“And another thing, you assholes, do you know the preparation that goes into dying your body black?”

The second succubus leaned in to say, her hushed voice a whisper, “Tell ‘em.”

“Long. Time doesn’t run the same for you pricks. So you can’t appreciate it.”

Once again, the second succubus, the soft spoken of the two, nodded in agreement. “Preach.”

The darker skinned one prepped her hands on her hips. “And who the hell ruins a transaction like that? We gave you two years in two minutes and all it amounted to was you sitting on a dock drinking weak werewolf beer with a vampire whose hand you don’t even touch. I mean, obviously you are more than deserving of this death. We are doing you a favor.”

“Right,” the second one echoed. She leaned into her dark counterpart and whispered, “Make sure they know—”

“It’s nonrefundable. Damn right.”

With a definitive nod, the second succubus raised her nose.

“Ladies, ladies.” Eli held up both hands which took a considerable amount of effort. Even now his face still stung from where Trixie’d slapped him awake with all her might. He focused less on those bitter, and very serious words, and more so on remedying such a hostile situation. “This is a misunderstanding. Of course you’ve got a customer.”

The identical women traded a glance then turned to Eli once more.

“Oh yeah? Where?” the more aggressive of the two demanded.

She folded her arms but Eli tried to keep smiling. “You won’t be disappointed. You can play with him all you like. If you’d turn your attention to the gentleman at your back.”

Still sitting up in bed quiet, Manny watched their interaction. Trixie sat next to him.

“Right this way,” Eli instructed.

But both women scanned the room. In time, they turned back.

“Asshole,” the quiet one drawled. “We can’t see couples with genuine affection if they’re together. How do you think all these races survive this long?”

Her lips began to tremble, and her dark-skinned counterpart held her shoulders.

“It’s okay. This idiot just doesn’t know any better. His fantasy was lame anyway. Hand-holding with that vamp for two years? Damn, what a pathetic excuse for a wolf. I don’t know if this kill’s even worth our time. Come on. There’s a nice politician scheduled for later. It’ll be more than worth it.”

“But it’s a fairy,” the second one sobbed. “And this werewolf was so disposable he’d be easy to consume. Fairies break as soon as they’re in. Last time it took ages to vacuum one out.”

She continued her bitter lament as she was led away. Eli gritted his teeth, body blushing at how he was referred. He wasn’t...boring or...pathetic. Right? In time, he cringed.

The aggressive, all-black succubus paused at the door, still with her hands on her friend’s shoulders, and looked back. “And you won’t be getting a point card or a good review. Dickhead.” She scanned the room and called out. “All-a ya. You pricks.” Her tone softened when she comforted her friend. “Come on. We’ll just butter the fairy up before we off him. That’s the trick.... We’ll even read some of his shit poetry—bet you he’s got tons of poetry. Alla-dem do. Urg.”

Their voices trailed off into nothing once the doors closed.

Every cell in Eli wanted to fall back into that chair in relief but he feared falling asleep once more.

Once they were gone, Manny groaned. “Fuck.”

He wasn’t the only one concerned. Trixie let out a sigh. “Less than an hour. We’ll go and see about a new set.” She was unsteady as she rose to her feet. “I’ll get you the minotaur.”

Eli was more than ready to leave. Once they were out of that room, he let out a held breath.

Trixie leaned back against the double doors.

She patted the last of her wings with the towel which she threw in an open box close by. “Sorry for hitting you so hard but the boss would never forgive me.”

The layout resembled that of a villa. It put Eli in the mind of Ancient Rome. Tall white pillars supported the ceilings. Everything was accented in gold and vines.

Eli never got to see much of the observation deck inside but there was a bench in the hall and that was where he and Trixie ended up eventually, waiting on the minotaur to finish the session with Manny.

Now and then, her eyes left that room door and instead drifted to the pendent she wore. The yellow rune had diminished quite a bit since the previous hour.

“Why does it bother you so much?” Eli asked.

Trixie took interest in the door. “Can’t say.”

On any normal day, a harpy chattered away about anything to cross their mind. Her having nothing to say now meant it was important.

“I can’t help you if you can’t say.”

“What’d you know about the first Children of Rune?”

Eli shrugged. “Just know about the werewolf’s covenant. Same as everybody knows bout their own original covenant.”

“That’s why humans were so dangerous for the gods,” Trixie explained. “They didn’t have physical strength but their great minds held only mischief. They could fly like birds without wings, move like the wind in metal. Even project themselves with broadcasts.”

“Yeah. They were something,” Eli agreed. A lot of human technology was still in use even to this day, despite how unpopular humans themselves were. Most weren’t upgraded but they worked just fine. “Hard to believe it wasn’t magic.”

“It wasn’t.” Trixie watched the floor. “Because there was no balance to it. And the more they made, and the less magic we all used, the less the Children of Runes remembered about what was required of them. Man had a tendency to...erase faith...to pervert it and make it into something else. As a consequence, vampires don’t talk about their original covenant. They’d forgotten it. While harpies...we know them all. Every last one.”

That was surprising. “Thought only soothsayers knew that.”

“No. Not even them.” Trixie didn’t often sound down but today her anguish was palpable. She spoke less casually, too. “In the beginning, all creatures were separate, but all spoke, all walked on two legs, and all were equal. But man got jealous. He wanted to run like a horse, or the strength of a bull, or the agility of a deer. He started making covenants with animals. But he’d have to make them to their gods first. Make a sacrifice and get a covenant. But there’s a law—”

“Of equal exchange. Yes.” Eli was happy to contribute that much. But the happiness was short-lived because she wouldn’t look away from that door.

“Right. To get something, we must give something. And we must seal our pact with a gift. Dwarfs brought their gems, cows their milk, wolves their loyalty, but man...all they had was blood.”

Their eyes met and Eli nodded. “The vampires. That’s why they didn’t change shape and they feed off that blood rune.”

“Right. That’s their original rune.” Trixie watched him for some time then confessed, “Do you know that harpies have two?”

Two covenants? Eli was floored. “No. I didn’t know we could have two.”

“Others can’t. Not no more. But we do.” Trixie prepped her elbows on her knees, her jacket dragging on the floor along with her wings. “We were dumb. But we...we harpies were the first. We made a covenant and we got tricked.” She gestured to herself. “Where we look like this—unappealing like this. And it was because we got foresight. But we kept talking and the Fates took issue with us. So they forced us into a second covenant. And this time, we lost the will to tell secrets. We’ll ramble, go on and on about shit nobody really cares for. But things...things that can save us, we can’t, not without death.”

Eli wanted to hold her shoulder at least. He decided against it. “Well, what did you get?”

“A chance to choose when we end.” Trixie snorted out a laugh. “But it was a trick, because coulda done that with the first covenant. The Fates tricked us. They only wanted to make sure we’d shut up and not ruin their plans.” Her voice petered down to a whisper. “So instead of getting something for it, we risk our lives each time we use foresight.”

This time Eli did hold her shoulder. He prayed he was wrong. “So you can’t say anything to even save yourselves?” At her silence, he guessed, “And your first offering to get your covenant...was honey?”

“Pure honey. It’s my base rune. The same as blood is to vampires. Praise is to fairies. Ours is honey. It’s the most powerful rune I can get. The same way your loyalty gives you power. The same way blood gives the vamps power. This is my power. He’s given it to me and he doesn’t know what he’s done in doing so.” Face in her hands, she lamented, “I can’t stop the visions now. I can’t keep them back. And....and I can’t see past tomorrow.”

“Trix.” Eli gasped. The logical course of action would be to take the pendent off. Each attempt he made to suggested it petered down to nothing. Maybe it wasn’t just talk. She couldn’t act against her fate—she thought so. So to her, was the will of someone else fated? It dawned on Eli that Trix wasn’t one to risk it. “We—”

“I can’t see past tomorrow, wolf. What does that mean?” She sat up, a grim scowl in place. “I can see that minotaur about to bust outta that room, pissed. In three, two...one.”

Two door shot open and banged against the wall. The scantily clad ‘worker’ marched out in a huff. “Never. Never has this ever happened to Dotty. Never. Dotty takes no responsibility if he can’t get interested.”

Eli watched her go. He let out a sigh. “I can’t believe this shit. Why are we wasting time?”

He wasn’t the only one angry. A ruckus coming from the room had the harpy on her feet in seconds. Eli wanted to stay out there but decided against it. Trixie needed the back up.

Manny shoved Trixie away and dropped down on the bed. His eyes stayed fixed to the floor. “Get out,” he demanded.

Countless broken vases littered the room. Eli prayed it was the minotaur and not Manny’s doing—it all looked expensive.

Trixie approached again and Eli opened his mouth to warn her against it.

When two strong arms snaked around her and Manny pressed his face into her torso, Eli’s mouth snapped shut.

No. This was no game. Was it?

“Just come down here,” Manny whispered.

Trixie stared at him with affection then knelt on the bed, allowing herself to be pulled into his lap.

Manny pressed his face into the shallow feathers on her neck. When he slipped one shoulder of her dress off, Trixie squirmed out.

Eli watched them, waiting for any indication that he should go to her rescue. Any minute now, he was sure she’d scream bloody murder.

The clothing of winged creatures was simple at the back for obvious reasons. But for the obvious reason of not having it fall open at random instances, they were secured at multiple areas. Manny loosened the two hidden knots of the harpy’s dress without even looking.

He’d done this before. He’d done this to—with her before.

“I can keep the dress,” Trixie insisted. “Sir—”

Manny’s lips met hers and Eli stumbled backwards. It wasn’t an aggressive or disgusting undertaking. The vampire looked genuinely pleased when she ran her fingers through his long black hair.

It was becoming very apparent that Eli didn’t know the nature of Manny and Trixie’s relationship all that well.

Eli turned to leave.

“Wait.” Trixie, twisting her upper body to look back at him, pleaded with her eyes.

What? Eli waited for her to laugh it off or cast him out. She did neither. Modesty was a human habit. Most creatures of Rune didn’t care for it. In fact, the wolf brigade would roam bare if not for the original laws left over from the time of man. Modesty wasn’t a factor here. Did she honestly expect him to stay? And would Manos even allow that?

The way Manny loosened the harpy’s dress and toss it aside said he didn’t. Not even slightly.

Manny muttered something into her throat.

Trixie’s wings flew up, nearly lifting her off the ground.

“Get back down here,” Manny demanded, laughing. “I will not do that again. I promise. Come here.”

This was more information about harpy anatomy than Eli ever wanted. As Trixie stated, their physique was human. Her ample breasts were bare of feathers but not her shoulders or hips. With the wings raised, he could judge that the back of her had the same attributes—feathers on the sides but all human and bare down the middle. The tailfeathers were rather sweet. Like the wings, they remained raised.

Manny took hold of her ass, spreading it as they kissed. The care with which he found his way around Trixie’s supple body was telling. This was not their first time. Maybe the second but certainly not the first.

When Trixie gasped, wrapping her arms around Manny’s neck, Eli pivoted. The vampire groaned, equally pleased.

“Why didn’t you offer from the start?”

Trixie confessed, “You hit me with a truck.”

“Stop it.” The pain in Manny’s voice didn’t sound like an act. “That was...that was.... That was not intentional. You know that.”

She didn’t answer.

“Wait. You did not know that was an accident?”

“I—I told you—”

“But I had not expected it. I just wanted you to get airborne again. That was not...I did not want that. I got beat up by a bear getting you that honey.”

He waited for a long minute and Trixie said, “You seemed to be having fun selecting.”

It was unlike Manos Dresden to hesitate. “I’d asked for feathers. Figure...figured that’d....”

Trixie snorted a laugh. “What? My cue to shove everyone aside and boldly offer myself up?”

Manny’s voice petered down to an awkward whisper, “No—not like that. I gave you honey,” he muttered again; supposedly that meant something only he understood. He growled in the back of his throat then took a kiss. “So reward me.”

Disgusted, Eli turned to yell.

Trixie’s laughter stole the fight in him.

“Stop it,” she whispered.

Manny planted kiss after kiss on her neck then her breasts. “Reward me,” he demanded, still playful in his caresses.

“What reward? This isn’t like the times when you’ve got a bit of Fae blood and it’s making you act up. You’ll waste your rune.”

Now it was Manny’s turn to fall silent. His gaze held affection but a stern resolve when he decided, “Stop calling it a waste. You are not a waste. If you’d lie on your back, I will show you that. Will it hurt your wings?”

Their new position had Eli blinking. He’d never imagined the vampire sovereign with his face between a harpy’s legs.

Without knowing where to look, Eli cast his eyes to the ceiling.

Manny chuckled and all movement stopped. “The feathers tickle,” he explained.

Trixie was slow to reply, “Then stop—”

“Nonsense. Or am I not doing this well?”

Eli could guess the next wet kiss wasn’t put on the harpy’s mouth.

“No,” Trixie told him, gasping. “It’s quite well.”

“Good. Because....” Manny paused then groaned. “Here I come.”

The unified reaction had Eli rolling his shoulders, desperate to find something else to focus on.

Manny was surprisingly vocal as he found a good rhythm, so when he paused yet again, Eli worried for his own sanity. What was the protocol for witnessing something like this?

“That’s amazing,” Manny observed. “Do they...do they always react like that?” Trixie said not a word and Manny boasted, “Is it involuntary?”

It was the wonder in his voice and nothing more that forced Eli to glance at them. He would have kept it short but the vision before him was probably a once in a lifetime thing.

Manny sat, the harpy firmly on his lap, face buried in her throat as her wings wrapped around the both of them. Each time they rocked and Trixie responded, the wings twitched and continued to close up.

“So it is involuntary.” Manny kissed her neck, panting in her throat. “When you’re so quiet, it makes me want to coax a sound out of you. Otherwise, you make me doubt my skill.”

The ecstasy on Trixie’s face faded when her wing enclosed them both, leaving her unabashed pleas.

Skill? That was how Manny referred to it. He was doing a good enough job because when Eli decided to leave that time, no one called out in protest. Trixie had other concerns.