“Not as big a fool as you are, whoever you might be. You just told me that you know who I am. Very few people on this side of the doorways would, so I’m guessing you’re from the Otherworld. I’m also guessing that you are here without the queen’s permission. Now that really is foolish.”
The figure took a step back, suddenly less aggressive. “This is none of your business, Rider. Leave this place now and I will let you go in peace.” He made a gesture to someone unseen behind him and his boat slowly began to move away. His voice, thick with malice, drifted to them over the widening gulf of water. “But I warn you, Rider. If you do not stay out of my way, I will make you and yours suffer in ways that made what that insane Baba Yaga did to you seem like a gift. Heed me in this, or pay the price.”
The pirate boat drifted away, taking its strange fog with it. It faded into the growing darkness within minutes, as soon as it was out of range of The Flora MacDonald’s lights.
“Well, that was interesting,” Alexei said, rolling his shoulders in a way that revealed that he’d been much more tense than he would ever have admitted. He rejoined her in the cabin as they headed back.
Bethany realized her hands were trembling as she fired up the engine to take them home. “Interesting? That’s what you want to call it? I don’t know about you, but I thought that guy was scary as hell, even if he wasn’t a ghost.” There was something about the man’s casual malice that frightened her to her core. No wonder Clyde and his men had been so shaken. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Hell, I don’t think I’d want to meet him in a sunlit park.”
“Mmm,” Alexei said. “A thoroughly unpleasant character, I agree. But coming out here was well worth the trouble. I learned something very important about our friend Blackbeard, something that Beka needs to know as soon as possible.”
Bethany thought back to the confrontation. “Wait, you said he was from the Otherworld. That’s how he knew who you were. How can that be?”
“Some Paranormal folks do visit from time to time, as long as the queen consents to allow it. Or if they keep a low profile and happen to have access to one of the portals that lead to this world; although most of them are guarded, there are always random doorways if you know where to look,” Alexei admitted. “But this fellow didn’t strike me as a casual traveler. You saw how he reacted when I accused him of being here without the permission of the high queen. No, he’s not supposed to be here. I’d bet my Harley on it. And that means that whatever he’d after is important to him and probably valuable.
“Plus, I’m guessing from the way he talks that the last time he was here was some time ago. That may help us to narrow things down nicely, especially if Beka gets an answer to whatever it was that she couldn’t quite remember.”
“I’m glad it was helpful,” Bethany said. “But I’d still just as soon never see that man again.”
“Oh, no worries. I don’t see any reason why you would,” Alexei said.
But Bethany wasn’t so sure.
*
Hayreddin was so furious, it was all he could do to hang on to his Human shape. Inside, his dragon roared and raged, wanting to breathe fire at the sky and torch this fragile wooden boat until it burned to a crisp, taking its insignificant and annoying occupants with it.
How dare that Rider laugh at him, Hayreddin the mighty, the glorious, the renowned? A fallen hero, pathetic and useless, dared to put himself in the way of Hayreddin’s plans? This could not be allowed to stand.
But what was he to do? Killing the one who insulted him would be temporarily satisfying, but the queen had a ridiculous soft spot for the Riders, even in their current reduced state. And the Baba Yagas…those witches would hunt him to the ends of the earth. So killing Alexei was out of the question, alas. But there were other alternatives.
Red knew the Riders of old. They were well known throughout the Otherworld. Everyone knew Alexei was restless, always wandering (his brothers had been too, and Red had no idea where they had ended up, being simply grateful they were not here for him to deal with in addition to Alexei). It was passing strange that he had stopped in this tiny port town for long, although less so that he pretended to be helping the Baba Yaga as he once had. Still, as far as anyone Red talked to could tell, the only thing keeping Alexei here was his apparent infatuation with a barmaid. A Human, whose father he was caring for. It was beyond Red’s comprehension.
But he supposed that when one was a former Rider, with no real useful occupation, anything at all might seem worth doing. Or perhaps it was the free beer. Either way, it was unlikely that Alexei would stay around for long. Hayreddin intended to see to it that the Rider moved on sooner rather than later.
One of the men Red had hired had been at The Hook and Anchor the night Alexei had wrecked the place. The whole fishing community talked of little else for days. So Red knew that the woman who ran the bar had told Alexei that if it happened again, he would be forbidden to return. If Alexei angered her, she would no longer wish him to care for her father, and he would leave town.
Simple enough.
“I have another brilliant plan,” Red shouted back to where Len was sitting, as far away as possible.
A groan was his only answer.
*
Alexei sat at the bar and watched Bethany through half-shuttered eyelids as he pretended to listen to a drunken sailor tell some long, rambling story about a sea monster that turned out to be a lost Russian submarine.
About a tenth of Alexei’s attention was focused on the story - enough so he could grunt in the right places. Another third was focused on the door, hoping that Beka would walk through at any minute. Now that he knew their mysterious fake pirate was from the Otherworld, it shed an entirely new light on the whole matter.
Alexei really needed to talk to Beka and compare notes. Assuming she had learned something worth sharing, of course.
The rest of his attention was in the same place it had been for days, studying Bethany and trying to decide what she was thinking. She hadn’t shown any change in attitude since the night they’d spent together or any indication that she expected their relationship to have altered because of it.
That was good. At least, he was pretty sure it was good. Of course it was good. Wasn’t it? After all, it hadn’t affected him at all. Other than the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about the way she looked in the heat of passion, like a wild and glorious valkyrie. Or the glow of the sun on her creamy skin when they were out on the boat together, or the fierce glint in her eyes when she was mad at him…which admittedly, was pretty often.