The Fabled (5 page)

“
One is the loneliest number”

“You know father, I really do like to sleep
every once in a while.”

“I apologize Sunny but I thought it would be
prudent to advise you two more bodies washed ashore last
night.”

“Whoa. Like the first?”

“I haven’t received the confirmation from
Calvin but it is suspected.”

“Ashore where?”

“Lake Lavon.”

“Probably dumped by boat.”

“That would be presumable.”

“Wow. You’re just full of information today,
aren’t you?”

“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.

“
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 to
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.