I ditched my jacket, gloves, pants and boots, since they had blood on them, changing into the spares I’d brought along. Emmy had stayed clean, so she had no need for any such measures.

“Everything anybody has that got blood on it, no matter whose blood, gets burned,” I instructed Eddie and Grant. “We need to stay as clean as possible.”

Agreeing to meet the next morning to discuss next steps, Emmy and I got an Uber ride back to our hotel, figuring that none of The Boss’s people would be watching for whatever random car Uber provided for us. When we finally got back to where we were staying, Emmy put her hand on my arm.

“I do not want to go to our room just yet,” she said. “I would like to talk about what happened tonight.”

“All right,” I agreed. “How about we go to the bar on the top floor? It’s open twenty-four seven.”

“That sounds good,” Emmy said with some relief. “I think that a glass of wine would be wonderful.”

As we settled into a corner booth in the virtually empty hotel club, I asked, “What did you want to talk about?”

“I do not know where to even begin.” Emmy said with an uncharacteristic groan. “What happened tonight… I thought I would be ready, but I was not. You were, though. You took command, had a plan that covered all the contingencies, and executed it flawlessly. I could not have done any of that,” Emmy said, letting out a breath.

Just then the waiter arrived with Emmy’s wine and my old fashioned, so we waited to continue until he’d left.

“I thought that I would be able to take command, but I was not. I thought that if it came down to a fight, I would be able to take the life of another, but I was not. I thought that…” she said, trailing off, looking off into the distance. She took a sip of her wine, thinking about what she needed to say.

“I have been playing queen, Leah. Playing, not really understanding what you have been doing. You have been doing what should have been my job, Leah. I should never have asked you to take this role.”

“Em,” I said. “I’ve been doing all this so you don’t have to. I want you to know, this has been my choice. You didn’t force me to do all this, I’ve done it on my own volition, so you don’t have to. I didn’t want you there tonight, because I didn’t want you at risk-”

“Me at risk?” Emmy interrupted. “You were certain that there was going to be violence tonight, and you went into that prepared, and you prepared our people. Me, I was useless.”

“If anything good was going to happen tonight, any real negotiations, you needed to be there,” I said. “You’re the face of our nation, not me. I might be the one who got our guys ready for a fight, but you’re the one they’re all willing to fight for,” I said. “Without you, none of this happens at all, and all our people would still be living in hiding, stealing to survive. Without you, we can’t recruit any new Night Children to our cause. They might think I’m an unblessed, but they wouldn't follow me as queen without the legitimacy of my being married to you.”

“They honor and respect you!” Emmy protested.

Putting my hand on hers, I said, “Yes, they do, because they see that I am literally fighting for them.”

“I had no idea you- no idea you are so very… I saw you fight that man at the gym, and thought that you were very impressive, but seeing you tonight… I would never have believed it. You are so gentle and loving to me, but to those others tonight, you were a terrible force of death, unstoppable in any way. I do not know how you can do that, and here you are, so calm, so…”

“Apparently, people who understand these things say that I’m very good at compartmentalizing,” I said. “It’s sort of a gift, I guess.”

“That woman that I was fighting,” Emmy said, her hands trembling a bit. “I was faster, and better trained. I should have been able to end her quickly, but I could not do it, Leah. I could not- I simply could not. But you, with no hesitation at all, charged in, and with a single kick, you… You smashed her chest so hard with your kick, it sent her onto that old machinery and killed her. Then, without a moment of hesitation, you turned and smashed the skull of that man fighting Michael. I felt, at that moment, that you would kill anyone still standing without any chance of their survival. You were unstoppable.”

“There is no such thing as a fair fight outside a ring, Em,” I said. “Those people had a plan to murder us. I just had a better plan, and we murdered them instead.”

Emmy took my hands in hers and looked at me, her eyes probing mine. “Does it bother you?” she asked, gently.

“It bothers me that it came down to that,” I said. “It was a waste, a stupid waste of those peoples’ lives. But does it bother me that I stomped some guy’s head flat into the concrete? No. He was trying to kill Michael, a man I consider a very good friend. I would much rather Michael be alive to hold his daughter in his arms, than that guy who was doing his best to knife him keep walking,” I said. Yeah, in retrospect it wasn’t the most eloquent I’d ever been, but I made my point.

“I have not wanted to ask, but how many people have you… how many lives have you taken, Leah?” Emmy asked, still holding on to my hands.

I thought about it for a moment, and said, “Me, personally? Eight now, I think.”

“I would never have asked you to do this for me,” Emmy said.

“I volunteered,” I replied. “To keep you away from harm. To keep you safe, so you can lead by example. Because I love you, and I believe that bringing the Night Children out from the shadows and the old ways is important. I will continue to do what needs to be done, so you can continue to do what you need to do.”

“Thank you,” Emmy whispered.

When we got back to the room, Angela was asleep in our bed. In sleep, her resting face looked even more youthful than ever, and so very innocent. She really was a very pretty girl, and I really felt myself hoping that things would work out for the long term with the three of us. Angela brought a sort of lightness with her, and I thought that was just what Emmy and I needed, then more than ever.

Emmy simply peeled off her clothes and climbed into bed, but I needed a quick shower to wash the night away and get the smell of blood out of my nose and off my skin. When I finished, I found Emmy already asleep, so I slid in behind her and took her into my big spoon, holding her against my body, in hopes that it would reassure both of us.

Emmy had been shaken by the night’s events, and thinking about it, I could understand why. She hadn’t been there for Vancouver, she hadn’t even seen me fight Prince Marfan and his man in that San Francisco alley four years before. She hadn’t been there for any of the violent side of our growing nation, and me recounting the events did nothing to prepare her for the brutal reality. Lying there in that hotel bed, I determined that I would do whatever I could to keep the ugliness away from Emmy, and never even give a hint of it to Angela, the most innocent of all.

Thanks to years of habit, I woke early, unable to sleep any longer. I went out for another run along the lake, trying to avoid thinking about any one thing in particular, just letting my thoughts drift as they wanted. I kept coming back to the problem of finding The Boss and taking him out of the picture, and the only possible route I could see was to turn his people against him, and have one or more of them roll over on the guy and tell us where we could find him.

An even higher-level problem was that we had no way of identifying the guy in any case. Maybe we had gotten him the night before, but I doubted it. Since he had his underlings do all his dirty work, the average Night Child in the region probably wouldn’t know what he looked like, anyhow, so if we managed to locate his hideout and raided it, how would we know if we had him or not?

I was chewing on this problem when I got back to the hotel room, only to find the other two still in bed. They weren’t asleep, just cuddling and talking softly to each other.

“Come to bed,” Angela pleaded when I entered the room.

“I’m sweaty and stinky,” I objected. “Let me grab a quick shower first.”

Within minutes I was sliding into that king-sized bed with the two, who rearranged themselves so I was in the middle. I’d actually expected that they would want sex, but that really didn’t seem to be it so much as the two just wanted to snuggle up and hold me. They both settled down pretty quickly and fell back asleep, wrapping me in a warm and cozy cocoon of lovers.

‘This is nice,’ I thought as my thoughts drifted lazily. ‘Very nice.’

I don’t think I actually fell fully asleep, just dozed lightly for a while, enjoying the feeling. I’d never have considered taking a third woman into our bed, and when Emmy had suggested the possibility back home in LA, I’d dismissed it as too fraught with emotional landmines to be worth it. Now, though, feeling Emmy and Angela’s bodies next to mine, hearing their gentle, steady breathing and enjoying holding them in my arms, I was ready to accept that this could be a very, very good thing.

When Emmy finally started to stir, it woke Angela as well, and the three of us got up. Since I’d already showered, I took the opportunity to watch the other two bathe. I felt a little jealous, seeing Emmy lather up Angela’s long, dark hair and massage her scalp- jealous that Emmy was lavishing her attention on somebody other than me. Much more than that, though, I enjoyed seeing the obvious pleasure both of them were having at that simple act of affection. I knew how good it felt, and I was glad that Angela had the chance to experience that simple little pleasure.

Sure, it was sexy as hell watching the two of them soap each other up and I will admit it gave me a bit of a lady boner, but even more than that, it filled me with a sort of warmth. A tender kind of warmth, not just a sexual heat.

I helped towel them both dry after their shower, and again, it was more of a ticklish and playful fun, rather than simply sexual. It had certainly seemed as if Angela’s first lesbian sexual experience two nights before had been a very good one for her, and she hadn’t shied away from sexual moments since then, but I was amazed at how smoothly we seemed to be transitioning into a physical relationship that was based on more than just plain old sex.

Angela seemed happy now, in a way I hadn’t seen her before, and that gratified me to no end. I was getting to see a side of her personality that was more open, less self-conscious, not as concerned with projecting an image, and I was liking what I was seeing.

I know it’s shallow of me, but it helped that she was very, very easy on the eyes, too. Easy on the hands and tongue, for that matter, to be honest. It’s fair to say that Angela was extremely sexually desirable, but as I was getting to know her better, I was pleased to discover that wasn’t the only attractive thing about her.

We had our now-typical breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and I explained that I had to go meet with the guys again.

“Do you need me?” Emmy asked, still somewhat unsure of her footing.

“No, I don’t think so, babe,” I replied, letting her off the hook. After all, I had told her that this was my side of the bargain. “I can take care of everything.”

Emmy put her hand on mine, saying, “Thank you,” in a soft voice, and I understood what she meant.

“You guys go shopping or something while I’m gone. Maybe hit that guitar store you were telling me about?” I suggested, hoping that would lift Emmy’s mood.

It was clear she knew why, too, but she ran with it anyway.

“Angela, would you like to go with me?” she asked, and the two of them made their plans.

I met Michael at the Starbucks again, and as we drove to that day’s motel, I asked about Eric.

“His hand is injured,” Michael said. “But he does not want to go back home. He feels that he can continue here, albeit in perhaps a different capacity.”

“Did you guys have any problems at the urgent care? Anybody ask where he got the cut?”

“No, nobody even asked at all,” Michael said. “They didn’t seem to care.”

“Well, I guess that’s in our favor, then,” I said with some relief.

“When we evaluated last night, we found that Maggie had a long cut in her hoodie and I have a bruise on my side from where I was stabbed, but it didn’t penetrate the special sweater,” Michael said. “Things would have gone much worse without the protective clothing.”

“I just wish Eric had actually been wearing the gloves,” I said with a sigh.

“Several among us have complained that they feel slippery, and that it’s hard to hold a knife with them on,” Michael said as we pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express.

“I’ll try to find some others that have better grip,” I said. “I want you guys to get in the habit of wearing the protective gear any time you’re out and about. It sounds like it already saved two lives.”

“Grant, Eddie and I discussed that very thing and came to the same conclusion. Better safe and uncomfortable than the other way around.”

The whole crew was gathered in the surprisingly large motel room, so we could all discuss matters and work out our next steps.

“First off,” I said, “I want to congratulate all of you. We had a plan, and it worked out perfectly. We expected it would turn to violence, and were all ready when it did. We knew they would try to ambush us, and turned the tables on them instead. I couldn’t have asked for anything more than what you guys managed last night, and I’m damned proud of all of you. You all stepped up and did what needed to be done.” I looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes in turn. "I’m sorry that we couldn’t negotiate any sort of peace here in Chicago, but it seems like this ‘Boss’ guy never had any intention of peaceful discussion. He stayed away, and just sent his strongmen to get rid of us. The whole meeting was just a pretext to get Emmy and me in one place to take us out,” I said.

“Well, it didn’t work. We wiped his guys out to the last, seriously weakening his position here. We’ve been told he rules by fear, but once word spreads that he lost eight of his enforcers and we lost none, well… People will fear him less, that’s for sure.”

“And fear you more,” agreed Eddie, grinning.

“And fear me more,” I agreed. “But I’ve been giving it some thought. I want you guys to speak with your contacts, and make it clear that this was my operation. Emmy came in peace, but I came to make war.”

“Sort of a ‘good cop, bad cop’ approach? “Grant asked.

“Exactly. Start handing out cash and gifts to any of the locals that are willing to talk to us, and tell them explicitly that this largesse is from Queen Emmy. She wants the region’s Night Children to live in peace and will help that happen however she can, but also spell out that I came to destroy our enemies, and I won’t stop until they have all been crushed under my heel,” I said. Yeah, overdramatic, but that’s what worked sometimes.

“Like that guy that tried to stab Michael,” somebody said. “He got crushed for sure.”

“I think I understand your strategy, my queen,” Michael said. “It’s the carrot and the stick.”

“Exactly. Make it very clear that Emmy is generous and kind, and she was betrayed by The Boss when she agreed to meet him. Also make it clear that we held out hope for peace, but when they pulled knives on us, they doomed themselves, and we can’t forgive that. The Boss and his enforcers are living on borrowed time, and they will be hunted down.”

“Well, that brings us to our next problem,” Grant said. “How do we find that needle in this big ol’ haystack? He could be anywhere.”

“Honestly? We can’t, not on our own. We have two problems here. The first, finding the guy. The second, knowing it’s actually him,” I said. “We need local intel, from somebody close to the guy. Most of the area’s Night Children have never seen him, as far as they know, right? So even if they knew the location of his headquarters, we wouldn’t know which one is The Boss.”

“Kill ‘em all and let God sort them out,” Grant said from his spot on one of the beds.

“I hate to say it, but if we get any leads, that’s pretty much got to be our plan,” I agreed.

“Now, the obvious second approach is that we don’t go looking for him at all- we let him come to us. We dangle easy targets, then ambush when he strikes.”

“That’s a real dangerous way to do it,” cautioned Grant.

“It is,” I agreed.