“I’ve been here this long. I’ll wait.”
I sat up and realized I was nude. I looked to Zeta. “I’ll be bringing some Midgard clothing at some point, to stock in my closet here. I assume someone cleaned the clothing I was wearing?”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Did Nathan introduce himself?”
“I did not.”
“Cedrotrix, I’d like to introduce you to His Highness, the Amakhosi. King of the Lions of Midgard.”
“And of this realm too,” Nathan said. “I can feel them.”
“This, I knew,” said Zeta. “He didn’t have to announce his power and status, it was obvious.”
Interesting, but I’d have to consider the ramifications later.
“His clothing was riddled with bullets, so I doubt your people can just clean them and return them. Do you have something he can wear?”
“I’ve already ordered suitable clothing for a visiting King,” She told me. “And it might be best if you wore...” She trailed off and looked uncomfortable.
“It’s okay for you to act as my advisor, Zeta,” I reminded her. “That means giving me advice. I understand it’ll look odd if I’m in Midgard clothing and he’s in Alfheim clothing. Will you help me dress for breakfast? Does Nathan need help dressing?”
“A manservant is nearby to assist, should the Amakhosi approve of help.”
“Just to be clear, we aren’t a couple. We’re close friends. I’ll always come to his aid, and you saw what he did to make sure I was safe. Our clothing should represent two close friends, and not lovers or partners.”
“Of course, my Queen.”
I sighed. “What am I missing? Walk the grounds, meet with the stewards, make sure I thank you for once again saving my ass.”
“You’ve brought visiting royalty. If you walk the grounds with him, you’ll need to introduce him. If you don’t go in public with him again, you can get away with not mentioning him, my Queen.”
I closed my eyes and rested my head on the padded headboard.
“Let’s hold off on introducing me,” Nathan said from my side. “I want to be introduced as your lover or partner or boyfriend or...” He shrugged. “Not as a friend. I want to be more than that.”
I was pretty sure Mordecai had already established himself as my lover-boyfriend-significant other, but I didn’t argue.
They call their bakery goods by different names, but one of them tastes like a croissant, though it’s shaped more like a dick. I ate a few of those while I dressed and used the makeup available in this world. Someone tamed my hair for me, and then I took a walk with Zeta.
“How has this become home so quickly?” I asked her.
“The land is yours. It nourishes you, as I’m sure Homewood does in Midgard.”
“It does, but not like this. How can I make my body heal faster?”
“I’m not sure how to explain. The next time you have a minor injury, come let me help you. If you see what I do, you can probably duplicate it.”
I looked around, saw a thorny bush, and walked to it. I scraped a thorn into my skin until blood seeped around an inch-long scrape. “Show me, please.”
I tore my skin apart seven times before I figured it out enough to do it without help. Much as breathing is both an involuntary and voluntary process, she showed me how to make healing a voluntary process. When people ask me how I can wiggle my ears, I can’t explain how I do it, and the same goes for the healing process. I figured it out, but I can’t explain it. It took me around four minutes to heal the briar cut on my own, while Zeta could do it in a dozen seconds, but I knew how, which meant I could practice and get better.
“Thank you. When this war is over, I want to spend more time with you and get to know you better. I’m sorry things are so hectic right now.”
She touched my arm and sent a few more healing tingles through it. “The Amakhosi loves you.”
I turned and started walking along the path again. “The Amakhosi is a hard-headed asshole cat.” I shook my head. “I loved him, and probably still do, but he broke my heart. I was just getting over him, and now he’s changing his mind, and I don’t know what to do with that.”
“And Mordecai?”
“I love them both. Neither can give me monogamy.” I shrugged. “I can’t really give anyone else monogamy anymore, so I suppose it could work, but I’m having trouble seeing it.”
We walked until she told me it was time to meet with the stewards, and we went into a fancy sitting room. I listened to their updates, thanked them for their hard work making sure the kingdom ran smoothly, and they reminded me it was a queendom.
Right.
Chapter 14
Nathan and I arrived near the Trezevant control room, in the space set aside for people to teleport into. Gun barrels were in our faces a split second, and then moved away.
“I need Cora.” I’d never seen the tiger shifter in front of me before, but I assumed he’d know who Cora was. I was also once again thankful I knew what people were just by feeling their energy.
He bowed to Nathan. “You should go to the war room, Your Majesty.” He turned to me. “That’s where Cora is, too.”
Cora met me in the hallway. We hugged, I assured her I was fine, and she believed me without needing to see. I could tell from her energy that she was okay physically, but not emotionally.
“Tell me.”
“We lost people. Wolves. Not our pack, because they’re all at Homewood, but both Randall and Patrick lost people. The MC lost two prospects and a member.”
“Who?” Maybe it was selfish, but I desperately needed Dawg to be okay.
“The prospects were kind of new. I don’t remember their names. One of them didn’t even have a nickname yet. I’ve met the member — Peewee — but I never spent much time with him.”
My heart settled in my chest. Relieved for Dawg but still sad. I knew who Peewee was, but hadn’t talked to him more than a handful of times. “Who did we lose?”
“Patrick lost three wolves. Randall lost seven.” She sighed. “You weren’t close to any of them. You’ll see the names on the board to the right, when we go in. We have a conference planned with the MC and Abbott shortly. It’s good you’re back.”
“No lions?”
She shook her head. “Nathan knew his people were okay before he left. I’m glad he was in a position to be able to go. I helped lots of Patrick and Randall’s wolves. We had way too many injured who had trouble healing.”
“Is Randall still pissed at me?”
“Yes and no. He’s pissed he needed rescuing, but I believe he’ll thank you for doing it. Maybe. He’s not in a great mood.”
“He lost people and he nearly died. He gets a pass.”
The war room had plans all over the walls under the smartboards, a huge conference table, and a few desks. I walked to the board with the list of dead and injured. The injured column no longer held any names, so everyone had been healed or had died. I suppose that’s the big difference between human wars and supernatural wars.
Fourteen people were listed in the dead column. So far, we hadn’t lost anyone I was close to, but it was just a matter of time.
The room was silent. I turned and scanned it, and stopped when I got to Aaron.
“Why are you here?”
“Ya’ll got your asses handed to you. That can’t happen again.”
“Can’t argue that, but you need to make sure your family’s safe.”
“You’re here, trusting other people to keep Lauren safe. Others here have kids they’ve had to entrust to other guards and caretakers. I need to be here.”
“You’re healed.” Once again, I hadn’t seen Ryan until he spoke.
“I am. Bonus, I’m still not allergic to silver.”
He grinned, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that, so I looked to Randall. “I apologize for taking liberties, but it was an emergency and I couldn’t let you die.”
“Thank you for taking them. I’m s
orry my wolf nearly ate you for saving us.”
I laughed. “Why are we being formal?” Ten steps, and I was to him, and he leaned down and hugged me when I opened my arms. “Friends, Randall. I save my friends when I can.”
When I finally took a seat, I told Aaron, “Gavin and the other Strigorii never showed up.”
“They were attacked en route.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We believe the other side hacked in to the county’s downtown cameras. One test mission this evening seems to confirm they’re sending people out to investigate any large group in the streets.”
“The vampires are okay? And their people?”
“Yes. They came close to losing a few of their wolves, but the vampires changed them in time. Everyone’s fine.”
“How long until the meeting?”
“Seven minutes.”
“The bullets in me had a high silver content, but Nathan was hit dozens of times,” I told them. “If those bullets had much silver, he’d have gone down. His clothes had at least thirty to fifty bullet holes.”
“The silver content was heavy,” Randall said. “It’s why we lost so many people. We aren’t sure why it didn’t affect him as we’d expect. The rest of us had a hard time with it, and we weren’t hit as much as him.”
I looked at Nathan, and he shrugged. “I can’t explain it. I had to change three times to get rid of the effects, once I saw you were being worked on and taken care of, but I was okay to wait an hour or so with the silver in me. That’s unheard of, even for me.”
“I think it’s his connection to Kirsten,” said Ryan. “She’s supernatural now, and she can handle silver. The two of them are connected. I know they broke up, but the connection never went away.”
I looked at Cora. “You were hit, right? If that’s the case, my bond with you should’ve given you some immunity, too.”
“I took a few bullets, and they didn’t burn as much as I expected. Ryan may have a point. We’ll have to figure out how to test it, but later.”
“Are Nix and Viper okay?”
“They are,” said Patrick.
His grief was reflected in his voice and his eyes. My heart hurt for him. “I’m so sorry, Patrick. You lost good people.” Three men and a woman.
He nodded, and I could tell he wanted attention away from him, so I turned to Chance, one of the Drake Security geeks. “Can you put a loop in the police department feeds and trick the bad guys, if we need to move around?”
He looked to Aaron, who said, “It’s already being worked on. Should be doable, but let’s not talk about that in the conference.”
Our people are set up in the control room at Homewood, Cora told me. We’ll have the top two on camera and in the conference.
When the meeting participants came online, each smartboard had six locations, and the wall was full. I’d never seen so many people in one online meeting, where everyone could see everyone.
Abbott, Kendra, Gavin, Josef, and a few other vampires were sitting together, and I assumed he had others off-screen we couldn’t see. Ranger and Kenny were on screen from our house. I was surprised to see Bran and Marco on another, but I didn’t say anything.
A variety of shifters were also present – Lewis the Kodiak bear, Martin the asshole tiger, some crow and hawk leaders, and a few owls. I wanted to say hello to Lewis, but realized singling him out would be a poor political move, so I didn’t say anything.
Aaron started the meeting by showing the seven-pointed star drawn over a map of the greater Chattanooga area.
I paid more attention to the other points this time. The southernmost point was the Chickamauga Battlefield. Going clockwise, Point Park on Lookout Mountain, Homewood, a spot in the North Chickamauga Gorge, and the place Mordecai, Adonis and I’d fought Striker and his people after they’d sacrificed a virgin. The final two were Mahan Gap and Nathan’s home. Other points were near or on intersecting lines — Maclellan Island, Redoubt Soccer, two other mountain or ridge gaps. It was too much of a coincidence that all this lined up.
Aaron started. “Each of these power spots has a gateway to another realm in the vicinity. Most of them match up to the landscape in other realms.”
Ryan stood. “All seven of the major points both have a portal and match up with landscape somewhere else. The minor points all have a portal, some mirror landscape in other realms.” He looked at the map. “The points of the star will be handled primarily from this side. Another four points of intersecting lines and/or points will be worked from here, plus the center. We’ve negotiated agreements for other points to be opened and held from other realms, but this is complicated enough already so I haven’t listed those. We want the portals held open simultaneously. Timing will of course be tricky since we’re working with multiple realms, but we have ways of working around it.”
He switched slides to reveal a list.
Point Park – Aaron, Sophia – Vanaheim (Faerie)
Caves under Point Park – Martin and a female owl – Svartalfheim (Dwarves/caves)
Chickamauga Battlefield – Gabby, Horse – Vanaheim (Faerie)
Homewood – Kirsten, Cora – Alfheim
Stripmine Falls – local Hawks – Vanaheim (Faerie)
Ware Branch – Isaac, Harrison (imperators) – Vanaheim (Faerie)
Mahan Gap – Cole, Lewis (bears) – Niflheim (fog, mist, cold)
Nathan’s home – Nathan and Jess – Vanaheim (Faerie)
“We’ve tried to match people with locations as much as possible. These are the seven points of the stars.” We were all given plenty of time to look the list over before Ryan told Chance, “Next slide, please.” He looked back to the room. “Queen Titania has given Viper and Nix permission to hold a portal open so long as Viper is on the Faerie side and Nix is on the human side.”
Ridge, old railroad tunnel – Bash, Angelica – Svartalfheim (Dwarves/caves)
Maclellan Island – Patrick, Briana, and their wolves – Jotunheim (giants)
Old Harrison Islands – Ryan in concert with someone from the other side – Asgard/Olympus
Ridge – Viper, Nix – Vanaheim (Faerie)
Center of star – Booker T Washington State Park – Randall, Duke – Alfheim
Aaron put his water bottle down with a bang, and my heart jumped in my chest. He seemed as surprised at the noise as the rest of us, which told me his state of mind. None of us were certain of the outcome anymore. Getting our asses kicked wasn’t good for morale.
Aaron leaned forward and told the group, “We’re gifted with some strong power couples — Randall and Duke are at the center of it all with their twin power. Gabby and Horse are at the southernmost tip, and our imperator King and secundo are at the northernmost, on the banks of the Tennessee River. We’re also fortunate to have Kirsten and Cora, Bash and Angelica, Patrick and Briana, and others.”
Not to mention the Dragon King and Swan Queen, I thought — but didn’t say aloud.
“We’ll be doing this at solar noon,” Aaron continued, “which is 1:42 p.m. in Chattanooga, and then again at solar midnight, twelve hours later.”
The rest of the meeting involved logistics. Angelica’s apartment was just onshore from Maclellan Island, so Patrick and his people would stay there until time to swim out to the island. Isaac and Harrison would stay in an AirB&B about a quarter mile from the northernmost portal. Every place either had someone willing to give up their home a few days for the cause, or a place they could rent. Viper and Nix were already in place on the ridge and could easily walk to the portal. I could transport some people, while others should be fine to travel since they’d be outside the city in locations without traffic cameras.
My days and nights were going to be messed up for a while, but that was okay. I was rested and energized, and after Aaron gave us lessons in how to hold a portal open and anchor it, I flashed around town, carrying people to portals.
Aaron wanted me to take the time to talk to those who seemed open to it. He said it didn’t matter what we discu
ssed, but if they wanted to talk, I should listen. So, I took my time. I wasn’t in a hurry. Or, I didn’t think I was.
I spent an hour with Randall and Duke in their borrowed house on the river near the center of the star. It belonged to one of Abbott’s people, but the vampires were in safehouses. The two wolves explained what they’d learned about their special twin connection. They’d first changed at eight, around four years earlier than most wolves, because of the energy of two souls so closely connected. They’d only recently begun to understand the connection, but since Duke was a lone wolf, they had to be careful of how they experimented around with it. During times of war, Randall could allow the lone wolves to use magic while fighting alongside the pack. He’d done so.
Isaac and Harrison weren’t in the same house we’d fought Striker in, but it was only one road over. The house was fifteen yards from the Tennessee River, but we didn’t dare sit outside to enjoy the view while we talked. We went to the basement, and I brought up the elephant in the room.
“You’re the Imperator King now?” Harrison felt like the king, but I wanted to be sure.
“I am. Isaac was barely holding the energy off when I arrived, but he wouldn’t cede it to me until he was certain I’m a good guy.”
The lights were on downstairs. I didn’t hear a generator, but I wasn’t surprised. I figured they’d already been warned of the situation out here, but it couldn’t hurt to reiterate. “The people who live out here lose electricity all the time,” I told them. “They’re rich, and they’re prepared. Between solar panels and generators, most neighbors will have their own power source, and the vast majority of them probably have guns. This isn’t the city.”
Isaac nodded. “The same is true out where I live on the Hiwassee River. Many have diesel generators and hundred gallon tanks of diesel, since it isn’t dangerous to store.”
I looked at Harrison. “I assume they’ve caught you up on modern-day technology. Every human carries a phone around with them, and when the internet is up and functioning, they can share pictures with the entire planet in just a few seconds. They can broadcast live video. You have to be really careful you aren’t seen.”
Unhuman Acts Page 11
