Snarling at the Moon (3 page)

When Molly returned, she had a cup of ranch dressing and grinned. “He seemed more of an olive oil and lemon kind of guy. You look like you know what a day’s work actually is.”

Sera continued on her burger and avoided nicking her new nail polish. The fries were next and the salad disappeared with the dressing and the chicken.

Two fey came in, and it was obvious that the tree guy had warned them off. They looked at her and sat on their own without coming over.

When Sera was done, she declined dessert and swiped the charm over the pay plate. Molly wished her luck and gave her a thumbs-up before sending her on her way.

Sera straightened the silky black gown over her hips, and she stalked out of the café and to the Crossed Star Bar.

Three fey took a look at her and turned their backs. She shrugged and headed to the bar where a perky woman was working.

“What can I get for you?”

“Something orangey? I have been craving orange today.” Sera smiled.

The woman grinned, rubbed her hands together and set to work. When she was done, she presented Sera with a tall, thin glass with layers of colour ranging from pale yellow to a deep scarlet.

“Drink it without stirring. Each layer is a different flavour.”

Sera grinned. “Alice in wonderland?”

The bartender gave her a thumbs-up.

Raspberry, cherry, orange, tangerine, lemon and a weird sherbet flavour all came to her as she drank. The next thing that hit her was the huge buzz of drinking five ounces of alcohol. “There was booze in every layer?”

The bartender grinned and extended her hand. “I am Spike. I will be one of your bartenders. The other one is Chuck, but I am much more fun.”

“Sera. I am one of the new fey-match candidates. This should be a fun vacation. It seems that none of them want to come near me.” She chuckled and swayed a little. “I think it’s the fangs.”

“Yes, they are very impressive. You are one of the weasel family?”

“Yup.” She got to her feet and bowed. “Serapha the broken wolverine, at your service.”

The world spun around her, so she settled on the stool once again.

“Broken?”

“I was held in one of those menageries for a while. They did things to me that made my beast angry enough to keep my fangs in place at all times.”

“Whoa. How long were you held?”

“Two years.”

In a matter of a minute, two more drinks lined up in front of her. “I won’t say that you need this, but one night to forget isn’t a bad thing.”

With the straw in, she sipped at the first of the new drinks. The colours were the same but the flavours were different.

“How did you do that?”

“Fey magic. It will give you a helluva headache if you don’t let yourself flush it out of your system tomorrow. One day on, one day off.” Spike chuckled and went to attend the other patrons.

Sera took her current drink and she turned around slowly to get a feel for the room. There were shifters courting shifters, but they couldn’t see her. She was invisible to their senses and that little fact freaked them out.

When she had taken in the courting couples and the folks just having a drink in the bar, she finished her rotation and faced Spike again. “Why don’t I freak you out?”

“The lack of scent thing? I have been here a while now. You are not the first. You are not the last. I work with a snake shifter, my husband is a swan and I am a nearly extinct species here under the shifter equivalent of witness protection. Once you have done a month at the Crossroads, you have a whole different scale for weird.”

Sera lifted her glass and drank to weird.

“The power in you, that is different. That is something that ripples around you with every motion. It was probably that that attracted Trebor, and seeing the animal so close to the surface sent him running in here.”

“So, he gossiped about me?”

“As fast as he could. There are a few fey here strong enough to hold their own with you, but he isn’t one of them.”

“Who is?”

Spike grinned. “I am not going to tell you. You would go out of your way to scare them off.”

Sera picked up her third drink. “See? Bartenders really do know everything.”

Atter entered the Crossed Star, and he saw the woman from the Meditation Centre. Only, her appearance had altered so dramatically that it was her power signature that confirmed her identity.

Her tangled braid was now a heavy black wave down her back with a silver streak that was not due to age. It was as much a part of her as the golden tone to her skin or her pale-blue eyes.

The scruffy clothing was replaced with a black silk gown, and she was kicking her feet in the air like a child as she chatted with the bartender. Her shoes were under the barstool.

He walked in with a nod to the other fey and took a seat a few chairs down from his lady.

He didn’t know why he was so sure, but she struck something inside him. The stillness of her form echoed in the space surrounding her. When she moved, it was like watching light on ice.

Atter caught the bartender’s attention. “A shot of vodka and a glass of whatever she is drinking.”

The woman looked over at his lady and raised her brows. “Are you sure? You might not have the metabolism for it.”

“I will take that chance.”

She grinned. “I did warn you.”

The woman poured with her back to him, and when she produced the brightly striped cocktail, he blinked. That was a lot of colour.

His shot looked like a pallid glass of water next to the blinding drink. He took a sip and raised his brows at the flavour. It was every summer berry he had ever tasted. Cool mint was the next layer and it went on and on.

When the straw sucked futilely at the bottom of the glass, he sighed and took the shot. His body hummed with energy, part magic and part sugar.

Before he could order another drink, he got to his feet. If he continued, he would be hugging the bar in no time.

“Excuse me, lady. Would you dance with me?”

She turned slowly and faced him. The bright white fangs in her mouth gave her a feral look, but her pale eyes betrayed her shock. She had truly thought to skip through without anyone asking her to dance.

She blinked slowly and finally she licked her lips. “I don’t have my shoes on.”

Atter grinned. “I can take mine off if it will make you feel better.”

The bartender muttered, “It is now or never. Better get it over with.”

His lady hopped off the barstool, and he had to catch her. Her body pressed to his and there was a riot under his skin. “Easy, lady.”

Her wide eyes would have done an owl proud. “You are pretty.”

“And your beauty shines in the night, but I still wish to dance.”

* * * *

Sera’s head was spinning, and her new support beam smelled as good as he looked. He had pure white hair, not the yellowy white of the northern reaches, but white with a touch of the silver of the moon. His eyes, hair and skin were the same colour. He was a man made of moonlight with pointed ears and a wicked smile.

She stood up straight, her body whining as she left his heat. Sera let him lead her to the dance floor, her feet still bare. It didn’t matter. She didn’t like shoes anyway.

He pulled her against him, and they swayed to the music, his body brushed against hers and she returned the favour. She was amazed at her nerve, but she was honest enough that those cocktails were backing up her normal brash behaviour.

When the music picked up the pace, he stepped with her, twirled her and sent the silk of her dress spinning outward in a circle. She laughed and landed back against his chest with a light thud.

He swayed with her to the jazzy tune, and they flicked, twisted and jumped to the music, the occasional bright glow flared up when they touched. When she landed on her butt and laughed helplessly, he lifted her to her feet with ease. “And that is enough for tonight.”

She was still laughing when he flipped her over his shoulder and picked up her shoes from the floor.

He kept his hand circumspectly on her knees to keep her steady. “Where are you staying?”

“The Bright Soul or Spark or something.” She snickered.

“How convenient. That is where I am staying.”

“Is Teebie looking out for you, too?”

“She is. She is a marvellous hostess. Have you met her?”

“Nope. They hauled me off and scrubbed me. They even painted my nails. Aren’t my toes pretty?”

She wiggled her feet.

He laughed. “Acid green is under used as a toe colour. Your feet are as stunning as the rest of you, though a little bit grubbier.”

“It happens. Dirt happens. The world is covered with dirt. To think that everyone is clean just because they have bathed recently is stupid. Everybody wears dirt each and every day, unless they are in a clean room.” She was waving her arms and chatting wildly. Sera knew she was going to regret this in the morning, but she couldn’t stop talking.

“Fair enough. Why were you wearing so much of it when you arrived?”

That sobered her slightly. “You saw me?”

“I did. I was with Trebor and that other idiot, Maksin.”

She was still hanging upside down, but she perked her head up. “Idiots? I like to claw up idiots.”

“You would wreck your manicure.”

She slumped back and sighed. “You are right. Hey, my hair is nearly dragging on the ground.”

He slid her up and over his shoulder, into his arms. “Better?”

She looked down behind her and nodded. “You know, because you are so fixated on dirty.”

“I am very pale. It stands out on me.”

She smiled brightly at him. “At least you don’t wear all white. That would be stupid. The dark fabric makes your skin glow.”

“My skin glows anyway. I am an elf of the empty wastelands.” He paused, “And here we are. Home for now.”

She looked up at the broad Victorian-style home and smiled. She whispered. “Do you still have my shoes?”

He chuckled. “I do still have your shoes. Did you want them on?”

“Yes, please.”

Her elf walked to one of the porch swings, and he settled her on the swaying wood before kneeling at her feet.

His elegant hands lifted each foot, dusted it off and slipped it into the corresponding shoe. He then assisted her to her feet and offered her his arm for support.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you, lady. I have not had an evening this entertaining in hundreds of years, nor with such a ravishing partner.”

The dress was hiding her scars. She remembered that as they entered the Bright Soul and she met her first djinn. “Hiya!”

The blue woman smiled with an amused twist to her lips. “Serapha Deemar, welcome to the Bright Soul. I see you have met Atter?”

“Sera, please. We didn’t actually introduce ourselves. We stuck to sir and lady all night.”

She shrugged, and Teebie gave her a friendly smile. “We will get you up and off to bed. Tomorrow, you can look at the world through more sober eyes.”

Teebie put her arm around Sera’s shoulders, which was a pretty mean feat considering that she was six feet tall in her heels. Teebie was considerably smaller.

They went up the stairs and worked to get her through her doorway and into her bed. Teebie immediately took of her shoes and went to work on the rest of her.

“Where did the moon go?”

Teebie was helping her wrestle free of her dress. “The moon?”

“The pale man who was with me. He was fun.” She announced it a moment before sitting up on the bed.

Teebie snorted and took a look at her. She stilled. “Are you fine like that or do you want me to help you strip naked?”

Sera clutched a pillow and rubbed it against her face. “I am good. Thank you for the help. I will be more coherent and less fluffy tomorrow.”

“You sleep as long as you need. You have had a trying day.” She waved her hand and floated a light sheet over her guest before leaving the room.

* * * *

Teebie nearly doubled over at the pain running through her. The scars that crossed Sera’s body had been made with no care for her healing neatly. Her body was formed well, but the glossy remains of her torture gleamed in the dim light.

How someone could take out what made a species unique and destroy it, while making the remaining shifter live in a body they couldn’t control with damage they couldn’t heal, was a cruelty that Teebie couldn’t imagine.

Teal was waiting in the common room downstairs, and when Teebie came in, she poured them each a glass of apricot brandy. “So, you saw.”

“I did.”

“They don’t know how she survived. When they found her, she was completely beast. It took months to bring her back from her beast, and when she came back, the beast stayed with her.” Teal shivered. “Those teeth are also not for decoration. She can and will use them for self-defence.”

“She had one of Spike’s special cocktails and apparently managed a lecture on dirt at the top of her lungs. Having a fey bring her out into the open is going to take some doing. He is going to have to get her to trust him enough to show him her scars.”

Teal smiled. “What about her wanting a man enough to want him to look beyond the damage? Atter was after her pretty hard.”

“I don’t think she has ever gotten to that point. She is still wearing the damage like a shield. All she has to do is let the scars catch the light and folks will get uncomfortable.” Teebie sighed and sipped at the brandy. After a moment, her lips quirked. “Molly likes her.”

Teal raised her eyebrows. “Well, in that case, she gets moved to a different shelf in my mind. It takes a lot to impress Molly.”

“I think Molly can see the survivor and the humour that managed to make it through the trials.”

Teal sighed. “Spike likes her, too.”

Teebie chuckled. “There we have it. She may be an alpha predator with attitude issues, but she can still make friends.”

“It is good to know. She may be here a while.”

Teebie looked toward her upper floor. “You think so?”

“You don’t?”

“I have my suspicions that she is in the beginning of her mating dance. It just will take a while to find out who is leading.” Teebie chuckled.