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“It changes to moonlight at night. It’s synched to the light outside to help the non-vampires who live here,” Evan was saying.
I was right back to contemplating where Sarah, Felix, and Mia had gone. I couldn’t help but consider how the prophecy was worded. Her. It called the weapon a her and spoke of her mother’s gift.
“That’s the diner. It’s what we call it. Most people down here either eat at home or don’t eat real food at all, but there are a bunch of us who stay in the Under who need a human diet and don’t cook. I never learned because Albert and Eddie would have lost their minds at the thought of one of us cooking. So if I’m here without them, I hang at the diner a lot.” She waved to the tall man who stood behind the counter. “Hey, Ben. How’s it going?”
The man, who had the look of a shifter about him, went a little pasty. “Princess. If you’re here…”
Evan quickly shook her head. “Eddie’s here, too. You do not have to feed Fen.”
The man named Ben breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the goddess. The last time he was here with only his father I ran out. Ran out. I had what should have been a month’s worth of meat, and he ate it in three days and asked where the rest was. It’s like the Goddess Circle. They can go through some wine, if you know what I mean. And the herbs. I don’t know what worries me more—Fenrir’s endless gut or whatever it is Jade burns as incense. I’m pretty sure you can get a contact high from it.”
“No, you can’t because it’s not something that makes you high.” Jade walked out of the back of the small diner, an apron around her waist. “If you didn’t want to have to deal with perfectly normal smells, then you shouldn’t have placed your business across from the social center.” She looked me over. “Hey, Nex Apparatus. You here to eat?”
“Nex Apparatus?” Ben was back to pale again. “I didn’t do anything.”
“She’s investigating Alvis’s death,” Jade pointed out.
Ben nodded. “Oh.”
Evan gave the man a bright smile. “I don’t suppose you know anything.”
“I hadn’t seen Alvis in a couple of days,” Ben said. “Which is actually weird because he usually teaches this class over at the center.”
Jade pointed toward the brightly colored doors across the square. “Alvis teaches a couple of classes, including a painting class. Relda attended regularly, but he canceled the last two weeks. I don’t think he was feeling well. I probably should have mentioned that when you interrogated me.”
“She interrogated you?” Ben’s eyes had gone wide.
“I asked her some questions. It’s not like I put a light in her eyes and threatened her.” I felt the need to defend myself because it wasn’t like I’d scared the young witch. I didn’t want her scared. I wanted her talking about something she likely wouldn’t want to talk about.
“She didn’t need to,” Jade replied. “She’s the Hunter. There are songs about how fierce she is. She pulled out a duke of Hell’s heart and then ate it.”
“I did not eat it.” What the hell? I’m sure Casey would call it “artistic interpretation,” but I did not eat that wretchedly cold heart. I might be werewolf adjacent, but I only eat cooked food. Mostly. I do enjoy some sushi, but definitely not mean old man heart.
“But you did pull it out of his body.” Evan had her notebook and a pen. She was getting into her role. “However, she was super nice to you, Jade. You shouldn’t spread rumors about her being mean.”
Jade had flushed a nice pink. “It was only for the street cred. Which doesn’t mean a lot since we don’t actually have streets in the Under. I can’t wait to get back to a place with a real sun and moon.” She stopped herself. “I mean I’m grateful. I’m very thankful.”
She was also a twenty-something kid who’d been through a lot. And I didn’t know what kind of magic she did. For witches, being in specific places could be comforting. If, say, Jade derived her magic from air or water, being down here could feel stifling to her. “It’s okay. I was hoping we could talk. What’s good here?”
“Ben’s good with the fryer.” Jade looked wary again. “I thought we talked the other night. Though now I realize I should have told you the other stuff.”
“I got that from his calendar.” I’d known about the missed classes, though he hadn’t put a reason down, merely marked them off. I hadn’t known Relda took the class. Still, I needed some other information from Jade, information she might not want to talk about with a large audience. “Ben, can I borrow her for a few minutes? It doesn’t look too busy.”
“It’s never busy,” Ben admitted. “Sure. I’ll go and make some fries and bring you a couple of sodas.”
“And a burger.” Yes, I had recently eaten Eddie’s lovely breakfast, but I was eating for two and I had to fight two wolves for my share of bacon. I glanced at his menu. “Some onion rings sound nice, too.”
“You’re Fenrir’s mom.” Ben shook his head like he hadn’t expected that behavior from me. He should have. Casey should put a song in that musical called “Kelsey Eats the World.” Ben simply turned and walked into his kitchen.
“Evan, could you go over to the center and see if anyone knows why Alvis canceled his classes?”
Evan looked at me and then Jade as though trying to figure out why I wanted her alone. She finally nodded. “Whatever you want, boss.”
Evan strode across the square. I watched and noted the other “buildings” that surrounded us. There was a clothing store and a general store. There was something I suspected was a place for childcare.
“The stores don’t actually charge,” Jade said with a sigh. “It’s something they set up for the non-primals so it feels more like we’re in a real town and not a half-mile deep.”
“It wasn’t always like this?” I started for a booth in the back of the diner that looked like it had been plopped in from the fifties. There was a jukebox and a long bar where a couple of patrons sat sipping coffee and finishing up their late breakfasts.
