If I could just come around to some of that acceptance about staying here, my life would be a hell of a lot easier.
I spent the next two days resting and healing, and by the third day, I’d had enough sitting around on my ass to last the rest of my life.
In spite of the protests of people around me, I gathered my things, hopped on Vincenzo, and made my way back to Boise.
Lochlyn had sent me notes while I was recuperating. She’d packed up all of our things, and she’d taken her stuff and moved out of our apartment. She was couch surfing with some of her nightclub friends until she found a job. My stuff was still at our old place, which I discovered had been padlocked.
I drew Mort, punched a little magic into the sword, and jabbed it into the lock. Fortunately, our landlord was a human normal with no magic ability, and he was too cheap to pay for a magic-resistant lock. The mechanism popped open, and I pulled it off and dropped it on the ground.
Inside, the place was empty except for the thrift-store furniture in my room and a couple of boxes that Lochlyn had packed for me, which I knew contained only clothes and a few toiletries. It struck me that I didn’t really keep any personal things with me on this side of the hedge. Anything from my childhood was back in my tiny quarters in the fortress. Had some part of me expected I’d someday have to return to there? Maybe. But I’d always felt that getting criminal vampires off the streets was more important than Faerie politics. It was my way of paying homage to the mother I never had a chance to know, whose difficult, young life had been cut short by a vamp. I might be able to save some other kid from losing a parent the way I had.
I had no way to move the furniture, and it wasn’t valuable anyway, so I left it. The two boxes got bungeed to the top of Vincenzo’s cargo box.
Just as I was about to swing my leg over the seat and start up my scooter, there was a discontented yowl behind me. I turned to see Emerald sitting a couple of feet away, the end of her tail twitching and her green eyes flashing at me. I put the kickstand down and went over to her.
Squatting within arm’s reach, but not too close, I reached out a hand. “Hey Emmy. I’m all out of treats, girl. Sorry about that.” She moved close enough to poke her head under my outstretched hand, and I scratched her ears. “I’ve got to take off, but I hope I’ll be back.”
I straightened, and she scampered off around the corner of the building. That was the thing about cats—they didn’t truly need you, so your comings and goings didn’t really concern them much.
I’d only gone about two blocks when my cell phone rang. It was Gus, so I answered.
“It wasn’t him.” My boss made a noisy, nasally sigh.
“What wasn’t who?”
“The ashes in the box,” my boss said. “They aren’t Van Zant’s remains.”
My jaw tightened. Bryna had somehow played me. How in the hell had she gotten around the promise? You couldn’t lie your way through a Faerie oath. It wasn’t possible.
“It’s your lucky day, kid,” Gus said. “You lost your other assignment, the object-find. But I pulled some strings. If you can bring the vamp in alive before midnight, you’ll get the full bounty.”
My pulse jumped at the challenge.
“Thanks, boss. I’m on it,” I said. I hung up and stuffed my phone back in its pocket.
My mind kicked into gear and I sped up, heading to the doorway in the parking garage downtown. I knew where to look for the vamp, and I thought I even knew how Bryna had slithered her way out of our agreement. Van Zant had most likely tricked her, faking his death. Bryna had believed the remains she gave me were his.
I took Vincenzo through the doorway and emerged in the MonsterFit lobby near the Las Vegas Strip. Van Zant was likely hiding out, from Bryna and maybe from others, too. Plus, it was mid-afternoon and still broad daylight. Even daywalking vamps usually preferred to stay out of the peak sunlight hours. My mark was most likely holing up in a place where he felt comfortable and safe.
I parked near the Millennium Hotel, but instead of going through the main lobby, I went through one of the casino entrances. The place had a high-stakes poker game, and knowing Van Zant’s reputation as a player, he wouldn’t be able to resist. I glamoured myself into my Penelope persona and found a human bartender to chat with, a young guy who was all too happy to show off what he knew about the high-money tables in the back rooms. I nursed watered-down cocktails and spent the next hour learning where the game was held, where the players came in, and what time they usually started rolling in. Then I spent another hour scoping the place and confirming what the bartender had told me. It took some sweet-talking and maneuvering on my part, but I managed to gain access to one of the back hallways where I suspected Van Zant would go from his penthouse elevator to the high-stakes room.
In the end, Van Zant practically walked right into my arms.
The vamp and his entourage were in great spirits as they strolled toward the game. I’d been leaning against the wall, the credit-card-sized bounty certificate hidden in my hand. I pushed away from the wall, putting on a lazy smile, and strolled toward Van Zant and his crew. Several of them took notice of me, looking me up and down.
Van Zant looked scrawnier than I remembered him from the attack on the dark street in the Duergar realm, when I’d cut off his hand. In fact, he didn’t look like much at all. I suddenly realized this was not the creature of my childhood nightmares. He was just some playboy poker player who thought he could make it big gambling and selling vamp blood.
“Are you professional poker players?” I asked in a sultry voice. “Because I think that’s sooo hot.”
“Yeah, beautiful,” one of them said. “You wanna be my good luck charm?”
My eyes flicked over to Van Zant. He still sported a bandaged stump on one arm, where I’d removed his hand. “I’ve got my eye on that one,” I crooned.
I felt the shiver of his glamour in the air as he tried to turn his charms on me, obviously not realizing I was Fae.
The group parted so I could move closer to my mark, and I pretended to be drawn in by Van Zant’s mesmerization glamour. My smile widened as our eyes met. I got close to him, looking deeply into his dark eyes. Then I lifted my hand, flashing the bounty card in his face.
He looked down in confusion as the certificate lit up with yellow-orange magic that expanded toward him. It rapidly surrounded him in a cloud, and by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. His identity was confirmed.
The magical mist blurred, shrank, and coalesced around his wrists, securing him in cuffs.
I gave him a flirtatious wink. “Gotcha.”
Van Zant’s entourage backed away and then split, some of them hurrying back the way they’d come, and others sidling around me and then zipping toward the poker room.