Cold night air bit at my exposed arms. Even in early summer, the nights in Seattle weren’t that warm. It was maybe sixty out, at best.
Mei kept her bar a toasty eighty degrees even on the hottest days. Because dragons “liked it on the warm side,” she’d always said. Helped them breathe fire. I seriously doubted the authenticity of that statement. More likely, she just didn’t have air conditioning. It could get plenty hot indoors in the summer without it.
But no matter. I pushed the thought from my head, rubbing my arms a few times to breathe warmth into them as I searched up and down the alleyway for any sign of my missing friend.
Off to one side lay a crumpled trash heap. A few empty liquor bottles stuck out of the top, glinting in the moonlight, but there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could see in either direction.
I rushed back into Mei’s bar, head hung low and shivering. My eyes met Sevin’s again and something from the night’s earlier conversation stuck out at me.
“Sevin!” I shouted, striding over to him and holding his arms again.
The small man shrunk away from me a little but managed to hold my gaze.
“You said you’re clairvoyant, right?” A nod. “Good. If you don’t know who Lanky Guy was, maybe at least you can tell me where he went, right?”
Sevin was shaking his head. I shook his frame a little more and forced him to look at me again. “Hey! This is Mei we’re talking about, right? Time is of the essence!”
“I’m sorry, mon ami,” he said, fresh tears welling up once more. “Truly sorry, but I cannot.”
“Come on!” I demanded. “Give me something better than the name of a song on a radio station for once!”
He lowered his head in shame. “I am sorry, mon ami, but that’s ze extent of my powers,” he admitted slowly, rubbing a tear from his eye and sniffing. “I can only foresee minor details. Nothing big like what might have happened to our friend.” He sighed. “I am worthless.”
I looked deep into Sevin’s eyes then. They were red and puffy. It looked like the little man had been bawling the entire time I’d been looking for some clue to Mei’s disappearance. I let out a sigh and let go of him, shaking my head and turning away. Sevin was in a lot of pain. He’d obviously already tried to push his miniscule gift to the limit and failed to produce anything.
“Sorry,” I said, turning back around and laying my hand on his shoulder. “I shouldn’t have been so rough with you.”
Sevin looked up at me, wiped another tear from his eye, and nodded. “Of course, mon ami. It’s all good.”
“Is okay,” Yuri chimed in. “Little man do all he can.” He puffed up his chest. “Yuri help too.”
I nodded at both of them and spun back around. It was good to know I had their assistance if I needed it, but it still didn’t get me any closer to finding Mei.
Without a word to either of them, I raced back over to the exit door and spilled out into the darkened alley. Mei’s captor had gone that way, so if there were any clues as to her disappearance, they’d be in that direction.
From behind me, I heard a shuffling noise and the sound of someone coughing. I turned my head to see Sevin and Yuri piling into the alleyway behind me. At least they were being true to their word.
“Spread out,” I told them, pushing my hands out to the sides. “Search the alleyway for any sort of clues.”
“Like what?” Frenchie asked, his face still raw and wet.
I shrugged. “Anything, really. We don’t know who this guy is or where he went.”
Yuri and Sevin both nodded and headed one way down the alley. I took the other direction, scanning the ground for anything I could find that might be useful.
It was really dark out, so I took out my flashlight - that’s right, I brought it with me this time - and turned it on to light up the ground. But all I could see were small puddles of rain mixed with trash or possibly worse. This was any alley, after all.
Then I heard it; an ear-splitting scream from up ahead of me.
My heart lurched as my mind started racing. That was Mei’s voice! I was sure of it. And she didn’t seem that far off.
I sped off in the direction of her scream, my companions and my search momentarily forgotten in my haste. My legs started burning almost immediately, but I paid them no heed and kept going, determined to catch up.
Along the way, I ditched my flashlight, in too much of a hurry to put it back properly, and unsheathed Grax’thor. That beauty would prove itself tonight, one way or another. Besides, I’d left my katana at home this time, so my options were limited.
I heard another scream a few moments later and what sounded like a gruff man slapping someone hard, then the noises stopped.
My heart sank even further, and I vowed death for whoever had dared assault my Mei as I rounded a corner.
I practically ran smack-dab into a tall, half-naked, burly guy in the next street, rearing back seconds before I crashed into him in a move that would have sent us both sprawling. The giant of a man had some sort of blue markings on his skin and just a hint of a beard peeking out on his broad chin.
Half-Naked Guy grinned at me, and I saw that there were two teeth missing on the left side and a gold one on the right. I had to stop myself from plugging my nose at the smell of his breath, but manners dictated not to do that to strangers.
“Sorry,” I muttered, then tipped my head.
That’s when I saw a hint of steel peeking out at the man’s side - a broad
