warm places of home I’d never known.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, I began to climb up his body. I wanted to bury my face in the soft line of his neck—needed to do it. Straddling his waist, I shoved aside his hair and ran my face along his throat, slowly sniffing the flesh of his neck. Luxuriating in the deep, lush smell of earth, fur, woods and man. As all of the exotic, delightful smells filled my senses; every erogenous zone in my body sparked to attention as desire washed through me in an all-consuming rush.
I knew the exact moment Jade sensed the spark of my desire, could smell it in the air; when his own body peaked with interest and his beast awakened, for my body spasmed with overwhelming delight. Then Jade suddenly grabbed me by the waist, his large hands holding me just inches away from his now heaving chest as he hesitantly whispered, “I think she’s going into heat.”
Chapter Ten
Look here, look at my hands,
They look like little wet toads
After a rainstorm’s over
Hopping, hopping, hopping
From Song of the Little Cripple at the Street Corner
By Rainer Maria Rilke – Translated from the German by David Ferry
