Revealed in Fire by K.F. Breene

Seven

“Hey, Red.”I dug my thumb into the soft spot at the edge of his jaw and just under his ear. The hard clang of a metal band spilled out of the doorway to my back, and people ambled by in the failing evening light with smiles and staggers, holding clear plastic cups with straws and lids, taking in the musical scene. Late summer in the French Quarter, my kinda jam. “Miss me?”

I’d gone against Darius’s wishes and left the ward without him, but at least I had waited until he was nearly able to travel outside. I called that quite responsible.

Red, a dog shifter who acted as an informant for Roger’s pack, let out a high-pitched squeal before clamping his mouth shut to save a little face.

I marshaled him up to standing and against the wall for no other reason than I was pretty sure he expected it.

“Re-Reagan,” he stammered, his lithe frame shaking. “I didn’t know you were back.”

“And now you do.” I let him go. “Fancy a drink?”

“You know I don’t drink.”

“True. Let me revise. Fancy watching me have a drink?”

“Not really,” he said miserably, hunching as I grabbed his upper arm and pulled him down the sidewalk.

“What’s new? What’s the scuttlebutt around here?”

I stopped in front of the doorway to the shifter bar, smooth jazz flowing out of it, the opening blocked by a large guy with a unibrow and an entrancing mystery he just would not help me solve.

“Hey, Jimmy,” I said, glancing at his package. “Knock up any mermaids lately? Or even just bumped uglies with them?” He went out into the gulf every year for a “knock ’em up” situation, along with all the other merfolk in the area, and it drove me mad wondering how they procreated with big fins getting in the way. They were annoyingly mute on the subject.

“Reagan.” His dark-eyed gaze flitted to Red and then away. “Been a minute. Who’re ya looking for now?”

“No one, actually. I’m the one people are looking for this time. What an amazing new age we live in, huh?”

Jimmy smirked and stepped to the side to admit me. “I hadn’t heard you were on the watch list. Must not be Roger looking for you.”

“No, he found me. It’s the vampires.”

He grunted. “Steve will be happy to hear it.”

“Nah. Wrong vampire. I’m still banging that one. Speaking of, when you go on your merman retreats, and you’re in the water…what happens then?” I looked at his package again.

“You need to find something new to wonder about.” He gestured us in as two giggly girls stopped behind us.

“If you’d just explain the dynamics of merpeople banging to me, I would be glad to find something new to wonder about.” I dragged Red inside with me.

“They don’t like to talk about what happens at sea,” he said, yelling to be heard over the frenzied notes of the piano and short blasts of the trumpet.

“Yeah. That’s why I’m obsessed. For a guy who gathers intel, you sure miss the obvious.”

I didn’t let go of him until we reached a few empty chairs on the far side of the bar. When I settled onto a barstool and rested my elbows on the counter, he grudgingly took a seat beside me. I knew he didn’t try to run because he wanted to hear about my drama. Which was exactly why I’d searched him out. I wanted word to spread, and he was the best one to make sure it happened.

“Hey, Reagan, long time no see.” The bartender, Trixie, stopped in front of me and braced her hands on the edge of the bar. Tattoos crawled across her breastplate and down her arms. A ring on her left nostril caught the light.

“Hey Trix. Gimme a hurricane, please. Make it a strong one. I can’t have that many.”

“Oh no?” She turned, reached down, and pulled open a fridge door before extracting a chilled pint glass. “What’s the occasion?”

“I’m expecting an attack and don’t want to be too drunk to thwart it.”

Red perked up, as I’d expected he would.

“You guys seen any demons around this place?” I asked as she started pouring ingredients into a metal shaker.

Red’s expression closed down. “I thought you said Roger found you…”

“Yes, Red, I know there have been demons. All kinds. I’m wondering about lately. As in the last couple of days.” I put up my hands. “I’ll be helping this time. I’m not bounty hunting right now.”

“They took out a few yesterday,” Trixie said before pausing to shake the mixture over her shoulder. “Marcus’s pack took them out, no problem.”

“So they weren’t that strong, then?” I asked.

Trixie loaded the pint glass with ice before pouring in the contents of the shaker. “No. Not like the ones a week ago, right, Red? They couldn’t kill those.”

“Where were those located?”

Trixie pushed the drink across the bar before knocking on the wood, indicating she’d buy me that one. I pulled out a five for a tip. It was Darius’s money—might as well spread the wealth.

“Outside of town a ways,” Red said, watching me. “There’ve been a few high-powered ones. Garden District, a couple of cemeteries, out by your house once. We don’t have the resources to really take them down, now that Steve and Cole joined that pack in Santa Cruz. Those demons don’t do much, though. Not like the lesser-powered ones. Those cause trouble. Try to kill people.”

I nodded and captured the straw between my lips. The alcohol made me grimace. “Good one, Trixie. Strong.”

“Drink like a shifter.” She winked at me but didn’t move away. “What do you want with the demons?”

I sucked down more of my drink. “Nothing much. Kill a few and then send a message back with the rest.” Trixie’s and Red’s faces both creased in confusion. “Only the really powerful ones, though. I mean, I’ll help kill the lesser ones, no problem. I need something to do. But I have business with the stronger variety.”

“Trixie, I’m dying over here,” yelled some guy with a Boston accent.

She pushed away from the bar and then turned and headed to the waiting patrons on the other side.

“What kind of message?” Red asked, as I’d known he would.

I fished the parchment Roger had given me out of my pouch, my stomach swirling. I was about to conversationally out myself. My whole life I’d been taught to keep this one secret, no matter what. I knew what these words would set in motion. I knew what a big deal this was.

What a big deal I was, in the grand scheme of things.

These people all knew me as the poor girl with weird magic who didn’t have any friends and had made the terrible mistake of shacking up with a vampire. I’d been an outcast since they’d met me. A troublemaker. A recluse, in some senses. A nut case.

Now I was about to show my hand, and it might wow them, scare them, or make them pity me. I wasn’t just a poor bounty hunter, I was a little gold nugget, and the largest powers in the worlds were vying for my attention. No biggie.

I laughed and flung the note at him. Nervousness was for ninnies.

He peeled it open and his eyes widened. “I heard about this,” he murmured, his gaze sliding across the short message. He looked up at me, shocked. Then his eyes narrowed. “Where’d you get this?”

“You know where I got it.”

“No, I mean, did you steal it?”

“You know that Vlad is looking for me, right?” He didn’t comment, but his left eye twitched. He did, and he was connecting that knowledge to the note he held. I nodded. “He’s sending demons up to lure me out of hiding.” I pointed at the parchment. “That is why. Only, that didn’t come from the demons Vlad’s been summoning. It came from the demons my old man sent. They aren’t looking for Charity, if that’s what you heard. They are looking for me.” I spread my hands wide and laughed. That wasn’t so hard, and the blood draining from his face was totally worth it.

He froze, eyes completely rounded, staring at me.

I plucked the note out of his fingers. “Not everyone can say they got kicked around by Lucifer’s daughter, eh? See? And you were so put out. Now it’s a story of interest. You can tell people you helped out Lucifer’s daughter all those times. Maybe someone will care. Probably not, but you can always hope.”

I pushed the five-dollar bill forward and finished off my drink.

“But…wait.” Red put out his hand to stop me from getting up. “Wait, wait. So…Roger knows about…this? You?”

“Yes.” I spoke slowly so he’d be sure to get it. “Hence. The. Note.”

“But—wait, wait.” He grabbed my shoulder. “Wait, wait, wait.” He squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to process the information.

I changed my mind. Telling everyone would be awesome, and I wanted to do it immediately.

I took his hand off and stood. I’d promised to head over to Callie and Dizzy’s house—they were expecting me, and so was the Red Prophet, whom I’d promised to introduce to Karen. And although I’d ignored several calls from an increasingly frantic Penny because it was funny and I was an asshole, I’d texted Emery yesterday and told him to meet us there too.

Darius hadn’t phoned. I was pretty sure that meant he was incredibly pissed at me for leaving the ward.

“See ya, Trix—”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Red pushed off the stool and stood in my way with his hands out. “Reagan, you have to think about this. You can’t send a message down there. You can’t just let him know you’re…well, you.”

“He’s going to find out one way or the other.” I stepped around him, then physically moved him out of the way when he stepped with me. “It’ll be on my terms.”

I stalked forward, pulling out my phone to call a cab. I didn’t have the ride-share apps on this burner phone.

“No, but…wait.” He trailed behind me like a puppy. “Let’s talk about this. You’ll be in incredible danger.”

“Aww, Red, that’s nice. You care about me.”

“Yes, I do, damn it.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me around, his eyes wild. “You make my life hell, but I know why you occasionally give me the scoop. You’re trying to give me Roger’s ear. And it’s worked. He relies on me to keep an eye on you, both for our benefit and yours. So yeah, I feel obligated to stop you from throwing yourself into incredible danger. Sue me. This is all much bigger than you, Reagan. Lucifer has beef with the elves. If you out yourself, you’ll have beef with the elves. They are the most powerful beings in the worlds, and you’re just one person. You need to…” He licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “I don’t know. You need to work this out with Roger.”

My heart squished a little. It was a weird feeling in this setting. Darius was making me soft. Or maybe I just needed to get used to allowing people into my life for a change. It had been happening slowly for a while, and now it felt like it was happening all at once.

“I am working this out with Roger, Red. It’s fine. I’m going to have two Seers on my case, and the warrior fae will have my back.” I gave him heavy pats on his bony shoulder, making him flinch with each one. “Thanks, though.”

I turned toward the door.

“Okay, but…”

I slowed, but not because of him. Framed by the door and backlit by the streetlights, the new night flowing in around him, was the most handsome non-man I’d ever seen in my life. He’d come to collect the goods.

Me.

“Hey, Vlad,” I said, and sauntered toward him casually. If he wanted to do this now, we’d do it now.