Chapter 13

Pandora whirled with a little gasp. "What are you DOING? TANDI!?" She ran over, shoving between them, and sticking her arm between Tandi's descending hand and Gabriel's unprotected neck, causing the girl to pull the potentially fatal blow with an irritated snarl.

Gabriel staggered, gasping for breath, and grabbed for the wall, looking stunned.

"Are you crazy?" Pandora yelled, grabbing at her sister's arms. Tandi fought her, snarling like a cat, and yelled, "You son of a bitch! What the fuck did you do to my sister, huh? You undo it RIGHT NOW or I'll fucking kill you!"

Gabriel dropped to his knees, gagging, as he tried not to lose his breakfast.

"Stop it! He didn't do anything! Oh god, Gabriel? Love? Damn it Tandi, what do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm going to kill it, that's what I'm doing, Dora. Let me the fuck go. You just think you love it, but you don't really. I'll fix it."

Gabriel gasped for breath. "What ... the hell..." He shook his head. "I didn't ... at least, I don't think I did anything to her. And if I did, I did it to me, too." He swallowed, with an effort. "I didn't mean to claw her, but I've only had the damned things for twelve hours. Cut me some slack."

Tandi growled, looking down at Pandora's back. "Oh yeah, motherfucker? She has SCARS damn you. Scars don't happen in 12 hours. You fucking took her Underhill, didn't you? You filthy piece of shit ... how long did you keep her there? What did you do to her? You undo it, or I'm going to shove a cold iron blade up your fucking ass!"

Gabriel stared at her, bewildered. "What?"

Pandora gave her a little shake. "What are you talking about? Look ... calm down, and I'll explain. The scars are from last night, and I was quite willing, I promise. They healed because of ... well, what happened to us. I don't know what you think is going on, but it's not, I promise, and if you don't stop threatening Gabriel, I will leave with him right now and not ever come back."

Gabriel straightened slightly. "Wait," he said, holding up a hand. He looked at Tandi intently. "You know what I am!"

"Duh, dipshit. Does she?" Tandi looked at Pandora pleadingly. "Dora ... please. You don't understand. God, if I'd known..."

"No, I don't understand. That's why I want you to talk to me. You know what happened to Gabriel? Because we don't have a clue ... it just happened yesterday."

"Maybe you think that. Maybe he's got you thinking that. But I've been warned about these things. They're fucking dangerous and they fuck with your head. It's what they do. They enjoy playing with humans."

Gabriel straightened the rest of the way. "Wait. You know what I am. You know what I am. Tell me, dammit! Because I don't know what I am. I thought I was human yesterday. Now ... now I don't know what the hell I am."

She glared at him. "You expect me to believe that?"

Gabriel sighed. "Yeah. Because it's true. Look, I never knew my parents. I grew up in a series of foster homes, okay? I never even got adopted. So no. I don't know what I am."

"So, you're saying you just turned into an elf?"

"Well, yea -- elf?" He looked at her skeptically. "Elves have claws? Are you sure you don't have me mixed up with something else?"

She sniffs distastefully. "Unseelie might have anything. I should have known the instant I looked at you, but it could have just been your looks. But the ears and the fingers, once I knew to look for them, on top of the power. Yeah, that's what you are. A damned dirty Unseelie Sidhe. And you touched my sister."

"I'm ... an elf." He glared at her for a moment. "I'm not dirty. Look, I'm thirty years old. Exactly thirty, in fact. Yesterday was my birthday. I don't know what the hell you're talking about, okay? But you do. So sit down and tell me what the hell I am." He pursed his lips. "And for the record, yes, I touched your sister. And I'm not ashamed of that. Why the hell should I be? I love her."

"Your kind can't love anything."

"That's enough!" Pandora snapped. "More than enough. You don't know anything about him. He's telling you the truth. This just happened yesterday, and it hurt him horribly. I watched it happen, and it scared me to death. If you know something, I want to hear it ... but not enough that I'll let you talk about him that way. I love him. I was ... well on my way to loving him when he was still human. Whatever you think about him ... he's mine. And I'm not going to leave him."

"Tandi? I was human yesterday. Or I thought I was. Is there any way I can prove it? Or are you just going to assume I'm a liar?"

She hesitated. "I ... don't know. Maybe there's something I don't know about ... maybe if you're half human, or something, things are different ... we can talk, I guess ... but if I find out you're lying, I know how to kill elves."

"I'm not. Really, I'm not." He sighed. "So ... what the hell am I? An elf? With claws and fangs? What's up with that?"

Pandora loosened her grip, and Tandi shrugged out of it. "I don't know if all elves have the claws and fangs, or just the Unseelie. The aura of attraction ... that's pure Unseelie. Mostly High Court, they said, but it can happen in any of them, even the monstrous ones. It's genetic I guess."

"Unseelie?"

"Who said?" Pandora asked at the same time.

"There are two kinds of elf. Seelie and Unseelie. Light and Dark. They're none of them good though, just different, but the Unseelie are worse. They like to play with humans for fun. Mess with their minds, get them to love them, torture them to death slowly, that sort of thing. As to who ... Dora, you remember when I tried to become Wiccan 'cause my best friend was, and couldn't bring myself to believe in a goddess anymore than I ever could a god? Well ... they talked about things like this. And I did pick up a couple of ... um ... tricks, I guess. I can read cards, and cast stones, and, mainly, I can see auras. So once I knew he was hiding something, I could see his, and see the spots he had 'disguised' and then see right through it. Anyway, my friend's friends always said that an elf was worse than a demon, because at least a demon didn't make you love it before it ripped your head off and shat down the hole."