“No. No long shiny hair. Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked her cautiously.
Cassie thought for a moment before she answered her father. “I’m alright,” she nodded, “maybe they were just dressed in their Halloween costumes or something.” The tone of her voice made it very clear that she didn’t believe her own words.
“Maybe you need to get more sleep,” her dad offered.
Cassie nodded in agreement, though she knew that what she had seen had nothing to do with sleep. She climbed into her car telling her dad that she would meet him at home.
“Be careful,” he told her as he always did when she was getting in her car.
~
Cassie sat on her bed as she dialed Elora’s number. She had gotten ready for bed, allowing herself to gather her thoughts and try to gather the words she would use to describe to Elora just what she had seen tonight. The phone rang four times before Elora answered.
“What’s wrong?” She asked.
“How did you know something was wrong?” Cassie asked.
Cassie could swear that she could almost see Elora rolling her eyes.
“It’s eleven o’clock. You only call me this late if there is some sort of issue. So let’s get on with it so we can get some sleep.”
Cassie was used to her friend’s abrupt and oftentimes rude behavior. Others might have gotten offended, but Cassie knew that Elora didn’t mean anything by it, it was just the way she was.
“I think I’m going crazy,” she began, unable to hide the nervousness in her voice.
“You are going to have to give me more than that,” Elora told her dryly.
Cassie jumped into the details of her night without hesitation, making sure not to leave out even the smallest of details. When she finished she sat quietly, waiting for her friend’s reaction. After several heart beats of silence, Elora finally spoke.
“So what I hear you saying is that you saw some incredibly handsome men with pointy ears, shiny hair , and freaky eyes in one of the conference rooms of your dad’s building?” She summarized and Cassie let out a breath of relief as she heard the belief in her friend’s voice.
“Yes,” she answered simply.
“Then you ran into another incredibly handsome guy who seemed to flicker between two different appearances?”
“Exactly,” she answered again.
“Well, I have two theories,” she paused in thought. “We could be dealing with one of two different beings—Elves or Fae.”
Cassie choked as she swallowed. “You’re telling me that you really believe that there are things out there other than humans?”
“Definitely,” she answered matter of fact like. “Do you have another explanation?”
“Halloween costumes,” Cassie answered lamely.
Elora snorted. “You believe that about as much as you believe in Santa Clause.”
“But you would have me believe that there are two other species besides ours that exist?”
“Yes. Can you honestly tell me that you think, in this whole wide world, we are the only beings besides the animals?”
“How could they have kept themselves a secret for so long?” Cassie challenged.
“Oh come on Cass, just because we haven’t seen them doesn’t mean that others have not. Let’s just go with this theory for now. I will do some research and ask Lisa. Now, you said this Trik character said that he would see you again and that he was yours ?”
Cassie nodded absently, only to realize that her friend could not see her through the phone.
“Yes,” she answered.
“That means you need to keep your eyes open. If you see him again, ask him what he is.”
“Just like that? Isn’t that kind of rude?” Cassie huffed.
“How else are you going to find out if he isn’t human?”
“Fine,” Cassie said dryly. “I’ll ask the incredibly hot weirdo just exactly what he is. That should go over real well.”
“Good. We aren’t going to figure out anything more tonight so try and get some sleep.” Elora told her before she abruptly hung up.
This was another of the quirks that Elora constantly exhibited; she didn’t believe in goodbyes, so she simply did not say them.
“Yeah, fat chance on the whole sleep thing,” Cassie told her empty room.
She lay back on her bed, not bothering to get under the blanket. She closed her eyes and Trik’s face appeared despite her attempt to push him from her thoughts. Deciding that it was useless to try to prevent it, she decided to enjoy the view.
Cha pter 3
“The old adage, if you can’t beat them, join them , to me is just a way of saying that you’re weak. My motto is, if you can’t beat them then you aren’t fighting dirty enough .” ~Trik
Trik played poker well into the early morning hours. After he had taken enough of the humans’ money, he looked at his friend and made a motion with his head to leave the table. Now they sat in a quiet bar enjoying the only time that the city was somewhat subdued. Tony sat across from him looking like a model from a GQ magazine in his custom suit. His blonde hair was fixed in a messy style, which probably only took running gel slicked fingers through it a couple of times. He was tall, though not as tall as Trik, and it was obvious that he worked out. He had a strong jaw line and his nose was slightly crooked from being broken two too many times. Fighting had been his thing in high school; not street fighting, but organized fighting for money. He had been good, undefeated for the four years that he had fought. He was young to be the manager of a Casino, especially one as large as the Iniquity. Tony had turned twenty-one only a few months ago and his father, who had worked for the dark elves for the past thirty years, had been only too happy to pass the title, and the stress that went with it, to his only son.
“So are you going to tell me what brought you to my lovely city?” Tony asked as he lifted his glass to his lips , taking a sip of Cognac, the gold liquid glistening in the glass as the lights hit it.
Trik smiled. “A woman.”
Tony chuckled. “Isn’t it always. Some hot little elf number trying to tie you down?”
“If only it were something so simple.” Trik ran his fingers through his dark hair. He was still in his human guise. Though he had known Tony since he was fifteen, when Trik had seen one of his fights, he had still never shown Tony his true form, for doing so would be the equivalent of signing his death warrant. Tony’s father, who also knew the true identity of Trik and the other elves with which he did business, had also never seen any of them in their natural forms.
Tony sat up and leaned his forearms on the table. “Whoa, you’re really rattled. I don’t think I have ever seen you look so, so ….” He struggled to find the right word, “human.” He finally settled on the only word that would really describe his friend’s frustrated look and agitated movements, all of which were very un-elf like. “Come on Trik, spill it. I can tell that you need to talk about it and you obviously don’t feel like you can talk to any of your people or you wouldn’t be here.”
Trik let out an exasperated breath. “She’s human.”
“Damn,” Tony muttered as he sat back in his chair, taking another sip of his drink.
“That’s only part of it,” Trik told him with a sardonic laugh. “I’m pretty sure she’s my Chosen.”
“Double damn,” Tony added.
“Oh, and one more thing…she’s in high school.”
Tony choked on the sip that he had been taking when Trik had shared that last bit.
“Please tell me she’s legal,” he said as he slung the spilled liquor from his hand.
“I have no idea of her age.”
“How did you meet her?” Tony asked.
Trik let out another chuckle that made Tony’s skin crawl at the menace behind it.
“Those damn light elves. She saw them in their true form and she was running from them.”
“I thought you said that there was only one more thing back at the whole high
school issue,” Tony said sarcastically.
“I lied,” Trik growled. “Her father works for one of the light elves’ conglomerates. They will have no trouble finding her.”
“So why aren’t you with her?”
“Tamsin won’t act until he has spoken with his counsel. That should buy me at least a night to decide my next move.”
“Have you decided?” Tony asked.
“If she is my Chosen, then I have no choice but to protect her.”
“How do you know if she is? I’m assuming there isn’t a big arrow that points to her, flashing Chosen over her head.”
“She saw through my guise. She saw my true form. In all my centuries in this realm, no human, as in none, zip, zilch, nada, has ever been able to do such a thing.” Trik explained.
“Wait, so has there ever been a human Chosen before?” Tony asked with a thoughtful frown.
“I know of only one other but it was with a light elf and it was a long time ago.”
“What do you mean was?”
“If the human goes to our realm then they will not age, they will stay forever young. She wanted to stay in the human realm and so he stayed with her. He aged with her and died with her.”
“Man, that’s depressing,” Tony said, shaking his head.
Trik laughed. “Some would say it was romantic.”
“Romance is a lie that gives people an excuse to act like fools and later blame it on the one whom they had bestowed their supposed love upon,” Tony sneered.
Trik clucked his tongue at his friend. “My, my, Tony. If I didn’t know better I would say that you are a lover scorned.”
“Or perhaps I am the fool,” Tony told him, his good humor returning. “That’s a discussion for another time, or never. You need to go talk to someone you trust who can tell you if it’s possible this child is your Chosen.”
Trik groaned. “Please do not call her a child, that’s just sick. She looks like a grown woman I assure you. There was nothing childlike about her.”
“Please man that means nothing. I work in the casino business. I see fifteen year old girls come through here all the time and until they open their mouths and speak you would swear that they were over twenty-one.”
“I will find out her age before I pursue this further. You’re making me feel like a dirty old man,” Trik frowned.
Tony laughed. “Well the old part is correct and I’ve seen the way women watch you as you walk by, so I would take the bet of you being quite dirty as well.”
Trik waved his friend off as he stood to go. “You humans know nothing of pursuing a woman and making her feel like she is the only one who could ever captivate your attention.”
Tony lifted his glass in a toast. “Please, by all means, teach me oh wise one. How I long to captivate the beautiful females of this great city.”
Trik laughed. “Sorry my friend but you are hopeless. Not even my expertise would work for you.”
Tony slapped his hand on his chest. “Ouch, that was harsh Trik.”
“The truth hurts. Isn’t that what you humans say?” Trik started out of the bar as he called over his shoulder. “I’m borrowing the mirror in your suite.”
“Have at it. Oh, and take your girl a balloon and teddy bear, I hear those are things that kids like.” Tony chuckled and ducked when the coaster he knew would be coming at his head sailed passed him.
~
Trik entered Sanctuary through the back door. In the bowels of the large manor that the Dark Elf King and his mate occupied, was what humans might call a club though his kind called it a refuge. It was a place for the dark elves to gather. Food, drink, and other pleasures flowed through the room. Music, seductive to the senses ran across his skin. He cast a shield over himself to keep the hypnotizing notes from drawing him in. He was looking for someone and didn’t have time to stay and play. Several of the females vied for his attention but he declined with a smile and kept walking. At the very back of the room in a dark corner he found the man he was looking for.
“Trik, to what do I owe this honor?” Myrin, the wisest of the dark elf elders, asked him.
“I need to speak with you in private,” Trik told him, making sure to keep his tone respectful, while trying to impress upon Myrin the urgency of the situation.
Myrin must have seen the earnestness in Trik’s eyes because he stood without a word and motioned for him to follow.
He followed the elder out of Sanctuary and down a dark corridor. Finally reaching a door, Myrin pushed it open and stepped back for Trik to enter. Trik, being the suspicious assassin that he was, didn’t move. He would never allow a powerful being such as the elder at his back. Myrin rolled his eyes and stepped into the room first.
“What is so urgent that you would pass up the company of the lovely she-elves that so eagerly offer their company?” Myrin asked as he lowered himself onto a very worn overstuffed chair. Trik chose to remain standing.
“What do you know of humans being a Chosen?” Trik asked bluntly.
Myrin’s eyes narrowed as he watched the King’s greatest assassin and spy.
“I know that it can happen, though it is extremely rare.”
“Why?” Trik asked tersely.
“Why can it happen or why is it rare?” Myrin leaned back deeper in the chair and crossed one leg over the other.
“Yes,” Trick answered as he began to pace.
“I’m not sure why it happens, or how. However, I believe that it is rare simply because we limit our interactions with the humans. I think that it would probably happen much more often if we spent more time in direct contact with the humans in their realm.”
“How do you know if one is your Chosen?”
“There is one thing; and one thing only that determines if a human is a Chosen.”
Trik waited for an explanation. When it didn’t come, he huffed. “Well, out with it.”
Myrin chuckled. “I don’t believe that I have ever seen Lorsan’s great killer so out of sorts.”
Trik’s eyes flashed menacingly. “I respect you old one, but my patience is wearing thin.”
“Tsk, tsk, Trik. There is no need for idle threats,” Myrin sighed. “If she is your Chosen, then she will be able to see you in your true form without your help,” he continued, deciding it was unwise to goad the assassin further.
Trik sat down hard on the couch opposite the elder as the words echoed ominously through his mind. A string of profanities in his own language poured from his lips as he considered the consequences.
“Trik,” Myrin leaned forward watching him closely. “You’ve met your Chosen.” It wasn’t a question.
“She’s human, practically a child,” Trik ground out through clenched teeth.
Myrin sucked in a breath. “Well that is impossible. A child can never be revealed as a Chosen, even if she were meant to be one. She has to have undergone her maturing.”
Trik looked up, his eyes narrowed. “What do you mean maturing?”
“I’m not totally sure what it means for humans, but for our kind she has to be matured to the point of being able to bear a child and be free from the shelter of her sire and mother.”
“She still lives with her parents, but I swear by the King that there was nothing childlike about her, other than a certain innocence,” Trik added the last as an afterthought.
“You are sure that she is your Chosen?” Myrin asked.
“She saw my natural form while I was in my human guise,” Trik answered.
“Have you told Lorsan?”
“No, I needed confirmation,” Trik stood and looked down at the elder. “Speak of this to no one.”
Myrin nodded and watched as the impenetrable assassin left his apartment.
~
“I need an audience with you,” Trik bowed low before his King.
Lorsan lounged in his personal suite. He knew that something must be seriously wrong as Trik had sought him out in his private quarters. Lorsan motioned for Trik to sit, and since it
was the King doing the motioning, Trik obeyed.
“Tell me,” Lorsan said without preamble.
Trik let out a slow breath before he met the eyes of his King.
“I’ve met my Chosen.” The words were an ominous declaration in the silence of the room.
Trik waited as he watched Lorsan process the information.
“Triktapic I swear, if this is your way of telling me you are resigning…” Lorsan growled.
“She is human,” Trik interrupted the beginning of what he knew was sure to be a grand tirade.
Lorsan snapped his mouth shut as his eyes narrowed. He stared at his assassin intently before he spoke again.
“You are sure?” He asked.
“She saw through my glamour. She saw my true form.” Trik went on to explain all that he had told Myrin and watched as Lorsan’s eyes widened in surprise and concern.
“She sounds so young.”
Trik nodded. “Yes, but it’s so hard to tell with humans. As Tony has said, some that are under the human adult age look to be in their twenties, and others that are older look like teens.”
Lorsan seemed to ponder Trik’s words. After several minutes of silence, he finally spoke again.
“Not that I don’t find it very significant that you have found your Chosen, but I still need to know what Tamsin and his elves are up to.”
Trik visibly relaxed at being asked a question he felt confident in answering, as it related to a topic with which he was comfortable. “You aren’t going to like what I have to say.”
Lorsan snorted. “Since when do I ever like what you have to say, and since when do you worry about what I like?”
“Good point,” Trik agreed. “Tamsin knows of your new venture.”
Lorsan’s eyebrows rose and his lips tightened into a thin straight line. “How is it that he came by this knowledge?”
“If you are asking if we have a mole or a traitor, then my answer at this time is, I have no clue .” Trik held up a hand to hold Lorsan off as he continued. “However, based on what Tamsin said, I would guess that he has made some sort of deal with one of ours.”
“Just tell me exactly what was said in this little meeting.”