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.