Stronger Together chapter 124 (Patreon)

I woke up, as I often did. In a bathtub. The water was clear as usual  having been drained of all the medicinal chemicals Kara had dumped into  it. I expected a bit of soreness but I felt great when I got out of the  tub,which I was thankful for. My godsteel weave had definitely  mitigated the damage from my turbo charged Klurkor, but oddly, looking  back, I also thought the damage I was taking may have helped. Lord  Raith's blows to my body had bled off some of the excess power. Still I  was more metal today than I had been when I woke up yesterday.

I  strode over to the mirror, noting my face had been further refined,  though less noticeably this time. I didn't even start to jump when I  heard the soft voice behind me. "You're awake." I turned to see Raven  sitting on the closed top laundry basket. I'd missed her in my rush to  get the mirror. "You were out for about nine hours. Kara taught me the  mix for the bath I've been coming into refill it. Draining some of the  empty water and using the rest as a base. How are you feeling?" Her  voice was quiet but she had a smile on her face, which put one on mine.

I  exhaled slowly, letting my head fall back and my eyes close, feeling  the strength in my body. I was stronger again, I was going to have to do  some sparring to get accustomed to this. After a quick check over all  my muscles to make sure they all healed right I finally said "I'm good.  Right as rain after my nightly bath. How is everyone else? Did the  captives get to Henry's place alright? How about Bea, is she ok?" We had  ended up leaving even before all the hostages had left out of sheer  exhaustion, and I was fairly sure Bea was fitting in fine with the  Carpenter's but it still felt wrong not to ask.

Raven's  smile got wider "In order, everyone is fine, yes they all got to  Henry's, Harry took them personally. Henry said hello by the way, and  Harry managed to talk him into meeting with Ebenezar despite his senior  council status. Seems they've crossed path's before, not surprising  considering their ages. Barb and I checked in when we woke up but we  decided to let you sleep. Thank god you and I were the only real  injured, we might have run out of bathrooms." She snickered at our  penchant for getting into trouble.

Seeing  my impatience for the rest of the news she rolled her eyes fondly but  chose not to comment, simply deciding to continue her recap. "As for  Bea, she's fine, Yang and Kara refuse to leave her side and they're all  over at the Carpenter's with Inari. They're waiting for us to come over  once you're up to it, Charity is making lunch for us all. Even Harry was  invited. I think she's warming up to him by osmosis because she likes  the rest of us so much. Inari is scurrying around the kitchen trying to  help as much as possible to get on Charity's good side and she's clearly  enjoying the extra company." I doubted she needed to do even that much,  Charity adored Kara and Kara adored Inari, but it was sweet she was  trying.

I  gave Raven a quick kiss and headed for our room to get dressed, making  sure to put a towel around my waist so none of the vampires or Cinder  saw me hanging brain. When I stepped inside I just felt...at ease. It  was over. Blood Rites was over. I was a bit bummed we missed all the  porn star stuff but dodging that stupid entropy curse was well worth it.  Lord Raith was dead, legit dead, and I was glad I'd made the call  because learning that He Who Walks behind could implant pieces of  himself inside beings from within reality and incubate them was a big  deal. I doubted he could do many of them or that it was fast considering  how long Lord Raith was magic proof but still.

That  was for another time though, now I just rifled through my clothes,  looking for something comfortable to wear over to lunch at our neighbors  place. I also had a poker game in a few days, I should scrape up some  more cash, maybe talk to Lily about selling her a small ring of godsteel  for personal use. It wasn't actually steel so it shouldn't hurt her and  the metal would be invaluable to the fae. With her resources getting me  some cash or even just a bunch of gold would be easy and it would be a  great way to get on better terms with Summer. I wondered if she would be  at Charity's lunch gathering. I suspected River would be at least, Bea  would probably want to introduce the other Carpenter kids to her  "Teddy."

I  picked out a pair of slacks and a t-shirt. I'd always hated jeans  because denim feels like sandpaper, and I prefer a nice pair of dress  slacks or cargos. Out of deference to our hosts I went with a plain  black t-shirt and since I felt more comfortable in layers I threw on a  blue plaid button up that I left open over the shirt. I slipped into a  pair of steel toed boots (which both protect your feet and fuck up enemy  fairies when needed) and ran a comb through my hair before calling it  good. I headed out to meet Raven, stopping to check the mirror in the  bathroom. I looked damn good so I was ready to go.

When  we got to the Carpenter's place the gate was open and we heard sounds  from the back yard so we just headed on back, stopping as we entered the  gate to stare. River shoulders was on his hands and knees, with Bea and  Hope on his back as he crawled around, both of them seated on his  eponymous shoulders. The girls were giggling like mad and I could see  Yang and Kara off to one side laughing at the display. Cinder, Sam, and  Morgan weren't around, though I suspected more out of their own  discomfort than Charity excluding them. Harry and Susan were sitting at a  wooden picnic table that looked like Michael had made it to fold up for  storage, with Lily and Fix across from them.

As  they spotted us they waved us over, but we were waylaid as we walked to  the table by Molly who was staring at Raven like she was her personal  hero. I looked at my girlfriends outfit, a pair of shredded black tights  and boots a short black skirt and a black tank top with a short purple  jacket over it and grinned internally. Molly seemed nervous "Hi, you  must be Raven. I've heard a lot about you but we haven't met yet. I  totally loved you in the comics." She seemed nervous and I guessed  meeting a hot older goth girl with magic powers was like meeting a  celebrity for her even without Raven's comic status. "I actually have  some magic talent too, maybe you could show me some stuff?"

That...was  actually a really decent idea. Molly was the closest to Raven in terms  of ability out of everyone I knew of in this world. Empathy and psychic  stuff, brushed by darkness, though not so much in this timeline. Raven  could teach her a lot. Raven seemed to think the same thing because she  smiled kindly at the girl. "We'd have to talk to your parents but I  wouldn't mind showing you a thing or two. Let's go ask your mom about  it." She gave me a peck on the cheek and headed off with Molly. I was  relieved Molly had asked actually, I'd forgotten all about her magic  lessons with everything going on and I felt terrible about it.

I  sat down at the table with everyone else getting a grin from Harry as  he nodded over at the Big Foot back rides. "Look's like River decided on  a career change. I can't help but wonder what the world media would say  if they got pictures of Big Foot giving horsey rides at a back yard  barbecue?" Susan rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, who just grinned  disarmingly and winked at her. My mentor turned his attention back to me  "How are you feeling by the way kid? Hells Bells your man on fire  routine was terrifying. I thought you were going to die there for a  second, but you pulled through as always. That was a damn impressive  light show."

I  just shrugged "It wasn't a huge thing. He was definitely the biggest  challenge I've faced, even Shagnasty back in Colorado was less scary  since I had all of you with me, but I managed. I'm just glad that Inari  is safe now. Speaking of Inari, did you talk to either of her siblings?  How are they handling their old mans sudden but inevitable betrayal and  then death?" I was actually a bit concerned about that. I didn't want  Lara as an enemy, granted having seen us all throw down no way in hell  she would come at us from the front but that wasn't her style anyway.  Not worrying about a knife in the dark for the next several years would  be nice.

Harry  sighed, his face serious. "I talked to Thomas. Lara is...dealing.  Family means a lot to her, but Lord Raith's little speech there at the  end shook her loyalties a bit. She isn't mad at us, but Thomas said you  should probably steer clear for a bit while she gets everything together  within the court. He's got something to show me up at the estate today  after this though, and Susan is going with me so I can feel her out for  you." I was a bit surprised at that but Susan looked, anticipatory,  which was odd. Maybe the vampire three way thing would really happen for  Harry, good on him.

I  smiled at that, turning to Lily and Fix. "And it's great to see you  guys here as well. I trust all of your retainers and in good health?"  Having seen what those retainers could do I was assuming so but it  seemed polite to ask at least. "Jace helped us out quite a bit with  Raucus from what I hear, though I'm still mad at myself for letting  Mavra get away," None of the others had caught her leaving of course,  the craft old vampire had slipped the net, probably vanishing into an  escape tunnel or something. Harry had said he was going to tip the cops  after we cleaned the vamps out and Murphy probably still had people  searching them.

Lily  smiled beatifically, which I was becoming convinced was her version of a  poker face "They're all fine, it's lovely of you to ask. As for Mavra,  after losing a limb and the crown both, I imagine she'll be licking her  wounds for quite some time. Don't worry too much about her returning.  That arm of yours is quite fascinating. What a wonderful metal." She  glanced at my metallic limb, covered mostly with the plaid shirt almost  hungrily. Which made a perfect jumping off point for my next  conversational topic. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a thin bad  of godsteel I'd shaped to look like a ring of flowers.

Because  of the extreme malleability shaping it into intricate designs wasn't  very hard to manage. I'd been topped up on aura after so much rest and  nutrient fluid to repair my body, plus with the godsteel in me I  recharged faster than I had before and could hold much more of it.  Making a small ring for someone Lily's size wasn't tough. I grinned as I  saw her eyes light up at the sight of it. "That actually reminds me.  Perhaps you'd like to buy a piece. With the promise it'll be fore your  use only of course." She grinned, and the haggling began.