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“Killing Yannie Fin Diver isn’t going to be easy, if even possible. The Elder Fae are not true Immortals like the Elemental Lords, but they . . . they are closer than even the Gods to life everlasting.” Aeval looked worried, and when one of the Fae Queens was concerned, we’d better take it seriously.
“Then you don’t think the Lady of the Land was able to kill him? He was being drawn beneath the ground. The same thing killed thieves back in Otherworld when I used the horn—”
“Thieves? What are thieves compared to the Elder Fae? Dust motes. No, girl. Those roots and bones were merely holding him back long enough for you to get away. Trust me, Yannie Fin Diver lives . . . and he will remember you.”
“What do we do about Chase? Where do the faerie mushroom rings lead?”
Aeval frowned, her gossamer dress blowing in the breeze. But the cold didn’t even seem to faze her. She shook her head. “Usually, they lead to a barrow and cross over into the realm of Fae. But you were already there . . . so this is an oddity. You find faerie mushroom rings here, quite often actually, but they are not common once you cross over. I’ll do some research. Meanwhile, I think you are correct. I don’t think the Bog Eater caught hold of your friend. I truthfully believe he still lives. As to how you will retrieve him . . . I’m sorry. I can help you no further.”
She turned. “I am returning to Talamh Lonrach Oll now. I will see you within the week.” And with that, the Queen of the Dark vanished into the swirling snow.
“What now?” Delilah asked, bleakly staring at Chase’s watch. We were sitting in my Lexus.
“I wish I knew. I wish I knew someone who might help us. They have to be associated with the Fae. Let me think.”
Damn it. Now, not only had we not found Chase, but we’d made yet another enemy. I frowned, fiddling with the receiver until I pulled in The End, a radio station that played cutting-edge alternative and grunge. As the music blared through the car, I ran through every idea I could think of.
Finally, I thought of something that might work, but it would mean more danger and more dealings with the Elder Fae. “Maybe Menolly can call on Ivana Krask again. She’s Elder Fae and might be able to help us.”
“Crap—the two words I did not want to hear. Elder Fae. What makes you think that Ivana Krask isn’t playing footsie with Yannie Fin Diver?” Delilah shot me a look like I was halfway on the road to crazy.
“You’re probably right, but that’s the best I can think of for now. Come on, let’s drop down to the Indigo Crescent and see how things are going, then head home. You can check out your new digs upstairs.”
My bookstore—which had started out belonging to the Otherworld Intelligence Agency—had been partially destroyed in an explosion that killed one of my best customers and a dear FBH friend—Henry Jeffries.
I’d dedicated a plaque in the reading alcove to him, but it didn’t feel like enough. He’d left me a surprising sum of money in his will, and with it, I’d expanded to a café next door, hiring others to run it. The Supes now had the Indigo Crescent Coffee Nook to hang out in. I was donating thirty percent of my profits above and beyond costs to the Supe Community Council to help various Supes in need.
We parked in the spot I’d reserved for my car. The Coffee Nook had its own little parking lot in back, which made it much easier for patrons to visit both my store and the restaurant.
We’d had an upswing in business lately, and the bookstore was selling briskly compared to most booksellers in the area. Publishing had taken some hard hits, but we’d invested in setting up audiobook nooks, and Roz had thought of a cool promotion that appeared to be working. We offered a coupon club. When customers came in with proof that they’d bought the book in e-format, we’d sell them a print copy at a discount. In fact, if they bought ten books through the club, they got an eleventh in print for free.
Delilah and I headed inside, she vaulting up the stairs to her new offices, which had been renovated and cleaned up after the explosion, and I into my office. It had been quite a while since I’d spent more than a few minutes here, and even now, my eyes brimmed up. Every time I came to my store, I couldn’t help but remember that Henry had died because he’d been working for me. Collateral damage. Too much, too much...
As I ran my hand over my new desk, still unused to the feel of the maple—my old desk had been oak—it hit me that life would never be the same. Too much had gone down, too much water under the bridge, too much death and carnage and too much uncertainty. But there were compensating factors and life never stood still. It couldn’t, or the stagnation would destroy us, slowly but surely.
“Hey boss!” Giselle peeked through the door, her voice hesitant. “I don’t want to disturb you but . . .”
Giselle had been a gift from Vanzir. She was demon, but she could pass for a rather striking young woman with long wheat-colored hair and muscles to rival even the strongest woman I knew. She was athletic—stocky and tanned. Her eyes were brilliant blue, thanks to the contacts that covered her red irises. FBHs were used to eyes my color now, and topaz eyes, but the red demonic thing still wouldn’t wash right and they’d think she was a vampire and begin questioning too closely.
“Come in.” I motioned for her to take a seat. “How are things going?”
She bit her lip. “Good, as far as the store goes. Deidre says that the restaurant is coming along nicely, too.”
Deidre was a coyote shifter I’d hired to watch over the coffee shop. She was a cousin of Marion Vespa’s—the shifter who ran the Supe-Urban Café—and Marion didn’t have a job for her so I’d taken her on. Deidre and Giselle had become more than friends, and they made a volatile but interesting couple.
The look on Giselle’s face told me something was up. “I know that look. Things may be fine here, but there’s something bothering you. What is it?”
Giselle sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah . . . there is something. Twice now, someone has come in, asking about you. About when you’re going to be here. The guy says he’s Fae and from Otherworld, but boss, I know he’s not. I know he’s something else, but I can’t pin him down.”
A draft swept through and I was suddenly cold. “Who was it? What did he look like?”
“I don’t know who he was. The first time, he tried to charm me, that much I can tell. I think he thought I was human and easily swayed. When that didn’t work, he left. Today he came in, trying to bribe me by offering me a brilliant cut diamond. It was gorgeous, but I don’t need diamonds. He seemed puzzled when I wouldn’t take it.”
I licked my lips. “Describe him?”
“He was around five nine, wiry but muscled. Bald with a single ponytail that was gathered from the center of his head. He looked . . . different, but I don’t know how to describe it. Dressed in leather and fur. But I know this: He knows how to work magic. And he was intent on finding out when you were going to be down here, which is why I’m glad you came in through the back today.”
“Yeah . . .” I hesitated. Coming in the back way was no guarantee to remaining anonymous. “I think I’d better get home. Delilah and I have a problem brewing, and I don’t need another on top of it.”
