“What’s bothering you, then?” I knew something was.
“How easy it was,” he whispered.
That made the blood rush from my head, but I didn’t let that stop me from remaining calm and composed.
Easy? He thinks it was easy to kill a redcap? Really? There’s not many who can do it on a good day, much less when something akin to a bomb goes off right behind them.
“He was surprised by how strong I was. I figured I took him off guard but thinking back…”
“Dunter would have been at his top strength the moment the magical wards and protections failed,” I said, sighing. “Look, we don’t know what you are, and that’s going to come with surprises. Redcaps are considered one of the most physically strong creatures among the supernatural. They’re a type of fae, but…there are different types of fae. Not all of them are like Cassius, Sorcha, and Alvina.”
“Human looking, you mean.”
“Exactly. In reality, very few look human…including Cassius, Sorcha, and Alvina. They all use glamours to fit in with our world.” I shrugged. “Most pure children of Titania and Oberon look like what humans call elves. Long pointed ears, unearthly, and slightly alien. The clan-fae, those mixed with human, look more human, their features more balanced but still off. I’m so used to it, I barely even register whether they have their glamours up or not. Cassius always just looks like Cassius to me. Then there are the species of fae, the creatures. The idea of what fae are is a complex one.”
“Yeah, I got that over the last four months of studying,” he retorted, a small smirk forming. “I have paid attention.”
“Yeah, I know,” I whispered as I looked back at the board. But we don’t talk a lot and most of the time, telling you about things is all we do talk about.
“The idea of being fae is actually something from the fae lands. There’s a lot that falls into that. The Sidhe, the children of Titania and Oberon? They control everything, but they aren’t the only fae species. Just the one everyone is accustomed to dealing with,” he quoted as if he were reading directly from one of the dossiers I had given him over the last few months. By the smile on his face, it was as if he read my mind. “Did I get that right?”
“Yeah, you did,” I answered, trying not to smile. Wanting to talk to him was a need I didn’t like having, but I was glad he was willing to indulge it. Biology and my own loneliness were getting the better of me. “Do we have records of every species that falls under fae distinction?”
“No.” His voice was suddenly soft. “It’s crazy to me, just how big everything really is. I grew up with such a small viewpoint of the world.”
“Worlds,” I corrected. “Remember, planes of existence. Demons, angels, fae, and others came from different places and mostly just use this world as a place to hang out, make money, get away from their own politics. Same for the gods. Pocket dimensions and shit.”
“Worlds,” he agreed, nodding. “Sorry.”
“We got way off track,” I declared, waving a hand back at what had kept me up. “If you don’t want to get back to sleep, you can definitely help me.”
There wasn’t much left to do. A couple of notes to write now about Dunter, who was deceased. Raphael made sure I understood that.
“I ripped his head off,” my roommate said, swallowing an obvious lump in his throat.
“Ah. Yeah, he’s dead,” I mumbled, knowing it wasn’t an easy thing for him to admit. Ripping someone’s head off was a feat. We had witnessed Sinclair do it.
An hour after I got out of the bed and thirty minutes since Raphael had joined me, my cell phone started going off. I grabbed it quickly, not bothering to see who was calling. I would talk to anyone if it meant getting even a shred of information.
“Executioner Sahni, I come bearing news. Listen and ask questions when I’m finished,” Hasan said, starting the conversation off on a strong foot. I didn’t even greet him, waiting for more. “We’ve put Executioners on alert worldwide. Our current directive is to wait for the concentration of the problem to spread out. If we pull them from their regions, we leave vulnerabilities around the world, and they don’t understand Phoenix as well as you and other locals. It would also be a major exposure risk. If the escapees go to