Endure

 

Chapter 1

When he first walks into the Nest, I nearly mistake him for a woman. He’s not what I would call tall–five-nine or five-ten–lithe, with long, wavy black hair, startling, heavily-lashed blue eyes, and cheeks that could cut glass. He’s dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt, unbuttoned halfway down a smooth, pale chest, and tight black slacks tucked into knee-high black boots. He stops, surveying the room while gathering the attention of half the male clientele until they, like me, realize he’s just a pretty man, then saunters slowly toward the bar with a sinuous, feline grace. He stands about three feet away and waits politely for the two men ahead of him to get their drinks, then steps up and offers a brilliant white smile that lights up his angular face.

“Excuse me,” he says, his voice so soft I barely hear him among the ruckus of the room. “I’m looking for a man named Laec.”

I reach out with my senses to determine what species he is. He looks like a vamp, but I don’t get that bloodlust energy off him, which means he’s probably…incubus? A little out of his element here. While the Eagle’s Nest is a supe bar, it usually caters more to the rougher trade. This man looks like he belongs in a photo shoot, or at the very least one of the swankier nightclubs of Upper Erebus. The fact that he’s asking for me has me a little on edge. I consider lying–the last time a stranger came in and asked for me it turned out to be bad news–but my curiosity is piqued.

“You’re looking at him,” I finally answer.

He palms his chest and sighs. “Thank goodness. This is the third bar I’ve tried.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I want to hire you.”

“Hire me? For what?”

“To find someone.”

What the hell? “I’m not a hunter.”

“Someone like me can’t walk into a hunter’s bar and hire someone.”

He’s not wrong there. I can just see him waltzing into the Barnacle; they’d eat him alive. They had enough trouble accepting me in there. Still, doesn’t change the fact that I’m not available to hire out. “While that may be true, I don’t do that sort of thing.”

“Can I buy you a drink and talk about it?”

I pass two bottles of beer to a waiting customer and shake my head. “I don’t drink. Besides, I’m working.”

“What time do you get off?”

What is it with this guy? “When the bar closes at two.”

He nods and slides onto an empty stool. “Then I’ll wait.”

“Free country, but if you sit there, you have to order something.”

“Vodka and cranberry juice.”

He drinks like a vamp. I make the drink and pass it to him, then head off to wait on other customers, forgetting about him until Alex saunters up to the other end of the bar with an order.

“What’s with the pretty boy?” she asks as I get her drinks.

I shrug. “Incubus. Wants to talk to me.”

She grins. “Something I don’t know about?”

I roll my eyes at her. “Hardly. He wants to hire me to find someone.”

“Sounds like your reputation is growing,” she calls as she heads off to serve her customers.

I do not have a reputation.

Do I?

Darrius comes in around midnight, after finishing his own shift; the antiquarian bookstore where he works is open late to cater to its more esoteric clientele and Darrius sometimes gets stuck there even later than I do at my job. He takes a seat at the end of the bar and I bring him his customary orange juice, say hello, then leave him to drink it in peace. We’ve gotten past the events of last month when he was hell-bent on killing me, but I still keep an eye on him, just in case those urges return. I know I told him I trust him, but I guess it’s like how he trusts me–with a grain of salt. With the right trigger, I know now either one of us could backslide.

Closing time arrives and the incubus is still parked on the same stool nursing the same drink. I hustle the last customer out the door and lock it, then pull out a chair at a table in the corner and motion for him to join me. Darrius and Alex wander over and fill the other two seats.

“Okay,” I say to the incubus when everyone is settled, “I think I know some people who can help you.”

“No, I want you,” he insists.

“Why?”

“Because you’ve dealt with Magick.”

I glance at Darrius, who shrugs. “Where did you hear that?”

He avoids my eyes. “Around. People say you’ve seen things.”

“What kind of things?” And what kind of people?

He levels me with a guileless stare. “Things other people haven’t. Like other realms.”

Who the hell is spreading that? The only people who know that are Kellen and Red, and I know they’re not talking because they have their own secrets to keep. Unless…Oscar at the tattoo parlor did know about us going to Tartarus. And that slimeball pawnbroker Mitch always knows more than he lets on, and according to Kellen and Red, isn’t shy about selling that information if the price is right. Still, why would they be spreading rumors about me? I look at the incubus.

“Let’s start with something simple. What’s your name?”

“Eli.”

“Okay, Eli, maybe you better tell me the whole story.”

He looks around at the rest of us and settles back in his chair. “It’s my roommate.”

“He like you?”

“No, though he is fae. Well, half-fae. He works at the university.”

“Doing what?”

“He’s a teaching assistant. Fae history.”

“They teach fae history at the university now?”

“Well, they call it Celtic history, but it’s mostly about the fae. At least, that’s what Brayden tells me. A few weeks ago this guy comes to him, says he’s doing research on the fae. He asked Brayden if he could translate some ancient texts he found. At first Brayden was excited–he’s a geek about stuff like that–but when the guy came back the next day, he said there was something hinky about him. Still, he agreed to look at the book. That’s when he found out who the guy was.”

“And that is?”

“Circle.”

I glance at Darrius; there’s no way any of us are going near anything to do with the Circle. Last month when Darrius went off the deep end and tried to kill me, he was slinging enough Magick around to attract their attention. They sent a couple of sorcerers to find him, who then came by the bar and the loft looking for him. Then, about a week after we got Darrius back to normal, I was throwing a shifter out of the bar one night and caught sight of them lurking in the parking lot. I came back inside and went straight to White Eagle about it.

“Those two Circle jackasses are back.”

“Where?”

“Out in the parking lot. If I can get them into the old mill next door, do you think you could do your mind mojo thing on them to make them forget about Darrius and me?”

“How are you going to get them in there?”

“We still have those two syringes of knock out juice Layla left. I’ll dose them up and drag them in there.”

“What makes you think I can erase their memories?”

“Come on, I know you can. Besides, if you don’t, I’ll have to take care of them my way, and while I really don’t want to, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I care about.”

Turns out, that was motivation enough for White Eagle. I waited till almost closing time, then snuck around behind them in the parking lot and jabbed them in the back of the neck with the syringes before dragging them into the abandoned mill next door. After White Eagle had worked his brand of mind Magick on them, I loaded them into their car and drove them to Upper Erebus and left them in an alley. White Eagle followed me and brought me home. We haven’t seen or heard from them since, but that doesn’t mean we want to go advertising our presence to them.

“How did he know the guy was Circle?” I ask suspiciously.

“He told him. Said he’d be doing a great service if he translated this information. Brayden didn’t want any part of it, but he was too scared to say no, so he agreed to do the job. The guy gave him an address where the book could be found and told him he’d have to do the work there.”

“So did he?”

“He was going there after work every night for a couple of weeks working on it, then he got sick and couldn’t go one night. That’s when the guy came by our apartment looking for him. He was with another guy–tall, long blonde hair, pointed ears, wearing a type of gray uniform.”

“An elf?” Darrius asks, glancing at me.

Eli looks at him. “That’s what he looked like to me. They argued for several minutes, then Brayden got dressed and went with them. That’s the last time I saw him.”

“How long ago was that?” I ask.

“Little over a week.”

“Do you know anything about this book he was translating?”

He nods. “Brayden has an eidetic memory. He transcribed everything he translated when he got home each night. The notes are still in his room at our apartment. I read through them hoping I could get an idea of where he was. The text was titled the Book of the Dun Coe, and it was all about the Tuatha Dé Danann and something called the Four Treasures.”

I recall Red saying something about the Tuatha Dé Danann being the ruling class of the fae and how the ancient druids taught them Magick, but that was the extent of her knowledge. “You know anything about this Book of the Dun Coe?” I ask Darrius, figuring there aren’t too many books he hasn’t read or at least heard of. I’m not crazy about mixing it up with someone from the Circle, but the fact that an elf is involved is alarming in itself.

“I’ve never heard of it, but I do know a little bit about the Tuatha Dé Danann. They figure heavily in the mythology of the Celts.”

I’m a little surprised he doesn’t know about the book. “You think Kellen might know?”

“He might. I’m more worried about the elf, though. They’re not exactly common in this realm. Kellen is supposed to be watching the gateway for any signs of breach.”

“Sounds like a trip to the junkyard is in our future,” I agree.

“So you’ll take the case?” Eli asks me hopefully.

I don’t want anything to do with the case, but the circumstances sound like something we should probably look into, especially after our little meeting post-Darrius freak out when we said we’d all keep an eye out for suspicious activity. Which means any discussion or investigation should involve all of us, Kellen and Red included. I haven’t heard from Red in a couple of weeks, not since she went off on a job down south of here. I make a mental note to give her a call after this; she’s usually up late.

“Get us these notes for the book,” I tell him, “and we’ll see what we can do. No promises.”

“I can go get them tonight.”

“Tomorrow morning is fine. Bring them here and give them to Alex.” I nod toward her. He offers her a disarming smile, which she quickly shoots down.

“Don’t even start with me, incubus.”

He blushes. “Sorry. Habit.”

I get his contact information, including where he works; a nightclub in downtown Upper Erebus–pegged that one right–then he leaves, promising to be back in the morning with the notes. “What do you think?” I ask the others after he’s gone.

“I don’t like this thing with the elf,” Darrius replies.

“I don’t like anything about it,” I add. “Especially the part about the Circle being involved.” I never told Darrius about the incident with the two Circle members outside the Nest, figuring he didn’t need that added to the mounting guilt he still felt for his bad behavior. But he does know the Circle were–or likely still are–looking for him, and any interaction with them could be a threat to him. “I think we need to get everyone together to talk about this. I’ll call Red; you get hold of Kellen. We can meet here or at the junkyard.”

“I think the junkyard is better. We need to get a look at that gateway, see if there’s any evidence of someone using it.”

“Junkyard it is, then. I’ll tell Red to meet us there around noon tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have the notes by then.”

ENDURE is available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.