by TJ Nichols
“They specifically invited you.”
“And what have you said?”
“Just that I’ve started seeing someone.”
“Uh-huh.” Edra cut up more sausage and then stabbed three pieces and ate them without chewing… which defeated the purpose of cutting them up. But Jordan didn’t say that. He just sipped his coffee. For some reason it was feeling like a two-cup start to the day. He’d need another after he showered. “They don’t know I’m mytho, do they?”
“It hasn’t come up.”
“You haven’t told them.”
“I want them to get to know you. I don’t want them to hear mytho first, and….” He stopped as he realized where that sentence had been going. He didn’t want his friends to be dicks about it.
“And?”
Jordan didn’t say anything.
“Exactly.” Edra shook his head and concentrated on his food.
Jordan did the same for a few bites. “They aren’t anti-mytho assholes.”
They weren’t pro-mytho either, but they were like most people just trying to get on with life. Like him.
“But you’re ashamed to be seen with me.”
“I wouldn’t have invited you if that were the case. I went to the temple and met your friends.”
“That was different. It was a memorial. And they knew you were human. I didn’t lie.”
“I’m not lying.” He’d tell the truth if they asked directly. He was sure of it.
Sinner jumped out of the plant pot and ate the sausage on the ground. Then she sat at Edra’s feet and demanded more.
Edra gave her the last piece. He was bribing his cat, and the cat was falling for it. “You were right. She does talk.”
“Only when she wants something. I don’t feed her from the table, because the next thing you know, she’ll be in your lap, trying to steal off your plate.” Jordan smiled and finished his coffee. “Nice redirection.”
Edra licked the bottom of his cup. “I’ll let you know about the party.”
“If we’re going to do this, you have to meet my friends at some point.”
“I know. I just hadn’t planned on hiding what I am.”
“Just this time. So they can see what you’re like.”
“So they can see if I’m worthy? As long as they don’t ask me to steal dragon eggs for you.”
“We don’t have those kinds of dating rituals. Meet the friends, meet the family. Don’t date or screw other people.” He held Edra’s gaze.
“I’m not, because my dragony chemistry only wants you. I should get going.” He stood.
Jordan didn’t have dragony chemistry, but there was definitely something going on. He didn’t feel quite right, and it was worse around Edra—worse in a good way. He was glad for the sheet between them last night. When it happened, it shouldn’t be accidental. He needed to be sure this was what he wanted. It wasn’t a Vegas wedding that could be undone. It was forever, and that felt dangerous. “If you give me ten, I’ll drive you.”
“It’s fine. I’ll fly. My clothes and keys are at work, and I should check in on the dragons.”
“Are you sure?”
“Thank you for breakfast. And for letting me stay.” He kissed Jordan on the cheek and then seemed to change his mind. He cupped the back of Jordan’s head and pressed his lips to Jordan’s. His tongue sneaked a taste and his lips lingered for long enough that Jordan hoped for more. “Enjoy your shower.”
Edra stepped inside and shed his clothing, and for a moment, Jordan thought Edra was going to join him in the shower. His dick hardened in anticipation, but then Edra shimmered and was gone. He heard the click of joints and a growl, felt the brush of air against his cheek, and then nothing.
Sinner hissed and grumbled as only a cat can do and then licked the grease spot on the concrete. Edra was gone.
His hard-on wasn’t.
Asshole.
JORDAN GOT in to work early, mostly because he wanted to finish up his report on the mermaids and start investigating Narv Skery. He hoped that the water dragon was registered, but he also knew he wouldn’t get that lucky. Something about this case wasn’t making sense, even when he took out the mytho element. He stopped at his desk, travel coffee cup in hand. There was another gift. He was getting tired of presents.
This one looked fairly innocuous.
A folded black T-shirt. He picked it up and opened it out. Large gold letters made their point.
SFPD ZOOKEEPER
It almost looked like the T-shirts that were handed out during training. Almost.
He stared at it. This had gone too far. The eyeliner had been understandable after that picture of him was published. It was taken on an evening when he’d gone out with his friends all dressed up and then to the temple at Edra’s request. Afterward they’d had coffee and watched the sunrise. He’d been included and accepted easily despite the reason for them all being there.
He didn’t know if Edra would get the same response from his friends, but he hoped he would. He didn’t want to believe that his friends would hate Edra if they knew what he was. Not telling them was the coward’s route, but he’d been honest when he said he wanted them to get to know Edra first.
He balled up the shirt and dropped it on his desk. He’d have to take that one up with the captain. He could live with the dragon on his desk, but the zookeeper T-shirt was offensive to him and to mythos. The captain had been close with the ex-mayor. He was anti-mytho, or at least he had been, and now he was trying to prove to Dr. Lew that he was all about fairness.
He scanned the desks, some with their occupants hard at work and some empty. How many of them actually thought of him as a zookeeper?
His phone rang, breaking his contemplations, and he answered. “Kells.”
“You need to get down to the dock. The boat you went out in yesterday sank overnight.”
He closed his eyes. Of course it had. “I’ll be right there.”
He sent an email to the captain to let him know that he wanted a word. Then he shoved the T-shirt into his desk drawer. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with a sunken boat, but he hoped the mermaids didn’t come that close to the city on a regular basis.
THE BOAT was being raised when he got there. There were two divers in the water, one heavily armed with a speargun that looked as though it could take down a whale. As the boat cleared the water, it was obvious why it had sunk—there were jagged tears in her hull. The aluminum was peeled back as though it were no thicker than the stuff he used in the kitchen.
“I’m guessing that didn’t happen during the quake,” the officer standing with him said.
Jordan kept his gaze on the divers still in the water. One by one they climbed out and he breathed a little easier. “This was some kind of payback for crossing the warning line.”
“Gonna arrest a mermaid for damaging police property? I’d like to see that.” The officer chuckled.
Jordan cut him a scowl. “A mermaid didn’t do that. They don’t have the claws.” He pulled out his phone to take some photos. “We need to get a crime-scene analyst down here.”
It had to be documented right.
There was a commotion at the end of the pier, where several cops were holding one of the divers. He was struggling to jump back into the water.
When Jordan turned, Edra was standing near him in a pale gray suit, arms crossed and looking as though he was about to rip someone’s head off. Yet there was something about him that made Jordan take a few steps closer. The lust that wasn’t quite right twisted in his gut. He put his phone back in his pocket so he didn’t have to see the tremor in his hand again. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Not mermaids.” Jordan was confident with that assessment.
“Water dragon,” Edra confirmed.
“We need to bring him in.” Jordan held up his hand. “I know how impossible that will be.”
“The dragon eggs were returned during the night. The dragons were so happy that I couldn
’t tell them the polite water dragon who returned them was the thief in the first place.” Edra pressed his lips together, unsmiling in the morning sunlight.
“You aren’t happy about that? The eggs are back. That’s good.” One less charge to get Skery on.
“I am.” He gave a smile that barely lasted a nanosecond. “Whether they’re viable is another matter. They might have gotten too cold.” He sighed. “I suppose, if they don’t hatch, I should give them to the university to study.”
“That would probably be a good idea. They could put some science into a… the process.” He’d almost said breeding program.
“Selkie shit.” Edra ran for the end of the pier, but was too late. With a splash the diver was gone.
Jordan ran up to join the people now peering into the water.
They were muttering, and no one was sure what to do. “What’s wrong with him?” “He’ll resurface in a moment.” “Someone should go in and get him.”
“No one is going in to get him. There’s mermaids down there,” Edra said.
“Who do you think you are?” The officer crossed his arms and glared belligerently.
“Listen to him. He’s from Mytho Servo.” Jordan saw the flicker of blue light in the dark of the water. The diver had heard the song and jumped back in. Where was the other diver? Jordan stalked over to him. “What happened down there?”
“He went in first with the harpoon. I followed and we secured the boat so it could be pulled up. It was an easy job. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. Why isn’t he up yet?”
Jordan pressed his lips together. “Did you see any mermaids? Hear anything?”
“No. It’s pretty dark down there. Low visibility.”
“Mermaids glow underwater,” Edra said.
“Oh. Definitely didn’t see anything weird like that. I need to go in and get him.” He went to pull up the hood on his wet suit.
Jordan put a hand on his arm. “He’s gone.”
“No he’s not.” He threw off Jordan’s hand.
“He went in first, and there must have been one there and he heard her sing. It gets to you, apparently. If you go in, they’ll take you too.”
The diver glanced at the pier and the small huddle of cops all staring at the water. “I have to do something. He’ll drown. He wasn’t wearing tanks.”
Every instinct Jordan had was saying this man was right that they had to go in and get the diver. They had to drag him back to the surface. But he forced out the words “Anyone who goes in right now is dead.”
Edra walked toward him looking grimmer than he had before.
“That was murder,” Jordan said.
“I know.” Edra kept walking.
Jordan walked with Edra, away from the diver and everyone else. “I want her and the water dragon. They can’t do this.” He pointed at the boat. The water dragon could’ve done that while they were on board.
“Don’t we all. But I don’t even know her name. I doubt Selena will give her up, and we can’t press too hard.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because Dr. Lew wants the mermen to put out the fires. A show of good faith and all that.”
Jordan groaned. It was always political. “And did the mermen agree?”
“Selena would’ve told them what to do.”
“And when is the rain supposed to come?”
“Monday. Calling a storm takes time and energy.”
“So on Tuesday we can go after Miss Slaughter San Francisco.”
Edra frowned. “Miss Slaughter?”
“Beauty pageants?” His mother had put both of his sisters through the pageant circuit when they were kids. There’d always been makeup and costumes in the house. He remembered being five and seeing how proud they were of his older sister, so he’d put on one of her old costumes and mimicked. She got praise, and he got a beating. “Never mind. Tuesday we can chase down mermaids.”
“If you’re feeling suicidal, sure. Otherwise leave it with me and I’ll see what I can drag out of the ocean.”
“Just the bay. I don’t want to know what’s in the ocean.” It would be more than the sea serpent that had crushed a cruise ship. He curled his fingers to keep from reaching for Edra’s hand. He wanted to touch him, taste him. He needed to scour the inside of his veins somehow.
“From what I’ve heard, the most dangerous thing is all your rubbish.”
Jordan opened his mouth, but Edra was walking away. They were going to have to talk about what was happening to him, but at the moment, he had a big enough mess here without Edra distracting him.
The crew would want to get a diver in the water to retrieve the body, but Jordan was sure they wouldn’t find one, and he didn’t want to risk anyone else’s life. He stared out across the bay. The fog had thinned, and people were getting out on the water in their boats. Should he call them all back in?
He glanced at the boat. It was the same one they’d been out in.
This was personal. The mermaids had retaliated because they invaded. What would happen when he arrested one of them?
THE CAPTAIN called him in to his office as soon as Jordan arrived. It was starting to feel like one of those endless days where nothing would go right.
“Want to tell me about what happened yesterday and how one of the boats ended up at the bottom and a diver ends up missing and presumed dead?”
Not really. “Mermaids are behind several recent burglaries.”
“What? They crawled out of the water and broke into houses?”
“They have someone acting for them. I got a name yesterday. This morning they retaliated and sank the boat.” Or more correctly the water dragon had. “They took the diver.”
“And there’s no danger to anyone else?”
“No. I confirmed that with Knight Tendric.”
The captain’s face hardened at the mention of Edra. “How do you know he’s not helping them? Damn mythos.”
Because he was at my place all night. Not the best defense in the world. “He’s trying to solve the crimes too.” Jordan leaned back. “What do you know about the plan to get the merfolk to put out the fires?”
“I know about it, and I think it’s foolish. After this morning we should lock them all up.” The captain tapped his desk. “I want someone charged for the destruction of police property and the murder of our diver.”
“I want that too.” He’d gotten one arrest for the murder of Darian, though the other suspect, Andrew Campbell, had walked away, his money and connections protecting him. No one had wanted him to arrest a human, but he’d done it anyway. “Got any ideas how we’ll hold a mermaid?”
“The aquarium.”
Jordan let out a short laugh. The captain didn’t. “I don’t think that would be appropriate,” Jordan said.
“Your job is to get an arrest and make a watertight case. I’ll worry about the cell. Maybe Dr. Lew will cough up some funds to upgrade the jail. Go catch me a mermaid.”
Jordan stood. “There is one other thing.”
“What?”
“Someone left a SFPD Zookeeper T-shirt on my desk. A toy dragon too.”
The captain chuckled.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to be referring to the mythos as zoo animals.”
“Come on. It’s just a joke and good one. Zookeeper.” He had another chuckle. “We all need a laugh, Kells. You should lighten up.” His smile faded. “Be glad you still have a job.”
Jordan gave him a tight-lipped smile. He knew how precarious his job was, but he wasn’t going to grovel to the captain when the mayor knew who he was. It was Dr. Lew who insisted on the Mytho SID. He left the captain’s office needing to do something, hoping there was some new lead he could follow on the stolen mytho artifacts. But as he sat at his desk and unlocked his computer, his hands trembled. He ran his tongue over the back of his teeth and wished he could taste Bliss on his tongue. Bliss and sex were consuming his thoughts. Addict.
Bliss wasn’t addictive. Was
Edra?
He needed another coffee. Then he’d be able to think clearly.
BY THE time Jordan knocked off work, he was in a bad way. His throat was dry, his skin was aching, and his dick was hard. He wanted to go home and pretend he’d be fine after he jerked off, but it had gone past that. He’d never craved Bliss before, but he’d always been able to blame stress and the need for release. He’d never denied himself. He’d always given in.
Jordan sat in his car, slapped the steering wheel, and swore. He didn’t want Bliss, he needed it, and that was far worse.
“Fuck.” He rested his forehead on the steering wheel. His breathing was tight. What would happen if he just went home? Just went to bed and rode out the sweats like any addict?
That’s what would happen, wasn’t it? His balls wouldn’t explode. Nothing bad would happen. Edra would’ve told him if it would kill him. No side effects… that’s what everyone claimed. He begged to fucking differ. He was having a side effect.
He drew in a breath. Or was he craving dragon?
He started his car, intending to drive home, but he ended up turning toward Creature Hollow instead. There was no demarcation between the human part of the city and the mytho, but there was a clear shift. In the mytho neighborhood, the houses were more run-down. There were odd buildings that had come through with the collapse. And there were mythos on the street. A pack of werewolf kids ran along the footpath. Ogres strolled hand in hand. It was no different from any other suburb, and yet it was like stepping into another world. He turned down Edra’s street and parked with an ease that wasn’t usually possible. That’s what was really different. There were fewer cars on the street.
And no humans.
Or at least very few, and those that lived there were struggling to get by as much as the mythos. His car was too nice. The moment he stepped out, people would wonder why he was there. Or would they take one look and see a cop?
This was a bad idea. He should go home, go for another run, do something to distract himself. He swallowed hard but couldn’t bring himself to start the car. He didn’t know which apartment was Edra’s, only that this was his building.