“Ah, here it is!”
Removing her hand from the box, she pulled out a heavy chain. As she continued to raise it, a medallion finally appeared at the end of the chain.
“Wow!” he exclaimed, “That’s cool looking!”
“It’s Tamaki’s talisman, passed down through his family for who knows how long.”
Hank started to reach for it before stopping.
“May I?” he asked while pointing to the medallion.
“Of course,” Ariel replied with a grin as she moved it toward him. “It’s yours now.”
He reached for it reverently, taking into his hand and studying the strange design on it.
“It looks very old,” Hank mumbled as he gazed at it.
“Even Tamaki didn’t know how old it was,” Ariel replied.
“Does this mean…?”
Ariel shrugged. “Tamaki said he never heard of anyone in his lineage ever travelling to Faerie before him, but he could never be sure. In any case, at some point in the past it was endowed with enough magic to cross the barrier into Faerie. According to him, it is very powerful.”
Hank was silent for several seconds as he stared at the medallion.
“I feel drawn to there,” he finally said when he spoke again.
Sighing, he sat back in his chair and looked up at Ariel. “I feel drawn to Faerie, and yet at the same time I just want to forget about the whole place. Does that make any sense?”
Ariel nodded thoughtfully.
“There is no law that says that you have to go back, although I should think that you will start feeling the pull to go back more and more as time passes. Tamaki felt it his whole life, even though he was effectively banned from entering in the end.”
Luci saddled up beside Hank’s chair and he reached down and scratched her behind the ear as he gave the whole thing more thought.
Dulci had told him that his appearance in Faerie had been foretold…she had also told him that he was in danger!
Did that danger extend to this side of the barrier?
Would that force him to go back in any case?
Did he even have what it took to make a difference in Faerie?
And then there was Dulci. The beautiful, exciting and exotic Dulci, who made his heart pound in his chest at the very thought of her…even considering her past with his whole family.
Felling suddenly ill again, he blew out a nervous breath.
“I wish Tamaki were still here,” he whispered defeatedly.
Chapter 21
There was a lot to get used to here in the human realm. Nautilus followed Benton’s lead when it came to eating food prepared by humans and customs. It was different than anything he was used to in the Teleen caverns where he was from. He quickly discovered how much they stuck out. He was tall, and his long dreadlocks had to be kept swept back to avoid looking too exotic. His glamour kept the electricity and blue fire that made up his body in check, but he was always minding his proximity to others. He didn’t want to accidently kill someone from electrocution by brushing against them.
This was an ideal mission as far as any went. Yes, he had to follow a human teenager around, which wasn’t the most fun part of it all, but he out here, in the dredges of the human realm, he could hunt Unseelie and Sluagh in peace with little human interaction. Benton was the closest to human besides his sister Shade that Nautilus had contact with. At least if he’d ever have to venture out there without either of them, he could say he’d be alright.
“What do you make of that fella there?” Benton motioned toward a row of homeless tents.
Peering where Benton had pointed, Nautilus narrowed his vison and focused on a trio of people. Well, at least two people. The third was definitely not human.
The guy had to be over six feet tall and his shiny bald head reflected the sun like a tin roof. He appeared to be questioning the pair of homeless men who sat near each other on a ledge at the edge of the river. Both chatted happily, cracking jokes as they answered the man. They wouldn’t be able to tell the guy was Fae; his glamour was intact and shimmered ever so slightly when he moved. Most humans couldn’t see the shimmer, a glitch in the armor faeries used to shield their appearance and protect from the poisonous iron in the city.
Benton, Soap and Nautilus didn’t have to worry about iron sickness, making them ideal to hunt the escaped Unseelie here.
The tall faery stepped closer to the two homeless men he was speaking to. Shouting echoed across the street, bouncing on the buildings as he shoved one of them over.
“Come on, let’s go.” Benton was already heading down toward the stairs. Nautilus had to admit, the young fire elemental was unshakeable. He fought the Unseelie until he was near death. He believed so strongly in the cause, he lived, breathed and slept to wage this war against them.
But why?
Nautilus followed closely behind. Spilling out into the streets of Portland, they rushed toward the faery who’d been standing before the two homeless men. Not finding them where they were a moment before, Nautilus followed Benton’s rampage around another building where they found not one, but two enemy Unseelie faerie. They both turned to face Benton as he barreled toward them, his Empyrean fire sword already igniting for the fight.
“What the—” The shorter one who’d just joined the balding one jumped back in surprise as the other pulled out his own sword. A medallion flashed on his neck as he snarled, awaiting Benton with a malicious flicker in his eyes.
“Ahh!” Benton slammed his sword into the Unseelie man, but was met with resistance. They repeatedly slammed blades together, sending off sparks into the air with each connection.
Nautilus grabbed at his own sword, holding it out as he challenged the shorter of the two. The guy was more skittish and jumped away from him before eyeing him up and down. Breaking into a wicked chuckle, he swiftly yanked out an axe hidden under his coat. He brought it over his shoulder in an arc attempting to hack into Nautilus’ shoulder. Meeting blade with axe, Nautilus tried to disarm the other with a swift yank on his weapon.
Instead, the shorter fae pulled away, spinning farther from his grasp. Once stopped, he gave Nautilus a wicked grin.
“You Seelie think you’re such hot shit. You have no idea what’s comin’ for ya.” He spat on the ground as he smiled, showing off a set of filthy teeth that could make any man shudder.
Nautilus wasn’t put off. He kept his stance, ready to pummel the guy.
“Show me what you got.”
Benton’s grunts echoed between the buildings as he continued to bunt his sword against the taller Unseelie. Both kept crossing blades without gaining much ground on the other. If he didn’t overtake the faery soon, he’d be worn down too much to fight. Unfortunately, Benton didn’t have the advantage of their endless energies. Even so, his fire elemental powers did afford him extra human strength, more than a mere mortal man would have. This dark Fae was not just Unseelie…
He was also Sluagh.
He was part of the darkest of creatures that lurked within the boundaries of the land of Faerie. To see one in the human realm was to know what real nightmares were made of.
Benton couldn’t let him win. To let one Sluagh live was to unleash an army of a hundred Unseelie on humankind. There would be no surviving if more aggregated together and overtook the human realm. They had to take this one down, it was life or death for more than just them.
“Nautilus! I could use some help here.” Benton called out to his comrade, hoping for some back up before his arms went numb.
Clang! Their swords slammed together against a large garbage can, sending sparks into the belly of it and igniting a fire. They both spun and met swords again mid alley.
“Working on it!” Nautilus pressed his teeth together as the smaller of the two Sluagh laughed hysterically at them.
“You puny Seelie! You’ll never win! You’ll never win!” He hopped on his feet, sending his long coat flying up in the breeze, still cackling at him.
&n
bsp; Nautilus shook his head, already tired of the taunting. He was pretty sure the smaller guy was a distraction while the other one wore out Benton as he kept him busy. He had to get rid of this flea once and for all right now or it’d be too late for them both.
“Don’t hold your breath.” He tossed a stream of blue fire laced with a string of electrical currents toward the shorter Sluagh, slamming it right into the guy’s chest, sending him flying backwards and slamming against the wall.
With the weaker one of the two out of the way, Nautilus turned towards Benton’s opponent and prepared another blast of energy.
“Benton…now!” He shouted, hoping the young human elemental remembered the many tricks they’d prepared for in dozens of fighting sessions back at the Seelie Palace for times such as this one. If they had one thing going for them, it was teamwork they’d spent weeks perfecting in the fighting ring back home.
Benton immediately obliged and somersaulted backwards, flipping his body out of the way as Nautilus sent a stronger blast of fire and lightning to slam against the bald Sluagh faery.
But he managed to block it, ricocheting the assault away from him with a tilt of his wide sword.
“Shelyk!” Nautilus cursed under his breath as the Sluagh focused his attention on him now. Careening towards him, Nautilus readied for the impact when a sudden crack of fire slammed into the Sluagh from behind as Benton thrust his Empyrean blade straight into the back of the bald Sluagh.
“Eeee!” A deafening screech filled the air as his body disintegrated into ash flying into the air and finally landing near Nautilus, but not without dusting him with some of its particles.
As silence ensued, Benton rushed toward the shorter of the two Sluagh, who was now barely waking from the shock Nautilus had given him. With the fiery blade, Benton sliced through his body, ensuring to ignite it into a violent and consuming fire, leaving nothing but a pile of ash as it consumed the faery’s entire body.
Breathing hard, Benton turned toward his comrade, who was stood with a deeply creased frown on his face.
“Thanks for the corpse ash shower.” Nautilus sighed, giving his body a good shake, dusting the film of soot now clinging to his outfit and exposed skin. Even his tautly pulled dreadlocks were lightly coated with the remains of the bald Sluagh threat.
Benton laughed and extinguished the flame as he sheathed his sword.
“You’re welcome, dude.” He shrugged and turned to walk back towards their camp within the boundaries of Faerie as if what had just happened was commonplace.
“You needed a shower anyway, stinky.”
Chapter 22
The next morning Hank woke up early and put in a long session in his Dojo. The added exertion of the longer session seemed to help his psyche and he manipulated the staff time and again in a series of blocks, jabs and spins.
By the time that finally bowed to his unseen opponent, he was covered in sweat. Glancing over at Luci, he noticed that she had her head cocked to the side as if unsure of what came next.
He could feel her confusion over the happenings of the last couple of days.
Drying himself off with a towel, he suddenly froze; his eyes moving slowly back toward Luci.
He had abruptly realized that he wasn’t just assuming that he knew what Luci was thinking as he usually did. Over their years together, they had developed a sort of unspoken communication with each other. He could tell if she was sad, agitated or happy by the way she reacted to a situation, or the way she responded to him or his commands.
But this was…different.
Moving across the room, he kneeled in front of the red dog and stared into her eyes.
Not feeling anything anymore, he sighed as he leaned back away from the dog.
“That was weird,” he mumbled as he started to stand.
It sure was.
Hearing the voice in his head, Hank tripped over his feet and landed on his butt.
“What the hell?” he shouted excitedly.
Luci just stared at him, seemingly waiting for his next command.
“Did you just talk to me?” he stuttered with nervous excitement. “Wait, that’s impossible,” he continued, now embarrassed at his outburst.
“Forget I said that,” he continued with a short, forced laugh as he pushed himself off of the floor. “I’m feeling crazy enough without bringing you in on it.”
Shaking his head in frustration, he continued to dry himself off as he headed for the shower.
“Just give me a minute girl,” he called back over his shoulder. “I’ll get a quick shower and we’ll head for work.”
That had been the plan for the day. Get up early, get in a long workout and head back to life as he knew it. He felt like he desperately needed to get back to what he knew, to get back into the groove of his “normal” life again.
At least that had been the plan.
***
Arriving at his desk a half hour later, he found a note on it instructing him to see Captain Jericho ASAP when he arrived.
Snapping his fingers lightly and pointing to the side of his desk, Lucifer settled into the spot while Hank headed for his captain’s office.
“Where the hell were you yesterday,” Jericho shouted when he spied Hank entering his door. “I was trying to get a hold of you all day!”
Hank couldn’t help but wonder in which day he’d tried. The one where he was in Faerie? Or the one where he was at the farm?
“Sorry sir,” he responded after a few moments, “I was up north, visiting my grandma. Cell coverage is pretty spotty up there.”
Captain Jericho waved off his answer.
“I know you weren’t on call this weekend, I just thought you might want to know that two more piles of ash showed up yesterday.”
Shit, Hank whispered to himself.
He remembered wondering if Benton had struck yet again while he had been following him into Faerie yesterday…at least on one of the yesterdays.
“Thanks for trying to find me sir,” Hank responded, not knowing what else to say.
“Have you come up with any leads on this thing yet?” Captain Jericho asked, looking up at him through bushy eyebrows. “So far we’ve been able to keep the whole thing under the radar as far as the media goes…I mean who gets excited about a pile of ash anyway?”
Jericho pushed himself out of his chair and ambled around the desk before planting himself on the front edge and looking at Hank seriously.
“But that will change…eventually. When they find out that there is some sort of human DNA inside these piles…”
Captain Jericho was an imposing figure. Wide-shouldered with little fat, he’d been on the job for over thirty years, working his way up the ladder through hard work and intuitive thinking. Hank liked him as a leader, and felt guilty anytime he sensed he was letting the man down.
“Nothing I can put into words yet sir,” Hank admitted finally, knowing that there was at least some truth to the statement.
“I haven’t talked to the Medical Examiner yet about this weekend’s victims of course, but if they also appear to be this other type of life form, I have been working on a theory.”
Captain Jericho glanced at his watch and pushed himself off of the desk.
“Spit it out, Hank. I have a meeting with the Chief in five minutes.”
Hank gulped before continuing.
“It would seem to me that these…beings aren’t supposed to be here,” he replied nervously. “My thought is that someone…from where they are supposed to be…is trying to fix the situation.”
Captain Jericho stopped what he was doing and looked up at Hank incredulously.
“And just where the hell is it that they are supposed to be?” he whispered unbelievingly. “What the hell kind of theory it that?”
Hank shrugged nervously. “I don’t know quite yet,” he replied, thinking it wasn’t a complete lie. “But you have to admit, the DNA proves that there is something different about the people.”
&nbs
p; Captain Jericho shook his head as he finished collecting the papers off of his desk.
“I’m not as brave as you, Hank,” the captain muttered as he turned toward the door. “When the chief asks, I am not going to convey that particular theory to him. I like my job too much.”
Pulling up beside him, he placed a hand on Hank’s shoulder.
“Son, I like you…a lot. But this fantasy theory of yours won’t fly. The way I see it, you have two options. Either come up with a different theory…or find some way to prove this cocklemamy story of yours.”
Starting for the door, “And if I were you,” he called back over his shoulder as he left the room, “I wouldn’t repeat that story to anyone!”
***
“Get that red demon out of here, Hank!” Doctor Jacoby nearly shouted when they entered the lab.
Smiling despite his foul mood, Hank clicked his fingers lightly and pointed to a corner beside the door. Luci moved to that location and sat down as he made his way to the examining table.
“Find anything new on this weekend’s victims?” he asked quickly, hoping to sidetrack the doctor’s reluctance to having Luci in the lab.
It seemed to work as a small smile spread across the doctor’s lips.
“This is all very exciting, Hank,” he whispered conspiratorially as he leaned closer.
“As you suspected, your victim from Saturday was yet another type of being, with little in the way of human DNA, although there was a little. I haven’t finished with the two from yesterday yet, but so far they both seem to closely match the one from Saturday.”
Hank nodded absently. Being right on this case had so far not gotten him very much.
“Were there any trinkets this time around?” he asked dejectedly.
“As a matter of fact,” Doctor Jacoby grinned as he turned and pulled out a plastic container. Opening it, he then reached in and pulled out an evidence bag.
“I found this in one of the piles from yesterday.”