“What was that for?!” He asked.
When I held the ring up to show him it was stuck, his mouth slowly shaped into an “O” as a realization hit him.
“I guess the specific phrasing when I made the ring was for the case to be solved. We haven’t actually solved the case yet, just the likelihood that the Fae aren’t involved,” he said while putting a hand through his messy white hair. I was starting to realize he did this whenever he was nervous.
“So figure out another way to get it off of me,” I said.
“There isn’t one as far as I know,” Jack said.
The lights from the surrounding buildings and the summer haze were obscuring the stars in the sky. The clumps of snow that had stuck to the rooftop had turned to slush that was melting and condensing the ever-present humidity into a thick fog around us. I couldn’t help but feel as though the murky grey surroundings were appropriate for my mental state..
“I can’t believe this! First you get yourself in trouble for shit-talking me, then you drag me into it, I figure out a way to get you out of all of it, and you still end up screwing me over. You’re a real piece of work Jack Frost. I can see why Lilith has it in for you!” I couldn’t contain my fury. My words were meant to upset him.
“No, Lilith has a better reason for wanting me dead. And being connected to your fate is not ideal for me either,” Jack said, “I’ll help you solve the case, and then we can both get out of this hellish city. Deal?” He held his hand out in front of me as if to make amends.
But, I knew better than to make a deal with the Fae. “I don’t think so. I have a better deal. With all you’ve put me through, you owe it to me. Until the case is solved, you will act as my servant and do my bidding, no matter what it is.” I said with an evil smile forming. I then held my hand out to him.
“If I do this, then all will be forgiven?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Done!” He shook my hand a little too excitedly with both of his. “Where shall we go first, my lady? Back to the apartment? Fancy a foot massage, or perhaps a whole body massage?”
Already regretting my decision, I ignored Jack’s suggestions and wound my way back through the maze of the roof. I bid adieu to my first coffin, wove my way through the hedges to empty tables and chairs. A Lutin was retrieving the buckets of frogs and frogbits as we passed. Another Lutin was closing down the pool full of jellyfish for the night, no doubt a saltwater tank that large would be difficult to maintain. Before long we made it to the door to the spiral stair.
By the time we reached the bar, only a few patrons remained on stools. The band was breaking down their sound system and the dance floor was empty. Checking my phone, I discovered the hour was later than I had thought, but still early for a bar to close. Jack waved to Badger, who still looked like a badger without the mask on, and we went out to wait for a cab.
“Jack, you live!” Dunker said a little too loudly and clapped Jack on the back. “What I say? Jack’s as slippery as ice, he’ll be fine.”
“Thanks, I think,” Jack said.
“Little miss, I like you. This place, is no good. You stay away from here, yes?” Dunker said to me, and I took it as a kind warning instead of a threat which Dunker likely also conveyed to humans.
“I’m certainly not planning on it,” I said, but then added, “It was nice to meet you, Dunker.”
Since we were returning to the apartment so late, we had to go up the fire escape stairs to the side door. I was more than ready for sleep, but I also felt the need to shower once again. I had been lying in a bed of sand for at least an hour.
I decided to exercise my newfound power. “Is there a blender in here? Jack, why don’t you make a strawberry banana smoothie for me?”
“If that is what the lady desires,” Jack bowed down low.
Even though he was oozing with sarcasm, I couldn’t help but be amused.
After cleaning up and changing into my pajamas, I ventured out into the apartment. I found a smoothie on the counter, but there was no sign of Jack. When I took a sip, I came to the conclusion that either Jack made an excellent smoothie or I was really hungry. Although it wasn’t the ideal situation, I was starting to feel a bit better about everything. That was, until I walked into the bedroom.
Jack was lounging across the bed in a t-shirt and shorts.
“This isn’t going to work. You can go sleep on the couch,” I said.
Jack’s lip bent into a pout. “But I’m too tall for the couch!”
“You’re saying that Jack Frost, the magical trickster of legend, doesn't have the magic to make himself a bit smaller?” I asked incredulously.
“So, you have heard of me? Let’s just say, I have so much magic that a smaller body wouldn’t contain me,” he said with a wink, “Besides, I’m exhausted. The snowstorm took a lot out of me.”
I rolled my eyes and sat on the other side of the bed. I tilted the glass toward Jack to offer him some of the smoothy. He took a sip of it and nodded at his own handywork.
“Was it just me or did Queen Mab wink at me before she left?” I asked. I had been sorting through the entire harrowing situation and of course, the one thing that stuck out the most was the Queen.
“Yeah, I’d say she has a special interest in you, which makes me envy and feel sorry for you at the same time.” He said. He was lying on his back with his hands under his head while staring up at the painted ceiling.
I shifted to look at the ceiling as well. It was painted a pale blue with yellow stars in the shapes of actual constellations. I hadn’t given it much thought when I first walked into the room, but now that we were staring at it, I could see how pretty it was. Of course, the lesson the Fae taught me over and over again was that not all pretty things should be taken at face value. The painting disguised some unsightly water damage, but not so well that it was completely hidden.
That brought me to the thing I had been wondering about all day. “So, why does Lilith want you dead? I don’t want to see my ex ever again, but I don’t think I’d actually try to get him unmade by the Queen of the Faeries.”
“I’d rather not say,” Jack said.
“As my servant, I could order you to tell me,” I said.
Jack turned to his side and made eye contact with me. “Is that what you’re doing?”
I met his eyes without turning away. “Yes, I suppose I am.”
He took in a deep breath and let it escape slowly, before returning to his back and looking at the ceiling again. “The story begins with a woman, a beautiful, young woman named Astrid. She was strong, a shield maiden. But, she was also a skilled dressmaker. Her dresses were sought far and wide. Lilith and I fell in love with her in our own ways, and she met us both in kind. Things were different then. We became a family of sorts, the three of us.”
I listened intently, not intending to interrupt but also wanting to know more details. In my head I was picturing vikings out on snowy hills with their golden braids and wooden shields, their faces painted, ready for battle.
“You know there was this one time with a chicken.” He started laughing, and explained, “We had a little farm, and one of the chickens, Astrid’s favorite, named Bryst, had vanished. We looked all over. Thought it was eaten by something, and then days later I see it in town while I’m with Astrid. The darn thing wanders right up to a tavern like it’s about to get a drink. I go running in yelling ‘Bryst! Bryst!’ and this busty lady turns around, just about back hands me thinking I’m yelling about her…well, you know.” He had a good chuckle holding his stomach and took in a deep breath.
Expecting epic viking battle tales about tall ships and icy fjords, I was taken off guard with the weird chicken story. I watched as Jack’s smile faded.
“Guess you had to be there. Anyway, things were good for a time, but eventually, Lilith wanted more. She wanted to join with Astrid, eternally. Without knowing any better, Astrid allowed Lilith to feed off of her. Lilith began to grow jealous of the times when Astrid and I were alone or any time Astrid was away from her. Astrid became fearful and asked me to help her escape Lilith. I agreed; of course I would.” His voice trailed off. He shifted his attention to the wall on the other side of the room and paused taking in several deep breaths. “We knew Lilith would go to the end of the earth for Astrid. The only way for Astrid to get away was if she died before Lilith could take her completely. We came up with a plan, Astrid would go out into the ice and snow. I would put her into a deep sleep, and after Lilith thought her to be dead, I would reawaken her.”
I couldn’t tell if the chill I was beginning to feel was from the story or if Jack was actually making the room colder. The knit blanket at the edge of the bed provided some comfort when I covered my legs with it.
Jack then turned his whole body to face the far wall. His finger was tracing the threads on the decorative quilt he was lying on top of. “We walked out into the snow that day. The sun was so bright we couldn’t even see where we were going. It didn’t matter, we just had to be away. I found a tall spruce tree; the area underneath was covered in its needles and cones but shielded from the snow. Astrid sat down and leaned against it. I remember she had worn her favorite wool dress. It was deep blue like her eyes, and she smiled at me knowing it would all be over.”
“I knelt down and told her we would be together again soon. Then I kissed her.” Jack sighed. Now he was examining his own palm. “Lilith was always a step ahead of me. She had followed us. She saw what happened and insisted I wake Astrid up. With our plan foiled, there was no point in pretending any longer. I tried to wake her…but she was so cold. There was nothing I could do. She was gone. Asleep forever and smiling.” He sat up and drew his knees to his chest while leaning against the wall. “Lilith was furious. She attacked me right there. Strangled me, beat my head on the ground. I didn’t fight her. I wanted to do the same to myself. It was my emotions I think. I get colder the more I feel, and I loved Astrid so much.” He choked back a sob before collecting himself once again. “Anyway, that is why Lilith wants me dead, and I don’t blame her.”
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After taking the entire story in, I sat up and leaned my back into the headrest of the bed alongside Jack. He was looking the other direction, so I placed a hand on his arm.
“Did you ever think that maybe Astrid left because she wanted to?” I asked.
Jack’s head swiveled around. “What? No. She wouldn’t…do you think she could have?” His pale face looked at me like a child, begging a parent to say everything would be OK.
“It’s a possibility,” I said quietly.
A tear spilled down Jack’s cheek and froze. In a swift motion, he wiped it away and slid to the edge of the bed. With his back to me he said, “I’m going for a walk. I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep well, Hailey O’Malley.” With that, he stood up and walked out of the room.
It was quite the story, and although Jack had no reason to fabricate it, I couldn’t help but wonder if any of it were true.
With time to myself, I flipped through my phone, searching through my emails. There were several from work, which it turned out I wasn’t leaving right away. Maybe I’d make it to my first paycheck. Upon opening one of the emails, I noticed the schedule for my first week. I was on an alternating schedule and tomorrow happened to be one of my Saturdays.
“Well, shit,” I said to myself.
Plugging my phone into the charger, I plopped back into bed dreading the idea of getting up in a few hours for work. There was no good reason for me to skip my second day, especially when I could find out more information about the case. I must have been exhausted, because my eyes had shut before I realized it.
It didn’t feel as though I had slept at all when my alarm began to buzz. My head was aching and my throat was dry. Jack had not returned to the bedroom that night and a quick glance around the apartment showed no sign of him. I figured he’d find me again when he wanted to, and I worked better alone anyway. So, I grabbed my coffee that I assumed the Lutin had started for me and got on my way to work.
While I was getting into the taxi, I saw a trolley go by and wondered if it would be a better way to get around. The taxi fees would add up without Jack footing the bill, and it was way too hot to walk. I didn’t want to show up to work drenched in sweat.
When I walked into the air conditioned office, I saw Chen already at his desk.
“Saturday on your first week?” He asked, “Who’d you piss off?”
“No idea, you got anything for a headache?” I asked.
“Ooo, hungover? Pretty sure that’s why Stevens called out,” Chen said. “Speaking of drunken debacles, the nightshift was all abuzz about snow down by the Garden District. They thought it was prank calls ’til they got a dozen of them. Had to send an officer, and it turns out it was some bar making fake snow for their roof party.”
I tried to sound impressed. “Sounds like quite the party.”
“Hey, how’s your arm doing?”
As Chen asked this, I realized I had completely forgotten to put a bandage on my arm. Normally I wouldn’t forget such an important detail, but in my defense, I had never been bitten by a rabbit Pooka and then had it magically heal hours later. Luckily for me, I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, because I didn’t own any short-sleeve dress shirts. Now I had to remember not to roll up the sleeves, no matter how hot it got.
Before I could answer Chen, Lacroix marched in. I almost didn’t recognize him in the Hawain shirt with large yellow and green pineapples printed on it.
“Detective?” Chen asked, trying his best not to laugh.
“Not a word, Chen,” Lacroix said, “Got called in from what was supposed to be my vacation. Damn night crew doesn’t do their job. We got another body, caucasian male, at a bar on Bourbon Street. This time there’s a witness. Don’t think it’s connected to the cult shit, but the FBI aint coming ’til Monday. I’m being told to do all of this by the book, so suit up you two. O’Malley I want pictures of everything. Chen, looks like you’re all I got to examine the body. Doctor Collette didn’t see fit to come in today neither.”
“You going to suit up too?” Chen asked with a smirk.
“Imma get this done and get back to fishin’,” Lacroix answered grumpily, but I saw he had a garment bag at his desk.
Chen went to work getting his clean suit, and I did the same. With only the two of us, it took a little longer to get all of the equipment into the van. Even though they normally had the less experienced forensic staff drive the van, I didn’t know my way around NOLA well enough, so Chen drove. He was a good deal shorter than Stevens, but he adjusted the seat and mirrors a few too many times before we left.
Riding with Chen was the exact opposite of Lacroix. The van edged along at a snail pace, causing frustrated honking from cars behind us several times. Whenever we were chatting about anything, Chen missed the change of the light. By the third car that honked at us I made up my mind to convince Chen to let me drive back.
As soon as we arrived at the scene, a uniformed officer was there to greet us and direct us through the barrier. We suited up in the back of the van and I got my camera ready. I recognized the bar as one Jack and I had avoided walking by yesterday. The place had its doors open and young, scantily clad women were spraying squirt guns at people who passed by. Today, with the doors shut and the lights off, it just looked like any of the old buildings in the neighborhood.
When we walked in, Lacroix was chatting with a young woman in a booth in the front. He had gotten changed into his brown suit, but his usual sunglasses were on the top of his head due to how dark the bar was. There were booths in the corners of the room, the center had tall tables with barstools, and the bar itself took up a large portion of the room. Big flatscreen TVs were tuned into local sports channels with the sound turned off. Green and purple beads were on tables and hanging from the walls along with mardi gras masks and NOLA flags. They were really leaning into being a tourist attraction.
The first thing I noticed was the long smear of blood down the center of the floor between the tables. Chen made a beeline through the tables over to the body of a man propped up against the wall. The man’s head drooped to the side, his blue lips were contorted open as if in a perpetual scream. Once I was a bit closer, I could see there were wounds all over his arms and face, but the ultimate cause of death was the rusty iron rod that had pierced him and went all the way through his throat. This looked like a crime of passion.
“Can we get the lights on in here?” Chen asked, his voice a little muffled by the mask over his face.
“That’s as bright as they get,” the young woman said back.
“I’m getting lights from the van then,” Chen said. “Be right back.”
While Chen was gone, Lacroix directed me to take pictures of a bloodtrail and broken glass near him and the bartender. It was the perfect chance for me to listen in on the conversation. The combination of the dark, red lighting and the sticky floor kept making me think I was accidentally stepping in blood as I did so.
“I was the only one closing, because the other girl got sick. It was past 2 a.m., but Kurt was always good with the tips, so I told him he could stay while I cleaned.” Her voice was shaky. Her eyeliner was running and smudged as if it had been reapplied.
“OK, can you show me where you were when they came in?” Lacroix asked.
She walked over to the bar and leaned down. “I was down here cleaning up under the bar. We stash all the empty bottles in one bin while we’re workin’ and you’re supposed to take it out at the end of your shift, but there’s no way the last closer did, because it was so full the bag dropped out.” She blew her nose loudly into a napkin and then continued.
“So there I was, on the ground picking up bottles when I heard someone walk in. I was about to say we were closed, but there was a bunch of yelling and cussing. There’s a little crack here that you can see through.” She pointed to a seam in the wood of the bar. “There were three of them.”
“What did they look like?” Lacroix jumped in immediately. He had a pad of paper and a pen ready to write a description.
“I couldn’t see their faces. They were all wearing hooded sweatshirts and like them sick masks that cover your nose and mouth. But, one was a lady and the other two were guys.”
“How do you know that?”
“The lady was smaller, and I heard their voices.”
“What were they saying?”
“They were yellin’ at Kurt about sellin’ drugs. And he broke a bottle and went at one of them, but they had like cooking pans and those metal pipe things you see on the side of the road sometimes.”
“Rebar,” I said pointing to the piece of metal sticking out of the dead man’s neck.
“Right, that. So, then they were hitting him, and I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t make any noise. My phone was in my purse over on that hook.” She pointed behind the bar. “If I tried to get it they would see me. After they hit him a bunch, God it was awful, they dragged him over to the wall there and then…” Her voice faltered. She motioned over to the body, but didn’t finish her sentence.
“It’s OK, Nancy, you’re doing great. Why don’t you drink some water and take a minute. Then you can tell me the rest,” Lacroix said. Even though he carried himself in an assertive way, he was able to make his voice sound warm.
Taking another picture, and then moving a bit away, I decided many of Lacroix’s mannerisms were practiced. It made me very curious as to what kind of person he was when he wasn’t at work— aside from the kind who would wear a pineapple Hawaiian shirt while fishing.
Nancy finished the glass of water and wiped her face on a napkin before continuing, “I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept hiding and hoping they wouldn’t look for me. For some reason, they didn’t, but I was so scared I stayed under the bar for a long time after they left. Once I knew they were gone, I locked up the doors and called y’all.”
“Good. Thank you for staying to talk to me. Here’s my card if you remember anything else. I’ll have some follow-up questions for you later, but today I want you to go on home and take care of yourself. If you’ve a friend or family that can stay with you, give them a call.”
He slid his card across the table to her, and she scooped it up with both hands holding it to her chest as if it were a letter from a loved one. He then led her to the front door and began to open it when Nancy suddenly stopped.
“Wait, there was one more thing. The woman, she said she was gonna ‘kill all the fairies.’ Never would’ve pegged Kurt as gay though, coulda sworn I caught him lookin’ down my shirt once or twice.”
Lacroix wrote her words down and then ordered a uniformed officer to escort Nancy home. She thanked him while Chen pushed by them with cases full of lights. As soon as the door was closed Lacroix yelled.
“Ah hell, it went from a few junkies mad at their dealer to a hate group on a killing spree with one sentence!” Lacroix was obviously agitated and looking for someone to take it out on. “What you bringing all this crap in here for? Just draw the shades, Chen! ”
Chen, startled, nearly dropped the heavy cases. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“I had assumed they weren’t functional,” I chimed in and went over to assist Chen with one of them, but my mind was elsewhere. Three people thought Kurt was a faerie, and somehow they knew the Fae were allergic to iron. They were using iron pans to beat him and then the iron rod to finish him off. I was fairly certain from what I saw of Kurt that he was not a Fae, but I had to find out who these people were and what they had against the Fae for two reasons:
- I happened to be magically connected to a member of the group they were hunting.
- Queen Mab would not be pleased.