by Tom Keller
"Enough!" I yelled. Then I turned to the Imp. "What's this about needing to be warned," I asked.
"Bernd knows the dangers," Lucinda said, apparently needing to get in the last word.
"I said, enough," I repeated, looking at her. "King of the Faeries, remember?" I reminded her. "Now what the hell is going on?"
Lucinda's tail swiped back and forth before she replied.
"Fine, tell him," she said, glaring at the Imp.
"Then again, she could be right," he said, taking a drink from his refilled glass. "Perhaps I'm just overreacting. Yes, I'm sure that's it. He's probably fine."
"Cut the crap," I said, grabbing a chair and swinging it around to sit down. I faced them both. "I need to know what's going on. Now, start from the beginning. What dangers does Bernd know about?"
"How much do you know about the Dwarves?" Alf asked, after a quick glance over to Lucinda.
"Not much, to be honest," I answered.
"He knows Motgnir and Valen," Lucinda said.
"Ah, that makes it easier," he said, taking another sip. "Then you know half the story."
"What story," I asked. "What am I missing now?"
"Well, since you must know the story to understand, I'll try to make it brief," he answered, all traces of his accent gone.
He straightened up, and I had to laugh to myself as he assumed the role of a lecturer.
"Perhaps you know this already but the Dwarves once served the Gods. Many gifts did they bestow on them. But as each gift was presented, conflict followed, for the Gods were vain and jealous of each other's gifts. Not to mention thinking themselves better than all the others. This made the Dwarves angry, as they were weary of serving such beings and craved power themselves. So they retreated to their own kingdom, only occasionally venturing out to see what was happening. As the God's conflicts escalated, an argument ensued between two of the most powerful Dwarf lords, Valen and Grerin."
"Grerin argued that they should bar the gates and leave the Gods and lesser beings to their own devices until the conflict was over. Valen, and a few of his kin, felt that they must stay and help those that could not help themselves. To make a long story short, Grerin won out and the gates were closed. All contact with the other Fae was forbidden and Valen and his kin were left to their own fates. In turn, Valen's Dwarves did what they could, helping the lesser Fae and others for as long as they were able."
He paused and took another drink.
"Well, after The Fall, and the turmoil among the Fae that followed, little has been heard from Grerin and the other Dwarves. That is, until rumors of the High Fae's return surfaced. Then for some reason he lashed out at Valen. Ordering him and his kin to cease dealing with the Fae and to return to give account of his doings. When he refused, they labeled him outcast and ordered his arrest as well as that of his followers. Of course, since they had abandoned the others, none acknowledged their claim, and Valen and his kin had refuge in many of the Fae lands. But lately, Dwarves have been seen outside of their kingdom. They search for Valen and the others, which means Bernd as well. That's why I asked him to meet. So I could warn him."
The Fall was the end of the Fae as we know them in 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 Fae version of Ragnarök, although the Norse Gods seem to have suffered the same fate. The Fae worlds have never been the same."
"Doesn’t make sense." I said. "Why would they care?"
"Who knows with Dwarves," Alf said. "Fearful of the power the High Fae may once again yield or perhaps, as Bernd believes, Grerin has gone mad, locked in his city all these years, with too much time to think."
"And why would they be afraid of me?" I wondered aloud. "I've done nothing to threaten the Dwarves."
"It matters not," Lucinda said. "It is the power you could wield against them that they fear, and there is something else. With the Gods gone and with the old magic they possess, Bernd believes Grerin wishes to set himself up as a God himself, to ensure that others can never use their power against him. A return of the High Fae would certainly not fit into his plans."
"And he didn’t tell me this, why?" I asked her.
"He did not want you distracted," she answered.
"Distracted, eh? Well, that just figures. But I'm tired of being distracted… by everyone."
"Bernd would not want you to be involved," said Lucinda.
"Yeah, well, too bad," I replied. I was really tired of everyone else doing what they thought was best for me. Truth was, I'd been manipulated in a lot of ways since this High Fae thing started, and I was sick of it. It was time to take charge of my life.
"Lucinda," I said. "When was the last time you saw Bernd?"
"Not since the night you freed the Lilin," she admitted. "He told me he would return when he could. That has always been his way."
"Ok," I replied. "When I ask you to find him, where do you go?"
"He has agents in the Fae worlds. I speak to the trees and the waters. They carry the message to him."
"I see," I said. It seemed the Dwarves, or at least the ones I knew, were as connected to the land as I was. That, of course, could be good or bad. "Here's what you're gonna do. Like it or not I want you to take Alf to Fae, and if you can't find Bernd, seek out Valen or Motgnir. If you need help, ask Handion, the Elf. He can pass the message to the winged horse, Althaea, to search for them. I want to know if they are safe. If that doesn’t work we'll think of something else."
Handion was an Elf that lived in the Fae worlds, specifically, my Fae world of the Dryad. The Elves were neutral up to a point but I had a feeling Handion would help. As to what else I could do, I called out to Sendy. She was an Aurea, a sky Fae. Her kind had been messengers to the Gods before The Fall. Now she was mine.
"My Lord?" she asked as she appeared a moment later, her wings folding up behind her back as she put a shirt on. Since she often visibly accompanied me or others here, I had warned her that she needed to carry clothes in the human world as she couldn't fly with them on. She was quite beautiful and I still found it distracting talking business to a naked Fae. Besides, things could get complicated if a twenty something year old naked hottie just appeared out of nowhere. Especially at some of the places my business took me.
"Take a message to my aunt, Cacilia, and also to the Hamadryad and other Fae Elders. Tell them I seek the counsel of Valen, Motgnir, and Bernd. I also wish to be informed if any other Dwarf crosses our borders. They are to pass the message on if they are found, but to no other Dwarf, understand? "
"As you command," she answered.
"Good. Then find me when you are done, I may have more for you to do. Oh, I almost forgot, what's Malcolm up to today?"
Malcolm was my best friend and a computer expert. He was also part Fae, something that we hadn’t known until Bernd had brought that part out of him.
"He is at his office. He said he had human work to catch up on, I believe is the phrase he used," she answered. He and Sendy had a thing going and I tried not to let her duties interfere with their relationship too much if I could help it.
"Great, feel free to let him know what you're doing and tell him I'll contact him later."
"Thank you," she replied and then after removing her shirt, she disappeared from view.
I could have gone myself, but that would have required more of an explanation. Something I didn’t feel like giving just yet. I wasn't sure if Bernd really was in danger. From what Lucinda had said he seemed to know what was going on. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.
"There is one thing," Alf said as Sendy disappeared. "I just don't… well, you see, it's just that it might be better for her to go alone. I don’t really mix that well with other Fae, as you may have already noticed."
"He is correct," Lucinda replied. "It would be better, and faster, if I go alone."
"Fine," I said, looking over at Charlie who'd been quietly sitting and listening to all
that was going on. "Keep him company. There's nothing more I can do until we hear back. Maybe I can get a few other things done in the meantime."
Charlie just nodded in acknowledgement and Alf seemed to heave a sigh of relief as Lucinda sprinted from the room. Maybe the Garden Faerie experience really had unnerved him I thought to myself as he drained his glass. I walked upstairs to change before heading out, leaving the two of them in the kitchen. I'd been too distracted to make more coffee and even after my breakfast with O'Malley I already knew where my first stop was going to be.
Chapter 4
JAY
"Hoskins," I answered as I picked up the phone on my desk.
"ASAC needs you in his office," the duty officer said.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Don’t know," he replied. "He didn’t elaborate and I didn't ask. You know how he is. You can tell me all about it when you're done, if it isn’t classified. For all I know he wants to tell you what a great job you did on yesterday's op."
"Yeah, right," I said with a laugh. I liked the number two man in the office, but he wasn't known for handing out accolades. As far as we all knew, he just figured that was part of the job.
"Ok, it'll be a few," I replied. "Let me just lock up this evidence. I can finish the paperwork when I get back."
"Ok," he said. "But do it quickly. You know how he hates to wait."
I chuckled as I hung up the phone. I could already hear him asking me what the hell part of get in his office didn't I understand, as he sat there, tapping his watch. That said, as far as command staff goes, he was as good as they came. I knew the gruff exterior was only a façade. Besides, far be it from me to leave anything sensitive on my desk in violation of the rules.
I locked my unfinished paperwork in the secure file cabinet and walked the few pieces of evidence I'd snagged from yesterday's operation to the evidence locker. Then I headed down the hallway to the elevator up to the lofty offices on the 10th floor.
"He's waiting for you," the secretary said, the phone clamped to her ear, as I closed the door to the office behind me. She pointed at the door to the inner office with one of those "What the hell did you do now?" expressions that didn't look promising.
"Take a seat, Jay," he said without turning from the monitor behind his desk. Oh, oh. First names were never a good sign.
"Anything strange happen on yesterday's case?" he asked, as the chair swung around and he faced me. "Other than you playing tackle with one of their SWAT guys, I mean? Good job on that, by the way."
"Thanks, but what do you mean by strange?" I asked, doing my best not to appear uncomfortable by the question.
"Anything out of the ordinary, then?"
"No, not really," I replied. I wasn't one to keep secrets from my office, but having visions wasn't something I was eager to disclose. Nikki had mentioned that she'd had an interesting day as well, but I hadn't wanted to discuss it with her on the phone. "Best we can tell, our suspect's sister was sleeping with their suspect, and directing him as to what to steal. We found a shopping list in her car. She'd parked it in the construction zone across the street. I doubt he even knew who he was ultimately stealing the parts for. We did get some good leads on him, though. The Sacramento office is working on it."
"Anything about it look like it would have kicked off an EAB contact?" he asked.
"EAB?" I asked, surprised. "No, not that I can think of. Everyone involved is home grown and there's nothing I found that links these guys to anyone other than locals."
The EAB was one of those specialized units that nobody liked to deal with. At the very least, the agents were hard cases and never told you anything about what they were up to. They only came in on certain cases, but nobody was ever really sure what the criteria was for the cases they did come in on. But they almost always involved multiple dead bodies and usually not ones shot by the police.
There were also rumors. Rumors that they might be involved in hunting down weird stuff, like a modern day Project Blue Book. I'd dealt with them in the past but nothing I could think of would be of interest to them in this case. Except, of course, for the visions, and I hadn’t told anyone about them, not even Nikki. "What's the EAB want on a case like this?"
"If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you, now would I?" he replied, tapping a pen on his desk. "Anyway, doesn’t matter. Grab your gear and head over to the airport office. Whatever's come up, someone at the EAB wants you involved. That's all I know, so don’t even bother asking me for more."
"Alright," I replied.
"… and Jay," he said with a concerned look on his face. "Watch your back out there."
"Always," I replied. What the hell had I stepped into this time?
Chapter 5
NIKKI
I was finishing some processing in the lab, trying to catch up on my case load, when the phone rang. It was my 'in' day, so the last thing I expected was a call from my supervisor.
"Nikki," I said as I answered the wall phone above the desk.
"Nik, it's Al. Can you come into my office?"
"I'm up to my neck in blood stains," I replied. "Can you give me a half hour?"
"No, I need you now," he said.
"Al, I've got half a clothing store spread out over the tables. It's gonna take me a few just to be able to get out of the lab," I said, irritated at the interruption.
"I'm sorry, Nik," he replied. "I just got a call from the Sheriff's office and I need to see you now. Retta hasn’t gone into the field yet, maybe can she help."
"A tower caper?" I said. "Yeah, I guess she'll be ok. We worked most of these cases together anyway. Alright, I'll see you as soon as I can."
A tower caper was a call from the Sheriff's office that usually meant he wanted something handled personally, and fast. It was nothing nefarious. Usually it just meant that the media or some commissioner was already all over a case and he wanted to be kept informed. But sometimes you got special attention if you'd done something to irritate him.
But why me? I hadn't pissed anyone off lately that I knew of, and I certainly hadn't told anyone about the birds. I picked up the evidence from the cases that were mine alone and locked them in my secure locker. I was irritated by the backlog I wasn't going to get to once again, but there wasn't anything I could do about that at the moment. I'd also hoped to have some down time to try and figure out what the hell had happened to me yesterday and was still waiting to hear back from Jay. He'd said he'd had a crazy day as well and would call me when things got settled. If there was anyone I could talk to about this, it was him.
"What the hell's going on?" Retta asked when she came in a minute later.
"Damned if I know," I replied as I stripped off my gloves. "Al said he's got some kind of tower caper. Why someone else can't handle it is beyond me."
"A tower caper? Figures," she said, putting on a pair of gloves. "Ok, where are you at with this stuff?"
I let her know what needed to be done on the remaining cases, and headed out of the lab toward Al's office. The door was already open, so I walked in.
"Ok, Al," I said as I sat down in front of his desk. "What's so important, and why me?"
"You remember that electrocution caper?" he asked. "The one at Stateline where the vic was some 'out of state' high roller?"
"Yeah, how could I forget?" I replied. That one had been weird enough, even without the spooks that showed up at the autopsy. It'd also been the only time that Jay and I had worked on the same case since he went to work for the Feds.
"Well, apparently there's some special meeting about it going on over at one of the Homeland Security offices today, and they want you there."
"Me?" I asked, surprised. "That's a homicide case and my reports have been done for a month. Wouldn’t the detective that's handling it be the one to attend any meetings? Besides, my brother worked on that case and he'd know everything that we do."
"Last time I checked, I answered to him, not the other way around," he replied. "The Sheriff said you n
eeded to be there, so there's not much I can do about it. They're even sending a car over. So get cleaned up, and you can tell me all about it when you get back."
"I suppose there's no way out of it then," I replied, wondering why this case was so important all of a sudden, and why Jay hadn’t mentioned it yesterday. What the hell did they need me for?
Chapter 6
ROBERT
As I pulled out into the street I had a vision of Charlie and Alf discussing something or another at the table, and was reminded once again how much my life had changed. Most people would never leave a stranger at the house, let alone some Imp out of a fairy tale, but this kind of thing was actually not an infrequent occurrence at my place. Even with leaving my Aunt Cacilia in charge of my lands while I was here, ever since I had taken the throne there had been a small, yet steady, stream of Fae who wanted to visit the human world. Since I had a Hamadryad living in the oak tree in the backyard guarding the entrance to my home, it only made sense to for them to cross here. There was also the added benefit of knowing just who was coming or going.
Fortunately for them, I had made an arrangement with the Milagres. In addition to owning a significant portion of the Neptune's Landing, one of the largest hotel-casinos in town, Meredith was the leader of the Nereid and had already had a system in place for Fae visitors. Hell, they even had some kind of arrangement with the State for identification. I didn't ask how they did it, or even who they dealt with, I just paid the bill when it came in. Well, at least my accounting team did. It seems I inherited quite a fortune when I took the reins, even if it is placed in trust for the Fae of my realm.
I had just grabbed a mocha at the drive thru when my cell rang. Seeing it was my son, I pulled into an empty stall and answered.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Hey, Dad. On a trek and I'm headed your way," he said, his voice somewhat strained. It also sounded muffled, as if he was on an airplane.