Home for Horny Monsters - Book 4

Long Nights

"A dullahan?" Mike frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know the term."

"I'm yer friendly headless horseman, lad." The dullahan still held his own head in one hand, and was now swinging it back and forth like a macabre pendulum. "My job is similar to a banshees in that I deal with dead spirits, though I usually cut a more dashing figure on my horse. So I guess I'm technically just headless." The grin on his face was impossibly wide, his lips stretched nearly to his ears.

"I want to speak to the faerie queen, right now, please." Mike crossed his arms and stared down the dullahan. "How do I make that happen?"

"You certainly are an anxious sort." Sulyvahn swung his head in a circle and released it into the air. His body stepped forward and his head landed on his shoulders with a thud, scattering the inky mist in a perfect circle, much like a smoke ring. "In regards to Her Majesty, I can say without reasonable doubt that she has no interest in speaking with ye."

"Oh, really?" Mike stepped closer. "And how do you know that?"

Sulyvahn's grin faded. "Not puttin' yer best foot forward now, are ye lad? The queen has very little liking for your lot, humans to be specific, but she's a particular dislike of you. Says you sullied one of her own, and she sent me 'cause she has it on good authority you have no interest in seducing menfolk. Believes ye used some kinda dark magic to seduce our Cecilia. But no disrespect meant, just telling you what I've been told."

"Wait, hold up." Beth stepped forward, a grin plastered on her face. "The reason she sent you was so that Mike wouldn't sleep with you?"

"There's no shortage of banshees in the fae realm looking for work, lass, and many would be happy to come here. The mortal world isn't a friendly place for our kind these days, so when I was offered the position, I gladly accepted. Thought it could be fun to visit with the living and do something different for a bit, I'm less shy than my sisters are. As for an audience with the queen, I'm afraid my abilities are limited to patrolling the grounds and making sure you are sent proper to your final rewards."

"So you won't help me?" Mike lowered his arms.

"I see no desire to anger the queen on account of a man I just met, nothing personal. I've only been here a minute, and already yer asking me to bend the rules." Sulyvahn tilted his head to one side, causing the skin on his neck to split and spill out some more black smoke. "Not that I mind a little rule bending, but the queen is not one to be trifled with, and I'd like to be allowed to stick around."

Mike let out a sigh. He needed a different approach. "You know what? You're right. Feel free to have a look around. Don't mind the centaurs if they show up, they're friendly and tend to the grounds. Oh, and don't sit on the swing. It might break under you." It was a lie, but he couldn't bear to see Cecilia's replacement in her favorite spot.

"There's a lad." Sulyvahn patted Mike on the shoulder. "I appreciate the hospitality."

"You're welcome. Good night, Sulyvahn." Mike walked past the others and into the house. The others took a moment to greet the dullahan one at a time before filing back into the living room where Mike waited.

"So what's the plan?" Beth asked. "There's no way you would have backed down so easily unless you had one."

Mike smirked. The lawyer knew him all too well. "I don't trust the dullahan, not yet, anyway, but we don't need him. He's already given us the most important piece of information that he can."

"Like that Cecilia is with the faerie queen?" Beth raised an eyebrow.

"You got it." Mike looked at Reggie. "Odds that your rats can chew a portal into the faerie realm?"