Page 73 of Tooth and Nail

“What the fuck are those?” Ari shouted over the noise.

“Get out your netting, Ari!” Eoghan grabbed the first umbrella of sugar mesh, pointing it upward toward the sky above the undulating creatures as he realized what they were dealing with. Above the din, he yelled at his partner again.“Point it above their forms and shoot before they have a chance to disperse!”

“What the hell are they?” Ari shouted.

“I think those must be the rivals!” Eoghan desperately waited for Ari to fumble with the sugar netting, and setting it up like he had.

“But…there’s billions of them!” Ari hollered.

With relief, Eoghan watched him get into position and then dart a glance at him. “On the count of three!” he shouted.

“Three!” Ari yelled.

“Two!” Eoghan chimed in.

“Shoot!” Ari screamed above the hum before letting the netting fly at the same time as Eoghan did. It had barely left the launcher before he was pulling the second one off his back. He lifted it to the air and pulled the trigger as the first of their catapulted sugar netting opened wide and fell over the undulating forms shaped like Titania and Oberon. As the first lot of mesh hit their targets, the teeniest of fairies let out a collective sigh which filled the clearing, sounding almost like“Ahhh…”

Eoghan and Ari were pointing the third sugar netting as the creatures lost whatever had been holding them in their Titania and Oberon forms, and fell to the ground in a writhing, scarlet puddle. Eoghan stared at it for long seconds before he realized what he was seeing as they seemed to consume each other along with the sugar syrup from the webbing. By the time the third netting fell over the writhing mass, now puddled low to the ground, Eoghan was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Whatever had targeted Titania and Oberon’s offspring and then, sickeningly mirrored their own likenesses, had been destroyed in the clearing.

It was more fucked up than Eoghan could have ever imagined.

“What the actual fuck, Eoghan?” Ari asked from where he stood dripping in syrup from the sugar netting. “If those things had been able to disperse before we got the mesh over them, they would have attacked us.” He held up his arm which was covered in the honeyed shit. “I’m doused with sugar syrup.”

Eoghan knew he was right. “No wonder Oberon and Titania said they couldn’t come into the forest. They’d known those little fuckers were here and worse, I have no doubt they knew their offspring were already dead.”

Ari nodded, looking at what was left of Ariel and Umbriel before glancing back at Eoghan. “Do we cut them down and drag what’s left of them out of the forest?”

Eoghan shook his head, extracting his phone and cringing at how sticky he made the thing as he held it up and took a picture of the offspring hanging from redwood tree stakes as well as the puddle of bloody rivals which lay at the foot of the stakes. Movement from the garish puddle was absent. They’d consumed each other. Thank God.

He shoved the phone back in his pocket.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here. We need to contact Titania and Oberon and let them know that the I.S.R. expects them to clean up this mess or face the consequences,” Eoghan said. He turned and began walking back the way they’d come.

“Which are?” Ari said, falling into step at his side.

“They’ll be banned from Earth and called an enemy of mankind,” Eoghan said.

Ari snorted. “That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment. I doubt they’ll want to stay here after this anyway.”

Eoghan frowned at him as he shook his head. “Every alien that the Agency allows to stay here, signs strict agreements with them. If those agreements are broken, those populationscan be expelled. We have forty-three space fairies here on Earth.” He tapped his chin.

“What is it?”

“I was about to say they’re required to register with the Agency when they arrive and notify us if and when they depart but when you think about it, the rivals we just dealt with numbered in the thousands. They coalesced into forms resembling Oberon and Titania—which is totally creepy on its face—but it means the Agency has vastly undercounted their numbers. In fact, maybe the reason Oberon and Titania looked like they were having difficulty holding their forms is because they’re also made up of a bunch of these little fuckers as well. We need to report this as soon as possible.”

“Well, maybe something positive came out of this case after all,” Ari replied, “and you’re right, those are the creepiest motherfuckers I’ve ever seen.” He paused for a second. “What makes you think they’ll comply if the Agency demands they provide an accurate count of how many are actually here?”

“Most of them are here because they’re escaping their own planet for numerous reasons including being fugitives from justice from the authorities there or escaping persecution.”

“I think the whole way they’re dealt with in the future needs to be looked at,” Ari said. “And I really hope you’re right, and Oberon and Titania clean up that mess.”

Eoghan shrugged. “If they refuse the I.S.R.’s demand that the corpses be cleaned up and order restored to the forest, the Agency will deport every single space fairie living here on Earth. It’s a big problem for them so trust me, they’ll comply.”

“Good. I’d hate it if some unsuspecting human hiker or worse yet, a kid, stumbled upon that hot mess,” Ari said grimly.

“Yeah, it’s been a few years, but I don’t think the Boy Scouts of America hands out merit badges on space fairie corpse clean up.” Eoghan grinned when Ari burst out laughing.

It was a wonderful sound.

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