by Keller, Tom
"Not a problem," I replied. "I have a way to let him know if we find something."
"All right," she said with a shrug. "Martin said you were different, and that I should trust your judgement. We'll do it your way, for now."
"Works for me," I said as I headed back to the passenger side of the SUV.
Charlie and I got in and, after returning to the highway, she drove up 95 for about five miles before turning left onto the Lee Canyon exit. A mile or two later, Charlie motioned for us to pull over. I barely had time to open the door before he was out and heading north through the desert again; toward the hills that bordered the highway.
Jen walked a few yards into the desert, watching where Charlie ran. A moment later, she walked back and leaned against the passenger side next to me and crossed her arms.
"I hope he knows what he's doing," she said, her head tilted up, as if she was trying to catch whatever scent he had found.
I didn’t answer. Charlie had changed direction and was coming back.
"Anything?" I asked as he came up.
"Something," he replied. "But I must go further. Meet me where the horses roam." Then he turned and took off through the desert again.
"Ugh… I wish I could shift here," she muttered as she walked to the other side of the car. "Where the horses roam? Does he mean Cold Creek?"
"Yeah. We hike up there sometimes. There's a gravel road we've used. I think it's called Mud Springs. Up past the bend where the road turns."
Cold Creek was a little town up in the forest, north of Mt. Charleston. We had to go another five or so miles up 95 to get there. Then go past two of the State prisons before we'd get to the area she was asking about. It was known for a series of ponds that were located there, as well as several herds of wild horses that used to make the place their home.
"I know where it is," she said as she got back in the SUV. "We run there now and then. But what I can’t figure out is why they would come this way on foot. There's too much risk of being seen crossing the roads, even at night. It doesn’t make sense, not when they could have driven there and hidden the car from view of the road."
"Hard to say," I replied. "Besides, we really don’t know what it means yet. They could have gone anywhere from here."
She didn't reply. Instead, she started the SUV, put it in gear and flipped a U-turn, heading back to the highway.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" she asked after a moment.
"Sure," I replied. "But I reserve the right not to answer."
"Martin says you're some kind of God," she said, ignoring my quip. "Not to be an ass, but you're not what I expected."
"And just what kind of God did you expect?" I asked. I wasn't sure if she was goading me or just being brutally honest. I decided to hope for the latter.
"Hell if I know," she replied. "I was thinking along the lines of a bearded guy in robes, or maybe some golden haired Apollo-like stud. I can usually spot another non-human, but you seem pretty normal. Know what I mean?"
"Ouch," I replied.
"Sorry," she said. "Sometimes I come across kind of abrupt. It's the Were in me. I didn't mean to offend you."
"It's all right," I replied. "No offense taken." I chuckled before continuing. "What do you know about the Fae?"
"Just the basics," she replied. "We don’t really socialize with others. Martin does, of course, and we all work together if we're needed. Everyone knows the Neptune's Landing. They're our contact with the others. But I try and stay out of politics, if you know what I mean."
Actually, I did. The Neptune's Landing was a local hotel/casino owned by the Milagres, Eddie and Meredith. Meredith was Eddie's mother, and a Fae Lord and Queen of the Nereid. They're water Fae. They'd been among the first Fae to come to Las Vegas in the old days, and as such, were the focal point for Fae activity in the area. While most Fae kept to themselves, all the different types did have to work together; especially since there were rules about dealing with humans. Believe it or not, there was even a government agency that liaised with the Fae. But politics was politics and most of that was dealt with by the leaders of the different clans.
"I get it," I replied. "Actually, the term God is kind of a misnomer. When you think of the Fae Gods, you usually think of the Greek or Roman ones, or maybe the Norse. Truth is, they weren't really Gods. They were a more powerful kind of Fae. What we call the High Fae. Think of them as a super charged version. Stronger in magic than regular Fae.
"I'm not going to give you a history lesson, but suffice it to say none of the old ones are around anymore, which makes my point. If they were Gods, the old ones wouldn’t all be dead. But there are still a few High Fae among us, which is what I am. My line comes from the Dryad. We're woodland Fae, as are you Weres. Which is one reason Martin and I are allies."
"I never thought of us as woodland Fae," she said with a laugh. "It brings to mind cute little Faeries in leafy dresses… something we definitely are not."
"Sorry," I replied; thinking she wouldn’t look so bad in a leafy dress, at least in human form. "I use the term Fae to encompass all magical creatures, or at least most of them."
She made the left onto the Cold Creek road and we headed west between the state prisons, toward the mountains.
"So you can do magic?" she asked.
"A bit," I replied.
"Could you do something now?"
"Like what?"
"I don’t know," she replied. "Just something magical."
"Just something magical, eh?" I said with a chuckle. "I can't exactly do card tricks."
"There I go again," she said. "I'm sorry, I just meant…"
"I know what you meant," I said before she could finish. "So would you call it magic when you guys shift?"
"I guess," she replied. "I never really thought of it that way, but I suppose it is. Why?"
"Well, we don’t look the same as Fae as we do in our human form."
"I've heard about that," she replied.
Without another word, I switched into my Fae persona. Suddenly I looked like a 25 year old Fae Lord rather than a 50 year old human. This is worth noting. You never know what a true Fae looks like; not really. Unless, of course, they show you. For example, take Meredith, the Nereid Queen.
If you happen to be at the Neptune's Landing in Vegas someday, look her up. Hell, her picture is on the wall. She looks to be about 65 years old. An attractive, stately woman with long grey hair that's usually pinned up. She'll be wearing an expensive business outfit. If you see her walk through the casino floor, you'll know she's the one in charge. She just looks like she owns the place. When you do a double take, it won’t be because of her looks, it'll be because she's the boss, and everybody knows it. But to see her as a Fae... Well, you'll be doing a double take all right, but it'll be because of her beauty.
As a Fae Queen, Meredith looks to be in her mid-30s, with long black hair and deep blue eyes, with just a hint of green. Trust me, you won’t just be looking at her pointed, Elfin ears, either. She has a strong, taut body, and firm, medium sized breasts. She'll probably be wearing a sea green wisp of gossamer fabric. One that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. Bottom line, almost all Fae are beautiful... or handsome as the case may be. It's just a genetic trait they were born with.
Anyway, the point is, a Fae can look like anybody you'd find in the human realm. Unless you can read the magic aura that most of them emit, or they've shown you their true selves, you'll never know.
"Oh, shit," she said, swerving over the rocks on the side of the road when she saw the change. "What a difference!" She recovered quickly and got back on the asphalt. "Oh, that didn’t come out right. It's just that you look so young… not that you looked that old before…" she stammered. She turned her head and I could see her starting to blush.
"It's okay," I replied with a smile and switched back to my human form. "Don’t worry about it. I know what you mean. You should have seen my kid's reaction when they first saw it."
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��t think she knew what to say to that.
"Can I ask you one more question?" she said as I pointed out our turnoff.
"Sure."
"Martin said you were a king; or at least you used to be," she asked. "What's that all about?"
"Long story, and complicated," I said, "Here's the turn off".
I'd taken heat from some of the other Fae because of my perceived loss of status when my daughter took over. While her unexpected rise to the Fae throne had definitely cost me some political power, it was nothing I couldn’t handle. Besides, what was I going to do? It's not like I could tell everyone it was all Gaea's idea. I didn’t know what she was really up to, of course. Whatever the reason, I certainly wasn't going to argue, especially with her involved. Besides, it never hurts to be underestimated by your opponents, and, I had been holding it for her all along, anyway.
"I'll give you the nickel version," I continued. "My Fae, the Dryads, had never had a male leader until I came along. They've always been led by a female. My grandmother was queen in her time and my aunt was the leader before I came along. So even when I claimed the title and became king, as was my birthright, I never took the throne.
"My daughter sits on it now, as is her right. So she's the queen. But I'm still the king, at least in title, and being a High Fae, I'm sort of still responsible for things. Of course I was hoping I would get a vacation out of it when she took over, but as it stands, that hasn't happened."
She didn't say anything.
"That was a joke… the last part anyway," I said after a moment.
"That's kind of weird."
"What part?" I asked.
"All of it," she replied. "So… what? You share power with her? That would never happen in the pack. The Pack Master is almost always a male. He's the alpha. That makes Martin the undisputed leader. I guess someone could challenge him, but he's the strongest of us."
"Different Fae, different rules," I said. I didn’t tell her that I had known one Were that would have challenged Martin; but he wasn't around anymore to do so.
She followed the dirt road until we were completely out of sight of the main road, then parked in a slight depression that would hide the SUV from passing cars unless they drove right up to it. We got out and walked back up the incline to see if we could spot Charlie.
"I think he's over there, by that small mountain," she said, pointing southbound to the side of the hill we had seen him running to from the other road.
"The road seems pretty quiet. I don't see anyone else out here at the moment. If you want to shift, I'll keep an eye out. You can head his way and see if he's found anything."
"Do you think it'll be safe?"
"Should be," I replied. "At least for a little while. Tell you what, give me your keys and I'll honk if anyone comes close. That way you can go to ground and I can pick you up, if necessary."
She only hesitated a moment before pulling the keys out of her jeans and started handing me her clothes. I caught quite an eyeful before turning away after she handed me her bra. She must have thought it was funny, since she snickered a bit before removing the rest of her clothes and handing them to me. Not long after, she was in Wolf form and running across the desert. I picked up her shoes from where she'd left them and went back to the car. I folded her clothes and put them in the back seat before grabbing a water and deciding on my next move.
I walked back out to the rise we'd seen Charlie from and stood a moment, reaching out with magic to see if there was anything there. I could sense the horses a few miles up the hill, and, of course, Charlie and Jen, but there wasn't a hint of the missing Weres. There were, however, several more people driving through the area. It was mostly just cars on the road, but closer to the actual town at the top of the mountain, there were several motorcycle riders using the trails. We wouldn’t be able to search out here much longer; at least not in the daylight. Even with the rain coming, there were still too many people out here.
Although I could detect the energy a live person or animal emanated as they moved around within the field of my senses, any residual energy left behind when they were gone usually dissipated pretty fast. Dark magic, with evil intent, lasted a bit longer. But I hadn’t caught a whiff of anything like that out here. Still, there were beings that weren't easy to sense; like me for instance. As a High Fae I couldn’t be recognized like regular Fae. It was rare, but I wasn't the only magical creature that was like that. If there was something else out here, I was just going to have to wait and see if it appeared. Shaking my head, with nothing else I could think of to do, I went back to the car and waited.
It wasn’t too long before she and Charlie returned. It was my first real glimpse of her as a Wolf. Her fur was light tan, with brown and black mixed in. Darker on the top of her body, then growing lighter toward her belly and legs. Her face had gray in it and she was a little smaller than Charlie. If I had to guess I would have put her at about 115 pounds, pretty close to her weight as a human. I watched as she began to shift and then popped open the back door to grab her clothes.
"You guys find anything?" I asked, handing them to her.
"They were here," she replied as she pulled on her pants. "We found some of Darren's fur on a few bushes near the hill and his blood on some of the rocks. No sign of Liz, though. They were going west, into the mountains. From what Charlie says, their trail heads south of the village, but it's too risky to go there in the daylight. I couldn't smell anything. With the storms moving in again, the wind is blowing the wrong way, and last night's rain washed away any scent."
"We should return when there are less humans," Charlie said, hopping into the back seat.
By village, I assumed he meant the actual Cold Creek housing area. There were quite a few cabins there, as well as the three ponds. Those were stocked with fish and there'd be a few anglers there by now, trying to get in a little fishing before the storm returned. The area between Mt Charleston and Cold Creek had very few inhabitants, but both housing areas were well populated and many folks hiked and enjoyed the outdoors near the two communities.
"Okay," I said as I handed her the keys. "Take us back to Corn Creek and we'll figure out what to do next."
"What about Martin?" she asked a little while later. "You said you had a way to contact him."
"I do," I replied as we approached the main road. A few scattered raindrops were already appearing on the windshield. "Pull over here."
As she did so, I sent out a mental call to Sendy, the Aurae.
"Yes, my Lord," Sendy said a moment later from the back seat next to Charlie.
"Whoa!" Jen exclaimed as she heard Sendy's voice behind her. "Who the hell is that?"
"Sendy, this is Jen," I said. "Jen is a Werewolf. She's part of Martin's pack. Jen, this is Sendy, a sky Fae. She can take a message to him."
"A pleasure to meet you," Sendy replied, slipping a t-shirt over her head. "I am familiar with your Pack Master. What message is it you need carried?"
"Sendy," I began. "We need you to tell Martin that we think his missing Weres came this way. Jennifer found some of Darren's fur on this side of the highway but we can't go any further this time of day and more rain is coming. I need to know if he's found anything there and what he wants her to do. Charlie and I will come back out here later tonight, weather permitting, but it's his call as far as his people are concerned."
"Martin went toward the Sheep Range, which is that way," I continued, pointing in the direction of Corn Creek. "You'll see the road that leads to the wetlands. Follow it between the mountains. You can search for them from there. They'll be in three trucks, but most likely, some will have shifted and be in Wolf form. We'll be waiting for you just on the other side of the highway, near the Corn Creek visitor's center. We'll be in this SUV."
"Here," Jen said, handing her a patch of fur. "Give him this."
"As you command," she said, before removing her shirt and disappearing.
"What's the deal with the shirt?" Jennifer asked.
&
nbsp; "It's the wings," I replied. "She needs them free to fly. She's gotten in to the habit of throwing a shirt on as soon as she appears. Just in case any humans are nearby."
"Kind of like the Wolf thing, I guess," she commented as she put the car in gear. "First talking dogs, then shifting, and now winged Faeries. You're getting more interesting by the minute."
"I'll take that as a compliment," I said with a laugh as we drove down the road.
We pulled up next to Darren's truck and waited for Sendy to come back, passing the time by talking about life as a Fae among humans. Since she was part of a pack, her story interested me. I had expected a more tightly controlled group, but by her account, life as a Were wasn't really that different from any other Fae; at least under the current Pack Master. She had heard of packs that lived in rigid, structured societies, but apparently, aside from pack business, Martin allowed his members a lot of freedom, as long as pack rules were followed. Of course, the pack came first, but I'd expected that.
The pack came first because the emphasis was on family. There were no rules when it came to relationships. But the ultimate goal of any pack is to continue the line and nurture and protect the young. That's why, she explained, most Weres didn’t marry until they were older. It's pretty hard to have a steady partner outside of the pack when you're trying to conceive with someone else. It takes two to make a baby Werewolf, just like in the human world, and it was a given that every female had an obligation to at least try to continue the line. As with any gene pool, diversity was the key. In their case, procreation was built into their genes. Not a lot of folks outside of the pack would understand that reasoning when it came to their relationships.
Every member of the pack contributed when it came to raising their own. Each child had a slew of aunts and uncles at their beck and call, available to them when the change began. The image of the tough Werewolf wearing chains and a biker jacket in books and moves didn’t jive with reality. Instead, they were faithful parents and family members, more likely to be playing kissy face with an infant than wasting time being bad asses. Unless of course the family was threatened. Then they did turn into bad asses. Revenge was an art form to the Were. I wouldn't want to screw with one. Weres are tough, and they anger quickly when provoked.