by Jane Kindred
“She also exacts a price for information, so I’m not sure what that’s going to be.”
“I can think of one.”
“Enough with the threesomes, you perv.”
“You just assume I was talking about a threesome.”
“Weren’t you?”
Rhea grinned. “Well, yeah, but it’s rude to assume.” She got up to refill her coffee. “In all seriousness, though, I don’t trust this siren chick. Who knows what she’s going to want? If she’s going to be offering Faustian bargains, you’re going to need backup.”
“I don’t think she deals in souls. Lucy would have said so—that’s her thing, after all.”
“I suppose there’s that. But I’m going with you.”
Theia sighed. “If we both go, she’ll want a payment from you, too. She’s not going to hand out information to whomever I happen to bring along.”
Rhea set the pot on the warmer. “I’ll stay in the car, and you can signal with a text if you need help.”
“No. Will you just let me do this myself, please? Now I’m sorry I told you.”
Rhea took a sip of coffee, looking sullen. “Keeping secrets, being all virginal, doing things by yourself—you are the worst twin. I want a new one.”
“Oh my God. You pain in the ass.”
Rhea smiled. “That means I’m going.”
“Fine. You’re going. But you are staying in the car.”
“Cool. We’ll take Minnie.”
* * *
Theia hadn’t considered the fact that she was going to face Lucien’s super-hot ex-girlfriend when she’d chosen the navy capris and white T-shirt. She felt awkward as she got out of the car in the parking lot of Polly’s Grotto. For that matter, what if no one was here at this hour? It wasn’t like Polly actually lived in the club. Was it?
The door was locked. Theia stood in front of the entrance, trying to decide what to do. Should she knock? Maybe she should call Lucy and find out what the protocol was. Or maybe she should stop being a baby and suck it up and try the door.
Before she could psych herself up, one of the doors opened on its own. Polly probably had a camera on it. No turning back now.
Theia took a deep breath and went inside. The door swung shut behind her.
Chapter 26
As her eyes adjusted to the dim interior, she realized the place wasn’t empty. A woman with long platinum-white hair that clearly wasn’t white with age was seated in a semicircular booth between two unearthly pale young men on one side—who seemed to be a couple—and someone Theia could only describe as a human tiger on the other. The naked tiger-man growled.
“Now, now, Giorgio. Don’t be rude.” The white-haired woman stroked his fur. “Polly’s is open to everyone who finds their way in. Particularly tasty little demon-blood girls.” She extended her hand toward Theia. “Don’t be shy. Giorgio won’t bite. Without my permission. And Raul and Rocco only bite boys.”
Theia approached the booth, feeling decidedly underdressed. Polly was draped in a white silk gown that looked like it belonged to some femme fatale from the 1940s, designed to show off her curves.
Theia reached over Raul and Rocco, who were paying her no mind—and appeared to be giving each other hickeys, though Theia suspected they were sharing blood—and took Polly’s hand to shake it, but Polly simply held hers with her fingertips, looking Theia up and down. “I’m Theia Dawn—”
Polly stopped her. “I know all about you, sweetheart. Even if I hadn’t already met your twin—who’s waiting in the parking lot to come to your rescue should I turn out to have an appetite for human flesh—I make it my business to know about everyone who matters. What I don’t know is what you’re doing here. If you’ve come to make a fuss over Lucien, I’m afraid you’re wasting your time. I offered him my bed, knowing he wasn’t getting his needs met with you—no offense—but he refused.”
Theia wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, but she breathed a little sigh of relief. “Nice to know I matter, anyway.”
“You and your sisters have more power than you think. So long as that power doesn’t threaten mine, you matter, but you’re of little consequence to me. Now what is it that’s brought you into my cozy grotto?”
Theia wanted to remove her hand from Polly’s, but yanking it away seemed rude. “I’m generally a good judge of whether someone’s lying to me or not, so I’m going to assume from your question that Lucien isn’t here.”
Polly’s frosty-white eyebrows rose. “And why would he be here? Don’t tell me you’ve lost him?”
“I think you know how I lost him.”
“If you mean his transformation, yes, I am aware. But not because he’s been here. What made you think he would be?”
Her fingers were really beginning to feel awkward in Polly’s grasp. “I was told he might come to you for sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary.” Polly smiled, amused. “Lucien would never need to take sanctuary with me, though I would certainly give it if he asked.” Her smile turned mischievous, and her eyes literally twinkled. “One must always ask the right question if one is to receive the right answer.”
So they were playing word games. She supposed it made sense.
“Do you know where Lucien is?”
Polly’s expression gave nothing away. “I do not.” She’d answered in the negative, but Theia had the impression that there was more to it than the simple reply. And she was still holding Theia’s hand.
“Do you know of anyone who does?”
“I know of someone who may have the answer.” Now they were getting somewhere. Maybe.
“Will you tell me who that someone might be?”
The siren curled her fingers around Theia’s and drew her closer across the table. “What’s the answer worth to you?”
“What do you usually charge?”
Giorgio roared, and Theia jerked back on her arm and nearly fell sideways into the laps of Raul and Rocco when Polly didn’t let go. But Giorgio, it seemed, was laughing.
“I don’t charge. I merely expect. It’s a courtesy. I see Lucien hasn’t explained how I operate, so let me make it easier. I like shiny, pretty things.” She held up her other wrist, a charm bracelet sparkling with gemstones of various shapes and sizes.
Theia bit her lip. “I don’t think I have anything shiny.”
“Oh, sure you do. Lots of shiny things. Everyone does. I once had a choker made of irises.”
Theia thought she meant the flowers, but after a significant glance from Polly’s glittering eyes, the meaning became clear. Her own widened. No way in hell was she giving this nutjob an eye.
Polly laughed. “Those were from desperate men, as I’m sure you can imagine. People generally pay what they’re willing to give up. From you, I think...” She studied Theia intently, as if trying to decide, though it was clear she had something in mind from the start. “Yes, a drop of blood would make a lovely trinket.”
This was starting to bring to mind monkeys’ paws and Faustian bargains. “Where would the drop of blood be taken from?”
Polly laughed. “Smart girl. Just a finger prick. Nothing life threatening and no need to maim anything. You’ll barely feel it.”
“And what are you going to do with it?”
Polly’s expression turned unfriendly. “That’s a very rude question. Do you ask everyone you give a gift to what they’re going to do with your gift?”
This wasn’t exactly a gift. It was more like extortion. But Theia knew better than to say so out loud.
“Let me put it another way, then. Will this ‘gift’ give you any power to harm me?”
“Oh, you are a smart girl.” Polly’s affable smile was back. “No. It won’t affect you in the least. It will simply be my trinket to do with as I please, when I please.” She took a pin from her gown—which certainly didn’t loo
k as if it were holding any pins—and drew Theia’s index finger toward her. “Are we agreed?”
“This is the only price you’re requiring? No hidden follow-up or extras?”
“Nothing at all.” Polly placed the pin against Theia’s finger.
“And you’ll tell me who knows where Lucien is?”
“I’ll tell you the name of someone who may know. That’s the best I can do. Not knowing where he is myself, I can’t speak in certainties. I can only give you likelihoods.”
This was starting to seem like a bad deal, but the pin had pricked her finger before Theia could back out of it.
Polly touched the drop of blood, transferring it from Theia’s fingertip to her own, and released her. “Marvelous. I think I’ll have to wear this one on its own. It’s much too nice to be crowded by a bunch of ordinary charms.” The red drop solidified on her finger into a sparkling, faceted gem. Polly tucked it away into her cleavage and glanced over Theia’s head toward the door. “Your vivacious twin is getting anxious.”
The door swung open in the same leisurely fashion as before, and Rhea, facing the parking lot, whirled around. She took a step inside, peering into the darkness.
“I’m over here, Rhe. You didn’t have to come after me. I’m fine.”
“You’ve been in here forever.”
Polly laughed. “If she’d been in here forever, you’d have perished long ago.”
Theia sucked at the still-bleeding finger and pressed it to her thumb to stop the blood. “The name, please?”
“Of course,” said Polly. “Lucy Smok.”
Theia blinked at her. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Not at all.”
“You don’t think I’d thought of that? That Lucy wasn’t the first person I went to?”
“It’s hardly my fault you didn’t specify whom you’d already spoken to. You asked me who would be most likely to know where Lucien is. And that is Lucy.”
Theia wanted to strangle her. “Lucy is the one who told me to come see you. That’s why I’m here.”
Polly shrugged. “That’s unfortunate. You might have led with that. Nevertheless, Lucy Smok is the most likely person to be able tell you where Lucien is. If she chooses not to, that’s her business.”
Rhea marched toward the booth. “People like you love to play games of semantics. Come on, Thei, you’re wasting your time with her.” She grabbed Theia’s hand and turned her toward the door.
“People like me?” Polly’s voice hinted that Rhea had gone too far, and Theia tried to pull her toward the exit without saying anything else, but Rhea paused and turned around.
“You immortals. Like the Norns. Creatures above it all who like to mess with mortals, making sketchy deals where everything’s fine print.”
“Forget it, Rhea. Come on.” Theia tugged her toward the door, afraid it might close on them at any moment and lock them in.
“For your information,” said Polly as they reached the exit, “I do not make sketchy deals. I provide information honestly.”
“Oh, really?” Rhea shook Theia’s hand off her arm. “My sister asked you a simple question, and you gave her a bullshit answer because it fit the semantics of the question. That’s not my definition of honesty.”
“Your sister seems to have a pretty good grasp of semantics, and she considered her question carefully. Do you think you could do better?”
“Rhea.” Theia shook her head, but once someone pissed Rhea off, there was no dissuading her.
“In the interest of honesty,” said Polly, “Theia has already asked me directly if I know where Lucien is, and the answer is no. But if you have another question, I may have another answer.”
“And what did Theia give you for it?”
Polly took the gemstone from her cleavage and held it up in the light. “A drop of blood. Isn’t it pretty? I wouldn’t mind a matching set. They would make lovely earrings.”
Rhea glanced at Theia. “You gave her your blood?”
“It was just a drop. A finger prick. She swore it wouldn’t give her any power over me or cause me any harm. What she said rang true.”
“Fine.” Rhea stepped forward, holding out her finger.
“Rhea, don’t. She’s just playing with us.”
“I have a question,” Rhea said stubbornly.
Polly smiled, producing her pin from nothing once more. “Ask first. Present your gift after.”
“Are you working with Carter Hamilton to harm my family or Lucien’s family?”
Damn. Rhea was good at this. It hadn’t even occurred to Theia that Polly might be in cahoots with Carter. But it ought to have. She was the one who’d hooked Lucien up with his anonymous source.
Polly seemed to be trying to formulate an answer. Rhea had definitely hit on something.
Rhea folded her arms. “Are you going to answer the question or not?”
“It’s not a simple question.”
“I think it’s a very simple question. Yes or no?”
“I would never do anything to harm Lucien.” Polly threw a pointed look at Theia. “Or anyone he cares about.”
“But you are working with Carter.”
“I work with no one. I provide information. Carter Hamilton bartered with me for certain information that he was free to do with as he pleased. But if he’s used that information to harm Lucien...” Polly frowned. “I would be extremely unhappy with him.”
“Well, he has.” Theia returned to the booth. “He made a deal with Edgar to become a silent partner of Smok International, promising Edgar an extended life. And then withheld what he’d promised until giving it to him would only prolong Edgar’s suffering.”
“Mr. Hamilton isn’t known for his scruples, but Edgar did make the deal. Though I don’t see how he’s harmed Lucien.”
“You don’t see how? Because Edgar is in this limbo state between living and dying—this state that Carter drove him to deliberately—Lucien is transforming into a demon. You probably know Lucien better than anyone. How can you not see that as harm to him? He’s been afraid of this happening his entire life. And if I can’t find him, he’ll probably end up in hell. If he isn’t there already.”
“And you have some magical means of keeping him out of hell?”
“No, I don’t,” Theia admitted. “But if anyone can, I would think it would be a direct descendant of Madeleine Marchant. And I intend to do everything in my power to find a way.”
Polly studied her. “Being an inhuman creature isn’t the worst fate. As you and your sisters have discovered, there are strengths in having unnatural blood. Lucien has always feared his power—trying to deny it, trying to run from it. I think that’s a mistake. But if this transformation has been forced on him early and Mr. Hamilton is responsible, he’s forfeited any remaining good will he may have had with me. I did, in fact, put him in touch with Lucien. I now regret that. At the time, I thought it would cheer Lucien up to have some new targets.”
“Targets like my boyfriend,” said Rhea.
“Another thing Mr. Hamilton misled me about. I wasn’t aware that Leo Ström had been made mortal. I was led to believe that despite having been released from his mistress, he was still a Hunt wraith.”
Rhea uncrossed her arms. “So let me get this straight. People come to you for information because you’ve got the goods on all things supernatural, and in the past week or so, you’ve let this one narcissistic, two-bit necromancer give you easily debunked information and use you to bring harm to someone who apparently means a great deal to you. Do I have that right?”
Theia cringed as Polly’s glittering eyes began to smolder. Beside her, the tiger-man growled low in his throat, and they’d finally gotten the attention of the lovebird vamps. Raul and Rocco slid out of the booth without being asked, stepping back and giving Polly a wide berth as she emerged fro
m it.
She came to stand face-to-face with Rhea, who, to her credit, didn’t flinch. “Are you maligning my reputation?”
“I think you’re doing a pretty good job of that all by yourself.”
Theia put her arm out in front of Rhea as if to stop a physical fight. “Carter Hamilton is an expert at telling people what they want to hear. He’s done his best to ruin more than one excellent reputation in this town. Just ask my sister Ione.”
Polly narrowed her eyes at Theia. “And just what does that have to do with me?”
“You might consider that he’s deliberately undermining your reputation for his own gain as part of his larger plan.”
“What larger plan?”
“He envies everyone’s power. He wants it all for himself.”
Polly’s expression softened slightly, and she laughed. “You think he has his eye on my little grotto?”
“And your good name. They go hand in hand, don’t they?”
The siren’s expression hardened again. “He’s in for a big surprise if he thinks he can unseat me.” Without warning, she grabbed Rhea’s hand and stabbed her finger—to Rhea’s squeal of surprise—taking her drop of blood. “You’ve gotten your answer. Time for you little witches to go.”
Theia turned Rhea around and hurried her to the door before she could get them in any worse trouble. She suspected it was only the finger in Rhea’s mouth that kept her from running it.
Polly spoke once more before they reached the exit. “Ask Lucy where Lucien would go if he didn’t want to be found via electronic means.”
Theia paused and looked over her shoulder.
“Electronic,” Polly repeated.
Theia nodded. “Thanks.”
Chapter 27
Rhea held her pricked finger off the steering wheel as she drove toward Phoebe’s place. “What was that about ‘electronic means’?”
“I think she meant somewhere without cell phone service or Wi-Fi.”
Rhea’s shoulders rippled in a little shudder. “Sounds like hell to me. Do you know someplace like that with meaning for Lucien?”