Fate's Fools Box Set

by Bell, Ophelia

  But it was clear that the music spurring the hounds toward their target was having adverse effects on Deva. Once we nailed down the show for tomorrow night, I planned to find an alternative, something that would allow Deva to perform more of Fate’s Fools’ recent hits, which always had a calming effect. The ones her dad wrote seemed to work the best, and playing them in front of an audience always gave us more lasting results than singing them on the bus.

  As I’d done just about every hour for the past ten days, I reached out through my blood link, seeking Ozzie’s soul. I found nothing, not even a severed end of our bond. The thread still existed, but it disappeared into nothingness, leaving me frustrated. We needed the fucker more than ever, not just for Deva, but for his connections in the music world.

  Blaze paced back and forth several cars ahead of us, as impatient as we were to keep moving. Finally traffic crept forward, the pace picking up until we were traveling quickly enough for a breeze to flow over the windshield. The warm currents carried whispers that reminded me of Ozzie, but no accompanying messages.

  The hound picked up speed, its nose in the air. I hoped it was actually leading us somewhere useful. For all I knew, the creature intended us to get stuck in traffic. But our newfound speed was short-lived; brake lights flashed ahead of me and I slowed. The car behind us didn’t.

  “Brace yourselves,” I said, hitting the brakes hard a split-second before the Jeep jerked and the air split with a deafening crunch.

  “What the fuck?” Keagan turned around as I put the Jeep into park and cut the engine, cursing. Up ahead of us, the hound turned and came trotting back, tongue lolling and a happy dog look on its face.

  “This was all you, wasn’t it?” I asked the creature as I stepped out onto the road. The cars in the lanes around us were at a stand-still. We weren’t going anywhere, even if we hadn’t just been hit. The hound just looked up at me and blinked before trotting off toward the other vehicle.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Keagan said. “Was the damn thing leading us here all along? What the fuck for?”

  I eyed the driver of the car behind us, an attractive woman with olive skin and jet-black hair cut short and boyish. She appeared dazed, her mouth hanging open as she recovered from the jolt of having hit us. When her eyes landed on me, they widened in shock and she fumbled to exit the car.

  “I’m so sorry! My god, what the hell happened? I wasn’t on the phone or texting or anything. I had my foot on the goddamn brakes, but everything just stopped so fast.” She stood behind her open door, looked down at the hood of her car, and winced. “Fuck. Just . . . fuck my life.”

  “It’s probably worse than it looks,” I said, studying the Jeep’s relatively undamaged rear end. The woman’s front end had connected just beneath the bumper, resulting in her hood crumpling like paper and her front fenders along with it. The front drivers-side tire was punctured and flat, and I guessed the other side would be too.

  Keagan vaulted out of the back of the Jeep and let out a low whistle. “You’re not going anywhere like this.”

  She snorted. “Not that we were going anywhere, anyway.” Looking chagrined, she met my gaze. “You’re going to hate me even more now, but I’m kind of between insurance plans, so since it doesn’t look like you guys took much damage, would you be willing to let this go?”

  I frowned. “We took no damage. Why are you so worried?” I tilted my head, regarding her with interest. She had an unusual quality that I didn’t see in other humans, but couldn’t place. It made me itch.

  “She’s at fault, jackass,” Keagan snapped. “But no worries. We don’t have insurance either, so let’s just get you moved off the road and work something out.”

  Rohan wandered up beside me and stuck out his hand. “I’m Rohan. Sorry the universe decided to fuck you in the ass today.”

  The woman opened her mouth, but all that came out was a surprised laugh. She took his hand. “My name’s Nadia, and yeah, that pretty well sums it up, but this is really just the cherry on an already shitty sundae. I was late enough as it is, and now this.”

  On the other side of our lane, Keagan was in the process of directing the slow-moving vehicles to make room. The cars ahead of us had advanced a bit, and he held up his hand to urge the ones in the next lane to wait, then got behind Nadia’s car.

  “Get in and steer. We can at least get you to the curb. Come on and give me a hand, Ro.”

  While the pair of them helped her move her limping car to the shoulder, I hopped in the Jeep and followed, pulling in ahead of them and killing the engine.

  Nadia got out of her car again, phone and wallet in hand. “Let me buy you guys a beer or something? There’s got to be something I can do to make it up to you.” She fixed her gaze on Keagan’s bulky arms, tracking down his body. Her stance shifted, hip jutting out a little more in a hesitant attempt to flirt.

  Rohan crossed his arms and shot me a look, brows lifting as if to say, “Are you watching this?”

  From behind her, I said, “Let us give you a ride somewhere. Where were you headed?”

  When she turned and looked at me, I got the same odd feeling that there was something off with her and I should know what it was. She blinked up at me, and now that I was closer, I could see the dark blue ring glowing along the edge of her irises.

  “You’re bloodline,” I said.

  Nadia swallowed and gave a jerky nod. “I—I guess I am, if that means I can tell what you are.”

  Beside her, Blaze sidled up and sniffed at her hand, nuzzling it gently. She reflexively opened her fingers as if the hound’s contact felt good, though I knew she couldn’t see him.

  “You don’t need to be afraid of us,” I said, bracing myself to use my powers on her so she didn’t freak out, but if she hadn’t by now, we were probably fine.

  “I honestly don’t quite know how to act with you. You’re the first ones of . . . your kind . . . I’ve ever actually met. Up close, I mean.” She glanced around as if worried she’d be overheard, but the noise of the beltway, even moving at a crawl, was enough to drown out casual conversation.

  “Come with us and we can talk on the way,” I said.

  “On the way where, exactly?” She shrunk back toward her open car door and darted nervous looks between me and the other two, any pretense of flirting gone.

  “Wherever you need to go,” I said. “You can call a tow truck on the way. You said you were on a schedule.”

  She studied me warily. I caught Rohan exhaling golden smoke and jerked my head in a curt negative. If she could deal with us clear-headed, that was preferred.

  At length, she let out a resigned sigh and leaned back into her car. “I don’t really feel right asking for favors when I was the one who rear-ended you guys, but I can’t exactly be picky right now. I know who you are.”

  When she stood back up, I gestured toward the Jeep, allowing her to walk ahead of me. “You know we’re higher races.”

  She climbed into the passenger seat, shaking her head. “Not that, though that is pretty amazing and I have loads of questions.” She turned and looked at Keagan and Rohan as they used the Jeep’s roll bars to hop into the back seat. Her eyes were fixed on Rohan’s T-shirt. You’re members of Fate’s Fools.”

  7

  Llyr

  Keagan and Rohan exchanged a look as I signaled and merged back into traffic, catching sight of Blaze up ahead three lanes over through a gap in a couple cars.

  “What the fuck is it with humans who all somehow seem to know who the fuck we are?” Rohan asked. “I mean, I know the band gets the odd fan who isn’t one of us, but usually they’re fated. After last week’s concert, I don’t know what to think.”

  “You mean the show in Vegas?” Nadia asked, twisting around in her seat to look at the other guys. “Do you have any idea how fucking epic that was?”

  I darted a glance at her while trying to keep an eye on Blaze. “You were there?”

  “Not personally, but the sho
w was all over the internet that night.” She regarded me thoughtfully. “You and the lead singer, huh? That kiss didn’t look choreographed.”

  My brows twitched and I shifted my gaze directly ahead. The kiss I’d shared with Deva on stage that night had most definitely not been planned, and the fucking thing haunted me.

  “It’s complicated,” I muttered.

  “It always is,” Nadia said. “So, I know you two.” She turned toward the rear of the Jeep again. “You’re Rohan Tanan and Keagan Sundance, the North brothers’ replacements. But I don’t know you.” She aimed her gaze at me again. “Pretty tight work on the horn. You can really blow.”

  A not so inconspicuous snort sounded from behind me, and I shot Keagan my deadliest glare in the mirror. Nadia flashed me a sly grin. “So who are you? Or is it a better question to ask what are you? I only know you three aren’t human. The dream I had didn’t exactly explain the difference between the higher races.”

  “I’m Llyr Xanthos, satyr—or nymphaea, if you want to get technical. I joined the band about two weeks ago, for that concert, in fact.”

  It felt strange that she was scrutinizing me. Before my brothers and I had been captured by the Ultiori, our interaction with humans had been as demigods. We’d rarely left the Haven except to either defend our portals from power hungry human leaders, or to reward the ones who worshipped Dionysus by joining in their fertility rites. We never stuck around to chat.

  I suddenly felt uncomfortable and wished one of the guys were driving instead of me.

  “Where the fuck have you guys been all this time? Hiding under a rock? I mean, I’m guessing you all didn’t just appear back in March. We’ve just been allowed to see you for some crazy reason.”

  “We’re good at blending in,” Rohan said.

  Nadia gawked at him. “Um, with those bodies? No way do you blend in. In case you missed it, you three had traffic stopped before you started helping me get my car off the road. And I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but half the reason I hit you was because I might have been checking you out a little bit.” She eyed me and waved her hand in front of her face in a fanning gesture.

  I suppressed a laugh at her blatant admiration. Then it occurred to me I’d never asked where we should take her.

  “So, Nadia, where can we drop you off?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened as if she’d just realized it herself. She turned to face forward. “Ah, we’re going the right way, actually. How’d you know to take the Baytown exit?”

  “We have our ways,” Rohan said. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the hound had directed us this way, now that it turned out to be the direction Nadia needed to go. If the purpose of this trip was to meet her, I supposed we’d find out why soon enough.

  As if picking up on my suspicions, Rohan leaned forward and said, “So what’s your deal, Nadia? What do you do besides ogle strange men on the highway and rear-end them?”

  Her cheeks flushed and she fidgeted with her purse, unzipping it, then dipping a hand in and pulling out a small card. Turning around, she handed it to the back and I hazarded a glance at her, curious. She gave me a sheepish look.

  “Um, as if it isn’t bad enough that I hit you guys, I kind of need another favor.”

  From the back, Keagan read her card aloud. “Nadia Varga, Booking Manager, Club Destiny. You’re in the music business?”

  “Yep. And meeting you guys was both the best and worst part of my day. You see, that fender-bender made me miss a meeting with a local act who’s notoriously difficult to pin down for shows. Meeting them in person is how you land them, which I was on my way to do. Except . . . ”

  “You ran into us instead,” I filled in. “And now you need us to play a gig in their place.”

  Why was this starting feel like a pattern? Of course, we tended to look for gigs on short notice, considering our constraints, so the only way we could realistically get any was if someone else canceled. So far, the hounds had steered us well. There was only one problem.

  “Club Destiny isn’t a jazz club, though,” Keagan said.

  “Since when does Fate’s Fools play jazz?” Nadia asked. “You guys may be the Banksy of the music scene, the way you just kind of pop up, but you’ve got a sound and it isn’t jazz.”

  “Never mind that,” I said, ignoring the fact that she apparently didn’t know the band all that well. “We’ll take the gig.”

  Nadia gaped at me for a second before saying, “You don’t even want to know when it is?”

  “It’s tomorrow night at eight,” I said.

  “That it is,” she replied. “Should I even bother asking how you know?”

  “We have our ways,” Rohan said again, followed by a grunt as Keagan elbowed him in the ribs.

  Nadia sighed. “Is that how it is? You guys pop into our lives out of the blue and we aren’t allowed to ask questions?”

  “You can ask anything you wish,” I said, shooting an impatient look in the mirror at my two troublesome passengers. “My kind occasionally have the power of foresight; that’s how I knew.”

  It was a small lie. I’d merely guessed; the hound had led us to her, after all, and we were looking for a gig for that day and time.

  “Yeah, Rohan’s just being a dick,” Keagan added.

  I followed Blaze through a series of lane changes and turns that had us heading toward a marina. After a few minutes, Nadia turned to me. “Wow, you are good.”

  As open as I was willing to be about my own powers, somehow I felt it would be prudent to leave the existence of the hounds out of it, so I just smiled and shrugged. Though Bodhi and his family were bloodline and I believed they could be trusted, we hadn’t interacted with many more of them to verify how effective Deva’s ritual to ensure their loyalty had been. I’d trust this woman when she proved herself trustworthy.

  “You’re doing us a favor, you know,” I said, deciding to share a little of our mission just to see how she behaved. Despite Ozzie’s disappearance, I still had access to his powers. I’d be able to read any dishonesty on her breath.

  “With this show? Not half the favor you’re doing me. My job was on the line if I didn’t land this other act for tomorrow. I usually don’t work on such short notice, but these guys have been stringing me along for weeks, asking for more bullshit to be added to their contract before they’d sign. Now the date is here and they were finally close to signing, but only if I showed up and did some ridiculous song and dance for them first.”

  “Sounds like a bad way to do business,” I said.

  “You’re telling me. But my boss was willing to kiss ass, and they knew it.”

  “And you think he’ll settle for us,” I deadpanned.

  “Settle?” she nearly shrieked. “He’ll kiss your asses and suck your dicks to get you guys on stage, even for an hour.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that,” Keagan chimed in from the back seat.

  Nadia flushed and shook her head. “You know what I mean. He’s always trying to be the edgiest club in the city. You guys blow the other band out of the water.”

  “You said it’s not a jazz club, right?” Rohan asked, leaning forward.

  “Nope. Good old rock and roll like you usually play. Why this talk of jazz? Are you guys branching out?”

  I didn’t want to point out that Lukas North had switched to playing jazz almost exclusively before leaving the band for good. I hadn’t been around for their earlier iterations, but it was my understanding that they’d never pinned down a specific style. Even their latest indie-rock was more eclectic than most music played on the radio.

  “Just playing the music that calls to us,” I said.

  She gave me a knowing smile and nod. “I see. Yeah, I get it. Free spirits, going wherever the wind blows you. No wonder the clubs I’d heard you were playing weren’t on my radar. I just thought you were going for more obscure, underground scene. Club Destiny is higher profile. Are you all right with that?”

  “We really are
n’t that particular,” I answered.

  “Don’t let anyone else hear you say that. You guys are hot commodities.” She shot an appraising look at me, then into the back seat. “And not just for your music, either. Any chance one of you is single?”

  I didn’t answer, but she wasn’t looking at me. Perhaps the kiss she’d seen me share with Deva had been enough to signal I was taken, even though it wasn’t technically true. I glanced in the rear-view as Keagan and Rohan shared a look.

  Keagan cleared his throat. “Fate’s Fools is off the market.”

  Nadia frowned. “The whole band? Seriously? Wow. I envy the women who could pin you guys down.”

  “Woman,” Keagan said. “Only one woman. Deva Rainsong.”

  She’d been half turned, shaking her head in disappointment, when she froze and jerked back around again. “Shut the fuck up! Are you telling me she’s landed all of you? Not just Casanova here?” She smacked me lightly on the arm and I lifted my eyebrows at her.

  “Casanova?”

  She gave a snort and a cursory perusal. “After that show in Vegas, hell yeah. Nobody missed how you were wooing her with your music. I replayed the whole set a dozen times. The two of you kept eye-fucking each other across the stage, then you had that duet and . . . ” She made an exploding sound with her mouth and an accompanying gesture, fingers spreading wide. “I could only imagine what the rest of the night was like for you two.”

  My brow twitched at the memory of the remainder of that night—our confrontation with Fate, followed by Deva’s memories returning and her emotional breakdown. She’d refused my every attempt to explain or console her in any way. In her eyes, I’d betrayed her once again by failing to divulge Ozzie’s secret, and despite my promise to him, I couldn’t help but agree with her. I had failed her, and it had cost me whatever progress I’d made toward regaining her trust.

  “Hey,” Nadia said in a more subdued tone. “I didn’t mean to stick my nose in your business. I’m just impressed, is all. And now I want to go watch that video again just to see how the other guys looked. If she’s got all of you . . . ” She shrugged. “Well, let’s just say I may be changing religions, because she is a fucking goddess by my standards.”