DougsTwo armoured police cars, their lights blinking but without sirens blocked off an area just outside a maze of nearly identical trees. Two stood out, for they had been torn in half, leaning towards each other and forming a gate-like structure. Several brutish looking police officers stood by their cars, foul expressions on their faces.
In front of the woods was a small row of houses, and a bck car, with a small blue light on it’s roof drove towards the police cars. A cane struck the ground first, followed by the legs of a man. He had a bad limp on his left leg, wore a grey suit and navy tie. He was clean shaven, a head of long, combed brown hair and had hazel eyes. On his left cheek was a deep scar, tracing from next to his eyeball and going down his neck.
“Ah great, it’s Ken.” One of the officers rolled his eyes “This is the shite we’ve been waiting for?”“Let special branch handle it.” His colleague replied “Maybe we can head home? Now that the big d’s arrived.”“I wouldn’t be so certain.” The well-dressed man called out. He had a slight Irish accent, pcing him closer to the South.“How the hell did he hear that?” “You’re not exactly being quiet.”
He was quick on his feet in spite of the cane, and made his way to the entrance of the woods.“Tree vandalism, Ken?” One of the officers scoffed“One of the fine people in these houses said they saw lights and watched a young woman step out from this…” He pointed his cane at the gate-like structure “You get a chance to talk to the witness?”“No, that’s your job.” “Point me to the house, do at least one part of your bloody job.” He sighed. “Oh, I wonder if they saw a murder. Isn’t that usually your thing?”
Ken leaned on his cane, staring daggers into the officer’s eyes, and let out a low growl. The officer stepped back, blinking a few times and shook his head. With a shaky hand and wide eyes, he pointed to a house right next to the forest.
“Was that so hard?”He approached the gate himself and with a grunt of pain, knelt down. He smelt the air around him, finding his gaze drawn to the forest floor. Setting his cane down, he pushed aside leaves and pieces of broken bark, finding one particur piece, singed as though it had been set on fire. Gncing back at the officers, who were giving him dirty looks but gnced away the second his eyes were on them, he touched the burnt piece of tree bark.
He saw fshes. The trees bending on their own, a gate forming out of pure light opening in their pce. A woman ran out, her clothes torn and with skin made or porcein. On the other side of the gate was a realm of twisted trees, covered in thorns and with multicoloured leaves. The sky itself stretched on forever but it swapped between a blue sky and a red one. Ken saw that the woman had blue marbles for eyes, her porcein skin was cracked and she had a head of messy bck hair. With a gasp, he dropped the piece of bark.
“Alright there Ken?” One of the officers called out, his voice oozing with sarcasm and not a single trace of concern.
He didn’t say anything, instead he reached into his suit jacket, removed a pair of tweezers and pced the piece of bark into a small evidence bag, which he pocketed. Ken smelt the air once more and struggled to his feet, using the cane to pull himself up.
“Go home, ds.” He ordered, walking past the officers “I’ll take it from here, you’ll be pleased to know. Go handle a drunk outside bloody Spoons for all I care.”“Wow, he’s letting us go.” One of the officers rolled their eyes “Big shite.”
Ken stopped in his tracks, sighing heavily and spun around.“You know what they did to me Cooper?” He marched towards him, their faces meeting. Ken had his teeth gritted “Tortured me, took out my knee, carved me up like a damn turkey. And yet…” He leaned in even closer, there was no room to breathe between the two “Dealing with your incompetent arse is somehow more painful. Do your damn job, or quit. Stop your feckin' whinging.”
Cooper took one step back, his eyes widened as Ken let out the same low growl he had at the other officer. Cooper stepped back even further, walking back to one of the cars and getting in, bnkly signalling to his partner to follow.
As both cars pulled away, Ken looked up, the moon, just about poking through the clouds, was at a half-crescent, and he growled at it too. Cracking his neck from side to side, he approached the house the officer had pointed to and knocked on the door.
“Police.” The door opened, but only half-way as it had a tch. Greeting him on the other side was the face of a frail old woman, and he smelt the fear on her the split second they made eye-contact. He tried to offer a reassuring smile, but this did nothing to calm her. “Hello?”
He showed her his badge. It read: Detective Inspector Dougals Ken, Special Branch.“I’ve never heard of you.” “You’re not in any trouble.” He raised his hands “Are you the one that called about the lights?”“Oh, you’re going to tell me I’m crazy and to call my GP in the morning.” “No, I just want to hear things from your side.”
She leaned in closer and Dougas got a closer look at her face. Her blue eyes carried years of experience and she wore a cardigan to shield from the cold. “You don’t think I’m crazy?” “No.” He shook his head “I don’t mind talking out here if you feel more comfortable…”
She shut the door in his face but before he could so much as let out a groan, the tch was unlocked and she opened the door fully.“Nonsense, come out of the cold, son.”He smiled and stepped inside.
The living room was decorated with memories. Photographs, some in bck and white, some in colour were in every corner of the room. Dougs briefly scanned them, seeing that many had a much younger woman, with simir eyes. He heard the kettle boiling from the kitchen.
“It’s the Fairies, you know?”“What?”“Do you take sugar and milk? My mother always said it was rude to invite someone in and not pop the kettle on.”“She sounds lovely.”“Oh…” The old woman ughed dryly “She was.” “Uh, just milk is fine.” Dougs smiled.“Sit down, please.”
He groaned as he sat on an armchair and she entered the room with two cups of tea, one she handed to Dougs, the other she took herself as she sat on the sofa.“I’m sorry to see that.”“Hmm?”“Your wounds. How did it happen?”“People wanted to make an example out of me.” He grumbled, the teacup shaking ever so slightly in his hands“I’m sorry dear. You’re the one who’s meant to ask me questions.”“It’s fine.” He cleared his throat, steadying himself and used his other hand to reach into a pocket, pulling out a tape recorder “Are you okay if I…”
She nodded“I can tell you believe me, so I’m fine with that.”“So, can I start by taking your name?”“Dorcus Culbert.”“Okay, so…” He learned forwards “Docrus, is it okay if I call you Dorcus or would you prefer Mrs Culbert?”“Now, how did you know I was married?” She chuckled
He pointed to one of the photos, bck and white. It showed the same young woman, but in a wedding dress. A tall man with a bald head and dark skin stood next to her in a suit. Both of them had wide smiles on their faces.“Oh, that’s Ade. He’s been gone, well. Three years now?” “I’m sorry to hear that.”“Why? We had a good life together. That’s nothing to be sorry for. It wasn’t always easy. Not everyone approved, but…We made it work. We never even fought, not really. Sure, the silly little argument here or there, but he was a good man.”“What did he do?”“Ah, well after the war it was hard for him to find work. Not everyone wanted to hire…But, he was a schoolteacher. Eventually.”
She raised her hand, shaking her head sternly “I’m so sorry officer Ken…”“You can just call me Dougs. I don’t mind.”“Dougs, then. You want to know what I saw. Well, Ade and I used to take long walks through those woods. But, at my age I don’t risk it. But, I still look from the window upstairs.”
Dougs gnced behind him, seeing a chair-lift next to a staircase.“And that’s when I saw it. Those trees, they moved all by themselves. Starting to bend and break. I nearly thought I was dreaming, I even pinched myself!” She stopped, taking a long sip of her tea “And then, there was this light. And something beyond it. And that wasn’t all…A woman ran out of it. She was terrified, running from something. Well, after she stumbled out, the light went out. That’s when I called. I was hoping the police could help find this young woman.”“Can you describe her?”“Well, she was coloured. Is that still the word? Anyway, coloured, dark hair, all messy. And she was covered in scars, fresh ones. Not like…”
Dougs touched the scar on his face.“Sorry, dear.”“Anything helps.”“She was bleeding. And she ran like the Devil himself was at her heels, Dougs.”“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
She sighed heavily“Yes, but you might not believe me.”“Like I said, anything helps.”“I think she was running from a Fairy.”“Fairies?” “Yes. Ade and I, we’ve seen them before. But…” She looked down at her teacup “We learned that they were better avoided. They’re not like the ones in children’s stories, Dougs. We left them alone, and they left us alone.”“You saw them here?”“Oh no, it was in Donegal.” She shook her head “Years and years ago. And, Ade said he saw them in France. During the war.”
Dougs nodded, and stopped the tape recorder.“Thank you so much, Dorcus. For all of this, really.”“Do you believe me?” “I need to ask around. Just please, for your own sake. Take care of yourself. And let me handle all this. Please.”
She nodded“Oh believe me, I will. I know how the Fairies work.” He smiled, stood up using his cane and shook her hand before walking towards the door.“That girl, you’ll find her, right?”“I’ll do my best.” He nodded “Thank you, again.”“Wait!” She moved back into the living room and handed Dougs a small charm on a neckce, made of iron. It was in the shape of a pine tree.“You might need this. It’s cold iron. It’s the only thing that seems to hurt these things.”“Won’t you…”“Oh, dear. My house is full of the stuff.”
He smiled and waved her goodbye as he stepped outside. He made his way back to the car and sat in the driver’s seat. Reaching into a jacket pocket, he pulled out his phone. “I know it’s te, but we should talk. I have a case I might need your help with.”
AbigailObserving the nightclub below her was a scrawny young woman, blue eyes with a narrow frame. Her hair was shaved on her left side but reached her shoulders on her right, dyed silver. She wore a bck tank top covered in colourful occult symbols and skinny, ripped denim jeans. Her exposed arms were covered in tattoos, she had several piercings in her left ear and a septum piercing.
The crowd below were dancing wildly, drinking and kissing each other. Unlike other nightclubs in the city, the people kissing each other were a mixture and there was no harassment to speak of.
However, her attention was drawn to the back of the dance floor, seeing a silhouette, phasing in and out of the crowd. It’s proportions shifted every second, even growing additional limbs.
She couldn’t quite make out it’s features, only noting that it was a lot taller than anyone else in the room. As it’s head shifted upwards, looking right at her, she was pulled back into reality by a hand on her shoulder.
Spinning around, she was met with ughter.“Damn, Abigail. You good?”
Standing before her was a more muscur woman, who was taller than her, but not by much. She wore a dark red skater dress, had flowing brown locks of hair, was slightly pale and had hazel eyes. In either hand, she carried a drink. Her smile faded, turning to concern.“You good?” She had a slight Irish accent“Fine. Just thought I…Nevermind.” She muttered.The other woman kissed her on the cheek and handed her a drink.
“I never thought this piece of shit town would ever have a pce like this.”“Yeah…” Abigail rested her head on the other woman’s shoulder, both now observing the dance floor below. She wrapped her arm around Abigail, pulling her in closer.“Freyja…”“Yes, my muse?” She grinned“Thanks for talking me into coming out tonight.”“I was prepared to drag you out by the hair, y’know?” She smiled.“I know.”“Look, I know things can be scary. But…” She let go, stepping away and flexing her muscles through her dress “I can kick the shite out of anyone that messes with us.”
Abigail ran up to her, almost spilling her drink in the process and wrapped her in a hug. The two kissed passionately. “Now, I wanna get back on the floor. You in?”“Let me finish this first.” She downed the contents of the pstic cup and let Freyja lead her down the stairs, back onto the dance floor. She wasn’t even paying much attention to her movements, just focusing on enjoying herself. Freyja seemed to be doing the same, with a lot of head-banging.
Laughing, she gnced up and saw the silhouette again, this time standing above the dance floor, exactly where Abigail had been a few minutes ago. It was peering across the floor, but then tilted it’s head to stare directly at her. Her breathing tensed up as the figure phased towards the stairs, but before it could get any closer, she was pulled back to reality as another dancer bumped into her, sending her crashing to the floor.
“Abi!” Freyja cried, running to her side and helping her up “I…I don’t know.”“Let’s get you some air.”“Sorry, I didn’t see her. She was just…”
Freyja just growled at the dancer as she led Abigail down the stairs, an arm around her and to the outdoor part of the nightclub where she gently set her down on a bench, sitting across from her.“Did that guy hurt you?”“No, it was an accident…” She panted “I…” She shook her head“What’s going on? Talk to me.”“I…”
She looked down.“It’s that thing again, isn’t it?”She nodded
She rested a hand on the side of her face “Look at me. We’re going to sort this. I promise.”
JolieIn the nightclub’s bathroom, the cubicle doors were pstered with the faces of various queer icons in a pop art style, the walls a bright and welcoming light red, pop art covering them also. A young, pale woman with long, blonde, well-combed hair and pale, piercing blue eyes had another woman by the hand. The blonde wore a short navy dress and didn’t have any makeup on whilst the other woman wore heavier makeup with blush, eyeliner and pink eyeshadow. She had dark, short hair that was slightly unkempt from hours of dancing and had sweat trickling down the back of her sleeveless green dress.
Checking the bathroom and seeing that it was mostly empty, the blonde woman led her into a stall and locked the door. “I’ve never really done this before.” The woman in the green dress ughed nervously“Don’t worry dear, I’ll be gentle.” The blonde woman spoke with a soft, elegant French accent “Just hope we don’t get caught…”“Then, you’d better keep your voice low.” She smirked. Despite the smile pstered across her face, her eyes still remained piercing and cold.
She leaned in as the woman in the green dress went in for a kiss, but the blonde woman went straight for her neck. As she drew in closer, she opened her mouth, unfurling a set of fangs. Her blue eyes turned into bck opals and she bit down. But, the green-dressed woman did not cry out in pain or terror. She gasped in pleasure.
“Oh, Jolie…That’s…”
She withdrew “Just enjoy it, Chloe.” She whispered in her ear, leaning in again and taking another bite. Chloe clutched Jolie’s shoulders tightly, digging her fingernails into her but all she could focus on was the bite.
A gasp escaped her and there was a firm knock on the stall door. Jolie’s eyes returned to their cold blue as she gently pulled away, Chloe panicking while she adjusted her hair.“I’m, uh…Having a poo!” She winced.
Jolie squeezed the ridge of her nose, burying a sigh. The two women remained silent as the feet on the other side of the stall door moved away. Chloe breathed a heavy sigh of relief and smiled at Jolie. “I, uh…Let’s not risk it, yeah? Don’t wanna get barred.”
She quietly nodded“Assez juste (fair enough).” Jolie shrugged
They checked the coast was clear before stepping out, with Chloe giggling to herself. “Y’know…I don’t have any pns in the morning. Wh-what about you?”“Open schedule.” “So…”
Jolie’s smile returned“Alright. I live alone, so we won’t get caught.”
She leaned in closer, whispering in Chloe’s ear once more.“So, you can be as loud as you want, Ma chérie.”
Chloe giggled at that, blushing heavily as Jolie took her by the hand once more and led her out of the bathroom.
HazelThe young woman Dorcus had identified panted heavily as she ran down a city street, limping. It was almost empty, safe for a few homeless people, tucked in sleeping bags and sitting underneath shop windows to keep warm. She leaned against a mppost, and coughed. Her brown eyes were wide and panicked, darting around in every given direction. She approached one of the homeless people, a young man with a ginger beard who was still awake and, while still panting, knelt down.
“What year is it?”“Wha-?”“The year.” “What are you on?”
She gripped him by the scruff of his neck.”“The year!” She cried“Twenty twenty two. The fuck? Let me go!”
She unhanded him and stormed off, resting her head in her hands “Jesus Christ…Oh, Jesus Christ…Four years?” She held her arms close to her chest, massaging them with her hands as she tried to ground herself. She gasped, seeing that two figures approached her from across the dead street, both young men.
“Here, look at this.” One of them ughed, nudging his friend “Fuckin’ Mystic Meg.”“Stay back.”“Ohhhh.” The other ughed “I’m so scared.”
They approached her, both grinning from ear to ear.“I’m not going back there…” She muttered to herself “You aren’t taking me back!” She yelled, sucker-punching one of the young men in the stomach. Despite her smaller frame, it dropped him. His friend was quick to respond, but the young woman dodged him, gripped his shoulders, kneed him in the groyne and bit a chunk out of his left ear. He screamed in pain, holding his wound as he fell to the ground.
“Not going back, you hear me?”She stepped on his arm with enough force to hear a crack “Do you hear me!?” He screamed. He yelled in pain, letting out enough curses to make a sailor blush.
The first of the young men was now back on his feet and had a knife drawn. He charged her, but before the bde could make contact with her neck, as he’d pnned, she spun around and it dug into her right shoulder instead. Despite the bde lodged in her skin, and the now bleeding wound, she barely even flinched.
“Not going back.” She growled, striking the man in the throat and dropping him. With both her attackers down, she fell to the ground, and passed out.
