Black River Daughter

Soloman Grundy

Frankie

I still don’t know what to think about what has just happened to my life. I was so close to being normal. Just graduated college, and was ready to go off and find myself. Now...I just don’t know. It seems that everything is moving so fast. It has been three days since I found my mate, and last night was the first night since I found him that we weren’t drug into a monstrous nightmare. I feel like I’m now some tool that has to be honed to defend the realm of these invaders. I’m figuring out how to better direct my ability so that I don’t accidentally drift into their realm anymore, but it’s exhausting. I can’t help but feel like I’m at fault for this threat. I mean would they even know that the veil would be thinning if I hadn’t just stepped through it?

Currently we are working with the council, and the fates, on how to handle this thing? I don’t even know. From working with the women, I understand that they do not dictate fate, they kind of just watch it, and protect us as best as they can. If there is something super serious they tend to burn through their energy and leave their bodies. This seems to be what the other things the bad things do as well. But the key difference is the fates spin a new body like a cocoon of magical force, the others, well they have to burrow into an already living being. The more powerful the better. And unlike certain demons that have to be invited, and tend to protect the host body as their own, these things devour them like a psychic parasite. So the lesser demons that do need a host hate them, and helped the fates and the inhumans separate our world from these things almost a millennia ago.

“So what is this?” I examine the compass-like object that the Fates handed me.

“It’s a compass. But for the energy parasites.” they told me.

“I feel like you are just making all of this up now.” I was exacerbated, everything that I had been doing since we followed Demitri through the door felt contrived, like some crazy comic book writer didn’t have a clue to begin the next issue, but the publishers were pressuring them for some content. “Seriously, what is this rusty chunk of junk supposed to do? Tell me where the rifts in the veil are?”

Demitri grimaced at my disrespect. “I can see that you are tired. We have been working you since you woke up this morning. Why don’t we stop for the rest of the day and pick up tomorrow?” He stood up from the conference table that we had been huddled around for the entire morning. Drake’s eyes were glazing over with boredom, and I was just irritated at everything.

“I just want to go home, they said that it would be a while before we are attacked, so why don’t you just teach me better control of the whole ‘stepping into a hellscape’ thing, and leave me to live a little bit of my life before I need to fight to save the world.” Like I said, irritated. “Just tell me when I need to be ready to use my Wolf God powers and I’ll be there.”

Demitri buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Nothing is that easy Frankie. The fates can’t tell you specifics because everything they tell you affects the choices that you make, and then those choices begin to tumble down the hill of time changing our reality.”

“Hey let’s just take a break for now Frankie? You didn’t really eat anything today, let’s see if they will let us go into town to get something.” Drake sat up trying to intervene, he could already sense that I was about to have a major meltdown.

“Fine. We shall wait and see if they will LET us do anything.” I was so frustrated, I just wanted to go home. My birthday is tomorrow, and I would rather spend it with my family instead of this underground fortress. We already missed Drake's birthday party because of this bullshit, and we didn’t even have time to grab our own clothes. “Demitri will you at least take us home so we can get our clothes and set the pack up for our extended absence?”

“Yeah, I can do that, and we can relocate to your home once you gain control of your astral drift abilities.” I hopped up and tugged Drake up as well, so that we could follow Demitri. “I might as well gather all the books that we left in your office.” Demitri grabbed the door handle and opened it onto Drakes office, with a shocked Jameson sitting at his desk.

“Hey, good, we need to talk.” Drake sat down in a chair as he began to gather a few of the books off the desk for Demitri. “Frankie, would you mind packing a bag for us?” I nodded and headed down to our apartment. I grabbed a duffel that Drake had stashed on the top shelf in the walk in closet, and stuffed a few pairs of his jeans, a pair of comfortable shoes, and about five shirts, underwear, and socks. For me I just crammed some t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a few pairs of shorts, under things, socks and my combat boots. I figure if I’m going to be training, I would like the foot wear to facilitate that. I changed out of the sundress that I had on since yesterday into a pair of black leggings, my slip on boat shoes, and a long tunic style top. I grabbed a few hair ties, because I was dying to get my mane out of my face all day. I slung the duffel bag over my shoulder and headed back to Drakes office. He was still in the middle of speaking with Jameson.

“So since we have this hanging over our heads, I am going to contact Black River, they are in the best position to take custodianship of this territory. We’ve been here too long already without staking a border, and it’s just leaving us at a disadvantage.”

“I understand, alpha, especially with Frankie’s unique situation.” Jameson remarked looking up from the desk as I entered. I rolled my eyes, I had already had enough of uniqueness.

Drake wrapped his arm around my waist before asking me “Do I need to grab anything else?”

“Nope, I should have everything we need.” I hoisted the duffle up for him to see.

“Seriously? That has everything?” He looked genuinely confused.

“I have clothes, shoes and hygiene stuff, the council gave us a bed, what more do we need?”

“Hmm Okay if you say so, I guess I’m used to people packing more for a week away.” He shrugged.

“A whole week? Oh my gosh! That means I need my chap-stick too!” I elbowed him in the ribs teasing him. “You forget how much I actually brought from my house.”

He scratched his head sheepishly smiling. “Yeah I guess so, I forget that you are a monk.” He then turned his attention back to Jameson, “So tomorrow we begin training, if you have any questions get a hold of Rodney Woods, Frankie already let him know what’s going on. I know having another Alpha around will make things run much smoother.”

Jameson shot Drake a mock salute. “Aye Aye sir!” I laughed then headed through the door that Demitri was holding open.

Once we stepped through the doorway again Demitri had an assistant take our bag to the room that we were assigned last night, then he took us to the councils governing hall. The was a massive auditorium, much like the massive room you see congress in when they are arguing about budgets and bills on CSPAN. The key difference between our council and congress is the people, everyone was dressed in a robe of one color or another, it didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason behind the color, just that everyone was wearing a robe. Looking down into the sunken room of bleachers, it looked like a jar of sprinkles with the vast array of multi colored robes. I whispered my impression to Drake, and he snorted, gaining the attention of the entire room. “Oops”

“Hmm excuse me sorry, something was uh irritating my nose.” Drake tried to cover as an unknown amount of eyes rested on him.

One very tall slender woman with ruby red eyes and auburn hair wearing a pale mint green robe quirked an eyebrow at Drake before smirking and saying “I’m sure.”

The shorter huskier gentleman standing with her adjusted his smokey brown robe, then shoved a hand through his grey hair looking up at us. “Good, good Master Demitri, you have the blessed pair, come now, please have a seat here.” He waved us to come down the thirty or so steps into the auditorium and indicated a row of seats at the front for us to sit in. These seats didn’t have a desk in front of them like the rest of the chairs, and were set up more like an audience bench.

“I hope that we haven’t kept you waiting, Elder Soloman.” Demitri said as he reached into a breast pocket on his jacket and began pulling a Sapphire blue robe out of it, like some stage magician with a chain of scarves. He quickly shrugged into the robe and looked through one of the desks behind the seats that Drake and I were instructed to sit in.

Demitri then walked to the front of the room where a small stage and podium was positioned. “Fantastic, so we can get started. Thank you members of the extended council. As you have read, we are facing a threat that we have not seen in over a thousand years. This time however we will have minimal support from the demon races as their numbers have dwindled. The Goddess has blessed us with an immortal wolf, it is our job to teach and guide her so that she is better prepared to face any attacks from the Dream-feeders”

“Do we know where this attack will start?” the red eyed woman asked.

“At this point our best chances would be to create the rift ourselves in a remote location so that we can force the attack to happen on our terms. If we wait for the rift to weaken on our own the chances of it happening in a heavily populated area increase. They fight by taking possession of a host, human, or inhuman they don’t really care. It seems that their only limitation is that they need a creature with sentience.” Demitri elaborated

“How do we fight these things?” a random person in the back of the room asked.

“They have figured out how to stabilize their form in our realm long enough for them to find a host. They do this by mimicking their intended target then physically contacting them to force themselves into their being. Myself and the rest of the mages are working on an armor that prevents an intended victim from becoming possessed. The good news is we will only have to worry about non shifters, the Dreem-feeders are unable to possess a shifter in their beast form.” Chattering rose excitedly in the auditorium. Hope and optimism began to fill my chest. We might have a chance.

“I vote that we force the rift in the middle of, death valley.” Solomon stated flatly. That sounded like a good idea to me.

Demitri nodded “That may be an option, we first have to train Francessca Woods how to force the rift. Once the rift is forced we should be able to fight the creatures like any other combatant. They are psychic, and will mimic you to get into your head. The best tactic that we can go with for this one would be to only fight one on one.”

Soloman looked slightly agitated, and for a moment I could see curls of smoke coming out of his nose. Drake leaned forward focusing on Soloman as he spoke. “So you are saying that our entire battle strategy is in the hands of a young un tested wolf?”

Drake bristled at the comment not liking the tone that Soloman was using to talk about me, my mate quietly stood up and softly spoke, gaining Soloman’s attention nonetheless. “You will be cautious how you speak of my mate Wurm.”

“Sit down you whelp, I am not insulting your mate, I am expressing the fears and thoughts in this room, we have an urgency to have a plan in place sooner rather than later. You and your mate must take this very seriously and focus yourselves.” Soloman’s eyes began to glow like embers in a forge, as I could now clearly see tendrils of smoke escaping his nostrils. “I have more at stake in this than you could imagine, and I intend to ensure our success.” Drake was taken aback by the older man’s words. He sat down, but continued to glare at him. “Drake, you have had the strongest Alpha wolf as your mentor for the last five years. Now it is time for you to have the strongest Dragon mentor you.” Drake's mouth hung open at Soloman’s last decree.

Demitri stepped forward with an inquisitive look on his face. “I believe that you are correct, Elder Soloman, Drake will be at your disposal starting tomorrow. Frankie, you need to be taught by a mage, but I am afraid that I am no longer qualified to instruct you.” He turned to the woman with the red eyes. “Minerva, will you honor us, and impart your wisdom to the Goddess’s chosen?” Was his old timey flouncing necessary? It really intimidated me, if I was expected to continue that mannerism throughout my training.

Minerva approached me, I stood to greet her, she held out her hand and smiled warmly at me. “I would love to help wherever I am able.” I grasped her hand and immediately felt calmer, more serene.

“Thank you ma’am, erm Elder?” I asked, unsure what to call her.

“Oh no, I am older than all the elders, just call me Minerva.” she replied.

“Are you an immortal too?” excitement colored my question. I was so hopeful that I would have someone to relate to.

“Yes, I suppose so. I am the queen of the fairies.” Her eyes sparkled, and her smile was full of mischief. I was just dumbfounded, and had no other words. “I will come collect you tomorrow morning. Don’t worry, this is going to be fun. Soloman, we should train them together, don’t you think?”

The old man grunted, “Yeah, we’ll do that, since they are paired, might as well build their strengths together.” Minerva looped her arm through his and kissed his temple, he brightened at her attention.

“We know how to train pairs. My grumpy old Dragon just needs to warm up to you.” Minerva added. I looked back and forth from Drake, Demitri, and the odd couple.

“Calling me old? You are two hundred years my senior, you cradle robber!” Soloman sputtered in indignation.

I snorted holding back a laugh and turned bright red at the thought. Drake smirked, but I could feel the amusement through the mate bond. Minerva called for an attendant to take Drake and me back to our room to rest for the remainder of the evening, promising that she and Soloman would be at our door first thing in the morning.

Our room was on an upper floor of the high rise building that the council complex was occupying. It was a large hotel style suit with a sitting area, bedroom, well appointed bathroom, and kitchenette. The refrigerator and the pantry were stocked, so I decided to fix us an early dinner, since we hadn’t eaten lunch yet. “I’m going to fix a lasagna, why don’t we take a bath together while it cooks?” I asked looking at Drake.

Drake brightened “That sounds amazing. Anything I can help with?”

“Hmm, yes actually, brown the sausage, while I make up the ricotta mix.” I darted to the bathroom to start the water then ran back to start pulling meat, egg, Asiago, ricotta, parsley, and tomato sauce out of cabinets and the fridge.

“Just sausage? Or do you want beef too?” Drake asked, gotta hand it to him, the guy can cook.

“I like to use pepperoni in one layer instead of hamburger.” His face lit up

“Oh that sounds delicious.” he quickly browned the meat while I boiled the noodles and mixed the ricotta and eggs. “Here you go, meat’s done.”

“Perfect, I’m ready to start layering. Can you pour this jar of sauce in the sausage?” I began putting the layers of lasagna together, with one layer in the middle of pepperoni. I topped it with mozzarella cheese then covered it with tinfoil to cook, before sliding it in the oven. “Okay that stays in there for an hour, so we have time to relax.”

I turned to Drake as he pulled me into an embrace. Before we could begin to kiss I heard water splashing on the floor. “Oh s**t the bath!” Drake ran to the bathroom and turned off the water. Then pulled the plug letting some of it drain while I grabbed towels and mopped up my mess.

“Sorry I forgot.” I meekly apologize.

“It’s just a little bit, and the water is perfect for a soak, so no harm.” He began undressing after he replaced the plug. I couldn’t help myself, my eyes were locked on him as I was knelt on the floor with the soaking towel. “See something you like?” he smirked at me, all I could do was try to find some composure.

“Sorry, I don’t think that I’m ever going to get enough of you.” I pulled my clothes off and joined him in the warm water.

“So you are saying that you want more of me?” He pulled me to straddle his lap as he cupped the back of my head and kissed me deeply.

I broke our kiss to answer him “Hmmm, of course I want more of you, I want as much as I can get of you.”

“Good, then I’m going to give you more.” He grabbed my hips and positioned my entrance over his erect manhood, before pulling me slowly down onto him. The weightlessness of the water and the friction of being slowly stretched had all my nerve endings on fire. It was exhilarating. I sharply inhaled as I felt him deeper than I had let him drive before, I could feel the head of his rod pushing against the entrance to my womb. “Too much?” I shook my head quickly and placed my hands on his shoulders wanting to hold on for the ride. “Tell me.” He ordered looking into my eyes.

“Don’t hold back, I need you to take me.” I said breathily as I leaned in to claim his lips. His eyes shifted color, I could tell that his wolf and his dragon were fighting to take control, my wolf rose to meet them, Drake nodded before he began to thrust savagely into me, brushing my cervix with each pump. The water was splashing around us and my breasts were bouncing against his chest. He broke our kiss to lean in and nibble my breast. Under the water I could feel his hand travel from my hips to between my legs. His fingers swirled around my sensitive button as his c**k slid in and out of me. My legs began to tremble, this was just too much stimulation, I was going to shatter and fast. I began to whimper as I could feel my climax building, he felt thicker with the water washing our fluids away, it made the friction so much more intense. I moaned as I felt my sheath tightening around him, shuddering in fulfillment, I heard him groan as I felt him shoot ribbons of c*m into me.

He pulled me down to lay my head on his chest as he was still buried deep in me. He whispered in my ear. “Give me a moment, I’m not done with you.” I shivered at his ominous tone, thrilled that he wanted and needed me as much as I wanted him.

“After dinner, please. You can have me as much as you want.” I sat back up gazing in his eyes, trailing my fingers across his face.

He shook his head “I set a timer, the oven will turn off.” I then felt him begin to move inside me again. My eyes rolled back in my head as the intense sensation reignited my desire. He kept me in the bathtub until the water turned cold, claiming me more than I could remember. Once he was fully sated He stood up carrying me out of the bathtub. Carefully my mate sat me on the edge of the tub then wrapped me on a soft over sized towel patting me dry.

“Hmmm” I hummed as he passed the towel between my legs. I am going to die of dehydration before I am fully satisfied with him!

“Sore?” he asked.

“I’m beginning to believe that mates can’t make you sore like that.” I smirked and raised an eyebrow at him.

He frowned, but his eyes still lit up. “I feel that I am being challenged.”

“Ya think?” I shakily stood up. “But I need nourishment first. The marathon will have to wait for that.”

“Don’t bother dressing then.” he instructed as he wrapped a towel around his waist and then secured one around my chest. I shivered again knowing that the torture was going to be bliss.

We spent the rest of the evening munching on dinner and spending time in the bedroom before finally collapsing in exhaustion and fatigue. I was delightfully worn out, and my mate proved me wrong, mates can make you sore from over use.

I woke just as the first rays of light began to illuminate our bedroom, comfortably tangled in Drake’s legs. His arm was draped over my waist heavy, indicating that he was still asleep. I tried to slide out from under his arm and leg, but he just squeezed me and pulled me in closer. I tapped his arm, trying to wake him up. “Come on, we need to get up.”

“Un uh.” He rolled his chest so I was pinned by more of his body weight.

“Guuhh dude, I need to pee!” I cried.

“Fine, go. Off with ye!” He laughed and shoved me to the edge of the bed.

“Get dressed, Minerva and Soloman will be here soon.” I hollered over my shoulder as I closed the bathroom door behind me. He groaned but I could still hear him rustling in the bedroom getting ready. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, then went into the bedroom and got ready while he did his morning routine. It seems sort of weird, but we don’t like getting ready at the same time. We have enjoyed every inch of each other naked, but if we aren’t in the tub or shower we don’t like to be in the bathroom together.

After I dressed I walked into the kitchen and got a quick breakfast pulled together. I fried up a couple eggs, cut some fruit and toasted some bread, and had it plated before Drake came out of the bathroom freshly shaven and smelling like his sandalwood and autumn forest. He kissed my shoulder as he grabbed his plate and sat at the small table that was in our room. “Smells great, thanks for cooking, I was just going to grab an apple.”

“I’m starving after last night.” I grinned across from him as his gaze grew smoky with desire.

“Hold that thought, I plan on repeating that tonight.” My stomach clenched in anticipation. He grabbed the plates and began washing them as there was a knock on the door.

I pulled the door open to reveal a casually dressed Minerva and Soloman. “Oh please come in, I just need to grab my shoes and we should be ready.”

“Wow, I thought we would be early.” Minerva smiled at me.

“Oh you’ve already eaten? We were going to take you to breakfast first.” Soloman added looking around the room “You keep this room very clean. You know we have attendants right?”

“Oh it’s no trouble, I didn’t pack that much, and it’s easy to clean up after yourself if you don’t make a big mess.” I explained as I tied the laces on my boots.

“She’s a minimalist, she only packed me five shirts and one pair of shoes.” Drake complained as he pulled on said trainers. I laughed in response.

Minerva chuckled. And playfully shoved her partner. “They already sound like us, my love. That’s good though, go ahead and grab your bag and bring it with.” Drake nodded and complied.

We left the room, and headed to the elevator with our new mentors. Soloman pressed the button for the lobby. After we landed in the lobby we left the building and got into a car that was parked in front of the headquarters. This was the first time that I was seeing the building from the outside, and it was unremarkable, I’m sure that I could have mistaken it for any other office building in the small city that it was based out of.

“We are going to our land. We shouldn't have any interruptions or issues.” Soloman said as he drove the car out of the city.

While we rode I made small talk and asked them some questions, “Minerva, if I may ask, how long have you and Soloman been together?”

“Oh blessed! Probably close to four hundred years now.” she smiled at me from the front seat.

“Wow, that is impressive. I’m assuming you have children?”

“We have twenty seven children, one hundred and thirteen grandchildren, and we lost count of how many great grandchildren and further descendants.” Soloman said proudly

Drake and I sputtered “What? Holy, how, I mean I guess you had time?” Minerva laughed at our reactions.

“We only ever raised four at a time, we wanted each set of our children to feel special, but with such a long life you tend to have a lot of time to raise a lot of families. Drake, if I’m not mistaken you are probably one of our descendants.” the fairy queen nonchalantly said.

“Really? Now that’s interesting.” I say, Drake looks stunned, I could tell that he was at a loss for words.

After a while a comfortable silence filled the car, I could tell that my mate still had some things on his mind, he broke the silence reciting a nursery rhyme.

“Solomon Grundy,

Born on a Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday,

Grew worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday,

That was the end,

Of Solomon Grundy”

Minerva sighed, looking at Soloman, he grunted and nodded. “Yeah, that was me, long time ago.”