Close Enemies

by Marc Daniel

  “What do you say we move this party to my house?” asked the man, getting up.

  “Sure! That sounds like a great idea.” Her words were slightly slurred. She’d drunk close to an entire bottle of champagne on her own, after all.

  On her way out, she winked at Michael who was holding a clipboard as she climbed into the passenger seat of a Maserati. Michael was unrecognizable in his muscle-hugging suit with his shaved head and bushy beard.

  The boss went around the car and took his place behind the wheel. He walked with a graceful elegance that wasn’t quite human. Almost elf-like. But he was no elf.

  The drive was short. They didn’t have far to go and the man drove like a maniac.

  They parked in front of a mansion made of white stone. Parisians called this type of building a hotel particulier or private hotel. The bodyguards’ car arrived a moment later and everyone headed for the front door.

  Sheila and the boss quickly found themselves alone in the middle of a living room large enough to host a tennis match, although the floor’s polished white marble would have made for a very rapid surface.

  “Scotch?” asked the man, as he walked towards a bar better stocked than most drinking establishments.

  “Yes please, no ice.”

  “A woman after my own heart,” he said appreciatively as he poured the amber liquid into crystal glasses and handed one to Sheila.

  “What do you do for a living? You seem to be doing well for yourself.”

  “I run a crime syndicate. Killers for hire. We specialize in very big game.”

  “Werebear? That sort of big game?”

  The man chuckled. “Funny you should say that. I thought werebear had gone extinct centuries ago, but I was wrong. We just got a contract to go after one of them last month.”

  “Sounds like a big job,” replied Sheila, sounding interested.

  “It is. But we can handle it. I put five of my men on it. The bear’s as good as dead.”

  “And who’s ordered the hit?” The question had been asked casually, but the answer was eagerly expected.

  “That’s the funny part,” he replied, refilling his glass. “The woman who’s paying us is actually—” Suddenly he fell silent. All humor had disappeared from his voice when he asked, “Who are you, Sheila Wang?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he gestured towards the French door they’d walked through a moment ago and the doors flew open. Another flick of his hand and Sheila was propelled into an armchair, her glass still in her hand.

  “Good thing I drink fast. You could have stained my dress.”

  “Who are you?” he repeated, anger clear in his voice.

  “It would seem you already know who I am.”

  “I recognized you as soon as I saw you in that club. But you’re not who I thought. You’re not human. How did you get this information out of me against my will? What are you?”

  Four of his men had entered the room and were now circling the armchair where Sheila sat.

  “I could ask you the same question. You’re a fae, obviously, but what kind? I’ve never encountered the purple eyes before.”

  The boss’s anger was steadily growing. It was thick in the air, almost physically palpable. A blue glow was now surrounding him, invisible to the human eye but not to hers. It was time to go.

  The fae sent a wave of energy towards her without even moving a finger, but she saw it coming and countered it with a wall of her own.

  She got out of the chair and walked straight to the closest window. The two bodyguards who tried to intercept her on the way found themselves glued to the ceiling, unable to move a finger. The fae was a greater foe, however. She couldn’t afford to turn her back on him. She reached the window as reinforcements poured in through the French doors. The fae had sent a half dozen spells her way but she’d countered them all. She kicked the window open, the glass shattering under the impact.

  “This isn’t over,” screamed the fae as she jumped out through the broken glass.

  Chapter 65

  Sheila’s four-story jump ended with an elegant landing that surprised even Michael.

  “Let’s roll,” she said, getting into the running car. By the time the front door of the building flew open and the Fida’I bodyguards spilled out onto the sidewalk, they were long gone.

  “How did it go?” asked Sheila from the back seat.

  “Better than it could have, but not as well as I was hoping for,” replied the Sheila sitting in the passenger seat.

  “Before you give us the details, could you please change back to your normal self? Having the two of you looking identical is starting to creep me out,” said Michael, carefully gliding through the Parisian traffic. He hated traffic with a passion and driving in Paris, even at four in the morning, was testing his patience on a whole new level.

  “Really, Michael? You want me to change back now? I thought the three of us could have some fun first. You know, when we get back to the hotel,” replied Ez in a sensual voice that wasn’t exactly Sheila’s but was still remarkably similar.

  Michael remained silent. The simple thought made him break out in sweat as his cheeks suddenly took a bright shade of pink.

  “Did I make you blush, you big prude?”

  “Stop it, Ez. You’re going to break my big teddy bear. One Sheila is all he needs to be happy.”

  As Sheila finished her sentence, the image of Helen Fletcher massaging his legs flashed through Michael’s mind. A fugitive thought, but a guilty one.

  “So. Tell us what happened,” said Sheila to Ez who was once again an elderly-looking gentleman wrapped in a gray cloak and sporting a pointy hat.

  “Well, my young friends, it turns out that the leader of the Fida’I isn’t a praeternatural at all. He’s a high fae.”

  “Really? Good thing we stuck with the plan and sent you instead of Sheila,” said Michael.

  While Ez had been inside the club looking like Sheila and Michael had been playing bouncer at the front door, the real Sheila had been parked two streets over waiting for Michael’s phone call. The minute Ez had climbed inside the Maserati, Sheila had picked Michael up and the two of them had followed the car from a distance, simply tracking the phone inside the fake Sheila’s purse.

  “What’s a high fae? Is it like a really tall fairy?” asked Sheila.

  “That’s close, but not quite. A high fae is a fairy, as you put it. But size has nothing to do with it. High faes are noble-born among the faes and their magical powers often exceed those of their kin.”

  “But he looked human,” objected Sheila. “Was he a werefae?”

  Ezekiel chuckled kindly. “There’s no such thing as a werefae, my dear child. Faes have glamour which allow them to take any appearance they wish, although mind you, they only look a certain way. An ogre for instance can choose to look like a little girl, but if you shake his hand, you’ll still feel the enormous, callous paw of an ogre. Glamour only tricks the eyes for the most part. Some faes’ glamour is powerful enough to trick all five senses. Those are the most dangerous ones.”

  “So what did the boss look like under his glamour?”

  “He looked exactly as he appeared. High faes don’t have to rely on glamour. They look human in the first place.”

  “Did you find out who hired the Fida’I and what their actual contract is for?” asked Michael. He already knew what a high fae was and was eager to get to the point.

  “I know it’s a woman, but the fae broke off my truth spell before revealing a name. After that he was onto me and I had to make a quick exit.”

  “Couldn’t you force him to tell you?” asked Michael.

  “His magic was strong. Without his henchmen to keep me on my toes, I probably could have pulled the information out of him, but as is, I preferred making my exit before he figured out who I was.”

  The news was disappointing to Michael, but he trusted Ezekiel had done everything he could to get the name out of the fae. Things didn’t always go as pla
nned.

  “However, I did confirm that you were the main target, Michael.”

  “Who are the others?”

  “I don't know but he recognized Sheila.”

  “And you think that's because he has a file on me, which would make me one of the targets,” said Sheila.

  “We'd already figured this much anyway. They clearly went after Sheila in St. Lucia. If they'd wanted to kill me then, the mountain lion and the tiger would have concerted their attack on me. They didn’t because Sheila was the main target that day. They wanted to kill her in front of me.”

  Ezekiel looked at him skeptically. “I also found out that the team they sent after you was composed of five killers.”

  “Five,” repeated Sheila. “Let’s see. The two tigers, the mountain lion Leka killed in St. Lucia… We’re missing two. Things are going to get interesting when they show up.”

  “Don’t forget the chameleon. We’ve yet to figure out what’s his role in the whole charade, but mark my word, youngsters, he’s playing an important part,” said Ezekiel.

  “We think we figured out the chameleon’s role, Ez. We can talk about it later,” said Michael evasively.

  “Michael thinks the chameleon impersonated my sister. He believes it was him who called me and invited us on the St. Lucia vacation.”

  “That would make sense,” answered the wizard pensively. “But I don’t see why the Fida’I would go through the trouble of inviting you to St. Lucia when they could just as easily have attacked Sheila in Houston and you in Yellowstone.”

  “I believe they tried to kill Sheila in Houston and failed.”

  “You mean the car bomb?” asked Sheila.

  “Yes. After that, you were with me at all times and they weren’t sure where to find us until we came back to Yellowstone.”

  “But it would still have been easier to attack you in Yellowstone than to send you to the West Indies and follow you there. It makes no sense to me,” said the wizard.

  “Maybe they needed me out of the park, Ez.”

  “Why?”

  “I've been thinking about it. What if they knew I could call upon a lot of help if they were to attack me in Yellowstone.”

  “You mean the bears?” Ezekiel had witnessed how Michael had called upon the bears of the park to fight at his side a couple of years earlier. Their intervention had allowed Michael to triumph over the entire Houston pack. Nearly thirty werewolves had died in the encounter.

  “Yes. And the fact the Fida’I most likely were aware of this suggests someone in the know had warned them.”

  “A Houston pack survivor?” asked Sheila.

  “Maybe, but doubtful,” said Michael, stopping the car in front of the Eiffel Tower. The iconic monument sparkled with a thousand light bulbs. They all remained silent a minute, absorbing the beauty of the moment.

  Ez was the first to speak. “Hasn’t the entire Houston pack been eradicated?”

  “As far as I know. But the Shadow Pack had infiltrated Clemens’ organization and we know that some members of the Shadow Pack are either missing or have yet to be identified.”

  “And some of these could be females,” added Sheila.

  “We never knew for a fact whether Katia Olveda was a member of the pack or not, but she was definitely very close to their alpha. I think it’s time to pay her a visit,” said Michael.

  “Is she still in prison?” asked Ez.

  “According to my contact at the Houston PD, she is.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Sheila. “But we’ve yet to identify the fifth Fida’I commando.”

  “Olivia was attacked by a grizzly skinwalker a few days ago. So far that’s the closest thing we have to a fifth Fida’I, but I find it hard to believe,” said Michael.

  “Me too. Skinwalkers are too… what’s the word I’m looking for? Ah yes: mortal.”

  “The fifth one could be a vampire,” offered Sheila. “How else can we explain being attacked by the tigers and the vampires at the same time? And let’s not forget that it’s a vampire who killed Lucy. Not a tiger.”

  “I still can’t fathom why anyone would want to go after that poor girl in the first place,” said Ezekiel. But Michael was no longer listening. A week ago he would have thought the idea of the fifth Fida’I being a vampire ludicrous, but now he had to seriously consider the possibility.

  What had she been doing in West Yellowstone? And since when could she stand the light of day? This was something he needed to figure out on his own. She was his mistake. His responsibility. Ez didn’t know anything about her and Michael intended to keep it that way. He just hoped he wasn’t in over his head.

  Chapter 66

  “I’m glad to see you are back with us,” said Jason Parrish. He was standing on Michael’s doorstep. “You skipped town so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to approve your time off.” His tone was just condescending enough to tick Michael off.

  “I’m sorry about that, Jason. It was a bit of an emergency, I didn’t get a chance to give you proper notice. But don’t worry, I have plenty of vacation time saved up. I didn’t abuse any privilege.”

  “I know, Michael. I didn’t imply you did. I just wanted to make sure you knew to give me the heads-up if another emergency ever were to occur.”

  “Will do, Jason. Will do.”

  Michael was about to close the door and return to his breakfast when Jason asked, “How are the legs doing?”

  “Much better, thanks.”

  “Do you mind if I have a peek? We could still try and file for workers’ comp if you need some skin grafts or anything like that.”

  “I’m doing fine, Jason, I assure you. I don’t need workers’ comp. My legs can stay the way they are, I’m not planning to enter any beauty contest in the near future.” Michael had pronounced the last statement jokingly in hope of putting an end to the discussion.

  “Alright. But if you’re going to change your mind about this, hurry. Time is running out for you,” he said with a wink.

  Michael shut the door and returned to the kitchen table where Sheila was finishing her morning coffee. Something in Jason’s last statement had caught Michael’s attention. Or was it the wink that had come with it?

  “That’s quite a change from Bill Thomason, isn’t it?” she said, biting into a thick slice of homemade bread slathered with strawberry preserve.

  “You can say that again,” replied Michael, thinking back on his old boss. The man had lost his life saving him: a sacrifice Jason Parrish was unlikely to match.

  “I guess you need to go to work today,” she said, a sad look on her face.

  “I do, but I’ll keep my phone with me at all times. The slightest sign of trouble and you give me a call. Call Ez, too, in case he can get to you faster.”

  “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, Michael. They won’t come attack me in broad daylight. And if they do, Ezekiel’s spell will keep them out of the house.”

  Michael trusted the wizard’s skills but didn’t share Sheila’s optimism. The spell generated a protective barrier around the house and prevented any praeternatural—other than Michael and Olivia—from breaching the perimeter. The spell wouldn’t work on faes, however, and that made Michael nervous. “I want you to keep this within reach at all times,” he said, handing her a shotgun.

  He showed her how to pump the gun to reload after shooting and placed a box of ammo on the table next to her computer. “It won’t kill the tigers for good, but shoot them in the head and it will take them a minute to recover.”

  “And what am I supposed to do while they’re recovering—tend to their wounds?” she asked half-jokingly. But Michael could sense apprehension in her question.

  “I’d suggest you put this time to good use and start chopping,” he said, pointing at an axe resting against the wall by the door leading to the cabin’s tiny living room. “It will take you a while to go through the neck so don’t hesitate to keep shooting them in the head every few seconds as you’re working.”r />
  “You sure know how to turn a lady on, Michael Biörn.”

  “You’ll be fine but don’t venture outside the house. OK?”

  “That’s a promise.”

  “What are you planning on doing today?” he asked.

  “I was going to get a head start on the background check of all the park’s employees working close to you.”

  “Focus on the new ones. You can ignore those who’ve been working here for more than a year since Ez already ruled out that the chameleon could be impersonating any of my close coworkers.”

  “And you don’t think whoever’s behind this would have placed agents in the park over a year ago?”

  “I’d say it’s highly unlikely.”

  “Alright. I’ll start by checking on anyone hired in the past three months and work my way up from there. How does that sound?”

  “That sounds perfect. Helen sent me the résumés of the interns we hired. I’ll email them to you so that gives you something to start with while you work your magic on accessing data you shouldn’t have access to.”

  “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, officer. All my online activity is of a purely lawful nature.”

  “Whatever you need to tell yourself is fine with me,” said Michael with a smirk.

  *****

  Michael had been on patrol for over two hours when the call came on the radio. “An interpretive ranger has spotted some fresh cat tracks a half-mile south of Antelope Creek. She thinks the tracks could belong to one of the big cats we’ve been looking for.”

  “This is Unit 2. I’m a mile away from Antelope Creek. Heading there right now,” said Michael.

  “10-4 Unit 2. I am patching you through with the ranger on site.”

  “This is Helen Fletcher. The tracks are very fresh. I believe the cat is still in the area. I have nothing to defend myself in case of an attack so I’m heading back to Antelope Creek.”

  “Helen, this is Michael. I’m on my way. I’ll reach you in fifteen minutes. Over.”

  He turned on the lights on his patrol SUV and raced to the Antelope Creek parking lot where he parked as close to the trailhead as he could. He had a bad feeling about this.