Some Kind of Magic

Some Kind of Magic |
R. Cooper

2

Some Kind of Magic

ABOUT three thirty a.m., in Hillcrest Hospital, which, true to

its name, had been built on a bluff overlooking the rest of

their coastal town, Ray stopped outside the door to their

victim"s room and rubbed his nose. He hated hospitals, the

attempt at sterility in the smells, the subtle layers of

disinfectant and urine and sickness, the constant noises

that meant no one got any rest.

Not that he was here for rest, or that he would have

slept well even if he had been. He turned away from the

nurse, though she was still talking, and glanced down at his

partner, wanting a moment of exhausted sympathy and not

getting it because her focus was already back on the case.

Penn seemed unperturbed, but then, she wouldn"t care

about any lectures from stern, unpleasant nurses or notice

the smells or the distant noises. There wasn"t much that

could
rattle her, not that he"d seen in the five years they"d

worked together. She calmly took a sip of saltwater and then

sealed the bottle and stuck it in her oversized purse. Only

then did she look back up at him before knocking on the

door.

She looked like she wished her water had been coffee.

Or possibly ouzo, which was a favorite of hers on nights off.

Personally, Ray thought it tasted like a particularly nasty

type of licorice, but, with certain exceptions, he"d never cared

much for sweets, so he was a bad judge.

Savory was really what he craved, or what he needed,

and his stomach growled at the thought. If he"d known a

place to get some carne asada at this time of night—

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3

morning—he would have gotten some and shoveled it down.

He would possibly even take a fast food burger, though it

wouldn"t exactly be
meat
.

But he was getting used to going without and decided

he"d make do with something from a vending machine later,

if there was anything in there more solid than candy. For

now they had a job to do.

There was a uniform outside the door, a kid only a few

months out of the Academy, who had nodded as they

approached and then took off. Perhaps a little quicker than

he might have for any other two detectives, but without

comment. He smelled young and nervous, revealing his

inexperience with one wary stare, and his pale face said he

hadn"t recovered from finding their victim on the floor in her

own blood—or from seeing her recover so quickly.

Fairies. They could be disconcerting. Delightful and

surprising and beautiful, sure, but the amount of magic

surrounding them made many uncomfortable. The kid"s

training officer had mentioned that, fairy or not, the rookie

had held her hand and stayed with her even after she"d been

loaded into the ambulance. Which made it strange to find

him
outside
the room and not still in there with her.

At least the kid had held it together long enough to

ensure her safety and see that her wounds had been

properly documented, and for that, Ray made a note of his

name for his report.

Before he could finish the thought, the rookie was back,

glancing between the two of them before flashing a cautious

smile.

“She"s okay, just wanted her privacy, I forgot to tell you

that. I didn"t know they wanted that. You know what they

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R. Cooper

4

say about them. You know, fairies….” He trailed off at Ray"s

expression and outright blanched at Penn"s, then quickly

amended his statement. “But she was really nice once she,

uh, woke up. Anyway, could you tell her Tim said

goodnight?”

Tim
was hopeful, but not quite brave enough to go in

there himself. Ray didn"t agree to anything, but Penn

mumbled something under her breath the rookie took for an

affirmative. Ray had excellent hearing, which she knew, and

so he was the only one who heard the snide comment about

men wanting things they were afraid to ask for.

He also heard the hushed movements inside the room,

so this time he knocked and ignored Penn"s not-very-subtle

jab at him at the same time.

There wasn"t an answer from inside, and Penn frowned

before opening the door and looking carefully in.

Their angry nurse had assured them the fairy inside

was dressing to leave, but when Penn entered the room, Ray

peered in over her head and saw that the fairy was already

dressed. Fully dressed, surprisingly, considering she was

Fairy, wearing a long skirt and a silky wraparound top that

wouldn"t get in the way of her wings. It made Ray wonder if

she was feeling vulnerable after her ordeal, and he looked

her over more carefully.

She was sitting up on the bed, with one hand tight on

the phone on the table at her bedside, as though she"d made

a call or was thinking about making one. Her gaze swept

over both of them, widening when they displayed their

badges and closed the door behind them, but she didn"t

flinch or jerk.

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R. Cooper

5

“Pari-Nasreen al-Nihar?” Penn asked politely, pausing at

the bed. Ray stayed back, well aware that his size could be

alarming, and fairies were sometimes easily startled. Ray

didn"t blame them. It was their nature to run from

unpleasantness, not face it. They weren"t fighters. This fairy

should never have had to deal with such violence as she"d

faced tonight.

He clenched his jaw at the idea of anyone destroying the

happiness of a fairy and concentrated on the woman in front

of him. The victim… he grimaced. He"d been a cop for over a

decade, and he still hated that word. The fairy"s healing

abilities were the reason she"d been rushed to the hospital

for pictures and scans for evidence. She"d been struck twice

in the head, with force. A human would have been killed, but

enough time had passed that there wasn"t a mark on her

anymore. The only sign that she was even upset was the lack

of sparkle in the air around her, and her scent,
wary
.

“Nasreen,” she corrected, frowning imperiously for a

moment before sweeping back the hair that was blue and

black and indigo. It just reached the base of her long amber-

colored wings. Her eyes were coal black. As was the way of

fairies, she was almost unnaturally beautiful and alluring.

Ray inhaled. Aside from the lingering fear, she smelled

like a good day in that hard-to-define way that fairies always

did, like rain on the pavement or a fresh bouquet of flowers.

In her case, her scent was like a high mountain spring. He

rubbed his nose again. Sometimes the wolf made him sound

like some kind of wannabe poet, but there was honestly no

other way to describe it.

“I"m Detective Del Mar. This is Detective Branigan. Los

Cerros PD. We"re investigating the break-in in which you

were attacked.”

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6

“Obviously. And that human boy outside told me that

there would be questions, but I don"t really remember

anything, you know.” Nasreen waved it, them, off. “Is Audrey

okay? Her shop, I mean. He was robbing the place, right?

Her shop is everything to her.”

“He?” Penn didn"t take out her notebook because they

had learned that it tended to distract people when someone

was writing down their words, but she did lean forward.

“Why did you
assume it was a robbery?”

“Oh, you know….” Fairies really weren"t good at

deception. Most didn"t try. Ray almost thought Nasreen

might be making the attempt, and then he realized she was

just trying to focus.

She paused for half a second, then hopped over to stare

out the window. Fairies didn"t lie, but as Ray had learned

from dealing with a certain half-fairy, they could omit

whatever they felt like, even as the truth stayed all over their

faces.

Obvious, shining truth. A gift, or a curse, depending on

whatever it might be. Truth, according to Cal, was the

business of fairies. Ray had never contested that.

“I know you don"t trust the police, but we"re here to

help,” he spoke up suddenly, mostly to move his thoughts

back to the case, but also because she was being skittish.

When he"d said
police
, he"d meant the
human
police, and

they all knew it.

Nasreen jumped and stared at him. It could have been

for speaking at all, but it was probably for acknowledging

that some of those in law enforcement could be less

understanding to Beings, though Ray liked to think that if he

had
been human, he would have been one of the good ones.

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R. Cooper

7

Nasreen blinked rapidly before squinting at the two of

them, and Ray realized that she hadn"t known he and Penn

weren"t human. The attack had seriously distracted her.

Fairies were flighty but not stupid. Seeing through disguises

was something most of them excelled at.

In fact, it was reputed that they saw through anything,

straight down to the heart of the matter, but since Ray had

seen them get just as confused as anyone else, he took that

as yet another legend of Beings that had been disproven by

experience. But he
would
admit that they did
see things

differently.

He and Penn weren"t disguised, exactly, but they weren"t

in their natural forms either, and, according to Cal, that did

things to a fairy"s vision.

A fairy"s vision. Ray almost snorted. That was something

safer not to try to imagine.

“Pari-Nasreen.” He didn"t
quite
growl, but he used the

honorific to soften his words in case it seemed that way. “We

will catch this person.”

“Let"s start over, shall we?” Penn was gentle. “You work

at Zucchero, where you make candy. According to Audrey

Conti, the owner, when you"re creating something new, you

usually work at night, alone in the kitchen in the back of the

shop.”

Nasreen gave a careless shrug but then came over to be

closer to Penn. She just looked intrigued now. Fairies. At

least they were easily distracted. Ray would have smiled, if

the thought wasn"t like an arrow to his heart.

“You park in the back. You have a key and the alarm

code. Tonight, someone broke in and surprised you.

Some Kind of Magic |
R. Cooper

8

Something happened, we"re not quite sure what yet, but they