By A. C. Williams
Eamon pressed his back against the stairwell’s cold cement wall, an icy chill brushing between his shoulder blades.
Of all the other spawn-filled dredge pits in Chicago, why did this particular sceallóg have to spirit Lorna away to the fae market?
Reaching inside his leather coat, he fingered the grip of the handgun in his shoulder holster. His palm itched to draw the weapon, to charge into the market with it in full view, to open fire and take down as many of them as he could.
They all needed to die anyway.
But America was different. The market would be full of humans too, and Knights of the Sun didn’t kill humans.
Eamon released his grip on his gun. He drew a steadying breath and wrenched the door open.
A warm tidal wave of cumin, sulfur, candle wax, and fried chicken embraced him as he stepped over the threshold. The Netherground, the famed fairy marketplace of the Midwest, spread out before him in a sprawling labyrinth of bright banners, boisterous laughter, and exotic spices from across the worlds—both human and fae.
Electric torches lined the stone walls, flickering against the archways. The broad main street of the underground market stretched for miles beneath a high vaulted ceiling laden with neon lights and enchanted glass.
Gut churning, instincts blazing, Eamon plunged into the bustling crowds and shouldered his way up the street.
A woman with a wild mass of black hair drew his gaze, but as she turned to greet a friend, her pale features and painted face made him scowl.
Not Lorna.
Lorna had a sparkle in her eye and a spring in her step.
Eamon pressed past the woman, deeper into the milling throng that marveled at the magical wares for sale at the booths along the walkway.
One booth boasted tanks of marshburrs, toothless creatures of fluff that looked like colorful cotton balls. Another booth smelled of smoke and cinders, with its barker waving bundles of flaming flowers.
Bloody idiots selling ifrit roots.
Only in America. If you got caught with an ifrit flower in Dublin, you’d land yourself in jail overnight, and the Garda might just forget about you.
Anyone foolish enough to buy a flame-throwing flower deserved whatever they got.
Eamon squeezed out of a crowd and paused by the doors of a nightclub called Styx.
A single glance at the waiting line made his hand itch for his firearm again. The hair and teeth on the bouncer screamed Sasquatch, and more than half the line was sceallóg. Vampires mostly. One or two werewolves, judging by the shape of the fingernails. And, of course, a few humans, because what other creature in the world would be stupid enough to schmooze with supernatural beings that’d eat you as soon as look at you.
Focus, man. You haven’t got time.
Eamon shook himself and turned in a slow circle.
Where would it go?
That was the trouble with a thing like this. The Knights had only the basic information about the creature, an Encantado, a shape-shifting psychic from the Amazon River.
He eyed a sign over one brick archway pointing to the underground river, promoting gondola rides with singing elves.
Americans.
He ducked into the tunnel that ran alongside the marketplace, the edge of the street falling into the dark waters churning below.
A few streams of light zipped overhead.
Just pixies, most likely. Troublesome in their own right, but not his problem right now.
Motion in the shadows at the end of the tunnel made him reach for his gun.
There.
The sleek shape of a woman glided down a wooden stairwell toward the waters, her hair a rounded bob of soft curls.
Lorna.
Eamon drew his gun and ran after her. His leather shoes slapped the paving stones, and he slid to a stop at the railing. Heart pounding, he picked his way down the rickety stairs.
The darkness closed in around him as he descended below the marketplace level, and the wooden dock creaked under his weight.
A flash of light burned in a lantern up ahead, revealing two figures at the end of the dock. A man in a leisure suit, and…
Lorna turned dark glassy eyes on him and charged.
She hit like a sledgehammer, hard enough to drive him back two full steps into the concrete supports. His skull bounced off the stones, and the dark world spun around him.
Lorna clawed at his face, shrieking like a banshee. Her short-clipped nails scratched deep gouges in his cheeks and neck before he kicked her legs out from under her.
“Sorry, lass. This might sting a bit.”
Eamon aimed the handgun at the man and pulled the trigger. The weapon shuddered in his hand, the hollow-point bullet screaming through the dark and punching straight through its target’s head.
The monster in the leisure suit wobbled for a moment, black tincture of salt and belladonna dribbling from the wound in its forehead.
It opened its mouth in a monstrous scream, needle teeth shining in the dim light of a phoenix-feather lantern, and collapsed in a heap on the slats.
Eamon lowered the gun.
“One sceallóg down,” he muttered. “Only about a million more to go.”
At his feet, Lorna choked, the glassy haze over her dark eyes fading as she gasped shallowly. A soft whine of pain spilled from her lips, and she dug her fingers into her temples.
“Easy, lass. I got him.” He knelt, shoved his gun back into its holster, and pulled her into his arms. “You’re back.”
She whimpered. “Hurts.”
“It’ll fade. Just breathe.”
Lorna sank against his chest, eyes slipping shut, and Eamon pressed his nose against her warm, dark skin. If he’d been any later, the soft brush of her hair against his cheek would have been just a memory.
Someday, the world would be free of monsters. Until then, the world had him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Woah what a world and story!
Right?? It was so much fun to play with!
Definitely novel territory. I like that you resisted the temptation of a last minute twist. The story works very well on world building and character.
LOL! Thanks. It was a hard call, but I wanted it to have some level of resolution. All the twisty stuff I’ll save for the novel ….
AMERICA X”D
I love how this new world ties into our world! It sounds like there’s SO much more to learn about it all! =D
Right? This is another concept I’m working on…. we’ll see if anything comes from it. But I’ve always wanted to wrote something like this….
Great story! I like the combination of these mythic characters with an American setting!
Thank you! This is an existing storyworld I’ve had for a while. One of these days I’ll get a novel out!