Fae in L.A. – Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The tired old woman made me want to rant and curse at Lady Raine. I got scammed by her. No wonder she was so willing to let Marilyn go. The Fae despised older humans, favoring youthful looks and beauty in younger people. Wrinkles and gray hair were big no-nos.

On the outside, I feigned placid interest. “Is this really Marilyn?”

Raine nodded. “Of course she is! Of course, she’s spent some time in the Otherworld, and you can’t expect a human to be the same after that.”

I compared the old woman to a picture I had of Marilyn. But mostly, I was buying time. It was clear time had passed much more quickly in the Otherworld for Marilyn than it did for me. She obviously didn’t carry a mortal watch around.

Finally, I sighed. No matter how pissed my clients were going to be, our deal was to get Marilyn back alive that she was now older than the parents I was bringing her home to didn’t matter. “Please, take her voice, then release her.”

Lady Raine held up her hand. “Now, while I’ve made a deal with you, I also made a deal with Marilyn. I promised her thousands upon thousands of fans, you know. Why, look at how they love her!”

Ah, I watched as the sunflowers bent away from the sun towards Marilyn, and the morning glories stretched out their tendrils to wind up the cage. Every plant in this garden adored Marilyn. It was never good to make that kind of deal with the Fae. As the saying goes, at least the devil would give you what you asked for.

As Lady Raine undid her enchantment to the garden plants, Marilyn bent towards me, her eyes flickering to life. “Are you here to save me?”

I kept my eye on Lady Raine, and as her back was turned, I answered. “Yes, I’m bringing you home to your parents. But you’ll have to give up your voice.”

We both shut up as Lady Raine finished, returning to us with a grin. “Well, since I’ve disenchanted your legion of fans, I suppose it’s time to let you go. But first, there’s something you need to give me for your freedom.”

Marilyn simply nodded. “Take it. Just let me go.”

Raine shrugged. “Then sing the aria I’ve just taught you. And don’t be surprised when you find you can’t stop.”

Marilyn began singing. It is a wordless song composed of lovely high notes. As her voice fluttered up and down, her throat began glowing. The glow moved upwards and through her mouth, eventually divorcing itself from Marilyn entirely.

The little ball of light continued singing, and Marilyn opened and closed her mouth without a word. Raine reached between the bars and plucked the little light from the air. “Ahh. Somehow, it’s still beautiful. Please take it away.” Raine carelessly tossed me a key, and I fumbled but managed to grab it before it dropped.

I wasted no time in opening the ornate birdcage and helped Marilyn step down out of it. Raine was transfixed by the orb and hummed along with it. I offered her a brief curtsy before running away as fast as I could with Marilyn.

It wasn’t quick, but it was something as I asked a servant to show us the way out and offer my goodbyes to Marquess Raine. Soon, we stood out on the street with one last challenge before me.

I had to get a frail, old woman out of the Otherworld and back to the human realm.

Marilyn was already gasping for breath. As she gasped, I tried to formulate a plan. I needed a door to the human realm as quickly as possible. That meant I needed to pay someone to use their door. I didn’t dare to try my luck with Marquess Raine again. I needed to find a Fae house willing to do business with me that would be important enough to have their door to the human realm but low enough in rank that they wouldn’t immediately turn us inside out.

I helped Marilyn along the street, pulling a low hood out of my purse to keep her hidden while we moved among the Fae. It is best not to show off her age to everyone on the street. Meanwhile, I desperately tried remembering every Fae household I could from the Summer Court. Unfortunately, it wasn’t many. Being raised in the Winter Court meant the Summer Court were seen as worthless savages and not worth knowing anything about.

But something tickled at the back of my memory. Something starting with “A.” Angie, no. It was a guy’s name. Angus! That was it! A Fae named Angus had a business ferrying people back and forth between the Otherworld and the human world. I believe he offered his services in the Summer Court. I remember hearing about him because he also did business in the Spring Court.

I just needed to find this Angus, and we’d be home free. But if I remember correctly, Angus ferried near the Spring Court border. I looked at Marilyn, leaning heavily on me and panting again.

Maybe I should try my luck with another house. I looked around and saw we’d arrived at something like a red light district near the edge of the town. Sometimes, they were fronts to doors that led to their business equivalents in the human world. I brought Marilyn to a bench near the edge of the street and continued looking around. I wanted to gather information, but I could hardly leave Marilyn alone here. She was liable to end up dead the moment a Fae caught a look at her face.

Faced with this dilemma, I looked around again to try and find a solution. Only to run headlong into another problem.

I tucked back down when I saw him and his men canvassing the district—the half-Fae from the nightclub. And a few of his friends were here too. Shit.

We couldn’t stay here. Angus it was. “Marilyn, we need to hurry. Can you run?”

Marilyn gave me a frantic nod I wasn’t sure I could trust. She’d say just about anything not to get left behind in the Otherworld, but I needed to get her back alive.

“You over there! Stop!”

They spotted us. That was some bad luck. I pulled Marilyn into the back alleyways. Once we broke out of their line of sight, I ripped off my long skirt and gloves. I tugged Marilyn along to the back entrance of one of the brothels on the street. I took a deep breath and pushed in.

We were in luck—no one at the back entrance. Marilyn was breathing heavily again, so I slowed our pace. If we could get out of the front of the brothel without causing a commotion, we’d be able to get away. But I heard crashing at the back entrance and figured we weren’t that lucky.

A large man came around the corner and spotted us. “Hey! What are you—”

“Oh, thank you! They’re trying to kidnap us! We didn’t know what else to do!” I rushed towards the man and pulled Marilyn and me behind him. Sure enough, not a moment later, the half-Fae and his entourage came peeling around the corner.

I stealthily snuck my hand into my purse and curled my fingers around the grip. The man stopped the half-Fae in his tracks.

“What are you doing here? This isn’t your turf!”

The half-Fae shook his head. “Look, I apologize for trespassing, but I need that woman over there. I you step aside, we’ll be out of your hair in just a minute.”

The man seemed to consider the offer seriously. But I only needed him to buy time for me anyway. I pulled out my flare gun and shot one directly into the half-Fae’s face. He screamed bloody murder, and I took the opportunity to another one right into the back of our so-called “protector.” With both of them distracted, I pulled Marilyn along deeper into the house. As we wound through the passages, Marilyn slowed and then stopped. She gasped.

I patted her back and took in my surroundings.

We were in a dark hallway with no windows. At the other end of the corridor were stairs leading down into the basement. There was a good chance that was where the door to the human world was. A large man came up from the stairs, and I braced myself to fire another flare, but he rushed past us to the front of the brothel behind us.

As he rushed past, I finally noticed the smoke filling the air. My flares did more than get the Fae off our backs.

Now, I have two choices. I could rush out the front with Marilyn and escape the fire. Or we could push into the basement to take the chance our exit was down there—no time to think.

“C’mon, we’re almost there.” I practically carried her down the stairs. The basement was dark and foreboding, leading me to get my flashlight out of my purse.

The light was as fierce as I felt. Finally, it glanced over the corner of a door. Thank god. Marilyn was on her last legs as I pulled her over to it. I opened it up and cursed again as it led straight into a wall.

Did this door only activate at the touch of a Fae? Or was there some trick to it? The air was getting smokier as I set Marilyn down next to the door and began searching the basement for clues.

The door was very art nouveau, with curled iron flourishes. In the center of the door, they turned into a peculiar shape, a pair of lips—a key. We needed a key to open this door. I looked around the basement again, desperate to find the key.

Nothing. I’d have to venture upstairs to try and find one.

“Stay here, Marilyn. I’ll be right back. She nodded, and I ascended the stairs, holding a handkerchief over my face to breathe. The smoke got thicker, and I tried every room on the corridor to the basement.

They mostly seemed to be the girls’ rooms. There had to be at least one key in one of these rooms. I wasted no time in messily searching each one, tearing out drawers, and flipping over beds until I finally found one taped to the backside of a closet door. I grabbed it and rushed back out of the room. Flames licked from down the corridor, and the floor was becoming unstable. If we were going to leave, it needed to be now.

With the pair of iron lips grasped tightly in my hands, I rushed back down to the basement.

Marilyn was lying next to the door, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw her. But she stirred as I walked closer, giving me a sigh of relief. Marilyn was still alive. Maybe I still had a chance to get paid after this enormous mess. Plus extra, given all the shit I just went through. An early flight into Los Angeles, dealing with traffic, bribing Changelings, reuniting with Kasten, almost getting killed by that half-Fae multiple times, and bargaining with a high-ranking Fae were too much to deal with within twenty-four hours.

I slipped the lips into the fitted space, and the portal swelled with the tell-tale yellow flashes of Summer Court magic. I grabbed Marilyn’s hand and stepped in first.

There was a stark contrast between the portal that brought me here and this portal. My first portal was cold and rough, the perversion of Summer Court magic from the Winter Court pixie dust I used. This portal was filled with light, not dust, and it beat down on us both, blinding us as I took another step forward. I continued walking, and soon, we reached the other side. I opened the other end, and we found ourselves in another basement. This one, at least, was not scorching hot. But a huge Fae was looking at us strangely.

“I just bargained for safe passage to the other side. You can check if you want.” I stepped aside with Marilyn and held the portal open for him.

He just shrugged. He wasn’t paid enough at this third-rate Fae establishment to care. I helped Marilyn up the stairs and into another nightclub, except this one wasn’t even disguised by glamour, so you could see precisely how filthy it was. But we soon reached the bright night air.

I checked my watch—almost two a.m. I had Marilyn and was safely on the right side of reality with her. I pulled up my phone and carefully packed my watch away as we stood on the curb. Marilyn looked amazed at everything: the stars, the cars, the people. She even reached out and touched someone who flipped her off. A brilliant grin broke out on her face. Then she collapsed on the ground.

“Marilyn!” I stooped down and dialed 911 on my phone. Marilyn sagged against the sidewalk as a crowd formed around, still grinning.