by C C Sommerly
“My finger had a cut on it.”
“Are you accusing one of us of injuring you? We don’t do stuff like that.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that you did.”
“Well you did kinda do just that. We aren’t bad people and don’t do things like take blood without permission.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, I have something for you.”
She stopped and pulled out a bag of herbs. “Jarl gave this to me during meditation. It’s for you. He doesn’t do this often, so he must have taken a liking to you.”
“Thank you.”
We parted ways at Something Sweet. Muffin and I headed to Lochlan’s house. Can’t wait to spend some more time with a ghost. So much fun.
It was an awkward and slightly uncomfortable feeling knocking on the door to what is supposed to be your own house. How long did I have to knock until someone answered?
Lochlan finally answered the door and I swear my heart skipped a beat. He only had on pants and there were beads of moisture dotting his chest. His hair was also damp, turning his locks dark. Lochlan must have just come from the shower. The darn fae looked better than any creature should. The smirk on his face told me he knew exactly how good he looked and the affect it had on me.
“Took long enough.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Marty. Have you eaten? I was just about to have dinner.”
“No, I haven’t eaten.”
“Good, join me. I haven’t had much time with you and I miss your beautiful face.”
He misses my beautiful face? And why not take him up on the offer? And it’s not like some time with Lochlan was a hardship. He might be able to give me some perspective on the weirdness of my case and the likely connection between the two of them. Although, I know that wasn’t my main reason. He was gorgeous and I felt drawn to him just as much as when I first met him.
I followed him to the dining room and there was a literal buffet of finger foods and other appetizers. There were cheese and meat assortments, fruit, some sort of egg rolls, perogies and so many other mouth-watering yummies.
Lochlan laughed, it was a fully bellow laugh that sounded amazing. It was full of genuine amusement and I wanted to hear it again. It was such a light hearted sound and he followed it with a devastating smile. Yeah, thoughts like that could lead to trouble.
“Is all this just for us?”
“If I say, ‘yes,’ will that be a problem?”
“Not in the least.”
“Does this mean you’re done being mad at me?”
“Less talk and more eating. You can’t expect any civility from me until you’ve satiated my hunger.”
He shot me a lusty glance that morphed into a full-body feast, as his eyes traveled down my body.
“I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t satisfy a woman.”
I really needed to fan myself. The fae was laying on the charm and it was panty melting.
I quickly sat down, so he couldn’t pull out my chair. I didn’t want him that close to me when I felt so tempted to touch him. He frowned, but didn’t object. He sat down opposite me. There was no way I could focus on eating with him half naked so close to me.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked.
He got up and came back several minutes later still half naked, but carrying two glasses and a bottle of wine.
“How remiss of me.”
He popped the cork and poured a liberal amount of red wine into my wine goblet, nearly filling it to the brim.
“I don’t have the ingredients for Mojitos, or I’d make you one.”
“Alcohol wasn’t what I was referring to when I said you were forgetting something. Don’t you know it’s bad manners to eat at the dinner table without a shirt? You are freaking half-naked.”
“I didn’t realize you noticed.”
“Fine, I’m hungry. If you want to eat like a savage, then go for it. I expect no less from a fae.”
He got up grumbling and came back a short while later with a shirt on. I relaxed and dug into the food now that I wasn’t so distracted.
“I didn’t realize you were such a prude, Marty.”
I stopped eating at those words.
“Maybe I just didn’t want your glistening chest to distract me from my meal.”
“It’s a rather nice physique, is it not?”
“And there’s that modesty I’ve come to associate with you. While all this is nice. Why are you doing this?”
“Since I’m surprised you even had to ask why, I’ll make it clear. I like you, as in, like you romantically Marty. I haven’t had much time alone with you. And, you’re a tricky one to get on a date, so I created this opportunity.”
Wow, Lochlan wasn’t pulling any punches. Although, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled hearing those words. He was gorgeous, but my situation was a mess. I had no right being in any kind of relationship. Besides, dating my landlord was never a good idea.
“I like you too.”
He beamed at those words and reached for my hands. I pulled back.
“But, my stance on dating hasn’t changed regardless of my feelings. I have too much going on in my life to complicate it with romance, especially with my land lord and someone I share a work space with.”
“I’m going to do my best to convince you otherwise. I’m a patient man, so I can wait to get what I want, what I think we both want.”
Heavy stuff. Lochlan took mercy on me and let me eat as we made small talk.
“Lochlan, I want to ask if you’ve heard anything about any new religious groups or cults in the area.”
“No, but I can ask around if you’d like.”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate that. They follow a god that they call the ‘True One.’ And something is off about them.”
I told him about the meeting and when I got to the part about someone there taking my blood, he looked positively enraged. He was also interested in the herbs, so I showed him the bag.
“May I?” I passed him the herbs. He sprinkled some out onto his hand, looking them over and even smelling hem. “I don’t recognize a single one of these and that’s saying a lot. Did you recognize them?”
“I hadn’t examined them yet, but by the scent, I recognize Mugwort and Blue Lotus.”
“I’d like to have our lab check these out.”
“We can’t afford to use your lab.”
“It won’t cost you anything.”
Sure it won’t. Yet another thing to be obligated to the man for.
“Actually, since I have to go to Lavinia anyways, I can ask her.”
“Who is she?”
“A resource of mine.”
“And one you aren’t going to talk about. Very well, keep your secrets Marty.”
My wine suddenly froze in my glass and a tinkling laughter followed.
“Gisselle, not nice,” said Lochlan.
More laughter and then my food was frozen.
“I’m sorry. She’s not normally like this. Gisselle can be very mischievous at times.”
“It’s okay. I was nearly done anyways. Thanks for all of this Lochlan. It was sweet.”
I left before I was tempted to show my thanks in other ways.
18
After another morning of frustrating training with Miles, I was finally back at the office. In the middle of sorting through new cases files, my favorite receptionist buzzed me using the announcement system.
“You have a visitor, Marty. Can you please come to the reception desk?” asked Margie.
I stepped into the reception area. When I saw who my visitor was, my mouth fell open in shock. I quickly followed up by pulling my sword free and getting into a battle stance.
“You’re a hard person to track down these days,” purred Xavier, who hovered over me ignoring all sense of propriety and personal space. He breathed in deeply before coughing. Perv.
I pushed him and he moved back slightly. Although, as a vampire, his strength far exceeded
mine, so he only moved because he wanted to.
“I fail to see why that’s a problem.”
“Marty, you slay me. That’s no way to greet an old friend.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t greet you with a stake to the heart.”
“As delightful as I find you, alas, I’m here for business and not pleasure.”
“We have very different ideas about what is pleasing. So, I’ll repeat, why are you here and what do I have to do to get rid of you?”
He clutched his chest. “It hurts. How am I to survive such rejection?”
“That’s what I was hoping for — you not surviving.”
“Marty do you need help?” asked Callie, who had come into the reception area.
“I’m just fine. Xavier was about to state his business and leave.”
Callie moved to the other desk, but she was seated, so she was facing us and watching Xavier and me.
“As I was saying, I’m here for business. I’d like to hire you,” said Xavier.
“Not interested in being your blood bag.”
“You’re becoming tedious. I’m here to report an issue with our donors.”
“Donors fall under the jurisdiction of the enforcers.”
“I need discretion and I don’t want this to become a formal investigation.”
“Fine, follow us to the office,” I said.
Now that we were back in the office space, I could begin doing the intake interview. Maybe Callie could take note of what she should be asking and putting into one. The piss-poor description of Mr. Hamm was still fresh in my mind.
“What’s the issue with your donors?”
“They smell and taste bad.”
One of the others in the office coughed to hide what I suspected was a laugh. I barely contained my own laughter. This is absurd. It sounded more like a ploy for Xavier to get more time with me and my delicious, ambrosia-like blood. Was he hoping I’d be convinced to become a donor if I spent more time with him? Nope, not happening.
“That’s sounds unpleasant,” I said, forcing any traces of amusement from my tone.
“You don’t need to make fun of the situation, Marty. Whatever is wrong with them, it’s the equivalent of a person eating poisoned food.”
That got my attention.
“Just how harmful is it to you and your people to drink from these donors?”
“We’ve lost two of our coven in the last week.”
This was serious. Although, I wasn’t a fan of vamps and never would be, whoever was doing this managed to find a new way to kill vampires.
“Okay, how many donors do you have and who has access to them?”
Vamps took very good care of their food sources and were protective of their donors. Donors lived lavish lives and their every need was seen to. Typically, they lived in the manor with the coven, so they were within reach, but also to ensure their safety.
Not being able to protect their own donors and vampires meant that they had a security breach and were at risk from an unknown adversary. Any weakness in the supernatural community was like a shark scenting blood. The weaker ones were taken out. If Xavier’s coven couldn’t contain this thing and solve it, then the Vampire Council would wipe them out.
“The donors tend to stay close to us and rarely leave the premise. If they do, it’s with a cadre of guards.”
“Do you have any idea how their blood is being contaminated or who wants to hurt you or your coven?”
“There’s quite the list of typical suspects, but there are no new threats or enemies.”
“How many of the donors are affected?”
“All twenty of them.”
“With exactly the same condition?”
“Yes, so we’ve brought in some replacements, but it takes time to acclimate new donors. We are rationing for the time being. I don’t think I need to tell you that time is of the essence.”
Bringing in a handful of new donors wasn’t unusual. His coven replacing all the sick ones was odd and would draw notice that they didn’t want.
“I have a full case load.”
“I’ll triple your normal fee to be your priority case.”
If we didn’t so desperately need money, I’d have dumped him off on the Wolf Agency. They could handle this case just as well as we could.
“Triple? You’ve got yourself a deal. And, can you clear time for me to interview the donors and the household? I also need to speak with any of your vampires who were sickened?”
“I can agree to the first two. I’ll need permission for the last request. Come two hours before dark falls. You can meet with the donors then.”
“And Marty.”
“Yes?”
“The donors smell just like you.”
“So they have suddenly become irresistible?”
“No, they smell of decay.”
Xavier left and I returned to my desk puzzling over what he said. I smelled of something dying. Why am I in any way connected to his donors? I avoided them and vamps as much as possible. Xavier was the first vamp I’d had contact with in months.
“So Marty, the vampire says you stink,” said Callie, who giggled.
“Sure, cue the jokes now. It’s better than him going rabid every time he sees me and wanting to drain me dry,” I said.
Sterling walked through the door. “Did I just see Xavier? I can take care of him for you Marty. Did he touch you?”
“No, he says she stinks,” said Callie, who dissolved into laughter.
I rolled my eyes.
“What?”
“Sterling, I need to run out to the Dark Side. We can chat later,” I said.
“I have perfect timing then,” said Lochlan from behind me.
I’ll admit, I jumped just the tiniest bit. He smiled at me and I darn near melted. Stupid hormones.
“I saw King Kazar,” said Lochlan.
“Wait, did you see Zander?” I asked.
“I did and he’s …”
“He’s what?” asked Sterling.
“Zander is well enough, but he’s managed to get himself tied to a female djinn.”
“Tell me you’re kidding,” I said.
“I wish I was. How much do you all know about djinns?” asked Lochlan.
“I doubt any of us know anything about them,” said Sterling.
“I’ll start at the basics then. Djinns are a secretive group and guard their kingdom well. They are known to be both kind and good as well as mean and evil.”
“How can they be both?”
“It’s part of their dual natures. I don’t completely understand it myself. When they form a connection with someone, it’s until they fulfill three wishes for that person.”
“That should be easy. Zander should be back any day then,” I said.
“He’s resisting, which is creating problems for the djinn.”
“Leave it to Zander to create upheaval for an entire realm,” I said.
“They will not hurt him. That bond is part of a sacred and honored tradition. He’ll come back only once it’s complete. Aside from that, I got an interesting lead. Remember that visit to the Sisterhood you wanted to make? It turns out the Sisterhood sent that female djinn to my house. Evidently, there is a connection between seers and djinn,” said Lochlan.
“They are on my shit list now. I didn’t like them much before, but now I want to kick all of their crazy, future-seeing butts. Why send a djinn after Zander?” I asked. “And since when do the Sisters have allies. As far as I knew, they never form alliances. Aren’t they supposed to be neutral?”
“That’s how it’s always been. The Sisterhood was apart from everything. Do you think this could have something to do with Zander’s curse?” asked Lochlan.
“It’s possible,” said Sterling. “And, I know you are working your cases, but visiting the Sisterhood needs to be top priority, Marty. Lochlan can be your partner for that.”
I inwardly groaned. Those Sisters were crazy. Last time I’d been there
, they attacked us and nearly killed Zander. But, this time I had magic, so I wasn’t defenseless. And I’d be damned if I’d show up weaponless again. Oh, and having Lochlan didn’t hurt either. He packed some serious power.
“I’ll head out now, but I’m also going to the Dark Side. I can knock out both visits before nightfall,” I said.
“Very well. Are you accompanying her, Lochlan?” asked Sterling.
Lochlan moved to stand behind me, “I sure am.”
“Guess it’s decided, should we be off?” I asked.
Lochlan and I piled into Betty and drove to the access point for the Dark Side. The last time I’d gone to the Dark Side was to get help from Livinia to save Jennica, when she was missing. I’d also seen Garen, the Rune Mage. I’d asked him about the runes I’d seen on the shadow mage, who I now knew was my father. I’d have to visit both of them again on this trip.
“As much as I like working with you, I didn’t see shopping as part of our partnership. Why are we at a Pawn Shop?” asked Lochlan.
“Because I feel the need to buy some second-hand things. Do you think they sell boots? I miss my boots and these are darn near damaged beyond repair. And we still aren’t partners, you’re assisting me.”
“Be serious, Marty.”
“What makes you think I’m not serious?”
“Call it what you like, but we work well together. I’m sure that’s not all we could do well with each other.”
If he leered, I was punching him.
When I didn’t respond and instead headed for the counter, Lochlan stayed quiet. He followed me like a good assistant. There might be hope for him yet.
“Slav, old buddy, old pal, old chap.”
The ogre blinked slowly in an uncomprehending manner. Great, he is playing stupid today. I didn’t have the time or patience for this crap.
Slav didn’t like me much, so the friendly greeting probably pissed him off. Then, his eyes locked in on Muffin and his face bleached to color of bone. His body started shaking violently. What on earth?
“No … no, dogs. And never devil dogs. Bad, bad dogs. Keep him away.”
“The dog comes with me. Get over yourself and let us pass.”
Slav took a step back to compose himself, although he was still a sickly pale color and his hands trembled. Oh well. I gave Slav the pass phrase. He moved to the far side of the counter, the furthest he could get from us and pointed at the back curtain.
