Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (57 page)

“It’s good to be king.  Pays well, too.”

                                              
—
Caine Deathwalker

I returned to Sacramento, victorious and clothed, but late. Apparently, I’d been lost for a couple weeks in Fairy before my friends found me.  The land had shielded me, not letting anyone get close until I’d awakened.  We were settling things now, officially, though no one had said no when Josh started organizing a search for vamps in the city.  We’d found two.  I’d had a lot of fun torturing them with UV lights, bitch slapping them with strings of garlic.  I’m not sure why, but we ended up in the backroom of a Koko’s Restaurant as neutral territory.

Josh and Kat were at the far end of the table from me, leaving room at the sides for our guests.   The woman who spoke for the water fey entered the room, wearing a pearlescent gown, bracketed by two of her minions.  They went behind me and sat so their backs weren’t toward the door.  Young dhampyrs had come out of the city woodwork, a new coalition replacing the top echelon that had been killed off.  Three of them came in next.  Weak as they were now, fearing vamps returning to the city, I was sure they’d support Josh, after a shove or two.  The dhampyr sat close to Josh, near one corner.  Entering last, five shape-shifters walked to the table, taking the last open chairs.  They represented the five dominant clans of shifters.  They ignored fey and dhampyr, nodding respectfully to Josh and Kat.  She smiled back pleasantly.

I leaned toward the fey, catching the woman with a cold stare.  “You got the gold?”

She answered, “It is outside the building, under guard.  You have brought the token we require?”

“Proof of death?  Sure.”  I smiled.  “Here.”  I handed over a canvas sack.  Inside was a woman’s severed foot.  With their
second sight
, the fey would be able to tell it was authentic.  They’d be able to almost taste the bear’s lingering energy residue.  “Hang around until I confirm the payment.”

One of her soldiers blinked.  The other began to sweat heavily despite the air-conditioning.

I had a suspicion some trick was in play.

The fey lady opened the sack, nodded, and handed me a set of keys.  “A yellow panel van in the parking lot.  What you want is in the back.”

Josh stood, holding hands up to still the chatter.  “Listen,” he said, “we can argue and squabble and play games all night, but we all know what necessity dictates.  The vamps plan on sweeping in here in force.  I’ve got two, low-level, vampire minions on ice.  If you don’t believe me, talk to them.  Everyone’s best chance at survival is if we stand united.  There needs to be a Master of the City you all trust not to take over.”  He angled his body and pointed at Kat.  “And here’s your woman, whom I will back with all my strength.”

“What the hell?  Is that some kind of a joke?” Kat asked.

Josh shrugged.  “I’ve said all along I don’t want the job.  I’m a soldier.  Enforcement.  We need someone with a big heart to work for all of us.”

The fey lady stood.  Her two minions copied her.  She said, “The fey agree on this choice.”

Several of the shape-shifters dropped jaws, then closed their mouths, thinking it over.  One of them, who smelled of seagull, stood.  “At least it’s a shape-shifter.  We agree.”

The dhampyr stood.  Among them, a young man with a red goatee and slicked back hair nodded.  “None of us have the experience, or power to do what needs to be done.  And I don’t think we want to stand against the liger and Red Moon Demon.  We concur.”

“But I don’t want to run the whole city,” Kat wailed.

I stood.  “That’s exactly why you can be trusted with the job.  All in favor?”  I lifted my hand.

Everyone but Kat voted yes.

“Great,” I said, “that’s settled.”  I shot a steely glare at the fey.  Let’s go check my gold.”

“My gold,” Kat said.  “You’re donating it to my administration fund, remember?”

Yep, born to rule.

“I’ve got a right to my expenses, don’t I?” I gave her my most charming smile. 

She eyed me coldly.  “You got paid to return the dream stone already, and everyone else did that for you, so I’d say no.”

I sighed theatrically.  “C’mon then.  Let’s take a look.”

Kat and I left the backroom with the fey while the rest picked up menus.  A minute later we were in the parking lot, by the yellow van.  I opened the back and stared in at a huge mound of shiny gold nuggets.  The sight gave me a hard-on, but…

Kat was jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

“Not so fast,” I told her.  I pulled out the spell-breaker dagger I’d been given when I first took this case.  I don’t know why I’d ignored it until know, but an impulse had urged me to bring it along tonight.  I jumped into the van and stabbed the pile.  The yellow faded to dull gray.  Common river rock.  Not gold.  Fey never like losing out in commerce.

I jumped back out and laid a hand on Kat’s shoulder.  She looked like a child who’d just found out Santa Claus was beat down in the hood as a
creepy-ass cracker
.  I knew when she got over the shock, all hell would break loose.  I gave her my knife, and turned to the fey lady.  I told her, “You make his pregnant woman cry, and the liger will finish off what the bear started.  If I were you, I’d fix this fast.”

I walked back in to get Josh.  He’d want to be in on this.  Besides, I heard a prime rib, Swiss, and mushroom burger calling my name.

EPILOGUE

Malibu,
THREE WEEKS LATER,
way too early in the morning:

“Look, you cock-high bucket of shit, you should have been done last week, not today, and you still want a bonus?”  I turned on the garbage disposal.  “I got your bonus right here.”

“Caine, you’ll clog the bar sink,” Old Man pulled me off the iron dwarf contractor that had been fixing my house for the past four weeks.  I dropped the lazy codger, letting him keep his money-grubbing hand in one piece.  I went back around the bar to my stool. And snatched up my white mocha vodka slushy—an experiment that had yet to be declared a success. 

Home, sweet home, my ass.

Safely peering around Old Man’s legs, where he thought he was safe, the iron dwarf raged, “You burned a hole through this floor, damaged the basement foundation, and weakened the soil substrate under the house with tons of water.  You think that’s easy to fix, you giant ass?”

I set down my glass.  “Not relevant.  A deal is a deal.”

“A legendary spirit leopard underfoot, bitchin’ like a harpy all the damn time, and—by the king’s beard—an intrusion zone of Fairy itself, that wasn’t part of that deal. And still I delivered.”

Old Man studied my icy mug with fascinated interest.  “He has a point, Caine, and I’m paying for half the damage, so suck up your drink
and
the bonus this nice dwarf deserves.  Oh, and make me one of those, would you?”

Old Man knew I’d be okay with paying a bonus if he was putting up some of the cash, but he could have mentioned it earlier, before I’d worked myself up to a killing rage—which somehow seemed to come a lot easier these days. At least the house was fixed. 

The last two weeks had been hell.  The iron dwarf’s work had deprived me of my daily sleep.  I’d had to install the new door at the end of my hallway, to get some rest.  The bond to my land in Fairy—which still needed a name—had let me anchor my domain to the other side of that door, so a step let me cross worlds.

My house had formed on the central plain, rising in the new-born arms of a monster tree.  Diamond-paned windows had glinted in the sun.  The walls were rare woods, laid in abstract patterns, and sprawling decks had circled the structure.

Really nice
. 

But staying in Fairy too long can mess with a non-fey mind.  Old Man had said the door would only open to me.  This didn’t stop any of the dwarf workmen from trying to pry it open for hours on end, loving the challenge of it.

Bonus my ass.

Drink in hand, I left the office-bar, went through the living room, and took the hallway past my room.  At the end of the hall, I opened the new door and went through, onto the deck of my tree-house mansion.  Leona was there, curled up in a nap—having ghosted straight through the closed door no one else was supposed to be able to use.  I noticed a few new scratching posts had been added to the décor. 

I went to a corner of the deck where a square of tiles waited.  Waking, Leona padded along.  We stepped on the square and it descended slowly to the ground level so we could walk away from the tree, into a private garden.  A throne sat near a fountain that had once been a rope-edged mirror set in the ground.  The fountain was surrounded by silver vines.  Several surfacing roots now held padded, leather-seat couches. 

Inside a surrounding wall of white brick, wild flowers glowed soft neon colors, sharing the space with wild roses, and a few nine-foot cherry trees.  The energy of my land filled me, a surge of affection that I returned.  Leona and I strolled through the garden, out an iron gate that any fey thief would have a hard time picking.  With the land watching out, I didn’t really need locks, but habits are habits.  Out on the golden plain, I lifted my eyes to the far charcoal forest and the black-purple mountains beyond.  In my minds eye, I could imagine floating high above my domain, peering down on it all.  I was happy with the thought that my land would look like a dragon’s eye peering back.  It caught my fancy somehow.

Izumi didn’t much like my color scheme, but had asked permission to build a modest house on the rim, close to her mother’s domain.  Her mother had moved her castle closer to the rim as well.

“So still no memory of those two weeks you lost here?” Leona asked.

“Nope, nothing.  I remember the bear about to bite my head off, and then waking up when everyone found me.  That’s it.”