by Debra Dunbar
“Then why were you running?” Irix asked.
He paled. “I’m not running.”
“Your office is cleaned out. I’m willing to bet if we knocked on doors around your new home, we’d find you had told the neighbors you were away on an extended vacation. In another two days, your bank account would have been conveniently empty and closed. Luckily we beat you to that last one.”
“I am going on vacation. And we’re relocating the office. I’ve done nothing illegal. You, on the other hand, have done something illegal. You’ve stolen money from my accounts, kidnapped me, and are now holding me against my will.”
“We haven’t killed you.” Hallwyn’s eyes narrowed. “Yet.”
The man paled. “I haven’t done anything illegal, I swear it. I’m sorry if you’re not happy with the job you have. I’ll work to get you something else. Just let me go and I’ll get you a different job. I’ve got a job at an apple orchard, or if you’re not into that sort of thing, I can see if you qualify for one of my other openings.”
“And how much more would that cost me?” the elf shrieked. “One, two years’ salary? And if I end up fired from that job, you’ll make me perform disgusting sexual acts for humans or give them my kidneys?”
“No! It’s not… It’s all legal. I swear it. No prostitution or illegal sales of body parts. I run a placement company. I’ll get you another job.”
“If everything your company is doing is so above-board and legal, then why were you begging me not to turn you over to the demons?” Irix asked.
His eyes shifted to the right. “What demons? What are you talking about?”
Irix sighed. “When you were yelling in the car about being kidnapped, you offered to pay us, to do anything as long as we didn’t turn you over to the demons.”
The man set his jaw and clamped his lips together.
“Speak, or I will rip your fingers off one at a time until you do.”
I eyed Hallwyn with concern, not certain if the elf truly meant her threat or was channeling some inner super-spy interrogator.
Aaron glanced up at her in alarm. “Look, I’m just a recruiter. It’s my job. I find out what openings businesses have, then find the right people for those jobs. This elf approached me a few months back with a business opportunity. I figured we’d make a good partnership, but no one was interested in hiring elves at this time. I wanted to let it go at that, figuring that eventually we’d find a business willing to take a chance then we’d be off and running, because according to Gallette, elves are the best workers ever.”
“Well, we are,” Hallwyn said.
“But Gallette couldn’t wait, so he made a deal with these two demons to just stir things up a bit, to create a circumstance where companies would want to take a chance and hire an elf. It worked, and business took off. I wasn’t thrilled about people getting sick or crops catching mold and stuff, but Gallette told me that it was minor and temporary, that the new employees would soon set things to right and would prove so valuable to these companies that everyone would be demanding an elf of their own. We’d have bidding wars. We’d be rich.”
“And what did the demons get out of this deal?” Irix asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t have anything to do with them. But I told Gallette that we didn’t need them anymore. We’re getting traction on the elf placements. I didn’t like the idea of using those demons anyway, and there was no further need for them.”
Irix sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. “They were getting cut out of the deal. Whatever Gallette had offered them, they weren’t going to get more if they were cut out of any future deals.”
Aaron swallowed hard. “All I know is the demons are pissed. They’re screwing things up. We already had two elves on the verge of getting fired because the demons were continuing to mess with those two farms and the companies thought the elves weren’t doing their jobs.”
“What happened to those elves?” I asked, dreading his answer.
He shrugged. “All I know is the companies are demanding their placement fees back. I guess they quit and took off somewhere.”
“They can’t quit,” Hallwyn snapped. “The Jobber has us so far in debt to him that we’re practically slaves. We pay him to get these jobs, pay him to set us up with apartments, a vehicle and furnishings, we pay him a portion of our earnings. If we quit or get fired, we need to pay up or he’ll find a way for us to pay it off.”
Aaron winced. “I swear I don’t know what happened to them. They were on the verge of getting fired. Maybe they ran away rather than have to deal with Gallette or go back to Elf Island.”
“Who are they?” Hallwyn demanded. “What are their names?”
“Eller, and Mahal. I didn’t hurt them. I wouldn’t do that.”
Hallwyn typed the two names into her phone. “No, you just turned them over to Gallette to be sent back to Elf Island, or worse.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t even know they were gone until the companies called me wanting their placement fee back, I offered to get them a different elf. That’s usually how we handle placements that don’t work out, but these companies didn’t want us to fill the job. They were really unhappy with the quality of the elven work, said that the employees didn’t have the skills that they were supposed to have. Gallette and I had a huge falling out over it. He’s in charge of screening the applicants and selecting the right elf for the job. His screwing that up was tarnishing our company’s reputation. It wasn’t just having to refund the fee, that kind of word gets out, and no one will do business with me—either Magical Interventions or Banks’s Placement Services.”
“The right elf is the one that pays the most for the job,” Hallwyn interjected. “That’s how he’s selecting them, and we’re so desperate to get off the island we’ll take anything, sign anything.”
“Your company is going to go out of business,” I warned him. “Gallette’s taking bribes and selling the jobs to the highest bidding elf, and now, with the plague demons angry at him, even the elves who could do the job they were hired to do are going to fail. Every vine Hallwyn heals at DiMarche is dead of rot the next day. The vineyard is going to go under, and they’ll fire her before they do. Your business will be ruined, your reputation ruined, and along the way these plague demons are laying waste to Northern California.”
“He said he’s taking care of that,” Aaron protested. “Gallette said we needed to close shop and lay low. The demons would get bored and leave or be caught by the angels, then the elves can work their magic. Two months tops, then we’d be back in business. And he promised me that he’d do a better job of screening the applicants.”
Such bullshit. The plague demons wouldn’t leave until everything, and everyone, was dead, just out of revenge against Gallette, and with the angels busy, there was no guarantee they’d be stopped in time. The elf would just start over in a new town with a new placement firm partner, leaving this portion of the state destroyed, elven lives destroyed, and Aaron Banks’s business destroyed. We didn’t have time to wait.
“We need to find Gallette,” I told Aaron. “This area is going to be wiped off the map with plague and pestilence, and you’re going to go down with the rest of it. You’ll never see him again.”
He hesitated. “But he promised. He’s got money tied up in this, too. It’s his reputation, too.”
“No, it’s not. He’s got the contacts with the angels. It would be easy for him to start working with someone else and just fill job openings in Virginia, or Texas, or even Iowa with elven employees. He doesn’t need you. And if he’s learned enough about your end of the business, he might not even need a human partner.”
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” Aaron confessed. “I’ve built this business up from the ground floor, made it into something I could be proud of. I didn’t like the idea of using the plague demons, but it was just supposed to be temporary. Gallette was supposed to have everything under control.” The man shook his head. “I should
have never trusted him, but it seemed like such a great and innovative business opportunity, and the money was pouring in. I didn’t realize he was defrauding my clients, or putting the whole northern part of the state in danger.”
“It’s not enough to stop the demons,” I told him. “We need to stop Gallette. It’s one thing to find elves a job that suitable to their skills and earn a placement fee, but it’s horrible to put these elves so far in debt that they’ll never get out, and it’s not fair to the companies or the elves to put unqualified applicants into these jobs, to fill the openings based on who pays the biggest bribes. We need to stop him.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed. “But there’s still a need for finding these elves jobs, right?”
“Of course,” Hallwyn said. “It’s the only way we can get off Elf Island. We need to find employment that allows us to be of service to the humans and assist in their positive evolution. And every one of us wants to get off that island.”
“Then I have a proposal here. I’ll work with you, I’ll tell you everything I know about Gallette and the demons. I’ll help you, and in return I’ll be the primary placement firm for the elves.”
“How about you tell us everything and we don’t kill you?” Irix asked.
“No, he has a point,” Hallwyn said. “We do need a Jobber, but we need one who understands the human world, understands what human companies want and need in employees. If he agrees to do this with only the placement fee, and ensures that elves are given employment opportunities in line with their skills, then I am willing to make a deal with this man.”
Aaron looked over at Irix and me for confirmation.
“It’s up to her,” Irix said. “As I’ve said from the beginning, it’s not our problem. If she wants to make a deal with this man, then I’ll go along with it.”
“Okay. Deal. I’ll need to figure out who Gallette’s contact is on Elf Island because I think they’re going to be shuffling some angels around, but you’ll be the go-to guy for job placements. If at any time you’re not holding up your end of the deal, or if it’s discovered that you’re skimming off the top or not being honest, then the deal is off. Got it?”
He nodded. “I’ll need my phone.”
Irix cut the duct tape around Aaron’s hands and I handed him the cell phone we’d confiscated from his pants. He sent a quick text and seconds later the phone rang.
“It’s all gone,” Aaron said without any greeting. “Our bank account is cleaned out to zero. I need to meet you.”
There was the murmur of Gallette’s response.
“No, I need to meet you. There’s no money. I can’t ‘lay low’ for two months without any money, and I doubt you can either. It’s payday. All the transfers from the elves were supposed to happen today. As soon as they hit, the money was yanked out. We need these plague demons off our backs. Whether they’re the ones behind the embezzlement or not, they need to stop messing with our clients right now, not in two months.”
Gallette responded and Aaron shot us a grimace. I held my breath, afraid to say anything because I knew how sensitive elven hearing was.
“I’ll work with the bank to try to find out what happened to the money, but in the meantime we need to deal with these plague demons. What do they want? A bigger cut? What?”
Aaron nodded as Gallette’s voice rattled on. I looked to Hallwyn, knowing she could hear the other end of the conversation and saw her lip curl into a sneer. I’d initially thought her a snobby jerk, then someone who cried at every obstacle, but now I was seeing the violent side of the elf. Was she crazy? These mood swings of hers were worrying me a bit.
“I need to meet you. I don’t care, I want to meet you in person so we can figure out what to do.” Aaron hung up and turned to us. “Gallette is going to make a few calls and see if he can’t get rid of the plague demons. He’ll call me in the next two days and let me know what’s going on.”
I shook my head in frustration. We needed to get our hands on Gallette. Irix duct taped the man once more, gagging him with a dishtowel to still his protests. Then he waved for Hallwyn and me to step outside the cabin.
“This has got to be the most poorly planned project in all my life,” he scolded, waving a finger at me.
“Hey, I wasn’t the one who kidnapped the guy. I’d just wanted to follow him and see if he’d lead us to Gallette.”
“And do what? Are you going to try to kill Gallette?” he asked.
“Yes,” Hallwyn said.
“No,” I responded at the same time. The elf glared at me. “I’ve got a good idea how things worked in Hel, but that’s not the way the humans run things here. We don’t just kill people. Or elves.”
“Then put him in jail,” Hallwyn retorted. “I don’t care if he’s dead or in prison, I just don’t want him taking all of our money, and threatening us with a return to Elf Island or becoming a nasty human’s sex toy if we lose our jobs or can’t pay him.”
I narrowed my eyes in thought, but couldn’t come up with anything that Gallette had done that would get him arrested. Predatory lending was more of a civil and contract law kind of thing, not the sort of crime that would put him in jail. Which meant someone besides the humans needed to deliver the punishment.
“I’ll ask Sam to send one of the angels from Elf Island to take him away. He’s running around loose without their permission. He’s doing things I’m pretty sure most angels would object to. They can take him back and deal with him.”
Hallwyn stared at me as though I were an idiot. “He’s dealing with an angel on Elf Island. That’s how he gets the jobs posted and arranges to have the employed elves allowed off the island. They’re all working together.”
“I’ve got a feeling there are a few rotten apples in the angel barrel that are working with him. If not, they still won’t be pleased that he’s working with plague demons, placing unqualified elves in positions, and selling jobs to the highest bidder. Let alone the sex-slave thing.”
Although I wasn’t sure if the sex-slave thing was true or something out of Hallwyn’s very vivid imagination.
“So we ask for an angel to take Gallette away once the guy in there can finally arrange a meeting,” Irix summed up. “After he’s out of the picture, that Aaron guy takes over the placements and somehow deals with the angels on Elf Island. And the plague demons wander off back to Hel since the elf they’re pissed at is now in the hands of the angels. Am I missing anything here?”
I glanced at Hallwyn, then back to Irix. “Uh, no. Sounds pretty much what I had in mind.”
Irix folded his arms across his chest. “Lovely. And the guy we have duct taped to a chair? What do we do with him in the meantime? Leave him there for the next two days until Gallette gets back to us? Trust him not to sell us out and let him go?”
“We can’t let him go.” I bit my lip. “I guess we just leave him taped to the chair?”
Irix pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed for the car. “Hey,” I called out. “Where are you going?”
“To get dinner for us—all of us. And to make a phone call. I love you Amber, but your plan has more holes in it than a fire-balled Low. I promised I’d trust you, that I’d treat you like an adult and respect your need to do things on your own, but just in case all this shit falls apart, I’m putting together a backup plan.”
“I’m not adverse to a backup plan,” I shouted as he opened the door to the BMW.
“Good,” he shouted back.
Hallwyn and I watched him drive away. “Should we go back in?” I asked, worried that Aaron may have some hidden James Bond abilities that meant he was right now sawing through the duct tape with his fingernails or something.
“Can we punch him a few times?” Hallwyn eyed the door.
Sheesh. Crying one day, wanting to beat up everyone the next. This stray-puppy elf of mine was weird. “No, we can’t punch him, but I’ve got an idea for what we can do.”
Chapter 25
My idea of torture was making Aaron wa
tch endless Spongebob Squarepants cartoons, but unfortunately that meant that Hallwyn and I also needed to watch them, so as soon as Irix returned, we turned off the television and dug into the containers of Chinese food. Hallwyn proved to be a quick learner with the chopsticks, and we let Aaron loose to stretch his limbs and eat with us after warning him that Hallwyn was elf-fast and if he tried to escape, she’d be on him before he was two steps out the door.
It was late and I wanted to go to bed, but that posed yet another problem.
“Duct tape him to the chair again,” Hallwyn proposed. “I’ll take the first shift on the couch, and we can alternate.”
“I’m not taking a shift,” Irix said, making his way back to the bedroom. “You two work it out.”
I gave Hallwyn my most pitiful look. “I didn’t get any sleep at all last night. As in zero hours of sleep.” I didn’t really want to tell her that my sleepless night was due to some hot swinger action with a couple in the neighboring town.
“I won’t be able to work tomorrow if I stay up all night and watch this stupid human,” she protested.
“I can watch myself,” Aaron suggested. “In fact, if you let me sleep on the sofa and not duct tape me to the chair, I promise I won’t run away.”
“No.” I scowled at him, wondering if I should use the dish towel gag again. “You don’t get to go free until Gallette is gone and we’re sure you won’t betray us.”
“Fine,” Hallwyn scowled. “I’ll stay up and watch him tonight, but tomorrow night is your turn. And no having sex with that demon tonight. I have very good hearing and I don’t want to have to sit here and listen to the pair of you fornicating like animals.”
I was tempted to have noisy, hair-pulling, screaming-orgasm sex with Irix just to annoy her, but I was too tired. “Deal.”
When I got up at dawn to shower and get ready for work, I found both Hallwyn and Aaron asleep. Aaron looked horribly uncomfortable slumped in his chair, but Hallwyn was curled up in a ball on the sofa, a bath towel wrapped around her like a blanket.