Interlude III
Four days earlier, in Maryland…
Caedren stares down over the small town from a nearby slope, his eagle eyes locking in on the small cottage surrounded by woods, the herb garden at its side.
The smell of a minor Fae comes from that building, so powerfully that it even reaches up here to him.
And that’s how he knows it is fake. False.
Through his contacts as he approached this town, Caedren learned that the Reapers intercepted a Faeral who had just entered the realm and a human who had taken her in.
Faerals don’t smell like minor Fae. And besides, a true scent would be faint this far out, and it would be mixed with the human’s if they’d been together for days.
The Champion thinks she has fooled him. But she is the fool.
Caedren knows where to go next. There’s a safehaven in town, a magically protected sanctuary that allows Caedren’s own ilk, and other such beings that humans call “supernaturals,” to pass freely.
Safehavens are not run by Reapers, and apparently there’s some tension between the two factions; safehavens are meant to protect supernaturals while Reapers police them.
But for that very reason, safehavens are excellent places to find Reapers, and therefore, the one here will be an excellent place to pick up information.
He stands and stretches his legs, and then begins the trek down to the pub.
“The Wolf’s Howl,” it’s called. The name is a hint about the owners, a family of wolf-type Faerals.
Caedren is sickened by the thought of it, those bloody dogs selling food and drink to unsuspecting humans.
Someday he’ll kill them, but not until he learns how to circumvent safehaven protections.
He doesn’t know exactly what will happen if he violates the sanctity of a safehaven, but he knows it will be bad.
He’s careful not to alert the Reapers on his trip, of course; he has far too many plans in motion to let them go to waste now.
He passes through the forest down the mountainside, eventually jumping into some human’s backyard.
He climbs their fence and then, he is on the street, some ways down from the cottage.
The pub is packed, just how Caedren needs it to be.
The bouncer doesn’t bat an eye as he comes in and takes a seat behind a slim female dressed in a black corset and a large man in a dark gray duster.
He can smell the reek of Reaper coming from both of them.
Disgusting. These he could kill, technically.
Safehaven laws explicitly do not protect Reapers, a fact Reapers are not keen to have anyone else know, though Caedren has learned it from a contact in the safehaven network.
Nonetheless, disturbing the peace of this bar would remove the safehaven’s protection on Caedren, which would undoubtedly be followed by the wrath of an entire pack of Faerals coming down upon him.
At that point, he couldn’t even defend himself, because as soon as he killed one of them, he would have violated the safehaven laws and he would face its justice, whatever that actually means. So Caedren will play nice.
A human waitress comes to take his order.
Caedren has no intent of ingesting the filth served here, but orders a drink so as not to draw attention to himself.
Hours of useless prattle pass as Caedren watches the beer go flat in front of him.
He begins to question if this endeavor will bear fruit when, finally, he hears his own name.
“So, what do you think, will Caedren take the bait?” the woman whispers, just loud enough for his sensitive ears to pick up.
“Dunno. But the Faeral and the human girl are supposed to be at a safehouse.” The man takes a long drink, gulping loudly. Caedren’s lip curls under his hood.
“Do you know which one they got sent off to? The Champion was being cagey with me about it.” Caedren perks up. If they know, I will know. He listens close, his own heartbeat in his ears.
“No, but I heard a rumor that Will spotted them at Anima’s. Y’know the weird redhead up in the mountains?”
“Right, right, isn’t that near Graymane Hollow?”
“Think so.”
That’s all Caedren cares to listen to. Graymane Hollow. He doesn’t recognize the name, but he’s sure someone he knows will, and he has favors owed. That’s where he’ll tear to tomorrow and track down this safehouse… and his prey.
* * *
Today…
Caedren hits the floor of his home with a pained growl.
The bolt of magic he took from the Faeral hit clear in his side, leaving a huge, searing wound from his ribs to his hip.
He stumbles to his feet and rips off the smoldering remains of his shirt and trenchcoat.
Grimacing, he makes his way to the bathroom mirror to look at his wounds.
Huge, fluid-filled blisters cover angry, deep red meat, and the cut in his shoulder that old Reaper landed is rather deep too. Even before his banishment, Caedren never had healing magic; he’ll have to manage by his lonesome with basic supplies.
Fuck, this hurts, he thinks through a tight wince, before composing himself.
He grabs a potion from the medicine cabinet, not confident it will do much, but at least worth a try.
He uncorks it and drizzles it over the blisters.
Some of them immediately burst from the weight of the fluid alone, sending waves of pain through already frayed nerve endings.
Bastard creature. To think the iron suspension he injected her with failed to knock her on her ass long enough for him to make it out with the human…
Even Caedren himself would have been downed for longer than that from such a high dose of iron.
Most weaker Fae would have been killed by it outright.
Something is going on. Hmph. He’ll figure it out soon enough.
He returns to the living room, still hissing under his breath with each movement.
Caedren finds his sword where it lies right where he tore in, takes a seat on his immaculate, plastic-covered couch, and wipes down the blade.
At least another Reaper met his end on this blade.
Serves him right for trying to stop him.
Caedren will need to step very carefully from here.
This was a bigger move than he should have made.
He’s killed two Reapers in two weeks, and revealed that he knows the location of a Reaper safehouse.
No doubt The Damned Champion will shove her nose into his business personally now, if she hasn’t already.
From what he’s seen of her operational security, he isn’t very impressed with her intelligence, but the rumor is that her magic is powerful on par with gods.
He’ll believe it when he sees it, but he’s sure she’s at least far more powerful than he is, and he probably can’t kill her outright.
If he’s going to survive, it will only be by his wits.
But before he deals with the Reapers, he wants to finish his business with the Faeral and that human.
The Faeral is a serious threat, too. He never risks a fair fight with a Faeral.
But this one has survived an ambush now, and will no doubt be expecting another.
He could track them down to wherever they’re moved next and try the same strategy again in a week or two, but all he’d have to do is miss with his dart gun, give her a second to register his presence and transform, and it’d be over for him.
He needs to be able to get at her through an intermediary, somehow, someone whose life he can sacrifice if things go wrong.
Mind controlling the human, perhaps, someone she clearly trusts and cares about?
It would be delicious, but to do it, he’d have to separate them, and that’s probably not possible while they’re under the Reapers’ protection…
Or what if he could get a Reaper? Their minds are probably protected against simple control spells, but maybe…
He looks over his shoulder at his rack of potions. He might have something for this.
It would be a shame, though, to kill them with someone else’s body at a safe distance.
Caedren doesn’t even like using projectiles; he prefers his kills up close and personal.
Perhaps he could use the Reaper to bring them to him…
Yes, and then he could take his time. The shape of a plan is rapidly filling into his mind.
He feels almost feverish with anticipation. He will get his revenge.