Black Wolf (68 page)

Shaine held up
both hands, palm out—for once making no effort at all to hide the
delicate webbing between his fingers. "Enough already. So I'll
spend a lot of time in the lake but I'll make sure I come
visit."

"Lots," Gisela
said.

"All right,
visit lots."

"Good," Bane
said, satisfied. "Then as soon as we get dominance order worked out
more permanently, it would seem we have a wolf-pack of seven—which
is the biggest one I know of. And everything will now work out
wonderfully, and we can all live happily ever after."

"Demon-luck..." Jaisan said hesitantly.

"It'll keep
life from getting boring," Kevin said.

"I'd love some
boredom," Bryan said wistfully. "Not forever, just for a
while."

Alfari, coiled
on his lap, purred agreement.

"Know
something?" Deanna said. "We've been long overdue for a party. We
have a whole long list of reasons."

"You're
absolutely right," Nick laughed. "Now sound like a good time?"

Jess groaned.
"Oh, god, not
another
party..."

"You always
survive," Liam teased.

While plans
were formed for a run to the store and other tasks, Jaisan glanced
up at him and smiled. "It's going to be good to have a home again,"
he murmured.

"Jess!" Deanna
called across the room. "Go raid music collections, would you? I
have to keep an eye on Kev... no way, phoenix, you don't do
anything in that kitchen without someone keeping an eye on you!"
She darted after the elvenmage, and Jess rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," Jess
said softly. "It's good to know where you belong. And this is it.
Come on, let me up, we've got a party to get going."

The
Quicksilver Sphynx

Miscellanea, June 1995

Nick 'Winter

If anybody's behind on
news, that fight we warned you was coming came, and was won. But
that isn't half the news that happened to
Sundark-Winter-Dandelion-etc in May.

Remember I challenged
anyone to prove to me that Alessandria Kore-Tremayne, Starluck's
wolf, had a seventh child that was fathered by a demon? I swear, I
am never going to ask for any such thing again. I got proof, all
right, in the form of three black wolves who can kill demons. If
you haven't met them yet, and you probably haven't because they're
very shy, Jesse's twin Jaisan and their sister Aindry showed up
just in time. To those outside Haven who've helped them while they
were alone, without knowing the whole story, just because they
needed it: thank you isn't enough. Just to confuse matters even
more, water has children too (who are not going to be pleased
when/if they discover that I'm telling you they exist), and we now
have one—Shaine, in fact—living in the lake. Nor is Coven
Whitethorn likely to be much of a threat for some time to come.
Whitethorn, incidentally, no longer includes Rebecca, who
apparently has decided to turn solitary.

I do
not
have enough room to tell you everything, but I'm
sure the whole wild tale will get around on its own, duly
exaggerated. Flynn's writing a story about it, and we'll make sure
everyone who wants to know the actual facts about Unity, about
demon-wolves, about Samantha's mysterious past, and about merenai
has access to a copy.

I do, however, need to
ask for help, not only of Haven but of all the villages and all our
friends. If there are any other survivors from Unity, whether alive
out there and hiding or dead since then that you know of, please
get ahold of us and tell us. Three demon-wolves (not to mention
Sam) would like very much to know what happened to their mother
(friend) Dena Kore-Tremayne, especially. Please, spread the word as
far as you can, and tell them the demons that killed Unity are
dead.

News other than that
I'm rather behind on, I've been a tad busy, but let's see what I
can tell you. There's one wild summer solstice party being planned,
a bonfire on the beach and all sorts of other stuff, get ahold of
Covens Blackrose or Prism for more info or if you have ideas.

Perdita 'Harpsong has
offered to give lessons to anyone interested in the use of song,
drum, and dance in trance-work. Depending on the response, it might
be individual or a group.

Haven has a new coven,
Coven Avalon, who are apparently staying here even after they all
finish at the college. Elsinore is a human healer from Aralu,
Hale's a wolf from Falias, Natalia is a dryad herbalist from
Irminsul, and Haven's own Pavel is (as we all know) a dryad
telepath. Blessed be, cousins, and love each other long and
well.

You'll have to live
without historical notes this month, I'm out of time. (Then again,
the simple fact that Alessandria's seventh child was real should be
enough history for anybody!) See you next month, and have a great
solstice!

Afterword

Thank you for
taking the time to visit one of my worlds! If you enjoyed it,
please consider leaving me a review at your favourite site, telling
your friends, or dropping me a line to let me know. Keep your eyes
open for more of my work!

~~Steph
Shangraw / prysmcat

Characters

Note: those
mentioned in the Quicksilver Sphynx but not appearing in the main
text are not listed

Jesse
,
our hero

In Haven:

Sundark:

Kevin
,
an elvenmage with a troubled past

Deanna
,
a dryad kitchen-witch who is loyal to her friends

Bane
,
an alpha wolf

Cynthia
, a witch with an affinity for air

, who acquires
a feline friend,
Hob

Flynn
,
a seer, originally from Scarborough, lives alone with his mother
Isleen

Winter:

Evaline
, an alpha bitch

Liam
, a
dryad healer, Deanna's cousin

Nick
, a
witch with an affinity for water, who acquires a feline friend,
Malta

Sonja
,
a human with an unusual set of psychic gifts

Dandelion:

Bryan
,
a wolf, Bane's brother, Sam's closest friend and roommate

Naomi
,
a blind witch with an affinity for earth, who has a husky
familiar/guide dog,
Gwyn

Lori
,
an elvenmage, Kevin's cousin

Solitary friends of
Sundark-Winter-Dandelion:

Samantha
, whose past is a mystery, and who has a feline
friend,
Alfari

Gisela
,
a dryad healer, Deanna's sister

Caitryn
, a wolf bitch

Whitethorn:

Rebecca
, an alpha bitch with social claustrophobia

Karl
, a
wolf

Moira
,
an elvenmage

Avryl
,
a witch addicted to esoteric books

Duayne
,
an elf who studies questionable subjects

Others in Haven:

Tomas
,
an elvenmage Adept, Kevin's teacher, who runs the Brewery

Katherine
, an elvenmage Adept, of Coven Firedrake

Claudia
and
Nyssa
, full-time waitresses at the Brewery

Sylvia
,
Rebecca's aunt

Adam
,
bank manager

Mandisa
, dryad healer and Haven's official doctor

Zarah
,
in Coven Helix, one of Deanna and Gisela's parents

Outside of Haven:

Shaine
,
Jesse's friend and roommate in the city

Aindry
,
a homeless alpha bitch

Jaisan
,
Aindry's brother

Patrick
Lucian
, a solitary elvenmage with questionable priorities

Troy
, a
dryad who isn't where he should be

Wynne
,
a runaway elf

Jake
, a
high school sports star with a major vulnerability

Pamela
,
a woman who attracts the wrong sort of man

Lew
,
Shaine's cousin, not seen in years

Dena
Kore-Tremayne
, an alpha bitch widowed with three children

Floria
,
a motherly dryad in Falias who offers hospitality

Ian
, an
alpha wolf, in Floria's coven

Wren
, a
human healer, in Floria's coven

various demons
including
Sikial

various predators

various
cats

About the Author

Steph Shangraw
lives in southeastern Ontario, Canada, with three rescued cats and
their other human minion. In the limited time spent not writing
fantasy, she makes handmade cat toys, runs a lolanimals website for
her friends to play on, tries to keep up with a writing blog, and
of course serves her feline overlords. She started writing over 25
years ago, offered several novels on her website for her friends,
and is finally venturing into "real" self-publishing.

For more info,
other work, or to contact her, visit:
www.prysmcat.com