David Rossi stared out the window of his apartment and thought about how he had come to Los Angeles. He had come from Underhill better known as Tír na nÓg. His apartment was in the most exclusive part of the city, a place that the ultrarich had made their own, back when the city was first built. He owned the whole building and made quite a bit from the renters, though to him that was inconsequential
His home was the top two floors of the building, which meant he had an excellent view, especially at night when the sky was clear with very few lights.
No one bothered him, but though he hated to admit it he was lonely. He had set out from Underhill as a young Seelie, and here, he was, centuries later. He had built a huge empire, bigger than the human world had ever known. He'd been through wars, famine, earthquakes tornadoes and hurricanes. He had been through every disaster man-made or natural in his centuries. It had only made him more determined to help people, though he'd had to do it behind the scenes, particularly in what was now the 21st century. He had people asking him for his money, especially women who wanted to marry him for all the wrong reasons, all human and of course. Human women tend to be outrageous and bold or at least the ones that came after him were. Dave well knew that it was the same for other rich men or women for that matter. Being rich just brought out all kinds of crazy, charities that wanted your money for their cause, conmen, people who wanted to live in the lap of luxury. He had been somewhat shocked the first time it happened, as most sidhe were nothing like humans. Of course, sidhe had magic and could create anything they wanted, so long as they were skilled enough. They just had to imagine it and whatever they desired came into being.
The only thing that they were allergic to was caffeine and it could send them into a coma. Enough caffeine and they were dead from overload.
The doorbell rang and Dave wondered who could be disturbing him this early in the morning. It wouldn't be anyone human he was sure. They would wait for a more reasonable hour.
Dave waved his hand the door to his apartment opening, without him having to move from where he was standing at one of the large windows looking out at the city that he had chosen as his home.
"What is it Dughill? There has to be some urgent reason you're disturbing me at 3 o'clock in the morning."
This was said with an Irish lilt, though very subtle was still present. Underneath the lilt however, was a subtle steel, warning the other man that it had better be very important. While Dave was a very kind and generous lord, he was still a lord of the Sidhe and took no disrespect from anyone. The people who worked for him knew better than to bother him at this hour of the morning unless it was a very urgent matter, one that could not wait for a more decent hour. Dughill, was a very talented Seer, that worked for him though also others. Dave was sure however, that Dughill was very trustworthy and would never work for one of his many enemies. There was great respect between them.
"There is m'lord," Dughill said respectfully.
"Out with the then," Dave ordered brusquely
"Yes, m'lord," Dughill said respectfully. "I had a vision and I felt that I couldn't wait to inform you. It feels very close."
Dave listened attentively, as Dug told him all about what he had seen.
"That does indeed seem very grave," Dave told his longtime friend. "Do you have any idea why you saw a vision of this dark haired woman?"
"Not for sure," Dug admitted.
"What do you suspect?" Dave asked with a eyebrow in question.
"Well, since I saw the two of you together, well, you appear very close," Dug explained a little tentatively.
Dave well knew why Dug was so tentative. More than one Seelie had died in the past, for being to forward, as it could be taken as interest in one of their kind's personal lives. It was mostly the dark sidhe that took a head if they felt insulted, but it had been known to happen with the good sidhe as well and some were particularly sensitive.
"You mean romantically?" Dave asked and Dug nodded, seeing that he wasn't about to lose his head he relaxed a little.
"Never fear my friend, I would never take your head over something you've seen, just because I didn't like your vision. I'm well aware that some of our kind would, but you should know me well enough to know that I'm not like that."
"I do m'lord," Dug replied cautiously relieved. "It's just that she appears human. Of course I realize she could be wearing a glamour just like we all do when we go somewhere public, but there's only so much a vision can tell me."
"Humans are so short-lived," Dave finished.
"And some of our kind have...well, not prejudices exactly," Dug added cautiously.
"But they don't want to get involved romantically with humans, because they live less than 100 years, unless of course they are taken Underhill, from which they can never return after a certain amount of time passes," Dave finished.
"Where they do still eventually die, even if they are much longer lived then normal, because of the magic that is part of Underhill," Dug said.
"So you think this dark haired woman could be in some kind of trouble," Dave said wanted conformation
"That's the feeling I got," Dug said. "I don't know what kind of trouble either."
"Perhaps you'll have another," Dave suggested.
"That's possible," Dug said cautiously.
"You don't think you will though," Dave said knowing his old friend well.
"I have no way of knowing for sure of course, but I don't think it's too likely, not considering the likely short timeframe. While there are certain things I can do to improve my chances of having a vision, there are no guarantees that they will be about the human woman."
Dave was nodding at this, because that's the way that the power worked.
"Try your best. If you have another vision that helps me locate her you will be rewarded," Dave said. "If this woman is going to become my lover and perhaps more, I want every opportunity to romance her, to build our relationship. I don't want her to die before I even get a chance. I've been rather lonely," Dave admitted.
"Yes, m'lord," Dug agreed respectfully. "If I have another vision I'll come straight to you. I have a feeling that this situation is going to happen soon."
"How soon?" Dave asked.
"If I had to guess, I would say no more than a few months at most, two or three months at the outside," Dug said. "I can't get any closer than that I'm afraid."
"That will be all Dughill," Dave told his friend and Dug immediately turned to leave recognizing a command no matter how politely worded.
Dave stared out the window where dawn was just beginning to lighten the sky and wondered who this supposedly human woman was and why she would come to mean so much to him.
~~~Dave and Alex~~~
Several weeks later
Dave was enjoying his well-prepared breakfast. He had his own chef, so didn't even have to ken anything if he didn't feel like it. Besides, food was rather hard to get exactly right tastewise by kenning. This was one of the reasons that he enjoyed living in the human world so much.
He considered the information that Dug had given him. The seer had managed to have another vision, and that was a good thing indeed. Apparently, Danann really wanted this woman saved from whatever trouble she was in. He wasn't entirely sure what to think about a relationship between him and this woman, especially a permanent one. A temporary one, was one thing, a permanent one another. There was something strange going on here, but what it was he didn't have a clue at the moment. Danann was usually a very distant goddess and didn't interfere with her people too much, though there were occasions she communicated with them. What this told Dave was this woman was important, though in what way he wasn't entirely sure. According to Dug's vision she was apparently going to be important to him personally and he wasn't entirely sure if that was a good or bad thing.
He had still not found this mysterious woman and he had put out feelers. All he knew was that her first name was Alex. That wasn't enough to go on to do a computer search, and Dughill hadn't managed to have another vision to help him, but he knew very well that having 'the gift of foresight' had always been rather fickle.
He supposed he'd see. It never even occurred to Dave that he might meet this mysterious woman at the party he was going to attend that evening. All he was thinking about was that he was running out of time if Dughill was right on the time limit.
There was a knock on the door and Dave opened it with a wave of his hand, not having to move from his position. Immediately, his personal assistant entered. His personal assistant kept him on track with his schedule, which was quite busy and not just with his duties as a lord of Underhill. He had an empire to run after all and he had plenty of help with that task.
"What's on the schedule for today, Aithne?"
"Well sir," said the very beautiful, Aithne with her dark brown hair tied back, her green eyes serious. "Today you have a meeting first thing..." Aithne began. "Then you are invited to a party this evening," Aithne finally finished. "It's been on the schedule for a couple of months now."
Aithne well knew how much her lord didn't enjoy those parties. He usually went stag, which didn't help the situation. If he took along a date a lot of those women would back off if they thought he was involved with someone, though not all of them.
"Well, it sounds like it's going to be a busy day and night as well," Dave said.
"Yes sir," Aithne answered. "And also you are invited to bring a plus one to the party."
The party in question was one of the social events of the year and Dave knew he was only invited because he was one of the richest men in Los Angeles. Really, the richest, but the humans certainly didn't know that. It was high society and all they cared about was getting his money for some cause of theirs and it was also where plenty of women came onto him, trying to get him to at least date them. He enjoyed himself to an extent, as they were always a lot of rather interesting conversations going on and it was hardly a hardship to dance with the beautiful women, so long as they knew their place. He didn't like how some women tried to cling to him like leeches, though he knew it was because he was handsome and successful with plenty of wealth in the bank. It had nothing to do with him personally. Those type of women would run screaming into the night when they found out he wasn't human, so he wasn't about to reveal himself to women who were so shallow and just out to snag them a handsome, rich husband.
It would take someone special indeed to take his alien looks when he wasn't wearing a glamor, and deal with it calmly and rationally and not threaten to go to the authorities or tell his identity on national news, not that many people would believe it. So many women were so emotional that they wouldn't take such fantastic news well, though to be honest so were some men.
"You can come with me as my plus one," Dave decided. "It should make a lot of those women back off at least for this one event."
"I was just thinking the same thing m'lord," Aithne admitted, smiling slightly.
Aithne had been in love with David Rossi or rather Dáithí Silverwood for quite sometime, but she knew she had no chance with him. She doubted he had even noticed that she loved him or if he had, he had chosen to ignore it. If he found this woman that Dughill had 'seen' then she knew that to try to interfere in their relationship would at best see her banished or she could possibly lose her head. This woman that Dughill had seen could very well order her killed and Dáithí would obey. He was already more than halfway in love with her, though they had yet to meet, but Aithne knew that event was coming soon, maybe even tonight.
"I should've invited you before," Dave admitted. "While I enjoy these parties somewhat they're always ruined by at least one woman who wants more than a dance. Some of them can be very persistent."
"Well, me being there should stop most of that," Aithne suggested.
"Yes, it should, but you know that this is more of a business arrangement. It's just too keep those women off my back."
"Yes, I know. You're waiting to meet the one that Dughill told you about," Aithne assured him.
"He's sure I'll recognize her on sight, as he can't really give me more than a general description," Dave said. "It's unfortunate I can't take him to the party, but I would give people the wrong type of impression."
Aithne nodded knowing exactly what Dave meant. If Dave dared show up with Dughill as his plus one everybody at the party would probably assume that he was into his own sex. You just didn't bring another man to a party as your plus one. It just wasn't done. Not unless you were ready to admit that you were openly gay and ready to come out of the closet.
"That is all, Aithne," Dave told his assistant. The gorgeous elf with her curly brown hair and cat green eyes nodded. She left without a word and Dave sighed partly in relief. Dave was well aware of his assistant's feelings for him, but he had never felt that way and so Aithne was just going to have to get over her crush on him on her own. If she didn't, than that wasn't his problem, though he was sorry, that he could not return her feelings.
~~~Dave and Alex~~~