by Lexi Blake
“How did I do that?” I’d stayed in the tent with Danny the whole night. Once we’d eaten our craptastic rations, I hadn’t bothered Neil at all.
Daniel grinned lecherously. “He’s talking about the noise you make, baby. You’re kind of a screamer.”
I blushed and reached back to firmly move Daniel’s hand off my ass. “We’re working. No hitting on the boss. It’s a rule.”
“We’ll see who the boss is,” Daniel whispered in my ear, not giving up his position. “I still wear the pants here, Z, but don’t worry. I’ll let you in them anytime you want.”
I laughed and pushed at my husband because he was such a dork and I still loved him. He rolled me over until I was on top, looking down at him.
“God, not again,” Lee groaned as he joined us. “Let her rest, Donovan. You would think her being one husband down, she could get some rest.”
“Spoilsports,” Daniel groused but let me scramble off of him.
I sat back against a tree, looking up at my bodyguard. “What’s the report?”
Lee’s brown eyes were serious as he looked at me. “There are only the two leprechauns. As far as I can tell, they aren’t armed.”
“They don’t need to be.” Daniel sat up and straightened his shirt. “Unless we lay physical hands on them or keep our eyes on them, they can teleport. I’m serious about keeping eyes on them. You can’t even blink or they’ll be gone in an instant.”
Lee nodded. “Okay. We have to deal with that. They’re in the early portions of the con. They’ve lost money at this point, so they aren’t going to want to drop everything yet.”
“Why don’t Danny and I head down and watch for a while?” I said. “You and Neil can work your way around to flank them. When the time is right, we blow their con and if they try to run, you catch their tiny asses.”
“And if they won’t talk?” Lee asked.
I shared a smile with Neil. “I have ways of making them talk. Trust me. This is going to be fun.”
I had plans for the evening. Daniel helped me up, his hand going around my waist.
“Have I told you how fucking hot you are?” Daniel obviously had plans, too.
I couldn’t help but laugh. We’d lost so much in the last few days, but Danny had been with me. He’d held me and loved me and given me strength. Sometimes I worried that Danny and I had too much of a past, but these last few days had proven me wrong. He’d given me a comfort no one else could have, an ease. As we began to walk down toward the leprechauns, I leaned into him, finding strength there.
He leaned over, kissing my hair. “This is kind of fun, Z. It reminds me of the old days except we have a ton of sex. I prefer having the sex. It makes everything better. Do you want to stop somewhere and have sex now?”
Yeah, he pretty much never stopped. “You could be nicer to Neil.” We hadn’t talked about it yet.
He sighed. “It’s hard, Z. It’s hard to forgive because he put you and Dev in danger.”
We kept walking, our feet crunching against the forest floor. I did understand that he was possessive and anything that went contrary to his nature came under fire. “Dev wasn’t your partner then. It shouldn’t have mattered.”
His face turned away. “I’d shared you with him by then. I’d had his blood by then. It mattered, Zoey. Neil…damn it, I want to forgive him. I do. Just give me time.”
The problem was vampires viewed time differently than the rest of us. I wasn’t ready to wait a couple of decades to have my family whole again. Still, I had more to worry about than just Neil. “Can you forgive Dev?”
He stopped as we reached the flat valley where the leprechauns were working. Roughly a hundred yards away sat the small encampment we’d been studying. “It isn’t the same.”
Something had been going on between them, a distance I didn’t understand. I could only think of one thing that could really come between them. “He told you to send Summer back. He actually told me to get rid of her.”
Daniel stopped, turning my way. “He didn’t understand, Z. Dev wouldn’t do that.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I remembered that day so long ago. We’d all been confused and scared with a demon on our trail. I didn’t blame Dev, but I worried about Daniel. “Then what happened between the two of you?”
Daniel’s stubborn frown did nothing to dissuade me. “He’s just mad I wouldn’t commit genocide on his say-so. He wants to be able to point and shoot. I’m not his weapon, Z. I’m not anyone’s weapon.”
But there was obviously so much more and I knew suddenly that he wouldn’t tell me. Something had happened when they were out in the field, but he wasn’t about to talk to me about it. He strode forward, making any further conversation impossible.
Danny watched carefully as the con artists worked their game.
“Who can find the queen?” the leprechaun asked in a rapid-fire voice. “Ten gets you twenty. Twenty gets you forty. All you gotta do is keep your eye on the queen.”
“Seriously, who falls for three-card Monte these days?” I stared at the crowd surrounding them. The leprechaun’s hands shifted quickly, moving the cards back and forth.
“They learned it on the Earth plane, I’m sure.” Daniel’s eyes followed every movement. “These sidhe are from the country. They’re only making their way to the palace for the war. They’re just ripe for the plucking. What a bunch of pigeons.”
“We have a winner,” the leprechaun said with a frustrated sigh. He made a big deal of paying out the “winner.”
“We have a shill,” I commented and Danny smiled.
I watched as he caught Lee’s attention across the field and gestured toward the faery we were pretty sure was working with the leprechauns. They were working a classic short con. Get a bunch of people together with nothing better to do and offer them a seemingly simple game. The shill would look like everyone else. He would pretend to not know the cons and step up to play the game. He would make comments on how easy it was. Hey, he would say, look at that. The idiots marked the queen without knowing it. We can take them for everything. For a while, the shill’s words would prove true, but in the end, the fast hands of the con artists would win every time.
We stood on the fringes of the small crowd, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The pigeons were starting to lose, but they hadn’t realized the scam yet. Unfortunately, they did realize something was wrong and, as usual, it was me.
One of the sidhe warriors stared at me and not in a sexy, good way. He looked at my hair, and distaste was plain on his face. He turned to his friend and whispered something that made Daniel tense beside me and then the friend studied me, too.
“Your clothes are strange, warrior,” the faery said to Daniel. He didn’t speak to me but regarded me with disgust. I knew I wasn’t the hottest chick on the plane, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t grown horns.
Daniel looked at the faeries. They’d been joined by two others. The faintest smile crossed his lips and I sighed. I was going to have to move out of the way and soon because Danny had been itching for a fight since he’d allowed Devinshea to beat on him. The sex had helped, but he was a creature of violence and nothing but a little bloodshed was going to satisfy him. It looked like the faeries were going to indulge him.
“One might think you aren’t a Seelie, friend,” another said, and the word “friend” was bitten off.
“I know damn well your strumpet there ain’t Seelie,” the third said. “She’s short and her hair is red. She’s a halfling of some type. Probably goblin from the way she shows off her limbs.”
What did these people have against limbs? They thought nothing of boobs hanging out, but the minute they saw an ankle, a girl got labeled a tramp.
“I’m human, idiot.” I would try honesty at first.
They looked at each other as though trying to see if anyone was buying what I was selling.
“We don’t let humans in our sithein,” the tallest one said.
The card game was pu
t on pause as all of the faeries looked our way. They moved away from the leprechauns, who eyed us, obviously upset that their con was turning into an evening of mob violence.
“Z, come here, baby.” Daniel spoke in quiet tones. Danny was always at his most dangerous when he was ice cold. I did exactly what he said. I moved cautiously to his side, never taking my eyes off the men threatening us.
“I think what we have here is an Unseelie spy.” A big faery with dark hair frowned our way, his hand cradling the hilt of his sword.
I felt a presence at my knees. I looked down and Neil sat back on his haunches beside me, his arctic white fur brushing my legs. He barked up at me, and I knew what he was telling me without words. He had my back.
“The man is odd, too,” said another. “He ain’t pure. He has the look of an Unseelie.”
“There’s no reason to fight, men.” One of the leprechauns tried in vain to interest his pigeons in rejoining the game. The evening was young. He was probably still in the hole. Danny and I were causing major problems for him and his partners. I noticed the shill hadn’t joined in with the mob. He stood at the back, shaking his head.
“There’s always a reason to fight the monsters,” someone said.
“The war hasn’t started yet, boys.” The second leprechaun climbed up on his table, raising his tankard high. “They’ll be time enough later for killing. Tonight is for drinking and gambling.”
A particularly mean-looking faery stepped to the front of the crowd. “How about we celebrate after we string up the Unseelie interlopers?”
That got the small crowd cheering, and I wondered why we hadn’t thought to bring along a note or something from my mother-in-law explaining who the hell we were. I fingered the delicate gold chain that marked me as Dev’s wife, but I doubted any of these country faeries would have seen it before, much less believe that I could be their High Priest’s wife. Pulling it out and using it would be a good way to lose it. The Goddess Chain was my only real connection to Dev at this point, so I wasn’t willing to risk it.
“He ain’t even wearing a sword,” one of them pointed out. “If he ain’t Unseelie, then he’s a coward ’cause he’s not going to the palace to join the queen and the good prince.”
“If he isn’t Unseelie, then what’s he doing with that half-breed?” someone else muttered.
“For the last time, I’m human,” I insisted, getting a little pissy.
“For the last time, Unseelie bitch, we don’t let humans in.” The largest one snarled, moving close.
Daniel’s hand shot out and he lifted the larger man up by his shirt. He smiled and his fangs shot out of his mouth. “You don’t let vampires in, either, yet here I am.”
Daniel tossed the faery back into the crowd, knocking several down like bowling pins.
The crowd drew swords and rushed the man they were certain now shouldn’t be among them. Neil barked at my feet and used his head to nudge me back. I followed directions as I always tried to in a fight. I can hold my own, but Daniel…there’s no one who fights like Daniel.
“Get him!” someone yelled. “He doesn’t even have a weapon.”
Daniel actually had two guns and three knives hidden on his body, but he didn’t make a move for them. He didn’t need weapons. He moved into the crowd that now surrounded him. I could have told them that was a mistake. In cases like this, he preferred to have his prey in a nice neat circle.
The first warrior rushed Danny with his sword held high. Daniel punched him in the face and the faery flew back, politely losing his grip on the shiny sword. It was in my vampire’s hands before it could fall to the ground.
Neil herded me back toward the tree line even as Daniel began to move. I watched intently because Daniel was a vision of violent power and grace when he worked. The crowd fell like dominoes as he twisted and whirled that sword in an arc that left not one of the men untouched. Blood began to splatter in a neat circle, saturating the ground around him. Half the men had already fallen.
Daniel stopped, his head down, sword held low and he looked over at me and winked. So fucking sexy.
I heard moaning and groaning, but not a one of them was dumb enough to get up. My vampire looked at the remaining men and smiled. “Who’s next? You should be glad I’m not Unseelie because if I was, your army would be in serious trouble.”
This incensed three of the remaining sidhe. They looked at each other and nodded, trying to flank Danny. They let out rebel screams as they rushed him. He gutted the first one, allowing the faery to keep his sword deep in his belly as he fell away. Daniel lifted the next one and tossed him to Neil.
“That one’s yours,” he yelled as he faced the third. I felt a deep well of love for him. Handing Neil a kill was a signal that he was softening.
Neil barked happily and then started toward the faery with a low growl.
“Nice puppy.” The warrior shook his head and tried to back away from the lovely display of teeth I was sure Neil was giving him.
While Neil enjoyed terrifying one faery, the last of the three who had rushed Danny laid his sword down. There were three left who had pulled themselves out of the fray after the first assault. They chose to put their weapons down as well.
“A vampire isn’t Unseelie,” one of them pointed out.
“Nope,” another said. “They’re from the Earth plane.”
“So he probably isn’t a spy,” they concluded.
“Then there’s no need to fight him,” a faery with long yellow hair said, his voice shaking even as he stood his ground. “If he ain’t the enemy then we should probably buy him a drink and try to convince him to fight on the Seelie side of this war.”
Daniel growled and his eyes pierced the remaining men. “And why would I fight beside men who insult my wife?”
The faeries all took up the new cause of getting the vampire to calm down. “I never believed she was Unseelie,” one said.
“She’s obviously a woman of good character,” said another.
I rolled my eyes, but now the danger had passed and I didn’t see a need for revenge. I’d been called worse before. The faery Neil was playing with was crying and I think he’d peed just a little. “Neil, stop farting around. This isn’t why we’re here.”
Neil looked back at me and changed, becoming human in an instant. “You’re no fun, Z.”
I turned around and noted that our leprechauns had fled.
“Damn it,” Daniel cursed.
“I’ll go after them.” Neil started for the forest line, but stopped.
Lee walked forward and he had both of the leprechauns, one in each hand. He held them up even as they tried to kick out at him.
“Lose something?” Lee asked with a superior smile. Something caught his eye. “Hey, is that beer?”
Neil headed toward the woods, running quickly. We’d gone over the plan and Neil ran off to do his part.
“Don’t forget the package,” I yelled as he disappeared.
Daniel looked at the sidhe around him. “Clear out. I have business with the wee folk.”
The remaining sidhe tried to pick up the ones on the ground and started to stumble off toward their campsite. They kept their eyes on Daniel, watching to make sure he didn’t make a move. I noted his self-satisfied smile as they regarded him with pure terror.
“Not you.” I put my hand up to stop the black-haired faery who’d been working as the leprechauns’ shill.
“Me?” He seemed determined to act the part of a completely shocked bystander.
“Yes, you,” I replied as Daniel came to my side. “You were on an awfully lucky streak, buddy.”
“I guess it was just my day, friend,” the faery replied.
“Oh, for the goddess’s sake, Tully, we’ve been made,” one of the leprechauns said.
“Well, we certainly have been now.” Tully got his frown on.
Neil returned, dressed in slacks and a polo and carrying my secret weapon. I just hoped its battery was still good or we’d b
e screwed.
Daniel walked up to the wee folk. “I don’t give a damn about the con, guys. I could care less if you want to take those idiots for everything they have. My wife is looking for something and we think you have it.”
Tully looked at me, his arms crossed defensively. “Look, lady, no refunds. If you were dumb enough to fall for the game, then you deserved to lose whatever it is you’re looking for.”
“I didn’t lose anything. Someone else did,” I explained.
“Well, then she deserved to lose,” Tully replied with a frown. “We won that money fair and…well, we won that money.”
“I’m not saying you didn’t.” I got into Tully’s space. “Look, we said we didn’t care about the con. I’m looking for something and I’m willing to pay for it.”
“Really?” Tully stared down at me, a speculative look in his dark eyes. “Just what are you willing to pay with?”
Daniel growled and the leprechauns looked at Tully liked he’d lost his mind.
“Did you not watch the fight?” They asked the question in perfect stereo.
“Are ya trying to make the vampire angry? He said that’s his wife. They don’t take kindly to men hitting on their wives,” the one in Lee’s left hand asked.
“He could decide to eat ya, ya dolt,” the right side interjected. “And I’m not about to stop him. We can find another just like ya.”
“He ain’t gonna eat me, Corben,” Tully said with more assurance than he should have had. “If he’d been hungry, he’d have eaten all those idiots who insulted him and talked bad about his lovely bride. I did neither. I actually think she’s kinda cute, if you ask me, and she’s definitely a con. So’s he. I can see it in their faces.”
“I’m not a con,” I said.
“A thief, then,” Tully insisted, looking between Daniel and myself. “Ya ain’t legit, honey. I know a girl on the game when I see one.”
I smiled because he did have good instincts. “I’m a thief and a damn good one at that. I’m showing you some respect by offering to buy the item I’m looking for.”