She went to Javier’s side and sat next to him, putting her arm around his bent shoulders. “We’re going to get her back, Javier.”
He mumbled something in Spanish she didn’t understand.
Lucinda returned and gently set Dahlia’s hairbrush on the table beside the note, then stood, twisting her hands together and looking desperate for something else to do.
Seraphina caught the woman’s attention. “Would you mind fixing Javier a sandwich?”
Lucinda nodded and smiled softly before hurrying into the kitchen.
“I’m fine,” he grunted.
“Have you eaten?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not fine. You need to keep your strength up for Dahlia.” Seraphina patted his shoulder.
He sighed into his hands and shook his head. “You take good care of me, Seraphina. I should have taken better care of Dahlia.”
The situation was horrifying, but she needed Javier to be present, not wrapped up in guilt, which no doubt was eating at him right now. “This is not your fault in any way. You have to know that.”
At last, Javier lifted his head and faced Seraphina, exhaustion and pain dulling his dark eyes. “What am I going to do? What if something happens to her? I cannot lose her.” With an angry sob, he snatched up the ransom note. “And the bastard who took her wants a million dollars in gold coins. Who asks for gold coins?”
“It’s a strange request, but we’re going to need the money.” Ares strode back into the room with Minka at his side. “Not all of it, but enough to make it look good.”
“You have a plan then?” Seraphina’s heart did a little pang at how handsome a pair he and Minka made. She frowned at that reaction, knowing there was no reason for it.
Ares canted his head to the side. “The beginning of one.”
Javier stood. “I’ll get as much gold as I can. I know it’s after typical business hours, but this is Vegas. It can be done. I’ll do anything to get Dahlia back.”
Minka held out a slip of paper. “You won’t have to work too hard. Go see Claudette Marchon at The Gem Exchange. It’s a high-end pawn and estate jewelry store. I’ve already called her. She’ll stay open until you get there, and she’ll take your check and hold it until the gold can be returned.”
Javier took the paper. “Thank you. I’m leaving right now.” He glanced at Seraphina. “Text me if anything happens.”
“Of course.” Not much else was said until Javier left the living room. Then Seraphina addressed Ares and his Collector companion. “If you have the start of a plan, I take it you also have some idea about who took Dahlia?”
Ares stood on the other side of the table. The shadows seemed to reach for him even in the well-lit space. “I have an idea about the who and the what. Minka’s going to work on the where.”
“Thanks for clearing that up,” Seraphina said sarcastically.
Minka came around to study the ransom note. She picked it up and peered at it closely, then finally lifted it to her nose and inhaled. Then she pulled some of the hair from Dahlia’s brush and wrapped it around her finger. She sat quietly with her eyes closed for a minute. At last, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “I think you’re right, Ares.”
“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Seraphina was beginning to understand what being a third wheel felt like.
Minka put the note and the tangle of hair back on the table. “Based on the specific request for gold, the location where Dahlia was last seen, the smell lingering on the paper and the sense I’m getting about where Dahlia is, I’d say she was taken by a goblin.”
Seraphina’s brows furrowed as she took a new look at the note. “A goblin?”
Ares snorted softly. “You should know by now there are strange creatures in this city, Seraphina.”
She made a face at him. “So I’m learning. But my skepticism lies more in those things pointing to such a specific creature rather than the creature’s existence.” She picked the note up and sniffed it. “It doesn’t smell like anything but paper and ink to me.”
Minka seemed slightly miffed. Not that Seraphina cared. The pixie put her hands on her hips. “Maybe not to you, but to my highly sensitive nose, that ink smells exactly like goblin blood, which is what goblins tend to write their ransom notes in.”
“Ew. A little warning would have been nice.” Seraphina dropped the note. “Why do they do that?”
Minka shrugged, looking a little too pleased with herself for Seraphina’s liking. “They believe it makes their victims powerless to refuse their requests.”
“Does it?”
The pixie’s laugh trilled through the room. “We just sent your boss off to get gold coins, didn’t we?”
Seraphina glared at her. “You might think his daughter being kidnapped by a goblin is funny, but I don’t. Her life is in danger. Or do you think that’s funny, too?”
The pixie raised her hands. “I don’t think it’s funny.”
“Well, you’ve got a strange way of showing it,” Seraphina shot back.
“Time out,” Ares said. “No one thinks it’s funny.” He turned toward Minka. “Take the hairbrush, the note, whatever else you need and see what you can do to really pinpoint where Dahlia is and find that goblin.”
With a deep sigh, the pixie went to work. “I said I was sorry,” she mumbled.
He lifted his gaze to Seraphina. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“I don’t want to go—” The look in his eyes said this wasn’t just a walk. “Fine.” With Ares on her heels, she went out the French doors at the rear of the house and onto the travertine porch that overlooked the enormous pool and surrounding grounds. Even over the glow of the pool, the Strip was visible in the distance, sparkling like a bracelet of multicolored gems. Beyond it, the mountains were a silhouette of solid black against the sky’s charcoal. She leaned against the railing and tipped her face to look for stars.
Ares took the spot next to her. “Are you okay?”
“No. Should I be?” She shook her head. “Dahlia may be a stubborn, willful child who is spoiled beyond belief, but she’s still a child. She’s got to be scared out of her mind right now. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“Neither do I. And it’s not going to. We’re going to find her, and we’re going to bring her home safe.”
She sighed out a breath, unable to focus on anything but the solid, unmovable mountain range. “Tell me about one of your successful rescues. Make me feel better.”
When he didn’t answer, she looked at him. “Well?”
“I don’t have any.” Even in the dark, his eyes shone with regret.
Anger got the better of her. “I thought you were a Collector. You said you have special skills. What the hell is your job then?”
“I can’t give you that information.”
She flexed her hands out of frustration. “I am so tired of your non-answers.” A few errant tears spilled down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. “Why don’t you call your boss and have him send someone else then?” She turned away.
“Seraphina—”
She held up a hand, a little mortified at how on the verge of losing it she was. She did her best to rein in her emotions. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ll do fine,” she said quietly. She sniffed. Too much stress, too much worry. And muses felt things too deeply. She glanced up to see him standing right in front of her. Closer than he’d ever been before. He looked hesitant and uncomfortable. Crying women had that effect on some men. She did her best to lighten the mood. “Thanks for not hugging me and making it worse.”
He swallowed and stayed where he was. “It’s not because I didn’t want to.”
She started to turn away, then faced him again. “Then why didn’t you? You have a thing about contact, don’t you? As in, you don’t like it. Right?”
His jaw worked like he was searching for words. His gaze found the mountain range she’d just been staring at. “We should go in.”
Fear lit his eyes as he looked at her. “You do?”
She nodded. “It’s the ability to deflect personal questions. You should have been a politician.”
She went toward the French doors, but with a speed she hadn’t known he possessed, he moved to block her path. “Seraphina…”
“Get out of my way.”
But the look on his face told her that wasn’t going to happen. He took up more space than she remembered, his broad body filling her line of sight. His chest rose and fell in a rhythmic, determined way as he spoke. “The reason I don’t have any stories of heroic rescue to tell you is because that’s not who I am. I’m not a hero.” Pain etched lines around his eyes. “I’m the one they send in to clean up after the hero. The one who does the job no one else wants to.” His voice almost broke. “The one everyone else lives in fear of.”
Her anger faded, and she softened her tone. “Why, Ares? What about you would make them fearful?”
“I’m a wraith, Seraphina. The cursed, mutant offspring of a vampire and a reaper. You know why I’m such a rare creature? Because I shouldn’t exist in the first place.” He ground the words out like he was chewing glass. “The touch of my bare skin causes death. My curse is my skill. I don’t save lives, I take them.”
An involuntarily shiver ran through her, and she stepped back, realizing what she’d done only a second after.
His jaw popped to one side, and he raised his head slightly. “Now you understand.”
She understood very well what it meant to have your gift be your burden. But his was so much worse than what she had to deal with. Her heart ached for him. “I’m sure it’s not that—”
“It is.”
Before she could argue further, the French doors burst open behind him, and Minka leaned out, waving the ransom note. “I think I’ve figured out exactly where she is.”
“Good.” Ares nodded. His eyes were focused on Seraphina but blank, as if he’d gone dead inside. “The sooner we can bring her home, the less time you’ll have to endure my presence.”
Ares gave Seraphina an extra berth so that she wouldn’t have to find ways to distance herself from him. The pain of his confession still rippled through him in aftershocks of disgust and pity and self-loathing, so much so that he couldn’t bring himself to look at her.
He couldn’t bear to see what he was feeling about himself reflected back at him in her eyes.
Minka began. “Here’s what we know. Goblins burrow. But they’re lazy. If they can find a pre-made burrow, even better.” Minka had her tablet out on the coffee table and was pointing to a section of a map she’d pulled up. “And if this is the goblin we think it is, then he’s most likely in this abandoned gold mine right here in the outskirts of Henderson.”
“Most likely?” Seraphina asked. “Is that the best you can do? I thought you said you had it figured out exactly. What are you basing that guess on?”
Minka tapped the screen, making the map bigger. “I did another reading with the hair from Dahlia’s brush, then added what I got from that to the meeting place for the gold exchange, and with what we know to be true about goblins, or at least this goblin, it’s the only place that makes sense. Most likely is the best I can do, but to me it feels like a certainty.”
Ares took a seat in the chair farthest away from Seraphina. “Do you agree it’s the goblin I suspected, Minka?”
She looked up at Ares. “Yes. I did a quick search on the Collector database, and we’ve had issues with this goblin before. He was apprehended in this same area in 2004 after another series of kidnappings, but escaped two days ago from a maximum-security facility. Goes by the name Gozer One Eye.” She tapped on another tab, and a picture appeared. “This is him.”
Seraphina made a guttural noise of disgust. Ares wondered if some of that wasn’t aimed at him.
He couldn’t argue with her assessment of the image, however. Gozer’s toady, toothy appearance was unsettling at best. “Hard face to forget. Does Romero know?”
Minka nodded. “I just sent him the info.”
As if on cue, Ares’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out and checked the screen. A text from Romero.
Change in mission. Do not apprehend. Eliminate.
He typed a message and hit send. Understood. Back to doing what he did best. Eliminating targets was the job he’d been hired to do as a Collector.
“What about the phone number on the ransom note?” Seraphina asked.
“I traced it,” Minka said. “Burner phone. Dead end.”
Javier came barreling into the house. “I’ve got the gold.” He held up a cloth bag, the dull clinking of heavy coins resonating through the space. “Do you know where Dahlia is?”
Seraphina spoke up. “We have enough of an idea to move on it.” She finally looked at Ares. “You said you have a plan. Would you care to share it?”
There was a formal tone in her voice that hadn’t been there before. He was used to being kept at a distance. Preferred it. Except this time. With a short nod, he began. “Javier, you go to the site indicated on the ransom note, then text me when you’re there. Meanwhile, we’re going to the goblin’s burrow to rescue Dahlia. As soon as we’re in position there, I’ll give you the go-ahead to text the goblin. That’ll draw him out of the burrow and give us a chance to extract Dahlia. Seraphina will come with me to bring the girl home. As soon as your daughter is safe, I’ll take care of the goblin.”
Javier looked puzzled. “Don’t you think he’ll be bringing Dahlia with him for the exchange?”
Minka stood. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bares, but goblins, this one especially, don’t do exchanges. He’ll take your gold, but he’s not going to give you your daughter. Chances are, she’ll be trussed up somewhere in his burrow until he can return.”
Javier remained confused. “Why? What does he want with her?”
Minka’s mouth thinned to a hard line, and she glanced at Ares. He nodded at her. He was used to be being the bad guy. He explained, “There is no delicate way to put this. Goblins are devourers of human flesh. I’m sorry.”
Javier paled and stumbled toward the couch, crossing himself and almost dropping the coins. He leaned on the back of it, breathing heavily. “Please don’t let my baby die.”
Ares got to his feet. “That’s not going to happen.” Not so long as he had a damn thing to say about it. “Now is not the time to give up, Mr. Bares. Now is the time to find your courage. We need you. You’ve got to go to that drop point and play your part. You can’t let on that you know anything. Just give him the gold and act like you believe him when he says he’s going to bring your daughter to you. If you don’t lure him out, it’s going to be much more difficult to save Dahlia.”
Slowly, Javier regained his composure. “You’re right.” He straightened. “I can do this. I will do this. When do you want me to go?”
Ares glanced at a small crystal clock on an end table. “Go now, but remember, text me when you get there but nothing else until I say. I’ll give you my number.” He looked over at Seraphina. “You should change into something more suitable for the desert.” Preferably something the exact opposite of the tight little black dress she still had on. It was growing more difficult to look at how beautiful she was and know that, for him, she was completely forbidden.
She stood and gave him a curt nod. “I’ll be quick.”
Minka’s gaze followed Seraphina out of the room, then flipped to Ares when she was out of sight. “You two have a fight or something?”
“What makes you think that?”
The pixie laughed. “Before you walked out onto that patio, neither one of you could keep your eyes off the other one. Now you won’t look at her, and she’s glaring daggers.” She sat back on the couch. “Did you tell her about your…you know, what you do?”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes.”
Minka tsked and shook her head. “I don’t know how
you do it, but I guess you’re used to not having any physical contact at this point, though, huh?”
He stared at her. “You never get used to it.”
She licked her lips. “Yeah, sorry, I guess not. Hey, didn’t you date that chick, Lenora or something?”
“Lena.” He frowned. What else did the other Collectors know about him?
Minka laughed. “You sure can pick ’em.” She looked in the direction Seraphina had gone. “What kind of supe is she?”
“She’s not. Not technically. She’s the daughter of a Greek muse. A demigoddess.”
Minka chuckled. “Are you kidding me? Why are you all broken up about not being able to touch her? She’s a demigoddess!”
He shrugged. “So?”
“Doesn’t that make her immortal?”
The thought had never occurred to him. “I don’t know. She never said anything about it.” He thought a moment. “No, that can’t be. She told me her mother died. If a full-blooded goddess can die, so can Seraphina.”
Minka crossed her arms and screwed up her face in disbelief. “How does a goddess die? They’re immortal. I swear. Look it up.”
“Look what up?” Seraphina walked back in. The little black dress was gone, replaced by a pair of skinny jeans and hiking boots topped with a snug gray T-shirt and leather jacket. Her hair was down, but pulled back in a ponytail. Except for that one damn, tantalizing curl.
“Nothing.” Why did she have to be so damn beautiful? “Let’s go.”
“I’ll drive,” Seraphina said. “My SUV holds more than two people, and if we’re headed into the desert, the Maybach’s not going to cut it.”
Minka hopped up, held out her hand and jangled her keys. “I’m taking my own car. You two can follow me.” She headed for the door, leaving them alone.
Seraphina caught his gaze. “This outfit suitable enough?”
He checked her over one more time, mostly because he could, and although the sight of her made him ache with a longing he knew he’d never be able to satisfy, he was powerless to stop himself from looking. “Yes,” he whispered. “It’s perfect.”
Sin City Collectors Boxed Set: Queen of Hearts, Dead Man's Hand, Double or Nothing Page 15