“Don’t worry about it,” Smythe said. “It’s got brand new tires on it now.”
“It does?”
“Yup,” Smythe said, not elaborating. After a moment Allie decided not to ask. She was getting her car back and it was drivable; better not to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. She stood up and the three men followed suit. “Thanks. That’s great news. I’ll wish you luck in your investigation, and I hope you uncover the truth, whatever it may be.”
Sam picked up his cane, not even pretending to use it to walk with, and headed towards the door, while the two detectives lingered.
“It was nice meeting you Allie. If you decide you’d like some help training that empathy, let me know. I think you and I should talk again soon, maybe compare notes on the ritual murders and you can help me understand the energy so that I won’t get a headache every time I try to sort it out in that blasted cow field. Given how much the department pays me it would be nice not to get upstaged by a woman who looks like she’s not old enough to drink legally. Oh and speaking of that, you should really wear tighter clothes, you know, show off that figure. And lower cut,” Sam said cheerfully, giving her jeans and t-shirt a disparaging look and making a sort of half cupping motion half line drawing gesture with his hands at mid chest level. Allie was too busy being impressed that he could make such a motion at all with the unwieldy cane in his hand to think to be offended by the implication of what he was saying, either about her youth or her appearance.
Riordan groaned, prompting the mage to add, as he went out the door, “If you’ve got it flaunt it.”
“You won’t ever let him around the Elven Guard, will you?” Allie said into the stunned silence, finally processing the mage’s parting words. Smythe laughed loudly.
************************
A short time later Allie was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car, pulling slowly and carefully out of the police impound lot. The joy of finally having her car back was quickly overshadowed by the fear of not making it out of the tightly packed impound area without hitting something. She suspected that the officer on duty at the impound would normally have gotten her car and brought it to her, but she had forgotten to put her badge back into her pocket. He had taken one look at the Elven Guard badge, handed her the keys, and stepped back. She’d been so embarrassed she’d barely been able to force herself to ask him where her car was as she took the badge off and stuffed it back into her pocket. And naturally he’d told her that her car was at the very back of the lot.
The amount of iron from all the various vehicles crammed together and the heavy steel fence surrounding the lot made Allie’s head spin and she kept blinking hard trying to clear her vision. It reminded her forcibly of the one time Liz had convinced to go see a play in New York, on Broadway, and she’d spent the entire time in the city feeling claustrophobic and ill and wishing she were back in Ashwood. She wished she dared to drive faster, wanting nothing but to be out of the maze of parked cars. The lot itself was fairly small, and not designed to handle the amount of vehicles it was currently holding, making Allie feel as if everything was pressing in on her.
She inched forward slowly, starting to make the final turn towards the front gate when a small, dark shape darted in front of the car. She hit the brakes so hard the tires locked, even at the low speed she was going. She peered cautiously around, waiting to see if another shape would follow. She hadn’t gotten a good look and she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t an animal, but with a growing sense of annoyance she guessed it was probably one of the lesser Fey creatures that wasn’t bothered by iron. A moment later her guess was confirmed as a small, ugly face poked out around the bumper of one of the parked cars just in front of her. The creature was a sort of rust brown color, and resembled a wrinkled old man in miniature. His face was wider and flatter than a human face, and seemed strangely compact, as if someone had taken a normal face and pressed it in from the top and the bottom. His ears were sharply pointed and long, but tight against his bald head. Eyes black and wet as used engine oil squinted out over a small, sharply pointed nose.
She stared at the gremlin and he stared back at her; she watched as the realization slowly dawned in his little eyes that she could see him clearly, and he frowned fiercely, breaking his silence with a long string of swears in German that made her lips twitch as she fought to keep from smiling. There wasn’t anything particularly funny about gremlins in this situation, given their propensity for sabotaging or destroying machinery. They were often found in places where they could run amok unnoticed like junk yards, but occasionally they did decide to move in to other spaces where there was a lot of machinery. Allie had heard stories of gremlins infesting factories, usually causing a high number of deaths and maimings before being found and driven out. She supposed someplace like the impound lot wasn’t totally out of the norm for them.
The gremlin hissed at her, showing a mouthful of fangs, and began edging forward. She sighed, realizing that it had decided she must be a human witch and was probably intending to attack her to try to protect the secret of its presence here. Well it was partially right. Tempting as it was to drive off and leave the problem to someone else – assuming the wards on her car would hold against it - she put the car in park and unclipped her seat belt, slowly opening the door and stepping out. The gremlin, doubtless used to scaring most people who saw it, had not expected that and froze, crouching down in front of her car. She pulled herself up to her full five and a half feet, towering over the small creature which snarled slightly. As she closed her door and stepped up towards the front of the car another gremlin, and then a third joined the first. She didn’t doubt that if there were three willing to show themselves there were probably at least another half dozen surrounding her among the cars. This was a more serious problem than she had realized and she wondered how many accidents and injuries without an explanation had been going on around here.
Emboldened by the sudden reinforcement the original gremlin crouched lower, doubtless getting ready to spring at her face. They were little things, comparatively, but fierce fighters and vicious, with teeth that could rip through steel. Allie raised her right hand slowly and took a deep breath, getting ready to call a little bit of magic that should impress the ugly little Fey monsters. It was something that any elven child, even very young ones, could do easily, and which took almost no effort, but it was also magic that only elves could do. Holding her hand out palm up she called tinesí, the fairy light, and instantly a bright, pale white glow filled the air over her hand, visible even in the sunlit impound lot, so bright it cast its own shadows among the cars. Even the tiny magic made her feel tired, exhausted as she still was after healing Bleidd and surrounded by iron and steel on all sides, but it had the desired effect.
All three gremlins flattened themselves to the ground, and she could hear movement and muttering around her. She spoke loudly enough to be heard by any of the lesser Fey nearby. “If you can hear my voice metal-biters then come out before me and join your brothers.”
The sounds of movement grew louder and a moment later another dozen gremlins, hunched over and grimacing, skulked out from every direction until there was a small mass of the creatures huddled in the narrow space in front of her car. They squinted in the bright light from her hand, shifting back and forth uncomfortably. Allie tilted her head to the side, surprised that there were so many and curious about why, but also glad that even gremlins held elves in enough respect to fear her.
One of the little creatures which was slightly larger than the others and less savage looking edged forward. He glared up at her, speaking Low Elvish in a voice like metal grating on metal, “Why do ye gather us High Lady? We did ye no harm.”
She replied in Elvish, giving him a question for a question. “Why are so many of you vexing such a small space?”
His small face screwed up unhappily, “We do what we’re told, don’t we then? High Lords say go bend the metal in this place so we goes don’t we?”
Allie’s eyes narrowed at his words. Elves had sent them here? She felt the skin on her arms raising in goose flesh but pushed the thought away for later. She knew enough about gremlins to realize that she wouldn’t get any further details from the little Fey, and it could be dangerous to risk questioning them too much. If they realized she didn’t have the power to back up her elven appearance, that she was in effect bluffing them, they’d probably tear her into palm sized pieces and leave her strewn across the alley. Luckily a childhood in the Dark court had taught her some hard lessons about dealing with the more dangerous Fey creatures that gave her a certain expertise in that area. Careful to keep her posture as imposing as possible, and speaking in a voice that was strong and projected she said, “Leave this place and do not return. Go to the scrap yard across the river where you can delight in destroying metal without harming anyone.”
Several of the smaller gremlins hissed angrily but the leader did not seem unhappy about their destination. Reaching out with her empathy she could feel an odd kind of relief in him, that made her wonder how difficult it had been for the gremlins to be packed in the small impound lot in such numbers. Nonetheless it would be against his nature to concede easily. “And why should we do what ye say High Lady and risk pissin’ off the ones what sent us here? I’m thinking they’s more fearsome nor ye is.”
Not long ago this would have presented a real problem for Allie, especially when she was too weak to use any magic. She would have had no choice but to try to bargain with them, or call Jess and use him as a threat to force them to do as she said. But she knew that it was more than time she start using her situation in the Guard to her advantage instead of constantly feeling used by it. She reached into her pocket with her free hand, holding the fairy light with the other, and pulled out her badge, thrusting it forward towards the gathered gremlins. The fairy light hit the gold and reflected off. When she spoke again she tried to imitate the way most elves spoke to the lesser Fey, making her voice sound strong and arrogant, “You’ll do as I say because I say so.”
The gremlins flattened themselves down looking away from the badge in fear. Even the erstwhile leader bowed his head and winced, “O’ course High Lady. We goes right now, we does. Don’t want no trouble wi’ the Elven Guard, no we don’t. Sure we didn’t know you was an elf, nor one the Guard or we’d not have troubled ye at all.”
True to his word as soon as he spoke all the gremlins dispersed. She heard the skittering of claws on metal and had no doubt they were leaving the impound lot and heading over to the scrap yard she’d ordered them to go to. Allie let out a long breath, not entirely sure if she liked inspiring fear and obedience in anything, but also grateful that she’d come away unharmed and succeeded in clearing the area of a dangerous situation. Now that everything was over she felt shaky and started to think of all the ways that could have gone wrong or ended horribly.
She got back in her little car and resumed her slow progress out of the lot. She gave a slight wave to the officer at the gate, deciding not to bother telling him what had happened; she doubted he’d had any idea about the gremlin infestation anyway. Instead she drove a little ways down the road and pulled over, parking in the first spot she could find. She left the car running, taking a moment to relax and let herself feel relief at finally having her car back. The police had even put new tires on to replace the slashed ones they’d taken into evidence.
When she was certain that she had calmed down and no trace of any fear or anxiety might show through she reached out to Jess. Connecting to his mind she had the impression of him sitting, but movement, and a low conversation going on around him. After a moment she concluded that he was in a car, probably heading to the meeting with the police. She was fairly certain he was a passenger and so she spoke to him, “Jess?”
She felt a moment of surprise from him and slight annoyance which surprised her. “Allie now is not a good time. We are preparing for the meeting with the police.”
His mental voice was abrupt and distracted and she realized she must be interrupting a conversation. She could, of course, have fully projected into his mind before speaking to him and seen exactly what was going on, but that seemed so intrusive she tried never to do it intentionally unless he explicitly invited her to. As it was she debated backing off, but decided that he needed to know what she had learned immediately; his tone however put her off slightly, enough that her own response was rather snarky. “Should I call your cell phone?”
She felt another flare of annoyance and then sudden worry. “Is something wrong? Are you in danger?”
“Not at the moment, but the day is young. I need to tell you something important.”
“Tell me,” he thought back impatiently.
Sitting in her car she rolled her eyes, trying to remind herself that he was under a lot of pressure and heading to an important meeting. And probably wondering why she couldn’t have just waited until she saw him there to talk to him. “I picked up my car from the police impound lot, and stumbled across a rather significant infestation of gremlins…” she started.
He interrupted, his mental voice sharp and worried, “Gremlins? Define significant. How many were there? A half dozen?”
“No, closer to fifteen or sixteen altogether.” She thought back, trying to remember the gathered mass of creatures and send him an image of them with her words.
“Sixteen,” he thought back, horrified. “Sixteen? Blessed Gods…”
She had not expected him to be quite so upset, and she hadn’t even gotten to the part she actually wanted to tell him about. “Well, at any rate, I confronted them…”
“You confronted gremlins by yourself? Sixteen of them?” now he really was upset, his emotions making her wince.
“Of course. They were going to attack my car. Well, one of them was. I didn’t know there were more of them until I got out of the car to stop that one,” she thought back, puzzled.
“Allie,” he thought to her, so upset now, he was momentarily incoherent. “Why would you take such a risk? Gremlins are the foot soldiers of the Dark court.”
“I know that Jess,” she thought back drily wondering if he’d forgotten what she’d told him about her past. “They are fearsome fighters and vicious little things, but generally speaking they have as much respect for elves as any of the Lesser Fey and they greatly fear the Elven Guard. I made them think I was a full elf and they behaved themselves.”
“And what would you have done if they hadn’t?” he thought back, his agitation making her shift uncomfortably in her seat.
“They did, so it’s a moot point,” she thought back. “And at any rate, that’s not the real point here. They told me that they were in the police impound lot to begin with because elves had sent them there.”
He was completely silent for a full minute and she could feel his shock vibrating through her. Finally, slowly, he repeated what she’d said. “They told you elves sent them there?”
“Yes.”
“No Bright court elf would deal with gremlins,” he thought back, his mental voice suddenly grim.
She bit her lip at his words, not having realized that gremlins were so completely Dark court. Usually most Fey beings had counterparts in both courts. Usually, but not always. “Then it must have been Dark court elves who sent them,” she thought, her voice calmer than she’d expected as she stated the obvious conclusion.
“Allie, my heart,” Jess thought to her, suddenly sounding less like the stressed Guard commander and more like the lover she was used to dealing with, “Who is with you?”
Uh-oh Allie thought to herself unsure of the best way to answer his question. She made a futile attempt at prevarication, “I hope you don’t need to question them further. I doubt they would answer much anyway, but as it is I sent them off to a human junkyard where they aren’t likely to cause much trouble and can destroy things to their hearts content.”
“You sent them…and why did they listen to you?” he asked, momentarily distrac
ted.
“Because I flashed my badge. I told you they fear the Guard,” she replied.
“And who was with you when you did this?” he pressed again, recovering from his earlier surprise.
She flinched, “I don’t need round the clock supervision.”
“You…” his voice managed to combine stunned and appalled in equal measure. “You confronted more than a dozen gremlins by yourself? When you are too drained to do even simple spells? Do you want to die?”
“Obviously not since I’m fine, and yes I confronted a bunch of gremlins by myself. And I’m fine,” she focused her emotions and reached out to him, letting him feel her calm, and after a moment her love for him. His own emotions were a mix of fear and worry. She wished there was a way to get him to understand that she knew how to deal with gremlins well enough not to fear them. Healthy caution maybe, but not fear. “Everything is alright Jess, truly. I will meet you at the police station for the meeting, but I thought you needed to know immediately about this, about elves sending some of the nastier Lesser Fey into the police lot to cause trouble.”
“Yes, I’m glad you told me. It may answer a lingering question about certain difficulties that we have been dealing with,” he thought back, only somewhat soothed. “And I will see you soon.”
Allie sighed and put her car in gear, getting ready to pull back out into traffic.
*********************************
With an odd feeling of déjà vu Allie walked into the lobby of the police station for the second time that morning. This time however the little room was not empty, although it was also not as full as Allie had expected. Standing at attention in the middle of the room, radiating tension so sharply that it made her wince, were Jessilaen and captain Zarethyn. Both wore the uniform of the Elven Guard: dark green tunics, multi-pocketed black cargo pants, longswords at their hips, badges clipped to their belts. Their hair was pulled back into the long braid that was the signature style of the Guard, Jessilaen’s a slightly paler blonde than his brother’s. Feeling suddenly self-conscious about her worn jeans, loose t-shirt, and frumpy ponytail, Allie moved to join them, glad that at least her badge was properly displayed.
Into the Twilight: a Between the Worlds Novel Page 4
