by K. F. Breene
“Hey, Jimmy,” I said, glancing at his package. “Knock up any mermaids lately? Or even just bumped uglies with them?” He went out into the gulf every year for a “knock ’em up” situation, along with all the other merfolk in the area, and it drove me mad wondering how they procreated with big fins getting in the way. They were annoyingly mute on the subject.
“Reagan.” His dark-eyed gaze flitted to Red and then away. “Been a minute. Who’re ya looking for now?”
“No one, actually. I’m the one people are looking for this time. What an amazing new age we live in, huh?”
Jimmy smirked and stepped to the side to admit me. “I hadn’t heard you were on the watch list. Must not be Roger looking for you.”
“No, he found me. It’s the vampires.”
He grunted. “Steve will be happy to hear it.”
“Nah. Wrong vampire. I’m still banging that one. Speaking of, when you go on your merman retreats, and you’re in the water…what happens then?” I looked at his package again.
“You need to find something new to wonder about.” He gestured us in as two giggly girls stopped behind us.
“If you’d just explain the dynamics of merpeople banging to me, I would be glad to find something new to wonder about.” I dragged Red inside with me.
“They don’t like to talk about what happens at sea,” he said, yelling to be heard over the frenzied notes of the piano and short blasts of the trumpet.
“Yeah. That’s why I’m obsessed. For a guy who gathers intel, you sure miss the obvious.”
I didn’t let go of him until we reached a few empty chairs on the far side of the bar. When I settled onto a barstool and rested my elbows on the counter, he grudgingly took a seat beside me. I knew he didn’t try to run because he wanted to hear about my drama. Which was exactly why I’d searched him out. I wanted word to spread, and he was the best one to make sure it happened.
“Hey, Reagan, long time no see.” The bartender, Trixie, stopped in front of me and braced her hands on the edge of the bar. Tattoos crawled across her breastplate and down her arms. A ring on her left nostril caught the light.
“Hey Trix. Gimme a hurricane, please. Make it a strong one. I can’t have that many.”
“Oh no?” She turned, reached down, and pulled open a fridge door before extracting a chilled pint glass. “What’s the occasion?”
“I’m expecting an attack and don’t want to be too drunk to thwart it.”
Red perked up, as I’d expected he would.
“You guys seen any demons around this place?” I asked as she started pouring ingredients into a metal shaker.
Red’s expression closed down. “I thought you said Roger found you…”
“Yes, Red, I know there have been demons. All kinds. I’m wondering about lately. As in the last couple of days.” I put up my hands. “I’ll be helping this time. I’m not bounty hunting right now.”
“They took out a few yesterday,” Trixie said before pausing to shake the mixture over her shoulder. “Marcus’s pack took them out, no problem.”
“So they weren’t that strong, then?” I asked.
Trixie loaded the pint glass with ice before pouring in the contents of the shaker. “No. Not like the ones a week ago, right, Red? They couldn’t kill those.”
“Where were those located?”
Trixie pushed the drink across the bar before knocking on the wood, indicating she’d buy me that one. I pulled out a five for a tip. It was Darius’s money—might as well spread the wealth.
“Outside of town a ways,” Red said, watching me. “There’ve been a few high-powered ones. Garden District, a couple of cemeteries, out by your house once. We don’t have the resources to really take them down, now that Steve and Cole joined that pack in Santa Cruz. Those demons don’t do much, though. Not like the lesser-powered ones. Those cause trouble. Try to kill people.”
I nodded and captured the straw between my lips. The alcohol made me grimace. “Good one, Trixie. Strong.”
“Drink like a shifter.” She winked at me but didn’t move away. “What do you want with the demons?”
I sucked down more of my drink. “Nothing much. Kill a few and then send a message back with the rest.” Trixie’s and Red’s faces both creased in confusion. “Only the really powerful ones, though. I mean, I’ll help kill the lesser ones, no problem. I need something to do. But I have business with the stronger variety.”
“Trixie, I’m dying over here,” yelled some guy with a Boston accent.
She pushed away from the bar and then turned and headed to the waiting patrons on the other side.
“What kind of message?” Red asked, as I’d known he would.
I fished the parchment Roger had given me out of my pouch, my stomach swirling. I was about to conversationally out myself. My whole life I’d been taught to keep this one secret, no matter what. I knew what these words would set in motion. I knew what a big deal this was.
What a big deal I was, in the grand scheme of things.
These people all knew me as the poor girl with weird magic who didn’t have any friends and had made the terrible mistake of shacking up with a vampire. I’d been an outcast since they’d met me. A troublemaker. A recluse, in some senses. A nut case.
Now I was about to show my hand, and it might wow them, scare them, or make them pity me. I wasn’t just a poor bounty hunter, I was a little gold nugget, and the largest powers in the worlds were vying for my attention. No biggie.
I laughed and flung the note at him. Nervousness was for ninnies.
He peeled it open and his eyes widened. “I heard about this,” he murmured, his gaze sliding across the short message. He looked up at me, shocked. Then his eyes narrowed. “Where’d you get this?”
“You know where I got it.”
“No, I mean, did you steal it?”
“You know that Vlad is looking for me, right?” He didn’t comment, but his left eye twitched. He did, and he was connecting that knowledge to the note he held. I nodded. “He’s sending demons up to lure me out of hiding.” I pointed at the parchment. “That is why. Only, that didn’t come from the demons Vlad’s been summoning. It came from the demons my old man sent. They aren’t looking for Charity, if that’s what you heard. They are looking for me.” I spread my hands wide and laughed. That wasn’t so hard, and the blood draining from his face was totally worth it.
He froze, eyes completely rounded, staring at me.
I plucked the note out of his fingers. “Not everyone can say they got kicked around by Lucifer’s daughter, eh? See? And you were so put out. Now it’s a story of interest. You can tell people you helped out Lucifer’s daughter all those times. Maybe someone will care. Probably not, but you can always hope.”
I pushed the five-dollar bill forward and finished off my drink.
“But…wait.” Red put out his hand to stop me from getting up. “Wait, wait. So…Roger knows about…this? You?”
“Yes.” I spoke slowly so he’d be sure to get it. “Hence. The. Note.”
“But—wait, wait.” He grabbed my shoulder. “Wait, wait, wait.” He squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to process the information.
I changed my mind. Telling everyone would be awesome, and I wanted to do it immediately.
I took his hand off and stood. I’d promised to head over to Callie and Dizzy’s house—they were expecting me, and so was the Red Prophet, whom I’d promised to introduce to Karen. And although I’d ignored several calls from an increasingly frantic Penny because it was funny and I was an asshole, I’d texted Emery yesterday and told him to meet us there too.
Darius hadn’t phoned. I was pretty sure that meant he was incredibly pissed at me for leaving the ward.
“See ya, Trix—”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Red pushed off the stool and stood in my way with his hands out. “Reagan, you have to think about this. You can’t send a message down there. You can’t just let him know you’re…well, you.”
I stalked forward, pulling out my phone to call a cab. I didn’t have the ride-share apps on this burner phone.
“No, but…wait.” He trailed behind me like a puppy. “Let’s talk about this. You’ll be in incredible danger.”
“Aww, Red, that’s nice. You care about me.”
“Yes, I do, damn it.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me around, his eyes wild. “You make my life hell, but I know why you occasionally give me the scoop. You’re trying to give me Roger’s ear. And it’s worked. He relies on me to keep an eye on you, both for our benefit and yours. So yeah, I feel obligated to stop you from throwing yourself into incredible danger. Sue me. This is all much bigger than you, Reagan. Lucifer has beef with the elves. If you out yourself, you’ll have beef with the elves. They are the most powerful beings in the worlds, and you’re just one person. You need to…” He licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “I don’t know. You need to work this out with Roger.”
My heart squished a little. It was a weird feeling in this setting. Darius was making me soft. Or maybe I just needed to get used to allowing people into my life for a change. It had been happening slowly for a while, and now it felt like it was happening all at once.
“I am working this out with Roger, Red. It’s fine. I’m going to have two Seers on my case, and the warrior fae will have my back.” I gave him heavy pats on his bony shoulder, making him flinch with each one. “Thanks, though.”
I turned toward the door.
“Okay, but…”
I slowed, but not because of him. Framed by the door and backlit by the streetlights, the new night flowing in around him, was the most handsome non-man I’d ever seen in my life. He’d come to collect the goods.
Me.
“Hey, Vlad,” I said, and sauntered toward him casually. If he wanted to do this now, we’d do it now.
Eight
“Hello, Reagan.” He smiled that flawless smile. “So nice to see you again.”
“The pleasure is all yours.” I stopped in front of him. “What brings you to a shifter bar? Wait, lemme guess. Me?”
“Jimmy,” Trixie called, perched at the end of the bar on the counter. Shifters were slowly getting to their feet, eyes on the newcomer.
“I apologize.” Vlad glanced at Trixie. “The merman is currently indisposed. He wasn’t planning on letting me in.” He clucked his tongue. “Very rude. I’m afraid I had to force the issue.”
“You realize how incredibly stupid that is, right?” I asked, tucking the parchment into my pouch and pulling out a casing containing a concealing spell. I’d throw it in front of the bar and have a nice little time with this meddling vampire. He no longer scared me, not in the least.
“John, Kim, get the humans out,” Trixie barked.
Vlad’s smile reminded me of a sharpened blade. “I’ve learned some things in the Underworld—”
“You weren’t in the Underworld, Vlad,” I cut in. “You were loitering around the Edges. You have no idea what it’s like down there.”
He nodded as confused patrons were shuffled toward the door. “True. Let me rephrase. I’ve learned some things from the powerful demons that reside in the Underworld. Some defenses. Some offenses…”
He let the threat linger.
I matched his sly smile. This clown had no idea. He hadn’t even hit up the more treacherous places along the Edges—the places Darius and I had been forced to go through to get around him. He didn’t know what kind of power existed in the airless inner reaches of the kingdom. He certainly didn’t know what sort of training I’d been doing. Darius was plenty strong, and he’d stopped being able to combat my more robust magic. I was no match for Lucifer yet, but I was more than capable of dealing with an elder vampire of Vlad’s caliber.
Something I was about to show him.
I waited for the last of the humans to leave. I didn’t miss the sense of anticipation in Vlad’s velvety brown peepers. A squat shifter built like a brick house grabbed the door to close it. I closed a fist and let my magic swell. Claws elongated from Vlad’s hands.
A hand caught the door. It swung back in with enough force to make the shifter stagger backward. The smallest of wrinkles marred Vlad’s perfect face, but he didn’t turn around. I got the feeling he didn’t want to take his eyes off me. Wise.
Darius strutted through the door wearing a pristine suit with gold cuff links and shoes polished to a mirror shine, his hair a stylish sort of messy. His broad shoulders swayed with his elegant movements as he passed Vlad and stopped beside me, his gaze roaming my face for just a moment before he turned and slipped his fingers into mine, making me drop the casing. Not the best approach for fighting—
Ah. That was the point. He didn’t want me to publicly spank Vlad. How annoying.
“Vlad, good to see you again,” Darius said, ever polite.
“Darius.” Vlad inclined his head just a little. His gaze flicked to our entwined fingers. “It seems you’ve made a choice.”
Another form came through the door, robust and burly. Roger was on the scene. One of the shifters in the bar sucked in a startled breath, and everyone went unnaturally still. The guy was a celebrity for the shifters.
His gaze lingered on me and then swept the bar as he turned and took up a position on my other side, facing Vlad.
Vlad’s eyes narrowed. “Mr. Nevin. How quaint. Tell me, do you ever take a break from your honorable duty?”
“My pack will stand with Reagan Somerset,” Roger said, his tone rough and low. “We will stand with Lucifer’s heir, against Lucifer himself, if need be. Against you.”
More gasps this time. He’d just stolen my thunder, the jerk.
Vlad’s eyebrow ticked upward, and his eyes sparkled as his gaze shot back to Darius. “Think very carefully, old friend,” he said softly. “You are aligning yourself with shifters…against your faction. It’s been a long life, Darius, and you’ve navigated wars, feuds, and political upheaval. You’ve always played the odds, just like I taught you. How do you think this choice is going to play out for you? Tensions are high between the elves and Lucifer, just like they were before, only this time the other magical creatures are restless and ready for change. They’ve been brutalized by the elves for far too long. The time is ripe to step in and create a better play for vampires within the Realm. With Lucifer’s help, we can claim control of our destiny. I understand the closeness that comes with a bond, but you must be rational about this. She is not worth your eternal demise. Think.”
“The elves have taken too much power for themselves, that is true. The dynamic must be shifted so we can restore balance,” Darius said, his tone low so his voice wouldn’t carry. I tried not to flinch and stare at him. I had no idea he’d been thinking along those lines. “We do need a better setup within the Realm. But helping Lucifer tear it all down isn’t the right way. It won’t put us in power, it’ll put him in power and us at his mercy. Your ambition has blinded you. You are walking a dangerous path, and it will lead to your destruction.”
Vlad stepped forward, and now I could barely hear his words. His gaze picked up intensity. “You do not want to stand against me, old friend. There are forces in play that you can’t even imagine.”
“I don’t want to stand against you, correct,” Darius responded, “but you are wrong. Reagan is worth my eternal demise. If that means I must pit myself against my maker, so be it. If it means I must once again join forces with the shifters, fine. I will not lose her—not to Lucifer, not to the elves, and certainly not to death or captivity.”
Vlad stared for a very long moment, and although his exterior remained smooth and glossy, his eyes revealed a sort of viciousness that raised my small hairs. Darius held the stare without comment. Moments ticked by.
“I will try to spare you,” Vlad finally said. “She will be lost
, however. It cannot be helped.”
He spun and took off, so fast that it was hard to identify the details. The door slammed behind him.
Darius turned to me, anger burning just below the surface. I had every suspicion it was because I had left the ward without telling him.
“I would ask that you do not engage any vampires.” His tone was even and calm, but he didn’t fool me. “I need you to let me handle them.”
“So…if they threaten me…” I lifted my eyebrows.
“Play defense, do not kill, and extract yourself from the situation. That is within your power.”
I squinted at him. That was no fun. I could finally reveal my power, and now I wasn’t supposed to use it?
If you wish to fight me on this, you will do it away from the shifters, Darius thought. The vampires and shifters will not want to work together again. The conflict between us is old and bitter, even if it was begun by the elves. You and I will need to play mediators, and for that, I need you to withstand your desire for violence.
He made good points, and it didn’t improve my mood.
“Fine,” I ground out.
A few of Roger’s wayward thoughts surfaced in my mind. Cahal had taught him how to shield his thoughts when we were out on the island, and I was also suppressing them, but the enormity of the situation was bearing down on him. I felt his urgent need to get his people moving.
“So…” I pulled my hand from Darius’s. “What’s next?”
“Karen is waiting for us at the Bankses’ house,” Roger said, stepping further away. “Romulus and Charity are en route. Their plane landed, and they’ve all been picked up. They should get there soon after we do.”
“You’re really teaming up with vampires?” someone at the back of the bar asked.
Roger turned and speared the skinny guy with terrible taste in fashion with a commanding stare. Shut up.
That thought came through loud and clear, to both me and the kid. Everyone around Skinny Guy edged away from him, actively trying not to catch any of his stupid, leaving him standing there in the middle of an empty bubble of space.
