Trinity hung back, but only just barely, feeling her heart thundering a mile a minute as she watched her Iron knight creeping away into the near impenetrable mist, Glitch at his side. She knew she should trust him more to handle himself, but without being able to physically see just what he was going up against she was a little more than nervous for his safety, and who could blame her? If Tertius got injured in some way, she was putting it on Demon's head.
The Cait Sith, in the meantime, had his eyes diligently trained on the shape ahead of them, which had shifted subtly as Glitch and Tertius had begun their slow progress towards it, but otherwise did not give any indication that it had intentions of leaving. Demon really didn't like being hindered in seeing just what the creature was, but he knew that if it were really anything to be afraid of, or anything to keep the Iron knights from pursuing, he was sure he would know it by now. That aside, he didn't quite believe that what they were on the verge of approaching was the same figure Catherine had seen earlier. The shadowy follower might have switched positions on them earlier when it had moved closer, but he didn't see why now, all of a sudden, it would choose to deliberately block the forward progress. Also, he had at least glimpsed that the shadow from earlier was a good foot taller than whatever was ahead of them, and not nearly as wide across.
He only hoped that the shadow and the creature ahead of them were in league with each other, otherwise they might very well be walking into a trap, though who or what would have bothered to set up such an elaborate trap for a group of travelers like them was a bit questionable, and he didn't think any regular forest folk would have the ability to tune down their glamour to the point he couldn't sense it, like the tall shadow had been able to. And now, at least, watching Tertius's and Glitch's figures moving through the mist—mere shadows now—he could sense the faintest traces of glamour, which made him a little more relaxed, but not enough to trust whatever was barring them from passing. Normally, he'd have just gone around the obstruction, but with the taller shadow lurking wherever nearby to them, he didn't quite trust an alternate route to be the best solution at this point.
"AH-HA!"
The cry rang out suddenly, effectively shattering the tense, nerve wracking silence around them, though it definitely sent Nikki's nerves jangling as she suffered a minor heart attack and latched onto Puck's arm with a squeak of alarm. Catherine and Trinity jumped, too, and even Puck got a bit wide eyed, but Demon merely blinked.
"What is it?" he called, having recognized the shout as Glitch's.
"I'm…not sure!" the Iron faery called back, sounding bewildered, and Puck gave a snort of derision. "But it's scared all to hell right now just from seeing Tertius and I."
Demon looked confused now, and, after glancing back at the remaining four clustered around him, let his arm fall from around Catherine and strode forward through the mist towards where the figures of Tertius and Glitch were just visible, standing over the other shape that no one else could still really make out. Catherine looked after Demon, frowning uncertainly, then glanced back at Trinity and Nikki, who both managed identical shrugs of confusion. Even Puck looked nonplussed as he scrutinized Demon as the Cait Sith continued forward without them.
"Should we go see what it is?" Trinity mouthed, and Catherine shrugged in answer.
How could she be sure? Demon might realize it was something totally monstrous and have them running for the hills once he saw…whatever it was, but at the same time it could be totally harmless, and sounded like it was, given what Glitch had just said.
"Let's go see," Nikki suggested quietly, stepping forward with Puck at her side, and gently nudging Catherine's arm.
Catherine glanced over at her friend, and wasn't surprised to see a glimmer of eagerness in her dark brown eyes. Nikki was as curious as curious could get, even with the potential dangers lurking around, and though she knew enough to be careful, she wasn't about to miss whatever this was. Smiling wanly at her friend, Catherine bobbed her head in agreement, and allowed Nikki to take the lead while she, Trinity and Puck followed steadily behind her, trailing Demon.
"I don't know how I feel about this," Puck sighed quietly as he walked along directly behind Nikki, his hands shoved into the pockets of his forest green cargo pants, his emerald eyes wary. "Maybe it's a giant grizzly just playing pansy."
"Shit," muttered Demon from ahead of them, having come to a stop where Tertius and Glitch were standing, now staring down at the thing in front of him, even though the top of it did, in fact, reach close on five feet.
"Does that mean it's worse?" asked Puck, a hand shooting out to grab the back of Nikki's shirt before she could take one more step closer. "Because if it's worse, I'm gone. I've dealt with all kinds of mess today, not to mention my lip still hurts, we've got a shadowy thingamabobber following us around like something right out of The Watcher, and if I have to hear that whatever you're standing over is worse than that, I'm just done."
"Everyone else stay back," Demon warned, not directly answering Puck's question, but giving enough of a hint that immediately Puck had Nikki, Catherine and Trinity by the backs of their shirts or their arms and was yanking them clear away from where Demon, Tertius and Glitch stood.
"What is it?!" Puck called, pushing all three girls behind him and drawing his daggers.
"A Dip," Demon answered, and Puck hissed quietly, eyes widening.
"A what?" Trinity asked, quite sure she'd misheard what Demon had said.
"A Dip," Puck said fervently, "Big ass black shaggy dog."
"I thought that was a Grim," said Nikki, bemused.
"Glad as I am that you know some of your folklore, Dips are not quite the same as Grims, and Grims are much bigger than Dips," Puck informed her, still with his daggers out, now holding them up. "Grims guard graveyards; they'll only tear you apart if you come to desecrate the tombs of the deceased. Dips are entirely different."
"How so, since you seem all ready to protect us?" inquired Nikki, eyeing his glass-bladed daggers with a kind of wary uncertainty. "Dips attack you in general?"
"That, too, and their diet is a little less…substantial," Puck said, grimacing. "They drink blood. Specifically human blood, but they'll drink fey blood, too."
"And Tertius and Glitch and Demon are still there with it because…?" Trinity demanded, her sapphire eyes enormous with fear.
"Because it's lame in two legs," Demon reported, which, to Trinity, made no real sense, other than it meant the thing was wounded. But that didn't stand for much. Even a wounded fey was still a dangerous fey.
"That's unusual," muttered Puck before anyone could question the importance of a lame, blood-sucking dog. "Normally they're only lame in one leg. Eh, better for us if it's two, I suppose."
"Why are they lame in one leg?" asked Nikki, even more bewildered than before, though she also felt slightly reassured knowing that the dog couldn't quite make as easy a time of getting at them.
"Just born that way," said Puck, shrugging, "No one really knows why. Some people think it's to give humans a fighting chance, though that's usually a dud. Three legs or four, they can still outrun a human. But two legs, that's different. I'll be surprised if it can walk."
"It can't," said Glitch, appearing then from the mist, so suddenly that it startled them. "It's lying down in a depression there and can't get out of it."
"Why does that sound so familiar?" Puck mused to himself, carefully sheathing his daggers. "Really, it does…I want to say something like, "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!""
"You a spokesperson for Life Alert now?" Nikki asked with a small grin.
"Hey, I could be," he said, winking back at her, his emerald eyes glowing.
"It looks like a hunter or other fey got to it," Tertius sighed, also appearing beside Glitch, looking over his shoulder to where Demon was still hovering over the Dip, though no one else could quite make out the shape of the fey hound, wherever it was lying. "Its front legs are both mangled, though one was already lame to begin with."
"Something attacked it?" Catherine asked, a look of concern passing over her face.
"It seems like it," Tertius told her, frowning. "I wouldn't feel sorry for it, though, Lady Catherine, Dips are not the most pleasant creatures when they are at their best. They are always thirsty. Much like the vampires in your mortal legends. They only live for the blood they drink from their victims."
Catherine's frown deepened, and though she understood what he was telling her she still didn't quite like the idea of an animal being hurt, blood sucker or no.
"So, are we just going to leave it like that?" she asked softly, glancing between Tertius and Glitch.
The knights exchanged a look, and Tertius gave a noncommittal jerk of his head, and Glitch shrugged.
"Probably," Glitch was the one to answer, turning back to her, "It wouldn't be a help to us if we stopped to give it aid. It may owe us a favor for it and I guess we could use that favor to make it swear never to attack us, but do you really want to get something back on its feet that makes its living off of drinking humans dry?"
No, she really didn't, actually, now that he put it that way. She still couldn't help the little pang of sympathy though. Her and her bleeding heart, she had to feel at least a little sorry for the Dip.
"So, will it just die?" Nikki asked then, looking quizzically at Puck, who shrugged.
"More than likely, yeah," he said, and he was so utterly detached from the morbidity of it that Nikki gave him a look. "Hey, you asked, Nik. I'm just telling you the truth. And it's like Glitchy was saying, you really want to enable your enemy? If we get him back to health, he'll just go hunting humans again, and his kind are a dime a dozen. They're everywhere. Why do you think so many of you little mortals are anemic?"
"That's what that's about?" she asked, horrified, gaping up at him with wide brown eyes.
"Part of it," he agreed.
"Well, if we're just going to let it die, then," Nikki said, still looking rather appalled, "Should we at least put it out of its misery?"
"I might agree with you," Puck told her, "But I'm not getting that close to a Dip. They're as sly as I am and that's never a good thing in a dog that drinks blood."
"You could do it from far off," Trinity pointed out. "One of your little fuzzball things should do it, right?"
"You all really want to kill it now, right after you were all for protecting it like it was some kind of housepet you might keep?" Puck demanded, looking at her in astonishment. "Jeez, you girls really know how to make a guy's head spin."
"You telling me you don't want it dead after you just stood here and said we're better off leaving it to die?" Nikki countered, narrowing her dark eyes at him as Demon appeared from the mist, looking weary.
"I didn't say that, but I'm also saying you girls have a definite way of making me dizzy with all the turnabout emotions you've got going on," Puck informed her, his emerald eyes flashing as he looked down at Nikki, though his expression wasn't so much annoyed as amused. "Besides, if anyone's going to put the poor bastard out of his misery, I think our noble and honorable Iron knights out to be the ones to do it. At least it might have the sense they won't taste good, and it seems like it's already pretty scared of them as it is."
"Just leave it be," Demon sighed, giving Puck a look of censure, not at all impressed with his crassness, "He is already on the verge and has asked that we leave him as he is."
"And you're going to honor that request?" asked Puck, looking incredulously at the Cait Sith.
"It is a death bed request, so yes, I am," Demon told him curtly, narrowing yellow-green eyes at the fey. "Now, let us go and leave him in peace. He has even given us a warning that there is a particularly blood thirsty group of goblins camping out close to here and we will want to avoid them."
"Is that what attacked him?" Catherine asked as she began to follow Demon, who immediately took the lead of their group again. "The goblins?"
"That is what would appear happened, yes," Demon said, sounding weary again as he frowned down at her. "He was fortunate enough to escape being eaten, but there is no help for him now. Goblins enjoy coating their weapons with a particular kind of venom, and he has been exposed to it long enough that it has done its damage."
"Mmm…" Catherine looked over to where the Dip was supposed to be, as they were now traveling somewhat around an invisible circle of separation, rather than straight forward as they might have otherwise. She still couldn't quite make out the figure of the fey hound, but she could just see the faintest outline of a figure, easily five feet and hulking, lying sprawled on the ground as they moved just on the edge of their invisibly drawn circle. It didn't move as they passed, but she thought she could hear ragged breathing coming from the seemingly nondescript mound, and felt her heart tug a little in her chest, despite the knowledge of what the beast was capable of at his top strength, and what he might have done to them if he had been in any condition.
Still, it didn't seem fair for a creature like that to just die this way… No matter what it had done, it was just surviving, the way it knew how. Did that make it evil? She was sure there were humans in the world who shed bled uselessly because they thought it was fun or somehow their right, but that didn't make them better than the Dip…It wasn't fair that it had to die this way, in pain…
"Catherine…" Demon's hand was tugging at her arm, and she started, looking around.
She hadn't realized she'd stopped walking, staring at the Dip's huddled form.
Blinking rapidly, she looked up into Demon's somber face, his eyes seeing too much as they peered down at her through the mist, and as he lifted a hand to her cheek, rubbing gently across her skin, she realized she was crying.
"Sorry," she mumbled, hurriedly lifting her hands to wipe at her tears, ducking her head to hide her expression.
What was wrong with her?
"I really don't know why I'm crying," she said, injecting a forced laugh into her voice as she wiped hard at the tears gathering in her eyes, feeling stupid.
"You feel sorry for him," Demon murmured, his hand still resting against her cheek, wiping at the tears she had missed.
She shrugged lamely, aware of everyone in the group now watching her, though with her head down she couldn't make out their expressions.
"It's just not fair," she muttered, sniffling in spite of herself.
"I know," the Cait Sith murmured, his voice almost a reassuring purr, and when she peered up at him from under damp lashes it was to see sympathy glowing warmly in the depths of his yellow-green eyes, "But there is nothing we can do…We need to move now. He wouldn't want you to stand here pitying him."
She nodded mutely, knowing he was right, and allowed him to take her hand, pulling her gently away. She still felt pained when she chanced a last glance over her shoulder, and spotted the Dip for the first time, seeing him watching them with bright, pain filled red eyes through the mist. As their eyes met, the great black canine dipped his head to her, though she could still see the anguish in his gaze, and as he dropped his head back onto his front paws, she felt her gut wrench to see they were bloodied and torn, like something had been trying to sever them from the rest of his body, and stifling a choked sob she looked away. Demon glanced down at her, not missing the little sound she made, and, seeing her with tears gathering in her eyes again slipped his hand up her arm to circle her shoulders, pulling her against his warm body with a small sigh.
"What am I going to do with you?" he asked softly, the faintest trace of humor in his voice as he looked down at her from under silvery lashes.
His palm rubbed up and down her arm as she leaned into him, trying her hardest to stop herself from crying, glad for the firm presence of the Cait Sith beside her, and clutched at his tunic as they continued to walk through the forest, further and further from the Dip. Behind her, Nikki and Trinity both had also seen the fey hound, and Nikki was also fighting back tears. Trinity wasn't crying, but that didn't mean she didn't feel her heart going out to the Dip. They both had similar thoughts to Catherine as well. They knew what the Dip did as a natural life, but if they had to be given the choice of him living or dying like that, they'd really have preferred he lived. Just the injustice and brutality of his death seemed all kinds of unfair, and Nikki found herself crying tears out of anger rather than sadness as she spared a final glance for the Dip, though, being as far off as they were at that point, she couldn't make out the shape of the fey hound. Just the mist surrounding them again.
"Hey, you," a voice murmured in her ear, and Puck's arm circled her shoulders, drawing her up against him as he lowered his head to kiss the top of hers. "I didn't know you were so big into animals…blood sucking barred."
Nikki gave a little sniff, a weak smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she glanced up at the auburn haired fey, who gave her a small smile in return, warmth and sympathy in his gaze.
"I love animals," she said thickly, heaving a sigh as she leaned her head against his shoulder, not bothered by how awkward it made walking, "Especially dogs. I know he probably wouldn't have liked hearing me say that, but, well…he's a dog."
"A blood sucking dog," Puck reminded her, nodding his head, and she gave him a short glare.
"Is that the only thing you remember about it?" she asked, cocking a dark eyebrow.
"No," he said, shaking his head, still with his little smile in place, "Just that it's a very prominent thing I remember about Dips in general. I've encountered more than one in my lifetime, some at their best, others at their worst, so I've seen all ends of the spectrum where they're concerned. But they're all pretty much the same. They do what they do because they have to, and I've never really had a problem with that, but, well…this time I had you around."
"And that makes it different?" she asked, a little surprised.
"It makes it very different," he agreed, nodding seriously, his emerald eyes glowing through the dimness.
"Why does it make it different?" she asked, wiping at her teary eyes.
"Because," he said, and gave her his best Puck-grin, "Only I get to drink your blood."
She gave a weak snort of exasperation, rolling her brown eyes, and he chuckled softly, bending to kiss her head again, sending butterflies winging through her stomach.
"So, are you a vampire or a faery, because now I'm confused," she told him, glancing up at him from under her lashes.
"I could be both," he said with a crooked smile and a waggle of his eyebrows. "Edward Cullen certainly was. All sparkly and shit, and then he drank blood. He was totally a faery masquerading as a vampire."
"Or maybe a vampire masquerading as a faery," Nikki challenged, grinning up at him, and he chuckled again.
"There is definitely that possibility," he agreed, "Though I'm partial to the faery as a vampire thing myself. Makes more sense. What kind of vampire would disgrace itself by going running around like it just got tarred and then jumped nude into a tub of sequins?"
"A really gay one," Nikki said wisely, and Puck laughed out loud at that.
"There is totally that possibility," he snickered when he'd stopped being so loud, mostly because Demon had given him a rather dark look at being so loud. "But was Edward Cullen gay? I mean, he got married and had a kid, remember?"
"It was a cover-up," she said. "He was really in love with Jasper the whole time, but they could never be together because Alice would have seen it coming, so he invested his sexual frustration in someone else, got a kid out of it, and then, when neither Bella nor Renesmee were looking, went and had an affair with Jacob."
Puck wasn't sure if he was more impressed or disgusted with that conclusion, and had to admit that it was really a bit of both as he looked down at Nikki through narrowed emerald eyes, glad, at least, that she was smiling now, even if there were still a few rogue tears in her eyes.
"You really put some thought into that, didn't you?" he asked her in amusement, and she grinned.
"Nah, not really," she said, shaking her head, sending her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. "Just it came to me on the spur of the moment and it made sense."
"It makes sense, sure, but you forget to mention what happens after Jasper found out Edward was having the affair with Jacob, and whether or not Bella and Renesmee found out," Puck pointed out with a little smirk.
"Oh, Jasper totally found out," she said decisively, her face so serious that Puck might have believed her if not for the total insanity of their conversation. "Because Edward came back one day and was giving off these totally sexy vibes, and Jasper got him all cozy and got him to admit he'd had the affair, and then he slapped him and said they were officially over and left. But he eventually came back because he couldn't stay away. Alice found out, and so did Bella and Renesmee. Stephenie Meyer just left all of that out."
"Did she now?" asked Puck, full out grinning now, amusement sparkling in his emerald eyes. "And what would that book have been called if she'd published it? Or would it have been a whole other series?"
"It would have been a whole other series," Nikki decided after a moment of thought. "Because you can't get that much drama into one book unless you really try. It would have been called the Sunshine series."
"Sunshine?" Puck was about to start laughing again. "And why the hell would it be called the Sunshine series? Just to be in complete contrast to Twilight?"
"That, too," she agreed, bobbing her head, "But also, you have to think, what kind of steamy romance novel would it be for a couple of sparkly gay vampires if we named it something like Blood and Roses?"
"Fair point," said Puck, snickering. "So, the Sunshine series. And what would the books have been called? I'm assuming book one would be Sunshine."
"There would be four books altogether," Nikki said, and Puck smirked. "The first one would definitely be called Sunshine. The second book would be called Sparkles. The third book would have been Rainbows. And the last book would be something really snazzy like—"
But Puck didn't get to hear what that snazzy last book would be called, for right as Nikki opened her mouth to say the title, there was a piercing, keening cry that rent the air, shattering the quiet around them like the breaking of glass, and they all froze as one as the recognized the sound of a death cry. But as abruptly as the sound had begun, it cut off in a strangled screech, leaving an even deeper, more ominous silence than before, and Nikki was immediately no longer thinking of sunshine or sparkles or rainbows as she clung to Puck, and he kept an arm firmly around her, his emerald eyes wide as he stared around.
"What the hell was that?" Glitch demanded in a hushed voice, also looking around. One hand tightened on the hilt of his sword.
"We need to move," Demon said just as quietly, urgency in his voice, "Now."
He didn't offer any more explanation than that, but no one really needed him to, and as he broke into a swift jog, they all followed, casting furtive looks around them, waiting for whatever had just made its kill to come lunging out at them as well. Tertius and Glitch to the back of the group, covering the rear just to ensure if anything came after them that they were ready for it, but as they continued to hurry along, not quite running through the misty trees, nothing appeared, and Catherine even noticed that the shadowy figure from before had, for the first time, failed to make an appearance, but for some reason that didn't comfort her. If anything, it made her blood run cold as she continued to jog beside Demon, his hand around hers, making sure not to lose her as he weaved almost dizzyingly through the trees around them, his yellow-green eyes narrowed against the haze, searching.
"Here," he hissed after almost ten minutes of silent, hurried jogging, coming to a sudden stop just beside a path of forest that looked no different than the rest.
He turned to a tree standing just to his right, and put his palm against the wood. Almost immediately, the outline of a door appeared, and he hurried to push it forward, though, unlike the doors to the trods, this door did not open into another section of the Nevernever, but rather into a cottage, buried in the trunk of the tree.
"Go," he murmured, pushing Catherine ahead of him.
She glanced around nervously at the others, then hurried inside, at first not sure if they would all fit in the trunk of the tree. Of course, that had been a stupid worry when you were in the Nevernever, and no sooner had she walked into the concealed interior than she discovered she was experiencing a very Harry Potter-like scene as she stepped into the front room of a decently large cottage, rather than the cramped interior of a tree. Trinity and Nikki were quick to follow her, apparently shooed ahead by the men, though Trinity looked rather indignant as Tertius prompted her to go ahead of him while he stayed behind with Glitch to be sure the girls got in first. Puck entered next, giving the room an appreciative once over before he hurried to where Nikki stood by the hearth set in one of the walls and gathered her up in his arms. Tertius and Glitch were next, Tertius stepping over to Trinity, who gave him a reprimanding look that he shrugged and smiled apologetically at, and Demon was last, stepping through the entrance backwards, his eyes on the outside woods. He closed the door the moment he was inside, and drew a wooden bar into place over the door, locking it and barring the way from outsiders.
Sighing as he completed the task, apparently feeling they'd avoided the worst, he stepped away from the door and turned to face the rest of the group, several of whose members were very pale in the face, or otherwise looking very grim.
"You wanna tell us what that was now?" Glitch asked the Cait Sith, who held a rather solemn look in his yellow-green eyes as he looked over at Catherine.
"Something killed the Dip," he murmured quietly, and everybody in the room tensed. "That cry was from the Dip. I do not know what or who killed it, but I feel it is very safe to assume it was the figure that had been trailing us earlier that Catherine pointed out."
"And why do you think that's what did it?" asked Nikki, her brown eyes enormous and horrified as she leaned into Puck.
"Because I couldn't sense anything else aside from the Dip," Demon explained, and Catherine felt that familiar experience of having her blood turn to ice in her veins, chilling her.
"Did it follow us here?" Tertius asked, his voice low and serious as he faced Demon, his silvery eyes narrowed as he slipped an arm around Trinity's shoulders, drawing her to him.
"If it did, it will not get in," Demon said, sounding very certain of that fact.
"You seem a little overconfident about that," Puck observed, apparently noticing how determinedly the Cait Sith made his statement.
"Only a few fey are permitted in here," Demon told the Summer fey, narrowing his eyes. "I am one of them, and I know all the others given passage, and I have it on good authority they would not be the ones to trail us as that figure has been, or to kill a Dip, no matter how forsaken the beast might have been."
Well, then that was a little more reassuring, thought Puck, breathing out a deep sigh as he rubbed his hands up and down Nikki's back. Still, he was very much uneasy about the fact that a shadowy figure that he hadn't even seen had managed to follow them this far, and kill a Dip in cold blood. He knew the creature had been dying anyway, but that didn't make the act seem any less heartless when you had to look at the fact that the Dip had still been coherent, despite being lame with pain. Mercy killing wasn't unheard of in Faery, but the screech the Dip had given made him feel the canine hadn't exactly been asking for such mercy, or anticipated such a quick death. Whatever had killed it, it had done it on its own whim, and that bothered him extremely. Because now he had to face the fact that whatever had been following them could just as easily dispatch them if it wanted to, and if they couldn't sense it that put them on the really short end of the stick.
"And if it has followed us here, even if it can't get in," he said, a sudden thought occurring to him as he stood there with Nikki, "Just how do you expect us to leave? I don't expect you're going to have us go waltzing out there like some kind of hair brained idiot starring in The Mist and hope not to get eaten or disemboweled or something."
"You're making an awful lot of movie references," Nikki observed, to which he shrugged.
"It's my comfort mechanism," he explained with a wry smile, though his nerves were still jangling with alarm bells and he felt he'd like nothing better than to take Nikki and find them a nuclear-war proof underground shelter and lock themselves in it. "When I get freaked out, I cite movies."
"It's a good mechanism," she said, offering a weak smile. She wished she could have his ease, because she was just on edge as he was at the moment, except she didn't quite have the outlet he did.
"As for going outside," Demon said, answering Puck's question, "There is another exit. This is not just a lodge; it is also the safe house for one of the trods here."
"A trod?" Catherine's head perked up at this. "Then why weren't we coming here to get to the Briars?"
"Because the trod here leads up into the human world, a good distance from where we would be able to find another trod into the Briars," said Demon, frowning at her. "This is more of a way for exiles or escapees or those being pursued in other manners to hide and find a safe way out of the Nevernever if they have been cornered, and then back in through whatever trod they might decide to locate in the human world."
"So, this is where the refugees go," said Puck with a little roll of his emerald eyes. "That's good to know. You have an underground railroad operation right in your own home."
"You could always go outside and take your chances with our little follower," Demon told him coolly, to which Puck grinned.
"Tempting idea, but I prefer all my internal organs remaining in the interior of my body where they belong, thanks, cat," he said. "I'd rather take my chances with whatever psycho humans we'll meet topside than go back out there. Humans, at least, I can hide from."
"You make it sound like you're playing chicken, Goodfellow," Glitch told him, having now seated himself on one of the armchairs that littered the inside of the cabin's main room.
"No, just being conservative of my wellbeing," Puck replied, giving an inelegant little sniff. "Unless you'd like to tell me that you want to go out there and greet our avid stalker. I'm sure he'd just keel over from excitement to be face to face with the focus of his sociopathic obsession."
Glitch grimaced back at him, but otherwise did not say anything. And no one else brought up the issue of Puck's bravery considering they all knew he was right. Stepping out into the misty forest again was suicidal at this point. Where before their shadowy follower had merely been a watcher, now he—or she or it or whatever—was legitimately dangerous. It had killed the Dip in cold blood, never mind that the beast had been on the verge of death anyway, and that was incentive enough. Not to mention since Demon seemed to think they needed to take shelter it was probably good that they had already. Catherine didn't like to think of what might have happened if he hadn't had this little trick up his sleeve and they'd been forced to encounter the shadowy figure. The figure with Sage's eyes…
She really wasn't sure what scared her more, or she hadn't been until now. The fact that they'd been being followed at a distance by the figure had definitely been alarming, but then she'd had to question how much more alarming it was that the figure had had Sage's eyes. To her, they had been on equal par, but now, knowing the shadow had killed, and so close to them, still following them, though they hadn't seen or sensed it, was more terrifying than anything else she could think about it. And they still had no idea what it was, or what it looked like, or what it wanted. Just that it was following them, and it wanted something.
"So, what do we do for now?" Trinity asked with a sigh, looking around at Demon, her blue eyes holding a mixture of worry and weariness. "Do we go ahead for the trod?"
"No," Demon murmured, surprising all of them. "For now, we need to rest."
"What, it's that late already?" asked Puck, surprised.
"No, just that we need to think up a new course to take," Demon explained, frowning around at the room full of people. "Now that we cannot reach the trod we were aiming for, unless we wish to risk the danger of encountering whatever is following us, it is better to take the trod here, and find another way to the Briars through the human world. However, that is easier said than done, since many of the trods we will encounter in the Mortal Realm when we go through the one here aren't situated close enough to the Briars as I would have liked. It was why we were not meant to come here in the first place."
"Well, what would be the closest trod once we get there?" Trinity pressed him, "And where would we even come up in the human world?"
"If I remember correctly," said Demon slowly, "The trod out of here leads directly into the middle of New York City."
The look that passed between Catherine, Nikki and Trinity was tantamount to horror, and Catherine gave a low groan of despair as she sank into one of the other armchairs, hands over her face.
"New York," she whimpered, and Puck seconded her dismay by grimacing.
"Hey, nothing like a vacation to the middle of hell," he said, looking disgusted at the very idea of the Big Apple. "Why the hell do you even have a trod to the middle of New York City of all places?"
"Because it would dissuade any interested parties from pursuing the runaway into the human world," Demon explained patiently. "If you had to list the top five places a fey would never enjoy being—at least with the exception of the Iron Fey—the second on that list would be New York City. It was set up as a second deterrent aside from the protective barrier around this place. No sane fey, regardless of who they were after, would risk a venture into one of the most uninhabitable places on the face of the human planet."
"Fair point," sighed Puck, rolling his eyes. "Still, that's going to be about as much fun as if we'd run into that Dip on his good day."
"Don't," groaned Nikki then, burying her face in his shirt and thumping his chest, "I don't want to hear about the Dip right now…We just…heard it die a little while ago…"
Puck frowned, looking exceptionally guilty as he tightened his hold on her, dropping his head onto hers as she sighed shakily against his chest, realizing he'd made a little misstep he probably should have known to avoid.
"Sorry," he mumbled against her hair, and she merely sighed again in response.
"So, we stay here for the night," Trinity went on, acting as though the incident hadn't happened as she addressed Demon. "Then what? We leave first thing as soon as we figure out where to get a good trod in New York, right?"
"If all goes well, yes," agreed Demon, nodding his silvery head at her. "I will need to review the list of trods we keep here."
"You have a list?" Glitch asked, his violet eyes widening as his eyebrows shot up in amazement. "Why the hell do you have a list of trods here? I thought the whole point was to avoid letting the pursuers know where you went."
"The list is kept guarded," Demon told him patiently, though he narrowed his eyes. "Just like how only a few privileged fey can enter here, even fewer of those fey have access to the lists. I am only aware of three people that can actually access the vault, and one of those people is myself."
"And just how long of a list are we talking about?" Trinity asked quizzically, narrowing her blue eyes at the Cait Sith, pushing a hand through her ivory hair.
"Several hundred trods in all," Demon said, shrugging, and she gaped. "It should not take long, as only a few of them reach places near enough to get to the Briars, though I am still unhappy that we have to resort to a roundabout way. It would have been much more convenient to keep on the path we were on, but, that not being an option anymore, we will have to make do with this."
"How much longer will it take going this way do you think?" Catherine asked, lifting her face out of her hands to frown at him, jade eyes worried.
"Just a day or two, human time," Demon estimated, looking over at her with a small frown of his own.
"That's not too bad, then," Catherine sighed, looking a little more relieved. "So we'll just sleep here. Um…"
She glanced around suddenly, looking uncertain but hopeful.
"Is there any kind of bath here? I know that's hoping for a lot but—"
"Through there," said Demon, gesturing towards a door behind him, "Feel free to use it while we are here, since we will not be making any leisure stops in the human world."
"Kill joy," sang Puck under his breath to Nikki, who gave a low snort of amusement, though she kept her face buried in his shirt. "You would think the guy would at least want to let us see the Empire State Building or something if he's dragging us right into the heart of hell."
"New York is not hell," Nikki told him in a mutter.
"Sure it is," Puck said, snorting. "Haven't you ever heard that if you call from anywhere else in the nation to hell, you have to pay for long distance? In New York, they have it on speed dial and they don't get charged because they live right on top of the place."
"I thought we talked about how hell isn't even that bad of a place," Nikki mumbled, "What with Wrath and all that."
"Man, I don't know if I believe that," Puck told her, rubbing his chin across the top of her head, "If Hell isn't hell, then what the hell is it?"
Nikki couldn't help the little giggle of amusement that slipped from her, though she was still very much engrossed in her darker thoughts, of the Dip and their shadowy stalker, and everything else now. But she kept it to herself. No use worrying over it when there was nothing she could currently do about it other than go with Demon's new plan and pray it didn't end up with them dead.
"Well, I'm going to take a bath, then," sighed Catherine, "Unless someone wants to demand they need it first, I have dibs."
"It is all yours," Trinity informed her friend with a wry smile. Catherine returned the smile, beginning to rise to her feet, but she wasn't even halfway out of her chair when a stabbing, blinding pain burst into existence, not just flaring up in her shoulder, but overtaking her entire body in a matter of seconds, resonating from the wounds in her back.
She didn't even hear if she screamed or not as her vision turned pitch black, and the world went dark and silent.
"CAT!"
Trinity was the one who screamed as Catherine dropped to the floor, but not before Demon had shot forward and caught her in his arms, lowering her gently to the ground, his yellow-green eyes huge as Trinity and Nikki broke away from both Puck and Tertius, racing forward to kneel beside their friend. Nikki's heart was in her throat as she crouched down by Catherine, who wasn't moving as she lay limp in Demon's arms, and her hands shook as she reached out to take her friend's hand, clasping it between hers and peering anxiously down at Catherine as the girl continued to lay, totally unconscious, in the Cait Sith's grip.
"What the hell just happened?" demanded Trinity in a quavering voice, her blue eyes enormous and terrified as she too knelt down, staring down into Catherine's face, feeling very close to hysteria.
She could handle potential assassins, and Dips, and everything else in between, but this was not okay. Not at all okay.
"I think her shoulder again," Demon confided in a low murmur, his gaze equally desperate as it roamed Catherine's face, looking for a sign of life, only reassured by the feel of her heartbeat and her breathing against his hand as he checked her pulse. "Nothing else makes sense…"
"But she didn't even scream or anything," Nikki said, really scared now.
She knew it sounded like an odd thing to say, but at least when someone screamed it meant the pain wasn't so overwhelming they were past feeling it. Catherine hadn't even gasped. She had just stood up and gone down in a split second, like…Nikki hated to think of it, but like she'd been shot dead. Except even people were shot took a split second to pause before they fell, and Cat hadn't. She'd just fallen…Like a lifeless doll, and Nikki didn't like it at all.
"I think she'll be alright," Demon murmured, though Nikki noticed upon looking up at him that nothing about the worry in the Cait Sith's face said he really believed what he was saying. "I'll take her to the other room…"
Carefully, he readjusted his grip on Catherine, pulling her to his chest and lifting her, bridal-style, in his arms, Nikki and Trinity rising, Nikki still holding Catherine's limp hand.
"What can we do?" Glitch asked, having been lingering a little to the side, though the minute Catherine had collapsed he'd been on his feet, looking ready to jump in and help, now looking unsure what to do.
"I'm not sure," Demon admitted, for the first time in living memory sounding defeated as he carefully made his way over to one of the many adjacent doors around them, which Trinity hurried to open for him so he could carry Catherine through it.
Nikki had to briefly relinquish her hold on her friend's hand, which didn't help her anxiety at all, but the minute Demon was through the door, she was behind him again, practically dancing on the spot with worry as he carefully set Catherine down on the small bed inside, which was layered down with what looked like deer furs. Draping one of the furs over the still unconscious girl, Demon stepped carefully to the side, allowing Nikki to rush forward and seize her friend's hand again, noting how her own was still trembling as she twined her fingers with Catherine's, her brown eyes beseeching her friend's face for any kind of indication she was about to wake up. Finding none.
"Will she wake up?" she asked, a little breathlessly, turning to look at Demon as he hovered uncertainly in the doorway, his eyes holding a kind of haunted look as he gazed down at Catherine.
"I am sure she will," he said, though, again, she noticed he didn't seem as convinced of himself as she wished he would, "It is just…I could not even begin to estimate when… So far, at least from this morning, the pain has not kept her down for long."
"It also hasn't made her faint, either," Trinity murmured quietly, stepping past the Cait Sith, her eyes rather over bright as they settled on Catherine's still figure on the bed. "You guys might not keep us totally in the loop, but I know that much. She'd have told us about that, even if she didn't want to at first. This is the first time this has happened, isn't it? It's why you're looking so freaked out right now."
Demon gave her a long, weary look, only confirming the fact that she was right as he then ducked his head, allowing his silvery bangs to fall into his tired and slightly ashen face. In fact, Trinity thought he almost looked ill in the light being thrown from the several candles set in racks around the room, as though he hadn't been getting nearly enough sleep, and it only occurred to her then just how much he'd been working, watching Catherine struggle, doing his best to keep her safe from everything, even herself and her illness, and how much of a toll it must be taking on him. And now this…
She almost pitied him, really, knowing how much he'd been trying to do for Catherine, and what it meant as far as how he was affected by it all, but she still couldn't quite shake off her feeling of anger as she looked at the Cait Sith, feeling that—if he'd really been doing his job of protecting Catherine—this wouldn't have happened at all. She knew she shouldn't hold him responsible for Rowan getting close to Cat last night, but she couldn't seem to let it go, either. He was her guardian and his own aversion to social events—so he'd said—had been the reason he hadn't been with them at Elysium, and she felt that it shouldn't have mattered what he felt about Elysium; he should have been there anyway. And because he hadn't, now things were like this… But she knew the one thing that bothered her more than any of that was that they didn't know what to do about it. She could have handled Catherine being hurt and fainting if they at least had an answer as to why or how to really fix it, but they didn't. Well, they kind of knew why.
Rowan…
The sadistic prince, wherever he was at the moment, had apparently just had a very, very vicious temper flare, and given what Demon had said about the connection, the focus had been on Catherine, even if Rowan didn't quite realize what he was doing as a result. But that didn't matter a bit to her… It mattered that he could hurt Catherine, and that they didn't know how to stop it. And as if that wasn't enough already, now they had a potential assassin on their trail and were going to have to go around the ass to the get to the elbow in order to reach the Briars instead of having a straight shot because of that. There were just so many things going wrong already…
"What do we do?" she whispered, turning blue eyes on Demon as he leaned in the doorway, his expression still dark, almost haunted.
"There's nothing we can do," he murmured back, shaking his head slowly, his eyes on Catherine's face.
Trinity bit her lip to keep from saying anything back, knowing it wouldn't help. She hated hearing people say there was nothing they could do…It made her think of her talk with Tertius, and how even if she couldn't do anything, she could still be there for her friends. Well, that was all fine and dandy, but being here for Cat wasn't going to help her get any better or lessen her pain by a long shot. Cat didn't even know she was here right now, because she freaking passed out from the pain. Her being there didn't help jack shit.
"But why was it so bad this time, is what I want to know?" Nikki murmured then, momentarily distracting Trinity from her mental rant. "It's never been this bad, even if it just started happening today…Why now? All of a sudden, why now?"
Demon gazed down for a long moment at Catherine's sleeping face, and Nikki and Trinity did the same, Nikki with tears brimming in her eyes as she gently stroked her friend's hand.
"The only thing I can guess," Demon murmured at last, "Is that wherever Rowan is now, whatever he is experiencing, it made him think of her, and in no good terms. I'd almost say this would have been a conscious effort to make her feel pain, but if that were the case he would have known to do so long before now. He wouldn't have waited this long to make her collapse like this if he knew he had the ability."
"So what?" Nikki asked in a thick voice, turning watering brown eyes onto the Cait Sith, anger in their depths. "Maybe he does know and he's just making us think he isn't. It's what faeries do best, right? They can't lie, but they can sure as hell deceive people, and he's the best at it. Why let us onto the fact that he knows what he can do to her when he can just sit cozy at home in his fucking palace and have us running around like idiots thinking he's totally oblivious to what he's doing? That would just ruin his fun, wouldn't it? Because he knows we'd come put his sorry ass twelve feet under if we ever found out!"
"Nikki," Trinity began in a low voice, seeing her friend on the brink of losing control. But Nikki wasn't done, not even halfway…
"I'm sick of his shit," she spat furiously, angry tears now rolling down her cheeks, "He gets away with all this crap, all the stuff he does to Cat, and no one even thinks about stopping him because he's so fucking high and mighty that they're all scared of him! I don't care what anyone says, I know Mab didn't give anywhere near the kind of pain he should have had to deal with when they got back to Tir Na Nog! He deserves to be put in the ground for this crap, and no one is going to do it! I would right now, I'd go right over there and bury his ass, but that stupid fucking promise I made Cat doesn't let me, and it pisses me the hell off! She shouldn't have to deal with this! She doesn't deserve everything he's done to her, so why the hell did it have to be her?!"
Nikki's voice cracked, and she looked away, tears obscuring her vision as she choked on a furious sob, dropping her head onto the edge of the bed, clutching Cat's hand in hers while Trinity and Demon looked on with somber expressions. Trinity's sapphire eyes were over bright, and Demon looked even more careworn and distraught than before as he gazed down through hooded yellow-green eyes at Nikki's bowed mahogany head. Behind him, he heard someone approach slowly, almost too silent to be heard, and a moment later he was being nudged aside as Puck entered the room, his emerald eyes dark as they rested on Nikki's crying form, and he shot a look at Demon that the Cait Sith either didn't notice or ignored.
Sweeping past the Cait Sith and Trinity, Puck lowered himself into a crouch beside Nikki, his expression tender and sorrowful as he reached out a gentle hand to touch her shoulder. She didn't look up at his touch, but she didn't shrug it off, either, so he gently slid his arm around her shoulders, gently drawing her up from the bed and back against him, though she continued to cry, and refused to let go of Catherine's hand, as though for all the world she thought she might lose her friend for good if she did.
"Nikki," Puck murmured, dropping his head to rest on hers, his lips at her ear, "Come on, beautiful, you need to let go for now…She'll be okay…"
Nikki hiccupped quietly and shook her head, tightening her grip on Catherine's hand as though her life depended on it.
"Nikki," Puck's voice became firmer, though his eyes were sad as he gazed down at her tear streaked face, "I know how much you hurt right now and if I could I'd go kill Rowan myself and bring back his head for you, but we can't do that. Right now, the best thing we can do is let her rest it off. You worrying like this won't help her, and she wouldn't want to see you like this over her."
She shook her head again, but her fingers loosened a fraction from around Catherine's, and Puck, feeling a little tug in his heart, gently reached forward with a hand to lay it over hers, hating how she trembled under his touch as he slowly slipped his fingers between hers and Catherine's. She struggled at first, as though she wasn't about to really let him take her away from her friend, but in the back of her mind, she knew he was right, and much as she wanted nothing more than to sit and cry here like a baby, venting about all the injustice and cruelty that had been done, she knew it wouldn't help anything. So she allowed him to take her hand back, coiling her fingers around his instead, almost to the point that his knuckles turned white from the force of her grip, but he didn't say anything about it as he pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. She turned her head into his shirt, the tears doubling, and her entire body shook with her sobs as he rocked her gently back and forth, sorrow in his emerald eyes as he looked down at her.
Trinity stood by the bed still, also looking down at her sobbing friend, doing her best not to make a move to break anything valuable in the room, though every cell in her body shrieked at her to do…something. Anything. How could it be that she couldn't do anything right now? Catherine was in such pain that she was unconscious, and Nikki was in tears over it, and she was just standing there doing fucking nothing.
"I hate this," she whispered, sudden tears welling in her eyes, blinding her before she could blink them away, "I fucking hate this, this isn't fair!"
She strode from the room, banging past Demon, who didn't react at all as he knocked back into the doorframe, but continued to stand there with his head down. Barreling into the main room, she wasn't really aware of where her feet were taking her until an arm shot out suddenly, wrapping around her waist, and drawing her backwards despite her struggles to continue forward, shouting an angry protest that she didn't quite understand herself, turning with a fist raised, ready to strike out at whoever had gotten in her way, only to stop, dead, as she met a pair of burning silver eyes, blurred from the tears clouding her eyes, and Tertius's voice murmured softly,
"Trinity…"
It was that quiet murmur that brought her back to her senses, making her halt her fist a mere inch from his face before she could strike him, though he didn't even flinch away from her oncoming attack, merely looking straight into her watering sapphire eyes. His expression was calm, but there was an underlying concern in his mercury colored eyes, and his hold around her tightened somewhat as she felt her tears double as she forced herself to relax in his grip.
What had she been doing…? She'd just tried to hit Tertius…
"I'm sorry," she whispered, dropping her face into his chest, feeling the tears well over before she could stop them, becoming an endless torrent, burning her face as they slipped down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Tertius, I just…"
"Shh," he hushed her, gathering her up in his arms, gently running long fingers through her silky ivory hair. "I know, Trinity…I know…Just breathe for me, now, alright? Just breathe…"
She tried, but it wasn't easy, and she started hiccupping as she attempted to stem the flood of her tears and continue to breathe evenly. Tertius merely continued to hold her to him, his heart beating steadily beneath her ear as she rested her face against his tunic, dampening the fabric with her tears. Her knees felt weak beneath her, and she felt she might have fallen to the floor if it weren't for the Iron knight's arms supporting her. Almost as though reading her mind then, he gently slid back from her, not quite breaking away, and stooped to gently lift her up into his arms, carrying her over to one of the few couches in the main room and setting her down on it as she continued to sniffle against his chest, her face thoroughly soaked with tears, her eyes red and swollen.
"I'm sorry," she hiccupped again as he lowered her to the couch, sitting down beside her and pulling her to his chest again, gently patting her back.
"It isn't your fault, Trinity," he murmured, laying his dark head atop hers, his silver eyes mournful as he gazed down at her, taking in the glittering tears on her face.
He had never thought he would ever truly hate anything in this world, so long as he lived, and considering he had gone so long without hating anything to begin with, even his bitterest enemy, but he now was proven wrong. He had discovered something to truly hate, and it was seeing Trinity in tears. Gently, he lifted a hand to brush at the drops of salt water as they continued to seep down from her eyes, but more came, and he felt a surge of despair in his chest as he watched her lean into him, her normally bright eyes dark with sadness and pain and anger.
"This isn't fair," she whispered into his shoulder, turning her face to try and hide the tears spilling over. "This really isn't fair, why did this happen to her…? Her of all people…!"
"I know," he murmured softly, trailing his finger over her ivory hair, feeling his heart clench painfully as he felt her trembling against him. "It should not have happened to her, Trinity, and I wish there was something more I could do…"
"Kill Rowan for me and we'll be good," she hiccupped, and though she tried to sound joking he could hear the underlying fury in her voice that the tears did not quite hide.
She truly wanted the Ice Prince dead, and he did not blame her an ounce. Rowan had done something unforgivable in her eyes, harming her best friend—not just once—but three times, and they had not been able to stop him from doing so. Trinity had felt for the longest time that it was her duty to protect her friends, as the eldest in their trio, and now he knew, almost as well as she did, the kind of grief and guilt that gnawed at her as a result of failing to do so. Though Tertius would love nothing more than to sit there and tell her over and over again that she was not at all to blame for this until she finally believed him, but he knew that would do no good. He could tell her that for a thousand years and she would still blame herself. He knew she blamed others, such as Oberon, and perhaps even Demon for what Rowan had managed to get away with, but more than them she blamed herself. She saw Catherine as her responsibility. Her little sister to keep safe and protect, and now she had just been forced to sit uselessly while her friend had collapsed and now lay in the other room, almost comatose.
How could he expect her not to wish Rowan's death after that? Truly, if he knew Catherine better, if he had the same connection to the girl as Trinity he did, he might also wish the Prince's death for his crimes. At the moment, however, he was too concerned with how the Prince should pay for making Trinity grieve so much...and how he could make that grief go away.
"You should sleep," he murmured softly against her ivory hair, closing his silvery eyes and nuzzling closer.
"I can't sleep," she said thickly, shaking her head as she continued to sniffle into his tunic, "Not now…I want to stay up with Cat…"
"I will be awake," he told her softly, "And I promise I will wake you the moment she does, but, Trinity, if you exhaust yourself like this it will not be any help to her or anyone else. She wouldn't want you to be like this, just as I am sure she would not want Nicolette to worry either."
"I can't help that," Trinity said, and through her tears her voice became sharp, "I can't help being worried, because if I said I wasn't worried I'd be lying."
"I am not asking to say you are not worried," he reminded her, gently bringing his hands to her shoulders, pushing her back slightly so he could peer more clearly down into her tear stained face. "I am asking you to rest, and know that we will take care of her for now. She will wake up again, Trinity, this is just a spell. In a way, this is better. In this sleep, she can't feel the rest of the pain. Asleep, she is safe."
"And when she wakes up?" Trinity asked through a hiccup, turning pained blue eyes up to his face. "Then what? She just has to deal with the pain until another 'spell' comes up?"
"I wish I could say I knew," he told her sincerely, frowning down at her, brushing back strands of her ivory hair as they hung in her face, stuck to her cheeks from the tears, "But all I can say for certain now is that we all need to rest and get up our strength to go looking for Lord Wrath as soon as possible. Otherwise we will have even fewer answers than if we were to find him. As Demon has said, our best chance for Catherine—both in finding her father and in healing her—is with him. If we allow ourselves to wear down from worry and pain, we will be of no help getting Catherine to him."
Trinity knew he was right, but she still didn't want to go to sleep, no matter how many good points he made, and shook her head in rejection as he looked imploringly down at her through glittering silver eyes.
"Trinity," he said, his voice reproachful, but she shot him a look and he went quiet.
"I can't sleep right now," she told him firmly, "It isn't even a matter of wanting to, Tertius, I can't sleep like this even if I wanted to. You think I could sleep in this state, knowing Catherine is still hurting, or will be hurting when she wakes up? You really think I could close my eyes and just fall asleep after what I saw happen to her a few minutes ago?"
Tertius looked at her, his silver eyes weary as he searched her expression, seeing the taught lines of her mouth, the exhaustion in her blue eyes, and felt himself sigh.
"No, you couldn't," he murmured, frowning. "But I wish you would at least try…we have nightshade, Trinity."
"That's Cat's, I'm not touching it," said Trinity curtly, but that wasn't the only reason she wasn't about to knock back a vial of nightshade. When she'd said she couldn't sleep, she also meant she wouldn't. She was not about to go to sleep after what had just happened. She'd stay awake all night if she had to, but she wasn't going to go to sleep if Catherine was going to wake up. She'd be awake when her friend woke, and she'd be there for her.