by Keller, Tom
Hailey owned a legal services business. Paralegal work, document filing, subpoena services, that kind of stuff. She'd been in the business a lot longer than I had. We'd first met me when I was still a young rookie on the beat. It was a small business, and even with a staff, she acted as the receptionist and worked the phones herself. I rented office space from her so that I had a downtown business address and a place to hold meetings. That saved me a few bucks, not that I really needed that these days, but appearances are important, too.
Her kind of magic consisted of negotiations. That usually meant a lot of raised voices and enough expletives to make a truck driver blush. In this case, she was negotiating prices for some kind of legal work. Fortunately, she was very good at what she does, and her services, while not cheap, were sought out by a lot of attorneys. While waiting for her to finish, I poured myself a cup of coffee and leaned back against the counter.
"I hear there was a lot of excitement out by your place last night," she said as she hung up the phone. "Did you see it?"
"Excitement?" I asked, almost spilling my coffee. "What do you mean?"
"The plane crash!" she replied, picking up the newspaper from the counter and waving it in my direction. "That was just down the way from you, wasn't it? What do you know about it?"
"Oh yeah," I said, stifling a chuckle. "It was on the radio. Sorry. Didn’t even hear about it till this morning."
"Oh, you're no help," she said, disappointed, waving me away. "It said all the roads were blocked and everything. There was even an explosion! I thought you'd have heard something."
"Sorry," I replied, now laughing. I continued to sip at my coffee as I went into my office. Sitting down at my desk, I checked the few messages Hailey had left for me. They were the usual stuff. Calls from clients and messages from other PI's that hadn't wanted to call my cell phone. Typical.
I wasn't sure what the Wizard had done, exactly. Perhaps the spell only opened a gateway for a moment. But what if it had done something more? I decided to spend the rest of the week keeping an eye out at night, as daylight seemed to keep these things in check. Well, it had for my Demon. Knowing I'd be away from the office for a few days, I decided to clean up all my paperwork and make sure any cases I had going were caught up.
I've said this before, but being a P.I. in real life isn’t as glamorous as it is on TV. Most of what I do is pretty boring. Still, it has to be done if you want to earn a living, or, in my case, the appearance of one. Firing up my PC, I reviewed my case load and got to work. I spent the rest of the work day returning and making calls, doing research, typing up invoices, and writing the necessary reports. Pretty damn exciting... NOT! By the time I was done, it was late afternoon, so I headed back out to see Hailey.
"Just wanted to give you a heads up," I said as I refilled my cup. "I'm working nights the next few days so I won’t be around much."
"You slumming now?" Hailey asked, looking up from the paperwork she'd been absorbed in.
"Not exactly," I chuckled. "Just more surveillance. It's a pain, but it pays well." At least that was true.
"That it does," she said. "I'll let you know if anything comes up." She went back to her paperwork.
"Thanks," I said, then returned to my office to close up.
Just as I powered down the desktop, I got a text from O'Malley. He's the Lieutenant of Homicide at the PD. He's also a Fae, and the local contact for anything Fae related that the police might have to get involved in. He was also one of my closest friends. He'd taken me under his wing years ago, and was one of my mentors, both before and after I became a cop. I called him this morning and we decided to meet up after we both caught up at work. I texted him back and went out to my car, saying goodbye to Hailey on the way.
I pulled into the underground parking at Tivoli Village, got out of my car and walked to the escalator. We were meeting at one of my favorite coffee shops, Leone Café. I really loved this place. The coffee was good and the scenery even better. Ray was already at a table outside when I came through the glass doors from the back entrance. After ordering a cappuccino from a waitress I knew, I sat down and joined him.
O'Malley looked around for a moment, noted a few other Fae sitting at tables, then spoke softly in an ancient tongue. It was an illusion spell. One I'd seen him use before. If it's one thing this Aes Sídh (Irish Fae) was good at, it was the ability to make others see what they wanted. Hell, he'd done it to me for years before I found out what I was. Like the Wizards and Mages at the raid the other day, no one would see, or hear, anything, except what the spell projected. I watched as the people around us seemed to blur a bit as the spell took hold. A moment later, we were safe from prying eyes, or ears.
"A friggin barbecue?" Ray said with a laugh. "You invited a Hell spawned Demon to a barbecue?"
"It was an offering," I replied, chuckling. "Even if he didn't accept it. Besides, I figured I might as well have some fun with it at the same time."
"One of these days you're going to go too far," he said. "But, damn! I wish I could have seen it."
"Yeah, well," I replied. "It was closer than I would have liked. We lost one Were and I had a few injured folks as well. We had to take it out in the end."
"The EAB seemed satisfied with what you did," he said. "The Sheriff sent the report down after he read it. I went over it this afternoon. He's not too happy about the possibility that the gateway could still be open. Although who would be? We're putting out a couple Special Projects cars to keep an eye out, just I case. And there's one more thing."
"What's that?" I asked.
"As usual, he doesn't want us any more involved than necessary, unless things turn to shit of course." he replied.
"So what does that mean?"
"It means," he said. "Special Projects is going to notify the ranking Fae in the area, like they always do, if any more of these Demons show up. Guess what? That used to be Meredith. Now it's you."
"Well that sucks," I replied. "What am I supposed to do?"
"You handle it," he said. "Just like you did with the Demons."
"I did have a little Federal help there," I countered.
"That's what they're there for. But understand, this isn’t personal. With all the press these days watching everything we do, we can’t afford for some local reporter to hit the story of a lifetime. Any call suspected of involving magic will be routed to Special Projects. If it's anything out of the ordinary they'll contact me, after they notify you. Don’t get me wrong, they won't bail on you if things turn to crap, but they'll expect you to know what to do; without letting the rest of the world know what's going on."
It was amazing how many humans actually knew about us. Politicians, mostly, like the Sheriff, when you got down to it. But then again, they weren't all human either, so the number was probably smaller than I imagined. Of course they couldn’t talk about it with other humans, they were subject to a spell themselves. Although the Fae numbers might be small, there were actually quite a few in government agencies, especially in law enforcement, and they couldn't afford having attention brought down on them.
I remembered the Special Projects guys back when I had still been on the force, before I found out all about this Fae stuff. They had grown out of the old Research and Development (R and D) unit. Of course, I hadn’t known they were Fae at the time. How could I? I just thought they were all assholes. Like the EAB, when they came into contact with humans, they never said much. They just jumped your call and told you that they would handle it. It all makes sense now. But then? Like I said, prima donna assholes. Now, things were different.
"I understand," I said. "I don’t know if anything else is coming, but whatever Marissa's done, I doubt she cared much about collateral damage, or had just one back up plan. I'll deal with it."
"I know you will," he agreed. "Don’t worry, Meredith already knows. I talked to her about it on my way here. They've been doing this for a while, so they already have everything in place. What will actually happen is tha
t they'll call them first, then her people will contact you for instructions. You can work out the fine print with her later." He sat back and waited for more questions. When I didn’t ask one, he continued. "Now, tell me what's not in the report," he said.
"Not much, I'm guessing," I replied. "Although I haven't read it. But I'm concerned that there's more in play than we know about. Especially where Marissa's concerned."
"Explain," he said.
"I thought she was gone," I began. "Not forever. I knew I was going to have to face her eventually. But when we took out her Mages, I thought that was the end. But when I saw her portrait, I knew I was wrong. This is just the beginning. I mean, just look at this Stockton guy. He's been missing for what? 55 years or so. Then all of sudden he pops up, freeing Demons from Hell in the process. First we killed her followers at Olympus. Then we killed all the Mages at Four Mile. Now him. This bitch seems to have her fingers everywhere. And there's something else. Something Ouranos said when he sent her to Tartarus. He said, if she escaped, she would fight again. That's what she's doing, trying to escape. So there's got to be more out there. I can feel it."
"That sounds reasonable," he agreed. "And?"
"The phones," I said. "The more I think about them, the more I think they may be the key."
"Why do you say that?" he asked. "Even if they were used to transport a Demon, how does that really help us?"
"The kid," I replied.
"Wait a minute," Ray countered. "He's in the report. He's just a dumb kid dabbling in the black arts. One of many Stockton used to his advantage. He's even admitted he transported the Demon using the spell on his phone, but only after Stockton told him what to do. Claims the phone burned up when the Demon appeared, as did several of his texts and half the house. There's even an overview of the scene."
"It's not that simple," I replied, somewhat irritably. "And he's full of shit."
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"Look Ray," I said. "Have you ever met any of Marissa's followers?"
"Not that I know of," he replied. "You've seen to that. But I have met their victims, and that's enough for me. But there's nothing to indicate that this kid..."
"I don’t care what the report says," I said, interrupting him. "He's as much a follower as any of them and one-time transportation spells are their M/O. Besides, they're fanatics. You can't believe a word any of them say." I needed to calm down. "Ray, I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to go off like that. But trust me. He's as much her follower as he was Stockton's."
"Ok," he replied. "Forget the phones for a moment, and he isn’t going anywhere. The Feds have seen to that. But even if you're right, that doesn't help us with the gateway problem. What do you intend to do?"
"I have no idea," I said. "I don’t even know if it's still happening. I'm going to take the next few days and see if anything pops up. I've got a few other things I need to do in the meantime. Then we'll know, one way or the other."
"Agreed," he said. "Then we'll table this discussion until we know more." He waved his hand. The spell he had cast faded away and the world came back into focus. A moment later, the waitress arrived and set down our coffees. She smiled and we both thanked her. Taking a drink and letting her know they were fine, she left us to ourselves again.
"Now. I've had enough crap for one day. Let me enjoy my coffee and the view for a change?"
"Of course," I said, with a laugh, eyeing the group of women he was watching.
What I hadn’t told him was what I had finally concluded this was all about. It wasn't that I didn’t want to tell him. I just didn't think it would matter in the overall scheme of things. Honestly, I think it's all a game. Something between Gaea and Ouranos; God vs God. I mean, why would they care if they used us? It was something Bernd had once said as well as something Nikki told me. Something Gaea had said about needing me here, on this world. I wasn't sure what game they were playing, but Ouranos' action in sentencing Marissa to Tartarus might just have been a counter move. Was it Good vs Evil? Hell, I don’t even know if they understood the concept.
But this was the way I figured it went. I couldn’t have been allowed to kill her on Olympus. That would have ended the game too soon. So instead, Ouranos stepped in and put her in Tartarus. Even removed from the board, she could still influence those she left behind. So the game was still in play. I wondered if she knew she was just a pawn like I was. Even if she didn't, time had given her all the advantages, while I had been left in the dark. The question was, how can I win the game if I don’t know the rules?
Chapter 12
They had a good menu, so we'd eaten and talked late into the night. I exited the parking garage and started to head home. Suddenly, I got a weird feeling. My magic kicked in as it recognized a threat. Looking into the rearview mirror, I saw a dark car with 4 passengers a couple of car lengths behind me. Well, I'll be damned. I'd seen that car last week. Downtown, near the office. It had looked hinky at the time, but since I didn't see it again that day, I just let it go. I couldn’t worry about every suspicious car I saw.
I didn’t know who they were, but at least one of them was Fae. The magic gave me a pretty good idea that this wasn't a coincidence. Just to make sure, I made a left onto Buffalo, and sure enough, they crossed a lane of traffic to get in behind me. They weren't exactly subtle, but then again, maybe they just weren't that bright.
Of course, they could just be following to see where I was headed, but with four in the car, I was pretty sure they wanted to play. Now. I took a few side streets, weaving my way around, trying to decide where to lead them. Were the hell should I go? I did know one place that might be deserted this time of night. I probably should have called Ray to let him know what was happening; but at the moment, I just didn’t feel like sharing with anyone other than family. So I called out to Sendy, instead.
"My Lord?" she said as she appeared in the passenger seat. She started to put a shirt on, but I stopped her. It was dark now. They wouldn’t be able to see into my car and I wasn't going to have her stay.
"No time," I said with a grin. "Get Charlie and bring him here. Tell him somebody's following me and I might need some help."
"As you command," she said, a concerned look on her face as she faded from view.
She reappeared with Charlie as I was turning down the street to the park.
"Danger?" Charlie asked, his fur bristling. Then he realized where we were. "Dog Park?"
"Someone's following me," I said. "Thanks Sendy. I think we can handle this. Keep a watch from above, but don’t interfere unless I call you."
"As you wish," she replied, and disappeared.
"We'll take them in the park," I told him. "I'll leave the window down when I get out and wait for them at the benches. They shouldn’t know you're here, so don’t join me until they make their move."
He didn’t reply, but slunk down on the seat. It almost made me laugh, since he was a big dog and weighs close to 200 pounds. Still, I doubted they saw Sendy reappear with him in the car.
I pulled into the lot and parked. It was big park, and if it had been daytime, it would have been full. Between the park benches, children's area, and the adjacent Dog Park, it was a popular place in the daylight. At night? Not so much. If it had been the weekend, there might have been a few stragglers still barbecuing; but fortunately for me, it was deserted.
"Here we go, then," I said as I got out of the car. "Let's see if these assholes want to play."
I needed this like I needed a hole in the head. I'd taken a lot of crap for freeing the Lilin and with my loss of face when Nikki ascended to the throne, I knew it was just a matter of time before someone I had pissed made a move against me. Since these were definitely not Demons just released from Hell, I was guessing that's what was behind it. Between all that, and learning about Marissa's involvement with the Mage and the Demons; I just wasn't in the mood to play nice.
The car hadn’t turned behind me when I pulled into the lot, but I could still feel it in
the area. When I sat down on a park bench, I reached out with my magic and sensed it behind me. They had parked at the end of a small roadway that intersected the park. It was a residential street, with barriers preventing cars access to the park, but open to foot traffic. They were just sitting there watching, so I waited for them to make their move
A few minutes later the doors opened and the two in the front got out. They went to the back doors and opened them. That's when it got interesting. The passenger was Fae, but the driver was human. A Mage or Wizard, I guessed. The slight aura of dark magic emanating from him was a subtle, but obvious, clue that he wasn't here just to talk. The others? They were something entirely different. They were Spirits. Wraiths. Ghost-like creatures of some kind. Not unheard of, but not common either. As soon as they got out of the car they evaporated into mist and slunk along the ground in the grass. Once they disappeared into the park, the other two stepped between the barriers and walked my way.
I thought about letting Charlie know what I had discovered, but then realized I didn't have to. His senses were keener than mine and there was no mistaking what these creatures were. They reeked of death. That's not unusual, when you think about it. You can't be a Spirit unless you're dead. Not every Ghost smells awful to other Fae, but these two certainly did. They smelled of dank, dark places and rot. Not a surprise, since the Fae they accompanied was of the Vodianoi.
Frigging Sergei. I thought he was smarter than this. Sending goons out after me? Was he kidding? We didn’t have the same rules as the Were did when it came to disputes with the other Fae—and he did think like a mobster after all. But just a Fae and Mage with a couple Wraiths? Even if they were probably Topielec, the spirits of drowned souls. At best, these two had been criminals. Sure, they were nasty little bastards if you were unprepared, but please. I was still a High Fae and not such an easy target to kill.