Owl and the Japanese Circus (55 page)

Then again, I’ve gotten some interesting friends out of it too.

I grabbed a coffee before heading to my favorite window seat overlooking Elliott Bay. It was April and gray and raining—it’s always raining—but I couldn’t have cared less. Damn, it felt good to be home—and have my apartment back—without the vampires. Hardly seemed like I’d been out of Vegas almost a month.

I’d closed the bedroom door so Rynn could sleep in. Usually he was up before me, but last night we’d been out, and I’d been learning about the Seattle supernatural underworld. Apparently this city wasn’t quite as free of supernaturals as I’d thought. Vampires, yes, but there was a whole other layer I’d never realized was here.

I liked having the odd morning to myself. Rynn usually left me alone first thing—he seemed to think it helped me cope, or whatever psychoanalysis crap he was reading and bouncing off me.

Little-known fact: supernaturals know less about humans than you’d think. Rynn had thrown himself into learning. It had unnerved me at first, until we’d come up with an arrangement—I’d put up
with the psychoanalysis hobby if he’d start giving me lessons on the supernatural world. The arrangement was working and eased some of the—I don’t know what you’d call it. Interspecies tension?

I wasn’t used to having any roommates except Captain, albeit Rynn was a roommate with his own place in Tokyo. But Captain seemed fine with it, which was good enough for me. I was even starting to trust my own judgment about people as well.

Despite the rain, the view from up here looked awesome. Not even one goddamned vampire.

Then the phone rang, breaking my Saturday morning peace and quiet. I dreaded looking at the caller ID, knowing who it would be.

Lady Siyu.

Again.

Goddamn, it’d only been a month and I already missed Oricho. Soooo much easier to deal with over the phone. Still, neither one of the bastards would tell me if they’d eaten him or not. Between you and me, I was guessing Oricho had gotten away. Why? I’m positive Lady Siyu would have bragged if she’d caught him. A lot.

Wherever Oricho was, I hoped he’d stay the hell out of trouble. And far, far away from me.

“What?” I said.

“Vacation is over. You are to meet Mr. Kurosawa with your companions tomorrow at noon. I have made flight arrangements.”

“You could have
emailed,
” I said.

I could just imagine her eyebrow and a corner of her lacquered red mouth lifting in contempt. “You have an uncivilized habit of not answering your messages on time.”

“Oh come on, I have to sleep. Besides, I just saved you and your boss—”

“I expect prompt responses. You have yet to deliver on that expectation.”

I ground my teeth. “Nadya is in Japan. She’ll be hard-pressed to get here by next week, let alone tomorrow—”

“See that the two of you are presentable,” she said, and hung up.

I closed my eyes. Damn it, I did not make a friend there. No sirree.

I picked up the phone and called Nadya.

“Hello?” she said. I could tell she’d been asleep.

“We’ve been summoned to Vegas. Tomorrow.”

Nadya swore.

I didn’t blame her. She’d insisted on helping me with the contract, though with a phone call in the middle of the night I suspected she was rethinking it.

We set travel arrangements just as Rynn came out of the bedroom.

“Who was that?” he asked as I hung up.

“We’re being summoned. Mr. Kurosawa has a job for me and Nadya. And I don’t think they’ve eaten Oricho yet,” I added.

He nodded. “I’ll come with you—”

“I thought you said you weren’t back to normal yet?” Rynn was still recovering from the scroll’s effects.

“Better than I was.”

“Wait here until we have the job. I doubt much will happen while we’re there.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

I let out a breath and stopped myself from saying the first thing out of my mouth:
No, you aren’t.
Rynn, who’d spent years working as a club host, had pride. Who knew?

“I’m not suggesting otherwise, I’m suggesting you might as well take the rest.”

He came up beside me and touched his forehead to mine. “I’m fine. Besides, I’ve reached a deal with Mr. Kurosawa.”

“You what? Please tell me you’re not the new Oricho. Toadying is not something I see you doing well.”

He winked. “I’m taking over the casino bar.”

I groaned. Not what I wanted to hear.

He kissed me on the forehead “Alix, I’ll be fine. The bar was running a deficit. If there’s one thing dragons hate more than insults to
their pride, it’s losing treasure. I’ve even got staff coming from Tokyo, and I’ve got a mind to put some of the nymphs to work as servers.”

“Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”

“Because you’re a train wreck and never tell me anything.”

“Whore,” I said as Rynn disappeared into the shower. I wasn’t sure if it was an incubus thing or not, but Rynn sure as hell loved his showers. Though mine was pretty luxe. Two nozzles, large stone walls. I’d gone all out.

I opened up my laptop. It’d been days since I’d logged into World Quest. Carpe opened up a chat window as soon as I was on. I’d been limiting our conversations to chat lately, trying to curb his stalker instincts.

I need your help
was all the message said.

Sure, I have a couple hours to kill,
I messaged back.

I need to talk to you in person,
he wrote.

Not a chance in hell
. I closed the chat function and headed into my game.

My phone rang. Lady Siyu. Goddamn it. “What?” I said.

But it wasn’t Lady Siyu.

“Owl, I need your help. I’m serious,” Carpe said.

“Why you little toad. How dare you trick me into answering the phone?”

“I wouldn’t be contacting you if it wasn’t a matter of life and death. It’s supernatural. I need you to find something.”

Crap.

“Listen real good. I don’t do supernatural.”

“No offense, but that’s not what I hear.”

“I don’t care what you hear, I’m not doing it.”

There was a slight pause. “Please don’t make me go through Mr. Kurosawa.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been that floored in my entire life. Here I am trying to keep what’s left of my subnormal life normal . . . I did something I haven’t done in my entire gaming career. I flipped on the
camera and dropped his firewall with a worm I’d been keeping stashed for a rainy day.

Yeah, I was that pissed.

A man in pajama bottoms, with a slight build—more sinuous than muscular—and long brown hair tied in a ponytail, sat across from me. There was a window behind him, looking out on a forest somewhere. It was morning, roughly the same time of day—Northwest, from the look of it . . . His jaw dropped as he realized what I’d done.

“What kind of an asshole spies on his friends and then threatens them? I mean, who does that?” I said.

He recovered fast, I’ll give him that. He set his jaw and looked straight at me. “Sorry, but you weren’t leaving me any choice.”

“Fantastic. Is there anything you couldn’t find out about me behind my back I can help you with?”

He swore under his breath. “Yes, as a matter of fact. The one thing I need to know and I couldn’t find out was whether you were familiar with Egyptian spell books, Old and Middle Kingdom.”

I just about fell out of the chair. “Pardon?”

“I know you’ve been to Egypt a number of times. You even came back with a Mau cat. What I don’t know is whether you’ve dealt with any Egyptian mummies, or if you’ve come across the spell books—”

I closed my eyes and buried my head on my desk. I attract trouble, I work for a dragon, my go-between is a naga, and I date an incubus. But even I know when to run in the other direction, and if I was going to draw the line somewhere, Egyptian mummies were it.

“Hell no,” I said. “Now listen good. I’m turning you off and forgetting we ever had this conversation. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of my personal life and also forget we ever had this conversation.”

Carpe frowned. He was good-looking in a feminine, geek chic kind of way. Not my type, but even I had to admit he wasn’t the fat, acned kid I’d pictured. He was still a royal jerk however.

“Owl, if it’s a question of money, I can pay—”

“Yeah, and if I become suicidal, I’ll let you know.”

“You’re overreacting, and I don’t think you realize how serious this is. I’m not kidding when I say it’s a life-and-death matter.”

Do one supernatural job and start working for a dragon . . .

“Do I really look that stupid? Oh, don’t look so put out. Look at it this way. If you’re not dead by this weekend, I’ll see you on World Quest. By the way, nice pajamas.” I tried to close the screen, but Carpe had gotten in and locked it.

“Son of a bitch—Carpe, get out of my laptop.”

“It’s one spell book. That’s all I need—”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure the dead guy is still using said spell book, so the answer is still no.”

“Please, I’m begging you—”

Rynn got out of the shower just as Carpe pleaded with me. He’d been headed for the kitchen and coffee machine, but he stopped at the sound of Carpe’s voice.

“Owl, who are you talking to?” he said, making a beeline for my laptop, a deep frown etched on his face.

“My World Quest friend, Carpe. And we’re done talking—Rynn, do you mind? I’m finishing an argument,” I said as he leaned over my shoulder and took over my keyboard, zooming in on Carpe’s face. Rynn’s lip curled, and I noticed Carpe’s smile drop.

Rynn turned to me, his brow furrowed. “When the hell did you start talking to elves?”

I’d like to thank my husband, Steve, and my friend Leanne Tremblay, who read each and every chapter. I don’t know if I would have finished the book without their feedback and encouragement.

I also have to thank my agent, Carolyn Forde, who picked my manuscript out of the slush pile; Alison Clarke and Adam Wilson from Simon & Schuster, who both saw something in Owl; and my editor, Sean Mackiewicz, for his keen eye and hard work. There are many other people who have mentored and encouraged me in my writing career over the past few years, but this space is small. Thank you all!

Finally, there is one non-human without whom this book would never have been written, and that is my cat Captain Flash, on whom the character Captain is absolutely based.

Kristi Charish is a scientist and science fiction/fantasy writer who resides in Vancouver, Canada, with her spousal unit, Steve, and two cats named Captain Flash and Alaska. She received a BS and MS in molecular biology and biochemistry from Simon Fraser University, and a PhD in zoology from the University of British Columbia. Kristi writes what she loves: adventure-heavy stories featuring strong, savvy female protagonists.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Kristi Charish