by TR Cameron
Ruby nodded. “Very.”
Morrigan smacked her on the arm. “So, what does she mean when she says you’re keeping an eye on what’s happening in the city?”
“Nothing. Even if I were, it would be none of your business, nosy pants.” Just what I need, my sister thinking that something suspicious is going on. I’ll never hear the end of it.
Chapter Nine
Ruby had made it back to the house she shared with her roommates in plenty of time for dinner and had announced they should all eat as a group for a change. She dragged in a couple of the others to help her cook, and in short order, a good family-style pasta meal was ready to go. They sat in the mismatched chairs around the dining room table and passed the serving dishes from hand to hand. She sensed everyone else was equally pleased with the chance to sit and have a normal meal together. Idryll prowled the floor, getting pats from everyone, bumping into them one after the next. If anyone failed to attend to her quickly enough, they got a leg full of claws. Her roomies found it quite amusing, to judge by their laughter.
Ruby asked, “How are things at the Ebon Dragon after the attack, have you heard?”
Around a mouthful of pasta, Demetrius looked at their resident witch. “You answer. Can’t talk. Eating.”
Daphne laughed and threw a napkin at him. “Everything seems more or less back to normal. There’s more security around, but I’m not sure how useful that is. I suppose they might have more people on the outside of the place too, but if they do, I haven’t noticed them.”
Liam observed, “Invisible security is probably the best kind of security when you think about it.”
Daphne shrugged. “Could be. Anyway, at least those scumbags didn’t try to kidnap any of us. Although poisoning, even non-fatal, wouldn’t have been a real thrill either.”
General assent met that statement. Shiannor said, “They’re good people, the owners of the Kraken. I’ve spoken with them at parties on several occasions. They’re not like what you’d think Atlanteans are normally like; they’re cool, talkative, and pretty laid-back.”
Ruby asked, “That’s not how Atlanteans generally are?”
The elf laughed. “Okay, my bad, I was stereotyping. Although it’s fair to say the other Atlanteans I’ve met in my life were a little less personable than the Chentashes.”
Demetrius added, “I’ve worked with Atlanteans on various gigs. I think they’re like anyone, some good, some bad, some smart, some dumb. And some really cute.” The comment earned playful scowls from the females in the room.
Liam said, “I was hanging out at the Grinding Axes. The crime spree we’re having is all the talk there. Someone was taking bets for which casino would get hit next.”
Ruby rolled her eyes, but it wasn’t a surprise that in a town like Magic City, people would lay odds on just about anything. “Does it seem to you all that things are getting worse?”
Daphne shook her head, and her expression was both supportive and nonjudgmental. “It might be you have kind of a unique view of life here since you’re part of a casino owners’ family and all, and you’ve been out of town for a while. Things in Ely have always been rough. There’s regular crime, though it’s mainly low level. We hear about it all the time. Loners usually, plus some that have banded together to cause trouble.”
Ruby frowned. “Gangs? Here?”
Demetrius shook his head. “Teams, maybe, or syndicates, even. Not looking for territory or anything. Not like on The Wire.” He laughed. “They’re out to make money and have discovered it’s easier to do when you work with others with the same sense of, or lack of, respect for the law.”
Ruby shook her head, half-surprised at the knowledge and half-stunned that she’d never seen it. “What kinds of teams, or groups, or whatever?”
Shiannor replied, “All kinds, really, from what I hear. People at the clubs are always talking about them. You have your petty crime organizations, the ones who do simple breaking and entering, that sort of thing. You got a bunch that exist mainly to prey on the tourists’ vices, just like in any party town. There are surely some doing more extravagant things for much higher stakes, although those are more hinted at than obviously visible, at least among the folks I talk to. We’ve all seen Ocean’s Eleven. There have to be some people running con games in the city, right?”
Liam chuckled. “I get to be Bartrak Pitt. I like the way he’s always eating.” He reached out and filled his plate a second time, to the others’ laughter.
Ruby replied, “I had no idea. Seriously. I wonder if the Council knows.”
Demetrius returned, “I think so. There’s enough intervention from the authorities to keep a lid on things, more or less. Obviously, since you haven’t noticed, they’ve done a pretty good job of it. Sometimes it’s Alejo, and sometimes it’s the local police department, sometimes it’s even the Paranormal Defense Agency.”
Shiannor interjected, “Speaking of which, there are at least some of those guys in town right now. You can tell them by looking at them. They were out at the club last night. I can’t remember which one. I went to a bunch, and they kind of blur together. They walk around like predators, unaware that here, they’re prey animals at best.”
Daphne laughed. “What are you, part Kilomea?”
The conversation shifted to less weighty matters, and all in all, it turned out to be a pleasant evening despite the eye-opening look at Ely’s underbelly. When it was over, Ruby took Daphne aside and asked quietly, “If I were looking for one, where would I find one of those gangs? I think my parents need to know more about this.”
The witch gave her a stare that Ruby read as doubtful but replied, “I hear Bloody Blades is a hangout for some of the less rules-bound people in town. If it were me, I’d probably start there.”
Ruby had spent another hour with her friends before claiming she needed to sleep, illustrating it with an all-too-real yawn. As soon as she locked the door to her room, she raided her dresser for the darkest outfit she could find—black cargo pants, boots, t-shirt, and leather jacket, then modified her illusion to give her bright red hair and a different bone structure in her face. A quick check of her phone gave her the bar’s location, and she dropped the device in a drawer. She was technologically savvy enough to know her movements could be tracked through it and didn’t want people knowing her destination. It was unlikely anyone with malevolent intent would be watching, but it was always better to be safe than sorry on such things. She opened a portal to one of the secluded spots she knew near the Strip and led Idryll in her tiger-woman form through it.
Bloody Blades was several blocks away, so she and Idryll took to the high ground. Off the Strip, most buildings stopped at three stories or so, unless they were hotels. They easily avoided the few of those that weren’t on the Strip. She laughed inwardly. I thought I knew a lot about Magic City, but I didn’t know about the criminal activity, and I certainly didn’t know nearly as much about rooftops as I do now. All sorts of crazy things up here. She wove through various pieces of mysterious equipment, stepped over spots that looked waterlogged or otherwise dangerous, and winced at the noise of occasional gravel scattering under her feet. Very different than the top of Spirits’ hotel, that’s for sure.
It was almost midnight, so the ambient activity was less than it would have been earlier in the evening, but as in Vegas and Reno, the party in Ely never really ended. Something was always going on. Apparently, some of them are nefarious things as well.
They stopped moving when they arrived across a two-lane street from the bar. Ruby pulled the listening device she’d used at the security company out of her pocket and aimed it at the building’s exterior. She had no idea who they were looking for, but the interplay of magic and technology in the device would allow her to isolate individual conversations until she found an interesting one. If we don’t get it tonight, I guess we’ll be back tomorrow. It took a solid twenty minutes of listening, of groaning inwardly at players on the prowl and macho men boasting over
their conquests, as well as female versions of the same, before she discovered something of interest. The voices were low and rumbly, and two were involved in the conversation. She put her head close to the speaker and motioned for Idryll to do the same.
Voice one said, “It’s almost time for the meet.”
The other grunted. “Do you think they’ll give us any trouble?”
Ruby couldn’t make out much from the voices, only that they were both probably male and that they spoke in a way that suggested secrecy, although with all the noise going on around them, she wasn’t sure why they bothered. The first spoke again. “Shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve got what they want, they’ve got what we want, easy-peasy.”
The second asked, “Has the boss worked with these folks before?”
The first one laughed. “He doesn’t exactly take me into his confidence or anything. I assume they have good references, at least. If they didn’t, I’d hope he would send someone more expendable.”
The other let out a loud snort. “True that. Let’s get a move on.”
Idryll was moving for the side of the roof before the thought crossed Ruby’s mind. Her partner’s prowess impressed her almost to the point of jealousy, as always. Crouching next to her, she stuck her head over the edge and muttered, “I need a periscope or a drone or something.”
The tiger-woman observed, “The list of things you need is not exactly short.” She phrased the true statement as a playful insult.
“I know one thing I certainly don’t need, that’s for sure. A cat with an attitude.”
Her partner laughed, then gave a small hiss as the bar’s door opened. Two men exited, and she put the voices to faces as the first said, “Car?”
The other replied, “Nah. It’s only a few blocks. Let’s walk.”
She packed away the device and nodded at Idryll. They stayed more or less to the center of the rooftops paralleling the pair, Ruby relying on her partner’s innate stealth to keep them on track. Some kind of locator. That would be handy, too. Plus more weapons. Trying to face the idea that she might get involved in more scrapes like she had in the past week or so was still difficult to wrap her brain around.
The dwarves ended their walk at a club Ruby had heard about but hadn’t yet had the chance to visit. It was called Unicorn, and Shiannor had told her it was one of the prime meeting spaces for magicals at the moment. It lay far enough off the Strip that most tourists would have no idea it existed, and she’d gotten the sense from the elf that humans wouldn’t be welcome anyway. They found an alley to drop into, Idryll easily climbing down the wall and Ruby jumping and using force magic to land softly. She muttered, “I’m not really dressed for clubbing.”
The tiger-woman laughed. “That’s what illusion is for.”
“Yeah, but we don’t want to be obvious about it, or someone might wonder what we’re up to.”
Despite that concern, she cast an illusion over them both, putting herself in a slightly nicer-looking version of what she already wore and giving Idryll a long dress, high boots, and no visible fur. Additional touches at the ears and cheekbones gave them both the look of elves, type undetermined. She muttered, “If this goes wrong, if we have the first feeling that things aren’t right, we walk out. If we’re blocked, we find a corner where I can switch up our disguises.” Visually they could resemble anyone, but someone proficient in illusion also had an edge when seeing through others’ illusions. They didn’t disguise the way you walked or the way you moved in general. Most other things could be influenced, but that was beyond her skills and beyond those of anyone she knew.
She drew a deep breath and cleared her mind of worry. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter Ten
They approached the door, which was flanked by a Kilomea and a dwarf standing guard, each wearing leather jackets with patches from a local motorcycle gang. Both species had quickly taken to the idea that spending time on the road on motorcycles was an enjoyable diversion, and Ely boasted one of the most diverse magical biker gangs in the country. They were more a “do work for charity” than a “cause trouble” sort of organization, and Ruby had thought more than once that she might like to join them for one event or another. Maybe that’s something I can do now that I’m back.
Her internal voice suggested, “Perhaps you should concentrate on the moment, chucklehead.”
Shut it. She nodded at the bouncers and pulled open the door, gesturing for Idryll to precede her into the club. She felt the pulse of magic from a device in the dwarf’s hand, but neither made a move to stop them. In a voice that was barely audible over the muted something that came from the closed door ahead, she asked, “Magic detector, you think?”
The shapeshifter nodded. “Makes sense. They’d probably be more suspicious of anyone who tried to enter without magic than those who come in with it.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” The door in front of them opened as they approached, and a wall of noise and light burst from the room beyond. They stepped inside and moved off to the side so Ruby could get her bearings before advancing any further. Her eyes adjusted to reveal a dance club with a huge floor in the center made of panels that glowed in shifting colors. A machine spilled fog over the gyrating figures, and the dancers who were more than a couple of rows away from them were only silhouettes in the mist. A second level ran around the outside of the space, holding tables and providing a rail for people to lean against and watch the bodies moving below. The DJ booth was on the left wall, and the long bar took up the right one. She asked, “Do you see our duo?”
Idryll shook her head. “We’ll need to explore.”
Ruby nodded. “Well then, let’s get our dance on.” She led the shapeshifter onto the dance floor, finding the rhythm of the music and moving with it. She made sure to stay close to her partner to discourage others from attempting to cut in with either of them and pushed progressively farther into the club. They moved along the edge closest to the bar since it would be more likely than the other wall to hold their targets.
Idryll's grace and power were on display here, as well. She was an absolute knockout in the illusion Ruby had provided, which was heavily based on her own body and face, and she made a mental note to dial it back a bit in future illusions unless actively trying to draw attention. When they reached the center of the floor, Idryll swept past her in a dance move and said into her ear, “Far wall. A booth.”
Ruby spun to keep her partner in view, making it seem like a flirty response, and circled to look in the direction she’d indicated. All she could make out from this distance was the presence of booths along the back wall of the club, on either side of a large neon sign that read “Restrooms.” The good news is we should be able to dance near enough to listen. The bad news is we have another dozen rows of sweaty people to work our way through.
As they moved, Ruby took mental notes about the magic that the other patrons were using. It was present in such quantity that it made her feel lightheaded. It seemed like everyone on the dance floor had some sort of illusion or magic item working, making their eyes sparkle, their hair glow, or setting off small detonations when they stomped their feet. She’d spent much more time in human clubs than in those catering to magicals in the past, and the ones she had visited were far less showy than this one. I like it.
They danced their way through the crowd and stopped as soon as their targets’ words were audible, which unfortunately left them right at the edge of the dance floor. A dark elf had joined the pair. The Drow wore an expensive-looking suit, opting for elegance instead of flash in a room filled with the latter. She turned her back to him to avoid focusing on him too closely. One of the dwarves said, “We got what you want. Do you have what we want?”
The Drow’s voice was smooth and cultured. “I do. You will show me your side first.”
She danced a quarter-circle so she could watch the transaction from the corner of her eye. The dwarf on the Drow’s left put a fist-sized bag in front of him. The suited fi
gure opened the drawstring and peered inside. With a nod of approval, he slipped the pouch into his jacket.
He said, “Very well.” He lifted a briefcase from below the table and set it on the surface, then pushed it over to the dwarf on his opposite side. “I would advise against opening it here. Some things shouldn’t be seen, especially by bystanders.”
The one who’d taken the case laughed. “We know where to find you if it’s not right. More importantly, our boss knows.”
The Drow replied, “Indeed. Please leave me to my drink, then.” His manner suggested that he wasn’t particularly pleased to be dealing with the pair.
The dwarves took the dismissal in stride, standing and heading for the door. Idryll moved without waiting for a suggestion to do so, positioning herself ahead of them as she wove deftly through the crowded dance floor. Ruby followed more slowly, confident the shapeshifter would be able to track them once they got outside and that she would be able to find Idryll.
She hit the street to see a car pulling up in front of the dwarves. With a curse under her breath, she went to a nearby kiosk and tapped the controls to summon one of her own. Fortunately, it arrived within a minute, and the traffic lights kept her quarry from getting too far ahead. The speed limits in this part of town were low, and the self-driving cars obeyed them meticulously. She looked up and out of the window to see Idryll pacing them on the rooftops and had no worries that the tiger-woman would be able to keep up.
After a drive of ten minutes or so, during which they crossed from one side of the southern section of Magic City to the other, the car ahead of her rolled to a stop. She ordered hers to make a turn and head down a couple of blocks, then got out and quickly made her way back. Ruby reached the main street in time to see the dwarves disappearing into an alley beside a pawnshop, crossed the road, and surveyed that passageway for cameras, spotting only one watching the narrow lane. It was old-school, one of the kinds that rotated through a short arc before reversing course, and was mounted on the building itself. She was confident the device would be purely optical and cast a veil over herself to render her invisible to it. Still, she crossed directly under the camera, avoiding its field-of-view just in case. She made her way to the back of the building and turned the corner out of the alley. Idryll dropped to the ground beside her, causing her to jump a little.
