The Interloper Bk. 01

Caster made a subtle gesture to my satchel as Rain responded, and they engaged in a conversation that had too many nuances for me to fully comprehend. However, I dutifully took out the book and began taking notes, watching the English swirl into other, more complicated symbols as I wrote. But if I went back to the line, it was once again English. Magic was weird like that.

"The Gathering will be held in three week's time, yes?" Caster asked, moving onto another topic.

"Correct. Then Secret and Moon will marry in the New Year, and the Challenges will take place. There is no time to rest."

"There never is," Caster agreed. "How many tribes will be in attendance at the Gathering?"

"Five in total."

"He was a great leader."

His smile was a touch sad. "That he was." A pause. "You will come. With your partner." The words straddled the fine line between directive and request.

"I would," Caster said slowly, rolling the cup he still held between his fingers, "But Tilly is untrained."

"Then train here."

His jaw clenched. "She is human."

Rain barked out a laugh. "I had not noticed."

Caster's lips finally relented in a smile

"You must both attend," Rain said. "Her inexperience aside, you are envoys."

As quickly as the smile came, it was gone. "She is my assistant."

"You will both come." The words dropped like lead, halting any more discourse. The air in the room dropped at least ten degrees, Caster's mood shifting from practiced politeness to freezing rage in an instant.

"Um..." I interrupted gently, "Can I just—"

The look Caster shot could have frozen over Hell.

"She will not attend. That is final."

Rain's affable effect disappeared. "It is not for you to decide, demon. She is not marked. She will decide, as is custom. It is her choice."

Well, fuck. The pen shook in my unsteady hand as their eyes once again turned toward me. Caster was my boss for sure, but Rain was the new chief and this felt like a heavy moment. There didn't feel like a right choice to make, just the one that caused the least amount of friction.

"This Gathering," I began slowly as Caster glared daggers at me from the side, "is a longstanding custom and tradition. Do envoys usually attend?"

"Yes, they do. We only have them when an individual of superior rank dies, like my father."

So basically it was a funeral. "And there will be five other tribes?"

"Yes."

"Other envoys?"

"I suspect so."

"Is there—would I—" I struggled to find the words, "What is expected of me? As an attendee." That seemed right.

"Nothing is expected of anyone. The choice to attend and participate is entirely yours. However, a Gathering is mainly of Centaurs, not everyone is invited."

"Well, um, Caster is my boss. So I'll defer to him, but I'd like to go," I added to try and soften the non-answer.

"She does not understand your ways."

"I will send Thunder to teach her."

"Thunder is young and—"

"He is my brother."

"So he is." Caster's gaze flicked toward me. "We will attend. On the expectation that we remain closed."

Closed?

"You?" Rain laughed, the sound deep and rich. "I look forward to the day, Caster."

***

It was another few minutes of the men talking and me writing, before the visit was done. Rain rose first and Caster and I followed. Rain snapped his fingers and a woman appeared to hustle us out. "I look forward to seeing you at the Gathering, Tilly the Human."

"We shall see," Caster cut in, not letting me get a word our.

Rain's laugh was cutting. "'Til mother calls us home."

"'Til then."

I penned a quick note in the book as we walked out, Tilly to attend Gathering. Dangerous? The conversation didn't sound like it would be softly muttered condolences and weeping family members. There was no time to ask Caster though as he got up, left, and strode past the other houses and back to our bikes. I fumbled to put away the pen and book, not make eye contact with centaur Idris Elba, and catch up to him. Foals played by our bikes, running small fingers over the leather seat.

"It will eat you," Caster called out to the children.

They jumped back and he laughed, reaching the bikes and picking up a particularly small filly. "Bell, how are you?"

"As pleased as the sun." The filly blushed and eyed the bike. "It will not eat me, will it?"

"No, dearheart," he reassured. "It will not."

I was touched by the scene. Caster didn't seem like the type to be nice to children, but here he was. When I finally reached the bikes and his side, most of the other foals were gone, and Caster was releasing the filly from his arms. "Tell your mother and father I am sorry I could not stop by."

The child nodded and raced off. "Who was that?"

Caster raised his eyebrow and climbed on the bike. "Lightning's daughter."

"I would like to have met her."

"You couldn't have."

"Why not?"

He sighed and waved to my bike, the one sitting with me not on it. I took the hint. "Because you haven't met her mother and father. And it's not only rude but dangerous to approach a centurion child without knowing their parents."

I popped that tidbit of information on my mental list, stuffed the satchel in my bike seat, typed in the code to start the bike, and slapped on my helmet. "Understood."

***

"Next are the cascading nymphs, right?" I yelled over the engines as the road expanded enough to allow Caster and I to ride side by side.

He threw me a 'shut the hell up' look and I glared at him. So far he'd barely tolerated me and I'd done nothing to deserve it. Well, maybe not nothing, but it wasn't like I was going out of my way to be a stupid human. I knew Americans were notorious for expecting others to conform to our ways, but I wasn't like that. I got that I was in a new place with new people and my way was almost always the wrong way. A little slack from him would be nice.

"Please." I'd rather have choked on poison then have said the word, but as there wasn't arsenic nearby, I didn't have a choice.

"Yes."

"Why are we going there exactly?" That hadn't really been discussed. In fact, all he'd said was "We're going to the cascading nymphs" and sped away from the centaur camp. That had been half an hour ago, and I was no closer to figuring out what the hell that meant now than I was then. Thank goodness for Duke and his massive library, I could always look it up later.

"Swipe says she saw something. The messenger she sent wasn't specific enough, so we're confirming her report."

"Okay." That wasn't so hard, assuming Swipe was a nymph and not a Spanish speaking fox who'd forgotten to add the R on the end of her name.

The road thinned again, and I was forced to ride behind him. It wasn't so bad though. The scenery was gorgeous and it was hard to feel anything but happy when I looked around. Patchworked hills in an array of colors spread across the landscape kissing the whipped cream clouds and blue sun. It looked like someone obsessed with garage sales had just collected all the patterns they could find, sewn them together, and threw them over the earth.

I winced as my stomach heaved on a particularly quick drop. If the road hadn't been mimicking a rollercoaster ride, everything would be perfect. "How much farther is it?" I asked, forcing back a gag as my stomach jumped up to my throat and then plummet back down.

"Not far."

Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes for two counts—not one of my finer moments considering I was on a motorcycle—and when I opened them a forest had sprouted up in front of me. Just like that. Trees in all shapes, colors, and sizes reached for the sky on a hill that looked more like a zit.

Caster slowed his bike and I fumbled to do the same. He curved around the hill for a few more seconds before stopping beside a cave. I followed and was a second behind him as I turned off the engine, threw my leg over the side, and sidled up to him.

"Is this it?" I looked up at the vertical climb then back to my flats. They were the only shoes I had, though Fever had said she'd take me into the village to get some more along with some clothes of my own. I'd just been putting off the journey because . . . if I looked in the mirror and saw new everything, I feared I'd see a new me too, and I wasn't ready to change. I was human; and even if that wasn't denoted by my clothes, I felt like it was.

"Yes. Now listen."

His voice was serious and I found myself looking up at him. His eyes bored into mine, and something swiveled in their depths. A shiver wracked my form, but I forced it down. It's nothing. "I'm listening."

"You need to keep your eyes closed when we talk to Swipe. Nymphs have two forms: that of a plant and that of a human-like creature. If you look at them directly when they are in their human form, they revert to their plant form permanently. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Sort of like Medusa."

"Who?"

"Greek mythology." I waved my hand. "It's nothing. But, um, how will I write if I can't open my eyes?"

"You can write when we get back. Besides, it's better if we don't bring a lot with us." Since I didn't have anything on me anyway, I was ready to go. A quick check on the bike from Caster and he too was ready. We started through the cave. I blinked at the dark interior, quickly losing Caster. "Hey." I reached blindly for him. "I can't see any—ah!"

I could hear the incubus grind his teeth. "Tilly."

"Please tell me that wasn't your dick." Or tell me it was. I flushed at my thoughts and pinched my arm. Caster might be hot, but he was an alien. We didn't even speak the same language, I doubted he had the same body parts. But if he did . . .

No! I mentally yelled at myself as I plastered my hands to my side. None of that now.

"Follow me and don't touch anything," he stressed. "Lights will come on soon enough."

I nodded and blindly trailed after him. It was hard going for a few seconds, especially since I'd told myself I would rather faceplant than accidentally touch anything of Caster's again. After a minute, though, lights did come on, just not the ones I expected.

From every wall of the cave, mellow blue lights glowed, shifting every so often so it looked like it was raining. I stepped close to the wall and reached out for what I thought were glowing insects.

"What did I just say?" Caster roared, locking his hand around my wrist. I flinched back at the same moment the wall surged out at me, blue lights parting like the jaws of a wild animal. They didn't get far, only an inch or two, before retreating back into the wall, but it was enough to set off a panic attack.

Breathing erratically, I crouched. If he'd been a second late, I wouldn't have a hand. Maybe not a body either if the thing had pulled me close and all the lights had done the same move. I could have died.

Caster bent in front of me, his hands moving to my shoulder. "You're safe."

No I wasn't. I wasn't safe at all. What the hell was I thinking, talking my way into this envoy job?

"Tilly." He shook me violently, teeth rattling in the cavern of my mouth. "Duke wouldn't have let you come with me if he didn't think you were ready. Don't prove him wrong now."

Those weren't exactly the words I wanted to hear, but they had the desired effect. It made me think of something else beside my near-death experience or the fact that I might very likely die on a strange planet because—ya know, curiosity killed the cat.

I thought about the panic attack I'd had when a camp counselor accidentally gave me his ecstasy instead of the aspirin I'd needed. I'd had to realize that things would happen, things I couldn't control, and instead of panicking, I'd have to move past them. And part of passing them was also living with them, accepting them.

Death happens to everyone, I reminded myself shakily. Doesn't mean it's scary. And maybe I wouldn't have died, but just lost an arm. They could have robot arms here. I'd like that.

A small laugh erupted from my lips as I calmed myself with absurdity. It helped. Another second of thinking about all the things I could do with a robot arm—there were a lot—and I was past the panic. I blew out a long breath and looked up at Caster, plastering a smile on. "Duke wasn't wrong."

He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes unfathomable, before rising slowly and holding out his hand for me. "Good." I took it and he pulled me up. "But just because you didn't prove Duke wrong, doesn't mean that you've done the same for me," he added pointedly.

"Jackass."

"Excuse me?"

"Jack. Ass," I said slowly.

Shaking his head, Caster let go of my hand and started ahead. "Don't touch anything. I won't say it again."

He didn't have to tell me a third time.

It was a few more minutes of walking the deadly bug-light hallways before we came to what I assumed was the center of the mountain and a very large circular staircase. It didn't look like it was man-made, but rather part of the mountain itself. Small flowers dotted each step, and handrails twisted and curved into each other and the large tree in the center.

Caster started to walk, and I followed after him, stumbling a few times as the multi-colored flowers swayed, opened, and closed. After five flights, we reached the top. The large log running up the center of the stairs reached further up and became branches and twigs, pulled low to the ground by hot pink flowers that almost touched the snow-like grass. I could imagine a man getting down on one knee here and proposing to the love of his life while cameras rolled a few feet away.

We stopped just a few paces from the steps and he sat down on the ground. I rocked on my heels, feeling the squishy grass beneath the soles of my shoes. It was damp. Damn.

"Can I stand?"

He closed his eyes, tucked his legs in, and placed his hands, palms up, on his bent knees. I took his silence as a "no" and sat, mimicking his position. Cold, wet ground saturated my leggings and I grumbled and shifted until the sharp click of Caster's tongue quieted me.

We sat like that long enough for my muscles to stiffen and I shifted uncomfortably. "How long are we—"

"Quiet," Caster snapped. "And keep your eyes closed. Don't open them until I say so."

My jaw reverberated as my teeth clacked together. I made another mental note to talk to Duke about another partner. It was obvious Caster didn't like me, and I had no wish to be with a guy who found it hard to work with me.

After a few more minutes, I felt the slightest breeze around my shoulder and shivered. "Caster?" a soft voice asked. It reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's wispy cadence.

"Swipe," Caster acknowledged as I dutifully remained quiet and mentally started to take notes. "You called about a sighting?"

"I did."

"What did you see?"

"I saw—I'm not sure what I saw." She paused as if contemplating before continuing slowly, "It was at a distance. Humanoids being led on a chain."

I could hear the frown in Caster's voice, "Demons? Did you get their caste markings?"

There was a slight breeze, and something soft brushed my arm. I think it was hair, though it felt more like flower petals. "I'm not sure what they were. I only know they were bipedal, and built much like you both."

"Could you tell if they were young?"

The question struck me as odd until I remembered the missing teenagers. Some of the Duke's staff had talked about it and Fever had mentioned it a time or two. It would make sense that Caster would ask. I had a gruesome thought, what if the kids were being kidnapped and sold into slavery?

"If you are asking if they were the children who've disappeared," Swipe continued, "I could not tell. You now know everything I know."

"Nothing else?"

"No."

Caster waited a second before letting out a long sigh. "The Magistrate thanks you, and offers this small token of appreciation."

I heard something jingle. Money?

"I accept," Swipe said softly. "'Til Mother calls us home."

"'Til then."

There was a shift in the air, but I waited another few seconds to ask my question. "Is she gone?"

"Yes."

I bit my lip and clenched my fists. "Well, can I open my freakin' eyes?"

There was a long pause and I thought maybe he didn't hear me. I opened my mouth again when he finally spoke tightly, "Yes."

My eyes popped open and I looked around. Caster was standing in front of me, staring hard and Swipe was nowhere to be found. Or maybe she was. There were a lot of trees, and we were in a tree, so . . .

"That's it?"

"Yes."

He turned on his heel and started down the stairs without a backward glance. I scrambled up, feeling soggy and wet, and nearly tripped on a root. Cursing, I quickly followed after him.

"What should I write down?" I asked, splitting my time watching him and the stairs.

Caster practically skipped down the steps, reaching the bottom before I'd gotten to the third level. When he was nearing the exit I yelled at him to stop. The guy ran like an Olympic athlete, and I couldn't keep up. Plus the twisted stairs and light-bug infested cave freaked me out. There was no way in hell he was leaving me alone. "What's the rush?"

His back stiffened and I could hear him grind his teeth. "You've been trained. This is the field. Keep asking questions and I'll send you back to Fever."

Pause. What did he just say to me? I stopped on the second to last step, tilted my head and stared at him like he'd lost his mind. He must have. "What did you just say?"

He never turned around. "You heard me."

Taking a few calming breaths, I used the space it took me to get to him to choose my words carefully. But when I opened my mouth, 'careful' wasn't exactly what came out. "Why are you being such an asshole?"

"I'm not," he growled, finally turning around to face me.

"Oh, yes you are." I jabbed a finger at his chest. "This is my ale hoax. And I'm not even from here—I'm from another planet—"

"As if any of us could forget."

"Seriously! What the hell is your problem?"

"Your smell."

"Are you saying I stink?"

"No." Caster took a step toward me and I felt the space between us shift. Knowing my luck, I'd probably said something offensive or used some kind of annoy incubi shower gel. His pupils dilated and his black tongue darted out to lick his lips. When he spoke, his voice was a dark rumble reminding me again of a vibrator. "You smell delicious. Like a hot, wet fuck on a sunny hoax."

That had to be number one on the top ten list of crazy things I'd heard, and I'd spent the past month on an alien planet. How did he want me to respond to that little pronouncement? Hell, I couldn't even think of a response. My mouth opened, shut, and mimicked a fish out of water for a few seconds before I finally managed to squeak out a "Thanks?"

His pupils expanded even more, and the tattoos covering his skin seeming to swirl. Actually, his entire body darkened, like tea set out too long. Caster took another step toward me. "You'll let me fuck you."

Well, that took a turn for the I'm-not-sure-how-to-handle-this-conversation. Holding my hands up, I skirted the bug wall, careful not to touch it, and managed to have my back to the entrance. "Now wait a second. You were the one who said we weren't going to have sex."

A part of me, the whorish one, was screaming in my head to peel off my pants, rip off my shirt, and ride him until one or both of us was chafed. I tried really hard to ignore that part. Last thing I needed was to get pregnant with some Alien style baby and end up having it eat through my stomach and kill me, or worse. The incubus in front of me, stalking me like I was a lamb and he was a wolf, looked like he could do much worse.