"He's at a safe house that only we know about. He wouldn't have sent for you if this wasn't life-and-death. I know how hard you got hit by Peters' murder," she said gently. I had no idea that either of them knew what I'd been going through. I had tried to keep that part of my life locked up in a box.
Repercussions of what I had done back then rippled into my life daily, and were present the moment I woke up every morning. My nightmares revolved around them as well. But, I thought I'd put on a good enough face for other people not to notice. There were so many atrocities that were happening throughout the country that losing just one man in a sea of millions of missing people felt like a luxury. But my pain was my own and I would pay for what I did.
"I don't know how I could help you two," I said. "Especially now that I'm so toxic. I don't want to turn Marcus' colleagues against him. I know he walks a fine line between trying to find justice where he can and keeping himself out of trouble." Marcus had always been good at playing the game and he felt it was important for the good people to stay in the establishments that quickly turned so bad. He tried to at least check some of the abuses and horror that were being perpetrated in the name of paranormal nationalism.
"Marcus will have to be the judge of that. I myself don't exactly know what he's gotten himself into. I was as surprised as you are when I got the call."
"He called you on a cell phone?" I asked, already starting to sweat. Everyone knew that the mage, his minions, the LAPD and the NSA were all listening for any signs of the resistance.
"Oh Mabry. You know Marcus. He loves codes and we had established a code soon after the unveiling for situations just like this. No one knows where he is. And no one knows that I'm here. But we should go, in case more vampires descend on you trying to avenge their colleagues deaths."
My heart raced as I considered my options. I didn't want to show her how afraid I was. How much I didn't want another person hurt because of something I was involved in. I knew that was chicken shit of me and it was a constant sense of shame. But, if I lost another person, I don't know how much longer I'd be able to bear the pain. I would most likely impale myself on a piece of silver. I shook the thought of suicide away. I was a survivor. I had survived the unveiling, the purges, and the disappearances all around me. The tide would eventually change and the European guilds and paranormal creatures would finally crack President Dixon's magic spell walling off the United States from the rest of the world. I just needed to hold on long enough to see that. That meant that it was a very bad idea for me to go with Leslie.
"I so want to help the both of you, but I'm terrified I have tails following me. And, someone very political and connected was in my office just before you, asking me to take on a case. I think the two incidents are involved and I don't want to bring something down on your heads."
Leslie's head snapped at that. "What do you mean by politics? Do you mean somebody from the city government was in here? That's what Marcus has been working on. Something to do with the Jeremy Nottingham, the Mage of Los Angeles, and the workings down in City Hall." She glanced nervously back at the door.
"We should go. We need to talk to Marcus and find out what's happening. It looks like you're already involved even without him and I'm not sure how you fit into this puzzle. Would you come?" she asked and I could see her eyes studying me. I had missed her so much and I fought back tears and the urge to blurt out just that. Pull yourself together, Mabry, I thought.
"I'm not the person you think I am," I said and leaned towards her as a flash of brilliant red light sailed by my head and ended up creating a hole on the far wall. I watched in fascination as the red fire licked up towards the ceiling. This building was held together by cardboard and spit and it would go up in flames any moment.
I rolled off my chair just as another magic spurt broke the window pane and missed again. That one appeared to have been aimed at Leslie. We both ended up on the floor and crawled towards the door. Neither of us said a word in case they had a listening spell waiting to hear our next words. I pointed to the right of the door and Leslie nodded. We made fast progress to the door. I took the initiative and lifted my head to see if there was anybody that I could see in the building across the way.
By my calculations, the shooter must have been somewhere around there. The angles were too perpendicular for it to be coming from below or above us. That was good at least. Vampires weren't able to shoot red magic out of their fingertips, therefore the culprit would have to be another type of creature. One that I hoped couldn't fly. That would at least give us some time to get out the back of the building.
I grabbed the handle and opened the door just as the fire on the back wall came to true life and fed its hunger. Leslie and I both put our arms around our mouths and I remembered a protection spell that my mother had taught me that would cocoon us from most magic spells flying our way. I muttered the words under my breath trying to focus as much of the energy that Leslie had given me as I could. The fatigue that came after almost felled me to my knees but I kept on to the back staircase. The spell had worked and, the blood red magic that had started following us out the door, couldn't penetrate the shield of protection I had created.
We slammed through the doors of the back staircase and took the stairs two at a time. A burst of adrenaline filled me and I was thankful I had even that little bit left. I wasn't as sure as Leslie that my run-ins this past evening were connected to whatever Marcus was working on. This could have just as well been retaliation from the LAPD for nuking two of their own. At the same time, I couldn't leave Marcus flapping in the wind. He had saved my butt countless times when we both worked the streets as patrol cops. He was one of the cops I'd developed a strong camaraderie with. There had been one particular moment where he had shoved me out of the way as a gang banger shot at us. He had saved my life that night and I swore that I would do everything in my power to get his back.
I swallowed down my fear as we crept down the alleyway towards Third Street. We didn't speak until we had crossed over several other streets, went another few blocks down La Cienega and into a ritzy neighborhood. Whoever had taken potshots at us either decided to let us go or my protection spell had shielded us from whatever ways they were using to track me or Leslie or both of us.
"Well, that was a hoot," Leslie exclaimed as she gasped for breath. She was clutching her sides and shook her head. "I hadn't kept up with my training and, boy, I wish I had now,"
"I can't believe I'm still standing," I said. We both giggled at that.
"We are two hard-core women," Leslie said. "Some small bits of red fire magic aren't going to bring us down. Ha, I'd like to see them try." The words hadn't left her mouth before both of us turned at the sound behind us. A strange, howling sound was coming towards us as if an army of banshees were just around the corner.
"Have you ever heard anything like that?" Leslie whispered.
"We gotta run," I said and took her by the hand. I had no idea what kind of thing made that sound but it was growing closer and, after a close call, I couldn't believe that it wasn't aimed directly at us.
"I don't know how long I can keep running these streets," Leslie gasped as we sprinted back towards a busier street. At first, going into a residential neighborhood seemed like a grand plan but I had assumed we were going to lose whoever was after us. But if they were really on our tail, being in a darkened street where nobody would come out to see what the commotion was perfect to do whatever they wanted to us. I shook my head at myself in disgust. I should have known better. I was trained for this kind of shit, I thought.
We busted out onto Fairfax and towards several blocks of Fae bars that were not amiable towards humans like us. We were going to have to take a chance.
"This is the Fae quarter," Leslie whispered.
"I know," I said. "But everyone's afraid of the Fae. They might not come after us if we're surrounded by them," I thought out loud.
"I don't know, Mabry. But I don't think I can run any further
either," Leslie gasped. By the look on her face, she was unable to run much longer. When she had done the healing spell on me, it had taken some of her own life force energy out and so both of us were running on empty.
"Fae bar it is," I said and took her under the arm. We stalked towards the nearest entrance to a place called Oberon's Place. I hoped we'd get out of this alive.
4
The din of Oberon's Place smashed into us. I couldn't even comprehend the decibels. My eyes adjusted to the darkness of the bar and I could just make out the Moroccan lanterns that were spaced randomly out into the room. Even though the unveiling had shown everyone's true nature, in the years since, many in the community had decided to go back to the glamoured visage of the human form. I had always wondered if the Fae showed who they truly were when they were amongst themselves. Even though the city had been taken over by all the different supernatural factions, the beings self segregated amongst themselves. Even though I looked upon a crowd of human beings, I could smell the magic, the smell of wet fur of werewolf, the smell of death of vampires, and then intermixed smells of earth, water, brimstone, and all the other weird smells that the Fae emanated. I had read somewhere that the Fae kept their true names hidden for if you knew their true nature you could control them. I had become fascinated about the culture when I realized I was half Fae. But, my human side kept me apart and vulnerable to all the different magic spells the Fae used to bind creatures with human blood to them. I was not about to become some Fae slave. Several large men at the bar turned to stare at us as we walked through the throngs and Leslie squeezed my arm. I leaned over to hear what she was saying.
"I wasn't expecting the glamour," Leslie whispered. I hadn't expected it either.
"There are vampires, werewolves and the fae here. We should try to make it to the back and stay for a while," I said but she couldn't hear me. I shouted the words and by the look on her face, she understood them. We had almost gone past the bar when a thin, poorly dressed man with graying temples, his hair greased back and in a mechanics uniform, stepped in front of us blocking our way.
"Witches aren't welcome here," he sneered at Leslie. I pushed Leslie behind me and stepped up to him.
"Why don't you leave us alone, and have another drink." I stood my ground. By the smell of him, he was perhaps a goblin. That wasn't good news for either me or Leslie because goblins had a tendency to try to suck the life out of a human by way of their mouth. I searched around for my Fae magic but I had no hints of that power vibrating anywhere in me. Great, I thought. This was not the place for it to come out and go haywire.
For the hundredth time, I wished I had someone to show me how to use it to my own benefit versus getting me into hot water with people that I didn't want to tangle with. The gray haired man sniffed at the air.
"You're not all human. I smell water," he drawled. "People like you make me sick. To think that one of us could have deigned to procreate with one of you. Food. Food for us. Not even close to being equal." I'd heard this all before. He was an originalist and spouted ideas I'd heard at numerous council meeting where the Fae demanded fair and equal share of land and property throughout the Los Angeles area. They wanted nothing to do with humans outside of making them be there playthings, or their food. He was right about that. But the prejudice and ugliness towards the humans set many in the Fae community against each other. I had heard of one faction that believed humans were necessary for the Fae's survival and others spoke about a time before humans walked the earth and how glorious it had been. This man apparently fell into the latter camp.
"Let us by and we won't bother your sensitive nose anymore," I yelled back at him. I hoped that a goblin wouldn't want to tangle with an unknown water fae and would leave us alone. I was wrong.
Before I knew what he was doing, he shoved me aside and I hit the bar with my stomach. The hit knocked the air out of me and I slid to the ground, coughing. After having sprinted those last blocks, my oxygen wasn’t exactly coming in smooth and that guy’s punch was the last thing I needed. Every single breath I took made me wince in pain. I touched my chest gingerly worried that I had broken a rib. And then I heard Leslie shout.
I bounded to my feet as the gray-haired goblin man pulled Leslie to him, his magic forcing her mouth open and the thin wisps of her life force crossing the distance between her mouth and his. Not on my watch, I thought, and sprang in between them. The launch propelled me hard enough into the pair that I knocked Leslie free of him. We crashed to the floor, me on his chest as I clenched my fist and willed my magic to come to me.
And nothing happened.
Before I knew it, he had flipped me on my back, and straddled my rib cage. I swallowed a scream of pain. He wasn't going to get any satisfaction. Not if I could help it.
"I'll take yours first then," he growled and I noticed that a circle had formed around us, with onlookers waiting for the outcome with bated breath. The noise of the bar had lowered to a normal level of conversation filled with expectation and the air was thick. Why was nobody coming to help us? Did they hate us so much they'd rather have our souls eaten than to politely tell us to leave?
"Get off her, Donovan," a blonde haired man pushed the goblin off of me. "You know Callie doesn't like that kind of shit happening in here."
The goblin growled back at him. "Don't tell me what to do, brownie," he spat using the pejorative term for the man who had tried to help us. Brownies were known to be kind to humans and were the servants of higher powered fairies. It made sense that he'd want to help us if his mistress, Callie, had put the order out to not kill humans in her establishment. I got back to my feet just as the goblin man lurched back at Leslie. She cried out for help. The brownie attempted to pull the goblin back off of her but this time he was not successful. I grabbed Leslie's other arm and tried to pull her away and she became the center of a magical tug-of-war game where she was the prize. The ridiculousness of the situation was not lost on me but I had no other ideas. Brownie managed to pry the goblin's hand off of Leslie.
"Run," he yelled at us and we didn't wait for him to say anything else. The crowd had shifted and made it difficult for us to get through but we pushed and pushed until we hit the back of the bar. There was a thin corridor that led down to the men's and women's bathrooms and then stairs past that. They were going up but I couldn't imagine going back into the main bar area.
"The stairs," I gasped and Leslie nodded. We were of the same mind. We didn't encounter any more trouble until we reached the top of the stairs and found a sealed door. Damn. Now what?
"Are you ladies in some sort of trouble?" A woman's voice called up to us.
"Shit," I whispered under my breath and turned around, steeling myself for the worst. At the bottom step was a woman that glowed. I don't know how else to describe it, but it was like her skin was made out of millions and billions of tiny glitter jewels. Each time she shifted, a strange shimmering quality rippled over her body. But it wasn't just her skin, it was also on her jeans and the khaki shirt she was wearing. She looked like a mirage.
"We made a mistake coming here," Leslie said. "We want to leave and not have to go back through the bar again."
"Are you asking me a favor?" The woman cocked her head at us and waited.
"Not a favor. We hoped this would be the way out," I said. A person never wanted to get a favor from a Fae. It was a very tricky situation where they could hold on to the person indefinitely, making up for whatever favor they had come up with. That was one of the things about the Fae. A person couldn't thank them, take gifts from them, or ask for favors. If a person did any of those things, they would spellbind you. My mother drilled the rules into my head when the unveiling indicated who my real father was. She had known all along that he was Fae and had tried to protect me from that side. Protect me enough to even put a spell on me to suppress it. I think that was part of the reason why my magic was so haywire. It had been suppressed for so long that it would just come out now in spurts.
"
I know who you are, Mabry Wildes," the woman said. She ascended up the stairs and I could have sworn she floated up.
"How, I mean, how do you know my name?" I asked.
"I don't know your true name. But, I knew your father. In a distant land, and a whole other non terrestrial place." Her face beamed and glittered when she talked and I took a step towards her. My mother had kept the true identity of my father from me and I couldn't believe this woman knew who he was.
"No one knows who my father is. I doubt that you know." I hedged my bets and hoped that she might give me a clue.
"Maybe, but not here in this world. But we in the Seelie Court know all about him. You have his distinctive smell."
"Who was he?" I couldn't help myself. I wanted to know.
"Mabry, don't. This could be a trick," Leslie hissed at me.
I stepped down several stairs to get closer to the woman. "What's your name?" I asked her.
"You can call me Callie," she said.
"Tell me who he is," I insisted. She shook her head.
"It's not my secret to tell. But you need to come to the Seelie Court and come before the Queen to show your allegiance. All the Spring Fae must."
I was a spring Fae. I never knew that.
"I need to help my friend here." I motioned to Leslie. "If you let us by, or tell us of another way to get out of here, I will come to the Seelie Court and pay my respects to the Queen." I lied. Or was it a lie? It was something that I wanted to do all my life and I knew that both the Unseelie and the Seelie Courts were not of this world but somewhere through a portal into another place and time. A place and time that didn't follow the rules that we here on earth did. At least that's what my mother had told me.
"It's not an either or. Do what you need to do, and then come back to us," Callie said.
A Case of Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Wildes Chronicles Book 1) Page 3
