Worth Your While

by Connie Suttle

  "And when we release a photo, that will change, no doubt." I sipped more of my coffee, trying to clear the cobwebs of no sleep and deep anxiety away.

  "No doubt," Rob agreed dryly. "Come on; Cliff and the other werewolves are already in there, with the rock demons and the ice demon."

  "So. They're waiting on the fire demon. Huh."

  I turned and followed Rob, because I had no idea where Parke had set up his new office. Jon stood outside the upper-story room, looking as if a sneeze would make him jump through the roof.

  Parke really ought to send him home, I thought.

  Yosuke and Will had come to the meeting, too, and both looked tired from the night before. If Shakkor Agdah attacked us now, they'd have an easier time killing us, we were so weary.

  Once we were all in the room, Jon came in and closed the door. "All Princes and Princesses have been alerted to this new attack," Parke announced without bothering with a greeting. "All of them will be on high alert, as will the shifter communities."

  "Werewolves have been asked to report immediately if they sniff even the slightest evidence of Shakkor Agdah or the disease," Cliff took up the announcement. "Other shifter communities are coming on board quickly. We can't have an outbreak like the one before, especially since the carriers will now be much harder to identify."

  "Human authorities have started calling the woman Viroid Mary, because she carries the disease without dying from it," Parke took up the thread again.

  "Because they have no idea she isn't human," Rob sniffed.

  "True. The CDC has been alerted, but the story is the same—a possible vaccine could be years away, and everybody could be dead by then."

  "So we're back to trying to contain it," I sighed. "Which we can't do until we find the one spreading it."

  "This is the first time any Shakkor Agdah has stepped from the shadows to make themselves a visible target," Will said.

  "The disguise she wears is quite good, as there is no visible evidence of the poison sacs on her skin," Yosuke pointed out. "All Shakkor Agdah carry those, in an attempt to kill anyone attacking them, and to spread the disease if they are so instructed."

  "Hence the need for the cleansing fire of a fire demon," Rob agreed.

  "Yes."

  "We've destroyed roughly two thousand of them," Will reported. "Those last spring, and the army killed recently in Douglasville. This means they will also be keen to replace those lost in battle, which is somewhat tricky. Their females do not come into season as often as human females, and new warriors will have to mature before they are trained and given their own poison sacs."

  "But we have no idea how many there are of them, do we?" Parke argued.

  "No, we don't," Will admitted.

  "Two thousand could be nothing to them," Parke said. "Given the amount of time between their last destruction and now."

  "That could be true," Yosuke nodded. "We do not know their numbers, but I do know that the recent deaths have angered them. That is why there are new victims of the disease."

  "Let's call it what it is—a plague," Rob suggested.

  "I second that," I said.

  Parke

  "There's an ongoing effort to arrest every truck stop hooker in every state, to test them for the plague," Cliff told me after the meeting ended.

  "Time, effort and money will be wasted on human women, when they don't stand a chance against the real culprit," I countered.

  "I have no authority where human government is concerned, or what they're willing to release to the general public on actual non-human causes. Granted, it could paint a target on any supernatural, but we're the only ones immune to this crap and therefore, the best chance they have to destroy it."

  "Just like last time," I assented.

  "And we bought them a reprieve—one that almost cost us too much," Cliff said.

  "Any word on the Kings, et al?"

  "A couple of reported sightings, but neither panned out," Cliff sounded frustrated.

  "Where were those?"

  "One in Memphis, another east of Little Rock."

  "No credit card purchases?"

  "None."

  "I think I'll ask Trey to get us into that truck stop tonight," I said.

  "To do some sniffing?"

  "And maybe the wizards can help with that."

  "Maybe they can. Is Cassie coming?"

  "I think we should ask her to come."

  "When are the demons arriving from Canada?"

  "In two days or so. I'll make the announcement then that we have a new Princess of Alabama."

  "Do you think we'll get blowback fast when you leak information on your new male fire demon?"

  "It could happen. We have to be ready for it. If Gorham and Franks are still checking the website, they'll pass that information straight to the enemy."

  "And it will match up with what they've already experienced in Douglasville."

  "Yeah. I'm sending Jon back to Seattle when Mom and Destiny go."

  "Probably a good idea. I thought he was gonna jump out of his own skin this morning. Who will you put in his place?"

  "I'm thinking about asking Faith to fill in temporarily. If she wants to, that is."

  "Not a bad idea. And here, she can wear shorts or jeans to work."

  "A selling point, for sure."

  "Cassie should have enough help with Rob and the other sprites the kingdoms are sending."

  "When?"

  "Could be any time. I'm sure Rob will get a message before they get here."

  "Excuse me, but the sprites are scheduled to arrive this afternoon," Rob poked his head inside my study door.

  "You'll be taking point on herding them around and getting them updated on what needs to be done for Cassie?"

  "I've already had several conversations with them," Rob tapped his temple. "They'll be up to speed by tomorrow."

  "Are any of them trained to fight—in case we're attacked?" Cliff drawled.

  "All of them," Rob sniffed, as if the question weren't necessary. "They sent their best soldiers who are also equipped to handle office duties."

  "Does Cassie know?"

  "She does; I told her first—she sent me to tell you. She says she wants to visit the truck stop when the rest of you go."

  I was just about to ask Cliff to ask her, but the sprite had saved us the effort. "We'll be leaving shortly after sundown—when the vamps are awake," I told Rob. "Trey is pulling strings with his connections to get us in."

  "She'll be ready to go," Rob said. He turned to leave. "Beverly says lunch will be ready in half an hour." He lifted a hand in a sketchy wave and left my office.

  "I have some calls to make before lunch," Cliff walked toward the door. "Let me know if anything changes before then."

  I was alone in my new office for the first time since I'd arrived. The furniture-moving vamps had done a good job picking a desk and other furniture. Any other time, I'd have settled on the comfortable leather chair and taken stock of my new surroundings, complete with an excellent view of the lagoon behind the house.

  Instead, I had a list of worries that threatened to grow like wildfire if we didn't get a handle on them soon. Cassie and I needed to talk about how we should proceed; in the past, she'd come up with the best ideas to minimize the damage from Black Myth.

  I hoped she had some ideas left because I was stumped. When my cell phone rang, I wasn't surprised to hear from the Prince of Georgia, who told me three men in Douglasville had now been diagnosed with the disease and were in quarantine until they died.

  Shakkor Agdah was certainly punching back for the killing of their army and doing it in the ugliest way possible.

  Cliff

  "I have information on a recent land purchase made by Gorham," Zach told me over the phone. "Out in a rural area, and a second-hand mobile home was set on it shortly after he signed the papers. I have photos I'll send to you. There may be some evidence that the Kings were there, along with Gorham and Franks."

&nb
sp; "No indication where they went afterward?"

  "None. There were tire tracks in the grass outside the place—I took pictures of those, too, in case it might help, along with the ones I took inside the mobile home. They didn't even bother locking it when they left, like they knew they weren't coming back."

  "Probably got wind of Greenville being removed from office," I growled.

  "Could be. Left in a hurry, from the looks of things. Dropped a few things while packing up; I can ship a copy of the deed and the bag of evidence to you or somebody else, for research and testing if you want."

  "I may drop in to pick it up tomorrow, if I can get away," I hedged. I didn't want anyone knowing my new address for any reason. Trey could have the deed and the other evidence examined by his department easily enough.

  "It's locked up in my safe," Zach said. "Just come in during business hours."

  "Good work, Zach," I said. "Let me know if you find anything else."

  "Will do, boss."

  Lilith

  I wasn't the only one rubbernecking on Alys Drive the day after Pit's death. The charred grass across the street from the house, where he and his car died a fiery death, was the main attraction.

  Of lesser interest were the burned craters on the lawn of the mansion. Nobody was out on the grounds, either, although yellow crime scene tape was still looped on stakes around the shallow pits.

  I revised my opinion of Pit's skills—he was in the bottom ten percent of his terrorist bombing class. On a bad day, I could have lobbed a grenade a lot farther than he had. The line of cars ahead of me rolled to a stop, then crept forward a few feet before stopping again.

  Soon enough, I realized why. Police had set up a roadblock at the end of Alys Drive and were checking drivers' licenses to see who belonged in the neighborhood and who didn't.

  Fuck.

  My cell phone rang while I waited and fumed to get past the checkpoint. Lanny, my contact in the Atlanta PD was calling. I answered.

  "Lanny, did you get a hit on that license plate?"

  "Sure did. Not sure why you'd ask me to look him up, though."

  "Who?"

  "Former Public Defender in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama," Lanny reported. "Cliff Young. Sources say he's on a special assignment of some kind."

  I felt cold in the Georgia heat. Public Defender. Special assignment. Had Gemma somehow come to his attention? Did an Alabama Public Defender even have authority in Georgia? "Anything else?" I asked, feeling as if my throat had constricted too much to allow normal breathing.

  "That's it, and I had to call in a favor for some of it."

  "Thanks, Lanny. I owe you," I told him. "Gotta go, now. Mwah."

  I hung up before he could ask for a dinner date or a quick screw. Lanny figured I was a free woman while Doyle was in jail. I let him think that because it got me favors I wouldn't normally get from the police.

  Lanny would never know how much I despised the police—for arresting my Doyle on false charges and then putting him in jail after a fake trial.

  "License and registration, please," the cop told me as I pulled up next to him and rolled down my window. I'd already pulled those things out, so I handed them over without saying anything.

  "You have friends in the area?" The cop squinted at me after frowning at my license.

  "Just curious, officer. I'm sorry I came, actually."

  "You and a bunch of others, all of whom have tied up traffic and left the neighborhood in gridlock today," he handed my license and paperwork back. "It's a nice day; enjoy it somewhere else." He waved me through the line, so I got the hell out of there as fast as the speed limit would allow.

  Vaalenn

  "Of course they'll show up at this—truck stop. We only have to watch and wait for their arrival," I snapped at Werlekk.

  "I dislike this—what you are doing to spread the disease," he whined. Werlekk wished to become my consort—and the father of my future children. In his opinion, cavorting with humans was beneath the dignity of any of our kind.

  "It. Is. Necessary," I hissed at him. "Ruudann is dead. I am his chosen heir. I decide how to attack humans. Do you have better ideas?" I glared at him, making him cower.

  "What if the sprites form an alliance again?" he whimpered.

  "They will not," I shouted, making him cower more. "The one who formed that alliance is dead—she died killing Ruudann and those he kept close beside him. While the demons appear to have a new fire demon champion, this one cannot perform the same miracle; I'd bet my life on it. Besides, according to our ice demon slaves who saw the fire demon firsthand, this one is a male. No female could make herself so large or cause so much destruction."

  "You don't think the sprites will band together again?" Werlekk's voice was barely a whisper.

  "By the time they understand that it's necessary, it will be too late. Go, now. Make sure we have enough watchers on the truck stop. When the Chancellor and his servants appear, we will move in."

  "And if our efforts fail?"

  "They will not fail. You will not fail me, Werlekk, do you hear? If we cannot take them, then we follow if we can. If we cannot follow, then we recall our demon slaves to continue the search. Is that clear?"

  "Yes, your Malignance."

  "Madame Vaalenn?" One of my trusted guard approached as Werlekk turned to leave.

  "Come forward, Braxxenn," I gestured for him to approach.

  "I have news, your Malignance," he bowed to me.

  "What news is that?"

  "It appears that the pyramid fragments have finally dissolved in the acid," Braxxenn reported.

  "Even the largest fragment? I saw it only two days ago," I frowned.

  "Nevertheless, it is so," he said. "All the fragments have finally disappeared."

  "This is a portent for the best outcome when we meet the enemy," I smiled at my guard. "Good news is always welcome, Braxxenn. Thank you."

  Cassie

  The unease I felt started shortly after lunch and grew steadily worse throughout the day. If I went to Parke and told him I was beginning to think a visit to the truck stop was a bad idea, would he listen?

  Or, would it be the usual male version of You're imagining things, Cassie?

  I needed an ally in this—somebody who'd listen without thinking I was an idiot—or worse—a scared idiot.

  In the middle of my dilemma, three sprite assistants arrived. Rob brought them promptly to me and introduced them. I shook hands with Zephyr Seabreeze, from the air sprites and the only female, Blaze Fireglow from the fire sprites, and Ebb Tidewater, from the water sprites.

  "I've already gone over quite a bit with them already, so they should be up and running in no time," Rob sounded proud of himself.

  "Thank you for coming," I told them. "I appreciate all efforts on my behalf, and on the behalf of my associates and the state of Alabama."

  "We volunteered for this assignment, as did many others," Zephyr informed me. She stood straight and tall, as a warrior should, and I wouldn't want to challenge her to a swordfight or a filing contest.

  "They went through rigorous testing before they were chosen to represent the sprite kingdoms," Rob said. "You have the best available standing before you."

  "I don't feel worthy," I told them truthfully.

  "Songs are already being composed of the battle of Georgia, Princess," Blaze grinned.

  "The battle of Georgia?" I frowned deeply at Rob, who shrugged.

  "I can't stop the telling of those events by the sprites who came to help us," he said.

  "Are you sure it isn't the tall tale version?"

  "Very sure. Averill speaks to each individually—a debriefing of sorts, before any sprite bard can begin writing a song."

  "Please say it won't be played on Sprite Radio," I sighed.

  "Princess, we do not have Sprite Radio," Ebb began.

  "Ebb—may I call you Ebb?" I asked.

  "Of course."

  "Ebb, I was joking. Sort of. I just feel embarrassed that
anyone would go to that kind of effort. Rob, I have a question," I told him.

  "What question is that?"

  "Are you having second thoughts about the trip to the truck stop tonight?"

  "I hadn't really thought about it," he replied. "Are you feeling something?"

  "Yes. I think I'd like to speak with Yosuke before this goes any further. I just feel uncomfortable about it, suddenly."

  "I'll go fetch the wizards—no doubt Will should hear this, too," Rob said, his words dry.

  "Yes—all right. Bring them in so we can discuss this."

  Zedarius

  Yosuke didn't even glance my way when Cassie explained the uneasy feeling she'd developed regarding the planned truck stop visit. The trouble was, Yosuke and I had discussed that very thing not an hour before.

  "Can you describe it?" Yosuke asked her. For now, only he, Rob and I were meeting with Cassie. We needed to pull the Chancellor and the Grand Master into this meeting eventually, but for now, Yosuke was carefully navigating through Cassie's wariness, attempting to find a name or a reason for it.

  "You remember the day I went to Doctor Chalmers and we felt as if someone were watching when we left the building?"

  "I do."

  "It's similar, but more a feeling of—dread, I suppose. Like I know something will happen if we go."

  "Do you feel personal danger?"

  "Not really. I just—worry that someone could get hurt."

  I have the same feeling, I communicated silently to Yosuke.

  As do I. Not personal endangerment—but danger all the same.

  Then I have a suggestion, I told him.

  You want the three of us to go first, don't you?

  Yes. If there is something there, perhaps we can pick up on it, without having to argue our case with the Chancellor.

  "Are you interested in a scouting trip, then?" Yosuke asked her aloud.

  "Maybe," she drew out the word as if thinking it over while she said it.

  "You won't go anywhere without your sprite escorts," Rob cautioned.

  "I don't feel their danger, either," Yosuke turned to look at me.

  "Nothing here," I confirmed.