Arooo….4

Chapter 4

Magic sucks…

I feel drunk in that bad..bad..got the spins bad but for some reason I can’t get sick and my heart is tearing itself apart. Everything really important dropped out from under me and I lashed out and hurt people that’ve only been kind to me.

I thought I was done doing that PTD freak out stuff.

But Kelly was the one who got me through that.

And Kelly is gone.

And I’ve been to war, I’ve done horrible things for my country and the scars have always weighed heavy on my soul.

But none of that’s hurt like this has.

I drift in and out of it, on the worst bad drunk kind of thing in my life but I’m sure I heard arguing and several men’s voices.

“She’s a Were.” Deep voice Scottish maybe?

“I know that.” is that Justin’s voice.

“She’s an American.” Another voice, acerbic…that’s polite for snotty.

“I know that too.” Justin.

“She’s not supposed to be here. The North American packs aren’t allowed over here. We should turn her over to Fury.” Snotty again.

“I told her she was safe here with me.” Justin.

“You didn’t have the authority to say such a thing Justin, especially since you left us.” Deep voice again.

“Yes, just because Thom sit’s on the council doesn’t mean you can just break our laws.” Snotty again.

“I left because unlike other in my family my life in the real world was more important than all of this mummery.” Justin.

“You mean you chose a woman over us, and where did she get you?” Snooty again.

“Divorced not that it’s any of your business Phillip. I was in love and took a chance on that love rather than spend my life here doing guild chores and getting involved with guild politics.” Justin.

“You were a waste of bloodline….” Snooty again. I’m starting not to like him, he’s got a big mouth…and he’s an asshole.

“What are you doing David?” Justin.

“I’m calling my patron, her being here unescorted and uninvited should not be left solely into your grandfathers hands.” Deep voice.

“They’ll call Fury.” Justin.

“They should, this isn’t America where they just do as they will this is the Isles, balances must be upheld. Truces upheld…”

“Shut up please all of you please…?” I gasp out. “David call whoever you need to, I’ll have them talk to my Queen.”

“Queen? Pfft, You’re an American you don’t have a Queen you have an Alpha….you’re worse than the dogs we have here.” Snooty again.

I open my eyes. It hurts like migraine light sensitive and I lock in on him and I growl. “That’s one.”

“One Bloody what? Are you threatening me you little spaniel slut?”

“Two.”

“Three!” he says and flicks this gesture at me like an underarmed throw and a charge of energy flies out of his palm at me.

Justin catches it. It sizzles in his hand a drops sparks from his hand like an arc welder and then he squeezes it snuffing it out.

“You…You, shouldn’t be able to do that…” Phillip looks pale, really pale.

Justin’s staring at his hand. “I know, but I did. You should know better than to test me on my home ground Phillip.”

“But…you quit the guild, you stopped casting, gave it up.”

“I did.”

“It seems that you’ve recovered your essence Justin.” That’s David. God I’m sweating just standing up. But I’m doing that military, you don’t fall down, you don’t stop until you’re dead thing.

Justin straightens up a bit more. “David, you do what you have to do, I’ll do what I’ll have to do. I gave here my word.”

“You cannot speak for the house Justin.” David says.

“Fine, then she’s coming with me.”

“You shouldn’t take her out of here. There’ll be consequences.”

“I know but here’s not safe either, I’m not having her turned into a pawn in the power games going on here.”

I’m looking at the three of them. Justin’s well Justin only standing a bit more…manlike, and both of the other guys are Adrian’s. David sort of passes for Adrian Paul and Phillip looks like Adrian Sands. Justin looks at me. “Get dressed we’re getting out of here.”

It takes me awhile to get into my dress and to grab my things and there’s a stare off between the three. I can smell angry-fear off of Phillip and just plain anger off of Justin. He takes my wrist and leads me out of the really, really big house not rushing but with this attitude of his movements like…well if he was using a gun he’d be covering us on our way out.

What the hell is going on?

Is this whole country insane.

We get out to his SUV and even though the situation’s all fucked up he opens my door and makes sure that I get in alright. We take off fast scattering gravel as we go and he looks pissed.

“Justin…. What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” he looks over at me.

“I’ll tell you what I know but I need to know what’s going on? What did I get into over here?”

He sighs. “You’re in the Isles Erica. There’s no place as messed up as this place on earth.”

“I’ve been to some pretty fucked up places Justin.”

He gives me this I’m being irritating look.

“The Isles are the most heavily concentrated realm of users of majik and magical beings outside of the orient. In several places there are permanent gates to the realms of the other folk and this has been true since… forever. Mankind made alliances with them and their factions and in some cases intermarried really cementing majik into the bloodlines of the people here. But just like the courts there the political games carried over here to this world.”

“Okay that means.”

“It means that there are guilds that are like the mage versions of political groups here and you’re not part of the equation here.”

“Huh?”

“Okay, what I just said pretty much covers a lot of the mage people from the isles. Now add in the Romans, the crusades, the two world wars all these different ages of conquest pushing out the Fae in their native lands and other folk like your Were kind and the Isles are a hodge podge.”

“Okay, that makes sense.”

“Well there are rules, pacts, treaties and all these things between everyone and everything here that’s a whole mess of stuff…all the time. A lot of people wouldn’t follow those rules left for other countries, went to the Americas for example. They’ve been cut off from things here in the old world.”

“Okay…?”

“Erica, you’re not here with permission which means every outfit that thinks there’s something to gain by getting you on their side or holding you until they get a demand met will want a piece of you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because they can.”

“So what do I do?”

“We get clear, we get clear then we negotiate with the players with influence. We get you under some kind of protection without having to pay too high a price.”

“So I’m in hostile territory without an embassy.”

“I could take you to the US embassy.”

“No, there’s parts of our government that aren’t trustworthy…..who’s Fang.”

“Orion. I think his given name is. He’s the top Werewolf in the Isles, King of the packs here.”

“And me meeting him could be bad.”

“Maybe, you’re in his territories unannounced and that’s a mark against you. You’re also an American.”

“So?”

“Well that’s just it.”

“What?”

“You’re and American.”

“What! He’s going to hold that against me?”

“Yes, everyone else will see that first. Then it’ll just add to the whole lack of respect thing.”

“And what about the stuff with you?”

“I’m from an old blood mage family and I got married in university well before my studies with the guild were finished and….and well Shaz, Shaz wasn’t a mage, she was completely normal and so not a part of the world that I grew up in. When I married her It was against a decree by our guild master and I had my powers stripped away.”

“Stripped away? Why?”

“No free agents, you’re either with someone or you’re seen as too dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Mage powers left unrestricted? To be just able to do something because you felt like it instead of using your powers for your family, house or guild. They’d never allow that to happen.”

“They want control that bad?”

“Yes, oh hell yes but also the Fae are still the heads of the most powerful guilds even if behind things. They really don’t want us getting too powerful and becoming a threat to them. It’s all layers of control like that. And there’s the fact one freelancer can attract more and if they get all allied and like minded then they might get powerful enough to start their own agenda.”

“But…that’s being found guilty without a trial.”

“Yes.”

“So you having your powers back means what?”

“It means I’m a freelancer the guild will want back.”

“And they’d use me to do it?”

“Maybe, much more likely to sell your ransom to Fury so he can use you to put the screws to your Queen.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

“We’re going someplace really public, where there’s lots of CCTV and where we can see things coming and we get a hold of your Queen.”

“Okay, and she’ll get into contact with this Fury how?”

“Oh they’ll all find us, Phillip’s already likely called the wolves by now hoping for a reward. David’s reporting to the guild and likely going to use that to scuttle Thom with the council to make his master look better.”

“Oh…”

“And then once the council knows they’ll send their own people plus there’s likely a few convenient leaks to the other guilds.”

“So we get into public and then they have to come to us and hope they are going to pull strings with the government?”

“Shit, your right.”

………………………………He’s quiet, then he takes a hard turn and headed in a whole other direction. I look at him and he’s even more tensed.

“Justin…what is it, this seems worse.”

“There’s only one place we can go where they’ll never think I’ll go.”

“Where?”

“Fi’s.”

“Fee’s?”

“Fiona’s.”

“I thought you ex’s name was Shaz? What the hell is a Shaz?”

“It’s short for Shannon. No, Fi’s my other ex.”

“Other ex?”

“She’s the mage blooded girl that I walked away from in an arranged marriage with for Shannon.”

“Oh…shit…will she be passed at you?”

“Oh likely, she looked good in her wedding dress.”

“What!”