Shift of Time (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 1) (3 page)

“You’re lying, Orin.” I dragged the word out, teasing him. “Why do you say Fae and vampire without the article
a
?”

This time he did look into my eyes, and I was guessing it was because he thought I was an imbecile and as such wouldn’t be able to glamour him if I tried. He was so wrong, thank you very much.

“You wouldn’t say you’re a Caucasian, would you?” he grumbled. “Now, are you going to do as I say or should we get Almonester out here to settle our disagreement?”

“Spoken like a true disciple.”

Orin bristled.

“All right.” I held up my hands. “I’ll do as I’m told, but I’m not going to glamour anyone. If that’s what’s expected of me, forget it.”

“You’re different from the vampires I’ve met.”

My interest perked up. “You’ve met others? Where? Here?”

He spun away. “Come on. We can’t leave everyone to Pammie.”

And so began my new job, as morally reprehensible as it was. I didn’t get in the way of Orin and Pammie casting spells on the occasional customer, while drawing in all the others with their beauty, and, it seemed, a certain Fae pheromone. The alcohol flowed, and the money accumulated until Almonester appeared right at two in the morning to declare we were closed. He rudely shuffled everyone to the door, and after some sweeping and mopping, I was paid in cash and sent on my way, too.

I didn’t know if I was coming back the next night, but I confess, being able to post a good sum to Mason for Jake would feel good. Maybe a little longer until I found something better.

I
stood
at the corner of Bourbon Street and St. Philip with an eye toward Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar. I figured since I had by now worked a month in Almonester’s bar, surely I must have enough experience to get hired here.

While the original brothers, Jean and Pierre Lafitte, were said to have run their smuggling operation from the shop, that had nothing to do with the bar now. The building still looked like what a blacksmith’s shop might look, with its barnlike doors and the glimpse I had of the massive brick fireplace inside.

My senses told me there were at least two nonhumans inside, one that smelled similar to Orin, but he wasn’t a bartender. The other person I couldn’t identify. When I entered the small establishment, I studied the employees in view and was relieved to find they were human.

I started forward but then stopped. The man I had already identified as possible Fae caught my attention. He was lovely like Orin and Pammie but with dark hair, and there was a detached air about him as if he couldn’t be bothered with winning anyone over with spells. I liked him already.

The man wore blue jeans and a T-shirt that read “I’m just here to establish an alibi.” Funny. He nursed a beer and sipped as he scanned the room. When his gaze lit on me, the eyes widened a little, and he smiled, not a come hither one—at least not a magical come hither. I was after all “a man draw.”

He raised his bottle to me, and I nodded. However, we both were drawn to turn toward the doorway. I hadn’t stepped far, so the presence overwhelmed me. The third man stared at the suspected Fae and then at me. Black eyes narrowed and searing evil was the impression I got. He joined the other nonhuman, whom I hadn’t had time to study.

I looked toward the Fae and found him standing in a hurry. Leaving his unfinished beer, he made for the exit and didn’t cast me a second glance. As soon as he cleared the doorway, the other two beings followed. A warning fired off inside me. The job search would have to wait. If that Fae was in trouble, I wanted to help him.

I resisted moving as fast as my vampire abilities could take me and instead chose a moderate if hurried pace. When I reached the entrance to the bar and searched the street, none of the three men were in sight. I ventured farther out and inhaled. While I didn’t need to breathe to live, doing so took in the scents around me. However, I longed to blow out the one that burned my nostrils this time—sulphur.

I almost gagged, and I pinched my nose closed. I had left myself vulnerable for that attack. With extreme reluctance, I followed the scent around a corner and came upon an alley. The expanse lay in darkness, but it didn’t hinder me as I traversed deeper into it. When the possibility of being discovered by humans was past, I picked up the pace just in time to hear a man’s cry.

The air and a few loose bits of trash stirred around me as I came to a stop between two buildings. The Fae fought with the two men who had pursued him. No, I thought as I watched them, three. Where had the third man come from? The three of them were dressed all in black to the point that even their faces seemed cast in shadow, and I would have been hard-pressed to describe their features later.

The scent of sulphur was heavier here, and it clogged in my throat and made my eyes itch. Well, I couldn’t whine about that when the Fae needed me. I whisked forward and having no weapon or having ever fought in my life, I balled my fist, thumb neatly tucked inside, and punched the nearest man.

Pain shot from my thumb to my hand and up my arm. However, the impact of my punch, coupled with the force that only a vampire can produce—at least in my experience—sent the man hurtling against a brick wall.

I crouched, expecting the unpleasant sounds that come with a high-speed impact, and got just that, but there was so much more to boggle my inexperienced brain. The man slid down the wall and slumped to the ground. I started to turn away, but there was that awful scent that staggered my stance and made it hard to advance to my next prey. Why would he smell so hideous when injured? I looked back thinking I could determine the cause like yellow blood or green ooze seeping from the man’s injury only to find him gone!

Spinning this way and that, I searched the alley in case the coward had made a run for it after attacking an innocent man. A flash of blue light in my peripheral vision made me spin right, and the second man hit the wall. The Fae was holding his own, but there were two more.

Two? I wanted to scrub my eyes but decided he could use assistance. I dispatched the second and third enemy, one with each fist, thank you very much. Unfortunately, not without pain. When the Fae and I were alone, I clutched my hands before me, moaning with my eyes half shut. “Are you okay, sir?”

I was hoping against hope no more weird stinky men would show up in the alley. Although my chin dipped toward my chest, the movement I heard to my right didn’t cause me alarm. The Fae stirred nearer to me, silent and no doubt curious.

“That will heal,” he said, in a deep and appealing voice. “Give it a sec. Why on earth would you fight with your thumb tucked in?”

He sounded amused, and it gave me the strength to glare at him. “A thank you would suffice without the criticism.”

The grin remained. He had no shame whatsoever of laughing at me.
Of all the nerve.
After he had chuckled a few moments, I found he was right. The pain in my thumbs eased and then was gone without a trace.

“Better now?” He leaned forward a little, all solicitation and gentleness. He smelled very similar to Orin but slightly different. I put it down to his unique scent as everyone seemed to have.

“I’m fine.”

“Good, and thank you for helping me…”

“Rue Darrow.”

“Rue. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” Unlike Orin when I first met him, this man looked me straight in the eyes. He either didn’t know what I was, or he didn’t care. “I’m Milo Beuron. Glad to meet you, and since you saved me, why don’t I buy you a drink?”

I hesitated, taking in his tall, slender, but wiry form. “You’re Fae, aren’t you?”

An odd look came into his eyes that I couldn’t identify, but then he smiled, a practiced one to charm. “I am Fae, yes, and you’re vampire. What’s that to a man and a woman?”

Chills raced down my spine, or it might have been a memory of chills in situations such as this. Suffice it to say, I was intrigued. “Okay, but first tell me what those men were, and was it my imagination that they multiplied?”

Another chuckle at my expense. “They were demons, and when you kill them, they give off that odor. To be specific, only the imps have such a disgusting scent, and they’re not technically dead.”

“Not technically…? Imps?” I blinked at him. This was new to me.

He reached for my hand and held it as if he would raise it to his lips to kiss. “How about we get that drink? I will tell you all you wish to know.”

My desire to know what walked the streets of New Orleans encouraged me to accept his offer, and soon we sat in a restaurant with a glass of red wine before me. Milo, fully at ease, sat before a plate of sirloin, baked potato, and vegetable medley. I was aware that older vampires, including Ian, could drink wine, but I had tried it days after I had been turned, and the results were not pretty.

Milo sliced his steak with vigor and stuffed large chunks into his mouth. He glanced at me and saw that I sat watching him eat. He set his silverware down and leaned back in his chair. “Sorry about that. After a workout such as we had, I needed some sustenance.”

“I understand.”

“You’re not drinking?”

“Not now.”

“Ah.” He nodded as if he understood. He didn’t of course. No one did. “So, let’s start with fighting, Rue.” He reached across the table and took my hand again. I allowed it for the moment, but I didn’t feel anything in particular for Milo. He was good to look at, but I still loved Ian very deeply.

“It was the first I’ve ever been in,” I admitted.

His eyes widened. “You’re kidding?”

I ducked my head. “I’m sure you could tell.”

“No, well, except for the thumbs.”

“The thumbs? Oh, you mentioned…” I was so embarrassed I wanted to slink away. He was just being nice saying I hadn’t looked like an amateur. Even I saw that I did, but short of getting lessons, there wasn’t a solution, and I couldn’t imagine myself joining a gym. I might break the equipment or kill the personal trainer.

“Yes, never stick your thumbs inside your fist, or you’ll break them as you did tonight. You heal fast, but I bet it hurts like heck.”

“Does it ever,” I agreed.

He started to stroke my skin, and I drew out of his hold. I didn’t have to be a hundred years old to see when a man was putting the moves on me, and I wasn’t looking to date.

“Next, the demons.” Milo lowered his voice to avoid the humans overhearing. I heard him fine, but by habit, I ducked my head closer to his. He grinned and followed suit. I didn’t know yet if Fae had better hearing than humans. He continued the topic in discussion rather than volunteer that information. “The demons weren’t multiplying. More of them were showing up.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“Not nowhere. They’re around. There might be some here, but they live on a different plane than we do. Their effect on us physical beings is limited. It takes a lot of energy to appear, and if they appear before you, it better be for a good reason.”

“Interesting. So, you said they weren’t actually dying.”

“They’re not physical beings, so they don’t die. They can be pushed out of this physical world, and the trail they leave…” He waved a hand before his nose.

“They become invisible again, when they are ‘killed’?”

“No. They’re banished to wherever it is they come from, their world. It’s not this realm as we know it, but I’m thinking it’s not a different planet either.”

“That’s all very confusing. Where I come from, most of the folks have never heard of such things. Oh, I mean we’ve heard of demons, but appearing in dark alleys and attacking, disappearing in a cloud of sulphur…it’s mindboggling.”

“There is a lot more about Nawlins than you can dream of,
cher
.”

His pronunciation of the city and the endearment reminded me of the various dialects I had heard since arriving. I had even caught the use of French Creole once by a shop owner, but perhaps it was for affect. This was another enjoyment I found that I didn’t mind a bit.

“Milo?”

He’d gone back to eating, and a twinge of jealousy washed over me. Could I chew the meat and then spit it out? I would try one night when I was alone.

“Yes?”

“Why were they attacking you? I assume all kinds of beings live here alongside the demons. Do you have something they want?”

“Very astute.” He wiped his hands and dragged a napkin across his mouth. “I work in shipping. Sometimes I bring in very valuable items that others want, and they will do what they can to get their hands on it. The demons may have been hired to try to get it from me.”

“Hired? Demons can be hired?”

“That’s not what’s important here, Rue.”

“Was there a part to your story I missed? The jumped in a back alley part seemed pretty serious.” I pressed a knuckle to my lips and gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, I sometimes…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Come to think of it, do you know what I am?”

He smirked. “A tracker.”

“Excuse me?” I blinked at him. Maybe my brain was turning to mush.

“You’re a natural born tracker, Rue, and if you’re willing, I’ll pay you.”

I was bewildered. “Pay me for what?”

Milo touched a fingertip to the end of my nose. “Your gift. In short, your sense of smell. Listen, as soon as you told me your name I knew who your were.”

My suspicions rose, and he laughed.

“Don’t get your hackles up. Some of us in the”—he scanned the restaurant—“nonhuman world like to know who’s living with us. I happen to know there’s a baby vamp living with Almonester.”

“I’m not
living
with him!”

He chuckled again. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to insult you. It’s just that everyone knows that guy will steal the food from your table while you’re still eating it. He’s very selfish and greedy, and he doesn’t have a conscience. Trust me when I tell you, Rue, you don’t want to be beholden to him for anything—
ever
.”

I hugged my arms. Was Ian beholden to Almonester after getting me the apartment? I hoped not. “What
is
Almonester?”

Milo went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “You’re working at his bar, and while you may think it’s just a job, it’s not.
He
sees it as doing you a favor. You’d be better off as a tracker, but you need experience and references. That’s where I come in.”

I was not about to believe everything Milo said. He had gone from sounding like a potential lover to an oily salesman. While he maligned my landlord, I hesitated to believe he was much different. Milo had an angle, too, and as I thought of this I saw in his gaze he knew I doubted him.

“I’m not hiring you to trust me, Rue. I want something.”

“What’s that?”

“What was stolen from me. I don’t know who took it or where they are now. Nothing I’ve used has helped me pin them down. I believe they’ve hired demons to kill me and get me off their trail. You can help me find them and get my item back.”

“You’re insane.” I blustered. “I might be undead, but I’m not some thrill seeker willing to risk her existence. No, I’m sorry for your loss, but I won’t do it.”

For an instant, his brow furrowed. Then the previous smile lit his face. “It was worth a try, especially with you being a vampire.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you getting at?”

“You’re close to impervious to spells.”

I thought back to my previous experiences with vampires when I wasn’t one myself. Isabelle had made a charm that repelled a vampire and left him in pain. There was also the more recent event where I had sunk into a spell Orin had cast over a customer. I’m pretty sure if he had turned his attention on me, I would have done whatever he wanted, which was a scary thought. “I’m vulnerable just like anyone else.”