The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (important books to read .txt) 📕

                Trevor couldn’t help but notice the reactions.  “Uh, right, I mean… I would like to introduce our esteemed emissary from the Wood Fae, Rini.”

                “Thank you, Mister Hawkins.” Rini replied regally.

                The smile returned to Trevor’s face.  “But first, Starr has an update on his patrolling.”

                Starr, again wearing the disputed pants along with a leather jacket, walked bare-chested to the front of the group.

                “Thank you, big guy.” he said with a wink.  “Okay, my lovelies, here’s my report on life six inches off the ground.”

                He was never this sassy before he became a cat! I thought, a grin on my face.

                “One,” he continued, “You guys have to watch where you’re peeing.  Catnip is my ganja, and I do not like it with a side of uric acid, ‘kay? Next… “

                I glanced over to Raina, and she was smiling as well.  She had met Starr as a cat first but had adjusted to his true form very quickly.  She was as happy as anyone about his comfort in his current situation.

                “Next, I discovered and disabled three remote cameras that had been disguised as bird’s nests.”  He rubbed his head as he recounted the next part.  “Some birds were fooled as well, and didn’t take too kindly to my messing with their homes.”

                “Jack, have you had a chance to examine the devices?” Trevor asked.

                “Yeah, just finished.” Jack replied.  It was only then that I noticed that Katsu was sitting close to Jack, instead of her sister.  “Pretty standard waterproof camera, operated remotely.  It has cellphone guts, so it could have been operated from anywhere.  I’m still working on tracing the signal, though.”

                “It would seem that our mysterious foe has temporal resources, as well as supernatural connections.” Angelique chimed in.  “And while their identity is still a mystery, we do have some news on that front.”

                Rini arose from her seat as if on cue and glided forward until she was standing by Starr.  “My brethren in the Twilight and Morning-tide Fae have reported incursions on the borders of their realms.  They were undetected at first, but the recent attack strained our unknown ‘friends’ resources and made them known.”

                “Moving big-ass spiders is hard to hide, even in realms as vast as the Fae have.” Trevor added.

                “What of the Wood Fae?” Evelyn asked.

                “Our own realm has not been used for any nefarious purposes.” Rini responded.  “However, that’s only because so many of us cross in between our world and this one.  If we were as insular as our Fae cousins, then we, too would have unused pathways that could be exploited by others.”

                “Those other pathways have been closed down.” Trevor said.  “And believe me, if the Twilight Fae discover who violated their borders, then our problems could be eliminated for us.”

                “Our darkening siblings aren’t as fast and loose about traveling into their realm as we have been.”  She looked at Raina, the first time she had looked directly at her the entire meeting.  “They know the dangers.”

                I swallowed hard.  I had no idea what was going down between them, but I doubt that even Raina realized just how deep she was in.

                “Then we will continue tracing the digital trail.” Katsu said, surprising me with the sound of her voice.  She was overly formal, as many supernatural beings were in their language.  There wasn’t a trace of accent, however.  She sounded like any young woman one could run into on the street.

                “I will impose on your sister Hatsu, then.” Angelique said in her own unique accent.  It was obviously there, but sounded a bit like three hundred different accents mixed up with an English vocabulary.

                The meeting broke up, and I turned to ask Raina what she was going to do, but I was too late.

                She was gone.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                The desire to experience a sense of oneness with all of creation is a common goal of mysticism, no matter the regional origin.  I had never experienced such a state, though I wanted to.

                I wasn’t feeling at one with the universe at that moment either, but my bottom definitely felt like it had become molecularly bonded with the sofa I was sitting on.

                In other words, I was stoned.

                I had never been that stoned before.  I had also never smoked Fae cannabis, either.  The stuff that Rini had shared with me once we retreated to the meditation room was stronger than any weed I had yet encountered.

                And I was smoking more.

                “I’m surprised that you smoke, you know, cannabis sativa.” I said, taking a drag off of Rini’s light green joint.

                “Well, I also smoke cannabis indica.” she said, taking the joint from me.

                “No, you know what I mean." I partially slurred.  "Vampires don't smoke weed, they smoke deadly nightshade.  I'm surprised that Fae don't smoke, I don't know… oakmoss, or something."

                “That’s just gross!” she replied with mock indignation.  She chuckled, and soon we were both laughing.

                “Besides,” she continued when the laughter subsided, “we both have a common ancestor, humans and Fae.”

                “We do?” I hadn’t heard of this.

                “Sure do.” She exhaled and passed the joint.  “The same unknown mystical race mixed their DNA with primates.  They tried this twice… one made the Fae, and the second made humans.  There’s a legend that they produced a third race, something so incomprehensible that even the Fae can’t imagine them, but nobody’s seen a trace of this third bloodline, so we think it’s just a myth.”

                The joint was having it’s effect, opening my mind but turning my muscles to mush.  “Damn.”

                “Uh, Annie?” she said, her head cocked as if she were listening.

                “Yeah?”

                “I think it’s good you’re so high right now, because I’m getting serious messages from Angelique that you should do that...” she made a walking motion with her fingers, “… astral travel thingy you do.”

                You