The Flame Game

by R. J. Blain

  Someone knocked at the door, and I wiggled free of his hold. “Breakfast!”

  He chuckled while I hurried to retrieve our food, carting the trays to the coffee table, doubting I’d ordered enough. I tipped the gentleman, thanked him, closed the door, locked it, and fell upon my food like a starved beast.

  “It’s like watching a shark, but instead of blood, you’re attracted to maple syrup.”

  “And it’s not even the real stuff.”

  “How is that not criminal?”

  “I will eat your pancakes,” I warned.

  “Like hell you’ll eat my pancakes, you wicked woman.” The threat of losing his breakfast to my gluttony got him out of bed, and he wrapped in his robe before joining me on the couch. “What did you find?”

  “Remember that guy I wanted to run the facial scan on?”

  “I do.”

  “I found a picture of him with Audrey, that cadet I squished, and Chief Morrison. I did a search and checked by dates, matching them to when she went to the Hamptons. I found enough pictures of her with Morrison to generally confirm she was seeing him. I think I even found a picture of them in the coffee shop together.”

  “You’re right. She has really horrible taste in men.”

  “Well, she had the right idea with you, but she was too stupid to figure out what to do with you when she had you. I’m smart. I know exactly what I should be doing with you. I do wish we’d brought our pets.”

  “Actually, I think I’ll have them fetched for us—or at least Sunny. We might need her.”

  Crap. “I don’t want to be shot with more ambrosia, Quinn.”

  “That is not my idea of a good time, either, but I’ve learned where you go, trouble follows—and ambrosia is serious trouble.”

  That it was. “I could go for some napalm, though.”

  “When can’t you go for some napalm?”

  I took my time thinking about that, nibbling on a piece of bacon. “Whenever you take your shirt off?”

  “Why is that a question?”

  “Why did you ask me such a hard question? It’s napalm! Napalm is so much better than ambrosia.”

  “You get hungover, Bailey.”

  “But before the hangover, napalm is life.” I devoured the rest of my bacon before demolishing my pancakes. “Okay. I’m ready to work.”

  Quinn stared at my empty plate. “You’re not still hungry, are you? Are the twins already rising up to turn my beautiful cindercorn into a ravenous beast?”

  “The twins have not been around long enough for that yet. I’m not even at the weird smells or morning sickness phase yet. That nonsense starts in a week or two, and then you can spend the rest of this pregnancy convincing me they aren’t trying to kill me.”

  “They’re not trying to kill you, Bailey.”

  “But are you sure?”

  He regarded my stomach with interest. “I know people we could ask.”

  “The archangel, your uncle, or other?”

  “All of the above,” he admitted. “But my uncle seems to be the one obsessed with unicorns, so I’ll start with him.”

  “Do you think it’ll be safe for our puppies and our most vicious huntress to come with us?”

  “Sunny will be fine, and we’ll be careful with Blizzard and Avalanche. I’d really rather Sunny come with us, and I’d rather not separate her from Blizzard—and Avalanche whines if Blizzard leaves her.”

  “But what about our babies? They’re with our babies.”

  “Beauty and Sylvester will understand. They’re already unusual. Gorgon whelps usually aren’t allowed to have any pets until they’re at least twelve. It’s too much of a risk to the animals. I’ll just tell them the pets need to be trained. Gorgon whelps understand training, so they won’t think twice about it. Training our pets isn’t punishing them, and they know this.”

  “They’re so different from human children, aren’t they?”

  “In a way, but it’s necessary. Don’t feel badly about it, Bailey. We’re protecting our children this way.”

  I scowled but nodded. “We are. And this whole rabies thing has hurt our family enough.”

  “That’s right. And if we can sink Morrison with his involvement in the rabies outbreak, we’ll nail him on multiple murder charges.”

  “If Morrison runs from bail, do you think they’ll tell us?” I asked, allowing my insecurities to come out, so I wouldn’t bottle it up and have it explode out later.

  Time—and Quinn—had changed me.

  For the most part, I loved the woman I’d become since tumbling into his life.

  “Probably not,” he admitted. “With my heritage and tendencies, they—mostly meaning Commissioner Dowry—will believe I’ll do anything necessary to protect you, which is correct. I will. You’ve already demonstrated you’ll do whatever is necessary to protect me. By neglecting to tell us, they stop us from pursuing the matter personally.”

  “Except we are. Pursuing the matter personally, that is.”

  “We are, but we are doing so in a questionably acceptable fashion. We are using only resources publicly available or already have in our possession. We’ll have to avoid looking at the facial recognition results to make that stick, but since it hadn’t processed when we last looked at it, we can get away with a technicality on that score. The CDC rabies resources will look innocent enough. I mean, there’s no reason to think Audrey was involved with that.”

  “Was she rabid?”

  Quinn sighed. “Yes, she was. Her hive sisters, too. She was likely infected at least a few weeks before she kidnapped you, too. The surrogate was also treated for rabies. The whelps are all fine, however. Fortunately, most diseases don’t transfer from surrogate to egg.”

  “What happened to her? That poor woman.”

  He smiled at me. “Her prince has a brother who was without a bride. Last I heard, he introduced himself to her, claimed her whelps as his own, and has been coaxing her into taking her rightful place as their mother. She’ll be fine. Last I heard, she wants to meet you, as you were the one who helped save the eggs and keep them warm until they could be taken to my grandmother.”

  “That’s good. So, if Audrey was involved with both the gorgon dust production and rabies, how is she connected to the incident at 120 Wall Street? What was the real purpose of that incident?”

  “That’s a very good question, and it’s one we’re going to have to find the answer to, I think. Initially, I thought it was a distraction from another incident, a raid on one of the CDC warehouses.”

  “For what? Which warehouse?”

  “High-grade neutralizer.”

  I cringed. “That stuff isn’t cheap.”

  “No, it’s really not. And it was a large enough operation that it needed a big distraction.”

  “120 Wall Street was a pretty big distraction, yes.” Quinn picked up a piece of his bacon and held it up. “This is 120 Wall Street. Using gorgon dust would have made every police chief in the area converge on the site. If everything had gone to their plan, making some assumptions about their plan, it would have severely crippled a majority of the NYPD, who showed up to help with crowd containment and to resolve the bomb threat. By disguising the dust as bile, if it hadn’t been for you and your recognition of how it differed from actual bile, things would have played out a lot differently.”

  “Manhattan would have become a city of stone.”

  “And the high-grade neutralizer capable of possibly reversing some of the damage would have been unavailable, as it had either been stolen or destroyed during the warehouse raid.”

  I faked my saddest sigh. “I ruined all of their plans. How utterly tragic.”

  “Such tragedy,” he agreed with a grin. “Not only did you ruin their plans, you thoroughly crushed them beneath your hooves while you were high on napalm.”

  “That hangover was so bad, Quinn. So bad. Is that orange drink you gave me magic?”

  “Only in part. Once I realized you were as interest
ed in me as I was in you, I helped make you forget all about the hangover while the medication did its work. I rather heavily influenced you.”

  “Oh, look. More tragedy. I got influenced by my gorgon-incubus doohickey. Not only are you the best husband, you are the best hangover cure.” As he insisted on holding his bacon up where I could snatch it out of his hand with my teeth, I did so. Once out of his hold, I went to work making it disappear into my stomach where it belonged. “Meat-eating unicorns require a lot of bacon in the mornings.”

  “I have noticed we go through a pound of bacon a day in the morning for some reason. I think my favorite time was when you went downstairs one night while a unicorn to steal a package of bacon. You cooked it on the porch by snorting on it.”

  “Desperate times, desperate measures. My bacon provider was sleeping on the job.”

  “It was three in the morning. Why did you change into a unicorn then, anyway?”

  “I got itchy.”

  “Itchy?”

  “Yeah. Itchy. Transforming stops the itch. It takes a few weeks without transforming for the itch to start up. I got itchy, and after I popped a pill, I got hungry, so I stole some bacon and helped myself.” I giggled at the memory. We hadn’t been married all that long, and I’d still felt like an intruder in our home. “I’ve gotten better. I check to see if you’re actually asleep before raiding the fridge now.”

  “You don’t have to check if I’m awake if you want a snack, Bailey.”

  “But if you’re awake, you’re part of my snack.” Well aware my remark would rile my husband up and make him hungry for more than breakfast, I took my laptop and sat on the bed so he could finish eating without falling prey to me and my wicked ways. “Once we’re back, you’ll have to suggest that someone go through Audrey’s financials from after her marriage with you, up until her death. That might help us pin down her involvement with 120 Wall Street. Also, I really hope they don’t build another concrete cake. That building always pissed me off. It’s not edible.”

  “You thought of 120 Wall Street as a concrete cake?”

  “It’s the tiered top. It reminded me of a damned wedding cake each and every time I saw it. Then I’d get hungry, and that’d piss me off even more because I could barely afford to make ends meet, and there was no room in my budget for cake.”

  “I see I’m going to have to learn how to bake cakes for you.”

  Some women wanted roses and diamonds. I got the roses, but instead of the diamonds, I’d gotten a man willing to learn how to do new things for my sake.

  No one had told me love could hurt so much as a child.

  Then again, love had never been a part of my childhood. Coming to terms with that helped almost as much as my husband’s willingness to be patient with me while I figured out how to navigate a world where people actually wanted me in it. I still embarrassed myself when I became emotional, but I got a little better every day about not running away and learning to face my new circumstances.

  “Do you think my father would mind bringing Sunny, Blizzard, and Avalanche?”

  “He seems like the type to enjoy flouting the rules as much as he can, as he views the world as his, so I don’t see why not. You can also ask for advice about our kids if you want. He’s been around long enough he can probably help on that front, too.”

  “But he’s probably with my mother right now.”

  Quinn checked the time, and then he shook his head. “The moon set about twenty minutes ago.”

  My poor parents. “Tonight, don’t let me go to sleep without calling my mother.”

  “I called her on your behalf, so don’t worry. She seemed happy. You’ll get a chance to talk with her tonight. You needed the rest yesterday, and you were stressed enough after the incident with the assholes.”

  “Think we should tell my father?”

  “I’m sure he already knows, so confessing would show him you trust him. That said, if the assholes are wise, they’ll never bother you again.”

  “Okay. I’ll call him. Are Beauty and Sylvester too young for pets, really?”

  “If they’d been brought up traditionally, I would say yes, but they weren’t. We’ll have to take some care with their snakes, but our pets should be fine. We’ll have to train them and the children so everyone gets along well.”

  “Okay.” I got my phone and dialed my father’s number.

  “Bailey,” my father greeted. “How are you this morning?”

  “I’m good. The asshole parents tried to torch the house, but they didn’t anticipate Sam’s overprotective tendencies and inability to handle things like a normal man. They damaged my roses, but his uncle and grandfather saved them. We’re on vacation, except in reality, we’re working. I wanted to ask you if you could bring Sunny, Blizzard, and Avalanche over right after we get checked out. And possibly cart off an obscene number of unicorn stuffed animals my husband bought for the kids.”

  “I would be honored to do that for you. I can take the stuffed animals to your little ones as well, that way they have something while they are being taught by your grandfather.”

  “Oh. That’s a great idea. Thank you. Thank you for the suggestion about looking at Audrey before she married Sam. It was very helpful. I learned a lot.”

  “It was a small thing, but I am glad you found the advice useful. Your mother told me she talked to your Sam last night, as you were indulging in a nap in front of the fire. You definitely get that from me.”

  No kidding. “I may have jumped on the assholes’ car and totaled it. I’m not all sorry about that. Sad, really. I make a lot of mistakes, but I learn from those mistakes. I’ve gotten smacked with a transport once, so I jumped on their car rather than in front of it.”

  “Wisdom reveals itself in strange and disturbing ways at times.”

  “Sam was telling me that gorgon whelps don’t usually get pets until they’re twelve or so because they can be dangerous to animals. Do you know of any pets that might be safe for them? To help teach them responsibility?”

  My father chuckled. “I would be honored to handle that matter for you. With your blessings, I will discuss the matter with your grandfather, and I will introduce them to possible candidates. That will keep them amused until you have made a safe home for them. A suggestion, if I may?”

  “Of course.”

  “Recruit your children to help you with your search. They are smart, and I can provide them with supervision and the machines they need to do this. It would help them feel a part of the hive and home.”

  I wondered what my life would have been like if only I’d had my divine parents rather than my asshole ones during my childhood. I would never know, but my children would find out. Changing the past remained outside of the realm of possibility, but I could secure a bright future for my children. “Can you handle that matter and tell them you’re doing it on our behalf while we handle the dust and rabies situation?”

  “Of course. I will recruit your mother to help as well. She is more nurturing than I am. I will come with your animals as soon as you are checked out, so that the hotel will not be displeased about animals in their facilities.”

  “Thank you.” My father hung up before I could embarrass myself, and I set my phone on the coffee table. “My father is going to arrange for pets for the kids, and he’s going to take two of the stuffed animals to Beauty and Sylvester so they have them while we’re handling this matter. He’ll bring Sunny, Blizzard, and Avalanche over after we check out.”

  “That sounds good. Go check the facial recognition database to see if you can get an identification on that man you spotted while I grab a quick shower, check over the room, and get dressed. I’ll leave a change of clothes out for you so you can grab a shower while I’m making sure everything else is ready.”

  “Sounds good.” I went to the laptop, opened the portal to access the NYPD’s system, and checked on the status of my picture, which showed as complete. I clicked to look, scanning through the names of those captured
in the image. I struck gold halfway through the list.

  According to the notation, Alexander Hautlin was the illegitimate son of ex-Chief Morrison. Hautlin’s mother had, a year after his birth, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, leaving Morrison as the sole caretaker of the boy. Rather than raise his son, Morrison had sent him to boarding school, where he’d spent the entirety of his childhood.

  I wondered about Hautlin’s last name. Had his mother wanted to erase Morrison from her son’s life? Had Morrison known about his son before her disappearance?

  “What’s the matter, Bailey?”

  “The guy I recognized is Morrison’s son. According to the NYPD’s file, Morrison had him sent away to boarding school. I don’t know why I recognized him, though.” I wouldn’t blame Haultin for having looked annoyed.

  I’d probably made a mess out of his life.

  “I bet you I know who knows,” my husband muttered, his tone dark. “My grandfather would have removed any memories surrounding Morrison he felt would disturb you.”

  “More than I’m already disturbed?”

  He scowled at me. “Bailey.”

  I grinned. “Yes, Sam?”

  “You’re a wicked woman. Please marry me.”

  I giggled. “Considering I already told my father I’d probably make you marry me every year until we worked our way through every family tradition in our confused family lines, I suppose I must.”

  “You suppose?”

  Smirking at him, I closed my laptop lid and headed for the bathroom. “You have thirty minutes in the shower to present your argument.”

  “As you wish, my beautiful.”

  Ten

  Do you think my tendency to be excessive comes from my father?

  As promised, my father appeared, and he had all three of our pets with him. I took Avalanche from his arms, and the ocelot kitten purred and tried to nurse off one of my knuckles. “I’ll give you some milk soon, little baby,” I promised, setting her on the front seat and closing the door to keep her from escaping.

  Sunny and Blizzard greeted me, washing my face with their cold, wet tongues.