Battle With Fire by K.F. Breene

Eleven

“I swear,I cannot take one more second with that woman,” Karen said, sitting across from Penny at the long table in the mess hall at the shifter compound.

I sat on the other side of Emery from Penny, leaving enough of a gap that it looked like I was giving him space, when really I was politely getting as far away from Karen as I could. She was in a mood, and if she talked to me, I would be in a mood. That grudge I felt was still going strong.

Cahal sat across from me, leaving a sizeable gap between himself and Ms. Bristol. He didn’t care about being polite.

“I don’t get it,” I said, looking at his plate filled with vegetables. “I don’t get it. You don’t eat meat anymore? A guy your size?”

“She is intentionally trying to jam up the works,” Karen continued. “I just know it.”

“Centaurs are vegetarian,” Cahal replied.

I held out my fork and lifted my eyebrows. “Yeah, and they suck. And the ones who attacked us are dead. Terrible point.”

“They’re big, was my point,” he replied as Karen continued to unload on Penny. “Death weighs on me after a number of years. I cycle through various eating styles. Currently, I don’t wish to kill another living being if I don’t have to.”

I leaned on an elbow as I surveyed him. “You’re kidding, right?”

His eyes were flat as he popped a buttered carrot into his mouth.

“You just cut down a whole bunch of living things.” I finished chewing and sawed off another portion of steak. “Eating horse is taboo, and eating man is taboo, but if they weren’t, you could’ve had your fill out there from your killings.” I paused. “Is eating elf taboo?”

“Over the line,” Emery said, chuckling. “That’s just wrong. And probably not helping your argument.”

“I don’t need help making my argument,” I replied. I poked at my steak, a little too rare for my taste, but I didn’t plan on mentioning it. If you complained about the food in the shifter commune, you had to get into the kitchen and help cook. Given Darius was busy checking out the vampire quarters and probably wouldn’t bail me out even if he wasn’t, I didn’t intend to raise a fuss. “This delicious steak is making my argument.”

“It would be more prudent to eat centaur,” Cahal said, cutting his potato, skin and all. He didn’t scoop out the middle like normal people. “They are hard to kill. They are not raised to be food, like the useless animal you are eating.”

“Well, that’s just offensive to cows.” I shook my head and sighed, tired but still going strong. The flight to the portal had thankfully been uneventful, and the help of the friendlies at the end a surprise bit of awesome. That might’ve been a tough battle, but it had ended up being manageable.

A few things stuck out, though. “They were hard to kill, but they went down eventually. The elves nearly bringing down the dragons, though…”

The guys fell silent in time for me to hear Karen rattling on. “I’m not sure I trust her, honestly. Sometimes the magic reveals a few paths to choose from, and she’ll just throw in another one willy-nilly. It’s almost like she just wants to throw everyone into danger so that the bad guys win. It’s madness. I’m starting to wonder if she is losing her faculties.”

I shook my head and looked away, my guts churning. Then I put down my fork. I would give my house to not know what came next. I had this sinking feeling that it wouldn’t be great.

Because in today’s battle, only the first few strikes had felt good, like I was seeking vengeance against the elves. When the dust, or in this case soot, settled, I hadn’t felt vindicated. I hadn’t felt better about what had happened to me. If anything, I hadn’t felt anything for myself at all. My only emotion was relief that my friends had made it through safely. The worst they’d been dealt was Dizzy’s pulled hamstring (the older dual-mages had stayed on the outskirts of the action, thankfully).

Sadly, though, in this last skirmish, people had gotten hurt. No one I knew, but three fae and two shifters had gone down. It could have been much worse if we hadn’t outmatched and outnumbered the competition. In the final showdown, I doubted we’d outmatch either of the other forces. And if today was any indication, I wouldn’t be worried about vengeance; I’d be worried about protecting those I cared about.

Emery’s words from the beginning of our journey came back to me. Why should we go into this with an agenda about preserving the elves’ rule? Why not just tear down everything and let them build it up?

Sitting here, now, the answer was frustratingly simple: because you couldn’t leave an entire world unstable. The Mages’ Guild was basically a corporation of magical people. If it weren’t around, there would be instability, sure, but the mages would still exist within a greater framework of law and order. They would have the shifters to keep them in place, and the Magical Law Enforcement, and the non-magical government. Those overarching systems would help avoid a complete clusterfuck. Plus, the corrupt leaders hadn’t been replaced with individuals from a different species, just a more solid organization of the same type of magical person.

This was a different situation. The people battling the elves mostly didn’t live within the greater part of the Realm. They didn’t know the unique challenges and trials involved in leading such a place. They would have to learn it all from scratch.

In the meantime, the world would plunge into lawlessness. Without direction, the fae wouldn’t know how to police. The Realm was also impossibly vast, and they couldn’t watch every nook and corner. In the shadows, the demons and vampires and whoever else crept into the open borders would take advantage of the lesser species that couldn’t defend themselves. The strong would take advantage of the weak.

And sure, that was already happening, but at least right now the people of the Realm only had to worry about the elves. Take away their heavy-handed leadership, and you had a vacuum. So what was the answer?

Balance.

It was like the word had been whispered into my ear, and it kept pinging around my head.

Balance.

The worlds needed balance.

I had to protect my friends and family, make sure the Underworld didn’t wipe out the elves, or vice versa, and force balance into the worlds.

How the literal fuck was I supposed to do all of that, though? We were going to get crushed in the middle of those two forces.

I held up my hand. “Karen, all due respect, but Penny isn’t going to help you pull your weight with the Red Prophet,” I said, cutting into her chatter and realizing Cahal’s eyes had been boring into me this whole time. He could look really creepy and stalkerish sometimes.

Karen swung her head around with slightly widened eyes. My stomach flipped. She was a woman you really didn’t want to mess with. Magical or not, you always needed to watch your six where Karen was concerned. I’d just excited her crazy.

“Is that right?” Karen said quietly. Too quietly, like she might plan on finding some scorpions and putting them in my bed. “And what do you know about it?”

“Well, she probably knows that you recently sent her to the elf castle to be taken and tortured,” Penny said, shocking me mute. She didn’t usually stand up to her mother. “Then taken again and trapped. That’s what she probably knows about it. Mother, honestly, you’ll just have to do the best you can. We’ll all have to do the best we can. You can help Roger, Romulus, and even Darius, but when it comes to Reagan, I doubt you’ll get very far.”

“Penelope Bristol, don’t you sass your mother.”

“Mother, I’ve had enough.” She threw her napkin down and pushed to standing, stepping over the long bench.

I looked at Emery to see if we were all standing, or if he’d maybe try to calm her down instead. Given he sat frozen, clearly he didn’t know what to do.

Cahal stood, though, like a cobra rising from its coil. He picked up his plate.

Apparently we were leaving.

“You have no idea what it’s like in the thick of things,” Penny continued, showing those ragged edges she’d gained after visiting the elves and touring the Underworld. “You don’t know what it’s like to watch your friend sacrifice everything for you and be unable to stop it. To spend months trying not to blame your own flesh and blood for the pain you were put through—that she was put through. I don’t blame you, Mother, just so we’re clear. I trust in your gift. But a lot of what the Red Prophet has said has been right, too. And now Charity’s stuff is on the fritz, and my Temperamental Third Eye has gone nuts… It seems like something is interfering with your Sight, with everyone’s sight, and this time I don’t think the fates are going to lift their skirts and reveal their wares.”

My mouth dropped open. A little smile played across Cahal’s face.

“There is clearly not one right path, and that’s good, because the last time there was one path it didn’t work out that well for a few of us. You’re just going to have to figure out your thing with the Red Prophet on your own.” She picked up her plate, took a deep breath, and then finished, “As soon as the war is over, if we’re both still alive, I am going to marry Emery, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.” She nodded. “So there.”

She turned around and stormed away.

I grabbed a fistful of Emery’s shirt as Ms. Bristol’s crazy eyes slowly slid to him.

“Go, go, go,” I muttered, grabbing my plate with the other hand. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Excuse me,” Emery said, picking up his plate and stepping over the bench.

I hustled him away, but we were close enough to hear Cahal behind us. “Ma’am, Penny is right about a couple of things. First, there will be many paths. In war, there always is. Sometimes there will be no right answer. Sometimes…you will need the Red Prophet to put in motion things you might not be comfortable with advocating. As for the second…” He paused for a while. “In my opinion, the fates are indeed interfering with your Seeing. And if not the fates, then Lucifer himself, and any of his people he’s managed to smuggle into this compound. Be prepared for blindness.”

I frowned at him when he joined us toward the plate-drop area. A few shifters nodded to us as they exited the cafeteria-style area, most with plates. We’d beaten the dinner rush, which was good news judging by the amount of food these people had on their plates.

“What did you mean about Lucifer interfering with their Sight?” I asked, dropping my plate into the brown rubber basin at the dirty-dish station on the east wall, away from the line of shifters waiting for their turn at the rapidly emptying buffet.

“He has that ability, as do you. As do a couple other creatures.”

“He certainly didn’t tell me that,” I muttered.

“What other creatures?” Penny asked.

A brick of a guy stepped in front of us, over six feet tall with a muscle-stacked body and a face that would make angels weep, wondering what had gone wrong with his genetics. Half his head was shaved and the other half long. There was probably some significance other than I’m bad at fashion, but I didn’t much care to find out.

“Ma’ams, sirs,” he said in a gruff voice. “This is a shifter-only eatery. You’d probably be more comfortable in the cafeteria set up for the mages and fae.”

“Why?” I looked around at everyone minding their business, getting food and sitting down to eat it. “What’s so special about this place? Are you just about to group together for a circle jerk, or something?”

His eyebrows flattened over brown, close-set eyes. “We have a housing unit for the shifters, and one for guests. That’s the way it has always been done.”

“I guess you’re not so different from the fae at the root?” I asked, but of course he didn’t know what I was talking about. Roger would, and I would definitely rub his face in it, just for funsies. When Devon’s pack first brought Charity to visit the warrior fae, they’d been relegated to crappy guest housing far away from the other residences. Samesies on our second visit. “Anyway, we are shifters.” I pointed at myself. “I shift into an asshole.” I pointed at Cahal. “He occasionally shifts into a nice guy.” To Penny and Emery. “They can make you stop shifting, forever, so you should probably just let them do what they want.”

“Joe.” Steve walked over with his customary grin and swagger. He clapped a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Don’t antagonize the pretty blonde. She’ll tie your dick in a knot, burn off that stupid haircut, and laugh at your pain.”

“But sir…”

A hard edge crept into Steve’s tone. “It’s good. Leave it.”

The man issued a curt nod and walked away with a stiff back.

“The mages and fae actually asked for a different sort of menu,” Steve said, gesturing toward the door and then walking with us. “They wanted more options for vegetables and didn’t like the meat so bloody. It was easier creating two eateries. Poor Joe thinks shifters are king and came to his own conclusions.”

I pointed at him as we walked out the door. “You’re tempting me to dash his dreams of being top of the food chain…”

Steve laughed. “Sure, just don’t get caught by Roger. He’s a bit wound up.”

“We’re all a bit wound up,” Penny muttered.

“Not me. I’m going to go find a pretty little fae and help her forget about her woes.” Steve winked and broke away right, sauntering across the grass to another sprawling, rustic building.

Deep night stretched overhead for about two miles, the stars plentiful and bright. Beyond that, the glow of the afternoon shone down. We’d stepped through the portal to a lightening sky, and with Roger’s approval, I’d created a cover for the vampires. Penny and Emery had strung up a protective ward that would give the vampires time to get to cover if someone should try to tear down my artificial night.

“Reagan,” Cahal said, his voice subdued in the fake night. “You interrupted the Seer. Why?”

I snapped my fingers, having completely forgotten about that. “Penny,” I said, walking us back to the rooms Roger had designated for us within a sprawling three-story apartment complex that resembled a bunch of log cabins stacked on top of one another. It was really weird and had obviously been here for a while. Roger had apparently inherited managing this place when he became alpha of the North American pack. “Remember that spell in the Mages’ Guild battle that judged if people were good or bad?”

Her face screwed up as she thought back. She nodded slowly. “I probably shouldn’t have cast it, though. It’s not for me, or magic, to judge who is good or bad. And really, are people either good…or bad? After being down in the Underworld and spending some time with your dad, I think everyone has the ability to be both.”

I twisted my mouth to the side. “Yeah, I guess,” I said in frustration. “It’s just…how are we going to get rid of the bad elves so the good elves, or someone else who knows how to rule, and the Realm can step forward?”

“You’re not planning on wiping them all out?” Cahal asked.

“You didn’t seem to have a problem wiping them all out today,” Penny said. “Or…yesterday? My sense of time is all over the place.”

“I mean, sure, if they are trying to kill me, I will absolutely destroy them.”

I reached the door to the confused apartment building and pulled it open, stepping to the side so the others could go through. Cahal grabbed the edge over my head and motioned me in. He never let a woman enter a doorway behind him, and I’d never asked if it was a gentlemanly thing, or he just didn’t trust women. Probably a bit of both, since he was hot but unattached. More than one gal had probably wanted to stick something in his back for breaking her heart, or just cling to those muscles.

“But if they put down their weapons and ask for mercy…if they agree to tear down the restrictions limiting the Underworld, then…” I shrugged. “It’s like what you just said, Penny—it’s not for me to play god. The Realm needs stability, and killing everyone isn’t a good way to achieve that.”

“You sound like a grownup,” Emery said.

“I know.” I grimaced. “Can we still be friends?”

“Oh, we’re friends now?” I could hear the laughter in his voice. “I thought I was just allowed to hang around because of Penny.”

“Don’t ruin it, or you’ll be on the outside again,” Penny murmured. She’d probably just elbowed him.

“It was spoken like a true leader,” Cahal said in a deep voice dripping with respect.

“Gross,” I replied, uncomfortable and not sure why.

I stopped at my door, number six, and noticed someone had stuck stickers to the sides of the metal number. Two additional sixes, three in all. Cute.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow.” I turned the handle and pushed, feeling Darius waiting for me within. He’d probably need blood, and I was eager to give it to him. While naked.

“Yup.” The others continued on, heading to their rooms down the hall.

Once inside, I closed the door and locked it. I doubted any vampires would be stupid enough to interrupt our slumber, but someone else might, and I wanted to buy myself a second to wake up before I confronted them. Everyone had spies; I couldn’t imagine the elves were any different.

The door to the bathroom was open, and I passed it on my way down the little hallway to the rest of the room. The rectangular interior was basically fashioned like a hotel room, with one large bed in the middle, a desk to the side, and a small seating area.

I stopped abruptly when I saw the individual sitting in one of the two uncomfortable armchairs facing an equally uncomfortable loveseat, upholstered in a green flowery pattern. There went my fake-evening.