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**For All Things, A Price

By: VeronicaFoxx

For: Arrow**

Rich gave a half-hearted flutter as he was spat out of the reality warp a good twenty feet above the ground. Thankfully, Oberon had seen fit to fling him out of the fae realms with the thick branch of an old oak right in front of him. He grasped it with his talons and hung on tightly, backing air to keep himself from tumbling forward off of it. He was so stuffed from Angelmaris's feeding and the feast that followed that he probably looked more like a turkey than a hawk. He didn't care. He was home! At least supposedly. He would have to wait until he could actually fly again to actually confirm it, but it felt like home. It smelled like home in some undefinable way, despite the fact that his sense of smell as a hawk was slightly worse than as a human.

He was nearly jostled off of his branch when a second feathered form popped into existence behind him with a squawk. Wings batted at his back, and he ducked to get out of their way. Talons scrabbled against the branch beside him to get a hold. Then a wheezing, rounded, gold-feathered raptor was clinging to it beside him. She very definitely looked like a turkey, bloated with far more food than any bird should ever eat, so much so that she was having some trouble breathing. But she also looked incredibly happy. Blissful or ecstatic would have been accurate descriptions. She gaped her beak at him and sidled along the branch to preen at his neck and crest, making soft sounds of happiness as she did so.

It was nice. He'd have to disabuse her of the notion that she could be his mate sooner rather than later, but it was pleasant for the moment. Still... He did have to see if he really was home, if he really was free again. He pushed himself forward off of the branch to glide in a tight spiral towards the ground. The landing was a bit less graceful than he would have liked, but he also weighed at least five pounds more than he was used to thanks to the over-stuffing. He glanced back up to see if the former harpy was following, but she remained sitting on the branch above, head cocked to one side with curiosity.

Well, she'd find out what he was up to momentarily. If he was truly beyond the faerie lord's influence. It felt like it had been years since he had been human, but he had no idea how long it had really been. He focused on the little twist of magic that resided somewhere inside him, willing it to work like it was supposed to and was flooded with relief when the dulled cramping began to grip at his muscles. He had never been quite so happy to have the not-quite-pain sensations washing through him as his body grew and changed. In less than a minute, instead of a red-tailed hawk, he was a human once more. Naked and stranded in the middle of a forest somewhere, but human. He threw triumphant fists towards the sky and let out a joyful cry.

"Well, I'm just so glad that you're happy."

Richard nearly jumped out of his skin, and he was pretty sure that he sprained something in his haste to spin around and face the speaker. It was Angelmaris. The elfin humanoid wore a grumpy expression that was at odds with his androgenous beauty and the brightly colorful silk of his clothing.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the shifter demanded, his own expression turning sour at the sight of his former captor. He might not have the kind of magical ability that Angelmaris did, but he was at least a foot taller and far more muscular; he would fight, and fight hard, if the fae attempted to enslave him a second time.

"I did tell you that I wasn't done with you. I do not consider your family's debt paid, not even close! Oberon may have freed you, but I- GAH! BLASTED BIRD!"

Richard nearly fell over laughing as the fae danced and spat and wiped at his face, doing more to smear the muck around than clean it off. The golden hawk looked quite pleased with herself on the branch above the faerie lord, and her aim had been absolutely perfect. After a moment, the fae produced a large, lacy handkerchief to wipe his face clean, then glared up at the former harpy before very pointedly moving out from beneath her.

"You really should choose your battles more carefully, you... squab. With a snap of my fingers, I could send you to the depths of the Sahara or the antarctic."

"But you won't." Richard cut in. Angelmaris wasn't the kind to make threats that he couldn't fulfill, and he tended to act in haste to fulfill them. "Or you can't. She's free, free of all fae influence and free to lead her life. And her boon was to be with me, here, home, also free. So you can't interfere with either of those without incurring Oberon's wrath. And you're here without invitation, without being summoned, and almost certainly without permission. This is probably nothing more than a projection, and your real self is still back in Faerie, which means that you'll be nearly powerless right now."

"Ha! I have as much power as ever, Shard, and I'll prove it if you're not careful. I may not be able to put you back on your perch, but that doesn't mean that you're free of your responsibilities. I still have a hold on you. I will extract payment."

Richard glanced up at the harpy, then back down at Angelmaris as an idea occurred to him. He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, turning away from the fae dismissively.

"Yeah, right. If you could do anything to me, you already would have. I bet you couldn't even send us to my apartment, much less to the Sahara. You've got nothing, and I don't have time to deal with your whining. I need to figure out where we are."

"Whining? Whining?! How dare you?! I have just as much power as ever, you belligerent ingrate! You want to go to your apartment? Done!"

The fae snapped his fingers with a flourish, and the world seemed to sway for a moment, like standing on a subway train just as it started moving. The golden hawk let out a startled shriek, flapping frantically at the air, and there was an ear-shattering GONG sound along with a muted scream. Richard rocked on his feet, and was suddenly standing on the carpet of his living room. The harpy hit the floor and mantled her wings, looking around with frantic alarm before spotting him. She flapped up to perch on the arm of the couch, making anxious croaks, but he ignored her for the moment.

Stomping over to the front door, he yanked it open and looked down. Angelmaris lay curled up on the carpet outside in a fetal position. His face and hands had taken on a bruised hue that Richard was certain covered the fae's entire body. The shifter gave a quick glance down the hall outside to make sure there were no onlookers, then bent down to grab the faerie's ankle.

"You are not invited, I do not offer hospitality, and you are not granted guest rights," he snarled, then dragged the elfin lord inside with a quick yank before slamming the door shut.

Angelmaris just groaned, curling up even more tightly when Rich released him. That loud gong sound had been made by the magical wards on his apartment. It was the loudest he'd ever heard the alarm, but they seemed to have held and done their job properly since the fae had ended up outside the apartment rather than inside. Still ignoring the golden hawk, he stomped over to his bedroom and rifled through his emergency kit until he found what he was after: a long silver chain. He returned to the living room and wrapped the chain tightly around Angelmaris's wrists and ankles, binding the faerie as his prisoner. Then he flopped onto the couch with a groan-sigh of mingled frustration and relief.

"What in the hell am I going to do with you?" he asked the hawk that had been a mythological monster until very recently. "Do you even have a name? I can't just keep thinking of you as 'the harpy' now that you're... well, I guess you're my pet or something..."

The raptor glared at him. And then its head started to expand like a balloon. Richard let out a squawk of his own, and scrambled away from it. He started feeling like a complete idiot almost immediately afterwards. It wasn't like he hadn't seen other shifters change before. Though he wasn't exactly a social butterfly, he did know some fellow shifters and other members of the magical community. In short order, a human woman was perched on the arm of his couch rather than a bird. And he was thankful that it was a woman. Back during the race, she had transformed into a humanoid the size and general appearance of a child. Having a naked woman in his apartment was bad enough, but having a naked little girl would have been really, really bad.

"Crimson Gaze," she said, pointing to one of her eyes, the iris still retaining its blood red hue. "Not pet. Never pet. Never again. Mate."

At that last, she grinned brightly and pounced, landing with her feet thankfully on the couch cushions rather than his groin and her hands pinning his shoulders to the other couch arm. Then she flopped to lay her head on his chest, hugging her arms tightly around his waist, nuzzling against him and making happy little mewls.

"Oh boy... Uh... Crimson? Can... can you let go of me for a minute? I... I really need to get us both some clothes, okay?"

She glanced up at him with a look similar to that of a dog that had been accidentally stepped on, but she relaxed her grip enough for him to slip out of it. He went back to his bedroom and dug out two sets of sweats, though they were going to be a bit big on her. She was slightly shorter than himself and slender, mimicking her avian frame when she had been a harpy. He pulled on his own before returning to the living room and handing off the second pair. She tried to put the top on backwards, but she seemed to otherwise have a handle on things, which was a huge relief. It would have been far, far worse if he'd needed to teach her how to wear clothing on top of everything else, but this reinforced his previous intuition that she had been given human form before.

"Okay, so... You can... turn into a human." It was a stupid observation, but he couldn't really think of much else to say.

"Yes!" Crimson chirped in response. "Perfect mate! Human. Hawk. Perfect."

Angelmaris let out another groan, and she whipped around with a his, scuttling back to the other end of the couch to snarl down at the bound fae. Richard hastened to interpose himself. He didn't think she could actually kill the faerie, but he was rather sure that she'd give it a good try. Not that he blamed her. It would probably be a bad idea to have the death of a fae lord on his hands, though, not to mention the stain it would leave. He'd never get his security deposit back after that.

"Wait, Crimson!"

"Killlllll," she hissed, turning her attention back to the cowering, elf-like humanoid.

Angelmaris squirmed against the ground and whimpered. "Mercy! I beg mercy!"

The shifter glared down at him. He had to admit that the fae did look rather pathetic. The bruising on his skin was already starting to deepen towards black, his clothing rumpled, hair heavily windblown and mussed. It looked like he'd run straight into a brick wall, which was pretty much the whole point of the wards. Nothing with more magical power than Rich himself possessed would be able to enter without his invitation and would be stripped of most of their power if they managed to somehow get in despite that lack. Anything that could break through the wards would be so strong that he didn't stand a chance to begin with. Circumventing them might be possible, as Angelmaris had proven when he abducted the human to begin with, but getting through them was far more difficult.

"Mercy, huh? I should shove you in a closet for a few weeks and see how you like it. But, yeah, I'll be merciful. If I let you go, will you leave me the hell alone for the rest of my life? And Crimson, and my family, and my friends, and everyone I've ever met in my life?"

"I..." The fae glanced up at him, pained, then shook its head. "No. No, I can't. I'm sorry. Releasing me from imprisonment is not a fair exchange for saving the lives of your ancestors and blessing your line with the gift of change, especially with the additional stipulations that you included. If it were that simple, believe me, I would agree to it, but the exchange must be fair. I called the debt due, and it must be paid in full."

Well, that was... troubling. He had expected a far more evasive answer, but Angelmaris had been quite straightforward. It hinted that the deal his ancestors had made was much more complicated than the fae lord had originally led him to believe; simple verbal pacts were open to interpretation, but something like an actual written contract would be far less so. He had to push for more information.

"Okay, so let's upgrade that. How about your life? Bound and captive, you're almost helpless. She might actually be able to kill you, and you just heard that she wants to. Would saving you from that be enough?"

"In quite a number of other circumstances, that would be quite the laudable threat and a suitable payment, but it is unfortunately ineffectual in this instance. Firstly, I know that you would not allow her to do me that much harm. You have a good heart, Richard Gallian. A kind heart. A weak heart, in this particular case. You won't let your little pet kill me. You might let her attack me, but you would not allow her to kill. Secondly... no, that would not be of sufficient value to fulfill the agreement."

Despite the fact that his answer was even more troubling, Richard found himself smirking. "Aw, c'mon, you're not completely worthless," he jibed, earning a glare. "Don't sell yourself short! But okay. So, what would be enough?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Now, if you'll release me, I may take that into consideration when deciding whether or not to make the lives of your loved ones an absolute living hell for the rest of their pitiful existences in retribution for this offense."

Rich stared down at the fae, meeting the lord's glare with his own. "No deal. What would settle the debt? Tell me, and I'll think about letting you go."

Angelmaris's expression darkened further. If his face hadn't been black and blue already, it probably would have turned a vibrant shade of scarlet, but then he deflated and let out a defeated sigh.

"I can't. I can't tell you. I didn't think I would find myself in a predicament where it would be necessary to do so when the contract was made, and I insisted upon a specific addendum that I could under no circumstances be made to reveal the price to be paid. Humans have such short lives, and such short memories in general. I intended to wait for only three or four generations to pass, but I lost track of time in the mortal realm. Obviously, the first part of my plan worked wonderfully, since you have no idea what the cost of the bargain is, and I very much doubt that any of your living relatives do either.

"Unfortunately, that leaves us at an undesirable impasse. You cannot release me unless you are willing to suffer the consequences of failure to fulfill the contract, and I cannot provide you any knowledge regarding the requirements of doing so. I must therefore remain your prisoner, which I'm certain you understand will not be a pleasant experience for anyone involved. I do not intend to sit quietly in a corner and suck my thumb. And you cannot remain here all day, every day to keep watch over me for every second of wakefulness. Even if you enlist your little pet," Crimson hissed at the fae again, but he ignored her, "you can't keep me under constant observation and control, and I assure you that it would be necessary. I can and will escape, and things will only be worse when I do."

Richard groaned and wiped a hand across his face. "I have a feeling that you are going to tell me what can be done, and I'm probably not going to like it."

Angelmaris grinned up at him. "You can offer terms of parole, and I can agree to them, with some negotiation involved, of course. I'll remain your prisoner but be given a measure of freedom, which will make me far happier. You'll be able to limit my interference in the affairs of yourself and your loved ones, which will make you happier. Everyone wins!"

"Not everyone," Richard growled. "This sounds like it would need to include the rules of hospitality, or at least a version of them."

"That would be a rather good idea. Would you mind picking me up from the floor? It's rather uncomfortable, and I dislike negotiating from such a rather obvious position of inferiority, regardless of the fact that my position is going to remain inferior whether sitting, standing, or lying in the dust so long as these chains remain in place."

The shifter sighed, but he reached down to pick up the fae. He gently encouraged Crimson to move to the other end of the couch then set Angelmaris on it and sat down beside the faerie lord.

"Okay, then... Let's get this over with..." It was going to be a long negotiation, he could already tell...

The End

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