Jaycee's Blog - Wed, Sept 6

This is admittedly an unusual update: there's no sex in it. Those of you looking for some spicy stuff might just skip it, but I still think it's worth reading.

I had an unusual visitor today: Priya. You may remember that almost a year and a half ago, Attitude decided to move in with Priya, who wanted to take on the Coterie with her help. I'd forgotten about it, but the original deal was to do this for a one-year period on a trial basis, to see if Priya was made of the "right stuff." Technically, that ended on April 1 of this year, but I was so caught up with my own life (and having perhaps a bit too much fun abusing Tarantina's power) that I completely forgot about it.

Priya looked quite different from what I remembered. She was soft and pretty back then; the woman I saw yesterday was a complete badass. If any of you have seen the first and second Terminator movies (and really, those are the only ones worth watching), you just look at Sarah Connor's before-and-after looks, and that'll give you a sense of what I felt. Priya looked thinner and stronger at the same time. She wasn't wearing girly clothes, just a bomber jacket, a form-fitting wifebeater, worn-out jeans, military boots, and some kind of utility belt that would have made Batman jealous. She had her long hair tied in a practical ponytail. I noticed some weird tribal tattoos that didn't move when you looked at them, but seemed to slither across her skin when you didn't.

I tried to hide my shock at how different she looked, going for the classic "hey-how-you-doing?" but she pushed me inside, looking more serious than cancer, and closed the door behind her.

"I don't have time for pleasantries," she said. She looked past me, spotting Tarantina hovering not-so-innocently in the background. "Send her away," she told me.

I did as she asked, though I'm not sure if Tarantina didn't have some way to spy on us anyway. She's many things, but she's not stupid. Priya wasted no time getting to business.

"You remember why I wanted a faerie with me, right?"

I did remember. She wanted to fight the Coterie. I felt a bit bad that I never checked on her progress. I told her as much.

"Never mind that," she said. "The group you fought in Quebec was just the tip of the iceberg. They were pretty tough, but with Attitude's help, we took a lot of them down. The Church of Scientology is still there, but a lot of the bad elements that had infiltrated them are gone. Came at a cost, though."

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling. I looked around for Attitude, realizing she was nowhere to be seen. Priya caught my glance and reassured me.

"She's fine. She's scouting around the building, making sure we're safe. Making sure no one knows exactly WHERE I am. Don't want to compromise you."

"Ah, what?" I said. "Compromise me? What have you been up to?"

Priya sighed. "I can't stay here very long and I don't have time to update you on what I've been doing. Some of it isn't pretty. Those people aren't kidding. They're more lethal than drug dealers. I don't have a home anymore and I've cut all ties with my family. I pretty much live on the street, now."

There was a sense of urgency behind her words.

"So why did you come here?"

She pulled out a notebook from the pocket of her bomber jacket. "To give you this," she said.

I immediately recognized it. It was the notebook I had found in my mailbox in Quebec City several years ago. I had tried reading it a couple of times, but the faeries had put a bunch of nasty spells on it, so I'd quickly given up on trying.

"It's magic free, now," she continued. "And there's stuff in there that you HAVE to learn. To protect yourself and those you care about."

I took the book. "Why now?" I asked.

Priya looked away, somewhat ill at ease. "I've poked the hornet's nest too much. Now they're pissed and on the hunt. People like me, people like you, we're being hunted. You haven't been careful, so they might show up to your doorstep at any time. You need to be ready."

She looked at her watch. "I've been here too long." She gave me a quick hug then headed for the door. "Read the notebook. Learn. Practice. Be ready."

"Hey," I said as she was about to leave. "With all of this, ever regret learning about faeries?"

She gave me a long stare then walked out and closed the door behind me.

Yeah, I thought to myself. Same here.

--Jaycee