Not My Fae, page 7
part #8 of Vegas Fae Stories Series
"Don't forget luck, Professor. I hate to admit it, but I almost didn’t come back from that one."
He was unable to continue his questioning thanks to the return of Roberto's Mage. A few minutes later, and with parchments in hand, the Professor thanked me again. With the promise of a future interview, he left to begin his own analysis of this morning's events.
When he was finally gone, I packed up what I needed, let Roberto know he had the call out tonight, and then headed over to Supply to pick up a few things. Once there, I was surprised to see a man named Jim Slater doing some work behind the window. He'd been a Mage with the EAB in my world but here he was wearing an LVPD badge.
"Hey, Jim," I said as I walked up to the counter and passed him my badge case. "I need some transport candy."
"Sure thing, LT," he grunted, jotting something down on the log as he pushed away my badge. He pointed to a door a few feet down from the window.
I stepped onto the pad in front and waited until he buzzed me in and the door opened. I followed him to another door where he pulled out a giant ring of keys. Sorting through them until he found the one he wanted, he unlocked the door and gestured for me to follow him in.
Transport candy was local PD slang for several versions of sleeping spells that could be administered by almost anyone. Although not that practical in a combat situation, it was a common method used to transport criminals from one place to another once they were subdued. I wasn’t sure if I was going to need it, but it never hurts to be prepared. Especially when I didn't trust the Knights enough to expect that this would be as simple as just turning her over to them and driving away.
It makes sense if you think about it. The only criminal's cops back home worried about arresting were human, and while that's difficult enough at times, here you never know what you'll be up against. More importantly, not everyone on the Department was as well versed in magic as my guys were. No matter what your skillset, in this job, you could face Werewolves, Werebears, or Were something even worse at any time. Most of which can easily bite your head off or sever numerous veins and arteries with a single nip. That was just some of the myriad of creatures a cop can be faced with in this crazy world. Demons with the strength of 100 men… Oh, and don’t forget Mages and Wizards either. Muzzle anyone you want, but understand that spells don’t necessarily need to be spoken aloud. I could go on, but let's just say that this is a lot more effective, and thanks to a blending of magic and medicine, it works most of the time. It's safe too, at least for the most part. That's not to say we used them on everyone, but it was nice to know you had a little something extra in your kit when the Werewolf you just busted starts kicking out your windshield and snapping those canines at you.
"Generic by species or do you want me to whip up something custom?" he asked, closing the door behind us as he sat down at the table that took up most of the room. It was covered with various containers and small machinery as well as several mortar and pestle sets. "If you don't already have one, I can give you a kit which has multiple spells in it. They're sorted by species and magic content. You probably know this but even though they're all labeled you still need to be careful on who you use them on. Some of the ingredients aren’t compatible with everything out there if you know what I mean."
"I think I do," I said, leaning against the table. "But I want something custom. It's for a human, but they're also a Null."
"Null, huh?" he said, rubbing his cheek. "Don't see too many requests for that. Can't weave a magic spell for that one. You also know that anyone else would need approval for that. But since you're the guy that would have to sign off on the request, I guess it's okay."
"I don’t want to cause you any grief, Jim," I replied, wondering if I was going to have to think of another way to accomplish what I had in mind. "Not even sure if I'll need it."
"Doesn't cause me any grief, LT," he replied, pulling a few canisters from across the table. "You said it was for a Null. That's good enough for me. I'll just put on my apothecary hat for a few minutes. Takes a little more work when I can’t use magic but it's not like you can hit them with a sleeping spell if they won’t shut up. Okay, then. Standard human with a few modifications. I'll need sex, age, height and weight to get started. Body style, too. Doesn't have to be exact, but the closer the better if we want to get it right."
"She's in her 20s. About 5' 6", maybe 120 - 130 pounds. Athletic build, more muscle than fat. But not like a bodybuilder, more like she lives a military lifestyle, if that makes sense," I replied, trying to remember all I could about her.
"Got it," he said as he carefully measured out ingredients and added them to one of the machines as I watched. "Truth is, it really doesn’t matter too much, but the quantity used determines it's effectiveness and duration. How long do you want her out for?"
"Two hours should be enough," I replied, watching him work. "Might as well give me a couple sleeping spells as well. Generic humans, 20 to 30, same body build." Nulls were pretty rare and I doubt they had many of them. But there was no way the Knights were going to make this easy so I might as well be prepared.
"Sure thing, LT," he said, then grabbed a few different canisters as he turned on the machine in front of him. "I keep those in stock."
"Alright, Lieutenant," he said about 10 minutes later, handing me what looked like a USB stick with a button on each side. "This is for your Null. Place it near her nose and press down on the red button hard. It's in pressurized gas form. One whiff and she'll be out for roughly two hours. The green button is the counter agent. Apply it in the same way if you need her to wake up sooner. This particular agent induces short term memory loss, so she may be confused when she wakes up. You might want to hold your breath when you use it, but it dissipates fairly quickly so don’t worry about holding it till you turn blue." He chuckled before handing me two coin-shaped objects. "These are standard spell charms. Just tap them on any open skin and the spell is released. Works on just about anyone in human form with a few exceptions so you've got some options. Just say Exsurge to release the spell and wake them up. Anything else I can do for you?"
"That should do it," I replied, pocketing the charms and applicator. "Need me to sign for any of this?"
"Don’t know what you're talking about LT," he replied, leading me back to the other room. "Nothing report worthy going on here."
"Thanks, Jim," I said as he buzzed me out of the supply room. "I owe you one."
"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. "You're gonna be broke when I come to collect." Then he waved me off, ignoring me as he went back to whatever he'd been doing before I came in.
Chapter 6
The evening lights had just kicked on when I drove through the underground lot toward the lower jail entrance and pulled into one of the empty spots. I badged my way into the elevator and then punched the button for jail holding. A few minutes later, I was at the counter speaking with the intake officer and filling out paperwork.
"Okay, Lieutenant," the intake officer said as I filled out the form that would get her released into my custody. I'd administratively dropped the trespassing charge, but since she'd been booked as a Jane Doe and had a hold placed on her, it would take a few hours for the paperwork to travel through the system. Not that it mattered to me at the moment, but if anybody checked they'd see what I had done. "All I need now is her name to close this out."
"Gisla, Bubba," I said, pulling a name from out of the air and passing most of the forms back to him. "That's spelled with two Bs by the way."
"Right… " he replied, drawing out the word. "Bubba with two Bs it is. Interesting name."
"It's Icelandic," I said, signing my name to the final form.
"If you say so," he replied, tapping the forms on the counter before placing them neatly into a folder and pointing at the door across the room. "You're all set. I'll have her brought out in a minute. You need anything else?"
"That should do it," I said, and then walked over to one of the benches to wait.
A few minutes later, there was a buzz as the door slid open and she was escorted out by one of the correction officers holding a paper bag. Standing there in her orange jail coveralls, she looked confused when she saw me approach. She also looked dirty and disheveled. Not surprising since she'd been taken down hard in a fight and knocked unconscious before being brought in.
"I'll take it from here, Officer, thank you," I said as he handed me the bag. We switched handcuffs and then I led her back to the elevators.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked as the door opened and I led her inside.
"Let’s not spoil the surprise," I replied, pushing the button for the lower level. When the doors opened, I led her across the parking lot and toward my car. I popped open the trunk and placed the bag of clothes and bible they'd given me next to the rest of her belongings and then retrieved my guns and knife which I'd secured inside. Even I wasn't allowed to take those into the jail.
"Okay now, Belina," I said as I positioned her against the car and opened the passenger door.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" she asked, turning her head to look at me. "So you know my name. I would expect nothing less from one possessed such as you. I know not what Faustian bargain you have made, but imprison me or kill me, it matters not. I have made peace with my God."
"Faustian bargain," I repeated, stepping back and relaxing my hold on her. "Has a nice ring to it, too bad it's bullshit." I let go of her arm and pulled out a handcuff key, holding it up so she could see it. "Although I do have a bargain for you. Less dramatic, but one you might be interested in."
"Do not waste your time," she spat out. "I will not be led astray by one such as you. You are a rogue and a fool. Your words are but nonsense to my ears."
"For the fool speaks folly and their hearts are bent toward evil," I replied, quoting a similar passage. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Nice take on Isaiah by the way. Verse 32, isn’t it? Listen, why don't you take a clue from Colossians 2 and recognize that I'm smart enough to know that I can't deceive you with any bullshit arguments. Truth is, I'm not even gonna try. But I want you to listen, and if you even attempt to quote Matthew before I finish, you'll regret it.
"Here's the thing. For all intents and purposes, I just sprung you from jail. As a bonus, all your charges have been dropped. The caveat to that is I have to turn you over to your people across the border. Staying in Nevada is not an option. Oh, and this was a one-time deal. If you come back, I won’t make the same arrangement again."
"I do not trust…" she started to say.
"Just allow me to finish!" I said, holding up a finger in front of her face. "This is not negotiable. What is negotiable is how you spend the rest of the time until we get to our destination. You can be an ass and spend it handcuffed and shackled, trying or not trying to escape, and I can make your life miserable, or you can promise to be a good girl and I take the cuffs off. The choice is yours. But I will need your oath that you won’t attack me or try to escape before we reach our destination. In exchange, I'll promise not to ask you anything that violates your order's rules. Not that I planned on doing so, but the offer stands.
"I will promise nothing to one of your kind," she said when I finished.
"Oh, for the love of…," I muttered. Time to change tactics. I pushed her against the car and grabbed her by the back of her hair, pulling my dagger from its sheath and bringing it up to her neck. "You don’t get it, do you?"
She looked at me defiantly as I pressed the blade harder against her throat.
"Not long ago, I slew an Executor with this very blade," I said, slowly pulling the dagger back and raising it to her eyes so she could see it clearly. "It belonged to a warrior monk. Look at the runes carefully. I know you can read what they say. Do you really think someone in league with the Devil would be carrying such a thing?"
The blade of Monk Magnus had been given to the Robert of this world by his grandmother when he had graduated from the police academy. It was a religious relic and had runes embedded along the blade and handle. While the Monk Magnus in my world had been a peaceful minister, the Magnus here had been a slayer of Demons. I didn’t have to explain to her its legacy; the power of the runes spoke for themselves.
"That is not possible," she whispered, her eyes wide as she stared at the symbols etched into the blade.
"Welcome to my world," I said, letting go of her hair. "Now I'll ask you one more time. What's it going to be?"
"I will agree to your terms," she said a moment later. "I will not try to escape."
"That's not quite good enough," I replied, sheathing the blade. "You did, after all, try to kill my partner. What do you say we do this right? Repeat after me:
"By the rose that represents our sacrifice and the sword which lies beneath. That which symbolizes our endless faith, ever ready in service to the true Word. I swear and affirm that I will do no harm, nor try to escape until you release me. Death and Hellfire for eternity be my fate if I break this vow."
"How do you know those words," she asked in shock.
"Does it really matter?" I replied, pulling out my handcuff key. "Now what's it gonna be?"
Truth was that after I'd stopped her from shooting Rael in my universe, I'd had to turn her over to the EAB. But I'd pulled a few favors later and got a chance to review their file on the Knights. That oath, in particular, was one they used before they finalized any agreements with outsiders. Figuring I'd run into them again, I'd decided to memorize it. It wasn't perfect, and I had to change what was promised, but it should bind her long enough for what I needed.
She didn’t say a thing and I was about to give up and just toss her in the back seat when she suddenly spoke out and repeated the oath. Then she turned around and presented me her cuffs.
I removed them and motioned for her to get in. A minute later, we were out of the parking lot and driving through the city.
"How did one such as you come to possess a sacred blade?" she asked, rubbing her wrists and staring at the lights of downtown through the car window.
"One such as me?" I asked, making my way toward Rancho. "Excuse me for waking up this morning. Besides, don’t you people do any intel? Maybe it's just me, but if I was heading into a place I had no business being, I think I'd like to know more about what I might be up against."
"I know who you are," she replied, still looking away. "This is not the first time I have been in your city."
"Oooh," I said, chuckling. "Subtle. But I feel like I should point out that denigrating one's opponent by intimating that he's not worthy or good at his job is not the best way to get him to answer questions. Maybe you should try asking nicely instead."
"You are correct," she replied, this time looking at me when she spoke. "If I am irritable, it is because I have been locked up these past few days."
I'd almost said I'd hate to see what she looked like after 40 or 50 years in Ely State Prison but I figured that might be a little too much. Besides, she hadn’t been much less of a spitfire the first time we'd met.
"But I am curious about the dagger," she said, much nicer this time. "How did you come to possess it?"
"It's no secret," I replied, and then went on to give her a brief history of what I knew about the Monk Magnus in this world and a vague story about it being in my family for years. I went on to explain how I'd got it from my grandmother. I was about finished when I made the turn off from Rancho into my development and pulled up to the security gate. Not wanting to explain her presence, I left the window rolled up as the Fae guard waved me through.
"I thought you were taking me to the border," she said as we passed through the gates.
"I am," I replied, turning onto my street. "But first we need to make a stop."
"I do not understand," she said as I pulled into the driveway. "Where are we?"
"My place," I replied, mumbling the words to turn off the wards before pulling into my driveway. I parked and reset the wards, then turned off the car and pulled out the key. "I'm sure the address is in your files. As to why, I'm not sure how long you were out in the desert, but I do know you just spent the last three days in a jail cell. If we're gonna spend several hours in the car together, you need a shower and a change of clothes. Nothing personal, but you stink."
I led the somewhat suspicious Knight into the house and introduced her to Charlie. As he and I had discussed earlier, I explained to her that he was my dog and was highly trained. Then I took her into my daughter's old room and rummaged through the closet, handing her a pair of jeans and a shirt and then pointed her to the bathroom. Before she closed the door, I made a point to tell Charlie to guard her and then retreated into the kitchen to wait.
I had a slight moment of doubt when she came face to face with Charlie. You never really know with a Null. Being one didn’t mean you were immune to every kind of magic out there. Some were more sensitive than others. But I'd remembered that she had been affected by the wards in my universe and seeing that she didn’t appear to have a clue to what Charlie actually was meant that she wasn't some kind of super-human. That at least, made me rest easier.
"Thank you," she said a half-hour later as she walked into the kitchen with Charlie following behind her. Cleaned up and looking refreshed, her hair was loose and frizzy from where she had toweled it dry. Slightly suspicious at her change in demeanor, I directed her to a chair at the table and pushed a sandwich in front of her.
"You need to eat something," I said, taking a seat across from her. I knew she hadn’t eaten in at least three days because it had been noted in her jail file that she'd refused her meals. "Don’t worry, nothing's poisoned. The glass is just water and there's coffee if you'd like some."
"You are not having any?" she asked, looking down at the plate.
"Had one while you were in the shower," I replied, pouring myself a cup of coffee from the carafe. I watched her devour the sandwich as I sipped my coffee.
