Not Just Another Fae (Vegas Fae Stories Book 4) (3 page)

I walked back out to the rise we'd seen Charlie from and
stood a moment, reaching out with magic to see if there was anything there. I
could sense the horses a few miles up the hill, and, of course, Charlie and
Jen, but there wasn't a hint of the missing Weres. There were, however, several
more people driving through the area. It was mostly just cars on the road, but
closer to the actual town at the top of the mountain, there were several
motorcycle riders using the trails. We wouldn’t be able to search out here much
longer; at least not in the daylight. Even with the rain coming, there were
still too many people out here.

Although I could detect the energy a live person or animal
emanated as they moved around within the field of my senses, any residual
energy left behind when they were gone usually dissipated pretty fast. Dark
magic, with evil intent, lasted a bit longer. But I hadn’t caught a whiff of
anything like that out here. Still, there were beings that weren't easy to
sense; like me for instance. As a High Fae I couldn’t be recognized like
regular Fae. It was rare, but I wasn't the only magical creature that was like
that. If there was something else out here, I was just going to have to wait
and see if it appeared. Shaking my head, with nothing else I could think of to
do, I went back to the car and waited.

It wasn’t too long before she and Charlie returned. It was
my first real glimpse of her as a Wolf. Her fur was light tan, with brown and
black mixed in. Darker on the top of her body, then growing lighter toward her
belly and legs. Her face had gray in it and she was a little smaller than
Charlie. If I had to guess I would have put her at about 115 pounds, pretty
close to her weight as a human. I watched as she began to shift and then popped
open the back door to grab her clothes.

"You guys find anything?" I asked, handing them to
her.

"They were here," she replied as she pulled on her
pants. "We found some of Darren's fur on a few bushes near the hill and
his blood on some of the rocks. No sign of Liz, though. They were going west,
into the mountains. From what Charlie says, their trail heads south of the
village, but it's too risky to go there in the daylight. I couldn't smell
anything. With the storms moving in again, the wind is blowing the wrong way,
and last night's rain washed away any scent."

"We should return when there are less humans,"
Charlie said, hopping into the back seat.

By village, I assumed he meant the actual Cold Creek housing
area. There were quite a few cabins there, as well as the three ponds. Those
were stocked with fish and there'd be a few anglers there by now, trying to get
in a little fishing before the storm returned. The area between Mt Charleston
and Cold Creek had very few inhabitants, but both housing areas were well populated
and many folks hiked and enjoyed the outdoors near the two communities.

"Okay," I said as I handed her the keys. "Take
us back to Corn Creek and we'll figure out what to do next."

"What about Martin?" she asked a little while
later. "You said you had a way to contact him."

"I do," I replied as we approached the main road. A
few scattered raindrops were already appearing on the windshield. "Pull
over here."

As she did so, I sent out a mental call to Sendy, the Aurae.

"Yes, my Lord," Sendy said a moment later from the
back seat next to Charlie.

"Whoa!" Jen exclaimed as she heard Sendy's voice
behind her. "Who the hell is that?"

"Sendy, this is Jen," I said. "Jen is a
Werewolf. She's part of Martin's pack. Jen, this is Sendy, a sky Fae. She can
take a message to him."

"A pleasure to meet you," Sendy replied, slipping
a t-shirt over her head. "I am familiar with your Pack Master. What
message is it you need carried?"

"Sendy," I began. "We need you to tell Martin
that we think his missing Weres came this way. Jennifer found some of Darren's
fur on this side of the highway but we can't go any further this time of day
and more rain is coming. I need to know if he's found anything there and what
he wants her to do. Charlie and I will come back out here later tonight,
weather permitting, but it's his call as far as his people are concerned."

"Martin went toward the Sheep Range, which is that way,"
I continued, pointing in the direction of Corn Creek. "You'll see the road
that leads to the wetlands. Follow it between the mountains. You can search for
them from there. They'll be in three trucks, but most likely, some will have
shifted and be in Wolf form. We'll be waiting for you just on the other side of
the highway, near the Corn Creek visitor's center. We'll be in this SUV."

"Here," Jen said, handing her a patch of fur. "Give
him this."

"As you command," she said, before removing her
shirt and disappearing.

"What's the deal with the shirt?" Jennifer asked.

"It's the wings," I replied. "She needs them
free to fly. She's gotten in to the habit of throwing a shirt on as soon as she
appears. Just in case any humans are nearby."

"Kind of like the Wolf thing, I guess," she
commented as she put the car in gear. "First talking dogs, then shifting, and
now winged Faeries. You're getting more interesting by the minute."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said with a
laugh as we drove down the road.

We pulled up next to Darren's truck and waited for Sendy to
come back, passing the time by talking about life as a Fae among humans. Since
she was part of a pack, her story interested me. I had expected a more tightly
controlled group, but by her account, life as a Were wasn't really that
different from any other Fae; at least under the current Pack Master. She had
heard of packs that lived in rigid, structured societies, but apparently, aside
from pack business, Martin allowed his members a lot of freedom, as long as pack
rules were followed. Of course, the pack came first, but I'd expected that.

The pack came first because the emphasis was on family.
There were no rules when it came to relationships. But the ultimate goal of any
pack is to continue the line and nurture and protect the young. That's why, she
explained, most Weres didn’t marry until they were older. It's pretty hard to
have a steady partner outside of the pack when you're trying to conceive with
someone else. It takes two to make a baby Werewolf, just like in the human
world, and it was a given that every female had an obligation to at least try to
continue the line. As with any gene pool, diversity was the key. In their case,
procreation was built into their genes. Not a lot of folks outside of the pack
would understand that reasoning when it came to their relationships.

Every member of the pack contributed when it came to raising
their own. Each child had a slew of aunts and uncles at their beck and call,
available to them when the change began. The image of the tough Werewolf
wearing chains and a biker jacket in books and moves didn’t jive with reality.
Instead, they were faithful parents and family members, more likely to be
playing kissy face with an infant than wasting time being bad asses. Unless of
course the family was threatened. Then they did turn into bad asses. Revenge
was an art form to the Were. I wouldn't want to screw with one. Weres are
tough, and they anger quickly when provoked.

I have to admit though, I almost laughed when I found out
she was a veterinarian. Then again, it did make a weird kind of sense. They were
wolves a lot of the time, but still, it just seemed funny. Then Sendy returned.

"I have spoken with the Pack Master," she said to
me when she appeared next to the SUV. "He thanks you for your assistance.
They have found nothing in the mountains and will return to the city to plan a
search in the area where the fur was found. They will take care of his vehicle
as well."

"Sounds good," I replied.

"Did he have any message for me?" Jennifer asked.

"He asked me to tell you that you are free to go. He
will contact you later for the exact location," she said. "They have
travelled quite a distance and it will take them several hours to return."

"Thank you," Jennifer said.

"Why don’t you do a quick flyover of the area over
there," I said, pointing to where we had just been. "Just in case
there's something we missed. If you see anything out of the ordinary, let me
know. Otherwise, you can return to whatever you were doing."

"As you wish," she replied before disappearing
again.

"I guess we're done here then," I said to Jen.

She put the SUV in gear and headed back to my house. When we
arrived, Charlie and I got out and I keyed the code to the gate. Then I walked
back to the still open passenger door.

"Want to come in for a bit?" I asked.

"I really should get back to the clinic," she
replied. "But could I use the restroom?"

"Sure."

She got out of the SUV and followed me to the gate. I
motioned for her to stop as I spoke the words to modify the wards that
protected the house to let her in. At the same time, Charlie ran up to the oak
tree in the front yard and spoke a few hushed words. A moment later I turned
back to her. "Ok, it's safe now," I said. "Come on."

"What was that about?" she asked as we went to the
front door.

"The house is protected by wards," I replied. "Charlie
told the trees that you were a friend."

"The trees?" she asked.

"They're not just trees," I remarked. "That's
an oak. It's of the Fae as well… it's connected to my lands. Charlie told it to
recognize you and allow you entry."

"…and if he hadn’t?" she asked.

"I was going to let you in anyway, but Charlie took it
a little bit further," I said. "He told them you were a friend, like
Martin is. But if we hadn’t allowed you entry, you probably would have just
forgotten why you were here, gotten back in your car and driven away. If you
meant me harm? You would have seen what Fae magic is really capable of."

The magical wards that protected the house were woven by my
cat, Lucinda. Although, she was no more a normal cat than Charlie was just a
dog. When she first put them up, I'd had a stack of Fae guests stuck in the
house until we remembered to lift them. Since then, we'd modified them a bit.
Now, if we named you a friend, the wards would let you in and out. That said,
the friends list was very small.

"So I'm a friend now, am I?" she said with a laugh
and rubbed the big dogs head. "Thank you, Charlie."

"Bathroom's on the right," I said, pointing to the
hallway.

As she walked away, Charlie nudged me in the thigh.

"Don’t say it," I said. "Besides, you're the
one that granted her friend access."

That's the problem when you live in my world. There are Faeries,
Imps and other magical beings, not to mention talking animals. But Charlie was
more than just a Fae hunting dog. He also fancied himself my protector and
advisor. Not only in battle, although we'd been in a few of those. But,
apparently, also where my love life was concerned. He had this habit of
reminding me not to think too human every time we ran into a pretty girl. You
don’t get that when your dog's just a dog. By adjusting the wards, he was
trying to set me up with her by giving her the opportunity to make a move. Lifting
the wards for her may sound crazy, but he was never wrong about anyone when it
came to their status, so I knew there was no danger. But still.

"She is no threat, and she is pretty," he replied.
"Not intimidated either, which is something you need. Besides, Weres are
still Fae, and good allies."

"Yes she is pretty… and you're right," I agreed. "I
know you decided she was a friend, but I didn't get the impression I was her
type."

"You are Fae," he countered. "Close enough."

"Okay, you got me there. Fine, then. Let's just see
what happens."

Unfortunately, he had a point. I had been seeing someone.
Ok, so it was a couple of someones. The one I had been most interested was a
Lilin named of Delia. I thought we might have had a chance but things hadn’t
quite worked out. At least not yet. The Lilin are, well, just think of them as
Vampires, less the fangs. Thanks to losing a war with the Fae eons ago, they'd
been under a spell that made them, to make a long story short, second class
citizens. I'd freed them, but in doing so had caused some confusion among them
about what their future held. Not only that, I'd also pissed off quite a few of
the other Fae in the process.

One Lilin, an Elder by the name of Ella, was currently
trying to consolidate her power and get them in line. There weren't that many
of them, but as with any magical beings in the human realm, someone had to be
responsible for them or all hell would break loose. And ultimately, since I'd
been the one to free them, I was partially accountable for making sure things
got settled. The bitch was, Delia was now the official liaison to the Fae, as
well as Ella's second in command. Which meant that she didn't have any time for
relationships these days. Of course, since I was the one that put her in that
position, I had no one to blame but myself, but that didn't make it any easier.

What made matters worse, was that our relationship, such as
it was, had been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Since the day I met
her, when I had stepped in to save her from a couple of young Weres with too
much testosterone, it was nothing but ups and downs. First, just the fact that
I had been a Fae was enough. Then a fight with a Demon had left her injured.
That the Demon had been summoned by my enemies and was actually after me hadn’t
made it any easier. Nor was the fact that I'd had to give her my blood to save
her life. Something that, at the time, was akin to a death sentence, since it
was a clear violation of their terms of surrender to my ancestor. This,
incidentally, was something I also had to rescue her from later, when the Lilin
Elders found out about it.