Makeup, skin and toned body on display, and even sweet perfume. The tough AET lieutenant had been transformed from a cop into a woman. For the first time since meeting Hall, she kindled the flames of desire in Tyler.
Maria snapped her fingers in front of him. “Hey, you there?”
Tyler blinked and shook his head. The maître d’ had long since wandered off.
“Uh, sorry. Just got distracted.” Another quick check of the room revealed several famous actors and musicians, and a few local politicians.
There’s no way I could ever get into this place without an invitation.
“I just wanted to give you a little thank you for your help with everything,” Maria explained. “Even if I’ve changed my mind about a lot of stuff, that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how you helped hook me up with Dannec. I don’t know if I’d be alive today without that. You saved my life, and those of my men.”
Tyler took a sip of wine, some of the tension dissipating. Chatting over food and booze, he could handle.
“Well, I’m earning money, so I’m benefiting from it. Not to mention you’re helping enforce neutrality.”
Maria traced the rim of her glass with her finger. “Yeah, you were running a business before I ever showed up. You could have told me to fuck off. I know how you feel about cops.”
“Maybe, but this is a nice place. Probably nicest I’ve been in a while.”
Maria picked up her glass and took a sip. “Good to relax. I forget that a lot. The world’s always going to spin on, and there will always be new scumbags. It’s hard to not obsess over them.”
“Can’t worry about that. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to solve all crimes. All you can do is protect people.”
“I guess you’re right.”
Tyler took a sip of wine. The arrival of the antipasto cut off more responses. They both spent some time sampling meats and cheeses before Tyler spoke again.
“You look good, by the way,” Tyler commented. “Haven’t seen you looking like that before. Took me by surprise.”
Maria laughed. “Like an actual woman?”
“Just saying I’m used to seeing you in a uniform, not a dress.”
“You’re not looking so bad yourself. I mean, your little bartending outfit is nice, but you fill out a suit well.”
Tyler raised a glass. “I try to please.”
His gaze cut to the side. A too-young busty blonde was draped over a local alderman. A married local alderman who was rather famous for his commitment to family values.
I could use that. Wait. No, I shouldn’t. This place is like the Black Sun. Anything that happens in here is off-limits. Might be nice to know, but I’m not going to screw things up by using it. Instead, I’m going to concentrate on the woman in that killer dress in front of me.
Tyler smiled. “I appreciate the invitation, Maria, and I’m glad your recent opinion changes didn’t involve deciding I was a scumbag.”
Maria grinned, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “The night’s still young.” She raised her glass. “How about a toast to befriending people you least expect?”
Tyler raised his glass. “To befriending people we least expect.”
They clinked their glasses.
Still not sure if this is a date, but I’m glad I came.
5
The next evening, Tyler polished glasses and hummed. The Black Sun might not be the Seven Hills, but he owned it, and it was a far classier joint than it used to be.
“Someone’s in a good mood,” Kathy commented with a grin.
“What? Am I not allowed to be in a good mood?”
She shrugged. “Just wondering if something good happened.”
“Nothing happened. I just had a nice night.”
Kathy tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “Yeah, that sounds about right. You should enjoy it while it lasts, though.”
Tyler frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Just saying that Brownstone might be quiet, but he’s going to get his revenge on you for that stunt with the women sooner rather than later. This is a guy who basically wasted an entire gang for killing his dog, after all.”
Tyler groaned and slumped against the bar. “Shit. You’re right. I keep letting it slip my mind, but that bastard already doesn’t like me. There’s no way he’ll let this go.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “What if he wrecks my place? Even if I could afford it, I can’t have a decent business if we’re undergoing a bunch of construction.”
“I doubt he’ll do anything too direct. He doesn’t want to piss off the cops.”
“He doesn’t have to do anything directly. He could pull bullshit like he did last time, send high-level criminals at me and then tell the cops they are there and hope for trouble. It’s not like Maria can guarantee every cop will leave this place alone.”
Kathy eyed him with a faint smirk. “I’m sure Maria can do a lot more than you expect.”
Tyler glared at her. He didn’t have the time or desire to deal with the other bartender messing with him. Right now he had a huge target painted on his back, and he needed to figure out the best strategy to protect himself from Brownstone.
“Maybe the best defense is a good offense.”
Kathy crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not following you.”
“Maybe if I hit him with another prank, that’ll convince him not to hit me back.”
“I doubt that.”
A customer at the bar chuckled. “I agree with Kathy. You hit him again, the man’s not gonna walk away. He’s gonna come back twice as hard. He’s fucking James Brownstone, not some punk kid from middle school.”
Tyler rubbed his chin. “But maybe I could prove to him that I’m not worth messing with?”
“How?”
“That truck of his. Maybe I do something to his truck.”
Kathy grimaced, and everyone sitting at the bar shook their heads.
“I’ve heard the only thing Brownstone loved more than his dog is that truck,” Kathy commented. “You fuck with that truck, he might very well come and blow up this bar.”
Tyler scrubbed a hand over his face. “Then maybe I give up on offense and go back on defense.”
“How?” asked another customer.
“You know, have people follow him around. Watch him or some shit.”
“That’ll just piss him off. He’ll think you’re trying to fuck with him.”
The first customer gulped down some of his rum and Coke and set the glass down. “You know, you could just apologize to him.”
Tyler stared at the man like he’d opened a portal to Oriceran right there in the Black Sun. “What?”
“You know, tell Brownstone you’re sorry.”
“Fuck that. I’m not apologizing to that asshole. This was revenge for something he already did to me.”
“Maybe you’ll get lucky, and he’ll let bygones be bygones.”
Kathy snickered.
Tyler shook his head. “I can’t plan on that. No, that fucker’s got something up his sleeve. He’s just waiting for me to let my guard down before he comes at me.” He stared at the front door. “He’ll come. I just need to be ready.”
You won’t win this time, Brownstone. Not against me.
A couple of hours passed, and Tyler’s thoughts had gone from paranoia back to his favorite subject: money.
Brownstone would come for him. That much was certain, but there had to be some way to make money off it. Maybe he could start a pool for when Brownstone would get his revenge, with bets about the exact type of revenge, the monetary value of the damage, and that sort of thing?
I’ve made a shitload of money betting on Brownstone. I know I could make money off this. Or shit, for that matter, maybe money off something other than when assassins are going to take his ass down.
Maria pushed into the Black Sun. She was still in uniform, much to Tyler’s disappointment. After seeing her in a dress, he couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to see her
without any clothes.
Yeah, right. Not like a cop and a crook are ever going to get together, even for a one-night stand. And she’s on Team Brownstone now. She’ll probably start hating me soon.
The AET officer marched up to the bar.
Then again, in the meantime, she might be helpful in a different way.
“Hey, Maria.” Tyler nodded toward the hallway. “Wanted to chat with you about something in private.”
She shrugged. “Okay, but I hope it won’t take too long, because I could really use a drink.”
“It won’t take long. After that, you can have whatever you want on the house.”
Maria grinned. “Free’s a great price.”
A quick trip brought them to Tyler’s office. Once he sat behind his desk, he spoke. “I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions off the record.”
“Maybe. Remember, just because we have a few deals going doesn’t mean I’m going to leak a bunch of cop shit to you.”
Tyler waved a hand. “Nothing like that. If anything, I’m more interested in information that hasn’t even got any current value.”
“What are you playing at?”
He leaned forward with an eager gleam in his eye. “The Drow. I mean, unlike your last takedown there weren’t a zillion news choppers around, and your official statements have been pretty lacking in detail.”
She shrugged. “This is one of those diplomatic messes. The mayor and the chief want to keep that shit as quiet as possible. It’s one thing if it’s some Earth witch causing a mess, but if we make too much noise about Oricerans causing trouble, it’ll raise tensions or some shit. That’s the message I’m getting.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to tell me a little. As you pointed out the other night at dinner, without my help the AET might have been up Shit Creek the last few fights.”
Maria snorted. “That’s how you’re going to play it?”
“Just saying I’m a curious guy. I want to know a little more about the Drow and how they stacked up against everyone’s favorite bounty hunter.”
The cop thought about that for a few long moments, her face scrunched in concentration. “It’s not like it’s any big secret other than the brass wanting to keep shit quiet, and fuck Dannec knows a lot of it, so it wouldn’t hurt if I passed along a little information.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, then, Tyler. Ask what you want, but I’m not guaranteeing I’ll answer.”
He shrugged. “Fair enough. First of all, how tough were the Drow individually?”
“Easily would have been level-five bounties. Crazy shadow magic, partial flight, blades, ranged weapons, and defensive spells. Even when we got to them, the damned bastards regenerated.”
“And you and Brownstone took them on at the same time?”
Maria shook her head. “They got the drop on him before we could get there. We showed up just in time to save his ass.”
Tyler didn’t even bother to hide the grimace. His nemesis had been that close to dying, only to be saved by a woman who supposedly hated him.
“So even the great James Brownstone’s just a man in the end.”
“Sure. A man who took on three bastards who could probably hold off an entire AET team individually, but sure.” Maria shrugged. “We threw the works at them. Didn’t have our drones with us, but stun rifles, bullets, anti-magic bullets, and railguns, and that included Brownstone having worn them down before we showed up. Dannec gave me a little party favor that helped.”
“And that was how you won?”
Maria shook her head. “Nope. We won because of Brownstone’s quick thinking.”
Tyler’s face twitched. “Seriously?”
“The Drow tried some super-spell. Don’t even know what the point was. I think they were trying to suck out Brownstone’s soul or some shit. They were ranting about it, but only Brownstone was close enough to make out most of it, and all he said was that they really wanted his ass dead.”
“Guess they aren’t so bad,” Tyler muttered.
Maria smirked. “Anyway, they blasted him, but this artifact he had on him absorbed it, and he used it as a little magical bomb, and then the fuckers…” Her smile vanished. She leaned forward, and her expression turned icy. “If you breathe a word of what I’m about to say to anyone, this place and the neutrality are done. You understand?”
Tyler sat up, startled by the woman’s sudden vehemence. “I value our working relationship, Maria. I’m not going to fuck that up.”
Plus, I want a chance at something more than a working relationship.
She eyed him for a few seconds before nodding. “The assholes were doing some seriously messed-up magic. To be honest, I think they were about to blow all our asses to Hell, and I mean that literally. Another cop got off a lucky shot at them, but the level of magic…” She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “These Drow could have flooded the county with demons or shit like Tessa Vansant’s monsters. If it hadn’t been for Brownstone’s quick thinking, I’d probably have gotten torn apart by some fucked-up thing that my mind couldn’t even imagine.”
Tyler grimaced, bile rising in the back of his throat. “Damn. That’s fucking intense. I’m glad you took those assholes down.”
“From what we’ve been told, the Drow won’t be stopping by Earth again anytime soon. I don’t know all the ins and outs of Oriceran politics, but the guys at the consulate were very, very pissed over all this shit.”
“I can’t imagine anyone working there wants demons flooding Earth any more than we do.”
Maria let out a pained laugh. “Yeah, I’d hope so.”
Tyler took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to be impressed with Brownstone. He needed information he could monetize somehow.
“You said you had to save Brownstone’s ass? He must have been pretty torn up.”
“Not as torn up as you’d think. Look, the reality is, if there’d only been two of them I think he could have won, but even one of them would have been enough to give us trouble. I hate to say it, but that’s how tough he is.” Maria shrugged. “Why the sudden interest in the Drow shit?”
“I like to know what’s going on in my town. It helps me keep my eye out for troublemakers.”
Maria snorted. “Like yourself?”
Tyler grinned. “Yeah, like myself.”
6
James made his way to a back table at the Leanan Sídhe. Every once in a while, another patron gave him an appreciative nod.
Fuck. Are they nodding because of my bounty hunting or because of that Bard of Filth shit?
He couldn’t be sure. It felt like everyone had looked at him differently ever since his delivery of dirty limericks, but it might all be in his head.
The amulet whispered something. He didn’t understand it, but he could perceive the irritation. Maybe the amulet was a prude.
Fuck you. I had to do it. I owed the Professor.
The bounty hunter muttered to himself as he dropped into a chair across from the Professor. James frowned as he looked up at the other man. The Professor stared back at James, his face serious and no scarlet dotting his cheeks. There wasn’t even a glass or mug of beer in front of him.
A chill ran up James’ spine. A stone-cold sober Smite-Williams was damned unnatural.
“Good evening, lad. Thanks for coming on such short notice.”
James shrugged. “Got nothing else going on, especially since Shay’s out of town doing shit for you.”
The Professor managed a weak smile. “Oh, she’s just in the Midwest, not far away at all. She’s collecting a little something for me there that ended up in some Native American burial grounds that doesn’t belong there. I’m sure she’ll be back soon. It’s not like she’s off in the middle of the Australian Outback.”
“Yeah, there’s that, but you called me here, not Shay.” James leaned forward. “This better not be about picking up another Clown of Doom from a pawn shop.”
“No, lad. I only wish it were s
o straightforward.”
“Straightforward? That clown almost blew me up.”
The Professor wagged a finger. “From what you told me that artifact saved your life, and probably the lives of those AET officers.”
James grunted.
The Professor chuckled. “But we’re not here to talk about the past. We’re here to talk about the future, and the artifact you’re going to recover for me.”
“Why me? This sounds like Shay shit, and you said she’d be back soon.”
“The lovely Miz Carson is an excellent tomb raider, but this job might require a more direct and less archaeological approach.”
“Straight ass-kicking?”
The Professor shrugged. “That’s one way to refer to it.”
“What’s going on, exactly?”
“I acquired a golden plaque. The artifact is useless on its own, but it does have some use when combined with other artifacts, including a vimana.”
James furrowed his brow. “Isn’t a vimana some sort of ancient flying machine?”
“In this case think more flying castle, but yes.”
“And this plaque is important to that?”
The Professor nodded. “It’s a sort of navigational program. The problem is, I may have made an inelegant choice of whom to trust in this matter.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that the plaque should have been delivered to me by one Warren Sanderson yesterday but it wasn’t, and Mr. Sanderson has been conveniently avoiding responding to my various communication.”
James shook his head. “Wait, you telling me that you think this guy you hired took your plaque and ran?”
“It’s a strong possibility. I was going to have my associate Correk look into it, but he’s not available. Not only that, but this is my screw-up, so I need to eat the cost of cleaning it up.” He pointed at James. “You have a good nose for hunting people down and applying just the right level of violence.” The Professor held up a hand. “Right now I’m interested only in your availability. I still have a few last channels of communications I’m checking into before giving up on Mr. Sanderson.”
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