Catastrophe

He finished his beer and exhaled, leaning back in his chair. “Your turn. What do you know about the others and how do you know it?”

  “The others?” I hadn’t lied. I would answer his questions, but I needed him to be more specific in what he asked. I didn’t want to volunteer information about things he had no idea existed. The man had already been through too much.

  He caught the waitress’s eye and motioned at his drink before looking back to me. “Don’t play dumb. I bared my soul to you. The least you can do is tell me what I want to know.”

  The front door opened and a gust of wind carried through the restaurant. I could smell some sort of fae in the air: sweet with faint traces of cinnamon. I glanced around the restaurant trying to pinpoint where it was, but I couldn’t find it. The fae race was large and varied. There were species small enough to fit in my pocket and ones that were the size of small houses. The smell, though, was too familiar to ignore. It was definitely the same one I caught a whiff of in the Office.

  Sy always seemed to know everything that was happening around Chicago, and as a half-elf he would have plenty of fae connections. He could have potentially recruited something like a pixie—they would be small enough and could hide almost anywhere and find out whatever he needed to know…

  I stood up and walked slowly toward the front of the room, looking for the fae.

  Of course, on the other hand, the council could have done the same thing. While I knew they sent Amos to spy on me, that didn’t mean that they didn’t have other methods as well. People openly stared at me as I walked around their tables sniffing the air, but I didn’t care. Somewhere in here was a faery, and I was going to find it. I spotted it behind the bar, blending into the bottles. Gotcha.

  “What are you doing?” Dempsey asked, taking hold of my arm.

  There was no way I would get back there without being noticed, so I let him lead me back to the table.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

  I leaned in close to his ear before I took my seat. “We’re not alone.”

  He nodded slowly, holding out my chair for me. “Right,” he said as he took his seat and another drink, casually glancing around the room. “Where are you from?”

  “Chicago.” If I concentrated hard enough, I could hear the flutter of its wings as it maneuvered closer.

  The pleasant expression on Dempsey’s face looked forced, but he held it well. “Is this your first time in New Orleans?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’re a private detective?”

  I nodded, waiting for the flutter to get close enough I could snatch the little snitch. “How about you? Are you from here? Have you always lived here? What made you become a detective?” I asked, keeping my voice very low to lure it closer.

  A smile haunted his lips, but it was sad. “Born and raised. Never moved away.”

  I waved over the waitress, pretending the fae wasn’t nearly within my grasp. “Can we have another round and four shots of tequila?” I watched her walk away before I looked back at him. “I don’t care about your past any more than you care about mine. We’re both here for one reason only. We had a shitty day.”

  “You have no idea,” he said, but his eyes traveled to my head. “Or maybe you do.”

  I nodded. “Let’s just drink and eat and fucking laugh while the world burns.”

  The waitress set our drinks on the table. He picked up a shot and held it out to me. I clinked my glass against his.

  “I knew I liked you.” He shot it back, and I did the same as my hand darted out, capturing the nosy little pest and pinning her to the table.

  The night was already looking better. “Who do you work for?” I said. Her wings fluttered and she bit me, but I kept a firm grasp on her. “Bite me again and I’ll pluck off your wings and leave you here.”

  She went still, arms dropped to the side. “How did you find me?”

  “Who do you work for?” I asked slowly.

  “Sy was worried about you,” she said.

  My hand loosened for just a moment before I tightened it again. “Why should I believe you?”

  She crossed her tiny arms. “Because it’s true. Ask him yourself… Oh wait, you can’t. That’s why I’m here.” She promptly sank her tiny teeth into my hand again.

  It was just like Sy to find a way to communicate with me, when the council had otherwise blocked our channels of communication. I released the faery. “Tell him I am fine, but the vampire situation needs to be looked into.”

  With one sharp nod, she took off from the table. I looked back up, and Dempsey was staring at me with the shot glass paused right before his lips. “What the fuck was that?” he asked.

  I grimaced. “You should probably have all of these.” I gave him my last shot. I didn’t have much choice now, especially if he could already see the faery.