by Tom Keller
Of Gods and Fae
A Vegas Fae story
By
Tom Keller
Also by Tom Keller
Return of the High Fae
Available on Amazon and other Internet retailers
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.
Cover design: Cara Michaels-Carey | caramichaels.com
Cover photo credits:
© Vukvuk | Dreamstime.com - Muse Photo
© Pixattitude | Dreamstime.com - Silhouette Man Full Length Shooting With Gun Photo
© roxanabalint | canstockphoto.com - csp15224313
Kindle Edition © 2014 Tom Keller
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. She acted as editor and put up with a lot of discussion about the Fae and other mystical beings. For that I am truly thankful. Oh yeah, one more thing. Any grammar or punctuation errors still left are totally my fault. We don’t always agree on everything but after 34 years you'd think I'd learned by now. Go figure.
Thanks to Cara Michaels for her cover design. She's a good friend as well author of the Gaea's Chosen series, also available on Amazon.
A special thanks all those Facebook fans that liked my author page and kept those comments coming in. Knowing that you are out there really made a difference in getting the manuscript finished and the book published.
Dedication
To my granddaughter, Aeva Katherine Carvouniaris, because her imagination is unlimited
…and every girl needs faeires and princesses.
Chapter 1
The buzzing was familiar. I'd planned to get up early, and I used my cellphone like a lot of folks do as an alarm these days. The warm body lying next to me was not. It took me a moment to go through last night's events in my head. A lot had happened in the last month but I could have sworn I'd gone to bed alone. Hell, I hadn’t even been drinking. Had I?
She was a Faerie, of course. But then again, what else would she be? Sure, you're probably thinking of sweet and cutesy little Faeries like those on TV wearing tight fitting woodland garb. You know the ones. Flitting all about, making sure the seasons unfold as they are supposed to or something like that. Well, you'd be partially right, they were cute. To be honest, most were sexy as hell. But that's where the similarities end. The Fae are dangerous. I should know, I am one.
I pushed her brown curls from my face and reached around her to turn off the noise. "Excuse me," I said, gently nudging her. "Who are you?" I must have startled her.
"Oh, deep apologies, my Lord. I did not mean to wake you," she said as she sat up. She was of course, naked as a jaybird.
"You didn't," I replied, now sitting up as well. "But I have to ask again. Just who are you and what are you doing in my bed?" Unlike most human girls who might find themselves in a stranger's bed, this Fae didn’t seem concerned. That's one thing about them, the Fae that is, they aren’t modest.
She was beautiful, of course; early 20s, dark skinned with light brown, curly hair, hazel eyes, nice breasts, as well as other assets. Not that I was trying to stare, but it's kinda hard not to notice when you're lying next to someone in your own bed. To be honest, I was almost used to it. I'd been in contact with several of the Fae, and depending on the place, clothing seemed to be optional. Especially when crossing over from one plane to the other. As for me, well, let's just say that with all the weird shit that's been happening to me lately a naked hottie in my bed was a nice change of pace, Fae or not.
"I'm sorry, Lord, I was so tired," she finally answered. She hopped out of bed and began perusing my nightstand. "I have seldom traveled to the human realm. What is this?" she asked as she picked up my cellphone.
"That's a cellphone. We use it to contact one another," I answered as I got out of bed. I walked into the bathroom and pulled on my robe.
The alarm went off again. I guess I'd only hit the snooze.
"A messenger device? But why does it speak so strangely?"
"Speak strangely? Oh, that was the alarm," I answered, taking the phone from her and resetting it.
She gave me a perplexed look but didn’t say anything.
"It's the noise I use to wake me in the morning." I shook my head, why was I trying to explain this now? "OK, listen; I need some coffee and then I need to take a shower, then we'll talk. Did you bring any clothes?" I asked as I put the phone back down on the nightstand.
"Clothes, oh yes, I came prepared." She walked over to the doorway and retrieved a brand new neon Tinker Bell backpack and held it up. "Here they are."
A Faerie with a Fairy backpack, now that's something you don’t see every day. I shook my head and stifled a laugh. "Great, why don’t you get dressed while I make the coffee? Meet me downstairs when you're finished."
She was pulling things out of the pack as I headed downstairs to the kitchen.
I started the pot and went out and got the paper, I grabbed one of my latest cups, it was white with a big red button on it, and was just pouring the coffee when she came down. She had on a pair of tight jeans and a black t-shirt. I almost burned my lips. The shirt had a giant size Fairy printed on the front and said simply, Tink. It, too, was in neon. Well, at least her backpack matched.
"Tinker Bell?" I just had to ask.
"Oh, yes, do you like it?" she asked striking a pose. "Tink is a very popular Fairy."
How do I respond to that?
"It's very nice. Look, I need to take a shower. Then we can talk. Can I fix you anything to eat while you wait?"
She shook her head as she began perusing the items around my kitchen.
"Ok, I'll be back in a few" I said as I went to the back door. "Charlie," I yelled. The huge black and white dog came flying from around the side of the house and ran up to me. "Come with me, boy," I said and headed back up to my bedroom with him in tow.
"Would you mind telling me who the hell the Fae I found in my bed is?" I asked as I set my cup down and turned the shower on. Charlie just stood there meekly, head down and eyes looking up at me. Well, that is, if over 185 pounds of Great Dane mix can ever be said to stand meekly.
Then again, and to be truthful, Charlie's not a regular dog. Which is why I can ask him that question. He's descended from Fae hunting dogs that were bred by the Greek God, Pan. To be more precise, they were the dogs given to Artemis, Greek Goddess of the hunt. He can also talk.
When I first learned we could communicate I only got single words, but now we seem to be getting better at it. Let me clarify, he makes dog sounds, barks and grunts, and the like. Which, I hear as words in my mind. Don’t ask me how, it's the magic, but like a lot of it, I have no clue how it works.
Like I said, I'm not exactly human, either. Although, until recently, I actually thought I was. Hell, I was a retired cop and P.I., and even if I did know a little bit about weird religions, I would never have believed this shit was for real. Then I kinda got involved in saving someone's life and got shot in the process. Not to worry, I wasn't hurt. Turns out I got shot with a magic wand that fractured some spell I've been under for the last 40 or so years. Now I've got magical animals, Dwarves, and other Fae coming out of the woodwork. Of course, I do have a magic sword, given to me by Ouranos himself, as well as a bunch of new powers, so I guess it was a fair trade.
To make a long story short it turns out my mother was a Dryad and my grandmother had once been the leader of her clan. To top it off, I'm somehow descended from the Greek Goddess,
Demeter. Who knew? Anyway, the bottom line is I'm supposed to be some long lost King of the Faeries. What they call a High Fae. Pain in the ass really, but what am I gonna do?
It gets worse. I also met this girl, Delia. Turns out she's a Lilin. What you might call a Vampire. She doesn’t have fangs, damn thing looks more like a needle, but she does drink blood. Anyway, she helped me out in this battle with the other High Fae, who… well, let's just say she wasn't a nice person. Ok, so I sort of had the hots for her as well… Delia, that is. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that she almost got killed fighting at my side. Turns out the Lilin are under a decree because they lost the war with the Fae a while back and I hold the key to releasing them from that bond. Actually, I sort of promised her I would. Probably not one of my best decisions, but what was I supposed to do?
I'd already done something about that. Of course, I hadn’t even known I'd done it when it happened. Apparently, when I formally announced that I would free the Lilin some of the magic that had bound them to be subservient to all Fae had been released. So although they were still bound by the decree, they were no longer forced to obey just any Fae they came in contact with. They could actually stand up to them now. Naturally, not everyone's happy about that. But what else is new? There's a lot more. Hell, there's always more where the Fae are concerned. Which was why I was asking Charlie about the one downstairs.
"Sendy is Aurae, she friend," Charlie said.
"Charlie, damn near every Fae you meet is your friend? And what's an Aurae?" I asked, distracted by the fact that we seemed to be communicating so well. I still couldn’t understand why he sometimes spoke in short, limited sentences yet my cat, Lucinda, spoke normally. Go figure.
"Aurae are Sky Fae, fly on wind, good allies," he answered. "Sendy good, no worry. Charlie knows friends — and enemies."
I couldn't really argue with that. In my battle with the other High Fae Charlie had taken an arrow meant for me. I guess if he trusted her, I could.
"Okay, but next time, wake me when you let them in. It's disconcerting to find strange Fae in my bed," I said as I jumped in the shower, still surprised that I was now getting complete sentences from him. That was the problem with this magic thing. Sometimes it worked right away and sometimes it trickled out slowly, there was no rhyme or reason to it. I turned to see that he was still lingering by the shower door and then I heard him bark to get my attention.
"Sendy, pretty Fae," I heard him say as he gazed at me through the glass shower door. "You still think too human."
I got the distinct impression that he was berating me for not hitting on her. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. In the world of the Fae you never know what's gonna happen, I mean, where else is your dog gonna criticize you? I just shook my head and chuckled. Of course he did have a point. Maybe I was still thinking too human. I mean, hey… the Fae are damn near all beautiful, especially the females, and Sendy was no exception.
Now I've always taken pretty good care of myself. In the human world I was still 50 and I looked pretty close to it. But in the Fae world I looked closer to someone in his mid-20s. That's one of the perks about the Fae thing; I could switch my persona at any time. Most Fae could do the same. They keep their Fae selves hidden, for the most part, while in the human world. No Fae wants to be discovered and never growing old was a sure sign of something not right to the average human. Hell, they'd burn you at the stake for that not too many centuries ago.
Magic is powerful but it can still be overcome with enough bullets or heavy weapons. Just read the old stories. All those Gods and Goddesses, where are they now? Which is another good example illustrating that the High Fae are not really Gods. If they were they wouldn't be dead. But try telling that to the average Faerie.
I finished my shower, got dressed and headed downstairs to talk to Sendy, the Aurae. When I reached the kitchen she was at the table looking over the newspaper.
"Find anything interesting?" I asked, following the aroma of fresh brewed coffee.
"Why do humans care about such trivia?" she asked, looking up at me.
"It sells papers, I guess." Well, a few at least.
She gave me a quizzical look as I filled a Starfleet Academy mug. I'd left the other upstairs, and then sat down at the table beside her.
"Humans are curious about many things. Some important, some trivial, the news gives them both." I moved the paper away. "I'll try to explain later. But first, why don’t you tell me why you're here?"
"The winds whisper of strange tidings," she answered. "They say the High Fae have returned and the evil one has been banished. Yet others say that she may still return. We wish to know if this is so."
"Ok," I answered, drawing out the two letters that formed the word. "Who, exactly, is we?"
"I am of the Breezes, the Aurae. We are the messengers of the Gods," she replied as if that would explain everything.
"I thought Hermes was the messenger of the Gods?" I shot back, glad that I'd polished up on my mythology.
"And so he was," she answered. "But we were his voice, and his wings, before the Gods departed."
"Makes sense," I agreed. Although it was said that his winged shoes were made with real Faerie wings, less the Faerie, but I didn’t say that aloud. "Ok, fine. Yes, it's true," I finally replied. We'd been able to keep things fairly quiet up till now but things in the Fae world were moving faster than I'd hoped. The truth was that I was still fairly new to this Fae thing and I wasn't keeping two steps ahead as I would have been able to in a strictly human world.
"I must ask for proof," she said quietly. "It was difficult to find you and except for the hound's assertion, I cannot detect any magic about you. My apologies for being so brazen, but you are unlike any God I have heard of." She stood and I could now see how nervous she actually was.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," I replied, wondering why she had joined me in bed if she had her doubts. Who knew with the Fae and I didn’t have any history with the Aurae to judge. So, with a wink I transformed into my Fae persona and Sendy gave me an astonished look as she realized that I was indeed who she had been searching for. Then, as usually happened when the comprehension kicked in, she dropped to her knees and bowed her head. I really hated that part, even if I was getting somewhat used to it.
"My apologies, my Lord," she answered with a trembling voice.
"Rise, Sendy of the Aurae," I said as I went over and helped her up. Of course I had to switch to a formal speech type. It seems like they always expect that with something like this. "Times have changed; you need not bow or kneel. The old Gods were vain and fickle. You will find things different today, at least with me." With that I switched back to my human persona and offered her a chair. "Sit, and let's talk."
She sat back down in the chair next to me.
"OK, now that that's done, who sent you?" I asked.
"Well, that is a bit complicated," she said after a moment, looking almost embarrassed.
"What isn’t?" I sighed. "Why don’t you just start at the beginning and we can go from there."
"There have been less and less of us since The Fall. When rumors of the High Fae's return surfaced, we wished to know if they were true." She paused and looked directly at me. "I was forbidden to search, as I am youngest, but none of my sisters had returned so I left to find them." She was fidgeting now. "And then I found your hound, Charlie. It was he who told me of you. So, you see, no one sent me. I have come on my own because I had to see if you were the one."
The Fall, oh, hell, here we go again. The Fall was the end of the Fae as we know them in legends and myths. The High Fae, or the Gods as they came to be called, fought amongst themselves until none were left. Kind of a Greek and Roman Fae version of Ragnarök, although the Norse Gods seem to have suffered the same fate. The Fae worlds have never been the same since.
"What do you mean your sisters haven't returned?" I asked.
"None have returned and I fear they are dead. But Maia had set out only recently. I
was searching for her as well when I found Charlie," she answered.
"How long has she been gone?"
"Only a few weeks, but I did not wish to wait any longer." She got out of the chair again and then knelt in front of me. "It is my duty as an Aurae to ask, may we serve you as we once served the Gods?"
A few weeks? The other High Fae, Marissa, since sentenced to Tartarus by none other than the father of the Titans, Ouranos, had been taking out the more powerful Fae before I stopped her. But what else had she been up too? Were her followers killing the other Fae as well? That was one more thing to add to my to-do list. Damn, it just kept getting longer.
Since I'd already gotten the lecture from Bernd the Dwarf about the duties of a High Fae, I knew what I had to do for now. Besides, it never hurt to have allies and a messenger Fae could certainly come in handy.
"I accept your service," I replied as I pulled her to her feet. "Now, tell me more about what has been happening."
The downside to being a regular Fae was that you were bound to the elements you were born into. In Sendy's case, her clan was indeed of the Aurae, but as one of their primary roles was to serve as messengers to their Gods (or High Fae), there wasn't a whole lot of meaning to life left after The Fall. That's not to say that their life wasn't worth living, it's just that it can get awful boring. After listening to Sendy's story I could see why.
They had seldom returned to the human world after the wars. So few had been left that they hid in the heavens and kept to themselves. Then they heard a rumor that the High Fae had returned. I'm not sure where they heard it, Sendy certainly didn't know. But about 50 or so years ago they began to seek out if the rumor was true. They went out singly, or in pairs, as there were so few of them that they didn't want to risk themselves unnecessarily. Probably a good move, although it didn’t seem to help as most of them didn't make it back. Apparently, few others were willing to risk such a venture without more information, especially since their numbers were dwindling.
