Amir smiled at him and shook his head. “I wasn’t sure if I could trust you with that tidbit back in the day. Not many people would willingly free a Jinn from a favor. You're one of the good ones. Why don’t we have a seat?” Luc headed across the living room and had a seat on the L-shaped couch. Amir made his way to the mini bar on the other side of the room. “Want a drink?”
“No, thanks. I need to take care of this little issue as soon as possible and I can’t afford to be half in the bag when I’m at it.”
“All right then, I’ll be having a nip, though, if you don’t mind. I have a funny feeling I'm going to need it.” Amir poured himself a shot of gin and dumped in a healthy dose of powdered Salvia from a small sparkling crystal bottle to enhance the effect of the alcohol. Drink in hand, he headed over to the couch and took a seat.
Luc surveyed the apartment slowly and turned back to Amir with a quizzical look. “Before we get started, what happened to Amina? There used to be photos of you two everywhere around here. Now they’re all gone.”
Amir sighed, took a swig of his drink, and set it down on the coffee table. “It was only a matter of time before she found out about ‘the incident.’ Once she did, she was out of here at lightning speed. You know, it’s the most humiliating thing that can happen to a Jinn; she couldn’t risk the embarrassment of staying with me and having someone from the high council find out. I can't really blame her, she would never have lived it down. She knew the only way I’d have been imprisoned was by giving away a Jinn weakness…and to a human, no less. It’s embarrassing for my family. I should have read Jasmine and known, but I didn’t want to invade her mind. I thought we wanted the same thing, a real relationship, and I wanted to be more human for her.” He shook his head again and looked pointedly at Luc. “Stupid, I know. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be bound to her. I owe you my freedom.”
“I’m just glad I was able to get you out of there.”
Luc had been on his way back to The Advocate when he’d noticed a pretty, young woman ducking into a side alley. A bit unusual, but it had been the furtive glances, and the faint glow of magic around her that had caught and held Luc’s attention. He decided to follow her, keeping to the shadows.
Luc had watched as she had taken a small, antique, compact mirror out of her purse. She had rubbed the surface of the mirror muttering a quiet incantation under her breath. A thin thread of smoke curled out of the surface of the mirror, growing larger and larger until it coalesced into the form of a man. Color and substance took hold and there stood Amir, summoned from the mirror to do Jasmine’s bidding. The Jinn could be bound to any object, and much like the fairy tale of Aladdin and the lamp, they were required to grant “wishes” of sorts. There was no limit to the amount of magic they were required to bestow upon their masters.
The Jinn were known for keeping their abilities and weaknesses close to the vest, Luc had never seen one held captive and had put the whole notion down to lore. Rumor had it that there was only one way to free a captive Jinn — destroy the object that held him. Luc had managed to wrest the mirror from Jasmine and had smashed the glass. Amir had been freed from servitude, but had now been indebted to Luc per Jinn custom. A favour at the rescuer’s discretion.
Luc was calling in his favor.
“Ok, here’s the deal. I’m officially asking you to do me the favor of Shadow-Walking me to Halja Castle. After that, I need you to pull your 007 act and get any info you can on the search for a Chimera. If you can also give me a lift back to Outer-Sheol when we’re done, that would rock my Netherworld.”
Amir laughed. “No problem, my friend. I’ll get you in and out. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what the hell is this about a Chimera? They don’t exist.”
“They’re not supposed to, but we think that something’s going down. You know the legends — bind yourself to a Chimera and you can travel to any plane. Not good if my boss gets his hands on one. I may be stuck serving him, but I have no interest in seeing him ruling the earthly plane as well as Sheol, never mind starting a war with Heofon.”
“Wow, okay. Guess it would be useless to point out that, if we get caught, we’ll wind up in a world of hurt.”
“Been there; got the bloody T-shirt.”
Amir sighed, “Okey dokey then. When do you want to do this? Are we working on a timeline here? Do I have time to update my will or anything? I made a killing on some of my investments and I don't want it all going to my crappy Ex.”
With a rueful look, Luc shook his head. “No time to spare. I got a summons to be at Halja in six hours. That was about an hour ago, so we need to head out soon. If I'm late I’ll be spending more quality time with that shithead of a demon, Voss, and his bone knife.”
“All right then, time to go. Sheol help us both.”
Chapter Four
The swirling, smoky mist twisted around them as Amir and Luc stepped through the curtain he’d opened
