Fae'd To Black, Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Keeping it in The Family
Chapter 1: Keeping it in The Family
New York City
It was over tea and cookies when Crystal Moth Catalano announced, “We have business to discuss with all of you. Especially with Marco and Amanda in Rome for the next year.”
No one at the table was especially surprised, but that was because no one there was particularly stupid, either. Those around the table were the closest friends and allies of the Catalano clan. There were only four of them, but for good reason. Other allies were mafiosi that Crystal would not have trusted to stab them in the back, especially considering that they all had met over threats to the family.
Crystal almost smiled at the thought. The Catalanos were nearly becoming their own Mafia Family; but instead of Organized Crime, their business was organized resistance to the forces of darkness.
Crystal took a sip from the rose-pattern bone china at her side. She had bought it after December 8th, 1941. Macy’s had been throwing it out after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and she thought it was worth saving.
“Some of you know part of my secret, but only Robert knows the whole truth. If anyone here leaks it … to be honest, you are all here because I am certain you won’t.”
Everyone glanced down to the other end of the dining room table at Robert Catalano. The thin, middle-aged physician smiled and gave a little wave. He said nothing, but merely gestured back to his wife.
“So, we know why Enrico isn’t here,” Jennifer Bosley noted in her crisp, elegant English accent. The blonde vampire was beautiful and graceful, with a wide mouth (the better for biting, my dear), full lips, and big brown eyes. Crystal and Jennifer had gotten closer since Marco and Amanda had been married, and Crystal was used to Jennifer’s cynicism.
“Keep in mind, not even Marco and Amanda know all of this yet. I would like to avoid certain things being too well-known. Like the fact that I am technically, not human, but an Eldar.”
The big man next to Jennifer Bosley nodded. He was Police Commissioner Raymond Wilson. He was over six feet tall, and still solidly built at his age. He had a handlebar mustache and neatly parted black hair, with just a touch of gray in it. He looked at Crystal over his owlish wire-frame glasses and said, “Yes, I know. Jen told me months ago.”
Crystal sighed. “I should have figured as much.”
On the other side of the table, to Crystal’s right, Father William Rodgers barked a laugh. He blew out a stream of cigar smoke and laughed some more. For being a 95-year-old smoker, he had a perfectly working set of lungs, developed over years of preaching to a large church without a microphone. In a voice that nearly filled the kitchen and several rooms beyond, the black priest said, “I had surmised this some time ago. I married you and Robert, as well as your son and his bride. When Robert aged and you hadn’t, I figured something had to be afoot.”
Crystal arched a perfectly golden eyebrow. “Oh really?” she drawled. “Thank you for never bringing it up.”
Father Rodgers shrugged. “Who would I tell?”
“The Vatican?”
Rodgers laughed. “They’re busy people. They don’t need to know everything.”
Between Rodgers and Robert, Merle Kraft glanced around the dinner table with his midnight-blue eyes. The Eurasian spy said, “I guess I’m the only one who didn’t know?”
Robert smiled gently. “Hey, I only learned this after we met Amanda. I told Crystal our son was dating a vampire, and Crystal told me she was an … Eldar.”
Merle Kraft frowned and glanced back to Crystal. “So you’re a Tolkien Elf?”
Crystal winced. She hated the word, since every elf she knew was a different creature entirely. “Since it is relevant, a word about elves. They are not Eldar. We are something else. We are prototype humans. Think of us a lumped in with Nephilim, ‘back when giants roamed the Earth’ as the Bible says. Much like vampires. We are prehistoric creatures. The recorded history of the world goes back six thousand years. We are far, far beyond that.
“If you will remember, Jesus of Nazareth (alias Yeshua bin Yosef, alias Yeshua bin Yahweh) is quoted as saying ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ In context, He was referring to the forces of Hell.
“Specifically, He referred to the forces of darkness known generally as ‘the Fae.’ They were and are the forces of darkness that Heaven didn’t want and Hell could not control. They have their own Kingdom, and their own ‘rules,’ with an extremely loose definition of the word.
“To say the Fae are unruly and tribal even by the standards of the forces of Hell is to understate the matter. Nobody wants them. They barely want each other. And they were such a destructive force that they were unleashed on the world, where Earthly forms could (hopefully) contain them. Few people knew their history. From this particular, dark, unknown period of history comes certain legends that are more historical in nature than most people would like to discuss. Vampires, werewolves, ogres, trolls, creatures out of myths and cryptids out of legends that still hang on today, but are not generally believed by the scientific community.
“In fact, we have a theory that vampires come from a virus jumping species from blood-drinking Fae. It may have been a head cold that jumped to one of their victims. The victim, after being drained fully of his blood supply, rose up and continued to walk the earth. Whether the Fae intended to do this is completely unknown. It is considered unlikely.
“And this leads us to our current problem. We knew that there was a mad scientist behind the incidents in Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta, mixing magic and science. However, from what Marco and Amanda discovered during the battle, the scientist was working with another party. This mad scientist stated that he was already working with an elf.”
Merle Kraft held up his hands to form a T, indicating a time-out. “Okay, please hold. I understand the difference between the fae and the Eldar. I know from fairy tales, and I read The Silmarillion. but I think you need to spell out exactly what level threat an elf can be.”
Crystal shrugged elegantly. “That is the problem. I …” She coughed delicately, buying herself a moment. “Do I have to explain who the Olmecs are?”
Father Rodgers’ cigar hesitated before reaching his mouth this time. “Mesoamerican civilization. Pre-Mayan. Pre-Aztec. The Olmecs fell four hundred years before Christ was born. If I recall correctly, the Olmec Empire disintegrated into the Aztecs and the Mayans.”
Crystal nodded. “The worst elf I had to face had been in control of the Olmec Empire. The Aztecs were still worshiping him nearly two thousand years later.”
Police Commissioner Wilson frowned briefly. “Was this the one the Aztecs worshiped by ripping the hearts out of people, eating the bodies and wearing the skin?”
Crystal nodded. “Yes. You should see some of what he had demanded when he was alive. I thought some of his atrocities would fade from society. I was appalled that little had changed when the Conquistadors found them.”
Crystal’s green eyes drifted to one side in a thousand-yard stare. Everyone in the room let her have a moment. They all recognized the look. Rodgers had worked with Vatican Ninjas for decades as they fought vampires. Merle Kraft had seen some of his soldiers go through the same thing. Bosley knew vampires who had survived some horrors so bad, they had walked into the sunlight with a similar look. Wilson had been in Vietnam, and had had friends with the same stare.
Crystal’s eyes flicked back to them and she smiled. “Where was I? Yes, you had asked about how deadly Elves can be. Some of them have held armies and ruled empires. But that was long ago. They’ve largely been on the ropes for two thousand years.” Her eyes landed on Bosley. “For much the same reason as vampires.” Crystal sighed and sagged a little. “Unfortunately, like vampires, they’ve been making a slow revival over time. Unlike vampires, the fae have been far more cautious. Vampires have always reproduced at the same rate, relative to both their population and the planetary population. They were largely suppressed by the rise of Christianity, and hid like the parasites they are.” She frowned at Bosley. “No offense.”
Bosley laughed. “You should see some of the parasites I work with.”
“But the fae are cautious. And more ambitious. Vampires may hide, but many are content with surviving and the ruination of individuals. The fae prefer to hide in the shadows and wreak havoc of various levels, until at least one of them is ready to take over the world.”
Wilson nodded. “Much like what we’re seeing now.”
Merle cringed. “Ugh. Can you guys imagine?” He raised his hand and started ticking them off one by one. “This Blofeld like sucker has political connections like in Chicago. He has weapons from the dealer in San Francisco. And our mad scientist—Erickson, was it?–only held onto the surplus minions that he’d engineered and that herr Blofeld felt he didn’t need. Erickson had bipedal dragons that looked like the Gorn from Star Trek, cyber zombies, necromatic laser guns, swords that set people on fire, lightning guns. I’m sure I’m missing stuff. Can you imagine what taking on elvish Blofeld is going to look like?”
Wilson appeared languid as he said, “Weren’t you the one who called in a fleet of fire-suppression helicopters to drop enough holy water on Mount Olivet Cemetery to put out a forest fire?”
Merle sighed. “Different administration. Right now, I’m still in operation because the Pentagon is so screwed up at the moment that they lose billions of dollars at a time…” He blinked and frowned. “Come to think of it, it may have been trillions. And no, it wasn’t me. We don’t need that much operating capital. If I had that sort of money, I’d retire and make hunting monsters a part-time job.” He scoffed. “Though right now, I think I’d be booking in to a nice tropical island and sit the whole thing out.” He glanced around, his face quizzical. “One more question, if I may? Does this explain Marco?”
Father Rodgers barked a laugh. “Nothing explains Marco.”
Crystal shook her head. “Nothing about Marco has been affected by being my son. At least, not until recently.”
Rodgers stopped laughing and smiling. He lowered his cigar. “Could you elaborate?”
Crystal sighed. She didn’t want to go into this again.
Bosley interjected, saving her the hassle. “I’m told that there’s no such thing as a half-elf … er, Eldar … it’s difficult enough for these two to have one child, never mind making him a half-breed. He was born human. Marco’s like an alternator—anything magical in his body requires a jump start. He doesn’t have power until he’s been exposed to enough magic. You all noticed he’s been in superior shape since the last battle of Mount Olivet? That wasn’t all Amanda’s doing. That’s just stage one. Amanda has told me he’s gotten taller, and may now have something like radar. And his aim is getting even better, and you don’t want to know what I’ve seen him do.”
Merle held up a hand for a pause. “Wait, so everything I saw him do when I first met him were just Marco being Batman-competent?”
Bosley wobbled her hand from side-to-side. “Sort of. He ran on Amanda’s bite, and the virus microbes that transferred from her to him. It’s one of the reasons Marco is gaining powers now. Amanda bit him, then the run-in with the demon, then being bitten by a werewolf, then Amanda’s white fire trick bringing him back from near death? All that had a cumulative effect.”
Merle shuddered. “Sorry, I just had an image of what their kids are going to look like. They spawn, I’m moving to another hemisphere.”
Rodgers rolled his eyes. To Crystal, he said, “What of Galadren?”
Crystal could only sigh. Her cousin was only a bit of a lost soul. He had been traumatized while working on a movie set, and had lost nearly a century of memory. He continuously told everyone he was a “Tolkien elf,” and conflated much of his memory with fiction. “Yes, Galadren knows all about this. And so there is no confusion, Galadren is one of my kind.”
Merle raised a finger. “Point of order, Mrs. Catalano.” He leaned forward so he could look around Father Rodgers. “You say you’re an Eldar. You even mentioned you’re more Tolkien than fae. But like I said, I read The Silmarillion. Even Tolkien had multiple types of Eldar. One of which punched Satan in the face and left him with a limp. Which type are you?”
Bosley laughed. “I saw what she did to some Chinese soldiers who came to kidnap the good doctor. You don’t want to know.”
Commissioner Wilson placed his hand on Bosley’s. “Jen, I think he needs to know.” He glanced around the table. “I know I haven’t contributed much to this conversation, but if this blows up, then my men are going to be on the firing line as much as anyone else. So, Madam Catalano, I think we need to know what resources are at our disposal. If you can level a building with a look, that would be helpful.”
Crystal frowned, thinking of a way to properly explain her level of power. “Do you know of the Tunguska event?”
Rodgers nodded. “I know of it. It’s a twelve-megaton explosion in Siberia in 1908. It leveled over eight hundred square miles of forest. The official explanation is that it was a meteor air burst: a two-hundred foot asteroid exploded in the atmosphere after hitting it at 60,000 miles an hour. It detonated around three or six miles above the ground. Though we know there was a vampire in the area at the time. We figured he was responsible.”
“He wasn’t. Trust me.” Crystal sipped her tea.
Everyone sat in silence for a long moment.
It was Doctor Robert Catalano who broke the silence. “I think everyone has missed the point among this grand strategy session.”
Crystal blinked. “Yes, Robert?”
Robert leaned forward. “This only started when the Chicago necromancer sicced zombies on our son at his wedding. Marco and Amanda are obviously a main target. Since then, everyone in this room has taken at least some fire. I don’t care what you call this mastermind behind everything. Call him Blofeld. Call him Sauron. But he wants my son and daughter-in-law dead. Why?”
“For the same reason we guessed at when it first happened,” Wilson answered. “The two of them have brought together everyone in this room and beyond. I understand that since this started, we have additional forces in San Francisco and Atlanta.” He smiled at Robert. “Your son may not make friends easily, but he makes allies well.”
“It’s probably more to do with Amanda than Marco,” Merle muttered under his breath.
Robert looked around the table, his expression dead serious. “If that’s the case, then may I suggest that everyone at this table is also a target?”
Crystal nodded. “And that’s why we all needed to talk. Marco and Amanda are training at the Vatican for the next year. All of us need to brace for the worst. All of us might be targeted. And more importantly, we need to be ready for war.”