65
“What?” Stanley started, surprised by her words.
She gave him an annoyed look then closed her eyes and moved her open hands over his body. She felt the tug of magic. Someone was attempting to unbind a spell from Stanley. She grinned widely when she opened her eyes once more and looked over to see a hint of frustration on Mab’s face. Most would simply see a calm and impassive expression but Baba had centuries to learn her opponent’s tells. Mab was furious.
“He told you it would be safe, didn’t he, and your failsafe release just failed,” she cackled at the Queen.
Glaring at her murderously, Mab neither confirmed nor denied her words. Baba just shook her head in amusement.
She looked back at the young Succubus. “What does your seer sight see of the curse Stanley is bound to now?”
Marisa closed her eyes and shook her head as she didn’t want to see the death bound to him so tightly.
“Girl! Open your eyes and tell us.” Baba commanded and Marisa gasped as she felt the weight of the compulsion settle on her. She looked at Stanley’s worried expression, opened her sight and gasped. There were two paths! The finality of death was there still, sucking all of the light and warmth from the room until she moved her perception to the new path. There was a glimmer of warmth and the possibility of happiness there. It was still greatly overshadowed by the first but it was growing. Marisa clamped down on her sight and moved her eyes to Baba gratefully.
“Speak only of the curse!” the witch said sternly.
Marisa jumped and nodded obediently. “It’s linked to his ring. If he changes back to a Human, he dies. All Humans die.”
Baba Yaga smiled and walked towards the Queen. “Well, aside from Stanley’s death which I would take very personally, the outcome of the curse seems like a win for the Hidden Races, doesn’t it? No more Humans. The Earth could be allowed to heal so the link to the realm of Magic would heal and reopen. Life would certainly become better for most of the Hidden Races. Not all, but certainly the Fae would benefit. But how could this spell on Stanley reach every Human on the planet?” she asked staring Mab right in the eye.
“Our Global Overlay spell,” the Queen ground out between her teeth.Content rights belong to NôvelDrama.Org.
“Yes, that. That would let the Dragon’s spell find all Humans, every single one, and target them all at once,” Baba said, nodding thoughtfully.
Stanley looked at his hand in fear. He tried to remove the ring but discovered it wouldn’t come off.
“It’s permanently attached, boy. Bound to your own skeleton. I couldn’t have it falling off, now could I?”
“Baba, take it away! Stop the spell!” he cried out.
“I can’t. The Dragon’s curse is very cleverly designed. It’s embedded in the very material of the ring itself, which is bound to you.”
“What… what if I cut my finger off?” Stanley gasped out.
Baba’s eyebrows went up in surprise. She admired his strength to even contemplate the act.
“The ring could still be turned as long as it is bound to part of you. The curse could be launched… though the one who turned it would likely be killed due to proximity. Who would you trust to keep the finger? Before you ask, I won’t take it.”
Stanley looked at the people gathered around him. Some were sympathetic but others looked like they seriously wanted him to spin the ring. Especially the two Fae agents with the Queen.
Baba saw their enthusiasm too. She turned to Stanley. “Something else to note. The Fae’s overlay spell is now permanently bound to you as the Queen has just discovered to her dismay. As we speak your magic is becoming more and more interwoven with the Fae’s spell, reworking it. By now, it’s likely fully integrated.”
“WHAT?!?” Queen Mab exclaimed.
Baba gave her an amused look. “Oh yes, didn’t the Wyrm tell you about that? The boy’s not linked to the same realm of Magic as the rest of the Hidden Races. His Magic is wild, chaotic, and incompatible with the old Magic. It’s far stronger and tends to bend the old Magic to its will.”
“That overlay is keeping my people alive as this world is poisoned by the Humans! The Fae protect the secret of all of the Hidden Races! Without us they would be exposed and the Humans will kill them all!” Queen Mab raged.
Baba turned to Stanley. “You have been given an awful power. If you spin the ring to return to your Human form you will die but you will also take all of the Human’s on the planet with you. Do this only if you wish to save the planet from the Humans. Personally, I find them to be closer to a viral infection than a sentient race. Remember, the Humans took your parents from you. They exterminated your entire race as well as others. If you do this, you will protect the Hidden Races… with the exception of those who are reliant on the Humans.” She looked over at Camila who was watching them with the Detective sleeping on her lap.
“Wait!” Queen Mab snapped angrily. “Now that he’s bound to it, what effect will his death have on the Overlay Spell?”
“Ah, you’re finally catching on. I was starting to think you’d lost your edge.” Baba grinned evilly at the Queen. “Ask the people who maintain your precious spell.”
Mab was staring daggers at the witch. The very air between them crackled with violent potential energy. Finally, she muttered something to her agent Kelshard and he quickly rushed from the room to make a call.
“While we wait for confirmation I have to decide what to do with this naughty Dragon.” Baba said turning back to Walter. He shot his wings forward to strike the witch but- she wasn’t there. Freed of her control Walter sprung into the air and flapped hard to get altitude. He would strike her with his fire from above.
Sigrid felt a pat on her arm and looked to see the crone smiling up at her.
“He’s all yours,” Baba said simply.
The Valkyrie grinned broadly and leapt upwards. Her huge, brilliant wings snapped out to beat effortlessly to lift her higher in the sky. Her armor and weapons shone with a pure white light as she chased after the inky black Dragon.
Her heart soared with righteous joy. This was right. This needed to be done.
“WHAT… THE… FUCK!”
The remaining people in the clearing turned and looked back towards the hallway and saw an injured Fae being gripped around the neck and held against the chest of a Human in a rumpled brown suit.
Morris was holding his gun out and was swinging it back and forth as he tried to grasp what he was seeing.
A creepy old woman smiling at him.
A fish man.
A little girl with fluttering insect wings.
A red bearded dwarf out of some nerd’s wet dream.
A huge red haired wolfman!
FUCK ME! Was that a huge fuckin’ spider lady?
Then he spotted Harmon lying down with his head on the lap of a sexy woman… thing! His partner had a smile on his face so maybe she fucked him unconscious?
There was a second sex kitten hugging a horned freak with furry legs and hooves. The face though… it looked fam- No.
“Stanley Garin?” he asked incredulously.
“Hi Detective Morris.” Stanley replied, keeping an eye on the swinging gun.
“Start- start talking!” Morris yelled at him.
“I have no idea where to begin. How could I possibly describe what you’re seeing in terms that make sense to you? Shit, it doesn’t make sense to me at times,” Stanley sighed and saw Morris was looking a little less freaked out. This was a good start.
“OK, how about I just start knocking off a few freaks and we’ll see if the answers get easier.” His eyes were pulled to the spider and he aimed his gun at her. Shit! He hated spiders and this was a big one. It would be very satisfying to kill it.
Stanley released the sexy chick and stepped between him and the spider holding up his hands. That pissed Morris off. He would have shot him but he wanted answers first.
“Please I’ll give you a quick rundown of what’s happening! Just please don’t shoot anybody!” Stanley begged.
Morris noticed the old bitch frowned when she heard Stanley. So, she didn’t like hearing Stanley beg? Too fuckin’ bad.
“You last saw me in my human disguise. The big guy flying around up there is my lawyer. He really hates humans so he fucked me over big time by putting a curse on my method of disguising myself. If I change now to become human again the curse will kill me and all humans.”
Morris looked at him as Stanley waited. “So, you’re saying you’re stuck looking like a freak?” Morris asked skeptically.
“A Satyr, yes.”
“A freak.” Morris growled.
“Ok, a freak,” Stanley said to keep him calm.
The old woman frowned once more.
“What is your fuckin’ problem, you old hag?” Morris growled. Then he spotted his prisoner moving his lips as if talking with someone. He smacked his gun against the man’s temple. “Did I fuckin’ say you could talk?”
He looked back at Stanley with a mad grin. “You know, nothing you’ve told me so far explains shit so why don’t you just go and change back into a human so we can have a nice sane conversation,” the detective suggested.
Stanley blinked. Didn’t the detective hear what he said? “I- I can’t change. It’s like I told you. I change, I die, every human dies. You die.”
“He can’t be allowed to change back as that would kill him and he is keeping my people alive,” a seriously scary intense chick with a regal bearing said as she approached. Morris almost jumped out of his skin as he hadn’t seen her before.
The old woman looked at the approaching woman in surprise. “What?”
“Yes, it seems the alterations to the global overlay is done but it’s not failing. It’s true that my people can no longer maintain it but the spell is continuing to work and, if anything, appears stronger. Thank you, witch. For the first time, your manipulations might have actually benefited us. Stanley has become even more important to us. The Fae must protect him at all cost.” The regal woman glanced up and then to Stanley.