As I cleaned my blade I felt the faelah’s glamour swell like a bubble, growing larger and larger until it burst. There was nothing to see really, but my own well of magic felt it all the same. If there had been mortals around, they would now be gaping, dumbfounded at the atrocity lying at their feet. I didn’t even stay to make sure it turned to dust.
“Come on Fergus, time to go,” I said to the wolfhound.
Wounds? he sent to me.
No, not even a scratch. I was, after all, very good at my job.
We hiked out of the woods and through the small swamp that rested behind a sparse neighborhood. I often patrolled this area because my home resided just on the other side of the dolmarehn hidden at the end of the ravine. I longed to head home, back to Eile, but I needed to return my car to the small garage I used as storage when spending any extended amount of time in the mortal world.
I crossed over the lowest part of the swamp and headed up the trail that veered off from the one the local horse owners often used. Five minutes later I found my car, a classic black Trans Am complete with a silver Phoenix emblem emblazoned on the hood. I grinned. I wasn’t a big fan of the machinery and technology of the mortal world, but I had a soft spot for this car. As I approached, I ran my hand along the hood, petting it as if it were a dog.
Fergus snorted next to me and I gave him a look over my shoulder. He returned it with a canine grin, his tongue falling out of his mouth in a pant.
“We all have our indulgences, Fergus,” I murmured, smiling as I dug the keys out of my trench coat pocket.
Teaching myself how to drive had been quite an adventure, and I had to be careful because being from the Otherworld the only driver’s license I owned was a fake one. This was the main reason I never took the Trans Am out to test its racing capabilities; couldn’t risk getting pulled over and questioned.
I unlocked the door and swung it open, but before I so much as set a single foot into the car, something familiar brushed against my senses. My well of glamour flared and I drew in a sharp breath, clutching a hand to the middle of my chest.
What in Eile . . . ?
I shot a look at Fergus, but he only back-stepped a few paces and whined.
My breath was coming in short bursts and it took a while for the sensation to burn off. It wasn’t unpleasant really, just unexpected. I glanced up and gazed down into the small valley dominated by the acres of eucalyptus trees and swampland. That burst of sensation hadn’t come from any faelah I’d ever encountered, and I’ve encountered more than most. Yet, it had felt so familiar.
I shook my head to get rid of the feeling, gritting my teeth as I sunk into the driver’s seat of my car. I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles showed white; until the feeling faded away and my heartbeat returned to normal. Fergus whined again and I leaned over to open the passenger side door for him.
I turned the key in the ignition and the car rumbled to life. As I pulled onto the highway, my mind was completely occupied with the small burst of power that had slammed into my own glamour like a raging bull. What was it, and would I be able to find its source? Taking a deep breath, I made a mental note to seek it out the next time I was in the swamp.
* * *
The wheels of the Trans Am crunched over gravel and the rumble of the engine set the dogs in the junkyard beside my place into a fit of barking. I hit the button to open the garage door and glided in onto smooth concrete. I had purchased this small place several years ago, when it became apparent that the faelah wouldn’t stop visiting this particular area on the Central Coast. It wasn’t much: a garage large enough to fit my car with a studio above it. I didn’t stay here more than a few days at a time, but it served well as my headquarters when I needed to track down renegade Otherworldly monsters.
Before closing the garage door, I stepped out onto the asphalt and scooped up the newspapers from the past several days. I had been gone a week in the Otherworld and now I needed to check the headlines for any ‘strange sightings’ while I was away. Humans couldn’t see faelah because of their glamour, but sometimes the little beasts stayed longer in the mortal world than they should and that glamour started to fade away. Any time I picked up the paper and read reports of odd things happening, I knew there were some Otherworldly creatures that had to be dealt with. I didn’t particularly enjoy my job, but because of the geis, or curse, set upon me several years ago in Eile, I was now Ehriad, a faelah bounty hunter with no true connections to anyone. My occupation was simple, really: I would enter the mortal world and round up anything Otherworldly. Then I would either send it back to where it came from or destroy it if it proved difficult, like the creature today.
Fergus barked at me as I reentered the garage, carrying several rolls of newspaper with me. I opened the door and let him out just before hitting the button to close the garage door. My place wasn’t in the best part of town, but it suited my purposes. The neighbors on one side ran a welding shop and those on the other, a wrecking yard. Let’s just say it was seldom quiet. Luckily, this wasn’t my permanent home.
Whistling to Fergus, I jogged up the stairs and the single room studio greeted me in its usual fashion. A couch hiding a fold out bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and a single, broad window that looked out over the street and the storage center beyond it.
I walked over to an old beat up desk and threw the newspapers on top, then stepped towards the tiny kitchen. Hunting down deadly faelah had a way of working up one’s appetite. I checked Fergus’s bowl and quickly poured in some dog food as I pulled out a frozen dinner from the freezer. Fergus sniffed at the food and huffed.
I glanced at the frozen dinner and nearly mimicked him.
“I know, but we won’t be going back to Eile until tomorrow, so you had best eat it.”
A half an hour later we were both enjoying the mortal world’s food to the best of our abilities. I poured myself a glass of water and sat down at the desk, flipping open a laptop, my latest investment. Yes, I wasn’t a fan of technology, but having a computer in the mortal world was more useful than having an umbrella in the rain. I opened a file from my desktop and a detailed map of the area took up the screen. I scanned it, taking note of all the dolmarehn I knew of. Only the one in the swamp was big enough for someone my size to fit through. The rest were small. And that is where the problem lay. The faelah normally didn’t sneak through the big dolmarehn because I kept a pretty close eye on it, but when the entire Central Coast area was riddled with smaller portals to the Otherworld, then someone had to visit this world every now and again to keep the vermin under control. For some reason, faelah enjoyed hunting in this world more than their own, and more often than not, they grew accustomed to the taste of small rodents and house pets.
Sighing, I flipped through the newspapers, searching the pages for anything out of the ordinary. Local pets gone missing, coyotes suspected . . . Okay, that might be a lead. I scanned the paragraphs. Nope. No remains ever found. Coyotes often ate most of what they caught. Keep reading. Burglaries, aggravated assault, a string of car thefts . . .
My eyes skidded to a halt when I turned the page. The headline read: Chupacabra Sighting in Santa Maria. Bingo. I read the first few lines of the article and felt my mouth tugging into a small smile. Horrendous looking creature, puncture wounds in the necks of the cattle, attacked at night . . . Yes, all the signs pointed towards something Otherworldly. I took note of the location, Costa Robles Ranch, and searched the internet for directions. I shut down the computer and went to take a shower. When I came out ten minutes later, I found Fergus lying on the couch. He perked his rusty ears forward and cocked his head to the side.
“Off the couch Fergus. We need to get some rest if we’re to go out hunting tonight.”
Fergus jumped off the couch so I could pull out the bed. Five minutes later I had my arm flung over my eyes as I tried to block out the crashing of metal in the junkyard and the familiar crack-pop of welding next door. Despite the noise and the light stream
ing through the cracks in the blinds, I managed to doze off into a half sleep.
* * *
Sneaking onto the ranch was not an issue. Located just north of the Santa Maria river and just off the main highway, the Costa Robles Ranch covered several acres of rolling land scattered with oak trees and the occasional dry gully cutting between the hills. I wasn’t too worried about being spotted since it was, after all, the middle of the night. The moon provided just enough light to see by, and what I couldn’t detect myself Fergus helped with his canine senses.
I pulled my car off the highway and onto a side road, killing the engine and turning off the lights. Fergus and I climbed through a heavy ranch-style gate and began our trek across the fields. I moved as silently as the broken earth would allow, trying not to startle the cattle I could sense dozing in the distance, their black shapes barely standing out against the pale moonlight. Fergus loped ahead of me, disappearing over the hilltop crowned with a copse of oak trees.
Death, he sent.
A chill ran down my spine. How fresh?
Very.
I gritted my teeth and crouched even lower, but kept my forward movement smooth. The odor of cow dung and dried grass was soon obliterated by the sharp metallic scent of hot blood. I maneuvered through the low oaks, drawing my broadsword from its sheath on my back. In the daylight, I’d be comfortable with my single edged blade, but in the darkness I needed something larger; something a little more lethal. When eliminating faelah, hawthorn worked the best, but any weapon forged in the Otherworld would also do the job. A white shape appearing against the darkness and a low growl informed me that I’d found Fergus. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of blood grew stronger.
In front of us lay a calf, the dark stains on its pale hide all that remained of its blood. Wonderful. A bloodsucking faelah. Those were the worst kind of Otherworldly aberrations because they let their desire for blood rule them. No fear, no caution. If you were warm and full of blood, then you might as well be a walking all-you-can-eat buffet.
The sharp cry of cattle and a low hiss drew my attention from the dead calf.
Fergus growled more loudly, his hackles rising along the ridge of his spine.
Twenty feet. Faelah draining one of the herd.
Go around wide, I sent back to my spirit guide, there may be more than one.
I lifted my sword into a front guard, not wanting to be unprepared in case the monster lost interest in the cattle.
The herd slept in a small clearing, the moon shedding just enough light for me to see that something wasn’t right about the cow closest to me. An odd shape protruded from behind its neck. The shape moved, like a snake striking, and the cow bellowed out a sound of pain before falling onto its knees. No more time to hesitate. I swept my sword wide, bringing the blade down, biting into the back of the faelah. The creature squealed in pain, but it had been too distracted by its warm meal to realize I was there.
The creature slumped off the dying cow and I kicked it with my foot so that it landed in a patch of moonlight. About the size of a fox, it had a round head with large, bat-like ears and a nose like a pug. Short forearms ended with three fingers tipped with long, sharp claws. The hind legs were a different story. They’d be several feet long if fully extended. This thing was meant for jumping. A hide resembling that of a dried up frog and a short, hairless tail completed the grotesque ensemble.
Letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I used the tip of my sword to peel back the thing’s lips. I blanched. Four long, wicked canines crowded out the other teeth in the front of its jaw.
Fergus whimpered behind me. There are more!
Before I had a chance to turn back around, something hit me with enough force to knock the air from my lungs. Unfortunately, whatever it was also clung to me like a leech. I tried to gain my balance and shake it off, but the cloak I had decided to wear for this hunt only tangled with the monster and gave it something to hang on to.
Finally, I got my feet under me, but in the next second a sharp pain ripped through the muscles of my shoulder. I shouted in anger and agony, trying my best to shake the faelah off. Fergus was barking like mad, snapping and growling at what I could only assume were more monsters. My attacker was too close and I couldn’t get my sword around to cause any damage.
I panted and reached down for my dagger. The faelah dug its teeth and claws in deeper, and it took all my strength to keep from blacking out. The glamour that rested beside my heart flared, bearing its own teeth as it demanded to be set free. No . . . no I couldn’t let it out. This was another part of me, one I kept hidden unless all other options failed. If I let it break free, I would lose all control and might not have the strength to return to my car once this was over . . .
Grinding my teeth together, I fought the pain in my shoulder and the angry demand of my power. I worked my dagger free and brought it up, slipping it under the ribs of the faelah and driving it directly into its heart. The creature released its hold and gave a guttural gasp before falling to the ground.
Fetid blood stained my shirt and cloak, but I bit back the pain and turned to see how Fergus fared. The shadows of the night hindered my view, but I was able to count three more faelah still moving. Fergus had killed two, and I one, not including the first one.
Kill? Fergus asked, his teeth bared as he panted.
Yes, I sent, my sight almost going red with fury. All of them.
The final three faelah were easy to dispatch, now that I didn’t have one clinging to me and turning my arm into mincemeat. I waited until all the bodies turned to ash, then sent Fergus to scout for any more we might have missed. By the time we returned to the car, the eastern horizon was awash in the pale turquoise of dawn.
Three times I almost fell asleep on the way home, Fergus barking every now and then to keep me awake. The fight had taken far more than I expected and despite the need to see to my wounds and the desire for another shower, I parked in my garage and started out across the highway. Thank goodness the swamp was only a thirty minute walk away. Fergus trotted ahead of me, checking for cars and other obstacles. My glamour was dangerously low and I was beginning to suspect that the chupacabra-like faelah might have been venomous.
The air was cold and damp and grew even more so as I descended into the swamp. When I took the first step into the culvert that housed the dolmarehn, I stumbled. I gritted my teeth and clutched at my shoulder, fighting the waves of pain that threatened to overtake me. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and my knees felt like rubber. This wasn’t good.
“Just a few more steps Fergus.” My voice didn’t sound like it belonged to me. It was dry and raspy and it hurt my throat to speak.
Fergus yipped.
They didn’t bite you too, did they? I sent.
No. Tried, though.
I nodded. Even that hurt.
The dead trunks of eucalyptus trees crisscrossed the gorge ahead of me and I let out a shuddering breath. Not much further. Crossing between them took more effort than it should have, and just when I thought my legs wouldn’t carry me another step, I spotted the cave entrance. I collapsed to my knees just inside and exhaustion overtook me.
Fergus whined again and I felt something tugging on the hood of my cloak.
Twenty feet, he sent. Rest when in Eile.
I didn’t want to move twenty feet; such a distance seemed too far, but Fergus wouldn’t stop tugging on my cloak. And this was my good cloak. Didn’t want him to tear it. Groaning, I dragged myself up onto my hands and knees and crawled deeper into the cave. I didn’t dare stop until I felt the familiar tug of the Otherworld’s magic. After that, I gave in to the fatigue and lost consciousness before reaching the other side.
* * *
I woke up to the sensation of Fergus licking my face. Grumbling, I shoved him away with my left arm, sighing in relief when I registered no pain. I blinked several times, removing the sleep from my eyes, and caught a glimpse of oak trees layered in moss, a gray sky and several s
tone monoliths gazing down on me.
I sat up, scratching Fergus on the head to let him know I appreciated his loyalty and slowly removed my cloak and shirt. The misty air of Eile was cold against my bare skin, but I had to make sure my wounds had healed. I ran a hand over my shoulder, feeling the small knots of new scarring, but no festering wounds. My arm proved to be in the same condition. I shrugged my shirt back on, frowning at the tears and bloodstains. Oh well. Perks of the job. One couldn’t complain when they had the magic of the Otherworld to revive them.
I stood and stretched the stiffness away, yawning and running my fingers through my hair. It was slightly tangled and disheveled, but that didn’t surprise me.
“How long was I out?” I asked my spirit guide.
He panted and flicked his ears forward. Three days.
I winced. Those bloodsucking faelah must have been more venomous than I had thought.
“I guess we’d better head back. There’s no telling how many faelah have crept over into the mortal world while I’ve been napping.”
Fergus yipped, as if to tell me I thought too highly of my own importance. I shot him a wry grin and turned towards the cave that was framed with the stones of the dolmarehn.
* * *
The next several weeks passed this way, with Fergus and I darting back and forth between the mortal world and the Otherworld. Every now and then, after tracking a faelah and either killing it or herding it back into Eile, I would detect a tiny hint of the strange magic that had overwhelmed me the day I destroyed the bloodsucking faelah. And every time, the magic would fade away into nothing and I’d be left grasping at straws.
One autumn morning as Fergus and I were hiking up the equestrian trail behind the swamp, an invisible stream of power slammed into me. I stopped dead and shook my head, leaning over and resting my hands on my knees. What in the world . . . ? My own glamour flared in response. I rubbed at the spot on my chest and took a few deep breaths. It was the same strange yet familiar magic I’d felt those several weeks ago, but fresher. Where was it coming from? I had to find out.
Faery Realms: Ten Magical Titles: Multi-Author Bundle of Novels & Novellas Page 94
