Shipwrecked & Horny: A What Could Possibly Go Wrong Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boys After Dark Book 10) by Gabi Moore (25)

The ground shuddered beneath my feet.

The army was off in the distance still, but even as they approached, the planet marked their approach. Huge red ants, larger than most I had seen closer to the Capitol, all scurried into their holes. They were going underground, and I knew that if we were wise, we too would follow.

It is only the petulant and the foolhardy who fight their wars on the surface in spite of so great a force.

We were the Fae Resistance. Fighters who held close to their ideals, and even though we didn’t have a very good statistical chance of success, we were ready to both kill and die for what we believed in. The problem was that we could no longer continue to live as we had been living. We had reached a breaking point. There was nothing more to lose beyond the physical forms that we held, and even those were beginning to wane.

The enemy had so much more than us in almost every regard. The only thing that we had an abundance of was self-righteous pride, and determination. It served us well, because when you think that you are in the right, and that your cause is just, you can draw on stores that previously hadn’t existed.

The heat was unbearable, even from my position sequestered amongst the rocks. I was holed off to the side of the primary theater. The whole scenario was a last stand attempt to draw the troops out from the Capitol, and then assassinate their chain of command — starting with the leader of their army, Lord Xan.

First, the shots came down over my position. It was all Fae Magic, which is what made this whole battle so sickening. A country should never have to sustain the hells of a civil war, but when the flames exploded in dangerous circumference around the incendiary projectiles, I wasn’t thinking about the cruelties of war any longer.

None of us were.

Just then, there was a tear in my vision and I was in another place altogether.

The clang of the battle was moving forward in a volley of arrows. They blotted out the dim light of the sun, and created phantoms in the smoke that hung in the air. I watched from the sides while the smoke made the shapes of cruel tentacled monsters, and fierce serpents.

As though they were mocking us, which they most certainly were, the illusionists took hold of the scene. The dragons of my hallucinations took form and began to soar through the sky on serpentine currents of air.

We were all hidden, and we knew well enough that the arrows themselves were more dangerous than the phantoms, but I felt the effect of the illusions regardless. The sight of them reminded me of the posh aristocratic sorcerers who inhabited the Capitol. We were fighting so hard for equality, and they stood for every form of cruel and vindictive entitlement I could think of. Xan, our target for the day, was their leader.

I recall watching the places where my friends were holed up and waiting. They were far away, and their actual positions were obscured by the shadows of monsters from above. Rage swelled up within me and I struggled to retain the level of composure that I knew would be required of me moving forward in our mission.

Another visual tear, followed by the sound of static and a high pitch ringing in my ears.

The carrier tone is the aftermath of an explosion that went off too close for comfort. We finally erected some deflection spells, but I was caught on the wrong side of them. I got lucky. No other way to frame the situation.

My body is full of adrenaline, and I am using every bit of my physical ability in order to move quickly. I have to close a great distance in a short period of time. Explosions around me spray my body with chunks of rocks. We have nearly missed the mark of what we were aiming to achieve.

In the distance, I can see Thane. He is supposed to be at my side but is caught up in an unfavorable battle. There are too many of them, and things are not going as smoothly as we had hoped they might.

I don't even have the presence of mind to wish that I as elsewhere.

My path to Thane is blocked, and I am pushed into the rear end of the fray. The rocks around me look like they have been lashed and marked by some furious storm. Rain pours down soot and debris from overhead. As the toxins are purged from the sky, I survey the field, and find our target -- the very reason for all of this sacrifice. Even as I see him, Xan is raining fire down from the heavens.

My vision widens as I consider what must be done. Without my consent, my senses have heightened to an exponential degree. Not only can I hear Thane's blade slide through the armor plating of the opponents he fights, but I can smell the seared flesh of our brothers and sisters on the far side of the battle lines. A vision of Xan grows in my head, and I realize that this is the future he wanted to achieve. Burning people alive who dared to disagree with his beliefs.

Without thinking, I took a step forward.

My role in all of this was supposed to be ancillary. I was supposed to create value. Provide information. I was not an action asset. That was Thane's job. However, every moment I continued to censor myself, was one more moment when I had to watch the world deteriorate around me. There wasn't enough time for things to unfold as we had planned, and it became increasingly clear to me that I needed to take a drastic step forward, and go at it alone.

The plan was complex, which is why my services were needed.

I had been studying Xan on an undercover level for years now. I knew his movements, and his habits. I knew everything that I could learn about him, given the fact that he was my sole point of focus for this entire assignment. Importantly, I had also uncovered his point of weakness.

Men like Xan took refuge in the complexities of their own minds. There is a level of arrogance there which prohibits them from thinking clearly about matters which might be better handled via other pathways.

Xan had mapped out the geometric pathways of power on which he drew his strength. He had planned out all of the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of retaining a full shield, versus retaining full attack power. In a field of battle like this, he was going to be more outwardly focused than inwardly defensive. That much was evident. The trick in knowing how to disable a person's magical shields has to do with knowing which geometrical structures to dislocate. In a complex system, removing one fundamental structural element can be the difference between relative impermeability and systemic collapse.

My job was to know the pathways forward, disable the shields, and let Thane follow up with the killing strike.

"Aria, STAND DOWN!"

Thane's voice rang clear in my head through private telepathic channels. The two of us had spent so time training together that our bodies and souls had fused. We could share thoughts, which was another reason why our placement together was crucial.

I saw out the corner of my eye as Thane struggled to free himself from his entanglements. He was a proficient fighter -- one of the best, but he was covered. There was no way for him to get there in time, and now, as Xan was preparing to launch another devastating attack, I had no choice. I had to strike.

I brought our psychic link to a close, and zeroed in on the pathway before me.

Every step I took, every subtle twitch of muscles and distribution of weight was correct. One foot planted on the base of a boulder, and the next followed with a swift step after the first. I leaped up into the air and drew my dagger from its sheath. Closing my eyes, I reached out with sensitivity, and felt for the swirling geometrical patterns which composed Xan's shield. I knew that to make a mistake at this point would be the equivalent of forfeiting our entire cause. The weight of the moment was daunting, but the pressure was all focused on locating a single point of entry.

The blade, magically imbued to disassemble psychic shields, slid between the first orbit. My feet landed on the ground, and my body began moving through the complex dance of motions necessary to achieve my purpose. One by one the orbiting shields around Xan fell, all while he was in the midst of his spell.

I could feel the raw anger and power emanating off from his body. He knew that I was approaching, but to interrupt his casting at this point could bring dire consequences. Whatever dark forces were being marshaled by his will could easily turn on him if he was not in control of every aspect of his attack.

The dim light faded from the sky and the ground beneath my feet began to shake. Still I pressed forward, finding myself in the final move of my dance with death. The dagger in my hand was now pressed up against my chest -- hilt first, elbows out, prepared to deliver the final blow to Xan's shields.

Diving forward from fifteen feet behind his position, I sank the blade into Xan's spine, disconnecting the meridian flow from where his power stemmed.

The shield was down but the spell had already been finished. I was too late.

Xan's entire attention turned on me with the quickness of a viper. All I needed to do was remove the blade, and puncture his heart. The killing stroke would have been so easy, but Xan prided himself on being not only magically powerful, but a physical warrior as well. He overwhelmed me with little effort, pulled the blade out by my wrist, and then spun me around onto the ground.

Static.

"Aria, so sweet..."

His voice was a growl in my ear. I wanted to curse in response, but his knee came strong into my back, and knocked all of the wind out of me. Choking on the dust of the ground, stars swam before my eyes.

"To be betrayed so exquisitely by a woman who has thrown herself at your feet..."

He bit my neck and spread my ass with one hand -- digging his fingers into my crotch. I listened to him inhale a deep long breath. The sound of his wind was punctuated by the unearthly screams of the damned.

"Do you hear that?"

His hand other hand was around my neck now, choking me and pushing me into the ground.

"That's the sound of the end of your kind."

His fingers dug into my sex and then pulled out again.

"Pity too... but before you die... I want to do you the favor of reflecting back to you what you have attempted to share with me.”

The hand that had been inside of me now dug into my back, prying between my left wing and my shoulder blade. I already couldn't breathe, and the screams of battle were tearing through my consciousness. He drove his hips into mine from behind and tore at my wing. I felt bones break, and tendons snap -- the sound was louder than any of the other elements of the battle. The echo was felt through my entire body.

As soon as the pressure had been exerted, I collapsed into relief.

Strangely, there was no pain. Only a flood of endorphins and adrenaline. I was starry-eyed, and dissociated. Then I felt a huge weight fall down on top of me, crushing me into the dirt. Blood poured over my body, and into the ground below.

The sound of battle was gone.

I watched myself from an outside perspective. All that remained was the steady and slowing beat of my own heart -- and Thane's voice.

“Aria! Aria, stay with me!”

I woke up, violently gasping for air. My heart was racing, and each breath surged into my lungs as I tried to get a grip on the world around me.

I remained in the same location, but my sight was still ambiguous. The lingering forms of sleep moved away from the center of my focus and I found myself in my room once more.

I was in the Capitol.

The revolution was over.

My shoulder still ached with sense memory -- a treat from my sub-conscious in the form of another rerun of horror and loss.

The pulsing illumination of a COM-device by my bed echoed and mimicked the raging of my own heartbeat. I looked over at the insignia to see who was trying to contact me. An Oak leaf grasped by an Eagle's Claw presented itself before me on the console.

Thane...

Bright iridescent Fae Fire danced around the symbol, climbing upward in a small arc on my bedside table.

The COM-device had been a gift to me from the new government. Operating on those same telepathic channels had the undesirable effect of giving me traumatic stress flashbacks; ironically, the COM-device seemed to be accomplishing the same goal.

I let the device continue to ring, and rolled out of bed to walk into the kitchen.

The windows of my small apartment were large enough to provide a fair view of myself to anyone who was bold enough to look into the window of an ex-resistance fighter. Fortunately for me, that list was completely empty, while the perks of my own view was relatively unlimited.

In the early mornings, like this, I could see the night sky in all of its crystalline clarity. When the moon was high in the sky, a silver light would bathe the wild area outside of my building. I had fired the gardeners about four years ago, and since then I had been treated to an incredible bouquet of seasonal wildflowers, and even a few small fruit trees. I didn't technically own the building, and the gardener wasn't technically my employee, but I did threaten him with an illegal weapon, and he never came back. Also, the landlord has an obvious soft spot for veterans. Besides, I think Thane gives him a pretty heavy tax deduction.

Thane finally gave up.

The COM-device went silent, and I was given a moment to breathe inside of my apartment without the rush of urgency. Whatever reason he was calling me this early in the morning was not likely to be anything positive, though it was probably serious. Thane had transformed into an incredible businessman and person of state. In the meanwhile, I was struggling to breathe at 4 AM after a dream-induced panic attack.

I cleared off some of the previously discarded clothes from a place on the floor, and sat down to stare out of my window at the wild area beyond. Meditation always helped me, but I didn't go in for any of those pre-recorded guide deals. There were twenty thousand gurus in the Capitol, now that we were all free liberal thinkers.

I didn't need a single one of them.

Closing my eyes, I extended my abdomen, and allowed air to fill in my entire body. Just focusing on my breath, and nothing else, I allowed the stress of the dream to pass away. Each muscle group began to relax, and my heartbeat returned to normal. My attention had just shifted focus to the cool feeling of damp clothes against my body when the COM-device went off once more.

This time, I didn't bother to ignore him. He would keep calling me every ten minutes until I arrived in the state building.

Like a child, I thought as I walked over to activate the link.

When Thane picked up on the other end, there was no greeting or small talk. He was unaccommodating, and strictly business.

"We have to talk."

"Great, cause I was just thinking about putting in my resignation." I was serious, but I didn't have to be there to see his eyes roll.

"Be here in an hour. I need you."

*click*

I watched as the device went dead once more, and then sat down to resume my meditation.

Thane could wait.

As a matter of course, I had already picked up my leave of absence papers before heading into Thane's office. We both knew it didn't mean much of anything, but I couldn't afford to let my own threats sit idly by while that fucker called me in the middle of important nightmares.

The secretary that I picked up the forms from smiled at me and greeted me by name.

"Aria, did you lose your last set of forms?"

I scanned her face, seeking out all hints of subtle irony and cynicism.

There were none.

She was guileless, and authentically concerned as to why I had filed for these forms at least six times in the last eight months, and yet, somehow I was still requesting more paperwork. The humble secretary knew nothing, and only wanted to help.

I ripped the forms out of her hand and then stalked down the hall to Thane's office.

When I walked in he was busy polishing his desk.

"You'd be better off polishing your cock," I said.

"I've got secretaries who take care of that for me."

He smiled -- this one was dripping with subtext.

"Just kidding, far too busy for that."

"Yea right."

He walked over behind me and as he moved, I listened to the soft clack of his shoes on the tile floor of his office.

Thane was dressed immaculately. In my mind's eye, I could see him standing there being measured by a team of private tailors while the secretary who ritualistically handed me my resignation papers busily sucked him off -- sure to catch every last drop of cum, lest it stain the finish on the marble floor.

Immediately, I felt self-conscious about my lack of formal attire and my own projected sexualized fantasy. Thane had adapted so well to this new environment, and I was still stuck in some ruffian, adolescent fantasy. Bags under my eyes, hardly bothering to wash my hair, much less swim in the subtle ambiance of custom perfume.

"You look nice."

"This is the same outfit I wore last week."

"It's a great outfit. I bet you can do everything that you used to be able to pull off in an outfit like that."

There was no need for me to respond. The compliments would continue relentlessly until I gave in and decided to pursue whatever it was that Thane had called me in here to achieve. History has a way of repeating itself.

"You used to just ask me to work together in order to achieve a goal. Now you're all about flattery and finery. How do you sleep at night?"

The door shut behind me, and I felt Thane stand beside me and walk me toward the desk.

"More flashbacks, is that what this is about?"

"You woke up right at the end..."

I shuddered, and he looked down -- legitimately humbled, if only for a moment.

"I wouldn't have contacted you this morning if I didn't think this was serious." His hand had already taken the hand that was clutching the papers. With ease and confidence, he loosened my grip and placed the papers on the desk. "We'll deal with those soon enough, though I'm pretty sure you're stockpiling the last four copies you've given me."

I thought about giving him an excuse, but I was already spent. It wasn't his fault that my mind kept going through all of the same shit every week. Defeated, I sat down on the plush leather recliner, and sank into submission.

Generally speaking, the types of assignments that Thane reserved for me specifically were very similar to the types of assignments we used to carry out together, though for the most part it was all political pretense these days. He wanted to know who was thinking what, and which way some vote might go. The usual shit.

What I couldn't understand is why he kept using me for these allegedly 'subversive' missions, when everyone knew that he and I regularly met up and discussed this very thing.

As Thane prattled on about his most recent point of intrigue, I sat there with my eyes at half-mast, waiting for the moment when he would get past the preliminaries and actually get to the point.

"Aria, I need to know that you'll be there for me on this one."

Thane always talked to people this way. It seemed to me like he didn't quite realize that there were other conscious people in the world. He was a narcissist to be sure, apparently seeming to forget that there were others as perceptive and highly functional as himself.

His smooth talking didn’t really matter much anyway. Both he and I knew what he was trying to pull, but it didn’t do much of anything to change my mind. I had my own reasons of wanting to go on this mission, and for speaking to Thane.

For the moment, I had enough reasons to allow myself to be seduced.

On an emotional level, Thane and I went back to the days of the revolution. He had been a leader of profound military force, and I had been a primary intelligence operative. We had been through hell and high water together, and that kind of history creates very deep bonds indeed.

Now that the revolution had been successful, and we had both reached the other side of that conflict, we no longer had that tight social glue that comes about as a result of enduring conflict, and achieving group victory. Our sense of group identity had dissolved into individually focused bureaucratic roles within the glorious new, Non-Violent State.

My eyes had to roll whenever I thought about it.

But for now, I was here in Thane’s Office. Watching his lips move while he told me all about how sweet I was, and how he always knew that I was cut out for a role like this, and so on.

Apparently, for some, “Non-Violent State” meant “Emotionally Manipulative and Politically Coercive State”.

Poor bastard could have saved so much energy if he had just gone straight to the shoulder massage in the beginning, and skipped all of the ego-affirming verbal nonsense. All it took was a pair of his strong hands to massage the tired muscles on either side of my spine, and I would have committed treason for that man. Not that treason was what was called for here. After all, treason would imply that one was working against the government, and not for them.

Emotional connections, and a strong physical touch go deeper than any political consulate — at least that’s been my experience.

"We can't use the regular channels for this mission,” he said. “The entire success of our project depends on the opportunity being presented to the council as serendipity.”

“Leave it to me to architect serendipity.”

He smiled.

“That’s the language of the new world order, but you know how I can’t abide that level of passivity. Those people in office don’t understand the sacrifice and hard work that caused us to arrive in this position in the first place.”

He paused, meaningfully, and let his hands rest on my shoulders. “I know you understand, because you were there. You gave more than they will ever understand.”

“Cut to the point, Thane.”

“It needs to be an opportunity that we happen across. If we brought this up to the council, there would be endless debates over the legitimacy, and the methodology. Not to mention the fact that the whole council strives to embody this new age, “Let it Be” philosophical approach.”

“As an attitude for de-escalating conflict, that approach has done more for this world than the rule of the previous regime.”

“The problem is that we are no longer facing a situation of social conflict. The conflict we face is an environmental emergency. I just don't know how they think we are going to make the kind of actions necessary; especially within the timescale that we need in order to survive.”

I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. The conflict that I was fighting was apparent to my rational mind. The issues that Thane brought up were important, and he was absolutely right. All of the data suggested that our world was in grave danger if we continued to do nothing about the approaching threat. However, there were legitimate reasons that the council was not exploring avenues of radical change like what Thane was suggesting.

The people had intentionally placed people in power that were not reactionary insurgents. Thane, myself, and a few others had been given decorated positions of ceremonial importance within the new system — but not anything that promised any sort of political power.

The people wanted to use us as a means of dismantling the previous system, and then replace that system with the equivalent of a doddering, conservative council of mystics. The new leadership of the Fae world was primarily a spiritual one, which was ironic, because the problems that faced the new leadership appeared to be more physical than philosophical.

The problem here was that my body was reacting to old intimacies between Thane and myself, while my mind was dismissing the sensible, community focused approach of the council.

I found it difficult to remain focused on rationally processing anything with his body pressed up against my back. Even if part of my mind rationally agreed with him, this was not a trivial decision.

I had to push him away.

"Just give me some space for a minute, Thane. You and I both know the danger that the Fae Realms face. What we don’t know is the potential consequences of opening a long-term portal. Essentially, what you are talking about is a tear between dimensions. As far as I’m aware there just isn’t a precedent for that sort of thing. We could be dealing with a whole new set of problems, just because we didn’t exercise the appropriate amount of caution in this specific scenario.”

“You and I have been trained to take risks.”

“We might have been trained, but if I’m not mistaken, don’t we need a human to open up the portal?”

He nodded.

“How in the nine hells do you think we are going to find a willing participant within the human realm?”

“Correction: You — not we.”

“Great, Thane. Real comforting — we would need someone who wanted to open up a portal for its own merit. That’s not the type of thing that humans just go out and do for a night on the town.”

I shook my head, practically fuming over the details of what Thane was asking of me.

“Martyr on a Stick! Sure, there is a cultural history to draw on here, but most of the time, the stories are about wayward travelers, and children. Even then, how long does the portal last? Certainly not a damned Rift.”

“It would have to be an adult male, and a virgin. I trust you’ll be able to figure out what needs to get done. Besides, we have already gathered as much research as possible.”

“Oh yea. A virgin? That ought to be fun. Let me guess, a blood ritual on a full moon as well? What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull? You know as well as I do that we don't have any data to support that kind of speculation."

"It's a brave new world for all of us, Aria." He shrugged, as though that simple motion could dismiss all of my concerns. "All I know is that if we don't take action, the Fae are going to run out of resources, and we will move into a sequence of extinction. Honestly, I don't see any other path of action which will take place quickly enough to provide the help we need."

"Aren't you at least a little bit concerned that we don't have a clear idea of why the Void is approaching?"

“Our Metaphysicists are working around the clock on that question. Policy makers are speculating about how we can use our social systems to adapt. Engineers are all working on structural alternatives for energy consumption theories."

I shook my head, knowing that everything he said was true. I myself had taken up the question within the Think Tank I had been assigned to after the revolution. They might have called it the “Eccentric’s Argument and Debate Club” for all of the good it did. However, they congratulated themselves on placing me somewhere that resembled a non-violent application for the skills that I had developed during my years as a field agent.

“We don’t understand why the Void is approaching,” Thane went on, “and there is not enough time for us to figure out a solution without sustaining major casualties. We need access to a denser form of energy, and the Material Plane has always provided that for us in the past."

"Yea, on a personal level. We don't even know if whole scale systemic support can be achieved. The ecology of the Fae Realms would have to operate parasitically on the Material Plane until there was some type of homeostasis, and nobody knows what that might look like. We don't even know if opening a portal on a permanent basis is a viable option."

“We owe it to ourselves to try, and I know you’re the woman for the job.”

He had already broken me down. At that point, I wasn't doing much more than stalling, and he knew that. Thane could read me like a book. We had done too much together. There was too much history. Had this been any less of a contentious issue, there wouldn’t have been much of a conversation at all.

"You're a Fixer..."

"That was a long time ago, Thane."

He leaned in over my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "One week, that's all that’s all we need. After that, you can come back here and argue with your debate team until the apocalypse swallows us whole.”

I laughed, though I was a bit uncomfortable. The sound of his voice so close to my ear brought some heat to my body. I tried to suppress the reaction, but flashes of memory came back to me nonetheless. Memories of comforts shared in cold and foreign spaces.

Thane backed off once more.

“We've charted out all of the astrological components of the time window. We have the research already compiled. The best minds have decided that now is the time. All we need is a field agent. Someone with your unique skill sets..."

"I'll do it Thane, you can stop now."

"If you don't want to, we can find someone else. I'm sur--"

"I told you..."

"Look, I just don't want this to be something that you're heart's not really into."

I slapped him.

I had to.

Thane was one of the most irritating man I have ever known. He was also one of the most charming. If I had wanted to hurt him, I wouldn't have used the palm of my hand. However, I had to at least send a message that I wasn't going to put up with any more of his patronizing bullshit. Charmers have to be put in line every now and then.

He rubbed a smiling cheek with one hand, and flicked an envelope onto my lap with the other.

"So glad to have you on board. This government needs someone with a bit of fire in them to do the work that needs to be done.”

He walked confidently over the back of his desk, and took a seat. Both boots were immediately hefted onto the polished obsidian surface. Everything in this world was ornate and well presented. So much magic was used to make everything appear well ordered and maintained. I knew that there was another reason I wanted to go to the Material Plane, but for the moment, I shoved that impulse down into the bottom of my mind once more.

I didn't feel like dignifying Thane with a response, so I simply turned my heel and left.

“Why don’t you take a walk in the courtyard, and clear your mind?” he called out after me, laughing to himself once more.

Fucking Thane.

Watching the sea of interns go about their business for the day was nauseating to say the least.

I didn't hold any malice for any one of these people in particular. There was something wholesale unattractive about the whole charade. Everyone was so busy, and I couldn't understand what they all thought they were accomplishing.

A couple even bumped into me as they passed, talking amongst themselves about some abstract and legalistic policy. Immediately, I had to deal with profuse apologies, and red blushed cheeks from both of the interns. There were portraits of both myself, Thane, and a handful of others in the hallways. I didn't look like much these days, but not too many Fae suffered the same sort of physical disabilities.

I waved them along.

They were problem solving, to be sure, but compared to the problems that we had faced in order to get here, it seemed trivial. A whole flood of busy work came in to replace the former tyrannical government, simply because they couldn't stand to have a little bit of nothingness.

You could leave, I reminded myself, not even bothering to speak within the privacy of my own mind. You could probably get access to this portal and just fuck around on the material plane for the remainder of your life. Seduce a fisherman, and start a half-breed family.

The thoughts themselves were entertaining, particularly because I remembered the possibilities held by assuming a different form on the material plane.

In transferring over to the material plane, a fae automatically assumed a form reflective of the natives. Of course, the previous echoes of my life would be on the new body, but a birthmark is a lot more manageable than a permanent disability.

None of the humans have wings. They wouldn't gawk at you any more.

The thought only kicked around in my head for a minute or two before I shoved it aside. I was familiar enough with both pain, and vanity. The final reason to push all of that out of my mind was because I remembered the true gravity of the situation we were in as a people.

Environmental collapse was no longer a theoretical topic of discussion; it was not so much a matter of if, but when. Not to mention there has also been an increase in cases of mental health trauma throughout the Capitol. More and more, Fae were succumbing to suicide and social alienation. I didn't blame them myself, though I found it difficult to make a distinction between PTSD and the greater psychological malaise of our race.

Thane's evaluation of the Void was not a matter to be taken lightly.

I shook my head and shoved the note back between my right ass cheek and my pants. The note fit snugly against my body as I walked away from the structures of the Consulate and toward the gardens which littered the grounds around the central building.

I let my eyes relax slightly, and tried to take in whatever beauty I could from this environment. The entire landscape was designed to engender psychological serenity, even if some of us didn't occupy that state of mind any longer.

The Fae consulate is a seductive place if you've never been. Just after the war, the image projected by the consulate was something holy and set apart for regeneration. The marble statues and magnificent gardens were signals of what could be, if we only worked to restore beauty. They are beautiful, but they are tirelessly maintained so that hardly a leaf is out of place.

As it turns out, the consulate gardens are just another indication of the subtle classism that has taken root within Fae society.

The gardens were tended to by gnolls, and the cleaning was managed by pixies. Supposedly, we had all once lived in an idyllic forest wonderland, but I couldn't even imagine that type of existence any longer. Supposedly, somewhere out on the fringes, there were Wild Fae; those faeries had all run away in an effort to retain both their culture and autonomy.

The Wild Fae had been tangential, yet crucial in our fight against Xan. More support was offered by them for our benefit than any other population in the realms. However, they only operated at a distance. The Wilder Ones appeared to be ultimately concerned with their own preservation, and only came into action when Xan's forces threatened to run them out of their deep forest retreat.

Following the revolution, we had a choice to join the Wilder Ones, and some did. The rest of us clung to the process of creating a civilized utopia. The promise of security and an improved quality of life were too enticing. It was a devil's bargain, but most of us were so caught up in the machinery of social engineering, that we didn't have attention to notice, or time to complain.

I wasn't completely jaded, but I did fail to see the beauty of the consulate most days of the week. When my mind is pre-occupied with the latest dramatic political episode, it is hard to see the beauty of the trees. It's hard to even appreciate the power and simplicity of a single moment.

Breathing more deeply now, I set my sights not on the nearest areas of the garden, but along the edges. Out there, along the periphery, there was still a bit of freedom to be had. The workers were ordered to maintain appearances as close to the common grounds as possible, but due to the construction of the gardens, the fringes were less accessible, and less critical for purposes of presentation.

My feet passed through the threshold of the garden's main entrance, and I looked around me. I had walked into a vast courtyard. Along the edges of the courtyard were openings which branched outward into increasingly private directions. Wind came at my face, and gently lifted my hair from my cheek.

The garden's labyrinth was a walking meditation place which accommodated officials with a higher level of security clearance, as well as the general public. As one moved further into the garden, the hedgerows themselves adapted their position to accommodate each person who walked between them. As you continue to press further into the garden, it becomes still more complex and secluded. Of course, when you want to leave, all you have to do is turn around with the intention of finding the exit. Malice was completely absent from the garden's design.

Today, my goal would be to go as deep as possible. I needed to find a gateway.

Thane entertained me; at least I had to laugh in order to deal with his bullshit. Our former resistance group was built out of the rejected idealism of the previous reich. Passing through the papered rose beds and small groups of office workers, I couldn't help but think about how far we had come, and what all of this used to be.

Before the revolution, this entire place was a practical necropolis. These very roses were undoubtedly fertilized by the blood of fallen heroes -- likely not all of them on our 'side'. Whenever I walked through here, I felt more like a living statue then an actual person. I figured out a long time ago that the stares are what really push that envelope for me.

Thane and I were close, and our bond was primarily militaristic, but I wasn't around a lot of the time, which meant that our relationship was more polyamorous than not. As a woman, and an intelligence operative, I got close with a number of people during the course of my work. Targets, clients, associates; whatever was called for to accomplish our mission.

They called me a Fixer.

Our job was to obtain information and connect people with either information, people or objects. Fixers are liminal creatures who host a unique range of skills. We are resourceful, and always manage to find our way in and out of situations. Sometimes things got intense, but luck was on my side more often than not.

Now that we had overthrown the previous regime, we were supposedly moving on into a new world where we didn't use the same military efforts. We won a victory of some kind, but the same mechanics as before seem to be in operation, if under a different paradigm.

I thought about my current task, and let my hand stray back to feel the note pressed up against my body. I had been on missions like this before in the past. You don't read the note until the exact moment before the portal, and even then, you only get one shot.

Everything cloak and dagger - makes me think we are just as bad as they were.

Laughter in the distance caused me to snap out of my reverie long enough to take note of my surroundings.

The corridors had gotten narrower, though there was still enough room between walls of vegetation to accommodate the group approaching from around the corner. They are on their way out, and I have yet to reach the area of the labyrinth where incidental contact ceases to be a possibility.

They are young, and smiling.

When I look at the younger generation, I realize that there is no way that they will ever be aware of the troubles that we faced in order to get here. Regardless of that reality, I try not to judge them too poorly for it. More likely than not, they will have their own troubles. In fact, I think the people who should be judged most severely are those who brought people like myself up onto a pedestal.

The laughter stopped as soon as they notice me.

I walked forward, with my face resolute; knowing that they were staring and doing everything possible to regain what 'composure' they felt was necessary in my presence. They retracted their wings to their sides, and bowed stiffly as I passed. I fought the urge to say something resentful to them. I wanted to tell them to knock it off, and start taking themselves more seriously.

I settled for a simple aphorism.

"I am nothing more than a role which you will one day need to fulfill."

My words will not be heard.

They will be memorialized in the minds of the younger generation. They may even be engraved on a placard and posted on the hallways of the Consulate, but that doesn't mean that they will be adhered.

The most incredible thing about raising a person up to the position of a deity, is that it gives you the ability to discount and ignore them.

"She's a hero. I couldn't possibly do that."

"Back in the day, life was more difficult, and people had to take themselves more seriously. These days, we live in a more progressive world."

All lies.

Nothing more than excuses to not examine the world around you with any degree of critical thought. All of these bitter reflections juxtaposed with the fragrance of jasmine.

"Maybe I'm the problem. Maybe this is the vacation I've been asking for all this time. Besides, if this actually is a way to help -- however unorthodox, this might be the right path."

The hedges began to narrow on either side of my body. The aisle got so close that the sides of my shoulders brushed up against either wall of vegetation.

Any minute now...

Then a voice called out from behind me.

"Mistress Aria! Mistress!"

That nasally high-pitched whine and formal title was all I needed to be completely sure that I had no interest in engaging with this person. I quickened my pace, but they were rushing toward me, and I couldn't blatantly run away from a Head of State.

"You're pretty deep in the labyrinth..."

"I needed to clear my mind."

"Hmm... well, a little bird told me that they saw you go into Thane's office this morning first thing."

"Tell that cocksucker to mind his own business."

"My dear!"

"Look, I'm sorry, Bartholomew, but I've been having some lousy dreams lately, and Thane's really the only one who can relate."

"Well, most certainly, but I have been recommending you stay at our Archetypal Therapy Psychological Wing for months, ever since Mary-Anne--"

"Cocksucker."

"Ahem."

I could feel his eyes narrowing in my direction, though I tried to maintain a straight face, and a steady pace.

"… Ever since Mary-Anne issued you your first resignation request."

"Well, she does have a big mouth."

If possible, his eyes narrowed even more at me. I knew I had to ditch him, but I wasn't exactly sure how.

"You're aware the confidential information is not to be shared amongst non-active operatives such as yourself."

I turned on him.

He was easily a full foot and a half shorter than me, which placed his head at right about the same level as my tits. He almost ran into me, and his nose came within a hair's length from my body. I watched with pleasure while his cheeks flushed red. He backed up and looked at me, attempting to regain whatever pomp and authority he had approached me with only moments ago.

"That's right. Ex-Operative. Which means I don't need to be hassled any longer by book wielding, political suck-offs like yourself. Mind your own fucking business, and let me mind mine."

I walked closer to him, making sure my breasts got right up in his face, causing him to backpedal.

"I came here so I could be alone, and collect my thoughts, and you're fucking with my process. So the next time you want to do a little investigatory work, get a warrant."

At the last word, the garden finally brought up an aerial root, and tripped Bart down onto the ground. Without wasting a moment, I turned around and walked quickly back into the maze, allowing the passageway to close in on itself in my wake.

I could hear him yell, but he couldn't see me, and thanks to the magic of the labyrinth, he would never find me unless I walked out.

You can wait there all day, my friend...

Another twenty feet, and I had arrived.

The gate was little more than a fountain, covered in moss and lime deposits. The fountain clearly hadn't been in operation for some time. To my satisfaction, the area around the edges of my little clearing was covered by a dense thicket.

Reaching behind me, I snagged the envelope out of my pants, and opened it up. Inside was a sheet of paper, and a holograph from the Intel Department. I took the image out first, and allowed it to unfold in front of me.

A figure of a man sprang out from the slip of paper and rotated around me in the air.

I narrowed my gaze, and strained to pick up the details of the image. Stretching the holograph out in front of me, I was able to get a good glimpse at the man's physique. I could also read the DNA Readout and Sociological Inquiry that was inscribed on the lower right hand corner of the holograph.

“You've got a great body for a human, but this psyche profile is ridiculous. Believes in both Faeries, and Aliens...”

Well, he'll get proof enough on the first, but ... humans are so gullible.

No sooner had I finished committing the details of his face to memory, when the holograph incinerated before my eyes.

"Fuck!"

I backed off, cursing Thane for nearly taking my eyebrows off. The rest of the briefing was straight forward enough. The human's name was Erol, and he was apparently swimming in a quagmire of esoterica. The basic parameters of the mission were easy enough to manage.

First and foremost, make contact with the subject. Second, undermine and redirect research to achieve personal aims. And lastly, save the Fae Realms.

Not too difficult.

I let out a long exhale, and rolled my eyes while the contents of the note began to glow and catch fire as well. Shaking my head, I dropped the paper to the ground and watched while it too ignited. This time, the fire didn’t stop at the end of the paper. With amusement and absent-minded fascination, I watched as the fire transformed into a blue light. The flare expanded and became a perfect oval, placed just over the base of the fountain.

I took another breath to sturdy myself, and then stepped into the portal.

I tripped over something in transit, and landed face first in the mud. It was an unceremonious drop which brought a curse to my lips, but that curse was never uttered.

I extended my arms to examine the ground, and I discovered that my skin had changed both color and texture. My hands and arms were scaled and red. My skin looked like the basin of a desert. Thin black lines working their way through deep amber scales.

I reached out one hand to touch the other, and I found that I also had nails that extended out from my fingertips like claws. The nails were black, and shone like perfect obsidian. In the reflection of my own nails, I could see horns had emerged from either side of my head. In shock, I looked down at a placid and undisturbed section of ground beneath my feet. The area of the muck that had not been disturbed by my fall offered me a perfect reflection along the surface of the ground.

My Gods... I have both wings.

The urge to fly overwhelmed me, but there was something else preventing me from fully indulging in this realization. I recognized myself, but the image was some twisted form which I had only dreamed of previously. I was a creature of the lower planes, both sexual and deadly. The eyes were slit and my nose had been flattened. My tongue had been elongated, and my wings were no longer light and translucent, but dark and leathery. I saw that the tar had stuck to the side of my cheek, and I reached over to wipe it from my newly pronounced cheekbones.

What is this place?

The mud stuck to my fingers like tar. The substance was long and viscous. I moved my shoulder over to the side of my face to wipe the gunk off of my cheek, and it ended up sticking to my shirt as well. I looked down and saw that my breasts, while still there, had decreased in size. I was lithe and reptilian in form.

When I looked around me, I had to squint my eyes from the harsh light overhead. There were no trees, and the air was rank like pitch and sulfur.

This is wrong, I shouldn't be here...

I looked about, trying to get my bearings. I could see no major landmarks around me. There were no hills in the distance. No vegetation. No signs of life anywhere. I knew that the portal had been directed to take me as close to my target as possible.

What I did not understand is how those directions had been somehow subverted so that I would end up here. All I could feel was the mire beneath my feet, and the glaring orb of fire in the sky, casting its hateful gaze down at the world below.

I felt the slightest shift under my feet, and lifted my boots up one at a time. The tar clung to one of them, and my foot pulled right out of the boot. Even the physiological structure of my feet had been modified. I let out a sharp exhale of frustration, and then proceeded to bend over and bother about putting my foot back in its correct place.

Just as I had finished, I felt a vibration making its way through the ground. I could feel the movement initially on the soles of my feet, but soon the sensation transferred throughout my whole body. The wave brought the hair of my neck on end, and I shook my shoulders out.

The magic that opened the portal must have had some foreign element in it…

I was trying to parse out how this could have happened. In all of the times that I had used the portals, I had never experienced anything similar to this. My sensory awareness spiked, and an instinct to flee overtook my body.

Approaching my position from the left, the tar began raising up from the ground like the crest of a wave. My feet were planted firmly in the muck. A sense of dread overwhelmed me, and I instinctively squatted down to prepare for a powerful launch into the air.

The strength of my wings took me by surprise. With wings like a bat, I was able to launch off of the ground with incredible vitality and speed. I leaped straight out of my shoes, and flew up into the air toward safety.

In mid flight, as I soared into the unforgiving heat above, a black serpentine form shot out from the tar beneath me. Like a whip, it coiled around my ankle, and clung tight.

I strained to break free, beating my wings furiously against the air, but there was no freedom to be found. I only began to feel the pull in my ankle, as well as the pressure from the creatures grasp. Thinking to strike it, or tear it off from me, but it grabbed a hold of my wrist as well.

One after another, black, inky tentacles from the pitch below shot out at me from the ground. The tendrils slid inward along my body toward the center of my body. With each tug, they drew my arms and legs farther apart from one another. Their hold was tight on me, and it seemed that any amount of struggling on my part only increased the tension of the creature.

I tried to relax, wondering if it was responding with tension to my fight, but it only reached a tentacle out and wrapped itself around my throat.

A searing pain began to radiate all over my body. The areas of contact immediately reacted in a bright blue rash, spreading out in all directions from the creature. I let out a scream, crying out for help, even though there was no one around. The tentacle poised over my mouth, ready to suffocate me, and then something changed in the environment.

I was pulled underneath the surface of the ground.

At first, I thought that death had finally arrived at the hands of a vicious tentacle demon, but I was wrong.

On the other side of the black pitch, there was water. But the strangest thing was that I was still able to breathe. I looked down and saw that the demon had penetrated my mouth, though instead of an inky black creature, I saw a translucent passage providing me with oxygen. Its nature had fundamentally changed.

Once more, the atmosphere around me began to change. A brilliant light flashed through the water and I found myself once more in-between realms.

Much to my dismay, the tentacles that had coiled themselves around my body had been replaced by a thick briar of blackberries. The portal had deposited me square in the middle of a maze of thorns, and my clothes and skin were suffering for the contact.

Fuckin' hells...

I took a deep breath, and then realized that things were not as bad as I had initially thought.

At least it's not fucking me...

My skin was soft and vulnerable compared to the hardened scales from the previous world. I didn't need a diviner to tell me I had finally made it to the human realm.

Cursing, I began the laborious task of unweaving myself from the briar patch. I found that if I dropped down toward the ground, the briars got thicker than up at top. This meant that the thorns were longer and more uncomfortable -- but at least there weren't an overwhelming number of elements to contend with.

I ended up getting some deep cuts along my arms, and thighs, but nothing too severe. My clothes on the other hand were in absolute shreds, and I had completely lost my boots.

On the other side of the berry patch, I reached a break in my frustration. I let out a long sigh, and let my eyes rest on the vegetation which surrounded me. There were huge redwood trees, all around me. I was along the edge of some sort of clearing, though the forest extended in all directions that I could see.

While the previous dimension had seemed utterly barren, I got the opposite impression from this place. I was in a wild and untamed environment, rich with life. Birds and insects were so present that it was difficult not to notice the songs of their lives.

Brushing my hand across my forehead, I wiped a stray spiderweb from my hair. I stuck my arm out to investigate, and along the scratches from the briar patch, walked a spider the size of my thumb.

Shivers caught me, but then I remembered where I was and relaxed.

There you go...

I watched as the spider disappeared into the debris on the forest floor, and continued to stare into the earth.

My mind went back through the portal. What the hell was that? Apart from the fact that I recalled the physicality of the experience, I could have sworn that the entire experience was a dream. Even in dreams, I have touched, and been touched in a way which was convincingly real. The part that I couldn't wrap my head around was that my fucking shoes were gone.

Toes wiggled in the air as I stared at the relentless proof that I had been elsewhere, regardless of where that place might have been. I felt confused, betrayed, and totally out of sorts. When I tried to think of the possible reasons why I could have experienced something like that, I grew fatigued. There was a total loss of will on my part to devote any energy toward thinking about why I had ended up there, or how I had gotten out.

The images would be burned into my consciousness, that much I knew.

My body had been different, and what's more, I had gotten my wings back once again. I swear, I could still feel the sting of the creature that had pulled me underground, but only while my eyes were closed. When I opened my eyes up once more to examine the source of the stinging, all I could see were thorn scratches.

Well, at least I'm here... not too bad looking in this form. Absolutely human.

Frequently, when Fae crossed over into the human realm, they magicked themselves up to be beautiful. The men more so than the women. However, this beauty charm, or ‘Glamour’ was not a necessary aspect of the transition into the material world.

If I were to go about the material realm in my actual form, there would be chaos. I would be captured and put into a sexualized circus for sure. That, or I would have to bring the lives of a few humans mercilessly short, and escape.

There wasn't any inherent danger in being in my true form, or Fae form, within the material realm, its' just that it was grossly impractical. How was a person supposed to get any work done while the rest of the world was too busy staring at you to provide a coherent response or maintain a conversation?

Absolutely not. I had to be incognito in order for this to work, but fortunately, there was something about the cross-dimensional travel which made that all work out.

I had heard of others, other Fae who had somewhat arrogantly decided to magick themselves into their original form while on the material plane, but I wasn't nearly that prideful. Not anymore.

In spite of it all, I was pleased to discover that I was actually fairly good looking.

I had more muscle and substance in my human form. Instead of one wing, I had intricate tattoo lines splayed downward along the side of my body. Through the torn fabric of my clothes, I could see both muscles and tattoos along the surface of my skin. I had both healthy tone and solid muscle definition. Much of the time, in the Fae Realm, I didn't consider much of my physical appearance. At least not since I was on active duty.

I was glad to know that whatever fates were involved at least had a sexual inclination for the way my body adapted to the change between realms.

I stood up and admired myself for a moment, trying to assess how much damage had been done to my clothes, and what sort of form I would be working with in order to complete my mission.

Tits and Ass for days, and a solid athleticism too. ‘Bout fucking time something went right.

I wasn't prepared to go anywhere just yet, and for the moment, I allowed myself to indulge in some stretches. It felt good to release some of the tension in my muscles. I was disoriented, but pleased to discover that I could at least function well enough in this form. My balance was on point, and after about a half hour of meditation, my focus was solid as well.

Unfortunately, I realized during my period of adjustment that I would have to deal with all of the problems that came along with adopting a human body.

Humans, as a general rule were more susceptible to illness and fatigue. Their brains required more effort to prevent them from losing focus. They were hungrier, more often, and due to their shortened lifespan, they had a much higher sex drive than the fae.

I had been on the material plane for less than an hour, and already my mind was swamped with desires and 'urgent needs' of all kinds.

I don't understand how they manage...

Shaking my head, I set about to clear my focus once more. I needed to create a Meta Map Spell in order to figure out where my target was supposed to be located. Casting spells in human form is easy enough, but you need to clear your mind of other preoccupations first, and sometimes, that can be more difficult than not.

Two critical components of the magic which operates portal technology are proximity and intention. These are highly subjective, and are therefore left to the efficacy of the magic itself in order to integrate these variables into the spell itself. The end result is that the user is theoretically transferred toward the exact, or approximate, location where they requested to be. The portal opens, and deposits the traveler across both time and space. When they arrive, all that they should need to do is be relatively observant, and their objective should make itself apparent.

All of the rules of magic, and especially the rules governing inter-dimensional travel are speculative. The study of magic is like every other pursuit of knowledge. A working model must be accepted until it is proven wrong. Unfortunately for me, I had already been through one major systemic anomaly.

It would be nice if my target was around, but it was pretty obvious that I could count on nothing.

Just standing there, I managed to get hungry and aroused and fatigued all at the same time. My attention waned, and I was unable to complete the Meta Map Spell. The frustrations left me feeling defeated and trapped by my own baser instincts. I couldn't tell if I wanted to fuck something, eat a raw fish or fall asleep.

Better hurry up and get out of here ... this place is harsher than I remember.

Yet another undocumented theory about inter-dimensional travel involves the supposition that forms tend to retain themselves as a matter of convention. If a Fae were to assume a human form for too long, they might forget how to access their native form. The obvious danger here is that they would lose touch with their magic, and consequentially never be able to cross planes again.

Being this fucking horny for no damned reason is about as exciting as it is frustrating. A temporary walk-in to the human form might be an enjoyable experience, but I'm not sure I want to make that kind of long-term commitment.

I looked around to see if I might be able to get away with masturbating for a bit, and saw nothing more than forest. I was excited to try it out, but before I could take my new nervous system for a spin, a man appeared from the tree line right in front of me.

Blushing, I pulled the tattered remains of my clothes over me, and then relaxed once more.

Shame, I thought. That was weird.

“Hey there... sorry to interrupt, just passing through."

Erol? I thought, scanning my memories for his characteristics. There you are...

"Actually, I'm all fucked up by this briar patch."

"Do you need some help?”

Well that was easy.

I wanted to wrap this whole thing up as quickly as possible. If this quest were up to me, I would straight take this guy's will and then force him to follow through with whatever plans Thane had in mind for the guy. I was in no mood for games, and I figured that if I was going to enjoy my time away from the Fae realm, it needed to be after my responsibilities were taken care of.

A sense of urgency overtook me, and I decided that I would charm him. I would move forward with as ruthless tactics as would be allowed.

No sex, and no seizure of free will, I thought to myself. I can work with that.

I brushed a leaf from my hair, and pretended to be very concerned with removing some imaginary thorn from my pants. Standing up, I was able to catch a glimpse at him as he approached. He looked like a total square.

"I've fucked with beings that are stronger than you," I silently swore, and then offered a nod of acknowledgment and a disarming smile.

He approached looking concerned, and a bit unsure of himself.

"So glad someone found me,” I said. “I might have been stuck here for a while."

"Looks like you might not have been too bothered."

*Astute and conservative.*

*Interesting.*

*Divert to the physical.*

"You wouldn't believe how deep some of those scratches go..."

*Blush.*

"Hiker?"

*Sensual thrust diverted into contextual small talk.*

He had closed the distance between the two of us by that point, and I noticed how easily my body responded around him. My body drew nearer to him on a subconscious level. I could feel my own heartbeat, as well as an increased level of heat flow through my entire system. My own impulses were fucking with my focus. The body I was in couldn't distinguish the difference between intent and reality.

I was ready to pounce him and strip his clothes off then and there. I had to breathe deeply and restrain myself.

"Actually I was climbing in some of those trees. Really just trying to get some solid exercise in, and my foot slipped. Fell straight down into that briar patch."

"Ouch," he winced.

"Really fucked up my clothes. If I didn't know better, I'd say these vines were trying to get in my pants."

I stared at him, catching his eyes directly within my own. I wanted to know whether or not he would respond to the imagery I had offered. I caught another blush, and moved to close the distance between the two of us once more.

"Ha ha... okay, well you look like you're doing all right now."

His stance shifted, and he looked to the side. The embarrassment only lasted for a moment, but the seed had been planted. He would have little choice at this point but to move forward with me in a context which had already included sexual conceptualization. He regained his footing and met my eyes as I moved closer.

If I could get close enough for contact, I could cast a touch based charm. He would retain enough autonomy to be useful, but every suggestion I had to offer would assume the position of primary directive in his mind. Naturally, to minimize damage to others in his life, he would still be able to function as usual.

I had no use for mental slaves, but I did need this man's help if I was going to achieve the reason for my visit to the material plane.

"I'm glad you're around, because I was beginning to wonder if I had actually gotten lost. The fall and all of the tangles from the briar patch are fucking with my head a bit. I don't seem to remember the way out of here."

He nodded and held my eye contact. "Well, you're actually pretty far in, so I wouldn't doubt that you might be lost. You're actually way off the trail. I was here looking for something a bit off the beaten path. If I hadn't of shown up, I'm not sure that you would have seen another person today."

This guy talks like a knight.

I nodded and did my best to appear grateful, but he sensed something was off in my demeanor.

"Here," he offered, "this might help."

From his backpack, he produced a large metal canteen.

I watched him carefully, and allowed myself the slightest hesitation before reaching out for the canteen.

"Here," he insisted, holding the canteen outward in my direction.

My hand reached out to grab ahold of the water, and I very carefully, and very intentionally placed the tips of my fingers along the backside of his hand. While I touched him, I looked him in the eyes and transmitted the mental energy necessary for the charm to work. My lips parted into an easy and gentle smile.

"Thank you for your help."

He blushed once more, and I felt the rush of magic course through my body.

It was done. The suggestion was planted, and the contact was made.

By all accounts, everything should have worked. Instead of staring at me in a post hypnotic haze, he only shrugged, and turned to the side. He even took a step backward and turned away for a bit; as though he wanted to give me a bit of privacy while I hydrated myself.

The whole thing was confusing, and after a long draw from the canteen, I looked down to see that one of my breasts was hanging out of a tear in my shirt. There was no way to remedy the situation by simply placing the breast back into the shirt. Both my body and the hole in the shirt were too large for that level of adjustment to be possible.

I looked over at him and watched as he intentionally diverted his gaze toward some nearby flowers. He had kneeled down toward the ground and brought out a camera so he could take a photo of a flowering vine that grew in bundles along the forest floor around us.

"Tell me what you're looking at," I said, verifying that my spell had worked.

"I'm sorry?"

He turned around to look at me. His eyes went to my breast, and then up to my face once more.

"I was thinking about something, what did you say?"

*Failure.*

I turned my shirt around my body so that my breasts were at least relatively contained. The scratches that were in the back of the shirt were at least salacious and revealing, but not entirely compromising the functionality of the shirt.

I shook my head and offered a defeated smile.

"I was just curious as to what you were looking at."

"Oh, this..."

The tips of his fingers gingerly brushed against a tri-color, trumpet shaped flower.

"Ipomoea Violacea. That's the formal name for it. It's one of the environmental factors I track in my research. I find that in all of the locations that I have visited over the last three years, some variety of this sort of plant has been present in the area, even if the actual subject I am looking for is nowhere to be found."

"You're looking for a rare type of flower?"

He smiled wearily.

"Something like that."

I offered the canteen back to him, and he accepted it with a continued smile.

"I've been looking all over the area, but I think I’ll be calling it for the day."

He looked up at the sky for a moment and then looked back down at me. He was working something out in his head, and then decided that it was important for him to share the thought pattern out loud.

"I was about to head back. I think it's probably going to start raining soon. Do you want to head back toward the road with me? You can get back home from there, I'm sure."

"Sure. That would be great."

I looked at him once more and offered a nod of gratitude. Right about then, he looked down and noticed that I was not wearing any shoes.

"Do you have a car?"

The question lingered in the air for a moment, and I shook my head from side to side.

"C'mon… I'll give you a ride back into town."

Fortunately for me, he wasn't exactly the talkative type. I had him, and I was able to move forward in contact with him. For the moment, that had to be enough. I wasn't in any condition to talk about much at all. I was tired and it was difficult enough for me to move my body through the forest, let alone bother to keep up any sense of conversation.

He seemed to sympathize with me in that regard, as he didn't mind the fact that I didn't have enough energy to share at that time. The entire time, I was walking, but I was also keeping an eye out for him. I wanted to know how he saw the world.

I noticed that he wore jewelry. Occult bracelets and amulets of different sorts. There were bits of copper wire, and crystals of different shapes. I was certain that there were more that I wasn't immediately aware of. He was too interested, even on a superficial level, to not have deeper and more hidden protection charms.

I wonder...

The prep info that I read through before the portal experience came back to me in pieces, though I didn't have the attention span to focus on them.

"Lots of jewelry."

The statement was more along the lines of a thought that spilled out from my mouth. An absence of filters, but it was interpreted as a conversation starter.

"Oh, lots of different purposes. I'm a bit of an enthusiast."

"What are they for?"

"Do you believe in lucky charms?"

"Sure, I believe in a lot of things."

"Well, that's it. They are basically lucky charms that help me by reminding me about certain ways that I want to live my life."

"You have a lot of different ways that you want to live your life."

"You seem pretty interested, but you're not wearing any jewelry yourself."

He was switching the topic, but I felt like If I pushed harder, I might be able to pick up something useful about him from this topic.

He was a powerfully built man, and the trinkets didn't seem like they went along with a warrior type persona. This man was a superstitious magician, through and through. However, just because I could pin down his type didn't mean I had any hope of understanding him without inquiry.

"They look like rocks to me," I said, wondering if I could bait him into revealing more.

His response was benign.

"That's what a lot of people see."

"But you don't see them that way. To you, they hold more symbolic meaning."

"I personally believe that lucky charms are just 'rocks' that have an emotional charge attached to them. That emotional charge can be anything, but the point is that it is there. Have you ever heard of a person who has jewelry as an heirloom?"

I nodded.

"Well, that jewelry is physically little more than metals, and rocks, crafted together in some sort of clever or stylistic fashion. When we accept the plane material explanation for it, we see nothing more than rocks and metal. However, as soon as we start talking about how it was created, and the intention of the person who created it, then the object begins to grow more pregnant with meaning. Now suppose that you have your entire life to know this person, who would be some sort of grandparent to you. Everything that grandparent has ever taught you, and all of the value that this person has provided for your life will be bound in emotion and memories.”

I nodded, my attention coming out of my state of fatigue out of sheer curiosity for the extent of this man's knowledge.

"Now, imagine that this grandmother gives you this ring. All of her memories may or may not still be attached to the object, so if you want to talk about generational significance, or artistic intention in creation, these might still cling to the object. But what is for sure is that all of the memories that you have associated with the grandmother will definitely be attached to the piece of metal."

"So the ring is symbolic for the value of the grandmother."

"Exactly, it is a talisman. A symbol for the psychic contents that you assigned to that person in your life."

"So, those are like heirlooms?"

I wanted to get the truth out of him, and sometimes, you have to pull a tail until the dog barks at you.

"No, but they are talismans of a different sort. Memories of people are not the only psychic contents that human beings have to work with, though they can be very powerful."

I got the impression that he didn't exactly know which ones were effective and which ones were not. All too often, the problem with folk magic is that one simply believes a thing to be true. In reality, magic is based on fundamental cultures of belief, meaning, if it doesn't have a cultural form of validation, chances are that one person's belief is not going to make enough of an impact. I recognized some of the stones that were effective, though I was pretty sure that the others didn't work exactly as he assumed.

"You know if you're going to hike in areas like this you really should have some kind of back up system."

"I'm sorry?"

"Forgive me if I'm a bit too assuming, but it doesn't seem like you were prepared to be caught in that area like you were. If you had broken a leg or something in that fall, we'd be in serious trouble."

He looked over toward me and made a quick evaluative glance.

“I might have been able to carry you out you don't want to have to rely on something like that. Besides, that would hurt like hell."

"Ha! I was lucky you showed up, but I don't have any jewelry."

He appreciated that, and we walked together closer toward the highway. When I could hear the trucks passing on the road, I began to worry that I would lose touch with him.

Calm. I had to remind myself. Chasing after something is the surest way to get that thing to run away from you.

We didn't have to hike too much farther before we found his vehicle. He drove a beat up, tiny thing compared to the other trucks that passed on the road. The inside was just as decorated as his body, and smelled of incense.

"I wish I knew how your brain worked..."

It was a true statement, and an invitation all at the same time. I spoke while examining more of the occult paraphernalia which filled our environment. I picked up what appeared to be a bird skull with stone inlets for eyes. The item itself was totally worthless.

I could feel the magic emanating from one of the objects in the car. If I had been free to cast a spell of identification, or perhaps even pick up each one, I might have been able to tell. For the moment, I was surrounded by both trash and treasure, unable to distinguish for myself why this man would see fit to keep everything.

"It's all part of my work."

"I think it's really fascinating. I wish I knew what draws you to collect stuff like this."

"Oh this, this is nothing. I've got way cooler stuff at home."

"Can you show me?"

He paused, clearly not knowing what to make of my proposition. It was clear to me that most people were not interested in what he did for a living. Obviously not many women either, if the surveillance data was right about his sex life. The pause lasted for a good few minutes while he considered his response. We were already rumbling down the mountain when he replied.

"Do you want to stop by my house? Oh, I'm Erol, by the way."

I nodded.

"Aria. I'd love to learn more about your work…"

I woke up while we were pulling into his driveway. The scenic mountain views were all absent now. Instead of hillsides and forests, I was treated to a small run down house adjacent to the railroad tracks, and a vacant lot.

"We're here."

As soon as we arrived, the door burst open, and two dogs ran out of the house and came up to the car on either side. Whatever drowsiness had been present inside of me was immediately dismissed by the appearance of the dogs. They were loud, happy, and beautiful.

"Aren't you concerned about them running away?"

"They do that on a regular basis, but they come back home again because we are family."

I watched as he opened the door and all pretense of project based worry left his expression.

"Oh, hello! Good to see you too."

Licks, scratches and kind nips on the hand all followed summarily.

Naturally, my presence had not gone unnoticed. As soon as I made any movement to get out of the car, both dogs were on me. They pushed their nose up into my crotch and jumped up onto me, scratching at my chest with their paws. In spite of the attack, there was no malice in their interaction. The dogs were wet, and smelled like they had just gotten back from playing out in the rain. I was smelled, and decreed "not a threat" by one of them. The other sneezed after smelling me, and backed away with its ears flattened against its back.

"Don't mind her... if one of them likes you well enough, the other will come around to it. Come on in, I'll show you around."

The rain was still coming down from the sky, though the showers were gentle, and patches of sunlight shone through the clouds. The scenery was idyllic, and I felt that apart from the abrasive interruption from the dogs, the whole experience might not have been much more than a continuation of a pleasant dream.

More strange things...

The observation was targeted at a windmill located outside of the house. It was composed of the rays of an alchemical sun, and the centerpiece was the maw of some mythological creature.

"Abraxas," he replied, opening the beak of the creature and pulling a few letters out from a box located inside of the monster's mouth. "The post office loves it, even though they don't know why."

I looked at him inquisitively, which was all the encouragement he needed in order to continue forward with his explanation.

"Abraxas is a gnostic entity whose function is to unite the dualism present in the world. No God, No Devil, both are absolved in a single concept. The mailbox is a joke of mine."

"What's the joke?"

"Each time they put a piece of mail inside, they are giving an offering to Abraxas. My hope is that on some level that helps them contend with the forces of darkness in our world just a little bit easier."

I paused.

There wasn't anything particularly funny about that joke. I wished that I could have because when you are busy flattering someone, it is often a good idea to think that their jokes are funny, but I got the sense that this guy had a bullshit detector of some sort inside of his brain. I didn't want to risk coming off as inauthentic if I could help it.

"I don't see the humor."

"It's all right. My jokes aren't really that funny. Come on in."

Interesting thing about the inside of his house is that apart from all of the useless and weird shit, his home actually felt comfortable.

As soon as we went in, he immediately set about watering his indoor plants, and opening windows so that fresh air could come into the building. In addition to the dogs, he also had a few pet rats that hung out in cages that were as interesting as they were expansive. Likely the most comforting element of Erol's home was that there was an incredible amount of life present within it.

I meandered around, looking at crystals that hung from the ceiling, and strange skulls that were posted against walls.

"Found most of them. There's a lot of beauty around here if you know where to find it. This is probably one of the most magically dense areas on the continent."

"How do you figure?"

He paused again, as though evaluating me. During his reflections, I knelt down to pet one of the dogs that had been following me around ever since we arrived.

"Amethyst really likes you. She's usually the skeptical one."

"Well, she's got good taste."

"C'mon, I have something I'd like to show you."

He led me downstairs into a basement room. The walls were lined with books and maps. I imagined that all of the books had been read at some point, and that notes were scattered throughout the text as they were across the surface of each map. There was a madness to the room, as well as a chronic sense of disorganized utility.

Coffee cups, all empty and stained on the bottom littered the landscape like tiny monuments to sleepless nights. There were reams of paper yet to be used, stacked up next to notebooks full of information and concepts. I took the experience as overwhelming proof that everything this person did with their time could be reduced to spending their life in research.

"The animals and plants keep you sane, huh?"

"You got it. That, and my trips out into the field. I stay here until I have a decent shot at tracking one down, and then I get out and try to find them."

"Find what?"

He looked at me and blinked.

"A portal."

For a moment the two of us stared into each other's eyes. I feel like in that moment, I saw him for the first time. Not as a target to be acquired, but as an interesting character of his own right.

"I'm listening."

"All right, well, I've been dreaming of these doors between worlds for my entire life. Ever since I was a little kid. For the longest time, I couldn't find any proof of their reality, except for in science fiction stories and old folktales."

"So what makes you think they're real?"

"Well, stories are models of reality transcribed through human experience."

"That's one way to look at it. Another is that we don't actually understand the world around us as thoroughly as we'd like to believe. I personally would prefer to move forward through a world that still has some mystery left in it. Unfortunately, with the sort of materialistic nihilism that we face in our world today, that's not always an option."

"Which is why you're tilting after windmills."

"Quixote."

I nodded.

The Fae are much longer-lived than most humans will ever conceive. We've been dealing with this variety of human almost exclusively since the first portals were made.

"Well, Sir Knight," I offered, "I'm pretty tired. Do you mind if I take a rest?"

There was a couch over in the corner of the room, complete with a ratty thin blanket. The place looked incredibly satisfying, and whatever adrenaline had been stirred up within me by the dogs.

"Sure," he shrugged. "Do the light's bother you? I could do some work while you sleep."

I shook my head and let my shoulders sink down into the earth. Being human was more work than I had imagined, and I couldn't wait to go back to sleep.

The couch was everything it had promised and more. The cushions were firm. One might go as far as to say uncomfortable, but I was not one of those people. Years of military training left me with little tolerance for luxury. The couch was sparse, and the blanket was worn completely thin. I felt like an accessory in a dingy hovel. For the next few hours, I could feel myself disappear, and that was all right. I had done my work, and now, I needed to adjust to my new form.

Amethyst actually came downstairs and laid down beside me, on the floor. The other dog continued to be standoffish, and contented itself to stare at us from a position at Erol's feet. The Mad Mystic himself dimmed half of the lights in the room so that the only area that was illuminated was his own workspace. I reclined in comfort, and let my mind drift into a familiar and safe place, all the while stroking the dog's thick fur.

I should have realized that that wouldn't have been enough. I was able to get to sleep, and I didn't fall into a nightmare landscape - both things for which I should have been grateful. Instead of turning into restorative sleep, I ended up waking up seemingly moments late in the astral realm.

The room was the same, relatively speaking, except that certain books spun about in mid air, while the others bobbed on the surface of the shelves like waves in the ocean. The dogs recognized me, and both of them nodded to acknowledge my presence. Erol, on the other hand, continued his work unaware that I was lucidly operating within a sub-conscious state. He was working on a solution to some sort of problem, and apparently having quite a bit of difficulty about it. He was talking to himself, and throughout the dream, the voice echoed around the room, reverberating against itself.

"Unreal... unreal... unreal... By all accounts ... counts... counts.., it should have been there .. er... er... er... "

The sounds of papers being shuffled from one stack to another, as well as the sound of books opening and closing followed suit. Looking down, I could see Amethyst biting at herself as if scratching some kind of itch. She only kept this up for a moment, and then was apparently satisfied with her progress, as she lay back down and offered me a lazy, but inquisitive eye.

I rose from the couch and walked over toward the workbench where Erol hovered. To my surprise, he was literally three or four inches off the ground in this realm, which I found to be incredibly funny. I stared at him with curiosity until I was too dizzy to continue forward with the inquiry.

His hands and eyes were moving at incredible speeds. I could literally see the thoughts flying around in his head, and down onto the papers around him. He was working on something, and there was math involved that I wasn't quick enough to understand. I looked down and the other dog was staring straight at me, narrowing her eyes.

It was a warning.

“You go anywhere near my master, and I will do everything within my power to fuck you over."

The message was clear in my brain. As clear as anything I had ever heard from Thane. The dog had spoken.

I offered a nod, and then stepped back a pace, so I could provide Erol with the space the dog had demanded, while still being able to peep over his shoulder.

The numbers flew up into the air and swirled around the surface of the desk, forming runes and the mirrored surface of a portal.

He's using math to scry... I thought, staring at him.

Suddenly, he stopped, and turned in my direction.

"What's that.. at ..at ..at..?"

I held my breath and stood there, a phantom against the background of his study. He stared at me, and reached out his hand to touch my form. It passed right through me, and he turned down to the dog.

"Rosemary, do you see something?"

The dog snorted, and laid its head down on the ground.

Over in the corner, sprawled out over a rigid couch, I could see my own body passed out half beneath the worn blanket. I looked naked, as my body pushed outward between the tears in my clothing. Erol stared at my sleeping body for a moment, and then stared back down at the dog. One final glance was cast in the direction of my dream body, and then he shuffled back over toward the standing desk.

"Rosemary..."

"Unique that I found... ound... ound... her there. Could be another piece of syner... syner.. er... gystic data.. da..da."

Experimentally, I pushed up off of the ground with my mind, with the expectation that I would not necessarily come back down again. I began to float upward through the air, where I hovered for some time over the standing desk watching Erol work.

The frustration was obvious to perceive, and honestly kind of irritating to watch. His mind worked like a maelstrom, circling around the same conclusions over and over again. Every point of his research was pushing toward a singular factor, but he did not have the relief that proof provided. Instead, he was simply being driven by some form of madness, forward into a future that he couldn't quite apprehend.

I stayed there for a while and watched him, doing my best to absorb all of the information he was working through. The information was abrasive and crude, like a child learning mathematics for the first time.

He would work something out with utter sincerity, and then make some mistake in calculation or lose his way somehow. The steps backward from that point were arduous, and the scratching of the pencil on the paper made me anxious.

The more anxious I felt around him, the farther I seemed to be propelled away from his body. I couldn't exactly tell if there was some type of field that he was projecting into the ether, or if I myself was deciding to flee from him on a subconscious level. As the moments passed onward, I drifted straight up through the ceiling, and into the atmosphere above the house. In retrospect, I could have probably used that time to go searching out for relevant answers in the astral realm. I might have even brought my quest to an abrupt close, but I couldn't be bothered with any of that.

I was more than content to let Erol continue to fuss over the issue while I drifted back toward a state of rest.

He obviously had some form of latent psychic capacity, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hear my thoughts from the astral realm. I would say that much was obvious from our limited interaction so far. His pre-occupation with the occult, and his lifework of finding portals was going to make my job both easier and more difficult in different ways. However, I was confident that I could manage him if things got out of hand, so I felt no urgent need to seize control of the situation.

One thing was absolutely true: whoever had tipped Thane off on this guy was an excellent judge of character. If any human could pull off opening a Rift; it would be this guy. Of course all that means is that he was absolutely nuts to begin with, and totally obsessed. Those were potent forces to deal with, but if channeled correctly, they could do everything Thane had requested, and more.

Poor guy... doesn't even realize that he's a pawn on another person's chess board.

I drifted off to sleep, while floating amongst the stars.

In the background, I could still hear the continued mutterings and explorations around me in the basement of Erol's house. For the moment, I knew I was safe. When the time came, I would give Erol the budge he needed in the right direction. At that point, he would probably stop sleeping until he found the Rift and tore a hole between the dimensions.

Basically, I figured it would be the same as leading three dogs on a hunting expedition into the Outer Forests. The dogs hunt the game, and you basically run along to give them the company that they need to feel supported, and encouraged in the right direction. At that point, all you really have to worry about is not pissing off any Wilder Fae.

An imperfect analogy, but sleep will do that do you.

When I woke up, I was all alone. The lights had been turned out, and I was tangled up beneath the sheets. The lucid dream hadn't been the only one I had the night before, but the other passed through my memory like water through a sieve. I tried to grab at a few of the last remaining images, but they were too slippery to keep a hold of.

I rolled off of my position on the couch, and then did a few stretches to wake up my body. To my pleasure, I still had every bit as much dexterity as I had when first arriving on this side of the portal. Looking down at my clothes, I realized that with a few more nights of wearing these things, or one aggressive burst of athleticism, I would probably be naked.

Time to shed these things and pick up something else.

I made a mental note.

I must have made some noise waking up because both Rosemary and Amethyst came down to greet me. Well, ‘greet’ is a bit of a strong word. Amethyst licked my toes, reminding me that I also needed to pick up some boots. I get the feeling that Rosemary came along just because she was keeping the friendlier dog company.

I gave Rosemary a bit of a glare, and scratched Amethyst between the ears. Rose wasn't putting up with shit though, and simply snorted and turned away from me. Then it was Erol's turn to come down the stairs.

"See, I told you that they'd both come around to you."

"They're good company. How was work last night?"

"Well, I got caught up on some problem. I keep running into the same wall, but it's all right. I've got to take a rest on that for now."

"Oh, really? Mind sharing why?"

"Not that I'd rather be doing something else, but I gotta pay the bills, just like everyone else. My line of work is a bit unusual, which means I have to take on clients when I get them."

"Do tell," I said, stretching my spine upward into the air.

I was probably flashing him both nipples at this point, but I didn't even care. Soon enough this entire relationship would be nothing more than a thing of the past. If he was attracted to me between now and then, that was his problem, not mine. In fact, it would probably only make my job easier.

"So, I guess I can get you some breakfast, and you'll be on your way..."

He popped my ego right out of the sky. I practically sagged to the ground for a moment, and then caught myself.

"You can feed me if you like, but I want to hear about this gig that you got."

He nodded, and I pushed forward through the layers of hesitation and space he was attempting to orchestrate between the two of us. I rolled my eyes, and lead the way upstairs while Erol and the two dogs followed.

Dude doesn't understand what he's up against...

"Kitchen is to the left."

"Got it. What's this job about?"

Turns out the weirdness didn't exactly stop with manic spurts of researching portal technology into the early hours of the morning. In addition to obsessive occult research, Erol was also a paranormal investigator, psychic, and certified exorcist. He shared his brief resume with me, and I practically spit out my orange juice laughing.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," I smiled. "It's just when you go at something, you dive in all the way. I mean you're basically trolling the bottom of the ocean of occultism. No shallow waters with you."

"Well, I don't like to half ass things, and I've found that I've got a natural talent for this sort of thing."

"Can I come?"

"What do you mean come?"

"Come with you. Come to see your client today."

"You don't even know what I'm going to be doing. I could be exorcising a demon from a saw mill for all you know."

My memory actually flashed back to the hell realms for a minute, and I thought about the tentacle creature that had dragged me beneath the surface of the tar sands. Then I thought about the Fae Revolution. The montage of prior experiences passed through my mind in a few moments, which allowed Erol to believe that I actually took him seriously.

"I can handle it," I said, taking another mouthful of cereal to my face, "but we need to stop somewhere first. These fucking clothes aren't going to put a very professional image on for your client."

"Professional?"

"Well, sure. I'm going to help you out."

I laughed. This whole thing was too much fun.

"I like you, Erol," I said, bringing my bowl to my lips and savoring the last sugary mouthful of breakfast. "I'm ready when you are."

Sometimes, you have to be a bit forceful with these types. I knew what I was doing, and the whole goal was to mix flattery and a bombardment of desire to share company with a lonely man. That's what gets them every time. Eventually, you end up getting on their nerves, but by that time, you've usually got them hooked. At least that's been my experience.

I got up and washed my glass and bowl out, indicating that while I was persistent and imposing. At least I wasn't a bad guest. Then, the two of us made our way out the front door.

"So, tell me about this job."

Erol had let me bully him straight into the car, where I promptly began interrogating him about his employment.

"This one is a long time client for me. She's a woman named Rita. Late sixties, and pretty well off. She is forever having problems with her extended family. They are always having minor disputes or needing to call on psychics for help. She used me once about five years ago, and ever since, when she needs someone who knows his way around the occult, she gives me a call."

He was a good driver, even though he tended toward being a bit scatterbrained. Each time the car approached a stop sign; he would meticulously slow to a stop, and then remain immobile for exactly three seconds. Following the pause, he would check all of his mirrors, look both ways, and then move forward through the intersection. In spite of his attention to detail, he didn't seem to have any trouble continuing to keep track of his own thoughts.

I was impressed.

"Anyways, the whole reason she gave me a call today is because her daughter lost an engagement ring, and she wants me to give her a hand in finding the damn thing."

"You find lost objects?"

"If I was high, I might be able to pull something like that off, but I can't just enter the astral realm and walk around at will. Besides that, I don't have enough time to deal with a full on trip today. No, in these sorts of situations, it is better to use my intuition and problem solving skills. Rita already trusts me, so she's more likely to share information than a new and more skeptical client."

"So you're basically a con artist."

The car came to an abrupt stop.

"What the fuck?"

"Stay here a minute."

"What did you just call me?"

"It's cool, just stay here a minute. Rita doesn't want to see my tits pop out of my shirt."

I left him fuming in the car for a couple of minutes.

He ended up stopping right in front of a laundromat, and I knew that this would be the easiest opportunity for me to change clothes. With a strut in my walk, I moved confidently into the building, and walked straight for the dryers. There was only one person in the building at the time, an older man about the fifty-five years of age. I smiled at him, and then opened up a drier that appeared to have women's clothes, and not too much time left on the timer.

The first try didn't produce what I was looking for, but by the third load I looked through I found a great dress that was just my size.

"Excuse me ma'am..."

I also found a leather jacket. No boots though.

"Ma'am..."

I let out a deep breath and did what was asked of me in the moment. Dropping my pants to the floor first, and then pulling off my shirt, I turned around and addressed the man.

"Can I help you?"

Mind you, I didn't stop changing into the dress and jacket, but that only took a few moments, during which time the man turned obvious shades of red, and diverted his gaze to the side. I threw my clothes in the dryer and shut all three doors one after the other.

"Thanks!"

Erol was there waiting with an exasperated and skeptical look on his face. I opened the car door and then sat down once more.

"Drive."

"Did you just steal those clothes?"

"I traded them, now get a move on it."

The man from the laundromat had regained his composure and was now outside of the building trying to flag us down. Erol quickly realized that the man was waving his arms in our direction, and on impulse accelerated the car back into traffic.

"Christ, you called me a con artist and then you immediately go out and steal a whole wardrobe from some stranger at a laundromat."

"Traded, I told you. Besides, don't you think this jacket looks good on me?"

I swear I could see him start to grow more irritated by the moment. I was having a good time, but I didn't need to deal with getting him too upset. I decided it was time to lay off for a while.

"Also, don't worry about the problem with your client Rita, I'll help you out."

"Help?"

His tone was highly skeptical. In one word he made it very clear exactly how little he thought of me in that moment. I didn't mind personally.

You only really care about what other people think about you if you don't understand what you're capable of doing. If he didn't think I was capable, that was his problem. I knew how to take care of myself, and my silence communicated that clearly enough for my tastes.

"Look, when we get there, just stay in the car. All right, I'm starting to think that bringing you along was a total mistake. I'd drop you off somewhere now, but I'm almost late, and Rita tends to appreciate it when I'm on time."

"Wouldn't want to upset Rita..."

He laughed.

"You've never met her, she can be a very trying lady if she wants to be. I find it best to maintain a professional image in front of my clients. Goes a long way to insuring repeated business. What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a Government Spy."

The line was delivered in a deadpan tone. I stared straight at him, begging him to make eye contact with me long enough to see that I was telling the truth. He blew me off, but in that half a second's hesitation, he also blew a stop sign, which I found hilarious.

"Ha! Damn. I thought you were serious for a moment. You have a really solid delivery."

"Thanks."

I rolled my eyes, and put my bare feet up on the dash. My dress rode up around my crotch and I stared out the window, not really giving a shit for the moment. My apathy lasted the rest of the drive. I was feeling moody. No way around it. I was tired of being incognito, and getting treated like shit by these humans. I took a sharp inhale, and then resolved to step up my game. I needed to come clean with Erol if I wanted him to help me out, but I needed to do it at the right moment. I had a feeling that this client of his was going to provide that opportunity.

That and I needed some more boots.

"I'll be back in about an hour. If you're gone when I come back, it was nice to meet you. If you're still around, I'll drop you off wherever you need to go. Sound good?"

I didn't bother responding. I just got out of the car, and started walking up the long entryway to Rita's Mansion. Erol cursed behind me, and I let the soles of my feet get massaged by the cobblestone walkways. My posture was high, and I probably looked every part the gypsy mystic in my new outfit.

"Relax, Erol. Let's see what this lady has to say. I'll stay quiet while you figure things out, and if I can do anything to help, I'll pitch in."

"I'm just not sure if it's professional to bring another person to a house call..."

He was lying. I could tell, though I wasn't sure exactly why.

"Do you have a thing for this lady? A bit of a ‘special touch’ for the job?" I laughed to myself, imagining how lucky an older woman would be to have Erol as her ‘private psychic’, as long as she didn't have to deal with the guy 24/7.

He let out a sharp sigh, and tried to regain his composure.

I rang the doorbell, and then stood there like a boss.

"Don't worry about it, hun, everything's going to be fine. I don't care what you've got going on with Rita. None of my business."

"Great. Thanks."

We stood there together, awkwardly for a couple of minutes until a middle-aged woman answered the door. She was thin, and wore so much make up that her lipstick actually clung together in a visible paste at the corners of her mouth. Her outfit was saucy for an older woman, and my suspicious were immediately confirmed.

"Erol! So good to see you. I see you've brought a guest..."

"Rita, I'd like you to mee--"

"Aria. Hedge Witch and Cunning Linguist at your service." I immediately reached out to shake Rita's thinly gloved hand.

Erol cleared his throat and interrupted our introduction.

"Aria is here to observe today, Rita. Do you mind?"

"Charmed.. of course, I'm sure. You are here to learn a thing or to from Sir Erol?"

I grinned.

"Oh, I've learned a lot already."

"Well keep an eye out sister. He's sharp as a fox, if you know what I mean..."

She raised her eyebrows lewdly, and then proceeded to give Erol a gratuitous, full body hug.

Poor woman, I thought. She probably doesn't get much attention from anyone else. This is likely a surrogate relationship for her.

The humility in my own thought processes shocked me out of my arrogant rampage. I bowed slightly for ‘Sir Erol’, and let him lead the way inside of the house. The Good Lady Rita spent no time assailing Erol's ears with the latest drama from her family, up to and including some juicy details about her daughter's most recent affair, and the dreams she has been having about her pastor, not all of which have been exactly orthodox.

Erol listened as dutifully as any therapist.

I watched as he gave Rita his entire attention, waiting patiently for her to drop subtle hints about the true reason she had decided to call him today. The arrangement between the two was incredible to watch, really. She was using him as a container for every piece of psychic content that she was able to dish out over the course of the first forty minutes we were in the house. She literally did not stop talking once, and Erol was right there with her in attention the entire time.

When the crucial moment came, my attention snapped back into focus.

"So, what do you think?"

"Well, it seems to me like the real question here is not about where the engagement ring is located, but whether or not your daughter is satisfied in her love life."

"My dear... you do know how to cut to the heart of the matter..."

"Why don't you lay down for a while and I'll do a reading. We'll see what we can't find out?"

I smiled.

The man was a professional, you had to hand it to him.

I held my breath while watching how routine all of this was for the woman. Quite literally, the two of them were falling into what appeared to be just shy of a well rehearsed sexual routine.

First, Rita led him to the a long, luxurious , leather sofa. Then she lay down in front of him and held her hands out to either side. Knowing exactly what was expected of him, Erol moved along the side, and began a thorough massage of Rita's body.

The entire situation would have been funny, except for how serious everything was.

Erol paid absolute attention to the slightest knots and points of tension in Rita's body. During the entire experience, Rita let out low purring noises, while Erol would occasionally mutter something like, "Ah…" or, "Yep. Right there ... You feel that?"

Of course she would immediately reply with another encouraging groan, at which point they would start all over. This whole experience went on for literally an hour. I stuck around for most of the first part of the experience, but moved on to explore the house during the remainder of the massage.

Erol was doing his work, and he was right the first time, there was nothing for me to do insofar as help was concerned, at least not with this part of the experience.

"If he wants to play masseuse to that cougar I don't need to have anything to do with it."

The incredible thing about the whole massage session is that while Rita was down for the count, nobody else was home in the entire place.

If I had been a thief, I could have ransacked the place while Rita was purring downstairs in the lounge. The whole experience reminded me of the old plays that came into vogue ever since the new government had been instated back at the Capitol.

All of these plays featured charlatan mystics and cunning thieves who overthrew cruel dictators, usually by means of some apparatus of wit and good fortune.

Nothing was said in the plays about sacrifice and expertise; those did not sell tickets in quite the same numbers as the idea that the fates themselves had designated a moral victory over Xan.

I shook my head and caught myself.

Keep present, I reminded myself.

Too much of that line of thinking and I might work myself up into an anxiety attack. Price was too high.

I didn't see any particular need to inform anyone about my departure, so I chose to walk as carefully as possible up the long carpeted flight of stairs.

The second floor was composed of a series of libraries, and bedrooms. I could hear the sounds of the massage from downstairs continue, and I decided to take some initiative on behalf of Erol, and find that ring that the lady was so concerned about losing.

If I was a young sexy woman with a fair amount of money, I'm not sure that a ring would be on my highest list of priorities. Particularly if there was some amount of unwanted emotional attachment that came along with it.

In a perfect would, I could have simply cast a tracking spell on the daughter, and then probed her mind for the information concerning the ring. However, I was getting a bit bored, and wanted to have the option of using the same 'psychic' techniques that Erol used. I figured if I could get down to business and cut him off without rubbing my hands all over Rita, then he might be able to respect me as a partner.

On the other hand, If I lost patience, I could just scare the shit out of him, and let that be that.

The obvious decision was to investigate the daughter's room. There wasn't anything binding the older woman from looking through her daughter's room herself. In fact, I imagine she might have. Then again, if she wanted a back massage in good conscience, it would probably be in her best interest to retain as much ignorance as possible.

I suspected that amid those moans and grunting noises, Erol fancied that he could discern some secret language of the heart; as a matter of fact, I wouldn't put it past him. Chances are he was picking up something from all of that touching. I'm just not sure it was the quickest way to manage that information.

Finding the daughter wasn't too difficult.

There were giggles and the sound of splashing coming out from behind a closed door at the end of the hall. I figured that there might be more than one daughter in question, but that this was as good of a start as any. I also didn't feel like digging around in some rich brat's room, looking for a piece of jewelry that she either hid away or pawned off for club drugs.

An entire dimension was dying. I just figured I had better things to do with my time.

Of course the door was locked, but I felt like I was closing in on something so I didn't bother with the subtleties any longer.

Locks in the Fae Realm are by nature more complex than their counterparts in the human realm. In a city full of fae, you need complex magical protections or at the very least, a hybridized security system with unique enchantments on your access key. In the Human Realm, they had no reason to use anything besides the most basic tumblers and deadbolts. What's worse is that most of the materials they use are magnetic, which means that a basic earth enchantment will do the trick most of the time.

I placed my hand on the door, and spoke the words necessary to connect with the bar of steel that was being used to secure the door shut. A sigil burned into the fine oak surface of the door, and the lock twisted open.

On the other side of the door, whoever was in the bath together was too busy getting randy to notice, or care.

I let myself into the bathroom, and immediately cast an orb of silence around both of the humans in the tub.

The spell was simple. All it did was set up a sound-negating barrier in a ten-foot radius around the target. . When I was satisfied that their screams could not be heard outside of the barrier I had erected, I stepped through the bubble myself, and began my own investigation.

"Mom!"

"MOM!"

"She can't hear you. Right, now, it's just the three of us, so I suggest you relax."

The man she was with at the time had been buried between her legs as I entered the room, but with some unceremonious squealing and thrashing around, the two had separated. I sat on the bathroom counter for a moment scoping out the situation. First, I decided to lay down some ground rules.

"You move, or do something that doesn't suit me, and there will be unfortunate consequences. I've dealt with types much worse than you. However, if you help me out, all of this will go by quickly, and there won't be much for you to worry about. "

"MOM! CALL THE POLICE!"

I exhaled sharply.

"You don't listen very well, do you."

The man was obviously unsure of all of this, but his cock wouldn't back down, which gave me an idea.

"We're going to play a game, " I began, hopping down off of the counter.

"I'm going to need you to bend over, like you were, and I'm going to need you to fuck her. You can do that, can’t you?"

At this affront to his sensitivities, the man spoke up and got out of the bath to confront me. I didn't feel like getting into a fight, so I walked past him, ducking and deflecting his clumsy punches as I did so. When I got over to the woman, I grabbed her hair by the roots, and then pulled hard.

My hand left her scalp with several long strands of hair between my fingertips. Her boy toy got a solid hit on me from behind, and I fell onto the woman head first. She broke my fall, and the two of us went down together into the tub.

The water was warm, and smelled like jasmine and vanilla. I was more than a bit irritated at being interrupted, but the water was so nice that it was hard to be crass about it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he stammered.

Obviously this dude was pussy whipped, but it was clear enough that the apology was not intended for me.

"She's fine," I said, shortly. "Have a seat."

Using the strands of hair that I still clutched in my hand, I cast a spell of binding on the boy toy.

First his legs, then his hands, and finally his mouth.

He fell to the floor in a spectacular, wet slump, and remained laying down on his back. To my surprise, and disappointment, his erection had softened since our little scuffle.

I turned to the girl who was watching me with horror in her eyes from above the surface of the water.

"You... sit on his dick. Now."

The girl started to protest, and I slapped her. I needed this to be quick, and I had already dealt with enough bullshit from the two of these people to warrant a total loss of patience.

"Look at him."

My voice was cool, but firm. I wanted her to give me her attention. She started crying for a minute, so I told her again.

"Look at him!"

She stopped.

"Do you see how easily he was taken care of? I can do the same and worse to you, so why don't you just cut the shit, and do as I say."

Cowering still, she walked over and sat on his lap.

"That's better...now get him hard."

I reclined on the edge of the tub and watched the two of them for a minute. It was awkward, and unfortunate. I was making this shit up as I went along, and had not expected it to take a turn for the perverted, but sometimes that's how it goes. More likely than not I was acting out my own frustrations on the two, but it wasn't so bad... really."

"Good, now put it in."

I allowed myself to be aroused for a minute, looking at the two, but it didn't last, mostly because of the fact that they were both terrified.

Fear doesn't really go well with my libido. I guess I'm a softie at heart.

"Now, while you fuck, I'm going to tell you why I'm here. I'm going to make a guess that the two of you are some young couple, and you like to play around with one another... am I right?"

The young woman nodded, while biting her lip.

"Great. I'm very happy for you."

"I'm also going to guess that your relationship is relatively new, is that correct?"

Another urgent nod.

"Great, now you can tell me where the engagement ring is for your previous relationship."

This did not go over well. The bound man began twitching and bucking his hips. He tried to say something but the ropes were bound up in his mouth. I took a deep breath, and stared at the girl.

"I didn't say stop."

She kept going, but her movements had lost whatever momentum she had gained since they started fucking once more. This next part was difficult, but I didn't really mind the extra effort.

I walked over to the woman and stood over her while she squatted down over her muted boyfriend's cock. Grabbing her head once more in my hands, I shoved her mouth into the crotch of my dress. While she was there, a few more strands of hair provided me with the cords necessary to bind her body to his.

Moments later, the final spell was cast.

The two were attached to one another, and the only way they were coming undone was if he shot off a load inside of her.

She realized what was happening, as well as him. The two of them tried to stop moving, but at that point, there wasn't anything to be done about the fact.

"Now. You need to tell me where this engagement ring is at, or I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that every one of those sperm is a dead ringer for your eggs. Are we clear?"

She was scared shitless, and I knew I had one.

I walked around the two of them for a moment, pushing on her occasionally so I could feel the sexual energy rise between them. He was doing everything in his power not to explode, and I didn't want to make things too easy for him either.

"No more privileged single girl lifestyle. No more nights on the town. If I have my say, you'll have one child dangling off of each sagging tit for the next two years of your post partum depression."

Her eyes grew wide, and she turned back to look at her man, commanding him not to cum, but all he could do was sweat in response.

"Of course, I could go get Rita and bring her up here. I'm sure she'd love to understand where the engagement ring disappeared to..."

"Okay!"

She strained trying to push herself off, and then finally slumped back down on the cock, bringing a groan out of her boyfriend.

"I didn't pawn it or anything."

"Yet."

She glared at me.

"It's in my room, under the ballerina statue. Code 0069."

"Nice."

I had to laugh.

"Be back soon."

"Hey. Untie me!" HEY!"

As soon as I passed through the barrier, I didn't hear anything. I didn't want to think about what might have happened if I had been wrong. Intuition told me to turn left right out of the bathroom, at which point I found the young woman's room. It was locked, of course, but that didn't matter. I was only in the room for a minute before finding the dancer in question.

Lifting the statuette up from its place on the desk, I saw a tiny safety box, which hardly needed a lock at all. For formality and irony more than anything else, I entered in the code.

"0 - 0 - 6 - 9"

The lock popped open, and low and behold, there it was, a beautiful and ornate engagement ring. I let out a sigh, picked up the ring, and then walked downstairs.

In order to retain the effect of the spells, I would need to continuously meditate on them for about as long as we were inside of the house. Otherwise, the bubble of silence would pop, and the two lovers would only have to deal with cum and hair stuck to their bodies.

The part about the impregnation was a farce. I can't do that shit. Wouldn't even want to, if I could, but they didn't know that, and the drama had been interesting for me.

Walking down the stairs, I decided I was curious to know what would happen if things just stopped. I let go of the enchantments, and immediately heard the sound of her boyfriend orgasm from the bathroom.

Nice...

The sound had also gotten the attention of Rita, who now stood at the base of the stairs with Erol.

In a casual flip, I tossed the ring through the air to Erol, who to my surprise caught it without fumbling.

"Took care of it Rita. Just make sure you pay my man all right. C'mon Erol, it's time to go."

"What?"

The woman was incensed, and had completely snapped out of whatever hypnotic state Erol had managed to put her in while I was upstairs. Just then, the girl came out with a towel wrapped around her breasts, crying.

"Stop them!"

Erol's eyes widened, and he shoved the engagement ring into Rita's hands. Rita was about to release her anger in our direction, and then realized that I had in fact found the object she was looking for. Being a quick woman, she turned that anger immediately to her daughter instead.

"Samantha! You lied to me!"

"Thank you, Rita. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m glad my partner could help you out. The money will be in your account by tonight, Erol. Good day."

I smiled and took him by the elbow.

"Time to go ... Partner."

Poor bastard, I thought. Can't take care of shit if left to his own devices.

We made our exit.

“How did you do that?”

The inquisition didn’t start until well after we had left the neighborhood. At least this time, Erol had the common sense not to stick around after a potential conflict. Sticking around at the scene of the crime, as it were, was not exactly the wisest thing to do for someone who wanted to get by unnoticed. I ignored him for a while, and thought about why this time he was so interested in leaving, but back at the laundromat, he had been so reticent.

He stewed in his own bitterness for a moment, but I let him be.

“You just show up, cause some trouble, and think you can slide by without an explanation?”

“Yep.”

The guy was getting on my nerves.

“You know, I thought you would be less of a bitch.”

“Wait, you thought?”

“That’s right, I hoped you would be at least a little more forward with things, but it turns out you’re just a pandering coward who gets paid to feel up old ladies.”

“What do you mean, you thought? Thought implies that you have been watching me; that you had some sort of precognitive observation.”

“Don’t bother giving yourself too much credit. I might have been simply talking about a character evaluation based on the time I have spent with you since yesterday.”

“That’s not what it sounded like.”

“Are you one of those paranoid types too? Think that somebody is out to get you, and that you have some sort of secret that they are struggling to obtain?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“You are. Well, that’s nice.”

“Look, why don’t you just tell me where you live, and I’ll drop you off at home. Not that I don’t enjoy being pushed into the threat of excitement every couple of hours, but I think we had better stop this before it gets any worse.”

“That’s a real bitch thing to say.”

That really got him.

We were in the middle lane on a major thoroughfare. He cranked his head backward, straining to see if there were any cars passing though on the right hand side. The lane was blocked, and I could see his frustration building.

When the river of traffic moved to carry us forward, I decided to lay off for a while. I lowered my seat backward in the car with a loud thump.

“I’m hungry,” I announced. “I just saved your ass with that old woman, so why don’t you treat me to lunch?”

He was still furious, but I had a point. Likely it would have been a couple of months worth of sensual massage before he uncovered any clues that would have lead him to the fact that the daughter was hiding there ring all along.

“How do I know you aren’t trying to steal my client from me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Erol, she’s obviously mad for you. I’m not sure I’d be ale to provide the same services you offer.”

I offered a smile from the seat, and propped my feet up on the dashboard once more.

“I’m new to the area, so you should just pick some place out for us to eat, and take me there. Lots of hard work finding that ring, and I need some food before we continue.”

He could have kept going, but I wasn’t going to encourage him in any way whatsoever. I needed food, and I needed some time to think.

One of the main reasons I helped him out was because I knew we needed to be on our way. I didn’t have time for this guy to fuck around with Rita for the next three months, on the basis that he needed the money. There was no reason at all in my mind why we should have to go about delaying working on important matters, simply because he needed to get some cash.

I didn’t have time to deal with that kind of shit.

He cooled off for a minute, and I allowed my eyes to close. I didn't really care where he took me to get food, as long as it was edible, and we got back to business afterward. I tried to relax, and let some of the pressures of the future slip past my mind and out the open window of the car.

The day was peaceful in spite of it all. If I let myself fall into it, the world around me on the Material plane was a pleasant place to be — at least it seemed like it might be if given a chance.

My thoughts strayed back to the Fae Realm, and I felt guilt.

It wasn’t that I was being inactive. Far from that, it’s just that I kept getting this feeling like people on this realm didn’t quite appreciate the fact that their existence kept moving right along. Surely, this planet faced struggles on par with the Fae world. Everything the scientists had been discovering suggested that it was the case.

What got me more than anything else was how perfectly oblivious these people were to any problems outside of their own petty squabbles and relationships.

I shook my head, still thinking about that brat back in the mansion.

“What kind of world do you think she occupies?”

“Who? Rita?”

I hadn’t meant to speak out loud, but the words came unfiltered, and Erol met my contemplations head on.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that we had passed beyond the edge of town. The strip malls and congested roadways had been replaced by thick stands of trees. In between the trees, long stretches of wild grassland seized every piece of ground except for the highway. The vegetation was thick, and wonderful.

In my mind, I couldn’t help but think about the intense levels of competition and violence which were implicit in an ecosystem like that one. On the surface, it looked like such an idyllic place, but just beneath, there was a near endless chain of death. The grass choked out all but the most stubborn of wildflowers. The trees out shaded the grasses, or emitted sub-surface level toxins to prevent them from even taking root.

The whole observation reminded me of the pain that our own realm was going through.

I thought about the approach of the Void in terms of a larger perspective. It could be that our way of life was quite naturally supposed to be eliminated. If there was a reason that the Fae Realm could no longer support the life of the Capitol, why should it be personal?

What right did we have to suck the life-force out of the Material Plane, like some vampiric parasite, desperate to maintain whatever half life had brought us to that position in the first place.

A shade grew over my disposition, and just like that, the depression was back.

“What are you so concerned about?”

The question caught off guard.

We had only been in the car for twenty minutes or so. He didn’t have that much time to get over whatever imagined chaos he had suffered at my hands back at his client’s house. I turned to him, my eyes still sour.

“Some of your inborn sensitivities coming out?”

I didn’t have to be so callous, but I had enough excuses to where it didn’t really matter.

“Just worry about making sure we get some food, and we’ll talk about the rest later.”

He nodded, and we continued down the forested highway.

“Look, I’m not sure how you did that back there, but if you’re really not trying to fuck me over then I owe you a bit of thanks. This place ought to do it.”

He turned off the right hand side of the road into a small cleared inlet, surrounded by trees.

’Heaven and Hearth’ said the sign above the building. It was broad daylight, so there wasn’t much spectacular about the building. In fact, compared to the rest of the forest surrounding it, the building itself was kind of an eyesore. The driveway to the building was nothing more than a dirt lot, worn down by excessive abuse by tires.

“I came here once a long time ago by myself — it was actually the night that I moved to this town. I always thought it would be nice to go here with someone else. I think you’ll like it. They have a lot of good food, but it’s all pretty high quality stuff.

The two of us got out of the car, and I looked grimly at the building. It wasn't that the building itself was problematic, it was the way my mood soured everything else I was experiencing. The passion was gone, and I didn't seem to have a way fo getting things back on track.

Erol led me into the building, and as soon as I entered, the first thing I noticed was the sound of stringed instruments playing in the background. The whole place was empty, but for some reason, there was an overwhelming glut of food everywhere.

There were cakes on the widow seals, and bowls of fruit on the tables. I remember seeing pitchers of water and juice everywhere, and then smelling some type of barbecued animal coming out from the kitchens in the back.

My senses were completely overwhelmed with decadence. The only way it would have been more incredible is if the cakes themselves had been served on Thane's naked body.

Gods, I thought to myself. I need to hurry up and get home. It's pretty obvious that I'm getting bored with this place. I've grown reckless here, and this new form is not helping my emotions whatsoever.

"Welcome to Heaven and Hearth. How can I help you?"

"Do you still have seating by the Hearth in the back?"

The woman smiled and nodded in our direction.

"Great, we'll go back there."

"Right this way."

We were lead through the rows of kitschy booths into a back patio area with rustic wooden furniture. There was an overhead canopy, so if it rained, the whole area wouldn't get soaked, and in the middle of the patio, there was a fire. The Hearth, as it was, was probably the most impressive component of the restaurant.

I felt like I was in a blacksmiths shop while they fired weapons of war. The fire was incredible, and all contained within a series of cob walls that held the flames at bay.

"They use the fire for roasting pigs, and making their oven fired breads. I remember the last time I was here, it really felt like a blast into the renaissance era or something."

The waitress just smiled, and the two of us took a seat at a comfortable distance from the hearth. Had it been nighttime, and a bit colder, the fire might have been more revitalizing. As it was, I felt more of a strange oppressive heat coming off from the flames. In spite of the lack of comfort, I couldn't quite take my eyes from off the center of the fire.

The waitress disappeared for a moment, and then came back shortly with a pitcher of ice water and several trays of frozen deserts.

"You're kidding, right?"

She simply smiled, and sat the tray on the table. I picked up a frozen banana, and put it to my lips. The feeling was soothing and refreshing compared to the heat of the day. My mind went blank as I sucked and nibbled on the tip of the fruit.

This isn't so bad after all...

The thought was in my head for only a moment, before I had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Meanwhile Erol was busily sucking a strawberry, while daintily holding it between thumb and index finger.

"You've only been here once?"

"Yep. Just that one time."

He smiled and waved his hand around the table.

"No reason to treat myself to this level of pleasure on a regular basis. "

Just then, something drew his attention to his pocket. He pulled out a small phone, and opened it up while tossing the remainder of the strawberry in his mouth. I turned away from him once more to give my attention to the fire, and then to the woods beyond.

"Well, lunch has been taken care of."

I squinted at him like the sound of his voice was an interruption to some deep, private thought.

He shut the phone, and smiled at me, totally at ease with himself.

"That was Rita. Well, actually, that was the bank, but she made a deposit into my account just now."

I couldn't give a shit, but I gave him a response regardless.

"Good news."

"Yea, she usually takes forever to pay, but after this, I won't have to work again for some time. That means I'll have tons of time to devote to personal projects. Pretty neat."

He flagged down the waitress, and asked her to bring some smoked salmon and tonic water.

"Fancy."

"Things are really looking up I guess. You never know when something is going to just fall into your lap like that. Thanks a lot for the help."

"Don't trouble yourself."

"I'd love to share the cut with you. After all, you were the one that did all of the hard work. If you wanted to talk about splitting responsibilities in the future, I mean I guess we could talk about being partners."

"Erol..."

"I'm sorry,” he continued, “for giving you such a hard time earlier. Who am I to question your methods? As long as nobody gets hurt, and my clients are satisfied, then I don't see much of a reason to--"

"Erol."

"What?"

"There's something in the fire."

I could feel his attention change immediately.

The air was definitely getting warmer by the second, though chills ran down the center of my spine. My pupils dilated, and my body grew tense.

Just then, I saw the telltale sign of faerie magic drifting through the flames of the hearth. The sign was small, and could have been missed by anyone who wasn't intimately familiar with their meaning.

Without wasting another moment, I stood up so quickly the table flipped in front of us. While the table was in mid air, I grabbed Erol and dove backward on the ground behind us. As we fell, the table burst into flames, the waitress screamed and our drinks fell to the ground.

Still grabbing ahold of Erol's collar, I twisted him in my direction and stared straight into his eyes.

"Stay out of my fucking way."

Before I could say anything more, and before Erol could respond, another blast of energy cracked the table into pieces, leaving us exposed and on the ground.

I rose up and took a knee in front of Erol.

Flaming bolts of energy shot past my face and around my person. Magic had begun to emanate out from within me. All I could hope for was that I might be able to provide the two of us with enough passive defense so I could figure out who it was that was attacking us. For a person to take a stand and attack two targets in broad daylight meant that they didn't care who saw, and they were not planning on leaving any witnesses.

I really feel like we might have fallen then and there, had it not been for the mandatory safety installations that the county had required the restaurant install prior to providing operation permits.

A thick haze sprayed out from hidden dispersal points within the cob structuring of the hearth. Within moments, the fire was smothered, and the whole area was covered in a thin white layer of chemical flame retardant. I stood up, my body still pushing the chemicals away from its surface. The reasonable thing to do would have been to wait, and maintain some sense of composure, Draw the attacker out, and then engage on my own terms.

The only problem with that approach was that while I may be able to defend myself, Erol here was as defenseless and trapped as he had likely been in his entire life. Knowing that now was one of the few moments I would have when the environment itself dictated the favor of the battle in my direction, I took action.

My movement into the cloud was incisive and acrobatic. For a moment, I felt the thrill of being in battle once more. The way that my mind executed mastery over my body was addictive. I had already plotted out the most likely trajectory between the fire pit and Erol's position. My body was in place quickly enough, allowing me to meet the attacker head on.

For my bravado, I was rewarded with a glancing knife blow to my upper thigh. The cut stung, but I was in motion, and the damage was more superficial than not. As soon as I made contact, I positioned myself as closely to the attacker as possible. I wanted to be inside of the range of any blade, and more persistent in my attack than any magical assault. The aggressive nature of my attack was necessary in my mind, in order to determine just how bad the odds were for us getting out alive.

Landing on the balls of my feet, I bounced, and drove my injured thigh upward to catch the assailant between the legs. The attack was deflected with a downward strike. I felt the hilt of the weapon clang against my kneecap, and gritted my teeth through the pain. Through the fire in my nerves, I forced my elbow downward, meeting the arm that held the blade head on. The blow was solid, and though I felt the searing heat of yet another cut, the strength holding the knife had been compromised.

Another sequence of hits followed as my shoulder connected with a nose, and my free hand worked around the back for a low end kidney punch. The sound of the dagger falling to the floor gave me strength, so I jumped into the air for an aerial attack.

The attacker dove forward at the same exact moment, and the crotch of my leg wrapped around the neck of the assailant. My weight fell down upon their back squarely, and the two of us collapsed onto the ground below. Immediately on landing, I allowed my instincts to push me forward. A simple twist of my torso thrust my weight down toward one side of the attacker. My thigh and knee retained their tight hold on the neck of the fighter. As I fell, the satisfying crack of my enemy's neck reverberated through my legs.

I stood up once more, as the dust from the fire extinguisher finally cleared.

"Oh my God!"

I ignored the sound of Erol's vomiting in the background, as well as the cries of the waitress from inside of the building. The tree line was my primary concern, and where we stood, we were completely vulnerable to attack. A glance behind me showed me where Erol was sick on the ground, as well as a nearby table that he was unsuccessfully trying to hide under.

With a quick move, I kicked the legs of the table inward, causing the table to fall at a diagonal to the ground. With Erol protected, I took an immediate dive toward the central hearth. At that moment, the best coverage I could find was behind the protection of the cob walls which surrounded the extinguished flames.

Even as I dove, arrows sank into the ground behind me. The same volley had peppered the table where Erol was hid. The arrows were coming from the right hand side of the woods. There had been about eight total. A skilled Fae archer could use a multiplication spell on the arrows in flight, but that did not mean that the they could achieve a spread of multiple targets. A quick evaluation of circumstance, led me to believe that there were at least two more attackers hidden within the woods. I glanced down at the fallen assailant, and immediately cursed.

Gods be Damned!

None of this made any sense, and it most definitely didn't bode well for things to come. The entire experience here was an awful reoccurring flashback to my time as an active service member. The problem here was that for reasons unknown to myself, I was no longer fighting with the same allies as before. In the past, our side had fought for freedom from oppression. The Wild Fae had decided to help in their own way, and had then retreated back into obscurity.

Looking down at the body of the fallen, I recognized the Crest of the Wilderness.

The fallen attacker had been a Wild Fae Assassin.

Now that I knew the identity of those who were attacking us, my job was supposedly easier. I could likely deduce the methods of attack, set up responses, and with a bit of luck, I could win the battle. The unfortunate reality of the situation was that now that I knew whom I had killed, I actually felt sickened.

The Wild Fae had been some of my strongest role models throughout the course of the War. I admired their skill and ethical philosophy. I even found myself longing for the aesthetic of their homes after going back to the Capitol.

The Capitol itself was stale, and grotesquely artificial in my own mind. There was a certain vivacity to the Wild Fae that I felt the rest of the populace missed out on in their return to the Capitol.

In all likelihood, if I examined the body of the assassin closer, I would undoubtedly recognize who they were. I would have trained with them, and eaten smoked rabbit over a small campfire with them. No doubt it was the same for the archers hidden in the wood. .

With tears welling up in my eyes, I reached my hand into the fire pit. My hand clasped around an ember the size of an apple, and I pulled it out from the ashes.

Ignoring the searing pain on my fingertips, I cast a spell on the embers, and threw it as far across the field of battle as possible.

I didn't throw the ember at the archers, but in a line perpendicular to their position. As the ember soared through the air, a wall of flame spilled out from inside of the coals, and connected with the grasses below. The flames would not last for more than a minute, because the ember itself had not contained that much potential for heat.

A minute was all that I needed.

"Erol, get up! We're leaving!"

He was unresponsive so I slapped him across the face and grabbed ahold of his collar. While staring into his eyes and willing him to be present with me, I fished the keys to the truck out of his pocket.

"Follow, or die."

The words were spoken with a grit in my teeth. I had no interest in having him die, but I absolutely was not going to kill any more Wild Fae in the name of Thane's pet mission.

Something about this whole situation had gotten incredibly fucked up, and I needed space in order to figure things out.

I left at a run, opting to go around the side of the restaurant, rather than through it. The wall of magical flame provided cover, both visually, and by incinerating the shafts of the arrows as they passed through the blaze. Even as we passed along the side of the building, the deadly arrowheads buried themselves into the wooden siding of the restaurant. However, the shots were all based off of an estimate of where we might be, as opposed to a straight on, vulnerable kill shot.

We were lucky, and I had no desire to press that luck any further.

The car was unlocked, and the keys were in the ignition before the firewall had been extinguished. To his credit, Erol didn't make any sort of bother about my driving his truck. I knew the police would be en route, but we were far enough away from the city to where I didn't think it would be too much of a problem. I put the car in gear, and we accelerated through the dirt lot and onto the highway once more.

As a matter of course, I knew the battle had to be over.

There was no reason that the Wilder Fae would leave their fallen on the Material Plane, regardless of their reasons for staging the attack. Among everything else that they stood for, honor to the fallen would be respected if nothing else. The way that the humans dealt with their corpses on the Material Plane was a process of chemical preservation and, dissection, autopsy and cosmetic beautification.

The process made me sick just to think about, and I didn't have half of the sensibilities of the Wilder Fae. There was no way in the Hells that they would tolerate that level of barbarism, enacted toward one of their fallen.

For the moment, we were safe once more.

As we passed, the one-mile mark away from the cafe, a police car approached, siren's wailing in the distance. I pulled respectfully over to the side of the highway and slowed in order to make room for the car. While pulled over, I cast a glamour spell on the two of us. For convenience sake, I transformed myself into Rita's Daughter, and Erol into her boyfriend. I had seen both of them naked within the last few hours, and it was easiest to bring their images to mind.

The cop car sped past with only a slight slow and glare in our direction. I smiled in response, and the cop continued on his way to the restaurant.

As soon as the threat was passed, I dismissed the spell. The implications of spending any more time in that young woman's skin than necessary was completely and totally undesirable to me. Not to mention that Erol, in spite of himself, was more attractive in his natural form than that young stud Rita's daughter had been wrapped around. At least Erol had a brain. He would have figured out where the ring was, sooner or later.

We just didn't have time for deductive reason.

I looked over to catch a glimpse of him, and to his credit, he was doing better now that we were on the road, and the coast was clear. He was still a bit visibly shaken up, but I didn't blame him too much.

"First time you've seen somebody killed?"

He nodded and looked out the side of the car.

I recognized this pattern of behavior from myself during basic training. The idea that you can take a life in the moment of battle is very different from actually taking the action. When someone does that on your behalf, you're often caught between an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and a total repulsion at the character of the person who has undoubtedly been labeled a killer in your own mind.

I didn't care what Erol thought of me as a person, but I wanted him to know that I wasn't planning on killing him. I figured that at least with that level of common ground, he and I had a fighting chance of getting our shit done together. After this afternoon, there wouldn't be any more coyness between the two of us.

He knew in no uncertain terms that I was dangerous, and that magic was a very real and deadly factor in this entire equation. What's more is that beyond a doubt, a very real enemy had been defined in his mind. He may not know the entirety of the reasons for the attack, but the fact that they wanted him dead was more than enough information, I'm sure.

I let him process his thoughts, and continued to steadily drive into the forest. The only thing left for me to worry about at present was when he would get his thoughts together and start sharing the details of his research. I decided it was time to lay it all out.

"I need whatever information you have about the next portal opening, and I need you to give it to me in non-scientific speech. I don't want to deal with any of that bullshit math, I just need you to do the translations, and tell me where we need to go. Do you understand me?"

The question was direct.

I looked at him as I drove, and caught him staring wide-eyed in my direction.

"That's right, everything's coming clear now, I'm sure. Maybe you feel some sense of relief that I killed for you, but let me be the first to tell you that the one who died was worth more to me than you, and I'm not sure I would have done the same thing again. Is that understood?"

He nodded and cleared his throat.

"We need to go back to my house, then I will help you."

" Of course we do..."

"I knew you were coming."

That was one of the first of a long strain of statements that came out from Erol's mouth as we went around the far side of the mountain, and made our way back into town. As it turned out, he actually didn't know shit, but his theories were interesting regardless.

At the end of it all, it was revealed that I was actually an agent of the O.T.O, here to bring about the new world order. As it turned out, I apparently had the DNA of archaic serpent masters inside of my body. Any human beings who used magic were descendants of Atlantis. The combination of DNA sequencing made our race particularly susceptible to forces of darkness. Obviously the fact that I was a trained warrior and was willing to kill in order to seek after occult knowledge was evidence to that end.

As for the others, the people that attacked us earlier that afternoon were none other than the Shadow Government of the Material Plane. Undoubtedly, they had been tracking his phone, which had cued them off to our location. His research was getting close to its completion, and now that all of the hard work had been finished, the vampires were closing in on him in order to make the kill.

From his synopsis, it wasn't clear to me whether or not he classified me as a vampire, but I didn't really care, as long as he cooperated.

"You're completely nuts," I replied. "You know that, don't you?"

"I know what I saw."

All I could do was shake my head and drive.

"Erol, I can't even begin to explain to you how inaccurate your picture of reality is."

I was going to tell him what was actually happening, but I didn't actually know myself. Perhaps in some way, his vision of reality was accurate, though the symbols might have been twisted within the limits of his paradigm.

Either way, I had no desire to share with him any more than necessary. At the moment, he had already conceded to giving me the information for the location of the next portal; I didn't need to care about much more than that. I figured we could worry about opening the damn thing when we got there, but at least it would be a push in the right direction.

"Don't be long, or the Shadow Government might make this a short trip."

"Oh God... You're right. If they have my phone tapped, then they probably have the house under surveillance as well. No! No. Don't stop here. Keep driving!"

I pulled over in front of his house.

"Hurry the fuck up."

The stress was obviously getting to him. He wasn't thinking clearly enough to be a rational person. Besides that, he was starting to get on my nerves.

"Oh, you're right. If they have this place under surveillance, then they would totally know that my car had driven pat and that would only tip them off that we know that they know."

"If you're not back in five minutes, I'm going to leave without you. That means the next O.T.O agent assigned to your case will find a crucified corpse on your lawn instead of an Erol. Now get the fuck out of the car."

"You wouldn't do that..."

He opened the car door, stepped out, and looked at me earnestly. "You need me."

As much as I would love to say that his last statement wasn't true, I could not. Likely, the most painful part about spending time with Erol was that for all of his un-examined conclusions, there was a ring of truth at the basis of his observations. Regardless if the conclusions drawn weren't accurate, for some reason, he still had his finger on the pulse.

Five minutes passed, and neither the O.T.O, nor the Shadow Government showed up to assassinate Erol, and steal his files. Regardless of the apparent moment of safety, Erol's return was not without some level of surprise.

Emerging out from the house, briefcase in one hand, and backpack in another was Erol. Following closely behind were Amethyst and Rosemary.

I should have known.

He opened the back door to the truck cab, and the dogs leaped in without hesitation.

"I'll drive from here," he said with confidence.

I thought about telling him to fuck off, but then I realized that I needed to back off a bit and let him take the helm for a while. There was no reason for me to continue assert control in a non-threatening situation.

"You're right," I conceded, and I opened the door and climbed into the passenger side of the truck.

Now that he was back in control, I could see a natural sort of liveliness to him. The adventure was beginning once more in his mind. Behind Erol's soul, in that moment, stood a sense of exploration and finality of purpose. The truth behind the experience was written all over his face. He expected that the moments to follow would be the purpose for which he had lived out these many years of his life.