Halloween I.F. – “Something Rich and Strange” – Day 9

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What now was a very valid question to ask, but Star was tired at this point. He was pretty sure he’d thought more in the last half day than he had done in the entire last month. They had to decide on something to do instead of just agreeing that it sucked and walking away, though.

“I guess my thing is,” Star said slowly, “how do we protect you, Dom? Like, people who’ve already cast memory-altering spells on you are clearly planning to see you again. And they know you’re connected to us. Like. They could at least hold you hostage against us, or… well, who knows what they’re thinking of doing?”

Dandelion made a soft noise of agreement. “If you wanted to go into hiding for a time, I know a guy. Strong, dangerous. Lovely chap, though, a prince among men.”

Dom shook his head. “…I don’t think it has to come to that. If I need to run, I’ll let you know, but I kind of want to be preparing for the race in two weeks and I also have a training job between races. I don’t like what’s happened, it freaks me the fuck out, but so far it hasn’t been dangerous.”

Star supposed it at least hadn’t been violent. 

“What about protection spells?” Caoimhe murmured, turning to Viv. “Could that help?”

“Theoretically yes,” Viv said. “I know some witches offer their protection services as a one-time spell. It’s also possible to get marked as being under someone’s protection in a way like, fuck with this person and I’ll mess you up, but that’s a pretty open-ended offer so it tends to be really expensive, and also, most of the witches who’ll do it are the ones willing to get into spell battles.” So mostly malefics. “I can’t do it myself, my area of specialty is bibliomancy, divination through using books. But if you want, I can ask around at the Council of Twilight tomorrow. You could come with me if you wanted, Star.”

Adrien said, “Maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree here. Is there something he can use to signal to us if he sees them again? Phones are obviously no good, but if that’s easy, we can be the protection and the rescuer.”

“I can do that,” Dandelion offered. “That’s fairly simple.” He drew a little glowstick out of his pocket. Star didn’t ask where he got it; obviously, from a rave. “If you break this, it can send a signal to me. Or… er, I’ll connect it to Star instead. Then there’s no actual connection to me directly, and besides, Star’s the fastest.”

“That’s a great idea,” Dom said.

Star shrugged. He wasn’t going to say no to it, though he thought he at least would be constantly anxious waiting to feel it snap. “Go for it, boss.”

Dandelion held it up, and drew a line with his finger from Dom, to the stick, to Star. Star felt the connection take place; not a spell, but Dandelion using his powers to make that invisible line between them tenuously real.

“Breaking this if I see them seems easy enough,” Dom agreed, taking the glow stick. “If I keep it in a pocket on me at all times, should be a snap.”

Star snorted, and he watched Dom realize his own accidental joke with his subsequent wince. “What else, though? That’s as much protection as I suppose we can do without finding something at the Twilight Council or attaching ourselves too directly, but what else? 

Dandelion sat back again. “I’m tempted to go to the track to break in tonight, I suppose. I’d be interested to see if anything of interest remains. Spell residue or whatnot.”

Reluctantly, Star shook his head. “I think our chance to catch anything fresh has escaped us,” he admitted. “The track’s got magical AND physical janitors. They have to prevent anyone from trying to influence the races. Unless the janitors were lazy or paid off, or they snuck in something that wouldn’t be easy to catch, there won’t be much there now. And if they snuck in something that subtle, it’ll probably still be there tomorrow.” He sighed. “Depending how things shake out, I miiiight swing by tomorrow to see if I can talk to any witnesses, and I’ll check for anything odd if so. But it’s possible there’s nothing we didn’t just learn.”

“Well, I can come with you if you need it,” Viv said. “I’m a little too specialized to help out in all circumstances, but I’ll do what I can. My fortune-telling business isn’t regular hours, so let me know.”

“Yeah, if and when I make plans I’ll text you,” Star said.

That seemed to be it for direct planning for now. The meal conversation shifted to lighter things, though Dandelion and Dom were obviously both preoccupied. After the meal, Adrien and Caoimhe offered to walk Dom home so he’d have solid protection on the way there—without having to dangle Dandelion in front of anyone who might be watching for him. 

“Yeah,” Dom said. “I hate the idea of needing protection, but sure.”

“After that,” Adrien said, “I might check up on some of my lovers tonight in case it’s not just Star’s buddy Dom being targeted, but one of mine as well.” 

Caoimhe looked discomfited. “I’d best do as well. Not with lovers. People I know. It’s none of your business,” she added over her shoulder, leading Dom away.

Viv headed off next, peeling away from the group outside the apartment with another wave and a see you later, which left Star with Dandelion.

“Well, then,” Dandelion murmured, and gestured with his head. Together, they began to walk home. 

A short way in, Dandelion’s hand bumped against his, so Star took it and held on. Dandelion seemed grateful, though he was quiet, serious, his profile elegant in the moonlight as he kept his thoughts to himself.

Once they were inside, Star sighed, shoulders relaxing a touch. Home sweet home, and no sign of intrusion. “Well,” he said. “Guess I’ll head off to the pond…”

“Wait,” Dandelion murmured. “Are you willing to sleep indoors today?”

Star’s heart caught in his throat. “Sure,” he said, deliberately cool, and let Dandelion lead him upstairs. 

The mood wasn’t right for anything more, but they stripped down and slid under the covers together, and Dandelion wrapped his arms around Star, pulling him against his cool, slim chest.

“Do you want,” Dandelion murmured, “that is, I know he didn’t want to go into hiding, but if it becomes necessary for us to whisk him away, do you want to meet the person I’m suggesting hiding Dom with? I know that anyone might be having doubts about my intentions for a rival—” Rival for what? Star wondered. He supposed that having him be a dangerous link to people clearly hunting Dandelion might be enough, but weird way to put it if so. “—so whatever will make you feel the happiest.”

“I trust you wholeheartedly,” Star murmured into Dandelion’s shoulder. “But maybe, yeah, it’d be good to have the details.

“The sooner the better, if you think it might be needed suddenly,” Dandelion murmured.

“Sure,” Star said. He braced himself a little, drawing a rough breath. “Do you have any idea who these two creepers might be, based on what Dom said?”

Dandelion shook his head, his soft, stiff hair making an audible sound against the pillow. “I don’t, not from that description,” he said. “As far as I know, I haven’t made an enemy of any witches. And if it’s a demon, I’d need more than black hair and ashy skin to go off of. But… they might have known me, yes.”

“The name?” Star asked. “What was the whole Dandelion-Seeds thing about? I know it’s not your true name.” That was Asterace, which was a remarkable amount of power for Dandelion to have tried to put back in Star’s hands to close the gap between them. 

“No,” Dandelion agreed. “It was, however, my title, back when I was a noble fae who ranked highly in a court; a title I was permitted to be addressed by. So whoever had brought that up to Dom had known me when I was titled or, at least, known of me by title.”

Star dropped a soothing kiss on his bicep. “It was the other one who said it, but couldn’t the fairy have told it to them?”

“Perhaps,” Dandelion said, considering. “I never knew any brook horses personally before encountering you in the wild, but it’d be more likely for a fairy to know me by that title. But why would a brook horse be the one pushing for me to be hunted down?”

It wasn’t something he liked thinking about, but… “The brook horse could definitely be someone I know,” Star said, “but I’d have no way to know that from the description Dom gave, it was too just… yeah, that’s how a lot of us look. And, again, there’s no particular reason that I can think of for them to bother coming for me, but I was part of a herd for my early years, so in terms of, did I know other brook horses, the answer is yeah, obviously. I don’t know why they’d then ask after you, though.”

Dandelion sighed. “I know you have the general gist of what happened with the tithe.”

Under Star’s body, Dandelion was becoming less comfortable, tense and still. Star tried to play it cool, toying with his own hair against Dandelion’s skin. “Yeah, I mean, generally for sure. Like you said, you refused to hand trapped humans over to demons for the seven-year tithe. That’s pretty on brand for you. You like protecting people.”

Dandelion made an inaudible sound that Star could only feel, not interpret. “Yes, and to put it lightly, I got up into the demon’s faces to do it, and freed the humans from the fairies’ own binding. This made them not our property, and thus we could not hand them over. It was a move that made me fairly unpopular from both sides of the equation. The demons threatened war. Do you remember Ferthur from that incident last year?”

Star did; when they were rushing to deal with the shapeshifter, they took a shortcut through Abyssal territory and met a weird, blorty blood-stag-man who kept gloating about getting The Exile in trouble. However, the two fairy lords he had fetched to try to get authority over Dandelion had ended up not going along with it, and, as the group had talked about earlier, even offered to try to get his exile lifted due to the actions they’d taken that day. Ferthur couldn’t have liked that.

“Hmm,” Star said. “I haven’t, like, forgotten him.”

“He was one of the three demons who had been there to receive the tithe. The other two were Naeri the Lady of Sorrows, and Ramullin of the Wastes. None of them were pleased, and I was exiled in punishment and forbidden to reenter the fae courts.” Dandelion paused, seeming lost in the past. “This meant that I had to pass through the Abyssal lands on my way out, because I’d have to go deeper into the fae lands to get another exit from our realm and was not allowed, but the Abyssal lay right alongside. Although as part of my exile I was permitted to leave, the three demons claimed the right to torture me, each of them one per night, for every night I remained in the Abyssal until I found my way out and into another non-fairy realm. I imagine they intended to keep me disoriented and mislead me as much as possible to keep me there for many years worth of nights.”

Under Star, Dandelion was tense as a board now. Star couldn’t blame him. “Shit,” he whispered.

“Naeri had the first night, and Ramullin had the second, but I managed to escape before Ferthur had his turn; they tortured me for no more than two nights.” Nevertheless, there was a ghost of old pain and true fear around his eyes. Two nights could be a terribly long time. “I imagine that’s why Ferthur was so eager to see me get in trouble during last year’s incident.”

“Shit,” Star said again. He could taste bile at the back of his throat, and he swallowed with long practice. Easy to ignore the burn when you’re familiar with enough old traumas to know you just had to let that feeling go. “It sounds like it could be Ferthur’s doing, but…” It didn’t feel right at all. “…It’s not his style,” he said, finally.

“I agree, actually,” Dandelion said. “Last year, he was blatant and obvious about what he wanted, while also actually being very strict on following the rules of my exile and appealing to the appropriate authority, bringing in the local ruling fae forces to get it witnessed when he thought I was breaking the rules. He strikes me as a very do-it-by-the-book demon, and he always was, even back when I knew him before. Whatever’s happening here feels much more chaotic than the way he’s always behaved.”

Star nodded slowly, curling in closer, tucking his face into Dandelion’s neck. “So it doesn’t seem like it could be him. Unless he offered power to a witch who contacted him, with getting info on you being the payment?”

“Perhaps,” Dandelion said. “I’d say it’s still not his style, but it’s not as if we were bosom companions.” 

“But then, who?” Star muttered.

“Perhaps none of them,” Dandelion said, shifting around, getting comfortable in a way that Star could see he was dismissing all that old hurt and fear and was getting ready to sleep. “We have little information yet.”

“Maybe it’s unrelated to the exile situation,” Star suggested. “Maybe it’s like Stephen King’s Misery.”

“We can only hope it’s simply related to my greatest dishonour, trauma, and personal achievement instead of rabid fandom,” Dandelion said firmly, and tucked Star’s head down against him. “Let’s get some sleep.”

It wasn’t that he wanted to sleep; he had so much left to plan. What, he wondered to himself, should be his first order of business tomorrow? Check on Dom? Go to the track to find witnesses and secrets? Meet this weird friend of Dandelion’s? Follow up on spells from the Twilight Council, or even go there in person to find out if the description of the strange people Dom had given matched anyone they knew? Go to the library or somewhere else to research those demons that Dandelion had mentioned? Some other fucking thing that he’d surely think of? He definitely didn’t have time to do all of them in a day, and probably shouldn’t plan more than one or two of them, in case information changed after he’d done the first couple…

He was still trying to decide on the best order of business as he slipped off to sleep, dreaming of restless waves and the taste of human flesh.

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