Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  I was remembering. For all the horror of the nightmare, it had ended mercifully soon for all these years. I scrabbled at the muddy ground and got to my feet, slightly to one side and behind her, and faced my nightmarish pursuer for the first time since that night. In the lucid dream, I was both aware of me, the young man facing a horror, and my self trying to wake up in a Washington hotel room. I couldn’t wake up and escape the dream, or the memory that I had suppressed for so long, whichever this damn well was.

  The darkness obscured much of what I was facing. The Wild Hunt, not a single monster, stopped in its tracks. The leader astride his massive stag had one hand raised, presumably in the motion that had checked the onslaught of the others. One of the steeds near him stamped and champed, but I heard no sound. All wore enveloping black armor, muddy with the chase. No gleams of silver or gold broke the sombre ensembles, and the steeds were bizarre creatures. Some, like the great stag with his gaping jaws that revealed sharpened teeth covered in bloody slobber, I could identify, even if I didn’t want to. Others appeared to be several creatures knit together in some unholy fashion.

  “Why do you chase the child?” She challenged them.

  The huntsman appeared to contemplate her for a long moment. I say appeared, for his eyes were completely concealed behind the ebon helm. His voice emanated from it in a deep boom. “We are bidden.”

  She sneered at him verbally. A banshee’s voice is a spell unto itself, and she was exerting terrible effort in her scorn of him. I shrank into her shadow, away from the worst of the effect. “Who dares bid the Wild Hunt? We go where we will, when we will. And this innocent child is not our prey.”

  “Stand aside, Moire LeFay,” he boomed. The stag reared, and one of the flanking riders threw something at us.

  Moire screamed and threw herself at them, her outstretched arms becoming great grey wings, and her fingers talons, dripping venom. I threw myself to the ground, but not fast enough. The spell... stuck to me. It burned into my skin, and I found myself trying to scratch it off frantically, but it stuck to every part it touched. Now I was screaming, and I’d lost track of the Wild Hunt. The screaming stopped, sort of, when I started vomiting. I think I lost everything I had ever eaten.

  When I had lost last week’s dinner, I no longer cared if the Wild Hunt ran over me. In fact, I wanted to die, so the pain would stop. The two arms that cradled me especially hurt, and the whimper that I couldn’t stop hurt the throat I had screamed raw. I was being carried, and I wanted down, to let the stag finish what the beast-borne fairy had started.

  I’m fairly sure that was why I was whispering “Kill me, kill me...” anyway. The lucid dreaming part of me took note of that, the younger self was somewhere out of my head. Only when my rescuer dumped me unceremoniously on Alger’s floor did I have a flicker of rational thought.

  “Elfshot.” The voice was improbably deep, and I wondered why the Huntsman was there, then I slid away into a blissful tunnel of black velvety darkness. In the hotel room, I jerked awake, leaping to my feet and looking around. It was full dark. Bella was still asleep on the bed. I could hear my own breaths coming in harsh pants.

  Chapter 10 - Ghoulish Procurer

  I stumbled to the bathroom and closed the door behind me before I put on the light. Looking in the mirror was both a scary and comforting experience. My eyes were bloodshot and hair standing on end, but it was the Lom who had been through hell, not the one who was just starting that journey. I preferred to live in the present. I ran cold water in the sink and splashed it on my face, washing away some of the cold sweat and awakening myself fully.

  It couldn’t possibly have been the huntsman who had taken me to Alger’s hall. I had misheard the voice, or was blending dreams with memories. I had never seen Moire after that day, and could only assume she had sacrificed herself for me, but why? Only Alger’s skills had kept me alive, and I was handicapped by the toxins that accumulated every time I aroused the malice of the elfshot by using magic. She had to have thought I was dead when she flew at the hunt, elfshot never left survivors. I was unique.

  I’d rather not be. Normal would have been nice. A fat, balding pixie warming his toes by the fire with a pipe in one hand and a book in another... I sighed and rubbed my dripping face with a towel. Time to see if Bella was ready and move out before our hunters found us. We had been flying under the radar by doing the unexpected, but we would be found. I didn’t doubt that.

  For one thing, I had to present her at court, and that was as good as walking into the kettle with the water boiling. I opened the bathroom door without turning off the light. The splash of illumination outlined her, lying there with the gentle curve of her hip and shoulder turned toward me. I crossed the room and gently shook her shoulder.

  “Bella.”

  She opened her eyes and looked up at me, rolling partly onto her back. The shirt stretched across her breasts and I tried to ignore them.

  “Lom?” She rubbed her eyes with her hands like a little child.

  “Can you stay awake for a while? We really need to move and get Underhill.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I think the majority of the spell is... absorbed.”

  She focused behind me, “is it still dark?”

  “Best time to travel. No traffic,” I pointed out, collecting the few things I had out of my bag. She sat up and stretched.

  “Do I have time to shower?” She asked plaintively, wrinkling her nose.

  “Please do.” I waved at the bathroom and turned on a lamp. She headed into the bathroom while I policed the room for any forgotten items. By the time she came out I was lounging on the bed, reading. I’d snagged the novels by my favorite author from the ferry. A small pilferage, but a worthy one.

  “Sorry I took so long.” She was still toweling her hair as she spoke. She had taken her bag in, and was in fresh clothes.

  “Not a problem. You never know when you’ll get another chance at a time like this.”

  “Time like this?” She dropped the towel on the bed. I stood up and grabbed my bag.

  “Yeah, when you’re on the run from the Big Bad.” I opened the door, looked out, and clicked the unlock button on the car’s keyfob. I stepped back in, “after you, my lady.” I swept her a mocking bow, and she laughed as she swept by me.

  I made a call once we were back on the road. We would stop in Seattle, then keep south down the coast. But we needed supplies, and not reading material, this time.

  She stayed alert on the ride, looking out the window at the scenery. I was glad, I didn’t feel much like chatting, and between the kiss and the dream, just wanted to crawl in a hole and pull it shut behind me.

  The only good thing was, she seemed to have forgotten there ever was such a thing as a kiss. Maybe she thought it had been a dream, or just didn’t recall from her brain being occupied with the spell as it was. I’d take either way. Remembering Moire had been a splash of cold water on my half-wondering thoughts of following through on that contact with Bella. She was a job. Get her in, and get out myself.

  Getting involved at Court was a sure way to have Moire’s sisters come wail for me. Bella wasn’t Family, and I had a duty, that was all. So why was I still arguing with myself? The GPS spoke to me, and I stopped thinking so much and followed the voice to an old friend’s haunt. At one point, I’d known my way in and out of here like the back of my hand. But time passed, and a city grew.

  Georgio’s was literally a haunt, too. The tall man was a ghoul, and I don’t mean that in a metaphorical morbid guy sort of way. He lived by eating dead bodies, and there were enough forgotten ones in the back alleys to keep him alive, in a manner of speaking. He refused to go Underhill, and we had a deal. I left him alone, he left the living alone, and he provided me with supplies when I was in town.

  It was foggy, no big surprise in Seattle. The world was a smear of colors from neon and headlights, and then we pulled into the back alley behind Georgio’s, and when I had it in park, I closed my eyes. Bella nudged me.
>
  “I can do that.”

  I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was pale in the dim light, but even so, I could see the determination written on her face. I nodded. It would speed my reaction times up if she could do the watching with the Sight and I could stay in the real world the whole time.

  “Thanks.”

  She closed her eyes. “I see a flare of magic in there,” she pointed without opening her eyes. “Sort of greenish.”

  “That’s Georgio. Anything else?”

  She concentrated for a moment longer and then shook her head. “No, no more magic.”

  “Want to stay here?”

  She opened her eyes and winced slightly. “No, I’d like to stay with you.”

  I got out of the car and she followed on my heels as I rapped at the heavy steel door. It swung open almost immediately. He’d been expecting me. He was almost seven feet tall of bad road, with a side order of roadkill that you smelled right away. When my eyes started watering, I choked out, “Georgio, remember we talked about soap?”

  “You threatened me with a pressure washer, last time.” He grinned, and I could feel Bella’s flinch at the sight of ghoul teeth. Closely related to sharks, I sometimes thought, rows of sharp, serrated things. They shed them like sharks, too, he’d given me one, once. I’d bleached the hell out of it when I got home, and it still smelled faintly of death and rottenness.

  He looked at her. “Welcome, Lady. Come into my humble abode, please.” He made a little bow stiffly, and we followed him up a short, dim hallway into a large, dim room. Ghouls are not overly fond of bright light.

  He spoke to her again, rather than me. I was mildly amused. Women were a rare commodity to him, and he was enjoying this, although I doubted Bella was; she seemed to have a normal sense of smell.

  “Can I offer you some refreshment?”

  “Oh, that...” I could tell she was torn between graciousness and horror at the idea of ingesting anything from his pantry. I intervened.

  “No time, Georgio. I need to get back on the road.”

  I saw a flash of disappointment, and then he shrugged. “Sure thing, Lom. I have it for you.”

  He reached behind a dusty sofa and hoisted out a leather satchel that had seen the last century - maybe two. “Everything you asked for, boss.”

  I handed him the cash I’d agreed on with him. “We were never here, see?”

  He nodded. “Bad things coming, Lom. Real bad.” He turned to Bella. “You ok with him, pretty lady?”

  She smiled up at him, craning her neck almost as much as I had to. “He’s good to me, yeah. Thank you, Georgio. Maybe we will meet again.”

  He smiled real big, and she didn’t flinch this time. Good self-control, that girl. “I’d like that.”

  I hefted the bag with one hand, which took considerable effort. “Hang loose, Georgio. Might be time to go underground for a while.” Again, with a ghoul this was literal. He considered being buried alive restful.

  He nodded. We left. Back into the fog and dark alley. As we stepped out of the back door, I felt a cold touch of doubt and looked back into the hall. I couldn’t see anything, but... I closed my eyes. Only Georgio’s olive green glow was visible. Bella took my elbow, and I let her half-guide me back to the car. Once the bag was on the back seat I was functional enough to drive again.

  Chapter 11 - Ogre, Ogre!

  Bella let me get back into traffic before speaking. “You didn’t ask him any questions?”

  I grunted and avoided an idiot turning without his directionals. “We have a deal. He’s no snitch, so I don’t even ask. He did offer some information, though.”

  “What?” she sounded confused.

  “Ghouls are incredibly strong, and really damn hard to kill. They’re also unpredictable in a fight. I’ve had one just slump down, I thought I’d got her, and when I went in for the finish, she grabbed my throat with her foot.” I shook my head at the memory of the cold, slimy grip and the choking smell. The foot hadn’t let go even after I’d blown her head off, and it took me breathless moments to pry it loose. I’d gone after ghouls from a greater distance after that encounter.

  “When Georgio says very bad things are coming, I listen.” I went on, getting us back on the highway finally and out of city traffic. “There aren’t many beings ghouls respect.”

  “You,” she pointed out. “Which is reassuring, I suppose.”

  “Thanks, Princess.” I responded dryly, continuing, “also, ogres and dragons.”

  “Dragons are real?” The intrigue in her voice made me smile. There’s something powerful about the mystique of the ancient lizards.

  “There have been rumors about sightings in the last century, in unlikely places like Colorado, but no one has seen a living dragon in recent memory.” I didn’t tell her how far back my personal memory went, let alone Alger’s. “So ogres are much more likely, I deduce.”

  “So he was telling you what to expect. And how are ogres different from trolls?”

  I knew she had to be thinking back to that ambush on the bridge, which seemed so far behind us, but the bruises were still faintly visible on her throat.

  “Can you use the library?” I didn’t mind answering her, but I was curious how much she could manipulate the data she had been given.

  “Oh! I didn’t even think of that. Let me try...” She trailed off, and I glanced over to see a very distracted expression on her face. I looked back at the road. Now that we were out of the Seattle area the fog had lifted, and it wasn’t sunny, but a bright morning for the Northwest.

  “Ew!” I heard, and sneaked another look. Her nose was scrunched up in disgust, so I guessed she had found the information about ogres.

  “They really aren’t cannibals. They don’t eat one another. They will, however, eat any other species they can get their teeth into, and it’s a point of pride to them to eat talking species.” I shrugged. “Dietary habits are just that. The fact that their hide is damn near tough as dragonscale is a lot harder to deal with.”

  “Like the troll, you have to hit them in a certain spot?”

  “Only ogres are smarter than trolls. Not geniuses, good thing, or we’d be overrun. But they did figure out that goggles made from lexan protect the eyes.”

  “The, um, book I found didn’t say how to kill them.”

  “No, most of the tales and legends just tell you how to avoid them. In this case, we can’t, they are waiting for us, and I’m pretty sure I know where.”

  I had been hearing rumors out of this area for a while now, and when I’d read that the trails to the top of Mt. St. Helens had been closed down after the mysterious death of a hiker, I’d known I would be sent into the area for clean-up. It just hadn’t happened yet, and now I had to run the gauntlet with Bella.

  “Surely in a car we can outrun them?”

  “Probably. Then we will have ogres in Hummers on our tail. They favor big, ugly gas hogs. Suits them. So what we are going to do is unwrap the goodies I had Georgio pack up for us. Have you ever used a grenade launcher?”

  She squeaked, “are you serious?” as she unbuckled and twisted around so she could open the bag and look in it. A moment later I rolled the windows down some, because when she opened the bag it emitted eau de ghoul residence, and I could hear her gagging as she leaned over the seat.

  “What the hell is this thing?” She asked when she had recovered.

  “If it looks like an abomination of a shotgun mated to a Thompson machine gun and blown up in scale, it’s a M32 MGL,” I focused on driving. The exit I wanted would be coming up soon. We were going into battle with little time to prepare and ever fewer resources.

  “MGL?” She asked, leaning further back. I had thigh pressed against my shoulder.

  “Multiple grenade launcher. Range is something shy of 400 yards. So it gives you the ability to stand off and make an impression.”

  “Okay...” she drew that out slowly, like she was humoring me. “It looks like it fires with a trigger pull,
and that’s the safety.” I could hear her turning it over. “I can do this. Bet it kicks like a mule on steroids, though.”

  “Yeah, it does. Can you handle that?”

  “I’ll want an icepack after. But yes. What else is in here?”

  “Backup supplies. Sit your butt back down in the seat, Princess, I need to make a turn.”

  She wiggled back into position, leaving me with delightful impressions of warm womanflesh on my cheek and shoulder. My exit had come up, and she clicked the seat belt as I took it into the rest area. I disobeyed the signs and entered the truck area, scanning for what I wanted. It wasn’t hard to find, but finding just the right one... ah... there.

  I pulled in between two of the big trucks, effectively hiding the rental sedan, and shut it down. I turned to look at Bella. Her face was serious, and I knew she was reading my mood. Playtime was over. “Here’s the plan. You’re going to drive the car, and I’m going to lure them out with that truck.” I pointed upward at the big logging truck I had parked us next to.

  “Wha... Ok.” She squared her shoulders. “I need a little more detail.”

  I grinned at her. “You got it, Princess.”

  “And stop calling me that,” she protested weakly.

  When I was done explaining we got the car ready, then she made a trip to the bathroom. I covered the MGL on the front seat with my jacket. It was warm enough down in the lower 48 to get away without it, and I was sure the logging truck would have heat. When I left it, on the other hand... I’d live. I hoped. Pretty sure I wouldn’t die of cold, anyway.

  Once I was done fussing over her preparation, I started my own. Using a tiny bit of don’t-see-me glamour, I climbed up the side of the truck and stuck the gray, putty-like explosive pellets I’d made with a spell in the heart of each one onto chain links in strategic places. Then I unlocked the door of the truck with my feet on the dirty asphalt and my hand on the lower edge of the door. I could hear the lock click. Getting up into the truck was quite a scramble for me, and I was grateful I didn’t have to haul the trucker out, as he was nowhere in sight. Getting a meal, I guessed, or some shut-eye. This wasn’t a sleeper.