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arjaandsimoni · 12 days

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CLANG!

Jaipur India

It had been a week, and Arja and Simoni returned home. Sadly however, Akul could offer little. A week of scouring ancient texts and examining their family’s stockpile of magical artifacts offered nothing. No tools or spells or techniques to resist the cold or ice.

They were the Vanara, the monkey-folk of India, a part of the world that didn’t even have winter but rather had a mild season that they called ‘winter,’ then Summer, then Monsoon, then post-Monsoon. Snow was something they only ever saw in the highest mountains or on television. They’d never needed a way to resist the cold before!

Simoni landed outside the house with a sigh, letting Arja off her back as she changed back to her human form. “Well, it was worth a try Arja…” she shrugged, “We’ll just have to deal with it somehow.”

Arja sighed loudly, looking upwards at the sky as she leaned back, “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah, just… uuuuuuugh…” she frowned, “I’m gonna have to bundle up like crazy just to keep from freezing already! How am I going to fight like that?!”

“I dunno, hell flying is gonna be impossible for… huh?” she paused, the garuda as she looked around… one of the bushes outside the house was moving.

Suddenly the bush burst open and a podgy man with a bad combover and a too small teeshirt burst into view. The twigs and sticks stuck in his hair suggested he’d been hiding there for a while. He raised his smartphone at them. “ARJA!” he grinned widely, aiming the camera lens at her.

Arja scowled and immediately transformed, her hands bursting into flames, “OH HELL NO! I AM IN NO MOOD FOR ANOTHER ONE OF YOU TODAY!” she snarled.

Simoni looked around frantically, “GUARDS! HEY! INTRUDER! SOMEONE GET NELEN! HURRY!” she called out.

Arja began channeling a burst of fire, all worry about the cold forgotten. This had been happening ever since they got back from Sri Lanka and she was fed UP with it! “One chance you freaking sicko! Put the phone away and leave, NOW, or you’re ash!”

Simoni whined, but she wasn’t strong enough to hold Arja back and the girl’s temper was burning hot! “GUARDS! C’MON ALREADY!” she called out again, she’d use her magic if she had to…

Then suddenly there was a loud metallic CLANG!

The intruder jolted, then their eyes went crossed before they slowly pitched over, landing on the ground in a heap.

Standing behind them was a small girl with long dark hair and one massive green eye who looked like she might be in preschool, wearing a pink teeshirt with a picture of a Pikachu on it, a denim skirt, and a pair of pink sandals… and holding a folding chair with a large head-shaped dent in it.

“… ‘N 'ERE COMES SCYLLA WITH A STEEL CHAIR!” laughed a figure behind them.

Arja stared at the crumpled form of her would be paparazzi, then turned behind her to see Loren walking forward with a grin. “Hoy there ye wee monkey. Nelen ain’t in. ‘e had ta go back up yer faerie friends, so I’m playin’ babysitter.”

Simoni looked between her and Scylla, then frowned. She had heard a few things about Loren from when they were working together at the Wulfshead before they’d overthrown Franklin Fullmoon, and one of those was that she was a very big fan of wrestling. “Loren… why did my niece just clobber him with a folding chair?” she asked pointedly.

“STEEWL CHAIW! STEEWL CHAIW!” cheered Scylla, waving the damaged object over her head as if it weighed nothing at all.

“Look, if our cous is gonna ‘ave me babysit he can’t expect me ta nae teach th’ wee ‘un a thing or two…” she laughed… then the three looked over as they heard a groan. The intruder was trying to rise.

Scylla frowned at him and CLANG! “NO!” she shouted, “STEEWL CHAIW!” she insisted, pointing to it as he collapsed again.

Arja had resumed her human form, the vanara girl grinning, “Well, I’m not going to complain if Scylla brains one of these idiots. What are they going to do? Press charges on a little girl?” she asked, “I mean, she won’t kill him…”

Then the three jumped as another loud CLANG echoed around the area! “STEEWL CHAIW!” shouted Scylla once more!

Then again!

Then yet again!

Loren winced, “Ah… Scylla lass! That’s enough! ‘e’s down! Ye win!” she called out.

Simoni looked around frantically, “Where the HELL are the guards?!”

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

“OKAY SCYLLA! YE WIN! I’M RINGIN’ TH’ BELL! THAT MEANS YE WIN!” yelled Loren, looking worried now. Nelen would be VERY pissed off if she caused his daughter to commit unintentional homicide!

Simoni looked back and forth nervously. Scylla could get very grabby and shove-y when she got wound up, and she was strong enough to break her arm by accident! She couldn’t exactly go in and pull her off him!

“STEEWL CHAIW! STEEWL CHAIW!” chanted Scylla at the top of her lungs, then suddenly there was a loud CRACK and the top half of the chair snapped clean away from the bottom half, landing in the bushes! “… no moaw steewl chaiw?” asked Scylla, looking at it.

Both Loren and Simoni breathed a sigh of relief… then froze as they heard Scylla shout, “PIL’DWIVUH!”

“SHITE! NO NO NO NO NO!” yelled Loren frantically as she raced forward, easily the only one there who could hope to be strong enough to stop her.

Simoni cringed as she saw what state their home invader was in. Whether he was there illegally or not, this was pretty bad as far as injuries went. “Oh those guards are SO fired! WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE?!”

Arja just grinned, “… I’m not complaining. I didn’t do it.” she nodded.

Loren walked back over, holding the struggling form of Scylla tight to her chest as the cyclops child screamed and yelled, “Er… so… cannae ask ye lasses ta not tell Nelen ‘bout this?” she chuckled.

“FIGHT NO OVAH! WANNA WRASSLE!” screamed Scylla at the top of her lungs, trying to force herself free from Loren’s grip as the Fullmoon warrior held her as tightly as she could.

Eventually the guards were located and after a lot of shouting back and forth about whose shift it was and Rajesh eventually cutting in with ‘I don’t care who’s at fault, get him to a hospital and then on a plane back to wherever he came from!’ the group retreated inside, Scylla in her room now with an angry expression.

Loren had, as her babysitter, tried to explain to her that as fun as fights were that wrestlers had to stop when they heard the bell… but the young cyclops was refusing to accept it, so she had to be sent to her room for time out.

Simoni was mostly just annoyed that Loren thought it was a good idea to let her watch WWE when they already had enough trouble keeping her from breaking things by accident.

Arja however…

Scylla sat on her bed and pouted as Simoni griped at Loren in the other room… then looked up as the door opened a crack and Arja winked at her, sliding a small bowl with three round pastries in it into the room. Gulab Jamin, an Indian treat that was effectively a doughnut dunked in rose sugar.

The cyclops child grinned and ducked forward as Arja said to her, “Can’t do that to all of ‘em, but I won’t pretend I didn’t like seeing that. Still, next time let the grown ups handle it okay? Maybe in a few years you can help us beat up the bad guys.”

Scylla smiled at her around a mouthful of pastry, nodding. “Mmmpgh!”

“Attagirl.” replied Arja, ruffling her hair, then putting a finger to her lips and closing the door behind her, then walking back to the main area of the rec room, “I could get used to being the cool aunt.” she smirked to herself.

Sammi’s Apartment, Covington Kentucky

Nelen sat at the bar with Dawn next to him, the magus dressed in his usual teeshirt and jeans. Hardwearing cheap clothes that could be easily replaced. Dawn was in a teeshirt and jeans as well, but without her sock hat or glasses and with her tail untucked. No need to hide her true nature here.

Across from them were Stephy, Tex, and Sammi. The changeling princess sighed at him, rubbing his temples. “Great, so they attacked our house again. Thank goodness goblins are good at repairs…” he murmured. He was dressed in a white silk pullover top and a long pale blue skirt, along with strappy heels today, his nails painted to match his skirt and his hair held back by a hairband.

“You’re welcome.” chuckled Sammi. The prince, by contrast, had on a deep blue tunic and a pair of black tights, along with a pair of slip-on house shoes. He was currently enjoying a rather fruity decoction consisting of a goblin fruit not entirely unlike pears that made the sound of weeping when juiced, a generous helping of gin, and garnished with a herb that only grew in the depths of Winter in the Hedge, on the rocks (of course.)

Tex rolled his eyes, the mortal boy wearing a warm red woolen sweater and blue jeans at the moment. “Still, good thing ya’ll showed up when ya did… Reynard told us ‘bout th’ fight. Guess now we at least know what they all look like.” he nodded.

“Mmm… would have rather you guys waited for me to take on the Mill Creek Monster though, but at least that’s one of them down.” commented Nelen.

Dawn grinned at him, her tail swishing, “Oh lighten up ya grouchy ol’ wizard. These guys are practically adults themselves. Heck Simoni and Stephy were sorting out problems around here before they even met these two.” she pointed out.

Stephy blushed, “Yeah… before I even knew I could use magic infact…” added the changeling princess. “Mostly I just told her where to go back then, I mean I know the area really well.” he shrugged, then looked at Nelen’s tablet which showed a map of Cincinnati. “Wish I knew it better though… I mean, I don’t know where exactly we should even look for their new Prince. Cincinnati just has too many places.” he sighed.

“Yeah… in a newer city like LA or something we’d have better odds, but Cincinnati is one of the oldest in the country. There’s places here that predate the Civil War that a vampire could have a haven in.” frowned Nelen as he looked over it. “I mean, we can narrow it down… but…”

Then all five of them looked up as the doorknocker echoed thrice...

They all shared a glance. “Did Natasha or anyone say they were coming?” asked Nelen.

Sammi frowned, “No… they did not…” he replied, setting his drink down on the bar and striding to the door, drawing his rapier. He took hold of the doorknob, then jerked it open and held the blade ready… only to take a step back as the acrid smell of fresh skunk hit his nostrils.

Standing in the doorway was a hunched figure in a huge trenchcoat under another heavy winter coat, held up by a cane. Under his jackets was a teeshirt with ‘I didn’t vote for your god’ printed on it. He had wild grey hair and a scraggly beard.

“Ya’ll gonna invite me in or am I just gonna freeze my dick off?” asked Dusty the Hedge Mage.

“Dusty!” grinned Nelen as he sat up, “Hey man, thanks for helping the kids out.”

“No problem. Burned a bit but I got better.” he chuckled, limping his way in and sliding into the bar stool next to Dawn, then looked at Grabkins as the goblin glanced at him. “Surprise me.” he smiled toothlessly.

Sammi was still by the door with a rather annoyed expression, “How the bloody hell did you know how to find the door?!” he demanded.

“Squirrels told me.” he nodded.

Sammi frowned and slammed the door, “I think we’re all getting very tired of that joke.” he snapped, sheathing his rapier as it vanished.

“Pity, ‘cause its true.” he grinned.

“It is the truth Sam. Dusty has been able to talk to them ever since we were kids. Used to use them to play pranks on kids who were assholes to us back when we were in Elementary School together.” he replied.

Stephy looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Wait… that rumor about trees that shoot acorns at Hinsdale was you guys?!” he asked.

Dusty laughed, grinning wide to show his mostly empty jawline as he nodded. “Couldn’t let Nelen just beat th’ shit outta ‘em or else he’d get suspended… soooooo…”

Sammi frowned in annoyance, then glanced at Grabkins who was watching him expectantly. He always made sure with that order. The changeling prince smirked, nodding, “You heard him Grabkins, surprise him.”

The goblin shrugged, “Right ye are m’lord.” and set to work.

“Hang on… if he could do stuff like that when he was a kid he can’t just be a hedge mage…” murmured Stephy, “He’s got to be from some sort of supernatural bloodline. Learning an animal’s language can take an entire lifetime.”

Nelen shrugged, “Nope, he’s human. Mom made a point of checking when she found out he could do that in case Franklin caught wind of it. He’s just some sort of prodigy when it comes to certain tricks.” he replied, “So, why are you here though? You wouldn’t limp your twisted up spine all the way to Covington in the dead of winter just to say hello.”

Dusty nodded, “Aye, well… ‘cause th’ squirrels heard somethin’ important.” he nodded, waving for them to pass over the tablet. He zoomed around the map a bit, sticking his tongue out as he concentrated, then tapped a spot on it and nodded. “There! Squirrels heard some of th’ vampires talkin’. Big meetin’ there night after tomorrow night, ‘n their new boss is gonna be there.”

Nelen looked at it, then raised his eyebrow. “The Peters Cartridge Company building? Huh, but that’s not even abandoned. Theres still businesses working out of there.”

Dusty nodded, “Mmmhmm… ‘n who do ya’ll think owns ‘em?” he asked, raising a bushy eyebrow.

The group nodded at that. “Vampires.” replied Dawn. Maybe not directly, but it would mean that they could use the premises as they saw fit after hours and nobody would complain about it.

“Yup. They’ll be there in two days though. Squirrels know. They don’t think they listen, but they do.” he grinned, then he looked over as a large margarita glass was put down next to him with… something in it.

It was a very strange cocktail. It was pea soup green, it was thick and syrupy, there were… things floating in it… and it smelled… well… it just smelled.

Sammi watched him with a smirk, “You did ask a goblin to surprise you.” he teased.

Dusty raised his eyebrow at him, then smirked right back, took the large glass in both hands, and drained the entire thing in one go.

Sammi’s eyes went huge, his mouth falling open. He’d seen what Grabkins had put into that one. Some of those ingredients shouldn’t be safe for humans to drink! Some of them were still alive!

Dusty put the glass back down, then burped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “Coulda used some vodka.” he shrugged.

Dawn cackled so hard she fell off her stool onto the floor as Nelen turned to look at Sammi. “Yeah… Dusty isn’t going to shy away from most drinks. I’ve seen him down all sorts of things. Even brought him some Angel’s Urine from the Wulfshead once.” he nodded.

“It tasted like piss!” commented Dusty.

“Dusty, it was piss. The name isn’t a joke.” he replied.

“Still…” shrugged the hedge mage.

Sammi raised a finger, “Er… you might want to… um… I mean… some of those things are going to lay eggs soon…” he stammered.

“Eh, I ain’t worried.” Dusty shrugged.

“He’ll be fine. With all he’s done to himself his body is too toxic to support them.” added Nelen.

Stephy and Tex were staring at him, the two of them stunned into silence. Stephy could tell what sort of mischief Sammi was planning and Tex… well… he could see things moving in the glass, he could tell it wasn’t something he’d want to drink. The thing had its own ecosystem!

Sammi opened his mouth, then closed it, then put his fingers to his lips and looked down, and finally he took a seat as far away from Dusty as he could at the bar and said, “Grabkins, a ‘Midnight Summer’ with extra rosethorn absinthe please…” and went to pretending very pointedly that Dusty was not there.

Grabkins nodded to the prince, then turned to Dusty, “Well done sir.” he smirked, then got to work. While some might assume Grabkins to be akin to a certain type of elf in an unfortunately popular series of fiction, he was infact a paid employee. It had to be that way. No goblin would serve without a contract stipulating some form of recompense… but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy seeing Sammi get rattled on occasion. Goblins did have a rather twisted sense of humor.

As Sammi got his drink, Dusty got something that wasn’t likely to poison a normal person, and Dawn got back up off the floor the group made their plans. They knew where to strike now, all they had to do was get there.

Hopefully they could all go in together. If Arja and Simoni were with them they’d have a much better chance. Fire was lethal to vampires, their undead flesh highly flammable, but they would still have to worry about being outnumbered…

As they discussed plans however, Nelen’s phone rang. He looked at it, then nodded and answered. “Rajesh, whats up?” he asked, a moment later he sighed. “Ugh… dammit I was afraid of that. Look I’m sorry, but we had an emergency and I had to help. I did find Scylla a babysitter. Loren should have been able to run interference for…” he paused as he heard Rajesh speaking again.

“… uh huh… uh huh…” then he grimaced and sat up straight, “SCYLLA DID WHAT?!”

He groaned as he took off his glasses and covered his eyes, “Uuuuugh… at least he’s not dead… godsdammit Loren… okay, Rajesh? We’re going to need Arja and Simoni here by day after tomorrow… so hopefully that’ll discourage her fan club from this shit for a while. Just… tell them, Iravati, and the staff… whatever they do, DRUSILLA CANNOT KNOW THIS HAPPENED.” he nodded firmly. “Thanks… bye…” he sighed, hanging up.

Stephy, Tex, and Sammi looked between each other, then Stephy cleared his throat. “Uh… what happened? What did Scylla do?” he asked.

Dawn was grinning ear to ear, her sensitive hearing having picked up every word Rajesh had said, “Damn near pulped one of Arja’s stalker boys with a steel chair after she and Loren spent a morning watching old WWE reruns.”

Tex snorted as Stephy giggled a bit himself, Sammi having to quickly put down his drink or risk inhaling part of it as Dusty let out a loud cackle.

“Yeah… and for the record NOBODY. TELLS. DRUSILLA. She made me promise her as soon as Scylla first drew blood from a foe she’d get to start teaching her how to fight… and that guy was pretty smashed up so it definitely counts.” he nodded, “I’d like my daughter to not learn how to massacre people until she’s at least in high school dammit.”

Then he turned and looked directly at Dawn, “NOBODY TELLS.” he nodded firmly.

“I didn’t say anything!” she yowled, her tail trashing behind her.

“You thought it.” he said in a warning tone.

Dawn shrugged, “Yeah, I did.” she admitted.

And with that exchange, the meeting broke up. Dawn, Nelen, and Dusty went out to catch up over dinner at a local chili franchise while the others went about their day, preparing for the inevitable conflict with what may well prove to be a dire foe indeed…

#fiction #modern fantasy #supernatural adventures #lgbtq

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arjaandsimoni · 10 months

Text

Prologue

Jaipur India, Two Weeks after the Destruction of Claiomh Dorcadas

Nelen examined the sword, his lips working over the inscription on the blade. In his hands was the glowing sword that Aisha had wielded to defeat Carman on Inishmor Island. The Dark Goddess’ demise had torn the island apart, though the mundanes believed it was a freak accident; an earthquake or perhaps an undersea volcano. “And yeah… this redhead chick just gave it to me, then took off. Said ‘stick with ya’ll’ and to hold onto it ‘until she comes back in a year or so.’” said the self styled Knight.

Nearby Stephy was still a little starstruck. The effeminate fae ‘princess’ knew of Aisha from her modelling work, having hidden out in the Covington Library with a few fashion magazines, wiling the hours of his more mortal days daydreaming of being one of those girls or women in the pictures. He had the phone Arja had gifted him out and was scanning through all the recent modelling jobs she’d done, curled up into a little ball in an easy chair and giggling excitedly.

“… Tuatha de Dannan… bring light… to the dark places of this…” he muttered, his eyes going wide. “Son of a bitch… Aisha, if I’m reading this right… this thing is Claiomh Solias!” he said, “This is the Sword of Light!”

Aisha raised her eyebrow, “Huh, so I got the anti-sword ta Franklin’s?” she asked, tilting her head at it as she sat next to Nelen on the couch, the woman dressed in a red silk camisole and denim shorts against the hot Indian climate.

Nelen shook his head, “Not… exactly. Claiomh Dorcadas ate magic, but this sword doesn’t create it. The anti-sword to his would be that spear that Arja and Simoni had that night back at the castle. Man I wish Simoni could’ve grabbed more of it before we had to run…” he sighed.

Simoni looked up from the TV, grinning apogetically, “Sorry Nelen…” she said, waiting for her turn. She, Arja, Dawn, and Tex were playing the latest Mario Party game. Dawn being helped by the rest of her siblings who were all shouting out instructions at once.

Nelen shook his head, “Simoni, don’t be. There wasn’t time. The fact that you got a big enough chunk and figured out you could use it to restore Iravati was win enough.” he nodded, “I’m not going to gripe about that.”

Arja nodded in agreement and gave Simoni a quick hug, the Vanara girl still remembering the grief and horror of seeing what Franklin had done to her mother the day Castle Fullmoon fell. Seeing her restored had been like seeing the sun rising after the darkest night of her life.

“But yeah, this is the legendary sword forged by the Tuatha de Dannan, who were a court of the Gentry allied with Clan Fullmoon back in the clan’s earliest days. Some rumors even state Morrigan had ties with them somehow, hence the alliance… but then the Void Rain happened and the histories stopped mentioning the Tuatha de Dannan after that.” he nodded.

From the bar came a snort, “Small wonder why there Nelen.” came Sammi’s voice, “My people despise iron already, but void iron? The minute Franklin unsheathed that sword every one of us on the battlefield FELT that…” he shuddered at the memory, “Any group that used such a material would immediately alienate any fae allies they may have had.” he nodded.

Nelen nodded, “Yeah, it’d be the equivalent of nuclear weaponry to the fair folk…” he muttered, then sheathed the sword and handed it back to her. “Still, if Morrigan herself gave this to you and said keep it, I’m sure as hells not gonna argue.” he nodded. “The way you described her sounds exactly like what Arja and Simoni described and I can’t think of anyone else who’d have this damn thing… so yeah. Just take good care of it.” he nodded, handing it back.

That was six months ago…

Six months, it seems so short a time span. Just a few short turns of the calendar to see leaves go from bright green to brittle brown and red to gone entirely… but for the team that had shattered Claiomh Dorcadas, it was strangely long.

Their whole adventure had begun so sudden really, it was hard to really wrap their heads around the idea that it had, in fact, been less than a year. Even Simoni had to remind herself that it had been the previous Summer that she had fled her home in Kentucky to escape her grandfather’s madness, fleeing across the world to Jaipur on a whim.

What had started so innocently had led to so much change that to try to think of it all at once made the poor girl’s head spin. But time waited for no one. Stephy, Tex, and Sammi finally had to bid a fond farewell to their friends as they were forced to return to Covington for the start of the school year… well, Stephy and Tex were, Sammi because he was basically attached to Stephy at the hip thanks to a poorly worded pledge.

Aisha’s modelling career had called her back to New York, though she’d given Nelen her personal contact number and told him to drop her a line if they ever needed her for anything. Despite the distance she knew that they were a secluded alleyway apart after all.

Natasha and Lupe kept to their own things and the people of Jaipur, for the most part, didn’t even notice that the handsome golden dog that sometimes wandered its streets was in actuality a shapeshifting monster (though they did notice the rat population was dropping rather surprisingly fast and hoped whatever caused it would continue,) and while a few girls came home late at night and a bit dizzy, Natasha had managed to ensure her predations had not slipped into ‘oops I need to dig a well hidden grave’ territory.

Drusilla however, was the biggest change. Namely that she was six months pregnant now. She was getting excited, wanting to go over baby names, though whenever she did Nelen would always seem to have to research something very very important, though she never got him to tell her what. She was convinced it would be some big surprise for the baby.

Nelen truly hoped it wouldn’t be, for his sake as much as the baby’s.

Whatever the case however, they couldn’t deny one thing. Christmas time had come to America, which meant that so, too, would Simoni… or else Catherine Fullmoon would make good on her promise and give Arja ‘the kind of earful that only a Fullmoon witch could give’ and, following the death of her mad grandfather, she would be free to do so without fear of reprisal. It was for this reason that, on the night before Christmas Eve, in an alleyway near the Covington Library, a silvery door with a wolf’s head motif suddenly appeared, as if it had always been there, and with it… the next Supernatural Adventure began…

#supernatural adventures #modern fantasy #fiction #lgbtq

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