by Jayne Hawke
"It has to be shut down. Athena's lot aren't too far from there, and she has a good bit of sway in the area. As does Artemis. Neither of those will stand for something like that. I heard they already have sirens, harpies, mermaids, hippocampoi, Chupacabra, and a skinwalker. They're supposed to be working on shifters and puka next."
I snorted. Puka were a well-liked type of fae. There wasn't a chance in Hel that they'd be able to get a puka for their zoo.
"So, they're trying to put intelligent people in this zoo... Who or what's running it?"
"Humans looking to stroke their egos and remind themselves of when they ran the world," Ash said as he pulled up in front of a fish 'n' chip shop.
Most humans were pretty cool with the situation. They could live comfortable lives, they had as many job opportunities as the fae and had more freedom of movement than the fae. There were even chances to get a taste of magic - coffee shops usually had pixie-dust-infused options on the menu which gave them a little kick. Sure, they couldn't wield it the way a witch could, but they weren't exactly a slave class.
Of course, there were small clusters who were unhappy with the situation. Occasionally they tried to take out a Lord or Lady or raise a rebellion. They were quickly quashed, and people forgot about their ever having existed. Personally, I felt it was the fae partbreeds who got the shit end of the stick. No one wanted them. The fae were only interested in good pure bloodlines, and the humans didn't trust them, deeming them to be unpredictable.
"Haddock, chips, and curry sauce," I said.
"Really with the curry sauce?" Ash asked.
"It just isn't right without it."
"It just isn't right with it. Now mushy peas..."
I wrinkled my nose. Mushy peas were as they sounded. A small pot of cold mashed up peas. How on Earth they became a popular side dish for fish 'n' chips I had no idea. The discussion was a familiar one, something that helped us relax.
"Don't you contaminate my food with your vile mushy peas," I warned.
Ash grinned unrepentantly at me before he hopped out of the car.
There was no point in us both getting out just to stand and order food which we'd eat back at the apartment anyway. I pulled out the laptop and began looking to see if I could find anything about the dead shifter. I was hoping there'd be a call out from a pack looking for their missing member.
The news had already moved on from the murder by the shifter. Now they were all talking about an Anubis god touched that had managed to take some land and businesses in France. It was a little sad how quickly people forgot.
SEVEN
The apartment I'd booked was right on the boundary of Leith. The neighbourhood had a lot of potential. Our apartment was in an old cream building with high ceilings and a sturdy wooden door covered in magical security. The windows on the first two floors were barred and engraved with more security. At least we wouldn't need to worry too much while we slept.
If you looked past the poisonous vines growing up the walls of the buildings on either side of us, the wild meadow at the back of the building, and the sharpness of the magic in the air, then it was a pretty nice place. Each building stood with a small patch of land around it, giving a feeling of space. The fact that that space was filled with poisonous plants and magical snares did reduce the pleasant feeling somewhat.
We let ourselves in and walked the five floors up to our apartment. The lift wasn't functioning, and the rust running down the doors made me think it had been a while since it had been functioning. We opened up our fish 'n' chips and began eating as we walked. There was no reason to let it all get cold, after all.
"So, what do you reckon is going to be the problem behind all of this?" Ash asked.
"I'm not sure. Should I pull out the bad guy bingo? I think we're winning, but Willow and Alder might have beaten us with that last case of theirs."
"Personally, I'm hoping that it's some maniacal brownie," Ash said.
"That would certainly give us a lead. It's so rare that brownies go dark side."
Brownies were one of the very few non-predatory fae. They liked cooking and cleaning so were often bakers or in the hospitality business. They got pissy if they felt the people they were cooking and cleaning for were ungrateful, but even then they didn't go on murderous rampages, they just made a mess and left.
"There was that one brownie who made his cookies addictive and poisonous. He had them begging for more while they were slowly dying. That was pretty twisted."
"Yea but it turned out he was only three quarters brownie; the other quarter was some fucked up branch of sprite."
I enjoyed these small moments of down time when we just enjoyed each other's company and bantered back and forth.
"You have a goofy smile on your face," Ash said as he nudged me with his elbow.
"What can I say, I really like curry sauce on my chips."
He laughed, a warm genuine sound that echoed around us as we climbed the last flight of stairs.
We tucked our food away and pulled out our weapons as we approached the door to our apartment. You couldn't be too safe. Not everyone was a fan of witches or knights, after all.
Ash took the lead while I held back a little and felt for suspicious magic. There was nothing but the subtle ambient magic in the air from the light filtering in through the windows at the ends of the hallway.
Ash opened the door and flung it open before standing in the doorway with his Colt raised ready to shoot anyone dumb enough to try and ambush us. Nothing. We moved through into the apartment, checking each doorway and room before we relaxed. The decor of the place left something to be desired, but it was clean, and the beds were a good size. I couldn't complain.
"The wallpaper is the exact shade of green as my peas," Ash said as he sat down on the neon-orange couch.
"The person who decorated this place must have been colourblind."
"Or trying to make the occupants blind."
"I vote that we watch the latest episode of Supernatural then head to bed and start bright and early. Thus far, there's only been one murder, so we should get our rest before it all kicks off," Ash said.
It sounded cynical to assume that there were going to be more deaths, but we'd been at this long enough to know how this worked. A lone shifter rocked into the city, killed some human, and was in turn killed before we could get any details. The case may as well have come with a huge neon sign saying, 'evil plot beginning here'.
Ash kicked off his boots and turned on the TV, looking for the channel with Supernatural on. His entire body relaxed as he caught the sound of the opening credits. This was his happy place, our moment of peace before all Hel broke loose.
EIGHT
I got up to find Ash doing pushups shirtless. His tattoos ran down alongside his spine in beautiful woad blue, a striking contrast to his golden tanned skin.
"You're putting me to shame," I grumbled.
He grinned at me.
"I'm the tank to your caster, I have to be on top form."
"You're such a geek," I said with a laugh.
I opened up the red backpack that held our on-the-go food and dug out a handful of cereal bars. They'd have to do us until we could restock our supplies. I tossed a few over to Ash, who'd moved onto sit-ups just to really rub it in.
His body was already what a lot of people would consider to be perfection. Well defined abs, strong powerful arms and thighs, a tight little ass which filled out his jeans just right. Sighing, I bit into my cereal bar, which was somehow even more bland than usual.
"So, what do we know about this case so far?"
"Not much. Jack seems a bit suspicious. The fact there's no sign of a pack is a big alarm bell."
"What you mean to say is, you don't like Jack because he's a bounty hunter who doesn't give a damn."
"He was pretty eager to destroy evidence."
"He's a bounty hunter. They're all the same. They kill or bring in whatever they've been paid to and they move on. It's a simple life
, no questions asked."
I had nothing against bounty hunters, they fulfilled an important role in society. They weren't exactly top investigators, though.
"Alright, so we have a wolf with no pack coming looking for him. That means either he was severely ostracised, or he's far, far away from his pack's territory. Both of which are pretty damn weird. Packs tend to just kill those that break the rules that badly, and risking walking into another pack's territory alone is suicidal."
I sat cross legged on the couch.
"Something about this seems vaguely familiar."
Ash came and sat next to me.
"It's like one of those old cases they made us do during training."
"Oh! The one that old Foxy had us look into?"
"Yea, she hated us after that."
I laughed.
"Do you remember the look on her face when we solved the case before she had when she'd actually done it?"
Ash laughed along with me, his eyes lighting up as he did so.
"Her eyes narrowed so much they practically disappeared beneath all of her wrinkles!" Ash said with a howl of laughter.
"That was when we really came together as a team," I said softly.
Ash put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close.
"I wouldn't be with anyone else. You're the lemon to my meringue."
I laughed.
"That's the best you could come up with? How are you possibly this much of a dork?"
He grinned at me.
"A supremely lovable dork."
"Your ego is already far too big. I'm not going to add to it."
I pulled out my laptop and opened the search engine. It was time to start really digging around, seeing what we were getting into. A crash came from outside, quickly followed by a cry of pain.
"Will people never learn?" Ash said with the shake of his head.
"There'll always be those who're too stupid, too desperate, or too arrogant."
Leith was run by a herd of kelpies. Kelpies were a form of horse-shifter fae. When they were in their horse form, a lot of humans found them nearly irresistible. They were pulled towards the huge black horses. The kelpies would then bow down or otherwise help the human onto their back before they raced off to the closest body of water and then drowned and ate the person. It didn't matter if the person realised what was happening, the kelpie had magic that bound the person to them once they were on their back.
The particular herd of kelpies that ran Leith were even more vicious than usual. They had set up a drug business, which they guarded with deadly force. Rumour had it that they were ridiculously rich, but you wouldn't know it by the state of Leith. A lot of the area was overgrown with tall rough grass that had overtaken the concrete beneath it. The buildings were crumbling with broken windows and sagging rooves. Of course, that tall grass was perfect for other predators to hide in. Notably, the kelpies allowed some barghest to live here and there. They supposedly worked as trackers and heavies for the kelpies.
Barghest were the meaner version of cu sith. Where cu sith were death dealers who spent most of their time in a human form, the barghest spent most of their time in their monstrous black dog form with brilliant red eyes and a mouth full of teeth that would put a crocodile to shame. Cu sith took beings to their afterlife, although they frequently worked as assassins, too. Barghests didn't give their victims any such choice. They devoured every scrap of magic within their victim and took it into themselves, thus robbing them of any afterlife. It was said that they could then use the stolen magic, but I hadn't seen any sign of their being intelligent enough to do anything more than heal themselves with it.
Even with all of that, people were still stupid or arrogant enough to wander into Leith without a clear and explicit invitation. Some of them were just trying to harvest the poisonous plants around the edges to be sold on to alchemists and witches. Others were desperate enough to risk the wrath of the kelpies to try and get their next hit directly from the herd. Then there were those who were just that arrogant. They wandered the boundary to prove that they were badass enough to do it without fear. They were the quickest to die.
I logged into the knight network and began looking through the network the knights had formed, which gathered up news articles, blog posts, and anything else that might be of use during a hunt like this. Rolling my neck, I settled into a long morning of dead ends and wild goose chases.
NINE
"I found an ammo supplier over in Haymarket. You want to come along and top up your magic? Looks like some good storm clouds to pull from," Ash asked.
"Yea, sounds great. My stocks are running a bit low."
It was important to grab magic where you could get it. We hadn't found anything of use on the wolf situation, so it was best to stock up and prepare while we could.
There was a glint in Ash's eyes, something that tugged at the corner of his mouth bringing him to a slight hint of a smile.
"What're you really up to?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"I just need some ammo."
"Uh huh."
"You have to trust me, I'm the best you have."
I snorted.
"You're an awful liar."
"Am I, though?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, keep your little secret. Let's go in case the storm rolls over and we miss it."
I hoped that there'd be a magical supply shop in the area, too, I could do with some more pixie dust. It was versatile and always good to have a little pop of vitality on hand. We needed more food, too. This was turning into a whole shopping trip in my head.
"Do you ever wonder what it'd be like to, ya know, not be a knight?" Ash asked as we headed down the stairs.
"Sure, sometimes. When we're elbow-deep in blood, grime, and broken bones I wonder what it'd be like to work in an office. Or a library. Librarians look like they have a pretty decent job. No one tries to break their neck, strip their magic, or slowly torture them to death. That definitely appeals sometimes."
"Really? A librarian?"
"It looks peaceful," I said.
"Dude, you can do so much better than a librarian. Why not aim for a topflight banker or something? Something cushy with luxury so you can go home to silk sheets and a kitchen full of food."
"I don't know if I could ever really enjoy luxury. I'm just not meant to be that soft. I can see you with a squishy middle and a big paycheque, though," I teased.
"Me? Soft? Never! That's impossible. Even if I was a banker I'd be a badass who saved people without even planning on it. I'd be walking home and save some pretty pixie from a red cap or something."
I laughed.
"You've constructed a whole fantasy, haven't you?"
"Sometimes those long drives get boring."
"Seriously, though. Could you really picture yourself as something other than a knight?"
"No. It's in my blood. Even if I did somehow get out of the game and live an ordinary life, I'd be pulled back into it somehow. I need to save people, to make the world a little better. It's who and what I am, it's my bones."
"Did you ever think that maybe that's just because we were raised to think that, though?"
Ash paused and frowned at me.
"Are you doubting things?"
"No. I'd never really walk away, but I just wonder sometimes. What if we hadn't been trained since birth, what would our lives have been like?"
Ash shrugged.
"I'd still be a knight. Somehow."
We reached the small dingy lobby area, and I felt something outside. The sharp threads of magic were bundled into close-knit knots. Frowning, I tried to get a better feel on things. Knots like that meant some form of shifter. The damn thing kept moving around too much for me to pin down what form of shifter and how many.
Ash had stepped in front of me and drawn his automatic. We didn't need to talk, we read each other like books. I instinctively pulled on the magic of the building storm outside, using it to form
electricity in my hands. There was never a dull day as a knight.
We stepped through the doors and found three kelpies looking impatient and a barghest looking the only way they can – vicious. They were expecting a less exciting encounter than they got, I suspect. Before the kelpies had the chance to take a step, the loud bark of pistol fire began to my right, three rounds to the chest of the centre fae sending a spray of water outward that I initially took to be some sort of strange analogue to blood. I didn’t think water fae had water blood, but I couldn’t remember for sure.
Even as I poured a long jolt of electricity into the barghest that left it quiescently jerking on the ground, it quickly became clear that, far from being the death blood of the thing, the water was the energies infused into the bullet of those three rounds. That was the downside of random bullet choices – they had a bad habit of being precisely the wrong thing.
Ash had retargeted already and begun firing, confident that his work was done, but I could almost see the sharp-toothed fae swell with the added water energy and reform into his humanoid form. He was bleeding from his wounds, but it was more than offset by the free energy boost he’d just gotten. He leapt over the barghest and rushed me, confident that Ash’s contribution to the fight was going to be minimal.
With a grimace, I poured all the lightning I had left into him, focusing past the light show of arcing electricity to watch his magic responding to mine. It wasn’t going to be enough. My spell would have dropped him flat a few seconds ago, but as it was he was going to reach me.
I resigned myself to taking a bruise or two and began drawing down more energy from the storm, gathering threads with the calm of long hours of practice and preparing a second volley. As I did, I watched the other two drop in a hail of bullets, the water rounds mercifully only taking up the first three slots. A mix of ice and starlight left painful lines across their faces as they each received killing headshots in perfect synchrony.