Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (23 page)

The yard was full of quite a few, more than the five of us could
handle. Evan was back there uttering his stream of words. A moment
later and I was charging across the lawn with a yell. One of the guns
I had ripped away from our assailants was tossed at the vehicles
outside. The makeshift projectile created a dent that seemed insanely
big.

There was a loud succession of shots which resulted in more painful
little rubber bullets. A dog pile of bodies landed on me and word
were shouted. After that, my mind stopped registering things.

I came to in a small run down room with a long table in front of me.
The chair I sat in was heavy. Its material wasn’t iron or
silver. My arms and legs were tied up in a manner that stunk of
military precision. They gave me enough slack to raise both arms up.
Julianne and Stacy could have learned a thing or two.

The rest of the room was equally depressive looking. Someone had
slapped over-sized blue glow sticks on the walls that served as the
only lights. The walls were stripped bare of even plaster. One armed
guard stood inside the door. His gun didn’t appear to be loaded
with the friendly suppression bullets that I had been playing with at
Julianne’s.

My eyes closed and tried to recap what had happened. A sudden shake
of my head brought no clarity. I used what little give these bindings
allowed in order to scratch my nose. Once that immediate problem was
resolved it was time to inspect the damage from the excitement at
Julianne’s. There were no signs of bruising or other wounds.
Either I was extremely lucky, or had already healed. Even my formerly
split open palm felt okay.

I couldn’t remember healing this fast. Then again there hadn’t
been a lot of need for it in the last four years. My wanderings about
the countryside were indistinct and probably boring. Honestly, before
that vacation I had been able to avoid being hit in the first place.
My tactile senses and a young man’s reaction speed had done
wonders. Hell. Now my wrist itched.

The bindings jangled around as I tried to get to the spot. The latest
round of actions made the guard look over. The gun raised slightly in
my direction. I lifted my right arm enough to wave. The guard’s
response was elevating his weapon higher.

“I’m behaving,” I said.

The guard used his free hand and knocked on the door in a short
series of raps. A slit of light appeared in the door-frame. There was
no outright communication between the two people, only a quick nod
between them. My babysitter turned back to the room. He had a robotic
gaze that seemed to look at nothing in particular in the entire room.

I was starving. Despite all the noise my stomach was making the guard
kept ignoring me. Finally, the door opened and Daniel stepped inside
the room. At least it was a familiar Western Sector employee. This
was probably going to be my least favorite part of the last few
weeks.

There was a hasty whisper as Daniel muttered to the guard. The guard
nodded then stepped outside and the door slid shut behind him.

“You have five minutes to tell me how this is going to go,
Jay.” Daniel pointed a finger at me. ”Five minutes in
which I have to decide if you’re an undercover asset, or you go
in the deepest jail cell I can find. Your charges include kidnapping
a key witness and assaulting multiple officers.”

“Crummy…” I started to respond.

“Don’t start that with me. Do you have any idea of the
fucking mess you’ve made? Getting caught in there?” He
waved an arm at one of the walls. “It’s bad enough you’re
in with a small time bookie like Julianne, but Kahina? Keeper’s
scion?”

“What?” I asked.

“No? Didn’t tell you?” No, she had probably told
me. It was another thing my mind glazed over. “How about this
Stacy Watershed?”

The agent shook a stack of papers that he pulled out from somewhere.
Daniel and his files. The man loved them. I watched the pile bob up
and down in the air as he kept up his rant.

“Looks harmless enough at first glance but wanted for assault
and battery on at least three occasions. Only a level two
rehabilitation?” He snorted and shook his head.

“She seems like a winner,” I said. The Bitch and I would
probably never be friends.

“Then there’s the elf, wanted in regards to the biggest
missing person case this Sector has seen in years.” Daniel
dropped his pile of paperwork onto the table. I leaned back and
attempted to cross my arms. It wasn’t easy with the rigging
they tied me up with.

“Where is this going, Crummy?” I asked.

“I had people watching those woods, Jay, and watching your
house. So when I get a report on my desk that says the elf I’ve
been tracking, the elf that may hold the key to our missing person
case…” Daniel’s eyebrows shot up as he leaned over
the desk. “was found, not only by the local pack which I’d
been putting pressure on but by my friend?”

I would have sunk into the chair, but the way they had me chained to
it didn’t leave room to maneuver.

“Jesus, Jay! You went into the house, and I could see how you
wouldn’t know until then. After, though?” He stomped away
to the other side of the room.

Okay. I officially knew where this was going. None of it was good for
me or anyone involved. The agent had a right to be upset. This whole
thing had gotten wildly out of hand because of my desire to learn
information. I should have called Daniel the minute the elf showed up
and washed my hands of the situation.

“A booty call to a different elf that didn’t go well. A
trip to the bar, for another drink I’m sure. Then your wreck of
a home then back again to” He recited some mental list.
“Julianne’s house.”

A drink did sound amazingly good. It practically made my mouth water.
Plus it would mean that angry Daniel Crumfield was nowhere near me.

“Tell me how this looks good, Jay, tell me something. Neither
of us wants to be here right now.” He said.

“I needed an elf’s help, and she was the only one that I
was on speaking terms with.” He must have been talking about
Candy. It was hard to explain how she factored in.

“You sure you weren’t telling her where to find her
long-lost clan member? So they could fucking stonewall me along with
the wolves?” Daniel dug through his papers and spun out a file
with Candy’s face printed on the top left.

“Why would I do that, Crummy?” I was too irritated to
tell him that they weren’t members of the same house. Or else
Candy would have known one of her elves wasn’t feeding their
addiction, or whatever it was she kept track of.

“I don’t know, man, I don’t fucking know. The
reward money? Tell me something so I can make this go away.” He
said.

Right, like I was going to tell him something that would dig a bigger
hole. Daniel and I were friends outside of work. Out there I would
take a bullet for him. But in here, with Daniel the Western Sector
agent, it was a different story.

“The moment my team marked you leaving that house I should have
had a phone call. One fucking phone call, to tell me you had him.”
Daniel was back in front of me pounding his finger on the desk. His
face nearly matched his blazing red hair. “But no, they find
you wandering the God damned city. For what, Jay? What the hell is so
important that you couldn’t call me and let me do my job?”

“I had some questions of my own,” I muttered.

“Like what, Jay? What was so fucking important?” Part of
my mind was focused on that finger. He kept jabbing it into the
table. Each pound grabbed my focus and irritated me.

“Some of the stuff he said to me,” I answered.

“He would say anything to get away, anything to escape.”
Daniel stepped back and took a breath. He was trying to be calm but
failing. “Don’t tell me you believed his story for a
moment. Don’t tell me you’re that dense.”

Maybe I was that dense. For a moment, I had believed Evan. He
actually sounded like he knew what I was. Being a Lord had to mean
something. It had to tie into my issues, in the same way being a wolf
caused allergies to silver. Or how being a vampire caused the blood
thirst. I wanted to have a reason for why I acted how I did.

“I should have called,” I admitted.

“But you didn’t. You didn’t do shit to help me out.
You’ve avoided me this entire case, saying you couldn’t
help, that you weren’t any good anymore.” Daniel had
worked himself back into full-on rant mode again. His hand waved at
walls and the other jabbed into the table again.

My three seconds of silence didn't deter him. He kept right on going.

“My men saw what you did to Francis, saw you walking fine
yesterday, a few days after he clawed the shit out of your legs.”
How long had Daniel been watching me? Did he always watch me? “You’ve
got it still, at least a little bit, and you could have helped me
close this a long time ago, but you dragged your feet.”

“What the hell is so important about this elf?” I tried
to stand up and shout but only managed to rattle the manacles around
my limbs.

“You have no idea what Arnold was involved in. What it means,
and how many will crawl over me to get this case.” He said. “I
can’t let anyone else near this situation.”

“Why this case?” It couldn’t be the reward money.
The amount was an enticing incentive, but it couldn’t be worth
all this trouble. Maybe it was. I had seen stupid things done for a
few thousand.

Daniel was on the far side of the room rubbing the back of his neck
with both hands. His head leaned back. The man’s eyes were
unfocused and gazing upward. There was a knock on the door and Daniel
almost tore it open. Another suit stood right outside.

“The elf escaped, sir.” The guard seemed perturbed
delivering the news.

“What?!” Daniel had been mad before, this was just short
of a nuclear explosion. The other chair was thrown against a wall.
Papers scattered everywhere.

“Did you have anything to do with this, Jay?” He turned
back to me. His face was twitching with anger. I lifted both hands as
much as possible and the bindings rattled.

“What do you think, Crummy?” I was rolling my eyes. “You
going to explain or go chase the elf?” Daniel pinched his
fuming face at me and finally nodded.

“This is a nightmare, man, and it’s entirely your fault,”
He said. Daniel stepped outside then slammed the door. Once again I
was left alone.

What now? I certainly wasn’t going to sit my ass here in a
cell. Daniel didn’t leave the door open with an ‘exit
here, buddy’ sign posted to it. Then again I was probably on
his shit list for a while.

Where were the others? The last thing I recalled was ramming Daniel’s
fellow Western Sector agents with a couch. My only source of relief
was deliberately banging my head against the table. I exercised the
option for the next few minutes with a slow, rhythmic thumping.

An almost imagined whisper caught my attention. I looked around
trying to find the source of the noise. It seemed to be from the
hallway. The low murmur happened again but closer. What was it
saying? Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. It looked like the
door Daniel had slammed was now fully open.

I was still bound, so it didn’t matter. Double vision plagued
me. This time, I saw a ragged looking elf standing in the doorway. He
motioned desperately in my direction. The image faded out suddenly.
Evan must be using his abilities. Messing with my vision somehow.

My chains rattled in frustration. It was hard not to shout for him.
Sure I wanted out, but I couldn’t do it like this. I wasn’t
that strong. Soft, almost silent footsteps crept across the room. The
real Evan appeared this time.

“Break loose, I can befuddle them on our escape.” The elf
said.

“Can’t,” I responded. He made it sound as simple as
breathing.

“You can. You are one of them. A once lost Lord, even their
young could break this.” There was a moment where I felt him
grab at my bindings. He immediately hissed with pain.

“I can not free you. I have no magic against iron.” He
said.

“How did you get free then?”

“Who says I was ever truly captured?” He sounded smug
about it.

“Find Kahina,” I suggested.

“I am sorry, which one was that?” He sounded winded.
Almost gasping for breath.

“The black woman, partial vampire.”

“A Bloodletter? Are you sure that is wise?”

“She can break this!” I restrained myself from yelling at
him. Kahina was a vampire, the iron would crack easily with her
strength. Then we could escape.

“If you are sure, Lord.” With a slight uncertainty to his
voice, he vanished from sight. His light footsteps crossed the room.
Evan must be special to fool people trained to spot illusions.

After a long pause, I went back to banging my head. It settled to
resting on the table while staring at the door. They hadn’t
bothered putting a guard back in this room.

It was tempting to just sit here in custody. What was the worst
Daniel could do? Hopefully, the agent would assist in my escape and
let it slide.

“She is here. It took some time to prevent her from breaking
the security beams.” Evan had gotten near me without my
noticing.

“You managed to sneak her over?” I asked.

“I did. Though…”

“Did you know that they’ve got trip wires to catch
speeding vampires? The elf can see them.” I heard her voice.
Kahina was close by and all business.

“What?” I said.

“They set them up every twenty feet give or take, this place is
rather run down, but they have some mobile ones. I stole a few.”
She sounded proud of her pilfering from Western Sector’s
finest.

“We need to escape.” Evan piped in. “Things are not
as they seem, and we are all in danger here.”

“I’d love to,” I said.

“Any idea what sort of game Daniel is playing here?”
Kahina asked an excellent question. There was no solid answer. Me
escaping would be fine. I didn’t exist on record, and Daniel
would probably let it slide.