The Fabled (36 page)

“Sorry chica. What happened to that cute
Jotunn from the wedding?”

“Ugh. He’s like my stalker. That’s what I get
for giving a guy my number.”

“Why don’t you try talking to him? You might
find you really like him.”

She shrugged. “I guess I could try that.”

“Excellent, and if he steps out of line, burn
his ass.”

She laughed and I started the car.

Mr. Shane was standing on the front porch of
his ranch style house when we arrived. He was kind of short with
red hair and hazel eyes that weren’t unkind. We introduced
ourselves and he just stared at Brennan.

“You look just like your mother. She took
after Martha, my late wife. You definitely have her look about
you.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Well, come in. I’ll make some tea.”

We followed him toward the house and Brennan
leaned closer to me. “What is it with old guys and tea?”

I raised my brows and shrugged. “Hell if I
know.”

“It cleans the mind. Keeps it sharp. Doesn’t
do a damned thing for the hearing though. Luckily, mine is as keen
as ever.”

He smiled at us and winked at Brennan. She
smiled back. It looked like Brennan might have just met her
match.

“
Ah, fishy fishy”

“What is his status today?”

“He’s healing at a rate twenty times that of
an average Human but it will take some time. I’ll keep him under
sedation until the remainder of his burns are healed. Terribly
painful burns are.”

“And the changes?”

“So far what I have found are minor but I did
notice this yesterday.”

The doctor moved closer to the large tank
filled with a blue liquid and a human body to show his
findings.

“There is one behind each ear. It first
appeared as a small pustule but has since opened. I had an x-ray
taken last night and it appears there is a tube of some sort
forming between the opening and his trachea.”

“What is your hypothesis?”

The doctor took off his glasses and cleaned
them before returning them to his face. It was a nervous habit he
could never break. “It appears to be gills of some kind. That is
the only explanation I can think of. Perhaps it is an adaptation
formation. He is submerged in this tank to help his healing
process. It seems his body is compensating for that.”

“Will these effects be reversible?”

“I won’t be able to tell for sure until after
he is removed from the liquid. They may remain dormant until he
needs them.”

“Or he might turn in to a fish and have to
live underwater for the rest of his life. I need him to heal. He is
the head of our American division and I really do not want to have
to replace him. As soon as the burns are healed he comes out of
that tank.”

“Yes sir.”

“Keep me comprised of any new
developments.

Mr. Curry turned and left the room. He hated
having to resort to using serums on his partner that were gained
from experiments but it was the only way to save his life and he
needed Neil Niobe alive.

He left the facility and entered the
limousine waiting for him.

“It seems our time schedule has been
elevated. It is horrible timing since we may have to eliminate our
partner.”

“Should I do it?”

“No. There will be no action until we know
for certain. I would prefer to keep him in place for now.”

“What would you like me to do in the
meantime?”

“Return to your post.” Mr. Curry smiled at
the Vampere sitting across from him. “Don’t you have a Vampere
leader to guard?”

Drake smiled. “Yes, I wouldn’t want anything
to happen to him. What of the Thief?”

“We received what we needed while she was in
captivity. If Neil survives, I’m sure he will have his own plans
for her. For now, return to your post.”

Mr. Curry raised his brows and Drake nodded
once before leaving the limo. Mr. Curry pulled out his cell and
made a call.

“It is time. You will send me all intel
regarding the Fabled living in your fine city. The Watch will
determine which ones are to be gathered and which to be
exterminated.”

“Yes sir.”

Soon. It would not be long now and all the
work his ancestors have done will come to fruition. Soon.

###

Thank you for reading The Fabled Book One of
The Fabled series. Read on for a preview of Fable City, the next
book in the series coming Fall 2014.

Fable City

Book Two of The Fabled Series

By S. L. Gavyn

Sometimes I wonder if it’s possible to just
go into a permanent stasis brought on by intense boredom. My entire
life has been one big repetitive routine. I rise in the morning,
feed the chickens and collect the eggs, milk our Guernsey then
return to the kitchen to cook for my father and four brothers. From
there the day is a mixture of household and farm chores until
evening. The only highlights to my days are the nights spent doing
online classes. My father would never agree to me gaining a degree
in anything but luckily my brother Tate likes to surf the internet
watching porn and Youtube videos. So several years ago he began
using money from his part-time job to pay for internet service. Of
course they don’t provide high-speed internet this far out in the
boonies but any internet is better than none. It’s my one
connection to the outside world.

The first thing I did once I had internet
access was to take the money I had been saving ever since I turned
twelve and started cleaning the house of our local doctor and buy a
small laptop on one of our annual trips into Oklahoma City. I
secreted my computer away as I’m not allowed to use anything that
might bring me into contact with the outside world. Our local high
school offered GED night classes and once a month a professor from
University of Oklahoma would come and allow residents to take the
GED test. I couldn’t actually attend the classes just as I wasn’t
allowed to actually go to school but I signed up to take the test.
Once I had earned my GED I applied for a Pell grant and, since my
father didn’t work very much, was approved for a full scholarship.
Of course I had to take online courses since I didn’t have
transportation to attend the closest college which was over two
hours away.

Over the last four and a half years I have
managed to obtain, first, my Bachelors then Master’s degree in
business administration. I also minored in nursing and am currently
a registered nurse with a secondary degree in trauma. What is the
point in these degrees you might ask? Hell if I know. I just think
I might go insane if I’m forced to stay here for much longer.

I’m currently in the pasture dropping hay
bales for the cows. Father is once again drunk as a skunk passed
out in the recliner. If the cows don’t get fed, it will somehow
turn out to be my fault so I have learned to just automatically do
his work for him when he’s like this. Part of me really wants to
hate him for his treatment of me but part of me feels sorry for
him. After all, he lost his wife in child birth and was left to
raise a child that wasn’t his. Oh, it’s never come out that my
mother had any kind of affair but all I have to do is look in the
mirror and the evidence is literally written all over my face.

I am the complete opposite of my father, all
of my brothers and even my mother looked nothing like me. They all
are of Native American descent. Where they have dark hair, eyes and
complexion I have fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. It doesn’t
take a rocket scientist to figure out that momma had her hand in
someone else’s cookie jar. I just wish she could have stuck around
long enough to tell me who my father really is. Instead, I’m stuck
in this hellhole with a man who is really no relation to me and his
sons who at best are my half-brothers. Maybe I was switched at
birth. That would make more sense than my mom having an unknown
affair and her child looking nothing like her.

I stopped and watched the cars driving by on
the highway nearby before throwing another bale from the back of
the truck and I want to scream with the injustice of it. I don’t
want to be here anymore. I haven’t wanted to be here since I was
eight years old and my brother called me an alien baby for the
first time. That was when I truly realized I was different, I
didn’t belong and no one wanted me.

I bent over and put my hands on my knees. The
weight of my hatred at this cosmically fucked up world is more than
I could bare. I want out. How can I get out? I thought my degree
was the ticket to freedom but still I have no real options. I stood
back up and looked at the sky before screaming at the top of my
lungs. Once I finished I took a breath then said aloud. “I just
wish I could get out of this place! I don’t belong here!” I slapped
my hand over my mouth. What was I thinking?!

I heard wheels screeching and I looked up in
time to see an eighteen wheeler jackknife in the middle of the
freeway. There was an SUV beside it that was pushed off the road
and began flipping repeatedly. The front of the semi slammed into
the side of a truck and it wrapped around the front bumper. Two
cars behind the semi couldn’t stop fast enough and the small coupe
actually ran under the back of the trailer while the luxury car hit
the back corner and the entire front end was crushed.

I was running before I knew what I was doing.
The back of the semi was closest so I approached the coupe that had
run under the trailer. The entire roof and front windshield were
pushed back and flattened. My virtual trainer from my RN class
popped into my head and told me to save those I could and let God
save the ones I couldn’t so I ran around to the man in the luxury
car. He had a head injury that was bleeding but otherwise he didn’t
have any visible injuries.

“Sir, can you hear me?” I asked as I opened
his door.

“Uh...yeah.”

“Can you feel your arms and legs?”

He nodded. I grabbed his suit coat that had
been thrown over the gear shifter and put it to his head.

“Hold this here to minimize the bleeding. Do
you have a cell phone?”

He reached for the center console and I
helped him open it and pull his phone out.

“You’ll have to unlock it so I can call the
police.”

He unlocked it and I made the call letting
them know to bring in every EMT within a thirty minute radius and
life flight would be needed which meant they would need to call
them in from nearby Guthrie then I gave him his phone back, told
him to just stay there and await the police, and went to check on
the other victims.

I came to the Semi driver next and he too was
only banged up without any major injuries. The driver of the truck
had an obviously broken leg and, by the sound of his breathing a
rib had punctured his lung. I couldn’t do more than help him lean
against the passenger door and rip my flannel shirt to tie on his
arm that was cut pretty deeply then I ran for the SUV.

I prayed to the Seven Deities of Avalon that
there were no children in that vehicle. I would have enough to
atone for once this day was done without having the death of a
child on my conscience.

I approached the driver and had to choke back
the tears. It looked like he was dead before the vehicle ever
stopped rolling. I checked the passenger and back seats and sent a
prayer of thanks that they were empty. I turned back to look at the
carnage my wanting had caused. Several of the drivers of the cars
backed up along the interstate were out of their cars attempting to
help the victims who were able to be helped and I could see the
flashing lights in the distance so I lowered myself to the side of
the road, pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on
them.

What was I thinking? No amount of suffering
on my part was worth all of this. I know better than to make wishes
to the heavens. They never bring anything but pain and suffering.
Now, I have these deaths on my hands.

“Are you alright?”

I looked up at who had spoken and found a man
standing above me. He looked to be in his mid-forties with balding
hair and glasses.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t in the accident,” I told
him.

“Oh. Why did you come here then?”

“I heard the accident and ran over to see if
I could help.”

“You heard it? From where?”

Why did he care where I was?

“I was in the field over there feeding the
cows.”

I pointed to were the truck was parked.

“Why in the world would you be feeding
cows?”

“Because my father’s too drunk to feed
them.”

He looked confused by that then stuck out his
hand.

“I’m Corbin.”

I looked at the hand. I don’t like touching
people especially people I don’t know.

“Zade,” I replied.

He pulled his hand back. “Isn’t that a boy’s
name?”

“Do you know many boys named Zade?”

He smiled. “No, can’t say that I do. Do you
mind me asking why you’re feeding cows in the middle of
nowhere?”

“What else would you do in the middle of
nowhere?”

He laughed. “It’s just that you don’t look
like the type to be living on a farm.”

I looked down at my worn jean, boots, t-shirt
and flannel. If I didn’t look like a farmer then I don’t know what
one looks like.

“I’m not referring to your attire,” he
clarified.

“What are you referring to exactly?”

He pointed to his head. “I’m talking about
what is in here.”

“I’ll have you know that most farmers are
very adept at what they do. You have to be to be able to keep
everything on schedule. Forget one thing and the results could be
disastrous. But to answer your question. I don’t belong here. I
would presume that’s what brought you to me today.”