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“I can guarantee that if you guys don’t have contact anymore with your ‘masseur,’ either he’s dead or he went rogue and is turning tricks or dealing drugs or working with the gangs. And as far as Andrees…a newbie-to-Earthside OIA agent walking around there alone? Without being prepared? What time of day did you send him?” Please don’t say “night”…please don’t say “night”…
Sephreh tossed the folder across the table. “Night. I assume a stupid move, as well? So, will you take the job? Will you work with us and help us find Andrees?”
I glanced at Camille and Delilah. They both gave me slight nods. “Fine, but on our terms, and with raises, full back pay, full reinstatement, and a free hand. We run the Earthside operations and we set up an OIA headquarters over there the way it was meant to be. If you can agree to that, we’ll knock out a deal. But we have to work fast. I need to get home.”
Sephreh coughed as both Roz and Vanzir began to laugh.
“They’ll get you every time, dude,” Vanzir said. “Just jump on the deal while it’s still on the table, man.”
Sephreh gave him a faint smile. “I have no doubt you speak wisely, Master Vanzir. No doubt at all.” He turned to me. “You have a deal. Whatever you want, you get. Andrees has been missing for three days. What do we do?”
I pushed back my chair and stood. “First, we knock out details of our agreement. Second, we head home to look for Andrees. And we’d better get moving because I don’t have long before I have to be in my lair, before sunrise.”
As the others stood and stretched, Father began to hand out dossiers and called in a secretary. We had a lot of work to do and very little time in which to do it. And that didn’t count keeping tabs on Darynal and his crew. Somehow, I had a feeling that we were going to be in for a busy week. Or month.
Chapter 4
We finished hammering out details ninety minutes before dawn, declining the invitation to spend another day and night there so we could visit our home. The night had evoked too many emotions as it was. By the stunned looks on Delilah and Camille’s faces, they needed a break. Hell, I needed a break. None of us were drama queens, and the whole night had been like one long angst-ridden Dr. Phil show.
Besides, we wanted to get a start on looking for Andrees. He’d been a good sort, and to think of him wandering around in the Roxbury area made me nervous as hell.
We headed outside. The nearest portals leading Earthside were about a mile away, and the carriage would take us there. But as I stood outside, looking up into the sky, I realized that—for just a moment—I wanted to focus on what was right with the world. I was in love with a wonderful woman. I had a sexy vampire consort for the times when I needed to cut loose without hurting my lover. My sisters and I were still in one piece, regardless of the enemies we faced. We were being paid by both the Elfin Queen and the OIA. That had been one of the stipulations I’d insisted on—double payment.
And, tucked away in Camille’s robe, we also now officially held the deeds to the buildings housing the Wayfarer Bar & Grill and the Indigo Crescent bookstore. When we’d first been sent Earthside by the OIA, they’d set me up as bartender at the Wayfarer and Camille as a bookstore owner. Delilah had a small private eye agency ensconced above the Indigo Crescent.
Shadow Wing and his cronies had kept us so busy that we weren’t able to spend as much time working at our cover jobs as we had when we first came over Earthside, but we’d all grown very fond of our businesses. I’d hired Derrick Means, a werebadger, to be the bar’s manager, though I still went in at night a lot. And Camille had Giselle, a demon, working for her.
“Are we ready?” Camille’s breath puffed in the air, frozen wisps. Nearing spring or not, it was still chilly.
Sephreh stood near, along with two guards, keeping watch. We’d said our good-byes inside. Now, only time would tell whether the truce would hold. I thought it might, but didn’t want to jinx it, so kept my feelings to myself.
Chase was standing near me. “A lot of changes going on.” He thrust his hands in his pockets and stared at the sky. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. Or smelled air quite so clear. It’s unsettling.”
My boots made a scratchy noise as I scuffed the soles on the gravel. I lifted one leg, balancing on the other, to check the heel. It was a little loose. I’d have to have it repaired when we arrived home.
“So, Johnson, this is the second time you’ve been here. What do you think of Otherworld?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question. I was curious as to what he thought of our home world.
Chase paused, mulling over his answer. “Otherworld is beautiful. Haunting. Elqaneve is strangely familiar, while Y’Elestrial…I’d have to call it exotic.” He let out a long stream of breath. “And speaking of Y’Elestrial and the OIA…your father, do you think he’s blowing smoke?”
I shrugged. “I doubt it. Father has the subterfuge of a slug. He’s always worn his heart—and his pride—on his sleeve. His emotions run close to the surface. But whether his apology is too little, too late, remains to be seen.”
As the carriage rumbled up, Chase touched me lightly on the arm. “May I ask you one thing?”
“What is it?” I could see in his face that he’d been thinking about this for a while—whatever this was.
“Do you think I could manage over here? Do you think I have what it takes to make the transition? Just in case Sharah wants to come home to live?”
“Why are you asking me? Why not Delilah? She knows you better.”
“I’m asking you because you’ll tell me the truth. Camille would be diplomatic, and Delilah might lie to make me feel better. But you’ll give it to me straight.”
He was putting his fate in my hands. I didn’t like the responsibility, but Chase was a friend and he needed something concrete to hold on to. And he was right. Delilah would lie and tell him what he wanted to hear. Camille would play both sides of the fence. I was the one who never prettied up the picture, who painted what I saw, rather than what I wanted to see, or thought someone wanted to hear.
“You want to know what I think? I believe you’d fade here, Chase. You don’t have enough elf in you to ever be accepted by the other elves. While they might seem all cozy with you now, the long-lost son and all—trust me, discrimination is rampant over here in Otherworld.”
“I wondered about that.” He shook his head. “Your world isn’t much better than ours in some ways.”
“Damn straight. Each has its trade-offs, but no matter whether you’re in Otherworld or over Earthside, people are people and a lot of them are jerks.”
