A moment later I heard the yipping of a tiny dog, and the door opened to reveal one extremely statuesque woman dressed in old-fashioned pajama pants. Her top was open down to her navel, barely concealing a pair of extremely large, firm, and upright breasts. Given mine were about the same size but in no way able to defy gravity like that, I wondered how much she had paid for them.
“Herne, darling, come in.” She glanced at the rest of us. “I see you brought your friends. How nice.” She sounded anything but pleased, but ushered us into the house, passing through the living room and leading us to the dining room, where she had placed a crystal ball on the table. She motioned for us to take our seats and she wedged herself next to Herne.
I sat across from him, with Viktor on my left and Yutani on my right.
Reilly ignored them but stared at me for a moment. Finally, she thrust out her hand in a smooth, well-practiced gesture. “I’m Reilly. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
I reluctantly took it, surprised by how firm her grip was. “Ember. I’m working with Wild Hunt now.”
She nodded, graciously, but there was a searching look in her eyes. “Fae?”
I blinked. It wasn’t all that polite to ask on first meeting what somebody was, but I decided that must be part of her dubious charms.
“Yes.” I wasn’t about to tell her I was mixed blood.
Reilly waited for a beat, but when I didn’t say anything else, she cleared her throat and turned back to Herne, the smile returning to her face. “So, you mentioned a job?”
He nodded, all business. “We need to locate someone and the sooner the better.” He paused, then added, “It’s an emergency.”
Reilly started at his tone. “Bad?”
“Yeah. Bad enough for me to come to you in the middle of the night.”
I wondered how she felt about what he said. But if she took offense, she didn’t show it.
“Then no delays. Let’s get busy.” She glanced at the table. “Am I going to want the tablecloth on the table, or off, when you bring out whatever it is you’ve got as an anchor?”
I laughed. She had obviously done this before. She glanced at me, breaking into a wide grin.
“Trust me, I’ve learned the hard way. This is but one of many reasons we’re not together anymore, regardless of what he’s told you.” She rolled her eyes, and pushed back her chair. “Help me clear the table. Nobody touch the crystal ball.”
We scurried to help her as she lifted up the ball. While the men took the other knickknacks off the table, I pulled off the tablecloth and folded it nicely, draping it over the back of one of the unused chairs. Reilly set the crystal ball back down, pulling it toward her. She disappeared into another room and returned with what looked like a small plastic tarp the size of a very large cutting board. She spread it out on the table.
“You really are used to this,” I said. I had to hand it to her, she didn’t seem like the bimbo I thought she’d be. Oh, I believed what Herne said about her cheating on him and her calculating nature, but that just reinforced the intelligence that I now sensed was back there.
“I’m far more used to this than I’d like to be.” She resumed her seat, placing her hands on the sides of the crystal ball. “All right, let’s see it.”
Yutani silently lifted up the bag, spreading the three fox tails out on the tarp. He was careful not to splatter blood on the white carpeting, and I found myself glad that he at least observed some niceties, regardless of what he thought of her.
Reilly stared at the tails for a moment, then let out a sigh. “I can’t even… All right, let’s get this show on the road. I’m not going to ask, and I don’t want to know. I will tell you what I see, and you will pay me, and then you will leave so I can get on with the rest of my evening. Do we understand each other?”
He nodded. “Clear as a bell. Let’s get a move on.”
As she placed her right hand on the crystal ball and her left on one of the tails, I saw her shudder. She seemed to fall into a trance, and I kept my mouth shut along with the others as we waited for her to pick up whatever it was she could find.
By now, I realized that Herne was still a lot more miffed over their relationship than she was. She had hurt him far more deeply than he had hurt her.
Forcing my mind away from speculation, I looked around the room where we were waiting.
The walls were pale gray with stark white trim. One accent wall was black, with silver and crystal sconces attached to the wall. In the center of the accent wall, a fireplace with a white mantel and a gray marble hearthstone was the focal point. It truly drew the eye.
I had to admit, she had excellent decorating taste. The house felt gracious, inviting, and quietly elegant. It seemed a stark contrast to Reilly herself, but she fit in somehow, in a way I could never see Herne managing. I wondered if she had owned the house before they met. That led to wondering how long they had been together. Finally, once again I dragged my thoughts away from where they were headed.
After a few moments, Reilly opened her eyes. She looked like she was reeling from something, and she shook her head, looking slightly confused.
“Whatever the hell this is, it’s bad. It’s big and it’s hungry and it’s on the rampage. I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into this time, but if you mean to go up against it, you’d better take extra muscle with you. Either that or plan a surefire way to take it down for good.” She shoved the tails away from her, grimacing. Her left hand was covered with globs of congealed blood.
“Can you tell me where it is?” Herne asked.
She closed her eyes again, placing both hands on the crystal ball, pressing bloody fingerprints against the side of the orb. A moment later, she let go of the sphere.
“Would somebody please get me a wet paper towel and some soap from the kitchen?” She glanced over at Yutani, who silently rose and exited through the swinging doors leading out of the dining room. When he returned she washed her hands, drying them on the dry paper towel he had also brought.
“I can give you a general location. Bring up a map on your phone.”
Yutani pulled out his tablet and brought up a map of the area. He shoved the tablet over to her, and she took it, expanding the picture by pinching two fingers together and spreading them over the map. She scanned the picture, staring intently at it until suddenly she expanded it and pointed to an area near Seward Park.
“I can tell you this. He’s confused. When you cut off three of his tails—I have a feeling there are more—it not only hurt him, but sent a shockwave through his system. He hasn’t regained full composure yet. I have a sense that there’s something he supposed to do? But right now he can’t remember what it is. He’s trying to find a place to heal as far away from where he was hurt as possible.”
“That makes sense. If he can’t remember that he supposed to assa—” Herne stopped, rolling his eyes. “If he can’t remember what his mission is right now, then we have a leg up on him. Do you know if he’s on the move?”
Reilly scanned his face closely, but said nothing about his slip. “No, he’s hunkered down, hiding in an area near the lake. I think you have a few hours before he’s regained enough strength to be clearheaded. That’s the best I can tell you.”
“That’s more than I expected to find out. Thank you.” He pulled out his wallet and tossed three one-hundred-dollar bills on the table. “A tip as well, for being willing to see us this late. For being willing to take the job on at all.”
“As I said, I don’t want to know what you doing. I have no interest in it, so in this matter, my part is done. Now, if you will wrap up your tails—you can take the tarp with you—and go, I’ll get around to the rest of my evening.” She pocketed the bills, and stood up.
Yutani wrapped up the tails and slid them back into the bag.
I turned to Reilly. “Do you want help putting your tablecloth back on?”
“No, thank you. I need to disinfect the table first. Or rather, I need to have the maid disinfect it. I have business to attend to tonight and it can wait. Unless you think that thing is diseased?” She glanced at me, rather than Herne.