by Carly Fall
Since his office schedule kept him in close proximity to other detectives, Avery decided she would snatch the case at night. That way, if she did have to hurt him, it would appear as a robbery, with less chance of being spotted. And hopefully, if he couldn’t see her coming, he wouldn’t have an opportunity to use his powers on her.
However, with him being Fae, she didn’t know quite what to expect. Was he a full-bred Fae, and if so, what magic did he have at his disposal? Or, was he a mutt, like her? He might still possess some powers, or, he could have been dealt the bad card in the deck and have none. She’d just have to hope she could outwit him or, gods forbid, outfight him.
“This is so dumb,” she muttered under breath as she now stood near the concrete wall. She’d been sitting so long, her butt had become numb.
She had no idea how late McAllister would be at the station, but she hoped he’d go home soon. Doing nothing all day had exhausted her, as if she wasn’t tired enough already from the stress. Except for one night, sleep had become nearly unattainable since her mother’s death, and she wondered if the lack of it had contributed to the level of crazy she’d reached for this plan.
If he doesn’t come out in fifteen minutes, I’ll try again tomorrow night.
As she watched one police car leave the station, she noted a person sitting in the back. Who was he, and what had he done?
Most people probably didn’t know much about the criminal justice system—she’d certainly never had any reason to learn about it. However, it was understood that the paranormal world didn’t like their bad guys in human jails. That was probably why cops like McAllister worked among the humans. They could identify the paranormal entities and somehow funnel them out of the human system, then take them to be dealt with by their own kind.
From what she understood, Spectral Prison for paranormal entities was not a nice place.
Just as she was about to give up for the night and head home to try to sleep again, the detective walked out the front door.
She pulled her baseball cap down, wishing all her hair fit up in the hat. With her oversized Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt, jeans, and boots, she imagined she could pass for a teenaged boy.
About four blocks into McAllister’s walk, he turned left. For the most part, she kept her gaze downward, only glancing up to be certain he was still in front of her. She realized he had entered a less-than-desirable part of town. Sweat dripped down her back as she became more uneasy about her decision. She couldn’t imagine him living in this area. Some of the old brick buildings were starting to crumble. Who knew if they would ever be restored? Only random streetlights worked, and a hint of garbage wafted in the air. The sidewalk was cracked and buckled. Televisions blared, babies cried, and people yelled at each other through open apartment windows. Another neighborhood the city had conveniently forgotten.
Didn’t cops make pretty good money? Certainly, she made less than McAllister and managed to stay in a somewhat decent place, but probably not for long. Maybe he had alimony and child support to pay or something that didn’t keep a lot of his earnings in his pocket. Or, maybe her assumption that cops made a good living had been wrong.
Perhaps he had a drug problem and was meeting his dealer, or, he wanted to hook up with a prostitute. Maybe he was working a case. One never knew what people were going through.
Avery focused on him as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled something out. When he brought it to his ear, she realized it was a phone. She couldn’t hear what he said, but the conversation lasted less than a minute.
When his pace increased, and he then turned down an alley, she hesitated before rounding the corner. She didn’t want him to discover her there.
She counted to ten, then stepped around the corner. The alleyway was a black abyss. Even when she squinted, she couldn’t see clearly into the darkness.
Glancing up, she realized the buildings facing the small walkway had no windows, and any security lights were no longer operational. However, she could make out the end of the alley, and that was where she saw McAllister’s figure emerge from the void. At least she wouldn’t be walking into a dead end.
Determined to get to the file, she stepped carefully into the blackness, hairs on the back of her neck standing on end as she clenched both fists in her pockets. She ground her teeth together, trying to calm the scream of fear that welled in her throat as the smell of urine attacked her nose. For a second, she thought about turning around and sprinting home, but quickly decided she needed to swallow her anxiety. She’d get through this one area of darkness and emerge on the other side where she’d continue to track McAllister.
About halfway there, a voice stopped her, a small whisper from the shadows that sent a chill down her spine.
“I smell Fae.”
Her breath caught in her throat as terror paralyzed her for a moment, one she couldn’t spare.
Instinctively, she knew it was a vampire and wanted to run, but she was too late. Like a deer that had been caught by a lion, she remained frozen in place as one hand wrapped around her neck and his other arm snaked around her waist, pinning her against his chest.
He inhaled deeply while he ripped her hat off and yanked the sweatshirt to the side, the tip of his nose skimming her collarbone up to her ear.
“And the Fae smells delicious,” he whispered. Fangs nipped at her neck but didn’t break the skin.
She shut her eyes and pulled on the arm gripping her throat.
Yes, following McAllister had been an absolutely terrible idea.
Avery glanced around for something to use as a weapon and spotted a discarded wine bottle. Reaching out, she concentrated on moving it telepathically. As it rose from the ground, the vampire began to gyrate his hips into her backside, his tongue flicking at her pulse.
The bottle flew into her palm, and she reached back and smashed it over his head. Her actions had caught him off guard and stunned him enough that he loosened his grasp for just a second, long enough for her to get away.
She would never outrun a vampire. Those bastards were fast. Instead, she faced him, jagged edge of the broken bottle held out in front of her. She could barely see his face in the darkness, but his fangs seemed to glow. His eyes reminded her of two black pits of death. With sharp, high cheekbones and a square jaw, he almost appeared hawkish.
The vampire stared at her a moment, then began to laugh.
“You think you can out-battle me, little one?”
No, but I’ll sure as hell try.
He lunged at her, and she stabbed at the air. Glancing over her shoulder, she debated whether she should call to McAllister for help. She’d have a lot of explaining to do about being in that neighborhood. Besides, he was probably too far away to hear her by now.
And that meant she’d lost his trail.
Avery spun back toward the vampire. “I’m going to leave,” she said, trying to keep the anxiety-ridden shrill out of her voice. “If you touch me again, I’ll scream so loud, everyone in these apartments will wake, and I’m sure one or two will call the police. Is that what you want? To end up in a human jail cell?”
The vampire took another step closer, and she pushed the broken bottle closer to him.
“I mean it, asshole. Stay away from me.”
He eased to her left, she shuffled to her right.
She recalled a conversation with Victoria about how to kill a vampire, and all of the lore that surrounded the species. Contrary to urban myth, they didn’t sparkle in the sunlight, but actually did melt into a pile of goo. However, the sun wouldn’t be up for hours, and she didn’t stand a chance of dancing around with this guy for that long. He’d win that battle.
Garlic by itself was useless, and Victoria had proved it by making the strongest garlicky spaghetti sauce Avery had ever tasted. Holy water? Forget it. A lot of the creatures attended church.
Victoria had said the only other way to kill one was with a wooden stake through the heart. That revelation had surprised Avery, as
she expected something more extravagant—maybe an incantation or a cross should be involved. Instead, a plain piece of wood placed in the center of the chest would do the trick.
I sure could use a tree branch right about now.
They circled each other for a few more moments, him lunging, her slashing the air between them, before she realized he was probably trying to expend her energy. Then he could pounce, exactly like a pack of coyotes would do. She’d seen it before in the forests dozens of times. The coyote pack would surround their prey, each one taking a turn to badger the target. After a while, the prey became so exhausted from fighting, they didn’t have any energy left, leaving the coyotes with an easy dinner.
The vampire flashed long, white fangs at her, and a chill ran down her spine. It was one thing for her to give blood to her friend in need, but quite another for a vampire to take it from her because he could, simply because he desired it. And this guy didn’t seem as if he only wanted a taste.
“Come on, little Fae,” he muttered. “Let me just have a sampling.”
“Right,” she said, swinging the bottle at him as he tried to get closer. “Like I believe that. You’d just drain me dry.”
Although she couldn’t really see his face, she knew he was probably tiring of the game. She certainly was. It was time to follow through with her threat.
“Help!” she screamed as loud as she could. “Someone! Please! Call 9-1-1!”
Avery waited for the cavalry, never taking her eyes off the vampire. She glanced up at the apartment buildings and remembered that this side was solid without windows.
Her attacker advanced on her once again, and she glanced around the alley. Her chest clenched as her throat seemed to close tighter with each gasp for breath.
Finally, an idea came to her, one she hoped would allow her to escape.
She lifted a hand toward the large green dumpster and concentrated. It would take a lot of mental strength to move it as quickly as she needed, but hopefully, she’d still be left with enough energy to get the hell away.
Now focused on moving the dumpster, she simply tried to stay out of the vampire’s grasp. The energy within her built, causing her limbs to shake and her knees to weaken. Her head felt as if it might explode, and the blood racing through her veins blocked out the sound of the vampire’s heavy breathing.
Coupled with a scream she was sure would wake the dead, she slammed the bin into the vampire, pinning him up against the brick wall. She heard his breath escape his lungs, giving her the brief respite she needed. Avery ran as fast as she could toward home.
Just as she was about to round the corner out of his sight, she heard him laugh, then he called, “See you later, little faery Avery!”
Wait. He knew her name?
8
Connecting the dots and figuring out how the vampire knew her hadn’t been difficult. No matter how she tried to piece it together, she only came to one conclusion—she’d been made.
That vampire could have killed her if he had really wanted. Instead, it had been as if he’d just toyed with her, keeping her busy long enough for McAllister to put some distance between them.
She’d thought she had planned well and had been discreet enough, but apparently not. Somehow, McAllister had seen her. When he realized she was following him, he must have pulled out his phone and alerted the vampire who had held her up long enough for McAllister to disappear.
If that detective thought this would stop her, he’d been badly mistaken. In fact, it only fueled her desire to get her mother’s file. In her mind, it proved he was hiding something, and she had every intention of getting to the bottom of it.
A few hours before sunrise, she practiced her telekinesis, moving objects around her apartment. The cup went from the sink to her hand and back; the television remote floated from the coffee table to the kitchen table. Sending the dumpster into the vampire last night had worn her out, but the adrenaline from the situation had kept her awake. If she were going to get that file, she’d need to use her magic. In retrospect, she probably should have been honing the gift her entire life. In that regard, she had a lot of catching up to do.
Unfortunately, Avery hadn’t scored very well in the Fae gene pool. Her only power was the ability to move items, and that was shaky at best. Some Fae could do really cool tricks like cast spells and bend time, but not her. She hadn’t even realized she had any powers until way after her father moved out when she was ten.
Discovery of her talent had happened by accident when she’d turned fifteen.
Too lazy to get up for the TV remote, she stared at it from the couch and wished it would float over to her. Slowly, it rose from the table across the room and wobbled in the air, sluggishly drifting toward her. For a brief moment, the ability had scared her. However, she knew her father had been a full Fae and held immense power, so she figured her limited magical talents came from him. When she was about twelve years old during one of his brief visits, he’d shown her some energy orbs and the ability to conjure lightning. He could probably even make grass grow.
However, he’d never shown her his love, and one day, he quit visiting and just disappeared. These days, she heard from him every now and then but contact mainly consisted of a quick cup of coffee as he passed through town. The last time she’d tried to call him, the number had been disconnected.
She didn’t love him, and she didn’t hate him. He was a figure who moved in and out of her life—one she couldn’t rely on.
Would he even care that Melia was gone? What would he say about Avery’s current situation and choices? She didn’t even know what he did for a living. Based on the lack of information he’d provided about his job, she’d always assumed it wasn’t legal. Maybe that was where her current crazy streak came from—dear old Dad.
After first discovering her power, she played with it for a couple of years but decided that since her father didn’t seem to love her, she would live as a human. There were times when she debated whether to use her magic to get a glass of milk from the kitchen, or even to relocate her backpack from the doorway to her bedroom. In the end, she decided she would put her magic aside in favor of a normal life—her way of silently disavowing her dad and honoring her mom.
That policy had been a mistake. She should have been honing the magic, mastering it.
If the past couple of days had taught her anything, it was that she was done being the “little forest nymph.” Yes, she was short in stature, but that didn’t mean she was weak. Others in the paranormal world seemed to think exactly that. Avery was finished being the brunt of jokes for the wolves and being frightened of vampires. She had power, dammit, and she was going to master it and use it whenever she needed. Even though she’d lived as a human to feel closer to her mother, now, she was on her own. The need to harness the paranormal side was strong. Time for everybody to stop messing with her.
The chair scraped the floor from the kitchen table to the apartment door. She then made it rise and zoom across the room back to its original spot. With a sigh, she plopped down on the couch and eyed the dirt still left on the floor from when the wolves had been there. She should have pulled out the vacuum, but frankly, she’d been too preoccupied to worry about the leftover wreckage.
Instead, she concentrated and reached her hand toward the mess. The dirt particles rose from the carpet, swirling around like a small tornado. Then, she decided to get creative.
Avery focused on bringing the trashcan from under the sink into the living room. The cabinet creaked open, and then the plastic scraped across the linoleum. The can made a swishing sound as it skimmed the carpet, and she brought it to a halt under the swirling dirt before snapping her fingers. The debris dropped into the trash bin.
This may even make housecleaning fun!
With a sigh, she stretched out on the couch and gave some consideration to what her next move would be. She’d get to McAllister during the day. That way, he couldn’t call on his favorite vampire to derail her plans. The b
est place to get to the detective would be where he lived, but she had no idea where that was. She doubted he resided in the part of town where she’d followed him last night, but anything was possible.
She stood and walked to the kitchen table and grabbed her laptop, typing in his name, not expecting much. Although most people in the general public were easy to find, members of the police department usually had their addresses redacted, or only used P.O. boxes. She’d learned that while dating a cop a few months earlier. They’d been on two dates, but he’d never called again, which had been fine with her. She had found him a bit boring.
She searched online for about ten minutes and gave up. McAllister wasn’t stupid, and he’d definitely made sure he couldn’t be found by Google… not even a social media presence that she could see.
The sun would be up in a few hours, and she’d be at the police station, ready for round two.
Avery stood across the street from the police station. As she eyed the structure, she realized her mistake from the night before. She recalled her trip into the building when she’d met with McAllister and seen the file. As she’d been led through the hallways, she’d passed his desk, which was positioned right by a window. She’d sat in view of that particular one yesterday. He could have been watching her all whole day.
“Stupid,” she muttered as she headed into the coffee shop next door. “So incredibly stupid.”
She bought a large espresso, then walked out the door and down to the left, the opposite direction McAllister had gone the night before. Rethinking last night’s events, Avery guessed he had begun to head home, but veered off track when he realized she was trailing him.
She sipped her coffee while she waited under the awning of a bookstore, watching the city slowly come alive.
