Moon's Rite

Reality Check

Vladimir bit his lip, unable to meet either Peaches gaze or mine. I frowned, folding my arms over my chest as I waited for him to start talking. He just winced when Peaches got frustrated.

"Tell me what?! Vladimir! Tell me what?!

Vladimir gave me a plaintive look and I sighed. I shouldn't give him a way out so easy, but we really didn't have time to go talking him into talking to her about the monsters that lived in the dark. I turned my attention on Peaches.

"Try to keep up. Magic is real. So are Vampires, Werewolves, Fae, Devils, Demons, and a whole slew of other things. We hide away from the humans to avoid inciting a war and the extermination of multiple of these species. So many of us depend on the survival of another species, as loathe as we are to admit it."

Peaches snorted, trying to convince herself this was all a joke. Then her eyes were widening and she gasped in surprise as I flashed my eyes and bared my fangs at her. "It- It's not poss-" She turned when Logan made a grunt behind her and clapped a hand over her mouth as she took in his half shifted form.

His face was fully wolf, looking funny above the collar of his tee shirt. His hands had caught halfway between hands and paws while his heels were lifting out of his shoes and creating unnatural bends in his jeans as his legs shifted towards canine. His wolf eyes blinked back at her while his ears flicked back in anticipation of her hysterics.

She whirled back around when O'Malley laughed. "Sorry lass, but not only is it possible, it's real." He swept his hat off and gave her a bow. "O'Malley the Leprechaun. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He straightened out of his bow and shrank his fiddle down so it would fit in his inner jacket pocket. Then he flourished his fingers to pull a pipe out of thin air and lit it with a snap of his fingers.

We all waited quietly while Peaches looked around at the three examples of proof we had given her. Her heart was beating hard in her chest while she panted in barely restrained panic. Finally, she turned to Vladimir with a look of desperate question. She swallowed hard when he gingerly met her gaze, giving her no hope that this was all an elaborate trick.

O'Malley broke the heavy tension as he slapped his hands together and scrubbed them, creating sparks of magic. "If it's too much lass, I can send ye home. The Elven Enclave is no place for a green human to be gawking. Not if the Vampire Queen and her magic problematic companion want to get anything accomplished."

Peaches blinked, trying to cope and deal enough to make a decision. Her gaze snapped to Vladimir when he softly spoke to her in Russian. Whatever he said, it didn't appear to have the intended effect. Peaches set her jaw and shook off the gentle words, barking something back at him. Vladimir studied her for a moment, then slowly nodded and turned to me.

"She's with us."

I slowly smiled at the mildly incredulous tone he used. I gave his shoulder a light slap as I switched to Latin. "Now you just have to show her what you are." I chuckled when he blanched and put my human face back on as I turned back to O'Malley, switching back to English. "On to the Enclave, if you please Mr. O'Malley."

The Leprechaun grinned, beckoning us on with his pipe as he turned and led the way across the expansive moors, lit by starlight and a half moon. "This way."

I trotted after him, shooting him a look of question. "When you said perilous journey...?" O'Malley just laughed, not giving my query an answer.

As it turned out, O'Malley had been exaggerating. But only a little. The moors weren't as long a walk as I had first thought. We came upon trees after about a half hour hike and O'Malley led us straight in, calling a warning to stick close and not stray with a tone of good humor. I frowned at the thick trees growing close together with a little trepidation before stepping into the forest proper. The place looked grey deeper in, instead of the cheerful green on the outside. Gnarled branches and flowing lichens and vines gave the place a classic horror movie feel.