Jagged Embrace

Chapter 85 - Maeve

They filed into the room. The only thing Will had asked Ander on the way back was if he got pictures. Ander acknowledged him but didn't verbally reply. Maeve watched the interaction, but her mind was still in the forest with Will. He had been growling, the way he had back during the shade mission when he talked to her, but didn't remember it - still didn't, as far as she knew. Since nothing like that had happened since she had let it go, she didn't want to think about what it meant. When she'd touched his neck and he gazed at her, she'd swear on her life that his eyes weren't grey. She couldn't describe what color they were, but it wasn't their usual silver-grey. The irises reminded her of a white gold piece of jewelry, light gold with a silverish reflection.

She changed out of her field clothes while Ander uploaded the pictures to his computer. When she returned, he had them open to view full screen. They were much better pictures than the ones she'd taken, more clear and much closer, making her wonder how close Ander had gotten to the creature.

"That's definitely that fucker," Will said in a nasty tone.

"His face matches Henrick Fordham. It is very clear now. He was the last agent with the document. Both he and his partner disappeared when the document did." Ander zoomed in closer. "He is not a draugr. He appears primarily human."

What did that mean?

Will leaned in closer, peering at Henrick's face. "Did you know about this?" he snapped at Ander.

"It was not conclusive from the other photos, and you are aware we do not have direct access to the personnel records of Greystone Industries."

Will stood and went to the mini fridge. "Fucking figures, god damn revenant and a fucking half-breed one at that," Will exclaimed in disgust. "No wonder I want its head."

"What?" Maeve asked and peered at the picture again. Ander was right, based on what he'd told her: if it had been a draugr, it wouldn't look so alive, so human. What made it a 'half-breed'?

"Look at its eyes, ears, the delicate hands, the thin frame." Ander pointed out several areas in the picture.

She scrunched up her face and studied the features. For an undead creature, he was almost... pretty? The only strange thing she saw were his ears, which were oddly shaped. It reminded her of a movie. Her hand reached up to cover her mouth. "Is he an elf?" she whispered.

"No, he is a fae decedent, or one of his parents was fae," Ander explained.

"Fairies are real?" she asked with excitement.

Neither Ander nor Will seemed pleased by her question. She wiped the excitement from her face and thought about what she knew about fairies. Some stories she remembered from her childhood suggested fairies were evil, but surely fairies were like everything else, and had both good and evil versions.

"Yes, fae are real, although rare. At least true fae. There are many humans that carry fae DNA," Ander said.

"Fucking half-breeds mucking up the god damn gene pool." It had been some time since Will had been so crude about his opinions on mixed creatures. It was not a pleasant reminder. "Now we know why that bastard is still around, probably touched that fucking page and the fae in him woke up. Who knows what that prick is capable of now?"

"We have a lack of knowledge about the fae, however Greystone Industries have some information regarding them. They have details about the courts."

"Not like we can ask those assholes, knowing them they hired it and thought that was some kind of fucking benefit as an agent," Will barked as he paced the room.

"Courts?" Maeve asked.

Ander glanced at her and shook his head.

She nodded and bit her lip. "Well, even if he was part fae, he was also part human so-"