The Fabled Read online

  “I will not assume. You know what that makes us.”

  I laughed. Lucian talking about making an ass out of us was funny.

  “Alright. I’ll see what I can find out and meet with you afterward. Maybe you’ll have some better ideas with some more information.”

  “Indeed. Take care daughter. Oh, I have already taken the liberty to notify Tristan.”

  I smiled even though he couldn’t see. Lucian always knew everything so it didn’t surprise me that he was aware of Tristan’s complaint yesterday.

  “I’m sure he appreciates being first to know.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, I’m sure he does. Take care daughter. I will see you soon.”

  “You too father.”

  I hung up the phone and got ready to leave. There was a horn honk from outside so I grabbed my jacket and ran for the door. As I got in the car I smiled at Tristan but he didn’t say a word. He knows better than to complain. It’ll just lead to more unwanted situations like this one.

  “You look tired,” he said after a few minutes.

  “I’m not surprised. This is the second night in a row that I only managed to get three hours of sleep.”

  He shook his head. “You can go much longer. You visited Doyle last night.”

  He hadn’t bothered to ask and I didn’t bother to answer.

  “I asked you not to go see him unless you needed to.”

  “Part of this agreement is I feed him when he really needs it too.”

  “He could find someone else for that you can’t.”

  “I could.”

  “Not easily. Not someone you could trust not to just kill you.”

  “Tristan. I told him I couldn’t do it anymore and that he needed to find someone else. Does that end this argument?”

  “Only if you meant it. I know how he ropes you back in. You’re the only person in the world who thinks a Demon is a good guy.”

  “I’m sure he wasn’t at one point. Just as I’m sure he had done some truly heinous things in his past but as long as he’s trying to be better I will try to help him be better.”

  “Then help him by finding him another donor.” He seemed to think about it for a moment. “Hey, you think you could take out a personal ad for something like that.”

  “And say what? ‘Lonely Demon seeking energetic woman to feed off and fuck.’”

  “Or what about this one. ‘Hungry Demon seeking next snack and sex.’ Short and sweet, nothing like Doyle at all.”

  “Son, stop hating on him. What is your problem with him anyway? It’s not like he’s the stepdad you just can’t get along with. I only see him every once in a while but you’ve hated him since first learning about him.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t love the idea that the one woman in my life I care about is feeding herself to a Demon. It’s not right, mom. He could kill you and then where would I be?”

  Alone. I didn’t say it and neither did he. He’s always feared being alone, even as a little child. My mind was instantly thrown back into the day I first met him. My too skinny, dirty, little boy.

  I had been tracking a small pack of Loup-garou twenty-two years ago. They had been feeding off Human flesh in the greater Chicago area and I had been sent in to put them to a stop. The alpha of the group was a sly one. Whereas most werewolves prefer the woods and country life this one kept his gang to the inner city. It was harder to be spotted in the crowd and easier for them to find prey. Twenty-eight Humans had been killed and partially eaten by this group before I found them at a low-rent motel.

  After killing them I left the room and started down the balcony toward the stairs leading to the parking lot. I was passing the room next to the Loups when I heard a small voice.

  “Mama. Mama wake up. Please.”

  I didn’t even slow my stride. That wasn’t my problem if his mom was too drunk to get out of bed. I learned long ago that you can’t help everyone and there wasn’t anything I could do about a situation like that.

  “Mama. I’m alone. Please don’t leave me alone.”

  I stopped without turning. His tiny voice was playing my heart strings like a harp. He sounded so sad and the worst thing was the mom hadn’t even responded. Not just a single sentence letting him know he wasn’t alone. Nothing.

  I moved closer to the door, leaned in and breathed deep. Blood. My immediate thought was the loups next door had gotten to her. I tried the door and it was unlocked so I let myself in. There was a little boy cowering next to the cheap headboard of the bed that had blood all over it and a very dead woman laying on it. I moved closer and the boy flinched back.

  “It’s alright son. I’m going to help you.” I looked closer at the woman. She wasn’t attacked by the loups. There were multiple stab wounds and the knife was lying beside her on the bed. I touched the back of my hand to the weapon. I didn’t want to leave my prints and all it took was touching it to see who killed her. It was the boy’s father. Apparently she had blown his money on drugs and paid the ultimate price for it.

  I stood back up and looked at the boy. He stared at me in return. He was so young, probably no more than three, and he was skinny. I could see all of his bones and his cheeks were sunken in. He was favoring his right arm and I wondered if it was hurt. I made a decision right then to keep him. He obviously had no other family. At least none that gave a crap or he wouldn’t be here with a dead body. More than likely if I hadn’t come along, the super would have been the one to find them when he didn’t receive his rent.

  I held my hand out for the boy and he just looked at me.

  “It’s okay son. I promise I won’t hurt you. If you come with me, we’ll eat and I will make sure you’re never alone again.”

  He reached out with his left hand and took mine. I sent magic into him to heal his broken right arm and to help sustain him until I could get him some food. The poor boy hadn’t eaten in a couple of days.

  I remember a conversation we had a few months later when I first introduced him to his grandfather and explained that he wasn’t my biological father either. Tristan had asked how he could be my son and Lucian my father and I told him blood was thicker than water but love was thicker than both.

  Chapter Four

  “Ivana Tsukyablud”

  Both Vamps were young, probably no more than forty or fifty years, and had been missing for over a year. Both showed signs of being frozen too. With their bodies being submerged in the water and then floating ashore I wasn’t able to use the magic surrounding them to ascertain any information about who dumped them, which in a word was frustrating.

  Over the next two weeks three more bodies washed ashore; all young Vamps, all frozen with their spleens removed and all went missing within a few months of each other. The general consensus was that they were captured and killed in an attempt to find out everything they could about Vampere. Now that the bodies were used up the killers were disposing of them. More than one agent had agreed with Tristan’s government conspiracy theory.

  “It is time daughter. You have put it off much too long.”

  I sighed before looking at my father. He was sitting in the single chair facing my desk while I stood in front of the window. The day outside was as dreary as the mood I was in. I knew he was right but I hated what I would have to do. I nodded and Lucian rose before holding his hand out to mine. I hesitated for a moment. He was one of only a few people on this planet who would make that offer to me and it was nice to know that someone actually trusted me enough to allow me to touch them. I smiled at him then took it. He allowed me to take a deep breath before he warped the space around us and manipulated it until we reached our destination.

  He released my hand and took a step away as I became acclimated with my new surroundings. I hate traveling by portal that way. It was very rare that a Fabled had the ability to open their own portals at will. The only species known to have that ability are the Djinn and they are an extremely rare breed. Lucian was the most powerful Wizard in existence so he was used t
o manipulating not only magic but pretty much everything, and everybody, else. It was because of his unique abilities I was still living on this earth.

  I looked around us and saw he had brought us onto the roof of a medieval castle in the middle of the eastern Alps. I dislike this overdone castle almost as much as I like the overdone Vamp who owned it.

  “Ah, Lucian. What an unexpected visit.” He bowed to my father before turning to me. “And Sunny, you grow more beautiful every day.”

  “Augustus. Thank you for meeting with us,” Lucian said while I studiously ignored the pompous Vamp.

  “You know I am always willing to help one of our agents find a killer. Especially you Sunny.”

  He smiled lasciviously at me. I managed a face that vaguely resembled a smile but probably looked more like a grimace.

  “Come. Let us retire inside. Then you can tell me how I can help you.”

  He put his hand to the small of my back and I wanted to rip it off but I reached deep inside and searched for a shred of diplomacy to help me through this situation.

  Augustus Aigner was the head of the entire species of Vampere and second in leadership of the council. He liked everything elaborately gaudy, probably to detract from his own unattractiveness. He was the only not good looking Vamp I have ever seen. It wasn’t that he was ugly per se just average. He was turned in his early thirties but even at that early of an age he had a major receding hairline. The fact that what hair remained was practically white and long enough to reach his thighs only made the loss more prominent. He had cold blue eyes and his face was stuck in a permanent grimace that made him look constipated. Oh, and he was one of the most arrogant, pompous, astutely ignorant men I have ever had the displeasure of knowing which only made him more unattractive. My dislike for him ran way deeper than my prejudice against Vamps themselves. If I was honest I would know that it wasn’t Vamps as a race that I disliked but instead the few that I knew personally. But I would have to also say that those few didn’t give me much hope for the rest of the species.

  Augustus led us into his elaborately decorated sitting room and took a seat at an arm chair that looked dangerously close to being a throne. He motioned for us to sit in the other opulent chairs surrounding his throne. I had a mental battle with my eyeballs to force them not to roll and only barely managed to win. We sat in a pair of chairs angled to face each other as well as our host.

  “Would you like a drink, Sunny?”

  I shook my head and he looked displeased with my response. He turned to Lucian.

  “Yes, a nice brandy should do well.” My father, always the diplomat. Until he kills you in when you least expect it anyway. There was a reason he was head of the council. Power comes with a price. Ruthlessness is was the penance he paid.

  Augustus looked at a servant who was standing by the door and he immediately started pouring the drinks. I watched his movements and realized he was no servant at all. I wonder if Augustus always has his bodyguards fetch his drinks for him or if he called this one in because of us. The thought kind of makes me feel special.

  The bodyguard brought Lucian’s drink and I gave him a look-over. He had brown hair with hazel eyes, or maybe they were green. It was hard to tell but one thing was sure, whoever created him needed an award because it looked as though they may have found the perfect male specimen. He was tall, probably six-two, with a lean but powerful looking body that had an olive complexion and a face of an angel. He caught me watching him and gave me a wink and I gave him my first genuine smile since I got here.

  “It is an honor to have you here, Thief,” he said for my ears only.

  I nodded back to him. Thief indeed.

  “That is enough Drake,” Augustus said.

  “Drake? Kinda cliché isn’t it?” I asked him.

  He smiled and shrugged. “My mother’s choice. What can you do?”

  I nodded again and he returned to his station at the door. Drake the Vamp. I’ll have to remember him. Judging by his movements and the control he showed over his every one, he would be a force to reckon with if I were to ever have to fight him. Then again I could just steal his magic. That is how I got the nickname “Thief” in the first place. Perhaps nickname is the wrong word for it though. Friends call you by a nickname and none of my few friends call me Thief. It was more of a name my reputation earned me. I wasn’t sweating it though. I’ve been called a lot worse names and I guess Thief is a fitting one.

  “Now, what can I do for you today?” Augustus asked as he relaxed back into his throne.

  Lucian looked at me. I guess I was running the show today.

  “Have there been any recent disappearances in the Vampere community? I’m primarily interested in the state of Texas.”

  Augustus’ eyes narrowed at me. I have no doubt he already knew about the bodies we found and probably had his own copies of the files. I’m also sure he was planning on me asking if he knew anything about it but what would be the use. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to say if he did know about it. Vampere tend to handle their own messes. The thing that kept nagging me about these bodies was why were the killers getting rid of them. They had them for over a year and now within a couple of weeks they were dumping them all. If it was as the other agents thought and the killers were using the Vamps to gather info, then it’s likely they will want to continue to gather that information. And, if that’s the case, it’s likely more Vamps will be, or have been, captured.

  I sat and tried to look innocently at Augustus as he debated what to tell me.

  “It is rare that Vampere disappear. I would have to look into…”

  “It’s rare that they disappear? Yet at least six were captured and killed over a year ago and the council has no record of the disappearances or that they were even investigated at all.”

  “The Vampere handle our own affairs. We do not need others in our matters.”

  “Really? Let’s ask Mr. Ortega if he would have preferred to have our assistance when his boy was killed. Or, for that matter, let’s ask any of the sires whose children were stolen if they would have preferred to exhaust all possible venues in an attempt to save their children. I thought this was a unified front.”

  “And who would we be at battle with, Thief.”

  Oh, we resorted to name calling did we. “Anyone who would do harm to innocents. Those Vampere did not deserve to die like that. I have been working this case for two weeks and have continually dug into the lives of these victims without finding any wrongdoing on their parts at all. Hell, they were typical blue-collared workers. Ordinary people who were stolen and frozen to death. If more Vampere are being stolen, we need to stop this before they suffer the same fate.”

  He sighed. “I will give you what information I have. Only if you are the agent to work this case. I will not have just anyone meddling in our business.”

  I nodded. “I’m already on the case anyway. So, missing Vamps?”

  “Yes, there have been three Vampere stolen from the Fort Worth area over the last two weeks.”

  I sat back in my chair. So they have been replenishing their stock. “I’ll need all the information you have on these Vampere. Did you find anything useful in your investigation so far?”

  He looked lost. “I didn’t think there was any correlation to your investigation until now. We had assumed they ran away from their sires. It happens unfortunately.”

  “So three Vamps go missing in a matter of two weeks and you don’t investigate? I thought you said Vampere don’t often disappear.”

  “They do not. In the event they are temporary lost, they are later found.”

  “Usually, you mean. Usually they are found but sometimes they are stolen and killed. I guess you could say the six Vamps who were temporarily lost a year ago are now found too.”

  “Yes, I believe that could be said.”

  Vamps. Mind games and the convolution of words are their forte. I stood up.

  “Well, thank you for your time Augustus. If you will
get me the information I need, we’ll get out of your hair.”

  His eyes narrowed again. I tried not to snicker.

  Chapter Five

  “Bat-shit crazy”

  “You’ve got to let go of this irrational hatred of Vamps. It’s not healthy.”

  I looked at Tristan like he had lost his mind. “Since when do you give me advice on what’s healthy for me? Should we go into detail all of the things you do that aren’t healthy for you?”

  “This isn’t about me, mother.”

  “No. I thought it was about telling you what I learned at Vamp headquarters and somehow it got turned around to me and my irrational hatred of Vamps.”

  “I’m just saying that it isn’t right to hate an entire race because of the actions of a few bad ones. What will you do if I become one?”

  I tried counting to ten before answering but it really didn’t seem to help. “I’m not really planning on you becoming a Vamp.”

  “Then why did I sign that waiver. You told me it was giving my consent to be turned in the event I’m too far gone to give it at the time.”

  “It is. But that is a last resort. Only if you’re injured on the job and there is no way to heal you. There are traditional medicines not to mention healing potions that would be able to save you in most cases.”

  “And then what? I die an old man in my bed while you live on to find another kid to raise.”

  My mouth was hanging open. I couldn’t believe he thought so little of me. The worst thing was how close to home he had hit. When he was a child I often felt like I was betraying my children from my Human life by finding a new child to love. The only thing is my other children are old with grandchildren of their own now. It’s hard to outlive your children and Tristan knew this.

  “I’m sorry, mother. I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t fair. I just want you to understand where I’m coming from.”

  “So you want to become a Vampere?”

  “Not now. But maybe in the future before I’m too old. Unless Lucian can make some more of that super powerful, super rare potion that was used on you.”