“Never. Because there will always be homeless people, whether by circumstance or by choice. And even though there’s enough to go around, the rich keep doing whatever they can to get richer off the backs of the poor.” Yutani shook his head. “It’s a fact of life. Sad and heartbreaking? Yes. But with politics what they are, things aren’t going to change without a drastic shakeup.”
“So…I’m thinking we need to visit Fire & Fang. And we need someone who can pass for a Spook.” I leaned back.
“Herne’s not going to like what you’re thinking,” Yutani said.
“Maybe not, but you and I both know it’s the best way to find out what’s going on.” I met his gaze. “My gut tells me that’s where our killer met the victims.”
We sat there in silence for a moment until we heard a commotion in the waiting room that told us Herne was back from his mission. Feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders, I motioned to Yutani. “Come on, let’s go face the music and tell Herne what we’re planning.”
With an arch of the eyebrows, he followed me.
Chapter Ten
Herne looked exhausted and Viktor was scowling. Herne waved toward the break room. “I need coffee, and I need sugar.”
Any time Herne needed a drink, whether caffeine or alcohol, I knew things had gone badly. I hustled my ass into the break room and poured him a large mug of black coffee. We had half a raspberry cheesecake in the refrigerator, but somehow, I felt that something harder was called for. I found two packages of Oreos in the cupboard and set them on the table, then decided that the cheesecake would go well with the cookies, so added it to the mix. Talia joined me, finding paper plates and silverware.
Herne and Viktor sat down. Viktor was scowling. As Herne dumped three spoons of sugar and a good third of a cup of cream in his coffee, the rest of us joined them. Angel cut the cheesecake and handed slices around.
“I hope your afternoon was better than ours,” Herne said.
“Did they hand over Callan?” I asked.
He nodded. “Oh, they handed him over, but the damned fool ran. Viktor and I had to hunt him down and drag him back to Annwn by force, but not before he managed to scare the hell out of a group of elderly women who were out for a picnic in the park. One of them keeled over, so we had to call the medics.”
I stifled a snort. Except for the woman fainting, it sounded like a scene out of Benny Hill or some idiot comedy. “Was she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s fine, but no thanks to Callan. Damned fool ran through the park, waving his sword, screaming at the top of his lungs. We managed to corner him but by then, he had keyed a Bentley parked at the curb with his sword—which the Wild Hunt will have to pay for. He also tripped another woman who was trying to get her kid out of the way and broke her leg. So yet another ambulance.”
“And he managed to give me a tidy gash,” Viktor said, wincing. “Forty-five stitches.”
I groaned. “Callen really didn’t want to go home, did he?”
“Apparently not. We stopped at the urgent care clinic after we shoved Callan’s ass through the portal over to Annwn, where my father’s guards were waiting. They were all for cutting his damned fool head off, but I couldn’t let them do that. Unfortunately. But Callan’s finally back in his own time and my mother used a Forget spell on him. He’ll have no idea of what went on here, so he won’t be able to change the timeline.”
“But what about the time he’s been gone?” Angel asked. “Won’t that play into the past somehow?”
“It already did. There was a period of time in which Callan seems to have vanished, right before he drove the Fomorians back. He came wandering out of the mists, unable to account for where he had been. We figure that was the time he was here. So hopefully nothing will be disrupted.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Fool Fae. Mucking around with time is dangerous. There are so many ways to fuck up the world by doing so. We’ve seen it happen.”
I paused, frowning. “What do you mean, you’ve seen it happen?”
Herne glanced at me, shaking his head. “Let’s just say, there’s another parallel universe in which World War II didn’t happen. Hitler never rose to power thanks to an assassin going back. However, in this realm, somebody killed that assassin before she could do her job, and…well…it was as simple as that.”
I caught my breath. “I didn’t know you dimension-hopped.”
“I try not to. It’s unsettling and even the act itself can disrupt the flow of time. However, on a few occasions, it’s been necessary.” He pressed his lips together, frowning.
“How are you doing?” Talia asked Viktor. “Where are your stitches?”
Viktor carefully shrugged out of his jacket. He had a bandage on his arm, covering up what I assumed were the stitches. “I’ve had better days. At least we took care of him.” He cupped his mug, lifting his coffee to let the aroma waft over his face.
“Well, hold onto your hat. Yutani and I’ve made a discovery.” Together, we told them about Fire & Fang. “I think we need to go undercover there,” I said.
“You have got to be fucking with my head.” Herne lowered his coffee mug, turning to stare at me. “You are not going into Fire & Fang.”
“I don’t think we have much choice,” I said. “We can’t be sure, but it seems like the best place to start. You can’t go. You’d be recognized in an instant. But I thought Yutani, Raven, and I could go. She can suss out magical signatures, especially when it comes to death magic.”
“Have you asked her yet?” Herne rubbed his head, groaning. “Please tell me you haven’t said anything yet.”
“No, of course not. But it seems like our best lead at this point. And the mayor is expecting us to deal with this case now. They dropped the damned thing in our laps, so we’re stuck with it.” I tossed my notes on the table. “Fire & Fang was mentioned in three of the five cases. We can’t overlook that as coincidence.”
Yutani cleared his throat. “Ember can go as my woman. She’ll be better off than if she goes without a man’s governance. It’s not fair, blah blah blah, but for Fire & Fang, it’s true. They run a high male-dominance factor. Raven can get away with it, given there are both male and female members of the Spooks.”
“You do realize you might as well be bait?” Herne asked. “And I may not be able to go with you, but I can sure as hell send Viktor.”
I let out a sigh. “Won’t work.”
“And pray tell, why not?” Herne glared at me.
Yutani answered. “Ogres and similar Cryptos aren’t allowed. It’s vampire, human, magic-born, and Fae only. They only let shifters in if they’re either magic-born or vampire, and the latter rarely happens, like with Mendin. I’m afraid it’s Ember and me, boss.”
Herne looked like he had swallowed a frog. “Fine. And you say Raven could infiltrate this group?”
“She stands a better chance than any of us. The Spooks meet once a week on Saturdays, so I think we should go tomorrow night.” I paused, resting my hand on Herne’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried, but if we don’t find the killer soon, there will be more victims. We can’t overlook the most promising lead that we have.”
Herne stared up at me and I could see the worry flickering in the depths of his eyes. “All right. But I don’t like it, not at all.”
“I’ll go call Raven, then.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead, then headed back to my office as they wrapped up the meeting.
When I explained to Raven what we were planning, I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“I suppose I can help. I don’t relish getting involved with a rogue group of necromancers, but it sounds like you don’t have many options.”
“No,” I said. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and frankly, I don’t like going in there without a vampire to guide us, but I don’t know any except Charlie, and he’s so wet behind the ears, I wouldn’t trust him down in the Catacombs. He’d probably get us killed—by accident, of course.” Charlie was too newly sired to go waltzing
around the Catacombs without supervision. The fact that he worked for us also made him a target.
“Hold on. I may not have a vampire who can help us, but I have a friend who’s a PI and who might be able to find out some information for us. His name is Wager Chance, and he runs an investigation agency that’s housed down there. He’s half Dark Fae and half magic-born. Do you want me to bring him over tonight, if he can make it?”
If Raven trusted him, he’d be all right. “Call me back. If he can make it tonight, it can’t hurt to ask him if he can help somehow. We’ll make dinner.”
Hustling back to the break room, I caught the others as they were getting ready to leave for the day. I told them what Raven had said and they all agreed it couldn’t hurt to ask.
“Do you want to come over to talk to her?” I asked.
Herne and Yutani said yes, they’d be over around eight. Viktor had a date with his girlfriend, and Talia had an appointment with her hairdresser. Charlie wouldn’t be in until late, given the sun was going down later every day, so Angel set out the files we needed him to enter into the computer before we left.
Angel and I stopped at the store to pick up ingredients for spaghetti and salad. We’d been so busy that neither one of us had remembered to go grocery shopping. As we were heading out of the store, Raven called to tell me that she, Wager, and Kipa would be over at around eight. By the time we got home it was nearly seven forty-five. Angel dove straight into cooking while I fed Mr. Rumblebutt and did a quick tidy-up in the living room.
I was sorting through the mail—mostly junk mail and bills—when the doorbell rang.
Raven had brought Raj, who was a gargoyle the size of a rottweiler. He kind of looked like a rottweiler, too. His wings had been cut off when he was a baby and Raven had rescued him from the demon who owned him. They were inseparable companions now.
She was decked out in a purple corset, a skirt made out of chiffon with a tulle petticoat, and a pair of platform PVC ankle boots over striped leggings. Her hair was as long as mine, though it was a dark brunette streaked with purple—a natural coloring. She was plump, curvy, and goth-beautiful.
Kipa, her boyfriend, was essentially Herne’s distant cousin. Lord of the Wolves, Kipa was a wild child from Finland. He and Herne had a rocky history, but Raven was keeping him on the narrow, if not the straight, road. Swarthy with olive undertones, Kipa had long hair braided back into numerous plaits, and his beard was well trimmed but thick. He had a row of piercings in each ear, and a dolphin bite piercing on his lip.
Wager Chance, I had never met. His hair and eyes matched mine—ink black, and green as the forest, but he was tanned as though he had spent long days on the beach, and he was about average height and size. He held out his hand.
“Hello,” he said. “Raven’s told me a lot about you.”
“Everybody take a seat. Herne and Yutani will be here soon enough.” I had no sooner turned back to close the door behind them when I saw the pair walking up the sidewalk. “Speak of the devil…”
“Dinner’s ready, everyone get your butts to the table,” Angel called out.
Once we were all seated around the table with dinner, and Raj was looking for Mr. Rumblebutt in vain—Mr. Rumblebutt was far less impressed with the gargoyle than Raj was with Mr. Rumblebutt—I cleared my throat and set down my fork.
“Here’s the situation.” With Herne and Yutani’s help, I told Raven, Kipa, and Wager about the serial killer, the fact that the mayor had asked us to look into the matter, and what we had learned about Fire & Fang.
“So really, that’s the only lead we have right now. We thought we’d go down there tomorrow night. The Spooks meet on Saturdays, and Raven’s the only one of us who could possibly gain a seat in their meeting.” I forked up a mouthful of noodles and sauce. Even with store-bought sauce, Angel’s spaghetti tasted homemade.
“I suppose that I can’t go along, either,” Kipa said, scowling. “I don’t like the idea of Raven going down there without me.”
“I’ve gone down to the Catacombs on my own before. You’ll just have to stay at home and wait,” Raven said, bopping him on the nose.
“I’ve heard of Fire & Fang,” Wager said. “Yutani’s right. It’s not a club for the faint of heart. Seriously, we’re talking underground club, as in, a lot of questionable activities. I had a client whose husband frequented the club, and she was looking to get away before he either dragged her down there with him to sell her off, or he decided he was bored with her and killed her to avoid paying alimony. I managed to help her get away with half their assets, but she had to leave the country and go into hiding. Luckily, he was a professor at the Hexable School of Magic and he knew what would happen if I broke all the sordid details open for the board of directors to find out. He would have been out on his ass.”
Wager sopped up some sauce with a chunk of French bread. “But listen, if you go down into that club, don’t drink anything. Don’t eat anything. Pay for a drink and play with it, but when you get the chance, dump it out. Don’t go to the bathroom alone, either. Women go into that club and they don’t come out. Raven can get away with going in solo because she’s got an excuse—she’s a necromancer. But Ember, you just don’t give off the dominatrix vibe.”
I caught my breath, then said, “What about if I let my Leannan Sidhe side out more? She’s far from tame.”
“Too risky,” Herne said. “You can’t always control the energy.” He gave me a long look, though.
“The best bet is for me to take her in as my woman, and to say I’m looking to—” Yutani paused, glancing at Herne. “Pardon me, and you too, Ember, but the best bet is for me to say I want to watch other guys have a go at her.” His expression remained impassive.
I gulped. Even the thought of that made me queasy. “I don’t think I like that.”
“That’s partially the attraction for the men there. But I can conveniently decide no one there meets my fantasies. The fact that you’ll be marked as mine should keep you safe. There’s a strong hands-off policy when it comes to a top and his subs, unless permission is granted. If you go in there without being claimed by someone, I guarantee you somebody’s going to try something and when you fight back, we’ll all either be kicked out, or you’ll be in a shitload of trouble.” Yutani shook his head. “This isn’t like the fetish brothels across the street from our office. They don’t use safe words down in Fire & Fang. They don’t respect boundaries, except when it comes to an owner.”
“I guess that’s our best option,” I said, grimacing. “I don’t like it, but we’re not letting Raven go down there alone.”
“I’m not going down there alone,” Raven said, “so no worries on that. I want you guys there. You say I can probably get in solo?”
“Yeah,” Wager said. “Since you’re also Ante-Fae, they’ll notice right up front. They’ll ask you what you want, and you can tell them you heard about the Spooks.”
“How will I have heard about them, though, if they’re an underground group?”
“Simple,” Yutani said. “Tell them you were a friend of Mendin’s. He was a loner. Nobody’s going to know you didn’t know him. We can give you some background on him so you can answer questions about him.”
“Smart plan,” I said. “I guess we have our tickets in. When we’re in there, we need to be on the lookout for anybody who seems fixated on the Spooks, in particular.”
Herne turned to Wager. “What kind of work do you do, mostly? And why do you have your office down in the Catacombs?”
“I have a close working relationship with the vampire community. They made room for me, and I’ve done a number of jobs for them. My own people—the Fae, that is—ignore me. The magic-born, well, I’ve never been too good at rules and regulations and my powers aren’t strong enough for most of them to make a place for me in their ranks.” He glanced over at me. “You understand about how tralaeths are treated.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m sorry that you’re on the receiving end of that
, too.” I frowned. Wager seemed like a nice guy.
“How did you get in with the vamps?” Kipa asked.
Wager let out a faint laugh. He tapped the corners of his lips with his napkin. “When I was younger, I used to hang out with a rough crowd. They dared me to go down into the Catacombs. Stupidly, I took the dare, and I made my way down into the underground. I got lost, and I wandered into dangerous territory. These two vamps were bearing down on me, and I thought I was done for.”
“Amazing how stupid we can be when we’re young,” Angel said.
Wager laughed. “Right. Well, turned out the vamps worked for the bank that I cashed my checks at. I was a delivery boy. One of them recognized me because I went in there every Friday afternoon to deposit my check and get cash for the next week. He and his buddy gave me a good talking-to and escorted me out of the Catacombs. On the way, one of them asked what I was doing down there and I told them.”
“I bet they liked that,” Herne said, laughing.
Wager chuckled. “They scared the fuck out of me, told me to quit the gang, and right on the spot, one offered me a job as a courier for the bank. I took it, left behind BLAM—the Boys on the Lam—and my life started taking off. When I decided I wanted to become a private investigator, I talked to Ozrik—one of the two vamps who got me on my feet. He offered me low rent down in the Catacombs and promised to send business my way.”
“BLAM. I’ve heard of that gang. Apparently, it’s still around.”
“Yeah, but the guys who were in it with me are all dead. Gang violence, ODs, you name it, they died from it. I credit Ozrik and the vamps with saving my life. We get together for dinner every so often. Actually, working down in the Catacombs provides me with more jobs than I’ll ever be able to handle.” Wager bit into a second piece of French bread. “This is good. My kudos to the chef.”
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