Jade (13 page)

We decided on a Japanese steakhouse, I loved steak and she loved everything else. She preferred using the chopsticks anyway she said, not knowing exactly what kind of metal would be in the tableware sometimes put a damper on fae appetites.

The place was already pretty packed, there was just one table that wasn’t full when we arrived. A family of three, a young couple with a daughter who appeared to be seven or eight years old. The mom had a pentagram necklace on, proclaiming herself witch, I could sense the little girl had inherited from the mother, a little witch already. I sensed the dad as human. They were being avoided like the plague, supes were not in favor right now. Jill, of course, was not too happy with this, insisting to the waiter that spot would be just fine for us. I could see she was outraged by the treatment the humans were giving these folks, there were several people ahead of us that had refused this spot, wanting to wait so they would not sit next to the “evil” witches.

Jill was about the most outgoing and friendly fae I had ever seen, whereas I had heard she was merciless and ruthless and cruel. She warmly greeted the young family, introducing us as Jill and Jade, twins from Wake Forest University, not a care in the world that she was using my real name. I could add brash to the list of her characteristics. It was almost humorous and her fun was starting to rub off on me.

Witches can sense magic, and magic in great power like the Winter Queen would be unmistakable. The Winter Queen was not only queen in name, she was a force of nature for the world of Faerie. I had no doubt as the little girl’s mother shook Jill’s hand she knew who was about to have dinner with.

“An honor,” she said, introducing us to her husband Mark and her daughter. Her name was Mona and her daughter was Bri. Bri was looking at Jill as if wonder-struck. To her, I bet Jill looked like a pile of magic a mountain high and an ocean deep. Jill and Bri became friends immediately, Jill showing her the proper technique for using chopsticks, picking various items around the table to experiment with, just laughing and having a great time. Mark had no clue what was going on but I noticed the tension that was in him when they were isolated eased off. I knew the witch would not betray us, for her this would be a once in a lifetime thing to tell her grand kids about. I wondered what I looked like to Mona, I was no small fry in the magic department either, just a bit of a different kind of magic. I would have to ask Sarah about it, if we ever got out of this mess.

I ordered the steak of course, two full orders of meat only, hold the rice and veggies. Jill ordered the dish with all the meats in it and six different kids of sushi on the side. I was beginning to understand that with great power, comes even greater hunger. Our cook was not immune to the fun we were having, playing right to Jill and Bri, even getting Bri to use her chopsticks to help him in the preparation. It was one of the nicest times I had ever had and the steak was good as well. Jill paid for everything using the magic card she had pulled earlier from her matching-with-mine backpack. To me it looked like a rectangular piece of white plastic, to everyone else, it would appear to be whatever you expect it to be, drivers license, credit card, passport. It would fool man and machine both, its magic was the ultimate in higher tech magics.

Hugs all around after dinner, Jill insisted on getting their phone number saying she would be in touch. Then we were off to pick up London Jane.

* * * *

It was harder than it looked. I had wrapped her up in the quilt and stuffed Jane in the tiny back seat. I only bumped her head on the car a few times trying to get her over the passenger side front seat. Jill was just watching me, chuckling. She had shown the gate guard her magic card and we had driven in. I had gone around and entered the house as usual, then opened the garage so we could get Jane in the car without fear of the sun or nosy neighbors. We drove immediately to Jill’s warehouse and I followed her in the twin Accura.

By the time we got to Tanglewood, I was not bumping into things and just going over an occasional curb. I felt pretty sure I was getting the hang of this driving thing. We left my car in a twenty-four-hour Walmart store parking lot near the Park, we would not be gone long. Jill watched silently as I also silently set my wards, stepping out of the car at the gate by appearing to need to stretch my legs. I had no idea if she could tell how I did the ward but I could tell she was a bit perplexed at the lack of any words or hand motions.

As we were pulling up to the cottage, Jane woke up. Seeing us in the front seat must have been a little strange to her, when she had last seen me, I was just one. “Which one of you has never been kissed?” she said, blinking, still partially wrapped in the quilt.

“That would be me,” I responded. “This is Jill, the Winter Queen.”

“Wow,” she responded. “We are going to kick some butt now.”

The cottage was really nice, a two bedroom, two bath with all the amenities, as well as WiFi and cable. I made a pot of coffee as Jane used one of my phones to make some calls. Jill had the TV on, checking out the latest news.

The news was depressing. They had managed to capture several of Jane’s vamps, once they had a few, they were somehow persuaded to reveal the hiding place of others. A full scale operation was underway to hunt the vamps down and citizens were urged to report any vamp sightings to the authorities. They were now looking for Luca and the other vamp master and their vamps as well, saying the conspiracy had gone further than they had first suspected. All the fae in the Southern Capitol had been ordered to return to Faerie; they had a deadline of nine am the next day or they would be arrested. All shifters were ordered to report to Pack territory, including the indies. They had the same deadline and consequences. An order of arrest had been issued for Chris and Sarah but they had disappeared. They showed the jail cell of the vamp Rolfe had supposedly murdered. The bars across the front of the cell were torn off and twisted into a pile of metal. A small pile of ashes in the corner was all that was left of the vamp, other than the blood stains all over the floor of the cell. It was scary looking, and Jill said that was intentional.

The Mayor was shown making a plea in front of the Southern Territories Leadership Council, demanding similar treatment for the witches. He wanted a detention camp set up for all witches. Witches were closest to human in the eyes of the people and they had some degree of influence, their leaders were fighting this with common sense and demands for evidence and proof of involvement.

Jane managed to reach some of her most trusted vamps and human servants, they would be renting some RVs tomorrow and bringing the vamps over during the day, tomorrow night we would have a good sized group of about twenty vamps and human servants ready to fight. She had several hundred vamps in her group but said she just could not be certain of everyone and did not want to take a chance on revealing our base of operations, we would probably have only one shot at this, if we could only find the target we would take a shot at.

I showed Jill the email I had gotten from Emily, she was certain it was an offer of sanctuary, the cabin we had used for her first shift being the location. The national guard was patrolling around the territory but we would have no problem getting past them on foot, and once inside we would be immediately sensed by the shifters. However, Jill pointed out that Rolfe had been copied on the message, if he had escaped, he may have taken sanctuary there. Once we were on the move tonight I would try to reach Emily on her cell phone, even if it was monitored, I needed to know.

Jill told us about the traitor, a member of the Inner Court called Alexis, an ambitious and powerful fae, with designs for more power.

We would be paying him a visit tonight, hopefully he was still around. If he was part of the plot, I doubt he would be under a compulsion to return to Faerie. Jill said he spent most of his time in the human realm, he had a lot of interests here. But first there was another matter that needed taken care of. Jill and Jade had eaten but Jane had not. She was already vamped out, red eyes, fangs fully extended. I could tell she was hungry for blood.

“Jane and I are going for a short walk before we leave,” I told Jill. “We should be right back,” I added, taking Jane’s hand and heading towards the door of the cabin.

* * * *

Outside, I put my arms around her neck and drew her to me, tilting my head slightly and directing her mouth to my neck. I could sense her sensing the pulse beneath my skin, anticipating the blood lying just beneath the surface. When Rolfe had carried me after I had been shot and I had vamped out, I remembered very well how this felt. I hoped she was feeling the same thing. I waited for the bite as she gently kissed my neck. Instead, she drew back slightly and kissed me on the lips. I could no longer make the claim of having never been kissed. Lips slightly parted, I let my tongue explore her mouth running it gently over her fangs, fully extended. It must have driven her crazy because the next thing I knew she struck my neck, biting quickly. At the point where her fangs penetrated my skin I felt a very brief pain and then a release, a flush of intimacy, and I would have fallen to the ground if she had not grabbed my ass with her hands.

The act of giving, of surrender, of love, it is hard to describe. We were as close as could possibly be, I realized at some point I had wrapped my legs around her waist and she was pressing me to her, holding me up, I could feel her strength, her beautiful power, as I arched against her, shaking, trembling. I had no experience with this, just this one moment had made my choice worthwhile. She drew back slightly and licked my neck getting the last of the blood off.

“More?” I said, almost begging.

She smiled and kissed me again, allowing me to taste some of my own blood in her mouth. It was incredible, there was no way I was letting her go now. “More!” I said this time almost demanding.

“Later,” she promised. “Your blood is like no blood I have ever had, it is wonderful, filling me quickly with very little taken, you have ruined me now. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,” she added, reminding me that we had other things to do tonight. I allowed her to lead me back to the cabin.

* * * *

“Are we ready now?” Jill said, amusement in her voice.

I must have been a sight to see. Jane looked flushed, strong, powerful. I went straight to the coffee I had brewed pouring the whole pot into two large drinking glasses and guzzling them down, muttering, “Oh, my God, Oh, my God,” continuously. I had so much energy the air around me was crackling, Jill actually laughed out loud. “I’m officially jealous,” she said.

“Time to go,” Jane said.

Jade, Jane, and Jill ran with the wind.

Okay, not Jill. She was fast, but she couldn’t see in the dark and kept running into things, like trees. It was pretty funny. Jane picked her up and threw her over her shoulder as if she weighed just a tad more than nothing, and then we ran with the wind.

Chapter Eighteen

“That doesn’t sound like something God would do,” he told me.

I was taking my time with him, leading his soul to his destination. I had become interested in the Fallen, angels that had made the decision to become mortal. His case was unusual. I was sick of death and I wanted life.

“God has given me a compulsion,” I responded. “I don’t have the same choice that other angels have.” It was true, I could not just walk away, leaving countless souls trapped in the mortal world.

“Let me ask you then,” he had said. “As we are conversing, who is taking care of others that are dying even as we speak?”

“God has given me the ability to be many places at once. It is my primary aspect that is talking to you. I have some secondary aspects dealing with other issues, and many minor aspects dealing with normal cases.”

“What if you left those parts of you in charge of the business of death, and made the real part of you, your primary aspect, the one that makes the choice to Fall? Look,” he continued, “I showed that an angel could make a conscious decision to choose what they wanted, to become as a mortal. I had admired shape shifters and I wanted to be able to shift as a big cat. Most angels that make the decision have fought it for so long when they finally give in they find themselves naked on some street corner somewhere, leading to all kinds of difficulties, I even prepared an identity ahead of time and chose the place I would appear as well. I made sure I was not without resources in the mortal realm when I made my choice.”

He had been an upper tier angel, I knew. One of the few that had made such a choice and the first that I knew of who had directed his choice in such a way. I had not imagined such a thing was possible. As the Angel of Death, I was even stronger than he had been. He had given me a lot to think about. What if I chose the best that the mortal world had to offer? A fae’s glamour, a witches magic, a vampires speed, a shifters strength, a longer than human lifespan, and a beast of choice. It was an attractive vision. Was it possible that I could train one of my secondary aspects to take over the business of death? Was this the option God had intended for me?

“You have given me much to think about,” I said. “Is there something I can do for you in thanks?” We were at his destination. A single door waited in front of us.

“Tell me what is behind that door,” he said.

“I have a feeling it is something good,” I responded. “I have taken several of the Fallen to this place when they have died. They were all good people in the mortal world. But really, I just don’t know. I am not God.”