Chapter 61: 60. Disobliged

It was mid-afternoon when I came back in after reinforcing the protective spells. I found the twins in the living-room, Kelly was relaxing on the sofa and Keira was in the recliner. I tried to scold my girlfriend for getting out of bed while she was still healing but she brushed away my concerns.

She rolled her eyes, "My legs are fine Tegan, I can walk ok. I just can't pick up anything heavy, and I have to be gentle moving my shoulder."

Kelly wasn't going to let me make a fuss over it and she was already relaxing on the sofa, so I gave up and sat down next to her.

I only had about five minutes of peace and quiet before I felt someone come onto the property, off the country road. I sighed, "Company's coming."

Keira turned to look out the bay window towards the driveway. "I bet it's a cop. I get cop-vibes from him."

I sighed again, "Ok. Well, you two stay back away from the door. Whoever it is, I've just strengthened the wards so they're not getting in here regardless. I'll talk to them at the door and see what they want."

I could see the vehicle out the windows as it pulled up to the front of our house. It was a small black pick-up, with just one occupant.

Keira and I were both standing up to get a view out the window now. We weren't up at the glass but on the far side of the room so he wouldn't see us. We both watched as he emerged from the vehicle and looked over the house, before he started walking up to the front door.

He was tall, probably about six feet, and well built. He looked strong, he probably worked out on a regular basis. I couldn't pin down his age, but I figured between thirty-five and forty-five if he was human. If he was fae, he'd probably be somewhere around his fifth century. He was dressed in blue jeans and a black leather jacket, and he had black boots on his feet.

A few moments later we all heard the knock at the door, and I motioned Keira and Kelly to stay put as I went to the door.

I opened it up and got a closer look at our guest. He had a kind of ruggedly-handsome face. His hair was a dirty-blond, in short wavy curls. His eyes were blue-grey, and his skin looked slightly tanned. He had some stubble on his face, like he hadn't shaved in a day or two.

He gave me a look over at the same time, his eyes moved up and down over me, then finally he said "Good afternoon miss. Are your parents home?"

I suppressed a laugh and replied "I wouldn't know. They don't live here."

"Are you the homeowner?" he asked, looking mildly surprised. Not surprised enough to sell it though. He wasn't a good enough actor.

I rolled my eyes, "Just get to the point. Who are you, what do you want?"

His expression became serious and he pulled something out of his jacket. I was ready with defensive magic if he tried anything, but all he did was flash a badge. "I'm Detective MacKenna, investigating a shooting that happened down the street yesterday afternoon. I have some questions for you and the redhead. May I come in and speak with you two?"

"No," I replied. I acted just as serious as I watched him and asked, "Is that the shooting that was all over the news? I thought it was already solved, the news said one of the cops did it."

His eyes flicked up and down over me again, then he replied in a lower voice "I know who did it, what I'm here to find out is why. I also want to know why you didn't bother erasing the body-cam and dash-cam memories when you were done." His expression turned into an angry scowl, "What the hell were you thinking, leaving proof of magic on video for the humans to find?"

I tried not to let my expression reveal my surprise. Instead I frowned back at him and stated "Sorry I was a little distracted at the time. One of your cops tried to murder me, he shot my girlfriend, killed his partner, then killed himself. I had other things on my mind than covering up after him. Who are you for real?"

He straightened up slightly and stated, "I am sir Colm Mac Cionaoith, knight of the realm, on assignment to Earth by direct order of King Cathal himself." With that out of the way he demanded quietly "Now I want to know exactly who are you."

I hesitated, but figured if he was going to go all official titles and namedropping and stuff, then I'd do the same. "I'm Lady Tegan Vale of Clann Brádaigh, daughter of Maeve Brádaigh."

For a moment I thought he didn't believe me. He looked sort of skeptical, and it looked like he was about to make some snide comment or something. Then his eyes flicked up and down over me again, before they widened slightly.

"Your mother is the Brádaigh clann leader. She's the countess of Cathasaigh." He wasn't questioning me, it sounded more like he was reminding himself of her titles.

He took a step back and bowed, then straightened up and in an incredulous tone he demanded "What the hell are you doing living on Earth?!"

I sighed, "I was raised here, my friends and adoptive family live here, and why is that a big deal?"

Colm shook his head, "You're nobility. Fae nobles do not live on Earth." He sounded shocked and confused, but finally he set aside his confusion and asked, "What's your beef with the Ceallaigh family?"

"I don't have one," I replied. "I've only met Eileen once, and I helped create a truce between the Ceallaighs and the Brádaighs. And as far as I know they don't have a beef with me either."

He frowned, "Rhodes said he was sent by the Ceallaighs to kill you."

I shook my head, "He was being controlled. I think it was a set-up. I think whoever was controlling him wanted me to think the Ceallaighs sent him."

"Do you have any proof?" Colm still had that frown on his face.

"No," I sighed. "Just a hunch. I'll be returning to Otherworld very soon to speak with Maeve. She may know what other enemies our clann has, who else might want to mess with us or break the truce."

The cop slowly shook his head, "I'll get word back to King Cathal. He needs to know about this. An attempted assassination of a fae noble is bad enough. Having it happen on Earth is unheard of."

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I groaned softly, "Great. Otherworld intrigue and politics spilling over to Earth and messing up my life here. It's exactly the last thing I needed."

Colm just frowned at me. "Next time something like that happens? You scramble the electronics, blank the memory cards. If I hadn't been around to catch it, you'd be dealing with a lot more trouble right now."

"Is that your thing here?" I asked him. "Keeping fae out of trouble with the humans?"

He shook his head "Not usually. Normally I'd just leave you to deal with the consequences of your mistakes. But when I heard a human mentioning two fae noble houses on the body-cam video, I knew there was something serious going on."

I sighed again, "Well hopefully we'll get this stuff sorted out in Otherworld, so it won't spill back over to Earth again."

The cop frowned as he stared at me for a few more moments, then he finally just gave me a slight bow and said "M'lady. I'll be in touch."

"Fine," I stated. "We'll be in Otherworld for a few weeks at least."

He just nodded, then turned and headed back to his pick-up. I closed the door and sighed once more, then sat back down on the sofa with Kelly. I knew they'd both been listening in on the whole conversation, neither asked me what happened.

"So," Kelly said. "A knight of the realm, working for the King himself, is snooping around on Earth. And now he knows you're here, and he knows something's going on between the Ceallaighs and the Brádaighs."

Keira asked, "Do you think he was lying? Like, do you think he's really who he said he is?"

I shrugged, "I think he was telling the truth. No idea if he's going to be helpful or just get in the way though."

"We'll be in Otherworld tomorrow, so it won't really matter." Kelly pointed out. "I mean, if he's here, he's not going to get in our way while we're there."

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah. It's still something else to tell Maeve about. If it means the king's going to be involved too, she'll definitely want to know that."

The three of us tried to relax again for the remainder of the afternoon, then I finally got up and went into the kitchen.

We'd missed out on our big Sunday dinner yesterday, but I wanted to make our last meal on Earth a nice one. No maid costume though, things felt a little too tense to get into the mood for that.

I did my best to recreate some of the dishes me and Kelly missed. They weren't perfect but I figured it was good enough for now. I made a stir-fried spicy pork dish with noodles, tried to make a General Tsao chicken, and I made veggie-fried rice.

The twins had some white wine with dinner, I had a cola. I thought the food was passable, and Kelly and Keira both seemed to enjoy it.

Afterwards I did the washing-up, and the leftovers were packaged up and stuffed in the freezer.

Finally we all went to bed early. We'd have an early start in the morning, and it was probably going to be a long day after that.

Come morning, all three of us were up about an hour before sunrise.

We got dressed in clothes appropriate for travel in mixed weather, jeans and hiking shoes, hoodies and jackets. We enjoyed our last cups of coffee for a while, then me and Keira went around the house and made sure everything was turned off and all the windows were closed. Basically we just checked that the house would be ok while we were gone, whether it was for a couple weeks, or longer.

Neither me or Keira would allow Kelly to carry a pack. She kept insisting she was ok and fine to travel, but her sister and I both refused to let her carry anything. Unfortunately I wasn't all that strong, so it was up to Keira to carry both her stuff and Kelly's.

I had my own gear packed up and on my back. We were all travelling relatively light, but there were still some things we wanted. Modern toiletries, toothbrushes, that sort of thing was important. And a few changes of clothes, especially modern bras and underwear. Not that things were too primitive over there, but I figured why give up all our modern conveniences if we didn't have to.

With about twenty minutes to spare we all exited through the back door, then I closed and locked it up. From there it was about a fifteen minute walk into the ravine and through the woods, to reach the little glade.

Kelly and Keira stood quietly and watched as I slowly walked around, my arms and senses outstretched, till I found the spot.

"Why don't you just leave a marker or something so you don't have to search every time?" Keira suggested. "Like, we could hammer a post into the ground right?"

I shook my head, "I'm pretty sure it moves. Not far but I'm positive it wanders around the meadow."

"Huh," she frowned. "That's really weird."

I just smiled, "Come on, both of you. Remember to hold on tight."

Kelly stood to my right and hooked her left arm through my right, while her sister took her place at my left side. All three of us kept a firm grip on each other, and as the sun started to come up I worked the spell. I pushed my way through the veil, with both twins coming through alongside me.

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