Free Not Just Another Fae (Vegas Fae Stories Book 4) by Tom Keller Page A

didn’t believe magic was real, at
least not at first. Who would? But then everything started to change, and... Well,
here I am.
    I snapped out of my trip down memory lane when I heard the
sound of the elevator door. Michael, Siegfried's number two, was standing
there, holding it open.
    "Heard you've had a busy day," I said as I got in.
    "From what Siegfried told me, yours hasn't been a
cakewalk either," he replied.
    "I've had better," I agreed.
    "Haven't we all," he said as he turned a key and
the door closed. "Tell me about this Demon."
    "Nasty thing," I said. "We think it's a Gallu.
Some Sumerian or Babylonian Demon from their version of Hell. Reminds me of a 15-foot-tall
Minotaur on steroids. Rock hard skin covered in some kind of quill or spike,
including its tail, which it uses as a weapon. Shoots out some kind of poison,
too. I don’t have much more to go on yet. About the only thing I do know, is
that it doesn't like lightning or electricity. Latest rumor is that magic alone
won't kill it, but I'm still working on what will."
    "Sumerian or Babylonian?" he said aloud. "Now
that is interesting."
    "Why's that?" I asked as the elevator doors
opened.
    "Two reasons," he said as I followed him out the
elevator and down a corridor. "First, I thought those kind of Fae died off
a long time ago. The Demons, too. Never heard of them making an appearance before."
    "And the second?" I asked as we stopped in front
of a thick security door that he unlocked and held open.
    "You're about to find out," he said as I walked
through.
    We entered a large room with a raised stage or platform at
the back. Two people were already inside. One I recognized as Siegfried. The
other was a stranger. Both were standing next to a desk on the other wall,
looking through what appeared to be an old book. On the platform was a large
container. It was the size of a refrigerator, with currents of magic flowing
around it, surrounding something moving in the center. This wasn't just a box;
it was a cage. I stepped closer to see what it was holding.
    The creature was human size and sickly white, with dim
flashes of blue and green which would appear at times, on various parts of its
body, usually the head. I'm not sure if it was actually corporeal, or just a
spirit, as it seemed to flash slowly in and out of phase. It almost reminded me
of the subject of an old painting called 'The Scream,' by Edvard Munch; although
there were obvious differences. The face was oval, with a round mouth that
moved in and out like a fish. Its arms were at its sides, thin and spindly, as
if they had atrophied, and its legs were withered and rubbery. It wore, if
that's even the right word, what almost looked like a veil of white mist. It
moved through the space within the cage like a snake or eel, weaving in and out
until it would strike out and hit the magic sides, then it would recoil and
retreat back to the center.
    "What the hell is that?" I asked.
    "That is the question," Siegfried stated, turning
back to look at me. "When we found the first victim, he was screaming
something about a nightmare. We thought it was just a Mare, a type of minor
Demon. They are a type of lesser succubus, not common, but not unheard of
either. They feed on life energy but seldom kill, usually leaving the victim
weak and tired, and suffering nightmares as well, hence the name."
    "Which is why we weren't really worried at first,"
Michael agreed. "They show up from time to time, especially when we get a
lot of guests from Europe. They're more of a nuisance than anything else. But
when we found out that two more of the guests had been attacked and were
paralyzed, we realized that these were something more."
    "Right before we talked on the phone," Siegfried
continued. "Michael had cornered two of the creatures hiding in a vacant
room. When I got there, I knew we were dealing with something entirely
different."
    "Not easy to kill either," Michael said. "Regular
Mares are docile during the day. If