Hidden Danger

by Amy Patrick

  “Where’s our next stop then?” I asked.

  “Washington D.C. It’s about ten hours from here, so you may as well settle in—maybe you can sleep some more. It’ll help you feel better.”

  Instead of settling in, I sat up straighter. “I feel fine now. What about you? You stayed up all night. How are you still functioning?”

  “I’m fine,” he insisted. “I don’t need much sleep.”

  “Let me drive and you sleep,” I said. “I’m fine with driving long distances.”

  “You’re not on the rental form for this car.”

  “Oh, and now you’re Mr. Rule Follower?”

  He grinned in amusement. “I’ll let you know if I need a break.”

  To my surprise, I did doze a bit during the drive. Well, more than a bit. I woke feeling stiff and sore, stunned to see complete darkness outside the car windows.

  Pushing up in my seat, I asked, “What time is it? Where are we?”

  “It’s just after eleven. We’re in Virginia. Still about two hours before we reach D.C.”

  “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I slept that long. How are you feeling?”

  “Fine.” He yawned, betraying his lie. His eyes looked bleary and heavy-lidded.

  “Let me drive the rest of the way, okay? I’m all rested now.”

  “No. I’ve got it. I’m fine.”

  Studying Culley’s weary posture and tired face, I wasn’t so sure. He was probably in worse shape than I even knew because, of course, all I could see was his beautiful glamour, hiding the reality of his exhausted state, hiding the real him.

  When the car weaved slightly into the breakdown lane, I decided it was time for a conversation. I had to help him stay alert or neither of us would get there alive. I wasn’t in a huge hurry to reach NYC, but I also wasn’t ready for my immortal life to end quite yet.

  “Tell me about Australia.”

  His expression lifted, his eyes brightening. “It’s amazing. It was a great place to grow up. Our house was near the beach, and I turned into a fish every summer, you know? I could spend all day swimming and building sand castles. Learned to surf when I was seven. I never wanted to go home—which was ace with Mum—she didn’t like me underfoot,” he explained. “She was always packing me off with whatever servant was nearby—when she wasn’t traveling the continent for meetings and such.”

  It sounded like a lonely childhood to me. Most of us didn’t have siblings—reproduction was a challenge for Elven couples—but it sounded like Culley had basically grown up without parents as well, raised by servants, amusing himself for hours on end.

  “So you never lived with your dad then?”

  His happy expression flattened out. “Not since I was a baby. I have no memories of him from back then, so it doesn’t even count.”

  “You do still have them, you know. Your mind never actually lets a memory go—they’re all there in your subconscious. If you’d like, I could give you back those early days when your father was around—”

  He cut me off. “No.” After a breath he continued. “No thank you. I’ve made it this far without dwelling on the ‘good old days.’ I think I’ll hold with what I’ve got. I have all the relationship with him I need.”

  The way he’d sneered the word made me wonder. What did Culley need? Did he even know? He was so cynical and independent. He didn’t seem to need anyone, but then, we all needed someone at some time.

  “Do you miss your friends from Eton?” I asked.

  “I didn’t have any friends at Eton, not really. I was the only one there who was Elven. Mum and Father both warned me against letting any of my classmates get too close. The guys there—I guess they considered themselves my friends, especially when they were partying at my flat, drinking my liquor, taking advantage of all the girls who showed up because they wanted to be with me.”

  “Egotistical much?” I asked.

  His eyes shot over to see if I was teasing, and taking in my smile, he smiled too. “I’m only telling the truth. You seem to be a fan of honesty.”

  “I am, actually. Go on—why couldn’t you have real friends?”

  “You know why. I couldn’t be myself with any of them, couldn’t let them know who I really was, what I was. I had some Elven friends as a child before I left for school, but it’s been years since I’ve even talked to any of them.”

  “Must have been lonely.”

  He didn’t answer. “What about you? What was your childhood like?”

  “Happy. Normal, I guess. Until my father died. Then of course there was a lot of sadness. It changed my mom, made her fearful and controlling. But I had friends. I was lucky to get to grow up around a lot of kids in the Dark Court, and I also had human friends, though I never saw them outside of school.”

  “They weren’t ‘friends’ then. It’s impossible to have human friends.”

  He sounded exactly like Audun.

  “You’re wrong.” Asher’s sweet face and huge heart came to mind. He barely knew me and he’d been willing to help me, to go out of his way to take care of me. If that wasn’t friendship, I didn’t know what was.

  Culley’s gaze settled on me so long I was worried the car would leave the road.

  “What are you looking at?” I asked.

  “You’re thinking of the farm boy, aren’t you?”

  “No,” I lied then quickly changed the subject. “What about girls? Anyone special?”

  He exhaled an exasperated breath. “I’ve just explained to you that I spent my entire adolescence at a boys’ school.”

  “You must have gotten to know some girls—on holiday, or at those parties you mentioned.”

  “Depends on what you mean by ‘getting to know them.’” He waggled his eyebrows in a comically lurid manner, making me slap at his arm.

  “You are impossible. Somebody must have gotten under that thick skin of yours at some point.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe.” And then he blushed. Intriguing. I wondered what he had looked like to her, whomever this mysterious girl was. What was her ideal guy? Had it been his looks that had attracted her or his mischievous, hard-to-get persona? Whoever she was, I wished her luck.

  “What do you really look like Culley? What’s the harm in telling me?” I didn’t know why I was so determined to have the answer, but this particular question troubled me. I felt like I had to know. “It’s not like I can take a picture of the real you and spread it on the internet,” I said.

  “You really want to know what I look like?”

  His leading tone made my pulse pick up and my heart flutter. “Yes. I really do.”

  “Join the club,” he said, flashing a cocky grin.

  Burning with frustration, I folded my arms across my chest and slouched down in my seat. “Fine. Don’t tell me. Wake me when we get there.”

  Chapter Nine

  Special Delivery

  Turned out he didn’t need to wake me when we reached the capital. streetlights in my face took care of that. I blinked several times, checked the dashboard clock—one a.m. The car was parked, and Culley was not in it.

  Pushing myself upright, I glanced around, searching outside the car for him. He stood in front of a faded yellow brick nightclub with another man—another Elf, I should say—off to one side of a busy ticket window.

  Though it was decidedly after-hours, you couldn’t tell it by the crowded sidewalk outside the club. Loud live music blasted from the open glass doors. The D.C. folks apparently enjoyed their late night revelries as much as the Nashvillians did.

  I barely had time to decipher the genre of music—rock—before Culley was back in the car and pulling it out onto the street.

  “What was that place?” I asked, stretching.

  “9:30 Club. Good music venue.”

  “What were you doing there? Who was that guy?”

  “Speaking to an associate of my father’s.” His tone was bored.

  “Did you make another delivery?”

  That got his
attention. Culley’s head whipped around so he faced me straight on. “It’s none of your concern—truly.” He steered to the side of the road and stopped. Away from the club, there wasn’t much traffic. “Listen, I’m pretty wiped out—mind driving for a bit?”

  “No. I mean sure. I can drive the rest of the way if you want.”

  We swapped seats, and I checked the GPS for directions back to the highway. “Where’s our next stop?”

  “Philadelphia. Then Atlantic City. We’ll decide at that point whether to keep driving or stop and get a room.”

  “Rooms,” I corrected.

  “Right.” Culley yawned and reclined the passenger seat as far as it would go. “Wake me when we hit the Philly city limit, okay?”

  “Okay. Get that beauty sleep—like you need it.” We both laughed. Within minutes he was out. I could tell by his slow, even breathing.

  Over the next three hours I drove and thought—about the things that had happened in Altum and Deep River during the past week, about Asher, and about Culley.

  Glancing to the side I took in his perfect profile, his thick platinum hair—messy from the long night—his full lips curved into a secret smile. What was he dreaming about? He was so guarded, so tight-lipped. I would never know what to believe about him.

  I’d always assumed his beauty was of the skin-deep variety, that at his core he was as rotten as his black-hearted father. But he’d surprised me on this trip. Yes, he still kept secrets, but every once in a while his polished veneer cracked and I got a peek at a heart that might actually contain some softness, some goodness and generosity.

  He’d been thoughtful, kind, and caring toward me. Could that attitude be expanded to include the rest of the world? Maybe even the humans someday? That would be nice, wouldn’t it? I didn’t want to do this alone. And I didn’t want to trick him into giving me information. A partnership was much more appealing. But it was also highly unlikely. How could I ever trust him enough to include him in my plans to bring down his father? I didn’t know if I could ever take the risk.

  I woke him when we reached Philadelphia.

  “Okay, just follow the GPS to Walnut Street. I’ll jump out and run into Coda for a few minutes and then we’ll be on our way.”

  I nodded and pulled over on the city street when we reached the address. When Culley got back into the car ten minutes later, he smelled like alcohol and perfume.

  I gave him a saccharine smile. “Make some new friends in there?”

  “You know how nightclubs are. And it’s closing time, so a lot of the girls in there are very drunk and friendly.” He grinned at me. “I didn’t offer to give any of them a shower—or lend them a two hundred dollar t-shirt for a nightie, by the way.”

  Rolling my eyes at him, I said, “I’m so flattered. Where to next?” My finger hovered over the navigation button on the GPS.

  “I’ll drive now,” Culley said. “Get out and switch with me.”

  Thanks to his mad driving pace, we reached Atlantic City in under an hour.

  “It’s almost four in the morning. I can’t imagine what club will still be open,” I said, bleary-eyed in spite of my in-car naps.

  “Atlantic City never closes, Angel,” he said. “Casinos, remember?”

  “Ah, yes of course. So, should I wait in the car or come in? New York isn’t too much further. Want to keep going?”

  Pulling into a circular drive in front of one of the tall beach-front casino hotels, Culley parked it and leaned back against the headrest, exhaling a long breath. “I think it’s been a long enough day already without ending it standing in front of my father. Do you agree?”

  He rolled his head to the side to slant a glance at me.

  I nodded. “Agreed. Let’s get some sleep.”

  A valet opened Culley’s door and took his keys while another opened mine. Allowing a bellman to retrieve our bags, we headed inside the marble and glass building. Every muscle in my body sagged with relief to be out of the car and destined for a hot bath and a pillow.

  As we approached the registration desk, a spontaneous thought popped into my mind and right out of my mouth.

  “It’s silly to get two rooms tonight—we’ll only be here a few hours—we can just share a double.”

  Culley glanced over at me, his eyes flaring in surprise and then narrowing. “So you trust me now, do you?”

  I thought about it for a second. He’d had the perfect opportunity to take advantage of me and hadn’t. Instead, he’d done everything possible to look out for my safety and comfort. I nodded. “I do.”

  He grinned and stepped up to speak to the woman waiting eagerly to help him.

  “Checking in, sir?”

  “Yes. We need two rooms please. Kings if you’ve got them.”

  My head jerked back in surprise. What was that about? Now he didn’t want to share a room with me? If you looked up enigma in the dictionary, a picture of Culley would be there. He was impossible to understand.

  After we got our keys, Culley walked me to the elevator. “Don’t worry about setting an alarm. Just sleep until you’re no longer tired.”

  I stepped onto an open elevator, liking the sound of that. Culley didn’t move. “Oh, you’re not coming up?” I asked.

  “Not quite yet. See you in the morning, Angel. Enjoy your rest.”

  As the doors slowly closed, I watched Culley turn and wearily shuffle toward the casino floor, no doubt to make another one of his mysterious deliveries. Sighing, I leaned against the elevator’s mirrored wall and closed my eyes, telling myself it didn’t matter.

  Whatever he was doing, it had nothing to do with me. And it was actually a good thing he’d opted for separate rooms—I wouldn’t have to worry about whether I snored or how I looked when I woke up in the morning. Or what was really going on inside that thick head of his.

  My only concern would be resting up in preparation for my meeting with Audun tomorrow. I’d need to be sharp. I’d need every shred of cleverness and intelligence I possessed to resist giving away my double-agency and to get out of the Dark Court alive.

  I had to keep my mind on getting the information I needed to help the Light Court and the humans. The fewer distractions, the better.

  Chapter Ten

  Walking the Plank

  I didn’t know what time Culley had finally gone to bed last night or how he’d slept, but I felt like a different girl. I was rested and refreshed and ready, well as ready as I could be, to face the day.

  “Good morning,” he said when we met in the hallway at about two in the afternoon. “Feeling better?”

  “I am. And you? Sleep well?”

  “As well as I ever do. I’m starved. Let’s hit up one of those overpriced buffets before we get on the road for home.”

  Home. “Do you consider New York home? Or does L.A. feel more like home when you come to the states?”

  “Neither really. There’s always a guest room available for me at Father’s house in Los Angeles or his penthouse in Manhattan, but it’s never the same one twice, and there’s nothing of mine in either place. When I was last in the city, I leased an apartment, but I’ve barely moved in there. That’s where I’ll be staying tonight. What about you? Want me to take you to your flat first or shall we go ahead and report to the great and mighty Audun and get that out of the way?”

  Thinking of my true purpose for being here, I said, “Let’s go see him. We’re already a day late. Best not to test his patience any further.”

  “Good thinking.”

  I was quiet on the three-hour drive into the city, anticipating Audun’s inevitable questions and mentally rehearsing answers that wouldn’t tip off his internal lie detector. When I really thought about it, which I was trying my best not to do, this could very well be a suicide mission. Not only did his unique glamour allow him to lie—aloud and mind-to-mind—it also enabled him to determine when he was being lied to. Yeah, I might just be screwed here.

  But I had to try—for the sake of all the
humans like Asher who’d be victimized by the Dark Court if I stood idly by. Besides there was a chance I’d succeed. Glamours weren’t infallible. Mine worked better on some people—and some Elves—than others. Audun’s was most likely the same.

  We were all born with our own strengths and weaknesses, natural immunities and susceptibilities. I’d never actually tried to deceive Audun before, so I had no idea whether I might be able to get away with it. Even thinking of it sent my belly swooping like a kite with a damaged tail.

  My best strategy was to be as honest as possible with him without actually giving away any critical information. If he found out Lad and the Light Court were onto him and that Nox knew of his attempt to disrupt his rule and usurp the Dark Court, then my life wouldn’t be the only one at risk. I had to be smart about this, starting with keeping Culley firmly on my side.

  “I’ve never been to his New York office,” I told my road trip companion.

  “It’s just as busy as the one in L.A.” He smirked. “Plenty of celebrities needing a good entertainment attorney.”

  “Are most of his clients Elven?”

  He nodded. “Most. But not all—for instance, our daft friend Trey Copley. No doubt another country artist—Elven—recommended Audun as the lawyer to get, and he followed blindly to his own destruction.”

  A sick feeling turned my stomach. Though the physical hangover was long gone, the emotional hangover from these jobs took much longer to dissipate, if they ever really did entirely. It didn’t seem to bother Culley.

  My face must have revealed more than I intended because he said, “About that night... why don’t we just leave out the motivation for your whiskey bath, okay? If my father asks, tell him you didn’t realize your alcohol limits and accidentally let yourself be overserved. It wouldn’t do for him to know of your... sympathies for the enemy.”

  I shot him a deadly glare and he raised his fingers, keeping both thumbs hooked around the steering wheel. “I know you don’t see the humans that way, but I’m afraid you’re a bit outnumbered in the Dark Council. You’ve got to be smart. Be ruthless when it comes to protecting yourself and getting what you want. I’ve told you before, Angel. There’s only one thing you should be looking out for—that’s you. You’ve got to watch your own back, take care of your own needs. Nobody’s going to do that for you, you hear me? No one.”