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guarantee that she won’t get hurt,” I said.
    He chuckled. “I’m not interested in her, Harbinger, only in you.”
    “Before we do this,” I said, “tell me who sent you to kill me. Who wants me dead so bad that they’d hire two faerie beings to do the job?”
    “That is none of your concern, Investigator.”
    I shrugged. “If I’m about to die anyway, why not tell me who hired you?”
    He shook his head. “You’ve made enemies in high places, that’s all I’ll say. Now, you drop the sword and I’ll drop the woman.”
    I placed the sword at my feet. The blue glow playing around the blade disappeared as soon as my hand left the hilt.
    “Put her down and let her drive away,” I told the ogre. “Then I’ll go into the woods with you.”
    He set Felicity down on the ground. She tried to kick his legs but he pushed her away, laughing. “I’m giving you a chance to escape,” he said. “What is wrong with you, little woman?”
    “Felicity,” I said, “there’s no point trying to kick him. Nothing short of running him over with a car is going to phase this guy.”
    The ogre chuckled. “Run away, little girl. What is about to happen is here is not for your eyes.”
    “Go, Felicity,” I said. “Get in the car and drive.”
    She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Alec, I can’t just leave you.”
    “There’s no choice. Get in the car.”
    She hesitated but then nodded. Slowly, she walked to the Land Rover and got in. The ogre came forward, still laughing at the prospect of killing me. He didn’t seem too bothered that his partner was dead.
    Felicity gunned the Land Rover’s engine.
    “Time to die, little man,” the ogre growled.
    “For one of us,” I said.
    The Land Rover shot forward, but instead of driving away, Felicity spun the steering wheel so that the vehicle came roaring over the grass toward the ogre.
    The creature didn’t have a chance to react. By the time he knew Felicity was trying to run him down, the Land Rover was already crashing into him. The front grille smacked squarely into his chest, knocking him down. He rolled on the grass, trying to regain his feet. But by the time he had managed to stand, the Land Rover hit him again, sending him sprawling into a thick pine tree.
    I grabbed the sword from the ground. Blue flame sparked to life along the blade as I walked over to the ogre. He was dazed and probably had a few broken bones. He looked up at me as I approached. He wasn’t laughing now.
    “Last chance,” I said. “Who sent you to kill me?”
    “You can’t escape your fate, Investigator,” he said. “When we do not return, when it is known that you are still alive, others will come for you.”
    “Why is someone so interested in killing me? Who is it?”
    He laughed again, but there was no mirth in it.
    I swung the blade and cut off his head. Even after he was dead, his laugh drifted in the air for a couple of seconds. Felicity opened the Land Rover door, got out, dropped to her knees, and puked on the grass.
    “You okay?” I asked her gently.
    She got to her feet and nodded. “I’ll be fine. Do we need to bury the bodies?”
    “No, they’re from the faerie realm, so they can’t stay here for long. They’ll disintegrate soon enough.” I bent down and checked the ogre’s pants pockets. I never knew an ogre to carry ID, but there might be something on his person that could tell me who sent him here.
    The black sweater rode up his belly slightly while I was searching and I saw something on his skin. A tattoo in black ink. I pulled the sweater further up his abdomen, revealing more tattoos.
    I stood back, feeling shocked.
    “What is it?” Felicity asked.
    “Do you recognize those tattoos?” I asked her.
    She bent to examine them, her squeamishness seemingly gone. “Yeah, they’re magical protection symbols.”
    I unbuttoned my shirt and opened it, showing her the tattoos on my own body. “Just like these.”
    She looked from my tattoos to those on