Slamming (Through Time 3)

“No, my prince. The Lugh warriors have this. Pestale may have sent in a variety of Unseelie castes into Dublin, but Danté and his efficient crew will swiftly cut them down.” She waved a hand. “You must realize that Pestale means to draw us out and take our measure. Let us not play his game. Let us defeat him with but a small fraction of what we are and what we can do.”

Breslyn nodded and said, “My Queen, I must do something. Danté and his fighters shouldn’t be allowed to have all the fun.” He winked at his old friend, but it didn’t hide the grimness behind the mischievous look.

“And you shall help, very soon. We all shall do a great deal,” she answered. “I have not yet heard from Princess Royce, but I do not believe it will be long before she and Shee Willow will find the Twalla. Once we have that, everything will fall into place. In the meantime we must contain them.”

The Queen sighed heavily and suddenly reached out for Radzia who had been biting her bottom lip and looking like an anxious and crazed female. Aaibhe touched her hand. “I see you are very upset. You need to have a clear head. You must not think of those who have passed, but of those you will spare. In this, you must forget your human side. You will fight with Danté, back to back. You and your warriors will finish them off and return here as soon as you are able.”

Radzia nodded and turned to Danté who gently ran a finger over her cheek and then tweaked her black hair. Then without a word Jazz watched them shift off.

Dublin was under a major attack.

She knew that in spite of what the Queen had said that this was awful. Jazz wrapped her mind around it—every single time the Seelie got matters under control, Pestale threw another monkey wrench in just to send them scrambling. She was sure he was trying to hit at their morale, but she knew the Seelie well enough to know that was not happening!

However, Jazz was on edge. She cast Trevor a worried glance as he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

No one spoke as they waited for the Queen to continue. When she did, her brilliant eyes were alive with determination.

“Pestale has sent in his shifters to Dublin and I will not soften the blow by telling you we have matters completely in hand. We do not. Pestale’s Unseelie army is extensive and ours is not. He has sent in a variety of Unseelie castes to Dublin and some of these abominations, as we have witnessed, feed by eating their prey alive. Others suck the life-force out of their victims, while still others feed on the fluids of their victims. These Unseelie always prefer humans over animals as their source of food.” She eyed Jazz and said steadily, “you will be met with a horrendous vision when you join the battle again. The attack on humans will only get worse and you all need to be prepared for what you will see.”

Jazz knew the Queen was speaking to the human in her just as she had spoken to Radzia. She stood straight and silently nodded that she understood.

Aaibhe looked up at Morgan who put a hand to her back. Her glittering lashes fluttered sadly a moment before she continued. “Many eons ago Queen Mab maintained the equivalent of what humans…” she looked at Jazz. “…would call blueprints of all the castles Fae constructed in Scotland and Ireland. Queen Mab has always been far-sighted, much more so than I.” Aaibhe blinked and a map was laid on the long table she had transported to her private chamber for this meeting.

“We have this drawing of the inner design of Morrigu’s Castle.” She frowned for a moment as memory flitted through her mind and said idly. “Morrigu always loved Scotland. I can’t think why she left to follow the Dark King. I have always put it at infatuation and he was so wrong to allow it and then to discard her when she was no longer welcome in Tir.” She sighed heavily. “Nevertheless, we have this blueprint and it clearly shows us the exterior walls and the original interior, which was left shielded all these thousands of years while she was lost in the Dark Realm.” She eyed Breslyn. “I am certain Pestale has made some changes since they have taken it over. Thus, I have asked Deimne to fly overhead and get a mental picture of the interior as it is now. He will meet with us soon and then we will plan our next move.”

Jazz became anxious. “Where…” she bowed her head respectfully, “…my Queen, is Frankie?”

“She is with Nuad’s daughter, Suade training in the Pavilion. I thought it best if she did not hear about the atrocities being committed,” Aaibhe sighed. “Indeed, Breslyn show us what progress Danté has made.”

Breslyn gritted his teeth, waved his hand, and parted the airwaves as though he had installed a large movie screen. A live picture of Dublin was presented.

They watched in abject misery as they witnessed their beloved Dublin under siege by monsters.

Dublin citizens were under attack from nightmares come to life. At first, they were unable to grapple with what they saw coming at them. They were so beyond easy targets Terror gripped students and professors alike at Trinity where monsters stepped out of the atmosphere and began grabbing and taking out their eyes, their hearts, and eating them while others were frozen with fear and disbelief.

And then mass hysteria took over.

As they ran in all directions, people ran out in front of cars and screamed about aliens and monsters. The Unseelie fed with a gluttony that left Jazz unable to look.

But humans are resilient. Some were not willing to just stand there and be killed. As hopeless as it seemed, some took up weapons and quite by accident, one of those weapons was made of iron. Iron bars left at a construction site. The word quickly spread that the monsters had a weakness to iron.

The Lugh warriors grinned to see the humans fight back. When one large human swung hard and took off the head of one of the insect Unseelie, it slumped into its gooey death and a roar of victory went up.

Jazz whooped, but it was short lived. There were just too many Unseelie. The screams of agony, the shouts of terror of those unable to fight back, of babes and innocents being ripped to shreds and eaten was almost too much to bear.

Unable to stop herself she called for her sword, which appeared in her uplifted hand. She was unused to her role as a Fae. She was unused to taking orders from the Queen. She couldn’t wait for permission as she announced hoarsely, “I am for Dublin, my Queen.” She didn’t even wait for Trevor or wonder if he would follow as she shifted out to do her part.

~*~

She stood for a moment taking it all in as around her cars and buses slammed into one another. Unseelie took over the heart of the bustling city. If Pestale wanted chaos, he certainly had achieved that goal and terror reigned.

Brave Garda looking like the swat teams she had seen often enough on TV, were armed and shooting, but bullets didn’t work and the Garda became a part of the causalities.

From above, a helicopter fired round after round at the monsters, while another helicopter with a news crew shot a live video of the onslaught below.

Jazz shifted into the very midst of this and without hesitation, Slammed twenty Unseelie to the ground and dove into the fray. Taking off heads with her Death Sword, spearing them as they lay helpless on the concrete, and taking on one after the other like a demon crazed.

She knew the helicopter was overhead and was certain the Queen would not want the humans to see and film her. She enacted the Féth Fiada. Invisible now, they would watch and wonder what was killing the mons