“Torture? We didn’t torture them! We didn’t know that what we were doing was hurting them. As soon as we did know we stopped!” The mage’s voice rose with each sentence. “You’re the Fae. You’re the ones meant to be at one with the Mother Earth. Maybe it should be you stepping up to the plate for once.”

All of a sudden, a collection of raised voices filled the room. The tension was palpable, and I thought I could even hear the beginnings of a magic crackle in the air that didn’t forbode well. I slammed my palm down onto the table top with all my strength. Startled, everyone silenced and stared at me.

“Look,” I said, annoyed, “there are enough mages around to create wards at the main dryad habitats. If the Fae and the shifters each post guards as well, say, just one each, then no-one will be too stretched. I don’t believe that Endor is going to bother with them again though. He’s going to move onto another element.”

“So that means, water sprites perhaps?” asked Lucy. “They’re an easy target.”

“What if he goes for air instead? There are any number of creatures he could attempt to draw from. How on earth do we know which ones he’ll go for?”

“What if he goes for fire?” Corrigan’s voice was quiet, and his eyes were on me.

The others all turned in my direction, puzzlement in a few faces, comprehension in others. “We’ll set up a bodyguard rotation,” said the Arch-Mage firmly. “No-one is going near Miss Mackenzie without our say so.”

“Or she could just come to Tir-na-Nog. Problem solved,” hissed the Fae Queen.

“Stop it!” I yelled. “He doesn’t know what I am. And I’m hardly the only Otherworld creature that uses fire. “ I looked at the Arch-Mage. “Just set up a fucking Divination spell. Several Divination spells. We know he’s not on this plane right now, but the spells will alert us when he is. Then we find out who he’s aiming for.”

There were several vigorous nods. Jeez, logic wasn’t the natural setting for these guys.

“Except, when he does appear, how do we kill him?”

Everybody stilled. Staines continued. “The Lord Alpha, the strongest of all our shifters, couldn’t even come close. Neither could our pet dragon for that matter.” I scowled while Lucy blinked in surprise. I guessed that cat was out of the bag then. Thank you very much, Staines, you fuckwit.

“I’m just saying. It’s all well and good being able to find him when he shows up, but if we don’t have a plan for how to attack him, then all this is pointless.”

I looked at Aubrey, sitting silent and wide eyed next to me. “Aubrey? He’s a necromancer. He has the power of the undead. What do you think?”

Aubrey thought for a moment before answering. “Well, vampires are obviously different.”

There was a snort from the other side of the room. “Obviously.”

I ignored it. “Go on,” I nudged.

“Fire works,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “Stake through the heart too, although it has to be wooden…”

“Oh this is pointless,” called out Beltran, “we’re not dealing with a vampire. And even if we were, we all know how to kill one of them anyway.”

Aubrey snarled. I was taken aback. There was a glimmer there, just for a second, of the old red-eyed master.

“You’re not listening. Fire works because it destroys everything. Stakes work because they go through the heart. Now we know from Mack that silver is useless…”

“Yeah, it’s only the weak arse shifters who can’t cope with that,” called out one of the mages.

Lucy growled. Corrigan laid a calming hand on her arm. She subsided, but her eyes were still spitting hatred.

“So we just need to find a weapon that does work,” concluded Aubrey. “The heart is always key. No matter what you are.”

I twisted left. “Balud?”

He nodded to himself. “I can do some research. Find materials that might be useful.”

“Good. And as Staines has so helpfully pointed out, I’m also a dragon. Or Draco Wyr, anyway. I can work with the shifters,” I said, deciding to focus in the determination filling me, rather than my annoyance at so many people now knowing my secret. “Maybe I can learn how to get control of the transformations. Then I can use my fire to destroy him too.”

I received several approving looks.

“It’ll take time,” said Corrigan, concern etched across his face.

I kept my voice deliberately quiet. “What else do we have? We don’t know when he’ll return.”

“But when he does, we’ll be ready,” stated the Arch-Mage firmly.

“Our dragonlette will win the day.”

I looked over at Solus. There was an unhappy shadow visible within his expressive violet eyes. Not sure what was up, I flashed him a quick reassuring smile. He smiled tightly back. That wasn’t good. It was unlike him even in times of such dramatic and tragic circumstances to lose his usual bouncy arrogant personality.

The Summer Queen spoke up again. “We need a formal task force.”

“You’re right,” agreed the Arch-Mage. “With representatives from each of us. I recommend that the mages take the lead. I can nominate someone agreeable to everyone.”

“And why should the mages be in charge?” asked Corrigan, his voice dangerously low.

“We’re the best all rounders. The shifters can fight and the faeries have magic. We have both. It stands to reason that we should lead because we understand both worlds and we are in the best position to ensure Endor’s defeat.”

“You can’t possible compare our magic to yours,” interrupted Beltran. “We have more knowledge and more power in our little fingers than you could possibly ever demonstrate.”

“You don’t even live on this plane,” Lucy said to the Fae, scorn dripping from her voice. “The only Otherworld leader who had enough nouse to be where the real danger was to begin with was Lord Corrigan. It should obviously be a shifter in control.”

The room descended into a cacophony of chaos. Two of the mages were on their feet, arguing loudly with Lucy and Staines. Alex was jabbing a finger at the faeries. Both the Summer Queen and the Arch-Mage looked about ready to boil over. I glanced at Corrigan.

This isn’t helping. They’re going to spend more time arguing than ever getting anything done.

Welcome to the machinations of the Otherworld, kitten.

I shook my head slightly in irritation. Then I stood up, pushing my chair back. Nobody took any notice. Rather than attempt make myself heard above the mayhem, I shot a single bolt of green fire at the centre of the table. It smoked and hissed, scorching the expensive sheen of the wood. Oh, well. The room went quiet again.

“Look, we’re all agreed that we need a task force, right?”

“Let’s call it a council,” suggested one of the Fae.

I blinked at that, and thought of Mrs. Alcoon.’s words. “Okay, a council then. We also all know what we need to do to guard against Endor’s next move.”

There was more nodding.

Corrigan spoke up. “She’s right. Let’s leave the issue of who’s in charge alone for now, and worry about the important matters instead.”

There were some grumbled mutters.

“Lord Alpha, I don’t think you appreciate that without a head, this entire operation will collapse before it begins,” commented the Arch-Mage. “Someone needs to keep everyone in place.”

“Let me guess,” added in Beltran sarcastically, “you think that ought to be you.”

The Summer Queen rose to her feet. She was tapping her mouth thoughtfully. “We’ll choose a leader. We’ll just wait awhile before we do so.”

The Arch-Mage also stood up. “With all due respect…”

She stared at him, some kind of message in her eyes. I watched her carefully. What on earth was she up to?

“Let’s get some food first, then reconvene in, say, an hour’s time?”

Without waiting for an answer, she held her hand out to Beltran. He took it, and the pair of them swept imperiously out of the room.

I looked at Corrigan and shrugged. Everyone else began to file out, one by one. I nodded to Aubrey, and he left too.

“How on earth do you lot ever get anything done?” I asked, once the room was empty.

“That’s easy,” he answered distractedly, running a tired hand through his midnight black hair. “We never do.”

“You’re a bunch of power hungry maniacs,” I said, annoyed at the childish truculent behaviour of almost every single Otherworld member.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s a dangerous world out there, Mack. You know that.” Changing tack, he reached out and touched me lightly on the arm. “I’m sorry about Staines. He shouldn’t have revealed that about you.”

“How did he even know?” I didn’t want to start getting pissed off at Corrigan, but I needed to be able to trust him.

A muscle throbbed in his cheek. “It was a mistake. He was going on at me to leave you alone. That things would never work out because you were a mage. It just kind of burst out.”

I sighed. I figured that I couldn’t really berate him for snapping something out in anger, not given my own natural proclivity for letting rage rule my head anyway. “Whatever. I’m going to go and hit the bathroom. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I was washing my hands in the marble sink when the door to the bathroom swung open. My eyes widened slightly as I realised it was Solus.

“You do know this is the little girls’ room right?”

He just blinked at me, then mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’. Confused, I gave him a puzzled frown. He shook his head slightly, as if warning me to be quiet. The bathroom door creaked as it opened again. It was the Summer Queen.

I looked from her to Solus, then back again.

Finally, I opened my mouth to speak. “Okay, what gives?”