The Fox’s Tale

As I struggled to get to my feet a full on, bench clearing fight broke out between the two teams, with Ellery dead center. The refs and our coaches had no success in breaking things up.

The fans were going crazy, only held back by the police and some of Coach Murphy’s magic. The guy who had grabbed Ellery was now on his knees screaming because she’d dislocated his elbow.

Someone else grabbed her from behind and got a broken nose for his trouble. Three guys were attacking Lee and Grant; Nick and Scott had joined forces to take on the two who were ganging up on Matt, and as Ellery ran towards me to help get me to safety Coach Monroe entered the fray by backhanding her.

“You little bitch!”

Ellery’s eyes flashed black and she slashed her arms in front of her freezing everyone in the gym except the two of us and the bastard in her sights. I recognized the trick as a variation of what Principal Reilly had used.

“Derrick Monroe you and yours have sinned against House Sinclair and House Thorn. Your day of judgment is upon you.”

Coach Monroe’s eyes darted around as he realized just what he was facing. “A fucking Fae? Hendrix has a fucking Fae on his side? I’ll have his job for this. I’ll have all his wins vacated and your pretty little ass beaten bright red.”

Ellery’s wings ripped through her shirt, almost entirely black. Coach Monroe yelped and stumbled backwards onto the ground. “Not just any Fae, the fucking Fae.” She walked towards him and bent down towards his face. He had the sense to cower, but it only emboldened Ellery.

“I know exactly what you are, Derrick Monroe.” She swung her head towards Levi and grinned. “Tell me, do you know what the punishment is for attempted murder of a member of the Royal Houses of the Fae?”

“Murder? What are you talking about?”

Ellery reached up and pulled a four inch long sliver of silver from her shoulder. “Your son has just stabbed the Crown Princess of the Unseelie.”

Coach Monroe blanched. “No. No… he wouldn’t have.”

“Oh, but he did, because I got between him and his intended target, my Other.” She dropped the weapon on the ground in front of him. “Fortunately, silver doesn’t harm me.” She grabbed him by his tie and pulled him to his knees. “Tell me, how did Levi know to use this type of weapon on my Other?”

“I don’t know,” he choked out.

“Shall I ask him?” Ellery’s voice came out in a harsh rasp.

“Please…please don’t hurt him. He’s my only child.”

“Please don’t. Someone else said please don’t to you, but you ignored her pleas didn’t you, Derrick?”

“How do you?” Coach Monroe looked around frantically. “How do you know that?”

“Ginny trusted you Derrick and you betrayed that trust. Confess to raping her and I will spare Levi’s life.”

He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head. “You’ve got no proof,” he hissed out through clenched teeth.

“Oh, I have proof, just not the kind that will stand up in a human court of law. The Unseelie courts, on the other hand, are far more accommodating, and since Ginny was a Changeling she was under the protection of the Unseelie.”

“I didn’t know! If I had known I wouldn’t have touched her.”

“No, you’d have just picked someone else to defile. You’re a rapist, Derrick, and a pedophile. Make your choice, but before you speak remember this, the Unseelie don’t use prisons made of stone and,” Ellery turned her gaze to Levi’s frozen form, “have no law against cruel or unusual punishment.”

She stalked towards Levi. “I think I’ll suggest transfiguration.” She ran a finger down his frozen face. “He’d make an adorable goat. I mean, he’s already half goat anyway, isn’t he?” She glared at Derrick. “Shift, you damn bastard!”

Derrick cried out as horns sprouted from his head and his shoes were shredded by hooves. He glared up at Ellery. “Are you happy now, bitch?”

Ellery hissed and I finally spoke. “Shut the fuck up dude.” His eyes darted to me and then back to Ellery. I walked over to her and reached for her hand. “Ellery, baby, you need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” She turned her attention to me and I could see she was in an almost feral Fae state. “He is a rapist and his son tried to murder you. I want them to suffer agonies.” Her voice was raspy and her eyes were silver.

“And they will, at least, he will.” I nodded at Derrick. “I tipped off the cops about his stash of child porn at his house and his office.”

Ellery looked at me in surprise, her eyes regaining some of their normal color, while Coach Monroe made a strangled sort of shout. I shrugged.

“Rhiannon is a whiz with computers. When I explained the situation to her she was only too happy to help. Don’t forget, my parents are both lawyers, I know how to work with law enforcement. By my calculations, they should be showing up with a warrant for his arrest whenever you start time up again.”

I pressed my forehead to hers and whispered, “he’s going to pay, come back to me, Princess.”

Ellery inhaled deeply and her wings retracted. Her voice was almost normal when she spoke again. “But Levi still needs to be punished.”

I looked at Levi and grimaced. “I’m pretty sure you broke his cheekbone. If he sneezes he’s going to pop his eye out of the socket. Besides, you cursed him to hell, didn’t you?”

I'd been working on my Gaelic so I could understand her and her family when they used it. She'd definitely invoked the Devil.

Ellery laughed and that’s when Derrick lunged for her. I shoved Ellery out of the way and laid him out with an uppercut to his chin.

“You’ll keep your filthy fucking hands off my wife, you disgusting pedo.” He responded with a groan. Ellery unfroze time, and the fight was finally brought under control.

The police and the EMT’s spent two hours trying to take care of everyone, get their statements and sort the whole mess out. Coach Monroe was taken away in handcuffs; however most of the other assault charges were dropped when the players declined to press charges.

The lone exception was Levi who kept insisting that Ellery needed to be arrested. He called her every name in the book, fighting against the EMTs that were trying to treat him, until they finally had to sedate him.

As he was slipping out of consciousness I heard him slur “he promised me I could have her if I just got rid of you. He promised.”

I made a mental note to have Lucas pay him a visit in the hospital. Emerson came strolling in around the one hour mark which helped to smooth everything over, and then Fitz showed up to make sure both Ellery and I were healing properly.