by Keller, Tom
Why had I'd told them to call Martin? I'd done something similar for him before. One of his pack members had tried to make a move against him by stealing an ancient scepter. It was a mark of office and its loss could have hurt his position as leader. Only a few of us had known it was stolen at all and I'd been the one to recover it. Word of that incident never got out and I knew I could count on him to return the favor.
"Don’t worry," I heard Mal say. "Martin said to tell you that his folks will not betray your trust and that you're not the first non-Were she's worked on. From what I've seen, it looks like she knows what she's doing."
"Where is he?" I asked.
"He went back out to where we found you," Mal replied. "Sendy showed him where it was. He said he wanted to do a more thorough search. Other than your blood and a few muddy prints, there was no sign of the damn thing when we got to you and we didn't have time to look for more."
"I believe it hunts only at night," Charlie added.
"Okay," Jen said as I saw her stand up and stretch. "I think that's the last of it. Let me irrigate it one more time and then we should be good. You say I don’t need to stitch him up?"
"There is no need," I heard Alf reply. "Just hold the skin together. It will heal quickly now that the dead tissue has been removed."
Dead tissue? What the hell had that thing done to me?
"I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes," I heard Jen say a minute later. "His tissues are regenerating faster than I thought possible."
"Where did this Gallu come from?" I asked.
"I cannot say, but it is an ancient creature," Alf said. "A predator as well. Its spines and bite contain a poison deadly to both Fae and humans. Once infected, the victim will become paralyzed and is at the creature's mercy. It is fortunate that you are one of the High Fae. That was all that kept the poison at bay."
"He's right," Jen added. "It pumped some kind of corrosive venom into the wound. Nasty stuff. I've never seen anything like it. Fortunately, I was able to get it all. Your body started healing itself as soon as the last of it was removed."
That was just one advantage to being Fae. It takes a lot to kill us and we heal fast. Although to be honest, I was luckier than most. Being a High Fae, my body could repair itself quicker than others of my kind. Of course, that wasn't to say we were invincible. But it did make us pretty damn hard to kill, unless you knew what you were doing. Which made me wonder where this thing had come from, but more importantly, what the hell it was doing here? I was going to have to talk to Nikki again about her conversation with Gaea.
"You're right, the pain is already fading," I said to her, still little groggy. I was finally able to sit up without getting too woozy. "Thank you."
"Don’t thank me," she replied, nodding at Alf. "Your friend here told me what to look for."
"Yeah," I said, appraising the Imp, wondering how he knew so much. "He's just a wealth of information at times."
"I shall take my leave now," Alf said as he picked up the bucket. His wings flapped furiously as he started to lift it. "We must burn anything the poison has touched. The sheets and clothing as well."
"I'll help with that," Mal said as he picked up a garbage bag from next to the bed.
"Wait a minute," Jen said, pulling a towel and other rags from under my leg and throwing them in the bag. Next, she carefully pulled off her gloves and threw them in as well. Then Mal cinched it up and followed the Imp out the door.
"I appreciate you fixing my leg," I said as she turned back to me. "Alf may have told you what to do, but it was you in there digging that crap out."
"Don’t thank me yet," she replied with a chuckle as she sat down on the bed next to me. "You haven't seen my bill."
There was still pain when I laughed, so I laid back down.
"You need to rest," she said. "I know you're some super Fae and all that, but I took a lot of crap out of your leg. Even though it's healing, it's going it's take a while to fully mend. Try to rest a bit. I'll let you know you when Martin gets back."
"Sounds good," I said, my eyes closing.
****
It seemed like only a moment later that she was calling my name.
"Robert," she said. "Martin's here and your leg is already looking a lot better. Do you think you can try and stand?"
"Might as well give it a whirl," I replied, sitting up. There was no sign of the dizziness so I turned my body and placed my feet onto the floor. Standing, I testing my weight. It was still a little numb but other than that it seemed okay. I knew from past experience that it'd continue to heal, so I'd just try to take it easy on it until then.
"Wow, I wish we healed that fast," she said as she knelt down beside me, running her hand over the already disappearing scar. Then a twinkle came to her eyes and a smile lit up her face as she looked up at me. "You might want to put on some clothes before you go out there, though."
It was only then that I realized I was naked.
"Oops," I replied, trying not to blush. "Could you grab some pants from my room?" I asked as I sat back down and threw a sheet over myself. "It's just up the stairs.
"I'll be right back," she said as she got up, chuckling.
A few minutes later she returned. Still smiling, she handed me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and I quickly dressed, then followed her out to the kitchen. Martin and Mal were sitting at the table with Charlie nearby. Sendy and another female Were stood next to them.
"He's alive," Mal quipped as he looked up from the laptop he'd been typing on.
"Thanks to you guys," I replied.
Martin stood up as I walked over to the table.
"Thank you," I said, grasping his shoulder. "I'm sorry about your Weres."
"You have found the vile thing. That is thanks enough." he replied, a fire in his eyes. "As for Darren and Elizabeth, we will avenge them, as is our right."
"You won’t get an argument from me there," I said, walking over to start the coffee before sitting down to join them at the table. "But this is no ordinary creature and we're going to have to learn more about it if we're going to take it down. Where's Alf, by the way?"
"Out back, still burning what's left of the stuff," Mal said. "He said he wanted to make sure it was all destroyed."
"Okay," I said. Then I turned to the other Were in the room. Like Jen, she was lithe and athletic, but had light brown hair with green eyes. "And you are?"
"This is Devon," Martin replied for her. "She is a tracker and accompanied me this morning."
"A pleasure," I said before turning back to Martin "So what did you guys find out there?"
Martin nodded toward Devon.
"Not much," she replied. "There were a few tracks, mostly yours, as were the blood stains. There was no sign of the creature, but it had rained again this morning. We did recover this, though." Reaching into a back pocket she tossed me something black and as I caught it I recognized my cell phone. "I found it out in the desert. Surprisingly, it still works. It was thrown quite a distance from where you fell."
"It's a Sonim XP7," I replied. Covered with traces of dried mud, it was still functioning. I placed it on the table. "I got it from Siegfried and Michael over at the Neptune. It's supposed to be indestructible. I guess they weren't kidding."
"Tell us what happened," Martin said. "How did you encounter it?"
I repeated what we'd gone through yesterday, leaving out only the part about Charlie having some kind of genetic memory. Instead, I told him we were just searching, as I'd told Sendy to tell him we might do. I explained that we had not expected to encounter the creature itself. Rather, we'd gone hoping only to find more clues that the Weres had indeed continued on up into the mountains.
"So how do we kill it?" Martin asked.
"I don't know yet," I replied. "Let me go get Alf. He seems to be the only one that knows anything about this thing." I got up from the table and walked into the backyard, heading for the fire pit in the corner. Alf was hovering next to it,
watching the dying flames.
"How's it coming?" I asked as I walked up to him. He was buzzing around my fire pit, occasionally stirring the flames.
"Just a wee bit longer," he replied. "There must be nothing left."
"I'm not even going to ask how you know all this."
"Perhaps you liked me better when I played the common Imp," he replied, with a touch of sarcasm, as he turned to face me.
"That's not what I'm saying," I countered. "And you know it."
"My apologies, Robert," he said. "This Demon's discovery here is... unexpected."
"Yeah, well... It hasn’t exactly been good for me either," I replied. "Any idea what it's doing here, or better yet, how to kill it?"
"No. But why it is here concerns me the most," he said, turning back to stir the ashes again with a poker I kept near the pit. "Gaea's warning to your daughter must surely be part of it. And killing it? That will not be easy."
"That's what I was afraid of," I said. "Come back to the house when you're finished. We need to figure out our next move." He nodded. I turned and walked back toward the house. There was something still bothering me about the creature's attack, something that wasn't right, but I'll be damned if I could put my finger on what it was.
Martin was waiting for me at the sliding glass door to the kitchen.
"Is there something else I should know about?" he asked before I could go back into the house.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Is there a problem with the others that I should know about?" he asked. "I ask this only because you notified us first. Not that we aren't allies but..."
"Oh," I said, shaking my head. "Jeez, Martin. No, no. To be perfectly honest, I don't even remember doing it. But as you know, things in my world are a little... complicated at the moment and I think I just wanted to keep the knowledge of my injuries as quiet as possible. Knowing that you had a doctor of a sort... Well, I guess I figured you were my best bet to keep it quiet. Even though I have to tell you, it was Charlie that brought up the fact that Jen was a doctor."
"I understand," he agreed. "It is a shame we have to worry about such things. I appreciate your trust in us, and your hound's as well. Your daughter's rise to the throne has many of the Fae unsure of your exact position, not to mention their feelings about what you did for the Lilin. But I have not forgotten what you did for me, and for that you will always be a friend to the pack. None of my Weres will say anything. But what of Siegfried?"
"Thank you," I replied. "I was actually going to call him in a bit, and my daughter as well. We're going to need their help if we're going to defeat that thing. Which reminds me. Have you discussed the missing Weres with him?"
"Not yet," he replied. "I would have requested his assistance today, but your situation put that on hold. Tradition demands that we avenge our fallen without haste. But in this case, I agree. We cannot do this alone.
Siegfried was the head of corporate security at the Neptune's Landing and the defacto go to guy for any Fae related problems, not to mention the direct representative of the Milagres. He was also one of my closest friends and I winced when I thought of the fact that for some reason I hadn’t called him for help first. But then again, I hadn’t even called my own Fae. What did that say about me?
Martin slid open the door and followed me back in the kitchen to the table where the others sat. Everyone was still there, except Alf, who was still outside.
"I appreciate what you all did for me today," I said as I stood next to the table. "I won't forget it." Then I turned to Martin. There was something I had to say first. It was traditional and had to be said in public, or at least in front of others, so now was a good a time as any.
"Pack Master, since ancient times have our woods been your home and your pack, our allies. I thank you for your assistance today and in the future, as well as your friendship. As it has always been, so it will always be." Then I bowed.
"So it will always be," he repeated as he stood up. Then he bowed back and addressed the two other Weres at the table. "Now you see why I told you that this Fae was different. He remembers the old ways. That, and his battle with our enemy, is thanks enough. Now, formalities aside, let us move on to more important things." He sat down and turned his attention back to me. "How do we kill this thing?"
"We need more information about this Gallu before we do anything," I said as I sat down. "Charlie, would you mind seeing if Alf's about done?"
He didn’t reply, but went out through the doggie door into the backyard.
"I did a little research while you were outside," Mal said, tapping on his laptop. "There's quite a bit about the Minotaur on the web. But there's not much about these Gallu. There is a reference to some Sumerian Demons by that name. Some were also possibly half bull. According to Babylonian legend, some are animal shaped Demons. The Gallu are said to be the offspring of Hell, whatever that means. Apparently, they dragged people off to the underworld. There was also a note that you could appease them by sacrificing a lamb or goat.
"There's also a reference to a particular nasty one named Asag, who led an army of Rock Demons. He was supposed to be so ugly that his looks would boil fish alive. He was killed by a Sumerian God with an enchanted mace. That's about all that's out there. Not much to go on."
"What the hell is a Sumerian Demon doing here?" I said aloud.
"That is the question, isn't it," I heard Alf say as he came back in. "Because there is no reason that it should be."
"What exactly does that mean?" I asked.
"Such Demons have not been seen for millennia," he said. "Their kind and the civilization they spawned faded from existence long before The Fall."
The Fall was the end of the Fae as we know them from legends and myths. The High Fae, or the Gods as they came to be called, fought amongst themselves until none were left. Kind of a Greek and Roman Gods version of Ragnarök, although the Norse Gods seem to have suffered the same fate.
"That doesn’t really help us," I pointed out. "If the Fae can still be here after The Fall, not to mention the end of the Empires that believed in them, it stands to reason that they can be here as well."
"So... What?" Mal asked. "You think there's some Babylonian Demon world out there like the Fae have that it came from?"
"I don't have a clue," I replied. "But it had to come from somewhere."
"Excuse me," Devon chimed in. "You said they were the offspring of Hell and dragged people back to the Underworld. Could it have come from there?"
"That seems the most likely explanation," Alf said.
"Perhaps it escaped," Martin said. "I do not claim to know much Fae history outside our own, but I do remember that there are many realms called Hell in the Underworld. It is said that most can no longer be entered, their doorways long closed. But does it matter? All we really need to know is how to kill it."
He was right, well, about the Hell part, anyway. Dante said there were nine circles of Hell and even described them in his book. Maybe that was true for the Christian Hell, but that was just the start. While many versions of Hell were places of punishment, others were simply places for people to go when they died. Hades, was a good example. While those that were judged evil were sent to Tartarus, others simply lived on in Hades, their memories of their past life erased. The Vikings had their own version, with multiple places as well. Your path dependent on how you lived your life, and how you died.
"I concur, Martin," I replied. "And I hope you're right. Anyway, for now can we agree it's going to take more than just us to do that?"
"As much as I hate to rely on others," he said. "Yes. What are you thinking?"
"Well," I began. "I need to talk to Siegfried and Nikki for a start. But I don’t want to leave this thing unwatched. I'm guessing here, but it seems to me your missing Weres had to be able to sense it, or they would have never travelled that far. Does that seem reasonable?"
"Perhaps," Martin said. "They knew the rules and were not the reckless typ
e."
"Unless they were being chased by it," Jen said.
"Or it led them," Devon added.
"There was no scent of it until it appeared," Charlie said, not mentioning his recall of genetic memory when he found the fur.
"Okay, let's deal with what we do know." I turned to Mal. "I know it didn’t like my sword's electricity, so maybe lightning keeps it away as well. We can assume the Weres encountered it on Friday. The storm didn't move in until Saturday night and there was no sign of it until after the storm cleared, based on Charlie's tracking. What's the weather look like for the next couple of days?"
Mal tapped a few keys on his keyboard.
"Looks like we're in for a few more days of wet weather, until this system moves out," he said.
"What about lightning?" I asked.
"Expected," he replied.
"Then, if I'm right, we should have a few days to work with," I said, then turned to Martin. "Can you set up a few watchers to keep an eye out in the area? They'll have to be careful, and I'd recommend staying on the roads. We still don’t know what draws this thing. There wasn't any sign of it until it went after Charlie."
"Friday night, Saturday morning sounds about right," Jen said. "At least based on the condition of the... the parts you found."
Martin slammed his hand down on the table.
"I am sorry," he said, composing himself. "It is not our way to simply sit back and watch. Especially since this beast has killed two of the pack. But we will do this because we must."
"All right," I replied. "Sendy, will the weather hamper you if I ask you to do a flyover every hour or so?"
"No, my Lord," she replied.
"Okay then. Mal, can you do some more research on this thing? While you're at it, see if there's ever been any history of monsters in the mountain areas. I seem to recall some Indian legends up north. Maybe there's something else we should be looking at."