My house was small on the outside, but thanks to my world-building magic, the vast expanse of my living room came into view as I opened the door. It was a veritable book lover’s paradise with wall-to-wall built in bookshelves. My friends liked to call it “True Blood chic,” much to my chagrin. I liked to think of it as my version of dark academia for old-ass adults, but what did I know? I was a former Unseelie Fae princess. It just made sense to me.
“You know I’ll never turn down coffee. I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to the vision of Michael and I’m hung over, too. I took a rideshare back home. And by rideshare, I mean those two cute guys I met at the bar last night, if you know what I mean.” She nudged my shoulder, and I chuckled again. “So, I sat on the porch and waited for Michael to get up to his shenanigans instead of going back to sleep.”
“Only you, Poe. I’m still glad you got home safe. I feel like a shit friend for telling y’all I would drive, and I think I got more wasted than all of you combined. Either someone spiked my drinks, or I must be getting close to a new power level. My tolerance for booze and everything else sort of falls to the wayside when this shit happens.” I threw my keys onto the hook by my front door and pulled my shoes off.
“Bitch, don’t even worry about it. I saw you talking with Vada Livinicus last night. Is that who you went home with?” she asked.
“According to Maren, yes. I’ve never seen her before. How do you know her?” I walked toward the kitchen, intent on getting some caffeine in my system, though it didn’t really do anything for me. I just liked the taste. “Does she have dark brown hair, a body to die for, and takes in wasted strays?” I asked Poe.
Poe wrinkled her brows, “Sounds like her. You know she used to go by Lilith, right? That was before Hashem stripped her of everything, including a name.”
I sputtered, almost dropping the portafilter I had just filled with ground espresso, “You meantheLilith?”
Poe nodded.
I stood there for a moment, astonished. Lilith was exiled to Hell. She was the first human woman, and when Hashem granted free will to his creations, he was stunned when she’d rebelled against the rule of men. I had admired her since I’d learned of her story. There was something about her ability to speak her truth, to her own detriment, that I found admirable. We seemed to have similar starts in life. I’d have loved to pick her brain.
“How did I not know that was who she was?” I was starting to panic a little bit. Or was I fangirling? I didn’t know.
Poe smiled sardonically, “Honestly, Adaela, I have no fucking idea. You’re the queen of research and vetting, so I don’t know how Vada slipped past you. She’s likely pissed off Asmodaeus again. If she were a threat, I would have made you and the rest of the council aware. I think it’s a good thing she’s here. Speaking of, how did last night go?”
I groaned, “I honestly don’t remember much. I’m going to go take a quick shower and chug this coffee, then we can talk.”
Poe snickered before heading back toward the front door. “Text me when you’re ready. I’m going to make sure Michael didn’t burn the house down.”
The only thing I planned on doing today was going back to bed. I drank my coffee as I picked clothes from the walk-in closet, then headed into my bathroom. Much like the rest of my house, it had dark tiles with deep hues of phthalo green and gold scattered throughout. It reminded me of the Dark Wood in Underhill, my original home.
I thought back to last night. After we left Dogtown, we’d gone to my favorite bar in The Grove. It was a mix between a high-end cocktail lounge and a dive bar. I’d had a few drinks with Daedalus and Loki while we played our favorite game: people watching. We liked to decide what kind of lives people led based on their level of inebriation and how they dressed.
I couldn’t remember how many cocktails I had at that point, but I remembered getting up and heading to the bathrooms. As I slunk past the crowd, I went to move past a woman who caught my eye. She was taller than me. I would’ve guessed she was about five foot ten, but in the heels she was wearing, I came up to just underneath her breasts, so she had to have been over six feet in heels. Her eyes drew me in. They were a deep umber color, contrasted by the teal colors of her smoky eye. She had sharp cheekbones and the most amazing lips. I never focused on people’s lips.
As I ran conditioner through my long, unruly red locks, I tried to remember anything past that point, but I kept running into a wall. I didn’t usually drink enough to black out after that time in the ‘60s with Poe and Franci. Come to think of it, that was right around the last time my power spiked.Groan. If it hadn’t been for that spike, I likely wouldn’t have had the strength it took to help create thePax.
It wasn’t like I’d see Vada again anytime soon. I rarely saw the folks from the Demon faction because they lived completely different lifestyles than I. It was a one-night stand, for fuck’s sake. I needed to catch up with Daedalus and Loki to see whatwe wound up doing last night, or if I’d lost them past that point.
I hopped out of the shower and toweled off, quickly changing into the sweats I’d set aside. Once I was dressed, I stepped out into the kitchen to go meet up with Poe. We had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, my phone rang, and it was thePax.I threw my head back toward the ceiling, groaning. I was like that Ben Affleck meme of him smoking a cigarette. I just needed a single day to myself.
March 18th
The drive to the office was something I’d done for decades. I could do it in my sleep. But I couldn’t help reminiscing about the past and how we got to this point. Much like the other beings in St. Louis, I couldn’t imagine feeling any safer than I had here. It took a lot of work to get us to this point.
TheCatervae Paxwas established about sixty-five years ago, which was not that long ago considering most of us were close to immortal. When we started thePax, we were concerned that it would not take off as we had hoped. The Beatles were singing about peace on Earth while humans waged countless wars against one another. Meanwhile, magical beings across the factions were once again battling for dominance against each other throughout the rest of the universes.
Power struggles had always been something all beings had in common, but some of the strongest among us were working toward peace—true, radical peace.
The courts in our realms no longer met our needs, and we were more interested in leaving in search of something better than burning everything down to start all over.
After the last Great War that came to an end in a trucebecause no side was strong enough to defeat the other, I connected with Ma’at, Athena, and Gon to help form a council with every imaginable faction. On this council, no one would have more sway than the next. There was no hierarchy, only representatives to speak on behalf of each of the thirteen factions.
Many of us spent decades researching policies and political climates. We’d read everyone from the human philosophers like Marx, Foucault, hooks, Nietzsche, and de Beauvoir, to the unearthly ones like Luranoms, Raefeather, and Urubay. We needed to find a system that worked for all beings, not just humans, but we needed to understand human history and how Earth functioned to create a society in St. Louis that would work for everyone.
Any of our citizens were welcome to come converse with us without fear of retribution. We weren’t leaders because we helped establish thePax, but rather because none of us wanted to lead. Each faction had as much say as the next, even if their numbers were smaller than other factions.
I hopped onto I70, turning the volume up as the morning show host said, “It’s a clear day out today, St. Louis. Highs will be in the mid-fifties.” I passed a car going too slow in the left lane before taking the express lanes downtown, changing the channel to an early 2000s emo playlist as I zoned out.
While humans were aware of our existence, we weren’t exactly welcome outside of St. Louis or in our home realms anymore—and that included the Gods and Goddesses humans supposedly worshipped. The humans feared us and what we represented to their social contracts. It was a full-time job to work with the human governments to make sure that all of us could live here amicably. Our goal was to never have to fight for our right to exist again, and we didn’t want the next generations to do that either.
The magic was special in St. Louis. We had strong ley lines, strong believers, and many of the buildings and architecture here were made up of brick instead of steel. This made St. Louis the ideal place for us to make a home, since modern technology and architecture was hard on some species, but it still came with its issues.
