Nehemiah showed up about fifteen minutes after I called him.

“Did your wife get mad?”

He twirled one of Charice’s Sluagh-like feathers between his fingertips. “No.”

“Last time I called looking for you, she seemed irritated.”

The wizard rolled his eyes. “She hates that I do this at all, but she hates it even more that I’ve been doing this by myself for the past few years. If I’m going to hunt monsters she wants me to partner up. So if we’re partners and you call, I’ve gotta show up, don’t I? Even if I’m on a date.”

“Oh. I didn’t mean to ruin your date.”

He let the feather flutter to the asphalt then straightened his trench coat. “You didn’t. We’d just gotten home a half hour ago.”

The wizard eyed Charice as she batted her wings and lifted off of the ground.

“Crazy.” He muttered.

“I know.”

The community college parking lot was wide and open and sat as a plateau on a hill right above Costco. I figured it would be the perfect place for Charice to practice flying, being both spacious enough for her to practice using her wings and if she wanted to practice flying downhill she could glide down to the doubly large Costco parking lot.

“Have the mutations stopped?”

“As far as she can tell. She’s no longer in pain. Once the wings burst free, her back aches went away.”

We leaned against the hood of my black ‘69 Fastback Mustang. Though I had my leather jacket on, the chill air blew through it. I crossed my arms to keep warm.

“Interesting,” mused the wizard. “It seems that you actually stopped Donn from turning her into a full-fledged Sluagh.”

I shuddered at the thought. My girlfriend had only been moments away from morphing into a bird monster. “Can you help her?”

Nehemiah guffawed. “Wait. You’re serious?”

“You dabble with Chaos. Donn used Chaos to warp her. Couldn’t the wings be undone with Chaos?”

The wizard put a hand over his mouth rubbing his salt and pepper stubble, pondering the idea. “I’d need access to a lot of Chaos.” He stared off into the distance. “What I said still stands true though,” said the wizard. “Once they’re turned all the way, they are monsters forever. There is no coming back from that. Thank goodness you stopped it in time, for her sake.”

Tain, my trusty German shepherd, walked in circles chasing his tail. And Rob, already bored with Charice’s flying pounced on my dog in his orange tabby cat form.

“You had to bring them?” asked the wizard. “Is your mom having you dog sit every week now?”

Mom had found Tain after Dad died. She needed something to take her mind off of things, some responsibility to keep her sane. So she’d taken the stray German shepherd and named him Tain. But lately she’d been asking me to watch him more and more frequently. While Mom did not know that I fought monsters, she knew I was stressed out. Tain was natural stress relief. Something to keep me going. And she had no idea how helpful he was when it came to monster hunting. Plus he and Rob kept each other company.

“Tain is practically my dog now. It’s kind of an unspoken thing between Mom and me. What, with her driving my kid brother for all these sports meets and extracurricular activities.”

My dog and hob-cat wrestled one another, gnawing at one another’s throats playfully. “Obviously I can’t leave them home alone for too long.”

It was crazy. My whole life changed in such a drastic manner in a matter of weeks. Just over a month ago I’d run into Nehemiah at the laundromat. Now I was kicking it with him while my girlfriend flew circles around a parking lot.

My Keening itched. It never really stopped. I learned to deal with it and ignore it most of the time. But it had not gone away. No matter how many monsters I fought it was still there, a constant irritation, a reminder of the curse the Banshee laid on me.

Lost in a train of thought I asked Nehemiah, “What about me?”

“What about you?”

I pointed to my chest. “Keening curse is still here. If you could help Charice, could you help me?”

He squinted at me, eyes piercing my shirt, boring down on the Keening. “Most likely not. A Chaotic mutation is one thing. A dying curse is another thing entirely. She used her last breath, her final willpower to curse you. That’s strong magic.”

“But you know something about Keenings?”

“I know how you get them. Never known anyone to survive as long as you with one. Not really sure why you haven’t fallen over dead yet.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

Charice landed next to us, her face flushed with excitement, her breathing heavy. “Did you see that? I was like ten feet in the air. Ten feet!”

Warmth grew in my chest. Seeing her happy despite the situation made me happy. “Want to try flying down to the Costco parking lot?”

Charice bit her lower lip. “I don’t know…”

Rob assumed his hobgoblin form. Thankfully he had ditched all of the Lucky Charms clothes so he no longer looked like a leprechaun straight out of days of yore. But that led him to believe sporting Celtics basketball apparel was cool around me, a Warriors fan. It was the one direct command he disobeyed. A determined grin spread across his muppet-shaped mouth. He chanted as he did cartwheels in the air. “Try it! Try it!”

So my girlfriend almost turned into a monster. Except for that, she didn’t. I could either mope around and be all depressed about it, or we could look at the bright side of things. I had a girlfriend that was almost literally an angel now. And she might as well make the most of it and learn how to use the wings.

I joined in with the chanting, Rob and I pumped our fists in unison.

“Oh brother,” grunted Nehemiah.

“Don’t be such a Debbie Downer,” said Rob. He turned his Celtics hat backwards so that a tuft of auburn hair sprang out. Taking Charice by the hand, the hob guided her to a five foot tall brick wall that separated the community college parking lot from the hill towering over Costco. I climbed up to sit on the wall next to Charice and Rob. Nehemiah and Tain stayed on the ground. Nehemiah looked sour, while Tain wagged his tail, barking because he couldn’t actually see over the wall.

“Pull up a seat and enjoy yourself,” I said.

“I’m a grown man. I’m not sitting on the brick wall like Charlie Brown and Linus.”

“I’m a grown man too,” I said.

“Yeah right,” said Nehemiah. “Have you seen the video where Michael Jackson climbs the tree? It’s freaky man. Just wrong.”

Charice snapped. “Quiet guys. I’m trying to concentrate.”

She stood on the wall with her arms and her wings outspread, a slight breeze blowing through her hair. Her feathers fluttered.

“See how far you can glide,” I suggested pointing towards an area. “There’s a ton of bushes over there so if things go south you just land in those.”

We all quieted down and gave her a moment. She bent her knees threw her arms back then lunged forward. Her wings caught on the draft which lifted her upwards. She beat her wings a few times rising a few feet higher into the air but stayed relatively low.

“Awesome. You’re doing it,” I encouraged.

Rob couldn’t contain his excitement. “You’re flying! You’re flying.”

“Someone’s going to hear us,” groaned Nehemiah.

“Okay, now just glide down the hill,” I suggested.

Charice moved backward and forward, unable to really control herself yet. She was like a kid who just opened their first remote control car on Christmas, the controls not intuitive. But the only way she would learn was through experience. And I was pretty sure there weren’t too many winged people around to give lessons.

She got going the right direction and glided slowly down the hill. She sank a few feet and beat her wings to rise higher but accidentally rose too high.

A sudden burst of wind caught her on an updraft and propelled her higher than she intended. She let out a squeal of fright. Her wings tilted too quickly, overreacting almost like hydroplaning in a car. She went down fast and crashed into a patch of bushes. Without a thought my Good Luck empowered me and I leapt through the air off of the brick wall. In a few bounds, I was at her side.

“Oh my gosh. Are you hurt?”

She buried her face in the crook of her arm and I could see her shoulders moving up and down rapidly. It looked like she was sobbing. Gently I turned her over and found her laughing so hysterically that no sound was coming out of her mouth.

She brushed the hair out of her face. “Sean! I flew. I really flew. It was amazing.”

All of her pent up frustration and fears had found release in her first flight. She couldn’t help but laugh.

I put my hand on my chest and let out a sigh of relief. “Gee whiz. I thought you got hurt.”

“No way. Let’s do that again.”

I reached out and pulled some small twigs and leaves from her hair and couldn’t help but smile myself. I was worried that Charice would be depressed forever until we found some way to remove her wings. But it seemed like she was really enjoying herself, possibly having second thoughts about removing them at all.

“Okay lets head back up the hill.”

Her arms slip underneath my armpits and tugged me upward.

“Hey! No, don’t —”

But it was too late. Before I knew it, she beat her wings and lifted me into the air laughing in my ear all the while. If I’m honest I’d have to say that I was nervous. I didn’t want her to drop me. I’m cool with heights if I’m in control. But this made me woozy. But before I knew it, we flew over the brick wall, over Rob, Tain, and Nehemiah. They stared up at us in disbelief.

When she tried to land though she fumbled and dropped me. I rolled safely to my feet in the lot. Her laugh was so infectious that I couldn’t help but giggle myself.

We clambered back up onto the wall for another go, but my Keening burned.

Nehemiah eyed me reaching for his skeletal whip.

“What is it?” asked Charice.

“Monsters,” I hissed.

We turned towards the street that ran parallel downhill to the community college, winding its way around in front of Costco. Every hundred feet a large streetlight provided an island of light in the darkness of the night. But I noticed that two of them were off. And a third one flickered, then the light plunged into darkness.

I put my hand to my ears and above the sounds of Tain panting and Rob spewing nonsense, I heard high squeaky voices muttering. They sounded like they were arguing. As the light flickered a small shower of sparks exploded near the base of the pole. The telltale sound of groaning followed after whatever monster tampered with the lights was electrocuted. Not very smart monsters.

The light pole was less than a hundred feet away from us, well within sprinting distance. Instinctively Charice rose into the air beating her wings and flew towards the threat.

I ran after her. “Wait for us, babe!”

As she perched on top of the light pole small humanoid shapes squealed in high-pitched voices. They were little dwarven creatures, almost smurf-like, something akin to my own hobgoblin, Rob. They tried to flee by running across the street, but Charice descended on them like a hawk and spread her wings wide to cut them off. They turned to retreat the way they had come but ran into Nehemiah, Tain, Rob, and myself.

The whole group of eight froze in their tracks. Now that I got a good look at them they looked like Rob, but not quite the same. Their noses, hands, and ears were overly large. They twitched as they moved, whether because they had just gotten themselves electrocuted or because they moved like scavengers, I couldn’t tell.

Dirt, oil, and grime, covered them, like magical auto mechanics. The odor of their burnt hair standing on end made me gag. We towered over them seeming like giants compared to their short stature. Except Rob, who just floated higher. They tripped over one another as they tried to flee.

The apparent leader began blaming the others. “You fool’s this is all your faults. If you listened to me.”

The others groaned, not taking the blame from their leader. “This was your idea, Pilib.”

The rest of them agreed with the outspoken one.

“Shut up Phelim.”

Phelim received a smack on the head from Pilib.

“What are they?” asked Charice.

“They are Korrigan,” said Rob, looking disgusted.

“Watch your mouth, leprechaun!” yelled Pilib.

“Yeah,” yelled another, “we don’t let no leprechauns call us names.”

Rob shook his fist at them. “I’m not a leprechaun! I’m a hobgoblin.”

“Are you gonna let them talk to you that way, boss?” asked Phelim.

Pilib stared up at each of us and took a step back. Then he shook his head puffing out his miniature chest and stepped forward. “I ain’t scared of any you.”

“Yeah, boss ain’t scared of no leprechauns.”

“Hmph,” said Pilib, nodding his chin.

“Ain’t scared of no Druids,” said the other Korrigs pointing at Nehemiah.

“Hmph.”

“Ain’t scared and no fallen angels. Or werewolves, not even Manann mac Lir’s son.”

“Huh?” Pilib paused. His smug look melted off his face. He turned on Phelim. “Why you say that?”

Phelim pointed to me. “He’s got Fragarach, don’t he? And nobody carries Fragarach ‘sept for Manann. But he’s too young to be Manann. So he’s his son, ain’t he?”

Pilib eyed my sword, his lips jutted out and quivered a little. “He not no Tuatha de Danann.”

“How can he carry that sword?”

“Naw, y’all wrong,” chimed in one heavyset pudgy Korrig. “He’s Banshee marked. He’s a Banshee boy. A Ban-he.”

“A Banshee boy with mac Lir’s sword? You dumb, Peadar.”

These little guys were funny, but they were wasting our time.

“What were you doing anyway?” I asked.

Peadar spoke up. “Ever since our dolmen got broke, we gots no way back home. But we found this.” He held up a handful of copper wiring. “Wheezes borrowing magic metal so we can—”

The others elbowed him hard, dropping him to the ground. “Shut up.”

Nehemiah let a bit of his Bad Luck flare. Amethyst magic illuminated the darkness around us. “Enough! Put the copper wiring back, or else.”

The Korrigs shuttered at his display of power, but stood their ground like stubborn little children. “We not put nothing back.”

“So not only are you damaging my city, but you’re not gonna fix it?”

Their leader, Pilib, stuck out his chin and the rest followed suit rising to their feet.

“Charge!”

Before I could make up my mind if Nehemiah was serious about harming them, they were upon us. For whatever reason they picked me to attack first. They stampeded over me like a group of kindergartners rushing to snack time.

One of them running into me would’ve done nothing, but the group of them charging me at full speed caught me off guard, shoving me to the asphalt. I grabbed Peadar by his pudgy leg and hurled him off me. The rest scrambled, launching themselves in different directions at my friends.

Charice battered her wings sending a magic whirlwind at the group of little guys. They were tossed and tumbled right into Nehemiah who lashed the Dullahan’s spinal whip at them. I noticed he was careful not to actually hit any of them. But he came awfully close.

Tain was confused and began barking madly. He caught Phelim in between his teeth and shook the little guy hard.

“Tain!” I said in a harsh voice. He knew by my tone that I didn’t want him to seriously hurt any of them. And then Pilib kicked me in the groin.

“Oooph.”

Against my will I sank to the ground again, a knot forming in my gut.

A couple of the little buggers leapt onto me and battered my head with cantaloupe sized fists. Anger all but enveloped my pain and my Good luck kicked in. But this time my Keening flared as well.

Quick as a wink, I snatched one, two, three, four Korrigs by the neck and tucked them under my armpits, pinning them to my body. Between Charice, Nehemiah, Rob and Tain they snatched up the other four. We threw them into a heap on the street and towered over them once more.

“Don’t nix us,” they whined. “We didn’t mean anything by it. We was just trying to defend ourselves.”

“You attacked us!” I yelled. My Celtic knots flared, knocking them flat.

When they scrambled to their feet, one of them squealed, “If you’re so powerful, don’t you have bigger fish to fry? Like the kids of the Dearg Due? Or bad spirits? We wasn’t doing nothing but stealing magic copper strings.”

Nehemiah step forward wielding his whip again. “Are children of the fanged Queen here? Don’t lie.”

They nodded in unison, eyes wide. “At least one,” said Phelim. “Feeding. Turning humans into their team, building a force some say. Gathering an army.”

Nehemiah scowled. “Leave now before we kill you. And don’t let us ever catch you in this city again.” He lashed at them with the spinal whip spraying purple sparks all over them.

They scrambled to their feet, stumbling over one another to flee the wrath of the wizard.