Chapter 9

“Okay, so I just take a deep breath, close my eyes and picture stepping, inside my mind only, to the place I want to go on the other side?”

Rafael nodded. “That’s it.”

I rolled my shoulders to relax. “Right.” I started to take a deep breath and then stopped and looked at Troy, “and if nothing happens?”

Shrugging, Troy looked at Rafael and then back down at me. “If your tattoo is in fact the real sundial, it will work.”

“If I’ve gone through all this shit for nothing it wouldn’t surprise me.”

Troy placed a hand on my shoulder. “You wouldn’t have survived this long if you weren’t the

Huntress, trust me.”

“Okay.” I rolled my shoulders again and huffed out a breath. “Okay, here goes nothing.” Closing my eyes, I thought of the first place that was close to my apartment, but not right in the middle of the street. Taking a deep breath, I pictured stepping from where we stood to there.

Grabbing Troy’s arm, I steadied myself when my knees did that jello thing like when you ride an elevator. Opening my eyes to tell him it wasn’t working, my mouth dropped open. I was home again.

“You get used to it,” he whispered.

“I did it.” I looked around at the trees. “I knew this place was here, how do you guys do it so you don’t land in the middle of a crowd?”

He grinned and shook his head. “I’ve never in all the years wondered that. We can transport right to another Alterealm resident, if we have some sort of connection with them, but I’ve never come out near anyone from this side.”

“You know with some of the weird shit that happens around here, I doubt most would even notice if you did.” I looked around behind us. “Rafael didn’t come?”

Moving toward the edge of the trees, he shook his head. “No. He will if we need him, but you said you wanted to blend, so I thought perhaps it would be easier with just one of us.”

I looked him up and down. Even in regular jeans that fit him very nicely in all the right places and a normal t-shirt that hugged his buff physique, he looked larger than life. “How tall are you?”

“Six five, what does that have to do with it?”

I shrugged. “Nothing, it’s just at your height you don’t really blend anywhere.”

Grinning, he continued until he was out of the trees. Stopping he looked around us. “Where have you brought us?”

I stood behind him and looked around my neighborhood. It was just before dusk and still fairly quiet at this point. The good ones were smart enough to be at home and the troublemakers hadn’t come out yet. Overall this neighborhood had seen better days. We were at least at the end where most of the buildings were still whole, well for the most part anyway. “This used to be a big park near my place.” I glanced over my shoulder at the ground with sparse patches of grass and only a half a dozen trees left standing in the middle. “It used to be much bigger.”

“You live here?” There was a note of surprise in his voice.

“Yeah, it’s not much to look at, but I know all the players well enough to know where you can and shouldn’t go.”

“It’s like the wasteland, only with buildings.”

Glancing around again, I shrugged. “I suppose it does resemble it, except for the orange part.” Patting his arm, I grinned up at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” I walked out to the sidewalk.

Snorting, he strode after me. “Where are we going first?”

“I’m going to go see Frank, see if he’s heard anything further on Wanda, he keeps his nose in on anything going on at the police station.”

****

Stopping to see Frank had gotten us nowhere, other than Frank giving Troy the eye and asking too many questions about him. We left and went to the first dingy club on my usual list.

That had yielded nothing.

Troy walked along beside me, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as much as I was doing to him when he wasn’t looking.

“That Frank, he is your boss?”

Rolling my eyes, I glanced at him. “No. I am my boss. He just sends the jobs no one else wants my way.”

“Why would he do that?”

There was a hint of something in his voice I knew if I took the time to identify I’d end up pissed off. “I rock at what I do. I’ve never lost a runner—for long.”

“I see,” he added quietly.

Stopping, I placed a hand on that rock-hard chest to stop him and looked up at him. “Why else would he?”

His eyes moved over me, a surprised look in them. “I think he does it because he wants you.”

I laughed, that was just too ridiculous and kind of gross to think about it.

Troy looked annoyed. “You don’t see how you look do you? Not really.” He ran his hand down over my hair. “Your hair is actually a natural blond, with streaks that make it look like you’re standing in the sunshine all the time. It’s soft and flows around your face, it’s beautiful.” Skimming his hand down over my cheek, he cupped my chin. “Your skin is flawless and perfectly shaded so you have no need of makeup.” Running his thumb over my bottom lip, I stood there mesmerized by him. “Your lips, even when cursing are the most appealing I’ve ever seen, they ask to be tasted.”

I wanted him to back up that last part, but continued to stand there like a mute, not wanting to blurt out something stupid. It’s not every day a girl hears stuff like this, at least not this girl.

“Your eyes are the truest blue I’ve ever seen and draw a man in, and you ask me why else would he?” Drawing in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and stood there with his hand on my shoulder, only a few inches between us. When he lifted his lashes a bit, I could see the red under his lids.

Knowing I’d somehow tempted this big King, I stepped back and let his hand drop. “I’m nothing special, Troy.”

He grinned and opened his eyes. “Not admitting or flaunting it is exactly why you are as appealing to all males my little Huntress Queen.”

There was nothing I could say to that without sounding stupid or conceited, so I decided getting back to the task at hand would probably be the best thing to do right now. “It’s a long shot, but we can go back to where I caught up with her the last time and try to pick up her trail from there.”

Troy looked down at me for a long silent moment. “Do you think you’ll be able to find her?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know but unless you have a better way to find her…”

“We still haven’t located Clairee, there was some discussion about asking Marcus to come up with some sort of locator spell, but he is in one of his moods where he has secluded himself and it’s usually best not to disturb him.”

“Who is Marcus?” I motioned to the alley way we had to go down.

“A magician. The magician actually. Oh, there are others but he has been around longer than anyone can remember and is the best.”

“Quinton doesn’t like magicians, why?”

She noticed he moved closer to her and was walking like he was stalking something as the alley darkened. Being so used to this area, she hadn’t even stopped to think how bad it must seem to someone that had never been in it.

“After…” He paused, placing a hand in front of her to stop her from going any further. A cat ran out from behind a pile of crates. “Marcus and a few of his students tried to heal Quint afterward. Let’s just say it didn’t go well for him and Marcus ended up with a broken nose.” Stopping again, he checked behind us. “You’re going to find Wanda here?”

I grinned. “Not in the alley, no, just up here there’s a place where a lot of people that want to stay off the radar hideout.”

“I can see why, no one in their right mind would want to come here,” he mumbled and walked even closer to me.

Stepping to the side, I steered clear of a bunch of guys leaning near the corner. It was hard not to laugh when they saw me and that male predator look appeared on their faces—and then when Troy came around behind me their eyes went wide before they averted them to the ground.

When I stopped to go inside, Troy was looking back down the alley. I nudged him. “I’ll keep you safe your majesty.”

His eyes flicked to mine and I couldn’t help noting he wasn’t impressed. “My safety wasn’t my worry.”

Reaching out, I grabbed his hand and went inside. With reluctance, he followed me. I didn’t hold his hand for long, not liking having either hand tied up when I was in this charming establishment.

The music assaulted my ears as soon as we stepped through the heavy inner doors, the odor was the next thing my body objected to. The smoke and drugs, combined with the smell of alcohol and sweat made my whole system want to stop functioning. The lack of lighting made it the perfect place to do anything you didn’t want someone to see regardless of what side of the law it rested on.

We’d only gone about five feet when a really big sweaty body stepped in front of me. Looking up my brain started a chant of ‘shit shit shit’. Just who I didn’t want to run into right now. Carlo was his name and he had issues with me for running down his brother and taking him back to jail. Apparently, it was my fault his brother got life for shanking someone over a few hundred bucks.

Reaching behind me, I pulled Troy closer until he was right against my back. I don’t know if he was picking up the smelly vibes the fat brother was having in front of me or not, but he wrapped one of his big arms around my waist and held me against him.

Maybe it was how much bigger Troy looked with my little shell in front of him, or maybe he was sending out some back off mojo, I wasn’t sure, but Carlo looked from me to him and then stepped aside.

As I went to move forward, I found out Troy was not going to let me escape that easily and either I was moving with him still holding me or not at all. Sighing, I let him coddle me all the way to the bar.

Hovering near the end of it, I waited until the bartender spotted me. With a smirk, he headed to the end. Jorge reminded me of a giant teddy bear, but I’d seen him in action and he was one mean teddy bear when he needed to be.

“Daxx, you’re a brave and astonishing woman to come in here.”

I shrugged, “gotta get my kicks somehow, Jorge.”

His eyes moved over Troy as he towered behind me. “Since when do you tote around muscle.”

Turning I looked up at Troy, his hazel eyes boring into mine with a look that told me to behave. “He’s not my muscle, he’s my boyfriend.” Troy’s mouth quirked like he wanted to grin but didn’t.

Jorge’s eyebrows went up. “Always wondered who would be brave enough to take on the hunter.”

I snarled at him playfully. “Have you seen that chick I was tracking a few days ago? Really long black hair?”

“Daxx, you brought your boyfriend on a chase?” Jorge shook his head and leaned over the gouged-up bar. “Might have seen her, but I have to tell you that others are inquiring too.”

I scanned the bar wondering who would be looking for her. “You tell them?”

He shook his head and moved away to serve the people pushing their way. “Tread carefully, hunter.”

Turning, I almost stepped right into Troy’s chest. Blending he didn’t do. Tapping his chest, he looked down and then placed a hand on either side of me and leaned down so I could talk to him.

To anyone looking it wouldn’t seem out of place to have me whispering in his ear, but it wasn’t one night stand words we were having. “Who else would be looking for her?” I tried to ignore how good he smelled, even as welcome as it was in this place.

Rubbing his cheek against mine, he answered against my ear. “We have to find her.”

I rolled my eyes, no kidding. “Can you tell if anyone here is from your side?”

He nodded and just kept crowding my body with his warm one. “So can you, Huntress,” he whispered against my ear.

Ignoring the shivers that went through me, I pushed gently against him. “Let’s take a look around.”

There was reluctance in his eyes as he straightened away and motioned for me to lead the way.

As I pushed my way through the crowd that was filled with every type of low-life you could possibly think of, I couldn’t help notice the way the females were raking their eyes up and down Troy. It made me want to bare my teeth at all of them for looking. Of course I’d thought the same thing they were when I’d seen him too, but this was different.

I wasn’t sure whether it was the amount of pushy people in the crowd or not, but Troy found as many opportunities to touch me as possible. A hand on the back, the shoulder, his body brushing against mine, we needed to get out of here.

I was just about to give up and go start pounding the pavement in the bad district, yes there were other areas that were worse than this, when I thought I saw eyes that were close to glowing a lavender shade. Leaning closer to Troy, I pulled on his shirt sleeve so he’d bend down closer and would be able to hear me. “Does Wanda have the same eye problem the rest of you have?”

He smirked, “eye problem?” Nodding, he leaned down to speak beside my ear. “If you mean they change color, then yes.”

“What color?”

“Most witches are purple or some shade of.”

I started shoving my way through the people leading down the back hallway. With any luck I would be chasing the right witch, not that I wanted to think there were a lot of those wandering around on my side.

Not bothering to take the time to see if Troy was following, I barreled through two people glued to each other’s faces and bolted out the door. Stumbling through the it, I stopped and looked around the back alley. The first thing I noticed was the reek of an odor best described as slum, the second thing I noticed was the lights were out.

Why did half the people I chase down end up in dark places? Was I supposed to take that as an omen and find a new calling?

“Wanda?” I called out hoping it would be that easy. There was really only one way to go in this space, but getting to the end had about ten different spots someone could hide in and jump you. Wishing I’d brought a baton with me, I had to hope my reflexes were fast enough with the raptor to deflect any potential beatings coming my way.

Moving in almost slow motion I began working my way toward the first obstacle and possible jump spot. When I was a few feet from the dumpster I stopped. “Wanda, I came back to help.”

A sound from the other side of the metal bin had me tense and get ready for some action. My hand was a hair width away from the handle of my knife.

“You’re really her.” A voice said from behind it.

“The Huntress?” I backed away a few feet, not taking any chances.

“When I sent you over, I wasn’t even sure I had the right person.”

I remembered what happened to those that crossed without a device. “Lucky for me I was.”

She finally stepped around the corner of it, eyes still glowing the pale color. I had remembered right, she wasn’t a giant like most of the others I’d seen from the other side, but she wasn’t tiny either. Her long black hair almost down to her knees, she flicked it behind her and stepped out further.

“I can’t believe you came back. I thought I would have to hide here forever.” A look I knew all too well was still on her face, the way she held herself she was ready to run again if I didn’t say the right thing.

“I brought back help.”

Her eyes dimmed and began darting around the looking into the darkness. “Who did you bring?”

There was no mistaking the fear in her voice.

“Me.” Troy’s voice came out of the darkness behind me. With a few steps that echoed on the pavement he was standing beside me. He looked down at me for a second. “Don’t do that again.”

I shrugged. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t keep up.

“Sire.” Wanda dropped down to one knee and lowered her head.

These people really were into the whole monarchy thing, I thought as I watched him go over to her and touch the top of her head. She stood slowly and looked up at, the relief very evident on her face.

“I wasn’t sure it was the true Huntress when I sent her.” She whispered in an apologetic tone.

“She is definitely our Huntress Queen, Wanda.”

A noise from the other end of the alley had her jolt. Troy took her arm to stop her from running. “You are safe now.”

With her head shaking, she looked up at him quickly and then back behind us. “No,” she whispered. “I’m not. They are looking for me.”

With that I was back on guard. I didn’t know who the hell they were, but if it was someone from their side, I wasn’t taking any chances. “Let’s get back to my place and then we’ll figure out what to do.”

Nodding, Troy took Wanda’s hand and motioned to the end of the alley. “Can we get there going this way? I don’t think I want to go back inside.”

Smirking, I started walking toward the end. “Yeah, I caught the looks some of the women in there were giving you. It must be a tough life to have them drool on you.”