by Amy Sumida
“That fucking bastard,” Extinguisher Ralph hissed.
“Anymore of the missing people?” I asked.
No one had seen any other humans.
“Fuck,” I hissed. “Okay; we're going in there together; no one wanders off.” I turned to the extinguishers. “Can all of you read our auras enough to follow us, or do we need to go visible?”
“We're good, Ambassador,” Jared said. “We see you just fine.”
“Excellent. The bombs are in the basement with six guards. I'll dream-dust them to sleep before the rest of you enter,” I gave them my plan. “After we've secured the weapons, we'll head upstairs for Sokolov and the woman. Everyone clear?”
They all nodded.
I took them into the house, and then down to the basement. Everyone waited at the top of the stairs while I went down and blew lavender dust from my fingertips, all over the Russian bad guys. They fell across their cards and plastic chips and started snoring. From bad guys to hibernating bears.
“Clear!” I called up to the others.
We found the new case of bombs and also a half-empty older case. We took them both with us and left the human weapons behind. Then we headed upstairs, and I dusted the boss as well as his prisoner. I didn't want to deal with her freaking out in the house. Even though she was fairy-struck, she wouldn't respond to my orders, and she'd spazz if I removed the strike altogether. So, the guys carried the sleeping Sokolov and the woman out to the garden. I had to dust the gate guards too because there was no way we were getting two limp bodies over an eight-foot-tall wall. Not without hurting them seriously.
All in all, the whole mission took less than half an hour. We drove back to the Jack in the Box parking lot to take stock before we headed out to LA. First, I removed the dusting from the sleeping woman, and then the fairy-strike.
“I will never get used to that,” Gradh whispered.
I was the only fairy who could remove another fairy's strike. It's called uncrossing. But not only that, I could fairy-strike other fairies. That was called star-crossing, but it was an ability I shared with my father, so it wasn't as impressive to the twilight fey as the uncrossing was.
“Where am I?” The woman looked around in fear. “Who are you?”
“I'm Agent Sloane of the FBI, ma'am,” I said in my best government-agent tone. “We've just rescued you from this man's home.” I stopped to point to the bound and sleeping Sokolov. “He's a Russian crime lord by the name of Ivan Sokolov. He had you under hypnosis. We've infiltrated a whole ring of these white slavers, and we are working to recover several missing people.”
“Hypnosis?” Her lips started to tremble as she glanced at Sokolov in the seat behind hers. “Russian crime lord?”
“You're going to be fine, I promise,” I said gently. “Agent Sullivan is going to take you home to your family. When you feel up to it, he'll have some questions for you.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
I nodded to Clay, and he got out of the SUV then helped the woman out. He led her to one of the other vehicles. They were going to rent a car so that Clay could drive the woman home without the rest of us tagging along.
“This way, ma'am,” Clay said softly. “We'll have you home in a few hours.”
Councilman Teagan nodded to the woman as he slipped past her and into our vehicle.
“Where are we?” The woman asked Clay.
The rest of their conversation was cut off as Lance shut the door. I nodded to Conri and Ainsley, and they took Sokolov's arms. Sokolov was already in cuffs, but I didn't want him fighting me when I struck him. Oh, yes, I was going to fairy-strike the bastard. I thought it was only fair.
I removed the dusting, and as Sokolov woke up, I struck him. He barely had a chance to blink. He just stared up at me in confusion with those beady, black eyes of his. I motioned to the men, and they let him go. Sokolov just waited patiently for my command. But first, I focused on Lance.
“I struck him to keep him compliant,” I said to Lance, “but interrogating anyone under enchantment is against the law, as I'm sure you know. I can remove the strike, and we can try to do this legally, or I can forget to remove it.”
I left the suggestion hanging.
“I will be an accomplice to this, Ambassador,” Lance offered immediately. “You can trust me. Go ahead; I think the situation warrants some out of the box methods.”
Out of the box. Why did my thoughts stray to Daxon and his own out of the box way of handling things? The Dax Side, here we come.
“Hello, Ivan,” I said to Sokolov.
“Hello.”
“Do you remember going to Fawn Island to attend an auction?” I asked him casually.
He nodded.
“And you intended to buy people at that auction?”
Another nod.
“Have you purchased people before?” I frowned and then clarified. “Have you purchased people from these same sellers before?”
“Da,” he said.
“That means yes in Russian,” Conri said.
We all gave him duh expressions.
“I was just making sure everyone knew,” Conri muttered.
“How many people did you buy at the last auction, Ivan?”
“Twelve,” he said tonelessly.
“We found a woman in bed with you,” I went on. “Was she one of those twelve?”
“No, she was from the auction before that; the first one.”
“Where were those auctions held?” I asked.
“Portland.”
“I'm going to need the addresses for both auctions, Ivan.” I handed him a pad of paper and a pen.
Ivan wrote down a single address.
“How many people did you buy at the first auction?” Lance asked him.
Sokolov just stared at Lance.
“I have to command him,” I explained. “A struck human only responds to the fairy who struck him.”
“Then why would that woman obey Sokolov?” Lance asked.
“She was ordered to do so by the fairy who struck her,” I said. “Sokolov, in turn, could transfer command to someone else.”
“I understand.” the councilman nodded. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“How many people did you buy at the first auction?” I asked Ivan.
“Twenty-two,” he said.
“Where are those people, Ivan?” I went on.
“Russia,” he said.
“All of them?” I asked.
“All except for one I keep.”
We all went quiet and stared at each other.
“Those people are gone,” Conri whispered. “You ain't getting them back, Princess.”
“We have council houses in Russia,” Lance said sharply. “We'll get them back.”
“I have log,” Sokolov said.
We all turned back to Ivan.
“What does wood have to do with it?” Ainsley asked.
“Not wood,” Torquil huffed. “A record.”
“A log of who you sent them to?” I asked Sokolov.
“Log of who I sold them to,” he corrected. “And addresses in Russia. Is that good? That make you happy?”
“Yes, thank you, Ivan.” I smiled sweetly at him. “Where is this log?”
“In my office,” he said. “I give it to you.”
I looked to Conri, and he started the car. Then I picked up the comm.
“Extinguisher Jared, stay put with your group,” I spoke into the comm. “We're going back to the house to pick up a record of sales. Extinguisher Jack, meet us back here after you see to Clay and the woman.”
They agreed, and Conri drove us back to Ivan's house.
Chapter Forty-Four
We pulled right up to Sokolov's house this time. The gate guards were still asleep, as were the men in the main house. Even if they had woken, they'd only see their boss walking around in his bathrobe, the rest of us were invisible.
Not only did Ivan give me his log, but he also handed over his laptop with his pas
swords. I had him get properly dressed before we left this time. I thought it was the least I could do when I was handing him over to the Councils. Although, the bastard probably didn't deserve it.
We drove back to LA to collect our things before heading to San Francisco. I sent the extinguishers ahead with Sokolov, and the bomb remains, while I kept two SUVs for my Guard and myself to use. We had a stop to make before we went to the hotel.
I had a promise to keep to a nightmare king.
It was nearly 3 AM when I walked up to Enchantments, but the nightclub still had a line of people standing in front of it. This time, when the bouncer saw me, he opened the door without a word; only a respectful bow. That surprised the humans enough to keep them from saying anything. Or maybe it was the line of my Guard following me in.
The front room was as quiet as it had been on my first visit, but the gancanaghs knew better than to approach us. Alex was dancing with a woman in the center of the room, her head laid over his shoulder. He gave me a wink as I passed by.
“Your Majesty,” Desmond met us at the door to the back rooms. “He's in his office. Your Guard is welcome to wait here; drinks are on the house.”
“Thank you, Desmond.” I turned to the Star's Guard. “I won't be long; don't drink anything.”
They nodded and found an empty table to occupy. When I turned back around, Desmond was grinning.
“We wouldn't have served them anything they couldn't handle,” he said.
“Sure you wouldn't,” I said sarcastically. “You gonna lead the way, or shall I just go it alone?”
“The King said he trusts you to wander his realm,” Desmond said with a smirk. “You know the way?”
“Yeah, I got it.” I eased by him.
“Your Majesty?”
“Yes?”
“Is your female knight single?”
“No, she's very taken.”
Desmond sighed.
“But go ahead and give it a shot.” I winked at him. “She's dating Conri.”
“The barghest?”
“Yep.”
Desmond began to grin. “Oh, this will be fun.”
“Don't hurt my knight, Desmond,” I called over my shoulder as I headed for Daxon's office.
“Not physically,” he called back to me.
I chuckled to myself. This was just what Conri and Gradh needed; a little push. Okay, so Desmond was a big push, but I was getting tired of them both whining. They loved each other; they just needed to say it.
I reached Daxon's door and knocked. It opened before I finished lifting my fist. Daxon stared at me; his sapphire eyes weighed down with emotions he shouldn't be feeling yet. This was insane, and he knew it as well as I did. But that was how the Call worked; it made you a little crazy if you didn't give in to it. I could see the toll it was taking on Dax. His chest was heaving, and his eyes trembled a little around the edges.
“So, you're leaving?” He asked with impressive calm.
“Yes.”
“Do you have time to speak with me?”
“Of course.”
“Then, please come in.” Daxon waved me inside and shut the door behind us. “How did it go? Did you find Sokolov's home?”
“He has a place in Malibu,” I said as I followed Daxon to his desk.
He pulled out a seat for me before the desk and then took one on my right.
“We have a log of the people he's sold and sent to Russia.”
“Russia?” Daxon blinked. “Shit.”
“Yeah, and there are still more missing.” I sighed deeply.
“You weren't expecting to find them all with him, were you?”
“No, but it would have been nice,” I said with a smirk.
“So, what's the next step?” He asked.
“We're taking Sokolov back to San Francisco and handing him over to the Councils,” I said. “They can determine if the matter is for them to deal with or if he should be given to the human courts.”
“And the bombs?”
“I have them,” I admitted.
“You wouldn't consider giving—”
“No,” I cut him off, “I wouldn't.”
“No harm in asking.” Daxon smiled wickedly. Then he went serious. “I didn't think this would go by so quickly. I expected to have more time with you.”
“I think maybe it's for the best that you didn't,” I said gently.
“Seren,” he whispered, “don't run.”
“I'm not running,” I protested. “I'm finishing this investigation, and then I'm going home. How do you think this would work between us if we did give it a shot? I come here and visit you for a week, then I go to Seelie and see Tiernan for a week, then on to Unseelie for Raza, and finally to Twilight for Killian?”
“Well, there are four weeks in a month,” Daxon drawled.
“I'm already trying something similar, and it hasn't been working out,” I murmured. “There's always something that needs my attention. Then, the next thing I know, it's been weeks since I've seen any of them.”
“And you don't want to add another attention hog to your schedule?” He murmured.
“Daxon, you'll hardly see me,” I reasoned. “You can't possibly want that, especially when you know that I'd expect you to be faithful.”
“You don't think I can be faithful?” He lifted a brow.
“I don't think you'll want to wait three weeks to have sex,” I said bluntly.
“All right, Seren,” he whispered. “I'm not going to argue anymore about this. Frankly, it's exhausting. Just go.”
“Wow,” I whispered, a little surprised that he'd capitulated so quickly. “Okay.” I got up and walked out.
As I shut the door, a horrible ache filled my chest and panic surged through my veins. I stood there, staring at the wood grain of the door, just inches from my face, as my heart raced and I tried to make my legs move. I couldn't. I simply couldn't take another step away from Daxon. My breath was coming fast, and my hearing was going wonky. I had a feeling that if I tried to move any further away from him, I'd either throw up or pass out.
Finally, I opened the door with no idea of what I was going to say. I had barely shut it, to begin with, so it swung inward silently, and I had a glimpse of Daxon without the mask of his bravado. He was just where I'd left him, except he was hunched over, his face in his hands and his shoulders shaking. Suddenly, he sensed me and looked up, startled. There was a sheen of tears over his eyes and trails of them down his cheeks.
I rushed over to him, and he stood to catch me. Daxon's mouth was on mine in seconds, his hands framing my face as he kissed me. It was passionate and fierce, but Daxon pulled out of it to simply hug me. I clasped him to me just as tightly, and we just stood there together as our heartbeats slowed and the panic eased away.
“Dear Goddess; I thought I was going throw up,” he said with a tremulous chuckle.
“Me too,” I whispered. “Fuck. What the hell is this?”
“I don't know, but I can't let you go, Seren.” He swallowed convulsively. “Whatever the cost, I can't you let you go.”
“This is going to go very badly for us,” I warned him.
“I know, and I still don't care.”
Chapter Forty-Five
I finally left Daxon. We were going to see each other again, but I needed to find the rest of the missing people first, and I also needed to talk to my husbands and my fiance. It was not a conversation I was looking forward to. So I, of course, put it off. Instead, I headed back to San Francisco, sleeping in the car while Ainsley drove, with a trunk full of magic bombs. Thank the Goddess we didn't hit any bumps.
We made it back by mid-morning, and my uncle Dylan had already been at work for hours. He was delighted to have more bombs to play with, but Councilman Teagan abandoned the experiments when I brought out Sokolov's laptop. The extinguishers handed over the Russian mobster to the Human Council before they returned to Oregon, and he was on his way to Ireland. I removed the fairy-strike before he left, but So
kolov was so shocked and confused that he didn't put up much of a fight.
The woman had been returned to her family after Clay had gently questioned her. She'd given him a description of the man who tricked her into the fairy-ring and had even worked with a sketch artist, but Clay said the fairy looked like your average hippie; whatever that meant. Regardless, he was going to fax us a copy of the sketch.
Until then, Lance and I were scouring Sokolov's laptop. There was a lot of information on his criminal activities, more than enough to send him to a human prison if the Councils decided they couldn't try him, but there was very little on his dealings with “the slaver”—his words, not mine. There were a few references to the slaver; such as times to call and where to meet, but there was no phone number, and we already knew where they'd been meeting. Then we found an email from the slaver to Sokolov. Just as I was nearing the end of the message, Ainsley rushed into the room with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Your Highness!” Ainsley waved the paper excitedly.
“One second, Ainsley,” I said as I skimmed the closing. “What the fuck?”
“Princess Seren!” Ainsley cried.
