from the fires of Hades.” A Loki. Weird. I’d always thought Hades was just a fable. “So, what can you do?” I asked, sounding like a kid comparing video games. “I can withstand fire for one thing,” he said and laughed, thinking himself funny. I didn’t. “What do you do for the Relations office?” He shifted back and forth in the swing, shuffling his feet. “I’m a detective.”
I leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree, crossing one foot over the other. I was trying to look relaxed but finding it difficult.
“What brought you here?”
Knight stopped swinging. “Someone called a creature from the Netherworld to Splendor, and the same creature killed the warlock.”
“Fabian?” I gulped. So, Knight was involved, but only so far as he was investigating. Damn. The finger was still pointing at me. “I had nothing to do with it.”
He started swinging again, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I didn’t think you did. I’m here to find out where the creature is and who summoned it.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
He shrugged. “You’re a Regulator and this is your territory. I thought I should pay you the courtesy of informing you I was here so we could…work together.”
“But you never registered at Headquarters. If you’re so interested in working with us, why not register and why not come to Headquarters to find me? Why talk to Angela about me?”
He arched a brow, and that same slow smile slid over his lips like a snake. “You did your homework. It’s confidential as to why I didn’t register.” I frowned. “Confidential? I’m law enforcement, too, in case you forgot.” He nodded. “I didn’t forget. But confidential is confidential. It doesn’t matter who you are.” I pushed away from the tree, annoyed. “Quillan gives me my jobs, not you. Talk to him.”
“This goes over his head. If you want me to report back to the Relations office that you were less than willing to comply, I can do that.”
I stopped in my tracks. He was threatening me now? Great, I was stuck. Whatever the Netherworld wanted, it got. Otherwise, I could be deported for failing to do my job. Especially when it appeared that job was now coming from a higher power than Quillan. “No, don’t do that,” I said, annoyed. “So, going back to this creature, you think someone called it?” Knight smirked, knowing he had me. “I know someone called it.” His cockiness really irked me. “Do you know what the creature is? I think it’s a werewolf.”
“No, it’s a Kragengen shifter.”
“Oh, really?” I said, pretending to know what the hell that was.
“You don’t have Kragengens here,” he said with a smile, as if he knew what I was thinking. “They only exist in the Netherworld.”
“Great, how in the hell are we going to find a shapeshifter?” I asked. “Talk about a needle in a haystack.
“ Kragengens are not true shifters. They can only assume one form aside from their animal forms. If we find it in its human form, we’ve got it.”
I was quiet as I considered it. “What about the fact that there wasn’t any blood?”
“ Kragengens are blood suckers though not vampires. Distantly related,” Knight finished, looking as pleased with himself as an A student. I threw my hands on my hips. “Since you have this all figured out, what do you need my help for?” He nodded. “Two heads are better than one.” “Aren’t macho guys like you supposed to insist they work alone?” He shrugged. “Whoever said I’m macho? Truth of it is, I do prefer to work alone. But orders are orders.” “You have orders from higher up to work with me?” He nodded. “Why me and not Quillan?” “Confidential.” I glared at him. This “confidential” stuff was getting old. “So, back to you-you said you were a lichen?” He laughed again, this time deeper. “A Loki. Lichen is algae.” Heat shot to my cheeks. Lichen? Ugh. “Whatever, a Loki. What’s so great about you?” “I have the strength of a vampire and I can influence dreams.” “That’s it?” I asked, not meaning to sound so rude. “I mean, you can’t do magic?” He shook his head. “No magic. I’m immune to it, though.”
“So I noticed,” I grumbled, remembering the ice and fire episodes. “Okay, smart-guy, any ideas on how we nab this shape-shifting creature?”
“Based on the fact that it tore Fabian to pieces, it probably enjoys causing pain. So, I ask you-where would a supernatural creature who enjoys inflicting pain want to spend its free time, here in Splendor?”
I felt a chill. “Dagan’s S amp;M club, Payne.”
He slid off the swing and nodded. “Bingo.”
SIX
I pulled into the alley bordering Dagan’s club, Payne. Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People blared through the open doors, punctuated with a few rounds of raucous laughter.
“Hey hottie,” a short guy with frizzy blond hair called out, pursing his lips and kissing the air.
I shook my head, watching him take a drag of his cigarette as he motioned to his crotch. His companion laughed. I ignored them and coaxed the Wrangler into a spot by the back door.
I turned the car off and exhaled, pulling the keys from the ignition. Opening the door, I slid down the seat onto the asphalt below. The heels of my thigh-high stiletto boots tapped the pavement and echoed the frenetic beating of my heart.
A dark form stepped out from behind a dumpster. I steadied myself for an attack, even as I recognized Knight.
“Damn it,” I snapped. “Do you always have to jump out at me?”
He wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt that stuck out against the dark night like a goblin in heaven. The white t-shirt didn’t do much to hide his ample biceps, and was visibly straining around his pecs. Show off. “Evening,” he said. “Night,” I grumbled, forcing my attention from his healthy body. He chuckled. “Meaning my name or a greeting?” “Greeting,” I muttered, smoothing down the non-existent creases in my black vinyl miniskirt.
“Are you carrying a gun?” he asked, his gaze starting at my eyes and traveling the length of me. With my black miniskirt, bra top and boots, there wasn’t room for a gun.
“I’ve got magic, remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” he said, quirking a brow like my magic wasn’t very impressive. “Well, at least one of us is armed.”
I glanced at him, and he pulled up his shirt revealing the butt of a gun sticking out of his pants. It also revealed what looked like a six pack of abdomen. I looked away. “Glad you’re prepared.” I said, then feigned interest in my skirt again. “What should I wear? I imagine jeans and a t-shirt aren’t exactly dress code?” “No,” I said. “They aren’t.” “Maybe something not quite as revealing as what you’ve got on?” “Hey, I’m dressing the part,” I started, my hands on my hips. “Wait until you see some of the women in there-I’ll…” “Sorry,” he interrupted, eyeing me again. “You look…incredible. I’m just less thrilled with baring all my assets.”
I frowned but didn’t respond as my thoughts turned to getting the show on the road. First, Knight’s costume. “You might want to take your gun out of your pants.”
“Is that what you say to all the guys?”
I just shook my head.
He removed the gun. Closing my eyes, I shook my hand until a mound of fairy dust appeared. Then I imagined him in black leather pants and tossed the dust into the air. I opened my eyes and watched the dust circle him in a cloud of what looked like glitter. Once it disappeared, I found him before me, chest completely bare. He was nothing short of glorious in shiny leather that clutched his muscular thighs like a second skin.
“I thought you were immune to magic?” I asked.
Knight lifted his legs up as he inspected the boots. “I am. My clothes aren’t.”
I tried not to notice the thick white scar running from his collarbone, across the muscular landscape of his pecs and ending at his waist. It was like someone had taken a knife to a beautiful work of art.
“It’s from a battle with a werewolf,” he said.
I shrugged, pretending indifference. “None of my business.”
He nodded but didn’t drop his attention from my face. I blushed and could’ve hit myself. Hades be damned,
