Of Gods and Fae (4 page)

"Has she?" I asked. Of course, I knew the answer.
Diantha had told me about meeting her some 40 to 50 or so years ago when Marissa
was searching out the Fae. That meeting had sent Diantha into hiding until I
had found her and restored her youth by returning to her the Dragon's eye,
given to her by Apollo. It was the source of her longevity and beauty.

"I remember her," he said, raising his glass
before taking a sip. "Of course I didn't know what she was then, but then
I didn’t know what you were either."

"Interesting, I'd like to hear about it." I downed
the rest of my glass and set it down on the table.

"I thought you would," he replied with a smile.

"It was after the war, WW II, that is. Vegas was a
different place then, smaller and unsettled. But the magic was growing and that
drew the Fae here." He turned to face me. "Did you fight in any of
the human wars?" he asked.

Still digging, I thought to myself. "No, I was a little
too young for Vietnam," I replied, throwing him a bone.

"Ah, well, it doesn’t really matter," he continued,
ignoring the comment about my age. "Suffice it to say that when gambling
started drawing humans to this place the magic drew the Fae. Not many, but a
few… those bold enough to leave their planes of safety and thus begin to
explore the new world. Of course, some were already here, but a least a few Fae
found their way back from hiding.

"I had assumed the role of a young attorney and settled
here with the first Fae that arrived. That would have been the late '40s, after
the war. That's when I first met Milagre, as a matter of fact. Of course he was
using a different name then, as were we all. Oh, I knew of him before, but in
those days it was Meredith that was the better known Fae. But it was he that
first led the Fae to the casinos and realized we could harness the magic and
begin our return to these lands.

"If the FBI hadn't come down on the mobsters so quickly
we would have infiltrated them all and owned this town, as the humans would say.
But as it was we were able to slowly take control of key businesses and cement
our place here. "Humans," he noted. "The right hand doesn't know
what the left hand is doing. So afraid the general populace will learn of us
that they do not even tell most of their own agents about us. As if we would
allow that to happen." He said with a laugh and then paused and took a sip
from his glass.

"But back to the story at hand. I believe I first met
her sometime in the early '50s, must have been '52 or so. There are several
reasons that I can recall her so vividly. The first is because of what I later
found out, she was a Dryad. She was the first Dryad, hell, the only Dryad I'd
seen here outside of the old world until you came along. The second reason is
that, like you, I didn’t know she was a Fae at first, very unusual at the time.
But if she is a High Fae, then that would account for it."

He got up from the couch and went over to Milagre's bar.
Pouring himself another drink he gestured to me, I shook my head.

"So what else was special about her?" I asked,
hoping to learn something that might be useful. As I mentioned, Diantha had
told me that Marissa had been in Vegas sometime in the '60s or '70s, if
Cornwall was correct, she'd been here some 10 to 15 years earlier as well.

"Well," he replied, returning to his spot on the
sofa. "As I said, I didn’t find out until later that she was a Fae. But
the rumor at the time was, that someone, and I now believe it to be her, was
searching for a Dragon, among other things."

"A Dragon? Why would she be searching for a Dragon here?"
I asked skeptically.

Cornwall stifled a laugh. "Come now, surely you know
the power a Dragon could wield. Alive they could be a powerful ally. Even if
dead there is much that can be utilized in magic. Take your friend, Diantha, what
would she be were it not for a Dragon? But why she was searching for one here I
cannot say. I am not aware of any ever leaving the old worlds. But, as I said,
the magic was growing here. Who knows what it could have attracted?"

"I'm sorry," I replied. "It just caught me
off guard." Score another point for Cornwall. But what he was saying was
true. Diantha, the former Oracle of Delphi, owed her youth and beauty to a Dragon's
eye that had been gifted her by Apollo. Although she was now basically
immortal, she had been turned into an old woman when the jeweled eye was stolen
from her. It was I that restored her beauty when I returned it to her after
receiving it from an acquaintance of Milagre. That act had cemented her loyalty
to me.

"Of course," he said, continuing. "I found all
this out later, but I was told that she had been staying at a rooming house in
the old Formyle area. Next to where Roxie's was before it was shut down. I
believe there was at least one rather large oak tree there, next to the poplars,
which would make sense for a Dryad. That is another interesting point, as I
heard about this at about the same time that the old brothel burned down.
Perhaps she found her Dragon after all."

I knew the place he was talking about. It was a piece of old
Vegas history. Roxie's had been a rather infamous brothel that got shut down
after it had been raided by the Feds in around '54. The place where it had been
located was just a dirt lot bordered by the freeway and a motel these days, but
the rooming house was still there, as were many of the trees.

"You said she was searching for a Dragon,
among
other things
. What else was she searching for?" I asked.

He stood and looked down at me for a moment before replying.
"Why do you wish to free the Lilin," he asked.

I shook my head and answered. "It's like I said. Delia,
a Lilin, fought alongside me when I faced Marissa. I made her a promise, one
which I intend to keep."

"I see… and the fact that the only way to do that is to
possess the
Tears of Blood
has no part in your decision?"

"What does that have to do with it?" I asked,
staring back at him. He was talking about the decanter Bernd had given me.
Little did I realize then what I had sitting in my safe.

"Oh, come now! First Dragons and now the
Tears?
Surely
you don’t expect me to believe that you don’t know what they are… or what one
could do if they possessed them?"

I stood up and walked back to the bar. "Why don't you
enlighten me before I respond?" I countered as I refilled my glass.

"Fine, keep your secrets. If that makes you happy,"
he retorted. "Who am I to argue with a God?" He moved back to the
sofa and sat down. "Forget I said that. It was not my intention to be argumentative.
Suffice it to say that she was searching for something or someone, and not just
Dragons, or at least so the rumors indicated. After the destruction of the
buildings she disappeared, but I had heard that she had been seen several times
over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn't keeping tabs on her. The Fae
community is still small, and it was smaller then. In my business, well, let's
just say one hears things.

"Knowing now what she is I have to assume that she was
here searching for items to increase her power. It's clear she had, or has, an
agenda. Killing Fae, seeking a Dragon, who knows what else she was looking for.
I, for one, had no knowledge of such items of power being here, other than the
magic of the city itself. But since I didn’t know about you, either, I have to
guess that there is more. If the
Tears
are found we are in great danger.
If she gets her hands on them there will be no stopping her. It will be the
Fae-Lilin wars all over again… but with her leading the Lilin." He paused
and looked grim. "If what I have been told about her is true, she will not
be in Tartarus forever. If she does escape and amasses such power… well… that
is not a battle I believe we can win."

I didn't know what to say. Bernd had given me the decanter
and told me that I needed it to free the Lilin. I'd just wrapped it in a pouch
and thrown it in my safe. Sure the pouch was magical and hid its contents, but
if what Cornwall was saying was true I had a whole new set of problems to deal
with. As if I didn't have enough already.

"Look, Gerry," I finally said. "Do you mind
if I call you Gerry?"

"I hope you will. We are not at odds, you and I, and I
rather hoped we could work together," he answered in a sincere voice. "I
can be of great assistance in matters where the Fae and human worlds intersect.
At the very least, I will make some discreet inquiries about this matter."

"I appreciate that, but listen," I said, sitting
back down. "She won't be out tomorrow and believe me, I will do everything
in my power to prevent her from getting her hands on anything that would be to
her advantage, especially these
Tears
. I will find them first, and when I
do they will be used only to free the Lilin." I hoped that would throw him
off a bit. I was going to have to be careful to make sure that no one knew I
had them. He was about to say something in response when the door opened and
Siegfried, Milagre, with Diantha behind them strolled into the office.

Milagre looked over at us as he walked into the room. "I
hope we aren’t intruding?" he commented.

"No, no, not at all," replied Cornwall as he stood
to greet him. "Mr. Hoskins and I were just discussing future business
plans. So how did the rest of the meeting go?"

"Fine, I believe we got their attention," he
answered, then turned towards me. "The demonstration went over well. I
think even Sergei may come on board."

"At least for now," commented Siegfried. "One
can never be certain with the Vodianoi."

"True," added Milagre. "But he is no fool. He
can see where the real threat is." He sat down at his desk as Siegfried
and Diantha moved to seat themselves, Diantha sliding on to the couch next to
me.

"So what do you want to do next?" asked Milagre.

"Well," I sighed. "I guess it's mostly a
waiting game as far as Marissa is concerned. Although we have to assume her
people will continue to attack Fae, me in particular I might add. Now that we
have the leaders alerted, we'll just have to see what information comes up."

We continued on like that for a while, discussing strategies
to locate our new enemy. Everything was going smoothly until Milagre asked when
I planned to confront my aunt and announce my place as leader of the Dryad.

"Excuse me?" Cornwall interrupted. "I seem to
be lacking some information here."

Damn, two clichés came to mind,
the best laid plans
and
in for a penny, in for a pound
… I stood up and pulled one of those
new, gold colored, dollar coins out of my pocket and gestured at Cornwall. "Here,
catch," I said as I tossed the coin to him. I guess I was going to have to
let one more in on my secrets. It just figures, complications seemed to be the
word for the day.

"What is this for," he asked, examining the coin as
if he expected something magical to happen.

"Well, I suppose now I'm gonna have to hire you as my
attorney for all things Fae. Consider that the down payment of your retainer. There's
a few things you're gonna need to know," I answered with a sigh. Cornwall
listened incredulously as I told my story, starting with the attack on Milagre
and the effects of the Mages attack on me. By the time we were done he was
shaking his head.

"Incredible" he said. "I suppose I should
thank you for your confidence. Although I am not actually sure if you meant to
share your story in this fashion."

Charlie came bounding across the yard as I pulled into the
driveway. I expected him to run up to the car and I did a double take as he stopped
to look at me and then continued running…after a ball. Damn, I'd almost
forgotten what I'd asked Sendy to do.

"All safe, kept him busy," Charlie muttered as he
dropped the ball at my feet.

I was just closing the car door when Malcolm Smitt came
around the corner looking for him. Malcolm was a PI specializing in computer
forensics and one of my closest friends. We'd worked together on the force
before we each retired and started our own PI businesses. I knew I needed some
human allies so I'd had Sendy go and get him.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed as he ran over to me. "You're
never going to belie… forget I said that! I thought that computer virus was
crazy! But this… what the hell, this is amazing!" Malcolm continued,
muttering a few more expletives as he stared at me. "Why didn't you tell
me?"

"I thought I just did." I replied, clapping him on
the back.

"Yeah, but… oh hell," he said as we walked to the
front door.

"You're taking this pretty well," I commented as
we went into the house.

"Oh, this is nothing. You should have seen me before
that Bernie guy did whatever he did. I was freaking out! Not that I didn’t
appreciate the half-naked girl, I mean Faerie…you know, Sendy. Man, it was just
too much at first. And then when she whooshed me here, wow!"

"Bernie? You mean, Bernd? He's here?" I asked,
turning back to him.

"The little guy," Malcolm asked. "Yeah, he
was just here, said he'd be inside waiting for you. Then Charlie wanted to play
ball, and… did you know he can talk… well, yeah, sorry, you would know that
wouldn’t you?"

"You can understand him?" I asked, skeptically.

"Well, sort of… at least, I can now. It’s a long story."
He replied, shaking his head in amazement.

"Ah, good, you have arrived" said Bernd, popping
up next to me as I walked into the house. I hate when he does that, I mean, I
almost jumped and hit the ceiling when he startled me.

"Come, come, we must talk," he continued, leading
us into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I guess we should." I replied, noting that
Sendy was already seated at the table.

This was not exactly what I'd expected when I'd asked Sendy
to find Malcolm for me. Of course I'd figured he'd freak out. It’s not every
day that a messenger from the God's (or at least that was the role I'd placed
her in) shows up to talk to you these days. Not to mention that Malcolm had
been my friend and partner at the local PD for a lot of years and with few
exceptions, probably didn’t have much cause to believe in magic, let alone Gods
or Fae. But what was Bernd doing here, and what he done to Mal? Bernd had been
hard to get a hold of lately, and a bit different, but at least he was here
now.

I walked into the kitchen as Bernd and Malcolm sat down at
the table with Sendy. Hitting the start button on the coffee pot, I turned
around.

"Well, what have I missed?" I asked, knowing that
Bernd being here had to be significant.

"Perhaps you should tell us," Bernd responded. "I
can see that you have been busy," he continued, gesturing at Malcolm. "I'm
sure he'd like to know why he is here."

"Perhaps you're right," I answered, walking back
to the table to sit down and face Mal. "Sorry, my friend, I just didn't
know how to tell you what had happened to me. I figured you'd think I was nuts,
so…when Sendy showed up, it just seemed the easiest way to do it."

Mal started to laugh. "Well, having a naked gi… um, I
mean, Faerie, show up in my office certainly got my attention," he
quipped. "So why am I here?"

"You're my best friend and I needed you here. I hope
you’re alright with that. I've probably placed you in danger as well. I guess I
should of thought of that before bringing you in on it. You can still back out
before we go any further."

"Danger? Hah! Are you kidding?" he said with a laugh.
"Naked Faeries that can teleport, magic swords … this is going to be
awesome! Besides, we've been through worse, remember that drunk with the
handgun on Convention Center? At least this time we'll know who's shooting at
us and we'll even have real magic on our side."

I laughed as I stood up and went to the cabinet. Mal was
talking about a call we'd had riding together on patrol one night back in the
early '80s. We were just off the Las Vegas Strip and some drunk had gone out on
his balcony and started shooting at people. It'd been a nice night and we'd had
both windows down. We'd heard these buzzing sounds out the windows and Mal had
gunned the car and startled me. He'd looked over at me and said "I think
someone's shooting at us." I'd thought he was nuts until I'd looked over
at the hotel across the street and watched the guy fire two more rounds with a
handgun before going back inside. I could see the muzzle fire but I'd never
heard the shots. To make a long story short we'd called SWAT. The problem was
that in those days it would have taken too much time for headquarters to call the
entire team in so since we were the only two guys in uniform available, we got
to go in first. We stormed the room with the then plainclothes SWAT detectives
behind us. We walked into four totally inebriated guys celebrating a bachelor
party. They were so drunk they had no idea what the guy with the gun was doing.
Thankfully no one had been injured and when we found the gun inside the toilet
tank the guy muttered that he'd wanted more fireworks to celebrate but ran out
of bullets and wanted to make sure the gun cooled off. Anyway, we'd been
through some shit together so I guess what he was saying was true. I just
hadn't thought he'd take it so well, and then I remembered what he'd said.

Grabbing my
I took the red pill!
cup, I filled it, and
after gesturing to see if anyone else wanted some, sat back down at the table.

"I'm serious, Mal, it really can be dangerous," I
said, taking the two Fae arrows and placing them on the table.

"What the…! Are those arrows?" Mal asked. "Who
the hell uses arrows these days?" Before I could reply Bernd was on his
chair and examining them.

"Sendy has already told me the story," he said,
holding an arrow in each hand. "And yes, these are Fae arrows, very
dangerous. Our enemies use many weapons, but I am more concerned in how this
attacker escaped. You say he used magic to open a portal of some type?"

"As best I can tell… it looked like some kind of symbol
had been drawn on the wall, but it turned to ash after the attacker jumped
through. There was no way for me to follow."

"And you did not sense him?" Bernd asked.

"No, not until the arrows were launched. But by then he
was already running away."

"Their magic is powerful if they can summon a portal so
easily without water or trees. They are strong and becoming bolder, you must be
cautious," he said as he placed the arrows back on the table and returned
to his seat. He took a few puffs from his pipe and continued. "Let us hope
it is just their anger at Marissa's defeat that has made them so brazen. I
wonder?  But how goes your quest to free the Lilin?"

"You wish to free them?" Sendy asked, sounding
skeptical.

"Excuse me," Mal interjected. "Forget about
the arrows for a minute. What's a Lilin?"

"Let me answer that," I said, knowing that any
explanation by Bernd would be a long one. "The Lilin are, well, let's call
them Vampires, although they don’t have fangs. Have you heard the story of
Lilith in the Bible or in Sumerian legend?"

Mal nodded that he had.

"Ok," I continued. "To make a long story
short, the Lilin are the children of Lilith. They're kind of a merging between
a demon and a human, sort of. Anyway, what is important is that the Lilin and
the Fae were at war and the Lilin lost. Only a couple thousand were alive at
the end and the Goddess Demeter made a pact with them in exchange for their
lives. The bottom line is they've become somewhat of a second class citizen to
the Fae. It's my intention to eventually free them from that magical bond."

"Vampires, or at least sort of Vampires," Mal
declared. "And Demon Vampires as well... you always were too nice.
Remember that time you wouldn’t kick a door because…"

"Mal," I maintained. "This is different.
These are not the same beings that started the war with the Fae. Besides,
everyone deserves a chance to be free."

"Okay, I understand that, I really do," he
replied. "I'm just asking… But what if they want to finish the war?"

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to kill them after
all. But if they do that it's of their own free will, not
because
they've got a spell on them. Besides, I don’t think that'll happen."

"Robert is correct," Bernd interjected. "The
Lilin of today are not those that warred with the Fae eons ago. As it stands,
already the Fae's power over them is dwindling, thanks to him."

"Hey, if you say so. I'm just playing Devil's advocate,"
Mal conceded.

"Before we go any further, I wonder, what exactly did
you do to Mal?" I asked, looking over at Bernd. "I expected him to be
a lot more freaked out—not to mention that he can understand Charlie. And yet he
appears to be handling this extremely well, wouldn’t you say? "As I
finished the question I looked over and saw Sendy squeezing Mal's arm. Hmm, now
that was interesting.

"You seem to make the most interesting choices in your
allies," he replied. "First Siegfried, then Meredith, Diantha and
Delia, and now Sendy and Malcolm. As Ouranos himself noted, your allies stand
with you out of loyalty."

"I guess I should say thank you but that still doesn't
answer my question." As if he'd never done
that
before, I thought
to myself.

"As I said, you have interesting friends. As for doing
something to Malcolm… well, do you recall when I first met you and helped open
your mind so that the magic could flow more freely?" he asked.

"Yes, of course I do," I responded. "Is that
what you're saying you did? Why would that work with him, I've never sensed
anything other than hum…?" I stopped, looking over at Mal for a moment
before returning my gaze at Bernd.

Bernd stared at me blankly and then his pipe appeared back in
his hand. He took a puff and blue smoke started wafting upwards. "None of
us are just anything, Robert? We are all many things. In his case, Malcolm does
indeed have Fae blood coursing through his veins."

I must have looked like I was in shock because at that
moment Malcolm reached over and tapped the table in front of me. He got my
attention.

"Who knew?" he said with a shrug. "Maybe
that's why I'm so good with computers."

"Let me clarify," Bernd continued. "He is not
a pure blood Fae, or even half-blood… yet there is enough of the Fae about him
to ease his knowledge of our ways. I merely brought that part to the surface,
and that made the transition and the knowledge that flowed out easier."

"So how
did
you find out about all this?"
Malcolm asked, spreading his arms to indicate the four of us at the table.

For the second time in a day I found myself repeating the
story of how I'd gotten to this point, this time there were no theatrics. When
I was finished, Malcolm started laughing.

"Jeez, and I thought I was having a weird day. Now I
understand why you're so fond of these Lilin." he said with a laugh.

"Tell me about it," I said with a laugh back. "But
I'm not sure fond is the right word. I guess it doesn't really matter. The
point is that you're here now and as long as you're still in. I have a few
things I have to do."

"I'm definitely in," replied Mal. "So, what's
our next move?"

"Ok, the first thing I have to do is confront my aunt
and formally acknowledge this Dryad thing. I'm not sure if you can help with
that but that's just one thing on my list. There's actually quite a lot of
other stuff you can help with."

"Ah, so you have finally decided," Bernd exclaimed.
He took a deep drag from his pipe and then blew smoke rings toward the ceiling.
"Excellent. When do you wish to begin?"

"What do you think?" I asked.

"That is up to you," Bernd answered. "Do you
intend to formally notify her, or do you wish to… how would you say it,
surprise her?"

"I'm thinking stealth and surprise. I really don't like
the idea of too much advance notice, especially after this morning's attack."
I answered after a moment's contemplation. "Plus I know nothing of that
land or my people so it might be worth scoping it out first. Can you tell me
what it's like? I mean how do the Fae there live? Is their movement between
different types of Fae or are they segregated by clan or type? The only Fae
land I've been to was the Nereid, and even then only the beach."

"Hmm, how to describe this to you," he murmured,
puffing his pipe and blowing smoke rings. "The Dryad and the other Fae on
that plane live simply," he finally said. "They are close to their
trees and live among them. Although your aunt lives in the city among the
oldest trees, many on the outskirts of the land have homes, cottages, if you
like. Some farm the land, using their magic to produce fruits and vegetables of
a quality not seen in the human world, others hunt. They do have inns and
taverns, for many brew ale and make wine, and it is not unusual for other Fae
to pass through their lands. Not all Fae are content to sleep on beds of
leaves," he added. "They need not fear travelers, for the trees guard
well and as a rule only friends are able to cross their borders. It is a quiet
life, but a full one. You will not need money, although gold and precious
stones are used on occasion. One needs few possessions when magic is at one's
fingertips.

"There was once much movement between the Fae and human
worlds. But after
The Fall
most retreated to
their own lands where
it was safest and only the boldest have returned," he said, taking his
pipe and pointing it at me. "Yes, only the boldest, but do not suppose
that those that remain behind are weak. During
The Fall
their lands were
not safe. Remember what you learned at Olympus and from Meredith. Much happened
during those times and much has happened since. It will take time to heal old
wounds so you must take care. But that is your land and it will welcome you.
Although I cannot promise that all Fae will be of like mind."