Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,90

on a Svartálfar alone. I thought you must be a lot of fun, so I wanted to tag along for a bit.”

What he meant was that he thought I was a one-man wrecking crew, causing chaos and mayhem wherever I went, and he wanted to watch the destruction, particularly if it involved a Svartálfar.

I sighed and roughly scrubbed my hand over my face. I didn’t need this. “Look . . .”

“Duff. I’m Duff,” he supplied with a grin.

“Look, Duff, it’s been a rough day. I had a little powwow with the Svartálfar and it didn’t go so great.”

“I saw.” It was the first time that he didn’t sound like he was about to burst out laughing.

I sat down on the bumper beside him and groaned. “And now I haven’t a clue as to how I’m going to find the bastard,” I said, talking mostly to myself.

The little hobgoblin giggled and pounded on the hood with his two small hands. I jerked, turning to look at him as he exclaimed, “We can find him for you!”

“What?”

Duff leaned in and grabbed my cheeks in both hands, his fingers pinching my flesh in his growing excitement. “Reave. The Svartálfar. We can find him. You need him? We can find him.”

I stood, pulling my face out of his grip. “I don’t understand.”

“I can get the pixies and some of my people! We can find him, track him. It’ll be fun. We’ll find him for you so my friend can clear her debt. Right? It will clear her debt?”

“You and your friends can do it safely?” Hope started to form in my chest. I might have a way out of this mess.

He nodded eagerly, a grin spreading across his face with a wicked delight. “We can find him for you. We’ll watch from a distance and be safe.”

I stared at him for a second, trying to think of some other option, but I was drawing a blank. “And you have no problem helping me?”

He held up his hand like he was trying to balance a set of scales. “Don’t like the Towers. They killed so many fey. On the other hand, you don’t seem evil. You saved my friend and many others. Also, you seem . . . different. Better. Funner.”

I nodded. “All right. If you and your companions can find and follow him safely, then I’d appreciate your help. You can find me at my tattoo parlor when he settles in one location. I’ll come and get him. He won’t escape a second time.”

The hobgoblin gave a happy shout as he launched himself off the car, his wings thrown wide as he took to the air. He gave me a little salute before darting off. I tried to watch him go but he was surprisingly fast, disappearing around some buildings.

I pushed off the grille of the car and rose with a groan. My side was killing me as it healed, and my clothes were rough and scratchy from all the dried blood. I was hurt, tired, and pissed from today’s adventure. Reave got away, which was the one thing that I couldn’t let happen if I was going to have any hope of saving Low Town and stopping the coming war. But at least I now knew that Robert was in deep shit. Well, deeper than since we last spoke.

For now, Reave was on hold until Duff could get back to me with his location. I would have to turn my focus to protecting Robert and finding a way to get Trixie safely back with her people. If I couldn’t save Low Town, then I could at least make sure she had somewhere safe that I could stash her for a little while. It wasn’t much, but right now I’d be happy with one thing going my way.

16

DAYLIGHT WAS WASTING away and there was still too much that I needed to get done. I reached Robert on his cell and convinced him to barricade himself in my apartment until I could get him into the parlor for a tattoo. In the meantime, I needed to stop by Chang’s while I figured out what to do to protect my brother.

Despite the fact that the world dangled on the cusp of total destruction, nothing appeared to have changed at the entrance to Chang’s. I cut through Diamond Dolls, barely aware of the exotic dancers as they made their turns around the silver pole in the middle of the stage while customers lounged in battered chairs, sucking