Page 52 of Changeling
The light to the living room turned on, and Nathan stood quickly, turning to face the nearest entrance. Faust was standing there looking smug, while pointing an old rifle at Nathan’s chest.
Chapter 21
“Soyou’renotbothfae then,” Faust said absently, looking completely assured of having the upper hand even if Nathan was still free to move about. “I thought it was strange to have an incubus and a succubus working a case like a couple of seals. So it’s what, a strange partnership of seal and fae? That still doesn’t explain whyyou’reall covered in incubus pheromones,” he said with a sneer at Nathan.
“What can I say?” Nathan shrugged. “Sometimes I just can’t help bringing my work home with me.” He dropped his flashlight at the same time as he reached for the gun tucked into his jeans. He had it out and steadied on Faust before the guy’s eyes had even left the rolling flashlight on the floor.
“You’re quick for just a human,” Faust said.
“You, too, I’d imagine.”
“Oh,” Faust smiled slyly, “I’m much more than human. I’m going to live forever. And no one, especially not you, is going to take that away from me.” Faust said that but he didn’t blindlyfire at Nathan or Shiarra, not when a gun was also pointed at him.
“Funny thing about eternal youth,” Nathan said, nodding at his own weapon, “it doesn’t make you immortal. And I gotta say, if it was working so well for you, why did you have to start stealing memories again after all these years? Hadn't you had enough?”
A snarl twisted Faust’s face. “The thinning of the Veil is disrupting the spell, something I could have fixed with enough new memories ifsomeonehadn't made the place collapse.” Faust spoke with anger now, circling Nathan, while Nathan remained in front of Shiarra. “I suppose I have you to thank for that. Those squatters who lost their memories while the place was locked down had it coming. The last two sets of memories I received, however, were certainly a surprise, incomplete as they were.” Faust grinned. “Friends of yours?”
Shiarra made an angry ‘ouff’ behind Nathan, trying unsuccessfully to throw herself out of the runic trap. “You bastard!” she snarled. “At least my kind understands the preciousness of life.”
Faust laughed loudly. “Of course you do. And I’m sure your natural immortality has nothing to do with making that easier.”
“So let me get this straight,” Nathan said before Shiarra could retaliate; he had to keep Faust occupied. “You thought you had taken enough memories to last forever, but with the Veil thinning, you were starting to age again, so you opened up shop on a couple unsuspecting people just looking for a place to sleep. What happened, the sidhe you made a deal with forgot to mention the warranty?”
Faust growled. He was continuing a constant circle around Nathan, while Nathan shifted in kind, keeping Shiarra protected behind him.
“Nathan,” Walter said from beside the runic trap—at least for once he hadn’t been banished since they weren’t actually dealing with a sidhe. “There, the chair,” he gestured not too far from Faust. “If you can hit it right…”
Nathan held back a grin at the suggestion.Just a little further, he thought.
“My dark sidhe master told me everything I needed to know,” Faust said. “He passed through the thinning Veil only weeks ago and told me how to fix my lost years. I just need a few more memories—”
Nathan rolled his eyes as the full truth dawned on him, and he cut Faust off. "The dark sidhe tricked you, idiot. This kind of power localized to one spot? It's like a manmade Power Point, only completely unstable. The Veil is thinner herebecauseof you, and that sidhe knew all along that once you served your purpose, your eternal youth would be gone and you'd die like you were never even here. Stealing isn't going to work anymore. Your master just wanted a faster way through the Veil."
"That's…ridiculous. It's been over a century since we first made our deal."
"A century is nothing to fae," Shiarra scoffed. "We’re immortal, remember, which you keep harping on. We have all the patience in the world. You're just a fool."
“You don’t even care about the people you hurt,” Nathan jumped in again. “The people you've hurt up ‘til now…you took their whole lives from them.” He watched Faust’s movements with deadly precision.
One more step. Just one more.
Then Faust stopped.
“I never forced anyone through the second door,” Faust said, his head held a little higher as his grip adjusted on the rifle.
It amazed Nathan how much he looked like that picture they had found—surfer blond hair that had looked white in the fadedblack and white photograph, handsome clean-shaven face, fit body—and he had been able to maintain that same appearance for decades.
“All anyone had to do to pass through the house safely was choose the right door," Faust said. "Plenty of' people in the beginning left unharmed. Everyone chose for themselves. Those squatters. Your friends.”
“Myfriendsdidn’t choose shit,” Nathan bit out. “They were sucked into that damn room when we tried to burn the place down.”
A smile quirked at Faust’s lips again. “Then they must have wanted it. They must haveseen. Why do you think you were spared?”
Nathan didn’t want to hear this. He needed to get Faust to move that final step; this standoff couldn’t last forever. Nathan shifted, pivoting again in hopes that it would cause Faust to move unconsciously forward. “So I guess for you, as long as people always chose for themselves, the sacrifice was willing and you weren’t responsible. Right?”
“That’s the idea,” Faust agreed. “People look too much to the future these days and forget to live thenowthey are in. You can’t even begin to imagine how many people over the years chose the wrong door. And why? All of them saw the same thing when they went inside.Death. Death is all that awaits any of us with the passage of time,” Faust said as he at last took the small step Nathan needed in order to make his move.
“Well,” Nathan said with a grin, “you are right about that.”
