by Nalini Singh
“I don’t think he’s here,” I continued, “so I’ll just be on my way.”
The goblin’s lips quirked in a smile. “But then you would miss my proposition.”
Oh, I think I knew what he was proposing.
His easy smile stayed put, and I could feel his mind browsing through my thoughts. “I assure you, it’s strictly business—at least initially. I would like it very much if you would come and work for me.”
Eventually I managed to form words. “Is it the librarian outfit? Because I can assure you, no one wants to watch me strip.”
“I am quite certain you have many talents where you would least expect them, but those are not the talents I am interested in.” The goblin was directly in front of me, his face blocking the light—his eyes seemingly absorbing the rest. “We can save those for later exploration.”
“And if I say no?” My voice sounded tiny.
“Then I will be forced to destroy you.”
Just like that. Same silky, seductive voice—in one moment promising my deepest desires; and the next, my messy death.
“Isn’t that a little melodramatic?”
“I assure you it is an accurate description of what would happen to your physical body should I do this.” He did another negligent hand wave and vaporized a mannequin standing in the corner of the dressing room.
I swallowed. “You’re right. Destroyed is a good word for that.”
“Then you agree to my request.” He didn’t ask it as a question.
“How can I agree when you haven’t told me what the job is?”
His fangs were showing, but it wasn’t a smile. Like drawing a gun, he was simply showing me his weapons. And damned fine weapons they were.
“I require the same services you’re presently employing on Vivienne’s behalf.”
“And if I refuse and you ‘destroy’ me, then no one gets my services and I get dead—which is my big concern as you can imagine.”
“Then we are at an impasse,” he murmured.
“I’m not going to help you find any leprechauns, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“I don’t need your help finding the remaining three leprechauns. You have two in custody. The third is in this room with us; and the remaining two have panicked and are attempting to flee my place of business as I speak.”
“Rake Danescu.”
“You’ve heard of me.”
“I’ve been told of you.”
“No doubt by your new partner.”
I ignored that. “If our quarry’s flying the coop, looks like we’re both out of luck.”
“Oh, I don’t believe so. My true quarry is right where I want her.” His dark eyes glittered in the dim light. “Almost.”
“I’m not your BOGO.”
The goblin arched one flawless eyebrow.
“Buy one, get one free.”
“What a charming concept.” He smiled at me, showing me all of his teeth, including two alarmingly sharp fangs—all dazzling white. Looked like SPI wasn’t the only supernatural organization with a good dental plan.
“I can feel the air quiver from his trembling—and yours.” His black eyes gleamed as they scanned the room. I half expected a forked tongue to dart out from between his full lips and taste the air. His eyes narrowed and those lips slowly curled in a smile. “And I can smell your fear—and arousal. Have you asked yourself why Vivienne assigned you to her most trusted agent?”
I tried to swallow with a bone-dry mouth. “To keep the newbie away from creatures like you?”
“Among many other reasons. There are things I can offer—things that you want—that Vivienne Sagadraco could never provide.”
And one of them was getting entirely too close.
I swallowed hard. “Yeah, these days good insurance is hard to come by.”
“When you are nearly immortal, you need not concern yourself with the injuries, sickness, and infirmities of age. Serve me well, and I could see to it that you are granted that gift.”
“Package that and you’d put the insurance companies out of business.” I was thinking fast, or trying to. Rake Danescu was getting closer, but my feet and—of more concern—the rest of me was making no effort to get farther away. In fact, parts of me were toying with open rebellion with my good sense.
“There are other benefits that are beyond your imagination,” the goblin said.
“I can imagine quite a bit.”
He gave a low laugh. “And I eagerly look forward to you telling me about each and every one.”
His smile went from dangerous to downright wicked, as he slid one long arm around my waist, pulling me tight against him. I didn’t know if it was a figment of my imagination or trick of the light, but I could swear the goblin’s eyes were getting larger and darker. With goblins, sex was just as much about power as what you did with the parts. And from what I was feeling, he wasn’t lacking in either department.
“Have you heard what happened to your predecessors?” he asked softly.
A chill ran from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. “One of them.”
“Would that be the exsanguination, the fall from the Empire State Building, or the unfortunate subway accident?”
“The first one.”
“You haven’t been told of the others?”
“Not yet.”
“Nor will you, unless you ask your new employer some very direct questions. Questions the senior management at SPI will find most uncomfortable. And an interesting fact concerning your American supernatural flora and fauna—North American sewer leeches don’t live this far north.”
I just stared.
“Yes, they lied to you.” He smiled slowly, as he slid his other hand down the length of my spine. “Would you like to know why?”
I was officially beyond words.
“Tell me, Makenna Fraser, have you seen any demons lately?”
“Present company excluded?”
He laughed softly. “Contrary to what many in this city—human and supernatural—think, greed is not good. There is nothing wrong with acquiring possessions that are pleasing to the senses—present company included—however, I know when to stop. Others do not share my restraint. There is danger in reaching too far without acknowledging the limits of your power. Such wanton arrogance could destroy us all. Vivienne has experienced difficulty protecting her seers. Perhaps you would be safer with me.”
There was a sneeze, and a pile of feather boas in the far corner poofed up in the blast of nasal air.
Rake Danescu released me and crossed the room faster than I could see, reached behind a pile of discarded costumes, and plucked out one very wanted leprechaun prince by the scruff of his scrawny neck.
“Ah, here is my little trespasser.” The goblin’s smile was more like a hungry hyena than anything else. And like a scared rabbit, the leprechaun couldn’t stop himself from looking at the predator that’d plucked him from his burrow of feathers. Prince Finnegan was no longer a naked human woman. He was something worse—a naked leprechaun. Ick didn’t even begin to cover it; and believe me, I wanted it covered.
Rake Danescu’s black eyes locked on Finn’s with all the warmth of a shark about to feed. What was about as bad as it could get for the prince was good for me. If Danescu wanted to keep his leprechaun prisoner, and right now, for my sake, I hoped he did, he couldn’t break eye contact, or Finn would vanish faster than tips in a stripper’s G-string.
And without those black eyes holding me hostage, I felt some semblance of sanity returning.
Now it was Prince Finnegan’s turn to panic. However, being a leprechaun with the gift of gab, he was trying to talk his way out of the mess he’d sneezed his way into.
His words came in a gush. “In exchange for my freedom, I will gladly grant you three wishes.”
Danescu smiled slowly. “Of course, you will. You will give me everything I want—including the name of who sent you here. I believe the clichéd wish is for you to give me ric
hes, power, and my heart’s desire. I already possess all three, leaving you with nothing left with which to bargain. Why are you here, leprechaun?”
Finn grinned like a used car salesman who liked a challenge and had just met his match.
“If you consider carefully and wish well,” the leprechaun told the goblin, “you could accomplish what I know you want in only two wishes.” Finn waggled his bushy, red eyebrows. “Leaving you free to use your first wish to cleanse the human and elven stain from your place of business. For no extra charge, I can include the wolf man presently lurking in your alley, after which there will be no one to prove SPI’s agents were even here. Then we will be free to conduct our business in a civilized manner.”
The goblin’s expression darkened. “Be warned that my favor is not so cheaply bought—nor am I easily tempted. In fact, you may find both are priced more dearly than you’re prepared to pay. You toy with those best left unmolested.”
Finn jerked his head in my direction. “Yet you molest them freely.”
“I can do so because I have not your shortcomings.”
“The dragon uses humans as her agents. They are servants at best. They will do as they are told to avoid offending or angering our queen or your own most noble king. The balance of power is delicate now. They will not risk exposing our world to their own. We are the nobles of our peoples. We don’t need the permission of the hired help to do as we wish.”
“And you fail to recognize the value of ‘hired help.’ I never eliminate in haste that which I may need in the future.”
“Then use your first wish to have me put SPI’s agents to sleep for as long as would be convenient.”
“That could be convenient—and most entertaining.”
Rake Danescu never took his eyes off of Finn, but he didn’t need to when he could run his fingers under my blouse from clear across the room.
There was a muffled explosion, and Ian stood framed in all that was left of the locked door.
“Attacking my employees in my place of business?” Danescu asked Ian, his black eyes never leaving Finn’s. “And destroying my property? Vivienne’s control over her favorite guard dog isn’t as good as she believes. I have done nothing here. Merely giving a warm welcome to SPI’s latest seer to our fair city, and giving her advice she would do well to heed.”
“And kidnapping a leprechaun prince?”
“Escorting a Seelie court hooligan who is trespassing in a nonpublic area of my club. My intent is to send him on to where he deserves to be.” The goblin smiled as if at a private joke. “It is my own variation of a catch-and-release program.”
“You’ve caught him; release him. Now.”
“In good time.” His black eyes glittered from the shadows. “And that time will be mine; not yours.”
He shot a glance at the pile of costumes Finn had been hiding in. In the next instant, that pile was flying toward me and Ian.
Then the lights went out, and a door opened and slammed.
Shouts and screams came from the guest section of the club, and what sounded like a muffled explosion came from the other side of a door with one of those emergency exit signs over it. It appeared to be the only door out of this place. Ian ran across the room and threw his hip against the door bar, his gun in his hand, held low and ready. He checked the alley, his eyes alert to any movement.
The air smelled like rotten eggs, and it was all I could do not to gag.
“Sulfur,” Ian said.
“What the—”
“Leftovers from black magic. Looks like Danescu had an escape portal ready and waiting.”
We ran out the back door and into the alley to the sound of screeching tires, burning rubber, and gunshots.
Elana stood at the mouth of the alley, slamming a fresh magazine into her gun, and cussing a blue streak. The leprechauns formerly known as Khaki Guy and Jeans Guy were trussed up in magic manacles and propped up against the alley wall like a pair of Thanksgiving turkeys.
The Suburban was gone.
Ian sprinted to the end of the alley. I caught up to him a couple of seconds later.
“The last two leps got past me,” she growled. “Sorry, Ian.”
“Don’t worry; we’ll get them. They took the Suburban?”
Elana gave a sharp nod and lowered her gun, but she didn’t put it away. The look on her face said she really wanted to use it some more. Those leprechaun SUV-jackers better hope Elana didn’t catch them first.
“Where’s Yasha?” I asked.
Elana jerked her head in a vaguely skyward direction. “Up there. We’ve had company.”
Something heavy slammed into the brick wall two stories above our heads. Then came the shower of broken brick chunks.
Ian jerked me out of the way, and we both looked up.
I had no idea what they were, but the closest thing my panicked mind could come up with was one of those flying monkey things from The Wizard of Oz on steroids. They’d scared the crap out of me on TV when I was a kid; and their all-too-real distant cousin had me plenty terrified right here and now.
“Danescu’s club bouncers,” Ian explained. “For particularly stubborn guests.”
The winged monkey fell out of the sky and landed face-first and spread-eagle in the alley. Nothing landed that hard without being hurled.
Yasha leapt from the roof, shaking the now-cracked pavement under our feet when he landed. He snatched up the monkey by one ankle and slammed it repeatedly against the ground. Then he swung it a couple of times over his head and let it go. I didn’t know how far that monkey flew after Yasha launched it, but the squealing went on for way longer than you’d have thought.
Yasha the werewolf looked at the spot where the Suburban had been, and let out a blood-curdling howl. Then again, those leprechauns would be better off if Elana caught up to them first. I realized that the Suburban probably wasn’t the only thing of Yasha’s they’d stolen.
I think they’d taken his clothes.
“RAKE Danescu took Finn,” I told them.
“How?” Elana asked.
Ian smiled; it was the first real one I’d seen from him. “Portal. But when I tackled the little bastard on that stage, I tagged him in the left ass cheek with a tracking chip.”
That right there went above and beyond the call of duty. Ian Byrne deserved a medal.
“Best hope that chip of yours is multi-dimensional,” Elana said.
“Prince Finnegan wasn’t all Danescu got,” Ian continued, “he also got the identity and a look inside the mind of SPI’s newest seer.”
“He didn’t look inside my mind,” I protested.
“Did he touch you?”
Did he ever.
Elana chuckled. “From the look on your face, I’ll take that as a yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“Familiar with the word ‘enthralled’?” she asked.
“I’m not enthralled.”
“How hard did you try to escape?”
I thought about that.
Elana nodded knowingly. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Meaning that if Rake crosses your path again—”
“I’m screwed.”
“And if you’re lucky, it’ll be literal.”
“Elana,” Ian said in a warning tone.
She snorted. “Any woman and half the men I know would do Rake.”
Ian scowled. “It’s my job to have kept that from happening.”
“You had your hands full—and apparently so did Rake.”
There was no denying that. My favorite lady parts got all tingly again. I mentally smacked myself. Rake Danescu was gone and the residuals were enough to . . . what if he were here, his hands running over my . . . I smacked myself for real.
Elana nodded once. “Like I said, enthralled.”
“Okay, he was kind of hot. Doesn’t mean I’m enthralled; I just need one really good date is all.”
“New girl in town,” Elana mused. “New Southern girl. Play up that Scarlett O�
�Hara of yours, and I can fix you up.” She thought for a moment. “You don’t mind Yankees, do you?”
“As long as they don’t drink blood or eat brains.”
THE goblin had Finn. We had a tracking device on Finn. Rake Danescu had flying monkeys at his command. But we had an advantage that didn’t have a thing to do with minions or superior spy technology.
We had a naked Russian at the wheel—a really pissed, naked Russian.
In werewolf form, he’d have enough fur to cover the necessaries, but he wouldn’t fit in the truck, let alone be able to get his hands with their five-inch claws around the steering wheel. So shapeshifting back to a naked Russian it was.
I was trying not to look. Fortunately Yasha the naked human was nearly as hairy as Yasha the werewolf. Hugh Jackman had nothing on this guy.
Those leprechauns had stolen Yasha Kazakov’s tricked-out Suburban. It was his baby, his mobile office—hell, it was his partner. And his partner had been kidnapped and taken for a joyride by creatures that in their real form didn’t have legs long enough to reach the gas pedal.
A couple of hours ago, I would have felt sorry for the little guys, being chased by an enraged werewolf who’d already gone wolf once tonight and had beaten one of Rake Danescu’s bouncers like dirty laundry on a rock. But now? If—no, when—he caught up to those leprechauns, he was liable to squash them into green Play-Doh. And after all they’d put us through, I’d gladly hand Yasha the hammer.
The tracking chip Ian had planted on Finn was on the move, so we didn’t have time to wait for a replacement vehicle or prisoner transport from the SPI motor pool. Ian liberated a bakery delivery truck that was parked near the end of the block.
That was the best thing that’d happened to me all night. Until I smelled those cookies, I had no idea how hungry I was. A porn crawl through New York City sure worked up an appetite.
The truck was still half loaded with cookies and pastries in all their glorious forms and flavors. Technically it was stealing, but by rescuing Finn from Danescu’s clutches, we’d save the city from the effects of the goblin mage’s three wishes. When you thought of it that way, we were fueling up to prevent the spread of evil. That was noble, right?
Clover weed might not have been pot, but it obviously had the same side effects, at least for the leprechauns. The two stoned leprechauns had a bad case of the munchies, and anything that would keep them quiet was good.