Risky Bargains

by J. C. Diem

  When Yas emerged from the den, she handed the phone back to Liam. “It isn’t pretty,” she warned him.

  Nick strode over and the twins examined the photos together. I could feel their sorrow for the identical brothers who had only been four years old. “I wish we’d been able to save them,” Nick said sadly.

  “They were dead even before Liam was notified that they’d gone missing,” the rookie said in a callous tone. “The cats crushed their throats before bringing them back to their lair,” he said defensively when we all glared at him for his insensitivity.

  That explained why there was so little blood. I’d wondered why the animals they’d caught had been mostly intact. Looking at the rabbit, I saw its throat had indeed been crushed.

  Heath saw my inquisitive expression and smiled. “You could learn a lot from me, Agent D’Ath,” he said suggestively. “I’d love to spend some one-on-one time with you, so I can teach you everything you need to know.”

  “Gag,” Yas said and mimed putting a finger down her throat.

  “Stop hitting on me, Franko,” I said with a scowl. “I’m never going to date you.”

  His brows drew down into a puzzled frown, as if he still couldn’t conceive how a lesser wolf like me would dare to reject an alpha like him.

  “We’re done here,” Liam said, much to our relief. “I’ve notified the Cleanup Crew that they’ve got body disposal duties. They’ll be here in a couple of hours. Let’s head back to town, so I can fill the sheriff in. He needs to notify the parents that their kids’ remains have been found.”

  “I’m glad that’s not part of our job,” Syd said as we headed back to civilization. Dealing with grieving relatives would be horrible and I silently agreed with her.

  We raced back to the playground, following our own trail. I hooked my arm through Crowmon’s to help him keep up with us. Liam gave Yas the key to the van. She zoomed ahead of us so she wouldn’t be spotted by any of the humans. Our leader drew the sheriff aside and informed him about what we’d discovered. He showed him a photo of the remains and told the lawman where to find what was left of the bodies.

  “Are the monsters that killed the twins dead?” the sheriff asked in a weary tone.

  “Yeah. We got them all. They won’t be killing anyone else’s kids,” Liam said bleakly.

  With our task now over, we piled into the van. Yas had left the key on the driver’s seat for Liam. We returned to the abandoned house with the overgrown yard a couple of hours away, glad we weren’t going to have to hang around this time.

  We left the van parked on the street and Liam notified someone from the PIA to retrieve it. Emma slipped out of my backpack and we gathered into a tight group so she could take us home. Franko slid his arm around my waist rather than touching me on the arm. We sank into the ground before I could snap at him.

  As soon as we emerged in the front yard of our base, I stepped away from the rookie and glowered at him. He pretended he didn’t see my annoyance and arrogantly strode over to enter the building first.

  “Do you want me to tear him apart and feed him to the herd?” Yas murmured.

  I thought about it, then shook my head. “They don’t have stomachs,” I reminded her. Everyone snickered and it was Franko’s turn to scowl. He hadn’t heard us, but he knew we were all laughing at him again.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  LIAM RECEIVED A CALL from Agent Steel several days after our mission to Elmview. He took it in his bedroom, so the rest of us couldn’t eavesdrop this time.

  “More secrets?” Franko said with his upper lip curled. We’d just eaten lunch and were clearing the dishes from the table.

  “Leaders can’t always share every detail with their teams,” Nick said in a lecturing tone. “You should know that, since you’re an alpha.”

  The tension in our squad wasn’t going away now that the newbie had been with us for just short of two weeks. If anything, it was getting worse. I knew I wasn’t the only one missing Jax. I’d heard the others reminiscing about our former teammate, wishing his werewolf hadn’t chosen to leave.

  Liam returned a few minutes later and descended the stairs. “Franko, I need you to drive to Denver and pick up a package,” he said.

  The rookie instantly scowled. “Why do I have to drive all the way to Denver?” he asked sullenly. “Can’t the rodent take me there?” He hiked his thumb at Emma, who was perched on the back of the couch next to Crowmon. I was supposed to be sparring in the ring with Nick after lunch, but I had a feeling our plans had just changed.

  “Can’t you follow a simple order without whining about it?” Syd asked challengingly.

  “I wasn’t whining,” Heath ground out, simmering with anger at her disrespect.

  “Aye, you were, lad,” Crowmon said with a smirk. “I know a whine when I hear one and that was most definitely a whine.”

  Sick of being laughed at constantly, the alpha hole glared at us all. “What package am I supposed to get?” he asked.

  “You don’t need to know what’s in it,” Liam said. “It’s at this address.” He loped over and gave the newbie a note.

  Franko read it, then shoved it into his pocket. “Can I take my Corvette?”

  “Sure,” Liam said in a condescending tone, as if he was granting him a huge favor. “We’ll see you when you get back.”

  It would take a minimum of four hours for Heath to drive to and from the city, if he kept to the speed limit. He stepped through the door to the main hallway and a weight lifted off my shoulders that I hadn’t even known was there.

  “What’s up, bro?” Nick asked when Liam watched the monitors to make sure the Corvette had left the property.

  “Uncle Mark set up a meeting with the Queen of the fae,” our boss said as he traipsed down the stairs. “Zeus will bring him here shortly. The Queen will be here soon, as well.”

  Crowmon instinctively shot to his feet, but it was already too late for him to flee. The air shimmered, then a delicately beautiful faery was standing at the base of the spiral staircase. Agent Steel and Zeus appeared next to the dining table moments later. Emma leaped onto my shoulder to glare down at the Rottweiler. Zeus’ tongue lolled out of his mouth as he grinned up at her.

  “Good, you’re all here,” Mark said, then crossed to the faery. “Lauryl,” he said, then took her hand and kissed it. “You look as lovely as always.”

  Blushing prettily, the faery queen was tiny. At a guess, I’d put her height at about four-foot-eight. Her skin was so pale that it was almost translucent. Her long hair and eyes were silver and her layered dress matched their shade exactly. Her pointed ears peeked out through her silky tresses. “I hear you’ve become mated,” she said in a musical voice. I noticed her teeth were pointed and had to suppress a shudder.

  “I have,” Agent Steel agreed. “Ava and I are very happy together.”

  Heaving what sounded like a wistful sigh, the faery turned to regard the hound. “It is good to see you again, Zeus,” she said and reached over to pet him.

  The Rottweiler rubbed against her legs affectionately, then loped over to me. Emma peered down at him and her nose twitched in annoyance when he licked my hand. She yanked on my hair hard enough for it to sting. “Ow!” I complained, then made a noise of amused disgust when the dog engulfed my hand with his mouth. “Thanks, Zeus,” I said wryly when the squirrel turned her back on me at my perceived betrayal. “That just never gets old,” I said when he let go of my hand.

  The faery gave a tinkling laugh. “I don’t need an introduction to know these are the offspring of your friends.”

  Agent Steel waited for me to wash my hands at the sink, then performed the introductions. “Everyone, this is Lauryl, Queen of the fae.” I’d read the files and knew her full name was Laurylayne, but we weren’t supposed to use it without an invitation. Crowmon hung back, trying to hide as Liam, Nick, Syd, Brynn and I were introduced first.

  Lauryl regarded Yas warily, knowing what she was without needing to be tol
d. “You appear to be a fullblood vampire, yet I sense you are different from your kind,” she said.

  “Alex used her necromancy on me,” Yas explained, hiking her thumb at me. “She bonded both Emma and me to her, so neither of us are a normal vampire or zombie now.”

  Lauryl didn’t seem surprised to hear that. She cocked her head to the side. “Mark introduced you as Alex D’Ath, but that isn’t your true surname, is it?” she queried.

  “No,” I confirmed, then gestured at the tattoos on my arm. “These spells punish me whenever someone mentions who I’m related to.”

  Intrigued, Lauryl was about to step forward and examine them when she spotted Crowmon. Her eyes narrowed and she gestured for Nick to move aside. “What do we have here?” she asked in a voice that was devoid of amusement when my brother complied. “It appears to be a trickster god.”

  “This is Crowmon, your highness,” Agent Steel said.

  Crowmon bowed without taking his pale green eyes off her. “I’m floored by your beauty, my Queen,” he said, overdoing the flattery.

  “You do not belong on this world,” she said icily. “How did you get here?”

  “That’s why I asked you to meet with us, Lauryl,” Mark said and gestured at the couches. “May we sit?”

  The faery queen nodded graciously and held her hand out. He offered her his arm as was clearly expected, then escorted her into the living room.

  “I’ll make coffee,” Syd offered. Mark nodded gratefully and I decided to help her. The last thing I needed was for another magical person to touch my spells and this faery reeked of magic.

  “Speak, Crowmon,” Lauryl ordered when she was seated. Zeus slumped to the floor at her feet, leaning against her legs that dangled a few inches above the floor.

  Perching on the edge of his seat, Crowmon obeyed her imperious order.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “MY MEMORIES OF MY WORLD were wiped clean when I was brought here,” Crowmon explained. “I sensed strange, yet almost familiar magic surround me, then I was suddenly in this dimension.” She seemed highly doubtful so far, but she didn’t interrupt him. “Agent Steel informed me that all manner of beings and beasties have entered your world during the past few years,” he went on. “I’ve been to the locations where some of them have arrived and sensed the same magic being used each time.”

  “Have you sensed anything like that happening in the fae realm?” Mark asked.

  Lauryl shook her head. “Nothing has appeared in my realm that doesn’t belong there.”

  “Crowmon has a theory about what might be behind it,” I said to encourage him to tell her his idea. He seemed reluctant to speak to the faery at all.

  She arched a silver eyebrow and the deity nodded. “Aye,” he said uneasily. “I sense a being is reaching out, searching for something. I believe it’s bringing these creatures to this world by accident.”

  “What is this being?” the faery queen asked.

  Crowmon shrugged. “That I don’t know, your majesty. I sense it’s old, which is why Agent Steel requested your presence here.”

  Everyone’s attention went to Mark as Syd and I carried a tray of tea and coffee into the living room. Neither Lauryl, nor the trickster, took anything. Emma had forgiven me for Zeus’ display of affection and was now focused on the hound. The pair became engaged in a staring match. Their battle of wills could last until possibly the end of time itself, since neither of them needed to blink.

  “Crowmon thinks the being that’s responsible for the strange magic might be too ancient for mankind to remember,” Agent Steel said. “Faeries live a lot longer than humans. I was wondering if you, or any of your kin, remember any powerful beings that have been long forgotten. Maybe one of them has come out of hibernation.”

  Lauryl frowned and her gaze went distant as she searched her memories. “I’ve heard of beings who were banished eons ago, long before my birth,” she said at last. “Their reign was brutal for all who lived back then, including the humans.”

  “Who were they?” Brynn asked in fascination, holding her mug of coffee in both hands.

  “Old gods whose names have been stricken from the records,” Lauryl said unhappily and flicked a look at Crowmon. “They were worshipped and feared by all, including my kind.”

  “Who banished them?” Mark asked. His back was stiff with tension.

  “Demons,” the queen of the fae said bleakly. “They were the only ones who didn’t bend their knee to the gods. The strongest of their kind locked their foes away deep beneath the ground with impenetrable prisons crafted by demonic magic. The demons would have taken their places as the rulers of our world if we hadn’t banded together to prevent it from happening.”

  Crowmon’s face had become drawn and he seemed to have shrunken slightly in his seat. “I was afraid of this,” he said and shivered. “My best guess is that their prison is weakening. The old gods are stirring and are searching for allies to help them break free.”

  “Why is their prison failing now, after all this time?” Yas asked.

  “I can think of one reason why this might have happened,” Mark said, tone full of fear. “Kurt Jorgen may have made a deal with the demons.”

  Lauryl’s eyes widened and now she was the one who looked afraid. “You think he convinced them to release the old gods?” she asked in dismay.

  Agent Steel nodded reluctantly. “It’s possible. The half-faery has a silver tongue. He can be very persuasive when he wants to be.”

  I knew who they were talking about. I’d read the reports of the war with the demons and knew Kurt Jorgen had been responsible for the chaos.

  “Can we stop this?” Liam asked in concern.

  “How?” Crowmon asked. “No one knows where their prison is. It’s not like we can summon a demon here and ask them where to find it. Can we?”

  We all looked at Mark for his opinion. “That would be a very bad idea,” he said, shaking his head. “Demons wouldn’t cooperate with us.”

  “What are we going to do?” Nick asked in trepidation.

  “We’ll have to do research on the old gods,” Agent Steel figured. “We’ll need to learn as much about them as we can and try to find a way to strengthen their prison before they escape.”

  “There are no human records of the old gods,” Lauryl reminded him. “Only our kind still have any books that might mention them.”

  “May we see the books, my Queen?” Crowmon asked.

  She cocked her head to the side. “They cannot leave our realm,” she replied. “I will allow two of you to see them.” She pointed at the deity, then at me.

  “You’re letting me see them?” I asked in surprise, beating Mark to it. “Why?”

  “You two are the only ones who can travel to the fae realm and return without being altered by your time spent there,” she said.

  “What do you mean by that?” Mark asked, clearly intrigued.

  “Non fae beings absorb our magic and their minds are changed by it,” she said. “If they spend too much time there, they can’t return to your world. Crowmon is a god and he is very similar to the fae. Being in our realm won’t affect him.”

  “Alex is just a hybrid like us,” Liam said, pointing at himself and his brother in confusion. “She’s not fae.”

  “No, but the spells that permeate her entire body will protect her,” the queen said, gesturing at my tattoos.

  I looked down at my right arm to study the dark brown markings. “They will?” I asked in confusion.

  “I sense they have many layers to them,” Lauryl told me. “There isn’t just one spell, but dozens or possibly more overlapping each other. Most are designed to hurt you in certain circumstances. Others are beyond my comprehension. They are in your very mind, shaping and controlling you.”

  “I’ve never seen magic like this before, that I can remember,” Crowmon said as he examined my spells.

  “Neither have I,” the faery admitted.

  “Can you dispel them?” Age
nt Steel asked.

  Lauryl shook her head reluctantly. “I fear that merely touching them with my magic would destroy Alex. You will need to find their origins and discover a way to safely break her free of their influence.”

  “So, the spells the witch created to stifle her abilities will also protect her from being in the fae realm?” Sydney summed up. “I bet Irene has no idea about that side effect.”

  “When will Alex and Crowmon be able to see the books about the old gods?” Mark asked.

  “There is upheaval within my realm right now,” Lauryl replied. “That is why I had to delay this meeting. I will send an emissary to retrieve your employees when things stabilize.”

  Crowmon made a face about being labeled an employee, but he didn’t protest.

  “I must return to my realm,” she said and stood. “One word of caution before I leave,” she said as we all rose to our feet. “The old gods are pure evil and were deemed to be far worse than demons. If even one of them breaks free, it will be disastrous for your world.”

  We didn’t know how many gods there were, but it was a chilling notion. It was hard to imagine anything could be worse than demons.

  Lauryl’s visit had been short, but memorable. She returned to the base of the spiral staircase and allowed Mark to gallantly kiss the back of her hand again. “Until next time, your highness,” he said.

  The faery queen inclined her head graciously, then the air shimmered and she vanished.

  “Didn’t she need to be dropped off in the woods by my dad the last time she visited here?” Brynn asked.

  “Lauryl prefers to teleport from the outdoors, but it appears she didn’t have any time to waste,” Mark said in a distracted tone. “Her emissary could turn up at any time. I suggest you two go with the faery as soon as he or she appears. This is most likely a once in a lifetime opportunity for non-fae beings to visit their realm.”

  “What if Alex is naked in the shower when the emissary turns up?” Yas asked with a smirk.

  “I suggest she wraps a towel around herself before she leaves,” Mark replied.