by Karina Fabian
Part of the DragonEye series of novels and stories
Pages: 130
ISBN-13: 978-1484848296
ISBN-10: 1484848292
Links: http://tinyurl.com/greatertreasureskindle and https://www.createspace.com/4244586 or www.amazon.com/Greater-Treasures-DragonEye-Karina-Fabian/dp/1484848292/
Blurb: Being a private detective in the border town
of the Faerie and Mundane worlds isn’t easy, even for a dragon like Vern. Still, finding
the wayward brother of a teary damsel in distress shouldn’t have gotten so
dangerous. When his
partner, Sister Grace,
gets poisoned by a dart meant for him, Vern offers to find an artifact in
exchange for a cure. However, this is no
ordinary trinket—with a little magic power, it could control all of
mankind. Can Vern find the artifact, and
will he sacrifice the fate of two worlds for the life of his best friend?
Excerpt:
Given the day I was
having, it came as no surprise that when I got home, I found the dogs sprawled
in a drugged sleep and the sounds of things being overturned from within the
warehouse. I decided not to bother with subtlety, but I did resist the urge to
burst in with flames going full-blast. I had questions first.
Naturally, I walked
straight in to find an automatic weapon—yep, a bona fide black-market AK-47—and
I thought only Faerie lived their clichés—and six other weapons of various
types pointed at me. I didn't stop, just closed the door with my tail while I
strolled in slow and placid-like. My visitors had shaved heads, faces painted
white with clown paint, and black t-shirts with swastikas in white circles.
"If you're the
housekeeping service, you're fired."
"You stay
right there, or we gonna fire you!" said one guy from the sidelines as he
held his nunchucks at the ready.
What'd he think he
would do—whack me on the nose? I turned to the one holding the assault rifle.
"Scraping the bottom of the barrel with that one, weren't you?"
"He's right.
You just stay still while we search the place."
"The
place" was a ten-thousand square foot warehouse with offices on the upper
floor. Boxes I still hadn't opened line the walls and made a maze in the second
warehouse room. I settled myself on the floor and rested my head on my crossed
arms. "Go ahead. I get half of anything you find."
They stared at me,
unbelieving. I smiled back. Mr. Cooperation, that's me. Finally, Big Gun
snarled for the others to get to work. As he turned his back on me, Nunchucks
muttered, "I got your half. Don't think I don't." Guess he learned
such witty repartee in Hitler Youth Summer Camp.
I watched and
listened and waited. With eight teenage skinheads trashing my place, it was
only a matter of time.
"I wouldn't go
in there if I were you," I suggested as Nunchucks made a grab for the
doorknob to Grace's workshop.
"You gonna
stop me?" He turned the knob.
"Nope," I
said as I closed my ears and my eyes. Even so, I saw the otherworldly light and
heard the harmonious roar of Divine Vengeance followed by Mundane screams.
"The Heavenly
Host on the other hand…"
I waited until the
screams died down to whimpers before opening my eyes and rising.
Four of the
skinheads were unconscious. Three may as well have been; they were curled up in
the fetal position, whimpering. Nunchucks was actually crying for his mommy.
Big Guns had collapsed to the floor as well, the gun thrown away from him. He
was sitting and rocking and making high-pitched keening through the roof of his
mouth.
I'd tell Grace to
tone down her wards some, except that the effect is directly proportional to
the evilness of the intent. Suddenly, I was feeling a little shaky about my
earlier entrance.
Knights out of the
armor now. I went around, collecting weapons in the office trash can and poking
through pockets. I found the usual stuff—driver's licenses, credit cards, petty
cash… One kid had a condom; wishful thinking on his part, I knew. Another had a
report card. MLK High. Wonder if he was the one beating up Faerie kids? Honor
roll grades, too. Of all the years I've battled evil, there were still some
things I didn't understand.
As I was returning
Big Guns' (aka Rick Matherston's) wallet back into his jacket pocket, he
blinked and focused on me.
"What was
that?"
"Angels,
kid." Actually a kind of magical shadow of the real thing, but close
enough.
"But I thought angels were—"
"But I thought angels were—"
"There's a
reason why their first words are usually 'Fear not!' whenever they meet a
human."
His eyes returned
to their unfocused stare. I almost felt sorry for him. Then I noticed the
letters FARISLAR tattooed on his knuckles. Faerie slayer.
About Greater
Treasures: Most people associate the
DragonEye stories with high humor ranging from puns to slapstick, and in fact,
the first stories and the novels have certainly been crazy fun. But the life of a cynical dragon PI isn’t all
laughs, and Vern has had a few chilling stories to tell me. Some of these, I’ve sold to anthologies, but
some are too long for that. Thus, I’ve
decided to start publishing them on my own.
One thing I like to do for DragonEye stories is watch old noir
films. Greater Treasures came to me while watching the Maltese Falcon. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it. (Then, reread the story to see if you catch
the in jokes.) I needed something with
more “oomph” than a bird statue, and since Vern has some history with the Lance
of Longinus, it made a good fit. I
enjoyed looking up all the conspiracy theories about the use of the Lance by
Hitler, which is where the neo-Nazi angle came in. To say more would be spoilers, so please,
enjoy the story. And if you do, be sure to check out Vern’s other tales at http://dragoneyepi.net.
Bio: Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), Karina Fabian has imagination that takes
quirky twists that keep her--and her fans--amused. Nuns working in space, a
down-and-out Faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, zombie
exterminators—there’s always a surprise in Fabian’s worlds. Mrs. Fabian teaches
writing and book marketing seminars, but mostly is concerned with supporting
her husband, Rob Fabian as he makes the exciting leap from military officer to
civilian executive, getting her kids through high school and college, and
surviving daily circuit torture…er, circuit training. Read about her adventures at http://fabianspace.com.
Find Karina at:
Other Links to Check Out:
Lance of Longinus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Lance
Maltese Falcon: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033870/
Live and Let Fly: http://dragoneyepi.blogspot.com/p/live-and-let-fly.html
Magic, Mensa and Mayhem: http://dragoneyepi.blogspot.com/p/magic-mensa-and-mayhem.html
Book tour link with
all the stops: http://dragoneyepi.blogspot.com/2013/04/greater-treasures-book-tour.html
