Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,79
advice: don’t eat or drink anything they offer. Also, don’t let them touch you if you can help it. Be polite, but also try to keep a distance.”
“Why? Are they dangerous?”
“Only if you don’t want to find yourself extremely fertile,” I grumbled under my breath. “I think we’ve got enough to handle right now and don’t need to add to it with an unexpected bundle of joy.”
Trixie sank a little lower in her seat as she stared out at the winding road as we got closer to my apartment. “Definitely.”
For now, I thought it was enough that I had told Trixie that I loved her. She knew I was doing everything within my power to protect her from the Towers and help fix her problem with the Summer Court. We had never talked about the future and we never uttered the word kids beyond commenting on mixing up a potion to protect against conceiving any. When the world wasn’t on the brink of exploding around us, our lives were good and neither of us was ready to take it a step further. At least, I didn’t think so.
14
A QUICK STOP at my apartment allowed me to wash off some of the dirt, sweat, and blood. I dug up an old T-shirt and changed into it while Trixie went to speak to the Hearth Women. I wasn’t fond of leaving her alone, but I knew she’d get more out of them if I wasn’t hovering close by.
Somewhat clean again, I jumped into my battered SUV, ready to head back toward Asylum. I looked up after shoving my key into the ignition and paused as my eyes caught on a trio of teenagers as they darted across the parking lot. One hesitated at the edge of a building and looked back at me with cold eyes before disappearing from sight with his companions. The trio reminded me of the Tower runaways that were loose in Low Town, struggling to stay hidden from the Towers and survive. Were they sticking together? Were they safe? Were they hurt? I didn’t know, but it was too dangerous to go looking for them. They were likely better off without my help.
With a groan, I turned the key, bringing the car to life with a guttural growl of the engine. I was up to my eyeballs in elf problems, Tower problems, and family problems. I didn’t have much hope of protecting five runaways. Besides, they had each other. They had to be in better shape than I was when I left the Towers nearly ten years ago. God, I hoped they were in better shape . . .
Shoving that errant thought aside, I drove to the Strausse Haus Restaurant and Bier Garden near Asylum. It was the first place I had met Reave and I figured that it was the best place to start looking for the Svartálfar. I was hoping that he was still in town if he was planning to pass along the rest of the information to Robert. After that, I was sure the little fucker would be next to impossible to locate. He had to know that the Towers were searching for him and would be keeping his head down until he had gotten his payment. Though how he ever expected to live in peace after this was beyond my comprehension.
It was shortly after three when I arrived at the restaurant and their lunch rush was winding down.
The seating hostess smiled at me and picked up a menu as I walked in. “Hey, Gage. It’s been a while since you last stopped in.”
I smiled at her before continuing to scan the restaurant for my target. I had stopped going to the Strausse Haus when I discovered that it was one of Reave’s favorite haunts. It was bad enough that Bronx and I were forced to work for him; I didn’t want to eat somewhere that I might run into him as well.
“Is it just you for lunch?” she continued, trying to catch my attention.
“I’m not staying. I’m looking for someone,” I said, my gaze tripping over the faces I could see lining the bar just past the entrance.
“You know, I heard you were dating that Trixie person who works for you,” the hostess said, dragging my eyes back to her. “I should have known you’d go for someone like that.”
I chuckled, my smile stretching into something genuine for the first time. Lynnette was pretty in an exotic, dangerous sort of way, with almond-shaped