Of Gods and Fae (17 page)

As he spoke Bjartr whispered to Delia and she left the bar
and walked to the front doors and bolting them before returning. The last
customers having left just a short while ago.

"It is best that we are not disturbed," he said,
walking around the counter to a table. "Delia may stay as she had already
accompanied you in the past. Lucius will watch outside. Come sit, let us
talk."

"What is it that you seek?" I asked as I sat down.

"Before we begin," he interrupted. "Let me
say that I have only told Edan enough to get him to accompany me here. I
propose that you tell him what you told me and then he will tell you his story.
Is that agreeable?"

"Agreed," I answered. Maybe I'd finally learn
something I could use. So I repeated the stories I had received from both
Cornwall and Walter Ferrer, once again not naming the sources of my information.
Neither of the Elves seemed to notice.

"This is disturbing," Edan said when I was
finished. "It must be related."

"What must be related?" I asked. Bjartr said
something in a language I couldn’t understand as Edan nodded his head. He must
have noticed my irritation as he looked at me.

"I apologize," he said. "I merely told him
that you may not know much about us so he needed to explain some things as he
tells you what he knows."

"No problem," I replied, turning back to the other
Elf.

"It is not my place to give you our history," he
began. "Suffice it to say that many of us have taken it upon ourselves to
watch over the Fae. Only to provide assistance where we can, you understand.
Like the Dwarves, we do not like to interfere, although we are not hampered by
our laws as they are."

Hampered by laws? I thought to myself. The ones I've been
dealing with have been pretty hands on. But maybe it explained some of the way
Bernd and the others had acted since this whole Fae thing started.

"As Bjartr has watched over the Lilin, I have done so
with Dragons, or at least those few that remain here among the humans. Most
have returned to the Fae lands of their ancestors. But among the Dragons that
remain, as with other creatures, there are also the Were. Few there are and
fewer still that have come to this land. This new world as it was once called. Rare
they are, for like all Dragons they may live a long time, if not killed in
battle. An occurrence that was once all too common for their race. Because of
this none have been born for many an age. Truth be told, I know of only one and
she is young. One of the few born since
The Fall
. Her name is Belynda. It
is she I seek information about. She has been missing for some time and I have
searched far and wide for any word of her. Nothing have I heard in many years
until Bjartr told me of you."

"Seems like quite a coincidence then doesn't it?"

"Indeed. For it was but 70 years ago, by your
reckoning, that she left the old world. So the timing of this other High Fae's
search for a Dragon is much too close to be just a coincidence. Don’t you
agree?"

"I do," I answered. "But what would she be
doing here?"

"She came searching for the ones that killed her
parents," he replied. "I told her it was a fool's errand, and
dangerous, but she could not be persuaded. Both were killed during the last
days of the war. They had tried to flee, sending her on ahead to my care but
they never made it out. Things were difficult during that time, even for the
Elves, as well as many of the other Fae."

"What happened," I asked. Feeling that I could
understand her actions, based on my past as well.

"Not all Fae avoided the war. A few chose sides. A Dragon
would be a valuable asset for humans as well as Fae. Especially when one is
losing the war. Those that took sides rose easily among the ranks with the
powers they commanded. They would know that Dragons, real or Were, existed, and
could be useful to their side."

I didn’t respond right away. It was common knowledge that
the Nazi's were into all kinds of psychic and paranormal stuff. They even had
teams looking for relics that would assist them. Why not a Dragon? It wouldn't
surprise me a bit that Marissa or her followers would help them either. They
could always take over when they got what they wanted. Dark magic has always
been useful when subverting others. Why not use it to rise to power in a party that
worships such things and will do anything to get them?

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Let Bjartr know if you find her," he replied. "Much
as I wish I could I cannot stay here and search. I have others that need me.
But if I can assist in any other way, I will do what I can."

"As will I," said Bjartr.

"Can you at least tell me what she'd be like? Wearing a
collar, I mean."

"Like the Demon we fought," he answered. "She
would have no choice but to do as commanded."

Oh, great, if it was this Belynda than she may have been
captured by the very dark Fae that had killed her parents. I was either going
to have to kill her controller, whoever that may be, or find a way to remove
the collar. Hopefully without killing her or getting killed myself. Not a very
comfortable thought.

I knew something was wrong the second I got out of the car.
The magic kicked in and I crouched down, pulling my sword but not extending the
blade, it was too easy to see. Something had to have triggered it to kick in,
but I'd be damned if I knew what it was. Still, I wasn't going to ignore it.

It was after dark and I'd come downtown to meet Delia. As
usual, I parked a short distance from Danu's so that I could walk in. The
darkness didn’t bother me. I could see and sense most things thanks to being
Fae but whatever was out there was being cautious, more so than in prior
encounters. In the past it seemed like they barged in and attacked, not this
time. I put out a call to Sendy. The moment she appeared I ordered her to turn
invisible. "What is your command," I heard her ask as she whispered
in my ear.

"Find Lucius and tell him I'm here," I directed.
"He should be nearby. Then scout the area and let me know if you see
anything. But be careful, and stay out of sight." As she flew off the
streetlights went out. Someone, or something, had shut the power down in the
area. If nothing else, this was gonna get interesting. I was just getting ready
to move when I heard a loud explosion. Glancing over the trunk I saw flames
near the entrance to Danu's.

I moved to a better position next to the warehouse just down
from the bar and slowly made my way there, trying to sense anyone or anything
else out of the ordinary. The air around me was heavy, as if something, I don’t
know, maybe some kind of dampening spell was in effect. The last time I'd been in
a fight down here I could tell what was in someone's pockets by the sounds they
made as they moved. But not tonight. Like the last time I had been attacked,
there was no magical warning.

As I got closer I could see the flames subsiding near the
front of the bar. That's when I spotted the first Mage beyond the flames, his
back to me. There was just enough light to see that he had a wand in one hand
and a sword in the other as he moved out of sight around the side of the
building. There was no doubt in my mind what he was. I'd seen his type before during
the attack on Milagre that started this whole Fae thing. A Mage, now I was
angry.

Without thinking I had my sword extended and ran toward him.
He turned just as I hit the front of the bar and raised the wand, a blue fire
bursting. I blocked the beam with my sword, the energy arcing like a Tesla coil
up and down my blade as his eyes widened. I was on him with my blade swinging
true before he could act. I kicked the wand away from his now dead body and
looked around. I saw a figure down on the ground in front of me. Moving toward
it I saw it was Lucius. I bent down to check on him as he tried to stand. He
looked pretty unsteady.

"What happened," I asked, pulling him up from the
ground.

"I caught him in the alley casting some kind of spell.
I startled him and he attacked. Damn Wizard or something. Fast with the wand,
too.  I tried to withdraw but he was faster. That blast threw me 20 feet and…
well, here I am," he replied. "Thanks for showing up when you
did."

"No problem, but what was he doing here… and why
now?" I asked. Before he could answer Sendy popped back on my shoulder.

"There is another behind those buildings," she
said, pointing to the other side of the street, across from the bar.  The mist
seemed to be thickest in that direction. "He summons something with dark
magic."

"Find Siegfried and tell him what's happening," I
said. "I'll take care of that one. Go!"

"There's another across the street," I told Lucius
as Sendy disappeared. "Can you walk?" He gave me a funny look. He had
heard me talking but couldn't have seen Sendy.

"I need a second but I'll heal. Go ahead, I'll catch up,"
he replied, still acting a little woozy.

I ran across the street then cut between the buildings. The
mist was thick and when I stepped out onto the alley I saw him. He was crouched
down, conjuring or something. I could hear the words even if I couldn't
understand them. Some twisted form of Latin, I'm guessing. He looked up as I started
towards him, then just smiled and went back to what he'd been doing. As I
stepped forward I could see the mist coalescing into something above him,
something dark.

I knew what to do. I'd spent the last month or so trying to
follow Fae rules, but I'd learned a few things. One was that Fae can be
predictable. Knowing that I couldn’t get to him as fast as I wanted and that
whatever was dampening the magic was stronger here, I did the next best thing.
I pulled my Walther and started firing as I moved towards him. He hadn’t
expected that. One of the first things I'd learned when all this started was
that certain weapons work better than others. But my sword was useless here, he
was too far away. Of course it wasn't the gun that was special, it was the
bullets. They'd been made to work against magic. And in this case, they were
working just fine.

By the third shot, whatever he was doing had failed and I
watched as the dark shape shrunk in upon itself, the accompanying shriek loud
in my ears. He looked straight at me as I fired and I could see the bullets
impact on his body. He stumbled back and reached into his robe, pulling out
something. Fearing the worst I ran towards him but he threw the object down and
then there was a burst of light. He was gone!

I reached where he'd been and saw the two circles on the
ground, one where he'd been kneeling and the other right in front of the spot.
Whatever he'd drawn on the ground was turning to ash itself just as the last
had. Fortunately, the dampening effect was lifting and I could once again sense
the world around me. Lucius was almost to the alley so I turned around as he
ran up.

"Where'd he go?" he asked, looking around.

"They've got some kind of portal thing," I
answered. "These guys just won't face a fair fight."

"Looks like you injured him, at least," he said,
pointing to the ground. There was a nice pool of blood close to where he'd
been.

I knelt and reached down, placing a finger into the blood as
I let the magic come forth. I'd done this before with Fae. Blood can tell you a
lot about an individual. In my case, I could sometimes read the history of the
individual as well as their bloodline. Well, at least it had worked with
Werewolves.

The instant my finger came in contact with the blood I was
assaulted with images of darkness and I don’t mean the absence of light kind.
Unfortunately, the came quickly and then faded, as if someone had intentionally
done something to prevent just what I was doing. Although I couldn’t make sense
of most of it, two things stood out. One was an image of Marissa as he bowed
before her. The other was a Dragon. Well, that answered that.

I stood and surveyed the scene. There wasn't much left,
unless you counted the dead Mage next to Danu's, of course. I'd still have to
deal with that. Then another thought hit me.

"Lucius, did you know I was going to be here tonight?"

"Sure," he answered. "Delia had the Elf ask
Rayna to cover for her. She said she was meeting you. It's a good thing you
came early or these things might have had more surprises in store."

"And if you hadn't startled the one we'd still have
been in trouble," I countered. Still bothered that they knew I was coming
here. "Something's still not right, let's get back to the bar."

Parts of the façade were still smoldering as we ran up to
the front entrance. The damage didn’t look too bad, I thought as I opened the
door. The lights still worked here; they weren't hooked up to the grid. Bjartr
used some kind of magic to keep them going. As soon as we entered I became
suspicious. Delia and Rayna were arguing. They must have heard the door open
because Rayna turned to look.

"No!" she screamed. "They promised me you'd
be dead." So much for how they knew I'd be here. She turned back to Delia.
"This is all your fault," she said. Then she pulled a large knife
from behind her back and lunged at her.

I needn't have worried, Delia spun and blocked the thrust. I
was running towards them as I saw her take Rayna down to the floor.

"Don't kill her," I yelled as I leapt the bar to
get to them, Lucius right behind me.

Before I could complete the sentence Delia had grabbed the
knife and forced it around, taking her to the ground and slicing through her
neck, the blood already pooling around her. She was still straddling her as I
knelt down beside them.

"Sorry," she said. "Some habits are hard to
break."

I knew what she meant. I'd seen her fight on Olympus when
we'd beaten Marissa's warriors the first time. I still didn’t know much about
her but she knew her way around weapons, and not just a blade.

"Her symbiont will be dead as well," Lucius said
as he picked up the knife. "We must dispose of the body."

"Dispose?" Delia said as she stood up. "How
can you say such a thing? You cannot be involved."

"You killed only to defend yourself," he replied.
"How can I ignore that?"

"What she did does not matter. To hide this from the
Elders is a death sentence."

"Then the Elders are fools," he said.

"Excuse me," I chimed in as they argued. "Did
I miss something? What did she do? Other than try and kill you, of course."

They both turned to look at me.

"What, you didn’t hear her?" he answered, pointing
to the body in the floor. Then he began to laugh. "Oh my Lord High
Fae," he continued. "You do not see that which proves your very
legacy. She openly wanted you dead."

"She's not the first," I replied. "What of
it?"

"She could not have done this thing until you came."
he said. "The decree has indeed changed and it is because of you. I did
not truly believe it until now." Then he knelt back down and closed her
still open eyes. "Sleep well, sister, for now you are truly free." He
turned back to Delia.

"Once I fought for the glory of Rome. I fought
alongside men that believed in its might, even as it fell to ruins around us.
But since being turned I have had, what? A parody of life no better than a
slave. Nae, less than a slave with so called Elders who now fear even their own
shadows. But no more. Today I take the first step in declaring my wish to be
free. No longer will I accept the Elders verdicts. I will follow this Fae till
the
Tears
again flow and the decree is lifted in entirety. Will you join
me?"

"Perhaps you are right," she said, nodding her
head.

"And so it begins," he said as he clasped her
shoulders.

Sendy returned just a moment later, and with her, Siegfried.
He had been ready for a fight, but instead, made some calls as I told him all
that had occurred. He was good with what had happened, as I had expected him to
be. Bjartr, on the other hand, didn't take it too well. Rayna's betrayal was
hard on him. It was Lucius that finally convinced him to go along with us.
Ultimately, the hope of freedom for the Lilin won him over.

I had Sendy return Siegfried and told her I'd call when I
needed her again. It wasn't long after that that Michael, Siegfried's right
hand at the Neptune arrived. Michael was Fae as well, a distant relative of
Siegfried's. He also handled clean up.

"Well, well," he said, peeking over the bar.
"Lovely blade work. Best way to kill one, or at least so I've heard."

"Delia got this one," I replied. "Mine's
outside between the buildings."

"Already tagged that one," he replied. "The
new security guy, Lucius, told me all about it. At least that's one less Mage
to worry about."

"True, but one got away and there's still more where he
came from."

"Yeah, well, we'll get through it," he said,
motioning for two of his folks to move the body. "Sorry about the Lilin
though. They usually don’t get involved in things like this but it looks like
that's changing," he said, glancing at Lucius. "You're doing?"

"I guess you could say that," I said with a sigh.
"Although I was hoping things wouldn’t turn out this way."

"It was a nice thought," he replied.  "But there's
always some asshole out there that wants to run the worlds. Everyone forgets
that freedom carries a price, even for us Fae." He went back around the
bar and then stopped. "Hey, I hear you're looking for a Dragon."

"Just chasing rumors," I answered.

"Didn't know any were still around; always wanted to
see one. Let me know if you find it."

Michael spoke to a couple of his guys then headed for the
doorway and into the night. It was good to know I had folks like him I could
call on. After he left I figured my evening was done for but then Delia came
out of the back. She had cleaned up and was dressed to the nines, wearing tight
black pants and a royal purple blouse, accenting all the right places.

"We still on?" she asked as she walked up to me.
Acting much more sure of herself and confident then she had when she'd returned
from the episode with the Elders.

"I figured I'd just ruined another one of your evenings,"
I answered in a surprised voice.

"Lucius has a point," she replied as she watched
several of Michael's crew finish the clean-up. "Things are different now.
Let's get out of here before Bjartr changes his mind about covering for me and
I have to clean the rest of this mess up."

"Sure," I answered with a laugh as she took my
arm." Where do you feel like going?"

"Let me think. Someone tried to kill me, I had to kill
them," she said, holding up her hand to count fingers. "You killed a
dark Mage that was after Lucius…"

"Yeah, pretty much what happens when we get
together," I said, wincing.

"Looks like you owe me. Let's go somewhere expensive,
I'm tired of the poor Lilin thing," she said.

"Works for me," I agreed. "There's something
about a battle that always makes me hungry." Then I looked down at my soot
and blood stained clothes. "Do you mind if we stop by my place? I'd
probably be best if I changed clothes before we went anywhere else."