Worth Your While

by Connie Suttle

  Worth Your While

  Seattle Elementals, Book Two

  Connie Suttle

  Copyright © 2018 by Connie Suttle

  All Rights Reserved

  Print ISBN: 1-93975-942-0

  Print ISBN-13: 978-1-93975-942-9

  eBook ISBN: 1-93975-941-2

  eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-93975-941-2

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents portrayed within its pages are purely fictitious and a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book, whole or in part, MAY NOT be copied or reproduced by electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying or the implementation of any type of storage or retrieval system) without the express written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  Published by:

  SubtleDemon Publishing, LLC

  PO Box 95696

  Oklahoma City, OK 73143

  Cover art by Renee Barratt @ The Cover Counts

  To Walter, Joe, Larry, Lee, Dianne, Sarah, Mark and Denise.

  Thank you.

  For “the Fat,”

  the ginger kitty extraordinaire.

  Rest in Peace

  Acknowledgments

  As always, this book is the result of collaboration. If it weren't for the support of my editor, my cover artist and my beta readers, it would be less than it is. All mistakes, as usual, are mine and no other's.

  About the Author:

  Connie Suttle lives in Oklahoma with her husband and a conglomerate of cats. They have finally banded together to make their demands, which has proven disconcerting to all humans involved.

  You may find Connie in the following ways:

  Facebook: Connie Suttle Author

  Twitter: @subtledemon

  Website and Blog: subtledemon.com

  Also by Connie Suttle

  Blood Destiny Series:

  Blood Wager

  Blood Passage

  Blood Sense

  Blood Domination

  Blood Royal

  Blood Queen

  Blood Rebellion

  Blood War

  Blood Redemption

  Blood Reunion

  Blood Recall

  Blood Alliance

  Legend of the Ir'Indicti Series:

  Bumble

  Shadowed

  Target

  Vendetta

  Destroyer

  High Demon Series:

  Demon Lost

  Demon Revealed

  Demon's King

  Demon's Quest

  Demon's Revenge

  Demon's Dream

  God Wars Series:

  Blood Double

  Blood Trouble

  Blood Revolution

  Blood Love

  Blood Finale

  Saa Thalarr Series:

  Hope and Vengeance

  Wyvern and Company

  Observe and Protect*

  First Ordinance Series:

  Finder

  Keeper

  BlackWing

  SpellBreaker

  WhiteWing

  R-D Series:

  Cloud Dust

  Cloud Invasion

  Cloud Rebel

  Latter Day Demons Series:

  Hot Demon in the City

  A Demon's Work is Never Done

  A Demon's Due

  Seattle Elementals Series:

  Your Money's Worth

  Worth Your While

  BlackWing Pirates Series

  MindSighted

  MindMage

  MindRogue

  MindMaster*

  Black Rose Sorceress Series

  The Rose Mark

  Rose and Thorn

  Black Rose Queen

  Queen of Thorns and Roses

  Other Titles from SubtleDemon Publishing:

  Malefactor

  Transgressor

  Underhanded*

  by Joe Scholes

  *Forthcoming

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Royal Palace, Sirena

  Randl Gage

  "I know BlackWing X is in the area," Zaria informed me. "Zarigar told me so. It won't be a stretch for him or the others to check on an anomaly that happened on Earth IV."

  I knew Zarigar could do the checking on his own. For some reason, Zaria wanted the ship and its full crew to go with her son. Zaria never asked for favors or made these decisions lightly.

  Something was up.

  "What, exactly, are they looking into?" I asked.

  "Well, there's a coup attempt going on—a race hidden for centuries is trying to take over."

  "That's happened too many times to count—on too many other worlds. Why this one?"

  "The anomaly."

  "Which is?"

  "Let's just say that one of Earth IV's inhabitants appears to be special. So special that she recreated herself after an incident that took her life. Now, you and I know that's impossible—or close enough."

  "Not without help, anyway," I agreed. "How did you learn about this?"

  "Through Conner. Someone escorted this person to the other side, and then watched as she turned, on her own, and went right back where she came from."

  "That can't be done without help, either."

  "There may be someone taking credit for it, but he had no control over what happened, no matter what he thinks."

  "Why do you think this happened?" I asked. "Are you concerned she'll cause trouble for us?"

  "On the contrary. I think she may be able to help us. As for why this happened, well, she may have something in her lineage that is unknown and unexpected."

  "So you want Zarigar to send you images and information."

  "I want Zarigar to send images and information to both of us. Then we'll know for sure."

  Hidden Base, Deserted Planet Earth V

  Ver'Dak Dis'rai

  "My Lord Ver'Dak." Hannet, my Third-In-Command, approached. He'd perfected the art of walking and cringing at the same time. The crab-like result didn't please me as much as he thought.

  "What is it, Hannet?" I growled at him.

  "Ah, it has come to my attention that Ruudann is ah, deceased. On ah, Earth IV."

  Several seconds passed while I quelled my anger and the urge to strike Hannet. "What did that fool do this time?" I asked, without pretending to be civil.

  "He was destroyed by the uh, only known and capable uh, fire demon."

  "Did the fire demon survive?"

  "She did not."

  "Good. Who has taken Ruudann's place? Have all the Shakkor Agdah communities in the Northern and Southern Americas accepted their rule?"

  "Vaalenn has stepped into Ruudann's place—it was at his request, should he die."

  "Is she competent?"

  "She is untried, my Lord."

  "Keep an eye on her. If she does anything stupid, let me know."

  "I will, my Lord. Is there anything in particular I should watch for?"

  "Exposure of her kind. They work better in secret, just as we do, remember?"

  "Yes, my Lord. What should we do if Shakkor Agdah is exposed?"

  "We go in and take over, of course. We've given them as
many chances as they deserve to destroy that planet, and why they haven't succeeded is beyond my imagination. They can become my useful tools elsewhere, just as anyone else might. Taking Earth IV will bring the other three down swiftly, will it not?"

  "The final three do not have the protections in place as IV does."

  "Exactly my point. Keep watching them and send regular reports."

  "Of course, my Lord."

  Gulfport, Mississippi

  Cassie

  "Thanks for picking me up." I shut the door on Gina's small import and flipped the sun-visor mirror open to check my hair.

  I'd been walking for three days before deciding to call her—after leaving Will and New Orleans behind. Gina was shocked to hear my voice on her cell phone. I'd had to explain my absence for three months, thanks to Will the asshole wizard, who'd used me to kill a bunch of Shakkor Agdah.

  Will thought I was dead, too, at first. That's what happened all the other times he'd used a fire demon to kill those fuckers.

  "All those fire demons—used as a sacrifice," I grumbled as Gina pulled out of the Walmart parking lot in Gulfport, Mississippi.

  "Cliff told me," Gina confessed. "After he sent Rob packing."

  "Yeah. I heard the sprites knew." My words were flat. I'd cared for Rob. Thought of him as a friend. Yet he'd stood aside and let Will haul me to my death, without telling me anything.

  "Have you talked to Parke?"

  "Do you see a cell phone here?" I patted the shift I'd awakened in three days earlier. "I was in a fucking crypt in New Orleans. No access to electricity there—or phones or shoes. I had to beg to borrow someone's phone in Walmart's restroom to call you."

  "I'll get you home in about four hours; you can clean up and call Parke from there," Gina sighed while turning onto the highway.

  "Yeah." Frankly, I wanted to turn to fire demon and burn down the house, I was still so mad at Will, Rob and every other fucking sprite in existence. Plus, I looked like a homeless person dressed in a dirty shift, no shoes and my hair matted from lying on a crypt shelf. That crypt shelf had held rotting bones before Will dumped me there.

  "He's so proud of himself, for putting me back together."

  "Will?" Gina turned swiftly toward me, her eyes wide with shock.

  "Yeah. Then he informed me that the others he'd done this to died. All of them. All these centuries, and everybody's waged war on the fire demon population. Who knows if there are any left?"

  "Except you," Gina said, her voice soft.

  "Yeah. Now I need a fucking therapist to deal with my fucking life."

  "Will you be glad to see Cliff, at least?"

  "Yeah. You, too. Sorry I'm so grumpy, but you see how things turned out. I should be dead. I'm not."

  "I'm glad you're not. Somebody else is Prince of Alabama, though. Parke and the others said it was important to put somebody in that slot, in case Shakkor Agdah shows up again."

  "I don't care about that," I blew out a sigh. "I wasn't really comfortable in that position anyway."

  "Everybody says you did a great job."

  "They were being nice because I was dead." My laugh was humorless.

  "Are you hungry?" Gina changed the subject.

  "Yeah."

  We pulled into a McDonald's just off the highway ten minutes later, going through the drive-through. Gina ordered two cheeseburgers for me, with a large Coke. For three days, I'd lived off handouts and restaurant Dumpster finds. At least the state was moving toward normal, after the poisoned escapee problem was eliminated.

  All of that happened during the three months I was unconscious in a New Orleans crypt. "Do they know more about the poison disease?" I asked around a mouthful of cheeseburger.

  "Not much. They're working on it—that's all I hear," Gina shrugged.

  "The U.S. Government; finding new ways to move even more slowly and mysteriously than before," I quipped before sucking on my soda straw.

  "Yeah, I know." I walked through the door and past Cliff, who blinked in disbelief at my appearance. "After I have a bath, I hope a few things are back to normal."

  "Should I, ah, warn the Chancellor?" he drawled.

  "You can if you want. Tell him I needed a bath. I don't feel clean enough to have a decent conversation with anybody."

  "I'll pass that along."

  "Thanks."

  "No problem. Cassie?"

  "Yeah?" I turned back to look at him.

  "I'm really glad you're not dead."

  "I have mixed feelings about it," I said and resumed my journey to the bedroom and shower.

  Cliff Young

  "Chancellor, I have news," I said when Parke answered his cell phone.

  "What news is that?"

  "Well, it's about Cassie."

  He hesitated, then said in a gruffer voice, "What about Cassie?"

  "This will come as a shock, because it certainly did to me, but she's alive."

  "What the fuck? Cliff, if you're lying, I'll have your wolf strung up on a barbed-wire fence."

  "I'm not lying. Gina picked her up in Gulfport a few hours ago. Seems the wizard found a way to pull her back and she's been in a New Orleans crypt while her body recovered."

  "Where's the wizard now?" Parke growled.

  "We don't know. Cassie told him to fuck off and walked out. She's been walking for three days, until some kind soul lent her a phone in a Walmart restroom. She called Gina to come get her."

  "I'll be traveling to Alabama the moment Jon can get me on a plane," Parke snapped. "Don't let her go anywhere, all right?"

  I heard the sounds of desk drawers opening and then Parke's shout for his personal assistant before he spoke again. "Is Cassie planning to call me?" he asked.

  "That's what she said—when she got out of the shower. She hasn't bathed in more than three months, so I can't say I blame her."

  "Good. I'll let you know when I'm headed that way."

  "You do that," I said, my tone flat.

  Cassie

  It should have come as no surprise that I'd find a finger bone stuck in my hair after spending three months in a fucking crypt. I dropped it on the floor, where it ticked and bounced across the tile before coming to rest at the base of the toilet.

  "Fuck." I bent over to retrieve it before tossing it in the wastebasket, on top of the dirty shift I'd peeled off my body. A part of me said I should feel bad about tossing somebody's bone in a wastebasket, but I sure as hell didn't plan on making a trip back to New Orleans to return it to the crypt.

  Will could still be creeping around the place, wandering in and out of the concrete walls like they were air instead of solid material.

  I considered that my mood hadn't improved since I'd died.

  "Fuck you, Will," I huffed. "Fuck you, too, Rob." Jerking on the shower handle, I turned on the spray and waited a few seconds for the water to warm up before stepping inside. It surprised me that the drain didn't clog from so much dust and dirt flowing down it.

  Will could have cleaned me up a little. He hadn't even bothered with that.

  The asshat.

  Seattle

  Parke

  "Mom, I don't really know how to explain it, because Cliff didn't know either. He said something about the wizard putting her back together, or some strange thing like that. I'll get more information when Cassie calls. I have a flight to Alabama scheduled first thing in the morning, too."

  My mother looked at me as if I'd grown another head. "They better not be lying about this," she snapped. "Destiny still thinks her sister's dead, and I'm not telling her otherwise until I know it's true."

  "Look, I feel the same way," I said. "It's too much to process at the moment." Opening a drawer of a chest, I lifted a stack of clean underwear and tossed it into the open suitcase on my bed.

  My cell phone rang, then. It was Cliff's number, but I considered that Cassie probably had no personal belongings with her—her cell phone was in her purse at the house in Alabama when Will performed his act of murderous
treachery.

  I had the purse, clothes and Cassie's other things here at the house, neatly packed up by Gina and mailed from Tuscaloosa. I wondered if Cassie had found something to wear after bathing. Shoving that thought aside, I punched the button on the phone and said hello.

  "Parke?" Her voice wobbled, as if she wanted to cry at hearing my voice.

  "What, baby? Are you all right?" I wanted to shout at her, hug her and soothe her at the same time.

  I reminded myself that none of this was her fault.

  "Do not ask her about that fucking wizard," Mom hissed at me. I blinked at her—she never used profanity.

  "I'm—okay," Cassie hesitated.

  "Sweetheart, you sound like you're anything but," I said as gently as I could. "Are you hurt? Have Gina take a look, all right?" Don'taskaboutWill, don'taskaboutWill, I mentally chided myself.

  "Has there been any news—anything new about my uh, father and grandfather?" she asked.

  Thank goodness, a safer topic. "Dan is looking, baby—he's got several working with him, and even a few from the NSA are helping, because of all the murdered humans," I breathed. "They may have gone back to Mexico, or farther south, even. We haven't picked up a trail yet, because they haven't killed anyone since they left."

  "Good and bad news," Cassie sighed.

  "Yeah. Baby, I have a plane ticket to fly to Alabama tomorrow morning. I'll be there around two. I'll get a rental and get to the house as quick as I can."