One night, at approximately three o?clock in the morning, Skyler and Gasher were alone in the luxurious lounge of the Hotel Ritz, boozing on vodka and exchanging dirty jokes. Tommy had already gone up to his suite for the night with no less than three young ladies, leaving the Vile Villain and the shy sorcerer to their own devices. Gasher was without his sombrero tonight. He had gotten to know Tommy and Skyler quite well by now, and was comfortable having it off around them. Skyler was reclining in an arm chair before the hearth. Gasher sat at a table to his side, his feet propped up over the scattered remnants of an earlier card game. They were nude playing cards, and the shy sorcerer was idly thumbing through them, tossing them aside carelessly one by one after giving each a good long gander.

Skyler was stupidly drunk, holding a glass of vodka in his hand, his fifteenth or sixteenth of the night. His joke to Gasher was slurred out in an almost unintelligible blur. ?An Irish man walks into a bar. The bartender looks at him and notices he has a steering wheel stuck down the front of his pants. "Hey," he says, "What's with the steering wheel down your pants?" "Ach," says the Irish man, "it's drivin' me nuts!"

Gasher threw back his head and howled with laughter, almost falling back out of his chair. Skyler slapped his knee and roared along with him. They laughed for a good five minutes on that one, the humor amplified by the ridiculous quantities of alcohol flowing through them.

Even though it was very late, Skyler was still restless. ?Hey, Gasher. Let?s go see if Jewell wants to play.?

?Umm, it?s three a.m., Sky. She?s probably asleep.? Jewell sort of intimidated the sorcerer and he was not too eager to pay a social call at this late hour.

?Well if she is let?s wake her up!? Skyler got up, slammed back the rest of his vodka and began pulling at Gasher. ?Come on, dude!?

?Awwright, awwright,? Gasher complied, rising.

They left the hotel and stumbled their way down RhyDin?s dark streets until they got to the Red Dragon Inn, Jewell?s temporary residence. When they arrived inside, the common room was empty. The two teenagers crept up the stairs and paused outside Jewell?s door, pressing their ears up against it. They heard nothing.

?See? I told you, Sky. She?s sleeping, let?s do something else.? Gasher looked around apprehensively.

?Hold on, dude, hold on. I got an idea,? Skyler tittered. Then he rapped firmly on the door several times and announced in a high, fake female voice, ?Room service!?

Skyler and Gasher snickered like hyenas and scampered down the hall. They paused just around the corner, ready to bolt if needed, waiting to see if Jewell had heard and what she would do. Their hands were clamped over their mouths to stifle any errant laughter.

There they poised, listening . . .

The moment Jewell?s door busted open loudly enough to wake the dead, Skyler and Gasher knew they were in deep shit. They had just enough time to look into each other?s eyes with dumbfounded disbelief before the blaster roared. They collided against each other in their attempt to bolt, lost their balance and tumbled down the steps in a heap of limbs. Skyler was the unlucky one. One of the blaster?s shots didn?t quite strike him, but its impact on the floor was close enough to his feet to catch the soles of his boots on fire.

When Skyler finally reached the bottom of the steps he was in a fair amount of pain, but it was all forgotten when he looked down and saw tongues of flame licking up from the bottom of his feet. He sprang up, kicking his heels against the floor like a tap dancer, trying to snuff out the flames. ?Gasher! Help me, man. Gasher! Wake up!?

The sorcerer had nearly been knocked unconscious, having thumped his head on the floor when he landed. He blinked upward with glassy eyes, hearing Skyler shout at him from some far off place. ?Sky??

?Wake up, you mother cracker! I?m on fire!? Skyler?s feet were growing very, very hot in his boots.

Gasher rolled over on his side and peered at Skyler through a thick haze, like a dream. ?What??

Panic-stricken, Skyler lost patience and dashed out the front door. He pranced across the lawn and leapt into a mud puddle. As the flames hissed out, the water rinsed through his boots to cool his feet.

He stood in the puddle for a long time, panting, hands on his knees. Gasher came wandering out after a while, rubbing his head as he approached the other boy. They stared at each other dazedly for a long moment.

?Nothing?ll sober you up quite as fast as your feet catching on fire,? Skyler observed.

?Yeah. Oh, man, she was pissed,? said Gasher.

Skyler shook his head with incredulity. ?She?s so, so awesome.? Although the woman had nearly fried him, the boy marveled at her ferocity.

Gasher didn?t respond to that.

?That was a pretty dumb idea, though,? Skyler admitted.

?Uh-huh. That may have been one of the dumbest ideas you?ve ever had. Major backfire.? The sorcerer winced as he rubbed the back of his head, discovering a quickly rising knot. ?Good thing she didn?t see it was you, though. You?d get your ass kicked later on for sure. Geez . . . that lady terrifies me.?


?Sheesh, Gasher, you pussy. Not me. She may be able to roar like a lion, but I can still make her purr like a kitten,? Skyler announced proudly.

Gasher watched him skeptically. ?If you say so, Sky.?

?Dude,? he exclaimed, changing the subject. ?I didn?t even know she had one of those space age guns! I can?t wait to play around with it. C?mon. Let?s get out of here before someone sees us.?

?Yeah.?

They staggered back up the street, into the rising dawn.

Jewell slept in late after the night she had. In healing Brian, she had come dangerously close to hurting herself. The rage she felt over the fact that it was Alex and Lain who had done that to her brother was seething inside her. It had been a long time since she had seen Brian so close to death and it was far from pleasant. When all she had wanted to do was go and pass out, Natalia had to intervene. She had been avoiding The Rose all night and when that soft hand had clamped down on her shoulder, she had wanted to scream.

The Lord DeAuster had been so kind as to give her a healing draught that had allowed her to get halfway to her room with Issy?s help. It was there that she was waylaid by The Rose once more. Words were exchanged and tears were shed on Jewell?s side once more. Skyler arrived and it was only then that she could go upstairs and sleep while he exchanged words with Issy.

Her young love had been there, in the Inn, to meet her in the early afternoon when she finally woke. The healing draught had done wonders, she felt much better than she usually did after such a massive healing. Skyler and Jewell exchanged sweet words, reassuring one another and brushing away some of those insecurities couples often faced. Lucy interrupted, apologizing for all she had done and insisting that whatever Jewell requested within reason she would do. The Empress, in turn, demanded a fix for Alex but Lucy had said that it was Jewell who had made him what he was.

The comment nagged despite the reassurance she received from Skyler. Yet, it did not prevent them, prevent her, from having a perfectly satisfying afternoon together. She fell back into a healing sleep that lasted into the early evening, departing from her room once more to handle a few business matters in regards to her house.

Night had fallen by the time she returned, bone weary once again. A full night?s rest and perhaps she could have revenge?or fix whatever it was that she had done. Lucy?s comment about Alex had returned to her again and again throughout the evening. She wanted to curl into bed and pray for forgetfulness once more and prepared to do so the second she stepped inside her room. Evening clothes were exchanged for that t-shirt and underwear combination, the heat of the city was stifling in anything else.

She climbed between the sheets, determined to sleep, and shut her eyes. That plan of action was soon abandoned, it was too damn hot! With a strangled cry, she through her top blanket off. It was only then that she became aware of her bedmate. It was certainly not the type she preferred to share her bed with. Jewell enjoyed males (though she certainly couldn?t tell if the spider was male or female) with only two legs and less hair. When she saw this new bedmate, she did indeed scream.

Yes, that?s right, the Empress, Miss I?m-not-afraid-of-anything-I?ve-been-bitten-by-an- orc-and-killed-tons-of-people screamed at seeing this spider. To her credit, she had never seen its like before and was completely unaware of its lack of a poisonous nature. She didn?t even care to note that it was a spider. In her fright, a burst of silver and blue dust caused wings to spring from her back and lift her up until her body pressed horizontally against the ceiling. If only she had thought to grab her dagger first, she would hardly have needed to continue screaming for help.

If only she had realized that Skyler?s prank from the other night, which he had owned up to that very day, was not a one-time thing she would have considered kicking his ass.

From the second Skyler stepped into the room, his damsel in distress was suspicious. Yet, the suspicion was mingled with relief because here was someone to save her from the terrible scary spider-monster that was an interloper in her bed. Why did it matter why he had been nearby enough to hear her cries for help?

As Skyler grabbed the spider, she felt it safe to start lowering herself down a little with a flutter of her wings. They sprinkled a fair amount of dust everywhere, which disappeared moments after it touched any surface. When it touched skin, she had been told it felt like a tickle or butterfly kisses.

Her relief at being able to come down quickly turned to horror as Skyler opened the window and tossed the spider out! Right out the window, just like that! Woo, astronaut spider! She gasped and sputtered. Sure, it had been an evil monster that could have ended her life in horrible, unpleasant ways?but it was a live bug! She swore she could it cry, ?Heeeelllllllppppppppp!? as it soared into the sky.

She came down as he suggested, eyes gazing out the window. She turned to look at him and pointed towards where the spider had recently learned to fly, ?You just tossed that poor thing out the window!?

But, smart man that he was, Skyler complimented her wings and she was instantly distracted. She turned about so those silver wings with light blue veins could be viewed at all angles. Her wings were a trait of personal pride and she loved showing them off. Normally she looked different, inhuman, with her pointed ears and slight build. With her wings, she looked ethereal. An insulted pout at him after she had spun about, ?Of course they?re real! All faeries have wings, but mine are the prettiest.? She turned to face the mirror so she could gaze admiringly at herself for a moment.