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I looked up at Shade, intensely grateful for his support "Thank you Let’s go," I said to the others "We can’t do any ht" And with that, we turned and walked away--even though it was torture to think there ht be more of my friends under the rubble--and headed for our cars

So who a a moment here to introduce myself, let me first say that some days I’o, a two-faced Were, olden tabby who loves to get into trouble, and the other is my black panther self--ruled over by the Autu so rapidly over the past year, it’s hard to catch my breath, and so who’s looking back at es includes the fact that I’ve also beco Death Maiden at this tiathered in Haseofon to work for him, but I’m alive And someday, he has promised I will bear his child via my lover Shade How and when that’s to be, I have no clue, but it’s destined to happen, and I believe in Fate

At first, the transformation into the Autumn Lord’s service was hard for me When my sisters and I came Earthside a few years back, I was still fairly na&iuoodness of people Noell, I’ the way And I no longer automatically assuwith ood witch, who is also a priestess of the Moon Mother, and Menolly--a jian-tu acrobat and spy-turned-vampire, ere sent over from Otherworld We were ency--and after the portals dividing the worlds opened, ere assigned Earthside

At first, the people here opened up their arical brethren At one tiht the heart of most of Earthside But now hate crimes were on the rise as interaction between the Supes--supernaturals--and the FBHs increased and the novelty wore off

Ourdead--and our father is Fae Near the end of World War 2, when Sephreh was over Earthside on some secret mission, they met and fell in love In the true nature of ind romances, he swept her off her feet and took her back to Otherworld Losing Mother was hard on our fa our father’s support was even harder But he turned his back on Caned from the OIA and told our father that we’d return to duty when he cae to the Earthside Fae Queen’s court Noe’re on our own, still facing the de, who intends to raze Earth and Otherworld for his own private ainally one seal, the artifact was forreat Fae Lords ripped apart the worlds They created the seal to keep Otherworld, Earthside, and the Subterranean Real them to the Elemental Lords to keep them hidden Separate, the nine seals have kept the realether, they can rip open all the portals

But sos work as they will and not as ish The seals began to surface They ca And that’s where we coed into a race to find them as they ets hold of theed to steal one of them from us before we could secure it We’ve found five So far the odds are in our favor, but the fact that he possesses even one of theer

Technically, ork for Queen Asteria, the Elfin Queen back in Otherworld, who’s hiding the spirit seals as we take the to ensure that the future e or demonic interference So about?" Shade glanced over atI had the beginnings of a headache and wondered how long before the side effects of the da the dead Which fa to have to shatter with the news" I rubbedinto the backseat at Chase and Sharah "You guys have it worse…I know I’ It’s just never…"

"Never easy," Chase said, finishing ht "Trust me, I understand and if I didn’t think you’d be a helpful influence, I’d never ask you to join ht Nerissa, too This is part of her job She’s a wonderful grief counselor"

I pulled out " The phone rang three times before Iris picked up I ran doe’d learned and where ere going "Is Nerissa in any shape to drag herself out of the house and down to HQ?"

"Hold on" Iris set the phone down, and as I waited, I thought about how entangled we’d all become in each others’ lives After a moment, Iris returned "She’s sober I’ll have Bruce’s driver take her down to headquarters in the liets home when necessary…"

"No problem Bless you and bless Bruce Tell her we’ll see her when she gets there" I punched the End Call button "Nerissa’s corunted a thank-you "Odd…how this has all worked out" He didn’t say anything more, but I knew he’d picked up on h to tell

We’d been involved, after he struck out with Caood stab at a relationship, but the rocks on that ocean were just too sharp to navigate Noas involved with Sharah, the elfin medic, and they seemed to be a more compatible couple He’d hired Nerissa as a crisis counselor, and she and Menolly were prorowing involved in e’d never have been able to predict It kind of made up for the isolation we’d first felt e came over Earthside

By the time we arrived at the FH-CSI headquarters, Morio was fully sober Apparently alcohol sped through his systeuely ill, as did Shah as they looked But ere all clearheaded as we followed Chase and Sharah into the building

The Faerie-Hu took up at least four floors, though there was a rumor of a hidden level The top floor housed the police headquarters and hly secure arsenal Second floor down--the OW offender jails And on the bottoht, ere headed for the ue--a place we had been all too often

As the elevator descended with a silent rush, a soroup and I stared at o in--didn’t want to look at the faces of ht-knit; everybody knew everybody else

The doors opened with a swish and we stepped out onto the hard tiled floor, our boots leaving a series of staccato tattoos echoing in our wake The walls here had been recently painted sterile white Whether they thought the color hter than the pale blue had, I didn’t know, but now the coh the doors, Sharah right behind hiether…they really fit Both of thes of society--the aftermath of battle Whereas I was on the front lines, Chase was better suited to picking up the pieces andthe back lines We’d never found our niche together And yet we both had our place in the battles ere facing And we’d become blood brother and sister No lanced back at , and he blinked, then slowly s He was changing, evolving, and none of us knehat he was becoue doors open for us Sharah headed over to exaht-hand man, as also an elf He handed her a series of charts and she flipped through them

I slowly approached the tables--five of them, each covered with a snohite sheet Or what had started as snohite Blosso the undersides of the sheets, and as I watched, the patterns seemed to forination--like soruesome Rorschach test