The Best Medicine Ch. 03

Vanesse flushed with anger, something she did not like feeling when it related to Trina. "Why are you avoiding me, or at least avoiding talking to me?"

"I'm not. I talked with you earlier."

"As long as we were talking about something safe. Trina, a lot has happened and you're the only one I can talk to."

"I'm sure Farmer would love to talk to you," Trina muttered bitterly before she could catch herself.

Vanesse's skin was now almost totally red. "So that's it, isn't it? You and Lillian told me that so much of my power is based on sex, and now . . . now you can barely look at me. Like I'm something foul and --"

"No!" Trina said. She had to stop her own mindset. Vanesse should not be thinking like this, and it was Trina's fault. Her own personal issues were screwing up her best friend's first real chance at being complete. "It's not that at all. You should never think you're anything less than amazing."

Vanesse sniffed. "But --"

Trina held up her hand to shush her friend, sighed, then sat down with her back against the wall. "Sex is something you need to have. You need to enjoy it, and you should never feel bad about it. Heck, when your folks realized that you were a necromancer, they had already started developing lists of potential concubines. Of course, they figured that you would marry for love, but a necromancer monarch needs more than one . . . well, source of satisfaction."

"Really? How . . . uhm, how many?" Vanesse said, blushing again, but for entirely different reasons.

Trina managed a small but real smile. "The last elvish monarch who was a necromancer had about a dozen lovers on the side. Well, regular lovers anyway. And he had scores of casual flings every year. And the more powerful and passionate the sex and lover, the better. King Johan, the monarch I was talking about, could heal entire outbreaks of disease without a Major Work, just by the power he carried in himself."

"Really? I . . . I can't believe my uncle would want me NOT to do that. To be able to do so much good but to stand by and do nothing is . . . Why didn't Mom and Dad tell me? Right after that first time I had sex, they couldn't seem to get out of talking to me about it fast enough. I thought they were ashamed of me."

The battle-dancer actually laughed. "Ashamed? Your parents worshiped the ground you toddled on. They didn't want to talk about sex with you at that time because it meant that you were growing up. They were parents, Vanesse. Parents are never ready for their children to grow up like that. Then --"

Trina paused, her voice unwilling to say what her mind was thinking. Vanesse nodded, an indication that it was okay to stop that line of thought. They both knew what had happened next. Vanesse's parents had died, and they would never see their daughter become an adult.

The battle-dancer found her voice again. "I don't know how to handle all of this," she admitted. "I wasn't the one who was supposed to be talking you through all of this. I'm your bodyguard, and giving the 'birds and the bees' talk wasn't exactly on my curriculum back during training. Then suddenly I'm on my back and I didn't think that I was going to be able to protect you anymore, and suddenly you're doing it with her --" Trina said, waving at the door Farmer had gone through.

"I needed that energy! For you!"

"It's not your job to save me," Trina said, tired and frustrated. "It's my job to save you. You shouldn't be jumping into bed with the first person you see--"

"What?!" Vanesse said. "You think it was that easy? I finally find out that I'm supposed to have these powers, the person who should have told be about it years ago is dying, and you're mad about who I picked? She may be an uncouth barbarian, but at least Farmer has been honest with me."

Trina felt her blood pressure rising. She knew that she should not be having this argument. But something in her had clicked, and she knew that the point of no return was about three feet behind her. "I couldn't be honest with you and you know it."

"Yeah, you and your Word. You seemed to find a way around it quickly enough when it suited you," Vanesse snapped.

Trina's eyes were wild and wide open. "If you had shown any guts in the last ten years, I would have been able to do it sooner."

Vanesse felt like she had just been punched hard in the stomach. She could not do anything but stand there and listen to her battle-dancer continue.

"Just once," Trina was saying. "All I needed was for you to stand up to your uncle one damn time. All I needed was for you to put one person around us who wasn't a toadie of the King, but you didn't. For all your brains and beauty, you never once stood up to him."

"I was scared," Vanesse whispered. "My parents had just been killed, or did you forget about that part?"

"Don't you dare," Trina said angrily. "Don't you dare make it sound like it was easy for me. They took me in when my own parents sold me into slavery. When you were born, they asked me to look after the thing most precious to them, and I did it. I saw you grow up, and every day you were turning into a girl they were so proud of. And even when you were under your uncle's watch, I still saw glimpses of that girl. So I watched and waited, hoping you'd break out and be the woman I knew you could be."

"Isn't that what I'm doing now?"

Trina's shoulders fell, and her anger fueled adrenaline seeped out of her body. "Yeah, it is. And you've been brave and smart, and you had every right to be outraged that I lied to you. But I need you to make smart choices --"

"How is it not a smart choice to do anything I can to save the one person who's always been there for me and is willing to put her life on the line for me? When my parents died, you were all I had. I can't lose you," Vanesse said, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"That's the life I chose," Trina replied, a touch of bitterness edging her words.

"Well it's stupid!" Vanesse shouted, finding her spine. "Why should your entire life be taken away and sacrificed for mine? Your childhood was sold away, and since then all you've done is dedicate your life to my family." She hung her head. "And you lost fifteen years because I was afraid of the world."

Vanesse looked up again, though her face was still fallen. "Yeah, I was scared. I never even believed half of what Uncle Tarrin told me, but I wanted to. It meant I could hide from everything, and it just got easier. But no matter how down I got, you never let me forget who I was and who my parents were. I had to save you. And no matter how much it may bother you, I'd do it again in a minute."

"Vanesse, sex is where your power comes from, but it's also when you're most vulnerable. You can't afford to be doing it out of fear. You might let someone close that you shouldn't."

"Trina, I'd have sex with just about anyone to save you," Vanesse said. "Even that slimy weasel Lord Morbis. And you know how I feel about him."

Trina snickered in spite of herself. "No one is worth that." She sighed. "But I must say that Farmer is a step up from that. Okay, more than a step. Did she . . . I mean, was she good to you?"

Vanesse sank to the bench. This was what she had wanted to talk to Trina about. Well, that and "the kiss," but she was not sure how she felt about that, much less how her friend would react. "She was."

"She made sure you were satisfied?"

The Princess blushed. "Twice."

"It's not just about orgasms," Trina said, smiling a bit for the first time since the argument began. "Was the sex itself fun? Did she make sure that you got to do things that you wanted?"

"I didn't really know what I wanted. She gave me chances to back out, but mostly she just kind of took charge. And . . . and I kind liked that." Vanesse looked mortified when she made that admission.

"It's okay. Lots of people prefer it when their partners are aggressive. Your first time wasn't like that. Do you think that's why you didn't enjoy it as much? You know, back then?"

Finally, the ice broke and Vanesse told the whole story. She also admitted that she had been really excited watching Alani and Farmer together the previous evening. All the urges that her uncle had told her that she needed to suppress did not seem so dirty. Now, they seemed rather enticing.

"Make your needs known, even if you like to let your partner or partners be in charge."

Vanesse scrunched her eyes. "Partners? As in 'at the same time' or over a period of time?"

"Both. Multiple partners opens things up for some rather . . . well, entertaining variations."

"Did you . . . ever . . . I mean, --"

"Yeah, I did. Hey, the male to female ratio at the battle-dancer academy was two to one."

"Really?" Vanesse felt a little palpitation in her chest when she thought of her athletic friend caught between two men in the throes of ecstasy. Or maybe not always between two men.

Trina was sitting quietly, trying to figure out how to frame her thoughts. "Vanesse, I'm sorry. I didn't have any right to say those things --"

"Yes, you did. You may have said it with more anger than you intended, but you're right. Lots of people lose their parents, but not all of them hide in a cave. I'm going to be Queen someday. What kind of monarch would hide whenever things didn't go their way?"

"Your uncle would be so pissed if he heard you say that," Trina said.

"My uncle can kiss my lily-white behind."

"He'll have to stand in line. Apparently, your behind is quite popular in Joker's Wild."

"Hey, only one of them has come near my behind," Vanesse said, putting her hands in her face.

"So far," Trina replied. She stood up. It killed her to say it, but she forced each word from her mouth with practiced patience. "You've got a veritable feast of possibilities, and I understand that it's common in the gang to 'share the spoils,' so to speak. If you really want to figure out what interests you --" She stopped and turned away. 'I just know what that can't be,' she thought as she left.

Trina had not gotten far when a voice from the shadows stopped her.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Farmer asked.

"Tell her what?" Trina did not blanch beneath the stare that she received. She did not want to talk about this.

"Don't be coy. Why didn't you tell her the real reason you kissed her? And don't say it was just relief."

"I'm not going to say anything at all," Trina whispered. "I just told her that I thought she was a coward. I think I've said enough."

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In Denver, Colorado . . .

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Christopher Knight waited in a familiar, comfortable silence as his alpha hung up the phone and then placed his elbows on the glass desktop and sunk his face into his hands. He voice came out as a low, steady rumble.

"That was one of our friends up north of the border," Abraham Holmes said. "No one has officially been able to identify the weres that kidnapped Princess Bellethial, but our man has some unusual intel."

"Sir?"

"Apparently, a source claimed to have seen a large motorcycle gang in the company of a large black SUV traveling west out of Alaska into Canada not too long after the event was supposed to have taken place."

"A motorcycle gang? Driving in Canada in the winter?"

Abraham stroked his goatee. "A were motorcycle gang isn't that uncommon, but whoever this is has little if any respect for territorial boundaries, is bold, and apparently unconcerned about their personal welfare."

"Joker's Wild?"

"That would be my guess as well," the lead werewolf said, standing up and cracking his neck on one side and then the other. "Which means the extraction bounty will be somewhat tricky."

"So we're going for the kill then?"

Abraham nodded. "And see if we can dig up any bounties on Joker's Wild."

"You're not planning on trying to take them all out, are you?" Christopher asked, arching one eyebrow. If the kidnappers were in fact the werehyena pack in question, trying to kill them all would start a fight which would be costly in a number of ways.

"No, but we might be able to take advantage of collateral damage." He looked at a map on the wall of his mercenary company's Denver headquarters. "Unfortunately, finding and corralling them won't be easy. Get Natasha to work on scrying their location.

Christopher shuddered. "You really think she'll be able to help? She hasn't exactly been stable recently."

"She always comes through," Abraham replied. "She may be unorthodox, but she's good."

"Yes sir."

The alpha wolf looked over at his lieutenant. "Something on your mind?"

"Natasha is incredibly powerful, incredibly gifted, but --"

"But what?"

"Every time she's nearby, I feel like something bad is going to happen. Like the real threat is behind me, not in front of me."

"I didn't think you were the superstitious type."

Christopher looked towards the long hallway that led towards Natasha's lair. "You of all people should know that sometimes, the monsters are real."

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In Europe . . .

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"Once I get to the bottom of this kidnapping, someone is going to pay most dearly. No matter how high and mighty he thinks he is," the King snarled.

"I'm sure that justice will be served in the end," the Shepherd replied, his voice every bit as cold as that of his son. "I find it more than curious that the minute she was no longer under your . . . protection, someone put a bounty out on her head."

King Tarrin Ralisen's back stiffened. "It just means that what I've been saying all along is true. The world is far too vile and savage for her. She needs to be hidden away somewhere safe with a strong husband to protect --"

"She should be strong enough to protect herself. She was surrounded by 'strong men' if the rumors are correct, and they were unable to do anything. Maybe if you had not always been so opposed to her receiving her own defense training --"

"She has a battle-dancer for that, for all the good it did her. Her guardian was another woman, and the Princess was failed by --"

The Shepherd narrowed his eyes. "By your own reports, Trina was vastly outnumbered and still did considerable damage. And your refusal to let the Council get involved makes me wonder how serious you are about her safety."

"I would never allow my niece to come to harm," Tarrin spat. "It is my duty to protect her until she is ready to be Queen."

"There are many types of protection, and many ways to do harm," the Shepherd muttered as his son stormed out of the room. A few moments later, the Alpha slipped through a secret passage and sat down next to his fellow Council member.

"I don't think he has anything to do with the death bounty," the Shepherd said after sipping his wine.

"Well, I guess that's something. No word on who it is though yet?"

"Not officially." The elder elvish statesman sighed. "But my son was right about one thing. Vanesse was not in danger until --"

"The option is to kill her slowly? Letting her mind and soul rot away over the next few centuries while she's spoon-fed reality by a socially regressive misogynist like your son?"

"When did you start using words like 'misogynist'?"

"Since I started hanging out with you more."

"We need to bring her in out of the cold, and quickly. Maybe there's a lord or lady nearby that could help. Your people could just drop her off --"

"With the kind of money floating around for Vanesse's death, plus how unstable the political climate is right now, I'm not sure that's a good idea. Since Atlanta, a lot of the power plays have gone a bit more covert. Besides Atlanta, the only place in the United States I would go would be Lady Vega down in New Mexico, but her resources are spread out thin. Only Lord Stapleton has the clout and resources to protect Vanesse. Right now, she's in the safest hands I could recommend until we can move her South."

Shepherd closed his eyes. "She must be terrified right now."

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Back in Canada . . .

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Vanesse was biting her fingernails. It was not a ladylike trait, to be sure, but she could not stop herself. She had never seen such mindless, senseless violence in her life. She had read about war, she had seen her best friend almost die, but this . . . nothing compared to the spectacle and chaos that was . . . hyena bowling.

Initially, she had thought it was just a joke. Now, the Princess knew that it was one of the most savage martial contests known to any sentient species. Like most destructive things imagined by werehyenas, it had been created one afternoon when Farmer was bored, and had become a favorite pastime of Joker's Wild when they had nothing else to do.

She and Trina watched as a three-hundred pound man positioned himself at the end of the lane. In mere moments, he was going to charge down towards the "pins," which consisted of the ten most senior members of the gang standing in a triangular formation, grinning evilly. The bowler would, using himself as the ball, reach the line and then jump at his comrades. The goal was simple . . . knock as many of them over as he could before any part of his body touched the ground. The problem was that the pins got to resist. Violently.

The werehyena bowler took off, gathering speed and leaping at the assigned point.

"He's not going to get anywhere," Trina muttered as the large man hurtled towards the one-pin, currently played by Farmer herself.

The bowler made it as far as Farmer's arms before getting smashed to the ground.

"C'mon Bruce," the pack-leader laughed, "that all ya got?"

Vanesse was smiling herself, as Bruce picked himself up and was laughing hysterically. None of the bowlers who did poorly seemed to take it personally.

"They're so weird," she whispered to her friend. Another thing that made Vanesse smile was that she and Trina had gotten that fight out of their system, and they were back to being co-conspirators in this grand kidnapping escapade. Well, except that they were free to go. But did not really want to. "How did you know he was going to fail?"

"He took a straight line. It would work in normal bowling, but Farmer's too strong. It doesn't take much to shove someone towards the ground, no matter how big they are."

"Ya know, it takes some of the fun out of it when you get so analytical," Vanesse replied, wrinkling her nose while picking up her pencil. Somehow, she had been talked into keeping score. "So that would be 'zero' then?" she asked.

"A big goose egg for the Bruce-meister," Alani said from the two-pin position. She actually giggled when the big werehyena got on his hands and knees and proclaimed his lack of worthiness to the beautiful islander girl.

"Hey, were all you guys bikers before Farmer took over?" the Princess asked, putting the scorecard in her lap.

"A few," Ace said from the ten-pin position. "Bud and I were, and a few who ain't with us anymore."

"Some of us just kinda picked it up after Farmer changed us," Doreen added, moving to the end of the lane for her turn. She cocked an eyebrow but grinned when Trina came over to her and started whispering something in her ear.

"Most of us were just drawn to her once she took over the old pack, which was kinda small back then," Jack said. "Werehyenas are social, pack animals. A powerful alpha showed up, so we went to her. And besides --"

"You were bored?" Vanessa asked with a smile. It was a safe bet that anything these guys did was out of boredom.

"That girl wins a prize!" Farmer said. "Okay Doreen, are you gonna bowl or just make out with the battle-dancer?"

"Can I go next?" Jack asked.

"You're a pin. You can't bowl."

"I didn't mean I wanted to bowl next," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows at Trina. She rolled her eyes back at him, though her mouth quirked a little bit.