Callie knew Xena’s healing had been quite miraculous, but the canine had required a trip to the veterinarian’s office for the sake of placating the Veil. The vet tech (Jenna, apparently) made convenient suppositions regarding some firearm malfunction that explained-away the few tiny bits of metal pulled from a handful of surface-level wounds, and the snow dog was expected to make a full recovery in a week or two. A well-behaved princess, Xena at least got to skip having to wear a cone during her recovery period. The strict training her former career required had taught her not to be overly fussy about bandages and the like, and so Callie forked over a handful of biscuits to reward her for her very brave efforts.
Still, it was obvious that the experience had been incredibly upsetting for everyone involved. The Husky exhibited an agitated melancholy, and upon returning home she immediately searched the grounds for any sign of Kelly; it broke Callie’s heart to witness, but she was proud of her fuzzy companion and her concern for the women in her life. When her examination of the house left her empty-handed, the four-legged girl returned to her owner’s side and gave her a pitiful whine, and not even the promise of a chewy treat could cheer her up.
“I understand how she feels,” Jersey sighed, the petite girl looking on as Genie and Callie re-hung the front door, cradling the returned Melia in her arms.
“We’re all torn-up over what happened,” the djinn agreed as she carefully slid the bolts into the hinges, her features having set into a permanent grimace.
“Yeah, I plan to tear something up, alright,” the wolfgirl snarled as she held the slab of heavy wood steady.
Though the little family had cautioned her against any rash action, no one could fault the wolfgirl for her seething anger, as all of them shared in the same miserable emotions. Genie was rightly furious, the djinn’s magic frustrated by the mundane elements of Kelly’s capture; normally it would've been a simple thing for her to wield her sorcerous powers and rescue her human from captivity, but the situation was more complex than a simple kidnapping.
“He’s baiting you,” Candi reminded Callie, though her words were aimed at her lover as well, understandably concerned that either amazon might act too hastily.
“I don’t care if he is,” the taller girl snapped back, shifting slightly to allow Genie to line-up the lower hinge. “Once I get my claws on him, I’m going to rip that fucker in half.”
“Though I find that sentiment quite appealing,” Genie growled from her kneeling position, “Bishop isn’t a stupid man. He wouldn’t have engineered Kelly’s abduction if he wasn’t confident that he could win a fight against a werewolf.”
“How can you be sure?” Callie returned irritatedly, dusting off her hands as the other woman gave the door a few test swings.
“Because that’s what all cowards are like,” the djinn explained, an acrimonious venom hidden under her tongue. “Unless he believes he has an overwhelming advantage, he won’t take any sort of action ⸻ especially not something as dangerous as assaulting a sorceress’ abode. It’s no accident that you were away from home when he struck.”
“Then why didn’t you do anything to stop him?” the wolfgirl demanded, lashing out with her barely-contained rage. “Surely a dozen cops are no match for a magical being.”
Genie’s harsh stare held the other girl’s gaze, burning brightly with her own suppressed anger. “Think it through,” she said in as calm a voice as she could manage, strategically lecturing the taller girl. “If I prevented Kelly’s capture, then he would’ve known that Jersey has a djinn on her side.”
“So what?” Callie shot back, her eyes hardening as she refused to cede ground. “If he’s that much of a coward, then he might’ve pissed off and left Jersey alone.”
Setting a calming hand on the wolf’s arm, Jersey inserted herself into the argument. As furious as she was, Callie almost turned on her mate, but something about seeing the little cow and their daughter together drew her out of her building frenzy. The powerful desire to shred Bishop into a hundred tiny pieces still burned inside her chest, but it was tempered by the reminder that the djinn had kept the rest of Callie’s family safe in her absence.
“Genie’s right,” the shorter girl said softly, an understanding contrition swimming in her big cow eyes. “Bishop’s already proved his ability to hide from magical surveillance. If she had driven him to ground, he would’ve simply disappeared and found someone else to prey on.”
Biting her tongue, Callie held back the uncharitable comment that rested upon it. Objectively she understood that the little cow was in the right, but it grated against her sensibilities to willingly allow someone else to come to harm for the sake of advancing a larger plan. If the positions had been reversed, the wolfgirl wouldn’t have allowed any of those men to leave her house alive; unwilling to sacrifice any playing piece that wasn’t herself, she would’ve happily suffered any number of wounds if it meant keeping her loved-ones out of Bishop’s clutches.
… But on the other hand, she didn’t want to let him win, either. Driving him to some other part of the country would protect Jersey, certainly, but she wouldn’t have been able to stomach allowing him to hurt some stranger in exchange. When it came to violence the wolf believed herself to be unparalleled, and she understood her judgement was easily clouded by her irritable temper; in that respect, she should’ve been thanking Genie for having the foresight to keep a cool head. The fact that her anger was precisely the emotion Bishop intended her to feel only baited Callie further, the knot of rage twisting back on itself as it wormed through her guts. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Alright,” she sighed, letting the word hiss between her teeth like the smoke from a quenched flame; stepping into her lover’s space, she drew the petite girl against her, soothing the ache in her chest with the consoling presence of her mate and daughter. “I get it. I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”
“Good girl,” Jersey smiled at her, the plush curve of her lips delicately concealing her own frustration.
Everyone was on edge after the sudden attack, but Callie was particularly inclined to snap at those around her. Rather than coming together in camaraderie with the rest of the family, the wolf’s solitary nature drove her apart from those dear to her as she claimed fault for the incident ⸻ and it was her fault, wasn’t it? She had left a spree of violence and murders in her wake after she slew those men in Seattle, making herself the talk of the West Coast, and her swaggering exhibition of Jersey at the cotillion had drawn even more attention. For all intents and purposes, she’d painted a target on those close to her, forcing the system to act out in retaliation against her feral exploits.
Withdrawing into herself, she spent the rest of the evening brooding. Though she assisted the other women in repairing the damage to their domicile, her mind was focused purely on revenge. Concocting and discarding various plans to rescue Kelly, a persistent frustration rumbled in her chest as she worked to discover some brilliant method by which she could unravel Bishop’s designs.
Unfortunately, she knew she wasn’t smart enough to rise to that particular task. Despite the reverence with which the City High students viewed her, Callie was well-aware that an alchemist who had lived for several hundred years was far beyond her ability to outfox. Bishop had incredible resources at his disposal, as well as an unknown amount of magic to call upon; Callie, by contrast, had her claws and teeth and very little else ⸻ but she couldn’t simply do nothing. If Genie’s hands were tied by a need for a measured advance, then it fell to the werewolf to extract vengeance on the clever sorcerer before he could do anything to hurt Kelly ⸻ or worse, send his goons after another member of the little family.
While she ran herself in miserable circles, Candi and Genie discussed various plans and theories over unimpressive takeout, assisted by Jersey whenever the little cow wasn’t seeing to the needs of their two wrinkly potatoes. Callie did her best to participate, but her protective instincts and predilection to violence distracted her to such a degree that she may not as well have been present at all; most of the group’s plans were based on a ‘wait and see’ approach, and while that might’ve been safest overall for Kelly’s well-being it nevertheless grated against the wolf’s impatience. She wanted to do something, anything at all, and she rationalised excuses wherever she could.
Ultimately, Bishop was after Callie, that much was certain ⸻ so wouldn’t it be best to give him what he wanted? If his schemes centered around possessing the wolf, then anything Candi or Genie might want to do was pointless. Unless the taller girl was willing to bite at the bait, Bishop would stay well out of sight and out of the family’s reach. Already champing at the bit, all it took was a single text message to push her over the edge.
Drawn out of her thoughts in the middle of the planning session by the harsh vibration of her phone, Callie moved to silence the obnoxious device ⸻ and then stopped as her eyes fell over the push notification, the simple line of text seizing her focus like the snapping jaws of a bear trap.
MeganB: Callie … I need your help.
Observant as always, Jersey wasn’t ignorant of her older sister’s concentration on her text conversation, nor did she miss the pent-up energy coursing through the agitated wolf. As Callie exchanged messages with a desperate Megan, the taller girl became increasingly sure that she needed to act that night ⸻ but her mate was there to stop her from climbing out the second-story window on her own.
“C’mon, Jersey,” the amazon pleaded, having dressed herself in dark clothing against the evening chill and prying eyes. “I have to do this.”
“You don’t ‘have’ to do anything,” the petite girl scolded, chiding the wolf’s lack of patience. “I’m just as worried about Kelly as you, but the situation surrounding her is entirely too dangerous.”
“That’s why I’ve got to do something about it!” Callie huffed irritably. Digging her phone out of her pocket, she opened up her messenger app, flashing the screen to her lover. “It’s not just Kelly, alright? They grabbed Megan, too; Bishop is kidnapping anyone and everyone he thinks might be close to me ⸻ and he’s not going to stop unless I make him.”
“And that’s precisely why you shouldn’t fall for the bait,” Jersey cautioned, struggling to make her wolf see reason. “If he knows you that well, then whatever trap he has set-up for you will be impossible to escape.” Get faster updates on novelping . com.
“I don’t care,” the taller girl snapped back, her temper getting the better of her frayed nerves. “It’s only a matter of time before he attacks the house again ⸻ and what happens when Genie’s not there?” Clenching her hand into a tight fist, she fought against her growing fury, holding the venom of her words back behind her tongue. “I won’t sit back and watch while he tries to get his hands on Mes and Melia.”
Choking down the lump of emotion that had risen in her throat, Callie wrestled with her building apprehension. Her pups meant everything to her, and doubtlessly Bishop would know that; if he ever got his hands on one of her twins, it was the surest method to threaten the wolf into dancing to his tune.
“Then take me with you,” the little cow demanded, shocking the other girl out of her introspection. “I want to help.”
Callie fixed her with a flat look, unimpressed with the smaller girl's bravado. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am,” she replied stubbornly, crossing her arms under her bust.
“I’m not going to let you put yourself in harm’s way,” she returned sharply, refusing the minicow. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“And how do you think I feel?” the petite girl shot back, concern and anger warring in her eyes. “Maybe you’re bullet-proof, but you’re not magic-immune ⸻ and you’re daft if you think I’m going to let the woman I love march into the middle of an ambush without any kind of plan or protection.”
Intimately familiar with all of her wolf’s weaknesses, Jersey had little trouble applying them to devastating effect. The simple reminder of her mate’s affection stunned the taller girl, forcing her to hesitate long enough for the minicow to wear down her defenses; the only thing more dear to the amazon’s heart than her litter, was the mother of her pups.
“I know I’m hardly a sorceress compared to Kelly,” she continued, battering down the other girl’s belligerence, “but I’ve picked up some bits and bobs that I’m sure will prove useful, and the familiar contract will cover everything else.”
“What if you get hurt?” the wolf demanded, still not sold on the idea.
“Then I’ll transfer it to you,” the petite blonde answered with a confidence she clearly didn’t feel, understandably reticent to inflict physical damage on the taller girl. “Genie’s been teaching me an awful lot about sympathetic magic, and you’re durable enough to survive anything. We can shield each other.”
It was a bold claim, certainly, but Callie couldn’t argue that it wasn’t rooted in a measure of facts. Still, she wasn’t going to let her mate put herself in the line of fire, regardless of how many shields stood between her and the bullets ⸻ but Jersey wasn’t willing to back down, either.
“You need me,” the smaller of the sisters insisted. “We both know you haven’t got the nose for magic. If Bishop wants to hide from you, then you’d never be able to track him down on your own.”
“I already know where he’s going to be,” Callie protested, shaking her phone. “Megan clued me in.”
“But you can’t sense sorcerers the way that I can,” Jersey reminded her. “If he’s lurking somewhere in hopes of surprising you, I’ll be able to tell long before you could.”
Try as she might, it was impossible for the wolfgirl to refute her claim. Despite Bishop standing out like a sore thumb at the cotillion, Callie couldn’t sense his presence at all. He could be waiting to strike her from a secret position and she’d never know, and if things went poorly for him then he’d be capable of escaping out from under her nose while leaving the amazon none the wiser. If she truly wanted to be successful in her hunt, Callie had to admit that Jersey was right.
“... Fine,” the taller sister sighed, drawing a slightly-smug smile out of her girlfriend as she capitulated. “We’ll go together.”