Once in a Blue Rune: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Dwarf for Hire Book 2)

by J. B. Garner

  “You satisfied, Bunny?” I asked with a sidelong glance.

  She nodded slowly as she started to rise. “I think so.” As she rose to her full seven-feet of hare-y fluffiness, she put off a looming presence that made even me pause a moment, her red eyes glowing. “Don’t rest easy, Mercutio. Your days in this town were numbered the second you put your claws into the Sanderson pack.”

  As Bunny turned abruptly to stalk out of the room, I slid off the chair, waving my hammer generally in Mercutio’s direction. “Uh, yeah. What she said,” I added before running off after the wererabbit.

  No one messed with us as we made our way out through the kitchen and into the alley running behind the Cheese N’ Crackers. Most of the wait staff and cooks gave us an exceptionally wide and fearful berth, especially me. I suppose it made sense. They had no doubt seen Bunny make trouble here before and knew that she was a Huntress. Me, I was a strange Dwarf lady laying down the wrath of the gods.

  As scary as Bunny could be, I knew who I would find more terrifying.

  It was full-on daylight as we found ourselves in the alley, running adjacent to several of the neighborhood’s businesses. To no real surprise, there were quite a few rodents of several varieties rummaging through the dumpsters and trash cans, several that made my Figment sense twinge. The moment we were clear of the restaurant, Bunny shrunk down into her human shape, the mystery of her boots still unsolved.

  “Do you think you might have taken that a bit too far at the end?” I asked as I slipped my hammer back into my bag. Despite the sun cascading down through the buildings, I was shivering a little, still chilled from the magic I had used. “Not that I don’t share your sentiment, but …”

  “Maybe, but …” Her voice drifted off as she ran her hands through her short, messy curls. “I still carry a torch for her, you know, and even if I didn’t, Mercutio has stepped out of his bounds this time. Besides, I could say the same for you.” She smirked at me as she dug into her magic pocket.

  “I actually think I was rather reserved, thank you very much,” I laughed as I smirked back at her. “I wasn’t exaggerating a thing; I could have taken the building down if I had to.”

  She pulled her cell phone out as she gave me an intense look, a hint of red on her cheeks. “Well, I won’t lie. That kind of turned me on.” She let out a little laugh as she turned to focus on her phone. “Something about a strong, passionate lady, you know?”

  I blushed a hint myself as I rooted for my own phone. “No, I don’t, not exactly but, uh, I think I can sympathize. I suppose we can definitively pin down your type, huh?”

  “Huh, I guess you’re right.” Bunny tapped on her phone. “Now, if I could only use that to get a date, we’d be set.” As she put it to her ear, she glanced sidelong at me. “You’d better call up Aelfson. We have a pawn shop to get to.”

  “We do.” I glanced around the alley as I swiped through my contacts. “But how about we go ahead and start walking? Call me paranoid but …”

  As if to answer me, a possum stuck its head up out of a dumpster and squealed at us.

  Bunny chuckled and nodded, gesturing for me to lead as she started to talk on her phone. Not one to be a snoop, I only half-listened as I tapped on Aelfread’s face. From what it sounded like, she was calling for a rental car or something. I guessed that the service she was calling wasn’t open earlier, or else why would we have ridden with Sinclair?

  Unless we hadn’t been given a choice. That was entirely possible considering he was Bunny’s boss and the history they had together. Boy, was that a story I both wanted and needed to hear sometime soon.

  Aelfread picked up after a few rings, as we stepped out into the bustle of the Saginaw streets. What difference an hour and change made. The city was awake now and in high gear, the constant murmur of talking on the streets making it a little hard to hear Aelfread as he greeted me.

  “Ah, my dear Mary,” he said, and I could hear the smile on his face, “I’ve counted the hours since we last spoke.”

  “Flatterer,” I cooed back. “Seriously, though, how did the book work go?”

  His tone grew serious. “To business then. Well, considering the severity of the situation, I understand.” He cleared his throat. “Now, I have nothing conclusive, but I have discovered several equally intriguing possibilities regarding our blue moon.”

  “I’m all ears,” I replied. “While you tell me, get yourself ready to head to your friend’s store. We’re headed there shortly.”

  “Just remember to tell Bunny to let me do the talking.” Aelfie chuckled. “Klaus won’t respond to a rough touch. He’s, well, very cautious about who he associates with.”

  “You mean he’s paranoid?”

  Bunny had wrapped her own call, and she gave me a questioning glance. I nodded and gestured for her to lead the way now.

  “That is a straightforward and impolitic way to put it, but it is not wholly inaccurate,” Aelfread relented. “Anyway, there are three distinct things this blue moon could refer to. First, there are veiled references to an ancient ritual among the Garou that was meant to honor the moon goddess and all that.”

  “Let me guess, it’s only meant to be performed on a blue moon, the specific kind of blue moon we’ll experience tonight.”

  “Correct! Now, it seems harmless enough, but when you’re dealing with the entreaty of extradimensional forces, well, anything is possible.” I heard the rifling of pages on Aelfie’s end as Bunny led us across a street towards a public bus stop. “The second is an enchanted gemstone called the Azure Star that, get this, is a moonstone.”

  “So, a blue moon?”

  “Exactly. It’s actually something of a rarity, so rare, in fact, that I have no idea what it does, other than it was supposedly fought over by two packs of Loup Garou in the dim mists of pre-France Gaul.” He coughed. “That makes for an additional connection, not to mention that it coincides neatly with Klaus’ profession.”

  I grunted my agreement. “It does match up in a lot of ways. What’s the third?”

  “Ah, well, this is perhaps the most tangential but …” His voice only trailed off for a moment before he continued. “I’m almost embarrassed to bring it up for fear of wasting your time.”

  Bunny stopped, leaning against the bus stop sign, and gestured to the bench beside her. “We’ve got a few minutes to wait if you want to take a load off.”

  I nodded to her as I pulled myself up onto the bench, ignoring the guy in the suit who was giving me a queer look. I was used to it. “Hey, it could be important. Tell me.”

  “Ah, well, if you insist.” He took a deep breath. “There is a rather well-reviewed, well, I believe the colloquial term is ‘head shop’ called the Blue Moon in town.”

  Okay, he was right. That was very tangential. “There have to be a thousand little and big businesses called Blue Moon in and around Saginaw.”

  “Well, yes, but this particular business was built atop what was, centuries ago, an Ojibwe sacred grove dedicated to various spirits the tribe venerated, most specifically Chakabesh, sometimes referred to as the Man in the Moon.” He let that sink in a moment before continuing, “Not only does that make for another lunar reference, this coincides with Figment histories that talk about the close ties with the Ojibwe and the Garou native to the area, venerating them as nature spirits.”

  “That is a lot of coincidences at the same time, I agree.” Bunny was giving me another questioning look, so I flashed her a thumbs-up. “I think talking to our friend will clear up what we’re dealing with.”

  “And get us that much closer to finding your lost Garou,” he added. “If it’s the ritual, Bunny should be able to point us in the right direction as to where it has to be held. If it’s the stone, I am certain you can come up with a runeword to track it or its magic.”

  “And if it’s the last, well, we know where to go,” I finished.

  “Precisely! And soon, I shall be by your side in person. Your success, in this case, is gu
aranteed!”

  As much as I didn’t want to puff up Aelfread’s ego, the thought of him with me did make me feel strangely more confident, not to mention the fact that every trail was starting to converge. “I think you’re right, sweet prince. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Indeed,” he cooed across the phone. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. See you then.” I was smiling as I hung up and tucked the phone into my bag. It was only a moment later that I felt Bunny’s eyes on me.

  Looking up at her, I felt very, well, not ashamed, but … sorry? Her revelation hadn’t precisely changed our relationship, but it made me very conscious of some actions that used to be, well, second-nature. “Oh, Bunny, I …”

  She smiled wistfully. “Don’t say you’re sorry because you shouldn’t be.” Bunny’s blue eyes cast out into the cars driving past. “I’m used to it and besides … as long as you’re happy with the idiot. That’s what’s important.”

  I frowned a bit as I mulled that over. I was happy, and she was right. I didn’t need to be sorry. My frown turned into a slight smile. “Thank you, Bunny. That means a lot, especially coming from you.”

  “That said,” the Huntress chuckled, “if that bonehead ever lets you slip through his fingers …”

  My face was starting to match my beard as I turned my gaze out to stare at the road. “Uh, well, yes. We’ll cross that bridge if that happens, eh?”

  The wicked smirk on her lips was only accented by the innocent shrug as we waited for our new ride.

  16

  The cherry red Chevy Cruze was a little roomier than Bunny’s wrecked Kia. The overly aromatic ‘new car scent’ was a bit of a deal breaker for me, though, and, well, it just wasn’t the same. I suppose it was the quirky way the mind looks at ownership; to me, it wasn’t Bunny’s, so it wasn’t as good. Still, it was what we had so it would have to do.

  It’s not like we could spend the day browsing used car lots or dealerships. On top of what we had left to do, there was going to be a limit to where coffee wasn’t going to keep us as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as we needed to be. Oh, I’ve done plenty of two-day stretches and more in my time, but you start to lose your edge after a while. With magic relying on clear intentions and a focused mind, I couldn’t afford to be too fuzzy and who knew what happened to a Garou’s shapeshifting if they started to get too tired?

  On the way to the seedy part of town where Klaus’ pawn shop resided (not that far from the Triangle Arms where Aelfie and I laid our heads down, coincidentally enough), Bunny took us through a Starbucks drive-through to re-caffeinate. Even the tireless Huntress was looking a bit droopy at that point. By the time we pulled into a street-side parking spot a half a block from the place, we had gulped down a Venti each while I recounted what Aelfread had told me over the phone.

  “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this ritual,” Bunny noted as we stepped out onto the sidewalk. From her magic pocket, she produced enough coins to keep the parking meter well-fed. “Of course, I can’t say I ever delved deep into our culture and history. That’s the one accusation Frizzoli made that carries any weight.”

  “If it comes to that,” I mused, gripping the strap of my shoulder bag tightly, “we can always ask Mother. I mean, I don’t know for sure, but I certainly felt a, well, traditionalist vibe from her.”

  I wasn’t joking when I said this part of town was a bit dangerous. Several less-than-upstanding characters were eyeing us as they passed down the sidewalk. Still, I tried to shake my preconceptions out of my head. At the heart of it, I wasn’t the most upstanding or high-class citizen myself, and I was a good person.

  “She was always a stickler for the old ways, yeah.” Pausing for a moment as if caught in a memory, Bunny shook her head. “Right, let’s go see if Aelfson is here. I don’t mind letting him try to work his magic on the Gnome. The worse that can happen is that he’ll fall flat on his face and I can rib him about it for the next few months.”

  Laughing a little, I nodded as we began to walk up the street. Even trying to keep an open mind about the passers-by, I was covered in gooseflesh from the intense aura of magic in the air. The feeling mounted as we approached the pawn shop and, as was now plain to see, Aelfread, now dressed in one of his ostentatious white leather ensembles straight out of the Nineties.

  The place itself was a stand-alone building on the corner of a four-way intersection. I guessed that the structure had been formerly part of a restaurant chain or maybe a fast-food joint. The small parking lot was bare, and the façade was decrepit, all the windows covered with roll-down security shutters. The only things that looked new and shiny were the sign over the door, proclaiming the place to be ‘Santa Klaus’s Gift Bag,' and the security cameras at every corner.

  I didn’t think it was my imagination that everyone who passed by was avoiding the place, even doing everything they could to not lay a foot in the parking lot. Even Aelfie was on the sidewalk, looking up the slight incline of asphalt up to the front door.

  The Elf, his long ears tucked under his fedora, perked as I ran ahead of Bunny and called out, “Aelfie!”

  “My dear Mary,” he began before being cut off as I threw my arms around him and squeezed, perhaps a tad too hard. “Oof, perhaps, a little less crushingly endearing would be best?”

  What can I say? After the night and morning I had been through, and how crappy I felt, the sight of him was enough to make me realize what I could have lost if things had gone only a little worse.

  Releasing my pressure a bit, I looked up at his extremely kissable face. “Sorry, it’s, well, it’s been one hell of a day, I’ll put it that way.”

  “I can see.” He smiled softly as he wormed enough out of my grasp to kneel down, putting us eye-to-eye. One of his delicate hands running through my hair and the other cupping my bearded chin, he planted a warm kiss on my lips. “Does that help?”

  Not content, not yet, I grinned as I put my thick-fingered hands on his head and neck. “It’s a start,” I murmured before pulling him closer for a more passionate kiss.

  We might have gone on for some time if Bunny hadn’t cleared her throat loudly. “Okay, that’s enough, kids. We don’t want to give the whole block a show, do we?”

  Despite what she had told me before we left, I still felt a pang of guilt as I pulled away reluctantly from Aelfread. “Uh, yes, you’re right, Bunny.”

  “Oh, I suppose,” Aelfie nodded, with a faint quirk of an eyebrow at me as he stood up back to his full height.

  I gave him an off-handed gesture that I hoped he understood meant ‘I’ll explain later’. “So, Mr. Smaragd.” Nodding to the fortress before us, I glanced at my two partners in crime and shifted to the relative privacy of Truespeech. “I have yet to meet a Gnome personally, so what should I expect from our Figment brother?”

  “Do you ask about Klaus personally or Gnomes in general, my dear?” Aelfread asked, his sharp eyes focusing on the storefront, flicking from camera to camera.

  “Both?”

  Bunny grunted as she rummaged through her magic pocket for something. “Gnomes are a type of fairy, by most estimations. Short, even shorter than Dwarves, and always looking elderly once past the point of maturity, they have a unique connection to the earth, more specifically to gems, crystals, and other precious stones.”

  “Gemmamancy, to be precise,” the Elf added. “As strangely specific as it may sound, the Gnomish racial discipline revolves entirely around the creation, alteration, and manipulation of such things. While most believe this limits Gnomes to magic related to the common definition of ‘gem,' they can manipulate all manner of precious minerals. Some would argue, as the definition of what is valuable changes through history, so does their power change.”

  That was sobering to consider. “So, if I understand that explanation, might a Gnome these days be able to, say, do magic using uranium or other valuable rare earth elements? Those are considered world-shakingly precious these days.”

  “It is not imp
ossible,” Bunny nodded. She produced a trinket that resembled a magnifying glass with a silver rim and handle. After a quick glance through it, she let out a low whistle. “Mercutio was not lying. That place is armed for bear with all sorts of magical auras.”

  Sighing, I pulled out my rune book and pen from my bag. “I felt their dire presence before we had come within a hundred paces of the place. While I think it possible that we could still wrest entry through the web of traps and trouble, mayhap you can do things less destructively, my prince?”

  “Ah, yes,” Aelfread said, rubbing his sharp chin thoughtfully. “Klaus is quite security-conscious, and if we are speaking of the Mercutio I believe we are, I can understand my friend’s sudden need to hide in a prickly-pear of magical weaponry.”

  He glanced over me to Bunny. “So, good Huntress, if you would honor my most humble request to stay here with Lady Stone, I shall see if I can secure us an audience with Master Smaragd. If something untoward occurs, I can trust in you to keep her safe.”

  While it wasn’t said as a question, Bunny nodded fiercely, her jaw set. “Of course, Aelfson, but do not take that as a reason to be reckless. As much as I dislike your oft-smug face, I would not care to see you torn asunder by an overly-anxious Gnome.”

  “I did not know you cared so,” he smirked back as he stepped over the invisible line to the parking lot. While I trusted Aelfread and most especially his silver tongue, I couldn’t help but flinch for just a moment, half-expecting the entire parking lot to go up in a magical flame strike or something.

  “Do not mistake my concern for the grief you would cause Mary as the least care for you personally,” Bunny shot back.

  Rolling my eyes as the initial worry faded, I chimed in. “Would you please both cut the witty banter so that Aelfread can concentrate on the matter at hand, please?”