The Faerie Slayer

My mothers grave was on the reserve, just a ten minute walk from where I was with Candice. I felt ashamed now that I was nearing. I felt as if I had somehow failed her in all aspects, love, career and whatever was in between. I stopped along the way to pick a white rose from beyond the fences where the retired elderly tamed a beautiful garden during their last years on earth. My mothers favourite were white roses in baby's breath but I was not able to find any. When I arrived, I walked in with the creak of the old fence and into the cemetery. My mothers grave was furthest left, slightly further then the rest of the buried Odin Pack. Her tomb stone had always brought me a sense of relief and solace. Gazing at it now, I could only let myself touch it.

Aiyana Odin

1968-2017

I kneeled and eventually settled into a seated position. The winds were gentle but still stirred the fallen autumn leaves that lingered at her grave. I recalled the last time I had seen my mother, I was still a teenager in training to become a Faerie Slayer like her. We were outside the doors of the house and she had just bid me goodbye with a kiss on my head.

"Have fun at school today," she would always say. I had always felt like my mother was the only person that truly understood that I had outgrown school months ago. I matured faster then the rest. It was silly to me, even back then to wake up every morning and go to class. I was ready for the world, but I was patient. My mother was dressed in the mossy leather suit of a warrior. I had overheard my father bestowing her an assignment.

"This one is dangerous," he had said," a criminal in both the land of the Fey and in here. An ex prisoner and murderer of his own. He likes to cause trouble."

"Don't they all?" My mother had replied, entrapping Ferrum in the tight grip of her hidden pockets.

My father was younger in my reminisce. His face bore less lines of worry, hair was let lose stopping just below the mid of his back. Through out the fog of temporary worry, he was content. Despite what my father might display now, in comparison to my mother he was the softer one. My mother was ice against his fire, always cool calm and collected.

"I'm serious Aiyana," he had said," there's no shame in calling back up when you find this son of a bitch."

"Have I ever needed back up?" My mother placed a hand on his tired face. He looked down at her as if she was the only love he'd ever known.

"You're the strongest warrior that I have ever met," he had said," I don't doubt you, I never could. I worry because I love you."

"I promise to skewer his brain and bring him back in a pile of pixie dust."

They shared one final kiss. This was minutes before she'd walked with me outside and spared me one last smile before I headed onwards with my school day. She never came back that night, or the night after. When it had been over forty eight hours, my father sent out a squad of soldiers to look for her. He soon followed, not being able to stay at home. At seventy hours, her body was found nearby an unknown lake somewhere near Sequoia Forest. She's been stabbed through her chest by the same faerie that she was hunting. Engraved on her chest was a message; You will never catch me.

I wondered if my mother was alive today, what would she have to say to me. Would she side with my father in killing Aubrette or would she see things through my perspective? Still, I found myself wondering why father needed her dead so bad.

It was not usual that someone was able to sneak up on me, especially not someone as bulky as my father. I suddenly thought that it is true that vulnerability makes you weak. My fathers announced his presence with a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to meet his gaze. In his grasp were the baby breaths I was missing.

"Where did you get those?" I mumbled," there weren't any in the garden."

"That's because I took them all."

He placed the bunches neatly beside my white rose and joined me by taking a seat. We sat in comfortable silence for a bit, both lost in the trance of the memory that was my mother. I found myself questioning whether or not he would bring up what he was sure to have seen on the news. He did not. Instead, he surprised me even more.

"I have a new task for you."

I raised an eyebrow. Could this mean that he no longer wished me to kill Aubrette? In his hidden grasp was a kaki binder , and like all of my previous tasks, it would contain a picture and some identification of my victim.

I opened up the folder and inside was a picture of none other then Caleb himself. There were no other files, just the one picture of his face.

"This is-" I began but father cut me off.

"Pause the other task for now, do not go after the girl, not until you ensure this one dead first."

"Why?"

"If this trow gets to the girl before you do, he'll retrieve her back to the land of Fey forever. We will never be able to get to the girl again."

"And that is not satisfactory for you either? To have her banished from earth for life?"

"The girl must die at the hands of a wolf."

Although I already knew that the trow was sent by the queen of Fey, still I wondered how much father truly knew and so I asked anyway," do you know who sent him?"

"Someone from the land of the Fey, I don't know who."

I just nodded. Any idea that suggests the pause the death of Aubrette was one that I favoured. Briefly, I thought to kidnap the faerie and hold him hostage until I knew what I'd do with the half girl. Surely that would buy me some time with father.