Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (21 page)

Candy. I needed her to help things make sense. To make this anger
worth something. Both eyes stayed closed while I tried to remember
what she looked like. To feel a connection.

When I opened my eyes Candy was standing up top of the elven housing.
She was talking with the two guards. They seemed startled, but the
bows vanished. Her gaze traveled to me and inaudible words mouthed in
my direction. A finger pointing down. I shrugged.

Her responding face was full of disapproval. There was no hint of her
playful selection of clothes, or the looks she gave me before. The
next time I saw the elf she was down next to a car. She had bent over
in order to speak with another elf inside the expensive looking
vehicle. My fleeting glimpse of the male elf told me he was old and
important enough to have someone drive him.

Hopefully, she wasn’t talking to him about my job as a
part-time stalker. They parted with a nod and Candy walked over. Her
body clad in a wrap that almost looked like an emerald scale kimono,
complete with a set of heels that must be dark polished wood.

“Jeff, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Her words
and smile held some playfulness, but the eyes told me it was forced.

“I have to ask for something.”

“What, no foreplay?” Iciness shook away and her smile was
actually genuine.

“Two somethings actually,” I said.

“Oh?”

“I know you have a price, right?” I asked. My words were
rushed and head still pounded a bit.

“That I do though I’m not sure if you can pay it,”
She said. There was a lift to one lip that seemed almost coy, but it
didn’t reach the rest of her face.

“I’ll pay.” Any price she asked couldn’t even
begin to reach the worst parts of my history. From extortion to
theft, kidnapping and roughing up low lives.

“You’d have to. What did you want from me?” She
asked. One arm draped to the side while her other reached across to
grab it.

“Help, and silence.”

She pouted. “Not at all what I had hoped for, not at all. What
could you possibly need from me, Jeff?”

“You’re some sort of guide to elves, right?” I
said.

“That’s a question, Jeff. Try again, unless you want to
owe me three favors. I can think of three satisfyingly good ways to
repay me.”

“Hell.” My head shook and both hands went into pockets,
grasping uselessly. I stared at my feet while trying to rephrase the
words.

“You’re someone important, you know about addictions,
helping people solve them. I know that without you telling me.”
Her facial expressions didn’t give me any confirmation and it
was a bit of a reach. My only clue was her actions with the other elf
at the bar. Her short hair framed eyes that were nearly stone.

“I’ve got an elf, and it’s important to me that he
come to, but he’s so far under, and it looks like withdrawal. I
need to help him, and I need for no one else to find out we have him
until later.”

Candy didn’t respond right away. If anything she seemed to be
looking through me at something else.

“Does this have anything else to do with your question last
time, Jeff?” She asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly in my
direction which brought her tattoos close together like a forest
closing in.

I didn’t want her to think about the other question. Anyone
else putting the Lord, me, elves killed them, dots together was
dangerous. The sudden realization that I was scratching my wrist
prevented me from answering.

“No. No deal.” She turned to walk away. I grabbed her arm
gently. Candy turned and looked at me, half smiling and half serious.

“I’d get that hand off of me right now unless you plan on
using it somewhere much more fun.” The way she said it
shattered my brain for a moment and I let go.

“Why not, Candy? I’m willing to pay your price.”

“I can’t, there are certain obligations I must place
above my own needs, and your request borders on one of them.”
She pouted again. It was distracting to see the down-turned
expression on her face. “Which is pretty disappointing.”

“Not even to help one of your own?”

“Your little friend is unlikely to be one of my clan, else I
would have heard. There are certain…” She pursed her
lips in thought “situations in which I am in charge of.”

“A clue? Anything?” I felt desperate.

She tapped her feet and walked closer to me, her face tilted up.

“If your elf has called someone their Lord, then their Lord can
call them back.” There was a pause in her words as she got on
her tippy toes and resumed speaking a few inches away. “But if
there is a Lord, it would be best if I never find out.” Then
for the barest moment she nipped at my lower lip, pressing her entire
body against mine. My mind clouded over with an entirely different
emotion.

“That tidbit will cost you later.” Candy strutted off and
I nearly limped after her.

There was no sane way to react to all this information. My thoughts
stayed muddled the entire way back to Julianne’s house. Night
had fallen and I hadn’t even noticed. My giant dumb self stood
near the doorway trying to figure out how to make this all work.
Calling an elf back made no sense to me.

Candy had clearly given an invitation that would make Julianne and
Kahina both hate me. Facing either one of them worried me. Should I
knock on Julianne’s door and tell her what little I knew? Or
call Daniel and wash my hands of the whole thing?

“Go inside, Jay.” Crushed peppermint accompanied sad
words. My breath caught. I had spent too long trying to figure out
the next step and completely lost the initiative. Getting out of bed
today had been a terrible idea.

I followed orders and opened the door.

Both Stacy and Julianne and were waiting in the front room. The dent
where I pushed Stacy had been covered up by a hastily moved table.
Kahina clicked the door shut behind me.

“Sit down, Jay.” My sort of ex-girlfriend said.

“Rather stand.” There was a whole list of actions that
sounded better than being here. Dealing with the elf in the back,
drinking liquor, or even going back to Candy.

“Sit down, Jay.” Julianne’s glare was echoed by
Stacy. Running this time would completely destroy whatever
relationship we had left. Julianne was the only person who welcomed
me back without expectations. Besides money.

I picked the recliner on the far end of the room, popped up the leg
rest then leaned back.

“Can’t you make him sit straight at least?” Stacy.
I decided she would be called The Bitch. The Bitch would be easier to
remember. Best of all, she was a wolf so it was technically accurate.

“Be happy he sat down.” Julianne sounded upset at
everything.

“Why’s she here?” I asked.

“Kahina Rhodes being here was my idea. We needed her side of
the story.” The Bitch was louder now.

“And you want to do this, now?” Surely the inflection in
my voice showed just how ridiculous this was. This was the wrong time
for an intervention.

“You’ve earned no say in any of this, deal, or get out.”
Was Stacy’s response.

Kahina was silent. She stood behind the couch on the other side.
Hopefully, I didn’t smell like an elf. Julianne cleared her
throat and Kahina seemed to wake up. She went and sat down on the
couch with the other two girls flanking her.

These teams sucked.

“Well?” I asked.

“Well what, Jay? What do you think we’re going to do
here?” Julianne snapped at me.

There were things I wanted to say. ‘I’m sorry I threw
Stacy, I’m sorry I left Kahina, I’m sorry I’m not a
bundle of ass whooping vengeance like I used to be, Julianne. Can I
go now?’ The series of phrases would probably induce a
much-deserved thrashing upon my person. All of the words were quietly
shoved aside. Instead, I stood up.

“Where are you going?” Julianne asked.

“Bathroom.” I didn’t wait for a response, and
Julianne thankfully held Stacy back with a light touch. While one of
my stops was the bathroom, the other was the comatose elf.

I hefted chair and elf into the front room then plopped him down next
to the recliner. He was the only other non-female in the house and
someone had to be on my side. My other option had been crawling out
one of the windows and running down the street. No one would find it
odd to see a giant muscled man running from females in the dead of
night. No one.

It took a carefully folded pillow to get his face propped up Evan was
at least looking in their direction. I think being unconscious made
him more intimidating. The sock ruined the effect.

“Sorry, teams were unfair,” and still were “continue.”

“You self-righteous prick,” Stacy said.

“I’m not the one who staged an intervention,” I
responded.

“The way I hear it you’re an abusive drunk who deserves a
sound beating.” The Bitch was probably right. Now wasn’t
the time to dwell on my faults, though. We could deal with this after
getting my answers and handing Evan over to Daniel.

A word from Kahina slowed me down.

“Jay.”

It was heartbreaking. My moment of anger deflated faster than it had
stirred up. “What do you want, Kahina?”

“For things to go back to the way they were.” Her voice
was quiet. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was an almost fully
turned vampire.

“Time doesn’t fucking march backward.” I bit each
word as it came out.

“Jesus, Jay, have you two even sat down and talked since you
got back? About that night? About anything? You two were good
together.” Julianne jumped in.

“Were. What the hell would we talk about?”

“I don’t know, maybe her side of what happened? Let’s
start there. If you genuinely cared you wouldn’t have picked up
and ran.” Julianne continued her plea.

Kahina’s constant gaze through the entire thing was unnerving.
I kept switching focus between one set of eyes and the wall behind
them.

“Fine. Tell them what happened.” I could accept that
much. Let’s see what story Kahina had told them. She started
talking with barely a shudder of breath.

“That night was going to be something special.” Then
there was a moment that would have been a blush. Vampirism had robbed
her of the ability to pull one off. “Started out special. Jay
was good to me, always was, but that night was better than most.”

It was hard not to feel pride that at least I was good at something.
The thought of nudging my comatose companion and making some smart
remark occurred to me. That idea was suppressed. My score for
brilliant ideas was a record breaking two for two tonight.

“We’d talked about it off and on for a while, about
starting the conversion. While it wouldn’t take until I was
fully changed myself, it would prepare his body.” Her hands
made small motions to go with the speech.

I was nodding along at this point, so far so good.

“I’d…fed, before that, but it’s not the
same. The bonding requires you to draw first, and then give back
before it’s completely absorbed.”

“That’s when-” I started to talk.

“Shut up and let her finish.” Stacy had no problem
ordering me around. I sat back and let Kahina go on with her speech.
It was taking forever for her to wind the story around to the crazy
part. At least the elf was still on my team.

“We said words to each other that night, that I was his, and he
was mine.” She was glancing at me from heavily lidded eyes.

“I remember.” That much was clear. We had said those
words right before the attempt. It was our declaration of being more
than some fickle love story.

“When I went to start,” A polite way to say when she bit
me and it wasn’t a love bite. “I tasted a little, then my
head started swimming.”

“Like you were drunk?” Julianne asked.

“Worse. Or better. It was…” There was a look on
her face as her eyes glazed over in pleasure for a moment then
refocused. “It was good.” I also bolted despite the
consequences. That was the same look that haunted my nightmares.

“Keep going.” Julianne urged Kahina back to the story.

“I don’t know how to put it exactly. It was like the
vampirism was signing in pure joy.” Kahina’s hands kept
grasping at the air and her face looked more animated. “He had
something it needed more than anyone else in the world.”

“What did Jay do?” Stacy asked.

I leaned in waiting to hear the part where she went crazy. I couldn’t
remember all of it. My memory involved flashes of imagery and the
feeling of anger and fear. Kahina had attacked me that night I was
sure.

“He got mad. He said that it was his, his blood, and it wasn’t
mine. Then pushed me away.”

“Bullshit. BULL SHIT.” I stood up and shouted at her.
That wasn’t how it went at all.

“Sit the fuck down.” Stacy was in between us now. Wolf
features rippled across her face. The mousey woman was growling at me
and had her hand pressed against my chest. She didn’t hit me,
though, thankfully.

“Like hell I will. Is she saying I hit her? Do you know what
she did to me?” I yanked the neck of my shirt to the side,
ripping it. “Right here, here is where she tried to drain me
like a God damned soda. She didn’t stop at a sip, she kept,
going.”

“No I didn’t, Jay, I stopped, but you were seeing red,
screaming.” How could Kahina be so calm?

“Bullshit!” I yelled over the women in front of me. I
wanted to shake Kahina until her teeth rattled. The feeling was not
comforting. But she was lying about me, betraying me. Making up
stories about what had happened that night.

“Jay,” Kahina started to say something before The Bitch
interrupted.

“You are clearly off your damned rocker, you’re violent,”
hands waved in front of my face as the mousy woman vented. “I
find her easier to believe than you, your stupid ass threw me into a
wall.”

“You slapped me first!”

“How the hell does that give you an excuse to throw someone?!”
One of her hands was still pressed against me, or maybe I was
pressing against it in an effort to get past her.