She reached the other side and broke free from the dance floor. Wiped beads of sweat from her forehead. Took a chance and glanced back over her shoulder.
The bouncers stood at the far edge of the dance floor. Scanning the crowd for Suri’s red hair and leather jacket.
Suri pulled her hair around the side of her neck, so it lay over her chest instead of down her back. Logan was an enforcer. At least in his late twenties. More likely his thirties or fourties. Suri didn’t have to worry about pulling him out of the dance floor. He would be up the spiral staircase, knocking down drinks.
She joined the stream of people making their way up to the bar. Slipped past the couple, who were still making out. Hands all over each other’s bodies. Suri was hit by a pang of jealousy. Shook her head at the foolishness and got to the top.
It was a lounge, where ravers came to take a break, make out, drink. Have sex, apparently, as she spied a couple clearly going at in a shadowy corner. Gross.
Suri sighed deeply. This club was the last place she wanted to be. It reminded her too much of all the things not going on in her life.
Big beard. Bald head. Where are you?
She quickly walked toward the bar. The bouncers were gone from the main floor. Panicked, Suri spun around. Spied their huge manes coming up the staircase.
Unsure if they knew she was up here, Suri hurried over and took a seat at the bar. The bartender came right over. “What’ll it be?”
“Water’s fine,” she said, not really paying attention.
He frowned. “How about a real drink?”
“Fine, whatever.” Suri slapped a ten on the smooth, wooden counter. Craned her neck to see past the shifters sitting to her side.
It was too dark to see. Then one of the DJ’s lights passed over the bar counter. Reflected off a shiny head. Showed a beard, a man with a drink raised to his lips.
There you are, Logan.
The bouncers moved through the lounge like sharks through bloody water.
Do they have my scent? Can shifters do that?
Suri got flashbacks to the goblins. Paulie’s shop.
The bartender slid a drink in a green glass in front of Suri. She snatched it up, gulped it down. It calmed her nerves, just like she’d hoped it would. A warm stream of liquor straight down her throat to her stomach. Burning.
Suri gagged. Coughed. Started hacking and gasping for air.
Real cool, Suri. Maybe this is why you’ve never found a guy. Raja only likes you because he doesn’t know how much of a loser you are.
“Damn,” said the bartender. He looked at Suri with a crazy grin. So did the two people sitting next to her. Like she’d just done something really brave. Or stupid.
“Yo, Charlie!” the bartender called. “This girl just dunked a Black Yild!”
Another bartender, at the other end of the counter and near Logan, looked around for a second. When he spotted Suri, he went, “Woo!” and gave a double thumbs up.
I think I missed something here.
The empty glass. Hadn’t it been green? But Suri could see right through it now.
“You know you’re supposed to sip those, right?” said a shifter.
Suri was still thinking about the glass when her stool slipped out from under her—that, or she was leaning way over to one side without noticing.
Thankfully, her arms were on the counter. She caught herself from spilling onto the floor. Her legs weren’t working, though. She tried to stand, stumbled into a guy seated on a stool. He kept his seat and steadied Suri with a hand.
“She’s wasted,” he told the bartender.
“Hey.” The bartender snapped his fingers in front of Suri’s face. She turned her eyes on him, puzzled at what he was doing. He did it again, watching Suri closely. Suri laughed. Tried snapping back at him, but couldn’t get it to work.
“The heck…” she muttered. She took a precarious seat on the stool again. Focused hard on her fingers, trying to get them to snap.
Is it weird that I can’t do this? she thought. Wait. Beard. Logan. She jumped to her feet like a dog hearing a whistle.
“I’ve gotta go,” she mumbled. Staggered away from the bar and down the line of shifters to where Logan sat.
He was big. Heavyset. Younger than Suri had thought from first glance. He turned when Suri got close. Glanced at the person next to him then back at Suri when she just stood there, leaning heavy to one side and leering at him.
Suri pointed a finger at him. Gave an exaggerated squint. “Logan, right?”
“…Yeah. Who’s asking?”
That was really funny. Suri laughed so hard she almost fell over again.
“Suri,” she said, sticking out a hand. “I’m an orphan. I mean, I’m your partner.”
And that was when the bouncers grabbed her.
15
Suri immediately started to fight the enforcers. Pushing, kicking, shoving. “Get your hands off me!” she shouted. She was the crazy girl who’d had too much to drink.
“Calm down,” said the lion bouncer in a low monotone. He scooped up Suri’s legs. The wolf shifter took Suri under her arms. They carried her like a log. For about two steps.
“HANDS OFF!” Suri roared. She let a lightning spell rip across her body. It tasered the bouncers. They dropped to the floor, big masses of twitching muscle.
Some of the shifters at the bar got up and left for a different part of the club. Others clapped and whistled.
Logan was in the ‘let’s get out of here’ camp.
Suri jogged after him. “Wait! I’m your partner! You’re supposed to have my back!”
“Stop calling me that,” he hissed. “Who sent you?”
“Mc-McNoolty. God, doesn’t my hair look disgusting?” It was tangled mess. Suri held it out for him to touch.
“This has got to be a prank,” he muttered. He looked around, probably for security. There was no one. The bouncers were still on the floor.
“There’s a missing councillor. We’re gonna find him. You and me. Suri and Logan. Logan and Suri. Partners. Solve the case. Did you know they pay me two grand a month?”
“Shh! Stop talking.” Logan put a hand on her back. Led Suri to an empty area of the lounge with beer-stained chairs. When they were seated he bit his lower lip in a pissed-off manner. Taking careful consideration to figure out what to do with this weird girl.
“Prove McNaulty sent you.” One of his hands rested casually near his waist.
Suri fished out her copy of the consultant document and handed it over. Logan used his phone for a light source, looked it over and handed it back. “Wow,” he said. “You’re actually for real. Are you stupid, or what?”
Suri scrunched up her nose. “No,” she said, and threw up all over the floor between them. Thankfully, she hadn’t eaten much for breakfast.
“Jesus christ…” Logan edged back his feet. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Good idea,” said Suri, wiping her chin. She was somewhat aware of how embarrassing this was. But, for the most part, she’s a happy-go-lucky drunk.
A squad of four bouncers intercepted them on the main floor. All wolves, in the 6’5-7’0 range. The ravers nearby moved out of the way, giving the wolves space to surround Suri and Logan.
Logan squared up in front of their leader. Not backing down an inch. “Out of the way,” he said. Meanwhile, Suri contemplated which spell to throw at them. They might be ready for the lightning. But she also didn’t want to risk hurting them. She would have to increase the power to tase all four. Risky.
But he was calming down a bit. The depressant side of the alcohol kicking in. She hoped she hadn’t shocked the two bouncers upstairs too badly. It was hard to remember how much juice she’d put into the spell.
Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out his enforcer badge. A quick flash for the wolf leader. The effect was immediate.
“Sorry, sir,” the bouncer said. He backed off and moved aside. The other bouncers stood down, letting him co
ntinue on his way through the curtain, up the staircase and back into San Francisco’s daylight. Suri stayed close behind.
“This your bike?” Logan asked, pointing at Blackbird.
“Yeah,” Suri said, stepping unsteadily from the sidewalk to the curb.
“Hand over the keys. I’m driving.”
Suri didn’t like the idea of anyone else gripping Blackbird’s handlebars, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Billy was not going to be pleased.
She tossed Logan the keys, jumped on behind him. Neither of them had helmets. The only one Suri had was back at Paulie’s shop, in Faerie.
Logan drove slowly, probably because he wanted to be sure Suri could hold on. It was a good call. Suri slumped on his back, feeling terrible. Not paying any attention, or knowing how much time passed.
The sun was getting low in the sky when he went through the gate and into Chinatown. Stopped at a restaurant with a neon green dragon on the sign. It winked at Suri as she got off and followed him inside.
It was a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Small, only about ten tables. “Magic Dragon Noodles.” Best in Chinatown, apparently.
The kitchen was out in the open, in an area that had once been renovated from a pub. Suri liked that, seeing where and how they cooked the food.
There was only one man standing back there. Asian, with small, round glasses and a mohawk. Logan nodded at him when they came in. Dumped Suri in a booth seat by the window and went up to the kitchen. They didn’t have waiters. You ordered from whoever was cooking your food.
A pair of hipsters dressed in scarves, v-neck tee-shirts and leather boots sat at another table, eating dumplings. Other than that, the place was empty. Besides being kind of cool and trendy, there was nothing remarkable about the place. Except the guy with the mohawk.
His eyes darted at Suri a couple of times while he talked with Logan. They were bright gold. Each of his arms had full tattoo sleeves. Ink dark purple, red, black, blue and yellow. Suri couldn’t make out exactly what the design was, but she saw some scales and claws. Dragons, she guessed. He flashed a smile, and Suri caught the long canines coming from his upper mouth. Fangs.
There were a number of possibilities. The most likely that he was a vampire.
Illegal. Hunted by enforcers. Yet he looked to be good friends with Logan. Or at least familiar enough not to be at each other’s throats. They had some kind of agreement. Maybe with the entire enforcer group in San Francisco. Meaning he had a powerful boss. Or was a powerful boss himself.
Feeling a chill, Suri zipped up her leather jacket, brushing the black envelope that was still tucked away in her breast pocket.
All I wanted was to deliver this darn thing. Now I’m mixed up in who-the-heck-knows-what.
Logan set down a big, steaming bowl of noodles. It had eggs, pork, onion and hot sauce placed in separate sections on top of the bowl. Suri was beginning to like this ‘partner’ thing. Then Logan set down a tall glass of foul smelling black liquid.
“Eat. Drink,” he ordered.
He slid into the booth on the opposite side with his own bowl of noodles. No nasty drink for him. He got a can of Stella Artois.
Head spinning, Suri picked up the chopsticks and started mixing up the noodles. Logan stopped her, putting out a hairy-knuckled hand.
“I think you’ve embarrassed yourself for one day,” he said gravely.
“Don’t get between a girl and her food,” Suri growled.
“I’m serious. Lee won’t like it.”
Suri made a face, silently mimicking his words back at him.
“Fine,” said Logan. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Suri stirred the noodles and eggs and stuff into a big soup. Lifted the bowl to her lips and began drinking the broth. She didn’t care what Lee and Logan thought. It was her food. She was going to eat it however she wanted.
Suri ate until she was stuffed. The noodles were salty, and so, so delicious.
“Hit the spot,” she said, drowsily.
“Yeah? Drink up.” He slid the nasty cup closer.
Like a band-aid.
Suri didn’t question him, and took the drink down in four gulps. It tasted like bark and twigs mixed with cough syrup. “Gah!” she exclaimed, slamming down the plastic cup on the table. Her feet were sweaty inside her shoes. Starting to smell, probably. She wanted to get home and have another bath.
“Good job, champ. You’ll thank me tomorrow.” Logan steepled his fingers and settled back in his booth. “Now, tell me exactly what you know.”
The hipsters were gone. Lee, the guy with tattoos, started closing up for the night. Cleaning tables, putting away plastic cutlery. He turned out some of the lights, putting the table half in shadow. Scowled at Suri as he came by and took their empty dishes.
The next fifteen minutes, Suri told Logan all about Lodum, the human district, the fae mob, and their escape through the catacombs. What she could remember, anyways. Suri wasn’t exactly at top performance. And leaving out her budding romance with Raja, and Vestrix. Remembering the feathered hood gave Suri goosebumps. The wise part of her brain shone through the drunken stupor. Telling her to zip shut about it. Although not sure why, she had a strong suspicion the Lady of Arrows liked to stay on the down-low. She finished with her meeting with McNaulty.
“That’s a hell of a story,” said Logan. He liked to swear. It rubbed Suri the wrong way, but she wasn’t going to be one of those people who tries to police what other people say. Chivalry is dead. She wasn’t about to lead a one-woman crusade to bring it back.
Logan rubbed his big black beard. Really getting his fingers in there and pulling at his whiskers. It looked fun. Suri was still drunk as a donkey on Christmas Eve, and she reached over. Started petting Logan’s beard. Totally awkward, but the ice between them had been long been broken.
“Hey, get your own beard,” Logan said, moving back. A sly smile crept onto his face. He ordered a coffee from Lee. No cream or sugar.
“I wish I could help you,” he said, meaning with the people trapped in Lodum. “Believe me. I know one or two of those folks. But the boss wants us on the missing councillor. If they thought we would be a bitter fit in Faerie…Well, we’d be in Faerie.”
Suri leaned back in the booth. Neck touching the smooth, red leather backing, and looked at the ceiling.
Suri wasn’t so sure. She had been in Lodum only yesterday. She knew the city. Delivered packages there all the time. And she had seen what had been done to the human district.
The magi council didn’t want her involved? Not even an interview?
It screamed a cover-up. But Suri wasn’t going to voice that to Logan. Not yet. He seemed chill and all, but Suri didn’t know him well enough to bad-mouth the magi council. Rumor spreading has a way of getting back to you. And it wasn’t even that. No one else, that Suri knew of, shared her suspicion. So it was just a hunch.
“There’s something fishy about the whole thing,” said Logan. He sipped his coffee. Ran a hand through his beard. He liked doing that. Suri resisted the urge to cop another feel. His beard was really soft, and thick. He must use conditioner. The good stuff. Not many guys do that.
The more Suri looked at him, the more she noticed that he was careful with his appearance.
Logan’s head was bald. Totally bald. Not with a bit of stubble, like most men had. He shaved every morning. Trimmed his beard, too. Used the right kind of soap on his face, to keep it clear and without blackheads. He was a well-groomed dude. Not that Suri cared. It was just odd, compared to McNaulty and everyone else in the enforcer unit.
“The missing councillor could be connected,” Suri said, following up on his thought.
Logan nodded. “Someone is messing with the treaty between Earth and Faerie. This Lord Korka, he sounds like bad news.”
Suri shrugged. “If he’s the one who ordered the fire.”
“Well, rookie…”
Suri lit up when he said that. Took an up view of the situation. They were
two enforcers mulling over a case in a slightly sketchy restaurant in Chinatown. Late at night, after she’d nearly drunk herself to sleep. On her first day.
Rookie. I like the sound of that.
Logan got up, leaving a twenty on the table for Lee. “Time you had a walk through the crime scene.”
Suri had almost forgotten that Logan was a shifter. He wasn’t showing anything, so she didn’t know what kind. But it meant he didn’t have the third sight. Couldn’t detect residue from magical spells, trace magic, or any of the other stuff that comes naturally to mages. For whatever reason, Suri had always had a powerful third sight. Used it to win all the schoolyard games at the Academy, and gained the attention of the Masters. A reputation that she hoped would help get her foot in the door with the Demon Hunters Guild.
She moved her tired, sweaty feet. Put her hands on the table and slid out of the booth. The night was still young, and they had an investigation to do. The nasty drink had done its work. Suri wasn’t sure if it was enchanted, or a natural concoction. Either way, she could now keep her balance, and the mind fog was gone. Replaced by a tingling headache.
Aren’t you supposed to drink electrolytes for a hangover?
Suri was thinking about where to stop for a Gatorade. It was only by chance that she saw, through the front window, a BMW pull up. Black paint, tinted windows. The sunroof opened. A man pale as snow with waist-long black hair stood up through it. Uzi in both his hands.
“Get down!” Suri shouted, tackling Logan and diving for the floor.
16
The Uzi lit up the night, spraying bullets into Magic Dragon Noodles. The sound was way louder than in the movies.
Lee’s front window shattered. Glass fell onto seats and tables of the booths. Bowls, kitchen utensils, and ingredients flew through the air as guy outside aimed at the open kitchen.
Suri looked for Lee, couldn’t find him.
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