Chapter 2

"No way." I looked down at the fax in my hand with amazement. "This can't be right."

"What is it?" My dad walked into our office; his sea blue eyes narrowing on the piece of paper in my hand like a hawk who's spied a mouse.

It was a small office with just a cheap particle board desk littered with all the necessary items; a computer, a phone, a fax machine, and a copier. There was an old desk chair in front of it, a cracking plastic mat beneath that to protect the boring beige carpet, and a beat up filing cabinet to the right. That was it, and with us in the room, the tiny space was almost full. Still, it fit our needs. The office was purely for communication with the Council and for record keeping. The bulk of our work was done outside these bare walls.

"A warrant of execution." I handed the fax to him. "From the Fairy Council."

"The Fairy Council?" His narrowed gaze transformed into surprise which returned some vigor to his sorrow-lined face.

"When's the last time you saw one of those?" I asked.

"Never. To get one here is..." He looked up at me; a lock of his black hair falling over one eye. He brushed it away distractedly. He hadn't bothered with a haircut in awhile. Things like that tend to get neglected when you're on a quest for vengeance.

"Suspicious?" I lifted a brow.

"Fortunate." Dad began to grin.

"Dad, doesn't this make you at all wary?"

"I get to kill a fairy." He shrugged. "That it's a request of the Fey themselves is simply a bonus."

"Maybe we should contact our council first." I glanced at the picture that had been included with the warrant.

A willowy woman with huge mossy eyes and long hair the color of young pea pods smiled back at me. Her skin was a deep tawny umber and in combination with that hair, I knew her to be a dryad. So, she was probably a member of the Seelie Court. Not that it made any difference; Seelie or Unseelie, Light or Dark, all of the Fey were dangerous, and her sweet looks could be hiding the heart of a monster. Still—

"It says she murdered a sidhe male." I held out my hand for the warrant, and he handed it back to me so I could read it again. "Dylan Thorn. Aren't the Thorns one of the stronger fairy families? The Unseelie King is a Thorn, isn't he?"

"Which is probably why they want this bitch extinguished." Dad grinned. "She murdered a royal; they take that very seriously."

"But how did a dryad kill a fairy royal?" I stared at the picture again. "Dryads are generally timid and their magic is low class compared to that of a sidhe, much less a royal sidhe."

"You should know better than anyone that the amount of magic a person holds has nothing to do with their capability to commit murder." My father was already pulling out his extinguisher gear from the little closet in the left wall.

He laid a mini crossbow on the desk and followed it up with a quiver of iron-tipped arrows and an iron knife. Guns were dangerous around fairies, even when filled with iron bullets. A lot of fairy magic was born of the elements and when fire is used in a particular way—such as igniting all of the bullets in a gun at once—it could make a weapon explode; harming the wielder more than the intended victim.

Non-combustible iron weapons were the way to go with fairies. Something about the chemical composition of the metal reacted to their blood, and if they were actually struck with a piece of the stuff, it would burn their skin. If they were shot with an iron arrow or cut with an iron knife, the iron would poison their blood and without purification, they'd die. So, iron was the metal of choice for extinguisher weapons and when we used it in combination with our psychic abilities, we did pretty well against the Fey.

"Why aren't you getting ready?" Dad asked pointedly.

"So, we aren't calling the Human Council?" I tried one last time.

"Not necessary." Dad strapped a specially made, flat quiver to his back with practiced movements and then layered his coat over the top as I tried to push my unease away.

It wasn't that I didn't want to kill the fairy. I would have no problem extinguishing any fairy I had a warrant for. The problem was; this warrant came from the Fey themselves and if our Human Council didn't approve of it, we shouldn't be executing. It could get us into a lot of trouble and, frankly, if this was just some high up fairy wanting someone else to do his dirty work, I'd rather not help him out.

My Dad began to hum an old Irish tune as we headed out the door. Yeah; getting in trouble with the Human Council hadn't been an issue with him for a long time.

...

You'd think hunting fairies would be difficult. Beings with magic at their disposal and the ability to become invisible should be hard to track, but when you're an extinguisher, you're trained to use their magic against them. All magic leaves traces of energy and when combined with the powerful aura of a fairy, the resulting glow flares up and around its host like the Northern Lights.

Still, you had to find the right sky to search in order to see those lights and tracking the murderess took most of the day. We finally found her hiding amid the crowds at Ala Moana; a massive, outdoor shopping mall on the outskirts of Waikiki. I thought it was a strange place for her to be hiding—she would have fared much better up in the mountains—but maybe she thought she'd be safer in a crowd.

"I'll circle around behind her," my dad whispered to me. "You grab her, and we'll get her out of here so we can kill her without witnesses."

"All right," I agreed.

Even though most humans couldn't see fairies, when one was killed, they lost their magic; starting with their invisibility. That wouldn't be the issue with this particular fairy, though. She was completely visible; her oddly-colored hair tucked up into a baseball cap and her large eyes covered with a pair of celebrity sunglasses. That wasn't too surprising. Using invisibility magic ironically made a fairy even more visible to those of us with the sight. Magic was energy, and energy burned brightly to clairvoyants. So, if she wanted to hide from Extinguishers, using the least amount of magic was her best option. She hadn't seen me yet, but I had no doubt that she would soon. Fairies could see Extinguishers almost as well as we saw them. All of those psychic gifts made our auras stronger than most humans.

She was sitting on the edge of a long, oval-shaped, cement planter set in the center of one of the open pathways between the shops. Plants rose up behind her and one of her hands was laid against the slim trunk of a palm tree. The Fey liked to be close to nature but that touch was a clear sign that she was scared, or at least nervous. Her slim body was hunched in on itself—as if she were pulling away from the humans sitting around her—and her lips were pressed into a thin line. A baby cried, and she flinched.

It made sense that she would be scared but, usually, a murderer has some kind of plan. They don't just sit in the middle of a group of humans and touch plants. Was she waiting for someone? Maybe she had an accomplice. This could be a lot more complicated than we'd thought. My steps slowed as I searched the area for signs of another fairy but there weren't any to be found.

I was about five feet away when her head lifted, and she looked unerringly in my direction. Her hand released the plant with a blur of movement, and she stood; looking as if she didn't know which direction to run in. I tensed for the chase as her gaze flitted over her shoulder to where I knew my father was coming up behind her. Then she took a deep breath and started walking calmly in my direction.

I was so startled that I froze for a second and a Japanese tourist bumped into me from behind. It jolted me back into action. I pulled the fairy handcuffs from my pocket and opened them with an ease won from repetition. They were iron but lined in silicone so they wouldn't burn her, just prevent her from using her magic. When I reached her, she gave me a nod and held her hands out submissively. I put the cuffs on her with complete bafflement.

"Aideen Evergreen, I have a warrant of execution for you from the Fairy Council." I took her arm and started walking her through the crowds. She was taller than me, as most fairies are, probably around six feet. I was five-five and although I was leanly muscled from all the training I did, I'd inherited my mother's curves and next to Aideen's willowy, fragile form, I must have looked like an Oompa Loompa.

"Asylum," she whispered, and I jerked to a halt.

"What did you say?" My eyes slid over to her with a slow slide of incredulity.

"I ask for asylum with the Human Council," she stated more firmly. "I have information that could lead to the destruction of the entire human race."

"What?!" I turned to the side so I was facing her. The flow of foot traffic split around us with irritated murmurs. "Did you just say—?"

"I'm talking about the extermination of your race, Extinguisher," she hissed. "Now, get me to your Council."

"Yes, Ma'am." I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat and started ushering her more quickly through the shoppers; using a combination of telepathy and telekinesis to nudge them out of our way.

Possible extermination of the human race called for excessive measures.