A Tale of Two Goblins - By H. P. Mallory Page 0,90

me.

You take care of yourself, my little warrior.

His words had been easier to listen to than “goodbye” would have been, but they basically meant the same thing—neither of us knew if we’d ever see each other again. And although I didn’t want to admit it, I ached to see Quill again because being around him reminded me of a time when things weren’t so difficult—before I knew that friends could betray one another and before I knew what it felt like to be addicted to illegal narcotics. Seeing Quill returned me to an innocent time when he played the muse of pirate captain, when the Wrangler was still around and when life was overall easier.

“What are you thinking about?” Sam asked.

“Stuff I shouldn’t be thinking about,” I answered, noncommittally.

A knock on the door pulled me from my reverie and alerted me to the fact that Dia and Trey had arrived—we’d decided to have a little Dreamstalker-ass-busting celebratory dinner at my place. I stood up, Blue at my side, and approached the door, grabbing hold of Blue’s collar when he started to paw the door while barking. Opening it with a smile, I faced Dia, who was drenched from head to toe, wearing a deep frown that clashed with her otherwise pretty face.

“I should have told you to pick up the food,” she grumbled as she glanced at Blue. “Is he friendly?”

I shrugged. “No, not really.”

She made a face and cautiously entered while Blue sniffed her twice and instantly lost interest, trotting back over to the couch which he jumped on, circled a few times and made himself comfortable.

Trey was quick behind Dia and offered me a happy grin. It seemed like nothing got in the way of a happy mood and Trey and I had to admit, I liked him the better for it.

“Hi Dulce,” he said, when a huge, beaming smile spread across his lips as he spotted Sam. “Hi, Sam!”

Sam smiled up at him and waved while I helped Dia with the bag of Italian takeout, bringing it into the kitchen, where I plopped it up on the counter and started unloading the various dishes. Dia rifled through my drawers, searching for utensils and plates.

“Any word from Knight?” I asked under my breath, not wanting to alert Trey to the fact that there was a problem. Trey really admired and liked Knight so I didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily. But, I had a feeling it might become necessary as time went on.

Dia faced me and sighed. “No, you?”

I shook my head and returned to the task of serving up each dish. “I’m scared for him, Dia.”

She put a consoling hand on my shoulder. “He’ll reach out to you, Dulcie, I’m sure he will. He’s probably up to his neck in crap at the moment.”

“He would call me, if he was able to.”

“Just give him a little more time. It’s been, what…” she glanced down at her watch. “Four hours since we heard from him last? He could be in court.”

I nodded, she was right—maybe I was jumping to conclusions. But, there was a little voice in the back of my head that said Knight would have gotten in touch with me, no matter how busy he’d been. Especially when we ended our conversation with him knowing I was going to go to sleep in order to meet up with the Dreamstalker.

“I got the reports on the blood tests back,” Dia started, distracting my thoughts from Knight, which was just as well because worrying about him wasn’t helping me.

I glanced at her, wondering why the blood tests were even a consideration now. Obviously we knew who our Dreamstalker was or had been. “And?”

“More than half of them were on some sort of blood—Kraken, Were…” She glanced at me. “Fairy.”

“What?” I demanded. “Fairy?”

There weren’t a lot of fairies in the U.S. We totaled maybe ten and in Splendor, there were just two—me and the fairy hooker, Zara. And, needless-to-say, I hadn’t been donating my blood. Damn Zara…

“Why do I have a feeling that’s the next case we’re going to be working on?” I mumbled.

Dia laughed. “Honey, I already told you I am not interested in working with you again. You about gave me heart failure this time around.”

I smiled. “What if I promise to be a better team player?”

She just gave me a diva-like expression and refrained from further comment.

“Where’s dinner?” Trey called from the living room. “I’m a hungry man!”

I laughed and shook my head, suddenly feeling grateful