Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) (15 page)

             
“Huh?”

             
“What happened?”

             
I hugged my arms to myself as I turned to Mike. “Nothing, I was painting and he just showed up.”

             
“Did he say anything to you?”

             
“He asked how I was doing and said that his name is Jack.”

             
“This isn’t good. Caden is not going to like this.”

             
“Like what?”

             
Mike and I turned in unison to see Caden standing in the doorway.

             
“He was here again,” Mike replied.

             
Caden’s whole body tensed and stiffened. “What did he say?”

             
“That his name was Jack,” Mike answered for me.

             
Caden just stood there silently with his brow furled. It was clear he had an idea but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

             
“Well?” I asked, never one to have overflowing patience. “Is that bad? Do you know him?”

             
“Maybe,” Caden said.

             
“What are you thinking?” Mike chimed in.

             
“That I don’t like it. He’s more than just curious if he came again. Demons don’t hold interest in anything for too long. I thought initially maybe he had heard something of you and just wanted to check you out, but now I think it’s more.”
             

             
Caden looked toward Mike, with his body tense and hands fisted, and neither said another thing. They must have thought I was oblivious, because they made eyes that said they would talk privately, but thought I somehow wouldn’t notice or know. I decided it wasn’t worth bothering to argue about. They were going to run off and have their little talk without me, regardless of what I said.

             
“I’m speaking to the council tomorrow,” Caden said.

             
“Do you think that will help?” I was afraid to get too excited, but I needed to get out of this building and soon, or I would lose my sanity.

             
“Probably not, but it will give me a chance to feel out the situation. Carl and some of his group will be there. I can get a better idea of how many will back him if he decides to do a full-blown attack on us. I want to try to find out how far up the chain this goes.”

             
“What will happen if this can’t be resolved through the council?”

             
“A lot of men that I’ve known for a long time will die. I wasn’t always at odds with them. We just took different paths. I’m not looking forward to killing them, well, at least most of them.”

             
He looked around the bar at the new painting. “Do you like this?”

             
“Well, it’s …it’s…”

             
“Yeah, exactly. It doesn’t matter, if the guys like it I don’t really care.” He started to walk away and stopped. “I’ve got to go meet with someone tonight. You want to get out for a while?”

             
“Yes, definitely,” I couldn’t have agreed any more emphatically.

             
“Be ready in a couple of hours and wear something nice.” He walked away.

             
I ran to go hop in the shower and clean the paint out of my hair, which is a lot harder than one would think.

             
I wasn’t sure how nice he meant so I threw on a simple black dress. I strangely felt like I was getting ready for a date even though I knew it really wasn’t. I put on some lip-gloss and went upstairs to find Caden. He was going over some paper work at the bar when I got there.

             
When he saw me, he looked me up and down, clearly appreciating my figure in the clinging black dress. He smiled but didn’t remark.

             
He looked like the cover of GQ magazine. His suit was beautiful, and he had on the most gorgeous Rolex I’d ever seen in person. He wore expensive things as if he were born to them like a dark prince in a fairytale.

             
“Ready?” he asked.

             
I smiled, and we went to the front exit instead of the rear this time.

             
“We’re taking a driver. I hate parking in the city. It’s too much of a hassle.”

             
A large man who looked like a sumo wrestler got out of a Mercedes limo.

             
“This is Fred.”

             
“Nice to meet you,” I said. Fred inclined his to me and smiled warmly.

             
“I’ve got it Fred,” Caden said. He waved him back to the front and opened the car door for me himself.  I climbed in the limo taking a seat on the supple leather seat and he climbed in next to me.

             
“Where are we going?”

             
“We’re heading to a restaurant uptown. It’s owned by some of my business associates.”

             
“Are they part demon too?”

             
“No, they’re Leprechauns.”

             
I started to laugh thinking he was playing with me, but I realized I was laughing alone.

             
“You’re not kidding?”

             
“No.”

             
“Are they little?”

             
It was his turn to laugh. “Hardly. Leprechauns are huge. That all got started because of a very well known Leprechaun named Bart. His nickname was Tiny, you know, because he was so big. Stupid humans that had no idea that Leprechauns were walking around right next to them took the name Tiny to be a literal description. They figured that was why they had never seen one, even though they had.”

             
We pulled up in front of an upper scale looking restaurant. When we stepped inside all I could see were white linens and glittering crystal. The sounds of crystal glasses clinking adding an accent to the pianist, who sat at a baby grand playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D. The smells made my mouth water.

             
The stout little man in a black tuxedo left customers in mid sentence to come over an greet us.

             
“Sir, nice to see you.”

             
“Howard, we need a table in the balcony.”

             
“Of course, come this way.” He led us over to the side where a staircase led to a second level. Caden and I followed Howard up to a table set all by its self. It looked over the entire dining room.

             
Caden held out my chair and told Howard to bring a bottle of Perrier-Jouet champagne. The waiter was there before our host Howard had even left. Caden ordered a slew of appetizers that I’d never heard of before. This was already the nicest non-date I’d ever had. Actually, it was the nicest place any man had ever taken me.

I already felt indebted to him. I didn’t want to rack up a high meal bill. I knew it was only a drop in the bucket compared to the other costs, but I felt deeply uncomfortable with the entire situation of being indebted to anyone. As I scanned the menu for the cheapest priced entrée, I couldn’t find a single price listed.

             
“Why aren’t there any prices on the menu? Isn’t that a bit odd?” I asked hoping I wasn’t showing my hand.

             
“No one that comes here cares.”

             
“Are you ready to order sir?”

             
“Yes, Lex, what would you like?”

             
“I’m fine, I’m really not that hungry. I’m just going to pick on appetizers.”

             
“You need to eat something. She’ll have the Wagyu steak with truffles, medium rare. I’ll have the same.”

             
“Thank you Sir.”

             
“Caden, I really didn’t need a steak.”

             
“Yes, you do.”

             
I had only lost a couple of pounds, so I was surprised that he had noticed.

             
“Caden,” a voice boomed.

In front of us stood the largest red headed man I had ever seen. He was an absolute giant. His hair wasn’t just red, it was blazing.

“Macky. Nice to see you. Join us for a glass?”

The huge ox of a man sat down across from us and I was waiting for the chair to collapse underneath him, as I heard it creak from the strain.

“This is Alexandria.”

“It’s nice to meet you Alexandria. What can I do for you today Caden?”

“I need some of the R2’s and a few R5’s.”

“What’s the set up?”

“I’ll need a direct input.”

“I’ll have them over to you by tonight.”

“Thanks Macky.”

“Enjoy your dinner.”

He reached down to kiss my hand like an old school gentleman, and froze. I could feel his hand tremble for a moment before he quickly dropped mine. He stared at me, then Caden, looking a bit affronted.

“Why would you bring her here?” he said accusatorily to Caden.

“What are you talking about?”

Macky looked like he was going to bolt, and Caden quickly stood in front of him, blocking his path. I looked and saw that they had already caught the attention of the host and the waiter.

“What do you know?” Caden demanded.

“I don’t know anything.” He clearly didn’t want to speak.

“You know something. Tell me,” Caden insisted taking a step further into the large man’s space and I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Macky looked around at the attention they were drawing from even the diners below and ushered Caden back to the table. He pulled his chair as far from me as he could get it. Really? I’m now the top pariah? All these monsters floating around and he didn’t want to get close to me? I threw back the my entire glass of champagne. The waiter was heading toward the table to refill my glass, but I waved him off and did it myself.

             
“Okay, let’s hear it. What kind of horrible thing am I now?” I asked before Caden could.

             
“I don’t know exactly,” he replied but wasn’t meeting my stare.

             
I threw my hands up in the air. “Of course you don’t,” I said. I swigged down some more champagne.

             
Caden eyed me as I practically chugged the whole glass. “Slow down.”

             
I gave him a look that clearly told him I’d had enough of his instructions and downed the glass anyway.

             
The big Macky actually tried to shush Caden now. “Let her do what she wants.”

             
“Are you scared of her?” Caden asked making a face at Macky.

             
“Sort of.” His face was red with embarrassment. “When I was a very small boy, a long, long time ago, there was one such as she that wandered the forests. My mother told me to keep my distance at all times. That she had the power to destroy us if she wanted. That’s all I know. I swear it.”

             
“How do you know she’s the same as this woman?”

             
“I could smell it on her skin. She’s not human. I’ve never smelled that scent except for that woman. And now her,” he looked at me when he said that, like I might strike him down for even repeating it.

             
“Okay Macky, you can leave. Thanks.”

             
Macky got up and nodded his head to the side, clearly trying to get a private word with Caden.

             
“Hang on,” Caden said to me. He got up to see what Macky wanted, and I helped myself to more champagne. I was aiming for total numbness or at bare minimum, maybe I could forget that I was the biggest freak in the room for a while.

             
I watched Macky. I knew he was asking Caden to never bring me back here. His body language was so obvious that he might have well have been screaming it. I threw back the last of my glass while Caden finally calmed the big baby down and came back to the table.

             
“He’s a little upset.”

             
I watched Macky scramble away as quick as possible and knew he was feeling slightly more intense than Caden explained. Our meal came out suspiciously quick, and I had to struggle to get the few bites down I did. I knew Macky was watching from below, counting the minutes until we left. Caden seemed completely unperturbed by it all and finished his meal and then mine at a casual pace. I was more than ready to leave when he finally finished.