by M. D. Massey
Buck narrowed his eyes as his gaze passed over me. Then he plastered a friendly smile across his face, motioning for the big man to calm down. “She’s right, Bear. We gave our word, and we’ll stick to it.” He addressed Belladonna, winking as he nodded at the table. “Just don’t miss, sugar. That is, unless you want to spend the night with some real men, instead of that yuppie you walked in with.”
The others laughed at that. Belladonna paid them no mind, replying in a conversational tone as she lined up her next shot. “I don’t intend to miss anything but a great deal of sexual disappointment.”
Their leader frowned at her remark, while the other two exchanged blank expressions. Leaning against a nearby bar table, I chuckled and looked on with feigned disinterest. However, my attention was taut as a bowstring as I watched Belladonna make her next shot.
“Three ball, side pocket,” she said, looking over her shoulder and giving me a wink as she sank the ball blind. “Four ball, corner pocket,” she said again, doing exactly that. She followed up with several more spectacular bank shots as she cleared the solid balls from the table.
Moments later, she called her final shot, sinking the eight ball in a side pocket. Belladonna blew imaginary dust off the tip of her cue stick, then she laid it on the felt. Moving with an almost casual indifference, she leaned a hip against the table as she addressed our opponents.
“That’s game point, boys,” she stated, extending her hand out, palm up. “Time to pay up.”
Bear stood up off his barstool with his fists clenched, glaring first at Belladonna, and then at me. “They cheated, Buck. Ain’t no way they could beat Bobby at a game of pool. No way, no how.”
Buck stood with his arms crossed over his chest, glancing momentarily at Belladonna before fixing his eyes on me. “You know what, Bear? I believe you’re right. I thought this fella here looked familiar a second ago, and now that I get a good look at those scars on his face, I’m sure of it.”
“Many claim I have a familiar face,” I said, giving then my most intimidating stare. “But considering the company you keep, I can assure you we’ve never met.”
Buck shook his head slowly, keeping his eyes on me all the while. “No, I know who you are. You and this chick used to run with the Cold Iron Circle. That is, until that druid sheriff got the better of you. That’s when the Circle booted you out. You disappeared, and it wasn’t long until they kicked the girl out as well.”
“I don’t see what my identity has to do with your obligation to pay your debts,” I replied. “As you said, you gave your word.”
Bobby stepped forward, thrusting his chest and chin out like a juvenile rooster playing at being the cock of the walk. “Oh, it’s got everything to do with that. You didn’t just work for the Circle—you were a mage for them. Word is they kicked you out because you’re a double agent for the fae.”
Buck nodded in agreement. “And the way I hear it, the fae have a big fat bounty on your head. Lots more than the fifteen grand we bet on this fixed game.”
By now, most of the chatter in the bar had subsided, and all eyes were on us. I didn’t need to look around the room to know that most of the patrons were unfriendly, considering how human hunters felt about the fae and those who did business with them.
“I challenge anyone in this establishment to collect that reward,” I said softly as wisps of shadow swirled in my eyes. “Now, you owe this lady fifteen thousand dollars. You can pay her willingly, or I can collect at a later date—with interest.”
“Just leave it, Crowley,” Belladonna said. “It wasn’t even about the money. I just wanted to put them in their place.”
“Oh, I got something I can put in place,” Bear said.
That was about all the insults and lowbrow double entendres I could take. I whipped out a triplet of shadow tentacles, using two of them to trap Buck and Bobby by pinning their arms to their bodies and lifting them off the floor. The third I fashioned into a three-fingered claw at the end, which I used to grab Bear by his genitals, squeezing just enough to cause him to cry out in a high-pitched voice.
All around the bar hunters jumped into action, some of them drawing weapons while others headed for the exits. In the same instant, the bartender produced a pump shotgun from behind the bar, racking it and pointing it in our general direction.
“I don’t give a shit what sort of bet you had with each other, or what kind of reward they got on this guy’s head,” the bartender said. “Y’all know this is neutral ground. So, if you got problems with each other, you need to take them outside and off the property.”
“Elroy’s right,” Buck said as he stared daggers at me. “Pay the girl, so we can get out here.”
“But Buck—” Bobby objected.
“But nothing,” Buck said. “This is Elroy’s place, and his rules that we broke. Pay her, now.”
I released my shadow tentacles, allowing Buck and Bobby to land on their feet. Bear collapsed to the floor, covering his genitals and whimpering softly. I kept my magic ready at hand while Bobby pulled a fat roll of bills out of his pocket, slapping them into Belladonna’s palm with a sneer.
“I wish I could say it was a pleasure doing business with you, boys,” Belladonna said with a chuckle. “But I’d be lying if I did.” She glanced my way and tilted her head towards the door. “Time to go, Crowley.”
The owner kept his gun trained on us as we headed for the door, but no one stood in our way as we calmly marched out of the building. When we reached the front stoop, I shut the door and sealed it with shadow magic. Meanwhile, Belladonna was already sprinting for my car.
“Move your ass, shadow boy,” she said, reaching the car just as I opened the doors with magic. She jumped in, firing up the engine, and I joined her in the passenger seat moments later.
The back tires of the Jaguar tossed up gravel as Belladonna sped out of the parking lot and into the night. I sat in silence, waiting for her to speak as I attempted to gauge her reaction to the scene I’d just caused. She checked the rearview mirror for the next mile or so, looking over her shoulder as well to make sure we weren’t followed. Then, she tilted her head back and laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked, honestly confused.
Belladonna’s mirthful outburst soon subsided, and she continued to drive at high speed with one hand on the wheel while wiping tears from her eyes. “For one thing, you sure know how to show a girl a good time. But for another, we just stood down half the hunters in Austin. And we got the best of Buck’s team, which is even better.”
“I fail to understand the benefits of making an entire room full of hunters cower in fear and look like fools,” I said in a neutral tone.
“That does pose a problem, considering I went there to make contacts and network. But for every hunter that’s pissed at us now, there’ll be ten more that’ll come to us for help later on. That means jobs and money. I’ll take that as a win.”
“You seriously aren’t upset with me?” I asked.
Belladonna checked the rearview mirror, the side view mirror, and the back window one more time. Then, she pulled off on a lonely side road where she parked the car in the shadow of a large oak tree. Placing the car in park but keeping it running, she adjusted her position so she could face me.
“Crowley, I know we have some messed up history between us, and to be honest I haven’t quite gotten over what you did to me. But knowing what I know now, I understand why you did it. And more than that, you’ve proven yourself to be a good friend. No, I’m not mad.”
I lowered my gaze, not willing to meet her eyes as I replied to her candid statement. “I’m just not very good at navigating human interactions and relationships, Belladonna. You know that as well as anyone. And while this might have turned out well for you, I’m quite certain you didn’t take me to that bar to start a fight with every person in the establishment. So, please accept my apology for ruining the evening.”
Belladonna hesitated briefly, then she laid a hand on my a
rm. “You didn’t ruin anything, believe me. First off, you defended my honor. Not like I needed you to do that, but you did, and not because you’re some macho asshole who thinks he has something to prove. You did it in spite of the fact that half the fae in Austin are looking for you, and the best thing you can do right now is keep a low profile. That says a lot, both about the kind of friend you are and the person you’re becoming.”
“I’m a horrible person Belladonna. What the fae did to me—”
“Stop that,” she said in a tone that was both commanding and sympathetic. “You’re a good person, Crowley, despite what you believe about yourself. You may not think I notice, but I’ve seen the effort you’re making to overcome all that fae conditioning and brainwashing. And the fact that you’re trying to be a better person, in spite of what they did to you? That speaks volumes. So, don’t you ever let me hear you say that you’re a horrible person again, you hear me?”
“I—alright. But I say that with the caveat that you don’t know everything about me. Moreover, you should know that I’m being quite selfish in maintaining this relationship with you. Believe me when I say that my mother will do anything to get to me, including attacking you. That’s what broke us up in the first place, remember?”
“Yeah? I was raised around the fae too, or did you forget? I know the depths they’ll sink to just to get what they want. Trust me, I’m not some Little Red Riding Hood that’s completely unaware of the wolves lurking in the woods. I know the risks. And quite frankly, if they come after you hard, they should be more worried about what I’ll do to them than what they can do to me.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I replied, finding myself at a loss for words. I didn’t understand how someone I betrayed could forgive me and offer their friendship again.
“Then don’t say anything, silly. Sometimes that’s best, or at least better than ruining the moment.” She pulled her hand away, facing forward as she put the car in gear. “Now, I’m hungry as hell. Flipping ’thrope metabolism always leaves me famished after an adrenaline dump. You up for burgers and fries? And not at some bougie place you read about in Texas Monthly—I’m talking good, greasy burgers from Dan’s.”
“Oh, I suppose. Just remember that I lack the supernatural ability to digest massive amounts of fatty acids and cholesterol without developing heart disease. If I order a salad off the menu, you’d best not tease me for being a prude.”
Belladonna snorted as we sped off into the night. “Bullshit. You’re eating a side of fries if I have to shove them down your throat.”
14
After Belladonna dropped me off at my farmhouse, I wasted little time considering the implications of our conversation. She would always be first and foremost in my heart, but professionally and personally, I had other concerns to attend at the moment. Primarily, visiting Queen Maeve at her manse to get more information on the wizard named Griff and the connection between the vampires and the fae.
I went through all the proper channels to request an audience with Queen Maeve, although under normal circumstances I might be waiting days or even weeks for a response. That was of no consequence, as I never waited for Maeve’s people to respond before I made a visit. Contacting her subordinates was merely a courtesy, a way of letting the Queen know I’d be stopping by to see her soon.
That was the benefit of being human while having an intimate understanding of the inner workings of fae culture and politics. Unlike that bumbling druid, who insisted on stumbling through the queen’s garden and confronting her guardians each and every time he visited, I had other means of gaining access. The Queen thought her home was secure against unwanted human intrusion, but she was wrong.
After I had stolen Baylor’s Eye from one of her vaults, she’d increased her security and reinforced the wards and spell locks that kept her home secure. But I had lived amongst the fae long enough to learn their secrets—and in the home of one of the most powerful sorceresses of the Celtic pantheon, no less. I knew that places such as Maeve’s mansion, made as they were from magic and borrowed space, were riddled with backdoors and rife with means of secret ingress and escape.
It was the very nature of such places to be somewhat permeable with regards to who could enter and exit. This was because the domiciles of powerful fae wizards and sorceresses were in fact living things. They were sentient beings, and typically old beyond measure, which meant they had motivations, goals, and desires that were often at odds with those of their occupants.
While most would assume that a powerful Fae Queen like Maeve would be in complete command of her own home, nothing could be further from the truth. Certainly, if she’d created the place—as I’m sure she had several millennia ago—she had command over the home and the pocket dimension within. However, the relationship a sorceress or wizard had with the magical dimensions they created and resided in was more symbiotic in nature than that of master and slave.
Trained as I was, I knew how to use that to my advantage, and indeed I had when I stole the Eye from Maeve’s vault. I’d spent the human equivalent of decades growing up inside Mother’s castle, a place that was just as dangerous and hungry as Maeve’s own home. Such places had a desire to trap living beings within their walls and corridors. They did this not just for their own amusement, but to feed off their life force and use it as energy to empower life functions both necessary and unnecessary to their continued existence.
And that’s what made such places so permeable—they were often eager to allow hapless creatures to cross their boundaries and borders. Folk stories and fairytales abounded about encounters between humans and the hidden places of the fae. When humans disappeared into the magical realms of the Sídhe, it wasn’t always because they were kidnapped directly. Sometimes, they merely wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time, or they were led or enticed to cross over from the human plane of existence into realms unseen.
I knew how to find such places, in-between spaces where one could cross over from the human realm into fae demesnes. That’s why I was able to enter Maeve’s mansion through the back door, so to speak. I did it not only for the sake of expediency, but also to remind her that humans could still outwit the fae.
To be honest, getting in was easy once you knew the trick. The hard part was getting back out, alive.
Out of habit, I always crossed over in a different location, and the spot I chose for this visit was far from Maeve’s physical residence. The actual boundaries of Maeve’s home ebbed and flowed, increasing and contracting like the living thing it was. Moreover, those boundaries stretched for hundreds of miles beyond Austin’s borders, roughly coinciding with the actual borders of her demesne.
For one unfamiliar with such places, it would be easy to assume that the corridors, tunnels, and caverns that comprised Maeve’s home mostly ran beneath the earth’s surface and the geographic location known as Central Texas. Yet, while the entrances and exits to said pathways did in fact intersect with the human plane in various places, the actual space they occupied could be found nowhere on this Earth. Therefore, it mattered little where I entered, at least with regards to my ability to trespass in Maeve’s home.
Nevertheless, the point I entered might be very important with regards to the amount of time I would spend in transit before I actually encountered Maeve’s home proper. Once one entered a fae demesne unawares, they might wander for days, weeks, or months, if they survived that long. I had no intentions of doing so, which was why I chose my entry point very carefully.
My point of departure was a manhole in a public park, hidden by overgrowth and long forgotten by the people who frequented this place, as well as by those who were tasked with its upkeep. Forgotten places like this made the perfect entryways into the fae realms, if one knew how to cross the threshold. The neglected state of such locales seemed to facilitate the process, although I had no idea why.
As for security, I could expect none. In fact, I doubted the entity that was Maeve’s home was even aware I c
ould enter from here. A being with a body so vast and varied could never monitor every square meter of its person, no more than a human being was ever in constant and complete awareness of every square inch of their skin. But once it was aware of my presence, well—then the game would be afoot.
I posed as a jogger on entering the park and waited until I was alone on the pathway before departing into the trees, slipping off the trail as quietly and carefully as possible so as to leave no trace of my presence. Once I reached the manhole, I slipped the top off using shadow magic then climbed down the ladder into the darkness below, pulling the cover back over the hole behind me. The near-complete darkness of the tunnel was of no consequence to me, as my shade provided ample means for me to traverse the black depths within.
As I followed the forgotten access tunnel, originally designed to be an entry point into the rain drainage and sewer systems beneath the city proper, it wasn’t long before I encountered the sentience behind Maeve’s home. I sensed it before it sensed me, but when it did finally notice my presence, it greeted me by brushing across my consciousness with magic. Of course, describing that first contact as a greeting was being a bit generous, as in fact it was merely assessing what value I might have, should I become its dinner.
I had trespassed here before, many times, perhaps not in this specific place but in the entity’s realm. If it recognized me as one who had walked through its corridors before and escaped, it would be much more aggressive in its attempts to trap me within Maeve’s lair. For that reason, I used my magic to disguise my identity, hindering the entity’s ability to recognize me as someone it had encountered before.
By appearing to be human and helpless, I made myself look like a sumptuous morsel for it to consume. Gradually but surely, the tunnel I walked transformed from a mundane concrete shaft into something more magical and sinister. Certainly, the tunnel looked the same, but to the practiced eye of a fae-trained magician I saw it for what it was—the slavering orifice of a massive and ruthless predator, swallowing me whole.