CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Aaron
"Morning. " I muttered to Dean as I came downstairs to the kitchen. He gave me a small nod of acknowledgement before going back to sipping his coffee. We were all still tired from the weird ass summoning the night before, but, being actual adults, we had a meeting with Darius at 10:30 for a status report.
"Coffees still hot." Dean mumbled into his mug.
I walked to the counter opposite him and grabbed a mug from the cupboard; but before I could pour the elixir of life my phone rang. "Hey, Zak." I yawned, put my phone on the kitchen island and set it to speaker so I could keep making my coffee.
"We need doughnuts." He clipped.
"You don't like doughnuts." I yawned again, poured some creamer into my cup and wondered where this was going. Is that Journey?
"Doughnuts?" Dean mouthed, his face squinched up in confusion.
"No, I don't. But the Fae god singing 'Don't Sop Believin' in my passenger seat does and I finally got some sleep last night." He snapped.
I blinked and canted my head, and saw Sam making the same confused but curious face as his brother, "Um, I don't see how those two…"
"Just get them," he hissed, then paused, "please."
"Okay, relax man, we'll get the doughnuts. Does he have a preference?" I waved my hand dramatically over the phone.
The music in the background went down a notch, "What do you want?" a mumbled answer followed, "Custard filled éclairs."
Dean snort laughed.
Sam leaned over the phone, "And, uh," he cleared his throat, "what if they don't have those?" he asked, sounding like he was trying to keep from laughing.
"What if they don't have those?" Zak's voice faded out as he asked, followed by another garbled answer, "Glazed."
Dean squinched his brow in confusion, "From custard eclairs to glazed? That's a big step down." He mumbled into his cup.
I put my index finger to my mouth, which was as much for me as for them, as I was also fighting the urge to laugh at this ridiculousness, "Custard or glazed, got it. You want your usual?"
"Yeah. That'd be good. Thanks."
"No prob man; see you in an hour."
"See you then." Click
An hour later and we were walking up the stairs to Darius' office; Dean carrying two boxes of twelve doughnuts (the variety pack of course), and Sam carrying the small box of eclairs and the little brown bag that held Zak's breakfast sandwich.
"Do you think this is gonna be enough?" Dean asked as I held open the door and pointed to the 'catch all' desk on the left for the doughnuts to go on.
"I hope so." Sam mumbled from behind.
"Good-" Darius looked up from the paperwork he had been reading and arched an eyebrow as he watched Sam and Dean clear some of the papers off the catch all desk and set the food down, "--morning." He smiled, a vague look of confused amusement on his face, "I didn't know we were supposed to bring snacks." And nodded at Sam and Dean.
"Hah!" I snickered and closed the door behind me. Surprisingly, we were the first ones here. "Neither did I."
"Dude!" Sam snapped behind me.
"What?" Dean answered innocently.
I looked over my shoulder to see Dean leaning casually against the desk, one box of doughnuts open, and holding a chocolate doughnut, all while Sam gave him a 'wtf?' expression.
"You can't wait five minutes?" he scolded.
I chuckled, ignoring the rest of the 'doughnut debate', and turned back to Darius, "Neither did I," I raised my eyebrows and shook my head, "but Zak called me this morning and asked me to pick some up, apparently," I headed to my desk on Darius' left, "this Fae has a sweet tooth." I shrugged. "Thus, we have brunch."
"Ah." Darius blinked and arched an eyebrow, "I see… Makes perfect sense." He nodded and leaned back in his chair.
"Tch, yeah." I shook my head, "My thoughts exactly." But I'd also seen Zylas polish off a pan of brownies by himself, so maybe it wasn't that weird?
"Fae don't eat?" Dean asked through a mouthful of doughnut.
"Uh, no." I looked up from the papers I was unsuccessfully trying to organize, "No, not usually. And when they do, it's usually humans or druids."
Screw it. I shoved the papers into my desk drawer, I'd sort them out later when I wasn't preoccupied by thoughts of a doughnut loving Fae.
A few minutes later, Ezra, Tori and Kai walked in; Tori, carrying, what I hoped, was a carafe full of coffee and some to-go cups. She playfully shoved Dean out of the way and set the goods down, while Ezra and Kai helped themselves to the doughnuts.
She took a step back and considered the spread, "I don't think this is enough doughnuts…" she sighed, shaking her head. "Wait." She straightened and looked around the room, "Where's Zak?" A note of panic in her voice, "It's," she took her phone out of her back pocket and her eyebrows shot up in shock, "my God. It's 10:36! He's late! Holy shit."
Zak was, almost annoyingly, always early or exactly on time so the fact that he was six minutes late could definitely be a cause for concern.
"Well, obviously, hell has frozen over." I mocked as everyone checked their phones, even Darius glanced at his watch.
Not five seconds after we'd all confirmed that hell had, indeed, frozen over, did a, dare I say, chipper looking Zak come strolling into the office. Following close at his heels was the Dagda, sporting the same 'human' outfit from last night, complete with aviators hanging off his collar, but minus his harp. The two of them headed straight for the food.
Zak scanned the table, looking confused, "Aaron, did you for--" He turned to look at me and almost stepped on Tori who had planted herself directly in his path.
"You're late." She smiled wickedly, mimicking the admonishing tone that he always used on us, then held out the breakfast bag and coffee cup she'd been hiding behind her back.
Zak's upper lip twitched in annoyance and managed to retaliate with a "Really?" face before he snatched the food from Tori and muttered something under his breath while he stomped to his self proclaimed spot on the right corner of Darius' desk.
She looked at me and winked. Oh yeah, he wasn't livin' this one down anytime soon.
While Zak was getting settled, the Dagda was still standing near the breakfast spread, already half-way through his first éclair and smiling happily at the box like it was the best thing ever.
Sure, we'd all met the Dagda last night, at the weirdest after party ever, but the sight of a Fae, not just a Fae, but a Fae god, inhaling a custard éclair was just plain weird. Zak, at least, had lost the 'shocked' expression from last night and seemed more interested in his ham, egg and cheese croissanwich than the Fae chowin' down on eclairs. Maybe this meeting wouldn't be too bad. But, since Dean and Dagda were currently shooting daggers at each other, as Dean had (not so passive-aggressively) put himself in between the coffee, Dagda was trying to get to, and was refusing to move, there was probably a 50/50 chance of blood - shed.
"Ahem." Darius cleared his throat, breaking the glare off between Dean and Dagda, then sat back down. "Zak, would you be so kind as to introduce me to our new… companion?"
Zak took a sip of coffee and gestured toward the Dagda with his cup, "Darius, this is the Dagda. Fae god of the seasons, time and Druidry…How—"
"He's your god?" Tori interrupted, asking what we were all thinking.
Zak clicked his tongue. "No, I said he's the god of Druidry, not 'god of Druids'."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, totally see the difference."
"Anyway, he prefers to be called 'Brian.'"
"Brian? Really?" I asked, eyebrows lifted in surprise. Zak had spat out at least four titles last night, and the guy liked to be called 'Brian'?
"Yes, 'Brian'." He repeated dryly and took a big bite of his sandwich.
Dagda, excuse me, Brian brushed his hands free of crumbs and with a smile on his face, strode across the room to Darius and extended his hand over the desk.
"Pleasure to meet you Darius." A very long second passed before Darius took his hand, and shook it politely. "I wish I could say the same."
Brian's face fell a little and he took a step back.
"Wait, what's wrong with your eyes?" Tori asked, face scrunched and leaning in over Darius' shoulder.
"Hmm?" Brian looked up and canted his head. "He's wearing contacts."
Zak replied, as he contemplated the last bite of his sandwich.
I leaned in to get a better look too, and sure enough, instead of the pupil – less amber gemstones we saw last night, his eyes looked human. Just a unique color.
"Yes, contacts. Humans tend to freak out a bit if they see my real eyes." He tapped a finger to his temple. "I also still can't figure out how to get the glamour to work on my eyes…"
Tori nodded, and gave a thumbs up. "Good thinking."
"Alright, the contacts are cool… Can we get back on topic here?" came Dean's impatient voice from the doughnut table.
"Yes," Darius nodded, "let's get back to the problem at hand, Dean has informed me that you are responsible for the massacre at the gym and also the reason he and Sam are here."
Then, in a move that made Zak stop with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth, and brought another round of 'wtf' faces to the room, Brian became incredibly focused on his feet, put his right hand over his heart and started worrying his shirt. A nervous tic?
"I am." He stated, his voice full of remorse.
We all just looked at each other for a second, not really knowing how to respond and for good reason. From the little I knew about Fae and how Zak talked about them, 'remorse' and 'anxiety' didn't usually register on their emotional spectrum… And they definitely didn't have nervous tics.
"They felt no pain when they died…" He mumbled, almost to himself in a way that sounded like he was trying to re-assure himself that what he'd done was okay.
" 'No pain'?" Dean snapped, "Do you think that makes your little murder fest ok? You killed almost one hundred people… And that's just in this… realm, or whatever."
Brian whipped around to face Dean, who seemed un-phased by Brian's sudden attention, and was still leaning casually against the table. Then, with all traces of humanity gone, he took a few steps closer to Dean and in a tone that would make Lee Pace piss himself, hissed, " Do not think that I do not understand the gravity of my sin, Winchester. I do not seek absolution, especially from you." He sneered, looking Dean up and down. "I will do my penance."
You could definitely feel the angry tension in the room… Brian was glowing and wind seemed to be surrounding him as he moved in closer to Dean, who looked just as pissed but just kept glaring at him.
Everyone's eyes kept flicking back and forth from Zak to the potential death match that was about to go down, waiting on him to tell us what to do. But the only thing Zak had done was push up his sleeves, looking otherwise calm and indifferent to the whole thing. "Do something!" I mouthed and thrust a hand at them. Apparently though, we hadn't yet reached DEFCON five because he gave me a 'just wait' gesture.
Tori sighed and moved to go break up whatever was about to happen, but Ezra grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back. Finally, Sam stepped in between the two.
"Ok, ok guys. None of us are happy about this situation, but we need to work together. So, let's just chill out and solve our current problem. Ok? Here. Eat some doughnuts." Then shoved the box of eclairs at Brian, who snatched it angrily, and mumbling something that didn't sound nice, crossed the room to stand next to my desk. Leaning against the corner and still muttering to himself, he dropped the box next to him and bit into his last éclair.
When both Dean and Brian settled into angrily munching their doughnuts, there was a collective sigh of relief. Crisis averted by pastry.
"Now that we've got that our of our systems," I sighed and shook my head, "Zak can tell us why, exactly, we're helping Dagda, a.k.a. Brian, and not trying to hill him." I gestured to Brian who shot me a narrow eyed glare and a scowl, "And Brian, you can tell us exactly what we signed up for. Brian, how about you start." I smiled.
Brian, still glowering at me, growled, shoved the last bit of éclair into his mouth and turned his attention back to the room. "I need you all to help me get home," he straightened and brushed the crumbs off his hands, "but, to do that…"
"Aren't you home already? I mean, you killed all those people to get here." Dean said casually and gestured with his doughnut. "Dude, shut up and eat your doughnut." Sam hissed.
"Not just this dimension," Brian sneered, "I need help getting into Bru na Boinne."
While Zak's poker face remained in place, Sam's eyebrows shot up. "That's a real place?" his eyes darted from Zak to Brian.
"Of course." Brian nodded.
"Pfft, yeah, of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"
"What is it?" Tori piped in.
Zak opened his mouth to answer, but got cut off by Sam."
According to the lore, it's the VIP section of the Fae demense. It's like Avalon, but high – class." He shrugged and looked at Zak, "Am I right?"
Zak seemed to be processing that he was being asked for confirmation, not answers. Which to be fair, besides Kit and my texting him about random stuff, was the primary reason the Guild called him, and it took him a second longer to give an affirming nod.
"Wait, like 'The Mists of Avalon'?" Dean asked as he licked the chocolate off his fingers.
Sam's brows pinched in confusion as he turned to Dean.
"What? It was a three-night event Sammy! And that hot doctor chick from 'E.R.' was in it!"
"Eh, it wasn't terrible. The books were better though." Brian frowned. "What?" He looked around the room where everyone was staring at him with expressions ranging from 'amused' to 'confused'.
"What? I can't watch T.V.? You all do realize that I lived like a mortal while I was there, right? I mean, what do you guys think that I was doing the entire time? Sitting alone in a forest going 'oh, woe is me'?"
A chorus of mumbled 'kindas' and 'never really considered that's' floated through the room.
"Ugh," Brian rolled his eyes, "well, I wasn't" He flicked a crumb off his shirt and crossed his arms. "I get bored far too easily for that."
Zak scowled as he gave Brian another once over, "Alright," he exhaled, "anyway, the reason we need to help him is because the Fae Goddess who exiled him, Cethlenn, most likely knows he's back and will start hunting him. Then--"
"Who's 'Cethlenn' exactly?" Dean interrupted.
And again, Sam beat Zak to the punch. "She's like…" he canted his head and looked at the ceiling for a second, "Like a mother of Demons, she was," he frowned, "is considered to be the first Queen of the Dark Fae."
"Ah. Great."
Tori groaned.
"Dude," I leaned in and snickered at Zak, "you're gonna lose your title of 'Master of Obscure Magical Knowledge' if you're not careful." Zak's lips thinned and he gave me the same 'really?' face that he'd given Tori earlier. Anyway, I added that gem to the list of stuff I was going to tell Kit when this shit storm was over.
"Why can't you attract nice Fae, Zak?" Tori whine groaned and rubbed her temple.
"That'd be a nice change of pace." Ezra muttered under his breath, but not quietly enough, because Zak straightened as he looked over his shoulder and shot them both an annoyed glare.
Brian slapped a hand to his chest, "I'm nice." He stated, sounding genuinely offended.
"Objectively." Zak muttered as he re-crossed his arms and turned his attention back to the room.
"Hey, can we get 'Master of Obscure Magical Knowledge' on a t-shirt?" Dean grinned at the room, which made Sam give the annoyed face he seemed to reserve especially for Dean. "Oh chill out. We'll get one for you too." He smirked and nodded at Zak.
Oh shit.
Zak squeezed his temples, then took a deep breath and gave Dean a glare that mirrored Sam's. To be fair, 'team work' and dealing with multiple personalities that weren't involved in criminal activities, was still a new thing for him. And Dean seemed to enjoy picking on Zak as much as he did Sam. But I was, mostly sure, Dean probably wouldn't end up in the hospital if he pissed Sam off.
Darius must have sensed the mild murder vibes Zak was emanating too, because he leaned in a little more over his desk to catch his eye. "Zak, would this be anything like what we were up against last summer?"
He frowned and shifted so he could see Darius, "Similar, but…"
"Whoa." Brian put his hand up as his eyes darted around the room, "What happened last summer?"
"Yeah, what happened last summer?" Sam piled on.
"But," Zak kept going, ignoring the both of them, "from what he's told me," he nodded to Brian, "she enjoys small, targeted attacks, so open displays of magic shouldn't be an issue."
"Well, that's something." I mumbled. I was one hundred percent sure none of us wanted to relive a Fae grudge match.
"However," Zak took a deep breath, "the small, targeted attacks, while maybe easier to control or predict, present another problem."
"Such as?" Darius asked.
"He," Zak gestured to Brian then mumbled, "unlike most normal Fae…"
Zak shook his head, "He likes to be around Mythics and is particularly fond of Druids. Cethlenn knows this."
"Oh my God! Is she gonna start killing Druids?" Tori shouted.
"I'm afraid so." Brian grimaced apologetically. "She'll want to draw me out, then when she runs out of Druids, she'll move onto Mythics."
"I already talked to Kit," Zak continued calmly, as he pulled his phone out from the front pocket of his jeans, "he sent me the profiles of all the registered Druids in the Vancouver area, here."
All of our phones dinged as we received the file, which was still titled 'porn'. "Zak, you uh, forgot to change the name."
"I was busy."
"It's smart. You never want to look at another guy's porn. I'm sure your magic police would feel the same way." Dean stated.
Zak arched an eyebrow and nodded at him, "Thank you."
"Yep." Dean gave a thumbs up then went back to staring at his phone in frustration. He really wasn't good with technology. Like, at all. Showing him how to use a 'smart phone' had been like teaching my Mom how to set up her Amazon account.
"How the hell?"
Sam pursed his lips, watched Dean struggle for another second then snatched the phone, I assume, opened the file, then shoved the phone back at him.
"Ah. Thanks." Dean grinned at his phone.
"Ten?" Darius' eyebrows lifted in surprise as his eyes flicked between Zak and me. "That's more than I expected."
Zak nodded, "I know, but Kit promised to speak to them personally."
Darius nodded.
I gave Zak a skeptical look. "What exactly is he going to tell them?"
Zak shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm sure it'll be award worthy."
Knowing Kit, it would be.
"Alright, well-" Darius started to dismiss us but Dean held up his hand.
"Woah, hold on. You," Dean nodded to Brian, "still haven't told us why this Cethlenn chick hates your guts."
Darius cocked his head. "Yes, I think we're all curious about that."
"Um," Brian licked his lips and gave a nervous look around the room before answering, "she doesn't like losing for starters and," he rocked his head back and forth, "I also may have killed her husband."
"Pardon?" Dean asked at the same time as Tori's 'might have'.
"Okay, 'definitely'."
"Well, that's just great." I added to the collective of groans and expletives. Not only were we dealing with a Dark Fae Goddess, she was also a pissed widow.
Brian looked around the room again, anger written all over his face. "What? It was a different time and I doubt anyone in this room has hands so clean that they can judge me." He snarled and jabbed his finger at the room. "He was a threat to my people, both human and Mythic, that needed to be eliminated. So I eliminated him."
"No one is judging you for protecting your people." Darius' calm monotone broke the tense silence. "Alright. Well, we have more information about what we're up against than usual." He stood and slipped on his grey sports coat. "Zak," he continued as he strode around to the front of the desk, "you're the most knowledgeable and have the most experience in this type of situation. You will take point."
I looked up from my paper shuffling. I hadn't expected Darius to try and 'nudge' Zak into a leadership role so soon. But after he'd seen how Zak had been patiently helping and accidentally (purposefully? Idk), teaching, our newest and youngest alchemist, Jacob, these past few months, Darius hoped that he would agree to become a mentor in a few years.
Zak looked just as surprised as I felt. His eyes widened slightly as he stared at Darius, who was still standing in front of him waiting for an answer, then gave a quick nod in agreement.
"Good." Darius nodded in return then looked to me, "Aaron, you'll be in charge of progress reports."
"Got it." I nodded and gave a thumbs up.
"Excellent." He turned and strode to the door. With his hand poised over the handle, he paused and gave us all one more look. "I trust that all of you are capable enough to handle this situation and that you know what to do if there are unforeseen issues?"
Nods and 'yes sirs' went around the room.
"Good." He opened the door, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another situation that requires my attention." He gave us all a confident smile and left. Dean turned slowly so he could look at Zak, "So, what now boss?"
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We figure out a way to trap Cethlenn."
Tori groaned, "That doesn't sound hard at all."
21