Page 44 of Pixie Problems
My pixie style haircut—I laughed at that—was spiky today. I changed my makeup to something darker for the mood I was in and to match my new hair color. Dark red lipstick and black eyeliner. I put on my dark-wash ripped jeans and a purple fleece sweater with my brown, comfortable ankle boots.
Only once I was done getting ready for the day did the parasite speak. “I’m sorry.” It was definitely amalevoice, but it didn’t sound like Rhys. The vocal register was a lot lower than Rhys’ natural speaking voice.
“It’s because this voice reminds you of the actor Michael Clark Duncan’s voice, and you’ve always secretly found his voice calming. I’m not trying to freak you out or upset you, despite what you may think.”
I was being surly, but I was also still perilously close to tears and a major freakout, so I didn’t respond except to check on Naut. He’d been given some medicine by Ben that would help him to sleep and heal, so he was still sleeping as I knelt in front of his bed. I petted his head for a minute or so, checking his water and food to see that they were still full. Ben had warned me that Naut might not eat for a few days, but he’d said not to worry until forty-eight hours had passed and he still wasn’t interested.
We were nearing the forty-eight hour mark. I’d have to come by the house later to check on him.
I shoved my daggers down the specially made holders in my boots, and loaded and locked my gun and put it in my waistband holster on my back, then I made my way downstairs. I could hear Lucky in the shower, singing off-key, and I smiled. Lucky was fun to live with. It was certainly never boring.
The voice in my head growled just as I arrived downstairs to find two guys had jimmied open the sliding glass door and had let themselves in. We looked at each other, both of us startled by the other for a moment, and then all of the netherworld broke loose as I dove for cover behind the kitchen wall, and one of the shifters threw a lightning bolt at my head. It exploded against the fridge, knocking the fridge on its side. Thankfully, it fell so that the freezer and fridge doors got jammed into the tile, and they stayed closed. I would’ve been super extra ticked if all my food went bad as well as being attacked this morning.
I growled as I snagged my knife and palmed it, then snatched my gun out of its holster and quickly flicked the safety off, racking a bullet into the chamber. Ihatedit when shifters had other magic as well. It made it so hard to take them out.
I heard Lucky squeal in the shower, and then the shower water turned off. In horror I realized Lucky would come out here and get in the middle of the gun fight. She’d be killed! “Lucky,” I shouted. “Stay in there! Donotcome out!”
“Okay,” she whimpered. I felt bad for her. I’d brought all of this to her door, and she’d been so kind to me.
Using the mirror above the stove, I could see the guys giving each other hand signals. One of them was going to crawl around and up through the opening in the pony wall behind me. I mentally cursed as I saw that they were both making their moves at the same time, and both were moving toward me from different directions, trying to pin me. And then Naut limped down the stairs, growling from deep inside his chest. He still looked out of it but was alert enough to know that I was being attacked.
“Naut, get Finn!” I yelled to him. He looked at me through the wooden rails in the stairwell, and then disapparrated.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Two of my loved ones out of the way, and one ticked off sheriff coming to help. The shifters made their moves. I shot the one climbing over the pony wall first, so he couldn’t sneak up behind me, and then shifted to throw my dagger at the other. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough. He’d shifted mid-leap and tore into the arm that held my dagger with a savage snarl. I screamed, trying to wrench my arm out of his teeth, but he just bit down harder.
Suddenly, an iron skillet came down on my attacker’s head, and I blinked to see Lucky standing behind the shifter with such a look of fury and vengeance on her face that it made me remember with crystal clarity the stories that my granddad used to tell me of the leprechauns and their loyalty to friends and family. They became savage in their defense of them, because leprechauns didn’t make friends easily and their family members were few.
Lucky beaned the shifter again when he turned toward her with a low growl. She stood there like a goddess in a towel, dripping water on the floor, with such a look of disgust and fury on her face that even I was slightly intimidated by her in that moment, andIwas the one she was defending.
She’d knocked him out. Like, completely out.Impressive.
I gaped at her for a second in utter shock, and then swung back toward the pony wall as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.Pop, pop, pop.I shot a few more rounds into the other shifter, needing him to stay down this time, but not wanting to kill him. I was a good enough shot that I could aim for the non-vital areas of his body, even as he ignored the bullets I peppered him with and kept right on coming at me. I’d been afraid of this. Afraid that my gun—my primary weapon of defense—wouldn’t be enough for a shifter that was determined. Shifters were incredibly powerful.
Lucky sprung at him and walloped him on the side of the head with the frying pan. I heard the resoundingdongas it hit his skull and I winced. That sounded like it’d hurt. He didn’t even make a sound as he fell over. She’d knocked him clean out.
I stared at her with wide eyes. “That was amazing,” I said. “Also, you lost your towel.”
Sheeepedand made a hasty grab for it on the floor, covering herself back up, and I had it in me, despite my arm that had been savaged and was burning and hurting fiercely at the moment, to laugh.
Finn popped in with Naut, and Lucky squeaked as she ran for the bathroom. I laid my head against the cool tile of the kitchen and smiled as Finn cuffed the shifters with magic restraining cuffs. Cuffs that negated magic, strength, and the ability to shift. Then he came over to me, and I got my first good look at him.
“Finn?”
“Yes?” Finn growled.
“Why are you in your boxers?”
“Because Naut only let me grab my gun and cuffs before teleporting me here, and because I wassleeping.”
Oooh, yeah, he wasn’t happy with me.
Then he sighed. “You’re a mess.” He felt around in my pockets, and even though I was feeling woozy from blood-loss I gave him a dirty look. It wasn’t nice to tell girls that they looked like a mess. Also, he was touching me. No touchy.
“I don’t feel that way about you, Finn. Keep your grubby paws to yourself.”
He growled at me. “I’m looking for your phone. As should be obvious by my boxers, I don’t have one, and you need an ambulance.”
“Left back pocket. You have to touch my butt.” I smirked even though my eyes were closing without my permission. Dumb coyotes. Dumb blood-loss. I needed to check on my apothecary! I didn’t have time for any of this right now. I had a shop to open soon!
