by Lucy Auburn
The restaurant I wanted to go to wasn’t hard to find. It was one of a dozen eateries in the Collective; some of them served the more unusual fae, offering flies dipped in beer batter and fried, pickled deer hearts, and other things that turned my stomach. My tastes were human enough, thankfully; it would’ve been hard to explain to the precinct if I ate battery acid for breakfast.
The place I chose was a casual, laid-back hold in the wall—though a bit fancier than a typical neighborhood diner—with large booths, flat screens in every corner, and a dozen beers on tap. I walked to the counter and ordered a cheeseburger, and was handed a number in exchange. My tab was charged; and here, the account I kept ran deep, because being one of the fae’s few law enforcement officers came with hefty compensation on the side.
“Give me a glass of that pilsner, too,” I told the woman behind the counter.
“Coming right up.”
While she was working I checked out the basketball game. I checked in with my double, using the corner of my mind where he lived. As soon as I sensed what he was up to I rolled my eyes. Typical Leo.
“Hey baby,” he said, abandoning his post to approach a slender fauna fae. “Wanna grab a bite to eat?”
“Stop that,” I scolded him. “You have a job to do.”
“A boring one,” he muttered back. I watched through his eyes as the fauna fae shot him a confused look and scurried away. “You’re such a wet blanket. The least you could do is let me hook up with someone. You haven’t had sex in months, which means I’m going through an involuntary dry spell.”
I didn’t respond to that, because there was nothing I could say that would be dignified. “Just get back to it.”
I felt Leo’s resentment as he went back to his post and settled in for a thoroughly boring time.
“Burger’s up.” My efficient-if-unfriendly waitress set a basket with paper insides and a cheeseburger and fries in front of me. I thanked her, but she was already gone by the time the words were out of my mouth. Apparently hospitality wasn’t her strong suit.
It didn’t matter; the game was winning. I wolfed down my burger, filling the hole inside me. I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked with Leo; I knew that he felt the same things as me when we were merged, but I never really knew what it was like when he was out, and I’d never asked. That felt too close to acting like he was someone completely independent and different from me, which he wasn’t. He was just a part of me that stood outside my body sometimes.
When I was a kid, I thought we were friends. I’d take him out all the time and treat him like a brother. My parents never really liked it though; they were old-school fae, and walkers like me were supposed to play by the rules.
“Use your powers only when necessary,” they’d told me. “This isn’t a game, Leon. You’re a walker. Our blood goes back too much centuries for you to squander your gift.”
I hadn’t been the most obedient son, though. The only thing that got me to stop pulling my double out of so much was... well, life. The older we got, the more he seemed to realize that he had no real will of his own, and we stopped being friends. After all, no one really loves their jailer—I know I wouldn’t, and my double was just like me. We were partners, but only because our survival depended on it. Otherwise he was just a guy who shared most of the same life experiences as me, and was useful when I needed someone to watch my back.
Whenever I could I brought the beast out instead of him. My double was a person, but the beast was anything but human. It took the form of a wolf but was nothing like one; it was cunning, independent, swift, and large. Wolves were hunted out of existence in Europe and parts of North America; my beast was an apex predator above even humans on the food chain. And when I brought it out instead of my double, it knew that its purpose was to act as an extension of me. There was no resentment on its part when I bent it to my will.
“He’s coming out.” That was Leo’s voice, which always sounded jarring, like when you hear a recording of yourself. His voice was close, too. When he spoke it was as if he was standing right next to me instead of down the hallway. “Can you come back now? I’m hungry. Eating only works when we’re together.”
“Just a sec.” I hadn’t known that it worked that way; somehow, knowing it did bothered me a little.
If my double were able to walk free from my body for longer than thirty minutes, I wondered what he would do. It was a useless thought, though; he would never get the chance. He only existed because I did, and it was time for him to go back inside me and go to sleep.
I left a tip on the table before heading out, since I knew the Collective didn’t put that part on my tab automatically. The waitress didn’t look up from the counter she was cleaning as she said goodbye. Walking down the hallway, I passed the room Naomi was in and resisted the urge to eavesdrop. Though she’d been the one to tell me about the demon possession in the case I was looking into, I would never fully trust her. She had her own agenda—always.
Leo pushed himself up off the wall when he saw me. “There you are. You know I actually want to go back in this time? At least that way I can sleep through this meeting.”
He walked right into me and disappeared. As he did so, I felt like the fae part of me settled back inside, and the beast woke up.
Petyr was leaning against the frame of his open door. “He’s delightful,” he said dryly, referring to Leo. “I swear, I barely understand how your powers work, but I always know when it’s him. He doesn’t even pretend to be interested in anything I say.”
“He’s just used to coming out for more... interesting things.” That was an understatement; Leo and I mostly split into two when there were fugitives to be captured and demons to kill, not so he could stand in a hallway outside an office. “Hope you didn’t wait for the real me for long.”
“It’s not a problem. C’mon on. Is this about a case?”
Settling in opposite Petyr, I studied him briefly. The light fae was a steady man, which made sense given his heritage. His mother was human, and his father was an Anyana. The Anyana were very powerful full-blood faes who spent most of their lives in tree form. Petyr had his father’s same coloring, which was to say his skin was an oaky brown like bark—though for all I knew that came from his human mother, who I’d never met.
Just like a powerful and ancient tree fae, Petyr had his roots in the ground, and he didn’t move with the wind. Taking a seat opposite me, he folded his hands on his desk and patiently waited for me to start in on things. As always, I marveled at his ability to be constantly diplomatic in the face of so many demands on his attention; if I had his job I probably would’ve eaten someone by now.
“It’s sort of about case.” Leaning forward, I got right down to business. “Have you heard of any new fae in town? Possibly one powerful enough to summon a demon?”
“Ah. That.” With a sigh, Petyr shook his head. “No new fae that I know of, that I’ll let you know if that changes. There has been an increase in demons and the possessed lately, though—I’ve been meaning to call you about it, but I’ve just been swamped with other work.”
“Any leads on who it might be?”
“None right now,” Petyr admitted. “I’ve been probing some of the usual trails though. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to the realm and talk to the Elders about it soon. They may know of any strong fae who have left for Earth without registering properly back here.”
It had clearly been too much to hope for that I would get answers to my case without bureaucracy. “Can you get me details of any other cases there have been lately?”
“Sure. No deaths that I know of—though there must have been one now if you’re on a case.”
“One homicide. A college kid, stabbed to death. One suspect and a possible accomplice—though neither is powerful enough to summon a demon. Just a human and a succubus.”
Petyr’s eyes came up to me. “A succubus? Anyone I know?”
“Selena Pierce.”
A troubled look cros
sed his face. “She shouldn’t be active yet.”
“She’s definitely active now.” Remembering the interview I’d had with that dumbass named Jack, I added, “She drained a human, though I think it was on accident.”
“I’ll have to call her protector if this is true—she should’ve been brought to me by now. Anything else? What about the human?”
“The human is who they have in custody, of course. She was the possessed—Naomi did the exorcism. No known priors, and no contact with the fae that I’m aware of. If Naomi hadn’t been there I would’ve said it was just a simple human case like any other.”
Petyr grabbed a few files out of his filing cabinet and handed them over to me. “These are the other demon-related incidents in the past few months. Scattered and random, mostly, but maybe you can find a link. Talk to Naomi about them—she’ll be able to help.”
I grunted. “Sure thing.”
I didn’t tell him that Naomi was the last person I wanted to talk to, ever. I always kept it professional on the outside. Inside me the beast grumbled out its displeasure, and I didn’t make it stop.
Before I left I stopped to add one more thing. “This Selena Pierce? Make sure you get her in here soon, especially if she’s as newly activated as you said. Naomi sensed a lot of power coming off of her—and hunger. She’s gonna kill someone soon if you’re not careful.”
“It’s my job.” Petyr gave me a steady, level-headed look, which seemed to be the expression he wore the most. “I’ll handle it, Leon. You just find out what’s going on with these demons.”
I would, but I didn’t think I was going to just up and forget about this new girl. If there was anything I new about succubi it was that they were trouble on two legs, too hungry for their own good and too sexy for anyone else’s good. I had the feeling that I’d be seeing Selena Pierce again whether I wanted to or not.
Chapter Eight
Staring at the guarded doors in front of me, I looked over at Maggie and sighed. “I guess I just don’t get why I need to go here if that spell you used on me worked. My powers are bound again, right? So there’s no point.”
“They will come back, and we need to know when. The experts here can tell us that.” Walking up the steps to the super-bougie building in front of us, my foster mother took out an I.D. I’d never seen before and held it up. “I’m here to see Dr. Lee.”
“And her?” One of the guards motioned towards me; his voice seemed odd, almost manufactured or robotic.
Maggie motioned towards me, and I reluctantly took the steps up to join her in front of the guards. “She’s a newly activated fae that I need to bring before the ambassador.”
They looked back and forth at me, and stepped aside to open up the front doors. Maggie walked inside, and I followed, unsure what I was about to see.
“No matter what you see,” Maggie warned me, “don’t freak out. Many of the fae wear human disguises in the outside world, but in here you’ll be able to see their true forms. One day, when you’ve claimed your full powers, you’ll see them no matter what, but until then just in here. Some of them may look a little strange or disturbing. Just look away and keep walking.”
“Oh-okay.”
We passed another pair of guards, these less Robocop-like, and Maggie flashed her strange I.D. at them too. I tried to keep my eyes facing straight ahead, but as we walked past various rooms my eyes were drawn to glance inside.
A few were open-concept restaurants and bars, various people—or they at least looked like people—sitting inside. I saw at least one pair of gossamer-thin wings, and a few horns. Those I could take, but when one of the people we passed turned to glance at us and I saw a face like something out of my nightmares, I changed my mind about my curiosity. Looking straight ahead it was; I didn’t need to see a pig-man or some kind of demon-faced bog creature.
I couldn’t avoid all of the strange fae around me, though. As I followed Maggie around the wide hallways we passed a few mostly human-looking people. One in particular caught my eye.
He was a handsome man with a considerable amount of swagger. If we’d been walking down the street I would’ve thought he was some sort of minor celebrity or rock star. He was well-dressed, with a nice haircut and a strange kind of charm that drew my eyes.
And he wasn’t alone. Following along behind him were several women; I counted at least five before my eyes blurred. They watched him with a single-minded focus as if they’d been hypnotized. As he neared us he turned and ordered one of them, “Go get me a smoothie. Run.”
With a giggle and an obedient nod, she flew past us down the hallway to obey his random whim. Maggie must have seen the disturbed look on my face, because she leaned in close and murmured in my ear. “He’s an incubus. Like the male version of you.”
My stomach turned. “And the women?”
She waited until he and his gaggle had passed us by before answering. “He seduces them and uses his powers to keep them loyal.”
I felt sick. “That sounds so wrong.”
“They consent to it. Though I don’t disagree,” she added. “It’s not a one-sided arrangement; they get pleasure from it as well. And they have a powerful fae around to protect them.”
“Why does he have so many?”
Maggie tried to avoid answering by pointing to the door a few feet ahead of us. “That’s where we’re going.”
“Maggie.” Annoyed, I asked my question again. “Why did the incubus have so many women with him?”
With a sigh, she answered, “The more powerful ones like him—just one partner isn’t enough. He needs all of them.”
I didn’t know how I felt about that, so I tried not to think about it. “Let’s just go inside and get this over with already.”
On the other side of the office door there was a receptionist to check me in. She handed me a clipboard with a few sheets of paper on it. “Fill this out and give it to your representative.”
“Representative?”
The receptionist, who had yellow-orange irises and two pointy furred ears sticking out of the top of her head, shot me a bored look. “If you do not have a representative, the ambassador will assign one to you.”
I glanced at Maggie, who took me over to one of the chairs against the wall and murmured, “I’m your representative. I’ll help you fill it out.”
There were so many questions on the clipboard that I couldn’t answer. Questions like: “what fae families are you descended from most closely,” “on what date did you activate,” “do you now or ever plan on forming a cult and becoming its leader?” My eyebrows rose with each one.
“Maggie,” I asked her with a tinge of hysteria in my voice, “am I cannibalistic in nature?”
With a frown, Maggie snatched the clipboard from me and flipped through it. “That was the general intake form. Here, you just need to fill out page four. We can throw the rest of these away.” She glowered at the receptionist, who didn’t look up from painting what I was only now realizing were claws instead of fingernails. “Just fill out the questions you know the answers to. I’ll take on the rest.”
This page, at least, looked more similar to the forms I was used to filling out at the doctor’s office. Settling in, I put in my legal name, date of birth, permanent address, and all the usual answers. I skipped the parts about my fae representative, and under the blank designating the type of fae I was I hesitantly wrote down “succubus.”
It was all so new and strange. I wasn’t human, I was only now starting to realize. Even Maggie was human—but not me. I was closer to the yellow-eyed, sharp-clawed receptionist. Hell, for all I knew she was a third cousin of mine.
I handed the form back to Maggie, and she jotted down a few notes before settling in. “The ambassador will be here soon. I called in advance. Once you’ve met him, we’ll visit the doctor.”
“Okay.”
My mind was a hurricane, so I pulled out my phone and distracted myself with games. Of course as soon as I did I was reminded of
Talia; she was the last person I’d gone up against in Words with Friends, and it was her turn in the game. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I reminded myself to be strong. Talia was going to be freed once the real murderer was caught—and I would be waiting for her the moment it happened.
A few minutes after we came through the door, the receptionist suddenly looked up from her claws, twitched one of her furry ears, and called my name. “Selena Pierce!”
I looked around the empty waiting room. “That’s me.”
“The ambassador will see you now.”
Maggie told me, “I’ll come with you for this, but you’ll be on your own for the appointment.”
“Got it.”
The receptionist stood up and strode around her desk. “Follow me.”
Resisting the urge to reach out and push her hair back so I could find out if she had human ears and cat ears, I followed her down a back hallway to a large, heavy wooden door at the end. There was something ominous about the fact that it went up twenty feet and was almost as wide as the hallway itself. Seeing my gaze, Maggie told me, “Not all fae are human-sized.”
That was hardly reassuring. “The one we’re about to meet is though, right?” I stared at the receptionist’s furry, calico ears as she punched in the code to open the door. “I’m not sure I can ignore it if he’s a giant.”
“Petyr is half-human,” Maggie told me. “Ambassadors have to pass for human in order to spend their time on Earth.”
At least there was that. The door in front of us swung forward on what must have been electronic hinges, a rail in the floor guiding its weight. Impressed, I passed the receptionist into the wide and magnificent office, which seemed big enough for a hundred people—or two extremely large fae.
Demons faces, men with harems, cat ears, and bus-sized people—I had a lot to get used to about the fae world, and that wasn’t including my own new identity.