Athena blushed.
“It’s not quite like that,” KC spoke up. “Bigamy, after all, is illegal, but consensual master/servant bonding isn’t under the Seelie Council Charter or the Roman Accords.”
“I’m half wood nymph on my mother’s side,” Athena offered, “which has straddled me with a rather harsh physical compulsion geas tied to my Olympian side. I’m a Cupid, too.”
“I figured out that it was a ‘sins of the father’ sort of thing,” Mack said. “Her biological father was commitment phobic to an extreme.”
“An almost typical Olympian trait in my experience,” Ronnie scoffed.
Mack blinked. “Yeah, well, it’s new to me. Anyway, the Fae and Olympian sides interacted to create a geas that basically turns Athena into her hated biological father once a month. What we came up with was a bonding.”
“Which is a commitment of a level with marriage,” Ronnie nodded in understanding.
“It counteracted the geas, and come the first Saturday of next month, I won’t go into heat like I have every month since puberty,” Athena sighed happily.
“So, what are you calling yourself? Handmaiden?” Ronnie teased.
“Consort,” KC said.
Athena rolled her eyes. “I wanted ‘concubine’ or ‘willing love slave’, but, no, these two wanted to keep it ‘respectable’. I’m a lawyer. Lawyers don’t do respectable.”
“I’ve seen your Legal Beagle review,” Ronnie admitted. “You’re respectable for a lawyer.”
Athena blushed slightly. “Thank you.”
“So, because I’m old and get away with asking these things, what’s the, um, ‘arrangement’ like for you as the Consort? I do mean sexually,” Ronnie asked.
“I am blissfully celibate,” Athena sighed.
“Come again?”
“Ever since puberty I’ve been very sexually active. Thankfully, the positive aspect of being a Cupid is that I’m immune to venereal diseases, and my geas actually actively prevented me from becoming pregnant. I honestly don’t remember who I gave my virginity up to or even how good or likely bad it was. Sex has been like an addiction my whole life. Even when I wasn’t under the influence of my geas, I would seek out sexual encounters, pushing the envelope further and further. I have done things that I am not proud of. With the bonding, though, I’m not driven by sex any longer. I can let my relationships develop naturally now, and I like how that feels. It feels like love.”
“Celibacy, however, does not preclude snuggling,” KC declared with a grin.
“No, it doesn’t, and let me tell you, Billy is a world class snuggle buddy,” Athena confirmed. “I love being his auntie.”
“So, instead of a second wife, I got an au pair who doubles as my lawyer,” Mack snickered.
“You may not be typical of modern-day America, but you’d fit right in with the Ard Sidhe in Tir nan Og,” Ronnie mused. “I’ve got an aunt in Lake Brulay, that’s sort of analogous to Ontario, Minnesota, and Michigan combined, anyway, I’ve got this aunt who has three consorts, two guys and a girl, never married any of them, but has heirs by all three of them.”
“How can she have an heir by another woman?” Pilar gasped.
“High elves can shapeshift between being male and female,” Mack said. “I imagine she’s fathered and mothered children with all three of them.”
“Shut. Up.”
“No, he’s right. That’s exactly how it happens. Lots of the immortal high elves get bored and will switch genders, sexual orientations, even race and species just to get their jollies,” Ronnie confirmed. “And that’s in an officially Seelie Realm. I don’t care to think what the Unseelie over in Svartalfheim or Winterdeep are up to.”
“The same thing only they take open pride in it instead of secret shame,” Mack said.
Ronnie blinked. “You sound a lot like my friend Gideon right now.” Then, she gave herself a shake. “Okay, enough of this chit-chat. I’ve got to hit the road. This trip was Arthur’s idea, a way for us to get to know Cass and Cass to get better acquainted with a North America that’s completely different from his own.”
“No need to rush. Billy and Lincoln are getting on like a house on fire, and your menfolk seem to be enjoying learning horseshoes from my brothers,” Mack said.
“Got a schedule to keep and a job to do. Speaking of the job, I find myself temporarily in charge of two different regions of the U.S. at the moment. We’re still understaffed from Helloween 18 last year, and last week we took major casualties fighting a Fallen Angel...”
“What?” everyone else on the bus exclaimed.
“Oh, yeah, it happened, but we cast a veil over the entire Jackson Hole valley. Three dragons fighting an angel...”
“Hold on! How are you alive?” Mack demanded.
“The angel surrendered when he was finally able. Anyhow, we lost several agents and many more were injured, which leaves me with a need for an outside contractor down in New Mexico,” Ronnie said.
“What's the target and where in New Mexico?” Mack asked.
“Albuquerque and no jokes about missed left turns...”
“Aw, really?” KC whined.
“Sorry to disappoint. The target is a demon, and I mean a real, material demon, not a spirit possessing a vessel,” Ronnie said.
“Demon have a name or a type we can research?” KC asked in a suddenly serious tone.
“The name attached to it is ‘Hasturaddon’, but we’re certain that isn’t its True Name.”
“What’s its schtick?” Mack asked. “Corruption? Temptation? What?”
“It’s a straight up predator. All it wants to do is feed and sleep. Gorges itself on human flesh and life force. Then, it hunkers down for a long nap, two decades between meals.”
“What vector does it use to consume life force?” KC asked.
“Fear. It likes to terrorize its victims, sometimes for days before it kills them and eats their bodies. The only remains we have ever found are piles of noxious green shit filled with bones, hair, finger- and toenails, and teeth.”
“What’s the time frame to hunt this thing?” Mack asked.
“That’s where you’re lucky. Well, lucky-ish. Hasturaddon likes summertime. Its last rampage was in Albuquerque in July of 1999. It’ll wake up next month, if it continues to follow its pattern, wherever it hunkered down there, and it’ll start its rampage. Hasturaddon is mobile. It’ll move, but it’ll stick to the Southwest; must remind it of hell or something. If you can’t catch up to it and kill it, at least pinpoint as close as you can where it hunkers down. I’ll have a team in place in 2039 to finish the job. Look, I’ll be honest with you. I first got wind of Hasturaddon back in the 1800s, and I’ve sent posses after it every twenty years since. Joined a few myself, but this thing keeps eluding me, and that’s starting to piss me off.”
“You’ve got the right team for the job,” KC assured her. “Between my intuitions and Liam’s ability to sense evil spirits, we should be able to track Hasturaddon down for you, and Mack can, well, pretty much kill anything once he sets his mind to it.”
“However, not to put too fine of a point on it, we are doing this for the money,” Athena said. “For the greater good, of course, but mostly for the money.”
“My Consort is correct,” KC chuckled. “What’s the pay out?”
“Standard bounty for a Type 11A Materialized Free Demon, 200 plus years old.”
KC and Mack’s eyes widened.
“What? What’s with the look?” Pilar demanded.
Athena stood up and grabbed a beer from the fridge and handed it to Pilar. “That look is because that particular bounty, at minimum, will keep us in the black for the rest of 2019 and well into 2020.”
“Assuming we kill the thing,” Mack clarified.
“I’ll pay half the bounty out of my own pocket if you can just nail down its next lair to a specific town,” Ronnie offered.
“That’s very generous of you,” Mack nodded.
“No
, Mack, generous is I’ll still pay you that half on top of the regular bounty as a personal bonus from me,” Ronnie stated bluntly. “That’s what my piece of mind is worth.”
“Then, we’ll be in Albuquerque on the first day of July,” Mack promised.
Ronnie nodded. “That will do because the demonic bastard always wakes up on the Fourth of July.”
“Don’t worry, Ronnie. We’ll get you that piece of mind, and thank you for thinking of us, specifically, for the job,” Mack said.
Ronnie smiled. “Oh, you’ve figured that out, have you?”
Mack nodded. “Alpha lives in Albuquerque.”
Chapter Sixteen
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saturday, June 29, 2019
MAC & MAC ENTERPRISES set up their base camp at a KOA in the northern suburbs of Albuquerque proper. They had arrived the night before in a convoy that consisted of Red Leader towing the Airstream, Big Red with its camper, and Athena’s unnamed Lexus bringing up the rear. A healthy cash “gratuity” to the campground manager had silenced any questions the woman had about why these vacationers had so many vehicles as well as insuring that their anonymity was secured. The trailer and the truck bed camper had adjoining spots fairly close to the brew-pub that was associated with the campground.
“Can I go meet some of the other kids and play?” Billy asked over breakfast.
“We have to have a little talk, first,” Mack said as he placed an omelet in front of the boy. “This is a working trip for us. Do you understand?”
Billy nodded. “You’re here to hunt that demon monster Lincoln’s mom wants killed.”
“Yes,” Mack confirmed with a smile as he sat down in the dinette across from Billy.
“And you’re worried about how safe I’ll be.”
“Of course, little partner, and not just because of this monster. The green haired lady, the one who tried to kill me, KC, and Athena, and killed Uncle Ebenezer, she lives here with her father. She might try to hurt us by hurting you.”
“If she finds out you’re here.”
“Her finding out we’re in town is part of my plan.”
Billy stopped eating and stared at Mack. “Dad, why would you want that?”
Mack smiled at Billy’s use of the honorific. “Because I need to confront her and put her down for killing Ebenezer and to protect you.”
“Can’t the police arrest her?”
“Not without evidence of her crimes. Besides, she’s a monster like me. Any police that tried to arrest her, she’d kill. Me? I’m a much tougher nut to crack. My fighting her saves innocent lives, but I can’t fight her to my full potential if I am worried about you.”
Billy’s eyes widened. “Does this mean you’re gonna let me use my legs?”
“Here’s how it’s gonna work, Billy the Kid: you are gonna stick to Auntie Athena the whole time we’re here. She is the boss of you, got it?”
Billy nodded. He and Athena shared the bunk. He slept in the upper, and she slept in the lower, and sometimes, the two of them would snuggle in the lower bunk together, and Auntie Athena would read him stories until they both fell asleep. She was like a third parent, which made Billy feel extra lucky. He’d gone from two parents to no parents to three parents; maybe five if he counted Auntie Pilar and Uncle Liam.
“Chase those mental rabbits on your own time, son,” Mack chided gently.
Billy blushed. “Yes, sir.”
“I’m giving Athena control of your Jaunting. If she tells you to Jaunt, you Jaunt straight to Uncle Silas and Aunt Rosalee, understand?”
Billy nodded with the most serious face he could control. Ebenezer Llewellyn had enchanted several powers into Billy’s silver legs. The simplest, or course, was the fact that the metal and wood legs returned the ability to walk to the boy. Then, the legs could glamour themselves to look like his real legs. The next enchantment was the one that had turned Billy from a moderately clumsy child into a gifted athlete and gymnast. Finally, there were the enhanced movement powers.
When activated Lightning Step gave him superhuman speed and reflexes. He could outrun a horse at full gallop, and Aunt Presley had used a radar gun to clock him running at forty-five miles an hour. After Lightning Step came Long Stepping. With a Long Step, Billy could take one step in one spot and instantly appear in another spot within line of sight up to a mile away. Lightning Skipping combined the previous two abilities allowing Billy to Long Step at Lightning Step speed. He could cover thirty miles in thirty seconds before he had to stop and rest.
Finally, there was Jaunting. That power was true teleportation. Billy had to picture a person or place that he was familiar with, and the Jaunt would take him there from anywhere in the world. Jaunting only worked with a person or familiar place as an anchor point. He couldn’t just go anywhere with it, and it worked best when he “locked on” to a familiar person in a familiar place. Billy did not like that power. Using it hurt, but he understood why Ebenezer had enchanted the legs with it. Jaunt was an “ejector seat” as Uncle Liam called it, the ultimate escape from danger.
“What about Auntie Athena?”
“What do you mean?”
“I can take her with me when I Jaunt, right?”
Mack got a worried look on his face. “We’ve never tried it with a passenger, and I don’t know how that’ll affect it. If she tells you to go, you go. Don’t worry about her.” Mack took a deep breath and leaned across the table. “Use your best judgement, son. I trust you.”
Billy gave Mack a serious nod. “You can count on me, Dad.”
“In the meantime, it’s Fourth of July week in these parts. Apparently, there’s a zoo nearby and some other neat stuff. You and Athena are gonna go full tourist while you’re here. That’s one reason why we have so many cars along with us. If something goes sideways, Athena will drive you back to the Double M.”
“So, what are you and Mom gonna be doing while Auntie Athena and I are having fun?”
“We’re gonna use Uncle Liam to track down the demon’s resting place. Then, we’re gonna set a little trap.”
“Hey, snuggle buddy!” Athena called out as she came forward from the trailer’s bathroom.
“Hey, Auntie Athena! How are you feeling this morning?”
Athena looked at Mack and smiled. “Like I am fully in control of myself for the first time in my life, and it’s wonderful!”
“The littlest monster has been fed and instructed that his favorite auntie is in charge,” Mack reported. “KC is rousting Liam and Pilar. The Keurig is already set up with your favorite pod. All you have to do is push the button.”
“Billy, pay attention to your dad. This is how you treat a woman,” Athena teased. She gave Mack a hug as he stood up from the dinette. “Thank you.”
Mack smiled as he hugged her back. “You’re welcome. You’re family now. No changing that.” He looked at his foster son. “Billy the Kid, be good for Athena, and if you can’t do that, at least be awesome.”
Then, he was out the door.
Athena started her coffee brewing and turned to Billy. “Okay, snuggle buddy, what do you want to do today?”
Billy steepled his hands together in front of his face, rhythmically tapping opposing fingers together in sequence as he looked slyly up at Athena. “I believe Dad mentioned something about a... zoo?”
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
Sunday, June 30, 2019
ACCORDING TO A COUPLE of different travel blogs, the neighborhood of Yale Village was one of the worst, if not the worst, neighborhoods in all of Albuquerque. Even taking into consideration that the estimated resident population of the neighborhood was less than 80 people, Yale Village had the largest per capita crime rate in the entire state of New Mexico. Very little of the neighborhood was actually residential. Most of it was either industrial or self-storage businesses. A single whiff told Mack everything he needed to know about the high crime rate. If somebody wasn’t cooking meth in one of the storage lockers, somebody else was t
ending to a marijuana crop in a grow house that used to be somebody’s ranch-style bungalow.
“And you’re positive that the demon we’re looking for is here?” Mack asked for the second time since they’d driven through the neighborhood.
Liam treated his friend to a withering look. “Are you doubting my Sasal Gunung powers? We were created to hunt down evil spirits, especially those that physically manifested, and I’m telling you, somewhere in that storage place, Hasturaddon is snoring away until Thursday.”
The day before Mack and KC had taken one truck, and Liam and Pilar had taken the other, and splitting up, the four of them had spent the day tracking down leads from the files Ronnie had given them. Between KC’s intuition and Liam’s “demon sense”, they had hoped to track down the slumbering demon’s lair before it ever awakened. Independent of one another, KC and Liam had both been drawn to Yale Village.
“I’ve got the same impression,” KC confirmed yet again.
Today, the four of them were all together in Red Leader, the men in the front seats, the women in the back. Pilar rolled her window down and sniffed the air.
“What do physical demons smell like?” she asked.
“Not like illegal drugs,” Mack sighed. He took another deep whiff of the air. “Underneath the chemicals, though, you can get a hint of it, like the corruption notes in undeath, more organic than the meth, less so than the marijuana. I don’t know if this neighborhood has always been this bad or not, but Hasturaddon picked a nearly perfect hiding place.”
“We’re being watched,” KC reported. “Back corner of the house across the street.”
“There’s another one back at that auto parts place down the street.” Mack replied. “Question is mundane criminals or fratoy?”
“We don’t want to show our hand too early,” KC reminded him.
Mack put the big truck into gear and drove away, running counter-surveillance patterns like he’d been taught during his stint in Special Operations. Even when they hadn’t been running missions for the Program, they’d still been running missions for the CIA and NSA, which is where this particular skill set had been developed.
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