Sinister Magic: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #1) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,54
positive he believed we would inevitably get horizontal the next time we met.
“Nin,” I said as the men left, “I like your lunch customers better.”
“Yes, but my night customers pay so much better.” She smiled and patted her pocket.
“You getting close to having enough to bring your family over yet?”
“Not yet, but one day. My family is very large, and I want to bring everyone to America. Now, there is Grandma and Mother and my seven sisters all living in a two-bedroom apartment. Only my brother has been able to afford to move out, but he does not make enough to help them. I want to be able to buy my family a house here, so they do not have to worry about working and paying rent right away, but it is very expensive. A house costs much more here than in Bangkok.”
“Maybe you can set them up in the suburbs, and they can open a restaurant. Didn’t you say your grandmother was the one to teach you to cook?”
“Yes, this is true. And my grandfather taught me to make magic guns.” She smiled. “It is sad for my family that he disappeared, and everyone had to move into the city. There are so few opportunities there. Not like here. I am living the American dream.”
“I’m not going to argue that. You make more than I do.”
“An entrepreneur must be a marketer, Val. You should make clever videos and advertise on the socials. This is what I do for my food truck.”
“I think they arrest you if you advertise assassin services online. But hey, with the way this week is going, it probably doesn’t matter.”
She tilted her head, one of her pigtails flopping onto her shoulder. “You are in trouble? Did you break Fezzik again?”
“No, Fezzik is good.”
“You have acquired the services of a bodyguard?” She looked at Dimitri.
“No, a chauffeur. This is Dimitri. Listen, I’m trying to find out who’s been tinkering with dark-elf alchemy to poison my boss. You have any dark elves for clients?”
“Oh, no. I have only heard rumors about them. They do not come up here.” She waved to the street and the square. “And they do not purchase goods from outsiders. Have you spoken to Zoltan?”
“Isn’t he the guy with the continuum transfunctioner?”
Her brow furrowed.
“Never mind. Who is he?”
“A vampire alchemist who lives in the basement of an old barn in Woodinville. Do you have any information about the poison? With a few ingredients, he may be able to identify it for you.”
I leaned in, hope rising. If the alchemist could identify it, maybe he would also know how to nullify it.
“There are vampires in Woodinville?” Dimitri asked. “That’s out in the suburbs, isn’t it?”
“Vampires can’t be suburban?” I asked as Nin pulled out her phone and looked up an address. “Maybe he’s a fan of the wineries out there.”
I would have to check the lore to see if vampires could drink anything but blood. I hadn’t dealt with many in my line of work. Like these quasi-mythological dark elves, they stayed under the radar—and the surface of the earth.
“I suppose,” Dimitri said. “He doesn’t drive a minivan, does he?”
“You can’t possibly have a prejudice against vans.”
“Here.” Nin texted me a link.
It wasn’t the map address I expected but a real estate listing for a house that had been on the market for nine-hundred-some days.
“Do people not want to buy from a vampire?” I asked.
“Nobody outside of the magical community knows about the vampire. No, let me clarify that. Nobody knows where he lives. He is quite famous online. He knows how to use the socials.” Nin gave me a stern look.
I lifted my hands in resignation. “If I manage to save my boss and clear my name, I will definitely look into social media marketing for my services.”
“Excellent. I want to make sure my clients do well, so they can continue to afford my services.”
“You’re a savvy businesswoman.”
“Yes.” Nin smiled. “Wait one moment, please.”
She hopped into the truck.
“My life has gotten very strange in the last thirty-six hours,” Dimitri remarked.
“I’ve seen your yard art. Your life was already strange.”
“Have we known each other long enough that it’s appropriate for you to insult me?”
“I don’t know. What if I buy you another tank of gas?”
“That’ll make it okay then. Also, will you ask your friend if she teaches classes on business stuff? I don’t know how to market my art. The people who come by the property only want to pay twenty dollars for