Instead I asked, “Are you guys up for a fight?” I'd already seen how deadly their clubs could be. They would be an invaluable help if (and with my luck, probably when) we ran into trouble. I explained the situation with a twist. I sort of implied that if they helped us, I could make their problems go away. It wasn't a complete lie considering that the sooner I got this over and done with, the sooner I could get Dia to reverse my wish.
“Are you certain we can trust them?” Levie asked as he examined their furry white bodies with a distasteful sneer.
“You can always trust Big Foot, eh?” Dia said, trying to elbow the he-yeti in the arm. He didn't look happy; he looked pissed.
“Enough with the racial stereotyping,” I said, stepping between them. I was learning from hard won experience that looks really could be deceiving. “I said they're with me. Cool?”
“Actually, it's quite warm,” Levie replied, completely serious. I rolled my eyes and gestured at the door. Did nobody realize we were on a time schedule here? The longer I left Erin with the vampires/mummy, the more explaining I had to do. The sphinx nodded as if he could read my thoughts. My luck withstanding, he probably could.
“Allow me help,” said the she-yeti, chest puffed with pride. She was looking to prove herself, and I was looking to get into the building as quickly as possible. Solution found.
Gyiarava stepped forward with a grunt, and the rickety, plywood door popped off its hinges like a toy under her massive hands. We were greeted to nothing but silence, dark, and the stink of human garbage. As we picked our way over bits of broken glass, cans, and other miscellaneous trash, I began to get the feeling that we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I turned around slowly to face Dia, but I had noticed too little, too late. As usual.
Levie was standing next to the genie, roped in swirls of purple and orange smoke. The sphinx stood nearby growling, and the yetis waited silently, the tips of their clubs drooping to the rubble strewn floor.
“I'm sorry, girl,” she said as Terrence appeared from behind a pillar. “This dude's got my friends now, and I've gotta get them back. You're kind of a lout, so I figured you were a lost cause. Besides, you didn't wish for my loyalty. Big mistake.” She shrugged her thin shoulders as if that were a perfectly logical conclusion to come to. Of course Terrence had stolen the genies from the rapist vampires. Of course. The Queen Bee had been the bad guy all along, and I'd had a crush on him. I shivered and glanced at Levie, but his face was a mask of heat and rage. He wasn't giving me any information to work from. Why me? I wondered and instead of being scared, I sighed. It was just that kind of a day.
“But I have your bottle,” I said, producing the pink glass from inside a pocket of the coat I had borrowed from Marji. Or stolen off of her coat rack on the way out. Little details. Terrence laughed, and it was still the same smooth tones and pleasant cadence he had used before we'd all known he was a murdering sociopath. He surveyed our little group, and his eyes alone told me all I needed to know. He thought we were pathetic and useless.
But I had just died. And been resurrected. I was a new Ginger. A Ginger with guts. And two wishes. If Terrence had expected this to be his big, “Ha-ha, I'm the bad guy, and here's my dumb speech about why I want you and what I'm going to do to you,” moment then he was wrong.
“I wish Dia would get rid Terrence without hurting or killing me or any of my friends.” It was simple, basic. I hoped it would work without backfiring on me. I looked to Levie for confirmation, and he was grinning. The air in the room had shifted. Magic.
Dia's muscles jerked and spasmed as she released Levie from her smoke bindings. She turned towards Terrence who I was happy to see wasn't smiling anymore.
“I suggest you flee,” Levie said, wiping at his arms as if the smoke had left some sort of unpleasant residue. “Genies are immortal, and alas, sir, you are not, you puerile mooncalf.” I didn't know what the insult meant, but he said it with such loathing that I believed it anyway.
Terrence scowled, his pale, pretty face twisting into something less human and more demon. It only took a moment for him to make a decision, one that I hadn't thought through when I'd made the initial wish. He came at me with that supernatural speed and grace that could only end with me being dead. Again.
Luckily for me, Levie was on top of his game. He stopped Terrence several feet in front of me and twisted his body to the side, sending the asshole skidding across the debris and into Dia. Smoke trickled out of the ground around her and wrapped around Terrence's legs. He still didn't look worried, and I wished fervently inside my head that somebody had given me more information about him. He obviously wasn't your run of the mill demon.
Levie grasped my wrist hard in one smoldering hand.
“We must go. Now.” He scooped me up in his arms, and we booked it, the sphinx and the yetis hot on our heels. We made about three blocks away, next to the library, before it became apparent that we weren't being followed. Whether Dia was strong enough to kill Terrence or not would remain to be seen, but at least she had stopped him from following us.
When Levie finally set me down, I turned and grasped him by the shoulders.
“Terrence,” I said, my eyes focused on his. I would hold him in place there by sheer strength of will until he told me what I needed to know. “Who the fuck is he?” Levie sighed and exchanged a glance with the sphinx.
“No,” I said, lightly slapping his cheek and ignoring the stares of the people around us. They may have only been able to see Levie and me, but apparently, we were a sight to be stared at. “Look at me. Who the fuck is he?”
“Terrence is only a pseudonym. That is not his name. I will tell you something, but you are not to ever let on to anyone that you heard it from me. If my uncle were to find out, he would flay the flesh from my bones.” I took a step back, arms crossed for him to continue. Levie shook out his wings.
“Terrence is the CEO of Infernix.” He stopped and waited, the sphinx and yetis shifting nervously next to me. I had a feeling though, that they had already known. “Infernix is Hell Inc.'s only rival in the ... wishing business.” I frowned at him, reminded of their true purpose.
“You mean the mail order spouse business?” My voice was raw and sarcastic, but I was still pissed. I couldn't help it. Levie frowned but continued as if I hadn't spoken.
“They sell monkey's paws to their clients in exchange for their souls. As you have already witnessed, it takes quite the verbose arrangement to be certain that the wish will not backfire as opposed to our company's rather generous system.” Levie paused again as if thinking and the tips of his wings twitched in concentration. “I haven't the slightest clue as to why Terrence is so interested in you. I assume it is because I have chosen you as my mate.” I scowled at Levie.
“You've chosen me,” I said. “But I haven't chosen you yet. Just remember that.” There was a chorus of snickers from Gyiarava and her husband-thing.
“Ginger Malloy, you funny,” said the male, whose name I had yet to learn. Levie glared at them.
“I still do not understand what the two of you have to do with any of this.” The furry, white giants exchanged an amused glance.
“We just like Ginger,” they said together. “She dumb and kind of funny.” That made me feel special.
“Great. Thank you.” I took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to organize my thoughts. It was certainly one of those, 'What now?' sort of situations. I didn't know where to go from here. At least I was one wish down, one to go. I was sort of regretting the whole cell phone contract thing. It had terrible long distance prices (anything on Earth was considered long distance), and at this point, I just wanted to get rid of my last one and be done with the whole situation. I looked down at the sphinx, his head tilted to the side, as he waited for us to make our next move. One golden ear was pressed flat against his head in impatience.
“Levie, do you have any idea how to get to 3rd Century Realty from here?”
He shook his head.
“I am sorry, Ginger, but I was not paying attention to the surroundings. Your buildings,” he glanced up at the library's gray stone walls. “They all look the same to me.” I sighed and rubbed a hand across my forehead.
“Well then,” I said, giving the sphinx a look and hoping he'd understand; he always seemed to. “Can you show us the way?”
“What came first, the chicken or the egg?”
I guess I was going to have to take that as a yes.
The 3rd Century Realty office was a lot easier to find than I had previously expected. With the bright sunshine to illuminate the buildings and street signs, I realized that we really were no more than a couple of miles from my apartment. It was an area made up primarily of warehouses and old railroad tracks, but from the buzz of people about the entrance, I guessed the supernaturals didn't have much trouble finding the place. The sphinx showed the four of us around to the back where we were greeted by a grinning Fuerella.
“Thanks for coming,” she said sarcastically, picking at one of her fangs with a toothpick. It came away red, and she frowned at it, tossing it onto the ground. “Your friend is really starting to drive Thomas nuts. I think he might just rip her open and eat her heart if you don't take her away soon.”
“Well, where is she?” I replied, refusing to take the bait. I heard Levie huff behind me. At least one of us found this situation amusing. Fuerella rolled her eyes at me and refocused on the two yetis. She neglected to comment but shrugged as if their presence deserved taking note of. She patted the sphinx and stood up, stretching her arms above her head and grinning at me. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her tiny tight laced waist. It was really disturbing. I didn't know how she kept herself standing upright. Truly, I didn't.
“Well, go on,” she breathed, her tiny diaphragm contracting as she breathed in. I looked towards the sphinx to avoid her, and he took that as his cue to lead us into the back door and down a different hall than the one that I'd been in before.
I could hear Erin screaming before Thomas had even opened the door. He tipped his hat with a scowl and motioned us into the room. He reached out to grab me, but Levie intercepted him.
“Keep your hands to yourself, vampire,” he snarled. I rolled my eyes at the two bickering males and watched as Erin finally spotted me. She stopped screaming momentarily, her face lighting up like I was her saint come to earth to save her. The silence didn't last long.
“Ginger!” she screeched at the top of her lungs, and the more sensitive supernaturals in the room covered their ears as if in pain. “Help! Ginger! Save me!” God. I hated her. I really did.
“Erin, calm down. Geez.” I brushed my bangs off of my face only to have them flop back into place a moment later. “Why didn't you just gag her?” I whispered behind my hand to Thomas.
“We did, but we were trying to be polite and give her a chance to eat.” He motioned at the tray of food on the floor. I sighed and tried to remember to have some empathy. This whole thing was sort of my fault.
“How did you find her?” I asked. Thomas sent Erin a look that clearly said, 'I detest you.'
“We had to repossess a condo for non-payment,” he ground out between his teeth as Erin continued to screech in the background.
“Ginger! Run! They're vampires! They're going to kill you!” Levie snarled and little flames began to dance along the sleeves of Erin's white and pink floral blouse. Her screeching intensified by several decibels as I leapt forward and threw Marji's coat over the flames to put them out. “Oh! My! God!” she screamed. “You saved my life!”
“Erin.” I grasped her shoulders firmly and shook her. “You need to calm down. Everything is going to be okay. I swear.” Erin nodded, fat tears streaming down her plump cheeks. “Can you untie her please?” Levie stepped forward, and Erin opened her mouth to scream again. I clamped a hand over it. “Shh. It's okay. He's my ... ” I paused and looked back at Levie. His chest puffed out and a smirk fluttered over his features. “Friend.” Levie's face turned back into an angry, arrogant scowl. He stalked forward and with a wave of his hand, burnt away the ropes. Erin yelped in pain, but when I checked her skin, there wasn't any sign of a burn. “Thanks,” I said to Levie as I helped Erin out of the chair.
Thomas opened the door and hurried us out before slamming it behind us. The yetis, sphinx, and Levie's wings were obviously still not in Erin's repertoire of sight. I was surprised that as dense as she was that she was able to recognize the vampires as what they were. They must have done something truly horrendous in front of her. I avoided asking. I didn't want to know.
Helena and Lunen were waiting in the hall for us, and I felt a tiny thrill of fear. Who knew what had happened to Dia? Now it was more important than ever that we find Terrence and free the remaining genies. There didn't seem to be any other logical option. Levie and his cousin greeted each other cordially. Helena smiled at me.
“Nice to see you're all back in one piece,” she said kindly, giving my shoulder a squeeze. At least it was pretty obvious that she felt bad about the whole thing. It made me like her.
“Helena, look, I,” she held up a hand.
“Don't worry about it. You still have a while to go on the time line, Ginger. You and I don't have a problem until then, okay?” I smiled back at her and tried to ignore Erin's blubbering.
“Thanks Helena.” Lunen glanced up at the yetis, and a grin broke over all three faces.
“Hey there, Gyiarava, Donalondalin!” Levie gave his cousin a raised eyebrow.
“I sold these two their condo. How's that working out for you?” Before either yeti had a chance to answer, Levie interrupted them.
“Shouldn't you be doing your father's work? The family business is far more important than your little side jobs.” Lunen frowned at Levie, and the air in the hall became cloying and sticky with heat. Helena rolled her eyes and waved at me as she made her exit.
“Just because I'm not willing to give into Dad's prejudices and breed like a good little boy, doesn't give you the right to come and harp at me. I'm only back with Hell Inc. part time, Levie. It's your life, not mine.” The two demons snarled at each other.
“Hey Lunen,” I asked, drawing the men's attention to me. “Helena told me that you guys were kind of having it out with Nathaniel and Liam ... ” I trailed off and tried to prompt him to continue. Everything was happening sort of fast. If I could take a moment, slow down, and collect some information, then maybe all of this would work out okay. I glanced at Levie. Or work out great, if you're lucky. Lunen adjusted his hood around his face and thought for a moment.
“They were kidnapping some of our clients. Specifically, our genies. We tried to warn Hell Inc. awhile ago but they ignored us. I suppose you've decided to take up my father's banner for him?” I nodded. He glanced up at the yetis and smiled again. “You two are here to help?” They nodded, as did the sphinx, which was surprising. More than just a kidnapper, now he was a friend? “Well, we've been looking, but we haven't found anything.”
I nibbled my lip and tried to give Levie a surreptitious glance, but he was too busy glaring at his cousin's face to notice. Dia had said that the old building had been Liam and Nathaniel's office, but she could've been lying. I decided to ask without giving anything away. This was my mission now, and I was determined to fulfill it. Even if the genie I had been doing it for had betrayed me, I was going to uphold my end of the bargain. She had, in the end, upheld hers. Sort of. Besides, I had kind of sent her on a suicide mission after Terrence. I had said 'get rid of,' but that could be interpreted in many different ways. I just hoped she'd make the right decision and that she'd be okay. I did not want the title of murderer along with everything else.
“Do you where their office is? I'd like to check around, see if there are any clues.” Lunen nodded, but he didn't look hopeful.
“We burned it to the ground, but if you want to go, we can drop you off there.” I looked at Levie, and he nodded. This was his business, too, I guess.
Then I reme
mbered Erin. Shit.
I turned to her shaking form and confused expression.
“Hey Erin,” I said. “You feeling okay?” She shook her head and whimpered. I paused and thought about what to do. I sort of owed her, so dumping her was kind of screwed up. Not to mention the fact that everyone would think she was nuts. I released her and turned to Levie. I leaned close to his ear. “Do you have any money?” He frowned and produced a small, black leather wallet from inside the pocket of his slacks. He had six hundred dollars in hundred dollar bills inside. Where the fuck did he get all of that money? The bastard. I pushed aside my envy and yanked the bills out of the wallet. It wasn't much considering the circumstances, but it was the best that I could do.
“Erin,” I said, snapping my fingers to draw her attention away from Lunen's retreating back. “Here.” I placed the money in her hand. She looked down at it and back up at me, eyes questioning.
“What is this? Hush money? Do you work for them?” She was screeching again. I placed a hand on her arm and squeezed just a little too hard. It worked and she shut up.
“No. I'm just giving this to you as an ... apology. You were never meant to be kidnapped.”
“They were fairies, Ginger, fairies.” I hated to be interrupted, but I let it go.
“Yes, yes they were, Erin. There are ... all kinds of things in this world that you never knew existed. They're everywhere really; it's pandemic.” Her pupils dilated in fear. Maybe that was the wrong tactic. I changed my tune. “But they're harmless, really. Most of them. They ... ” I paused again. This really wasn't going over well. When Helena, Fuerella, and Thomas rejoined us in the hall, I decided that I wasn't below begging for a favor.
“Can one of you roll her?” I asked, my eyes scanning across the three vampires. Thomas stepped forward, the brim of his hat dipped low over his eyes.
“I would like nothing more ... ” He turned to Erin with a wicked smile across his face and grinned.
Hell Inc. Page 26