A quick meal and some dishes later, Sigyn and I walked to my car; an
old run down two door that was probably only a little younger than
me. Painted an ugly shade of brown that was chipped in a few other
paint jobs underneath, probably would come up related to a crime if
someone looked up the vin number, and actually mine
which, was a nice feeling. An old junk yard rescue that Samuel
managed to get fixed up and sent my way on The Lady’s dime, even if
I wasn’t sure how
he’d convinced her.
It fucking sucked as a car, the AC and heater barely worked and the
radio only played CDs, but it ran with only some complaint from the
engine and wasn’t actively falling apart, and that’s all I
needed. Sigyn flipping through my CDs with some boredom as she sat
back in the passenger seat and I plugged in the address on my phone
while reaching behind me.
“I need to pick something up from Goodfellow anyway, and he said
he’d force a brief meeting with the queen,” I explained fetching
a more formal looking button down from the back. One of my projects,
it was a relatively decent quality white cotton and, paired with my
full maxi skirt in black and my red leather jacket, actually looked
halfway decent.
The sort of halfway formality I was expected to hold up for important
meetings even as I continued, “we’ll swing by Vergil after, then
you can probably head home. You need me to I can try swinging you by
your place, not like I’m not running the roads all day anyway.”
“That bad?” the girl asked, raising a brow even while watching me
change my shirt out of the corner of her eye. Not really hiding her
appreciation of the view even as she decided to announce out of
nowhere, “your bra’s the wrong size.”
“Not too bad, just gotta swing by and pick up a present for my dad
from Elizabeth, Percy’s going to help me with some shopping for
Martin. From there I just gotta swing back here, pick up Lord, go
meet up with Gevaudan and Martin,” I explained, smiling softly at
the brief idea of normalcy before her second point clicked for me as
I looked over to her. Pulling my half-buttoned shirt a little tighter
together as I asked, “and what?”
“New looking bra, lace is still fresh and the underwire’s not
fucked which tends to happen fast, but you’re already on the last
hook, so probably go up a little on the band. The cup size is too
small on you even if the band was right, makes sense with you putting
on weight from when I first met you. No one ever taught you how to
measure? I can help later,” and the half-one finished off that
tangent groaning as she laid her head back against her chair, “and
who picked out these fucking CDs? Not a bad selection, but
really? Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, Tracy Chapman’s self-titled, Jim
Croce’s Greatest Hits, Born to Run, Slippery When Wet, the
Footloose Soundtrack. Did you pick these out? You’re a leather
jacket wearing, cigarette smoking, werewolf and these are your first
choices?”
“Samuel gave them to me, said they were some his favorites,” I
tried to fight the complaints even as I started driving. Sigyn
eventually settling on Tusk and leaning back in her seat without much
further complaint.
Didn’t mean she didn’t laugh a few minutes later and tell me, “I
don’t even celebrate Christmas, but I’m going to try and get you
something. There has to be somewhere nearby I can dig up any
good goth or punk CDs for a few bucks each, or at least something
for playing music on this thing.”
“You don’t need to get me anything, figured you’d have your own
thing going on anyway. I didn’t even think to get you something
while trying to get everything straight,” I admitted slowly, a
moment later cringing as I asked, “should I get you something? I
can-”
“You don’t need to, consider it a favor to both of us,” Sigyn
shrugged as she scrolled her phone, “besides, like I said, don’t
really celebrate Christmas, not my family’s holiday. Tara doesn’t
even do it for Andrew, since… well, you know.”
Yeah, I knew plenty about that. Andrew had told me the year prior
about his own family situation; dad was some fucking asshole who
kicked Andrew’s older brother out for being gay, and Andrew didn’t
stick around to deal with that after becoming a werewolf. I couldn’t
really blame him for not really going all out when it came to
holidays associated with family and coming together, I didn’t even
have a particularly strong attachment to them.
Andrew hadn’t exactly made it a point of not celebrating Christmas
last year, but at the same time… well, I hadn’t met up with my
family again either. In hindsight I think I’d only noticed it was
Christmas because Knives left and Andrew and I got invited to a poker
night at Dante’s Inferno.
Fuck, only reason I was probably going to this year was Gevaudan
bringing Martin down for the week, and even then it wasn’t like
it’d be too much of a Christmas. I hadn’t swung by the apartment
yet, didn’t think of picking up a tree, was just going to be a
couple presents from me for Martin and maybe a special dinner if I
could think of a good recipe to cook.
Probably needed to start looking into who would be delivering on
Christmas actually, they deserved something edible.
Maybe I needed to start cooking more in general, but I could do that
when I had more time and wasn’t about to feed my child.
Either way I tried not letting that get to me while we drove into
Richmond itself, finding a parking spot near Cary Street and
unloading with Sigyn while I walked around to my trunk. A brief
struggle to get the latch to work, it wasn’t exactly the best car,
and I took out the brown paper bag within as we started our way
toward the street itself.
Not the heart of the city of Richmond, Cary Street was still an
undeniable part of it all things considered. The buildings old but
with fresh paint and signs over them, a bit of gentrification for a
city that rarely had much going on for it. Not the sort of place
you’d go to and think this feels like Richmond, but the sort
of place you still could go to for a one stop shop for more than one
recreation.
It was also packed to the brim with half-ones, their scents coating
every inch of the air and almost overpowering the normal stink of the
city. The noises of them all walking, all talking, the occasional
child screeching, hard to focus past as Sigyn and I walked the short
distance through the bulk of them. My heart racing and the wolf
having the desire to lunge out even as I pushed it down with some
trained emotions, feeling rather glad Barbie wasn’t present just
now.
Whatever plans I had to go straight to Goodfellow’s bar hindered
only by someone yelling Sigyn’s name. The girl stopping before I
processed I should to and leaving me a little surprised as I looked
up to see Percy’s friend, Anna, I’d met yesterday.
Still wearing the jeans and tank top she’d had yesterday, or
perhaps an identical pair, buzzed hair standing out in the crowd as
she called out. The fact she knew Sigyn only triggering in my brain
as being weird as she finally reached us and asked, “you know Mary
too? I the only one she hasn’t hung out with?”
“Hey, she’s the one who got me and Percy hanging out, he was
teaching me about, um, mechanics,” Sigyn brushed off, a small smile
on her face as she glanced back to me and I did my best to keep a
smile on my face. The truth of ‘mechanics’ closer to ‘some
basic hunting training to make sure she could hold her own’ even as
the girl added on, “she was supposed to come to that party
last month, but dropped out at the last minute.”
“I had something come up,” I half-lied, not really wanting to
dwell on the point even as I asked her, “so what are you up to? We
were just running a couple errands, kinda a busy day.”
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“Eh, last minute Christmas shopping, was swinging by the thrift
store looking for something, grabbing a bunch of candy for my little
brother, was about to head home. Though, um…” Anna cleared her
throat and nodded to me while looking down at Sigyn, hesitantly
asking, “mind if me and Rose here get a moment? Need to ask her
about something.”
I was about to protest when Sigyn shrugged and announced, “go for
it,” while leaving me behind. The girl going about thirty feet down
the sidewalk before stopping in place while I was left with Anna.
A small sigh escaping me even as I looked around the busy street
wondering if it’d be rude to smoke. Only after a moment deciding I
shouldn’t and asking, “Rose?”
“Couldn’t remember your name, great hair though, the red sticks
out,” Anna shrugged, giving an almost cocky smirk as she looked me
over, “why, what’s the name again? Promise I’ll try and
remember this time.”
I closed my eye a moment, resisting the urge to get a little rude
about her forgetting as I answered flatly, “Mary.”
“Rose is cuter.”
Fuck she was right that would have been a cute name, kinda late for
that though.
Well…
No, was too attached to Mary, maybe a middle name though? Wasn’t
too attached to Diana…
Not the time, and I did my best to bring the conversation back on
track, “what did you want to talk to me about?”
Anna looked like I’d grown a second head for a few seconds, raising
her brow even as she leaned a little closer and muttered, “what
else would I want to talk about? Martin’s house got shot to fuck
while you were there, didn’t it? Haven’t heard much from them
since, you know what happened?”
I let out a slow breath, trying to buy myself a little time while I
came up with the best excuse I could. Eventually settling on a
partway truth of, “someone tried killing him, looked like a
mercenary. Probably the one killing all those hunters, or at least
one of them if there’s multiple doing it. I don’t know anything
other than that, think Martin’s investigating it otherwise.”
Anna nodded, seeming to take it in while the gears still turned in
her head and she admitted, “thought you might have had some
training. I mean, especially once I heard you were Percy’s cousin,
right? Just thought it was weird I’d never really seen you around
the scene, or seen Percy bring you on any jobs.”
Right, that was a question I couldn’t let her think about too much.
“I don’t really do it, was trained to, but…. Well, you know,
didn’t want to really do it after I started having much of a
choice,” I lied, immediately seeing the slight cringe on Anna’s
face.
Percy was from a hunting family, hunters were proud of what they
were, I was basically slapping her with that one. Someone knowing
monsters were real and turning down learning to be a hunter was
already considered a little cowardly, but for the average
person it was understood. Normal people had families who would judge,
reputations on the line, they had normal lives they might not want to
uproot for that. Someone from a family known for it turning down
hunting was basically saying “I know monsters are real, can get the
best training, maybe even have, but don’t care enough about it to
do it.”
Anna at least didn’t say all that to my face, merely clicking her
tongue once while muttering, “well, probably for the best. Haven’t
met one hunter who wears a skirt that could actually hold their own
in a fight.”
I blinked at that, taking probably too long to decide that wasn’t
worth the fight even while getting a little snappy, “could beat you
if it came down to it.”
She smirked back at me for that, nodding her head towards Sigyn as
she started the opposite direction and called back, “get my number
from Percy, Rose. You’re at least funnier than you are useful.”
I rolled my eyes as I started back towards Sigyn and marched her
toward Goodfellow’s bar, not stopping for her as she tried asking
after me. Not slowing down until we were reaching the door and I
stopped with a final huff, only then realizing the feeling of fur
trying to grow on my jaw.
A cold hand resting on my shoulder, Barbie smiling as she looked down
at me and I felt the world slow. A heart I didn’t know was racing
going back to normal, shoulders I didn’t realize were tense
relaxing, a held breath leaving my body as I asked her, “why are
you doing this to me? You’re not supposed to be here anymore.”
The woman not answering even as Sigyn answered for her, “What the
fuck are you talking about, Mary? You asked me to come along,
it’s literally my job.”
Way to go Mary, talking to the ghost who probably shouldn’t
exist in front of other people. I kept this up I was going to end
up looking completely normal and healthy, and not like I was probably
avoiding an ongoing issue.
Fuck it, wasn’t really disruptive yet. Either I got Barbie talking
to me and figured out if it was a problem, or I got her to go away
eventually and it was like it never happened.
Right?
“Was talking to myself,” I lied, knowing that probably wasn’t
the best excuse even as I changed the subject, “have you ever
worked with fey before? You know the rules for dealing with them?”
Sigyn took too long to answer, staring at me like she wanted to talk
about anything else before confessing, “not really, but read some
of Misha’s journals. Most fey are created for a select purpose by
the nobles, each noble generally being in charge of a specific field
or technique. Robin Goodfellow controls information gathering fey in
the area, and doesn’t really make deals so you can just talk to him
normally. Other nobles do make deals regularly, so you need to be
careful about phrasing and all that?”
“Good enough,” I sighed, a bit of gnawing doubt in the back of my
mind before finishing us off, “let me handle the talking. Haven’t
met the queen, but dealt with another noble a while back at a meeting
and Misha gave me some tips on top of his script. If she tries
talking to you just let me keep guiding everything.”
Sigyn nodded and with no further ado I pressed into Goodfellow’s
club. The Corner usually a rather restrictive bar, not even allowing
in people without an ID, it was supposed to be primarily for
supernaturals even with its steady stream of half-ones. Now closed,
the claim of maintenance on a sign across the front of the door, the
floor center was cleared of all but one table and pair of chairs.
The air the usual mixture of stench that came with a bar, it was
strongest now with the scent of fresh dew and spring leaves. A tall
man with a red beard and hair wearing black pants and a white shirt
stood nearby smoking a pipe which I took as a sign I could smoke
myself. A cigarette already to my lips as he asked, “and how do you
two ladies do upon this fine morning we find ourselves blessed with?”
“Well enough, Goodfellow,” I chuckled, the tip of my cigarette
igniting with a snap of the fey’s fingers. My smile turning a
little bigger at that as I took a long draw from it before holding my
bag up for him, “your payment, as discussed.”
The fey nodded, taking the bag from me and slowly pulling out the
bottle within with a gleeful laugh. Turning it over a few times
before reading the label once more, “The Lady just gave you this
fine bottle? Why, m’lady, I think she would complain if she knew
her employee was giving out such treasured presents to ruffians such
as myself.”
“It’s wine, doesn’t get me drunk and probably doesn’t taste
good,” I shrugged at that, “besides, it was a Christmas bonus.
I’m just trading it for a present I actually want, or… well,
trading it for something to trade for that present.”
Goodfellow let out a noise of agreement, pulling a metal flask from
his pocket with the bottle disappearing at some point. Giving little
fanfare as he tossed it into my clumsy arms and announced, “The
first tears of a child fresh born from the womb, as the witch
requested. I hope the gift you’re getting is worth it. That’s a
rather expensive ingredient for someone not friendly with one such as
me.”
“Trust me, she said the only reason she asked for that was you’d
charge her ten thousand and give me a trade,” I muttered with some
appreciation for the hustle. A final look around the bar while asking
“now, how do we get the queen here?”
“A moment, dear girl,” Goodfellow cooed, gliding over to Sigyn
and taking the girl’s hands in his own, “now, a pleasure to meet
you, dear girl, Robin Goodfellow’s the name. You know the risk
being here right?”
“Mary filled me in, told me not to talk to the queen and let her
handle everything,” Sigyn giggled, perhaps a little too calm about
the whole thing.
Goodfellow seemingly agreeing, the man cringing as he pulled a flower
from the air and stuck it in the girl’s hair telling her, “good
idea, though here as well. We put these flowers in servant’s hairs,
the queen won’t even remember you’re there soon as she sees it,
not in the nature of one such as herself,” A brief pause, the air
for a moment smelling sweeter, and his voice a soft echo, “I swear
on my title and all my holdings, this means nothing but protection.”
The girl actually looked scared briefly at that, maybe the truth of
what was happening finally settling in, and Goodfellow twirled on his
heels to look at me.
A tilt of his head and raised brows waiting for his mark, I told him,
“you can summon her here.”
“Invitation has been sent,” the man responded, a small laugh
escaping him as he paced the floor, “I just sent out word to every
Puck and Brownie under my command to stop reporting to the queen. As
soon as it processes for her that’s the case she’ll-”
A low rumbling filled the air, glasses and tables shaking softly, a
cold breeze passing over the air as Goodfellow stopped dead in his
tracks. Sigyn’s face a pale white and my own I was sure not much
better as even the light streaming in the front door’s window
seemed to dim and the lamps flickered a moment.
All topped off with a howling wind calling out, “Goodfellow!”