Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,41

a silly romp through a garden at night was one thing. Letting an old man point a gun at her was entirely different, and I wasn’t good with that.

“And let her leave with my flower? Not a chance?”

I clenched my teeth in my growing frustration. My fingertips tingled as the urge to draw in the energy to cast a protective spell was nearly overwhelming. “She’ll leave it here.”

“How did you catch us?” Trixie interrupted.

George graced her with a smug smile and he lowered the gun slightly. “I had a new laser grid installed last week. When you entered the center of the garden, it set off a silent alarm inside the house.”

“Nice,” Trixie purred, winning her an even wider grin from the old man. “But how did you get downstairs so fast? We watched the light go off on the second floor.”

“The light was on a timer. I was on the first floor the whole time, waiting.”

“Fabulous,” I muttered. The old man was getting crafty and I was getting sloppy. Lesson learned? Don’t bring your sexy girlfriend along on a clandestine mission because you’ll get distracted thinking about taking her clothes off when you should be worried about infrared laser grids.

Unfortunately, things were about to get more complicated as I spied a moving shadow to the right of the old man. I stifled a curse. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who didn’t care to have a shotgun pointed in Trixie’s direction. As the shadow lunged at the old man, I pivoted on my right heel and plowed into Trixie, tackling her. Before we hit the ground, a shot echoed through the silent garden while buckshot ripped through plants directly overhead.

I raised up enough to look down at Trixie, her expression stunned. “He shot at us,” she gasped.

“More likely the gun accidentally went off when he was knocked to the ground. Old George might be pissed, but he isn’t the violent type. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I crushed plants instead of hitting concrete. What about my brother?”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” I said in a growl.

Eldon’s timing was impeccable, leaving me to believe that the elf had been following us for quite a while. Not a good sign. As my problems with Reave grew more complicated, I didn’t want to worry about Trixie and the Summer Court as well.

Pushing back to my feet, I extended a hand to Trixie, helping her up as I looked over my shoulder. Eldon was kneeling over George’s body. I didn’t think he’d kill the old man, but then this guy had been hunting his sister for centuries to turn her over to a man she didn’t want to be with. There was no telling what Eldon was capable of.

I caught Trixie’s arm as she tried to move around me toward Eldon. “Cut a new flower and get out of the garden. I’ll be right behind you.”

“But—”

“Please. Eldon’s not here to cover our asses. He’ll follow. We’ve got to go. I’m sure the cops are on the way after the neighbors called in that gunshot.”

Trixie frowned, but still turned back toward the Asian Moon Lilies sitting serenely in their pots, watching this little play unravel. I jogged over to where Eldon was getting to his feet. He was frowning as well, but I never expected the elf to be happy to see me.

“Dead?” I asked.

“Unconscious. Are you done endangering my sister?”

I grinned, wishing I could put my fist into his pointed nose. “I would say she’s safer with me than in your hands, considering your plans for her.”

Even in the darkness, I could make out the flush that filled his pale cheeks while his eyes widened. “Life as consort to the king of the Summer Court is far preferable to a life as a . . . a . . . common—”

“Shut it, Eldon,” Trixie snapped as she came up behind me. As my smile grew, she turned her glare on me. “You too. We need to get out of here.”

Trixie led the way out of the garden, a brown paper bag clenched in one fist as she silently walked across the wide lawn to a stand of trees. I had parked my car on the other side a couple streets over. Eldon and I followed. No one spoke, mostly because neither Trixie nor I wanted to hear what had brought Eldon back to Low Town.

“Trix, wait,” I called as she made it to the tree line. We were away from the house and hidden enough that