Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Madame Matase spent the next morning fielding complaints about ghostly goings-on throughout the hotel, which prompted me to suggest Zee hand over the ring to Tom for safekeeping.

Victor had returned just before dawn, in time to see Zee surrendering the ring. He’d looked a little ragged, but he’d achieved his goal of making sure the cops were in disarray, giving Zee and me chance to escape. After ordering a Bloody Bitch, he’d sat at the counter where Zee proceeded to tell him all about the hotel’s new “ghost”—who definitely was not Zee.

While Victor listened, he sketched the locket’s cage he’d seen on Agatha’s blueprints so Tom and I could see its design.

We were studying that sketch, going over the details, throwing out theories for how it might work, when the world’s deepest grumbling voice said, “Hello.” We all turned to see a vast, hulking shadow fill the bar doorway.

“Claymore!” Zee sprang from the stool and poofed across the bar. He flung an arm around the gargoyle’s broad shoulders, and dragged him toward the counter. “Fuck. Welcome home, buddy! Look at you! You get any prison ink? Give me all the prison drama. Did you form a gang? Dig tunnels?” He sat Claymore on a tiny barstool, making it creak. “Wait, wait, don’t tell me... While plotting your escape you created a multi-point trading system, smuggling in and selling contraband, which put you on a collision course with a rival gang and started a troll war?”

“I mostly stared out a window,” Claymore grumbled.

Zee blinked. “Get this larger-than-life, handsome bastard a drink!”

“One Drain Unblocker, coming right up,” Tom announced with celebratory flare.

I assumed that was the name of the drink and not actual drain unblocker, although from the thick, gloopy green liquid Tom poured into a highball glass, maybe Claymore preferred Dr. Drain.

A polite throat-clearing cough announced Agent Elion Leomaris’s presence. My gaze met the ex-bounty hunter’s as they strode toward us, and that old spike of fear sharpened my senses. Then Elion smiled, and stopped in front of me. As a fae, they always looked so well put together—their green hair shone, their long coat emphasized long legs, and even the way they spoke suggested civilized authority. As a bounty hunter they’d have been relentless. As an SSD agent, I suspected they were the same. “I heard Claymore was being released so I hope you do not mind, I collected him myself.”

“Thank you.” That had been a nice thing to do. Suspiciously nice. Elion had proven to be useful and even helpful, but as an SSD agent—and with my secrets—I’d probably always be wary around them.

Victor discreetly folded his sketch of Gideon’s locket and tucked it inside his jacket. “Good morning, Agent Leomaris.”

Zee hadn’t noticed Elion’s arrival, more focused on Claymore and trying to pry every tiny bit of prison gossip out of him.

“Adam Vex... Victor Reynard.” Elion acknowledged us with a nod.

“Would you like a drink?”

“Ah, no. I am here in an official capacity.” That didn’t sound good. “Tell me, either of you, would you have any information regarding an attempted jewelry heist near Union Square last night?”

I blinked innocent human eyes. “Wow, I mean... we’re tight for money but not that tight, right Victor?” A laugh squeaked out of me.

Victor’s lips pulled into a tight, fang-revealing smile. “Indeed.”

Elion nodded along, agreeing, or so I thought, until they looked up again. “We have some footage from the scene. I downloaded it before entering your vastly overextended wards. I hope you do not mind humoring me by taking a look?”

“The wards are uhm . . . That’s not . . . We’re going to fix that . . . A total accident. And we were here all night, so I don’t . . . think . . . we . . . I mean, I don’t really do jewelry. Victor, do you wear jewelry?”

“No.”

“So we’re not really likely to have been uhm... in or near a jewelry?—”

Elion held up their phone, showing footage clearly taken from a camera inside Agatha’s store. It showed a demon with a broken wing, wearing a leather mask and rummaging through every cupboard in chaotic-raccoon fashion.

“Oh.” I pinched my lips together. “I mean, that could be any demon.”

“That is what I told my superiors,” Elion said. “You see, they didn’t receive the accompanying evidence, such as this sound file.” Elion tapped the screen and audio sounded.

“Oh, hello locked drawer,” Zee’s disembodied voice said again. “Abraca-fuck-yah.”

“Nope. Doesn’t sound like him.” It sounded exactly like Zee. The audio was really good. Agatha had some top-shelf recording equipment in that store, which Victor would have seen had he been the one carrying out the heist. Unfortunately, Zee was the only one of us who could translocate inside, though. “I’m not hearing the resemblance,” I added.

“How about this snippet?” Elion suggested, tapping the screen again.

“Fuck—ooh baby, look at you. Come to Uncle Zee.”

Oh dear. My smile froze. “Zee is a really common demon name. It’s short for... uhm... Zebedee?”

“Also possible. However.” They reached inside their long coat. I tensed, expecting to see cuffs, but instead they brought out a rectangular polething about the size of a phone. “The store was equipped with various security measures.”

Elion strode toward the end of the bar where Zee was simultaneously trying to welcome Claymore while also pretending he wasn’t listening in. At Elion’s approach, Zee casually leaned against the bar as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Unfortunately, his innocent expression also resembled his guilty face.

“One of those measures is a particular ink that shows up under black light even after it’s been washed off.” Elion raised the stick and flicked a switch, bathing Zee in a strange blue light. A light that made every single speckle and spot of ink glow on his exposed skin—around his tiny vest, his neck, and his wrists where the gloves hadn’t reached.

Zee looked down at himself, hesitated a beat, then said, “Betrayed by my washboard abs.”

Elion switched off the black-light stick and eased their tall frame onto a barstool between Zee and Victor, clearly getting comfortable. “Before you claim it was only Zodiac, your handprints are all over the window, Adam, and it really doesn’t take a detective to assume the third member wearing an interesting mask was Victor Reynard.”

Victor continued to sip his Bloody Bitch, thinking. All the joy of Claymore’s return had deflated out of Zee, leaving him slumped at the bar. Our future prospects were not looking good.

Zee suggested Claymore should make himself at home, probably fearing we were all about to be arrested again.

As Claymore left, Tom eyed Elion, probably wondering whether to grab the shotgun.

What if we killed Elion and stuffed his remains up a chimney? Hm, his assassin partner, Delores, would come hunting. The SSD may notice his absence too...

I scratched the back of my neck. “Look, it’s . . . There’s . . . this thing . . . Uhm . . . So . . .”

“Adam,” Elion sighed. “I have been doing my own investigation of late, collecting what I can at various chaotic crime scenes—such as a home invasion at Princess Daisy’s estate during which several vampires were maimed.”

Victor cleared his throat and turned toward the agent. “What Adam is trying to say is that while your assistance has been useful in the past, it’s time you left. And should you continue your investigation we will find you, your immediate and extended family, and torture them over many days, weeks, and months, until you cease your investigations into us and this hotel.”

Elion went very still.

The jukebox cut to silence.

“Wait! No! Victor didn’t mean that!” I chortled. “He’s hilarious! Aren’t you, Victor?” A quick slap on his back arched one of his eyebrows. “So funny.” I gripped his shoulder and gave it a jovial shake. “I mean, he has us in fits all the time. He says these crazy things?—”

“Dementia,” Zee said, then rolled his eyes. “Fancy Fangs is really old.”

Victor, ignoring us all, picked up his drink and added, “I meant every word.”

Tom dropped a glass. “Shit.”

“Oh, my stars.” I lolled my head back and blinked at the ceiling. What was it Victor had said previously during one of his mentoring talks? The truth was always best? Elion had had plenty of chances to arrest us so far, and hadn’t. Well, apart from that one time when we’d been found surrounded by several massacred fae... although he hadn’t done the arresting part. He didn’t appear to have backup with him today—or cuffs—so maybe he’d listen?

“So, here it is.” I puffed out my cheeks, thrust my hands into my pockets and took a deep breath. “I’m a dragon. Gideon Cain is a dark sorcerer who stole my power and is going to use it to make all of us his slaves, so we broke into Silverleaf Goldsmiths to see if Agatha de La Cour might be making some jewelry for Cain to harness my stolen power—which she is—and we’re trying to stop her, so I can stop Cain, save the world, and fulfill a prophecy that’s been hanging over me my whole life.”

Cue awkward silence.

There was a whole lot more to it than that, but saving the world seemed to be something Elion might get behind. Or they might arrest me now, throw me in jail, and collect on the many Chosen One or Last Dragon bounties that would make them and their partner millionaires, setting them up for the rest of their lives.

I sighed, and peeked through my lashes at Elion’s unreadable face.

They raised a finger, summoning Tom. “That’s what I thought.”

“It is?” I asked.

“You clearly think very little of my observational skills.”

“Uhm...” Then Elion had known about me all along? I buried my face in my hands. “Just arrest me. Victor and Zee are innocent.”

“Zodiac has never been innocent,” Victor said.

Zee talked over him. “Fancy Fangs knew it all and should go to jail first.”

Elion waited for our reactions to settle, and calmly replied, “I’m not going to arrest anyone. Adam, how do you think you’ve been getting away with your multitude of very obvious infractions so far?”

Victor sipped his Bloody Bitch. “Luck?”

Elion broke out into ripples of smooth laughter. “Fido’s Pies? You think it was luck that investigation was dropped?”

“We don’t know anything about pets in pies,” I squeaked.

“The explosion at Cain Technologies you just happened to walk away from?” Elion said.

“It’s not a crime to go for a walk.”

“A corporate hunt gone wrong in the vampire woods?”

“That wasn’t anything to do with us. We were just driving by and those people came running out... We did the neighborly thing by taking them home.”

Elion smiled in a wolfish bounty-hunter way. They were clearly not buying our explanations. “Wherever there is trouble, you three are in the middle of it. A vampire, a demon, and a not-so-innocent human.”

I wiped my sweaty palms on my thighs. “Like Victor said. Just lucky, I guess?”

“You are lucky, yes. Lucky that I’ve been onto Cain’s exploits for many years. But with his influence having spread deep into various authorities, he had been untouchable... until you and your hotel emerged as bait delicious enough to lure Gideon Cain from his comfort zone.”

“Hold up.” Zee frowned. “You knew about Cain?”

“All this time, you’ve been helping us to rattle him?” I asked.

“Behind the scenes, yes. Our interests are aligned, but more than that... If the last dragon were to perish on my watch, well... that would be a sad day for Lost Ones.”

Elion had been onto us from opening day. They could have arrested us at any time, but instead, they’d been helping us. “You uh... you don’t mind dragons?”

“I don’t mind most people, just so long as they’re reasonable.”

Wow, and now I felt bad. I’d assumed they were a morally vacant, money-grabbing bounty hunter this whole time. “So uhm... I’m not really a hero, though, before you start thinking I’m some kind of savior. And dragons aren’t very nice. We’re pretty bitey, honestly. And a bit mean.”

“Who is good, Adam? Are any of us good? A baron vampire who spent centuries torturing for his queen? Is he good?”

Victor tipped his drink in acknowledgement. “Not in the least.”

“A demon warrior with blood on his hands, who took money for sex and fed from his victims?”

“Excuse moi.” Zee scooped up a fancy, decorative cocktail Tom had placed for him, and flicked his hair around his horns. “What I do is fucking art.”

“And you, Mr. Vex. An incredibly rare, bloodthirsty, extremely powerful Lost One, on the run and apparently trapped in human skin.”

“Well, I was powerful, but I’m not anymore.” The rest of it was accurate though.

“The sooner you three accept I’m here to help, the more we shall get done.”

“Right. I’m uh... I’m sorry I got you all wrong.”

“You were not entirely wrong. I was a money-hungry bounty hunter, and I would have hunted you to the ends of the earth, but my time here has changed me, as it has most of us. I’m sure you all understand that?”

“I hear that,” Zee agreed, swallowing the cocktail in one gulp.

“Indeed,” Victor conceded.

Surviving in the human world had changed all of us—changed every single Lost One. We’d learned how to get along because we’d had to. We were all in this together. And now Cain was about to upset all that. He had to be stopped.

I cleared my throat. “Just so we’re clear? If I managed to get my power back and happened to accidentally eat a few bad people, how would you feel about that? Hypothetically?”

Elion smiled into his drink. “Some people require eating.”