He noted that the paper, The Spade Chronical, was a day out of date. He unfurled it to read the headline ‘Royal Club Unearths Spade Secret Queen Goes into Hiding’
“What garbage!” he said to himself under his breath, throwing the gossip-mongering pile of crap back down on the table and knocking back the bitter coffee in one swallow. The coffee was one of the reasons he spent so much time in the Spadelands. It was black and bitter, just how he liked it. He was just about to go when something caught his eye. He didn’t care about the salubrious comings and goings of the royals of any kingdom, and he had his own reasons for disliking royalty. At that moment, the word Cerce leapt out at him, and he pulled the newspaper back. It was only because he associated Cerce with the woman he’d just met there. He hated himself for the way his heart leapt at the mere mention of anything in any connected with her, no matter how tenuous; but he couldn’t help himself.
The article was all about the Queen of Spades having an affair with one of her staff. Not interesting in the slightest, especially as most of it was filled with heresay and conjecture. He scanned through the article quickly until he found the part he wanted to read, the bit about Cerce. Right at the bottom of the article was a piece about some other royal, this time a Club, fighting a dragon rampaging through Cerce. It was not the Club nor the dragon he cared about. It was the fact that many buildings had been demolished and Cerce had been evacuated. He read the last paragraph three times to see if he could glean any clues as to where exactly in Cerce this had happened and if there were any casualties.
“Piece of shit newspaper!” he shouted out, stunning the couple at the next table and causing their child to wake with a growl. He threw the newspaper back down along with a ten-dollar note to pay for the coffee and tip and disappeared into thin air before the wolf couple had the chance to tell him to mind his language.
He was not the same man he’d been just three days earlier, at least not on the outside. He’d quickly thrown off that appearance in the hope he could throw off the whole evening along with it. Since then, he’d been someone generic, no one in particular, a mish-mash of faces and bodies he’d seen throughout the years. It had to change now, though. He couldn’t have her recognising him if she saw him. Not that she would, of course, but he didn’t want to take the chance. He transformed into a woman. It was actually the wolf woman he’d seen seated at the next table just minutes before but was now hundreds of miles away. He hated turning into a woman; it just didn’t feel right to him, but he’d been forced to do just that a few times in the past and had come to terms with it. He conjured up a pair of dark glasses and covered his violet eyes.
The part of Cerce he had transported into was unfamiliar to him, but the four spires of The Ace palace in the distance gave him a general idea where he was. The cobbled street he found himself on was typical Cerce. High fashion shopping arcades filled with the most absurd outfits abounded and people walked the streets in frankly staggeringly high, high heels. He knew then that he’d have to change again. The wolf woman with her grey suit and woolly sweater and sensible shoes would stick out like a sore thumb. He ran into the nearest empty arcade and magicked up a new outfit, one that was cerise in colour and had a feather trim. He gave himself another couple of inches in height and added to those with a pair of pink stilettos. He changed his hair to the much brighter hue of scarlet. If he didn’t get his heel stuck down the side of one of the cobbles, it would be a miracle.
He stepped out into the street, slipping on the damp cobbles with each step and cursing.
Turning away from the direction of the spires, he walked down the street until he came upon somewhere familiar to him. The Corked Orc was only a few streets away from here. He tried telling himself that he didn’t need to see her, that he was only going to check that the place was still in one piece. It was the middle of the day. The nightclub wouldn’t be open now. She’d be some other place. He was safe. At least, that’s what he told himself. He rounded the corner onto the street he’d stood on with the woman. He could see the doorway, looking old and dilapidated in the cold light of day without the flashing lights to attract customers. A thrill ran through him as he saw the place where she had kissed him. He quickly shrugged the feeling off. She wasn’t there, but the street looked much the same as it had the night he was there. Well, it looked even dingier in the light, but it was obvious that the street hadn’t been affected by the dragon. It might be a crumbling, decrepit hole, but that had nothing to do with the dragon.
So why was he still here? He’d seen what he’d come to see. To check that she was ok, he should just go. But what if she’d not been in this part of the city when the dragon attacked? It happened on New Year’s Day. Maybe she was in bed and missed the whole thing. He groaned as he realised he didn’t know where she lived. This quick foray back into Cerce was going to take longer than he had wanted to stay. He’d only come back for a minute or two. Now, despite himself, he knew he was going to stay until the nightclub opened.
A couple of teens walked down the street past him, the female accidentally bumping him with one of the shopping bags she was carrying.
“Watch it!” he growled. What was the matter with him? He was becoming edgy and restless, and he couldn’t just put it down to the waitress. Something was in the air, and it wasn’t just the decaying stench of vomit that still littered this street.
He waited for the teens to turn the corner and turned back into a man, conjuring up a much more comfortable outfit. Being a woman was a bitch, and the fuck me heels had completely fucked his feet.
“Shit!”
He recognised the feeling he had, and he didn’t like it, the slight buzz of vibration in the air that only he could feel. It had been a great many years since he’d last felt it, but he remembered the feeling as though it were yesterday. It only happened to him when his brother was nearby.
“Shit!” he said again. The last thing he needed was to bump into Ben.
He hurried down the street and straight into the first coffee shop he saw to feed his caffeine addiction.
He wished he could get drunk like other people, but alcohol had no impact on him. Neither did hard drugs, and he’d tried them all. Caffeine seemed to be the only thing that could push past the incredible force of magic within him to actually have any effect on him. At least, he told himself that. The reality was, he just liked the taste.
He took the seat right at the back and ordered his usual black coffee from a woman with bubble-gum pink hair and a uniform to match. Why did the Hearts think that dayglow pink ostrich feathers were essential to making coffee? They must have because all the staff were adorned in them.
He could feel his hand tremor as he waited for the waitress to prime the steam machine to make his coffee. An effect of the caffeine or of his brother?
He could still hear and feel the buzzing in the air, like the faint crackle of static. No one else could hear it, but it was the effect of magic reverberating through the air. No one, not even the Ace of Diamonds himself could create the amount of magic he could feel now.
Ben was his twin brother and his best friend, and he hated him with a passion. He was the first to admit they shared certain similarities; the magical power they possessed was legendary as was their luck with the ladies. Ok, luck had nothing to do with it. They were both a pair of womanising bastards, there was no point trying to deny it. But while he took women with charm, Ben took women however he could, and if that meant by force, then so be it.
The woman brought a cup of what looked like gnat’s piss calling itself coffee to him and smiled widely. He nodded his head and threw a five in her direction. It wasn’t a large tip, but the service stank nearly as badly as the coffee did.
He knew before he brought the cup to his lips, he was going to be disappointed with the weak brew. So he strengthened it himself, using his magic. The buzz increased. Ben was definitely in Cerce, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped that he didn’t inadvertently bump into him o
r worse, Ben would seek him out. If he knew Ben was in town, Ben would feel the same magical current in the air and know he was about as well.
He sipped the acrid coffee and thought about the last time he’d seen Ben. It was so long ago that he could barely remember it, but he remembered like yesterday the reason they’d fallen out—his girlfriend. Ben had murdered her for refusing to sleep with him. Talk about taking sibling rivalry to the extreme. There had been times over the years when he’d felt Ben nearby, but he always transported away before he saw him. This time, though, he couldn’t go. He had to find out if the waitress was ok.
He looked at the digital clock on the coffee shop wall and sighed. It was only three in the afternoon. It was going to be a long day.
***
The sky had already darkened when he saw two women come into view. He recognised the both of them. They were the dancers at the club. He stood quickly, spilling his fifth cup of coffee, and ran out of the cafe towards them.
The taller of the two was just unlocking the nightclub door when he skidded to a halt just behind them. What was wrong with him? He’d been the epitome of class and sophistication just a few days ago, and now, he was lolloping around like a lost puppy.
The shorter of the pair turned
“Can we help you?”
She was a pretty girl, but hidden under the usual amount of makeup of the Hearts, it was difficult to tell. Her eyelashes were so caked in golden mascara that she looked like she had two gold spiders glued to her eyes.
“The waitress that works here, the one with dark hair, when does she start?”
Both dancers eyed him suspiciously now. He couldn’t blame them.
“Why do you want to know about Kathryn?” The smaller one’s eyes narrowed even further.
“I’m a friend of hers. I just want to speak to her about something.”
“You were here the other night! I remember you sitting with that table of buffoons.”
“Hang on a minute,” said the taller one. “Are you the guy that Kat kissed?”
There was no point lying about it.
“Yes. That was me.”
“Where did you go? Kat said you just disappeared. Still, you put a smile on her face, and that didn’t happen very often.”
“Is she starting work soon?” he was eager to get back to the point.
“She quit. That very same night. Just left.”
“Do you know where I might find her?”
“No. I think she mentioned something about going home.”
“Home? She crashed on a friend’s sofa, didn’t she?”
“I mean home home. She’s gone back to Mahdlo.”
Mahdlo. He knew that village. It was only a couple of villages away from where he’d woken up that morning. He’d travelled all the way to Urbis to find out that she was less than fifty miles from where he’d started out.
That should have been the end of it. If she’d left straight away, she’d have missed the dragon on New Year’s Day. If...
“Do you know if she left straight away?”
“I guess so. She seemed in quite a rush to leave.”
“Oy. What are you doing talking to my staff?”
He turned to find a man with a scar on the right-hand side of his face and backcombed green hair. The man was, at least, five inches shorter than he was, but he had a menacing look about him.
“Cool it, Archie, He’s just asking after Kat,” the taller woman said.
“Do you have anything to do with Kat’s disappearance because if you do, I won’t be a happy bunny. She was the best worker I had, and I’d be very upset if I thought you were the one that made her leave.”
He opened his coat to show a large knife.
The taller man wasn’t intimidated at all. With all the magic he possessed, he could have flattened the guy before he had the chance to even think about pulling the knife out, but that would cause questions that he really didn’t want to have to answer.
He held up his hands and stepped away from the trio.
“I’m sorry. I see that you have a nightclub to open. I’ll leave you to it.”
He backed away and turned the corner, disappearing into the air before anyone could see him.
Chapter three
Mahdlo was a curious town and one that he had only visited a few times. It was one of the few Spade villages where all of the inhabitants were the same type of shifter. Mahdlo was a home to cats. Because of this, they tended to stay in their animal form much more than any other town or village in The Spadelands.
The one cafe he found open at the late hour he arrived in Mahdlo had a menu consisting entirely of milk. Hot milk, cold milk, milkshake, spiced milk, goat’s milk, etc. He could get any kind of milk he wanted except one with coffee in it, preferably without the milk. He ordered a plain hot milk and sat in one of the comfy chairs. Most of the clientele were lapping up milk from bowls by the roaring fire. Apart from the woman who served him, he was the only human in the place. Not that he was a human, not anymore, but at least, he looked like one.
He sipped his milk when it arrived and thought about the situation. He knew he should just give up. The woman, Kathryn, was safe. Even though he couldn’t be completely sure that she had left Cerce before the dragon had destroyed part of the city, it certainly sounded that way. She was probably back with her parents here in Mahdlo, sleeping comfortably in her bed and glad to be out of the big city. But...
Something was niggling at him, and it wasn’t the fact that even if he did find her, he’d not be able to do anything with her anyway. Ok, he could fuck her until she purred, but he couldn’t befriend her. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the thought of it made his blood run cold.
“What the fuck is the matter with me?” he whispered under his breath, causing the waitress to ask him if he was all right. He’d forgotten just how good cat shifters were at hearing.
“I’m good, thanks,”
Apart from the fact he couldn’t get Kathryn out of his mind. Oh, he wanted her alright, but he had this strange urge to protect her and to get to know her. It was ridiculous. He barely knew the woman. He didn’t really know her at all. Even if he did find her, there was no future between them. She was a young Spade girl trying to make her way in the world, he was an ancient being—the most powerful ancient being in Vanatus if you didn’t count Ben.
He’d forgotten about Ben. Thankfully, he’d managed to get out of Cerce without bumping into him, but he wondered if the way he was feeling in relation to this girl had anything to do with the energy waves Ben had been pulsing out. No, it couldn’t have been. He’d been feeling strange ever since New Year’s Eve, ever since he saw her.
He’d made countless women fall in love with him over the years, but this was the first time he’d ever felt anything back. Not that she was in love with him, of course. He’d be a forgotten memory by now. He swigged back his milk and made up his mind. Wherever she was, she was better off without knowing him. She was back in her home village where she belonged. He was going to forget about her and go back to how he lived before. Perhaps he’d go to one of the posher bars in the Diamondlands and pick up a Hot Diamond. He’d spent his life senselessly banging women, why should he change now? He slammed the glass down on the table in a bad mood, causing the cats by the fireplace to jump as he headed for the door.
It was then that it came to him, what it was that was niggling him. What had the creepy nightclub owner said to him? He’d asked if he’d had anything to do with Kat’s disappearance. Why would he say that if she’d just quit? Something didn’t add up. Despite everything he’d told himself during the past few minutes about how they could never be friends or anything else, he knew he wouldn’t drop it until he saw her again.
“It looks like I’ve become the fool, you took me for, Ben,” he said aloud to no one in particular before turning to the waitress.
“Do you know a Kat?” He didn’t know her last name, but this was a small town, maybe she was th
e only one named that.
“Look around you, love. We are all cats here.”
“Kat, it’s a name, short for Kathryn.”
“I’m sorry, love. I don’t. I used to know a Kathryn, but she left Mahdlo about three years or so back to find work in Urbis. Last I heard, she was working in a bar in Cerce.”
“That’s the one I’m looking for. Do you know if she has come home?”
“I’m afraid you’ve made the journey for nothing. Kathryn’s mom was just in here today, telling me that she missed her and wished she’d call home more often I got the impression she’d not seen her in a long time.”
“Thanks for the milk.” He threw a twenty down and ran out into the street. The wind had picked up, and now a blizzard howled around him.
She was definitely missing, and someone was lying about it. Thanks to his ability to read minds, he knew in an instant if someone was lying to him. The woman behind the counter had told the truth. He was sure of it, so that left the question: If she wasn’t lying about Kathryn, who was?
He deliberated for a few seconds while the snow whipped around him. He had to go back to Cerce. The snow was coming down so thickly that nobody noticed him disappearing in the street.
Conjuring up another Heart outfit was the last thing he wanted to do, so instead, he made himself invisible. It would be easier that way. He didn’t know where Kathryn lived, so he went back to the only place he knew she’d been, The Corked Orc.
The music was in full swing when he transported into the nightclub. It was just as cheesy as the night he’d first been there but with no one dancing to it. In fact, the place was almost empty although the pink and purple lights still danced around with as much energy as they had a few nights ago. The same could not be said for the staff. Both the women he’d spoken to earlier on in the night sat on the edge of their podiums, and the yellow-haired waitress was busy examining her nails for chips.
A couple of salubrious looking men were drinking ale in the booth he’d sat in on New Year’s Eve, and it looked like they were the only customers.
Four of Clubs (War and Suits Book 3) Page 2