Why am I interested in the fairies? I found out that my brother and I are part fairy. Out of nowhere my great-grandfather Niall Brigant invited me to dinner in Shreveport. He explained that his half-human son had been my grandfather and that he wanted to get to know me better; after all, we were family. Now I’m pretty sure that explains my being able to read minds.

He wasn’t the first fairy I met. That was Claudine Crane, six feet tall and drop-dead gorgeous, who turned out to be my fairy godmother. She definitely was not one of those fairies in a kid’s story; you know the kind I’m talking about, small, winged things that giggle and dart around like a demented firefly? No, Claudine wasn’t one of those; she knew magic, but she knew sex appeal as well and didn’t hesitate to use it. There wasn’t an eye, male or female, that didn’t look up and notice her when she walked into the room. Though she didn’t tell me so, Niall had sent her. Claudine was a full fairy, and she was also my cousin.

Magic is part of the very nature of the fae, and although they might all have the ability, it can manifest differently in each branch. Kind of like the way we humans have the same basic bodies but wildly different talents and capacities. I wonder if I should even be saying “we” anymore. Can I include myself with humans, since I’m part fairy? That’s something I’ve got to give some thought to.

Claudine said that the fae live a very long time, but they’re not immortal; they just don’t age at the same rate that humans do. I don’t think that fact really sank in until I met my great-grandfather. He doesn’t look much older than late fifties or early sixties, and he’s been alive for centuries, maybe even millennia. The fairies don’t keep track of time very well.

Not all that many of the fae actually live in our world for any extended period. Most of them prefer to stay away because of iron. That stuff is to them like Kryptonite is to Superman; oddly enough, so is lemon juice. I’m not a scientist, but that allergy seems a little weird to me. However, I went to school with people who were allergic to things like eggs and peanuts, so why not? Of course, that also means that a squirt gun full of lemon juice is an effective weapon against them.