Stronger Together chapter 71 (Patreon)

Harry and River Shoulders showed up a few hours later. Barb, Raven,  and I finally dragged our happy asses out of bed and out to socialize  with the others before it happened. Sam's (she said Samantha was too  formal) crush on River had surprised Barb but not Raven, which I suppose  made sense given the whole empathic abilities thing. It was just  genuinely nice to spend time with new friends. Raven had been working a  bit with Morgan, her empathic healing and soul abilities made her the  best possible doctor for the crazy vampiress, but she warned us all it  would be slow going.

The big  Sasquatch managed to get through our relatively small door pretty  easily, though I suspected a bit of magic at work there. Harry followed  behind him with a whistle. "Wow, nice digs. I mean, I've been here  before, but the last time it was much emptier. This is swanky. You'll  have to introduce me to your decorator. I've been meaning to redo my  office when I can afford it. I've been told clients respond well to  places that don't look like they should be condemned." He said it with  an easy air about him that told me it didn't actually bother him much,  which was fair, Harry did most of his advertising through word of mouth.

I  still snorted at the commentary. "She files your taxes. But don't give  her an excuse to redo your space, she went way over budget on our place.  We had a huge chunk of cash to put into the house and she still  exceeded her cap by like double." I caught the intense glare Barb was  shooting me and smiled back disarmingly "It looks great though doesn't  it? Let's all go over here and stare at the distractingly beautiful  decor." She rolled her eyes but didn't argue as we all filed further  inside. I saw Sam slip closer to River and smiled internally but tried  not to give anything away on my face.

River  cleared his throat to get our attention. "I agree this place is quite  well appointed, but I believe you asked us to come here for a reason?  You left in a hurry last night but you intimated that this might have  something to do with the problem Joseph is facing in Colorado. He has  several friends with him but the creature seems to be illusive even to  the most skilled of wizards, he thought I might lend some much needed  aid, but if you have information that would make things much simpler."  He sounded like he was just being polite and didn't think I could help,  but I didn't mind, he didn't know me yet.

I  nodded "The creature you're looking for is most likely a Skinwalker, I  suspect it might be one of the original messengers though that's just a  guess. More importantly though I know what caused the genius loci to  spawn and what shed the blood that empowered the creature." I shot a  look at Kara who had long since agreed to share this bit of info with  River. "Or rather, who shed the blood." River's eyes widened as he  turned to stare at Kara. I didn't know if the forest people had the  sight, but I suspected River had something like the magic eye spell we  used, because after a split second of staring he flinched and averted  his eyes.

The  big Sasquatch exhaled. "I thank you for sharing this with me. I realize  this must be very private information. If I might ask, would you  explain what I saw, and how it might effect the Skinwalker? I've never  gazed on anything quite like you before miss, if you'll pardon me saying  so. Unique circumstances can require unique explanations, and the more  information I can glean the more easily I can prepare for whatever it is  we might face." Despite his professional tone his face was clearly lit  with wonder after gazing at Kara.

I  wasn't sure how to explain Kryptonians to a Sasquatch that lived in the  forest but luckily Harry came in with a save. "She's a scion. A far  removed one from another reality but that's the basic gist of it,  right?" He glanced questioningly at Kara who nodded in confirmation, so  he continued. "Her ancestor was a Sun God, though one you wouldn't have  heard of, but she still has a bit his blood in her veins, albeit dilutes  by generations and generations blood from other non divine members of  her race. Which is alien if you were wondering." His face lit up in a  big goofy grin "A wizard, a Sasquatch and an Alien walk into a suburban  house..."

Barb  must have been really comfortable with her new job because she stood up  on tiptoes and smacked the big wizard upside his head. Harry winced and  grumbled but didn't get too excited about it. Barb rolled her eyes at  her boss and turned back to where River was contemplating Kara with a  newfound sense of respect. Or maybe wariness would be a better word, I'd  never seen River be disrespectful to anyone since I met him. Regardless  he clearly had a better grasp on what she was now and seemed unsure how  to take it.

The  Sasquatch weighed his words carefully "That...is very bad. The  messengers were semi-divine in nature, and even twisted and corrupted  away from their path they are still a form of semi-divinity. Blood of  such a quality would behave...unpredictably when exposed to a creature  like that, if it is one of the messengers. it might purge some of the  mortality from it and bring it closer to godhood, it might purge some of  the darkness and make it closer to the holy thing it was before. It  might do something that is neither of those things and is something I  cannot predict at all. Skinwalkers of that type are despicable twisted  things and by their nature are unstable."

That  was exactly what I'd been afraid of, and I couldn't contain my wince at  the thought of dealing with something like that, but I had to do it  anyway. Kara would go no matter what, and I couldn't let her do it  alone. "Well, then you'll need some help. Kara and I will be coming with  you." Surprisingly River didn't argue the point, though several of the  others looked upset. "Unfortunately if Listens-to-Wind brought the  backup I expect most of the girls will need to stay, which means we need  Raven to stick around to keep the wards running. One of his old friends  has...issues with white court vampires."

Raven  looked annoyed but nodded sullenly, surprisingly Yang was the next one  to step forward. "I'll stay back too, if Harry is going I expect Barb  will be too, so Rae would be stuck here with the vamps alone." She shot  an apologetic look at Morgan and Sam, excluding Inari who hadn't changed  yet. "Sorry girls, but Raven is some of the only family I have here, so  I gotta have her back. So that's Barb, Harry, Cam and Kara going with  the big man. Anyone else?" She brushed past the awkwardness with her  usual casual ease and I thanked God we had Yang around, she really  helped cut through all the bullshit.

It  was hard to say who was more shocked when Cinder stepped forward, but  it definitely wasn't Raven or I. She smirked at the surprised looks "I'm  obviously going. If Raven has to stay behind you'll need some magical  muscle. Kara is mainly reliant on physical might, which while impressive  in its own right may not cut it. I'll admit my training in this worlds  magic is far from thorough, but my Fall mantle still packs a hell of a  mystical punch." She shot Sam an apologetic look "I'm sorry Sam, I wish  you could come with us, but I can't just let Cameron go and get killed."

She  didn't look any happier saying that than Kara and the others looked  hearing it, and I made a not to try to talk to Cinder while we were  away. Sam on the other hand just looked resigned. The blonde vampire  girl sighed "All right fine, I don't need to go. But since I can't come  and help I want something else." She swung around and jabbed a finger at  River Shoulders "I want a date. A real one, dinner and a walk in the  park. We don't have to do a restaurant but I want at least a kiss at the  end. Agreed."

The  shock on River's face made his brief disbelief at Kara's spiritual  presence look laughable. The Big Foot sputtered for a few seconds before  finally managing to cough out "I-, don't see why I wouldn't...that  is...I...yes?" Sam whooped with joy and pumped her fist, flummoxing the  Sasquatch even more "But it'll need to wait until after this trip. I  can't in good conscience allow the creature to rampage any longer than  necessary if I can stop it." Sam's enthusiasm couldn't be deterred  though and she shot him a huge grin.

Harry  finally managed to get a word in edgewise and stopped the conversation  cold. "Now wait a damn minute! Barbara, Cameron, Kara isn't my  responsibility, though you can bet Michael and Charity are going to have  something to say about this but you are my apprentices. I can't just  let you go running off to the woods of Colorado to fight some demigod  forest monster witch beast. Skinwalkers are bad customers even the wimpy  human born ones. This thing is going to be a walking nightmare factory  and the two of you just started your training. As your mentor there's no  way I can let you come with us."

I  didn't even bother speaking, stepping back as Barb rounded on the  bigger man with eyes flared in absolute fury. I could have told him that  was a bad idea. Barb's lips pulled back in a snarl as she stepped  toward the towering wizard, who stepped back out of instinct "How dare  you! My own father didn't get to tell me what I could and couldn't do  for the people I cared about! Despite what common parlance may have been  in the middle ages for apprentices you are not my master Harry Dresden.  You don't decide what's best for me, and if you try to tell me where I  can and can't go again I will kick your oversized ass! Do you understand  me?"

The  sheer venom dripping of Barb's voice as she laid into the wizard was so  intense even Cinder winced, and she was the one of us with the least  reason to be afraid of Barb. Harry looked at me for help but I quickly  averted my gaze. I wasn't fucking stupid, no one with a brain tried to  put a leash on Batgirl, at least not a metaphorical one, we'd talked a  bit about physical leashes but we felt we weren't at that place yet. He  exhaled and dropped his gaze, his shoulder slumping, clearly aware he  couldn't stop her from coming and if she went on her own he couldn't  keep an eye on her. "Sorry Barb, you're right. I just worry. You two are  my apprentices, I'm supposed to keep you safe."

I  gave him a grateful smile, I couldn't be mad at the guy for wanting to  protect my girls. I had to hold myself back from trying shit like that  every day. "We get it Harry. We don't fault you for worrying. Hell I'm  worried about us too. This will be pretty damn dangerous. But you're a  friend, and besides this is our mess. We're the ones who need to clean  it up. We're going with you and we're going to kick that thing's  terrifying primordial ass back to whatever hold it crawled out of." I  turned to River Shoulders, who was still waiting patiently for things to  be sorted out. "Now, big man, when do we leave?"