Cole is tired.
First there’d been the mess with the newborn and that had been a debacle. He’d been happy to help, sure. Poor girl hadn’t been turned willingly. Didn’t know the first thing about living as a vampire, and was newly married to boot. He got why it was upsetting.
But then he’d had to track down the fucker who’d done it because that was bad business, turning someone who didn’t want it. Bad business turning someone who did want it, most of the time.
It turned out to be worse business than he’d expected. The thing was gone, mentally. Hooked on werewolf venom mixed with something else that smelled foul. Cole shivered to think of it. What it must have done. The whole thing made him wish he’d hired an exterminator instead, not that that would have been any better. Worse, in its own way, not to count how it was frowned upon in the supernatural communities to involve hunters.
They existed for a fucking reason, Cole thinks, and it’s shit like that. Although he’s not sure a hunter would’ve been able to handle that thing alone, and most vampire hunters do work solo.
He snorts at the thought of one of the “all-types” hunters even trying. The only place non-specialized supernatural hunters succeeded was in fiction. Real ones died particularly nasty deaths, their corpses frequently left far too visible as a warning to whoever else may come.
That was the thing about the broader community of supernatural beings, since apparently the baby fucking humans were now what was natural and they – the vampires and werewolves and fae and whatever else that’ve been around since the dawn of time – were unnatural. They’d at least progressed beyond the need for cops. Mostly just wanted to live their lives in peace and handled their problems on their own.
It was rare that something like this happened. But it had, and Cole had handled it. Even with the effects of the drugs, the thing hadn’t been able to touch him. Cole was too old. Too strong.
He’s just gotten home, just gotten his boots kicked off and the water running to fill the tub, when he hears the quiet scurrying.
“Are you fucking kidding me,” he mutters to himself. He pours gin into a glass with ice and doesn’t even bother with the tonic before he stomps back upstairs, strips, and sinks into the bathtub until his nose is barely above the surface of the water.
He does make a mental note to call a regular exterminator when he wakes up, and by the time he finishes his drink and the water’s gone cold, he’s feeling better. The scurrying has gone quiet, so Cole stretches out in bed and falls asleep.
And wakes up shortly thereafter to the feeling of something in his mouth. In his own home! While he was asleep!
Cole swats at his face out of reflex, sending whatever it is flying at the wall of his bedroom. He’s up quickly – what should be too quickly for whatever was just in his mouth, especially after connecting with the wall – but finds nothing.
He whips around at the sound of more scurrying, eyes trying to pick out the source of the sound in the darkness. For a moment, he thinks he has it pinpointed in the walls, but just as quickly it’s gone.
It takes three more nights. Four, technically, but the night before this one, nothing happens. But after a night of sleep – because he does eventually fall asleep, even if it is to thoughts of returning to the days of doing so in a fucking coffin because at least then no one would bother you – Cole finally has some success.
“Got you,” he says, fingers wrapped firmly around its little body. He’s got his thumb under his chin where he could, should he need to, pop its little head off like a bottle cap.
A tooth fairy, he realizes once he gets a look at it. And a terrified one now that he’s caught it, its breathing shallow and its heartbeat hummingbird quick.
Explained why it’d been so hard to catch, though.
They were quick, stealthy little things by nature. Didn’t explain why, though.
“What’s your name?” he asks, holding the tooth fairy’s gaze.
It glares at him.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard one. Doesn’t make much difference to me.”
Nothing.
Cole brings it up to eye level and lets his focus shifts. Waits until he feels the odd change that tells him it’s caught before he asks, “What is your name?”
The fairy still tries to fight, although there’s not much to be done about it. When Cole lets a little more pressure off its throat, it says, “Donti.”
“Donti,” he echoes, sifting through his memory. The name doesn’t ring any bells, though. “And tell me, Donti – what the fuck do you think you’re doing breaking into my flat in the middle of the night?”
“‘s technically like, 2pm.”
Cole digs his thumbnail into the iridescent skin of its throat. “Cheeky. An actual answer, please. I won’t ask again.”
“Trying to find teeth. A vampire old as you has to have lost some, but-“
“Teeth,” he says flatly. Because obviously that’s what tooth fairies dealt in, but his teeth? “And what exactly d’you want them for?”
“Money, obviously. Any idea what one of yours would fetch on the market?” The fairy shakes its head roughly, scowling. “You wanna let me outta this fucking compulsion? You won, I’ll answer your questions. Just- don’t make me do it like this. Feels like my asshole’s being pulled through my mouth.”
Cole grins, sharklike. He closes his eyes and lets the string between them dissipate. “So you’re an entrepreneurial little thing.”
“Something like that,” Donti replies, clearly hedging.
“Care to expand on that?”
Donti sighs. “Might be easier for you to understand if you let me go. Not- so I can show you, I mean.”
Narrowing his eyes, Cole flips on a lamp. He slowly releases the fairy, only to promptly catch it again when Donti begins to plummet toward the floor. “You can’t fly,” he says quietly.
Expression grim, Donti says, “Now you’re getting it. Things aren’t exactly easy when, well-“
In spite of himself, Cole feels bad. Can’t imagine what it must be like to lose something as integral as wings. “So the teeth…?”
“There’s some old wizard. Well, I don’t know that old is the word, apparently he looks ‘s young as you or me. But anyways, word is that he can help. Some fancy combination of magic and human science, so I can fly again. But it’s expensive. More than someone like me has ever dreamt of, much less seen. So kill me if you want. It’d be easier than living like this. Not like I didn’t know it was a long shot, but I had to try.”
Cole tries not to let any shock or interest show on his face. Can’t go giving away whatever upper hand he might have. “And if you were to get these teeth, you’d leave me alone? Let me sleep?”
“Well yeah, not like I was breaking into old vampires’ homes before or anything. I only found out about him a few weeks ago.”
His eyes narrow as he thinks, weighing the situation. Giving up any part of yourself was always risky business where magic was concerned, but doubly so when you were old and relatively immortal.
Likely Donti had thought it would be easy enough to break in and swipe a few lost fangs from a box, but Cole hasn’t kept anything like that nearby for years. Even hair clippings were burned for safety.
But then, there weren’t many left who were strong enough to do Cole much harm, and fewer still who both could and might want to. Was hard to keep enemies for that long – too much energy. And chances were high he could just steal the teeth back from whoever Donti sold them to.
“I’ll give you what you need,” he says, fighting a laugh at the look of astonishment in Donti’s tiny face, “on one condition.”
Immediately, the tooth fairy goes back to looking an appropriate mix of nervous and guilty.
“Make that two. First is that you stay the fuck out of my house and away from my mouth unless invited. Same goes for any of your little friends.”
Donti nods. That much had to have been a given. “A-and the second?”
Cole brings the fairy close to his face, so he can really look it in the eyes. Can see the reflection of his own in its opal-green irises, even. “You’re gonna take me to this fuckin’ wizard.”
Swallowing, Donti nods.
“Then we have a deal. You’ll get your teeth. And if this wizard of yours is any good, you may even fly again.” He deposits Donti back on the floor and turns back to his bed.
“Um, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He turns back to where the fairy stands, no taller than a beer can.
“I just- I still don’t understand what’s in it for you?”
In the space of a blink, he’s back crouched in front of Donti. “Don’t get me wrong – a bit of moxie’ll get you far in life. But now’s time to run along, little fairy. I’ll meet you night after next.”
“Where, exactly?” Donti asks, sounding more than a little on edge.
Cole grins, wide enough that the razor edges of his fangs peek out. “Misty Hollow – where else? Two birds, one stone. And then you can take me to your wizard.”
He watches the bob of Donti’s tiny throat, but the fairy just nods and hastily disappears. Once Cole no longer hears the patter of tiny feet, he yawns, crawls back into bed, and checks the time.
With a sigh, Cole puts his phone back down. 2pm his time means 1:30am in America. No chance of an answer.
Tired and annoyed, Cole rolls over. He pieces his plan together, preparing for his next meeting with Donti, until he finally falls asleep.
—
He’s starting to think the fucking fairy isn’t coming.
And on the one hand, that’s fine as long as they stay away. On the other, Cole has been sitting in a corner of the para bar in Misty Hollow for far longer than he wants to and he’s not even getting laid when there have been two separate opportunities thus far.
“I don’t know if he’ll agree to see both of us. The appointment is only with me, and he’s pretty strict about no extras.”
Cole has to fight the urge to reflexively swat Donti into the wall in shock. He takes a slow breath as he turns in his seat, then says, “Let me worry about that, little tooth fairy. Your only task is to take me to him. Care to explain why you’re late?”
Donti shifts uncomfortably. “Some of us have jobs, you know. Not everyone gets to live on trust funds established before trust funds existed.”
He doesn’t pick Donti up by the crumpled wing, but he thinks about it. Thinks about picking the tooth fairy up by both, even, just to prove a point. Instead, he downs the rest of his beer and simply says, “I don’t have a fucking trust fund, mate,” and stands up.
“Fucking vampire,” he’s pretty sure he hears Donti mutter.
Cole doesn’t stop, though. Not until the door to the bar closes behind him. The air outside isn’t quite cool, but it’s easier than the cloying humidity of the bar.
“Are you still whining?” he asks when Donti finally emerges.
Donti glares at him. “D’you at least have the teeth?”
“You mean these?” Cole asks, letting his fangs drop as he grins. “Or these?” He pulls a mint tin from his pocket and shakes it; the rattle makes Donti’s wings flutter audibly, wavy little pupils rippling as whatever innate sense alerted tooth fairies to their quarry.
He wonders, not for the first time, if it’s anything like the way he feels when someone opens a vein. The inexplicable, primal need. It is for werewolves, Cole knows – after all, he’s spent plenty of time around them over the years. He’s spent way less around the more specialized subspecies of fae, though.
For a moment, Cole considers just asking, but that requires talking to Donti more than he already has to. It’s already a struggle to make himself say, “Do you want a ride or are you going to keep up? We’re on a bit of a time crunch here.”
“Oh would you chill out? We have plenty of time. Besides, can’t a vampire as old as you get away with a bit of sun exposure?”
Cole glances down just enough to scowl. “You seem to not understand how I got this old in the first place.”
“Your charming attitude and youthful spirit?”
Exhaling a slow breath, he reminds himself that stepping on Donti would be not only personally inconvenient, but also a political headache. So he doesn’t, but he wants to. Really, he probably should’ve had a bite before he came here, even if it was just one of the stale blood bags from the bar.
One more in the bad decisions pile.
“Yeah ok,” Donti sighs, “if it means we can get this over with faster. ‘M not riding in your pocket, though.”
He snorts dismissively, then leans down and scoops Donti up in one hand. Reminding himself that he needs the fairy – and that even if he didn’t, Donti really hasn’t done anything to merit death – Cole curls his fingers slightly to provide a place to stand.
“Hold on,” he says. A second later, he feels tiny fingers curl around the leather bracelet on his wrist.
Stepping out of the magical barrier that hides the bar is always uncomfortable. Cole largely prefers to go unseen, barring the rare occasion when he wants the exact opposite. The times when he needs confirmation that he’s still real. Still close enough to human to inspire anything other than fear.
That was the trouble with nights like tonight. He’d gotten thrown off kilter too many times, and now he’s not sure how to regain his balance.
Fortunately, Donti doesn’t try to talk to him until they reach the market. Over the years, it’s become a sprawling thing, with human stalls scattered between the paranormal ones. Some of them even served both sorts of clientele. All just depended on the merchandise.
“Who’re we going to see?”
“We aren’t going to see anyone. You’re going to give me the teeth. I’ll go sell them, then meet you somewhere.”
“The fuck you are,” Cole growls, sharply enough that he gets looks from those milling about. Doesn’t help that it looks like he’s talking to himself.
“Check yourself,” Donti cautions quietly.
He scowls but takes a breath. Picking his way over to one of the picnic tables, Cole drops onto a bench in the corner. He places Donti on the wood in front of him, using his leg to shield the fairy in the event the shadows don’t do it.
After a glance around, he pulls the box from his pocket again. The same as before, Donti’s pupils fluctuate with excitement.
“Yeah yeah, keep it in your pants,” he mutters.
Immediately, Donti’s expression shifts to one of disgust and Cole can’t help but bark a laugh. Tooth fairies, unlike many of the larger sorts of fae, were oviparous. Communal, sure. But not particularly sexual beyond what was necessary to lay and fertilize eggs.
Cole isn’t even sure if there’s anything to keep in Donti’s pants, not that he has any room to talk there. He must stare, though, because Donti scoffs again and pulls out a tooth pouch.
“Hey can I see-“
“No!” Donti snaps, clutching the bag close.
It’s hardly a surprise, but still disappointing. Tooth pouches were impossibly useful, but just as hard to acquire. Cole would gladly actually give up a fang or two for one.
“Fine,” Cole says. He pops the lid of the mint tin open, exposing four fangs.
Donti’s eyes go so wide that they’re almost as much black as green and he has to stifle another chuckle.
“That should net you enough.”
The fairy swallows and nods, even though it wasn’t a question.
“And then we go see him.”
“Erm.” Donti pauses, the third tooth held over the mouth of the bag. “Then I buy the book, then we see him. Yes.”
“What fucking book?”
With a vague shrug, Donti snatches the last tooth, drops it in the sack, and disappears.
“Fuck.”
Cole glowers at nothing and tries to ignore the anxiety building in the back of his mind.
Ten minutes pass. Then twenty. Then an hour. He checks his phone to confirm and swears when he’s right. He’s been had by a fucking tooth fairy after gods only know how many fucking years and-
“You ready?”
He whips around, and this time he does unceremoniously pluck Donti up off the table.
“You play very dangerous games for someone whose head is the size of a grape,” he says, voice dangerously low.
“Maybe so,” Donti replies, strained, “but you’re not gonna do shit about it. You still need me.”
“A bold assumption. I’ve made it this far in life without you.”
“Yeah but you won’t risk it. Not if the stories are true.”
Cole spits another curse and drops Donti. “Did you get the book?”
Donti pats the bag, eyeing him distrustfully.
“Right. This time you are riding in my pocket.”
Before the fairy can protest, Cole opens and shuts the pocket of his jacket and is down the hall. This is the booth, he knows. The only potion maker here who would both recognize the value of his teeth and have the money to purchase them.
It was going to be a mess to untangle later, but he couldn’t risk it…
He waits until the potion maker’s back is turned before he darts in. There’s no scream. No struggle. No time for that. Just the hint of a questioning noise before his hand covers the woman’s nose and mouth and his fangs slide into her neck.
She tastes weird. All of her kind do. The strong magic users who aren’t anything but human. Still, it makes no impact on what he needs to happen. The fight drains from her faster than the blood does.
Cole sets her gently in her chair, trying to arrange her so her back won’t give her too much trouble when she comes to. And then, he picks her pockets. Sure enough, his teeth are in a hidden inner pocket instead of any lock box; there aren’t many who would be so bold as to try to rob her during business hours, much less who would succeed.
Although to be fair, he hasn’t quite yet. But experience, speed, and a belly full of magic-saturated blood all say he will.
Shoving the fangs into his own pants pocket, Cole replaces them with a tiny vial then makes his exit.
“Was that-” the tooth fairy asks, head poking out of his jacket pocket.
“Donti, if you have any sense at all you’ll shut your mouth right now,” Cole says, still breathing hard.
It’s reflex. He doesn’t need the air any more than he needs sleep or water. But his body still seems to forget sometimes, and he’s disinclined to stop it when it comes to things like this.
Things that still make him feel…
“Our window is closing fast, so if you’d like to get a move on?” Donti says pointedly.
“Right.” He swallows. “Where are we going?”
“The door. Then out the Eltz side.”
“Eltz? You’re making me go to fucking Germany?”
“You have a problem with Germany?”
“What?” No, you’re missing the point,” Cole replies, already making his way to the Misty Hollow fairy door in spite of his objections. “D’you think they just let vampires pop through doors willy nilly? Much less in and out multiple times?”
Donti sighs. “No, that’s why I said our time slot was about to close. Can vampires go deaf with old age? Because I swear you’re on your way.”
He debates if this is actually worth it. After all, he’s made it this many centuries as he is.
“Hello? Are we going? Because if not-”
Cole feels the shift and tug as Donti starts to climb out of his pocket. “Yes, we’re going. Look,” he nods toward the shimmery patch of air up ahead.
The door knew they were coming.
“Aw, fuck I hate this part,” Cole mumbles, bracing himself before he steps through. He hates the fairy doors. It doesn’t even matter that it has nothing to do with the doors themselves and everything to do with the fact that he’s sort of dead. The sensation every time he goes through one is just… wrong. And he’s going to have to do it at least three more before this is over.
“Right,” Donti says, “so it’s gonna be-”
“I know where it is.”
He can feel the fairy’s eyes on him and glances down to find a look of shock on Donti’s tiny features. “You think I’m however old you think I am, but haven’t learned to read fae?”
Donti frowns. “I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t thought of it. Not many do.”
“Yes well, thank the gods there’s only one of me, then.”
This makes Donti’s frown deepen, but Cole doesn’t care to question it. He just makes his way to the Eltz door, ignoring the feeling of gemstone colored eyes cut by jarring, horizontal pupils on him, and strides through before he can overthink any of it.
The castle is beautiful, as always. He’s never arrived via fairy door, but he recognizes the spot where they came out and for a moment he just stands and stares at the inky black of it where it’s set against the twilit sky.
It’s older than he is. There aren’t many things left on this planet that are, and fewer still that are buildings that remain standing. The thought makes something clench uncomfortably in his chest.
Cole turns away, looking out at the forest instead. “Now what?”
The fairy is quiet. “He said there would be a sign,” Donti eventually whispers. “I told you I wasn’t sure if he’d see me if there were two of us, though…”
“And you have no idea where to find him?”
“No. None. No one tells, that’s part of the deal.”
“Someone has to know.”
He feels Donti shrug. “If they do, no one’s told me.”
“Perfect. So now we’re here for nothing.”
Donti shrugs again. “Put me down. And stay back a ways.”
He doesn’t like it, but Cole goes along anyways. Donti is three or four meters away when the first stone lights up. Cole stays back, but it keeps happening until they’re standing in front of a tucked away little shop front down in the village.
Cole closes the distance quickly. By the time Donti knocks on the door, he’s standing just out of sight, waiting.
The door swings open unassisted. Sparing a quick glance in his direction, Donti steps inside. He follows before the door can close, and rightly so – a second later it shuts, the latch clicking audibly.
“Well you’re a rather bold little thing,” a voice says from behind a high-backed armchair.
He has to fight a laugh at the observation, reminded of his own initial impression.
“Um, I’m sorry?” Donti says, shockingly reserved.
The chair swivels to reveal the man sitting in it. Cole is aware of the fact that his breathing stutters to a halt, but he can’t seem to do anything about it. He’s not enchanted. At least not in any immediately obvious way.
But the man is something, and pretty doesn’t quite cover it because there’s also something off about him. Something in the way the bright blue eye that isn’t covered by his hair drags over Cole, like he’s picking out every thought and insecurity.
He looks human enough, but again, he doesn’t feel the strange thrum of magic, so it isn’t that. Whatever he feels, it’s all in his head.
“Donti, was it?” he asks, attention sliding back to the tooth fairy. In response to the nod, he hums thoughtfully and says, “And would you like to tell me why you’ve disregarded all instructions and brought a vampire here, Donti?”
Cole expects him to stand. To circle the tooth fairy. It’s what he’d do, if their positions were reversed. But instead, he just leans forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and letting his hands dangle out in front of them.
It’s meant to come off as non-threatening; the position is a vulnerable one, and combined with his appearance – with the soft, flowy shirt and the carefully chosen rings on his delicate hands – it seems to work. At least on Donti.
He’s been alive too long for that, though.
“I had to. It was part of the deal. The only way I could afford this-” Donti is babbling. The book makes a weird ripping noise as it’s pulled free of the fairy bag, and the wizard’s attention shifts to it.
Cole takes a step back toward the door. Normally, he moves silently. Normally, he could’ve taken the step and no one would have noticed. But the man’s electric blue eye snaps back to him.
“And what reason does a vampire have for forcing a tooth fairy into a deal to get a meeting with me? You could do it the same way as everyone else – just set up an appointment.”
He clenches his jaw, not liking the faint tendrils of magic he feels sliding through the room now.
“Come closer,” the man says. “Of the two of us, I’m not the one that bites.” He smiles pointedly, a sharp, strangely inhuman expression.
Against his better sense, Cole takes a step closer.
“There, see? No harm done. But I do believe in courtesy and Donti here had an appointment, so-” he looks back down. “What was it you needed? The wings?”
Donti nods, shifting nervously.
“And what have you brought me?” At the flick of his fingers, the book is lifted from the floor and into his hand. He runs his fingers over the decorated leather cover, like somehow it will tell him something that the title will not. “Very well. Come here.”
When Donti is a couple of feet away, still out of arm’s reach, the wizard gestures and Donti turns. Cole feels the hum of magic, followed by a sharp intake of breath. But no words. No spells or incantations or sigils, at least that he can see.
Nonetheless, he hears the flutter of wings.
“I would recommend starting slowly, if it’s been a while since you’ve flown,” the wizard says, voice slightly rougher. Slightly different.
“Thank you,” Donti says. With the same speed he’d encountered in their first interactions, the fairy escapes out the door before either of them can stop it.
“Now,” the wizard says, shifting back in his chair. He crosses an ankle over his knee, the position still vulnerable but infinitely haughtier at the same time. “Care to tell me why you’re here? I do operate by appointment only, but we could set something up.”
Something in the whole thing makes Cole’s throat go dry. He’s not nervous. Or at least, he shouldn’t be. So he forces himself to swallow and say, “I’ve heard you can do things that shouldn’t be possible. That you might be able to…”
He has to look away from the unwavering blue of the wizard’s gaze. The intensity of his attention isn’t something Cole is used to, nor does he think he ever wants to be. Taking a slow breath, he composes himself.
When he turns his attention back, the wizard is standing, and much closer than he was before. All without making a sound.
“What are you?” he hears himself ask before he can stop.
The wizard tilts his head just slightly, hair falling further over the covered eye.
Cole looks him over again, studying him anew. “Oh, well that explains some of it,” he mutters, deflating. As always, it is once again too good to be true.
“What explains some of what?”
“You’re part fae. I didn’t notice the freckles before,” he says, gesturing to the smattering of gold flecks across the wizard’s cheekbones.
“And just like that, you know everything about me and you’re no longer interested in whatever favor it was you had to ask?”
He sighs. “It isn’t even that. Just means you can’t do it. So I’ll be going now. Sorry for the intrusion.”
“Wait,” the wizard says when he reaches the door. Once again, there’s something strange in his voice. It’s not any sort of magic- no compulsion or spell. Just something… odd.
Cole turns, one eyebrow raised in question. He’s tired and wants to go home, an especially arduous thing since the fucking tooth fairy left him here.
“What exactly is it that you want?”
“Nothing of importance.”
“Important enough to force one of the fae into a deal with you, only to double cross another with whom they dealt. Only now, you give up so easily. So please, enlighten me.”
He sighs again, irritated now by whatever it is in the wizard’s tone that won’t just let him say no and leave. “Really? You can’t hazard a guess?”
Eyes widening slightly, the wizard shakes his head.
Cole feels his fangs drop involuntarily in response to his growing frustration. “Let me give you a hint. Tits-” he says, gesturing, “-where there should be no tits.”
His lips purse into a small, pretty frown just before his mouth opens – presumably for another question – then closes again. Meeting Cole’s eyes, he finally says, “This has caused you a great deal of trouble, hasn’t it.”
It makes him want to scream because obviously it has or he wouldn’t be here, especially so close to dawn, talking about it with a fucking stranger.
“Very well,” the wizard says, seemingly to himself. With a flick of his fingers, Cole feels a wave of magic crash over him. It forces the air from his lungs and is absolutely unlike anything he’s encountered before. It almost feels like-
“What the fuck?” is what manages to come out of his mouth once he can speak again, and even then his words are rough. He doesn’t have to look to know, though. “I-”
“You’re welcome. Now, have a nice night. Shop’s closed and morning’s soon,” the wizard says, dropping back into his chair.
“How much?”
“Hm?”
“How. Much.”
“Nothing. Consider it a two-for-one deal if you must.”
He can’t, though. Because that’s not how the fae – even hybrids like this one – do things, and he does not, will not owe anyone anything, but especially not a fairy favor.
Cole is about to say all of this when the wizard says, “I said go,” his voice once again some strange, booming thing that Cole can only compare to galaxies. It’s followed by the snap of his fingers and then he’s somehow once again standing in the Misty Hollow market.
“What the fuck,” he mutters to himself.