The Azar Omnibus: The Complete Azar Trilogy (The Azar Trilogy Book 0)

by Grace McGinty

  "Azar, Danian, you can have the room next door. Go stow away your stuff and we'll meet out the front in ten minutes. We'll walk down to the diner we just passed, and I'll brief you on the plan over lunch."

  Azar looked at Danian but he was already walking out the door to their room. Their room. She wasn't a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but she has assumed she'd be sharing a room with Mira.

  Maybe Mira wanted to keep a personal eye on Lida, the Wicked Witch of the East? She picked up her duffel from the rear cargo area of the SUV and walked into her room.

  Danian had taken the bed closest to the door. The motel rooms were exactly like every other budget hotel room in the western world. Two single beds with peach covered bedspreads from the seventies, two bedside tables with a Gideon bible in the top drawer, and a little Formica table pushed into a corner was hugged by two ripped vinyl chairs. She flicked the knob on the big old box TV and discovered that it didn't work. Surprise, surprise.

  There was a tiny bathroom, not even wide enough for her to spread her arms, with a shower over bath, a bowl sized vanity and a toilet that probably came off the assembly line during Nixon’s term in office. Just your average hotel room. Azar just hoped the sheets were clean and the bedbugs were friendly.

  She didn't think they were going to be in Dease Lake for that long, so she didn't bother unpacking. She went into the closet sized bathroom and splashed water on her face, the tiny mirror mocking her with her reflection. She looked damn tired, and her eyes were bloodshot from a sleepless night without Bast. Her hair was mussed and her clothes were crinkled. She looked like a bag lady.

  She went back out to the room and pulled a fresh t-shirt from her bag, along with a pair of tight blue jeans. Danian was sitting on the bed, sharpening a knife. They hadn't brought small arms into Canada, just in case the Customs guys got extra curious, which was why Beth had delivered them their care package personally. Apparently, Danian had no such qualms about human government officials, and brought his own arsenal of throwing knives.

  She didn't want to have to try doing contortionist exercises to get changed in the bathroom. Maybe if she was fast enough, she could get changed in the room, and Danian wouldn’t even notice. He seemed pretty intent on the task at hand, his body turned away from her. Azar turned her back to him as she stripped off her shirt and pants, quickly throwing on the clothes from her duffel bag. When she turned back again, Danian was looking at her appreciatively, one eyebrow raised. Azar's cheeks flooded red, but he just turned and went back to sharpening his knives, never saying a word. The silence was awkward.

  Azar cleared her throat. "How’s Keenan?" She never thought she'd see the day when Keenan Reilly would become a safe topic, but here they were.

  "Reilly is fine." He didn't even lift his head.

  "I know he's physically fine. I mean, how is he emotionally?" Danian threw her an incredulous look. She guessed from his position, trying to speculate on the emotional well-being of another man, let alone a human, would be slightly like asking a snake to judge the emotional well-being of an ant.

  He shook his head. “Uh, he doesn't cry if that helps?"

  She rolled her eyes. Danian was useless as a source of information. She grabbed her toiletries bag and went into the bathroom to freshen up.

  When she walked out five minutes later, all the knives had magically disappeared from Danian's bed, and the man himself had changed. He was in jeans and a cable knit sweater. A knit cap was pulled snugly down around his ears. He looked like modern day Captain Ahab. She would bet all her hard earned money that most of his knives were now hidden on his person somewhere. There was no telltale lumpiness of holsters or anything else beneath the sweater though.

  He jerked his head towards the door. Azar pulled on the down jacket that she'd thrown across the bed and she followed him out.

  Mira and Lida were already out the front, and together they walked across the road to a homey little diner. A colorful sign out the front advertised that breakfast was served all day. The outside had been hammered by the weather, its paint faded and peeling, but the inside was warm and cozy. They grabbed a booth near the front windows, and a young waitress came over to take their order. She eyed Danian with something close to desperation.

  Azar turned to him, and appraised him impartially. It was hard to judge the looks of the long lived against that of a human. Supernaturals tend to have their rough edges smoothed out over time. If you coupled that with rapid healing and immune systems that were all but impenetrable, they were all almost attractive by default. Their bodies physiology was completely different to that of humans, and the fact that their human forms were more like a suit than something they were stuck with, meant that their physiques were always reasonably attractive, even in the half-bloods. The only thing that set them apart from each other were their physical features, which varied just as often as that of humans.

  However, a Djinn could have a nose the size of a bratwurst, but they would still be attractive to humans. The Djinn emanated a sense of otherness that humans seemed to find so appealing and scary simultaneously. It was the buried natural instinct of a predator and prey, like insects to a bug zapper. She'd never be able to put their finger on exactly what it was, and would likely put it down to charisma or mystique.

  Danian was a prime example of this. He was an average looking guy. Dark hair, dark eyes, the physique of a man who had a manual labor job. His mouth was a little too wide, and his eyes a little too far apart to be GQ handsome. But he had a mysterious air about him, coupled with a dark, brooding look that accented the wildness that oozed from his pores, and it attracted women like honeybees to a big, yellow flower.

  The waitress finally found her voice. "What would you like?" she squeaked out, and Azar saw the girl grimace. Danian gave her a megawatt smile, and Azar thought the girl might pass out in a dead faint.

  "I'll have the Lumberjack breakfast, and coffee." The girl smiled and scrawled something on her notepad. She went to turn away, then realized she hadn't got anyone else’s order yet. Her cheeks flaming, she took the rest of their orders. Azar felt sorry for the girl as she pushed through the doors to the kitchen.

  Mira muttered something about men and shook her head. "Alright, let’s get down to business. This should be a simple retrieval. For those of us who were operating without caffeine this morning during the briefing, here’s the highlights. The owner of the eBay account selling Ibsali is Troy Davis, a middle aged divorcee from a speck town called Hearne Creek. He's a seasonal tour guide during the summer, and makes ‘rustic’ furniture during the winter. No criminal history and lives alone. I expect this to be a very easy retrieval. We get in there, offer the man a ridiculous amount of money, get Ibsali and we can be on the road home by tonight. Danian and Lida, I want you guys in the forests around Davis' house, keeping an eye out for W.A.D. We don't need any surprises. Azar and I will approach Mr. Davis.” When Lida scowled about being relegated to support, Mira shrugged. “Let’s face it, of the four of us, Azar is the most human. We will tell him that we come on behalf of a private collector from Dallas, hand over the cash and leave. No muss, no fuss. Any questions?" Everyone shook their head.

  The food started to arrive, and Azar watched Danian eat in awe/horror. The man could fit a ridiculous amount of food in his mouth before he needed to chew. Like an entire pancake.

  She screwed up her face at him. “Didn't your mother teach you table manners? I grew up a street rat, and even I know better than to try and fit a whole plate of food in my mouth at once.” She shook her head in disbelief.

  Danian merely grunted. “I didn't touch a fork until I was at least three hundred. God put the perfect utensils on the end of our wrists; who am I to argue with practicality?”

  Food flew out of his mouth as he spoke, and she cringed. He stuffed an entire sausage in his mouth to make a point, and she decided that this was a battle she would never win. If only the waitress could see him now.

  She dragged her eyes away
and focused on the huge club sandwich in front of her. Everyone ate in silence, and a lot more delicately than Danian, but she still noticed several of the locals giving them strange looks. They devoured their food swiftly and Mira tipped the waitress a twenty as they left.

  They crossed back over the icy road, and retreated to Mira's room to suit up. She handed each of them a gun, a knife and a mobile phone from the huge portable lock-boxes Beth had stored under the bed. Lida and Danian both got changed into camouflage gear, and tucked extra weaponry around their bodies. They all had their own abilities of course, but why go through the hassle when you could just shoot a guy and be done with it?

  Mira twirled her finger in the air. “Let’s roll out!”

  Chapter 7

  The trip to Hearnes Creek took two and a half hours, but at least she didn't have to sit in the back with Lida. That dubious honor went to Danian. But Azar could still feel Lida staring daggers at the back of her head.

  Mira drove the SUV with ease along what was essentially a gravelled forest service road, but the trip was filled with indescribable beauty. Spruce and birch trees lined the road, spreading down towards the Strikine River canyon, creating a great blanket of greenery as far as the eye could see. Mountain goats skittered up and down the sheer cliff faces of the canyon with gravity defying ease. Caribou scampered away from the sound of the SUV's engine, while the moose merely raised their heads from grazing beneath the low branches, and then turned away. They saw two black bears playing in a shallow part of the river. It was so beautiful that she just knew Bast would have loved it here.

  The river’s current was swift, but where the water spun out to calmer areas, the water was so clear that it created the illusion that it was glass. Mira looked longingly at the water, and at one stage Azar was convinced that the Marid was going to pull the SUV over and dive off the side of the canyon into the crisp water below.

  Eventually, they made it to the township of Hearnes Creek, if it could be considered that. Nestled in the embrace of a mountain and the Strikine River, there were essentially four buildings that made up the town. There was a petrol station on the way into town, a general store, that doubled as the post office, as well as the camping and adventure sport outfitters. There was also a bar and grill with several pickup trucks out the front, and a quaint two story Tudor style house that boasted it was a B'n'B on a sign out the front. There were several more shop fronts, but by the look of them they had been empty for a long time. Paint was peeling off the exteriors and there were cobwebs across the doors and windows. A dozen houses dotted the slopes behind the main street of town.

  Mira briefed us as we pulled into town. The Adel techies had pinpointed the IP address of the eBay account that had posted Ibsali to a satellite mounted on the roof of the general store. That meant they were going to have to ask for directions to Troy Davis' house. Resistance from townspeople was expected, and getting them to disregard their general distrust of strangers would be incredibly difficult. They drew straws for the job, and Azar had come out second best.

  Mira pulled up in the small lot to the side of the general store. Azar grimaced as she slid out of the car and into what could only be described as a muddy bog. Thank god she was wearing her boots. She squelched her way up the porch steps and vigorously wiped her feet on the welcome mat, pushing open the heavy front door.

  A small brass bell tinkled above her head as she stepped back in time to the nineties. The floor was polished hardwood, and a large counter with a timber top ran right along the wall opposite her. To her left stood a large double fridge and freezer, and to her right was a single computer, with a sign that stated hire charge was only two dollars per hour. It was old. She was actually surprised you could get the internet on the old box computer. The wall to her left was floor to ceiling shelves, stocked with dry goods and household essentials, and the wall to her right was filled with camping, hiking, hunting and fishing products. Two large free-standing shelves stood in the middle of the room, and held everything from hardware to fresh vegetables, and one side had a small library of books and movies for hire. Everything a small town needed was jammed within these four walls.

  She walked up to the counter and a man in his late forties came out from a back room, a smile on his face.

  "What can I do you for?"

  She put on her most winning smile and hoped she didn’t look like she had a bad case of indigestion.

  "Hi there. This is going to sound so strange, but I'm looking for my cousin Troy's house. Troy Davis? You see, I've been trying to get a hold of him for months to tell him that my Grandma died, his great aunt, and she left him some money in her will. But the lawyers can't track him down.” The man nodded sympathetically. “I'm the heir to most of her estate, but I felt that I should at least try to find him first. I know he lives in Hearnes Creek, but for the life of me I don't know where." She put her best innocent Mary Sue expression. She spoke quickly so the guy behind the counter didn't have time to process too many details. “You sure have a nice place here. Cold though,” she said in a simpering voice, wrapping her arms around her waist and pushing up her breasts.

  His eyes involuntarily took in her figure, and a stupid grin lit up his face. She guessed they didn’t get many single women through here. Maybe she should have just worn a lower cut shirt. That way the guy wouldn't have been able to pick her face out of a police lineup. Her boobs would be another matter though.

  Dragging his eyes from her chest, he cleared his throat. "I didn't realize old Pete had a sister." The man’s brow lowered.

  "Yeah, she left as soon as she turned sixteen, went to New York to be a dancer," she fibbed on the fly. The man nodded sagely. She guessed a lot of the youngsters from around here would try and escape this backwater town at the first possible chance.

  “Yeah, I can see that. The Davis family have been here since forever. There isn't much here for a woman though. Troy lives about fifteen minutes out of town. You take the main road north, and then you'll see his mailbox after about ten minutes. Turn left there, and follow the road down about five minutes. You can't miss the place. Big log cabin, wrap around porch. Tell him I said hi."

  “Of course I will.” She smiled in relief. “You've been so helpful. It’s true what they say; chivalry isn’t dead, it’s just hiding in the country,” she practically purred as she grabbed a chocolate bar and threw a dollar on the counter. The man laughed, like she'd said something outrageously funny. There was definitely a lack of estrogen in this town.

  She turned and waved, sauntering out of the store with a definite swing in her hips. May as well give the poor guy something to dream about on those long mountain nights.

  She skipped out the door towards the SUV, the cold wind picking up her hair and tangling it in her mouth. She slid into the passenger seat again, and the conversation in the car came to a dramatic stop. It was a bit like her years at the orphanage, when the mean girls would stop talking when you walked past, so you just knew they were talking about you.

  Lida looked even angrier than usual, and even Mira looked disgruntled. Danian looked amused, and that was never good.

  "Ten minutes north, mailbox on the side of the road."

  Mira just nodded, and reversed out of the lot. They drove in silence, and turned off at a rusty white mailbox, right where the store owner said it'd be. Two minutes down the long winding driveway, they stopped to let Lida and Danian out of the car. They melted into the forest like ghosts. Mira continued down the dirt road, and it finally opened up into a small clearing.

  A picturesque log cabin perched in the middle of the house yard, looking like an honest to goodness Bob Ross painting. Fire curled from a chimney and an Alaskan malamute stood up on the porch, suddenly alert. Deciding they weren't friends, it barked loudly. Azar eyed the dog warily, and only got out of the car when a man walked out onto the porch.

  He looked like something out of a lumberjack commercial, with a face like the side of the canyon. Despite how badly the sun and har
sh wind had aged him, he had an earthy kind of appeal. His voice boomed over the top of the malamutes strangled barks.

  "Sit down, Blue!"

  The dog immediately stopped barking and sat next to his owners legs, but his eyes never left her and Mira. Animals could sense the otherness of paranormals far better than humans could. There's no mainstreaming amongst the animal kingdom.

  "Can I help you?" the man’s gruff voice boomed out over the distance between them.

  She and Mira stepped away from the car, and walked towards the porch.

  “Mr. Davis. My name’s Miriam and this is my colleague Ally. We are here on behalf of a private collector regarding an item you placed on eBay. Could we come in and talk?"

  The man eyed them suspiciously, and then decided they didn't look threatening. That was probably a mistake. He nodded and beckoned them inside.

  The dog made no such mistake and gave them a low growl as they walked past, but he was too well trained to nip at their heels.

  Troy Davis showed them through to a living room, with big comfy leather couches arranged around a log fire. "Would you like a coffee? Maybe a brandy?"

  Azar shook her head, but Mira asked for a glass of water. The man disappeared for a second, and the sound of pipes rattling resonated through the house. He returned holding a tall glass of water. Mira took a sip and smiled. She was truly beautiful when she smiled. It was as if her whole face glowed.

  Azar watched a stunned look cross Troy Davis' face, and for a second he looked like a deer in the headlights. It was unlikely he would ever see anyone even half as beautiful as Mira again in his lifetime. Azar cleared her throat, and Troy dragged his eyes from Mira's face.

  "Mr. Davis, our employer would like to buy the Chakram, the metal ring, you put on eBay. We know from the listing that it is already sold, but we are willing to offer you twelve thousand dollars to break that agreement,” Azar offered.