Chapter 23
A s I turned off my comms phone and slid my plate away, I looked at the pure-blooded fae sitting in my kitchen and shivered with the fear dancing across his face. “How do you know he was fae, Wylen?”
Visibly shaking himself out of his thoughts, Wylen leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table…something he never did. “He was shriveled and…what do you call it? Mummified?”
“Like they took his organs and stuff and wrapped him in cloth?”
“No. Not his organs, but dried out. That’s what happens to us when we die.”
“You shrivel and dehydrate?”
He nodded. “Sosie. There is a reason they took his blood.”
“You think the halflings did it?”
“I know they did.” He straightened, and I just knew I wasn’t going to like what he said next. “They need the blood of the pure to cross into Ashtabulah.”
My stomach dropped, but my brain lagged behind. “Wait. You mean they are drinking faerie blood so they can visit your realm?”
“That is my suspicion, yes.”
“Would that even work?”
“We have stories in our world. It is something the royal court put a stop to generations ago, but there are tales of halflings finding their way in before the pure-blooded stopped visiting your realm as much.”
“Did the fae help these halflings cross over?”
“Some, yes. But they did it for selfish reasons. A lover they didn’t want to lose. A servant. A trophy. Most of the halflings were hunted down and extinguished.”
I really didn’t like that word. “Who killed them?”
He stiffened and ground his jaw together. “The Hounds did.”
“What?” I breathed. “You killed halflings.”
“No, not me. But some of the men in my family line did, yes.”
Not knowing what to say, I stared out the window, feeling the impending heat trying to push its way inside. It was nice considering the ice running through my veins at the moment. “How are they finding the fae?”
“The halflings?” When I nodded, he continued. “That is a problem I am still trying to unravel.”
“It’s Razi,” I breathed, suddenly putting it together and feeling my stomach plunge.
“Razi has the connection to the supernatural world in this city.” I tucked my legs underneath me so I could lean on the table some more, feeling the excitement and fear ignite my investigative need.
“He’s the one who held the mystical festival we think Gil attended.
And, according to Tris, the trolls hate the fae. ”
Wylen stared at me for a few moments. “It is plausible.”
Chewing on my lips, I thought about it some more. “But why would Razi risk it? He could lose everything if the others found out he was selling off the pure-blooded fae to the highest bidder. No…there’s more going on here.”
Too anxious to sit, I jumped to my feet, grabbed a pen, and paced to the beat of it tapping against my chin. It was a bad habit, but it had always helped me think. “If Razi is involved, maybe he doesn’t know exactly what is happening. I mean, you were there. Did he seem suspicious to you? ”
“He did offer to buy me.”
Good point. “True. But he owns a fight club and you…” I waved my hand up and down, pointing toward Wylen. “You’re built like a fighter. Tall and muscular and freaking perfect.” When Wylen’s lips started to turn up into a smile, I added, “For Razi.”
He hid his chuckle, and I tried to conceal the flush I knew was on my cheeks. Pacing again, I had another thought. “How many fae do you think are in the city? I mean, how many could the halflings possibly need?”
Wylen shrugged. “That I am not sure of. The stories from the past vary. Some say only a few drops are needed, and some discuss how goblets filled with fae blood were passed around like wine.”
“Does it work? I mean, the blood thing. To help halflings cross over.” I was thinking about Morningstar and my changing opinion of her and how she traveled to Ashtabulah. It made me sick.
“Yes. But like I said, the royal court banned the practice a long time ago.”
“Well, apparently someone doesn’t care about the rules anymore.”
“It would appear that way.” Wylen stood and walked into the kitchen, his naked, toned legs flexing with every step.
Opening the fridge, he bent over, exposing a whole lot more leg with hamstrings and quads that a runner would be envious of.
The new T-shirt slid up a few inches to reveal a part of his lower back.
Two perfect muscles along his spine disappeared under the elastic of his navy briefs.
Just like I’d noticed before, the man had not one ounce of fat on him. What did they eat in Ashtabulah?
Wylen grabbed the little plastic bin of strawberries and took them back to his seat, oblivious of how I was just watching him.
Eating one at a time, he continued to have that look of concentration plastered on his face while I did my best to push away what I just saw and focus instead on what all of this might mean.
“Those halflings took Gil, didn’t they?” I finally asked, almost too afraid to utter the words .
I had a feeling we’d been thinking the same. “It’s my best guess.”
I walked around the table and bent over Wylen to grab a strawberry. He smiled as my face passed by his, and I heard him suck in a tiny breath like he was smelling me again. But he’d schooled his features by the time I stood back up and sat across from him. “We need to get into that house.”
“You mean break in?” His grin looked way too good on him right now. It’s like he never forgot anything and enjoyed throwing it right back at me.
“Yes, Wylen. This time I mean break in. You said there were cameras?”
“Outside, yes. And a security system at the doors.”
Not knowing how he knew that, I let my thoughts continue down their path without distractions. “I wrote down the license plate, so maybe I can get Investigator Caldori to do me a favor. I’ll just have to figure out what story to tell him…”
“That won’t be necessary,” Wylen said a little too proudly.
“No?” The snark was back in my voice.
He smiled at me and tucked a piece of hair behind his ears. Tapping his finger to the side of his head in a very human gesture, he said, “I remember where.”
“You know which street the house is on?” My blood raced at the excitement of following a lead.
“Well,” Wylen’s smile dropped, “the general area. I forgot to look for street signs,” he admitted.
I was tempted to rub that in a little bit longer, but decided he didn’t need to be tortured with thoughts of inadequacies. He’d actually done a really good job, and I thought we could find the house without getting Rothwick Capital Patrol involved.
“Wylen, have you ever heard of the interweb?”
“Interweb?” He pronounced the word slowly, letting it roll off his tongue like molasses. “No, I have not.”
I grabbed my laptop sitting near the television and then settled into the chair next to Wylen. Opening my browser to the universal connection system, I found a map of the city and clicked on the street view. “Okay, Wylen. Which part of town were you in?”
Thirty minutes later, we had narrowed the search to just a few blocks, and I was now dragging the mouse up and down each street so Wylen could identify the house.
It had taken him a while to understand what we were looking at, as it amused him so much.
Wylen was smart, and I still had a feeling he was fae royalty.
But this type of human technology kind of blew his mind.
“That’s it!” he shouted, pointing at an old white house. “Yes. There’s the garage and the metal fence.” He smiled up at me. “I was hiding behind that fence for a little while.”
Considering it was a chain-linked structure, I wondered about how he made that happen. But we had bigger issues to deal with. “Okay, great.” I wrote down the address and closed my laptop. I was just about to start brainstorming our next steps when someone knocked on the front door.
Wylen jumped to his feet…still only half dressed. “I will get it.”
I thought about stopping him but then decided , why not see what happens? Leaning back in my chair so I could get a view, I watched as Wylen opened the door and Tris frowned at him. Eyeing up his naked legs, my friend was speechless. Good, served him right. Let him squirm a little.
“Hi, Tris,” I yelled from the table. “You look terrible.”
Wylen stepped to the side, allowing Tris to pass. His hands were full of a drink carryout carton and a small paper bag. Apology gifts, I assumed. “I brought coffee. And donuts.”
“Oh, donuts!” Wylen cheered, digging into the bag and pulling out a chocolate one.
“You’ve had donuts before?” I asked.
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate.
“How about coffee?” Tris asked, still staring at Wylen’s outfit. I knew he was just dying to ask me about it. And seeing his shiner and cut-up hands, I was dying to ask him if his fight was worth it last night .
“That is something new,” he said, taking the cup from Tris.
The washer beeped, and I excused myself to go dry Wylen’s clothes. By the time I came back into the room, Wylen was filling Tris in while taking sips of the coffee.
“This is good,” Wylen told me. “I think I like the human coffee.”
I smiled down at him and then noticed Tris staring. “What?” I asked with a bit of an attitude.
He ground his jaw together, and I knew he was trying to decide what to say next. “You found the house?”
“Wylen did, yes.”
“Sosie.” He sighed. “I’m sorry about last night. I was just…”
“Can we talk about this later?” I jerked my chin toward Wylen, letting Tris know I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of an audience.
“Fine.” Shoving a donut in his mouth, Tris chewed with a little too much anger. He swallowed and looked up at me again. “What do we do now?”
I sat down and grabbed the glazed donut Tris had picked up for me. My favorite. “I think we should call Kaelan.”
Wylen’s eyes widened at the same time Tris nodded. “Agreed.”
“And I think we should go there.” Ignoring Tris’s scrutiny, I turned to Wylen. “You said the man who owns the house left by bus last night?”
“Yes. After he hid the car in the garage.”
“Then we should go at night.” Reaching for my phone, I scrolled until I found “Kaelan HoT” in my contacts. He answered on the second ring.
“House of Treasures, this is Kaelan Black. What can I do to make all your desires come true?”
Giggling, I took a second to compose myself. “Do you have to say that every time?” I asked through the laughs.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Sosie Westwood. ”
“Oh, Sosie.” Kaelan let out a breath. “And yes, when I’m at work, that’s what Gil expects me to do.”
My throat clenched. What if we found Gil’s shriveled and drained body tonight?
I’d never met the man, but he clearly meant a great deal to many people.
Kaelan would be devastated. He shouldn’t have to see this.
What would happen to Gil’s house of ill repute?
What would the vampire warrior do? I swallowed hard, trying to rein in the fears.
“Kaelan, I think we found something, and we’re going to need your help.”