Greed and Other Dangers

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Greed and Other Dangers Page 7

by TJ Nichols


  Leonaris sat down on the stool next to him. “Drinking alone?”

  “Yeah.” His fresh glass of mead arrived. “Should I not have come?”

  “You’re always welcome.” There was a silent but.

  Edra glanced at the satyr whose son had been murdered most horribly, and lifted an eyebrow as he waited for him to go on.

  Leonaris glanced away. “The man who killed my son still breathes.”

  Edra nodded. “This will be settled.”

  “My wife will not grow her beard until it is.”

  That really wasn’t his concern. That was between Leonaris and Helena. With satyr mating season in full swing, no doubt Leonaris didn’t want anything coming between him and his wife.

  “I’ll see what I can do to hurry things along.” Too soon and it would look suspicious, even though Selena was carrying out the task. “But that carries risk.”

  Yet he had been told to talk to the merfolk. They could use the cover of the storm to drown Andrew Campbell, but Andrew needed to head out onto the water on daddy’s boat. His money and connections had let him walk away from human punishment for the murder of Darian and two humans who sympathized with mythos.

  “We can all start healing once it is done. If it is not done by one turn of the moon, then I will have to take action myself and it will be more than his teeth he will lose.” Leonaris stood. He put his hand on Edra’s thigh. “For your friend, so he understands who his friends are.”

  Edra covered Leonaris’s hand with his. The plastic baggie full of Bliss was smooth beneath his fingers. “He has nothing to do with this.”

  “He has everything to do with it.”

  “He did the best he could within the human rules.” Edra didn’t want satyrs going after Jordan because they thought he should shoulder some of the blame for Andrew slipping free.

  Leonaris pulled his hand away. “That he breaks when convenient for him. Remember who your friends are, knight.”

  EDRA HAD put off going to Alcatraz by going through the other things on his to-do list, like visiting the dragons and checking in with Francis and Vlash. Merfolk had always been his least favorite to deal with. On Tariko, one left them alone and hoped for the best. In San Francisco, they were too close to the city.

  He also wanted to follow up with the mythos who’d had things stolen, but Jordan hadn’t sent him the information yet, despite his request. Aside from the dragon problem and the need to ask the merfolk for a favor, it was a slow week. He flashed his ID, which marked him as a mytho, to the security guard in the Mytho Servo building, and went upstairs. The hot chocolate was sweet in his mouth and warm in his hand. He knew he could save money if he didn’t buy one or if he made it at home, but he couldn’t resist the way the shop made it when he asked for it extra hot and double shot. They did it just right.

  Why had no one ever brought chocolate to Tariko? How had he gone one hundred and twenty-four years without it? Chocolate was one of the only good things about the human world.

  He stopped three feet from his desk, not sure he wanted to get any closer. Over his chair was a suit bag, and an envelope rested on his keyboard. He took a step forward and gave the suit bag a careful nudge. Fabric rustled.

  He knew what it was, but he hadn’t expected the replacement suit to arrive quite so fast, if at all. Ardel must have gotten on the phone and had some select words with the LA nest of vampires.

  He sidestepped the suit and turned on his computer, hoping Jordan had responded but not holding his breath. He wouldn’t reply to the party invitation until Jordan responded to his work email. Petty, but it was how he was feeling.

  While the computer did its start-up crunching and grinding, he opened the envelope. It had no postage stamp, just his title and name and Mytho Servo—not even the city. It had been hand delivered, which set his teeth on edge and brought a rush of cold to his skin that no amount of hot chocolate could fix. Inside the envelope there was no note, just seven crisp hundred dollar bills—one week’s wages as reparation. The failed groom earned more per week than he did. The damn vampires had managed to talk their way into all kinds of jobs. He tucked the money into his wallet, already thinking of the ways he wanted to spend it and the ways he should spend it. He’d only demanded the money in reparation, and the suit bag was possibly a problem. He unzipped it, hoping it wasn’t a replacement suit for the one he’d ripped when he had to shift rather too rapidly, but knowing it was.

  Of course it wasn’t just any suit. No vampire would buy off the rack, not for anyone. He’d left his own suit shredded on the floor of the vampire nest. Someone must have found the labels and worked out his size, and then, instead of going to buy a cheap suit and get an equally cheap shirt and tie free, they’d gone to an elvish tailor. He knew the name on the tag—mythos and humans knew that name.

  If it looked like a bribe, it probably was a bribe, because vampires didn’t give gifts without expecting something in return. They might not ask for it this week or even this year, but it would be coming. And it would arrive at a highly inappropriate moment.

  He rubbed the lapel between his fingers. The cloth was fine, dark blue with a really faint pattern of… he tilted the cloth until he saw the pattern. Then he dropped the fabric as though it had burned.

  Bitter loss washed the sweetness of chocolate from his mouth.

  That same pattern had decorated the center of his sword, had flown on the city banners. Why were they making clothing with this marking, no matter how subtle?

  His phone buzzed, and his email flashed up on the screen—both from Jordan. Where were you last night?

  Den. Not that it was any of Jordan’s business.

  Good. You might need an alibi.

  Edra shivered and his skin went silver as he lost visibility. Why did he need an alibi?

  WTF? Some human acronyms were perfect.

  Someone sniggered and Edra would’ve shot them a filthy look, but it was wasted since they couldn’t see him. He was just a suit holding a phone.

  Come down to the station.

  Are you arresting me?

  No. But an invisible someone stole something, and you are the only person I know who can become invisible.

  Edra stared at his phone, torn between crushing it and throwing it at the nearest wall. He did neither.

  “Fuck you,” he muttered. “Fuck.”

  His computer was now waiting for him to log in. He opened up the emails to see if there was any further information. Jordan had finally replied with the list of previously stolen items and where they were stolen from. It had been sent after Edra left the office.

  For the record, I don’t think you did it, but you do need to come down or I’ll have to send someone over.

  FU. I’ll be there in half an hour.

  Jordan sent a thumbs-up back, and Edra didn’t know if Jordan was agreeing to him coming down to the station or that he was hoping the FU meant more than it did.

  The suit and now this. And the mayor was still waiting for him to speak to the merfolk. Running away to the rookery was looking good.

  IT DIDN’T take long to get to the building where Jordan worked, but Edra hadn’t wanted to appear in a rush to obey. He needed the half hour to think, and every thought led him back to Alcatraz. But pointing the finger at an undocumented water dragon was going to be about as believable as saying cats could talk—there were spells that could make just about anything talk, but Edra doubted they’d work in this world.

  The suit on his desk at work bothered him far more than the money in his wallet. He didn’t know if it was the suit itself or the pattern. That he’d received both suit and money…. He’d need to ask Ardel what the reason was. It could be a communication error, or perhaps the vampire had gone home, told the truth, and had been shamed into it. If there was one thing about vampires that could be relied on, it was their love of tradition and rules, and breaking them was always punished. The LA vampire had lost the fight. Maybe he was in trouble for that too. The odds of Ardel te
lling him the reasoning were about as slim as getting the truth out of a mermaid without a vampire mirror.

  He took a breath and readied himself to face Jordan. He walked up to the woman at the front counter and asked for Inspector Kells.

  Jordan must have been waiting, because he was there seconds after being called. He showed Edra through to one of the meeting rooms.

  “It’s an informal conversation.” But Jordan pulled out his notebook. “There was a robbery last night. It was caught on camera.” His lips twisted. “Well, flying objects were caught on camera as they left the house. I believe the suspect was invisible at the time. I don’t think that’s a commonly known fact about lesser dragons.”

  “Not all lesser dragons. Only the silver ones. There’s a reason why it’s not publicly known. It would cause panic.”

  “Ya think? I already have cops freaking out.”

  “And I’m here because?”

  “Because you are the mytho liaison. That’s all they know at the moment. But you are the only suspect I have.”

  “Do you really think I would do that?”

  “I think you do more at Mytho Servo than you tell me, more than I want to know. You police your people. I wonder how far that goes in protecting them from the cops.”

  Edra had seen enough TV to know when to keep his mouth closed. Jordan was as smart as he was pretty, which was both annoying and endearing, and Edra hated himself in that moment. “I’m not a thief. I was at the den last night.”

  Jordan lowered his gaze, but not fast enough to hide the hurt. “Should I ask why?”

  Not if you want to keep your job. “I was having a drink, talking to Leonaris.” He shrugged. He didn’t want to admit that was all he’d gone for, that he didn’t want more because all he wanted was Jordan. But he didn’t want Jordan thinking he’d gone for more than drinks either. No matter what he did, he cut himself, but he didn’t need to cut Jordan. “That was all.”

  “That your local bar?”

  “If I don’t want to deal with humans.”

  “What time did you get there?”

  “After dinner, eightish? Left around eleven. Then I went for a fly, checked on the dragons, and sat on the New Golden Gate Bridge for a bit.” From there he’d stared at Alcatraz and wondered the best way to not get killed while asking the merfolk for rain.

  “I’m guessing no one saw that?”

  “No. I don’t want to cause traffic accidents.”

  Jordan made a few notes. “If not you, then who? This isn’t something that can stay hidden. Not now.”

  “It’s going to sound ridiculous.”

  Jordan gave him a grim smile. “Really? More ridiculous than invisible mythos? You know what they’re all talking about this morning? Why mythos haven’t been robbing banks and assassinating people.”

  “Because we aren’t, for the most part, criminals.” Why was that so hard to believe?

  “Edra, I have to solve this one. If it gets out that there is an invisible thief, there will be panic and mythos will bear the brunt of it. You don’t want that.”

  “You don’t know what I want,” he snapped and immediately regretted it. He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned forward. “There’s a water dragon in the bay. I think he’s involved with one of the merfolk. They sometimes get together.” He shuddered. “But there’s another complication—he’s not registered. So according to you guys, he doesn’t exist. Add to that, he can swim away.”

  “And let me guess, he’s silver?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jordan leaned back, pen and paper forgotten on the table. “Fuck me.” He sat up straight. “Wait… water dragon? Can he come out of the water? What is a water dragon?”

  “A lesser dragon that swims instead of flies.”

  “So like you, but wingless?”

  “Kind of. There are other differences.”

  “And are they knights?”

  Edra smiled. “Not every lesser dragon is a knight. I earned that title. Water dragons are often fishermen, and they’re often allied with merfolk simply because they both live in the water. There are plenty of water-living mythos.” Edra stopped.

  “And while there’s mention of them, there’s been no census done.”

  “No, but feel free to get a boat and do a merfolk head count.” Counting mermen would involve diving, and no one would want to confront mermen in the dark waters of the bay.

  “I’ll pass. How can I question him?”

  “What did he take?”

  Jordan hesitated.

  Edra pressed. “Can I see the footage?”

  When Jordan didn’t answer, Edra knew that he was still a suspect.

  “Would you like to interview my alibis?”

  “How am I going to explain this?”

  “Water dragons… they don’t usually leave the water, though. Not for any length of time. Was the house near the water?”

  “No. You know where the elves tend to live.”

  Elves. The bad feeling in Edra’s gut congealed. “He stole armor, didn’t he?”

  Jordan’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

  “Because that’s the most valuable thing elves have, besides their bows.” The armor would be considered magical to humans. It was actually just exceptionally well made, and if a little magic went into the making, that was beside the point.

  “He took the bow too.”

  “Ah, selkie shit.” He should’ve known that was why the water dragon was around.

  “Why would a water dragon take armor and weapons?”

  “And the dragon eggs.” It was a long way to travel, but people, even lesser dragons, did dumb things for love. “You won’t be able to find them, and they won’t be for sale on your website.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s performing a love trial for a mermaid.” At Jordan’s puzzled expression, Edra added, “proving his worth as a mate.”

  “They can’t breed, can they?”

  “No, but mermaids usually have more than one male. It’s not uncommon for one of them to be an air breather and just for fun.”

  Jordan had that look on his face where he really wanted to ask more but wasn’t sure he really wanted to know or if he should even ask. His lips were parted, his eyebrows drew down, and he looked at Edra as though he’d suddenly remembered the man he enjoyed rubbing up against wasn’t human.

  Edra ran his tongue over his lip, and Jordan’s gaze tracked the movement before he looked Edra in the eye and spoke. “Mermaids have ménages.”

  “I don’t know what they get up to. I’m not game enough to ask. But I do know that any mermaid worth her salt will have more than one male. If she only has one, she has low status.”

  “So the suspect is an undocumented water dragon, stealing expensive engagement presents for his mermaid lover, and some water dragons can turn invisible.”

  “That sounds about right.” Edra nodded. Jordan would keep his invisibility a secret. “Is there a reason you needed me to come down for this? We could’ve done it over the phone.”

  “I have to look like I’m following protocol and not just taking your word for it.”

  “Which means you’ll call the den.”

  Jordan nodded. “Do you want to come to the vampire nest with me to talk about the stolen mirror?”

  “What about the elf?”

  “She handed over the footage.”

  There’d been an elf at the den. It was unlikely to be the same one, but he’d still like to confirm that. “Can you give me a name? If I find out anything, I’ll let you know.”

  “I have to clear it first.” That was why Jordan had taken so long to reply. Everything had to be cleared. “What are you going to do about the water dragon?”

  If it were up to Edra, not a lot, but dragon eggs were involved. “I guess we try and catch him.” He was going to have to go to the colony and find out what in Hel’s name was going on. “I’ll go and talk to the mermaids. You start looking for wate
r dragons and see if any are registered. Just because he said he wasn’t doesn’t mean he isn’t.”

  “When did you speak to him?”

  “A few days ago. I did a fly over Alcatraz, looking for the mirror. I didn’t see it, but I saw him. We had a quick chat. He didn’t say he was there to commit some crimes or that he was wooing a mermaid.”

  Jordan drew in a breath and shook his head. “I should go with you.”

  “There’s a reason humans avoid mermaids.”

  “I know, but you aren’t a cop, and I can’t leave it up to you.”

  “You can. Just say you called in the mytho liaison to do the dangerous part.” Edra held Jordan’s gaze.

  Jordan stared back and blinked, but he didn’t look away. “This isn’t about trust.”

  “It just feels that way.” Did their working relationship bleed into their personal relationship? Or was it the other way around?

  “I’ll arrange a police boat, and we’ll both go out.”

  Edra huffed and stood. “You don’t get it. This isn’t a fairy tale with cute songs. I won’t be diving in to drag you out of their grasp.”

  Chapter 8

  IT WAS a perfect afternoon to go out on the water. Sunlight glinted off the waves, and there was a light breeze taking away the heat if not the scent of smoke and ash. Jordan loved living near the water. He’d grown up so far inland that he’d never even seen the ocean until he came here. He couldn’t imagine living inland again. The sky was cloudless, but hazy from the smoke, and next week promised only more heat and wind—not what the firefighters wanted. Jordan put his hands in his pockets and waited for Edra to show.

  The cops who were taking them out were not pleased about heading toward Alcatraz. Well, one had been eager, until he was chewed out. Jordan kept his own apprehension and excitement locked up tight. He was going to get up close to mermaids. On some level that was super cool.

  On the other hand, he’d read a stack of intel about mermaids, and he took Edra’s warning quite seriously, even though he’d read a mermaid’s song was only dangerous underwater. Scientists had recorded their song underwater and had found it had hypnotic qualities even when played in the lab.

 

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