by Keller, Tom
Not Just Another Fae
By
Tom Keller
Also by Tom Keller
Return of the High Fae
Of Gods and Fae
Twist of Fae
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved.
Book Cover design by Creative Paramita
Edited by Dee McDaniel
Kindle Edition © 2015 Tom Keller
Las Vegas, NV USA
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank everyone that helped make this book possible, especially my wife, Karen. Without her support this book would never have been written. Once again a shout out to all the fans that liked my author page and kept those emails and comments coming in. Your support and encouragement means a lot to me.
A special thanks to my beta readers, Dee, Erika, Richard, Joe, and all the others that helped me get through the manuscript. As always, I appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Dedication
In memory of my father, Thomas Elisha Keller.
March 21, 1934 – December 24, 1994
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter13
Chapter14
Chapter15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
About the Author
Chapter 1
It was late morning and I was sitting in Terminal 3 at McCarran airport when my cell phone rang.
"This is Robert Hoskins," I answered.
"Robert, it's Martin. Do you have a minute?" Martin Chibeaux was the Pack leader of the Werewolves in Vegas. He was also a good friend and ally.
"Sure, but I'm just finishing up a surveillance. If I have to go, I'll call you right back. What do you got?"
"Two of my Weres are missing. I could use some assistance if you have the time."
"How long have they been gone?"
"Last time anyone saw them was Friday," he replied. "They said they were going for a run this weekend, which means the mountains. They didn't show up for work today. I wouldn’t normally go outside with this, but there's not much we can do until dark. With last night's rain, tracking is going to be all but impossible. I was hoping that you could give us a hand."
There had been some heavy storms that had blown into Vegas over the weekend. The remnants of a tropical storm in the Pacific that had made its way into the area. Although they'd kept themselves out of the valley, for the most part, they had dropped a lot of rain north of town, especially in the mountain areas and it was supposed to rain again tonight.
"I can try," I said. "I take it this is not their normal behavior? Missing work, I mean."
"No. Darren and Liz are good kids and never miss a day. I had someone go by the house this morning. Their car's not there and the place is locked up. Nothing looks out of place, but Saturday's mail is still in the box, so I'm concerned."
"Any other problems going on?" I asked. The Weres usually kept to themselves, but you never know. A while back I'd intervened in a power struggle between Martin and one of the other Weres that wanted to contest his leadership. They could be a handful when tempers flared or internal politics came into play.
"No," he said. "It's actually been pretty quiet. I can’t think of anything going on that would be a threat to them."
"Okay," I replied. "Like I said, I'm just finishing up. It'll probably be another hour or so. Will that work?"
"That's fine," he said. "Thank you."
I put away my phone, hoping that it was just a case of too much weekend fun. Probably not; but one can hope. Things were a little tense in Vegas these days, so anything could have happened. My daughter, Nikki, told me that Gaea had warned her that something was up in the human world. That something was being drawn here. But I'll be damned if I'd seen any sign of it. Things had been quiet since she had taken the throne; probably too quiet, and I was guessing the shit was going to hit the fan at some point. I just didn’t know when. Maybe the missing Weres were part of it, but I still had to finish up what I was doing here before I could find out.
Like I told Martin, I was on a surveillance, and as most go, it was nothing exciting. This one was all too human. It was a referral from a local Fae lawyer who did work for both worlds. One of his L.A. rich and famous clients wanted to make sure her new boyfriend was behaving while visiting Sin City. For what it's worth, he had. The team I had following him for the last three days had seen nothing that would cause anyone any heartburn and I was just waiting for confirmation that he was on the plane and heading back before wrapping it up.
For now, I was just people watching. I had a friend on the force who would let me know when his plane departed, as well as make sure he was on it since I couldn’t get past TSA without a ticket. Fae or not, sometimes you have to work within the system. It wasn't much later that I spied a uniformed police officer coming through security.
"Your boy's on the plane and they just pulled away from the gate," he said as he walked up.
"Thanks, Paul," I replied. "I owe you one."
"No problem," he said. "You can get the coffee next time."
"You got it," I said as he turned and walked back toward security. I still had a few non-Fae friends on the Department and, although I'd never ask them to do anything that could get them in trouble, it was nice to know I could still call in a regular favor now and then.
I was getting ready to head for my car when a young couple caught my eye. They were saying goodbye to each other. He was in the military and it was a tearful event. It didn't take much to figure out he was being deployed. What caught my attention wasn't actually the couple, but their little girl.
She must have been about seven, with long dark hair, wearing a pretty floral dress. Tears flowed as she clutched a dying rose in her hand. Her daddy picked her up and hugged her for what had to be the umpteenth time. I'd heard her mother tell her to throw the dead flower away but it had been a gift from her father and it meant too much to her to let go.
Military folks had a hard job and leaving your family behind was tough. I'd spent a lot of long nights away from home back when I was a cop, but at least I was never gone for more than few days. Never for a six month or year deployment. Of course, there wasn't much I could do about that, but maybe I could, at least, make her day a little brighter.
One of the paramount rules we live by is to never let humans know we exist. The Fae that is. Let's face it, we don’t need those kind of headaches. It also means you have to be really careful with magic. Especially in public. Of course, the bad guys don’t seem to give a damn. But the rest of us do try and keep a low profile, for the most part. But sometimes, magic is all you've got, especially when it's for a good cause. Besides, this barely qualified, and it's not like anyone was going to notice; not here in this busy airport.
She was standing next to her parents, who were still hugging, as I walked by. Stopping, I turned toward her and looked down. I winked and cupped my hand, raising it to my face and blew just a hint of magic into the a
ir toward the rose. She gasped, her eyes wide, as it changed; its petals turning red and opening as it sprang back to life. She gazed up at me in wonder and her frown became a smile. Then, with another wink, I was gone and out of the building. My last vision, that of a little girl tugging on her father's uniform holding up a budding red rose, brought a smile to my face. Surveillance done, except for the paperwork, of course…. brought a smile to a little girl's face… let's hope the rest of the day went as well.
I called Martin back as soon as I was the parking lot.
"I was just getting ready to text you," he said as I opened the driver's door. "We found their car up near Corn Creek. I'm headed there now if you want to meet us."
"Okay," I replied. "But I'm coming from the airport, and I still have to change, so it's going to be a while before I can get there."
"No problem," he said. "They probably went out to the Sheep Range to run, so we're going to start there. It's probably pretty messy out there. How about I have somebody pick you up at your place?"
"Give me an hour," I said before disconnecting. My car wasn't good on more than a packed dirt road and I had already decided to take Charlie with me. The rain may have washed away any scent trails, but it never hurt to have a Fae hunting dog at your side when you were going trekking in the mountains.
Corn Creek is a small wetlands area just north of Vegas, and the Sheep Range was a mountainous area northwest of there. They were all part of the Desert National Wildlife Range, which is huge. I'm talking millions of acres huge here. The terrain could be rough. Miles and miles of desert and then the mountains. There were dirt roads and trails to follow; but if they'd left their car behind, that meant they were on foot. I wasn't sure how far a Wolf could run in a day, but if they were lost or injured out there they were going to be a bitch to find.
Charlie was sitting on the grass when I pulled into the driveway. He was my dog. But he was a lot more than that. You see, he's a descendant of Fae hunting dogs bred by the Greek God Pan especially for Artemis. He has this uncanny ability of knowing when something's going on. Even as a Fae dog, he never ceases to amaze me.
"Gotta go search for a couple of missing Weres," I said as I got out of the car. "I'm going to go change. Someone is picking us up."
"Wolves?" he asked.
Oh, he can talk too.
"Yeah," I replied as I headed toward the house. "They haven't been seen since Friday and they just found their car down at Corn Creek. Is Alf around?"
"He has not returned," he answered.
Alf was an Imp that the Garden Faeries had found hanging around the house. He'd been confronted by them and brought to my attention. Truth was, they'd captured him, thinking he was a spy. Turned out he'd been waiting for Bernd, the Dwarf, who had gone missing. There was a feud going on between two of the Dwarf factions that was causing problems in the Fae lands, and Bernd and his followers had gone into hiding. At least that's what I hoped.
After confirming who he was, I'd let him stay. He'd kind of taken up residence at my place since then. I hadn’t quite trusted him at first but he'd grown on me. Imps and Faeries aren’t exactly close, but I had to admit, he was a wealth of information about the Fae world. A source that was nice to have, as he didn't seem to have an agenda. At least not where I was concerned. Strange little creature, too. Red skin and clothed in brown, he had bat-like wings that allowed him to fly. One minute he acted like a drunken garden gnome and the next he was spouting arcane knowledge out of Fae history books. Like I said, he was growing on me.
"Okay," I replied, and headed upstairs to change into some jeans and boots. It was starting to get hot in the valley, but after the rains, you never knew what you'd run into out in the desert. I grabbed my gun, a Walther PPK that had once been carried by my uncle, and the seax, a gift from a good friend, Siegfried, Then I stopped in the kitchen for a bottle of water before heading back outside to wait for our driver.
A few minutes later, a dark blue Tahoe with tinted windows drove up and parked in front of the house. I clicked the gate opener, closed the garage, then Charlie and I walked out to the street. The passenger side window rolled down as I stepped up to it and a pretty gal in her early 40s, wearing sunglasses, examined me from behind the wheel.
When I think of Werewolves, I usually envision the men I've seen. Big strong looking guys, with dark brown or black hair, and the occasional beard. But this gal was lithe and petite, as well as blonde, and reminded me more of the dancer type. But looks could be deceiving. I'd never met a Were that wasn't a helluva lot stronger than any human, and I doubted she was any different.
"You Robert?" she asked as she pulled the sunglasses down a bit, her greenish-brown eyes peeking over the rim as she scrutinized me.
"That would be me," I answered.
"No offense, but you weren't what I expected," she commented as she triggered the lock.
"None taken," I replied as I opened the door. "I get that a lot"
That's one thing I always liked about Werewolves. They were direct. Of course, that was what usually got them into trouble in their dealings with others. But in her case, it just made me laugh. Sometimes a no bullshit attitude was just refreshing.
"I hope you don’t mind if I bring him along," I said as Charlie jumped in and squeezed between the seats to get in the back.
"Doesn't look like I have much choice," she replied, cracking a smile for the first time.
"And you are?" I asked as I got in, pulling on the seatbelt as I closed the door.
"I'm Jennifer. Call me Jen," she said as she put the SUV in gear and started down the road.
"Pleased to meet you, Jen," I replied. "My friend in the back is Charlie."
"Well met, Jen of the Wolf clan. I am Karalos, but you can call me Charlie," he said, using his Fae name with just a touch of humor.
"Did your dog just talk?" she asked as she adjusted the rear view mirror to peek back at him before replying. "Uh, well met to you as well, Charlie."
"Yeah," I answered. "He's a Fae hunting dog."
"Wow," she replied. "Never met a talking one. I thought they were all like us. The voice box doesn't position properly when we shift."
"Like I said, he's Fae. It's the magic," I replied.
She replied with a "Huh," and we continued down the road.
Corn Creek was about a 20-mile drive from my place up US 95. When we reached the turn off, she made a right onto a dirt road, which was still wet in places, and drove toward the visitor center. There were a couple of cars in the lot, but she passed it by and went up the road a bit; finally making a left toward a copse of trees near a wash where a grey truck was parked.
"That's Darren's truck," she said, pulling up next to it. "Martin's already over the hill with a few others, searching for them."
"Let me take a look," I said before opening the door.
She put the Tahoe in park and I got out. Charlie followed as I went over to inspect the vehicle. Walking around, I noticed the doors were locked. A few minutes later, I found the keys on top of the passenger side front tire. Unlocking the truck, I started examining the interior.
"This is really strange," a voice said behind me.
Turning, I saw Jen had joined us.
"What's strange?" I asked.
"Martin thinks they parked here and then headed for the mountains. He was pretty upset about it. They shouldn’t have done that," she continued.
"Why not?" I asked.
"It's too close to the visitor's center," she said. "Too great a chance of being seen."
"What about at night?"
"Maybe," she replied. "But even then, they should have left way before morning." She walked over to the front of the truck, her nose in the air, sniffing. "There's no scent trail, either. Damn rain is a pain in the ass."
I leaned back into the cab and inspected the area behind the seats. Pulling up a blanket on the floorboard I found their clothes, neatly folded, with shoes on top. I pulled them out to show her.
"Well, it sur
e looks like they started from here," I said, holding them up.
Charlie walked up and sniffed them, then started around the car. A moment later, I watched as his fur bristled, then he ran off northbound through the desert.
"Where's he going?" she asked.
"I have no idea. But he knows this area pretty well. We're just going to have to wait until he gets back to find out."
It was about 15 minutes later when Charlie returned. Still running, he leapt over some bushes and landed next to the car.
"What'd you find?" I asked.
"Two Weres," he replied, panting. "The ones who were in the truck. They ran north, then crossed toward the mountain where the next road is."
"I don’t smell anything," Jen said, her brow furrowing. "Besides, they wouldn’t do that. The highway and roads around here are forbidden. There's too much traffic and too great a chance of being seen."
"Nevertheless, that is where these two went," Charlie replied.
"So you say," she said. "But it still doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, well…things seldom do in my world," I replied. "How many folks did Martin take with him?"
"There're six of them in three trucks" she answered. "That was all that could make it on short notice. We don't know if they're in any real trouble. More will come tonight if needed; after the sun sets."
"Are they all pack members?" I asked. "The ones with Martin."
"Yes, why?"
"It's pretty desolate out there. That means they'll be able to shift and cover a lot of ground, right?"
"I suppose," she replied.
"Then two more won't make a lot of difference at the moment," I said. "Let's follow this lead. Then we can let Martin know what we find. It might be nothing. They could have ended up anywhere. But, Charlie's seldom wrong about this kind of thing. It's worth following up."
"You may be right," she finally agreed. "It's just that I have no way of contacting him from here to let him know what we're doing. There's no cell service out there and we'd have to go at least another seven or eight miles over the ridge for any chance of him hearing a howl."
