Strange Bedfellows

## Blurb

**Alastair Stone knew it was only a matter of time.**

The demon called The Unspeakable is safely locked away, but nearly a dozen more of its kind remain behind, gathering strength like malevolent, ticking time bombs.

So, when Stone gets word that a mysterious and hyper-violent entity has taken over a Changeling street gang in inner-city Detroit, it isn’t long before he’s sure he knows exactly what the threat has to be.

It might be the “least” of the remaining demons—but that doesn’t mean it will be easy for him and his friends to take it down.

And just because Stone’s life isn’t convoluted enough, the powerful, formidable, and *very* desirable woman who helped him defeat The Unspeakable is calling in her marker. He’ll face dire consequences if he tries to back out—but that assumes he even *wants* to.

Meanwhile, Aldwyn has found his way to magic-rich Calanar, where he discovers to his delight that he can command far more power than on Earth—including the ability at last to assume his true form. When his explorations lead him to one of the floating cities, he devises a bold and far-reaching plan to claim his due—one that will put him on a collision course with Calanar’s arrogant, dangerously unstable ruling class.

## Plot

Alastair is summoned by Thalassa Nera exactly one month after he requested that time to consider her unique proposal. He can’t deny he’s attracted to her, but…to father a child? She makes it clear she intends to raise the girl alone (dragons can choose the sex of their progeny), pointing out that Stone is hardly the diaper-changing type. But Alastair insists he’ll expect to have some involvement. Thalassa makes no promises. Stone does get her to promise not to use their child as leverage or against him in any way. Finally, he convinces her he needs time to get to know her before they complete the ritual coupling. She agrees to give him three months for them to ‘date’, but on her schedule.

## Quotes and One-liners

“Stone, you have got brass ones the size of bowling balls. I’m amazed your pants fit.”Ren Huxley

Meanwhile, Aldwyn has found a way to reach Calanar, having studied the energy Stone and Harrison had used against him and finding its source. He’s elated by the higher magic level, even if the place seems desolate. Then he’s attacked by a huge, flying black dragon-like creature (see wyvora). He kills it but is seriously wounded. Worse, the wounds aren’t healing. Then a mana storm overtakes him. Beset by strange tentacled creatures within the storm, he shifts to a form he hasn’t had in centuries – millennia. Aldwyn resumes his dragon form. He sets out on the wing, dodging areas of corrupted magic, exploring this new dimension.

Ren Huxley calls Stone with a problem: two of her agents have gone missing on assignment in Detroit. They’d been investigating the rise of a new and particularly brutal new gang that takes out the top members of rival gangs in spectacularly graphic fashion. Both agents were fairly low-powered mages but experienced. They’d disappeared before being able to report in even once. Stone gather Verity, Jason, Amber, and Gina to give them the details of the case, including the fact that the leader of this gang, who no one has seen, appears to be targeting Changeling gangs to take over. Aside from Gina looking for more information on the gangs, Stone says he’ll take this on his own, to start, meeting first with one of Huxley’s contacts.

Alastair meets Heidi, an agent and mage, at a pub in the tourist district of Detroit. Though a low-power mage, she’s an expert at tracking. But when she tracked the missing agents, she got results that didn’t make sense to her, beyond that they were alive. Stone offers to do the ritual with her, to see if he can make sense of the results. They go to a warehouse Heidi uses and set up for a two-person ritual, attempting to locate Agent Izzy freeman first. Everything goes as expected until, suddenly, something at the other end of the tether tries to attack the pair through the link – something Stone thought impossible. Heidi screams and Stone lights up in pain and blacks out.

Aldwyn is flying toward the ruins of a city when he senses strong magic and looks up to see a city floating in the sky. Cautious, he resumes human form and enters the dilapidated ground city to investigate. Disguised in clothing similar to that of the first person he meets on the outskirts, Aldwyn explores further, deciding that the best way to learn about a place is in a bar.

When Stone rouses, he finds that Heidi has died, and he, himself is in pain. The scar from the demon blade is giving him pain, and that can only mean a demon is involved, and probably tried to kill both him and Heidi by striking back through the ritual. He notifies Huxley, who sends a pair of agents to recover the body and help the shaken Stone get home. Once back in Encantada, Alastair calls her back and gives her the details of what happened. He tells her he thinks her agents are still alive, because a demon will use them – their energy – as food. He feels tremendous guilt for Heidi’s death, especially after Huxley tells him she had no one but her dog, who’ll never know why she never came home.

At dinner with the Thayers, Stone tells them what happened, and goes on to explain that the eleven demons summoned to power the Unspeakable (Demon Blade) are weak on the Earth plane until they can consume enough energy to fully separate themselves from their home plane. The energy from mages is ‘tastier’ to them, which is why he thinks the missing pair are still alive. The group has just begun making plans to go to Detroit when Huxley calls. One of her agents has been found – in pieces.

In the dive bar he’d found, Aldwyn is listening in to patrons to get a feel for the place. He hears a group discussing ‘Zaps’, and how they use their magic to punish and subjugate people. He’s about to intercept one for further questioning when another group arrives to warn everyone to clear out. Zaps are at another nearby bar looking for someone, and have already killed two people. Everyone flees, but Aldwyn heads for the other bar to investigate.

Stone and his crew make preparations to go to Detroit. Alastair stops in for an update from Gina, who’s managed to get some information from a Changeling on the periphery who says the Sick Boyz gang changed recently from relative small potatoes others left alone, to actively expanding territory in ways even some members aren’t comfortable with, causing some to flee. The leader of a neighboring gang has just been found gruesomely murdered, with an obvious and obscene message that the Sick Boyz were responsible. She tells him the Sick Boyz’ former leader, an ogre, took demotion when whoever the new leader is moved in, and tries to buffer his guys from the worst the new leader does. She’s also working on a contact they can talk to, hopefully without getting them or anyone else killed.

The group confer with Huxley on a private flight into Detroit, and she gives them her unofficial blessing to do whatever is necessary to get Izzy, the remining missing agent, back. Gina calls with a contact who’ll speak to Stone, alone. He’s the younger brother of a Sick Boyz member, and he’s worried for his brother’s life. Alastair agrees to the meeting, assuring the others that he’ll keep them nearby as backup in case it’s an ambush.

The gang scopes out the abandoned house where Stone is to meet this contact and makes a plan for Jason, Amber and Verity to be hidden nearby, in case. The contact turns out to be a teenage boy, whose brother, Fish, is in the Sick Boyz. The only useful tip he has is that he heard a song by a late local rapper in the background of one of his brother’s phone calls, and only one place plays it – a local club called Big Gee’s. Stone and crew set off to reconnoiter the place.

In a second bar on Calanar, Aldwyn finds two dead bodies and the rest of the patrons cowering in fear from a stunningly handsome man who addresses him as a ‘pig’. The man is joined by an equally good-looking woman, but Aldwyn can see through their illusions to their true looks: ordinary and even unattractive. The woman tries to kill Aldwyn, but her magic doesn’t breach his shield. He immediately reduces her to ash. Sending the patrons out of the place, Aldwyn strips the man of his illusions and questions him. He’s in the Dim city of Nargul, but the man and woman are from the floating city of Prensyrrus, where the magical Talented live. They’d come down to terrorize the locals. The important details, for Aldwyn, are that there are a lot more Talented, and they access the cities via teleportation pads. He ashes the man before moving on to investigate more.

Stone and his crew find Big Gee’s and do a drive-by, identifying the Changelings and others hanging out around the place. They park around back and Verity uses clairvoyance to get a look inside. There are several people in the bar, and a handful in the basement, where she can’t ‘see’. The four gear up and sneak in the back way. Amber and Verity stay on the main floor to handle the bar patrons, while Stone and Jason enter the basement, where they suspect Izzy is being kept. A brief battle ensues, but Stone and Jason take down all but one Changeling – Fish, Gina’s contact’s brother. Stone gives him money to get out of town while Jason searches two other rooms in the place. Izzy is handcuffed to a bed in one, emaciated and unconscious, barely alive. Jason carries Izzy upstairs where Amber and Verity have taken care of the other gangers.

They rush the agent to the car and drive away. Amber contacts Huxley who directs them to a private hospital, while Verity works to stabilize Izzy. They spend the night in the hospital, Verity assisting in helping Izzy. She returns to say the agent is stable, but still unconscious. All that can be done, has, and it’s up to Izzy whether she decides to fight. Huxley sends them all home, promising to contact them immediately if anything happens. Unfortunately, Stone’s long-awaited and well-earned shower is interrupted by Thalassa’s huffy librarian messenger. She expects Stone in Paris, formally dressed for dinner, at 9pm Paris time.

Aldwyn makes his way through Nargul, aiming for the city center and the teleportation portals. With the terrified assistance of a man with a truck, he arrives to find this part of the city much different, clean and well-built. He changes out his Dim disguise for one patterned after the Talented he’d met, youthening his features. He enters the building housing the portals and the guards there ask him to produce his ring to activate the portal. Not having such a thing, he uses illusion to produce one and have it ‘scanned’ by a device in front of the pads. Successful, he is whisked up to Prensyrrus, where he’s ordered to halt and use no magic.

The date in Paris with Thalassa becomes a heated affair midway through dinner. Alastair had been asking questions about how their daughter would be raised, and Thalassa assures him she will be loved and want for nothing. He also finds out that Thalassa wants him because the dragons can no longer procreate with each other – the magic is too weak. Thalassa complains that she knew Alastair would be difficult about details, asking uncomfortable questions. He again suggests Harrison, but Thalassa insists she’s chosen *him*. Stone is struggling with his desire for her, and apparently she has similar feelings and takes him back out to the waiting car, where things get so intense, Alastair doesn’t even notice when she shifts them to her New York penthouse. But as intense as their foreplay gets, Stone senses a disturbance in Thalassa’s responses. Turns out, the eons-old dragon is a virgin in her human form, and is having trouble processing what she’s feeling. Realizing she’s not ready for him yet, Alastair leaves, promising to make their next date once the demon is taken care of. Back in Encantada, he catches up with messages from Verity to call ASAP. She doesn’t answer, but a quick call to Jason tells him Izzy has gone into convulsions, which started when they were transporting her from Detroit to Chicago.

Stone arrives at the private hospital to meet Verity, as well as Izzy’s mundane doctor. Izzy is no longer seizing, but both Stone and Verity can see she’s struggling with something in her mind. Verity goes into her mind while Stone keeps watch. When she’s finished, she reports that Izzy seems trapped in some kind of nightmare. Alastair touches the woman, only to get a flash of pain in the scar from the Demon Blade. He realizes a small part of the demon is still inside her; if they don’t do something, it will either kill her or draw the actual demon back to her – whichever comes first.

Alastair reminds Verity of when they went into Jeremy Weldon’s mind with the help of an elixir (Rite of Passage). He convinces her they need to do the same, to find Izzy and help her fight off the demon fragment. The mundane doctor is unsure, but Ren Huxley – as Izzy’s Power of Attorney – gives the OK. Stone dashes back to San Francisco and gets the elixir while Izzy is moved to a procedure room where the doctors can monitor better and intervene if she appears in danger of dying.

Aldwyn is taken into custody by a Captain Celindria and a detail of guards – his illusion had fooled the guards below, but not the sensors in the city. His answers to her questions, that he is a stranger and unfamiliar with the city, lead Celindria to believe he might be a spy for the resistance. After a brief search by magical scanners and a few more questions, Aldwyn is placed in a comfortable but locked and warded room.

Once the guards leave, Aldwyn uses illusion and invisibility to enter the room across the hall from his, having spotted the aura of another detainee there. He questions the man, Seviath, and learns that there are five floating cities, each with a council, as well as a grand council of representatives from all the cities. Mages are admitted to the council based on the strength of their magic, with the strongest being its leader. As far as Aldwyn himself goes, Seviath says he will be killed or exiled to the Wastes if the authorities decide he’s a spy. If not, he will be required to swear an oath to Prensyrrus, as all magical citizens are required to do.

Verity and Alastair drink the elixir and enter Izzy’s mind, finding themselves in a squalid apartment. It appears empty, but they know Izzy has to be in there, so they search. They find her – as a little girl – hiding in a closet. She’s hiding from her father, whose voice is suddenly heard as he enters the apartment, yelling and swearing. Stone and Verity talk urgently to young Izzy, telling her it’s a dream, a nightmare caused by the demon, and none of it is real. She’s terrified and nothing gets through until Stone tells her what the demon did to her partner, Jack. Though the demon version of her father – bigger and meaner than in reality, but wearing his pendant - is screaming at her and man-handling her, Izzy finds the courage to expel him from her mind. The demon blows apart When the dream ends and they exit, Izzy wakes. She isn’t able to tell them much about her captivity, having been kept weak and mostly unconscious. Stone is excited, though. When the demon blew apart, it dropped Izzy’s father’s pendant. Stone managed to ‘grab’ it, or its energy, at least. He’s sure he can now track the demon.

In the morning, in Prensyrrus, Aldwyn is visited by Capt. Celindria and her guards. They plan to interrogate him, but he forestalls them by declaring he wants to speak to their council and swear his allegiance to Prensyrrus. Celindria leaves and returns with two officials, one of whom is a woman named Zavarra. She listens to his proposal, then says he hasn’t even given his name. When Aldwyn says to call him Edmund. Zavarra reacts with disgust and tells Celindria to do whatever she likes with him. She turns to leave, but Aldwyn grabs her with magic, holding her off the floor and squeezing. The others try to blast him, but his shields are too strong. He doesn’t let go until they agree to treat him with respect.

Ordering the men to arrange his meeting with the council, Aldwyn turns to Celindria who is supporting the injured Zavarra and asks why the woman reacted as she did. Celindria explains that the Talented have names of three or more syllables, so ‘Edmund’ identified him as Dim. Thinking it’s ridiculous, Aldwyn nevertheless tells them to call him Aristide, instead. When the men return to say a few council members have agreed to meet with him remotely, Aldwyn heals Zavarra of the cracked ribs she sustained in his attack, as a show of good faith.

In a conference room, three council members hear Aldwyn’s request and explain that allegiance to Prensyrrus would require a binding magical oath. In his unusual case, the consequence of violating the oath would be death. Knowing he can easily circumvent an oath, Aldwyn agrees. The oath-taking is set for that evening, and Aldwyn is taken to a more luxurious apartment to wait until then, though still under surveillance. He’s given a sumptuous spread to eat, and a wardrobe of clothing – none of it red.

The oath ceremony takes place in a small auditorium where Aldwyn faces a ritual table set in front of a larger one where five council members seat themselves. The leader explains the situation to the crowded room of observers to general amazement. He joins Aldwyn at the ritual table where the blood oath is to be administered. Using his illusions, Aldwyn mimics his finger being cut and blood dropping into a ritual chalice, as well as the visible and physical reactions expected of such an oath, while he repeats the specifics of the vows the council leader, Jesperian, recites. Once the ritual is complete, Aldwyn thanks them all for welcoming him to their city, then issues a challenge for Jesperian’s leadership of the council.

Alastair, Ian and his friends meet with Ren to figure out what to do about the demon. Ren even goes as far as to suggest the National Guard, her frustration getting the better of her. The group decides to return to Sick Boyz territory to see if they can get a location for the demon. Ren will try to get information from her gang informants. Stone’s group cruises the Sick Boyz territory and finds that nearly everyone, gang or otherwise, is gone. A homeless man tells them that the Sick Boyz came through earlier in thr night and snatched people – men, women, children – off the streets and took them somewhere.

Stone is resigned to using himself and his connection to the demons through his scar to do a tracking ritual when the Sick Boyz member named Fish calls. As payback for Stone helping his little brother, he tells them that the Sick Boyz have taken over an abandoned asylum on the outskirts of the city. That’s where the Big Bad is, as well as the kidnapped people. A check with Gina gives them the additional information that, while the place is considered haunted because people who go there disappear, it’s actually inhabited by ghouls.

Changeling gangbangers, the demon, and now ghouls – Stone calls Ren to ask for more gear and weapons, but she says it will be at least an hour. Stone won’t wait that long, now that innocents have been pulled into the mess. Telling Ren to move as fast as she can, the group heads for the asylum. When they arrive Stone checks with Ren again, but she says the locals are dragging their feet. He tells her they can’t wait; they’re going in. While Stone reconnoiters, the others gear up with vests, weapons, and some of Verity’s alchemical goodies. Alastair verifies that he can feel the demon inside. He dons a vest and makes sure he has Thalassa’s knife, and they make their way inside.

Inside, they find the torn and dismembered bodies of a few Sick Boyz and ghouls. Feeling the demon is someplace below, the find a staircase that looks like an abattoir, covered in blood and body parts. One of the dead is Fish. Lots of footprints lead down through the blood, obviously from the kidnapped people. As soon as Stone opens the door at the bottom, the light goes out and some force pushes them into the blackness.

The Prensyrrus council members are in turmoil. Aldwyn lets some of his contempt for them show, and makes it clear he doesn’t consider any of them competent enough to govern him. Jesperian orders the guards to take him, but Aldwyn tells them that would be a very bad idea. The council gives him the specifics of the challenge; if he wins, he can take Jesperian’s place as council leader. By the same token, if Jesperian wins, he can order Aldwyn killed to exiled to the Wastes. Aldwyn issues the challenge formally.

The next day, the auditorium is packed. The council and five judges regarded as impartial arrive. The challenge is conducted as three tests, of strength, sensitivity and control. For the first test, a magical ball is placed between the two men. Aldwyn allows Jesperian to push it toward him at first, gauging his strength. Then he pushes it back steadily until it touches Jesperian, giving Aldwyn the win. The second challenge involves finding a magical beacon hidden within the crowd of onlookers. Aldwyn doesn’t even let the councilwoman finish explaining before he plucks the beacon out of the crown, winning again.

Finally, the pair are given tangled knots of magical rope to unravel without touching or breaking them. Aldwyn is in deep concentration on the task when an alarm sounds; Jesperian has broken his ropes, and failed. He leaves in a flurry, warning everyone that Aldwyn will betray them all. A senior officer is assigned to escort Aldwyn to new quarters, but the dragon insists on having Celindria as his aide, effectively promoting her.

As soon as he, Celindria and another guard arrive in his new apartment a magical concussion blast kills the two Calanarians, but Aldwyn’s shields hold. Three assassins wait inside, apparently to make sure he’s killed. He grabs them with his magic and offers to kill them quickly if they talk. He can tell from their auras when he mentions Jesperian’s name who the culprit is, despite their refusal to talk. He squeezes them – slowly – to death, then sets about finding Jesperian.

In Detroit, a battle ensues, with Stone, Ian and Verity flinging magic at attacking Changelings, while Amber and Jason use guns and brute strength. The demon, from hiding in the shadows, retaliates with nasty, carnivorous grub-like things, but Alastair and Ian fry them with magical fire.  Ian goes to deal with Changelings shooting from above and, once he has, he finds a hole leading out of the subterranean room. Meanwhile, the demon is finally visible. Stone pins it in place and tosses the demon-killing knife to Amber, who makes a run, slashing it in the neck. It’s not a fatal wound, but Stone devises a sudden plan when he hears another train approaching. He wraps the demon in his specialized demon[resistant shield and heads for the hole in the ceiling, Ian joining him. Outside, the train is coming, so Alastair has Ian use wind to push him and his demon package to the tracks faster. He drops the demon onto the tracks just as the train passes, striking the demon and dispersing it.

The group attends the funeral for Ren’s agent, Heidi. The woman’s dog, Bugsy, is at the graveside service and Ren tells them that he’ll likely end up in a shelter, with no one to take him. Jason and Amber decide to adopt the dog. As everyone disperses, one of Thalassa’s messengers appears, waiting for Stone. Thalassa is done waiting, and expects Alastair in a few hours to complete the ritual to conceive her scion.

Harrison is interrupted in some delicate work by word that one of New Argana’s covert operatives has arrived with word that some newcomer has successfully challenged the leader of the Prensyrrus council, upsetting the status quo. He meets with Seviath and, from his description, realized it could only be Aldwyn – on magic-rich Calanar.

Alastair arrives at the coordinates Thalassa gave him to find himself in a faery-like woodland setting. The ritual is conducted, and… Too rich to give away the details. Suffice to say, Alastair is on track to be a baby daddy.

Stone receives an unprecedented voicemail from Harrison. When he returns the call, Trevor tells him that he believes Aldwyn has arrived on Calanar.