"So what up Trickster and whatever it is, it better involve beer because there is no other humane reason to be up this early otherwise," Kenzi whined as she slumped over the bar top, her eyes at half-mast. It was 8am and the Dahl was quiet, the stools still stacked on top of the tables, the blinds were still closed, the lamplights providing the room's only light. For all intents and purposes, the Dahl looked as fast asleep as the rest of the city. Trick stood behind the bar, a dishrag casually slung over his shoulder as he eyed his rumpled guests. Ambling over with one of his famous judgemental looks he placed a beer in front of the human and then looked out at the rest of the team.
"There's an Encantado in town," he said simply.
Dyson growled although this early in the morning it could just have easily been a grunt at the hour.
Bo who was sitting next to Kenzi cast a bored glance his way.
"What's an Encantado? It sounds like a witch's spell," she laughed nudging Kenzi with her elbow. The news clearly wasn't interesting enough to warrant a response from the human who had all but fallen back to sleep on the bar top, the untouched bottle of beer clasped in her hand.
Trick looked decidedly uncomfortable before launching into his explanation.
"It's an ancient Brazilian fae, descendent of the Boto River Dolphin who would take human form to seduce women back to the river, the Encantado's feed by voyeurism of both pleasure and pain, the Encantado that seduced the woman would then proceed to, well you know, and the rest of the pod would watch i.e. feed, each Fae would take his turn to seduce as the act itself is not satisfactory for them."
"I hate to play devil's advocate but what makes this guy evil enough to warrant an instant kill, I mean I'm a sexual demon and nobody's running around trying to kill me, yet, but then it's still early," Bo laughed and nudged Kenzi who woke with a start.
"Whatever it is I didn't do it."
"Is that your default setting Kenz?" Dyson chuckled with amusement.
"Is what my default setting?" she shot back, her brow furrowed in that way he always found adorable.
"Always thinking someone's after you for something you did or didn't do," he conceded.
"Didn't do, definitely didn't do, pig," she confirmed, using the universal and hated nickname for the police. "Does anyone else think it's weird that Dyson is both the predator and the pray, wolf and pig? Hell he's like the 3 little pig nursery rhyme all rolled into one."
Dyson growled, this time with no doubt as to the non-syllabic sound.
"Come here and say that Kenz," he challenged. Kenzi, never one to back down hopped off the stool, her knee eye leather boots providing a healthy clink as they hit the wooden floors. She was about to head over to Dyson when Trick's dishrag hit the bar top causing them all to start.
"When you kids are finished measuring dick sizes can we focus on the matter at hand, this Encantado demon is nothing to joke about, they are extremely dangerous creatures, particularly to humans, you of all people should be concerned about that, Bo," he said, his voice brooking no arguments. The smile vanished from Bo's mouth and she leaned forward.
"Dangerous how?"
"Well whereas you've learned to control your urges and leave your prey alive and well, the Encantado's have no such concern, the women they choose are let's just say they're exhausted to death if you catch my meaning."
"Is it always humans?"
"Yes, they get no satisfaction from other fae, these guys are ancient, they're not just your run of the mill dark fae, they're extremely hard to kill in the sense that killing them takes time, but first we need to find them and I do have an idea of how to do that but that's the tricky part and that's why I called you here," Trick said gravely.
"Alright Trick, what do you want us to do?" she asked in all seriousness, if someone was messing with humans, then she wasn't going to sit back and let it continue.
"Well it's more what I need Kenzi to do," he looked reluctantly over at Kenzi who suddenly found herself the object of everyone's gaze. She fidgeted, not liking the regretful and almost nervous look in Trick's eye.
"Me? Why me, if a bunch of badass fae need my help then you're losing your touch old man," she joked, another of her default settings. When in doubt, always joke.
"Because Kenzi, the perfect feeding ground for an Encantado fae is a BDSM club and we need somebody to go in undercover and identify it, what more perfect bait than a beautiful submissive human female?" he glanced at her, pointedly.
"But Kenzi isn't submissive," Dyson interjected. He didn't like the idea of Kenzi going into a BDSM club on a normal day let alone one inhabited by a demon Trick himself had admitted was fatal to humans.
"That's where you come in, the club's bylaws state that any new members wanting to join have to come in pairs, a Dominant fae male and a submissive human female, making this ideal for the Encantado, I need you to both train Kenzi in how to be a convincing submissive and go in undercover with her."
"How do we identify it?" he asked, his mind jolting right past the knowledge that he had to sexually train the girl who was like a sister to him.
"In ancient times, the Encantado-"
"Hello, did anyone else hear the part where Dyson has to train me to be a submissive, as in get naked with the D-man?" Kenzi interjected in outrage. She could feel a deep flush coming and determinedly willed it down. She could not, under any circumstances blush in front of her friends.
"Yes Kenzi we all heard that part," Trick replied waving down her next response, seeing her mouth shoot open in retort. "It's not ideal but it's a necessity."
As I was saying, in ancient times when the Encantado took human form they would wear hats to cover their blowhole-"
"Ha blowhole, that's what she said," Kenzi cut in briefly with a snort, grinning when she saw Dyson shake his head with a reluctant smile on his face.
"So," Trick went on, irritation now evident in his tone. "When you're inside the club, the person wearing the hat will be your man."
"A hat? That's the big identifier? And what if we grab some poor human wearing a baseball cap and shove a knife in his heart or an axe because I honestly wouldn't put it past you fae requiring some medieval weapon for murder?" Kenzi said.
"It's a fae club Kenzi, all the males in that club are going to be fae, and a knife or an axe as you say won't kill most fae and especially not this one," Trick sighed in exasperation. He knew it was his own fault for calling them in this early but the fact that they weren't grasping the severity of this situation was draining his nerves.
"Right, so how do we kill it by the way, and are Dyson and I playing Kill Bill over here or are the big bad fae team coming in as backup to do the dirty work?" she asked tossing her head behind her in the direction of Bo and Hale, and Vex who was sitting in the corner picking at his fingernails, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.
"We just need you to identify it, you might not have to do much if you spot it straight away, I'm sure Dyson and Hale can hook you up with some police issue comms so you can contact us once you've found him, hopefully this will only take an hour or two and you won't be expected to actually participate," Trick replied.
"But how do we kill it Trick?" Bo now asked again.
"Well if you have a few hours to waste, the easiest way would be to capture it and dry it out, Encantado's require the feeding of the sexual variety but also need to make frequent returns to their home, the river Boto in Brazil, they have charms that allow them to transport themselves instantly, if we don't allow them to feed or return to the water, they will dry out after a couple of hours and die, I have heard rumours of a more timeous method but I need to research that which I will be doing soon but I need to know that everyone is on board with the plan, I can't tell you how imperative this is, the more humans that go missing, the greater the chances of the fae being discovered."
"Well I'm in but I do feel kind of obsolete in this case," Bo said, used to being the muscle and in the frontlines of danger. She could heal, Kenzi couldn't.
"I know but unfortunately, you don't fit the bill and our dear sweet Kenzi does," Trick said regretfully. He glanced back at Kenzi who had now downed the unopened beer he had given her earlier, her mouth having gone instantly dry at the idea of having sex adjacent with Dyson. She raised her eyes to find all eyes on her again. She made a point to avoid the man in question and glanced back at Trick.
"So what do you say, Kenz? Wanna play cops and robbers for a day?" he asked.
"I think the movie reference you are looking for Trickster, is playing 50 Shades of Grey for a day," she retorted. "But fine, if there isn't another option I'll do it."
"50 shades of grey? What does that have to do with this situation?" Trick asked, his eyebrows knit together in confusion. The others laughed at the look as they all ambled out.
"Everything, Trick," Dyson patted his shoulder on his way out. He had a lot of thinking to do but first he needed to speak to the human who was suddenly trying to avoid him.