by Lexi Blake
It had occurred to me that he was Donovan’s way of keeping track of me, but I didn’t care.
“Papa told me you were back, but he said I shouldn’t bother you while you were working,” Lee explained.
“But Lee said he was going to help you,” another voice said. I smiled over at Rhys, Lee’s twin brother. They were perfectly identical except for the eyes. Lee’s were a warm chocolate brown while Rhys had his father’s emerald eyes. Rhys also had Dev Quinn’s fertility powers. He was a cute kid, but he made me want to shield my womb.
“Lee says you’re a detective and that you need people to help you on your cases,” a third boy explained. He was Sean Quinn and he could certainly have been the twins’ brother. His father was the future king of Faery. Declan Quinn held the Faery seat on the Council. Sean Quinn looked me up and down. “She is pretty.” He nodded as he turned to Rhys. “I think she would do well. My father talked about her before she fled. I believe he was definitely interested.”
Rhys smiled up at me, looking like he’d come up with the best plan ever. My every instinct went on high alert. His plans usually involved kissing. “It’s a great idea. I think you’ll really like my Uncle Declan. He’s looking for another wife, and you would be perfect.”
“Except that she’s with Uncle Marcus,” Lee said with a huff. “Duh. I don’t think Uncle Marcus is into sharing.”
Lee Donovan-Quinn. The only freaking one of the bunch who knew me and he was nine years old. “He isn’t. Sorry. You’ll have to look elsewhere for your dad’s new honey.”
Sean Quinn shrugged. “Maybe it’s just as well. Father told Uncle Dev he also thought you would be a beast in the sack. I don’t know why he wants to put you in a sack, especially if it forces some violent change in you.”
“Yes.” I tried valiantly to suppress the wealth of laughter threatening to burst out of me. “I will avoid any sack your father tries to put me in.”
Rhys’s brilliant green eyes narrowed, all thoughts of matchmaking obviously forgotten as he moved on to more important matters. “If Uncle Marcus is here then he brought us candy.”
Lee high-fived his brother. “Yes!” He looked back at me in explanation. “Mama thinks my anger issues can be solved by keeping me away from sugar and soda. It’s not working, Kelsey. I just get angry about not having candy and soda.”
I smoothed back his hair. “Well, I happen to know your Uncle Marcus made a stop at a nice candy shop before we left Venice. You’ll have to go see him about it though. I would be quick. Your Uncle Marcus has quite the sweet tooth himself, and he might eat them all up before you have a chance to get any.”
Lee’s eyes got big at the thought of missing out, but Sean Quinn shook his head. He greatly resembled his superarrogant father in that moment. “Uncle Marcus is a vampire, Kelsey. He doesn’t eat candy.”
Hugo laughed behind me. “Oh, I assure you he can now. Your Uncle Daniel might be a king, but Marcus is an academic, like me.”
“One of Uncle Marcus’s superpowers is that he can taste the food I eat,” I explained. “He can only do this with very close female friends, but once the bond is formed, he can taste food through me.”
I heard Liv react to that. Of course, she was probably shocked a man like Marcus would form a bond with someone like me. I hadn’t been a hot commodity while we were friends. I ignored her, preferring to explain to the boys. “It’s been a really long time since Marcus had a girlfriend like me. He hadn’t even tasted Reese’s.”
“No way,” Lee said, dumbfounded. He tried to live off them. Peanut butter cups and Dr. Pepper were Lee’s dietary staples before his mother had outlawed sugar.
“It’s true. I bought a whole bunch of them because they’re the best stuff in the world and he didn’t believe me. He told me,”—I went into my best Marcus impersonation, complete with a bad Italian accent—“I have tasted chocolate and I have tasted peanut butter. I do not see how putting the two together makes them better, bella.”
“Did he like them?” Rhys asked, an expectant smile on his face.
“He made me eat the whole bag,” I assured them. “There’s an awful lot he hasn’t tried yet. I think we should make an afternoon of it.”
“He should try root beer,” Rhys said.
“And Skittles,” Sean offered.
I stood up and smiled at Hugo. “I’m so glad I have a werewolf metabolism.”
Liv was still there. “Kelsey, I need to talk to you.”
The boys were busy planning a menu that would kill a diabetic. As I looked down on them affectionately, I realized I was in perfect control. Hugo patted me on the back, and I knew he could feel my satisfaction in my own progress. I kept my voice down, and there was little anger in it as I spoke to the woman I used to love dearly. “I don’t have anything to say to you, Olivia.”
“Fine,” she replied dully. “You don’t have any interest in hearing me out. I get that. I make one mistake in ten years of friendship and the great Kelsey Atwood has no more use for me. Fine. I’m not here as your friend. You obviously don’t need me now that you’re in good with the vamps. But I am here as a client and you can’t turn me away. I’m still a member of this community and I need your services.”
I sighed, seeing straight through her. “Liv, I don’t have time to waste on some wild-goose chase you and Nathan cooked up to manipulate your way back into my life.”
Liv’s voice was low so the boys couldn’t hear her. “You bitch,” she breathed righteously. “I loved you like a sister for years. I did what I did to protect you and you don’t even ask me for an explanation. You’re just judge, jury, and executioner. I might have been wrong, but I also loved you. You know what, Kelsey? Maybe I was wrong. Trust me, sister. I don’t particularly want to waste my time getting back into your life when I know I’m not perfect enough for you. I would spend the rest of the time waiting for you to turn on me. I need your professional services.”
Hugo’s hand slid over my shoulder. It was a good thing, too, because Liv was getting to me. I didn’t like seeing myself through her eyes. All the years of friendship played through my head, including the fact that once she’d saved my life. I’d spent months stewing in happy, comfortable anger. Was there something to what Liv was saying? I settled on dealing with the problem I could handle. “What’s this case you need my help on?”
Tears sprang to Liv’s gorgeous eyes, and that did nothing to alleviate the guilt that gnawed at my gut. There were dark circles under her eyes. I wondered exactly what had been happening here while I was happily ensconced in Italy. It didn’t look like the time had been kind to my ex-friend.
“It’s Scott,” she said. “He’s missing.”
I felt a warm hand push itself into mine.
“Do we have a case?” Lee asked, his face so serious I had to school mine.
“Looks like it, buddy,” I replied. “Let’s take the rest of this meeting in the office.”
* * * *
Sean and Rhys split at the first sign that the day had taken a distinctly work-like tone, but Lee sat in the chair beside mine, his brown eyes looking Liv over. His small hands were steepled in front of him and a distinctly somber air surrounded him.
“And this Scott is your boyfriend?” Lee asked seriously.
Liv stared at me, her lips a flat line. “He’s nine, you know. He’s not exactly assistant material.”
“My actual assistant can’t be here until he wakes from his undead stupor. Lee’s the best I got. Besides, he’s very astute. He knows pretty much everything that goes on in this club, which means he knows more about the supernatural world than most people. He’s also an awesome little thief.” I glanced at the boy who carried my father’s name. “You know she’s a teacher at your school, right?”
It would intimidate a lesser child, but Lee was having none of that. “She teaches high school. She hasn’t had the chance to suspend me yet. Did you have a fight with him?”
“No, not exactly.” Liv sat back in the comfortabl
e chair I was sure Quinn had decided looked like something out of a film noir.
My office had a distinctly art deco look to it. I kept expecting a femme fatale to walk in at any moment, but I just had Liv and her gentle, accusatory eyes. I was feeling the sting of her earlier indictments.
Was I being too harsh on her? On everyone? Marcus thought so. I knew that. I felt his disappointment every time I wouldn’t take a call from my mother. But I was truly stubborn and pushed through, unwilling to deal with unpleasant emotions.
“Scott is too lazy to ever get involved in an actual fight.” It was so much easier to focus on the case. “Has he been working lately?”
Scott’s employment history was spotty to say the least. He preferred to mooch off his perpetual fiancée. They’d been engaged for four years. Most people would have been married in an elaborate ceremony, popped out a couple of kids, and gone through a righteous divorce by now, but Liv and Scott hadn’t even set a date yet. Scott was content to mooch off her not very profitable career in mentoring tomorrow’s supernatural creatures.
“He got a job at a club downtown,” Liv offered.
“Is this his usual work?” Lee asked. It was a good question. If I hadn’t known the man we were discussing, it would have been my next line of inquiry.
“He’s worked in restaurants mostly.” Liv sighed when she realized I really was letting him help me.
Hugo sat in the background, studying one of the many volumes lining the walls of my office. I noted it was a book on forensics. I wasn’t certain when I would need that unless Quinn intended for me to become a medical examiner as well. Unlike Lee, Hugo didn’t seem terribly interested in playing detective.
“Scott managed some restaurants, mostly fast food and delis,” I explained to Lee. “It’s different than running a nightclub, as your papa could tell you. The last time I talked to Scott, he was managing a burger joint in Addison.”
“That’s when he met this guy named Julius,” Liv said with a grim expression. “I knew he was bad news. He was starting a club downtown. Brimstone is the name I heard it called. It’s underground. Ether has become too mainstream for some folks. Dev doesn’t allow drugs and he’s serious about the whole ‘place of peace’ thing. Some folks want a more…liberal establishment.”
“So this is where the criminals go,” Lee observed astutely.
“Probably,” Liv admitted. “Scott turned him down the first time, but this Julius guy came back with an offer for a lot of money.”
That didn’t seem right to me. Scott was a dipshit. He rarely held a job for more than six months. It wasn’t that he was dumb. He was intensely lazy. He started out well, all full of enthusiasm and vigor, but then work would mess up his football-watching schedule or conflict with bowling night. Inevitably, his good intentions failed and he either walked out or got fired. Why would some guy with money want Scott on the team? “What exactly did this Julius want Scott to do?”
Liv’s hands fidgeted with the strap of her leather purse. “He wanted Scott to be in charge of the bar. He was supposed to do all the ordering, deal with vendors, liaise with the kitchen staff, and hire the bar staff. He’s done it before.”
I nodded, thinking about the problem. Scott had run bars in restaurants before, but I wouldn’t call him an expert. “Why Scott?”
Hugo glanced up over the book he was reading. “What sort of being is your fiancé, Ms. Carey?”
Liv bit her lip as she turned to the vampire. Nervous. She was actually nervous about being close to the academic. I could have told her Hugo was harmless unless he decided to have an intellectual discussion with her, and then all bets were off. Academics will fight if they have to, but they prefer intellectual pursuits to anything else. Well, almost anything else. Marcus was pretty fond of sex, I’d discovered.
“Scott’s a shapeshifter.” I answered for my reluctant client. “He’s not what I would call powerful though. He doesn’t practice often. He mostly does dogs. It’s easiest for him.”
Hugo’s intelligent eyes narrowed as he considered the problem. “He’s a true shifter, then. That’s rare and fairly innocuous. He wouldn’t have a pack, per se, so he wouldn’t have loyalties to outside forces. In addition, he would be managing people who more than likely do have packs or families. Often shifters and were creatures have prejudices against each other. Your fiancé is an excellent choice if his employer wishes to make all creatures welcome.”
Liv nodded and I could see her start to relax. “That makes sense. The club was supposed to open a month ago. I was going to attend the launch, but the night before Scott told me I wouldn’t be allowed in and I shouldn’t ask questions. He kept going in to work at night but he stopped talking about it. Then last week, he stopped coming home. I tried his cell but I get voice mail every time I call. I went to the address I had but they wouldn’t let me in. They told me to go away if I knew what was good for me.”
Despite my anger with her, I certainly didn’t like the idea of Liv in danger. I wanted her safely miserable. “Liv, you should never have gone there.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Talk to your coven leader. Or you could have called Jamie.” Anything but walking in there herself without any backup. Again, I felt the guilt of avoiding her. Anything could have happened if she’d walked into that club.
“I did call Jamie,” Liv admitted. “He put me in touch with someone else.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. Dots I didn’t want connected were on a collision course. There was only one person Jamie would have sent Liv to with me out of the country. “I need that address, Liv.”
She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and slid it across the desk. My heart sank. It was the same address the demon had passed me.
Grayson Sloane was in serious trouble and I had a new client.
Chapter Four
By the time I met my assistant, I had a ton of work for him to do. After Liv left, two more clients had popped up, but their cases seemed fairly inconsequential. One needed me to track down a spouse who’d run out on his child support and the other wanted to know if her boyfriend was cheating on her. The first was solved by a simple skip trace and the other answer was probably yes. She was obnoxious. I would have been cheating on her.
“Hi.” Justin Parker greeted me with a somewhat uncomfortable smile. His eyes looked pretty much everywhere but where I was standing.
“You didn’t want this job.” It didn’t take a lot of detective work to see the kid was anxious and a little intimidated.
“But it’s a cool job,” Lee argued, frowning at the vampire.
“I just got here. How can I already be in trouble?” Justin was a new type of vampire. I like to call them veeks. Geek turned vamp. They like blood and MMORPGs. They can’t dress for shit and are socially awkward. I couldn’t blame them much for the last two parts. Marcus tended to lay out my clothes¸ and he was forever telling me which fork to use.
Justin Parker was prime veek. He was all arms and legs and big sad eyes. He wore a Halo T-shirt and sweatpants and carried a thermos in his hand.
“Tell me your mom didn’t send you a snack.” I wouldn’t put anything past a veek. The millennial vamps aren’t known for their raging independence.
Justin shook his head. “It was my girlfriend. I get hungry. Do we have a fridge?”
“There’s a kitchen next to the bathroom,” I offered. “Look, I’m sure Quinn pressured you into this. I assure you I can work without an assistant. I did for years.”
Lee looked up at me. “I can help you. You don’t need another assistant.”
“You have to go do homework, buddy.” I’d talked to his mom not five minutes before. She’d known exactly where to find him and, unlike her husband, she hadn’t sent the cavalry in to save him. She’d called and politely requested I send him home for dinner. “Your mom wants you home. If you want to be allowed to come back tomorrow, you need to get your butt upstairs.”
Even L
ee could see the sense in that. “Okay. Tell Uncle Marcus I’ll see him tomorrow and to save me some candy.” He stopped at the door and came back to me. He motioned me to kneel down before whispering his question in my ear. “How are you going to get to that club?”
I smiled at the sweet, smart boy. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t be able to leave until one thirty in the morning. You’ll be asleep by then. I’ll find a way out and I’ll tell you all about it after school tomorrow.”
Lee nodded and hugged me before running out the door.
“The king’s son seems taken by you,” Hugo noted as he glanced around the office.
“I like him, too,” I said, smiling. My smile disappeared as I took in my veek assistant. It was best to put our relationship on a realistic footing. He was really a spy for Donovan. I wasn’t an idiot. I handed him the list of things I had for him to do. “As long as you’re here, I could use some help. I need you to run a skip trace on Greg Houston. I want to know where he is and how much money he has. Second, find out if Lance Belton is screwing someone other than his girlfriend. We have a file on him. Call his friends and lean on them for info. Call a man named Alan Kent. He’s a shifter so we probably have his number on file. I need to talk to him tonight. Tell him to meet me at Ether at ten or so. If he gives you trouble about it, remind him who I am now. You’re a vamp, use that persuasion thing.”
Justin’s eyes had gone wide. “I’m actually not very good at that.”
“Consider it practice then,” I offered as Hugo and I edged closer to the door. “Also, this place needs snacks. There isn’t any food in that fridge. Get me snacks and some beer. No one has beer around here. And peanut butter cups.” Another thought struck me. “And find me a comfy couch. That thing Quinn bought is pretty, but I can’t nap on it. Think big pillows. If you need anything, don’t call me. I’ll be screwing my boyfriend, eating, or sleeping. All of those are serious things for me, Justin. Do we understand each other?”
