The Drow Hath Sent Thee

by Martha Carr

  Sir eyed the man. “Colonel Thomas took a bullet and is gonna wake up in the north end, probably in a holding cell next to yours, until the board decides what to do with all of you.”

  “We were following orders!”

  “Orders don’t mean shit from someone who’s endangering the entire planet, fuckwad,” Sir spat, leaning into the agent’s face as the MP jerked him to the doors.

  The other agents were cuffed and led out also, though they put up a little more of a struggle. One of them got the butt of a service pistol to the head and dropped like a sack of potatoes. That shut the rest of them up.

  Rhynehart folded his arms and looked at Sir. “First time I’ve seen someone defy a colonel’s orders and end up at the top of the food chain.”

  “Yeah. I’m a lucky fucker like that.” Sir glared at him. “What are you staring at?”

  “The man who shot me.” Rhynehart slapped his healed shoulder. “And someone whose bullshit I don’t have to put up with anymore.”

  Sir scoffed and spread his arms. “You wanna shoot me back, is that it? Think we’ll be even after that? I’m so goddamn tired of listening to you whine like a fucking wounded puppy, Rhynehart.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Sir jerked his head back in surprise. “You think I’m gonna let that fly? You should be thanking me.”

  “Okay, both of you need to stop.” Cheyenne stepped between them and shook her head. “You can kiss and make up later, okay? Or not. Whatever. Right now, we need to clean the rest of this shit up.”

  The reception hall filled with blazing flashes of silver light as Maleshi darted back and forth across the room. One by one, the Bull’s Head bodies she’d shredded disappeared from the blood-streaked floor. Then the clink of metal parts echoed around the walls.

  “Goddamn!” Todd slapped a hand to his head as he tried to keep his eyes on the general, who was working at enhanced speed. “How the hell does she do that?”

  “Nightstalkers.” Bhandi punched the human agent in the shoulder and snorted. “I’m guessing you’ve never seen one before, huh?”

  Yurik burst out laughing. “She hadn’t either until a few days ago, man. Don’t let her say it like she’s an expert.”

  Bhandi scowled at the muscular goblin and shook her head. “Dick.”

  “She can’t do that!” Sir stepped forward, tried to point at Maleshi’s darting form, then gave up and pointed at Cheyenne instead. “This is evidence. Make her stop.”

  “Yeah, I’m smarter than that. But if you wanna give it a shot, go ahead.”

  He clenched his fists and roared, his face trembling. “We need this shit, halfling. I swear if you don’t get your creepy fuck of a furry-ass friend to cut it out, I’ll—”

  Maleshi stopped in front of him in a burst of silver light and grinned. “You’ll what?”

  “Fuck!” Sir staggered away from her.

  “Really, though. I’d love to hear what you come up with.”

  Sir blinked quickly and stared at the now-empty reception hall behind the general. “This whole goddamn shitshow isn’t worth a flying fuck if we don’t have those machines!”

  Maleshi tilted her head and nodded slowly. “You’re the one who’s always screaming over the phone, aren’t you?”

  Sir’s eyes widened as he glared at the nightstalker, his entire body trembling.

  “Jesus. Relax.” Cheyenne shooed Maleshi off, and the general chuckled as she walked casually past the livid major. “I got the whole meeting on camera, remember?”

  Sir let out a long, low growl, and his rage seemed to seep out of him with it. “The fucking video.”

  “Yeah. If there’s anything else we need to clean up this mess beyond this right here, I’ll let you know.”

  Glaring blankly across the room, Sir let out a heavy sigh. “The cleanup crew’s already on their way.”

  “See? Taken care of.” Cheyenne scanned the options brought up by her activator and selected two simple, clear-cut commands. “And you know what? I’ll go ahead and send that fun little homemade video out to the rest of your superior officers right now. Then we’re done with it, and it’s out of the way.”

  “Wait a minute.” The major spun toward her. “Hold off on that, at least until we’re off the premises.”

  She shrugged. “Already done.”

  For a moment, he glared at her with unblinking beady brown eyes. Then his lip twitched, and he grunted. “How the fuck did you do that?”

  “Grabbed their secure emails with everything else off the colonel’s computer. The rest is O’gúl tech you wouldn’t understand even if I took the time to explain it to you. Nothing personal, Major. You’re a human.”

  “Uh-huh.” Sir bit his lower lip to keep from bursting out with whatever crude, senseless diatribe he so obviously wanted to spray at her.

  Cheyenne fought back a laugh. “Aren’t you gonna call me a weird-ass name and make ridiculous threats you can’t follow through on?”

  “Aw, does the halfling want a goddamn cookie?” He sneered and flipped her the bird.

  “Close, I guess.” With a nod, she turned away from him and headed to Rhynehart and the rest of their team. “Oh, and thanks for the backup, by the way.”

  “Don’t let it go to your head, halfling.” Sir still clenched his fists at his sides, but at least his head didn’t look like it was going to explode. “You can pay me back later.”

  “Nope.” Cheyenne turned back to him with a grin and spread her arms. “That was the start of you and me being even. Sir.”

  Bhandi and Yurik sniggered at the major’s dumbfounded expression and the fact that he had absolutely nothing to say. Fortunately for Major Carson, his phone rang, and he had an excuse to turn away from the agents more or less under his command so he could answer the call.

  “So, what now?” Tate asked, slipping his head and shoulder through the strap on his rifle.

  “Well, the cleanup crew’s on the way, apparently. The FRoE board members are probably pulling out the bowls of popcorn to watch that video of Colonel Thomas fucking himself over, and no one has access to those war machines anymore.”

  “Come on, kid.” Lumil marched toward them, spreading her arms. “Not no one. Where do you think Maleshi chucked all that shit, huh?”

  Byrd snorted. “I don’t know why you’re so happy about it.”

  “That’s because you’re a moron. We won, moron.”

  The goblin man leaned toward her with wide eyes and tapped his forehead. “If you’re so smart, you think about where Maleshi dumped it all.”

  “In the fucking warehouse.”

  Byrd blinked. “Yeah. And where do we live right now?”

  “Damnit, Maleshi!” Lumil whirled to the doors through which the general had disappeared. Then she stopped to point at Cheyenne. “Next time, we’ll be on time. Or something.”

  “Not if you keep putting in the wrong address,” Byrd shouted as he stormed out after her. “It’s called a zip code, not an actual code you need to fucking unscramble. I don’t get it.”

  Cheyenne and Ember exchanged quick glances as the goblins’ bickering faded down the hall. Jamal chuckled. “I like them.”

  “Wow.” Cheyenne blinked at him in surprise and couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I think you’re the first.”

  “They’re always like that, aren’t they?” Yurik asked. “That seems like a regular thing.”

  “Unfortunately, yeah.” Cheyenne shrugged. “They can fight, at least.”

  No one else had anything to say, and the reception hall fell silent. Sir turned to face them and pulled his cell phone away from his ear. “What the fuck are you shit-for-brains staring at? Get outta here.”

  “Guess we have our orders.” Todd hefted the laser cannon to his shoulder, jamming the lever in the process and powering the thing up with a loud, squealing whine.

  “Fuck, Todd!”

  “Whoa, whoa. Watch it!”

  The magical agents ducked away from the weapon and scowled
at him. Jamal grunted and plucked the laser cannon out of Todd’s grip before slamming the activating lever back down. The green glow at the weapon’s head faded quickly, and the ogre tucked the fell cannon under his arm. “You’re done.”

  Todd scoffed. “Fine, but that thing was fucking awesome. Later.” He jerked his chin at Cheyenne and Ember, then shot the rest of the agents a wide-eyed look. “You need an invitation or what?”

  Shaking their heads and grabbing the rest of their gear, Bhandi, Tate, Yurik, and Jamal followed their human fifth out the open doors. “Next time you need a bunch of weird shit blown up, Cheyenne, you know who to call.”

  “Yep. Thanks.”

  “Oh, hey.” Bhandi spun around and spread her arms. “Victory drinks?”

  “Not tonight.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” Laughing, the troll woman hurried after the rest of them.

  Ember smiled. “No victory drinks, huh?”

  “I think I need to lay off everything for a while, Em.” Cheyenne ran a hand through her hair and turned around to glance at Rhynehart. The man stood with his arms folded, staring at Sir as the major finished his phone call. “I feel like I’ve had too much shit pumped into me over the last few days. Until I get the worst of it out, I think I’m gonna take it easy.”

  They both glanced down at Cheyenne’s shoulder wounds. Ember nodded. “I think that’s a pretty good call.”

  “Rhynehart.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Keep me updated.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her, the only expression he could manage. “You too.”

  Cheyenne nodded, then she and Ember stepped into the hall and turned in the direction of Lumil and Byrd bickering at each other.

  “Okay, this might sound a little weird,” Ember said, “’cause I know it’s totally different. But this felt like an anticlimactic victory.”

  “Maybe because you got to fight this time.” Cheyenne shook her head. “One-on-one battles are different.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” They turned the corner, the goblins’ voices growing louder ahead of them. “What’s gonna happen with Rhynehart?”

  “I have no idea, and I don’t care.”

  Ember stared at her friend as they moved down the hall. “Bullshit.”

  Cheyenne snorted. “What? How is that bullshit?”

  “You care. I bet you could get him his job back.”

  “Oh, sure. ‘Cause I’ll have a lot of say in how things are run, huh?”

  Ember grinned. “Yep. You will have a lot of say. That was the plan, right?”

  “To say who gets their old job back? Maybe.” Cheyenne shrugged. “I was thinking more along the lines of revamping the whole reservation experience for the refugees. You know, bringing them activators, teaching Earthside magicals how to use them.”

  With a burst of laughter, Ember shook her head. “Seriously? You wanna keep teaching?”

  “You know, I think I might be a better teacher with O’gúl tech than undergrad.”

  “I don’t doubt it. Before you become Professor Royal Drow, though, you should get Rhynehart his job back.”

  Cheyenne snorted. “I’ll think about it. If he even wants it after all this.”

  The metal door at the end of the hall jerked open, and Lumil poked her head inside. “You guys comin’, or what? It’s not like we have all night.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Byrd called from somewhere outside. “We don’t have shit else to do.”

  “They don’t know that.” Lumil whirled on him and let go of the door, forgetting about it altogether. “You know what? I’m sick of your constant whining.”

  The door clicked shut, and only muffled voices made it through. Ember stared down the rest of the hall and shook her head. “I’m so glad we don’t have to drive back to Richmond with them.”

  “Trust me, one car ride with those two is more than anyone deserves in a lifetime.”

  “And Persh’al was stuck with them for how long?”

  “Centuries.”

  Chapter Fifty

  They had Maleshi port them back to Rhynehart’s house to pick up Matthew’s car before they headed home.

  “Thanks, General.” Cheyenne turned to her and spread her arms in a mocking bow. “Always a pleasure.”

  “Uh-huh.” The nightstalker stood in the middle of the residential street in her human illusion, arms folded, and watched Cheyenne walk quickly to the driver’s side door. “Cheyenne.”

  “Yeah.” Cheyenne caught the keys Ember tossed over the roof of the car and pressed the unlock button on the key fob. “What’s up?”

  “How you feelin’?”

  “Definitely not like I got pumped with magically tailored poison, almost got shot in the head, and had to spend five minutes in a room with Sir while paralyzed, so I’m fine.”

  Maleshi shot Ember a questioning glance. The fae looked between them, then decided opening the car door and slipping into the passenger seat was the best option. “Good to see ya.”

  The door shut behind her, and she pretended to be seriously involved in her cell phone.

  Cheyenne blinked. “Someone’s ready to call it a night.”

  “Or maybe someone doesn’t want to say something she knows she should, but that will make her friend a little pissed because it’s not good news. And that friend doesn’t like anybody worrying about her.”

  “Hmm.” Cheyenne shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her.”

  With a quick glance at the mostly dark houses lining the street, Maleshi stepped over to Cheyenne and stopped at the hood of the Mercedes. “I heard you both say things were looking a lot worse.”

  “Come on, Maleshi.”

  “How much worse?”

  Cheyenne scoffed and looked at the street instead of at the general’s concerned frown. “Just a little.”

  “I wanna see.”

  “No, it’s okay.”

  Maleshi crossed the space between them in a flash of silver light and tugged down the collar of Cheyenne’s shirt.

  “What the hell?” Cheyenne smacked the general’s hand away. “Not cool.”

  “Neither is that.” When the general shook her head, it was barely perceptible. “If that gets any worse, I want you to call me.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “For now. None of us know how long that’s gonna last, kid. If it gets worse, we’re making the crossing again. If Venga can’t figure out how to heal that, I will.”

  Cheyenne sighed. “I still have to figure out how to clear the rest of that curse off my mom. I’m not crossing over until I know she’s in the clear.”

  “I’m sure it’s occurred to you that you might not make it that long.”

  They stared at each other, then Cheyenne laughed bitterly and nodded once. “I’m not gonna thank you for the pep talk, ‘cause that was shit. But thanks for showing up to help with the Bull’s Head.”

  “Cheyenne.”

  “Yeah, I heard everything you said, and I’ll make sure you know if I’m dying.” Cheyenne jerked open the car door and slumped behind the wheel. She started the engine and waited for the general to quickly cast another portal, glance up and down the street, and disappear through it.

  “Sorry,” Ember muttered.

  “I mean, you didn’t throw me under the bus.”

  “I didn’t make that any less awkward, either.”

  “True.”

  Ember glanced at her friend as Cheyenne pulled away from the curb to take them home to Richmond. “You’ll be okay.”

  “I know.”

  “We’ll figure out how to get that shit out of you. I promise.”

  “I know, Em.”

  “And whatever we have to do to take care of your mom, I’m right there with you. Then we’ll make the crossing and fuck shit up over there too if that’s what it takes.”

  Cheyenne shot her friend a sidelong glance. “Thanks, Em.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  They got back to their
apartment building a little after 10:00. Cheyenne’s barb-electrocuted thigh twitched every few steps when they left the elevator on the top floor and headed down the hall. I’m out of darktongue, so it’s either power through with nothing or power through with salve after this. Awesome options.

  She handed Ember their neighbor’s car keys and shrugged. “You took ‘em. Makes sense you get to give ‘em back.”

  “I’m not expecting a thank you either way.” They stopped in front of Matthew’s front door, and Ember knocked firmly.

  The door opened almost immediately, and Matthew Thomas stared at them with wide eyes. “What happened?”

  Cheyenne and Ember exchanged glances. We definitely look like we were in an explosive fight. “Just a normal Monday night, Matt.”

  His nostrils flared, and he stared at Ember. “Please tell me my car wasn’t involved.”

  She gave him a tight smile and tossed his keys in a high arc so he’d have enough time to catch them. He did, then frowned at her. “Thanks for the car.”

  The fae spun without another word and floated quickly across the hall.

  “Ember. Hold on.”

  “I wouldn’t try anything right now.” Cheyenne propped her hand on the doorframe to block him from running after her friend. “It’s been a weird day.”

  Matthew sighed heavily and looked at her. “Obviously. Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, don’t worry. I’m the one who got her ass kicked. So, let me ask you something.”

  The front door to her apartment closed behind Ember, and Matthew chewed the inside of his cheek. “Okay.”

  “How close were you to your uncle before you found all the stuff that made you freak out about him?”

  Her neighbor blinked quickly and stepped back. “I mean, fairly close. I thought. Why?”

  Cheyenne shrugged. “You might be getting a phone call in the next few days. If the FRoE even allows the one phone call. Just a friendly heads-up, ‘kay?” She tapped the doorframe twice, then turned around to head for her own front door.

  It took until she got to the door for Matthew to mentally piece together what she’d said. “What do you mean, one phone call? What happened?”