Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,46

back, we’ll all either be kicked out, or you’ll be in a shitload of trouble.” Yutani shook his head. “This isn’t like the fetish brothels across the street from our office. They don’t use safe words down in Fire & Fang. They don’t respect boundaries, except when it comes to an owner.”

“I guess that’s our best option,” I said, grimacing. “I don’t like it, but we’re not letting Raven go down there alone.”

“I’m not going down there alone,” Raven said, “so no worries on that. I want you guys there. You say I can probably get in solo?”

“Yeah,” Wager said. “Since you’re also Ante-Fae, they’ll notice right up front. They’ll ask you what you want, and you can tell them you heard about the Spooks.”

“How will I have heard about them, though, if they’re an underground group?”

“Simple,” Yutani said. “Tell them you were a friend of Mendin’s. He was a loner. Nobody’s going to know you didn’t know him. We can give you some background on him so you can answer questions about him.”

“Smart plan,” I said. “I guess we have our tickets in. When we’re in there, we need to be on the lookout for anybody who seems fixated on the Spooks, in particular.”

Herne turned to Wager. “What kind of work do you do, mostly? And why do you have your office down in the Catacombs?”

“I have a close working relationship with the vampire community. They made room for me, and I’ve done a number of jobs for them. My own people—the Fae, that is—ignore me. The magic-born, well, I’ve never been too good at rules and regulations and my powers aren’t strong enough for most of them to make a place for me in their ranks.” He glanced over at me. “You understand about how tralaeths are treated.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m sorry that you’re on the receiving end of that, too.” I frowned. Wager seemed like a nice guy.

“How did you get in with the vamps?” Kipa asked.

Wager let out a faint laugh. He tapped the corners of his lips with his napkin. “When I was younger, I used to hang out with a rough crowd. They dared me to go down into the Catacombs. Stupidly, I took the dare, and I made my way down into the underground. I got lost, and I wandered into dangerous territory. These two vamps were bearing down on me, and I thought I was done for.”

“Amazing how stupid we can be when we’re young,” Angel said.

Wager laughed. “Right. Well, turned out the vamps worked for the bank that I cashed my checks at. I was a delivery boy. One of them recognized me because I went in there every Friday afternoon to deposit my check and get cash for the next week. He and his buddy gave me a good talking-to and escorted me out of the Catacombs. On the way, one of them asked what I was doing down there and I told them.”

“I bet they liked that,” Herne said, laughing.

Wager chuckled. “They scared the fuck out of me, told me to quit the gang, and right on the spot, one offered me a job as a courier for the bank. I took it, left behind BLAM—the Boys on the Lam—and my life started taking off. When I decided I wanted to become a private investigator, I talked to Ozrik—one of the two vamps who got me on my feet. He offered me low rent down in the Catacombs and promised to send business my way.”

“BLAM. I’ve heard of that gang. Apparently, it’s still around.”

“Yeah, but the guys who were in it with me are all dead. Gang violence, ODs, you name it, they died from it. I credit Ozrik and the vamps with saving my life. We get together for dinner every so often. Actually, working down in the Catacombs provides me with more jobs than I’ll ever be able to handle.” Wager bit into a second piece of French bread. “This is good. My kudos to the chef.”

Angel brightened. “Thanks, but I just threw together a jar of sauce with the pasta.”

“Don’t let her kid you,” I said. “She added herbs, specialty cheeses, and a smidge of her cooking magic to make this. Angel’s incredible in the kitchen.”

“That we can attest to,” Yutani said, raising his glass. “Here’s to a successful venture.”

Even as we clinked out glasses together, I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that we were going in blind. We had no real idea of