Ella: Cinders and Ash

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2015 by Erik Schubach

Self publishing

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Photo © 2015 Geo Martinez / ShutterStock.com license

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Manufactured in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-9966241-0-7

Chapter 1 - Breach

I shook my head with frustration.  Come on Parker, pull yourself together.  Just two more blocks until you are home and can get behind your Full Moon Bars.  I pulled my low, pink, heels off and ran barefoot. Freakin' stupid uniform.  But what do I expect working at a nineteen fifties themed diner?  Who the hell stands all day in heels?  They couldn't have possibly done that in the fifties, so why make us wear them now?

I heard all the howling and gunshots at the main gate of Seattle a few blocks away a minute after the sun set.  I was still in awe at the police who went on Howler Duty every full moon to protect the rest of us Clean Bloods from the feral packs of werewolves that attacked on those three nights a month.

I looked back.  My car had got a flat on my way home from the diner about a mile back just as the sun was setting.  I usually got inside with time to spare.  I saw my place at the end of the next block and I was feeling relieved.  The little third story walk up over the pawn shop next to the outer city wall.  I just needed to enter the override code then slip in and let the silver laced FMBs slide back into place and I'd be safe.

I paused a second when I felt something.  I had been feeling odd things around the city for a week or two.  The police have been doing double patrols and a bunch of government agencies have been searching the town for something.

I get this feeling when something magic is around.  I had the pleasure to serve a meal to that Red Hood once, and she put out a hell of a vibe to me.  It was like standing too close to the sun and it made me feel warm and safe.  Lately in the area, I have had a similar feeling, but instead it felt sick with decay and a wrongness to it.  It made the little hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stand on end.

My friend, Mary, says that I'm magic sensitive.  I guess it is rare, but we have no way to test it without going down to San Francisco and entering the study they are doing on the phenomena down there.

I was passing the alley by my place and felt a wave of nausea, whatever was causing that feeling was close.  I heard a thump in the alley and saw some motion.  Oh my god, was someone else out, like me?  I looked into the alley and called out, “Hello?  Is anyone there?  You best get inside, it's a full moon, it isn't safe out here.”

The shadows stopped moving and the only sounds were from the battle at the gates.  I glanced to the top of the wall and saw one of the patrols stop and look down across the alley me.  That made me feel safer.  One of the officers called down.  “Miss, get inside.”

I nodded and called up, “Just got home, but I think someone needs help here.”  I spoke into the alley again and took two steps in, trying to focus, but my skin was buzzing.  “Hello?  If you're homeless, there is a shelter down the block with panic cages for the night.  They will keep you safe.”

The guard swung his high-intensity handheld spotlight down into the alley and I started walking in and froze halfway down when the light hit the base of the wall.  There were five men in thick black trench coats, drawing something on the wall.  One made some quick hand motions over the odd markings in a panic as the others dove to the side, the markings glowed and something blew up.

The next thing I knew I was stumbling back to my feet from where I had been laying on the ground for some reason.  I touched my face and then looked at my hand, and it had blood on it.  My ears were ringing, I saw stars, and I was disoriented.

I heard something muffled as I tried to get my bearings.  Then everything snapped into clear focus.  A warbling breach siren was going off.  The second officer was yelling at me.  “Miss! Run!  Get to safety!”  I glanced down, and the first officer must have fallen off the upper catwalk in the explosion, and was now laying down in front of a gaping hole in the wall!

Breach!  Oh my god!  I started to run but looked at the poor man trying to get back to his feet after a thirty-foot fall.  I squeezed my eyes shut and fought off tears.  I was going to get myself killed, or worse.  I ran to the man and started dragging him toward the back door of the building.  Just thirty feet and I could enter my override and get us behind some FMBs.

The man was trying to push me away.  “Go,  leave me,” he said through the pain.  I just dragged him along with me, his leg looked broken.  We hadn't got three steps when we heard the first growls and snarls as wolves charged the hole in the wall.  The wounded officer pushed me behind him and fell to the ground as he drew his sidearm.

He emptied the entire magazine and the two lead wolves went down.  The rest were just enraged and bounded toward us.  I heard automatic weapons fire from above as the other man tried to save his partner and me.  I closed my eyes and grasped the police officer's hand.  This was it, we were dead.  But my eyes snapped open at the deep throaty roar of a motorcycle barreling down the alley toward us.

I opened my eyes and blinked at a short blonde woman in short sleeves and a leather vest hopped onto the seat of the motorcycle and dove off of the bike, over the handlebars. She arced through the air over us as the motorcycle veered off and crashed into a dumpster.

I swear to all that is holy that she had a smile on her face as she tumbled over the ground and slammed into the group of wolves that were preparing to leap for the kill.  She was instantly on her feet and I heard sirens approaching fast.  I watched all of the abrasions from the tumble on her arms, bare legs and face, heal almost before she could bleed.  She started doing something with magic as the wolves dove on her.  I could feel it. That feeling I got from the Red Hood, but with a more static vibe.

The ground seemed to swell up beneath her and fall with a whump as she landed blow after devastating blow.  Crushing skulls and breaking bones.  Sending wolf bodies flying back.  The whole time she was yelling in a thick English Cockney accent, “Come on you sodding wankers!  Is that the best you got?  We're standin' right here!”  She backhanded a wolf so hard I heard the snapping of bones and she somehow released that whump into her strike.  It's lifeless body went spinning back almost faster than I could follow, and it took out the legs of the wolves behind it.

She charged forward and I could hear a grating clinking as she ran.  Like crystal being ground on stone.  She spun backward, slinging her hand and she let fly dozens of little darts or blades that sparkled in the light.  Two wolves yelped as they were taken out of mid-leap toward her.  The projectiles looked like... glass?

The police showed up, charging down the alley in full riot gear and engaged with weapons on full automatic.  It was almost deafening, but for every wolf they killed two replaced them.  The men with shields, stepped forward to protect the group reloading.  It was well rehearsed.

I glanced over and the woman was holding a wolf in the air with one hand as she literally pounded its skull in with the other.  She looked at it and made an “Eww” face then comically said out loud,  “We seem to have broken this one.  We need another.”  She tossed the body away like it was a fast food wrapper.  I heard the injured officer snort.  He could laugh?  I was terrified out of my gourd!

The woman looked at the hole and the flood of wolves then back at the men trying to hold against them.  Her bravado wavered for a moment and I could see her thinking.  Then it looked like she was actually arguing with herself.  She finally spat out, “Fine.  I'll take care of this shite.  Just shut up and let me work.”

She called back to the officers as she waded into the mass of wolves,  “We'll seal the breach, you handle this group of tossers.”

She flung her arms wide and hundreds of those crystal blades mowed a path through the fangs and claws.  Where was she getting them, and how could she throw so many at a time?

She slammed her fist into the ground and that feeling she was drawing the ground up into her increased a hundred fold.  She grabbed the air in front of her with her free hand and screamed in pain and determination with the effort, as she lifted her fist like she was opening a window.

The ground itself rushed upward, crushing dozens of wolves as it slammed into the wall above sealing the breach.  There was sporadic gunfire as the last of the wolves inside the gate were dispatched.  I looked around and then vomited at the sight of all the now human bodies sprawled about and fell down next to the injured officer, onto my butt.

The woman staggered then pulled herself up, and pulled her shirt and vest straight while she clomped over to me in her knee high leather shit kickers and a black leather mini skirt.  Her steps sounded like crystal on stone again.  She looked like a flippin' fashion model for Biker's Monthly.

She gave me a silly smile then flopped down beside me.  “What's a fit bird like you doin' wanderin' around outside on a full moon?”

An officer tried to say something.  She pointed at him and said sharply, “We'll get to you.  Can't you see we're talkin' to a lady here?  You lot have to worry about reinforcin' the wall.  That patch won't hold more than a night, shite earth to work with here, no silver in it.”

I looked at her, but she only had eyes for me as she ignored the commotion around us and all of the different officer's attempts to talk to her.  The way she talked, and acted... and argued with herself, made me think she may be mental.  Well of course she was.  What sane person barrels into an oncoming flood of werewolves on a motorcycle.

I looked at the woman, assessing her, my eyes stopped on her legs where the boots stopped.  I saw a gravelly shimmer, like crystal and earth.  She followed my gaze and put her hand over her legs, covering it up.  She just kept staring at me.  Oh, she had asked that question.  She really wanted an answer.

I couldn't get over her feminine face with beautiful full lips that women would die for.  I shrugged.  “I got a flat tire and was coming home when this happened.”  I noticed the containment engineers arriving and an ambulance.

She looked around.  “You live in an alley?  Nice choice.”

I grinned.  “No, I live just there.” I pointed up at the third floor.

She nodded. “So you just thought you'd save this bloke's life before you went in?”

She looked off into space like she was listening to someone.  Then she spoke to the ground, “Oh right, the bloody druids.”  She looked around then scrunched up her nose cutely.  “I don't suppose you caught which way those hooded wankers ran when this all started?”

She shook her head and I mimicked her without realizing.  This made her grin.  “We didn't think so.”

She sighed, looked away, and at the ground then said, “Alright, no need to get pushy.  Manners, whatever.”  Then she beamed a heart-stopping smile at me.  “Ella.  Ella, ummm... Smith.”  Good lord, she was sexy.

I took her hand and it was odd.  Part of it was warm and soft and part of it felt smooth and hard like; I looked at her legs-- glass?  You'd have to be dead not to smile back at her smile.  I blushed and said, “Parker Devareau.”  Then pushed my brunette hair out of my eyes, sometime during the commotion it had come out of the silly ponytail that the diner made me wear.

The EMTs were getting insistent after they hauled off the injured officer.  They pricked my finger with a silver needle to make sure I wasn't infected.  I would have turned by now if I had the lycan contagion so it was unnecessary, but it was probably procedure or something.  They checked my head injury, bandaged the scratch, then cleared me.

Ella was arguing with them as they tried to prick her finger.  They broke two needles.  “Give us that you wanker!  You can't get through our skin there yet.”  She stabbed her bicep and a small amount of blood welled up.  Obviously not fizzing or burning in reaction to the silver.  She wiped the drop of blood off to reveal pristine, undamaged skin below, then licked the blood off her thumb.

They cleared her as the police were saying they had questions and were asking her to come with them.  Another officer 'insisted ' I go with him to make a statement.  I looked at my bare feet, not knowing where I had lost the stupid pink heels.  As they led her away, she stopped and looked at the motorcycle with a pained look. “Bloody hell!  My baby!”  Then she looked down and hissed to nobody, “Oh sod off, did I ask you?”

Is it weird that I noticed she didn't use the royal we that time?  She said 'my baby' instead of 'our baby.'

She grinned back at me cutely as they put her in the back of a police cruiser.  “Bail a girl out?”

An officer put his hand on my head as he helped me into the back of another cruiser.  I smiled at her through the windows.  I found it odd they seemed to be arresting the woman who saved everyone's bacon.  And why did I need to go downtown?  I just wanted to go home and forget any of this ever happened.

I took one last look at the earth sealed wall as the officer started the car.  I shook my head in amazement.  Who... no... what, was Ella?  Besides crazy and hot?

Chapter 2 – The Station

I noticed that the officer driving went around the block as I saw Ella being led into the station by three officers.  We circled around the block once then we stopped, and the officer who had been driving opened the back door for me.  Were they doing that to separate us?  But we didn't do anything wrong... did we?

The other officer, the taller one of the two, who hadn't so much as looked back at me the entire drive, spoke up as the two flanked me, “This way Miss Devareau.”

I took the opportunity to ask yet again, “Why did I have to come to the station?  I just want to go home and get some sleep.  I can give a statement or whatever you want in the morning.”

They didn't say a word and I laid a hand on the driver's arm.  “I didn't do anything.”

The man exhaled and asked in an understanding voice, “Did you see what happened in that alley?” I nodded slowly, then he said, “There you go then.”  I squinted and he said like it was obvious,  “Whatever it was she did back there, it wasn't normal.  She has to be some sort of paranormal... something.  Lots of people are going to have questions for her.  Big brass and the alphabet soup of agencies have been looking for something for weeks now in the city.  Maybe she is it.”

I crinkled my nose like I had tasted something sour and said quietly, “But she saved everyone.”  I looked between the two men.  “Saved you if you were there.”

I hadn't even been paying attention to where they had been leading me as we stepped into a small room with a long table.  Two steel chairs on one side and one on the other.  There was a steel ring assembly protruding from the floor under the chair the tall officer pulled out for me.

I asked, “Why am I in an interrogation room?  Am I being arrested?”

They stopped at the door as they looked back.  The tall man said, “No, see?  I won't close the door.  This is the most convenient place for the detectives to speak with you.  They'll just have a few questions and then you'll be free to go.”

The other man looked down at my bare feet.  “I'll see if I can't round up some slippers or something for you.”  I looked at my feet then back up and nodded dumbly as the men left.

Okay.  Now that is fun.  Not.  All of this because of a flat tire.  I wasn't going to get any sleep and I'd be worthless at work the next day.  I needed my job.  I exhaled in exasperation.

I looked around.  There wasn't one of those stupid mirrors they put in the rooms on TV where all the officers stand behind to watch the interrogations.  The ones that none of the bad guys in the shows ever realizes it is a two-way mirror.

Except for the door and two tiny ventilation grates that nobody would be able to squeeze through.  The walls were spartan.  The metal table and chairs just made it that much more so.  The only thing that broke up the antiseptic space were the three cameras at the ceiling.  One pointed toward me, one pointed toward the other chairs, and one in the far corner that took in the whole room including the door.  I started feeling self-conscious looking at the steady red light on each of the cameras.

I don't know how long I waited.  After a while, I had crossed my arms on the table and put my head down in them and dozed off.  A man's voice asking, “Miss Devareau?”  Woke me.  I looked up and there was a guy in a well-worn suit at the door with some folders.  Two other men and a well-dressed woman were behind him.

I glanced around, gathering my wits.  There was a can of cola and a pair of flip-flops on the table next to me.  I absently grabbed the flip flops and slipped them on as I responded, “Yes?”  I ran my fingers through my hair to pull out the tangle it had gotten into as I slept as well, to help me fully wake up.

He stepped in and the others entered behind him and closed the door.  The woman grabbed one of the chairs and brought it to the short end of the table and sat.  She offered her hand, I absently took it as I studied her.

I don't know high-end fashion as I could never afford it, but the pale yellow business skirt suit she wore, must have cost hundreds, if not thousands.  The white blouse, like the rest, was so immaculately pressed it almost looked unreal.  Her honey blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, not a hair out of place.  Her sculpted eyebrows and immaculate makeup completed her look.

She said, “Helena Calliwell, from  Steinbrenner, Calliwell, and August.  Your attorney, Miss Devareau.  Don't say anything unless I say.”  I blinked then noted even her nails looked to be perfectly manicured with a satin sheen.

I felt self-conscious and hid my nails by closing my hands into fists as I said, “But, I can't afford a lawyer.  Do I need one?”  Then added, “I didn't do anything.”

She put a hand on top of mine. Her sharp hazel eyes held me at attention as she said, “I am Miss Smith's lawyer and she has instructed me to make sure you are treated well here.”

Then she turned to the three men.  “Gentlemen, what can my client do for you tonight?  It is an inconvenience for her to be dragged down here, and without her shoes.”

The first man cleared his throat gently and started to speak as he offered his hand to me, “Detective Arthur Reiner.  We are sorry to inconvenience you this evening Miss Devareau.  We just have a few quick questions then you are free to go.”

I shook his hand as my ummm... my lawyer?  Said, “Clarification.  Has my client been arrested for any crimes?  Have any charges been filed at this time?”  He sighed in an exasperated manner then shook his head.  She smiled in a predatory way and said, “Then in truth, she is free to go at any time.  She will, of course, give her full cooperation, but our patience is finite.”

He harrumphed as he nodded.  “Of course, the Seattle Police Department is grateful for any assistance Miss Devareau can give us in this matter.”

Then the woman cocked an eyebrow at the other two.  The detective looked back, and said like someone trying to be patient, “These are Special Agent Quinton with Homeland Security.”  He motioned his chin toward the silver-haired man in a much better fitting suit than his.  The man was dressed all in black except his white dress shirt.  I almost snorted, he looked like one of the Blues Brothers, or a Man in Black.

Then he nudged his chin toward the other man who wore dress pants and a dress shirt with the top two buttons undone.  He looked to be in his mid-thirties and sort of had a bad boy look to him.  The kind of guy I was attracted to once upon a time.  “Special Agent Pike...”  He trailed off.  “I didn't get your agency.”  The man held up his badge as Reiner harrumphed and said, “Department of Agriculture?  You'd think you dumb fucks could come up with something better than that.  What is it?  CIA?  CSCLD?”

My eyebrow rose.  The CSCLD was the  Congressional Subcommittee in charge of Lupine Defense.  Why would he ask that?  The younger agent shrugged and said in a baritone voice that sounded like a smirk even though his face was impassive, “Badge says Department of Agriculture.”

Reiner just said, “Whatever floats your boat I guess.”  Then he looked back at Miss Calliwell and me and stressed, “They are only here to observe.”  His voice got gruffer as he looked back at them with a warning scowl. “Nothing else.”

Miss Calliwell inclined her head in acknowledgment as I rubbed the sweat off my palms onto my uniform skirt while she instructed them,  “Ask your questions.”

He nodded and opened a couple folders.  He spun one to me and it contained a single sheet with a picture of Ella on it.  It looked like a dossier with most of the fields left blank.  Lots of question marks were in the notes area like someone had gotten frustrated and started just drawing them since each one was darker and darker.  “How do you know Miss... Smith?”  He almost spat out her last name.  I didn't believe her either, but I grinned that it was causing him consternation.

I opened my mouth and Calliwell beat me to it.  “What did Miss Smith tell you?”

The man almost glared at her and said, “She hasn't said anything beyond telling us to get you and that she wouldn't speak to anyone but Parker Devareau.”

I looked at them nervously and the well-coiffed woman just nodded once to me.  I said, “I don't.  I had never seen her until tonight when she showed up and saved not only my life but the lives of countless officers, and possibly many citizens of Seattle.”

He nodded and wrote something in the other folder.  I stretched my neck.  The folder had my picture paper-clipped to it.  In the outfit I was currently in, so they just printed it tonight.  There were many pages in the folder.  God damn it.  Why were they looking at my record?  I had done some stupid stuff when I was younger.  “I didn't do anything wrong.  Why do you have my record?”  Calliwell put a hand on my arm and I shut up.

Then he asked, “What kind of paranormal are you?  What kind is Miss Smith?”  What?  I wasn't a paranormal anything.  Did he mean my sensitivity to magic?  It wasn't illegal was it?

Calliwell just said, “Next question.” Her hand still on my arm applying pressure to stop me from answering.”

The man exhaled in frustration again. “Come on, you have to give us something here.  We need to know the reason you were in the alley where those other paranormals that blew the wall were.  If not, we can only assume you were part of it.”

My new lawyer shot me a look that I read a lot into.  I got the distinct impression she was telling me to go ahead but to be careful with what I said.  I proceeded with the truth hoping she'd stop me if I were saying anything stupid.  Why did I feel like a criminal?  I didn't do anything.  “I was rushing home just after sundown, my car got a flat and I didn't want to be out there unprotected while I put on the spare.  I heard a noise when I passed the alley and I went to check if there was someone else out that needed to get behind some FMBs.”

He leaned on the desk with this forearms, hands flat against the metal and said, “That was it?  You just heard a noise and that's how you wound up on the scene of the worst breach in the city's history in a hundred years?”

Calliwell sighed. “Answered, move on to your next question if there is one.”

He looked up and said, “Where did you leave your vehicle?”

My lawyer squinted her eyes at him.  “Do you doubt her statement?  Where is this heading?”

He was getting aggravated, I could see it in his clenched jaw.  He didn't like lawyers much.  “We're just concerned her vehicle may be vandalized if it was left in an unsavory neighborhood.”

This actually got a snort out of her and she smiled. “No, you doubt her statement and you want to verify it.  Nobody is going to vandalize her car on a full moon because nobody is stupid enough to be out after dark on a full moon.”  Then she softened and shot me an apologetic look.  Yeah, that's me, stupid.  She prompted me with a look and said, “Go ahead and tell him.”

I told him where my car was at the side of the road.  He wrote it down and snapped his fingers and the tall cop that brought me in, entered into the room, took the paper from him and exited the room.

Then the man pushed back in his chair a bit. He looked at me for a few seconds then said, “Officer Travers said that you tried to save his life at the scene instead of running to safety when the wolves attacked.”  He exhaled.  “Thank you for that.”  I blinked.  Wasn't he just thinking I was involved somehow?

I shrugged, then he asked, “Do you know why Miss Smith wants to speak with you?”

I was again stopped from answering by Calliwell, but I shook my head at her and blurted out, “I've never met the woman.  But she came to my rescue and the rescue of the officer.  She protected us and the other police that arrived to contain the situation.  She saved us all and you are treating her and me like criminals.  What did she do that was so wrong?”  The woman squeezed gently on my arm again, allowing me to regain my wits and shut my mouth.

Special Agent Pike blurted out, “She's a paranormal of unknown power!”

This got a sly grin and a raised, sculpted eyebrow from Calliwell. “And this is illegal if it is true?”

Reiner interrupts the man's reply before he took the obvious bait.  “Of course it isn't.”  Then he looked at the other men and added a nebulous, “Yet.”

Miss Calliwell stood smoothly and smiled. “Then I guess we are done here.  Now, may I see my other client, please?”  Her hand reached out and took my elbow and guided me to my feet, and started walking me toward the door.  The men stood and I noted the squint I was getting from the two agents.

Reiner ran his hands through his hair and said in exasperation,  “Of course.  Thank you for your cooperation Miss Devareau.  We apologize for an inconvenience, can one of our officers escort you home?”

My attorney shook her head and answered for me.  “No need, but thank you.  I have her from here and will get her home safely.  I will have a truck sent in the morning to tow her car.  Now, where is Miss Smith?  Has my client been arrested for any crimes?  Have any charges been filed at this time?”

This got an almost wolfish grin from the man as he said smugly,  “Yes.  Killing feral werewolves without a license.  Reckless driving, failure to wear a helmet, and damage to city property when her motorcycle dented the trash dumpster.”

She stopped in her tracks and I almost bumped into her.  “You really are a bastard aren't you?  Failure to wear a helmet?”  She leveled him a look that would freeze ice. “You're just using this as a reason to hold her.  And on a full moon there aren't any judges available until the morning.  Playing the system is beneath you isn't it?”

He grinned again. “You mean like you just played the system.”

She chuckled. “Yes, but lawyers are supposed to be slimy.  You are expected to be one of the good guys.”

With lack of emotion she said, “You know that the good Samaritan laws state that if you see someone in need of help and you are capable of lending assistance, you are required to do so.  Since she was capable of rendering assistance and did, she followed the law.  The incidental damage to an already banged up dumpster was incurred while she was providing that lawful assistance, so is covered by that self-same law.”

She dropped her chin and looked at him.  “And in doing so, put herself in mortal danger.  The lupine defense exclusions specifically allow for someone to use lethal force to defend themselves against 'ferals'.  Which you yourself stated these werewolves were not a minute ago.”

He looked genuinely amused at her now and shrugged. “That's not for me to say.  We'll have to wait for a judge to set bail and then we can see where it leads.  In the meantime, I have some questions for your client.  If this all proves to be a misunderstanding, then I'm sure she can clear things up quickly and we can just forget this ever happened.”

She sighed. “I will be lodging a complaint with the district attorney and chief of police on the behalf of my client on your misuse of the system.”

He nodded and we all started walking again and his tone was smug when he responded, “You do that.  Reiner is spelled with an EI, not IE.”

We stepped into a room where a few people in suits and a couple uniformed officers sat in front of that one-way mirror which was missing in my interrogation room.  It was looking into a similar room, where a woman in a pantsuit with an SPD badge on her hip was speaking with Ella.  There were two other men in suits in that room too.

The detective was red-faced as she asked, “Let's try this again, what kind of paranormal are you, and why were you in that alley tonight.”

Ella looked to be having a good time as she grinned at the woman as her eyes flicked between her and the two men.  She seemed to be getting something out from between her teeth with her tongue then said to nobody in particular,  “Sod off.  For the hundredth time you manky bint, we told you to get Helena Calliwell, from  Steinbrenner, Calliwell, and August for Parker Devareau.  Then get Parker in here, we'll only speak with her.”

Miss Calliwell looked angry and she glared at Reiner.  “Why are your people still questioning her when she has asked for her lawyer.”

This got a smirk from the man. “Oh, but she hasn't asked for her lawyer for herself, you just heard, she wanted you for Miss Devareau.”

Calliwell shook her head. “Well I am here now and I demand to see my client, you can't deny me.”

Ella's eyes swung to the mirror at that, and she smiled right at the lawyer and me like she could see us as she said, “Hey Helena, it's good to see you.  We're sorry for dragging you into this bloody clusterfuck Parker.”

One of the suits turned his back to the mirror and paled as he whispered to another, “She could see and hear us this whole time.”

I could almost see the fire in Ella's eyes as she curled her upper lip up to show a snarl as she said tonelessly, “That's right you sodding wanker.  Think really long and hard about some of the things you said where we could hear you.”  I could hear her knuckles pop over the speaker as she balled her hands into tight fists.  I swallowed, it was pretty damn intimidating even though it came from such an alluring package.  But then again, I saw what those fists could do.  I could still feel the whump in the air and around my body as she crushed the bones of the wolves with each strike.  Strikes which seemed to have originated from the very earth around us.

Reiner growled out, “You're a pain in my ass Calliwell, come on.”  He motioned his head toward the door and she started to follow.  I didn't know if I was supposed to stay put or not, I absently hugged my shoulders feeling exposed in a room full of officers and agents.  Especially since I could feel some sort of magic.  One, no two of the people in the room had that... feel, to them.

Ella squinted and said, “Don't forget to bring Parker, Helena.”  The woman looked back and motioned her head and I almost ran to catch up to her.  We went out one door and up to the interrogation room door and he knocked lightly before he opened the door.  He nodded to the other detective and looked at the two suited men then squinted at their waists in distaste. I followed his gaze and took a second to realize that the straps on their hip holsters were unfastened.

Calliwell didn't fail to notice either and motioned a hand toward the nearest one's hip.  “Is that sort of intimidation really necessary?”

Reiner didn't look happy either and motioned his head toward the door.  “Take a hike.  All you alphabets are taking too many liberties with our hospitality.”  This got a quirk of a smirk from Ella, who I had my eyes locked on now as the men started to exit.

Then Ella turned and started arguing with herself under her breath.  Then she spoke to the ground, “I know, manners, stop being so bloody pushy.”  She stood suddenly and both Reiner and the other detective put their hands on their weapons, the suits stopped at the door and did the same, but Ella just offered me her chair.  “Please have a seat, Parker.”  She hopped up onto the table and dangled her feet, almost cutely.

She looked around the room and smirked again as the detectives relaxed and moved their hands from their weapons.  She teased, “Jumpy lot aren't ya?”  Then she looked at me and ignored everyone else.  “You right Parker?  We didn't mean for you to get pulled into this sodding mess.”

I looked around at everyone before settling my eyes back on her, she was nodding and I found myself aping her nod again.  I grinned at her seeming habit of doing that, I found it funny that she asked questions she knew the answers to.  I looked down to hide my smile.  I don't think the woman realized how sexy she looked sitting on that table, swinging her legs.  It made me acutely aware of all of my imperfections.

I heard the whisper of a voice, as if it were a memory on the wind.  A woman's French accent, I couldn't make it out, it was more of an impression than an actual sound, and nobody reacted.  Then Ella looked perturbed and mumbled to her feet, “Yes fine, just give me a minute.  I was gettin' there.  No need to get pushy.”

She looked over at Calliwell and asked with a grin, “Get us out of here Helena?”

The attorney shook her head.  “They are playing games within the system right now, I advise you not to say a single word.  We can get you out in the morning.”

Ella seemed to ignore her as she looked back at me and asked, “The bluebottles didn't disrespect you?”  She looked at my feet. “At least the tin shields did that for you.”

I shrugged. “I'm fine, really.  I just want to go home.  Your lawyer was with me when they asked me about the breach.”

She nodded and looked at Reiner and the female detective and asked with a scowl, “So King, which of you two plonkers is in charge?”  King must have been the other detective's name.  I got the impression of reprimand in the air, and the feeling of that French accent again.  Then Ella rolled her eyes almost imperceptibly, and then put on a fake smile if I ever saw one.  I suppressed a snort.  She caught it and winked at me.

Detective King said, “I am.”

Ella nodded and then looked at Helena who was warning her with her eyes. I caught the apology in Ella's expressive face as she turned to the detective while talking back over her shoulder to our lawyer, “Sorry Helena.”  Then she looked at the detective. “If we answer your bloody questions, will you stop playing your fuckin' games and let us take Miss Devareau home?”

Helena shook her head and made a disgusted sound as the detectives started to grin.  King said, “If you answer our questions, then we'll see.”

Ella laughed a sardonic laugh and said, “Get bent you bint.  Either agree to our terms or you get nothing and our lawyer will tear you down.  We got nothin' to hide.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, copying King's.  She was really good at getting reactions from people by using both sides of mimicking.  King uncrossed her arms then she said, “If your answers are satisfactory then yes, we'll drop the charges and you'll be free to go.”  The suits who still hadn't left the room stiffened and started to protest.  King shot them warning glances.  “This is my house gentlemen, you are here at my discretion so zip it or feel free to leave to whine to your superiors.”

Ella grinned at that and looked to reappraise the woman.  I shifted in my seat.  Ella looked at her and said, “Shoot blondie.”

The woman narrowed her eyes a bit, not liking being referred to like that.  She probably had to fight that sort of thing her whole career, being a decent looking blonde woman on the force.  Then Ella looked back at Helena and said, “Make sure we don't say the wrong things.”

Calliwell snorted and asked rhetorically, “Like always?”  This got a toothy grin from the enigmatic woman in leathers.

When King opened her mouth to speak, Ella interrupted her and said to the mirrored wall, “Hey baldy... yes you, stop pointing at yourself like a bloody git.  Be a fukin' gentleman, and bring in another chair for our shyster, don't leave a lady standing.”  I blinked at the mirror, I could see two human shapes moving around almost like white misty shadows.  The two I thought had some magic?

Ella's sharp eyes were on me and she squinted slightly at me.  Then she listened to something I got that same impression of a French woman's voice but it was so vague and echoed in my head like a specter that was more impression than sound.  Then she spoke down at her feet again in a mumble, “I know, right?  Chivalry and manners in this new age are forgotten skills.”

Dear lord, I was going insane wasn't I?  I was bat shit crazy like this gorgeous nutcase wasn't I?  I could almost hear who she argued with.  The stress from the wolf attack pushed me over the edge, hadn't it?  I got out of my head when the door opened and the bald officer brought in two chairs and set them near the table for Calliwell, who smiled and thanked the man.

Then King started asking questions,  “What you did tonight was obviously with some sort of magic.  What kind of paranormal are you?  Were you working with the men who blew the wall?”

Ella stopped swinging her legs and her face hardened a bit.  “We just saved your city from the fuckin' breach.  Why would we do that if we were with the fuckin' druids?  It must be dark up there...”

King squinted her eyes in confusion and Ella clarified, “With your head up your bloody arse all the time.”  I couldn't help it, I snorted which got a cute smile from Ella.  King started to stand and Reiner stepped forward.

Ella started arguing with her feet and I could feel the presence chastising.  Then Ella said in frustration to everyone's confusion, “Fine!  You know I'm shite with people, manners, and restraint.  You do it yourself, I'll just kick back.”

I felt slightly dizzy as Ella's posture and body language seemed to relax, she slipped off the table lightly and straightened the leather skirt that was short enough to show off her sublime legs.  She sat almost regally on the empty chair and crossed her legs at her ankles.  Then with a sweet smile that looked so at home on her face, she spoke with a well cultured French accent to King, “I must apologize for my rude outburst mon chéri.  But non, I am not affiliated with zee black magic druids.”

Everyone present including me looked a little confused.  I swallowed, I didn't think it was an act.  For the next fifteen minutes or so, Ella answered questions politely, and graciously refused to answer any questions about herself or any abilities she may or may not possess.  She was elegant and eloquent.

I noted that when she spoke with the French accent, all of her pronouns were singular like I, me, myself, instead of the we, our, us that she used when she had the Cockney accent.  She also projected two distinctly opposite personalities depending on the accent.  If it weren't for the fact I had kind of heard this version of her earlier, I would have thought she had a split personality mental disorder, but I didn't think so.

She would look at me demurely and tuck her hair behind her ear when my eyes were on her.  It was a little beyond cute.  She seemed to be getting tired and sometimes she started to stray in her words and the Cockney accent would provide words for her in prompt.  Then she said, “I am sorry, I am exhausted and can't answer any more questions mon chéri, I must sleep now.  Anything else, and I offer an apology in advance for my behavior.”

I felt that wave of dizziness and her body language and posture changed again, to something dangerous, hard.  “Are we right now copper?”

King regarded her for a minute then tapped her pen on the folder in front of her.  She pulled out a thick folder from the stack and opened it.  “I'm not buying your crazy act here.  But we're satisfied that you were not involved in the breach, but you are hiding something.  Don't leave town for the next few days until we get this sorted out.”

Ella started to stand as did Calliwell so I followed suit but they stopped as King started talking, “Boston twelve months ago, seven men dead and thirteen ferals.  Texas ten months ago, twenty-one dead, eighteen ferals.  San Antonio six months ago, five dead, two ferals.  Denver last month, sixteen women dead, sixty-eight ferals, the collapse of a two hundred yard section of a freeway overpass.”

Ella interrupted, “Seventeen, the coven leader of those Romanian witches was vaporized when a magic attack against us was reflected back at her.”  She gave a toothy grin.

Then King finished, “Tonight, twenty-seven ferals killed.  It seems you are leaving a swath of death and destruction in your wake, Miss... Smith.”

Ella shrugged. “All good kills.  Your records show that.  All black magic users or that fuckin' feral cult infecting children with the lycan contagion.”

I was a little nervous around her now, realizing how dangerous this woman really was if she had done all of that.  I chastised myself.  Of course she was dangerous, I had witnessed it myself.  But she was protecting me.  She said the other kills were bad people too.

I remembered that cult.  Not even the special National Guard unit could get to them.  They were so well entrenched and nobody wanted to harm the poor children they were infecting in the name of their religion.  It is the cruelest of fates for a child to be cursed like that.  Never to grow up, to be a killer on the full moon.

But the news said it was a large special forces team that went in and killed all the cult leaders and rescued the children.  Then I thought about it.  Of course, that's what the government wants us to believe.  Who would believe that one fashion model looking, badass woman, did all of that killing?  I closed my eyes and told myself that she is one of the good guys, doing what others couldn't.

King said, “My point is that this is my town.  We don't need a vigilante running around unchecked.  Once the investigation is over and we catch the ones who blew the wall, I want you gone.”

Ella nodded and said, “Once we finish what we came here to do, we'll leave.”  Then she squinted her eyes. “Where's my baby?  My bike?”

Reiner spoke up, “Police impound.  I'll have it released, but it can't be ridden, the forks are bent and the front rim crushed.  You'll need a truck.”

She had said 'my' about the bike, was that significant?  Or a slip of the tongue?  She looked back at Helena with a pained look.  The lawyer gave a sly smile and said almost with a sigh, “I'll have her moved to a shop and repaired as soon as possible.  I swear that bike is held together by a prayer, you have wrecked it so many times.”

Ella nodded soberly and almost whispered, “Yes, but she's mine.”  She shook herself out of the funk then smiled at me and reached over to take my hand and tucked it into the crook of her arm.  Good lord, I tried not to notice how warm she was or how close that made me stand to the woman.

I kept looking back at the detectives and the miscellaneous agents that were watching us like hawks as we exited the building into the night.  I felt instantly exposed when I heard the FMBs lower and clank into place behind us.  I could hear howling and gunshots in the distance at the various gates around the city.

Ella saw me locking up and put her arm around my shoulders and said quickly, “Don't worry, they can't get to you, we won't let them.”  This had the odd effect of calming me, and I realized her magic had the warm presence of safety that the Red Hood's had, only with a slightly acidic tinge to it.

The driver of a black town car with dark tinted windows, which was idling at the curb, hopped out and opened the back door for us three women to slide in.  As soon as the door closed Helena slipped out of her professional demeanor, smiled hugely at Ella, and kissed her on the cheek.  “Why didn't you tell me you were coming to Seattle, grandmother?  It is so great to see you!”  Ella's eyes softened and she gave a smile a mother would to a child they were proud of.

I sputtered. “Grand... grandmother?”  She wasn't infected, you could never tell the actual age of a wolf since they are locked into the form they were in when they were bitten.

Ella chuckled and clarified to me with humor, “Well really, great great, great... We've lost count of how many greats are in there... grandmother.”  Then she cupped her apparent granddaughter's cheek.  “We are so very proud of you.”

Then she turned to me, I probably looked like a fish out of water gasping for air as I tried to digest what was going on.  She gave me a humorous smile and said, “A little much to take in?”  She nodded and I found myself nodding too.

I chuckled and pushed her shoulder. “Stop doing that.  I'm not that predictable.”

She shook her head, “No, you're not.” And I found myself shaking my head too.  I stopped and shook a finger at her in warning as she laughed.

She stopped, then said, “Good to see you can still have fun in a stressful situation Parker.”  Then she looked around and saw the driver was looking back, and Calliwell was looking at her expectantly.  “Okay, ummm...”  Then she looked at me with big doe eyes and blinked her baby blues at me and I about died right there.  She asked, “Put a girl up?  Those wankers don't want us leaving town for a bit.  We have answers for about a million of your questions.  And have a few of our own.”

God, her eyes were almost hypnotic.  I bit my lower lip and nodded as she did.  I chuckled. “Damn it, woman, stop doing that.”  This just got a giggle of glee from her and I couldn't stop smiling and blushing at her antics.

When we reached my building and said our goodbyes to Helena, Ella promising to visit before she left town, the car waited until we were safely behind the building's FMBs before pulling away from the curb.  She held my hand in the crook of her arm as we climbed the stairs.

I paused as I slid the key into the lock then, looked at her, and my brow furrowed.  “Wait a minute.  Why am I taking you in, instead of you staying at a hotel?”

She smiled sweetly and tilted her head.  “We hate hotels, and there was so much I wanted ta ask you.  And you offered.”

Oh, okay, I... wait!  No, I didn't! I almost shook my head, but she was already grinning and shaking her head.  “Hey!  Stop doing that woman!”  She stopped shaking her head, I held up a finger in warning then shook my head.  I swear I felt a giggling presence as I said, “No, I didn't.”  Then I opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter.

She inclined her head in thanks and stepped in.  I came in behind her and locked the door and the three deadbolts and the little chain lock.  She bit her tongue in amusement and looked around.  I felt a little embarrassed.

The place wasn't exactly spotless.  There were a couple containers from carryout here and there I hadn't cleared away yet.  I looked around and shrugged internally, it was relatively clean, just looked lived in, not really messy.  I kicked the bra on the floor under the fold out couch in my little one room studio.

I motioned to the couch with my palm and said, “Please, have a seat.  Did you want something to drink?  Water, juice, soda, tea?”

She squinted an eye as she sat and asked, “Did you have something stronger?  Beer will do in a pinch.”  I noted she didn't sit as demurely as she had in the station.  She didn't cross her ankles, and her knees were a little apart and she draped her arms on her knees, hands dangling in the air.

I wasn't any sort of psychologist or anything, but I knew people, and could read them fairly well.  Her mannerisms and body language screamed out that she acted like two distinctly different people.  Just great.  Why are the hot ones always nucking futs?

I said, “No sorry, I'm not much of a drinker.”  As I grabbed the carryout containers and dropped them in the trash by the fridge.

She sighed and said, “A soda would be grand then.”  That presence was pushing out and then she added, “Please.”  Then whispered to her left, “There are you happy now?”  I grabbed two sodas, I watched her argue under her breath, and I got the distinct impression of the other side of the conversation.  Like the murmurs of that French voice, I couldn't make out the words from.

She smiled sweetly as I handed her a can.  She popped the tab and chugged a little and burped.  I felt the reprimand almost like a slap that time.  She hissed to herself, “Yes manners.”  She looked at me and said, “Excuse us Parker, we don't mean to be such a wanker.  And thank you.”  She gave me a cheesy grin that made me blush and want to smile back.  She was crude but charming all at once and it made her sort of fascinating to me.

I opened my can and said, “You're welcome.  And it's okay.”  I took a couple gulps and burped to illustrate I was sincere.  She laughed, twice.  No... once?  Then I said before I could stop myself,  “She's insistent isn't she?”

Ella froze.  I mean totally froze.  She didn't move didn't blink, didn't breath as she locked eyes with me.  Then she asked quietly, “She?”

Crap.  Why do I speak before I think?  She must think I'm making fun of her.  I shrugged and could feel a blush burning on my face and down my neck.  I spoke quietly, almost in apology,  “The French lady you keep arguing with.”

She set her can down on the coffee table and asked in a hoarse voice, “You can hear Marie?”  I don't know what I was seeing in her eyes, it was like a turmoil of emotion, and... hope?

God, I was probably just as crazy as she was.  I set my can down too and said carefully, “Well, no.  But I keep getting the impression of a person with a French accent, the slightest hint of a presence when you umm... talk to yourself.”

She narrowed her eyes, now it looked like suspicion and borderline anger as she asked, “You, felt this in the car too?”  She was doing her head nodding thing again, but this time I didn't ape her.

I narrowed my eyes and thought about it.  Then shook my head instead and said, “No.  Actually I didn't feel the presence after you stopped speaking with the French accent at the police station.  I didn't feel it again until she giggled at the door here.”

A tear rolled down her cheek and she smiled at me in relief.  She whispered to nobody in particular,  “She was asleep then.  She overexerted herself by taking control for too long with those sodding plonkers at the station.  Woke up on the way up the stairs.”

I felt that pressure and the impression of a quick greeting.  I waved like an idiot, “Hi.”

Ella smiled hugely at that and then picked up her soda and chugged the last of it with a self-satisfied grin.  Then she left me hanging by changing the topic.  “Well, that explains the bloody alley, now don't it?”

I furrowed my brow and she grinned and turned in the couch, to fold her arms behind her head and she cutely laid her legs across my lap.  “We were going to ask you why you really went into the alley when it looked to us like you were so determined to get yourself home.  But you're a sensitive.  And apparently one unlike we have ever met before.  Nobody has ever heard or felt Marie.  They all just think us mad.”

I set my drink down as I looked at her, and the bare skin between her boot tops and her leather mini skirt.  Good lord was it hot in here.  I felt like a fool sitting there with my arms up.  I lowered them as I swallowed and rested my arms on her legs.

I shrugged. “I might just be crazy too.”  She let out a stream of bubbling laughter that sounded like silver chimes to me as the other presence lent the impression of a giggle.  I couldn't help smiling at her.

I felt an instant of dizziness then she said in a French accent, “Oui, then we are in good company mon chéri.  Non?”  Her eyes seemed to glaze and I felt that wave again and then in her Cockney accent she said, “We assure you that you are not off your trolley Parker.  You look to have a shitload of questions.  Ask.  We won't lie to you.”

By the look in her gorgeous blue eyes.  I knew she meant it, she'd tell me anything.  I caught myself stroking my thumbs on her legs and stopped before she could notice.  Then I nodded almost shyly.  I did have a million questions for her, but my traitorous mouth asked, “How can your eyes be so blue?”

She seemed to deflate and she looked almost... ashamed.  She whispered, “They aren't mine.”  I could see a depth of pain I had never observed in a person as she said it.  I squeezed her legs in apology for whatever I had done, then changed the topic quickly.  “Why do you always say we, and us... unless you talk about your bike or when ummm... Marie?  Speaks?  And how can you possibly be the great, great, whatever of Miss Calliwell?”

She smirked a little in appreciation then said, “You are a direct bird aren't you?  Right to the meat of the matter, we like that.”  She moved one arm from behind her head and laid it on mine as I caught myself stroking the porcelain skin on her leg again.

She spoke with herself, I could feel it, then she nodded and said, “Alright.  We'll spin no tales and tell you the truth of the matter and let the chips fall where they may.”  Then she paused and shrugged. “But you won't believe us.”  She was shaking her head and I almost did too and then slapped her leg to her chuckling pleasure.  Then she added, “Only if you share your story with us when we are through.”

I nodded and said, “Okay, but I don't have much of a story.”

She shrugged then smiled and seemed to snuggle into the couch.  I got the distinct impression of huddling around a campfire in preparation for a story.  Even the presence I could feel with us seemed to hold her breath in anticipation.

Ella licked her lips and exhaled, then took a deep breath and said with sarcasm dripping in her voice, “Once upon a time...”

Chapter 3 – Cinders and Ash

I was born in the twelfth century to a chambermaid in a holding in Essex.  The master of the manor, Count Emery had used her for more than cleaning, the sodding wanker, and she begot a daughter.  Mother named me Ella.  The lady of the manor hated my mother and me with a passion because the Count doted on his bastard child more than her.

The Lady came to an unfortunate end in an accident in a coach that took my mother from me as well, when I was but sixteen.  I took on the duties of my mother before me, as the chamber maid, and, unfortunately, was used as my mother before me had been, against my will, the incestual bastard.  I became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter who was taken from me and given to the Count's barren sister.  I had never even bestowed a name upon her before she was taken from me.  I swore I'd cut off Emery's manhood with a dull knife one day.

The master of the manor had started courting a widowed Baroness with two daughters of her own, Lucile and Juliana, a short time later.  All were beautiful, and they knew it.  The odd thing was that Margret didn't look old enough to have two fully grown daughters who looked nothing like her.  It didn't take long before a wedding took place, it was as if she had the ass enchanted.  Thus, the Baroness became a Countess.

Lady Margret and her daughters, learned of my disposition, being their illegitimate step, and proceeded to make my life more of a living hell.  I didn't think things could get worse than the hand I had already been dealt, but I was wrong.  They showed me every bloody day.

Over the years, they slowly released the indentured servants and heaped more and more upon my duties when Emery was not looking.  The worst was when then manky bints always had me clean the grand stone fireplace in the dining room while they feasted... while the fire was still partially alive.

I cursed them as they laughed when the cinders burned me and I was covered in ash.  Lucile and Juliana would taunt me, “Poor little Ella, all cinders, and ash.”  I added them to my 'to do list' with my dull knife.  I dreamed of running away every day to find a new life, but that was the only life I had known.

One thing I noted to my relief was that after the wedding, Emery stopped using me for his pleasure.  He did everything Margret told him to without fail, and he grew more and more distant every day.  He started withdrawing as if his mind and strength were taken from him a bit every day.  I heard rumors that it was the same thing that happened to Margret's prior husband as well.

The Lady and her daughters would disappear into the woods almost every day.  I saw them one day when I was gathering truffles and chestnuts.  They were practicing magic with the dark order of druids from the swamp area of the upland flushes.  They didn't follow the peaceful and nurturing ways of the other druid elementals.  I ran all the way home lest they see me and think I had been spying.

Eventually, Emery was bedridden and died a jibbering git.  I hated the man so, but it was a terrible way to go, out of your mind like that, nobody deserved that.

Then I realized I had had it good because that is when my hell began.  They doubled their efforts to demean me.  When they had me do things I was reluctant to, like retrieving a ring that Lucile had somehow dropped in the trench I emptied the chamber pots into.  Margret would speak in a foreign tongue and touch the amulet on her necklace, and I would be forced to comply against my own will.  It was the black magic of the druids.

The only respite I had was the frequent trips the women of the house would make to the castle.  The king's son, Prince John, was of age and in need of a consort.  Lucile and Juliana were vying for his hand in marriage.  They plotted and schemed, I overheard them arguing to “Just do it again.”  Their mother bid them patience.

Then their plans were ruined when the King announced that Prince John would have an arranged marriage to the daughter of Count Aillard De La Fontaine of France, Marie.  The sodding bints took it out on me and beat me daily until I could not move.

They visited the royal court daily to figure out how to derail the marriage and gain the power they wanted for themselves.  Then it was announced that the Lady Marie De La Fontaine would travel to England six months prior to the wedding to prepare.  Lady Margret was quick to offer the manor for her to stay as it would not be proper for the lady to stay at the castle with her future husband.

I cursed silently in my chamber in the back of the barn, just what I needed was another high and mighty woman to join in their torture of the manor's chambermaid.  But the moment the Lady Marie stepped off that coach I forgot how to breathe and my heart stopped beating.  I had never in my life seen anyone so beautiful, so cultured, so... perfect.

Her golden hair spilled down her shoulders and down her back.  She had the complexion of a porcelain doll and her twinkling blue eyes threatened to swallow my very soul.  Her smile started my breathing again as I swallowed.  I felt flushed and didn't understand my reaction to her.  I felt dirty when I realized I was aroused when that smile fell on me.

Margret kicked me in the back hard.  “Get the Countess' belongings to her room girl!”

I lowered my eyes and said, “Yes Lady.”  And curtsied to Marie before I scurried past to help the coachman get the trunks down as the women introduced themselves.  Lady Marie kept looking back at me with concern in her eyes, I mistook for pity.

As I started dragging the first trunk to the manor, Marie excused herself from her conversation with the ladies of the house and stepped over to me to reach for the other handle to assist. She said in her honey sweet voice with that French accent that made my knees rubbery, “Let me help.”

I kept my eyes on my feet and whispered quickly as I shook my head, “No Lady.  I will be punished.”  She let go of the handle and just stood there watching me as I dragged the trunk inside.  I snuck a peek at her and she tilted her head and smiled at me.  I felt... happy.  I hadn't felt happy in such a long time I forgot what it was like.  I was energized.

And so it was that I had four masters instead of three.  But Marie would break off from the others to speak with me, and read the stories of the bards with me.  She took it upon herself to teach me to read and tell me stories of the world beyond the kingdom.

I was given thirty lashes when I was discovered on the roof of the barn with Lady Marie as she pointed out the different constellations of stars in the heavens.  I did not care what the bloody wankers did to me if I could get just a moment of time with this kind woman who knew so very much and just wanted to share her knowledge with me.

I understood my feelings, I had fallen in love with the lady, proving how pathetic I truly was.  A chambermaid falling for a noble.  I was a bloody deviant.  She would sneak away to walk with me in the forest and tell me of her dreams.  How she dreaded this marriage and wished so badly to love the way she wished to.  She would hold my hands on these walks and I relished her touch.

One day while discussing my dreams, she leaned in and gifted me with my first kiss.  I can still feel it today, her sweet scent as our lips brushed gently together.  My body sighing and my toes curled.  It was the perfect kiss.  I admitted to myself that I was in love with Lady Marie.  I was ashamed, it was a different time, loving a woman made me a deviant back then, but at the same time, I had never been happier in my life.

It was a week before the wedding, and she was so sorrowful and more withdrawn.  She started spending less time with me because she said it made her heart ache too much.  My own heart was breaking that I would lose my Lady forever.  I ran into the woods where nobody would hear my sobs.  I found a hollow and was about to give my grief its day, when I heard voices.

I moved closer in the shadows and saw Margret, Lucile, and Juliana speaking with the leader of the dark druids.  He handed Margret a necklace with a large medallion of crystals that looked almost like diamonds.  Then explained how to cast the spell for their plan.

I listened in horror how they were going to twist elemental earth magic to draw out the soul of Marie from her body and how Margret would replace her in her body.  The trauma would leave Margret's old body dead with Marie's soul inside.

She was impatient and hissed, “I know all of this.  It is the same as when you helped me steal this body.  Soon I will be a princess, then when the King and Queen have a mysterious accident, I shall be Queen at last, with the King as my puppet.  Then you will be richly rewarded as we agreed.”

The druid cautioned, “Do exactly as I said, if you break the circle or make a single mistake, it could be the end of you.”

Margret flitted her hand. “Yes yes.”

Then Lucile asked, “What of Ella, sister?  That stupid bitch Marie has befriended her, won't she notice her change in personality?”

Lady Margret chuckled.  “Who would she tell and who would believe her?”  Then she absently rubbed her amulet and then gave a wicked grin that bordered on insanity.  “Better yet, I have a great idea since I won't need my old necklace after the swap.  We'll put Ella in the body of one of the hogs that are going to slaughter next week.”  I blanched as her evil daughters laughed with her.  I had to warn Marie.

Once the ladies mounted up and rode toward the Manor, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.  I was so afraid I would not get there in time.  I ran to the back door, the horses were already tied at the stable.

I heard Margret yelling, “Get in the circle now and stand still!”

Then Marie's frightened voice asking why she was doing what she said and why she couldn't move.  I peeked into the main room. There I saw Margret and her daughters, or apparently sisters I should say, were standing outside a white circle on the floor, some sort of powder, chalk, or salt or something.  It was glowing brightly with Marie standing stock still in the middle of the bloody thing.

Margret held the new necklace, which was glowing with unnatural light, in front of her as she chanted.  I swear I could see Marie's spirit starting to leave her. I screamed “No!” as I ran and struck Margret in the spine with the cast iron poker I grabbed from the fireplace.  She fell forward and the necklace slid across the powder, breaking the circle as I tumbled over Margret as she fell to the ground.

I landed on top of the amulet as I collided with Marie.  I saw a torrent of light and force explode from under my leg where the amulet was as I crossed the circle.  I was barely aware of the circle shattering at the place the necklace and I had broken it through the white hot pain.

It seemed to go on forever and I pleaded with God to let me die, I couldn't even scream, the fuckin' pain was so excruciating.  But then the bloody screaming finally came as I stood there looking down at my own unmoving body.  I realized I was screaming in a voice that was not my own.  But then it was over,  I looked around in shock and confusion.  The room was mostly destroyed where the energy had been set loose through the protective circle and the manor was on fire.

There were charred, smoking corpses on the floor where once Lucile and Juliana stood. Margret, burned and bloodied with a wild look in her eyes, was crawling on the ground toward me, a hand reaching out for the crystal necklace.  I snatched it up and glared at her and then back at my own body as I realized what must have happened.  My Lady was dead and I was in her body.  I was enraged and terrified.

Margret hissed in a gurgling voice, “Give me the necklace you worthless girl.  You've ruined everything!”  I glared down at her as the fire spread through the room.  She grabbed her old necklace and started to speak in that strange tongue again, then she began to order me, “Give me the...”  She was silenced when I drove a shaft of pure crystal, which had somehow extended from my hand, through her skull.  I would be nobody's puppet again!

I realized the whole manor was going up in flames.  I grabbed my own corpse and dragged it slowly through the fire to the outside where the stable man and coach footman were getting buckets of water from the trough to throw ineffectually on the blazing manor.

They saw me and ran over to help.  The servant bowed to me, “Lady Marie, thank the lord you are safe.”  Then he knelt before my body and whispered, “Poor Ella.  I'm sorry my Lady, but she is dead.”  He closed my dead, staring eyes and draped his jacket over my face.

I was in shock and I just stood there staring at foreign hands.  Not mine, but those of the woman I had loved.  I was a monster, wearing her body as a skin.  Then I almost choked when her voice in my head asked, “Mon Dieu! Why can I not move?”  I spun around and whispered into the air, “Lady Marie?”

I was going mad, I bit my lower lip to feel the pain to let me know I was awake.  I looked down at my own body on the ground and the voice came again.  “Ella!?  Non!”  I knew I had heard it that time.  I thought I really must be mad.  Then I whispered so the two men could not hear, “Is that you Marie?  I'm so scared.  What is going on?  I'm... I'm in your body.”

She replied instantly, “Ella!  Mon chéri, thank the lord you are not dead.”  There was a pause then, “I have no control over my body.”

I nodded. “I... I seem to be controlling it.  I am so sorry my Lady.  I tried to stop Lady Margret, but my fucking bungling had cocked everything up.”

She said quickly, “Language Ella.”  She had been attempting to introduce me to culture and knock the rough edges off of my peasant's mannerisms.  For some reason, in this confusing state we found ourselves in, it was comforting and oddly humorous.  I snorted and covered my mouth.  Then whispered, “Sorry.”

She cautioned, “Until we can determine what has happened, and how to fix this, you need to act like me, ma petite fleur.  Oui?  Lest we be found mad or worse, found to be a product of witchcraft.  Which ironically ees the case.”

I nodded hesitantly.  Then relaxed and withdrew.  Then my hand raised up in front of my eyes on its own.  She whispered, “I can move again!”  Then I dropped my hand and she hissed out a rare obscenity.

Then I realized what had happened, I whispered, “Let me relax again, see if you can take over.”  I did and I found myself crouching and uncovered the face of my corpse and saying, “Ella mon amour, je suis tellement désolé.”  I blinked and swallowed, and knew I was in control.  So if I did anything at all, then my control of her body was re-asserted.  I was a little scared because I understood what she had said in French when I couldn't speak it.

We experimented a little when people from the town started showing up to help battle the fire that had engulfed the entire manor and the stables.  People were asking us about the Countess and her daughters.  Marie told them that they were lost in the fire.

Then after a few minutes of her being in control, she was gone and I was bloody terrified I had lost her.  We learned later that she could only be in control for around fifteen minutes before she was exhausted and had to sleep.

We were spirited off to the castle.  She had awoken again by then and I was so relieved.  I couldn't pretend to be her.  Then we continued the charade.  But to my distress, Marie reminded me that we would be married to the prince inside the week.  That was even more terrifying to me.

I said to her, “We have to run, I can't do that.”

She replied, “It ees our obligation, it has already been arranged.”

I spit out, “Obligation?  The prince can sod off for all I care.  I'm in your body, stealing your life.”  Then I voiced my biggest fear, “He'll expect... things... I can't... not in your body my Lady.”

She hissed out, “Mon Dieu!  Aren't we past all this my Lady business?  We are as about as intimate as two people can be, oui?  Call me Marie, mon amour.”

I whispered in wonder, “Your... love?”  I blinked, slack-jawed.  I loved her, but I didn't dare hope she reciprocated.

She shook our head and said with a smile, “Oui.  You knew already, I can feel it.”

I closed our eyes then shook our head and said, “I will never lay with a man.  Especially as an impostor in your body.”

She said with sadness in her tone, “Our body armour.  But you have lain with a man, did the Count not father your child?”

I snapped at her, “Not by my choice!  I will not be used in that manner again!”

She seemed to understand and just whispered, “Oh, Ella.”

She finally agreed with me that we would run.  In the next few days, we learned that we could feel the earth and could call it inside us.  It was druid magic, earth elemental magic.  That is what they used to craft this bloody clusterfuck of aborted black magic.  When I broke the circle, the spell didn't work as intended and never evicted Marie from her body.  Now she was just a passenger in her old shell.  A shell I had stolen like the monster I am.

The crystal necklace seemed to bind us to the very earth and magics that caused our condition.  We could feel black magics around us in various directions, calling to us like a beacon.  We agreed that when we ran, we would seek out the dark magics and put an end to them, wherever we found them.

The ball that preceded our wedding day came.  I made sure to let Marie guide me in preparing, I would never do her the disservice of not allowing her body to look its best.  That thought made me have a mini panic attack, knowing my body was dead and buried and I would forever be this parasite inside the body of the woman I loved.  It was so surreal having her sooth me from inside, stopping the madness from overtaking me.

We agreed that we would run just after the ball, when everyone expected us to be asleep in our rooms.  But near midnight, Prince John approached us for the final dance.  I wouldn't know a bloody quadrille dance from carole, so Marie took over.  I was awed by her grace, but as the clock tower struck twelve, the bloody cheeky bastard started caressing our arse.

I slapped him and we ran.  After a moment, he followed calling Marie's name.  I screamed back, “Feck off you sodding bastard!”  He called the guards to bar the doors.  He was no better than Count Emery, he would force himself upon us.  I would have none of that!

We raised our hand and pulled the earth into us and crystal encrusted granite tore through the ground and destroyed the barred doors, throwing the guards aside.  We heard our feet clinking on the ground as we ran and we realized they had turned to crystal.  The shoes we wore fell off and tinkled and skittered along the ground.

We disappeared into the village and our legs slowly returned to flesh.  Over the next few days, we secured passage to Ireland where we could hide and spend the rest of our days alone.  The prince, seeing the now glass shoes that we left behind, cried witchcraft, that he had been bespelled by us and the owner of the shoes was to be hunted down and burned at the stake.

We got out of the country just in time.  But over the years we found we were not aging as we hunted down all the black magic practitioners in Ireland.  We were drawn to the dark magics and tempted to use them, but we never will.  We believe that if we can destroy all the black magic in the world, maybe then we can have peace, and live a normal life span.

We have been traveling the globe ever since, to this end, over these long centuries.  Only to learn that it seems that there will always be sodding wankers that will pursue the dark magics and so our quest will never end.

Chapter 4 – Druids

I blinked at what Ella had just shared with me.  Did I really believe she was a paranormal, who was hundreds of years old?  An earth elemental hunting down evil?  I slowly nodded to myself after witnessing the impossible things she had done at the breach.  Then my eyes went wide as I blurted out a question, “You're Cinderella?”

Her shoulders slumped into her sigh, her eyes darkened as she shook her head.  “Fuckin' Grimm brothers, I should have just left them to drown in the 1800's when I had the chance.  Or better yet, drown the plonkers myself.”

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my lips and she grinned back and winked at me.  Then my eyes caught the heavy looking silver chain around her neck with the large pendant which looked like it had about a hundred small crystals embedded in it.  Then I blushed when I realized it was nestled in her ample cleavage.

She looked down, following my eyes. Then she reached up and took it off her neck.  It glowed in her hand, but I realized it was casting no shadows so it must be something weird with my vision, like how I was starting to see magic.

She offered it to me, I took it and instantly dropped it to the floor when it burned my hand.  I screamed as it fell, then looked at my undamaged hand.  She was quickly kneeling in front of me with frantic concern written on her face.  She looked at my hand then her brow furrowed and she looked into my eyes as she retrieved the necklace and put it back on.  “Are you right Parker?”

I nodded.  “It just burned with something, I don't know, decay and wrongness?  I sound like a fool.”

She assured me in earnest, “No, you don't, we can feel it too, you're just the first person to be able to sense it but us.  We're sorry to have subjected you to any pain.”

Then she started shaking her head and I mimicked her as I said, “No, it's okay, I'm fine.  The fire just seemed so real.”  Then I realized she had done it again.  I slapped her shoulder playfully. “Stop doing that!”

I felt the magic flow inside her, then she said with a voice full of mirth in that sexy French accent, “She has always done that.  God help me if I do not find eet endearing.”

I smiled then sat up straight.  “Marie?”

She smiled sweetly. “Oui, bonjour Parker.  Though after all these years, eet is more apt to say we are just two aspects of zee same person.  Non?  We are Ella now.”

Then Ella was back and looking upset, she hissed to her left side. “We'll talk about this later Marie.” Then she smiled sheepishly at me.  “Sorry, she wanted to say hello properly.”

I couldn't suppress my grin.  Then tilted my head at her. “You certainly have a unique situation there.”  Then I looked at the door with a thought. “So Miss Calliwell, is your descendant.”

She nodded happily at that. “Yes, and we couldn't be more proud of what she has accomplished.  After thirty years had passed after we fled to Ireland, we returned to England to seek out my child.  Most of England had forgotten about the witch that had enchanted the brave prince who had heroically broken the enchantment just in time before the witch had him marry her.”  She snorted derisively.

Then she continued, “We hadn't aged so we felt safe, that nobody would recognize us.  We found my daughter, they had named her Ashlyn and she had become a wonderful woman and mother of the cutest little girl, Chelsea, my granddaughter.”  She said it with such love.  “She was ten at the time and we were able to gain employment from Ashlyn as a nanny.”

Then her eyes darkened. “It was twenty years later when I had a great granddaughter Robin, that we had convinced the two that I was their mother since they were asking why we had not aged a day since Ashlyn hired us on.”

Then she seemed to look off in the distance. “We have been the family secret for countless generations now, as each daughter begets a daughter of their own.  We do not know why they always have girls, and always only one, but Marie thinks it is something to do with my blood being the sacrifice for our wicked enchantment.  Since they are of my bloodline, perhaps the druidic spell is somehow influencing them.”

Then she choked on the next words. “No parent should ever be cursed to outlive their children.  And my curse just keeps on giving in that area as I watch each grow to be a spectacular woman then wither away to time.”

I placed my hand on her arm. I couldn't even imagine the sort of pain and heartache something like that would bring about.  I didn't know what to say so I said, “I'm sorry.”

She just nodded sadly and I heard that voice that drifted in the air like a lost memory again as Marie said, “You are sweet Parker.”  I let go of her arm and pulled back.

Ella looked concerned and suddenly on guard. “What is it, Parker?”

I whispered, “I... I think I just heard Marie.”

Then there was the impression of speaking and Ella nodded and asked carefully, “Did you hear that?”

I shook my head, then said, “No but I know she was just speaking to you.  It is like hearing the murmuring of a voice but not quite being able to make out the words.  But earlier she said I was sweet.  At least I think she did, it was like a memory of the phrase at the time she spoke.  I know that sounds stupid.”

Ella was shaking her head and tilted her head to listen and I could feel it.  Then Ella said, “That was the first time she spoke directly to you without being in control of us.”  Then she grinned and said, “Say something else, Marie.”

Then I found myself replying, “Bonjour.”  Wait, she had just said 'Bonjour Parker' right?  It was so odd that it came as an impression that something happened instead of actual sound.

Ella gave a small explosion of laughter and she covered her mouth as a tear rolled down her cheek.  She whispered, “You can hear her if she speaks to you.  What kind of a sensitive are you?”  Then she choked back a sob. “I'm not insane.”

Then she comically got into an argument with her French presence. “Well I've always wondered if I hadn't just bloody snapped.  You know that, guilt and all.  What?  No.  Shut your trap woman.  You... I... fine.  You win, I'm sorry.  I... Parker?  Oh yeah, right.”  She turned to me with a silly grin. “Sorry, she gets all high and mighty sometimes.  Aristocrats and all.”  Then she snapped her head to the side with a smirk. “Oh shush.  Serves you right, love.”

I chuckled at them and then Marie said, “Mon amour is so very trying at times eez she not Parker?” My smile almost hurt, it was so big, as I nodded.

Ella gave a crooked smile. “Who's side are you on Parker?”

I teased, “In this case?”  Then I left it hanging.

She chuckled and said, “Sod off both of you.”

Then we started talking about everything, the three of us.  The more we spoke, the more I agreed with Marie.  The two women had been together for so long that they were really the same person with just slightly varying opinions.  Sometimes I would only get part of the conversation when Marie spoke to Ella and not me.

They could access each others skills though each was better than the other in certain things.  The fighting and the driving Marie left to Ella, and the diplomacy and manners were Marie's strengths.

One thing I knew for sure is that Ella harbored more guilt than any ten people should have in their hearts for being in control of a body she didn't see as hers. Making her always acknowledge Marie was in there, thus her strange speech patterns though Marie uses I, me, and myself even when speaking for both of them.  She was at peace being part of a whole because... she loved Ella.

I asked, “Do you mind me asking, what did you look like before this happened to you?”

There was a long pause then Ella shook her head. “No... you show her.”

Then I felt Marie come forward and she smiled sadly at me and reached into an inside pocket of the leather vest and pulled out an old yellowed, folded and creased parchment and handed it to me.  She smiled sadly, “My Ella.”

Then she retreated back inside and I unfolded the old parchment that had a drawing of a girl around their apparent age.  The artist was amazing, the sketch looked so realistic.  The young lady was gaunt and the worn peasant's dress was marred with dirt.  She looked so tired, but her posture showed that she had a defiant strength that didn't let the exhaustion win.  Her slightly wild hair was pulled back into a ponytail that gave her features a particular youth to them.

Though her face was thin from apparent malnourishment, there was still this vitality to her.  And her eyes... her eyes had a glint of mischief, defiance, wonder and strength to them.  I looked over to the woman on the couch with me and it was the same gleam in her eyes.  The girl depicted looked nothing like the woman beside me.  I caught myself smiling at the picture, and if I were to apply a description to her I would have to say... “So cute and scrappy looking.”

I felt a giggle and Ella glared at me.  “I was not cute.”

I scrunched up my nose and said, “Says you.”

Then was rewarded with the impression of a giggle again as Ella rolled her eyes and said as she tried failingly to hide her grin, “You're both just a couple of manky bints.  Stop ganging up on me.  Give us that.”  She took the picture from me and carefully folded it back up, I noticed that she averted her eyes like she didn't want to look at it.  Then she placed it back into the vest.

I shook my head. “That drawing was amazing, how it picked up your body language and how accurately the look in your eyes was depicted.”

She shrugged and said offhandedly, “Marie asked Leonardo da Vinci, to sketch it while we broke bread with him after taking down an Italian coven of black magic witches with him.”

I sputtered.  Trying to wrap my mind around it.  Of course of all the hundreds of questions that it brought up I blurted, “Leonardo da Vinci hunted witches?”

She chuckled. “Of course he did.  That madman created devices to take the battle to almost any evil.  He was fairly decent with artwork too.”

I giggled.  Not laughed, but giggled, I think I was close to losing my mind.  I said with a cracking voice, “Just fairly decent?”

She shrugged and said, “That drawing looks nothing like me.”

Then Marie's presence was whispering to me, “Do not listen to her, Parker.  Zee picture looks exactly as I remember my Ella.  He captured her essence exactly as I described her to him like a modern photograph could not have accomplished.”

I blushed at how she said Parker with that alluring accent.  It was like park-air.  Then I could feel the burn moving from my cheeks to my neck as I realized I also blushed when she said it in that Cockney accent, which I'm starting to think is just a front.  She had a smoother English accent when she told me their story.  I think she wants to project herself as rough and crude.  I smiled at her then yawned.

She seemed concerned and said, “Maybe we should wait until the morning to discuss your gifts and talk about the druids at the breach.”  I dipped my eyes, it felt like she wanted to take care of me, like I was important.  That was such a turn on for me and I had to calm myself.

She started nodding and I nodded too, then froze, and my smile bloomed on my face as I slapped her shoulder.  “Stop that!  You'll give me a complex.”  Her cheesy grin made me happy for some reason.

When she realized all of her clothes were in the saddle bags of her bike, I lent her a nightshirt and some boxers and we got ready for the night.  Once we had showered and got into our nightclothes, and I recovered from the heart attack seeing that gorgeous creature in a long tee and showing off those shapely legs.  She helped me fold out the couch into the bed.

I laid on the edge of the bed on my side, stiff as a board and not breathing as I listened to her gentle breathing.  She snorted.  “We don't bite Parker.”  I froze a moment then pushed back into pillow.  She gave my hand a squeeze under the blankets and said, “See?  There's a good girl.”

I blushed and was glad she couldn't see me in the dark.  Then I whispered, “Good night Ella.  Good night Marie.”

Ella murmured a goodnight first in her British accent then her French.  I just lay there trying hard to ignore the heat of her body close to mine and her heavenly scent.  Soon I heard her breathing even out and she had the cutest little aborted snore thing going on and the singing started.  Some sort of sweet French tune that bordered on a lullaby.

I whispered, “Marie?”

I had the impression of a whispered, “Oui, Parker?”

I murmured, “I thought you were asleep.”

There was a long pause then she said, “I do not sleep.  Unless I overexert myself taking control.”

I thought on this then said, “Never?  It must get lonely.”

It was like the room sighed and I got the impression of a smile as she said, “Non, Parker.  I watch over mon amour as she sleeps.  It gives me peace to see her at peace.  This is her favorite song.”  Then she continued to sing, lulling me to sleep, feeling safe beside this woman of two parts.

Chapter 5 – Just a Little Walk

I woke feeling warm and happy.  I looked down at the weight on my chest to see Ella had flopped around in her sleep and now had an arm over me, pulling me into her.  Oh, good lord.  I stared at the ceiling and willed my libido to cool off.  I noted Marie was humming a slow tune.  I mumbled, “Morning.”

She was chipper. “Bonjour Parker.”  Then she paused and said, “She awakens.”  Then I couldn't hear her anymore as Ella stretched, pulling me in tighter then opened her eyes blinking at me then quickly releasing me and pulling back.

She said quickly as she ran her fingers through her bedhead,  “Sorry.”  I was hit by a slight pang of jealousy at how graceful the movement was and how glamorous she looked even mussed up like that.

I shook my head and slid out of bed.  “Nothing to be sorry about.  How can you look so good first thing in the morning?  It isn't fair to us mousy girls.”

She stiffened again. “Marie always looks good.”

I almost growled. “YOU look good.” It was emphasized by the impression of a French reprimand.

She chuckled as she swung her legs around and stood up and started wandering toward the bathroom as she worked out the kinks from sleep.  “Just great, now I'm getting it from both sides.”  I think she decided to punish me as she seemed to put a little extra sway in her hips as she walked.  Then she shut the door behind her and I exhaled in my sexual frustration.  I grinned at her attitude.  I agreed with Marie, she needed to let go of her guilt and live.

She poked her head back out the door, the sound of the shower running accompanied her.  She looked a little sheepish as she asked, “Ummm... can a girl borrow some clothes?”  I caught myself nodding as she nodded with a little smirk.  I stopped myself and shot her an exasperated look.

She giggled and disappeared back into the bathroom just as I noticed she had bare shoulders as she went.  Good lord in heaven, she was naked in there.  I mentally slapped myself, well of course she was naked in there, she was showering.  Snap out of it Parker.

I went to my dresser to get her some clothes, I had nothing that would look good on the woman, so settled for an old band t-shirt and a pair of shorts with an elastic waistband.  None of my pants would fit over her shapely hips.  I tapped on the door, cracked it open slightly, and slid the clothes through.

I heard an “Eww.”  Then I blushed and went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.  My breath caught when she stepped out.  How the hell did she make my clothes look good?

I smiled and said, “Coffee is about ready.  Make yourself at home while I get ready for the day.  I work the afternoon shift again.  Thank God there is no night shift on full moon nights.”

I walked past her and she looked down at herself. “Mind if we look through your clothes?  I prefer to make sure Marie always looks pretty.”

I shook my head and said in a hoarse voice as I escaped to the bathroom with some clothes, “You're beautiful Ella.  Own it.”  I almost slammed the door but restrained myself.  I was fuming.  Why did she refuse to acknowledge herself?  She acted like she wasn't important, that only her Marie aspect was.  I... she... grrrrrr!

When I looked presentable, I joined her in the main room and almost tripped when I saw her.  She had changed into a black sundress that I couldn't fit into comfortably now.  It was a little short on me, but on her it touched the tops of her knees.  She was in her knee high leather shit kickers so the tease of the skin of her thighs and her knees were visible.  She had a chain belt from my clubbing days wrapped around her waist to pull the dress in.

She grinned at my reaction then handed me a cup of coffee on a saucer.  I didn't even remember I had saucers.  I accepted the coffee and gave a little wave of my other hand from my side like a fool.

She got a sly look on her face and said, “Thank you.”

I looked away and sat at my little kitchen table.  She sat on the other side, facing me, then she said,  “So, we shared our story.  What kind of a sensitive are you Parker?  What was it that stopped you at the alley?  We were being drawn toward the magic workings the druids were performing when we saw you scurrying down the street.  You had paused a moment at the alley, then went back after you heard a noise.  So something else made you pause.”

I blinked at her.  “You were watching me?”  Then I added, “I felt something... wrong.  I've been able to sense magic lately and it felt unnatural.”

She shook her head. “No, as we said, we were drawn to the magics being thrown about.  We've been hunting these druids for a few days now here in Seattle.  But they seem to be able to mask themselves from us when they are not performing magic.  Almost like they had some sort of charm specially designed to hide from us.”

She was hunting those druids?  But they had some defense designed specifically against her?  I murmured, “That is sort of like what a couple police officers eating at the diner late last week were discussing.  About that incident that was all over the news with the Red Hood and that Gretta Snow woman.  They mentioned the witches that were leveling acres of forest to fight the Red Hood seemed to have weapons designed specifically against her.”

Her eyes narrowed and she mused, “Someone is targeting the four avatars?”  Then she hissed, “The sodding Alpha's!  So that's what all this fukin' shite is about.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off, “That changes everything.  We've been looking at this all wrong.”  Then she mumbled, “Oh bugger all.”  She looked at me and said, “Fancy a walk?”

I nodded dumbly and she said, “Well it seems that they can block me but not you.  So let's go see what we can see and figure out their true purpose here.  Alpha's want only one thing, the power to control everyone.  They want everyone infected with the lycan contagion so they can use their powers of compulsion to control them all.”

Then she said with a snarl in her tone, “And it seems they are getting smart and targeting the weaknesses of the four avatars to accomplish their plans since we are the only ones who can stand against them.  They want to either control or kill us.”

I was getting confused, I asked, “Four avatars?”

She nodded slowly. “The four semi-immortal women that have the power to stand against the evil of the Alpha's and the evil they unleashed into the world.  For symmetry and balance, there should be five, the same number as the brother's Marcus, the Alpha wolves.  But we have only ever heard of three others.”

She saw me squinting and catching up and I said, “The Red Hood, Gretta Snow, and you?  Who is the fourth?”

She grimaced a little. “The little Briar Rose.  We have heard rumors of the Red Hood and Snow, and have searched long and hard for centuries but have never been able to locate them.  It seemed we always just miss them.  We thought them only stories.  But once Alistair Slater, one of the Marcus brothers, was killed, the balance shifted.”

She smiled.  “When we arrived in Seattle just after the battle in the mountains where Snow and the Red Hood stopped the Gypsy Witches, we learned they were still in the area.  It is like after all these centuries we are all being drawn together.  Maybe at long last we can join forces, and stop the Lycan Curse altogether.”

Then she made a sour face and said, “Though from all accounts, the Briar Rose is a bloody psychotic bird.  She takes delight in killing the evil ones she finds, and leaves their bodies displayed as a warning to others who would think to do evil.  She is like a serial killer of evil doers.”

I could tell Marie was chastising again then Ella said, “That's different.  I enjoy the thrill of the fight.  It makes me feel alive again.  I do not enjoy the killing, but know it is unavoidable.”  Then she looked at me and rolled her eyes.

I chuckled. “You'd do yourself a disfavor if you didn't listen to Marie.”

She shook her head. “Bloody hell you two.  It's like having two mums.”

I stopped a snort from escaping me and then she stood.  “Shall we our lady?”  She offered an arm.  I blushed slightly and took her arm and grabbed my purse on the way out.  She looked me in the eye for a moment.  She was as tall as me with that extra inch the heels of her leather boots gave her.  She said softly as we went down the stairs and outside, “We really are sorry that you got dragged into this mess.”  Then she added, “But we really are glad we met you.  Nobody has ever been able to hear both of us.”  Then a slight pressure came and Marie added, “And so very cute.”

Okay, now they were ganging up on me and I blushed as she brought me around the building and into the alley leading to the breach.  There were containment crews removing the bodies in the gaping hole in the wall where they had already removed the temporary earth patch Ella had created.

I saw a couple bodies being brought to ambulances on the outside of the wall.  Good lord, some of the wolves survived, they must have been terrified when they returned to human at sunrise to be crushed and encased in earth.  Wolves are hard to kill.

There was a crane moving large temporary steel plates that were crisscrossed with stripes of silver to seal the outer wall.  I knew that would give the structural engineers time to examine the damage and come up with the best permanent repair plan.

But the most obvious thing I saw was the one that made me swallow involuntarily.  All of this was happening behind police barricades and yellow crime scene tape.  There were cops everywhere and a bunch of crime scene techs working with the engineers.

I felt a hand on my arm.  Ella's crystal blue eyes were narrowed in worry.  I shrugged and said lowly, “I'm okay.”

She smiled then asked, “Can you see anything out of the ordinary?  Take your time.  Don't focus on any one thing, just take it in and see if your abilities can pick up something we can't.  We can only feel the taint of expended black magic.”

I bit my lower lip and sort of letting my eyes unfocus as I took in the scene.  I looked back and fourth a couple times but didn't see anything.  I started to turn to her to say that when I caught a source of light in my peripheral vision.  I looked intently at the edges of the gaping hole in the large wall and saw wisps of light in vague shapes that almost disappeared under my scrutiny. I got that bizarre impression that it was more of a memory.  The same way I could sort of pick up on Marie when she was speaking to Ella.

But unlike Marie's presence that just made me smile, this had the taste of something wrong.  Like the feeling I got with the men that caused this breach.  I had to look at what I was feeling without looking directly at it and it coalesced into broken symbols like the ones I saw the men using.

I said softly so the gathering people from the neighborhood couldn't hear.  “There is some sort of writing or symbols around the hole.  They are broken now, but I remember seeing the ummm... druids?  Creating them somehow last night.  I can't focus on them, they are sort of a pulsating mist of putrid light.”

She smiled at that and looked at the opening then shook her head.  “Amazing Parker, you can see what we can only taste.”

Then she stiffened and I followed her gaze.  Detective Reiner was there speaking with some people.  He looked up to see us and started over as Ella grabbed my arm and said, “Now about that walk.”  She dragged me quickly along.  I glanced back and saw Reiner had stopped at the barricades and just glared.

I whispered as we hustled along, “I don't think we made any friends with him.”

She chuckled and replied, “Sodding wanker he is.  He's...”  I felt the reprimand and bit back a giggle at her reaction and said, “Fine, whatever.  He's just doing his job, but he can go fu...”

Marie interrupted by talking to me in my head, “A little help here, mon chéri?”

I tried not to chuckle as I said absently, “What?  I agree with her.  The man is a... sodding wanker I think she said.  Even if he is just doing his job.  I still don't know where my uniform heels are, that will come out of my paycheck.  He hauled me off barefooted and I didn't do anything.”

Ella grinned like she had just won a battle and I got the distinct impression of Marie sticking her tongue out at me.  I smiled and said, “Now that was just childish.”

Then I stuck my tongue out at Ella then gave a crooked half smile.  Which made her bust out into giggling laughter.  She said, “You are indeed a treat Parker.  And you did do something.  You thought someone was in need of help and you abandoned your own safety and security and investigated.  Then when the bloody wall exploded, you tried to get the injured copper to safety instead of just running to save yourself.”

She gave a smile that heated me up in all kinds of embarrassing places as she said, “You are quite a woman.”  I blushed and looked down.  I had never felt that shy in my life as I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

I looked around as we walked in the gap between the buildings and the city wall.  I knew the gap was something like fifty feet on either side of the wall.  Beyond even the enhanced strength, a werewolf possesses to leap.  In the posher areas of town, there were a series of parks strung together in the gaps, called The Chains.  But here it was just plain asphalt and concrete like a super wide back alley.  Though it was cleaner than an alley as it was kept clear of all garbage and debris.

I asked, “Ummm... so where are we going?”

She hugged my arm that she had captured in the crook of her own and said,  “Well we just thought that the druids had to be doing something there other than trying to blow up the wall.  There are easier ways than using magic to do that.  We believe they detonated their castings since they were caught doing it, so that nobody could ascertain what they were really attempting.”

She nodded to herself as we continued walking, we were almost half way to the main gates.  “So that tells us that if they were doing something there at the wall, then they might possibly be doing it elsewhere too.  So we figured that since they are somehow cloaking themselves specifically from us, then we'd wave our black magic detector over the wall to see what there is to see.  Or maybe you'd be able to feel where the Druids are hiding.”

I narrowed my eyes and asked humorously, “So I'm just a black magic detector?”

She gave a cheesy grin.  “A very pleasant one.  That's alright isn't it?”  I blushed and she nodded her head when I did.  Then I snorted and shook my head at that infuriating habit of hers, which I was finding sort of cute now.  I also was starting to confirm my other suspicion, that the rough and tumble Cockney front she put up was an act.  Well mostly an act, seeing how well she had just articulated her doubts.

Then I said offhandedly, “I wouldn't put too much faith in my ability to...”  I froze and then stumbled forward as it took her a moment to stop too.  Her casual motion as I was dragged forward a step until she stopped told me something else. She was a heck of a lot stronger than anything natural, her arm didn't even pull backwards with my weight when I stopped.

She asked, “What is it?”

I shrugged.  “I don't know, I just felt nauseous and thought I saw...”  I trailed off, cocking my head a little away from the wall.

Then I could see a ring of glowing runes and symbols on the wall that resembled the ones I saw at the breach.  She kept silent and just watched me.  I said, “There is another ring of those symbols here.  I stepped up to the wall and looked without looking and laid my hand on the wall, it gave a sense of mass and unyielding strength beneath my palm.  Then I went to trace the outline of one of the symbols with my finger.

I hissed in pain as my finger burned.  It was the same sensation I got when I touched Ella's black magic pendant.  I looked at my unburned finger and sucked on it like a real burn as the phantom pain subsided.  Ella was suddenly between the wall and me.  “Are you right, Parker?”  There was a concern in her eyes.

I nodded and assured her, “I'm fine.  Just another psychic burn.  Whatever these symbols are they are... wrong?  Unnatural and... evil?”

She looked at my finger then at my eyes to be assured I was alright.  Then she smiled.  “Okay then.  Let us see if there are any more of these bloody druid circles then shall we?”  I was way out of my depth, but I'd follow her smile anywhere.  I nodded along with her, and slapped her shoulder for it.  I got the impression of Marie snorting at our antics.

I took Ella's offered arm and we continued our walk toward the main gates.  It felt almost chivalrous when she led me like that and I didn't mind a bit.  I liked the warmth and unyielding strength of her arm.

Then she teased me as she said,  “You could always make clicking sounds if we approach more of the markings.  You know, like a proper detector.”

I waggled a fist at her and scrunched up my nose.  “I'll give you clicking sounds right upside your head.”  Marie's tinkling laughter flowed through me as Ella grinned smugly.  They were having far too much fun while I was still scared out of my gourd about what we were doing, walking the city wall like that.

We passed the busy main gates.  The steady flow of traffic heading out the gates and the halting flow at the intake lanes where people were silver tested and vehicles were searched.  Just everyday business.  I noted the wet concrete outside the gates and swallowed, knowing the efficient cleanup crews had washed the river of blood away. After the human bodies of the nights, slain werewolves were removed and any silver scrap from rounds or silver shot from shotguns was retrieved and recycled.  It amazed me that they could just wash away the carnage like that before the morning traffic.

I had mixed feelings about it.  I felt sorry for the poor people who were infected, it wasn't their fault nor their choosing to become one of the cursed.  To become a killing monster three nights a month.  To me, it would be a fate worse than death if I ever became one of the cursed.  But, on the other hand, the werewolves at the gates chose to be ferals, to not lock themselves away on full moons to protect themselves and Clean Bloods.  It was their choice.  So they, and they alone were responsible for their own deaths at the gates.

Then I made a mental exception to that, for the ones that attacked walled cities under compulsion of an Alpha.  Those wolves had no choice and it showed just how evil the alphas and the curse really were.  My heart called out to those people because it was not their choice, their free will had been stolen from them.  That is why I cheer with the other Clean Bloods every time the news reports whenever the Red Hood kills another of the five Alpha's.  Not only does she free some wolves of compulsion, but twenty percent of the population is cured of the curse as well.

Ella watched me intently, her head cocked, and her blonde locks pooling on her shoulder.  I could see the sharp intelligence in her eyes as she read what I had thought as I looked back at the main gates after we passed.  She nodded and said, “You are a complex woman.”  She looked back at the gates then just kept walking.

I was tiring by the time we had walked over five miles of the perimeter wall and found the same markings spaced almost a half mile apart.  I looked at the time on my cell and said, “We need to get back, I have to work after lunch.”

She shook her head and gave me a cute, prompting smile. “Call in sick?  We need to know if this pattern continues around the entire city.  If so, then they are getting ready to enact whatever plan they have devised.  To what end, we don't know.  But if they are not finished, then we know where they will be next and we can set a trap of our own.”

I was going to protest, but she fluttered her eyelashes and said, “They will understand.  You were almost killed by wolves in a breach after all.”  I almost melted, and sighed.

She gave a toothy grin. “Marie could get me to do anything when she did that to me.”

I smirked.  “Well, it worked.  It will hurt my pocketbook, but this is more important than a silly job at the diner.”

She nodded and then started speaking with Marie.  They kept on looking up at me as they discussed things.  I cursed inwardly.  Damn it, Ella, you have me saying they now!  Then she smiled at her feet and said, “Good on you!”  Then she looked up at me and said,  “We'll hire you as a special consultant in black magic for the duration.  Then we won't cock up your finances.”

I blinked and she added, “Is one hundred seventy-five per hour acceptable?”

I sputtered in shock and said, “I'd have your babies for that!”  That was well over a thousand dollars a day.  I looked at her intently.  She had that kind of money?  Then I remembered she had lived for centuries, I'm sure she had quite a nest egg.

She smiled and rocked her head cutely back and forth.  “Done and done.”  Then she looked around.  “Call the diner then give Helena a ring then?  We can't be doing this all on foot, it will take days and I'm not sure we have days.”

I nodded and pulled out my cell.  Benny at work was understanding.  The television was buzzing with the news of the breach.  He said that my picture was there big as life, saying that I had survived.  He said, “That must have been terrifying and traumatic, take as long as you need Park.”

I thanked him then dug up Helena's card and Ella shook her head and rattled off her granddaughter's private number.  I dialed and tried to hand the phone to her.  She held her hands up and stepped back a half step.  “The bloody thing won't work around us.  Magic shite.”  I noted my screen sort of fuzzed out when I had held it close to her.  She asked, “Put it on speaker?”

She answered on the first ring, “Calliwell.”

Ella said, “Hello Helena.”

Helena seemed very excited when she replied, “Hello grandmother, how are you two?  Still going to visit soon?”  She sounded hopeful.

I was about to think how nice it was that she was asking about me too when I realized she meant Ella with the “you two” comment, as Marie answered, “Bonjour mon chéri, ca va?”

Helena sounded happy as she said, “I'm well grandma, thank you.”

Then Marie promised as she said, “Oui, we will visit once zee druids have been dealt with.”

Helena said with a pleased tone, “Grand!  Little Kyla will be happy to see you.  To what do I owe the pleasure of the call?”

Ella was back and she said, “You are on speaker.  We are with Parker here.”

The lawyer chuckled. “I sort of figured that when her name popped up on caller ID on my private line.”

Ella crinkled her nose and said in a humor filled voice, “How are we supposed to know that.  You know all this new fangled technology works for shite around us.”

Helena chuckled and said, “You mean the telephone Grams?  It's been around for over a hundred years.”

Ella's quick retort was, “No you smartass.  Mobiles.  I can use landlines.” They both snickered telling me this was an old topic for them.  I was greatly amused.

Then Ella softened and said, “We can't wait to see Kyla.  We haven't seen her since she was five.  How old is she now?  Seven or eight?”

There was a sad tone to the lawyer's voice. “No Grams.  She is turning twelve next week.  She'll be over the moon to see her Grandma again.”

A shadow passed over Ella's eyes and she swallowed then said, “Twelve right.  The years just slip away.”  She closed her eyes and seemed to center herself and she sounded chipper again.  “Parker has been accompanying us as we investigate the druids.  Can you put her on the payroll for the normal consulting fee please, baby girl?  We've walked miles of the bloody city wall already and it would be faster on wheels.  Could you arrange for transportation and join us for lunch?”

She quickly replied, “Actually, I just received a call from the custom Harley shop.  We paid handsomely for a rush repair.  Funny how fast a repair can go for the right amount of cash.  Spinner said that he only needed to replace the forks and the wheel.  She's a little dinged up, but she'll run.  I can have her dropped off at the restaurant.  Where would you ladies like to eat?”

Ella looked overtly to me and cocked an eyebrow.  I grinned at her and said, “Anywhere but a diner.”  This got the women chuckling, I could tell Marie had joined in.

Helena said, “I have an idea.  Where can I pick you two up?”  I shared our location and we hung up.  Ella was grinning broadly, she seemed pleased with herself for some reason as we walked to the nearest street.

Ten minutes later, a familiar black town car with dark tinted windows pulled up and the driver hopped out and opened the back door and we slid in beside a smiling Helena.  She said, “Hello Grams.  What is that cute little dress you are wearing?”  She gave her a kiss on the cheek.  I smiled at the oddness again since Ella looked like Helena's younger sister.  She looked at me. “Miss Devareau.”

I blushed and said, “Parker, please.”

She nodded and said, “Helena.”

Ella chuckled and said, “And we are Ella since we're all throwin' around names.”

Helena rolled her eyes. “Smartass.”  I could feel Marie agreeing with the assertion.

I nodded my assent and Ella said in exasperation, “Three against one?  So that's how it's going to be you manky bints?”  I just grinned and she smiled back.

The women started discussing Helena's child.  They were freely discussing Ella and Marie and what I was helping them with.  I kept glancing at them and the driver nervously.  Helena caught it and reached across Ella to lay a hand on my arm.  “It's alright, Parker.  Joe's family had been in Ella's employ for...”  She cocked her head and then looked in the rearview mirror,  “...how long now Joe?”

The big man smiled and said, “Six hundred and thirty-seven years ma'am.” I widened my eyes a bit and I saw him looking at me in the mirror.  He gave me a little nod.  I relaxed a bit.  I don't know why I was feeling so protective of her secrets.  Okay, maybe I did, I already felt that we were friends and I still thought she was crazy hot.

We pulled up to Rosario's and my eyes shot open again.  I whispered to Ella, “There is a forty-five day wait for reservations here.”  Rosario's was the poshest Italian restaurant in town, owned by a five-star chef from Italy, Rosario Alessi.

We stepped through the doors past the maitre d' who just smiled and gave a head tilt of recognition to Helena.  I felt embarrassed as we walked through the place.  The people were all dressed in thousand dollar suits and dresses while Ella and I... weren't.  Helena's smart business suit fit in nicely.  I felt like everyone was staring and we stepped into the kitchen itself.

There were line cooks working under a sous chef, and then a woman with a traditional tented paper chef's hat.  Compared to the diner, the kitchen was immaculate and even the white uniforms all of the cooks wore were spotless.  Only the aprons they wore showed any signs of the foods they were preparing.

The chef looked up with an annoyed expression that turned to a glowing smile.  The pretty Italian wiped her hands on the towel hanging on her apron and hustled over with a huge smile.  She got up to Helena and kissed both of her cheeks saying, “Helena, che grande sorpresa!  What brings you to my humble kitchen?”

Helena grinned back at the woman and said, “Hello Rose.”  She scrunched up her nose and asked hopefully, “Lunch?”

The woman was in motion.  “But of course.  Please, sit... sit.”  She motioned her hand to the table set up off to the side of what looked like an office door in the kitchen.  I gulped.  I had heard about these sort of tables in high-class restaurants before.  Where a chef would invite a guest to eat in the kitchen.  It was the highest honor to eat with the chef.

As we all went to sit, Rosario clapped her hands twice to get the attention of the sous chef and the cooks.  She whirled her finger around the table and her second in command nodded and started barking orders.

Helena said to the woman, “Rose, this is my umm... sister, Ella, and her friend Parker.  Ella and Parker, this is chef extraordinaire, Rosario Alessi.”  We all shook hands and like magic, plates of appetizers appeared.  It must have been at least five courses.  We didn't order anything we just ate what was was served, and I swear to god, that is the closest I had ever come to a foodgasm.

I was like a fly on the wall listening to all the women speak.  Rosario looked a little confused at how Ella was using pronouns.  Then even more so when Marie said in my head, “Ravioli di Portobello!” Ella let her out to play.  She conversed with Rosario in French and fluent Italian while she ate the dish with an almost reverence.  She faded back when she had finished it.  I could feel her gratitude to Ella and it made me smile.

We sat back and discussed the food and ate dessert.  Helena checked her phone and dabbed at the sides of he mouth with the linen napkin and said to Ella, “Your bike is here.”

This was a cue to everyone and we stood.  Rosario gave us all hugs and kisses on each cheek and said, “Parker and Ella, there is always a table for you here, I'll put your names on the list.  It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Then we made our way outside and Ella almost swooned at the sight of her motorcycle being lowered to the ground from a lift on a truck in the parking lot.  She chittered in excitement, “My baby!”  She grinned at me then rushed over to look at the scratched up paint job and the dinged up handlebars.

Helena smiled over at me sadly.  “It is the only thing she owns for herself.  She only lives for the part of her that is Marie, and that damn bike.”

I shook my head. “That isn't true.  She lights up when you are around and I saw love sparkling around in her eyes when you spoke of Kyla.  She sees what could have been in you and she is so proud of what you have made of yourself.”

The woman blushed and we watched Ella lay her head on the seat of the Harley and stroke the gas tank like a pet.  She thanked the man who drove off in the truck then pulled some leather gear out of one of the oversize saddle bags.  She smiled at us.  “We'll be just a moment.”  Then she dashed back into the restaurant.  Helena and I looked at each other then broke out laughing.

She sighed and said, “Sometimes I wonder if it isn't just an act.”

I shrugged. “Either way, she's... Ella.”

I smiled and she narrowed her eyes with a little grin twitching at her lips.  She said nebulously as she studied me, “Yes, she is.”

A minute later, Ella, Badass v1.0 came strutting out of the restaurant.  She was in leathers much like the prior night, but this time she wore tight black leather pants instead of the leather miniskirt. I was going naughty places in my imagination when Helena whispered, “Hey, Parker, that's my Grams you're drooling over.”

I blushed and snapped my mouth shut then pried my eyes off the Rider's Monthly fashion model.  I sputtered, “I am not.”  I sighed as Ella joined us and tucked my hand into the crook of her arm.  I lowered my eyes and admitted, “Fine, I am.  Shut up.”

This got a chirping laugh from the woman, one you wouldn't expect to hear from a high power lawyer.  Ella's blues eyes were sparkling. “What's the topic?”

Helena got a wicked grin and started to actually tell her, the evil wench!  “Just that Parker was...”

I gave her a wide-eyed look and interrupted. “Just that I don't even know how I can help you.”  Helena rolled her eyes.  She was actually having fun tormenting me.  Now I know why I hate lawyers.  Well, not all lawyers, she was pretty fun.

Ella assured me, “You have already helped out greatly.  You seem to see through magical cloaks and can perceive things most people can't.”  Then she looked at her granddaughter and punctuated her point. “She can hear Marie.”  Calliwell's eyes shot wide open in shock at that revelation.

Ella said, “We should get going, a lot of ground left to cover before sundown.”  The women kissed cheeks and Helena actually gave me a quick hug then she slid into the town car that I didn't see pull up as we spoke.

I grinned and said, “Classy woman.”  Ella beamed with pride and handed me a helmet.  I gulped and put it on and she tucked my dress into her saddlebag and mounted the bike like she was born to ride, then patted the seat behind her.  I clumsily mounted and she said, “Hold on Parker.”

I looked down at her hips, clad in that leather and swallowed then timidly put my hands on them.  She laughed out loud. “Bloody hell woman, that won't do.”  She grabbed my hands and pulled them around her waist tightly.  I was basically hugging her back.  She smelled like Ella and leather and I warmed up a bit.

With a firm kick, the bike rumbled to life.  She revved it a bit and the vibration of the motor sang through my body and adrenaline started flowing.  She yelled, “Yeeeehaaaaa!”  Then opened the throttle as she leaned us to the side.  The bike seemed to slide under us to the left as the tire spun out in a plume of burning rubber while the motorcycle pivoted.

When we were pointed at the street, she did something and I thought for sure I was going to fall off the bike and die as we tilted back.  I tightened my grip around her, holding on for dear life as she rode a wheelie out of the parking lot.  With a thump, the front tire finally hit the ground and we were screaming down the road like a bat out of hell.  My pulse pounded and her golden locks flowed back across the face shield of my helmet.

She looked back with pure elation on her face.  I heard Marie asking me, “Terrifying, oui?”  I had to laugh which got Ella smiling as she turned back.  I sat taller on the seat and started looking around and enjoying the exhilaration of riding with this beautiful woman on a rolling deathtrap.

Chapter 6 – Trap

We had covered three-quarters of the perimeter wall when the sun was getting low on the horizon.  I checked my cell, the lunar cycle times that were the default lock screen on all cell phones showed one hour and seven minutes until sunset.  We were at least fifteen minutes from home.

I mentioned that and she nodded. “Since we can't seem to find the next bloody locations, We're thinking this is their starting point.  These markings are spaced at precisely a half mile apart.  Which means we know where they are going to be tonight unless they are going to lay low around your area and start the opposite direction from this point.”

She had this snarl on her lips and something scary in her eyes, which were glowing slightly now.  I had seen that look... in the wolves that almost got me at the breach.  It was the look of a predator on the hunt.  A killer.  I swallowed.

Then I asked as she tossed me my helmet,  “Why go through such elaborate effort to blow up the city wall?  Wouldn't conventional explosives be much simpler and more efficient?”

She nodded. “We don't believe that the purpose of these spell circles is to destroy the wall.  The druids panicked last night and didn't want their workings to be discovered so we believe they pulled a loose thread in their own magic which caused a catastrophic failure of the spell with explosive results.”

Then she grinned cruelly and said, “They didn't anticipate someone like you that could detect the remnants.  You're our secret weapon.”

Then she said, “Let's get you home so Marie and I can go hunting tonight.  We have time for one stop on the other side of your place to make sure they haven't progressed beyond there yet.  We doubt they would be out at the wall in the daylight.”

I nodded and felt a pang of guilt.  She was going to be out on the streets after a full moon and she didn't even hesitate.  I wanted to hide behind my FMBs like I had done my entire life.  Not to mention that I worried about her.  I know it was irrational of me when she had the strength to crush bones with her fists, but... I worried about her.

I voiced that. “I can... I can come with you.  So you aren't alone out there.”

She raised a hand and cupped my cheek.  I stopped myself from closing my eyes and leaning into the unnatural warmth and softness of it.  She shook her head. “We'll not risk you, nor put you in danger Parker.  This is what we do.  You stay at your place where it is safe.  If the hunt for these wankers does not go well tonight, then we can begin again in the morning.”

My shoulders slumped and I swallowed my concern and nodded as she nodded.  I grinned and slapped her shoulder.  She smirked cutely and motioned for me to mount up behind her as she slid onto her bike.

She quickly navigated the streets to my neighborhood and paused at the alley, where we could see the engineers packing up for the night.  There were extra guards arriving on the wall above, near the temporary patch.

She looked back for like the twentieth time that day and then gunned the motor and we started hauling down the alley across the street away from my apartment.  The disturbance of our passing sent papers flying and a can knocked over and spun into the alleyway.

Just as we turned onto the street, I saw an SUV turn into the far end of the alley.  She cussed. “Fuckin' plonkers.”  It was loud enough for me to hear over the roar of the motor.

She leaned the bike almost to the ground as the back wheel slid along the pavement as we turned right at the end of the block before the SUV emerged from the alley. I held onto her for dear life.  She opened the throttle and we were riding a wheelie half way down the block before we made another terrifying right turn.  She repeated this back through the alley we had already driven through, and then we rocketed onto the street and saw the black SUV near the end of the block.

She drove right at them and came sliding to a halt with the back tire an inch from the driver's side door.  The driver tried to open the door but couldn't, and I was staring face to face with a pissed off looking Special Agent Pike through the open window.  I noted that a slightly amused looking Special Agent Quinton was in the passenger seat.

Ella said, “I'm right sick of you sodding wankers following us.  You haven't hidden the fact all day.”  They had been following us all day?  Then she narrowed her eyes in challenge. “So why don't you lower the weapon you are pointing at us through your door and shove it firmly and completely up your bloody arse before we do it for you.”

Quinton actually snorted at that.  I hated that man as much as I hated Pike, but it seemed they didn't like each other.  The man asked coldly, “You are threatening a federal agent?”

She smirked at him as she slid off the bike, kicking down the kickstand, her eyes promising pain.  “You drew down on us first, and we are unarmed.  It would be self-defense.  Care to try us you git?  And nobody is buying your Department of Agriculture shite.  So do us a favor and fuck the hell off?”

She slowly curled her hands into fists, I could hear the tendons creaking and knuckles popping as I slid off the bike and removed myself from between them.  I could feel the ground swelling beneath her, into her.  There was a pressure as I felt build up just like before that whump as she struck the wolves.

Quinton said, “Pike, put your goddamn gun away.  She made us, take it like a man.”

The other man snarled.  It was obvious he had an almost unnatural hate of what Ella was, or what she represented.  He made a movement then Ella relaxed her hold on the very earth and I could feel all the energy flowing the other way, back out of her.  Then she said in a patronizing manner, “There's a good boy.”

The man hissed out with a venom and vitriol in his voice, “I know you had something to do with the breach, Miss Smith.”  He almost spit out her name.  “You're kind is a plague on this earth, as bad as the fucking wolves.  Mark my words, you're going down Smith.”

She looked down at her hands and said, “Well, would you look at that?”  I let out a surprised burst of laughter and slapped my hand over my mouth at the smiling blonde displaying two middle fingers to the man.  A federal agent no less.  Sure he wasn't with the Department of Agriculture, but he was with some black book agency most likely with a bunch of capital letters representing it.

Then she lost all the humor in her face as she gave him a look that would have frozen my blood had it been directed at me.  “Parker, be a dear and ring up our lawyer, please.”  Her other threats just rolled off the man's back, but that one caused him to pale a bit.  I understood that he didn't want a light shone on him or his department.

He just put the vehicle in gear as I pulled out my cell.  He shook his head at us and said as they drove off, “We'll be watching, and will be there when you slip up Smith.”

She made a mouth with her hand and warbled it as she mocked him. “Blah blah blah... whatever fuck-nut.”  I almost heard Marie reprimanding her.

After they had turned down the street, she grinned at me.  “That was bracing.”

I couldn't stop smiling at her, then said, “I thought for sure I was going to be smeared all over the road.  Can you talk to federal agents like that?”

She shrugged.  “Just did now didn't we?”

I got the impression that Marie was reprimanding her again.  I said in support, “You tell her, Marie, I was scared to death.”

Ella grinned in mirth and then said, “Needed to get rid of them so I could go on the hunt.  Let's check that last spot and get you safe behind silver bars.”  I mimicked her nod then stopped and made an exasperated sound to her giggle.  We mounted back up and she comically drove down the road at a very sedate speed.

We entered the Gap from another alleyway a couple blocks from my place and moved away, along the wall.  She slowed, looking at her odometer and I shook my head when she finally stopped and looked back at me.  “I don't see anything, but I feel something wrong nearby.  It tastes bad.”

She lowered the kickstand with her heel and stepped off the bike.  I followed her, sliding the helmet onto the clip on the bike.  She looked at me expectantly then she said, “Well it looks like this will most likely be their next stop tonight if patrols aren't stepped up this close to the breach, and they didn't decide to start from the other side.”

I looked around.  There wasn't much to see, we were behind an old metal sided auto supply store that had a for lease sign posted every few feet on the empty structure.  There was a wispy thread of that same tasting black magic the druids were constructing the druid circles on the wall with.  I followed it in the air and to the siding on the structure.  There was the smell of something burnt and what looked like blast patterns on the corner of a corrugated metal sheet.  It rattled slightly as a heavy truck passed the building on the road up front.

I pointed at it.  “It looks like they did something with magic here that loosened the siding.”  She stepped up to it and carefully pulled it back and it opened enough for a person to slip into the building.  She squinted in then whispered, “Stay here.  If you hear anything, run and call the bobbies.”  She caught my eye and reinforced it. “Understand Parker?”

I nodded hesitantly.  She looked around then stepped in.  A few seconds later I heard her cussing.  I looked around then picked up a chunk of a metal bar that looked like it was an old support for an electrical box that was lying abandoned on the ground against the building.  I pulled the siding aside and slipped into the building.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adapt to the darkness.  There were empty metal warehouse shelves all around me.  It was most likely the old parts storage room.  I stepped around a shelving unit, holding the short metal bar cocked like a baseball bat and stopped and squinted.  In the middle of the big room was Ella.  She was standing in the middle of one of those druid circles drawn on the ground, the sigils and runes were glowing brightly in the relative darkness of the building.

Tendrils of rank looking magic were tied around her legs from the glowing symbols and she seemed to be moving her legs slowly forward like she was walking through quicksand.  She glanced up from her slow progress.  I saw magic pulsing from her amulet and through her body, snapping tendrils, just to have two more latch onto her.  She hissed at me, “Get out Parker, it's a trap!  It is specifically targeted at us as it is preventing our feet from contacting the ground.  We can't call the earth to us.  Run!  Get the authorities.”

I hesitated as I turned to do as she said, but looked as more tendrils slowed her progress out of the circle.  I nodded then went running, then hesitated when I heard noises behind another row of shelves.  I raised my bar again and stepped around the shelves, following a tendril that was reaching from the circle to where the noises were coming from.

I gasped when I saw four men tied up with wire that was burning their wrists and ankles.  It was silver wire!  They were cursed!  How had they gotten into the city?  I yelled to Ella, “Werewolves!”  As that wispy tendril of black magic reached a small object on the floor that looked like a crow's foot with black feathers tied to a crystal, and what looked like blood was dripped onto the crystal and floor around it.

It suddenly flared with a silvery light and the four men began to scream through their gags and convulse as I saw fur sprouting from them.  Shit!  How were they transforming without the moon?  That silvery light!  It must somehow be full moon light!

I ran to Ella as she was yelling at me to get out.  I stepped right into the circle, the tendrils and mist seemed to be repulsed by me and I grabbed her arm and tried pulling her forward.  She was saying something about being able to defend herself even without earth magic.  To run.  I shook my head stubbornly. “I'm not leaving you.”

I could hear ropes and silver wires snapping and wolf growls now.  I was going to need a new change of underwear if I survived.  Ella froze for a moment and looked at my feet then my arms on her.  “We can feel the earth through you, whatever bewitchment the druids laid here was specially created for me.”

Then her eyes went wide and she whispered, “I'm sorry Parker, I don't know how else to save you.”

I was about to ask what she meant as I heard a snarling wolf behind me.  I turned my head to see a wolf in mid-leap at my back as I screamed in excruciating pain as it felt as if the earth itself was being pulled up through my body, rushing up through my feet and rising and shooting through my arm into Ella.

My scream stopped in mid utterance and I couldn't move at all through the excruciating pain.  I was stuck staring at the wolf as it landed on my back, its claws screeching on my body and it's teeth clinking on my neck as I watched in terror, unable to do anything.  The other wolves came into my vision, their fangs bared, their tails low and ears flat to their heads.  They all ran at us.

My internal scream of pain turned to one of sheer panic as they leaped.  Then Marie was in my head. “Parker, eet ees alright.  Ella has pulled zee earth into you, hardening you into crystal so zee wolves cannot infect you.  She ees using our own life force to keep you alive, but eet ees a huge strain.  She will not let them get to you mon chéri.”  I had no way of answering.  I was so afraid, how could Ella survive the attack if she had to protect me?

That was answered quickly as I felt the elation of power being pulled through me from the ground, using me as a conduit.  There was that whump as all the energy was released as she struck a wolf and I heard a yelp and crunching bones.  The energy release was almost arousing through the pain I was starting to get used to.  I could almost ignore it now as she built up energy and struck, whump, over and over.

I wish I could have turned to see her, but I couldn't.  Then I realized she was fighting one handed since my crystal grip was tight around her wrist.  I was going to get her killed!  But she just kept fighting.  I almost internally smiled at the string of profanities she was spewing with each of those intoxicating releases of energy in her strikes.  Marie said, “Mon Dieu, and to think I kissed that mouth.”  I couldn't help but laugh internally.  I wished I could reply, I was so scared.

By the sound of things, she had killed three of the wolves.  It took a lot of damage to kill a wolf without silver.  I shuddered to think just what she had done to them.  Then I heard a yelp and saw a tail and legs in my peripheral vision, she had caught the beast by the throat and was dangling it off the ground.  I felt her gathering an enormous amount of power through me.

Then she said, “Go dry hump Satan!”  I felt a sudden motion and a snap and then the wolf fell to the ground. Then she swung down with her fist and released the gathered energy, which I may have been getting high off of, into her strike.  I heard crunching and then the concrete for about twelve feet around us splintered and cracked.

Dear Lord.  She had punched through its skull and hit the concrete floor below?  The elation the magic she drew through me ebbed quickly, to be replaced with nausea at the thought of it.  I would have vomited had I not been immobile.  Then she mumbled, “Good dog.”

She twisted into my vision.  She seemed to be half crystal herself, the arm I was holding pulled behind her.  She panted, “We're so sorry Parker.  We didn't know any other way to save you.  We don't know if we can reverse it.”  I would have paled at that.  The pain was a dull constant background hum now.  What would become of me if she couldn't reverse it?

There was shame and, compassion in her eyes as she looked up at me.  Then she looked down and said, “Let's see if we can dispel this binding now that we can access the earth element.  She concentrated and I felt that odd elation of energy drawn from me, it was very seductive.  Then she opened her hand wide, splaying her fingers, and she slammed her palm down on the floor. There was that intoxicating whump, the sound of crystal grinding on stone, and the spell circle dissipated in an explosion of mist.

I could feel energy coursing from her to me now, I could see wisps from the amulet threading into her then up her arm.  Her life force.  Marie explained that Ella was using it to keep me alive.  She looked so tired.  She whispered my name and closed her eyes, falling to the ground unconscious, her arm up at an odd angle, still grasped in my hand.  Then her eyes opened again and she said, “Bonjour, Parker.  Ella sleeps now.  Over half of our body eez crystal now.  She needs to rest.  She eez afraid for you.  And you must be scared, mon chéri.  I promise, once Ella has rested, she will find a way to fix this.  She plays zee brigand, but she has a keen intellect.”

Then she started singing a sweet French lullaby to me until she sounded tired.  “I must go now before I exhaust myself and need to sleep.  I need my strength to stand guard in case zee druids come tonight, but I doubt eet with zee wolves being in here on zee full moon.  They will come in daylight to check zee trap.”

Then Ella closed her eyes again, and I stood there staring at her as Marie sang to me in my head.  I didn't sleep, I don't think I was even capable of it.  Was this pain and immobility all I had now?

Chapter 7 – More Questioning

I watched possibly the prettiest woman I had ever laid eyes on sleep peacefully as her other half sang to both of us to soothe us.  Actually I had no choice as I couldn't close my eyes.  The pain in my head was increasing as the night went along.  I could hear howls and gunshots in the distance as the police defended the gates of the city while energy pulsed from Ella into me.

I found that after a bit, I could move my eyebrows and forehead.  It hurt like hell, but I could do it.  By morning, I could freely move my shoulders and head which I kept looking away from the carnage that was in front of me.  Dead human bodies, two without heads, shards of glass and crystal were sticking out of their still forms.  I was getting sharp, needle-like pains in my arms, hands, and chest, telling me they were next to revert back to flesh.

Oh dear lord, my nose itched so bad, it was driving me insane not being able to scratch it.  I was almost in tears with the need to scratch the itch as I scrunched my nose every which way in vain.

Then Ella stirred as sunlight peeked through the high windows in the structure.  I tried to talk, but I had no air in my lungs yet. I attempted to force my chest and I heard a crunching sound and my voice came out in a high pitched tone of glass chimes but understandable.  “Ella, are you okay?”  I winced.  It was like the screeching of glass on glass.

She was suddenly fully awake and alert as Marie stopped humming.  Ella stood and looked into my eyes.  She raised a hand and cupped my cheek.  “Parker.  Oh, thank god it is reversing.  We are so sorry, it was the only way we could think of to save you.”

I said in an urgent screeching of glass on glass, “Ella, please shut up and scratch my nose.  This itch is driving me insane.”

She blinked through watery eyes, nodded and smiled, then scratched my nose for me.  Good god, it was almost orgasmic, my eyes rolled back in my head as I smiled and sighed.  “I'll love you forever if you keep that up woman.”  My voice sounded a little more human.

She teased, “Then we should never stop.”  If I had any question if a woman made of glass and crystal could get aroused, it was unfortunately answered in the affirmative, as it was almost as frustrating as the itch was.  I noted she was blushing at her own remark and it wasn't helping my situation in the least.

I filled her in on what Marie had told me, and that she thought the druids would show up to check on their trap.  Marie said, “Oui, we need to get Parker to safety as soon as possible, mon amour.”  Ella said off to the side, “I know, just give me a bloody second would you?”  Marie sounded amused, “Don't be so dramatic, mon amour.  Parker was so afraid last night, a living statue, I could feel eet.  We are almost fully fleshing now, non?  Don't let her know how scared we were for her or eet may cause undue anxiety.  Oui?”

I blinked at Ella.  “Marie, are you talking so I can hear on purpose?  I am right here you know.”

Ella's eyes snapped to mine then she tilted her head as if she were thinking something to Marie.  “Non, I am not speaking to the flower.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  “Yes, you are.”

Ella blinked at me and her smile grew. “You can hear Marie without her making the effort to speak to you now?”

I found myself nodding as she did, I felt a little crunching inside of me as I did.  Then I said, “Hey, stop doing that.  You're making me self-conscious.”

She said with a humor filled voice, “Oh, and we wouldn't want that right?”  As I shook my head, I realized she was too and I glared at her, unable to slap her arm.  My glare just got her giggling.  I giggled too and I found it was a little more than that as our laughs became sobs and tears rolled down each of our faces.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself and the over confident, over sexy Ella was back.  “Right,” she said as she wiped her eyes then mine.  “Let's see about getting the fuck out of here shall we?”

I nodded once and then she looked directly into my eyes and said with all seriousness, “This is very important.  Once you have control of the hand grasping my wrist, don't let go under any circumstance.  We don't know if it is my life force feeding you that is keeping the transformation from killing you or if it is just like when we have earth magic in ourself and it will dissipate naturally.”  She kept eye contact until I nodded, she didn't play her mirror game that time.

Then she said, “You're bleeding.”  She touched my neck as I started moving my free hand with a crunching tinkling sound.  She showed me the blood on her finger then she put her finger in her mouth to clean off the blood.

She knelt and picked up a fine sliver of glass about half the size of my pinky fingernail and about as thin.  She brought it up to my neck then made a satisfied grunt.  She smiled at me and made a show of putting the shard into a pocket on her leathers. “Little pieces of Parker.”

I took the time to explain how I saw the wolves tied up and the moonlight talisman before the attack.  “We need to destroy zee talisman before we go, ma belle.  So they cannot use eet again.  That ees a dangerous piece of black magic if eet holds the power of the full moon in a world of werewolves,” Marie said to us.

I nodded and said, “I agree with her,”  I bent at the waist and made my glass knuckles pop on the hand holding Ella.

She shook her head and spoke to the ceiling, “Great, now there's two of them telling me what to do.”  Marie and I chuckled at her.  I caught the grin she tried to hide.

Then she said, “First things first, you ready for this Parker?”  She moved one arm toward my waist and I nodded.  She added, “Whatever you do, do not lose skin contact with us.”  I nodded and she smiled and picked me up in her arms like I weighed nothing, my legs sticking straight out and what I could almost see through my shredded pants was almost clear glass.  I reached out with my free hand and touched a leg, it was so smooth I could almost feel my hand on it through the painful tingles that told me they would be with me soon.

She quickly carried me behind the shelves and found where the men had been tied up and the talisman lay.  She grabbed it and stuffed it into a pocket and then she smiled at my hand on my leg and we were heading to the back.

I was about to ask how she intended on getting me through the small opening where the metal siding was pried to the side when she drew the earth into her.  She kicked the back door off of its hinges with a seductive whump that passed through my body.  I idly wondered why I was feeling it, I glanced down to where my now flesh hand was still grasping her wrist.  Probably because she was still keeping the crystal from killing me by feeding her life-force into me using the amulet.

She looked around and smiled.  “My baby!”  We got to the bike then she looked at me and then the Harley.  “What now, mon chéri?” Marie chuckled.  “Shut up.”

I couldn't help but laugh.  Then I said, “I can probably straddle the seat.  We just have to get creative as I mount up so I keep skin contact.”  She nodded and we did a complicated maneuver of my grabbing her neck and releasing my other hand that I flexed to work the cramps out of.  Then once I was behind her, I wrapped an arm around her waist under her shirt.  I swear I heard Ella and Marie both moan when I did that.

Then Ella kicked started the bike.  She patted the gas tank and said, “There's my baby.”

I again wondered why she used the proper pronouns when speaking about her Harley.  “Eet is because she is zee one thing that I convinced Ella to get for herself.  Her misplaced guilt makes her live only for me.  She will only dress in a way that makes us look attractive because she doesn't want to embarrass me.  She only makes decisions if I agree.  She will not live for herself, ourself.  So when she learned to drive in this new world, I couldn't master eet, because eet scares me.  So I refused to speak with her for an entire month until she decided on a vehicle for us.  Finally, she chose this two-wheeled death trap with no input from me.  So eet ees her baby, her one possession and eet makes her so happy.  Non, eet makes me happy.  She still cannot accept we are the same person now.”

I nodded thoughtfully then stiffened.  Wait, you can hear my thoughts?  There was a long silence then I heard her say, “Oui.  I have just realized eet.  Eet must be the link you share through the amulet.”  Then in a much sadder tone she said, “Eet will probably cease when we cut the link when you are fully restored.”  I sighed.  Well, I love speaking with your other half like this.  I could feel the smile in her voice as she said, “Oui, me too, mon chéri.”

We sped off, away from the wall and out onto the streets toward my place.  My legs sticking stiffly out like a department store mannequin.  I slowly worked my knees and ankles as we rode.  Once we parked in the alley by my place, we could see the engineers arriving to continue with the city wall repair.  She lifted me down and was about to lift me.  I put my free hand on her arm.

I took an experimental step.  It was stiff and it clinked like crystal on concrete when I did, but I could walk.  I grabbed her hand with my free one and let go of her with the other.  I grinned and said, “Shall we?”  She answered with a smirk, and led me slowly to the door and then the long process of me climbing the stairs as a partially glass maiden.

Once we got inside, she quickly sat me on the couch.  Then she said, “Once your are restored, you need to call the bluebottles.  Let them know about the dead wolves inside the city.  It is bloody impossible to smuggle the cursed into the city, they need to know that someone has done it somehow.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. “They'll  probably bring us in again.  But it was self-defense... a trap.”

She nodded.  “We know that and you know that.  We can't reveal the existence of the full moon talisman.  We need to destroy it, if it fell into the wrong hands, like the military, they would use it as a weapon or worse.”

I agreed and we spent an hour ironing out what to tell the police, and waiting until I was fully flesh.  Except my nails stayed a clear crystal and smoother than any manicure could ever make them. They were actually stunning, they looked like glass but they scratched my water glass and they seemed as hard as diamond.  My voice was mine except for a crystal hum of an echo that preceded my voice.  Ella said it wasn't very noticeable, but I had listened to my own voice my whole life so it sounded freaky to me.

I took my shoes off and they remained glass.  When I asked why Ella's changed back to leather, she explained it was because she was still in physical contact with them until the change reversed.  They only turned to crystal because that was where she was in contact with the ground when she draws the earth into her.  So it made sense that when she drew the earth into her from my contact with the ground the same occurred.  She tried to stop me before I took my shoes off.  “That's how we lost many of our favorite shoes over the centuries.”

We discussed how the trap was apparently set specifically for her, to isolate her from her primary power source, the earth itself.  So we agreed not to mention it to anyone else.

Then another hour went by with no change.  We were getting nervous that a lower wall patrol might find the scene soon with the door torn off its hinges.  I finally just hissed in exasperation and took my hand off of Ella.

She yelped out a “No!”

I looked at my hands, my nails were still glossy glass. I said with that almost imperceptible crystal hum to my voice, “You know that if they find the scene first, they are going to come in guns blazing here unless we call them first.  With all the crystal shards in the bodies, it is obvious it was you.”

I grabbed my cell from my shredded clothing and swallowed. It had a cracked screen from when the wolves tried to eat me as she fought, but it powered up.  I wondered who to call, 911?  But then pulled Detective King's card from my pocket and dialed.  As soon as I hung up, Marie who we were relieved I could still hear in my mind, even when she spoke only to Ella, had me call Helena to be here before the police could arrive.  We explained what had happened and what we were going to share with the police before we hung up.

Ella looked at me and squinted. “You may want to change out of your buggered up clothes and put a bandaid on the cut on your neck.”  She lightly touched my neck and I shivered.  Then she looked at my hands.  “And maybe hide those.  We still can't believe you pulled away before you were fully flesh.”

I shook my head as I gathered new clothes and headed for the bathroom, “We needed to get the police out there.  It didn't seem like they were changing.”  I looked at them and grinned a little.

She threw a pillow at me and I uttered a surprised squeak, which sounded more like a crystal flute being struck, than my voice.  That was going to take some getting used to.  I'd have to keep my voice mellow or the glass overtones would be obvious to anyone.

I quickly showered and dressed then went out and sat next to Ella. I put clear matte nail polish over my nails to take the brilliant shine off of them, with the added benefit of effectively muting the rainbow light refractions they threw off.  Ella rolled her eyes. “That's a piss poor job of hiding them.”

I blushed and almost whispered, “I kind of like them, my nails have never looked so good.”

Just as I was blowing on my nails to dry them, there was a knock at the door.  Ella stood and walked to it.  “Who is it?”

“It's me, Grams,” came from the other side and Ella let her in and she turned to the door and locked it herself.  She said with urgency as she looked at both of us, “Okay, quickly now, go over this one more time.  Joe tells me the police just found the abandoned building and a unit is heading this way now.”

We recapped it all and what story we were going to share.  She nodded at us and said, “Actually, you are both going to say absolutely nothing.  I will share your story.  Understood?”

I nodded quickly, and Ella started to open her mouth with a mischievous half smirk.  But Helena cut her off, “I swear Ella if you weren't my Grams.  Now behave!”  Then she looked at me. “Can you make her behave please Parker?”

I shrugged, that was the silliest thing I had ever heard, I grinned and responded, “Like she would listen to me?”

She cocked one of her sculpted eyebrows and gave a pursed lip smile as she looked at her grandmother who was looking anywhere but at us, and me.  “Oh, I think you'd be surprised.  I know I am.  And what is with your voice?  You need to stop doing that.”

I blushed and looked at Ella. “I told you people would hear.”  Then I spoke softly to Helena in a tone that didn't resonate as much.  “I'll try.”  Good lord that woman had a commanding presence, you couldn't help but be glad she was so self-assured and in charge.  Maybe it was a lawyer thing.

Almost on cue, there were three heavy knocks on the door that made me jump, in unison, both women arched eyebrows in the same amused manner as me.  Frigging family ganging up to tease me. Helena stalked back to the door as we heard King's voice calling out with authority,  “SPD, open the door.”  Her voice had a tinge of anticipation in it like she was anticipating trouble and relished it.  Like she was a hunter, a predator, ready to pounce.

Helena just stood there counting to ten silently as she quietly undid the chain and most of the other locks, then she put on her lawyer face and in one smooth motion unlocked the last deadbolt as she swung the door quickly in.  King was standing there with her hand raised to knock, Detective Reiner, Special Agent Pike, and two uniformed officers stood behind her.  I didn't fail to notice that all of the men had their hands on the butts of their weapons.

Helena gave a sweet smile to King, who looked frustrated to be caught off guard like that.  She started to speak, but Miss Calliwell beat her to it.  “Please, come in detective.  My clients have been awaiting your arrival.”  She stepped aside and made an ushering motion with her hand.

Then she scowled at Pike as he followed King and Reiner in.  Then she skillfully reached across to the door jam as she started closing the door with her other hand.  She gave a disarming smile to the uniforms.  “Please, there are already too many people in a small space, I think the intimidation factor is already high enough.  Would you please wait here and guard the door?”

The men didn't look happy having a lawyer dictate actions to them.  They looked past her and I saw King nod just once and the men backed up and stood on either side of the door as she closed it.  I understood what she was doing.  Systematically taking charge of the situation to diffuse any attempts at intimidation the police wanted to employ.  She was worth every penny I wasn't paying her.  I had to choke back a chuckle at that thought.  “Behave, mon chéri.  You are as bad as our Ella.”  I sent a mental apology to Marie and got a smug vibe back.  Then I heard her reprimanding Ella for similar thoughts.

Ella spoke to the air to her left, “Yes mum.” Which got Marie giggling and Ella and I sharing knowing grins.

Then Helena stepped between Ella and I and grabbed our arms and pulled us away from the couch and motioned her head. “Please Detectives, Agent, have a seat.  I'm sure you are full of questions.” Ella's cheek muscles spasmed as she held back a smile as they all hesitated and then took a seat while they looked around the room.

Then Marie was in my head.  “Ella wants me to let you know what Helena ees doing.  By having them seated as we stand, eet takes away any intimidation factor as they are positioned lower than us.  Plus eet keeps the nosy detectives and that annoying Pike from wandering around looking at your things.  This way we cannot be distracted by one while the others snoop.  I am so proud of the woman our Helena has become.”  I nodded.

Pike stood back up before anyone could speak.  “There was a lot of blood in the automotive shop.  And Devareau is clearly injured, we need to get them to the station where they can be tested for the lupus contagion.”

King, to her credit, snapped, “Sit down Pike, you are only an observer here.”  Then she said to Helena as the now disgruntled ass sat back down, “But he does bring up a valid point, we need to move this to the station.  They do need to be tested.”

Calliwell shook her head. “Are they under arrest?”

King shook her head, clearly annoyed and stressed. “Not yet.”

Our lawyer shrugged. “You have a testing kit with you, all officers do.  Test them here.”  She stepped back away and motioned us toward King, who let out an exasperated breath and then pulled out a test kit from a leather pouch beside her gun on her belt.  Ella smiled cheesily and offered a finger.  King pricked her finger and we watched the blood not react to the silver needle.  Then King offered a band-aid and Ella just licked her finger and said, “All better.”  Showing her undamaged skin.

This got Pike fidgeting uneasily.  Then I stepped up after Ella moved aside and I offered a finger.  King looked at my fingernail and hesitated then she stabbed my finger.  There was a tink and crackling sound as crystal seemed to appear and crackle across my finger, spidering out like a snowflake.  It returned to flesh as quickly as it had come.  I blinked in shock and she tried again, with the same result.

We all heard a click of a snap being undone and King hissed out to Pike, who had his pistol half out of its holster. “Put that god damned thing away Pike!  What part of observer do you not understand?”

The man hesitated. “We don't even know what kind of paranormal she is, and she may well be a wolf now and we have no way of knowing.  Those other four wolves were somehow smuggled into the city.”

Then Ella said, “Oh for fuck's sake you sodding wanker.”  And she surprised me by quickly pulling off the bandaid on my neck and handed it to King.  “There's her blood.  Test it there.”  We all leaned in as she laid the needle across the bloodstained bandage and I swear we were all holding our breaths as absolutely nothing happened.

Then Ella pulled me back to Helena, I noted she kept her body between mine and the detectives, in a proprietary, protective manner.  I almost melted when she slipped her hand into mine and gave me a reassuring squeeze.  I smiled inwardly but then my mind went back to the strange crystal that had blocked the needle.  Would that fade too?  Or was I some sort of monster now?  “You are no monster sweet Parker.”  That was like a mental hug.  I still loved how her accent made my name sound like park-air.

Then the endless questions began.  I swear that they asked the same things in a dozen different ways.  Helena rarely let us speak.  And she was really good at saying, “Next question.”  To ignore the question or, “Asked and answered, next question.”  She stopped their failed attempts at getting contradicting answers.

Then King recapped it all. “So you're saying that you heard strange noises in the abandoned building just after sunset and noticed the siding on the building was pried off to the side so you went in to investigate in case there were homeless people in there that needed to get behind some FMBs?  And when you went in, there were four werewolves in there who tried attacking you?”

We had discussed that since we didn't want them to know that wolves had changed before sundown.  Any tests on the body would give a half hour window for time of death that would cross over past sundown.

We nodded.  Then she asked a question we weren't ready for.  “So why on earth were you two out past sundown on a full moon night near the Wall?”

Helena looked about to warn us, but Ella pulled me closer and laid her head on my shoulder cutely and said, “What do you think we were doing with our girl here?  The thrill of the danger just makes everything thing that much more passionate.”  Oh dear lord!  If only!  Then I remembered Marie could hear my thoughts.  I blushed so hard it felt like my face and neck was on fire.

The men fidgeted, and Reiner shifted in his seat as he looked at us.  King looked between us and cocked an eyebrow.  “So you were...”

Ella nodded, “Yup.  I was fuckin' the poor girl senseless on the back of my bike when we heard the noise.”  She buried her face in my neck and inhaled deeply, every nerve in my body short-circuited.  She whispered, “Sorry Parker.”  Then she pulled back, still holding my hand as she finished to Helena's protestations. “Then I felt it was our civic duty to make sure the wolves didn't get out to terrorize the city.  Besides you know, not getting eaten.  So I dispatched them and we hid in the shop all night until morning, in case there was more of 'em outside.”

The detective narrowed her eyes and asked, “So why didn't you call for help?”

Helena gave Ella an icy glare and actually pinched her grandmother's lips together between her fingers when Ella started to answer.  Ella smiled as best she could with her mouth being pinned shut.  Helena smiled demurely at King.  “Parker's cell fell out of her pocket when they ummm... dismounted the bike.  So she wasn't able to call until sunrise when it was safe for them to emerge from the building.”

She pointed at my cell, complete with cracked screen, on the coffee table in front of them.  Reiner reached for it, but Helena leaned over and placed a single finger on it.  “Not without a warrant detective.”

He narrowed his eyes, then asked me, “Mind if I use your bathroom?”  I'm sure I paled, my shredded clothing were in the garbage can in there.

But Miss Calliwell, obviously wise to the game, said, “It is out of order.  I believe the convenience store on the corner has a public restroom you can use.”  She smiled glacially at his glare.

Pike had finally had enough and he growled out, “Enough of the goddamn games.  How did you get four wolves into the city?  Who are you working with?”  King shot him a disapproving glare.

Helena snapped her eyes to him. “Are you implying my clients had anything to do with the wolves who attacked them last night?”

He looked around in exasperation and spoke to the detectives, “It is obvious that they brought the wolves into the city, and when they couldn't control them, they put them down.”

Helena walked to the door and said, “This interview is over.  This is two nights in a row that my clients have protected the citizens of this city, and they are only met with slanderous accusations.  We are going to have a field day in court about that, once we level a lawsuit against your agencies.  If you have any more questions, please route them through my office.  Good day detectives, special agent.”  The uniformed officers at the door turned to look at her.

Our... guests, stood hesitantly.  I think Reiner was trying to burn holes through Pike with his eyes.  King singled out the weak link in the room and spoke to me,  “I know you aren't telling the full truth.  You need to share everything with us before things get out of hand.  We don't need vigilantes out there making a mess of things and making my job harder Miss Devareau.”

They left and King said as Helena closed the door, “Keep yourselves available in case we have more questions in our investigation.”

After Calliwell locked the door and slid the chain into place she listened at the door for a few seconds. When she was satisfied she turned around and cocked her head and shrugged cutely.  Wait, can lawyers be cute?

I mumbled toward Helena with a crooked half-grin, amazed at how well she controlled the entire interview, “That was so hawt.”

Just to be slapped on the shoulder by a shocked looking Ella. “That's our granddaughter Parker!”

I blushed and shrugged to Helena's grinning delight.  Then she compounded my embarrassment by adding, “And ten years your elder.”

I sat on the couch and buried my head in my hands, hiding a grin. “I hate you two.”  Friggin' Marie was just giggling at the whole display, a fat lot of help she was.  I amended, “Three.”  Which got a burst of laughter from Ella.  I loved the sound.

We all wound up on the couch and took a couple seconds to decompress.  Then I asked, “Why didn't we tell them about the druid spell circles on the city wall?”  I looked down at my hand when Ella grabbed it.  She seemed to be examining it intently.  She held up a finger and her fingernail slowly extended and sharpened into a crystal spike.  Then she stabbed me.  I almost yanked my hand back in shock only to pause when instead of a shooting pain, I heard a “clink”.  We all looked at the spiderweb of crystal skin beneath where she tried to jab me as it faded to flesh.

Helena answered for Ella while the latter sent goosebumps up my arm as she continued to examine my hand.  “Our mortal police are ill-equipped to handle black magic.  It is all they can do to protect the city from one supernatural threat three nights a month.  And that is with a thirty-foot wall and silver gates between them and the wolves.  They would be nothing but fodder if they attempted to stand against powerful magic users like the druids you hunt.”

Ella was dragging her spike along my arm, it made a crinkling sound that rose in pitch the longer she made the crystal spread along my skin.  She whispered, “What have we done to you?”

I laid a hand on hers to stop her obsessing and dipped my head to catch her iceberg blues.  “You protected me, and apparently... are still protecting me.”  I punched my coffee table at the corner to demonstrate, and as expected, there was a heavy thudding clank instead of me running around screaming in pain.  I had barely even felt the impact.  We all watched my knuckles change from clear glass to flesh.

Then I continued my line of questioning.  “What about Pike or some of those other agents?  Would they be better equipped?”

Ella snorted. “That lot of wankers would go in guns blazing and get themselves and a bunch of others killed.  Even the secret government division that is trying to weaponize werewolves and covertly kidnap other paranormals and dissect them for 'research', has had containment problems that have gotten many people killed.”

I blinked at that, and could feel the blood draining from my face.  Weaponize werewolves?  Dissecting people like... Ella, like me?  Our government?  Then I thought about Pike and the others, and their acute interest in what kind of paranormal Ella was, hell even what kind of paranormal I was.  I was just a sensitive, now I'm... something else.

I glanced up finally to see both of them were watching me intently as I came to the realizations.  Letting me sift through all of the ramifications.  I gave an almost pleading look to Ella and she nodded and said almost sadly, “Welcome to our world Parker.”

Then she straightened up and put on a cheerful facade.  “Shall we go druid hunting?  There is something we want to check.  Or do you need to sleep?  Marie says you couldn't sleep after we... did... that to you.”

I shook my head.  “No, actually I feel energized, stronger than I've ever felt.”  I looked at my hands and clenched them into fists.

She smiled fondly at me and I found myself smiling back.  She said,  “Grand!  I need your eyes since they are specifically targeting me with their traps and able to cloak their magics from me.  Ready for a hunt outside the gates?”

I paled again.  “Out... outside the gates?”  I swallowed.  I had never left Seattle.  Never been outside the gates except for the one full moon I volunteered to help clean up in the morning and help cursed survivors.  I couldn't stomach all the carnage outside the gates and felt sick for days.  I know that isn't how things are on the outside.  For the most part, it is just like life inside the city walls except for the ferals.  But I have always been afraid.  My whole life I have been afraid.  I didn't like that one bit.  It was time for me to stop being afraid and woman up.

Then I took a deep cleansing breath and said with resolve, my crystal tones proceeding my firm voice, “Yes.  Anything I can do to help.”  I realized I was nodding my head with her again, and slapped her shoulder.

I could feel Marie smiling and Ella said softly, “There's a girl.”

Helena looked at us and smiled and stood.  “That would be my cue.  I should go run some interference with the authorities and the alphabet soup of agencies taking an interest in this situation, like the CSCLD..”  Then she looked at both of us and hugged Ella and kissed her cheek. “Be careful Grams.”  Then she surprised me with a hug too.  “Keep her out of trouble?”

I nodded with a smug grin when Ella started complaining.  Helena rolled her eyes and told her, “You're nothing but trouble.  You can't ignore her like you can Marie.”  I snorted when Marie added, “Oui, take that mon amour.”

Ella growled. “Three against one again?”  We all chuckled and bid Helena goodbye.  Ella walked her out so she could bring in her saddle bags so she could clean up and get changed before we went out.  It was odd, I was much more aware of her presence than before.  She had the same feel that the Red Hood had with those sour undertones of black magic, but now she was almost like a blazing star.

She got ready and came strutting out of the bathroom with that sexy confidence of hers.  I looked away so I didn't make a fool of myself.  Again she was all clad in black leather and a white peasant blouse, making my libido remind me how long it had been since I had been with someone.

She tilted her head cutely to look up into my eyes.  “You right Parker?”

I blushed a little and gave her a shy grin.  “Yes.  Why do you always wear leather?”  Then I quickly added, “Not that it is a bad thing.”  Then I purred, “Not at all.”  I covered my traitorous mouth.

A smile quirked at the corners of her lips.  “We find that leather and other natural fibers can take the punishment of our powers better.  Maybe because of their origins in nature, especially leather as the black magics that made us are rooted in death.”

I nodded and tried to sound aloof as I said, “Well you are beautiful.”

She froze and the tiny smile faded as she said, “It is Marie's body you find beautiful.”

Marie was chastising, “Amore!” as I caught myself snapping, “Get it through your thick skull that you two are the same person now.  You are beautiful Ella.  You!  And all the parts of you that make the whole, Ella or Marie.”  I don't know why I was so mad.  I stomped across the floor and said as I opened the door.  “I'll be at the bike.”  Then I slammed the door behind me.

I was grumbling and cussing all the way down the steps.  I exited the building and stomped up to the Harley and grabbed the helmet and yanked it onto my head and sat on the bike, waiting for her as I grumbled and cussed some more.

She finally walked out and looked at me, I wouldn't meet her eyes.  “Parker...” she started.

I cut her off. “Shut up and drive me outside the gates to my certain doom.”

I flicked my eyes to her then away, she seemed amused at something as she said, “Grump,” She mounted the bike in front of me.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged myself to her, laying my head on her back and basking in her warmth as I replied, “Bitch.”

She giggled, and it sounded like silver chimes to me as she kick-started her bike and it roared to life.  I left my stomach behind as she popped a wheelie and we went rocketing down the road.

Chapter 8 – Trinity

She had me turn off my cell then after ten or fifteen minutes of losing tails, we drove out of the city gates.  I realized I was holding my breath as I turned back to see Seattle from this vantage point for the second time in my life.  She drove through the streets of the city as it just seemed to continue after the outer gap by the city walls.

It looked the exact same as the city inside the safety of the gates, except the lack of FMBs, but I felt oddly exposed and vulnerable.  Like all the people in the traffic we passed and the people on the sidewalk were staring at me, knowing I was Clean Blood.  Though I knew, I just imagined it.  The few looks we got when we were stopped at a red light were from a couple drooling men who had their eyes plastered on Ella.

I blushed, I couldn't blame them, she was crazy hot.  But then I felt not only exposed and vulnerable, but self-conscious that I wasn't very pretty.  There was a whistle from a man on the corner and she just casually flipped him off without looking.

I called ahead as we rode, “Where are we going?”  She smiled back at me and winked as we pulled into the golden arches of all places.  She parked and lowered the kickstand and got off the bike, running her hands through her golden mane as it fell down in place, completely unfair that it didn't seem to get windblown.  I took off the helmet knowing I most likely had helmet hair.  I pulled it into a tight ponytail and pulled a scrunchy out of a pocket to fasten it.

I looked at the restaurant, then at her in confusion.  “This is what you needed to check out on the outside?”

She shook her head and I found myself aping her again.  I bit my tongue in a combination of humor and frustration.  Why did I find that so cute?  She said slowly, like she was speaking to a young child, “No Parker.  This is a fast food joint.”

Then she grabbed my hand to walk inside with me.  I was feeling uncomfortable knowing that most likely all the people around me were cursed wolves.  “We thought we'd put you to ease first.  You seem so bloody tense, like a rabbit ready to bolt.  We thought we would show you that the outside is just like the city.  The only difference is that for the roughly thirty-six hours of the full moon, they lock themselves up where you basically do the same thing behind FMBs.”

She pulled me in front of her in line and rested her hands on my hips and looked over my shoulder to the menu.  It felt so intimate.  Then when it was our turn, she said to the kid that looked to be ten or so at the register,  “We'll have the quarter pounder meal, please.”  I realized that the boy was most likely much older than he appeared since you are locked into the physical form you were in when you survived a werewolf attack and were cursed.  Hell, he could be over a hundred years old for all I knew.

I blinked when he asked her, “Raw or cooked?”

She smoothly replied, “Cooked, please.”  Then she looked around me, almost cheek to cheek with me. “What are you getting Parker?”

God, I wanted to snuggle into her, but instead I asked like an idiot,  “Raw or cooked?”

The boy replied before she could, it must have been obvious to him this was my first time out of the city proper.  “We wolves like our raw meat miss.  So on the outside here, you have the choice of raw or cooked.  Same menu otherwise.”  He said it with a lot more patience, maturity, and wisdom than a ten-year-old should have, punctuating my assessment that he was much older than he appeared.

I nodded in understanding and found myself smiling at him. “I'll have what she is having, please.”

He gave our total then Ella scrunched up her nose at me and paid, saying, “You're a cheap date.”  I blushed.  Was this a date?  “She ees shamelessly toying with you my sweet Parker.”  I pushed her shoulder then suddenly rewound and grinned... her Parker?

We took our tray and sat down at a back window so she could watch her bike.  She just started devouring the hamburger.  I looked at mine in my hand and hesitated and looked under the bun.  Wolves made it... I wondered about the contagion.  Ella looked around nervously and leaned in and whispered too low I almost couldn't hear.  “Just eat it, Parker.  You are showing the same bloody misinformed bigotry that most of the Clean Bloods have.  You KNOW that you can't catch it except on a full moon if you are bit.  They are human beings just like you.”

I blinked at her in shock.  I had been thinking that.  How had she known?  Then I looked around.  Was I a bigot?  I never thought I was.  I suddenly felt ashamed and then took a bite of the burger.  It tasted like any other burger.  I smiled in embarrassment at her and she softened and laid a hand on my free one.

I nodded at her with a smile, then stole one of her french fries.  She blurted, “Hey!  You manky bint!”  I grinned at her outburst and made a show of taking a seductive bite of the pilfered spud.  She smiled a silly smile and slid her fries a tiny bit closer to me as we ate.

When we finished, I asked, “So where are we going?”

She winked and said, “Back to the city wall.  We wanted you to have a look at the outside of it with your abilities.  We think we may know what they are up to now.”  I blushed, so she really did drive us through the city to the golden arches just to show me that life is the same out here?

Marie answered my thoughts. “That and she ees watching for any people following us from zee gates.” Ahh.

Ella said, “Maybe you could draw some of the symbols you see in the circles, and we can determine their exact purpose.”  I nodded and we headed out.  We headed east after passing the top of Lake Washington, instead of directly back.  I didn't understand until she suddenly gunned the motor and we started weaving randomly through the streets for a few minutes.

We turned back toward the city and she looked back past me saying, “Sodding wankers will never learn.”

She kept us clear of Aurora Avenue and the main city gates and brought us up to the wall of Seattle, behind a golf course just past Westminster Triangle.  I realized it was exactly two miles from the city gates.  We were directly behind one of the druid spell circles.  It was really secluded there with rows of trees just past the gap zone between us and the golf course.  Like inside the city, the gap was kept clear, so wolves had nothing they could climb on to try to leap over the city wall.

Ella set the kickstand and ran her fingers through her hair and helped me off the bike.  I smiled after taking off the helmet and readjusting my ponytail.  Then I hesitated and looked around.  She was on guard suddenly, “What is it, Parker?”

I looked toward the golf course then shook my head.  “I don't know, there's just a heck of a lot of magic around here, it feels safe, but some has a tinge of black magics.  More than can be explained by you and that druid circle there.”  I pointed at the wall.

She looked toward the golf course and then nodded at me. “We can feel something too.”  Then she turned toward the wall.  We walked up to it and she asked, “Where is it?”  I placed my hand on the markings, feeling the burn of them, but I could tolerate it now.

She put her hand near mine and I grabbed it and pulled it to one of the symbols.  She shook her head.  “I don't like that they can obscure the spells and themselves from us.  It makes us feel like we are being...”

She stopped and I felt the large amount of power being pulled into her from the earth.  She spun and looked to the sky and struck up with a huge whump, as a woman with white antlers, cloaked in white feathers came barreling out of the sky, white energy crackling around her form.

I've seen what Ella's strikes could do to a skull, but there was silence for a moment as her fist connected with the oncoming human projectile.  It felt like energy was being compressed between the two, then the deafening sound of impact came, along with a shockwave that knocked me off my feet and had leaves and dust flying in every direction.

The woman in white tumbled to the ground but somehow was still able to land shakily in a three-point stance, in a bed of moss that I swear hadn't been there a moment before.  Ella fell to a knee, panting but then stood up, and I felt her gathering power again as she grabbed the woman roughly by an antler and cocked her fist.  The woman stumbled forward in surprise. I don't think she was ready for how much brute force Ella could bring to bear.

I stood up, but then I was suddenly flat on my back with a huge wolf pinning me down, fangs bared.  Good lord, it was a werewolf!  The wolf had... human eyes!  It looked down at my arm and hesitated.  Where it's claws were touching my skin, I had patches of crystal protecting me.

Ella struck the feathered woman again with a whump of earth behind her strike.  The woman went tumbling and skipping along the ground as honest to goodness vines sprang from the ground to wrap around Ella's legs.  She twisted toward me, her legs anchored, and she released a rain of crystal shards from her arm at the wolf.  The wolf yelped but didn't budge an inch as they sank into its flank, still pinning me to the ground.

With a surge of power Ella tore the vines from the ground and started toward me but paused when a voice behind her said, “I wouldn't do that if I were you.”  I blinked, the Red Hood stood behind her with a crossbow pressed against the back of Ella's neck.  But... the Red Hood was one of the good guys.  Why was she attacking us?

Ella spun so fast I almost couldn't follow it, and a silver crossbow bolt went whizzing into the sky.  I could barely follow the blurs of black leather and billowing red cloak as they exchanged a fury of blows.  With a whumping crack, they wound up fist to fist.  The Red Hood looking at their fists together in shock, then back at Ella.  Red's fist was bleeding.

Then they started again, with the Red Hood on retreat this time.  Until she did a spinning pirouette move in midair, and she landed behind Ella with her cloak off. She had somehow snaked it under Ella's arms and back around, pinning her arms to her side, Red's leg was in Ella's back for leverage.  She had her immobilized, but Ella was slowly pulling her arms forward to Red's surprise and she growled in a wolfish voice, “You're a strong one aren't you?”

She jumped in the air still holding the cloak and spun, twisting the cloak tighter and lifted her leg to kick Ella who was asking, “Why won't this bloody thing tear?”

I screamed and pushed up with all my might and surprised the wolf by raking my diamond nails across its broad chest then rolling away.  I stood as it bared its fangs and prepared to leap at me.  I recognized the backpack on the wolf's back.  It was Red's hellhound, Fluffy!

I prepared for the attack and then heard the clacking of two assault rifles being readied to fire.  I looked over to see two women in body armor approaching me, weapons raised.  I was scared to death as I yelled, “Why are you attacking us?  You're supposed to be the good guys!”  My voice screeched with the tone of tuned crystal and vibrating glass.

Red hesitated as she looked at me, the wolf looked back at her then a sweet voice said, “Hold.” A white crow landed on the Red Hood's shoulder then hopped off and transformed into the white feathered woman as she lightly landed on a waiting bed of moss.

She glowed with brilliant white light in my vision.  Then she asked me as Ella was slowly pulling away from Red's grasp again,  “There are black magicks in both of you child.  Yet I sense no malice.  Do you not work for the druids we seek?  You cannot lie to me.”

I sputtered. “Of course not!  Ella and I are hunting them.  We came out here to examine the spell circles they are creating on the walls.  Then you attacked us.”

Red suddenly let go of her cloak and Ella spun on her and pushed her away as Red asked, “Ella?  It is true?  You exist?”

Ella threw the cloak on the ground and stepped up to Red and they started at each other eye to eye.  Rage was in my girl's eyes.  Then Red smiled.  It was such a sweet smile that I felt relief flooding through me as she said, “The rumors of your sheer power and capacity for violence don't do you credit.  None could almost best me like that, especially with Daria and Snow to back me up.”

Ella blinked.  The other two women lowered their weapons as the feathered lady sort of faded into a sweet looking white-haired woman with tiny white horns sticking out of her hair.  The taller of the armored woman pulled her behind her in a possessive, protective way.  I had to blink when a gray squirrel scurried up her and onto her shoulder.

I whispered, “Gretta Snow?”  I knew that she had been in the area, hunting black witches with Red.  Parts of the forest had been leveled in the battles.  The white-haired woman smiled at me and nodded once as the tall armored woman growled exactly like a wolf.

Then the Red Hood said, “We're sorry for attacking you.  The witches and druids lately have had defenses that seem to have targeted us specifically recently, and you both stink of black magic.  Maireni Damaschin, or Red Hood if you prefer.”  Then she moved her hand toward the huge wolf who I swear, she looked at with love twinkling around in her eyes.  “And this is Daria McQueen.”  Wait, Daria McQueen?  That hero cop that died killing the werewolf Alpha, Slater with the Red Hood?  She 's still alive?  I stared at the wolf who narrowed her eyes at me and I felt like I had to avert my eyes.  I looked down.

Snow spoke, “Gretta Snow, and this is my pack.”  She looked lovingly up to the tall woman.  “My mate, Rachel Paige.”  Then tilted her head to the other woman.  “Amanda Danes, our beta.” Then she looked at the squirrel on her shoulder who was chattering away. “And our scout, Conrad.”

Ella was calming down slowly, clenching and unclenching her fists.  She shook her head and asked, “Fucking Snow White, and Red Riding Hood?”

Maireni narrowed her eyes and retorted, “Cinderella?”

The two exchanged glares that turned into grins as I stared at three women straight out of fairytales as they all grumbled together, “Fuckin' Grimm brothers.”

I looked around.  Okay, so... nobody was trying to kill anybody anymore?  Ella's nose was working and she looked at the two armored woman.  “Cursed?”  They nodded.  Shit, they were wolves.

Then Ella took one last calming breath, I could hear Marie calming her.  Then she said, “Ella ummm... Smith, and my special black magic consultant, and adorable waitress, Parker Devareau.”

Then Red asked with a tinge of hope in her voice, “Is the Briar Rose with you?”

Ella shook her head and said with a hint of disappointment, “We thought she was with you.”  Then Marie spoke through her, “There ees something that ees allowing us all to finally meet.  I think there ees something huge coming that we may not be able to handle alone.  Something in need of balance.”  She let go of Ella and the other two women nodded in agreement to her assessment.

Red said, “I've been thinking about that since I heard of this Ella person burning a swath of blood and violence through the black magic users here in America, seemingly toward the Pacific Northwest.  Then I met Snow after I had hunted for you two for centuries with no success.”

I really liked her accent, I couldn't actually place it, it gave her tone a smoky feel to it.  She absently opened her hand at her side, fingers stretched out and her hellhound stepped under it and she dug her fingers into the wolf's pelt.

Then Snow moved around Rachel who growled at her and I was surprised when Snow snarled right back in what sounded like a real wolf's growl.  I could see Rachel's need to be in front of her to protect her.  Snow grinned at the woman and flicked her nose. “Bad dog.”

Snow then addressed us. “I'm sorry, there is just some debate as to who the Alpha is in our pack.  She'll learn.”  She was suppressing a smile and I had to grin.

Then I did chuckle when Rachel retorted with a humor tinged voice, “Just wait until nightfall and we'll see who's in charge.”

Now she rolled her eyes. “That doesn't count, now shush, the grown ups are talking.”  Rachel didn't seem upset. Instead she grinned and wrapped her arms around Snow from behind and kissed the top of her head as her mate asked us.  “So, why are you out here, and near the druid castings?”

We explained what had happened to date, and they shared a similar difficulty in locating the druids, they were similarly being shielded from their detection.  Only Snow, in her nature goddess Perchta form, could faintly see the spell circles.  But she couldn't stay in that form for long or she lost herself in  Perchta and found it difficult to find her way back to herself.

I saw the empathy for that in Ella's pained eyes and she laid a hand on her arm for support.  Rachel growled and Elle looked at her and narrowed her eyes and clenched her other hand into a knuckle popping fist. “You want a go at it right here wolf pup?  Sod off and stop being a possessive wanker!”

Red chuckled and her wolf chuffed in humor as Gretta gave an amused and crooked grin.  Rachel took a calming breath and said, “Sorry, I don't know I'm doing it half the time.  She just brings out the animal side in me.”  Ella winked at the woman.  I felt a pang of jealousy.  Oh, dear lord, I was acting like Rachel.

Then Ella reached over and looped an arm in mine.  “Luckily, we brought our own detector.  Since the druids don't know about her and her abilities, she can sense them and their magic.  She can see the symbols on the wall there.  They are right on the opposite side of a similar circle on the inside.”

Snow stepped to the wall and touched it lightly with her fingers then looked at me. “If you can tell me what symbols, I can unravel their magic.”

I shrugged. “I don't know anything about magic, but I can try.”

Gretta nodded and said softly, “Ella has faith in you.  Can you draw what you see for me?”  I nodded and Maireni pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of the pack on her wolf's back.  Then the white-haired woman grinned. “I really like that odd tone to your voice, it is like the earth is speaking to me.”  I blushed.

Then as Red put her red cloak back on she asked Ella, “So why did you come to a location behind another spell circle?  Do you know something?”

My blonde shook her head and said, “It is just that the rumors we heard about that plonker Slater.  He was trying to secretly take over control of the Seattle government by proxy.  But without having an infected mayor, he had no way to be fully in control of them with his Alpha abilities.  But there is no way to get a bloody infected into the city undetected.”

Then she shrugged. “But the trap inside the city walls for us, had four wolves.  The druids had somehow done the impossible.  The only thing we could think of is that they somehow used these fuckin' spells to accomplish it.  We keep asking ourself, 'a doorway'?”

Snow's brow furrowed and she made a “Hmmm...” sound and then stood next to me as I began to sketch.

Chapter 9 – Druids

It was well into the afternoon and approaching dusk when I had finished sketching all the symbols I could see.  Snow took them all from me studying them intently, nodding and mumbling to herself.  Then she looked up and said to the group, “I can see how this would work.  It is indeed a doorway, like a proximity portal if the proper phrase is spoken.”

Ella snorted. “Like 'open sesame'?”

The other woman crinkled her nose and grinned.  “Exactly like that.  But there are so many traps and triggers built in.  Any tampering would cause all the energy to expend itself.”  She paused.  “In an explosion like at the breach site.”

Red said with a wink to the rest of us, “So you're saying you can't unravel the spells?”

Snow sputtered. “I didn't say that!  I can do it.  It will just take some time.”  Red held back a laugh since the woman didn't realize she was baiting her.  I snorted then covered my mouth in embarrassment.  Gretta looked at me and I shook my head pointing at Red.  Snow huffed, “You're not as funny as you think you are.”

Maireni just nodded with a grin. “I beg to differ.”

Snow started a retort about begging when Ella blurted out, “Good lord women, the sun is getting low and I need to get Parker back in the gates.  She can help me find the druids, they will be at one of two locations since it is a full moon and they won't be working outside the gates tonight.”

Red nodded.  “Daria and I will join you and take the second location.”  I wondered how she'd get a werewolf inside the city, but then I remembered Fluffy was with her when she ate at the diner.

Ella and I turned to Gretta and she shook her head. “I can't bring my pack past the gates, wolves you know.  And I can't leave them or they will go feral at the full moon without me there to sooth their beasts.  I'll work on the unraveling.”

Ella nodded as we walked to her Harley and she handed me the helmet.  “Then let's saddle up, where is your vehicle?”  Red grinned and said, “We don't have one. We'll wait for you at the gate.” Then Red and Fluffy ran off in a blur.  The wolf letting out a tremendous howl that invigorated me and set off a tone in the crystal in my body.

Ella smirked at me as we mounted the bike and she started her with a throaty roar of the motor.  “That sounded like a bloody challenge to us.”  Oh, shit!  I wrapped my arms around her tightly as we rode a wheelie for over a hundred yards before she swerved out of the Gap and onto the streets, heading for Aurora Avenue.

I just knew I was going to die as she drifted the bike around corners and weaved through the thinning traffic of the people getting through the gates before sundown.  She slammed on the brakes and we slid neatly to a stop at the vehicle checkpoint.

Ella had a smug look on her face until Red and Fluffy dropped down from somewhere in front of us at the pedestrian checkpoint.  The Red Hood actually stuck her tongue out at us and smugly walked into the city after she and her wolf had their blood silver tested.  I blinked when they allowed her wolf in.

We were having problems.  Ella's blood tested fine.  But they again couldn't pierce my skin.  The Officer was arguing with Ella.  “I'm sorry ma'am, but no test, no entry.”

Ella looked at me then the cut on my neck that was already only a scar now.  She said, “Sorry Parker.”  She produced a knife from somewhere and I could feel her draw energy through the ground and into the blade.  I didn't have time to flinch or pull my hand back as she struck the back of my hand with the knife.  There was a “Clink!” as my skin became clear glass and a tiny fragment broke off.  She winked at me and pocketed the fragment and my skin became flesh again with a little cut that was bleeding where the fragment broke off.

She pointed at the blood and said, “There's your fuckin' blood.”  The officer glared at her as she put the small knife away somewhere behind her back.  The man dipped the silver needle into the blood welling up on the cut.  He motioned his head toward the gates.  Ella gave him a snide look and gunned the motor a couple times before driving us through the gates at a slow pace.

Red was grinning as we stopped the bike beside her.  She asked me, “The woman has no tact does she?”

I grinned and shook my head, realizing Ella was too.  I slapped her shoulder and she stopped and I told  Maireni, “No, she really doesn't.  But God help me if I don't find it endearing.”

Ella gave the woman a 'so there' look and the wolf chuffed, and I swear it was smiling.  Then Red looked at the sun and then said quickly, “We only have about seven minutes.  We need to find someplace private for Daria to change.”

That made no sense to me, but Ella nodded in understanding and just motioned her head for them to follow us and we shot off toward my place.  I saw them leap up to a fire escape in one bound together then up to the roof of a neighboring building in another bound.  Then they kept pace with us, jumping rooftop to rooftop.  Red moving as fast as a wolf.

They landed beside the bike as I took off my helmet and clipped it on the bike.  The FMBs had already lowered for the night and I punched in my override and they rose.  We filed in and the bars dropped behind us.  I sighed at the feeling of safety they instilled in me.

I looked at the sundown indicator above my television, we had two minutes until the sun set today.  Red asked, “Where is your bathroom?”  I pointed and she crouched in front of Fluffy and placed their foreheads together and gave the wolf a loving rub of the ears.  Then the dog padded into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Ella sat on one end of the couch and Red on the other.  I asked, “Anyone want anything to drink?  I can whip up dinner before we go looking for druids.”

Red shook her head and said, “Not until Daria comes out.”  I squinted in confusion as the sundown indicator went red and there was a little chime.  Then loud yelping and whining of a dog in agony came through the door as Maireni cringed and covered her ears while her yelps turned into a woman screaming.  Ella slid over to Red who was trying to block it out as a tear rolled down her cheek.  Ella pulled her into her shoulder in a protective gesture until the screams subsided.

Red pulled back and wiped her cheek, then nodded with a grateful smile.  Ella smiled back and slid back over.  I was almost too busy smiling at the fact that little miss badass was such a softie, to notice when the bathroom door opened a minute later.  A woman dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, carrying the wolf's backpack, stepped up behind Red and wrapped her arms around her from behind the couch.  Maireni turned her head back and they kissed sweetly.  The woman said, “Hi love.”

I just blinked at the woman as she stepped around and sat beside Red, who replied, “Hello love.”  My eyes went wide.  Oh, my god!  She really was Daria McQueen!  I saw her face plastered all over the news for weeks after Slater's death.

I mumbled to myself, “Fluffy?”  She looked over at me and her nostrils flared like a wolf then she smiled. “I could really go for a bite to eat if the offer still stands.  I'm famished.”  I just nodded stupidly and stumbled toward the kitchen.

I called out, “I can do like macaroni and cheese and maybe fry up some burger patties.  I don't have much in the way of quick foods.”

Daria called out, “That sounds divine.  I'm a mac and cheese fiend.  Mari and I will take a couple of those burgers, uncooked if it doesn't freak you out too much.  Cooked is fine otherwise.”

I started cooking as the women explained Daria's curse.  A few minutes later Ella helped me set out the food.  I pointed at one of the two plates with a few burger patties on them and said, “I'm sorry.  The eww factor is too new to me, so I just seared them.  They are plenty bloody inside.”

Daria studied me a moment then offered a smile then over at Ella, who was scooping out huge spoonfuls of macaroni and cheese over two cooked patties.  A grin grew on the woman who had been a wolf just minutes before.  “Wow Ella, you're the first fairytale princess I've met that doesn't eat their meat raw.”

Ella snapped with venom, “We're not a bloody princess!”

I placed my hand on her arm and gave her a chastising look as Marie told her to be civil.  I apologized to the other women.  “Sorry.  That's a really touchy subject for her.”

Daria shrugged as she dug into the bloody meat with a fork. “No worries, we all carry some baggage.”

Marie said, “Ella wants to calm down, may I join you for dinner for a few minutes, my Parker?”  I nodded and said, “Of course.”  Then looked around.  They all assumed I agreed with Daria.

Red seemed to notice Ella's change in posture and body language as she crossed her feet at the ankle.  She scrutinized her as we ate in relative silence.  I blushed when Marie leaned into me and sighed as she ate.  Then all too soon she said, “This has been exquisite my Parker.  I know eet ees meager offerings, but I like to savor the food when mon amour lets me.  I must maintain my strength if I am to help tonight.”

I nodded and squeezed her hand and felt the flow as Ella returned to me.  She gave a shy smile then finished what was on her plate.  Neither Daria nor Red said a word as they observed.  Then Daria scooped the last bite of her macaroni and cheese into her mouth as she said, “Some baggage indeed.”

I looked at the women who were looking at us expectantly.  I felt a protective urge and said, “It is a long story, and extremely personal.  Shouldn't we be hunting those assholes who are endangering my city?”

The somber mood lightened and everyone cheered up as we laid out a plan.  Ella shared the two most probable locations the druids would be at tonight, depending on if they were working their pattern forward or backward.  We would take the farthest place since we knew the building we had been ambushed at would be under watch by the alphabet soup. The Red Hood was too high profile for them to harass, since she has already freed almost half of the wolf population from their curse.

I still couldn't believe I was going outside on a full moon, again.  Elle whispered in my ear, her hot breath causing goosebumps to race down my neck and spine.  “They can't hurt you now.  What with your new diamond armor.”

I blinked at that.  I hadn't thought of that.  What made me a freak now, would also protect me.  I didn't have to live in fear of catching the lupus contagion anymore, and some weird weight I had carried my entire life sort of bled away.  The wolves couldn't hurt me anymore.  I smiled at her and nodded in agreement.  Then slapped the minx's shoulder when I realized I was nodding with her.

Then Daria asked, “Can either of you use a phone?  Red can't get within five feet of one and they are sort of spotty around me now.  We need to let Snow know the plan.  I have no clue why she can use a cell when she isn't in nature goddess mode.  And her pack has cells too.”

I raised my hand like I was in school.  I felt ridiculous.  I teased Ella, “Little Miss Sunshine here can't though she can use a landline.  But I can.”  I held up my damaged cell and Ella stuck her tongue out at me.  It was pretty funny, the three women all moved a little away from me.  I was about to ask what I had done.  Then I realized they were giving my cell some room, I could have face palmed.

I put it on speakerphone and dialed the number Daria gave me.  I got the answer, “Jesus, Parker!  My cell buzzing startled me and I just about lost concentration and got blown up with about twenty feet of city wall!”  There was humor tingeing her voice.

I squeaked out, “Sorry?  You're on speaker with the Luddites here.”  I grinned at the three women giving me looks of consternation.  It sort of felt nice dishing out the teasing instead of being on the receiving end for a change.

Snow snorted then said comically, “Hello ladies.  I'll speak slowly so that you understand.”

In unison, Maireni and Daria said, “Smartass.”  Ella looked sort of amused.  Then the plan was laid out.

I heard wolves growling and snarling as Snow spoke.  At one point, I heard the sound of two canines fighting then a yelp.  There was the sound of a hand going over the receiver and could make out a muffled, “Would you two save it for later, I'm on the phone.”  There was a menacing growl and Gretta said, “Oooo scary Rach.  Fine you're in charge, whatever, here's my neck.  You're a pain in my ass you know that?”

Then she was back on with us.  “Well, that puts us out of the support role.  She's being bitchy and has me pinned against my tree cocoon.  But just send up a flare and I can fly to you and leave these two to fight.”

Red smirked and said, “Will do.  Everything will be relayed through Parker.”  Then we said our goodbyes to her and hung up.

Ella and I looked at them in confusion.  Daria explained, “Her pack, those two women, are wolves.  Not like me, but real werewolves, they don't retain any of their minds when they change.  They don't kill her on sight because Rachel's wolf sees Gretta as her mate.  So it is all animal instinct, she protects her instead of eating her.  Amanda is their beta and does what Rachel tells her, again, instinct.  I personally think Snow is crazy for not locking them up on the full moon.”

Maireni nodded and added, “But I have to admit, it is a beautiful thing to watch them hunting as a pack, with Gretta partially in her Perchta form.  There is a natural wonder about the sight.”

Daria slapped the back of Red's head playfully.  “Your animal half just likes watching Snow's ass when she's like that.  I should be jealous.”  Red just crinkled her nose at Daria.  Are badasses allowed to do cute things like that?  Ella saw me grinning at their antics and she crinkled her own nose at me.  Okay, apparently badasses can be cute too.  I blushed and smiled back at her.

The next thing I knew, we were heading down the stairs.  Ella said, “Wait for us to leave.  The two cars across the street and the wanker at the end of the block will follow us.”

Maireni asked, “And the man on the roof of the building across the way?”

Ella shook her head. “That plonker is just watching the comings and goings in the building.”

Three cars and a man on the roof?  How do they all seem to spot these things, I wasn't aware of any of them.  And why are they watching my place?  I'm an American citizen, don't I have rights?

Then I thought of one of the conversations I had with Ella.  They seem to treat anyone they don't perceive as normal, as something less than human, especially paranormals.  That made my heart sink, I guess I was one of those paranormals now.  I absently looked at my hand and clenched my fist, jamming my nails into my palm and watched crystal spiderweb out across my skin.

I glanced up at the roof across the street when Ella and I stepped out after I raised the FMBs.  I noticed a shadow pull back.  Son of a bitch!  I guess they saw me as a threat now too, even though all Ella and I have done is try to help.  She was right, they weren't equipped to handle the druids and it would only be a bloodbath if the normal humans tried.

A minute later we were rocketing through the empty streets on an evasive, winding course.  It was really simple to identify our tails this time, as they were about the only vehicles on the road now besides an occasional city engineer, or police car heading to one of the city gates.  Above the roar of the motor, I could hear the howling and gunshots echoing through the city from the gates.  It was the third and final night of the full moon, the city's busy nightlife would return to normal the next day.

I was starting to get elated when Ella would take us sliding around a corner or popping a wheelie.  I think it was because I knew I was safe even if I did fall off now.  I wondered how much damage my body could sustain now.  It took the enhanced strength and razor sharp claws and teeth of a wolf, and Ella's magic enhanced blade just to chip my skin.

She shut down the bike a couple blocks from our destination and we coasted a block then she walked us into an alley using her tiptoes while still on the bike.  Then we dismounted.  She looked at the buildings we were between.  She pulled me behind a dumpster when we saw a patrol at the end of the alley on top of the wall.  After their flashlights had swept the alley she whispered as she nudged her eyes up,  “We'll watch from up there.  It is a good vantage point if they show up here and we'll be able to see if they have any lookouts or anyone else in the area.”

I nodded and wondered how we would get to the roof.  My FMB override code only worked at home and the diner.  If I typed in the universal panic code, 911, it would signal a possible breach situation and the area would be crawling with response officers in minutes so that was out.

I felt her gathering power and it made me close my eyes to savor it and then there was that whump. I exhaled and opened my eyes and she was gone.  I heard a “Psst.” above me.  She was twenty feet up on the building's fire escape.  I looked around for a way for me to get up and she slowly lowered the counter weighted ladder to the alley floor.  Scrunching up one eye as it screeched a little.

I smiled up at her and climbed up.  When we were on the roof of the building.  I noted it was three stories like mine.  I looked up and down the length of the gap and noted that as far as I could see in either direction, with few exceptions, no building along the wall was over three stories.  I wondered if there was a reason behind that.  I'd have to research it on the Internet later to satisfy my curiosity if we survived the night.

We looked down to the base of the wall and she pointed to a place about ten yards along the way.  She spoke softly, “Right around there would be the next location for their bloody spell circle if they are heading this way.”

Marie responded, “I wonder why they space them a half mile apart.  Ees eet because they would interfere with each other if they were spaced closer together?”

Ella nodded and said, “Good question.”

And I added, “Or are they all part of something bigger?  Like if they were all activated at once, would they do more than just open doorways for the wolves to get into the city?”

Ella cocked an eyebrow and said, “Another good question.”

Marie sounded amused. “That would be a question for Snow, non?  We are not well versed in magic though my Ella is quite adept at dismantling it with brute force.”

I chuckled then said, “If people saw me speaking to the air like this, they'd think I was as mad as you Ella.”  This got me a super cheesy grin.

Then she said, “If you are done giving lip, do you feel anything Parker?  You said you could feel the wrongness when they were around.”

I looked at her then down below and I closed my eyes, I could feel something and it was moving, but I didn't know where.  I voiced that and she asked, “In which direction?”

I shrugged.  “I don't know.  It's just an uneasy feeling.”

She sighed in exasperation and said, “Close your eyes.”  I did and she asked, “Can you feel the wrongness?  The rot and perversion of a magic twisted in a way it was never meant to be?”  I concentrated and nodded and opened my eyes.  She gave a reprimanding look and I closed them again.

She started turning me slowly on the rooftop and she was uttering a silly “Beep beep beep...” as I turned.  I felt bile rise in my throat then start to recede as she turned me past.  I stabbed out my arm to where I had felt the worst and said, “There!  It is coming this way.”

She made a silly, “Ding!”  Then I grinned at her and she shrugged. “Parker Evil Detector v1.0.”  I hugged her arm and rested my head on her shoulder a second then we both moved to the edge of the roof and watched in the direction I had indicated.

After a bit, we saw motion, five men heading down the street in black trench coats.  I whispered, “It's them.”

And Ella said, “Stay here.”  As she put a hand on the low wall at the edge of the roof and prepared to jump.

In my head Marie said, “Wait, mon amore.  Let us observe a moment.  Make sure they are truly alone.”  Ella nodded to herself and relaxed and we just watched the men pass by below and head roughly to the spot on the wall that Ella had indicated.

We stayed in the shadows as the patrol walked past us, a mere forty feet away on another pass.  The men below slid into the shadows too.  After it was clear, they started working on the wall, pulling energy from the ground like Ella did, then twisting it, subverting it for a propose it was not meant to be used for.  I could see glowing symbols start to form like the men were painting them onto the wall with invisible brushes.

I told Ella, and she concentrated to try to see, she was getting frustrated, then I felt her send a little energy with her will from her amulet.  I noted a couple of the men had some sort of metal bracelets and they glowed slightly when Ella had done whatever she did.  I wondered if all five had bracelets like that.

I whispered, “What did you do?”

She looked over, she looked frustrated. “We were just trying to see or detect what you are seeing.  It is bloody frustrating that they are somehow veiling black magic from us.”

I grinned and said smugly, “Well I think I know how they are doing it then.”

Ella glared at me when I didn't explain right away.  Marie chuckled.  “Do you wish to share eet with us, my Parker?”

I said, “Yes.  I'm just savoring the moment of not being entirely useless.”

This made Ella falter.  She moved closer and I got lost in her sparkling eyes as she said softly without any of her cockney bravado as she cupped my cheek, “You are far from useless, Parker.”  I closed my eyes and savored the contact as she said, “We have gotten this far solely because of you and your talents.”

I kept my eyes closed, wanting to believe her.  I nodded and opened my eyes to see her mimicking my nod and smiling at me.  Then she was back. “You gonna bloody tell us or what you silly bird?”

I nudged my eyes down.  “When you did whatever you did to try to see what I was seeing, those metal bracelets they are wearing glowed.  I assume all of them have one.  I'd bet dollars to donuts that's what is cloaking them and their magic from you.”

She squinted and said, “Braided metal of four types.  Representing four separate elements.  They are specifically targeting us and the other three!  The iron strand represents Earth.  That is me.”

I squinted, all I saw were shiny bracelets, how could she see all that?  I almost asked but Marie said, “We were created with earth elemental druid magic, and all metals come from zee earth.  Ella ees tasting them.”  I nodded, that made sense.

Then I asked, “Then why can I see it all?  If you saturated me with earth magics?”

Ella said, “These are specifically targeting four individuals.  Which means that they had samples of our hair, skin, or blood to create the cloaking spells.  We find that more disturbing.  And you are a broad spectrum sensitive, nobody could have planned for you.”  She smiled with pride that made me warm up inside.

I nodded and Ella asked, “Can you do anything about it, Marie?”

Her other half replied, “Oui, I can try.  I will need control, mon amore.”

Then I felt the strange flow of energy I was starting to identify as the two parts of Ella's soul.  Then Marie crinkled her nose at me and I felt like an idiot when I gave her a tiny wave.  She looked down at the men and she started concentrating.  She drew symbols in the air that seemed to just hover there.  I assumed that she knew more about magic than she pretended to.  It made sense that Marie would be the half of her that learned.  It must have become a necessity to learn some rudimentary magic as they were always battling black magic.

Marie broke concentration for a moment. “Oui, very perceptive, Parker, mon chéri.  But zee siren song of the magic ees a constant pressure.  Zee more you use, zee more you want to use.  That ees why Ella refuses to use more than our earth elemental magic.  She ees afraid she will become something dark, like these druids.”

I blinked, remembering how much I savored feeling Ella's magics pulsing through me and how I wanted more.  I blanched, and felt weak of mind suddenly, if I was tempted by so little.  What must Ella resist each day and remain sane?  Well, sane-ish.

Marie chuckled.  I forgot that this half of her was somehow privy to my thoughts.  I chastised, “Ella Marie Smith!  No eavesdropping on my thoughts!”  Oh good lord, did she hear all the times I was thinking impure thoughts about her?

She turned from her work that was floating in front of her and she cupped my cheek.  She had a strange look on her face, one tinged with wonder. “Ella Marie Smith? You do see us as one person don't you?”

I shrugged. “Both halves of you are so similar, just different aspects of your personality.  You just compartmentalize more than most.”  I grinned at that.

She smiled slowly and then leaned in and kissed my cheek.  “Thank you my Parker.  I feel zee same about it.”  Then she got a wicked gleam in her crystal blue eyes as she smirked. “And I have not shared your, ummm, private thoughts with Ella... yet.”

I blushed and almost blurted too loudly, “Don't you dare!”  I covered my mouth then tried to melt away in the land of embarrassment.  I couldn't help but admire her profile as she turned with a self-satisfied grin to work on whatever magic she was working.

I almost snickered when I heard her mumbling, “Oh you stupid men.  To use metals to infuse your dark magics.  Metals are my domain.”

She finished then turned to me. “This should do eet, non?”  I shrugged, how the heck would I know?  She winked and I realized she was teasing.  Then Ella flowed back into their vessel.

She blinked at me and asked as she squinted one eye, “What private thoughts?”  Marie chastised quickly, “Ella!”

Ella chuckled at us then turned and saw the floating magic symbols.  She grabbed her amulet absently as she studied the spell, then said, “What mischief have you cooked up for us Marie?”

Then I could feel her pulling power into herself.  I was about to wonder why she didn't pull it up into herself from the earth.  Then realized just as quickly, that we were three stories up and her feet couldn't touch the ground so she must have to draw magic from the amulet instead.  She opened her hand in front of the ghostly symbols and angled her palm down toward the men and blew across her hand.

The spell swirled off like mist, and it grew into a big ball of mist by the time it enveloped the druids below.  One must have sensed it coming because he spun around and started to chant something, but he was too late and all five men began screaming and clawing at their wrists.

I saw acrid smoke curling up from their wrists.  The bracelets were glowing white hot.  Three of them got the bracelets off while one stared at a stump where his hand, which was now laying at his feet, smoked at the wrist where the molten metal slag of the bracelet puddled beneath it.  Whatever Marie did, obviously heated up the bracelets enough to burn cleanly through flesh and bone.

The last druid was clawing with burning bloody stumps of fingers on his other hand as he finally got his bracelet off.  I could see from here that the metal had burned partially through his arm, cauterizing the flesh on the way, his hand flopped around uselessly, his tendons had probably been burned through.  He wouldn't stop screaming so the shortest Druid made a motion and the other man started grasping his throat.  They were killing their own man so he didn't draw attention?  What kind of monsters were they?

I noticed how sick I felt, and to my surprise I realized it wasn't from the carnage or the fact they were killing one of their own below us.  I was ashamed that I was thinking good riddance about that.  No, it was that I could feel the wrongness of their magic tenfold now.  Apparently, whatever was cloaking them from the other women, had actually been partially working on me.  But now I could almost smell and taste the rot of their magic.  It was like a huge beacon.  Worse than that, a tiny part of me was drawn to it.  I could still feel the seductive magic pulsing through me when Ella used me as a channel and that part of me wanted more, wanted to reach out to this black magic. I... “No!”  I blurted and pushed that dark piece of my soul down.

Then I noticed that Ella had been watching me as I went through my inner struggle.  There was empathy there and... pride?  She smiled apologetically at me then grasped my hand.  “Always be strong, the bloody temptation is always there.  Now if you will excuse me a moment, I have to kick these sodding wankers asses.  STAY here Parker.”

And she jumped up backward onto the low wall at the edge of the roof and with a wink, she hopped back and was gone.  I ran to the edge and looked down.  As the last four gathered into a circle, back to back to defend against another attack, chanting something. Ella landed in the alley, cratering the ground and I felt the vibration in the building.

She didn't even hesitate, she just charged across the thirty feet separating them as they started throwing what looked like various colors of energy, flame, and mist at her.  My heart was pounding as I watched.  She made it look like a deadly dance as she spun, weaved, flipped and pirouetted through the onslaught.  They were all concentrating on her and the attack was so fierce she couldn't get close to them.  The explosions from the near misses and shrieking sounds of the magic were sure to be heard by the men on the wall or people in the buildings nearby, over the normal sounds of battle at the gates.  Someone was going to call it in soon.

Ella was hit in the arm, and I could hear my sharp intake of breath, but I saw as she spun off that she had deflected the attack by crystallizing her arm.  She dove and somersaulted across the ground and ended up at the corner of the brick building across from me.

She had a wild look in her eyes that looked like excitement, bordering on glee as she punched the corner of the building with a solid whump of released earth energy.  Chunks of brick and mortar showered the men and Stumpy went to a knee holding his shoulder with his good hand.

It was only a diversion, as we all looked over at the man who struggled to his feet again, Ella disappeared.  I had a unique perspective though, from above.  She was flipping through the air.  She must have leaped twenty feet up in a high arc toward them!

I watched as she cocked her fist with a half mad smile on her face and she landed in a three-point stance, her fist impacting the ground with a huge whump that got my entire body tingling.  A moment later the shockwave of her punch cratered the ground around her and it rippled out and knocked the men off their feet.

She had the look of a predator in her eye when she took two steps then with a roundhouse kick and whumped a release of earth elemental energy again, her foot connected with Stumpy's skull.  I could hear the crack of bone and the clink of crystal from where I stood as the man's body flew back like a ragdoll to collide with the wall.  His lifeless form slumped to the ground.

Then I saw flashlights wobbling on the wall.  The guards were running to our location and I could hear sirens approaching.  The last three men prepared to continue their attack when Ella threw her arms wide like wings and hundreds of crystal darts exploded from her arms and dozens of them hit the druids.  I could smell the blood from where I watched.  Since when could I smell blood?

The short man stumbled, then produced a bunch of bones and feathers tied up with something that looked like hair from his pocket, and laughed as Ella stalked toward them.  He said, “Fool.  Did you think we weren't prepared for you?  Our masters created this talisman specifically to tie Ella Deathbringer to their will.”  He lifted it up and screamed, “Tlain!” And energy lanced out toward Ella.

I barely saw the flutter of something red in my vision then there was an explosion that sent some sort of magic feedback through my very soul.  When my vision cleared, the Red Hood was there, standing between Ella and the Druids, with her red cloak stretched out like wings, billowing in the wind, shielding Ella.  She sneered at the men who had been blown back against the city wall. “It's a good thing I'm not Ella Deathbringer then isn't it?”

My heart started pounding again and Red looked back to Ella. “Whatever you did over here finally revealed the druids to us, it was like a giant flare went up and we could feel their malice.”

Ella grinned and wiped her nose with a thumb as she made fists and started forward.  “It's about bloody time you got here, we stalled as long as we could, didn't want to hog all the fun.”  The two women started just marching toward the druids.  The men looked around and started scrambling up and were blocked by a grinning Daria, who was cracking her knuckles in anticipation of a fight.

They were trapped and they knew it.  Police cars started pouring into the alley, toward the gap as the guards on the wall arrived above the scene.  Men began flowing from the cars in riot gear.  One was yelling at Red and Ella.  “Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head!”

Shorty looked all around then he grinned and slapped his hand against the wall, on one of the glowing symbols of their unfinished spell circle.  I went to cry out a warning, but it was too late.  The druids dove off to the side and the wall exploded.  I flinched, reliving the other night when I was caught in one of those explosions and I thought I was going to become wolf chow or worse.

Maireni and Ella were still on their feet, Daria had to steady herself on the undamaged portion of the wall and some of the approaching police were down.  Maireni yelled back at the police, “Stay back!  Kill any that get past us.”  All of the officers who were pointing their weapons at the women slowly moved their guns to aim at the smoking crater in the wall as dozens of werewolf growls could be heard.

I searched the scene below to find that the fucking druid snakes had escaped into the shadows somewhere.  But I sneered when I realized I could feel them moving through the city like they had beacons strapped to their backs.

Then the first of the wolves dove through the opening.  It was like a flood of fangs, claws, and fur.  Daria stepped directly into that flood striking almost as hard as Ella could.  She was like a tree in a flood, standing tall as the current wound around her.  She was catching leaping wolves in mid-air and slamming them to the ground.  Her growl was not human and it made me just want to sit.  It was like Alpha compulsion!  Some of the wolves did back off and sit.

Then the wolves slammed into the Red Hood and Ella.  It was like watching two juggernauts, as each bone cracking whump from Ella was followed by bone-jarring blows from Red's fists.  One got past and almost faster than I could follow Maireni's crossbow was up from under her cloak and the wolf yelped as a silver quarrel buried itself in the wolf's skull. It fell lifelessly to the ground.

The breach alarm was warbling, adding to the chaos.  The police got organized and some with riot shields went to the front and knelt as the rest opened fire on the wolves with automatic weapons armed with silver bullets.  The guards on the wall were firing down into the flood of wolves.

There had to be a hundred wolves already inside the gates trying to get to the three women and the officers.  I heard Red yelling to Ella, “Any time you want to seal that up is fine with me.”

Ella was yelling back, “Working on it, need to get these sodding wolves off of us.” Seconds later the wolves made it around them and started attacking the line of men who were barely holding them back with riot shields.

Maireni and Daria fought their way to Ella's side and gave her breathing room.  The golden maned woman slammed her fist into the ground. I could feel the shockwave, but it reversed itself and was drawn into her as she yanked her hand up like she were rising a window and once again a wall of earth and stone slammed up from the ground and sealed the breach, crushing wolves that couldn't scurry out of the way in time.

The line of men was failing as the women fought their way to them.  Ella was moving stiffly, she had been using too much energy and I feared she was overdoing it. She might be killing herself as her body became more and more crystal with the large amounts of magic she had been slinging around.

I saw a white streak spiraling down from the heavens in a cloud of feathers and energy.  I barely made out the shape of a white crow when it was suddenly Gretta in her feathered and antlered form.  She slammed into the wolves that were almost through the line of men, crushing and pinning four of them to the ground with her great antlers.

Then I saw the most amazing sight I had ever witnessed. Four impossible women stood in front of the police line, who were trying to get reorganized, and they started pushing the flood of wolves back.  The whumping strikes and cracks of solid hits, the flashing of silver blades and vines that snared groups of wolves and held them immobile.

The I saw one wolf look down the gap and turn from the pack at the sound of more sirens.  He had decided to find easier prey.  I knew from grade school that is how they thought, just like animals, if there were easier prey, they would leave the hunt.  I tried yelling down to them but nobody could hear me, or so I thought until Marie said in my head, “Eet is up to you  mon chéri, Ella must protect the constables here.”

Up to me?  What could I do? I looked down as the wolf started to run and I did possibly the most stupid thing in my life.  I figured that if that weird crystal lattice that grew on me could protect me from wolf claws, maybe it was enough to keep me safe from a fall.

I screamed all the way down as the wolf ran down the Gap. My scream got it to pause and look up.  I doubt it even registered me as my crystal body crushed it's head into the pavement and I cratered it like Ella did when she jumped.

I shouted, “Son of a bitch!”  It came out in a high pitched screeching wail of crystal being scratched along itself.  The sound resonated through my body as the pain in my legs started fading.  That hurt like hell!  How could Ella do that?

I looked down and remembered where I was as the almost headless wolf beneath my feet started to change back to human, with the putrid stench of the change.  I backpedaled out of my little crater and went to puke, but nothing came up as I dry heaved.  I held up a hand and I could see my crystal face reflected in my hand.  Good lord, I was living glass!

Then I looked at the few wolves that were left battling the women then back at my hand as I clenched it, grinding it into a fist.

Then I clinked forward to behind the remaining wolves and grabbed one of their tails and yanked it away from the group.  It yelped then twisted and snapped at me.  I instinctively raised an arm and it clamped down on it.  I heart clinks of glass and a crack.  I had broke one if it's fangs.

Then I swallowed, still holding its tail in my other hand and I proceeded to repeatedly punch the wolf in the face.  I would have been crying if crystal could make tears.  I worked out the terror of an entire lifetime, the fear these beasts instilled in me on a primal level.  I didn't ever want to feel like prey again.

Someone grabbed my arm as I went to swing again and again.  Soft lips whispered into my crystal ear, “Parker, it is okay now.  It is over.  Parker, let go of the rage.”  It was Ella saying my name that got through to me.  I blinked and looked down at the furry, bloody mass of wolf that was staring to grow flesh as the body reverted back to human.

I dropped it and took two quick steps back as I looked at him then my hands.  I stumbled, but Ella caught me as I returned to flesh myself.  I looked at the carnage of the Gap and the entrance to the alley.  There were a couple offers dead, but the rest survived thanks to these amazing women.

I looked at the men I had killed then did wretch all over the pavement.  I wiped my mouth and Ella smiled at me. “Hi.”

Hoarsely with my crystal overtones I said, “Hi.”

Then us five women were surrounded by police with automatic weapons aimed at us.  Ella released me and glared as she paced toward the closest man. “What the fuck is your problem you sodding wankers?  A little gratitude for pulling your asses out of the fire again is order don't you think?”

She grabbed the assault rifle out of the man's hand before most of us registered that she had even moved her hand and she pushed it across his chest and he reflexively grabbed it as she let go.  I saw Detective King, with a couple men in suits, making their way through the crowd of officers.  “Shit.”

Then we heard Reiner's voice over one of the officer's radio.  There were gunshots and explosions in the background as he hissed, “Officers down!  We have a code P.  I repeat code P!  God damn it, we can't even slow them down!  Three males dressed in black, approximately...”  He went on to describe the druids, down to the bloodstained crystal blades sticking out of their skin from Ella's attack.

I leaned against Ella, my hands on her chest as we listened, then I turned to her and scowled, her chest was solid.  She had almost fully become crystal.  That was not good.  I turned back as Reiner shouted, “They are throwing magic out everywhere, we need EMS here now!”  He gave his location, less than a mile away.  I absently wondered if code P meant paranormal.  They had contingencies for hunting people like... me?

The four women looked at each other then started to move but all the weapons that were slowly relaxing all came back up to point at us.  Maireni held up her hand before Ella could spew more verbal venom at them and she looked at King, who most of the officers seemed to be deferring to. “Let us help, you aren't equipped to handle magic.  Your people will be mowed down.”

King closed her eyes and when she reopened them she nodded once and made a lowering motion with her arm and the officers lowered their guns and I felt a pressure leave me.  They made a hole and the women started to run and I followed.  Ella came up short.  “You stay here where it is safe Parker.  We have this.”

I shook my head in defiance as Gretta was just suddenly a white crow soaring into the sky and Red and Daria bounded up a building onto a rooftop to dart away.  “No, I'm coming with you.”  She opened her mouth to argue as I ran past her toward her Harley and I interrupted, “Ella Marie Smith!  Get on the fucking bike!”

She smirked at that and hopped on in front of me and brought her beast to life.  She chuckled. “I like it when you cuss.”

I yelled over the wind and the motor, “I?  Not we?”

I smirked to myself, then she answered,  “I.  Marie isn't talking to you right now, she doesn't like either of us cussing.”

I giggled as she popped a wheelie and I saw us catching up with Red as Daria leaping from rooftop to the rooftop above.  “Sorry, Marie.”

She complained in my head, “It ees bad enough Ella has a foul mouth and poor manners, without you encouraging the behavior, my Parker.”

I sent a mental nose crinkle to her then looked down the road, I could feel us homing in on the sickly power of the druids like a cruise missile.

Chapter 10 – Showdown

A minute later we were sliding sideways to a stop behind some police officers who were pinned down behind some cruisers.  The vehicles were being torn apart by black magic blasts.  I heard King on the radio saying that she was sending paranormals to help, not to engage.  That was mighty nice of her.  I was sort of getting sick of this, shoot anything that is different than us attitude.

I absently wondered if that was the dark side of human nature.  I learned of my unthinking prejudices about the curse earlier in the day and I was ashamed.  That was the fear of something different.  Carried to an extreme level, I could see why humans had the proclivity to destroy anything they saw as different or threatening.  I understood, but I didn't have to like it as I was one of those things people like that would want to destroy now.

Ella ran up to Reiner with me on her heels, and we paused when we saw Pike with him, a bloodied, makeshift tourniquet on his left arm.  He started swinging his shotgun toward us and Ella caught it with one hand as Reiner hissed at him, “They're here to help us you ass!”

The other man growled. “They're undocumented magic users just like these guys, they are probably working together.”  I heard metal bending as Ella made a fist, crushing the shotguns barrel, and she yanked it from him, sending it skittering off on the ground.

The man's eyes went wide in shock at that display of strength. Ella gave him a predatory smile as she held a finger to her lips and said, “Now shush and let the adults talk.”  There was the sound of a rustling cloak, and I looked over to see Red had landed beside Ella, then a soft thud as Daria landed beside her.

Ella asked Reiner, “Situation report?”  I narrowed my eyes at her ability to turn off her Cockney accent and rough attitude like a light switch, in exchange for a smooth English accent and professionalism.  Each time she did that made me more positive her brash attitude was all an act.

I almost jumped when a large white crow landed on my shoulder.  I exhaled to calm my heart rate then whispered, “Hi, Gretta.” I swear the bird smiled at me.

The detective said quickly, “We were responding to the breach when we saw these three weaving through the streets away from the commotion.  They match the description Miss Devareau and the officers on the scene of the prior breach gave of the men responsible.”

He shook his head. “We followed them to this building until backup arrived and moved in to make the arrest, then all fucking hell broke loose.  They killed four uniforms before we even knew what was happening.”

There was tightly controlled rage in his voice as he said, “We're not equipped to handle this sort of thing. Our bullets don't even get close to them and the flash bangs didn't even make them pause.  Two officers are pinned behind that cruiser over there and there is shit all we can do about it.”

Ella nodded and said, “This is why we didn't want you lot getting involved.  You'll just get yourselves killed.”  She pointed at him and then Pike.  “Sit, stay!”  Then she looked around.  “Ladies?”  Snow hopped off my shoulder and she was suddenly Gretta.  They started striding directly into the chaos without pause.

My Marie said, “Parker, get the two constables to safety, Oui?”  I gave her a mental thumbs up though I was scared shitless.

I glanced at the two men who were pinned behind their cruiser, which was being pounded to scrap by some unseen force.  One had a bloody and mangled leg and the other didn't look conscious.  I couldn't do this alone.

I saw the four sentinels fighting their way to the three druids.  They seemed ready, and there was some sort of sickly spiderweb of rancid black magics thrown at Snow, who was countering the death magics with vines and saplings ripping up through the ground to tear at the constricting net.  She hissed out as her plants withered and blackened as they struggled with the net. “Ladies, this is something targeted specifically at my magics.  The one on the right.”

The other three nodded and Ella made a cup with her hands and Daria stepped into it with no hesitation and Ella flung her at least forty feet into the air with a satisfying whump in my bones.  She did the same for Red.  Then I had to blink as she strode into the net of black magics and they seemed to slide off of her.  Then I understood, she was created with that same magic.

I looked away and to the men who were still under attack by the third druid.  I looked at Reiner and shook my head.  I didn't believe I was going to ask this jerk to help.  “We need to get those men out of there before that cruiser is reduced to rubble.  They'll be dead in moments once it is.”  He checked his weapon and I shook my head.  “No, I need your muscle, your gun will be useless.  Just stay behind me.”

He looked at me and furrowed his brow then nodded once and I stepped out from behind the car with my arms wide open.  The druid changed his target to me and dark energies flew at me. I could see it forming and becoming something like sharp claws in mid flight and I cringed as they struck me, just to hear a loud clinking and the thrum of a crystal being struck.  There was the sharp sting of dark magics trying to rip through my skin, but it couldn't gain purchase on my new form.  It was like getting stung but by twenty bees at the same time.

I looked down to see holes in my shirt and gleaming clear glass beneath it.  I shouted back in the screech of crystal to Reiner, “Stop gawking and come on detective, I don't know how much of this I can take.”

He nodded once and holstered his weapon and stepped up behind me.  I side stepped with him behind me, a hand on my back.  Each attack hurt even more.  The druid seemed to be using multiple talismans.  We got to the injured men, then I saw a logistical problem.  How could we get them both to safety if I had to contend with the attack?

But then I blinked as a body slammed, back first, into the demolished police car.  Pike was panting and sweating.  He almost growled as he grabbed the harness on the injured officer's riot gear with his good arm, and hoisted him across his shoulders.  He looked at me and Reiner and then hissed. “What?  You're still an unknown paranormal freak and the world would be better off without your kind.”

Reiner actually chuckled as he got an arm under the other man who was still conscious and got ready to move.  How could I shield four men?  I took a deep breath that set off a high-pitched tone zinging through me.  “I'll draw his fire, you get them to safety.”  Then I nodded and I just stood up and started running toward the druid screaming the whole way, the screeching tone sounded like a thousand glasses had been struck at the same time.

Whatever he was hitting me with now, really hurt, and I saw a chip of my shoulder fly off.  He was growling as I closed the distance while Ella and the Red Hood were engaging some sort of clay or mud creatures that the second druid was somehow calling up from the ground itself.  I tried to remember old folklore.  That's right, Golems.  The first man was swaying on his feet as he concentrated on feeding energy to the talisman in his hand, the net was starting to fold down toward Snow.

The Druid's eyes got big as I reached him.  He spat out, “Which one are you?  I've used all the targeted talismans!”  He pulled a knife.  I was so sick of being a victim.  I kicked up with all my might and my crystal leg struck him in the crotch so hard I heard the crunching of bone and a snap as his pelvic bone cracked.

He opened his mouth in a silent scream as he fell to the ground, both hands over what was left of his privates.  I've learned one important fact about all men in my years of being a waitress, and that is that they all have the exact same weakness, no matter how big or strong they are.  A swift kick to the nuts is the great equalizer.  I almost felt sorry for the man, because I knew I had done some serious, irreparable damage to him, but the asshole was trying to kill me.

He looked up at me and tried to say something.  I had no clue if it were a plea or if he was attempting to cast another spell, but I wasn't going to gamble.  I kicked him in the face and his body went limp though he was still breathing.

I started cussing as I emptied his pockets of all manner of disgusting looking magical implements and stuffed them in the bag he carried and put that over my shoulder.  Then I grabbed both of his arms and hauled him back to where Reiner and Pike had brought the two injured officers, one clinking step at a time.  I roughly dropped the man's legs and Reiner was instantly cuffing the unconscious man's hands behind his back.

I said in my pseudo-voice, “You aren't equipped to hold him, he's a magic user.  You'll need to immobilize his hands and gag him.  If he can utter a spell, then you're fucked.”

Pike yanked his tie off and stuffed it roughly in the druid's mouth  Then went about wrapping his belt tightly around the man's fingers.  Being extremely rough, I'm sure I heard some fingers break as the Special Agent muttered under his breath, “Fuckin' freaks, we should kill them all.”

I turned back to the battle that was damaging the streets and the surrounding buildings.  The women had almost made it to golem boy and Snow had started growing antlers and a cape of white feathers.  I felt like kneeling in front of her beauty.  It was like she radiated love and serenity.  She smirked and started moving her fingers in an intricate pattern and the black magic net seemed to start unraveling just before it could get to her.

She cocked her head with a look like a nanny might give a misbehaving charge.  “Oh child, you target my Gretta form.  I am, we are, Perchta now.  This weaving is no matter to one such as me.”  She made a crumbling gesture and with an almost perceived wailing scream, the dark magic trap just melted away and a carpet of moss and flowers followed her as she strode toward the druid.

A cold, icy flame in her eyes.  I shivered knowing with that look that she was not all goodness and light, half of her was a predator.  What did the legends of Perchta say?  That she was the sometimes leader of the Wild Hunt.  Oh dear lord, talk about yin and yang, what a beautiful and terrifying balance.  The man was about to die.

He said something and a wall of earth and rot grew up around him.  She simply touched it with a single finger and it just fell away, sprouting grass and flowers as it collapsed.  He had a wild gleam in his eyes as he pulled out a wicked looking knife from his belt.  The blade hummed with power.

Gretta's eyes were a blazing red now as she said in a sweet voice, “Impressive, but mine's bigger.”  Then in one swift motion she whipped her head down then forward.  The man's agonized screams will haunt my nightmares for months as she gored him with her antlers.  The red of his blood a stark contrast to the gleaming white horns.

She raised her head, lifting his body off the ground and she screamed an elated scream to the heavens.  Then with a quick flick of her head, the body of the leader of the druids flew down to the ground in a lifeless meaty thud.  Then she was suddenly just Gretta, staring down at the man's body.  Her eyes were haunted.  She whispered, “You shouldn't have made her mad.”

She turned to watch Maireni and Daria moving almost too fast to follow, at wolf speeds, working in tandem.  They were systematically immobilizing golems and thrusting them at Ella, who had a wicked gleam in her eyes. She kept drawing the earth into her and was dispatching them one at a time with tremendous whumping strikes.

Snow shook her head, she saw the same thing I saw.  They were having fun, the three of them.  Concentrating on the mindless vessels instead of the druid who was frantically creating one golem after another.  Fear written all over his face.  Gretta said, “Stop playing around, a bystander could get hurt.”

Ella paused and then screwed up her face. “Well you're a bloody wet blanket now aren't you?”  She kicked the Golem in front of her off to the side and I felt her drawing large amounts of energy, her cheeks started taking on a glassy sheen.  She had used way too much energy tonight!

With a little hop she struck at the ground and I swear the whole city shook at the impact.  She opened her palm and made a flopping gesture and a big slab of stone and earth rose up behind the druid and smashed down on top of him.  Silence followed as we all just stared at her.

After a few seconds, Daria asked, “You could have done that at any time couldn't you have?”

Ella shook her head as she panted. “We've used too much of the earth element tonight.  We risked killing ourself in the effort.  We were having fun until you pointed out that innocents could be hurt, so we took the chance.”  She shrugged.

I ran up to her, my feet clinking and I hit her chest.  It was a crunching screech of two crystals colliding.  “Then why did you do it?  With the four of you, you could have stopped him.  I could have lost you.”  Then I turned my back on her and she reached out and I pulled away. “I'm not talking to you right now Ella Marie.”

I slowed my breathing and saw flesh start to crawl across my body.  I winced when my shoulder became flesh with a bleeding gash across it.  Maireni and Daria stepped beside me as Red said, “Five.”

I blinked at her and Daria explained, “There are five of us.  You handled the third druid handily.”  Gretta nodded.  I kept turning away from Ella as she tried to get me to look at her.  Childish I know, but she could have killed herself with that stunt and accomplished what the druids had attempted to do.  Marie tried to talk to me and I sent the mental equivalent of “nah nah nah I'm not listening” to her.

Then Ella said in a small voice, “I'm sorry Parker.”  I?  I'm sorry?  Not we?

I grinned and turned around and said, “You better be.”  Then gave her a hug that was interrupted by the sounds of dozens of weapons being readied around us.

I looked around at all of the police, military, and agents in suits and sunglasses aiming their guns at us.  Detective Reiner said with an apologetic tone, “I'm sorry ladies, but you'll need to come with us.”

I was so sick and tired of this.  I finally snapped and turned toward the man.  “How many times do they have to save you and the city for you to get the fact that they are on your side?  Do you know what those druids were doing?  Half this city has black magic spells on the outer wall that can let wolves into the city!  Without Gretta, they will explode just like at the breaches if they are tampered with.  She needs to disable them or we're all going to be wolf food or worse.  Do you want to fall under the compulsion of those Alpha madmen?”

I spit out, “These women can do something you can't do, and the thanks they keep getting is suspicion and fucking guns in their faces?  Maybe they should just leave us alone like you want, let us all die needlessly, would that make you happy you... you... WANKERS!”  Ella quelled a giggle, but Marie was giggling freely in my head for my use of the word.

I noted that King had arrived and was standing next to him with her sidearm drawn as well.  She stared at me a long moment, then the others.  She lowered her gun and as she holstered it. “We... not they... you're one of them.”  Then she made a lowering motion with her hand and most of the weapons were lowered.

Pike and a lot of the alphabet soup agents still had their guns trained on us.  He hesitated, and then asked toward Gretta, “There are spells on the city walls?”  She nodded.  He looked like he wanted to pull the trigger so bad then he finally spit out, “Shit!”  As he looked up into he sky then holstered his weapon and cradled his injured arm with his good hand.  This seemed to be the cue for the others to follow suit.

Then he asked, “How long?”

Gretta squinted at him and he repeated in frustration, “How long to disable the spells?”

She shrugged. “Now that I can see them thanks to Miss Devareau here...” She winked at me.  “My pack and I should be able to have them disabled in a few weeks.  There are just so many on both sides of the wall and I am only one person.  It is delicate work because they all seem to be tied together in a manner I don't yet understand.  And my pack is not allowed inside the walls.”

Detective King asked, “Why not.”

Snow just shrugged with a cute look on her face and said, “They're wolves.  One is my mate.”  I heard a few sharp intakes of breaths.  I absently wondered where they were, didn't she worry about them if she left them outside the gates?  What if they get killed at the gates?

Then King sighed.  “This is above my pay grade.”  Then she pointed a warning finger and hissed at Pike, who was about to say something.  “This is my city Pike.  You and the umm... Department of Agriculture can talk with my superiors if this is going to be a problem.”

I stopped breathing as I felt two unnaturally warm earth and crystal arms wrap around my waist from behind and start rocking as King spoke.  I hugged Ella's arms and closed my eyes as warmth spread through me.  The detective said, “We need to talk with the mayor's office.  Damn it, they'll probably call the governor.”  Then she blurted in a 'why me' tone, “Devareau, keep them where I can contact them.”

Umm... me?  I looked around and the women all had expertly schooled innocent looks on their faces.  Just how evil can you get?  I mean, come on!  I will make them all pay somehow.  I shrugged. “O...okay?”

I looked around and the ladies were all tongue in cheek looking at me.  I shot them a 'you will pay' look and said in a question, “Ummm... let's go to my place?”

They were all in motion. “Good plan.” “Right.” “On it.”  “Bloody good plan.”

I said, “I hate you all.”  They chuckled as Ella led me to her bike and handed me my helmet.  I grinned at that, I was starting to think of it as my helmet.

Snow was suddenly a white crow and winging toward the sky.  We heard a rustling sound and we were all looking at the empty space that Red and Daria had been standing in.  There were dozens of confused law enforcement officers too.  I wondered how they did that all the time.  Ella said, “Out-fucking-standing.” And kicked the bike to life as Marie and I chastised her, “Ella!”

She giggled as she revved the motor.  The police made an opening and we rode a wheelie through them, then turned down the street toward my apartment.  I hugged the half crystal woman all the way home.

We pulled up to the building and I noted the lights were on in my apartment, the others had beat us back.  I idly wondered how they got past the FMBs and the locks on my door as Ella helped me off the Harley, stowing my helmet.

She glanced up at my window on the third story then at me.  She and Marie started arguing.  It was a private conversation as Marie shielded me from it, and Ella was mumbling and cussing to her left.  I caught, “I can't do it, Marie.  It isn't fair to...”

Then there was the flow and my Marie was smiling at me as she said, “Fine, I'll kiss her.”  And heat bloomed inside me as our lips met.  I could hear a tone reverberating as some part of me inside, that was still crystal, hummed in excitement.

The flow reversed and then she was kissing me with more gusto.  The Ella portion of her desperate for the physical contact.  I could almost feel the need she had denied herself for centuries for fear of betraying her other half.  When I was gasping for air, I whispered, “I think I love you, Ella Marie.”

She smiled almost shyly and it looked way too cute for human consumption, but I really wanted to consume her.  She whispered back, “We think we love you too.”  I realized I was nodding as she nodded.

Then our heads snapped up as we heard the three women eavesdropping at the window above, behind the FMBs saying, “Awwwww.”

Ella flipped them off, and we saw shadows move away from the window and she grabbed my hand.  Her's was partially flesh now.  We walked toward the door and she said, “Once we kick those manky bints up there to the curb, this is going to be one interesting threesome.”

I aborted a surprised squeak and slapped her shoulder with a clink, as my crystal web-work prevented me from hurting myself on her gravelly shoulder.

I said, “It'll take more than that to get me in the sack missy.”

She chuckled. “We love a good challenge.”  As she tucked my arm into hers and led me to the door.  That had been the most stressful, terrifying, confusing three days of my life.  But with Ella by my side, I don't think I would have had it any other way.

Chapter 11 - Debriefing

When we got inside, the women were acting as innocent as could be.  I murmured to their chuckles, “Shut up,”  Then the drama queen Daria put the back of her hand to her head and tilted her head back and said in a really good approximation of Marie, “Fine, I'll kiss her.”  Then she put the lip lock on Red.  Snow chuckled while I blushed.

Ella said, “Listen 'Fluffy,' we can break your sodding neck in eleven different ways,  and that's just with our left hand.”

Daria turned away from Maireni and cocked an eyebrow and said, “I'd suggest you hide your shoes in about...”  She looked at her bare wrist like she was looking at a watch then finished, “...five hours.”

Gretta cleared her throat. “As much fun as this is I really need to get back to my mate.  I'm sure she'll be all grumpy about being caged up when I flew off to help you tonight.  And we still need to discuss what I found once I could actually see and feel the web-work of spells layered into those portal spells on the walls.”

That got all of our attention and we all sat.  Red on the arm of the couch with her arm draped over Daria's shoulder. Then Ella, who comically pulled me down onto her lap, while Snow sat in the comfy chair.

She looked at each of us then she took a deep breath and said, “As we thought, these Druids, like the lamias, black witches, which we fought in the forest a while back, were sent by the Alphas to help secure their power.”

Ella looked confused and I prompted, “Red Hood and Gretta took out a coven of powerful witches, and about half the countryside a little while ago.”

She nodded and Snow continued, “We found that they had multiple goals, one was to find the Black Crown.  An artifact that could threaten their compulsion on their packs, which was hidden somewhere in the mountains near Seattle by Alistair Slater, AKA  Alistair Marcus before his demise.”

Maireni grinned at that, showing her teeth, with her too sharp canines, in a predatory manner.  They looked like little fangs.  She and Daria had killed the Alpha and freed around twenty to twenty-five percent of the population from the lupus curse.

Gretta grinned at the response, then said, “We found that the Black Crown was not an artifact but one of the Marcus brothers, Cristian, who he had held prisoner in silver chains, in a silver vault beneath the mountains.  Cristian was not a willing participant in creating the lupus curse and has continually tried to foil his other brothers plans until he was chained.”

Then she exhaled and added, “From what we can tell, he has never willingly infected anyone.  His brothers forced him to infect his wife.  So any wolves out there of his line were created by her and her progeny.  But as an Alpha, Cristian can countermand the compulsions on the armies of wolves that the last of the Alphas command.”

Maireni nodded.  “That was just one goal of sending the lumias and druids.  But that is no longer attainable by them, as Cristian escaped before the vault was located.  The man may be quite mad now as he was left to die of starvation, over and over again for centuries, strung up in that vault.  Whatever is left of his mind now, can't be stable.”

Snow slid back in the chair a bit, as she thought.  I don't think she realized she was doing it, but she absently raised a hand and was running her fingers along one of the little horns sticking out just a bit from her snowy white hair.  “The other thing we had determined, was that they were prepared for each of us and Briar Rose.  Who I believe may be dead since the three of us were drawn to the area, but there have been no whispers of the Briar Rose in decades.”

She looked around at us. “We are a threat to the last two Alphas, really the only threat besides  Cristian. So the lamias and druids seem to be under orders to capture us so the Alphas can use black magics to control us.  But if that fails, to kill us.  Which they have tried on a few occasions now but failed.  The talismans they have seemed to target us specifically.  Thay have come too close for my comfort.”

The others nodded and I stood. “Oh.  I have this.  We were going to figure out how to destroy it once we stopped the druids.  It was part of the trap they laid for Ella.”  I dropped the full moon talisman on the table along with the sack of talismans and charms I pulled off the druid.  They all leaned forward to look at it except Ella.

As Snow's hair seemed to turn to feathers as her eyes turned pure white as she held her hand above it, I explained, “It was a two part trap.  The first isolated Ella from the ground so she couldn't pull in earth magic.  That then activated this.  It is like a Full Moon talisman or something.  It glowed brightly and the human wolves they had tied up in the building transformed into werewolves like it was a full moon.  They thought they would tear Ella apart when she was immobilized and couldn't draw in her own druidic earth magic.”

Daria shifted forward and almost touched it but pulled her hand back as she stared at it. Then she almost whispered, “Could this help me stay human after the full moon?”

Snow tilted her head like she would regarding a small child, and her voice was one of power, and life and nature, the voice of a nature goddess. “Yes, child.  But it is black magic, and it is limited.  The magics are seductive and will call upon you to use more black magic, corrupting you a tiny bit at a time.  It can only sustain the hexing for a short period, minutes, not hours.  The biggest danger would be that anything within its range would be affected too.  Any werewolves nearby would change as well.”

Daria slid back into the couch and closed her eyes in resignation and Maireni wrapped a consoling arm around her shoulder.  Snow's Perchta-like eyes saddened as she looked at the wolf woman.  Then she moved her fingers and I could actually see the wisps of intricate energy seeking out and delicately unraveling the casting on the talisman until in a pantomime of a sigh, the black web of energy on the item just shimmered away. The talisman fell apart and seemed to rot away before our eyes.  Then the bag of others followed.

Then Gretta was just Gretta again.  It was odd how it seemed instant.  No noise, no fanfare, just Gretta.  She squinted an eye. “Sorry Daria.” The wolf woman just waved her off with a sad smile.

Then Snow said, “The power and skill involved shows that whoever is constructing these charms and talismans is extraordinarily powerful, especially to bind the energy to target a particular individual.  They must somehow have some of our blood or hair or something.  That also means that whoever it is, they are working with the Alphas, and they are still at large, so we can't let our guard down.”

Ella said, “Yeah yeah. We'll deal with the wankers when they show their head.  But didn't you say there was something about those fuckin' portal spells?”

Marie and I admonished, “Ella.”  She gave me a shit eating grin.

Then Snow seemed to nod and shake her head at the same time as she said, “Well like everything the Marcus brothers have started throwing our way, they appear to have multiple purposes and contingencies built in.”

She looked around and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen I had on the coffee table and she knelt in front of the table and started sketching so we could see.  “This is the wall around Seattle, I'll use a circle just to simplify.  And here are the evenly spaced spell circles.  They were getting close to finishing things up.”

She shook her head.  “The existing ones are live, so if someone knows the correct way to activate one, they could step right through into the city.  That alone is worrisome since it will take me weeks to unravel them all without blowing more holes in the city's defenses.  We will need to tell the Clean Blood authorities so that they can be on alert at all of the locations until then.”

Then her lips tightened into a thin line,  “This plays into the Alpha's need to infiltrate the walled cities and take over from the inside.  If that didn't work, they could just activate most or all of them on a full moon and the streets would be overrun with wolves.”

Then she sneered. “There is a mechanism in the castings.  A very intricate yet delicate trigger which again tells me that if the Alphas cannot control the three of us, they want us dead.  If all of the gateways are activated at the same time, then they all interconnect and create a huge dampening field, net of arcane energy.  It would trap any paranormal that is touched by black magic inside the gates while allowing the wolves from the outside free entry into the city.”

She looked around to qualify that. “That would mean you four, Maireni, Daria, Ella, and Parker.  And most likely the Briar Rose if she yet lives.  Then the Alphas could throw armies of werewolves at you and infect the populace of the city with the curse until they succeed in killing you.”  I blanched.

She smiled. “So, I just have to be careful and make sure that doesn't happen, nor that I inadvertently blow up portions of the wall.  Easy, peasy.”  She gave a cheesy grin.

Ella turned to me. “Parker, you need to get out of the city in the morning and go far away, maybe Denver, or some other safe city while we deal with the shite these wankers left behind.”

I was about to speak when Gretta interrupted. “That would probably not be wise.  I can feel it in my bones that we are going to need all the help we can get, and as you saw in that last fight, Parker here is no slouch.”  Then she clarified. “Haven't you wondered why were were all drawn together in the Seattle area after all the centuries of seeking each other out just to find we seem to always just miss each other?”

She had a bit of Perchta in her tone and I wondered how close she was to slipping into goddess mode again, she was eerily similar to Ella that way.  “There must always be a balance.  The Scales have made sure of that.  For every evil in the world, there must be an equal force able to counter it.  That is why all of us were cursed to walk the earth to endure the balance so the world does not fall into chaos.”

She tilted her head in a decidedly unnatural way, as the white crow she could become did, and said, “So why now can we congregate?  That alludes to the fact that all this Alpha werewolf activity in the area means something is coming to a head.  Something that each of us cannot balance alone.”

She looked at Maireni. “The Red Hood is a born leader, with cunning insight into the Alphas as she shares their curse.  Few in this world are on her level when it comes to planning and execution.”

She turned to Ella and gave a compassionate smile like she was more fragile than she wanted everyone to think with her brash act.  “None of us can match the overwhelming strength and fury that Ella and Marie can bring to bear.  A true warrior.”

Then she shrugged. “I can access the knowledge of the one who created me, the nature goddess Perchta, and Master of the Wild Hunt.  My strength is the ability to see, understand, and unravel magics, mine are as old as creation itself.”

She looked slowly around.  “We have all found companions that only enhance our group's dynamics.”  Then she shrugged. “I'm sure that if the Brier Rose had joined us, she would have something unique to bring to the table.”

Then Red started nodding and clarified. “So to satisfy the Scales; you said that like it is a title; we are all here to counter something huge on the horizon.  Something put into motion centuries ago when the brothers Marcus created the wolf curse with their deal with a demon.”  She narrowed her eyes. “The Alpha werewolves are coming to Seattle.”

Oh, shit!  Ella grabbed my hand and gave it a little squeeze.  I noted her soft skin.  The crystal was receding quickly now, much to my relief.  She pushed too hard and came too close to her possible end by using so much power.  I wondered if she did it on purpose.

Half of my heart replied to my thoughts, “She has been alone for so very long, mon chéri.  Her heart has ached for so long.  There have been times she thought eet would just be easier that way. But mon amore would never willingly step us off into zee darkness.”  I laced my fingers with Ella and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

We could hear sirens from all over moving west.  The warbling of the West gate's warning siren sounded like a wounded hound howling its pain.  We all started at the sudden pounding on the door.  They all looked at me.  Who the hell got past the FMBs?  I called out in my now chiming voice,  “Who is it?” Wow, that was lame me.  This got some silly grins from the women.

A familiar voice barked, “It's King!  We need the Red Hood!”

I replied, “Ummm... just a moment please.”  I looked around and shrugged.  Maireni gave a reassuring look at me then stepped over to the door and unlocked it.  She opened it and we saw detectives King and Reiner, Pike, and a few suits were crowded in the hall behind them.

King quickly said, “We need you at the west gate!  Something is coming across the Sound from a holding facility at Gig Harbor.  It is one of... you.”  She said that with a tinge of disdain.  “Everyone at the facility is unconscious, drugged.  The local police couldn't stop the thing since most of them in Gig Harbor are locked away for the night in their wolf cages.  The Coast Guard vessels that tried to intercept the thing can't be reached.  It is almost to shore and heading directly toward the West Gate.”

Red actually growled and they all backed up a step, I saw many of them rest their hands on the butts of their guns.  Her growl resonated in the room and I realized Daria and Snow were growling too. Ella mumbled, “Sodding assholes.”

Red hissed at King, “So you say it is one of us?  You see us as things?  Not as people?  And now we happen to be useful because you can't stop what is coming?”

King exhaled in frustration, then took a deep breath and said more calmly,  “I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it that way.  I meant something not... human.  Something paranormal.”

I chirped out, “Not human?  We're just as human as...”

Red made a calming motion with her hand and she said in a measured tone, “We will all come to meet this threat.  Not because you asked, but because of our humanity.”  She stressed the word humanity.  Then she gave an icy smile.  “It is what we do.  We'll see you at the gates, we can get there quicker.”

Then she made a head motion and all of us just paraded out, pushing past all of the authorities to face the oncoming threat.  I was seething.  Just a few days ago I was just as human as they were, but just because I can do things they can't now, I'm a thing?  We looked back to see Daria still standing there.  She pointed at her wrist like she wore a watch.  Dawn was approaching.  I understood, she didn't want the entire city seeing her change.  She'd join us in wolf form later.

Ella winked as we got onto her bike.  “Marie says to shut up, sit down, and hold on Parker.”  I shook my head and smiled at the woman as I put my helmet on. I grinned and held on for dear life as she peeled out as Gretta took to the air as a white crow.  Red was already gone, nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 12 – The Briar Rose

We reached the gates and there were hundreds of officers and emergency responders crowding the streets as we heard the usual sounds of growling, snarling, howling, and gunshots at the gate.

We strode up to the gates, just out of reach of the snapping jaws and slashing claws as wolves tried to get through.  The air was pungent with burning flesh and hair, fur from silver burns at the gate.  The men and women at the gate looked almost reverently at the Red Hood as she landed beside us from somewhere above, and then Snow landed on my shoulder.

We could see something churning wildly in Puget Sound moving slowly toward us.  It looked like hundreds of tendrils or something roiling on the surface of the water.  A trail of dead fish and aquatic life in its wake.

Men in the fortified harbor buildings opened fire on it to no avail.  It rolled over the buildings as it hit the shore and the guns stopped.  I saw as it passed, men standing behind the FMB's swaying and looking exhausted and they all just sort of sat down and closed their eyes.  What in the hell was that thing?

I looked around nervously,  King's group arrived behind us.  And Ella squinted past her and asked Pike who was fuming, his weapon out, “What the fuck did you wankers have in that secure site?”

He hesitated and King shot him a look and he exhaled in exasperation and said, “One of you.  That's why I know how dangerous you are.  You should all be put down like animals.”

I almost snorted when Reiner slapped the back of the man's head. “Leave your fuckin' prejudices for later.  Tell us what the hell that thing is!”

Pike looked at the roiling mass as it started plowing through hundreds of werewolves that were turning to attack it.  It didn't slow and it left a twenty-foot wide swath of dead wolves behind it that started to change back to their human form.

Pike hissed out, “She's something we can't classify.  We've held her for a couple decades in that facility when she surrendered to us.  The Department of Defense has been studying her for years, trying to duplicate her neurotoxins and other poisons she can exude.  They've never been able to break through those damn brambles and thorny vines that protect her to get tissue samples.  She says all she wanted was for us to kill her.  Believe me, we tried, whatever it is, can't be killed.”

I glared at the man since the others were speechless.  “You've imprisoned a woman for years so you could find a way to weaponize her?  Good god, that lacks the humanity you say we don't have.  I'm starting to think I'm glad I'm not entirely human anymore.”

Ella mumbled, “Brambles and thorny vines?  The Briar Rose?”

We all turned to the gates as the weapons fire moved from the wolves to the approaching black writhing mass of thorny death.  My blood went cold, but Ella grasped my hand.  The sounds of the hissing of the vines and yelping of wolves grew louder.  The oncoming thing from nightmares moved like the wolves weren't even there, leaving that macabre trail of bodies behind.

Thousands of rounds hit the shape as I got to the gates and the brambles and vines wrapped all around the bars and under and over the gate.  A female voice, that sounded half a bubble off plumb, and very snakelike, said from within the writing mass, “Sleep for now children.”  The mass seemed to flow over all the police at the gate and then it pulled back and they all had scratches all over their exposed skin and they sort of collapsed onto the ground.  I could see they were still breathing.

The vines never moved toward us or King's group.  The mass of living plants seemed to part, keeping a shell to the back of a tall woman who looked sickly pale, wearing a black riding cloak that looked a lot like the Red Hood's.

Snow hopped down and was just Gretta, as the young lady looked at the women and smiled.  I swallowed hard.  There was recognition in her eyes but not much else, Ella may come off as insane if you don't understand, but this woman I had no doubt, had left sanity behind her so very long ago.  And that fact hurt my heart for some reason.

A gun fired behind us over and over.  Vines and brambles intercepted every one of the shots that were aimed at her forehead.  Before anyone could get the weapon away from Pike, vines and branches covered in thorns shot through the gates, past us to encircle Pike almost like a cage.  He looked terrified as the thorns hovered just off of his skin.

The woman said like someone telling a nursery rhyme to children, “Now if I were any of you, I wouldn't touch my lovelies.  They are loaded with a neurotoxin I brewed especially for Special Agent Pike here.”  Then she laughed the laugh of a psychotic who was seeking out sanity.  Everyone backed far away from the plants except the three paranormals.  I took my cue from them.

Pike blurted in a wavering voice, “Just do it you monster.  How did you get out?”

She tilted her head like she didn't understand the question.  Then she brightened like a child on Christmas morning. “Oh.  You thought you held me captive?  I came to you to kill me, to end this cursed existence.  You couldn't do it so I let myself be subjected to your poking and prodding and torture at that base since it was somewhere I couldn't hurt anyone.  But the Gathering is upon us, the Scales have called and the balance must be struck.”

Then she giggled and a single thorn extended and poked a screaming Pike.  Her vines retreated back to the other side of the gate as he wobbled on his feet and she rolled her eyes at the terror in his eyes as he held his hand over the puncture.  “Don't be a baby, Pike.  It's just nap time.  I need to discuss the approach of the Alphas with my kin.”  She looked at the detectives and said in a more clear-headed tone, “He'll sleep for a couple days.  I never kill willingly.”

Then she turned to the Red Hood with a pained and pleading look.  “I have sought you three for so long.  Will you sister, after we stop the Marcus brothers?  Will you grant me death from this torturous existence?”  She looked so sad and broken as she asked.  Red reached a hand forward and the woman recoiled, hissing out, “My touch is poison!  It would kill you.”

Red shook her head, and she had such compassion in her eyes as she said, “No, it won't.  Only a wolf can end the curse of the Red Hood, just to have another rise to take my place.”  She reached through the bars and cupped the cheek of the broken woman.  I saw Red's skin turn blackish green at the contact, but besides that, she looked fine.

The woman stared at her in shock then fell to her knees sobbing as she pressed her hands against  Maireni's hand, holding it to her cheek.  I found myself crying as the woman whispered between sobs, “You can... you can touch me?  Human contact, after so long.”

Ella stepped up and reached her hand out to place on the woman's hand, her own turning to crystal to protect her.  The woman jerked for a moment then smiled through tears.  Then Snow, in Perchta form reached through the bars to stroke the woman's hair, said, “It is alright now child.  Everything is gong to be just fine.  We will all face the balance of the Scales together.

She looked up at the women then took a deep breath and nodded.  Then all of us as one, like we were pulled by the tug of black magics of something huge, looked across the waters to the west.  Something was coming, something that stank of evil.

I looked at the amazing women around me as the sun peeked over the horizon at our backs and knew, just knew, we would be here to meet that evil.

The End

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash

Rose: Briar's Thorn (Winter of 2015)

Books in the Techromancy Scrolls series...

Adept

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Books I collaborated with in the Bridge ~ Inner City series...

Gargoyles

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Books in the London Harmony series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry (Coming summer of 2015)

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

Sample Chapter from London Harmony: Small Fry...

Chapter 1 – Wedding

I still couldn't believe it, I was vibrating with so much excited energy, I wondered if I could phase the walls like Kitty Pryde.  My sister, Vanessa, was finally getting married!  It was the first of June, a time of renewal for my sister in law to be.  It was all kinds of feng shui that her name was also June.

I thought this day would never come. Hell just a few short years ago, I wasn't even sure I'd even make it to adulthood without Vannie ending up in some mental institute somewhere, and me having a nervous breakdown when they took me from her to put me back into the foster system.  We were living on the streets and Vanessa was off her anti-psychotics.  We could barely afford food, let alone meds.

Then along came June, our miracle in so many ways.  She had been searching for Vannie's alter ego, a DJ, who goes by Scratch in the New York underground music scene.  Instead, she found my sister on the verge of another psychotic break, and her little sister, living in an abandoned auto shop in New York City.

I sometimes wonder if June herself isn't a little mental.  I swear to god the woman didn't seem to think anything of my sister's erratic behavior, any more than she would take note of what color someone's shoe soles were.  She didn't care about her problems, she only cared about the person she saw beneath it.  She saved us.  Got Vannie to get help in a special mental health program, and just about adopted me.  She became my legal guardian while Vannie got back on her meds and went through recovery.

June's my hero, and I'll do her proud if it is the last thing I do.  She showed me so many wonders in this world that I had only been privy to in my consumption of just about any book I could get my hands on.

She accomplished her original goal of hiring 'Scratch' to be her talent scout for the record label she was starting in England called London Harmony.  Then she spirited me away to London to help set up the shop as we waited for my sister to join us.

The two of them spent years just teasing each other as they built the most successful, invitation only, record label on the planet.  They were the cutest couple who weren't a couple.  Until they couldn't stop pretending anymore and Vannie admitted, they were girlfriends.  Shortly after they were engaged.

We had a bad scare a couple month back when Vannie had a break.  Her meds weren't in balance, but the music she says she sees in June's eyes kept her grounded enough over the last few weeks for the new meds the docs prescribed to do their thing.

I don't know why I'm babbling, maybe it's because I'm bouncing off the walls.  If you know us, then this is all old news.  I was Vannie's Maid of Honor... oh and June's too.

I almost laughed, looking at the small room in the tiny chapel in Sussex.  June and Vannie agreed to run away and elope, rather than have some high profile wedding that had more media at it than loved ones.  That is what would have happened; see, June is not just my almost sister, but she's also that emotional rock sensation, J8.  Her mother is none other than rock legend Many Fay Harris. So it would have been a circus.

They 'had' planned to elope with Zilrita Marx and me for the witnesses for the marriage license.  Zil is the cool, goth, business manager for London Harmony and one of our best friends ever.

I pushed through the crowd to the restrooms that had been commandeered by the two brides to be and giggled to myself.  When we arrived at the secluded little wedding chapel, we found out that it wasn't going to be as simple as that.

June's entire family had been waiting for us, even June's other mother, Congresswoman Anabella West had made it.  The extended clan would have been bad enough, but June's close-knit group of friends from college, June's Eight, who had actual urban legends about their misadventures, had shown.  Zilrita was part of that pack.

Then just about every artist that London Harmony had signed, and the staff of London Harmony too.  Not to mention some of our bizarre extended family here in England, like that giant huggable man, Bear.  It was standing room only, as we had almost seventy people stuffed into the twenty seat chapel.  It was a veritable who's who in the London music scene.  Best elopement ever!

“Ack!”  I heard June blurt from the bathroom, then “Lizzy!”

Elizabeth, June's adopted sister was all grins as the six foot two statuesque Amazon stepped over and comically disengaged her baby, Fay, into my arms.  I couldn't believe the squirmy little girl was already one-year-old, and toddling around on two feet like a holy terror.  Liz looked down from her impressive height and gave me a silly grin.  I grinned back as she entered to see what the latest emergency was.  I swallowed, June's sister was hot!

It took a lot to derail the unstoppable June Harris-West, but this wedding was one of the things that could do it.  She was a nervous wreck and getting her sister, or her mothers into the room as she got ready, every couple minutes.

I blinked my way out of my thoughts as Fay jammed a couple fingers up one of my nostrils.  I looked down at the silly girl and mad a fool of myself making baby faces and sounds for her.  Her smile was delightful.

I wish I could say my sister was more composed but... “Fran!”  Oh I guess I should have started with my name, I'm Francine Brighton, but everyone just calls me Small Fry.  I grinned at the Goth, who was having a giggle fit over the two ladies antics. She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers eagerly, and I passed the football to her care.  The baby was treated to one of Zil's patented squid hugs as I stepped into the restroom.

I couldn't stop my smile.  It was so rare to see my sister dressed in, well, a dress.  She usually dressed casually in t-shirts and jeans and wore men's oversize black hoodie.  When she dressed more femininely, she looked spectacular.  I was sort of happy that we have a strong family resemblance, it helped anytime I was feeling self-conscious about my looks.

I asked in an overly dramatic voice, “Yes, oh sister of mine?”

She looked down at the white sundress that cast a glow of innocence around her.  “Is this dress really okay?  We could postpone this until I can get the other one from home messengered over.”

I stepped up to her and reached out and grabbed her hand and placed it on my shoulder.  An old habit, it was what I had always done to ensure to her that I was really there, when she was off her meds in New York, all those years ago.  Some habits are good to keep.  Then I hugged her and stepped back with her still grabbing my shoulder.  I felt her squeeze it and tried not to show the sadness in my heart, because she was checking, which told me she wasn't feeling sure of herself.

I tilted my head. “Sis, you look beautiful.”  Then I shifted my head toward the wall shared by the two washrooms. “That woman in there loves you and she couldn't care less what you are wearing, you could take your vows naked and she couldn't care less.”   Then I smirked. “She'd probably prefer that.”

Vannie's eyes sparkled with mischief as she slapped my shoulder lightly.  “Fran!  A kid shouldn't talk like that.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Van, I'm eighteen and going to college in September.  I hardly think I'm a kid anymore.”

She looked at me and checked my shoulder again then said, “You're always going to be my baby sis.”  I looked at my cell and then her.  “Ten minutes.  I'll go run interference.  I love you.”

She smiled and took a deep breath then nodded once. “Love you too.”  I left the restroom with a smile, that was the most she has spoken in a while.  My sister has never been the loquacious sort, less is more in her opinion.  I'm wondering if it is the new drug regimen the docs have her on, they aren't supposed to be as depressant as the last ones.

As I shut the door behind me, Elizabeth was closing the other door.  We grinned at each other and I said, “Dress.”

She nodded and replied, “Shoes.”  We shared a chuckle and she looked at me and squinted an eye, “I  have this nagging feeling that I might have handed something to you earlier.”

I just said, “Zil.”  And we looked around until we saw her in her black studded leather dress.  She gave us a silly grin and wiggled her hands in an 'all gone' gesture.

We looked at each other and I blurted out, “Mandy!” at the same time she said, “Mom!”

We went in search of giggling terrors.  Sure enough Mandy and Anabella were monopolizing the baby with Sir Percival, Abigail Addison's seeing eye dog.  Ana looked up at us and squinted an eye in warning and signed with a free hand, “Don't you dare.”

Liz signed back comically, “Fine.”  Then she looked at me and said and signed, “Let's get back to guard duty, I won't be able to pry Fay from their talons.”  This got the ringing chimes of laughter from Ana that I think her daughter was aiming for.

I said and signed back, “Okay.”  Whenever we were within sight of Anabella, we made a habit of signing in case she couldn't read our lips.  That was one of the things that amazed me about their family.  Because of Anabella being deaf, they always make sure to include everyone in a conversation.  Any public appearances any of them attends, they always sign as well in case a hard of hearing person is in the crowd or the event is televised.

We got back to our sentry posts and just marveled at the people in attendance.  Liz knocked twice on the door and I followed suit.  Five-minute warning.  The pastor, vicar, rector, priest, parson, deacon, or whatever she was cleared her throat.  It came across the speakers in the room from the little clip on microphone she had on her ear.

Everyone quieted down and the ones who could sit sat.  There was a chuckle that rolled through the crowd like a wave when Fay giggled brightly at the sudden silence.  Liz stepped away from the door and stood off to the side from the preacher lady and signed as the woman said, “We are about to begin.  Everyone, please rise.”

The organ music started, and I grinned at the old man who sat at the tiny pipe organ.  He looked to be in his early seventies like the pastor.  I had and inkling they may be husband and wife since all the pictures of the hundreds of weddings they performed over the decades were hanging on the walls, and both of them were always in the photos.  They were quite a striking couple when they were younger.

When they were looking for a private chapel, I had shared with them that I had read somewhere about this one in Essex, which had performed the first, same-sex marriage, in the country.  My sister mumbled, “Symmetry.”  Which was like an entire conversation between her and June, so this was the place they chose.

I looked from side to side as June and Vanessa, with equally shy looks on their faces came out of the restrooms.  I offered my elbows to each of the women and they glanced up at each other and you could feel the electricity arcing between them.  They each took an arm and June whispered, “Thanks for this Small Fry.”

I scrunched my nose and whispered back, “Of course J-Dub, there is no place I would rather be on such an auspicious moment.”

June suppressed a chuckle and murmured our familiar banter,  “A little young to be using big words like that.”  For some reason, it felt like family every time she did that.  I love words.  You can do anything with words.  You can convey thoughts, ideas, and most importantly, emotions with words.  You can show your heart with but a few words.  So I have always delved into reading and understanding words, even when I was young.

I huffed and whispered back with a smile, “Bite me.  I go off to college in a few weeks 'sis'.  Would you prefer joyous, inspirational, favorable, approbatory?”

She grinned back and said as I walked them both toward the clergywoman, “Okay thesaurus butt.”

Vanny cleared her throat quietly. “Do you two mind?  I think I'm getting married here.”

We grinned at her as they let go of my arms and I leaned over and kissed Vanessa's cheek and whispered, “You go get her.”  Then I winked at JW and stood off to the side.

The parson said, “Thank you all and thank you for coming to celebrate the union between June Harris-West, and Vanessa Brighton in the body of holy matrimony.  Now I can go on with the usual words spoken in a ceremony like this, but the only words that matter are the ones both spoken and unspoken between the two that stand before you today.  So the brides have chosen to read their own vows before you and the eyes of whatever god they worship.”

She smiled and looked at June.  My future sister in law took Vannie's hands and they touched foreheads, letting Vanessa see the music in her eyes.  Then she used the words in her heart, straight from her soul.  The emotion and truth behind her words were so profound, a conveying of emotion so deep they don't even have words for them, but most of all she spoke her love.  I was crying unchecked when she finished by shrugging, with a tear in her own eye. “I'm yours Nessie.”

Vanessa cocked her head and just smiled at her.  The vicar cleared her throat and my sister broke eye contact with June.  Then she blinked at the clergywoman and gave a cheesy grin.  “Oh, yeah.  My turn.”  She looked at the packed room and said, “Ummm... what she said.”

A chuckle spread through the room and she looked back at June and her expression softened.  “I don't do a lot of talking.  I always figured actions spoke volumes, words only spoke concepts.  So all I can do is tell you that I promise to be by your side and support you, and always be there when you need me.  I could try to tell you how much I love you but again, I prefer actions, so instead I'll just spend the rest of my life showing you instead.”  She shrugged again.

June was beaming at her.  I was surprised Van's head didn't explode, saying so many words all strung together like that.  Then the chaplain asked, “Who has the rings?”

The gathered crowd laughed at Zilrita popping up from her seat like she was on springs, holding a baby.  “Gack!  That's me!”  I grinned at the goth as she ran up.  I was wondering why she wasn't in her place beside me.  But Fay had her 'baby drunk'.  She passed by the mothers’ West, who tried to snag baby Fay to no avail.

She held Fay like a giggling football as she dug into the pocket of her leather dress and pulled out two plain bands.  She held them out like she had just won an Olympic event.  June looked about to burst into laughter as she took a ring and slid it on Vanessa's offered hand.  Then Van took the other one and slid it onto June's waiting finger.

Zil then went about trying to figure out which end was up on Fay, and deposited her on her hip.  The rector then smiled and said, “I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may... oh my... you got that part already.”  June and Vanessa were in a lip lock so hot most of us had a need to fan ourselves.

There was cheering and then June said in a voice far too booming to come from such a feminine looking woman,  “Okay everyone!  Back to London for the after party on the Water Witch!  I want to get to my honeymoon already!”  More cheering ensued as my two sisters made a run for the door and out to the SUV, which was appropriately and embarrassingly decked out for the newlyweds.

We all streamed out of the chapel with them, and birdseed was thrown at them.  I wondered why it wasn't rice, and the nice clergywoman explained it was for a treat for the huge swarms of birds around the chapel.   That they never had to sweep up afterward as the birds got every last seed.

I stood there grinning with a new piece of my heart glowing as I watched them drive off, dragging strings of cans behind them.

I sighed and exhaled then my smile suddenly dropped.  I mumbled, “Son of a bitch.  They were my ride.”  I turned to Zilrita, Elizabeth, and the mothers’ West and put a thumb out and made puppy dog eyes.