What to Expect When You Have a Fae Baby (The Immortality Curse Book 2)

by Peter Glenn

  Sheila chuckled. “You’re so easy to pull one over on, Damian.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s me. Mister Easy-to-Fool.” I waited a second for her giggles to die down. “Look, do you think you could cast that kind of spell again?”

  “Sure.” I imagined her shrugging on the other end of the line. “If you’ve got a bit of their blood, I can find anyone you want.”

  “A bit of their blood, huh?” I felt deflated once again.

  “Yep.”

  I looked over at LaLuna. She was shaking her head vigorously.

  “Looks like we’re fresh out of blood, unfortunately,” I said, frowning.

  “Well, if you happen to find any, call me back.”

  I nodded, even though she couldn’t see it, and gave her a mock salute. “You got it.”

  “And Damian?” she added.

  “Yes?”

  “Tell me how this one ends. I’ve had enough instances of you calling for help and leaving me out of the ending. I need the drama!”

  I burst out laughing. “Sure, Sheila, whatever you say.”

  The other end of the line went silent, and I put my phone down.

  “Well, any other ideas?” LaLuna asked me. There was a flicker of hope in her eyes, but it was faint.

  “Umm, I’m not sure.” I started to put my phone away. “That was really it, I’m afraid. I’m not really sure. Maybe Mei could do something?”

  As I maneuvered my phone back into my pocket, my hand caught on something sharp. I pulled the sharp little object out of my pocket and was staring at Kelsey’s card.

  “What is it, Damian?” LaLuna asked.

  I didn’t answer. My mind was elsewhere.

  Kelsey. The girl from the coffee shop near the fae portal. Hadn’t she said something about being able to find stuff? I thought she had. I flipped the card over in my hands. There was a bit of writing on the back in cursive. It said “call me if you need anything” with “anything” underlined twice.

  Had she known something about our plight even then? I wasn’t sure, but it was worth a shot.

  I flipped the card back over and typed the number into my phone. It was past normal business hours for a coffee shop at five o’clock in the afternoon, so I wasn’t even sure she was going to pick up.

  “Come on, phone,” I chanted. “Come on, come on.”

  “Does talking to this ‘phone’ of yours help?” LaLuna asked as it rang three times, then four.

  I scowled at her, then softened it to a grimace. It had probably been an honest question.

  Five rings. Hopefully, it wouldn’t reach six.

  “Hello?” a soft voice said a moment later.

  “Kelsey?” I asked, my voice hesitant.

  “Yes, that’s me. Who is this? Did my mother put you up to this?” Her voice was downright hostile. “Listen, I’m sure you mean well, but I’m not looking for a new boyfriend right now.”

  “Boyfriend?” Why was everyone going on about love today? It was uncanny.

  “Yeah, so like I said, just run along please.”

  “Wait!” I shouted. “I’m not calling to date you. You... you gave me your number a few days ago. I was at your coffee shop with a fae and we were looking for a portal. You said to call if we needed help.”

  “You what now?” Kelsey’s voice sounded a bit confused and shaken, but at least she hadn’t hung up.

  “I said I’m calling for help. The magical kind.”

  That seemed to do the trick. “Well, why didn’t you start with that?” she asked. “How is your little fae guardian, anyway? Put her on the line, I want to speak to her.”

  A smile crept across my lips, and I put the phone on speaker. “It’s okay, LaLuna, just say something,” I offered, holding the phone between us.

  “H-hello?” LaLuna said.

  “Hey, sweetie. How’s that search of yours going? Were you able to find help in the fae realm?”

  “Not exactly.” LaLuna bit her lip again. “It’s easier to read a man’s face than get help from the Seelie Court, it would seem.”

  Kelsey giggled. “Ain’t that the truth.”

  Why were they babbling on about love again? We had a baby to find! I opened my mouth to say something choice, but Kelsey spoke before I had a chance.

  “So, what can I help you with, darlin’?”

  “Umm,” LaLuna started. “Well, you see, I lost track of my charge. I need to find her right away.”

  “Well, ain’t that something else,” Kelsey replied. “I’ll do whatever I can, just let me know how I can help.”

  “I don’t suppose you could cast a tracking spell to find a baby, could you?”

  “Hmm,” Kelsey said, “maybe. If you have something that belonged to her that I could use. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

  Once again, we seemed to be at an impasse. We had no blood nor anything at all that belonged to the baby on us. “Well, thanks anyway, Kelsey, but I don’t think we have anything of hers at all,” I said.

  “That’s too bad. Let me know how it ends, at least, or if anything changes. I’ll be happy to help if it does.”

  The line went dead a second later.

  I looked at LaLuna, who had a strange look in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but that was my last effort. I’m afraid I’m all out of ideas.”

  But LaLuna didn’t look disappointed. “An object belonging to the baby, she said?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think so. But all we have are a couple bottles we bought a few days ago, and I don’t think those will count.”

  LaLuna’s eyes brightened, and she grinned at me. “True, but I know someone that might have just what we need.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” I asked LaLuna.

  “It’s a bit of a long shot, to be honest, but it just might work,” she said. She was looking away from me, toward the doorway.

  LaLuna wasn’t making any sense. I scrunched my forehead. “That doesn’t give me a lot to go on.”

  “Oh! Sorry.” She backed up a touch and turned her gaze back to me. “I guess I’m not being clear. I was talking about an item belonging to the baby. I just might know where to get one, but it’s a bit of a long shot.”

  “Yeah, I kinda figured that one.” I resisted a rather strong attempt to roll my eyes at her. “But how? Where?”

  “At my mother’s place, of course,” LaLuna replied. “She had the baby before I did, so she might have something of hers that we could use for the tracking spell.”

  I was all at once happy for a potential answer to our problem and scared as hell. “But wouldn’t that mean–”

  “Going back into the fae realm?” LaLuna finished for me.

  I sucked in a tight breath and winced. “Yeah.” I looked away from her. “That.”

  LaLuna shrugged. “Then we won’t.”

  “But your mom, and the baby’s things.”

  She bit her lip again. “That’s why I said it was a long shot. The place I’m thinking of, it’s not in the fae realm. In fact, it’s not that far from here. A few hours’ drive at most, I think.”

  “It’s not?” I was confused and elated at the same time. The tension I’d been keeping in my shoulders melted away in an instant.

  “No.” LaLuna shook her head. “My mother used to like to visit the human world a lot. Said that it reminded her of my father, though why, I could never fathom. He was a fae, too, after all.”

  She paused, and I saw the hint of a tear form in the corner of her eye as she remembered her father. There was a story there, too, but this wasn’t the time to be reminiscing about it.

  “Your mom’s place. You were saying?” I piped up, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.

  LaLuna gasped. “Oh, yes. Her place. Several years ago, she bought a cabin deep in a wooded area near a big lake. It was a place called ‘Steilacoom’, I believe.” She looked up into my eyes. “She was as wary of keeping Grace with the fae as I was. If she had the baby for any great length of
time, she likely would have kept her there.”

  I nodded. “That makes sense. And you’re right, Steilacoom isn’t that far from here. We could probably drive it, if Tacobeh would let us borrow a car.”

  “That was my thinking as well,” LaLuna said. “I was looking at maps while you were... out, trying to familiarize myself with the area. It looks like it’s only thirty or so of your miles to the west.”

  Something about the way she said the word “miles” brought a smile to my face, though what I couldn’t be sure. “Sounds good,” I told her with another nod. “Let’s go find your mother’s place.”

  “Indeed,” LaLuna said. “But I must warn you. It’s possible that other fae have found out about my mother’s place by now as well. If they have, the place could be guarded, or worse.”

  “That’s just a risk we’ll have to take.” I flashed her a toothy grin. “I told you, I’m in this no matter what. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “It warms my heart to hear that, Sir Damian,” LaLuna replied, lightly patting my bicep.

  There she went with that “Sir Damian” thing again. Every time I felt like she was warming up to me, she brought that out.

  I sat there for a few more moments, staring into her deep blue eyes, wondering what she was thinking, then I stood up.

  “Well, let’s get going already.”

  MY MAPPING APP SAID Lake Steilacoom was only about forty-five minutes away, but of course, there was plenty of traffic even at six in the evening, so it ended up taking quite a bit longer.

  By the time we reached the big gate to LaLuna’s mother’s place, the sky was starting to get dark. Just great. Once again, I’d be skulking about on someone else’s property after dark looking to pilfer something.

  You’d be surprised just how often that happened in my line of work.

  I sauntered on up to the gate. Every single house in this area seemed to have a big, wrought iron gate in front of it blocking entry, this one included. I looked around for some sort of switch, but all I could find was a keycard swiper.

  “Any idea where your mom would have left a keycard laying around?” I asked LaLuna.

  She looked at me sideways. “Keycard?”

  I shook my head. “Never mind. I guess we’ll just have to climb over it. Hope you’re up for some exercise tonight.”

  “Why would I not?” LaLuna asked me, a confused look in her eyes.

  I let the matter drop. I’d been trying to make a joke, but those were falling about as flat as my flirting attempts, it seemed.

  “Never mind. Let’s just get over this fence. Mind giving me a boost?”

  “Of course.” LaLuna grinned at me and nodded.

  I grabbed hold of one of the metal bars of the gate. Fortunately, the gate wasn’t too much taller than I was, and it didn’t have any pointed spikes at the top of it, but rather a gentle, sloping bar. That would make getting over the top of it that much easier.

  I pulled myself up as hard as I could, grunting all the while and regretting for perhaps the first and only time in my life that I’d never been much for doing pull-ups.

  Who knew those would come in handy down the line, anyway?

  Anyway, LaLuna put her hands underneath my dangling foot, and I was able to use that to force myself up further until I was placed squarely on top of that metal bar, one leg on either side. I spent a few seconds up there scanning the property, looking for cameras or guardsmen of any kind, but I didn’t see anything of note.

  Good. The fewer people that knew about our purpose here, the better.

  Once I was satisfied that there was no imminent danger, I put my other leg over the top of the gate and shimmied down the other side.

  “Your turn now,” I told LaLuna, sticking my hand through the gate and making a beckoning motion. “Up and over.”

  LaLuna closed her eyes for a half second, and when she opened them, they were glowing a soft blue. Then she summoned forth a little of her magic to push herself into the air and over the gate, landing softly on the other side.

  “Huh,” I muttered. “I forgot you could do that sort of thing.”

  Sure would have come in handy a few minutes ago. Especially if she could have carried me with her...

  “All right,” I said, keeping my eyes alert for guards or guard dogs that might come running. “If your mother did keep Grace here, where would she have done it?”

  LaLuna shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I’ve never been here, remember?”

  “Right.” I nodded again.

  “But,” LaLuna added, “I would presume anything the baby owned would have been in one of the bedrooms.”

  Duh. I should have thought of that.

  “Makes sense. All right, let’s go look for a bedroom, and remember, be quiet. We don’t know that no one else is out there.”

  “Of course, Sir Damian.” She gave me a smile and a mock salute.

  “Shh!” I replied. “Quiet, remember?”

  I gave her a mock scowl, and she giggled a little, which broke my stoicness down real fast, until I ended up chuckling a little myself. After a moment, I put my serious face back on and ran my finger over my mouth in a shushing motion. LaLuna quieted down right away and nodded, her face taking on a serious, somber tone as she saluted me again.

  That little salute almost brought the giggles back out, but I managed to keep my cool. With that out of the way, we crept forward across the rather large lawn of the property, heading for the main door. I still couldn’t see or sense anyone else on the property, so there didn’t seem to be any reason to try a sneakier entry.

  We weaved our way through several hedges. Some of them were still well-trimmed and looked like various animals, but they were starting to look unkempt. I wondered how long it would be before they were overgrown completely, now that no one was here to take care of the property.

  But I dropped that line of thinking as the front door loomed before me, beckoning me onward. The door was well lit by a large porch light, although the windows next to it told me that the interior was dark. I glanced around once more to see if anyone was there, but we were alone, so I quietly crept up the steps of the porch to the door proper.

  Nothing looked out of the ordinary with the door, nor could I sense any sort of traps. I reached out a hand gingerly and tried the handle. It was locked, which didn’t shock me, but at least it didn’t try to come out and attack me or anything.

  I’d had that happen once. Not fun.

  “Just a second,” I whispered to LaLuna.

  All right, Damian. Time to get to work.

  I reached into the bag at my hip. Okay, it was a fanny pack. I know, I know, but the things are really handy for carrying around things like thieving tools, so don’t judge me. Anyway, I reached into the fanny pack and pulled out a lockpick and a small spray bottle.

  The spray was to check for magical traps. Most doors didn’t have any traps, magical or otherwise, because they were expensive to buy and maintain. But LaLuna’s mother had been fae. I’d be a little surprised if there wasn’t at least a little trap involved.

  I shook the spray can and gave the door handle a good dose of it. Sure enough, it glowed slightly. I was right. There was a trap at play here.

  But that was all I knew. The spray could detect traps, but it couldn’t tell me what kind they were. There were sprays that would do that, but those were spendy, and I was on a budget, so I didn’t have them. All I had was my blind, stupid luck. It had been enough to see me through so far.

  Would it hold tonight? Maybe. We’d have to see. But for now, I’d use more magic to counter it.

  I rummaged around in my pack for another minute and pulled out a nullifying rune. It was low quality, but it should disarm the vast majority of traps one would place on a door handle. I placed the rune against the door handle and whispered the activation word.

  The door handle’s glow intensified for a second, and the metal turned red hot. The rune cracked under the strain, but both the glow
and the heat died down a second later.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good.

  With the magic trap taken care of, I went to work on the mechanical lock. That part was much easier. A few minutes of tinkering with my lock pick, and I heard the satisfying click of the lock opening. I gave the door handle another squeeze, and the door glided gently open, as if pushed by a passing breeze.

  I looked back at LaLuna and nodded at her. She nodded back, and together, we crept into the house, closing the door behind us. No sense in alerting anyone to our presence if we could avoid it, after all.

  My eyes darted about, taking in the interior of the house. We were standing in the middle of a grand foyer. Up ahead were two small hallways, and a staircase that led to the upper level. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but then, there’d already been a gate and a trap blocking entry, so it wasn’t shocking that there’d be little else.

  I blinked a few times to get used to the low light in the house. It was getting darker out, and there were few windows to let in light from the outside. I thought about turning on a flashlight, but it wasn’t quite dark enough for that yet. Maybe when we got to the bedrooms it would be, but for now, I could make my way without it.

  Speaking of, I pointed toward the staircase with one finger, making sure LaLuna saw it. Chances were, the bedrooms would be upstairs. Most people had their bedrooms upstairs when they owned a multi-level house. I had no idea why, it just worked out that way the majority of the time.

  Which saved people like me a lot of time.

  LaLuna inclined her head, and we made our way over to the staircase. The floor creaked quite a bit, and I thought for sure we were making enough noise to rouse the whole neighborhood at one point, but we made it across the floor to the staircase without incident.

  Slowly, we made our ascent. As we made it up the last couple of steps, I could see three doorways in front of us. I made for the doorway on the left first. The doorknob felt cold and almost a little wet, but it turned easily enough. I pushed the door open quickly, hoping to catch anyone who could be in there off guard.

  The room was empty, save for a sink, a pink toilet, and an oversized tub with clawed, silver feet. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. There were a couple of small scars sticking out on my face, and my hair was a mess. Not my best look, but what could I do? It’s not like I needed to impress LaLuna anyway, right?