“Yes, but you usually hang around with your father,” Alexei pointed out. “The bar is set very low.”
Bethany bit back a laugh. He wasn’t wrong. “Maybe so, but I’m guessing your brothers would still rather see you than not, even if you’re doing your whole gloomy drunken Russian thing.”
“I am not drunk,” he said, not disputing the rest of her statement. “And I do not believe they would want to see me. I did them a great wrong. I do not deserve the honor of their company.” He downed the rest of his whiskey in one gulp.
Bethany winced in sympathy, although it didn’t seem to bother him at all. “I don’t know what you did, or think you did, and I realize that I haven’t known you for long, but for all your rough ways, I’ve never seen you do anything I’d consider dishonorable. Besides the pool shark thing, maybe, and even then, anyone who was paying attention could have seen how good you were at the game. But you’re kind to an old man who is hurting, and you’re gentle with Lulu, and you kept a woman from being taken advantage of by a predator who meant her harm.”
She thought carefully before she said her next words, knowing she was overstepping the bounds of their tenuous friendship, but hating to see him in so much pain.
“Have you considered asking your brothers if they want to see you? They might just surprise you.”
There was a moment of silence when she almost thought Alexei would either kick her out or start packing his bags. Then he reached out and took back the glass she’d snitched from him.
“Maybe I’m not ready to see them,” he said. “And you are wrong - you don’t know me at all. If you did, you probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Bethany gave him a crooked smile. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve always had a weakness for bad boys with hardly any clothes on.”
Then she watched in satisfaction as he choked on his whiskey.
Chapter 11
“Here,” Hayreddin said to Len. He pointed at the tavern. “There is a pirate hook right on the sign, and it is called The Hook and Anchor. Clearly this is a good place to look for men to hire for our ship.”
Len rolled his eyes in a way Red found particularly annoying. Not that there was anything about his new partner he did not find annoying. Even his mode of transport was foul smelling and belched, although apparently that was the way of things in this modern world. Red was finding the Otherworld more appealing by the minute. As soon as he found and retrieved his final treasure, he would happily return to his cave and never cross the borders again.
“It’s just a sign. Probably something to attract the tourists,” Len said, peering in the window. “On the other hand, this is definitely not a tourist bar. Lots of locals in there. So maybe you’re right.”
And maybe you should start with that assumption, Red thought. But he didn’t bother to say it out loud. Instead, he just shoved by Len and led the way into the tavern.
Once inside, they sat at the well-worn but gleaming bar. An attractive red-haired wench in the unbecoming man’s clothing that seemed to be the fashion these days served them their beer and then left them alone. Red pulled out his pipe.
“You can’t smoke that in here,” Len hissed. “It’s against the law.”
“There is a law against pipe smoking?” Red said in amazement. Apparently the entire Human world had gone insane while he slept in his cave.
“Any kind of smoking in a public place,” Len said. “It’s not just cigarettes. Where have you been, France or something?”
Red sighed, wafting away stray wisps of smoke (a hazard with dragons) and wishing he could light his pipe to disguise them. Fortunately, the tavern was dark enough that no one seemed to notice. “Or something,” he said. “Now, let us be subtle, and observe those who patronize this place to see if there are any likely fellows looking to hire on for adventure and glory.”
Len rolled his eyes again, and Red had to resist the urge to rip them out of his useless skull.
“How about that guy?” Len asked, pointing across the room in an manner directly the opposite of subtle. “He looks like he could take on an entire ship all by himself, even without the help of our mythical friend.”
Red swatted Len’s hand down and gazed at the man who had caught his attention. Red had to admit, the fellow looked like a reasonable prospect. He was huge - bigger by far than any others in the place - and it appeared to be muscle and not fat. He wore his brown hair long, and his beard was neat. He lacked the earrings of a proper pirate, but Red could see the hint of a tattoo at the edge of his shirt. The man sat by himself, carving what looked like a table leg with a wickedly sharp knife.
He definitely had the look of a rough man who could handle himself in a fight, but there was something about him that made Red hesitate to approach him. Something almost…familiar.
But Red couldn’t figure out why until the slim blonde woman entered the tavern and sat down beside his quarry.
A Baba Yaga! What in the name of the dragon goddess was a Baba Yaga doing here? Now he knew where he had seen the man before. That was no Human. It was the Black Rider, what was his name? Alexei Knight, that was it. A Baba Yaga and a Rider here. That could be no coincidence.
Red gnashed his teeth. Curses. That was all he needed, a Baba Yaga and a Rider meddling in his business. How on earth was he going to accomplish his goal with them hanging around? But then he remembered what all in the Otherworld knew, a stunning development that even he had heard about, when rising from his long rest to feed. The Black Rider was Rider no longer. More than a Human, undoubtedly, but nothing like the power he used to be. The Baba Yaga, now she might be a problem. But the former Rider, he was nothing more than an annoyance. One which could no doubt be dealt with if he got in the way.
“Well?” Len said interrupting his thoughts. “What about him?”
“No,” Red said. “Not him. He is not suitable. In fact, I suggest we look elsewhere. Now.” He rose from his seat, leaving Len to throw some of his ugly paper money down on the bar and follow him out, protesting all the while. Fortunately, the Baba Yaga and her companion seemed to be deep in discussion, and paid no attention.
In theory, he should appear as any other Human to them, but it never paid to underestimate a Baba Yaga. Even if you were a dragon.
*
“Did you feel that?” Beka asked Alexei. They had been talking about using the dolphins as scouts, and the best way to check in with them, when she’d felt a shiver run down her spine. The kind of shiver that said magic and Otherworld and maybe danger. She might be the youngest of the three United States Baba Yagas, but she’d learned the hard way not to ignore that feeling.
“Feel what?” Alexei asked. He seemed a bit more cheerful tonight, and Beka wondered if it had anything to do with his new friend Bethany, who occasionally smiled in his direction from her place behind the bar.
“Hmm,” she said. “I’m not sure. But something just tripped my witch-dar.”