CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Zak

After a riveting discussion about my food preferences, much needed showers and a three-hour nap, Sam and I were, again, sitting at the dining room table preparing alchemic weapons and healing potions. And since there'd been no messages from Kit and we'd all agreed it was best to wait for tomorrow's full moon, we could breathe a little and take our time.

Brian had taken over the coffee table and was again mumbling to himself as he mixed Cethlenn's hair into a serum that would (hopefully) both seal her into the trap and weaken her enough so he could consume her. The only problem with that was that she would have to ingest it for the latter to be effective. That little detail was what worried me the most, because once the trap was sealed, it would be entirely up to Brian to pull it off. And Brian was weak… Very weak. If I had to guess, he was no more powerful than myself or Saber when she was at full capacity. It was a real long-shot.

I looked across the table that was currently covered in a plethora of alchemy supplies, to Sam, who was making iron flash bombs. "Not enough iron."

"What?"

Sam was apt, had a decent foundation in alchemy and general spell craft. If he and Dean decided to stay, I intended to offer him an apprenticeship of sorts, he could give me insight into his world's magic and I could teach him ours. Plus, to Sam, magic was magic, and he wouldn't be afraid to learn some of the Dark magic that I knew, he'd be very enthusiastic about it. Besides, it did have its uses. It would also be nice to teach a guy who could comfortably discuss technical aspects for most types of magic.

Right now though, he was giving off the same energy as an over – eager kid trying hard not to disappoint a teacher. And while that was kind of flattering, that kind of energy could lead to mistakes and we didn't have time for those. "The color is wrong." I nodded at the bowl. "It should be deep blue with silver bubbles, not light blue with bubbles."

"Oh. My bad. Can we still use it?"

"Yeah, just add some iron until the color changes, don't say the activation incorrectly and it'll be fine." I carefully put a cork in the vial in front of me.

"Phew. Okay, good."

Bzz Bzz Bzz

"Your phone." Sam nodded.

I looked to my right, UNKNOWN shown as the ID so I declined.

Bzz Bzz

UNKNOWN again. I reached over and tapped 'decline'.

Bzz Bzz Bzz

"Dude, maybe you should just answer it. They seem pretty persistent."

My lips thinned in annoyance, "You're probably right." I muttered, then pushed the green button and brought the phone to my ear, "Speak."

"Got 'im. Hey brother how's it goin'?"

"Daniel?"

"I know, Gwyn! Christ." He snapped, loud enough for Sam to hear.

"Who is it?" Sam whispered.

"Druid, from the other day." I whispered back as I set the phone back on the table and turned it to 'speaker'. Daniel knew the situation we were in and he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would waste time calling me directly if it wasn't important.

"Oi! I said shut it back there, ya little creep!" came from the phone, followed by what sounded like a car door slamming.

"Daniel." I said a bit louder this time.

"Are you the new Hells Gate Druid?"

I stopped crushing the meadowsweet for a moment and focused on the phone, "You know my title. Why?"

An annoyed growl followed, "Ok, fine. Let me rephrase. Is your territory in or around Hells Gate?"

Sam stopped mixing and stared at the phone. He knew where I lived, and his eyes narrowed as he waited for my response.

"Again, why?"

"Because I got Gollum in the back of my truck goin' around sayin' the Crystal Druid is alive and well."

I looked at Sam, "Guess you didn't kill him…"

"And some of the nasty small Fae on my territory are sayin' you've either taken Hells Gate or gone back to the psycho's territory."

Sam looked from me to the phone and back; face like stone and concern in his eyes.

"Now," Daniel snipped, "answer the question straight. I don't have the patience for cryptic bullshit."

Fuck. Daniel seemed like a good guy. He had sought me out to tell me that minions of Dark Fae were looking for me, even though he had nothing to gain from telling me. But I didn't know anything else about him other than his age and that he was on parole. I didn't give a shit about the parole thing, that would be more than a bit hypocritical, but the best con men were usually the kindest.

"Look brother," Daniel's calm voice broke my thoughts, "I don't give a fuck what you did in the past. Ya gotta do whatchya gotta do. Right? In fact, I'm pretty sure if someone drew a venn-diagram of our former business associates there'd be a pretty big overlap…" he chuckled. "Hell, you were probably one of my clients." He trailed off and I added the 'client' comment to the list of things I was planning on asking him. "And," he sighed, "by your long ass silence, I'd say you are holding Hells Gate and you've got people there."

I rested my elbows on the table, covered my face with my hands and took a leap of faith. "Yes," I exhaled, pulled my face out of my hands and raked my hair, "our territory is at Hells Gate."

"What are you…" Sam mouthed, looking pissed. I glared at him and held my hand up for silence. He returned my glare but didn't say anything else.

" 'Our territory' ? Who'd you got there?"

I paused and took another deep breath, "My friend Tori and my wife, Saber."

"Shit. Ok… Gimme the coordinates and I'll go get 'em, then…"

"Saber's on bed rest." I blurted out.

"Bed rest? What… Your girl is pregnant? Shit, man. Chill, Gwyn. We anticipated this." A slow exhale came from the phone. "Okay. Pfft, no worries. I'm uh, I'm in Hope right now, so yeah, just send me the coordinates and if I leave right now, depending how far in you are, I could be there by nightfall. Then Gwyn can decide whether or not we can move her. Easy." He sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself rather than me. "Uh, I'm assuming your wife is a Druid? With a companion?"

"She is, and yes."

"What about the other girl?"

"She's a witch."

"Goody. Ok, well, just call 'em and let 'em know I'm coming. I don't wanna walk into some angry Fae ambush."

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Awesome."

"And, uh, thank you."

"No problem, brother." Click

"What the hell dude?" Sam snapped, "You met this guy like, yesterday," he waved his hand across the table to emphasize, "and now you're telling him exactly where Tori and Saber are? Why don't you just send Aaron if you're so worried?"

I sent Daniel the coordinates then calmly put the phone down, "Daniel is a Druid,"

Sam scoffed. "That doesn't mean..."

I raised my voice to talk over him, "He is a Druid who came to the guild himself to warn me about the Fae looking for me, without asking for a favor in return. Druids and Fae rarely give out helpful information unless there's something in it for them," I sprinkled the meadowsweet into the liquid measuring cup in front of me, "which of course, you know from your homework."

Sam's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything.

"Now, I don't know how Daniel was trained, but based on the amount of tattoos I saw on his arms, he works closely and often with Fae. As to Aaron," I swirled the finished blood replenisher and started pouring it into vials. "First, one Druid and two Fae are more powerful than a mage and one Fae. Second, Aaron is a very talented pyromage and an excellent combat mythic. However, he knows almost nothing about Fae. So, if I asked him to go, I'd be putting not only his life in danger, but also Tori's and Saber's." I finished filling the last vial and looked back up, "Understand?"

Sam scowled, but nodded begrudgingly and went back to work.

"Good." I corked the first vial, "Because we've still got work to do."