Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1)

by Stephan Morse

  I went back to what I was trying to do before he showed up. It was a slightly quicker connection the second time. All my senses switched to looking for food.

  Hungry. Life everywhere. Plants. Thready. Roots reach down. Worms wiggle. Disgusting. Birds fluff and stare around. Too little. No meat. Pathetic. Tiny wings. Something moves. Fat. Pauses in confusion. Fur stands out against the air. Moving closer. It’s nearby. Not as hard to see. Dinner. Easily mine, hunger makes it mine.

  The connection grew stronger as I focused. This was not on a link like when I was tracking. My mind was honing in on the concept that this living breathing meal was mine. The more I thought about it the hungrier I grew and the easier it was to see it.

  Back shudders. Body unfurls. Feels good. Burning travels from skull to waist. Muscles long dormant, finally being used. Feel shoulder blades tense up. Mental arms spread. Cowering tiny furry creature. It feels me. Can’t see me. Doesn’t run. Starts moving towards my body. As if herded. Not controlled. Doing what is expected. Obeying the will of my hunger. Presenting itself. Prostrating.

  Closer still. Within arms reach. I didn’t even hesitate, my hands lashed out and twisted. Only a second passed before the life collapsed out of its broken body. Those extra senses collapsed inward, satisfied that my hunger would be solved.

  “What the fuck did you do?” The voice was back again, only this time there was more to it then the judgmental tone.

  The dead rabbit and I had no answer. How had I known to try in the first place?

  “I said what the hell did you just do?” The voice was demanding. My watcher took a step closer. Naked, of course, damned wolves didn’t seem to consider wearing clothes a requirement half the time.

  “I have no idea.” I said.

  “Tell me what that was.” He was demanding answers like I had some to give. Like I had sat in the middle of the wilderness and called for animals before like some sort of delivery pizza.

  Had I?

  The wolf, whoever it was, turned and shifted in a hurry then all but bolted into the woods. No doubt going to report on my actions. Wolves may share a communal bond, but it wasn’t as good as a cell phone. Smart packs kept pants somewhere back near the tree line, and a phone in a plastic baggie.

  Not knowing what else to do, I set about lamely trying to skin the poor meal that had offered itself to me. The meat was edible, but no hamburger. Both hands hovered over the burning fire, soaking in welcome heat as it burned out. Now I knew starving wasn’t an issue. In fact that charred rabbit had been better than most meals I had ever eaten.

  How long had I been out here? Two days? Three? I couldn’t very well justify my time with this little tidbit. Kahina would be furious at the extended absence. Returning home would also put me at odds with Julianne. Women were hard for me to deal with. Best not come back empty handed.

  Hell.

  Northward it was, towards the elf. My pace was slow and steady along the dilapidated road. Running would exhaust me. Soon I would be close enough to call on that elf again. My thoughts started getting choppy in delirium.

  Rain hit towards afternoon. I kept trying my senses while traveling, checking for food. By nightfall, I was out of lighter fluid, soaked, angry, and a little unnerved. My mind replayed the most recent events as I walked. Tracking I remembered. Physically boosting myself was a familiar sensation from youthful times. Talking elves while I tracked was odd but within reason. They theoretically saw an entire spectrum that humans couldn’t. This new thing, calling a wild creature to me, then killing it. A chance encounter with vampirism in my childhood didn’t explain that ability or the Lord title.

  Hunger, exhaustion, neither one helped me when trying to concentrate and track the elf. Both things changed my max range. Desperation and days of wandering in the woods pushed me to poor choices. My mind stretched out, chasing the ghostly link between the hair and the person it used to belong to.

  Landscape passes by. Trees. More trees. Even more trees. Each different. Each the same. Wind ripples their tops, an ocean of spirits sway. Fog looms ahead. Perceptions edge. Ghostly, firm in its denial. Elven thread goes in. Doesn’t come out. Feels tired.

  Should I try to breach the boundary of my mind’s senses? No, there were enough stories about astral projection gone wrong. My research into the so-called psychic realms concluded that pushing the mind was dangerous. While I have never met a human psychic, there had been plenty of vampires with little abilities. They kept an open library because anyone with a hint of ability was sponsored for conversion.

  Circular thinking was starting to irk me. This Lord thing. If I wasn’t an elf, wasn’t a wolf, what else was there beyond vampirism? Everything else had been killed during the Purge.

  I released the connection by discarding possession over the blond lock of hair. Calling this journey quits felt appealing. There was a rustle in the trees near me, and a click. Pain lanced through my body while I jerked spastically. A squirrel chittering sound barely proceeded the second click. My nerves jangled around and I had no control. A vicious one on one battle between the ground and my face ensued.

  I lost.

  Chapter 6 – A Few Times

  “Rise and shine, Princess.” A mocking voice was repeating itself. Each time accompanied by a light backhand to the face. I was starting to hate waking up even more than I already did. “He’s finally coming to.”

  “Check the bindings.” A second voice, from further away.

  “They’re solid.” The first one said.

  Both arms were bound behind me and my legs tied together. They had me trussed up, all that was missing was the fire and roasting pole. Both eyes watered as I tried to speak. Bastards had taped my mouth shut. There was also a blindfold across my eyes. The open air mixed with splashes of sunshine told me I was in the back of the vehicle. Our ride was noisy and bounced around from ditches in the road. Beneath me, I could feel the rows of bumps that went with a truck bed.

  I checked my bearings against home. We were headed south, towards my apartment and away from my target. That made the last few days of my life pointless. Hopefully, my stuff was with me. The cross hung under my shirt, but my duffle bag wasn’t obvious. I would be pissed if a return trip to the depths of those woods was required.

  A firm hand gripped under my jaw, squeezing painfully.

  “How’s your hearing, nod if you understand me.” A male voice said.

  I nodded.

  “Yeah, he’s awake.”

  This whole mess was turning into some sort of karmic revenge. Now I was being kidnapped. Normally things didn’t work that way. Struggling was useless with this setup. Maybe they would explain. Worst case they might hit me with that chittering item again. Even money said it was a taser.

  I mumbled through the tape a bit. Maybe he understood ‘where are we going?’ in muffled tones.

  “He’s trying to talk, what do you think?”

  “Remove it, not like he can yell for help out here.” The man in the back of the truck chuckled, then yanked the tape off, leaving my face sore. I licked my lips slowly, hoping they hadn’t cracked. Torn hairs wasn’t an issue, five days of camping had resulted in zero beard growth. Genetics were against me on that front.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’re being evicted for loitering.”

  “Maybe north instead? The elf is that way.” It would be too much to hope that they would get me closer to my destination.

  “Negative, orders are you exit where you came in.” The other voice, from inside the truck. It sounded like he was yelling out through a tiny sliding door.

  “And the blindfold?” Or duct tape. Being electrocuted was unpleasant. Trussing. Lack of an eviction notice. An endless list of complaints passed through my head.

  “For our protection. No need to let a tracker get anything on us in case they entertain thoughts of petty revenge.” One of the men said.

  At least they were taking me out the quick way. If they trussed and blindfolded me th
rough three days of woods I might have to shoot myself. Fucking elves. Why couldn’t they hide in a run down apartment a few blocks away? Why did they always run into the deepest tree line they could find?

  “At least you’re civil.” Was my final response.

  “Sure, we’re not inhuman.”

  I didn’t need the blindfold removed to hear his mocking smile at that comment. There was another clicking noise and blackness overtook me. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that I hadn’t had much to eat or drink for three days. Coming to the second time was much more pleasant. They had propped me upright and any traces of drool I had must have been wiped clean.

  Breakfast was the first thing I noticed. The food smelled overwhelmingly sweet. Buttered up pancakes with bottled syrup slathered all over them. Next to that was a pile of eggs with melted cheese and diced onions. A fork full of food was in my mouth before the man sitting across from me even registered.

  He looked familiar, at least from the neck up. The waist downward was confusing but welcome. This time, the man was clothed. Graying pieces of hair combined with a sun-worn face had painted an identical picture of the man from the forest. An older fellow who had held my life in his hands.

  “Keep eating.” He nodded at the food in front of me.

  I made it a personal challenge to devour the food. Minutes later a woefully empty plate sat between us. We stared at each other for a while before I sighed and shifted in my chair. The man was so upright in his posture it made me want either slouch as an attempt to balance, or sit up straighter.

  “Eviction?” I broke the silence first.

  “I had a few of my boys scout the area ahead and behind you the entire way. There was no elf.” The older man was calm.

  “There was one, trust me, I would never have gone into those woods otherwise,” I said.

  “I don’t trust you, Jay, never have. Never will. Boy like you works in entirely the wrong business.” He spoke calmly. From my peripherals, it was obvious this older man was staring at me.

  “How do you know me?”

  “Know of, Jay, know of. Very few trackers in the world. Just as rare on both sides of the law.” Daniel had told me before that the number of trackers in this sector fit on one hand. Out of those he only had reliable access to one. Go me.

  “Mmmhh,” I said.

  “The boys can’t handle a man like you in our woods for long. They get upset.”

  I studied the man again, crossed my arms and leaned back. There was an impression that our paths had crossed at least once. I could honestly say we had never met before a few nights ago. At least not to my memory.

  “Where are you going with this?” I asked.

  “Keep your nose out of my trees.”

  “Fine.” The elf was too deep for me. I would have to look again once I finished with this man. Whatever it was he was hiding, or protecting, could sit there and rot for all I cared. It wasn’t worth pissing off a pack of wolves. It also wasn’t worth asking about, or I might start getting nosy.

  The other man stood up to leave.

  “Who am I thanking for breakfast?” Now was a good time as any to fish for a name. The older figure didn’t smile, didn’t nod, didn’t even give me half a smirk.

  “Not me, your money paid for it.”

  A twenty laid on the table over the bill, enough to cover the food I scarfed down, and the orange juice the other man had drank. By the time I realized what he meant there was no chance of following him. My duffle bag was sitting calmly by the table. I scanned through it briefly and found they left my things alone and in one place. Outside the restaurant was a working pay phone. I pulled out Daniel’s phone number from the card he had given me. My head hung against the rain cover for a minute before dialing my friend.

  “Agent Daniel Crumfield speaking.” Crisp, no hint of the surfer accent.

  “It’s secret agent Jay Fields.”

  “Hey man, hold on.” There it was. Professional Daniel switched to old friend Daniel in four words.

  The phone grew muffled for a moment, but I could hear a softened set of words. It sounded like he was asking someone to stay still. Maybe, hard to hear through a hand. There was another noise in the background I could almost place. A sound that was extremely familiar to me, but was out of place when I pictured Daniel. The world’s noisiest door creaked through the phone then slammed shut.

  “Alright, hard to hear myself think in there.”

  “Been there,” I said.

  “Anyway, man, welcome back to earth, what’s the word? You’ve been off the grid for awhile.” He sounded hopeful. Too bad I was about to dash that.

  “Had a lead. Didn’t work.” Admitting to my friend exactly what happened was out. I’d ditched him to chase an elf, then failed miserably.

  “Anything I can help with?”

  “No. Unless you’re willing to take on a pack,” I answered. There was a pause of held breath.

  “Maybe, man. What are we working with?” Daniel said. It was my turn to pause while I considered exactly to say. Last time we spoke I had been trying to escape from the agent. My clever brain said sneaking away to follow an elf would be worthwhile. The whole Lord prospect had grown rather difficult to look into.

  “Not sure. Probably nothing. Your elf has gone a ways north, over sixty miles or so.” I said. Daniel deserved some information.

  “North?” He asked.

  “North. A lot of woods out that way.” There was a clever comment about needles and haystacks, which wasn’t that hard compared to elves in a forest.

  “No shit.”

  My recent experiences had stirred up wariness. This entire thing was in a realm that felt dangerous. Playing on the freeway scary. Nagging in the back of my brain said it could only get worse. One hand scratched at a wrist absently.

  “I’m going to catch a bus home,” I said.

  “I’ll be done soon if you want a ride back.” There was a snap of rubber in the background, like gloves coming off.

  “You sure?” My words were hesitant.

  “Don’t worry, I can wrap up this job anytime I want to, man. I’m only working my resources on another case.” Daniel sounded upset, or pleased. The two emotions were hard for me to tell apart.

  The way he spoke stirred up strange imagery. Spying on Daniel with my abilities hadn’t been a good idea for years. We had been friends long enough that he almost knew when I tried. Still, I got a flash of him standing there, a fresh hand towel in one hand, wiping the blood off his fingers while sighing.

  Nonsense. Daniel worked for Western Sector, but he was a desk jockey, not a field agent. That scene was more my world than his. Sometimes people didn’t pay. Sometimes a gentle reminder was needed to solve things. Julianne hadn’t given me anything big since I had returned, she seemed to be testing the waters.

  I gave the agent my location. Then my bag and I went to find a bathroom and change out of some well-worn clothes. An hour later Daniel rolled up and honked. His clothes were as spotless as ever, and despite my mental ramblings I couldn’t help but check over for spots of blood. Nothing stood out against the black suit.

  “Tell me about elves, because this makes no sense.” I started.

  “You know as much as anyone. We’re all in the same sector, half of us are raised down the street from a clan.”

  “This one isn’t right.” I protested. Daniel paused to consider a few things.

  “Well, it’s not normal, no,” He admitted.

  “You got anything on this guy?”

  “Maybe. What set you off, man? Then I’ll know where to start.” He said. Give a little to get a little, right? I mulled it over from the back seat, the front was perpetually crowded by files and Daniel’s computer.

  “Feels off. Any government trackers ever tried elves?” I settled on being vague.

  “A few times.” He said.

  “Problems?”

  “A few times.” Came the answer a second time.

  “Maybe it’s
like those.”

  “I’ll have to see if I can get a look at the files, but management may wonder why I’m looking into tracker files for this. Your call if you want me to risk it.” Daniel offered. I could feel his finger rubbing carefully back and forth on the steering wheel. My thoughts were elsewhere.

  If other Sector members thought Daniel had access to a tracker then I would be subject to undesired attention. That tactic was completely out. I did not want to deal with any sort of catch up paperwork or jail time. Not once they started piecing my history together.

  “No thanks. I’ll stay anonymous.”

  “Thought you might.” I could see Daniel’s smirk in the rear view mirror. Jerk probably thought my aversion to being tracked by the government was funny. With my ass sitting in a government car, with a government agent, on a government case. Maybe there was some silliness there.

  The things I do for friends.

  “Anyway, I’ll look around, quietly, see if there’s anything off about this guy. But if you don’t like the results, remember-” I joined him as he parroted his favorite saying, the one he used when things were out of his immediate control. “-don’t shoot the messenger.” He smiled at the end of it, but it practically seemed forced. “Anyway, man, I’ll look.”

  I nodded. “Please, nothing about this seems normal.”

  “Man, you said that weeks ago, but the entire case is like that. You should see some of the stuff in the file.” He said.

  “I thought he was only some rich kid?”

  “Rich young man, but no, there’s always more.” Daniel pulled out a folder and shook it at me.

  “Like?” I asked. The folder in his hands meant jack to me. Too many words. Too much data hurt my head to read.

  “What else? His parents blamed a cult that doesn’t exist.” Daniel said.

  “Officially or unofficially doesn’t exist?”

  “Well you know us government types, we like to hide the interesting things from each other. The file and databases come up dead, therefore I’m hoping doesn’t exist period.”