Payne’s Promise￼

Part One

Chapter One

Understandably Secretive

Sploosh! I awoke to a giant water balloon in the face.

“Mick!” I yelled as I sat up, only to get tangled in the Rube Goldberg machine he had rigged to deliver my surprise.

“Get your fucking wolf ass in here and get this shit out of my room.” He poked his head in the door, his shaggy black hair sticking out every direction.

“Admit it, total classic, bro.” He held up his tabcomp. Great, another video was already circulating. I tossed my pillow at him and he batted it away without even looking, focused on watching his most recent masterpiece.

“Just get that mess cleaned up before I’m out of the shower. Too elaborate by the way.”

Let him chew on that. He probably took it as a compliment, the goofy fucker. I grabbed clothes and shuffled into my bathroom.

As I showered, I pondered our promotion. Tonight would be our first shift as Centurion II’s. It had taken us five years after completing our time in the Academy to get to this point.

After graduation, we were assigned to a city as legionaries. Which is a really nice way of saying we were sent to clean up magical hazmat and whatever went along with it for a grueling year. I’m not even going to describe it to you. If you know what human crime scene clean up entails, imagine throwing magic into that mix. Maybe don’t envision it. I don’t recommend it. I would erase it from my brain if it were practical.

Unfortunately, we both learned a lot that year. Forgetting it would be bad since it led to our first promotion to Centurion I. Yeah, the Bureau was very original in naming the ranks, not.

Anyway, Centurion I are kind of like beat cops. Except they walk more. Only a small part of the shift was spent in a car, regular not hover, we are still way too low on the totem pole for hover patrol.

The rest involved a lot of walking around, just being visible and friendly, answering disturbance call outs, with the occasional excitement of being recruited into a larger operation by one of our department’s primi ordines - think detective with a dash of captain.

Not the most exciting work, although it had its moments. Mick and I had focused on building connections. With humans. With banshees. With werewolves. With pretty much anyone and everyone we could.

I am one thousand percent sure I used up all the fake smiles I had available for my entire life, and that is saying something for an immortal. Four grueling years of that shit had brought us to this night.

I shut off the shower, toweled off and slipped on some boxers. Our promotion also came with a dress code that my partner and I agreed sucked dirty dish water. Better than our previous uniforms but, not much.

I cleaned up the perimeter of my beard but left my face scruffy. The facial hair was a bit of defiance but they couldn’t stop me from growing a beard if I so chose. I just hadn’t made up my mind yet.

I pulled on black slacks, a white button-down shirt, a charcoal vest, and a black tie. I put some paste in my hair and messed it up. Adjusted a few bits, checked it, adjusted a few more bits. Yeah, I give a shit how I look. Don’t like it? Fuck off.

Attitude in place, I headed out. Well, would you look at that? Mick also made my bed. I touched the pillow. He had replaced my sheets and pillow with dry ones. A small demonstration of why I put up with his pranks instead of draining him. I sat down to put on socks and boots.

“Hurry up, your breakfast is here,” Mick called from the living room. I hadn’t been planning on breakfast before our shift and I wondered what was up. When I saw who was in the living room I figured it out. Mick stood behind Jerry and pointed at his eye. His very subtle way of telling me my irises had gone red.

Normally they were blue. The longer I went without blood, or the more strenuous my activities, the more red they took on. Most of the time, mine were somewhere between blue and red in shades of purple.

“Hi, Jerry. Glad you were available on short notice. Let’s have a seat.”

He probably responded. I wasn’t paying attention. Jerry was fascinated by vampires. He also greatly misunderstood them. The Reveal took place around 100 years ago, in the late 1960’s. The supernatural community capitalized on the free love and free flowing drugs of the era.

The humans also seemed to be perfecting protesting at the time but that worked in our favor as well. More on that later. The relevant fact here is, when we came out, we did our best to dispel the most common human myths. Especially those that claimed supernaturals were the result of viruses or mutations that could be passed along through bites or similar.

We are totally separate species. Humans, Werewolves, Sorcerers and Sorceresses, Vampires, Brownies, and the rest. Jerry chose not to believe this and became a donor in the hopes of gaining favor to become immortal. He had no idea what that truly meant. Few people did. I was still learning but, that was probably because I wasn’t supposed to exist.

Long story. The short version is, I don’t advertise my age because it’s dangerous for me. I was finished with Jerry and he moaned when I cleaned up the wounds and set the healing in motion.

“You drink so long and slow. You’re my favorite,” Jerry said dreamily as I stood to get his refreshments.

“Well, you taste so good, I may have had an extra sip,” I lied. It was an easy one, on the amount, not the taste. A side effect of my age, I need around twice as much as the ancients. Spelled orange juice and cookies that promote blood production help me hide it.

“You could just drain me and turn me,” Jerry suggested as I handed him the tray. I’d given up on telling him it didn’t work that way.

“You would miss the sun,” I advised instead. That myth had some truth to it - I would burn, but not to death. Nothing would cause my death. Nothing. Ever. It sounds great to people like Jerry but, there are myriad downsides to being a vampire. Drinking blood isn’t as sexy as it sounds, even if some of it is quite delicious.

At least I knew all my donors would get their full dose of magic because they all came from a service and they were required to complete their snack before they could leave. I was reasonably polite and I tipped very well. I took the tray back from Jerry and handed him a hundred follarés tip.

Yes, follarés, or folls for short. One of the benefits of The Reveal was global, unified banking. I’m not sure how they chose follarés but, at least it was original. Jerry knew he was being dismissed and stood to put the money away.

“Well, call anytime Mr. Dagger. You know I’m happy to serve.” I was grateful he didn’t linger. Dagger was actually my first name. My parent’s idea of a joke, I hope. I hated it and went by Dag, which isn’t much better, but I wanted to honor their choice. After all, finding them and setting them free was the true, and very secret, purpose of my life.

“How red were they?” I asked when Mick came out of his room, dressed similarly to me except my boots were tied and his were not. He didn’t even have laces.

“I called Jerry.” He shrugged. Dammit. I had not meant to let it get that bad. No wonder I slept through the prank set up. In addition to being very pro vampire, Jerry ate healthy, worked out regularly, and was very tall, for a human. He could handle my age related needs. That I found his B negative blood super tasty was a bonus that I told no one.

“We’ve been busy since the move, the move sucked. Great place and all but, moving our shit furniture in here was lame. Especially since the elevator was conveniently out of service until yesterday. Anyway, no big. I got your back.”

He and I had agreed to stop saying thank you and you’re welcome long ago as a matter of convenience. We were kind of yin yang. Where he was lacking, I was strong and vice versa.

The chance meeting in our younger days had been truly fortuitous. At the time, I had just been annoyed. Trust was and is hard for me.

When we were made roommates for our Academy training, I mostly ignored Mick at first. He was only three years younger than me but hopelessly naïve.

After high school, he had gotten a two-year degree in software engineering and then enrolled in the Bureau’s Academy. I took a different route. I travelled the world, studying. Martial arts, grappling, boxing, yoga, meditation, history, anything I thought might aid in my search for my parents.

I sought out other vampires. Many have lived several human lifetimes. Slipping in and out of society, learning one profession after another, one language after another. Hiding their fangs, somehow avoiding the sun. I wanted to learn all their secrets.

Unfortunately after a while, the ancients had all retreated. Tired of the elaborate charades required to keep humans from discovering they were sharing the planet with other species that were so similar to them while at the same time so different.

Despite The Reveal, most of my species preferred to remain hidden. They built lives that allowed them to live freely in extremely small, tightly controlled communities. The big reveal had been more of a tiny reveal for us. Vampires had kept many of our secrets hidden, only explaining the most basic things about our physiology.

After centuries of being falsely vilified and hunted, letting everyone in on our greatest strengths and weaknesses was deemed counter-productive to supernaturals’ desire to make humans feel safe so they would accept us into their society. More on that later…maybe.

Anyway, the most significant lesson I learned from the vampires I met during my travels was that I despise bullies. And that is what eventually led to my friendship with Mick.

He is a walking talking contradiction in terms. He’s a loner. And I don’t mean in human terms. In werewolf society, loners are an anomaly. Most werewolves are hardwired to form packs, seeking strength in numbers. And packs need leaders to keep infighting from destroying the group from within.

These leaders, alphas, are stronger and wiser than the others. They offer guidance and support to the rest of the pack. Helping them build confidence and learn when and how to fight. And if necessary, grabbing a pack member by the scruff of the neck when a more forceful correction is required.

Loners don’t need a pack to feel confident. They don’t need an alpha to correct their mistakes. They are capable of a level of restraint and self-reflection that other werewolves don’t possess. Unfortunately for Mick, this quickly led to problems with the other werewolves in our Academy class.

Away from the structure of their own packs, they formed their own little clique. Which Mick refused to join. The others couldn’t wrap their minds around this and they had no alpha to tell them to just leave Mick the hell alone. To make a long story short, they were bullies.

But Mick refused to scrap with them. He ignored their taunts and jeering. I ignored it too, until one day, they decided if Mick wouldn’t fall in line, they were going to beat him until he surrendered.

I’m not sure how far they actually intended to take things but werewolves without a good leader can sort of lose their senses and ability to reason. Mick, knowing this, and not wanting to further enrage them, didn’t fight back. The bullies thought it was because he was weak and treated him like prey.

That day and what followed is seared in my brain. I can still remember every detail like it was yesterday.

It was lunchtime and I smelled blood. The scent was at the edge of my range. Knowing something was off but not what, I went to investigate. I moved quickly but cautiously. I didn’t want to alert anyone to my presence just yet.

The Academy had a running track that encircled the nearby woods and that was the direction my nose was leading me. Someone was taking a beating and his assailants were too caught up in their frenzy to notice my approach. Good for me and bad for them.

I took a few moments to assess the scene and make a plan. I knew instantly that I might be sacrificing my chance to join the Bureau but I didn’t care because the victim was my roommate. My reasons for joining weren’t altruistic anyway.

Several werewolves had formed a loose semicircle around the main event, yipping with maniacal glee. I needed to pick off as many of them as I could before anyone went furry despite the Academy rules or this situation would go nuclear. That would be bad for everyone.

Fun fact: causing someone to pass out by cutting off the blood flow to their brain only takes a handful of seconds but it is harder to achieve than you might think. Unless you are well trained in grappling sports and or a vampire. Unfortunately for these ruffians, I am both.

Due to my strength and unerring accuracy with locating pulsating arteries, applying pressure to both carotids with my bare hands is easy. I moved in from the rear and grabbed two wolves by the neck, one with each hand and they passed out before their buddies noticed my arrival.

That still left three yippers, two guys holding Mick, and two haphazardly punching and kicking him while they hurled insults. Not great odds but if I could take out the three remaining watchers, maybe Mick could help with the remaining four.

The holders were now yelling at the yippers, adding to the confusion. It was actually a lucky break for me that none of these guys had alpha potential and they didn’t appear to have had much training in any form of fighting. I needed to take out the yippers to get to the others.

I kicked the nearest guy in the diaphragm and stepped past him as he dropped to his knees, wheezing. And then there were two. The next nearest guy curled his hands into fists and took up a fairly good boxing stance. I let him try to deliver a punch but dropped below his arm and balanced on one hand, swinging my body around to sweep his legs out from underneath him.

And then there was one. Make that five. The holders and hitters had abandoned Mick and were now making their way towards me. The last remaining yipper was the closest and he was gearing up to try and stomp on me but I grabbed his foot as I stood, gaining momentum as I rose, allowing me to flip him ass over tea kettle and onto his back.

Or he would have fallen on his back if yipper three had regained his breath and moved out of the way. Instead, guy five landed on him and they both went down in a tangle of limbs. Yipper four was getting back on his feet but Mick had recovered enough to join the fray.

He grabbed one of the wolves who had been holding him, taking one of his legs and one of his arms, swinging him up, and moving in a circle before releasing, sending holder one sailing into both hitters. The two yippers I had blood choked were coming around but seemed to have decided they no longer wanted to be in attendance at my whoop ass party.

They were crawling away but that meant the odds were still seven on two. Two other yippers were still down but they wouldn’t stay down long. The remaining holder hadn’t engaged me yet but he was looking around as if trying to decide how things had gone so wrong so quickly.

He decided to help the hitters and the other holder to their feet. The guy whose legs I had swept out from under him was back up and in a boxer stance, facing me. Which allowed Mick to land a quick punch to the back of his head, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

Six on two. The bullies quickly split up so Mick and I each had three attackers to take down. Little did they know, the one way I had been voluntarily spending time with my roommate was sparring. The Academy hadn’t progressed to defensive or offensive training yet, focusing first on just building our strength and physical endurance.

But I had been teaching Mick a variety of fighting techniques and he was a quick learner. After he broke one guy’s nose and I dislocated one’s jaw, the four remaining bullies finally realized the tide was turning. They apparently decided they liked their body parts whole and properly attached and backed away.

Mick and I left them to tend to the other gang members. I helped him to the infirmary but as soon as the sorceress on duty began applying healing cloths to Mick’s cuts and bruises and assured me, he would be fine, I went straight to the headmaster’s office to turn myself in.

She wasn’t pleased with my story, but I think I got bonus points for honesty. By the time I had finished, Mick had been released from the infirmary and told to rest for two days. Instead, he had followed my trail. The headmaster liked his story even less, but for completely different reasons.

I got thirty days probation. I had to keep my nose clean for the next month or there would be more serious repercussions. Mick got dressed down for not reporting the clique’s activities sooner. The bullies got sixty days probation, were assigned to kitchen duty, and had to complete an anger management course.

And I gained a best friend. I’d never really had friends before and found I actually enjoyed it, mostly. Mick didn’t need the guidance of an alpha but from that day forward, he generally followed my lead. We both graduated with top honors.

Being such good friends made us excellent partners. Five years might sound like a long time but, we worked so well together, we were rocketing through the Bureau’s ranks ahead of our peers.

We were still opposites and tore the mickey out of each other on occasion. Frequently.

“Come on, at least watch the video. The set up was awescool. You uh, well, just watch, please?”

“Fuck you, dick head. Why did you have to do that today of all days? You know I’ll have to watch it later so no, I’m not watching the video now.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “It was still epic.”

We headed out to the elevator and down to my car. Mick was from a large family and he keeps himself in the poor house trying to help his relatives. Me? I’m a selfish bastard with no siblings and a small trust from my parents.

Hence, my car. Not that it was anything fancy, just a four door Müller, and it was certainly no hover car. But I could afford the fuel, insurance, and upkeep so it would have to do. Street parking sucked but one more promotion would earn me a spot in the garage under the building. Sadly, since we had JUST been promoted, I had a bit of a wait for a cherry parking spot.

The department had installed a pretty fancy holoprojector that transformed the appearance of the car during our shift. It worked well for our purposes.

Parking a Bureau car in our neighborhood was a bad idea. But pulling up to a duel or domestic dispute involving magic in anything less than a Bureau car was also a bad idea. We chose apartment over dedicated car. And as far as I was concerned, the apartment was pretty sweet. Two beds, two baths, kitchen dining combo, living room, small office, even a little balcony. Despite Mick’s pestering, I refused to turn on the skin until we had clocked in at the local station. There were times to bend the rules, plenty of them but, this was not one of them.

“You are no fun man. No fun at all. What do I have to do to get you to loosen up?”

“I’ll work on it,” I lied. Another easy one. How do you explain to someone that you are just trying to get through your first century without a major or complete regeneration? Getting to that state isn’t generally painless and coming back isn’t especially fast.

Worst of all, some of the most unpleasant myths about vampires were certainly based on the period immediately following a complete regeneration. The myths were both inaccurate and untrue but parts were truth adjacent.

We got lucky at the station. There was a parking spot just a block away and I pulled into it at 18:50, leaving us ten minutes. After a quick appearance to get checked in and pick up our notes for the evening we headed back to my car as our first neighborhood patrol was a few kilometers away.

“Let me drive?” Mick asked casually. I pretended to think about it as I gathered a little magic in my fingertip. Then I shrugged and handed him the keys, releasing the magic when the keys touched his hand.

“Fuck!” He tossed the keys into his other hand and shook the right one out. “What the hell, Bro? That was not a static shock. How’d you do that?” His anger had converted to awe as he figured out what I had done.

“Just get in the damn car.” He swung the keys around his finger a few times as a wolfy grin spread across his face.

“Can we go already?” I asked grumpily. He finally hit the button, unlocking the doors and we both piled in. “Just something I’ve been working on with Mum. Also, I saw the smile. Do not speed, we have plenty of time.” He looked me dead in the eyes and flipped on the car skin as he pulled away from the curb.

“Something you need for your rendezvous tomorrow morning?”

Dammit.

“No,” I lied.

“Meaning there is no meet up or you won’t need to zip zap anyone once you are there?”

How do I throw him off? I’d followed so many false leads, it took me six months to arrange this meeting. If I blow this dwarf off now…

“Look, there’s a sprite,” I lied, as I pointed excitedly.

Such a dick move, treating my roommate like a dog with a fake distraction. But it was effective and I didn’t feel the least bit of remorse. Now I just had to find a way to lose him after tea with Mum. Maybe a girl, who was that chick he brought over last month?

The car began to slow, breaking through my musings. We were still about a mile from the turn off to ParaDice Cove, the sometimes-seedy neighborhood that held the only legal gambling establishment in the city.

“I don’t know how you saw that little guy but, I think he’s hurt.”

Fate, you are a fickle bitch, making my fake distraction real was a problem we did not need right now. It just meant extra paperwork. Mick pulled off the road, smirked at me, turned on the Bureau flashers, and scrambled out of the car. I let him have it. It did look good for our service record.

Maybe if he was excited enough about helping someone before we even got to the Cove he would forget whatever he had found out about my new source? Nah, the only luck I ever have is bad. I slid into the driver’s seat.

Fortunately, Mick was back about a minute later, the not guy sprite standing on his hand having some kind of melt down. I can’t translate all of it into English, Sprite swears are really creative. The gist of her rant seemed to be, she was fine, something about a downdraft and a dah. That one I can translate. D. A. H. Dumb ass human.

I rolled my eyes, switched off the flashers and got us back on the road.

“…just fine. Since you hap’n to be goin’ to the Cove, I didn’t see nuthin’ wrong with restin’ for just a mo.” She finally paused for a breath.

“What’s your name miss?”

The sprite startled out of her rant at Mick’s quiet question.

“I don’t have to tell you, I wasn doin’ nuthin’ wrong.”

I just smiled. Mick was really good with people. Like, all species, even humans. He was our secret weapon that way. Sprites are just exceptionally haughty and understandably secretive. Frequent law breakers but the devil to pin them to anything. No pun intended. But they do resemble bugs. Around nine centimeters tall, gossamer-like wings, color changing skin, temper of a hurricane.

“That’s fine miss, I just wanted to show you proper respect. My name is Centurion II, Michael Valentino. Do you live in ParaDice Cove?” I caught her irritated shudder on the word ‘centurion’ out of the corner of my eye.

“Hmph. I don’t have to tell yous that neether.”

“That’s true miss,” Mick agreed. “Only intending to be polite. Wanted to get you as close to home as we could is all.”

I turned in and stopped at the entrance gate. As I checked in with the guard, I noticed the sprite was finally warming to my partner, folding her legs to sit on his palm.

“Yous can call me Finley, through gate ten here is close enough to where I’m headin’. And that’s more than enough information for yous, Bureau Bozos.”

I almost laughed at that, no one had ever called us Bozos before. Kind of a light insult for a sprite too. Mick took it in stride.

“Well, Miss Finley, as you can see, they’re opening the gate now. You’ll be free of us in no time.”

The guard told me to expect a quiet night. There had been a dust up earlier at the Casino and everyone had bugged out to lick their wounds. I took it with a grain of salt.

ParaDice Cove housed most of the people who worked at the casino from bar backs all the way up to the G M. It was also a mixed community. Just because humans and supes accepted one another’s presence, didn’t mean everyone liked it. And the Cove was huge.

We always entered at the same gate but there were twelve in total. And the whole thing butted up to the river, adding a layer of complexity to our patrol since folks could enter or leave ParaDice Cove on land or by water. I didn’t get the point of the gates and walls since the only security on the river side was a few guard towers but, not my place. Not my problem.

I drove towards the dock which shared parking space with the casino. We always left the car in the casino’s lot for this patrol. A Bureau branded car was a good crime deterrent for the area and the humans who lived in the Cove complained we were profiling if we parked anywhere near their homes.

As soon as Mick opened his door, Finley flew out, a little unsteady.

“Thanks, Bozo,” she said with a mocking salute before she winged away. Most supes heal pretty quickly and it seemed like she would be fine.

I shrugged at Mick. “Did what you could, man. Did what you could.”

We headed off on foot and I thought about our new positions as we began making our way through the first hood. As Centurion II’s, our job was about 50/50 beat cop and detective. We would only be getting the low level cases. And we’d have a supervisor for each case.

They were supposed to mentor us but, we all knew the truth. If the case got too juicy, they would steal it from us and take all the credit. Somehow, I didn’t think that would happen to me and Mick. We kind of excel at being sneaky and we had a good deal of practice at being sneaky together.

As we finished the first part of our rounds, Mick drew out the twelve-sided die we used to see where we would go next. It was one of the ways we kept people from predicting our movements. We had set areas that had to be covered but we never followed the same route. We had divided ParaDice Cove and the other neighborhoods we patrolled into numbered grids.

However, rather than working our way methodically through the grid, we hopped around. As long as we hit every square on the grid, the order didn’t matter. He had a whole long ritual instead of just dropping the die like a normal person.

My thoughts wandered to tea with Mum. I would never admit it to anyone but, I was looking forward to tea in the morning. Mum would be all over me about the video but there was nothing I could do about it.

Am I British? No. Is she? No but, she really wanted to be and I humored her. I don’t suffer fools lightly. I’ve been accurately described as abrasive. About half our department seems convinced my name is Asshole. But I call her Mum and I visit. And I drink tea and let her harangue me about…whatever.

I do not indulge this woman because she is my mother. It’s more because she’s not. But she took me in anyway, when I was just a few days old, and I was a very difficult infant, and toddler, and pre-teen, and so on. She taught me about her species and what she could of mine and a few thousand other things.

Mick was looking forward to it as well. I had no idea why my roommate was so smitten with my Mum despite the fact that she harangues him almost as much as she harangues me. ‘Michael love, you should really get a hair cut. You just don’t look like a proper gentleman.’ And on and on. She also serves his tea with some kind of seared or roasted meat, so there is that.

For myself, I think it was the ritual of her haranguing me. It came from a place of love and she continued to pass along her wisdom to me, even if the delivery occasionally left a lot to be desired. And right now, I needed supplies. I was nearly out of the orange juice and cookies that she spelled for me. One of the ways she helps me hide my age.

Sorceresses are quite long lived so plenty of people had no idea how old she was either. And it wasn’t that people didn’t know Mum and I were not actually related, I just didn’t share the details. And this time, it was to protect them. I didn’t want to drag anyone else into the shadowy world of black-market information and back-alley deals.

That shit is hazardous for your health. Mick knew everything I couldn’t manage to hide from him. It was a constant see saw. I was good at hiding and he was good at snooping. And I still had to figure out a way to lose him in the morning.

The first half of our shift was quiet. Mick was about to change because the next neighborhood we were headed into was pure human. Even with our distinctive Bureau clothes, they found our presence “intimidating.”

Our badges were worked into our vests. They couldn’t be stolen or faked. They were made with both magic and tech and supposedly, that made them unhackable. Despite all that, and the fact that there are also humans in our ranks, these little enclaves still balked. Anyway, the Bureau held some community meetings and it was decided that only one supe Centurion could patrol those neighborhoods between the hours of midnight and six.

It made no sense whatsoever but in general, most supes did what they could to put the humans at ease. So Mick played the part of a big dog in all the pure human neighborhoods. It was a bit of a pain if I needed him on two legs but it was better than letting the humans get their knickers in a twist.

Chapter Two

Unfortunate Accidents

Tonight it didn’t matter because we got a call to help out with a hover car wreck.

“What the hell man?” Mick asked when I turned on the lights.

“Gotta plow the road. The wreck hit the ground,” I stated.

He flipped me off. He hadn’t taken the call since he had been busy chatting up a werewolf family that was just back from a run. His refusal to accept my statement was warranted.

Hover cars were also born of magic and tech. Among other things, the magic was meant to keep them in the air to avoid just such a catastrophe. And the tests had been extensive. Humans, on the whole, remained leery of magic. Part of getting them to accept it included making something irresistible and testing it for years to prove the magic wouldn’t fail.

It was probably all for the best. The tech failed so many times in so many different ways, both were improved throughout the course of the testing. Legally, they could only say there was a 99.99% chance the magic would never fail but, everyone considered them flawless.

Things could still go wrong when you factor in the loose nut behind the wheel. But the crafts themselves were known to have never suffered a magical failure.

“Okay, you’re pulling my tail. What really happened?”

I didn’t say anything. He’d catch on. We weren’t far from the site of the wreck now. There was a plume of smoke rising above the tops of buildings already. Ultra sonic sirens began blaring, alerting a variety of supernaturals either into active duty or to avoid the area. Humans mostly do the opposite of what they are told and that was likely why we were called in, crowd control.

“Not awescool, bro. What the actual fuck?” Mick asked, after he finally accepted that his senses were not deceiving him.

“You have all the info I have. You gonna take witness statements?”

“Depends, who’s running the scene?”

“Don’t know, it was a general call out. Scene is huge.”

He rubbed his chin, which already had a shadow even though I knew he’d shaved just a handful of hours ago. Need to check the lunar cycle. How had I missed that in planning my rendezvous? There was just too much shit going on.

“You gonna work the perimeter?” he asked.

I just shrugged. It was the best place for me. My fangs descend mostly on command but my upper canines are still sharp and wicked looking. Maybe I flash them ‘on accident’ from time to time. It puts people off. Makes me very effective at crowd control.

“We’re going to have to go in on foot,” I told Mick as I pulled over to park. Spots were thinning out and we’d get there quicker this way.

“Knuckles, bro.” I bumped his fist, our custom when we were heading into the unknown, and we ducked out and went to find the primi ordine on scene.

Near four in the morning, when our shift was over, she dismissed us with a reminder to do paperwork later. Artemis, who preferred to be called Art, even by her juniors in the department, was as competent as they come, at least in my experience. A firm but fair sorceress that was well respected throughout the department.

I needed to study her methods so I could fake them. This morning I was just relieved she hadn’t ordered overtime. I offered anyway, figuring I’d just have to slip away if it came to that, plenty of chaos would hide my departure.

“I’d be happy to stay on and continue with crowd control for a few hours,” I lied. Always take the opportunity to kiss up, especially if you are hoping to catch a case of your own someday soon.

“There is still a lot of work ahead of us, I’d rather everyone stay fresh than run themselves ragged,” she explained.

I hadn’t expected her to take me up on it. One of the many things I admired about Art, she thought far ahead and used her resources judiciously. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I grabbed Mick and hopped in my car.

We dropped by the station to sign out and headed home for a quick change. I switched off the skin and we barreled out and headed upstairs.

I swapped my Centurion togs for jeans and a band T-shirt for a long forgotten group, Imagine Dragons. Mum would have to forgive the casual look. After all night in a tie, I was not wearing one for tea. I also grabbed Mick’s camera while I was there. The world had seen plenty of my room by now but maybe I could use it for something else.

Mick came out of his room dressed similarly to me except that his untucked, out of season T-shirt said ‘Happy Howladays’ across a full moon. Five minutes after we had arrived we were riding the elevator back down to street level.

On the way to the car we stopped at the bodega on the corner to get a bouquet of flowers. And I made nice with the Asian looking lady who ran the place. Don’t think me racist for not knowing her ethnicity.

The Reveal had another positive effect on humanity. Humans decided it was better for all of them to band together against the scary scary supernaturals. When you discover that one of your neighbors is a sorcerer and the family across the street is made up of werewolves, suddenly, the other neighbor’s dark skin is insignificant. Races mixed more freely. Borders were opened. A few dictators had ‘unfortunate accidents’ and the world got a little better in a few ways. In some others, not so much but, it is what it is.

Ms. Liang had almond shaped eyes with irises so dark, they nearly blended with her pupils. She had no accent but projected a diminutive manner. It was a great show. The old broad had run her bodega for decades.

She knew everything that went on in the neighborhood. She kept the hookers safe and off the corner and her double barreled shotgun under the counter. And she knew how to use it. Robbery attempts at her place were short and unsuccessful. Mick and I had cleaned up after a few of them in the early days of our year as legionaries.

You would think the low-lifes would pick up on her reputation but, I guess the saying was true, there really was a sucker born every day. Personally, I was always very respectful of the small human.

“Thanks Ms. Liang, the flowers are fab, I’m sure Mum will love them.” I lied.

Ms. Liang knew it and pursed her lips as she handed me my receipt with a nod.

The flowers had been okay two days ago. But I needed a reasonable distraction. And you do not show up to tea empty handed, ever. The lecture takes forever and I can’t keep a straight face through the whole thing anymore. There are no less than 3 things stashed in my car in case of emergency but none seemed right for today.

Due to her need for drama, Mum’s Victorian was painted a bright yellow with purple trim and red accents. But I still sighed when it came into view as we finished making our way up the trail. At 04:29, we’d cut it close but hopefully we wouldn’t be chastised for lacking punctuality.

That a sorceress lived here surprised no one. A pentacle formed of weeping willow vines and twigs hung on the front door. The tree itself was in the backyard, part of its impressive canopy hanging over the river that formed the rear edge of her property.

Different areas of the yard were dotted with plants and, even if most people didn’t recognize them, their arrangement was a clue. Each section had a protection ring of blackthorn bushes growing around it to keep out poachers and the merely curious who weren’t aware of what they might be disturbing.

The sprites darting around, tending to the plants were also a clue but I suppose we could forgive the humans if they didn’t recognize what they were seeing, even after all this time. Their bug-like appearance helped them blend in with actual insects.

Another clue that a sorceress lived here, the fact that the plants should be dying as fall weather had arrived weeks ago and, the first hard freeze of the season couldn’t be far away. But hers continued to grow and bloom, all except the very center section, plants that represented death. ‘Because death is at the center of everything, Dagger Love.’

But I wasn’t here for any of that today. Before I was ready, Mick knocked and the vermillion door swung open without a sound.

“Hey, Josh,” Mick offered in greeting to Mum’s diminutive majordomo.

“Good evening, Joshua,” I corrected with my salutation.

The brownie hated to have his name shortened. Since he was only about eleven centimeters tall, I suspect he didn’t want anything in his life shortened. Don’t ever mistake his size as a reflection of his effectiveness.

I wouldn’t recommend underestimating Brownies in general. Brownies are one of the Littles, the two magical species that were far too small to pass as human. The other being Sprites. Both before and after The Reveal, the Littles mostly found refuge with sympathetic Bigs.

Not because they couldn’t defend themselves in a scuffle, but they had no desire to be hunted by humans. The hate and fear that humans held for one another was quickly transferred to the new mysterious threat that they believed supernaturals posed, even the tiny ones.

I had learned my lessons with Joshua as a child. Having no desire to repeat them, I treated the man with respect. He was standing on a small shelf by the door so I was able to look him in the eyes.

“Where is she today?” I asked with a bit of trepidation.

Joshua straightened his cuffs before replying crisply, “the rear formal dining room, if you’ll head that way, I’ll prepare a vase for the…flowers.” His disappointment with the gift obvious and deserved. But he was a professional and bowed before he turned on his heel, flipped open a decorative swirl on the door trim, and slipped into the wall.

His family, and a few others lived in there. I had no doubt there was an elaborate maze of tunnels running all over the three story home. Chutes and ladders anyone?

My shoulders slumped. She only set things up in there when she had something truly elaborate planned. The bigger the spread, the harder she would be trying to change my mind. I wondered what she would be trying to talk me out of tonight.

Her hunched silhouette came into view as we exited the final hallway leading into the room. She still wore glamour around Mick. Unlike other sorceresses, she used magic to hide her beauty from the world. ‘Give people the picture they’re expecting,’ she always told me. In her estimation, if you look like a fairy tale witch, people will treat you with honesty. I wasn’t sure I understood that particular nugget of wisdom but I kept it tucked away with all the others. Ignoring the extended bouquet, she drew me into a hug.

“Dagger, Love, you shouldn’t have,” she lied.

“Joshua,” she called out, releasing me from the hug and gesturing towards a table, set for three.

“And Michael dear,” she crushed him with a hug and then pushed away and held him at arms-length.

“Still no haircut,” she complained. “Be a love and tuck in your shirt before you sit down, dear. You can at least appear to have a shred of manners,” she said as she released him.

On occasion, Mick knew when to keep his mouth shut instead of pushing her buttons.

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled as he poked the tail of his T-shirt into his jeans before quickly choosing the seat nearest the French doors.

“Vase incoming, Miss Payne,” Joshua announced over the intercom.

My adopted last name was even worse than my given first name. Once again, I wished for a middle name, just so I could introduce myself in some way that didn’t leave me mortified.

‘Lean into it,’ Mum had advised me as a child. ‘Let people know how strong, sharp, and deadly you are, and if they ignore the warning, pain is a good instructor.’ Casually suggesting violence, who wouldn’t love her?

A shrill ‘toot, toot’ preceded Joshua’s arrival on some kind of steampunk skateboard. I desperately wanted to get my hands on one of the Brownie-built contraptions, just to try and see how they were made, as they were anything but the simple machines they appeared to be at first blush.

“Oh, Joshua, thank you,” Mum cried as she stooped to pick up the vase.

She finally took the flowers from me with her left hand and made a slashing motion underneath them with her right. Little bits of green fell to the table, the flowers now perfectly trimmed, and maybe a bit healthier. She dropped them in the vase and moved it to an empty spot on the table that appeared to be waiting for it.

Mum swore to me she had no precognition but there had always been tiny details like that in my life. She would randomly buy raspberry popsicles and a week later, she’d be setting a robin’s broken wing with perfectly sized sticks stained with just a hint of blue.

“If that will be all, ma’am?” Joshua asked.

“Dismissed,” Mum responded distractedly with a wave of her hand, and a quiet ‘boop, boop, boop,’ announced Joshua slowly backing out of the room.

Mum poured tea as I surveyed the spread. The tea’s aroma began to perfume the air. Keeman Black. Ah, my favorite, which didn’t make me wonder what Mum had up her sleeve at all. At least it explained why there was no milk, honey, sugar or lemon for the tea. The nuanced flavor needed no additives.

The layout was over the top - petite fours, scones, macaroons, honey biscuits; edging to savory with a variety of mini quiches, obligatory finger sandwiches, and finally a variety of jams and one small pot of orange marmalade.

Oh, and this week’s selection for Mick, pot roast. It was an odd assortment for this time of day but we were an odd group. And all of our days started at different times. Oh, lightbulb moment. I’ll circle back to that.

“I wanted to have tea out here today to celebrate your big promotion. How’s the apartment?” Mum asked, her tone suspiciously innocent.

“Much better now that the elevator is fixed. It’s only five floors but getting our furniture up there was a bitch,” I said.

“Language, Dear. And speaking of,” she mimed tugging something forward with one hand and a holoprojector popped out of the wall.

I held in a groan, here we go. The video flickered to life across the room. How deeply had I been asleep? First, we saw Mick place his wireless stick up camera in the corner near the ceiling. He took out his tabcomp and checked the angle. Pleased with himself, he gave the camera a thumbs up and got on with things. He worked very quickly, clearly having built the machine elsewhere and he was just reconstructing it over me.

When my alarm should have rung out, a marble dropped through a trap door and fell onto a track, rolled down a hill and back up the other side. At the crest of the next hill it knocked over a weight that caused one platform to go down and another one across the bed to rise.

On and on it went, one action triggering the next. Finally, we reached the climax and the water balloon dropped from a tipped over bucket and onto my face. The video cut off while I was swearing at Mick.

Mum pushed one hand forward and the holoprojector retreated back into the wall. Then she looked at me with one eyebrow arched. I knew blaming Mick’s antics for causing me to swear would get me nowhere so I tried to look remorseful.

“Sorry, Mum.” I dropped my head to hide my eye roll.

“And you, Michael dear, you know I enjoy your videos but, you and Dagger are Two Cents now. You want to be careful with your reputation.”

Mick looked confused.

“Centurion II, love. Two Cents. Honestly, Michael, you have to study outside the box too. You need to speak everyone’s lingo.”

Mick had the perfect response when he didn’t know how to interpret Mum’s advice. He fluttered his long ass eyelashes at her and took her gnarled appearing hand in his. “Of course, thank you, Miss Payne,” he simpered as he kissed her knuckles.

I just sipped my tea and picked at the food.

“Could I ask you a question?” he enquired sweetly.

Oh boy, Mick went for the kill shot. Guess he didn’t want any more nagging. Fine by me. Whatever he was planning, I didn’t need the lecture. I wanted to review my plans for my upcoming mission. After months of negotiating, the dwarf said he would trade information that might help me locate my parents to me for a pint of my blood.

He didn’t know exactly who I was looking for or why but that didn’t matter. I couldn’t give away my blood but I had to find a way to get the info anyway. I had a sketchy plan that had a high success rate in past use. I knew it was desperate but the dwarf promised he had more than a name for me.

“May I ask a question, mind your grammar, Michael. But go on and ask away, love.”

Mick wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Okay, there may have been a little remorse over the water balloon wake up because now he was full on baiting her.

“Awescool, so our boy Dagger over there gave me some kind of magical shock today. But I didn’t know vamps could do magic like that.”

Mum nearly spit out her tea although her manners wouldn’t allow it. She did close her eyes for a few moments. I think she was counting to ten.

“Michael Domingo Lorenzo Valentino, there are so many things wrong with that statement, I’m not even going to try to address them all. Let us begin with, you did not ask a question, dear.”

Mick cleared his throat. “Apologies Miss Payne, I guess my question is, how’d he do that?” Mum gave him an indulgent smile, which just looked creepy considering the hairy warts and missing teeth.

“How much do you know about magic?”

“Uh, sorcerers, sorceresses, and djinn use it to cast spells to affect changes?”

Mum opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a shrill ‘toot, toot.’

Joshua was back with another kettle of tea. A deep inhale told me he had steeped it perfectly and removed the leaves. I bent over to pick it up and Joshua smacked my hand with his whip like tail. There was a tiny tuft of fur at the end of it so it both stung and tickled.

He pulled a lever and the top of the skateboard rose up on some kind of scissor lift until it was even with the table top.

“New modification?” I asked him, sincerely impressed.

“It is Mr. Payne. Should have done it long ago. Please, go ahead.” I took the kettle.

“Mum?” Obligatory to offer her a refill first.

“Why, thank you, Dagger.”

“Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

Mum stilled for a moment in thought. “That will be all Joshua, thank you.”

He bowed, reversed the lever causing the scissor lift to close, taking him back down to the wheels and the rest of the machine. Another ‘boop, boop, boop’ and he was gone.

“Now then, let’s expand your understanding of magic a bit.”

I tuned out. I figured she would start with her magic basics lecture and I had it memorized. ‘Think of the air. Lots of nitrogen a bit of oxygen, some other base gases. Each molecule of each gas can be further broken down into component parts. Lots of variety. Now let’s go back to the nitrogen. If you compress it enough, you get an incredibly cold liquid. So cold, anything it touches is instantly frozen solid. As a gas, mostly inert. But even as a gas, it can be used to kill if it displaces the breathable oxygen in a room.’

The point is, magic isn’t one thing. And using it can take many forms. While Djinn, Sorcerers, and Sorceresses make up the heaviest magic wielders, all supernaturals use magic, even if they don’t know it. When Mick changes forms, Joshua’s voice projecting so that Bigs can hear him, a siren’s song luring in one particular person, all uses of magic.

The second part of the lecture was about will. Part of using magic is bending it to your will. That’s the part I was capitalizing on, or trying to anyway. All supernaturals can technically will magic to do something for them.

It’s the third part of the lecture that really separates magic users from magic wielders. It has to do with capacity. Each species can only hold so much magic. It isn’t based on their physical size.

The Littles for example, both have a larger capacity than any werewolf ever could.

Djinn seem to have an unlimited capacity, like AC instead of DC but they also wield it differently. Wish based magic is insanely nebulous. And their species had explained almost nothing during The Reveal, aside from their existence.

Anyway, Vampires have a decent capacity but most of our magic gets used on constant regeneration. That is the part of magic Mum is trying to help me with. She knows I’m looking for my parents. She knows it isn’t safe but I don’t tell her much beyond that.

She thought it might give me an edge if I end up in a sticky situation. A little defensive magic that might surprise someone rather than injure. Not that most of the people I meet with didn’t deserve some pain and suffering, we just didn’t know what I was capable of and a little shock, literal or metaphorical, was better than nothing.

I wondered if the dwarf I was planning to meet later was planning to try and use sunlight against me. Their use of magic revolves around nature so sunlight was a logical weapon for him and he chose a meeting time near dawn. However, while the sun was a good choice against young vampires like me, he wouldn’t have asked for my blood if he knew my age.

In fact, if he had any idea how young I am, he might not have bargained for my blood at all. The older the vampire, the more magic in their blood, the more it was worth. But then many ancients seemed to have developed ways to counter the UV rays that I had been unable to discover. So maybe not sunlight? Whatever, I would just have to roll with the punches.

I tuned back in to the lecture. Oh, Mick must have gotten the condensed version. She was already explaining how much capacity Sprites and Brownies have.

“My Dagger, his magic is almost always fully in use. Vampires, as you know…”

My world skipped a beat and I cut her off.

“Uh, no Mum, he doesn’t know that much about vampires beyond our Academy training and I’m sure he’s absorbed all the new information he can today.”

I turned to him and asked, “right, Mick?”

My voice was saccharine sweet instead of menacing since Mum was a foot away. Violence against my roommate and partner would not be tolerated. Fortunately, his eyes were glazed over and my question snapped him out of a slight daze.

“Sorry Miss Payne,” he said, looking at his watch. “We gotta get going. Big night and past my bedtime. Mum deflated a little. When she immediately brightened, I deflated a lot. Here we go.

“Did you enjoy the tea, Dagger Love?”

Deflection. Sad.

“Mum, just say it. Of course the tea was great. You got my favorite. I’ve probably eaten a pound of finger foods.”

I waved my arms around, indicating the whole room.

“We met here. You got to teach someone today. Please get to the real reason you invited us here. We do have to get home.”

I may have been a bit sharp but I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say. I got another arched eyebrow but I just stared at her.

“Your eyes are purple, Dear. I think you should…postpone your investigation.”

I pursed my lips to hold in the rant.

She rushed on, “just…just for a wee bit, Love.”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

“How. Long.” I ground out.

Dammit, maybe should have counted to twenty. I really do try to keep from snapping at Mum but this is a sore spot. I shook my head no as she went through options.

“A few decades…years…months…please, Dear? You’re immortal, live a little more, learn a little more.”

What? The. Fuck? She knew Mick wasn’t totally clued in. What the hell was she doing? I softened my tone.

“Mum, please. Can we not do this right now? I don’t want to lie to you but I can’t stop looking. They sacrificed everything.”

And I need to know why. It can’t be just a desire to build a legacy. But Mick didn’t need to know any of that. I rarely bargained with my mum because she was a master at getting far more than I offered but I was desperate.

“How about tea this Saturday?” I suggested. “But not all this, give the Brownies a break?”

Mum smelled blood in the water.

“Lunch at midnight on Saturday and tea the following two weeks.”

Eye roll.

“I know what you’re trying to do and I respect it but, I did just get a promotion. I’m going to be very busy,” I lied.

The busy part that is, we wouldn’t actually be allowed any cases at first. Just a lot of assisting. But hell if I was spending three Saturdays in a row with Mum. I could only reasonably get out of one though. Fuck.

“Lunch, a week off, then tea,” I countered.

“Just you?” She poked, again pretending the question was innocent.

I speared Mick with a look. If he fucked this up now I would drain him. Just a little.

“Yes, Mum. I’m selfish like that.”

Her lips bunched to the side as she considered.

“Michael needs a magic lesson as well.”

That gave me pause for thought. Why would Mum say it that way? He ‘needs’ it? If I asked, she’d never tell me. But her lie could be informative too.

“Why?”

A little light danced in her eyes, I think she thought she had me.

“The promotion of course, Love,” she lied.

She had to know I knew it too. She really wanted Mick to learn but she didn’t want him to know why. Fuck. This was going to cost me.

“Magic now, lunch in two weeks, just me.”

That got Mick’s interest. I really hoped this all didn’t turn around and bite me in the neck. Keeping these two separate enough from my investigation and each other to keep them safe kept getting harder and harder.

“And then another tea with Michael the week after that?”

I gritted my teeth. She wasn’t going to let this go.

“Magic now, lunch for three, final offer.”

She answered before I was finished speaking.

“Done.”

I wondered how badly I had just screwed myself.

Chapter Three

Uninvited Guests

At least I can still make this work for me today. Stay cool. Don’t tip your hand.

“Fabulous, let’s leave this here. Michael, like all werewolves, is very connected to nature. Best if his lesson is surrounded by it.”

Thank you fate, you truly are a fickle bitch and for once, it was going to benefit me. The formal dining room led directly to a lovely terrace and then the back yard. Both Mick and Mum headed for the doors but I hesitated.

“Don’t you want to watch, Love?” Mum asked, when she noticed I wasn’t following.

“No, I want to ask Joshua about that new modification.” I lied.

Mum pursed her lips but she knew I had always been fascinated by all Brownie contraptions.

“I’ll meet you out there, just a few minutes,” I cajoled.

Her face said she wasn’t sure what I was up to but she wouldn’t fight me.

“Don’t be long, Dear. You know how he is,” she said, somewhat cryptically. But then she swanned out of the house with Mick in tow.

I truly didn’t know whether she meant Mick or Joshua. Fingers crossed their gossip session about me would be short and fruitless. I jogged to the kitchen.

The moment the swinging doors began to open I heard, “there are no uninvited guests allowed in this kitchen.”

I walked in with my hands held high in surrender. Another thing I had learned as a child. Brownies have a pretty simple weakness.

“I have a peace offering,” I said, and then I waited for Evelyn to approve my presence in her space.

“Say what you really mean Mr. Payne. You know I don’t like it when you shine me on,” Evelyn called out.

“Yes, ma’am. In that case, I have a bribe. A good one.”

She dropped down to the large center island counter top from the light fixture on a thin rope with a loop on the bottom for her foot. She gave it a light yank after she stepped off and it disappeared, reeled back up and out of sight. She clasped her hands together.

“You are such a naughty boy.” Then she spread her hands wide. “What’re you waiting for, show me.”

I fished a little hanky out of my pocket and carefully unfurled it, revealing its contents. A large assortment of small springs, cogs, gears, and the coup de gras, the tiniest ball bearings I had come across so far. I knew they were a favorite and I had been saving this collection for a night just like tonight. Evelyn squealed and clapped her hands.

“Oh, Dag, I was skeptical but, this is,” she finally caught herself.

I smirked. The bargaining had begun.

“Please have a seat Mr. Payne. Refreshments?”

She was so good. She knew I was in a hurry so she was stalling to gain the upper hand.

I shook my head and grabbed a rolling stool and set the height so I could look her in the eyes. The posture was humiliating but it was a power play with a Brownie. Too many people never bother to treat them as equals or superiors.

She crossed her arms and stared at me for a good thirty seconds. Finally she relented and raised the fingers of one hand out to make the gimmie gesture.

“I need knockout tea. And I’m almost out of juice and cookies.” I still had plenty knockout tea but I always try to get more when I can. Handy for more than just an excellent day’s rest, even it takes two doses and Mum’s extra special twists to put me down.

She dropped her arms and tilted her head to the side.

“And?”

Okay, I had not tried to be smooth about coming in low and she knew it but I WAS in a hurry.

“Wolfsbane, packed well.” No reason to draw things out. I could ask for more and give her the verbal tennis match she wanted, but we would end up back here anyway.

“You know these are my husband’s favorite. If you’re giving them up like this, you must be short on time.”

I just waited. Doing my best to keep my impatience off my face. If I pushed, she would punish me by drawing it out.

“It just so happens Miss Payne has your refreshments prepared. You grab them and I’ll prepare the rest.”

She put her pinkies in her mouth and made an ultrasonic whistle. I headed to the fridge.

Mum always left my things in the same spot, wrapped the same way. For some reason that I refused to think about, this was a much bigger package than she usually prepared for me. Like, that should last me several weeks but, I always visit more often than that.

The magic has a short shelf life, on purpose. Meant to fade as soon as it’s job has been set in motion. Incredibly hard to trace should anyone ever grow suspicious. I just stood there, stupidly staring at the thing, wondering so many things. Had she taken up scrying? No, she said she would never…

“Close the door, if you please Mr. Payne,” Evelyn barked at me.

I grabbed my puzzlingly large package and turned around to see Evelyn already had the rest of my things together and laid out on the counter. She was working to roll up the hanky so it would fit in the milk carton that had been converted into kind of a shopping cart, powered by yet another Brownie wonder.

Offering to help would be insulting so again, I waited. Once she got things situated, I grabbed my small but well earned second package.

“Very sincere thanks, Evelyn,” I said, when she finally looked up at me.

“I hate to run but…” I trailed off and she shooed me away.

“Go, I’m happy enough with the bribe for now but I expect more information. We both know what I just gave you.”

I stuffed the smallest package in my pocket, touched the side of my nose and left, quickly. That was as good as I could expect from an exchange with her.

Truthfully, I liked Joshua’s wife. She was, I don’t know how to describe it but, she was just right to balance out the sometimes overly formal majordomo.

I rushed back through the house and out of the dining room, which had already been cleared of everything related to our tea. Brownies, man.

Curiously, I didn’t see Mum and Mick at first. Then I realized they were under the willow. Shizer. If I was right, the reason they were there was bad and I was fucked. I ducked through the vines and found them sitting, cross legged, on the ground. Mick had his hands on his knees, palms up, and a look of deep concentration on his face. Mum just looked on, a half-smile accompanying the knowing glint in her eyes.

Um, okay. Color me confused. I started forward but Mum held up a hand, a silent request to wait. Since this was a great time to not upset the apple cart, I stopped. Half a minute later, a faint green light began to coalesce in his left palm but it died just as quickly. Mick opened his eyes.

“Sorry Miss Payne, I just can’t feel it.”

Mum clucked her tongue. “You aren’t trying Michael dear.” Before he could protest, she went on, “I know it’s different, dear, but I also know you can do this.”

I thought I heard something in the vines behind us but it was so faint, I almost ignored it. However, growing up in this home had taught me to ignore nothing. I turned slowly and the quickly dying moonlight highlighted a tiny gossamer wing. I didn’t react. The sprite would show itself if it wanted. I turned back, Mum was still giving Mick quiet instructions.

“Perhaps try to think back to when you were a child. Before your first shift.”

Flutter, flutter. The sprite had decided not to hide. Curious. I didn’t know this one but he kicked my ear and called me a bozo as he went by. He landed on Mick’s shoulder after kicking him in the ear too.

“He’s a loner, that’s yous problem, wih, er, Miss Payne.”

Almost called Mum a witch. It had become a derogatory term for sorceresses. Humans were unable to quickly put aside a thousand years of stories and fears. And Sprites had little love for anyone.

They felt persecuted but more accurately, they were ignored or, like the Brownies, sorely underestimated. Mum had taught me better. Not that I was able to make friends with any of the little twits. I didn’t have the patience and they saw right through my fake smiles.

Mum tapped a finger on her chin. “That’s right, thank you Lucifer. I smell hosta pollen. Your wife’s wing?”

Lucifer bristled. “She had a tangle with a dah, miss. The Bozos picked her up, got her to the Cove.”

Mum looked like she wanted to ask more questions but she thought better of it.

“Very well, thank you for helping me with this, tell her to follow up with dandelion sap.”

She had a good relationship with Sprites. It helped that many of the plants in her garden were beneficial to their species for a variety of uses. Mick got another kick on the ear as he flew off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Lucifer grumbled. And then very faintly, “folls to you.” A Sprite way to say thanks since generally, they wouldn’t be caught dead using money. And one that meant he respected Mum.

“You’re very subtle in your loner tendencies, Michael. You didn’t struggle with shifting at all, did you?”

“No, ma’am.”

Mum clasped her hands together. “That’s perfect. Just perfect. Now then, stand up and give me a half shift.”

Ugh. I checked my watch. Shizer. I spent too long with Evelyn.

“Mum, we really have to go. Sunrise is near and Mick probably wants to get to bed. We can pick this up next time, can’t we?”

Mum stood up and her glamour fell away. She extended her hand to Mick, not that he needed help getting up normally but, he was so shocked by her appearance he had frozen.

“It’s that constant…buzz of maintaining that form. Find that feeling and hold it, dear. When you’re ready, tell the magic it can go.”

Mick just stood there, his mouth hanging open as his brain desperately scrambled to catch up. “Close your mouth, dear. It was time.”

She turned to face me. “Time for all of us to stop hiding.”

I couldn’t read the expression on her face, but I could guess at her meaning. Sorry, Mum, not gonna happen.

“Go on now, Love. It wouldn’t do for you to be stuck here until sunset or feel the need to do something more drastic.”

Mick finally regained his senses. “Thanks Miss Payne. I’ll uh, work on the magic. Maybe Dag can help me.”

Maybe Pegasus will show up and fly us home. Just kidding. Pegasus is a myth. And the other flying horses are not what they seem.

“Sure,” I lied. “Now let’s get on the road.”

Mum gave us both a hug. “Please, be careful, Love” she whispered in my ear before releasing me.

Mick still heard her. Werewolf hearing is quite sharp. He didn’t even bother to ask if he could drive.

Tonight’s events at Rivercrest weighed heavily on me as I drove back to the city. Worst. Tea. Ever. I didn’t need all these distractions. I had to block it out and make my meeting.

Then I could try to figure out why Mum was being so weird and cryptic. Right now, I needed to drug my roommate and meet up with an alleged criminal. Get some info that might lead me to my parents and get back home unscathed before sunrise in…about an hour. No problem. Yeah, right.

When we got back to the apartment, I stashed the Wolfsbane in my room and put the rest of the goodies in the fridge. Then I headed to the living room and flipped on the room tabcomp. I wanted to see what was being reported on the incident.

And make Mick think nothing was up and I was going to spend a few hours just vegging out and maybe doing paperwork before bed. He had changed into sweats while I was putting away my spelled refreshments and now, he plopped down next to me.

“Long night?” I asked.

“Like you wouldn’t believe man. Got paired up with a human. Getting supes to talk to us was difficult.”

I snorted. “Finley liked you well enough.”

He just shrugged.

“You look exhausted, man. How about some tea?” Thank you, Mum, for forcing tea on my roommate until he accepted it as a regular part of his life.

“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah,” he said through a yawn.

I was already putting on the kettle. While the water came up to temp, I got out the little package from Evelyn and pulled out the knockout brew. She had most likely expected me to drink it but I didn’t need it at the moment. I put a dose in the mug and poured in boiling water. A quick stir and it looked, smelled, and tasted like any night time tea.

Mick drained the mug, stretched, yawned again and shuffled towards his room. “You got plans this morning?” He asked over his shoulder.

“Just some gaming. Feels like my quota is low after we spent all that time moving in here,” I lied, mentally crossing my fingers that he was too tired to remember anything that would cause me problems right now.

I stayed on the couch when his door closed. Pulled out my tabcomp and started my reports for work while I let a video of my last gaming session play. Mick’s excellent sense of hearing and smell made getting past him tricky. Even when sleepy.

Two minutes later, I silently slipped back into my room and grabbed my duster. I hated the thing but I didn’t have a choice. I sprinkled powdered Wolfsbane on my boots and dropped in my silver knife once I got them laced up.

I left my tabcomp charging. No electronics, no way to trace me. I slipped out the door and headed down the back stairs. My meeting was about a fifteen minute jog away. If it went well, I’d be back home in forty five minutes, tops. If it didn’t go well, hmm just skip that.

Stoneville had been a thriving city in the Midwest before The Reveal. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows right out the gate. There were some human riots both for and against us. We let them rage. It was better for them to have the release.

People moved out of cities, humans and supes alike, trying to escape their neighbors. Some of them moved back into cities after discovering the people they were trying to escape were everywhere. It took a while but, things calmed down. Cities got a little smaller. Some towns got a little larger.

The commercial sector took a pretty big hit that it never seemed to fully recover from so places like Stoneville were dotted with condemned factories and warehouses. I was tired of skulking around them but I didn’t have a choice.

Location was up to the upstanding citizens that offered to sell me information for a variety of things in exchange. I had worked my way through a long list of people who only gave me a tiny lead on the single solitary person working above them in the information chain.

This morning’s factory had once been a foundry where they made large machine parts. I’m talking the engine block for a cruise ship big.

The sky was getting light but sunrise was still a bit over thirty minutes away leaving me plenty of shadows to make my approach. I opened my senses but I didn’t hear the whine of electronics, there were some even my hearing couldn’t pick up - nothing I could do about it now though. I made my way around the building to see if I could pick up anything that would let me know if the dwarf wasn’t going to honor our deal.

I got a whole lot of nothing. The cunty fucker had laid a spell over the whole building. I couldn’t smell a thing or hear a peep from inside. But he was a dwarf, how could he…maybe he bought the spell? This type of magic just wasn’t their style.

It didn’t matter. I was out of time, it was either do this now or start looking for a new source, back to square one. Years of my life wasted. All the pain. All the torture. All for nothing.

The door I had been directed to enter was locked but I snapped it. Newer buildings were outfitted with locks that could keep most supes out but not all of the older buildings had been retrofitted. And condemned ones like this? It was a miracle anything here was still intact.

I pushed the door open just enough for me to slip inside and slithered in, staying low. I put my back to the wall and gave my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. That’s when I smelled it. He had spelled the outside of the building but not the inside. And I’d been had. There was one other person in this building. And it wasn’t a dwarf. It was a fucking ogre.