As expected, she crossed her arms over her chest and delivered one hell of a look in response.
Danica slipped into the space next to him, taking her place at the table with the ease of familiarity.
The white lady flickered beside her while the pixies zoned in on them the second they stepped to plate.
“Let’s hope some of this Blackmore luck helps me tonight,” Kieran said, making sure his voice projected. The dealer glanced up for the first time at that. “My brother’s a big spender here. You might know Lars already,” Kieran said to him, even though the dealer looked away.
Liz leaned in beside him, her lips so close they brushed his ear. “Great job at subtlety, sweetheart. You’re a real pro.”
Her lip quirked with a smile while she teased him. The heat of her breath tickled his skin, revving his engines into overdrive. He wanted nothing more than to carry her over to one of those booths in the back and have his way with her. However, tonight they had this task ahead of them, and without a performance to recharge, he’d have to wait until tomorrow’s show. Unless he picked a fight down here. Wouldn’t be too hard with the cabals of nasties congregating in the Lotus Garden, but he’d have to face the wrath of everyone he’d dragged with him.
“Place your bets,” the dealer intoned, his voice rasping low, similar to many of his race.
Before Kieran spoke, the goblin server stepped up, placing a cloudy looking pint of something that should’ve been ale in front of him. “House special.” The goblin grinned, delivering all three to the table before vanishing in thin air again.
Kieran lifted the liquid to his nose, taking a whiff of what smelled like bog water and mud. Danica hadn’t tried the exploratory route and tipped back a sip to splutter and spit into her glass.
Liz pursed her lips and pushed the drink over in his direction. “You’re the one who ordered it,” she said with a smart ass grin.
“Your bets?” the dealer repeated, fixing them with a glare from night dark eyes.
“Black,” Kieran said on impulse, even with the low payout.
“Weaksauce,” Danica said, placing her chip on the red three. “Going for a single, myself.”
Before he responded, the wheel began to spin, clicking away. The pixies let out giggles, their voices tinkling in a high, irritating tone. The troll hunched forward so his shadow spilled over the entire table. The ball stopped right on the red seven. Danica kicked the table in frustration while the pixies let out high pitched squeals that might’ve been cheers. However, he’d lost, so he tossed his chips in. Right now, he didn’t want to throw more money at this shitty place, he wanted to corner the dealer and shake some information out of him.
“Will you be adding this onto your brother’s tab?” the dealer asked, his gaze sharpening on him. Fuck it. Kieran leaned forward, placing his fingers on the goblin’s hand to try and get his mojo working.
“How much is racked up?” Kieran asked, even though he noticed the white lady staring at him something fierce in his peripheral. He shouldn’t be using his powers open and blatantly on other fae like this, but unless they were going to speak up or challenge him, he would risk it.
“32,451 as of the Rembrandt Company’s payment last month.” The goblin spouted out, his ornery gaze focused on Kieran. Well, well, his brother had been a busy boy. If this dealer had intel, he’d squeeze him for all he was worth. After all the roundabouts they dealt with at the Mossfeather Court function, he chomped at the bit for some front forward dealings.
“No cheating at the table,” the troll boomed, slamming his fist down and shaking the chips in the process.
“We should scram, rockstar.” Liz tapped his shoulder, urgency in her voice.
“One more minute,” Kieran said, focused on maintaining touch with the goblin. “I’ve got a few more questions.”
A shout echoed through the chill house music of the bar.
“We need to get the hell out.” Her voice sharpened. “Trev’s in trouble.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Get the fuck away from him,” Jett bellowed in a deep, dark, and dangerous voice Liz had never heard before. As expected, things tumbled into powder keg territory and fast. When the shouts sounded, Liz’s attention strayed from the table as she hoped beyond hope the ruckus stirred up was some random barfight. Well, it was a barfight, sure, but not random.
Two gargantuan trolls circled around Trevor who crouched in a fighter’s stance with the silver glint of knives in his palms as he watched them. His dark eyes hardened with more venom than she’d ever seen from the laid-back man, and his big frame and bunched muscles coiled with violence he begged to unleash. Her heart squeezed with fear at the sight. As much as Trevor could handle himself in a brawl, those trolls meant business.
She scanned the crowd for Renn—the satyr ditched the working girl he’d been talking to and strode in Trev’s direction. Her legs tensed as she prepared to bolt that way too, even though she wouldn’t stand much of a chance against these heavyweights.
However, Jett hadn’t been shouting warnings at the trolls. A gentleman wearing a white suit with a salmon button-up strode to Trevor’s side, the yellow sheen of his skin and bloodred eyes hinting less than human. The man’s slicked hair and glinting cufflinks signaled him as sleazeball in Liz’s books even though she hadn’t a clue what hold this man had on Trevor. However, the second this guy entered the ring, Trevor turned feral.
His mocha complexion grayed to ash, and the circles under his eyes grew deep and charcoal, enhancing the difference between Trevor and a normal human in a big way now. The calm air about him and the wan look in his eyes vanished, and his features grew gaunter while the air around him turned darker, as if he were sucking the life from it. Those brown eyes of his glowed pure silver, and he’d grown a foot in mere seconds, since the trolls didn’t tower over him anymore.
“Oh, shit,” Kieran cursed next to her, his face paling. He grabbed her hand and together they sprung into a dead run toward the blooming chaos in the center of the place. A set of footsteps pounded beside her as Danica kept pace without question.
“I’m collecting the merchandise that belongs to me,” the gentleman in the white suit said. Everything from how his hands remained in his pockets to the way his shoulders leaned back suggesting he couldn’t care less.
Jett on the other hand slipped out his knives in broad sight.
Even as Kieran tugged her forward across the room, she dipped down with her other hand to slide her Beretta from her waistband. With the shitstorm of a fight brewing, she wouldn’t enter unprepared.
“I don’t belong to you.” Trevor’s voice took on a glacial chill matching the flare in his eyes.
Liz’s skin prickled with goosebumps, his intensity conveying all she needed to know. Bile rose in her throat as so many minor instances clicked into place. The way he’d get twitchy around too many of his kind. How he disclosed little about his past. And she’d seen him more than once hit panic attack mode in confined places. Kieran’s grip tightened around her hand with a fierce protectiveness as she stumbled. The thoughts of what Trev must’ve been through made her want to heave.
They skidded to a halt in front of Jett and the man in the white suit, and Kieran let her hand drop before he marched up to the guy.
“Walk. Away.” Kieran’s voice came across quiet as if he were having a level conversation. However, Liz knew him better than that. If this man didn’t acquiesce and fast, he’d never survive the hurricane their front man prepared to unleash. Because simmering behind his quiet tone came a fierce and righteous temper. Liz and the others never questioned Kieran as the band leader for this reason. Out of all of them, he stood unshakeable against any opposition, and he’d never back down against those who threatened the people he cared about.
“Be reasonable,” the man continued. “We’ve been searching for our pet for a long time now, and if you don’t hand it over, I’ll be demanding recompense next.”
Liz’s eyes burned at how
Trevor flinched as the man called him an ‘it.’ As this bastard devalued her dear friend, someone who in the span of months had come to mean the world to her.
Wrong words to say in front of Kieran Blackmore.
The gentleman couldn’t move fast enough to dodge as Kieran’s fist flew.
A loud smack echoed through the Lotus Garden, which had quieted. Fights shouldn’t have been shocking to the thugs crowded around these tables, so the reason for the hush must’ve been the status of the guy Kieran nailed.
Liz lifted her pistol, aiming the muzzle straight for the bastard.
The gentleman in white staggered back a few paces, wiping his hand over his mouth to clear away the trickle of blood that stained his pristine suit.
“We’re leaving, with our friend.” Kieran stared at him with malevolence.
Seizing the distraction, Trevor spun around to lob a kick at the nearest troll to catch them off guard. The creature whipped around right as Trevor’s kick collided with its spine, and it let out a grunt. The air tensed in the Lotus Garden, even though the goblin dealers operated their tables with the keen disinterest of business professionals at work. The patrons didn’t hide their curiosity though, and folks tilted back their pints at their seats, watching with keen fascination.
“You can try.” The gentleman straightened as if he’d never been punched, his slick salesperson mask returning to place. He sneered at Trevor. “You’re not worth muddying my hands over. I’ll leave my boys to bring you in.” The man glanced over to the two trolls in his employ. “I’ve got somewhere I need to be, but make things unpleasant for this lot. The Alberich family isn’t one to cross.”
Kieran lunged forward to grab the man by the collar, but before his fingers latched, one of the taller, ganglier goblins on the staff intercepted, catching his wrist. Bad move, because the incubus rared to bust in heads. His amber eyes flashed like the stone, his jaw formed a hard line, and his neck corded from how hard he tensed. Kieran whipped around, lobbing a punch straight for the goblin’s jaw.
The man in white turned around to cross his arms over his chest, brows high as if surprised by Kieran’s audacity, like no one dared to spit in his pudding before. His eyes roamed the crowded place, and Liz’s stomach squeezed with foreboding.
“One time offer. My name is Tymarch Alberich, and I’ll award a hefty sum to whoever can return my property to me before the end of the night.” His voice rang out through the casino, carrying over to the tables where all shapes and sizes of Unseelie fae sat and watched. Tymarch paused to shoot a gruesome smile in Trevor’s direction before he turned on his heel and strode out the door with a clipped, perfunctory tread.
In one proclamation, he’d turned this entire joint against them.
“Run.” Kieran gave the command, his voice low as urgency spread through them. Except he wouldn’t be following his own orders, not while those two trolls loomed over Trevor with intent to maim. Liz didn’t budge an inch, instead aiming her Beretta straight for the troll hulking over Trevor. He’d taken the other one out in the seconds of distraction, but this big, brawny creature hulked over him, ready to make a grab.
Pulling the trigger, she fired.
Once the bark of gunfire exploded in the air, chaos ignited throughout Lotus Garden. Kieran hurtled toward Trevor at a breakneck pace while Jett whipped around, his mouth opening as he unleashed his own form of deadly weapon—his voice. Renn pulled out his pipes as he raced across the room toward them, the first sweet strains of his melody inciting any passersby to distraction, targets forgotten. Danica, the smartest person in the room, began gunning it for the door.
The troll’s yellowed eyes flashed in Liz’s direction once the bullet burrowed into his shoulder. Shit. She’d been aiming for the skull. Those bushy brows furrowed, and a feral growl ripped through the air, almost squashed by the cacophony coming from a table of boggarts who tossed their seats back with echoing clatters. Some patrons remained by their seats at the tables continuing to gamble their coin while the dealers paid them due diligence, but the rest of the goblin staff assembled en masse, and it rested on a coin toss whether they marched their way to toss them out or try their hand at collecting a reward.
The moment the troll caught sight of her standing there, pistol in hand, Liz took off. A keening shriek followed, Jett’s sonic blast burrowing into the beast. No way she’d stick around to get obliterated. Her Keds squealed against the slick tile as she headed in the same direction as Danica, making a beeline for the door.
Kieran reached Trevor, shoving him forward and latching onto his sleeve as the two of them scrambled to follow suit. Jett and Renn approached from opposite sides, working on crowd control in their own ways. Since most of the thugs in here wouldn’t be after those two, Jett tripped a pixie along the way while Renn’s piping stirred up infighting with every step.
Her hair streamed behind her with how fast she careened through the Lotus Garden, yet when the stomps of the troll shook the floor behind her, she couldn’t go fast enough.
Liz veered up beside Trevor and Kieran who ran neck and neck while Danica waited for them by the open door, arms crossed and combat boot a’ tapping.
“Leave it to you rockstars, unleashing chaos every place you go,” Liz teased between sharp breaths, her heart pounding a demanding beat in her chest all the while.
“We’re walking, talking destruction bombs.” Kieran flashed a grin as they raced along, ignoring the shouts and screams behind them. A lob of spit sailed through the air overhead, and Liz almost collided into Kieran to get out of the way.
Heat exploded behind Liz, licking against her back so fiercely she thought her jacket sprouted flame. She spun around. The tiles behind her had been reduced to a smoking spot, and her back stung from the blast of accompanying heat. The culprit stood in the distance, a sprite whose arms were licked with fire. Trevor stopped and whipped around, his hands balling into fists.
“Go. They’re here for me.” He let out the command, his dark eyes burning with conviction.
Jett caught up, sliding to a halt beside them. His shoulders heaved, but he palmed a knife in one hand, ready to attack. “What are we waiting for? Get the fuck out of here, man.”
“Don’t be a martyr, Trev,” Kieran said, his voice low and resolute. “You know I won’t let that shit slide.”
Renn rushed up, barreling into the lot of them like a juggernaut as he gunned it for the door. “Stop waiting around, assholes,” he called out before he hip checked her.
Kieran stepped beside Trev, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t leave, I don’t leave, brother. So this is your call.”
The troll still raced after them. Jett’s sonic shriek might’ve blasted it back a little, but those creatures were built like concrete walls, so the second she lined up another shot, her bullet flew through the air. This time she didn’t miss. The shot burrowed through the creature’s skull, exploding fluids out behind him as he teetered from the force of impact.
Trevor let out a low curse, because Kieran leveraged the one thing he wouldn’t risk—the lives of his friends. Liz didn’t wait for the command as she followed Renn to the door. Danica disappeared down the corridor, and the minotaur bouncer had bounced himself at the start of the chaos, apparently deciding this mess was better left sorted out by itself.
Another spurt of flame hailed overhead, this one coming to crash a foot in front of her. She skidded before veering around the charred tile, not fast enough to escape the chunks of debris to go flying past. One sliced into her arm, searing and stinging at the same time. Jett reached out, slinging an arm around her shoulders as they hurtled toward the door.
A too-familiar shout sounded behind her, but before she could turn back, Jett tightened his grip and shoved her forward into the corridor. She fought to stop, but her best friend gripped her with a desperation in his hold that refused to give. Her heart seized tight in her chest, but together they booked it down the corridor at top speed, not stopping to look back. Not sto
pping to check, even though Trevor and Kieran lagged behind them.
And the shout had come from Kieran.
The second they exploded out into the brisk night air, their feet smacking against the pavement, Jett’s grip loosened. Liz whirled around, scanning behind with fear that made her stomach lurch. They had to be there. They needed to be behind her.
Trevor leapt through the entryway, tugging Kieran with him, and once they burst through, Renn slammed the door shut. The closed entrance would give them a matter of seconds before folks smashed it open and continued pursuit.
Kieran took a hit. Claws had plunged through his chest, the long and sharp sort she would’ve expected from the crowd of monsters who congregated in there, and blood leaked all over the front of his chest, soaking his shirt. Each step forward he took, he heaved ragged breaths, and his muscles contracted in spasms, signaling he’d been hit worse than it looked, and it looked bad. Real bad. Liz’s throat dried, her mind jumping to hospitals.
But hospitals wouldn’t help a fae like him. Incubi healed through a different means.
Liz sucked in a deep breath, resolve settling over her like a metal coating. She knew what she needed to do.
“Jett,” she commanded, her voice strong despite the way her insides shredded as Kieran glanced to her. “Get Trev out of here, fast. Renn, lead them on a goose chase through the city.” Trev shook his head, clinging tight to Kieran who breathed too unevenly to argue. She fixed the banshee with a don’t-fuck-with-me stare before continuing, “I’ll take care of Ky. He’ll be safer if the heat’s not on him, and tonight, it’s you they’re after.”
Jett stepped to Trevor, jerking a thumb at the sidewalk. “Let’s get out of here, fast.”
“I’ll go with,” Danica volunteered, her gaze sharp on the door, ready for the burst of monsters they’d left behind.
Liz grabbed Kieran’s arm and tossed it around her shoulder, picking up the slack from where Trevor held him up. The guy was all muscle, and she staggered for a second under his weight, but a moment later he steeled his legs to help her.
Captivating Melody Page 14
