Chapter 18: Strange Bedfellows in Belfast

July, 1989

"Ah, if it isn't the inimitable Miss Alice Spencer-Killdare!" rasped the demon, his accentless voice sounding like a blade being run over a whetstone. His eyes flared as he saw me land, a smile curving the thin, colorless lips. The black dogs surrounding him looked even more massive now that I was on the ground level, the smallest of them easily outweighing me by at least four times my scrawny ninety pounds. They were almost tall enough to look me in the eyes, staring at me with greenish-yellow flames licking their lashes. "The usually rather efficient Alexandrios missed you the other evening, my dear. We had to make do with these lovely ladies and the young lad, who has an unfortunate gallant streak in him. He attempted to prevent Alexandrios' children from bringing them here. I understand he was not alone and there were some regrettable incidents. My apologies, but it was only you who were to be brought to me. The clever Vampire decided to make lemons out of lemonade. No, that does not sound right. Surely one of you gentlemen knows the phrase I am looking for?"

One of the guards, all of whom started at my sliding down the ladder and pulled guns, cleared his throat with an embarrassed look on his face. "Making lemonade out of lemons, sir," he replied diffidently in a barely there Irish accent.

"Right, that is it! There's a good lad. Those Americans and their phrases," he said genially. His whole demeanor was off, however. He spoke in a jovial tone as if we were friends meeting by chance and planning to enjoy ourselves over a meal or cup of tea, the whole time his eyes bore into me with an intensity that was completely creeping me out. The guards could feel it, too. The two meters they were giving him widened to four even as the dogs moved closer to him, jostling each other to be near him as he stared avidly at me. "You chose a good time to strike, lovely Alice, as Alexandrios is still abed. Old and powerful as he is, the sun still makes him drowsy enough to force him to sleep a few hours. And his children will be down even longer. Even as young as you are, your instincts for this sort of thing are amazing. I felt all twenty of my men's deaths outside, quickly and efficiently done. And the three in the office went even quicker. Two strikes, three corpses. Amazingly talented for one so young and untrained. Oh, you are going to be so much fun to have around, my lovely, lovely Alice."

He said that as if aroused by the carnage I left behind me getting in here and he was looking forward to more. I was about to snap out a reply when he languidly ordered his men, "Gentlemen, gentlemen! No guns! Surely your master explained this was not an assignment where you simply get to shoot her! Come now, if I wanted her shot, I would have hired humans like those outside. Alexandrios brought you here for your specialized skills. Hope to it, gentlemen."

They all looked at each other with a grimace and holstered their weapons before taking off their jackets and shoulder rigs. I thought they were going to roll up their sleeves and fight me hand-to-hand when they began unbuttoning the expensive silk shirts they were wearing. The belts and shoes followed and I began wondering it they were going to shock me to death by stripping. My hormones were appreciating the show, as they were all hard bodies who obviously spent a lot of time in the gym. Not anything less than a six-pack amongst them and all looked like they could be models for the Irish version of GQ. I was just about to say something snarky when their faces started elongating and their legs popping, the muscles and bones shifting without them moving. Their arms began doing the same. Groaning and pained yips echoed through the warehouse accompanied by shrieks from Lady Ancen and Grandmother. Balor looked over at them and grimaced.

"I forgot about our other guests," he said regretfully, as if he realized he was being a deficient host. "I think they would rather take a quick nap. Perhaps I will wake them up in a little bit, when things really get started." He waved his hand at them and greenish fireflies danced off his hand, cavorting through the air between him and the hostages before settling around their heads and shoulders. All three slumped, asleep. Obviously, William had been feigning being knocked out. "There. That way they won't distract from the festivities."

Then he turned to me and grinned again. "So, Alice, my lovely and brave Alice. Can you guess what these handsome gentlemen are, yet?"

All five of the men were on all fours on the warehouse floor; having collapsed while I was making sure the demon was not killing my family. They all now had red fur sprouting all over their bodies with white accents on large, very not-human ears and hands that were quickly becoming claws. Looking at them, they almost looked like they were turning into human-sized foxes, right down to the fluffy red tails with white tips.

"Um, some kind of fox shapeshifter?" I guessed, gripping the short sword the leprechaun had given me.

Balor grinned. "Very good. They are Werefoxes out of Dublin hired by Alexandrios to guard us during the daylight," he said like a proud teacher or mentor to a gifted student. His mannerisms were seriously creeping me out. Someone I just met and had never been introduced to should not be acting so familiarly with me. Especially since I was there to kill the loopy bastard. "Not as good as say Werewolves or Weretigers, but the foxes are fast and efficient. I would have them transform all the way, they look adorable in their full fox form, but they are less deadly that way and more contagious. I don't know what you are, but I would not want whatever that is compromised by Werefox contagion. Their half-fox forms are deadly enough and still contagious, but they would have to all but kill you to turn you rather than the possibility of a mere deep bite or scratch doing it. I want you just as you are.

"Have I complimented you, by the way, on the job you did on those hooligans last year?" he suddenly asked, his face looking concerned, as if he had forgotten a point of etiquette or something. "Four grown men put down by one undersized twelve year old girl strong enough to resist my influence and only kill one of them. And then you have the mental wherewithal to get your friend over there up and out of the city before anyone knew what happened. I was simply in awe! And then I heard through the grapevine that an extraordinary young girl made Finnan mac Manannan forget hospitality and throw her out of his Sanctuary. The only thing that could make a Leprechaun do that is extreme fear and there is only one thing they fear: those lovely humans that come along to serve as the Church's Warriors. It has been nigh on a millennium since I had one of those and so I knew I had to have you, my dear. Together, we could have so much fun! Maybe even enough to raise the power I need to get out of this geographic binding holding me on this island! So I summoned the best errand boy I could find: Alexandrios of Byzantium. And other than missing you the other night, he has been all that was promised by my kin in Russia. Oh, wait. They don't call it that any more, do they? What is it those wicked simpletons decided to call it? Come, surely one of you boys know that too?"

"The Soviet Union, sir," one of the werefoxes yipped. You would think something with a voice that high-pitched would not be scary, but they were finished with their transformation and they were scary. Not one of them under six and a half feet tall with red fur covering most of their bodies, fox-like faces with rows of needle-sharp teeth, and muscular arms ending in claws that looked like they would have no problem slicing apart a car, never mind a scrawny thirteen year old. They all rose to their feet with spine popping stretches, their eyes focused on me and more than one licking their lips with anticipation.

"Ah yes, the Soviet Union. So here we are. Alexandrios will miss these opening entertainments, unfortunately. His children will miss it all. I doubt I can string this out until sundown, but you should be able to keep the foxes busy until Alexandrios awakens," he said, making my heart sink. I was kind of hoping to have everyone safely dead and my family out of here before any vampire woke up. Apparently age matters and Alexandrios of Byzantium was ancient. That gave me more impetus to finish off the werefoxes sooner rather than later. I hefted the gladius and pulled a long dueling dagger almost as long at the sword out of my bag before stepping forward with deliberation. Balor grinned with anticipation, then his eyes widened in mock panic. "Wait, wait, wait! I have to get to my seat!" A throne-like chair suddenly appeared not far from William, canted towards the center of the floor. Balor scampered to it and flopped down, sitting with one leg up on the arm. The pack of dogs followed him and flopped onto the floor, their malevolent green-yellow eyes flaring as they looked at me with hunger. "All right, go ahead, my lovelies."

I was really having trouble taking this guy seriously. He was acting like a complete fruitcake! The five fox-men in front of me, however, I was having no trouble taking seriously. Their mouths were dripping saliva as they growled at me, their claws splayed and their bodies set in battle stances. I stopped about a dozen feet from them, dagger forward in a stabbing grip and gladius held back and high.

"You gentlemen can leave anytime. My business is with the demon, not you," I told them.

In return, I got lifted lips snarling at me and excited, high-pitched yips before the largest of them bounded forward, the others hot on his heels. I spun under his slashing claws, slicing open his thigh with the gladius and the dagger scrapped across his ribs. Weaving a sinuous dance through the others, I slashed, stabbed, and blocked my way through them. Sliding to a stop, I watched them turn to face me again, clawed hands to various wounds. That was when I felt the trickle over my eye and burning on my shoulder and back. A trickle of blood wound down my forehead, over my left temple, and across my cheek before dripping off my jaw. I could feel blood oozing its way down my back and left shoulder as well. I also noticed the wounds made on the foxmen by the gladius were bleeding copiously while those made by the dagger were already closing up.

"What the fuck?" I whispered, despair creeping its way up my spine.