[M__M 03] Misery Loves Company (16 page)

Devon’s cool blue eyes seemed to laugh at the distance I’d tried to put between us. “Do I smell bad?”

Nope. You smell like cloves, and I don’t like that I can smell it and what it does to me.

Being backed into a corner by him and Lucen made me feel way too much like I used to feel in the presence of any satyr. Dangerously aroused, like I might say or do something I’d regret later.

“I enjoy having my space,” I said.

“Since when?” He raised an eyebrow, and I could tell from his smirk that he was thinking of that time at Purgatory when I attempted to tear off his clothes. Which, of course, now I couldn’t stop thinking about either. “I’m trying not to be offended, but it hurts.”

I pulled my knees in so my legs were between us. The position caused Misery’s sheath to dig into my thigh, but I’d live. “Then you’re not trying hard enough.”

“If you moved closer, you could help me get hard enough.”

Flipping him off was easier than thinking of a good retort, so that’s what I did.

As expected, Lucen was stifling a laugh. “Go easy on her. She was assaulted by Assym. She might be a bit, uh, touchy.”

“Seriously? I had a knife at my throat recently, and you’re both making bad puns?” I banged my head against the wall. “That thing I said about sex? Forget it.”

Lucen pouted, but Devon’s face turned serious. “Assym put a knife to you? Why?”

“Does it matter? I’ve noticed you haven’t asked if I was okay. Your lack of concern is sweet.”

“Really, Jess. I can tell that you’re fine. There was no need to ask.” He glanced at Lucen. “Why was she attacked?”

“Assym wants her to quit working for the Gryphons.” Lucen gave me a pointed look. “It’s the only intelligent idea he’s ever had.”

My phone buzzed with a text, so I ignored him to check it.

“Intelligent for him,” Devon was saying. “Not for us. Dezzi’s right that Jess should continue working for them.”

“Can we not talk about me like I’m not here? I mean, I was here first.” I pointed to Devon. “You interrupted our conversation.”

Devon’s expression was an annoying blend of pity and laughter. “Normally I’d apologize for that, but since you’re being so rude, I don’t feel the need. Lucen and I have council business to discuss.”

Lucen made a sour face.

I turned my attention to my phone, deciding it was less likely to give me a smart-ass response and therefore more deserving of my brain.

Miss Moore, this is Gunthra. Please come by ASAP.

What in the world? And how the hell did she get my cell number?

Both were good questions, but the best part of the Dom’s request was that it got me out of here with my dignity intact. “Move,” I told Devon.

“Leaving already?” he asked.

Putting my phone back in my pocket was too difficult while trapped in the booth, so I poked Devon in the arm with it. “Move. I have to leave, and you can discuss your council business without me.”

“Jess?” Lucen asked. “What’s up?”

Devon finally moved his ass so I could climb out. “Gunthra wants to see me immediately. It must be about the case. I’ll be back later.”

“We’re going to be really busy here later.”

Alas, that was true, but there was nothing I could do about it. “Looks like you’re plenty busy now with your council business. We’ll figure something out. I need to see what she wants. Sorry.”

“I wasn’t going to make her leave,” I heard Devon say as I left. “I think she’s avoiding me.”

I picked up my pace, not wanting to know what Lucen would say to that.

Chapter Eighteen

The door opened before I could knock. Clearly, I was expected. Gunthra’s butler ushered me inside, but his large eyes took a long look at my knife.

There was no way I was removing it. After my run-in with Assym, it wasn’t leaving my side.

Perhaps my mood conveyed this, or perhaps Gunthra’s business with me was too urgent to debate it. The goblin simply opened the parlor door.

In I went. I was starting to become way too well acquainted with Gunthra’s digs. “You beckoned?”

“Sit, please.” She had the tea set out again. Scones today, not muffins. I supposed it was about that time of the afternoon, but I was tired of being polite and eating her food and drinking her tea when I didn’t want it.

Gunthra had nothing to lord over me anymore. No secrets, no deals. I sat but refused her offer to drink. “What information do you have about the attacks?”

“About the attacks?” Gunthra raised an eyebrow and calmly sipped her tea. “I have been making inquiries, yes. But that’s not why I invited you over here. Please, Miss Moore. Try a scone at the least. I realize you don’t enjoy tea.”

My fingers curled into fists, so I sat on my hands. “I’m not hungry, but thanks. What is this visit about then? Does it have to with what Assym said to me?” Dragon shit on toast. I should have guessed that first. Why would Gunthra change her mind and help me find the culprit of the attacks? That would be stupid.

But for the second time, it appeared I was wrong. “Assym? What did he do this time?”

The way she said “this time” reminded me of a parent despairing over a no-good child. I almost laughed, but instead I tucked that information away. The goblins and the sylphs tended to stick together, but apparently relations weren’t all that cozy at the moment.

“He threatened me, at knife point, to back off the case. Funnily enough, it struck me as a demand you might be wanting to second.”

Gunthra spread her hands open on her lap. Was she pointing out that she held no weapons, or saying she was helpless to control Assym. Technically, both were true. “I don’t follow Assym’s lead. Quit, don’t quit. It doesn’t make much difference to me. But if you do quit the Gryphons, I would appreciate if you’d wait a touch longer. I have use of you there.”

“You and everyone else, but sorry. Our deal is done. You said so yourself, and don’t try claiming that I didn’t give you exactly what you asked for yesterday. I did.”

Gunthra bristled and waved her hands in front of her face in a very goblin-like gesture. “A goblin doesn’t lie, Miss Moore. I have no intention of making any such claim. That deal is done, as you say. I asked you here because I’d like to make a new one.”

Gunthra ought to be happy I wasn’t drinking her tea. I’d likely have dropped the cup. “That’s going to depend on what you want from me.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t aware that you read minds as well as emotions.”

Gunthra set her tea down, her smile forced. “You’re adamant that you won’t turn over any new case files or anything that might be considered sensitive. I don’t need to be a mind reader to understand that.”

I shrugged in acknowledgment. “Fair enough. So what do you want?”

“The Gryphons have an extensive library and access to information that’s not generally available to the public. They are also meticulous record-keepers, one has to assume. I’m working on a bit of a history project. You saw the books I was reading yesterday. But there are other documents that might contain the information I need, and I can’t find them at any public or university library.”

For someone who usually liked to come straight to the point, Gunthra was taking her sweet time. In the past, she’d done that in order to hook me, to feed my need to know whatever she was holding back. In this case, however, I got the sense that she was trying to do the opposite. She wanted to convince me there was no nefarious purpose to her curiosity.

Just a history project, my ass.

“So you think the Gryphons have a book that you want. Forget it. I’m not stealing books out of their library even if I could.”

Gunthra sighed. “It’s not a book, Miss Moore. It’s information that I want. It might be contained in a book or in many books. It might not be found in book-form at all, but rather in records or other archived materials.”

“Information on what?”

She clasped her hands together. “Objects referred to as the Vessels of Making.”

I thought on the words for a moment, but I’d never heard of them. Gunthra had piqued my curiosity, after all, but not in a good way. This was probably some seriously evil magic. Otherwise why couldn’t she find what she wanted at a normal library? “What are—?”

“They’re historical artifacts, nothing else. More legend than history, but there are fascinating tales surrounding them. As I explained, it’s a history project of mine.”

I sat back, crossing my legs. “A history project is never just a history project. As you’re so fond of saying, knowledge is power. So excuse me if I don’t believe your interest is benign.”

“Believe what you want, but you’ll make the deal with me.”

“I will? You’re going to hand over to me the goblin who stole Eric Marshall’s soul?” That was the only way I could see myself doing this, but so far Gunthra hadn’t even admitted that she knew who it was.

I waited her out.

Gunthra’s ears flattened, and she paled ever so slightly. “Yes. I’m prepared to do that once you’ve told me what you could learn.”

I locked my lips shut, but my heart beat faster. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Any second, Gunthra was going to wise up to what she’d said. Tipped off by my racing emotions.

She was desperate. It was the only explanation. Desperate enough to make this deal. Desperate enough not to even make it well. “What you could learn.” So vague, such poor wording. If she’d done this right, she’d have said “what I need to know” or words to that effect. Then she could have strung me on forever.

Gunthra was losing her shit. Like Assym. Like Lucrezia. Like the nameless goblin who’d attacked Eric. And whatever these Vessels were had to be part of it. That was why Gunthra was interested. Possibly, this even had something to do with what she’d hoped to find in the files about the furies.

So to hell with what Gunthra wanted to know. I should probably be researching these Vessels for my own sake.

“Agreed. Deal. But.” I held out my hand and raised one finger. “Time is running out for Eric’s soul. I can’t wait a week or longer. I have access to the Gryphon library on the weekend. I will do whatever research I can between now and Sunday evening, and I’ll start immediately. However, I will likely have to wait for books or records to be sent from other locations. You’ll need to take my word that I will pass on whatever I find out when I get them. But anything I learn by Sunday evening, I’ll share. Consider it a deposit. I want Eric’s goblin then.”

Gunthra’s folded hands clenched, tendons popping to the surface in her frustration. “Fine. You’ve demonstrated you will keep your word.”

Damn. Well, that was also unexpected. I shook quickly before she changed her mind.

“One more thing.” I snatched my hand back and tried to discreetly rub off the unsettling sensation Gunthra left on my palm. “Assym is giving me shit about working for the Gryphons. It would make my life and fulfilling my end of this deal easier if you could talk to him and tell him to back off.”

Gunthra closed her eyes. “Assym and I are not friends.”

“No, but you’re the closest thing each other has to an ally in Shadowtown. If he fillets me, I can’t get you the information you’re requesting.”

The Dom chuckled. “Assym won’t kill you, and you know it. He wants your soul and thinks he can have it eventually. If he makes a play for it, you’ve shown yourself quite capable of making him regret it.”

“True, but he’s pointed out that he can try for my soul if pieces of me are missing. I don’t want pieces of me to go missing.”

“Not my problem, but understandable. This time, I will talk to him and encourage him to focus his energy elsewhere. Just don’t expect me to have much success. I can no more control him than he can control his own people, it would seem.”

I paused at her door. “It was a goblin who began the string of addict attacks. One could say the lack of control started here.”

Gunthra’s ears were so flat against her head that she appeared to have none. With my parting shot, I exited before she could retaliate.

This time, I hoped she was the one calling me a bitch as I did.

I checked the time when I got home, trying to figure out how to proceed. I’d given myself a tight deadline to get this research done, but what choice did I have? Sure, Bridget and I might be able to crack Eric’s case another way, but it might also be too late by the time we did. Gunthra’s desperation could be Eric’s lucky break.

As for me, though, it meant a long weekend poring over dusty books. I couldn’t do a half-assed job and expect Gunthra would turn over her information. She could sniff out a lie from me as easily as I could from your average human. If she asked the right questions, which I would if I were her, I’d be busted if I hadn’t made a legit attempt.

My stomach rumbled as I kicked off my sneakers. Hauling my ass to the library might need to wait a bit longer. Although Gunthra’s scones hadn’t done it for me, it was getting close to dinnertime. Reluctantly, I wandered into the kitchen to cook something.

Times like this, I missed living with Lucen. I could cook, I didn’t even mind cooking, but he was so much better at it. Besides, cooking was a lot more enjoyable with and for two people. When it was just me? I hated bothering. It seemed like a waste of effort.

I didn’t have much food in the apartment either. Shopping had not been high on my priorities list. I dug out the bread, some tuna and cheese, and congratulated myself on going through the effort to actually make a melt instead of a regular sandwich. Look out, Julia Child.

As I ate, it dawned on me that I’d be better off if I went to headquarters late tonight. Since I had no good reason to be searching for information on these Vessels, the fewer people who saw me and asked questions, the better. On a Friday evening, it shouldn’t be too crowded unless something big went down. And as far as I knew, the biggest thing going down locally was the case I’d been working on.

I made good use of the next few hours. I updated Steph, made a grocery list so I didn’t have to keep eating tuna, and frowned a lot at the new books Tom had left me. I randomly opened a couple on the off chance that they, by some miraculous coincidence, contained information on these Vessels Gunthra was interested in, but I didn’t find anything. Without a clue where to start looking, they were fairly useless. Gunthra had given me jack and shit to go on, but at least experience had taught me that the Gryphons kept a well-organized library system that was connected across all offices and linked to their central archives in France.

I was going to need it.

When eight o’clock rolled around, I figured it was late enough to head downtown. Naturally, that was when someone knocked on my door.

I froze with a hand on my sneaker, and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t sense anyone outside, nor did I have a reason to. This was Shadowtown. Whoever was there wouldn’t be human. So who was it?

Lucen would be busy at The Lair, and he’d have texted me before randomly stopping over. Dezzi never dropped in anywhere unannounced, and she had no reason to visit anyway. Devon then? But that didn’t make sense. He also had to work Fridays. Purgatory would be every bit as busy as The Lair. And as for Gunthra, I’d seen her a few hours ago. Besides, she always expected me to go to her.

That left only one person I could think of—Assym again, or someone he’d sent. Shit.

I backed away from the door and grabbed my knife from the bedroom where I’d left it when I got home. The old floor creaked under my feet, and I cringed with each breath.

The person at the door knocked again. “Jess, are you there?”

I stopped stupidly several feet away. That female voice was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. The best I could say was that nothing about it set off any alarms in my head.

Nonetheless, I opened the door with my knife poised to strike.

On the landing stood a beautiful satyr with long dark waves and pouty lips. She was dressed head to toe in black leather, and the black satin scarf tied around her head was as seductive as it was practical for concealing her empty eye sockets.

Beneath the scarf, her blood-red lips parted, and she beamed at me. “Don’t be scared, silly. I’m here to make you happy.”