“I’m being invited to a council meeting?” I ask, thoroughly surprised.
“Yes, be there at six o’clock. Don’t be late.”
“Where at?”
“My shrine.”
“Alright,” I say. “See you then.”
“Yes. Invite the humans as well for me.”
“Yeah, sure,” I say.
I hang up and look up at Havoc. “We are invited to a council meeting.”
He rocks back, crushing my insides even more. “We are? How interesting. You need to state your dominance, so you’ll need a suit.”
“Why a suit?” I ask curiously.
“Men look sexy when they’re wearing a suit.”
“You’re right. I need a suit,” I say as I push him off me. Then I head for the hallway. I knock on the guest room door before pushing it open.
Badrick is lying on the floor, staring at the sapling that’s between his front paws like it’s the Holy Grail.
“A watched pot never boils,” I say.
He looks up, startled. “I was supposed to be watching a pot? I apologize, I did not know.”
I shake my head. “No! I just… it’s a saying. That when you watch something you’re eagerly waiting for, it won’t happen.”
He stands up. “Where is this pot you would like me to watch? What is inside of it?”
Havoc snickers from behind me as I shake my head. “Anyway. So… Badrick, we’re going to a council meeting tonight. Would you like to go?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. “I will do anything to help find the people who destroyed my land.”
“Great, so we’re going to leave in a few hours… and I have no way to get you there. Can you teleport?”
He stares at me.
“Fly?”
He continues to stare at me. “Are you… trying to make a joke?”
“I am.”
“It wasn’t funny,” he says.
Havoc chuckles. “Told you that you aren’t funny.”
“Thanks for your brutal honesty,” I say to both of them. “So… a truck then?”
“Okay.”
“Well, seeing as I don’t own a truck, let’s go buy one,” I say.
“You do not need to buy a truck for me,” he says. “I cannot even properly watch a pot.”
“Are you going to run everywhere? It’s fine, I’m rich. Now come along. Your plant will be fine here.”
“It’s a maple tree,” he says.
“Your maple tree will be just fine.”
“What if someone bumps it over?”
“No one will be in here. It’ll be fine,” I assure him.
He nods slowly. “Okay, human, let’s go.”
“We’ll be back in a bit,” I tell Havoc. “Can you get the stuff together while I’m gone?”
“Yeah… be safe.”
I give him a smile, pleasantly surprised. “Of course.”
Badrick follows me down the stairs and into the café where everyone looks up with wide eyes. Honestly, I’m not sure why they are ever surprised when I bring something new through these doors. Then again, none of them have ever seen a forest spirit in my café, so I guess I understand their slight concern. We head out into the street and start walking for the nearest car dealership.
“It smells horrible,” Badrick says.
“What does?” I ask curiously.
He sneezes, spraying snot down my leg. “Everything. The air, the ground, the people.” He stops suddenly and looks at some flower decoration in front of a store front. “What is this?”
“What? The decoration?”
“It’s fake!” he says as he stares at the plants. “Why would you plant fake flowers when you can have real flowers? Are these people ill?”
“You’re… not around people much, are you?” I ask.
“No, I am not,” he admits.
“Some people are lazy, but they like the beauty of a plant. Or maybe they can’t keep one alive, so they buy a fake one,” I explain.
“Despicable.” He’s clearly disgusted.
A woman walks out of a store and stops suddenly, staring at us in terror. She’s wearing a short skirt and a bra with just a fishnet shirt over it. If Havoc was here, he’d be ecstatic.
“That poor woman. Give her some money,” Badrick says as he stares at the woman.
“Um… why?” I ask as the woman looks at us in concern.
“She has worn her shirt so ragged, there are holes everywhere. You just said you are rich, clothe the poor woman.”
The “poor woman” is now looking down at her shirt before quickly backing into the store she just came from.
“That’s called fashion.”
Badrick is quiet for a moment. “It’s fashionable to wear the same clothes until they are ragged? So, you must think you’re fashionable?”
I look down at my clothes. “My clothes aren’t ragged. I mean, yeah… I’ve had this hoodie a long time, but it’s comfortable.”
“Hm… fashion is confusing.”
“It’s a style… you know what? Never mind,” I say. “Let’s hurry along.” Before I get criticized for anything else.
We walk up to the dealership after a rather harried walk that makes me realize that maybe I need a muzzle for him as well. I’m honestly surprised we weren’t shot after he started questioning a guy who thought the lower his pants were, the more gangster he was.
“Stay here,” I say, honestly wishing I’d left him at home.
“No thanks,” he says as he pushes past me and through the door.
Everyone is staring at the giant dog, and I’m left questioning my patience.
“Uh… uh wel… come?” a man asks, clearly nervous. “How… can I help you?”
“I need a truck for my dog. I just adopted him, and he doesn’t fit in my car.” I wave at Badrick who seems to be giving the man terrors.
“You… adopted him?”
“Of course. Why would I buy a purebred when so many dogs need a home? I really wanted a lap dog but how can you say no to these eyes?” I ask as I grab Badrick’s face in my hands.
He’s staring at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Okay… let’s… see what we have. What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know. Some type of truck.”
“Year?”
“New.”
“Brand?”
“Don’t care.”
“Backseat?”
“Sure,” I say.
“Okay,” he says warily, like he has a reason to be suspicious of us.
But, being the good salesman that he is, he heads out the door. He takes me over to the newer trucks and starts rattling off nonsense about them which I don’t listen to at all.
I see one with a window that opens in the back and point. “I’ll take that one.”
“You want to test drive it?”
“No thanks, I’m just going to use it when I have to take him around. Badrick, do you fit?” I ask as I put the tailgate down. He jumps up into it and looks around.
“I feel like a fool,” he says as he stares down at me.
I nod, whole-heartedly agreeing to this. “You look like a fool.”
“It talks…” the man says.
“Alright. How do I pay for this thing? A check?”
“Uh… right this way,” he says as he leads us inside. “Have a seat.”
I do, and Badrick goes over and stares at a fish tank.
“Miles, why are there fish in this box? Are they stuck?”
“No, that’s a fish tank.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why are they stuck in this box?”
“Because people like looking at fish, but not everyone can live near the ocean where they can see them. So they keep them in a tank. As pets.”
“How horrid. Miles, come help me set them free.”
“They’d die if you set them free. Just don’t worry about it.”
“I am very worried about it,” he says as he star
es at them.
When we’re finally finished, I head out the door with the keys and get into the truck. Badrick jumps into the back, and I slide open the rear window. He stuffs his head inside and looks around.
“I like it,” he decides.
“Good,” I say as I drive the truck home.
During the entire ride, I have to answer five million questions and begin to wonder why I thought a window was a good idea. Maybe I can use magic to “break” it so it never opens again. I park it next to my car and get out as the truck starts to bounce around.
“My head is stuck!” Badrick growls as he puts his paws against the cab and pulls. His head is, indeed, stuck in the window.
The smart thing probably would be to help, but instead, I run inside and get Havoc and Yoko, so we can laugh as a family.
“Help me, human, before I crush you between my fangs,” he growls as his paw puts a huge dent in the cab of my brand-new truck. “Then I will keep you in one of those… tanks of fish.”
Chapter Ten
I park the truck outside Rehna’s forest and get out. The shrine is not accessible by road, so we’ll have to walk the last part.
“Badrick?” I ask as he jumps out of the bed of the truck. “I’ve been thinking, and I feel like you kind of owe me.”
He nods. “Yes, I owe you my life,” he says.
This poor innocent creature. “So… this council thing is a big deal. They’ve never invited me, so I would like to make an impression when I arrive,” I say.
“Understandable,” he says with a nod of his massive head.
“I’ll just cut to the chase. Can I ride on your back?”
He stares at me for a long moment and then looks over at Havoc, who is grinning seeing as he also agreed it was a great idea.
With the longest sigh known to mankind he says, “Fine. I always repay my debts, and if this is how you’d prefer them repaid, then so be it. But this will be my repayment. So, if in the future you need me for something, say… to save your life, I will have to remind you that my debt is paid.”
I grin. “That’s fine. Everyone will remember how awesome I looked when they share stories at my funeral,” I say as I walk over to him and set my hand on his back before climbing on. It takes me back to the good old days when I raised hell atop my black stallion. “Havoc, get a picture of me.”
Havoc pulls out the phone I bought him so we won’t have to struggle with the archaic tradition of printing directions again.
“I wish you had left me to die,” Badrick says, and I laugh before posing for Havoc’s picture.
Havoc gives me a thumbs up and a wink. “Got it.”
“Awesome. Now get me like a theme song to ride in to,” I say. “What about ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’? I feel like I could connect to my inner gangster.”
“I gotcha covered,” Havoc says as he starts the song. He hands me the phone before shifting and flying to my shoulder.
“Onward!” I shout over the blaring music a moment before the lyrics cut in to “Amish Paradise.”
Havoc is cawing maniacally in his birdlike way of laughing, so I shut the song off.
“Fine, no song,” I say. “Let’s go.”
Badrick bolts, and I grab onto him as he lopes into the woods, moving between the trees with ease, and a part of me realizes how much I miss the old days. Back when I tore across this land with a horse and my magic. No rules. Nothing. Just pure power.
“I miss this,” I say.
“I do too,” Havoc says. “My favorite times were always when I pretended like I couldn’t hear you, and I’d sit back and make bets with the townspeople on who would win the fight.”
I look over at him startled. “Is that where you kept getting all of that money? I thought you were like… stealing it or something.”
“No, my dear. I was betting. I was very good at it because no one else would put money on you.”
“Of course,” I grumble. Sometimes, I can’t help but question why I’ve cared about him for so long. “You know what? Maybe I don’t miss it because the plumbing sure sucked back then.”
“No internet.”
“Eh.”
“I like now.”
“Me too,” I decide.
Badrick slows down as he reaches the shrine, and my audience looks up at me. Rehna is the first to react by rushing up to me and grabbing my arm so she can yank me down… or break it. I’m not quite sure which.
“He is a sacred creature, you idiot!” she growls.
Being ripped off Badrick’s back makes the whole thing slightly embarrassing as the entire council watches.
“Yes, but we looked badass when we rode in,” Havoc says after he shifts back into his human form, his feather cloak rustling around him.
“It was fun,” Badrick admits. “Now, do you have coffee? Miles’ female human gave me coffee, and I do like coffee.”
“What about something soothing, like tea?” she suggests.
He shakes his massive head. “No, it has to be coffee.” He eagerly follows after her.
Havoc leans into me. “I don’t think they thought we looked as cool as we thought we did,” he mumbles as he stares at the gawking council members.
“I don’t think so, either. Now I’m starting to wonder if the suit was too much,” I mutter as I tug on it.
Havoc looks over at me. “Well… with all the white dog hair stuck to it, I’m starting to think you should have gone for white or at least a pastel.”
When I look down, I realize that it looks like I decided to wear a fur suit.
“But you’re handsome in about anything. Or nothing,” he whispers.
“I thought you looked cool,” Evan says as he walks up.
He’s wearing earrings made from living air plants which makes him the last person I want fashion advice from. I just stare at him as I try to figure out if he wants to look like an idiot or if that’s just how he looks.
“Yeah… that doesn’t mean anything coming from you,” I say.
“What do you mean?” He looks down at his clothes. “I am very hip.”
“Are you?” I ask. “Does your district respect you? Or just… laugh at you?”
“They love me.” His eyebrows furrow like he’s confused on why I would say such a thing.
“Come, let us begin!” Rehna shouts, and everyone heads inside.
Sam sees us first, and he rushes over to us as Johnson and Iya follow.
“Hey, guys. Iya, are you being good?” I ask.
“I am perfect,” Iya says, looking mightily proud of himself. “I stopped an attacker from sticking papers through the door this morning.”
“The mailman. You stopped the mailman from delivering mail,” Sam mutters as we head into a meeting room.
Everyone takes a seat at a large oval table that fills most of the room.
I recognize everyone at the table but don’t know any of them extremely well. There are six council members present, all of them a district boss of the surrounding areas.
“So, I am sure you’ve noticed the new faces today,” Rehna says. “Each of our districts has had a person killed and a paper from the Velmah de Rizen left behind with them. This is Detective Sam Diaz and Lieutenant Danny Johnson. This is currently their case, and they have been in charge of it so far. And this is Miles Shavold,” she says using my more current name.
“What is Miles’ position? Is he also a detective?” a man named Jacob Stewart asks.
He is a mage like me, so I have followed some of his work. His district deals with the nearby university that he founded and ran. It has special classes for those wishing to learn how to control their abilities.
“No, Miles is a mage who is helping out,” Rehna says.
“Is it okay to involve others in this?” a woman named Pepper asks.
“Miles is… quite capable of taking care of himself,” a man named Aiden says. Aiden is an incubus I ran into some time ago, but we definitely don’t need to get into that story. He has mell
owed quite a bit since then. Now he runs a district alongside his harem and acts like an actual adult.
That also means he’s not as much fun.
It made people nervous when Aiden became the district boss since an incubus can talk just about anyone into doing just about anything. But, so far, people have really warmed up to Aiden.
“Hello, Aiden,” I say.
He takes a deep breath and nods. “Miles… I would say it’s good to see you, but I’m not sure yet,” he jokes.
I grin and notice Havoc looking between us before allowing a huge smirk to cross his face. “This is that incubus you—”
I clamp a hand over his mouth. “Continue on, Rehna.”
“Yes, please do,” Aiden says hurriedly.
A few of the council members are curiously leaning toward us, but Aiden quickly waves Rehna on.
“Um… okay, as I was saying, this is the list of people who were killed. Could each of you look through them and try to think of something connecting the fifteen victims that the detectives haven’t found?” Rehna asks.
Evan leans forward as he plays with a container holding a plant. “They were all in different districts, right?”
“Some. There were three here in Rehna’s district, but only one in Evan’s district,” Johnson says as he slides a map into the middle of the table.
“Location doesn’t seem to matter. The only thing we do know is that it appears like everyone died on the same day, at the exact same time,” he says.
I glance down at the map and look at the small circles, each with a name written on it. I stare at it for a long moment before something starts to pull at me. If the circles were connected… no… that can’t be. Can it?
Quickly, I stand up and reach across the table. I grab the map and drag it over to me as I look down at it, examining it more closely. God, I hope I’m wrong.
“Someone have a pen?” I ask.
Johnson passes me a marker he had been messing with. I take it from him as I lean over the map.
“What if we’ve been looking at this wrong? We’ve been so focused on who they killed and how they were connected. What if they weren’t connected in the way we are thinking?” I ask as I draw a huge circle on the map with all of the victims inside of it. “What if it didn’t matter who they killed, but where they killed them. And they were trying to throw us off the right path with all of this Velmah de Rizen nonsense. They knew it was a name that instilled fear. It would cause some panic and keep our focus on it. It kept us trying to find a connection that doesn’t exist.”
Happy Endings Page 12