Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
The sounds of the market were a blend of distant hums and closer roars, punctuated by clangs of tools or flesh on wood as someone slapped a counter to make a point.
I relaxed, not trying to pick up individual conversations, just enjoying my hand in the angel’s strong grasp, that is, until I heard a high-pitched squeal that had me jerking Gavriel to a stop.
He looked at me questioningly. “Is something wrong?”
I searched his eyes and then tugged him to the next branch going left. “I thought I heard something.”
“Vampire hearing is very acute. How remarkable to be able to distinguish sounds in such a chaotic mix.”
“I’m probably wrong.”
“Do you want to tell me what you think you heard?”
I glanced at him. No, I didn’t want to tell him that I may have heard the cry of my friend Crucible the ferret. “It’s probably nothing.”
I heard another high-pitched squeal and moved faster, dodging around a group of portly goblins, Gavriel close behind.
I’d dropped his hand at some point, the better for us to thread through the market more quickly.
People also got out of my way as soon as they saw me before they even recognized me, because I had the intensity of someone on the hunt.
The shop was wrapped in dingy lime green fabric, and the door was rickety bamboo tied together with more of the same lime green. I reached for the door and Gavriel covered my hand with his, holding me back.
“Do we have time for distractions?”
I heard another squeal and opened the door, slipping inside the dim shop, heavy with frankincense, lit with elaborate lamps that dangled from the bamboo strips above us.
I searched the room and found a generic mess of artifacts, magical and otherwise, but there in the corner was a cage with a little nose sticking out of the bars, black beady eyes staring at me like he’d been waiting. Crucible was alive.
“Welcome to the Cave of Wonders. What are you looking for today?” A goblin said, coming forward with glowing golden eyes, hunger and eagerness in them.
Gavriel stepped in front of me. “We’re looking for a knife.”
Right. I wasn’t going to cut my way directly through the goblin to my ferret. We were here on a mission.
The knobby goblin raised his brows. “What kind of knife are you seeking? I don’t have any cursed daggers like the Ruby is accustomed to in my humble shop.
I glanced at Gavriel and then at the goblin with his avaricious eyes. “What’s your name?” I asked, frowning at him.
He smiled back, showing a gold glint in his front tooth. “My friends call me Romi. And you’re Ruby of the Blood. I heard that you came to the market after being run to the ground by angels the other day.”
My skin prickled. He shouldn’t know that much about me.
This was our target? He seemed so stable and ordinary.
He wasn’t out in one of the main booths on the busy thoroughfares either.
It would be hard to get witnesses for his accident.
It wasn’t impossible, though. And why did he have my ferret? Maybe it was a different ferret.
Crucible let out a yip that drew my eye.
“What is that?” I asked, trying to sound indifferent.
“Oh, not much. Just a pet of mine I have to keep down the rats,” he said with a twitch of his fingers.
“He’s good for getting rid of rats? I hate rats. Our place has rats that keep me up at night scratch, scratch, scratching.”
He blinked at me. “Vampires don’t sleep.”
I gave him a look. “That makes the scratching even more irritating. What kind of animal is he? Are there other shops with more variety I can choose from?”
“I thought you wanted a knife,” Romi asked, narrowing his large eyes at me.
“Of course, for my friend’s birthday. It doesn’t look like you have anything here he’d like.” I glanced at Gavriel.
“My birthday is next week,” he said with a slight smile. Why were his smiles so beautiful? “There’s plenty of time to find something perfect. If you’d like to get this creature for the rats, I’ll pay for it.”
He pulled out his card and the goblin’s gold eyes glowed with dollar signs. He shook his head, though. “Sorry, the ferret’s not for sale.”
“No problem. We’ll just find another ferret somewhere else,” I said, turning to the door, grabbing the card that was under Romi’s nose, just waiting to be charged.
“I mean, it’s for sale, but the price is much more than you’d expect for an ordinary rat killer. It’s a well-trained creature. It can get into any crevice and take anything you need.”
Crucible made the screech again, the one that said he was hungry, thirsty, and scared. I couldn’t leave him here, not if he was in a cage he couldn’t escape.
“If you like it, I can get it for you,” Gavriel said, touching my shoulder and smiling at me.
His lips. I’d kissed those lips such a short time ago.
“It’s not for sale,” a young man said, coming from the back, his fairy wings shredded to pieces behind him, his eyes bright yellow-green.
He smelled like anger and ink, but not pixie dust. This was the one they wanted on their crew?
He didn’t have any signs of enslavement, not the way he looked at Romi, and not the way he moved so freely. Interesting.
“He’s yours?” I asked, studying him, trying to see what value he added to Shane’s crew. There was something about him, familiar in the lines of his face. Almost as though Shane and this pix shared a parent. More and more interesting.
“Yes. He’s mine.” He gave Romi a rebellious look.
Romi’s eyes glinted. “You’re not the one who captured it.”
“I didn’t need to catch it. I was feeding it for weeks before you put it in the cage.”
Romi waved a hand at the fairy. “Yes, yes. Young people are so interested in freedom, but do they think about duty? Eh?”
I flexed my claws and stepped closer to Romi, getting his attention immediately.
“Duty? What duty could a ferret owe you? I suppose it’s like the duty I owed Tralcon for giving me the gift of immortality and training me to be the world’s greatest killer.
” I took another step closer to the goblin, and he backed up into a table, staring at me with large, golden eyes, green skin going slightly pale.
He fumbled in his shirt for a weapon.
I cocked my head. “Are you thinking about raising the stakes?”
He froze, then slowly pulled his hand back out.
“Good choice. I’ve decided that freedom is more important than duty. It’s worth dying for. Worth killing for. Shall I kill you for the ferret’s freedom? What about this pix? Do you own him, too?”
The goblin got all flustered, scowling at the fairy guy.
“I’m not the one he’s keeping chained by duty,” the fairy boy said, not looking at Romi.
Romi hissed at him. “That does it. You’re out. The next time I see you, I’m sending the dogs after you.”
The dogs were a band of goblin mercenaries. You did not want the dogs after you. Except that it could be a fun game of hide and seek when you were wasting time between jobs.
I held up a hand, and Romi froze again. I patted the front of his shirt. “Now I’m interested.” I turned to the pix. “You. Do you have a name?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. Of course I have a name. Everyone has a name.”
“I don’t. I just have titles. Ruby Blood? No. I lost my name when I sold my soul to a demon. What did you sell your soul for, pix?”
He scowled at me. “Don’t call me pix. I’m not afraid of you.”
I turned to Romi. “He’s not afraid of me. Is he really that stupid?”
He shrugged. “He’s at that age.”
“The age of courage? What about chivalry?” I turned to Gavriel, who was watching this scene unfold with an impassive face, as if it weren’t a disaster. “What would you call an age of such virtue?”
“Short-lived.”
“Are you two done here?” the Pix demanded, scowling at me. “Romi, you should throw them out or call the dogs.”
I smiled at him. He really had no fear. “The dogs and I are old friends. He could throw me out, but I doubt he’d survive it. My friend here doesn’t like other males touching me. He’s very jealous.” I glanced at Gavriel, hoping he didn’t mind my saying that.
He smiled at me. “Not that I don’t trust your fidelity. But no one is putting an unwelcome hand on you.”
“So that brings us back to freedom, duty, a ferret, and a fairy. Why are you working for Romi?” I asked the pix.
“It’s none of your business.”
“But I told you. I’m interested. You’re clearly not happy here, so why do you stay? Why is kicking you out a threat? There are a million jobs that smell better than this one.”
“Why are you still a killer even after the ones who made you kill are gone?”
I blinked at him. “There is a reason.” I grabbed him and slammed him to the solid wood counter, bouncing his head off the surface while those eyes burned brighter and brighter at me. I leaned close and inhaled, deep, smelling another scent, female, young, and so very innocent.
“Get away from him!” Her voice was shrill, and the gun she aimed at my head shook in her grip. She was probably ten, but fairies aged more slowly, and by the pretty yellow and hot pink wings to match her hair, she was definitely a fairy.
She was wearing a collar, silver, so it was safe against her skin, but she was definitely held captive.
“Chira, get out of here,” the Pix yelled, desperation heavy on his skin.
I released him and stepped away, brushing off my hands. I moved closer to the fairy girl. “The thing is, you aren’t holding that gun right,” I said to her.
She stared at me, then frowned at the gun.
I gave her a slight smile because this was the most beautiful setup I could have asked for.
Being shot would be an excellent way to kill a goblin.
All I had to do was get her to pull the trigger when I was standing in front of him, and then I’d make sure he stayed dead.
I took four steps forward and then to the side so I was in the right position, then bared my fangs at the child.