Chapter 3 #3
The dimly lit underground pub smelled of stale, smoky air, unwashed bodies, and cheap musky alcohol.
The crumbling brickwork added to the shabby feel.
The bar was half filled with characters normal people would walk a mile out of their way to avoid.
But neither Hanna nor I were normal. Most of these hardened, so-called tough criminals would crumble under the conditions we had endured.
In the darkest corner of the packed, windowless room, Dzsinn waited, his hood still up, his dark eyes darting from me to Hanna, a frown furrowing his brow. My expression stayed even as I nodded to her to take a seat. I slipped into the one across from him.
Dzsinn continued to watch her.
“She’s good.”
“Well, not to me. I don’t fucking know her,” he replied, a hint of an American accent in his gruff tone.
I leaned closer, enunciating every word. “I said she’s good.”
Dzsinn huffed, sitting back, but didn’t argue. He knew if I said that, I was staking my life on it.
“Where’s your other friend who usually comes with you?”
My muscles locked up, acid sizzling the back of my throat, my jaw slamming together. Peering to the side, I forced the words through my teeth.
“He’s dead.”
I still waited for Maddox to walk into a room like his absence was only because he was running an errand or on a mission.
My nightmares recalled every gruesome detail of that bear ripping out his guts, lurching me awake in a panic because night after night I watched him die again, not able to stop it.
Maddox’s death was something I still hadn’t faced, burying myself in all the other shit we were dealing with, hiding away from it.
Dzsinn dipped his head in respect.
“I need to get earpieces and undetectable body cameras.” Keeping my voice low, I went straight into business, wanting to leap as far as I could from the memory of Maddox. “In the next day or two.”
Dzsinn’s eyebrows went up, sitting back in the chair.
“That’s extremely exclusive stuff. Only the king’s distributors traffic that kind of equipment.”
King Lars was a shrewd man. When the wall fell between worlds, and all the human-made stuff failed under the weight of the magic infusing the air, he started producing items to take their place that could work in this new world.
He had the top scientists and developers engineering it while having the scariest motherfuckers known to the Otherworld distributing his products throughout the Unified Nations.
Dark Dwellers. Times had changed since their prime in the Otherworld, back almost two decades ago, but they were still known to be hired assassins. Silent, ruthless, and deadly.
If you saw one, you were already dead.
“Can you get it?” I pressed him.
Dzsinn pondered me for a moment. “Yeah. I can get it, but it will cost you.”
“I figured.” I snorted. “What’s your price?”
His mouth stretched in an unsettling smile. “Besides my normal fee, plus rush costs?” A smug smile hinted on his mouth. “A future favor.”
Fuck. I didn’t move, trying not to show any emotion. In the fae world, favors were just as binding as a promise. Once you agreed, you couldn’t back out no matter what they asked you to do.
My throat bobbed, and I shifted in my chair, feeling Hanna’s gaze bounce between us, once again picking up on the change in the air.
“That’s my price,” he confirmed.
“No,” Hanna spoke at the same time I said, “Fine.”
My attention twisted to her. She shook her head, worry in her expression, understanding this was a heavy price.
A muscle in my cheek jerked as I turned back to Dzsinn. “I agree to the terms.”
Dzsinn grinned smugly. “Midnight. Tomorrow night. At the boat dock.”
I nodded, about to rise.
“Oh, and tell Lord Killian that King Lars is watching everything happening here very closely. There are also whisperings about some powerful nectar finally being found. Its magic equals the treasures of Tuatha Dé Danann.”
Hanna and I froze.
“What?” I tried to control my voice, a trickle of sweat beading down my back.
By the glint in Dzsinn’s eyes, he was aware of everything going on and that I was connected to it.
Dzsinn had his ear to the ground, to the wall, and in the air.
He made sure he was informed of everything going on.
That’s why he was so good at what he did.
Though I wasn’t expecting him to know about this.
“That girl . . .” He stood up, peering down at me.
He was an average size, but his dominance made him seem ten feet tall.
Information was power in the fae world. “She might need to be warned.” Rapping his knuckles on the table.
“She has been classified as a threat and has their majesties’ personal bounty hunters coming for her.
” Dzsinn nodded at Hanna and me. “Tomorrow night.” With that, he slipped out of the tavern in a blink, no one remembering they ever saw him here.
“Oh my gods . . . was he talking about Brexley?” Hanna whispered hoarsely to me, her eyes wide.
“He was.” My throat struggled to swallow. It was automatic, the impulse to reach out for her, to sense the hum in our link. But there was nothing. An empty void of darkness.
Brexley was being hunted by so many groups, but I had heard about the reputation of the royal bounty hunters. They never failed.
We had to find Brexley before they did.
“Brex . . .” I muttered to myself. “Where the fuck are you?”