History Of Fire: A Dark Faerie Tale Part 7

We finally caught the attention of the bartender, and he headed our way. I wondered if this was the guy we were looking for.

"What can I get you, and can I see your I.D.?" The guy extended his hand as he studied our faces. I pulled out my wallet and confidently plopped down my fake I.D. Hey, it helped to have one when I was frequenting bars all over the place looking for Unseelie escapees.

The man studied it, scrutinizing it for what seemed like forever. He didn't even ask the girls for theirs and seemed to avoid looking at them. "What can I get you?" He handed the card back and drilled his eyes into me.

"Can I have a c.o.ke? And I need to ask you something." The bartender narrowed his eyes and began his routine of plopping a napkin onto the counter, filling a gla.s.s with ice and squeezing the tap to fill it with soda.

"Sure thing. What can I help you with?" He placed the soda before me and waited. "That'll be four dollars. What can I answer for you?"

"We're looking for Lorell." I studied the guy's nametag, feeling disappointed to find it said 'Larry' on it.

"Who's asking?"

"We're from the Scren Palace, under the authority of Queen Shade of the Southern Realm," Braelynn answered with a hushed voice before I could. I glanced at her and slipped the money onto the counter before sipping the cold beverage. I offered some to Sary, who shook her head at me, making a face at the bubbly drink.

"There's no Lorell here."

Braelynn held out the crystal Elvis and set it on the counter. "I have something he needs." She let the crystal flash under the bar lights, which were spa.r.s.ely spread across the ceiling, keeping the atmosphere dimly lit but bright enough to not trip over anything. The bartender's eyes widened as he became entranced with the figurine. Rainbow colors pepper his face and illuminated the glamour he was wearing in tiny, fractured wisps of faery light.

Ah, a faery bartender. Nice.

"Where did you get that?"

"You know where." I'd never seen Braelynn so determined as she tried to break the man into confessing who he really was. I guess she wanted to find out more about Oran than any one of us. Still, I watched Larry's venomous stare as he matched her eye for eye. His fingers twitched, like he was ready to s.n.a.t.c.h the figurine right out of her fingers.

"Give me that." His tight-lipped mutter made no difference to Braelynn as she withdrew the crystal and pocketed it once more. This didn't bode well for Larry, who reddened even more.

"If you find Lorell, we'll be waiting for him by the pool."

She stood and waved for Sary and me to follow. I downed the remains of my soda and slammed it on the bar as we left. I glanced back to make sure Larry wasn't going to hop the bar and rampage toward us. Seeing him glued to his spot, I saluted the guy as we continued on and eventually disappeared into the crowd.

Chapter Twelve Unraveling.

Unraveling

I focused on the variety of bikini-clad ladies hanging in and out of the pool. I felt overdressed in my jeans and T-s.h.i.+rt, but I was sure to give them something to notice with my laid-back rocker look, nonchalant with sungla.s.ses on. I was having a grand ole time, and I hoped Larry wouldn't rush to meet us poolside. A gla.s.s of Guinness was sitting next to me on a tiny table. I probably shouldn't have been drinking, but I wanted to relax. It was a vacation spot, and the magnificent pool facilities were resort worthy. It literally felt light years away from the dark battle I'd been waging against the escaped Unseelie and was definitely several steps up from being laid up in bed with a Draelik injury.

"Must you drink that foul fluid?" Sary wrinkled her nose as she studied the gla.s.s of alcohol, which was already dripping from condensation. I beamed at her disgust, finding it more than just amusing. She looked gorgeous when she was mad. I liked seeing her seethe, so I was perfectly fine grabbing the gla.s.s and taking a long, deep swig of it despite her grimace.

"It's an acquired taste." I set it back down and let out a satisfied "Ahh," which she leered at.

"You humans never cease to disgust me. Honey wine is much tastier than that atrocious muck." She leaned back onto the towel covering the lounging chair. She was sweating and looked terribly uncomfortable, even when she sipped her gla.s.s of ice water with a lemon wedge squeezed into it.

"Why is it suddenly insanely hot here?" She fanned her face and lifted her long, red tresses, frantically waving them in the air to cool herself.

"You're next to a hot guy. What do you expect?"

She puffed up like a hen and scowled, turning away from me. I shook my head, about to burst out laughing, when Braelynn's voice distracted me.

"He's coming."

My alarm bells began to go off just then. Unseelie were near, and I could feel their impure magic stinking up the air like skunks. I reached back for my sword, but only saw Larry approaching us. He seemed harmless enough. Still, I stood up as he reached us, in case I had to act fast.

"Shade's warriors are quite leisurely with such important tasks." He hovered over us, near the edge of the pool, with an angry sneer gnarling his mouth.

"Best boss ever." I crossed my arms and watched him for any aggression. I was happy to have my sungla.s.ses on, knowing he'd be hard pressed to know what I was thinking with them covering my eyes.

He sniffed and continued to frown. "Where's the crystal?" He turned to Braelynn, who was sitting up but hadn't gotten to her feet. She was mighty confident about herself. I wasn't yet sure if I should take this as a good sign or not.

"Where's Lorell?"

"He's indisposed."

"Oh, well. That's mighty unfortunate then."

The guy turned scarlet, even more so than what the heat had already done to him. "I don't have time for your petty faery games, girl. Give. Me. The crystal."

Braelynn jumped to her feet and stepped forward. "Give me Lorell."

The moment her dress b.u.mped into him, his eyes widen as a spark flashed between them. It seemed to force him to take a step back, even closer to the edge of the pool. He almost lost his balance, but caught himself just in time.

"You dare threaten me with your putrid faery tricks? Your heads will roll for this." His snarl remained carefully subtle since he didn't want to alert the many hotel employees wandering about.

"Look. I'm sure Lorell wants his crystal as much as you want him to have it, but you have to keep your end of the bargain. If you just bring him to me, or us to him, I might consider your demands." Braelynn folded her arms, never wavering. She looked somewhat bored, but I could feel the magic she was radiating to repel Larry. It was laced with some sort of offensive taint toward Unseelie fey and was making Larry sweat like a waterfall, almost as if he'd already fallen into the pool and drenched himself. Whatever it was doing to him, he hated it, and his resolve was crumbling before our eyes.

"Enough!" He hissed as he tried to step away but couldn't move. I noticed Braelynn had him in some sort of magical chokehold that was mighty unnerving to the big guy. She was stronger and more conniving than I'd ever given her credit for, and it left me thoroughly impressed.

These girls had a lot up their sleeves. I bet that even if I spent weeks with them, I'd never truly know them.

Chapter Thirteen Crystal Intentions.

Crystal Intentions

August 5th, 1702 The variety of roots and herbs used in elemental magic can be lifesaving. I managed to cut my arm on a scythe while chopping down some curiously overgrown brambles creeping into our cornfields at an unnatural pace. I worry the witch has returned and cursed my family again. Still, the cut was not healing well enough, even with the use of my fire magic to seal the wound.

I questioned my good faery friend named Aliander. He informed me that many oracles and healers of Faerie use herbs collected in both the human and faery worlds to heighten the healing effects of their spells. He a.s.sisted me in finding useful plants and offered information on what each one could do. I learned which were good healing ointments excreted from root plants and discovered some, which if dried in the sun, could be used for severe pain when ingested. I mixed some of the healing plants with some of our own medicinal herbs and applied the mixture to my festering wound. The following day, I was pleasantly surprised to find the wound completely healed and lacking any trace of contamination.

~Brendan Braelynn eased back on her magic and let him go with a twitch of her finger. He staggered to the side and settled down on one of the plastic lounge chairs. She paused for a moment before she sat down on another lounger, motioning for me to join her. I gave her a "What the h.e.l.l?" look, but she flicked her large brown eyes at me, daring me to not comply.

After that show, I sat down right away, still keeping a keen eye on Larry.

"Fine. I'll take you to Lorell. He won't be happy to be disturbed," Larry said, wiping his brow with his sleeve.

"Why not?" I asked.

Larry glared at me, flas.h.i.+ng his inhuman eyes from beneath his human-like glamour. They glowed amber, like a wild devilish animal, and I could almost see the face of a boar s.h.i.+mmering behind it. He was an Unseelie creature to the bone, that was for certain, and not a pretty one whatsoever.

"He avoids the Sidhe faeries at all costs." He took a deep breath and got to his feet. "This way. And don't you dare pull another one on me or even go near your weapons while in his presence. He has wards to zap you where you stand for that." The boar-like man continued forward without even turning back to make sure we were following.

I fell into step next to Sary, looking confused. "What's he mean by Sidhe?"

She sighed, still annoyed at me for some reason or another. Like most women I get to know, I'd already gotten on her bad side.

"The Sidhe are the ruling cla.s.s of faeries. Those with Sidhe blood are usually the rulers of either of the courts. Most of them don't take to the human world much because it weakens our magic. Your sister is part Sidhe, as am I, but I'm also human."

I look ahead to Braelynn, who was just ahead of us. "What about Braelynn?"

Sary shook her head. "She is not Sidhe, but she's a great sorceress. The human world doesn't bother her much. It affects most Sidhe, but there are exceptions. Unseelie and lower cla.s.s fey wither in the presence of iron-filled human cities if exposed to them for prolonged periods of time."

I nodded. It was interesting learning more about the Faerie world. It was still confusing, but I figured since I was a mercenary on a mission to kill Unseelie escapees and the banished who got in my way, I might as well learn all I could.

"Sounds awesome."

Sary fell silent, and I figured she'd returned to blocking me out, so I just followed along behind her and kept a watchful eye toward the crowd of tourists, gamblers and screaming kids as we left the pool area and headed down a long hall toward one of the many tower elevators of the hotel.

I couldn't wait to find out what would be in this tower. It seemed faeries liked to live up high in the human world. Maybe it aided them to distance themselves from the human populace in the higher parts of the city, a bit farther from the noxious fumes of the city below. Maybe they just liked to be hermits in tall buildings. How would I know? I just needed to find this Oran guy already and get a move on.

We piled into the elevator, and it would have been fine without the ma.s.sive figure of Larry to hog up a whole half of the tiny box. I could even smell the taint of his Unseelie blood this close to him. I tried not to gag on the stench and s.h.i.+fted as close to the wall as I could without letting him out of my sight. I didn't trust this guy. His sweating and constant tugging at the collar of his s.h.i.+rt made me suspicious of him and Lorell. Maybe it was this bad feeling I was getting in the center of my gut that was making me paranoid. No matter what, I had to heed his warning and not draw my weapon or risk certain death.

"So why the security detail to see Lorell? You could've just told us what room he's in," I said.

Larry s.h.i.+fted again, ignoring me until the 10th floor came and went. Then he tilted his head toward me and smirked.

"Others have tried to kill him before. Can never be too careful."

"So why do you want Lorell's crystal? Were you even going to give it to him?" This made Larry move his weight back and forth on his legs as he continued sweating even more profusely. "You weren't, were you? You would've kept it for yourself if we let you."

I heard Sary curse at me to shut up, but I couldn't. I was having too much fun probing at Larry.

"I don't answer to your kind ... human." He spat the last word out like dirt in his mouth. It only made me chuckle.

"My kind? Yeah, okay. Haven't heard that one before," I snickered. "I'm sure it doesn't matter what kind come by here. You don't like Lorell, but you work for him. Maybe he's in more danger from his employees than anyone else."

At this, Larry swung around and grabbed my hoodie, shoving me back against the elevator wall. The whole carriage shook while Braelynn screamed threats at Larry, who obviously wasn't listening. His glowing amber eyes burned through his glamour, and I could see his boar-like appearance breaking through.

"Whoa there, Fido. Your ugly is showing." I kept on smiling, trying hard to not crack up laughing. He couldn't hurt me. Even this manhandling didn't do any damage, and he realized it too late. Larry shot spears at me before abruptly letting me go. I struggled to catch my balance before I hit the floor. Finding my footing, I watched the creature as he growled and muttered to himself. He couldn't hurt me, and he knew that. It seemed the Unseelie were truly helpless if they stayed too long in the human world. Losing control of one's glamour was a dangerous mistake. It could mean certain death from either humans, who'd want to take him down for scaring the bejeezus out of them, or from hunters like me.

I smirked as I watched his shoulders slump. I was getting quite cynical in my young age.

A bell rung as we reached the fortieth floor. I rubbed my hands together, flexing them to keep from drawing my sword. The tingle of ward barriers. .h.i.t me as we stepped off the elevator. They stung and caused me to sneeze while the power poked at us as we walked forward.

"Your wards are flawed," Braelynn stated dryly. I wondered what she meant by that. Maybe they were unstable, but I couldn't feel the same imperfections she did. Whatever it was, if I was going to be killed for going for my weapon, I wanted to know what kind of flaws she was talking about.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She turned back to me and winked. "I mean the wards placed here have too many loopholes. I suggest Lorell get them replaced by a worthy caster."

"Our safeguards work just fine," Larry snorted as we reached the last doorway in the hall. He glowered at us before he knocked three times.

"Who is it?"

"Larry. I have visitors for you."

"I do not wish to see anyone."

Larry craned his neck at us as he continued. "I told them that, but they won't listen. They even put a c.h.i.n.k in my armor."

We all c.o.c.ked our heads toward him. I a.s.sumed he meant the glitch in his glamour.

Silence came from the other side of the door, as if Lorell was contemplating whether to open it or not after what Larry had told him.

"Who are they?"

"They claim they were sent here from the Southern Seelie Court by the new queen called Shade. They have a crystal of yours."

"It's from Ferdinand," Braelynn called out. "He said you would know to trust us if we gave you this crystal." This got her another death glare from Larry.

The locks on the doors jiggled, making me almost laugh out loud to think that besides the faulty wards on this place, he depended on regular old bolts and chains on the doors. How quaint. Any thief or decent burglar could get in there, even with wards in place. Not very smart of this Lorell guy.

The man who swung the door open wasn't what I expected. In fact, I wasn't sure what he was now that he was in plain sight. He stood there quietly observing us. Two short twisting horns stuck out of his forehead like a goat's, and long, soft white hair covered most of his face. A goat man? I was intrigued as we filed in, heading to the sofas he pointed us to. Were those hooves attached to goat legs sticking out of the bottom of his short pants?

"Larry seems quite fl.u.s.tered from the trouble you three have caused him." Lorell leaned over and whispered into Larry's ear as the giant boar-like man bent down and nodded. Soon after, he spun around and headed out into the hallway, clicking the door shut behind him.

"He was less than hospitable," Braelynn replied before sitting down with her back straight, looking authoritative. I was starting to wonder what this chick was really made of. First she was quiet, and then she was all-knowing and taking control of the situation, like an expert leader. What next?