“Oh, I don’t know,” Len said. “I’ve got some pretty wild dreams. And why should I believe you?” He didn’t really think the guy was some kind of cop - he just didn’t have that feel to him. But something was off about him. Mind you, that could be said for most of the people Len knew who sailed on the wrong side of the law.
“Perhaps because you have something that used to belong to me,” the man said. “An amulet, in the shape of tentacles wrapped around a central stone of mysterious origin. Sound familiar?”
Len took a step backward, his heart stuttering. “What do you mean it used to belong to you? The thing has been in my family since before my grandfather’s time. There’s no way it’s yours.” He clutched the front of his sweater, where the talisman hung on its chain, tucked underneath his worn flannel shirt.
“Ah, I misspoke,” the man said. “Of course it could not have been mine. Time is so fluid. I meant it had been in my family for years. Then, alas, it was lost, I thought forever. But I sensed, rather, I heard, that it had come into your possession.” His craggy face twisted with frustration, like an immigrant struggling to speak in a foreign language. “I can help you learn to master its magic.”
“Magic!” Len snorted. “There is no such thing as magic.”
“Then how do you explain the monster you called up from the depths with its aid?” The man grinned, showing sharp white teeth that glinted in the glare of the streetlight. “I know how the amulet works. I know how to summon the kraken to sink the ships of your enemies, to bring long lost treasure back to the surface. So much wealth, waiting on the bottom of the sea for the man brave enough to claim it. Are you that man?”
Long lost treasure. Wealth waiting on the bottom of the sea. Enough to satisfy the Russian mafia for the loss of their product, and still have something left over. The guy might be a little creepy, but he clearly knew about the talisman, so maybe he really did know how to make it work. Len remembered the shine of the gold coin, and longed to see it sitting in a pile of many like it. And let’s face it, there might be something a little off about this guy, but Len was a lot more scared of the Russian mob than he was of some big guy with a strange haircut. “Hell yeah, I’m that man,” he said. “Len Morgan, descendent of pirates,” he said, holding out his hand. “And you are?”
“Hayreddin, also of the pirate kin. You can call me Red,” the man said, sticking out the hand not holding the pipe. Smoke drifted through his beard and up to wreath around his head. “Together, we shall make the seas run the color of my name, and reap a bounty of gold and precious jewels.”
“Gold and jewels,” Len said. “Excellent.” And when we’re done, maybe you’ll meet with a terrible accident and fall overboard, so I can take your half and not worry about you running off with my talisman.
*
“Excellent,” said Hayreddin. Stupid Human. And maybe when I’ve reclaimed my treasure, I’ll eat you, and spit your bones into the sea. He didn’t quite dare break the Queen’s rules against Paranormal folk influencing the Human world, but if he found a Human who already wanted to do what Red needed, well, that didn’t exactly break the rules. The Fae folk were big on technicalities. He could almost feel his treasure back in his grasp. Finally, it would be his again.
The queen might punish one who actively used a magical tool in the Human realms…but nothing said he could not get a Human to use it for him. Not one damned thing.
Chapter 8
Eventually, Alexei ran out of things to fix around the bar. So he fixed some things at the house, and when he ran out of those, he fixed some things around the guest house. Finally, even Lulu got tired of his banging and leaving wood shavings everywhere.
“Go do something,” she barked at him one morning, licking her belly restlessly. It was so large, she could no longer get up on the couch easily, and it was making her grumpy. “Go chase a squirrel or a car or something. Mate with the woman. Do something. You make me crazy.”
Alexei could feel his ears turn red. “I am not going to mate with the woman. Bethany. She doesn’t even like me.” He put down the pipe wrench he’d been holding and stared out the window in the direction of the house. “And I don’t like her,” he added, belatedly.
“Liar,” Lulu said in a fond tone, or what Alexei interpreted as one. He wasn’t really sure how he knew. Assuming he hadn’t lost his mind. He still hadn’t had any other animals talk to him.
“Fine,” he said. “I like her. She stands up to me. I find that endearing. But still, no mating. I’m leaving soon.”
“Humans always make things more big trouble than they are,” Lulu said, turning around three times before settling into a lumpy heap on the rug. “But have it your way. Go do something else, then. Or nap. Napping is good. Napping, mating, eating. But not the noisy around the house things. Do something outside.”
Great, even the dog didn’t want him around. Alexei sighed. He had to admit, she had a point. He was getting tired of his own brooding. And he was Russian, so that really said something. So he wasn’t a Rider anymore. That didn’t mean he couldn’t at least go take a look around. Right? Maybe there was some simple, non-Paranormal answer to the monster sighting and the disappearing sea creatures. And if there was something more to it, maybe it would at least give him something to fight.
Even Bethany couldn’t object to him fighting a monster.
He walked over to the house, helping himself to a cup of coffee as he walked through the kitchen. It was Sunday, so the bar was closed. He’d come over first thing to get Calum up and dressed, then left the old sailor and Bethany alone. From the glares that met him as he walked into the living room, perhaps that hadn’t been such a smart move.
“Tell this stubborn woman that I don’t have to do any more exercises today,” Calum said. A scowl made his scruffy face even more homely than usual. “I already did them.”
“That was yesterday. Yesterday’s exercises don’t count. You know the doctor said you have to do them every day.” Bethany’s scowl matched her father’s, although Alexei thought it looked a lot cuter on her. Even he wasn’t stupid enough to say so out loud, though.
“Do you still own a boat, Calum?” he asked instead.
Both faces turned their scowls in his direction.
“What’s it to you?” Calum asked, at the same time Bethany said, “How is that helpful?”
Alexei rolled his eyes. “So that’s a yes or a no?”
“Yes, I have a boat,” Calum said. “Smaller than the one I sold to buy the bar, but I used to still go out fishing sometimes. Just for fun.” He banged the side of his wheelchair with his closed fist. “Might as well sell this one too, since I’ll never go out on it again.”
“Never say never,” Alexei said. “How about you do your exercises, and promise to do them every day this week without being such a cantankerous old bastard about it, and I take you out on the boat later?”