Of Gods and Fae Read Free

wars.
So few had been left that they hid in the heavens and kept to themselves. Then
they heard a rumor that the High Fae had returned. I'm not sure where they
heard it, Sendy certainly didn't know. But about 50 or so years ago they began
to seek out if the rumor was true. They went out singly, or in pairs, as there
were so few of them that they didn't want to risk themselves unnecessarily.
Probably a good move, although it didn’t seem to help as most of them didn't
make it back. Apparently, few others were willing to risk such a venture
without more information, especially since their numbers were dwindling.
    I think that's the problem with most of the Fae, except, of
course, those bold enough to live here. Hell, why take risks when you can live
forever? Especially after the wars between the Fae that led up to The Fall .
    I don’t know, maybe it's not such a bad life. I mean, there
is magic. But the cost for that is, well, at least in my opinion, boredom.
Which is why, contrary to what others may think, I wasn't sure if this Fae
thing was all that it was cracked up to be. Maybe that's what makes humans the
way they are. If you have to be mortal, at least you can live your life to the
fullest. That's not such a bad thing.
    I once asked Meredith, the eldest of the Nereids, why she
would want to live in the human world. You know what she told me? She said that
this is where the action is. It's too bad the first batch of High Fae had to
take it so far. Greed, pride, lust, hell, pick any of the seven sins you want—the
Fae really aren’t that different from humans after all. Let's just hope I can
do better. Of course, I still had to deal with Marissa, she wasn't going to be
in Tartarus for eternity, but maybe the time Ouranos had given me was a good
head start.
    In Sendy's case, not too long ago, her sisters set out to
find out what had happened. When they didn’t return, another, Maia, left to try
and find them. When she, too, hadn’t returned, Sendy, even after being told not
to, started searching. Then she found me. I took a good look at her. Even with
her Tink garb you could tell she had gumption. Things just keep getting more
interesting, I thought to myself. Then I had a crazy idea. I did have something
she could do for me.
    "Feel like going for a ride," I asked.
    "Where are we going?" she asked.
    "Have you ever had hot chocolate?" I asked with a
smile.
    ****
    I'd like to say that I was taking her to my favorite local
coffee house, Leone Café, but the truth was we were just heading to a small
coffee shop not far from the house because it was closer. I pulled into the
shopping center just west of the freeway and found a spot in the back. It was
still early so we grabbed a table. We had a little time to talk before the
morning work crowd got too large. I told her what I wanted from her and then we
just sat and watched people a while. It was kind of nice just answering her
questions about this world. It's not every day you get to teach someone about
the crazy ways humans interact, or, for that matter, the importance of coffee
and hot chocolate to the human race.
    I'd parked in the back for a reason. The shopping center was
expanding and the back lot bordered the construction zone. If the place had
been busy, we could have talked back there with less interruption than the
front lot which had a fair share of traffic. I suppose we could have just
talked back at the house, but for some reason I thought this would be more fun.
That, of course, had been my first mistake.
    I sensed the danger just as I was opening the passenger car
door. Suddenly my world changed and I saw red as the magic had kicked in. I
pushed Sendy into the car and stepped to the side just as the first arrow
struck the vehicle. I turned and grabbed the second catching a quick glimpse of
someone, or something, stepping back two buildings down. Telling her to stay
down, I pulled my sword and went after him.
    I wasn't sure what my attacker was, but his choice