Moon Shimmers(4)
“The wedding just happens to be that of Rigal’s daughter. If the troll disrupts his little princess’s precious nuptials, Rigal will do everything he can to rile up the Freedom’s Angels and the Guardian Watchdogs. Not only that, he’ll drag the FH-CSI through the mud.”
Crap. That put a whole new spin on the night. We had to stop that troll spirit before he lay waste to the nuptials.
“Delilah, look up the troll on the computers. Menolly and I will head out…oh damn it, we can’t. We only brought your Jeep.” We had started out on the hunt for fish and chips, and later, we had planned to go clubbing. We hadn’t counted on a fight. I turned to Chase. “Can Menolly and I ride with your people?”
Chase nodded. “Hurry, though. They’re ready to head out. Delilah—you can use the computer in Yugi’s office. He’ll help you with anything you need.” As we headed out the door, he called after us, “I don’t care how you do it. Just get that troll or we’ll all pay the price.”
MARQUETTE AND BROOKS were partners and they had already left, so Menolly and I crammed ourselves into the backseat of Fry’s patrol car. Fry was lean and tall, and as tough as they came. When she barked, the others jumped. A regular Rottweiler, Chase had said.
She glanced in the back seat as we buckled ourselves in. “Don’t touch the guns and don’t spill anything on the seat. Especially blood.”
I glanced at Menolly, suppressing a laugh. “We aren’t in the habit of grabbing guns, and I guarantee you, Menolly won’t be using me as a juice box.”
“Fine. Hold on. I’m cranking on the siren.” And with that, the siren let out a loud alarm and we lurched out of the parking lot, gaining speed as the drivers ahead of us gave way.
Menolly stared out into the night. “You realize that by the end of this month, we won’t be doing this anymore. Not like this, anyway.”
My mood plunged to gloom within seconds. “I know. I don’t want to think about it.”
“You’d better start thinking about it, because Litha’s coming up in a couple weeks and then…” She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.
I didn’t answer. There was nothing to say. Within two weeks, I’d be moving myself and my husbands out to Talamh Lonrach Oll, where I would take the crown as the Queen of Dusk and Twilight over the Sovereign Fae Nation.
MY NAME IS Camille Sepharial D’Artigo and together with my sisters, Menolly and Delilah, I came over from Otherworld a few years back. Our mother, Maria D’Artigo, was human, and our father, Sephreh ob Tanu, full-blooded Fae. They met and fell in love when he was on assignment over Earthside. He swept her off to Otherworld and they had us. Shortly after Menolly was born, Mother died from a fall off of a horse. Our father never quite recovered from her death, and we lost him a few months back.
I’m the oldest, and I’m a Moon Witch and High Priestess. And in two weeks, I’ll take the throne as the Queen of Dusk and Twilight. I stand between worlds—between Otherworld and Earthside. Between light and dark. I’m married to three gorgeous men: Smoky—a dragon shifter, Morio—a youkai kitsune, and Trillian, a Svartan—one of the dark and charming Fae. They get along, mostly, and they are the loves of my lives.
Delilah, the second-born, is a two-faced werecat, able to shift into both a long-haired golden tabby, and a black panther. She’s a Death Maiden, serving the Autumn Lord, and she’s engaged to Shade, half–shadow dragon and half-Stradolan. Someday, she’s destined to bear the child of the Autumn Lord with Shade acting as his proxy. Being the mother of an Elemental Lord—or Lady—seems a daunting prospect, but she’s down with it. Delilah’s very maternal.
And then there’s Menolly. Menolly started out as a jian-tu. She could climb walls, ropes, trees with abandon. She could make it across cavern roofs, until the day she fell off into a nest of vampires. Dredge, one of the most dangerous vamps in history, caught her and the result wasn’t pretty. He tortured her and then, at the last, when she could hold out no longer, he forcibly turned her and sent her home to destroy her family. I managed to lure her into our safe room and lock her in. A year of rehabilitation taught her to control her impulses, but she continually battles her inner predator. Menolly’s married to a gorgeous werepuma named Nerissa, and to Roman, prince of the Vampire Nation. They make an odd little trio, but somehow, it works.
The three of us are as different as light and dark. I have hair the color of raven wings, and violet eyes that flash silver when I work my magic. At five-seven, I have big boobs and ample hips and a narrow waist, and while I work out now so I can keep up in a fight, I’m a gurly girl and I’ll always be. Delilah’s six-one, athletic and lean, with short blond hair in a Euro-cut, and about the only time we can force her into a dress is during special occasions. And Menolly is petite, barely five-one. Her hair is the color of burnished copper hair and hangs to her lower back in long thin braids, dappled with beads.