Zixuan reached into his pocket for an old, ornamented key. ‘You know the rules.’
Kyan nodded, going to take it, but the supernatural paused.
‘That’s not the only reason I agreed to meet,’ Zixuan said. ‘Creatures are going missing. We think they’re being taken.’
Kyan frowned as a whisper of unease slid down his spine. ‘Taken?’
‘Snatched. Kidnapped in the night. No leads, no scents; whatever is doing it, they’re good at covering their tracks.’
‘Dangerous creatures?’ Kyan asked, close to digging out his mission notepad. But he couldn’t risk writing this down, not when it was likely that the Wake were behind it. More creatures to turn darker and draw the Hunt …
‘Some, not all,’ Zixuan said. ‘The majority have been Sirens.’
Kyan looked at the Siren beside him, whose lips had pressed together in concern.
‘You think the kidnappings are being done by Empyreals?’ Kyan asked, grateful he’d earned enough trust that Zixuan was coming to him with this.
‘I don’t know, but my Lady says she can trust you with this, and she wants you to know that she’s liable to step in if they keep this up.’
She had been the same way when he’d first met her, over a hundred years ago. ‘If it’s linked to what I think, then I’m already on it.’
Zixuan looked mildly appeased.
‘Have you heard anything about a Druid?’ Kyan asked.
He didn’t realise he was so keen for an answer until Zixuan said, ‘No.’
‘Will you let me know if one boards a flight to Ireland?’
He didn’t expect the Druid would. If anything they’d go from Anglesey and use a false supernatural ID. Not many creatures could identify a Druid in this day and age, but it was worth asking, especially if they were as unpredictable as the Wake claimed.
Zixuan nodded again as Kyan’s senses prickled with warning.
His eyes darted to the mirror above the fireplace, finding the silhouettes of three Empyreals stalking inside behind them. All men. All dangerous.
And one of them, Logan.
Kyan smothered a snarl of annoyance. What were the chances this bastard was here?
The Empyreals’ attention on him told him they’d come here for a reason. If Callum had been with him, he’d be grinning at their idiocy.
Remi schooled her features into a semblance of unbothered cool.
Go, he mouthed and she got up languidly, as if to go to the bathroom and not get as far away from here as possible. Her mother activated a deflection shield which cinched tight around them both, bending light enough that the eye glanced right off them.
Kyan nodded to Zixuan and got up, shaking his head softly to stop him intervening. If Zixuan tried to defend him, other supernaturals would back him up. There was no way he was letting blood spill on his behalf, so Kyan rose to drink more at the bar instead. He barely had a few seconds before Logan came to lean lazily beside him.
‘I’m curious,’ the Empyreal said, ‘just what are you doing here?’
Kyan could feel Logan’s aggression: the barely leashed, sarcastic malice.
It seemed he wasn’t going to forget that punch any time soon.
Kyan kept his eyes forward as the other two Empyreals ambled closer, forming a half circle around him.
He took another drink, appearing bored. ‘Logan. Come to preen and piss about the place? Why don’t you let these creatures enjoy themselves in peace?’
A pair of River Nymphs that sat around the curve of the bar kept their heads down, their varnished skin helping hide the slim, iridescent mother-of-pearl of the thin scales at their necks.
