Blind Salvage (7 page)

We headed to the bar that thumped with loud music and had strobe lights on the roof, as if to call down some alien space ships as per its name.

“What can we expect?” Liam moved to my side, but didn’t take my hand. No, we weren’t really the hand holding type of couple. More the kick your ass if you look at us wrong type of couple. The thought made me smile.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to The Landing Pad when it was open and full of patrons.”

“You can’t get jostled.”

We stopped outside the door. I put my hands on my hips. “Your point is what?”

He mimicked me. “Let me go in and get Dox, or at least make sure that I can clear a path.”

Irritation flared along every synapse I had. A small part of me knew that he was just doing his job as ‘the guy’ and as ‘the alpha’, but it bothered me. I was no shrinking violet to be handled with fucking kid gloves.

Before he could say anything else, I turned and kicked the door open. Patrons scattered away from the door and a path opened up straight to the bar.

I raised an eyebrow at a seriously frowning Liam. “Thanks, but I think I’ve got it.” Okay, so it was brassy and maybe stupid, as my ribs reminded me with a sharp twinge that they weren’t fully healed. But I just couldn’t let him take care of me in public like I did in private. I just didn’t have it in me to be
that
girl.

Growling under his breath, he followed me in. No one even stepped close to us. The crowd there was mostly humans, but I caught sight of a few supernaturals trying to blend in. A leprechaun in the far corner chatting up a pretty red-headed girl, a water nymph sitting on a table surrounded by men … and Doran, his arm slung over the shoulders of Crystal, the young Shaman who’d helped save my life. His eyes tracked me, as he whispered in her ear. I just shook my head and moved to the bar.

Dox gave me a big grin and shouted over the music. “Your girl is a natural bartender!” He pointed to the far end of the bar where, to my shock, Pamela was slinging drinks. And I mean slinging them. Spinning the glasses across the bar, she flipped them into the air at the same time as she grabbed a bottle of booze from under the table. I squinted, watched the half pause of the bottle and the glass in mid air. The patrons cheered as she poured drinks with a flare that most bartenders took years to learn, if they ever managed at all.

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to practice being subtle with her spells,” I said softly.

Liam didn’t laugh, didn’t answer; he just closed the distance between us. “Dox, you got any food in this joint?”

Dox raised his eyebrows, silver rings glinting in the light. “Don’t go insulting me, Agent. You remember what happened last time? No, never mind, you wouldn’t remember much of that.”

I laughed, grimaced as my stomach muscles clenched, and slid onto a barstool. Liam sat beside me, but turned sideways so he could keep an eye on me, no doubt. I stifled the urge to tell him to chill. Alpha, I had to remember he was an alpha to the core and every urge he had to protect was in overdrive because I was hurt. Still, I struggled not to tell him to back off.

Dox slid a stack of chicken wings and carrot sticks in front of us. I dug in, sucking the meat off the bones as fast as Liam did. My belly grumbled … no, that wasn’t my belly. I looked down to see Alex staring up at me, pointing with one claw to his mouth. He mouthed “hungry please” at me, and scooted closer. I grabbed a chicken wing, intending to give it to him, when Liam’s hand covered mine stopping me.

“He eats after us.”

Shock filtered through me, and I turned to stare at Liam. “What did you say?”

Liam didn’t even twitch, his eyes not giving me any indication that he was joking. “He can eat after us.”

Okay, so shit, I knew this was going to happen, maybe not this exactly, but something where the alpha in him would show up and start a pissing contest. But did it have to be right now with me and Alex?

Liam let go of my hand and I flipped the chicken wing to Alex. Submissive, he might be, but I would be damned if I treated him like a second-class citizen. Liam snarled and stood. I followed him and put myself between him and Alex.

“This isn’t a pack. Not like your wolf wants it to be. I won’t have you treating Alex like shit.”

Liam closed the distance between us so that we were nose to nose. Taking me right back to our early days with him as my nemesis instead of my lover and mate.

“I don’t treat him like shit. I treat him like the submissive he is.” Liam’s whole body quivered with suppressed emotion. I was putting my money on ‘pissed’.

“Not around me you won’t.” I stepped back, and Alex wrapped his paws around my calves.

“Sorry Boss, Alex waits.” He pushed the chicken wing across the floor to Liam’s feet.

Well shit. I hadn’t expected Alex to side with Liam on this. Before I could say anything else, Dox rapped his knuckles on the bar. “Rylee, you’ve got a phone call. You can take it in my office.”

“Who the hell knows we’re here?” I snapped. The bar patrons closest to us backed away. Yeah, I was being a bitch, but I didn’t like seeing Alex get treated like he wasn’t good enough. Especially not by Liam.

Both werewolves followed me, Alex at my heels and Liam moving up to my side. Not that anyone was standing in my way.

I strode through the bar and down the short hallway to Dox’s office, all the while doing my best to ignore the growing ache in my ribcage. The office was neat and tidy, though everything was sized up for his larger-than-life build. His desk and chair were made of some sort of high polished dark wood that was almost black except for the soft swirls of caramel here and there. I slid around the desk and sat down in the chair, my feet dangling, barely brushing the floor.

“We need to talk about Alex,” Liam said, leaning across the desk, his hands flat on it. Alex peeked up over the edge of the desk, then moved to mimic Liam.

“Yuppy doody, Alex is good wolf.”

I didn’t answer, but instead picked up the old school phone lying on the desk.

“Who is this?”

“Me. Who the hell do yous thinks it was going to be?”

I let out a sigh of relief. Of course,
Charlie
knew to call Dox’s place if he couldn’t reach me. As my middle man with the parents of lost children, the brownie needed to be able to get a hold of me, or at least get a message to me via one of my friends.

“What’s up?”

“Yous going to be at the big blue ox’s place for a bits?”

“Yes, at least another day.”

“Good. I be sending a parent to yous. I’ve done me best to puts them off, but now that yous be back, yous can deal with them.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair. “What are the particulars of the salvage?”

“Nope, I can’t tell yous. They said that yous need to be hearing it straights from the father.” His voice sobered. “And I’d be making sure that yous and me do rights by them. I think they be holding your bird hostage.”

My jaw dropped, and I scooted forward in my chair. Liam leaned over the desk, eyebrows furrowing. Right, of course he could hear everything.

I licked my lips. “Eve? They have Eve?” She must have flown straight across again, instead of hopscotching like she’d said she would. Damn it, she just had to prove herself, no matter the cost.

Charlie let out a sigh. “Yes, theys don’t be calling it hostage per se. Buts they does be saying they will be ‘caring’ for her until yous bring their kidlet backs to them.”

Damn it all to hell and back. “Charlie, are they threatening her?”

He clicked his tongue several times. “I think they would kill her if yous don’t be bringing the kidlet back to them. I’ll do what I can, but all I can do is stay with your bird. Right now she’s in your barn, so easy enough for me to keeps me eyes on hers.”

Much as I appreciated what he was willing to do, Charlie staying with her wouldn’t work, not on Eve. “Charlie, give me second. I have to think this through.”

I put the phone down on the desk and relayed what Charlie had told me to Liam; though he didn’t need me to, I needed to say it to clear it in my own head. I couldn’t believe that someone would hold Eve ransom, or that they’d be able to for that matter.

Liam went directly into agent mode, which was what I needed. “Blackmail? Have you run into it before?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I have to say this is a first.”

“And Charlie can’t tell you anything about the kid or the parents?”

Charlie squawked through the phone. “Nots if yous want your bird kept off the rotisserie. My instructions were clearer than a mid summers night sky. No telling yous nothing.”

Liam and I stared at each other. We had no choice but to go along, or Eve was done. And if they—whoever they were—could take out Eve so easily, I wasn’t so sure that we weren’t in for a wild fucking ride of a salvage.

“Send Pamela and Alex back to keep her calm; you can’t go if the parents are coming this way, and you can’t save Eve
and
the kid if you go to Eve,” Liam said, his voice calm, casual as if it was the logical solution.

“You’re just trying to get rid of Pamela,” I countered, irritation flaring in my guts. “You have to learn to deal with her; she’s a part of this family, pack, whatever you want to call it, as much as you or I am.”

He ground his teeth, and when he answered me, he did so without acknowledging my words. “This time around, you need her to help, but not at your side. She can keep Eve calm, and if necessary, she can probably get Eve out of there if the shit hits the fan.”

Damn, he was right, that was the sticky part. Not that I couldn’t let someone else be right, but that he was neatly avoiding Pamela, without actually having to avoid her.

I picked the phone up, but my eyes never left Liam’s. “Charlie, I’m going to send Pamela and Alex to you. Tell Eve that they are coming, that should help. Tell her that I will find this kid, where he is—”

“It be a girl, I can tell yous that much.”

“Fine, I’ll find this kid wherever she is and bring her home.”

“Okays. Be quick about it, Rylee.” He hung up the phone, the line going dead in my ear.

P
amela was eager
to go ‘save’ Eve. Maybe a little too eager.

“Are you sure you want me to just go and sit with her? I can get her away from them, I know I can.”

Before she’d even finished speaking I was shaking my head. “No, I don’t know what these people have, but if they can hang onto a Harpy, they aren’t to be messed with. Just keep her calm. That’s your job.” Only an hour since the phone call from Charlie. An hour and things were already ramping up. We waited outside the Landing Pad in the cold, winter night for Pamela and Alex’s ride. Dox had shut the bar down early, and had put the word out through the locals that we were expecting some hostiles. Shit, not even home twenty-four hours and life had tossed a twist at us I could never have seen coming.

A cold nose shoved into my hand. “Alex’s job?”

“You keep Pamela safe. That’s your job. Protect her.”

Alex sat back on his haunches and saluted me, albeit a bit sloppily. “Gots it.”

All but bouncing, Pamela stood in front of me, eyes bright, ready to face another challenge. There was no regret in her over killing the red caps, as there shouldn’t be. A part of me was pleased, she would suffer a lot less in our world doing what had to be done and not getting her panties twisted up with guilt. Yet, another part of me was sad. To be so young, and hardening up so quickly—I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I’d been two years older than she was when Giselle had found me. And even then I’d hardened plenty fast enough.

“You have Terese’s phone number?” I handed Pamela the bowie knife I’d started with, the one she’d carried in London. She tucked the knife in the sheath that would hold the blade in place over her lower back.

“Yes, I’ll call her as soon as I get there. Are you sure she’ll help?” Pamela had reason to be wary. The only other witch she’d met had been Milly, and both times Milly had not treated Pamela well. If one can say that having a death spell thrown at you was just poor treatment.

I nodded. As soon as I’d gotten off the phone with Charlie, I’d called Terese. Told her that I was sending Pamela to my place and that it might be prudent for Terese to go and spend some time with her. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was sending Terese a young witch that would rival Milly’s abilities one day.

Pamela’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Are you just sending her to check up on me? I’m not a child. I’m almost fifteen, you know.”

“No.” I bit back a smile; the kid was too damn smart sometimes. “She has to check on every witch that comes into her territory. Not to mention you’ll be training with her once things settle down.”

Liam snorted. “Like that’s ever going to happen in your life.”

A big, pale green Cadillac pulled into the parking lot of the Landing Pad. In order to get Pamela and Alex back to North Dakota as fast as possible, I’d had two choices. Try to cross the Veil by going back into the castle and hoping like hell that there was no one waiting for us in ambush.

Or cash in one of my favors with another of the Shamans. I went with option number two. No need to see who was waiting for us back at the castle.

Crystal leaned out the door of the Cadillac. I handed her a cell phone. “If something goes sideways, I’ll call and you bring them back here to Dox, got it?”

The young Shaman’s eyes were somber. “You think there might be problems?”

Liam snorted softly, but I ignored him and leaned in close so Pamela couldn’t hear me. “You are taking them out of the firing range here. I don’t want them to be around this psycho parent that’s going to show up. If I call, it’s because I think it’s a trap on the other end. If it’s safe, you won’t hear from me, and you can take them all the way to Eve and drop them there. Got it?”

She gave me a tight smile. “I can’t stay with them. Louisa needs me back here.” I said nothing else, just stepped back. She understood what I was trying to do. Keep Pamela and Alex safe, while not showing them my hand. Keeping Eve safe was important too, but if this parent was the psycho I was counting on … I Tracked Eve, felt a current of fear, but no pain, and no terror. More worried than anything. That was a good sign. Maybe this salvage wouldn’t be the mess I had already assumed it would come to.

Crystal waved out the window to Alex and Pamela. “You two ready?” Even though she’d helped saved my life, I managed to talk her into throwing in a ride for Pamela and Alex too since she’d been helping Louisa, and I hadn’t directly asked her for help. Bonus. Didn’t hurt that she was young, and new to her profession as Shaman, making her easier to persuade.

Pamela gave me a hug, Alex followed suit, and then they were running toward the long, slightly anemic-looking car.

“Like kids off to summer camp,” I said, crossing my arms to block the snap of cold wind. Crystal backed the caddie out, and Pamela and Alex waved to us. Shit, it felt like we were sending babies off into danger to save another baby. I had to force myself not to run out and stop the car, to call them back. In my head, I knew Eve needed them, and that I needed to be here to deal with the psycho father Charlie sent our way. Motherfucker was going to get a piece of my mind, and maybe even a piece of my sword before this was all said and done. Splitting my team up was not something I wanted to do. It just felt wrong. Yet there was really no other choice for me at this point. Liam was right; we had to do things this way, at least this time.

Liam moved up beside me, his chest so close to my back I could feel the heat radiate off him, but he didn’t touch me. “Summer camp in the dead of winter, with werewolves, witches and Harpies. Sounds like fun to me.”

I didn’t fire anything back, just watched the caddie disappear into the frosty cold night. With no one around, Liam slipped his arm over my shoulders, and I turned and slid mine around his waist.

“They’ll be fine,” he said, squeezing me gently to his side. I pushed away from him, the moment of solidarity gone in an instant.

“Don’t say shit like that, you don’t know they’ll be fine. T
hat’s not how it works in our world. People die all the time. This isn’t a movie where the good guys always miraculously pull through.”

He growled, low and under his breath. “What, do you want me to say that they’re going to get themselves killed?”

My feet stilled, the loose gravel underfoot shifting even though I’d stopped moving. “You know what, just don’t say anything. Can you manage that?”

The main door to the bar slammed, and Dox took a single step toward us, then froze. “I thought you two were getting along now.”

“We are,” we said at the same time. I drew in a sharp lungful of cold air, the bite of it along the back of my throat cooling my anger a little.

“I’m just being a bitch,” I grumbled.

Dox laughed. “You worry like a mother hen. It’s kinda cute.”

I punched him on the arm as I passed and headed into the bar. “I’m not fucking cute.”

Liam followed me in, and as he passed Dox, said, “Mother hen?”

Dox shrugged. “Well, I didn’t want to go with the more obvious mother bear. No need to encourage her bad behavior.”

The two men laughed together and I kept my back to them so they couldn’t see the smile that crept across my lips. No need to encourage them ganging up on me.

I stepped up to the bar and slumped onto one of the stools.

Doran emerged from the shadows and slid into the seat beside me. “Good to see you’ve kept your humor intact.”

I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Dox, I thought you said you cleared this place out?”

The ogre grunted as he stepped behind the bar. “Daywalkers, they’re like every other species of vermin. You think you got them all, but you always miss one.”

Doran pressed a hand to his heart, batting his eyes. “You wound me. But even if you had tried, I would have stayed. I have a message for you, Rylee.” His green eyes darted away from mine, unable to make contact. Crap, we’d done this dance before. Everything in me tensed. It seemed that lately, Doran was my messenger boy, and none of the news he had for me was good. I didn’t like it.

“She sent you something for me?” She being my little sister-turned-psycho-vampire, Berget. I was just guessing that she was the one with the message for me. Who else would Doran have contact with? Louisa and the other shamans would just contact me through Dox. They wouldn’t use Doran. I really didn’t want any messages from Berget. Like as in pretty please leave me the hell alone.

“I did not see her, but yes, she sent one of her messengers to me. She wants to make peace between you and her.” He did make eye contact with me then, and in them I could see the fear that I would take her up on her offer. Not likely after everything he’d told me.

I snorted, let the interior tumbling of my emotions continue while I did my best to keep my face smooth. “You mean after she tried to have us killed, and didn’t succeed, she wants to make nice? Play in the sandbox together like one big happy messed up family?”

Doran shrugged and slid closer. I put a hand on his chest, keeping him at arm’s-length, my eyes flicking to Liam. Doran was a touchy feely kind of guy. Though I didn’t actually care, Liam would. “That’s close enough, thanks.”

“She wants to hire you to Track for her. The money is considerable; you probably would never have to work again. Could go pro bono for every other salvage for the rest of your life.”

I drummed my fingers along the wooden bar, not really contemplating. I already knew my answer. “Would you do it for her, if you could?”

His eyes were as serious as I’d ever seen them. “Not even for the redemption of my soul would I do this for her. It will solidify her as the Empress if you do what she wants, and that is something the world cannot have.” He paused and gave me a wink. “In my humble opinion.”

“Humble. Yeah.” I took the glass of orange juice Dox slid across to me and took a sip before saying anything else. “What is it that she wants me to Track, do you know?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t know. I was to give you the message that she wishes peace and wants to hire you. That’s it.”

Dox snorted. “Like always, not much help, are you?”

Doran turned to him. “Tell me, how is it that you came to be here, in this ogre-less place, anyway? Did you leave to see the world? No, wait, that’s right, you were kicked out, banished by your own kind because of how weak you are—”

Dox smacked the flat of his hand on the bar, startling the hell out of me and stopping Doran mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed and a faint purple flush ran up his neck and over face. “Shut your mouth before I remind you why even Daywalkers don’t piss off ogres.”

Well, well. This was a side of Dox I’d never seen. Not in all the years I’d known him had he been anything but pleasant. I’d never seem him pull any of the ‘ogre-ish’ tantrums I’d heard about his kind.

His eyes flicked to mine and he let out a big breath, the additional color fading from his blue skin. “Sorry.”

Fatigue washed through me, and as much as I wanted to wait up for the assholes that had a missing kid and thought blackmailing me was a good idea, I also knew I needed to sleep if my body was going to be even close to healed for this salvage.

“Doran, tell the messenger no. I won’t do it. I won’t help her.”

He nodded and let out a sigh of relief. “She won’t give up. She will try to force your hand.”

“I know.”

Berget was a spoiled child and she wanted what she wanted. No doubt her next message would be less polite. Seriously, even knowing that all families are messed up to some degree, this—having a psycho, power hungry vampire for a sister—was going a bit far. Even for me.

“Dox, you’ll let us know if anyone shows up?” I knew his schedule was wonky, awake all night, and then sleeping through the better part of the day, so I could trust that he would be awake to receive this parent when they showed up.

He rapped his big knuckles on the bar twice. “You bet, Rylee.”

I slid off the stool, but Doran stopped me, his hand shooting out to grab my elbow. “Do you have your obsidian blade, the one I sent for you?”

Frowning, it took me a second to remember that he had indeed sent me an obsidian blade via Eve on her last trip home from New Mexico. “No. Why? Is it something special?”

His eyebrows quirked up to his hairline. “You just need to keep it with you.”

Warmth circled around me as Liam moved to stand behind me. “Why does she need it?”

Doran let out an exasperated sigh. “Listen, getting a read on Rylee is impossible, you know that, right?”

Neither of us moved, and Doran seemed to take that for encouragement.

“So when I have a niggling suspicion that you need something,
Tracker
, I follow through. I don’t know why you need the damn blade with all the other ones you have. Just that you need it. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point, you will need it.”

I shook my head; there was nothing I could do about it. The blade was at home in North Dakota. “I’ll get it when we’re home next. For right now, I’m going to bed.”

As we walked across the parking lot, Liam took my hand. “We still need to talk about Alex.”

I stopped walking. “Seriously, now?”