Chapter 5 #2
I thought of her mother and sister, left behind in Elysia.
Her friends, if you could still call them that.
If it had been my family, my people at risk, there would be no question about risking anything for a chance to save them.
That was the life of a hunter, after all.
How could I look Sylvia in the eye if I dismissed her kind so readily?
Sighing, I plucked a shooter of gin and uncapped it, taking a long swig. The sting of the booze was a comfort, numbing my throat as I slid my attention back across the table. Fuck, I hated the self-assured looks on Lee and Delilah’s faces, as though my hesitation was already their victory.
“People have been weaponizing the supernatural for millennia,” I pointed out, cautiously biting for more information.
“Not like this,” Lee said. “It’s organized. Industrious. I doubt you’ve encountered anything like it—because if you did, you wouldn’t hesitate to burn this place to the ground.” His expression darkened suddenly. “There’s a man here, a seller who goes by Eros. Ever heard of him?”
Cliff and I shared a glance. Find Eros. What were the chances that these people shared the same target as Tammy?
“I’d remember such a pretentious moniker,” Cliff said. Playing dumb—there was no reason for them to know about Tammy’s warning.
Lee smirked half-heartedly at this, conceding.
“He’s been on the scene for only three years, and I can tell you he’s already topped the food chain in this market.
He started with artifacts: rare talismans, cursed objects, you know the type.
Other fences are being devoured by his company, either bought out or washed up under a bridge. ”
“He quickly moved onto creatures,” Delilah continued.
“Word on the street is that he’s the middleman for some unnerving clients.
A source of mine has him documented with La Cosa Nostra, and someone else—some underground scientist with deep pockets.
This is far from the first event of its kind, but the scale of the acquisitions this time around is through the roof.
If we don’t stop these shipments tomorrow night, it might be too late to stop the forces in motion. ”
I almost choked on my last gulp of gin. “The fucking mafia?”
The image of werewolves and ghouls being used as strongmen to accumulate power was laughable—until it wasn’t.
And that wasn’t even the part that seemed to have their smug masks slipping.
A strange, unmistakable fire burned in Lee’s gaze.
I noticed that Ben hadn’t spoken a word, his expression faraway.
“Who’s your source?” Sylvia asked, her folded wings twitching anxiously.
“An old friend,” Delilah said. “She had a close scrape with some of their muscle recently, but she managed to nab a souvenir.”
She produced a smartphone and tapped on the screen, flipping through messages until she full-screened a photograph of a folded piece of paper. She slid it across the table to us. Cliff immediately cursed under his breath beside me.
The weathered green sheet looked like it had been crumpled and submerged in water before being photographed, but I could make out enough of the text to know I was looking at a cargo manifest.
Siren — intact, mature, 2
Fairies— intact, mature, 3
Phoenix — injured, 1
Lycanthrope — sedated
The remainder of the text was smeared from water damage, but a logo marked the top left corner.
“Holy shit,” I murmured.
That E from the church basement in Louisiana. The very same E had been on Rhett’s grocery list of monsters he had tasked the hunters’ outpost to acquire. Eros. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this had been connected longer than we’d had the pieces to stitch together.
I zoomed in on a bit of Latin that wrapped below the logo like a mission statement.
Propter amorem humanitatis.
“For the love of humanity,” Lee filled in, his voice low.
Rhett’s greedy, ice-blue eyes flashed through my mind—the plan that had been at work behind them in plain sight.
Those crates of ahools and the weakened siren on the docks secured by military-grade locks…
Did any of the hunters at the outpost know the true destination of their captured supply?
Did they even care, after money had been exchanged?
“Can’t believe this shit’s happening all the way over here,” I muttered.
“You’ve seen something like this before?” Ben said suddenly, then looked like he regretted addressing us when I glanced up at him. He reacted like holding eye contact with me was poisonous.
“Yeah, on some asshole in south Louisiana,” I said.
Sylvia exchanged a look with me, silently asking permission to disclose more. I nodded.
“This Eros, whoever he is,” she said. “He’s using hunters to collect the creatures.”
Ben made a face somewhere between a sneer and a grimace. “That’s nightmare-inducing. But maybe it’ll work out in our favor. I mean, hunters are savages. It’s only a matter of time before they turn on each other.”
“Watch it,” I intoned, shooting him a look.
I didn’t think it was possible, but he paled two shades whiter. “No offense meant.”
“How do I not take offense to that?”
“So you expect us to be your butchers?” Cliff glared around the table. “I mean, we aren’t really in the business of saving monsters.”
“I thought you’d be thrilled at the proposition.
We’re practically serving you monsters on a silver platter to massacre.
Unless you’d prefer them to be in the hands of assassins and drug lords?
” Lee asked, that fire burning brighter in his stare.
“You should know there’s one very clear memo running around every guest, buyer, and seller at the gala—all fairies and sirens go to Eros.
No exceptions. You sure you can just walk away knowing that? ”
Sylvia shot me a breathless look. He has a point, her eyes seemed to say. I didn’t want to admit it, but fuck, she was right. Still, the people across from us didn’t sit well with me.
“And why do you care?” I leaned back in my seat and dug my boots into the carpet.
“What gain does this really have for a witch and a… I’m sorry, what exactly are you?
A waiter?” I frowned at Lee, who I admittedly couldn’t get a damn read on.
No magic or evident combat experience. Maybe his preternatural power was being a punchably smug asshole.
Lee’s answering smile was humble but not without its edges. “World-class acquisitions expert for selected clientele,” he recited. “Before I retired, of course.”
“So, a thief,” Cliff said flatly.
“And exceptional at the occasional forgery. Allegedly.” Lee winked at him.
“But, I’ll admit… Before I started disrupting the kind of power and bloodshed that could start wars and level cities, things were different.
” His smirk suddenly dropped into something more serious—sad, even.
“I used to be as coldhearted as you think I am. Maybe if I slid into this industry a different way, I’d be down in the lobby sharing drinks with those other bastards. ”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Ben said at once. “You would have made the right choice. Eventually.”
Lee gave Ben a meaningful look—one that evidenced a great deal of time shared. Regardless of how much I personally distrusted them, I didn’t doubt that Ben would take a blade for Lee, and vice versa.
“Whatever the case, things changed when Ben came into the picture,” Lee said. “Unfortunately, he made me grow a conscience. The thought of other fairies being locked up for some sick use of their power… I won’t stand by and let it happen.”
Delilah put her hand over Lee’s. “I waited decades to find a reason to want peace,” she murmured as though she might only be speaking to him. “And I can’t have that if the world goes to anarchy. So it’s time to grow a pair and slit a few throats, or damn thousands of innocents.”
“There’s that selfless devil-worship charm.” Cliff gave her a cutting smile as he uncapped a third mini-bottle.
“Believe me, we prefer to work alone,” Delilah said. “We wouldn’t be asking if we didn’t think it was necessary.”
As much as I wanted to believe this was all some ruse on their part, I couldn’t shake the uncanny reappearance of the Eros logo.
Whatever intentions were sitting across from us, this event needed to be stopped.
Tammy had known it, too. The question was whether we really had to work with them to pull it off.
My contemplation must have been noticeable because Lee added, “We’re taking these people for all they’re worth, if that sweetens the pot. Any non-life-threatening valuables are up for grabs. You’ll have your cut of the payout.”
Sylvia perked at once, her lips parting as she met my gaze.
A gemstone. It would be hers to claim.
Squaring my shoulders, I nodded. “Fine. We’re in.”
“What?” Cliff rounded on me with an incredulous glare.
But my mind was racing too fast to argue with him. I turned to Delilah. “We’re in if you agree to help us with something.” Sylvia’s hopeful look made my heart stammer, and I said, “You’ll help us craft a spell after this is all over.”
Cliff huffed in understanding. His glare was burning a hole in me, but I couldn’t bring myself to face his realization of what I was gambling with here.
Delilah looked between us, intrigued and unabashedly entertained. “What kind of spell?”
“You can find out when we finish the job.” I gave her a dark smile to match hers.
Ben shot an apprehensive look at Lee as if to say, See? Savages.
“Well, well.” Delilah scrutinized me with a fresh and curious evaluation. “There’s more to you than those cheekbones and lust for violence. Are you any better than the bastards bidding in there, seeking power?”
“The spell won’t hurt anyone,” Sylvia assured, holding up her hands. “If you don’t want to trust a hunter, then trust me. It’s just… It’s important.”
Delilah’s appraising gaze settled on her for several beats before she relented. “If you’re true to that promise and if it’s within my power, I’ll help you craft one spell. Agreed?”