Chapter 45 — Priceless Coke

  “We need to find out more about those new murders,” I said as I shut the back shop door and turned to Lana.

  “Yeah. I was supposed to have the day off, but given their were more murders I should see if I’m getting called in again.” Lana said with a sigh.

  “Let’s see if Fren can do a rush job on your arm. Then yes.”

  “After last night,” Lana sighed, “it would be more suspicious if it was suddenly healed.”

  “Oh, I doubt he will be able to heal it completely, but doing some now will help it not to scar.”

  With that she followed me as I locked the front door and flipped the open sign to closed on the window. Then we headed down into the basement. As often occurred the natural light was better in the basement than the main store this time of day, the sun not having a direct way to make it inside the storefront level.

  “Fren, do you think you can help Lana out? We were attacked again last night.”

  Fren shivered to life, stepping free from his connections among the small glen, “I am relieved to see you well. The forest was quaking with the forces of evil last night. I am not surprised to hear you were attacked. I was also unsure how best to help Kate. Your arrival was most fortuitous.”

  “I’m glad we got here too. We need to figure that out, but it gets worse. The creature last night was definitely a fae being. It was strong, like insanely strong. Iron was effective we weren’t able to kill it.”

  “Hmmmm.” Fren said.

  “I also had another dream. They are coming more quickly and are more… aggressively now.”

  “There must be a connection between the two.”

  “I’m sure of it. Last night I felt the creature with my aura. It is hunting me in favor and debt to another. It hated having to serve any interest not its own, but it also didn’t attack outright when I wasn’t aware of it, I’m not sure why.”

  “It was likely concerned it was a trap, you are a wizard after all.”

  Lana gave me a questioning look.

  The fae are giving me far too much credit.” I said smugly, glad my reputation had preceded me.

  “They give your kind credit. Not you individually,” Fren helpfully corrected.

  “—Anyway,” I said, miffed as Lana struggled to hold back laughter. “Do you think you can spare some healing for Lana? She must leave quickly.”

  “Yes, I have recovered a little. But if time is short, it will be insufficient to heal all if I speed the processes.”

  “Do it anyway,” I said.

  “Lay down in the glen. I will remove the worst parts of your injuries.” He gestured to me, “You too Cal.”

  “I’m fine I don’t—”

  “You must be at your strongest to face the coming threat. I will heal you.”

  I wanted to argue, but Fren was right. I couldn’t face the next day or two injured as I was. Compounded by not having slept well, I felt exhausted, and my injuries made every movement painful and stiff.

  We both lay down on the grass, holding hands this time which was a new development. Fren grinned nearly ear to ear, far wider than a human would be capable of. He began opening his mouth, but I pointedly looked at his flat of glass bottled Coke on a nearby shelf which prompted Fren to do so as well. He looked like he wanted to argue that what he was going to say or ask didn’t infringe upon the agreement, but thankfully he decided to hold back whatever it had been.

  That Coke was literally priceless.

  Fren strode around the glen, stepping over and around us.

  “Calm your minds,” He whispered and began his magic. A hum rose in the air, beautiful, crisp, and clear. I felt a warmth pass over me like a sunbeam. Then it localized to my ribs, they eased somewhat, breathing grew more comfortable. My fatigue and mental exhaustion from the past few days of restless sleep were also removed.

  “That is all I can do at this time. I must rest and gather more energy,” Fren said. “In another few days I should be able to ease all your wounds. See that you do not gather more.”

  Lana still had a bandage on her arm, curtesy of the EMT’s last night. But by the way she was moving her wrist it must have felt better.

  I pulled up my shirt, half expecting to see a stapled surgical scar across my abdomen, as had been present in the dream. Instead, it was my normal flesh. The split cut on my side looked like it had been given a week to heal and the bruising around my ribs and the newest bruises coming up around the opposite hip were lessened. I thoroughly looked forward to moving without as much stiffness and pain.

  Hell, I might even be able to do stairs now without falling down, I thought as I grimaced at the low bar of functioning strength that could bring joy in my life. The puckered burn from the daemon was nearly gone, but it still gave me a chill as I pulled my shirt back down.

  “Thank you Fren,” I said, placing a hand on his tree form which he had assumed to recover. I realized too that his walk had looked normal and his transition to his tree form was smooth. He had repaired the damage I had caused. “I owe you, and I’m sorry for hurting you earlier. It won’t happen again.”

  “More Coke,” he droned from somewhere. “You had two small rib fractures and significant bruising but nothing which should halt you now. I set and partially healed the bones.”

  I chuckled and walked to the flat to grab a Coke for Fren. He’d more than earned it. I saw he had been working on the stack himself, it was down a few more bottles since the last time I’d seen him.

  There was so much to worry over, but here with the two people I cared most about they seemed like far off threats. The Seekers, the creature, the daemon. Now that I thought about it, I needed to pick Fren’s mind.

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  “Fren, are you up for a few questions?”

  “For a moment, I reserved some level of power due to the threats at hand, but I need to focus.”

  “Good call.” I said, Fren was the primer example of what I should be doing. I could have learned so much more simply by emulating him. “This will be fast. Lana, you should take my Jeep, check things out at home with your work and return if you can. It should be safe. If you get called in, just drive by with your car and let me know. I’ll walk over and get my Jeep later. While you do, I’ll fill Fren in on last night and see if he has any insights. His knowledge might be invaluable.”

  Lana hesitated, clearly wanting to stay and hear Fren’s take, but conflicted about her own obligations. “That works.” She said, “Keys?”

  I tossed her the keys, and she ran up the stairs. I followed, giving her a kiss goodbye, and double checking that the front and back doors were locked, and that Kate wasn’t back. Then I eagerly went back to Fren. He stayed in his ‘plant’ form which was a little odd. Talking to a plant, even though I had done it countless times, was a strange experience.

  I filled Fren in on the night, on the attack, and how we had survived. I even gave a few details about what we had discussed, and that we had kissed. I knew if I didn’t, he might explode.

  “We were honestly lucky to survive. But it took all of my power to block its attack. I don’t know if I can go toe to toe with it, if it comes to that.”

  “And you are sure you desecrated its body with iron, and it still maintained control?”

  “Yeah, what do you mean by that?”

  “It struck you, fled, and if the reports are correct from the two men upstairs—it fed again.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “If you had dusted me in iron, I would be unable to move and in excruciating pain for some time. Iron would severe my connections with my outer vessel, confuse my mind and defile my strength.”

  I rested my chin on my hands as I sat with my bare feet in the glen, thinking over Frens words. While I did, I wiggled my toes in the grass. I used the wooden basement flooring as a permanent ‘chair’ for one of my favorite places in our home. I had no fear of bugs coming from beneath the floor boards, especially spiders—which I hated—because Fren kept them at bay or killed them at my command. He was the best exterminator anyone could wish for… and it was all natural.

  “So, what you’re saying is this creature is stronger than you?”

  “Undoubtedly,” Freen agreed.

  I shivered, like literally shivered. Fren was insanely strong. In our most recent battle, he could have easily killed me, and nearly had on accident. He’d lost control momentarily and it had almost spelled my end.

  Humans were squishy.

  A mage or wizard was often referred to as a glass cannon, meaning we were incredibly strong and powerful, but easy to break. It was the truth, especially for those who were young like me and taking on far more difficult battles than they should.

  “Shit,” I muttered, feeling more inadequate than I had in a long time.

  “But fae have weaknesses,” Fren’s voice said comfortingly. “Iron, oppositional elemental forces, and magic. All are more effective on my kind. It is also likely bound to the courts, few are independent like me, and truly outside of their influence. We will learn of its weaknesses and use them.”

  “Dark and light courts…” I grumbled. “This thing was definitely from the dark side of things.”

  “Very probably.”

  “Wouldn’t it have to be? It literally murders people?”

  “Many of the light court would as well. Or the other independents who exist. Preying on humans is not a particular attribute, solely of any of those groups. You said you had a dream?”

  “Yeah, it’s never happened before in a single night. Usually, it takes a few days in one spot for the daemon to find me. And I, well… I also forgot to put up wards.”

  “A reckless night of abandon?” Fren said, his statement and voice clearly wanting to know those details.

  “Not so much. Just, fatigue, fighting, injuries and sleep.”

  “And do you like your new she mate?”

  “She’s not my mate.”

  “She desires to be.”

  That—that got me excited, but it also felt like cheating somehow. “You can’t tell me that. It’s like you’re reading her mind.”

  “You also want to mate with her…” Fren said apologetically.

  “Get out of both of our heads!”

  “I have no power over the mind, soul, or desires. I am simply commenting on the changes in both of your natural pheromones, physiology, and energy when around one another.”

  “Well stop,” I sighed, trying not to think about Lana, how incredible she was, how well suited we appeared to be together. And how much I wanted it all to work out. I focused my resolve, “How can I defeat this creature?”

  “Use its weaknesses. You know it is harmed by iron. You know it is leery of you and the power you wield. It also feeds on misery, blood, and death.”

  “Feeds on misery, blood, and death? Where do you get that from?”

  “When wounded, what did it do?”

  “…It went and attacked a bunch of people.”

  “When I am wounded, what do I do?”

  “Network with a bunch of trees and get an earth high,” I said.

  “I take in earth, life, and light energy. They are abundant, but also take time to cultivate. It’s more like the principle of osmosis. The larger gradient of those magics flows into my empty reserves. This creature takes, claims, and thirsts for those things to renew its power and strength.”

  “So, if I hurt it, trap it, and keep it from feeding, I can destroy it?”

  “Yes, you also have access to fire which is bane to most forms of life.”

  I chuckled at that. I did have an affinity for fire, and I rarely got to use it because fire by its nature was hard to control and destructive. My personal nature hadn’t lent itself to the finer parts of control in my training. That was an error, another thing I would need to work on when this was all over. But with fire I might be able to destroy this creature outright.

  “It’s going to come for me again,” I said sure in the knowledge of it. “Probably in a few days when it recharges. It might not know about you; perhaps, we can surprise it together?”

  “Hmmmm,” Fren said. “You be the bait, I the trap?”

  “I don’t like it,” I grumbled. “But… I do need to reinforce areas of the shop anyway. I’ve been planning on it for the better part of a year. I could use iron to dispel magic going to the upper floor and magic circles as traps that could bind a creature of the fae if we can coax it inside one.

  Circles were a foundational part of magic. Like rituals, they helped to contain or grow magical forces. The initial intent was important, as was the material creating them. You could make a circle out of chalk, and it would provide some small amount of protection or foundation for a spell. Make one out of your own blood and it would protect you significantly from many magical forces. Iron could be used to repel, bind, or destroy magical energy and creatures, depending on the intent when it was formed. I could use runes to increase that strength in numerous ways. Lana, or any human for that matter could place some will into a circle as a minor protection.

  “Could you do so today?” Fren asked.

  “No. I could start some of them, gather supplies. But doing more will take longer than we have. Would having more iron around be a bane to you?”

  “Iron is already all around us. In the cement, in the soil and foods, many of the pipes in the building are of iron.”

  “I thought they said this place had new pipes, the old had rusted out?”

  “Yes, but they left the old ones in place, running new beside them.”

  “The lazy….” I swore, thinking of the contractor I’d had do the work, “Alright. So, iron is already here and you’re fine.”

  Fren’s tree bush twitched in what I took as a nod.

  “What about steel?”

  “That metal has been changed and has no impact on my kind or the fae.”

  “But… isn’t steel like highly refined iron with… something else added in?” I said, voice trailing off as I tried to remember chemistry I’d learned one time or another. It was one of those times I really wished I could use a computer or phone to look up an answer in a moment.

  “I don’t know,” Fren said. “But steel is everywhere, and I have no problem touching it.”

  “I’ll have to ask Clair about it one of these days,” I said, glancing at my bookshelf of magical tombs I had largely ignored of late. I used to read from them all the time, but that was when I was an apprentice. Once graduating, I’d kind of taken my power and studies for granted.

  I was a few years out on my own, and my powers were still relatively unchanged. I recommitted —Again-— to being better. Those books were relics in their own right, hard to come by, and prized by those associated with the paranormal or supernatural. Many were a few hundred years old and only had a small print run at the time. I don’t know why no one had re-printed them, but then again, the Tribunal and the magical community horded knowledge like treasure. Knowledge was power and in an arms race like that, you didn’t share what you had.

  “Well. I need to head to the hardware store then. I’m all out of iron filings and need to find some iron for weapons.”

  “Go with haste.” Fren said, clearly eager to get back to his beauty sleep. I left him to it.

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