by Tom Keller
As I got closer I could see the flames subsiding near the front of the bar. That's when I spotted the first Mage beyond the flames, his back to me. There was just enough light to see that he had a wand in one hand and a sword in the other as he moved out of sight around the side of the building. There was no doubt in my mind what he was. I'd seen his type before during the attack on Milagre that started this whole Fae thing. A Mage, now I was angry.
Without thinking I had my sword extended and ran toward him. He turned just as I hit the front of the bar and raised the wand, a blue fire bursting. I blocked the beam with my sword, the energy arcing like a Tesla coil up and down my blade as his eyes widened. I was on him with my blade swinging true before he could act. I kicked the wand away from his now dead body and looked around. I saw a figure down on the ground in front of me. Moving toward it I saw it was Lucius. I bent down to check on him as he tried to stand. He looked pretty unsteady.
"What happened," I asked, pulling him up from the ground.
"I caught him in the alley casting some kind of spell. I startled him and he attacked. Damn Wizard or something. Fast with the wand, too. I tried to withdraw but he was faster. That blast threw me 20 feet and… well, here I am," he replied. "Thanks for showing up when you did."
"No problem, but what was he doing here… and why now?" I asked. Before he could answer Sendy popped back on my shoulder.
"There is another behind those buildings," she said, pointing to the other side of the street, across from the bar. The mist seemed to be thickest in that direction. "He summons something with dark magic."
"Find Siegfried and tell him what's happening," I said. "I'll take care of that one. Go!"
"There's another across the street," I told Lucius as Sendy disappeared. "Can you walk?" He gave me a funny look. He had heard me talking but couldn't have seen Sendy.
"I need a second but I'll heal. Go ahead, I'll catch up," he replied, still acting a little woozy.
I ran across the street then cut between the buildings. The mist was thick and when I stepped out onto the alley I saw him. He was crouched down, conjuring or something. I could hear the words even if I couldn't understand them. Some twisted form of Latin, I'm guessing. He looked up as I started towards him, then just smiled and went back to what he'd been doing. As I stepped forward I could see the mist coalescing into something above him, something dark.
I knew what to do. I'd spent the last month or so trying to follow Fae rules, but I'd learned a few things. One was that Fae can be predictable. Knowing that I couldn’t get to him as fast as I wanted and that whatever was dampening the magic was stronger here, I did the next best thing. I pulled my Walther and started firing as I moved towards him. He hadn’t expected that. One of the first things I'd learned when all this started was that certain weapons work better than others. But my sword was useless here, he was too far away. Of course it wasn't the gun that was special, it was the bullets. They'd been made to work against magic. And in this case, they were working just fine.
By the third shot, whatever he was doing had failed and I watched as the dark shape shrunk in upon itself, the accompanying shriek loud in my ears. He looked straight at me as I fired and I could see the bullets impact on his body. He stumbled back and reached into his robe, pulling out something. Fearing the worst I ran towards him but he threw the object down and then there was a burst of light. He was gone!
I reached where he'd been and saw the two circles on the ground, one where he'd been kneeling and the other right in front of the spot. Whatever he'd drawn on the ground was turning to ash itself just as the last had. Fortunately, the dampening effect was lifting and I could once again sense the world around me. Lucius was almost to the alley so I turned around as he ran up.
"Where'd he go?" he asked, looking around.
"They've got some kind of portal thing," I answered. "These guys just won't face a fair fight."
"Looks like you injured him, at least," he said, pointing to the ground. There was a nice pool of blood close to where he'd been.
I knelt and reached down, placing a finger into the blood as I let the magic come forth. I'd done this before with Fae. Blood can tell you a lot about an individual. In my case, I could sometimes read the history of the individual as well as their bloodline. Well, at least it had worked with Werewolves.
The instant my finger came in contact with the blood I was assaulted with images of darkness and I don’t mean the absence of light kind. Unfortunately, the came quickly and then faded, as if someone had intentionally done something to prevent just what I was doing. Although I couldn’t make sense of most of it, two things stood out. One was an image of Marissa as he bowed before her. The other was a Dragon. Well, that answered that.
I stood and surveyed the scene. There wasn't much left, unless you counted the dead Mage next to Danu's, of course. I'd still have to deal with that. Then another thought hit me.
"Lucius, did you know I was going to be here tonight?"
"Sure," he answered. "Delia had the Elf ask Rayna to cover for her. She said she was meeting you. It's a good thing you came early or these things might have had more surprises in store."
"And if you hadn't startled the one we'd still have been in trouble," I countered. Still bothered that they knew I was coming here. "Something's still not right, let's get back to the bar."
Parts of the façade were still smoldering as we ran up to the front entrance. The damage didn’t look too bad, I thought as I opened the door. The lights still worked here; they weren't hooked up to the grid. Bjartr used some kind of magic to keep them going. As soon as we entered I became suspicious. Delia and Rayna were arguing. They must have heard the door open because Rayna turned to look.
"No!" she screamed. "They promised me you'd be dead." So much for how they knew I'd be here. She turned back to Delia. "This is all your fault," she said. Then she pulled a large knife from behind her back and lunged at her.
I needn't have worried, Delia spun and blocked the thrust. I was running towards them as I saw her take Rayna down to the floor.
"Don't kill her," I yelled as I leapt the bar to get to them, Lucius right behind me.
Before I could complete the sentence Delia had grabbed the knife and forced it around, taking her to the ground and slicing through her neck, the blood already pooling around her. She was still straddling her as I knelt down beside them.
"Sorry," she said. "Some habits are hard to break."
I knew what she meant. I'd seen her fight on Olympus when we'd beaten Marissa's warriors the first time. I still didn’t know much about her but she knew her way around weapons, and not just a blade.
"Her symbiont will be dead as well," Lucius said as he picked up the knife. "We must dispose of the body."
"Dispose?" Delia said as she stood up. "How can you say such a thing? You cannot be involved."
"You killed only to defend yourself," he replied. "How can I ignore that?"
"What she did does not matter. To hide this from the Elders is a death sentence."
"Then the Elders are fools," he said.
"Excuse me," I chimed in as they argued. "Did I miss something? What did she do? Other than try and kill you, of course."
They both turned to look at me.
"What, you didn’t hear her?" he answered, pointing to the body in the floor. Then he began to laugh. "Oh my Lord High Fae," he continued. "You do not see that which proves your very legacy. She openly wanted you dead."
"She's not the first," I replied. "What of it?"
"She could not have done this thing until you came." he said. "The decree has indeed changed and it is because of you. I did not truly believe it until now." Then he knelt back down and closed her still open eyes. "Sleep well, sister, for now you are truly free." He turned back to Delia.
"Once I fought for the glory of Rome. I fought alongside men that believed in its might, even as it fell to ruins around us. But since being turned I have had, what? A parody of life no better tha
n a slave. Nae, less than a slave with so called Elders who now fear even their own shadows. But no more. Today I take the first step in declaring my wish to be free. No longer will I accept the Elders verdicts. I will follow this Fae till the Tears again flow and the decree is lifted in entirety. Will you join me?"
"Perhaps you are right," she said, nodding her head.
"And so it begins," he said as he clasped her shoulders.
Sendy returned just a moment later, and with her, Siegfried. He had been ready for a fight, but instead, made some calls as I told him all that had occurred. He was good with what had happened, as I had expected him to be. Bjartr, on the other hand, didn't take it too well. Rayna's betrayal was hard on him. It was Lucius that finally convinced him to go along with us. Ultimately, the hope of freedom for the Lilin won him over.
I had Sendy return Siegfried and told her I'd call when I needed her again. It wasn't long after that that Michael, Siegfried's right hand at the Neptune arrived. Michael was Fae as well, a distant relative of Siegfried's. He also handled clean up.
"Well, well," he said, peeking over the bar. "Lovely blade work. Best way to kill one, or at least so I've heard."
"Delia got this one," I replied. "Mine's outside between the buildings."
"Already tagged that one," he replied. "The new security guy, Lucius, told me all about it. At least that's one less Mage to worry about."
"True, but one got away and there's still more where he came from."
"Yeah, well, we'll get through it," he said, motioning for two of his folks to move the body. "Sorry about the Lilin though. They usually don’t get involved in things like this but it looks like that's changing," he said, glancing at Lucius. "You're doing?"
"I guess you could say that," I said with a sigh. "Although I was hoping things wouldn’t turn out this way."
"It was a nice thought," he replied. "But there's always some asshole out there that wants to run the worlds. Everyone forgets that freedom carries a price, even for us Fae." He went back around the bar and then stopped. "Hey, I hear you're looking for a Dragon."
"Just chasing rumors," I answered.
"Didn't know any were still around; always wanted to see one. Let me know if you find it."
Michael spoke to a couple of his guys then headed for the doorway and into the night. It was good to know I had folks like him I could call on. After he left I figured my evening was done for but then Delia came out of the back. She had cleaned up and was dressed to the nines, wearing tight black pants and a royal purple blouse, accenting all the right places.
"We still on?" she asked as she walked up to me. Acting much more sure of herself and confident then she had when she'd returned from the episode with the Elders.
"I figured I'd just ruined another one of your evenings," I answered in a surprised voice.
"Lucius has a point," she replied as she watched several of Michael's crew finish the clean-up. "Things are different now. Let's get out of here before Bjartr changes his mind about covering for me and I have to clean the rest of this mess up."
"Sure," I answered with a laugh as she took my arm." Where do you feel like going?"
"Let me think. Someone tried to kill me, I had to kill them," she said, holding up her hand to count fingers. "You killed a dark Mage that was after Lucius…"
"Yeah, pretty much what happens when we get together," I said, wincing.
"Looks like you owe me. Let's go somewhere expensive, I'm tired of the poor Lilin thing," she said.
"Works for me," I agreed. "There's something about a battle that always makes me hungry." Then I looked down at my soot and blood stained clothes. "Do you mind if we stop by my place? I'd probably be best if I changed clothes before we went anywhere else."
"Why Mr. Hoskins," she said with a smile, suddenly sounding every bit the Southern Belle. "I do believe you are trying to get me alone." This was definitely not the Delia I was used to, I thought as we walked through the doorway and headed for my car.
The drive to my house was uneventful. Delia seemed lost in thought and I figured I'd wait to ask any questions. As we pulled through the gates Charlie was waiting. Before I could get the door open he was on me, checking to see if I was ok. Damn dog had a better information network than I did. When he was finished with me he checked out Delia. Satisfied, he went back to the house.
"I'll just need a minute to change," I said as we walked into the house.
"I think you better take a shower," Delia said, after walking up close and sniffing.
"You're probably right," I kidded, leaning down and smelling my shirt. "Grab whatever you want and I'll be down in a few." I ran upstairs and took a quick shower, throwing on some pressed jeans and a button up shirt before heading back down.
"What's this?" I asked, walking into the backyard. The kitchen had been empty but the door was open and the patio lights on.
"I changed my mind," Delia said, pointing to the BBQ Island. On it were two steaks, bone in, that I'd had in the fridge.
"Seems to me you had some help," I replied, eyeing Charlie as he brought the ball to her.
"Well, he might have told me they were there," she said with a laugh. "But these will do fine, I don't feel like going out anymore and since we're here…"
"Ok. But it'll take a few, I'd rather cook them on this," I replied, picking up the small charcoal grill I kept around for good steaks. I poured in some briquettes, lit them, and then went inside for some spices.
"Don't you use magic for anything?" she asked as I came back out.
"Old habits," I replied in jest as I grabbed two beers out of the refrigerator in the island and popped the caps off, handing her one. "Besides, I thought you didn’t like the Fae, let alone their magic."
"I never said that," she said. "Not all Fae treat us as servants. As for the magic, well, it's just not something we Lilin really ever see. At least not the good kind. Except when Bjartr does something. But… I don't know… that seems different somehow."
"Let me show you something then," I said as I went into the house and turned out the porch lights. The moon was up and there enough light to see as I led her into the grass by the trees and my garden.
Believe it or not there were a few tricks I had learned when it came to magic, especially where my home was concerned. Just ask my neighbor who still was amazed at the 'secret formula' fertilizer I gave her. Truth was, it was just a regular bag I'd gotten at the nursery. While it did take sunlight for plants to grow, it was the faeries in the moonlight that I'd asked to visit her yard that really made the magic happen. Although she would never see them. But in Delia's case, I made an exception.
Taking her hand I let the magic flow through us, opening sight to beings not normally observed here on the earth. Suddenly another world came into focus. Sprites and faeries danced in the moonlight amongst the branches of the trees. Others visited each plant in the garden, sprinkling magic to make them grow. Will-o'-the-Wisps blinked into and out of existence over parts of the yard, never staying too long. A few faeries and sprites came close, their wings buzzing just out of normal hearing range as they passed. They nodded as they passed, recognizing me for who I was.
"They're beautiful," she whispered as she watched, captivated by their ballet in the moonlight. Raising her hand, one alighted for a brief moment upon her finger, before dancing away like a butterfly.
"We're not all monsters," I said softly as I let go of her hand, the otherworldly beings fading back into the night.
"Where'd they go," she asked, looking around.
"Here," I answered, and blew a whiff of magic in the air so she could see them again. "They can be distracting if you let them. So, you once asked me what has changed. Now it's my turn. What has changed?" I queried as I took a sip of my beer. Figuring now was as good a time as any to destroy the mood.
"I don't know what you mean," she replied, still trying to touch the faeries.
"Oh, please," I countered, walking back toward the grill. "You've always ke
pt your distance. Even when bad things weren't happening. Now, all of sudden we're having steaks in the backyard and flirting. I don’t really know anything about you, either. But I would like to know what's going on."
"Oh, I'm flirting with you am I," she said as she came up to me.
"That's not fair," I said, her lips just inches from mine. "And don’t change the subject." She was so tempting, but I needed to know more.
"Fine," she said, turning away. "Tell me, what do you really know about us?"
"If you meant the Lilin, not much," I admitted. "The Lilin inside you gives you strength and longevity. In exchange it needs blood. The legend of vampires are based on your kind, but you don’t have fangs, rather you have a… I guess I'd call it a proboscis. Other than that and the wars, not much, to be honest."
"So not a lot. You want to know more about us… about me? I'll tell you a story," she said, picking up her beer where she'd left it. "But you can cook while I talk, agreed?"
"I can do that," I admitted, checking the grill.
"Do you know how old I am?" she asked as she sat down.
"I have no clue," I answered as I began to sear the steaks, they were thick so they were going to take a bit of time. "You look like you’re in your early 30s, but I'm guessing that's not the case."
"I'm not as old as your plaything, Delia, but I'm older than 30," she said with a laugh.
"She's not my plaything," I replied as I flipped the steaks. "And let's not get off track here."
"I was nothing more than a farmer's wife when the Romans left Britain sometime in the what? Fifth century or so. I couldn't tell you exactly," she began as she took a drink. Then she stood back up and looked back over the yard. Watching the Faeries still moving about, dancing from plant to plant.
"It was when the Saxons came, or at least I think it was the Saxons. Hard to remember who was who in those days. Suffice it to say that raids were common, and they weren't pretty. They'd come a few times before, usually just stealing our food but occasionally they were violent. I lost my husband and his father during an earlier one. But this time was worse. There was very little food left, they had burned much of the fields. They raped the woman and left us for dead. At least some had had their throats slit, putting them out of their misery. But my last attacker had not been so kind. I remember lying next to the still smoldering ruins of the farmhouse as they marched off, wondering when I would die. Then he came.