SMOKE AND ASHES
Gold (who has a fatal flaw of trusting women that he shouldn't) has been poisoned by Zelena. In his weakened state Zelena has successfully collared the powerful sorcerer.
Back in Middletown (Asheville) The House is attacked and between Regina and Emma using their raw strengths and Belle directing and channeling the powers and abilities of the inhabitants, they successfully repel the shadow horde that threatens to overwhelm them. There is a brief calm and then the tenants are all abruptly overwhelmed with a massive blow dealt by the Demon Lord Pan himself. He selects Emma to whom he has confessed an attraction (and for whom he likely has insidious plans) and Belle (whom we suspect is a pawn in The Spell he plans to cast) placing them into a single iron cage. As Pan leaves, he directs his shadow horde into The House to prey on the downed tenants.
Meanwhile Ruby continues to watch the Manor House where she believe Killian Jones is 'entertaining' Cora.
Unraveling
Chapter 30
Pan directed his minions to throw Emma and Belle into an iron-barred cage that was pulled by some type of not-a-horse. He leered over Emma who was lying next to the bars and struggling to regain consciousness. When he attempted to grab her by her jacket and pull her close to him, she was able to block his arm and managed to scoot herself away from the bars. She was bleary-eyed and panting but was still able to pull her jacket together and glare at him.
He gave her a nasty laugh. "Oh, I shall so enjoy having you, Em-ma," he said slowly. "You are not going to be easy." He put his face close to the bars. "I haven't had a queen in a long time. Perhaps I'll find you worthy of the position."
"You try and touch me, you'll pull back a bloody stump," Emma talked through her teeth.
He chuckled. "So feisty! In time, I'll probably get around to using a collar on you but I think it'll be more interesting to leave you with your free will for awhile. In the meantime, I think I shall anticipate what pleasures I will derive from your very lovely body," and he waved his hand.
Emma gasped as her outer clothes vanished. She was left in only her bra and panties.
Pan looked her over. "So lovely." And he blew her a kiss and left the two women.
Belle had witnessed the altercation but could only watch. She found herself in agony; any time she brushed against the bars on the rolling cage she shared with Emma, pain seared into her. She did her best to remain in the center of the small cage but even in this place she still felt depressing, debilitating pressure bearing down on her.
She and Emma as prisoners of Pan were being carried down to Undertown through a dark, shadowy path, through sickly mists, with vaguely threatening shapes looming up around them as they were tossed about in the carriage. Not going with the Carolina Lane address she was familiar with – this pathway was longer but allowed for many more to travel on it.
Belle removed the jacket of the black silken lounge pajamas she was wearing (she had found these rummaging through Gold's dresser and had put them on because they reminded her of him). She still had on the pants and a tank top. Shivering Emma gratefully pulled the jacket on; it was long enough to cover her behind and give her some protection against the night air as well as any immediate leering from some of their occasional fellow travelers. They rode for a while buffeted in the cage, then they would stop for a while, then they would travel again. And stop again.
Belle wasn't sure if they were waiting on stragglers or collecting other fighters or other prisoners. They were headed downwards and as they traveled there were points that Belle had begun to recognize by their similarities to the world above.
They were resting again. Belle crawled over to Emma ignoring the white hot pains that shot up into her as she touched the bars of the cage. Emma had curled up trying to stay warm.
"Emma," she whispered. Belle had seen they had been left unsupervised. This might be their best chance."
"Where the hell are we? Belle, do you know what's going on?" Emma had recovered from the blow Pan had leveled at the tenants but was still struggling with confusion from awaking half-naked in an iron cage.
It was quite dark around them. They hadn't been accorded a guard, evidently not considered any threat.
"I think Pan specifically picked us out, you and me. You, because he . . . well you know, right? Me, I don't know why. We've got to get out of here," Belle explained as quickly as she could.
"Shit," Emma swore. She raised her hand toward the cage door lock but nothing happened. "Now what the hell?"
"He put something on you so you couldn't do magic," Belle explained.
Emma looked at the leather strap that had been fastened onto one arm apparently just remembering it was there. "Damn. Oh!" she shook her arm. "That explains why everything looks so dull. It's like waking up deaf and maybe a little blind."
"So you can't blast us out of here?" Belle asked.
"No, but let's see," Emma had gone over to the lock, pulled it into the cage and began to look it over. "Do you have a paper clip or a pen or something?" she asked Belle.
Belle reached into her pocket of the pants. "You're in luck. A paper clip."
Emma held out her hand and Belle handed her the clip which Emma straightened out. "I learned this trick a while ago." And she began picking the lock.
It was flimsy and soon enough, Emma was able to creak the door open. The two women held their breath concerned that the squeaking door might have gotten someone's attention but no one came to check on them.
They slipped out and, Emma smirked, "Just for fun," she said and locked the door again.
"It will look like we just vanished into thin air," she told Belle.
"Great, let's go," Belle whispered urgently. "Let's get out of here before they discover we're gone."
The two women crept along in the shadows, Belle feeling her strength returning as soon as she had left the iron cage. At different times others would come by and she found she had enough energy to shield herself and Emma using her invisibility spell.
They had been walking awhile when Belle looked around. She recognized that they were near the Villains' Club. "We might be able to connect with Ruby," she said hopefully.
"Yeah right," Emma was dubious. "That place doesn't look safe. We aren't going to be able to just walk in. Look at us," Emma countered. "Well," she looked Belle over, "maybe you could walk in."
"I was going to try to reach her . . ." Belle touched her forehead.
"You can do that?" Emma asked.
"I don't know. I've never tried. But I think I can. I should be able to . . . " And she stood still trying to find Ruby amid all the strange brains and strange thoughts that she encountered.
She pulled a face – not all the thoughts she encountered were particularly nice. "I'm pretty sure she's not in there. There are some brains that are like hers but not one that is her."
"Brains like hers?" Emma asked.
"Lycans. Humans that can change themselves into wolves."
"Cool. So now what?"
Belle wasn't used to being the one in charge, but magic-less Emma seemed to have lost her confidence.
"I don't know," Belle told her. She didn't think it was safe to try to return back to The House. It wasn't safe to go into the Club. There was always Zelena's apartment but . . . somehow that didn't seem quite right.
Belle closed her eyes. She reached out . . . searching for . . . . looking for . . . feeling for . . . Gold. Where was he?
Something wasn't right. Something was terribly wrong.
Belle thought and made a decision, "I think I know where Ruby was staying. She had talked with me before she set out with Mr. Jones. Maybe we can get you some clothes there. Come on." She led Emma down a couple of streets, remembering the address that Ruby had mentioned off-handedly where she would be staying. The two women found the hotel building and not feeling out anything in the way of security, they were able to enter and make their way up to Ruby's room.
It was locked.
Emma knelt down and, using the previously successful paperclip, she managed again to pick the lock. They slowly opened the door and looked around.
"That's Ruby's red outfit. I remember," Belle told her.
"Wow, I wonder if she's gotten anything less slutty," said Emma and proceeded to pick through the meager outfits that Ruby had brought with her. She managed to find a pair of black jeans and a slinky red top. There was a cropped embroidered jacket that Emma also borrowed. And some shoes. Emma handed Belle back the silken jacket.
Belle wrote their friend a quick note using some of the hotel stationery.
"All right," Emma told her. "I'm good to go."
"But where?" Belle wondered.
+ + + Transporting
Would Zelena ever shut up?!
Gold was prisoner of the onyx-black collar and forbidden to speak, unable to control his own actions, subservient to Zelena's whims. He was furious, angry with her, angry with himself.
This was like being prisoner of the Fae; they'd held him in a silver cage and tormented him with poisons. What Zelena was doing was tormenting him with her controls. In both situations he had been rendered helpless.
And he hated it, hated it with a white hot vehemence, with every pore in his body, with a soul-sucking energy that burned and sizzled seeking, desiring, demanding vengeance.
His father had told him the Fae had only released him because he was close to breaking their controls, close to breaking free of their cage. Perhaps, perhaps . . . was it possible to break the control of the collar?
No one, ever, had done such a thing. But just because it had never been done, did not mean that it could not be done.
He would have to focus his energies.
Zelena chattered on. She'd informed him that she was taking him over to her mother - he felt it was to rub her mother's nose in how she, Zelena, had managed to make Gold her captive.
He considered different ways he would punish Zelena when and he persisted in thinking when, not if he got free. Stripping her of her powers would be the first thing he would do. Perhaps he'd put a collar on her – he had several to choose from. Perhaps he could just put her in some kind of stasis situation. He was sure he had something he could use to take her out of action. Perhaps he would just beat her.
But given what all Cora had done to her, Zelena's behavior was understandable. She was behaving as she had been taught to behave. He startled. What the hell had gotten into him? He was sounding like Belle – she was wearing off on him.
No, no! Punishment was called for, oh, punishment was demanded. He went back to considering his options.
He was startled out his pleasant reverie when Zelena came back in wearing her silver dress and reapplied lipstick. Right before leaving her apartment, she had taken a moment to run her hands down his arms and she trailed the back of her hand along his face. "You are so handsome. I used to wonder what it would be like to kiss you, to have you kiss me." She spoke dreamily and Gold steeled himself, half expecting her to lean in and press her lips against his. Zelena sighed. "Maybe later. Right now, I want to show you off."
She put her hand on his arm and he felt it as a swirl of murky suffocating green magical energy enveloping him. Then he was transported.
+ + + + Back at The House
The swarm flowed in like a damn had burst, all manner of dark, evil creatures pouring in through the opening that had once been a doorway. Regina valiantly raised herself collecting all of her energies, preparing to take out as many of the creatures as she could. Ashley had come to and was following suit with her forming fireballs in each hand. David had pulled himself into a corner and raised his sword.
The others had all lined up behind her. They were not planning on going down quietly. They were preparing to go out defending themselves and taking out as many of the enemy as they could.
It was going to be a slaughter.
And they knew it. They had no chance against so many.
Suddenly . . .
Between the downed, wounded tenants and the unholy swarm of demi-demons appeared a large black cat.
The animal stood with its back arched. It was a large animal for a cat. It seemed to begin growing as it stood growling, its long fur standing out from its body making it appear nearly twice its actual size. A slow yowling sound, increasing in volume, began to emanate from the animal.
The influx of invaders stopped, unsure, confused, hesitant. Some few of the dark force began to flee, tripping over their own kind in their panic to get out. The cat continued to grow, larger even than it had first seemed. Its size was now that of a goat and it was still growing. The yellow eyes were glowing, bright points in the darkness of the shop. By the time the animal had reached the size of pony the enemy had begun backing away en masse. The cat, if it was a cat, began to slowly advance on those few who had not fled in fear. With the cat's advancement, the remaining attackers finally broke and began to run away in sheer terror. The cat continued to yowl and hiss intermittently and then followed the attackers out of the shop, attacking the attackers, taking out many with each swipe of its paw.
And the cat disappeared into the darkness, now pursuing the attackers.
As their rescuer disappeared into the darkness, the door of shop, which had been splintered off its hinges, lifted up – the splinters pulling back together to make the door whole again - and now the door was set back into place with a woosh.
"What the fuck?" asked Leroy.
"I think, but I'm not sure," began Mary Margaret, "that was one of the Guardians. There's supposed to be one attached to The House."
"Glad it was on our side," muttered Jefferson. "Now, what the hell is a Guardian?"
+ + + + Cora's
They were standing outside the grounds of large manor house, standing before an iron gate set into a brick wall. Gold recognized the house.
It was Cora's.
"We have to ring or knock to get entrance," Zelena explained. "Now, I want you to walk two or three paces behind me. That will keep you close enough to be available whenever I might need you but you won't crowd me."
Gold nodded. Whatever she wanted.
Cora was someone else that he needed to address some issues with. Not that he was surprised that the woman had lied to him. But the baby story had seemed so real and she had allowed the charade to continue as long as she had.
Of course, he was partly to blame for being a gullible believer, to be sure, but. . . wait, that was the Empathy-thing rearing its head again. Damn, and he had thought that being an Empath was easy, a nothing little talent. How did Belle ever make it through the day and make decisions about people? – there was too much to balance.
He refocused on Zelena who was ringing and knocking but not having anything happen. "Hum, that's odd. Usually the house recognizes that it's me and lets me right in." She rang the bell again. but again nothing happened.
"Well, I guess I need to try to just open the gate. Stand back," she directed him.
He complied, watching her. He could see the ward lines all around the building. They were old and pretty powerful. Some had been set by Cora. Some were older than her; they simply owed allegiance to whomever owned the house. He doubted that Zelena would be powerful enough to sever any of these lines.
Zelena hit the wards with a powerful strike. They wavered and then sprang back into place, quivering like a trampoline might with a jumper hitting the sweet spot. Zelena frowned and then hit them again with another strike. Again the wards wavered but then promptly sprang back. Gold had to smile. She was going at it all wrong: trying to use brute force when a simple cutting strike would break the threads and cause a small section of the wards to unravel.
Zelena had never had finesse. She was more powerful than her sister, no question, but there was little style. Of course, Regina had never won any prizes for subtlety.
Zelena hit the wards with a strike powerful enough to cause him to step back, but . . . still, the wards just wavered and promptly sprang back.
"Damnation!" she swore. Then she glanced at him. "Can you break through this?" she asked him.
He delayed responding, as if thinking it over. "If mistress wishes, I can try." She hadn't actually ordered him to break through and he certainly had no desire to visit with Cora, his ex-mistress. Not in his current situation.
Zelena nodded and stepped back.
Gold tried another full strike, much more powerful than anything Zelena had thrown at the wards and the wards shuddered.
"Try again," she commanded him.
Again he hit the wards full on and the very brick and iron of the gates visibly trembled . . . but the wards held. He shrugged.
"Can you not do this?" she demanded to know.
He smiled, "Perhaps. Do you command me, mistress?" he asked, managing to keep his voice level.
"I do. Break through these wards."
He nodded and kept his smile. This time he used a simple, light cutting motion to snip the edges out from some of the wards. He then lifted the wards up so that it was possible to walk under them. "Mistress," he gestured for her to go ahead and Zelena was able to walk up to the gate and have the thing open for her.
They were on the grounds.
+ + + + Wolf on the Grounds
Ruby had heard the racket the magical assault had caused. She recognized the woman – Zelena, Cora's daughter, if she recalled things correctly. She had Gold in tow and Ruby could tell that things were not all right with him. She wasn't adept at seeing auras, but all of her animal senses alerted her that he was not well, perhaps damaged in some way – ah, held prisoner. She spotted the black collar around his neck.
She rolled her eyes. She would have thought the man much too smart to have allowed this to happen. Zelena must have resorted to drugging him. Ruby doubted that Zelena was talented enough to distract the man with her endowments. Ruby knew well enough that Gold did not like Zelena.
She'd watched Zelena struggle against the wards to no effect. Then she saw Gold make several half-hearted attempts and then, at Zelena's urging she saw Gold make a direct effort and she could tell that the man had cut a hole in the wards, leaving them mostly intact but allowing them access.
Ruby watched them go in. She considered. This way was as good as any of the others that she had discovered. She padded over to the gaping hole and followed them onto the grounds.
+ + + + An Unpleasant Discovery
Pan was beyond furious. He was so angry that he had actually turned red, his face momentarily morphing into a mask of glowing eyes, sharp teeth and incipient horns.
"They've escaped!" he shouted.
"Yessss Massster," one of the snake-shadow-people bowing and scrapping replied.
Pan turned on him and the creature went up in flames.
"Who was supposed to be watching the cage?" he demanded.
None of his people dared reply and Pan again bellowed, "Who was supposed to be watching this cage?"
When no one answered again, Pan waved his hand and dissolved three of his people. His followers all drew back.
"Idiots! Incompetents! I shall have half of you flayed alive and the other half impaled!" He advanced on his people and watched as they fled into darkness. He turned to his grey minions who had managed to brave his wrath. "Bring me my hounds," he ordered.
The grey minions around him scattered, some to fetch the hell-hounds, some to seek safety from their master's titanic temper.
+ + + + Desperate Efforts
"What's wrong?" Emma asked, "Besides the obvious, I mean." She and Belle were back in front of the little hotel.
"Something's wrong with Mr. Gold. There's a problem," Belle answered her.
"How can you . . . oh never mind. What do we need to do?"
"I don't know. My heart tells me to go after Gold, to try to help him. But my head tells me that I should be making sure I'm staying away from Pan, that Gold is more than capable of taking care of himself. "
Emma considered. "It would seem to me that if Gold is in trouble, then we're all in trouble. We should help him."
Belle nodded.
Emma asked, "You pretty sure he's in trouble?"
Belle closed her eyes, "I am. Something has happened to him."
"So where do we find him?" Emma asked. "You got a GPS in that Gold-sensitivity meter?"
Belle smiled. "I don't know." She thought a moment. "You have no magic right now, right?"
Emma grimaced. "Nothing. It is like suddenly going blind. I hadn't realized how much I was using my magic in everyday life."
"So you can't transport us?"
"Hell, even if my magic was fully-charged, I don't know that I could transport myself. Gold can and Jefferson . . . well maybe. That's high end, pretty powerful stuff."
"I think I can do it," Belle told her. "But I'm not sure if I have enough energy. I'm going to try to take off that strap that's stopping you from using your magic."
Emma protested, "Oh, even I know that only the one who put it on can take it off, Belle."
"Pan's magic is all around this place and I may be able to channel it and use his energy to remove it. I'm just not sure how I need to think about it though. If I need to picture it coming apart or dissolving it or what. Let me try," and she put one hand on the strap and held one hand out to gather ambient energies."
Emma stood absolutely still. She was afraid the thing would get tighter or hot or something.
She had not expected it to just fall off.
"I did it!" squealed Belle and Emma echoed her.
"You did it!"
Belle picked up the strap. "I don't want to leave this lying around," she explained and stuffed it into a pocket. "Now, shall we try to transport?"
Emma wasn't sure about this. "Well, you know I'm scared we'll materialize within a wall or suspended in air or something unpleasant."
"Well, we could start walking . . ." Belle suggested.
"How far are we going?"
"I don't know."
Emma looked around. "I do know if we stay here, Pan will be hot on our tails. Transporting may be our best bet for getting away. What the hell, let's give it a whirl." And she took Belle's hands.
Belle closed her eyes. She had never done this before but she had read about it. There had been a single quiet conversation with Gold one evening when he had shared that he would just take a moment to picture where he was going. Belle didn't know where she was going, but she knew who she wanted to see.
She pictured Gold. His face, his soft brown eyes, his long clever fingers. She pulled on the energies around her, on Emma's strong abilities and held onto Emma. Suddenly the ground fell out from under them.
+ + + + Cora's House
Zelena and Gold were inside of Cora's house. They had knocked, but no one had answered. Gold assumed that Cora was involved in an 'activity' in one of the house's dungeons. He was concerned about Killian. He didn't particularly like the man, but he was one of Gold's people.
"Mother!" Zelena began to call. "You," she turned to Gold. "You wait here while I go look for her. I suspect she's got her latest boy toy suspended or something. I'll see if I can't find her."
Gold nodded, well under the power of the collar. He was rather dreading the moment the sexual fever would possess him. He suspected it was coming. He knew Zelena was waiting for it. At the moment he was still seething and there wasn't any hint that amorous feelings were about to erupt from his psyche.
He sat waiting in Cora's opulent living room. It was suffocating. The walls were covered with heavy tapestries and hanging velvet curtains. The furniture was dark and overstuffed, hard and uncomfortable. He stood waiting - when he felt a disruption – there is a disturbance in the Force – he thought wryly. He looked around but nothing seemed out of place.
Then he heard it. Like someone trying to move softly through the house, someone trying not to be heard. He listened. Two someones, he corrected.
He gently reached out, not having any idea of what he might encounter in Cora's house, anything from a mouse to one of her poor victims who had escaped to somebody seeking revenge on her.
He stopped breathing.
What the hell was she doing here?
He'd made her promise not the leave The House and now she was in this dangerous, very dangerous situation. Zelena would skewer her.
He saw her peek around the corner.
Belle!
He saw someone else with her. Emma! He would have thought Emma had too much sense to be here. She was supposed to be protecting Belle.
"Darling!" Belle was whispering as she came out from around the door when she spotted him.
"Get out!" he ordered. "You are in such danger here. What are you doing here? You must go before Zelena returns."
Too late, Belle had seen the collar. "I knew something had happened."
Emma spoke up. "The House was attacked. Pan decked us and kidnapped Belle and me. We escaped," she gave him the short version. "Belle figured you were in trouble and we . . . uh . . . we kinda transported here."
Gold closed his eyes. "Emma, you shouldn't have tried transporting. It's not one of your skills. Things could have gone wrong."
"I didn't transport us," Emma told him and nodded at Belle.
He turned slowly to Belle, "You transported yourself and Emma to a place you have never been?"
"I knew you were somewhere so I focused on being with you," she said biting her lip. She knew he was angry very angry but she was concerned. She touched the collar and he drew back. "Zelena's work?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Belle, can you do the same thing with that collar that you did with the wrist strap?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," she replied. The group heard some noises and Belle and Emma quickly removed themselves to hide.
"Look what I found, alive and well," announced Zelena coming back into the living room with Mr. Jones in tow.
"I've been relaxing. Cora has quite the array of party favors and a really nice Jacuzzi," he told Gold.
"He told me that Mother wasn't to be available for another ten minutes or so," Zelena added.
Killian smiled. "It's part of little game we're playing. I've been winning – well, mostly." He regarded Gold, "You look worse for wear, man."
"Fell on a bit of bad luck," Gold told him.
Zelena startled. She hadn't given Gold permission to speak. She would need to tighten her controls over the man.
"Let's sit and wait, shall we," she told Killian. "My pet will get us something to drink," and she nodded at Gold. "I believe Mother keeps some nice brandy." Gold slowly walked over to the credenza and pouring Zelena and Killian two drinks. Belle was watching from behind one of the tapestries and it took great effort not to spring out and slap Zelena.
The bitch was just pushing Gold around to show that she could. How could this woman ever think that what she felt for him was love?
Gold finished pouring the drinks and put them on an iron platter. Still moving slowly, he carried them over to his mistress and Killian.
Killian was watching. He wasn't sure of his next, best move. He'd been asked to keep Cora busy and that he had done. Taken one, well actually taken quite a few hits for the home team, he had. Not that it had been entirely unpleasant. Cora was a fine looking woman, although his personal tastes ran towards blondes, the red-head was quite attractive and very knowledgeable - at least about all things sexual.
Gold was clearly Zelena's prisoner – which if Killian had been asked if such a thing was possible a few days ago, he would have sworn no.
Killian was also aware that there were others, others from The House in Cora's house. His preternatural senses had alerted him to their presence. He figured Gold knew and wanted to keep the others a secret from Zelena. Fine enough that.
Killian glanced at the time. "Oh, I can go and release . . . uh, I mean, I can go and get Cora. Please excuse me. I'm sure she'll want to join everyone here." He rose and excused himself.
Zelena stood and watched him walk out. She turned to Gold, "Do you think he actually managed to turn the tables on my mother? I mean, it sounds like he's had her in the screws rather than the other way around." She was curious and surprised.
Gold had to pat himself on the back – he had evidently chosen the right man for the job. Killian's talents involved his abilities to hypnotize and charm others – he was certainly no fighter, not unless he had a clear advantage. He was also lacking . . . ahem . . . a certain moral compass, so that things that might be challenging to others gave him no pause. He had always shown a certain adeptness with women and Gold knew that Milah and Marilyn both had fallen to his charms at one time or another.
+ + + + Fury
Pan wanted to howl with his dogs. The three large grey beasts with red glowing eyes had led him swiftly back through darkened streets, to the Villains' Club and finally to the hotel, finally to Ruby's room and then back out in front of the hotel. There, it was there that the beasts had lost the trail. The dogs were running around, back and forth sniffing the air, sniffing the ground, but the trail disappeared. The shadow minions cowered away from Pan. He had grown very still, very thoughtful.
"Hold the dogs," he finally said to one of the grey minions.
Standing outside the building, he raised his arms in supplication. "Shivat, Answer my call. I have need of you!" he called. And he pulled a knife and cut his own hand. He held out the knife so that his blood would drip onto it.
The grey minions that had followed him trembled and pulled away from him.
Pan waited. He was patient.
Then he saw her.
Coming through the thick, dark fog that perpetually cloaked the place, moving slowly, was a slight figure. To the casual glance it would have appeared to be a ten year old girl. A malnourished child with long, stringy black hair and a pale face. She wore a long tattered dress that might have once been white but had been tinged grey over time.
If the observer looked more closely they would see the figure had blacked orbs in the place of her eyes. Abruptly, moving faster than any living thing might move, the figure was next to him and reached for the knife, reached with long pale fingers with blood seeping up through the nail beds. Pan handed the figure his knife and she licked the blade.
"Who wakes me from my slumber?" a raspy, hoarse voice came from the figure.
"I am Pan, lord of Undertown."
"I know you. Why have you called me?" the slight figure demanded of him.
"I need your assistance to track someone over time and space," Pan told her.
The figure turned her sightless blackened orbs on him. "It can be done . . . but there will be a price."
Pan smiled, "Of course, my lady. What are your terms?"
"What I always demand . . . a life."
Pan nodded. "As you wish. You help me, you may have your choice except . . . for the two you track. They are mine."
The figure, the Lady Shivat, smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth filed to jagged points. "As you wish," she replied. "Whom do you wish me to follow?"
"Their scents end here. Two women. One is a Water Elemental."
Lady Shivat sniffed the air around her, "A powerful elemental she is. Extraordinary."
"I think so," Pan agreed. "The other. . . "
Lady Shivat interrupted, "is a half-Fae Empath."
"Not much remarkable there," Pan commented.
Lady Shivat 'looked' at him and gave out a dry, harsh laugh. "If you say so," she agreed.
Thanks so much to my ever-faithful reviewers: Erik'sTrueAngel, karolprado, jamie. wan. kanobi, RaFire, Robin4, Chauchi, thedoctorsgirl42, Anne Andrews (Guest), Kiri Huo Ziv, RoxyMoron, deweymay, MyraValhallah, orthankg1, emospritelet and CharlotteAshmore
jewel415 (Guest): Gold is not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to women. And he really thought The House was the safest place to leave his dear Belle (Regina and Emma had promised to protect her and he wasn't expecting his father to make a direct attack on the place). Of course, Pan is underestimating Belle's abilities (as many reviewers have noted) – this will work against him.
Also the Shivat is from my own imagination (a combination of childhood memories, Jungian psychology and just the general creepiness that my Scot/German background leads me into).
NEXT: The Lady Shivat demands payment