“I was in the park and overhead two iris fairies. There’s a problem with their breeding. Well the problem is they aren’t breeding.” Olan cocked his head and looked at my bookshelf. “That’s rather attractive.” He pointed to the top shelf where I kept a few trinkets that held my protection spells. “It would be nice to get one of those as a present.”
“I’m sure it would. Is that all you have to tell me.” I could make a replacement charm but I had a feeling Olan wouldn’t bother coming here just to tell me that fairies couldn’t have babies.
He looked at the charm again and I saw a bit of lust light up his green eyes. Then he shrugged and looked back at me. “It seems that it just started happening, or not happening if you get my drift. Some of the clans are almost gone.”
“Shit.” Having clans of the Real Folk die out is bad for everyone. It’s like they take their share of the power with them. When the Vamps were killed, we all lost a little bit of our ability. “So what does this have to do with killing humans?”
Olan sipped his tea. “I really like that pretty charm, Quinn.”
There was something desperate in his tone. “Why do you need a protection charm, Olan? You are a pretty powerful being. Who have you pissed off now?”
“Well, thank you Quinn. I am a powerful creature and I think a mighty handsome one. I have a bit of a problem with the Irish bird.”
“You pissed off The Morrigan? Man, I thought you were supposed to be smart.” Olan was probably stronger than The Morrigan all around, but she was focused on death and war and sex. Pull your power from three essential aspects and you get what the economists call ‘a multiplier’.
“It was more a prank that she took offense to. I forgot she has no sense of humor.”
Despite myself I laughed. “And you should develop a sense of danger. Jeez. Do you have any more information before you go? I don’t want that crow attacking my place to get to you.”
“No, I don’t have any details. I was thinking we could work together. Between us we could save the day, so to speak.” Olan jumped up and walked along the arm of the chair.
“Yeah, and I suppose you thought I could protect you from the crow.” I sighed, but Olan knew he’d won. We both had Irish problems, and maybe it would make sense to team up.
“Yes, if it comes to that, I hope so.” He gave me a wide grin.
I took down a small silver charm and showed it to Olan. “I’ll go refresh this. Do you think you can wear it?”
“Of course, it will shrink to fit. I thank you, Quinn.”
I went back down to my workroom and found the potion I’d made yesterday to refresh my charms. I dipped Olan’s in the pot and dragged a fine silver chain behind it.
After Olan left I crawled into bed. We’d agreed to gather information and get back together later. First I needed to restore my own power. Sleep is the great provider of energy and I’d had too little lately.
After too short a nap I headed out. I figured the fairies themselves would be the best source of information and Stanley Park, only a few blocks away, was full of fairy clans. I took a bottle of water and some sour candies and sat on a bench in the sun.
“Wacher got?” I looked to where the sound came from and saw a tulip fairy standing at my elbow.
“Hello, brother. I need some information. In exchange I have these.” I held out the sour candies and bottle of water.
“Kinda information?” He kept his eyes on my hands. “I might know what you want.”
This was the tricky part. I needed to obligate the fairy so he had to give me information, but I needed to know if he had what I wanted. If I gave the candy and he only had information about how to plant bulbs for the best flowers, I was stuck with that. If I told him what I needed, he might decide the price wasn’t good enough.
“The Irish ones are doing something.” I watched his eyes shift from my hand to flick around the park.
He licked his lips. “No.”
I felt sorry for him. He looked like he hadn’t eaten for a while, but I couldn’t give him anything for free or the other fairies would think I was a sucker and I’d never get anything out of them at a reasonable price.
“Do you know who I should talk to?” It would be worth a few candies if he could get me someone.
“Yes. For seven sweets I will bring them.”
“For five.” I had plenty of candy but fairies didn’t trust anyone who didn’t bargain.
He brightened. “Three now, two when I bring him.”
“Two now, three later.”
He nodded and held out his hand, tossing one candy into his mouth before running off to a stand of bulrushes near the pond.
I waited, sipping some of the water. There was a pleasant buzz floating around adding a drowsy quality to the air. I felt my eyelids droop and my head jerk.
Dammit, a spell!
The fairies must figure if they stole the candy, they didn’t owe me. Sometimes I’m way too trusting.
“Stop.” I snapped upright. “If you take these without fair trade you are violating code.”
“I told you,” a voice squeaked next to my left elbow, Tulip. He pulled on my pant leg. “Okay here is Bob. He will tell. He owes me.”
I looked at Bob who was taller than Tulip and had a bush of brown hair topping a skinny frame. He was a bulrush fairy. Bob did not look like he wanted to tell me anything. “Are you passing me the obligation?” I asked.
Tulip nodded and held his hand out for payment. I considered holding on to his candy until I was sure Bob was going to give me the goods, but he looked so hungry I dropped an extra candy in his grubby palm. Tulip turned his big fairy eyes on me and split his face in a grin. I knew it meant the same thing as when I smile, but fairies have pointy teeth set wide in their faces, so it looked more like he was thinking of taking a bite out of me.
Tulip raced to the shade of an oak tree, putting the extra candy at the root. I liked the fact that he gave an offering to the park spirit even though he was hungry.
“So, Bob.” I looked him over. “Did he tell you what I wanted to know?”
“Yes.” Bob kept his gaze on me.
“Do you have the information?”
“Maybe, but I don’t know if what is known is what you want.”
And so I start the negotiations again. “Why don’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “It’s dangerous. You might want to keep out of it when you know there’s no going back.”
“Well, thank you. But I think I can take care of myself. If you know what’s going on with the Sidhe, tell me.”
Bob hitched himself up on the bench beside me. “Do you have any more candy?”
“Yes.” I took a handful out of the bag. “You can have this if you tell me what you know. I will add more if it is good information.”
Bob’s eyes flickered from the candy in my hand to my face. With this much sugar he could attract a lot of females. Most fairies liked to have multiple partners and to breed with as many others as possible even though they formed lifelong partnerships with one mate. Bob gave a little smile and I could see he was counting the females in his mind. Then the smile dropped and he frowned. He must have remembered that they weren’t breeding any more.
His shoulders dropped. “Why do you want this information?”
“I want to know why humans are being murdered. You know that will bring trouble eventually.”
He sighed. “Yes. Human trouble may be bad. Sidhe trouble is bad.”
“Maybe I can fix that.”
Bob jerked back from me. “Why would you?”
I laughed. “You know us wizards. We like to meddle in everything. Beside what is bad for the fairies is bad for everyone.”
His eyes gleamed. “You can end the Sidhe?”
Fairies were kind of in the moment creatures and didn’t understand the larger picture. I guess it comes from being tied to seasonal things like flowers. “No. It’s not good to end anyone. It’s better to stop them, but not end them.”