Seventeen

Joe

There was a welcoming committee waiting for them on the tiny boat dock as they approached. Joe craned his neck to see around Kuro's head. The backpack was a decent solution to get around while they were in downtown Seattle, but now that they'd taken the cutter to this little spot in the San Juan Islands, he was hoping he could get out and move freely.

There were two, no, three people waiting for them. Joe hadn't immediately noticed Ashke hovering over the shoulder of the fierce-looking Asian guy.

Now that was a striking man. He was long limbed and rangy, probably somewhere between Joe and Kuro when it came to height. That was pretty tall for someone of Asian descent, honestly. Both Joe and Kuro were taller than average in their human forms. This guy's skin was golden tan accented by his thick, dark brown hair. His face was long and oval, with a slightly squared chin and his eyes were cut long, slightly double lidded. He was, in short, an incredibly sexy Southeast Asian man. He had a fierceness to him, though, that made Joe consider approaching with caution. Actually, if he had any natural fox instincts at all, Joe knew he shouldn't go anywhere near the other man. He wasn't human, that was for sure. There was too much energy radiating off him, too much potential for violence.

Next to him stood an even bigger man. This man was Black, his skin a mellow brown, his hair trimmed close to his scalp in a neat fade. He wasn't just broad across the shoulders. He was a literal wall of a person. Fortunately, he wore a pleasant expression. His full lips were curved in a smile, and his dark eyes sparkled with amusement as he regarded them all.

Joe wondered whether Kuro had ever come home to anyone waiting for him like this. Joe hadn't. He'd had a relatively happy childhood, but he'd been an only child. While his parents had always made certain one of them was home when he returned, the other was almost always busy working. Kuro was also an only child. It was one of the things they'd had in common, in addition to having a furry form and nine tails. So Joe imagined Kuro might not have had something like this either, unless one counted the frat experience in college. It would have depended on the fraternity, really, and Kuro didn't talk much about his.

This, though. If one counted their silent boat man—and Joe would have to be a fool to dismiss one of the sidhe—this was a group of people very interested in Marie's return to the island that fell under the protection of the Darke Consortium. It didn't feel like a gathering of academics or scholars or even quirky librarians. It felt like a family where every one of them starred in a series of their own action movies, chronicling their adventures and quests in search of objects of myth and magic.

He'd bet at least one of them hated snakes.

It was the lean and sexy guy who caught the rope the sidhe tossed and helped tie up the boat. It was the big man who offered Marie a hand to step off the boat. Kuro—good man—was there to steady her at the elbow. Joe gave his partner's ear a quick lick in solidarity.

Once Kuro had both feet on the tiny pier, Joe started to wiggle. He wanted out. There were a whole lot of people intent on taking care of the witch they were trying to woo. Joe would feel better about it if he at least didn't have to ride in a backpack. A quick glance at the sky confirmed the sun would be setting soon. He wanted to be on the ground when he changed back to human form.

"You all didn't have to come down to meet me," Marie said. Her tone was grumpier than Joe had ever heard from her. "I was coming up to the manor anyway."

The big man chuckled. "Duncan texted us as you were boarding the boat. Said you had company. Thomas and Ashke bolted down here right away. I decided I didn't want to miss this, just in case there was any excitement."

Marie shot a glare at each of them, including Duncan, their sidhe boat captain. "Why would there be anything other than a nice, calm introduction?"

Yes, why? Joe couldn't bring himself to resent it, though. Marie had people who cared for her. It was good to witness. He'd have been angry if she'd been alone in the world, unappreciated. This, though, this was somewhat intimidating. He and Kuro had a lot of work to do in order to coax her into making room in her life for them.

Ashke zipped over to her, doing a little flip before hovering at eye level. "No reason. You just haven't dated in the ten years or so that you've been a part of the consortium. At least not that any of us have known about. I read that family gets to roast potential suitors. I've tasted fox, so I figured we count in the absence of your relatives, since they mostly live on the East Coast or out of country. What kind of fire does one use to roast a suitor? Does that even work on fox spirits?"

The big man laughed out loud.

Kuro had been leaning over, letting Joe out of the backpack. Hearing Ashke's commentary, Joe hopped free of the backpack and shook out all of his nine tails, drawing himself up to appear as large as possible. He was not going to go down easily.

"No one is roasting anyone," Marie stated. "Also, Ashke, the term roast was most definitely used in a figurative sense, not literal. No fire for you."

"Fine." Ashke's wings dipped for a fraction of a second, before he recovered. "It's not like anyone here has fire at their beck and call anyway."

Well…

Kuro lifted his left hand, palm up. A ball of fire flared into being, the flames blazing yellow and orange in the shaded light beneath the tall evergreens around them.

A low growl cut across the quiet of the island. Joe tensed, turning toward the sound. The lean man was standing there, arms loose at his side, hands in fists. But his eyes were narrowed as he glared, and his pupils were starting to change from brown to gold.

"Thomas," Marie called gently. "Please."

Thomas was most definitely a paranormal. All of them were. Joe hadn't figured out what the big man was yet, but it was becoming very obvious that Thomas was a werewolf. That explained the radiating energy and Joe's nerves.

For his part, Kuro banished his fox fire as easily as he had summoned it.

Ashke flew around his head. "I gotta admit, that was nice timing. Well played, fox boy."

Joe suppressed a growl of his own. Fae tended to be long-lived. Joe understood that both fae were likely decades, centuries, possibly millennia older than either him or Kuro, but he disliked being called a boy. Especially in front of Marie. Unless, of course, they also considered her a youngling. After all, for them, the age difference had to be negligible. She couldn't be more than a dozen years older than he or Kuro. And witches could live a long time.

"We've prepared dinner out on the back patio," the big man said, his tone calm. He still looked relaxed and amused. Joe wondered if all of this was normal for them.

"Thanks, Asamoah." Marie sounded relieved. Joe was, too. At least someone seemed at least marginally friendly.

"No more magic, not anything that can be interpreted as dangerous," Thomas said. His voice was rough and his eyes were still yellow-brown.

Back to thinly veiled aggression.

"You say that like some of us don't trail magic behind us like we live and breathe it." Ashke flew on ahead, his tone still lilting.

Joe resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Someone was likely to notice even if it wasn't immediately obvious that they were studying him. Generally, Joe and Kuro didn't interact with that many supernaturals at the same time. Their interactions with Babel had been small meetings to review contracts and receive necessary briefings. Often, it had been a single vampire or human presenting the details. Otherwise, Joe and Kuro worked on their own. They'd been called in to aid Francesco a few months ago, and the experience had confirmed their preference for only accepting contracts on their own. Outside of working with each other, they didn't really like to be added to a team on demand.

As a result, Joe and Kuro were used to being the only supernaturals in a given situation, and thus the most dangerous beings present. This was a completely different playing field. It said a lot about Marie's capabilities that she moved as an equal among them, while they obviously cared about her well-being. Every one of the people around them was a heavy hitter, with both strengths and limitations. Joe wasn't immediately sure who was the most formidable person in present company.

Ashke was right, though. Refraining from surprise magic wasn't exactly an option. Sunset was coming quickly. Joe hoped they all made it up to wherever they were going before he changed and set off the werewolf. Of all the situations Joe had imagined, he really hadn't thought he'd be hoping not to change back into human form. Actually no, it wasn't that. He just wanted control over his shape change. Wanted it back bad.

He trotted alongside Marie with Kuro on her other side, same as he would have if he'd been in human form. He was the same person, after all, regardless of shape. The werewolf was behind them, but he responded to a few of Marie's questions. It kept Joe on edge, but it could've been worse. The werewolf could have been stalking behind them in silent mode. That would've been unbearable.

The path was uphill and a little winding, not hard to navigate but intentionally not a straight line to the manor. Joe was pretty damned sure of it. There was security here. He'd done enough jobs for Babel to recognize at least the most obvious measures. That didn't stop him from appreciating the surroundings, though. All of it was set up in a way that didn't take away from the general atmosphere of the island.

Coming from the Northeast, Joe was no stranger to evergreens, but the woods in the Pacific Northwest had a unique feel to them. The forests smelled different from the ones in the Northeast, too. The trees on this island in particular smelled of Douglas fir, cedar, and spruce. There were other trees as well, but Joe didn't know them well enough to name them. Here and there, a maple tree was easy to identify for its broad leaves in bright autumn display.

They emerged into a clear area, and Joe would have let out a low whistle if he'd had a mouth that could whistle. The grounds all around the manor were clear, and the building had the feel of a small castle. What the big man, Asamoah, had referred to as a back patio was more like an expansive stone terrace. There was a table large enough to seat twenty people, set with plates and silverware. Covered platters were placed at one end. Marie approached the table, running a hand lightly over the tablecloth.

"Did Ellery set this? They outdid themselves. It's lovely." Marie's voice was pitched a little loud considering present company were all supernaturals. Joe was fairly certain they all had some kind of enhanced hearing as compared to humans.

Joe cocked his head to one side, considering her. She only had eyes for the table, lifting the covers to peek at the contents of the platters. She wasn't making eye contact with any of their welcoming committee. It was like she was projecting her thanks to the castle, or someone else. Probably whoever Ellery was.

How many people were a part of the Darke Consortium?

The others were seating themselves. Kuro pulled out a seat for Marie at the same time the sidhe did, the man who'd driven the boat to get them all here. Joe froze, waiting. Long, silver gray hair was tied back with a simple cord. Everything about the sidhe was ethereal, elegant. It all screamed High Court. Joe didn't know much about the courts of the sidhe, but he understood that the High Courts held the most power. Marie was choosing between Kuro and potentially insulting one of the most powerful fae anyone could encounter.

"You're very kind, Duncan. Will you be joining us?" Marie murmured, as she sat in the chair Kuro had pulled out for her.

Joe twitched his ears forward, tensed and ready to leap forward if she needed him.

The sidhe only sighed. "You have been spending too much time with Punch. She is always asking me to join the meal."

"Maybe so," Marie agreed cheerfully. "I'm not sorry."

Joe suddenly found himself the focus of the sidhe's attention. Cold stabbed him right in the chest as he waited for whatever the sidhe was about to do.

Duncan only turned his hand to indicate the chair he had pulled out for Marie. "Perhaps our nine-tailed guest would like to sit on this side of you. It seems the fox in human form has the other seat."

This was not anything like what Joe had expected when it came to sidhe.

"Greeting guests is a part of my duties here at the Darke Consortium," Duncan said. "I am also the household manager, overseeing the maintenance and upkeep of the manor and any guest structures on the surrounding property."

The most powerful butler Joe had ever encountered. Of course, Joe respected Duncan's choices. There really wasn't any other way to go if one wanted to associate with such a fae and live. And he was going to have to associate with the sidhe—with all of them—if he and Kuro were going to spend more time with Marie. She was making that obvious by bringing him and Kuro to this gathering.

"Duncan is also a key advisor to the consortium, not just the Darke Consortium specifically, but other regional consortiums who reach out with requests, too." Marie was placing a napkin across her lap.

Joe decided standing there, making Duncan also stand and wait, was worse than the risk of accepting the offered seat. He leapt into it and settled himself. That was when the magic twisted inside him.

Shape-changing, for him, was normally painless. He just smoothly changed from one form to the other in a surge of exhilarating magic. But with the hex, it was like someone reached into his chest, grabbed a handful of whatever, and twisted it. Being grabbed by a crocodile and taken into a death roll had to hurt less. When his vision cleared, he was human and seated at the table. Marie was looking at him with round doe eyes, her face puckered in concern.

After a moment, she said quietly, "Hi."

"Hey." His voice came out rough.

He glanced past her to Kuro. His partner gave him a small smile, there and gone again. Joe reached behind Marie's chair and Kuro grasped his hand. It was so damned reassuring, that contact.

"So this hex is pretty powerful," Thomas stated. He'd sat directly across from Kuro.

Ashke had his own seat on the table at the place across from Marie. Asamoah sat across from Joe.

"I did try a few things to attempt to negate it," Marie said.

While she was talking, Duncan removed the covers from the platters and everyone began helping themselves. Asamoah made eye contact with Joe and pushed a platter closer. Joe used the tongs to grab a sandwich for Marie, too.

"Thank you, Joe," Marie said. She gave Kuro similar thanks as he placed a small bowl of soup by her right hand.

"I wasn't aware you'd tried to remove the hex on us," Joe prompted her. He wanted to hear more.

"I probably should have asked permission," she admitted. "I just didn't want to get your hopes up. The chances of general spells working were pretty small."

Kuro pushed a bowl past Marie to Joe. He nodded at Marie so she knew he was listening and sniffed at the soup. There was the salty umami scent of miso and dashi, he thought, but the cloudy broth had squares of white and orange. The sandwiches looked like grilled cheese on home-baked bread, but they carried the complex aroma of curry.

"My home is already set up with the tools I need in place, so it was more about expressing my intent," Marie explained. "My intent is usually set for myself personally, so I took the time to focus on expanding that protection to the both of you."

There had been little dishes of salt in her apartment, Joe remembered. As she'd been bustling around in the morning, she'd poured out black salt flakes. He'd thought it had been for cooking. She'd also spent time tending her plants along her windows, especially the rosemary. She'd lit candles, too. He hadn't taken notice because she'd made it seem like everyday, practical puttering with things she loved, like cooking and plant maintenance. It hadn't seemed like any kind of ritual.

That had been a mistake on his part.

"It didn't work anyway." Marie's tone turned melancholy.

"You tried," Joe said quickly. "That matters."

He wanted to thank her, but he glanced warily at Duncan and Ashke.

Ashke laughed his bell-like laughter. "You can thank her around us, fox boy. We won't hold it against you."

Kuro leaned in close to Marie. "Thank you, Marie."

Joe snagged her left hand in his. "Yes. Thank you for trying, Marie."

"What's next?" Thomas asked. "You sure you won't come back to the island for the time being?"

Marie took a bite of her sandwich. The crunch sounded so satisfying, and Joe was impressed by the cheese stretch. His mouth watered as she closed her eyes and chewed for a moment before speaking. "The object we're investigating inside Socrates Industries is too powerful to just leave there, especially while human researchers are doing active experiments with it. It may seem like they're able to die and come back, easy peasy, but there are always consequences to this kind of thing. The chest plate looks Egyptian, and I'm not up to speed on how it was meant to be used. All I know for sure is that the blue lotus they've got on-site is the real deal. It's the variety used by ancient Egyptians in rituals, and it is psychoactive. Hallucinations and euphoria are the least of the effects when used in conjunction with an object that has that much power. I need to know more about what they're doing as quickly as possible. I can't just take my time researching and hope things will be fine as they are."

"We also need to appear to be working to acquire it for Babel," Joe pointed out.

Thomas growled.

Joe waved his sandwich like he was fending off the werewolf's threat. He didn't feel quite that confident, but the werewolf didn't need to know that. "The whole reason Babel hired a witch to do this to us was to give us a sense of urgency, and add a chaotic twist to the difficulty level of this job. It's what they do. What kind of soup is this, by the way?"

"Dashi miso soup with tofu and kabocha squash," Asamoah answered good-naturedly.

"It's good," Joe commented around a mouthful of grilled cheese. "A nice, soothing counterpoint to the scary werewolf."

Thomas glared daggers into him. Joe tried giving him a cheeky smile.

Thomas didn't lunge across the table to strangle him or rip him to pieces, which seemed like a good thing. Instead, he turned to Marie. "Ashke said the hex was done by a pain witch. I sincerely doubt it was a willing sacrifice."

"I'm not absolutely sure," Marie answered. If she had a theory, she didn't share it. Instead, she polished off the other half of her grilled cheese and reached for some fresh apple slices.

"Either way, it feels like this hex definitely inflicts harm," Thomas continued. "Goes against the ‘harm none' rule, so I don't think the witches who cast it on your new…friends…would use personal sacrifices to gain the power necessary. Witches like that are definitely a danger to witches like you. They gain power a lot faster from torturing their sacrifices than you do drawing slowly from the life around you, no matter how many plants you grow in your apartment. You'd be safer and have access to more power in your more permanent residence, the current seat of your power."

Kuro set his spoon into his empty soup bowl with an audible click. "You're explaining a lot to the witch who already knows how her power works."

Silence fell around the table. Joe smirked. Kuro wasn't wrong. Asamoah wordlessly poked a platter piled high with grilled chicken legs at Thomas.

After a tense moment, Thomas grabbed the tongs and served himself several pieces of chicken. "You're not wrong. My apologies, Marie."

"Accepted," Marie responded. She didn't make a big thing about it, only offered him a bowl of soup, too.

Thomas took the bowl of soup. "I like these two. It makes me feel better that you're not alone. It's your call how you want to go after these objects. Just please, let us know how we can help. Even if we're spread too thin to be right there with you, we'll do our best to get to you if you want to take coordinated action."

"Glad we meet your approval," Joe said brightly. There was no sarcasm at all in his words. He was sure he kept it all out. Definitely not antagonizing the werewolf. Instead, Joe held up his third sandwich to Asamoah. "What exactly is in these grilled cheeses? They're amazing."