Hell Hounds

Yolanda watched the last of the enforcers leave. Two came in carrying a third's gear. That third enforcer lay in the Medical Center and her people prayed she'd pull through. Other groups complained about barely getting away with their hides intact. They'd pushed the Fae back away from the humans, but the toll on the secret of their existence was high. The Mages and Fianna struggled now covering up the mess. From finding video and eyewitnesses, to coming up with reasonable excuses. It became a grim task.

lan offered to go into the field and head off some reports by creating unbelievable conspiracy theories. After all, his old job was to investigate these things and find the truth behind it. What better way to stop people from hunting a monster than to say the police are on its tail?

Hal and Aria took to the internet to help with that. Days blended into each other as they headed off the Fae with different means before they harmed anyone else. The excuses used ranged from toxic chemical spills causing hallucinations, large car accidents, and Yolanda's favourite lame excuse. Someone reported Fairies while on a bad acid trip. The Mages kept a record of the excuses used and when they used them, one mage mumbled something in passing to Yolanda about needing to keep them fresh to be believable. Beside Hal, a young mage sat with a book open, flipping through the next rationalization they'd just in the most recent case.

"I am so happy I don't need to lie like this. Tried it once, failed miserably at it, and now I have a mate."

The young mage looked up suddenly at Yolanda. "Then you did something wrong there. Probably, your unconscious brain knew he's your mate and made sure you didn't screw it up."

Yolanda rolled her eyes and grumbled before she left. "Never mind, somehow you lost the joke in translation." It felt like their heads were more in their books than in life itself. Many mages appeared to not understand humour. If they'd have a basic understanding of a joke, it appeared in conversation at the wrong time. Which was funny in and of itself. However, their effort could ruffle a few political feathers too. It's yet another reason Yolanda preferred to hide within the Armory. She avoided it all, but she'd want her mate back.

Back in the armoury, Yolanda worked with a staff she'd never needed before this. It took several days for her to understand everyone's specialties and set up training sessions for the enforcers in the safe operation of the new and updated weapons. She found her life turning away from tinkering with weapons, to scheduling, and delegating. Meetings with Gregory and other leaders. She became a resource expert and advisor. What happened to her life? lan often stood beside her during these meetings as an expert on the reaction of humans and how to circumvent disasters.

When he wasn't helping keep secrets, lan would immediately return to her side, and the world felt a little closer to normal. Though she missed the ability to run or ride on a whim.

It did not limit this to Yolanda either. As the days and weeks went by, others felt the strain, too. The Bears' encampment caused enough issues of space and territory. The Bears weren't used to living so closely with each other, let alone anyone else. Other spaces weren't an option as great cats took up there, while other spaces housed dragons, vampires, and merfolk. Representatives roamed the halls of the packhouse, making the large space feel small. Cubs and pups clashed for dominance. Poor Catherine and Juliette, the female Beta, found themselves entrusted with dealing with these conflicts. Schooling for all the young became an issue, along with the training of adults in defensive and offensive tactics.

She needed to admit it all grew complicated. Where and when this would end always felt elusive to her. It became precious the hours she and lan could grab for themselves. Their cottage became their haven until they lost that to enforcer training. They moved into a space in the packhouse for safety and expedience. Now she saw even less of the outdoors. The snows turned to a gray sludge. They trekked soggy leaves and pine needles into the packhouse. Making them a slipping hazard and an almost full-time job to remove them.

Now weeks into this war, and an army milling about on the sprawling land. With the land thawing, plans to build an underground bunker for the enforcers to train together, live and work. They'd never leave this land now if their world survived this.

The mages sent groups to scour far-flung areas for methods to block the Fae from or within the Dream Realm. Many people thought imprisoning the Fae within the Dream Realm was justified. They wanted the Fae to learn what it felt like to be hunted, as they'd done with countless generations of supernatural and mundane creatures. Others argued it made us monsters no better than the Fae. That faction wanted to imprison them within the Dream Realm until they devised a way to return them to their prison realm, and this time, seal it permanently.

There's the rub. They could send them back one by one as time goes on. But would the portals stay closed? That's where the human cult members came into the picture. The group that went to investigate them found that even though they'd opened the portals, lost their members to the Fae. The Fae did not communicate with them at all. In the small town, where the cult has based itself. The members openly complained that they felt used and neglected. But what they believed they failed to gain was still an unknown element.

Dinner brought Yolanda out of her small workshop. The Fianna planned to enlarge that and find a place to hide a forge for their use. The shifting and moving of Yolanda's territory just rubbed her the wrong way. Seeing lan and spending time with him felt like a relief.

Picking up her dinner from the lobby, she made her way into the dining room to find it almost barren. Frowning, she moved among the tables, weaving to their traditional table. "Where is everyone?" "Don't worry, we aren't missing anything. It's the calm before the storm. Here's some more wallpaper for your pile. It appears they're planning on taking the fight to the Fae near here." Ian sat back in his chair beside Hal and Aria.

"About time, though I thought we'd wait until we found out where the others are hiding." Yolanda dropped her food on the table and picked up the file folder full of the notes she needed to know. "Gah, it's a big mission. Are they ready for this?"

"Gregory believes we don't have a

choice. We need to get them on the defensive at some point. He wants them to understand the humans are a waste of time. That they won't find an army or pool of slaves. The only way to do that is to turn their attention away from the humans and onto us."

"Dang. That's insane, this early in the fight? I don't know about this. Then again, I just make sure the weapons work."

"He wants to talk to you after dinner. But we have time to eat dinner, at least. Look, if they can take out one encampment of them. That's one army down."

"One army down and only the gods know how many others there are."

lan stood up, moved around the table, and embraced Yolanda. "Hey, if there's something I found out about your Alpha. He rolls with what happens, but he does nothing on a whim. He gets the information he needs and makes educated decisions. That's a sign of an outstanding leader."

"First off, he's now your leader, too. But you are correct in that estimation. I guess you've been seeing more of him while working with Aria and Hal."

"He's been picking my brain about my division and consulting me on how we might use them to get the cult to open up and reveal things to us. We may use my office to break the cult up. It's something that they do. The office would have

nov

knowledge about the cult's occult practices. I've got one guy looking into any information they have on them."

"What's the name of this cult? I don't think anyone's mentioned it."

"It's one of those weird names. Breacadh An Lae Dearg."

"Red Dawn? That doesn't sound menacing at all. Oh, no, I expect they have a bloody sickle as their brand symbol. I can just see their merch now. A bloody sickle on a baseball cap and t-shirt." "So, I pronounced it correctly?"

"Don't listen to him. He made me type the name into google to search up how to pronounce it properly."

"Well, thank you. At least, he respected me enough to try. It's like buying flowers when I'd love a new muffler." Ian frowned at her.

"My bike. It's rude to give cut flowers

you're

to us. It's believed that you cut short the life to the flowers and you're wishing that on the person giving them to. Always give whole plant, or a new part

the

bike Yolanda couldn't he

for my but

smile at his confusion. Arta just

shook her head wryly at her.

"Guys, sit down and eat. Or Gregory will call you in to talk to him, while your food gets stone cold."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐