Those Who Fight Monsters Part 3

n.o.body calls me Daniel, not even my Mom. Only my old lieutenant ever called me that, and only when he was about to ream me out something spectacular, so I'd know to loosen up my sphincter.

"I have to go back," I told him, against his disapproving look. "The girl is down there."

Lee sighed. "Of her own free will. Mostly."

Yeah. The "mostly" was the kicker. She had chosen to leave home and go live in the underground kingdom; gnomes didn't have glamour, not really, just a lot of exotic allure and pretty skin. On the "however" side, she was a legal minor, and no human should spend any length of time down there, not unless they were fixing to come down with asthma and Vitamin D deficiency. And her parents had paid me to get her back.

Humans didn't belong down there.

Lee paced back and forth in his studio, five paces in either direction, turn-and-glare. "You're going back down there no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"Yeah. But you're not going back with me," I told him. "It could get ugly and that's not your thing."

Lee looked mulish, but didn't argue. He was much more of a *make art not war' sort, and he was okay with that. No heroics in that boy.

"If caught, I'll swear I tortured you to hand over the map."

He scowled at me. "Very funny. They won't torture you, anyway, they'll just eat you. Goat's a rarity down there, and you've put on a nice layer of fat since you left the force."

"The h.e.l.l I have." I'd noted the surprisingly sharp teeth on that gnome, but not thought to wonder about it. "And they don't eat people." I'd never heard that they did, anyway...

Lee gave up trying to scare me. "If they did, they'd have been burned out of there by now. No. Just rats and stray pets. Look, if you insist on this, there's not a d.a.m.n thing I can do against them. My magic doesn't work that way. But I might be able to help you find the girl, once you*re down there..."

Twenty-four hours later I was back in the tunnel, carrying a small metal sphere in the cup of my left hand and a rubber-tipped metal wand in the other. I felt like a proper idiot, and was prepared at any second to drop the d.a.m.n wand in order to grab for my gun. Some kinds of cold steel made me feel more secure than others.

The wand carried a current-charge that would stun anything that came out at me, although I wasn*t sure if it would be a fatal shock or a jump-back-Jack. Lee'd handed it to me without comment, and I*d taken it instinctively, the cool metal fitting perfectly into my grip. "I thought you said you didn't have anything that would work against gnomes?"

"This isn't for gnomes. It's for the ROUS."

It took me a minute, then I got the joke. "Very funny."

"Danny, I've been down there more than you have. I'm not kidding. Bullets won't do the job. If you see anything with a tail, shock it and apologize later."

Comforting. So I was moving through the tunnel, my gun holstered and my wand at the ready, keeping one eye on the shadows shifting against the walls and the other on the globe in my palm. That was the important bit of magic: it would lead me in the direction of my girl. Or a girl, anyway. A human. Lee had spelled it to seek out an upright bipedal without the metallic-gritty blood of a gnome. So, a.s.suming they didn't have half a dozen captive or pet humans down here...

Something moved, off to my left. I stopped, my heart racing a little more than I enjoyed, and waited. A skittering noise, and the swish of what might have been a long tail attached to a giant rat-a.s.s. Or it could have been my over-pumped imagination. I took a better hold on the wand, and started forward again.

The quality of light was starting to increase, which means I was entering the gnomes' domain. Joy. On the plus side, whatever had been skittering in my shadow decided to stay back. I guess the gnomes had rat-proofed or something. Or it didn't like the taste of their flesh. Either way, it was a good thing. But I kept the wand out, anyway. I really didn't want to have to shoot anyone. Even down here, there would be paperwork.

"You. Lost?"

I swear, the gnome hadn*t been there half a second ago. But it was now, a foot high and all of it filled with the finest street corner *tude you could muster. Dress it in colors and it'd pa.s.s for a g.a.n.g.b.a.n.ger.

"Nope. Visiting. Here to see a shut-in friend."

I can't blame my genetic donor for my smart mouth - that came down straight from the maternal line.

The gnome didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. But he didn't call for backup, either. Just stared at me with those oversized eyes, the ones that you just know can find you in the middle of the night in a pitch-black room, and nodded, then let me pa.s.s by.

That creeped me out, way more than anything else had. Why wasn't he worried. What were the little metal-skins planning?

"Huuuuman..." A taunting whisper, a mocking call, the tingle of fairy-dust on my skin, like a shiver in the middle of the night, coming from ahead of me.

"Huuuuuman."

That one came from somewhere off to my left. The shiver became an itch, the urge to follow, to find the treasure such a creature undoubtedly hid here, below ground, in its mines.

"I don't think so, boys." I was a little old and jaded to be dusted that easily. I had no desire to be found, seven years from now, starved to death in a metal hole.

"And don't bother with the rats, either," I said, more loudly. "I'll just turn them into stew."

Bravado - if they actually did have rodents of unusual size down here, there's no way I'd be able to hold off more than one, two max. But the whispering faded away, and they let me continue on unmolested.

No idea how much longer I walked, waiting any moment for giant teeth to dig into my arm or leg, getting more and more unnerved each moment, when I came to a four-p.r.o.nged branch in the tunnels. One way was the correct choice, the others would leave me stranded somewhere I didn't want to be. Maybe with rats. That's why the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d wasn't worried; it knew odds were good I'd end up lost.

"All right, Lee, now'd be a good time for your toy to work."

As though it were listening, the globe in my hand flashed red when I moved it past the leftmost option, so I turned that way.

In the distance now I could hear noises, the rumble of machinery and voices blending into grey noise. A while in, and doorways broke the smooth walls, the sheet-steel doors boasting tiny latches just perfect for gnome hands. There weren't any markings on the doors that I could see, but remembering the bush-baby peepers on that gnome, I didn't a.s.sume that meant there weren't huge signs everywhere my c.r.a.p day-timer sight was missing.

Another multi-p.r.o.nged split in the hallway, and I waved the globe back and forth slowly, letting it tell me where to go. If I hadn't had the globe, I'd have been lost ten ways from Monday. Hopefully it would work on the way out, too. Or my bones would wash out into the East river's low tide seven days from now, gnawed bare.

"Stop freaking yourself out, Hendrickson."

This time the globe suggested the right side, and about five doors down that hallway, it flared so bright I almost dropped it.

"Here, then?" The sphere declined to answer. Either it was worn out, or it didn't feel my stupid-a.s.s question deserved an answer.

I tried the door handle but, as expected, couldn't quite get my hand to work the latch properly. Thinking quick, I took the wand and bent the non-grounded end slightly. The metal was soft enough to do it without much effort, although I hated to ruin the thing. Not just because I didn't know what effect it might have on it as a weapon but because it was a beautiful piece. Lee couldn't make anything simply utilitarian. It wasn't his nature.

The bend slid under the handle, and I could apply the right pressure to make the lock click open. Go me. I pushed gently, and the door swung open. Alert to anything from screams to gunshots to a vase coming down on my head, I stepped inside.

The room was about as far from the bleak exterior hallway as you could get. The walls were gray rock, framed at ceiling and floor with a dark, patina'd metal, and the floor was mostly covered in a thick fleecy rug, white and soft to the touch. There wasn't any art on the walls, but the bed had a bright blue coverlet, and there were pillows that looked comfortable. A white wood vanity with a mirror above it, and enough geegaws scattered around to make any 14-year-old girl happy, I guessed.

No photos of her loving parents, I noted. No photos at all. No artwork, nothing representational. The fatae loved beauty, but mostly their own. Not so much about looking at pretties someone else made. That seemed to be a human thing ... something Miss Susan was already losing.

"Who are you?"

I had been so busy looking around, I hadn't secured all the entrances. I turned slowly to face the girl who'd come in through a side door, cursing myself upside and down. Thankfully, she was carrying a towel, not something that could be thrown or otherwise used as a weapon, and seemed disinclined to scream.

"h.e.l.lo, Susan. I'm Danny. Your folks asked me to stop by and check on you. They've been worried, you know."

Susan didn't even blink, although she did shrug. Draping the towel across her neck, she walked into the room and sat down at the vanity, peering into the mirror as though checking for wrinkles. Her posture and pose was that of a mature woman, but her body was still skinny-gawky teenager, and her pose was just that - a pose.

"You should at least have left them a note, told them that you were all right."

"They'll forget about me, get a new kid," she said, oh so casually. "That's how it works, right?"

Oh we were going to play that game, were we.

"Sometimes. But mostly, no. Mostly the parents worry and stress and hire people to go looking, and sometimes they even risk their own lives - their souls - to bring back their loved one."

I wasn't getting through, I'd known I wouldn't the moment I saw her. She was completely dusted. To her, this wasn't a dreary hole in a dreary tunnel: it was fairyland, and she was the shiny new queen. Why did n.o.body read Thomas the Rhymer any more?

"You're here to try and talk me back into going Above. I'm not interested. Tell my parents I'm fine."

"You really think they're going to believe that. Come tell them yourself."

"No. If I leave, I'll never find my way back. Ageo told me so. I'm not going to risk all this just to rea.s.sure them."

Well, she had the Snow Queen cold down already. I very much did not like Miss Susan at all.

"Look. She stopped and looked at me. She had her father's eyes, and her mother's mouth. Nowhere near as pretty as she wanted to be, but not bad, overall. Give her another ten years and she might even break a few hearts. But not if she stayed down here.

"You have no right to tell me what to do."

"True. I don't." And telling her anything would be useless, even if she hadn't been dusted - she was a teenager. Short of dragging her out of here by her hair, there wasn't much I could do.

The hair thing was tempting. But I had one card I hadn't played. I hadn't even thought to, honest, but seeing her sitting there trying so desperately to be what she thought was adult and sophisticated and ... fatae-acceptable...

She had been missing for six days now. One day left, before she was lost to the above world forever.

I made my decision before I let myself think about it. If I thought about it, we'd lose her.

Miss Susan thought I was human. Most people do. I think human, I live human, I pa.s.s for human even among people who are looking for non-human; at least until the NYPD decided to change unofficial policy and I had to get out or be asked some uncomfortable questions at my next physical.

But I'm not human. Not entirely.

I ran my hands through my hair, intentionally flattening the brown curls so that my horns showed through, impossible even for a Null to overlook. They're not elegant or impressive or even any use as a weapon, but they're there, if I choose to shown them: short, curved nubs rising out of my scalp like ... okay, like a baby goat's, yeah. I could have taken my boots off to show the hoof-like growth that protects my toes, but it was too d.a.m.n much effort to pull off cowboy boots, and I didn't need it anyway. The horns would catch her attention, and then my genetics - and her brain chemistry - would handle the rest.

"Susan."

She had gone back to the mirror, painting up her eyes to look wider, more helpless ... more gnome-like. What a waste. Although I suppose she should be thankful the angeli didn't catch her eye. Those s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.ds would encourage her to do body mods, just for their own entertainment.

"Susan."

I moved across the room and stood behind her. My reflection in her mirror was from hip to shoulder, and I paused a moment to consider how that would look to her. I'm in d.a.m.n good shape, in the prime of my life, and if you don't mind some pelt I'm told I'm pretty d.a.m.n cute. Didn't matter. This wasn't about s.e.x or even physical attraction, but seduction. The gnomes lured her down; I had to lure her back.

My dusting had to be stronger than theirs.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, lightly enough to be a caress, firmly enough to be thrilling to a young girl who didn't know the first thing about men but was old enough to be intrigued. Carefully, carefully. I relaxed the tight hold I normally kept on my instincts, leaned forward so that my face came into view in the mirror, close to her ear, and whispered again, "Susan."

Susan's gaze flicked up, instinctively, against her will, and met my gaze in the mirror. My narrow face seemed leaner, my cheekbones more prominent, my eyes more gold than brown, and the horns almost shimmered white in the silvered mirror.

There was no way I could have pa.s.sed for human, not in any crowd.

Susan's pink-painted mouth fell open a little, showing teeth that had been a gift from the orthodontist, and her gaze lifted and zeroed right in on my horns. Typical.

"You think that you know what's fantastic in this world?" I asked her, still keeping my voice low, my touch gentle. "You think it's down here, in these caves and stone and steel?"

She swallowed hard, but didn't move, the eye pencil still in her hand.

"Up above, my sweet. Up above, in the green gra.s.s and the flowering trees. The sun warms our bones and we dance until we are exhausted and then we sprawl in the shade and feast until we sleep, and then we rise and do it again."

Her breathing sped up, just a bit, and I moved my hand down from her shoulder to her upper arm. "We eat fresh fruit and cheese, and wash it down with wine, and shout into the winds... We are free. None of this enclosed s.p.a.ce, this lack of fresh air or blue sky. Gnomes look down, they see only the dirt. Nothing grows here. Come with me, sweet Susan. Come see the world in all its glory. See the magic that surrounds us, every day."

Everything I was telling her was true. Full-blooded fauns were hedonistic, careless, loving sorts. Useless in any practical manner, but a lot of fun to hang out with, and they simply adored every tingle of magic they could get their hooves on.

Pity they were also callous b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

"I am promised here..." she managed. Her eyes were very wide now, like she'd ingested a full dose of belladonna, and she hadn't blinked once while I was talking, then her lids fluttered three, four, six times in a row, trying to recover.

"Promises are made to be broken," I told her. "Otherwise there wouldn*t be half as much art or music in the world."

That went over her head a bit - ah, the teen years, when you think everything's forever, and their hearts will never be broken.

I was about to educate her.

I knelt down and rested my chin lightly on her shoulder, still keeping my touch gentle. Spooking her now would be catastrophic. "You've only seen one side of fairyland," I told her. My voice was brown sugar and warm breezes, soft gra.s.s and the smell of apple blossoms and honey. "Come see more of it. Griffins and dryads are in Central Park, my sweet, and dragons live in the hills of Pennsylvania. Piskies flitter in the Botanical Gardens, and kelpies swim off the Seaport*s piers...

All true. Of course, the dryads didn't mingle much, and the dragons didn't mingle at all, kelpies were nasty-tempered, smelly beasts ... and the less said about piskies the better.

"So much to see ... so many creatures to dance with. How can you let yourself waste away here, living in this single room like a drudge when you should be a princess..."

Her eyes sparkled at that, and I almost had her. My hand rose up her arm again, stroking her hair. "Sunlight suits you, my sweet," I said, leaning in for the kill. "Come with me, and I will show you the true wonders of the fairy world."

I sounded like a B-grade Hollywood movie, but it was working. Her eyes started to glaze over, and her mouth curved up in a dreamy smile, even as I threaded my fingers in her hair, and tugged her head back just a little, as though to deliver a first kiss.

Her head lolled to the side, her body utterly relaxed as my dusting took effect, and I scooped her into my arms without hesitation.

It was a c.r.a.p way to rescue a princess, but I wasn't exactly prince charming.

By the time Miss Susan recovered from the hormonal overload enough to protest, she was back in her parents' care, and I was on my way back to the office. They had been all sorts of overjoyed not only to see her, but to have a.s.surances that she was unmolested. I didn't have the heart to tell them that she wasn't entirely untouched. All I did was remove her from the scene - and I'd dusted her myself to do it.

Yeah, I had good intentions and good results, but she had the taste now - s.e.xual, the rush magic could bring, and odds were pretty d.a.m.n good that she'd disappear again, chasing after another hit. They'd lost her already; they just didn't know it yet.

All I could hope was that the images I'd used in my dusting would keep her above ground this time. There were other humans who a.s.sociated with those breeds ... they'd be able to keep an eye out for her, teach her the ropes. Keep her out of too much trouble. And maybe by then, she'd have grown up enough to handle it.

The fatae weren't bad company, as it went. It was just better to accept what you were, before you went chasing something else.

That thought kept me company as I walked up the steps to my office, and let myself in the door, looking around the s.p.a.ce with a sense of relief. Home. Wood furniture, plants, light ... they were all a steady, solid reminder. I was human.

But my little stunt reminded me that I was also faun. My father's son, the product of my magical genes. A real charming sonofab.i.t.c.h when it came to women.

I didn't like it, I didn't let it out very often ... but it was me, as much as current - and art - was Lee. Me, who I am. What I am.

I sat down in my chair, and reached for the bottle in my desk. Not to forget; I never drank to forget. I drank to remember. I drank so that the pleasant warmth of the booze, the heady shot of inebriation, would remind me that I wasn't entirely fatae. My human half was stronger. I wasn't my father.