Daniel’s heart danced at the prospect but he could tell that something was wrong. He cocked his head as her expression had changed to worry. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” He lay back down next to her and listened as she related everything that had happened from the Werewolves kidnapping, raping, and killing a maiden, to the Vampires who’d brought the maiden’s body back, to the Queen’s declaration. At first Daniel was skeptical at first but then took the whole thing serious when he remembered that he did just have sex with a woman who had yet to use the front door to get into his apartment. “Wow,” he said at last as he digested the information. It was a lot to take in at once but his beautiful maiden had a pleading look in her eyes as she waited for his answer. He finally nodded and smiled at her. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up if it meant being with her all the time. “Uhm, I’ll have to make some arrangements real quick. But then again, it’s not like I have a lot to pack,” he said, glancing around the apartment.”You will not need anything,” Lily said, overjoyed that he accepted. “Besides, you’ve already terminated your previous position.””How the hell did you know that?””I put the suggestion into your mind right before I came here to you.”Daniel rocked back at that. “But that was last night!”Lily looked confused again. “Yes… right after the Queen had given us our orders.” She cocked her head to the side as she struggled with the Human frame of reference. “Ah, yes, it would have been the previous night for you since I can only move as fast as the cold winds can take me, which is still faster than any of your adorable human conveyances.”While Daniel struggled to wrap his mind around that, Lily stood up and walked around the bed to him. She took his hands into hers and pulled him to his feet. “Are you ready?” she asked, the air around them seeming to swirl. Daniel watched in amazement as her clothes seemed to vanish until she was standing before him as naked as he was. “Ready?” she asked him with a smile. Daniel nodded once, unsure as to what was about to happen. Lily took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her naked body to his. “Hold on tightly!” With that, the air roared inside of the apartment as the wind gathered them up and blew them both out of the window that continued flapping in the cold arctic breeze long after they were gone.***”Geez, and I thought that it was cold back in Alaska,” Daniel said the moment he and Lily arrived at the Ice Palace. Teeth chattering, he wrapped his arms around himself and started rubbing his biceps in an effort to get warm. He swore that his balls had just crawled back up into his body to the point of burrowing into his stomach.”Oh!” Lily exclaimed. “Sorry! I forgot that you’re just human. Here,” she swirled her hands around. The icy wind with snow wrapped around them both tightly. When the air cleared, Lily was back in her normal white leather clothes. Daniel was clad in a white leather breastplate that was cut off at the midsection and had white furs across his shoulder and down his back like a cloak. To complete the tribal look he had on white leather and furs shorts as well as white furred leather boots that came up to his knees. “I look like some wild man that got lost in the arctic,” he commented on his new attire. “Your people actually wear this?”Lily nodded, pleased at her work. “It’s the standard garb for all of our warriors. Do you like it?””I’m still cold, Lily, I was looking for something a little more… practical? Maybe something that covers my legs up completely?”Lily cocked her head as she contemplated the request. “Right! You humans are always wearing those things that completely cover up your lower bodies. What are those called again?””You mean pants?””Yes! That’s it!” Lily made a gesture and white furred leggings encased the rest of his bare skin from the waist down. Daniel sighed as he resigned himself to whatever passed as the fashion police around here. Ah, fuck it, he thought, at least I’m warmer now. Lily grabbed his arm and led him forward. “Come, I want you to meet the Queen. She wants to see all of the Champions that we’ve chosen.”They walked into the throne room and Daniel could not help but be impressed by the grandness. The place was like it was straight out of a fantasy movie complete with ornate ice columns lining the hall and ice chandeliers dangling from the ceiling. He whistled in amazement. “You live here?””This is just the main entrance, do you like it?” she asked him. He could just nod as he took it all in and Lily smiled. “Great! I hoped that you would. “They waited at the end of the receiving line for only a moment as the Queen inspected and blessed each of her Maiden’s choices for their Champion. When it was finally their turn, the Queen’s eyes narrowed, zeroing in on him as they walked up. Daniel had the feeling of being a bug inspected under a microscope. “Who is this?” the Queen asked, her cheerful demeanor now gone.”This is my Champion; Daniel Butler of Alaska.” Lily said proudly.”A human!” The Queen recoiled with a gasp. “You brought a human here?”Lily shrugged much like she’d seen Daniel do. “We’ve had humans here before. We just had a couple of them bring back one of my sisters.””Those were duly appointed representatives of the Vampiric Nation. That’s not the same as bringing one here to stay as your Champion!””He helped me when I was in danger last season. He stepped up to defend me when no one else did.”The Queen’s eyes widened even more. “THIS is the human that you consorted with?””I feel like I’m missing something here,” Daniel said cautiously. Fae, Werewolves, and now Vampires? What was next, people who could do magic?”Silence, mortal. You have no standing here.” The Queen said, her anger briefly transferring to him before going back to Lily. “What do you have to say for yourself?””You said that our Champion was our choice!” Lily said. “You never specified who that had to be or what they had to be.””It was assumed that you would choose one of our kind, not one of his kind.” The Queen said evenly. She waved her hand to her guards. “Get the uninvited moral out of here,” she said as her gaze fixated on Lily. “As for you, you will choose another Champion and it will be one from our kind.”Daniel saw the two guards that were flanking the throne bring their spears down into a ready position and advance on him amid Lily’s protests to hold the Queen to her original edict. He mentally drowned out the argument between Lily and the Queen as he focused on the incoming guards. The one on his right got to him a moment before the other one did and Daniel used that opportunity to go on the offensive. He had no clue what was going on but he was not about to leave Lily without a fight, not that he’d been reunited with her after all of this time. When the guard got close, he gave a little thrust with his spear to get Daniel moving. Daniel’s hand shot out to grab the spear where the head met the shaft and pulled hard. The off balanced guard pitched forward and Daniel planted his knee into the guard’s midsection. He let the spear continue its momentum past him as he rolled his wrist. Daniel whipped the spear around his head, using his neck as a fulcrum, to bring the shaft down across the face of the guard on the left. The wood shattered under the force of the blow and both guards were now down at his feet.