Chapter 4 #2
“Come on, we can get some liquor while he officially hands over the soul.” Pierce grunts at my suggestion.
No doubt he thinks he’s about to bank for this trip to the market, and he’d be right.
It’s not our fault he’s the only one who carries Shade currency on him.
Earth may have its inconveniences, but cell phones and mobile wallets are fucking advantages and no one will ever convince me otherwise.
“We should get some faerie wine. They have that little kick that always hits the spot after a big meal,” Slash says as we file out of the library and cross over to the organized chaos that is The Shade.
The market here is a free-for-all. A cacophony of shouts and whistles echo across the plaza as barkers bid for the attention of passers-by. Some are aggressive, others are charming but all have the same goal. It’s nothing more than a huge square filled with loud voices and cramped bodies.
“Hey, Slash, still waiting on your call.” Pierce and I both turn to see a smiling demon with red eyes that flash with lust as she and Slash cross paths. I don’t know her but I have no doubts she’s one of his many conquests wanting to revisit their one-night tryst.
“Don’t you think I forgot, gorgeous. Just been busy.” Slash never stops walking as he speaks. Hell, I don’t even think he actually saw her.
“You’re ridiculous.” There’s no venom in Pierce’s accusation and it’s nothing we haven’t all said a million times in the last two millennia.
“Where you see ridiculous, I see freedom.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” Pierce, although not celibate, chooses his partners with care. He has particular tastes that can only be satisfied with a certain personality.
“What?” Slash nods in my direction and I just know I’m about to enter a conversation that has nothing to do with me. “Think I should be keeping it in my pants the way Hack here does? Pining over his soul mate that he hasn’t seen in fucking decades? Nah, not my style, brother.”
“Leave me out of this.” I stop at a stand where two witches are selling herbs and spices we can’t find on our territory. Angel tears, dragon scales, faerie lashes, and demon teeth. That last one makes me cringe. “What do you need our teeth for?”
The older of the two takes a step back, like being close to a demon is somehow beneath her. Her salt and pepper hair is tied in a neat braid that runs down one shoulder.
“It’s a protective charm to keep death at bay.” I frown at her explanation since it doesn’t match her reaction to me.
“So why do you seem so revolted by my presence?” I cock my head to the side, my eyes darting from one of hers to the other, trying to read her or pick up on any lies.
“Oh, Liege, you misunderstand.” The woman’s partner giggles behind her hand and averts her gaze from mine. “With a face like yours, I need all the distance I can get.”
I wouldn’t say I blush, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that answer.
“Wait.” The woman searches her tray of small pots and makes a strange clucking sound when she finds what she’s looking for. “There it is.” Rounding her table, she walks right to me and takes my hand, placing a crystal in my palm.
“What is this?” The crystal is heavy and white, like a burst of starlight washing out every tint and hue around us. Cool to the touch, yet brimming with quiet energy, it rests in my palm like a secret waiting to be uncovered.
“God’s Breath, but the anthros call it quartz, which is boring if you ask me.” I don’t ask, but I can see where the breaths of the gods would be more mystical.
“Why are you giving it to me?” Just as I ask, Pierce and Slash stand like wings at my sides.
The old woman leans in and whispers, “For your chosen one.”
Her phrasing doesn’t feel random and isn’t a gimmick.
I’m not buying and am definitely not her customer demographic, but those specific words get to me.
They reach in and stab at my frozen heart, picking away at the protective ice.
It’s the same pain I feel every year on Hallow’s Eve when the veil between the anthros and the supernatural is reduced to near nothing and I search out the one I lost. And every year that I don’t find her, the piercing agony is harder and harder to bear.
“I don’t have a chosen one.” Beside me, my brothers scoff.
“Your soul and your heart say otherwise.” Closing my fingers over the crystal, she nods then pats my hand.
And that’s my cue to walk away from the batshit crazy lady.
Witches around here are hit and miss. Some are so deep into their world that they lose all sense of reality.
At least those who live on Earth seem to keep a semblance of balance, although not always.
With a smile that probably says a lot about my thoughts on her sanity, we continue our stroll as a unit. The good thing about being in The Shade is that we’re not the only ones with our build. Not like on Earth where we’ve often got five inches on the tallest guy in the room.
“Hey, who knows? Maybe this year you’ll get laid.”
I punch Slash in the shoulder hard enough that he bumps into a passing shifter, and judging by the hiss, it’s some kind of feral feline. Those things are nothing if not unpredictable.
“Sorry about that.” I wink and throw her a crooked smile, the same one Pierce accuses me of using every time I need to get out of a sensitive situation. Guess I just proved him right.
The shifter purrs and I swear she just licked her lips like she wanted to have a taste test. Yeah, not happening.
“Oh, fuck.” When Slash mumbles those two words, I know shit’s about to go down.
“What?” Pierce barely gets the question out before I hear a long, murderous hiss.
“Well, well, well, Slash. Guess my pussy wasn’t good enough for seconds.” I can’t help it, I snort-laugh at the shifter’s sarcasm, but not for the reasons she thinks. “Something funny, Liege?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“Nope, just like seeing my brother getting a reality check, that’s all.” The shifter accepts my excuse as she raises her chin in defiance, or maybe just snobbery. They always seem to feel superior to us all.
Slash, however, isn’t even bothered by this whole scene. He just takes two steps closer and runs his nose along the line of her neck before whispering something in her ear. Must be working because the next thing I know, they’ve got their mouths fused and their tongues are battling it out.
“What the fuck, I leave you for five minutes and this is what I get? You gonna fuck her in the streets, Slash?” Oh great, Death is here. “Come on, we’ve got shit to do.”
“Sorry, baby. Duty calls. I’ll find you when I’m done.” Without even waiting for her response, Slash jogs away and we follow.
“You’re unbelievable.” Pierce, ever the lecturer.
“So you keep telling me.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Slay isn’t amused, and to be honest, neither am I. “Just got word from Dei Samhain that there’s a soul wandering about New York City and none of the marshals or the lackeys have been able to catch it. It’s been wandering for years and it’s time for it to rest.”
“Do we all need to go?” Pierce looks up at the top of the building where a clock displays times from all over the universe. “It’s almost five in Georgia and we need to care for the horses.”
“Yeah, I’ve got dinner duties and I’ve already collected today, so count me out.” Slay takes his cooking very seriously.
“I’ll do it. How hard can it be? Some of our lackeys are green so they probably didn’t know what the fuck they were doing.” I like collecting souls, I feel like I’m giving them a second or third chance at existing. We only go out when we choose or when our seekers fuck it up.
“Thank fuck, ‘cause I’m not in the mood.”
I pat Slash on the cheek hard enough to make him growl and he knows I’m about to say something flippant.
“That’s what she said.”
“Nope, she never did. Trust me, they are always in the mood.” Slash grins and manages to look every bit the demon he is.
“All right, I’ll meet you guys at home.” As I turn to head back to the library, I don’t miss Slash’s parting words.
“Hey, while you’re at it, try to find a pair of thighs you can bury your cock inside.”
I wish it were that easy.