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Loose Threads
One Hundred Thirty Seven
“The gate has stabilized,” Theodora reported. “Ouroboros is sending drones through to survey.”
Marguerite looked up from her console. “Are you all right?”
Iain gave her an annoyed glare. “You are a telepath and you have a delta bond into the center of my head. You know damned well I’m nervous about this.”
She nodded. ‘And if I didn’t have that with you, I wouldn’t have a clue about your state. Physically, you look completely relaxed.”
Iain forced a chuckle. “Yeah, I shouldn’t be like this. I wasn’t this worried when we invaded Africa and Sanctuary.”
April glanced back at him. “Yes, but you didn’t have anything to be worried about. We all knew that it was a suicide run and nobody was coming back from it.”
“Does that mean I should just tell myself that my sisters are going to be waiting to kill me and there’s nothing I can do about it?”
“Would that help?”
“Blowjob,” Zareen said distinctly.
Iain blinked and twisted to stare at the Nightmare where she stood behind him. “Huh? My sisters are waiting to blow me?” Everyone on the bridge of the Theodora began laughing. Iain groaned loudly. “Bitch. I can’t believe I fell for that.”
“Would you believe we were laughing with you,” Dominique asked.
“I wasn’t laughing.”
Dominque grinned. “So, you might believe it, or you do believe it?”
Iain took a deep breath and slowly let it out as everyone else laughed again. “Thank you all very much and, yes, it did work. I’m not as nervous as I was.”
“I said you need a blowjob,” Zareen said. “I was offering to blow you.”
“The drones have returned,” Theodora announced.
“Rain check it is,” Zareen said with a grin as Iain sat up in his chair.
Theodora ignored the byplay. “Telemetry on the crystals confirms the coordinates that Dominque gave me for Five. The drones show the gate came out exactly where I wanted it, which is on the other side of the Sun from the Earth. The chances that someone saw the gate are very small. Ouroboros is moving into position to proceed through the gate. Once there, Daya will verify that the region is secure and begin setting up the small gate generator on that side for the laser communication system while the Theodora transits. After that, the Comito will join us.” She looked at Iain. “The fact that the Earth is where I want it to be suggests that the timing is also when we want it to be, but I’ll verify that once we’re in a position to begin intercepting radio and television transmissions from Earth.”
“Rowan and I talk every day,” Iain said. “She’s going to know something is wrong when she can’t reach me. At that point, a day or so won’t make much of a difference. She’s still going to be mad at me for disappearing on her.”
“I included that in my calculations,” Dominique said. “If I did what I want, it’s a day before you were kidnapped by Sanctuary and the original you should be somewhere on Earth right now.”
“I didn’t ask you do to that.”
“Ninhursag and I told her to do that,” April interjected.
Iain looked at her curiously. “Why?”
“Now you aren’t sure where you might be and you won’t shadow walk on ahead of us.” She gave him an unapologetic look. “You are supposed to have assigned security from your living harem here. You agreed.”
“If I had considered going on ahead, I’d have taken some of my security with me,” Iain said evenly. “Do not try to constrain my options again.”
“We did what we thought was right in protecting you,” April said. “Ninhursag agrees with me. If you fire us, then so be it.”
Iain nodded. “So be it. This is the only warning you will get. Do you understand that?”
April nodded solemnly. “I understand.”
Ninhursag? No more.
There was silence for several seconds. I understand.
Iain nodded. Theodora, document that both April and Ninhursag have confirmed that they understand what I will do if they attempt something like this again.
April suddenly looked startled and then nodded. Theodora’s voice sounded in Iain’s head. Both April Grey and Ninhursag Grey acknowledge their understanding for the record. I hope you don’t have to remove them.
I hope so too. “Theodora, let me know when Daya allows us to transit.”
“I will, Iain.”
***
Iain looked down on the globe floating in the display in his office on the Theodora and shrugged. “It looks wrong.”
Ninhursag had been watching him warily out of the corner of her eyes ever since the conversation they’d had via bond about what she and April had done. Now she focused on the Earth. “What do you mean? The continents are those of One. They didn’t have legendary pokegirls running amok on it to destroy things here, so that makes sense.”
“There are way too many lights on the night side,” Iain replied. “I forgot this place has several billion people on it still.”
Ninhursag glanced at him again. “So this isn’t home?”
“This place stopped being any sort of home the day I accepted Scheherazade into my life permanently. None of you would be peacefully accepted here. That means I can’t live here again since I am not abandoning you to return here.”
Ninhursag nodded. “That’s good to hear.” She paused for a second. “Look, about what April and I did.”
“Stop.” Ninhursag blinked and Iain smiled as he took her hand. “I’ve already addressed it. Do anything like that again and I will fire everyone involved. That’s all there is to it. I spent centuries taking care of myself and that’s not going to change. I still accept guards during real fights, at least for now. Later we’ll reassess. If I don’t need all of them, then they’ll become available for you, Lucifer or Daya to use. But as far as what you and April did, it’s over and closed.” He squeezed her hand gently. “I don’t want to hear apologies, I don’t want to hear recriminations and I especially do not want to hear you tell me that you still feel what you and April did is completely justified. That would just piss me off. Drop it.”
Her eyes searched his for a moment. “Consider it dropped. Speaking of guards,” she motioned towards the Earth with her free hand. “What about there?”
“We’ve got a lot of women who can pass for human. Only the ones who have passed April’s guard program gets used. Nobody gets blessed off, not even Sorrel.”
“She won’t like it.”
“No, but she’ll understand and accept it.” He looked at the planet again. “Pandora’s hair isn’t human colored but we’ll make it work, if she’s willing to lose the armor. She doesn’t wear it all the time anyways. Unless we intend to invade, and we don’t have the forces for that, our goal is to be as invisible as possible.”
Ninhursag nodded. “I agree. What about money?”
“Surprisingly, in the thousand years or so since I was last here, I’ve forgotten my bank account numbers. Because of my lack of attention to detail, Theodora has been kind enough to have created me some new bank accounts, scattered across several banks, and filled them with all of the half and quarter pennies that banks normally round down so they don’t have to track. She’s also issued debit cards for these accounts and I’ll give them out as needed. Lucifer and Pandora agreed that it was ok to do, once. After that, I brought some jewelry and other things with us that we’ll sell as needed.” He smirked. “And neither Lucifer nor Pandora are aware that just as soon as I get some cash, Theodora will be making forgeries that will pass even the Treasury Department’s inspections. I won’t be making millions of dollars or anything, but I’ll make sure we all have some money to spend as we need it.”
Ninhursag gripped his hand tightly. “I wish I could be there.”
“You will.” She looked surprised. “There’s going to be a reaction team on standby and you’re one of the duty leaders. Hopefully I won’t need you at all, but I’m not denying that I can get into trouble in some of the most fucked up places. That means you’ll be on the surface in a shuttle in case I need you.”
She frowned. “So you are willing to constrain yourself but we can’t do it?”
“Yes. I want to be free to be stupid. That doesn’t mean I’ll always decide to be stupid; it just means I have the option if I so choose.”
“Would it help me to take a look at the records from your time on Twenty Three to see what you will be used to having in the way of security because of your time there?”
“That would probably be very useful, even if you’re not going to like all of the times that I spent alone doing dangerous things.”
“I’m hoping that after I review those records, I’ll be more likely to treat you like a weaker pokegirl and not the human I and others sometimes forget you’re not.”
“My next free time is Tuesday afternoon, ship time. Can you get away to join me?”
Ninhursag looked surprised. “You don’t normally share that time. What’s going on?”
“I think we need to review those records together. I’ll share some memories with you while we’re doing that since I can’t take you adventuring right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because, my love, adventuring is dangerous and I can’t guarantee you won’t take an arrow or a sword in the belly and abort. We can dance in the darkness after you’ve given birth.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
He grinned and went up on his toes as he pulled her head down to give her a quick kiss on the lips. “I expect no less, my love.”
She chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him. “Good. Now that you know the date, what’s the determination?”
Iain grimaced. “I will have been gone four days by the time we’re in position on the far side of the moon.”
Ninhursag counted in her head. “We arrived the day before you were abducted?”
“Want to see something creepy?”
She blinked. “Sure.”
“Theodora, roll the tape, please.”
A hologram appeared in the air. It showed, from a distance, a lone car as it raced down a county highway in the early morning. As Ninhursag watched, the car seemed to waver and fade, as if it was suddenly very far away. It faded more and suddenly was gone. The image froze as Ninhursag swallowed hard around a sudden lump in her throat and looked at Iain. “Was that you?”
“Yes.”
“How does that make you feel?”
“Angry.” He smiled when she looked surprised. “While my life wasn’t exactly awesome, and I have no regrets about you and the others, I didn’t deserve what Sanctuary did to me.” His smile vanished. “And I know that it took place a thousand years ago but watching that happen to the old Iain was still a pretty severe punch in the gut for me.” He chuckled. “I guess I’m inside my bubble.”
“What would have happened if you’d stopped your own kidnapping?”
“It would have caused a branch in the timeline. In one of them, that Iain would never have been kidnapped and would have gone on with his colorless existence.”
Her arms tightened around him. “Was it really that bad for you?”
“It wasn’t bad and it wasn’t good. Since I had no idea what kind of life I could be living,” he smiled again, “that being this one, I thought my life was all right. Empty of love, but all right.” He kissed her again and slipped out of her arms. “And it doesn’t matter. That isn’t my life. This is and it’s a place where we’re here and together and that’s what’s important.”
Ninhursag nodded. “And tomorrow you go down there. I wish I could go with you.”
“I wish you could too, but you’d stick out too much. Besides, you’re in charge of one of the reaction teams and April is in charge of the other, so you two can’t go.”
“I know.” She sighed. “And your security has to look fairly human to pass. That’s why you’re taking Heather, Irena and Vanessa.”
“It’s a solid team. They can more than keep me safe while the reaction team responds.” Iain turned back to the image of the Earth.
“I wish Elizabeth had completed her guard training.” Ninhursag ran a hand through Iain’s hair. “She’s got a vicious streak that you might have need of.”
Iain shrugged. “Maybe, but you and April insisted that only graduates get to guard me in what might be high threat areas. Besides, the fact of the matter is that I don’t intend to stay weeks and weeks. I want to check up on my sisters, offer them the chance to come with us and get my notes from my house. That will only take a few days.”
“We’ll be here longer than that,” Ninhursag said. “We’re going to do what we did on Kasumi’s world and buy everything we can that is new to us, especially entertainment items like movies, books and music. In the meantime, we’ll be setting up to return here from time to time so we can gather animal and possibly human DNA for our programs.”
“Well, I guess I’ll be available to help with any physical purchases that need done.” He glanced back at her. “Who am I supposed to be with tonight?”
“Sofia.”
“I need to be going then. She’ll want us to play with the girls before we play with each other, and I don’t want to be late for the shuttle in in the morning.”
Ninhursag laughed. “True.”
***
Iain drove the minivan down the ramp of the shuttle and onto the county road the shuttle had landed on. The vehicle looked like a Honda Odyssey but was in fact yet another of Theodora’s creations. He leaned out the window as he stopped. “Everyone in. We’ve still got a two hour drive to my house.”
Irena took the passenger seat as Heather and Vanessa got into the back. “I’ve been qualified by April to drive cars,” Heather said.
“That’s great,” Iain replied over his shoulder. “When you get a Texas driver’s license and after I verify that you don’t have April’s lead foot, I’ll let you drive.”
“Does driving like a bat out of hell suggest that Heather has a lead foot,” Vanessa asked in a tone that was entirely too innocent sounding.
“Does Heather drive like a bat out of hell,” Iain glanced back at the Elfqueen.
“She does,” Irena stated firmly.
Heather smiled weakly at Iain. “Sometimes?”
“I see.” Iain drove down the road as, behind them, the shuttle lifted off and wavered out of existence as its camouflage systems came online. “If it’s all the same to you, I think that for now, I’ll drive.”
***
The house Iain pulled up in front of was of a single story design and dated from the construction boom at the end of World War II. “This is where I lived before I was abducted.” He unbuckled the seat belt and opened the door.
Heather beat him out of the vehicle. “Irena, you’re with Iain. Vanessa, stay with me so we have a clear field of fire and aren’t crowding them at the door.”
“If you’re going to be hanging back,” Iain said as he headed for the front door, “get the mail too.” He gestured towards the end of the drive at a rural post box.
“I’ll do it,” Vanessa said.
Iain looked at the door and pulled a set of lockpicks out of his pocket. “I don’t have any keys,” he said to Irena as he quickly picked the lock of the deadbolt and then of the door itself. “They ended up at the bottom of whatever ocean I was brought to by Sanctuary. Well, I do have a spare set, but it’s in my office in the safe.”
“Do you remember the combination or are we going to have to cut it open?”
“Thanks to my twee, I remember the combo.” The house was neat but austere in decoration. Iain headed for a door and felt for a light. “But I can’t remember where the bloody switch is.” Light flared. “Found it!”
“What can I do,” Irena asked as the front door opened to admit Heather and Vanessa.
Iain was typing a set of passwords into the desktop computer. He grinned. “I’m in. Irena, right now you can’t really do much. Actually, that’s not quite true. I want to get this ready to go along with those notebooks over on that shelf. If you wouldn’t mind, you can gather them up for me.” He powered down the computer and began disconnecting the wiring. “Julia.”
The human lich poured off Iain’s arm. “Yes, my lord?”
“Please take this stuff to my lab on the Theodora. Inform Theodora that it’s private but she can still copy it all.”
Julia took the computer and Irena laid the notebooks on top of computer. “Yes, my lord. It will be done.” Julia stepped into the closest shadow and dropped into it.
Iain was looking around the room. “Heather, I want someone to go get Dominique.”
The Elfqueen raised an eyebrow. “May I ask why?”
“If we’re coming back to this world, like Ninhursag said she wants to, this place will do as well as any for an entrance point. Dominque can put in a door and we can either continue making payments on the house or just pay it off completely.”
Heather nodded. “Vanessa, Dominque will be ready for pickup in ten minutes. You’re detached to get her.”
“Iain is supposed to have as full a team as we can give him,” Vanessa said.
“We’ll wait here until you have returned with Dominique,” Iain interrupted as Heather opened her mouth. “I’m not trying to lesson my protection here. If nothing else, another Sanctuary might try for me since we’re still pretty close to the abduction time of the original me.”
Vanessa nodded. “Thank you.”
Iain grinned. “One of the last things I want to do is aggravate the mothers of my children, both current and future. Sometimes I don’t have a choice in doing so if I’m to stay as free as I can, but I try to carefully pick those battles. This one is an easy decision.” He looked at Heather. “Once we’re done here, we’ll go see my sister Rowan so she can cancel the missing person report she probably already filed about me.”
“What about your other sister,” Irena asked curiously.
“Jo?” Iain shook his head. “Jo is in a relationship with someone that I’ve never approved of. I still love her, but some of her life choices really need to be reexamined. He’s in a gang and I know he’s involved with some of the local drug trade. And, on top of everything else, he hits her. She tolerates the abuse and swears that he’ll stop soon. The only reason I haven’t gotten involved is because she says she loves him and specifically asked me to not do anything about him.”
Heather raised an eyebrow. “I am surprised you haven’t ignored your sister’s request and made him disappear.”
Iain smiled slightly. “First, I didn’t have the resources I do now and making someone disappear completely can be more difficult than it seems. Second, Jo has a history of bad choices in men. This means that if I did something permanent to Carlos and I got caught, I wouldn’t be around to try to protect her from the next guy.”
“You have those resources now,” Irena pointed out.
Iain’s smile faded. “You’re right. I’ll have to consider things again in light of these new developments. However, I love my sisters and I don’t want to end up estranged with them. If I didn’t care about them I wouldn’t have bothered to come here, a thousand years after I left.”
“Dominique is ready,” Vanessa announced. “I’ll be right back.” She vanished. A moment later she reappeared, this time with Dominique clutching her left hand.
Dominique looked around as Vanessa released her hand. “This is your house?”
“It was my house a long time ago,” Iain replied. “My home is in Texas with you and the others now. This will be our first base of operations on this world now.”
Dominique chuckled. “April is going to set foot in this building and present you with a ten page list of what she wants done to make it livable.”
“I think we’ll keep our presence here low key for a while,” Iain said dryly. “That means no huge expenditures for frippery.”
“If we end up living here while staying on this world,” Dominique said, “it’ll need some work. It is kind of a dump. Even I can see it needs painted, new carpeting and a bunch more things.”
Iain shrugged. “What it really needs is burned down and a new home built in its place.”
Dominique grinned. “True. We might eventually do just that. Does this place have a basement for the door?
“It does not.”
The Archmage nodded absently. “I’ll put in a temporary door using the master bedroom door. Later we’ll do it right with a full security door somewhere in the house.” She gave him a direct look. “Aren’t you supposed to be off to see a sister?”
There was a sudden banging from the front of the house as someone beat on the front door with a heavy hand. There was a pause and more thuds sounded.
“Irena, you have Iain,” Heather said, “while I see who it is.” She headed for the front door and opened it as someone hit it again. “Hello?”
It was a pretty brunette several centimeters taller than Heather was. She had an athletic build and her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her jeans looked painted on and her button down shirt was also rather snug. Hazel eyes glittered angrily at the Elfqueen. “Who the hell are you?”
Heather smiled disarmingly. “I’m Heather. Who are you?”
“I’m James’ girlfriend. Is he here?”
“Hello Karen,” Iain said from where he’d followed Heather to the front door. “Ladies, this is Karen Edgewood. She used to be my girlfriend.”
“So this is the famous ex,” Irena said, her Scottish accent thicker than usual.
“We haven’t broken up. It was just a misunderstanding!” Karen looked past Heather and scowled. “How many women do you have in there, James?”
Irena grinned cheerfully. “Four and he’s had his wicked way with all of us. Repeatedly.”
“I’m talking to James,” Karen snapped. She tried to push past Heather, who blocked the doorframe with her body. “Let me in.”
“He said hello,” Heather said pleasantly. “He didn’t invite you inside.”
Karen looked past Heather at Iain. “James, tell her to let me in.”
“Why are you here, Karen? I told you not to come back after I threw you out. You’ve already got all of your stuff and I’m kind of busy right now.”
Irena tucked herself under Iain’s arm and nuzzled his ear. “He is,” she said, “very busy.”
“James,” Karen said, shooting Irena a look of utter loathing, “I need to talk to you.” Her eyes flicked over Irena. “Alone.”
“Not happening,” Irena said cheerfully.
Karen’s mouth twisted. “What, are you afraid I’ll steal him back?”
“That idea is completely laughable,” Irena replied. “Iain cannot be forced to do anything he doesn’t want to do.” Her eyes gleamed maliciously. “And he’s been very honest about the fact that he does not want to do you.”
Karen’s eyes narrowed. “Iain? His name is James, bitch.”
“My middle name is Iain,” Iain replied. “And I like using it. I got tired of your games, and I got really tired of you having a set of rules that applied to you and another that applied to me. We’re done. Please leave.”
Heather smiled brightly. “Vanessa.”
“Yes, Heather?”
“Escort Karen to her vehicle. Don’t force her inside it or anything, but don’t let her come back to the house.”
“Yes, Heather.” Vanessa stepped forward and Heather dropped an arm so she could get by. “Come along, Karen. You’ll leave unless you want me to call the sheriff on you. Understand?” Karen glared at her but headed for her car. Vanessa waited until she was getting into the vehicle before speaking again. “Karen? James has been nice so far, but if you come back again he will get a restraining order sworn out against you. And then, when you ignore that order and I beat your ass into the ground, I will say it’s because you tried to attack him and everyone else will verify my story.”
“James is mine; you bitch.”
“I don’t think he was ever yours, Karen. You don’t understand how he thinks well enough to get inside his bubble where you would matter to him. If you had, he’d have been willing to negotiate with you over your affairs.” She smiled gently. “It’s good for you that you realize what you threw away, but if you were really smart you’d have understood what you were doing before you did it, not afterward. Then you wouldn’t have ended your relationship with him. Do not come back.” Vanessa picked up a fist sized rock from the ground. “I want you to watch this.” She held out her hand and squeezed. There was a muted crack and the rock crumbled. Karen stared in shock as Vanessa wiped her palms clean. “I’m serious. Do not come sniffing around James again. He has agreed to be the father to my daughters. I will let nothing and no one interfere with that.”
Karen looked out the window at the fragments of stone on the ground, started up her car and drove away without a word.
Vanessa watched until she was gone. “Thank you, Daya,” she said quietly, “for the information on sheriffs and restraining orders.”
Daya’s voice sounded from Vanessa’s phone. “You’re welcome. I know you don’t want to kill her, but that you might decide to if only because by doing so you can keep Iain from killing her when she threatens one of you. Because you don’t want to kill her, I want to try to keep you from having to kill her, no matter how much she might deserve to die.”
“You are a good sister.” Vanessa headed back to the house. “She was a bit obnoxious,” she told Heather and Iain, “but I hope that I have convinced her not to return.”
“I hope you have better luck with that than I have so far,” Iain noted. “If she does return and we’re making this a transit point between here and home, I’ll have a good reason to get rid of her.”
“So,” Irena said. “You have the same name as James McCoy?”
“I have the same last name too, although we have different middle names. His is Alvin and mine is Iain.” He grimaced. “I’m not sure which of us got screwed more with that.”
Heather raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Our initials. James Iain McCoy becomes Jim. I always liked Iain more than James, but even when I was James, I despised having other people give me a name based on their convenience. I’m not Jim and I’m certainly not Jimmy.”
Heather looked thoughtful. “And James would be jam?”
“Yeah. And children can be little assholes to each other. I’m absolutely certain that James never got teased for being jam. Oh, wait, got that backwards. I’m sure the little shits did torment him about it, if only because James mentioned it once when we were comparing pasts.”
“Are you and he friends,” Vanessa asked curiously.
“I like James and he likes me, but we share one person inside our bubbles, which is Catherine. As far as I know, I’m not in his bubble and he’s not in mine.” He headed for the bedroom. “Dominique, are you good for us to go on?”
The Archmage looked up from where she was drawing some symbols on the inside of the bedroom door. “Go away, I’m busy.”
“We’ll take that as a yes. Ladies, time to go. Anyone who needs to pee, do it now.”
***
Iain pulled up to the curb and put the minivan in park. They’d stopped in front another older house in a community of other older houses, but this one was larger than Iain’s and had a second story. He took a deep breath, held it, and slowly exhaled completely. “I haven’t been this fucking nervous in years.” He held out his hand to Irena, index finger extended. “Bite me, no blood.”
“You ruined it with the no blood part.” Irena leaned forward, sucked his finger into her mouth and bit down hard enough to make Iain yelp. She grinned as he pulled his hand back. “Did I do good? Do I get a treat for it?”
“You got to bite me. I think that’s enough of a present in and of itself.” Vanessa laughed. “However, it did what I wanted.” He unsnapped the seatbelt and opened the door. “It would be hilarious if, after that workup, she’s not home.”
“Her car could be in the garage,” Heather pointed out.
“I checked with my perception. It is. Unless she got a ride with someone, she’s here.”
“Why does your sister have such a big house,” Vanessa asked as everyone else got out of the minivan.”
“Rowan kept the family home because she was talking about getting married and having kids. Jo lives here too when she’s not living with her boyfriend.” He looked across the vehicle. “You have the breakfast tacos, right?”
Vanessa held up a Whataburger bag. “I do. Why did we stop for these?”
“A Whataburger breakfast taco is one of Rowan’s favorite foods. Once she’s done being mad at me we can use it as a peace offering.”
“It’s not breakfast time anymore.”
Iain grinned. “Whataburger is good all day long.”
Heather looked around. “We won’t all crowd her at the door. Vanessa, clear the area behind the house. Irena, you’re with Iain.”
“On it,” Vanessa said as she handed the bag of breakfast tacos to Irena. Then she headed around the house.
Irena’s eyes glinted mischievously. “I get to be Mrs. Grey?”
Heather started to say something and stopped. Then she shrugged. “If you want to assume harem rank that you don’t have, that’s beyond my scope of authority and I’ll just let April and Ninhursag deal with you.”
Irena blinked and nodded; her face suddenly serious. “Message received.”
“Good. I like you and I’d miss you.” She looked at Iain. “I miss my bow. Can you teach me to store my bow on my arm like you do?”
“We’ll have to find out, but I think so.”
“Please make that a priority for me.”
Iain nodded. “I won’t forget. Let’s go, Irena.” They got to the front door. He immediately knocked firmly on it. “Hanged for a sheep.”
There was the sound of deadbolts unlocking and the door opened. Irena found herself looking at a woman who was a little shorter than Iain. Her shoulder length hair was blonde and her eyes a brilliant blue. She peered quizzically at Iain. “Do I know you? You seem familiar.”
“It’s a long story, Rowan. If you’ve got a missing person’s report filed on me, you need to cancel it.”
Rowan’s eyes went wide. “James?” Her eyes filled with fury. “Get inside so I can yell at you without the neighbors watching,” she hissed.
“This is Irena and she’s staying with me,” Iain said calmly. “Later you’ll meet Heather and Vanessa. You can still yell at me, though.”
Rowan turned to Irena. “Good afternoon, Irena. I’m Rowan McCoy. I’m sorry about what you’re going to see, but I’m a bit pissed at my brother. Please don’t hold that against me.”
“I won’t,” Irena said cheerfully as she and Iain stepped inside. “You compartmentalize nearly as well as Iain does.”
Rowan smiled at her as she closed the door. “I don’t think that’s a compliment.”
“In some ways it probably isn’t,” Irena agreed.
Rowan rounded on Iain. “Where in the hell have you been? It’s been four days! And what is it with the wig and,” she frowned. “What the hell?” She poked him in the side and her eyes went wide. “You,” she looked up at him. “This is impossible. Your stomach is flat. Did you have a tummy tuck?”
“Do you remember playing D&D with me and the gang and a spirited discussion about dimensional travel and time differentials that broke out after I sent the party to another universe where you guys spent several months and then had you all came back a minute after you’d left so you could still face Sir Randall’s vampire girlfriend and the big reveal where he, along with everyone else, found out what she was?”
Rowan snorted amusedly. “I remember it. Doug still talks about it.”
“I didn’t realize you were still talking to Doug.”
Rowan smiled. “We stayed on decent terms after we broke up, James. Unlike yours, my relationships don’t normally end in fireworks and screaming tantrums from my partners.”
“Karen was an outlier and we both know that. Anyway,” Iain said, “the D&D thing happened to me.”
Rowan raised an eyebrow. “You were sexing up a vampire and found out she was really a lich when you tried to destroy her? I always thought of Karen more as a leech than a vampire. You know, spineless, loathsome and wanting to suck you and your bank account dry.”
“No, I was abducted to another universe. There I met some nice ladies. It took some time to get back home. To you, I’ve been gone for four days. For me, it’s been years.” He smiled. “And before you try to tell me that this is all bullshit, you know full well that I could come up with a much more plausible lie.”
Rowan shook her head. “Turn around.” Iain did and she untied his ponytail. She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned forward to stare at his scalp. She hugged him suddenly and ran her hands over his chest and stomach while she sniffed the back of his neck. She finally stepped back. “It’s real. If I’m willing to accept that you’re my brother and not some alien from a Doctor Who episode or that I’ve lost my mind, then there’s no way you could grow out that hair or lose weight and put on muscle like you have unless you were gone for a while.” She cocked her head. “Explain Irena and the two other women.”
Iain looked at Irena. “Would you be so kind as to go and get Vanessa and Heather?”
Irena nodded. “Do I give you two a few minutes of privacy?”
“That would be nice.”
“You get five minutes. After that, Heather will probably carve her way through the wall.”
“Thank you.”
Irena grinned and gave him a quick kiss. “Sure, Iain.” Then she opened the front door and headed outside.
Iain shrugged. “They’re my friends, my lovers and so much more.” He smiled. “The relationship I have with all of them is much too complicated to explain in a few minutes.”
Rowan stepped up and wrapped her arms around him. “I am so glad to see you again.” She looked up at him. “Jo is in the hospital. She’s been there for two days.”
Iain’s face set. “Carlos?”
“Carlos. She was pregnant, James. He beat her so hard that she miscarried. I don’t think it was an accident.”
“Police?”
Rowan shook her head. “She refuses to talk to them, just like always. But she has been demanding to talk to you.”
Iain hugged Rowan for a moment. “Let’s go see what she has to say.”
Rowan reached up and squeezed his bicep. “You’ve got a lot more muscles than you used to have. When did you decide you liked working out?”
Iain grinned. “Apparently, when it became a binary choice between working out and training or very likely being eaten by something really mean, I can stick to a workout program. Eventually it became a habit and now I miss it if I skive off from it. Now get your stuff so we can go see about Jo.”
“I’ll be right back.” Rowan dashed off and came back a few minutes later with her purse. She looked around. “I thought Irena was bringing your other two friends here.”
“She did. I told them to go out to the car. I also told them you had shotgun so we could talk on the way.”
They went outside and Rowan locked the door. She turned around and blinked at the three women standing around the minivan. “You have a mom car? I thought you wouldn’t be caught dead in a mom car.”
“I said I wouldn’t own a minivan until I became a parent,” Iain said loftily.
Rowan gave him a sidelong look as they got to the minivan. Irena, and Heather were in the very back with Vanessa behind the driver’s seat. “Does this mean you’re a parent,” she asked teasingly.
“We have two beautiful fraternal twins together,” Vanessa said with a smirk. “They’re with my sisters now but you’ll meet them later.”
Rowan goggled at her. “Oh.” She got into the front passenger seat as Iain took the driver’s seat. “I thought you didn’t want children?”
“At the time I said that I didn’t. Things change. The redhead with the twins is Vanessa and the blond is Heather. Ladies, my other sister, Jo, is at hospital and we’re going to go see her.”
“What happened to her,” Irena asked.
Iain looked at Rowan. “Irena is an MD where we come from. Jo got beat up by her boyfriend again.”
“Wow.” Rowan looked back at the others. “A doctor. What do you do?”
“I’m a bodyguard,” Heather said. “Vanessa is a researcher.”
“Right now, I’m also a bodyguard,” Vanessa corrected her. “All three of us are guarding Iain.”
“Why does he need guards?”
“Iain’s done some things that made him an important person where we live,” Vanessa explained quietly. “When he’s not home, we guard him to help keep him safe from people who might want to harm him. We don’t know this place, so he gets guards.”
Rowan looked at Iain. “How do you feel about this, James?”
“I’m Iain now and I fight it as much as you’d expect me to.”
“What did you do to become an important person,” Rowan asked. “Did you find a cure for cancer?”
Iain glanced at her as he signaled a turn as he approached the next red light. “Find? I did not. Make one available to some people? That I did do.”
Rowan looked around with a surprised expression. “We’re going to the hospital.” She looked at Iain. “You know where she is.”
“I asked a woman named Theodora to find her for me and she did.”
“Just how many women are you involved with?” She blinked when the three other women in the car laughed. “That sounds like a lot more than I’d expect.”
“It’s a lot more than I ever expected,” Iain muttered.
“You? You’re popular with women?” Rowan grinned. “Are you the last man left?”
“Iain’s a good man, a great lover and the best daddy in the world according to his children,” Heather said with a smirk. She cocked her head. What do your adult children on Twenty Three say about you?
Usually that the percentage of the taxes that I give them for their work isn’t enough.
Heather chuckled. “I hope you get to meet them soon, since you’re their aunt.”
Vanessa opened the Whataburger bag. “Rowan, we brought breakfast tacos.”
Rowan’s head came around and she smiled. “Great. I skipped breakfast this morning.” She sniffed the package that Vanessa handed her. “I don’t suppose there’s some coffee or soda to go with it?”
Iain slowed and changed lanes to the right. “There’s a Jack In The Box up ahead. We’ll hit the drive through and get drinks.”
Irena grinned. “He takes hints well, doesn’t he?”
Rowan chuckled. “He always did.”
***
Rowan stopped dead in her tracks so abruptly that Irena almost ran into her. “What the hell?”
Iain glanced at Vanessa and Heather. “What is it, sis?”
Fear laced her voice. “Jo’s room is empty.”
Iain looked at the room she was staring at. The room had been emptied and cleaned. “Shit.”
“Stop cursing,” Rowan said absently as she headed for the nurse’s station, where an older, stout woman was working at a computer. “Terri, where’s Jo?”
The nurse looked up and smiled widely. “Good afternoon, Rowan. They didn’t tell you?” She looked around quickly and dropped her voice. “Jo got moved to the ICU this morning.” She gave Rowan a compassionate look. “She had a stroke.”
Rowan paled. “Oh, no.”
“How bad was it,” Iain asked.
The nurse frowned at him. Rowan put her hand on Iain’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “This is my brother, James. He just got back into town.”
“I’d have been here sooner,” Iain said easily, “but I was out on a red snapper charter in the Gulf and my phone fell overboard when I did something stupid. I only got back this morning.”
“How bad is the stroke,” Irena asked.
“This is Irena,” Iain explained.
“Is she conscious? Is she lucid? Is she breathing on her own or she using a mechanical assist?” Irena asked. She smiled when the nurse looked surprised. “I’m an RN and I work in an ER. I’m interested because I hope Jo will be my sister in law someday soon.” She glanced at Iain. “Although I may have to ask him to marry me if he waits too much longer.”
Terri immediately warmed up. “It’s really too early to know. They’re still evaluating the extent of any possible damage. She was conscious and lucid, but disoriented. The doctor did induce a coma to keep her under and keep her blood pressure down as soon as she got to the ICU.”
“Can we see her,” Rowan asked.
“You should be able to. The ICU is on the third floor, and you want to speak to Carmen. She’s the ICU charge nurse.” Terri smiled. “Once she’s out of the ICU, we’ve got her room all ready for her return.”
“Thank you, Terri. You and the other nurses have been a godsend for Jo.” She looked around. “Where are Heather and Vanessa?”
“They moved back into the hall as soon they realized something was wrong,” Iain said as he led his sister back to the hallway and pressed the call button for the elevator. “See.”
Heather smiled at Rowan. “Having Irena be his girlfriend is normal. Having two other strange women around can raise odd flags and, if nothing else, it’s much more memorable. We don’t want to be memorable. We want to be overlooked, but we can’t leave Iain alone here.”
“Elevator’s here,” Iain announced.
Rowan got in beside Iain. “I know that tone and the sudden change of topic. You don’t sound happy about their guarding you.”
Iain chuckled as he pressed the button with the big 3 on it. “I guess that hasn’t changed. I understand why they feel I need guarded. I disagree with their reasoning.”
“And you haven’t found the right leverage to make it stop?”
Heather gave Rowan a worried glance as Iain shook his head. “No, I can put a stop to it whenever I decide that the ensuing firestorm is worth it. You sometimes put up with things from the people you love that you wouldn’t tolerate from anyone else.” He gave her a sly smile. “You should understand that, considering some of the shit I pulled.”
Rowan snickered. “And you put up with the trouble I’ve caused you as much as I put up with yours.” The elevator opened and they got out.
Irena turned to him. “Iain, I have the same knowledge that Candace has about strokes and the circumstances and potential consequences involving them, but she has a lot more hands-on experience with it than I do. I think she should be here.”
“That must have been hard to admit.”
Irena smiled. “I’d say you have no idea, but the man I’m involved with has this habit of stepping back and letting the best qualified person he can find handle things. I don’t want to fuck this up when your sister is my patient.”
“You’re the expert. You want Candace to lead, she’ll lead. Now to get her here. I need a bathroom.”
“I can send Vanessa,” Heather said.
“I was told that the minimum acceptable force to guard me is three,” Iain said calmly. “If you are willing to send one of my guards away, here, that means someone is either lying or you’d be in deep shit for violating the rules I was told are absolute.” Heather blinked and flushed slowly. “I know the final decision was made above your level and I protect you as much as you protect me. I’ll serve as an anchor so Lynn can bring Candace here. And that’s why I need a bathroom, preferably a unisex one.”
“There’s a handicapped bathroom just outside the ICU,” Rowan said. Iain raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. “They brought Jo here first, because of her injuries. It was a day before she was moved to a regular room.” She blinked away tears. “I don’t want to lose her, James.” She shook her head. “Should I try to start calling you Iain like they do?”
Iain hugged Rowan to him and she clung to him desperately. “James McCoy died years ago when he was kidnapped from here. You’re still my sister and I love you but, inside, I’m not the man who you last spoke to four days ago.” He grinned. “I’ve found women that I can love and people that I can respect and sometimes even want to be around.”
“How long were you gone?”
Iain gently pushed his sister away. “It’s complicated and depends on which universe you use as the baseline universe for that calculation. Here, it’s been four days. Another place, it’s been much longer than that, and that’s all I’m going to say about that right now. Now please show me that bathroom.” Rowan led them to the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t let her distract you,” Vanessa teased as the door closed. “If it takes more than five minutes I’m going to knock.”
A few minutes later the door opened and Rowan stared as Iain and Candace stepped out of the bathroom. “How?”
Iain smiled. “Candace, this is my sister Rowan. Rowan, this is Candace.”
Candace held out her hand. “Hello, Rowan.”
Rowan took it with an amused look. “You sound a lot like Irena. Are you from Scotland too?”
“I am.”
“How did you get into an otherwise empty bathroom with my brother?”
“Magic is probably the best word to use right now,” Candace said. “Now, I do look forward to getting to know you much better, but I understand that I first have a patient in your sister. How about we find her?”
“Unless you work here, they won’t let you touch Jo,” Rowan warned.
“Well, right now all I want to do is see her. Let us find out if they’ll let us at least do that.”
Rowan headed for the nurse’s station. An older black woman watched them come. “Good afternoon, I was told to ask for Carmen by Terri Stroh.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “I am Carmen Delgado. How may I help you?”
“My sister was moved here after she had a stroke this morning. I just found out about it and I’d like to see her.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “Name?”
“Jocasta McCoy. I’m her sister, Rowan McCoy and this Candace.”
“Candace Grey,” Candace supplied helpfully. “I’m their cousin.”
Carmen looked them over. “Are all six of you together?”
“I’m Jo’s brother and we are all together,” said Iain. “But only four of us would like to see Jo while she’s in the ICU. And if there’s a limitation on visitors, we’ll do it in rotation, if that’s all right with you.”
Carmen smiled warmly. “I’m glad you’re willing to be reasonable because there’s a limit of three people at a time.”
“I know how obnoxious people can sometimes be and I wouldn’t want to be one of those to you,” Iain returned her smile. “Rowan, you, Candace and Irena can go first. I’ll wait to see her until you’re done.”
Candace nodded. “Carmen, where is my cousin?
Carmen got up. “I’ll show you.” She led them into the ICU and into one of the rooms, pausing in the doorway. “Here she is. Understand that she’s in an induced coma. She won’t respond to you.”
“Thank you,” Rowan said. “We understand. Unfortunately, this isn’t my sister’s first time in a hospital, or even in this ICU.”
“What happened to her?”
“Her boyfriend. We don’t like it, but so far she refuses to talk to the police about the beatings. Maybe this time it’ll be different, but I’m past hoping something will change.”
Carmen frowned. “The police don’t need her statement to charge her boyfriend with domestic abuse.”
“No, they don’t and, yes, they have arrested him for it. Twice.” Rowan’s voice was heavy with bitterness. “Each time the DA refuses to pursue the case because my sister won’t say a word against her boyfriend and so the DA doesn’t believe he can easily get a conviction. And, according to the last public defender my sister had, it’s all about maintaining a high conviction rate and not trying to protect women from their abusers.” She smiled sadly at Carmen. “And you already know all about that, don’t you, since this is where the battered women often end up, isn’t it?”
Carmen grimaced. “I do,” she said in a grim voice. There was a beep from the nurse’s station. “I have to go.”
“Thanks for taking care of Jo.”
Carmen smiled. “You’re welcome.” She hurried off.
Jo was lying on her back, with an IV in her arm that ran to a drug dispensing machine. A bag of saline hung next to it and slowly dripped into her line. Under her nose was a cannula to supply her with oxygen without needing to be intubated. The equipment beeped regularly as it tracked her blood oxygen levels, blood pressure and pulse. The bedding was pulled up to her neck, hiding her body from view. Her face was heavily bandaged over the cheeks and one eye was swollen shut. It and the visible portions of her face were purple and yellow from bruising.
Candace put a hand on Jo’s forehead. “Irena, tell me what you detect.”
Irena put her hand on the top of Jo’s head. She blinked. “That’s a lot of broken bones.”
“Ignore that. Always start by focusing on the brain, the spine, the lungs and the heart. These are the most critical and the things likely to fail without warning and kill the patient. The other injuries we can deal with later.”
Irena nodded. “She’s had multiple strokes, not just one.”
Candace gave her a quick smile. “That’s correct. You’ll find that’s often the case when examining a stroke victim. Sometimes it’s multiple small strokes that added up and sometimes it’s some small strokes and one or more major ones. Sometimes you’ll find that there were previous small strokes that the patient ignored. If you’re strong enough, you want to heal them all at the same time. If you’re not, see which ones are the most life threatening and start there. Now you heal her while I monitor.”
“What are you two doing,” Rowan asked.
“Hush,” Candace said sharply. “I need to pay attention to this.”
Irena closed her eyes for several seconds. “There, I’m finished with the strokes.”
“Nicely done. I don’t see any long term damage and I don’t think she’ll lose any memories or capability from those strokes.”
Irena’s eyes opened as Candace dropped her hand away. “What’s wrong with her metabolism? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“That’s because your training was with pokegirls and not humans. She’s addicted to something, opiates of some kind, I think. Don’t do anything else to her.” Candace turned to Rowan. “Irena has healed the strokes and the damage from them We couldn’t find any more damage to her brain, other than a severe concussion that’s already healing. Your sister should recover with no loss of cognitive or physical ability.”
“You’re serious? You really healed her? How?”
“Once again, the word magic will neatly explain it since we don’t have time for a detailed explanation of how our healing works. Your sister has a great many other injuries. There are several broken bones in her face, hands and arms. Additionally, she’s got two free floating ribs that aren’t in any danger of puncturing any organs, at least not right now. Her right kidney is badly bruised and her liver shows signs of cirrhosis. She’s also addicted to something, but I can’t tell what without some tests that I can’t do here.” Candace’s eyes were serious. “I can take her as my patient, if you want, but understand that if I do, I will see her treatment through all the way to the end.”
“What does that mean?”
“Considering what I’ve learned about Carlos and what Iain knows of his personality, while it’s possible that he addicted her to something against her will, the fact remains that she is an addict. Just clearing the drugs out of her system will not remove the psychosomatic craving she’s going to have, no matter whether he addicted her against her will or if she took the drugs voluntarily. She’s going to need therapy and that’s something that can only be rushed so much. If I take her as my patient, she’ll be my patient for probably at least a year.” Candace gave her a reassuring smile. “While Iain is the eldest child and therefore her guardian unless she’s legally given that responsibility to someone else, she’s always been closer to you than to him and so I want your request for me to take her as my patient before I will.” She glanced at the bed. “Right now, Jo cannot give consent, so it’s your choice. Iain has already asked me to accept her, but I want your permission too. And if you accept, you’ll have to be there to help since she trusts you more than anyone else.”
Rowan frowned. “Wait, how do you know about Carlos?”
“Would you believe it’s magic?”
“I’d like a little more detail than that, please.”
“I can communicate mentally with Iain and he’s been explaining a little about the situation after he approved me taking Jo as a patient, contingent on your approval, which I have asked for. Would you like some proof?”
“Yes.”
“Give me a number.”
Rowan smirked. “Forty two.”
Candace grabbed her hand. “Let’s go see Iain.” She pulled Rowan out of Jo’s room and over to where Iain was waiting. “Well?”
“What is the answer to life, the universe and everything? Oh, wait, the answer didn’t have to be in the form of a question. Forty two.”
Rowan was staring at him. “How did you do that?”
“Do you remember twee?”
Rowan blinked. “The secondary neural net you invented for one of your stories?”
“In the multiverse, if you look hard enough, you can find that everything is real, somewhere. We found that place and everyone with me that you’ve met today has a twee. I intend to offer them to you and Jo. Tell Candace yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, she can take Jo as her patient to care for. I’m not sure why, but for some reason she really wants your approval for this.”
Rowan looked at Candace. “You can help her?”
“Irena is my student, and she has already healed all of the damage from the strokes and dissolved the remaining clots that caused them. I can heal all of her other injuries. I can even correct the improperly healed broken bones from her previous beatings, although I may have to break some of them again so they can be properly lined up before being healed.”
Rowan stared into Candace’s eyes for what seemed like a long time before she nodded. “Help her.”
“I can do everything I need to in order to make sure she’s fully healed?”
Rowan smiled. “Yes.”
“Iain, you are witness to her agreement.” She smiled at him. “I carry your blood and the blood of Shikarou. I am easily as fey as you are, and she just made a deal with me.”
Iain glanced at Rowan and back to Candace. “I am a witness to the agreement. What is this about?”
“Your sister Jo is going to need psychiatric care for her addiction. I can help Ganieda and Marguerite carry that out, but it’s going to take time. Even with dreamtime it may take a year or so. We are not going to stay here, so they have to come with us, Jo so I can treat her and Rowan because Jo is going to need her sister and brother during what’s coming for her. Yes, need.”
Iain smiled slowly. “You’re a cunning little minx. That was well done and leaves me no outs if I’m to make sure Rowan isn’t foresworn.”
“I know,” Candace said. “I also know you don’t want to leave them here. Now you can’t and it’s not your fault.”
“James, what is she talking about?”
“Where we are from, the fey are real and agreements with them are truly binding,” Iain said as he still looked at Candace. “Being forsworn carries real consequences if the fey involved seeks to invoke the old ways of the fey. The goddesses Danu and Danu would absolutely not let pass any opportunity to smite my loved ones and me. You agreed to let Candace care for Jo. This is significant because, as Candace says, and she’s right, it is highly likely that Jo’s treatment is going to take longer than we’re going to stay here, so she has to come with us. You agreed to let Candace do everything she thinks she needs to in order to facilitate Jo’s recovery and she has stated that you need to be there for Jo. That means Jo comes with us. It also means you must come with us too, and I have to enforce that by kidnapping you if necessary to protect you from the fallout of being forsworn.” He shook his head. “But we’re not leaving tomorrow. That means that I have the time to get you some help packing your things for transport.”
“What about my house and my job,” Rowan protested.
“I’ll pay off the house so we still have it and you don’t like your job all that much. Where we live, we’re rather wealthy and you can do whatever you want. You can find a job you like. You can even do philanthropic work, which I know you’d like to do. If you’d rather, you could sit around and eat bonbons all day. They’re kind of gross and it’s a horrible thing to do to chocolate, but whatever.” He smiled slightly. “The only thing you can’t do, thanks to your agreement and Candace’s insistence, is stay here.” His smile became a sly grin. “And your complaint that there aren’t any good men won’t work there. You’ll have your pick of them there, especially if we let it slip out that you’re fertile.”
Rowan folded her arms. “And what exactly does that mean?”
“I’ll explain later.” He looked at Candace. “Is Jo stable?”
“She is.”
“Hospitals don’t like to release people to anything other than another hospital or hospice. They are unlikely to release Jo to us, so I’ll have her abducted tonight and brought to the Theodora. Rowan and I will be out somewhere in public where we can be seen not being involved in any shenanigans regarding my sister.” He nodded to himself. “If we do this right, the hospital will settle out of court and that’ll pay off both houses. I’d like to avoid suing them, but if we don’t it’ll raise red flags and make the authorities rethink our possible involvement in Jo’s disappearance. We’ll donate most of the money to charity to placate Lucifer, Scheherazade and Pandora.” He grimaced. “And Sorrel. Can’t forget Sorrel.”
Candace grinned. “You should have her blessed and gotten it over with.”
“We have discussed that option before. She doesn’t want to be an Angel.” He shrugged. “If she decides to evolve, I’ll help her become whatever she wants.” He looked at Rowan. “So, you need to pack. Want help?”
“I am not going with you. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I have a nice home in a different universe. If I tried to settle here, I’d run afoul of the bigamy laws, for starters. And then there are a bunch of other problems what would crop up, like where would I put the rest of the clan and the government trying to recruit or steal them for super spies or soldiers or whatnot.” He smiled at his sister. “It’s much easier to move you, even if I have to use force to do it. I love you, but I have a family with wives and children and they come first.”
“If I yell for help,” Rowan said with a glower at him, “people will come to see what’s wrong.”
“Yes, they will,” Iain said agreeably. “And then Heather, Irena, Vanessa and Candace would help me neutralize them as peacefully as possible, but I can’t guarantee nobody will get hurt. Then I’ll take you and Jo and leave and the nice charge nurse who has been nothing but pleasant to you will be punished by the hospital because they will blame her and the others on the duty staff for losing a patient. And since she’s not in my bubble, I won’t care. So, do you want that on your conscience?”
“Won’t they blame the night staff if you take her tonight?”
“No, because there are cameras monitoring the ICU, including one watching the nurse’s station, and I’ll make sure she disappears while the entire staff is visible to the cameras. The camera covering the entrance and the ones covering the elevators and stairs won’t show anything, especially not the passage of a patient in a bed, which will let the staff off the hook. If I take you and her now, I won’t be able to make that arrangement happen to help them.”
“Why are you doing this, James?”
He sighed. “It’s Iain. You know the old stories. What can happen if you break an agreement with a fey?”
“The Wild Hunt can chase down the oath breaker and kill them or do any of a long list of terrible things to them.” Rowan glanced at Candace. “Is she really fey?”
“The blood of at least one unseelie Sidhe flows through her veins,” Iain said quietly. “I didn’t expect her to pull anything like this, but that shows she’s tricksy enough to be one. What’s important is that there are fey. They are real and you’ll get to meet at least two of them in the fairly near future.”
“Why do you say that?”
“One of them is your sister in law and the other is her mother and they live with us. We also have a collection of fey goblins in the clan.”
“Clan? Like a Tirsuli clan from your stories?”
“Exactly. We’re Grey clan. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to pay my respects to my sister before we head back to your place to start packing.”
Rowan folded her arms. “I am not packing.”
Iain’s smile vanished and he stepped up to stand nose to nose with Rowan. “Fine. Don’t pack. I’ll have Theodora make a duplicate of your house and we’ll swap them out so you can take your house with you. But understand this, Rowan Iseult McCoy, you are going with us. You can bluster and threaten and complain and none of it will change that fact one iota. If you run, I’ll find you. I always have and I always will.” He smiled. “Besides, I seem to remember my middle sister making me swear an oath that we would always be together, she and I and our little sister. And you know how seriously I take solemn oaths.”
“I don’t like you very much right now.”
“You’ll get over it. You always do on the rare occasion when I’m right. Jo will get the best care, better than you can imagine. You will too, and you’ll find the place where we’re going is rather pleasant. I own a ranch in Sabine County.”
She shook her head slightly. “And just how big is your ranch, mister?”
“It’s all of Sabine County and parts of the counties to the east as well as a chunk of Louisiana.”
Rowan looked at Candace. “Is he telling the truth?”
“He is. I think parts of it are very pretty.”
“Parts?”
Candace chuckled. “I don’t think anyone finds the obstacle course pretty, except maybe April and Sofia.” The other women laughed. “Iain, go see your sister so we can go help Rowan get ready for the move, whether she packs or not.”
“Yes, Miss Candace, I’s going, Miss Candace.” Iain headed Jo’s room at a brisk walk. “Heather, Vanessa, post.”
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth – Vampire
Matilda - White Tigress
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
1048 Elves & Elfqueens
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Liadan - Twau
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Selsharra of Evermeet
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)