Lie Down with Dogs (13 page)

“We’re leaving Daytona,” I told them.

They nodded in concert and left, shutting the door behind them.

I sat there, gazing through the window at the glittering waves. “I wish I had more time.” I rested my elbow on my knee and my chin in my palm. “I want to talk to the old man again.”

Diode dropped his front paws onto the floor, sounding heavier than he had earlier. “That is inadvisable.”

“I’ll do it,” Mai volunteered.

“If it’s too dangerous for me, it’s too dangerous for you.”

“I’ll take one of your guards.”

“Not an option.” I shook my head. “I’m not risking you for my own curiosity.”

She blocked my view. “Will the information help you with Rook?”

“I don’t know.” There were too many variables. “Maybe.”

She dusted her hands. “Good enough for me.”

“You’re worth more to me than any
maybe
.” I went to my feet. “You’re worth more than anything that elder can tell me. Without Rook’s sister in the flesh, the information’s value is questionable at best.”

“Look, there’s too much history between the selkies and the Morrigan and the Morrigan and you for him to confide more than he already has. But I—” she fluffed her hair, “—spent all morning with them. They liked me until you came along—no offense—and I can win them over again. Even if I can’t get information direct from the source, I bet I can get the young one to talk. I’ll use the bikini.”

Lord help them. “The magic bikini?”

“Nope.” She tugged the chain-mail cover-up over her head, retied her strings and plumped her breasts. “How do I look?”

“Like you couldn’t afford the entire roll of tinfoil so you tore the corners off a sheet.”

Eyes narrowed, she snatched my pillow off the bed and walloped me in the face until her nails poked holes in the case and down stuffing leaked into the air and into my mouth.

“Truce.” I spat out a feather.

Pausing with the limp case held over her head, she considered the flurries swirling through the room and lowered her weapon. “I accept your surrender.” She walked over and pressed the deflated pillow into my hands. “Don’t sweat it, Tee. I’ve got this.”

Too late for that. Beads were forming on my spine the longer her plan pinged around in my head.

“One more thing.” She backed into the hall, doorknob in hand. “Make me a promise.”

“Sure.” I drew out the word. “What did you have in mind?”

“Promise me while I’m gone that you’ll have some fun.” She winked. “Do something reckless.”

“I thought the whole point of you going to meet the selkies was for me to avoid being reckless?”

Pointer and thumb held an inch apart, she narrowed her eyes. “Just a splash of recklessness.”

Expecting the worst, I inhaled then exhaled slowly. “Tell me what I’ve gotten myself into.”

“I want you to get your ass downstairs and float in that lazy river until I fish you out of it.”

Swimming. Danger all around us, and she wanted me to go tubing. “Why?”

“This was supposed to be your big send-off, Tee. You and me, sand and sun and surf. A big, fun week of...big, fun things.” She went serious on me. “Instead, we got a phone stalker, some freaky guy with a god complex, sulky selkies, and to top it all off, we ran straight into the one thing I wanted to get you away from most. Your new family.” Her fingertips drummed the doorframe. “This whole trip has sucked ass so far. It’s okay. You can say it.”

Tell the truth? Or lie convincingly? “It hasn’t sucked ass.”

Mai wasn’t fooled. “I picked this hotel especially for you, because of that lazy river. The least you can do to thank me for my considerateness is to make a few relaxing laps—while you’re actually conscious.”

I must have had water in my ears. “You
picked
this
hotel
?”

Her face blanched.

“Gotta go.” She ducked out of my room. “Bye.”

The door slammed behind her.

I pointed after her. “She lied to me.”

The whiskers on Diode’s face flexed. “It appears so.”

Why that little
grrr
. “Guys, I don’t care who, but someone go keep tabs on her.”

After stomping into the bathroom, I snatched my slightly damp beach towel off the counter and stormed past Diode into the living room. I had one hand wrapping the doorknob when he and Righty caught up to me.

The cat stepped forward. “Where are you going?”

“For a swim.”

––––––––

C
ondos were to my bank account as permanent markers were to toddlers: forever out of reach.

When Mai said her brother-in-law’s skulk owned a condo, I pictured a fancy hotel-like property people visited once or twice a year for vacation. The lack of personal items was explained away by a commercial I saw once mentioning how you chose your week and then were assigned your room.

A quick visit to Google on my cell set me straight and made me feel like an idiot. Mai said
condo
, but I heard
timeshare
. I was embarrassed by how easily she had wielded my ignorance against me.

While nursing my injured pride, I stashed all my necessities in my locker, then snagged a jumbo inner tube from the attendant and headed for the submerged stairs. Lefty had gone with Mai, and boy had he look thrilled to be loaned to my Seelie bestie. I took the delegation as confirmation that Righty had more seniority and therefore also had his choice of charges.

Technically, as a conclave employee, Mai was neutral. It was a job requirement. But Lefty didn’t want to hear that. He seemed content nursing his anger, so who was I to dump a bucket of ice-cold truth over his hot head?

After flinging my tube in the pool, I waded into the water and belly-flopped onto the float with a grunt.

Righty was nearby. I was getting good at sensing him. Once I rounded the bend, I heard startled gasps and spotted two humans staggering from where he must have knocked them out of his way. He stuck near the pool’s edge, following my trek around the watery loops and bends while I studied my reflection.

I decided I didn’t look like a sucker.

Not that it stopped people from treating me like one.

Shaking off my weird mood, I closed my eyes against the girl I saw in the water, the one whose mouth sagged at the corners and who sported dark smudges under her eyes.

Mai knew me better than anyone. Well, almost anyone. If I had to be duped, at least it had been by a worthy opponent and one who kept my best interests at heart. My ignorance wasn’t her fault.

I don’t know how long I drifted like that, allowing my mind to wander, before Righty materialized nearly on top of me.

“We need to go.” His voice grated near my ear. “I sense old magic here.”

My mouth went dry. “The Morrigan?”

“No.” His grip steadied the inner tube while I climbed off. “Something else.”

I inhaled on reflex but came up empty. “Our fae friend?”

Being slapped with an eviction notice from the conclave must have pissed him off.

“It’s difficult to explain.”

“Try.” I grabbed for him, but my hand closed over air. “Mai’s still out there.”

“Mai is at the bar.” He clamped down on my arm. “Daire is watching her.”

Jerk better protect her too, if he knew what was good for him.

Righty led me to the steps, hauled me out of the pool and flung my inner tube toward a lifeguard station. He barreled through alarmed humans, who quickly locked their glares on me as though I had pushed them out of my way. It wasn’t until my arm started throbbing that I realized he had never let go. For Righty to hurt me meant he was on autopilot. He had one mission: protect his ward.

He jerked me forward. “There she is.”

“Mai,” I called.

She spun on her barstool, both arms waving in the air as she swayed to music. “Hey to you too.”

I winced, but we kept going until Righty cleared me a path straight to her. Once I got close, she slid into my arms. Her pupils were huge, and her eyes weren’t tracking.

“Hey.” I patted her cheek. “You okay?”

Rapid-fire giggles answered me.

Under my breath, I told Righty, “I need help.”

“Stay put,” he said. “Daire and I will handle this.”

To my left, an unseen force knocked partiers aside. A fight broke out between two guys too drunk to do more than slur in each other’s general direction. They shut up fast enough when a buzzer sounded. The crowd gasped as the lights flickered. Squeals and cheers erupted when the patio went dark.

“I have Mai,” Righty called over the chattering voices. “We need to get moving if we want to be first in line for the elevators.”

As if on cue, emergency lights popped on, emitting a dull, red glow. I spotted Righty’s leather-clad back and Mai’s limp form hanging from the cradle of his arms a few steps ahead of me. I jogged to get in front of them and wedged open the automatic doors leading into the poolside area.

A frisson of magic near my left elbow relieved me of the strain, allowing me to cradle Mai’s head to protect her while Righty squeezed through the tight gap made tighter by the swimsuit-clad masses following our lead. Herd mentality indeed.

“What happened?” I looked to my left. “She was supposed to be schmoozing with the selkies.”

“We explored the beach first. It took a while for us to locate the pod. They had moved onto another hotel’s property. When the gray men saw her, they asked her to leave. She refused, and the elder was called. She caught the young one’s eye and managed a word with him before we left. The boy agreed to meet her here.” He grunted as the crowd swept us forward. “I left her sitting at the bar with a glass of ginger ale while I performed a perimeter check. I reported to Odhran, and when I returned, I found her like this.”

Odhran? Righty had a name after all. I filed it away for later. “How long ago was that?”

He paused to consider. “Ten minutes at most.”

Ten minutes from sober to shit-faced meant drugs or a spell or both.

“I assume we have you to thank for the blackout.” I grimaced. “What did you do?”

“I tripped the breaker.” He grabbed my arm and jerked me toward the elevators. “It’s a quick fix even humans can’t botch.”

Acting casual, Lefty and I flanked Righty. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder before the chrome doors and waited for the moment we could step onboard and end this. Twenty minutes lapsed, counted down by the glow of my cellphone’s screen, before a hum filled the air and lights flickered on in a burst that left me squinting and folks in the lobby cheering. Being first in line, we hustled into the booth as soon as the elevators got the all-clear and rode it up to our floor.

Mai earned a few sympathetic looks from partygoers in the crowd. As for the guards, well, there was a reason no one else braved the trip up with us.

At the door to our room, I growled a curse. “I left my bag.”

“Here.” A rough, braided handle brushed my hand. Lefty urged, “Take it.”

I did, and when he released it, the illusion masking my bag vanished. “This was in a locker.”

“I broke the lock.” He sounded totally fine with that. “They will probably keep your deposit.”

I didn’t pay one, so if I was blamed for the lock, it would get charged to the room.

At least that meant it was coming out of Mai’s pocket and not her brother-in-law’s. It would be easier for me to pay damages that way.

Still, I was impressed Lefty had thought to grab the bag. “You’re good at this.”

“I know,” he answered in complete seriousness.

Shaking my head, I palmed the keycard. I never swiped them right on the first try, but when the red light flashed a third time, Righty made an impatient noise and Lefty plucked the card from my fingers. He was poised to try his luck when a chime made us turn. Packed as the scene downstairs had been, I expected cranky guests to pour out and break for their rooms. Instead the elevator doors opened on an empty booth. I inhaled but scented nothing out of the ordinary. Just a whiff of spicy takeout.

I drew in a longer breath. “Do you remember smelling that on the way up here?”

Lefty tensed when he noticed my hand had gone automatically to my glove. “No.”

“Get us in that room,” I said quietly.

He slid the key through the slit, and of course it worked for him on the first try.

We hustled inside, and Righty hurried Mai into her chosen room and stretched her across the bed. Lefty locked the door behind us and bolted it. “What did you scent?”

I explained how the elevator had pulled the same trick on our first night here. Heck, I had tried to order curry chicken takeout because of it. Too bad there were no Indian restaurants on the strip.

I peered through the peephole, but the hall remained empty.

Righty reemerged wearing a stiff expression and dusting off his arms. “She’s sleeping.”

“Good. Keep an eye on her.” I held up a finger and made a beeline for the balcony. “Give me a minute.”

Righty moved to follow me.

I wagged the finger. “Alone.”

His expression pinched. “Stay where I can see you.”

“Will do.”

On the balcony, I stood with the room at my back, facing the crashing waves, and pulled out my cell. Mai would smother me in my sleep if she knew, but I hit my first speed-dial combo and waited.

Shaw answered with my name. “Thierry?”

“We have a problem.”

The pleased tenor of his voice hardened. “What’s wrong?”

“The list is too long.”

“Okay, we’ll start simple. Where are you?”

“We’re at the condo—hotel—whatever.”

“What’s the immediate threat?”

My mouth fell open.
So many options.
“My guards say there’s old magic here.”

“That’s a little broad.” He voiced what I had been thinking. “Can they narrow it down?”

“They can’t be more specific. It’s just a feeling they have.”

“Tell me everything.”

Everything
was too big for over the phone, but I gave him the highlights.

“Are you heading home?” He sounded hopeful I would say
yes
.

“I don’t know if that’s wise.” I had a twofold issue here. For one thing, some nebulous evil was hanging out at a condo frequented by humans. As a marshal, my duty was to ascertain whether there was potential for the situation to expose fae to said humans, and to neutralize the threat if I deemed it necessary. The second issue was more personal. Mai wasn’t well. Moving her in her condition wasn’t ideal, but better sick and uncomfortable than dead. “It’s a long drive back to Wink for her.”