AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They met Boudreaux outside Delphine’s shop. She’d long gone home, but it was a central place they all knew.
Pushing off the wall, the tall, handsome Black man strode toward Tomi and Dax. They’d left Rory in the car since Dax was still unsure how much the manbo’s friend knew about real magic and magical beings.
“Tomi! Dax!” Boudreaux stuck out his meaty hand, shaking both of theirs. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too.” Tomi smiled.
Dax nodded.
“So you looking to get up to some more trouble? Hopefully the profitable kind?” Boudreaux raised an eyebrow.
“Looks like it,” Tomi said. “You don’t capture a beast, kidnap its keeper, and make a body disappear in a single night without having some resources at your disposal.”
Dax held up a hand to stop Tomi from continuing. “I don’t know how much of it will be available, though. If we can rescue the kidnap victim and take care of the beast without helping the perpetrator move onto the next world, then we will. Unless it’s the biker gang. In that case, there will be no mercy.”
“Damn straight!” Boudreaux raised a fist and directed it to Tomi, who tapped it. “Nazi bikers can fuck off.”
“Hell yeah,” Tomi said.
Dax nodded and bumped Boudreaux’s fist when it was moved in front of him. “So, you said you have an idea?”
Boudreaux folded his arms in front of his chest. “Less an idea and more a contact who might know what’s going on with a weird animal in Red City. Since you didn’t give me any details on the critter, I couldn’t pass any on. But my friend said he’d talk to you. He owes me a favor or three.”
“And we’ll owe you a favor in return, no doubt?” Dax asked.
“Nah, I’m still rolling fat from the last score you hooked me up with. Y’all are good.”
“I appreciate that.” One side of Dax’s mouth quirked up slightly.
“Fair warning, this cat…” He laughed. “Maybe not the right word in his case. But he’s an odd cat.”
Dax didn’t know what the joke was, and neither did Tomi. If Boudreaux didn’t want to explain, perhaps they’d find out later.
“Do you want to ride with us?” Tomi hitched a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward his car.
“Nah. I’ll ride my bike. I’ll text you the address he just gave me in case we get split up.” He threw a quick wave and strode off toward a custom chopper that looked like one of the ones they’d “liberated” from the bikers.
Tomi’s phone buzzed a moment later before the bike roared to life.
“That’s it. Let’s go,” Tomi said.
Dax followed him back to the car and climbed in. Soon, they were zipping through the streets of Red City toward an address in the industrial section of the city. As they approached, the air, never the sweetest within city limits, grew more metallic and dingy.
“The air is so”—Rory coughed—“disgusting. How can you stand to breathe it?”
“Welcome to Red City,” Tomi said. “It’s not like we got a choice. It costs money to move to places with pretty air.”
Rory grumbled and sat back in his seat, arms folded, a grimace spreading across his face. Dax had never known anything else. He’d breathed his first human breath of air in Red City. And a few months ago, he’d almost drawn his last. The thought still haunted him. Would anyone come to liberate his soul from the prison he’d been sentenced to? If the enchanted bullet had pinned his soul to his body, would he eventually become an unhoused spirit like those who haunted the morgue Boudreaux had snuck them into?
Who reaped the reaper?
His body shivered involuntarily. Trying to shake it off, he pulled out his phone to check for any messages, though the one person who regularly sent him messages was too busy driving.
Ahead of them, Boudreaux’s brake lights flared, and he pulled into an alley, then stopped. Tomi parked behind him and turned off the car. The three of them popped out of the car before Dax could warn Rory to hang back until they could brief their friend about the fae man.
Boudreaux dismounted the bike and turned around, his eyes going slightly wide and his jaw starting to open before he regained control and returned to his normal placid expression. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Rory. He’s the, uh, one who lost the animal.” Tomi stepped aside so Boudreaux could get a look at their companion.
