Not Just Another Fae (Vegas Fae Stories Book 4) (8 page)

"Robert?" Meredith asked. "Any thoughts on
the matter?"

"Not a clue," I replied. "I've got Malcolm
working on local legends but there's just nothing out there that I can think of
that would cause it to choose that location." I paused for a moment,
thinking. "There are a lot of homes out there, though, and quite a few
belong to folks that are just looking for privacy. Anyone out there that you
guys know of that might be trying to keep a low profile?"

"I'm on it," Michael said, after a glance from
Siegfried, and then left the room.

"Christopher," Siegfried said. "If you would
work on that as well. You are more familiar with the other Mages and Wizards in
the area than we are. In the meantime, I will make a few calls, and then I need
to coordinate with Michael." He turned to Meredith. "With your
permission, of course."

"Of course. Now I must get back to our guests. I
suggest we meet again tomorrow, barring any other incidents. Robert?" she
asked as she turned her attention back to me. "May I walk you out?"

I said my goodbyes, then followed her out of the room and
back down the hallway.

"Please be careful," she said as we got into the
elevator. "And not just with these Demons. I am concerned that some of the
others may point their finger at you should similar attacks occur on their
properties. There are a few Fae leaders that have not forgiven you for freeing
the Lilin and the perception of your loss of status may give them... ideas."

"And they never will," I replied as the doors
opened to the executive parking level. "But the thought had crossed my
mind. And if you’re talking about Sergei, I can handle anything he throws at
me."

Sergei was another longtime local casino owner. He was
Russian and descended from the Vodianoi, another type of water Fae, but with
Slavic origins. He was also an ass and had taken advantage of the Lilin's
position to use them as he saw fit. Probably my biggest critic, he fancied
himself some type of Russian mobster. He was already on my watch list as
someone to be wary of.

"Of that I have no doubt," she said, still sounding
troubled. "I do not trust him. Should more attacks occur, I would not put
it past him to try and use them to his advantage."

"Meredith, I'll be fine," I said, appreciating her
concern. I turned and faced her. "I doubt Gaea would have wasted her time
with Nikki if all it meant was that I was just going to get killed the first
time someone took a swing at me, be it a Demon or a Fae. But thank you for
watching my back. I know we've been through a few things together and we're
more than just allies. Your friendship means a lot, especially now."

She gently put her hand on mine, and a moment later, nudged
me toward the door.

"As does yours," I heard her say as I stepped out,
the doors sliding shut behind me. Then I turned to see who else was out here.

"I was hoping I'd catch you," Diantha said. She
was leaning against my car as I walked out into the parking lot. She was dressed
to the nines, as usual, in an off white silk top and a pair of tight fitting
black jeans that looked custom tailored. "I was just getting ready to
leave you a note."

"What?" I asked with a grin. "Your finger is
broken and you couldn’t call?"

"Ha ha," she replied. "I heard about the
Demons. I didn’t want to bother you if you were busy."

"Since when?" I asked with a chuckle and then
raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're my Diantha?"

"Always, my Lord," she replied, walking up to me.
She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on the lips. "I was just
trying to be polite. Besides, you'll call me if you need me."

"You got me there," I agreed. "But since you
are here, what do you know about Babylonian or Sumerian Demons?"

"Sumerian?" she asked, stepping back. "Are
you sure?"

"That's what we think," I confirmed. "Does
that surprise you?"

"Those Fae were long dead, even before Apollo gifted me
the eye," she replied, twisting the jewel on the gold chain around her
neck. "I've never heard of one appearing anywhere, and believe me, I've
been dealing with your kind for a long time."

That was no understatement. She was the last Oracle of
Delphi, after all. After
The Fall
, she'd drifted around the world, concealing
herself from Fae and anyone else that she perceived as a threat for a long
time. When I'd found her she'd been hiding in a trailer in Pahrump, near the
site of a long closed brothel. Still keeping a low profile, even though she'd
thought the jewel that gave her youth and beauty long lost until I returned it.

"I said it was a Demon," I retorted. "That's
not exactly my kind."

"Fae, Demons, any magical creature," she replied. "You
know what I mean." She stepped in closer to me. "Do you think this
has something to do with what Gaea told your daughter?"

"That's what I'm thinking," I agreed. "But
that doesn't help us much."

She started to reply, but my phone rang. I hit the connect
button on my Bluetooth and answered, recognizing Martin's number.

"Everything all right?" I asked.

"No," he replied in a surly tone. "It appears
you were only partially correct."

"What do you mean?"

"The Demon has made an appearance," he said.

"Anybody hurt?" I asked.

"One injury," he said. "This time it was
carrying a weapon, some type of spear. I am taking him to your house as we
speak. Jen is already on the way."

"Is he all right?" I asked. "Wait, you said I
was only half right. What did you mean?"

"He will live," Martin replied. "But I think
you are right in that it does not like lightning. I believe its hunger forced
it out into the open. It was eating a goat when we found it."

"A goat." I repeated, recalling what Mal had said
about sacrificing a lamb or goat to appease it. "Where did this happen?"

"Off of Kyle Canyon." He replied. "One of the
houses north of the road. They had livestock."

That was a few miles south of where I'd run into it, and way
too close to town to make me feel comfortable.

"Where is it now?" I asked.

"It disappeared again," he said. "Toward the
mountain. But I can tell you that it does not like human weapons. My shotgun
gave it pause."

"Really?" I replied. "What happened?"

"Devon and Cameron caught its scent about an hour ago.
They tracked it south to where it was found. At first, it seemed to ignore
them, content to feed on the livestock. When a few more of us got close, it
attacked. Cameron was too slow and it speared him. I arrived just in time."

"So the shotgun was effective?" I asked.

"Well," he replied. "In my hands. Of course I
did fire 81 rounds into the thing before it finally withdrew."

"What the hell kind of gun are you carrying?" I
asked.

"A less than legal kind," he admitted. "But
it was the 100 round magazine that made the difference. Anyway, once Cameron,
is taken care of I'm going back out. If it reappears I'll let you know.

"Ok," I said. "I'm heading home in a bit.
Thanks."

"This is bad, Robert" Diantha said, having heard
the conversation. "A Demon such as this disturbs the natural order of the
worlds. They upset the balance, or so your Dwarf friend, Bernd, would say. We
must be careful."

"We?" I asked.

She stepped back up to me and cupped my face in her hands.

"Robert," she declared. "You are still my
Lord, and always will be. More than that, you have become my friend. Just
because things turn a little dangerous, or not to my liking, do not think I
would ever abandon you."

"I don't."

"Good." she said. "We are in this together,
as always. Besides, you may need me, as well as the others. Which reminds me, have
you heard anything from the Dwarf?"

"Bernd? No, there's been no word."

"I am sorry," she said. "I know you were fond
of him."

"I am," I agreed. "I've got folks out looking
for him, but I've got to deal with this Demon problem before I do anything
else.

"Then I will leave you to it," she said, leaning
in and kissing me again. "I will be here when you need me."

I have to admit, as much as I questioned her motives at
times, there was something special about that woman.

I walked back to my car, wondering if I could use her
against this Demon. You see, Diantha can't die. Whatever spell was first cast
upon her granted her long life, literally, or at least as far as we knew. That
kind of power can come in handy from time to time, as she'd already proven. Then
again, since this thing seemed attracted to Fae, it was probably not worth
putting her through such a thing. Just because she couldn't die didn’t make the
pain any easier when she regenerated.

Then Martin's success with the shotgun gave me an idea. I
looked at my cell phone as I started the car and punched in Jay's number. Now
was as good a time as any to let him know what was going on.

"Hey Dad," he said when he answered the phone. "Let
me guess. This isn’t a personal call, and you've got a Demon problem."

"So you've heard?" I replied.

"Dad," he said, chuckling. "I work for the
government, remember? Of course we've heard. And don’t think those six archers
you asked for went unnoticed either."

"Well, shit," I replied, jokingly. "So much
for being a King! You just can't trust anyone to keep a secret anymore. Oh how
soon they forget."

"That's not exactly true," he said. "I didn't
tell anyone here about the archers. And for what it's worth, Nikki didn’t tell
me either. But when I checked in to see how things were going... well... you
know how it is. But I was actually hoping you'd call. The Vegas office has had
a Demon sighting as well. They thought it was a fluke at first, but with the
new info from the Neptune, someone's putting two and two together, and they're
a little concerned."

"Can you tell me about it?" I was sure he could,
since he mentioned it first, but it was only polite to ask.

"Yeah," he replied with a chuckle "You're a government
contractor, remember? You're on the distribution list. Let me pull the email
back up. In the meantime, tell me what you're dealing with."

I told Jay about the two Demons at the hotel, the Edimmu, and
then described my fight with the Gallu Demon, as well as Martin's encounter. I
also told him my theories on its dislike of lightning and Martin's account of
the effectiveness of the shotgun. That and Ella's information that it couldn’t
be killed by magic alone. I conveniently left out the part about getting
wounded myself.

"Sounds nasty. She may be right. At least you guys have
been able to hold it off. But the Succubus description is similar to the one we
had," he replied. "Happened out off of Blue Diamond Road. Apparently
some teenager picked up a book from somewhere and started playing with the
incantations. Wound up summoning some kind of ghost-like Demon similar to what
was described at the Neptune. Damn near blew his house up and almost got
himself killed doing it. He's still unconscious. One of our people will be
there when he wakes up.

"The locals advised us of the call. One of our Wizards
was dispatched and was able to contain it, at least for a while. They tried to
get it back to the office for study, but it was too dangerous. They had to kill
it when it broke containment before they could get back. The thing is, no one's
seen anything like it before, and it's not in our database. That's not normal."

"Sounds familiar," I said. "What kind of book
was it?"

"That's the strange thing," he replied. "His
mother said he got it from a used bookstore, but it's just a bunch of crap.
According to our guys, none of the spells should have worked. But if he used
something else, we haven't found it yet; although they're still following up on
it."

"Anyway," he continued. "You've got my
archers and the Weres, but from what you've said, I'm guessing you're going to
need more firepower to take this thing down."

"Yep," I agreed. "I think we're going to have
to beat this thing down and I don’t have a big enough hammer available at the
moment. Any chance of an Apache loaded with Hellfire'?"

"Yeah, right," he exclaimed. "I don’t think I
can get one of those. But... hmm... no magic, eh? I think I might have an
alternative in mind that will work almost as well. When are you planning to go
out again?"

"Barring another sighting, sundown tomorrow," I
replied. "Rain should clear out by late afternoon, so I'm guessing, unless
it gets hungry again before then, that's the best time to start."

"Okay. Give me the details of the location you think
we're dealing with. Then let me make some calls and either I, or someone from
the Vegas office, will get back to you in the morning. I'd be there myself but
I've got a few more loose ends to tie up here in LA and they're almost as bad.
I doubt they'll let me come up early since we've got people out there that can
help. But I'll be there soon."

Truth was, I was almost glad he wouldn't be here. He was my
son, after all, and even though we were in the same boat, so to speak, I didn't
really want to worry about him any more than I had to, which seems almost funny
when you think about it. Here we were, talking about fighting Demons, not to
mention that he was the protector of our Fae realm, yet I was still worried
about him. Hell, he'd been given extra power by Gaea herself and I was still
concerned. I guess they never stop being your kids, no matter how old they are,
or what profession they're in.

"I understand," I said, giving him the rundown of
the area below Cold Creek, as well as where the creature had been sighted
tonight. Then added, "I'll wait to hear from you."

"All right, Dad," he said. "I'll talk to you
later then... and be careful"

"Always. Oh, one more thing," I replied, a sudden
thought jumping into my head. "We may have to lure this thing out to a
place of our choosing, so we're going to need to close off the area. Oh, yeah, I
need a goat or lamb. Maybe we can lure the damn thing out with food."

There was a pause and I could hear him laughing in the
background.

"Let me see what I can do," he said before
disconnecting.