The center was filled with little oddities—statues, vases, blown glass flowers and other items made of copper and glass. All of it was impressive, and I probably would have begun browsing, if my attention hadn’t been completely captured by the hill giant who was adding blown glass dragons to a tree at the back of the store.
“Alhari Thornar,” I called. I continued speaking in her tongue. The words were harsh and sharp, but I was pleased that I remembered how to speak Giant. “What in all the hells are you doing in this backwoods city?”
She was just over six feet tall with dark brown hair that reached her shoulder blades. The summer dress she wore hugged her curves, showing off her voluptuous figure, and the heeled sandals didn’t add enough height to matter. When she turned, her jade green eyes met mine, and I saw delight warring with caution in them. The smile was wide, brilliant, and warm, though.
“Probably the same thing you are, Cat,” she replied.
“Hiding? You?” I joked, moving toward her. I held my arms out when we were just a couple feet apart. “It’s been too damned long, Jade.”
The caution vanished as she returned the embrace. We hugged tightly for a few moments before breaking apart.
“Why didn’t you tell me you lived here?” I asked.
Jade shrugged. “I didn’t know what sort of reception I’d get. We’ve both been around long enough to know enemies become allies and allies become foes with the passing of time.”
I rolled my eyes. I had called her Jade shortly after we met in the eighteen hundreds, due to her green eyes. I’d seen her in her true hill giant form, as well as in the human form that stood before me now. We had fought together. She had been my Right Hand for a long, long time.
“Never gonna happen,” I reassured her.
“Considering you’ve gone from being Peter the Great to Sherlock, or perhaps Irene Adler, I couldn’t help but wonder.” She paused, narrowing her eyes as she looked me over. “What the hell happened? You went from leading armies, destroying empires, and tearing apart regimes to a recluse. Antiquities? Seriously?”
“Hey, most of the antiques I saw firsthand when they originally hit the market. I’d hope, by now, that I could tell real from fake. Besides, most of what I deal with is Magickal artifacts and such.”
“Right. Now tell me the real reason,” she said, putting most of her weight on her left leg and her hands on her hips.
There was no way I was going to be able to bullshit her, so I told the truth while trying not to feel like a complete idiot for my foolishness.
“I fell for a two-bit wizard. I’m sure you’ve heard of Nick Wright. Thought it was serious, and I started considering the whole ‘settle down and have kids’ thing. Then I realized he was an asshole who only wanted what my position could bring him.” I shrugged. “So, I dumped him and decided to call it quits on being a social creature.”
“Social. Right,” she said with a laugh. “Your idea of socializing was watching people prostrate themselves in front of you in the hope you’d spare their life.”
“I was young and influenced by a few people,” I argued. I poked her chest. “You sure weren’t trying to talk me out of any of it, madam.”
“It was too much fun,” she admitted. “But times have changed a lot since those days. It’s why I didn’t contact you. I figured we would run into each other, eventually, at Walmart or a grocery store, maybe even a restaurant. It’s a small area, after all.”
“Fair enough. It’s not like I’ve been anything but a hermit since I dumped Nick. Well, up until now, that is.”
Jade’s right brow rose, and she tilted her head to the side. “And what’s changed, Lady? Someone finally kick your ass enough that you’re willing to be your old self again?”
“I met someone,” I admitted with a sly smile. “The Consigliere, to be exact.”
“Is he everything he’s rumored to be?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Which rumors?” I shot back.
“Amazing in bed, knows more ways to please a woman than the average male, rarely lets you be in charge, very well endowed, to name a few.”
My cheeks burned, and I couldn’t meet Jade’s eyes. “Where did you hear those rumors?”
“To answer would make this incredibly awkward, so I won’t. But judging by your very lovely, red face, I’m going to say they are true.”
“I think the rumors might not do him justice, to be honest.” I cleared my throat and looked over her shoulder at the glass figures. “Anyway, I think being a recluse sucks.” My eyes drifted to hers. “Seems I miss out on a lot. Like seeing my best friend.”
“You only say that because I helped you lay waste to anything you wanted.”
“That and I can’t drink you under the table,” I retorted.
We laughed and hugged again. It felt so good to see her after so long.
“Do you still have the conniving, pain-in-the-ass skull?” she asked, leading me over to the counter.
She gestured to one of the two stools behind it. I took one, while she sat on the other.
“Yeah, and Maekyl is as devious and sneaky as ever,” I answered. “Want to drop by sometime? I’m sure he’d enjoy seeing you again.”
“Would love to! We’ll exchange numbers before you leave,” she said cheerfully. “We got into so much trouble over the years. It’ll be nice to catch up with you and him.”
“Maybe plot out how to take over the city?” I joked.
She shrugged, the smile never leaving her face. She didn’t deny it, though. Not that she had to. We’d been close friends for a long time, and I knew she would be up for anything.
“So, what brought you in here?” she asked.
“I’m trying to locate the Eye of Amon. Seems the fae who was in charge of it wore the damn thing all the time and got herself kidnapped. Sterling hired me to retrieve it. I was coming to ask whoever owned this place why they hired Universal Manpower. Apparently, some of their people are tied into the mess.”
“You managed to get a list, and you are tracking down the ones involved. Matching companies with goons,” she stated, nodding. “Sorry, girlie, but the only thing we handle, aside from what you see here, is an import business on the sly.” She grinned wickedly. “Not many of us give up our old hobbies or trades. My partner is a dwarf who does imports and exports for anyone who isn’t a mundane. We hire Universal Manpower when we have shipments from the upper echelons, have more than a few crates, or have something extremely valuable go through us that requires extra muscle.”
“So, not very different from the old days,” I said thoughtfully.
“Nah. You know how it is—everything changes but still stays the same.” Jade glanced toward the front door before looking back at me. “We used them with our last shipment. Speaking of shipments, a package arrived for Nick. He came in here a short while ago with one of his girls, saying he needed something but couldn’t remember what. It didn’t seem like he was able to really see me. He was acting weird. Dazed and confused. What the hell happened to him?”
“He fucked up when he told me he was giving average girls dragon’s blood. So, I told Dad, who told the Council. They stripped him of all his Magick for the next five years.”
Jade stared at me for a few seconds, then threw her head back and laughed. It was a deep, throaty laugh that came from her belly.
“Oh, that is rich! About time that poser got his comeuppance.” She winked and leaned toward me. “I still have the package. I couldn’t give it to him for obvious reasons, and since you have connections to the Council, you would be best suited to handle it.” Her eyes were twinkling with mirth as she added, “We made him pay in full prior to receiving it. So, no worries there.”
Before I could say anything, she slid off the stool and slipped through the door behind her. In a few minutes, she returned with a medium-sized crate.
I suspected the crate weighed a lot more than she made it appear, considering it was made of solid wood and remi
nded me of the kind bananas were shipped in. She held it in one hand before placing it on the counter. From a drawer to her left, she took a small hammer and promptly began opening the crate.
The lid popped off. I leaned closer and frowned.
“Hold up, Jade,” I said.
She paused, hammer in midair, but didn’t argue. Moving back, she let me take her place. I felt around the edge of the lid’s broken seal.
My fingertips tingled as they found the spell that had been placed on it. I rubbed my thumb and fingers together and realized they were a bit oily. I sniffed, and my brows furrowed.
It was a mixture used mainly for oiling leather, but there was also a protection spell woven into it.
Curious about what treasure lay within the crate, I knocked on the top at each of the corners and in the dead center.
The spell broke beneath my hand, and the lid slipped off the crate. Jade had been a warrior most of her life, and she caught it with surprisingly fast reflexes.
The packing was the standard type used for transporting fragile items. It reminded me of hay or straw. I looked around and found Jade holding a trash can. Offering a smile of thanks, I began removing the packing material from the crate.
About halfway down, I found a leather bag. A thick cord was curled around the top, so I grabbed it and began pulling the bag out. My eyes widened as it came free of the crate.
The item was suspiciously egg-shaped. I gently set it on the counter and began unwrapping it.
Jade gasped as I stared down at what Nick had ordered.
The silvery egg glittered in the light of the room. I hadn’t seen a real dragon’s egg, and this one didn’t resemble the ones that had become popular due to a series of novels and a subsequent TV show. It didn’t have scales, and it resembled a large reptilian egg.
It made sense, considering dragons were technically reptiles.
I carefully grasped the egg and lifted it out of the bag. It was cool and smooth to the touch and harder than I would have expected.
As I stared at the egg, it slowly shifted colors. Instead of a sharp silver, it now was white and reminded me of clouds.
“It changed,” I stated needlessly.
“Uh huh,” Jade said, peering at it cautiously.
“Does it look like an oblong cloud to you?”
Another reply of “uh huh.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?” I asked, tilting it one way, then the other.
“Damned if I know, Cat,” she said with a sigh. “Cook it?”
I shot her a scathing look, and she laughed. “Not funny. Did you know he’d ordered a dragon’s egg?”
“Nope,” she replied, gathering up the crate, the lid, and any wayward packing material. “We wouldn’t have accepted the shipment, if we had known. You have to have all sorts of permits to deal with anything like that. Makes me wonder what else he used us to smuggle.”
“Good question,” I replied. I winked at her. “Whoever he was ordering from was good. The spells used to seal the crate also created an illusion to make it look smaller.”
“Bastard,” was all Jade said before disappearing through the door again.
I had to agree. Tucking the egg back into the sack, I decided I’d contact my father if I didn’t get to talk to Sterling soon. One of them would know what to do with it.
When she returned, hands empty, I asked, “Can you get me the invoice for this and records of all the past shipments he made with you? I have a feeling this isn’t the first illegal thing he shipped in.”
“Sure,” Jade replied and promptly pulled out a laptop from beneath the counter.
Opening the lid, she began tapping away delicately at the keys. Within seconds, the sound of a printer spitting out paper filled the otherwise quiet room. She leaned over and pulled the papers from the printer and handed them to me.
“If you need someone to join you when you go to kick his ass, let me know,” she said. Her eyes were hard and reminded me, once again, of the gem I’d nicknamed her after.
“I’ll let you know,” I said with a grin. I pulled out my phone and handed it to her. “I’ll give you my number, if you’ll give me yours.”
Laughing, she put her info into my phone, then sent a text to her phone. “Done. Want to go out and grab a drink sometime? Show the boys around here how it should be done?”
“I would so love that,” I said impishly. “We can go on a good old-fashioned pub crawl—hit all the places and leave the boys drooling.”
“Or shaking with fear,” she added with a sly smile.
“That works, too,” I replied.
The door opened before I could say anything else. We both looked toward it, and I sensed Jade tensing.
The customer was a handsome man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. The dress shirt he wore emphasized his broad shoulders, and the khakis did the same for his legs. He was muscular and moved with authority. His brown hair crinkled into waves even though it was slicked back into a ponytail.
“Who’s the demon?” I murmured to Jade, glancing at her out of the corner of my eyes.
“Dante,” she replied, equally quietly, her lips barely moving. “He’s a local mafia don. Bit of a player.”
“He’s cute, but I’m not really into demons,” I stated, barely above a whisper. Jade smacked my arm, and I rubbed it, glowering playfully at her. “I said he was cute. I’m not giving on more than that!”
“No need to give, pretty lady,” Dante interrupted, “I prefer to earn.”
“I’ll bet,” I retorted with a smirk. “What brings you here?”
“I hear you’re in the retrieval business. I’ve had an item stolen that falls into your chosen discipline,” he said. “So, I’m here to hire you.”
“How did you know I was here?” I asked suspiciously, garnering another smack from Jade.
“I run the brew pub you walked past to get to our friendly neighborhood hill giant.” He gestured grandly towards Jade. “Since I was going to look you up, it seemed like fate when I saw you strolling past my business’s front windows. Put simply, I followed you.”
“Charming. You could have called me.” I flashed him a toothy smile. “What was stolen? The item will determine the price.”
“A grimoire. The Tome of Deities, to be precise. It’s a companion piece for a few items you’d know about,” Dante explained. “The pyramid of Icarus, the Necronomicon, and the Eye of Amon.”
I stared at Dante in pure shock. “Bloody hell. How did you obtain that grimoire?” I demanded. “And how did someone manage to steal it from you, of all people?”
“Ironically, it was stolen from me in the same way I acquired it,” the demon said. “Blood must be shed in order to take possession of such tomes, even for a short time. The previous owner took my payment, then refused to give it up. She had a magnificent windigo from the far northern area of Canada guarding it. I crippled the darling creature, and my pack of wolves devoured it while I took the grimoire.”
He smiled before continuing. “This past Tuesday, while I was out dining and making an unanticipated deal with a young couple, it was taken from my premises, and the centaur I had guarding it was torn to pieces. However, the damage done to my guard was from a single wolf, one much larger than a standard, mortal canis lupus.”
“That’s going to raise the price considerably,” I replied in a dry tone. “How many people knew you had the grimoire?”
“Three members of my house. Two, if we are only counting the live ones,” Dante replied in a relaxed manner. “Your price doesn’t give me pause. I have it on best authority that you’re well worth the cost.”
“Half a mil,” I said easily. Jade inhaled sharply, and I could feel her staring at me. I didn’t shift my gaze from Dante, though. “You are aware of the current status of the Eye of Amon amulet, yes?”
“I wasn’t aware of its theft until this morning, when I attempted to locate the Eye’s owner to help me track the grimoire,” he admitted. “Woul
d you prefer all of your fee up front, or only half?”
“The grimoire has been missing for several days, and you are just now trying to find it?” I asked slowly. “Or did you just now discover the theft of the grimoire?”
“I have attempted to find it since I discovered my mauled guard, but I’ve come up empty,” Dante explained. “When I tried to reach the fae who owns the Eye, I learned of the item’s theft. Now, I seek your professional help in regaining the grimoire.”
Things were getting better and better.
“Please correct me if I’m wrong, but that grimoire is reputed to have a section on the amulet, as well as the other two items, including specific spells.” Gods, I hoped I was wrong, but I didn’t think I’d be that lucky. “You can pay half of my fee up front and half after I return the item.”
“What’s your preferred method of payment?” Dante was still all business. “Your information about the grimoire is correct. Gives a bit of urgency to the quest, doesn’t it?”
“More than a bit,” I said grimly. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out a business card and a pen. I wrote a routing and account number on the back and handed it to Dante. “Have the money transferred to this account.”
“It shall be done within the hour,” Dante proclaimed. He removed a card from his pocket and placed it on the counter. “This is my personal information. Contact me when you want to go over details. I won’t intrude upon this lovely reunion any longer.”
“I’ll contact you after the money’s deposited,” I replied. I suspected he knew I’d search for the grimoire regardless, but I had standards and appearances to uphold. I held my hand out. The card zipped through the air and into my palm. Sure, I was showing off and wasting energy, but sometimes a girl just wants to have fun. “I look forward to working with you.”
“The delight is all mine,” he said with a roguish smile. Dante bowed deeply and let himself out.
After the door shut, I looked at the card. It had his name, an email address, and two phone numbers on it. One was a cell and the other was an office number. It was rather plain and simple, in contrast to the man who had given it to me.
The Fae's Amulet Page 16