Not Just Another Fae (Vegas Fae Stories Book 4) (15 page)

"Who else is out here?" Siegfried asked.

"Amadeus. He's a Were," he replied. "He's
checking the area to make sure there aren’t any others. He'll also make sure we
aren’t disturbed."

"What can you tell us about the park?" I asked.

"It sits in a basin," he replied. "There are
several sports fields and playgrounds inside, surrounded by desert. The place
is deserted this time of night, except for the creature of course. Last time I
saw it; it was rummaging around in one of the concession stands."

"Any idea where it came from?" I asked.

"We think it came down from the mountain," he
said, meaning Lone Mountain. It wasn't very big, as mountains go, but it was a
local landmark. It also wasn't big enough to have anything other than hiking
trails, so if it had come down from there, it would have had to have first
appeared there or wandered onto it from somewhere else. Either way, it wasn't
much help.

"All right," Siegfried said with a nod. "I'm
ready. What are your orders when it comes to contact?"

"We've got some wiggle room," Davey replied. "We
were told to back off and turn these things over to you, unless the situation
warranted our further involvement. We can stand by as back up and make sure no
mortals get involved. But you know me, if it turns to shit, I'll be there."

"Very good," Siegfried said with a smile, before
slapping Davey on the back. "Then let us see what this creature is made
of." He turned back to me and waved his hand in front of him, letting me
lead the way. "After you."

"Let's do it," I said, then started toward the
hill.

As we reached the crest, Siegfried and I both kneeled and
looked out over the park. What we saw was a giant, bull-hybrid type creature
just standing there. It was about 50 yards in front of us, between two fields.
Its head was turned away, but it looked just like the picture. However, it was
bigger than I had expected. It was over 15 feet from its hooves to the top of its
head. It was broadly built as well. I could see that the armor covered its
torso as well. It was some type of leather that looked like it was poured on
instead of worn. Something layered covered its back. It might have been additional
armor, or even a saddle, but I couldn't quite tell. Siegfried motioned to me and
we both backed down the hill until we were out of sight of the thing.

"You think it's an escaped Demon?" he asked.

"Damned if I know," I replied. "But it's sure
as hell not like anything I've seen before. The last Demon we fought had a head
like a bull, this one is the opposite."

"This is not a Centaur," Siegfried said. "Like
the Demons before, I do not believe this comes from any of our worlds."

"Let's try and make contact," I said. "Maybe
we can at least figure out where it comes from."

"That did not work so well with the others." he
replied, pulling out his sword. "But I do not know what else we can do."

I willed mine to appear, but did not engage it fully,
holding just the hilt in my hand. After checking my gun, I nodded, then we got
up and walked back up to the top of the hill. It noticed us the minute we
reached the crest. Turning its head, it stared at us a moment before turning
its entire body around. Ignoring me, it shifted its gaze to Siegfried. The short,
twisted horns, behind its ears were visible now that it faced us.

Its back moved and suddenly, huge wings appeared, unfolding
and adding to its bulk. It made a deep rumbling sound as a warning, before
folding them back. Before we could react, it headed toward us at a full gallop.
It was fast, covering the ground in seconds. We both dived out of the way as it
came up the hill at us, stopping only after we had jumped out of the way. Now
that it was staring down at us, it refocused its attention on Siegfried as we
backed down into the park. We were highly uncomfortable with the fact that it
now held the higher ground.

I tried yelling at the creature to get its attention, but it
just ignored me. Focusing on Siegfried, it raised one arm behind its back,
pulling out a giant battle axe before charging again, this time directly at
Siegfried. He held his ground, and with raised sword, blocked the battle axe as
it swung out toward him. The power of the beast's swing lifted him up and back,
as it galloped past him.

I willed my sword to full extension and fired a bolt of
lightning at the thing; hoping it would have the same effect as it did on the
Demon. The electricity hit it head on as it turned to attack again. Arcs of
lightning travelled back and forth over the creature's metal armor, but it seemed
to have no effect. You have got to be kidding me! The frigging thing was
grounded Its armor was preventing the lightning from getting through!

It turned its attention to me, but before I could react,
Siegfried ran up to the creature, swinging his sword and yelling some curse to
Odin. Their blades met and there was a fierce exchange, but the creature's size
and strength eventually won out. It finally threw Siegfried aside, sending him
some 15 feet away, where he landed on his back. Before it could react, I was on
it, using my sword to block the great battle axe. When they met, sparks flew.
But even with my superior strength and magic as a High Fae, sometimes physics
just wins out. The battle axe I blocked for the umpteenth time finally lifted
me into the air and threw me aside as well.

I landed on my side and skidded a few feet. The creature
then returned its attention back to Siegfried who was just getting back on his
feet. He turned and swung his sword as the creature reached him, knocking aside
the battle axe with his own great strength. I got up and ran toward them,
swinging my sword at the armored legs as they danced in battle. It must have
had some effect, as the creature then turned its attention back to me, the
battle axe missing my head by inches as I ducked to avoid being cut.

There was a sudden flurry of gunshots, as the Special
Projects officer, Davey, showed up with a shotgun type weapon in his hands. The
creature appeared stunned for a moment, then leapt into the air, its wings
unfurling, and landing almost on top of him; knocking him aside as his gun went
flying. I willed a force of magic energy at it as it stepped toward him, and
although it slowed the creature down, it recovered quickly.

Siegfried was already headed that way to help, and I yelled
at him to stop. I still had one weapon I hadn’t tried. Siegfried looked over at
me as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the golden orb. Seeing what I
held, he went down on one knee as I threw the device at the creature before it
could reach Davey.

The device tumbled in the air as it flew. Just before it
hit, thin gold filaments of metal shot out and encircled the beast, drawing
themselves tight and forming a net over it. The thing stumbled, fighting at the
strands as they grew tighter. Suddenly, there was a screaming sound, like metal
tearing, and the creature was cut into pieces, blood flying in all directions
as the filaments contracted. Then quickly reeling back into the orb; which then
returned to my hand.

As some of the blood hit me, I again felt darkness, as I had
when I'd touched the other Demon's. This time, it was different. A long
nothingness, really long, then a glimpse of a bright light, tinged in red.
Clouds and lightning appeared. For the briefest moment I saw.... something, then
it was gone, only the view of the city from the mountain remained as the scene
faded. Whatever this thing had been, it had been a long time since it roamed
the earth, if ever. But what else had I seen? I hadn't seen enough to be sure what
it was, but I thought I saw wings. A Demon perhaps. But then the vision had
faded before I could see more.

"I'm gone 5 minutes and what the...?" I heard a
new voice say, as the other Special Projects officer, Amadeus, came over the
top the hill. He ran down to Davey and helped him up. "Judas Priest, Doug,
you’re covered in that shit." He wrinkled his nose. "Man, that's
rank! I though it smelled bad on the other side, but down here... What the hell
was that thing?"

"No clue," he said, wiping blood off of his face
with his shirt sleeve. "Would you mind getting me a towel or something?"

"That's the least you need," the Were replied,
then turned and headed back toward the parking lot.

"We will have to notify the EAB," Siegfried said,
walking up to what remained of the creature, now just a pile of bloody pulp. "Perhaps
they can make some sense of the... remains." He pulled out his cellphone
and started punching numbers.

"We'll need a clean-up team as well," I replied,
stating the obvious.

"Sorry," Davey said as Amadeus returned with a
towel and a few other items. "But that's gonna be your responsibility."

"Call Michael," Siegfried said to me as he lifted
the phone to his ear.

"Got it," I replied. I punched in Michael's number
and let him know what happened. He told me he'd dispatch a team.

"So what do you know about these things?" Davey
asked, now somewhat less bloody after rinsing off with a bottle of some liquid
Amadeus had brought back.

"Not much more than you do," I replied. "Some
Wizard opened a gateway to Hell and these things started showing up."

"At least the rest of the city is clear at the moment,"
Amadeus said, coming up behind us. "According to our people, anyway."

"Let's just hope this is the last one, then," Davey
said.

"Yeah," I said, kneeling down next to Siegfried. "Let's
hope."

"What did you kill it with, anyway" Amadeus asked.

"Some kind of net grenade," I said, taking the orb
back out of my pocket. "Took it off a Mage that tried to kill me earlier
tonight. Ever seen anything like it?"

"Not me," Amadeus replied. "But that's more
Doug's department than mine."

"Nothing I've ever seen," Davey said, looking at
it in my hand. "Good thing you had it, though. I was shooting it with
rifled slugs and it barely noticed them."

"Almost fortuitous," Siegfried said, a moment
later. "From what we have learned, these things cannot be killed by magic alone.
Yet the orb, although of magic origin, was able to destroy the creature. Metal is
still metal, enchanted, or not."

"It is quite a coincidence," I agreed. I had to
wonder why it just happened to show up earlier today.

"You say you got it from a Mage that tried to kill you?"
Davey asked. "Where is he now?"

"A Keres took him," I replied.

"A Keres," he repeated. "What are the Keres
doing here?"

"It was just one," I replied. "And I have no
idea."

"What’s a Keres?" Amadeus asked.

"Death Spirits," Davey replied. "They take
souls to Hell. But they haven’t been seen in ages. At least not here."

"What the hell is going on?" Amadeus asked. "I
heard about the other Demons, of course, and I've read the reports. But now Death
Spirits? Just what are we dealing with here?"

"That is something we do not yet know," Siegfried
said.

"I'm gonna get Charlie over here," I said, after a
moment." Maybe he can tell us something". I sent a command to Sendy,
and a few minutes later, she and Charlie appeared. He ran up to me, checking to
see if I was all right. By now, the Special Projects officers had returned to
the lot to wait for the others to arrive.

"I know I should have called you," I said to him. "But
there wasn't time."

"There is always time," he replied.

Siegfried just hid a grin. Charlie was never happy when he
missed a battle I was in.

"You're right. I'm sorry. But just take a look anyway
and tell me if you can sense anything else."

With a snort he went over to what was left of the carcass.

"What is it?" Sendy asked as she walked up.

"Some kind of bull-hybrid," I replied. "But
not of our world."

"Like the Demon," Sendy said.

"Anything?" I asked as Charlie came back.

"No," he said. "Other than the foul stench, no
other scent remains." Then turned as he heard a noise behind us. It was
the Were, Amadeus.

"Dispatch just called. EAB should be here in about 5.
Doug went to go clean up," he said as he walked up. "So who's this?"

I introduced him to Charlie and Sendy, both of whom he'd
heard about from the local Were community. A while later, the EAB arrived and
we turned the scene over to them before heading back to our cars in the lot. Before
I could leave, Agent Browne pulled up. I gave him an overview of what had
happened here, then covered my earlier fight with the Mage and my conversation
with the Keres.

"The Keres appear now and then," he said after I
was done. "They usually don’t socialize and since they are interested only
in the dead, seldom come to our attention. Tell me about the orb. May I see it?"

"Sure," I replied, taking it out of my pocket and
holding it out to him.

He examined it closely for a moment, using his phone as a
light. He took a few pictures. When he was finished, he handed it back to me.

"It's unusual, but not unlike other items I have come
across. I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to who the maker is," he said, not
appearing too concerned. "There are several that craft such weapons,
including the Dwarves. I've not seen this symbol before; not that I can recall.
But I've never heard of one that tossed a constricting net either. When I get
back to the office I'll do some research. I'll send you what we have. Do you
plan on keeping it?"

"For now," I said. "Is that going to be a
problem?"

"No," he said with a laugh. "It's a point
specific weapon, so it's not what I'd call a threat to national security.
Unless, of course, they start popping up everywhere. Besides, now that we know
what it does, we'll hear about it if you use it again. I'll make a note of it
in your file. Although we might like to examine it at some point, when you can
part with it."