by Amy Sumida
“Oh, you thought you found all the bugs on Delli?” She cackled. “I've been listening this whole time. What a bunch of morons! You didn't even hesitate when I waved you in this direction. Not a single one of you wondered at how convenient it was that I just so happened to steer you toward Delli as soon as you walked into the room.”
“The Councils know we're here,” Daxon said. “They'll be sending Extinguishers soon.”
“No matter.” Lana shrugged. “You've just provided us with the extra power we need to fight them off. But first, you will tell me where Seren is.”
“It's Queen Seren to you, seelie slut,” Conri growled.
“Oh, a volunteer!” Lana clapped. “Come on in, gentlemen.”
A group of human thugs came into the room and aimed guns at us.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Daxon rolled his eyes. “Guns? How gauche, Lana.”
Lana took a gun from one of the thugs and shot Daxon in the thigh. Dax shouted in pain as he fell to his knees.
“Boss!” Desmond rushed over to Dax.
“You won't die, but it still hurts, doesn't it?” Lana said as she aimed at Daxon's heart. “And if I shoot one of you in the heart, in this magically-weakened state, you will die. So, I suggest you back up and let the bargest come out.”
“The hell we—” Gradh started.
“I got this,” Conri interrupted her as he eased Gradh back. “Stand down; even here, the Goddess is with me.” He winked at her.
I took the cue and slid up beside him; cradling my arm so I wouldn't jostle it and accidentally groan in pain. Conri smiled wider as he felt me press against his back.
“A hero,” Lana said with sweet scorn. “How adorable. Come on, doggy; let's see how long that grin lasts.”
One of the humans went forward and opened the cell as the others kept their weapons aimed at the fairies. I strode forward with Conri; practically one with him. But as soon as we were free of the cage, I slipped away and out the open door. Getting past the goons was easy enough; they were focused on the fairies, and the room was spacious enough for me to avoid everyone.
“I didn't know you had so many human friends,” Conri commented casually to Lana as he was bound with iron-lined handcuffs by one of the men.
“I don't.” Lana waved him forward, and a couple of the humans pushed Conri out of the room. “We have an arrangement. After Daxon so rudely cast them aside, a lot of his old business associates went looking for a new fairy to provide them with magic.”
I stepped against the wall; ready to slide out of their way at any moment. They went down a hallway, and I followed a few feet behind. The others were safe in the cell; my main concern was for Conri and Delli now.
Lana took us up a flight of stairs and then through a few more hallways until she finally opened the door of a laboratory. Delli was not in it. Instead, there was a dwarf. He had a full beard, bushy brows, and long hair all in steel gray. Both the hair on his head and on his chin were braided; leaving only his brows wild. He looked to be in his sixties, but could have been anywhere from thirty to three-thousand; dwarves age fast and then stay that way. He wore a lab coat and a stern expression.
“What's this now?” The dwarf grumbled. “A bargest? What are you going to do with a bargest? His magic isn't all that special.”
“I'm a Shatterhowl, asshole,” Conri growled. “I'm as special as they come.”
“A Shatterhowl?” The dwarf jumped off his stool and strode over; his stocky body moving like a wrestler. “Now, that is interesting. Only what; six of you in existence?”
“Five,” Conri corrected grimly.
“He might be useful,” the dwarf said to Lana.
“He's useful because he's a member of Seren's Guard,” Lana said. “But prepare the device anyway; we might as well have a test run.”
“Device?” Conri asked.
“Oh, now you're nervous?” Lana chuckled. “That's right; Jared already made me a new box. This one may even move past the limitation the last one had.”
“What limitation?” Conri asked, and I listened.
“On who could accept the magic,” she huffed impatiently. “Delun's box could only put magic into a similar host, but Jared's may be able to give it to anyone.”
“It will,” Jared said confidently. “I've made several improvements to the last design.”
“And that's what these humans want,” Lana smiled wickedly. “Their bosses crave magic. If I can give them magic—not just in a weapon, but actual magic of their own—they'll give us anything we want.”
“But the magic is only temporary,” Conri said.
“Yes; I heard that you figured that out. But how did you do it?” Lana growled.
Conri only grinned.
“No matter.” She shrugged and tried to look unbothered, but she was. She so was. “The disappearing magic will keep them coming back for more.”
“You'd keep killing fairies to feed their magic to humans?” Conri asked with horror. Then his face shifted into cynical lines. “Sorry; I forgot that I was speaking to a monster.”
“It takes one to know one,” Lana chirped as she waved to the human thugs.
The humans grabbed Conri.
“Come on, puppy; it's time to get you talking,” Lana said.
“See you soon,” Jared called out. “Well, your head, at least.”
Conri growled menacingly, but the dwarf only chuckled. When Con moved to go after the dwarf, the humans pushed him back into the hallway and after Lana. I followed them to another room. This one had a metal chair with leather straps attached to it, and a long table with sharp instruments laid out on its surface.
“Nice torture room,” Conri said with disgust. “Did you install this as soon as you moved in?”
“Maybe I did.” Lana shrugged and then looked at the humans. “Do your worst, gentlemen. I'm going to kill Delli now that he's no longer useful.”
Lana strode out of the room, and I hesitated. I should have killed her; always kill your enemy when you have the chance. But I had prepared to star-cross Lana while she was distracted with Conri, and her striding out in a hurry had thrown me. If I raced after her now, she'd hear me, and if I cast some firethorns at her, she'd scream. I needed to be as discreet as possible. If I triggered an alarm, the others would be in danger. So, I let her go and decided to free Conri first. Then we could go after Lana.
After Lana shut the door, I listened for the direction she was heading in and then dream-dusted the humans. They crumpled to the floor, and Conri breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I was hoping you were here, Princess,” Conri said.
“I got you, Con; you know that,” I said. “Now, let's make sure that Lana doesn't get Delli.”
We had to fumble through thug pockets for the key to Conri's cuffs before we could leave. Then Con slipped into invisibility again, and we hurried after Lana. We headed right; the direction I had heard her footsteps go. But when we found her, she wasn't alone; the ex-royals of the Undergrounds were with her. They had run into her on her way to Delli and were grilling her for information on what to do about the approaching extinguishers. They were obviously not as confident as she was in this new device's abilities.
I had a hold of Conri's hand, and I used it to pull him to a stop and then in the opposite direction.
When we were out of fairy hearing range, I said to Conri, “Change of plans; we go get the others and then free Delli. It looks as if Lana will be busy for a bit.”
“And there's no way past that throng of fairies,” Conri said. “Yeah; good idea.”
We booked it back to the prison room and found our friends guarded by only three humans. The humans were relaxing in chairs; guns laid across their laps but at the ready. Ready or not, it was stupid. I dream-dusted them, and they passed out over their weapons.
“Finally,” Killian huffed. “Get us out of here, Twilight.”
I found the keys and opened the cell door for them with an urgent clang of metal. Kill
ian opened his arms, and I went straight into them. He breathed in deeply, and I felt the shiver in his chest; he'd been worried.
“Killian,” I whispered soothingly. “I'm all right.”
“Is Conri with you?” Gradh asked.
“I'm fine, babe,” Conri said as he became visible.
Gradh hugged him tightly before saying, “Don't call me 'babe.'”
“Take the guns,” I said to everyone. “Better to not leave them behind, and you never know; they might come in handy.”
“Evidently,” Daxon huffed.
“How's your leg?” I asked him gently.
“Healed,” he said. “But the pain was intense while it lasted. Bullets may indeed come in handy against fairies and humans alike. How's your arm?”
“Nearly healed as well,” I said in surprise; I hadn't noticed the pain receding until he asked about it.
“Can we shoot the humans?” Ainsley asked me.
“Normally, I'd say to wound only,” I said. “But today, we're outnumbered and have already been outsmarted. Kill whoever you need to kill.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” my Guard answered as one—and with a bit too much eagerness.
“You heard her,” Dax said to his Elite. “Let's get these motherfuckers.”
We filed out into the hall, and I took lead again; scouting ahead to make sure we weren't walking into another trap. We took the same stairs Lana had earlier and went into the upper portion of the basement. We got lucky, and for most of the way, we only came across a few humans who I was able to dream-dust quietly. We passed the lab with Jared in it, and I briefly considered going in to take his device, but I wanted to get to Delli first. So, we kept going. Then we came to the spot where Conri and I had seen Lana with the other ex-royals. They were gone.
“Fuck,” I hissed and sped up the pace.
The others raced after my echoing footsteps. Then I remembered my receiver. I reached into my jacket and turned it on as I ran. Delli's distressed voice came through instantly.
“—just trying to survive,” he whined. “You can't fault me for that.”
“I can fault you for switching sides, Delli,” she said calmly. “And I can't trust you anymore.”
“Please; I'm sorry, Lana!”
“Hold on, Delli,” I whispered as I put on more speed. “Fuck! Where are they?”
We slammed open the doors of every room we passed and eventually came across an occupied one. But it wasn't occupied by Delli or Lana. I didn't have time to dream-dust the fairies in it, so Killian just shot them and incapacitated them. The sounds echoed back through the receiver.
“What was that?” Lana growled.
“That's right, bitch,” I said. “I'm coming for you. You'd better run.”
Suddenly, Lana shouted as if she were in pain, and the sounds of a scuffle came through the receiver.
“Good for you, Delli,” I growled. “Don't you dare go down without a fight!”
The slam of a door came next, and then some rough breathing accompanied the rapid tempo of Delli's footsteps.
“Delli!” Lana screeched.
“Shoot something,” I said to Killian. “I don't care what. Make her scared enough to forget Delli.”
Killian shot up a chandelier as we passed an empty room. Lana screeched again, and Delli's footsteps sped up.
“A chandelier?” I asked.
“You said anything,” he said.
The sound of thousands of dollars worth of crystal coming crashing to the floor interrupted us as the chandelier's chain finally gave out. I grimaced at Killian; completely forgetting that he couldn't see me.
“Delli!” Lana called again.
“Don't look back, Delli!” I shouted; hoping he could hear me. “Don't look at her!”
The sound of a storm came through the receiver; rushing air and the crack of thunder.
“What the fuck?” Conri asked. “We're underground.”
“The Harpies are here,” Daxon said. “Shit.”
Then Delli screamed.
His scream was cut short, and I stumbled under the weight of what it meant.
“Danu damn you, Lana Clach!” I shouted and started to run again. “You're not facing our goddess; I'm your fucking judge!”
The only sounds coming through the receiver now were of rain and wind, but then there was a faint voice.
“Now, Lana!” It was male and sounded vaguely familiar.
“Where are the others?” She asked.
“Who cares? I passed hundreds of extinguishers on my way here. Move!”
“Fine,” she hissed, and then the voices stopped.
The storm was starting to dissipate when we finally found Delli. He was frozen into a running motion; his face stretched with lines of fear. Every hair was caught in the detail of the stone; every wrinkle of terror. I came to a heavy-breathing halt and laid my hands on Delli's shoulder remorsefully. As I did, one of the wisps of his hair broke off with a tinkling sound.
“I'm so sorry,” I whispered. “Damn it, Delli; I failed you. The one time you trusted someone, and she didn't come through.”
“Seren, she's getting away,” Daxon said. “Seren!”
“Delli would want you to avenge him,” Killian knew better how to motivate me.
“And we will,” I vowed as I laid my hand on Delli's stone cheek. “I'll get her, Delli. I promise.”
But as we got to the ground floor of the mansion, the sound of thunder greeted us. We ran out into an epic storm. Lightning flashed through the sky and struck the ground all around us in blinding bolts. Rain pelted the trees hard enough to break branches, and the wind took anything that wasn't bolted down. I could barely see five inches in front of my face.
Still, we ran out into the vicious weather and searched for Lana. All we found were scrambling humans and fleeing fairies. The other ex-royals were looking for Lana too, but they quickly figured out that they had been abandoned. Either that or it was the hordes of extinguishers rushing over the grounds that sent them scrambling.
I stopped and stared up at the sky suspiciously as the storm began to weaken. In just a few minutes, it had reduced to a drizzle. Then the clouds vanished, and the sun flared brightly across a demolished, drenched yard that was being churned into mud by extinguisher boots.
The humans had been taken by surprise. Most of them had surrendered, but some had fought back. The latter were dead, and the former were being cuffed, along with the fairies. Several fairy bodies littered the grounds, along with the humans, but most of the fairies had known enough to surrender and were being taken into custody. I saw Abby leading some prisoners to an extinguisher van, along with Brandon Murdock; the Head Councilman's son. In fact, all of the extinguishers from the SF Council House were there, but their presence became background for me. I was too intent on finding one fairy in particular. I went slowly among the bodies and then the prisoners, but none of them were Lana.
I yanked off my helmet dejectedly and hung my head; tears streaming down my face. I had made Delli a promise that I didn't fulfill; a vow that he had faith in. That was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Seren,” Daxon said as he gently laid a hand on my shoulder. “It's not your fault.”
“He never even knew we were trying to help him,” I whispered. “He probably thought I abandoned him; like everyone else in his life had.”
“He knows now,” Daxon said. “And I'm sure he understands.”
“He lived a hard life, and I offered him something better,” I lifted my gaze to Daxon's. “I gave him hope and then didn't follow through. That's the worst kind of betrayal; turning hope into heartache... into death.”
“Well, you are part human; you can't be expected to be perfect,” Daxon said it so seriously, that it took me awhile to realize that he was teasing me.
“Too soon,” I finally whispered.
“Dude, why do you suck so badly at this?” Killian gave Daxon a horrified look as he pulled me into a hug. “I thought you were a ladies man?�
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“Pleasing a woman in bed and pleasing her out of it are two different things,” Daxon muttered. “I've only had experience with the former.”
“It's okay, Dax,” I muttered into Killian's chest. “I'm usually not this wimpy. Sorry for the waterworks.”
“Because you usually win,” Killian said softly. “But you can't win all the time, Seren. We're soldiers; we lose people. That's part of our life, and you know that.”
“This isn't a war, Killian,” I protested.
“Oh, Twilight, you're fooling yourself if you think that.” Killian kissed me gently to ease the sting of his words. “We're fighting here; people are dying. We nearly died today. This may not be our usual battlefield, but it is a war. Lana Clach has declared war on us, and we lost a soldier. That's what happened today. And now, you bear the burden of a general. Let it go, darlin.'”
“Look around, Seren.” Daxon brushed the hair back from my face. “They lost far more than we did.”
“And that's where you're both wrong.” I took a steadying breath and pushed away from Killian. “Those are my people.” I pointed at the dead. “All of them; the humans and the fairies. No matter what side they're on, they're mine. We lost today, not Lana. Because Lana doesn't give a shit about any of them, but I do. We do, right?” I looked hard at them.
“We do, Your Highness,” Conri declared. “We care, and we regret their loss. But that doesn't mean we won't defend ourselves when they attack us.”
“Or defend others against them,” Torquil added. “We go where you lead, Princess Seren, and you are an ambassador. You lead us to justice and honor. I wouldn't follow if you didn't.”
“And against cruelty and oppression,” Gradh said. “That's what our war is about, and be they fey or human or witch; we will stop them if they threaten the peace.”
“You sound like extinguishers,” a man in black tactical gear said as he walked up.
“Now, there's a compliment,” I said with a smile. “Hello, Extinguisher Sullivan. You look well.”
“You remember me,” he said with surprise.
“I remember all the men I've held,” I teased him.
“What's this now?” Daxon asked with wide eyes.
