THE POUNDING OF jackhammers reverberated through my skull and sweat drenched my sheets. I tried to move, hoping to quell the throbbing headache by gaining distance from the inferno surrounding me, but I was immobilized. It took my sleep-fuzzed brain several moments to realize the heat and the immobility came from the same cause: Finn. His lithe body was pressed against my back and one long, slim arm was draped over me.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?”
He jumped, slid out of the bed, and looked only a little sheepish. “You screamed in your sleep, and I couldn’t wake you, but you seemed soothed by my presence.”
“This needs to stop.” I stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door. I peered at my reflection in the mirror, noting the still-flushed cheeks. I slowed my breathing and watched the flush fade from my cheeks. I opened the door and came face-to-face with Finn.
“Holy crap, Finn! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
He raised an eyebrow at the weapon I’d grabbed when he’d startled me. “With a toothbrush? I would’ve survived. I shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on you, though. Your awareness of your surroundings needs to improve.”
“Bastard,” I muttered. “The door was closed.”
“Was that a commentary on my mother or a dig at my morning ninja skills?”
I grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen and poured three into my hand. “Yes.” I swallowed them dry, brushed past him to grab a towel from the linen closet, and determinedly ignored the mostly naked man in the doorway. “I’m taking a shower. Go get dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs in twenty minutes.”
Finn laughed and retreated towards the room he’d been using before last night. I cranked the water in the shower on as hot as I could stand it and leaned my forehead against the cool tile. How do I get him to stop? We’d ended—mutually, I’d thought—the friends with benefits arrangement years ago. I’d taken his flirting in the past as harmless habit. That was my mistake. I was going to need to set up some ground rules. Possibly write a handbook. The only doors I wanted to crack open were to another dimension.
When my skin was red from the heat, I turned off the shower, toweled dry, and finger-combed my hair. I dressed in tight-fitting yoga capris, a sports bra, and tank top. I knew the weapons lessons would be intense today, especially since I’d let him sneak up on me this morning.
Finn was absent and hadn’t reappeared by the time I’d finished breakfast, so I got started with the things I could work on solo.
Thwack.
The knife protruded from the target across the room. Nine out of ten shots had struck the target instead of the surrounding drywall. I was getting better. I’m positive that with a little more practice, I’d start hitting the center of the human-shaped targets instead of grazing the left ear, hitting directly between the legs, or hitting just inside the right hip.
When my right arm started aching, I switched to my left hand and did that until I was too frustrated by my lack of skill to continue.
Finn was still gone. I wasn’t sure if I was irritated, relieved, or pissed off. He was such a stickler for the training schedule and had made a chart with workout times and breaks built in down to five-minute intervals. I checked the chart. 11:50 meant break time.
After a glass of water, I was ready for the next workout. I was supposed to be sparring hand-to-hand, but without a partner, that was difficult. I did some bag work and sparred with an invisible partner for a while. I readied my stance, squared my hips, and punched. My knuckles grazed off the bag and the momentum pulled me forward. I nearly fell. I pulled myself back and readied another right cross. This time I envisioned Finn’s face on there and let my irritation with him carry my punch. The blow sent vibrations up my arm, but at least I hit the bag this time.
I continued the workout, beating up an imaginary Finn. I was soaked with sweat and breathing heavily when I heard the low groan of a squeaky floorboard above me. I stopped moving and tried to calm my breathing and rapid heart rate.
At first, I heard nothing and was about ready to chalk it up to an old house settling, but then the slightest noise reached my ears. Someone was walking slowly and quietly in my house. Finn was hoping to take me by surprise. I slipped off my shoes to avoid making any noise, grabbed two throwing knives, and snuck up the basement stairs, avoiding the fourth step that made a noise like a shotgun blast with even the lightest pressure.
I glided into the kitchen and paused, listening for anything that would indicate where Finn was hiding. I peeked around the corner and saw someone who was definitely not Finn.
The person’s back was to me, but the figure was too short and too slight to be Finn. It was swathed in a dark robe and hooded cloak. I tried to reach out with my magical senses without closing my eyes to determine who—or what—was in my living room. I knew it wasn’t vampire, because it was the middle of the day, and I’d not let in anyone after dark since I found out vampires were real.
“Who are you?”
The figure jumped and turned around. It was a woman—a tiny little woman who’d never let go of her goth phase.
“Are you Eleanor?” she asked. “The Fae world breaker?”
“I asked first, and you’re in my house. Who are you?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she reached into her voluminous cloak and then threw something at me. I ducked, but it was too late. Whatever it was—some kind of powder—had already partially blinded me and my nose began to twitch. I sneezed several times in succession, my throat and sinuses burning and my eyes streaming tears. By the time I could see again, she was gone, and I was coated in a fine, black powder.
Pepper. I’d been taken down by pepper. Finn was going to have a field day with this.
A shower and change of clothes later, I was still alone but at least not randomly sneezing anymore. My afternoons were supposed to be devoted to magic practice and gate hunting in Forest Park, so I decided to go alone.
I drove up Germantown, turned right on Skyline, and then took the narrow road to the Newton Road parking lot. After locking my pickup, I headed north towards Wildwood trail. The tall evergreens shaded the well-worn path and I began to relax as the chatter of birds and small forest creatures surrounded me. A cool mist blew over my face as I crossed one of the few streams still running this late in the summer. I reached a fork in the trail and turned onto the Power Administration Road. The sun beat down on me and sweat broke out immediately. The contrast was brutal after the shaded park trails. It was a relief to spot a game path leading off to the west and back into the coolness of the forest. I followed the almost imperceptible trail for a few yards until I found a clearing from which the power-line cut was no longer visible.
I relaxed cross-legged on the ground. Deep breaths brought me into the meditative state necessary to use my magic. My senses sharpened. I reached towards the discord resonating through the park’s energy.
The air became richer and darker. I smelled earth and rot. Death and life. There were animals nearby: squirrels, birds, a curious deer. A coyote had passed this way earlier. There were people not too far away. They smelled too earthy to be casual passers-by; maybe they were forest dwellers. Then I smelled something completely new. It was wild and earthy but not unnatural; not like the gate.
My eyes popped open. The creature was nearing rapidly. I commanded my heartbeat to slow, grabbed a throwing knife, and strained all my senses. The odor of an unwashed body approached from my right. Finally, I heard the footsteps.
“Finn!” I screamed with my mind, reaching out towards the Finn-shape in my consciousness like he’d taught me. I had a moment to hate asking a guy for help, and then it appeared.
He—for he was naked and definitely male—stopped the minute he realized I was watching. He held up his hands and spoke, his voice a rough growl, “I mean you no harm. I just want to converse.”
“Stay right where you are, hands where I can see them. What do you want to talk about?”
“You need to stop what you’re doing.”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. What’s wrong with a hippie tree-hugger hanging out in the woods communing with nature?”
He laughed and the open mouth revealed teeth sharper than they should’ve been. “Don’t play with me, little fairy. I know who you are and what you’re doing. You need to stop before you destroy the world.”
“I have no intention of destroying the world.”
He smiled even wider this time, giving me a better and thoroughly unwelcome view of his teeth.
All the better to eat you with, my dear, I thought.
He continued unaware of my Red Riding Hood paranoia, “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you? The gates were locked on purpose. If you open them all, everything will change.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? The Fae can bring balance and magic back to this world. It isn’t fair to imprison an entire race of people for the sins committed centuries ago.”
“Do you know why they were locked up?”
“There was a war, and they were on the losing side.” A ball of nervous uncertainty tightened in my stomach. I didn’t know much and I was suddenly afraid that I’d asked the wrong questions.
“You know the lifespan of the Fae, though, don’t you? Those sins you speak of were committed by Fae who are still alive. I can’t let you continue.”
“Are the other supernatural creatures blameless?” I was grasping now, and hoped he couldn’t tell.
He smiled again and his eyes flashed yellow. Whatever he was, he was not human. I’d had a zero percent success rate of not being attacked by non-humans at this point. I shook myself, trying to force the tension out of my body and looked at his midsection. “You should put some clothes on. Your nudity and excessive body hair are a much bigger danger to America.”
He glanced down at himself in confusion and in that moment, I struck. I threw the knife I’d palmed earlier and it thunked into the meaty part of his right shoulder. Before he could yank it out, I threw a second knife and then a third. They hit his left and right thighs respectively.
“I appreciate that you aimed to disable and not kill. You’re more honorable than I expected. I’ll report back to my pack. We’ll let you know how we’re going to proceed.” He pulled the knives out, dropped them, and walked backwards until he dissolved into the forest.
I stayed alert until I could no longer sense him, then retrieved my knives, wiped off the blood and hair in the grass, and sheathed them. My concentration was shot and there was no way I could relax enough to continue my search. I headed back to the truck.
About halfway back, I remembered that I’d called for Finn and he hadn’t appeared. It must have been a test. What an asshole!
My steps quickly became stomps, and by the time I got back to my truck, I was fuming. Send me out to the woods and threaten me with a hairy, naked man. Real mature, Finn.
Finn wasn’t at my place and hadn’t returned by the time I’d showered, eaten, and had two gin and tonics. After I locked my house, I grabbed my cell and called him. It went straight to voice mail. “Hey, Finn, it’s me. I wanted to let you know that the house is locked and I’m going to bed. Don’t think you can avoid the yelling by not coming back. Your stupid test sucked.”
I stripped and climbed into bed. I tried to fight my growing sense of unease around Finn’s unexplained absence. I’d been expecting him to meet me at home to smirk about my reaction to his naked and dirty friend. I tossed and turned before falling into an uneasy sleep. My dreams were erotic nightmares. A slavering werewolf chased me, but when I was caught, panting and terrified, instead of killing me, he kissed me. I broke off the kiss and stared into his yellow eyes as desire bloomed in me. I moved forward, desperate to feel his skin beneath my hands, but he melted away and a vampire appeared in his stead. He smiled, his fangs glinting in the low light of my dream-inspired room, and I titled my neck. There was something hard in my hand—a silver and wooden stake—but before I could use it, he bit me. The rush of ecstasy that came with the bite brought me to the cusp of orgasm, but before I came, the vampire looked at the sky, cried out in alarm, and disappeared into the mist.
A great dragon hovered over me, fire shooting from its nostrils. It dove at me, engulfing me in flame. I screamed and ducked, but couldn’t avoid the inferno. When my panic dissolved, I was warm, but not burned. It was pleasant and homey, like sitting in front of a fireplace on a cold, snowy day. I surrendered to the heat and felt my body warm up, sweat breaking on my skin. The fire went out as the dragon once more took to the sky and the wind from its wings chilled me. I woke up, gasping and sweating and covered in goosebumps. I got out of bed and went for a glass of water. It was four am. Finn’s door was open, and his bed was empty.
I went back to bed and drifted off. This time, my sleep remained undisturbed.
The thick, dark aroma of coffee pulled me from sleep. Finn was back.
I dressed and went downstairs. My skin felt too tight and it was almost as though my muscles were moving involuntarily. I was too hot and felt off. I shifted and wiggled and the sensation settled down.
Finn was in the kitchen, his back to me, scrambling some eggs.
“Hey asshole,” I said. “Thanks for the goth girl and the creepy naked dude yesterday. They were awesome.”
Finn turned around. “What are you talking about?”
I didn’t answer. He was covered in yellowing bruises and half-healed lacerations.
“What happened?”
“What naked guy?’
“You first,” I said. “I’m not the one covered in bruises.”
He turned back around and gave his attention to the eggs. As he plated them with a slice of buttered toast, he said, “It turns out that I’m not the only Fae sent to keep an eye on you. Someone saw us Saturday night.”
“What do you mean, saw us?”
“Kissing. Someone saw us kissing.”
“You got the shit beat out of you because you tried to get in my pants and I turned you down? That’s ridiculous.”
“Well, according to the person who did this to me, the half-breed bastard shouldn’t be taking advantage of the fairy princess. You should be kept pure, as befits your station.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Finn shook his head. “I don’t need help to stay out of your bed. Not to mention that we were actually sleeping together for ages before. Where was the no-sex enforcer then?” I was getting more and more worked up and Finn was looking a little wary. “And pure? Pure? I haven’t been a virgin since I was sixteen, and I am not waiting around for some poncy, full-blooded fairy prince to deflower me.”
When I yelled deflower, vines, leaves, and flowers burst from all the houseplants in an explosion of life. I stalked up to Finn and jabbed a finger into his chest. “You’re more than a half-breed bastard. You are my friend. If I’m some kind of royalty, I will issue a decree that I can fuck whomever I want and anyone who has a problem with it will be…will be…decapitated!” Flowers popped off their stems and the room filled with a gentle rain of petals.
“Ellie, scale it back a little. Although I appreciate your ire on my behalf, if you don’t rein it in, we’ll be covered in greenery.”
My eyes drifted over to the engorged plants. “Shit. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I appreciate your willingness to go to bat for me.”
“What now? Who beat you up? Can I kick his ass?”
“Her name is Arduinna, and I’m not sure I completely understand her interest. The Fae don’t typically care who’s coupling with who, so the objection to you rebuffing my advances is odd, at best. She can’t lie, no full-blood Fae can, but we are adept at misleading with the truth.”
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. I don’t suppose that this is making you want to sleep with me out of spite?” I rolled my eyes at him. “I thought not.” Finn sighed. “Oh, well. Now, tell me about this naked man and the goth girl.”
After glossing over my meeting with short, pale, and peppery, I detailed my encounter with tall, dark, and naked. Finn dismissed goth girl and asked, “He smelled like death?”
“Well, on closer reflection, maybe more like an open grave. He was rank.”
“And fangs?”
“Right, but not vampire fangs, more ‘sharp, pointy teeth.’”
“Killer rabbit?”
I grinned. I loved it when people got my Monty Python references. “More predator than prey. His teeth were almost canid; his relationship with personal hygiene could use improvement; he had more body hair than I’ve ever seen on a black man; and he was naked. Very, very naked.”
Finn narrowed his eyes. “You keep emphasizing his nudity.”
“Well, yeah. I’ve never seen anything quite like that before. He was rather…well-endowed.” I tried for delicacy, but wasn’t sure I’d succeeded.
“You saw a naked, smelly Sasquatch and you checked out his junk?”
“Yeah. Key word is naked. Trust me, you would’ve noticed, too.”
“Ellie, stop! I don’t want to hear you wax poetical about someone else’s equipment.”
I laughed. “Fine. I’m done. Any ideas?”
“My guess is some kind of shifter, and likely an old one. They’re usually a little crazier and more likely to forget about human conventions as bathing and clothing. Can you take a guess as to animal species?”
“No. How would I know?”
“They typically have some animal traits, even in human form. The fact that his teeth were pointy meant that he wasn’t completely human; you said they were canid, right? Since he was hairy, it’s likely he grows fur instead of feathers or scales.”
I closed my eyes and concentrated on pulling up my image of him. I fixed his appearance in my mind and then mentally walked around him, seeing things I hadn’t noticed in the moment. Tattoos covered his back, chest, and upper arms. A scar ran the length of the back of his left leg where it looked like he’d been hamstrung. Small, round scars on his right ass cheek looked like buckshot wounds. I inhaled deeply, filtering out the surface scents and finding an underlying musk that was rich and earthy and wild. His golden eyes darkened to brown around the pupil. Then I steeled myself and looked at his teeth. They were sharp and pointy. I leaned in close and sniffed again. This time, it was easier to filter out the stench and smell the man beneath.
“Canine, but not a dog-dog.”
“Dog-dog? As opposed to what? A cat-dog? A fish-dog?”
“Shut it. I meant not a domesticated dog. Maybe a wolf or a coyote. When I re-watch the whole encounter, he blurs as he enters the trees, and I can see the tip of his muddy, cream-colored tail before he disappears completely.”
I opened my eyes. Finn was staring at me. “What?” I knew I sounded a bit defensive.
“That was amazing. Have you always been able to do that?”
“Do what?”
“The total recall thing.”
“Kind of.”
Finn cocked his head to one side and pointed a finger at me. “Explain.”
“I’ve always had fantastic recall, down to scents and peripheral vision. How do you think I can always put everything away in your house so flawlessly?”
“I assumed you were stalking me and learning the layout of my place so you could impress me and win me into your bed.”
I ignored his comment and continued. “In the last few weeks, it’s gotten sharper. If I concentrate, I can remember almost everything.”
“That’s amazing. This is probably a result of natural talent honed by the practicum I’ve been putting you through.” Finn nodded solemnly and self-importantly, with only a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth giving him away. “Now for the important question: why didn’t you call me?”
“I did! As soon as he came out of the woods. I knew he wasn’t a lost jogger, because of the stealth and nudity. When you didn’t show, I assumed it was supposed to be a lesson, even if I didn’t get the objective.”
Finn went still. “You called?”
“Yeah, of course. I might hate your bossy-pants attitude and the need to be rescued by a guy, but as of now, you’re more equipped to deal with weird threats than I am.” I grinned at him, but he didn’t relax.
“I didn’t hear you. That fucking bitch kept me from hearing your call.”
“Other than the pepper attack, which was pretty low-key, everything turned out okay. And the fucking bitch has no reason to interfere again, does she?”
Finn looked at me a little hopefully.
“No.”
“Fine. I am much more concerned with the fact that I wasn’t able to hear you when you called.”
“It’s fine,” I soothed.
“I’m going to pop out. Wait ten minutes and then call, okay?”
“Sure, we can absolutely do a test of the emergency Finncasting system.”
Finn disappeared with a barely audible pop. I stared at the space where he’d been. That was completely unexpected. If it turned out that I could teleport, too, I was going to be seriously pissed off that he hadn’t led with that bit of training.
I waited ten minutes and then thought as hard as I could, “This is a test. This is only a test. If this was a true emergency, I would be much less coherent. Please come home now.”
A few seconds later, Finn reappeared. “What the hell, Finn? You disappeared! Can I do that?”
“I doubt it. It’s a rare ability that runs in bloodlines. It never spontaneously shows up, and I wasn’t told that it was one of your potential abilities.”
“You have a list of my potential abilities? How come I haven’t seen it?”
Finn ignored me. “The good news is that your mental call worked. Arduinna must have been actively blocking all mental communication. It doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t be good if you were damaged while she was beating the crap out of me.”
“Yeah, my damage would be ‘not good.’ Maybe even tragic.”
“I didn’t know anyone could make air quotes look that sarcastic. Impressive.”
“Whatever. Back on point. You are not getting out of this. I want the list.”
“I can’t give it to you. Things need to show up naturally. If you concentrate too much on something you think sounds cool—like teleportation—and not enough of something that you’d be stronger in, your training won’t be as effective.”
“Bullshit.” I glared at him. It made sense, in a way. But still… “This isn’t over. We will be having words.”
“We’ll talk about it after we open the first gate. Being that close to a flood of magic should trigger everything in you that’s dormant for lack of available power.”
“There are angry vampires, pepper-wielding goth girls, fetid were-beasts, and violent Fae mucking about with things. What if I don’t find the gate?”
“You will. The knowledge is inside you. You just need to channel the power.”
“What happens to me if I fail and the magic rushes through earth like a tsunami?”
“I honestly don’t know. The key could be destroyed with the door.”
“What’s the world going to look like when all the gates are open? What will that much magic do to a world that’s been without for so many centuries?”
“That, Eleanor, is an excellent question. There’s only one real way to find out.”