Supernatural Earth Pt. 02

"Yeah...what fun, it's why I joined the police..." Michael muttered sardonically as he took out his phone to take yet another picture of a lovely woman cut down in her prime. It made his blood boil to see something this beautiful dead at his feet. "Well, say what you want about the wolves; at least they have good taste in women."

James sighed. "Keep it in your pants, man; some people would say that it's bad enough that we're fucking the undead. No need to make people think we have a thing for the All Dead as well."

"Yeah, yeah," Michael grunted as he took the picture and pocketed the phone. "This one is better than the others. Apparently scruffy here liked them tattooed."

"What?" That got James' attention as the Renegades were particular in their tastes and this was a first. He started making his way over to his partner. "What do you mean 'tattooed'?"

"On her thighs and arms here," Michael pointed out, "Looks like some pale blue scroll work and some snowflakes." He took a step back. "Ya know, this one isn't mauled like the other girls; there's just some puncture wounds around her neck like this dude was trying to turn her while he was raping her. It looks like the transformation didn't take and she simply bled out right as we were coming in," he swore under his breath. "Damn it...if only we were five minutes sooner," Michael was at least glad that his opening salvo missed the front ranks to sail all the way to the back of the den where this wolf was having his way with the girl. Karma was most certainly a bitch.

James was now by his side as he looked at the body of the woman. Sure enough, running up and down her splayed out legs, there were the tattoos. "Goddammit!" he snarled, turning on his heel and kicking the hell out of the body of 'Sparky'. "They nabbed a fucking Snow Maiden. Shit! The Winter Court is not going to be happy about this."

"Wait, what?" Michael was confused. "A what Maiden?"

"Seriously bro, you need to read more; spend more time in Conrad's library or something. Just being the damn Human-Vampire Liaison is not going to cut it." James glared at him. He'd been trying to educate Michael on the supernatural for months now.

Michael gave him a mocking bow, touching his hand to his forehead. "Sorry, oh mighty Hunter. Please, regale me with your infinite wisdom," he said, voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Fuck off," James rolled his eyes and sighed. "There's more to the supernatural world than just Vamps and Wolves, man. Fae, Merfolk, Mages, you name it; it probably exists. Hell, I've even heard rumors of some kind of thing living at the bottom of deep lakes that likes to snatch people. Come over to my house when we get back and I'll show you all of mom's notes."

Michael nodded. "Alright, so what do we do now?"

"Other than not go fishing in lakes for a while?" James quipped while his face remained grim. Michael gave him a withering look. "We report in to Conrad," James said, back to all business, "He'll send emissaries to the Winter Court to let them know and to take this girl back to them."

*

"So when you said that Conrad would be sending someone, you meant us, right?" Michael said sarcastically as they walked into the ice palace that was hidden deep within a glacier in northern Canada. Both he and James were bundled up to withstand the frigid temperatures of walking through ice during late Fall while they were in the presence of the Winter Queen. At least it was slightly warm enough inside the ice palace for them to push their furred hoods back and take their goggles off. Behind them two somber looking men, who looked like they were as white as the ice around them, bore the body of the Maiden on a litter between them.

"Blow me," James retorted as they were ushered in for their audience with the Queen.

"Sorry, don't swing that way bro and I'd hate to take Ashley's job."

*

Lily gasped when she saw the body of one of her sisters being brought into the court. She then watched fearfully from her seat off on the side of the massive throne room as the Queen wailed in anguish, an anguish that was felt by all of the Winter Fae. She could feel that her Queen was outraged and hurting all at once by the news that the Vampiric Delegation had brought.

While she listened intently at what the black and white humans from the Vampiric Court had to say, which pretty much amounted to the fact that the Renegades had pretty much declared war on the Fae, Lily couldn't help but stare at the body as the guards took her past. Tears fell from her eyes, turning to ice when they left her face, as she remembered how much fun her and Amaryllis had playing in the ice caves when they were children and how much fun they'd had when they occasionally played pranks on the humans during the winter months.

But all that was gone now. Around her, her surviving sisters in winter all reacted in their own way which ranged from openly weeping to openly expressing hatred towards the werewolves who'd done this. Not only had the werewolves killed one of their own, but had done it while in the process of defiling her. It was inconceivable to think of such horrors happening but the proof was undeniable. The Vampires had cleaned up the body as much as possible but the savagery of what happened was still visible.

"Hunter Parker, Liaison Gurley," her Queen spoke in an obvious attempt to keep her voice as even as possible though one could detect a slight quiver in it, "I thank you for bringing this to my attention and for bringing my daughter home to us. I also thank you for the news that her attackers have all paid for this atrocity. We are indeed in your debt for this service and we shall not forget this. Please relay my compliments of your deeds to your Prince." She gave a slight nod to them, and they formally bowed back to her, before she waved her hand to dismiss them.

The Queen waited until the massive doors of ice at the end of the hall closed behind the departing humans before she rose from her throne to address her children and subjects. "It is obvious now that we cannot merely operate in the shadows any longer. When it was just Humans pursuing us it was easy. But now, with members of the Werewolves openly taking us in such a way, we will need protection. We will need soldiers in far greater numbers than what we have now in order to combat this threat. Guards, you are to increase recruitment and training at once."

Lily watched as the Queen turned in place, knelt down next to Amaryllis' body, and placed a kiss on her pale white forehead. Lily caught the glisten of tears as they fell from the Queen's eyes and landed on Amaryllis' still, peaceful, and lovely face. The Vampires had done an excellent job of cleaning her up before bringing her back here. The Queen straightened up and looked around to her people. "Our Maidens will be the most vulnerable when they bring forth the cold this year. Maidens; go forth and select your champions, your protectors. Choose well for they will be the ones on the front lines of this new war we suddenly find ourselves in."

Inside her chest, Lily's heart leapt with a single strand of Joy. She knew just who she was going to pick.

*

Daniel emptied the clip into his target, jettisoned the spent magazine from the pistol, slammed another full one in, and emptied that one out as well. He let his pain and fury do his targeting and all of his rounds found center mass of the black target at the far end of the pistol range. Lately, working hard and training even harder helped him get by from day to day; Fencing, Kendo, Karate, SCA, anything and everything to hone his fighting skills in order to keep busy. It helped him keep his mind off of other things.

It helped him keep his mind off of her.

Two years to the day had passed since Lily graced him with her presence. He didn't see Lily any more that winter when he met her. At the beginning of winter last year he was out every time the snow came in hopes that he'd see her again, but each time it was to no avail. When winter had formally come and gone he became depressed and so he'd thrown himself into his work to try to keep too busy to care. Last year was a bust and he wasn't holding out too much hope for this year. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care and that there were others out there.

It didn't work. Nothing worked. The hurt in his heart was still aching.

With a resigned sigh, he packed up his equipment and headed back to his car. The forecasters were calling for another cold night ahead of them with freezing conditions probable and he wanted to get in early. The last thing he wanted to do was get stuck all the way out at the end of the road when he had to drive all the way back into downtown to get to his apartment.

As he drove back into town, his phone started ringing once he got within range of the cell towers. He thumbed the button on his steering wheel to take the call so that he could drive and talk at the same time. "Butler," he said with a raised voice so that the microphone would pick him up.

"What is the meaning of this message that you left for me this morning?" the angry voice demanded. It was his boss from the security office. "Is this some kind of joke or something? Have you been drinking again?"

"No, not recently..." Daniel admitted. He then shook his head as it sunk in to what his boss was actually calling about. "Wait, what message are you talking about?"

"The message where you turned in your resignation!"

"Whoa, wait, what resignation?" Daniel was totally confused now. He'd had a weird dream last night when he dreamt about telling his boss where to shove it, but when he woke up this morning it was business as usual on his first day off of a weekend; breakfast, workout, lunch, karate in the afternoon, dinner, and then the firing range before it got too dark out. "I didn't send in any message!"

"Well it sounds a hell of a lot like you! If this is your idea of a prank I am not laughing, not with how short staffed we are. You know that you have to give two weeks and buddy I will hold you to that!"

"Will you stop yelling at me like you're some damn police captain in the movies? I didn't send in my resignation!" Daniel closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath before resuming his concentration on the road. "Look, I still got two more days off." Three day weekends; it was the beauty of working a schedule that consisted of four ten hour days. "I'll be in first thing Tuesday and we can get it straightened out then, okay?"

"You better be here, Butler, or I will hunt your ass down and drag you to work if I have to." The line then went dead as his boss slammed the phone down on his end.

Daniel sighed again and thumbed the cell phone off. Yeah, there'd be hell to pay if one of his friends decided to pull a gag on their boss and use him as the scapegoat. He found it funny, though, that anywhere else in the United States an employer might just have let him go and be done with it. But here in Alaska, some employers fought tooth and nail to keep people in the doors even if it killed them. It was one of the advantages of living in a state with a really low unemployment rate.

The downside is that rent and mortgages were a bitch.

He pulled into his parking spot at his apartment building and headed upstairs, opting for the stairwell in lieu of the elevators. Going up and down the stairs was part of his exercise routine. As he got into his apartment he tossed his bag onto the couch, shucked off his clothes, and collapsed into bed hoping that he'd dream about her again tonight. She plagued his dreams nearly every day since he'd met her. Daniel never did look at another woman after Lily. No other could compare to her.

Intellectually, he knew that it was stupid. Their short time together was pretty much the equivalent of a supernatural one night stand. He shouldn't expect to ever see her again, and probably wouldn't, if it weren't for the one piece of evidence that he possessed that proved Lily's existence. Daniel turned over in his bed as he did every night and opened the drawer on his night stand. He took out the delicate snow lily that was as fresh and perfect as the day Lily had left it on his window sill underneath of his badge. The fragrance was hers and he could never get enough of it. Even after all this time it was still as fresh as it was when Lily had left it under his badge. He closed his eyes and inhaled its sweet aroma once before gently placing it back into its drawer.

With another resigned sigh, Daniel rolled over and attempted to go to sleep.

*

In his dream Daniel found himself in the city of ice the same as all of the other dreams that he'd been having. He was lying on the floor in the middle of a bright circle of sunlight that shone down from above. His head then felt light as it was lifted and then propped up by the softest pair of legs that he'd ever known. He blinked once and looked upwards to see Lily smiling down at him in the nude, looking as beautiful as she always did in this dream state. "Hello, my protector," she said with a sweet smile as she soothingly ran her fingers along either side of his head. "Today is a special day for you,"

It was the two year anniversary of when he'd been with her. "Yeah, yeah it is," he said, his voice raw from the emotion that suddenly welled up to the surface. "I waited for you," Daniel said, "why didn't you come back last year?"

"But I did come back," Lily said, concern and confusion now in her voice. It had not been that long, had it? Human conception of time was difficult for her sometimes. "We've been together nearly every night since then. It has only been a single season."

Yeah, Daniel thought, plaguing my dreams off and on every couple of months. There was one long stretch of five months where she didn't come to him like this at all. "I meant in person; face to face. I want to be with you, in person. But you never came back."

Lily finally got it. Humans were such wonderful and physical creatures. "I am so sorry," she said sadly, tears in her eyes. She reached down to caress the side of his beautiful face. "I didn't bring the snow last year. I was...relieved of my duties since I had something else to take care of." She lowered her eyes and her hands dropped to cradle her belly. "I-I should've sent someone to tell you. I should've explained it to you."

"It doesn't matter now," Daniel said, reaching up to caress her perfect face in return. Seeing her ice blue eyes cry made his heart break. She gave him a sad smile as she listed her head into the palm of his hand, reveling in his touch.

Returning the gesture, Lily blinked the tears away and smiled broadly now. "You are correct; it doesn't matter now because I have something for you. I need you to open your eyes, my love."

Daniel's heart constricted and he swallowed hard as a lump rose in his throat. "I don't want to. I want to stay here with you."

"And you will be here with me, but for that to happen I need you to open your eyes." Lily insisted as the sunlight above her dimmed and the cold, frigid air started to swirl around her making her perfect, white hair billow around her. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Please, open your eyes Daniel."

"Lily...no," Daniel pleaded with her as her image started to fade into blackness along with everything else. "NOOOOOOO!"

*

"NOOOOOOOO!" Daniel roared as he bolted upright just as his windows clattered open letting a blast of cold air into his apartment along with the snow that was now howling outside. As he darted over to the window to close it, he frowned; there wasn't anything in the weather report about snow. He looked outside to the sky and his brow furrowed in confusion as the sky above cleared as fast as it had clouded up. "Damn, I've heard of sudden freak storms coming and going before but this one has to be a record."

"Not so much when I use the storms to teleport to where I need to go," Lily's melodious voice said from his bed, causing him to spin in place to see her lounging there. She smiled at him as she stood up; looking as sexy as the day he'd met her in her white leather corset and panties along with matching thigh-high boots and gloves. Lily opened her arms in invitation which he readily took.

Daniel breathed her name and had her wrapped up in an embrace within seconds. Their arms wrapped around each other as he pulled her close; his mouth coming down to take instant possession of hers. She let out a soft moan of passion as their tongues mingled while they kissed. When their lips finally parted she laid her head on his bare shoulder, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat while he caressed her hair.

Lily luxuriated in the feel of his arms around her. It felt good and right and she was instantly sorry that it had taken her so long, in human terms, to come back for him. She'd thought that two winter cycles wouldn't have been that long but she'd forgotten that humans have such short lifespans. She moaned with pleasure as their bodies meshed together in their kissing. She then felt his hands slide down her back to grip her bottom. As he lifted, Lily wrapped her legs around his waist and allowed herself to be carried over to the bed.

Daniel laid her down gently, careful not to rush too much out of fear of crushing her. Lily goaded him on, eager to accept his affection. She could feel the raw sexual energy emanate from his body into hers. Lily could also feel the hardness of his cock as it pressed against her leather panties. She started to slide them down and Daniel leaned back long enough to strip them off of her and throw them aside. The corset followed them across the room soon after that.

Then he was inside of her. Lily cried out in ecstasy as his cock seemed to plunge into her all the way to her core. She reveled in the sensation of such raw, animalistic passion that flooded out of him. Daniel let out a long, slow, sigh of relief as her wet, tight, pussy accepted him as if it had been two minutes since they were last making love instead of two years. He buried his face into the nape of her neck and inhaled her sweet aroma as he slowly withdrew his cock and shoved it back in hard. Feeling her heels dig into the small of his back and her nails scratching his shoulders as she tensed with the pleasure felt good. She squeezed him with her thighs and her pussy, crying out for him to take her, to possess her.

Not wanting to disappoint her, Daniel drove into her again and again. Her cries and moans of passion were like sweet music to him. His hands continued to cup and squeeze her ass every time he pushed hard into her, bottoming out his cock against her cervix each time. As much as he wanted this to last as long as possible, he could not hold out. His cock swelled and then erupted deep inside of her, spilling streams of his seed into her womb. Lily clenched and screamed as his cock tore across her clit just right, sending her body into an orgasmic fit.

When they both had come down from their shared climax, they laid there together with arms and legs intertwined while covered in sweat. Every so often they'd kiss and nuzzle each other, neither one wanting to break the bliss or the magic of the moment. After resting awhile, Lily finally looked up at him. "I need you, Daniel," she said, gently cupping the side of his face for him to look down at her.

A sly grin broke out on his face. "Whatever the lady wants," he said, kissing her while moving to roll back on top of her.

She held a hand to his chest, forestalling him. "Not like that again. At least, not just yet, there will be plenty of time for that once we get to where we're going," Lily said, placing a finger on his lips. "I need...I want you to come with me to the city of ice. I want you to be with us... to be with me for all time. I want you to be my champion."