The Earthborn (Mythos of Cimme Book 3)

by CJ Flynn

  “Saves the hassle of introductions, I suppose. Come have a seat.”

  I took the seat offered by the man I knew must be Ernie Haden. He was larger than life, and exuded more than just the ethereal glow. A general mood of good will and generosity nearly oozed out of him. He gave me a great clap on the shoulder just as my butt hit the seat.

  “Edward didn't give me much in the way of details, so why don't you just tell me why you're here.”

  I glanced around for Daniel and Sloane, but they were both still working the area by the bar. I could tell just by the set of his shoulders that Daniel did not trust this place.

  “A friend of mine has gone missing. His last credit card transaction was here, on the twenty-eighth.”

  Ernie shrugged. “Nothing really sticks out in my mind that night. Do you have a picture?”

  I slid my phone across the table to him. He stared down at the screen for a long moment before nodding.

  “I do remember him. He was actually in here two nights in a row, which isn't all that uncommon from my regulars, but definitely not tourist behavior. He tried to start a couple conversations with me, but he seemed sort of shifty, if you know what I mean. Last time I saw him, he left here on the arm of a blonde woman who was mostly legs and hair.”

  I frowned, and tried to push the image out of my head. “You don't know why he was here?”

  Ernie nodded towards the picture again. “How good of a friend was he?”

  “It's complicated.”

  “I'm sure you think so,” he replied with a wink.

  I pushed down my annoyance. This man was one of my father's closest confidants? “Can you tell me anything about her then?”

  “Now you're asking the right questions.” He stood from the table and gestured towards the bar. “Let your friends know you found me, and we'll go talk in my office. Lots of sensitive shifter ears around here.”

  I maneuvered my way to Daniel and Sloane. Daniel seemed mildly annoyed to be at a bar, but Sloane was as white as a ghost. She kept glancing over towards the tables fanned out from the bar. There were maybe thirty people in the place, every single one of them some sort of supe or peculiar. I'd been in large groups of vampires before, but never around so many non-vamps. I had adjusted to the rainbow riot in the room, and was growing to love the energy in the place. I could see why Ernie's bar was packed even late on a weeknight. The vibe was great. Sloane didn't look like she'd agree with me, so I tried to give her a supportive smile. She only raised her eyebrows before going back to her crowd gazing.

  I leaned in towards Daniel. “I found him. He has some information, but he wants to talk in his office. I'll be out of there in no time, and hopefully we'll be able to figure out our next steps.”

  Daniel shook his head. “You should not be alone with anyone right now. We do not know whom we can trust. I should go with you.”

  I hadn't shared any of the journals or messages from my father with Daniel. I knew I could trust him with my life, but my father's was a different story. Daniel was Sorrell's right hand, and I knew where his loyalties were. I was safe, but I knew my father never had been. I tried to think of an excuse that would get Daniel to back down, but I couldn't think of anything. He deserved the truth, though, not some story. “I don't think I'm going to learn anything from Haden if you come with me. You need to trust me, and him. I'm safe here. I'll be fine. And I'll explain everything I learn later.”

  Sloane pushed herself up from her bar stool. “In that case, I think I'm going to take a cab to the hotel,” Sloane said. “I need to check in with my office and see if anything new has come in.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, looking her up and down. Her color was completely drained, and her pupils were dilated. I let my vision shift and saw her indigo aura pulsing faintly.

  “There's just a lot here, and I'm having a hard time keeping it all at bay,” she said, her voice low. “I don't even have to touch anything to see the visions.”

  I frowned. “Daniel can take you back, and I'll get a cab—”

  “No.” Daniel shook his head. “I will make arrangements for Sloane to be returned safely to the resort, and I will wait for you. You should not be here alone.”

  I stared at him for a long moment, trying to find a reason to argue, but I couldn't fight the vibes of the bar. I felt high and safe, but Sloane felt like she was drowning in energy, and Daniel was slightly more paranoid than usual. The atmosphere of the bar was clearly affecting everyone differently.

  “Whatever you think, then. I'm going to talk to Haden now, before I forget why we came here.”

  “Be careful, Allie.”

  Ernie Haden stood by a staircase partially obscured by a paneled wood wall. He motioned me up the stairs and I followed behind him, anxious to hear what he had to tell me.

  There was a single, locked door at the top of the stairs. He slipped a key into the lock and opened the door to an office that could not possibly have been more opposite than the bar downstairs.

  The Lazy Buc was a rundown roadhouse, with echoing, rough wood floors and paneling that looked like planks from hardwood trees. Ernie's office, however, was immaculate and painted the most serene shade of blue I'd ever seen. The floors were a warm, honey-colored bamboo, and the exposed beams in the ceiling were stained the same tone. Four windows stood on either end of the room, overlooking the beach to the west and the parking lot in the back.

  Ernie settled in a chair at a large, round table. “Take a seat, Allie. I think we have a few things we should talk about.”

  I took a seat across from him and waited. The blue-white glow from downstairs hadn't diminished at all. It made the whole room feel even warmer.

  “I didn't want to talk too much about this Ben down there. I'm in sort of a... unique spot. Anybody special, whether they're a shifter or just a psychic, is fully safe in my bar, from each other and from themselves. A lot of things happen here that never leave, because that is how it needs to be. We have only one rule, and that is that you can't use your abilities against another person while you're here. That woman that Ben was with... she was under the control of someone. I don't know whom, and I don't know how, but I can get you the security footage, and I can put some feelers out. Realistically, that's about it. Ben's a human, Allie, and I can only protect humans so much. I have to protect you all equally.”

  I stared down at my hands, trying to make sense of his words. I didn't quite understand what he was saying—it wasn't the same message I'd heard since day one. Humans were second-class citizens, according to vampires, and humans had a way of believing they were always the most important thing going until they crashed into the supernatural world.

  I glanced up at him, trying to keep my face passive and the emotion out of my voice. “I was human, once. Still am. Just because Ben can't read minds doesn't mean he's not valuable. We need to find him, before the trail goes cold.”

  “I'm not trying to imply that he doesn't deserve every possible effort to be found and brought home safe, Allie. I'm saying there's only so much I can do about that without compromising my position. I have to be impartial, always. And whoever was controlling that girl should be dealt with for that, but I can't go after anyone for getting your ex-boyfriend to flirt. He wasn't under the control of anyone.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  He grinned. “I keep forgetting that you don't know as much about me as I do about you. Your father always enjoyed doling out his visions. He had a very busy mind, and it was hard for him to keep journals on every last thing he saw. The journals would have been a huge liability for him.”

  I nodded. I had guessed as much. The only journal of his that I had was jam packed with information and encrypted with a decent code. Christian Michaels supposedly had more to share with me, and I suspected whatever he had would feature a similar cryptography. “Is that why everyone who's ever known him seems to know all about me?”

  He smiled. “That, and this special ability you have. The wo
rd is starting to get out about you.”

  “How did you know?” I asked, staring down at my hands. I didn't advertise my ability. Seeing the auras of the supes and peculiars that walked through the human world wasn't exactly something that made my life easy. It had provided me very valuable information, but it had cost me so much.

  “I could sense it when you walked in the bar. No one can hide his or her true selves from this old man, and you, my dear, are quite unique. I've never seen anything like it.”

  I tilted my head, letting any guard I had drop completely. The brilliant light from Ernie filled the room, but it wasn't blinding. I knew then that the calm vibe downstairs was a product of this. Ernie exuded peace.

  “And what about you?” I asked. “I've never met someone like you.”

  “There's a good chance you never will again. I'm a Druid. The last of my kind.”

  I sucked in the gasp that surfaced in my throat. The Druids had been the least talked about in the books that Michaels had given me. Their legends were few, but full of mysticism and mystery. They were unique from the other supernatural creatures. If the Vampire mythos was to be believed, the Druids were a creation of all the elements: earth, air, water, and fire. They were the peacekeepers and the magistrates of the supernatural creatures, the ones who meted out gentle guidance for all but the vampires, who, of course, preferred to go their own route.

  “I usually try to stay out of the vampire business,” he said. “They don't even come in here that often—Florida isn't exactly a favorite destination for them—and I like it that way. But this blonde woman? She wasn't a vampire, but she was definitely under the influence of one. Did Ben piss one of the vampires off or something?”

  My heart skipped a beat at his words. “He didn't, but I sure did.”

  Ernie grinned. “I heard about that. They said Queen Lillith was so angered by your treachery that her roar touched the heavens.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I bet they say that. If you know what happened, though, then you know what I mean. It's not unreasonable for any one of Lillith's lackeys to want to get at me.”

  “You're certain that it is Lillith? The Princes were on Sorrell's side, not yours. You'll develop a reputation as a meddler if you're not careful.”

  He opened a desk drawer and pulled out small, padded envelope. After a moment, he slid it across the desk towards me. “There's a USB drive in there. Your father kept some written journals contained within an encryption that was too easy to crack. I had another friend help him with it and they finished the re-encryption not long before your father disappeared. You'll need help getting in there, but if you can get through it, you deserve the pot of gold.”

  “Is there a password or something?”

  “You'd have to ask him that. Otherwise—” He grinned. “Only one way to find out.”

  He stood and motioned me towards the door. He held out his right hand, and I reached forward to shake it. He clasped his fingers tightly around mine and I felt his raw energy flood through my body. I saw my own aura for the first time, a brilliant rainbow of colors that flickered and intertwined in a fine web all across my vision. Each filament was a different hue and I marveled at this treasure that I might never have the pleasure of seeing again. His white aura filled in the empty space between the filaments, infusing them with a brightness they had lacked before. After a moment, he let go of me. The auras dropped away completely.

  “What was that?” I asked, my heart racing.

  “Just something you may need on your journey, Allie.”

  Chapter 4

  I slid the drive into the pocket of my jeans as I walked back down the stairs to the bar. My whole body buzzed with the energy of the place and I had to close my eyes for a second. My mind was filled with more questions than answers. What had Ernie done to me? What was on the drive? Finally, I opened my eyes and saw Daniel. He looked agitated and more than ready to leave. I made my way over to him.

  Daniel's gaze checked me over. “Did he give you the information you came for?”

  I nodded. “I think so. He'll have the security footage for us by tomorrow night, and he's going to put out feelers for additional information. There are a few other things, but we should get out of here first.”

  The car ride back to the resort was short and silent. It was almost four in the morning, and my body was screaming with exhaustion. The past weeks had been a whirlwind—I'd been back and forth across four time zones and I'd logged thousands and thousands of travel miles.

  I awoke to the feeling of my body being lifted from the passenger seat of the car. Daniel had scooped me up and was carrying me up the wide, stone steps that led to the front door of the spacious four-bedroom villa that Camilla Pierce had arranged. The vampires didn't seem to have a safe house in this part of Florida, so we would be forced to deal with room service and maids for the duration.

  “You don't have to do this,” I whispered, my head bouncing gently on his chest as he opened the door.

  “I do not mind,” he replied. “The drive here was less than twenty miles. You are clearly in need of rest.”

  I saw a bright light burning under the bedroom door closest to the foyer and knew Sloane was still awake.

  “This is fine,” I said, trying to suppress a smile. “I need to speak to both of you before we lose the night.”

  Daniel set my feet down on the carpet and I rolled my shoulders a bit, trying to stretch myself into alertness.

  The first door opened and Sloane stepped out, carrying an iPad, and dressed in black leggings and a black hoodie. It was reassuring to see someone else using my color palette.

  “I don't have any new information,” she said, by way of greeting. “Unless Haden told you something, we're DOA until I find another lead.”

  “We'll have security footage tomorrow,” I replied. “It shows Ben in the bar, with a blonde woman. They apparently left together on the twenty-eighth.”

  Sloane frowned. “Do we know who she is?”

  “Not exactly. He said she was under the influence of a vampire, but his hands are tied. He can only find out so much without personal risk.”

  Daniel nodded, but there was a flicker of anger in his eyes. The vampires were usually incredibly strict about how business was handled. Controlling anyone was against vampire law. There had been a rash of “persuasion” problems sometime during the Second World War, and it had been outlawed except for use in feeding.

  I shuddered at the thought. Part of my private research the past year had been in trying to better understand vampire law. There was a lot I probably wasn't supposed to know, but I didn't care about the rules. I was trying to limit my blindness wherever possible.

  “It is out of his hands, at this point,” Daniel said. “Clearly the violations of this vampire fall under our laws.”

  “Did he tell you anything else?” Sloane asked.

  I fingered the thumb drive in my pocket, Ernie's words playing over and over in my head. Whatever there was on the drive pertained to my father, and that meant letting in as few people as possible, including Daniel?

  I shook my head. “No, that's it.”

  “Then we need to rest,” Sloane replied. “We'll see where we are once the rest of the world is awake. Maybe my partner will have more for us.”

  * * *

  I crawled into my bed and slept until almost four in the afternoon. It was much later than I'd planned to sleep, and I knew my time with Sloane would be limited. We were both keeping secrets from the vampires, and I wanted to know why.

  Sloane was sitting on the rear deck with a cup of coffee and the remains of a club sandwich.

  “Glad to see you’re finally awake,” she said. She nodded her head towards the plate. “You should order something to eat. We have a lot to talk about.”

  For once, I wanted to control a conversation with Sloane, but the sunlight and fresh air were making it hard to keep a stern look on my face. I smiled in spite of her bossiness and settled into the other chair.
The weather was perfect, over 65 degrees and sunny. Even the deck boards felt warm under my feet. So much better than New York in the winter.

  She was right. We did have a lot to talk about, and I was starving for decent food. “Is the food any good?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “It's a sandwich.”

  “Then I guess I’ll wait. I’d rather just talk.” I leaned forward and put my elbows on the table. No sense in wasting any more time.

  “Very well. I want to—”

  I held up my hand and shook my head. “I’d like to ask a question first. You’ve been asking questions for days. My turn.”

  “Okay then. Ask your question.”