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  Holly vs Oak

  A Crossroad City Tale

  Rebecca M. Senese

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  Copyright Information

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  Holly vs Oak

  About the Author

  Copyright Information

  Holly vs Oak

  A Crossroad City Tale

  Copyright © (2017) by Rebecca M. Senese

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  Previously published in Midwinter Fae, 2017.

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  Published by RFAR Publishing

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  Cover Design copyright © (2017) by

  RFAR Publishing

  Cover art copyright © lucky business / DepositPhotos.com

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  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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  Holly vs Oak

  A Crossroad City Tale

  The Holly vs Oak exhibition fight looks to be the event of the winter, until someone attempts to poison the Holly King.

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  Who is trying to kill him and threaten the peace between the normal world and the Nether Realm?

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  As a North Court faerie now living in the normal world, detective Maeve Hemlock finds herself assigned to protection and must find out before the fight. Before the fragile peace is broken.

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  Urban fantasy with an edge, the stories of Crossroad City weave tales where magic and the normal world collide. Where detective Maeve Hemlock and the Spells and Misdemeanours Bureau struggle to keep the law and the magic in check to save all.

  Holly vs Oak

  The yellowish lights illuminating the poster blazed through the late afternoon twilight at such a piercing hue it made my eyes water. The piercing cold wind of early December didn’t help either. I was standing on the frigid sidewalk, staring at the illuminated poster affixed to the main sports arena in Crossroad City and I still couldn’t believe it.

  Midwinter Extravaganza! One Night Only! In Person and Live! Holly vs Oak: the Final Showdown Exhibition!

  I sighed. Was it too late to ask for vacation time?

  Behind me, a car hissed along the street. As it passed, I heard the squelch of tires hitting slush. Before it could arc over the snow drifts and splatter onto my leather pants, I leapt into the air. Through the slit in my black leather coat, my blue faerie wings sprang forth, lifting me high above the sidewalk.

  The slush splattered onto the sidewalk, right where I had been standing.

  Instead of landing back in front of the poster, I let myself drift upward, riding the cold air currents, until the arena spread out below me. A huge concrete dome stretched over top, crusted with snow. It looked almost like a wintry egg. Three of the streets surrounding it were lit with yellow streetlights, twinkling under the bare branches of trees. The fourth led directly into massive ten floor parking structure that supported the arena.

  Not that it would be needed for the Holly vs Oak fight.

  Faerie weren’t known for their cars.

  Already the city was packed with tourists, both normal and those crossing in from the Nether Realm through the Great Tear. The Great Tear had opened a rift between the dimensions of the normal world and the Nether Realm. Crossroad City sat smack in the middle in the normal world, serving as a way station between the realms. Magic was heavily regulated in the normal world, the delicate balance of the rift couldn’t absorb a lot of magic on this side without catastrophic consequences. To help manage that, the Spells and Misdemeanours Bureau of the police dealt with any and all magical related issues.

  And I was the lead detective.

  As I hovered over the concrete dome, I spotted a cluster of twinkling lights flashing across from the right, heading north over the dome. I felt a spread of magic like a wind in the air.

  Some idiots showing off for the normals.

  So much for vacation.

  I shifted and took off after them, aiming to intercept. My coat flapped around me with the force of my flight. Wind streamed through my long, red hair, flinging it back. As I got close, I unclipped the holster for my wand and got ready to pull it out.

  Just a few feet ahead, I spotted them. A group of four faeries doing twirls and flips. Showing off, just like I’d thought. They were young, less than a hundred, dressed in the browns, and greens, and oranges of the South Faerie Court. Summer faeries. I wonder if they’d ever felt cold like this before.

  I felt a smirk spreading across my face.

  Maybe I should give them a real taste of winter. After all, I knew all about it as a seventh level princess of the North Faerie Court.

  I got within five feet. They still hadn’t spotted me. They were twirling end over end, laughing at the mist of their breath in the air.

  I pulled out my wand, ready to give them a real taste of winter.

  The ear piece plugged into my left ear squawked.

  “Maeve, you there?” Trevel’s deep voice rumbled in my ear. “I got some brownies creating mischief near the Incantation River. Could use some back up.”

  I could picture the troll holding his phone in his massive hand like it was a doll’s phone. Trevel was my partner in the bureau and he could hold his own against magic. Calling for back up wasn’t his usual style. He must need help.

  Pursing my lips, I stared after the group of cavorting summer faeries.

  They weren’t really doing any harm. The ripple of magic I felt wasn’t destructive, not enough to cause an issue with the Great Tear.

  They were Just. So. Irritating.

  I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. The group drifted farther away. I let them go.

  Just kids. Just goofing off. Never mind that it felt like an insult.

  I grunted. That sounded like my mother talking, complaining about all things Summer Faerie.

  I guess you could take the Faerie out of the North Court, but you couldn’t take all of the North Court out of the Faerie.

  Holstering my wand, I pressed on the ear piece.

  “On my way, Trevel,” I said.

  Then I turned my back on the cavorting group of Summer Faeries and went to do my job.

  Dispersing the brownies took a little over an hour. By that time, the sun had completely disappeared, plunging the day into full darkness. Trevel drove the Hummer back to the station and parked around back. As usual, the few officers who happened to be in the parking lot threw envious glances at the Hummer until Trevel stepped out of the driver’s seat. The grey-skinned troll towered above the car. He wore a black tunic with his badge hanging from the breast pocket. His arms were bare as were his feet, but even stepping on the snow, he didn’t seem to feel the cold.

  I followed him, brushing snow off the shoulders of my coat. The harsh lighting inside made me blink as Trevel led the way to the service elevator, the only one strong enough to hold him. Even it creaked as it carried the two of us up to the eighth floor.

  I was just imagining the rich scent of fresh brewed coffee when Trevel pushed the door open to our squad room and we found chaos.

  A general rumble of voices filled the air with shouts, curses, and hexes. By the window, I spotted the blond head of Detective Lemmer as he bent over his desk, barely visible around a pair of wraiths. They both
wore dark grey hoodies over black jeans. Narrow, skeletal heads bowed down toward the detective.

  But the main action seem to be taking place in the middle of the room.

  Captain Hwon stood in the centre beside a hard-back chair. From the angle he stood at, I couldn’t see who was sitting there, all I saw was the captain’s impeccable navy suit. Even with his arms crossed, the fabric never creased for long. If I didn’t know for sure he was human I would think he cast spells on his clothing.

  His black hair shifted as he shook his head. His normally calm features were now completely impassive. Major warning sign for Hwon. The angrier he got the more impassive and still he became. It made the explosion of his wrath all the more impressive.

  In front of him stood a group of three tall, black-robed figures. The hoods on the robed overshadowed their faces but I could feel the magic emanating from them.

  I started shifting left, toward the coffee maker that sat on a small table to the side of the door leading into the captain’s office. Maybe I could grab a quick cup and slip back out the door...

  “We insist on better security,” one of the robed figures intoned. The deep voice was ice cold, as deceptively calm as Hwon’s demeanour.

  Oh crap. I knew that voice.

  So much for slipping out the door unnoticed.

  I cleared my throat and stepped forward, edging past Trevel. As one, all three robed figures turned toward me. Another step and I could see around the captain. A figure wearing flowing light blue robes sat in the chair, doubled over, face in hands. Beautiful, ice-blue faerie wings sprouted from the back of the robes but drooped in a lacklustre fashion that I knew was unnatural.

  Some very wrong was definitely going on.

  And naturally one of my relatives was smack in the middle of it.

  I bowed my head at the three black-robed figures. “Uncle Ulvar, how can I help you?”

  The figure at the far end threw back his hood. My uncle’s narrow face appeared beneath a shock of red hair. A flash of delight crossed his face and was gone so quickly I wasn’t even sure I’d seen it. He pursed his lips.

  “We demand better security,” he said. “The Holly King has been attacked.”

  The figure on the chair stirred and sat up. Despite his unlined face, the faerie looked old. White hair stuck up on his head. Greyish circles hung beneath his ice blue eyes.

  “I am all right,” he said. His voice had a distant quality. “It could have been a misunderstanding.”

  I cocked an eyebrow in the captain’s direction.

  Instead of the dangerous impassivity, Hwon now looked at me with slight surprise on his face. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

  “It appears there may have been an attempt to poison the Holly King,” Hwon said.

  I pursed my own lips to stop my mouth from dropping open. I didn’t think there was anything in the normal world that could poison a faerie. Nothing that would have been by accident anyway.

  My heart began to pound.

  “We demand better security,” Ulvar said. “A personal liaison to ensure the Holly King’s safety. Maeve Hemlock will serve.”

  I could tell from the way Hwon’s body stiffened that he didn’t like being pressured. “I’m not sure…”

  “I insist,” Ulvar said, nodding at me. “She is faerie. She knows what needs we have. She is family. I trust her.” Ulvar’s eyes narrowed. “There is no one else here I trust.”

  Despite his impassive expression, Hwon looked unhappy. The slight crinkle near his eyes and at the corners of his mouth were obvious to anyone who knew him. As captain of the Spells and Misdemeanours Bureau, I knew he had been instructed in person by the mayor to make sure this exhibition fight went off without a hitch. It was vitally important to continue the good will between the normal world and the Nether Realms, and that good will in turn helped keep the Great Tear from doing any more damage, on either side.

  But I also knew he had a limit to his patience, and those slight crinkles showed that he was reaching it.

  And if he said the wrong thing, which was so easy to do around faeries, he could get into lots of trouble.

  Before Hwon could open his mouth, I took a step forward.

  “I would be happy to assist you, uncle,” I said.

  A smile flash across Ulvar’s face. Of course he’d done this on purpose, thinking he could pressure me into it. I let him have a brief moment of glory.

  “And my assistance will be all,” I finished.

  The smile faded a little on my uncle’s face. He knew what I was saying; that if he accepted my help he wouldn’t be able to ask any more of Captain Hwon or anyone else in the normal world.

  I wasn’t going to let him use this as political expedience at someone else’s expense.

  “Mauve,” the captain said.

  I gave a slight shake of my head, keeping my attention on my uncle. For a brief moment, I thought he might refuse. He got that stubborn, jaw-jut that my mother always did before she said no, but then his shoulders dropped. He gave a nod.

  “I accept those conditions,” he said.

  “Good. First I would like to have one of our doctors take a look at the Holly King.” I stepped around the captain and touched the Holly King’s shoulder. “Then you’ll give me a copy of your itinerary and where you’ve been over the last day. I’ll have my partner check those places out.” I glanced over at Trevel. He gave a nod.

  “Then finally, I’ll look over the current accommodations, make sure everything is intact.”

  “That will suffice,” Ulvar said. “For now.” He deepened his voice and tilted his head forward to look more menacing.

  Sure. Menacing. The man who taught me how to catch floating fuzz balls in the Royal courtyard and fussed when I got too close to a stone wall and scraped my knee.

  I let him have his performance.

  “If that is sufficient, I would like to have a word with Detective Hemlock before she begins,” Captain Hwon said. He gestured to his office.

  I knew better than to refuse.

  And fortunately, it seemed my uncle did as well. He merely nodded assent.

  I followed Hwon into his office and closed the door behind me. Unlike the rest of the squad room which always seemed awash in paper, Hwon’s office was a study in simplicity. The surface of his oak desk held only a desk blotter, a phone on the right side and a closed laptop on the left. The walls were a yellow so pale it was almost white. The single adornment, other than the clock on the wall right of the door, was Hwon’s certification as captain of the squad on the left wall. Behind his desk was empty. Nothing to stare at if he was reaming you out.

  Even though the coffee machine sat right outside his office, the smell never seemed to permeate the room which always seemed to have a slight odour of jasmine.

  Hwon stopped at the corner of his desk and turned around to face me. His frown was more pronounced.

  “I wish you hadn’t done that, Mauve,” he said. “That kind of favouritism was exactly what I was trying to avoid.”

  “It wasn’t going to end any other way,” I said. “They would have continued to complain and insist. This way you have someone on the inside.”

  “You didn’t tell me your uncle was attached to the entourage of the Holly King.”

  “I didn’t know,” I said. “It all changes every year. The king and the guard surrounding him. It’s a great honour to serve.”

  “Is that why you offered?” Hwon asked.

  I blanched. “Great Tear, no. I hate that kind of thing. The manoeuvring, the double and triple meanings of everything. Why do you think I came here? It’s so much simpler on this side of the Tear.”

  The crinkle lines around his eyes deepened but this time it was from the slight smile that curled his lips. “Really? Simple, here.”

  “You have no idea,” I said and gave a little shudder.

  Hwon sighed. “I’m still not happy about this but you made a promise.”

  “And I can’t go back on i
t,” I said.

  “No, you can’t. But I want daily check-ins.” He pointed to emphasize it.

  “Of course. I’ll contact Trevel daily.”

  “And me. I want to hear from you personally.”

  “I’ll check in with you both,” I said. “Don’t worry, sir, they won’t be able to tempt me back to the Nether Realm.”

  The crinkles deepened. “Just as long as you don’t tempt them to stay here. One of you is more than enough.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. I wasn’t sure if I’d been insulted or complimented. And didn’t really want to examine it to find out which. I just gave him a final nod and braced myself to face my uncle.

  Nothing showed up on the examination of the Holly King so I accompanied the group back to their suites at the Crossroad Enchantment, a luxury hotel near the stadium. I had only ever driven past the white sculptured towers, treated with something that sparkled multi-coloured in the sun. In the cold winter air, they twinkled ice-blue. Stepping through the sliding double doors and into one of the high-end suites was impressive.

  Or would be, if I hadn’t been raised in the North Court.

  The white carpeting was sufficiently plush. The navy sofa and two matching armchairs were made of the softest leather. The brass fireplace was stylish and modern with a hint of tradition. Floor to ceiling windows gave a grand view of the city, showing a hint of Deep Pool Lake on the right with the Incantation River snaking its way toward the upper left.

  Against the wall by the door was a squat, teak cabinet with three doors. I wandered over and opened the right one. It was a small fridge, stocked with different kinds of beer. I opened the other doors. Shelves of liquor bottles. Full size, not the little tiny ones, and no sign of a price list.