Chapter 35 #2
With luck, Yuless would grow more comfortable and confident in my survivability, but I would need to stop having close encounters of the lethal kind to make that happen.
“While I cannot recommend the presentation of heads on silver platters, for you would need numerous heads on numerous platters, I can help you with that problem. Of course, I’m already ahead of you because Yuless already asked me for help.
He didn’t pay me not to spill his secrets, however, and I owe you a great debt.
All he’s done is give me headaches lately. ”
Poor Hagnar. “At least he doesn’t flail quite as much as Kanika,” I reminded him.
The man heaved a sigh. “That girl, I swear.”
“What did Kanika do now?”
“She brought her kelpie over, made me take her into my storage warehouse, and went on a rampage trying to find gifts, as it seems she’s gotten it into her head that nobody will like her if she doesn’t provide them with a gift.
Her current idea of gifting involves guns and the training to use them to all her family and friends who are not armed.
Apparently, the shooting has riled everybody.
She also wants the shooter’s head on a silver platter.
I do not understand the appeal of silver for such things, personally.
Silver platters are often filigreed, and this is a nightmare to clean without magic. ”
“I have magic, and I’m willing to use it,” I stated in my coolest tone.
“Here’s the deal: this shooter is willing to risk killing others to get to me.
Since shooting me didn’t work, I’m worried they’ll escalate to something of a larger scale.
I want the bastard dealt with, ideally in Lucifer’s loving care. ”
A pop announced an unwanted arrival, and I heaved a sigh. “Excuse me, Lucifer’s not-so-loving care.”
“That’s better,” the subject of my conversation stated, and like me, he used a rather cold tone. “You may as well put it on speaker, Crystal.”
“Hagnar, I’m putting it on speaker so the Devil can make us do naughty things.”
“I think this goes beyond naughty,” Lucifer complained.
I laughed at him before setting the phone up to use speaker mode.
“Sorry about that, Hagnar. He just likes showing up at his whim.” I turned to face Lucifer to discover he’d gotten dressed in a nice suit without any evidence he was the Devil marking him.
“What’s with that? You don’t even have your cute horns today. ”
“The wife said I needed to behave in the hospital, and as I’m your ride out of here and the vanquisher of paperwork, I’m trying not to meet expectations today.”
I considered his reputation before offering an approving nod. “Good job. I’ll make sure to tell your wife you are deserving of reward.”
He chuckled. “So, we’re planning murder, are we?”
“Is murder required to keep him from trying to kill me again?”
“Yes.”
Well, that was going to put a stain on my pristine reputation. “I can’t say I’ve engaged in murder before. So, how do I go about this without getting caught?”
“You will serve as bait. Hagnar has access to the black markets of the world. As there’s a hit out for you, so that the shooter can deal with you himself, it’s trivial.
Hagnar, you will claim the bounty, lure him to a place of our choosing, and we will deal with him.
Violently. My sister needs Crystal to enjoy a long and prosperous life, and no mortal on this Earth is going to stop me from making sure she gets that long and prosperous life. ”
Right. If Hugh’s daughter, reborn somewhere in the world and waiting for her moment to shine, were to survive, I needed to do my part. What that part entailed remained to be seen, but I had come to a few conclusions: Lucifer and his family would be at the heart of the matter.
“Just go with it, Hagnar. Make Lucifer pay you well for the work, but you have the perfect bait for this job, and I’m feeling great. We’re going to be fighting over that body. I’m going to lay so many curses on that bastard his soul will feel them in the afterlife.”
Lucifer sighed. “She’s not even joking, by the way. My father meddled. She’s ailment free and feeling her oats this morning.”
I really was. “I need to get this over with so I can go to a bookstore and purchase some presents for Yuless.”
“I can help you on the present front,” Hagnar stated. “I can also do the bounty work. My charge is double the bounty value, Lucifer, and any clearances I might need regarding the black market.”
“When I am finished, nobody will doubt I made you do it, and you will be able to whip that prized line out at your leisure to correct any attitudes. You will be elevated in prestige, and potential clients will sympathize with your plight. Woe is you, being forced to do my dirty work again.”
“It’s bad enough people know I helped set that black blight loose in Georgia. I already use that line enough. Then I have to bring Kanika into it, and I get more sympathy than I know what to do with.”
I laughed at the man’s disgruntled tone. “You can come over to our place and play with the baby dragon, Hagnar. He’s adorable.”
Lucifer grinned. “He’s also getting into trouble, as baby dragons do, but none of the adult dragons are upset. There hasn’t been a baby dragon in many, many years. I won’t give you the number. It would create an age for Yuless, and that would cause you problems attempting to process it.”
“He’s older than you are, Lucifer. I’m aware of what I’m getting into. I’m not sure about this whole living longer than normal thing, but we’ll make it work.”
“You will,” the Devil assured me. “Where do you want to stage the ambush, Hagnar?”
“Near her home. That way, the alligators can participate and take the credit for the kill instead of us.”
I liked the sound of that. “You don’t actually need the body, right? Because let’s face it, if Mr. Magic and the other gators get a hold of this bastard, there isn’t going to be enough left to identify.”
“That’s the idea,” Hagnar informed me. “In a perfect world. I will tell the bounty holder where you are, they will come, and the gators will locate and dispatch them without any injury to anyone other than them.”
“It is a good plan with a high probability of working.” Lucifer rubbed his hands together.
“My wife and daughter are going to love me when I bring home the current target of their ire. Send them to 36 Lakeview; that’s on the opposite side of the lake where Crystal lives, it’s currently empty and waiting for me to purchase it, and it will make an excellent place to destroy the evidence. ”
I sighed. “It’s going to be annexed into my property, isn’t it?”
“Of course. By the time I am done, you will own every inch of land around that lake, and Florida will still consider it a homestead because they do not want any of their cities to be eaten by an angry dragon. They’re quite aware you have numerous dragon visitors who have zero intention of leaving.
In fact, most of the dragons are seeking out properties nearby to purchase.
Florida understands dragons do not destroy their personal property, so it’s best just to appease you, who is the Supreme Queen of Dragons. ”
I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous title. “Supreme Queen of Dragons, Lucifer? Really?”
“You have over fifty dragons, and you rule over them with an iron fist and a willingness to punt them into next week if they don’t behave. You’ve also brought back one of their precious brethren from the dead.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized that was exactly what I had done. I hadn’t engaged in a resurrection, but I had brought the old soul back from the boundary. “Why was I the only one who could do that, Lucifer?”
“Do you want to answer this one, Hagnar?” the Devil asked in a startlingly gentle voice.
“Sure.” Yuless’s friend sighed. “Because dragons are unnatural beings, brought to life by the Universe herself, only the Universe, and someone capable of withstanding all that the Universe is and ever was, is capable of serving as the conduit for such a soul to be retrieved and replanted, especially if the soul is… unwilling.”
“I wouldn’t call him unwilling. I would call him tentative and frightened,” I replied, sighing. “But I suppose unwilling is as good a word as any. All I did was tell him it would be all right, Hagnar.”
“Ah, yes, but there have been many who have tried, and before you, none who have succeeded. But because you are the promise of all that is to be, the embodiment of what it is to accept or fight fate, he believed. Not even He could convince that old soul of a hope for a better future. You have the weight that no other has, especially for dragons. And the Universe can’t make that promise, it goes against even her rules.
She must allow every soul to face its fate without interference, even if it means all that she desires crumbles to dust. She can offer gifts, but she cannot force circumstance. ”
There was a fine line between the two, and I marveled over the rigidity of the Universe’s existence—and her willingness to cope with it. “The Universe truly is like the Fates, isn’t she?”
“She is the opposite face of the same coin, yes,” Lucifer confirmed.
“But the Universe is content with all she is and all she cannot be. The Fates were not. You’re now the opposite face of her coin, but you share that coin with the unity the Fates and the Universe lacked.
You have chosen to be there. The Universe chose to accept being there. ”
I nodded to indicate my understanding. “The Fates had not and could not.”
“That’s right.” Lucifer wrinkled his nose. “Hagnar, text me with the estimated arrival time of our guests. I am going to take Crystal to a few stores to spend some time before heading over to the Lakeview property. By tonight, I want this finished.”
“I shall make it so,” Hagnar promised before hanging up.