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he needed to reassure them and everyone was concerned about Renny. After his
hour alone with her, he was already drained. By the time he had made his way
to the head of the table, where he sat between Adrian and Arturo, he was
exhausted. Grace was at his side immediately with a plate of eggplant
something, and a smack on the head.
"Care for yourself, leader." She hissed, and he frowned at her. She pointed
imperiously at his fork. He shoved a few bites in his mouth, swallowed, and
turned his head in time to see Grace do the same for Arturo. Arturo returned
the favor with an affectionate slow caress on Grace's generous bottom. Grace
swatted at his hand irritably, not giving him a backwards glance. Green caught
Arturo's eyes with a raised eyebrow. When Arturo returned the look, Green
shrugged.
"I thought you didn't like vampires, mate." A long ago prejudice, revealed
over too much bad wine, he wasn't sure if Arturo would remember. But the
rueful expression on the other man's face showed that he did.
"When I was a god," Arturo returned mildly, "She would have been my goddess.
"And now?
The rueful look deepened. "Now, she won't have me.
Green was dumbfounded. "Won't have you? That's odd...
Across the table, Cory made a sound between a giggle and a snort. Her water
went everywhere and Adrian spent a few minutes tapping her delicately on the
back If he had actually pounded on her, her ribs would have caved in.
Arturo and Green watched her, expressions bland, until she could glower at
them. "You would think so." She eventually croaked.
"So, you meet the woman while you're running up the stairs for a quickie, and
you think you know her so well?" Arturo asked, irritation in his voice like
static in a cat's fur.
"Not her... "Cory coughed again. "But women...women who look like me and
Grace...us." She made a face, knowing she was saying it badly, and Adrian
bared his teeth, a feral growl coming from his otherworldly toes.
"You...are...beautiful..." He hissed.
Cory flushed, looked away, looked back at his glowing eyes, and Green saw
Arturo look away, embarrassed. Green couldn't have turned his head if Arturo
had dragged him away, kicking and screaming.
"Only to immortals." Cory said gently, looking to Green for confirmation, then
catching Arturo's eyes.
"She was a housewife for fifteen years, Arturo...she had babies, got fat, and
ran around without make-up because there was too much to do. You guys see all
that and, well, you worship it. Most human men...well...they don't see it.
"Her husband did." Adrian said quietly, and Cory nodded in agreement.
"That makes it even harder." She told Arturo. Then, unexpectedly, she reached
across the table and laid her hand on his arm. "Arturo you've got to give her
time. You've got to convince her that you're sincere...it might take a while.
"It only took you three months." Adrian said dryly.
Cory looked back at him, over her shoulder, and grinned unrepentantly. "I'm
young and easily led astray." They both laughed quietly, and Arturo looked
away again, obviously feeling as though even their laughter was too private
for him. Green simply gazed at them, and smiled.
They ate, and Green received reports. It was not done formally, but it was
done completely between Green, Arturo, and Adrian, every name of every
preternatural creature in most of Northern California could be recalled. Green
knew mostly the high elves, the sidhe, the greater powers, and some of the
were-animals; Arturo knew the fairies, the sprites, the boggles, the trolls,
the brownies, and most of the fey that were never seen by human eyes; Adrian,
of course, knew the vampires, but he was also the specialist of the
odd-man-out the one were-cougar in Truckee, the family of shape shifting bears
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up in Lassen, or the disenfranchised fey children who had slipped away from
their parents but who still stayed in contact with their extended family in
the foothills. Between the different beings coming to talk to the three of
them, lounging indolently and powerfully at the head of the table, a complete
picture was formed of the state of affairs for Green's people. The news was
both troubling and insightful:
Only the Folsom were-cats had disappeared, but all the were-communities were
skittish. The tiny fairy that had flown to Lassen had almost been eaten by the
family of bears before they had seemed to recall who she was and why she
wasn't dinner.
Three of the vampires that usually nested in the darkling were missing two
men and one woman. Of the three, one of them had taken his belongings. The
others had shown every indications of returning to Green's Hill.
The sprites a particularly fragile type of smaller fey were becoming, even as
they all sat to break bread, more and more erratic, buzzing frantically,
becoming higher and higher pitched. All Arturo could glean from them was
"notes...high..." before they would disappear. Finally, before the meal was
out, Arturo stood and ordered them all to "safety" a place they all spoke of,
but none of the higher elves knew. To Cory's shock, and everybody else's
relief, all of those small, translucent, flitting bodies simply vanished.
Of all the news, Arturo's and Cory's was the worst.
"Great Goddess...and you don't know who?" Green asked, when they told him
about the crime scene at the am/pm.
"No." Arturo said, and Cory looked at him woefully.
"There's more." She murmured, and the three men, as well as Grace and Bracken,
who had joined them shortly after reports began, looked at her. "The
vultures...and the cop." She said quietly, and Arturo nodded his head for her
to continue. She grimaced, obviously not at home in the center of attention,
but told her side of the story. "We pulled over at the side of the road so I
could..." she flushed, "To throw up, okay? I don't eat people; I've never seen
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