Author's Note:

This first chapter is more of a pilot to test the waters. Be warned, I don't use beta readers, and I have severe dyslexia, along with my neurodivergent brain. I also have a habit of not finishing things... like stories. I have more or less completed a few chapters, but no promises. This was more of a little something for me, anyway. Please don't judge too harshly.

P.S. This was all done on a mobile, so it may look different on a desktop.

P.P.S. I'm not multilingual myself and mainly used Google Translate, though I did try for accuracy and colloquial terms/phrases.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mercy Thompson series or any characters from it.

Chapter One: Home Improvement

Music pumped through my headphones as I nailed down another shingle with a jolt of the nail gun and a satisfying pop, locking the wooden roofing in place. One of many things on my to-do list of repairs since I bought this house a couple of years ago when I moved to Kennewick, Washington, on a whim.

I liked the area, the atmosphere, it seemed like the place to be, and the fixer-upper of a Victorian corner house I was currently on the roof of. I spent more than I should have on it, probably twice what it was worth, but the house was mine, and that's all that mattered. I'd replaced and refinished all of the flooring and upgraded the electrical as well as the plumbing. Restored what I could, and uncovered previously sealed doorways and fireplaces. The gabled roof was something I wanted to get done before the winter, and it was well on the way to being finished even as the chill of mid October set in.

Placing another shingle, I held it with a hand clad in a leather glove while I pressed the tip of the nail gun to the wood and pulled the trigger.

Pop, pop!

Another shingle down. Only a few dozen more to go, and this section will be complete. Progress! As I placed the next piece, I thought I heard something over my music and the on and off motor of the air compressor, but when I paused, nothing was amiss. Shrugging, I continued.

Pop, pop!

Just above my hand, a pinecone landed and rolled until it bumped into my fingers. Setting my nail gun down, I sat on my heels as I picked up the random seed grenade, pondering it a moment before looking up at the grey sky, thinking a bird may have dropped it.

Another one flew by my person, landing on the fresh row of shingles before rolling down and passing me as I watch it go before I feel another smack the back of my head, snagging in my ponytail. Dropping the one in my hand, I untangle the other from my hair as I look around just in time to see yet another sailing towards me from below. This time, I catch it and peek over the edge of the roof from my kneeling position to see the perp about to launch another with his arm pulled back like a trebuchet. That is, until he sees me and drops his ammo of pine, grinning guiltily.

Tapping the pause button on the headset, I pull it off to let it rest against my neck and readjust my tinted safety glasses before turning off the compressor. Returning the grin, I chuck the pinecone back at the young man, which he doesn't bother dodging, letting it bounce off his chest.

"Jaysus Tad. I thought the squirrel revolution had begun, and I was on their hit-list! You know how vicious and bloodthirsty they are."

"Sorry." He said, not meaning it in the least.

"Uh huh. What can I do you for?" I ask.

"I'm just headed out to help Mercy at the garage. Thought I should warn you, my dad is on the warpath today, and you're on his shitlist."

"Me? What'd I do this time?" That man has been a thorn in my arse since I moved in, aside from the six-ish months he was away in fairyland, otherwise known as the Wala Wala fae reservation. In that time, Tad and I really bonded. He liked food, I liked food. He's a nerd, I'm a nerd. And he needed a friend. So I'd often invite him over for dinner and a movie or a gaming session. General hangout. He's a sweet kid with a good head on his shoulders who seemed a little lost without Siebold around. If I were honest, he reminds me very much of my kid brothers, whom I love dearly.

One day, back in early spring, he showed up at my door, asking me to watch their house while he was away.

I said yes, of course, but not before offering him sanctuary from the two goons that stood at the street, no doubt sent to escort him to the rez. Knowing what I do now, I wouldn't have let him go.

It wasn't until nearly summer I saw either of them again, and they both looked like they could use a few good meals and some good old TLC. The first several weeks and every one since, I make extra food and send it their way. Tad is a darling, and, as crabby as his father can be, I don't hate Siebold and don't wish him ill. Even if he seems to hate my guts for whatever reason. I don't take it too personally...usually. he's, as far as I can tell, kind of like this to everyone. While he's not particularly nasty or malicious, he can be abrasive, knit-picky, and certainly a stick-in-the-mud. All the things Tad isn't.

"You woke up this morning?" He suggested unhelpfully. "He's been grumpier since..." He trailed off, obviously not wanting to put to voice their experiences in Wala Wala. Something I was certain they both wished to forget. He hadn't given me the full story of their stay in the reservation but enough, and from what I knew of the fae, it was easy to figure out that it was pretty awful, if not worse. "and I don't think the air compressor is helping."

"That does tend to happen when one is alive and sleeps. One wakes up. And he's got a terminal case of the grumpies." I say dryly.

"That's... not untrue." He concedes.

"Your old man hates my guts."

"He doesn't hate you. He just doesn't know you."

"I doubt he'd care to get to know me, and the feeling is mutual." I scoff. "And are you insinuating if he gets to know me, he'll hate me?" I say humorously.

Even from the roof, I can see his exaggerated eye rolling. "No -" He begins to say as the door to the front of his house swings open. "Got to run!" With that, he speed walks to his car, and just as I see the balding head of Siebold, I pull my earphones over my head and flip my air compressor back on, which unfortunately catches his attention but I use the noise as a cover. So when he stops in the middle of his pathway and directs his stormy glare at me, saying something, I beam at him. "what? Sorry, I can't hear you!" I yell innocently, glancing over at Tad, who is sucking in his lips, fighting a laugh, no doubt, as he ducks into his car.

"Huh? Say again. Louder!" I yell, not giving a damn. I can't help but rile him up some days. It's entertaining.

To my great satisfaction, his nibs turns away from me, and I return to my home improvement project, lining up another shingle. But when I press my nail gun down, my compressor shuts off. Firing two nails into the wood with whatever air was left, I set the gun on top of the shingless roof and pull down my headphones again to inspect my little pancake of a compressor. After flipping the power off, on, then back off again as every I.T would suggest doing and nothing seemed to be amiss, I stand up and walk to the edge of the roof where the extention cord hangs.

On the other end, standing in my side yard and holding the plug is my cantankerous neighbour with his perma-scowl.

"You're disturbing the peace Fräulein Fjalldottír." He always said my name beautifully, even in his harsher accent that seemed to get thicker the more annoyed I made him.

Plastering on my most insincere and placating smile, I cock a hip. "Sorry, Mr Adelbertsmiter. I hadn't realised." Pfft! " See, my roof is old" like your face, I added mentally ", and the cold weather is setting in. I don't want to freeze." Not that the temperatures here would dip low enough for me to truly freeze, but it does get a tid-bit-nipply.

"And I don't want to go deaf."

"Deaf? It does tend to happen as one ages. Maybe you should see an otolaryngologists if you're having hearing problems. If it is my compressor, well, I am working to get it done as soon as possible. However, I do keep getting interrupted..." I eye him, smiling wider with a little too many teeth.

I know he's a fae, and his son is half. Tad knows I'm a mongrel with some human blood as well, but I wasn't sure Siebold did. I mostly kept to myself, but there certainly are times, like now, where all I want to do is supernaturally dominate and intimidate, as it was a part of my nature to do so. But as I often did, I denied my more beastly side and bite my tongue, smiling hard enough to make my cheeks ache.

"Do it while I'm not here to listen to it!" He all but snaps, his German accent thickening with his irritation, as per usual.

"Might I suggest you vacate the area between the hours of 6am and 10pm, as that's the noise ordinance time during the weekdays and the hours in which I plan to work so I don't freeze my tits off next month, old man. " So much for biting my tongue.

He squints while I cross my arms over my chest, waiting for him to either say something or plug my compressor back in. Beneath my foot, the fascia creaked, and something snaps. The board shifts under my weight without detaching, throwing me off enough to make me windmill and take an awkward step attempting to regain my balance on the slanted roof. "Shit!"

Below, I hear Siebold cursing in German and the rustle of dried grass. Fortunately. I steady myself and look down. "Phew!" I breathe, swiping away imaginary sweat from my brow. "That would have sucked."

"You don't have a tether?! Du wirst dir das Genick brechen, Mädchen!" He barks something about breaking getting my neck broke as I noticed he's standing where I might have landed if I had fallen.

Did he intend to catch me?

That's... kind of sweet. Too bad my rear would have squashed him flat. I'm short, fit, but I have more booty than a pirate's treasure hoard. Though, he is a fae... maybe he would have been fine? I'm never quite certain of anything with those buggers.

"Don't worry." I wave his concern and his mild insult away, not being the first time I was called a fool. I doubt it'd be the last. "I'd bounce!" I say, chuckling at my self deprecation. Sure, it'd hurt, but I'm tough.

"Get down from there, du ungezogenes Mädchen." Yeah, I was a bit of a pip. He often used his German, knowing full well I could understand and reciprocate. He also understood my Icelandic just fine, though we mainly stuck to English. when in Rome and all that.

"I will. When I'm done."

One more short standoff, Siebold harrumphs and stomps the entire way back into his house without plugging my compressor back in, of course. After scrambling down the ladder to plug it in myself, I take a moment to pull my phone from the back pocket of my jeans to snap a picture of the busted fascia for later. I'd have to get the right timber and attempt to replicate the design to replace that.

A couple of music filled, uninterrupted hours later and a handful of shingles from being done, I straddled the ridged peak of the roof about ready to finish this side when I noticed Siebold standing just behind the iron gate of his property, another person keeping a distance on the other side.

The proximity between said person and the gate hinted at the possible aversion to iron the fae are famous for. Well, most fae. Tad and Siebold didn't seem to be bothered by it. I had asked Tad once, but he can be surprisingly tight-lipped when he thought it necessary, much to my annoyance. I had tasted their magic, metallic, earthy, with a bit of fire, and very potent. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, but at this point, it was all just speculation for me until I could get confirmation from either of them.

Looking down from my perch, I watched the scene play out, though with my compressor still running, I couldn't make out what they were saying. By the body language, I could easily assume it was near confrontational the way Siebold stood, arms loose at his sides rather than crossed. The other person, male, in a suit, not quite middle-aged and definitely good-looking, didn't seem outwardly aggressive holding out a business card but when I let thin tendrils of my power flick the air around them, I could taste the coiling powers of them both. Like snakes ready to strike at each other.

If I was honest, I didn't like that someone else was riling Siebold. That was my job. Neither did I like a stranger so close to my little nest and bothering my neighbours. Only I was allowed to do that. I tried, I really did, not to stick my nose in it. But something else set my teeth on edge when the other fae said something that made Siebold tense up while he pointedly did not take the card.

Pop!

I may or may not have accidentally-on-purpose fired a nail near the tire of the stranger's ride.

Pop!

It happened a second time when both men eyed the first bit of steel fodder that lay on the ground, the second not far away. When both sets of eyes turned to squint up at me, I played the bimbo card. "Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!" I yelled, waveing the nail gun around like an idiot. "This thing is heavy, and I can be so clumsy!"

Pop!

Another nail shot out, hitting the iron fence. "Oh dear!"

The stranger said something, but I couldn't hear him, nor did I cared to. "What?!" I shouted. When I saw his mouth move again, I couldn't help the grin creeping up my face. "What?! I can't hear you!"

After glaring daggers at me, the stranger says something to Siebold, who looks at me, shrugs with a tell tale upward tilt to his mouth, before returning to the stranger. Said stranger gets in their car a moment later and speeds off down the residential street but not before sending a parting gift my way.

I felt it just before it hit. The surge of magic lobbed towards me from the moving vehicle. It was easy enough for me to deflect it off myself but not my poor roof!

Beams snapped, wood groaned, warping and shifting under the asulting invisible force. Dislodging my shingles and ruining all my hard work, my compressor was launched along with several of my tools. I stood on the ridge in a rush like an igit and stumbled to do...what? I don't know what. Catch my compressor or... something! Underfoot, shingles slid, causing my legs to splay until my knee buckled, bending to avoid doing the splits, my feet sliding along with the freed shingles down the sloped roof and off the edge.

I managed to bellow "mother fucker!" As I went feet first. That was fine, I could land on them. The impact would hurt like a bitch but it was preferable per say, to landing on my hip or back.

Tuck and roll!

I'm tough, but I'm not a masochist. I don't like pain in the slightest bit, and I was pretty sure I was about to hate having a nervous system in the next couple of seconds.

However, I needn't have worried about my landing because I never made the ground. Instead, my face smacked the plaid covered chest of Siebold's lean frame as arms of granite locked around me, and we both grunted with the impacked. He was tall enough that my feet dangled until he set me down a moment later, eyeing me. While this landing was softer, it wasn't painless, but I could deal with it better than what I thought was going to happen.

"Du gut? Are you hurt?" And I think for the first time, I saw something other than the cold heat that always burned in his gaze. I'd like to say he was concerned.

"Ich bin gut." I mumble in German, telling him I'm good, as I crane my neck to look up into his face. "Just my pride and... maybe my ribs. Ugh, and my nose." I say while touching the appendage before turning to see pieces of my roof strewn about us. "And my house!"

The revv of an engine snagged my attention as I pushed from Siebold's hold to scramble my way over to the street where I saw the stranger's car sitting idle at the end of the row of homes across the way. The jerk stopped to watch my fall!

"Drullusokkur!" I spit and make a dash out onto the road, about to sprint after the piece of shit fae when again, hard arms wrapped around me, reaffirming the growing ache in my ribs from the catch.

"Calm yourself, Ketta. You won't catch him that way, and it'd be foolish to try." He says over my shoulder.

I don't struggle because he's likely right. I was fast but not car fast. But boy, oh boy, I wanted to try. I had some pent-up energy from the rush of adrenaline after my fall and anger.

"He needs his comeuppance!" I snarl.

Siebold snorts and loosens his hold as the driver revvs again, obviously trying to bait me. If I wasn't pissed off and if I was less confident in my abilities, it wouldn't have worked. But I was both pissed off and confident I'd be able to kick his ass, so it did in fact work, and I launched myself again, making it only a few yards before I'm grabbed, turned, and flung over a shoulder, knocking what little air is left in my lungs, out in an "oof!"

"Nein, Ketta." He admonished calmly with a hint of something that sounded suspiciously like amusement. Walking back into my yard to set me on my feet as I heard the bastard drive off. Grumbling, I dig out my phone to check the time.

A little after one in the afternoon.

"Did he really have to go after my house like that?" I say, pulling up Google to do some research on the structure of Vitorian rooves.

"You started it. Do you often attempt to cause bodily harm to people you don't know?" I didn't deem to answer him because, yes, I have been known to do that. But I didn't want to admit it or explain how they were usually jerks who deserved it. Instead, I ask, "Who was he?"

"All you need to know is he could have done worse." Came Siebold's reply, his gaze weighing heavily on me. "Especially when nosy little Kettur don't mind their own business." He says, clearly avoiding my last question. Yeah, he wasn't going to tell me anything.

I snort, tapping away on the screen. "My territory, my business. Besides, Tad is my friend. I wasn't about to let a showdown happen between you - his dear father - and that twat-waffle of a fae. Especially not after you two just escaped from their clutches."

I heard his intake a breath as if he was going to say something, then nothing. Siebold was never one for many words, at least not to me. When I peered up at him to my left, I was surprised by the smile and thoughtful look in his face.

"What?"

Shaking his head, he said "Nichts."

"Right... Anyway, I need to check out the damage. Hopefully, I can figure out what I need and go rob the hardware store before it closes." I sigh and make my way towards the ladder. "You might want to invest in some ear protection. I'm about to make a hell of a lot more noise this week."

And it was only Monday.